Archive for June, 2007
The Urban Velo Issue #2 just came out and a cyclist from Puerto Rico wrote to me saying “I saw you on Urbanvelo. Way to go sister? keep riding strong.”Wohoo! This was some exciting news! Yeay. I had to go right away to the Urban Velo website and I downloaded the issue right away.
I clicked away at the pages until I found the special all-women edition” of I Love Riding in the City” and I found me on page 16.
Check it out and click on the photo to get linked to the photographer (on the homepage of the link is my cousin and his girlfriend) and click on the article to be linked to my acting website.
Wohoo! I’m very excited about this, because I love this magazine! Yeah!
Publicity | 29.06.2007 16:15 | No Comments
It’s going to be a busy weekend with the EdgeFest and the The Bicycle Film Festival and the HelMel Block Party at the Bicycle Kitchen.
The Bicycle Film Festival is this week from June 28th through July 1st in Hollywood at the Vine Theatre.
The EdgeFest is on June 30th from 12 noon to 12 midnight in Downtown L.A. at the Regent Theatre.
The HelMel Block Party is on July 1st from 12 noon to 8 pm at Heliotrope Drive at Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood.
Join us for a ride on Saturday to both the EdgeFest and the Bicycle Film Festival.
We are riding to the EdgeFest on Saturday at 11:30 am from Hollywood to Downtown. We are meeting at the Hollywood and Western Red Line Station to see my play “Voices From Chornobyl” in the early afternoon.
Tickets are $12 for the entire day and they have an open bar.
At around 3 pm we will be heading back to Hollywood to the Bicycle Film Festival where we’ll stay until they kick us out.
Tickets are $8 per screening (and pst! You can bring your own bar 
)
Please, please, please, RSVP with me if you are joining me on any of the rides.
I haven’t heard back from many of you and since I will be making spoke cards, I’d like to get a head count.
Bike Ride, Performances, Voices From Chornobyl | 25.06.2007 16:23 | No Comments
I’m holding a workshop this coming Sunday at the SAG Conservatory Summer Session that will be held at the AFI in Hollywood.
If you are a SAG Conservatory member, sign up to my class!
One class will be on Sunday at 10:30 am to 12 noon and the other one will be from 1 to 2:30 pm.
Classes and Workshops are only for SAG Conservatory Members and they are free.
To make reservations, you must call the Conservatory hotline 323.856.7736 or show up on the day of the event with your Membership card and choose a workshop or a class then.
I hope to see all of you SAG Conservatory Members there
ShowBiz 2.0 | 22.06.2007 16:16 | No Comments
I got cast in the stage play/reading of “Voices From Chornobyl” that will be performing at the EdgeFest on Saturday, June 30th. (Yes, it is spelled with an “o” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chornobyl), it wasn’t a mistake.)
We had our first rehearsal last night and the director Cindy Marie Jenkins is pretty amazing. I haven’t seen a director who gives this much homework to their actors. I don’t think it’s bad. I thinks it very, very cool.
I know, that most of the research the actors do themselves however, I did some plays and films that had historical significance, and non of the directors ever bothered with details. In my experience, it was always up to the actor to gather background info. Or not.
But Cindy had a big pile of paper for us to take home and read over (and yes, all the paper was recycled, with old scripts on the back side! I love her for that!)
She gave us background on the play - The original book was written by Svetlana Alexievich and translated into English in 1999. Cindy Marie Jenkins adapted it and had the first reading at the Fountain Theatre, Hollywood, in 2005 and then the first stage performance at the Open Fist Theatre, Hollywood in 2006.
She gave us the Chernobyl history broken down to the minute and seconds as the accident happened.
She gave us some information about the continuing hazards of this accident. If you are interested in reading up on it, follow the BBC link. Fascinating a scary!
Cindy also gave us a print out that compares Chernobyl with other disasters and a few pages of an interview with the writer of the original book.
I’m going to do my own research and I’m also going to interview my family. In 1986, when the accident happened, my immediate family and I lived in Germany. But the rest of the family was in Hungary. We had crops and we all were afraid. Afraid of the unknown. The women didn’t know if the radiation will affect their future children. We didn’t know if it was all right to eat the crops, the fruits and vegetables. There were pop songs about the accident and it’s after effects. We made fun of the incident, and we were crying over it at the same time.
It will be a very interesting journey! I’m looking forward to it and I’m very happy to be part of this play. This is something that I can relate to. This is something that is relevant even here in the United States.
If you don’t have anything planned for the 30th, we will be performing at 2 pm at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Ride your bike or take the Metro. The Red Line is just around the corner. Come and say hi to me afterwards.
Auditions, Goals, Rehearsals, Voices From Chornobyl | 16.06.2007 16:13 | No Comments
Last Sunday I had an early morning call for a ULB SAG short horror film titled “Beauty And The Beast.”
Let me first tell you that I don’t like horror films and I never thought I would act in one.
How did I change my mind? Well, I met this writer/director, Robert Romeo, on a movie set about a year and a half ago and when I performed in any play, I invited him. And he showed up. That was cool!
And then he called me and asked me if I was interested in working with him on a short film. I said yes, but I told him that I would love to read the script first.
When I read the script, I didn’t get it. I didn’t get the story, but it was written very well and every sentence was like a picture painted on a canvas. It was so beautifully visual, that I said yes to Robert. But I still didn’t get the story, until after the first rehearsal, when I had an aha moment.
Robert ask me if I was o.k. with the gruel subject and I said, “yes, it’s all right. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to watch it once it’s finished.”
Anyhow, we had a rehearsal, fitting for face prosthetic, and I watched most of the movies and tv shows that Robert recommended for reference. I didn’t watch the horror movies though.
So, last Sunday, I was ready to go to the stage where we were shooting, and as usual I had my bicycle ready and my pannier packed. The only unusual thing today was that my hair was in curlers and I’m always wearing a helmet when I ride.
How am I going to put the helmet over my head? Well, my husband helped me squeeze the rollers under the helmet, that I had to expand to fit, and it was so tight I could barely turn my head. And the curlers were pinching and pushing against my skull. It was very uncomfortable.
Thankfully the stage was only 2.5 miles from my home, and since it was early Sunday, there was not much traffic.
I arrived as the crew started loading in and Jeff Hohimer, the other actor who was in one of the plays that Robert saw me in, was cracking up, seeing me in helmet and curlers. I didn’t think it was that funny, because I couldn’t get the helmet off. The curlers were stuck underneath.
I asked him, if he could help get the helmet off and with a little adjusting and a big yank he pulled my helmet off and with it came some of my loose hair. Ouch!
When I got inside the stage I met the crew and I immediately relaxed. Everybody on set was so nice to each other, so comfortable and confident but not cocky, that I felt safe in their hands. This was very important to me! It’s always very important to me to feel safe.
So I got dressed, I got my hair and make up fixed, and we were all ready to shoot. The shoot was pretty much non stop. The time flew so fast, I didn’t even realize that it was evening and dark outside by the time I wrapped. I had an amazing time, and the director was surprising me at every turn.
Robert Romeo is an actors director! He is gentle, positive, relaxed and has a great way of explaining what he wants. He bought great food, he assembled the best people, and he just was fantastic to be around. I hope to work for him again! And I think he changed my mind. I’ll be going to the screening for sure and I’ll be voting for him at the next film festival Audience Award!
Beauty and the Beast, Filming | 1.06.2007 15:38 | No Comments