Archive for the ‘Out and About’ Category

Hello midnight, my old friend…

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

And hello blog, it’s been awhile.

I know I say this way too much, but I’ve been busy. It’s good. I’ve officially launched Laughing Cat Productions on Facebook (website coming soon) and have started shooting for Callgirl of Cthulhu, which is a short I wrote and am producing/directing. I’m excited for spring and new developments happening in all areas of life… for example, I’ve been paid for creative work twice in the last week, which is something that I could get used to happening daily, and I am definitely getting closer to that point. And I have more auditions coming up too, including ones for several Fringe projects… it would be nice to do two years in a row of Fringe.

In life-news, I’m like 2 1/2 months out from my wedding, too… Thankfully, all the vendors I’ve been working with have been great! Recently, we decided on Bella Cakes for our wedding desserts, and I was lucky enough to win my flowers, courtesy of Elegant Baskets-Floral & Event Decor Studio. I’m also very excited to have my hair and makeup done day-of by Jamie Hudson at Glam Gorgeous.

Oh, and if you want to have a peek at what Greg and I have in our registry (which we just picked out today) it’s through The Bay, Registry #: 400108637939.

Also, I’ve had two thoughts brewing for awhile that I’ve been meaning to write about, especially for those of you who want to know more about being a successful creative person. One is something that I keep constantly re-discovering, that you absolutely have to know a) what you want and b) how valuable your time and skills are, in order to get the kind of work you want and to be paid accordingly for it. For me, I am happy to do charity shows without pay, provided the money goes to a cause I believe in, for example, but I have a very short list of projects I’d do “for free” at this stage in my career.

Secondly, and this goes for pretty much anyone anywhere… it really pisses me off to have one-sided artistic relationships, where people expect to get attention/support/have me attend their shows/plug their work/etc and then they disappear or go silent when I tell them about my work.
I know I’m not the only person to experience this, and for some reason it seems to be an exceptionally prevalent problem in Toronto where a lot of people are self-absorbed and only care about their own projects. (Straight-up, I know I’ve been guilty of tunnel-vision in the past too, and I am working at getting better at it.) Regardless of who you are, if I like what you’re doing I’ll want to support you in whatever you’re doing, but when you consistently never come to any of my shows and still expect me to come to yours… then you’re getting onto thin ice.
Same with sending Facebook pages to like, to be honest. I’ve been really innundated with “like my page” requests lately from people I never talk to and who (despite having been invited) have never come to a show or screening of mine or liked my Facebook pages. And I want to tell you all now – that’s just not cool. It’s not the way to build friendships OR fans, to be honest. I want to support everyone everywhere doing awesome art – but I can’t do one-sided, energy-leeching anything anymore.

In other words, the bottom line here is that you get what you give (and this doesn’t just go for people in creative fields) so give what you want to receieve.

That said, ranting aside, life has been pretty sweet for me as of late. I am super-grateful to everyone who’s been an active support to me (both in my career and personal life) to this point – you guys are seriously the best, and here’s to more to come, coz this ride’s just started. <3

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TIFF ’12, Love of my Life!

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

Hope y’all are having as awesome of a TIFF experience as I am this year. There’s been a lot of going and doing, and I’m not through yet.

So far, highlights have included the Audioblood party, the opening night of Cinema in Liberty Village (ran into someone I went to high school with and hadn’t seen in ten years), Fashion’s Night Out, Ice T’s afterparty, the Out There VIP Lounge, and the Social Media Lodge.


At Fashion’s Night Out with my ladies from Fresh Collective

Tonight, I’m headed out to the afterparty for Greetings from Tim Buckley, and am looking forward to seeing Tower this week, which has two of my lovely friends in it – Becky Shrimpton and Derek Bogart.

Anywho. If you see me out and about, come say hi!

