debor009

A reminder that we're all human: The Classic Hollywood Guide to How to React When You Screw Up a Scene.

The play has closed.  Tired.  Exhilarated.  Have already been asked if I would be interested in auditioning for two more well-known plays (a comedy and a musical.)  Of course!  In the meantime, I found this summary on the founding of the Meisner school by William Espers, one of his students and a great teacher in his own right.  There is more on YouTube (a wonderful resource) on the Meisner technique, which has produced some terrific actors, including Robert Duval - one of my favorites.

Kathryn Browning (L) as Stella and Roberta Chaves as Edith in Cause Célèbre Well, it's a wild ride, I must say.  Remember the comedy "Noises Off?"  I can now relate totally!  Technical glitches the first three performances, especially opening night when the lights were cut in the middle of two scenes. Saturday night I blanked on a line (arrggghhh!!!) and made a rather awkward recovery.  At the Sunday matinee a doorbell announcing my entrance failed to ring, leaving actress Roberta Chaves ad-libbing lines like, "Hmm, I wonder where Stella could be?" until the technician discovered the problem just as we were about to make a loud door-knocking noise (the bell was unplugged.) But after three performances I think it's beginning to settle down.  The blocking is now set and the stage manager has things under control.  Members of the cast - all highly experienced in theatre - have been wonderful.  Just delightful people.  So supportive of each other...

Actors are among the hardest working people on earth and the most hardworking actors are those who appear in community theater.  Their day jobs are by and large real careers and not just something to fill in the gaps, and yet they show up evenings and weekends for rehearsals, use up scarce personal leave on performance days, and somehow between jobs, rehearsals, and commuting, try to feed families, do laundry, tidy the house, walk the dog and - oh most precious commodity - sleep.  If they have a spouse who pitches in at home, as I do, they consider themselves blessed.  If they don't, I don't know how they cope. Four days before we open with Cause Célèbre and the schedule is brutal. Spent the weekend loading in, reading lines as an ensemble, and doing cue-to-cue with the stage manager and sound and lighting crew.  I feel confident I've got the lines down and can now totally focus on characterization.  A few cast members (with far more lines) are still a bit ragg...

There aren’t many careers where you may be asked to simulate sexual intercourse, portray a rapist (murderer, Nazi, Klansman, pedophile, you name the character), or appear nude on stage before a thousand people, night after night.  Working as an actor can test your values, and each of us has to decide for ourselves where to draw the line between art and paycheck. Last week the issue came up in an online acting forum and it set off a spirited debate between those who think that actors starting out can’t afford to turn down work (and that to do so would spell the end to their career) and those who think you should refuse any role (or scene) that makes you feel uncomfortable, because you have to live with yourself. I’m in the latter camp. We turn down roles for all sorts of reasons – moral, religious, political, "doesn’t do anything for my career." I've turned down roles where my character was simply intended to ridicule people of a certain religion, or to play straight to an...

Just to give everyone a heads up, the Oscar-nominated short films (live action and animated) are now being shown in art house theaters around the country.  These are very well done and a must-see for students of filmmaking, so check out the movie listings.  A few of the films are also on YouTube, including this one, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore , which is touching and delightful and one of my favorites.  I hope it wins!

Mark Westbrook recently posted these 10 tips online. I thought they were worth passing on.  Good stuff!