http://www.castingville.com/profiles/mollyrae

I forgot to post it in the last entry, but while I was at Actorfest I was offered the opportunity to open an acting portfolio account online, through a company. I thought I would post the URL and you can check it out if you want! Also, if there is anyone that any of you know that you may want to pass the website onto, feel free! I need all the networking help I can get!

Thanks!

http://www.castingville.com/profiles/mollyrae

Part Of The Business...

So, part of the "business" of acting is being able to have a thick skin, know how to take rejection and to know that things may not always turn out the way that you want them to. Oh well...it's part of life. This time it's the fact that the movie that I was cast in lost its special effects director so it's been shut down for the time being. Hopefully they will bring it back in the spring...We shall see. But in the business you just have to go with the flow.

In the meantime, yesterday I went to an actor's festival called Actorfest. It was basically like a college fair with many tables set up with representatives from acting companies, agencies, theatres, schools, conservatories, graduate schools, consultants, managers, coaches, headshot photographers...etc. I learned so much! What a great opportunity!! It was right in the heart of the city so I was surrounded by industry professionals and other actors in the same situation as me!

So, even though the movie did not work out for now, at least I was able to have such a great opportunity and learn so much at Actorfest (and get a lot of free things!!)

Thanks for your constant support!

I Got My First Part!!!

Guess what?!?! I am going to be in a movie! While it is a small production company and it is low budget, it is still a movie! You have to start somewhere! This movie is about a group of friends who are hiking in the woods and come across a bag of money. They decide to take it, but little do they know they left behind a clue and the people who hid the money find it and go after the hikers....dun dun dun!!!! It seems like it's going to be a fun and exciting (and educational) experience! I met with the producer yesterday and was given a copy of the script. I am really excited because there is a fight scene so there will be a special effects guy there helping to rig us with equipment to make it look like we get shot. I am really excited!!!!

As always, thanks to everyone for your support!

Costume Desgin

So, whoever said that you can only have one career? I love acting! And...I love costume design! I never thought that I could draw. I would always draw stick figures and never had confidence in my fine art skills. I took Costume Design I my Junior year in college and after being taught how to draw I fell in love with the idea of designing the clothing that the characters would be wearing. I used to design clothing for my paper dolls all of the time, when I was younger. I love coming up with my own clothing designs and outfit ideas- so what better way to channel that than costume designing! I have designed costumes for a dance show (13 dancers!!!) where I not only designed them, but also made them. I have designed costumes for "Romeo and Juliet" (that I set in the 1920's) and for "Little Shop of Horrors" and I have designed random dresses and outfits just for fun. I have been practicing my painting and drawing techniques and I have been slowly getting better! I went to the MET a few weeks ago and I was sketching all of the sculptures that I saw! It is such an amazing place! If you have never been, you have to go-seriously!! Amazing.
Anyway, we will see where costume design takes me! What a wonderful combination- acting and costumes!!!
As usual- Love you guys! Thanks for the support!

The Real World of Acting

It's crazy to think that in less than a year I will be "released" into the "real" world and will get the chance to try out my acting skills! I cannot believe how quickly school has gone, these past three years. I have learned so much and I look forward to learning more! This semester I am taking Voice 1 Class (where we are working on our vocal ranges and finding songs that fit our voice types) and Improvisation, as far as performance classes go. I am really enjoying my classes and have been using my free time to read new plays, work on my Costume Design portfolio, research audition and research graduate schools. I look forward to all the opportunities that will come my way this year and in the years to come! I am hoping to auditioin for some of the shows on campus, and I hope to propose to direct a play, as well. We will see what happens!
As always, thank you all for your encouragement and support!

And We're (Almost) Back

I can't believe that I am almost a SENIOR in college!!!! It seems just like yesterday that I was a senior in high school. Now, I will be entering the "real world" and it is kind of daunting! I am excited about it, though! I hope to eventually move out to California and settle there for a while, and try out the "acting world!" I am entering my senior year and there is plenty of stuff to do to get ready. I just got an email from my acting professor telling us that we need to have 4-6 monologues memorized! I am excited and nervous all at the same time!

Thank you for all of your continous support!

Summer!

I don't know how many of you heard about the surgery that I recently had to have- it was for my kidneys- but I am well on my way to recovering! Due to the fact that I was on the couch and out-of-it for so many weeks when I got home from school it seems like my summer vacation has just started! (Although, the weather does not seem to be matching up- it's so cold here!) I have been hanging out a lot with my sister and just relaxing! Now that I am feeling better I can start work at the ice cream stand and I can get ready for my job as a camp counselor! I am really excited, because this year I was given the head counselor position of the youngest group of campers, so I will be working all summer with four, five and six year olds!
As far as acting goes, I have been keeping up on open call auditions around here, but I have to work this summer to make money for my last year of college (!!!!) so I don't have a lot of extra time to travel far for auditions. For my twenty-first birthday I was given several books on acting, different techniques of acting, and the business of acting- so at least I will keep myself educated and updated! 'Gotta always stay proactive!!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes from everyone and thank you, as always for your on-going support!

Almost Legal

In two days I will be 21!!! I know this is going to sound funny, but it makes me feel old... It really seems just like yesterday that I was in high school and here I am now, headed into my Senior year and looking at Graduate schools.

