James C. Stewart

The short film In The Lost And Found  by August Broussard was chosen as an official selection for the TRANSLations Film Festival, and had its world premiere screening in that festival at the Ark Lodge Theater on June 8th. I attended along with the other lead actor Milo, and the writer/director August, who also introduced the film. I play the father of a boy who was killed in a hate crime. You can now view the film online as well at https://youtu.be/7N7l3rdM1yM.

May/June 2024

Continuing my streak of performing in Duos Comedy Showcase with Unexpected Productions at the Market Theater, when they announced they were looking specifically for improvisors from the LGBTQ+ community for their Pride Duos on June 5th, I jumped at the chance to participate. Allison chose a game I had not done onstage before -Pillars - involving us pointing to two selected audience members at the edge of the stage (our 'pillars'), and asking them for to complete our sentence. I want to do more Duos this year, so it was great being available to do them three weeks in a row!

May/June 2024

After auditioning and securing a place in The Loop improv ensemble with CSz Seattle, I got to perform my first ever improv show with CSz in their Other Theatre when we did Plays of our Lives: An Improvised Soap Opera as part of our ensemble tasks to produce and perform a show. I had a lot of fun getting to 'soap' it up and be wonderfully dramatic for a few shows. It was a great introduction to CSz Seattle, and included a few of my Unexpected Productions improv family in the ensemble as well!

May 2024

After a couple of months away from the Duos Comedy Showcase with Unexpected Productions at the Market Theater, I finally got back to performing in them a couple of times in May. First up, Faith and I played Pools of Light, which I had not done onstage before. We had an absolute blast running around the stage, as the lighting tech changed the placing of the lights for three different scenes onstage. The following week they opted to make it a Trios week, so I teamed up with Angelica and Ronak to do a Genre Rollercoaster, bouncing around a myriad of genres for a fun and crazy time!

In April I started the 700 Advanced Rehearsal and Performance class at Unexpected Productions, which is the highest level of improv class they offer. It involved three weeks of rehearsal of a long form improv show, with one of the Unexpected Productions ensemble members directing, followed by three weeks of performance at the Market Theater. We had the wonderful Tony Beeman direct us for this class, who opted to do the Lotus format for the show. Our group was made up of people from our 500 and 600 classes, so we were already a very tight group. All the Lotus performances were such a blast to do, especially the one below with Sonnet and Jack, which had three super fun characters and was such a lovely scene to be in! At the same time as doing the 700 class on Wednesdays, for three of the weeks on Thursdays at Unexpected Productions I also took a Mime and Physical Improv class with their mime master, and creator of their weekly Duos Comedy Showcase, the awesome Jay Hitt! It was a great class for helping to add more specificity to my physicality in my improv!

April 2024

Having been a part of the original Actor's Gyms in 2023 when David and Angela at Mighty Tripod first decided to start a semi-regular gym for people to bring in their own material to work on, or have material assigned that may be a challenge for them, I leapt at the chance to take part in another one this year in April. I did not have a specific audition or scene to work on for this gym, so I decided to work on an old monologue I had written a while ago, that I have thought for a long time about possibly turning into a short film. While the character in the monologue is fictional, there are factual elements I have brought into the story from my own life, so it is a very personal monologue, and I was a little nervous initially presenting it to the group. Everyone loved it though, and David and Angela are interested in helping me turn it into a short film sometime in 2025, so stay tuned!

When I auditioned for the short film Boyslut over Zoom, the writer/director Gabriel Gutierrez Morales offered me the lead role of Hector before the end of the audition call! This film was for his final senior thesis at Cornish College of the Arts. After reading the full script and realizing the very intimate nature of the story, I asked for a little time to consider, and to also consult my agent on their thoughts. I decided to take on the challenge, and I am so happy I did. This lead role was like none I had done before, in that he was a lead romantic interest, and the film involved very intimate sex scenes. So I got to experience my first intimacy coordination on a production, with several intimacy dedicated rehearsals before the shoot. These were hugely beneficial in making myself and the other cast member, the amazing and talented Elijah Carnazzo, completely comfortable with each other before we got to the set. I certainly did not think I would shoot my first ever sex scene in a film in my 50's! What a great experience!

