Tara Lately

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON:

*NEW HEAD SHOTS. This is one of the two that I will be using. Thank you Peter Nilsen and American Apparel!

*Spent a beautiful four days at Roy Carpenters Beach in Rhode Island with wonderful friends from last summer at the Mac-Haydn after a week of graduation events and moving out of my Montclair apartment. It was so refreshing!

*Moved back home to Middlesex, NJ and am loving catching up with Momma and Poppa Tag. I'm starting to go for long runs around my town and am using this time at home to weigh different prospects for future plans. I also am addicted to Mad Men again and am reading The Organized Actor by Leslie Becker, which also serves as an awesome planner and audition log (totally recommend it).

*Ventured to Phile to audition for the Walnut Street Theatre and made it to the final callbacks for an acting apprenticeship for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. It was cool to explore a new city and theatre scene for me and I am glad I opened myself up to this opportunity.

*My website is going to bare some changes within the next few months. Clay Miz: The Senior MT Farewell Cabaret clips will be going up as well as a reel of highlights of my Montclair State University Career plus more. For the mean time, here are links to the my featured numbers:

"Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" from HAIRSPRAY

"I Don't Need Anything But You" from ANNIE

*Michael Luongo, my former roommate, and I rewrote this full of inside jokes, campiness, and stolen choreography from our four years at Montclair. I think it only makes sense to Montclair family and friends, but please enjoy anyways!

"Get Happy / Happy Days"

*Some more random performance videos:

"One Hundred Easy Ways" from WONDERFUL TOWN

*2008 Coffee House Performance at the Mac-Haydn

Tara Tagliaferro as Estelle in The Full Monty- Woman's World

*I'm the one wearing the purple outfit and dancing out of control and who pees in the urinal if you are wondering which one I am. I think that makes it easy!

*Also check out this promotional montage for the Montclair State University College of the Arts Musical Theatre Program:

MSU Musical Theatre on Youtube

Upcoming: Trip to the Mac-Haydn Theatre to visit loves and see Annie Get Your Gun, Official Summer Plans Underway...

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Happy Graduate

Farewell Montclair

GRADUATION IS TODAY.

Last night, I climbed to the top of Memorial Auditorium- one of our theatres on campus- for one of the most splendid views of Montclair State, North Jersey, and best of all, the glimmering New York City skyline. I did this the end of my first semester freshman year and remember my now roommate Michael and I holding hands staring at the campus regional Alexander Kasser Theatre and giddy with excitement that we would be making our Montclair State debut on that marvelous stage in Cabaret. Little did we know the amazing ride in store for us over the next seven semesters. It is so crazy to think about.

Our Theatre and Dance Department Gala last week was an absolute blast. I fished out my senior year prom dress from my closet at home and danced the night away with my best friends. I won "Favorite MT Senior" tied with the beautiful Shannon Connolly as part of our end of the year Tony awards! The whole night went by so fast- I wish I could do it all again!

Clay Miz: The MT Senior Farwell Cabaret was a huge success- we packed the house with family and friends and succeeded in making our program director Clay James sob! We are his first class at Montclair State that he selected for the school to graduate. The night was full of so much love, support, and laughter- it was such a celebration of the individuals and performers we have become. I sang "Mamma I'm a Big Girl Now" from Hairspray with Shannon and Nadia, "I Don't Need Anything But You" from Annie with my roommate Michael (we use to full belt this song all the time in car rides or just randomly around the apartment in perfect harmony, so we decided to rewrite it and actually stage it- hilarious), and "Get Happy/ Happy Days Are Here Again" with Alexandra Giorgio sitting side by side like our idols Judy and Barbara. We used arrangements of "On My Way" from Violet as our opening/closing, which was absolutely perfect. It was a night I will always cherish. I thank everyone who attended!

Well, I'm on my way. Gotta go put my cap and gown on- what????