A couple of other favourite things from this past week… a good friend had her bachelorette, which featured a Pasion Party run by Linzi Edwards. If you’re thinking of hosting one – DO IT. I picked up some delicious cotton candy flavoured lube and she was such a fun hostess! I’d be happy to pass along her contact info to anyone interested.

Today at the Social Media Lodge, I discovered Ice Tropez. It’s close to being a peach wine, and is DELICIOUS. Of course, it’s not available at the LCBO yet but you can pick it up from Natural Vines. Also delicious were cupcakes from Le Dolci. You can never argue with good cupcakes.

Outside of TIFF, my summer’s been packed with acting – season two of Clutch, Zed.TO, and I just booked an episode of Cold Blood, amongst other projects. (Hence there being more than a month since my last update.) Byologyc will be at Nuit Blanche – you shouild come visit us.

I’m gonna go get ready for my night… love to you all!

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Sexytimes!

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Oh hi.
So for those of you who are less into horror pop culture, you may not know about Shock Stock. The new, full 50 minute feature-length version of Park Enforcer will be screening there next weekend. Can you handle a cock-kebab? If you haven’t yet, check out the new trailer here. Park Enforcer is gonna blow your mind. And blow a load in your pants.

It’s funny, four or so years ago I was talking with an accomplished older actor who had bought her house on revenue from horror films. At the time, I didn’t understand how that would be possible, but I have come to love working in the horror genre an awful lot. Even though I am jumpy and squeamish in real life, I do have a soft spot for getting covered in blood, dying odd deaths, and taking on unique projects.

Also, speaking of unique projects, I now have just four days of dice living left – while the initial project was only supposed to last a month, I feel like I’ve gotten so much more out of the dice by having the project run for the course of a year. I plan to put it together as a full-length documentary once the project is all done, but am kind of sad that I have so few episodes left to film.

In other news, I am engaged. See what I did there? Snuck that in so subtlely like that. But seriously. Greg and I have been engaged for a few months now, but decided to make it “internet official” as of April 1st. No jokes, though, click on the link – we are pre-selling tickets to our stag and doe party and I’d love to have as many friends as possible join us. Dates/times are still TBD, but it’ll be in the fall or later so there shouldn’t be any scheduling conflicts.

Other than the wedding planning, I’ve got a few exciting projects coming up including a comedic webseries, the filming for Confidence Tricks, and the completion of the Schizophrenic photoshoot project. I really feel like 2012 will be my year, and I am so excited to have so many talented people to work with! More soon, I promise, there are Adventures in Progress.

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If you have art in your blood, you’ll see Red.

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Over the weekend, I was fortunate enough to see Canstage’s production of the Tony Award-winning play Red.

Red is powerful, poignant, brutally in-your-face honest, and at times touchingly funny. Red is a 90 minute thrill ride of intensity, of relevant and cutting social and artistic commentary. Red is about Mark Rothko, an abstract painter I admittedly knew very little about, prior to going into the show – but I came out wanting to spend days or weeks with him.

Like many artists, Rothko was a troubled soul – in real life, he went on to commit suicide in 1970 like so many other brilliant creative minds. Red dramatizes his creation of a set of paintings for the Seagram building. Set in a somewhat stylized version of his New York studio, the set is exactly as it needs to be. The lighting choices are brilliant and well-executed. Canstage makes wonderful use of new media projections to guide the scene changes. My only gripe is the near-constant soundtrack to the play, unfortunately designed by Andy Creegan of Barenaked Ladies fame. It’s too overtly discordian, hammering home a message not hard to understand.

Ultimately, Red asks “How does that make you feel?” It talks about how we need to go beyond ‘nice’ and ‘like’ and ‘great’ – a very timely message considering how easy and superficial it is to “like” our friends now on Facebook. The connective disconnect, that people spend more time interacting online than they do face to face, that people spend more time buried in distractions and listening to idle gossip than they do to constructively criticizing what they hear and what sort of reaction it stirs in them. And of course, too, Red raises questions about the nature of art itself – what it is or isn’t, how it’s to be made, and what does it stir up in your subconscious. Disquieting art is better than paintings that say nothing. And according to Rothko, “there is no such thing as a good painting about nothing.”

