Eric Bana abbreviated

The Tribeca Film Festival is in full swing and the Apple Store in SoHo has been hosting special events in conjunction w/ the festival...for free. :)

I saw that Eric Bana was going to be there to promote his new doc - Love the Beast and I thought that just might be worth checking out!

So a friend and I met up there after work and discovered that despite some seating it was full and now SRO. I found a spot to the side (later discovered it was in direct view of Mr. Bana and swear he was looking @ me sometimes...although there was a well-cleavaged woman wearing sunglasses that was standing beside me...perhaps he was looking @ her instead?! teehee.)

Fortunately, the wait time for the program to begin wasn't too bad. Bana came out and the girls behind us immediately started commenting on how small he is in real life and how he looks better in the "Love the Beast" movie poster than he does in person. Then there was an overzealous perfume wearer standing next to my friend. I started to feel hot but tried to keep my focus on the interview and watching clips from the movie - which looks really good btw.

Bana talked about how he used to race his car w/out movie producers knowing his passion for cars (as they tend to tweak out when their actors put themselves @ risk). He said that of course this movie will put the end to that secret.

I was starting to feel worse. Do I walk out or pass out in front of Eric Bana? Hmmm... I opted for the "walk out" and my friend followed. I quickly discovered there really is no place to sit @ the Apple Store beyond the steps so that's where I sat as the guard looked on. After a few minutes I did start to feel better but rather than have a repeat, we decided to move on to dinner @ Silver Spurs. Once again, it was a new place (to me) to dine - I ordered the "Ana Madama" and a Milkshake to maybe cure what ailed me. ;)

After a bit of detective work my near pass-out may have been the result of donating blood the day before. (I donated @ The Rock and was asked if I was an NBC employee.) Next time I will know to time it better as I also ended up feeling like crap for an audition the night of when I donated....however, I DID get a callback! Go figure.

Burden Me 3

A one act, "Burden Me", that I was in for the first time over a year ago seems to have legs as the playwright keeps getting it accepted to area theaters/festivals. 2 of the 3 original cast members were in the "revival" at the Winter Strawberry One-Act Festival (the playwright stepped in as an actor) but this time I was the lone original. Although I had the lines, our handful of rehearsals pre-performance proved I couldn't be on autopilot (which was a good thing) as different actors meant different reactions. In that respect it made an "old" show new again, which was kind of fun and gave me a chance to do different things w/ the character I hadn't done before!

This time we performed for Awakening Drama in the West Village. And I think it was the best audience we've had as far as audible reactions - you could tell they were catching all the subtleties.

Afterwards, the playwright's wife (and our director) took our cast pic on Minetta Lane. And that was the day. It always amazes me how much work can go into a production and how just like that, it's over. But I guess that's life - weddings, babies, vacations, etc. Lots of prep and waiting and then - there it is and gone. Don't Blink!

Night @ the NYMF - Best of Fest

Word that I'm trying to get an online bakery established is spreading and a friend of a friend contacted me to see if I would be so kind as to provide treats for a fundraiser for the New York Musical Festival (Best of Fest) in exchange for some advertising. Sure! Why not? (My logo can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of this flyer.)

I committed to offering 4 flavors of mini cupcakes (Angel Food Cupcakes w/ Cotton Candy Buttercream Frosting, Orange Zest Cupcakes w/ White Chocolate Frosting and Orange Slice Stars, Chocolate Cupcakes w/ chunks of Andes Candies and a Dark Chocolate Mint Frosting w/ Junior Mint on top and Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cupcake w/ Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting), 98 total. I was totally excited about coming up w/ the flavor combos and creating/baking but I always forget how much time can fly during this process and I didn't get to bed until about 2am - morning of the show. Eesh.

Then there was packing them for transport. Since I've yet to settle on the best way to transport my goods I've been alternating in my forms of transport. This time it was buying white pastry boxes from The Container Store and dividing the rows w/ wax paper. Sadly, although all the minis were tasty some were gooey-er than others (I'm talking to you, dark mint chocolate). I was a bit worried about their appearance for such an important event. That worry was compounded by the fact that I needed to tote them to work then on to the show...in a downpour. Wheeee!

A friend and I managed to get them to the New World Stages w/ hopefully minimal roughing up of the minis. Then we headed to Blockheads (heard about it many times but it was my first time actually going!) for a meal before going to the "Best of Fest" ourselves. (An added bonus to donating my minis to the event, I was able to get a ticket plus 1 to the show - to our surprise our tickets landed us in front row center!)

The show was made up of songs from past NYMF shows and made me highly curious to know more about many of the shows that we only got snippets of. As soon as the show was over, it was time for the reception where my minis would be served. I was pleasantly surprised by how they had been displayed and how great they looked!!! I did that! :)

They seemed to be a hit and while my friend and I sampled other goodies there we had an awkward encounter w/ a 40+ year old that preferred to have a convo w/ our chests rather than us. Ewww. It was clear he was trying to network w/ bigwigs and impress us w/ connections that he *might* have. He repeated several times that he was disappointed that some of the "names" that had performed at the fest didn't stick around. We made it clear we really didn't know anybody, politely said "no" when he offered to get us more drinks and finally dodged him by taking a trip to the Ladies Room. Sheesh.

Although I brought business cards, I'm not sure how many peeps will be in touch. Perhaps a little bit of buzz will start to build...if anything I'm just glad all that work was enjoyed by others!

Ladies Night!

When my producer and I were discussing publicity ideas for "Call Waiting" she suggested a "Ladies Night" where ladies would get a glass of wine w/ their ticket. Then I offered to provide a treat as well via "Nibbles by Nora" and so "Ladies Night" was set for Tuesday, April 5th, 2009.

In many ways, "Ladies Night" ended up feeling more like Opening Night than the actual opening show did.

My 'rents surprised me by sending flowers to the office, I met friends for dinner prior to the show and was given another bouquet and then another friend gave me flowers at the theater! (I think that's probably the most flowers I've gotten for a any occasion ever!)

The snag was that I was carrying 4 different boxes that held 4 different flavors (chocolate, almond, lemon & vanilla - all w/ buttercream frosting) of frosted cupcakes totally 46. So balancing was a bit of an issue but thankfully I got the cupcakes (and flowers) there in tact. (Did I mention I was up til 3am talking w/ my roommate and frosting said cupcakes and dipping fortune cookies the night before?)

We set out the cupcakes and had the wine ready and once we opened the house it was like "this is your life...in New York". People from work, previous shows, new friends and old arrived and made me realize just how far I've come since moving here. They actually came to see my show - some hadn't even seen me act before but they were making an effort to see something that I wrote and directed. It was pretty cool. Even cooler was the fact that everyone seemed to enjoy the show (and the cupcakes - teehee).

Having this group of people come out to support me really meant a lot and made me realize how lucky I am to have such people in my lives! And having an almost full house nearly made up for only having 4 people in the audience the night before.... ;)

Overall, I'd say Ladies Night was a success and now the cast gets a bit of a break before the final 2 shows next weekend!