My recent tarot card reading told me to start making mistakes. Apparently, I am succeeding.

Mistake Numero Uno!:
Last week, I had my taxes professionally done by Prudential Vanguard, a business that specializes in tax preparation for artists, actors, and athletes.

Something told me I didn’t like the idea of this once I got there. Could it have been the cold, stoic disposition of Walter, my tax preparer, combined with his utter lack of interpersonal skills? Could it have been the initial request of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY RIDICULOUS DOLLARS as the cost for this forty-five minute session? Could it have been the pile of orange “Turbo Tax How To” books on the shelf behind Walter or his negligence to tuck in his shirt in a neat and spiffy manner?

Maybe.

But he had come to me through a recommendation, and, like an acting choice, I had decided to commit to this; to make my mistake and just do things differently next year.

I was pretty prepared. However …

Mistake Numero Dos!:
Not having every single receipt and thinking I could “ballpark” some of my write-offs.

Yeah right! This is NYC, people. The only ballpark is in the Bronx and its hotdogs are overpriced.

In Massachusetts, I could ballpark some of my write-offs (i.e. food expenses, clothing) and holding onto every single receipt was something reserved for the most anal of the anal. Well, folks, start folding the ends of your toilet paper because you must be OCD about tax prep! Save every single receipt.

Mistake Number Tres!:
Thinking I couldn’t maximize my refund on my own.

I found I really didn’t need this guy’s help. I had already thought out and written down all my deductions, had already organized their documentation in labeled envelopes, had already done all the math. My visit with Walter consisted of him taking my jacket and hanging it up in his closet, an immediate clash of personalities, and suffering through his lack of customer service which was bereft of any warmth or regard for my best interest. This was followed by him sitting at a computer and plugging in numbers provided to him by me. Then he printed some papers, half heartedly and way too quickly “explained” them to me, got my signature, and finally asked me for 200 whopping dollars.

The only thing I could think to do was buy myself some time and post date the check until February 28th … right when rent is due … good goin, rockstar.

OHHHHH WELL!

How I’m Going to Do My 2013 Taxes Differently!

1.) Use Turbo Tax. It’ll only cost you around $80.
2.) Use one of one of these sheets as a guideline for write-offs.
3.) Save every single business expense related receipt and organize them appropriately.

Hopefully I’ve saved you in time and you can do this for your 2011 taxes.  I hope so!

Onwards and Upwards,

Can you tell I love the course?

I wanted to share it with the blog, because I think that listening to even a bit of radio drama can be an eye-opening (or should I say “ear-opening”) experience for the American actor or theatre pro, as our familiarity with the genre is so limited.

There are so many wonderful things about radio drama, but one that has really stood out for me is that the settings are limitless. You can take the story from a small thatched cottage to a spaceship to the middle of the Amazon, all in a matter of minutes, with no expensive costumes, props or set changes!   And the coolest part about your limitless settings…they all look great to the audience. That’s because the listener creates their own perfect image of the set in their own imagination.

So anyway…….I know there are already a million and one things to do for research in your acting career, but I’m making a pitch for occasionally listening to radio drama (though I think you’ll find it can be addictive.) The best place to start is, the BBC (natch), at this link, where you can listen to previously broadcast dramas for up to 7 days.  And if you are so inclined, have a look at some produced radio drama scripts here, at the BBC Writers Room.  Try reading some out loud to get a feel for radio drama.

I’m still in the midst of a steep learning curve in this course and would love to read your thoughts on radio drama, especially as American actors and theatre professionals.  Do you think radio drama still has a place in the American entertainment landscape? Why or why not?   My ears are open…

So, out of sheer curiosity, I decided to log all of the hours I spent solely on my career this week, as a measure of how well I was doing at making this a full-time kinda gig. So here’s a breakdown of what my week was like:

