April 29, 2014
April 25, 2014
April 23, 2014
April 22, 2014
April 21, 2014
April 16, 2014
I remember when Ethan Hawke spoke to us theatre majors in the exact same hall where I spoke to theatre majors last night. (Been hanging on to this purple dress, hoping for this very occasion for a while!) Thanks to the dear friends that joined me last night, on this wonderfully fulfilling, full-circle journey!
April 14, 2014
April 13, 2014
April 12, 2014
April 11, 2014
I'm pleased to announce that I not only have one, but TWO short films debuting at Cannes this year! "Just Me and All of You" and "#RIP" could not be more different (high drama/over-the-top comedy), nor could my roles (a multiple-personality murderess/a spicy, Spanish soap star, respectively). Félicitations to the filmmakers!
April 10, 2014
OK. I LIED. Another deep post. Here goes: I thought I knew this show. I've done it HUNDREDS of times. EVERY NIGHT in Edinburgh. LA, New York, London's West End, blah blah blah. I can LITERALLY do it UPSIDE DOWN. Yet yesterday's performance at Syracuse University's Disability Culture Center's "Cripping the Comic Con" was like doing it for the very first time. Sign language interpreters filled my peripheral vision, ever surreally acting me out. As for my central vision, a lot of the audience wasn't even looking at me-- but rather reading my words as the appeared in real-time on the big screen. Others were rocking or waving at me-- overstimulated, apparently. All the while, no one is laughing… Is it because they're deaf? Because it's 10am and we're at a "symposium?" Or because I suck? All distinct possibilities. A service dog had bumped my blocks/props out place-- meh, no biggie, I'm an improviser! And yet, this show is scripted-- as I was so rudely reminded each time I said the word, "freak" AND CRINGED. I'd just never heard my own words in that way before. I tip-toed my way through the Q&A afterwards-- big, academic questions about disability, all directed at the one seemingly non-disabled person (me)-- my mic on blast. That's when it hit me: what a gift this little character's been, not just to my career as an actress, but to my life experience as a human, and now, apparently, an advocate. SO MUCH to be grateful for!
April 9, 2014
I'd like to take it down a notch-- set the chicken suit & multi-culti dongs aside for a sec-- and tell you about my incredibly gratifying day. When I was first cast as "Pepper," I could only imagine hate-mail I had coming… Disability groups accusing me of stealing their roles, or worse yet, of making fun. Today I was a keynote speaker at a beautiful event hosted by one of those very disability groups who once made me so afraid. It was thrilling to perform for them, flanked by sign language interpreters and real-time captioning. It was like coming full circle, followed by a few extra victory laps around! Thank you, Syracuse University and Cripping the Comic Con!
April 8, 2014
April 7, 2014
April 5, 2014
To my new friends/fans from last year's Scare-A-Con in Syracuse: I'm back! Performing my show, "Carnival Knowledge" as one of the keynotes at Cripping the Comic Con. My performance is Wed, 4/9 from 10-11:30am at the Schine Student Center (304ABC). Free admission; parking available at University Avenue garage.
April 4, 2014
April 3, 2014
April 2, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)