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T-Bone posted:Sup BFA buddy, I actually did a thread in ask/tell sort of about that last year that's in archives somewhere (OSheaman was in there too being awesome) that seemed to go pretty well. Sup buddy!!!  That's so cool! I agree! Unfortunately I don't have the upgrade that let's me view old threads  What year are you going into? Do you like the program?
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Aug 17, 2011 06:40
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RebBrownies posted:Sup buddy!!! I'm going to be a junior. I like it a lot! We're kind of multidisciplinary in our approach which both rules and sucks (because Meisner is clearly superior). My two main instructors are fantastic thank the lord my class is pretty friendly, so that's probably the key. This year is the most acting intensive so I'm really looking forward to getting back to school. I get to take: Shakespeare II Text Analysis Directing I Directing II (not part of the major but I'll probably take it anyway) Voice Production I Voice Production II Movement Performance-Rehearsal Styles (theatre of cruelty yesssss) Special Topics: Meisner/Chekhov Unfortunately I'm dead broke and didn't have enough money for the London Tour but oh well. edit: Also we're doing some...questionable plays this year, but oh well. At least one of them is: http://www.panix.com/userdirs/meejr/html/summertime.html woooooooo T-Bone fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 06:52
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Hah I was just reading the old BFA thread with the mentions of Jack Nicholson. In my acting and directing classes my prof always talked about Shelley Duvall's attitude on set of the Shining compared to Nicholson's as examples of how to be unprofessional and how to be professional respectively. Also my post graduate lack of theatre work may be ending soon. I just interviewed to be an LD for a national touring show! Should hear back in a week or two!
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Aug 17, 2011 08:09
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Break a leg Burger Crime! I really like the sound of your program T-bone!  But I think it is good you are taking different acting teacher styles, sometimes adhering to only one method can limit you ! A friend of mine goes to a school where they only focus on Sanford Meisner, Stanislavsky isn't even in their curriculum. They just start and end with Meisner!
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Aug 17, 2011 13:06
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Meisner is very popular in certain scenes. I would say it is far and away the most common "method" taught in Chicago and I know LA loves it a lot too.
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Aug 18, 2011 04:44
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I like the Meisner repetition exercises because the majority of my class (including myself) have yet to really give organic line deliveries. Everything is so posey and self-aware. But I really think that it's important to grasp the history of theatre by studying some of the older teachers. Uta Hagen's introductory chapters to A Challenge for the Actor really helped humble me as a performer.
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Aug 18, 2011 05:19
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Yeah, I think that's why I tend to believe Meisner should at least be emphasized more heavily than anything else. It breaks a habit (self-aware acting/indicating/posturing whatever you want to call it) that is the single most common (and single most scene killing) trick that aspiring actors have. I guess it's common because acting lends itself so easily to exhibition (particularly when it comes to the actual competition of getting a part). Unfortunately most actors don't realize that they're just putting themselves in their head and disconnecting themselves from their scene partners and the story.
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Aug 18, 2011 05:38
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Random question: Does anybody know any good plays or one acts that deal with space travel, the Moon, or other stellar themes? Emphasis on the Moon desired.
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Aug 18, 2011 20:51
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Named Ashamed posted:Random question: Does anybody know any good plays or one acts that deal with space travel, the Moon, or other stellar themes? Emphasis on the Moon desired. I've never seen it done but: http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/874
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Aug 18, 2011 22:00
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I found an avant-garde play about the moon at a used book store a few years ago and the playwright's note says it has never been performed. I will give you the title when I find the script. Edit:It is called "The moon is a skull of dust with dark wings" The playwright is Cora Brooks. I liked the little bit I read of it, but its hard/impossible to find a copy. Burger Crime fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Aug 20, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 22:11
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Do any of you guys of horror stories of things gone horribly wrong? Technical or performance wise. For my senior these project in high school I teamed up with a friend to do a 1 hour adaptation of Amadeus. I played Salieri (hooray for gender-bending) and was the light designer. The thing is I had no grasp of what colors or angles look good on stage seeing as I had no prior experience. I had so many light cues that the light board operator was 17 behind when I got backstage, and the lights changed to often it looked more like a rave than a play. Performance wise during the same production I walked out on stage when it wasn't my scene and messed up the continuity completely. I just stood there alone on stage until they blacked out the lights. It was mortifying XD
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Aug 21, 2011 22:09
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One thing an old British professor taught me, if you're ever stuck on stage try to rescue the play and soldier on; if it's all fallen apart and there's no hope, tell a funny joke and then walk offstage.
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Aug 22, 2011 19:19
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My play got picked up for a single showing in Washington, Illinois. Very happy about that. I've narrowed down the one opening in NYC to two directors who're both looking at the script. I've seen a show one of them did and really liked it. I'm hoping it's a good match.
