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I would definitely audition. I haven't done anything with CCT (although if my latest audition doesn't work out, I'm going to give Secret Garden a shot), but I'm sure even a halfway-decent audition will help you out if you try out for anything else there.
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Dec 20, 2011 00:34
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Any advice on an acting resume? It took me forever to get my professional one in order (and the help of my brother, who assisted me in basically scrapping it and starting over - which led almost immediately to job offers), so the idea of having this ready for tomorrow night is killing my nitpicky little brain. Most of the templates I'm seeing are: quote:Personal info: Is this pretty much what people are looking for? On dialects: God, they are so loving hard for me. That said, I've done two different versions of a New York accent that I like to think were distinct from each other (and people told me they were, so hopefully they weren't just being needlessly polite) in The Odd Couple and Wait Until Dark. I'm certainly capable of them, but just like memorization is something I have to work at, I can't just whip an accent out of thin air. I've never had the chance to really work with someone on one, either. I'm really hoping I can manage to slip my way into the pro stuff so I can get some more brutal feedback than I've been getting. "You did so good!" isn't exactly the level of critique I'm going for. Though I had two different people on two different nights (one of which came to see the next show I was in and made the same comment) tell me I reminded them of Vince Vaughn. I couldn't decide if they meant that as a compliment or if I should just never, ever walk on a stage again.
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Dec 20, 2011 04:22
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I could send you mine if you'd like, though I'm told mine is sort of old-fashioned in it's formatting. That said, it's worked for me for 30 years so gently caress haters 
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Dec 20, 2011 04:33
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I appreciate that. MY ADDRESS, if you don't mind (I'll come back and edit my address out). I love structure, so a format that looks more archaic and less "I act because I couldn't hack it in my academic classes" would be nice. Especially since all the examples I've seen online have looked awful to my eyes. On a somewhat unrelated note, we're doing a little show filled with locally created content called "Conversations In Cars" where all of the bits are, well, exactly that. We're keeping it family friendly and the price of admission will be whatever the price of gas is that day. The idea came from one of our cooler members, who directed Wait Until Dark back in October and is just all around a pretty great person. Reading through the scripts, the quality is about what I expected from everyone. Mine is squeaky clean and a joke that could end up on a Disney show (parents constantly spelling things to hide them from the kid, who when asked what they did today at the end reveals they took second place in the spelling bee), but I think it turned out all right. The quality on the others ranges from being surprisingly good to exactly as bad as I feared. I haven't quite decided how I tell one of my friends that his script was nearly unreadable. I typed mine up in a hurry and missed a word, so the woman acting as the central hub for our submissions asked me what I meant to say. She made a suggestion, but I gave her another word to use since the one she suggested was used two lines before. The repetition would have been bulky and displeasing. No sooner had I typed up the response to her than I opened his and found two characters calling each other "honey" in back to back lines of dialogue. I hadn't even had time to hit send. English major vs. art school dropout. English major: 0, dropout: 1. -- Goons are the best. That is all. Geekboy fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Dec 20, 2011 |
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Dec 20, 2011 05:39
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Finished my second drama last night. I guess that means I owe whoever wants it a look at my comedy. It's set on the last day of school before Thanksgiving break (timely, I know). In other news, more royalties came in today!
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Dec 20, 2011 07:41
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Are any of you lot fight people and if so, are any of you going to Winter Wonderland?
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Dec 20, 2011 23:57
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The Stage Management Intensive sounds really interesting, but I can't afford it.
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Dec 21, 2011 03:28
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That looks really interesting, though I'm not sure I'm quite ready to surround myself with theatre people in such an isolated environment. Actors be crazy. Audition went well, but it doesn't appear I'm getting a call back. There's only one adult male role and there weren't any women there tonight auditioning for the character's wife who were close to me in age (one was maybe 19 and the other was pushing 50), so even if I had the best audition for the part, I probably don't match the rest of the cast. If I had to nitpick what I was doing, I'd say I should have gone for less of a West Virginia drawl in my reading since the play is set in 1967 North Carolina, but it never occurred to me during my cold reading. There was another guy there who was older than me and instantly screamed the character as soon as I saw him, so between his audition and the lack of adult women I saw tonight, I'm not exactly surprised. I did have a nice conversation with the director and took a moment to thank him for the opportunity and assure him I'd be auditioning for future productions as well. So I actually accomplished exactly what I set out to do tonight. Thanks a ton, Goons. You're all the best.