The two actors carrying the show (Jim Mezon and David Coomber) are brilliant as master and protege. At the start, the acting admittedly felt a bit stilted, but quickly evolved into a very watchable battle of wits, egos, and energies. Red shows the fine line between a blustery outward personality and a fragile soul that feels more than it knows how to acknowledge. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable scenes in the play was watching the two men paint together in Rothko’s style – as an actor, seeing what additional training actors study to prepare for a role is always a joy.

Most importantly, Red encourages the audience to think and feel – a reaction not always present when experiencing art. Admittedly, I spent the better part of the last third of the play with a lump in my throat… which to me is a sign of good theatre. Art is meant to move you. Art is meant to challenge you. Red does both.

As for what Red made me feel? Personally, I related to a lot of what Rothko had to say. I feel like I want to become a verbose, irate old man painter when I grow up. If you have art in your blood, you’ll see Red.

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My awesome busy-ness, let me show you it…

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Things have been good lately. Busy, but good. I did a guest spot on an internet TV show, have TWO films screening this month, a play coming up next month, plus my usual improv and life-stuff. For starters, I think I mentioned the handsome and super-talented musician I started seeing a few months back. Well, we’re looking at getting a condo together, so that is pretty darn exciting! Also exciting is that my episoide of Being Erica aired recently:

erica

That would be me on the left there. Oh yes.

Anyway. If you want to see me in action soon, I would love to sell you tickets to The Other Side of the Rhyme. This is a hilarious one-act play… and I will be on stage in a fur bikini at one point. Need I say more? If you catch me in person, tickets are just $10, or you can buy them in advance through Brown Paper Tickets, but they’re a little bit more. The show almost sold out last year at its premiere – and now that it’s getting its Toronto premiere, I wouldn’t expect much less. So get tickets soon, and come see me strut and fret upon the stage!

Secondly, production is gearing up for my new feature film, which is going under the working title Aequitas. I am playing the lead character in this and would love to get paid well for my work – it’s gonna be gruelling and brutal – so if you have a few spare bucks (or more), we’d love for you to support our film through our IndieGoGo campaign. I know how amazing this film is going to be when it’s done, and I’d love for as many people as possible to be a part of it.

Lastly, in more good news, I recently signed on with The Porter Group, and am pleased as punch to be represented by Stephanie Porter. She’s a great lady, and fingers crossed for many good things coming out of this new partnership.

Errands to run and my birthday party tomorrow… I miss and love all of you!

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Happy TIFFing!

Monday, September 12th, 2011

Wow, too long since my last post – again! Things have been awesome and busy (or awesomely busy) here though… I was down in Atlanta for Dragoncon recently, and I had a blast meeting so many new people and selling off my “I <3 BOOBs" buttons for The BOOB Show. I went down with a LOT and came back with less than 10... so I was pretty happy about that. Speaking of the BOOB Show, it's going to be hosted solely on my own Youtube channel from here on in, and during TIFF I am re-releasing the episodes a few at a time. So, bounce on over to the playlist and watch your favourite episodes again. I am hoping to get my own Youtube partnership happening! There’s also going to be a few videos from Dragoncon, including a new BOOB Show episode as well as a fun dice living one… plus other goodies!

I also got to briefly chat with a few fine folk at Dragoncon – Wil Wheaton, Misha Collins, and of course the awesome Abney Park. Pee ess, the stills from Talio are up here, but here’s a teaser for now!

