Warbles in the dark.
Showing posts with label audition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audition. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Please make sure your headshot looks like you.
Okay, I see a lot of folks audition - just finished casting the All Female Taming of the Shrew, for example, and we had tons of great actresses out but we bumped into a problem; so, I decided to have a quiet word with you about your head shot, folks.
Please make sure your head shot looks like you.
A surprising number of folks brought in glam shots as head shots. Nice pictures, lots of make up, seductive poses, a little bit with the touching up here and there. Great pictures, truly. But we would look at them following the auditions, trying to decide who we were calling back or casting and the picture would not evoke the actor in my mind. Killer for an auditionee. After the second night of auditions, we even toyed with taking a picture of each actor as she came into the room, this happened so frequently.
Remember the reasons why we have head shots in the first place:
1. To help get a callback.
2. To help get cast.
How? By evoking the actor's performance. If your shot does not make me think of you, we both have a problem.
All right, all right. Some folks are getting work because these shots. And the cynical side of me understands why you have them. Also, I think they are great for television and film. But in theatre, use them judiciously. If you are coming in for a glam character and will present in audition made up and seductive, fine; bring in that glam shot. But if you are coming in for any other kind of role, consider having a second, clean, untouched up, smiling you to look at. A shot that looks just like you.
It will help me a lot.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild, directing The Wild Life (a Kidsplay production), and prepping for the all female version of Taming of the Shrew for Jaybird Productions going up in the fall of this year. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Thursday, February 7, 2013
A change is as good as a...
Look. I`ve got an ego like everybody else. I would argue, though I`m not admitting a thing, that I have a huge ego. Most theatre people do. I know what I like and that`s what I do. I`m smart and I tend to excel at things if I work hard. So lucky.
But I think my ego might have tripped me up in the area of auditions.
I used to think I was pretty good at re-directing audtitionees. Time and time again I would give a redirect and the actor would shine, the monologue would really click, and we would see a side of the actor that really helped us make a decision in her favour.
Used to think I was so clever.
But it`s dawned on me that I ain`t so smart as I thunk because of what I now believe was really happening. The actor didn`t all of a sudden `get better` because of what I said. My interpretation wasn`t specifically better -- at times I would ask the actor to work against the text to give some feel of what I was looking for. No, it`s just that the particular turn on the monologue was fresh.
Our greatest challenge as theatre artists is to deliver work that is fresh and immediate. And, the actor has that job in spades when she walks into an audition - usually because she has rehearsed her monologue a certain way over and over and over again in the hope that her recall is cold. But, sadly, it is probably that very act of repitition that kills the immediacy that brings a performance alive.
So as an actor, what do you do? You have to learn the thing, right? Riiiiight.
But here's an idea. Why not be me? Why not be your own director? Before you walk into the audition, why not put your own spin on the piece - ideally something that shows me a side of your acting that helps me to see you in the role - but definitely something you haven't rehearsed over and over and over again? Something that forces you on your toes, makes you hop, and breathes new life into the piece. For example, if you are going to play a character who is angry, why not spin the monologue to anger? Or if the character you want to play is prissy, why not present the monologue thus regardless of the original intent of the piece?
I am sure this would be a bit terrifying the first few times you do it but I bet you would present with a more immediate, alive version of your monologue that will make a huge difference in what I think of your talent.
I have enough ego that I would like to think it's me that makes you better but, really, actors: it's you. It's your committment, your energy, your talent, your honesty, and your courage. Anyone who tells you different is selling you something.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild and prepping for and all female version of Taming of the Shrew for Jaybird Productions going up in the fall of this year. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
But I think my ego might have tripped me up in the area of auditions.
I used to think I was pretty good at re-directing audtitionees. Time and time again I would give a redirect and the actor would shine, the monologue would really click, and we would see a side of the actor that really helped us make a decision in her favour.
Used to think I was so clever.
But it`s dawned on me that I ain`t so smart as I thunk because of what I now believe was really happening. The actor didn`t all of a sudden `get better` because of what I said. My interpretation wasn`t specifically better -- at times I would ask the actor to work against the text to give some feel of what I was looking for. No, it`s just that the particular turn on the monologue was fresh.
Our greatest challenge as theatre artists is to deliver work that is fresh and immediate. And, the actor has that job in spades when she walks into an audition - usually because she has rehearsed her monologue a certain way over and over and over again in the hope that her recall is cold. But, sadly, it is probably that very act of repitition that kills the immediacy that brings a performance alive.
So as an actor, what do you do? You have to learn the thing, right? Riiiiight.
But here's an idea. Why not be me? Why not be your own director? Before you walk into the audition, why not put your own spin on the piece - ideally something that shows me a side of your acting that helps me to see you in the role - but definitely something you haven't rehearsed over and over and over again? Something that forces you on your toes, makes you hop, and breathes new life into the piece. For example, if you are going to play a character who is angry, why not spin the monologue to anger? Or if the character you want to play is prissy, why not present the monologue thus regardless of the original intent of the piece?
