Busy, Busy, Busy

Here's an update on what I have been doing since the New Year. I am the Talent and Film coordinator for the revamped Fort Myers Beach Film Festival. http://www.fmbfilmfest.com
I have lots of films to watch. I also received films from the SAG Awards and really want to watch them too. So I guess I should put my netflix on hold for awhile. Can you do that? I decided to do some acting in an hour production of vignettes here on the beach. It's called "A Beachy Love" and my friend Mark List and I will be doing a one-act called, "Open and Shut Marriage" by Bruce Kane. It's a funny one. So I am also learning lines and building a character. One more thing. Classes. I am teaching a class at The Laboratory Theater of Florida called, "Readers Theater". A great class for seniors and other people that don't want to memorize lines, but are interested in the creative process of working on a play. 10 week class on "The Importance of Being Earnest". I also am trying to get together a Film and TV acting class. Still looking for a space closer to me to hold them out. You see the beach in season (now) is always backed up in traffic. If you have to go north on the Island to go over the bridge to Fort Myers than there is a lot of time spent in traffic. So I am trying to get a class going over the South bridge to Bonita and Naples. So as you can see I am keeping busy these days with hopes for a better financial situation coming my way. Yay, Shawn just went out to get Margarita and Taco stuff for today. Sunday is my only day and night to spend with the love of my life. Oh yeah, I also had a great time visiting my son and friends in L.A.. He is such a wonderful young man. It certainly was a treat to participate in my Acting Coach's (Sharon Chatten) class. She is still the best ever. It was also great to spend a bit of time with her, chatting about family and stuff. She is so beautiful in and out. The knowledge I always gain from her is priceless. The pic you see here is at my darling friend's, Stephen Marshall and Michelle Lyons wedding. Vincent and I met Stephen at The American Stanislavsky Theater in NYC in 1979 and the three of us have been friends ever since. You can catch a glimpse of him and his talent as the photographer/traitor in "Steal This Movie". We lived, studied and worked together for many years in NYC. When we all were living in L.A. I met Michelle. Such a beautiful woman and dear heart. I got them together 18 years ago and they finally decided to get married. I also got to visit with my dear friend, Lori in Hollywood. It was all so much fun. Well, back to the drawing board. January is just about gone, but I think I have enough stuff to hold me over this season. Winter in Florida. Jan-April.

A Long Strange Trip it's Been

Wow, I have never had so much trouble putting on a play before "Sisters of the Sea". We started rehearsals in August with a full cast. Little by little, actors began to drop off. Some had day job commitments and others just flaked on us. By the end of October, a few weeks from our first performance we had only 6 actors out of 10. Let's go back a bit, though. We started losing people in August. One of our actors had to have eye surgery so he walked. It was funny because he actually wore a patch on his eye, but after the surgery there would be no patch. Then in late September, when we had already almost two months of rehearsal, our two leads, dropped out. We replaced one with an actor that was actually playing two small parts. He jumped right in and was a wonderful, Captain Jack Rackam (Abrahan De la Rosa). We were still missing a Mary Reed (Lead) and finally someone recommended the wonderful, Lydia Franz. This was the beginning of October, just a month and a half left for her to rehearse, find her character, and get the lines down. She did it. After finally getting our Mary and Jack, we still had to find someone to play the two small roles that Abe had moved up from, and two other characters. Tobias Sampson, James Bonny, Temple Lawes and Henri. We finally got a Henri, played comically by the very talented, Ivy Levinson. Our Temple Lawes finally appeared with just a few weeks to go. Then we split the characters, that were supposed to be played by the same actor. Well ah! Our James Bonny showed up with a week to go, and do you believe I filled the role of Tobias Sampson, just two days before our first show? Thanks to Keri Hendry (Anne Bonny), Abe de la Rosa (Calico Jack), Sherwood Cooper (3 characters), Michael Weeg (4 characters), and last but not least Chaz Maupin (2 characters) for sticking it out through 3 grueling months of rehearsal for only three performances. They are gems. All in all the Kudo's were many, and we had nice size audiences. It finally was a great cast and a great show. Onward and Upwards and C'est la vie!

I'm Back

HI all,
I am sorry I haven't been writing in awhile. I have just been caught up in directing a play, Sisters of the Sea", helping to bring back the Fort Myers Beach Film Festival, teaching classes and working a day job. I am sorry I didn't wish my bro a Happy Birthday online this year. Please be assured that I contacted him personally.
New York City Workshop was great. I had a better turn out then I thought I would have. Vincent was out of town working on two films at once, so I didn't get to see him. I did go visit his wife and boys, though. The boys are getting so big, like their father. They are also very handsome boys.
I stayed with a lovely producer friend of mine. I had a lot of fun and it was great to see the repeat attendees. I had a room full of talent that was a pleasure to teach.
I promise I will get back on here and post on how the play is going. Right now, I have to run off to a meeting for the Fort Myers Beach Film Festival.

Miss you all

2011 New York City Workshop Special Guest

You never know if there will be a special guest at my workshop in NYC. My brother Vincent loves to teach with me and if he's not busy he will be there. Unfortunately, I cannot say for sure. He appeared at last years 2010, NYC Workshop and last November, down here in Naples. The workshop is on July 9th, 2011 from 1-5pm. $150.00. You can sign up on the first page of this website using paypal. I can only work with 20 people, so get your seat now. Hope you all are having great days and Sunshine.

2011 New York City Workshop

Well, I just realized that July 2nd would be Fourth of July weekend and most likely people will be leaving the city. So I will now look at the 2nd Saturday in July. July 9th. Please write in and let me know if this date would work out.

2011 New York City Workshop

Hello all,

This year's NYC Workshop will be the first Saturday in July. July 2nd from 1-5pm. Due to conflicts this June. I hope you all will be in town or wanting to take a NYC vacation at that time. I will be putting it up on my website this week sometime as soon as I confirm the date. I hope all is well in cyberland. Looking forward to working with you again or for the first time. Hopefully it won't be too hot up there, although I am sure it will be cooler than the temperature down here in July. I also wanted to let you know that I created a public profile on Facebook. You can find me by putting in the email address, donofriday@gmail.com. Have a great month! More info coming soon!

Well, The Fort Myers Film Festival went on and off with a bang! A great time was had. I had the opportunity of screening and judging films. It was so much fun, but now back to business. Those in the area do something special for yourself and join my Acting Class on Thursday evenings in Naples. Those of you in need of coaching but live far far away from me, can now indulge in Skype Acting Coaching. Those of you just looking for the scoop on Vincent, well, he's doing well, enjoying time with his family and filming episodes of Law & Order:CI. Don't forget that what I teach is how he works. We both studied together at The American Stanislavski Theater, where we also performed in plays together, and with Sharon Chatten of The Actors Studio and Lee Strasberg Institute. Hope you are all having a wonderful day in cyberland.