Hallmark & Paramount's "Unorthodox"

Last Tuesday (which is quickly becoming my main filming day, interestingly enough), I did some background work for the upcoming Hallmark TV-movie "Unorthodox," starring Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) and Adam Kaufman (Without a Trace). I met a lot of new people as well as came across familiar faces in the DC/Baltimore area. At one point in filming, a family sneaked a photo of one of their relatives standing near me. Apparently they thought I was the lead as I was in the middle of the train station right in the path of the camera. Boy, are they going to be disappointed! :)

Thankfully, I managed to take some time to catch two plays last week: Bay Theatre Company's "True West" and 1st Stage Spring Hill's "The Suicide." Both were definitely "worth their salt," in their own ways. Two bordering-on-absurd shows from two different time periods, originating in two different parts of the world. I haven't been able to catch many plays recently, so seeing two in a week was a real treat.

Tomorrow I'll be doing some makeup work downtown at the International Spy Museum for the annual Operation Undercover: Secrets of Disguise kids event. This will be my third year helping out at this event and it's always great fun to see what the kids come up with as their disguises.

All I have to figure out now is what I'm going to be for Halloween!

-Vaness.
www.vanessastrickland.net

The Witching Hour

Remember that MonkeySee.com video I filmed last Tuesday? It's already up and running at the website!



I'm proud of this video as I've gotten more on-camera experience in the past year and I feel it more fully captures my abilities. Also, the makeup is truly transformative, especially when accompanied with the costumes. I had fun with this one, as you can probably tell just by watching.

This video series can also be seen on YouTube: Witch Makeup.

Also this weekend I saw Lucy Rose... Here's the Thing About Me at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick. Prior to leaving, one of the Associate Artistic Directors, Gené Fouché, approached me about being involved in their February children's production and I accepted the offer! So in a few months, keep a look out here for information about Ma Lien and the Magic Paintbrush.

-Vaness.
www.vanessastrickland.net

October Already?!

Where did September go?

I suppose it's a good thing to say I've been busy this past month, hence the lack of updates. But now that I have a moment, I can divulge what I've been up to!

I attended several auditions throughout September and began teaching my Shakespeare class on Thursdays. The students in class are really sharp and are completely diving into the Shakespearean language.

Last month I also attended the 3rd annual Actor's Center Expo. I love going to these as I feel I get a lot out of them and meet new people every year. This time around I focused on taking voice-over and on-camera workshop panels and suffice to say, I learned a lot.

That following Sunday, I was did a shoot with Brillhart Media for a viral commercial for the Adventist Reader Magazine. The crew was really delightful and sought to keep us all very comfortable and entertained, even!

Just this week I filmed another how-to video for MonkeySee.com. It was another makeup video with local artist Roger Riggle, specially filmed for halloween. I figure it ought to be up on the site within the coming weeks. I feel I did a much better job this time around as I've gained so much more film experience since this time last year.

I've got a shoot coming up next week as well as a wedding-- so I'll be signing off for now and hopefully will update a bit sooner next time (or is later better?)

-Vaness.
www.vanessastrickland.net