Notes for the Director

Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin. Opening night...

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Theatre is a wonderful thing and can be both entertaining for an audience and educational and fulfilling for the cast and crew. Working on a theatrical production is the hardest fun and work you can do. So what can you do to make it a better experience for everyone involved?

Make Them Feel Worthwhile

Whether your cast is paid or volunteer, its important that they think each feel they are important to the production. Let them know that they make the production run smoother, that they matter as an individual, whether their part is big or small.

Feedback

Give feedback. Everyone wants to improve, and your actors will perform better if you let them know what they can improve on. Also give positive feedback and compliments to those actors who are performing well. Oftentimes, directors take the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” approach, which means that actors doing a good job never get any feedback and can feel confused or isolated. Let them know they are doing well.

The Buck Stops Here

Directors can delegate, that’s what assistant directors, stage managers, and crew are for. Directors are usually beholden to producers, but regardless, a director needs to have to the outlook that the buck stops with them; they are responsible for all aspects of a show and cannot pass blame off. Accordingly, don’t be afraid to make things get done your way: You’re in charge and you have to take full responsibility, so you get the final say in everything.

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Making History Education Entertaining ? Be Proactive And Innovative As A Student

a picture of mine that i took in the puppet th...

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Studying history of our culture may seem like a fruitless task. After all, who is interested in what happened a thousand years ago? Our ancestors might have lived in a particular manner and might have preferred a particular type of pottery. Who is to benefit from retaining this information?

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. If you find history boring, you should find ways and means to make it entertaining. This is easier than people think. Why don’t you request your teacher to opt for certain innovative methods for short period of time to improve the entertainment quotient in history lessons?

How about organizing a puppet show? You can have simple puppets that indicate the great battles of the past. You can have a few students research about the topic and present a narration that will be accompanied by the puppet show.

All those who from a part of the audience will be required to present a paper on the lesson that they have learned. This form of interactive learning will help students understand history better. Of course, it also goes without saying that the students will get in touch with their creative side as well.

If your teacher has misgivings about the seriousness of the issue, you can request the professor to carry on with the traditional method of teaching after the puppet show has ended. Once the teacher realizes that the class is more attentive, he or she will automatically encourage you to try out such methods. As a student, the onus is upon you to make your life at school most entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Careers, Education, The Arts Tagged With: , ,

Is Performance for You?

Most of the time, successfully making it in to a performance company is the end goal for many talented performers.

After years of pursuing a performing arts education, gaining experience in the performing arts, and undergoing auditions, a dancer or actress hopes to be a part of an elite team of performers.

There are some things to consider though before jumping to this end. You need to be sure that the performance life is really what you want and that it best suits you. While performing with a professional performance company is an ideal situation, there are some strings attached.

Performers should take these thoughts in to consideration, especially if the performing group is merely a step towards their goal rather than their end dream. For example, if they hope to teach or actually want to join another performance group, they may need to be careful in joining up with a present opportunity.

Performance groups offer invaluable experience to train and to perform. This requires hours and hours of time. If you have the time available than go for it. If the demanding schedule though will keep you from graduating with a degree, then you need to consider carefully. Will a degree on your resume boost your career more or the participation in the performance company?

Also remember that often times, there are hidden costs that go in to participating in such a group. There may be extra costume costs, money for CDs or sheet music, or even expenses for travel, etc. However, you can often keep your sexy costumes, the CDs and sheet music.  Although, you must also consider the amount of time required beyond the training and performing. Many performance groups expect their performers to volunteer and donate extra time to causes that strengthen the image of the company. Keep this in mind.

Remember that generally these type of groups will absorb much of your time and energy. If this worth it, then do it.

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The Traveling Company

Perhaps your favorite Broadway show has been playing for years.  You have had the opportunity to see it, but you cannot go as often as you would like.  You just might be able to see your favorite show in a traveling company.  When a Broadway show is extremely popular and people are waiting for months and months for tickets, the producers may decide to complete cast a second cast of the show, make some break away sets and send the show on the road.  There are so many venues throughout the country that can house a big production akin to a Broadway show.