April 2024

After growing a beard and being asked to keep it for several film shoots, I was now able to shave, and also decided it was a good time to get new headshots. I figured why not see if I can get new shots that feature me with the beard, and then in various states of shaving it down, until I am clean shaven again. The always wonderful David at Mighty Tripod Acting Studio also runs Seattle Actor Photos, and he very kindly agreed to book in a session that would allow me to shave throughout, while we snapped shots in the different stages. I think the results and range that I got below are fantastic! I am super happy with the variety of shots I have now for every type of role!

In March I filmed the role of Tom Thompson in the short film Owen Gets Lost by Micah Heemstra, for his senior thesis project for the Olympic College Film School. I had so much fun playing this eccentric character - an ex-game show host now camping in the middle of nowhere, trying to recruit contestants for a new game show! The audition for this character was an absolute blast, and Micah mentioned later that after seeing my self-tape he knew he had found his Tom Thompson! It's always lovely to hear that feedback!

I signed up for my third Duos Comedy Showcase with Unexpected Productions at the Market Theater in March, to do the Old Dogs/New Tricks theme night - an evening where less experienced improvisors sign up to do a duo with a veteran. I initially requested to do one with my level 100 teacher Mark Shone, but he ended up not being available for the evening, so I asked to be blind matched with someone. They paired me with ensemble member Dave Johnson, who I had never worked with before, and I had an absolute blast playing Emotional Rollercoaster with him. Not to mention, the photo below ended up being selected as the cover photo for the Duos of Comedy & Improv Facebook page for a while! It was nice to be a little Unexpected Productions famous after only my third Duo haha! All Duos photos are courtesy of UP's awesome photographer Bill Grinnell Photos!

The last film festival that I submitted I'm Okay... in - the Third Culture Film Festival in Tauranga, New Zealand - notified me that my short film had been selected for screening in the festival! It screened as part of their 'A Cross-Slice of Kiwi' block of films at 6pm on Friday March 8th at the Luxe Cinema in Tauranga, and at 2:45pm on Sunday March 10th at the Luxe Cinema in Papamoa. What a fantastic way to finish the festival run for I'm Okay... by having it's premiere cinema screening in my homeland New Zealand!

After hearing so much about the 14/48 Theater Festival from people who have been involved, and knowing that the festival is by invite only, I figured the best way to get myself on their radar for possible future festival castings is to volunteer for them. I was available for the evenings of the second weekend of the festival, so volunteered in the box office for both nights. Such a great experience, surrounded by so many creative people. Not to mention, my wonderful friend and acting mentor Angela DiMarco of Mighty Tripod was one of the chosen actors, so it's always great to see familiar faces up onstage doing amazing work. And all in 48 hours! Having been involved in the film version of this several times, I look forward to one day giving this theater festival variation a go!

I was cast as the small robot E.R.O. in the animated short film Bounty Hunting Emotion by Juan Carlos Calderon Brandt. The film was his Capstone project as part of his BFA at the School of Film and Animation, Rochester Institute of Technology. This was only my second time doing voiceover for animation, and it was so much fun! You can view the film below or on YouTube at https://youtu.be/KmUTrrndfIA. Be warned, it does contain some graphic violence.

February 2024

I did my first Stage 32 workshop: How To Prepare For And Nail Your Audition To Get A Callback with Ryan Cartwright. I am a fan of Ryan's work, and will always remember him as my favorite intern Vincent Nigel-Murray on the tv show Bones. Not only did he give us some fantastic advice and plenty of tips to take away with us, but he was also the loveliest person and very down to earth!

I auditioned for Nick Wallick at the Seattle Film Institute for a role in his short film The Broken Cup, but did not quite fit the roles he was looking for. I emailed him the week of the shoot to wish him all the best with the production, and thank him again for seeing me. He reached out straight away saying that a friend he had cast in a different role had pulled out last minute, and would I be free that night to do the role. I said yes, and spent the evening shooting the role of Frank, a US Marshall who is a guardian for the two main characters.

I started 2024 by continuing my improv journey at Unexpected Productions, and doing their 600 level class. All of my 500 classmates signed on for the 600 class, so we were already a close group when we started, which was lucky since we went straight into performing together. The class involved one hour of tuition, followed by a one hour public performance at the Market Theater which was broken up into two groups performing 30 minute Harolds, then finished with 30 minutes of notes. It all certainly helped to make the Harold all a little less daunting in the end, when you're working on them every week!

December 2023

I finished 2023 by doing my second Duos Comedy Showcase in December with my Unexpected Productions classmate Jack at the Market Theater, and had fun doing an open scene. All Duos photos are courtesy of UP's awesome photographer Bill Grinnell Photos!