Comments | sheraton: Breading the Towards, Part Two! (more images!)

sheraton

Breading the Towards, Part Two! (more images!)

Aug 30, 2009 22:28

Actually, this wouldn't be treading the boards so much as treading the gravel! In 2005, elfowls_nest and I finally listened to Uncle Vlad's recommendations and tried out for roles at Castle Blood, a haunted house about 1 hour south of Pittsburgh in the tiny, tiny town of Beallsville, PA ( Read more... )

castle blood, games, challenge, acting

Comments 14

bohemianbrandy August 31 2009, 05:21:25 UTC

...not Heddy? :D

sheraton September 1 2009, 00:56:04 UTC

Nope, Headley -- because I used to RP with a guy (Frank) who played a fey character. ... ... ...No, a real fey -- the Hedley Kow, specifically. Naming my crazy head-on-a-box Headley was something of a tribute to an old friend. Hedley was a mischievous sort -- he didn't resort to drowning housewives like the original, but he did cause all sorts of trouble.

And he hated to wear clothing. (The character, not Frank.)

orenda33 August 31 2009, 07:05:21 UTC

...d00d, you've done game voice acting? I so did not know that and it's totally awesome ( ... )

sheraton September 1 2009, 00:59:57 UTC

Thank you! It's great to hear what other people have done.

I think that having a big audience is great -- because how can you be nervous about so many people at once? I can't focus on any one of them. I am glad it works that way for you. ^^

Maybe we can get you to a convention sometime and get you a part in one of our productions. The Parallax-Second Players have had people in other states take parts in the plays before. Woo hoo!

velithya August 31 2009, 13:52:43 UTC

Nah, no real acting - I was conscripted every (school) year into the production (musical) orchestra though. By the end of the run we all knew all the lines anyway!

...I guess cosplay might count, but I've never done a skit, only walk-ons.

sheraton September 1 2009, 01:06:46 UTC

Remember this: You're Axel, and you're hot.

That was acting! You had the character, the moves, the attitude down pat. All you'd need is a script and a little stage direction and bam! you're acting.

I think you would enjoy it. You might try to work out a skit in your next cosplay presentation and see if you like it.

The one time I presented a costume (with mewsrissicat and elfowls_nest) it was in a skit... and it was fun. And it was a teeny convention, but out of 10 we won Best in Show with our first costume ever. The judge said that it was the presentation that tipped the scales -- there were a couple costumes more elaborate and authentic than ours, but the three of us worked together and as a unit came off better than any single costume in the show.

With your kick-ass costuming and ability to take on a character dynamically, I think you'd *really* wow 'em in a skit!

velithya September 1 2009, 11:06:09 UTC

I AM NEVER GOING TO LIVE THAT DOWN

Yeah, I've been thinking about it, none of the costumes and groups I've cosplayed with have really lent themselves to skits so far really. I haven't sorted out what I'm doing for Wai-con this year, though, I guess we will see! The current trend for con skits that I've seen (especially for the World Cosplay Summit stuff!) is to pre-record the audio and then 'pretend' to talk while acting, which leaves your hands free of microphones/etc and still allows you to be heard.

[edit: oh, and grats on your award! even though it doesn't sound recent.]

soranokumo August 31 2009, 15:17:23 UTC

I think my first performance was when I was with my family at Disney and got pulled into some street performers' play. I got to wear a fun hat with a veil and everything, and was otherwise terrified, so I just smiled the whole time and did what they told me to. I sometimes put on "plays" with one of my brothers using stuffed animals, toys, flashlights, and a laser pointer back then, too. Mom and Dad were such good sports ( ... )

sheraton September 1 2009, 01:23:36 UTC

I used to roleplay with my brothers and sisters (fantasy animals! Rawr!) but I don't think I ever put on plays; that's awesome! I'm glad your Mom and Dad watched.

I admire that you were able to get up in front of a crowd and sing and act. Did the number of people help or hinder you? When I was in a group or on stage with others, it helped. On stage alone, I was so nervous my heels would clatter on the stage... but I didn't let it get to my voice! I know this because I did present a song on my own during the school chorus' Senior Solos -- "Dear John Letter to the Devil". I felt my heels doing a tattoo on the floor beneath me. Kyaa.

*squee* You got to play Death? I'm afraid now that I've read Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic, I can only picture you like *that* Death. I know it (probably) wasn't like that, but... yeah. ^___^;;

And isn't it *great* getting them to scream? ♥

soranokumo September 1 2009, 01:54:24 UTC

Usually, if I could last until the actual start of the show, I would be fine, but there have been times when I was required to show up and speak or do something and I got horribly sick just before. (Thanks, DNA!) I want to say that being among my classmates helped, and dressing up to be a different persona also probably helped, but I can't pin it down more than that. I know I enjoyed it, no matter how nervous I was.

I do regret that I never got one-on-one voice lessons like my little sis. I think I could have done better if I ever had gotten more direction and confidence built up.

Ah, no, the Death I played was the one in the long black robe and hood with a face that couldn't be seen, and a scythe. It was meant to be scary, after all... and, I have to say, I don't see Neil Gaiman's Death as scary at all. It's one of the reasons I like her so much.

velithya September 1 2009, 11:02:03 UTC

oh yeah, my sisters and I did a few plays and stuff for my parents back when we were small. I had totally forgotten about them until I read your comment!

m_steelgrave August 31 2009, 15:49:25 UTC

Thanks for sharing all your theatrical experience! Your makeup is fantastic.

The only haunted house I've ever worked was one for charity in high school. The idea was that the visitors were interested in buying the house, so the tour guides were dead real estate agents. I got to have zombie makeup AND big hair. And this year I'm going to take part in the annual historical society's cemetery tour, which isn't so much a scary Halloween thing. Tours go around the cemetery and we all have monologues about who we are and how we died. I get to be a bride from the 1940s who died in a car crash the same day her husband was killed in France. Bizarre.

sheraton September 1 2009, 01:27:27 UTC

Thank you! Castle Blood teaches makeup so well. The Talon picture and two of the later Headleys I did myself. (Uncle Vlad himself did most of the best one, which was the first one you saw.)

...Even more bizarre if the story is true!

I suspect you'll find yourself acting the part. That story is just too compelling, in a we-were-meant-to-be-together-forever sort of way. *shivers* bizarre and creepy-cool.