The road company, as they are called go into rehearsals much the same way the Broadway production does.  In the meantime the set design people are busy fashioning the sets so that they can travel and be just as awesome as what you would see in New York.  The traveling show will require all of the elements of the Broadway show.  A director and producer will travel with them.  They will need costume people, a full stage crew, maybe even more as the set needs to be broken down and moved to a new place every few days.  The actors sign on for a finite amount of time, perhaps six months to a year.  At that time, if the show is still successful, another actor will be cast in the role, and the show will continue to travel.  Sometimes the actors in the traveling show are called back to Broadway, if someone in their particular role leaves the part.   Do not miss catching the show of a traveling company.  You may be surprised at how close you actually feel to the big lights of Broadway.

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Bringing Local Culture To The Arts

Many cities and towns throughout the country have local theater.  These are small venues that allow the local talent to strut their stuff.  Attending one of these performances is usually quite a unique experience, and almost never disappointing.  Some of the shoes you can see are abbreviated versions of Broadway productions, or even shows that are written by local writing talent.  These are some of the best performances to see.  How many of us know someone in our area who has an amazing voice, a gift for Shakespeare or can make us laugh with a bevy of one liners?  How many local high schools give amazing performances.  All of this talent goes where after high school?  Not too many of those talented young people are heading for Broadway right out of high school.  Not that it is impossible, but it is highly improbable.

So they turn to local theater.  Most local theater groups run auditions for their shows.  These are open auditions and anyone can come and thrown their hat in the ring.  There are rehearsals and set production and then usually a weekend or two of performances.  Most of these theaters are nowhere near the size of the Broadway houses, most of them holding less than 200 people.  There are performances for children around the holidays, Christmas and Easter, and during the summer months a lot of these small theaters hold acting classes so that the younger children in the community can get the theater bug.

The neat thing about local theater is that you just don’t know.  You travel to Broadway and you know you are going to see a lavish production.  In local theater the production may not be lavish, but the talent could rival any Tony winner out there.

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Art Organizations

Perhaps you are pursuing an education in the Arts.  If this is your passion, you probably have at least some type of natural talent and you are passionate about what you want to make of it.  Now it is time to choose a school to help you achieve that goal.  There are many colleges for the Arts across the country, with many different majors to choose from.  Once you have narrowed it down, perhaps it is time to look for some scholarship money to help out with tuition.

Check with the school of your choice.  Garnering a scholarship may need only be applied for, submitting a sample of your work or going before a panel of judges.  In these cases, your talent will speak for itself.  If raising the tuition is the deciding factor in choosing the Art school, there are other ways to garner a scholarship.  Perhaps you have been working for some time with your local Art organization or theater group.  They may have scholarship money to offer, that you never knew about.  It may not be full tuition, but every check helps pave the way to that degree.  Tap the parent resource as well.  Maybe mom, dad, grand-mom, grand-pop, aunt or uncle works for a company who offers partial scholarship money to relatives of employees, another source of found money.  Remember, scholarships do not have be paid back.  The less money you have to take out in a student loan, the sooner you will be working for yourself and not the student loan company.

Check into grant money.  There are grants from everything to single moms, to kids of people with disabilities, to even more specific, certain descendants, races, etc.

You education is one of the most important things you will ever undertake, and you want to get it right the first time.  Do the best to be where you want to be, to the best you can be.

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Canada’s Hipster City Plays Host, Again

Held in the elegant Edgewater Casino, the 2011 Canadian Film Festival is one of the best that Canada has to offer. It showcases all of the top international films, from shorts to student films. However, the best part may not be what you see inside the Vancouver casino on the big screen. That’s because Vancouver is one of the more hip cities around – rivaling even nearby Seattle. Even better yet, huge swaths of Vancouver underwent massive renovations to prepare the city for the arrival of the Olympics. Combine a hipster edge with contemporary updating, and the recipe is created for a perfect setting in which to host an event as stylistically oriented as the Film Festival.

For those who come from outside the city’s boundaries and are unfamiliar with the happening venues around the city, Canada 411 is the ideal solution. Plugging into everything from the most popular pubs – where you just might see some of the filmmakers and actors – to the most cutting edge restaurants is as easy as sitting in your casino chair and absorbing a thought provoking film. Whether you need to fill time before the Festival of after the last movie has screened, Canada 411 can hook you up with what’s going on, and let you know where it is, too.