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Dec 21, 2011 03:53
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Geekboy I'm happy you didn't do the accent even though you feel otherwise. I have sat on the other side of the table, and I prefer to see an actor natural before I ask them to try anything accent wise. =) Often times the accents are glaringly awful or inaccurate, or the actor is focusing to hard on making the accent authentic they forget to listen to their scene partner. I like to see natural talent first and then I am able to keep the actor in mind for other productions if they aren't as good at the accent I require for the production they auditioned for.
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Dec 21, 2011 04:51
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Geekboy posted:That looks really interesting, though I'm not sure I'm quite ready to surround myself with theatre people in such an isolated environment. Actors be crazy. It's true, actors be though I don't recall it getting all that crazy, mostly because of the exhaustion. Geekboy posted:Audition went well, but it doesn't appear I'm getting a call back. Yeah, that happens, but good for you for going out for it! (Man, I hope that doesn't sound condescending.) Geekboy posted:I did have a nice conversation with the director and took a moment to thank him for the opportunity and assure him I'd be auditioning for future productions as well. So I actually accomplished exactly what I set out to do tonight. Good man. That's the most important thing of all, you've got to know people. Connections are so important.
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Dec 21, 2011 06:00
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For anyone interested, I did this program this past summer and it was fantastic: http://www.moscowart.org/theater/history.html It's a bit expensive, but you get to spend five weeks studying Stanislavsky's process and learning Michael Chekov's techniques. Throw in Russian movement classes, various masterclasses and studying Russian theatre history with Anatoly Smeliansky, it makes for a busy time. Totally changed how I view myself and the art.
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Dec 21, 2011 20:21
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Doorstop Hera, my latest drama: http://www.box.com/signup/collablink/d_99702517/357caaf5a551b. Hope it's clear what Doreen is "quoting" in this draft. 17 pages into a new comedy. I'm on fire with it; once this draft is down, gonna print it out and go through it again. [It's tentatively titled Boys vs. Girls: Armageddon.]
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Dec 28, 2011 08:54
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Just graduated. Need to finish grad school applications, Northwestern and Columbia are due in a few days. I get a couple weeks polish for my other schools, but it's Northwestern or Columbia that I'm hoping to attend... Bad thing about graduating in the Fall semester: I'm now unemployed, no longer a student, and have to spend a few hundred on application fees and GRE reports immediately post-graduation. Anyone in this thread going to SETC this year? I'm going with my school's group, but I'm done with the job fair. I spent so much money to be told that I need to pay people to hire me as an unpaid intern. gently caress that. Besides, if I stage managed as a day job then I'd be stuck doing it forever.
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Dec 28, 2011 11:11
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I had such mixed responses at SETC. I had offers for paid lighting tech positions with some companies and I had other companies tell me I wasn't qualified for a tech internship and this was after I had already finished my undergrad degree. I got my grad school acceptance letter the day after Thanksgiving so I am skipping SETC but probably going to USITT conference next year since that will be closer for me.
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Dec 28, 2011 14:44
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Honestly a huge amount of tech people are pretty dismissive of degrees and would always rather have someone with experience. Doing free or poorly paid work is the fastest way to meet (and hopefully) impress people who will hire you for better stuff. I don't think I hav ever met an LD who didn't spend a few years humping feeder.
