'Children's Playhouse' Web Series

We started back up with the Web Series that Adam created last year!  In fact, it's been nearly a year since our first day of filming and episode one is ready for your viewing pleasure but we're not putting it out until we have the other three that we shot this weekend edited and finished!  So it's a really exciting and testing of our patience time!

When you're trying to get everyone in the selfie
and someone takes a picture of your attempt ;)

We spent three days getting everything done for the next three episodes, shooting at Adam's apartment, a secret bar location in Culver City, and then in the rec room at my apartment complex.  Each day was filled with lots of Improv as that fits the storyline and how Adam wanted the series to go.  Since I'm the new girl to town, I'm still getting to know everyone and what Sunnyside has to offer.  Of course, I end up causing some problems and throw a wrench into the mix but I won't give any more than that away!

Everyone really came together, with our friends jumping in to help with lighting, sound, props, producing, craft services, and I think it just shows our dedication to something we love!  Thanks to Lauren for bringing donuts on Friday because I ended up eating two and a half...the most donuts I've had in nearly a year since the last time I had one was on National Donut Day.  Adam pulled out some emotion from me on Saturday, as the scene was one of the few serious moments, and we had other 'game-changing' moments to film that day, too!

Day 1 of filming 'Children's Playhouse!'

Thanks to everyone for being the professional awesome people they are and I can't wait to see the final product!  I know Adam has already gone through footage and is loving what he's been seeing.  I'll be sharing it as soon as we put it out there and hopefully it'll even hit the festival circuit :)

Friday the 13th Improv Show

On Friday the 13th we had our first Aces of Improv Show of the year!  We finally had a Friday performance which meant I was able to be involved.  It was a small cast with a bunch of games and we ended up with a really great and supportive audience.  We did a bunch of short-form games and all of us had a blast! 

Before the Improv Show 'Album Cover'

Emily and I got to work together on the first scene where I became Abu from 'Aladdin.'  We were searching for treasure in Agrabah, and monkey poop (I know) became the theme of the game for all the groups in Three Couple Switch.  It was a really fun scene.  I'm always nervous about playing Opera but it usually ends up being a great time, and this was no different.  As Wayne and Nathan started the scene, they called for a bear, so I had to pull out another animal, and decided being Yogi Bear in the cave would be the best choice, while we all searched for picnic baskets.  Oh the places you will go!  Our audience member shared a very vague 'Day in the Life' which is actually helpful because we, as the performers, are able to add to the scene.  The male audience member chose Rachel to play him in the scene, and I ended up being a girlfriend he never talks about.  Everyone was able to jump in and keep the scene moving along in a fun and exciting way.  Next up was the Dating Game, with myself, Emily, and Katie as the Daters and Nathan figuring out who we were all assigned to play by the audience.  I got Beyonce and I became a bootylicious performer, who talked about my child, Blue Ivy, and when asked what I feared, I responded with "Nothing."  Nathan was able to figure all of us out and I think we all love playing games like this or Party Quirks because it really gets the audience involved.  I was also a part of Cue Word and New Choice, which is one of my favorite games.  We usually close the show with Park Bench and then sometimes a group Improv Song.  Our Park Bench was set in Uzbekistan and while Nathan's accent was spot on, I had no idea what to do as a character choice.  When Wayne went in with his falafel cart, I figured Rachel and I could be Sorority Cheerleaders from California who scored 1600 on our SATs.  While Rachel raided the falafel cart, Emily and I chatted up Nathan, and the other guys came in to scare off all of us tourists.  It was an awesome end to our show!

After the Improv Show for Cocktails at Bar Lubitsch!

I understand that this may not make much sense to those reading it but that just means find an Improv show in your town and go!  If you're in LA, you're in luck, because they are everywhere and on a night you're sure to be free.  We follow the format of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway,' and it's pure comedy for all ages.  Just make sure you're 'yes-anding' and not asking any questions and we'll see you at our next show :)

Aces of Improv (Diamond Edition)

At the end of January the Aces of Improv put on a show at Three Clubs in Hollywood!  I've been a part of most of our CAC Studios Improv Shows and was really excited about this one because I was also The Ace of Diamonds!

We always have so much fun doing these shows.  We had a full house and lucky for me, I had a bunch of friends in the audience!  Thank you to Jamie & Alan, Ashley, Raph & Carlos, and Brian for coming to the show and supporting me as well as my fellow Improvisers.  I loved looking into the audience and seeing everyone having a great time and enjoying the show :)  When we're performing, I think we all wish we could do an even longer show!

