UPCOMING AUDITIONS
The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, April 8 through Saturday April 10 and Thursday, April 15 through Saturday April 17 at 8 p.m.; Sundays April 11 and 18 at 2 p.m.
Auditions for Actors’ Theatre’ 2010 Summer Season will be held Saturday, March 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 7 from Noon to 5 p.m. at the German Village Meeting Haus, 588 S. Third St., Columbus, Ohio 43206. Five minute appointments can be made by calling Jeanne Earhart at the cottage, 614.444.6888. Actors are asked to prepare two contrasting monologues (or read from a script), and bring a head shot and resume. Mikado actors will be auditioned on Saturday only; a pianist will be provided. Singers should prepare two G & S pieces (can be from the Mikado), one up tempo and one Ballad. Director will choose which they would like to hear.
Season Schedule:
Treasure Island, Robert Lewis Stevenson (Ken Ludwig adaption) – Thursday, May 27 – Sunday, June 27.
Directed by John Kuhn
The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan – Thursday, July 1 – Sunday, August 1 Directed by Greg Patterson
Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare – Thursday, August 5 – Sunday, September 5 Directed by John Kuhn
COLUMBUS CHILDREN'S THEATRE 512 Park Street Columbus, OH 43215
AUDITIONS: Sunday, February 21st & Monday, February 22nd Youth at 7:00 pm & Adults at 8:00 pm
Callbacks will be on Tuesday, February 23rd at 7:00 pm
• Actors should bring a current resume and a photo (snapshot is fine) and dress comfortably.
• Actors should come with a prepared song and music. An accompanist is provided. NO TAPES.
• Readings will be from the script. Scripts are available at our offices (177 E. Naghten St., Columbus, OH) and may be checked out for 3 days with a $20 deposit.
REHEARSALS: Sunday - Friday evenings 6:30 - 9:30pm (starting Feb. 26, 2010)
10 PERFORMANCES: April 15 - 25, 2010 - Evenings: Thurs., Fri. and Sat. at 7:30 pm - Matinees: Sat. & Sun. at 3pm
Questions? Call 224-6673
Adult & Teen Roles*
The Cat in the Hat
Gertrude McFuzz
Sour KangAroo
The Wickersham Brothers
Mr. & Mrs. Mayor
Horton the Elephant
Mayzie La Bird
General Gengus Khan Schmitz
The Whos
Yertle, the Turtle
All Adult actors are paid*!
*Must be 18 or over and a high school graduate
Youth Roles (ages 10 & up)
JoJo
Who Boys
Who Girls
Mr. & Mrs. Mayor
Bird Girls
Jungle Creatures
STUDENT UPDATES
Laura T. is currently appearing in an INSTANT TAX commercial.
Magee S and Heather F, among other Acting in Columbus students were cast in a 168 Hour Film Project Production - shooting is slated to start in mid-February.
Hanani T. is current in LA for Pilot Season - Good Luck Hanani!
Elaine H. (Left) is currently appearing in an on-line Industrial for OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY (posted below):
What is a profession Acting Demo Reel?
As a professional actor, it's imperative to make yourself as marketable as possible to people looking to hire you. An acting demo reel allows people to see a snapshot of your work on film, television and commercials. Casting directors, agents, managers, producers and directors all like to view acting reels at times, to get an idea of how an actor looks on camera as well as her acting ability. Generally, actors have a commercial reel showcasing their commercial work and a theatrical reel which showcases their film and television experience.
If you can, use only professional footage. Now, this tip is up for discussion among various industry groups. Some say that you can ONLY put professional footage on your demo reel, while others say that if you don't have enough professional credits to put on your demo reel, than it is okay to record a scene and put that on your reel. What I have found to be most effective, is putting your professional productions on your demo reel. This can become challenging when you haven't worked enough, or haven't been features, in a professional production.
But, what if you haven't done any of the above, and yet an agent is still requesting a demo reel. In this case, inform the agent - if they don't already know - that you haven't been featured on any professional productions as of yet. After discussing this with them, they may instruct you to make a professional short clip of a scene with someone else.
How to make a Demo Reel
1. Collect copies of all your on-camera work. This generally includes copies of any television episodes you've been in as well as feature, independent, student and short films. You should also obtain copies of any television commercials you've done.
Step 2. Separate your commercial clips from your film work. You'll want to create a separate reel for your commercial and film work.
