Going For The Gold!
I have never been athletic in any way, shape, or form, but I have always felt inspired watching athletes, especially the Olympic athletes. I was recently thinking about the determination, devotion, and hard work it takes for athletes to make it to the Olympics, and I began comparing it to acting. Okay, so actors may not have a team in the Olympics (I wish we did!), but in the end, we are all going after the same thing – the gold! The “gold” is different for most actors. Some see the gold as getting cast in their dream role in a show, working with someone they admire in the biz, getting into a union, getting an agent, etc. Whatever your “gold” is, you are working hard to win it!
How to be an Actors’ Equity Deputy
{Kate now blogs about her family’s fulltime travel adventures at ophalenadventures.com and on IG @kateophalen. Join her there!}
The oft-dreaded deputy position.
Maybe it was just a desire to feel important, my fellow cast member’s pep talk before the Equity meeting, or my compulsive overachieving, but I found myself volunteering to be the Actor’s Equity Deputy on The Crucible before I knew it.
And then, suddenly, I found myself to be the 4,000 Miles Deputy because there were only 4 members of the cast — one was just joining Equity, and the other two were pretty adamantly against taking on the job.
So with two Deputy positions under my belt now, I bring my Deputy “expert” knowledge to you.
“Mama-Stay”
Being a little Type A, I’ve always found a life/career balance challenging and once I added a kid to the mix…. well…. things got even more interesting.
I recently asked eco mom-actress-multi-hyphenate Alysia Reiner how she balanced work and motherhood; one tip she mentioned was doing meditation with her daughter.
I’ve always had a lot of resistance to meditation but I knew it was something I should try. Dallas Travers suggests meditating on one word, so I chose that as my technique and committed to 5 minutes a day.
A New Way to Find Jobs
Although I’ve been dating an actor for over a year now, I recently found out what my favorite part of dating an actor is: finding work. We both not only find things that the other might be interested it, but we speak positively about each other to other theatre artists, making more people want to work with us.
Here’s a few examples of both:
Whenever I see an audition for something I think he would be interested in/great for, I always send it to him. I want him to do well, so providing him the extra opportunities to succeed is well appreciated. Sometimes he doesn’t agree with my findings and he doesn’t feel he is a good fit, others he isn’t available. But when I find things he does like and can do, sometimes he does get cast in them. Right now, he has a callback for a show that I found and would be great for him. If he gets it, it’ll be one of the biggest productions he will have been apart of since he started doing theatre professionally.
Theatrical “Failures” and Criticism
So recently I had happen for the first time in the past two years that every theatre artist hates: when your piece doesn’t work and it’s really bad.
For on of my classes, I had to create/direct a scene without words. After having to do this twice in undergrad and both times they weren’t that great (not the actors, but just my ideas), I already knew that this probably wasn’t going to do well since for some reason creating a scene without word is just the hardest thing for me to do.
When the performance actually came around, it was pretty disastrous. One of the actors messed up the blocking, things that worked in rehearsal just wasn’t working on stage, props and set pieces weren’t working for the scene, and it was by far: the worst thing I’ve ever directed.
Flashback Friday: St. Patrick’s Day Special!
Happy St. Patty’s weekend! A day or weekend or even month that we can celebrate all things green! Including the Green Room Blog! Keeping in the color of the season is one of my favorite posts from The Reflective Artist, “The Green-Eyed Motivator”. Grab a green beer, lift your feet, and enjoy!
“Like many artists still working to establish themselves enough so that they needn’t do anything else besides their art, I have a day job that supports me. I don’t mind this too much–it’s not a terrible job, I like it well enough, and I’m pretty much able to come and go as I please or need. Things had been going pretty smoothly there until not-too-recently when a new employee was hired part-time. This employee is female and also an actor. She’s my height, my complexion, my hair color–though she has a better haircut–and my weight. Alright: maybe she’s thinner. She puts in less hours than me at our place of business and appears to be out at more auditions, callbacks, rehearsals than I am. The little interaction I’ve had with her have shown her to be a nice, focused, relaxed girl…” Click here for more!
UPTA: Lessons from the Other Side of the Table
In early February, I attended UPTA in Memphis, Tennessee, as both an actor and producer. A theatre’s Stage Manager would be in production over the weekend, and since I have worked with them so much and was already going to Memphis, it made sense to offer them a hand. What I learned walking around the hotel and the audition site with a red producers’ badge was quite insightful, as a person whose primary function is as an actor.
Why did I sign up for this again…?
Sometimes we forget how lucky we are. My body is exhausted and overworked, my mind is stressed and anxious, and my emotions are a roller coaster due to so many changes, ever present around me. I’m overwhelmed with a whirlwind of responsibilities that come with my job and occasionally I feel like my company has an artistic monopoly over me since I am contractually bound to them for a year and unable to involve myself in any other work. Recently I have been injured and often too blasé to attend dance classes or the like. I’ve felt a bit too dispassionate and drained to seek out live performances or other inspiration. And most upsetting, I’ve been completely consumed with so many seemingly important things that I no longer find time to sing outside of work…not even in the shower or around the house!
The Green Room 