The House of Ash: September 2010

The Word Wall

"I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hate so stubbornly is because they may sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." - James A. Baldwin

"Hope is when you look out the window and you go, 'It doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond what I see to give people visions of what could be.'"- Anna Deavere Smith

"I paint my own reality." - Frida Kahlo

"Have the courage to be happy!" - Augusto Boal

"You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and never get wet." - The Phantom Tollbooth

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." -Buddha

"Repression forces your mind to be more deeply entrenched in those things from which you are trying to escape." - Vimala McClure.

"The truth is, you and I are the stuff that great leaders are made of. We don't have to wait for a distinguished man on a horse or a politician wealthy enough to win office in a multimillion dollar campaign to usher in justice and equality. The ranks of rebellions and revolutions that have shaped human history have been made up of people like you and me. (…) The people who make a difference are those who fight for freedom – not because they're guaranteed to succeed – but because it's the right thing to do. And that's the kind of fighters that history demands today. Not those who worship the accomplished fact. Not those who can only believe in what is visible today. But instead, people of conscience who dedicate their lives to what needs to be won and what can be won." -Leslie Feinberg

"The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give." -Oprah

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.We are all meant to shine.We were born to make manifest the glory that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Mariane Williamson

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming."- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at." -Maya Angelou

"You can go a month without food, you can live three days without water, but you can't go more then sixty seconds without HOPE." -Sean Swarner

"If you really want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, dahling. Be an audience."- Talullah Bankhead

"The worst stab wound is the one to the heart. Sure, most people survive it, but the heart is never quite the same. There's always a scar, which is meant, I guess, to remind you that even for a little while, someone made your heart beat faster. And that's a scar you can live with, proudly, all the days of your life". -Oz

Plotting My Next Move

11:17 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

I’m a creator of excessive lists. At the beginning of the summer, when I made the commitment to pursue the business of acting (I never actually stopped performing, I just wasn’t actively in the pursuit of acting work) I plotted my return plan of action carefully in a list that now looks somewhat like this:

June:

~~Research Acting Classes~~

~~Start Diet and Exercise Routine~~

~~Pick 3 Killer Monologues~~

July:

~~Narrow Down Acting Classes~~

~~Start Researching Headshot Photographers~~

~~Make schedule at the beginning of the week that includes dance class (don’t skip it!)~~

August:

~~Audition/Sign Up for Acting Classes~~

~~Narrow down Headshot Photographers~~

~~Submit for every role I’m right for~~

~~Audition, Audition, Audition~~

I keep my lists. I cross tasks off as I finish them and then I file them neatly, if they aren’t already in one of the notebooks I’d never be caught dead without. I’m also an excessive note taker. I write everything down from general observations of people I see in the streets and favorite quotes to ideas for new plays. If there are no words to express it, I draw pictures or take photography. My notebooks end up looking like that of a mad scientist or artist, which I guess we theatre types are both.

I often have to remind myself that this business is a marathon, not a sprint. There’s always so much work to be done at all times and I am the type who will happily forego a night out with friends to finish the tasks on a list. (Have you read Emily Kinney’s blog entry on Back Stage Unscripted http://backstage.blogs.com/unscripted/2010/09/what-its-like-to-be-a-flake.html, “What It’s Like To Be a Flake”… I identify) I don’t think of it as flakey though (I’m probably in denial)… rather, I tell myself I’m a recluse by choice. Though recently I’ve written this proverb on the top of my white board “All work and no play makes Jack a boring boy”. Next month’s list looks a bit like this:

October:

Find the Balance

Labels: acting, random musings

Radio COTE is Coming!

11:14 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

I'm debuting 2 new radio plays in COTE's 2010-2011 Season Kick-off called "Radio COTE" on October 6th, "Live from Pod 305" and "Standing in Front of 9/11 Waiting for the End of the World", a collaboration with my creative partner, Robert A.K. Gonyo. It's going to be a fun night filled with some of COTE's favorite performers and playwrights. Check out the info below and meet the cast here, http://www.theateronline.com/PB.xzc?PK=25817.

