Grand Finale!

Yippeee Skippieee I had a great Sunday.
In the morning we shot our final Kate & Kula episode!


That's 10 in the can, people, and Namakula and I are setting up meetings left and right.

And by 7pm I was on the red carpet for the premiere of Morning Glory.








It's a really great movie, everyone should go see it! I play a producer on the morning show, Daybreak. The whole Morning Glory experience was top notch. I've remained GREAT friends with some of the cast members and working with director Roger Michell and writer Aline Brosh McKenna is a giant highlight in my career. Not to mention working in scenes with Rachel, Harrison and Diane. It really doesn't get much better.

And really, there's nothing like giant high heels and a tight silver dress with the paparazzi flashing before my eyes to put a pep in my step and a new surge of energy for the current projects and characters I am developing. After all, I have to work toward that next premiere!

Morning Glory is in a theater near you this Friday, November 12.

A Great Teacher

George DiCenzo, my first acting teacher, died recently and suddenly.
I met George when I was 16 and took an acting class with him in Philadelphia. My Aunt Mimi, an actress herself, would pick me up from my mom's house and we'd drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge to Casting Director Mike Lemon's studio, where George's class took place. I had only taken children's acting classes before and this was a class of adults, led by George who often used the F-word and was ruthless about "the truth." He petrified me.
But George and I lasted years together. He taught me so much about choice and truth and moment-to-moment. I followed him to NY where I took his class at The School for Film and Television. He wrote my letter of recommendation to NYU and then I took a decade hiatus from being his student. After a 7 year stint in LA, I returned to NY and to George's class at the Actor's Playhouse.
I've had many teachers in my journey so far. Some taught me a few tricks. Many have been hacks. And only 2 have been so crucial to me that I can honestly call them mentors. George will forever be my first. My first mentor, my first real teacher. My first bright lighthouse in the thunder-storm of a career choice. And the wonderful thing about a great teacher is that they are never truly gone. George will forever be sitting on my shoulder, saying in his famously raspy growl, "Do the work."
Thank you George. I will miss you.

Work Hard, Play Hard

It's how my mama told me to live my life: Work hard, play hard. The past few weeks have been a raging example of this motto.

In July I was accepted as a member of Glass Beads Theater Ensemble, helmed by Mari Gorman. This endeavor, to work in new ways, with a new company, three times a week has proven to be my FAVORITE thing right now. Mari Gorman has theories on the art of acting that have rekindled my love, my passion, my commitment to myself and to the art. I mean really, I think I summoned this woman. Anyone who knows me well might have heard my rantings over the past year: "Where is the modern-day Stella Adler? Stanislovski? Meisner? Where are the teachers who can inspire, who can teach me something new??" Mari Gorman is her name, people. I've landed on a gold-mine and I'm pitching my tent.

July was also the month for READ MY MIND.

It was a zany play by wonderful playwright Damon Heath Sager. I played a girl who after being dumped, realizes she's telekenetically distraught. Hilarity ensues in a cocktail party I throw to prove my powers. Dream Quests. Zombies. Suicidal Pigeons. Bent Spoons. Facebook. Although the rehearsal process was a bit frustrating(due to the incredible technical challenges of the play), I collaborated with some great people and in the end, felt really good about the final performances.

August began with a bang with the biggest Kate & Kula shoot yet.

On August 4th Namakula and I worked with 16 actors in 2 locations. It was a huge feat and went off without a hitch. Stay tuned, we'll be posting the episodes sooooooon!!!!

I've also begun shooting a new web-series for young artists called Careers in Photography. In the past few weeks I've interviewed some of the great photographers that are working today: John Hall (architectural photography), Tom Schierlitz (editorial photography) and I also had a big shoot at MOMA and interviewed Curator, Sarah Meister and some of her colleagues. When those videos are uploaded to the web, I'll provide a link for viewing. In the meantime, my latest video features ballet star Jacques D'Amboise (my second project with him!) and his students: click HERE to view.