Monday

EPA: 4 hours

Last-minute audition! = learning sides, changing looks, and attending: 3 hours

Scene rehearsal & prep: 2 hours

Submitting to projects: 1 hour

TOTAL: 10 hours

Tuesday

Learning new monologue: ½ hour

EPA 3 hours

Memorizing scene: 3 hours

Booked studio space: ½ hour

Submitting to projects: 1 hour

Monitor for CD class: 3 hours

TOTAL: 11 hours

Wednesday

Memorizing scene: 1 hour

Agent meeting: 2 ½ hours

Scene rehearsal: 1 hour

Submitting to projects: 1 hour

TOTAL: 5 ½ hours

Thursday

Practice singing: 1 hour

Scene rehearsal w/ coach: 2 hours

Submitting to projects: 1 hour

Practice singing: 1 ½ hours

Industry research: 1 hour

TOTAL: 5 ½ hours

Friday

Practice singing: 1 hour

Voice lesson: 2 hours

Agent meeting 1 hour

Submitting to projects: 1 hour

Series of calls and emails scheduling meetings next week: ½ hour

TOTAL: 5 ½ hours

Saturday

Updating website, working on newsletter: 1 hour

TOTAL: 1 hour

Sunday

Audition: 1 ½ hours

Twitter networking throughout the week: 1 hour

Wrote a blog post: 1 hour

Read new play for book club: 2 hours

TOTAL: 5 ½ hours

***WEEKLY TOTAL: 44 hours***

Woo hooooo! That’s right, baby.

Now I will grant that this past week was a particularly busy one, with lots of meetings and auditions. But on slower weeks, I do spend a lot more time on maintenance issues like updating my resume, writing my newsletter and website “latest news” posts, sending mailings, and on things like learning new monologues and reading plays for book club. So I think my weeks generally balance out in that way.

I’d also like to note that none of these hours include running my “survival business” or any of the large amount of time I spend working as editor of this lovely blog. I’m sure all of you artistic types know what I’m talking about when I say that it just burns me up to find out that “civilians” think actors are lazy.

I guess what I’ll take away from this is that I’m working pretty damn hard so I should stop beating myself up for not accomplishing more. So…what about you? Have you ever tracked your hours for a week? What did you discover?

This weekend, I was in Foreplays2012: Full Fervor with Full Stop Collective.  The show as a whole looked something like this (clips from Foreplays2011):

And it took place here:

My piece was first.  Oh! There I am! (downstage left):

When it was over, management let us watch the other plays from the mezzanine of Galapagos.  After being moved over and over again by these beautiful, hilarious, heart wrenching performances during rehearsal, I found myself darting for a hidden seat, craving to watch, not the stage, but The Audience.

Here, I found what was important.

• Captivated stares
• Explosions of laughter
• Drinking of booze
• Couples poking each other when a moment onstage reminded them of a moment in their lives

I loved watching people from different walks of life all get swept up by the same thing.

Actors, it’s not about us!  And once we accept this, we’ll be artists.  We already know that onstage, a scene is doomed if we make it about ourselves.  We must put the action on the other.  Same goes for theatre as a whole.  It’s not about strutting our stuff or having a time to shine.  When we give it our all, it’s not for our sake; it’s because we must do the story justice.  We are a vessel to allow a character to live for 20 minutes or 2 hours – however long the piece.  When the show is over, we get to go home to our husbands, our boyfriends, our … cat, and live out our lives.  These characters that we play have no such privilege.  They’re done right as the curtain falls.  Their lifespans are short, and our job is to let them breathe for a their sake and for the sake of the audiences who hear their stories.

I leave you with an image I drew months ago in a workshop by Lisa Gold (whose workshops I highly recommend).  She told us to create a visual that captured our overall reason of why we’re doing what we’re doing, so when the going gets tough, we still keep going.  Take from it what you will.

So, my lovely artists, remember what’s important and continue to go …

Onwards and Upwards,

It suddenly turned out to be winter here in New York, so naturally I have been perpetuating a state of denial by cowering in my apartment, crouched by a steam-emitting heater, watching beach-themed musicals.  Why?  Because nothing puts you in a warmer state of mind than swingin’ on the beach and dodging sex before marriage. (Wait a minute…)

Back in the early sixties, a film company that doesn’t exactly exist anymore called American International Pictures hit on a GOLD MINE in producing several B movies that were aimed at teens.  This was just past the point in American commerce where businesses and ad agencies started to realize how much buying power teens and young adults had.  Predictably, the entertainment industry had started cashing in by making films that were unabashedly geared towards a younger generation.  Then in 1963, AIP released Beach Party, and essentially founded a whole genre of film: beach party films.