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Dec 28, 2011 16:39
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bunnielab posted:Honestly a huge amount of tech people are pretty dismissive of degrees and would always rather have someone with experience. Doing free or poorly paid work is the fastest way to meet (and hopefully) impress people who will hire you for better stuff. I don't think I hav ever met an LD who didn't spend a few years humping feeder. It's also a great way of figuring out what you want to do, since any program that's worth your time and money will train you in every non-design position you're likely to encounter and give you a few shots at designing, usually in different areas. If I didn't go through the trouble of getting a degree, I wouldn't have been able to play with sound design, get a playwriting credit, learn how to design and execute large and logistically improbable puppets, direct a huge loving musical, or run a special effects team that introduced pneumatics systems into my university's repertoire. It gives you the opportunity to do lots of crazy poo poo, and, more importantly, it lets you have the money to do it. Christ, my university gave me $100, shop access, and interested techies just so I could make a prop cat's head explode. In business terms, yeah, techies are some of the last people who don't really need a degree if they have the talent or experience. But that's kinda beside the point. Theatre programs do their teaching by giving you a playground and creative freedom. That's worth the tuition, I think.
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Jan 2, 2012 20:50
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You should also be able to leave with a bunch of work contacts. That to me seemed as valuable as the piece o paper. Hell, I only lasted a year in college and I quit because I was getting so much work that first summer I didn't see the point of going back. You also need some balls to get tech jobs, I have never taken a gig really knowing how to do the job I was being hired for. If you are a reasonable smart person and arent a weird troll (which sadly describes a lot of hands) people will often take a chance on you. This post is being typed from an airport bar from which I am on my way to my second ever freelance production management job. Do I know what I am doing? Maybe, but I am here because I did a similar job really well and someone decided to give me a shot. As an aside, always trade money from your day rate for per diem money, airport and hotel bars will kill you over time.
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Jan 2, 2012 21:54
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Wolfgang Pauli posted:The big thing to focus on while being a college techie is experimentation. One should go out of his way to play with things then, because there's not nearly that much leeway commercially. Seriously, I cannot say how valuable college theatre is in the right environment. Speaking as director, it's so important to get that experimentation in your style done before you get out in a world with people telling you what show you're going to direct, who you're going to cast, and what style you'll be working with. Of course, it's not like that at the top-tier of directors, but I guess we can't all be Broadway directors. Every director has to attend college, when you can direct Hamlet and throw so many metaphors, color imagery, and montages-to-music that it's practically unrecognizable.
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Jan 2, 2012 22:50
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Oh, as an actor or director it is essential to get that level of training and experience. On the tech side, there is usually an abundance of work so personal connections matter much more. Also a company in DC did a silent Hamlet and it was pretty amazing.
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Jan 2, 2012 22:56
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I was just reading up on The Enchanted Island as a friend of mine is working on the production and I am really excited about it. It is an opera that combines the worlds and characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I am not going to see it live but sometime in January they are broadcasting a performance to movie theaters around the world and I really hope to catch it then.
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Jan 3, 2012 00:43
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Over the last few days, I read Albee's "Who is Sophee", "In the Boom Boom Room", and "As Bees in Honey Drown." Trying to get through "The Piano Lesson" but it's dense with prior action. It seems like something that'd make a lot more sense on stage.
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Jan 3, 2012 03:32
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Hey Ksrugi I sent you a message trying to get some details on the program you did =) e: Read "Fool for Love" by Shepard. It was awesome. Loved the dynamics between the characters.
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Jan 6, 2012 17:40
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Folks, I have about 2 months to read and select a 30-min max One Act for my directing class. I'm looking to do something dangerous. Maybe scary or disturbing. Any ideas on authors or anthologies of work that might be fruitful? For instance, I like Bash: Latter Day Plays for the dark turns it takes with each monologue's denouement. I've seen some Sarah Kane (done badly, albeit) that seemed like that author is also in the right direction, though somewhat too over the top. I'd like some atmosphere and a slow burn towards something dangerous or shocking. If you have any leads, just give me a name or title and I'll look them up. Thanks! This thread has always been fruitful.
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Jan 9, 2012 02:04
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How many actors and what sets/sound/rigs do you have?
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Jan 9, 2012 06:33
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My default suggestion is always Artaud's Spurt of Blood. It's extremely dark and directors have staged it to last anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours even though the script is just 4 pages long so there is a lot of flexibility in how you stage it. Other news: I just applied for an LD job in Chicago. Hoping to hear back soon as it would be something great to do before I start grad school in August.
