Theater Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Breaking into acting takes more than catching a lucky break. Take steps to show up prepared for your acting audition, like keeping your clothes measurements with you. Keep accurate records of your acting expenses so you can deduct them from your taxes. Learn to deal with the frustration of acting, and keep your hopes of becoming an actor alive.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Ever wanted to use your voice to make a living but just didn’t know how or what to do? Voice acting is one of the greatest ways that you can use your instrument and also make money. As a voice actor, you can exercise your creativity to its fullest and get all the voices in your head a paying job! Most importantly, though, to be a voice actor is to tell a story and to tell it well. What story will you tell today?

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-26-2022

Playwriting is an exciting and accessible performing arts scriptwriting discipline. Anyone can write a play, round up some friends as actors, and gather an audience to present original theatre at its most fundamental level. But to write great plays that enthrall audiences, you may want to explore playwriting in more detail. To be a successful playwright, you need to know where ideas for plays come from, the lingo writers speak, how to create fully dimensional characters, how to write dialogue, where to start your play, how to develop your storyline and reach the story’s climax, and how to bring your play to a satisfying conclusion.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

When giving a great performance as a voice actor, you need to get a strong feel for the script writer’s intentions for writing the script. Get inside the script and read between the lines. The following tips can help you to more fully understand what the writer intended and better inform your read: Know your character. Find out all you can about your character in order to give the most believable performance, which includes how old your character is, what motivates your character, your character’s priorities, and so on. Know your audience. To whom are you speaking? Every good voice actor has a clear idea of who his or her target audience is and why what he or she is saying is meaningful to the listener. Research the location and its environment. Setting the scene is important. Find out details that can support your interpretation of the script, including accents if required and ambient sounds. Be sensitive to context. Take in the full picture before you decide how you’ll read a script. Everything is connected to each other, including characters. Understanding the entire script is crucial to delivering an informed read. Visualize the location, your surroundings, and your character. Imagine where your character is, what’s going on around him or her, and how the character fits into the story. You may want to use photographs as a visual guide or inspiration for painting pictures with your words. Listen to music of the time period. Are you looking for another way to gain insight into the world your character lives in? If you have a date or an era to reference, try to locate music of that time and immerse yourself in what may be the soundtrack of their life. Identify your character’s contemporaries, whether real or imagined. When creating a character, understanding who your character chooses to surround him or herself with tells you a lot about your character as a person. If your character lived sometime in the past, research people who lived at that time to get a clearer picture of who your character is and how he or she related to contemporaries. Practice speaking in character when talking to other people. Are you able to speak as your character, even when you’re not reading from a script? Conversing as your character with others is a good test of how well you know your character, how he or she would say things, and what makes him or her tick. Know how the story ends before you get there. There’s nothing worse than a narrator who is just as surprised as his or her audience. Reading the full script through before recording can ensure that you aren’t caught by surprise, and you can create a better overall performance.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

As a voice actor, you need to have recorded demos that indicate your abilities and skills to prospective clients. Voice-over demos fall into four main categories, each having their own purpose, style of performance, intended audience. Commercial: These demos last 60 to 90 seconds, and they’re usually a montage of four to five snippets from radio and television ads. They should highlight a full range of emotions, selling styles, moods, and characters. Narration: These demos last 60 seconds to five minutes, and they usually are a read excerpt that gives your listener a taste of the narrator’s style. With this type of demo, you want to demonstrate your ability with narration, characterization, and consistency in tone and pace. Animation: These demos last one to two minutes that demonstrate a wide range of characters. You want to showcase your ability with humor, characterization, accents, and comedic elements. Promo: They should last one to two minutes and promote a comedy, a drama, a news intro, and a movie trailer.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

