The Secret Of Theatrical Space

Christopher Stadulis - Actor and Business person

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:15:17 -0500

My day job is as a NYC Firefighter, which allows me the flexibility within my schedule to pursue this craft. I have studied the martial art of Taekwon-Do for 20 yrs, which enables me the discipline, strength, integrity and perseverance to continuously work hard at my career as an Actor.

Rejection doesn't prevent me from moving forward; it only strengthens me to work harder and smarter. I am passionate and dedicated about my craft and career. I don't believe in waiting for my BIG break, I believe in creating it! I have a responsibility in telling a good story. Having an audience connect, relate, feel various emotions as I take them on my journey, are very gratifying for me.

To me, that is success. If I accomplish that, then I have done my job.

In addition to being a Firefighter & Actor, I am a Father, Husband & caretaker for my disabled mother who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. People always ask me how have I accomplished so much in being an Actor for only 4 years and having so much on my plate. I tell them it's about having a balance, staying focused, dedicated and very hungry towards becoming a TRUE Actor.

I am a firm believer in doing something productive everyday towards my career, shaking as many hands as possible, always maintain a professional positive attitude and understand that this is a business. I am the CEO of my own business and should always showcase myself in the best possible light.

I have been meeting as many CD's, Agents & Managers as possible to show them my work, personality & build as well as maintain relationships via career updates. I understand this business and my type/product well & focus my time, energy & money in areas that I am best suited. Also, I have have registered the treatement for my full-length screenplay entitled, "FORBIDDEN", which is based on a true story. It's compelling subject matter is relevant to today's world & will provoke thought worldwide. Soon, I will be writing, producing, directing and starring in a documentary style short that I will look to pitch to various networks, especially HBO.

Lastly, I not only enjoy being a part of projects that have great messages that need to create awareness to the public but also feel a need to get involved as a human being. I believe it is my duty as a person to help anyone I can that maybe can't help themselves, do not know where to go for help or simply do not have the ability for their voice to be heard for reasons beyond their control.

Some of the many topics that intrigue me:

Scene Study Work: It's Values and Lessons

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:29:46 -0500

I haven't posted for a while because I've actually been quite busy: a LOT of auditions, took an "Improvisation for Commercials" class at Weist-Barron, a "Commercial Casting Director Festival" through The Network, and I'm starting to do more background work (mostly for the money). As a quick aside, the improv commercial class and The Network casting director meet-and-greet resulted in some commercial agent referrals. One of my major goals is to get commercial representation, and I seem to be making progress in that direction . . .

But for the moment, I've been focusing on how best to grow between acting jobs (i.e., off-off-Broadway theater, which I consider really more on-the-job training). One of the best ways, I've discovered, is scene work. We've been focusing on scene work in Deborah Carlson's Word Of Mouth Studios, but up till now, I haven't fully appreciated its value and opportunity. I mean, I knew it was important, but I underestimated its value.

I was cast in a Columbia University MFA director's scene study workshop: the goal of the class was for a director to put together a scene with about 1-2 weeks of rehearsal. I was cast against type as king Creon in Sophocles epic Antigone. I've put the scene below. It was a fair amount to understand and memorize in a week & a half — between working on the scene at home and the 3 rehearsals we had, it actually turned out to be a major project that crowded out auditions I had planned for that week — rehearsals took place in the tower of Riverside Church up near 119th Street in Harlem, so it was a fair commute from Brooklyn).

What I learned:

Being 'In The Moment:' Some Clues About How Actors Do This

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:34:39 -0500

Question: What's the relationship between the audience and the actor?
Answer: People sitting around watching other people pretend to do things.
~ observation attributed to Bart Simpson, but I can't find the ref.

The observation is funny because that's essentially the relationship, and it raises the question: how can we (the audience) be sometimes so captivated, so drawn into a story or a particular character?

The answer has to do with what actors call "being in the moment."

Most actors reading this will know what I mean by being the moment, but non-actors might be puzzled about this means and why it's important.

Basically, it's the ability to experience a play, what a character says to you, what you're going to say as if it has all never happened before. Everything you say, you say it as if it's just occurring to you now. Everything is NOW — you don't know what's going to happen next (even though you do).

This is why audiences are captivated and so drawn into a story or a particular character. It's the distinguishing trait of a great actor and great acting.

In order to both better understand what it means to be "in the moment" and to get a better handle on how to do this, rather than consult a top acting teacher or coach (though they are the best source) I decided it might be interesting to go way outside the traditional box and pose this question to a leading neuroscientist, Dr. Larry R. Squire (Ph.D), director of the Memory Research Laboratory, part of the Functional Magnetic Imaging Center in the School of Medicine at UCSD.

What could I possibly ask this guy? Well — this:

Katie Hanley, By My Side: Godspell

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:38:33 -0500

Godspell (1970) is a powerful musical, though it is somewhat overshadowed, I think, by the more controversial (but excellent) Jesus Christ Superstar which opened in New York City the year before.