Step 3. Watch every scene in which you appear and choose the scenes that showcase you best.
Step 4. Consider several things when choosing your best scenes to put on your reel. You want to make sure you are prominently featured in the scene and the filming is of good quality. No one will notice your talent if they are distracted by poor lighting and sound. Try to pick contrasting scenes for your demo reel. If you have a comedic scene, pair it with a more dramatic scene to show your range.
Step 5. Choose the order that your scenes will appear. Feature your most notable work first. If one of your scenes is with a famous actor or on a well-known television show, consider placing this at the beginning of your reel to catch the viewer's attention. Oftentimes, casting directors do not watch entire reels so don't save your best work for the end of your reel.
Step 6. Keep it short. Like most things in life, brevity is key in acting demo reels. Aim to keep your reel under three minutes. One-minute reels are very popular as casting executives are more likely to watch them, knowing it won't be a big time investment.
Step 7. Get opinions from other professional people on the scenes you chose. Sometimes it helps to have a second set of eyes examine things as it can be hard to be objective of your own work.
Step 8. Hire a professional editor to put your reel together. Your name and contact information should be featured at the beginning and end of your demo reel.
SAMPLE DEMO REEL:
Acting in Columbus alumni Sean Velie's Demo Reel. Sean is currently living in Los Angeles.
ACTING DEMO REELS - SONNYBOO PRODUCTIONS
Demo Reel:
2-6 minutes long from up to 12 sources
8 DVD copies
1 WEB-ready video
1 Review/Revision
$295 - Total
We can accept any source material from ¾” tape to VHS to DVD to MiniDV and most computer file types.
We will compile all your clips, add titles, and put together a demo reel of up to 6 minutes of material (generally your reels should not be longer than 3-4 minutes). We’ll also add a web-ready video in either quicktime or windows media, perfectly Standardized for uploading on most websites like Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, and pretty much every site. We can make these on CD-Rom or delivered to your flashdrive.
DVD’s will include contact information professionally printed on the disc, as well as one head shot. Additional DVD copies will be for sale for $4 each.
You will get the chance to review your reel and we will make changes as per your instructions. Any additional changes past that will accrue additional costs for editing time.
We can also shoot monologues, scenes, or auditions in our studio for an additional fee. A professional looking video always helps make the actor look good. To shoot 3 takes of a monologue or audition, and create a DVD and/or web video, we charge $49 each.
A lot of people want to shoot a scene for their reel or for an audition. We can also accommodate that, but please inquire about rates for shooting, as each scene or audition has special needs and we can work on rates.
Contact ross@productionpartnersmedia.com or call and ask for Ross at 614.888.4888
S O N N Y B O O P R O D U C T I O N S
http://www.sonnyboo.com/
P E T E R J O H N R O S S - B L O G
http://www.peterjohnross.com/
FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR ACTORS IN TRAINING
Acting represents all that human beings experience, and if you want it to be 'nice,' you will never be a serious communicator of the human experience." - Larry Moss
"Nothing so distinguishes great acting -- in any style, in any historical period -- than the feeling that the actor has the potential to 'go off' at any moment, and to unleash an explosion -- a flood of lava, that will be totally uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Great Acting always dances with danger!" - Robert Cohen
If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. [You must] reach the emotional and intellectual level of ability where you can go out stark naked, emotionally, in front of an audience." - Jack Lemon
"An actor is looking for conflict. Conflict is what creates drama. We are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don't realize they must go looking for it. Plays are written about...the extraordinary, the unusual, the climaxes. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance." - Michael Shurtleff
"An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment - his intellect, his bearing, his diction, his whole appearance. In short, his ego." - Alec Guinness
"Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, it becomes creation." - Bette Davis
"You have to get beyond your own precious inner experiences. The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings. The ideas of the great playwrights are almost always larger than the experiences of even the best actors." - Stella Adler
"Great acting is not easy; anyone who says it is is either shallow or a charlatan. And one of the hardest things about acting is admitting that it is hard." - Robert Cohen
"An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words." - Sanford Meisner
"One way we can enliven the imagination is to push it toward the illogical. We're not scientists. We don't always have to make the logical, reasonable leap." - Stella Adler
"We don't live for realities, but for the fantasies, the dreams of what might be. If we lived for reality, we'd be dead, every last one of us. Only dreams keep us going...When you are acting, don't settle for anything less than the biggest dream for your character's future." - Michael Shurtleff
