2012's First Project: Weird Girls!

When I heard myself actually say, out loud, to witnesses, that "I wish I was 13 again," I knew something amazing had just happened. Because I thought there was nothing on this earth that could make me wish to be 13. But then I was invited to participate in Lovable Varmint's Weird Girls first season table read, and over a Saturday afternoon, I saw four bright, unique, independent girls brought to vibrant life by four really talented young actors. Must admit, I loved their parts--I wanted to read those parts!!--which even in this early stage are exquisitely crafted by writer Mark Gardner.

I am really excited about this project. Really compelling story line, honest relationships between the characters, scary, funny and fun to watch. (But the little secret that makes me super love it? These weird girls are loyal, resourceful, funny and smart--they are the kind of girl I would have loved to be at 13, and they're the kind of girls I want the girls in my life watching and emulating right now.)

Keep an eye out for this web series--I've seen nothing like it out there, and it's going to be great.

Want to read more? Check out these links:
Lovable Varmint: Weird Girls Meet the Actors
Weird Girls First Table Read Recap

Cell: The Web Series

More than a year ago, I read a script by Mark Gardner that I loved. It was smart and real and compelling and properly punctuated. And it referenced King of Pain, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Sting after my brain irreversibly and inexplicably tied the best date/day of my life to a Sting song. TMI. Sorry.

Anyway. Since I read that script, I've been wanting to work with Mark Gardner. And this month, I was given that opportunity when he invited me to appear in the Season Finale of Cell: The Web Series, which is the magic that started out as that script I read such a long time ago.

I was thrilled. Not just to work with Mark (who ended up being as great as I thought he would be), but to work with an amazing, amazing collection of people--from Jourdan Gibson, who has brought Sarah to life to Danny Cameron's turn as Brian and Kevin McCarthy's work as The Man. And if seeing their performances wasn't intimidating enough, Beth Chamberlin, an Emmy-nominated actress, joined the cast for the Season Finale. And that doesn't even mention the crew that Mark managed to assemble, which is like a superhuman who's who of the best of the best around here. (And there are some great people around here.) They help to explain how on a complicated shoot, we managed to wrap early, not once but twice. After finishing more than we thought we could.

Anyway, enough talking. Watch it.

Acting intensifies...everything.

I spent last night catching up with some of the cast of Cell: The Web Series before the lovely Jourdan Gibson heads off to LA and the rest of us catch up with her at iTVFest in a few weeks. What an amazing group of people. Really. Every one is nicer than the one before. And as I sat at the table with them, I thought again about how really lucky I am. And how every down moment this crazy passion has incited is followed by two or three really wonderful ones that more than compensate.

For me, acting allows me to wear both rose and ash colored glasses. Right now, they're rose.

So even though that meant hauling my tired ass to the gym this morning (really, one of the benefits of this pursuit is I have to stay in shape), when I got there, the 90 year old woman who is a fixture in my class did her thing to Ludacris, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, and then gave us all chocolate cookies she'd baked and tied into individual packets with purple yarn.

Our cool down song is "What a Wonderful World." It is.