Last week Elizabeth Sung was slated to guest star on Mike and Molly however the episode was postponed till this evening. Now you can watch Elizabeth this evening on CBS at 9:30 pm! So tune it!

ACTS Member Elizabeth Sung will guest star this coming Monday, November 5th on CBS’s Mike and Molly at 9:30 pm. The title of the episode is “Yard Sale”. Elizabeth is a superb stage and screen actress whose resume includes roles in films such as the JOY LUCK CLUB as well as television guest starring roles too many to mention.

Marilyn Tokuda recently returned from Hawaii where she was invited along with CBS executives VP Entertainment Diversity and Communication Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i and VP of Casting Fern Orenstein to participate in a series of panels and auditions. In order to expand job opportunities to Hawaii’s diverse community, SAG-AFTRA partnered with CBS to introduce executives to the acting community and to provide access to key decision makers. The series of events included a SAG-AFTRA mixer, panel discussion at University of Hawaii and two sessions of auditions which were intended to introduce new talent to Hawaii Five-O Casting Director Rachel Sutton as well as CBS executives, Tiffany Anoa’i and Fern Orenstein. It was was an eye opening experience for us all; the acting community was appreciative that a major network would care enough to come to Hawaii to educate and meet with them as their general feeling was and is) that they feel shut off from the industry. I was happy to see numerous API’s at the audition and hope they will make their way onto the set of Hawaii Five-O.

ACTS member Elizabeth Sung just finished working on John Sayles (Amigo, Casa de los Babys, City of Hope, Lone Star) upcoming film “GO FOR SISTERS”.  Another young AP talent, Thai Phuong was also in the film along wth LisaGay Hamilton, Yolonda Ross and Edwards James Olmos.

Bravo to Roy Vongtama whose first directorial project, CROWS, just had it’s world premiere at Dances With Film. It was one of 50 films to get selected out of 1,400 entries. His first feature film which he produced and acted in, REACH, has almost completed post production.

On March 27, East West Players in partnership with CAPE and Visual Communications held an orientation for those interested in ABC Talent Development Programs. Frank Bennett Gonzalez who serves as director, talent development & diversity for The Disney/ABC Television Group moderated the panel which consisted of Frank’s colleague Ollie Ashtari-Larki, former ABC writing fellow Milton Liu and current ABC writing fellows Eric Haywood and Aaron Serna. “We’re all in this together. Our goal is to make sure the industry represents us all in a realistic, positive light, ” said Ollie Ashtari-Larki. ABC has had a longtime history of nurturing writers of color. It’s writing program is a highly respected and coveted program. A wide variety of topics were discussed including: the ABC writing program, pilot season, and breaking into network television. Q & A allowed audience members to ask questions and panel members gave very honest and direct answers which included the competitiveness of the program, the highs and lows, the importance of networking and the absolute benefit of having hands on experience and access to people who may be their future employer. It was an invaluable evening for all! Thanks to Frank Gonzalez and Ollie Ashtari-Larki for their continuing support and outreach.

Longtime EWP Actors Conservatory teacher and mentor Leslie Ishii has begun her internship at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). “OSF is huge!  What a huge machine and incredible to see the inner workings and level of production and work.  Gives me great food for thought regarding training for our students,” said Leslie in a recent email. Some of you may remember that Leslie’s directorial debut of CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley on EWP’s mainstage last year won favorable reviews and was very well received. We look forward to having Leslie return to our conservatory in the Fall where she will be teaching Beginning Voice & Speech class. Leslie is a certified Katherine Fitzmaurice instructor.

On March 20 & 27 CBS conducted an industry workshop for members of both East West Players ACTS members and CAPE members. 14 lucky actors were selected to enroll in this 2 day workshop which included discussions surrounding headshots/resumes, monologue work, auditions, and self promotion. The first week VP Diversity & Communications head Tiffany Smith Anoa’i spoke about the importance of being the CEO of your own career and emphasized the role social media plays and how significant your presence is whether it be fb, twitter and ofcourse having your own website. “Having a website let’s people know your career is not just a hobby. These days it’s not enough to just audition, you have to do everything you can to be visible,” she said. VP of Casting Fern Orenstein provided feedback on headshots and explained what “giving a performance” was when having a photo session. She showed several examples of actors and pointed out what worked and what didn’t work. At the end of the first workshop, actors were given scenes and asked to bring them back the following week, memorized. Week two focussed on those scenes followed by feedback by both Fern, Tiffany and EWP Arts Education Director Marilyn Tokuda and Executive Director of CAPE, Jennifer Sanderson. Lastly actors were given the opportunity to perform another monologue (they did one the week before but were given the limitation of presenting a one minute monologue the second week). It was a great opportunity to listen and learn from professionals who do this day in and day out. Thanks to CBS and Tiffany and Fern for their time, talent and passion!

Welcome new ACTS Members: Emerson, Alan and Emily Miles, Jasmin Currey, Justin Jung, John Chang, Tam Duong, Peter Quon, Stefanie C, Christina Jun, Robert Lee, Jen Uyen, Jude Narita and Reesa Ishiyama!

Please welcome new ACTS members:  Cynthia Fujikawa, Kaito Shiode, Dinh Luu, Joy Regullano, Jason Chin and Preston Li!  Welcome also renewing members Jeff Manabat, Wai Ying Tsang, Derek Lui, Rich Liu, Aaron Aoki and Esperanza Catubig.