Creative Minds Profile #2: Kevin R. Free

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

Last month I was thrilled to have the opportunity to profile actress Emily Nelson for Not Even Joking’s very first “Creative Minds Profile”. This month I am excited to profile another extremely creative soul, Kevin R. Free, a prolific actor, writer, director, audio book narrator, story teller, and producer. I met Kevin many years ago when a theater company I helped co-found, Reverie Productions, produced Kevin’s full-length one-man play with music, Face Value. Through the power and beauty of Facebook I learned that Kevin is producing and starring in a new web series called Gemma & the Bear, which is premiering soon and looks incredibly funny!

Kevin R. Free has an extensive bio. He recently completed an off-Broadway run in The Fantasticks, was named one of NY Theater.com 15 people of the year in 2010, and was the recipient of the Doric A. Wilson Playwright award at the 2014 New York Innovative Theater Awards. I could go on and on about Kevin…you should check out his full bio at www.KevinRFree.com. In any case, I am psyched to have Kevin share a little bit about himself and his new web series this month.

Kevin, you wear many, many creative hats, and you wear them quite well. How do you do it?

I DON’T KNOW, NINA! But I thank you for thinking I wear them well.

Do you ever feel your creative attention is divided, or does one creative endeavor energize the next?

I do think my attention is divided, but when I started putting my career together, I said yes to every creative thing that offered me a paycheck. My goal was to stop waiting tables, which I did off and on between 1990 and 2004. I was saying yes to my career as an artist, so being an audio book narrator, a storyteller, a director, and/or a teaching artist just came into my life. You were there when I began writing (thank you!), and I have come a long way since then.

The projects don’t necessarily energize each other…many of them feel like a pain in the ass when I am prepping for them. But they all have a really great pay-offs. For instance, producing The Fire This Time Festival often feels like long, arduous drudgery in August, but by the time January rolls around and the Festival opens, I feel so proud of our producing team and of all the artists involved (including myself)…and we just won an Obie Award this May, so I’ve forgotten all the things that made it feel like drudgery!

A big congrats on your Obie win! Which projects from your past are you most proud of and why?

Well, as you can see above, I am very proud of The Fire This Time Festival, which is a festival that produces 10-minute and full-length plays by playwrights of the African Diaspora.

I received a fellowship from The New Black Fest in 2012 to do a workshop of my play, A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People. It was amazing what we accomplished given a week in a space with great actors. The play was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights’ Conference. I am dying for a production of this new version, but I am so proud of it as a play, and as a mile marker in my development as a playwright.

I am really, really proud of the acting I did in Colman Domingo’s Dot, which had its world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays this year. The play is funny, heartbreaking, and more epic than a play whose action takes place over the course of 48 hours should be. I often think of how exactly the universe had to become aligned for that specific group of artists to come together to create that play. Never in my life have I felt more connected to a play and to a story (that I didn’t write), and I cannot wait to do it again.

I am also super-proud of Gemma & The Bear, but I guess we cannot call it a past project.

Tell me a little bit about Gemma & The Bear. What sparked the idea? Why this project now?

Well, my friend and frequent collaborator, Eevin Hartsough, and I started writing it a few years ago. It was her idea to write something for both of us. We both wanted to write for ourselves, and we wanted it to be a kind of project we’d never done before.

The show is about a young white woman who, when she falls asleep, wakes up a gay black man. A bear, as in a gay bear (some info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_%28gay_culture%29). The Bear was around when Gemma was a kid. He read her journals and terrorized the kids who bullied her when she was a kid. He disappeared sometime after college, but now he’s back – to help Gemma find love.

Why this project now? Why not? It was so much fun to write and so much fun to shoot. The hard part is producing it and publicizing it…but I have a great partner in Eevin, so it feels good to be nearing the finish line for Season 1. Here’s our first trailer for the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIyZGkrVjko

What else gets you up in the morning? What are you passionate about? And how does this influence your creative life? (or does it?)

I wake up most days wishing for more simplicity in my life. But I am also excited most days about all the diverse work I will generate that day, even though I pretend to want to slow down and only do one thing. I have never been a good relax-er. I have never only done ONE thing. I am not sure it’s possible for me. My challenge continues to be finding and maintaining my focus on each project. It seems like an okay goal to add to my other goals for the rest of my life.

And, my standard drama teacher question: What advice would you give to a young performer who is considering a career in the biz?

