First acting class is in the books!

So last night I went to my very first acting class. It's a 5-week course held through a local theatre company. The class is in it's third week and two of us were newcomers (but I was the only one completely new to acting). The class has probably about 10+ that participate, but only 5 of us showed up last night (Which I didn't mind).  

Anyway, we worked on monologues ... you could really tell that the three class veterans had tons of experience. We are supposed to prepare a dramatic monologue from a play. It was amazing, to say the least, to see them work. To see them take direction, change what they were doing completely, and for it be so believable ... awesome.

Then it was my turn ... with my comedic monologue, that wasn't from a play .... and it was my first time in that type of setting. While, I'm pretty sure that I didn't do that great at taking direction ... I still enjoyed every moment of it. Yes, it was intimidating a little bit and kind of unnerving. To stand there and understand the terms, to try and convey true emotions ... to change those emotions and try again ... it was intense. But I loved it. Yes, I definitely have tons to learn, tons to work on, tons to soak in ... but I'm so excited for this journey.

Acting is so .... beautiful! The artistry and self expression and emotion .... is mind boggling. I have to do it. I have no choice.

So, that's it! Hopefully a video blog will be coming soon!

My Video Blog

The first installment ... So much more to come!

Steps in the Right Direction

I found an acting class here in Northwest Arkansas ... yay! It's a five week class that meets every Wednesday ... unfortunately, I found it two weeks in. I think it's going to work out for me though, because now I get some one on one training as well to make up for the two classes that I have missed. I'm really excited to start getting more acting knowledge! Now I just have to find more short films and plays and more experience in general. I want to make the move to LA in September, but before I do I want to get as much of a foundation as I possibly can to stand on here in Fayetteville. I still haven't written about my actual plan, have I? I'll have to do that soon!

Personality Test ... Not bad!

There were a few things that I didn't quite agree with ... but overall pretty accurate!
Click above to take your own...Click Below to see my results! :-)

My personalDNA Report

Which way? Over there? Thanks!

I feel like I am such a mess! I'm all over the place! And I don't just mean right this second, I just kinda mean as a rule. :-/

I feel like in life you should never EVER EVER settle. Whatever it is that makes you happy, that should be your goal. You should be determined to make it happen ... to be happy! You shouldn't have to settle for mediocre, for alright, for "eh, it pays the bills." You should find your passion and do whatever it takes to succeed in that!

Sounds beautiful, right? Sounds like the perfect plan. Well, it is, if you know exactly what you want to do. If you know what makes you happy and know how to make that happen ... and still be able to live.

Well me personally, I had absolutely no idea what that particular happiness was for me, or how to pursue it ... and, I've just always lacked direction. All I ever knew about me is that I wasn't going to settle. I have two degrees and the entire time I was in school, I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself. Even back in December when I finished school and was working in sports, I still didn't really know.

There were a few things that I have always been certain of though. (1) I love art and expression, and I was always trying to figure out how to get it out of myself. I'm not that great a poetry, or drawing, but I wanted to find my medium. (2) Whatever I did, whether it be sport related or not, it was going to be involved in entertainment. That's broad, I know, but I knew that much at least.

I know I'm twenty-something. I know that the practical thing would be to use my two degrees and get a stable job and buy a house and ... live. But I don't just want to go through the motions of life, and do what I'm supposed to just because I'm supposed to do them. I want to make sure that I am the happiest person that I can be. And for me, that will only come from living with no regrets, from pursuing everything that I ever want to pursue and going all out.

Anyway, I've found something that I am extremely passionate about. Something that makes me want to go all out, to take a change and commit fully. And I know that it's going to be hard. I know that there will be tons of no's tons of rejection, tons of hard times. But, that's a journey that I am prepared to take. I feel like I have a direction now. I feel like I have found something that will give me the joy that life is supposed to give me! I've found my artistic medium. I've found my entertainment .... in acting.

And let me clarify ... I don't have dreams of being famous. I just want to be able to make a living doing it. And I know that it is going to be the hardest journey of my life. But I will never know my potential unless I go at it 100%. While I am young enough to do so. My degrees aren't going anywhere. I still have them, if needed, for the future.

But I know what I have to do ... In my pursuit of Happiness :-)

Let's Cruise!

Alright! So! Hmmmm, lets see ...
Lets catch up on my life, shall we?

I recently came back from a two week "vacation" to the west coast. I went on the cruise that I was talking about in an earlier post. This was a regular cruise on the Carnival cruise line ... we were but a small portion of the people on board. Anyway, there were about 25 talent agents and casting directors, and about 85 talent. The agents were big ones! Modeling agents from the big agencies, Casting directors and talent agents from the big channels and most popular shows (think of your favorite show that you can't stand to miss every week, and I bet one of these people cast someone on their).

So, day one was just an orientation and introduction. Day two included the modeling, swimsuit and monologue portion. Day three was talent (dancing & singing), scene study and improv day. (I'm not sure that's exactly how it went, but something like that).

I was confident that I sailed through the majority of it. Since I had been working out for fitness competitions, I thought I looked ok in my swimsuit (even though I had a minor incident while trying to cover my tattoos and got brown concealer all over my yellow bikini bottoms :-/ ). My monologue came out exactly how I wanted it to and I got lots of laughs. Scene study was eh ... I'll admit I stumbled through a couple of lines. I probably looked pretty nervous during improv and I rushed through it to hurry off stage (definitely my weakest moment of the cruise). I somehow got cut from the singing portion, even though I know I sounded better than some of the chosen ones. I'm still not exactly sure how/why that happened, but I took it in stride. So all in all, I thought I would at least get three or four call backs....

Wrong! I got one lousy callback ... and it wasn't even a real one. It was from an acting school in the NY area ... they were basically there to let people know about their school and to give away a few scholarships. I'm pretty sure they called back everyone on the ship.

Three other girls from my agency came on the cruise along with myself ... they each got 5-7 callbacks AND they recieved $1500 scholarships from the school that I got the pity callback from. Needless to say I was upset, crushed, devastated, discouraged ... I was a horrible mess. At that point, I felt like I had wasted my money ... I felt like a failure ....but not once did I think that I should give up on my acting dream.

I mean, come on! That was my first time ... I had no training, no experience ... nothing. I did walk away with 2nd place for my monologue. Also, after callbacks, they had open interview time ... this is when you could to talk to all of the people who didn't call you back and be like "...WTF?!" (or something like that). So, I went to some casting directors who all gave me great feedback. They advised that I should make the move to LA if I truly want to pursue acting. I do have two degrees to fall back on if it doesn't work out. I was told that I am absolutely adorable. I was told that I am green and definitely need more training, which I totally agree with. I was told that I need completely new pictures, which I also agree with. Actually I will show you my comp card! You are not supposed to have on black lipstick in a head shot ... EVER. But my issues with Kim are another story entirely...

So, there it is! Some pictures I like, some I don't .... consensus on the cruise was that they SUCK! And it's the industry's opinion that matters! But Um ... I think I'm done with this post. There will be another one shortly entitled, "THE MOVE" ... or something original like that.

Oh! And I'm definitely starting a video blog (My youtube is MissToyz). I need some more on camera time anyway. K, Bye!