An update for the ages.

HELLO THERE!

I keep being a fart about updating my blog. I'm sure all my faithful blog readers keep checking for updates, only to have their hearts dashed and their weeks ruined. Well, here you go, Chiara Atik.

As my trusty dog Baxter sleeps by my side, I will recap all that has befallen me in this past month. I am SO sad Dear Brutus is over now, because it was a great time, a great part, and great people I worked with. We had a lot of people come see it in the mere week it ran, so that was really awesome. Nothing like playing to a full house!....mainly of elderly ladies, but isn't that what theater is all about? And now I will show you a couple pictures from the show, courtesy of our director Kymm:

There's me bein all sad about my husband kissing another lady, played beautifully by Jeff and Karen.


And then in the magical wood, the tables are turned! Now I am beloved.


Me realizing I'm still Jack's wife as Joanna (Karen) realizes she isn't. Hah.

There ya go!

So once it was over, I really wanted to keep working with Zephyer Rep and the Wings folks, so I auditioned and got cast in their next show, a rockin 80s all-chick Midsummer Night's Dream! Hooraw! I've only been to one rehearsal but it was very promising, it's cool to see chicks acting male roles better than I've seen actual guys do them. I'll be playing Snug the Joiner, the slightly off Mechanical who ends up playing the Lion in the meta play. I'm having a great time perfecting my vacant stare and general confusion at everything happening around me. It's really great to be a dim character in Shakespeare, because everyone around you is saying freakin Shakespeare and then there's you, picking your nose. Note: I would never pick my nose on stage, let alone in Shakespeare.

Also, last week I made my guitar singing and playing debut, also at Wings, in their first cabaret with the lovely Angel Drake. I even got a clap going! That was cool. Although I messed up a chord, right after I sang the word "fuck". I guess I got too excited about saying it.

And yesterday, I did my first job on the set of the new HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire"!!! It was an incredibly fun day, we got to be on their main boardwalk set which was so intricate and authentic I really felt like I was at the beach, even though there was a huge blue screen where the ocean should be. Movie magic people!!! The crew was great, which is so important when you're on set for 10 hours straight. And I loved being dressed like the littlest sailor girl. Oh, you want a picture?....Ok.


Anything else? I've reviewed two shows for Broadway After Dark and have 3 more lined up in the next couple weeks, which all came from this silly blog, so I'm VERY happy about this. I'm seeing lots of good theater for free!

And how is the rest of my life??? Hahahaha, I laugh in your face, the rest of my life doesn't exist. I'm trying my best to use my sparse free time correctly: seeing my friends, drinking with my friends, going on dates (with the same guy I've been going on dates with for 5+ years), and catching up on my favorite shows. Those being American Idol, Ghost Hunters, and LOST. Do not judge me, but if I miss any of those shows you better believe I'll be cranky. I guess that's not really a good threat, but it's the best I can do, I'm still reeling from the Boardwalk 5:15am call time.

Anyone watching LOST by the way? Isn't the last season amazing? Every Tuesday is another piece in the puzzle fitting together. Tonight is Ben's Sideways fate--can't wait! I actually saw Michael Emerson at Hill Country once and got too nervous to say hi. He was having fun out with his pals, and didn't need some fangirl drooling over him. To this day, I kick myself in the shins thinking of the things I would have said to him, like, "I wish you would get trapped on MY island", or, "Hey, you're the guy from the show where you keep getting punched in the face! Cool dude."

It's probably better I didn't speak to him at all.

Until next time, friends.

Website, Video, Parties = Sleepy.

Sooooooo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPJoep7O0k&feature=player_detailpage
Here's the video introducing my Pink! character, Samantha. I encourage you to check out PinkthePlay's YouTube channel to see the other videos as my fellow cast members are brilliant and awesome.

Also, http://www.pinktheplay.com has been completed and is now the most fierce place to be on the web (except here, of course).