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Aug 22, 2011 19:33
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RebBrownies posted:Do any of you guys of horror stories of things gone horribly wrong? Technical or performance wise. This isn't "horribly wrong," it's just one that amuses me. My college does some outdoor shows during the summer. In one play, an actor was onstage just about to start his monologue when a duck lands on the stage. (This is a duck used to being fed by college students and so wholly unafraid of people.) So, in the spirit of show-must-go-on, he gives his entire monologue to the duck. I don't have first-hand knowledge of either of these, but I heard both in undergrad. They're both West Side Story anecdotes, but I don't know if it's the same production or what. In story one, the actor playing Chino enters from the wrong side of the stage, so when he shoots, Maria is in the line of fire and not Tony. The actress playing Maria takes this to its logical conclusion and drops. Tony cradles her in his arms and starts to sing. The rest of the show plays out as normal, but with Maria being dead. Story two, the actor playing Chino forgets to bring his gun with him for that scene. Left with no weapon, he yells "poison boot!" and kicks Tony in the shins. Tony drops, show continues as normal. One of the other stories I like I remember... Betty Buckley (maybe?) telling on some talk show. At any rate, it was a Grizabella from Cats. So she goes out to sing Memory which, whatever else is true about it, is THE SONG from Cats. Except instead of being all into it, the audience is laughing like mad. Eventually she figures out that on her way out of the dressing room, her tail snagged a bra, and she's been dragging a bra around the stage the whole time.
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Aug 22, 2011 19:54
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Alaemon posted:This isn't "horribly wrong," it's just one that amuses me. My college does some outdoor shows during the summer. In one play, an actor was onstage just about to start his monologue when a duck lands on the stage. (This is a duck used to being fed by college students and so wholly unafraid of people.) So, in the spirit of show-must-go-on, he gives his entire monologue to the duck. That's one of the best things I've ever heard. Hell, there are more than a few from Shakespeare where the addition of a duck would be a sublime moment.
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Aug 22, 2011 20:12
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When I was crewing Thoroughly Modern Millie the male lead forgot his mic was on, went backstage and started talking about himself to the crew. It was broadcast over one of the show stopping numbers. It was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
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Aug 22, 2011 23:20
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I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie at ACTF in 2007. It was nominated for a few awards that year I think. I did not like the show at all, but during one of the music numbers a gel fell out of one of the units and landed on stage. I have not ever seen that happen during a performance and it was the only thing I laughed at during that show.
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Aug 22, 2011 23:26
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drat it, I missed the obvious joke. Take two:RebBrownies posted:Do any of you guys of horror stories of things gone horribly wrong? Technical or performance wise. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
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Aug 22, 2011 23:42
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Alaemon posted:drat it, I missed the obvious joke. Take two:
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Aug 23, 2011 00:13
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Golden Bee posted:Careful with that joke, it's an antique. I spit out my tea laughing. XD I saw a production of Sweeney Todd where Sweeney and Mrs.L were singing to the chair that was descending from the first electric, and the clip slipped and the chair just plummeted down on to the stage. They just carried on like there wasn't a problem with projectile furniture.
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Aug 23, 2011 01:01
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T'was the Port Washington Pirate Festival, two summers ago, we were having our first run-through of the big fight show on the site. We had some light pyro going off in the rocks well behind us, some re-enactors firing muskets into the air and a cannon being fired off as fast as it could be loaded. As is so often the case, it was the canon that was the problem. Actually, it was Tyler, one of the fighters that was the problem. It was a three-person phrase, and at precisely the wrong moment, Tyler lost his footing and wound up a foot away from the barrel of the canon as my friend (and one of the violence designers for the show) pulled the trigger (well he pulled a string, but same thing). He eventually stood, more-or-less under his own power but understandably rattled. Canons like these obviously don't shoot projectiles, but they do ignite black powder and launch little bits of aluminum foil at something slightly higher than the speed of sound. The concussive force rang his bell but good. He had the presence of mind, in that split second between realizing that he was in the worst place on the field and his run-in with the physics of warfare, to cover his head and turn away. He was riddled with chunks of foil though. Ultimately the EMTs were called and since they had absolutely no experience with superficial abrasions resulting from canons at point-goddamned-blank range, they took him to the ER. When the attending physician asked him what caused his injuries and he responded "a canon," the doctor literally dropped their pen. He was alright though, and fought the rest of the weekend (except one bit that would have involved him falling into Lake Michigan). He did have to scrub vigorously with an antibacterial soap for several weeks thereafter and he had to patch his costume, as it too had been riddled with canon blast. He also had to endure the nicknames "Grapeshot" and "Target" for some time. I've got gobs of things going wrong stories that I can tell. Maybe I'll do Richard III vs. King Lear's weather later on.