Beach Party was the first of seven movies that AIP released in this style, and while every other studio on the block tried to copy their formula, no one could ever seem to do it with the same success.  This doesn’t make a lot much sense because, I’ll be honest, the movies are just not that good.  Their structure is beyond obvious and there is very little substance to speak of here.  The reason I am able to even write one post about more than half of the films this company put out in this genre is because these four are, when you come right down to it, all essentially the same movie.  First take a look at their titles:

1. Beach Party
2. Muscle Beach Party
3. Bikini Beach
4. Beach Blanket Bingo

AIP didn’t want anyone fearing that they were going to get anything less than they expected, so the company made sure there was no end to the kitschy titles and kept the word “beach” present at all times.

The central cast, the setting, and almost all of the plot points are also kept in tact from film to film.  Here are all four films, in summation:

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funnicello played opposite each other as Frankie and Dee Dee–initially introduced as Dolores in Beach Party–who are a couple of steadies who can’t think of anything else to do besides go to the beach on vacation for four films in a row. (Further proof these are all the same movie: Beach Party through Bikini Beach all have variations on the same opening sequence.  Ready?  One.  Two.  Three.)  They both end up staying in the a rented house/trailer area with their whole gang of friends, with the boys and girls sleeping apart.  It should be understood that although it’s clear these kids do nothing else besides think about sex when they aren’t groovin’ by the sea or jazzin’ the glass, that there is no actual sex shown in any of these movies.  Sorry!  The copious shots of girls gyrating in bikinis are supposed to make up for that.  Frankie’s hoping the relaxing beach atmosphere will help him get a look at what’s under Dee Dee’s swim suit.  Dee Dee, however, is a woman with a mind and her eyes set on marriage.  Then either Frankie or Dee Dee shows an interest in somebody else, and the two either break up or almost break up.  In Beach Party they each had someone to raise an eyebrow at, but this device alternates between the two of them for every feature following.  Eventually though, after a lot of swingin’, surfin’ and singin’, the friction resolves and they get back together or reaffirm their commitment.

Each film has a climactic fight sequence that goes on for-seemingly-ever (and someone always ends up getting sent through a wall) and boasts end-credits that showcase someone dancing their bottoms off, leading into a tie-in to another forthcoming AIP movie.  Other features found running throughout these films include: an introduction to various alternative sports, like surfing, drag racing, and sky diving; Running jokes; the use of time-lapse photography; seemingly random celebrity cameos; adults standing around and wondering what was this thing called sex anyway, and how did these kids seem to have so much of it (even though they weren’t actually having any at all)?*

WHY THESE MOVIES ACTUALLY MATTER: 

I know, I know–I started out by telling you that they are all the same, formulaic, profit-based, “meh,” factory-produced films.  But you know what?  They are exactly what movie musicals should be: a snapshot of a period in time (either in cultural content or in cinematic style) that still works today as a piece of feel-good escapism.  And in these suddenly bleak winter months, who couldn’t use a bit of that?  Plus, Stevie Wonder made his on-screen debut in Muscle Beach Party.  So there.

The other reason why these movies matter apply most specifically to the musical theatre performers reading this: the songs.  There are so many musicals that feature this style of music now, and these films offer so many great options for your books just waiting to be discovered and sung!  You may want to take a look at these films if you are planning on auditioning for, or want to be ready to audition for any of the following shows:

1. Hairspray
2. The Marvelous Wonderettes
3. Grease
4. Hairspray
5. Buddy!  The Buddy Holly Story
6. Cry Baby–>Ah!  I heard that scoff just now.  Listen: it’s being revised and is supposed to open in March of this year if all goes according to plan.  So don’t say I didn’t warn you.  In the meantime, though, you can always focus on that eventual audition for:
7. Hairspray

For non-musical performers, watching these films will help you research your audition for Psycho Beach Party, and help you understand why the film version of that play is funny at all.  Parody only works if you know the source material well.  Also, they’re just ridiculous.  Laugh at them.

