How to Unleash the Power of Storytelling - Stage 32 Welcomes Angela Cristantello!

Hello, Stage 32! Allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Angela Cristantello. I’m an actor and writer living in Los Angeles, and I’m psyched to call myself the new Script Services Manager for Stage 32. Jason Mirch and I are working together to strengthen our ties within and bring even more opportunities to our amazing community. I genuinely couldn’t be more excited about it if I tried. I’m here for all of your suggestions regarding coverage, contests, community building…cured meats (because let’s just run with this “C”s thing, why not?). I want to talk to you and, in fact, that’s exactly why I’m here. My aim as a member of the Stage 32 team is to make sure you know that someone is always in your corner.

I’ve got your back, Man (or woman)!

Before we dive into exactly how I’ve got your back, you should probably know something about me. There’s a lot that I could tell you (perpetually enthusiastic and ambitious go-getter, self-professed audiophile, super fan of Wegmans/the undisputed greatest grocery store on earth, I could keep going), but here’s the big things that I want to impart upon you:

• I’m an actor! I’ve studied it for years. I’ve done it for years. I love it! Please feel free to pick my brain about it, I mean that. I had an (evil) role on Agent Carter, I got to be buds with Connie Britton on 9-1-1, I’ve done some shorts, some web series, no less than a jillion and a half plays and bunches of commercials. It’s so much fun.
• I love telling stories. Period. Whatever your thoughts might be on “Purpose”, I firmly believe that that’s why I’m here: to be a storyteller, to tell stories, and in whatever way that I can and for as long as I am able.

That's Me in the yellow dress! Here I am with my castmates from LA Times' campy fave "Ravenswood Manor" (at Celebration Theatre last fall)

I came to Stage 32 after having done three seasons of screenplay coverage through the Austin Film Festival. As an impassioned storyteller, I’d been a writer my entire life, but fell out of it while pursuing my MFA in Acting. However, by the time I’d finished grad school, I was too intimidated to jump right back in. What could I possibly have to offer the world in terms of writing? What stories could I possibly have to tell that were my own? Who on earth could possibly be interested in hearing MY voice? You know these lines, all the cute things we like to tell ourselves when we’re scared and our imposter syndrome is raging.

Little by little, I started diving back in, and then I found myself doing coverage, and I fell in love with it. It’s absolutely true that when it comes to writing (and, frankly, every facet of the arts), that there’s no better way to learn than by doing. However, a close runner-up: learn by dissecting. I have read hundreds upon hundreds of screenplays and teleplays, and spent hours and hours and HOURS analyzing what makes them work (and occasionally doesn’t). I have seen firsthand how vastly the zeitgeist has shifted in just the past few years, what writing trends have come and gone by the wayside and ALL of it has made me an infinitely better and more fearless writer than I was before. An infinitely better and more fearless storyteller than I was before.

Left: Behind the Scenes of "Agent Carter"  Right: Right: On set for "9-1-1"

As Stage 32’s Script Services Manager, it is my job to hold you steady on your path to becoming the most fearless storyteller you can be. To present you with opportunities to try something new, to be your shoulder when you need one, your advocate when you need one, and your biggest cheerleader whether you feel like you need one or not. Stage 32 is as much an amazing platform to network with your peers as is it an invaluable arena in which to flex your muscles. I’m here to make sure that all of that is working for you as best it can. If you have questions about some feedback you’ve received, I want to know about it. If you have suggestions for future contests, please tell me. If there are services that you feel would be enormously beneficial to include in our catalog, don’t hesitate to reach out with your ideas. I’m here for you. I want to help make you better at this thing that you love, and I want you to know just how much support you have in the doing of it.

But, here’s the other thing: You will never only have me on your side. You will never only have Jason, never only have Nick, or any one member of our team. You get all of us, and that includes the additional 650,000 members of this community from around the world. I’m not just here to let you know that I’m on your side, I’m here to remind you that the community is, too.

This community aspect is what drew me to Stage 32 in the first place. So often as artists, we’re made to believe that we have to go our journeys alone, that we’ll struggle and suffer in an effort to become the best storytellers that we can be, and that it will be relentlessly lonely. That’s a myth. Artists thrive when they take turns lifting one another up, when they find a way to become both a support system and a grounds for collaboration. We begin to flourish once we understand that whereas some of our work might get lonely, there’s a circle of peers ready to give us what we need as we need it, whether that be a solid critique, a suggestion for a DP or a good strong (virtual) hug. Community is everything. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a new member of yours.

Left: Headshot! Right: ...My actual disposition roughly 93% of the time

…Dang, what else is there to say?

I drink a lot of coffee? And love a good whiskey? I think that television is SO EXCITING right now, and I would pay every penny that I have to be in the same room with John Goodman and/or Frances McDormand and that is not hyperbole.

I’m relentlessly energetic, I’m incredibly passionate, and I’m thrilled to be on your side!

So, come say hi. And let’s tell some stories.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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