Closing week!

Time to say goodbye to Oxana, Dr. Ginley, Cecily and Ms. Foxley. I'll miss you ladies! Thanks for the good times! :)

Yup,it is already closing week for my show "The Book of Liz". I'm a little sad about that. There are some people who weren't able to see it yet who had wanted to, and I have really enjoyed working with the cast and crew of this show. I learned a lot about myself and my capabilities and just in general had a really good time with this wacky, lovable little show.

When I started rehearsals I was terrified about the accents involved. Then at some point I stopped freaking out and just decided to roll with it and have fun and it all clicked into place. Funny how that works.

The theatre has had sold out audiences for this show, so it's been doing very well! So well they considered extending it but that just didn't work out due to some of the cast's schedule conflicts. Pity.

However, even though I am sad to see the show end, I am excited about other things that I have coming up! There's a lot that Curtis and I have planned and also some things that we have our fingers crossed for, and I am excited to see how it all turns out!

I have a couple challenges ahead audition wise. We'll see how those go. I'll let you know about those as they occur.

I'm ramping up the business and training side of things for myself. I'm pretty excited about it but I need to stay focused.

But first, I need to finish out this weekend! Tonight we have our last evening performance and tomorrow is our last matinee then we strike the set and then head to our director's house to see the Oscars as a cast party. I'm excited to see the Oscars! I love the Oscars. I don't know why. When you really think about it, it's all just a bunch of industry crap, but still.... I love them and I am sure that regardless of the politics, subjectivity and campaigning involved it's still got to be a huge honor to be nominated and very exciting to win!

Oh yeah, my birthday was last Monday. As actual birthdays go, I have to say it was the worst one yet. I won't go into details here. It was just an overall sucky day. It started out pretty good but then it just went downhill from there.

The next day we had a birthday re-do that included Disneyland and hanging out for a bit with my parents and their foster dog. That was a nice day.

Curtis and I will celebrate both our birthdays together next week. So, it's all good. :)

Well, that's all for now. Happy Last weekend of February!

Gala night!

Tonight was lovely! The show went very well and there was a big audience and the gala party afterwards was fun! We had champagne and appetizers and croissant sandwhiches. I LOVE croissant sandwiches. The staff, casts and crew at the Costa Mesa Playhouse are a very lovely group for the most part. I've not met them all so I can't speak for them all, but the people I've met in my two shows there have been really lovely, genuine and down to earth people. That's always a good thing in the acting world!

Opening Night!

Last night was a "Special Preview Night" for the show. Tonight is "Gala Opening Night" and tomorrow is the first matinee. So, our first regular night show doesn't happen until next Friday. I think that's kind of funny.

Anyway, Curtis came to the preview night and will also be there tonight at the Gala Night. The Gala is the same as a regular show but it has champagne and appetizers and snacky food afterwards. After every show the cast goes out into the lobby to talk to anyone who would care to talk and/or visit with any friends or relatives who came to see us, but we do so for a longer time on the Gala Night. It's a mingling event and it's a good time!

I asked Curtis to be totally honest with me after the show. He said that my cockney accent was actually very good and sounded a lot like Jane Leeves. That made my night because I was kind of thinking that it sounded like her, but I didn't know if that's how it sounded to other people. It's not a very rough or hard cockney. It's a bit softer than a lot of people think of when they think of cockney. But it works, so that's good. Whew!

Curtis really enjoyed the show. It's a wacky out there kind of show. It's not especially "real" and yet, it is in more ways than most society would like to acknowledge, I think.

Anyway, it was a really good way to open the show. I feel better about my performance because Curtis as an acting teacher is pretty honest with people about their performances. He did ask me about a couple of my other characters and had a few notes for me last night so it wasn't all rave reviews, but overall he said he was proud of me and that I did a good job. :)

The director of our show is a wonderful man named Mike Brown. He's really easy to work with. Very laid back. Very calm. He's also a very good director. For the last week of rehearsals I didn't get very many notes. The last few days I got none. That always makes me nervous. As an actress I like lots of feedback. I worked with Mike last year on a play called "Jake's Women". It was a wonderful experience and I loved working with Mike and I loved my characer Sheila. But I had no idea if anyone else loved it until after we opened. ;-) It's not that Mike doesn't praise you. He does. It just is very subtle about it until after the show opens.

