Deliverable » Acting

30 Days of Acting

Administrator — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:17:46 +0000

How to make this work? The keys to the 30 day challenges are:

Variety – The reason I’ve been successful exercising daily is that I have a large variety of exercises. In the beginning I decided that it was ok if I only did one of the exercises on my list. Walking a half mile is considered “exercising”.
Did I mention, “Variety”? – With my 30 day practice challenge I have 5 instruments to choose from. So far I’ve been able to focus on a couple a day. When I feel like I’m burning out on one, I can easily shift to another the next day.
Variety, oh wait… I covered that. I mean to say “Being prepared – I went into each of my 30 day challenges with my tools in place. I track my progress on the blog. I set up the exercises before I began. I made a list of my options, so I wouldn’t be caught wondering “What do I do today?”

This begs the question: What are the tools of the acting trade?

Reading plays/scripts
Attending plays/readings
Watching movies (movies out, or DVD’s in)
Watching the commentary or special features on a DVD
Reading a biography of an actor or director
Checking Backstage for leads
Sending out headshots, or committing to a Headshot Thursday
Researching theatre companies/directors online
Researching / Developing contacts
Working on my voice & speech
Working on an accent
Researching/finding monologues at bookstores
Learning a monologue
Auditioning
Taking an acting class

That’s probably enough of a list to start with. I’ve been putting this off for some time now, mostly out of fear of not being able to pull it off or not being able to do it perfectly.

Screw it. I’m just going to do it, and see what happens.

For the next 30 days, I’ll spend a minimum of 20 minutes a day, doing one of the things on the list above.

I’ll add things to the list as they come to me, and check-in 30 days from now.

—
30 Day of Acting
Start date: Friday, 7/21/06
Next check-in date: Saturday, 8/19/06

Thursday Headshots: deferred

Administrator — Fri, 05 May 2006 03:00:14 +0000

I’m sure that this was bound to happen at some point. It’s almost 11 on Thursday night and I’ve not had a chance to put together my headshots for this week. This afternoon was pretty busy with class, the morning was messed up with catching up with sleep from the night before (I was working last night on the final preparations for my class today), and this evening I had laundry to do. I could choose to stay up late and slavishly get them done, but I’m choosing to go to bed and get a good nights rest. I suppose that’s progress in some way, considering my Public Enemy #1.

I may post later on this, but right now I’ve got to put the sheets on the bed, wash a couple of dishes, and go to sleep. 6 a.m. wake up for tomorrow and a full day of teaching.

Audition tonight: I’ve decided not to attend

Administrator — Mon, 01 May 2006 21:22:37 +0000

I’m making a concious decision to not attend the open call that’s happening this evening. It’s way the hell downtown and would basically wreck the rest of my evening. I’m conciously deciding to stay at home and get some work done on other projects. The key here is that if I’m not going to get the benefit of doing the monologue tonight, I really have to get some work done.

It’s currently 5:30 p.m. I’ll be in bed by 11:00 p.m. Here goes…

Headshot Thursdays: 5th Edition

Administrator — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 04:03:39 +0000

I found two open calls and sent out 7 other packets.

The breakdown:
8 films and 1 staged reading
6 were emailed and 2 were mailed.

There’s also a singing audition that I might go to. I’ll talk it over with my voice teacher tomorrow.

Audition #11: Follow-up

Administrator — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 15:34:48 +0000

I just received a form email from the person I auditioned for yesterday telling me how impressed he was with my work and how he hopes we have the chance to work together in the future. It then goes on to tell me all about his masterclass that is invite only and asks me if I’d like to attend. Note to this person: Don’t send out a form letter to people telling them you’re impressed with their work, and especially don’t send it to yourself and then blind carbon copy it to everyone else on the list of people who auditioned for you. It’s incredibly rude.

Live and learn, I guess.

Audition #11

Administrator — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 21:13:17 +0000

It’s official: 5 auditions in the past 5 days. I showed up at 1:45 or so this afternoon, waited about two hours and was the next to the last person they saw. I performed the piece for the head of the theatre company. It’s really difficult to judge how the piece goes when it’s just one person. I felt like my timing was off somewhat. Whatever. The point is that the only accurate answer that I am able to give is that I have no idea what he thought of the piece. Let it go and move on.

Headshot Thursday: 4th Edition

Administrator — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 02:58:16 +0000

Not alot to send out this week. Two emailed and one mailed, all for films/video work. I did find an open call for tomorrow though (a theatre company casting it’s upcoming season), which will mean that I’ll have had an audition every day this week. Wicked good Karma, I think.

Audition #9 – Callback: Thoughts

Administrator — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 02:21:39 +0000

Just got back from Brooklyn from the callback for the thing I auditioned for on Tuesday. I read for two plays. The first one was a two person play which could be really interesting to work on. The second one I’m less sure about. (Both the play and whether I’d be right for either of the roles I read for.) We’ll see how it goes.

Audition #10

Administrator — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 02:13:28 +0000

The audition yesterday came about from one of the emails I sent out last week. She originally wanted me to audition this coming Saturday, but when I said I couldn’t do it she fit me in yesterday afternoon. It was just me and the person who was auditioning me in a small rehearsal room. It’s very different doing the monologue in that type of space and to only one person. (Like M. said, it was more like I was working in front of a camera.) I didn’t feel like the monologue had the same energy as the day before, but we’ll see what happens. They were casting for future as yet unnamed productions.

One thing about the small space was that I was very aware that I need to firm up my choices for this particular monologue. I’ve been using all these auditions as an opportunity to put the piece on it’s feet and get a sense of which choices work and which choices work. I think this has been a helpful move, but I need to make it more consistent now.

Doing the Right Thing

Administrator — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 22:13:12 +0000

I’ve decided to tell them at the callback tomorrow night that I’m not available for shows the weekend of June 16. M. & I have had this weekend planned for months and I’ve really been looking forward to seeing Cirque du Soleil with her. Backing out on that if I was offered a show that weekend would be the wrong thing to do. Making this decision before I go into the callback is the right thing to do for alot of reasons.

It sends a clear message into the universe that I believe in abundance. I’m putting myself out there consistently now. The right show will come to me at the right time and in the right way. I must have faith in that.
It sends a clear message into the universe about what I value here at the start of my career. I value my relationship with M. a great deal. (A way, way, big great deal, but hey, I don’t want to get too mushy! ; ) I’m sure that there will be conflicts that we both will have with things that we’ve planned in the future. I’m sure that some of those conflicts will involve important career opportunities that we will need to move on despite plans that we’ve made. We’ll decide on those down the road as things come up. This isn’t that type of opportunity for me.
It sends a message to the universe that I will have the brilliant career that I want and that I will do it on my own terms and in my own way.
I’m able to go into the callback without any ambiguity. I can give it my all knowing that I won’t have any potential conflicts down the road. It also eliminates my anxiety about potential conflicts in advance.
It just feels alot better to be clear about what I will and won’t do in order to do my first show.

Heck, with any luck I’ll get offered a show the weekend of the 23rd. It’d suck to not be able to do my club date on the 10th, but I think I’d take the hit if I was offered something. (But would I make the trek out to Brooklyn? That’s another question entirelly…) I also still haven’t heard from the folks I read for on Monday. That’s also something that might be possible…

And honestly, I might not be offered anything, which would mean that all of this angst would be for nothing.

Oh well! : )