Updates Du Jour
You’re probably asking yourselves “Where have you been, Todd darling?!”
I’ve been working. Here. And here. And also here.
But I also just closed a show. And not just any show darlings…
I just finished my first year in The Soap Factory‘s annual Haunted Basement. Having been a long time fan of the annual horror house / installation / performance art piece, I was thrilled as heck to be cast in this show, which was the 10th Anniversary of this august Twin Cities tradition (though it did cause me to get me un-cast from another show as the director couldn’t deal with the commitment; which, on a side note I wanted to say, “Do you not know who I am? I’m Todd O’Dowd, bitch! My scheduling abilities are on mother-fucking point! But I digress, because I was in the better show…). It was one of the most exhausting, yet wonderful experiences of my professional acting life. The best way to describe it would be if in a Renaissance Festival, but with more intestines. Or American Horror Story sans Ryan Murphy and with better acting.
(Side Bar: Can we talk about how actually good AHS was this season? Holy fucking heck! The fact that it went meta as hell actually helped the story. Again, I digress…)
Point is, it was wonderful, I made some wonderful friends (who also happen to be brilliant performance colleagues as well as slightly off in the good way) and had the best of times. Many thanks to our lovely director Christopher Barton, and our wonderful production manager Sarah Salisbury (one of my dear friends) for holding us together. And special shoutout to the brilliant Craig Kossen and his makeup team and our costume designer Rhiannon Fiskradatz. Every day I would go into hair and makeup and they would make me beautiful. Yes I have a loose term of “beautiful” but still… I miss all of my various roles; insect stripper and eventual madame BylksiojfdBblkjsodifjsd (“You may call me BB as to say my name correctly, you have to cut your tongue in half, roll it up, and swallow it.”), the wide-eyed, innocent, and very pink Marjorie (“I’m an esthetician, beautician, cosmetologist, and stylist.”), the Mysterious Man in Purple (shoutout to the amazing Angela of our makeup team who knocked this one out of the park – look at those cuts on me; that’s all two dimensional), and of course the imperious internet sensation that was Mother Superior.
Bookmark.
Two last things about the basement: 1) While I was not there when Carrie Underwood came through, I was there when Kevin R. Free of Welcome to Night Vale came through. Not only was he a great patron, but he was an absolutely lovely human. And so, we honored him on our closing night in our inimitable way…
2) If you missed it this year, have no fear. On the last night, as a farewell to the Basement, three of the most memorable characters of the basement, the murderously funny Unky Cokey, the demented style fairy ROZ, and Mother Superior (featuring the brilliant Liam Lavandowska and Becci O’Kane as well as me)…
And then came the election…
If you know me, you know that I wasn’t particularly … excited … by the outcome, but the best thing to happen was finding this sign all over the Twin Cities…
This past weekend was Thanksgiving; which meant multiple dinners, a demented game of Cards Against Humanity, and the long-awaited return to the Twin Cities of writer and fahionista (and wonderful friend) Ms. Joan Erakit (whose own recent catch-up post has inspired this post, thank you very much). It was a fabulous weekend of dinners (including a delicious – and politically freewheeling – dinner at The Bachelor Farmer with a brace of fabulous people), dancing (at Honey and Jetset of course), and more. So very needed!
The fabulous Ms. Erakit (left) with her fabulous vlogger sister Peace Odima and her cousin. Pay no attention to the white boy ruining the photo. 🙂 (Photo Credit: Joan Erakit)
So, what is next, you may ask yourself? Well I can tell you a few things:
- I’m ending the year with one last show reuniting with two (well 2.5 friends).
- I have already booked my first show of 2017! I’m going to play exactly what it is close to the chest right now but I will give you two hints: It’s at a theatre I haven’t worked at yet, with a director that I haven’t worked with yet (but who I absolutely adore for their work in another field).
And so, I have one thing to say…
Onwards!
TO’
Todd O'Dowd 