I Love NYC

I miss you, Lara

Dear Lara,

Ten years ago today, you were gone.

I was in my senior year at USC when I got the call from Meredith asking if you had contacted me. I had spoken to you only days before and you said you were coming to LA to visit me soon.

Lara, you were my best friend during the years when having a best friend is the only thing that matters. I cherished our talks about boys, celebrity crushes (Christian Slater and Luke Perry of course), 90210, who would be our first real kiss, and of course the love of our lives Ian :). We shared so much at such a vulnerable time that my memories are palpable; I can close my eyes and see your face smiling at me and hear your laughter. Remember when you wore that witch's costume on Halloween and tried to get my attention outside Mrs. Kaufman's 7th grade Science room?! We had just had our twilight zone marathon at my house and our favorite quote was " I won't!" Or remember when we danced around in your studio to Paula Abdul's cold hearted snake and Karyn White's secret rendezvous? Or when we rewound the tape (ahhh tapes!) over and over again of Dylan and Brenda kissing?! Then we went to Catalina and decided Eddie Furlong was our real true love-ha! So many memories...

I miss you so much. Sometimes I swear I see you from a distance, out of the corner of my eye, and then when I turn you are gone. Or I have dreams that we are together and catching up and wake up momentarily relieved and happy~until the realization sets in that you aren't here anymore.
I'm grateful for the the big talk we had at the end of our senior year when we discussed the "awkward stage" of our friendship during high school. I know you said you understood and we talked it all out but I want you to know I wish we had never drifted. I have beat myself up for it for years. I'm so thankful we reconnected at the end of it, and became closer than ever for a period of time before I went off to college. I know in my heart if you were here you would be a part of my life and still to this day one of my best friends.

I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. I will always wonder why? and secretly hate the universe for taking you away. I hope you are happy, beedi. I have a while to go down here, but can't wait to hug you again one day. Thank you so much for being a part of my life.

Love you always,

Z

The Anthony Michael Hallway

What's up with all of my childhood icons dying? The death of John Hughes sent a shock wave through my system. He was undoubtedly my all time favorite film maker. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Vacation, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller, Some Kind Of Wonderful...I practically had every one of these movies memorized and am certain I own all of them on VHS. Or beta. Probably beta.

These movies taught me about humour, love, lust, adventure-and were the greatest catalyst in my love for acting. I wanted to marry Jake Ryan (and OK-kind of did. I loved Craig the second he pulled up to pick me up in his Porsche and reminded me of JR). I was convinced I would one day star in a John Hughes movie. I have looked him up repeatedly over the years, saddened by the fact that he left the industry and hoping he would come back one last time to work with me.

His movies will forever be imprinted in my heart.

Long Duk Dong: [looks through frosted glass on door] Is that you?
Jake: Yeah, that me.
Long Duk Dong: [opens door] Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you my new - new-style American girlfriend.
Jake: Forget it, man. Just get Samantha, all right?
Long Duk Dong: She not here.
Jake: Don't jerk me around, man. Where is she?
Long Duk Dong: She got married.
Jake: What?
Long Duk Dong: She at the church. She getting married to oily bohunk.
Jake: Married?
Long Duk Dong: Married.
Jake: Married?
Long Duk Dong: Yeah. Married
[closes door]
Jake: [turns around, under breath to himself] Married?
Long Duk Dong: Married! Jeez.

---

Brian Johnson: Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... ...and an athlete... ...and a basket case... ...a princess... : ...and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Apres Sex...

"Sex On The Page" at Bay Street was fabulous and a huge success! Thank you again to all the incredible women we worked with who also made it possible as well as the writers, directors and actors for their time and boundless talent.

SEX ON THE PAGE

What: AnkinRowen Productions, Bay Street Theatre, The Perfect Manhattan Productions and hiphamptons.com present an evening of short plays and readings on SEX including pieces written by award winning playwright Brooke Berman and best selling author James Frey

Where: The Bay Street Theatre in the Hamptons (the Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, NY)

When: July 24, 2009 @ 10pm

Why: Summer, cocktails, the beach, sex...what could be better?

How: RSVP Bay Street Theatre Box Office (631) 725-9500 Admission FREE

l will be acting in two of the short plays and am very excited about this evening, hope you can make it!