From world-class shopping venues to a quick shot of pick-me-up espresso at the local hangout, it’s all just around the corner in Vancouver. And between here and that corner? You’ll find a vibrant, contemporary city populated with friendly Canadians who’ve got more style and edge than you might have expected. Maybe that comes about from being constantly immersed in the vibe of a place that still offers up the amenities that attracted people from all over the world for the Olympics. The fabulous dining and nightlife options didn’t leave once the athletes pulled out of town!

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Performance Companies – The House Team

You have the talent.  You are not quite ready for Hollywood, but you are getting there.  You have been doing local theater for years.  How do you break out from that mold?  Most small theaters, especially in the area of comedy, have open mic nights, or troupes or teams that perform at these venues on a regular basis.  Sometimes these people are in a troupe of their own, which they bring to the venue, pay for the opportunity to perform, and if they are well received and good enough, may eventually end up making money at this venue.  Most of these venues, at least in the New York area, have their own “house teams” or a group of talented people that work together regularly.

If you are performing with your own troupe, you might just get recognized by one of these “house teams” and be asked to join them.  This being the case, you can still perform with your own troupe in the beginning, as well as spending rehearsal time with the house team, getting to know them and making what you are bringing to the group stand out as well. While you perform with a group, you want to be the one everyone remembers.

Often in these small venues there are competitions, where the audience is asked to vote for whom they thought performed the best.  This obviously another great way to receive recognition for your hard work.  Once you are on a house team, there is always the possibility that one night an agent or talent scout might just be in that audience, might be there just to see you, as the buzz told him that you were somebody to keep an eye on.  This is the way most famous people get started.  With the age of broadcast talent shows springing up everywhere, the competition is fierce, but this is what you have trained for, to let them know you are the one.

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Art Scholarships

If you choose to pursue your education in the Arts, you have chosen a very interesting, yet competitive field.  There are a lot of talented people out there, and you must find the way to make your talent stand out.  Not an easy job in a world where almost anything people can do constitutes a type of talent.  The good news is that because the Arts have become so well recognized as a viable course of study, there are many, many arts represented through these academies.  Where Art Schools felt to once only represent those who could draw, the Arts now encompasses drawing, as well as performance Art, including dance and theatre.

If it is the entertainment industry you wish to conquer, you know you have a very difficult road ahead.  The competition is fierce and with all the reality shows, such as “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent” many, many talented people are bringing themselves to the forefront.  Never before has so much been at stake.  Exposure on one of these shows can almost guarantee at least a shot at a career.

Not everyone has “it”, the ability to have a talent and know how to use it without learning much about it.  The Elvis Presleys are few and far between.  Everyone else has to learn their craft, even if their craft is their God given voice.  This is where Schools for the Arts offer the best in getting ready for the real world.  If you have a talent, use that talent.  If you are an artist, prepare your portfolio with your best work.  If you are a singer, make sure your repertoire represents the best of what you can do.  Scholarships are offered from Art Schools, but you must make sure that you are giving them exactly what they want, raw talent that can be trained to be amazing talent.  That is their job, and a great place for you to start.

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How to Organize a Film Festival

Goran Bregović and Wedding and Funeral Orchest...

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Setting up a film festival is a great way to meet new people and share your interest in films, particularly if you like films that are perhaps more left field or unlikely to be shown at the regular cinema. However, putting on a film festival is no mean feat – it requires careful planning and can take a lot of time to get organized. There are a few steps you can follow to make sure your film festival goes off with a bang.

The first thing you need to do is decide on a location for your festival. Places such as universities or local community halls are a good place to start, as they are often large with many rooms that are empty at certain times. You may need to pay a small fee to the institution that is housing your festival for you. If you are planning to hold your festival outside in a large space, you should also think about whether or not you are going to need permits to put your festival on.

Once you have a venue, you need to set a date. This should really be set in stone from the offset and shouldn’t really change unless there is an important reason for moving it. The next step is to begin contacting film directors, actors, and other people in the film business that may be interested in showing films or simply helping out.

You now need to think about promoting the event. Flyers are a good way to let people know about your festival – hand them out in places that attract people with an interest in film such as cinemas. Advertising in the local papers is also a good way to get the word out and, depending on the type of ad, needn’t be too expensive. You should also promote your festival on the Internet with social media – make a video explaining the idea behind the festival as well!

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