A few weeks ago, I was on my way to my survival job. I had an extra 5 minutes to spare before I had to be at work, so I stopped at the thrift store conveniently located on the block prior to my job. In the midst of skimming through the books, I came upon a bright yellow cover. When I turned the book over and read the title, “Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part” by Michael Shurtleff, I was intrigued. I was also skeptical. It sounded too good to be true. It sounded like one of those quick-fix books. I read the description on the back of the book:
Self-Producing: A Solo Adventure #1
Great news! My solo show, View from the Pews, has been invited to perform at the Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project Women’s Work Festival next month! This is great news, but also overwhelming. There is so much to be done between now and then! Follow along on my journey as I post weekly about what I am doing to prepare, and the kind of progress I am making.
I received the news one week ago that I was invited to perform in Nashville in exactly one month. Eek! That’s a quick turnaround time, considering some of the work before me. Fortunately, for many reasons, I have been offered a slot that opened up on the last weekend – a primo time slot and a full nine days extra time to prepare. Whew!
I was invited to attend the Backstage Q&A with New York Casting Director Judy Henderson on Tuesday as a representative of Green Room Blog.
I live-tweeted the whole event from the @GreenRoomBlog twitter account, click through to read what the Homeland Casting Director Judy Henderson had to say:
[View the story “Backstage’s Q&A Event with Casting Director Judy Henderson” on Storify]
I love how honest Judy was about everything from your likelihood of getting cast in Homeland as a non-union actor, to whether or not you should wear glasses at an audition.
Backstage is starting a whole series of these Q&A’s and seminars, as well. Check ’em out.
Now, I could be wrong about this…but, I’m 90% sure Charlize Theron is not a serial killer. Sean Penn, to my knowledge, has never been assassinated. Phillip Seymour Hoffman doesn’t have a lisp. Hillary Swank has never been murdered and I don’t think Tom Hanks has HIV. I also believe all of these actors are heterosexual. However, they all have won Oscars for playing homosexual or trans characters with these respective attributes (albeit Aileen Wuornos is not exactly a good example of the LGBT community but…still). At the same time, NOT A SINGLE openly homosexual actor or actress has EVER won an Oscar in a major acting category. As actors, we strive to “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances” and the Oscars (in theory) are one of the highest forms of validation that we have done so. So, is a straight actor, playing a gay cowboy, “truthful” and a gay actor, playing a straight character, “hard to believe”?
Flashback Friday: Acts of Kindness
Happy Friday! Spread some kindness to people you see today!
“This is a business known for being tough, a dog eat dog kind of world. So my suggestion may be a contrary, shocking novel idea, but can we all remember to try being kind? As far as I’ve gotten on my own willpower and a toddler’s inability to understand the word “No”, a kind stranger here and there has helped me get the rest of the way there. I’ve seen it happen over and over again and the appreciation never diminishes.” Read more!
GIVEAWAY: Conscious Box!
Yes, you read that right…we have two separate giveaways for you this week here on Green Room Blog!
Today’s giveaway is a one month subscription to CONSCIOUS BOX!
Conscious Box is a monthly subscription service that sends the newest pure and natural products right to your doorstep.
From Behind the Casting Table
Recently my company, TRG, held auditions for our first big show, “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” by Alan Ball. One of our collective favorite plays that really aligns with our mission statement.
Bear with me as I throw a few numbers at you.
“Five Women…” has a cast of six (6). Five (5) women, one (1) man. TRG has three (3) female producers, and we all wanted to be in the show, so this leaves roles for two (2) women, and one (1) man.
So first we went to our amazing director and TRG auditioned for her with sides from the script. We chatted with her about her thoughts on the casting, but no decisions were made.
Our next step was to do a strictly invited casting. So, we each put together a list comprising handful of actors, whom we had worked with before that we thought A) were super talented and B) were awesome to work with. So, any one of the actors walking in to the room we already knew were very good and would be also be pleasant off-stage.
Things I KNOW I’ve Been Told in Theatre School
I’m sure everyone has seen this blog post already (and they need too). It’s full of good things that I appreciate right now. As the Crazy Theatre Artist reminded me, #7! “Developing and producing your own work is the single MOST important thing you can do after you graduate.” Also, #10: “When people said you would be poor thanks to your brilliant career choice, what they really meant was “completely fucking destitute.” And that’s okay.” I suppose at least I’m prepared for that one already.
But the thing that Callam Royda missed was what you do learn in theatre school; and that’s why I am here, to share my theatre major experiences.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN THEATRE SCHOOL:
The Green Room 