Disney's Decision...

I received a nice email from the Director of Global Casting for Disney Creative, it was something to the effect of: you ROCKED your audition - and although we don't have a role to offer you right now, know that you made a great impression on everyone in the room. You are definitely on our radar.

I didn't get the gig.

It's all good though. I think it'd be different if I didn't have 2 contracts lined up this season already - but I'm actually more relieved than happy. If I had gotten the gig, I would've had to leave what I call my theatrical home - The Seattle Children's Theatre. They've literally put food in my mouth and clothes on my back for the past 2 and a half years. I love them, and I love Seattle.

Thank you all for your support. What an experience to fly to a new city and audition for such a big company like Disney - kinda surreal right? Maybe Disney and I are meant to work together later. ;-)

Stay tuned though kids - I'm probably gonna start a new blog about theatre life in Seattle.

Here's something interesting actually:

I want to move to LA. I would've moved right after the Disney gig, but now I'm waiting for the perfect moment to do so. LA was just so awesome - so much to do and see, the pace was fast, there are beaches with actual sand, it's so diverse, everything - I loooved LA.

I figure if I move and I still want to work in Seattle, I can - because my family still lives here, so I wouldn't need housing.

Someday. Soon - ;-) I hope.

Goodbye LA!

Well, it's time to go home - I actually am very, very sad to leave. I've gotten attached to the city and my friends that live here. I will miss them, especially my little baby Olive (the dog).

I'm sitting here at LAX, waiting for my flight to depart and I'm reminiscing about all the fun I had - the more I look back on it, the more I'm impressed with what I was able to accomplish.

Wed
Arrived - Dinner at Jaime and Brian's w/ Joel and Annika

Thurs
Disneyland and California Adventure!

Fri
Audition
Cha Cha Bar
Fred 62

Sat
Santa Monica Promenade
Santa Monica Pier
Game Night @ Joel and Annika's

Sun
Tour of LA - Pasadena, NoHo, Grove/Farmer's Market, LACMA
Dinner at Joel and Annika's

Mon
Lunch @ In & Out Burger - Animal Style ;-)

Oy, I'm getting a little choked up, I really had a blast. I'm gonna remember this trip for a very long time! Thank you, thank you, thank you Brian and Jaime!!!

Last Day...

Today Brian made Jaime and me breakfast - homemade Eggs Benedict, Snider Style. It was fantastic! We then got ready to start the day. We took a tour of Pasadena where we went to a fro yo shop called 21 Choices where I had the Mayan Chocolate Fro Yo with bananas and raspberries mixed in. Afterward we went over to the NoHo arts district, which is starting to take shape - but right now, it's pretty boring, because there's not really anything there. Then we went down to The Grove/Farmer's Market where we had lunch/dinner at a greek restaurant where I tried, for the first time, whipped salmon caviar - DELICIOUS! Then we headed over to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where we explored the Asian Art building, the LaBrea Tar Pits and the Modern Art Museum. If you're down in LA right now please see the YOUR FUTURE IS BRIGHT exhibit in the Modern Art Building. It is really quite breath taking. One installation that I thought was very provocative was by a Korean artist who shot video of herself standing with her back to the camera in different locations all over the world (Yemen, Rio Dejaniero, Israel). There were people passing by at these different locations and you can see their reactions to her. She's staying perfectly still. People wonder if she's real, or what the camera is doing... it's very interesting. But the most staggering part was watching the men of Yemen react to this woman, face and hair exposed. Some stare, some verbally confront her, at one point a man takes out a knife and begins to dance in front of the camera - then the screen goes black. Please see it, if you have the chance.

Then we went over to Joel and Annika's for a delicious Lasagna dinner that Annika cooked up - complete with a little side salad and olives imported from Israel. To top it all off, we had root beer floats and played another game of Balderdash!

This is my last day in LA - not forever, but for a while (at least). This trip has been everything I wanted and more, from great friends to museums to Disneyland - it really has been awesome.
Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, especially Brian and Jaime for being so accommodating and wonderful - what gracious hosts! Now we play the waiting game, to see what lies ahead for me this coming year ;-)

Good Night and I'll see you tomorrow.

Santa Monica & Game Night

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. Jaime and Brian (and Olive the dog) took me out to Santa Monica yesterday morning - I totally fell in love with that city and it made me want to move there... So, don't be surprised if I don't come back ;-) We walked around the promenade and looked at the shops, we stopped in an amazing architecture and art book shop Hennessy + Ingalls and we all found a little slice of heaven in there. Brian found a Frank Lloyd Wright book. Jaime found a blank journal that had little cartoon owls on the front. I found a book of Japanese Goldfish (I've decided I want that to be my next tattoo). Olive is a huge people magnet - she made dozens of new friends, Jaime said I could borrow her to meet girls and I told Jaime I'd fly Olive first class to Seattle.

