Rick Steadman - Actor and Improviser

I spent the morning on the Warner Bros. lot, acting in a sketch for Conan on TBS. I'm not sure when it'll air, but as a longtime fan, it was incredibly cool to be there.

I attended the Action On Film Festival last night, where two shorts I starred in, Undisconnected and Smiley, were screening. I won Best Actor and shared the Best Ensemble award for Undisconnected, which also won Best Picture for the festival. It was a real pleasure to be there with everyone, and getting the awards was a great surprise.

I'll be understudying the roles of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes in the remount of the critically acclaimed, award-winning Watson at Sacred Fools Theatre. The production runs until August 20. More info here.

I just returned from shooting a national commercial for Ameriprise financial services. The commercial was directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris.

I've performing in a piece called "A Kind of Love Story" in the ongoing show, Serial Killers at Sacred Fools Theatre. Tonight was the championship show, and "A Kind of Love Story" was the winner for the 2010-11 season. I was also awarded Best Villain for playing the worst boyfriend ever, Max Brockman, in the piece. Check out Serial Killers when it returns next September. You'll be glad you did.

The LA Weekly Theatre Award nominees have been announced, and I'm very proud to say that the production of Holy Ghost in which I co-starred last spring at Theatre of NOTE has been nominated for Best Ensemble. This was one of the best casts of actors I've ever worked with, and it's a thrill to share this nomination with them. The production also picked up a nomination for Best Fight Choreography, for my friend Jennings Turner.

The play I've co-produced and in which I'm performing, Alceste, has now earned rave reviews from the LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Backstage, and ArtsBeatLA. My performance in it has been called "side-splittingly played" and "ample doses of offbeat comic relief." It's very gratifying for a production on which I've worked so hard to be so well received. The show runs at Theatre of NOTE until March 12th. I hope you can make it out to see it!

We shot the first half of series three of the web-based game show I host, Bang Bang Gameshow! today. As always, it was a blast. We've got bigger prizes and some trickier questions this time around. The contestants were friendly, the day was sunny, the jackets I wore were ugly. Good stuff. Look for the new episodes to debut in the coming months on YouTube and bangbanggameshow.com. The episodes are 2-3 minutes long. Enjoy some snack-sized trivia. It keeps you from filling up on trivia later in the day.

For the last few months, I've been a co-producer for the world premiere of Alceste, by B. Walker Sampson, the first show of Theatre of NOTE's 30th Anniversary Season. The production recently lost an actor to health issues, so I'm now stepping in to take over the role of Pie, a ghost in a picture frame. Alceste is a free adaptation of the Euripides play Alcestis, and is haunting, bittersweet, and also very funny. The show opens February 4, and runs until March 12. More info at www.theatreofnote.com.

Every year, four of my friends and I perform a longform improv show in our hometown, Spokane, Washington. The five of us all started doing improv in Spokane, and we've all moved to larger markets. The other four performers are F. Tyler Burnett (Second City Chicago, Annoyance,) Jeremy Richards (Seattle Theatre Sports,) Jenn Hunter (Portland ComedySportz,) and Tom Olson (improv vagabond/nomad.) We call the show Return of the Natives, and we perform at the Blue Door Theatre. Jeremy and Jenn won't be in town for the show this year, but we're planning on including them for part of the show, via cell phone. This is not a show to miss. This is a show to put in your calendar in pen. Even if your calendar is in your phone. Write on your phone in pen.

My friend Chris Singel and I have been performing our two-man improv show Pants! occasionally over the last few months. On the 15th, we return to Hollywood Fight Club Theatre as part of their 8pm show. Tickets are $5, and we'll be funny. Be there.

We've wrapped photography on three shorts: "Animal Rescue" directed by Patrick Scott, ":)" directed by Carrie Certa, and "Zombie Health Credit Care" directed by Gray Creasy. "Undisconnected," also directed by Carrie Certa, will be finished in February. These four shorts were a lot of work, but also a great time working with talented, professional maniacs. They represent four starkly different kinds of comedy, from silent violence to sitcom-styled relationships to zombie-based satire to physical and cultural comedy. I'm looking forward to seeing the final products.

Correction: I'm now cast in four short films, shooting in the next six weeks. More information when I have a second to think. Wow.

I learned recently that I've booked two upcoming short films to be part of the Action On Film International Film Festival. The two films are called ":)" (or "Smiley") and "Undisconnected." I've read both scripts, and they're both very fun comedic shorts. Shooting begins in early December.

In addition to receiving uniformly positive reviews, Theatre of NOTE's production of Skeleton Stories is now Ovation Recommended by the LA Stage Alliance. For more information on this honor, visit their website, www.lastagealliance.com.

To see the show's great reviews, visit Bitter Lemons, an aggregator of LA theatre reviews and news. The show's reviews variously call me "a predatory and untrustworthy animal guide," "quippy and sexual," "hysterical," and "a protective, but also predatory dog, played with the sexuality and sleaze of a sly trickster."

I spent a beautiful day in Playa del Rey shooting a short film, Animal Rescue, directed by my friend Patrick Scott. Patrick directed me earlier this year in the short Save Miranda!, and I jumped at the chance to work with him again. In this new short, I'm a fastidious dog store employee who ends up eaten alive by lapdogs. Shooting my death scene today was hilariously fun, and by the end of it, the fake blood covering me had soaked through to the skin. Which is pretty epic. I'm already looking forward to our upcoming second shoot date.

