RHYTHM and RACE

 

RHYTHM and RACE   After seeing my clients whizz by and crash into walls and fall and crack ribs I figure it’s time to talk about it.  You need to stay alive people.  You need to know how to literally stop running this stupid race you are running.  Let me tell you the difference your life could be if you turned “race” into “rhythm.  Just listen.    When you are out of breath because you need to ….get in the door, finish a script, be first in line, battle the traffic, lose 40 pounds by tomorrow, rush to learn, rush to not miss anything…when you are in that state of “race”, you are myopic and can only see with blinders on.  It’s selfish and you are missing the beautiful things around you.  If you start to think of your path in terms of rhythm…you can breathe in the joy and beauty around you and inside you while you are going to the same place you would be going if you were racing.   David Brenner, a comic from my generation passed away recently.  I was so sad.  It’s rough being a comic.  Talk about never stopping the race. But I looked at his website and I clicked on the word travel…I viewed about 50 pictures of David in all parts of the world.  Safari’s, ships, mountains, beaches.  He lived the hellish life of a comic but saw the world and did it with rhythm.   You have got to stop acting like every day has a life or death feel to it.  You are young.  Yes YOU.  I don’t care how old you are.  If you are reading this you are someone I know or want to know and you have a beautiful healthy spirit that has to be reminded about rhythm.  I know you are also creative.  When creative people forget rhythm in their life they are sunk.  Rhythm or Race?  I know how much you want to provide your gifts to the world.  I know there are so many stops.  You must enjoy this most of the time or what’s the point.  You will be exhausted when you get there and it will NEVER BE ENOUGH ANYWAY!   – Love, Barbara

#CASTING A FEATURE FILM

THUNDER ROAD feature film auditions 

Non Union

 

Thunder Road is a feature length independent film casting out of Niagara and we’re looking for a lead actress to portray the seventeen year old female-protagonist MARY. Thunder Road is the story of a broken girl from a dysfunctional world intertwined with a love story back-dropped against a decaying old beach town alongside the American east coast. 

 

Shooting is taking place in Niagara on the Lake at the beginning of May.

 

 

 

 

Character Breakdown: 

(Lead) MARY / Female – 16-22

Caucasian, beautiful, preferably brunette. 5’4-5’8.

 

 a very beautiful, yet broken girl who’s had too much heartache handed to her too young. She tries to act hardened yet it’s easy to see right through that to the lost little girl inside. 

 

 

 

 

 

The ‘Mary audition script’ is available upon request, please contact Landen Wakil inquiring a script or with questions at:

 

ContactThunderRoad@gmail.com

 

Facebook.com/ThunderRoadMovie

 

or

 

+1(289) 929 5678

 

We look forward to receiving your audition!

 

Submission Deadline: May 1st

CONTEST ALERT!!

SEND US YOUR SELFIE CONTEST!

 You can win 20% off a modelling class when you enter the #FSAselfie contest.

 It’s easy…Snap a selfie, either tweet us at @OfficialFSA or email us at info@freedomschoolofthearts.com with #FSAselfie. We’ll post it on our FB page. The #FSAselfie with the most likes wins. So make sure you and your friends are following us on twitter @OfficialFSA and on facebook.

 

Contest closes April 5, 2014

How to get the most out of your acting class

By Tom Vest

Acting/Improv teacher

Show up on time
Don’t let the start of a class become your arrival time. Arriving 5 or 10 minutes late can throw you out of sync with the rest of the class, as warm ups are designed to lead into planned exercises. Yes, sometimes we run into traffic jams or are held up, but don’t let it become a habit. Aim to arrive before the start of class and avoid the dreaded Walk of Shame as everyone stops to watch you arrive in the middle of all the fun!

Participate!
I think it comes as a surprise to some people that they have to get up and actually participate. Others spend a lot of energy making sure the class knows how tired they are or how nervous they are. All I can say about that is – please don’t be that person. We’re all tired. Too often it becomes an excuse to participate at 50% effort. You only succeed in drawing attention to yourself, and not in a good way.