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Aug 23, 2011 01:39
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There are two that come to mind from my (very) brief stint as an actor. Neither one rises to the level of "disaster," they were just the randomness of live performance. In the script, Van Helsing asks me a question, I give a big crazy speech, Van Helsing asks me a follow-up question, and I launch into the next crazy speech. One night, though, Van Helsing asks me the same question twice. I was still in high-school (and no one had every briefed me on how to handle this situation before!) so I said "I dare not tell you more! But if you want to know about..." and launched into my next one. Later that year, same theatre group, different show. We were doing Wind in the Willows (I was a weasel!) and the kid playing an otter had his nose fall off in the middle of the scene. We all pretended it didn't happen and then when it came time to leave, I just kicked it offstage and laughed like it was part of the weasels being jerks.
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Aug 23, 2011 01:42
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So I am looking at grad schools for next fall. Some of the NAST schools only require a 2.5 cumulative GPA for admission (University of Memphis, University of Montana). I've always been told 3.0 is the minimum by my undergrad profs and other schools I am looking at do require 3.0 (Wayne State, Virginia Tech). I don't really see differences between the curriculum of the schools. Are the GPA requirements relevant to the quality of the program?
Burger Crime fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Aug 24, 2011 |
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Aug 24, 2011 06:11
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You're going for performance, right? From what I understand, MFA programs, compared to their BFA counterparts, are much more dependent on the instructor and the type of technique that said instructor prefers. That is, MFAs are much narrower in their focus (and of course more specific and detailed as a result). So, my advice would be, unless you're going to like one of those schools with incredible name recognition (Yale), go with a program that fits your goals. If you want to do film/tv, find a program that emphasizes it. If you want to do a lot of sense memory, do likewise. There's also that old adage that you should go to school where you plan to live, although I'm not sure that applies as much to acting (because of the nature of auditioning). That being said, going to school in LA/NYC wouldn't hurt. So, yeah, to not answer your question at all - maybe not worry about the GPA requirements so much and instead focus on the instructors and the area. Also, do you want to teach, eventually? That's probably the biggest advantage in getting a MFA in performance.
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Aug 24, 2011 07:03
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In my experience and from what I have heard from people auditioning for grad school, GPA doesn't play as huge a role as the audition itself. When I auditioned for Julliard I talked with a lot of the students, and most of them had low GPA's when they auditioned for the school (but Julliard kicks your rear end into a 4.0 and no social life apparently, or you get kicked out). A lot of times your GPA doesn't really predict the intensity of the program, but that being said some schools have a lame program and will accept you with a low GPA, so your best bet is to do some digging around for schools with a good reputation and really prepare for your audition. The higher your GPA, the better you look (you can handle the pressure), but I have seen people with 2.0 get into Julliard. Some Good Grad Programs : Yale, Julliard, Emerson, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca... Check playbills for ideas as well. A lot of Broadway actors list where they got their MFAs/BFAs.
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Aug 24, 2011 14:22
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Sorry should have mentioned I am in lighting design. My GPA is fine for either set of schools I mentioned. I was just wondering why some of them have the lower GPA requirements
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Aug 24, 2011 14:37
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rantmo posted:T'was the Port Washington Pirate Festival, two summers ago, we were having our first run-through of the big fight show on the site. We had some light pyro going off in the rocks well behind us, some re-enactors firing muskets into the air and a cannon being fired off as fast as it could be loaded. This is a great story but I'm laughing at the image of the guy being shot at point blank range by a Japanese camera.
