RSHS alum stars in New York web series

ROCKINGHAM — Piper Parks, a Richmond Senior High School Class of 2011 graduate, has since moved to New York and stars in the semi-biographical web series “Check, Please!”

“My parents will tell you I’ve said it since 4 years old that ‘I wanted to be an actress,’” Parks said.

She didn’t have her first acting role until college, but said that her life experiences of carefree Southern living and the demanding New York pace have made for a wonderful background.

“Check, Please!” is co-written and co-produced by Marine Assaiante and Daniel Castaneda. It follows a French immigrant who has recently moved to New York to pursue her dream of acting and works in a chaotic restaurant.

Filming of the show was made possible through a GoFundMe campaign, which Parks said some individuals in Richmond County donated to.

Assaiante stars in the show as Julie, an aspiring actress struggling to make a living working as a waitress. Megan, played by Parks, is a Southern hostess who’s described as sweet and naïve.

The two actresses met while they were students at Michael Howard Studios. They didn’t talk together in class due to them both coming from very diverse backgrounds — Assaiante newly arrived from France, and Parks fresh out of college from the University of North Carolina in 2015.

“It was very different moving to New York,” Parks said. “If I didn’t have Charlotte as a buffer, I probably wouldn’t have made it.”

They later started working at a restaurant together, which served as a template for some of their future ideas to write about. The web series is loosely based on their lives.

“We had so many funny stories about restaurants in New York City that we wanted to write about it,” Assaiante said.

The actresses said the show puts a unique perspective on the often misunderstood immigrant experience. They said they were proud that after all the hard work put in to the production value, the show is still able to be funny.

Three episodes, each about five to ten minutes, were filmed in February 2020 before COVID-19 shut down their production. Parks said they’ve continued filming this year and expect to complete the first season by September.

Distribution for the web series hasn’t been finalized. “Check, Please!” has been shown at the Rome Independent Prisma Awards, the Oblikon Film Festival in France, the New York Movie Awards and the Under the Stars International Film Festival. It won best comedy series micro episode at the Houston Comedy Film Festival.

Assaiante said the cast is a big family, and they want to keep all of their followers and supported updated on their progress. Their goal right now is just to get as many views as possible and build their name and resume.

The best way to follow “Check, Please!” is to check out their website at https://www.checkpleasethewebseries.com/ or follow them on Instagram.

“A couple years from now,” Parks said, “If it goes on to be something much larger, Rockingham will always be a part of that.”