Category: News

My life and acting updates. It’s been a few months since my last post, mainly due to the writer’s and actor’s strike. Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP are ongoing, but I’m grateful for the updates each day. In the meantime, I’ve been attending many commercial auditions in person and through self-tapes. Although I haven’t booked any of them yet, being put on avail several times in the last month tells me that I’m headed in the right direction. As a matter of fact, I have another call-back on Monday Oct 30th so let’s hope for the best.

There have been several changes recently as well.

For one thing, I got signed by DDO Agency for voiceover, thanks to my friend Marabina Jaimes who helped me put together my voiceover demo. Last week, I had an audition for dubbing animation which was pretty exciting.

Unfortunately, Chica and the Man Podcast aired its last episode on Sept 30th of this year. Working with Alex Greenwood was great fun, but our busy schedules prevented us from continuing further. Nevertheless, we still keep in touch and remain good friends. Check out the blog.

Currently, I’m working on updating my YouTube channels as they’re overdue for new content. This year has witnessed both loss and gain, but it’s always important to be thankful for what we have regardless of life’s circumstances.

Join me in celebrating life and all its blessings.

Check out this episode

 

In today’s episode we have Kristi Schultz, a theatre maker, director and educator. We discuss her journey from college to New York where she worked at a strip house. Don’t get too excited she wasn’t stripping. Her stories from that time are entertaining and are the premise of her solo show Dollhouse. We discuss how she got started in Los Angeles. Join in to this interesting and might I say, educational episode of life in the dollhouse.

Kristi Schultz is a hyphenate Theatre maker and Teaching Artist using interdisciplinary movement-driven performance practices to reinvent classics, adapt literature, and devise original work. Kristi is on the Theatre Faculty at Marlborough School in Los Angeles and Artistic Director of the Marlborough Ensemble Theatre.  Kristi developed the Musical Theater and Dance Program at New Roads School. Her productions of IN THE HEIGHTS and CHICAGO, received several Jerry Herman Award nominations including Best Production. She won the award for Best Staging & Choreography for IN THE HEIGHTS. In the years under her guidance, the New Roads Dance program grew exponentially. At New Roads, she was an Artistic Producer for the Moss Theater, producing guest productions and developing guest artist partnerships. She also implemented a workshop lab for Performance Activism.

She has been a guest faculty member at the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, Bluepalm Arts, Rembiko Edinburgh Project, and CalArts Interim Project teaching acting, movement, and composition, and leading professional development for Faculty, as well as guest Directing. 

From 2006 to 2010, she was Producing Artistic Director of the award-winning LA company, Zoo

District, helming their 3 year residence at [Inside] the Ford as part of the Ensemble Theatre

Collective. At the Ford, she directed a critically acclaimed production of Ionesco’s THE

SUBMISSION and THE FUTURE IS IN EGGS, produced and performed in THE DEFENDERS in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the show garnered 5 Garland Award Honorable Mentions. For Zoo District, she received grants from the Doris Duke Foundation, Network of Ensemble Theatres, Flintridge Foundation, and LA County Arts Commission. At the Ford, she curated and presented original works in progress in SHOT IN THE DARK and JOUR DE BOSSE CABARET. She was commissioned by Padua Playwrights to direct the World Premiere of Murray Mednick’s play, DESTRUCTION OF THE 4th WORLD.

Other recent Directing experience includes My Hero Project’s INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY event honoring veteran activist Ron Kovic, and SEEING RED, an evening of original dance, theater, and cabaret. 

Currently, she is dedicated to championing new voices with several projects on deck.

As Covid struck in 2020, she was directing the premiere of FLESH by Ash Nichols at INKFest at the Broadwater, and her last live performance was a workshop of THE INCIDENT at

MeetCuteLA.  She is working on her own solo performance piece, OPERATION

DOLLHOUSE. She has been a Company Member and Festival Producer for SON OF SEMELE

ENSEMBLE, continuing to produce original work for the Quick Creation Festival throughout Covid in a virtual format.  She could also be seen performing with the Grand Guignolers. She is an Associate Producer for the SSDC Director’s Lab West 2023. Other work in New York incudes Third Rail Dance in SPUN, Director at New York’s Theatre Studio, Inc., Choreographer for Yale Drama Cabaret’s ROCKY HORROR. She spent many years as a musical theatre performer and dance captain, making special appearances as a singer/entertainer at a variety of New York and Los Angeles corporate events, industrials, and fundraisers, including

The Drama League’s annual Broadway Bash. An alumna of Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, the British American Drama Academy, SITI Company Intensives, Frantic Assembly Train, and the SDC Director’s Lab West, she is a member of AEA, TCG, and the Network of Ensemble Theatres. 

Theatre Maker, Director, Educator

www.kristischultz.com

@schultzie56

 

Norma and I have been friends for many years. Our friendship began during an audition, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since, discussing how the entertainment business has changed over time. We cover topics like what they expect of an actor when they are auditioning, working on a self-tape or going into the casting office, and how long it usually takes to complete an audition from start to finish. This episode gives you an idea of what to expect if you’re interested in pursuing a career in acting.

Born on Governors Island, New York County, New York, actress Norma Maldonado has had a love for acting since childhood. She is of Puerto Rican and Spanish heritage. Norma’s father, Juan Arturo Maldonado, was in Air America for the US Air Force. Her family frequently relocated and required her to adapt to many new surroundings.

She has starred in dozens of film and television projects including Showtime’s Hombre, The Good Doctor, Recurring Guest Star on Jane the Virgin and The Fosters. She had guest roles in The Librarians. Superior Donuts, Amazon’s Mad Dogs, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Closer among many others. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico and completed one year of clinical psychology at Albizu University. Later, she went on to earn a Masters in Communications from the University of Georgia.

Over the years, she developed an ear for languages and accents. Her fluency in English, Spanish and Serbian has helped open doors to many interesting roles, including that of a rape counselor in a short film for the United Nations. She helps St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and groups working to stop the sex trafficking of children and young people.

Her IMDB Page

Sonia Iris Lozada acting experience. Oops! Forgot to ask one of my friends to do the podcast. I decided I’d tell you about some films and TV shows and my experience with them. I basically just go through a few on my resume which you can catch on my Sonia Iris Lozada website.

Listen to episode.