Finally, these movies came out between 1963 and 1965.  Need I remind you that Mad Men is back in a little over a month?  Now is the time to start planning ahead for Spring/Summer fashion, and you can get a leg up by watching those styles in action.

HIDDEN GEM SONGS:

There are so many great song choices from these films, I had to make a list of them.  Some of them can be perfect for a man or a woman, with just a couple lyrical adjustments.

1. Don’t Stop Now: Male, uptempo
2. This Time It’s Love: Female, ballad (Could work for male singer with lyric adjustment)
3. It Only Hurts When I Cry: Female, uptempo (Could work for male singer with lyric adjustment)
4. I’ll Never Change Him: Female, uptempo
5. And so many more!

As always, hope your week is just the most, and Happy Movie Musical Monday!

*Sex, of course, was not documented or verified as truly existing until the sixties, though there had been some initial case studies done along a streetcar route in NOLA back in the fifties.  Contemporary evidence, however, suggests sex may have happened as early as 1958, somewhere in France.)

About 3 years ago I was shooting a student film. I had worked with some students from the school the previous  Fall and they were great. They were organized, on top of the ball, and actor friendly. I was doing a thesis film for the guy who was the AD on the previous film and the story was about a desperate father struggling in tough economic times resorts to robbing a bank to provide for his family. (Something I haven’t not considered). Anyway, the scene was to be shot inside one of the administrative buildings after hours.  I don’t know if it was because I put my trust in the director and his crew, or that I was just too far removed from my childhood, but there I am, wearing a ski mask and holding  a prop gun in the Admissions Building at 530 PM on a friday practicing my lines. Next thing I know two campus police enter the building, guns drawn. (This was not too far after the Virginia Tech shooting). Long story short, I wasn’t shot or in any trouble, however the director was, (in trouble). For he neglected to mention he was shooting a scene involving a gun and little did he realize, the building was still open for business. A few frightened, crying secretaries gained my sincerest apologies, I honestly never saw someone so scared in my life until then.

Just the other day I went to an audition for an indie film of some type being shot here in NY.  As I am sitting outside the room (in a karate school-which should’ve been a hint to begin with), I hear the director say to the reader “at the end, hold up your shirt cause the character has a gun.”  Well the reader, who was also the producer and writer (another sign to  probably stay far away),  says “Oh right! Hold on a minute.”  He runs into an office and  comes out with, you guessed it, a gun!

I don’t know for sure if it was real or not, but it wasn’t painted orange. Regardless,  it didn’t matter, this was an AUDITION! There was no need to actually have  a gun. I knew that if this is how these guys think an audition needs to go, what will they do on set? I simply crossed my name off the sign in sheet, put my headshot back in my bag ($1 saved!) and walked out of the creepy smoky martial arts  ”school.” Acting is play, guns are not.

Photo Credit

One year ago today, February 9, 2011, we launched our very first post to a handful of readers comprised mostly of personal acquaintances of our first three bloggers. Over the past year, we’ve grown into an amazing community that brings people who have never even met together every day, and provides support to those of us embarking upon one of the most courageous life paths there is — a life in the theatre.

All of us here at The Green Room Blog would like to extend a huge thank you to our readers, for your continued support and wonderful comments. And, as editor-in-chief, I would like to send an enormous amount of gratitude to our fantastic bloggers, who have shared their best tips, most difficult struggles, and beautiful hearts with all of you.

As a birthday present to us here at The Green Room, perhaps you’ll take a moment to share the blog with a friend in the industry who could benefit from our stories? Or maybe if you’ve never commented on any of our posts, you’ll take a second now to do so and join in on the discussion here about what you’d like to see on the site in the future. We do so love birthday presents, even virtual ones!

We have some wonderful plans for new features for the blog, so stay tuned. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us.

$5 Nude stockings

$13 frumpy-mom jeans

$12 half-price on sale floaty, hippy top from H&M

$22 a bright-colored cotton business shirt from NY & Co

$$$ ?  mascara, hair gel, hand cream that doubles as hair gel, deodorant

and the piece de resistance:  A $12 pair of plastic yellow high heels from Payless

This is just a short list of some items I have bought in the past year, in a rush, after getting a call from my agent saying, “can you get down to xyz office by 3 today for an audition?”  It’s one of the best kinds of calls to get…it throws my day into turmoil, but for such a great reason…auditions!

