Flashback Friday: “itsallaboutmywebsite.com”
Do you have a personal website? Do you use it to boost your career? Do you not have one because you don’t know how-the-heck to set it up? Never fear, The Redheaded Actress already saved the day when she wrote this post!
“One of my absolute favorite actor tools is my website. It’s my personal opinion that every actor should have one — I think of it like my acting business’ storefront.
If you don’t have a website, where do you send people who are interested in possibly hiring you, but want more information? I love being able to have my website listed on business cards, or mentioning it in cover letters to industry peeps. I also love that it’s a place where people can get to know a little bit more about who I am as a person and what my unique style is without having to ask me. And honestly, if you’re running a business in 2011, which every actor (and stage manager/designer/director/etc for that matter!) is, why wouldn’t you have a website? It’s such an easy way to take ahold of your online image and presence!” (The how-to list is here)
Self-Producing: A Solo Adventure #4
Props? Check! (One nagging thing left that I’m going to have to break down and visit a fabric store to get.)
Lines? Uh – kinda check.
Have you ever tried to memorize 50 pages? Even having written it, I am trying to keep it all sorted in my head. Some transitions work better than others, and some sections…I know exactly the thing I’m trying to say, I just can’t get the exact words right. Surprisingly, I am still actively editing the script. Not excessively – no major restructuring is happening, just smoothing out some transitions and learning that some lines are written just – wrong. I’m workshopping and rehearsing the play all in one, fell swoop. And that’s okay. I’ve done that before – but somebody else was the playwright and I had other people on stage with me, too.
Wardrobe is well underway. (But I should’ve bought those jeans. Ugh. NOW I found the perfect top for them.) Just need to find the time to shop, which is not something I really like to do.
I was so focused on getting an email or mailing out to the Nashville industry peeps I hope will come that I completely overlooked other marketing options. Admittedly, I am relying heavily on the marketing of the festival, itself, as I am the only act on my night, but I need to help with that legwork as best as I can from three hours away.
Yes, it’s true, fellow blog readers and friends — we are now in the final countdown. This is the LAST WEEK of our indiegogo campaign for The King’s Whore: The Anne Boleyn story.
I’ve learned a whole lot about crowdfunding from this campaign, and already have a post drafted to share my tips and tricks for crowdfunding with you once the campaign is finished. It really is a great way to not only raise funds for your production, but also build fans and brand awareness while you’re at it. And whether or not we reach our final goal, I still feel pretty successful at it. I mean, WE MADE THE INDIEGOGO HOMEPAGE!
We’re also super busy with other fun aspects of the production this week — we start casting today! Casting is one of the parts of producing that I always thought would be the most fun, so I’m really looking forward to it. We’re also having a phone conference with our brand new PR lady, who has worked on over a dozen Broadway shows (yep, that’s right!), and we just brought on a costume designer who worked on the movie Lincoln.
So the show is going to be even bigger and more amazing than I’d dreamed it could be.
But we need your help to make it happen.
We have FIVE days left, and still several thousand dollars left to reach our goal. You can donate as little as a dollar and make my day.
I’m hoping Green Room Blog fans can help us reach our goal this week, and share the campaign on facebook and twitter to keep getting the word out in the last few days of our campaign.
CLICK HERE to help us make this production the most amazing piece of theatre that it can be, and then come see it all play out on stage July 28-August 11!
Doubt
Doubt. It’s not just a John Patrick Shanley play.
While I sometimes regret not discovering acting until my mid-30s, in some respects it has been the best thing that could have happened for me. When I was young and arrogant, I was young and arrogant. I got off track in my early journalism career because I thought I knew better than I really did, and thought I should be advancing more quickly than I was. This hubris led to easily avoidable missteps.
By the time I started studying acting and auditioning for shows, I had mellowed a bit. I had seen enough of life to know my limitations, and I knew that in coming to a completely new world and set of experiences that I knew nothing. I did not bristle when corrected, and I actively sought out criticism. When teachers or directors or more experienced fellow students or performers would seem apologetic about offering advice, I shut that down immediately. “I know nothing, and you do,” I would tell them. “Do not be shy about helping me learn.”
But while starting late with a clean slate has been good for me, it also feeds that one voice of doubt that is always there.
Happy Centennial, Equity!
Happy 100th Anniversary to the Actors’ Equity Association, and to those of you who live in New York (thanks to the recent proclamation by Mayor Bloomberg)- Happy Actors’ Equity Day!
Actors’ Equity was founded on May 26th, 1913. It was created by 112 professional theater professionals to better the lives of working actors. Before AEA was born- actors were being stranded after shows closed on the road, they had to pay for their own costumes, and they were being mistreated as artists. Actors’ Equity was created to fight for the working actor. However, it wasn’t always an easy journey. Equity struggled for several years after it was created to be recognized. Very few producers wanted to use the union in the beginning. Francis Wilson, the founding president, asked a producer when they would begin using an Equity contract- the producer’s answer was “When you make me.” Only after Broadway went dark in 1919, did producers finally sign a binding, five-year agreement.
Actors’ Equity has been there through the years- standing against segregation in the 1940’s, helping to gain public funding for the arts in the 1960’s, and fighting against the destruction of historic Broadway theaters. Today, the union continues to show support for the needs of others- such as joining the battle to fight AIDS (Equity Fights Aids), and joining the Broadway Green Alliance to reduce our ecological footprint.
Auditioning while sick!!
3 Things I learned this week when motherhood and acting collided!
1. When you get the call that you’ve got a callback and will meet an iconic film director, don’t scream suddenly and do a manic happy dance in front of your 3-year-old. He will spontaneously burst into tears and cry with fear “I don’t like that, I don’t like that.”
2. When your kid gets sick 3 days before said callback stay away from your kid!!!! I know, I know, wishful thinking. In truth all I wanted to do was to snuggle the poor sniffling mess. However be warned you will then get sick (laryngitis to be specific) and despite a weekend in bed, an entire box of throat comfort tea, gargling, cloves of garlic, ginger and numerous hot showers you will meet said iconic film director sounding like a frog!
3. You can still have an awesome callback even if you do sound like a frog! It did occur to me that I could possibly reschedule my callback but I knew the director was only in town for a few days and I had no guarantee when my voice would return anyway. I just had to stop stressing about it, my work was not going to be my best and that was gonna have to be ok!
Flashback Friday: Addressing Tension
Flashing back today to one of our retired bloggers, The Idealistic Actor! You can still find her online, via her twitter account.
“Part of being a technically proficient singer and openly, expressive actor is learning how to release tension from the body. Tension gets in the way of the actor’s ability to use their instrument (their body) to express their inner thoughts and feelings. It hides the emotions behind a wall of muscle and, for singers, adversely affects the sound of the voice when tension builds up in the chest and jaw. Tension is something that most humans grapple with, and those that are sensitive and emotional (um, that’s me) are particularly prone to tension. In some cases, tension is good- it allows us sensitive types to co-exist in society without devolving into a blubbering mess.” More here…
The Green Room 