So, I am glad that everyone seemed to like it. Yay for "The Book of Liz"!

Also, Curtis brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! He's a good husband. :)

New Show and Documentary Update!

This is the last Repost from Rene's Revolution. For now. ;-)




I didn't have a great photo for this post so, I just used a couple of my new headshots. That one in the green won't really ever get used, I don't think, it was one we took just for fun. But I like it. :)

A couple of days ago Curtis and I woke up early and headed to LA to do some filming for the documentary. We were in a plastic surgeons office. We got to see a lot of things including part of a breast augmentation. Boy, I always knew that surgery wasn't "pretty" and that it would be rough going when filming surgeries but man- it was really disgusting. The smell alone was gross. But the sight of someone cutting and cauterizing skin is really gruesome to me. Curtis handled it a little better than me, but then, he doesn't have boobs. ;-)

It's been a busy week in general on the documentary front. We're really getting into the filming part now. Most of the paperwork and research is behind us. That is exciting! Add to that business the fact that I am just finishing up "Tech week" for the show I am doing. Tech week is also known as "Hell Week". It's the week of dress rehearsals, sound and light cues and last minute changes in blocking, costumes and stuff like that. It's not always bad. This director is actually really good about getting us out at reasonable times, but it's no matter what it's always a somewhat stressful and busy week for the actors and tech crew involved.

We open tonight! Last night we had our final dress rehearsal with a small audience. It went okay, but not great. One of our actors was sick the night before our dress rehearsal so that rehearsal was a little out of sorts without him. The dress rehearsal was good for us to get back on our feet all together but it was a little rough. I think tonight will be better. Let's hope. ;-)

I play 4 different parts in this play. A cockney accented Ukrainian immigrant, a touch chick truck driver/delivery girl, a recently sobered up alcoholic doctor and a somewhat bitchy recovering alcoholic waitress.

I won't lie, the cockney accent was hard for me. Some accents come somewhat naturally to me and others not so much. Cockney is not one of my strengths. But I gave it my best shot with accent cds and such. But by this week, I had to just let go of the idea of being perfect and just have fun with it. I believe that while I will probably have critics critiquing my accent, I would have had them even if I was better than I am and more people will enjoy my performance if I am having fun with the accent than if I am nervous or trying to hard. Also, at one point I felt really good about the accent but the director was afraid that some of the audience wouldn't be able to understand me so, we dialed it back a bit so now it's a watered down cockney. In any case, it's a much more fun part when I am just having fun with the accent than it was before when I was nervous and trying hard to make it perfect.

In other words, I don't think that all the great, real "chameleons of acting" out there have to worry about me catching up to them, yet, in terms of accent mastery. Oh well, I did the best I could on my own and with a couple of accent cds. ;-) Also, my character is Ukrainian who learned English from a cockney speaking teacher. So, really, that accent could be very varied. That's my story and I am sticking with it. ;-)

Sometimes it's not about being "perfect" as much as it is making the best of what you've got. :) I took this part because going between characters and doing different accents and voices would be a challenge for me and would help me grow as an actor no matter what. I'm glad that I took on that challenge and I hope that it pays off in terms of audience enjoyment. :) I should probably take a couple of improv classes though. I think having more improv experience would have helped me in this show.

I am excited to be a part of the show though. It's written by the Amy and David Sedaris and I love them both. David has written some of the funniest stories I have ever heard. My friend Karen and I had a great time listening to his books on cd in her car whenever we went places together for about a year straight. We also went to one of his book readings and he signed our books. He was very nice and funny. His sister Amy is also quite funny and she is an actress. I am also a fan of hers. You can check her out HERE.

I am thankfully not playing the part she plays. I'd hate to ever be compared to her playing a part that she and her brother wrote for her. I also now really regret not getting to see her in this play years ago. My friend Karen and I were going to try and see it when it was up in LA but we ended up just never being able to. I would love to be able to see her vision of it now. I wonder if it was ever recorded? Hmmm. I should look into that.

So, that's where the show stands as of now. I will leave you all with a little blurb about the play from the playhouse website:

The Book of Liz
From one of the wittiest satirists of our time and his comedienne sister Amy comes the wacky tale of Sister Elizabeth Donderstock, cheese ball maker for her cloistered religious community, the Squeamish, who leaves the compound for the very first time to discover the lunacy of the outside world.