STOP CONSIDERING IT. Do or don’t do. If you want to be an artist, then be an artist. Make the next series of decisions to make it real. Get a survival job. Audition. Write. Submit. Say YES to all new experiences. Keep saying yes until you know for sure you want to stay in or get out. Show business doesn’t care about any of us. It was here before you and it will be here after you… It owes you nothing. You can get in the business, but it will drive you crazy, if you are only in it to be famous or to be rich. There are better ways to get rich. Likewise, you are no obligation to stay in the business. There is no shame in deciding to do another career. There is only shame in making a life for yourself that you don’t like. You owe it to yourself to make your life awesome… so do that.

Thank you so much Kevin! That is  fabulous advice. Congrats again on EVERYTHING and I seriously can’t wait to see Gemma & the Bear… and whatever else you may have in store for us in the future.

Connect with Kevin at:

www.kevinrfree.com

Twitter @kevinrfree

Instagram: @kevinrfree

Facebook: facebook.com/officialkevinrfree

Learn more about Gemma & the Bear and its co-creator Eevin Hartsough below:

Eevin Hartsough’s website: www.eevinhartsough.com

GATB website: www.gemmaandthebear.com

GATB Twitter: @gemmaandthebear

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BOOK BITES: Second Best

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

Through the magic of Twitter, I have recently become cyber-acquainted with author Charmaine Pauls. Her twitter page describes her as an author of “dark erotic goth pop romance novels.” I’ll admit that romance is not my go-to genre, but that got my attention. I checked out Charmaine’s website and found the descriptions of her novels enticing. For this week’s “Book Bites,” she shares a nibble about her literary romance, Second Best (Mélange Books, 2014). When I first read about the novel on her webpage, I was intrigued by the characters (a juvenile delinquent and a rebel journalist) and the South African setting. Charmaine also shares a recipe for Karoo Pudding, a South African dessert. Yum!

Who is the main character in Second Best? What is she like? 

The protagonist is Molly van Aswegen, a scarred and troubled young woman who attended an industrial school for juvenile delinquents in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. Molly is driven and talented, but has to battle against her self-aversion resulting from an abusive background. A soldier and war journalist, Malcolm McLoyd writes her story with ulterior motives, and Molly fights her attraction to him as she has promised herself to never care about anyone enough for it to hurt.

What would Molly van Aswegen choose for her last meal?

Molly would definitely opt for a slice of lemon pie, because it symbolizes a major turning point in her life when she took matters in her own hands in her employer’s bakery.

How about you? What would you choose for your last meal?

For me it would have to be a rich, sweet South African curry like bobotie. The mixture of sharp and subtle flavors, the contrast of the sweet and the salt, and the bite of the chili always leave me feeling satiated and happy on a fundamental level, as if all the receptors in my brain are tingling and standing on attention.

Why should someone bite into Second Best?

Second Best is based on my experiences growing up in an industrial school environment where my father was a teacher. Having witnessed some moving and disturbing life moments, I wanted to write about the difficulty of escaping the social branding that came with the stigma of having attended an industrial or reform school. The story also unfolds during the turbulent time of the 23-year long Border War and politically difficult time in South Africa, making it hard for Molly to define herself and find a place in a society where uniqueness and equality regardless of gender or race are frowned upon. Molly’s character has not been sugarcoated. She is ‘the real thing’. It is a story about not giving up the fight, about rising above the past, and about never settling for second best.

Do you have a recipe you’d like to share?

My favorite dessert is my mother’s Karoo pudding. The Karoo is a semi-desert area in the south of South Africa. The town Oudtshoorn, where a part of Second Best plays off, is situated in the Karoo. This dessert is decadently rich and I love it best when it is served warm with vanilla ice cream and a dollop of cream.

Karoo Pudding (serves 6)

250ml cake flour

250ml sugar

20ml butter

1 egg

20ml apricot jam

250ml milk

5ml bicarbonate of soda

5ml apple cider vinegar

Cream butter and sugar until light and mix with egg and apricot jam. Sift dry ingredients together. Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in vinegar. Mix egg and vinegar mixture with dry ingredients, adding milk little by little. Add salt. Pour into an oven dish and bake 35 minutes at 360°F. In the meantime, prepare the syrup.