There's no business like show business. But show business, like any business, depends on people. And two of the most important types of people that you'll meet in the film and television business are producers and directors. Producers: The champions of every project Show business is full of great ideas, but nothing happens until a producer takes the initiative to turn a good idea into a finished product. Producers are responsible for guiding a project from a raw idea or script to a finished film, play, TV show, or commercial. Producers spend the most time on a project and often risk losing money or their reputation if the project never gets completed (or gets completed poorly). So the overriding goal of a producer is to create a quality product that's both marketable and profitable as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Basically, producers do the following: Search for and obtain the rights to a story or script that has the potential to be both interesting and profitable. Get money to finance the project. (The money can come from a studio, a production company, individual investors, the producer's own bank account, or wherever the producer can get it.) Hire a director and writer to work on the project. Audition actors and ultimately help decide which actors to cast. Oversee the filming, taping, or rehearsals of a film, TV show, play, or commercial. Supervise the editing of the project. Work with studios or distribution companies to market and distribute a project. Producers also have the less than enviable job of soothing frayed egos and dealing with problems that may occur between the director and stars on the set. When directors and stars can't agree on the way a project is developing, one or both of them may threaten to walk out of the project (or actually do it), citing creative differences. Sometimes, the producer has to replace the director or star, and sometimes, the producer can convince the warring parties to stick together long enough to finish the project (and hopefully do a great job despite any professional or personal disagreements between them). Until you're a big star, you may work on a project without ever talking to the producer. When you're on a set and you have a problem, talk to the line producer or one of the line producer's assistants. While the producer takes care of the overall details of finishing a project, a line producer worries about the day-to-day details of getting a project completed, such as telling you what time to return to the set the next day and helping you with any problems involving your costume. Directors: The bosses on the set After the producer, the director is usually the second most powerful person involved with a project. Directors typically do the following: Help the casting director decide which actors to hire for the major roles Control the creative aspects of the set, including lighting, background design, and camera angles Work with the actors on a daily basis to shoot the various scenes inthe script Polish the final film prior to its official release The lighting and set designers may create the actual backgrounds, but the director has the final say on whether to alter the look, add more lighting, or film the set from a particular angle. The director determines the overall mood and tone of the final production. The actors' roles comprise just one of many pieces that the director has to juggle when completing a production. After shooting a film, the director (along with the producer and, occasionally, the writer and an actor or two) remains with the project in post-production, where scenes may be cut or rearranged and sound effects and music added. In some cases, the director may need the actors to dub in their dialogue in scenes where the existing dialogue doesn't sound right due to technical difficulties, an airplane flying overhead at the wrong time, or any number of problems. On a set, any number of things can go wrong, from light bulbs burning out to costumes being torn. Every problem that delays the production is likely to fall on the director to fix, so, as an actor, do your job, stay out of everyone else's way, and be flexible. If you do, the director will remember you as an actor who's easy to work with, which increases the chances that the director will want to use you in the next project he directs.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