"For most actors, success is achieved through study, struggle, preparation, infinite trial and error, training, discipline, experience and work!" - Robert Cohen
"Work for the actor lies essentially in two areas: the ability to consistently create reality and the ability to express that reality." - Lee Strasberg
"Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience." - Paul Newman - Pictured"Talent is an amalgam of high sensitivity; easy vulnerability; high sensory equipment (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting intensely); a vivid imagination as well as a grip on reality; the desire to communicate one's own experience and sensations, to make one's self heard and seen." - Uta Hagen
"Talent is as common as horseshit in a stable. The cultivation of it is extremely rare." - Eric Morris
"Honesty isn't enough for me. That becomes very boring. If you can convince people what you're doing is real and it's also bigger than life -- that's exciting." - Gene Hackman
“You're more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action. So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.”him." - Joseph Chaikin
"In 'real life' the mother begging for her child's life, the criminal begging for a pardon, the atoning lover pleading for one last chance -- these people give no attention whatever to their own state, and all attention to the state of that person from whom they require their object. This outward-directedness brings the actor in 'real life' to a state of magnificent responsiveness and makes his/her progress thrilling to watch. On the stage, similarly, it is the progress of the outward-directed Actor, who behaves with no regards to his/her personal state, but with all regard for the responses of his antagonists, which thrills the viewers." - David Mamet
“An actor is never so great as when he reminds you of an animal - falling like a cat, lying like a dog, moving like a fox.” - Francois Truffaut
"Acting is simple, joyous, care-free fun! Acting is child's play. And yet acting must be a matter of life and death, too, all at once."
CRAFT NOTES by ED HOOKS
I have been teaching professional level acting for twenty years and am still astounded when a prospective student tells me – usually on the telephone or in an e-mail - that her primary goal is to become famous. Sometimes they think they can do it by getting a role on a soap opera, sometimes on a situation comedy. I don’t think I have ever heard one speak about fame and acting on stage in the same breath.
Let me say right off that there is absolutely nothing you can do to become famous as an actor. Indeed, if that is your goal, there is a good 99 percent chance you will fail. One of the ingredients of fame as an actor is pure old fool’s luck.
But let’s talk about fame for a minute. Suppose you land a role in a Tom Cruise movie and actually achieve some of it? What difference does it make? You’re still the same person, right? You probably still wash your hair before your feet. And let’s go a bit further: Suppose you land the lead role in a film that draws lots of publicity at various film festivals. That might help you get an agent, but it still won’t make you famous.
Anyway, what will fame get you? The guy at the next table at Denny’s will recognize you at breakfast? The folks at the dry cleaners want you to sign a photo so they can tape it to their wall? What difference does it make?
Acting is an art, like painting and music and dance, and hardly anybody makes a living wage from doing it. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life! Beethoven died a pauper. 85 percent of the members of Screen Actors Guild earn less than $5,000 per year. Only about 5 percent of the membership earns what you might consider a living wage, and they’re not even famous. Paris Hilton is famous, and she can’t act. They pay her a lot of money to show up at Las Vegas parties so they can take pictures of her.
I have worked with some exquisitely talented and sensitive actors who are not stars. And I’ve acted with a lot of stars and I’m here to tell you they aren’t any different from you and me. I remember one guy that was so famous he had an assistant follow him around the set with a small plastic fan pointed at him so he could stay cool between takes.
Even if you could snap your fingers and become famous, you would still be you. You would still put on your pants the same way you did before, and you would have the same worries and concerns you always had. Fame will not make you enjoy looking at that pimple or mole on your left cheek.
I suppose I have been asked a hundred times over the years whether a particular person “has what it takes” to become an actor. My answer is always the same. Becoming an actor – or an artist of any kind – is like finding religion. You wake up one day and realize you simply must do it. If my telling you that you do not have “what it takes”, then you should by all means go find some other line of work. My opinion doesn’t matter, even if I am convinced you may be the next Pamela Anderson.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Karen Kondazian has compiled inside information from talking to the premier casting directors in film, television, and commercials from New York to Los Angeles.
While I'm not in the habit of recommending industry books, I do praise Karen Kondazian's, The Actor's Encyclopedia of Casting Directors. It's a highly practical, intelligently written work that will be an asset to any working actor or newcomer who hopes to find work. -Thomas Mills - Senior Columnist, Backstage West Coast
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