Category: Happiness

I'm Ready.

1/30/2013

Since my birthday is in January, I always start my New Year right after. I first rang it on on closing night of my show with oysters and champagne. I can DEFINITELY get used to that. I've decided to take it as a sign of things to come for 2013!

Now it's time to buckle down and use my successes of 2012 to push me even further. 2012 was great to me. I worked harder than ever before and did some amazing projects. Now all I want is MORE MORE MORE!! I'm ready to give it my all to GET it all. I'm ready.

I want to be FEARLESS.

I want to SPARKLE.

I want to SURPRISE everyone, including myself!

I will OWN YOU, 2013!

BRING IT.

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A Crucible

1/15/2013

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Well. That's awkward. It seems I dropped off the face of the earth again. It was for good reasons, though, I promise! December was filled with Our Bar, then the Frameworks 3rd Annual Christmas Show, Christmas itself, and...oh yeah! The show I've been in rehearsals for since just after Thanksgiving.

A Crucible.

No, no. Not the one you read in high school English class. That was THE Crucible. This is A Crucible.

"A CRUCIBLE follows the high school drama club at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception as it sets out to stage Arthur Miller's classic play, The Crucible. Conflicts erupt when ideas about sexuality and contemporary performance begin to influence the young actors and their POV about the production. The young women and men, fueled by a passion for black magic and avant garde tropes, stage a coup to build a performance that addresses their own lives. This original play re-appropriates the writing of Arthur Miller, as well as Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol's diaries, John Huston's film The Misfits and other texts. A CRUCIBLE is a darkly comic play about the power and problems of performance."

Between rehearsals and working on my Bah-ston and Barbados accents (yup. That's right. This girl has a KILLER Barbados accent), I kind of let the blog slide. But you forgive me, right? And you're going to come see it, right?

Not Sold yet? How about this great review from nytheatre.com?

OR!

Maybe because nycstagereview called me "poignant"?

PERHAPS!

The fact that Backstage says, "Rebecca Kopec Shines..." THAT'S RIGHT!

THIS FEARLESS SPARKLING SURPRISE SHINES!!

Come on. You know you want to. Five shows left: Wed, Thurs, Fri at 8, Saturday 3 & 8.
GET YO TICKETS!

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I Worry About People Who Aren't Real.

10/26/2012

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I get way too involved in the lives of fictional characters. I'll watch a show and my heart will start pounding, my stomach in knots, legitimately concerned for the welfare of someone that doesn't actually exist in the real world. I'm aware that this is not normal behavior, but when have I ever claimed to be a normal human being?

The show that is currently causing me to yell expletives at the TV (and may be the cause of me dying of an early heart attack) is Homeland. Holy. Crap. Seriously, this show will be the death of me. I don't think a single episode has passed where I haven't muttered "ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodOHGOD!!!" while clutching my chest. It knows what it's doing.

Based on the Israeli series, Hatufim, it follows the lives of CIA officer Carrie Mathison and Sergeant Nicholas Brody. After being captured by al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war in 2003, Brody is presumed dead. He is found, rescued and brought back to the US and attempts to become re-acclimated to his old life. Before Carrie came to Langley, VA, she was a field operative in Iraq warned by an asset that an American POW had been turned. Carrie becomes obsessed with the idea that this POW is Brody. To quote the Showtime website, "The delicate dance these two complex characters perform, built on lies, suspicion, and desire, is at the heart of this gripping, emotional thriller in which nothing short of the fate of our nation is at stake."

Not enough to sell you? How about these words:
Claire Danes.
Damian Lewis.
Mandy Patinkin.
6 Emmys.

Need I say more?

Watch this show and freak out with me every Sunday night at 9pm on Showtime. I promise the high blood pressure it will give you is worth it.

BONUS!! CLAIRE DANES' CRYFACE SUPERCUT!!!!

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How a Concert became a Metaphor for My Life

7/3/2012

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If you receive my email updates, you know that I am kind of in love with a young up and coming musician named Ed Sheeran. (If you aren't receiving my email updates, why not?? They're fun!) I was lucky enough to see him in concert a few weeks ago. He's crazy talented live and while I realized I would have a good time, what I DIDN'T realize was how the entire process of seeing the concert would turn out to be a pretty apt metaphor for my life, particularly in regards to my career.

Bear with me here. I came up with this at 3am and it seemed incredibly deep at the time. Now that I've written it out, it seems a little silly, but I'm sticking by it. Because that's how I do.