No texting
Over the years, texting during class has increasingly become an issue. Even though I make a point to mention texting is not allowed, students sometimes “forget” and try to check their messages or quickly reply to an email. The reasoning is usually along the lines of — “if they are quiet and not disrupting the class, what’s the problem?”
Students benefit greatly from watching others work, not to mention a sense of community and recognition of shared experiences. We are all in this together, aren’t we? The people on stage want to be seen, and so should you. That’s how we know we are getting better, by our partnership in this room. If we are to better ourselves in this art, students must take responsibility to listen to each other and use the time to learn from each other.

Don’t be defensive
Unfortunately, a defensive student doesn’t see them self as defensive. Students progress very little when they are more interested in defending their actions than taking any suggestions the instructor may have. Try to keep an open mind and remember things always look different to the people in a scene than to those who are outside of it.

Get Curious
Engaging in the world around you is a good way to take your mind off any worries or fears you may have. Developing our ability to pay attention and concentrate is a key skill all actors need to work on, so put away that iphone and watch the scene in front of you!

WHAT CASTING WANT…

 

FACT: 99% of Casting Directors will ONLY work with people who have training!

Casting always checks out your resume. I cannot stress the importance of constantly training! It DRAMATICALLY  increases the probability of you, not only, getting an audition but BOOKING. And we all want that 🙂

This weekend we’re offering an on camera day of workshops! MARCH 9 10-4pm

Film and TV Acting Workshop you walk away with a taped scene that you can upload to your networking sites (Casting workbook, Actors Access, Breakdown Services, 800 Casting) showing casting your most recent work! It also helps your agent when they are pitching you for roles!

Did you know that commercial actors can make a VERY comfortable living? Learn from 2 of our coaches in our Commercial Audition Workshop who have booked well over 80+ commercials between the 2 of them.

It’s a great opportunity to dig deep, stretch, add to your acting materials and study with some of the best acting coaches in Toronto.

Should I brand myself?

You are one of a kind and I believe that you should celebrate that in your life and in your career! Over the past few years people have been talking about the need for actors to “brand” themselves. This can be stressful to figure out and, I think, really boring as an artist. As an actor/artist you never want to place yourself in a box and branding does just that. Know what your strengths are and absolutely play to them but never be branded… Unless you’re a moose or a shoe, then just be that.

May you all have a wonderful, creatively fulfilling and prosperous 2014!

Monica Mustelier

Actress | Acting Coach | Writer

www.monicamustelier.com

6 Ways to Take Your Career in New Directions from Haley Joel Osment

By Melinda Loewenstein | Posted Dec. 11, 2013, 11 a.m. via Backstage Daily

Haley Joel Osment isn’t seeing dead people anymore (although he might return to that soon as he’s currently shooting the Kevin Smith horror film “Tusk”). Osment’s recent work returns him to his roots in television comedy (“Thunder Alley,” “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,” and “Murphy Brown”), while embracing the new distribution and marketing models that are available.

Osment plays Shelby Mellman, a small town reporter following Matt Malloy’s Senator Louis Laffer as he runs for re-election, in Amazon Studios’ first original series, “Alpha House,”starring John Goodman. Osment says the distribution method didn’t matter much to him—it was the writing and the idea that he connected with. “For the actors it’s just one more new opportunity, because it means more pilots are produced every spring… when we worked on it, it felt very much like a pilot for any other television show. Although at times it seemed like it had a much larger budget than you might expect [for] something like this.”

Build from what you have.
When Osment auditioned for Shelby on “Alpha House,” he only had one scene to read and there was no indication of the young, ambitious reporter’s motives for following Senator Laffer. “You just have to go with your instincts and leave a little bit of room for spontaneity and improvisation, which I think can be useful there,” he says. Besides researching regional reporters, Osment says one thing that helped him prepare the character was the wardrobe. “His wardrobe—dressing him in a Western flared sports coat—was something that sort of gave me direction about who Shelby was.”

Although he shot a scene for the pilot where he was in with the press pool, it was cut once the pilot got a season order, allowing Shelby to remain in the shadows until episode three. When he finally appears, it’s still unclear what his motives are toward the Senator, but Osment shares that “his intentions and purposes become clear about midway through season.” Osment liked that even though Trudeau had the whole season planned out, he remained open to what the actors would bring to the table.