FOR MORE INFO

http://www.baystreet.org/special-performances

http://www.ankinrowen.com/

Death of an Icon

I was walking on the west side highway when I found out Michael Jackson died. My friend from London texted me. I felt nothing. I went home, I turned on the TV, I still felt nothing. Some strange numbness took over me. Michael Jackson had been dead for awhile in my mind. He was a weirdo. His face was freaky, he dangled babies off balconies. I was unaffected.

Two weeks later, after being inundated by the media with coverage of his life, and while watching his funeral, I began sobbing uncontrollably. I have continued to be obsessed and extremely affected by his death for the last month. As many others in the world, I experienced a profound sense of sadness when looking back at his life. Despite his eccentricities, his unbelievable talent surpassed any other performer in my lifetime. He was magnetic but also extremely tragic in his isolation and loneliness.

My friend Tracey once said some famous people could very well be crazy because of the amount of energy that is being directed at them. I think this is very true in the case of Michael Jackson. His star was simply brighter that the rest of ours; the energy force he created was so powerful that eventually he combusted.

I have tried to figure out what is it that has made me grieve over his death, or rather, what he represented. Like many people my age, Thriller was my first album, and my entire childhood seems to play in my memory with his songs as the background tracks. He embodied the eighties and what it meant to dream. I remember watching Billie Jean on MTV and imagining what my own video would look like one day (who didn't want to be a rock star at six?) I suppose in some weird way, his death reminds us all of how old we are getting and how fast it all goes by.

On a lighter note, I did have the unbelievable opportunity to dance on stage with him at the 1987 BAD concert in LA. (I need to find that video asap).

I don't want to be one of those weird bloggers that says "RIP MJ" but for what it's worth I hope he is happy in neverland.

Versus (Full Bore): March 9th in the West Village

Brian Bartels, an amazing playwright and friend, wrote a fantastic one act play, Smoothie, that I had the opportunity to act in at a performance in Boston last Friday night. We will be doing another performance Monday March 9th at the Rattlestick Theater in the West Village, 7pm 224 Waverly Place @ Perry St. The evening is titled Versus (Full Bore) and is a compilation of several of Brian's short plays. I think it's going to be a really fabulous evening and hope everyone can make it. And I have to say, the flier kicks ass.

Rise and Shine

Tonight is my play writing debut, opening night for my first one act play Rise and Shine. We have had over a month of rehearsals and I'm excited to watch my play in full performance mode and hopefully all it's glory. I have the most incredible director, Corey Patrick, who I have to say trumps many of the professional directors I've worked with. My actors have worked very hard and now it's time to hand the piece over to them and have faith in what I wrote. This is quite possibly the most terrifying artistic endeavor for me; as an actor and a self proclaimed control freak, I know what I am capable of and that once I get on stage I can tell the story and make it happen. As a writer, I am now completely vulnerable-I have placed my trust into the actors telling my story and my job is to sit back and enjoy the ride. Here we go!

Rise and Shine a note from the playwright:

Dear Riant Theater/Strawberry One Act Festival,

I have been an active member of the theatre community my whole life: beginning my acting career at age six, and ending up in LA and NY where I have continued to act as well as recently produce. The stage is my home and I have been passionate about reading plays for as long as I can remember.

This is my first attempt at writing my own play. I sat down about six months ago, inspired by the fear that has plagued our nation and the constant theme of apocalyptic images that seem to have dominated every form of mainstream media post 9/11. My original intention was to write a full length play in three separate acts chronicling individuals lives in the future and how they were and are affected by what is going on in the world today. My imagination ran wild with the various possibilities. It seems more than ever before human beings we are calling on each other to be awake and think about how our decisions can affect future generations. 

This act was the first installment. I moved to NY from LA only a year and a half ago, and coincidentally saw a friend in the summer act in a play at the Strawberry One Act Festival. Only the other day I noticed you were accepting submissions, and decided to submit act one, Rise and Shine.

Six months after I first sat down in front of my computer to write it, I am fascinated and obsessed, as most Americans are now, with the current election and what the repercussions could be if my guy doesn't win. I am sure this will be the most historical election of my lifetime, and I continue to be inspired by the fervor people have to call for changes that can affect our future.

