15 posts tagged “acting”

As I mentioned before, I'm in this little film called The Wizards of Daggordale. While the wizards themselves still have a lot of footage to shoot, we in the supporting cast had our turn last month, and they've put together a little behind the scenes peek. Check it out!

And remember to check out www.Daggordale.com for more good stuff about wizards Berandar and Eloilder, their music, and the film.

p.s. Here's the quickie photo I got of my purple makeup while still in the makeup room. They may have some better ones, so I'll post them if I get them.

love-love. Lindsay

I've had a production meeting, I've got my script in hand. I guess that means it's time to make the announcement. In February I will be filming my first fantasy adventure!

The Wizards of Daggordale is a very special film, and a pilot for a future web series. A pair of adventurous, singing, wizards seek the ancient Book of Runes, full of spells and enchantments. Unfortunately they seek it from me: the Harpy Queen. Let the magical battle ensue!

Sadly I cannot tell you the most special part of this film, as I am sworn to secrecy. And as a fantasy film shooting much of the time on green screen, there will indeed be months of post production before you can see it, and before I have much more to say about it. But hopefully we will have photos! (...I will be purple, I hear.)

See more about these wizards at their website: http://daggordale.sonnetfilms.com

Now available at an iTunes store near you: My first audio play! Woo-Hoo! Presented by The McCroskey Memorial Internet Playhouse, here's the blurb:

An anti-romantic comedy in two acts, Diary of A Superfluous Man concerns the misadventures of Chulkaturin, a tax official of late Imperial Russia, who, in chasing an improbable romance with a young lady of good family, battles against both a Russian prince and a fate that decreed him at birth to be “an extraneous bolt in the machinery of eternity.”

You can also listen online or download directly at www.theinternetplayhouse.com.

Sorry not to blab about it when I got cast or did the recording, but after my experience with Marry Me, in never knowing what's going on or when to expect anything (it may be another year now), I decided it would save on a lot of questions to just wait until it came out. So, really, I've saved you any suspense and given you instant gratification instead!

And is it weird that my first important role was in The Elephant Man, my first equity play was Man and Superman, and now my first radio play is Diary of a Superfluous Man? Does this mean I can expect my first feature length movie role to be a "man" of some kind? As in a superhero flick or something? Hm. That'd be cool.

Hope you enjoy the play. I've yet to hear it in its entirety, as it was only released today. For any of my low-tech relatives out there still living on dial-up, let me know if are unable to download it. I may not have been able to buy you copies of the calendar I made, but I'm sure I can scrounge up the postage to mail you a CD... eventually.

love-love. Lindsay

Dear Self (and any other actors who may also need this reminder),

     You've worked long and in depth on your monologue for that audition. You've studied it. You know it. You are even feeling quite good about it. And you make sure to arrive extra early at the audition site so that you have time to settle in, warm up, and fully prepare. So far, so good. Now, Lindsay, I know that it is an incredibly rare thing for any auditions to run ahead of schedule. Almost unheard of, in fact, which may be why this *very important thing* has slipped your mind tonight. Your audition slot is theirs, but any time before it belongs to you. You don't have to be your cooperative self and help them speed through auditions by going 10 minutes early. You are allowed to say, "No, sorry, I'd like to take these 10 minutes I planned out so that I may focus before going on." I know it's hard to say no. But you really must do it. For your sake and theirs. If it is indeed before your scheduled slot, going on before you're ready will not show them what you can really do. Sure, they may get to go home early, but they won't have all the cards. And you won't have any. Because if you're not focused on that wonderful piece you've been running all day, and all week, you're going to rush it, be shallow, and cheapen that beautiful thing. And all your hard work and time management will be for nothing.

     I'm sorry, dear self, to be so hard on you, but you know I'm not criticising your talent, just your in-the-moment decision-making. If I don't spell out this reminder for you you may do it again. So remember: Your time belongs to you. So take that time and FOCUS.

love-love. Lindsay

In one of my college acting classes we had the assignment to create a monologue based on a famous person of our choice, so that we could study and portray their movement, voice, characteristics, etc. I chose Audrey Hepburn. While video of this exercise does exist somewhere, I have never seen it, so I can't tell you if I was successful in my portrayal or not. But I did always think I was pretty successful in the creation of the monologue. I came across it the other day as I was searching for a new monologue for an upcoming audition. While this is something I would never feel was suitable for an audition, it is certainly worth sharing. In fact, they may be words to live by.

