It is thrilling to see our past nominees explore the boundaries of their art form and get recognition for it!  Lauren Kelston, nominated in 2008 for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in Millfire with Retro Productions, has been nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical in the Planet Connections Theater Festivity for her performance in Twin Towers, written by Damian Wampler and directed by Angela Astle.
 
She can also be seen at the end of this month in the screening of the movie "Last Night in Brooklyn" by Cypher Productions.  
 
In the film, Lauren plays Allison Roberst, who suffers from schizophrenia and is so dulled by medication and isolated that her hallucinations become her only companion.  After a terrible and embarrassing birthday night out, that results in Allison being mugged by a desperate thug, the con artist feels guilty for what he has done but in his attempt to make good, ends up involving her in his escape from mobsters, looking for stolen cash.  Through a series of events, they begin to realize that their lives and the lives of everyone they knew have been deeply intertwined and dark secrets and family lies begin to surface as they are chased through what will be their last night in Brooklyn.
 
Lauren, on the transition from stage to film says:  "I enjoy both theater and film but my heart is definitely on the stage.  I love the thrill of a live audience and being able to live a character's complete story arc, and then see how it changes every night. My work Off-Off-Broadway and my theater training helped me immensely as I tried find the character of Allison.  I was able to dig deep to find different emotions and live in the moment which luckily my director appreciated, having come from a theater background as well."
 
"I learned a lot about myself and grew a lot as an actor and faced many challenges throughout the filming, including having to film scenes with [the imaginary CGI'ed character] Moo with empty chairs.  It's hard enough acting and reacting when you have a real live person to talk to, it's much harder when it's empty space and just a voice!"
 
You can catch the screening in New York on August 29th at 8pm at Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue, New York, NY.  For tickets and more information is available on the Cypher Productions website.