Other News: I've spent the entire week in the city for auditions and final callbacks of four different national tours, took an amazing class with Eric Woodall, casting director for Tara Rubin Casting at Actors Connection, saw my first ever live cockroach in Penn Station and screamed, and had a water balloon thrown at the final shuttle I rode on coming back from campus to my apartment. It has been one hell of a week, but one of the most exciting in my life. Next week, I will be going to Great Adventure and Atlantic City as a part of Senior Week, attending a dinner/dance cruise on the weekend, and then heading out to Rhode Island with best friends from last summer at the Mac-Haydn for beach bliss. I couldn't be happier.

Clay Miz: The Senior MT Farewell Cabaret

Say Goodbye to the Freak Show...

CLAY MIZ: THE SENIOR MT FAREWELL CABARET

DIRECTED BY THE SENIOR MTS AND WHO ELSE, BUT MR. CLAY JAMES

WHERE: FOX STUDIO THEATRE

WHEN: FRIDAY MAY 7TH AT 7:30

WHAT: FULL BELTING, BATTEMENTS, RIFFING- YOU NAME IT.

STARRING: Aaron Catano, Alexandra Giorgio, Angelo Palma, Ashley Picciallo, Ashley Tobias, Brittany Silver, Charlotte Tucci, Kelly Karcher, Kelsey Thompson, Madison Huock, Michael Luongo, Nadia Vynnytsky, Rachel Camp, Shannon Connolly, and Tara Tagliaferro

AN EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED.

May Update

May is officially here! I spent most of April in New York City busy with auditions and workshops/seminars with Actors Connection (since I enjoyed showcase so much) and The Network. I took a terrific theatre intensive with Camille Hickman, the associate casting director for Lincoln Center Theatre, working on a scene from Saturn Returns and as a reader for the other actors. In my showcase class, we were lucky to have casting directors Brette Goldstein and Paul Russell (also author of one of my most favorite actor self-marketing books Acting: Make It Your Business) travel out to Montclair to provide valuable information we can apply to our audition/interview skills along with their perspectives on the business. I also was accepted into the American Conservatory Theatre Summer Training Congress, which was another exciting surprise!

I opened this sunny month with a workshop entitled Empowerment Weekend for Actors, hosted at Playwright Horizons and lead by their casting director Alaine Alldaffer and William Esper Studio acting teacher Deb Jackel. I wish I could kick start every month on such an uplifting note. Day 1 consisted of discussions on spiritual and psychological approaches to auditioning, centering yoga and meditation practice, and visualizing successful performances in exercises. On Day 2, I performed a mock audition of a scene from Indoor/Outdoor and observed the other actors' auditions. I truly hit some new heights in this workshop by letting down guards and am in the process of adapting a more positive mentality for auditions. It was exactly what the doctor ordered and I am very grateful to have been invited to participate in something geared at an actors healthy survival in the business.

Even though I'm graduating in a few short weeks, I know my education is just going to get richer and fuller out in the real world. Its comforting to know that there are all these actors out there who encounter the same basket of emotions as I do that sometimes beat me up. But the best is that there are also people, like Alaine and Deb, who want to build us back up and care so deeply about actors. That is what I love most. Alaine starts all her workshops with this exercise entitled "attitude/gratitude," which is a sweet way for people to introduce themselves and share with everyone what they are most grateful for. I truly am grateful for an unknown future and all its twists and turns and the fact that my day could be shared so comfortably with previous strangers at a workshop and concluded with my parents and I walking hand in hand around the gorgeous neighborhoods of Montclair celebrating their anniversary. So much can be felt and happen in one day-its incredible.

The senior class little cabaret that could is officially happening on May 7th in the Fox Studio at 7:30! I begin to cry in rehearsals when we are all singing together- I'm so happy we are doing this- it wouldn't feel right to go out any other way.

Upcoming Events: Theatre and Dance Department Gala, Clay Miz: The Senior MT Farewell Cabaret, May 15th Graduation, Senior Week at School, Rhode Island Shore Trip, and Phile Trip to audition for the Walnut Street Theatre. Official summer plans coming soon!