Canadian Conservatives and Arts Don't Mix

"Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists because they're a mouthy lot and they don't line up and salute very easily." -Margaret Atwood

     If Plato was alive, I am sure he never would have let Harper govern Canada. According to Plato, a suitable political leader is someone wise, who is 100% focused on the best interests of the country.
     Harper has, and is still failing in this respect.


What the conservative government has done for the Canadian arts:

• In 2008, the conservative government cut back $45 million in their budget for the arts and culture in Canada. 

• Censorship:  Again in 2008, the government tried to pass Bill C-10 through, that would allow the heritage minister to refuse tax credits to film and television productions that they considered unfit for the public (or contrary to messages that the government was trying to promote).

• In 2012, Bill C-427 was created. Its purpose was to allow artists to average their income over a specific period, in order to allow artists to make use of more tax savings. Artists on average make around $23,000 a year. That's for irregular hours, and doesn't include Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan, which artists aren't currently eligible for.

      Yet Harper is allowing decreases in taxes for major corporations. Figures.  Use all of the artists' money to keep the country running, while at the same time slowly squash the survival rate of artists, in an attempt to smother all the free-thinkers in this country.

     Did you know that in Canada, there are over 1.1 million jobs that are related to arts and culture? Canada's Gross Domestic Product is approximately $1.72 trillion; these jobs contribute to this on average $86 billion.



     We need artists. Artists give a country a sense of pride, and identity.  The arts educate their audiences. Performance and visual art are an integral part of us, touching the innermost parts of our soul. Life would be bland without art.

     People need to realize that Harper's pitting everyone against each other. He's pitting everyone against teachers, making them appear to be greedy. He's pitting everyone against artists. Our ears and eyes are being filled with shallow pop music and television that has no (musical) depth and detrimental messages. He's pitting everyone against those who are the foundations of our society, those who encourage society's growth.


     People ask me why they should care about politics. Because politics controls your way of living. Really, to live a fulfilling life, I think it's really important to take charge of the quality of your life. If you let someone herd you into submission like every other citizen, then you're passing through life like a ghost. What really is the meaning of living then? 

Musical Theatre's Slow Deterioration

I think the concept of musical theatre is great. It's taking the arts to the next level, and combining dance, music, and theatre to make a story even more powerful and visual.

     You have no idea how difficult musicals are to put on.  You not only need rehearsals for the acting scenes and blocking, but also to learn the music and the choreography.  If you know of anyone in a musical, they've got serious talent.

     Unfortunately, since musicals are require so much effort to pull off, I feel like the industry has begun forsaking simpler musicals for flashier ones that will draw in as big an audience as possible for the most profits. Shrek was playing in the West End in London. Shrek, I personally dislike as a musical. It gives the impression that since the movie Shrek was so popular, Shrek was created in an attempt to draw out as many profits out as possible. It has no realistic characters, and no real message. No matter how much I love Wicked, I feel it fits into this entertainment musical category as well.

    They’ve started taking artists like ABBA and Queen, and writing musicals using these songs. It’s an interesting concept, but after seeing Mamma Mia, I concluded that
In Mamma Mia, it felt like they were singing for the sake of singing, of incorporating ABBA songs. The ABBA songs were repetitive, as most pop songs are, yet with most musical theatre songs there is often a buildup of emotion, or a realization that the character makes.  I feel that it’s more effective when a character is compelled by a conflict or their emotions to sing a song that directly relates and was written for that situation. That is the most powerful song that you will hear in musical theatre, one that will move the audience.

"Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I firmly believe that lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly the theater, where you not only have the music, but you've got costume, story, acting, orchestra. There's a lot to take in."

-Stephen Sondheim

Pros and Cons of Professional Acting

Cons

• Most actors don't make it onto the red carpet in designer clothing.  Even some of those Hollywood celebrities will have another source of income, from producing, to working as a musician, to working in restaurants. If you enjoy Starbucks, the chances of an actor serving you is excellent, as they are a very actor-friendly business.

• The average acting income is only $10 000 annually (including people who only book one gig per year). Plus it's unlikely you'll have benefits of any kind. 

• This isn't necessarily a con, but actors must learn to leave their ego behind during auditions, and to take rejection with a grain of salt. Acting is a business, and your body and mind is the product being sold. Actors need to market and brand themselves, in order to make connections and stand out from the competition. Since there are so many actors and so little acting parts, often most people are just not right for the part. 