After a perusing the promenade, we walked down to the beach front - Ocean Ave. The hotels and restaurants are staggeringly beautiful, a touch of art deco meets ultra sleek modern. We walked all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier. This place was such an eclectic mix of everything, awesome street performers, kitchy souvenir shops, artists (ones who sculpt your likeness into a piece of clay), Bubba Gump's Shrimp Restaurant and carnival rides. We took a few pictures along the pier and ate Dippin' Dots. Yum. We walked along the beach front, stopping by the original location of Muscle Beach - there were men showing off their skills on a huge jungle gym for grown ups. It reminded me of Larry the Lobster on Spongebob Square Pants. I turned to Brian and Jaime and said "I should just run up there and try to jump up on the jungle gym but just completely biff it, I think that'd be really hilarious." Jaime snickered "Yeah, but you'd have to take off your shirt first." I quickly replied "Yeah, um - no thanks." Hahaha.

We headed back up to the car and we swung by the book store so that Brian could pick up his book. Once in the car Jaime took the scenic route back home, Santa Monica Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard. What a cool city to live in!

On our way back to the apartment, Jaime suggested that we have a game night with Joel and Annika. I was game (haha, lame) so I picked up my phone to call Annika. I noticed I had a missed call from her. I called back.

"Hi Annika, did I miss your call?"
"Yeah, where are you guys?"
"Heading back from Santa Monica. Jaime thought that we should have a game night tonight."
"Haha, that's why I called you - Joel and I thought we should have a game night. At our place."
"Hahaha! Well boom. It was meant to be."
"Cool, how about 7pm ish?"
"Sounds great, should we bring anything? Costco Pizza!?!"
"Ooh, yeah. See ya soon!"

We got to the apartment and we were all pretty exhausted. Jaime, Olive and I took naps while Brian curled up with his new book. 6:45pm rolled around and we headed out to Costco to buy a pizza and then headed over to Joel and Annika's. We played Balderdash. Have you ever played that game? It's pretty freakin rad. I loved it - and I have to say, I think LA has brought out the little comedy writer in me. Here are some of my favorites:

In response to a peculiar person - Harry Williams
I wrote: "The forearms of comedian Robin Williams"

In response to the movie title - Below The Belt
I wrote: "The Ivana Trump Story"

In response to the movie title - Beginning of The End
I wrote: "A documentary following the life of Kurt Russell after 'Big Trouble In Little China' through 'Captain Ron.'

Today we're heading to Historic Filipino Town - then Joel and Annika are having us over again for dinner!

MulHOLLAnd!

Good Morning!

Last night I hung out with Joel, Annika, Jaime, Brian and Kiki. We went to this great bar called The Cha Cha, the sign outside of it just read: "Bar" and the building was painted a dark color and was pretty nondescript. The minute you step inside that bar, you're transported to a kitchy 70's mexicana/bayou world where paper skulls, sombreros and rows upon rows of red christmas lights intertwined with lights shaped like eyeballs exist as the decor on the ceiling. The walls were covered with black velvet paintings of half naked ladies, scary cartoon dogs, wolves, bull fighters and Stevie Wonder.

I was having a discussion with Joel and Brian, I asked them what the average price of a cocktail was in LA - Joel mentioned that they can range anywhere from 7 - 15 bucks, depending on where you were. Our waitress comes by and explained that they are having a special on Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum and that drinks made with Sailor Jerry's were only $2. "$2!" Joel and Brian said together.

After some reminiscing about the time I slept in a window sill in a hotel in Vancouver BC and our favorite rides at Disneyland/California Adventure, we ordered another round of drinks and then proceeded to a restaurant called Fred 62 - A diner style restaurant. For me, well - not for me, Joel mostly - had a strange case of the Twighlight Zone. Apparently my "Sliding Doors" twin was just outside the restaurant and was heading in. I think it scared Joel a little. This guy looks like me if I still had my hair from 8th grade, was 5'7", was a bit darker and maybe 20 pounds heavier. Everyone agreed - except for me that is. I wasn't convinced, so I decided to walk over to the restrooms and then walk by his table and get a closer look. Once I got to the restroom I pulled out my cellphone and was gonna take a picture of this "Dan Darryl Riviera." I walked by - a little too fast - the picture didn't turn out and I didn't think he looked like me. But from across the restaurant his profile was an uncanny likeness of myself.

I tried to sleep in this morning - but I ended up waking up around 7:30am. I haven't been keeping my suitcase well organized so I decided to straighten that up before I begin today's festivities.

Wowee Wowee!

Disneyland and California adventure were AMAZING!!!

Kiki, Jaime and I managed to get on 12 rides in a short 9 hour span of time. We were totally efficient! Both Kiki and Jaime kept everything in check and we had THE best time. Here's what we rode:

California Adventure -
Mulholland Drive
Maliboom
Tower Of Terror (Um, fantastic ride. Boom.)
California Screamin' (Fast Pass - this rollercoaster is flipping AMAZING!)
Maliboom (AGAIN!)

Disneyland -
Pirates of The Caribbean
Thunder Mountain
Matterhorn Mountain
Autopia
Roger Rabbit's Taxi Spin
Splash Mountain (No Fast Pass - We went during the fireworks show, hardly any line)
The Haunted Mansion

I have a couple reaction videos on the rides - they're pretty fun, except for the ones that put you in darkness for like 2 minutes... then it's boring. ;-) I'll put a couple up soon.