And now for the straight up "play" part of life.... Jack and I are off to Amsterdam to celebrate 3 amazing years of marriage!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxox

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!

K

When Things Fall Apart

Tough times are afoot, no? Lately, I have experienced more examples than I care to mention that are sad, scary and alarming. It seemed like a theme this past week: Life isn't always secure, life makes no guarantees. 

"When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize." ~Excerpt from Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart.

So sit tight everyone. This too shall pass, but in the meantime, while the pain or discomfort is present, we might as well sit with it, relax with it, resist it less. Breathe babies, breathe.

xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo

Ketchup

Hi everyone! Here's a quick ketchup on my last few weeks...
My second Tall Glass screening was a smashing success!! We had over 50 attendees, despite the thunder storm! The films were stellar and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.




Kula and I had a terrific day of shooting at LimeBeat Music on 5th Avenue. Only 2 more episodes to go!




I had plenty of time relaxing and catching up with with friends (Birthday for Rob Gompers in Central Park, Memorial Day BBQ with Stacy in Jersey, Book Club with cousin Sarah, jogging with Jillian)




-- but after all that loveliness, all the socializing and accomplishing.... I realized, through my great friend Colette, that I hadn't been to an audition in months... and it was getting to me. Producing my own work is rewarding and wonderful, but there's something to be said for being cast in a project you don't have to do all the heavy lifting... a project that only needs me to be an actress. So I lined up a few auditions and low and behold, I've been cast in 2! I am playing several characters in a backers reading of a new play by Dale Perreault called ANTEROOMS. And I'm also now a member of Glass Beads Theater Ensemble, helmed by Mari Gorman.
I'm a little addicted to being busy. Jack is nodding in agreement.
xoxoxoxxoxo

Good Day LA

I just got back from a glorious 10 day trip in Los Angeles. How could I have gone another day without a visit with my sister, my mother, my step-dad, grandfather and dear friends such as Erin, Tonia, Katie and Adam? Honestly, I feel revived. My life feels fat, in a good shrimp and grits kind of way. And the food I ate! Oh the food.... Doughboys Oatmeal, Coffee Bean's vanilla iced coffee, the best bloody mary's of my life (yes, plural), endless lavender cookies, shrimp bisque covered in a puffy pastry, Jesus Denis, I will never forget those ribs.... and yes, at one point I fell asleep, next to my mama, with a mouthful of creme brulee. Heaven. Here are some pics I took along the way... in Sierra Madre, in West Covina and Yosemite (Hollywood wasn't privy to my camera).

Chaos & Control

There's nothing like food poisoning to remind a gal that everyday without food poisoning is a good day. Today is day 2... I'm at 50%... still achy but I'm able to spend most of the day in other parts of the apartment besides the bathroom.
I haven't written in 2 weeks! Resistance has definitely creeped up with this blog. I keep thinking... who the hell is reading this? And do I want people to read this? What the hell am I saying that's so freakin' important?!? The after effects of food poisoning makes me respond with: "Who the hell cares. Just write." So here I am, sippin' on blue gatorade and finally overcoming resistance.
But while I wasn't writing, I have been active in other respects. I jog now! Holy moly yes indeedy I jog the bridge every weekday morning. And I did my first headstand 2 weeks ago in yoga. It was Luke's class (the magical little sprite of a teacher) and I asked, "Can I go up against the wall?" He replied. "Wall? Nah. Do it in the center of the room. I'll spot ya." Then he proceeded to dance around singing, "Today's the day!" I guess every yogi has those special days when you can finally do a pose you never could before. And sure enough, I went upside down, in the middle of the room, with Luke hardly touching my legs at all. I was shocked at how much control I had over my up side down self.
So my life is like a Kandinsky, I suppose. Chaos, Control, Chaos, Control.
I think I need another nap.
xo

A Grati-cording

"A what?" you say.
A Grati-cording.
Yep. I made it up. And you can check out my first one by clicking below. It features my great friend Jillian Louis and me, after seeing our friend's play and having a drink in midtown. At any given time, one of us would have the handheld recorder and the other would snap the photo. The subject was our gratitude. It's 4 minutes and it's freakin' cute. Watch it.
Happy Monday everyone!
Jack and I had an extremely wonderful and productive weekend in Pennsylvania. We were location scouting for his upcoming feature, Mount Joy, and by God we actually secured two locations. Now twenty or so more to go....
=)
FUN.
xoxoxoxo

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GRATI-CORDING!!

