This past weekend we finally had the official screening of "Space Captain: Captain of Space!"
It has been a pretty incredible journey from the first time I ever read one of Jeff Sproul's in-progress scenes for his new show. It was 2011-2012 at the No Tea Productions writer's meetings in Jeff and Lindsey's living room!
Now they have two beautiful baby girls and a feature-length film under their belts!
They and Jeremy Mather had a screening for the cast, crew and invited guests at the Maya Deren Theater on the Lower East Side this past Saturday and it was so much fun!
A plucky young theatre company called No Tea Productions set out to mount a multi-media, black and white, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, space serial parody (with puppets)!
The year was 2012. The Mars rover landed successfully, Hurricane Sandy was forming off the coast, and everyone, everywhere was watching Gangnam Style on their iPhone 4s.
That same year in the backstage area of the Kraine Theatre in lower Manhattan, we slathered baby powder all over our bodies to make us appear without pigment, and sprayed our hair silver, white or black. We donned short-shorts, leather bustiers and giant foofy tails, all for the sake of comedy.
The question arose: What if we make this show into a movie?
And thus began the two-year journey into film-making that included hiking through Prospect Park, building a cave wall out of butcher paper, and transforming an office hallway into the throne room of an evil King.
Two years, countless ab exercises and a pair of twins born to the artistic directors later, and I'm proud to say that principal photography has wrapped! I sat down to watch a rough cut of the film with the rest of the cast earlier this week.
And it is FUNNY. It's so funny I think we missed half the jokes while laughing. And it's not just funny because all the people doing funny things are my friends. It's genuinely, absolutely hilarious, and I could not be more proud of what I saw.
More news as to the future of the project is forthcoming, but in the meantime, check it out on imdb!
Jeremy really showed off his incredible skills with a camera for that production, and his nomination is absolutely well-deserved. The IT Awards is one of the only award ceremonies that honors Off-Off-Broadway theatre. It was really amazing to be in a room packed to the brim with people who are incredibly passionate about creating and producing theatre, and yet definitely don't make much money doing it.
We'd known Jeremy had been nominated for a while, but weren't allowed to talk about it until after the announcement ceremony, so I had no idea who else in the local theatre community would be nominated.
I'm proud to say I recognized three names in the nomination announcement. The biggest surprise was my good friend Harmony Stempel, nominated for Outstanding Solo Performance for her one-woman show, Human Fruit Bowl.
When her name was announced, The Boyfriend and I jumped up and started screaming, fueled by both enthusiasm and surprise. Her show opens at the NY Fringe in August.
And not only is Harms still rocking hard, Space Captain is still gradually being turned into a movie. We had a shoot the other day at the Lullwater in Prospect Park, and it was awesome to jump back into it! Balancing the movie with other projects, birthdays, weddings, babies and family drama has been rough, but if we shoot one scene every six months, I'll be happy.
I'm not going anywhere, and for a movie like this, I'd come back.
Stay tuned for more news about the IT Awards, Human Fruit Bowl, No Tea Productions and Space Captain: Captain of Space!
To stretch awake at your own leisure in the late morning sun, check Facebook on your phone, and learn that a YouTube video you were featured in has gone from 3,000 to 20,000 views in a space of two days.
That's how I woke up a few weeks ago, and the count is still climbing. As of right now, the video in question has surpassed 50,000 views!
"The Unwritten Rules of Office Bathroom Etiquette" was written as part of a show I did last year with No Tea Productions (the very funny people who brought you "Space Captain: Captain of Space).
The recent spike in viewings is due to it being featured on the famed Cheezburger blog.
Super exciting to have that many people looking at something I did, but just serves as a reminder that no matter how ridiculous something appears, if you post it on the internet, someone will think it's real.
In addition to our fantastic review in Backstage, Space Captain: Captain of Space has been getting some great reviews and press from Theatrical publications far and wide.
Best Friend Cate sent me a text the other day to inform me that she was flipping through an issue of Time Out New York and saw our show featured in that week's "Best Bets" section.
