So Many Projects!

Hello! 
Welcome to my webpage! It's been awhile since my last blog post and I'm very excited to share everything I've been involved with over the past few months. As usual, the summer has been very exhausting, but I'm proud of what I've accomplished.

Theatre/Film

 Back in late April / early May, Ricardo Bouyett's film Lionheart had it's wrap up. It was an emotional journey with gorgeous footage. Special thanks to Ricardo for letting me be a part of this production.

Also, the world premiere of Strangeloop Theatre's Thinking Caps by Keith Gatchel went very well. The play was staged in an old converted funeral home known as the Charnel House – a fascinating and unique space to work in. Click to see Reviews, Photos, and Interviews. 

As many of you know, Spike Lee has been in Chicago working on Chiraq, his latest film. I was enlisted as a dancer for a large group scene / music video. After a long day in three inch heels, I can't wait to see how the final cut of the scene turns out. The filming of Chiraq has created a large debate here in Chicago. For an idea of what people are saying/ what Spike Lee is hoping to accomplish, click here.

Freelance

Over the past few months I have actively been building costumes and fleshing out new characters for freelance work. From May to July, I had three movement character gigs.

Once again, I performed as a fairy for the wonderful Miracle Gala put on by Tiana Cove. This yearly event raises money towards the Montessori school program for the hearing impaired. There were a lot of wonderful children (about 50) and everyone had a great time. This gig also allowed me to present one of my newest characters – Flava the Sunflower Pixie! 

In July, I had the pleasure of once again performing with the company Imaginez Ensemblez. The group traveled up to Ontario to perform at a Canada Day festival. We played firefly fairies and interacted with all the patrons. It was a blast and this trip marks my first time visiting Canada and my second time overall leaving the United States. See us glow here!

The most recent gig I performed was on the Fourth of July. I was a stilt walker at the Wheaton Park District Parade. It was a fun gig not only because I got to perform in a parade for the first time, but I also got to show off my newest stilts costume!

Courses

In May, I finished up the MACE SPT course in quarterstaff fighting. After thirty hours of experience, I got my basic pass in the weapon.

In the coming fall, I will be taking a hand to hand SPT course with Chuck Coyle and an advanced Play Study course on “Romeo and Juliet” with Susan Hart and Jeffrey Carlson.

Training

I can't seem to help myself when it comes to learning new specialty skills. Recently, I had a stilt walking adventure through Grant and Millenium Park – just for practice. I like giving people the chance to witness something different that they don't expect to see during their usual routine. Judging by the amount of pictures I was asked to be in, I think the walk was a success. 

I'm currently learning basic trapeze from Camille Swift- a fantastic trapeze artist. Check out my progress videos below. The first part shows a majority of the conditioning exercises I do. In the second part, I perform some basic tricks I've been working on.  You can even watch a little bit of Camille as she demonstrates an exercise to me.

Part I - Conditioning 8/9/2015

Part II - Basic Tricks 8/9/2015

I'm also getting lessons in Kung Fu from Sifu Richard Baron at his school 'Kung Fu Power' in Deerfield. On occasion, I have lessons in Hapkido from Joseph Orgel at the same school. The idea of knowing how to defend myself thrills me.

Reels

As I mentioned in my last blog, my reels are well underway! I'm working with two very talented scene partners, Kent Nusbaum and Joseph Orgel, and a wonderful director, Shifra Werch.

My two scenes with Kent are filmed and are being edited at this time. We had a lot of fun and are proud to say that filming went fast and efficiently. We had great camera men and lovely locations that fit the scenes perfectly (one being the elegant ladies bathroom at the Chicago Symphony Center). The scenes were chosen from Adam Pasen's short play Star Fucker and from Andrea Sloan Pink's short play Warner Bros.

Joseph and I are in the heart of our scene work. We have three scenes we are working on: the first is from A. R. Gurney's short play The Interview, the second is from the film A Beautiful Mind, and our third is from David Mamet's play Oleanna.

Future Projects

This summer has been mostly dedicated to 'profession projects,' as I like to call them. Apart from my reels, I've been preparing to create a new voice over demo and new business cards. New head shots and a composite card are also on my agenda. As I mentioned earlier, I've been busy building costumes and creating new characters. Thus far, I have a new fairy character, living statue, and a new stilts costume (check them out here). As time and money permit, I plan to make a more ethereal stilt character and a mechanical doll character. I'm already looking at fabrics.

A future project I have underway is a short clown piece. I'll be putting this together with another talented actor, Cody Davis. I've selected a scene from Steinbeck's classic story Of Mice and Men. More on this later as it develops.

Cody Davis (Lenny) and myself (George) make quite the comic pair!

I'm also looking to finish a piece I began with a group of musicians about a year ago. It's a show of storytelling and music based off of three Grimm's fairy tales. I put together the three scripts and will be the narrator (as well as speaking for numerous characters). The three talented musicians, Angela Kepley (percussionist), Brian Wach (percussionist), and Zachary Weiss (flautist) are composing the music and sound. They will also be speaking for several characters. We're really looking forward to getting this project off the ground!

And on top of all this, I'm still auditioning! I'm hoping the spring board I'm building for myself this summer will project me towards some fantastic work in the fall.


Thank you for reading,
Ellen DeSitter