I am sure this would be a bit terrifying the first few times you do it but I bet you would present with a more immediate, alive version of your monologue that will make a huge difference in what I think of your talent.
I have enough ego that I would like to think it's me that makes you better but, really, actors: it's you. It's your committment, your energy, your talent, your honesty, and your courage. Anyone who tells you different is selling you something.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently prepping and leading her Shakespeare is Boffo! theatre arts camps for active kids, directing directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild and prepping for and all female version of Taming of the Shrew for Jaybird Productions going up in the fall of this year. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
Jacqui Burke
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Skipping to the End
Have you ever looked back at yourself a few years earlier and wondered: "Who the heck was I? I would never do that today!" Or: "I cannot believe I was so green." It is a natural part of life that we live and grow constantly and that what we become, sometimes, is so different to what we were that we can hardly acknowledge that the you-now and the you-then are even the same person. Some folks actively pursue change through self-improvement but most of us, without realizing it, are learning all the time, changing constantly, and becoming something new, something wiser, not always better, but always evolving.
Plays can be viewed as microcosms rife with change. Something is happening here: something very important; something by which absolutely everyone will be affected. Every character, from the chorus boy to the leading lady, will be touched in some way by the prominent story arc and, because of it, will change and will evolve into something new. In some cases, that evolution will entail the individual literally changing her mind or actions completely. In some cases, the change will involve the person becoming more rigid or justified in his beliefs. But, something will happen in that character's head out of the process of the show that will require or force that character to grow - for the good or the bad.
And it is that growth, that dawning understanding, that realization of caring or hatred, that ownership of need that we, as an audience, recognize in our bones, identify with, and makes us love that character. It's the journey that makes us care about them - whether they triumph in the end or no. It's the journey.
So, I invite all my gentle readers, when preparing to present a character onstage or in scene study, to ask yourself two questions:
And how the heck does she get from point A to point B? What moments affect her? Where does she have her epiphanies? Reading the story for moments of change is a great way to identify the character's journey and will fuel your own creativity as an artist trying to honestly portray a character in crisis.
So many shows lose the journey, somehow. We are often presented, at the beginning, with the creature into which the character should, finally, evolve. Sadly, so many shows skip to the end.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Kidsplay 2012: The Mayan Prediction opening June 20. 2012 at the Palmerston Library Theatre for one night only, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions running July 20-21st, 2012 at the Alum Studio. Next year, she is looking forward to producing/directing her own show in the fall, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/. She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.
Want to contact me?
Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids. Two installments in 2012: The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155. Premium Full Day Summer Camp: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $200. Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Like what you read? Click on an ad!
Plays can be viewed as microcosms rife with change. Something is happening here: something very important; something by which absolutely everyone will be affected. Every character, from the chorus boy to the leading lady, will be touched in some way by the prominent story arc and, because of it, will change and will evolve into something new. In some cases, that evolution will entail the individual literally changing her mind or actions completely. In some cases, the change will involve the person becoming more rigid or justified in his beliefs. But, something will happen in that character's head out of the process of the show that will require or force that character to grow - for the good or the bad.
And it is that growth, that dawning understanding, that realization of caring or hatred, that ownership of need that we, as an audience, recognize in our bones, identify with, and makes us love that character. It's the journey that makes us care about them - whether they triumph in the end or no. It's the journey.
So, I invite all my gentle readers, when preparing to present a character onstage or in scene study, to ask yourself two questions:
- Who is this person at the beginning of the play/scene?
- Who is this person at the end of the play/scene?
And how the heck does she get from point A to point B? What moments affect her? Where does she have her epiphanies? Reading the story for moments of change is a great way to identify the character's journey and will fuel your own creativity as an artist trying to honestly portray a character in crisis.
So many shows lose the journey, somehow. We are often presented, at the beginning, with the creature into which the character should, finally, evolve. Sadly, so many shows skip to the end.
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Kidsplay 2012: The Mayan Prediction opening June 20. 2012 at the Palmerston Library Theatre for one night only, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions running July 20-21st, 2012 at the Alum Studio. Next year, she is looking forward to producing/directing her own show in the fall, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/. She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.
Want to contact me?
Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids. Two installments in 2012: The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155. Premium Full Day Summer Camp: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $200. Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Like what you read? Click on an ad!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Mr. Foster, I divorce you. Until next time.
Mr. Foster, I divorce you.
Because of the protracted nature of a community theatre rehearsal schedule, I have been involved in prepping or rehearsing or watching the run of one of your shows for about nine months, now. Don't take this badly. These were good shows. Good. Affections of May was the first. Produced by Scarborough Theatre Guild, it went up in January of this year and was well received. Great bunch of folks. Won itself some nominations. Nice. And we just finished Wrong For Each Other for Encore Entertainment yesterday. Also, well received. Truly lovely cast.
But I divorce you.
I have new playwrights' heads to inhabit and other projects on the go. Make no mistake; it was a marvellous love affair but I have to move on. Call me any name you will but I, definitely, love the one I'm with.