The playhouse website is



On our first day we flew in and were the first ones of our condo group to arrive.We have an awesome room and it is a beautiful condo. We then headed out to pick up our credentials and tickets and to check out the scene and meet up with our fellow condo mates and also my friend Erica. I met Erica in an acting class a couple years back and then she moved to New York. Her parents have a yearly ski trip here that usually coincides with Sundance so, this year we were able to meet up which was very fun! It was good to see her again!



We had dinner at a Mexican place that could not get my order right if their life depended on it. They brought me out three different entrees. None of them were what I ordered but in the end they brought me a veggie burrito. It was a little heavier than I had planned but it was quite good. So, I just took it and kept it. I had to send back to pork dishes that they kept bringing me. It was actually very funny.




The next day we headed out to some parties, but we ended up walking into town which is about a mile in the windy snow. I got wind burn and also quite wet. It made all my eye make up smear down my face and packed itself into my braids. It was in the spikes of Curtis's hair. It was very funny in hindsight but horribly unpleasant at that point in time. So, we ducked into the first warm place we could get to which happened to be Main Street Pizza and Noodle. It's a landmark here and the food is pretty good so, we usually end up there at least once every trip. They have heat lamps in the indoor corridor by the restaurant so why we were able to dry off a bit and warm up while we waited for a table. Once inside we saw my friend Erica again as she was leaving with her dad. That was a nice surprise.





We then went to the NYU Party and the Columbia University Party. NYU was soooo crowded that it wasn't really easy to move or talk to people, but the Columbia party was a real good time complete with blue drinks and some good appetizers. We met some nice people including the director of programming at The Newport Beach Film Festival. She is a very nice lady and we hope to have some films to submit to her in the future!




Then we headed to a movie a friend of ours gave us tickets to. It was called "Vampire". The good things about it were that it was well acted with a good cast and for the most part well shot. The bad things were that it was horribly disturbing. I won't go into detail here but at every film festival we end up somehow seeing a film that makes us feel like we need to shower afterwards to wash it all away. At this festival, THIS was that film. It took us the rest of the night to actually recover from it. It is not a horror movie. It's not about Vampires. It's basically a weird film about serial killers. But not really.

After that we headed home and went into the hot tub. It was nice. Very relaxing. Getting in was tricky though. Ice on bare feet is not a good combo. ;-) But once in it was actually really nice.



Then we headed out to the grocery store to stock up a bit and then we went out to Main Street. We saw the aftermath of a fight. Cops were involved. It was kind of exciting.

The next day was much better weather and we headed out to the Filmmakers Lodge for some coffee and hanging out before going to the Tweet House Sponsored by Cadillac. The Tweet House was awesome. We saw some neat panels, met some awesome people and just in general had a good time. Then the boys were hungry but I had had a lovely sandwich from the filmmakers lodge. It was veggies and cheese and hummus. SO GOOD.



So, they went to get some BBQ (Man food- hahaha) and I went across the way to meet my friend Art and his friends while they watched the Packers/Bears game. Art used to work with me at Disney years ago and is now working for the Montage Hotel. They have a hotel here now and they flew him in from Cali to work the Sundance events. It was great to see him and he just so happened to be sitting next to the editor from Morgan Spurlock's new film "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold". So, I got to meet him and he bought me a drink, which was nice. Then Art and his friend Eric came to meet Curtis across the street and they invited us to come see them at the Montage so on Tuesday we are going to do just that! :)

Next it was back to the Tweet House for a cocktail reception. We met a DJ from LA named Striker and his wife Katie. They were very nice and interested in the documentary. Then we met some other great people! It's just so awesome to meet passionate, talented people while you're here!

Then we went home to get ready for the Fotokem party. This was our fourth time there and it is always a great time! This time they had people doing tinsel in your hair, a green screen photo area, and of course the massages and oxygen bar and the good food and drinks!



Then we had to cab it over to a theater to see the indigenous shorts at midnight. We shared a cab with some really nice guys who made a documentary about Hurricane Katrina. The indiginous shorts were mostly good though a couple didn't really connect with us. Then it was home to collapse.

