First (and Only) Warsaw Poland Performance

It was summer time, and I had recently (1999) done a web design favor for a Polish community centre. In exchange for helping them with their web site they agreed to help me promote my "improv talents" by booking me at the Dzielnicowy Centrum Promocji Kultury in Warsaw Poland. I was booked around August of 2002, and was surprised to see they had actually printed posters for the event, which mentioned my performance as part of a chronological list. I also, posted my own fliers around Warsaw to try and promote the performance. Needless to say, only a handfull of people attended. Below is a sample from the performance.

The Streeters Cartoon Series

In 2002 I was employed by the now-defunct "Sugar Star Design" as a web designer. At the time I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had been a college (UW-Milwaukee) dropout and was just sailing through life. While working on some minor graphics projects, the owners of the company asked me if I wanted to help them with a television show they were going to be working on. I agreed and provided my voice talents to the program. I recorded the majority of my performances during an 8 hour recording session in a studio in Milwaukee,WI. I was 21 at the time, and glad to be part of a project where my talents in voice-over were realized. I hope you enjoy the clip, and look for my two appearances as the voice(s) of:Mr.Smyth and Cuddles the Bear.

"The Streeters" Episode 25 from Erik West on Vimeo.

Student Film Discovered

I recently found an old student film I starred in called "Commonplace". It was directed by Derek Dobbels, and written by Derek Dobbels, with some of the dialogue from the office scene improvised by me. The movie was filmed in the winter-time in Milwaukee,WI sometime around 2006.
Commonplace

Spirit Lake: First Shoot

I will be participating as an actor in an upcomming feature film by Joe Shakula or BibSimmons called "Spirit Lake." I am just hoping that I don't freeze my bones, it's quite cold today. For more information on the production visit the official website at:http://spiritlakemovie.com/

Aono Trailer

I am in the new Matt Wichlacz short film [AONO] premiering this March 2009. I enjoyed the production and I was happy to get cast in a speaking role, and such an interesting film.

My First Impressions of AONO

Last year I performed a supporting role in the Matt Wichlacz short film Aono. When I previewed the rough cut at Ma Fischer's in Milwaukee, it was 7:40pm and I was interested to see what this movie might look like. I had my doubts, after all the director was still in highschool during production, he had very little film experience, and had just purchased the video equipment for the film. The filming was as professional as a film with a $2000 budget could be,including some catering; french fries and coffee. Well when I started watching the film I was impressed with the look and feel-the entire project is in black and white, a fitting color for a Milaukee short. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say, stay tuned for the movie premier which is set for sometime in March. Thanks to everyone who was involved,it's great to be part of a project that exhibits the importance of characters and story over stale drama and action sequences.

A look back at 2008

I started out last year with what would be my ONLY live performance. I appeared for close to 40 minutes as the featured performer at Poet's Monday. Poet's Monday for the uninitiated isn't just for poets, it's for all manner of vocal performers from story tellers, and improvisers to poets and singers. The show starts out with an open stage and ends with the feature performer. The show is often followed by a live music performance. Entrance to Poet's Monday is $3.

My performance went as intended, and I succeeded in entertaining and enlightened the crowd. I don't remember a single thing I did during the show, and the only record is from the memories of people in the audience. I regret only one thing about 2008, and that is that this was my only live performance. I am going to spend more time this year performing on stage, instead of only in film.

I traveled to Poland, my home-land, and stayed there for 7 months. I attended classes at the well-regarded Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and when the semester was finished I instructed students in the English language for over 100 hours as a native speaker. I returned for a semester at MIAD, and during that semester managed to appear in 4 short film projects, two of which are still in production.

I was glad to have participated in a number of video projects in 2008.I played a villain in Ashley Donaldson's untitled film, a young soldier in Johnathan J Bells drama about pre-war Wisconsin , an office employee in the 48-hour film festival submission "Magic Pen", a man attacked by an alien (cut from this role:voice over talent used instead)in Nathan Behmlander and Erik Holman's film Star Monger, and a philosopher/time traveler in Matt Wichlatz film Aono (set to premier in Spring 2008.

2008 was easily my most productive year in terms of acting work. It followed 2007's first appearance in a serious film "Autumn Lost", produced by a team from UW-Milwaukee. After the experience with the UW crew I decided to dive into local film, and began getting accepted for roles. I was to appear in a film for Meghan O'Connell but was recast do to schedule conflicts she ran into.

Looking ahead at 2009, I am glad to have been asked by Nathan Behmlander to voice one of his characters for his thesis animation, by Don Ford to star in my own internet series "5 minutes with [Rich]," an offer by Joe Shakula to appear in a short film project, and an invitation by Brian Janick to perform live in his "Twilight Zone" sketch series. I am happy that everything is falling into place this year. I hope you'll be one of the select few who appear at Poet's Monday, cause you never know when I'll stop by. Thanks to all of my collaborators, fans, and fellow-actors for a pleasant 2008.