The UNOFFICIAL UGA Drama Blog

Here's CLAY

Heya folks, Clay Martin from class of 'ought 3
checking in.

I'm about to start production on the 7Stages (in the
A-T-L) adaptation of Barbara Eherenreich's Nickle
and Dimed, which will hit the boards in April/May
of this year. It's a really great yarn to be
spinning...an educated journalist for Harper's
Magazine went undercover for a year as a low-
wage slave and faithfully chronicled the tortuous
road she travelled. It's a strong cast and with a
great director (Del Hamilton) and we'll be taking the
show on the road come this autumn. There's a
great chance we'll come near the city, so hopefully
I can see some old friends and make some new
ones.

Also, could you please give all of my non-
communicative classmates a good pinch in the
ribs and tell them to crank out an e-mail or two?

Jon Campbell, Checking In

Tomorrow morning (OKAY, HE WROTE THIS IN NOVEMBER AND I SUCK,
I'll begin a journey that will
have me traveling farther than any of you have for
a theatrical show. I say this with confidence
because once you hit Singapore, it makes more
sense to go the other way around the world.In
fact, going through London instead of Tokyo would
have only added an hour or so to my flight.

That's right, Singapore. We're on our way.
Followed by fun and sun in Tokyo with Jenny, her
brother, and his Japanese bride. Exciting times
call for exciting measures!

Who would have thought that playing an
oversexualized stuffed teddy rabbit would be the
thing that lets me see the world? Anyway, the show
is The Joy of Lex and we may have another encore
run sometime over the summer, so keep your ears open.

Trying-my-best-not-to-get-arrested-and-caned-in-Singapore-edly,
Jon

Amy Loveridge Checks In

OK- so it's been a while since I checked in on
Friendster, but here's the latest on me, meaning
what I've been up to since I left Athens.... this
could take a minute.

After spending 1994-1997 in Athens, essentially
living in the Drama building, I ran out of cash and
ended up back in Snellville, GA where I made a
brilliant career out of retail for two years. Finally, I
couldn't fold another pair of jeans and put those
stage management skills to use in Atlanta,
working for ART Station, Stage Door Players,
various and sundry small Little 5 Points
productions and eventually picking up outside work
in wardrobe at The Georgia Shakespeare Festival,
as a production assistant at the Fox Theatre, and
writing a 24-Hour Play that was included in
the "Best of 2000." Thanks to the lovely Louise
Schwarz, I was then hired at Appel Farm in NJ as
the Technical Director for summer of 2000 where I
stayed up round the clock for nine weeks and
taught 9 year olds how to use power tools while
having the best time of my life. A friend from camp
invited me to move to PIttsburgh, sight unseen, so
I did. May I advise anyone who is unfamiliar with
snow in bulk that it is cold and gray for nine
months. Nonetheless, I stage managed for
Thoreau NM Productions and did some lighting for
the opera. Finally, I got back to school at Chatham
College and finished my Arts Management degree
in 2003. Since then, I've been in Washington, DC
buried up to my neck in books and will finish LAW
SCHOOL in May of '06. Lest anyone think I've
given up on the theatre, I've managed to intern at
Washington Lawyers for the Arts and at the
general counsel's office at the Kennedy Center. I'd
love to hear from any other theatre types in DC or
who plan on coming through the city and like
bourbon and cokes.

-Amy Loveridge
UGA Drama undergrad 1994-1997

From AJ in LaLa Land

I had no damn idea this blog existed. Great. Another reason to procrastinate. Anyways, to that end, I wanted to drop a line and say hello to everyone. I hope all is well. I keep hearing about Fat Black...and it makes me very anxious to get back to NYC. As for me, here is my very quick update:
My wife and I moved to L.A. 8 months ago. In that time, I have been fortunate enough to be offered membership in an Equity House out here, and I recently completed a succesful run there as the lead in a Stoppard show. From that, I was invited to audition for a film. They wouldn't tell me what it was, but I read several times, and during the middle of this summer, I got to shoot at Universal Studios for Creepshow 3. (Auspicious. I know.)But, I DID get to have my own trailer for three weeks. Which is totally braggable. That got me a writer's and producer's credit for an upcoming pilot in development at Showtime. (I also got one of the lead roles, so that's sweet.)Finally, my dream is coming to fruition: It looks like I have an offer to mount the long-gestating play...Ishtar:The Musical. I know you're jealous. Cuase Ishtar is comedy gold. Hey, if they can make a musical about Debbie Doing Dallas, then whatever. In summation, things are great out in L.A.
Mostly because everybody out here is untrained and wants to be on Survivor.
XO
A.J.

www.normaltown.blogspot.com

Jon's happenings

Jon's happenings

Message:

