Performing in NYC May 8-10!

Hey there, amazing friends and family!

TWO Chances to see me in the next 10 days!!! Whooppee!!! Once onstage, once off. Read on.

1) Those of you in NYC have been asking me, "When are you going to perform in New York???" Well, this one came up fast... I'll be performing in two 10-minute plays as part of the National MFA Playwrights' Festival at the Atlantic Theatre Company's Stage Two May 8-10!

As there are only four performances, and they're midweek, it may preclude people from coming, but here's the info:

Tue-Wed, May 8-9, @ 7:30pm
Thurs, May 10 @ 4pm and 8pm
at Atlantic Theatre Company, Stage Two
330 W. 16th St. (between 8th/9th Aves.)

It's an Equity Showcase, so Equity members are free if there's space, all others are $18.
No credit card needed; reserve tix at theatermasters@gmail.com or by calling (970) 948-9484 , then pay cash at the door. That's it! Hope you can make it (esp. at the matinee, it's for industry)!
In its inaugural year, the festival will feature nine ten-minute plays; one playwright was selected from each of the top University MFA playwriting programs: Brown, Columbia, NYU, Carnegie-Mellon, Northwestern, Iowa, UCLA, UCSD, and the University of Texas at Austin.

My shows are called PLANS by Rachael Brogan (where I drink wine, eat hummus, and discuss killing my husband with former CSFer Deb Heinig), and DUMB LUCK by Joshua Tobieson (where I've won $27 million in the lottery and try to duck greedy relatives). Should be lots of fun!

2) Also: COME OUT WITH ME & JACK tomorrow, Wed. May 2 to see my friend Katy Pfaffl playing at JOE'S PUB! Doors open at 11pm; $10 cover. More info at http://www.katypfaffl.com.

This is a very important show for Katy; come with me! I promise you'll have a blast. Apparently, tickets are selling FAST, so if you want to order in advance, Joe's Pub's # is: 212-967-7555 or go to http://www.joespub.com.

Almost all of you have heard me mention Katy at some point; she's an INCREDIBLE singer/songwriter poised on the knife-edge of superstardom... several of her songs are up on YouTube, but this is my favorite, called "Dirty Little Secret." http://youtube.com/watch?v=MkLhV1UjPJ4

I will definitely be there; hope you can make it, too! And I hope you can come catch my show, brief though it may be. I'd love to see each of you!

Lastly, I can't be there, unfortunately, but if you're free tonight, there's a fundraiser for the Australian/American theatre company I work with (The Production Company) and three other companies at chashama - 217 East 42nd St, NYC, from 6:30-9:30. $25 at the door... great networking opportunity! More info at http://www.productioncompany.org.

I miss you all!

Hope all is well in your necks of your respective woods...
Let me know how things are going!

Big hugs,
Marni

Back in NYC Again!

Happy Easter/Passover/Spring Break, my fabulous friends and family! Long time, no mention of me, I know.

Enough people have said, "Where the heck are you?" that I realized it's been a while since my last MarniWatch.

So I'll update details:

I'm back in NYC right now!
(Catch me while you can...) :) I just got finished with an AMAZING run of Pinter's THE LOVER at RepStage in MD, and am hangin' with Jack and Nicole, working when I can, and updating my website (finally!) I'd love to see as many of you as I can, so email me for coffee while I'm home! Let's get together!

Coaching again: 10% discount through June 15!
Since I'm only home through June, and enough people have said they want to work out some monologues with me, there's no time like the present. My usual fee is $50/hr, but for the next two months, you can get me for only $45! Call me at 212-802-8557 and we'll work something out. I have a midtown location, or I can come to you. Your choice. See you soon!

New film trailer and print photos on my website!!!
Check it out: the short film UNINVITED by Jonathan Betzler is coming out soon, and it's a great showcase for me! The whole trailer is about two minutes, and features four different looks for yours truly... it will be very exciting. For the print photos... read on!

Just finished shooting the NYU short film CHECKOUT
...by the very talented young filmmaker Nardeep Khurmi. I play a mom who takes her 12-year-old to the supermarket at midnight to try to decide whether to leave her abusive husband. Very cool. Will let you know where this goes!

Theatre work: I'm booked June through September...
Which I'm very excited about! Come see me this summer! I've got leading roles in:

• WRITE ME A MURDER by Frederick Knott
  at Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania (July 3-15)
  
• and THE UNMENTIONABLES by Bruce Norris
  at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in DC (Aug. 27-Sept. 23)

and some very exciting stuff in the hopper... I'll keep you posted!

So that's what's up with me; check out stuff by my sisters & friends, too:

-My sisters' websites are up & running:

• Lisa's jewelry is absolutely stunning, and she just got FOUR pieces of her artwork accepted to a show in Madison, WI that will travel to Chicago! Yay, Lisa! Check her stuff out at: http://www.lisapenning.com/
  
• Rebecca's garden is beautiful, and she's started a website with a blooming calendar so that people around the world can share their gardens with each other; if you've got a green thumb, you definitely have to check her out: http://realgardensbyzone.com

-Two friends have shows on Discovery Networks; check them out...

• Nathan Lyon went to high school and college with me, and now has his own cooking show A Lyon in the Kitchen now showing on Thursday nights at 10pm on Discovery Health; he's an incredible cook! His philosophy is that you should buy local produce for the freshest meals. Need recipes? Go here.
  
• and Victoria Stilwell is the SuperNanny of the canine crowd. Having problems with your pooch? You have to check out her show It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet, starting April 16. It's being shown in 20 countries worldwide, and has finally come to the US! Go, Vikki!!!!!

-Alex Borghi, who took these pics of me, is new to NYC, and is therefore having a headshot special: $200 gets you an all-digital session with three changes and two prints! He was really fun to work with. Check him out at http://www.alexborghiphoto.com/

-and my friend Joanna Parson is doing a "Create Your Own Work" fundraiser to benefit New Orleans kids on April 14; go to http://www.joannaparson.com/ to find out more.

There's exciting stuff for me in store for the rest of 2007... I'll keep you informed, I promise!

Much love and happiness of the season to all of you,
Marni

This is how small the world is.

So I was about an hour early for an audition at The Onion (so excited about that) on Tuesday, so I picked up the script and went to a nearby Starbucks in Soho to study it. The place was mobbed, no seats to be had. I walked around for a minute and finally asked a guy if I could share his table. We sat in silence for about five minutes while we consumed our beverages, me waiting for him to leave before I pulled out my script, when his phone rang. Afterwards, he made a small-talk comment about cell phones, something about picking up his daughter and going to Grand Central.

He observed that no one seemed to be working that day, and asked if I was (because I was wearing a suit), to which I laughed, "No, I'm an actress," and told him I was auditioning for a web-thing nearby. When he asked if I did that a lot, I told him I was primarily a stage actress, and that this was a rarity. I told him the reason no one appeared to be working because of Spring Break, and that Grand Central would be mobbed as well; we commiserated about having to wade through tourists to get to our trains, as both of us live in Westchester County, and have to take the Metro North home.

He said he had just moved to Ossining, but that for the last 17 years he lived in Cincinnati.

When I told him, "Oh, really? I was a co-founder of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival!" He said, "Wait a minute. We've met. I photographed you!"

It was Craig Ruttle, who took the picture above for Jackie Demaline's feature article back in 2003...

Small, small world indeed.

And to think that if I'd gone to the other Starbucks down the street, we never would have seen each other...

Welcome to New York, Craig!
Big hugs,
Marni