WINDOW CHATS with ROBYN

Starting his 20 year voice over career after falling ass backwards into a voice director and audio engineering role in his late teens at one of the country’s top voice agencies, Darryl has expanded his broad knowledge of the voice over industry working as a voice agent, audio engineer, demo producer, voice director and VO consultant. Added to this, is his strong skillset in the IT and telecommunications fields.  Darryl is a jack of all trades and a master of more than you’d think. His creative outlets range from cooking to music production and performing, even if it’s only for the mirror since becoming a Dad.  Darryl possesses the super power of problem solving, offering creative and effective solutions for any situation that arises. If he can’t solve it, he knows someone who can.

Loved chatting with Kerry today! Way too hard to summarize our random talking points, so I guess you'll just have to listen to the entire chat 😛 Kerry has been acting and improvising around Toronto for over 20 years.  After training at the famed Second City, Kerry went on to be a cofounder of improv troupe Slap Happy which has performed at festivals across North America and even a couple in Europe.    He was also a founding member of the Bad Dog Theatre company which opened its doors in 2003, and remains a mainstay of the Toronto improv Community. In 2008 Kerry returned to the Second City, joining its mainstage cast where he wrote and performed in two award winning revues, Barack to the Future and 0% Down, 100% Screwed. Since 2011 he has also directed 5 mainstage revues at the Second City as well. Currently, Kerry regularly performs at the award winning improv talk show, Monkey Toast  and he pops up on improv stages all over Toronto, often with one of many troupes including The Coincidence Men, and even occasionally still with Slap Happy! Besides making stuff up, Kerry is also an accomplished actor having appeared in television shows like Baroness Von Sketch (CBC), Schitt's Creek (CBC), The Expanse (Amazon Prime)  Designated Survivor (ABC), The Beaverton (CTV), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Max And Shred (YTV), Degrassi: The Next Generation (CBC), Connor Undercover (Family Channel), Covert Affairs (USA), Mayday (Discovery) and Cracked (CBC).  He has also been seen or heard in over 100 television and radio commercials, perhaps most recognized as ‘the Diamond Shreddies guy’ ,‘the insurance guy’ or 'that guy from that commercial'. Kerry has won 10 Canadian Comedy Awards over the years, twice being named Best Male Improviser, and winning for Best Improv Troupe four times with both Slap Happy and Monkey Toast, as well as winning for Best Comedic Play and Best Sketch Troupe with the Second City. www.kerry-griffin.com

So lovely catching up with Carrie and Lauren - 2 fabulous entrepreneurs! They have found some amazing ways to pivot during this pandemic.  Their bios were too extensive to fit into this description, but you can find their bios on my YouTube channel (Robyn Deverett) https://youtu.be/dEebQ6c4D2s or on my Facebook page (Window Chats with Robyn) https://www.facebook.com/WindowChatsWithRobyn/

A Canadian entertainment staple growing up for me was that the Shillings were everywhere! From “Ricky’s Room”, to “Mean Girls” to “The Umbrella Academy”…alright that last one is just Benny, and I guess it was just Elana in Mean Girls…but they were definitely all in “Ricky’s Room” - a right of passage on every child actor’s resume 🥰

Lewis Baumander is a well-established fixture in the Canadian Film +TV industry. He’s been in this industry for over 48 years working as both a successful Director and Acting Coach. If there’s anyone in this country who knows what Casting wants and has a quantifiable and verifiable way to transmit this knowledge to actors, it is Lewis Baumander. Lewis is the owner of LB Acting Studio and sister studio Casting Central where Casting Directors such as RDC, Forrest and Forrest, Buchan Knight, Lewis Kay Casting and Gloria Mann have come to rely on Lewis and the studio to attend to their Casting needs. Lewis and his team have successfully moved LB Acting Studio and Casting Central onto the virtual space. Casting Central has designed the go-to system for these high-level Casting Directors. If you have received instructions for a virtual audition from any of the above, then know that Lewis has had a hand in writing them. Casting Central has conducted hundreds of hours of virtual auditions since March 2020. No one else in the country has that kind of “in the Virtual Audition Room” insight. Lewis founded the LB Acting Studio where he teaches weekly group classes and coaches actors individually daily. He is a go-to coach for Canada’s top tier talent agencies including Noble Caplan Abrams, AMI, OAZ, and many others. He has conducted workshops for numerous ACTRA conferences and maintains an active relationship with the Association. He has been an On-Set Acting Coach (Scary Stories, Titans, Degrassi and The Strain), amongst the highlights and currently two series for which he has signed NDA’s. Lewis continues to work with Canadian’s most notable actors on both their audition prep and pre-production coaching. Some of these actors include: Shamier Anderson (Awake, Goliath, Race, Brutal with Halle Berry), Keeya King (Van Helsing, Batwoman, Handmaids Tale), Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim, Glow, Condor) and Kate Drummond (Wynonna Earp, and Nowhere - where she won Best Actress at the Canadian Screen Awards). Lewis continues to work with actors on Riverdale, Frankie Drake, The Flash, Orange is the New Black, Arrow, and dozens more. Hundreds of actors, each year have been cast from coaching done by Lewis and his coaches.

Sarah is such a delightful human, and she's so supportive of all us actors! Thanks so much for chatting with me today!!   Words of wisdom include: be kind and be your authentic self!

Yaw Attuah: Yaw is a prolific stand-up comedian who has opened for comics like Josh Gondelman (Headwriter for Deus and Mero), Sam Jay ("3 in the Morning" on Netflix and writer for SNL), Anna Drezden (Headwriter for SNL), and more. Yaw is also a writer and actor who's appeared on stage and screen. He is a graduate of the renowned Second City Conservatory program. Yaw has produced acclaimed work for the Toronto Fringe Festival (read a review of 2018's "Rhymes With Wow”). Yaw has been a finalist at Toronto Comedy Brawl, been featured on CBC Radio, and has performed stand-up across North America, including being a competitor at the San Diego Comedy Festival. Ashley Medeiros-Felix: A Toronto native & theatre school graduate. When Ashley is not furthering her training or performing herself, she can be found working as a Theatre Director, Choreographer & Audition Coach. She is a Resident Director/Choreographer for the Bravo Academy's advanced musical theatre program, is the Resident Choreographer for Soundcrowd- Toronto’s first large-scale acapella vocal ensemble and has completed the Directing Comedy for Digital course at Second City. This will be Ashley's second time collaborating with Yaw, as she was the director/lighting designer of the hit show "Rhymes With Wow". Check out their Kickstarter Campaign: http://kck.st/3xAlBEj Also check out Yaw’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYJA4_JyN4VAfd_8iGqi5g

In this chat, I unveiled my new "Window Chats with Robyn" theme song! Pretty exciting stuff!! Oh yeah...and Andre is a pretty incredible guy!   Andre Newell is a Writer, Director, Producer and the Executive Producer of North America’s largest acting showcase, Monologue Slam Canada.   Andre has written, directed, produced, shot and edited over 60 short film projects. His directorial debut film “War on Love,” was selected for the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and licensed by the inspireNetwork, which is owned by Magic Johnson.   Monologue Slam Canada, which celebrates its 10th year anniversary in 2021, is the premiere networking event for Canada's Film, Television and Theatre Industry. For over a decade the event has attracted the industries most influential casting directors, producers, directors, while showcasing thousands of actors. A 10 episode Monologue Slam series was released on Bell TV in 2017.