• There are many false people in the acting industry who will stab actors in the back by talking about them behind their back, and taking jabs at flaws, especially the physical appearances of actors.

• It's difficult to date or be married while being a dedicated actor. Actors will often have two-three weeks where they're working to the bone every day, and then will have 2-3 weeks with no jobs. In film, usually callbacks will be the day after an audition, a wardrobe fitting will be the following day, and the scene will be shot on the fourth day. Often casting calls are given at most 24 hours before an audition, so actors are often required to cancel plans, even funerals and family events at the last minute in order to make it to the audition.

Now you're probably confused as to why anyone would want to act after discovering those cons. Fortunately, acting can be extremely enriching and rewarding for those who are absolutely passionate.

Pros

• Fortunately, according to Kenny Bania, a film actor, out of the multitudes of aspiring actors, 60% of them aren't good, 35% don't show up to their audition, are under-prepared, or are rude. That leaves a good actor in the top 5%, while there is work for the top 3%.

• You can start at any point in your life to become an actor. Ken Jeong from Community was a full-time physician who eventually morphed into a stand-up comedian and then a full-time actor. He still updates his skills and medical education in case he wants to return to that practice later. Lisa Kudrow from Friends started out as a biology major. An acting degree is not necessary. Scarlett Johansson for example, didn't get accepted into the New York University film program, and look where she is now.

• Actors have lots of opportunity to pursue other interests, which helps make them more well-rounded actors. The more experience and education an actor has, the more they're able to contribute to their role and character development.

• You're getting paid to dress up and play pretend, while most people are sitting in boring, stuffy offices all day spending most of their time unproductively on Farmville, or interacting with customers that don't say thank you.

Think about it.

"Anti-theatre"

What is the point of life? Where did we come from? Is there no God?

These are some of the questions that absurd theatre tries to provoke its audiences into thinking.

     The idea of absurd theatre has its roots in philosopher Albert Camus' writings of existentialism.

This style of theatre was thought of after World War Two.  The senseless killing during the war made people recognize how precarious and illogical life can be, and playwrights wanted this reflected in their work,  in order to reflect the current reality in life, but also to inspire people to evaluate every part of their lives.

     The purpose of absurd theatre

     To represent the notion that life is absurd, and meaningless or unknown, and this in turn troubles man. Therefore, since humans have no known purpose:

- Logical arguments and dialogue becomes nonsensical and cliched as well, and are often used just to create noise onstage.

- Long silences are often used to convey meaninglessness as well.

- Plot structures aren't realistic; they focus on the idea of anything logical or illogical being able to happen to a character, instead of character development (characters often have little depth, and are stereotypes of some sort).

•  An example of this illogical dialogue is in Harold Pinter's, The Homecoming (A man brings his wife home to his family for a visit after many years. His brothers and father lost his mother when they were younger, so they've been deprived of a mother figure for a long time. She proceeds to seduce each of her husband's brothers, and she begins filling their empty role of mother. The whole family decides, without asking her, that she will live with them and not with her husband, and will earn her board by selling her body. This is also my favourite play). In this scene, the wife and a brother fight over a glass of water:  http://youtu.be/nv4-XI1hD9o?t=2m4s.

• Another example in the Homecoming is when one character drops dead in front of them, the family barely acknowledges the body's presence, even though it would be logical for them to express shock and grief.

    Absurd theatre usually has a cyclical plot, where the ending ends at the same place that the play begins. This is to represent the idea that change isn't reality, but only an illusion and that life is repetitious.

    Even though absurd theatre is nonsensical, it always has a theme or point that it is trying to get across.

   Absurd theatre is my absolute favourite. It's interesting to watch, and if you watch it with friends, then absurd theatre can provide a really great theatre discussion afterwards.

   The downside is if you have to analyze the text of an absurd play without having seen it, and that can be really difficult when you're trying to understand a character while they're talking about the most random things and having the weirdest arguments.

     If you want to see some absurd theatre, one of the most well-known examples, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, is performing in the Stratford festival in Ontario this year. If you like Stratford Festival on Facebook, they regularly offer discounts to different performances.

