SHSU Sara Luke

Friday, May 1, 2009

Project #5- The Profession

THE PROFESSION

'RARA AVIS (RARE BIRD)'

Small's Theatre Company is casting the world premiere of RARA AVIS (RARE BIRD), a full-length play that explores notions of heroism as displayed in the "ordinary" life of one woman, perhaps insane, awaiting trial at Riker's Island Prison. Jamilla Deria, dir.; Wendell Edward Carter, prod.
Rehearses May-early June 2009; runs May 30 and June 6 & 7 at Temple M, 555 W. 141st St., NYC.
May lead to extended run in Fall 2009.

Seeking—Prisoner/Phillis Wheatley: female, 30s-40s, African-American, LEAD;
Sister Sister/Fannie Lou Hamer: female, 30s-40s, African-American, LEAD;
Mad Convict/Thomas Jefferson: female, 20s-40s, Caucasian, LEAD;
Lesbian Avenger/Sharecropper: female, 20s-40s, Latina, LEAD;
Guard/Sally Hemings: female, 20s-40s, African-American, LEAD.

Note: The five actresses will portray 29 different characters.Auditions will be held by appt. only May 2, 1-6 p.m. at Shetler Studios, 244 W. 54th St. (btwn. Broadway & Eighth Ave.), 12th fl., NYC, and May 3, 1-6 p.m. at Shetler Studios, Penthouse 4. Email pix & résumés to smallstc@gmail.com. Prepare a brief monologue. For more info, call (347) 439-9361. Small stipend, with possible pay provided if show is extended in the fall.

'BOARDWALK EMPIRE'

Grant Wilfley Casting is casting background for the new HBO series Boardwalk Empire. The series is set in the 1920s. Melissa Braun, senior casting assoc. Shoot dates and location TBA.

Seeking—Background Actors: male and female, to portray Working-Class Irish, German, Polish/Eastern European, Italian, Chinese, and African-American people, Boxers, Little People, and FBI Types.

Note: All men must be willing to have their hair cut short; women must have at least shoulder-length hair. No experience necessary.Auditions will be held May 6, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (SAG) & 2-5 p.m. (nonunion) at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, 405 W. 59th St., NYC. Be prepared to have a digital photo taken. If you already attended the Grant Wilfley Casting open call in Feb., you do not need to attend this call. Pay provided. SAG Background Actors Contract.

UNION:

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE SERIES A

The Ensemble Studio Theatre is casting Series A of its One Act Marathon 2009.
Series A includes: Americana (Garrett M. Brown, writer; Linsay Firman, dir.), Face Cream (Maggie Bofill, writer), For the Love of Got, St. Teresa (Christine Farrell, writer; Deborah Hedwall, dir.), PTSD (Tommy Smith, writer; Billy Carden, dir.), and Trickle (Kia Corthron, writer; Will Pomerantz, dir.). Billy Carden, artistic dir.; Annie Trizna, season prod.

Rehearsals begin April 30; runs May 22-June 19.
Americana—Dad: late 40s, a businessman and father; Gary: 10, his son, tall for his age; Mr. Self: late 50s, an encyclopedia salesman; Mom: mid-to-late 40s, a suburban housewife and mother.
Face Cream—Man: 45-65; Woman: 45-65, Latina.For the Love of Got, St. Teresa—Colleen: 14. The following role has been CAST—Sister Mary Teresa.PTSD—Dad: 50s, working-class father; Riles: 20s, son; Mer: 20s, daughter; Cindy: 20s, works as a supermarket cashier.
Trickle—Jean: female, 30-40, rhymes with “queen,” Caucasian-American; Christina: late 20s-early 30s, African-American; Isabel: 30-40, Mexican-American; Angelique: 30-40, Jamaican, immigrant woman with a trace of an accent; Mel: female, 30-40, Chinese, immigrant woman with a trace of an accent.

Send pix & résumés to The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Attn: Aubrie Therrien, casting asst., 549 W. 52nd St., NYC 10019. Equity Basic Showcase Code.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE SERIES B

The Ensemble Studio Theatre is casting Series B of its One-Act Marathon 2009.
Series B includes: Blood from a Stone (Jeanne Dorsey, writer), Daughter (Cassandra Medley, writer), Little Duck (Billy Aronson, writer; Jamie Richards, dir.), and Sundance (M.Z. Ribalow, writer). Billy Carden, artistic dir.; Annie Trizna, season prod.

