Wednesday, November 11

VOICE
We started learning how to learn a dialect, based off of our books by Paul Meier.

A few handy links:
- Online IPA Charts
- The IDEA Site; The International Dialects of English Archive (where you can listen to recordings of native speakers of dialects and accents from around the world)
- Vasta: IPA Fonts (where you can download IPA fonts)

Voice Professor started teaching us how to make our own "dialect cheat sheets" with lexical sets. She says that it's important to avoid using words that you have difficulty with in Standard American as your basis for words in other dialects.

We discussed the difference between "dialects" and "accents". If the speech is based on something that is in the English language, then it's a dialect (Australian, Irish, British, Deep South, South Boston, etc.) If the speech is based on something that is a foreign language, then it's an accent (Italian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Swahili).


MOVEMENT
We started blocking solo/duet sections of the ballet piece that we're going to do for our end-of-the-semester open class (aka "Showing"). It was a little weird, as both All-The-Way and Newbie were out sick/injured. I'm partnered with Thrill. So far, we're just doing a kicky-leg thing. We'll see what happens.


ACTING
Acting Professoressa says that we didn't do the best job on writing out "point-of-view" stuff in our sonnet papers. She says that POV should be basic truths, that are in the form of first person dialogue. So my POV on my scene partner should not be "He is the man I'm going to marry." It should be more like, "I love you, but you always let me down when I need you the most." She also said that most people needed to make bolder choices.

She gave us a great list of "sensual (non-literal) verbs" to use as "doings" (aka actions/tactics). Maybe at some point I'll get ambitious and type it up for you (I'm more likely to do it if someone leaves a request in the comments).

We went on to Thrill's sonnet (#12), which he's still working on getting a solid scenario for. He came in with a couple of new ideas:
- He and his wife are the last people in the Panther party. She wants to continue the Party by working hard and advocating for it. He wants it to continue by having children and raising them to be the next generation of Panthers.
- He is convinced that his son will be the next Messiah/messenger from God.

I don't know if he fully fleshed out his idea yet, but I loved how interesting his scenarios were.

Iceman's sonnet is getting a little more solidified now (#145). He needs to prove he's a man to his father. His father heard his fiancé complaining about the upcoming wedding, and now doesn't approve of the wedding, and thinks his son is an idiot.

Good advice from Acting Professoressa:
- You need to answer this question for yourself: After you deliver this monologue, what do you want the other person to do?
- Make sure your need isn't too altruistic; you need to have a personal connection to it (and perhaps personal gain from it) to make it strong.

The second half of class was spent trying to figure out what monologues people should use for our next assignment. Here's a list (and whatever notes I jotted down near them)

D-Train's possibilities:
- Henry VI, Part I; Young Clifford; V, ii
"Shame and confusion!"
(Shank is promising, but beginning high emotion is hard.)
- The Comedy of Errors; Antipholus of Syracuse; III, ii
"Sweet Mistress, what your name is else, I know not..."
(Acting Professoressa thought it would be good for D-Train to have a lover monologue)
- Richard II; King Richard; IV, i
"Ay, no, no ay; for I must nothing be."
(perhaps end at "in an earthy pit")

Big Show's possibilities:
- Julius Caesar; Brutus; II, i
"It must be by his death..."
(active, has a task, beautiful language)
- King Lear; Edgar; II, iii
"I heard myself proclaimed..."
(not as interesting)
- Macbeth; Macbeth; I, viii
"If it were done, when 'tis done..."
(stop at "tears shall drown the wind"?)
- Hamlet; Claudius; III, iii
"I like him not, nor stands it safe with us..."
"O, my offense is rank..."

Killer's possibilities:
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Proteus; II, iv
"Even as one heat another heat expels..."
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Proteus; II, vi
"To leave my Julia - Shall I be forsworn?"
(pay dirt: he makes a decision)
- Henry IV, Part I; Prince Hal; III, ii
"Do not think so, you shall not find it so,..."
- Henry VIII; Wolsey; III, ii
"Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear..."
(Killer too young, but it does have a strong 'Need' and POV)
- Romeo and Juliet; Romeo; III, iii
"Tis torture, and not mercy..."

