Greetings! From The Sweetest Place On Earth!
Hello All!
My name is Spencer, and I’m the new guy here at The Green Room. I’ve been working in the Industry my entire life, but I wasn’t always a Lighting Tech. I started out as an actor (as many of us Technicians did) and eventually worked my way over to the Technical side of the stage. Once I started lighting work, I never looked back because it gave me an opportunity to look at the world in a different way. It really gave me a creative outlet, and I ended up having knack for lights.
While I do traditional theatre while I’m in school and at Local Theatres, most of my experience lies in the world of Amusement Park Entertainment, work of a very different nature than normal plays and musicals. Rather than doing one show a night, I am in charge of running 5 shows a day, each lasting about 30 minutes. These can range from regular song and dance concerts, to educational shows about the wonders of Recycling! Before going off to college, I used to be a technician for SeaWorld for about 2 years, and currently, I am acting as the Master Electrician for Hersheypark, located in Hershey, PA, AKA “The Sweetest Place on Earth”. Normally, I reside in Texas, where I attend school to get my Degree in Tech Theatre, and hopefully I will go on to own a design company.
I have plenty of fun stories from the stage, as well as a plethora of opinions on almost all things technical, so feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll feel free to ask questions of you!
“Know what we get to do today? We get to be actors.”
“God, I hate auditioning!”
How many times have you heard this? Maybe even said it yourself? Despite auditioning being a major part of the job, many actors I’ve talked to really dislike it. Here’s a secret: We don’t have to hate it! But it’s going to take some work on your end. I’m not asking you to love it. I’m asking you to be open to the idea of changing your mindset.
There’s a couple of ways to do this:
1) Focus on the positives. If you hate auditioning, you’re entering the environment with a negative mindset. There are probably plenty of positives around you that you don’t even realize. Think about a bad day that you had. I’m willing to bet you found every tiny thing that was wrong with your day. (This has been me more times than I could count). If you’re on your way to the audition thinking about how much you hate auditioning, you’re going to continue to find negatives. Let’s change that. Instead, start with some positives. How’s the weather? Are you going to get to see some friends there? Maybe try thinking about where this could lead you – whether it’s a big step or a small one.
2) Think of audition days as “a day you get to act.” I’m a big baseball fan. Baseball involves a lot of ups and downs. Take Daniel Nava for example.
Photo credit: Jim Rogash/Getty Images North America
40 shows in 3 weeks….. Bring it on!
On my course the first big season is ETA finals. It’s spoken about from day 1 as our first big test, a slight fear surrounds it but you think ‘Oh May is so far away’ and then all of a sudden it’s upon you and then over. It’s a completely different experience to anything else I’ve done and not something I particularly want to go through again in a rush.
So what is ETA finals? ETA is European Theatre Arts and the third year students have to devise a 20 minute performance and then read out a 10 minute long essay. There is 40 something students and only a few of them paired up to create a show together so we had approximately 43 shows to prepare, load, tech and perform in 3 weeks. Each of the first year stage managers gets assigned 2 shows that they have to look after; so you attend rehearsals, run technical rehearsals, source props and set, and cue the show if required. The shows and crew were split into two venues so we had a team of 11 for approximately 22 shows.
See you in three weeks Mum!
Earlier this year I worked on a small scale children’s tour in the Stage Management department. The tour started in a local city that is commutable to however it would’ve taken a long time and would’ve been very expensive as I was required every day, therefore I stayed with one of the staff who I have known for a couple of years now. After that we went to another city and then I moved back down south to go back to university. I was basically home for a week, during my easter holidays so here’s what I’ve learnt about touring!
- You will never pack enough stuff for the duration of the tour!
I thought I was quite good at packing considering I come home from university quite often however apparently that is not true. I haven’t got a lot of outfit choices, I forgot to pack enough black clothing and I didn’t have some essentials (in my defense they are were left down south meaning there was no chance of them coming on tour with me).
- Living with fellow crew members is the best thing you could do!
