Halloween!

There was no costume for me this year (our office really doesn't do that sort of thing) but I did wear my candy corn earrings and Boo! T-shirt.

When I got off the subway I saw a sign posted that Pink was performing on The Early Show and saw the set up when I went past, however she wasn't out there yet. I did see the Weatherman surrounded by various costumed people as he reported as well as fancy jack-o-lanterns carved out w/ the hosts' likenesses. And then I noticed the breakfast truck and although I normally scoot past (as the free breakfast is intended for The Early Show audience) I decided to stop today and got a free coffee and Krispy Kreme donut shaped like a pumpkin and frosted like a Jack O Lantern. :)
I still had time before I had to get to work so I walked over to the Today show (cutting thru Rockefeller center where I saw their harvest display) and could hear them (playing a fairytale variation of Family Feud) but could only see the tops of their costumes - someone was dressed as Humpty Dumpty. I tried to venture in closer to get a pic but was going to be stopped so they could check my bag. Eh. I decided that was too much hassle just to get a pic so I moved on. They didn't have free breakfast, either! ;)

Post work, I headed to the Sunshine Theater to see "My Name Is Bruce" w/Bruce Campbell himself introducing the movie and coming back for a Q&A after.

There were 3 guys dressed up as Ash in the audience and Bruce had the best one come down to chat w/ him. Bruce said he wanted to give the guy some money and asked how much was spent on the costume. The guy guessed about $100. Bruce said - Here's $5.

Then Bruce got a shirt from a fan that said - Bruce Campbell '08 w/ a Chainsaw on it. She then asked if she could touch his scar. He let her, but not w/out comment and then he gave her $2 for the t-shirt.

Bruce then pointed out that Sarah Berry from Evil Dead II was in the audience and said that she had to stand up and scream otherwise no one would recognize her (for some reason that pic is darker so when I tried to lighten on my computer it went to b&w!) The lights went down and Berry and her partner (not sure if he was a friend, bf, hubby or what) headed up the stairs to find a less close seat and ended up sitting right beside me!

The movie is very much "for the fans" as Bruce stated before it started. Many of the jokes would probably go over the head of those that have never seen a Bruce Campbell movie before...although, if they haven't...I'm not sure why they'd be watching this movie!

After the movie, Bruce came out again and someone asked him about the actors - to be honest, some weren't that good - but Bruce noticed the undertone of the person asking the question and tried to defend by saying he got them from the Oregon area Shakespeare Festival and that @ the very least the lead female had a little something goin' on, right?!

Most of "Bruce" was filmed on Campbell's property - which he repeatedly said he wouldn't divulge where in Oregon that was.

A fan also asked if the jeans he was wearing were the same in the movie...yes, in fact they were!

He said that Ted Raimi is the Clint Howard of his movies. (Ted appears as several characters w/ several accents in "Bruce".)

He also corrected a fan when they said he made a "cameo" in Spiderman saying that in the first one he named Spiderman, the 2nd one he was the only one to defeat Spiderman (snooty usher) and the 3rd one he was the only one Spiderman has ever asked for help. So this was much more than just cameo appearances.

Had I wanted to, I probably could have asked to go backstage to see Bruce after as the friend of Berry was fairly friendly and I also went out the stairwell Bruce was on so I could have just gone down there but thought I'd leave well enough alone. I've met him once and I really don't know what I would have said to him anyway! ;)

So from 2nd & 2nd I headed down 2nd to meet my friend @ a restaurant she works at in the 30s and all along the way I checked out the various Halloween costumes and wished I had on those camera glasses to record it all. The most creative are indeed the ones that aren't bought @ a store.

After meeting up w/ my friend we headed home and saw even more costumes (including contestants for "Price Is Right" complete w/ their bidding stands) and my friend had a guy come up from behind her and put a small carved pumpkin in her face and say "Boo!" and then kept running to the next group to do the same thing. The guy's friend was behind us and I asked if he did that to everyone and instead of answering the guy just started running to catch up w/ his friend. Weird.

Coming Up Next....

So, due to the stars aligning just right I managed to find myself w/ a sizeable role for a full length play w/in an interactive play that opens in December. And I'm currently trying very hard to buckle down and get my lines memorized so I'm off book sooner than later!

I am playing "Diane", the leader of an all female theater group that is putting on a trial play in which the audience can vote to overrule or sustain and the play skips or continues to progress accordingly.

A lot of work is ahead but I'm excited to be a part of this production and if you're in the area - come see it! :)

Here are more details from the email blast...