250ml cream

5ml vanilla essence

125ml butter

250ml water

500ml sugar

Boil everything together, and pour over pudding as soon as it is removed from the oven. Prick the pudding with a toothpick before sauce is poured over for better absorption. Serve with vanilla ice cream while warm.

Thank you so much Charmaine! I am definitely going to check out the recipe and the book. Both sound incredible.

You can find out more about Charmaine Pauls and Second Best below:

Charmaine Pauls- Author Website

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Mélange Books

 

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Jackie Nastri Bardenwerper Shares Her Thoughts on Inspiration

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

First, I wanted to thank Nina for having me on her blog. I am so excited to be today’s guest blogger!

When Nina first asked me to write a guest post, she mentioned that I focus on how I am inspired by the water. And that makes sense. My first book is set on an island (lots of water!), my second has a couple beach scenes, and my current work-in-progress once again focuses on a beachside town. So obviously I’ve got a thing for the ocean.

Yet when I sat down and really starting thinking about what inspires me, I realized that while I do find myself happiest writing stories that focus on the beach (perhaps in homage to the summers I spent sailing and swimming on Long Island Sound), all my true inspiration for my characters comes from music.

Now first, I am a huge country music fan. Growing up I listened to my fair share of pop and hip hop but connected most with classic rock. It wasn’t until college that I was introduced to country and fell in love with not only the genre but Kenny Chesney. Or at least his music. And he has this one song called “I Go Back” where the whole premise is that hearing different songs can take us back to different moments in our lives. And that’s how I feel about music when I’m writing. Only I’m not reliving my life, but creating the lives of my characters.

Most of my story ideas have come to me with music on in the background. With my first book, On the Line, I fell in love with Just Fishin’ by Trace Adkins, a song about a father fishing with his daughter. Every time I heard it, I’d think of Piper, of the relationship she shared with her dad, and how that would make her react when she was presented with opportunities to disobey him, bend the truth, etc.

While working on Populatti, I was going through a pre-pop Taylor Swift phase, which provided me with plenty of angst to work with. During so many of her songs, all I’d have to do is close my eyes and I would see the main character Livi standing there, trying to decide what to do about her friends.

And that’s why I think music really is what inspires me. Because when the right song comes on, I don’t need to think any more about what to write, or what path my characters should take. The music brings them to life, making them so real I can see them in my head and hear the words they’re saying, almost as if their memories were mine.

So while I think characters who love the ocean will always be on my list of favorite people to write about, I don’t think I could breathe life into them without the soundtrack that’s constantly going through my head. Because it’s the music that really brings the emotion to the surface, allowing me to capture whatever my characters are feeling. And ensuring I feel every joy, pain and triumph right along with them.

Jackie Natstri Bardenwerper is the author of the YA novels On the Line and Populatti. Find out more about Jackie and her books at www.jnbwrite.com.

 

 

Posted in Guest Post, Writing, Young Adult Books | 1 Comment

The Joy of Reaching the Finish Line- Take 2

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

I recently started working on a new short story. Actually, it’s a short story I started writing ages ago. I didn’t remember anything about it, not a single word. I’m not even joking.  I discovered it scrolling through old computer files and thought to myself, “What’s this?” and then, “Ooo, I like this. Maybe I should finish it.”

I forgot how much I enjoy writing short stories, because I haven’t written one in a while. Working on this new (old) story made me recall how much I love finishing writing projects. I am really, really close to finishing the first draft of the story. This made me recall a blog post I wrote a few years ago. For some reason, my old blog disappeared. But luckily, I saved my blogs on my hard drive.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am still actually working on the novel I discuss in this post. After numerous revisions, I ended up setting it aside for several years. I pulled it out of the drawer a few months ago, and I am revising it again. So much for reaching the finish line!

Anyway, here are some thoughts on writing from 2011 (edited slightly):

Starting a new writing project is one of the most exhilarating things one can experience.  First comes the burst of inspiration.  This is followed by an uncontrollable need to sit down at my laptop or with a notebook and a pen.  Next comes this indescribable feeling, something like an out-of-body experience—which might last five minutes or five hours—as  the words flow from somewhere outside me, through my body, down my arms, into my fingers and onto the page or screen.  If you are a writer—and if you are reading this, you probably are—then you know how truly incredible this feeling can be.

There is only one thing I love more than starting a new writing project.

Finishing one.

