Unscripted - A Blog for Actors - Backstage

Sue Me

So, apparently I’m being sued. Here’s the whole dealio:

A day or 2 before I jetted off for NY to participate in the Industry Showcase, I researched some headshot printing places in Los Angeles. Reproductions seemed quite expensive and I needed something really fast.

Low and Behold “Noho Prints” comes along. I placed the order and an hour later I got a call that they were ready. Scratch that – I got a text message that they were ready. I should’ve known something was up when I received the text, but no. I hopped in the car and drove to North Hollywood to pick these pictures up.

It took me 20 minutes to realize that the dinky little store I kept passing by was actually this place. It was a whole in the wall. Not professional at all. But the website looked so professional! Hmmmm. I look at my pictures. Everything looks great, except for the fact that the paper that he printed the pictures on is only slightly better than regular paper. Where’s the photo paper? He claimed that his paper was up to industry standards. I calmly told him that no, this was not. This flimsy paper would never hold up to what’s out there.

The Show Is Never Over

Someone once said to me, "The show is never really over; we just stop performing it." That certainly seems true of The Mystery Plays. (Note: the photo is of me in the dressing room wearing one of my costumes from the show.)

So all the time I thought I was going to have when the play was over hasn't really existed. Things keep popping into my schedule, filling it in a delightful and unexpected way.

One of the coolest things I did last week was go to a neighboring college to discuss The Mystery Plays with a Literature class that focuses on theatrical texts. They read the play, and then came to see our performance of it.

It was fun to talk about the show with people who had read it. It was completely different from our usual talk-backs after performances. We talked about how we approach the show as actors, as opposed to how they approached it as readers. I loved it. I hope they did, too.

A Night 'Up in the Air'

One of the perks about being a SAG member are the free screenings of films and Q&A's with the cast, before the movies themselves hit theaters.

Most recently I attended a screening of "Up in the Air" at the Paramount Studios with a few hundred other SAG members and stayed after to meet and chat with Anna Kendrick (Twilight) and Vera Farmiga (The Departed).

The theater is gigantic and the seats are plush and lush and oh so comfortable!

There's a nice intro by the lady in charge about the history of the film and most of the time you bump into a familiar face.

Corporate offices have beer carts that get rolled around like dim-sum trays in the office on fun Fridays; SAG actors...go to the movies.

Everyone has their cell phones turned off. No one is unwrapping candy. And no one is talking during the film. We're pros. We're there to see the movie.

I had no idea what 'Up in the Air' was about before seeing it. Only that George was starring, or as some crazed fans, making his name multi-syllabic, would call him, George-guh!

Hola from Brandi & The Boys

People always ask me, "When did you first know you wanted to act?" This is such a hard question to answer because the truth is, I've always known! There was no epiphany or "Aha" moment. I just always, knew. Even as a small child I remember telling people I was going to be an actress-singer-dancer-figure skater-model-gymnast all rolled into one!

Of course, people don't want to hear that. They want to know about that magical "moment in time" when you declared to the world {or at least to yourself} that for better or worse you were going to act! For me, the closest thing to a defining moment came when I was in 4th grade and got the awesome opportunity to play Belle in our school's production of Beauty & The Beast. From the time I was cast to the moment we took our bows, I was completely enamored with the whole process. I loved memorizing my lines, practicing in rehearsals, wearing the costumes and ultimately performing on that tiny cafeteria stage. While I don't remember many of the show details, I do remember, quite vividly, how excited I felt while I was performing. The thrill it gave me to make the audience laugh was amazing and unlike anything I'd ever experienced before and I wanted more. From that day forward it wasn't just one of many careers that I'd like to explore, I knew I had to act.

18 years, 1 husband and 2 kids later, here I am in Hollywood.

My New Friends Whitney and Speidi

I have a confession to make.  It's really awful.  It's really so, so awful, I can't even believe I'm sharing it with the entire Backstage Blogosphere.  Promise not to judge me?  Okay?  Promise?  

Well, it all started in Toronto when one night after the show, instead of reading a magazine or book or practicing my guitar to chill out, I turned on the television.  TV's not so bad, but I've been proudly off of TV for quite sometime.  When I was in Brooklyn, I didn't have cable and turning on my tiny screen was a rare occurence.  On tour, I've been staying in places with all kinds of cable and movie channels, but I've been so busy enjoying each new city that I've barely taken the time to notice. 

Anyways, my TV watching in Toronto started out innocently enough.  I'd catch the end of some old movie on AMC or a little news from the day, but one night something special caught me eye.  The TV screen exploded with pop music and beach scenes and beautiful houses.  Girls with shiny lip gloss and tan legs were walking and laughing.  Sooo pretttttyyy....They all looked like they were having so much fun!!  I couldn't turn the channel.  "Ohmigod Audrina!  I can't believe Justin would say that to you...that's just like...ugh...like, I don't know...."  