Rehearsals begin May 11; runs June 5-27 in NYC.
Blood from a Stoner—Daughter: 30s-40s; Father: 60s-70s; Waiter: not American.Daughter—Monique: female, 19, African-American, pretty, vivacious, boldly venturing into life; Alma: late 40s-early 50s, African-American, Monique’s mother; Louise: late 40s-early 50s, African-American, Alma’s neighbor and close friend; Viola: late 40s-early 50s, African-American, Alma’s neighbor and close friend.
Little Duck—Robert: 30s-50s, the president; Holly: 20s, the intern; Anne: 30s-40s, the writer; RJ: male, 30s-40s, the artist; Dr. Jill: female, 30s-40s, the director of content.
Sundance—Hickock: male, classic western hero, fine figure of a man, pillar of the community, aware of his mythic stature and plays into it, not too young; Jesse: male, a psychotic, sadistic, murderous slob and proud of it, not too bright, tends to be literal, not too old; The Kid: male, youngish, a revolutionary and a true believer; Barkeep: male, ageless, a shamelessly craven survivor indifferent to anything except survival; Sundance: male, under 40, a flawless killing machine, a perfect specimen, void of emotion, conscience or sensibility.

Send pix & résumés to The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Attn: Aubrie Therrien, casting asst., 549 W. 52nd St., NYC 10019. Equity Basic Showcase Code.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Project #5- Grad School

GRADUATE SCHOOL

California Institute of the Arts
www.calarts.edu/schools/theater/index.html

DEGREE PROGRAMS: MFA in Acting, Performing Arts Design (Costumes, Lighting, Scenery, Sound), Performing Arts Management , Performing Arts Technology, Directing, Integrated Media and Writing for Performance.

TYPE OF PROGRAM: An intensive training program and producing entity that includes schools of theatre, dance, art, film/video, music and critical writing. The faculty of outstanding active professionals and innovative guest artists from around the world continuously expand existing visions and structures. While we help students acquire the skills necessary for professional life, our primary commitment is to develop a vision of the theatre as a dynamic cultural force.

ACTING PROGRAM
(BFA, MFA)
This program accepts students only at the BFA1 (first-year undergraduate) and MFA1 (first-year graduate) levels. Acting student selections are based on the live audition only. Applicants are not required to submit a portfolio. Received acting portfolios will not be viewed or returned. The following is required for the live audition:
• Applicants must present two monologues (no longer than two minutes each) of contrasting nature. Choose one from Shakespeare. Faculty, however, may choose to see only one of the two. You should also prepare a third monologue to present at the faculty’s request.
• Applicants must bring a résumé and a recent photograph, preferably a headshot, to the audition.

University of Texas, Austin
www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad

DEGREE PROGRAMS: MFA in Directing, Acting, Playwriting, Creative Drama/Theatre for Youth, Theatre Technology, Theatrical Design (scenery, costumes, lighting).THE PROGRAM: Preparation for entry into educational, regional, and professional theatre.

ADMISSIONS: The Acting Area in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas has embarked on a bold new plan that now recruits a new class only every three years. Our Acting class is a highly motivated and talented group of individuals wishing to pursue acting as a career. Talent and the content of successful application were the primary criteria for admission. This new class reflects a rich cultural diversity. We admitted sixteen actors in Fall of 2007, who will graduate in the class of 2010.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas / Nevada Conservatory Theatre
www.unlv.edu/Colleges/Fine_Arts/Theatre/

DEGREE PROGRAMS: MFA Professional Training Programs in Performance, Design (Costume, Lighting & Scenery), Technical Direction, Playwriting, Directing and Stage Management. Also offer BA Theatre Arts.

THE PROGRAM: Performance and production intensive professional training program, emphasizing a balance between studio training and acting, design or production assignments with the Nevada Conservatory Theatre season-Las Vegas’ premiere regional theatre.

Admission Requirements
Students seeking an M.A. degree are admitted for
matriculation in the fall or spring semester of the academic
year. In addition to the general requirements for admission to
the Graduate College, applicants must submit the following
to the Department of Theatre:

1. An official transcript from all postsecondary institutions
attended, showing an undergraduate degree in theatre
and the date awarded. (An acceptable alternative
undergraduate major coupled with satisfactory practical
experience in theatre may be deemed equivalent to an
undergraduate major in theatre.)

2. A written statement (500 words or less) of the applicant’s
purpose in pursuing graduate study.

3. Two letters of recommendation sent by former instructors,
employers, or other professionals who can evaluate the
applicant’s potential to complete graduate study.
These materials may be sent to the following address:
Department of Theatre

Attn: Graduate Coordinator
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Box 455036
Las Vegas, NV 89154-5036

PROJECT #5- Teaching

TEACHING

You must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. Texas institutions do not offer a degree in education. Every teacher must have an academic major, as well as teacher training courses. The only exemption from the degree requirement is for individuals seeking Career and Technology certification to teach certain courses, such as welding or computer-aided drafting.
You must complete teacher training through an approved program. These programs are offered through colleges and universities, school districts, regional service centers, community colleges, and other entities.
You must successfully complete the appropriate teacher certification tests for the subject and grade level you wish to teach. For a list of the certification tests and information on which tests are required, click here.
A teacher who holds an appropriate Texas classroom teaching certificate and a bachelor's degree may add classroom certification areas by successfully completing the appropriate certification examination(s) for the area(s) sought. Certification by examination is not available for:
initial certification;
career and technology certification based on skill and work experience;
a class of certificate other than classroom teacher (e.g. School Counselor, Principal, Superintendent, Learning Resources/School Librarian, Educational Diagnostician);
a certificate for which no certification examination has been developed.
The first step toward additional certification by examination is passing an appropriate subject matter test. To access the appropriate websites for test registration, click here.