FriYAY's Improv Cast! (Zach, Jason, Adam, Hadiyyah, Dan, Kenni, Giana, and myself - minus Nathan)

At the show we debuted a new game we called 'Cards Against Improv' basically using the cards from Cards Against Humanity and having to justify what the cards say.  It certainly brought a lot of laughter from the audience and hilarity ensued.  Playing 'A Day in the Life' was a blast as well, I discovered a new character for myself, and got to play a bunch of different characters throughout the game.

Cards Against Improv, A Day in the Life, and Three Wives Improv Games

Our next show will be in March and I'll keep everyone posted as to when I'll be performing!  You can always find info about our shows at CAC Studios on our website at: www.cacstudios.com Keep laughing!

Thenardier's Inn...One Day More!

We made it through another extension of 'Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret' and it was such a fun run!  We had plenty of time for rehearsals to prepare for the show with a mostly new cast and it certainly paid off.  The show was sold out every week and we barely had any space left for our closing show this past Saturday!  Thankfully, Three Clubs (the venue of our show in Hollywood) was happy to have us and we loved filling the space and sharing our hard work and 'Thenardier's Inn' with new audience goers as well as repeat guests!

Double the Trouble, Master & Madame of the House!

It was such a blast to play Madame Thenardier for this run!  She's a wild and fun character and with Nathan as the Master of the House, I couldn't imagine playing the role opposite anyone else.  The relationship we have built through rehearsals, the show and more translates on-stage and I feel like I'm working with a best friend.  It's a really great feeling and since we have to be a team, that playfully picks on one another, steals things during the show, and feeds off the audience to tell the story, I'm proud to get to work beside him!  We did our first show together 'Babes In Toyland' nearly two years ago!

The rest of the cast that stepped into new roles really impressed me, as I've been a part of the show for over a year now and we've had some fabulous cast members.  Everyone brought a fresh perspective to their roles and also brought the humor.  It's the same show but with little tweaks here and there that brought new life into something that was fabulously magical to begin with!  Michael took over as Director and lead us into a creative environment where we could play.  He as able to keep all the parts that have worked over this past year and also give the audience some new discoveries.  Thanks to our Improv, the show changes and evolves every time and we find out what works and get to keep the audience on their toes. 

I have all the emotions and colors of the rainbow :)

After one of our best shows ever on Saturday night we were all excited to announce that we'll be going into our seventh extension in November!  I will be playing Madame Thenardier for one more day, on November 7th which is also the One Year Anniversary of the show.    I can't believe we've been doing this for a year!  We have some old cast members that will be joining us for this show, as well as filling the audience with family and friends.  My parents and brother will be in LA for the week so I'm so glad that they'll be able to see me perform as Madame Thenardier (especially my Dad and Brother) since they haven't seen me in a Theater show since I was in College!

These tickets will sell out by the end of this week because it's such a monumental show for all of us.  You can purchase tickets at www.cacstudios.com using the Promo Code: NOTLESMIS for 50% off tickets or if we're sold-out there you can go to www.goldstar.com for discounted tickets as well.  Since it is our Anniversary Show and we're inviting all the CAC Studio/Theater Company Members it's going to be an incredible show and tickets will go fast, so if you want to see me one last time as Madame Thenardier, check out the above listed websites and get your ticket for November 7th!  I can't wait to share this with you <3

Our Current 'Thenardier's Inn' Cast...I love being your Madame!

"Can't we just do this forever?" ~ My words at Intermission during our first show on November 7th 2014...and we are!

Improv Night!

CAC Studios is literally growing by the minute!  On top of extensions, sold-out shows, our Children's division, Princess shows and parties, we've got things planned nearly every weekend!  So I was very excited to hear we were going to start doing an Improv Night.

Nathan (who I've worked with in 'Babes in Toyland,' 'Wizard of Oz,' 'Thenardier's Inn' and more) is involved in a couple different Improv groups so he decided to start one at CAC Studios.  We had a fun night of playing games and doing Improv as an informal audition.  It's really nice to get to work that muscle because most of the auditions you go to will have some form of Improv in your performance.  It's always great to be prepared with your lines and dialogue but when the Casting Director calls an audible, you have to be up for anything!  Improv helps prepare you for that.

Part of our Friday Night Crew...Adam, Giana, Nathan, and I after the Show!