Everyone else was sending in their latest news and I was sitting here getting jealous. Who are they to have more exciting lives than me? Nobody ever writes about what's happening with me. Then I realized it's cause I haven't really told anybody enough to write about. So here's a bit of Jon for ya. For several months now, I've been training in the art of maskmaking under the watchful eye of Stanley Sherman, one of the leading maskmakers and Commedia Scholars in the coountry. I'm beginning to strike out on my own and, thanks to some donated studio space from someone with a bit extra, I am actually going to turn it into a business as soon as I get licensed. I'm currently working on developing a show with the Stolen Chair Theatre called The Man Who Laughs. It's based equally on the novel by Victor Hugo, the silent film that should have starred Lon Cheney, and our own rampant imaginations. It will be a live action silent film for the stage with me as the title character, whose face was disfigured into a permanent smile by a group of vengeful gypsies. The lovely Jennifer Wren will be prtraying my blind ingenue love interest. We open Halloween night at the Red Room, come in costume and get a discount. This is the 3rd show I've done with Stolen Chair and the shows turn out pretty damn well, so check us out. I'll also be traveling to Singapore at the beginning of December to be a part of the Initiation International festival. My friend Alexia Vernon's show, The Joy of Lex, was invited as one of two shows from the US to participate. Yay for us! Recently, I have made the decision that my true calling is in balloon sculpture hats. As anyone who was around for Katherine Sanderlin's B-day can attest, I make the most beautiful, completely balanced, elegant balloon hats. Or I make them really large. I can never remember. But if you see me on the street corner making little latex animals, drop a dollar or five in the hat and get me out of there.

Rachel B's Kicking Ass

From our ass-kicking Rachel in Atlanta:

Rachel Bodenstein has been making a living for the
past two years as an actor and director working out of
Atlanta.
Rachel was recently cast as the new character, Madison
Mouse, for the Emmy Award Winning Children's Program
"Page Turner Adventures." She will be performing
alongside Riley Roam (Fox TV's Children's News
Anchor), Kenny Mikey (ex-Advance Clown for Ringling
Bros. Circus) and Jim Hammond ("Lion King" National
Tour.) Filming will begin in October in Ft.
Lauderdale.
She recently performed the role of Chava in "Fiddler
of the Roof" for Jewish Theatre of the South, which
the AJC called "the season's best musical."
Since closing the show, she has been touring the
country directing "Life on Campus." This is her second
year direcing the show. The tour currently has her in
DC, where she had a fabulous happy hour(s) with the
phenominal Eleanor Morrison.
She will next direct the show in Vermont.
For more updates/pictures/media/etc, go to
rachelbodenstein.com

Summer Goings-On

So much going on for so many people; summer is apparently our time to shine! If anyone is checking this, send me a blurb and I will stick it on here!

Katherine Sanderlin and Shelly Stover completed an amazing experience at the Summer Play Festival in DCT's crooked. It is not often, my friends, that a budget of $15,000 and unlimited numbers of chic parties and actual paychecks come from something that is also so conversely an incredible growth experience for actors. Keep an eye out for director Linsay Firman. She is young, incredible, insightful, and will show you more about acting by trusting you onstage than any professor ever did. She is going to take off (some would say she already has).

Meanwhile, DCT's play garnered major attention at the festival. Some literary managers and artistic directors told certain people that it was "the best show in the festival" and have asked for copies of the script and of her other work. Catherine of course would never toot her own horn on this one, but talk about flying! She may not be writing her dissertation this summer, but seriously, that will come when it comes!

Steven Yockey has a show he co-created in the NY Fringe. Not your standard Yockey fare, it is an interactive comedy called Help! Check it out on www.fringenyc.com.

Erika, all the way from Chicago, also has a show in the Fringe, called Warfield, USA. It is playing in a huge-ass theatre with 200 seats and promises to be a smashing good time. We will check it out when it comes!
Update: here's the information:
Guys, I cut and pasted all the info from the NY
Fringe website below in case any of you NY friends
are able to come see it. I love this show and I'm
so excited to bring it to NY.
love,
E

WARFIELD, USA: The Musical
Jazz Hands Across America
SoHo Playhouse
www.jazzhandsamerica.com/warfield.htm

Tue 23 @ 08:15p
Thu 25 @ 05:45p
Sat 27 @ 06:00p
Sun 28 @ 02:00p

WARFIELD, USA is the legend of a twisted mayor
determined to inflict peace on a war-loving
community. But Mayor Gunner Livingston
underestimates the strength of a little girl, the
love of her bomb, and the resolve of this
all-American town.
1h 30m National Comedy Musical

To buy tickets go to www.fringenyc.org!

Clayton is acting in a show at the Fringe also, but my friggin' friendster account won't give up the message about it, so maybe he will see this and update us all!

Shapour received a production this summer at the famous feminist theatre, the WOW Cafe. It was a beautiful play, with wonderful direction, a great sound design and strong actors. She is now working on a new piece! She is working at the West Bank Theatre on a part-time basis and has a thriving business as a pet-sitter and dog walker. She also recently received her NYC bartender's license. Bravo!

Vanessa has been cast as Galileo in a new translation of the Brechtian play by the same name at WOW Cafe. She has also been working her ass off in a number of film shorts. She is happily in a relationship with a lovely comedian, Ricky, who some of you have met. She has met the parents and everything.