The Bard of Avon

     William Shakespeare is so widely debated. Some people hate Shakespeare, and some love his work. It's even believed by some that Shakespeare didn't write all of his plays and sonnets. I personally love reading and performing his plays. You have to admit that Shakespeare has a lot of value in and of itself.

• One of the things that can't be denied about Shakespeare was how much he understood about humanity, and how he managed to incorporate these themes and ideas into his plays. For instance, Macbeth is one of the many plays that reveals key weaknesses of humanity, such as man's desire for power, and how man can easily be corrupted so that we act with only concern for ourselves.  

• Shakespeare contributed so much to the written word. The plot lines of his stories are often replicated and modified in more modern literature. Shakespeare also invented new words and insults that are still used today. For instance, "your mom" jokes originate from Titus Andronicus, as well as Timon of Athens, both plays by William.

• Shakespeare is not only invaluable to the studying of literature, but also to actors.  Shakespeare is useful in that since sometimes the meaning is difficult to comprehend at first, that actor is forced to dissect every word in order to ensure understanding. Then when it is performed, the actor is forced to put meaning into every word in the play, in order to make the sometimes hard to understand lines very clear to the audience. This is an excellent skill to have, as it aids the actor in giving more and more authentic performances.

• Shakespeare is also great to memorize.  If I memorize lines for a modern play, I usually forget most of the lines within half a year. I still remember Shakespeare that I memorized from two years ago though.

• One difficulty about Shakespeare is that if an actor does happen to forget their line, it's more difficult to improvise Shakespeare than to improvise more modern English. There's always many possible solutions to an actor forgetting their lines on stage though, so this is only a minor drawback.

     Most schools in North America teach Shakespeare throughout high school. The students sit through monotone re-enactments by students at the front of the class, and all students are advised to take copious notes on the plot and quotes that support different themes, and these notes are tested with quizzes and essays. I suppose this is fulfilling the purpose of curriculums to teach students to identify themes, and effectively explain their ideas, but this study of Shakespeare is certainly not inspiring any love for his work in most students.
    No play comes to life until it is read aloud by committed actors, or even better, seen visually.
       I think if students were required to put on a full length Shakespeare play and go through the process of exploring and developing characters, they would come out with a deep understanding of the play, as well as a bigger appreciation for Shakespeare's art.

     Most people that I talk to haven't seen a Shakespearean play performed. When you have a chance, go see a Shakespeare production. Hopefully you'll notice the power and magic that can harnessed onstage. 

Antagonizing Audition Anxiety

     Your heart pounds. 
Your throat squeezes your breath so hard that you can't get any air out.
     Your hands and legs start trembling so hard that on the Richter Magnitude Scale, they would probably rate a 6. 
     Your hands rain sweat.
You don't need to look in the mirror to know your cheeks are turning red.

     Most people have to endure auditions at least once in their life. Whether it's for a sports team, a play, a music competition, university, or an acting agency, it's possible to get nervous in all of those types of auditions.
     I. hate. Auditions. So far I've managed to weasel my way into four plays in the past year without having to audition...but sometime, real life is going to hit me again, and I'll have to attend another audition.  Every actor I've talked to loves performing. 100% of them also hate auditioning. Now why, would actors of all people, be afraid of an audition? We're playing characters all the time, aren't we? Aren't we used to being in front of crowds? Don't we like being in front of crowds?
      There's more pressure in an audition. In a show, unless you're doing a one person show, you often have other cast mates around to save you if you mess up. In an audition though, you've only got yourself to count on.

I think I have some of the biggest stage fright of anybody I know. It's ironic.  From performing since I was little though, I've picked up a few tips that don't necessarily have to be applied to an acting audition, but any type of audition.

• Know your material solidly. Even whatever you have to memorize is easy technically, you still need to know it so well that you'll remember it five years later.  Recite your material backwards, and by running through the material really fast without any pauses between words.

• Bananas and chocolate make me less nervous, as well as being well hydrated. I could be imagining it though. Who doesn't become more content while eating chocolate?

I refuse to recognize any other food group other than chocolate.

• Prepare your outfit, any necessary materials, snacks and water, and transportation the night before your audition. I'm a lot less stressed when I'm not rushing around frazzled at the last minute trying to grab everything except the kitchen sink.