Embrace new opportunities.
It’s been a great year for Osment, who likes to do as different of characters as possible. “So this year was exciting for that reason, because a lot of these characters I haven’t really done on camera before.” Although he played some memorable characters as a child, Osment says “I think the roles are definitely better for someone in their mid-20s than the things that were bouncing around when I was a teenager.” He’s also excited to embrace the way the industry has changed with shows like “Alpha House” being produced by online distributors and the use of social media in promoting these shows. His IFC mini-series “The Spoils of Babylon” is tied to Funny or Die for promotion. When he got the call from Will Ferrell, Osment was thrilled. “The cast on that is ridiculous…[and] most of my scenes are with Kristen Wiig and Tobey Maguire, which was terrific fun.” Playing Winston, a young man with questionable parentage, who is a megalomaniac who can’t get enough power has also been fun. “I think a lot of actors will tell you that playing a villain can be more fun than playing the straight and narrow good guy,” he says.

Keep it clever.
Until this year, much of Osment’s work had been focused on drama, but the actor is excited to be doing more comedy again, even if it can be more challenging. “Comedy can be harder because if you aren’t making the audience laugh, they’re going to turn on you quicker. They’ll go along with mediocre drama more than they’ll go along with mediocre comedy,” he says.

Never underestimate the value of education.
Despite having a successful acting career through his teens, Osment never considered not continuing his education. When he started looking for schools he wasn’t sure if he would focus on an acting or film related track, but after visiting NYU, he knew that’s where he wanted to go. “I went to the experimental theater wing at NYU, so it was a lot of things that were just completely different from acting in film.” He says the program provided training in choreography, self-scripting, and directing, among other things. “There’s this whole spectrum of theatrical technique that was useful for film, but was not exclusively for on-screen acting, so I felt like it was valuable training.”

Change perceptions.
After taking a break for school, Osment is diving right back into acting, making the transition from child actor to adult actor. While the transition may present some challenges, Osment says overall it’s just given him the opportunity to play more roles. “If you work as a kid, people have this fixed image of you as a young person and that takes some time to change, but as a performer it’s a cool thing to have a career stretching back into your childhood because it just sort of gives you more of a variety of roles to play.”

Be an expert at memorization.
Osment hasn’t really done a horror film since “The Sixth Sense” and his character in Kevin Smith’s “Tusk” is very different. “Kevin’s movies are a lot of dialogue… and he’s someone who will come on to the set with like 10 to 16 pages of new dialogue when he gets inspired, so that was like a cool kind of challenge to do that. We had this massive amount of text to be dealing with.” Luckily for Osment, memorization has never been a problem. “One of the cool things about getting to audition for things on short notice is that it teaches you to memorize efficiently. So I’ve never been afraid of getting text down quickly.” One tip Osment would offer actors? “It sounds like a simple thing, but it’s surprising how many people you encounter that leave [memorization] ‘til the last day. For some actors that actually works, a classic example being Brando, but for me I’ve always enjoyed having the text down.”

GENERAL AUDITION – TARRAGON THEATRE – TORONTO, ON

Please direct all responses and inquiries directly to the theatre or association listed in the e-drive notice
below.

——————————–
——————————–

Audition day 1: 02/24/2014
City: Toronto

Audition day 2: 02/25/2014
City: Toronto

Audition day 3: 02/26/2014
City: Toronto

Audition day 4: 02/27/2014
City: Toronto

Audition day 5: 02/28/2014
City: Toronto

Artistic Director or casting person in attendance: Richard Rose and Andrea Donaldson
Deadline to submit: 01/01/2014
Email applications to: generalauditions@tarragontheatre.com
Contact name: Andrea Donaldson
Contact email: donaldson@tarragontheatre.com
Contact phone: 416.536.5018×242
Engager website: www.tarragontheatre.com
Link to detailed casting information: http://tarragontheatre.com/education/artists/general-auditions.php
Agreement: CTA

Additional information: Tarragon’s 2013/2014 General Auditions will be held in the last week of February. We audition both Equity and non-Equity actors by appointment only. Tarragon believes that artists of diverse cultures should have equal opportunities and we welcome such artists’ interest.