In other news, TIFF is happening in Toronto for the next few weeks. I had the pleasure of attending a couple of pre-parties last week, including the Dolby Surrounded panel at the Lightbox. I got to meet some great people there and at the Jetlagged party; it’s so exciting to see where current/future technology is taking us. For example, the work that goes into digitally remastering old classics… it’s incredible to see how they ease out every grain or hair or any tiny flaw in the older prints. The time they put in would blow your mind! Plus it was fun to see some Pixar trailers with new technology, including a more comprehensive surround sound setup. As an actor I think it’s SO important to recognize all the behind the scenes work that go in to making stellar end products and making those on screen look and sound their best.
This week, highlights for me include Festival Music House and VIP-ing it up at the Out There Hospitality Lounge. (I’ll be posting more detailed TIFF blogs later, so stay tuned for that!)

In project news, I was a on a MuchMusic PSA last week, and am headed back to London tomorrow for more Windchocombe. My mother called me the other day to say that my uncle had spotted me on TV on my episode of Instant Cash – I hear that’s getting a lot of airtime! I also just received word that Black Eve’s been finished… so that makes TWO films of mine that you can catch on the big screen in the near future.

Yes, two! The other film is Stiffs On The Green and it screens here in Toronto on October 8th. I would love to see you ALL out! It’s a very funny indie film, and the character I’m playing in it is so far removed from myself. I’m pretty stoked to see it and I hope you all will join me.

Last but not least… I have yet more blog posts coming for you guys this week. I am also taking part in Speak Out With Your Geek Out this week, so expect some shiny posts coming later about some of my various geeky passions.

That’s it for now!

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Announcing The BOOB Show! And… boobs.

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Happy 2011, everyone!

The good, part 1: despite any setbacks that came up, Futurecon was by and large a success. I will share final totals when I have them, but highlights included room parties running to 7 am, someone actually ponying up and paying $100 to sharpie me, some great conversations and brilliant friends, funnel cake (though I still did not get to eat any), 32 people in the 7 person hot tub, and a great group of people that I got to work with to pull this whole thing off. Anyone who was not there missed the BEST New Year’s party of the decade, hands down. I have never been as happy as I was… and now, we’re doing it again at the end of this year. ;)

The mildly amusing/annoying/’bad’: Frozen North now wants to “settle” – and by settle, they want me to sign papers saying that we won’t claim anything against each other and that they can just essentially sweep this whole thing under the rug.
I’m sorry, but I am not going to sign anything that essentially says it’s okay for them to have harassed me and gotten away with it, especially considering their blatant lies throughout this whole process. So yeah, I am filing my defense and counterclaim first thing tomorrow (want to know about lawsuits in the superior court? Ask me how!) and we’ll get on with the dog and pony show. Yes, it’s ridiculous, and yes it would be nice to not have to deal with it, but considering that they actively targeted not only me but a charity? I’m sorry, I’m not going to just roll over and take it. Some kind person has put together this blog here in my defense: Support Emily Schooley and while I am not certain of who it is, I am appreciative nonetheless that someone cares enough about the truth to keep a record of it. And yeah, it’s funny what goes on in the head of someone who is making a children’s game, essentially.

What I find wonderfully suspicious is that a friend of Julian’s, who I knew from my time in Windsor, messaged me rather out of the blue yesterday asking who put the site together and asking for her chat logs to be taken down, as she was involved in this as well. After I replied to her, my blog earlier today was “mysteriously” infected with malware (think it’s all clean now, sorry guys!)
You know, it sucks that other people are getting hurt by Julian’s idiocy and sexual depravity as well, but unfortunately, he tries to cover everything up with lies and threats rather than just owning up to his mistakes and shortcomings. I could have gone after Frozen North right when I was let go – for sexual and otherwise harassment, for wrongful termination – but I am not a petty, spiteful person. So I didn’t. Now, however, I think it is doubly important to fight back, as I am being punished, pursued, and harassed for not only defending myself against initial lies and harassment when they went on too long, but for fighting back against them as they escalate.