• Don't focus on why you're at the audition, or what role you desperately want. Use the audition as an opportunity to practice in front of an audience.

• If you're in a group audition, remember that everyone is at different stages of audition and performing experience. If you mess up, there will be other people there who sympathize, who have committed the same mistake as you.  Don't be afraid to perform.  Everyone has their own style of singing,  or acting, or expressing themselves, which is so wonderful. You can't be someone else. You've just got to work with what individual potential you've got. When you compare yourself to others, usually strangers, you're comparing a spaniel to a poodle. They both have their own positive attributes and weaknesses.  

• Most importantly: The more you audition and perform, the less nerve wracking it becomes. There's no way around it. After a decade, I've finally gone from all my limbs shaking and my voice undulating  95.6% of the time to that only happening 7.8% of the time.

"Use what you know. Don't worry about what you don't know."
-Michael Shurtleff

Orpheus and Eurydice - Retold

Love, Loss, Passion, and Despair.

       I'm currently part of a play called Orpheus and Eurydice, which is an ancient Greek myth.

        The plot line is that Orpheus is the musically-gifted son of Apollo. He falls in love with Eurydice, a wood nymph, and they become inseparable. Unfortunately, Eurydice gets bitten by a venomous snake and is sent to the Underworld. Orpheus loves her so much though that he goes down to find her, even though the living aren't technically allowed in the Underworld. Orpheus plays his lyre and sings, and everyone in the Underworld, including Hades and Persephone, are so moved that Hades makes a deal with him that if he walks out of the Underworld without looking at Eurydice walking behind him once, then they can return to the world of the living together. If he looks back at her before they leave, then she'll be eternally banished from him. Of course, he looks back too early (Orpheus had stepped out of the underworld, but Eurydice was still just inside the gates to the Underworld -if he'd only just waited 30 more seconds), and Eurydice is once again lost.

      The theatre company that's putting on this production decided to use a different method to tell the story onstage, and make it more abstract. Most of the play tells the story through movement and music. We've also incorporated our own experiences with love, and as the performance progresses, we switch back and forth between transitioning through all aspects of a relationship, and paralleling it with what's happening in the story. I'll have to say that I was skeptical before I joined.  It was the sort of thing that sounded like it was trying to be insightful and deep, but was really nonsense. I've since realized that this play has higher standards.

    I joined the play later than most people, so I didn't help create any of the scenes. Here are a few points that I've observed about the play though:

• I think there's some scenes that we could cut out. I'm in the play, and even I don't understand what some small scenes are trying to portray/how they're advancing the plot. The movements in them have no value.

• I think our play is incredibly emotionally moving.    There's this one scene where, in order to portray Orpheus as trying to overcome the obstacles that Hades sets in place between him and Eurydice, we have one person as Eurydice slowly walk all over the stage, while the cast lines up, one by one behind her, our bodies contorted in different positions connecting to each other. One person, playing Orpheus, crawls over and under us in an attempt to catch up with Eurydice, and he desperately calls out her name.  He's never able to reach her though, because the person at the end of our human "obstacle" always runs to join the other end, near Eurydice, and it seems that Orpheus is eternally having to overcome these obstacles. This scene is so creative and visually-aesthetic, and there's such a strong sense of desperation created from Orpheus, and the energy created from the rapidity in everyone except Eurydice's movements.  

If you're at all curious about this show, we'll be performing the first week of June.

Theatre culture in kw

     There are cities in Ontario that have little to no theatre companies. Kitchener-Waterloo is not one of them. We are really lucky to have a community bubbling with so much talent. Down below, I've listened as a community, our strengths, weaknesses, and how to improve.

Our strengths:

• A plenitude of theatre companies
• No shortage of talented actors
• KW is incredibly full of creative, adventurous ideas

Asphalt Jungle Shorts 2012 - the audience watching a performance in Uptown Waterloo

    If you look really really carefully, there's always art happening in KW. Asphalt Jungle Shorts is an extremely creative production that performs every fall. It involves performing short plays in different outdoor and indoor locations in KW - all in one night. They were even thinking of having people stand on the rooftops in Kitchener and singing, to create the sensation of music washing over the city. Now how more creative can you get? The theatre company running that, Flush Ink Productions, also sends writers into creepy locations overnight, and they have until morning, on their own, to write a short play that is performed a week later in a performance called Unhinged.

