I've been working this month at Jubilations Dinner Theatre as an "Additional Cast Member" (aka character server). My character is a blind waiter. I walk around with dark sunglasses a white stick while doing normal serving duties. It's been a lot of fun and people have found it to be really funny.
At the start of the show I also get up on a side stage and dance with my back to the audience while everyone else in on the main stage. The audience eats it up!
I also got the understudy role for one of the actors in the current show, which is on until early February. The show is "Canadian Disco Idol" and I'm understudying for all the male singing contestants (mainly a Clay Aiken spoofed character named Dayton Aipen).
The roles are currently being played by my friend Josue Martinez (who's new web site I'm also designing).
I went to Vancouver this month for a few days to visit a good friend of mine from Australia. He was on his way to Cuba and extended his stop over in Canada so we could hang out. We had a great time and I have to say I'd love to live in Vancouver!
I've wanted to live in Toronto or Vancouver for a while now, but have stayed in Calgary because it's been better for my acting career. A friend of mine that I met up with in Vancouver helped confirm that. She's an actor and hasn't had a single gig since
moving to Vancouver a year and a half ago. She said that everyone and their dog there are actors and most that she knows go through hundreds of auditions without landing a single role. So, with my TV show and the other many casual gigs that I get here, Calgary is likely going to still be home for a while.
Speaking of which, I did a couple more murder mysteries this month. One for Murder Mysery Canada and one for Pegasus Performances. They were fun as usual!
Otherwise, the rest of my time is taken up producing "Brothers TV". We have episodes airing on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve which is kind of cool. We renewed our contract with Access for another 13 weeks so we'll be on now at least until March. We're repeating some episodes throughout the month, but in the new year we should have some new ones.
My brother Andy & I are getting ready to entertain at "Indulge" night club on New Years Eve. They're having a Mardi Gras themed dinner party and I'm
being King Cajun with Andy as my Court Jester. I get to tell everyone what to do in order to get beads, which they can turn in for prizes.
It may get a little crazy... so it should be a lot of fun!
I'm also getting ready to teach an acting course at Centre Stage Theatre Company which starts the first week of January.
Right now I'm for sure teaching one acting on film class for teens, and if there are enough registrations I'll also be teaching a similar course for adults.
I'm really looking forward to it.
I also got some photos back from the production of "Seesaw" that I did with the same company (we peformed in junior high schools in Calgary).
I don't usually write here about auditions that I didn't get, but I had a couple recently that I thought deserved mention.
The first was for a Vibe 98.5 commercial, which is the pop station in Calgary.
I had to sing along to a Beyonce song and then to a Britney Spears song while acting like I was doing every day tasks (like washing the dishes or just walking down the street).
I felt like an idiot afterwards, party because of how ridiculous it all was, but mostly just because I forgot
the words to most of both songs (even though I danced to the Beyonce song over 80 times in the magic show tour that I was on last year, and have no problem singing to the Britney Spears song in the car).
Anyway, I actually ended up getting a call back. At the call back I had to sing the same Britney song while acting like the passenger in my girlfriend's car. This time I was more comfortable with it and the other people in the
room were laughing a lot. The next day my agent called and said that they were like 90% sure I had the role, it just had to go through final approval. Then the people at the production company called me and told me the same thing.
A little while later I got a third call saying the head director (who wasn't at either of the auditions) decided to go with someone else. I was really disappointed, especially after being assured I basically had it, but at the same time they
told me that they were really impressed with my audition, thought that I had a lot of talent, and would be keeping me in mind for future projects. They called my agent and told her the same thing, so in the end I felt really good about it.
The second one was an audition for a Subway commercial. I prepared for the role I thought I was auditioning for, but when I got there they decided that they wanted me to audition for a different one. I had to act like I was driving and then react as
a man in a business suit acts like he's sliding across the hood of my car and then cleaning my windows with a squeegy. Then I had to act like I was rolling down my window and then handing him some change, finishing with confusingly watching him as he leaves. So, without any preperation, I went ahead and did the audition. They were all laughing as it went on
and then they asked me to stay and do the role for the next two guys who were coming in to be the man in the business suit. They laughed again during both of those auditions. I left that one feeling quite satisfied with my audition(s), although still thinking I could have done more (which is just the usual with me).
Anyway, the next day my agent called and said I got runner up for the role. She said that they told her they were really stuck trying to decide between me and one other guy. She said that they had a lot of really good things to say about me and that it was really, really close, but in the end for whatever reason, they picked the other guy.
So again, it was disappointing, but at the same time, I felt great for getting more really positive feedback.
Better than most auditions when you just don't hear anything back!
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