An Actor's Perspective - When the Show Ends...
Post Show Depression, some laugh and say it’s not real, but those who have felt it know that it’s very real. The end of a show can hit different people in different ways. It can also vary from show to show, but let me back up for a moment. The final curtain has fallen, strike is complete and you have partied with your cast mates to celebrate the success of your show. You get home and suddenly realize, that’s it, there are no more lines to be said, no more rehearsals, no more performances, it is simply, over!
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Theatre Saved My Life. It Can Save Others Too
Depression: To me, it is one of the most destructive and misunderstood diseases on the planet. It is to the spirit what cancer is to the body. Slowly but surely, it eats away at who you are until there is nothing left of you but a miserable, empty shell of a person. The number of victims who lost their lives while fighting it off is countless. It is the worst possible thing that could be inflicted on a person’s psyche, and personally, I wouldn’t wish it on my own worst enemy.
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You've Been Accepted To Your College Theatre Programs, Now How Do You Pay For Them?
Many of you may have been accepted by various colleges all over the country. So let me first say, congratulations!
But unless you have the means to not worry about such things, with every college acceptance comes the same question, how do I pay for this?
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10 Songs I Never Mind Hearing At Auditions
There are so many lists warning you what songs you shouldn't audition with, I thought I'd switch things up and list a few that I'm always glad to hear. Songs not to avoid. But this is just to get your mind going. The best audition song highlights the things you do best, better than others. That's going to be different for every person.
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Why a B.M. in Music is Worth More Attention
Musical theatre becomes a more popular college major by the day. Well over a hundred colleges across the United States currently offer an undergraduate degree in Musical Theatre, not to mention the countless programs in Theater or Acting alone. The most popular type of Musical Theatre degree by far is the BFA. Many of the most elite musical theatre programs confer their graduates with BFAs, and getting into a BFA program can become a bragging right amongst competitive, theatre-minded high school seniors.
However, there is another type of Musical Theatre degree, one that is often overlooked: the Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre. Compared to the vast number of schools currently offering degrees in musical theatre, only a relative handful have BM Musical Theatre programs.
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"You suck... She's prettier... You suck... You're not talented": The Destructive Inner Dialogue of an Actor
Over the last year, I've auditioned for at least ten projects. Out of all those auditions, I booked half, an unusually good ratio for me, but then again, I'm not in a super competitive area like NYC. No matter what city you're in though, auditions where you don't get the part start to take a toll on your self-esteem. Your thoughts begin to turn for the worst, and sound something like this: "You were terrible. Of course they didn't give you a callback (part, auditions, etc.)! You'll never make it in this field. Dad was right... I should take advantage of my English degree." And it goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on. You're killing your chances with your negative BS, and I'm here to tell you why you probably didn't get the part:
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When Unhappy Exhaustion Kicks In
About a month and a half ago, I was sharing breakfast with my fellow cast mates, and who I consider to be some the most dedicated theatre makers I’ve had the privilege to work with. While munching through bowls of cereal, because every philosophical discussion relating to theatre is done over a bowl of Lucky Charms, one of my friends touched upon an adage that was all too familiar in the theatre world. He remarked that theatre people are some of the most, if not the most, hardworking people there are, but due to the surrounding stigma that we never get paid, our hard work is often seen as trivial or even irrelevant.
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The "Mother" of All Roles
I had planned to do some new material last night. I knew it was a risk to bring in a surprise element to my nightly routine, but the bit I had thought of earlier in the day, when bagging up the bite-sized strawberries and cutting the PB&J in half, was just too good to let go. I know my audience typically prefers me to stick to the bit, and even when there is collaboration, I know I need to be sure it's my audience who's making the call on anything new.
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College Auditions from the Parent Perspective: Part 1
You think your kid is talented (what parent doesn’t, right?). Maybe talented enough to make a career out of this music or theater thing. But those careers are pretty unstable, aren’t they? There must be a million actors waiting tables hoping for their big break and musicians working ‘day’ jobs so they can play with their band at night. But maybe, just maybe--your kid could be the one to make it. So you agree (maybe reluctantly) to look at college music and theater programs.
I’m a flutist and college music professor with over 30 years of teaching and playing experience. In 2017, my older daughter decided to take auditions for collegiate musical theater programs. While I am very familiar with how auditions work for music programs, adding theater to the mix brought new challenges. I started reading as much information as I could. I had several panicky moments--what if she had never taken tap dance lessons? What about acting camp? Should she ignore her school theater program for other opportunities in the community?
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The 10 Greatest Animated Movie Musicals of the Past 30 Years
I've heard from many a theatre person that one of the big influences on them becoming passionate about musical theatre, was watching animated musicals throughout their youth. It's no secret that given the quality of some of these movies, it's inspired an entire generation of performers.
So when it comes to animated musicals, does Disney reign supreme? Do comedies or more dramatic musicals work better in animated form? Do they all have to be rated G?
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