     Our government also has paid positions where people work to strengthen the arts community in KW.

Our weaknesses:

• Artists aren't supporting each other enough
• We aren't making the general population take us seriously
• Not enough rehearsal space
• Not enough opportunities to audition for/see Shakespeare productions

    Unfortunately, the arts are still weakening from lack of funding (what's new?). Lost and Found Theatre, the only professional theatre company in the middle of KW, is severely struggling, The Clay and Glass Gallery and KW Symphony almost went bankrupt, and we've lost Theatre & Company.
     Not to mention losing the Kaufman Arts Studio. The Kaufman Arts Studio was started by Rachel Behling and her daughter, Bronte, a few years ago. They renovated an old building right by Charles Street Terminal into a cosy theatre, with a front sitting room full of bookcases and lots of tea. This small theatre provided all types of artists with an inexpensive place to gather together, and it really helped unite the whole arts community in KW. If it weren't for the Kaufman Studio, I myself probably wouldn't have found a chance to try community theatre, and theatre wouldn't have been a part of my life like it is now. This wonderful space was closed down in December 2012.

....Which brings me to my next point. There is a severe lack of rehearsal space in KW. The Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts has a rehearsal hall that costs $800 per day to rent. That's just not feasible when that alone is your revenue from ticket sales, and you're rehearsing from 2 weeks to 4 months, depending on the how.
    
    Most theatre companies anywhere either don't charge the actor, or they even pay the actor, but not in KW. Some youth theatre groups are charging kids $400 just to be in a production. This is a problem. Youth need to be able to gain the experience without having to pay an exorbitant amount of money. 


How to improve:

• We need to increase advertising, and better promote our art to the general public
• We need to band together as one huge, supportive arts community

     Art to many people is listening to mainstream music on the radio, or turning on the tv. We need to compete better with these forms of expression.  In order to thrive, actors and artists in KW need to band together as a collective group, in order to make resources and advice available to everyone, as well as have affordable rehearsal spaces for theatre groups to collaborate and rehearse. There needs to be a give and take with both theatre companies and the general public; if you guys support us and come see our shows, we'll generate the revenue and enthusiasm to build up our arts culture. We need to convince KW that our art is worth seeing (which it is).
    

          Theatre offers inexpensive entertainment. It is a great conversation piece after going out on a date or with friends.  Build your cultured taste, and go support your local theatre companies by seeing their shows.

       Don't forget, almost all of these companies and theatres have a fan page and/or a group on Facebook that will give you updates about shows coming up.  Facebook is usually more updated than their actual websites anyway.
Where to find productions to watch or audition for:
Musical Theatre:
Believe Musical Theatre Productions: http://www.believetheatre.com/
New Hamburg Community Players: http://thecommunityplayers.com/
KW Musical Productions: http://www.kwmp.ca/
Drayton Entertainment:  https://www.draytonentertainment.com/Online/default.asp
Singer's Theatre: http://thesingerstheatre.ca

If you're new to theatre, start here:
KW Youth Theatre: http://kwyouththeatre.com/
Growing in the Arts: http://www.growinginthearts.com/
JM Drama Youth Ensemble: https://www.facebook.com/pages/JM-Drama-Youth-Ensemble/142774295769093?fref=ts


If you have experience in theatre, look at these (as well as all the other companies):
Flush Ink Productions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FlushInk/?ref=ts&fref=ts
Standard Deviation Theatre: http://standarddeviationtheatre.wordpress.com/
KW Little Theatre: http://kwlt.org/index.php
Lost and Found Theatre: https://www.facebook.com/LostAndFoundTheatre
Lightning Banjo Productions: https://www.facebook.com/lightningbanjo

Places to see theatre for an affordable price (usually $10-$15):

The MT Space: http://www.mtspace.ca/venues/courtyard-bonnie-stuart-studio-space
Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts: http://kwsymphony.ca/conradcentre/
The Registry Theatre: http://www.registrytheatre.com/

Other centers for the arts:
The Button Factory: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Button-Factory-Waterloo-Community-Arts-Centre/139968309387419?fref=ts
Clay and Glass Gallery: http://www.theclayandglass.ca/
Waterloo Potter's Workshop: http://www.waterloopotters.ca/
Homer Watson Gallery: http://www.homerwatson.on.ca/
Chrysalids Theatre: https://www.facebook.com/TheChrysalids
Multicultural Cinema Club: http://www.theworkingcentre.org/multicultural-cinema-club/171

and much more....I haven't even covered music schools.