Skeleton Stories opened this weekend, and is already a huge success. We were sold out Friday, and very close to sold out Saturday and Sunday as well. This show, though absolutely huge (especially for such a small theatre space) and incredibly draining, is also a joy to perform. The rest of the cast is spectacularly talented, the director and designers have turned in stunning work, and the crew is keeping it all running smoothly despite the bajillion light and sound cues. It's going to be a great ride over the next five weeks or so. Come check it out!

I'm very excited about this one. I've just been cast in the role of Yellow Dog in the upcoming World Premiere of Skeleton Stories by Delondra Williams at Theatre of NOTE. This a beautiful play about a young girl who, on Dia de los Muertos, chooses to journey to the Underworld in search of her deceased mother. As Yellow Dog, I play the guide in the Underworld, a charming yet threatening and sexual guide who should not be trusted. Skeleton Stories opens on October 1, and will be an ambitious production, including dance, mask work, animation, puppetry, Greek choruses, and more. Check out the show's website here: skeletonstories.com

"We play to win, but we don't care if we lose." This is one of ComedySportz's mottoes. "Competitive" improv is sort of a funny thing, since we're really trying to entertain the audience more than we're trying to "win." That said, it's fun to win.

ComedySportz LA played our match against ComedySportz New York tonight. We were really excited, since it's the first time in years these two teams have been matched up. I was so happy to have my friends Myles Nye and Luis Cortes, and our Artistic Director James Bailey as my teammates in this match. We had a blast playing with/against New York, and though we won the match, it was clear that the New York team had a great time, too. Since the tournament isn't really structured like a normal tournament, and the matches are scheduled in advance based on a number of factors, this will be the LA team's only tournament match this year. I'm glad we made the most of it.

This week, I'm in Philadelphia, for the annual ComedySportz World Championship. About 150 improvisors from all over the US, as well as Manchester, England, and Berlin, Germany, are descending on the City of Brotherly Love like a horde of incredibly funny Mongols to "compete" for ComedySportz's Meaningless Cup. This will be my ninth consecutive tournament, and each year it's held in a different city. I've never been to Philadelphia before, and I'm having a great time so far. I'm looking forward to my LA team's show playing against New York on Thursday. More info on the championship is here: www.comedysportzphilly.com/tournament2010/

I'm very excited that Inside Private Lives, the interactive show I was in for most of 2009, will be remounted through the month of July at the Fremont Center Theatre in South Pasadena. In each performance of the show, six actors perform. Each actor performs alone with the audience, portraying a controversial figure from the 20th century. The audience is encouraged to ask questions of the character, to talk back, harangue, to interact however they see fit. I play the eccentric pianist and composer Glenn Gould. For the actors, it's a tough job: we've written our own script, based on a great deal of research, but we also have to be ready to improvise with the audience throughout the piece, and to use our research to stay true to the character as we do. And of course, we're alone with them, no other performers to help. It's a thrilling show, and one of the hardest things I've ever done.
We've gotten Critic's Pick twice from the LA Times, a GO from the LA Weekly, and a lot of other great press. We won Best Improv/Comedy Show at last year's San Francisco Fringe Festival, and the show had successful runs in New York and at Edinburgh Fringe as well.
We'll be at the Fremont Center Saturdays in July at 8pm. I perform on the 10th and the 24th. Come check it out! More info: www.insideprivatelives.com

This weekend, I shot a really fun T-Mobile Commercial for Father's Day with the awesome team from Supercoolcreative Productions. I had so much fun working with this team, and I really hope to do it again soon! What's more, they work FAST! The commercial's now live. Check it out on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bro4xEl6KsU. Enjoy!

I'm overjoyed to announce that Bicoastal Talent and Literary will now be representing me theatrically. I've been with Bicoastal commercially for a few years now, and the experience has been fulfilling and profitable, so now that I'm across the board with them, I'm happy as a clam on vacation. In some place that clams really enjoy. More info on Bicoastal: www.bicoastaltalent.com

Though I was very sad to end our wonderful run of Holy Ghost at Theatre of NOTE, there's a bright side. I get to return to improvising with my friends in the Main Company at ComedySportz LA! Look for me performing there throughout the summer. My next show there will be Friday, 6/12, at 8pm. More info: www.comedysportzla.com

Holy Ghost is now an Ovation Recommended show! We've gotten a GO from the LA Weekly, as well, (he calls mine a "heartbreaking and tender performance,") and we're selling out houses left and right! For Steven Leigh Morris' lovely review in the Weekly, click here: blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/stage-news/stage-raw-holy-ghost/

I shot a short film today, tentatively titled Save Miranda!, directed by LMU film professor Patrick Scott. I had a great time, though the changing weather throughout the day made shooting tricky. It was interesting having a bunch of fake guns pointed at my face. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final cut of this film. I think it's going to be really sad and really funny at the same time.

I'm proud to announce that I've been cast in the role of Cetnik in the thrilling new show Holy Ghost by Jon Tuttle at Theatre of NOTE. This will be a West Coast Premiere of a beautiful, complex play. For more information, check out theatreofnote.com/HolyGhost.html.

Welcome to the new RickSteadman.com!