Shot Indie Film in Pittsburgh

Was cast as lead female in independent film shot in Pittsburgh - had a great time working on this project, will post pics and video soon as I get it!

Signed with Docherty Talent!

Exciting news, have just signed Docherty Talent for my PA representation! Was thrilled to get an audition for a leading role on a new tv pilot shooting in Pittsburgh on the very first day I was signed with this awesome agency!

So far, so good!

www.dochertyagency.com

Jewelry Catalog Shoot!

Just got some images back from a jewelry catalog shoot I worked on in Marina del Rey - will scan the catalog pages I'm featured on when I get it in the mail!

*A special thanks to "I Love Bracelets" for all the amazing jewelry, also...it's gorgeous!!*

Another Great Time Modeling for Chinese Laundry in Vegas!

Whoooops....have been working like crazy lately and haven't taken time to update my blog for quite a while...lots of news to catch up on!

First off, had a great time modeling recently for one of my very favorite companies, Chinese Laundry! They are always on the ball with the latest in hot shoe, handbag and denim trends...check them out at www.chineselaundry.com!

Pics coming soon : )

TJ Maxx Commercials: Live on the streets of LA!

Had a ball performing in live TJ Maxx commercials around all the hotspots of LA yesterday: The girls and I were miked up and dressed to the 9's and re-enacted the TJ Maxx commercials that are currently airing nationwide. One of those days where I could say, only in LA!!

Great review in "Backstage!"

Backstage has given "School for Wives" a great review and described my role as "spectacularly naive and innocent," stating that "Madison makes Agnes' naiveté a perfect foil"...!



Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Monsieur Arnolph (Bo Roberts) has a pathological distrust of women, but he wants to marry, despite an abiding fear of being cuckolded. To assure his marital bliss, he latches on to 4-year-old Agnes, makes her his ward, and sets out to mold her into a perfect wife. He has her educated in a convent, cloistered and free of all knowledge of the world. Now Agnes (Jessica Madison) has reached marriageable age, so Arnolph moves her to Paris, intending to marry her at once. She's spectacularly naive and innocent; but far from protecting her, her unworldliness makes her a sitting duck for the first handsome blade to come along. She spots young Horace (Dave Mack) in the street, he sees her, and in a trice, they are smitten with each other. Unfortunately, Horace chooses Arnolph for his confidante, unaware he's the girl's guardian and intended husband. Endless confusions and complications ensue, but love will find a way, aided and thwarted by Arnolph's dimwitted servants (Cynthia Mance and Kenneth Rudnicki).

This new translation-adaptation of Molière by director Frederíque Michel and production designer Charles A. Duncombe is clever, colloquial, and far more actable than most recent versions. Michel gives the piece a coolly elegant and stylized production, emphasizing the play's rueful wisdom as well as its comedy. Duncombe provides a simple but handsome set, while costumer Josephine Poinset effectively blends period and contemporary costumes. Roberts nimbly sketches the shattering of Arnolph's smug self-righteousness and his ever-growing frustration and desperation, while Madison makes Agnes' naiveté a perfect foil for Arnolph's manipulations. Mack brings considerable charm to Horace, but the stylized movement sometimes renders him a bit epicene.

Congratulations to everyone at City Garage theatre for winning 3 prestigous awards at last night's LA Weekly Theatre Awards 2009!

COSTUME DESIGN: Josephine Poinsot, Les Bourgeois Gentilhomme
SOUND DESIGN: Paul Rubenstein, The Mission (Accomplished)
MASK DESIGN: Charles Duncombe, Les Bourgeois Gentilhomme

Frederique and Charles were awarded the "QUEEN OF THE ANGELS" Award in recognition of their amazing contributions to the theatre community of LA. They were introduced by LA Weekly theatre critic Steven Leigh Morris who said they were receiving the award:
"For decades of directing and producing scintillating, politically
charged theater that challenges audiences to reconsider their
assumptions about the nature of politics, and the nature of theater
itself. Given with gratitude and respect by the critics of the LA
Weekly. March 30, 2009."

On a sidenote, I was thrilled to attend the 50s themed awards ceremony and wore a dress formerly belonging to Lucille Ball (she wore it on "I Love Lucy!!") All in all, an incredible night for City Garage.

Good Review in LA Times!

The LA Times calls School for Wives

"an adroit and intelligently directed revival"

and notes that

"Mack and Madison in the roles of the young lovers seldom try to be funny and deliver some of the most endearingly comical moments of the evening."




“The School for Wives,” City Garage, 1340 ½ 4th St. (alley), Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Saturdays; 5:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 31. $20. (310) 319-9939. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.

SCHOOL a "Go" in LA Weekly!

