So when my course told me that I was performing my last show over Zoom, the last thing I expected was to be signed, and on top of that receive an award from Equity. Pretty cool to be honest.

So if you don't know, I studied Acting at University, and our final show normally consists of a tour across the UK, where agents are invited and we all experience what it's like to be a touring actor on a bigger scale. However, Miss Rona was not having any of it, and the tour was completely cancelled, and moved to Zoom. I initially felt like I'd missed out, previous alumni spoke highly of their experiences but like any good redemption arc, we made it work. I ended up genuinely happy with the production in the conditions we were given, and we received recognition from the BBC, Equity and agents across the UK.

Love and Information by Caryl Churchill is a play of snapshots of lots of different lives, themed around the title of the play in different ways. What makes this play interactive is that you have the freedom to reorder the scenes, and create whatever characters you like for the different scenes as you're only given the dialogue. What I found myself thinking a lot towards the end of this process, was that this play is one of the best suited for a Zoom production because of its flexibility. we were able to make it centre around video call interactions whilst also using green screens to contrast that too. I should be able to edit this post in about a week to let you know what I got for my final grade for University, but if it's anything like my grade for this performance, I should do well. Fingers Crossed!

Now, I'm signed with Inclusive Talent, and getting myself ready to record auditions from home, and prepare material that's ready to workshop as soon as conditions are lifted. Yes, lock-down feels like a dampener on creative outlets, but its given a lot of actors right now a unique tool belt of online related skills. I can set up my own green screen and lighting, and hopefully this improvement starts to show in my self tapes. Speaking of self tapes, I was thinking of starting a Facebook group for practising self tapes, for people that want to just have an excuse to record them. I've been a part of groups like that before that are now inactive, and they really helped me then. If you're interested, email me at chloe.e.cusack@gmail.com and I'll invite you once there's enough interest!

Once the article from Equity goes out about my certificate, I'll come back and edit that in. 

For this articles sign off link, I thought I'd drop the donation link for The Samaritans. Samaritans have helped me countless times through some really rough moments of my life, and I am so thankful for most of the callers I've spoken to through them. If things are tough for you mentally and you just need someone to talk to and you're from the UK, call 116 123.