If you wish to be seen at our General Auditions, please fill out the submission form and upload your CV & headshot on our website by January 1st 2014.
(http://tarragontheatre.com/education/artists/general-auditions.php)

Equity actors will be asked to prepare two contrasting Canadian monologues (two 2½ minute pieces totaling five minutes). Non-Equity actors will be asked to prepare one Canadian monologue (2½ minutes in total).

Those selected for an audition will be contacted by February 7, 2014.

Happy Holidays From Freedom School of the Arts

Tis the season to celebrate! We’ve had such an amazing year with our students and their successes. I wanted to say thank-you for making us look so good!  We are here to support you on your road to success in the acting, film, TV and modeling industry Classes start back February 2014. Until then, have fun, be safe and be good to each other! May you all have a wonderful time over the holidays. Best Wishes, Freedom School of the Arts SAVE 25% OFF! We have exciting classes, workshops and weekend youth acting intensives coming in 2014  Give the perfect holiday gift. Buy a class for yourself or for a loved one and receive 25% off! Offer ends December 20th, 2013.  Call 905-997-6100 to get the perfect gift! Offer is valid towards any class, workshop in 2014.

Conflict. Some improvisers love it. Others run from it.

By Tom Vest

Improviser | Acting Teacher

In most performers’ minds, the word “conflict” suggests that characters should disagree or fight.

Most discussions about conflict tend to generate their own conflict: Is it necessary? How does it get started? How do you avoid it? Should it be based on what the story needs or what the characters want?

In order to get a better understanding of conflict, let’s begin with the “Today is The Day” scenario that’s often taught.

Often teachers will frame scene work with the view that “Today is the day things change for your character…a scene should be about a life-altering experience.” Scenes that follow will be inherently interesting because we see the character in a new light.

After all, how exciting can it be to watch a character do the same thing they always do?
We want to see a character finally stand up to his boss, declare his love, get a divorce, get a job, get fired…anything to break the routine.

And I don’t necessarily disagree with this so much as I disagree with how it is handled.
For one thing, anytime you use the word “should” in an improv context, you (inadvertently) set up expectations. (A scene should be about…)

In the rush to get to a life-altering experience, performers get so caught up in the theory that something needs to happen, that they miss out on what already is happening.
Before we focus on “Why is this day different than all the others?” what if we asked “Why is this day the same?”
Life-altering often seem less life-altering when we haven’t even established the life that is getting altered.

When we place more importance on what needs to happen than on appreciating what is happening, we lose touch with an awareness of ourselves in our experience.
And when we lose touch with how we feel about what’s going on, we start to guess. Or calculate what “should” happen. Rather than be ourselves and play from a truthful place, we make choices based on our opinion of what’s best for the scene.

In order for a scene to be interesting, it really helps for the improviser to be interested in what they are doing or what is going on. If they aren’t, then why would the audience be? When an improviser believes in the moment, they open themselves up to transformation, revelation, movement, resolution, agreement, and breaking of a routine.
These events are sometimes referred to as “tilts.”

A tilt can change someone’s status or even change the balance in a scene without conflict.
As long as you are invested in the moment, there isn’t any need to introduce or create conflict.
The pressure you place on yourself to find the conflict will remove you from your scene.
As a result, you are no longer inside the scene, but outside of it.

If you construct conflict in order to create a scene, then you are constructing rather than behaving.

Just be.

If that’s not enough, be more.

When in doubt, raise the level of need for your character. If you get lost in the scene, it’s because you’re not in character. Dig deeper into how you feel about what you are doing, or how you feel about what is going on and allow it to inform you.

You don’t need to CREATE conflict; your character needs to need. Other characters have their own needs, therefore conflict will ensue whether you want it or not.

Tom began improvating in 1997 and has studied at the Impatient Theatre Co., Second City Conservatory, ImprovOlympic and Bad Dog Theatre. While at ITC he has performed with Pantry of Creams and Standards and Practices. He has also coached Leroy, Death Valley Driver and The Markov Variation. He currently performs with an independent ensemble, The Seedlings. In addition to working with various youth groups across the city, he has also taught at the Impatient Theatre Company, Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, Randolph Academy and York University. Tom also helped produce the Fringe venue for the Toronto Improv Festival, and is the creator and producer of the ultra-smash hit shows “Dude, Whats a Harold?” and Beyond the Stars! He has also performed at Improv Festivals in Chicago, New York and Toronto.