I think this is why I write a lot of ten-minute plays.  They are short, and I tend to write them quickly.  I set them aside for a few days, and then tackle some rewrites.  Often I will bring them into a playwriting group… There’s this moment when I just know that the play is ready. Or sometime I have doubts, but I decide there is nothing I could possibly do to make the play any better.  I save the document as a PDF or print it out and send it out into the world.  I imagine that this must be very much how parents feel when they send their children off on a school bus for the first time.  I am hesitant, but I beam with joy.

This “just finished” feeling is a little harder to achieve while writing a novel.  Let’s face it, a novel take a heck of a lot longer to write than a ten-minute play.  But I recently did it.  I recently finished a draft of novel I had been working on for two years. I felt like crying and laughing and dancing.  I think I did all three.

But it was really hard, getting to the finish line.  I knew how I wanted to end the book, but I couldn’t manage to get there.  As I got closer to the finish, I suddenly couldn’t think of anything to write.  I had to start from the beginning.  I reread, I rewrote, I revised.  I started changing character names and playing with the structure for my book.  I honestly could have spent the next decade tweaking those first 30,000 words.  It was killing me!  Something had to be done.

So I decided to do a few things that would force me to finish the book.

First, I emailed my agent.  I told her that I would send her my work-in-progress—the one I had been telling her about for over a year—by the end of August.  I don’t like to lie. I was going to have to come through with this promise.

Next, I gave myself a deadline.  The deadline was at the end of July.

I started tweeting about my deadline and my progress.  I am not actually sure if anyone ever reads my tweets, but making my deadline public really motivated me.

I also lined up my beta readers.  These are friends and colleagues in my critique groups.  These are people I trust.  These are people who have my permission to give me a hard time if I don’t come through with a book.  These are people I did not want to let down.

Finally, I locked myself in my house, and I wrote.

I’ll be honest.  I didn’t quite meet my deadline.  I had a good excuse, but I still felt guilty about it.  I missed it by about a week.  But I got the draft done.  I laughed. I cried. I danced.

And then I sent the draft to my readers.

As soon as the comments came back, I sat down, and revised and rewrote, and sent it on to my second round of readers.

Then I set it aside.  I forced myself to stay away from it for over a week so that I could look at it again with fresh eyes.

As I write this blog post, I still have a couple of weeks to go before my final, final deadline.  In the next two days, I plan to complete my final revision, and then send the manuscript off to my line editor.   (a.k.a. my mother.)

But a promise is a promise.  The book will get done!

Oh, I am completely aware that just because I’ve hit the send button, doesn’t mean the book is really “done.”  Even with my ten-minute plays, I often continue to revise them after sending them out, or once I have a chance to work with a director during a rehearsal process.  I know full well that I will be revising my novel a lot more once my agent give me feedback, and certainly once it reaches an editor.

The thing about writing a novel is you get to experience that “finished feeling” with every draft.  I am glad that I have something to look forward to.

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BOOK BITES: The Bleeding

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

I’m often looking for a good read, and I’m always looking for a good recipe. I’ve found a way to simultaneously address these two needs. What better way to discover new books then to talk to writers? And while I’m at it, I’ve decided to ask them for recipes, just because.  OK, I’ll admit it; I was partially inspired by the recent release of The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. I’ve also had a copy of Food to Die For, Secrets from Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen, by Patricia Cornwell and Marlene Brown sitting amongst my other cookbooks for some time now, although I have yet to try a recipe. Lately, I tend to cook the same things over and over again. That ends today!

But I digress.

This week thriller and suspense writer Max E. Stone shares a little bit about his book The Bleeding (Amazon Digital Services, 2013; Audible 2015), and what I hope is a killer recipe.

Max, who is the main character in The Bleeding?  Tell me about him or her.

I have a few of those, but the central character is Derek Warren. He’s extremely manipulative, self-centered, narcissistic, and psychotic. And those are his good traits.

What would Derek Warren choose for his last meal?

It’s funny you mention that because the aforementioned traits have landed him in jail in The Bleeding. His last meal would be caviar because he’s gotten his way for so many years because of the fear and money he’s put into others. He’d be that way until his last breath.

How about you? What would you choose for your last meal?

An entire Reese’s Cake. It’s my last meal so I won’t have to worry about calories, cavities, or a sugar coma. I can just savor it. That’s the way to go.

Why should someone bite into The Bleeding?

