A Huge Life Changing Gig

Two posts in one day! What happened to Shelly Hacco? Here's what happened. Shelly Hacco is gone; she's dead. Who's this in her place? Shelly Hacco SNELLMAN. Yup. I got some fool to marry me. What a sucker. :)

So this post is totally unrelated to anything "industry-wise" but if I can't post about my own wedding on my own blog then... I don't know what but yeah. I hope this explains my silent year up until now. Planning a wedding is HARD! Believe the hype. I don't THINK I bridezilla'ed on my friends, family, and/or fiance, but I suppose I should let them verify that. It was all worth it though because I had the wedding of my dreams and now I have a hubby of my very own.

Honestly, the biggest stress factor gnawing on me toward the end was the processional dance down the aisle. Being performers, Jason and I had to do something special for the ceremony, and we knew it had to involve Michael Jackson. I'm a huge fan to the king but I'm nothing in comparison to my husband. To Jason, Michael is everything that is right in the world. To me, Jason's pure love is everything that's right in the world. We talked about "The Dance" for a year but it was so hard getting everyone together to practice. With most of the party living out of state, we had to resort to video tutorials. Anna Safar, one of my bridesmaids and my brilliant choreographer, was so patient, so flexible, and so understanding of the fact that this was SO IMPORTANT. In the end though, our band of wacky friends pulled it off and I am forever thankful. See below!



The rest of the wedding went something like this! Thank you Light Up Video for your superb moment capturing skillz.

It's my weekend and I'll break the set if I want to...

I think I pulled it off. This past weekend, I went up for the lead role (Chloe) in "The Idiot Box." Except for the part when I almost broke the set, everything went off without a hitch. Here's the thing, at the end of act one, my character is supposed to knock down walls... I guess I did that a little too realistically though, at least in the eyes of the producer. Guys! What can I say, breaking shit is my game and I'm good at it so...

Here's some on stage IN THE MOMENT shots for your hungry eyes.

With AJ Smithey as OMAR

With AJ Smithey as OMAR

With AJ Smithey as OMAR and AJ Brody as RAYMONA

Really interesting action shots huh?! Anyway, I'll be back as Veronica Beecham this weekend and the following. Then we close and I will be switching gears to a whole new form of entertainment:

BURLESQUE. 

..................................................................................................................

...Did it work? Are you on the edge of your seat? What is this about Shelly doing burlesque, you ask? Until next time...

...ellipsis....

"The Idiot Box" Opens Tonight

So, there's been some changes to my involvement in "The Idiot Box" since my last post. First, I was going to understudy two of the roles in the show, then that changed to just one of the roles, then that changed to completely taking over a whole other role, as well as still understudying the other. The last change took place this past Monday, which meant I had four days (during TECH week) to learn a whole new role (and an accent). The new role is the guest star Veronica Beecham, an Australian dog shusherer. I will be playing Veronica four of the five weekend runs, and Chloe for one big weekend (June 12, 13, 14th).

Also, we open tonight! It's been a roller coaster but (I think) we're ready. One thing I keep reminding myself is TO NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF OPENING NIGHT MAGIC.

Hey look! I'm a genuine Aussie! And not on the nose in the least bit!

New Rep, New Play!

Amazing news! I have a new commercial agent! Lynn Eriks at Howard Talent West will now be representing me for commercials and print. I'm really excited to work with Lynn because she's a self-proclaimed Jewish mom and that makes me feel right at home. (Ema, don't be jelly!) I hope to be posting super awesome news about national bookings and all that kinda jazz in the near future. "Watch out internet, my fro will soon be taking over" says the perhaps overly confident newly represented me.





ALSO, I've been cast to understudy two lead roles in Theatre 68's newest production, "The Idiot Box", written by Michael Elyanow. This play is basically a dark satire that gives the middle finger to the generic television sitcom. Since this show is loosely based on "Friends," I will be playing both the Monica and Rachel characters on various nights. The show will run May 29th to June 29th. Although I'm not yet sure of my performance dates, I know that I'll have at least 3-4 cracks at it. You'll probably have to come more than once because obviously you'll want to see me embody both leading ladies.

I know, you're wondering if I can pull this off, right? ... here's the thing... so am I.

From last Friday's read through! Pictured left to right. Erin Poland as Fiona, Carlos Castillo as Harvey, Carrie Stauber as Veronica, Julie Dolan as Chloe, Jordan Wall as Mark, Grey Rodriguez as Connor, and Shelly Hacco as Stephanie.

I Graduated... UCB Improv 101!

Friends. I've been on a wild journey, a journey to strange lands and funny accents. It took me 8 whole weeks, but I did it, I completed my first UCB improv course.

Marcy's class! We graduated!

A huge fan of the Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Central show and Sundays' widely popular ASSSSCAT shows, UCB has been a part of my life since high school (which was longer ago than you might think). Memories of college dorm room life are heavily sprinkled with UCB comedy, as my roommate Talia and I would fall asleep every night to our worn season one DVD (played from her laptop computer of course). Obviously, most of our conversations included bit clips from the show; quotes like "You shut your zsezse mouth" and "Don't sit on me!" always found their way into our day-to-day dialogue. To this day, I can't eat sushi without incorporating into the meal spontaneous outbursts of "I LOVE SUSHI!"