Newbie's possibilies:
- The Taming of the Shrew; Katherine; IV, iii
"The more my wrong, the more his spite appears."
(Short. Katherine doesn't have good things to use as audition pieces. We can do better.)
- King Lear; Goneril; I, iii
"By day and night he wrongs me"
- King Lear; Goneril; I, iv
"Not only, sir, this, your all-licensed fool."
(using a cut that I made, which puts it with more text from later in the scene)

Tuesday, November 10

VOICE
Today we had our spoken exam, in which we attempted to speak our individual scoring for the Portia monologue we've been working on. I think I did alright. I hope.


MOVEMENT
We started off by lifting weights. Last year, I did a little bit of lifting when I had an injury that prevented me from jumping rope. At the time, I started with 5 pound hand weights, and then moved up to 8 pounds... But now, I've decided to scale back to 3 pound weights. And even with just the 3 pound ones, it was tough. For a lot of the stuff, we end up holding both weights in one hand anyway. Some people in my class are starting with 10 pounds.

We moved onto ballet after that. Honestly, I can't even remember most of what we did in ballet. Mostly reviewed stuff that we have learned in past weeks. The new things were more about combinations than new steps.


ACTING
We started off with watching the DVD corresponding to Chapter 5 of Playing Shakespeare, which is all about "set speeches" (aka monologues/soliloquies). Here are some notes I took during today's class (most of which are just reiterations of things we've discussed previously):

- Don't play the mood; play the need/intention
- Make discoveries. Everything is more interesting if you're discovering it in the moment.
- When addressing the audience in a soliloquy, choose one person (or areopagite) at a time to speak to.
- Make sure to hit all antithesis
- Keep "landing" lines
- Have an active inner life, and stay engaged in the scene
- Don't get your motor going by doing something artificial, like panting. It's a trap. and it's irritating to the audience.
- Go for the argument.
- Act on the lines
- Pick up cues
- Avoid being "woolly" (unclear)
- Clarity is our first obligation
- Is the outcome of your need immediate and verifiable?

Set speeches generally can be broken up into three sections:
1. React to what has just happened
2. Explore the ideas that have just come up
3. Arrive at a conclusion (or decided that you can't possibly come to a conclusion)


We turned in our sonnet assignments, in which we were to define all of our given circumstances (including partner, scenario, point of view, and inciting incident) and our tactics (aka "doings") for each of the four sections of the sonnets (three quatrains and a couplet). I think, in retrospect, that mine are all totally wrong...

We had to come up with "literal doings" and "sensual doings". I have sonnet 115. My doings were:

Q1: to comfort/to stroke
Q2: to engage/to grab
Q3: to bait/to tug
C: to excite/to massage

We'll see if any of those stick. Today, we went over Killer and Thrill's sonnets, and a lot of things changed while working with them. So who knows?



THE MYSTERY PLAYS
I did something really stupid backstage during the show today, and as a result, I was a second late on one of my entrances. It wasn't actually that big of a deal (the stage manager didn't seem to even have noticed), but it was really upsetting to me. I've been doing the show for two weeks, and for the most part things are running smoothly. It's unnerving to think that I could still do something like that. But I guess it's a good lesson about theatre: you always have to be on your A-game.

Quotations: Volume 39

Here are some of the educational, inspirational, and humorous quotations from my classes this week:

(Disclaimer: quotations are often taken out of context and may not accurately reflect the way they were originally intended)


"Never neglect inflection... Words to live by."
- Wifey, after mentioning that she had neglected to mark some of her inflections in her monologue

"Don't say it's awful. It's called learning."
- Movement Professor, in ballet

"Don't try to think about this logically. It doesn't really work that way."
- Movement Professor, in ballet

" Try to keep some sparkles in your eyes. It helps you do ballet, actually."
- Movement Professor, in ballet

"In my experience, the people who do the best at auditioning are those who find a way to enjoy it."
- Acting Professoressa

"Miss [Acting Professoressa], would you try that again, but this time try it as a pregnant... donkey."
- Acting Professoressa, giving a hypothetical example of how one might be given ridiculous direction during an audition

"Everyone in New York has to carry their life with them, but you just can't come in like Mother Courage and Her Children."
- Acting Professoressa, on not bringing in a ton of stuff to an audition

"Before you come in, just say to yourself, 'F*** 'em.' You're there to solve their problems."
- Acting Professoressa, on auditioning

"Do you know how often you're sitting behind a casting desk and you have half an hour left and haven't seen anyone who looks like they could play Bob Cratchitt in a heartbeat? And if you give it to them, they'll love you."
- Acting Professoressa, on auditioning

