Meet Adams Avenue

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adams Avenue.

Hi Adams, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstories.

“To own my own theater company”.

For years, this statement was written on the top of my resume under my objective.

I’ve done many odd jobs; substitute teaching, tennis teacher, day care worker, office worker, chocolatier, barista and sales associate. I’ve never found satisfaction or contentment in these areas.

In college, I thought about majoring in nursing, secondary education and psychology until finally settling on double majoring in anthropology and theater. I know, weird combination right? I grew up watching Brendan Fraser and the Mummy was one of my favorite movies at the time. I was either going to be studying fossils in the middle of the desert or working on productions backstage. I ended up dropping anthropology and getting my Bachelor’s Degree in Theater Arts.

My husband and I started our family early. In my 20s, I spent most days taking care of my two boys and working different jobs but over the years, I felt like I needed to do something for myself, something I loved and something that will bring me joy. I decided to go back into the arts. I was too shy to act in theater plays so I decided to direct one instead.

In 2017, I directed my first play, “Tribute” by Bernard Slade. My boys were five and six, running around on set and eating pizza while my husband built the interior of a house on stage. It was a great experience and I am still good friends with the cast of the show.

After the show ended, I decided to do something I’ve never done before in my life; audition. I decided to make the transition to film acting in 2018. Next thing I knew, I was cast as a lead in two feature films which was shot within 3 months. My most recent feature film, “Just For A Week”, was filmed in Kingman and Phoenix. Most of my films are available on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi.

Five years and five feature films later, I decided to do something else I thought I would never be able to do; own my own film and photography studio. It’s not a theater company but it’s close. I finally have a job where I smile and nod my head in disbelief every time I go into “work” and set up for the next headshot session or self tape session. To me, this isn’t work. It’s too fun to be labeled as work. I can finally say I love my job.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Although UNLV has taught me years of acting techniques, I have never applied what I learned except for performing a scene for my midterms or acting in five minute student films. When I got a role in a feature film, I didn’t think I was going to be filming for 2 weeks straight, ten to twelve hours per day. (If you’re an actor who has done overnight shoots, you know how important a sleeping mask is.) I learned most of the film terms on set and from fellow actors who have been acting a lot longer than me.

When I started acting in 2018, I didn’t have a lot of resources. I didn’t know what to do or how to start this daunting new career or where to go to get my headshots or how to format my resume. I did on the job training and looking back on some of my work, I wish I could’ve gotten some help.

All of these obstacles and challenges helped me shape my new company, Abby Rey Studios.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

Abby Rey Studios, LLC, offers film and photography services. We also build a community through quarterly mixers and networking opportunities.

Every Fridays at 7pm, we have The Actor’s Corner where actors can hang out, find a scene and a partner and perform their scenes. It’s not a class and there’s no lecture involved. The Actor’s Corner there to give a chance for actors to practice their craft through scene work and peer feedback. As an actor, I found that there are many acting classes but actors don’t get a lot of time to perform on stage. Practice is an important part of acting. We have been doing this weekly for almost a year and we have built friendships and learned so much from one another.

We’re also building an acting academy called Bright Star Acting Academy. We have a dozen teachers who are teaching classes including improvisation, voice over, self tape workshops, film combat workshops, screenwriting, film 101, youth drama, stand up comedy, Chekhov Technique, Meisner Technique, Acting for the Camera and Acting Techniques.

As an actor, I find value in learning proper technique. I teach basic techniques developed by Konstantin Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Ivana Chubbuck and Practical Aesthetics. I teach different techniques because everyone is different. One technique might not work for film but it might work for theater. One might work for a scene with two people but it might not work for a monologue. What about scenes with no dialogue at all? There’s a technique for that! Our students will be able to pick and choose what technique works for them. I also believe that improvisation is something an actor should include in their toolbox. Being a well rounded actor means learning different techniques and applying them regularly.

Abby Rey Studios and Bright Star Acting Academy is a one stop shop for beginner actors and veteran actors, as well as filmmakers and photographers. Our goal is to raise the bar high and produce good quality work and talent in our city.

What quality or characteristic is most important to your success?

What makes me happy is seeing a community of actors and filmmakers creating movie magic together. I love organizing mixers and holding casting events because that’s how actors find work and that’s how filmmakers find actors.

I love hearing stories about how one of my students or clients met a filmmaker during a mixer and how they’re going to be making a film together.

I would get feedback about how amazing an acting class was and how they had a great time at The Actor’s Corner or how they learned safe combat skills at our last Film Combat Workshop. The constant support and gratitude I hear from the community makes my day and makes me realize that this is the job that I can do for the rest of my life.

Pricing:

• $50 collabs for now

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamsavenue777/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamsAvenue777
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3iymN1MFJWZivLBZmoUExY?si=XrmGyNSqQq6px7-pqqk_VA

Image Credits
3D art by @romajonson, ANARCHY and 777 Covers by @zkivu (my engineer/manager) shouts out! TRANCE cover by Useless.art & demonbless.