So yesterday was a good day with my family, well some members of my family. I went on a very good hike with my mother, sister, little brother and nieces and nephew. I felt like it was totally last minute because this morning I was just sleeping and out of nowhere my sister burst into my room and asks me if I wanted to go hiking with her and our mother. And there was me, barely awake and having to decide if I wanted to go on a hike or not at around 8 o'clock in the morning. I said 'yes' because I obviously needed the exercise and the fresh air. So I rushed to get in the shower to go on with my business and for us to leave to go hike a mountain. The drive to the regional park took almost 30 minutes and somehow we needed to pay. I don't believe that the last time I went on hike we ever had to pay to get inside but we obviously needed to pay this time. We got to the park like around 12p.m. and we decided to hike at waterfall canyon. So with the waterfall of the canyon; I guess water was supposed to come down, and water only flows after a heavy rainfall so since it barely rains in Arizona, the mountain looked like it was dried up. And it had already taken up an estimate of 2 hours total to get to and from the car. That was the part of the park we chose to hike to so that the children would be able to see it. Going up and down the mountain was okay, but I like going down a mountain more because it's faster going down. But since this time we had toddlers with us I was terrified the entire time. Because we had to hold the kids hands and I can barely carry my own weight and now I needed to take care of a child while going up and down mountain. Especially when there is an edge that people can easily fall down too. Yeah, hiking with toddlers was terrifying but I'm just happy that the kids had fun and no one was hurt. Even though almost everyone in the group did fall multiple times while going up and down the mountain.
I might say, the hike was definitely a long one. From the looking of a sign, the hike was supposed to be a 3/4 of a mile. Now I know what a mile feels like and this hike definitely didn't feel like a mile. Yeah, I know, by hiking a mountain a 3/4 mile up would feel longer than what it normally feels like if you were walking on concrete. But before we even had to walk up the mountain there was already a sidewalk that would lead to the mountain and that was probably 1/2 a mile itself to and from the car. So I had walked 3 miles today in total from walking to and from the car, walking to and from the mountain and walking all the way to the top of the mountain and back down again. When we were finally done walking the mountain, the toddlers wanted to play at the park that they had there before beginning the hike and they played for an entire hour. After walking an entire mountain I would've thought the children would've been tired and would want to go into the car and go home but that just wasn't the case. But I'm just glad that everyone who came had a wonderful time and it will probably be a while before I take another hike. And that is what my morning had looked like on this first Saturday of November 2018.
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Do you know that feeling when you're a kid and you feel like you're experiencing the most amazing thing in the world for the first time? Well that's how I felt when I got to experience going to the Theater in over 16 years. Aside from seeing a bunch of college performances of my classmates from college, I hadn't been to the Theatre in a very long time. I went to go see the touring company of the Broadway musical 'The Color Purple' with Adrianna Hicks as the lead role of Celie. I just have to say that this musical was the most amazing performance I had seen in a while. I grew up watching the movie version of 'The Color Purple' starring Whoopi Goldberg with my grandmother all the time as a child, and I had no idea that this story was originally a book and then got turned into a musical after the movie. In 2017, when I came upon a Facebook event saying that the Broadway musical was going on a tour. I begged my mother to get tickets. This was also around the time when I also wanted to see the touring company of 'Hamilton' as well but I chose to see 'The Color Purple' instead. Like I said; it had been a while since I had seen the movie, so being able to experience Celie's story again and this time in person and not through a television screen was the most exhilarating thing I've experienced in a very long time. Yeah, I went to almost every one of my college performance's to cheer on my fellow class mates and it's good to cheer on for the people I know personally; but it was just a life changing experience to be able to go back to the theater and see a play. I was eleven years old the first time I set foot inside of a Theatre and it was a performance of 'The Nutcracker' at the ballet. I could feel myself being a child again. You should've saw me. I was so focus to the music, the actors and story I just had so many emotions going through my head. The show made me laugh, cry, worried and even though I would love to be a lead in my own