Last night as we warmed up, Lindsey discovered that our show was the lead story on NYTheatre.com's homepage. (Which as of right now, we still are) And the reviews we've gotten have been pretty awesome. Here are a few quotes:
And the show was also featured on the "Go See a Show" podcast, which came to do an interview with Jeff and Lindsey after our opening performance. You can listen to the podcast here.
Welcome to the biggest moment in my career to date. Because my name is on Backstage.
Space Captain: Captain of Space has been getting a lot of buzz. Both Lindsey and Jeff have been interviewed by NYTheatre.com in anticipation of our opening weekend, and there was even a write-up in The Villager.
But our opening weekend has come and gone, and it's time for the reviews to start showing up. And the first review is from the one, the only Backstage Magazine.
"The evenings purest laughs come from the lively cast. Michele McNally is particularly hilarious as Astra, King Xayno's moody daughter."
So that's getting printed out and framed and hung on my wall next to my bed where I'll be able to see it every day as soon as I wake up.
This show is such an incredible piece to be involved in, and I've known that since before we even started rehearsals, but to have that feeling confirmed by Backstage-- the Go-To publication that everyone grabs when they decide to go into acting-- is a very surreal experience for me. I mean I used to have stacks and stacks of newspapers all around my apartment. I would cut out the covers out and put them on my wall.
This morning the review was part of Backstage Espresso, the email newsletter that sends out highlights and featured stories from Backstage. Yeah, we're FEATURED.
Backstage Magazine emailed me a review of my own show. Weird. And Awesome.
There are still five chances to go and see this amazing show. We have performances on Thursday and Friday nights, at 8pm, and also next Thursday through Saturday, also at 8.
For the last few years I've been amazed that such a group of talented people could have flown under the radar for so long. With this incredibly ambitious show, I'm not surprised that Space Captain is getting so much attention. I'm so glad that this show is eye-catching enough that No Tea is starting to get the notariety it deserves.
As more reviews start to surface, I'm sure they'll be positive. The only way I could imagine anyone not liking this show is if they are a complete and utter asshole.
You hear that reviewers? If you didn't like it, you are clearly an asshole.
Here it is ladies and gentlemen! And what a fantastic trailer it is!!!!
I've thought ever since reading the script for the first time, that this was going to be the best and funniest show that I've ever done, and now that I've seen the trailer that has been put together from all the video segments, I am even more confident of that fact!
Space Captain will run from August 30th until September 15th, every Thursday and Friday night, and with Saturday performances on September 1st and 15th! All the shows are at 8pm at the Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street (between 2nd and Bowery).
Yes boys and girls, it's that time again! Rehearsals for Space Captain start this month!
I think it's the funniest we've done. It's based on the old Flash Gordon serials from the 1930s. The really old ones, before the movie with the Queen song.
Space Captain is the fourth full-length show I've done with No Tea Productions, a small New York theater company that adopted me into its ranks three years ago after I played the title role in "Poppycock." (The title role was a woman named "Poppy," get your mind out of the gutter)
My invitation to become a resident actor with the company came at one of the founder's 80's-themed birthday party while doing shots of Jack Daniels and wearing artfully ripped T-shirts, side ponytails and a green fuzzy snap-bracelet, which I still have.
How do you say no to that?
Lindsey and Jeff, the couple that founded No Tea in 2007, are two of the coolest people I know. Their mission statement is to produce quality original comedies that so far have been written and developed by members of the company. I've attended the weekly writer's meetings myself, and wrote a short one-act that was performed by company members as part of a night of scenes resulting from those workshops.
The shows are good. They really are. Not only are they funny, but they're meaningful and original in thought and concept. And the people in the company are some of the sweetest, and most down-to-Earth theatre people I know.
In addition to being invited into the company of actors, after my first show with No Tea, I was even invited to Lindsey and Jeff's wedding!
The most astounding thing about this company is that Lindsey, Jeff, Jeremy (the Technical Director) and all of the other designers and crew pay for everything out of their own pockets. They never make their money back and I doubt they even break even most of the time. And this show is CRAZY AMBITIOUS.