However, as I ripped open the packaging around new pair of Duane Reade black tights today, while balancing on one foot in the Penn Station bathroom, changing clothes before an audition, I wondered if I could do this better.  This kind of thing happens all the time and it results in a bit too much panic and a bit too much monetary outlay for me (after all, I have 5 perfectly good pairs of tights at home, I didn’t need to spend $8 on another. But I also couldn’t go to an audition for “trendy mom” with my ratty old jeans I was wearing.)

So I’m looking into carrying around an “audition ready” bag each day with me.  I already carry my makeup around, so why not just carry one mom-type outfit too? And hair gel.  And anything else I may need…?

So I’m looking for advice. Do you have an “audition bag” you carry each day? If so, what’s in it? Any advice to avoid making Penn Station my dressing room?

**PS for those of you still in horror, I never let my bare foot touch the floor. I balanced in one shoe, put the tights on one leg, put that foot in a shoe, then took off the other… just wanted to let you know

***PPS who said acting isn’t glamorous?

Today’s film, kicking off this new Green Room Blog series, is 1942′s For Me and My Gal.  This movie from the MGM Freed Unit, marks the screen debut of Gene Kelly, as well as his first partnering with Judy Garland.  They would go on to make two more films together, The Pirate and Summerstock. (There would have had a fourth, but before filming began Kelly broke his ankle and sent the script over to friend and then-retired Fred Astaire.  Astaire took over the part, bringing him out of retirement, and would pair him with Garland for their only film together: Easter Parade.) The plot of For Me and My Gal is based on real-life vaudeville duo Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden, centering around Palmer’s self-injury in order put off joining the army after being drafted–the timing of which would have kept the couple from playing an engagement at the Palace.

The trailer for this film is like a time capsule that speaks volumes to our seventy years hindsight:

First, such a long-winded, pumped up textual explanation of what kind of film this will be.  Follow that by introducing Judy Garland as Jo Hayden, in “the Outstanding Role of Her Career.”  At this point, Garland was only 19 years old, and was literally at the half-way point of her film career: it was her sixteenth (fifteen full lengths, one short) and she would go on to do sixteen more.  The description is probably more due to the fact that it was the first time she was cast in an adult role, not simply as an innocent young girl…again.

George Murphy gets second billing, though few of us today would recognize his name sandwiched between those of the two now iconic stars, responsible for defining a generation and genre of filmmaking.  Murphy had actually just finished another movie with Garland previous to For Me and My Gal called Little Nellie Kelly, and had been slated for Gene Kelly’s role in this film.  However, due to Kelly’s acclaimed performance on Broadway as the somehow-lovable heel Pal Joey, members of production (including Garland herself) lobbied for Kelly to take on the part of playing the somehow-lovable heel Harry Palmer.  And a film star was born.  Being brand new on the scene, Kelly is only credited here as the “Sensational Star of Broadway Musical Comedy!” (Though I am sure I am not alone in noting that I would count myself lucky if that was the only thing people had to say about me.)  The trailer then reminds us of simpler times, when all you needed was “A Boy…A Girl…And a Song!”

The final title card also notes that Busby Berkeley directed the movie.  This would be one of many films in Berkeley’s catalogue that showcased a smaller scale of film-making by the director.  There are no lavish production numbers featuring chorus girls who go on like their legs–forever.  Instead, we find a more natural, less impressionistic approach to song sequences.  Berkeley would later say that this had been his favorite film he had worked on.  However, despite the lack of tiered, revolving platforms, draped in thighs and hosiery, this is a movie musical and not Chekhov.  Hence our next clip.

