Stand-up Stage Fright

I've been sitting here working on doing my first stand-up open mic. I have lots of jokes written, but I was just going through them, putting them together and seeing what really works. I even recorded myself on my phone, then went over it several times to see if I remembered it. You know,  it's really easy to remember something you wrote yourself. It was so much fun doing "Local Couple Wins Lottery", especially when I realized that the words had stuck in my head, because I wrote them! I had a little bit of difficulty with the play I was in "Reservoir Bitches", but in my defense, I didn't have much rehearsal time. I still find it amazing that I can remember anything nowadays. Yeah, stuff gets forgotten.

Anywho...I want this bad enough, so I'm going to bust my ass to do it. I also would love to book some gigs in Chicago sometime in the fall and fly in and make some money! I have a lot of friends in Chicago who could possibly show up too! And of course, I could stay with my mom and spend time with my family. But first I should probably conquer this little bit of stand-up stage fright, huh? I'm on it...

What's Next

Well, I'm preparing for my aunts and mom to visit and the twins' 3rd birthday. We're doing a Barbie theme party, with Barbie's face on the plates, decorations, cups, etc. from Party City. I also have to worry about showing my family a good time while they're here. I have a few plans, like the classic stuff: The Hollywood Sign, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Walk of Fame, etc. But, my mom has a cast on her leg, so I can't park blocks away and drag her around Hollywood, so it'll probably be me and Auntie Carol doing these things. Hollywood Blvd. scares the twins. There are always these people dressed up as Spongebob and Superman and Darth Vader. These scare my soon to be 3 year olds. I understand! It is a little scary, I guess, when you're that young.

Also, I had a really cool business meeting with Ms. Lisa Shows, who's in the play "Reservoir Bitches" with me. We met up at Intelligentsia in Silverlake and talked about doing a web series or a podcast. We decided we'll do the Podcast sooner than later, now we're just trying to figure out where we can record it where there isn't a bunch of noise. Where we'll be uninterrupted. I'm thinking this over right now...

In the meantime, we only have two shows left of the play and I'm thinking I want to do another play. I'm sending out my headshots and resumes to other theaters, and I'll ask my current director if any shows are coming up at that theater. We'll see what happens!

Toodles!

Dwell

I've been sitting here watching movies all week. During the girls "naptime", and I put that in quotation marks because they rarely ever go to sleep, I've been sitting here and just watching films. Mostly on Netflix, sometimes on the DVR and On Demand, but I've just been bored and trying not to think too much. I'm still hurt over that friend thing, which I won't speak of. I rarely speak of it to family and friends. I mean, it's a little traumatic, and I'm not trying to hide that I have feelings, but I just don't understand the situation and I can't just pretend, so I'll just try not to think about it non-stop. Because I know damn well she's not thinking about me.

And I'm not trying to be one of this people who are like "Fuck it, Next!" and get all ghetto and be all like "Fuck that bitch she blah blah blah to me", because that's not who I am. I think this was a learning experience. First of all, if your instincts are telling you that something is wrong, listen to your instincts. Don't just tell yourself that you have to do this and that and it's all in your head. Listen to your heart. I've been listening to my heart a lot lately.

But I really can't just dwell, can I? I have 2 more shows left of "Reservoir Bitches" and I'm going to start working on projects with my cast mate/friend Lisa. She's this talented actor/comedian who has been really kind to me. We have great conversations in between waiting to go back out on stage. She's given me some perspective too. I'm really going to miss these girls once the show ends. And yes, I can see them outside of the show, but it's not going to be the same like when we're all together with a common goal every Thursday night. I had a great conversation with Tina and walked down Hollywood Blvd. with other Lisa last Thursday looking for a shop that sells rubber ears. Yes, you read that right. I miss Carmen, who was in a car accident and had to drop out of the show because her doctor said so. She was always encouraging me to go out and do stand-up, as she's been out here playing the comedy club circuit for a while. Felicia and I have recently been talking a lot too. She's really sweet and talented. She's given me a lot of advice also. She's even giving me workout advice. Aliss has been a sweetheart too. We're in the heist scene together. She always seems perfectly calm before each show. She calms me down! And then the more I talk to Arae, the more I realize that her and I have too much in common! We can quote "Empire Records" and sing old Degrassi songs together. Remember the Zits? "Everybody wants something, and never give up!" We were singing that backstage this past Thursday night. lol

Oh well. I guess I'll have to get everybody together in a few weeks, cause I'm gonna miss them way too hard. 

Laters.

The Excitement of Live Theater!

Still promoting "Reservoir Bitches"! Did I mention that this was my first play? The excitement of live theater is incomparable! I mean, I've done my own web series, I've done other people's films, but seriously, this is just indescribable! There is no second take! And you either got it down or you don't...or you wing it! And the adrenaline...I'm really looking forward to our second show tomorrow night! I don't need to jump out of a plane, I do live theater!

Come see us do our thing!

"Reservoir Bitches"
Trestage Theatre
1523 N. La Brea Ave
Hollywood, CA
Thursday thru May 31st @ 8PM
Admission: $20

And don't forget to like my new Facebook page!!! www.facebook.com/angelinagraceactress

and my twitter:

www.twitter.com/angelinascene

Later Bitches!

(lol...see what I did there? Cause the play is called "Reservoir Bitches"?? It's a joke! Get it? It's a play on words...bitches...you got it?? Nevermind. Geez)

Promoting the Shit Out of It!

Me and Carmen Barton backstage at "Reservoir Bitches", opening night April 12th, 2012.