It started as a college project performed by students at Carnegie Mellon University and moved to La Mama in Greenwich Village. It was then re-scored for an off-Broadway production that open in the Cherry Lane Theatre (New York City's oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theater). Godspell moved from the Cherry Lane Theater to the larger Promenade Theater on August 10, 1971, where it became one of the longest-running off-Broadway musicals, before moving to Broadway in June 1976, where it ended its run in September 1977 after an additional 527 performances, for a total of more than 2,600.

Starting a sequence of powerful and moving scenes that continue until the end of the film, Katie Hanley (who, simply, does a wonderful job throughout the film), in this scene comes to "Jesus" with love and strength at the start of his darkest hour, when he understands what's going to happen to him:

Goals and Plans for the 2008-09 year

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:17:22 -0500

I have four overall goals: 1) get better at auditioning. This is a perennial goal. 2) Keep working in good non-union off-off- . . . -off Broadway productions. 3) Start working in high-end off-off Broadway and off-Broadway theater productions and 4) audition for and start booking professional paid work in film, television, and commercials.

Auditioning for '30 Rock:' Acting & filming On The Set, my Experience

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:12:22 -0500

Whenever I get called to audition for something, I read the scene and visualize what it would look like as I'm reading it. Like moving images in my head. Like I'm watching a movie.

Of course I factor in the genre and medium when doing this. I don't look to put on a performance. I simply bring myself to the character (be myself). When an actor tries to give the CD what they think they are looking for, it comes across as bad acting.

I make the best choice I could make in my opening line/moment and use internal pause. I also make sure my instrument is free.

Before I went to audition, I read the scene and it was hilarious! The show is a straight comedy. Most actors would play it very comical but you have to be realistic and logical. My character is not part of Alec Baldwin & Tina Fey's little click. My character is a police officer so I should play it straight and real, which makes the scene even funnier.

Philippe Petit, Artists, Actors, Dreams & How to Live

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:04:40 -0500

The 9-11 anniversary, I’m sure, is a sad day for most of us, yet there’s a story that’s come to the fore over the last few years, an old story, but one that’s finding renewal, and one that I think not only helps transform one’s experience of 9-11 into a positive frame but also carries a message for all actors, for all artists.

Below, you can see a clip from a film by Ric Burns (American Experience: New York: The Center of the World), a clip that I’ve been looking hi and low online for -- and I finally found it.

Watch the clip and think about acting, or any art you do. Ask: Why do we do it, really? What draws us? What is “it” -- what’s its value? Answer: It is everything -- it is priceless.

Shakespeare was right -- life is a stage, and a stage is life, our life, our larger life, and we rise to meet its possibilities. The heightened words and text take us there:

September 11, 2001 Memories of New York City - Out of a Clear Blue Sky

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:10:47 -0500

HOW IT BEGAN: 8:45AM, Tuesday, New York City, September 11, 2001.

8:45AM. I woke right up.

My eyes just opened.

I didn't know why.

I had just lost my job, the beginning of the long long unwinding of the late 20th Century technology bubble.

Of late, I had been waking up more or less on my own - but usually an hour later.

My bedroom was cool, gently breezy, late summer morning peaceful. I felt fully relaxed, but surprisingly awake. Lying on my side, through my 5th story window, I was looking west, at the river, at the hills of the shoreline, New Jersey right across the Hudson from my apartment on the upper West Side.

A perfectly morning.

OK, I thought, I'm up, so let's get up. I had some calls to make, so I plodded into the kitchenette, sunshine and green, to make some coffee, and while it was brewing, I called a company somewhere in Nevada.

8:55AM. I needed a replacement part for something - I can't remember for what now. I remember describing the problem, convincing the woman on the other end of the line, on the other side of the country, to send me the part, and she asked for my address. I told her, and she immediately stopped me: You live in New York City? I said yes.

Pause.

Do you know what's happen at the World Trade Center?

She didn't sound alarmed, but time stopped - it was an ominous, out-of-the-blue question, from someone somewhere in a little town in Nevada, so early on a perfect late summer morning . . . I said no, and she said a plane has flown into one of the towers . . . it's on fire . . .

Networking: Actor, Agents & Casting Director Meet-and-Greets

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:36:36 -0500

A few weeks ago, Christopher Stadulis wrote a post about why actors need be meeting agents and casting directors at network houses, commonly called "meet-and-greets."

I thought it was a great example about why actors should be doing this, but then it led the question about how does actor go about doing "meet-and-greets?" What's a good strategy or plan? I asked Christopher the follow questions based on his experience as an actor who is just starting to break into the business at a professional level:

How much $$ can one expect to pay for meet and greets? (This is an important question because it has to do with ROI, something all actors with professional ambitions should be doing (because producers calculate ROI) -- even though when you're just starting out, it can be painful calculation because numerator is probably low if not zero. Yet tracking costs is a great habit to get into -- and an essential habit if you are or want to be a professional actor. In fact, a simple way to do this with mailings and meet-and-greet is to use this Marketing ROI Calculator. For meet-and-greets, just enter the number of meetings you've been having instead of the number of pieces of mailings you've been doing). So, the question again: How much $$ can one expect to pay for meet and greets?

