I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
April 9, 2011
It’s said that 2% of actors actually “make it” in the industry. Most people give up before they even get a chance. I see it happening all around me and I can understand why. Audition after audition after audition, this agent or that agent, the project that pays more or the project that moves you up the ladder…it’s over-whelming. In order to make a living solely as an artist, you must work on five projects at once. I go to rehearsal, then a shoot, then a rehearsal, a show and when I’m home it’s learn lines, schedule gigs, submit for auditions and sleep? Yeah, you try sleeping when you’ve got four scripts floating around in your head…
I just realized that this may sound like complaining.
The truth is, I know I’m lucky to have work at all and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Well, I might trade it for a chance at playing Maggie Gyllenhaal’s younger sister. I would be a perfect match. My point is, acting is not at all an easy field to break into. You lose momentum, you lose jobs and you can’t afford to lose jobs. I have no doubt that if I keep on keeping on, it’s going to pay off in the end. I may not be the next Meryl Streep, but I will for damn sure have a solid career. And maybe I’ll get a nap.
Up next look for me in A Behanding in Spokane at Hyde Park Theatre with Ken Webster, Aaron Alexander and Mical Trejo.
I want to be the greatest actor that ever lived, frankly. I’d love that. But I don’t need to be. I just want to be here. That’s it. ~Jim Carrey
March on,
Michelle
Must. Keep. Pushing.
October 12, 2010
Wow! It’s October. I am pretty sure I lost a couple of months somehow. To recap: Just Bee was hard work, but a complete success and has recently been nominated for several B. Iden Payne awards along with Greeks Alive, and Cinderella and the Beanstalk. Fort Hood has again put our contracts on hold. I have retired from my short career as a stand-up comic. In the Shadow has been submitted to Sundance Film Festival. And that should bring us up to speed.
Now for the present. I have recently landed myself some industrial work with a few different companies. These are coveted jobs among young actors. They are flexible, steady, well-paying jobs. They are my bread and butter!
I have also been cast in Breaking String Theatre’s Flying. We will be workshopping this show for the next couple of months and then it will run in late January. I am very, very excited about this show. It’s an all star cast and a fantastic theatre company. I feel quite privileged to be a part of it.
Tomorrow Pollyanna Theatre Company begins our tour of Greeks Alive. This is going to be a challenging tour as we have several different characters and a ridiculous amount of props, not mention puppets. Good thing I like a challenge!
I think that’s all for now, aside from boring business junk. I just had some new headshots taken with the fabulous Adam Moroz, so those should be uploaded to my photos in the next couple of weeks. Soon I will be recording harmony vocals on Graham Weber’s new album Women.
“Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.”
~Rosalind Russell
Thanks for reading,
Michelle
July 5, 2010
Hello readers! Here I am several months later, still pushing forward. Cinderella and the Beanstalk came and went. It was a very interesting experience wearing a checkerboard shoe, climbing a beanstalk and then running around on top of a 12 foot tall platform, all while tied to another actor. Luckily I survived, save for a couple broken toes and a bruised ankle. All for the kids, people. The next Pollyanna Theatre show, Just Bee, is going to be a lot of fun! It runs August 12th-16th at The Long Center.
Still going strong at Fort Hood. Three shows every Tuesday and consistantly recieving positive feedback.
This past weekend I was busy with the filming of the final scenes of In the Shadow. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go back to Puerto Rico, but had a beautiful set built right here in Austin. These scenes were starring Danny Trejo and it was very exciting to have him on set. The film is in the home stretch now!
Next week I start working on a short film entitled Lorne and Lorna. I am on camera for only a moment as a waitress, but I also narrate the entire film. It’s a quirky romantic comedy and I think it will prove to be fun times for all!
And now for something completely new! Stand-up comedy. Yep. I’m doing it. It’s only been about two months, but it is going quite well. There is a huge community here and they are all very supportive. I am trying to obtain video proof of my newest endeavor, and when I do it’s going to be posted on YouTube. So look out for it. Also, check out ProjectRant.com for my rant about mosquitos. It’s #080.
“Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself.”
~John Gielqud
Be good,
Michelle
Odds and Ends…or Beginnings
March 8, 2010
It’s a new year and some things never change…
I still have many “odd” jobs, but the good thing is that I do, in fact, have jobs.