We got 4 hours of sleep and then it was off to the Shorts Program 2. They were SO good. There was only one that we didn't really care for. The rest were all REALLY good. Then we went home to change and get cleaned up after our morning rush to the shorts program. We spent the rest of the day seeing movies and meeting up with people. We saw the Documentary Shorts Program as well. Those were also very good!




Then we had dinner with our condo mates in the next condo over. It was really good food. Pasta, salad, garlic bread and awesome chocolate chip cookies!






Then we saw the film Benavides Born. It was REALLY good! We both liked it. It was about a poor girl in a hispanic family in a small town in Southern Texas who is accepted into a university but needs a scholarship to go. She tries for a weightlifting scholarship. Apparently in Southern Texas female power lifting is a big thing. Who knew?

The next morning we headed out to the Meet the Documentary Funders Event. That is always a really neat thing. You get to meet the producers and funders for Documentary Channels like Sundance, HBO,PBS and other production companies. We talked to some really great people. It was a successful event for us I think.





Then it was on to check out the Sundance Channel Headquarters House. It was REALLY neat. It was sponsored by the Comsmopolitan Hotel in Vegas. There was a bar, a coffee house, a computer room, a photo booth room, a milk and cookies room and a shoe polishing room! While we were there we saw Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker and Stanley Tucci. We also took photos, had a cocktail, and a cookie.



Then we rushed over to a networking party for bloggers thrown by Doddle. This is a description of them from their twitter page @doddleme "The industry's first mobile international production guide, digital call sheets & more http://www.doddleme.com" It was a great party! We met some awesome people including the writer of a children's book called "I Love You More". Everyone involved in Doddle was really cool and nice. We really enjoyed meeting them and learning about their awesome new site.



Then it was on to see the documentary "Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles". It was REALLY interesting! It's about these tiles that have been mysteriously appearing all around the world with cryptic messages on them. It was fascinating.

Then it was home to get ready to meet my friend Art at the Montage Hotel. It is simply stunning. We had a nice drive up the mountain to get there and our driver told us all about the silver mining history of the area. The hotel is huge and gorgeous of course. We had dinner at their restaurant "Apex". It was SO good. And we had a wonderful wine with dinner. It was a lovely time. We got to catch up with Art and enjoy a lovely fancy meal. Rob Lowe was sitting a couple tables over. When he left he smiled at me. ;-)




Then it was home and back into the hot tub for one last soak! We hung out with our condo mates and new friends Carrie and Evan. It was a nice way to end the evening!




The next morning we packed up, checked out and headed to our last movie. We made a pit stop to get a photo with the Banksy Street Art that is on Main Street.



Then we saw the movie "Here". It was really well acted and beautifully shot, but at times it got a little artsy for artsy's sake and it dragged a bit at those times. Overall we liked it.

Then we checked out the New Frontier very quickly before heading to catch our shuttle to the airport. The shuttle driver was not good and nearly made us late for our flight. It was chaos. That's all I'll say. But we did make it just barely so, that's good. It's very nice to be home. :)

Sundancing!

Okay, I lied, I'm going to post a couple of re-posts about our trip to Sundance here and THEN I will be done with the reposts. :)




Today we start to pack and get ready for our annual trip to Sundance. Today I need to get the house ready for the house sitter, start picking our warm yet cute outfits to wear and go to the store for food supplies for Frankie and for a new camera and new boots.

Every year I search for the best boots. I've yet to find a really awesome pair of boots the last few years we've gone. I love boots. I'm a "boot girl". That Jet song that goes "Big black boots, long dark hair..." that's me. ;-) But for the last few years I've only had stiletto fancy pants boots, not the cute kinda funky, kinda tough, maybe even horse back riding or cowboy looking boots. And I need those. In the past they were a wardrobe staple. But for the past few years the one's I love are either way out of my budget or just plain uncomfortable or just way too cheaply made to last even a season. So the search continues.

Anyway, as I was saying, I have a lot to do today. I also need to try and get my car in for an oil change. Then I have rehearsal tonight.

Sundance is always a good thing for us. This year we're going to see about getting additional funding for the documentary we've been working on, as well as meeting new people, seeing some good films and going to some parties. The parties at Sundance are always a good time. We're going to at least a few.