The musical director and I moved into our Production Manager’s house for a week. It was such a fun time as we would come home and then just chill on his very comfy sofas while watching some crap television. However it was also productive; while I was writing up cue lists the musical director was simply sat opposite me if I had any questions and vice versa. Hopefully this will be replicated at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Read more…
Life is a Cabaret
It’s amazing how a new set of goals can renew a person’s sense of self and purpose. After audition season ends in New York City (which if you were here this year, you know was particularly grueling), I always take an unofficial break from the grind, hiding under a rock until I can look at myself in the mirror again. With all of my recent talk about waving the white flag, I woke up one day last week and decided to put my money where my mouth is: I decided to give my next best career choice a chance to be my first best career choice.
One thing I’ve been doing since I was 14 is choreographing for musical theatre. In some ways, it beats performing for me by a long shot. Most of them are logistic – no 4am wake-ups, no crowded holding rooms…a decent paycheck. Some of them, however, do go deeper. There’s something amazing about auditioning a group of dancers, and getting to watch a little piece of something I created performed for the first time by eager hopefuls. I get to pick and choose the people who are ultimately going to better my work by bringing their own unique talents and personalities to the table. Finally, I get to think up some crazy shit and try it out on young, flexible human guinea pigs who fear for their lives on a daily basis! Ok, kidding about that last one. Half kidding. Then, I get to sit in the audience on opening night with my family and friends and gaze at what I built come to life. I watch, and I think, “Wow. That came from my brain. I’m really good at this”. Perhaps that’s where choreographing trumps performing for me: I have never once truly doubted that I am skilled and capable.
Top 10 ways to jumpstart your stalled acting career
Ever felt like your career was stalled? Who hasn’t?
I was exhausted after The King’s Whore closed, and for the first time ever, took a couple of months to rest without focusing on my acting career. Well, if by “rest” you mean, train for and run the New York Marathon 😉
Seriously, though, I took a break for a month or two from EPAs and emailing my headshot multiple times a day and all of those other “hustle” things that we normally do. And then it was Christmas. And New Year. And before I knew it, I was feeling pretty stalled.
Luckily, I’ve been back on track lately and all about the hustle. And I can’t wait to see things start paying off! In the meantime, I’ve put together a list of the 10 ways to jumpstart your stalled acting career. Here are my favorite ways to be productive and to get inspired to action!
Counting Down to G-Day in 0
BOOM. That’s the sound effect of my college count-down hitting zero, NOT the sound of my plane exploding. That would be an awful way to start out in the real world.
Because it’s time. Real world time. On a (hopefully nice) Saturday in May, I graduate with my B.A. in Theatre Arts and then I’ll hop on a plane, on my way out west to California. When I wrote my first count-down post, the west coast was never even considered on my list of cities post-graduation. Yet here I am, plane tickets in hand and seriously considering living in San Francisco once my summer job wraps up.
It’s been a strange year, even for it being my senior year. I’m cast in a show! I dislocate my kneecap and spend three months in physical therapy. I lost a good friend of mine this last year too. Directing my first show – I’m also organizing, asm-ing and house managing a bunch of other shows. I rubbed elbows with a lot of poets and started getting more into that scene. I went to my first stage combat workshop and joined the Society of American Fight Directors. And this is the short version of a strange, long, wonderful year, accomplishing all of those goals I set out to do.
The Stage Managers’ Association
You can normally tell when a Stage Manager is extremely busy – they tend to drop off the face of society. That’s been me of late and it will only get worse as the summer season really gets going this month. But what is currently at the forefront of my mind is the Stage Managers’ Association. The Annual Meeting is in NYC next Friday in the Equity building (any Stage Manager or theatre professional interested in attending – you don’t have to be a member – can find specific details on the SMA website: http://www.stagemanagers.org). During that meeting there will be the annual election to fill any open Board seats and a panel on working in Regional Theatre which I will be on.
The SMA began as a way to make the Stage Manager voice heard more clearly in the Actors’ Equity Association. With that achieved, the organization has since operated as a networking entity for Stage Managers (Equity and non-Equity) across the country (by the by, England has its own SMA as well). It’s membership-based so an annual fee will allow you access to job postings, forums, mentoring opportunities, and access to most any event that requires a fee to enter. I’m especially excited about the launch of the new website this summer which will increase our capabilities to be an even more useful resource for any Stage Manager (student to the well-seasoned professional) and any prospective employer or educator.
The Green Room 