First to recap my 2010 so far. I have continued to work with the wonderful Dan Winters and am rumored to be in his portfolio book which I am very excited about. I just added the page from the NY Times Magazine to my photos, so check it out! I also just finished a workshop production of Symphony of the Clouds, which was a collaboration between Pollyanna Theatre and Ballet Austin. That is set to go into production in 2011.
My newest endeavor has been The Sherwood Forest Faire. Sherwood is a medieval festival just outside of Elgin, TX. I never thought that I’d be doing a faire, but here I am! And it’s actually quite fun! The faire runs Saturdays and Sundays through April 4th.
Next month I will be back out at Fort Hood. I wasn’t sure if the show was going to be picked up again, but it has been! I will be again doing my part to prevent suicide for our soldiers and I am proud of that.
Soon I will be starting rehearsals for Cinderella and the Beanstock with Pollyanna Theatre. I will post the show details as it gets closer to.
Sandwiched between all of my projects, I have continued to do a lot of figure modeling and I have recently joined a band. Can’t be too busy!
I am honestly going to try to post more blogs…really!
It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work - the night watchman.
Tallulah Bankhead
I bid you adieu,
Michelle
Coocoocachoo.
November 8, 2009
Friday night was the opening of Vestige Group’s “Lonestar, TX: A Popcorn Throwing, Rock-Country Musical”. I play Beth Anne, a conniving cowgirl. This show is more fun than I ever imagined it would be! Audiences are raving and so will you! Come and see the show if you are in town. It runs Wednesday - Saturday, 8pm at The United States Art Authority through November 21st.
The tour of Pollyanna’s “Patternation” is in full force and going strong. We will be touring through January.
Unfortunately, the Fort Hood gig is no longer. There is a possibility of the show being reinstated, but nothing is set in stone. On the same token, my thoughts are with the men and women there who were affected by the recent tragedy. That is incredibly heart breaking.
Recently, I’ve begun working with Dan Winters. I modeled for a piece that he is doing for the New York Times which will run every Sunday for the next year and last week I modeled for a bodies in motion piece for Real Simple Magazine. I feel incredibly privileged to be working with such an accomplished and wonderful photographer. Check out his work at DanWintersPhoto.com.
Away from the stage and the camera, I have also been periodically recruiting casts for CMT’s “The World’s Strictest Parents”. If you catch an episode that takes place in Texas, it was probably a family that I recruited!
“Talent is as common as horseshit in a stable. The cultivation of it is extremely rare.” ~ Eric Morris
Coocoocachoo. So there it is.
Michelle
Of Odd Jobs and New Ventures!
September 23, 2009
Welcome to my beautiful chaos!
My main gig right now is for the United States Army. Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I did not enlist. I am doing a suicide prevention show every Tuesday at Fort Hood. Not only is it keeping me gainfully employed, it is giving me a sense of peace knowing I am helping thousands of men and women who are out there fighting for our country.
On the flip-side, I just got cast in Lonestar, TX: A Popcorn Throwing Cowboy Punk Rock Musical. It should prove to be a lot of fun. The show opens late October at The United States Art Authority.
I am currently rehearsing for The Sherwood Forest Faire. It is a new renaissance festival that will be open in February and March. I am playing Alice de Beauforest. This is completely new territory for me and it’s proving to be quite challenging, actually.
Next month also begins Pollyanna Theatre’s tour of Patternation. We will be traveling to area schools throughout the fall and winter teaching and entertaining the leaders of tomorrow. When you think about it that way, it adds a little pressure.
Finally, my newest endeavor…modeling. I’ve never considered myself to be a “model”, but a friend convinced me to start Model Mayhem and One Model Place profiles and I thought I’d try it out. As it turns out, I am enjoying it and getting quite a bit of work from it. Who knew?
Check out my new demo reel. The wonderful Tag Simler put it together.
“I love acting. It’s so much more real than life.” -Oscar Wilde
‘Till we meet again,
Michelle Keffer
Sci-fi, Vampires and Patterns, Oh My!
June 6, 2009
Bonjour mon amies!