What you see is what you get

**Spoiler Alert! Please read the last entry (April 2) before continuing to read this entry!
So many of you responded to my last blog and MOST of you did NOT see the gorilla. My friend Mark saw the gorilla AND counted correctly, so 2 gold stars for him. My aunt Laurie commented that Insurance companies use these "attention test" facts to convince drivers that if they're traveling down a familiar road, they technically will not even see a motorcyclist. Scary! So yes, whether it's a safety hazard or just a new way of realizing how our minds really do shape our world... what we SEE is what we GET.
Stay tuned for a special treat, this blog's first GRATI-CORDING, created by me and my great friend, Jillian Louis.
HAPPY FRIDAY and REMEMBER. there are MANY MORE layers to the world around us. Let's keep our eyes open!
xoxoxo
Katie

What do you focus on?

The other day, my pal Namakula and I attended a free acting workshop. I arrived assuming I'd hear the same old stuff... marketing, headshots, resume blah blah blah. But no! These two teachers: Robert and Michelle Colt, talked about THE BRAIN, THE TEMPERATURE OF SUCCESS and FOCUS.

According to Robert and Michelle, we all have a "temperature" for success / love / money / etc. This "temperature" was formed at the age of 3 and solidified at the age of 7. Yep, by 2nd grade we all had a concrete comfort zone that we then spend the rest of our lives making sure we don't stray from. These two told us that your brain will do ANYTHING not to get too "hot" or too "cold"... aka too happy or unhappy, too wealthy or too poor, etc.
Then they showed us a video, and I encourage everyone to watch it. It takes 2 minutes, and if you're like me, it will BLOW YOUR MIND. I won't comment on the video until tomorrow, giving everyone a chance to watch it. If you do watch it, please leave a comment for me (or reply email) and tell me what you think! You don't need sound (Mom and Maddie!).

Click here to watch this video.


Happy Friday!
Katie

Quote Courtesy of Colette

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."
Gustave Flaubert

Today I am tending to my civic duties, as a juror at Kings Country Court House. What will you do today to make your home/personal/civil life more in harmony?

xoxoxo
K

Makin' it up as I go...

This weekend I graduated Level 301 from Upright Citizen's Brigade (UCB). For those of you don't know, UCB is an improvisation theatre based in LA & NY. Improv is basically standing on stage, facing a fellow performer and beginning a "scene" that neither of you knows anything about. Yep. Just step forward into the spotlight and just start talking. Oh, and be funny... or at the very least amusing. Well, I think I performed the best I ever have, which is a wonderful, albeit painful reminder that if you plug away at something for YEARS, you're bound to get a little better.

You know you're in a good mood when...

...You breeze past the market that sells your favorite cookies (and you've been sans cookies for a week!).

Oh joyous day in NYC. I went to 2 auditions. One was for prime time baby, Royal Pains and the other was a callback for Edward Scissorhands. Royal pains was so so... I think on the first take, I overacted. We did both scenes twice, then the casting director handed me a scene for a different character... a bitch in line at a coffee shop. Much less lines & screen time for the second character. But hey, this would mark my debut on the small screen, so I guess I should stand by, even hoping for the little role. My audition for the character of Joyce in Edward Scissorhands went pretty well actually. One of those callback where you say to yourself, "I could get that." The director said I will know by tomorrow. And then, as if I wasn't already grateful for 2 opportunities to book work, my commercial agency rang and told me to be at an audition for Trident tomorrow at 10am.
I am a happy chappy, as my stepfather would say.