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Jan 9, 2012 16:43
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Golden Bee posted:How many actors and what sets/sound/rigs do you have? Burger Crime posted:My default suggestion is always Artaud's Spurt of Blood. It's extremely dark and directors have staged it to last anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours even though the script is just 4 pages long so there is a lot of flexibility in how you stage it Perhaps it is also because I would like to work on something less expressionistic or surrealistic. That's why 4:48 Psychosis gives me pause. I'd rather do something like David Harrower's Blackbird or Lee Blessing's Down the Road, both of which are unfortunately full length.
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Jan 9, 2012 23:51
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Are you ok with Brecht? If you can do two related works He who says no/He who says yes is something I have always wanted to direct and could work well for you. That's awesome that you wrote about Artaud, I loved writing about the Avant Garde in undergrad. My favorite paper I wrote though was for my World Theatre course I wrote about romanticism and melodrama in the Mario games and how it compared to Romantic plays mostly Victor Hugo's Hernani.
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Jan 10, 2012 05:47
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Ooh, yay! I'm excited this thread exists - I've never actually ventured into Creative Convention before. I've been out of the theatre scene for a while, the last things I did were "The Vagina Monologues" at my college last March, and a community theatre revue last April. Both were awesome experiences. Especially the revue, because I got to do some choreography. Compared to where I grew up, there is really no community theatre where I live now. That's a big reason why I want to move back to Long Island. Plus I miss seeing shows on Broadway. Haha, I just realized that I'm typing this as I'm wearing a t-shirt from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Anyway, I'm a huge musical theatre geek so if anyone wants to chat about musicals or get on the phone and sing really loudly, I'm totally down. PM me.
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Jan 10, 2012 12:04
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This is somewhat related but more unrelated to my last post: Proposals for a Senior Year department show are due Feb 15th. I have a few ideas for shows already, but no idea about budgeting. We are required to give a breakdown of our $2000 budget according to this: quote:State how you will stage this production given the limited technical support of Black Box productions (primarily pulled costumes, limited set/props, standard Haugen light plots, etc.) Give a specific breakdown of your $2,000 budget If someone could give me a ballpark idea of how budgets are usually split on your average show I would be better prepared to allocate money instead of shooting in the dark. Like how lighting is usually X% of the budget, costumes are %, and so on.
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Jan 13, 2012 17:56
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rantmo posted:Are any of you lot fight people and if so, are any of you going to Winter Wonderland? So close to going to that but messed up my shoulder. I get nervous though because I've haven't done stage combat in years.
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Jan 17, 2012 05:00
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Wolfgang Pauli posted:Just graduated. Need to finish grad school applications, Northwestern and Columbia are due in a few days. I get a couple weeks polish for my other schools, but it's Northwestern or Columbia that I'm hoping to attend... Are you planning on going straight in to grad school or taking the "year" that most grad schools suggest before applying? I haven't been through any of this yet, I've just watched all the other undergraduates trying to figure this out. I've been working more steadily in Chicago for theatre than my school, but I'm keeping my options open.
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Jan 17, 2012 05:05
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TotallySmurfedHer posted:So close to going to that but messed up my shoulder. I get nervous though because I've haven't done stage combat in years. They do a lot of good stuff at the basic level, and plenty of classes you can just watch. Lectures too. Are you in the Chicago vicinity? Edit: reading is fundamental! Fight Jam Chicago does monthly stuff and my friends R&D Choreography are about to do a big smallsword class. Drop me a pm or an email (rantmo at the Gmail) if you want to talk shop or Chicago stuff. rantmo fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Jan 17, 2012 |
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Jan 17, 2012 05:15
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rantmo posted:They do a lot of good stuff at the basic level, and plenty of classes you can just watch. Lectures too. Are you in the Chicago vicinity? Yeah, I'm a west suburbs gal. I never heard about that stuff, I will definitely pm you. Thanks!