Acting in film and television can require a special set of acting skills. Film and television can show anything from two normal people eating a normal lunch to microscopic people swimming through someone's arteries, and as an actor, you need to be prepared for how different genres of film and television affect how you act out your role. Acting for the camera In film and television acting, you often don't have the luxury of a live audience giving you feedback of any kind. Instead of a theater full of people, your audience is just a camera, the camera operator, the director, and any sound, light, and makeup technicians who happen to be standing around at the time. This means that you need to use your imagination and pretend that the cameraman staring at you is actually your long-lost lover, or that the stern look on the director's face is actually the friendly face of your best friend. When you play to the camera, you have to project emotions to the unblinking eye of the camera. To help you "play to the camera," keep these ideas in mind: Know where the camera (or cameras) are at all times. You can give the best performance of your life, but it will be worthless if the camera can't see your face. Know what the camera is trying to capture. If the camera is capturing a long shot of you off in the distance, concentrating on arching your eyebrow to convey emotion will just be a waste of time since the camera won't be able to see it. Know where the other actors and props are located in relation to the camera. If you step too far forward or back, your body or a simple gesture, such as waving your hand, can block the camera's view of another actor. Watch a television show or movie on video with the sound turned off. Without any dialogue to guide you, can you guess what the actors are trying to say to each other? Body and facial gestures can convey more information to an audience than you may think. By studying films or television shows with the sound off, you can study how gestures can help (or hinder) an actor's performance on-camera. Videotape yourself performing a monologue and look for inconsistent actions that detract from your character. For example, if you're portraying a tough, confident business-person, twirling your hair around your finger and biting your lower lip probably isn't going to support your character portrayal. Ask your acting coach or instructor to watch your videotape and comment on the type of character that he or she thinks you're portraying. If you think that you're portraying a tough guy but your acting coach thinks that your portrayal represents a timid character, you may need to work on your acting skills so that you can portray different types of characters consistently and accurately. Acting consistently with different takes Because everything you do in front of the camera is captured on film or videotape, you just have to deliver the best possible performance once and that's it, right? Wrong. In the world of film and television, you don't just perform a scene once. You perform the same scene over and over again, so the director can capture that scene from different angles, or so the actors can try different variations on their acting. The same scene may be shot three or four or ten different times. If a director wants to shoot the same scene over and over, don't take it personally as if you're doing something wrong. Sometimes, the director just wants to capture several different versions of the same scene, so he can choose the best one to use later. Actor John Ritter once did a commercial where he had to kiss a woman on the beach, and the director made him do it over and over and over again. John Ritter couldn't understand what he was doing wrong, so he asked the director. The director told him that he wasn't doing anything wrong. The director just wanted to capture the different appearances of the sunset in the background. To maintain consistency from take to take (a take is a short scene that is captured on film or videotape), you have to be aware of continuity each time you perform a scene on camera. (Continuity means making sure your body movements and appearance are identical in every take.) From an actor's point of view, the problem with shooting the same scene over and over again is that the actors never know which scene (or parts of each scene) will ultimately be used, so they need to be consistent in appearance, movement, and acting in every scene. Part of the first scene that they filmed may possibly be used followed by part of the last take of that same scene and ending with part of the fourth take of that same scene. When viewed one after another, the different mish-mash of scene takes need to blend together seamlessly as if the camera recorded the whole scene at once from start to finish. To achieve this illusionary blend of reality, film and television actors must know how to act consistently each time they perform a scene, no matter how many times they need to perform it. For example, if an actor is filming a dinner scene and picks up a glass with his right hand, he needs to remember to keep picking up that same glass with his right hand and not suddenly do a retake of the same scene and pick up the glass with his left hand. The script supervisor is supposed to make sure that the actors perform, dress, and act as closely as possible with each retake of a scene. That way, when the director chooses which scene takes to use, the film or television show gives the illusion that every part of the scene was captured at the same time (even if part of the scene was captured in the morning, another part captured in the afternoon, and the beginning part of the scene captured last). When doing multiple takes, you need to know the difference between acting and action. Acting deals with how you portray a character, while action is what you do with your body and any props. When shooting another take, subtly altering your acting is okay, but make sure that your actions remain exactly the same. To see how well you can maintain consistency in front of the camera, videotape yourself and a fellow actor performing a short scene. Shoot the scene three or four times, and if you have a video editing program for your personal computer (such as iMovie found on the iMac), you can mix and match different parts of each take together. Does the entire scene appear to have been filmed at the same time, or can you notice any glaring differences between parts of the scene (such as your hand resting in your lap in one scene but not in another)? If you notice glaring differences, you may need to work on being more consistent when performing in front of the camera, whether it's the first take or the twenty-third take. Successfully acting scenes out of order Besides maintaining continuity throughout multiple takes of the same scene, you also have to worry about continuity between different scenes. For financial reasons, film and TV shows are often shot out of order. For example, if a film opens and ends with a scene on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the director has two choices: He can shoot the beginning scene on the Golden Gate Bridge and then move on to shoot the rest of the film until the end when the film crew and actors will need to travel back to the Golden Gate Bridge to film the ending. Or, he can save travel and lodging expenses by shooting both the beginning and ending of the film on the Golden Gate Bridge at the same time (while the actors and film crew are already set up). Not surprisingly, most directors opt to save money and shoot scenes out of order. As a result, on your first day on the set, you may possibly shoot the last scene of the film. Then on the final day on the set, you may shoot the first scene. If your character is supposed to be timid and shy at the beginning of the film but aggressive and domineering by the end, your acting must reflect these characteristics. If you fail to act appropriately in a scene, your character won't make any sense when someone views the scenes in their correct order. (Many actors mark up their scripts with notes for how their character should be acting and feeling in every scene. That way, when director shoots a scene out of order, the notes in the actors' scripts can remind them how to portray their characters accurately.) Videotape yourself and your fellow actors performing three consecutive scenes from a play. Now perform and record the last scene, take a 10-minute break, record the first scene, take another break, and, finally, record the middle scene. Rearrange these recorded scenes (by using a video editing program on your personal computer, such as iMovie on an iMac) and play them in order. Do the three scenes appear to flow as if they really did occur one after another? Or does the acting appear jumpy and inconsistent from one scene to the other? If your acting is inconsistent between the different scenes, you may need more work acting in front of the camera.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

