Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

This week has been awesome! I really am the happiest I've ever been in my entire life! I know that is a lofty statement - but it's true. :) The play I'm in officially opened on Friday. I feel much beter about it and am having a great time! It runs 4 weeks! I started the casting process for the film Homebound . It has been so much fun! It gives me that butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach - that's how much I love doing this! I put out an official breakdown for what I'm currently casting for and sides are posted on Showfax. We are hiring SAG and non union actors because it's a SAG Low Budget feature film. We are shooting in El Campo and I hope to use a lot of the locals in the film as well. So here are the roles I'm casting right now: FREDDY C - Male 25-35. African American. Grew up in the projects in the small town of El Campo, TX. Just got out of jail. He's the best friend to our lead character. He's the voice of wisdom. Charming and ...

Well, we open this Friday. ARGH!!!!! Lol. Actually, it's coming along nicely. This is a very funny play and everyday I'm growing more and more confident in my character. Hopefully by opening night, I'll have it down! :). We started tech rehearsal last night. So this week we are running the show every night and added lights, sound, costumes, etc. I do have some great news to report. That feature film I was producing a few months ago, HOMEBOUND, is ready to start casting and I was asked to be the casting director! So this will be my first SAG feature film and it will begin shooting in July in El Campo, Texas (just outside of Houston). Pretty exciting stuff! It's crazy how much my life has changed in 6 short months, yet I have everything I've ever wanted. Proof that if you open up your mind and heart, everything will fall into place. I couldn't be happier :-)

Rehearsals are in full swing for Too Many Husbands, the play I'm doing here in Austin for Different Stages. We had to be off book by this weekend. Yikes! I'm still a little shaky on my lines. I'm playing the mother of the ingenue, the woman married to "too many husbands". This has been a very challenging project for me. Mainly because I think the last play production I've been in was way over two years ago! But, also because this piece is a British comedy set in the early 1900's. So my British accent is also a bit shaky. And my character isn't as developed as I would like it to be by this point. It has resulted in my leaving rehearsals in frustrated tears and wanting to quit at times - but of course, I would NEVER do that. I grin and bear it and remind myself that this is all a learning experience. I think part of my frustration is, I really need a clean cut BREAK after leaving LA, and diving into a play head first, isn't really a break....