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Jan 17, 2012 06:44
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Named Ashamed posted:Folks, I have about 2 months to read and select a 30-min max One Act for my directing class. I want a One Act that is as critical of Religion as I can get without loosing its integrity by going overboard. This is why I like Bash: the latter day plays by LaBute so much. He never allows hysterics, he simply gives an even narrative about how normal people use religion and their darker natures to allow brutal behavior. So if anyone knows an unrelentingly critical One Act towards religions, especially Christianity or Mormonism, please send it my way. It doesn't have to be angry (though I would prefer it), but it should cut to the bone. And I'm not interested in Durang and his ex-Catholic bullshit. That's always more about him moping about how he is personally effected by Catholic upbringing than religion in general. I read 80% of his work one week in the summer and just got loving tired of almost all of it being the same sad, limp sniffle about being ex-Catholic.
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Jan 18, 2012 14:30
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I forgot how awesome Seascape with Sharks and Dancer was. Some of the lovely ladies and gents on the dating forum who are trying to avoid mentally unsound folks should read this play. It seems too many can't recognize it. Anyways, anyone have any favorite plays?
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Jan 19, 2012 18:07
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Reading "Arcadia" now, and it's amazing.
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Jan 20, 2012 01:03
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I don't know about favorite plays. For contemporary playwrights though, I like a lot of Steven Dietz plays and for older works I love Ionesco. When I was ASM for The Bald Soprano and The Lesson it was one of the most amazing experiences in my theatre career. Edit: Also Rane Arroyo. I was lucky enough to have him as a professor when I was in university and his plays and poems are hella amazing and he inspired/motivated me a lot. Burger Crime fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jan 20, 2012 |
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Jan 20, 2012 03:44
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Golden Bee posted:Reading "Arcadia" now, and it's amazing. I have yet to read that. I will have to look in to it. I love Proof, The Cherry Orchard, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Laramie Project, Plaza Suite, The Taming of the Shrew, Dracula, Sweeney Todd, The Miracle Worker, Wit, A Christmas Carol, Pygmalion, Our Town, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Rabbit Hole, Buried Child, The House of Blue Leaves, Lost in Yonkers, The Heidi Chronicles, Arsenic and Old Lace, I Am My Own Wife, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Dog Sees God, Almost, Maine, Hot L Baltimore, Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods, Antigone, Twelve Angry Men, Balm in Gilead, :  : A lot more plays than I thought. I'll probably get razzed for this, but I can't stand Rent or Rocky Horror Picture Show. Any suggestions on contemporary playwrights? I haven't been doing as much reading as I should.
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Jan 20, 2012 23:58
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TotallySmurfedHer posted:I'll probably get razzed for this, but I can't stand Rent or Rocky Horror Picture Show. My brother! (or sister) Yeah, I have huge hate-ons for both those shows, and what makes it worse for me is that the company that I pal around with and run the boards for is probably doing the RHS in October. I weep. EDIT - Okay, Rent had one redeeming feature. I want an answering machine where, instead of beeping, it lets you say "beep." That's all. I can do without the rest of it. hexwren fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jan 21, 2012 |
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Jan 21, 2012 00:20
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TotallySmurfedHer posted:I'll probably get razzed for this, but I can't stand Rent or Rocky Horror Picture Show. Rocky Horror I like, at least the film version. It's not brilliant, sure, but I can't help but like it. I've never seen it on stage, mostly because I've only ever known of productions that were basically just aping the film and gently caress that. Rent. Oh man, gently caress Rent. I used to absolutely loving love Rent, the girl I was dating when I was 16 was obsessed with it and I got swept along in the rush. I ate up all Larson's bullshit platitudes. I saw the first touring production when it came to Chicago and that's when it all started to fall apart because it was loving awful. I saw it the second time it came to town too because Anthony Rapp was on the tour and I still loved the character but oh my god he was even worse. Maybe he's gotten better with age but he was this spastic, twitchy, note-flubbing mess. Worse, it wasn't that long after that that I started actually thinking about the story. It was the first time I ever thought anyone should shut the gently caress up, get haircuts and jobs. I have subsequently softened my stance on the show a smidge and I still get songs from it stuck in my head. Not the ones I like, mind you. The music isn't that great, the book is weak and as I said, the characters are just awful. I will stop my screed now.
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Jan 21, 2012 01:32
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