Beard Envy Semifinal showtimes

Beard Envy will be performing:

Sat. 3/27 at 2:30 PM

Sun. 3/28 at 6 PM

The bigger and louder the crowd, the better the show -- so come make it raucous!  Facebook invite is here. Tickets available here.

And you know what?  There are some other amazing shows going on, too, starring good friends of mine: 

• Robert King in Halfrican-American
• Angela Cristantello in RealMusik
• Jean Ann Garrish and Joe Iozzi in The Rooftop Play
• Daina Schatz in Grace

And those are just the ones I've seen so far. My roommate Jessica Vera is in Give and Take, Patrick Oliver Jones is in Mirage, and Shelby Company has three shows in the Semis - Mincemeat of Me, A Diner A Shiner, and We Men of Science.

Really good work being done, so there are plenty of reasons to come and check it out!

Beard Envy advances!

Beard Envy has been voted into the Semifinals!  Performance dates and times will be announced tomorrow, probably, once all the conflicts have been submitted and the schedule made up.  Our conflicts would seem to dictate that we'll have one performance on each of Saturday and Sunday...but no promises yet.

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw the show!

Shows and bookings! Big things...

Got three big things to talk about right now.

• BEARD ENVY - I will be co-starring in a one act play that I co-wrote with my friend, Walker Hare.  Yes, it is entitled BEARD ENVY.  That is taking place in the Network One Act Festival, March 17-31.  The audience vote will help determine who advances to the semi's and then the finals. In the first round, we've got two performances: Sunday, March 21st and Monday, March 22nd, both showtimes at 8:30 PM. Details and tickets:

The Barrow Group Theatre

312 W. 36th St., New York, NY

View Larger Map

TICKETS

• Call Me Classy has been rebranded as Call Me Classy & Friends!  Now there will be more sketches with more people!  New songs, new material, and new funny.  Come check it out!  One night this round...

MAP  -  TICKETS

• And last but not least, I just booked a commercial for Google UK Translations!  Filming is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday and I have a fitting today.  Apparently I'm going to get paint dumped on me or something?  They asked at the audition if I was allergic to any kinds of paint...hmm.  Fun fun!  And it's SAG -- so I'll be a union member before you know it!

Look what I got for Christmas...

An IMDB credit! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3731335/

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope all is well in your lives and here's to a wonderful 2010!

Saturnalia teaser is up...and it is AWESOME!

Holy cow am I excited about this.

I don't have any idea when the actual film is going to be done, but it's already getting some press from the underground/independent film site twitchfilm.net.  Film festivals, anyone?  Fingers are crossed!

Periodic update time!

Here's a rundown of what I've been up to (I like hyperlinks):

• On Halloween, I shot a music video for a French band that sings songs in English. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing footage soon. Song is called "Pay" and you can hear it here on their facebook page (scroll down on the left).
  
  
• Like I've mentioned, I played bass in the backing band for Call Me Classy - tons of fun. What I haven't said before is that the lead guitarist/singer/songwriter is Tom Ashton. You may recognize him from spots like these:
  
  
  
  
  
  The drummer, RJ, is in the show, too, and he is a fuckin' riot. So funny. A couple videos I shot/edited/appear in are also interspersed throughout. Things went so well that we're having another show on Dec. 15th at the Triad Theatre. Details and tickets are here.

• Through Scott Powers Studios, I attended a "Friday Lunch Bunch" with agent Barry Kolker and got a phone call today about coming in for a meeting! So that's pretty cool. I'm doing another Lunch Bunch with Ingrid French on Friday.
  
  
• I'm signed up to take a four-week on-camera class with James Calleri of Calleri Casting through The Network. That starts Monday and I'm stoked to finally be taking it - I submitted several times in the past, but either didn't get accepted or had to bail for various reasons.
  
  
• Got new headshots printed! I'm committing to the beard look in hopes of really differentiating myself from the masses. Here are the two:
  
  
  
  
  

  Big thanks to my brother Noah for taking such good shots. He's amazing. He's also getting published - his college admission essay is getting printed in the next edition of this book. He's certainly one to watch.
  
