Category Archives: Acting

Acting Advice. Acting Method.

Backstage Reports a Boom of TV Filming in Chicago

In a previous post I mentioned that Chicago was the number one place to live and work as a filmmaker. According to Backstage, it’s also gearing up to be a great place to find television work. Previously, Chicago actors were mostly relegated to Cop #1, Punk with Blue Hair type roles while the bigger Recurring, Guest Star, etc. spots were auditioned and cast out of town. Now, Chicago based actors are getting more opportunities to nab those kinds of roles. And, what’s even more promising, Mickie Paskal (a prominent casting director in the City) stated that there are “rumblings that a bunch of pilots are looking to shoot here.”

Exciting times.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Methods of Rejection: The Fade Out

I Am Waiting by George Hodan

With the explosion of texting as a means of communication has come a newish way of “breaking up” with someone. It’s called the Fade Out.

A Fade Out occurs when there has been ample communication between parties and then that contact starts to slow down, then it trickles, then it stops all together. It’s a slow process leaving the non-fading party slightly bewildered and a little upset. Be a (wo)man and just break up for heaven’s sake. Relationship wise I have been faded out once, in college. Confusing to say the least and a very undergrad (read immature) thing to do.

What I’m talking about in this post is, however, a type of rejection that performers experience. It’s not a perfect analogy to a relationship Fade Out, but it’s close enough. The scenario I’m describing is when a performer has made it through the first round of auditions and has been called back. After completing their call back the casting director/director/etc. says that we’ll let everyone know either way by such and such date. And then, the wait begins. No Facebook posts on their page hint at their decision, no emails are forthcoming, no telephone calls congratulating or explaining that they went in another direction. Instead, it’s as if the audition never happened. A few weeks later they post the cast list on Facebook, you’re not on it.

Most of the time, I fully expect that if I’m not cast I won’t hear from anyone about it. I’ll find out who’s cast on Twitter or Facebook. That’s the Silent Rejection, which isn’t as good as the Band-aid Rejection, but is preferable to the Fade Out. The only time I expect to hear that I didn’t get cast is when I am specifically told that I will be informed either way. Then, once the deadline has passed and I haven’t heard I still wait. Maybe I got it, maybe they’re just slow, maybe, maybe, maybe…

What do you all prefer? Band-aid? Silent? Fade Out? Let me know in the comments.

PS Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Auditioning for Shakespeare

Will Shakespeare…maybe?

I have an audition coming up. Thank heavens because I haven’t had one in a while. Nothing like not even getting seen to get a girl down, but that’s part of it: grind, grind, grind, rejection, grind, grind, grind, hustle.

This audition is for a couple of Shakespeare plays. I’m to have a verse monologue prepared. I haven’t done anything but contemporary auditions for some time so I’m slightly nervous. But, I’m never not nervous about an audition so that’s par for the course.

How I’m going to prepare:

When I have a classical audition, I always start with: Soliloquy: The Shakespeare Monologues. I have the women’s version, which, for some reason, is a little harder to find than the men’s version. Not only does the book have the monologues, each entry contains a mini-dictionary explaining unfamiliar terms. Also included is a valuable description of the character. The character profile is helpful not only if you are in a pinch and don’t have time to read the play (NOT recommended) but also to provide you a reference point before diving into the play.

I’ve also recently found Shakespeare’s Monologues. It’s divided into men and women. The monologues are presented in chart form and it denotes whether the speech is in verse or prose.

I try to match the character of the monologue to the character that I’m most appropriate for in the show. Shakespeare’s writing contains some rather similar ladies so, thus far, it hasn’t been an issue.

I will memorize the monologue through the process I described in my post on How to Memorize a Monologue.

If you’re pressed for time:

If you don’t have the time to read the play, the following websites provide plot summaries.

Shakespeare Online: Comprehensive summaries on the plays. Also contains some articles ranging from Shakespeare’s language to information on the Globe.

No Sweat Shakespeare: Super short summaries.

Absolute Shakespeare: Summaries and commentaries on the plays.

Any resources and/or tips that you suggest? Comment below.

MovieMaker.com: Chicago is the Number 1 Place to Live and Work as a MovieMaker

Source: OurFilmSpace

I missed last Thursday’s promised post date. I apologize, I was out apartment hunting last week. If all goes well I’ll be describing the process in a later post. If it doesn’t, I may make a what not to do when apartment hunting in Chicago…or ignore it completely if it turns out to be too traumatizing (joking, I hope).

Anyhoo, I wanted to share that MovieMaker has named Chicago the number one big city in which to live and work as a moviemaker.

According to the article, in 2013 alone the city hosted such titles as Divergent, Jack Ryan:Shadow Recruit, and, of course, another Transformers.
[Interesting rumor on Transformers, a few summers ago the unfortunate souls taking the July Illinois Bar Exam were forced to deal not only with normal test anxieties, but also the fact that Michael Bay was blowing up the area surrounding the testing center. Not optimal conditions for the situation, but I digress.]

Did you know that the Illinois Film Production Credit has no sunset? I didn’t either. There are also some sweet tax credits if a film meets certain criteria.

What does this add up to? It’s a lovely time to be in Chicago.

Also note, New York is listed as second and Los Angeles is listed as fourth.

You can read the full article and profiles of the cities that made the cut HERE.

How to Memorize a Monologue

I have an audition coming up. It requires two monologues. Most of the auditions I’ve done recently have been cold reads (which I love), so I’ve been out of the memorization game for a while and don’t have any monologues appropriate for the play. Thus, memorization time.

I break memorization down into a series of steps.

First, I take a piece of text, line by line, and build upon each sentence (or phrase if it’s a long one). This way, I review what I previously I learned every time that I add a new sentence.

For example, let’s say that I’m learning “Hey diddle diddle,” the nursery rhyme. First, I would learn “Hey diddle diddle.” I would then add “The Cat and the fiddle.” So my review would be “Hey diddle diddle. The Cat and the fiddle.” Then I would learn the next phrase, and so on, until I’ve built the foundation of the monologue one phrase at a time, always reviewing what has come before.

Next, if I’m lucky and someone happens to be around, I will ask them to read the monologue as I recite it. I am stickler for each word being correct. The author wrote it that way, and my task as an actor is to bring the author’s words to life. I don’t like to cheat by adding in extra “that’s” or “umms.” If I’m wrong, I have them stop me, and I start from the beginning of the monologue, even if I got the very last word of the piece incorrect. Make sure your friend is patient, it can be quite irritating.

Third, I write the monologue out, by hand. This really helps cement the words for me.

Then, if I can, I review the monologue right before I go to sleep. It is literally the last thing I do before turning off my light.

Finally, I start working on character. Not to say that my ideas haven’t begun to creep in already, but I don’t actively pursue it until I have the words solid.

People differ, especially on the last step. Further, for me, in actual play rehearsal, character starts to form a lot earlier than my memorization. This is just how I approach monologues.

One more thing, READ READ READ the play, book, etc.