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Aug 25, 2011 13:37
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OSheaman posted:This is a great story but I'm laughing at the image of the guy being shot at point blank range by a Japanese camera. poo poo's dangerous yo, it steals your soul! Also, I phone posted that whole thing, so that I only omitted some n's is impressive 
rantmo fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Aug 25, 2011 |
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Aug 25, 2011 14:40
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RebBrownies posted:Some Good Grad Programs : Yale, Julliard, Emerson, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca... Juilliard doesn't have a graduate acting program. Also, as a general rule, I don't know why anyone would care about GPA when applying to a theater grad program. If you're getting an MFA degree and they're accepting you based on the fact that you got a couple of Bs instead of a couple of Cs in undergrad classes rather than some belief by the person/people who run the program in you as a creative individual and artist, I'd say there is a big problem. (Unless you have bad grades and it's symptomatic of being a bad student and not being able to actually do well in a decent MFA program, which I suppose would be a legitimate concern) Alaemon posted:I don't have first-hand knowledge of either of these, but I heard both in undergrad. They're both West Side Story anecdotes, but I don't know if it's the same production or what. There are dozens of anecdotes about that moment in West Side Story, most of them probably made up, but all of them hilarious. My favorite is the story of when the actor playing Chino forgets the gun, but doesn't realize until he's onstage with Tony. So, in the moment, he decides to run over and strangle Tony to death. Tony dies violently and gruesomely. Then, when Maria is giving her final speech, of course she can't refer to the unused gun. So she yells at the crowd of Jets and Sharks... "How many fingers, Chino? Enough for YOU? Enough for YOU??" Rashomon fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Aug 27, 2011 |
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Aug 27, 2011 05:55
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Rashomon posted:There are dozens of anecdotes about that moment in West Side Story, most of them probably made up, but all of them hilarious. My favorite is the story of when the actor playing Chino forgets the gun, but doesn't realize until he's onstage with Tony. So, in the moment, he decides to run over and strangle Tony to death. Tony dies violently and gruesomely. Then, when Maria is giving her final speech, of course she can't refer to the unused gun. So she yells at the crowd of Jets and Sharks... "How many fingers, Chino? Enough for YOU? Enough for YOU??" I hate stories like this for two reasons. The first being the level of unprofessionalism displayed. Forgetting a loving prop, especially one that you should have had safety-checked and test fired earlier in the evening is about the sort of thing that should keep you from getting hired anywhere. Secondly, any sort of improvised violence is incredibly dangerous. There are so many things that could go wrong and could lead to permanent injury. Never, ever do that at a show, rehearsal or an audition.
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Aug 27, 2011 19:48
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rantmo posted:I hate stories like this for two reasons. The first being the level of unprofessionalism displayed. Forgetting a loving prop, especially one that you should have had safety-checked and test fired earlier in the evening is about the sort of thing that should keep you from getting hired anywhere. Secondly, any sort of improvised violence is incredibly dangerous. There are so many things that could go wrong and could lead to permanent injury. Never, ever do that at a show, rehearsal or an audition.  Presumably these stories (which are incidentally about 99% likely to be total fiction) are happening at high schools or community theaters. No need to rage at imaginary 15 year olds.
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Aug 28, 2011 05:28
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I like to think they're just modern-day theatre urban legends. It pleases me to imagine Burbage and Shakespeare and Sly sitting around telling "In this one production of Everyman..." anecdotes.
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Aug 28, 2011 06:54
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Just had my first rehearsal for The Odd Couple. Playing Oscar. What's that, you say? I'm 20 years too young for the role? You see, in Chicago, we do things differently
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Sep 13, 2011 04:12
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My friend Liz just played Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion In Winter 20-30 years ahead of schedule (she was quite good despite the age difference) and I played Mr. Jordan in Heaven Can Wait about 20 years too early as well. Huh, I guess that's the Chicago way. Where are you doing it?
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Sep 13, 2011 04:16
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rantmo posted:My friend Liz just played Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion In Winter 20-30 years ahead of schedule Crap, just reminding me of it makes me need to watch the movie again. Was also greatly annoyed to find out Stoppard's Arcadia isn't on Kindle. I was telling a friend about it and so desire a reread, but no, apparently I need to go get a dead-tree version.
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Sep 13, 2011 06:49
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rantmo posted:My friend Liz just played Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion In Winter 20-30 years ahead of schedule (she was quite good despite the age difference) and I played Mr. Jordan in Heaven Can Wait about 20 years too early as well. Huh, I guess that's the Chicago way. Stage Center Theatre, where I've done a few other shows. Nice little theater up north attached to NEIU.
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Sep 13, 2011 17:28
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OSheaman posted:Just had my first rehearsal for The Odd Couple. Playing Oscar. What's that, you say? I'm 20 years too young for the role? I just played Oscar last month at 33 against a Felix who was 27. Have fun with the role. Yes, it's a fairly light comedy by there's just enough meat on the role to make it satisfying. If you tell me you're playing Mike Talman in Wait Until Dark next (which we're in rehearsals for now) you'll make me paranoid.
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Sep 13, 2011 22:38
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Play got purchased AGAIN, this time by an Australian theater. I am officially an international playwright.
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Sep 14, 2011 01:16
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Golden Bee posted:Play got purchased AGAIN, this time by an Australian theater. I am officially an international playwright. That is so awesome! Congratulations. The hardest part about rehearsing Wait Until Dark is keeping images of Tobias in the blind lawyer's apartment out of my head. Every so often someone will giggle and mutter something about masking their scent and it ruins the tension. drat you, Arrested Development!
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Sep 14, 2011 01:44
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Anyone have any suggestions on good summer programs or internships for Playwriting (primary interest) or Direction (close second)? Or, any really solid internships in general for theatre? I'm looking at NTI's Summer Theatremaker's program, and also at a summer internship at the Playwrights' Center. There are several Shakespeare festivals that I know of, but I'm not very interested in classical repertoire at the moment.
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Sep 15, 2011 23:10
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