It’s full of intense flavor with twists and turns that you’ll never see coming and, while it is a thriller, there’s pieces of different genres so that everyone will love it. There’s characters you’ll both love and love to hate. Plus, you can enjoy it all on-the-go as it is now on an Audiobook for Audible narrated by the always-amazing Noah Michael Levine!

Do you have a recipe you’d like to share with the readers of “Not Even Joking”?

Yes, I do. I made Crispy Chicken Thighs not too long ago and they came out really well. I’m not a cook at all so that’s saying something.

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com when I had an all day writing session and was starving by the time I finished. Here’s the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crispy-and-tender-baked-chicken-thighs/

Thank you so much for chatting with us (meaning me) here at Not Even Joking! I happen to LOVE crispy chicken thighs, so I will be sure to check out this recipe. And the book sounds really intriguing too.

You can find out more about Max E. Stone and The Bleeding at the links below:

Max E. Stone Website

The Bleeding on Audible- US

The Bleeding on Audible- UK

 

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Killing: On the Stage and on the Page

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

I recently had the pleasure of seeing the final performance of David Meyers’s play Broken at Shetler Studios in NYC. I was drawn to the play for a number of reasons. David is a friend who appeared in a reading of my play Losing Our Heads: The Guillotine Play a couple of years ago at the Chain Theater, and I wanted to support his work. But I was also intrigued by the topic: a play about a mass shooting.

The play did something which the media often fails to do: put a human face on someone who has committed an atrocity. In the play, a psychiatrist, Dr. Palmer, skillfully played by Michael Pemberton, attempts to delve into the mind of mass murderer Kevin McFadden—very believably portrayed by Meyers.

David Myerers (L) as Kevin McFadden, and Michael Pemberton (R) as Dr. Palmer in Broken. (Photo by RJ Lewis.)

One line of questioning Dr. Palmer pursues with Kevin is his relationship with his parents. That struck a chord, given my recent musings. (See “Murder, Mayhem and Motherhood.”) But early in the play it becomes clear that much of Kevin’s murderous angst stems from his unfulfilled dreams to become…

What? A Writer! Hmmm….

This got me thinking (as good theater always does.) Writers—and many creative people—often set themselves up for a life in which they must constantly deal with rejection. The process of submitting work and receiving feedback can be brutal. Each “no thanks,” can take a little nibble out of a person’s soul. I’ve learned to stop getting my hopes up. I send things out into the universe and forget about them.

I’ve also started to take control of my own creative life. In part, this is what this blog is all about. I might not have any control over whether my next play gets produced or if my novel gets published—but I can publish as many blog posts as I’d like. (And yes, I know, I can self-produce my plays or self-publish my writing. There are many avenues these days for taking control of one’s creative life.)

They key is, not to constantly rely on a gatekeeper.

That said, gatekeepers exist for a reason. If someone is saying no to your writing over and over again, maybe it is time to take a long hard look at yourself and your writing. Maybe your book isn’t ready to get published. Maybe you need to spend more time improving your craft. Maybe you need to do another rewrite or take another workshop or put your manuscript in a drawer for a couple of years until you are ready to look at it with fresh eyes. I’m currently working on rewriting a novel that I was told needed some trimming. Turns out, I really could cut the first 50 pages. It just took me a couple of years to realize that.

So I’ve chosen to “kill my darlings.” I’ve cut some of my favorite parts. After all, too much exposition can be deadly. Perhaps that is what Kevin McFadden should have done instead of entering a mall with a loaded gun.

I didn’t expect this post to go in this direction. I sat down to write a blog about a play about a mass murder and somehow it turned into a blog about the novel I’m revising. It’s interesting where a piece of theater (or any piece of art) might take us. Or maybe I’m just incredibly self-centered. Well, I am a writer.

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Creative Minds Profile #1: Emily Nelson

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

Since this is Not Even Joking’s very first Creative Minds profile, I thought it would be appropriate to feature the very first actress to appear in one of my plays, Emily Nelson. I met Emily many, many years ago in New York when we were both members of this wacky little improv troupe. Not too long after that, Emily acted in my very first produced play, No Epilogue.  Emily has since moved to the West Coast and gone on to play a major role in the film Made of Honor as well as appear in a number of television programs including Bones, Cold Case, The Mentalist, Boston Legal and Without a Trace.

(Photo by Theo & Juiet)

Emily, back in our New York City days, you were a kick-ass improviser. Are you still doing improv? If so, where, when and why? (or why not?)

