March 2010: Inspiration from the city that never sleeps as I hit my 5 year mark as a professional actress
As I approach my two-year mark as an official New Yorker and my journey as a professional actress continues (approaching the 5 year mark to be exact!), I have become immensely inspired while living in New York City. This environment has added a new layer to me as a person and as an artist. In a way it is more like the peeling away of a layer of false pretense that was previously impervious. I am seeing things in a new light as a performer, finding beauty in things that are not typically considered attractive or alluring. The raw people and unrefined parts of this city are the things I am most attracted to, the things I catch myself staring at and morphing in to an audience member in awe. It is enabling me to let down some simulation that was build around me as an actress. I strive to produce work that is emotionally revealing and I am becoming more comfortable letting this rawness come out in my acting. I am no longer frightened to let people see the unappealing, clandestine side of my humanity because my eyes have opened to how much more fascinating that part of a person really is.
With this new found perspective in myself as a performer I am fully confident that I am ready to embark on another chapter in my career. My comfort zone as an actor expands with each challenge and risk I take, and I look forward to starting another year filled with success.
March 2010: My thoughts on reality television as I explore it this pilot season with “America's Angels”
Ahh... Reality television and American's love/hate relationship with it. Millions of Americans religiously tune in each week to watch, it has formed a cult following. However, this cult is the same group of people who wake up in the morning to tweet, blog, and stand around the water cooler to gossip about what a train wreck these pseudo-celebrities are. Whether we love them, or just love to hate them, we have given them a tremendous amount of power in our culture. And frankly, let’s be honest, the majority of these people are ill-equipped to handle this power. I'd like to think of Americans as an intelligent and sophisticated culture and collective of human beings. However, this group I am referring to, the people that I choose to spend my time with, are not sitting at home spending their evenings on dates in the fantasy suite or fist pumping alongside Jersey kids at Karma.
Which leaves us with the aforementioned group of human beings who are tuning into these shows. So what happens when ill suited Americans who are unable to see the ludicrous actions of these reality characters and differentiate between the show and real life watch these shows day in and day out? This is the question that terrifies me, the question that keeps me awake at night after watching a commercial of a sobbing damsel in distress who bases her self-worth on a vote off the bachelor, or the number of shots a man bought her at a club.
I believe there are intelligent people out there who can watch these shows purely for entertainment, and that's fine. However, there are many people who watch these reality shows and believe what they are depicting is actually the “real” world. This is where we run into problems. Weather these reality stars signed up for it or not, they are in the spotlight, and therefore will be looked at as role-models. Especially young women and men in their developmental stages of life who look to celebrities for guidance because that's what's being shoved in front of their faces all day. Trying to figure out who you are as a young woman is hard enough when faced with the pressures of everyday life, I can't even imagine what it must be like when you are bombarded with these public media figures depicting a these people who have “made” it. I know as long as this trend continues it is not a culture I want to bring children in. So in the meantime, as an actress, along with a group of similar minded and extremely empowered women, I am using my talent and passion for charitable work to take a stand and attempt to steer the world of reality television in a new direction. Let’s make “America's Angels” a stepping stone on this much needed path to reform!
January 2010: Support for the WIN (Women In Need) Organization
In the wake of the earthquakes in Haiti our nation is once again haunted by a reoccurring ghost. This ghost that keeps us awake at night is the millions of faces of the homeless in Haiti as we are daily bombarded by them through the media. There are millions of mothers, fathers, and children all fighting for their lives in Haiti, but this was true before the earthquake hit. As we focus our attention on the Haiti catastrophe for the moment, I wonder why it takes a national disaster and thousands of lives to bring light to this ongoing crisis.
As a resident of New York City I know that not a single day goes by that my attention isn’t alerted to the issue of homelessness. Like many other New Yorkers I always think – “My 10 cents won’t do any good, why can’t these people go somewhere and try to get real help for the root cause of their problems?” Some of my friends will recant – “It’s not that easy”, which leads me to wonder if there are organizations out there that really do create easy and accessible assistance.
This leads me to WIN (Women In Need). Women In Need is an organization that provides assistance to the homeless since 1983. Upon first glance I was astonished by the multi-faceted categories of help that WIN envelops. WIN helps people in the areas of alcohol/substance abuse and treatment, obtaining GED or ESL certificates, securing employment, HIV prevention, on site child care, and housing to name a few. They offer two housing options, transitional and permanent, depending on individual situations. There are housing locations through out New York City in Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn.
So back to the original obstacle, is it easy? After my research I can say that yes, this organization is making it as straightforward as possible to help those in need. There is assistance on site at WIN. First, the interested person or family must go through PATH (Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing); which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. If the applicant can obtain shelter eligibility (which is available to both families and single adults) they will be joined with an organization like WIN.
The government may not be able to provide immediate help but we need to let these people know that they can help themselves. They are their best advocate and enabler of getting themselves and their family off the streets. Clearly the homeless do not have access to our most popular forms of media - television, phones, and the internet. So it us our job to make sure this information is accessible and available to those in need.
This is my plea to you. After reading this, please do what you can to spread the word about WIN to the people who need it most. Instead of dropping a coin into a toboggan or guitar case, drop these numbers: WIN – 212.695.4758, PATH – 800.994.6494.
Please remember to focus on your direct community and those around you. Looking Glass Theatre makes this a priority and you can too by attending our upcoming VDAY performance on February 12th and 13th. Proceeds will go to benefit WIN here in New York City and York Street Project in Jersey City, New Jersey. For more information please visit our website at www.lookingglasstheatrenyc.com.