Much of this consists of direct quotes that were found in the book her son published a few years ago, some may have come from biographical information from another source I can't recall, and at least one line was used by her in a movie. It ends with a poem she liked to read to her family. I don't have the author's name, though you may be familiar with it. And I do believe it is in the aforementioned book.

The setup of the monologue is present day; Audrey Hepburn's spirit returning to offer advice and comfort. I believe I ad libbed the segue between the main section and the poem, which I had written on a piece of paper I took from my pocket and left with an audience member at the end.

Hello. I suppose you are wondering what I am doing here. Well I have come by to visit with a few friends, and we are friends aren't we? Of course we have never met, but we are all friends here. I have been gone for many years, but I see there is still a great deal of sadness in the world. It seems there is more every day. I want to help you not to be sad anymore.

I'm glad I lived, I'm glad I was alive. Now it's my turn to give you a hand. Let me give you what I had.

I believe in one thing above all: love. I do believe in love and I believe love can heal, fix, mend, and make everything fine and good in the end. I really do believe it.

But there's something you've got to remember:
Love is action. It isn't just talk, and it never was. We are born with the ability to love; yet we have to develop it like we would any other muscle.

What I always had, and maybe I was born with it, is an enormous love of people, of children. I loved them when I was little, and I used to embarrass my mother by trying to pick up babies out of prams at the market.... The one thing I dreamed of in life was to have children of my own. It always boils down to the same thing. Not only receiving love, but wanting, desperately, to give it... almost needing to give it.

I had to make a choice at one point in my life of missing films or missing my children. It was a very easy decision to make because I missed my children so very much. When my elder son started going to school, I could not take him with me anymore, and that was tough for me, so I stopped accepting pictures. I withdrew to stay home with my children. I was happy. It is not as if I was sitting at home, frustrated, biting my nails. Like all mothers, I am crazy about my two boys.

Boil it all down to what counts the most; what is the essence of what you are trying to do, what is the most important thing? Things only get complicated when you are trying to address too many issues.

(ad lib segue: something like: before I go I want to leave you with this)

Time Tested Beauty Tips
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.
We leave you a tradition with a future.
The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed.
Never throw out anybody.
Remember if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Your "good old days" are still ahead of you, you have many of them.

And with that I remember how much I love Audrey Hepburn.

...Too many issues, indeed.

love-love. Lindsay

***EDIT***
So apparently I misunderstood and the buzz was not so official. I am leaving this post here because I sent it to everyone, and some may still come looking. This message is for you. My director had passed around an awesome trailer and said we could share it, but it seems they want to do some more work to it and he didn't mean for us to share it with the general public. Coulda fooled me. I thought it was fantastic, and the music so perfect. But I had to delete it. But I can still share it with friends and family, so if you fit that description send me an email and I can email you the link to download it. Or if you want me to make sure you are notified once it goes up again message me or leave a comment.

Sorry to get your dander up!

***end EDIT***

Marry Me, the little film we shot in the spring here in Seattle, is officially buzzing. There is still some editing, and most likely a bunch of sound re-recording to do, so a release date is still not set, but a full trailer has just been passed around. So here it is. Watch it, enjoy it, share it, get more people to watch it and share it. Get it buzzin', will ya? Seriously. I'll be watching the number of views and I expect it to jump to the hundreds. Got it? Good.

love-love. Lindsay

As I mentioned earlier, I participated in a little film last month. They're not expecting to finish editing it until June or July, but they posted a teaser for the film on their myspace (www.myspace.com/marryme2008). I thought some folks would like to see. I totally dig the mellow tune it has going.

Made you look. I finally ended my hiatus this weekend when I began shooting a short film. (I would have mentioned it sooner, but I had to wait out the jinx period. It seems that if I talk about good things too soon, I jinx them out of happening. Then by the time I was ready to spill the beans, I was too busy preparing.)

The film is called Marry Me (you can keep an eye on its progress here:  www.myspace.com/marryme2008) I don't usually like to explain plots, but this is in the romantic comedy genre; guy loves girl, girl leaves guy, guy wants to fix it by asking her to marry him, but is about to find out that he's got it all wrong. It's probably going to be around 30 minutes, and most of it is shot on (I believe) 16mm film. The aspect of it being on real film is exciting enough in its own right. And filming in Seattle, I know there's going to be some gorgeous footage.