Thanks Nina!  We had a great time in NYC, didn’t we?  I am embarrassed to say I don’t remember the name of that wacky improv group. But I do remember the elevator, which may have been a death trap. Every time it went up, you could hear the sound of water pouring down over the elevator. But not when headed back down; it was frightening and confusing.  I have a clear memory of standing in that scary elevator thinking, “I am totally earning my dues.”  Ah, to be a young and overly eager actress!

I was also part of an amazing creative improvisation group, Strike Anywhere! The company did long form Herald-like performances with a live jazz band. The shows were always a mix of comedy and drama; we really let the storytelling take us anywhere. The jazz musicians were the best part. If you want to learn about improvising, go watch and listen to jazz music.  Eventually we incorporated dancers, painters, and some times the candlestick makers, (just kidding about that last one.) It was an exciting time. The company is still working out of NYC . You should check them out!

Since then I’ve worked in Chicago and here in LA. I performed with the Sunday Team at Comedy Sportz LA. They really are the ‘nicest kids in town’. Right now I just finished up a couple of shows at Groundlings School here in Los Angeles. We did two sketch shows; everything was scripted with basically no improv. Sketch is a whole new world for me and it’s so fun. And like all things that look really fun, it’s way harder than it looks.  Here is a link to a sketch called “Frank & Agnes” from one of the Radvanced shows we did last month. It is written and performed the great actor Don Schlossman and myself. So for now my improv dance card is empty. I’m excited to find what’s next. It is Carol Burnett’s Birthday this month, which may inspire me to have my own sketch show! Here is a link to a sketch I wrote and act in called More Information Please.

You’ve lived and worked as an actor in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. How has each of these experiences differed for you?

NYC taught me how to live. I moved there by myself, and although I had the support of my parents (emotionally not financially) and I knew a few people who also moved to the city, I was on my own. It feels true to me, that if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. I think it gave me confidence that I could be an adult and fend for myself. I was very young, early 20’s, before 9/11. Back then jobs were easy to get, so I would work my tail off at two or three jobs, teaching, waitressing, and whatever non degrading thing I could find to do for at least $10 an hour. And then I would get a play or a chance to travel, I’d quit everything and go do the project. And when it was over, it was easy to find lots of jobs again. I left in May 2001.

I went to Chicago where great actors and great minds go to get the work done. There are so many talented theatre makers in Chicago, and the whole creative arts scene is basically set up so you work your day job and you rehearse at night. People thrive on this model and raise families, it’s awesome. And they also do exciting, in your face theatre. I got to see a lot and be a part of some wonderful shows. Soul of a Whore at The Viaduct and Cooking With Elvis with the Sang Froid Theatre Company were two of my favorites. There is a wildness about being an artist in Chicago that is wholesome and hearty.  I meant to stay for two years; I stayed for 4.

Then I moved to LA. In LA I found many old friends who had begun to settle here and make families of their own. I found work in film and television. And I found some of the most challenging years of my life. Each city had things that I needed and loved and each has its thorns too. I’m thinking Paris is next!

What acting role or roles are you most proud of and why?

I am most proud of my work in the play No Epilogue by Nina Waluschka, in the play The Sweepers by Jon C. Piccardi at Carnegie Mellon University, in Cooking With Elvis directed by Dale Goulding, “Lonely Hearts” season 4 episode 9 of Cold Case, an AFI student film called Butte County Lullaby, playing Hillary in the feature film Made of Honor, and a role on the pilot Code Black I did last month. I am most proud of those, and probably a few more I am forgetting, because in each I found a character I felt compelled to play. They were all souls, personalities, characters that seemed to me to deserve a fair and loud shot at existing.  I like to play characters that are wrestling with hope and hopelessness.  When you first showed me No Epilogue it was as an offer to direct. But I was so moved by the character Steph, I had turn down the directing and ask for an audition. I don’t know how I talked you into it, but I’m so happy I did! Thanks!

Still from the movie Made of Honor with Busy Phillips, Emily Nelson and Whitney Cummings.

What are you working on right now?

Well, you caught me on my first day off in a very long time, so at the moment I am working on catching up to my daily life and folding towels.  I feel like I just finished a 500-meter dash that turned out to be a long distance cross-country race. Right now I am just teaching and auditioning. I don’t have any shows or performance dates on the books, so this is my resting and plotting time. I went for a walk today and my head was flooding with possibilities. So honestly, I don’t know yet!

