LOCAL TV AND ME

Me and the family television set, Philadelphia, in the early 1950's.

     This week my sister sent me word from Philly that Sally Starr, one of our childhood local TV personalities had passed away.  The news sent me on a journey to re-discover the personalities who had entertained me as a child on local television and led me to reflect on my own experiences with local TV.

Sally Starr

     I recalled that my Mom and Dad had taken me as a child to WCAU TV's new, state of the art production center, (the first building in America constructed specifically for broadcasting. Channel 10 is still headquartered there) to appear on the Willie the Worm show - my first time in a local TV studio.

WCAU AM-FM-TV BROADCAST & PRODUCTION CENTER - CITY LINE AVENUE - 1958

WCAU-TV, Channel 10's Willie the Worm.       My research revealed that -- William Wright, the voice and creator of Willie the Worm, reported on the WCAU 40th anniversary special "The First 40 Years", which aired on WCAU-TV in 1988: "I walked in to a Pep Boys just searching blindly for something and I found some air intake hose which would be big enough to put my arm through. And I cut it apart and you know it looked like a worm. And that's how it really became Willie the Worm."            I remember the bright lights, sitting on the bleachers with the other children, the controlled chaos before the cameras rolled.  I was enchanted. Philly's Ch. 17's Wee Willie Weber and his "Peanut Gallery"      In the '70's when I started my career In Hartford I worked at the studios of Connecticut Public Television to tape Hartford Stage's production of Edward Albee's All Over which aired nationally on Theatre in America.  The first time one of the author's works was filmed for television.  Also at Connecticut Public Television I appeared in two episodes of Mundo Real, Connecticut Public Television’s situation comedy/drama about a Puerto Rican family living in an urban barrio on the mainland, which became the first Spanish-English bilingual television series produced for American television.  Years later, when I returned to my professional acting career in Los Angeles after raising my sons, again I would sit in the studio audience for a TV show, shown nationally on ABC, to be sure, and I was a paid participant but I was still enchanted with the process.  This time it was -- a taping of "Life with Bonnie", a TV show about a TV show, and I was playing an audience member.       Then I discovered community access at my local cable TV studio and I became a TV producer/actor/director for 9 episodes, produced over three years, of "Readers Theater Television".   Regina directing the cast of "Readers Theater Television",  2008,  at  TimeWarner 25 studio in Westlake Village, CA      Which brings me around to now and my work with CityTV of Santa Monica.  In December 2012 I shot a PSA for The Center for Civic Mediation at the new studio of CityTV of Santa Moncia.  It has been 60 years from my first local TV experience to now but I am still as enchanted and thrilled.  Tonight I attend a receiption and screening of the 2012 PSA's produced by CityTV of Santa Monica. Willie the Worm, Mom and Dad, I hope you are proud of me. a screen capture from the Public Service Announcement for The Center for Civic Mediation, a project I worked on, produced by CityTV of Santa Monica and Women In Film

OH, WHAT TO WEAR TO A SCREENING?

I've been invited to attend a reception for and screening of the public service announcement I appeared in which was produced by CityTV of Santa Monica and Women in Film for the Center for Civic Mediation.

What shall I wear?

About CityTV 16 of Santa Monica

CityTV is the government community cable channel for the City of Santa Monica. It is funded, programmed and operated by the City of Santa Monica. The channel is available to every cable television subscriber within the City of Santa Monica and reaches approximately 24,000 households. 

CityTV is known across the country for its quality programming and its innovative uses of its channel. The channel has been recognized with nine Emmy awards and been awarded a SCAN NATOA STAR Award as the best channel in the state for six of the last eight years.

Women In Film Los Angeles, founded in 1973, provides for members an extensive network of contacts, educational programs, scholarships, film finishing funds and grants, access to employment opportunities, mentorships and numerous practical services in support of this mission.

The Center for Civic Mediation provides mediation services throughout the community and on school campuses. We teach youth and adults skills to resolve conflict in a constructive, practical and non-violent manner.

Project to finish out 2012.

Here is the full video of the Public Service Announcemet I did produced by Santa Monica CityTV and Women In Film. I'm the old lady who gets wet.

Booked four days with CARMIND this spring!

Fortunately for me the four days of work with CARMIND fell in between my out of town travel days.  As "Hannibal" from The A-Team liked to say, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

http://www.carmind.com/floor_mat_bandit/

(from the CARMIND website, Regina Mocey, far left, on set, with cast-mates, CARMIND production studio, Chatsworth, CA)

Volunteering for a Spotlight the Arts Foundation event in Calabasas

Wearing a sandwich board to direct audiences to a staged reading.

MAY 2012

              Ria Coyne and Regina Mocey, enhanced still from SLANTED MONICA, pilot

May 2012

     Regina has wrapped on Ria Coyne's (BATMAN FOREVER, SEVEN DAYS OF GRACE) comedy pilot, SLANTED MONICA.  

     NEXT, Regina joins the cast of the staged reading of G. B. Shaw's MAJOR BARBARA, part of an ambitious 3 play readings series directed by Matthew Henerson and produced by 

SPOTLIGHT THE ARTS FOUNDATION in Calabasas:

“What I Did During The War”, a three-part reading series produced by Spotlight the Arts Foundation 

www.spotlightthearts.org

“What I Did During The War”, directed and created by Matthew Henerson. This free, reading series is an examination of war, from vastly different perspectives, by three of the greatest playwrights in western literature.  
1. Henry V By William Shakespeare – Monday, April 23, 2012 at 7:30pm 
2. Major Barbara  By George Bernard Shaw – Monday, May 14, 2012 at 7:30pm 
3. Caucasian Chalk Circle  By Bertold Brecht – Monday, June 11, 2012 at 7:30pm 
This three-part series takes place on the dates and times above at:

The Founders Hall, located behind the Calabasas Library, 200 Civic Center Way, Calabasas, CA 91302

In the forge of literary creation. . . .

Dear Theatre Colleague, Theatre Patron,

     As an actor whose roots are in the live theatre I am always tickled for the opportunity to play a well established character in a well loved piece of dramatic literature.  I know actors who have wish lists of roles they would love to play on stage.  But there is another thrill which is to play a role in a brand new piece of work -- to be the first actor to bring a character to life for an audience.  In the forge of literary creation is play development.  Theatres everywhere from your local community theatre to the world class resident professional theatres to Off Broadway can be involved in new play development.  We all know that the road to getting a show on Broadway starts with the show being tried out on the road.  It takes courage for a theatre with a subscription audience to devote a slot in their season to a brand new play.

     Since my arrival in Los Angeles and my work with L. A. Theatre Works in the '80's I have been involved in new play readings as an actor, producer and director.  These opportunities are generally not paid gigs but I welcome them for the excitement of bringing a work to life, maybe for the first time, for an audience, sometimes in the presence of the playwright.

     In February, March and July 2012 I was given the opportunity to be in the cast for  readings in the Second Sundays at Seven program of new work sponsored by the Elite Theatre Company in Ventura Country.  Here is a link to that program:

http://www.elitetheatre.org/SRcalendar.html

     In the intimate space of the Petit Playhouse, with cookies and coffee available at intermission, Michael Perlmutter is co-ordinating this series of readings of new work.  For what you are willing to drop in the passed basket you can hear a new work and join in the feedback discussion after the reading.  You can participate in the forge of literary creation.