One Day Acting Workshop #Projects

A while ago I hosted a wonderfully successful One Day Acting Workshop for FADCreationS. We had such a great (and talented!) group of actors attending and it was an incredibly rewarding day.

I began our day with 'breaking-the-ice' and warm-up exercises and spent the morning 'breaking out of the box' - working on improvisational work in groups, rotating duets and also individual exercises. My favourite of the day was the exercise where an individual starts with a random activity and progresses into an impromptu phone call  - each one was so unique, creative and personally relevant.

In the afternoon we continued to prepare script material, firstly working on how to do an 'i.d' or 'slate' on camera, the ins and outs of preparing and delivering an on-screen audition and the performances of the scripted work. Each candidate received a piece that matched someone else's and they would read off-screen for each other. It is so great to be working together on our craft and passion and I have discovered that I end up learning so much from my own students.

A big thank you to PhotoElements' Eben Liebenberg for all the awesome 'Behind-The-Scenes' pictures. Also to Hermann Winter-Greyling for capturing and editing all of the golden footage of the day. Check these out...

We hope to host another workshop in 2015, will keep you posted!

Chat soon peeps,

King Pie Psycho Girl #FlashbackFriday

For some reason I have often booked work where I gotta get a little crazy and not care too much about being/looking/feeling a little ridiculous in front of the camera. And those are usually the most enjoyable jobs!

So here is a great flashback for you guys to a commercial I shot in 2009 for King Pie entitled 'Psycho Girl'. That says it all!

Have a psychedelic weekend!
Chat soon,

French Toast #BehindTheScenes

What an awesome day on the set of the new Hartiwood feature film French Toast!

Being back at the Hartiwood 'headquarters' i.e. the little town of Pretville in Hartebeespoort was so magical and every time I visit they have made even more improvements and added exciting new things.

There are now mini-sets created as rooms or shops for scenes to be shot for French Toast, but much of this film will be shot on location in and around Hartebeespoort, in Stellenbosch and in Paris itself. (Man, I would give a pinky toe to have gone to Paris, France! (One day...)

I play a small cameo role of a french-speaking nurse named Marion. I just adored my warderobe... (by Corlia Pienaar) Marion looked reserved yet classy and stylish. And the little watch on my dress was set to the appropriate time according to the scene. My hair and make-up was done by Lee-anne Nourse and I loved the sleek up-do she gave me, it was perfect.

And so, in our scene I had a couple of lines in french opposite the beautiful Lika Berning, who plays the lead in the film, as well as the legend Lochner de Kock, what an honour. I won't give too much away, best you all watch the film when it releases in 2015!

Here I am with Lochner (top right), with Paul Kruger (Director) and Linda Korsten (Producer and PM) (bottom right) and with Linda and Merishen Wessels. (Props Mistress and Art Dpt)  (bottom left).

I enjoyed every single second of being on set and I could do that day in and day out for hours on end, it's magical and I love it! #actresslife!
C'est magnifique!

Go and 'like' the French Toast Facebook Page to keep up to date with production news and the release in 2015!

Au revoir et a bientot!

AMTC 2014 Training Weekend #Projects

I am so excited about mentoring the group of South African candidates for AMTC SUMMER SHINE 2014 held in Orlando, Florida this July.
The AMTC website describes the mission and heart behind the event:
Actors, Models & Talent for Christ is a non-profit ministry. It is also a mission and a movement of performers from all over the world who feel called to the fields of arts, entertainment and media.
AMTC equips, prepares and promotes God’s talent to become positive role models in an industry that influences our entire culture. Kids, teens and adults chosen from auditions perform for the world’s leading agents. Since 1982, God has built a 32-year legacy within AMTC to launch His performers.

This weekend in Centurion, we had two full days of training and preparing our incredibly talented group of candidates for this amazing event, hosted at the magnificent Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando. Every year these candidates are screened and approved during SATCH (South African Talent Championship) provincial and gala events, SATCH being the only approved channel that feeds the South African entries for AMTC. I feel so grateful and honoured to have been asked by SATCH to coach and supervise the wonderful SA talent during their journey and experiences at the AMTC event in July.

The candidates undergo more training, styling and photo shoots once they arrive in the US, and will be showcased in many categories in the fields of acting, singing, dancing and modelling in front of 50 to 100 top film, fashion, music and theater executives—from both mainstream and Christian media. At SHINE, each day is packed with workshops by industry experts and the event finally concludes with one-on-one interviews for the performers with these industry executives. Having myself taken part in the event in January 2013, I have a very good sense of what goes into the preparation and the final execution at the SHINE event.
I hope that each one of them will have a similarly phenomenal experience, as I was blessed to have.

I am so looking forward to my trip later this year and will keep you all posted with the happenings in Orlando!

Blessings,

Causing A Scene #ActressLife

To me improv is like church for actors, it's where we go to get nourishment and fuel for when we're out in the acting 'world'. Causing-A-Scene improv troupe opened their doors for a short while, to allow 'outside' actors an opportunity to come and 'play' with them (as they put it), and also for them to find a few new candidates to eventually join their regular sessions.

I was lucky enough to be able to 'play' with them every Wednesday for the past 5 weeks and last week I attended the final 'open' evening at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein. So now, many hopefuls will wait to hear if they will be invited back as part of the Causing-A-Scene improv troupe. Either way, it has been a fantastic experience for me. I am not new to improv, but I know during the past few weeks, I broke some barriers for sure. I grew not only as an actress, but also in my love for theatre sports and improv.

It can be such a scary yet exhilarating exercise. No 'scene' is ever the same and anything can happen, I think that's what I like about it... the endless possibilities.
And when it is well executed, man, it is brilliant to see. Attending improv workshops doesn't necessarily mean you have to be the next SNL star or even be a comedic actor at all, but it allows us 'normal' actors to open up to some seriously uninhibited exploration and building your self-trust. To learn to get out of your own head a little and just go with it. To listen and to say 'Yes!' - to your fellow actors, their decisions and to whatever happens in the scene.


Through just a couple of weeks attending the Causing a Scene sessions, I have undoubtedly grown leaps in my approach, my techniques and confidence. Many of which, I can now put to use during castings, on stage or on screen and I do look forward to exploring more workshop opportunities of the same kind.

If you are interested, here are some cool sites on the subject:
http://improvencyclopedia.org/games/
http://cloudcuckoo.co.uk/jonthrower/improv_ex.htm
http://learnimprov.com/

Speak soon,