As usual, I am busy as ever! I am working several "day jobs" this summer, while I live at home with my parents. I am a camp counselor at a day camp, I work at an ice cream stand, and I work for an organization that works one on one with individual with disabilities. I like all of my jobs, but I continue to strive for my dream!!

I finished up this past school year- lots of work, but it's done! I had a blast playing the character with the Staten Island accent! I was also able to cry for the more serious role. I learned a lot from both experiences and look forward to future roles! I will be taking a Improvisation class next year, so hopefully that will help me further my comedy skills! I am also taking a Senior seminar where we will put together a showcase for agents in NYC- crazy, I cannot believe that I am almost ready to go out there and show the acting world who I am! I am nervous...but also soooo excited! And it's great to have such a support system, so thank you to all of you!

Staten Island Accent

Hello Everyone!
So, in my Scene Study class the newest character that I have been assigned to play is a hilarious manipulative woman who has several nervous breakdowns onstage. It is from a play by Neil Simon called "The Good Doctor." It's your old-fashioned classic comedy! My professor informed me that the character called for a "voice"- meaning that the character needed an accent or an obnoxious exaggerated voice of some-sort to really emphasize her character type. So, I chose a Staten Island accent and I have been having a blast with it! My character has really grown over the last week and a half and she is annoying as hell!! I wear a knitted pancho and two really ugly shawls over it, and a tattered skirt, and the best part is the cat-eye glasses that I get to wear!
Don't get me wrong- I love tragedy and drama just as much as I love comedy, but there is just such a natural connection that I have to playing "character roles" (or funny, stereotype roles).

So if any of you get a chance to come and see the Scene Study final, you can come and see me play this hysterical role! The date of the final is Wednseday, May 13 in the evening.

Thanks again, everybody, for all of your constant and on-going support!

Time for a Break

Spring Break is finally here! I am ready for it to get warm and for the flowers to bloom! It's still cold here, though... For spring break this year, my mom and my sister are coming to visit and we are going to spend some time in the city! I am going to take them to some of my favorite places in "The Big Apple!" Then we are going to travel home and I am going to spend the remainder of my break relaxing and soaking up some family time!

I have been searching for casting calls and have found quite a few, so I will also be working on updating my resume and printing out my headshots to send in to some of these casting calls! We shall see what happens!

Sometimes It's Just Nice To Hear

As an actor one has to be open to criticism and critique, but sometimes it's just nice to hear from someone that you are doing a good job, or that you are on the right track. It's not something that we expect from our audiences, or something that we have to hear because that's not what acting is about- but, just like in any job, it is nice to hear when you are doing your job right.

Today, in my Scene Study class my professor congratulated me after class, after I had just "opened my emotional door" while performing an emotional scene for the class. I have been working on it for the past two weeks and I had not been able to actually cry during the scene yet, or reach that emotional peak that I was aiming for and that the scene is asking for. But, I did it today! And, like I said, sometimes it's just nice to hear that you are doing a good job from someone else.

They say as actors we are our own harshest critic...sometimes it's true. Sometimes I feel like am beating myself because I can't get a certain part right, or a certain line, or I don't feel that I am actually in the world of the character... But, then sometimes, when you are doing it right, you can feel it! You can feel the world of the character around you and everything looks new and different! You can relate to the emotions of your character and allow them to channel through you! When you are truly playing the character and immersed in their world I cannot explain to you how wonderful that feels!! It is exactly what we as actors strive for- not fame, not loads of money, not for our picture to be on the cover of People Magazine... but for actually, fully achieving our goal as actors!

Now I am going to go "study" some acting while watching a movie! (It's true though- whenever I watch a movie or a television show I am watching the actors and how they work at their craft.)

Let's Start At The Very Beginning...

"Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start." As sung by Maria in The Sound of Music, which just so happened to be the very first musical that I fell in love with. It's funny because when I was a lot younger I hated musical theatre- I did not understand the reason for people to randomly break out into song. And look at where I am at now...making this my career. Go figure, right?!?!

What to say...what to say... Well I am a student at a universtiy studying Theatre Arts and I love it! I am engrossed in constant theatre work. If I am not memorizing lines for a scene or a play then I am directing a play, or designing costumes for a show, or organizing props, or helping a fellow actor memorize their lines. I love being in the Theatre department because it is like we are all a family. We all care about each other and we all support each other. I have been acting since I was very young- I still remember the first time I was onstage and I insisted that I wear a slip as a skirt, while I sang a song for the audience, that my aunt had always sung to me. I have been singing my whole life. My dad is in a band and so I guess I take after him as far as our love of music goes.

I appreicate all art, although I have to say I never did understand how someone could hang a blank canvas in a high-end art gallery and get paid tons of money...but that is besides the point. I appreciate all that art involves: hard work, dedication, blood, sweat and tears :) To me, working on one's craft as an artist is one of the most important and exhilerating things! I don't act for fame and I do not want to be a millionare... I just love acting.

I hope that this blog will be interesting for you readers as you follow me through my journey of being an actor and trying to make my way through the tough times, as I strive to become the best actor that I can be! Who knows, maybe someday soon you will see me on the big screen!