If the thought of spending years studying acting, working in bit roles, and getting paid sporadically (if at all) depresses you, then maybe acting isn't for you. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy acting for the sake of acting, the previously mentioned obstacles will be nothing more than minor nuisances on your way to success — whatever form that success may ultimately take. Every successful actor has to have two skills. One is a certain amount (but not necessarily a lot) of acting talent, which usually comes from a combination of natural ability and constant training. The second skill, and perhaps the more important, is knowing how to market yourself as a product. As an actor, you're a salesperson, and the product that you're selling is you. In order to sell yourself to the people in position to pay for your product (you as an actor), you need a head shot (so people know what you look like), a resume (so people know what experience and skills you have), and the necessary talent to wow a casting director when you audition for a role. An attention-grabbing head shot Talent and determination can increase the odds that you'll succeed in show business, but until people know who you are, you're just another face in the crowd. Because you can't possibly introduce yourself to everyone who may be able to advance your career, you have to use a head shot instead. A head shot is a photograph that acts as your calling card by displaying your face for others to see when you can't be present physically. Your head shot should capture your best physical features in order to make casting directors and agents say to themselves, "I've got to meet this person!" Because head shots can be such a crucial promotional tool, you absolutely must have the best head shot possible, which means finding the best photographer and developing a specific image for your head shot to project. A five-star acting resume While your head shot projects your physical characteristics, a resume lists the acting experience and unique skills behind your attractive face. After seeing an actor's head shot, casting directors often study an actor's resume to see whether that actor has the ability to perform in a particular role. A good acting resume answers any questions a casting director may have about an actor's ability to play a certain role and supplies enough evidence to convince a casting director to choose you. By knowing how to create and present your acting experience and skills in the best light possible, you can use your resume to help you land roles again and again. Polished talent Everyone has some talent for acting (think of the last time you called in to work and pretended to be sick so that you could take the day off). Even if you have astounding natural acting talent, you may still want lessons or coaching to nurture and further develop that talent. Here are some of the different ways to polish your acting talent: Majoring in drama in school Attending an acting class or workshop Working with an acting coach Learning on the job If you're serious about becoming an actor and you're already in school, you can't get any better training than performing in your high school or college drama department. Not only does such exposure give you an idea how much fun (and how much of a pain in the neck) acting can be, but it can also teach you all the technical details necessary to put on a play, ranging from creating backdrops and building sets to sewing costumes and marketing the show. If you've already graduated or just want to jump right into the world of acting as soon as possible, you can choose from plenty of acting workshops, classes, and coaches available for varying prices. Once again, some acting teachers have better reputations than others, and some charge outrageous amounts of money while others are more reasonable. The best way to develop your acting skills is to keep looking for acting roles wherever you can find them, whether they're lead roles in small plays or bit roles in larger productions. The more experience and knowledge you can gain by acting in a real role and watching others perform, the more you'll discover about the world of acting that no class or coach can ever duplicate.

