Delightful comedy “Introducing Jodea,” written and staring Chole Traicos, embellishes the strife of becoming a lead actress to create a comical endearing story.
“Jodea is kind of based on me, her clumsiness and determination, that is kind of where I stemmed the character from,” Traicos said. “I just did other stuff to her to make her funnier.”
From start to end, audiences get captivated by the world of Jodea and the resilience which this terrible actress keeps showing.
From unfortunate incidents to bad luck, the story of Jodea is as comical as it needs to be while still keeping the character human and relatable.
Jodea is a character that has many personality traits that audiences can connect with and enjoy.
“The stuff like being snubbed by agents happens alot, but I wanted it to be funnier,” Traicos said. She explained how she was more blunt and critical to be able to present the rejection aspect of being an actress in a funnier manner.
The path Jodea takes in becoming an actress has funny ups and downs in which she is shown acting techniques in the wrong way.
Acting can take a person through many paths to finding what best works to get become the actor they want to be.
Traicos related to it as she tackled several acting techniques before finally realizing that method acting worked best for her.
Traicos said, “It’s taken me ten years to realize I am a method actor. That’s how I operate and every actor has their own way.”
For Traicos, the character of Jodea has her own way of acting and it’s one thing that she was able to exploit to best bring out the comical aspect of the character.
The character of Jodea has extremely charming moments which may have audiences not only rooting for her, but caring for her and wanting to know what happens once this section of the this character’s story comes to an end.
Acting has not always been an easy for Traicos and she said that not always being picked for school plays helped her to not look at every role as crucial, but at the same time helped develop her writing career to be able to create roles that don’t just suit her, but that she wants to be playing.
“I really enjoyed playing Jackie (in ‘Devil’s Cove’), I always wanted to play a sociopath and I studied fully before I wrote that role,” Traicos said. “I like strong female roles and that’s one of the reasons I started writing.”
Jumping from a dramatic role in “Devil’s Cove” into a light hearted role in “Introducing Jodea” shows the versatility and flexibility in Traicos acting.
It can be difficult preparing for the two distinct roles, but acting along side the different personalities of the cast and crew can be tricky to adjust to.
“We had a fantastic cast (for making Jodea). John (Cohen), the director, is one of my dearest friends. I was so glad when he came onboard,” Traicos said. “I had the most fun with Ryan (Pratton) who played Harold and with Steve (E. Kimbrough) who played Fred. Ryan is a natural comedian a d Steve is a stand up comedian, I loved working with them because they improved alot of their script.”
“Introducing Jodea” has gotten praise in several film festivals where it has been shown and on June 4 started a national theatrical run in Laemmle Theaters.
After the theatrical run, online streaming is a possibility, but even more exciting, Traicos said that she has been asked about a sequel which she already has an idea she is working on in the event that a sequel is merited.
Traicos said, “what I’d like to do for a sequel, if it happens that there’s a need for one, is I would love to make the sequel about Harold…Jodea would now have to teach Harold how to be appropriate and how he keeps messing things up with his new romance.”