The show was called "52 Pick Up: The Aces of Improv" and we had two shows about a week and a half ago on a Friday and Saturday night with both shows having a full-house.  Everything ran really smoothly and there were times I was laughing so hard that I actually started tearing up!  We all got to be involved in two different games, I was in Opera (where you have to sing every line, and I turned all of us into past Presidents) and also Two Lines (where you have two different lines and you can only say those two lines throughout the scene).  One of my favorite parts was our closing when we made up a song about a Sloth.  No more can be said, other than you'll have to see it for yourself!  

Which you can check out using this link:

https://video-lax1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xap1/v/t42.1790-2/11359059_10206876367806404_1981618252_n.mp4?oh=30f3e5fb459f72b7fb7d16423874778d&oe=55766DE1

I'm hoping this becomes a monthly thing for us because we all had so much fun and you're basically getting to play and laugh at yourself.  Laughter is the best medicine and it was so awesome to get to work with such talented people!  Thanks to Nathan (all of our Aces: Michael, Dan, and Nick), all the performers and CAC Studios for creating an amazing space for us to be creative <3

'Stealing A Man's Grill' Video Debut!

I'm excited to announce that 'Stealing A Man's Grill' music video has made it's debut!  Brad Coder, the artist, also wrote and directed the music video.  You might recognize him from his shark video that was rated the #2 video on MSN.com last year and has over 2 million views on YouTube.  You need to check it out!

We filmed the final scenes at the beginning of this month and after editing everything together, the video was released yesterday!  Lucky for me, I got to play two different roles in this video; I get to seal the grill and later I get to return it.  I'm playing good and evil, the best of both worlds because I'm definitely the type of girl you'd expect to steal a grill!

Our final days of filming were a lot of fun, as we got to enjoy the sun in Playa Del Rey and see Brad cry over his beloved grill's return.  We got in a nice little work-out running along the beach and got our groove on for the ending party scene.  Although, Brad was more excited about his grill than his bikini-clad heroines.

It was a blast to shoot this video and the song is super catchy...I think you'll enjoy it :)

Here's my original post for our first shoot of 'Stealing A Man's Grill': http://lyndseywegner.blogspot.com/2013/09/stealing-mans-grill.html

You can find Brad on YouTube and see his other videos including his famous shark video here: https://www.youtube.com/user/bradskillz

Miley Montana & Brunch

I was excited to have Friday night off, for the first time in a very long time, because I knew I could see my friend, Acquah's show, that he'd been talking about for months.  He was performing in Miley Montana: The Musical which was playing at Second City in Hollywood.  This was my first time at an Improv show in Los Angeles.  I've seen Stand-Up before at a couple different venues throughout LA so I was excited for a new experience.  Walking through the hallways you saw all the different celebrities and comedians who graduated from Second City throughout the years: Shelley Long, Gilda Radnor, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, and Tina Fey to name a few.  

The room was packed with just a couple seats left.  I loved the musicians playing between and during each scene.  The show opened with a 'Britney Spears' impersonation and also had appearances by Pharell and Liam Hemsworth, both played by Acquah.  His Australian accent was awesome!  The cast definitely had fun during their performance and the show had some really funny parts.  I was surprised their wasn't a whole lot of Miley Cyrus songs performed, but then realized with royalties, it would cost a lot to use the music.  I still I loved a lot of the originals which were really great musically.  I'm so glad I got to see Acquah perform!

Brunch at Cafe Laurent

On Saturday morning I checked out a new brunch spot on Overland Avenue.  I've driven past Cafe Laurent many times and always wanted to try it but it has morning and lunch hours, closing by 3 pm so I usually just stick to Overland Cafe for brunch if I'm not at home having cereal or making pancakes.

 

I was greeted by a really nice girl with an accent who got a table ready right away.  It makes your experience a million times better when the first person you meet is genuinely happy doing their job, and she was incredibly sweet and accommodating. After perusing the menu I found a bunch of stuff that sounded really good from both the breakfast and lunch menu.  I decided on the Eggs Benedict since it was served on a croissant and came with Au Gratin Potatoes, avocado, and bacon.  The potatoes were some of the best I've ever had and I'm already excited to go back for them!  The Eggs Benedict was good too so I was very happy with my meal, there was plenty to eat, and it was reasonably-priced.  The entire staff and manager were excellent!

Cafe Laurent offers a $5 corkage fee so I think it would be fun to stop by on an afternoon with a bottle of Moscato, have some desserts or appetizers, and just enjoy the beautiful patio and live music.  I'll definitely be back :)