My summer of 2013

I know I've been absent. Frankly I've wrapped my arms so tightly around too many projects this summer that my hands have not been free to write. I've just returned from a lovely vacation in Florida that afforded me some much needed perspective, and I think that was the key I was missing.

I've been shooting a lot recently for my webseries House of Glass. Here are some pics:

That's been a crazy process of scheduling, and trying to film in the rain with the wrong sound equipment, and long drives to location shots, and A LOT of bruises from legitimate sparing and hand to hand combat. But it's been fun! And I'm excited to see the footage. I'm not wrapped on filming yet until mid October, but hopefully this will be edited and released for the public at the beginning of the new year!

I've started rehearsals for the Seattle Fringe Festival. I'm doing a new play called Operation Hibernation which is an in depth look at the lengths people will go to believe what they want. I'm incredibly excited to be a part of the Fringe Festival for the 2nd annual year of its comeback! Here's our postcard and poster:

It's going to be a wild ride. 

I'm really starting to feel like the work I'm doing matters again. I was working my way up for so long, and now the roles I'm being offered are finally starting to feel good again. After the Fringe Fest I'll be doing two Noel Coward one act's in British dialect, which I couldn't be more excited about. And then I'll finally be joining the Book-It Theatre in Frankenstein!

I've also recently booked my first SAG film through my agent, and I'll be getting my time period clothes on since it's about the Salem Witch Trials.

I've spent this summer relaxing in the sun, reading books, and seeing as much theatre as I can around my crazy schedule.

Some shows I've seen:

1. The Wild Party by Sound Theatre

2. A Keiko Green original that I can't remember the name of

3. Gruesome Playground Injuries by Azeotrope

4. Gloucester Blues by Harlequinn

5. A Midsummer Night's Dream by Greenstage

6. Picnic by ReAct Theatre

And now the marathon starts. I'm booked until mid March, and you can stay tuned for all the adventures that are sure to unfold!

Until next time: Some food for thought for the women of the theatre:

http://abderian-aeolist.tumblr.com/post/59347833397/i-once-had-a-guy-tell-me-tw-sexual-assault-in-my

The Clockwork Professor post mortem

The Clockwork Professor reached it's kickstarter goal startlingly fast. The show was a complete hit--not only with the steampunk crowd of Seattle (of which there are many), but with the general public as well. It was a great gift to work on a show where I could feel the magic happening. The cast was tight, the belief in the playwright and the script was flawless, and our ability to pull together and make it work (under fabulous direction I might add) made the show soar. There were kind comments all around, and I don't think I could have picked a better show to work on for the summer.

Here are some of the reviews I could scrounge up, for my own records:

http://artsstage-seattlerage.com/2013/the-clockwork-professor-at-theatre-off-jackson/
http://www.dianavick.com/?p=919
http://copiouslove.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/copious-love-suggests-the-clockwork-professor/
http://www.broadwayworld.com/seattle/article/BWW-Reviews-THE-CLOCKWORK-PROFESSOR-at-TOJ-Offers-Fun-Steampunk-Melodrama-20130726

And take a look at some pictures!

I suppose now that the show is done with I can release the secret that I did in fact play a robot! It was incredibly fun and challenging to keep my eyes from never blinking, control myself from brushing hair out of my face, and trying to conceal my breathing. Any erroneous movement was a break of character, so it was exciting to keep my body so controlled for the duration of the show. And I've never had to be dead on stage for so long. Whew!

The challenges I faced:

-My contacts falling out on stage. Luckily most of the time I was able to grab them in my gloved hands and put them in my mouth to keep them moist. But you try saying your lines with a contact in your mouth and a blind eye. There was one night where I was not able to catch it. It fell out after my deactivation and I spent the rest of act 1 blind. My SM went on stage at intermission and miraculously found it unscathed even though it had landed in the main traffic pattern. Crazy!

-The amount of enunciation on our crazy new world language was definitely hard. I've never done so much vocal warm up and stretching before a show!

-Matching all my movements precisely to my fellow Robot. Especially the one moment when we both have to flick out a feather duster at the same time. If we were off on a movement it was so noticeable and the humor was lost. Luckily it barely happened!

-Popping my rib out of place during a show. That was rough. And then subsequently coming back two days later for industry night and having to do all of my contortion and gymnastic choreography. But I survived and my cast couldn't have been more encouraging and supportive! And my mom was there for those shows..so that was cool. Fun memories, mom, right?

It was an absolute blast. Miss you guys!