What else gets you up in the morning? What are you passionate about? And how does this influence your creative life? (or does it?)

Well, mostly my boyfriend gets me up. He wakes up a half hour before me and wakes me when the shower is hot. You can see why he’s my boyfriend. But besides that stroke of luck in my life, I get up to keep all the pots I have boiling boiling. I find in this business you have to keep hustling in so many directions to keep yourself viable in the work. Not only do you have to find ways to keep your finances flush when work is never predictable, you have to study, train and have time to prepare and be available for auditions, pitches and creative meetings with writing or producing partners. Everything is done on spec and so much that is going on in LA is about self-produced content. If you want to make money, open a minimalist but funky coffee shop anywhere on the east side of LA, it will be full by noon, and yes, you should charge $7 a cup of coffee, no refills. There seems to be no shortage of individuals needing a place to work on their laps tops. It’s like flies to you know what. All of this influences my life by sending me on a never ending roller coaster of success and failure with rain showers of self doubt and spring times of creativity and love that shock the heart. Mostly it’s making me tired and in need of more sleep. There is too much fun stuff to do, and some annoying things too, but that’s the price of anything, amiright?!

I’m a drama teacher, so I feel I need to ask this question. What advice would you give to a young performer who is considering a career in the biz?

I am a drama teacher too! Teaching has been one of the ways I stay connected to the craft of acting. I’m honored to see the process of new actors finding the bravery acting requires being both strong in your point of view and vulnerable at the same time. It too is harder than it looks! The advice I would give to a young student is to always cultivate yourself, your dreams, your ideas, your health and your vitality. If you build a strong life for yourself you will be much better equipped to handle the workload and stress of a creative professional life. The second bit of advice I would give is keep your ears open, listen to anyone who has done what you want to do, and find ways to practice and test your skills in front of the public. This is a DIY career.

Emily still has her copy of No Epilogue. Wow! I can't believe it made it from New York to Chicago to LA!

Thank you so much Emily for your thoughtful responses. It was great to catch up. You are an inspiration!

You can connect with the fabulous Emily Nelson at:

Facebook

Actor Reel

IMDB

Twitter

 

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Waiting for a Sign, Omen, or Fortune Cookie

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

I wasn’t going to send the play.

It doesn’t really fit this year’s theme, I told myself.

The play was Alone in the Goldfish Bowl. It was September, and the deadline for the Six Women Playwriting Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado was approaching.

My brain was just inventing excuses. The truth is, I was losing faith in the play. I had been sending it out for more than two years with no hits. Maybe I should just shelve this one, I thought.

I waited for a sign; it never came. A few days before the deadline, I decided to send the play along anyway, sign or no sign.

Good thing I did. I just returned from a truly enchanting weekend in Colorado.

The program for this year's festival.

This year’s theme for the Six Women Playwriting Festival, “Signs, Omens and Fortune Cookies, Hints of things to come,” got me thinking:

How often do we wait around for a sign that will never come?

Our future selves aren’t going to come knocking at our door to get us off our butts, like in Emily Bolcik’s The Future Me is Mean. Mysterious invisible boxes don’t appear suddenly forcing us to pause and take notice, like in Sherry Narens’s Box. As much as I would like to believe in supernatural occurrences, I have yet to encounter a devil or a ghost, like in Shari Umansky’s The Devil’s Advocate or Cheryl Coons’s The Blacksmith. And we cannot buy a new future for ourselves in a jar, like in Francesca Brugnano’s Future Tense.

Goldfish do die, but rarely do their deaths hold some sort of deeper meaning.

Here is a picture from Alone in the Goldfish Bowl featuring Anna Faye Hunter as Nikki (L) and Crystal Carter as Ari (R). The play was directed by the fabulous Marisa Hebert. Photo by Brian Kwan.

Had I seriously waited for a sign to manifest itself, some other playwright would have witnessed a lovely production of her play this weekend. Some other playwright would have met and enjoyed the company of five other talented playwrights. Some other playwright would have connected and mingled with the wonderful folks who produce the Six Women Playwriting Festival. Some other playwright would have rejoiced in a truly thought-provoking evening of theater.

Here I am with Emily Bolcik, Shari Umansky, Sherry Narens and Francesca Brugnano having a lovely pre-show dinner at The Bristol Pub.