It's multimedia, with video, live action and puppets, and thus much more expensive than any of the other shows they've done.
And so, they've set up an IndieGoGo fundraising page in order to help them make back some of the money that they are already spending to cover the costs of materials, performance and rehearsal space, etc.
I STRONGLY urge you to donate to this campaign. All the time and money and sweat and tears that these people have spent on previous shows have been given freely, just for the love of making theatre. The show will get made whether or not they make their money, but I think they deserve to get a little back.
So far, the results of my "Musical Mission: A Quest to be Cast in a Musical in the Next Year" has yielded equal parts good and super awkward auditions, leaving me with the conclusion that I should look into some voice lessons in the future, because I am seriously out of practice.
However, my musical mission must be put on hold for a while, but it's for a very good reason: I am working like a dawg.
The Play:
I am thrilled to announce that I have been cast in No Tea Productions' next show, "Space Captain: Captain of Space"!
The show is written by Jeff, co-artistic director of No Tea, and it is a Flash-Gordon-esque, 1930s space serial. This marks my fourth full production with No Tea and I couldn't be more thrilled to work with them again! I've been sporadically attending No Tea's writer's meetings since finishing Work: A Play, and I even wrote a short piece for the most recent Reading Series that we did in March. So I've been lucky enough to read the play as it was being developed and it is going to ROCK.
I play Princess Astra, daughter of the Evil King Xayno.
The show is multi-media, so it doesn't actually go up until August-September. Our first read-through is tonight, but we won't actually start rehearsals for the live-action stuff for at least a month. The majority of May and June are going to be used for filming all the video segments.
I am so FREAKING excited.
The Webseries: Recently I was contacted by a fellow graduate of SUNY New Paltz, who was working on a webseries called, "Sherwood." It's based on the Robin Hood myths, and he wanted me to play Maid Marian.
After a very successful IndieGoGo campaign during which we raised over $3,000 to fund the first season, we filmed the pilot in Upstate New York a couple of weeks ago.
I get to work with a couple of guys that I haven't seen since school, as well as some very talented new blood, and one of my former professors. And I get to use a kick-ass British accent.
The Boyfriend drove up with me, along with Best Friend Jen and Fiance Jared, who were getting their engagement photos taken in New Paltz. We all stayed the night in Poughkeepsie with Best Friend Cate and her Bearded Man, and the next morning we went into New Paltz, had brunch at the Bistro (across the street from the apartment I lived in with Cate senior year) and then we all went to New Paltz to see the closing performance of Cabaret.
I got to show The Boyfriend the campus, bought some $1 LPs at Rhino Records, and caught up with my Voice and Speech teacher, Nancy.
It was nice to go back up to school and be able to answer the "What are you up to" question with something other than, "Oh... auditioning, waiting tables, you know, making money..."
Suck it New Paltz, I'm working!
The Reading
Next weekend I am taking the train up to Poughkeepsie to be in an outdoor reading of two plays written by Best Friend Cate as part of her ongoing mission to make P-Town into more of an artist community.
The Short Film
Though I know I'm booked for the next couple of months, I still happened to come across an audition for a short film on Actor's Access.
We held auditions for Space Captain at Shetler Studios on a Sunday morning, and I came in to read with the actors. The audition for the film, "Broken Identity" was the next day, in the same studio and in the same room.
And after sitting on the other side of auditions for the first time since college, I was filled with a new level of confidence, mainly because my headshots actually LOOK LIKE ME. I couldn't believe how many people walked into the room looking NOTHING like the photo they submitted.
Also, it is never a good idea to send a naked picture out for an audition. You'd think that wouldn't need to be said. You'd THINK.
So I went to the audition feeling quietly confident. I was the first to arrive, and the first to audition. The role is small, and the script is still being developed, so in addition to my monologue, they only had one line for me to read. So I read the line, took an adjustment and read it again, and then I went home and cooked my Boyfriend dinner.
And two days later I found out that I booked the role.
Booyah.
So hopefully there shall be much more to blog about in the coming months than awkward musical theatre auditions.
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