Rachel Mewbron moved to the city (well, Queens, where she lives with Vanessa) and decided the day she got here that she wanted to waitress at the West Bank Cafe. Yup. Doesn't everyone? But the difference with her is that the day after she got here, she walked into the West Bank and said: I wanna work here. And without hardly blinking, they said, "come tomorrow, wear a black button-down shirt." She has met many a lovely agent and casting director there, who keep bombarding her with audition requests. How many of us have had the good fortune to actually have an appointment at William Morris? Fire, the girl is on Fire!

Jeremy Bales lives in NYC and works as a freelance photojournalist for a number of organizations, including Yeshiva University and the New York Post (is it the post or the Daily News?), where his photos can be seen very often.

Kate Jones is working on costumes for All My Children. Awesome!

The last time Donnie Sanders handed me his card from work, it said "Vice President, William Ivey Long." Donnie would downplay it, but how the fuck awesome is that? He recently was flown to South Africa for a sixteen hour sprint overseeing the design of a production of Chicago. He got to see none of the city. Still!

Shelly Stover is working her ass off at UCB, where she is on a Harold Team and constantly constantly creating comedy. She has a new website: check it out at www.shellystover.com. The stars are in allignment these days for her. And she was incredible in DCT's crooked. And when she realized I was choking onstage one night, she was right there with me. And I knew that even if I couldn't breathe, she would find a way to give me mouth-to-mouth, grab some Holy Water, make a joke, save my life, put the audience at ease, and fulfill that moment in the script. What gifts!

Emily Bohannon is working at (please correct me if this is not the right place) Manhattan Theatre Club, and loving every second of it (I think.) She is writing a play--ask her when she will have a reading!

AJ Bowen just wrapped his first major filmshoot. Hopefully he will write in and tell us all about it. I think he got to murder someone and BE murdered. And I think some of his booty might be visible on screen. And he got a raise in the middle of shooting the sucker. Something good must be in the air!

Recent Moves: Rachel Mewbron has moved to NYC. Jeremy Bales has moved to NYC. Stephanie Cleveland has moved to NYC. Maryann Welshans has moved to NYC. Katherine has moved to Brooklyn. Jenny and Jon have moved to Park Slope, and are happy to be closer to the city.

More Later--so much happening for so many people and so few are letting us know about it. And you know what? I think we are all a bit too reticent and fear sounding cocky. That is not this is about at all! Friends, we need to share our successes. And not just in the theatrical arena. In life. Everything we do that lifts us up and cheers us is worthy of attention. It inspires us all and brings hope. This might indeed be the most important thing we have gained from our time in Athens--a sense of community that revels in our delightful lives, in the small and the large successes. There is no line between them. And the stronger we grow, the more we have to give.

So much love,
Katherine

Sam Wooten Checks In!

hola uga drama alum
so glad to see the technological efforts of the kids
from school being put to such good use. such as,
what's sam doing?
i am recently graduated from Indiana University's
MFA program. my wife, emily, and i are headed to
chicago in a few weeks to find an apartment. after
that, i get to go back to italy for a few weeks to do an
educational commedia film with antonio fava. i
studied cda with him last summer and had a blast. i
will be back in indiana to do greater tuna through the
end of october. anyone in the heartland should come
and check it out. i have managed to keep myself
sane by living in a relative oasis in the miasma of the
midwest (bllomington is cool), and seeing the
occasional great rock n roll show, or the recent david
sedaris and jon stewart sightings.
otherwise my life/education for the past three years
has been a blur. i am sure that many can attest to
the worth/struggle of finding oneself in a graduate
program without a clear idea of where your are being
lead. nonetheless, i am excited to hit the big city and
see what happens.
any encouraging words or suggestions of great bars
with cheap, stiff drinks is greatly appreciated.
xo
sam wootten (BA '01)

The Shelly Stover Scoop

Hah...yes this fact is true about the CNN commercial. However, my part will never air. It was cut because I made Lou Dobbs look like a foundation covered monster who is mentally retarded. It is amazing what a waitress can bring out in a person. However, I did book a National AOL commercial the week after the CNN commercial was shot and that has been up and running. I think it is hard to tell that it's me, but I'm in a medium shot standing on some stairs. A week before the CNN shoot I did an MTV promo for the Ashlee Simpson Show that has been running, but my head is under a hair dryer and I think it is hard to tell it was me. Good lucky times!
For those of you in New York you should come check out a show at the UCB Theater. I'm doing various ones there throughout the month of April. Find it all at www.ucbtheater.com. It is a place to find hilarious theater under a grocery store.
Thanks for posting up on this stuff.

Rumor Has It...

Seems Shelly Stover has booked and shot a commercial, perhaps for CNN, playing a waitress. Shot at Vinyl, one of the best little hangouts in NYC for comfort food and cocktails. Katherine and Jane were there just last night, where they picked up this tidbit of information about Shelly from our waitress (who works at Ethical Culture, where Shelly has been covering her). Shelly, what's the dish?!?!

It also seems that Titus Burgess, who came to J & K's 44th Street Apartment parties several times, is starring in Good Vibrations on Broadway. Any information on that?