"The great speeches are great speeches because they're great speeches. You don't have to ignore them because you want something unurual. It's like, why would you choose to take a jalopy instead of a limo?"
- Acting Professoressa, on choosing a Shakespeare monologue

"Assume that people like you. Always, if you can. Not if someone's driving a truck over you... But in general, in life. We never really know what people think of us, so why not just assume that they like us?"
- Acting Professoressa

"If you can imagine being Macbeth, then you can imagine yourself doing an Adagio. And if you can imagine doing an Adagio, then you can do an Adagio."
- Movement Professor

"That's a special kind of double-dipping. A 'double-dripping', let's call it."
- Acting Professoressa, on continuing to work a note you've already taken to a point that you go too far

(when trying to determine whose sonnets we had already heavily delved into)
Acting Professoressa: ...and [Iceman] claims he already went. (raises eyebrow incredulously)
Iceman: Jedi mind trick. This is not the sonnet you're looking for.

(Acting Professoressa began to clarify All-The-Way's scenario for her sonnet)
Acting Professoressa: So your 'Need' is to break up with... what did you say his name was? Horatio?
All-The-Way: Liam.
Acting Professoressa: Right. Liam.

"Always choose to be a mensch."
- Acting Professoressa

"He's torturing me. No, wait, I'm torturing myself. I'm doing it to myself... 'Therefore, buddy, all the more reason we should break up. I'm not into torture.'"
- Acting Professoressa, on All-The-Way's inner-monologue for Sonnet 61

(while discussing Big Show's scenario for Sonnet 97)
Acting Professoressa: I thought that 'Need' worked well. To get her to come home. (to the class) How did you feel?
O.D.: (to Big Show) I'd come. I'd come running.
Big Show: Next time we break up, [O.D.], I'll make sure to read this sonnet to you.

"It's like a rond de jambe crossed with a tilt-a-whirl."
- Angela, describing a bit of choreography in Movement class

(discussing Two-Shots-Up's work on Sonnet 62)
Acting Professoressa: How do we account for the first eight lines of the poem being her talking about how vain she is?
Angela: She prob'ly thinks this sonnet's about her.

"Well that sounds like a f***ing sarcasm-fest. Is that what you were intending?"
- Acting Professoressa, on Angela's original too-harsh premise for Sonnet 115

"It's like she's writing, '[Big Show] and [Killer] disagreed with me.'"
- Big Show, when Acting Professoressa was noting something down in class right after a Big Show and Killer disagreed with her

"God, don't you just want to get on that set with a pair of scissors and cut her hair? And cut John Barton's hair?"
- Acting Professoressa, talking about an actress in the Playing Shakespeare DVDs

"You're going to go off the railroad tracks unless you start with a 'Need'."
- Acting Professoressa

Friday, November 6

VOICE
We spent class doing a full warm-up, complete with like a week's worth of tremoring. Hoo, boy.


MOVEMENT
Today, we got to revisit Contact Improv (in preparation for our open class, also called a "showing", at the end of the month). And it was AWESOME.

My first pairing was with Killer. Movement Professor wanted us to work together because we both have a good sense of humor in contact improv. At one point, something happened with my body in a flip-over-turn-around sort of way that my classmates have been referring to as "when Angela turned her body inside-out". It was fun, but I have no idea what happened, and certainly wouldn't attempt to replicate it.

My second was with D-Train. It started off kind of slow, but by the end it was really goofy, and as some of our classmates mentioned, "all about butts" (which I didn't notice while in it, but that's what they perceived from the outside).

The final one I did was a trio (my first ever!) with Two-Shots-Up and All-The-Way. It felt like we were the Graces, or muses or something. Very Botticelli, and surprisingly more sensual than the pairings I had with guys earlier in the class.

Trios in general were neat to watch. D-Train, Iceman, and Thrill had a particularly acrobatic and athletic one. Wifey, Killer, and O.D. did something that Movement Professor compared to demons at the gates of Hell. Cool stuff.


ACTING
Wifey started us out with a "Great Actor Series" presentation on Charlotte Cushman, who was probably the first American-born female stage star. Her mantra seemed to be "Devotion and Work", which I thought was lovely. Ms. Cushman played a lot of male roles in theatre, including Romeo and Hamlet. And she was a lesbian who traveled with her partners in tow, which our class thought was really interesting, as you don't often hear about lesbians who were (at least somewhat) out of the closet in the 1800s.