THE ANASTASIA TRIALS IN THE COURT OF WOMEN Genre: Comedy

by Carolyn Gage The Emma Goldman Theatre Brigade, a radical feminist theatre group, is at it again - implementing their innovative lottery system to insure theatrical equality. They each draw the role they will play out of a hat each night before the show, but tonight there's a critic in the audience and t he sisterhood is put to the test when some of them don't draw the role they want. What follows is the trial of five women accused of denying Anastasia Romanov, the infamous daughter of Tsar Nicholas, of her identity where the audience becomes judge and jury. They rule on objections during the course of the play, creating a new show with every performance. A courtroom drama based on history wrapped in a backstage farce with a healthy dose of audience participation thrown in for good measure, The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women presents a profoundly engaging excursion into the interactions of women who are survivors and abusers. Open: 12/03/08 Close: 12/14/08 Schedule: Wednesdays - Saturdays 8PM, Sundays 3PM Theater: Roy Arias Theaters - Off-Off Broadway Th Address: 300 W. 43rd Street 5th Floor New York, NY 10036 Google Maps Cost:$18 General Buy Tickets Online or Call: SmartTix at 212-868-4444 Company: Little Hibiscus Productions Official Web Site: www.littlehibiscus.com Beth Adler Lisa Theater: Titus Andronicus; Phare Play Productions: Office Hours; The Tempest; Fifi, Effie and the Donut Lady; Ensemble Studio Theater: Bluff and Berlin '45; Barrow Group Studios: Punchline; Theater-Studio: The Greatest Love; Instant Shakespeare Company: Othello, Hamlet, the entire cycle of history plays, The Vagina Monologues; Love Creek: Beyond the Horizon; Sauce for the Goose, Women of the Wild West, No Plums, 3 Widows and a Corpse, In a Wicked Mood. Television: Lipstick Jungle; Parco, P.I.; One Life to Live. Film: P.J.; Dance Salsa; numerous short films. Corporate trainer with Performance of a Lifetime. Molly Church Amy Molly Church is a graduate of the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School. After taking a small hiatus from the theater, she is thrilled to be back on stage again and working alongside Christine and with such a tremendous group of actors. Some favorite roles include Judy in Callback, Caddie in Snake in Fridge and Helena in an all-female production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has also been featured in a handful of independent films, most recently Group Therapy and The Super Amazing Movie. And she is proud to have been cast in her first television show, working alongside Denis Leary in Rescue Me. Molly would like to thank her family and friends for their continuing support. Ashley Diane Currie Athena Ashley Diane Currie is ecstatic to be playing a woman again. She was educated at The Atlantic Acting Conservatory, where their use of common sense and vulgarity made her feel quite at home. She's studied with Scott Zigler, William H Macy and David Mamet. Her favorite roles have included Natasha in Make Believe (her most recent role), Cassius in Julius Caesar and Josephine in the short film The Duel with Elwood Gentry Productions, official selection Secret City Film Festival 2008. She has also acted with the sketch comedy groups spurn and Mind Bleach. Love to Mom, Dad, brothers David and Bryan, and everyone else who makes her smile. Remember, folks, don't throw flowers, just throw money! Dianna Lora Marie Dianna Lora was born in Harlem raised in the Bronx and now is kickin' it old school back in Harlem. She graduated with a B.F.A from Ithaca College and is a proud Mercersburg Academy graduate. Her proudest moments were playing Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Queen Margaret in Richard III, and a stint as a saucy maid at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire where she learned high falling and swashbuckling. Dianna would like to thank her friends and family for their endless love and support! iSin Ti Soy Nada! Emily Murray Melissa Recent theater credits include Gloves Off! Nabokov Vs. Wilson(Dolly) and The Visit (Ensemble) Payomet Performing Arts Center, Truro MA. 37 Stones or the Man who was a Quarry (Erin) Working Mans Clothes productions, NYC. A Boy's Life (Karen) The Zipper Factory, NYC. Gloves Off! (Dolly) and Left at the Harbor (Daughter) The W.H.A.T. Theater, Wellfleet MA. Film credits include A Woman Called Job (Cathy) One Brick Films. All the Queens Women (Nightshade) NYC. Currently a finalist for the Actors Studio. MFA The New School for Drama. Through Compassion, strength comes. Peace. Brooklyn Scalzo Betty Brooklyn Scalzo is thrilled to continue her love affair with Phare Play. Brook has directed Dance at Bataan, The Food Chain, The Lady and the Clarinet, The Raft and is co-directing Phare Play's Pants on Fire. Some of her favorite acting credits include Sideman, Sweet Charity, Anything Goes, Romeo and Juliet, Parallel Lives, The Dumb Waiter, The Beaux Stratagem and Charlotte's Web. Proud member of Actor's Equity. She would like to thank Chris and her family and friends. Sara Towber Jenny Sara began her professional career at the School of American Ballet, performing at the New York State Theater. While attending Smith College and graduating with a degree in Literature she performed throughout the Pioneer Valley with various companies and The Ohio Dance Theater. Upon returning to New York and hanging up her dancing shoes, she has studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, The Neighborhood Playhouse and The Matthew Corozine Studio. Favorite roles include Bonnie Jean in Brigadoon with the Heights Players, Babe in Crimes of the Heart, Valerie in Imagining Brad with the Matthew Corozine Players, and Julie in Pizza Man with Little Hibiscus Productions. She also originated the role of Mia in On The Rocks written by Dina Laura. She can be seen in several movies including Center Stage, Mona Lisa Smile, The Forgotten, as well as many student and independent films. Nora Vetter Diane Nora is excited to be in her first show with Little Hibiscus Productions and to be working with director, Christine Vinh Weems again! You may have seen her in other NYC productions with the Summer Strawberry One-Act Festival (Francine in Jump! - Top 4 Finalist), Phare Play, Queens Players/Secret Theatre and Reality Aside Theatre. Previous regional productions include a staged radio play of Trip To Bountiful (as Thelma, costarring Tammy Grimes and Joel Vig), The Rainmaker (Lizzie), You Can't Take It With You (Essie), Steel Magnolias (Annelle Dupuy), Lend Me A Tenor (Maggie) and Toxic Avenger: The Musical (Sara). www.noravetter.com Lexi Windsor Donna Lexi recently performed in The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and Around The World In A Bad Mood at the Duplex in NYC. She also performed with New York's Ziegfeld Club in the production, Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic of 2008. A native Oklahoman, she performed in the 2007 centennial production of Oklahoma! at Lyric Theatre starring Kelli O'Hara. Favorite credits include: A Chorus Line (Val), Grease (Marty), Sweet Charity (Nickie), 42nd Street (Anytime Annie), Once Upon A Mattress (Winnifred), & A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania). Lexi currently performs on Spirit Harbor Cruises out of Chelsea Piers & also enjoys performing for the troupes with the USO of Metropolitan New York.