t.v. show one day; this show reminded me of why I wanted to become an Actress in the first place. I want to become an actress and do film, television and theater, all in one because I want to bring a character and story to life. I want to make people feel the way I feel while I watch a movie or a play. I want to bring audience members into the world of a character and make them feel included. Theatre have been around for centuries and there will be nothing like it. If you have never seen a play or been to the Theatre to see one, then you should go to the Theatre and make a visit. Because I will tell you, you have not really experienced life until you see a play or musical in person. Wednesday, January 24, 2018: We are officially 24 days into the new year and I have been contemplating on a few things on what I would like my new years resolutions should be for this year. I'm not going to lie, in 2017 I did slack and didn't accomplish anything that I was supposed to do. It's hard trying to make myself get healthier when you can't stop being addicted to things like food and not watching the sizes that you include onto your plate. I keep on wondering why I'm not losing weight when I know why. It's only been two weeks since I started working out again for this year but when it comes toward losing the weight, my weight just keeps on fluctuating; and that's when I start to get mad because I'm someone who likes things to always stay consistent. Getting healthier and getting my weight down for this weight loss surgery that I want is one of the many things that I want to accomplish for this year. I've also been cast in my second Independent film, which I won't be filming until like March/April but I can't wait to film it. I wonder when I'm going to get the script because I have no idea what role I'm going to be portraying and I have no idea how many lines I'm going to have. And I like to be prepared before I head to set, especially since this will only be my second Independent film, so I'm not that experienced in front of a camera yet. Some other new years resolutions were healthier hair, braces (which I got about a week ago), find a job, go on more auditions and lastly work on my web series. Yesterday, I had a phone interview for this company called shiftgig. The lady that I had interviewed with said that I sounded like a good candidate to work with. If I do get hired it will take about three weeks before I can work and get paperwork processed. Which is frustrating because I need to work now, I have student loans to pay off (which also gets on my nerves even thinking about it). At least once I get the app downloaded to my phone after everything is clear I will be able to work whenever I want and will be able to get paid weekly; which I can definitely use right now. Because right now I am the true definition of a broke artist. I hoping to find more information on this documentary film that will be shooting out here in Arizona, and hopefully I will be able to audition for it. I also can't wait for summer so that I can audition for Investigation discovery. Well this is what I am hoping for the new year. I'm going to try to keep up with my goals this year so that I can keep them up into 2019 as well.
So just in case you all don't know ... I'm creating my own web series. While going through months of audition after audition and not booking anything, I decided to create my own web series. I needed to find a different outlet for myself to have more projects to be apart of. Developing my own series, starring in it, casting it, and finding crew members to be apart of it is going to be a long hustle. At least I've already found my own videographer for the series. I'm still working on what I want to accomplish in the first season, like how many episodes do I want to have in the first season? I keep on thinking about it and I have absolutely no idea. I've already wrote four episodes with the fifth episode being an improvisation 'Family Game Night' episode. I know that web series don't have as many episodes in a season like regular t.v. shows and I also know that an episode for a web series should only be about 7-10 minutes long. I have the length quality going the way that I want it to go but I can't seem to get where I want my characters to go or where I want them to end by the last episode. Which I also don't know when the last episode might be. I might make the season with 8 episodes or maybe at a full 10 episodes. I do know for a sure, but I do know that you guys will be able to see my web series on YouTube under my account because that's where most web series creatives upload their series. I'm also going to be setting up a crowdfund campaign to film the actual series. So if you guys can donate to my crowdfund campaign, I would greatly appreciate it. I hope to upload the crowdfund campaign within a month. I want to start filming sometime next year. Maybe I'll make it a summer thing and upload the first season by September. All I know is right now that I'm writing a web series and I'm portraying the lead as an older sister (of course!). Do you guys want to know what's the series is about? Of course you do.