Community College

San Jacinto College
Location:Pasadena, TX
Type: Part-Time/Adjunct
Requirements Master's Degree with at least eighteen (18) graduate hours in Drama.

Senior College/University

Ithaca College
Location:Ithaca, NY
Type:Full Time

Job Description: The successful candidate will teach courses in the directing sequence, Script Analysis for the Theatre, and courses in acting as needed; advise majors in the Bachelor of Arts Drama major; direct in the mainstage production season as assigned; and supervise two senior directing projects.

Qualifications: M.F.A. or PhD in Directing required. Teaching experience at the college level (preferably in BFA degree programs) and professional experience preferred

Friday, March 20, 2009

Unconventional Theatre

UNCONVENTIONAL THEATRE

The Threepenny Opera (Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill)

Theatre Workshop toured to sell-out audiences in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh with Brecht's The Threepenny Opera Celebrating European year of disabled people this showcase event was cast for the first time using professional disabled actors. At Glasgow's Tramway 17-19 June, Aberdeen's Cowdray Hall 26th June @2pm &7.45pm and at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre 1-3 July.

A show that works on every level, from the vehement and glittering intensity of the performances, to the ferocious intimacy of its relationship with the screech and rasp of Weill's magnificent music. -Joyce McMillan The Scotsman.

This performance of this play in unconventional in the fact that it used disabled actors in roles that they normally would not be cast in. This pushes the boundaries of what people define theatre as and opens the door for so many more people to pursue their dreams in the field. I think it's interesting that this production had such great success.

The Secret Garden (Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon)

The Phoenix Theatre for Children and Opera Columbus, Nov. 15-18 2007

Collaboration between the CAPA, The Phoenix Theatre for Children, and Opera Columbus

"With the use of sign language and as a children's play, this collaboration provides educational opportunities for all the groups to reach new audiences."

The play featured actors with deaf and hearing actors performing and singing simultaneously in English and sign language. I can only imagine how much work must have been out into this production. It is hard enough performing a play simply as it is written. This production united 2 different crowds of theater goers creating one new kind of experience.

Isabella (William Shakespeare)

Pig Iron Theatre Company , Philadelphia PA.

It was a hit at the 2007 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. It was directed by Dan Rothenberg and designed by Anna Kiraly.

A radical re-cutting of Shakespeare’s “problem play” Measure for MeDesigned by Anna Kiraly asure, set in a modern-day morgue and re-imagined as a startling work of human puppetry.

This play was performed in a higly physical and unusual way. They warped the speaking of the text, and it was performed with the cast being mainly nude. Another strange aspect was that the actor's played dead people.

Salome (Oscar Wilde)

Premiered at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1988. It was later revived with a new cast for the National Theatre in London, and after these performances it transferred to the West End.

Berkoff in his most famous acting and directing role. The play is performed in slow-motion, characters gliding slowly across the stage and savouring each word.

The play was slowed down to specifically emphasize language. It is obviously unusual igevn the fact that plays are usually performed in normal speed. I think that doing this with a play makes an audience think more and have to really pay attention to every little aspect of the performance.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Project #3 Too Hot to Handle

Naked Broadway

Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrance McNally

The setting is at a lakeside summer vacation house in Dutchess County, two hours north of New York City where eight gay friends spend the three major holiday weekends of one summer together for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Its off-Broadway premiere was at the Manhattan Theatre Club on October 11, 1994 where it staged 72 performances. The production then transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway where, after 28 previews, it opened on 14 February 1995, closing on 17 September 1995 after an additional 248 performances.

Berkshire Theater Festival production of Love! Valour! Compassion!

The play is about eight gay male friends, and features hot topics such as AIDS, infidelity, and had a controversial nude skinny dipping scene.

Gay Broadway

The Boy From Oz by Martin Sherman, and Nick Enright

The Boy From Oz is a jukebox musical based on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and featuring songs written by him. It was the first Australian musical to reach Broadway. It started previews at the Imperial Theatre on 16 September 2003, opened on 16 October 2003 and closed on 12 September 2004. The show played 32 previews and 365 performances. Directed by Philip William McKinley, with choreography by Joey McKneely, it starred Jackman as Peter Allen, Isabel Keating as Judy Garland, Stephanie J. Block as Liza Minnelli, Beth Fowler as Marion Woolnough, and John Hill (actor) as Mark Herron (Judy's Husband).