And the Henry plays have been getting some nice press after being booted out of Prospect Park by Michael Jackson's memorial (which, I mean, we have to let that go. Free Shakespeare is wonderful, but MJ is MJ). Besides we had a kickass marathon yesterday of both plays and had a great turnout. Including Lisha, who I very unprofessionally winked at while "setting up the English camp."

AND tonight is the big party for Pink! at Volstead on 54th st. 9pm. All the cast will be selling dollar Jello Shots, looking fabulous, with themed drink specials. And I can only assume the music will be amazing--lots of Brit Brit. So come out for a little bit and drink with me! If you mention my blog I'll buy you 5 drinks. Not really. Well, maybe.

Also, check me out one more time in Henry V next Sunday the 6th in Prospect Park. Here's a picture of me as the Boy, full of exuberance and bug bites: (and shut up, they totally had water bottles back then!)

Busy! As a bee!

What a fortuitous weekend! Saturday was spent with the fine folks of Pink! in New Jersey basically staying in character all day and taking many fun photos/videos for promotional/recreational purposes. Oh those girls are funny. They are all such spectacular improvisers I couldn't help but applaud after each unscripted interview was filmed.


Plus the website is up and running (plug plug plug): http://www.pinktheplay.com/ with a handy synopsis and soon, some of the videos we shot. It was such a great time to get out of the city and its unbearable heat and do some actin' in the woods.





Then Sunday Henry V went up in Prospect Park and I was astounded at the response we received. Joggers, bikers, and families literally stopped in their tracks to listen. Kids who I assume had no idea what was going on were pointing, eyes wide, at us prancing around on the pagoda. And as cynical as I get about Shakespeare in the Park being so cliche and lame and doesn't inspire people to keep his words alive....I kind of ate dirt metaphorically and actually, because I die and then fall on the dirt.





That's another thing. Why couldn't the English lackeys die near strategically placed towels? Death disables your ability to keep the ants out of your ear! And then as they sing the sad song and we slowly walk offstage, I feel a mosquito get me in the thigh. And now I have a baseball-sized swollen monstrosity where he drank my blood. But as they say, the show must (itchily) go on. So yes, two more chances to see (for free) Henry V in the Prospect Park Music Pagoda: Sundays August 30 and September 6, 4:30pm. B or Q to Prospect Park. If you're just coming to see me, here's a fair warning that the Boy has very few lines, but a spectacular death scene. If you want to wait for Pink! be my guest. That would be September 10-20.





Did you notice I only have 3 days in which I am not performing for three weeks?! Wahoo.





As far as personal life...Baxter got groomed and looks ever so darling:

See?! I love my pup!

Had a lovely birthday dinner for an old friend last night at Alta, where the tapas flow freely and my taste buds go, "alsdgajdgjhgsdjkfgdsjcmmmmmm". It was good.





Alright, more to come, as always.

Oof! Or Sunday

I will begin this post by mentioning I got fired from that heinous reception job because "I wasn't a good fit for the company". Yeah, wasn't a good fit to fill in at the front desk for four days for basically minimum wage. They just didn't like me cause of my Kohl's top. Deal with it bitches. I've got a much nicer setup in a construction company in an office with not one, but TWO sassy Jamaican ladies. Thank you Jesus. I really, really love it there. Who knew accounts payable could be so much fun?!

So yesterday I may have overexerted myself. I had an all-day workshop with two fabulous casting directors and while it was a bit intimidating I ended up learning so much and really enjoyed myself. Watching others almost teaches you more about acting than actually acting. I was awkward, but I'm always awkward, so what else is new. I think the most important thing I learned was knowing your material well enough to make informed choices. I mean, I know that's a thing, but this stressed the importance. It was obvious when people didn't know where they were or what the context was. And even if that info wasn't available, they didn't create a reality for themselves. Others, on the flip side, from the first word drew a whole environment with their body language and tone and expression. It was really fun to watch that--I definitely stole some things.

