ARVIND/MOMMY

I attended an unusual audition some time ago at UT.  I signed a waiver informing me my audition would be taped.  And then I auditioned for a theater performance written by a 16 y.o. And present at my audition was a bunch of teenagers while an award winning documentary filmmaker was far away filming the entire event.  I came prepared for the part of the grandmother but the playwright/director asked me to read for the mother...his mother.  He told me to throw away the script and say the lines as I remembered.  How refreshing!
I loved the audition, was busy with other projects and figured I'd show up in the doc as an actor auditioning.  But that was not the case.  Weeks later I was cast by Arvind Hathaway to play the role of Susan, his mother, in his play MOMMY.  Little did I know how extraordinary this project would become.  Evan Roberts is a wonderfully warm, talented and intelligent filmmaker.  He cares deeply about the issues and conflicts young people face. He just helps people become.  That's the best way I can put it.  And Arvind???  When you can get over the challenges of his adolescence he is one creative, intelligent and sensitive director.  I just love love love working on this project.  It has allowed me to explore the human condition broadly, empathetically, deeply.  It has changed me.  How grateful I am.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese needs to find a new editor.  This film is waaaaaaaay too long.  But...and this is a real big but, you have to see this film for the performances by Leonardo Di Caprio and Jonah Hill.  OMG!!!  Absolutely breath taking work.  If you love seeing films as much as I do at this time of year (to keep it real) then run don't walk to see this film.  Just be prepared for shaking your head about some redundancy.
I really enjoyed being with my kids and Abe today.  Hooter's was a hoot as well!

NEBRASKA/AMERICAN HUSTLE

See these both.  They deliver truthful narratives and incredible performances by fine actors.  Now when I go to the movies I know just how difficult it is to deliver the truth.  Both of these films tell the truth.  If you love film go to the movies and see these films in an audience with other humans

CHARACTER PARTY 2013/In The Moment Acting Studio

All month Laurel Vouvray's students have assumed identities of historical figures representing Good and Evil in the world.  We researched, developed back stories, studied accents and walked in shoes of people who many of us knew little about.  The great finale is the coming together of all of these characters at a party where the first two hours we ate the most delicious Senagalese  food prepared by Iba, discussed among ourselves how to fix the world, plotted and schemed how to overthrow the monarchies, get rid of Hitler, and drank!  All this at Scoot Inn.

Dressed as Queen Victoria, wearing a tiara, a fur lined cloak, and walking with a staff I enter C Note and ask where the party is.  No one in the restaurant looked up from their laptops, the servers didn't laugh and told me it wasn't there.  Thank goodness Stefania Bellini answered my text because David Lee Hess was too busy being Thomas Payne ranting, raving and eating!

At Scoot Inn I walk into a room filled with the most unusually attired characters, beautiful women and men, talking, discussing in character and being so free to make reaches, laugh at ourselves, educate each other about who we are and provide support, affection and warmth.  Laurel keeps her students from different classes so connected and it was lovely to meet people who knew my name. Others I had met at auditions or a birthday party for another classmate.

The partying  began after two hours with Trent providing the most incredibly good dancing music.  He played some strings with his tongue!  For real!  And his teenage son was his drummer!  The best treat for me was being in a room of actors who love love love to dance. Unabashedly, rhythmically, fearlessly. Watching Michael Joplin as Sigmund Freud dance is a visual joy!!!

To quote my daughter  Liz who met many of my classmates the evening before :"Mama, you've found your community."  Yes I have.

UT Disappoints

I always had such pride that I sent my girl from Park Slope, Brooklyn  to UT not knowing a soul.  When I stepped foot on this university campus in 2005 the first thing that I noticed was it's diversity.  OK, not Brooklyn diversity with Black and White, but ethnic diversity.  Asian, Latino, East Asian and even kids raised in the suburbs of Houston!  But today I am saddened and ashamed.  To think that someone would think they could get away with pinning signs on students with "Illegal Immigrant" and rewarding a $25 gift card if you catch one.  I am married to a son of Holocaust survivors.  He and his sister were the first set of twins born in Berlin in 1946 that were not gassed for being Jewish. Their father was taken to Siberia when they were only ten weeks old. This after surviving the death camps. My in-laws wore Jewish stars identifying themselves as Jews to the populace. I will protest and be counted as someone who loves UT and volunteers her services to students but will criticize every racist behavior and action that occurs on this campus.

12 Years A Slave/Violet Crown

Steve McQueen's film is a harrowing and painful viewing experience.  The performances by so many of the actors are gut wrenching and truthful.  A special shout out to Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o for their extraordinary work. The sadism of the slave owners and their slave masters is sometimes too difficult to watch so I covered my eyes and wept.  The beatings, the forced separations, the indignities, the cruelty to people is almost unbearable to take in.  This is what makes a great dramatic film.  This hammered my heart.

Austin Film Festival 2013 Day#6 and Day#7

Both days were filled with shorts and tonight ALL OF ME, a film about a group of morbidly obese women in Austin.  First supportive  friends, then a group of changing women as some choose surgical procedures to reduce their mass.  A human, sometimes painful, sometimes funny, and very real documentary about a serious issue in America.  I am preparing to be sad as AFF comes to a close tomorrow.