Join the opera!

It's sort of like joining the circus, only not.  :-)

Elgin Opera needs supernumeraries (don't trip -- it's just the opera term for extras) for scenes from The Magic Flute and Die Fledermaus.  Adults and children are needed for performances May 1-3.  If you're in the Chicago area and you're interested, please contact the office at (847) 695-5014 or office@elginopera.org.  These are volunteer positions with a minimal rehearsal commitment.

Rehearsals have been a lot of fun, and it's shaping up into a great evening.  Hope you can make it!

I actually get a bit of a breather this week -- church gigs are a staple for many of our singers, and Holy Week keeps 'em hoppin' like Peter Cottontail, so it's not practical to schedule any rehearsals.  So I have a little time to scrutinize my headshot proofs, do some updating on my website, spend some quality time with my very patient and supportive hubby, and maybe even do a spot or two of spring cleaning.  The first quarter of 2009 has been insanely busy, even by my standards, so this is very welcome indeed!

Song for today: "Beauty" by Shaye.  For the many, friends and strangers alike, walking in the toughest of places.

Little Toy Gun

In which our Diva reflects on her day as Creepy Mystery Woman

Random waking-up thought of the day: "Acting is what happens inside the curves."

No clue, but it sounds kinda profound, huh?

Great day on The Storm yesterday with a whole new set of cool Chicago film people.  Thanks to the two JRs of JR2 productions, Whitney the Clark Kent of directors, Nate the action man, Stephanie the chess goddess, and the whole crew.  I had a longish day, but everyone else had two VERY long days, and they're all champs!  (Hopefully they're all safely sleeping in right now!)

I think (hope?) Blue will surprise you when you see her.  She's all stillness and economy of movement, which is a challenge for perky-fidgety Val!  The stillness made it all the more important to find her default posture, and I was having a little trouble with that at first, until I tilted my head down a little bit to peer through my hair.  (It was a big deal in their concept of the character that her hair partially obscured her face, which was another challenge.   Not just because of what bits of expression might be lost, but because having my hair anywhere near my eyes drives me nuts.)  And *click*, there she was!  Funny how sometimes all it takes is the tiniest adjustment.  From the reactions of people on set, I think (hope?) she came across right.  Did I succeed in making real someone so very different from me?  We shall see...

Once again, forgot my camera, and I was doubly kicking myself for it when I saw what an awesome location Michael Reese Hospital is.  It closed last summer, though apparently it's connected somehow to other buildings that are still open.  But it has parts that look maybe a little dated but could be cleaned up easily enough to look like a working hospital... and parts that look like the zombies are waiting to grab you if you step off the elevator!  Chicago location scouts, take note!  (And get it while you can.  Apparently the property is slated as part of the Olympic Village if we get the 2016 games.  Which I want mostly for the proposed augmented public transit service in the burbs.)

It seems obvious to me, but people always seem surprised when I tell them I've done a little bit of target range shooting in addition to stage-combat firearms basics.  I have no interest at all in ever touching a real gun anywhere but on a range under qualified supervision, but it's such an incredibly valuable experience to have.  Ninety percent of convincing gun handling is not being afraid of the prop.  Which you can get from a stage-combat class firing blanks, along with valuable sense impressions like just how loud it really is, and how heavy it really is, and the smell of the metal and how stays on your hands.  (I don't even have a very good sense of smell, and that's a key thing for me.)  But when there's an actual projectile coming out of the thing and that force kicks back into your arm or shoulder, when "Don't point the barrel at anything you want to keep" is Rule Number One for much more immediate reasons, everything feels completely different.  If you're an actor (or a writer, for that matter), find a good basic class and take it.  There is no substitute. 

Also, I have big pieces of paper in a box around here somewhere with holes in them that say "Look! I can hit things with a .38!  And occasionally with a 9mm!"  Which is really very cool.

Also also, shoulder holsters are very uncomfortable.

I was off to the side during a shot setup, wrapping myself up in Blue's music, when one of the PAs (who's also an actress) asked what I was listening to.  She and another girl seemed surprised/impressed that I'd made a playlist just for the character, and they're going to keep it in mind.  So yay, I shared one of my favorite tools with other people!  And a nice reminder that what other people learn from you doesn't have to be any great stroke of genius, just something useful that's new to them.  I know it's true of some of the things I've learned from other people, when I gush at them about it and they give me this look that says "Um, yeah, okay..."