So yeah, you fuckers can bite me, long story short. I am not the bad guy here. I am not the office of 12 or so guys ganging up on one woman. I am not on the warpath, the offensive. I am not the one doing the harassing, directly or through ‘anonymous’ means. But I AM standing up to your empty scare tactics, and I will NEVER pretend this never happened, I will never give you the validation that you were right to harass me and then lie about it. I will never say it was alright for you, under the guise of an anonymous internet user, to target a charity event. I will carry this on as long as I need to, until Frozen North grows the hell up, admits to their mistakes and lies, and pays due reparations. Considering what they’ve put me through, I think it’s only fair. And like the title of my post, they are essentially being boobs. And not in the my awesome cleavage* sort of way.

The good, part two: 2011 is going to be a year of opportunities and changes for me, I have decided, and the first is that I am launching a webseries in conjunction with Wildsound called “The BOOB Show”. Check out the trailer for it here. First episode launches at the end of this week. I will be posting links all over when episodes come out – it may even be a weekly thing. I’m running with that whole ‘comedy’ thing like some people run marathons with scissors.

*It’s sort of an inside joke. And really has nothing to do with The BOOB Show.

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Well, happy birthday to me.

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Sorry, that was sarcasm. There will be birthday info to follow, though, (scroll down to the bottom of the post) and you all are welcome to join me in celebrating! =)

Anyway, it seems that I have had more than my fair share of run-ins with idiots lately. I’m not normally this ranty, I swear. But, ye gods help me, I had another one this morning. I got woken up with this Twitter message (the first one, specifically):

In case you’re wondering who “danocox” is (aka Dan Cox), he’s one of the guys who works at Frozen North Productions, the people who I did voice work and marketing for, for Flip’s Twisted World.

I worked with the team at Frozen North for several months, and got more than a few big interviews lined up for them. Not to mention the live promotional work I did, as well as all of the online/social media content. What I’ve learned today – indirectly because of this undue harassment – is that they’re using the lame-ass excuse that “none of my work is in the final cut” so I’m no longer getting credited for my work on the game. How unprofessional is that?

Well, I suppose it could be worse, and that alone wouldn’t bother me, if that was all there is to it and that was true. But there’s a lot more… like how Dan and some of the others in the office jealously tried to smear my acting career in some of the press articles on projects I was involved in earlier this summer. I had the IP addresses of the comments traced, and guess what. They came right back to the Frozen North office. Nice try Dan, Mitch Gladney, and Julian Spillane. Glad to see you’re so petty and threatened by an actor who is helping you out while building her own career. I’ll spare the really catty (and some very damning) comments here, because I won’t stoop to their level, but I will say that it makes me sad to see that some of these guys are also offered positions to teach in schools. What kind of values are they teaching tomorrow’s talent? As my friends and fellows in the biz Jeff and Carlos said:

” If that guy is such an expert on talent, why are 98 people following him, while over a thousand are following you?” (re: Twitter followers)

“You don’t need ‘talent’ to be a paid talent. You need to know the right people to be a paid talent. Tons of talentless imbeciles get jobs they don’t deserve.”


Sadly, I also endured a few too many months of sexist belittling (most of my marketing work was seriously undermined, and I was of course the only woman in the office) AND I was not reimbursed for most of my expenses, including travel to marketing events and to the studio to record voicework. Nice to know how Frozen North treats the people who work with them.

So, with all that in mind, I can no longer in good conscience endorse anyone to purchase Flip’s Twisted World when it comes out, if it ever does at this point. It’s unfortunate, really, because it would seem that even when I parted ways with Frozen North, I was lied to about those circumstances as well. There are some good people who work there, but they are certainly not the ones named in this post, and any who want further details on this hot mess are welcome to contact me directly.

Hopefully, I won’t have to make any more posts like this for awhile. Considering the number of great, talented people I know and work with here in Toronto and elsewhere, I feel like I have spent way too much energy lately on battling negativity rather than promoting positive projects that myself and others are doing. That said, here are a couple of quick plugs, followed by birthday party info!