Thank you for taking the time to read my play.

Sincerely,

Azizah Rowen

10/22/08

A blast of LOVE

The LOVE benefit was amazing. Sasha and Vicki of WET did an incredible job, and I was honored to be a host of the evening. 

LOVE 2009

I'm excited to be a host this year for WET's annual benefit, LOVE. LOVE is a one night only benefit performance of short plays by some of the hottest women writers performed by celebrated actors, and followed by an incredible gala. The performance is featuring Debra Messing, Olympia Dukakis, Alysia Reiner, Melissa Joan Hart, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Ricki Lake and Gretchen Mol to name a few and will be on Monday February 9, 2009 in the Lower East Side.

A New Year

It's sunny and beautiful and I'm sitting in my best friends gorgeous carrera marble and subway tiled kitchen in Bel air. After a perfect Christmas in the desert with my family, a glorious new years spent in Napa  and San Francisco (essentially my first home), and another incredible week in LA of sunshine, hikes, sushi, best friends, chopped salads, driving around singing Beyonces "put a ring on it" on full blast with the windows down, bay cities deli, and comfortable movie theaters-a part of my heart dully aches as I think about what I am leaving today, and how much of me will always be  a California girl. The mere thought of knowing my parents and brother are only two hours away, and when I wake up tomorrow morning they will be across the country -makes me slightly devastated.

But here is the exciting part-tomorrow morning I will also wake up and be in the happiest place on planet earth, New York City. I'm dying for it. I miss the bustling energy and pulse, and feeling vibrant. I have a million things to do and see and accomplish-and this is truly the first time I can ever remember saying "happy new year" at midnight-and actually being excited about my year ahead. This was the most incredible feeling I have ever had.

Of course I spent a lot of time in CA-especially driving up and down the 5- doing my same old monologue, specifically to poor Craig who is so sick of hearing it. It goes something like this:

"where are we going to live? when should you knock me up? is having a family in New York crazy? Should we move back to LA?! Wait-on second thought-should we move to Marin? Never mind, we all did drugs in high school there. Our kids could be totally fucked up. But it's so pretty! And the schools! And Sonoma, and Tahoe, and it's way more normal there than LA, right? But.. I want to act! And write and produce! And NY is the place for that! NY is the only place I could have it all! Oh God I'm so confused. Hello?! Why aren't you listening to me?!"

So New Years resolution one is to stop freaking out of course. As I've written about before-I am riddled with worry so this is something I would really like to face in 2009. I'm ready to confront the ugly side of me this year, and we all know we have one. Craig is currently reading some amazing self help book and decided to share with me the six basic fears. Do you know them? I didn't. It's fascinating. They are: fear of criticism, fear of death, fear of losing a loved one, fear of aging, fear of ill health, fear of poverty. I sat still for a moment, after he read that to me, silently panicking and realizing I have almost every one of those. (Not so much on the poverty thing-although this economic crisis has definitely been a nightmare. And aging? Never really thought about it. But certainly after it came to my attention, I am now petrified). 

09 is the year of change and facing my fear!

I was having dinner the other night, and my girlfriend and I started talking about people always want more. This directly applies to me. I want a bigger apartment, I want to go live in Italy for two months, I want to be working more, and so on. Some of the people I know who seemingly have it all, want a better relationship with their partner, or children, or a bigger house, or more money, or a better body. God, it never ends. As we sat and discussed this phenomena, she dared to ask the question of what happiness is exactly, and why do we always want more? Because once we get it, it's something else. 

I guess the fact that human beings continue to hope and dream is what makes us feel alive. (Which is why I loved loved loved Revolutionary Road and although this year I've seen some of the best movies EVER, think so far, this is my favorite- If you haven't seen it-go! It's brilliant. Not to mention it should be a play. Hmm.) I think this is why I love NY so much and feel so excited to go back. I feel eternally hopeful,  like my dreams are becoming reality and anything is possible! I need to continue to focus on that, and while desire for more is absolutely healthy, also be grateful for all that is already in front of me.

On that happy note, I get back to start rehearsals on the first play I wrote, Rise and Shine.Performances are in Feb, more on that soon.

2009. The year of change, hope and victory!