Here's Blue's playlist on MySpace.   (It's an imperfect way of sharing these, since I have a lot of older and/or obscure stuff, so something is always missing.  In this case, three or four songs, plus one substitution -- my preferred Snake River Conspiracy cover of "How Soon Is Now" isn't available, but t.A.T.u.'s is.  But it gives you the general idea, and it's convenient.)

Give it a listen, and then think about going from that person to operetta silliness for Die Fledermaus rehearsal this afternoon.  If Prince Orlovsky wants to keep from being bored, he should try that!  :-D

Score!

Blue has a biker jacket.  It's polyester, not leather, but should read okay on camera.  I was hoping for a nice beat-up one, but I went on my lunch hour yesterday to my best beloved thrift store and it's GONE!  :-(

With opera rehearsal last night, that left me running around like a crazy person this evening, and discovering no jackets to speak of at the thrift stores near my house.  I found one I really liked the looks of at H & M, but even a couple sizes up the sleeves were just too tight.  Blue is a practical kinda girl, and I need to be able to move!  So I got the windbreaker one at Forever 21, which ought to do the job.  (Sometimes I work for people who have budget for wardrobe.  This is not one of those times.  This is one of the times when my own skills in that department come in handy.  Such is life.)

Song for today: "Strange Little Girl" by Tori Amos.  Creepy mystery woman tomorrow, sassy operetta diva at rehearsal Sunday... Guess you could call that pretty strange!

Winter wonderland

In which our Diva stays inside where it's warm a little while longer

Rehearsal for The Storm (working title of the HD short I mentioned the other day) rescheduled due to a family emergency for the director.  I'm eager to get to work on it, but still a little relieved -- check out the view from my back door to see why:

Still have to venture out for an audition later, unless they decide to reschedule too.  Which wouldn't surprise me a whole lot -- it's in the Loop, where they have six inches and still falling.  Chicago is situated such that the full brunt of lake effect is mostly on the South Shore in Indiana, and up toward Milwaukee.  We've gotten spoiled in the last couple weeks, but there was bound to be a last gasp of winter still coming.  Hopefully this is really the last!

Song for today: "Little Toy Gun" by honeyhoney.  Fun video directed by Kiefer Sutherland.  First song going on the playlist for Blue.  I don't always do them (last one was the "Vixen Mix" for Dracula, which was a big hit when I burned CDs for everyone), but this character really calls for one.

I can has brains?

In which our Diva is (re)animated

I checked in with the folks from the zombie voiceover gig, and the website isn't live yet, but one of the clips I worked on (as both female voices) is up on Vimeo:

Mall Hell 2 from 5-Minute Meter Productions on Vimeo.

Braaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnzzzzzzzzzz.

Small films, big ideas

In which our Diva has a shiny new character to play and a tangent to wander off on

A pretty nifty first yesterday: Landing a gig on the basis of my reel, with no audition as such. \o/ Just a great meeting, chatting at Starbucks with the director, writer/producer and leading man of an HD short with a very interesting story to tell. I'm playing a mystery woman named Blue, with some definitely challenging aspects! It's funny -- I've been fretting about having so little dialogue to put on my reel, but that ends up being a big part of why it stood out, because this project is going to have a lot of nonverbal storytelling. (There she goes with the broken record again!)

Without giving too much away, I can say it involves one man, one woman, and one set. Not a romance, but a connection between two isolated people that could only happen this way under these circumstances.


And in formulating that description in my head, I was reminded of a completely different film, telling a completely different story, that nonetheless fits the same description, which I hadn't thought about in quite a while: The Cold Equations. (I know a lot of people consider it inferior to the New Twilight Zone episode that adapted the same short story, but the movie version gets the benefit of first impression with me. Although I mostly ignore the stuff about the Big Bad Company, which seems to be what most people object to.) In 1996, I don't think "Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie" was even a label yet, let alone one with the baggage it carries now. There was just this little film that popped up on their schedule one day, with no whiz-bang or fanfare, and kinda blew my mind. It showcased facets of Billy Campbell we hadn't really seen before, and introduced Poppy Montgomery to American living rooms in a far more lasting impression than the high-profile college comedy that landed her in the multiplexes the following summer. (I don't even remember what that was called. Just that her face was either sideways or upside-down on the poster.)