We began shooting on Friday night in Bellingham, WA, with the cooperation of some eager and surprisingly patient Western Washington University students who filled in as extras for some party scenes. Saturday morning we came back to Seattle and have been filming on location around town. First Ivar's Fish Bar down on Elliott Bay, then Kerry Park (this is the spot where most of those great skyline photos of Seattle are taken.) I was sad that last week's gorgeous weather didn't hold out for filming, because it was COLD out there!

Yesterday was even more fun, as far as I'm concerned. Despite another late start - due to cell phone alarms that didn't update with daylight savings - we got to take over part of the downtown ferry terminal, then we hopped on the Bremerton ferry and filmed on deck en route. We didn't get off, but kept on filming on the way back. But this time we were on the front end of the ferry, and well, let's just say that I was wrong when I thought Kerry Park was cold. The wind froze me right through. And blew my hair all over the place. Still, it was probably my favourite part of the shoot so far. After that we took over the terminal again for a couple shots we didn't have time for before the ferry, and this time we had an audience. Well, the lead actor did. It was just a shot of him trying to break through the turnstiles, and then sliding under them. But it was gratifying and amusing that, while he is the only person in the shot, 80 people were standing behind the camera, silently watching, and they all laughed at the bit of shtick, but kindly waited until the scene was completely done. We also got to include one of the terminal employees in the scene, and even though I didn't really talk to him, I could tell what a fun, jolly man he was from the first words that came out of his mouth. He was so thrilled to have been a part of it, you could tell it made his day. And that made my day.

After that we filmed in Carroll's Jewelery store on 4th. And I'm so glad we had the privilege because very soon this 113 year old landmark will be shut down so the building owner can gut and renovate the building, and Carroll's will be no more. Of course I've never bought jewelery, and I don't really ever expect to (I hardly wear the stuff), but the loss of the history and the architectural detail alone is enough to break your heart, let alone that the business has been in the Carroll family this whole time. So I'm really glad we got to document this vanishing breed of antique jeweler one final time. And the ladies who work there were so understanding and fabulous we owe them a huge thanks.

Today they are filming in Pike Place Market. I am not in those scenes so I'm stuck making coffee for cash today. I'm sad to miss the action. I know that the lead actor was supposed to have a fish thrown at his head. I can't wait to find out how that went.

Then tomorrow is our last day filming. We'll be somewhere downtown, then down at the Olympic sculpture Park's waterfront in the afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes, and see if I can upload some photos later.

love-love. Lindsay

It's not much, but I've finally got a couple videos of myself in acting mode posted on youtube.

The first is a monologue from the play "Seascape with Sharks and Dancer" that I did last spring. I may add another later, but this is what I have at the moment. It probably wasn't my best performance, as it was a straggler. We tagged this performance on a week after we were supposed to have closed.

The next was for the other actor's demo reel, done early in this past summer.
Feel free to critique my performances. I've done so, and could point out some things I'd have changed had I watched these at the time (like keeping my hands and voice still in 'Seascape.' Good grief they were all over the place!). But that's my own opinion. The only way an actor can grow is if they know what differs between what they think they are doing and what the audience perceives.  I only ever ask that criticism be kind and constructive. 'You suck' doesn't exactly tell a person what they've done wrong.

Feedback aside, I hope you enjoy the clips.

love-love. Lindsay

"How do you like these apples, Jesus!" A line from my play, which we ironically performed over Easter weekend. And the reviews are finally in!

This is what Richard Morin over at Seattle Weekly had to say about my apparent mad skills:

Lindsay Erika Crain and Brandon Ryan give themselves completely to the rough-hewn give-and-take of Nigro's dialogue, which is painfully attuned to the sticky games of revelation and concealment people can play with each other. Crain is fantastic as Tracy, the world-weary orphan with a forked tongue and a dark past. She plays the role just right, part nymph and part demon, avoiding the temptation to overdo the Girl, Interrupted act. As the play progresses, she just becomes stronger, depicting Tracy's slow-burn disintegration with an edgy subtlety as immediate as it is haunting.

I couldn't watch the performance, so I guess I'll take his word for it.

For the whole review, look here: "Two Misfits Tell Stories...."