  
• I've been using my photography work as a means of networking for acting. Through my gig as the photographer for the Hudson Union Society, I've been able to meet and connect with Joe Pantoliano, James Gandolfini, Oliver Stone, Matthew Modine, Jeremy Irons, David Lynch, Tony Gilroy, Harold Ramis, Peter Sarsgaard, and many more. You can see photos here. Events are open to anyone and some are free once you're a member. They're always very interesting. Not just entertainment people, either - authors, TV personalities, politicians, military brass, and musicians, as well. Check out videos online for free here.

Wait -- scratch that.

Guess I won't be doing the Monologue Challenge after all.

I got a call from a casting director yesterday to do photo doubling in a scene with Al Pacino. It's an HBO project about Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, entitled You Don't Know Jack, and co-stars John Goodman and Susan Sarandon. It's directed by Barry Levinson (yeah, the Oscar-winning director of Rain Man). So I decided to do that instead.

So far I know it's a pivotal scene in the movie, a long day of shooting, and I'll be getting a SAG waiver. So that's nice. I'll have more info tomorrow.

Summer update

This has been a busy summer! I've been doing a bunch of film stuff -- took a couple classes and put three projects "in the can," as they say, even though two of them used tape and one was on memory cards. (But that's good, too. It's still work, even if the old phrases don't apply anymore.) One of those was an independent feature entitled Saturnalia, and will be my first imdb.com credit once it gets posted up there. So that's exciting! Here's a clip from the film where you see me for the first time:

This coming Monday, Aug. 31st, I'll be performing a new monologue I wrote called "Kids say the darnedest things..." in The Actor's Project NYC's Monlogue Challenge -- you can still get tickets if you want to come and vote! I've competed in three of these over the past couple years and made the finals in two of them. Hopefully this new piece will get me to the top of the podium. And if not, at least I'll have a strong piece of material that sells me and my type better than the last few that I wrote. So that's good.

As the summer winds down, I'm gonna continue pursuing film projects and training and networking and submitting. I'd like to start working with a manager or agent in the coming months and really making a push into the film and television worlds. Theatre and commercials would be great, too, of course.

Lots of film...

In the past couple months I've starred in two student films which are currently in post-production; I should have footage of those soon and will post them when I can.

Also, I just booked a role in a new feature by Gustavo Mercado, who is a professor at Hunter College and won a Showtime Latino Filmmaker award a couple years ago. My first scene films around Memorial Day and I wrap in June. Big thanks to Tom Ashton for thinking of me for the part and hooking me up with the production team! I'm very excited about this!

Ghost Town - Funny, but sad...

The movie turned out to be a lot funnier than I thought it would be, which was awesome. Unfortunately, all the time the other extras and I spent in the freezing cold chasing Ricky Gervais around the streets of Manhattan and up the steps of the Met turned out to be for naught. All the running around got cut from the final version of the film. It was still a lot of fun, though!

I'm just worried people will start thinking I'm lying about actually being in these projects! At least I have the trailer as proof, ha ha.

Update - Awards, challenges, and a sitcom

Thank you to everyone who came to The Actor's Project Showcases in June. Because of the outstanding support, I won the Box Office Award -- over $1,000 in prizes! I've already been taking advantage of my new lifetime membership and entry-fee waivers.

In October, I will be taking part in the next round of showcases; the dates are yet to be finalized, but I will let you know when they are.

My friends Jen Kwok and Eric Fortin -- collectively, The Tijuana Yacht Club -- have been writing a sitcom entitled Undiscovered New York: Uncovered, and I will have a recurring role. We've met several times and we are set to start shooting in the next few weeks. Should be awesome!

Finally, the next Monologue Challenge will be taking place next Thurs, August 21st. Just like one in January, industry judges will pick the finalists and the audience will pick the winner. I was a finalist last time, but there was nothing to be done about competing against the old woman talking about her suitor's "pee-pee."

Maybe this time there won't be a Michael Phelps-like juggernaut, everyone else fighting for second.

Here are the details:

• Thursday, August 21st, 7:00 PM
• 353 Studios, 353 W. 48th St., 2nd Floor
• MAP
• Admission: $15 (2 for 1 if you buy today, 8/15)
• Tickets available HERE or by calling 212-560-0991.

Updates

The Best Party Ever
Turns out I won't be the g-string-clad character in the show. My mom is relieved. And I'm okay with that, too.

Running Blood
Had the cast read-through on Monday and filming began on Thursday. My first scenes are coming up on Sunday. Exciting!

Showcases
Showcases are taking place on Monday the 18th and Monday the 25th. Check out more info here: www.justinhoch.com/actor.html.