A dizzying number of independent movies have been collected and stamped with that "original" label since then. Occasionally they're even still good ones -- if you missed Splinter recently, you missed one of the best old-school horror flicks anyone's made in ages. But the Sci-Fi Channel hasn't been that Sci-Fi Channel for a long, long time. So its imminent rebranding as "Syfy" is just style matching substance. (Though, Mr. Howe? The focus-group folks who told you they'd text it that way? Have to have been frakking with you.) It's no big surprise that they don't really get it, when even the final behind-the-scenes special for Battlestar Galactica had talking heads banging the same old tired drum: "It's sci-fi, but it's about people!" As if that were something amazingly new and innovative!

I'm going to let you in on what is apparently still a secret to many: Good sci-fi has always been about people. Good fantasy has always been about people. Good horror has always been about people. Rayguns and magic mirrors and fangs, robots and pointy hats and the plural of apocalypse: All just trappings. Means to an end, and that end is telling a story. And stories? Are about people. Pretty much by definition.

I'm really rambling now, but I guess the point is that I'm getting more interested in where the "little films that could" go, now that I'm increasingly the one working in them. A lot of it is happening online, of course, on YouTube and MySpace and Vimeo. And we're up to our eyeballs in film festivals these days. I wonder what else is going on that I know nothing about? Here's to learning!

Song for today (and lots of days!): "One More" by Superchick. Another booked-up weekend coming up... Take those vitamins!

The rundown

In which lists are easy to  make when our Diva feels a little run down

Random waking-up thought of the day: "I can't control the buruzim!"  (No, I have no idea what they are.  Or why I'm so sure they're a "they.")

Song for today: "Day N Nite" by Kid Cudi.  Every time I think nobody's making creative videos anymore, I see something like this!  Trippy.

Inspiring person of the day: Derek "Pretty Boy" Dow.  (Yes, the guy from the Ford contest video. Coolest person I've met in ages.)  Order Family Values on DVD and support independent film in Chicago!

Last day in Hell

In which our Diva bids a fond farewell to Intrepid Reporter Tara Kyles

Whew! Very physical shoot yesterday -- lots of running and action. So! Much! Fun! Just like being eight years old and rampaging the neighborhood with my friends playing Charlie's Angels, except with a camera and a boom mike and crew running right behind me! Craziness.

Shoutouts and BIG thank-you to Darren, Derek, Nicole, Angela, Sharon, and all my fellow actors (especially the three cutest demons EVER)! I can't wait to see this one...

Speaking of Derek, our awesome DP and up-and-coming Force To Be Reckoned With on the Chicago film scene, check out his video for the Ford Fiesta contest:

I'd love to see him win it, so tell your friends and get him those hits!

Song for today: "The Girl in 14G," which I'll be opening with at Villa Verone tonight. Come on out from 6 to 8 and enjoy great Italian food and fantastic entertainment from the artists of Elgin Opera!

Ballerina, reporter, queen

In which our Diva has a lot to blog about today

Flitting about online doing research for Magic Flute and also for Fledermaus -- as of today I'll be playing Sally in that. It's a small role, but she's the sister of Adele (the soubrette lead, who sings the famous "Laughing Song"), and she's a dancer at the opera! What was I just saying the other day about needing to get back to ballet class? :-D There may also be a surprise solo moment...

Also watching The Queen. It's been sitting here from Netflix for almost two weeks, but I've had too much going on to sit down and watch it until tonight. Can I be Helen Mirren when I grow up? She just blows me away in everything she does.

Opera rehearsal tomorrow, audition for a webseries Friday, and then back to shooting Hell the King on Saturday. If all goes as planned, we'll wrap that day. It's just a short film, but I'm having so much fun with my reporter character Tara Kyles. She does some things you might not expect, and I've had the best time creating who she is and why those things make sense! This is the first project I've been in that had digital effects, which means I probably won't see the finished film for a while. I can't wait to see how cool it all turns out!

Brand V

In which our Diva's Adventures in Self-Marketing continue apace

Headshots get woefully outdated so fast!  I've been shopping around for a photographer for new ones, and finally settled on the amusingly-named but well-reputed Socko.  (Warning: website is a little Flash-happy for my tastes.)  Also meeting soon with what will hopefully become my commercial agency.

I'm slowly getting used to having my "look" be the first thing people talk about.  I still wince a little bit inside, but after all these years in theatre, I can tell you it's no less true there.  On-camera people are just more honest about it, which I'm actually kind of starting to like.  And I'm having to consciously remind myself less and less that, yes, it's about being interesting to watch, not just being a "smokin hot babe" or whatever the term of choice is these days in the bikini mags.  Just because they're  never going to be ringing my agent's phone off the hook doesn't mean I'm not going to work!