We read chapter 10 of Playing Shakespeare in preparation for class, and then watched the corresponding DVD segment, which I think of as "The Battle of the Shylocks" (I think it's actually called "Exploring a Character" or something like that). David Suchet and Patrick Stewart had both played Shylock under the direction of John Barton in different productions. And although they agreed on several things (that Merchant of Venice has anti-semitic characters but is not an anti-semitic play; that Shylock should not be played as a sympathetic character or a hero; that Shylock is an outsider; that Shylock is a bad Jew, whom other Jews would not have approved of), their interpretations were wildly different.

D-Train explained the differences between Shylocks in a way that I found to be true, and related it back to Artistic Director's theory on "needs". He said that Stewart's Shylock was fighting for Self-Respect (status and what others thought of him) and Suchet's Shylock was fighting for Self-Worth (identity and integrity).

And a great piece of advice from John Barton:
"Look for ambiguities, and play them."

We finished talking about my sonnet, which is #115.

Sonnet 115
Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;
Alas! why, fearing of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then say, 'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?
Love is a babe, then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow.

We were trying to come up with a scenario, and inciting incident, and a need for me to work with when playing it. We went through a lot of possibilities (including trying to convince my lover that I should have an abortion, or that he needed to grow up, or that I wanted to have a baby...), and I felt most secure with a suggestion that Newbie made.

So. I'm speaking to my fiancé. It's the morning of our wedding, and he has cold feet. He tells me he thinks that all the poems I wrote him before mean nothing and he thinks we're going to fall out of love with each other. I speak the sonnet to try to convince him to go through with the wedding because, while the future is uncertain, I believe that our love is going to grow.

It's not a 100% perfect fit, obviously, but it was definitely the most active, positive, and playable thing that we came up with. I think it's going to work well for the assignment. As D-Train said (paraphrasing one of his lines as Orestes from The Greeks), "It made all things clear, and plain, and simple." And I think that's exactly the goal with Shakespeare.


Acting Professoressa asked us to nail down some of the benefits of working on sonnets this way. Some of our ideas:
- defining the specificity of the situation. (because it things aren't specific for the actor, they won't be clear to an audience)
- keeping the stakes high
- learning not to work against the text
- make the language your own
- start with a 'need'


THE MYSTERY PLAYS
The show has been going well. I'm still learning things about my characters, which is fun. And the unexpected happens, as it always does in live theatre. Like the night when my bluetooth phone flew off my ear while I was playing Amanda-The-Agent. I rolled to it in my office chair, grabbed it off the floor, "checked" to see if it was still working, put it back on, and finished the scene. Good times.

I can't believe that we only have another week of it. It's going to be weird not to have this show any more. I really love it.

Thursday, November 5

VOICE
We went through with each person reading the entire text of our Portia sonnet, and then getting individual notes, based on the scoring that they'd chosen.

My notes were:
- Don't make the word "even" in "And even now, but now," operative
- Remember to pitch-match downward again after the parenthetical "my lords!" (I have decided to raise my pitch for that parenthetical instead of dropping it, as I think that it gives greater momentum for the end of the speech.


MOVEMENT
We started getting some choreography today, which is always nice. I do dig choreography.


MOVEMENT TUTORIAL
Movement Professor and I worked on my pirouettes. I can do inside turns just fine, but outside turns get me all off-balance and not turned out with the leg that's in passé.

There are so many things to think about during ballet that it's hard for me to do them all at once. When I was working with Movement Professor one-on-one, there were times when she said that I did things perfectly, but it was only after she reminded me of like 3 things that I'd forgotten about my position.

It's tricky. But at least I know that it's physically possible for me to do it... it's just a matter of getting my mind on the right page so that my body can match it.


ACTING
Chapter 3 of Playing Shakespeare is Language & Character. It's really so much better when you watch the DVD. And not just because young Roger Rees was hot (although he totally was... and young Ian McKellen... and young Patrick Stewart...) It just makes everything far more understandable.

We went over more sonnets, including mine. At the end of class we were still debating things on mine, so we're going to start with it again tomorrow.

On a side note, I have to submit three in-verse Shakespeare monologues next Wednesday that I might do for class. I'm looking for something comedic (which doesn't often go together with verse)... I have to bring in 3-5 pieces. If you have any suggestions, by all means, send them my way.


THE MYSTERY PLAYS
No news on this front. Just wanted to remind you that I'm still performing this every night after my classes. Which is why I'm so tired this week, I think. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

Wednesday, November 4

VOICE
We finished speaking the 3rd and 4th sentences of the Portia monologue individually. My notes were:
- make sure that the word "converted" has a light medial "t" (as opposed to a "d" sound)
- don't let your voice press

Our exam is going to be Tuesday. We are to bring our dialect books on Wednesday.


