Hey there friends. This is a monthly overview I try to maintain to let anyone who may be interested get a general look at what I've been up to, career-wise. Probably more significantly, it serves the purpose of reminding me what I've been up to, since I have the long term memory of an amnesic goldfish.
Early in the month I did a couple more shows with the Music Improv NighT at MCL Chicago. That's an ongoing project through November that has been a lot of laughs so far - I should really write a full post on that experience soon. You can check out the shows every Wednesday at MCL! I also continued doing shows with Dinner Detective at both their Schaumburg and Chicago locations, and I'm very grateful for how welcoming that cast has been!
Friend Dog Studios got back to posting patreon-supported content; the first two (out of three) installments of a really dumb video series called Making a Masterpiece have gone up this month. Those have been a bonkers but rewarding challenge for me to work on and you can read more about 'em here and here.
On August 9th I booked a last minute commercial job for a startup called Lystr. I believe the video will be used for crowdfunding purposes so I'll keep my eye out for it on their social media. The gadget they're producing is basically an automated shopping-list manager you keep in your kitchen, and it was actually pretty neat. I probably should have asked for one. I drive a hard bargain, by which I mean bargaining is hard and I...drive.
Mid-month I popped back into Kansas City (I can't seem to stay away for more than about 6 weeks) to check a few different things off my list. First I headed over to Hallmark HQ to record some character voice over for a couple of upcoming Christmas products. The staff there is always fun to be around; it was a pleasure to hang out with them and voice a goofy snowman for a bit. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait till 2018 to see the finished products. Damn.
An older picture of me shooting a piece with ej4.
While in KC, I also performed with the KC improv festival (which I wrote all about here), helped run auditions for my upcoming Christmas musical, and shot a few corporate training vids with a cool company called EJ4. Essentially, it's presenter work were an actor (hey, that's me!) reads off a teleprompter while an operator manipulates graphics through a green-screen interface. I've been working with them off and on for a couple of years now, and was happy they agreed to roll with my schedule while I was in town.
Work is getting more earnest on my two major writing projects. The Second City sketch show I'm working on with Brian Huther, Michelle Leatherby, and Molly Kessler now has both a director (Heather Bodie) and a title! The Young and The Precious will go up at The Blackout Cabaret for a total of four performances; 9/15 and 9/22 at 7:30pm, then 10/6 and 10/13 at 9:00pm. This is far from my first experience with sketch, but it's definitely my first go-around with sketch in Chicago, and I'm eager to see what's in store for me to learn and discover.
My other writing project, a new Christmas musical set to premiere this December at The Living Room Theatre in KC, is also making progress! We now have a director and are close to having a full cast - though I'm not sure I'm allowed to announce them publicly yet. We still need to pick a title. Right now the two main contenders are Selling Christmas or The War on Christmas. Which do you like better? I mean, you don't know what it's about, but arguably, neither do I, so. Lemme know.