Dreamed in web design all last night (weeeeird!). Reallyreallyreally wanted to get out in the incredibly beautiful weather yesterday, but too much work chaining me to the computer desk. Back down in the 40s today, but I might go for a walk along the little creek at the end of the block later anyway.

Song for today: "Motion" by Plumb.  Dance wherever you choose!

Another amazing dancer

In which our Diva is in awe

I saw this on Superstars of Dance about six weeks ago, but the sprawling discussion of cultural appropriation and race in sci-fi/fantasy currently going on in the fannish blogosphere tangentially reminded me that I wanted to post about it.

Mamela Nyamza as the Dying Swan:

(For comparison, check out this archival film of Anna Pavlova, for whom the piece was originally choreographed, and present-day star Uliana Lopatkina.  Also, to clarify, it's a standalone number, to a piece by Saint-Saens.  It's a separate entity from the Tchaikovsky story ballet Swan Lake, with which it gets confused about 98% of the time.)

Stop before you get to the part with the judges, because they're crazy.  I love this so much.  It's such an amazing fusion, and her physical perfection and emotional power just blow me away.  As a friend pointed out, it's a great big challenge to the traditional "pretty" portrayals of death and suffering, especially women's.  And I lovelovelove that it's a black artist doing a little cultural appropriation of her own.

I almost didn't watch the show, what with Simon Cowell's tacky "reality" competition fingerprints all over it, but I couldn't resist the lure of getting to see this awesome smorgasbord of dancers even in that context.  And I'm not sorry (though it was really hard to stick with ignoring the lame competition aspect), because I wouldn't have heard of most of them any other way, and they were all worth watching.  I really need to get back into dance class; I feel like such a slug since the end of Dracula with all its cool movement work.

And posting all these videos lately makes it look like I'm not doing anything but surfing the Internet!  Which is only partly true -- I'm in research mode, working on the storytelling bits for The Magic Flute.  Where, as well as being the storyteller, I'm once again playing an imaginary creature, one of the "Spirits" that lead Papageno and Papagena together at the end.  In the last year, I've been a fairy, a vampire, and now a forest spirit.  Oh, and several zombies in this oddball voiceover gig last fall.  (I should nag them about getting a copy of that -- it looked like it was going to be really fun when the animation was done!)

So, back to the fairy tales.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wow.

Via my friend Sarah, check out this gorgeous short film:


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

When I'm combing the breakdowns and sending out the headshots and driving to the auditions, it's always with the hope of being part of something this beautifully crafted and heartfelt. And talk about a great example of nonverbal storytelling! I know I'm kind of a broken record about that sometimes, but when I see something like this... Wow.

CYRUS official website

Check it out!

See the skeeeeeery trailer, read Mark's cool writer/director notes, and register for the forum to keep up with the news!

And yes, I'm bouncing dorktastically at the thought that I am officially a cast member posting on a fan forum. Deal. ;-)

Music to conquer the world by

In which our Diva remembers when this involved lots of time and cassettes

What's better than plotting out your own personal soundtrack?  Sharing it!

I've been building a playlist called "Go Girl" (just 'cause the phrase amuses me) for about a month now.  It started out with three or four songs that make me want to go out and take on the world, which I've gotten into the habit of playing on the way to auditions.  Since that generally involves longer than three or four songs in Chicago traffic, I started collecting recommendations from my friends, and, after lots of tweaking and twiddling, finalized a 71-minute, 19-track playlist of grade-A go-get-'em-ness.  (My friends being made entirely of awesome, I have discovered WAY more fantastic music in the past month or so than I needed.  Yay, lots of fresh tunes on the Zen!)

Eighteen of those tracks are now set up on this public MySpace playlist.  The missing song is Emilie Autumn's "How Strange," which is unfortunately not one of the handful of tracks on her MySpace Music page.  (It should be between "One Step Ahead" and "Rock What You Got.")  My advice is to hie yourself to your purveyor of choice and pick up or download her album Enchant.  (Also featuring "Rose Red," a spooky riff on the folk song, which I dare you to get out of your head once you hear it.)

My musical tastes are crazy-eclectic, so there's everything from early Madonna (my first-choice song for inspiration in high school -- I wore out my cassette playing it, well, over and over) to the latest release from Superchick.  With, yes, Debbie Gibson and even a couple country tracks along the way.  They might not all be up your alley, but there's plenty to choose from.  Enjoy!

Spring fever!

