100 Lives I've Lived

I took a few months off from podcasting. And in that time new projects entered my life, which you will certainly hear about on the podcast, but not today. With September in the air, and as I prepared for a busy day ahead of me, I found myself thinking about the relationship between business and fun and was reminded about this podcast so I wanted to sit down and record an episode. This episode is about a fond memory I have of work and play. I performed the role of Helen in Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan" (scene study) in grad school. I think I might be a little shy to discuss some of the characters I worked on in grad school because I didn't perform the whole play. In the same breath, I can also tell you how much I enjoyed working on this play and this character with my incredible scene partner Geoff Hymers, under the direction of the late Elizabeth Kemp. This process was hard, and satisfying. This relationship and story were personal and also completely foreign to me. I didn't mention it in the episode but I also had to speak with an Irish accent and worked with a dialect coach to achieve this. I hope your back to school and back to work season is off to a great start, and don't forget to schedule in some fun for yourself.

I began writing, producing, and directing film in 2016 in the summer after I graduated from my MFA. I wasn't crystal clear on what I wanted to share, but I began regardless, and I ended up making a couple of projects right away that summer, including "Girls Gone Mild" a satire on millenial married women. It's not something that I've shared publicly because it's not the best executed joke or storytelling, but it was a milestone in my learning and development as a filmmaker. I'm posting it on my Patreon for my members! Not a member yet? Join and I'll keep posting some fun things. Hope you're having a great start to the week. xo

I started dancing ballet when I was three. All the women in my family have danced. My mom is 69 years old and she still dances ballet twice a week, so does my sister. I only danced for 15 years, once a week, and although I really enjoyed elements of it, I never loved it. I find it hard to spend so much time on the warm-up exercises, I just want to do floor work the whole time. Can you tell I'm an actor? haha. I hope you enjoy today's short episode. More coming soon.

One of my all time favorite roles was Masha in Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike". This was my thesis production in grad school in 2016, directed by Michael Blatt. We worked on this piece for an entire year, while we completed coursework in school and productions outside of school (and held down jobs, and relationships, and living in NYC). This role was a dream for me, because it was an escape from a lot of the things I find challenging in my own life. Masha is not a people-pleaser, she's loud, and confident, and full of herself, and it felt AMAZING to be able to slip into this character and do and say all the things that I would never say in my real life. This role was therapy (sort of)! If you haven't seen this play, I highly recommend. A modern farce and truly a hilarious script from one of the best comedic contemporary writers of the 21st century.

I performed as a part of the Box and Wine Festival in a show called "MacSpin" written by Seth Freeman. The show was directed by Micke Hayhurst, and featured Travis Stanton-Marrero, Blaine Mizer, and Julia Hays. This was a comedy mashup of Macbeth, and was all meant to be a little silly. And it was. Although it wasn't a huge production, we came second place for Audience Choice in the festival, we had a great time, and we got to play around with some of the most notable characters in the Shakespeare canon. Did it change my life, maybe not, but boy is it ever a sweet memory to enjoy. Some moments in my career have been sweet and enjoyable, and today I was taking time to enjoy the memory of working on such a light frothy piece with a talented and easy going cast. Much love as I think of them today!