It all depends on a persons budget, but I would recommend to do a package deal since you will see a good amount of industry professionals and will save money by going that route.[At Breakthrough Studios] it usually costs $32 per meet with a CD, Agent or Manager of your choice. I recently signed up for the $599 special at Breakthrough Studios, which I love, to meet with as many industry professionals as I can within 1 month. I met with 35 total. A combination of CD's, Agents and Managers. If I were to see each other and pay individually, it would have cost me $2,000. So I saved $1,400 which is huge! (Christopher Stadulis).

Acting is Breathing, Connecting and Presence

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:33:38 -0500

Jim True Frost on the value of theater work:

The deep process and craft that you employ in the rehearsals and in the nightly repetition of a theatre job provide a way into acting that camera work never can have (Jim True Frost, Interview, ActorsLife.com).

. . . the deep process and craft, the value of a nightly theater job -- there's nothing like it for growing and learning.

I've been blessed with a fairly long run of the Cat and Moon -- about 6 weeks, and I can't remember working harder on a play after it's opened.

Breathing

Deborah Carlson's Word Of Mouth Studios hammers home, almost each week, the directive to speak no faster than you can breathe. Patsy Rodenburg calls this letting the breath drop.

I find this difficult to do partly because I'm not used to doing it, partly because I'm worried I'll drag a scene down pace wise, and partly because characters are often in an excited or heightened state, i.e., they're thinking and speaking rapidly.

However, if I go faster than I can breathe & think, I speak before my body and mind are naturally ready to speak -- what Ms. Rodenburg calls this getting ahead of the text.

Beliefs, Success, and Happy Birthday to Me!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:42:14 -0500

We have time to grow old.
~ Vladimir, Waiting For Godot

Today is my birthday.

I was worried about how I would feel -- often I don't acknowledge my birthday (because I don't want to be reminded that time is a thing and the growing older as we go through it), but this is a significant birthday.

Long long ago, I wanted to be an actor. It was all I ever wanted to be, and I'm more convinced of that now than ever before.

So, why did I wait so long?

'The Dramatic Imagination' by Robert Edmond Jones

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:36:19 -0500

Written for stage designers, this beautiful little book, The Dramatic Imagination: Reflections and Speculations on the Art of the Theatre, is one of the first theater books I read. It is one of the great speculations and reflections on the Theater.

While “The Dramatic Imagination” won’t teach you how to design for the Theatre, it will teach you (or remind you) WHY you design for the Theatre -- you design to keep it alive. And while the copyright is c. 1940, the goal of the book for the Theatre Design and Performance Arts today is as it originally was – to create a theater for OUR time. The goal of this book will always be relevant – it will always be a guide.

Courtney Love! It's Great ARt!sts Friday!

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:41:51 -0500

Each Friday (more or less -- mostly less), I like to post what I call either "Fired! Up Fridays" or "Great ARt!sts Friday." Today it's -- "Great ARt!sts Friday!"

Today, Courtney Love and I became myspace friends -- yes, she does have 53,000 other friends, and counting, but I know our's is special.

Agent & Casting Director Meet-and-Greets: Why Actors Need To Network

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:01:07 -0500

Lately I have been asked by many actor friends and acquaintances if they should pay to meet CD's, Agents and Managers.

My answer is simple- YES, ABSOLUTLEY. Actors should attend what are called MEET & GREETS. This is where you pay to meet a CD, Agent or Manager of your choice to show them your work and personality.

Acting: How to Think and Feel like the Character

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:43:47 -0500

(More than in any other play, what follows is the basic technique I've been trying to use during Cat & The Moon rehearsals).

Shakespeare, through Claudius, gives us a great description of bad acting:

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
~ Claudius, Hamlet, 3.3

Connecting Thought To Breath

Pasty Rodenburg makes essentially two points about a character's thoughts in her book: The Actor Speaks:

[1)] I think many members of an audience sit and listen without understanding a speech or even a whole play because the actor or actors have not understood the thought, the length of the thought, or one though's connection to another . . . [and 2)] . . . the [actor's] breath is linked to the length and quality of the [character's] thought and feeling . . .

(A full discussion of the relationship between thought and breath and voice is too broad to unpackaged here -- if you want to know more, start with one of these two resources: The Actor Speaks and/or A Voice of Your Own or try to find a good teacher than understands Rodenburg's approach. If you live in New York City, one of the best teachers that understands Rodenburg's approach is Deborah Carlson. She's also a terr!f!c coach with students currently on Broadway and in Broadway touring companies).

It's easier to hear what she's taking about rather than describe it, but I'll do my best: