Saturday, November 12, 2011

Down in the Meat

SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER, 2011

Recurring as Martha Reed on The Good Wife
December 4th at 9/8c on CBS.
Oh, goodness. Oh, Martha!

a festive apple pie, baked by the only other Martha with which I'm familiar

PREMATURE wraps! Post begins!
It happened on an itty bitty budget. We called in a lot of favors. We owe a lot of people a ton of thanks. Now, on to the editing. A website will be launched in a few weeks as well as some fun trailers. I couldn't be more proud of what we've made so far.

paul perroni, me, and dave dastmalchian

Go BZRK
For the past several months I've been acting in an alternate reality game created by writer Michael Grant and ARG masterminds The Shadow Gang. I remained anonymous for the duration of the game which made me feel really cool and mysterious, as most secrets do.

The game is a promotion for BKZR, a novel by Michael Grant (writer of the oh so popular Gone series for teens). I couldn't put the damn thing down. Pre-order the book. You will just eat it up. I know it.

I'd never heard of an ARG before I was asked to be in one, and I'm still having a hard time explaining what it means to be an inhabitant (in my case two - I played twin sisters) of a fabricated online universe that real people interact with and participate in. It's waaayyy over my head, incredibly complex, and I'm still in awe of the number of devised characters, websites, organizations and events that are constantly colliding in this violent world. What fun it was to watch all the story lines unfold!

video #1 from Sophie and Sylvie Morgenstein's website


A couple of other BZRK websites that are pretty sweet, featuring some terrific Chicago actors:
nexushumanus
deathormadness

ALIAS:GRACE reading at Ball State University
I had the honor of returning to BSU for the first annual Playwrights Week held by the Department of Theatre and Dance.

A handful of diverse plays written by faculty members were presented in workshops throughout the week. I was fortunate enough to read the title role of Alias:Grace, a piece based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood and adapted by my tremendously talented former professor Jennifer Blackmer. I feel more fortunate than ever to have training from a program whose faculty is still putting thoughtful and necessary work into the world. Students have the opportunity to see first hand that a life in the arts is just that, a life. Create, create, create forever! It was an uplifting reminder for me, as well. Plus, I think I learned as much from my fellow visiting guest artists as the students did. Several seasoned actors, playwrights, and industry folk joined me in taking part in readings and seminars. I listened to them, wide-eyed, and tried to follow with whatever sound, coherent advice I could muster.

I also had a chance to see Circus in Winter, a musical based on the novel by writer and BSU professor Cathy Day, conceived by Ball State students, and directed by the unstoppable Beth Turcotte. It was moving. The set. The singing.The MUSIC. OH MY GOSH THE MUSIC. I cried. Tears of joy. I mean, they MADE a giant circus elephant. I believed it. I believe!
oh, I don't know. Here's an elephant.