MAKE UP

My pal Kenji came over to give Misha and I a lesson on stage make-up. I worked with Kenji last year on a short film (directed by Erica Leung) that required Kenji to do this to me:

Amazing, right?

Unfortunately (or fortunately...?) G & L aren't burn victims, members of the undead or Lady Gaga so our make-up is a lot more tame.

Kenji taught us how to age ourselves slightly by changing the shape of our faces and the results were amazing--when I looked at Misha I saw LEONA and it gave me a slight prickle of goosebumps.

Kenji is a great teacher, not to mention a lovely person and very good at what he does. Here he is drawing a map of a face so we know what the hell we're doing when he's not around:

Thank you, Kenji, for being patient with us--especially Misha who doesn't like when the mascara wand comes close to her eye. ("It's like a goddamn millipede coming at me..!") To check out more of Kenji's work and to see why he was recently named the winner of the 2010 International Make-Up Artist Trade show in Vancouver, visit his blog HERE.

If you want to see the results of what he taught us (and whether or not we can pull it off on our own!), you will just have to come see the show.

Overheard at Rehearsal

"A pig would eat Gary Oldman, for chrissakes!"

--Misha, on the extent of what a pig would be willing to ingest.

BLOGS! (Our kids are growing up...)

Georgia & Leona are making their way into the world! We feel like proud parents over here...

Wavelength and Art & Culture Maven have done us a great service. Thanks a mil! Here are the links, if you get a sec:

http://www.artandculturemaven.com/2010/06/georgia-leona-at-toronto-fringe.htm

http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/

!!!!!!!!

LESS THAN ONE WEEK TO OPENING NIGHT.

And.. script changes.

Misha said something to me last night about how, in high school, we were appalled to hear about script changes happening in the professional theatre down to the wire, even *gasp* between shows! And now we are doing it. To our own selves. And, honestly, it's not as bad as we imagined. Because with every change or cut, the show is getting tighter and more true to its theme. I support them, wholeheartedly. (Until, of course, I have to memorize new lines...)

Rehearsals are going well!

Jacqui has been bringing vegan baked goods. We've seen some really good performances as well but, MAN, those chocolate cookies with the peanut butter in the middle... best performance so far.

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We made a trailer!

Happy Birthday Georgia. I mean LARA...!

It's Lara's birthday today. She passed the midnight threshold cutting together our trailer, which we filmed yesterday. Well, her and Jak filmed it. I lifted stuff and made tea and chirped in with things like, "Holy shit, is that a computer...?!" But it looks great and sending it out makes me feel good - like we're doing all we can to draw a crowd.

Did I mention it's Lara's birthday today? I always defer to her wisdom and today I defer to her age. Every five minutes. I ring a bell and shout "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARA" into the world. Just to make it right, you know?

Anyways. We're in the final stretch. Rehearsals have become unexpectedly personal. Reaching deep into the self in order to act based on who you are, what you know - like what they say about wearing makeup so it looks like you're not wearing it? (...the phrase "act natural" suddenly comes back to me in a reexamined and clearer way--)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARA...! (I almost missed you that time...!) -love yr Leona

And the prize goes to...

Hayley Gratto.

For being the VERY FIRST ticket buyer of the entire festival, for getting undercharged for her ticket to "Georgia & Leona" because the lady selling them didn't know the price (having never sold a ticket), and for getting her service fee waived once the box office realized their mistake and called her back to charge the appropriate amount.

Good work Hayley!

See you at the show!

TICKETS ON SALE!!

Pals!

Advance tickets are now on sale!

You can buy them online at www.fringetoronto.com. Click on where it says "Buy Tickets or Donate Online" at the top right of the page. They only sell 50% of tickets in advance, so if you want 'em, get 'em quick!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Script changes!

I could print off a new script, but I like making the changes manually. I feel like this will help me learn them better. And I also like how my script is beginning to look like a Family Circus map. It's recording the process of getting this show to the stage.

The script changes are good. It's like we're finding that statue in the block of stone. This simultaneously puts my mind at ease and gives me heart palpitations.

Puts my mind at ease because Misha has cut out a fair bit, which means the likelihood of us going over our time slot is becoming less and less. The lovely people at the Fringe keep reminding us that if our show runs too long, they will give us one warning and then turn on the lights and usher the audience out, regardless of whether our show is over or not. We are terrified of that happening to us, so we will do everything we can to keep it from occurring.

The heart palpitations don't need an explanation, do they?

18 DAYS UNTIL OUR SHOW OPENS.

Line drop.

"I'm the director. So I can tell her not to do that..." -Lara on memorization (talking about how it's Jaqui's job to stop us every time we flub a line)

We've started our off book LDP ("Letter Damn Perfect") rehearsals and I can't wait to put the characterization work and the memorization work together - getting to that point, I mean, where you're saying the words because you're thinking them. That's been Lara's priority in the director's chair - to talk things through section by section, articulate each character's associations and motivations... Lara is so great at this. She's always asking questions, but she's always containing the thing too - in control in a good way, leading us to this point where the text seems to fall naturally into this groove we've cut in our brains.

Our brains... By the time this thing goes live, we'll be sharing one!