Racist Broadway

Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts -- from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation, and burglary -- to sell undesirable real estate to unwilling prospective buyers. The play opened on Broadway on March 25, 1984 and closed on February 17, 1985. The production was directed by Gregory Mosher and starred Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum, Robert Prosky, Lane Smith, James Tolkan, Jack Wallace, and J.T. Walsh.

Alan Alda, left, and Liev Schreiber as dueling salesmen in a revival of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Glengarry Glen Ross."

The play sparked contreversy after including dialogue which many found very prejudice to people from India. The lines were cut out for the latest revival.

Raided or Closed

Sex by Jane Mast (Mae West)

Mae West starred in "Sex" in 1926, which she also wrote, produced, and directed. In "Sex", Margie LaMont (Mae West) shares her apartment with a blackmailing gigolo. When he drugs a rich socialite, Margie rescues her. But the woman, fearing for her reputation, accuses Margie of theft. So Margie gets even by seducing the woman's son. Though critics hated the show, ticket sales were good. The notorious production did not go over well with city officials and the theater was raided with West arrested along with the cast.

Arrested

NEA 4

Four NEA grants were vetoed by John Frohnmayer in June,1990 singling out four controversial performance artists because of the artists' sexual preferences and political discourses. The grants were vetoed after having been recommended for awards by the NEA peer review panel.
Three of the rejected artists are gay and deal with homosexual issues in their work; the fourth, Karen Finley, is an outspoken feminist. The endowment had been under attack since 1989 for funding supposedly "lewd" work. All members of the NEA Four received compensation surpassing their grant amounts in 1993 when courts ruled in support of the four artists, but the NEA controversies continue. The question of content restrictions on use of NEA funds and definitions for "obscenity" are still in court.

Karen Finley John Fleck

Holly Hughes

Tim Miller

High School

Rent by Jonathan Larson at Corona del Mar High School

Drama students at Corona del Mar High School were excited to push the envelope with a spring production of the Bohemian love story "Rent." The drama teacher at the Newport Beach school says the principal told him to cancel the show because she disapproved of the gay characters in the musical.

College/University

Gratuitous Pieces

The graphic nature of SSU senior Beau Jorgensen's senior project, the play "Gratuitous Pieces," was met with some disapproval. The show was considered to be so graphic that the SSU theatre department required him to put a disclaimer that the production was not affiliated with the theatre department or the drama club on his posters, said Ray Oster, associate professor of theatre arts.

"The play contains a violent rape scene, a murder, a suicide and a character who is into pornographic materials," said Joyce Arends, the SSU campus program director for the New Horizons Crisis Center. "Murder and suicide are not the messages that we want victims of sexual assault or any crime to have as solutions to the problem."

Friday, February 13, 2009

Project 2

Casting:
I very much like the idea of a small cast playing a wide variety of roles. This greatly challenges and benefits the actors. The amount of learning from a project like this would forever shape their acting skills.
It also gives the audience a chance to be thrown into a great interesting experience as play goers. Kushner had a very specific vision in mind when he suggested doubling, and that’s what I would want to share with my audience.

Angel:
In my head there is no way you wouldn’t fly the angel. With a show with the language and themes that this one has, the bigger the better for me. I want the angel to be as real to the audience as possible, and for me to achieve that I’d have to fly her.

Nudity:
If I were directing this show, it would not be necessary for Prior to be completely naked. I feel that we can still portray the extremity of his disease without going all the way. I don’t think an audience member would be taken out of the play or get any less of the experience. In fact, I think many people would refuse to come if there was nudity, and many would be distracted and uncomfortable throughout the show.
Disagree: When I suggested dropping the nudity, we discussed the context of the medical examination in which it occurred and concluded that the rest of the play romanticized AIDS too much. Without a visual encounter with the humility of real physical exposure and ravaging disease, the audience would not "get" the truth.

Language:
I wouldn’t alter any of the language. Because if I started cutting, then I don’t know how I could stop. While I feel that stage directions are more of suggestions from a playwright and can be flexible, the dialogue is set in stone. I don’t think you get the affect of Angels in America without the rawness of the language.

Disagree:

“He would...delete a few instances of the word fuck. He changed his usual policy requiring all theater majors to audition for school productions, giving them the option to bow out… Only two out of 20 opted out.”

Agree: Ms. Gardiner, saying that ''Angels'' is ''a big risk and a smart move'' for the theater, is interested in how the audience is going to deal with the play's graphic but not gratuitous scenes. ''I opted not to pretend, or to keep secrets,''

Intermissions: I would probably find a way to only do one intermission. I think having two will be tiring to the audience and make it seem extremely long.