****

Co-Op Theatre East presents:

Radio COTE
New Radio Plays on Current Events
(with a Revisionist Twist)

Written by
Jacob Dickerman, Robert A. K. Gonyo*, Ashley Marinaccio* and Mariah MacCarthy

Directed by
Andi Cohen, Robert A.K. Gonyo, Veronique Ory and Katherine Sommer

Featuring
Hannah Rose Barfoot*, Kerrie Bond*, Mike Callahan*, Tyrus Cucavac*, Theresa Christine*, Jacob Dickerman, Jessica Greer Morris, Tony De Meglio,Robert Gonyo*, Alex Herrald*, Ashley Marinaccio*, Lauren McCullough, Todd Meredith, Michael Rehse, Anna Savant*, Lynn Spencer*, Laurence Waltman, Ruis Woertendyke

* member of the COTE Ensemble

Admission is free but there is a suggested donation of $5. All donations collected at the door will go to the Stefanos Tsigrimanis Memorial Fund established at NYU’s Department of Performance Studies, to sponsor future projects by departmental students that embody the spirit of Stefanos’s own work. Contact Laura Elena Fortes at the Department of Performance Studies at LF65@nyu.edu for any questions regarding the fund.

About the Plays

Live from Pod 305
Written by Ashley Marinaccio and Directed by Andi Cohen
Featuring Anna Savant, Ashley Marinaccio and Jacob Dickerman
At the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, two pod mates discuss the concepts of revisionism and escape through a nightly grassroots radio broadcast from Pod 305.

Bachelor/Bachelorette
Written by Mariah MacCarthy and Directed by Katherine Sommer
Featuring Hannah Rose Barfoot, Lauren McCullough, Theresa Christine,
and Tyrus Cucavac
On the eve of her wedding at her bachelorette party, Dani is torn between an androgynous stranger and a call from her future wife.

Conference
Written and Directed by Robert A. K. Gonyo
Featuring Kerrie Bond, Mike Callahan, Alex Herrald and Todd Meredith
In the midst of delicate negotiations for a new health-care bill, a seasoned Congressman learns that his re-election campaign just got alot more complicated— voting has been made mandatory. Over a conference call, he & his campaign staff strategize through this turn of events, and weigh the costs of winning on Election Day.

Unus Populus Fidens (A Nation Without Fear/A Confident Nation)
Written by Jacob Dickerman and Directed by Véronique Ory
Featuring Lynn Spencer, Laurence Waltman, Jessica Greer Morris, Ruis Woertendyke, Michael Rehse and Tony De Meglio
In the wake of alterations to the Texas Social Studies curriculum, the US of A realizes the freedom that can be had when we subjugate our reason to our desires.

Standing In Front of 9/11 Waiting for the End of the World
Written by Ashley Marinaccio and Robert A.K. Gonyo
Performed by Ashley Marinaccio and Robert A.K. Gonyo
Toby and Rachel are professional disaster tour guides in need of some quick cash. While standing in front of the World Trade Center site they attempt to create a business plan that will demolish the competition of the surrounding street vendors and 9/11 memorabilia peddlers.

***

About Co-Op Theatre East
Founded in April of 2008, Co-Op Theatre East (COTE) believes in the power of art to foster a dialogue for social change. COTE provides an entertaining performance forum in which to ask evocative, challenging questions of artists and audiences on our way to creating collaborative answers. www.cooptheatreeast.org

About the COTE Ensemble
The COTE Ensemble are the resident artists of Co-Op Theatre East. The company membership exists to develop and expand both the performance technique and social consciousness of the individual artist, provide a supportive and safe atmosphere to create new work, and present new theatre that challenges the stories being told in dominant culture.

Labels: COTE, Performances, playwriting

The Two Constants In My Life ...

4:00 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (1)

A special friend of mine in Seattle reminded me on September 10th that it's been 17 years since The X-Files debuted on television in 1993. Here's to one of my favorite shows ever and to the two constants in my life ... theatre and The X-Files.