Title of the web series: The Hopkins' Web Series, and it's going to be a family drama. Because I LOVE drama! dun, dun, dun. And the Synopsis is: Synopsis: When her mother dies in a fatal car accident, a young woman have to come to terms of raising her two younger siblings and learning the true meaning of adult life. With the help of her best friend, raising these two preteens might not be as bad as it seems. Like I said, I'm currently writing the series, I'm hoping you guys will be tuning in on YouTube (because that's where I'll be uploading the series) and hopefully you can help me with the crowdfunding campaign because I would definitely like to have different locations to film the series hopefully in the first or by the second season, Because I don't want to film the series only at my parents' house. Which is where most web series takes place. But I won't be able to do that unless I have backers who believes in my web series and campaign. So please help me if you can. Not only helping me but also help my potential cast and crew because I would eventually like to pay them. So look out for the crowdfund campaign, as I said and please help. I would really want this next project of mine to become a reality. Because I need to add more acting credits to my resume and as of right now, creating my own series is the only way that I can right now. So, please help; not only by making sure to tune into each episode of my show but to also share it with your friends and ask them to also donate to my campaign. Get ready for a new web series coming sometime next year in 2018 and I'll see you guys in my next blog post. xoxo Today, I attended my first open call audition in which I wasn't going against lots of Theatre majors for the first time. The audition was for an Independent film and I never experienced a film audition that was more then five people in the audition room. The last Independent film I auditioned for I was the only one there but this time the dynamic was flip 1/80 because of the fact that not only were there adult actors at this open call but there were also children actors as well. I went into this audition blinded. I didn't know anything except for the synopsis of what this film was about. The only thing that I liked about this open call was that I had some amount of time to learn the lines of the sides that were given to me. I've learned that the one thing I like more about Theatre auditions over film auditions are that Theatre actors know how to keep quiet in the audition room. This was the first audition I've been to in which every, single person was talking. There was so much going on. People talking to other people, others trying to learn their sides and lastly others learning their sides while also talking to their neighbors. Now I know that directors usually like the audition rooms quiet but it was obvious that all of these "actors" didn't get the clue (even though the directors didn't tell anyone to be quiet in the audition room). Although I tried to zone out as much of the chaos as I could, I just keep wondering if my audition was good enough. Good enough to get a role in the film as one of the main characters. Heck, I was just hoping to be good enough to become an "extra" in the film. No matter which way it goes, I was just glad that I was able to have the opportunity to audition for another Independent film. I'll make sure to bring headphones to my next one.
PS. I can't wait for my next Theatre audition in two weeks. I've recently learned and very excited to say that the Independent Film I was cast in a year ago Stealing Sunrise 2: Malibu Trail have been nominated to be in six Independent Film Festival circuits and I couldn't be more proud. This was my first film to be cast in after graduating from college a year ago from doing Theatre and being a Theater major my whole life. Even though I had a small supporting role in the film, it showed me how professional an actor needs to be while on a film set no matter what the outcome is. This is just the beginning for me, and I can't wait to audition for more Independent films, short films, student films and more in the near Future. I am definitely trying to develop in my acting skills a lot more and being able to work with Industry professionals who are trying to make it in the same business I'm trying to get myself into. I still have more learning to know about the entertainment Industry but I also do know that the things that I don't know now and will learn in the future, will just lead me one step closer into being a better professional in this field that I have dreamed of doing since I was a child. It will make me into a much greater actress because of it and lead me to places I've never been before but wanted to see. The experiences I am going to take these few struggling years and the skills I am going to develop is exactly what this business entails and it's only going to make me into a better person and performing artist.
As I am going toward the beginning of my journey as an actress and artist, I never knew how horrible it is being a struggling artist. I have dreamed of becoming a professional actress since I was a child but I never thought how hard and long the journey was actually going to take once I started taking my career seriously. Every since I was child I told myself that I was going to go to school for Theatre and right after college I was going to become a "success story". But as I've gotten older I've realized that in order to get toward the success you want to have you need to go through a whole lot of struggle before you can finally call yourself a "professional actor/ actress" or "professional performing artist". I've realize that doing high school Theatre definitely was easier for me then what real Theatre and the entertainment industry is really about. Apart of this industry; actors, dancers, singers any one who is trying to become an entertainer go through years and years of hardships before they can actually become successful in their own careers as entertainers. The struggle is definitely real but I also know that this career that I want isn't easy because nothing in life is easy. All I know right now is that I have to work on myself while also trying to work on my career. I have to get my mind, body and soul in shape in order to have a successful acting career as a performer. I've also realized that right now is the time to perfect myself and my craft. I need to go to acting classes, find good monologues, audition for student & Independent films to build up my resume, hire a singing coach to perfect my voice, work on my body by eating healthier and exercising more. Because I know that no matter how long my journey is going to take and where it will take me, I know that if I work hard my career as a performer will come one day. It may not be my time right this instant but I am going to do whatever it takes to better in myself when my time to shine in my career does finally take off. It's going to be a long, long struggling journey for me but I can't wait to see where it is going to lead me in the end because I know that it's going to be an amazing life journey as well once my career does take off. My name is Iesha Washington and this is my life as an artist.
I had got cast in my first independent film after I had graduated from college and my Theatre professors mentioned me in their article for graduates who are doing things that dealt with their college major. news.gcu.edu/2016/08/39243/
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AuthorIesha Washington is an Arizona based Actress. Archives
November 2018
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