When the opportunity to see my four favorite comedians doing live improv every Sunday FOR FREE arose, you bet I was there sitting first row every chance I got. Sure, the lines for ASSSSCAT got pretty rough but that was a small price to pay to see Matt, Matt, Ian, and (occasionally) Amy do their thing mere feet away from my eyeballs. They don't perform ASSSSCAT on the regular anymore (cause they're all pretty big now) so I feel really fortunate to have seen them in those days. Yes, I said it. I saw them before you soooo... I'm cool and stuff.

So why didn't I immediately sign up for their improv classes? I have no idea. Fear of not being quick enough, smart enough, funny enough... yeah probably. Anyway, after seeing a majority of commercial auditions morph from scripted material to improv, I decided to stop avoiding the unavoidable, it was time... to stop thinking. "Don't think," UCB's motto is exactly what I did that fateful moment when I closed my eyes and charged $400 to my credit card... Of course, the expense hurt at the time but the experience was worth every penny. Marcy, our teacher was hilarious (and informative), the other students were fun to play with, and I became inspired to see shows other than ASSSSCAT.

We had our class graduation show yesterday afternoon. The house was surprisingly huge and was filled with hearty laughter (gotta love supportive friends!) Honestly, I don't even know what I did up there for 20 minutes; it's all a giant blur. Was it actually funny? Who knows. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I'm on track! I plan on going all the way with this, 201, 301, etc. I'll even try my hand at the sketch classes. Guys listen. I'm really excited about this.

Billy Van Zandt's "Drop Dead!" at Noho Arts Center

I don't have any witty comments regarding my silence during my latest endeavor "Drop Dead!" (which closed a month ago). I guess you can call me a big fat lazy turd. I'm okay with that. The truth is I was just having too much fun playing porn star Candy Apples in Billy Van Zandt's murder mystery farce. Billy wrote and directed this comedy at the Noho Arts Center. The cast included ME, Mews Small (the original Frenchie in Broadway's Grease!), Bill Doherty Jr, Barry Brisco, Timmy Alonzo, Claudine Claudio, Cy Creamer, Mark Vasquez, Grey Rodriguez, and Eddie Liu.

YES, playing the slow-witted bubble-popping sex vixen Candy Apples, I got to strip down to a playful little number every night and wiggle my behind for the adoring crowds. Ahh the life of an entertainer. My favorite review of course was:

"Shelly Hacco plays gum-chewing former porn star Candy Apples who takes on the role of Penelope in DROP DEAD!..  Penelope appears in sexy black lingerie through most of the show, adding even more appeal to every farcical situation that comes her way. And Hacco wears it well." - Broadway World

Just fooling! We got a nice amount of praise from reviewers and audience members alike. We're proud. Here's some to read if you'd like:

All About the Stage
Life in LA

My favorite part of this show was working with Billy. He is a master at comedy and taking his directions was like being an apprentice to a world renowned wizard. Thanks for the opportunity Billy!

Me with writer/director Billy Van Zandt! 

Picture time!

Shelly Hacco as Candy Apples. Barry Brisco as Piggy banks.

Cy creamer as Victor Le Pewe. Bill Doherty Jr. as Brent Reynolds. News Small as Constance Crawford.

Cast from left to right: Bill Doherty Jr. Cy Creamer, Timmy Alonzo, Claudine Claudio, Mark Vasquez, Barry Brisco, Eddie Liu, Mews Small, Shelly Hacco, Grey Rodriguez

Eddie Liu as Chaz Looney. Shelly Hacco as Candy Apples. Bill Doherty Jr. as Brent Reynolds.

 

"Abstraction" at McGroarty Art Center

Just now, I noticed that yesterday's page view count shot up from 0 to a whopping 18 views (from people in France, no less). I realize that this is pretty pathetic but being a person that usually has an audience of 0, I just want to say "Thanks France! I hope I didn't disappoint you. Consider this post dedicated to you!"

Sooo... what can I tell you about... I performed in a fundraiser last week for the McGroarty Arts Center (as a part of their "Arts at Play Festival"). We put on a fun sketch comedy show called "Abstraction" which was meant to poke fun at abstract art (you know... cause it's so dumb and all). Here's the recap:

It was written by Ryan Paul James and directed by Crystal Craft. It starred ME, Ronnie Marmo, Julianna Bolles-Morrison, Tanya Wilkins, Izzy Diaz, and Joe Dalo. Much to my surprise, it was extremely well-received and will probably resurface as a full length play at the Pacific Palisades Theatre in the summer. WOAH.

Cyrtal Craft and Ryan Paul James with a questionable piece.

The cast!

Backstage with Julianna, Tanya, and ME!

Backstage with the handsome Ronnie Marmo (he made me say that)

Backstage with Joe Dalo