And now the moment you've been waiting for -

My first LA audition was AWESOME!

I get to my audition and I go through my sides (I've started writing down my lines, it helps me memorize them so much faster) and my songs. I hop out of the car and cross the street to the studios. Screenland Studios to be exact, I seem to be in the middle of a bunch of entertainment related businesses. I enter and there are two guys sitting in what looks like a mini kitchen area - on the walls are autographed headshots of celebrities like Charlie Sheen and Ben Vereen and everyone in between (boom). The guys are talking about how they may have met before, like at an audition. I sit down and begin to review my notes. They kind of hush up and move out of the kitchen into the waiting area. Typical. haha. A beautiful girl walks in and asks me my name (she's totally LA) and I tell her, she returns with a stats sheet. I fill it out and while I'm doing so, one of the guys returns, I break the ice:

"So, are you from LA?" I ask.
"No, I'm from Vegas." He smirks. "If I get this gig, the trip will be worth it. Haha, if not - I'll just write it off."
"Haha. Right?... I'm from Seattle."
"Oh really!? That's cool!"
"Who are you reading for?"
"Captain Hook." He pauses. "I'm Zack."
"I'm Don - nice to meet you. I'm reading for Pain."
"Haha, that's great."
"So, these are the final call backs right?"
"Yep."

In comes the beautiful girl and she grabs my stats from me. She tells me to follow her, cause I'm up next. I follow her down a quick hallway and stop at a giant door. She tells me to wait as she sneaks into the room. I wait for what seems 20 minutes but was probably like 3 minutes, I steal a quick sip of water from the water fountain next to me... I quietly go through my songs. My heart begins to race and I can feel it beating especially in my hands. The door latch clicks open and the door is open to reveal a panel of some familiar and not so familiar faces - and what seems to be my face too... My headshot to be more exact. Allison Narver is waving it at a woman seated in front of the panel's table. We all say our hellos, Allison actually gets up from the table and gives me a hug. I meet everyone (the musical director, another casting agent, Allison of course and Ron.) Ron asks me to sing a song I prepared. So I go over to the pianist and give him my music - I point out the double flats and notes that are waaay off the staff (I marked everything out for him), he looks at me and says: what an odd arrangement. I smile. I walk to a spot far enough from the panel so that I don't blow their eardrums when I start belting. I sing and they find it a little funny - A little asian man, singing a black woman's song. I belt my face off. After the song, they smile. During the song my hands had gone numb - So I began shaking them profusely after I finished singing, I giggled and said - "I can't feel my hands, all the blood is rushing to my head." They laugh, I shake out my hands. Ron looks at me and says: "So, did we send you the Pain and Panic sides?" I tell him yes, and Ron looks at me - wondering if I have a paper copy to read from. I just smile back and he gets up from the table and begins to read. Little did the panel know I'd memorized my sides and went balls to the wall without even carrying a paper copy - just in case. I did my sides. They seemed very happy about my performance. So they sit and chat for a second, then the music director asks me if I have anything to sing in contrast to Dreamgirls. I pull out You Were There from Rocket Science. I put it in front of the pianist and smile, I say it's from a new musical - he smiles. Tempo? I give him one. Excellent. Ron asks: "What song are you singing?" I tell him You Were There from Rocket Science, A new musical. They tell me to go ahead, I sing quietly and act my face off. Once I was done, Allison and the music director said: "That was so beautiful - who wrote that?" And with a smile on my face I proclaimed Stephen Weiner, Jason Rhyne and Patricia Cotter! They gush on "that is a really beautiful song." The music director then turns to Ron and says: "I'd like to have that on camera." Ron instructs said beautiful girl to record my singing, she does. Allison follows suit: "I'd love to put him on camera too." Ron and I perform the sides again. Boom.

Many thanks are thrown around the room, I thank them for inviting me down to LA to see them again and Allison asks me what I'm working on next, I tell her - If You Give A Mouse A Cookie at SCT and she says, "Ah, Rita's directing right?" I nod. She smiles and says "See you back in Seattle!" I laugh and say my 'nice to meet you's' etc etc, I smile and leave the room.

I gather my belongings from the kitchen area, it now seems there are a bunch more guys at the call backs - they're all wearing solid color polos with jeans and dress shoes, I'm wearing a very Seattle outfit, black v-neck tee, boot cut dark wash denim, gray chuck taylors and a big blue, gray, black and white checkered long sleeve polo with the sleeves rolled up and the front unbuttoned. I smile and at everyone and tell them to break a leg, they smile back - they're all skinny and tall. Surprise. hahah ;-)

Time for a quick nap and then another rendezvous with Joel, Annika, Brian and Jaime.

Today's The Day!

I'm about to get ready for my audition. Making some final choices on sides and singing through my songs. Just incase you were wondering - I'm wearing my New Voices 7 Oufit... Sans glasses.

My songs are: And I Am Telling You from DreamGirls and You Were There from Rocket Science!

Here we GO!