Then I mosied down to the Financial District, limping from a blister and unable to put a band-aid on my sweaty foot, for my next endeavor: a Shakespeare company. I always go out for Shakespeare things just to keep it fresh. Not that it gets old, but I just like saying those fancy shmancy words. Like "timorous".

Then the scariest thunderstorm ever happened. I got drenched since somebody (Jason) forgot to bring an umbrella to his lunch date with me. Like completely soaked in a hilarious way. Luckily I had time to duck into a bathroom and make myself not look like a swamp monster for the next audition, for a play I found to be seriously funny and awesome. But a day has gone by without a callback, so alas. It started out so well too--they were very excited to see my Big Love credit. Nobody seems to know what that was. It was in the New York Times people! Headphone jacks! Newspapers are dying :(

THEN off to visit my one blog follower and her merry roommates. Poor Lisha, working made her sick. Get better! Comment on my blog so I feel like I have friends and then people will see "oh look a comment she's not just rattling on to herself like a crazy person".

So, by 10:30 pm, a full 13 1/2 hours after I left, I plopped on my bed and gave Baxter a squeeze, which he returned by immediately running away from me.

Today was uneventful except I prepared for my Columbine callback tomorrow (!!!!) and had a Julia moment: I was fumbling with my phone on the street, and this very trendy girl walks by and says, "I really like that bag!" I smile, look up and say, "thanks", as I notice I am standing in front of a bag store. D'oh.

Stress/Going Crazy

As my profession requires, I have many vocations going on at once. On any given day, I may be at my temp job, which I've grown strangely attatched to. Or maybe I'm babysitting, shuttling nearly always delightful Manhattan children around and baking cardboard frozen pizzas. Or maybe I'm doing an odd job, either from the temp agency or through some lovely contacts I've made recently who are actually paying me to goof around in the name of Cirque du Soleil. Or maybe, just maybe, you can find me in midtown acting my giant butt off for whomever cares to listen. Sometimes I'm even gifted with a rehearsal process and a performance! Whoda thunk? Kinda the whole point of me being here.

Now don't take this in any way as a complaint. Being busy with ANYTHING is very beneficial to my well-being, as I go a little insane when I have nothing to do. In fact, I look back on weeks such as the one I've just had with a sense of pride and accomplishment, with just a tinge of fatigue. Since last Friday, I worked 4 full days temping, worked on 2 shoots as an extra (1 paid), attended 3 auditions (2 film, 1 theatre), mailed a very very big agent, participated in a reading as Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV Part II (fingers crossed I get cast as that role is dy-no-mite!), AND found some time in there to eat, meet my friends for some much-needed drinkies, make weekend plans, schedule my coming weeks, and cuddle with my boyfriend and my pup on the couch.

It is hard to keep it all straight sometimes. I've double booked myself and had the special mortification of canceling an audition (this happened once and I've been actively trying not to do it ever ever again). But like I said, this is what's required of someone in my position. I learned quickly to not expect anyone to help you in this business--help and career partnerships are earned and cultivated, they don't materialize because they're so desperately needed. If there is a day, even a Saturday or Sunday, where I'm not doing anything about my career and try to relax, I kind of get a twisty worried feeling inside that maybe I don't deserve a day off yet. So that's why tomorrow, a day set aside for a trip upstate to tour my friend's hometown and go to a freaking carnival of all things, I still slipped in an audition in the morning. Sure, I could say, "sorry I'm planning a trip that day and can't make it", but the what ifs would eat me alive, and I wouldn't enjoy the time off anyway. Will this ever change? Will I ever be able to watch a bunch of TV in mah pj's with a big ol tub of ice cream without a care in the world?

I hope so.

I also hope I'll be in 1000 movies and plays that keep me on my feet 24/7 till I die at a comfortably old age.

This post was written, I think, to clear my head before I go home, walk Baxter, grill some burgers, and then watch "The Others" with all the lights off and the rain pounding a determined rhythm on my walls and windows. Sleeping in tomorrow will be a treat. Till next time, consider me de-stressed!