Great news - first review is in and LA Weekly calls our production of "School for Wive" a "GO!!"

NEW REVIEW GO THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES The central character in Molière's comedy, here translated and adapted by Frédérique Michel & Charles Duncombe could be and often is a punching bag. But not here. Arnolphe is another in a stream of Molière's aging, patronizing nitwits (like Orgon on Tartuffe) who presume that they can control the devotions and passions of young women in their care. In Tartuffe, when Orgon's daughter protests his insistence that she break her wedding plans to her beloved suitor in order to marry the clergyman he prefers, Orgon figures her rebellion is just a impetuous, child-like phase. In The School for Wives, there's a similar mind-set to Arnolphe (Bo Roberts), who has tried to sculpt his young ward, Agnes (Jessica Madison), into his future wife. He's known her since she was 4, and he's strategically kept her closeted, as though in a convent, hoping thereby to shape her obedience and gratitude. Just as he's about to wed her, in stumbles young Horace (Dave Mack) from the street below her window, and the youthful pair are smitten with eachother, soon conniving against the old bachelor. Horace, not realizing that Arnolphe is the man keeping Agnes as his imprisoned ward, keeps confiding in the older man about his and Agnes' schemes, fueling Arnolphe's exasperation and fury. Perhaps it's the use of director Michel's tender, Baroque sound-tracks, or the gentle understatement of Roberts' performance and Arnolphe, but the play emerges less as a clown show, and more as a wistful almost elegiac rumination on aging and folly. Arnolphe tried to create a brainless wife as though from a petri dish, an object he can own, and the more she rejects him, the more enamored he becomes of her, until his heart breaks. - The pathos is underscored by the obvious intelligence of Madison's Agnes - an intelligence that Arnolphe is blind to. The production's reflective tone supersedes Michel's very stylized, choreographic staging (this company's trademark). The ennui is further supported by a similarly low-key portrayal by David E. Frank as Arnolphe's blithe friend and confidante, Chrysalde. In In fact, when lisping, idiot servants (Cynthia Mance and Ken Rudnicki) keep running in circles and crashing into each other, Michel's one attempt at Commedia physicality is at odds with the production rather than a complement to it. Company costumer Josephine Poinsot (surprising she doesn't work more) provides luscious period vestments and gowns, and Duncombe's delightful production design, includes a gurgling fountain, a tub of white roses, and abstract hints of some elegant, Parisian court. City Garage, 1340½ Fourth Street (alley entrance); Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m.; through May 31. (310) 319-9939. (Steven Leigh Morris)

Still from "School for Wives!"

...featuring two West Virginia actors!...

"School for Wives" opens this Friday!!

My new play "School for Wives" opens this weekend at City Garage Theatre in Santa Monica! I am playing the tough but rewarding role of Agnes and can't wait for the show to open! Call and reserve your tickets today!
March 20 -- May 31, 2009
Sat. 8:00pm
Sun. 5:30pm
Admission $20; Students/Seniors $10
Sundays "Pay-What-You-Can"
Box Office/Reservations: (310) 319-9939

10 Days in Vegas with "Chinese Laundry!"

Spent 10 wonderful & lively days in Vegas modeling for Chinese Laundry - I can't tell you enough how much I love their shoes, handbags and accessories! Thanks to Chinese Laundry for the amazing shoes & sunglasses and a special thanks for being such entirely wonderful people to work with!
www.chineselaundry.com



Blake Lively of "Gossip Girl" in a hot Chinese Laundry boot!

Modeling for Lucky Brand!

Had the wonderful opportunity to model here in LA for Lucky Brand Jeans - they are coming out with an amazing shoe line and let me tell you, the shoes and boots are to die for!

Special thanks to Lucky not only for the great time, but also for the super hot jeans! I love them!

City Garage Nominated for *6* LA Weekly 2008 Theatre Awards!

The LA Weekly Theater Award nominations are out, and City Garage has been once again nominated for an astonishing number of awards!

On top of all that, City Garage's founders Frederique and Charles are being honored with the "QUEEN OF THE ANGELS" award! This is a special recognition award that the Weekly's theater critics present each year to people they feel deserve to be singled out for their contributions to theater in Los Angeles.

Can't wait until the awards ceremony on March 30th!

Cast as Agnes in "School for Wives!"

Some exciting news - was cast as Agnes in Moliere's "L'ecole des Femmes" (School for Wives).

We start rehearsals on January 19th at City Garage and on a sidenote, I'm happy to say that one of the other lead actors in also from good ol' West Virginia!!

Happy 2009!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and had fun ringing in the New Year...

I really think that 2009 is gonna be one incredible year!!