Saturday, August 23, 2008

Introducing Laura

By now I'm sure you've seen our newest video and understand why we kept putting the word episode in quotes every time we described it.

I'm very proud to introduce Laura Neufeld as our newest main cast member - playing the part of Lou, Mason's new agent now that Kate has disappeared/run away to represent Dixon/whatever you may think.

I can't tell you how excited I am to have Laura in the cast. I met her when I auditioned for Culver City Public Theater's 2002 Season. From the first time I was in callbacks with her, I knew she was someone whose acting I would admire. She was so friendly, open, fun to be around and welcoming to new people. Laura is one of those people who makes you feel like a better actor when working with her.

Robb, Steve, Laura and myself were all together for the first time in a production of "Hotel Paradiso" at the Morgan Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica where yet again I had a blast working with her. Lucky for me, we stayed in touch (although somewhat loosely) through the years.

When we decided to do an internet show, we knew we had several friends that we wanted to use in our cast. Laura was one of those people that we kept not using because we knew we wanted the part we gave her to really showcase what a talented actor Laura is. Still, it was something that we talked about quite a bit, the fact that we really wanted to use Laura, but the timing just hadn't worked out right and we were all frustrated by this.

I can't believe how right it ended up working. Replacing Kathy and the character of Kate was no small task. We had several conversations about what we wanted to do with the character of Mason's agent, agreeing right away that we wanted the part to stay female. There was the idea tossed around to make Mason's agent much younger than the rest of us, but that idea was quickly tossed aside when we realized this was the perfect opportunity to finally get to have Laura in our cast, if she would have us!

Okay, I'm overlooking the fact that we actually DID use Laura in Episode 7. If you've watched the "Introducing Lou" short, you'll see that Laura and her wonderful daughter Sophie were in our baby parade, although fate was on our side that Laura wasn't really seen in the episode - but we did get a couple of takes where you could see her - which obviously came in handy for our short!

I can't tell you how much fun it's already been having Laura around. It's no easy feat to join a cast like ours, where everyone's been working together for years now and Laura has managed to do so with great aplomb. Not too mention the fact that we really threw her into the middle of things quickly, we shot quite soon after casting her - several shorts in which she is the driving force. Again, Laura rose to the occasion.

So, we welcome Laura with open arms and look forward to many, many episodes together. 

Tanya

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay for Laura! I'm so glad she was able to join the cast. I'm also glad she likes to make pies. Perhaps the two are linked somehow.

Unknown said...

Oh. My. God. You guys are way too good to me. Am I awake? Don't anyone pinch me...! Seems to me I owe YOU guys... at LEAST a lemon meringue...!