Scapegoats

   
We all have things about ourselves that we'd like to change. As actors, those things become the focus of our obsession in the darkest hours. I was born missing two teeth in my upper jaw - which created a gap in my smile. This was pretty cute for a young kid. As I grew older it became less cute. In my young adulthood I mostly forgot about it, as it only came up when people thought I might be gay - and then I'd suddenly remember why.

NGOTB: New Girl on the Blog

    Hello!
    My name is Alexandra Fiber, and I'm an actress in New York City. In a few short weeks, I'll be graduating from NYU/Tisch with a BFA in Drama - Hurray! I'm simultaneously terrified and thrilled to be jumping feet first into the industry, and I'm excited to share a piece of that journey here on BackStage: Unscripted. But before we go anywhere, I thought I should tell you a little about myself.
    I'm originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, so I'm a long way from home. New Mexico is an amazing place and I miss it a lot, but I feel like I'm a city girl at heart. My best friend has a little plaque at her beach house on the Jersey Shore that says,"I wasn't born on LBI, but I got here as fast as I could." That's how I feel about Manhattan. Basically, if anyone ever makes a film about my life, I hope they film it here, on location, and that on the DVD extras there's a 15 minute featurette where the art director/location scout talks about how New York is the third character in the movie.

Another First

As many of you know from previous blogs, I love to celebrate "firsts."  I think it's something you've gotta do to mark your progress and success in a business that can, at times, seem thankless.  Sometimes, just opening a door that you've been trying to open for years--and doing it--is a reason to kick back and pat yourself on the back.  You've got to celebrate things like your first agent, first commercial, first pilot, getting your SAG/AFTRA/Equity card, first TV or feature film audition, first play, first lead role, first glowing review...just to name a few.  Sometimes you've gotta celebrate the little victories, like getting through an audition without passing out from nerves or taking the time and having the guts to ask a CD a question that may help your audition, even if the CD is in a bad mood or you feel like your audition is being rushed. 

This week I'm celebrating my first audition for a lead role in a Broadway production!  "But Stacey," you say, "it's just an audition.  Don't celebrate too soon."  Oh, you silly naysayers.  I've dreamed of auditioning for a Broadway musical since I was three.  I'm gonna take the time to celebrate this opportunity in style.  And not because I think I'm gonna land this part, because that's highly unlikely, but because it 1. happened and 2. holds the promise of more auditions in the future.  The door has been opened.  Somebody thought I was good enough to have a shot and somebody else will in the future.  This is how I choose to think.

Actor Website Phase 1

Here we go-- website time. Very first, I used the super helpful tips from Bonnie Gillespie over at actors access: Bad Websites, Good Websites, Bad Websites, Good Websites II, and Bad Websites, Good Websites III

Youch

Prior to this week, I hadn't been to the hospital in 14 years, not since I broke my left wrist during a high school soccer game. That all changed wednesday night. I was at work, which was my saving grace, polishing glassware, when a glass broke during mid-polish. Yeah.

Thanks, Julliard! Love, NYU

Our showcase went great. It was short and sweet. Brilliantly staged and we had the audience laughing for most of the hour. We were on performing on 42^nd street in front of people who could potentially help us get work – casting directors from NBC and CBS, agents from Abrams Artists, Henderson Hogan, and managers.       

Unfortunately, our showcase was also the same night as Julliard’s 4^th year show, so our reception afterwards was empty. Everyone had to peace out to catch the 8 pm Juilliard show! We were all a little bummed about that, sitting there eating a Dean and Deluca hor dourves platter all by ourselves. Who was the genius who scheduled our showcase on the same day as our competition's? We figured that instead, we get phone calls and emails in the days to follow.

Well, it’s Thursday and I have not received a phone call nor an email. My 3 close friends who also did the showcase have received emails – from Abrams Artists Agency. Hmmmm. Okay, patience is my friend. I will be patient. It’s not the end of the world if I don’t get any response from this, but boy does it make me feel like s***.

Birth of the Little Mighty

So it's been a lucky fall season of getting to see myself on screen. Apparently, three's the magic number.

First there was "How to Seduce Difficult Women", then "The Brooklyn Heist".

And last Friday night I attended the private screening of "Carla", the indie short about American female Iraq War veterans coming home with post traumatic stress disorder.

This one is not a comedy.

This is a huge social-political statement of what is currently taking place in the midst of the Iraq war on our side of the fence and nobody wants to fully acknowledge it.

I was nervous. I knew my scene encapsulated the short's heavy subject matter.

And like any actor, couldn't help but wonder which take made the film and which were left on the cutting room floor; or I guess, in today's age...the digital 'recycle bin'. 

Wow! Isn't that funny? It's 'Recycle Bin' now, and not 'Cutting Room Floor'.

As in, "Did you make it into the movie or did you end up in the 'Recycle Bin'." Okay, I digress...

A Sign

This is a picture of a big bright sign I passed while walking around in Toronto one evening.  It stuck with me.  