MOVEMENT
We did "adagios" for the first time, which are slow sequences involving things like arabesques. I totally loved them. It's like kicking in super-slow-motion. And, well, I love to kick. Arabesques? They're my new favorite thing.

We did some waltz-based stuff, too, where we were crossing the floor in pairs.

After class, Movement Professor came up to me and just said, "Yes." I asked her what she meant. She said that I'm getting it and really improving. And she said my "lines" are looking great. I was so excited!

Man, I love ballet.


ACTING
Acting Professoressa said that if some emergency arises in the middle of a Shakespeare performance, the actor usually says, "More of this will come anon," before exiting. I had previously heard of actors substituting forgotten lines with, "I am amazed and know not what to say."

We watched the 2nd chapter of the DVD Playing Shakespeare, which we had already read. It was on 'using the text'. I didn't agree with all the scansion choices made by the people in the video (like the suggestion that "Good Queen, my Lord, good Queen, I say good queen," from The Winter's Tale should be TEN STRESSED SYLLABLES in a row. I understudied the role of Paulina last year, and I would NEVER stress every syllable in that line! It would lose all meaning!). But it was interesting...

I think the best lesson that I got out of this chapter was something that I've extrapolated on more than they discussed it, which is the REASON that we work so hard to do all of this work on Shakespeare. We, as actors, have to go through hell analyzing everything, scanning all of it, knowing what every word means and how it connects to every other word... Because if we do it, then the audience won't have to. We do all this work to make it as accessible to them and easy to understand as possible. Everything we're doing, we do it so that the audience can get the story, just as we would want in any play.

If having to do tedious, insane work is going to make it easier to convey a story to the audience and have them understand it? Then I'm all for it. Of course I'll do it.

We went through a few more of people's sonnets, analyzing them and trying to figure out their "other" (who the character is talking to), "need" (aka objective), and "doings" (tactics).

Tuesday, November 3

VOICE
We've been going through our Portia monologue, one person at a time, one sentence at a time. My biggest note from Sentence 1 last week was to not have a downward inflection on the word "better" (which can be tricky, since it's trochaic and at the end of a clause).

Today, in Sentence 2, my notes were:
- Don't put too much weight on the word "me".
- Don't put too much weight on the word "learn" (especially tricky since, in one instance, I'm expanding the word to two syllables)
- Put more weight on the word "commits" (since, right now at least, I have it marked as operative)
- Make sure to take all marked breaths (especially the last breaths before enjambment when I CAN'T breathe) to avoid rib squeeze

A lot of people seemed to be having difficulty saying the word "dull" correctly (so that the "uh" vowel is really present). Voice Professor said that they're going to have to drill it.

In the last chunk of text, there are several lists in the same sentence. Voice Professor says to release the build of each list when it ends, and certainly before starting the next list, so that the sentence doesn't become ridiculous.


MOVEMENT
Ballet, ballet.

We learned a new step called "pas de cheval", which means "step of the horse" (but Movement Professor told us it's more the step of a "tiny pony"). It's comprised of other steps we'd already learned (coupé, developpé, and tendu).

Movement Professor helped me a bit before class, and said that my second position tendu turn-out is getting a lot better.


ACTING
Oh my goodness, I have SO MANY NOTES from this class today. I might fall asleep while typing them all... But I'll try to get as much down as I can before passing out.

We started with Killer's "Great Actors Series" presentation, which was on William Macready and Edwin Forrest, who had a rivalry that led to the Astor Place Macbeth Riot. Acting Professoressa said it was the best presentation she had ever seen on those men. Yay Killer!

One great note I wrote down today, I unfortunately didn't write down the context of... but it's great wording, so I'll share anyway. Be so adept that you can adapt.

Acting Professoressa told us to remember the word "embellishment" or "embroidering" in reference to over-playing things, and to avoid it. Don't feel that you have to demonstrate the language (for example, by illustrating with hand gestures). Just DO things to people.

We are supposed to bring in possibilities for Shakespearean monologues to work on next week, and our discussion about the monologues also went into how to have a successful audition. So here are my lists of notes...

