Life in a poetic universe

Just came from Annie Chadwick's second Career Development Workshops for Actors, ShowBiz Sunday at The Drama BookShop. This week it was Meet The Pros, a panel of the 5 top acting coaches in New York City.

All either where or are working professional actors. Deborah Carlson stuck a cord in me with her approach, esp. the class she teaches based on the work of Patsy Rodenburg. It's an approach that (at least from what I heard today) seems to compliment Meisner and my own intuitive way of working (i.e., breathing, listening, and reacting rather than acting -- and I also seem to have trouble breathing). Tom Demenkoff also struck a cord -- a highly experienced and skilled audition coach. Even though the audition at 13th Street won't be a huge deal, I think I'll work with Tom to give an audition as if my life depended on it, and that'll give me a chance to see how we work together. Clearly for important/professional auditions, working with an coach is almost essential . . .

Finally, I was one of Annie's invited guests, so I attended the workshop for free! Her invitation was out of the blue -- last spring when the series closed for the summer, she sent out a request for reviews of the workshop. I sent one in, and she remembered that, but more interesting, she somehow noticed that I've been to almost everyone one of the workshop despite the fact that 99% of my the time was spent listening and absorbing (and summarizing in this journal) everything I've learned and asking only a very few questions -- in fact, she couldn't quite put a face to my name and asked me to make sure I introduced myself to her. A very nice, very gracious attractive woman, a very talented actor/singer, and a career coach (Up-To-Date-Theatricals).

Life In A Poetic Universe, Rest Of The 2005 Goals:

...Most actors fail not because of lack of talent but because they

• don't work hard enough
• aren't disciplined
• are literal rather than truly imaginative
• see their limitations as deal-breakers
• are ruled by their negative side
• are NOT persistent

...The actors who make it work hard.

...I discovered that every single night of the year's run, Ruth Gordon came to the theatre an hour before the rest of the cast and onstage alone went over all her stage moves and her part to keep it fresh and disciplined and new. What most actors don't know is that"newness" comes from discipline, not from inspiration.

       - all from Michael Shurtleff's Audition (p. 224-8)

I've just finished Michael Shurtleff's Audition. First published in 1978, it's still in press, and out of a possible ranking range of 1 to almost 4,000,000, it's ranked (as of yesterday) in the top 3000 books sold on amazon. Well deserved popularity, and it sets the stage for my own creativity routine . . .

1. Monologues & Cold/Warm Reading Practice & Vocal Workout

Goal -- One hour/day, 3-4/week. Suggested days: Monday, Thursday or Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Goal -- 15 minute vocal workouts, 3-4/weeks. Suggested days/times -- when no one is home, which fortunately, is quite often.
Goal -- get up an hour earlier so all this isn't happening so late in the day.

NOTE . . . "newness" comes from discipline, not from inspiration . . .
Many actors I know, myself included, keep changing monologues. I'm going to try to stick with what I've got because they do "fit." me. When I start to get tired or bored or frustrated with them, or if they just feel stale and old, I'm going to take that as an opportunity to go deeper -- try working with Brett again or try Karen Kohlhaas workshop.

2. New Head shots-- deadline: by the end of October, early November.

3. Audition for 13th Street Rep -- deadline: by the end of October, early November (Work with Tom).

4. Daily submissions for auditions -- I'd like to get an audition 1-2 time per week.

P. S. Worried about the Wednesday night class -- it culmanates in a "Showcase Performance." What the hell is that, exactly? I know JZ mentioned this, but now I'm wondering if this will include some industry professionals. I don't think it will -- Weist-Barron has showcases, but you have to compete to get into them. However, I think it's a prep., somehow, for their professional FILM & TELEVISION SHOWCASE showcases. Now that I'm writing, I realize this is exactly what I should be working towards at WB -- I'll need to talk to JZ about this, and see where his class fits into the scheme of things at WB.

This all seems like pretty advanced stuff, so I just haven't worried/thought about it -- and it is advanced stuff -- but something tells me that kind of thinking of making me passive in this area, i.e., taking chances in a professional arena. I can choose not to participate, but not even being aware of this aspect of WB is definitely not being pro-active.