More later on the The Thich Nhat Hanh book. ANGER. It's AMAZING.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Swap Job

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhaaaaaaaaawwwwww
I have two auditions tomorrow!!!! One is a callback for the sex pot in Edward Scissorhands and the other is something I'll tell you about when it's over. Both auditions are tomorrow, WED, so keep an eye out for a Wed night update, if you're interested.
So... Jack and I did a work swap.
I've had this gigantic editing project on my hands and he agreed to finish the first pass in exchange for my writing a pass of his script. Last night, we both worked FULL DAYS on each other's projects and LOTS of progress was made. It's amazing being married to someone where this is possible. It even took me time to convince myself it would work, but low and behold, my movie is shaping up big time and his script is too, in ways they wouldn't have, had we continued to bleed our creative juices over them.
Ew. That didn't sound pleasant.
Ok. Lots to do today. Going over lines for tomorrow, recording an old high school pal tonight for a movie project and all the while, I need to get through at least 30 more pages of the script. That's my goal anyway.
Happy Hump Day!
xoxo

G-friends to the Rescue

Can I just say something? This past week was a blast and you know why? It was filled to the brim with some of my best girlfriends. Monday was ping pong and strategic planning with Kula. Tuesday night was a chat with Colette in the UK. Wednesday was sushi with Jillian. Friday was Crazy Heart with Rosina, Saturday was my Stop Kiss girls and today, was Finnerty plus 5 new girlfriends in a clothing exchange. Oh and let's not leave out my little blue girl, Russia the Cat, (pictured above) whose always cheerin' me up. How much have I laughed this week? A freakin' lot! I bounced from one hilarious conversation to the next. Our lives are pretty giggle worthy, I tell you. Nothing cures the casual woes and anxious feelings about life than a week of nonstop girlfriends. So why not call up that friend you haven't seen in a while and go see a movie? Ask a fun co-worker to lunch one day. Get casual and cozy with a friend and boy oh boy it butters you up.

Jack and I have been cultivating a new plan of action, to be implemented shortly. Things are brewing in this household! Next week, here we come!!!!!!!!!

Good night, best weekend weather of 2010! Spring has sprung and I soaked it up.
xoxo

This is it!

Last night while waiting for our friend Chris Corporandy to arrive, my friend Jillian Louis (pictured above with her BF, Zach) and I sat at a sake bar and ordered some yellow tail and drinks. After catching up with what we've missed about each other's lives over the past few months, we dove into this conversation about noticing the fact that we have grown into ourselves a bit more since our days at NYU. Both Jillian and I agreed that it took us a long time to accept our own femininity. And we're still working on it. Let's face it. It's still a bit of a man's world out there, and for all of us ladies. who want to make a career for ourselves, it's a tough ride representing "the other half" of society. Sure, as actresses, we can play the typical roles inside a man's story but the minute the story revolves around a women (or women) it instantly becomes a chick flick, doesn't it? It becomes something else.
My purpose right now is not to preach, or even to be a hater on all the dudes. I love the dudes. Really. Dudes... you know I love you right? I'm just talking about the process of becoming closer to oneself. The process of peeling away the layers of self or society-taught methods of being so as not to be "other." And of course this applies to categories of otherness... race, sexuality, nationality, fashion, finances, body image, aging, etc.



Michael Jackson, The King of Individuality
There aren't many more examples of a true individual than Michael Jackson. To be honest, after he died, and the movie, This Is It! all of a sudden hit theaters, I was like, "Really? They made a movie that fast to bank on the poor guys death?" But no! I was wrong! It's a great film! Rent it today! It's a real opportunity to check in with yourself and the relationship you DEFINITELY have with M J ! You get to watch him through his final dress rehearsals for the tour that never happened. His dance moves are one of a kind, and even at age 50, his moves far exceed the team of dancers behind him. And do you know why? Because those moves came FROM HIM. Not only does he prove himself as one of the most talented beings on earth, but he is undeniably one of the most unique people... you can criticize him until you're blue in the face, but one thing MJ's got (or had) is NO URGE to BE LIKE YOU.