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

If you feel like your efforts aren’t hitting the mark or are irregular at best, you can get proactive! You can build your roster of clients in several ways in addition to just auditioning. Although responding to casting calls is an important part of the job, so is marketing. Creating a well-defined marketing plan can help you build a client base faster than auditioning alone. Here are 20 marketing ideas to help you get your voice acting career jumping. Logos: Develop your own logo and become memorable before people even hear your voice. Business Cards: Create some business cards. They won’t do you any good just sitting in your wallet though. Hand them out everywhere! You never know who your waitress knows or who is visiting the dentist that day. Branded letterhead: If you’re mailing demos to potential clients, write a brief cover letter using branded letterhead. Demo stickers: Use demo stickers that contain your contact details and logo. Thank you cards: People still love the personal touch of a handwritten thank you card. This kind of gesture is the kind of thing that helps to develop strong business relationships. Postcards or pamphlets: Mail businesses a post card or pamphlet to introduce yourself and your services explaining how you can help them. Blogging If you enjoy writing and can do it consistently, blogging can be an effective way to build a following and increase your presence on the web. Meet-up groups: Starting or joining a monthly meet-up group is a great way to network with peers and get referral business. Social media groups: Become active on social media groups geared toward voice-over or start one yourself. Try creating a group geared toward a voice-over niche, such as video game voices or cartoon voices. Personal website: Having a personal website in addition to a profile on a voice acting marketplace site can increase your presence online even more. The more web presences you have, the more likely a client is to come across you while searching for talent. Professional associations: Receiving accreditation from a voice-over association can help you be perceived as a professional voice actor and give you exclusive training and networking opportunities. Generate publicity: Everyone has a story! Try pitching yours to magazines and newspapers to generate publicity for your business. Send client swag: Swag refers to useful items you can send to clients that are branded with your company logo, such as mugs, magnets, pens, and so on. Sponsor an event: If you can swing it, sponsoring an event is a great was to generate some publicity and make yourself known within your community. Traditional advertising: Place an ad in your local newspaper, trade magazine, or phonebook. Cold Call: If you have the personality for it, try cold calling local businesses and introduce yourself. Find out if they’re interested in using your voice in their next radio commercial or offer to be the voice of their telephone auto-attendant Referrals: If your client is happy with your work, ask if he or she can refer you to others. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Link-love: Hundreds of online directories are online. Take some time each day to find and submit your website to them to increase traffic to your site. Google AdWords: Reach out to a targeted audience with an ad that appears alongside specific key word searches. Join websites: Not only can you reach out to clients through auditioning, but having a profile at marketplace websites, like the ones listed here, is like setting up a booth at your local market. Hundreds of clients search for voice actors each day. Voices.com Elance.com Guru.com oDesk.com Freelance.com Freelancer.com iFreelance.com