I’ve been a busy little bee lately. I am currently in rehearsals for two shows. The first is an original sci-fi musical entitled Faster than the Speed of Light. We open this Thursday, May 28th at Salvage Vanguard Theatre and run through June 13th. This is a show you don’t want to miss. We have a live band, video projections, singing and dancing!
The second is Pollyanna Children’s Theatre’s Patternation. We shot the DVD version of it and now we’re preparing the stage version. As well as acting in the show, I recorded the songs and voice-over. We open Friday, June 19th and run through Saturday the 27th.
Last week I flew to LA and met with the producer and directed of the upcoming independent feature Tears of the Vampire. I am being considered for the lead. The film will be shot in and around Los Angeles in September and October.
I just had a shoot with Nils Juul-Hansen for the perfect headshot. I uploaded a few of them to my site if you’d like to take a gander. He’s an amazing photographer and I am very happy with the different looks and the quality of the pictures.
Be prepared for frequent updates as I continue to climb, climb, climb!
“Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, it becomes creation.”
-Bette Davis
Until next time,
Michelle
What’s Next?
March 4, 2009
Hello all! What’s next is a little piece of advice that I got from a great friend and acting coach, Van Brooks. I find myself constantly asking this question. When I don’t get a role, etc., what’s next?
What’s next for me is TIME STEPS, the 11th annual Out of Ink Festival. Out of Ink is a celebration of new works from local playwrites and I am fortunate enough to be cast in three of them. We rehearse through the month and open on March 26th. The shows are at 8pm and run through April 4th at the Blue Theatre. Come support local playwrites!
At the end of March I begin rehearsals for Pollyanna’s Patternation. We will be shooting a DVD in the middle of April. The live performances won’t be until this summer.
I’m still auditioning, networking and trying to make things happen.
“Life’s like a play; it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters” -Seneca
A beintot!
Michelle
A long, long overdue update.
December 5, 2008
It’s been almost a year since I last blogged, but it’s not for lack of information! I’ve just returned from Puerto Rico where I was shooting the Nicole Elmer film. We were staying in Culebra, an island off the coast of PR, for about six weeks. The crew was great, the island beautiful, and the experience was one for the books. I loved my character and the story line is complicated, dramatic and fascinating. I will update as I know more about the post production. The B. Iden Payne awards were last month and Dog Sees God, a production I did with Hyde Park Theatre, won Best Comedy and Best Director of a Comedy! Next week I begin rehearsals for Wonderdog, a Pollyanna Children’s Theatre production. I play a very mean little girl and a stuck-up poodle. Love children’s theatre! This weekend I will be acting in a short film that will be rotoscoped, which is animation on top of film. I can’t wait to be cartoonized! I just auditioned for The Drowned World, which Ken Webster is directing for Frontera Fest long fringe. The play is fantastic and I’m really hoping to be cast in it. Wish me luck! There are many other projects and possibilities on the horizon. I am continuing to reach for the stars and grab everything on my way up there. Dream big! Michelle
What’s happening in my world
January 25, 2008
What a crazy start of 2008! Firstly, I have three shows in Frontera Fest short fringe. The first, Kelli Bland’s “A Genuine Plea to My Insides” was performed last week and went on to Best of the Week. “Larius Likler” by Amie Gonzales was performed on Wednesday and was a huge hit, so keep your fingers crossed for Best of the Week this week. Rocky Hopson wrote another episode of “Cowgirl Mary’s Old West Puppet Theatre” and we perform that on February 7th. How fabulous if they all went to Best of the Fest, huh! “Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Pollyanna opened today and we have shows through January 30th. I’m having a ton of fun playing Mustardseed and Quince. Check out www.pollytheatre.org for ticket information if you are interested. I also have been cast in “Humans” at Hyde Park Theatre. It’s a fabulous cast of five amazing women. The show runs March 3rd - the 26th, Monday- Wednesday. In film news, I’ve been contacted by Nicole Elmer, the director of “Lessons of the Tongue”, about working on the feature of the same film. I am very excited to be working with her again and I think this film is going to be successful in festivals and the like. I was also contacted by the producer of the pilot I did, “The Times”, about a film that he is working on. I’m really enjoying this not having to audition thing. Be on the lookout for Caught in the Act Magazine next month. It is bigger and better than before. We still need advertisers, though, so if you or anyone you know is interested, contact me and we’ll work it out! Until next time, Michelle