Improv! I perform with the awesome team Kentucky Windage every Wednesday evening at Comedy Bar. Shows start at 6:30 pm, and are FREE to watch! Come play with us!

Theatre! I’m in a fabulous show called Sex, Relationships, and Sometimes… Love that plays every Friday at 8 pm at the Annex Live. Tickets are just $15 in advance if you purchase through Ticketweb, or $25 at the door. (Or $20 at the door, if you see me and get a $5 off coupon!)

Birthday! I’ll be celebrating with two fellow Libras on October 16th at Scruffy Murphy’s on The East Mall in Toronto, starting at 7:30 pm. If you feel like stopping by, all well-wishers are welcome… and we’re also using it as an opportunity for folks to register for Futurecon if they’d like to, as the birthday boy and I are both on the planning committee.

Also, if you’re interested in sending cards or presents this year, I ask instead that you make a donation to an animal charity of your choice. Please, do some good for the world. I appreciate tokens of affection, I really do, but I’m honestly just as happy with a nice email and knowing that someone is passing on some good karma. Animals are especially important to me because they can’t speak for themselves, and they are always beautifully honest with their own emotions.

Alright, I’m off to bed, as I’ve yoga in the morning. I love you all… well, except for those of you who go out of your way to piss me off.

(If those folks get down on their knees and beg sincerely, I’ll probably love them again. Yeah, I’m a sucker for lost causes.)

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Good Things Come in… twos?

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

In theory, anyway. I’ve attended two big events where I’ve met lots of new people, am taking two awesome classes, and get about two hours sleep a night. (Totally joking on the last one, though sometimes it feels like it.)

To start where we left off, I attended a convention in Cleveland in mid-April, Notacon 7, where I was invited to talk about doing independent film-making. Notacon is an arts and technology conference, and there was a great combination of people who were passionate and driven to explore a number of unique avenues – things like using LED circuits in clothing design, anti-forensics, how to survive a zombie apocalypse… basically, anything and everything you could think of.
Part of what made the weekend so great was that all of the speakers had different areas of expertise and interest. While I love spending time with other film/theatre/actor types, it’s also refreshing to have creative, passionate people around who are experts in different subjects. Where else would I be able to practice my lock-picking skills, after all? ;)

One of the best things to come out of the weekend was the suggestion that I should turn my speech into an ebook, which is something I’d never thought of before. When you’re frequently in front of the camera (or auditioning so you can keep working), it’s sometimes harder than it should be to get into a “business” frame of mind and think about the behind the scenes aspects – but I am challenging myself to do exactly that.

Soooo…. I will be releasing the first copies of From Page to Screen, and Everything in Between at the beginning of July. I am looking at a price of somewhere around $5 – $10, basically keeping it reasonable and affordable, but still acknowledging that I’ve put a lot of work and expertise into it. Stay tuned for more!

The second event I was at was Anime North, just this past weekend, to promote Flip’s Twisted World, which is a video game I did voice work for. We had a great turnout of friends and fans, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the sneak peek. (It’s not due out until September, btw, but check it out when it does come out!)
Back a million or so years ago (alright, ten years, give or take) my friends and I used to attend Anime North, and dress up as all the characters from Sailor Moon… so there was a bit of a sense of nostalgia there too. It was great to see all the new and different costumes that people were doing and to get to know them over the course of the weekend. Being on the other side of things – where you’re getting photographed because you’re behind a table, rather than walking around in a cute costume – was a great experience, and part of the reason I enjoy doing promotional work at conventions is because of all the people you meet. One of my favourites was a little boy dressed up as Avatar the Last Airbender… and boy, did his face light up when I gave him a button.
In about a week or so, there should be video coverage up from Anime North, and I’ll be sure to link to that when it’s up.

In acting news, I’ll be filming a feature this month called Stiffs on the Green, which is a dark comedy about golf. Shooting ramps up mid-June, so I’m getting prepared for that and am pretty stoked for what’s in store. I can’t give away too much yet… but expect photos from set whenever I can.