The Playwright

It's so ironic that I am serving as a reader for this playwrighting class right now as I have just joined forces with one of my most beloved playwrights wo work on a piece. I've always been into writing and done it on the side/for myself and playwrighting is such a different, huge beast than what I'm used to. I'm not sure exactly how our collaboration will manifest, but happily we have such a great relationship that I'm sure it will naturally evolve for us. It was brilliant to be able to sit in a class full of up and coming playwrights and listen to their work and read their characters and hear their concerns and ideas. It totally put me in a space where I'm ready to jump into my own project with a bit of perspective.

Grad School Diary #2:Recommending myself

    I've picked out the three theatre professionals I'd like to write my recommendations. They are all game for it - but one of them is a very busy broadway casting director. Busy enough to ask me to write a draft of the rec for him, just to get him started. I told him I could totally do that for him.

    I can right? How do I write a draft of a rec for myself? What do I think he'd say? He's taught me in a few classes, cast me in a reading and remarks on my talent pretty much every time we see each other. I guess I should just go for it, and let him reel it in. It's still a little weird. But this seems to be somewhat par for the course as this stuff goes. Anybody worth writing one for you is going to be busy, and the best way to get it done is to start it for them, and I have to do it THIS WEEK.

    So I have quite a bit on my plate. Start two rec's, write my personal statement, start choosing my monologues so I can work with my coach. All this for grad school that I'm not even sure I want to go to! But that's okay, it's an option I do need to investigate. Although lately I've been doing so many other things, event planning, teaching - that I'd hate to give them up to go to school for three years. C'est la vie. I'm changing my life over the next year, so things will...change, and that's what I want. LA or Grad school, the battle rages on.

--  Shawn Dempewolff

Post-Show Malaise

The Mystery Plays closed on Sunday. My parents flew down to see it closing weekend, which was awesome (they hadn't seen me act in a long while). The final performance went very well (as did the whole run, actually). And now that it's over... Well, it's bittersweet. It's nice to have a little more time in my week, and less pressure. But I already miss it. I loved this show. And I loved getting a chance to act on stage again.

To be honest, without the show, I'm not sure what to do with myself.

Surprising Journey

Get me out of the car.  NOW.  I've been stuck in the always hair pulling experience of LA traffic... for over two hours.  My right leg is completely numb and my favorite driving mix is not having its usual "life is beautiful!" effect on me.  It's time to disembark the nightmare train.  A cheap parking garage appears on my right like a desert oasis and I willingly drive down into its concrete catacombs.  Engine off.  The traffic monstrosity has ended, but the agitation is lingering like a mosquito bite: I'm still itchy.  I throw on my leather jacket (which somehow makes me feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator - don't you even THINK of messing with me!) and storm towards the escalators.

Early Thanksgiving

This weekend, five very important things happened in my life:

1. Picnic opened on Friday night...these are pictures from Acts 1 and 2!  (no Act 3 ones yet)

2. Richard Fisher of Abrams Artists Agency in NYC came to UNCSA this weekend to see Picnic and St. Joan.  Studio IV also did monologues for him on Saturday, and a few of us sang as well.

3. Ayo Davis, the Vice President of Casting for ABC primetime, put all 20 members of Studio IV on film.  The tape will be edited down to 3-5 people and will be shown in the casting office!

4.  My dad's father made the trek from Kentucky to North Carolina to see me in Picnic.  This was the first play he'd ever seen me in at school!

5.  My boyfriend travelled from New York and saw me work for the first time ever.

Bloggers and Beers!

Last week, a few nights before Actorfest, a lovely editor and some multi-talented blogger/actors got together for some custom roasted peanuts, frothing beers, and animated conversation at my favorite birthday locale in West Hollywood.

Though we all knew a bit about each other from our blogs, most of us had never met before.

I had been looking forward to this night and had a minor hand in party planning it myself, now that I"m a locale Los Ann-geleno.

The SpokesWoman Spot

When you take a commercial class, the teacher is bound to load you up on spokesperson type copy, which makes for good workshop material because those spots are usually dry and difficult to make both personal and technically good.  In reality, the spokesperson audition is quite rare.  Buyers are pretty hip to hard sell advertising tactics, so when you see the spokesperson approach, you tend to see it more in low-budget local commercials and regional spots.  Which doesn't mean that commercial students shouldn't study the mechanics of them, but it's maybe not the best use of time and money considering commercial auditions tend to be more diverse and way less text heavy.

That said, in the last two years, I've been called back for a couple of big commercial spokesperson gigs.  I wouldn't say that I "got close" to getting them since I wasn't put on hold for the jobs, but the gals that did?  Cha-ching.  You know them.  You love.  And you will probably always associate them with a certain product.  Which makes me wonder, how would I feel about being the face of a product (a la "the Verizon dude") as opposed to being "just an actor" seeking a little commercial money and exposure on my way up to the "real gigs?"  

In any case, I think my agents now think of me as a spokeswoman player, and I've got a big ol' audition tomorrow for a guaranteed 4 spot (and maybe more) spokeswoman character directed by a super cool film director.