I am a long time fan of Forest Whitaker so this was a treat for me.
Listening to these guys talk about auditioning for one thing after another and not getting it and hearing Benicio Del Toro was notorious for being one of the worst auditioners ever (yet he still managed to carve out a career)... shows you really need to find a way to go out and out and out and out!  Inspirational and informative talk in many ways.  Highly recommend!

And as I sit here almost a week after Phil Hoffman's passing, having read the many posts from friends mourning the loss and highlighting his goodness and his talent and his art I realize- what makes Phillip Seymour Hoffman such a loss to people such as myself who didn't have a relationship with him, is that he did not shy away from showing humanity at it's deepest most desperate core.  He made us see ourselves, identify with his characters, feel his struggles. He was in a sense, naked.  

New York has been a weird place to be this week.  I belong to a writing group many members of which are members of the LABryrinth Theater.  Almost every actor I know it seems is devastated if not because they worked with him then because they were friends or because they simply admired his art.  I spoke to a client's wife last night who told me the client, Clark, was close with Phil and had been a mess and while she had not known him personally she had been crying all week.  The loss has been taken hard.  I swear I can feel it palpable in the air.
My only personal memory of Phil is a silly one but of course I can't help but remember it now.  I met him back in LA about 15 years ago.  I was with John Ortiz (Co-Founder of the LAB) and Javi Mulero at El Coyote Cafe in Los Angeles.  Phil was friends with them so he joined us for dinner.
I remember sitting next to him being so intimidated even then.  He was one of the most riveting actors I'd ever seen and I sat there wondering how this very regular joe just hanging out at the Mexican restaurant produced such genius.  I don't remember what we all spoke about that night but if I had to assign one word to my memory of him from that brief encounter it would be humble.  He came across as very humble and very kind. 
I could go on and on as most of us I suspect could so I will leave this with a quote I came across recently in an interview Phillip did with The Rubin Museum of Art.  If you have the time this is a great one.  The subject is happiness.

.. and I LOVED it.
It's funny because the character was not at all the down and out in recovery in the midst of a torrid love affair character I yearn to play and yet I had so much fun at the audition.  I think I get off on the challenge of getting something across with only one's voice.  There is probably also a freedom in not needing to worry about how you look (let's be honest)!
From a critic's POV I think I rushed it a bit today mid-way but you have to leave that at the door.  We are all our worst critics and while I hope what I brought was what they are looking for if it wasn't I had fun the three minutes it lasted!

So the audition I have been hoping for came through today- three hours before I had to be there.  Apparently casting sent the info yesterday but to an agent I freelance with so I didn't get it until today at 12:30.  The audition was for 4.  To be out the door looking good with the work fully prepared in less than three hours was a hustle.
In the end I did a decent job given the circumstances but I would have killed to have just a little more time to work on the character.  Truth be told I didn't really get to that piece at all.  I was breaking the scene down with the sides in one hand while curling my hair with the other.  Hard to imagine it going my way given the circumstances but I think my read was enough that the two new CDS I met will remember me.  Or at least I hope they will.  Which is a win.  And they seemed like the kind of good energy people you'd want to work with so, double win really.

So it seems someone who knew about WRITER'S BLOCK put it up on Buzzfeed two days ago.  It has had 112,000+ hits thus far.  Pretty wild I have to say.  Teeny tiny makeshift on the fly experiment of sorts but people seem to be digging the story.  Was a great experience and it's fun to know people are getting the chance to see it. 

If you'd like to check out any of the coverage click on the links below :)
My favorite line in any story thus far is that above.. "weirdest amateur movie ever".  True.
Indiewire
Slate.com
Perez Hilton
Huffington Post
Washington Post
USA Today
Blackbook

Back in NYC!
I am back in New York and thus back to the grind.  I am using the "Polar Vortex" as an opportunity to make my POA and catch up on screeners.  I have watched AMERICAN HUSTLE, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY and BLUE JASMINE.  Actually I watched THE BUTLER on the flight back as well and may I just say- Forest Whitaker, what a force!  I was stunned by his performance as Idi Amin and his humility brought me to tears in BUTLER.  By far one of the best of our time.

So we're all talking New Years resolutions yes?  I am more of a New Years intentions type of girl.  I spent New Years Eve at a buddhist talk and the monk suggested a morning meditation to help one live life with less fear (and thus more love).  It is the death meditation.  The monk motioned to the group in the room,a group of about 40, and said statistically some of us won't be here next year.  Puts things in perspective.  On a layman non-evolved non-buddhist note there really is no point to fear is there?  If bad things happen they happen and you deal.  Why not go for it all and be open to what life has to offer you?  I am not saying I adhere to this on the regular but I am absolutely making it my intention to try.  Or as the buddhists say, practice.

Had a great time working on ABU Film's web series HUMOR ME this morning.  I worked on a bit that required a jersey accent and jersey like attire, accordingly:). UPDATE: Clip came in.  It is very, very silly.  And if you aren't sure, I'm the blonde one.

Friends are squeezing me in to a new show they are putting together.  I am not entirely clear how my part will break down but I know it will be improv and I know it will be FUNNY.  I relish any and all opportunities to be funny.  And all opportunities to meet creatives in LA especially that I am now (sort of) not local.

And on an entirely unrelated note I recently received my favorite email of all time.  
I am in a writing group headed by the talented and lovely playwright Jose Rivera.  The group is filled with wildly gifted writers and actors that show up to read and critique new works.  When I let the group know I would not be around until January I received a PM that read: "No.  I needed you to read white girl.  I do not allow it."  Love.  I've become used to being the token white girl and when I can play the more stereotypical naive version of one I find it fun to exorcise the stereotype.  
I can play any kind of white stereotype you've got.  Try me:)

I am visiting my love Los Angeles for the month of December and I couldn't be happier about it.  I will be connecting with friends, visiting a photograph of mine currently up in a cool LA gallery (Gabba Gallery) and hopefully finding a creative project to be a part of while out there.  There is a possibility of my guesting on a web series and I started submitting myself this week for projects so.. who knows!!

Gearing up for this evening's final (of two) rehearsals for this weekend's One Minute Play Festival of Latino Voices.  I will be performing in three pieces Saturday and Sunday night!

Writers Block had it's premiere screening at The Pine Box in Brooklyn.  This is me with Brandon Polanco, the director:).