All I know is this: whenever I get closer to who I really am and I act accordingly, I feel good. Whenever I try to fit in to some standard, I get filled with anxiety. Our true selves, our highest selves, won't always be as outlandish or in-your-face as MJ's. But we can always check in with ourselves, can't we? And ask: Am I doing this for me or for someone else? Am I happy right now? If so, make a mental note to do that thing again.

I mean we only get this one lifetime. This is it!!

Click here to watch some of Michael's moves.

So you be you and I'll be me, ok?
K

Thank you for New York

Good evening everyone! What a bright sunshiny beautiful day is was here in New York!

Today in yoga, Leigh Evans talked about gratitude. She said a woman said to her on the street this morning, "It's amazing what a little sunshine can do." And Leigh said to us, her yoga class, "Yes, it does put us all in a good mood doesn't it? But isn't that only because of the constant rain we've been having? Do you think the moods of people in California are effected by the sun? They have constant good weather, don't they... so the sun probably doesn't lift their spirits like it does to us today. But how can we practice being here, in the moment, happy, with whatever we're given? With whatever the external circumstances might be? GRATITUDE," she answered herself. "Gratitude for the little things. Living in NY is tough. And I think this city gives us even more opportunity to be grateful for what we do have. When I moved from California years ago, I was snobby about a lot of things. A local New Yorker would show me a city park and I would balk, 'You call that a park?' California spoiled me.
Now here I am years later, and I am in love with the trees of NY, because there are so few! In the spring, when I see a dandelion poke its head through a crack in the sidewalk, I think 'Good for you! You found a way to thrive! You found the crack!"
Leigh summarized, "When life is like the all the asphalt in NYC, weighing on you, there are ways to find the cracks, to find the sunshine... and it's through being grateful."

I have a treat for you all! I captured New York on video today and it really does reveal it's beauty!
Click below to view my one minute video. It will make you smile!



A special shout out to my mama and sister in California!! Can't wait to see you soon!!!
xoxo
K

Noticing the Little Things: My Weekend

This weekend it was like the heavens couldn't find enough water to dump onto NY.
My weekend started with a rainy rainy book club meeting (thank God I was hosting!!).
After my Grandmother passed a few months ago, I got back in touch with my cousin, Sarah, who also lives in NY, and I joined her all-girls book club. This past month we read D.H. Lawrence's raunchy classic, Lady Chatterly's Lover. At 30, I am the oldest member of the club, but I like being a part of it, the girls are fun and it forces me to be more well read! Well, on Friday night, the wine flowed freely and the giggles and stories were plentiful...
At the end of the evening, we realized one of the girls, who peaced out early, had actually thrown up in my bathroom sink, clogging it (did I mention I am the oldest of the group?!? I should also mention here that I throw a damn good soiree). Well, my cousin Sarah, a few miles away from sober herself, declared she couldn't possibly leave me with my sink in this condition. She plunged the sink with all her might, yes bare hands and all folks!! until it was free and clear again.
Lesson Learned: Sometimes it takes one wasted rude chick who can't hold her alchohol to remind a gal she's got some tried and true family.
Sorry if that grossed you out. It grossed me out too and this is my blog, so I had to share.
Saturday was a shoot for Kate & Kula (pictured above). It continued to rain cats and dogs as we shot on location in an office space on the upper east side of Manhattan. Our guest star of this episode is the talented Michael Horowitz (remember him from my last video interview??). And with Jack shooting and Kula directing, we were in great shape. A REALLY GOOD DAY.
Note to self: This kind of work is fulfilling, satisfying and makes me sleep like a baby afterward.
Sunday was a day of writing and editing, as the sheets of rain continued to splat themselves against our windows. At one point, the sun came out, yet it continued it's torrential downpour. Jack and I stuck our heads out the window, and our hair got soaked while we had to squint from the brightness of the sunshine. Love it.
Below are some pictures of the little things I noticed from the POV of sitting in my green chair, facing the rainy window and writing:











It's still overcast but the forecast for tomorrow is SUN!
xoxo,
Katie