On our monologue assignment:
- Either choose something that you want for your audition repertoire, or choose something that you probably wouldn't be cast as but really want to discover in yourself.
- If you plan to put it in your audition portfolio, make sure that it's actually good casting for you.
- Choose something in verse
- Aim for 60-90 seconds long (it can be longer for this class if you really want it to be)
- It must be active and not narrative
- Don't choose anything that requires an answer from an invisible partner
- Go for the star of the show. It doesn't have to be a famous speech, but it does have to be important.
- Bring in 3-5 pieces


Things that you should have in your "back pocket" audition portfolio:
- A classical dramatic monologue
- A classical comedic monologue
- A classic contemporary dramatic monologue (think O'Neill, Miller, Williams, etc.)
- A modern comedic monologue
(Those are the big four. The rest are also good ideas...)
- one joke (short and sweet)
- one poem
- one "hot right now" monologue (from a play that is brand new, or currently being done on Broadway, etc.)
- one "off the wall" piece
- one British dialect piece
- one other dialect piece
- one monologue from a movie


Advice on Auditioning...
- Come in, announce your pieces, and do your pieces. Structure it like a short 1-Act (or 2-Act, maybe) play
- Even if someone has already announced your name, it doesn't hurt to repeat it
- Walk to one spot where you can introduce your pieces and talk to the director & posse (if they feel like talking). Walk to a new spot before beginning your first piece. Walk to another spot before beginning second piece.
- If you get direction, especially if it's direction you don't fully understand (like, "Do it again, but this time, do it like a pregnant donkey. And more purple."), walk to a new place before starting. It helped them psychologically to see a difference, even if you're not changing much.
- Props should only be things that can fit in your pocket (like a letter)
- Don't ever correct the stage manager (like if they say your name wrong... the people have your résumé and can see what your name is. Don't worry about it.)
- Don't use a dialect piece unless they have asked for one.
- Make sure that you can really plug into your "need"
- In soliloquies, you may use the audience as your scene partner. Just not the director. Try to use the costume designer or an assistant or someone if you must.
- Knowing the focus of your pieces is important. There is inner-directed focus, other-directed focus, and outer-directed focus. Other-directed is usually the one to aim for when choosing audition pieces.
- Don't go nuts adjusting furniture before your scene so that it's perfectly under the light.
- That said, do try to stay in good lighting. But don't go nuts over it.
- Don't pick pieces where you're running around like a maniac, especially if the action doesn't make sense out of the context of the play (like, if the character is being chased or something)
- Don't make the shock value too high. They will be paying more attention to the fact that you're swearing and talking about violence at 9am than they'll be paying to you.
- Don't make elaborate costume changes between pieces
- Don't come in wearing a cleavage-bearing cocktail dress. You don't want them to think of you as an exhibitionist
- Don't come in wearing any sort of joke costume for attention (such as a clown nose)
- Don't put your "other" on a chair or on the floor. Keep your eyes UP.
- Whenever you go to the theatre, take notice of potentially useful monologues for the future, and look them up when you get home.
- If you don't have the sides for an audition, go SUPER EARLY
- Actually, go early anyway. Try to see the space you're auditioning in
- With auditioning, practice makes perfect. Audition a lot.
- Know that you are the potential solution to the director's problems. You are valuable.


Advice about acting as a career
- In general, never go anywhere without a headshot/résumé in your purse/backpack/briefcase. You never know whom you'll meet on a train, at the dentist office, or in the gym.
- Have "monomania" about your career. This is a business. You are the product.
- You will get more work from directors you have worked with than from auditions you go on. Every director that you get to work with is a huge connection that you should foster. Don't be a pest, but write thank you notes.
- Start a file system about auditions. After every audition, write down what you auditioned for, the date, the character description, who you met (casting directors and the like), and what you wore (so that, if you get a callback, you can wear it again, or at least something of a similar style vein).
- Remember that the theatre world is a very small universe full of erudite people.
- You will not get points for memorizing incorrectly. Do not paraphrase.
- Project an image of professionalism.
- Be the kind of actor who is good to have "in the room" and whom directors want to be around
- Don't bad-mouth ANYONE. This guy might be that guy's cousin. You don't know. Also, you want to be thought of as discreet, not as a gossip.
- Find a way to relax before auditioning/rehearsing/performing. Acting Professoressa suggests being hypnotized (as actors, we're probably very suggestible)
- Aim for a state of alert relaxation
- Assume that they people like you.



THE MYSTERY PLAYS
The show is going well. Week 2, baby! A couple of my scenes were particularly on-target tonight, which felt great. I hope it continues to go well.