In which our Diva turns with seasons of the natural and professional varieties


The last couple of amazingly beautiful days have had me looking longingly out my window at Office of Doom. Can't wait until the trails along the Fox River are green and gorgeous, and I can grab a little time to take my bike or even just my feet over there. Schlepping into the city can be crazy-making, but living in Elgin definitely has its advantages!





And with any luck, I'll have a chance or two again this summer to take in some time by the lake. Love to sit on the shoreline rocks behind the North Lakeside Cultural Center. This week is the first I've heard birds singing in the morning, too. Sooo ready for winter to be done!



After a month or so of spin-cycle auditions -- I seriously lost count! -- the spring student film casting blitz looks to be finally winding down. I think the one I had tonight will be it for a while. Don't know yet if any more gigs are coming my way from it; one director mentioned that she would be in touch next week, but the rest are anybody's guess. In the meantime, I got to read some very cool stuff and meet a lot of great people.


Looking at tomorrow's forecast, it seems Intrepid Reporter Tara Kyles might be extra intrepid in the rain! Though if it's too bad, they'll probably push the exterior stuff back to next weekend. Very jazzed about this one -- the script is lots of slightly twisted fun, and I even get some actiony stuff that I didn't know about until I went to the table read! Can't wait to see how it all comes together.


Once Hell the King is done, time to get the brain back in opera mode for a while. Elgin Opera's spring production has now been dubbed Love and Fairy Tales, featuring excerpts from Die Fledermaus and The Magic Flute. I'm doing double duty as singer and narrator, connecting the dots of Flute's somewhat twisty tale. That's happening the first weekend of May at the Rider Center. Keep an eye on the website and the new Elgin Opera Blog for the latest!


Well, I'm up bright and early tomorrow for Intrepid Reporting, so it's off to bed with me, to dream of sunshine and lush leafy trees!

Where's that "smite" key?

In which our Diva is unimpressed

As much as I hate it when talent scammers waste my valuable time, I just about sprained something laughing at the sloppy boilerplate email I got from one of them this morning.  They want me in their "roaster!"  Talk about truth in advertising...

It can never be said enough, because there will always be hopeful people who don't know: NEVER EVER EVER pay a penny upfront for representation!  The ones who get you in their office and hard-sell classes and photos and whatever are still around, but now you also have outfits like this Talent Watchers, where you can sign up for free, but then find out your profile isn't visible to casting people until you pay for it.  By, naturally, giving them your credit card info.  New technology, same old tricks.  (Though usually the brick-and-mortar ones can spell!)

A quick visit to Google gave me a new blog to follow, as she just posted about this same scam (under a different company name - more red flags!)  a couple days ago:

http://castingscoop.blogspot.com/2009/02/beware-of-acting-and-modeling-scams.html

She also has links to other great resources on the topic, including the FTC's advice on avoiding acting/modeling scams, and (in the comments) one to an older column of Bonnie Gillespie's on the same topic.

Roaster.  Man, if you wrote that in fiction, nobody would believe it.

From every toilet bowl to every leading role

In which there is Full Diva Mode, with tongue firmly planted in cheek

Video clips from the October fundraiser are up! It was a crazy day for me -- I bailed on curtain call at the Dracula matinee to change in a flurry and drive like the wind back to Elgin in time to sing "This Place Is Mine." (There's a minute or so of Larry's emcee thing before the number starts.)



For those who don't already know, this was done in loving parody of our many-hats-wearing artistic director, and was in fact her idea. I'm wearing one of her costumes from Traviata a couple years back. (And yes, the song is funnier when it ends on the B, but I'm not the boss. I just play her at parties.)

Oscar Night Festival of Singers

Elgin Opera and Villa Verone present a delicious musical alternative to spending your night in front of the TV! Our singers are dressing to the nines for a red-carpet event featuring music from (and about!) the movies, all in an intimate cabaret atmosphere.Join us from 6-8 this evening at Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano at 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin for great food and great music with an extra dash of Hollywood glamor! There's no cover, but reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.

Movie sign!

In which our Diva has way too many Google News Alerts set up

Cyrus is starting to turn up on horror news sites/blogs. Looks like it's thanks to the distributor, Moonstone Entertainment, which is making a preliminary promo image available. Always good to have a visual when you're trying to start generating buzz.

They're shooting some additional pickups (there's a posting on the Craigslist gigs section today for extras to play more victims, as well as poster models), so now it's that post-production period of "OMG I wanna seeeeee iiiiit!" that always seems to go on forever. But, yay, promos!

Houston, we have a reel

In which our Diva wails a number of Naughty Words at her computer for two weeks, but only one in the finished product

\o/