So as of right now, I'm promoting the shit out of this show! I'm like "I'm doing this show at the TreStage Theatre, Hollywood, 1523 N. La Brea, every Thursday through May, blah blah bloop" and hoping we get a huge crowd! I think all of us were just so jittery about opening night, we didn't advertise it as much as we should have. Our bad. I'm really big on Twitter...I mean, seriously, I'm in love with Twitter. Keegan-Michael Key said the play title was hilarious, but he's out of town until May. So I tweeted back at him to tell him the play runs until May 31st. I haven't heard anything back, but I'll remind him in May. How exciting. I've loved that man since I saw him on MadTV in the Taco Bell sketch and this fool, playing a Mexican immigrant, called a Chalupa a "little boat" and called the menu the "Raping Menu". I died. Love that guy. And of course, I watch the fuck out of his show "Key and Peele".

It's really friggin' awesome though that Saj Golde from "The Real L Word" said she'll come check it out this Thursday! I love that show so friggin' much. I recorded it every Sunday night, and really looked forward to it. And yes, I developed a crush on Kelsey (don't tell my husband I was crushing on a girl...oh wait...he knew! LOL) But I really, really liked Saj. She was so real and so down to Earth. She seemed like somebody I'd like to know in real life. And then, I found her Twitter, started tweeting at her, and she would tweet back! Kelsey would tweet back too, but Saj seemed to be always on Twitter, so she would tweet me right back, usually. Once I told her "Damn, you tweet as much as I do" and she went "What, should I not tweet so much...would that make you happy?" just joking around with me. That was hilare. What cool peeps. I spoke to a few other of the girls from the show on Twitter also. Made me love the show more!

I'm happy she's going to come, and hopefully Kelsey will too. I invited her also. And a few casting directors, including one who retweeted me! And of course, my kids' manager Michele Large' of Epic Talent Management, who I hope to impress the fuck out of!  LOL

Oh, did I mention I wrote "Local Couple Wins Lottery" as a full-length stage play?? I'm thinking about putting it on at the TreStage Theater...yep.

Opening Night!!!

Last night was the opening of "Reservoir Bitches", an all-female version of "Reservoir Dogs" that I'm in. I play Ms. Brown, Quentin Tarantino's character. I was super nervous last night before going on stage. I knew my lines, but I was afraid I was going to get out there, freak out and freeze up. Okay, that didn't happen. We all prayed together before going out there, and then I threw up an extra prayer like "God, please help me remember my lines so I don't screw everybody else up".

Obviously, I went out there, and I did well. I remembered my lines, everyone else did, and the entire play was really good our director said. I don't get to see the entire thing because I'm only in the first half. After that, I was backstage texting and Facebooking and helping out the occasional girl who needed something between scenes. I was mostly a bottle of nerves because the play starts with ME saying the first lines! That was nerve wrecking. And then I had so many lines right out the box. Oh, and did I mention and I hadn't even had the script a week?! I guess I did pretty good considering. And I came into this like "A play full of chicks?? Is this going to be beauty school all over again??" But these girls were amazing. They were sweet and supportive to me also. They kept telling me "you'll be okay, you'll do great!". I'm so glad I got cast in this particular play. And I'm glad I got to meet the girls. Some of them are stand-up comedians, which is cool and might make me suck up my fear and do it once and for all.

Also, I was really happy Jontynise was there for me. I saw her before the play began and she gave me a big hug and got me to calm down. I was like "dude, nerves!" and she was all "Dude, woo-sahhhhh"! Then she really got into the play! I heard her from time to time either laugh and make a comment. She was rolling during my scene. It really helps to have the audience react to what you're saying, especially when you're being funny and people are laughing their asses off! Then her and I drove to Burbank and got some fries!

So for those of you in the L.A. area, my play, "Reservoir Bitches" runs through April and May for the next 7 weeks at the TreStage Theatre, 1523 N. La Brea in Hollywood. I tried inviting famousy people, like Thomas Dekker from Secret Circle, that show on The CW. He didn't show. I'll invite him again. Wouldn't that be cool if he came?! Or Josh Hutcherson! He's always hanging out in West Hollywood, he could show. Maybe. Perhaps?!

Chicks With Guns

I've been uber busy, so I haven't posted on Angelina's Scene in a few days. My bad. My bizz-nad. My bizzad. Okay, I'm through with that. I really don't even have time to be posting on this shizznit! Truthfully, I'm supposed to be learning my lines! Remember that audition I went on Friday?? Yeah, I ended up getting a part in another play, that actually opens tomorrow night! What?! I'm in a play in Hollywood! Right off of Sunset! It's at Trestage Theatre! Every Thursday night, I'll be playing Ms. Brown in "Reservoir Bitches", an all-female cast version of "Reservoir Dogs"! I know, cool right? And it's my first play, and yes, I have the butterflies! All of the butterflies!

It's okay though, because I joined the cast late, exactly the same week as the opening, but I die halfway through the play. But get this, I start the play! The first lines are from me! And I play Quentin Tarantino's character, so everyone who's seen the film knows I get killed. I have like 4 scenes, but the first scene, I have a decent amount of dialogue, so I'm brushing up on it. I haven't had that much rehearsal. I rehearsed Monday, today, and then tomorrow right before we open. And I'm doing mad promotion for it too. The guy who casted me, Michael, has been really nice and understanding over the fact that I hadn't learned all my lines yet because I just got the script Saturday, but tomorrow, no excuses! Oh, and "Like" my Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/angelinagraceactress

Now the kids are in bed, so I'm going to go learn my lines!

Toodles!

And if you're in L.A., come see my fucking play! "Reservoir Bitches", Trestage Studio Theatre, 1523 N. LaBrea in Hollywood. It's $20, and I promise you, it's really cool to see a bunch of chicks with guns!