Well, this is my first blog post- there are plenty more to come. There is never a dull moment in my life so this blog should prove entertaining at the very least. I do hope for it to be an insightful, informative blog for others as well as a means for me to promote myself as an actor.
In 3 months I will have completed my training (in the Meisner technique) at the William Esper studio (http://www.esperstudio.com/). I will then be on my own in the big city- with my talent, technique, work ethic, and passion to rely on. Being that I have practically no credits to my name, (unless you count a short film that I directed and acted in and a few high school and community theatre productions) the notion of auditioning is slightly intimidating. Okay, very intimidating! I am new to the audition experience, but I look forward to what awaits. Hopefully, this blog will aid me in monitoring my growth as an actor.
I'd like to post videos weekly of me performing a monologue or a scene with a fellow actor from my class. It'll be neat to document the remaining months of my acting training. I will be seeing a few shows in the upcoming months ( I just saw three shows at The Julliard School) and will post my reviews of those shows here, as well as constructive criticism of films I have seen. If you don't have Netflix, you should get it! I am also in the process of developing another short film (with an amazingly talented writer [Caroline Coxon] and hopefully a director from SCAD whose name I will not reveal that at the moment)- I will document that creative journey as well. The film I recently directed and acted in is in editing and I can't wait to post that for everyone too see.
The Academy Awards were last night and I am very excited that Natalie Portman took home the Oscar for leading actress. Her acting in “Black Swan” is by far some of the best acting work I have ever seen. She deserved the award. Her dedication to the role is astounding- how many months did she train in ballet and tone her body, 12? It was as if I was watching two different actresses in the film- she transformed from a fragile, innocent, perfectionist of a girl to a psychotic, seductress. And the transformation showed in both her acting and her dancing. Not only is she a great actress, she is extremely smart. Okay, I need to stop- I think it shows that I have a bit of a crush on Portman. I still need to see “The King’s Speech.” That seemed to do well at the various award ceremonies.
I found the opening spoof with Anne Hatheway and James Franco to be hilarious: http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/aol-television/funny-opening-on-the-83rd-annual-academy-awards-22711-tv-replay/805741562001
And this commercial is funny too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms0CL7F9vzM&feature=related
I found the opening spoof with Anne Hatheway and James Franco to be hilarious: http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/aol-television/funny-opening-on-the-83rd-annual-academy-awards-22711-tv-replay/805741562001
And this commercial is funny too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms0CL7F9vzM&feature=related
This Friday I am performing a piece from the “Spoon River Anthology” by Edgar Allen Lee. I am acting the role of Bert Kessler. My teacher did not like my recent interpretation of the role, so I am going to go over the texts and completely re-analyze the piece. Here is a link to the text: http://www.bartleby.com/84/140.html
I am really excited to perform the scene that the teacher assigned my new acting partner and me. We are performing a scene from “Home Free!” by Lanford Wilson. Until about two days ago I had never even heard of him. I need to familiarize myself with more playwrights. Basically, in the script my partner is my sister and she is six months pregnant with my child (we have an incestuous relationship). Disgusting, I know! But it's a great role for an actor. Also, my character has agoraphobia and has imaginary friends that he talks to throughout the entire scene). Can we pile on any more interesting elements for the character? : P Quite a dark piece in my opinion! I believe my teacher assigned me this scene because the character I am playing is very playful; my teacher feels that I have not tapped into my playful side as an actor and that is one of his goals for me. I am far too serious and my playful, less serious side is a component of my personality that I need to get more in touch with, especially as an actor. So that is a goal of mine as well as my teacher’s, during the next three months and well, forever.
I am really excited to perform the scene that the teacher assigned my new acting partner and me. We are performing a scene from “Home Free!” by Lanford Wilson. Until about two days ago I had never even heard of him. I need to familiarize myself with more playwrights. Basically, in the script my partner is my sister and she is six months pregnant with my child (we have an incestuous relationship). Disgusting, I know! But it's a great role for an actor. Also, my character has agoraphobia and has imaginary friends that he talks to throughout the entire scene). Can we pile on any more interesting elements for the character? : P Quite a dark piece in my opinion! I believe my teacher assigned me this scene because the character I am playing is very playful; my teacher feels that I have not tapped into my playful side as an actor and that is one of his goals for me. I am far too serious and my playful, less serious side is a component of my personality that I need to get more in touch with, especially as an actor. So that is a goal of mine as well as my teacher’s, during the next three months and well, forever.
The past week was terrible. But my weekend made up for it. On Saturday I attended my first audition of the year for the lead in a student film , "THESE TRUTHS WE HOLD," at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. The film is an experimental short and seems very mature compared to many of the student films that I have seen in the past. The audition went very well and now I am anxiously awaiting an email regarding the casting. Although auditioning is nerve-racking, waiting for the casting results is even more nerve-racking.
I applied for several more student films via http://www.nycastings.com/ Now that I have completed my dreadful Law School Admission Test, will be graduating from Fordham in May, and may be taking the next year off of school to audition (and get together my law school applications of course), I will have much more time to audition and take some extra acting classes. I would love to take a monologue class, an acting for camera class, an audition class, a cold-reading class, a voice and speech class, and a dialect class. That's a lot of classes- I need a job as soon asap!
I applied for several more student films via http://www.nycastings.com/ Now that I have completed my dreadful Law School Admission Test, will be graduating from Fordham in May, and may be taking the next year off of school to audition (and get together my law school applications of course), I will have much more time to audition and take some extra acting classes. I would love to take a monologue class, an acting for camera class, an audition class, a cold-reading class, a voice and speech class, and a dialect class. That's a lot of classes- I need a job as soon asap!
Hopefully, this post will suffice as an introductory blog. My future posts will be far more interesting- I promise! Off I go- my mother is calling me to clean : /
Best,
Justin
www.nycastings.com/justincolon
Best,
Justin
www.nycastings.com/justincolon