I’d love to say that this experience has taught me to always do that thing I am avoiding and to never fear rejection. But more likely than not, I will continue to wallow in self-doubt. In fact, I am second guessing this whole blog thing as I write this. I’m not even joking.

But maybe, just maybe, I will miss one fewer opportunity. And if that opportunity ends up being half as delightful as this weekend, then that’s a good thing.

The Six Women Playwriting Festival runs through April 26th at the Millibo Art Theatre in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Learn more about the festival here: www.sixwomenplayfestival.com.

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Murder, Mayhem and Motherhood

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

I’d never had a problem with murder until I gave birth.

I used to watch Law & Order: SVU religiously. Not to mention Criminal Minds and Bones and anything else with a dead body in it. My ex claimed that the grislier the crime the more I liked it. He thought I was disturbed. (This coming from a guy whose college nicknames had been “Psycho” and “Manson.”) I read Mind Hunter and The Anatomy of Motive by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. I wanted to know what made serial killers tick.

Not to mention rapists, child abductors, arsonists…

Even my kitty Cookie loves Law & Order, although she prefers the original.

On an ideal weekend afternoon I’d cozy up with a cup of green tea and something like Fatal Vision, The Monster of Florence or Entering Hades. I always read the crime stories that popped up on the internet.  I grew obsessed with whatever sensational murder was currently in the news.

My favorite novel: Crime and Punishment.

And then, I birthed a child.

When I discovered that I was expecting, I seriously considered naming my child either Agatha or Sherlock . I’m not even joking. My darling husband nixed both. I swore I wouldn’t let motherhood change me though. I wouldn’t start wearing mom jeans. I would continue drinking my coffee black and I would certainly not stop…watching TV shows in which children get murdered???

But motherhood did change me, almost immediately.

Suddenly, I couldn’t read about crimes online anymore, especially anything involving children.

Suddenly, I couldn’t stomach TV that was “ripped from the headlines.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t drink my coffee black.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal to most people. But I’m a writer, and, among other things, I write mysteries. My first novel (Swimming Alone, which will be released this fall by Fire & Ice,) features a serial killer. I wrote a comic play about the guillotine.  I’ve written short stories that feature gruesome murders, some even from the murderer’s perspective.

I decided I would have to stay away from crime stories for a while.

But even though Olivia Benson had been banished, I couldn’t keep death off my mind.  As a new mother, I became obsessed with disaster. Staircases, strollers and sidewalks all posed a threat—more so than any sketchy stranger we might pass on the street. I was more afraid of myself. My clumsiness. My feeble arms. My sleep-deprived mind. I was terrified that post-partum psychosis would creep up onto me, and I would do something horrific.

I had another great fear as well. Of course I wanted to keep my baby away from monsters, but what if I accidentally birthed one?

Ted Bundy was a baby once. So was Hitler. What if my obsession with the macabre had somehow seeped into my amniotic fluid and warped her brain? At least with all of the reading I had done on the topic, I would know what signs to look for. The bed wetting, the fire starting, the torturing of small animals.

Hmmm… was she trying to pet the cat, or intentionally pulling out his hair?

It was alarming to discover that my spawn has a will of her own. Unlike the characters in my stories, I would not able to control her every move.

I needed to get away from all these thoughts. Reading had always been my escape, but as much as I love her books, Sandra Boynton wasn’t doing the trick. I needed a good crime novel. What was I to do?

A friend recommended Laurie R. King’s The Bones of Paris. Would I be able to read a book in which the detective has to “descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer” with a sleeping baby in my arms?

I was amazed to discover that I could. Apparently, my new-mommy brain could handle reading crime fiction. These imaginary atrocities helped me to stop obsessing about everything that could possibly happen to my baby. And isn’t that why we read crime novels? Because, somehow, made up massacres and monsters help us escape a world in which real ones exist.

I haven’t sat down to write another mystery story yet, but I think that day will come. Because I can control the world in my stories, and I won’t always be able to control hers.

 

Posted in Motherhood, Mystery Writing, Uncategorized, Writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Guest Blogging for Mommy’s Bundle

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Nina Mansfield

My next post will be up this week.  Meanwhile, I hope you’ll check out my guest post “Delusion vs. Reality: A New Mother Fesses Up,” which I wrote for Mommy’s Bundle.

 

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