James C. Stewart

I had a blast working with August Broussard and his team again for the 48 Hour Film Project Horror Edition. Our selected genre was demonic possession, so I ended up playing a demon called Bizzlepub, who was reluctantly summoned by a group of teenagers, and gets a little bit sassy with them. Due to some issues on the editing day, the film did not get submitted in time to qualify for the awards, but it was still a lot of fun summoning up this character!

In September I began the Improv 500 classes with Unexpected Productions. 7 of the 16 in the class had also been in my 400 class, AND 2 of them have been with me since 100! I did 400 classes from July to September, but I missed the class showcase because that week I tested positive for Covid for the first time. This class gelled together very quickly. After all the initial getting to know each other exercises and games, we started working on the Harold - Unexpected Productions long-form improv game of choice. One that I initially found very daunting, but thanks to our great teacher Tony Beeman, and my fun classmates, I was enjoying it by our last class. Was still crapping my pants as we got ready for our class showcase, where the audience gave us the word 'Lovely', then ended up having a lot of fun!

October 2023

Writer/Director August Broussard reached out asking if I would be available to do a role in a short film he had written to submit for film school applications. In The Lost And Found was a powerful short about a teen boy coming to terms with his own father taking the life of the boy's best friend/partner in a hate crime. I played the father of the dead boy. While doing this film, August also asked me to be a part of his 48 Hour Film Project Team again for the Horror Edition, so I happily accepted the chance to work with him again.

September 2023

When Mighty Tripod Acting Studio offered a workshop dedicated to Fighting on Film with Stuntman and Fight Choreographer Ryan Spickard, I signed up straight away. It was so great to get hands on experience with the best way to punch someone on camera, so that it looks like you are a total badass! It's all about the perspective, and learning just where you both need to be (puncher and punchee) to make the hit read onscreen was invaluable information. We worked on the best ways to both throw a punch, and take a punch. It all culminated in a little two person scenario for each of us, with one as the captor (who escapes their bonds) and one as the captive. The classic hero/villain battle ensued. Lots of fun!

Seven months ago, on a rainy day in March in Volunteer Park, I filmed my first scene for the short film Guinevere's Tower by Bri Smalley (shown here in the photo with me, dressed in her costume to play the title character of Guinevere). In the first weekend of October, I filmed my last scene for the character of Nofri. It was also his biggest scene, and final major scene in the film. It was nice to be able to film this at the end of the shoot, as Nofri had probably developed slightly since the start of filming, so it was great to have time to build up to that scene. I had an amazing time with the cast and crew, shooting scenes in Volunteer and River Meadows Parks, as well as on the University of Washington campus. Also had fun at the set location built by David L. Anderson on their property in Granite Falls. They have built the below Shadowood Tavern, along with other period style set pieces, specifically so they can be used for film shoot locations. We used a corner of the tavern to portray Nofri's little alchemy lab. Now the film goes into an extensive period of post-production, and I look forward to seeing the final cut sometime early next year!

I had forgotten when I entered my short film I'm Okay... into the Close: Up San Francisco Short Film Festival, that the entry fee included a review of my film. I had entered over a year ago, and forgot about it after my film was not selected for the festival. Then suddenly just before the end of July this lovely review showed up in my inbox. I absolutely agree with their final statements, because I had never initially intended it to be for film festival viewing, so am the first to admit the film quality was low, but that was also part of the point for me. I wanted it to be a simple story, that didn't provide the meaning of life. It was a fun escape for me, and I made it to simply entertain the audience in the few minutes that it ran, so that everyone could have as much fun as possible during that time. And I am SO happy their review seems to indicate that was the case!

July/August 2023

When David at Mighty Tripod Acting Studio sent out a notification that they were holding a workshop with Paul Weber, the casting director for such tv series as Spartacus (shot in my homeland!), Stargate, and The Outer Limits, I didn't hesitate in booking myself a spot! We all learned so much about the nature of the business in general, and the nature of the business in L.A. on that day. Not to mention some of the amazing behind the scenes stories we got to hear, from someone who has been in the casting business for many years, who came into it as an actor in the beginning, like many of us. 

August 2023

One of my improv classmates, Angel, asked if I wanted to perform in the Duos Comedy Showcase with her. Every Wednesday night at the Market Theater, Unexpected Productions hosts Seattle's only improv open mic. Each show features multiple two-person teams creating spontaneous scenes on the fly. I had thought it would be great to play a game that has lots of opportunities for physical action, so we decided to play the game called Animal People, where we each get the offer of an animal from the audience, and then imbue our characters with those animal's characteristics. Angel was given frog from the audience, and I was given stick bug/insect, then our location was at the rodeo, so I ended up playing with my legs very stiff and straight most of the time, so I couldn't bend them, and had to leap into things when getting dressed, as you can see below. I leapt around like a crazy man for a lot of the scene, needless to say. We both had a great time for our first try at Duos! 

For this summer's 48 Hour Film Project, some of the team behind the StartUp: Palmieri Tech web series decided to put together a team, and so team A Cut Above was born! We were given doppelgänger as our genre. We also needed the line "Calm down. There's enough for everyone" to be in the film somewhere, so I suggested since I'm the little guy, it may be amusing to have me saying that, which is what we went with. I ended up playing the womanizing best friend of the lead. Totally type cast, I know, haha! Many on the team had never experienced the madness of the 48 Hour before, and while we didn't get the film in within the required timeframe in the end, it was a lot of fun!

Not wanting to stop the momentum already started, I signed up for the Improv 300 classes at Unexpected Productions while I was finishing my 200 classes. This time six of my 200 classmates also joined the class, and all seven of us had also done the 100 class together, so it was so great to all be going on this journey together. We were all starting to form a strong bond, which really made for some great improv scenes. The 300 class finished with a showcase performance at the Market Theater, which was an amazing and intense experience. My first time doing improv up onstage in front of a large audience in over 30 years! 

The wonderful casting director, acting coach, and (aptly dubbed) Patron Saint of Actors (PSoA) Nike Imoru decided to offer a monthly subscription based platform for actors for a limited time, called The Actor's Way. She wanted to see if there was enough interest in the community for an online platform, where she would hold a monthly Zoom Mastery Class on the last Thursday of each month, offering the opportunity for actors to audition with provided scenes, and receive coaching from her. Not only was there interest, but she quickly had 100 subscribers for the first limited round, and it has been amazing not only receiving the coaching, but learning from the coaching of others! She will also include one-off sessions on other topics, the first of which was on Casting Networks Profiles. All so beneficial!

I was cast in the role of Nofri in the fantasy film Guinevere's Tower by Bri Smalley in January. The film is shooting in weekends over the spring/summer/fall. For the tower in the title, they have obtained  a permit to film at the water tower in Volunteer Park, so we filmed our first scenes there at the start of March - in the freezing cold and rain. Nothing like those outdoor shoots in winter! I get to play two variations of my character: Godfather Nofri, as seen above in Volunteer Park, and Alchemist Nofri, as seen below in River Meadows Park in Arlington (our other shooting location). These photos are obviously from later/warmer shoot days.

January 2023

My voice is something I know I need to work on when it comes to performance work, so when Mighty Tripod Acting Studio offered their Empower Your Voice workshop with Meg McLynn, I jumped at the opportunity to work on that. It was so beneficial! Next up, I want to start taking singing lessons somewhere! It has been a long time since I did that.

January/February 2023