Yup, still here! Oh and look at my fancy new website design!
You may have been wondering what I’ve been up to in the last 11 months or so. If not, I’m going to tell you anyway. Ready? Here we go…
A very important and memorable thing happened on December 26, 2018: I flew to San Francisco.
It was memorable because instead of picking me up with a sign saying “Buttface” and chocolate milk, Will picked me up with a sign saying “Buttface” and chocolate milk and a sparkly diamond ring! I think it must be the best airport pickup of my life. Did you miss the video? Watch how it happened here: Boxing Day Proposal
The even better part? We left two days later for a pre-planned vacation to Hawaii, so we got to celebrate our new engagement in paradise.
So I’m feeling pretty awesome.
I said “yes!” (photo: Chelsea Nenni)
On a catamaran touring the south shore of Kauai. (photo: Sam, another tourist)
The not-so-awesome part is that once we returned home, I had to leave my now fiancé again. First I was off to a work trip in Seattle and then back to my home in New York. We’re figuring out where we will be living once we’re married. It will be together in the same place, don’t you worry.
On December 2, 2018, I celebrated THREE YEARS in New York… by renting a car and driving to Connecticut for an audition. I also had pizza (once I got back to New York). So yes, on the acting front, because that’s why I’m here after all, I’m continuing to keep busy picking up a few gigs and auditioning like crazy.
Most recently, I performed in The Players Theatre Short Play Festival in Greenwich Village. The theme was SEX! and I was in a play called The Legally-Binding Consummation of Benedict De Tancarville and Lady Christine D'Aguillon by Maia Henkin. Not only was it deemed the longest-titled play of the weekend, but we also won Best Play as voted by the audience! It was hilarious and charming and so much fun to do.
The Friar is not pleased with these two… (photo: Becky Abramowitz, our director)
Continuing backwards, November 2018 provided an opportunity to briefly return to AMIOS’ Shotz show. They’ve been on a short hiatus, but came back in November with Shotz Mixtape taking six previous Shotz scripts and remounting them. I got to be in a mother-daughter piece called Peanut Butter Sam Wishes where I played a 7-year-old girl in dinosaur pajamas. Super fun. There was an issue with our venue and we ended up having to do the first show in a bar abound the corner. Despite this, we had a packed house and it showed that people will come and support your art, even if it means sitting on the floor or standing in the back. So cool. So New York.
Performing at the Gray Mare bar. (photo: Greg Zulkie)
2nd show at The Kraine Theater. (photo: Greg Zulkie)
That month I also attended the Society of Voice Arts & Sciences (SOVAS) “That’s Voiceover!” Conference in Universal City. It was a day filled with voice artists and professionals from all over, and I had the opportunity to meet and hear Nancy Cartwright speak. She does the voice of a 10-year-old boy named Bart Simpson. It’s been a good gig for her… Such a thrill!
Me and my Voiceover Hero! (photo: selfie!)
The face you make when you get to ask your Voiceover Hero a question! (photo: SOVAS)
In October I got to play one of my favorite Shakespearean sassy-pantses for a one-night-only reading with Match:Lit. They started a series called BARDCore where they have actors perform a Shakespeare reading and have two act breaks featuring trivia. There are also libations. I performed the role of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing to a rambunctious crowd in Astoria and absolutely loved the process, though quick.
In September, I began my second year teaching Beginning Acting at Marymount Manhattan College. I have the first-year majors for the full year, and I was immediately taken by their energy and loveliness. It’s been a good opportunity to put my MFA degree to use and gain more teaching experience!
Over the summer months, I booked two voiceover gigs! One with my agent STARS from San Francisco, and the other with my agent in NYC. The former was for a popular toy… stay tuned. The NY gig was for an audio game that can be played with ‘Alexa’ on the Google platform.
I also attended all four Giants-Mets games at Citi Field, and was shown on TV several times along with the gang from Finnerty’s. In June I took a quick weekend trip to DC to watch them play the Nationals, because why not? I gotta support my boys!
Caught on TV proudly cheering on the Giants in an extra-inning victory with my Gamer Babe Courtney (photo: Nico Muntean)
Watching the Giants at Nationals Park! (photo: fellow Giants fan)
I performed in both Shotz shows in May and June, and also took a couple classes with well-known New York theatre Casting Directors in April and May. There was another class in November, and an on-camera class in July. And in between all that, I went to allllll the auditions I could!
Finally, last April was my official New York stage debut in Life is But a Dream with Spicy Witch Productions. We had a two-week run and I was so thrilled that my parents, sister, and some of my best friends flew to New York just to see it.
And that brings me back to my post from March 2018, the last time you heard from me. Sorry it’s been so long.
Princess Estella in Life is But a Dream (photo: Phoebe Brooks)
At the end of the year, I also like to look back at the previous year by the numbers, so here we go:
2018 TOTALS
160 in-person auditions: 2 bookings -- 1 show, 1 reading
5 in-person audition callbacks (a new record!):
Spicy Witch Productions (the booked show)
Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse
Theatre 2020 (NYC)
Palm Beach Dramaworks
Florida Repertory Theatre
34 voiceover auditions: 2 bookings
68 Email self-submissions
411 online self-submissions: (via Backstage and ActorsAccess)
? headshot and resume mailings: oops… forgot to keep track (why do people still want hard copies anyway?)
5 Shotz shows: January, February, May, June, November
52 plays attended: (3 in the Bay Area, the rest in NY)
71 plays/books read: (mostly plays)
4 scene classes attended
5 One-on-Ones with agents/casting directors
So if you’ve read this far, you see it was a pretty full year! I am already attacking 2019: I have attended 21 auditions thus far and had one callback!
I have to admit it was pretty sweet starting off the calendar year newly engaged, vacationing in paradise, and then playing with work friends before returning to the hustle and bustle of NYC. I am incredibly thankful to the people in my life who continue to encourage and support me, both near and far.
I’m still here and I’m still fighting!