Jo Hayden and Harry Palmer have only just met, and already she doesn’t like him.  But he likes her: as a commodity.  How is a guy supposed to break the very-cold-ice with a girl he’d like to steal away from her current show-biz partners and build a double act with?  We all know music is better than words, so why not invite her for a cup of coffee and sing her a song you bought out from under those aforementioned partners who had originally been promised that arrangement?  Great idea, Gene Kelly.  We should all be so conniving/clever/dashing-in-spite-it-all.  What happens is largely predictable in the world of the movie musical:

Did you see that?  How all of these other instruments came in suddenly after Judy Garland finished the first four bars of the song and started the verse?  How she could play the piano part without really looking at the sheet music, or actually pushing down on the keys, somehow conjuring all the notes from deep within Gene Kelly’s eyes?  How the two of them suddenly could sing harmony and knew all of the words for a song neither of them had heard before?  How they had instant and spontaneously matching choreography, and could feed each other schtick?  It’s a musical, so all of this can only add up to one thing: these two kids are in love (even if they may not know it yet).  And what do people who are in love (even unconsciously) do better than anyone else?  Perform as a double act.  Even the lone shop owner agrees.

But the story isn’t over, so there has to be some more conflict.  The pair hit a couple of bumps along the proverbial road (one being an opera singer played by Martha Eggerth, who was seemingly so voluptuous they actually blurred out her cleavage during her singing of “Do I Love You?”), but finally their hard work pays off, and they get a booking at the only place that matters: the Palace.  (The one in New York, it should be noted.) But just when they start packing up their trunks to go, Gene Kelly gets drafted.  Wha-wha.

What’s to be done?  How can he give up his greatest dream just to fight some Germans?  He won’t.  He gets a couple postponements on behalf of his agent, but after those run out, the pair are still days away from playing their engagement. (I should also mention, they are conscious of their love by now, and are planning on getting married after their first matinée at the Palace.) Rather than get his army physical and risk being shipped off immediately, Palmer slams the lid of his trunk on his hand and buys himself more time since the army wants him healed before they make a decision.  But it backfires: the same day he does this, word comes in that Judy Garland’s brother Danny–who, like every noble man portrayed at the time, had enlisted–had been killed overseas in the fighting.  She calls Palmer a coward and tells him she never wants to see him again.  Because what does a person in a 1942 musical love more than their singing-and-dancing-partner-and-romantic-love-interest?  AMERICA.

But remember: it’s a musical comedy.  It all works out, I promise.  And with a very patriotic conclusion.

HIDDEN GEM SONG: One of the best things about old movie musicals are the occasional gem-of-a-song you can find that people haven’t heard in a while, but would make a great addition to anyone’s musical theatre book. (This is particularly true of some novelty songs from the early part of the century, that can make for great comedic song options: something that still stands up, and hasn’t been beaten to death in front of auditors.  Because let’s face it: unless you’re in final callbacks for Wicked, or your name is Kristin Chenoweth, who wants to hear you sing “Popular?”  No one.) A song that might fit such a bill: “After You’ve Gone.”  A popular song from 1918, the Roger Edens arrangement to this song is just stunning.  Garland would bring it back to her catalogue during her concert years.  I couldn’t find a clip of it from the film itself, but here’s a recording from 1960.  There are several possible 16 bar cuts that are just waiting for you to mineminemine.  Provided the rest of us don’t get there first.

That’s it for today’s film, For Me and My Gal.  Have a great week, and Happy Movie Musical Monday!

(**Resources used for this post: Wikipedia, IMDB, TCM, John Fricke’s commentary on the DVD of the film, and my own inane knowledge and observations.**)

A few months back I began getting up every Monday morning and posting various clips from different movie musicals on my Facebook page to share with my friends.  Why?  Well, the fantastic spectacle of the movie musical (enhanced often by an aspect of joyous, unabashed whimsy) made them the perfect counterpart to a day of the week that is generally greeted with a groan and a deep sigh, stemming from either a sense of regret over what happened/didn’t happen over the weekend, or from projected exhaustion about the coming week.  Basically: Everyone could use an extra smile on a Monday.  Why not have it served up in a large-scale production number?

The Redheaded Actress suggested that I move these clips and commentaries over here to have the opportunity to share my love of movie musicals with even more people.  This made me very happy–almost as happy as comparing Judy Garland’s fifteen minute long medley “Born In a Trunk” from A Star Is Born, to Liza Minnelli’s eleven minute long medley “Happy Endings” from New York, New York (something I have actually sat down and done several times).  I hope you’ll enjoy this new series, and that these little musical nuggets will brighten your Mondays the way they do mine.  Here we go!