'Perfect, Shmerfect." Live Shows, Here I Come! Week 7.

Having too much fun with phone apps.  

I'm sure I was a man in a past life...a classy ass man.  :D

Dear Diary,

Here's my offering to you this week.....


*  This Sunday, the 17th!  I'll be performing at ioWest Hollywood!  8:30pm-9:30pm.  Come one, come all.  Bad/Worst Valentine's Day stories.  It's my first show this year and I plan on doing at least 9 more. Holler!  Come see me look glamorous and fabulous!  :D

*  I worked out with my trainer for the first time.  I'll be working out with him twice a week.  I don't like the gym so we meet outdoors.  I'm in pain.  But, I'm going to stick with it and see, because I've never had a trainer before, and I'm so curious how it will change me mentally and physically.  Plus, since I'll be doing more shows this year, I want to look and feel good....you know what I'm sayin?  That's one of my motto:  Do what you gotta do to look good and feel good.  I'm gonna take myself to another level this year.  It feels good to even write that.  Good sign.  :)

Don't forget to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram me!  I'll be posting videos and pics along the way.  No time to make a vlog these days so just adding quick video clips or pics to my social mediasss.




Now on to the main attraction.....



I got no time for Resistance these days.  My Resistance(s) is triggered by boredom and having too much time on my hands.  Boredom is the death of me.  I'm too busy to die....or kill myself this week (figuratively).  This sounds morbid but, it's not.  It's something I'm deeply grateful for.  I think I'm finding a good balance for myself....how to work hard and play hard.

I just wanted to give a quick review on a workshop I took last night.  My friend, Arriane Alexander holds 'How To Stand Out In Your Auditions' workshops at The Actor's Key.  We are both students of Dallas Travers and she also has a Spiritual Psychology degree from USM.  She marries the two things I love and gives you a perspective on YOU that may or may not have been obvious to you.  Also, she's now casting a feature film and sees all the do's and don't's for us actors when we get into that audition room.

Apparently my 'type' is so clear....that's what she said.  I just couldn't see it.  Perhaps, I refused to see it.

Here's my confusion.  I can do it all.  I can do drama, I can do comedy, I can do horror, etc.  Seriously, I can.  But, I have this 'idea' of how I'm suppose to be for each genre and role.  I totally pigeonhole myself.

For example, I took in a scene from Anger Management where I played a therapist.  Now, I can do a therapist with my eyes closed but, for some reason I couldn't because I was trying to play an 'idea' in my head of how a therapist should be.  I thought, "I'm a little too kooky and loud and a therapist has to be more controlled and normal...she's a therapist after all.  She has to be a bit more stern than Alex."  I played HER, I didn't play ME.  My hands were shaking, my voice was trembling, I was sweating, all signs that I was fighting and resisting something rather than accepting.  I didn't think I was enough...or good enough.

And this is because I have to be PERFECT all the time.  I have to do things RIGHT all the time.   I have to say it perfectly all the time.  I have to look perfect all the time.  This is stressing me out just even writing it.  Arriane asked us questions that made us come face to face with some of our limiting beliefs.  I thought, "I took care of them with all the personal work I've been doing.  WTF?!"

It's a process, Alex....just be grateful that someone, like Arriane, is reflecting it back to you in a loving way.  If you think about it, reflection doesn't always come in this form....love.  It can come in the form of fear, which was the case for me for lots of things.

Love is the root of everything.  Self-love, especially.  You want to know how to become a better actor and artist?  Love yourself.  Once you love yourself, everything comes much easier.  And it becomes fun too.  And that's the whole point when you're in that room, isn't it?  To have fun?  That is for me....I wouldn't want it any other way.  I don't want to feel like it's Me vs. Them (casting).  I don't want to feel like, "Oh please give me this job.  I can do it I swear."  I don't want to feel like I'm not loving myself for the sake of other's opinions.


What I got out from the class...

1.  She helps you uncover your limiting beliefs.  She helps you find healthier thoughts.  True thoughts, rather than the false ones we keep attaching ourselves to that do not serve us....at all.  This is where it all begins, peeps....skills can only take you so far.  It's about YOU.....who you are, what you believe, and why you believe you're there.

2.  She gives you industry knowledge....what it's really like on the other side.  Television casting is so different from film casting.  Television is also super fast.  What can you do to increase your chances of auditioning when there are 2,000 submissions for 12 spots?  How are you going to get on the casting directors' radars?  Just like everything in life.....it's about relationships.  Again, your skills will only take you so far.  Think about it....television casting directors do not have much time to cast shows.  Who do you think they're going to call in?  Actors they have met once?  Hell no.  Even I wouldn't do that.  They are going to call in actors they know who will deliver....actors they have confidence in.  It's their butt on the line.  And who are these actors?  Actors they have seen more than once.

3.  She spends a lot of time on each actor.  She loves actors....she is one herself.  She suggested some new scenes for me to look at....something possibly more appropriate for me and my dynamic personality.  ;)  Even though I'm glamorous and fabulous in life...I don't necessarily take that into the audition room.  I downplay myself a lot.  I also don't show my funny side or quirky side.  Well, no more of that!  I'm gonna take my glamorous, fabulous, funny, and quirky self into the room from now on.  One role she suggested, and that I would want to tackle and make it my own would be......Peach from 2 Broke Girls.  How fun is she?!!  All I kept thinking was, I want to do that...I can totally do that!  All I felt was excitement.  It's all about having fun from now on.



I could be forgetting some things....it was just chock full of info!  I'll post again if anything else comes up.


Seriously, I really recommend Arriane's workshop.  Would I ever steer you wrong?  Hmmmmm???  She holds one once a month at The Actor's Key and Actor's Key West.  Just go....if anything, just go for Arriane's beauty.  She's a looker so you won't be sorry.  :)


Finding your brand is a process.  It takes doing and experimenting over and over.  Same thing with finding your voice and style as an actor or writer.....you just gotta keep doing it.  "Perfection is the enemy of good."  Who cares about being perfect?  Just do it.  Just write it.  Just say it.  Just sing it.  Just draw it.  And trust that it is enough....you are enough....in fact......GREAT.  And know that there's help along the way.  Find a community for yourself and hone that talent, genius of yours!  The world is waiting to be gifted by YOU!





Aaaaahhhhh!  Wish me luck with my show!  It'll be over by the time I write my next post.  Time...or the concept of time is so weird...someTIMES.  


Have a glamorous and fabulous week peeps!



with LOVE,

Alex