We're seeing 2 Feature Films, 1 Documentary and a Shorts Program, an "Ingenous Shorts" Program and a Documentary Shorts Program. I'm pretty excited about this, actually. In Past Years we've been lucky enough to get Credentials and 10 movie tickets for each of us and tickets to either the opening night party or closing night party for free. This was the first year we had to purchase our own credentials and tickets. It's WAY more expensive to do Sundance when you have to purchase everything yourself and there was no way we were getting to go to the opening or closing parties this time. But in a way it's good because we always got the credentials as a very generous favor that came from a Speaker Company that we had ties to, so the credentials were always in that company's name. Now, we have credentials with our information on them. And out of our 17 films that we wanted to see, ended up with tickets to only one of them. BUT I've always wanted to try and see a shorts program or two and the other 2 films that we are seeing are supposed to be very good, so, I think in the end we did alright.

We'll also have a lot more time to meet up with friends and attend some of the really interesting, informative and inspirational panels. So, I think this is going to be a good trip. We have the first few days without any place that we HAVE to be so, we can just sort of relax, enjoy the hot tub at the condo, do some networking and get some work done on the documentary (we'll be doing interviews while we're there). Then the parties start up and the films we have tickets for are all within a 3 day span. The day before we leave to come back home, we are attending the "Meet the Funders" event where we get to speak with different funders of documentaries and pitch ours. Then on the last day we see our last film and then head to the airport.

It should be a good trip. I'm looking forward to it. Well, I better get going. I have 6 hours to get everything done.

So Many New Things!

One last Repost from "Rene's Revolution"


New Year's Eve 2009/2010 just before midnight


New Year's Eve just AFTER midnight


Sign from my show "Jake's Women" at the Costa Mesa Theatre


The Surprise Proposal at The Maverick Theatre


Temecula Elopement!


New House with Adorable Pink Stove!


"Zombie Love" World Premiere new musical at The Maverick Theatre!


Awesome Wedding!

Wow! What a year it's been! When I started 2010 I was in a relationship but still "single" in terms of anything legal, I was unemployed and staying with my parents, and I had only been in one show in the last 13 years!

Now, since February I have:

~Been in TWO shows, one play and one world premiere of a new musical!
~Gotten engaged!
~Got a new job! (I don't particularly care for it, but it was a job after 14 months of unemployment!)
~Planned a wedding.
~Cancelled a wedding due to lack of funds.
~Planned an elopement.
~Put the wedding back "on"
~Still had he awesome elopement!
~Continued Planning the wedding
~Moved into our own little house!
~Rehearsed and performed in a show right up until the night before the wedding.
~Was cast in another show to start rehearsing in January!
~Had an AMAZING Wedding.
~Closed our awesome little show.
~And now.... Curtis and I just got signed on with our friend Zeke to work on a new project!!! I don't know yet what I can say about it but we are all VERY excited! This does mean I'll have to leave my other job, but, that's okay by me because this new project pays better and allows me to work from home with Curtis and the dog!

It's been a whirlwind of a year! I can't quite believe it actually. SOOOOO many changes and new things!

It's an odd sensation to finally be paid to do something I really love and am passionate about. Curtis and I have come awfully close to getting deals like this in the past. And we'd get very excited and start planning out all the stuff we were gonna do and then the bottom would just fall out. So, when this deal was being talked about I refused to get excited. Then we got to the point where the bottom usually falls out and it didn't. That was very disorientating. Kind of like "Wait, so, if it didn't fall out then, when WILL it?" or "Wait, so, we're NOT getting screwed over this time? This guy is actually true to his word? Get out!"

It's a little scary to leave the security of my day job to go do work as a "contract worker" again, even though I have been ready to leave for months. But it's kind of like when you're a kid learning to swim. I've got to leave the side of the pool and swim in the deep end even though it's scary because I can't feel the bottom. Because if I don't take the chance, I'll never know the joy of swimming freely.... so to speak. ;-)

I'm so excited about this new opportunity. I think that this is the beginning of many good things. Perhaps our tide is finally turning and if so, it's about time!

We are so very happy. This is a really cool project and I am so honored to be a part of it all. A big thanks to Curtis and Zeke for putting it all together.

Wow. What a freaking amazing year.