Article / Updated 04-26-2016

When you're called in for an acting audition, the people present at the audition will include you, the casting director, and maybe a handful of other complete strangers. Some of these other people may be the producer, a camera operator (if they're taping the auditions), the casting director's bored friend or relative, a representative from the advertiser (in the case of a commercial audition), or a dance choreographer or musical director (in the case of a musical). No matter who is in the room, treat everyone in the room with respect. If someone looks like a sloppily dressed janitor, that person could actually be the producer, so play it safe and treat everyone with courtesy. By the time it's your turn to audition, the casting director has probably seen hundreds of other people ahead of you, which means the casting director and anyone else in the room is likely to be tired, bored, and irritable. Make the director's job easy and you increase your chances of having a successful audition. Make the job harder (by not being ready, talking too much, and so on) and you may seriously kill any chances of getting any role. After brief introductions (and make sure you keep them brief), someone may ask for your headshot and resume if you haven't already handed one in. (Don't be afraid to pass out multiple copies of your headshot or resume.) At some auditions, someone may take your picture with a digital camera, so the casting director can review all the people who auditioned that day. Be sure to smile and look your very best. If your picture doesn't look anything like your headshot, you need to get a new headshot. In the world of commercials, the way you look is extremely important because you'll be considered a salesperson for a product. To get a good look at you, the casting director may ask you to pose for a look at your front and side profile. Next, someone tells you where to stand, which is usually a mark on the floor so the casting director and everyone else in the room can see you clearly. If you're auditioning for a TV commercial, the casting director may start by asking you to slate, which simply means to state your full name clearly. When you slate, you may just say your name or your name followed by the agency that represents you. The casting director then tells you to start. (Sometimes they say, "Action!" and other times they'll just say, "Go," "Start," or some other monosyllabic grunt of exasperation.) At this point, you're supposed to start acting the role. If you're auditioning for role in a movie, TV show, or theatrical play, your audition may require you to sit in a chair, walk around, or stand still, depending on the part of the script the casting director asks you to read from. Whenever you audition, expect the unexpected, and be ready to work with unusual situations at a moment's notice. To help prepare for the unexpected, many actors take improvisation classes. With these lessons, actors learn to quickly improvise their way out of any acting situation and still remain in character. Speaking your audition lines When auditioning for a role in a TV commercial, you read from cue cards. Cue cards are like large flash cards that have an actor's script printed on them in big letters. If a TV performer forgets the lines, she ever-so-subtly looks at the cue cards and reads from them. The viewing audience doesn't see cue cards because the person holding them is standing next to (not in front of) the camera. When auditioning for a role in a movie, TV show, or theatrical play, you read from a script. Keep the following script etiquette in mind when auditioning: If you just received your copy of the script moments before your audition, it's okay to ask for a little time to study the role (just don't take too much time and inconvenience the casting director). Don't be afraid to read directly from the script while acting. The important part is to see how well you can interpret the part, not how well you can memorize a script on short notice. Try to say the words of the script correctly, but don't be too worried if you mispronounce a word or two. If you completely mess up your lines, it's okay to ask if you can start from the beginning again. During an open casting call or casting audition, another person may read lines with you. This person could be anyone from the casting director to another actor to the man who just delivered a pizza to the casting director for lunch. Many times, the person reading with you is not a professional actor and, therefore, may not give you much to work with. Don't let any acting inadequacies bother you; stay focused, and give your best audition.During a callback, however, you may be asked to audition and read lines with an actor who already has been cast. The casting director wants to see how you look and sound next to an actor who has already been assigned a role. To avoid confusion and a messy audition, find out where you should focus your attention when you're reading the script. Requesting this information is a good idea if you're not reading with someone or if you have no camera to look at. In general, you want to look near the casting director (so he can see your face) but not directly into the casting director's eyes (so he can evaluate your performance without feeling the need to acknowledge or react to your acting). You may be asked to read the same script several times with the casting director giving you suggestions to be angrier, more forceful, softer, and so on. This direction is a good thing! You want the casting director's attention because it means he (or she) is interested in you. Minding your auditioning manners A lack of courtesy shows disrespect, no matter where you are in life. If directed toward the folks running the audition, however, acting like a spoiled brat can kill an acting opportunity faster than you can say, "Exit stage left." Keep the following pointers in mind whenever you try out for a role: Never touch the casting director or any of his or her possessions, such as the notepad, laptop computer, food, and such. Doing so is rude and definitely works against you. Never smoke or chew gum during your audition. If you must smoke, do it outside where no one can see you and where your smoke won't interfere with others. If you bring a small tape recorder to record and then later evaluate your performance in the comfort of your home, hide the device so that it doesn't distract from your performance. Otherwise, the casting director may be looking at your tape recorder rather than watching you. Don't ask for permission to tape record because it will take time and distract the casting director. Just hide it in your pocket or purse and let it run. Some casting directors frown on actor's tape recording their auditions while others don't care. So if you're going to bring a tape recorder, be aware that its discovery could work against you. Making your exit After you complete your audition, thank everyone (the casting director, the camera operator eating a sandwich in the back, the receptionist who helped you check in, and anyone else who may be sitting in the room). If you read from a script, be sure to hand that script back to the casting director or his assistant. In general, you want to leave the room exactly the way it appeared when you arrived. Before leaving the audition, you may have to sign out and record the time you left. Union rules stipulate that actors can be held for only a certain amount of time at an audition, so the sign-out sheet verifies that you weren't kept for an abnormally long period of time. Even if you don't yet belong to an actors union, signing out shows that you are no longer on the premises. After you sign out, leave as quickly as possible, and congratulate yourself for what you've accomplished.