The Show Must Go On.

Hey Abyss,

Since my last post I went to see The Great Gatsby. I thought Carey Mulligan blew it out of the park. And, well, Leo is just Leo. I also forgot how much I like Tobey MacGuire. It was an extremely solid cast and the visuals were, well, very Baz Luhrmann. All in all I enjoyed it.

I haven't had any auditions since the short film a few weeks ago, but that is perfectly fine considering I haven't had that much downtime with SOLO-icious hanging in the balance. For those of you who may not know what I am talking about, SOLO-icious is a solo festival that took place in Halifax last year and has expanded and come back this year. I have the absolute pleasure of being part of both years. This year, on Sunday May 26 @8pm to be exact, I will be performing my piece LIONESS which I wrote and star in. It is about a Lower Manhattan Latina single mom that goes in for a parent teacher interview regarding her 8 year old son.

I also wear a leopard print jumpsuit.

If you have been following my posts you will know that I performed this piece at The National Theatre School earlier this year as part of an assignment. Now that I am performing it outside of the school I am extremely nervous, but I think it will be a learning experience. A fresh audience is something that is so educational especially in these early stages of development for solo work. I know I am completely supported and every artist scheduled for the evening is in the same boat as me, so we just have to go and knock it out of the park. I have my tech time today and then I am supporting the first half of the performers tonight!

After my performance on Sunday I am taking a break and just chilling out for three weeks before I head to Ottawa/Toronto for a month. I am looking forward to just relaxing and taking time to read and sit outside. I am a proactive person when it comes to projects and finding things to do, but after talking to a fellow artist yesterday I realized that I have a tendency to become lazy with my technique. In other words, I am not keeping up with the training over the summer. I tend to let it fall to the waste-side, which is not good. I really have to get into the habit of being diligent in my work in and outside of school, I find myself becoming so distracted with making projects or connecting with people over a project that I am not ready for when the project is actually here!

Everything is a process and I am still pushing my way through to find what truly benefits me and how I can keep practicing self discipline. I don't think these struggles ever stop, but I do want to get into a routine with them, because the worst thing would be to become so apathetic that it all just falls away from me. And as I have said numerous times before, I need to start getting better at the things I am not so good at.

I have met some awesome people over the last few weeks and they had some wonderful insights for me.  I feel so blessed to have knowledgeable and kind people in my life who are willing to share their struggles in attempts to make me better. It is so selfless and I am entirely grateful. I find honesty and reality to be the most important things when talking to people about their careers, no one wants to be lead down a road of lies. Tell me upfront. If you can't handle the truth then you aren't ready for the life, that's my opinion.

If you are in Halifax this weekend check out SOLO-icious!

Here is an interview with Sebastien Heins the Artistic Director of the Festival: http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1131080-solo-showcase-rolls-out-tapestry

I have to get ready for my tech time, thanks for listening.

Night Abyss.

A little less conversation.

Hey Abyss,

The last few weeks have been a combination of really busy and really slow. I am currently still looking for a job due to my dwindling bank account and have found myself employed at multiple establishments with no guarantee for work, which is quite helpful at this stage.

Currently I am an actor, a pirate who can do children's parties, a knife salesman, a camp councillor and I am waiting to hear back from a garbage collector job. I am really holding out for the last one because it is promising continuous work and a reliable paycheque. With possession of this job I will swiftly change my name to Wayne 'Garbage Man Extrodinaire' Burns, as recommended by my ever supportive mother.

I had a job interview for Apple on Saturday and it was such a great experience, they really create an environment that you would be crazy not to want to work in. The operative word there being crazy. Everyone is just so happy and loves life and the products. All part of their marketing scheme, which of course has made them over 50 billion dollars worth of sales. As the rep said, "That is 6,000 dollars per square foot of the earth...", thats a lot of monies.

Here is hoping that I can find something to make me money, other than having to resort to selling myself and changing my name to Wayne 'Stripper Extrodinaire"Burns. Of course Channing Tatum did it and now there is movie being made about it.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1915581/

So with all of my free time I have been spending most of it with my Sugar Mama girlfriend who has basically allowed me to leech off of her for the last month in promise of me hitting her back with the funds when I become employed. What a great girl.

There has been no auditions for anything...which is rather depressing. It doesn't look like this summer is gonna be as lucrative as the last one, unfortunately. I have been involved in two shows though since my return and they went really well. The first was SOLOICIOUS which was spearheaded by Sebastein Hiens and was performed at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax (http://www.facebook.com/Soloicious). It was a festival of sorts where about 8 performers all did solo work that spanned many mediums. It was a sold out evening and will hopefully make a comeback next year. I was so impressed with the talent involved in the project.

Next show was something called a evening of short plays, which is exactly how is sounds. This was put on by Once Upon a Theatre Collective in the same place (Bus Stop Theatre: http://twitter.com/#!/onceupontheatre). It was an awesome experience as well. We had about 12 hours to direct and perform a piece, a challenge but well worth it.

That has been the extent of my perfuming in the last little bit, other than a reading of Michael Healey's play Proud which was rejected by Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. And a play by Mark Ravenhill called Shopping and Fucking, which was interesting to say the least.

That is all there is right now, but I will keep you as updated as possible and will tell you what interesting things I find in the garbage while picking up all the things you throw on the ground.

Check me out on twitter @wayne_burns, and my IMDB and check out the interview and review of SOLOICIOUS below.

Night Abyss

Reviews: http://www.twisitheatreblog.com/archives/1229
                http://www.twisitheatreblog.com/archives/1188
                http://www.twisitheatreblog.com/archives/date/2012/05/page/2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ravenhill

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/michael-healey-and-his-play-proud/article534494/

Back in the Groove

Hey,

Alright so it has been almost a week since I have been home, to be exact 5 days. Most of those days, or rather, all of those days have been spent catching up with my friends and girlfriend who has the patience of Job to deal with me and my radical behaviour.

So now that "vacation" is over it is time to start getting back on the streets and selling myself.

Wow, didn't think that through.

I am in progress of updating all my resume's and photos to bring into my agency tomorrow in attempts to garner at least as much work as last summer. Hopefully more.

I am flat broke this time around and will probably have to cave to working at a gas station or McDonalds, both of which I think would be quite interesting to work at. But enough about my potential unemployment and more about the opportunities that are coming about!

I have probably already mentioned my involvement in a festival created my one of my fellow NTS'rs, Sebastien Heins, who graduated earlier this month. He and I as well as 4 other performers are showing our talents in a two hour evening on the 27th at 8pm at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax. I am stoked for this show because it will be the first time I have performed my Vocal Masque outside of school and I also get to meet a lot of cool people, which is always a bonus.

After this I, potentially, have a gig on June 4th, which is an evening of short plays and I have been tentatively cast in this as well! So some good coverage coming up, but no monies.

So here is hoping that I can get some film work ASAP. For my cats sake.

Also, my girlfriend and I went to see "Fishing' by Jeremy Webb and Stacy Smith. It was awesome if you have the chance to see it, do it.

Just a short one tonight, but I will keep you posted. Check out my twitter and IMDB!

Night Abyss.

http://www.thebusstoptheatre.org/calendar.html

http://www.offtheleash.ca/fishing/