But, listen: If you come around again, whispering to me with these characters that feel like friends, this dialogue that trips along and volleys back and forth, these jokes that come in surprising places but are still funny not shocking.... If you come around again with your strong, established female characters, your kind male characters, with your basic, honest, believable moments.... If you come around, again....
As I have said before, you, sir, might prefer someone younger and cuter but you will never find someone more devoted. At least for a time. Because, when I am done, I will leave you again as flatly as I am doing today.
And, I am sure, you wouldn't have it any other way (not that I am calling you names). As Richard Bach says, "A farewell is necessary before we can meet again."
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Wrong for Each Other for Encore Productions opening in April, Kidsplay 2012: The Mayan Prediction opening in June, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions opening in July. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/. She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.
Want to contact me?
Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids. Two installments in 2012: The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $125. Premium Full Day Summer Camp: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $155. Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Like what you read?
Encourage me by clicking on one of these ads in this blog.
Because of the protracted nature of a community theatre rehearsal schedule, I have been involved in prepping or rehearsing or watching the run of one of your shows for about nine months, now. Don't take this badly. These were good shows. Good. Affections of May was the first. Produced by Scarborough Theatre Guild, it went up in January of this year and was well received. Great bunch of folks. Won itself some nominations. Nice. And we just finished Wrong For Each Other for Encore Entertainment yesterday. Also, well received. Truly lovely cast.
But I divorce you.
I have new playwrights' heads to inhabit and other projects on the go. Make no mistake; it was a marvellous love affair but I have to move on. Call me any name you will but I, definitely, love the one I'm with.
But, listen: If you come around again, whispering to me with these characters that feel like friends, this dialogue that trips along and volleys back and forth, these jokes that come in surprising places but are still funny not shocking.... If you come around again with your strong, established female characters, your kind male characters, with your basic, honest, believable moments.... If you come around, again....
As I have said before, you, sir, might prefer someone younger and cuter but you will never find someone more devoted. At least for a time. Because, when I am done, I will leave you again as flatly as I am doing today.
And, I am sure, you wouldn't have it any other way (not that I am calling you names). As Richard Bach says, "A farewell is necessary before we can meet again."
Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Wrong for Each Other for Encore Productions opening in April, Kidsplay 2012: The Mayan Prediction opening in June, and The Last Five Years for TOKL Productions opening in July. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/. She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp sessions for 2012.
Want to contact me?
Jacqui Burke
Artistic Director
Jaybird Productions
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo! Premium Summer Camps for Kids. Two installments in 2012: The Homeschoolers` Version: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $125. Premium Full Day Summer Camp: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, July 16-20, 2012 for only $155. Both prices hold until May 15th, 2012. Spots are going fast. Register, now at www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
Like what you read?
Encourage me by clicking on one of these ads in this blog.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Ride Begins
I have done a few shows over the years, some of my own choosing, some not. Some in a significant capacity, some not. Most just because I love it. But you'd think that you might get a bit jaded over time, that some forty years on, the process would become pedestrian, normalized, maybe a little boring. Yeah. Well, no. An emphatic no.
At some point as I approach the start of a project, regardless of how burnt out I am, or tired, or stressed, I always get that tingle, that sense that something extraordinary is going to happen. That it might be fun, or difficult, or intense but never dreary, never mundane. I have been lucky enough to never start a show without getting that feeling and I hope I never will. If I do, that might be the day I move on to do something else. Could you imagine? Jacqui without theatre?
Tonight, we audition Wrong For Each Other for Encore Entertainment. This is the second in my Norm Foster offerings for this season and we are looking for Norah, a highly contained, fussy but surprisingly fun-loving Arts Administrator who falls in love, despite seemingly insurmountable differences, with Rudy, an entrepreneurial house painter. The marriage fails but a chance meeting of the pair in a restaurant and their subsequent reminiscences allows us to see the history of their relationship play out. It's sweet, sentimental. And despite its simple premise, it will be a challenge to do well.
Every show is.
Okay. Hey! What are you hanging on for? Arms up high. Eyes wide open. Here we go. Wheeeeeee!
At some point as I approach the start of a project, regardless of how burnt out I am, or tired, or stressed, I always get that tingle, that sense that something extraordinary is going to happen. That it might be fun, or difficult, or intense but never dreary, never mundane. I have been lucky enough to never start a show without getting that feeling and I hope I never will. If I do, that might be the day I move on to do something else. Could you imagine? Jacqui without theatre?
Tonight, we audition Wrong For Each Other for Encore Entertainment. This is the second in my Norm Foster offerings for this season and we are looking for Norah, a highly contained, fussy but surprisingly fun-loving Arts Administrator who falls in love, despite seemingly insurmountable differences, with Rudy, an entrepreneurial house painter. The marriage fails but a chance meeting of the pair in a restaurant and their subsequent reminiscences allows us to see the history of their relationship play out. It's sweet, sentimental. And despite its simple premise, it will be a challenge to do well.
Every show is.
Okay. Hey! What are you hanging on for? Arms up high. Eyes wide open. Here we go. Wheeeeeee!
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