User:Blessedtern2014/sandbox

 Annoying Actor Friend  (@Actor_Friend, AAF, created July 2012) is a satirical personality created to comment on the theatre industry. AAF began as a twitter account and quickly expanded into a blog, a how-to book, and, most recently, a live cabaret at 54 Below  on September 20, 2014. AAF's  #SOBLESSED: The Annoying Actor Friend's Guide to Werking in Show Business  debuted at #1 on Amazon's Theatre/Parody list, and the original Twitter account currently has 14.9 thousand followers.

The Blessed that Broke the Jaded Camel's Back: Creating @Actor_Friend
During the atrocious NYC heat and even more appalling dry audition season of July 2012, a movement was born. Exhausted by the onslaught of friends' social media posts heralding their career successes, the creator behind Annoying Actor Friend took to Twitter to vent, anonymously. AAF created the @Actor_Friend account, uploaded a photo of Ellis from  Smash  (TV Series)  to the avatar, tweeted "The Secret really does work," and went to bed. By morning, the account had gathered 30 followers. For the next seven months, AAF tweeted about a range of subjects relevant to the theatrical community, ranging from comments on Russell Crowe's performance in Tom Hooper's  Les Miserables , to the more broad, #ReasonsIDidntBookIt, in reference to actors' habit of making excuses after not landing a job.

#Dim4Joan
Shortly after Joan Rivers  died on September 4, 2014,  The Broadway League  announced that they would not dim Broadway's marquees to honor the famous comedian, actress, and Broadway supporter. On September 8th, AAF created the #Dim4Joan, urging fellow tweeters to use the hashtag as a means of convincing the Broadway League to change its mind. The hashtag rapidly reached trending status. Beginning with Jordan Roth, one by one, theatre owners began to announce that they would dim their marquees on September 9th, at 6:45 PM. Finally, The League released an official statement saying that all Broadway theaters would dim their marquees to honor Rivers.

Get SMASHed and SMASH Don't Give a Shit: Annoying Actor Friend Graduates from Twitter
For the season two premiere of  Smash  in February 2013, AAF created a drinking game called "Get SMASHed" for viewers to play while watching the episode. The game was originally posted to Tumblr, but at the request of a fan, AAF created a full-fledged website and blog (annoyingactorfriend.com). At this point, AAF decided to start writing recaps of each  Smash  episode and posted them to the website. The recap series is titled "SMASH Don't Give a Shit," inspired by the viral YouTube  video, "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger." The recaps focused on pointing out the inaccuracies of  Smash  's portrayal of working on Broadway, while allowing AAF to "make fun of annoying actors who complain about  Smash , while literally complaining about  Smash ." By the third recap, "SMASH Don't Give a Shit" began to gain traction, drawing attention from cast members and others involved with the show. After  Smash  was cancelled, AAF focused on turning the writing style used for "SMASH Don't Give a Shit" into a book that would comment on the struggles that working actors face.

The Novel
Published on October 3, 2013,  #SOBLESSED: The Annoying Actor Friend's Guide to Werking in Show Business  debuted at #1 on Amazon's Theatre/Parody List. The book provides a wide range advice for actor's: from choosing which college to attend, to how to apply for "Funemployment," to utilizing social media properly, AAF provides a hilarious, insider look at what it takes to "make it."

The Audiobook
AAF recently completed recording of an audio book version of  #SOBLESSED: The Annoying Actor Friend's Guide to Werking in Show Business , narrated by Broadway favorites Megan Hilty, [Andrew Keenan-Bolger ]],  Krysta Roderguiez ,  Brian Dennehy , and  Lesli Margherita. A release date has yet to be announced, and all proceeds will benefit Broadway charity, BCEFA.

The Live Cabaret
On September 20, 2014, #SOBLESSEDLIVE, a cabaret version of  #SOBLESSED: The Annoying Actor Friend's Guide to Werking in Show Business  was performed at the acclaimed NYC venue, 54 Below. Featuring performances from Corey Cott, [Lesli Margherita ]],  Nic Rouleau , and others, the performance followed the format of the book, telling the story of a working New York actor, from college to working on Broadway, and beyond. The event was marketed on Twitter as a "pre-Broadway tryout," and a there is currently a rumor that a follow-up performance will occur sometime in the winter of 2014.

Other Accolades
AAF has been featured in backstage magazine, on Playbill.com, and the Huffington Post, among other publications. AAF currently writes a monthly column for Broadway.com called "The Working Actor."