Just as I have been inspired by talented actors, writers, and filmmakers which led me to the desire to be an actor myself, I was inspired by Sheeran's talent and desired to see him play live (told you it would be silly). It seemed impossible (tickets were sold out, scalpers were charging 6 times as much on Stubhub (I still don't know how that site is legal), I had no one to go with me), Just like sometimes it seems impossible that I will ever "make it" as an actor (the sheer number of people, the fact that I'm starting out so late in my life, questioning if I'm even good enough, etc).

But I didn't care- I wanted it, so I was going after it. I went to the venue in the hopes that maybe a concert goer would happen to have an extra ticket for me to buy at face value, but it turns out I didn't have to worry about that. They still had $20 tickets at the door- much easier than I expected (and cheaper since there was no ticketmaster fee)!

I have been trying to be more fearless as an actor lately. I have made phone calls to people, asked questions and for help, I've replaced certainty with curiosity (Certainty= "the concert is completely 100% sold out" or "this casting director doesn't have any roles for me". Curiosity = "What happens if I show up at the venue?", "What if the Casting Director's NEXT project has a role I'm right for?") I've been doing all of this and guess what? I'm not dead! Which ALREADY makes it easier than my heart palpitations would have led me to believe. That in and of itself makes it easier than I expected.

When I got to the concert, I looked around and was pretty sure I was the oldest person there that wasn't a parent- which is often how I feel at auditions and classes. But you know what? It didn't matter. I had what I wanted and I had an absolute BLAST. I enjoyed every second of it and gained a deeper respect for him as an artist.

Best Part? All the trouble I went through to get it made it all the better. Look!! I learned a lesson!

So, I guess I have no choice. I gotta keep at it until I make it. Oh, and friends, it will be sweet. I'm excited. :)

Thank you, Ed Sheeran and Bowery Ballroom. You've given me the silliest, yet incredibly apt metaphor ever.

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Gratitude

4/8/2012

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As you may have guessed by now, I, Rebecca Kopec, am an Actor. "WHAT!?!" you may exclaim in shock and horror. "Yes," I will calmly answer. I know it's quite a shock. Who would have ever guessed that this girl who has an entire website devoted to having an acting career would, in fact, be an actor? How strange indeed.

Let me tell you something. It's not the easiest thing in the world. I do it because I love it. It's who I am. If I haven't already, I could go on and on and on about why I am an actor and what it means to me and why I chose this profession and blah blah blah blah blah, but that's a different story for a different day. The thing is, it's a pretty darn tough industry. And the stakes are incredibly high because it means so much to me (heh I originally typed steaks. Maybe it's time for lunch....). When stakes run high, emotions run high. And when emotions are running high, well, the lows can be pretty far down there. I have learned one secret to getting through it, however. Well, ok, it's not THAT big a secret, but it DOES make that big of a difference:

Gratitude.

I've always been a pretty grateful person in general, but recently I've taken the next step up and began a Gratitude/Success journal. Yup. I AM that cheesy and nerdy. Every night before I go to sleep, I try to write something in it, even if it's just one sentence. A lot of the time, I'll write a full entry (What!? Me?? Being Verbose??), but sometimes I'll just simply list the things I'm grateful for.

Even if I'm having an absolutely horrible day with nothing going right whatsoever, I'll find one thing to write down. Then another. Then another. And soon, I can't stop and I can not take the giant smile spread across my face.

There's a lot in my life that could potentially knock me down. Maybe I didn't book a job. Maybe I blew an audition. Maybe my career isn't as far along as I'd like. And those are just the acting-related things! But no matter what may be wrong, there are an infinite number of things that are going right. I have A LOT to be grateful for. I have a pretty damn good life. I won't begin listing all of those things now because I've already written another essay. Plus, I have them all written down in my bright pink journal with a Jane Austen quote on the front ("Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery"- How perfect is that?!!?).

Try it. When you finish reading this (if you finish reading it, I just keep writing more and more words. I promise I'm almost done), think about what you're grateful for. Write it down. And just try to not smile while you do so. I'm pretty sure it's impossible.

But, if for some reason that doesn't work for you, check out this site from BuzzFeed: 13 Simple Steps To Get You Through a Rough Day. And if THAT doesn't work...perhaps it's time to seek professional help. 'Cause that site is made of everything good on the planet.

So how 'bout it? What are you grateful for?

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I'm Ready.

A Crucible

I Worry About People Who Aren't Real.

How a Concert became a Metaphor for My Life

Gratitude

RebeccaKopec

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