Leigha Horton :: Greenroom
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Two weekends ago I auditioned at The History Theater for their fall production of The Orphan Train. After some consideration, I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed fair to extend the metaphor to daily-newspaper-movie-review obnoxiousness, and call the audition An Orphan Trainwreck.

Upon checking in, I realize that I can hear the auditioners in the rehearsal room. This is not good for two reasons – it means that a) I’ll be listening to the auditioners and gauging myself against them; and more importantly, b) the other auditioners will listen when I’m auditioning and gauge themselves against me. This thought rattled my cage a little.

After I’ve found a little corner to go over my monologue and song in my head, in walks the real-world incarnation of Darth Maul – one of the meanest and most immature people I’ve ever worked with. Ever. Truly, in the past 15 years of acting, there are only five people whom with I’ve ever had problems working…of those five people, she wins, hands down, for Most Evil. Consider this point in relation to Point B of Paragraph Two.

So now I’m going over my monologue and song in my head, listening to the other auditioners, and thinking about how “Vader” is a funny thing to nickname a mean girl (but how Darth Maul isn’t funny and neither is this girl who is now in the room with me). Then Teresa gets called in for her audition. Teresa is the person who is scheduled immediately before me. Teresa is also the person who goes into the rehearsal room and proceeds to audition using the same song that I am going to be auditioning with for the very first time. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I get into the audition room and meet the director, choreographer, composer, and accompanist. They’re all lovely. But then I recognize the choreographer, and proceed to quickly acknowledge our connection. Bad move. Turns out she left my present talent guild about a month after I started there, on bad terms. So now I’m immediately associated with bad terms. Dear Leigha, meet your new friend, Losing Battle.

Overall, the day did everything it possibly could to freak me right the hell out. Despite that, the song and monologue actually went well. But just to finish things off, I almost got mugged on the way back to my car. But I didn’t actually get mugged, so score one for Horton. Take that, stupid day.

And because I’m the total dork that I am, I literally gave myself a pat on the back when I was driving home.

The Monster of Phantom Lake (my first lead role in a feature film) is back by popular demand! Please join me this Wednesday, May 17th, at 7:30 pm at the stunning Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights. We’ve received loads of great press (check out the TMoPL website for links to reviews) – so here’s your chance to pretend you’re from Missouri and insist on seeing it for yourself!

Also, by coming to this screening, you might be helping us land a distribution deal. We’ve got a producer in L.A. who is interested to see audience reaction; so while you’re watching the movie, he’ll be watching you. Oh, the horror!

“The Monster of Phantom Lake” returns to the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, Minnesota!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 – 7:30 PM, $5.00 at the door
The Heights Theater
3951 Central Avenue NE
Columbia Heights, Minnesota 55421
www.heightstheater.com

We’ve recently been discussing wider distribution with a producer in L.A. who, unfortunately, is unable to come to the screening. He has asked us to videotape audience reaction to the screening as a way to help him get a better feel for the movie. For this, we would like to absolutely pack the theater with moviegoers so please, BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW! The more, the merrier, the better our chances of securing a meaningful distribution deal. The film is family-friendly, although children under 5 might be frightened. We will be selling DVDs & posters after the show and much of the cast & crew will be in attendance.

Here’s a little snippet of an article that was published in the Flint, Michigan paper “The Flint Journal” regarding the recent Flint Film Festival held last month:

“… the best of the features I saw was ‘The Monster of Phantom Lake,’ a hilarious parody of grade-D horror/sci-fi films of the 1950s … the film is full of cheesy dialogue, improbable plot turns and a dead-on performance by Josh Craig as a stuffy ‘man of science’ who has none of the right answers but can strum a rock ‘n’ roll song on his handy guitar.

According to the film’s Web site, a ‘Phantom Lake’ sequel already is in the works, with Craig reprising his role as ‘Professor Jackson … from the university.’ Here’s hoping we’ll see it in a future Flint Film Festival.”

It’s only five measly dollars, so bring friends and buy them some popcorn while you’re at it. Can’t wait to see you Wednesday!

Remember this?:

On a different note, I’m still desperately wanting you to hear the Lipservice podcast wherein I’m interviewed by fellow actor Steve Hendrickson – it’s really sweet. Alas, the Lipservice website is undergoing a some changes and I’m not yet allowed to link to the podcast location. Grrrrrr. Soon, though. It has a little audio-treat at the end – a clip from the Twelfth Night song recordings.

Documents have been declassified, permission has been granted, and here is your briefing:

You can now listen to the podcast in two ways.

1. Go to Lipservice Talent Guild. Click on the Podcast star. Then click on “listen…” The quicktime file (along with the rest of the site; so don’t worry, it’s not your computer) takes some time to load on the page.
2. Or you could skip the Lipservice site all-together and quickly download it here.

The entire episode is about 11 minutes long, and I’m there for roughly the second half. Therefore, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to boycott all Tom Cruise movies because he’s gone off the deep end and no one should be expected to support him and his nasty Scientology habit.

Ahhhh, gotta love those non sequiturs – they just feel so good sometimes. Look – a bunny! I like cheese. What’s that on my shoe?