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Playing House
On Monday, Michelle and I had planned to meet early and rehearse, but unfortunately, life got in the way. Luckily, I knew my lines and had worked on the text on my own this time. So, when we got to class and went to run our lines before going up, I should not have been completely thrown when she asked me, “What is Bruce doing here?” Someone once told me that a great acting exercise is to go out in public and run your lines, then see if people can tell you’re rehearsing, or if they think you’re genuinely having that conversation/argument/falling in love or whatnot. Michelle was super natural…
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Rabbits and Trolls
On Wednesday I had a scene from Love, where I was Mickey’s roommate, Bertie, who was described to me as weird and eccentric. With this (and my recent Seeking White Female scene) in mind, I forgot that even if you are playing the crazy character, you usually shouldn’t think of yourself as crazy. The trick to nailing those characters is to play them like you’re the most sane person in the room and everyone else is crazy. In this case, Tracy and I ran the scene in the back to figure out the blocking and make sure we had our lines, and then we did it 4 times. I would…
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Rabbit Hole
This week I tried something different. Johnny, who teaches me Meisner, was telling me about the amazing opportunity we have in this class, to rehearse scenes with each other before filming it in class, being able to watch it afterwards…I realized that I wasn’t taking advantage of the rehearsing with scene partners between classes, so I did something about it. My scene is from Rabbit Hole, which is some pretty heavy, emotional stuff. Last week, we all teared up, but for me it was because it’s a sad scene, not because I was internalizing any of it. Usually, I am nearly off book from the first class where we cold…
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Brunch In The City V
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the 5th Brunch in the City, which was my 3rd. This time, I didn’t know anyone, and wasn’t the greatest at networking, although I did meet some cool new people, and had an incredible time. As always, Danielle and everyone who works to make this event a reality outdid themselves. Although brunch is traditionally about food, it is also an occasion to dress to impress, and yesterday was no exception. To make things easier on attendees, there were different stations offering free manicures, henna and brow shaping. Since lines are usually a great way to meet people, I went to all 3. First,…
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Leave the Therapy, Take the Cannoli
Hey everyone! For the past month or so, I have been helping out with a play that Premieres tonight as part of the Montreal Fringe Festival. For those not in Montreal, or who are simply wondering what the Fringe festival is, it’s an amazing opportunity for artists to showcase their skills and passion. For about 3 weeks, all kinds of theatres and venues across town welcome a multitude of plays, cabarets, musicals and performance pieces. Tickets are incredibly affordable and the artists are completely uncensored. The play I have been helping out with is called “Leave the therapy, take the cannoli” and tells the story of an Italian family that…
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Time over shallow
Last Monday’s acting class was the kind where I know I can do so much better, but I just didn’t put the time and effort into it. The first time I was supposed to do the scene, I got booked to be on set and couldn’t make it. Then the week after was a holiday, so when last Monday came around, I had sort of forgotten about it, especially since I had something else I was supposed to be going to. Ultimately, I decided to go to class and then be late for the other thing, but it meant I only put a quarter of the time I should have.…
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Class Lessons
It has been over a month since I shared what I have been learning in my acting class, so today I will go through the scenes I have worked on recently, as well as what I learnt from each one. First is the Break Up, a scene I did with Nick. I hadn’t worked on it as much as I should have, and he had a cold when we did it, so I was slightly worried, but through running the lines a bit before class, I was reassured. He even went all out and got a doorbell sound effect on his phone for the end of the scene. If you…
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Some recent filming
This past month or so, in addition to wrapping the Cohort and filming a short that I wrote, I also got to live a multitude of lives in other people’s projects. I am clearly very behind on the blog, but they still felt worth mentioning, so here is a little bit on each of them. Another 10 Minutes This was an interesting project, where I had so many lines, but am never on camera. Except for maybe a glimpse of my legs as I walk by. The film concentrates more on someone’s reactions to everything that I am saying, which is really a lot. Normally, when I am not on…
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Filming my Short – Production
I want to start by saying that I am so grateful and appreciative of everyone involved in all stages of production on my short. The actors, the extras, the crew, the advisors…everyone who helped in any way, you have my undying gratitude, and I know that I owe you, big time. Feel free to collect at any time. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Two weeks ago at this time, a bunch of kind-hearted strangers (and friends) came to my house to film a short story that I wrote. Seven scenes and seventeen and a half hours later, we wrapped and I had accomplished what I set out to do years ago. Without giving away…
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The Cohort – A Wrap on Season One
Back in September 2014, I auditioned for two separate roles on a webseries set in a university. I didn’t get either of those roles, even though I felt the audition went really well. Instead, a new character was written into the series for me. I am not sure how I inspired a selfie-obsessed instagram queen, but two and a half years later, I have taken more selfies than I ever could have expected to, and have absolutely loved the experience, from start to finish. A very bittersweet finish, because it is exciting to finally be done our first season, but I will also miss having a semi-consistent acting job. I…