In terms of classes, I’m continuing my improv classes with Impatient here in TO. The first level finished mid-May, and now we’re diving more into the game of the scene. It’s a great opportunity to practice my longform work, and I’m looking forward to continuing the training as long as I can. I love any chance I can get to push myself to be that much sharper, wittier, observant, and direct, and it seems to be paying off.

As for the second class I mentioned, I’m doing acting training with Juli-Ann Kay. What a lot of people don’t seem to realize is that as an actor, you are never done. You are never perfect, you’ve never mastered everything there is to master. Which is why ongoing training is so important for development.
I just had my first class on Saturday, but from what I can see, I am going to benefit hugely from the work. She’s encouraging honesty and directness, which is something a lot of people have trouble with, myself included. It’s easier to skirt around things, to say “um” and not have an opinion, or to never answer a question outright or face your fears head on. I’m looking forward to being pushed.

Lastly, I’ve discovered what I hope will be a new, exciting, and fruitful gym routine, partly thanks to one of my new friends from Notacon. I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading on paeleo/primal eating and exercising, and am incorporating Tabata sprints into my workout. Just tried my first ones last night so in a month or so from now, we’ll see how effective they actually are.

Hope you all are having a great summer so far – I’m loving Toronto in the warm weather!

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Things that are “Pretty Fucking Sweet” this week…

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

(My loving-on posts are in the works, not to worry! I’m just taking time to compile more of a list and more eloquent reasons as to why these people are awesome.)

In the meantime, here’s yet another awesome acting blog for some inspiration: Acting Without the Drama. Ben, the guy who runs the blog (and you can also follow him on twitter: @Actingnodrama) was originally linked to me through my friend and fellow actor Marco Gennuso (who is also on twitter: @MarcoGennuso). Ben is full of practical, honest, and thorough advice which a lot of people don’t bother to give away for free. And best of all, he’s an outgoing and genuine guy who’s great at reaching out to people.
In my humble opinion, if someone’s going to impart knowledge for free, take it. Take what you need and can use from it. Too many people want to make money off being “an expert” in something, and that often comes with a sort of taint that anything given freely does not.

Secondly, a little “yay me!” moment… tomorrow, I’m going to be filming for Global’s new Digital channel. So excited for that! And I’m equally excited to be attending an exclusive premiere of the new Doctor Who on Thursday, hosted by Space. (Even if a lot of you have already watched the torrent. ;p) I’m going to see if I can’t put together a costume set for me and my guest, to go as Eleven and Amy. I promise pictures if I pull it off! ;)

Lastly for now, I started my improv training last night at The Impatient Theatre Company. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the receiving end of improv in a classroom setting, and boy does it feel good to be back. I’ve taught improv to kids and I’ve played improv games, but there’s something different and almost magical about being able to develop that much more in an open and nurturing setting. I think part of what I really like is that most of my classmates aren’t “actors”, they don’t have that need to perform and be seen. Rather, they’re just honest, open people who are just as nervous on the first day as I am and are more about just being.
The mutual vulnerability is a beautiful thing.
From it comes some very honest work (as funny as it is, it’s also honest and raw to proclaim to a room full of people that you love sex, or that you love orgasms, or that you love your daughter) and to me, that is what the root of acting should always be. The truth. Not your own personal truths as you as an actor. Your character might or might not be worrying about that huge pimple on their face or whether their hair is perfect or whether you fed the dog or whether another actor on set is prettier than you are. That stuff’s all crap when you step into a role but so many of us can’t shake it off 100% of the time, myself included. Improv is so freeing from that. It takes you out of your head and makes you hungry for the truth, for those moments of honesty and those sparks of connection between you and others in the scene. It’s about those connections between people, and man, is it ever Pretty Fucking Sweet.
(And that’s why I’m so happy to be doing it, because I need it and I crave that expansion beyond myself.)

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