Images: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10150860997777231&type=1

    Thanks to Alex and Anne Marie for their insight.

Weird and Strange Rituals and Habits

    When I started doing theatre, I had to adapt to, and learn to accept and go along with the weird things that actors do.

Pre-show rituals:

     Numerous actors have special rituals that they will do right before a show to try to assure that it will go well. For instance, an actor on Broadway named John Lloyd hits himself with a rubber mallet and pulls on his tongue with his fingers.  Daphne Rubin Vega, an actor in the opening production of Rent lights candles before a show, and yet another actor, like many, prays and meditates.

Superstitions:

    Of course, most people laugh at the superstitions which some actors take more seriously.  One of the well known superstitions is that if "Macbeth" is said inside a theatre (unless the actual character Macbeth is being addressed), their play will be cursed. There is a chance of saving your play though if  you run immediately outside, spin around three times counterclockwise, and spit over your shoulder.

•    One origin of this superstition is that it was thought that real witches gave the word Macbeth to Shakespeare, but then after seeing the play performed for the first time, they weren't impressed, and therefore cursed the word. 

•       I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company put on Macbeth a few years ago, and the show was using 5 understudies because the 5 actors, including the lead for Hamlet, were all recently put in the hospital. During the show, one of the witches slipped backstage and was so injured, she couldn't come out to bow at the end.

• Lincoln also read Macbeth the night before he was assassinated. I don't see how these superstitions could really be true, but finding that out about the Macbeth actors was eerie... In addition, if actors have been working for months on a show, then I don't they usually want to take any chances of sabotaging their hard work by saying Macbeth.

     Another common superstition is to say "break a leg" instead of "good luck" to an actor who is just about to perform, because saying good luck will actually give them bad luck. It's interesting, I've noticed, how embedded this tradition is everywhere. I've never met someone who hasn't heard this superstition. Most people follow it as well.
  
     Some more superstitions are to not wear blue or yellow, as it will cause the actor to forget their lines, mirrors should also never be used in a production, receiving flowers before the performance will cause the show to go badly, and a "ghost light" should always be left on in the middle of the stage when the theatre is not in use, otherwise a ghost will begin to haunt the theatre.

Weird Acting Exercises:

• I went to a theatre workshop, where they made us mime being balloons that were being blown up, and then the air being released, and they made us pretend to be snakes that were being charmed by a snake charmer.  

• So many directors of mine spend the first half hour to hour and a half of a rehearsal just to do yoga.

• A popular exercise to develop physicality is to get us to lead with one part of our body. For example, we'll stick out our stomachs and walk around that way, to see what character we can develop from it.

• I've had a director make us do somersaults across the floor. Then they made us roll across really limply across the floor in a crescent moon shape, like a dead body. 

• In an audition, we were asked to walk across the room acting as different objects, including our interpretation of a taco.  

Then again, I guess theatre is strange because it attracts strange people.

Why Everyone Should Try Acting

    “Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good.” 

-Terrence Mann. 

Theatre is more than just entertainment; it is a way of life. I think that theatre is different from other forms of art in that you are: 

-directly exploring yourself and who you are
-finding similarities in yourself and other people.

1. Theatre builds your empathy. 
       When you explore a character, you need to figure out their weaknesses and strengths, and know what matters most to them.  This process allows you to recognize what you have in common with your character, and how you can draw on your own experiences to act this character.
     A character could initially seem like it doesn't have anything in common with you, but you will always be able to find similarities in the emotions felt by the both of you, mutual desires or fears, etc.
     Finding yourself in characters allows you to apply the same technique to people. I really think actors can be very understanding of others.

     Working with a cast builds your empathy, as well developing your teamwork. In order for a show to run seamlessly, you are forced to get out of your own head, and start thinking of the other actors' needs and start connecting with everyone else, in order to help them when you notice that they forgot their line, they missed their stage cue, or they forgot a stage prop.

2.  Theatre makes you more confident. It forces you outside of your comfort zone, when you're asked to improvise a silly character, or try a new accent, or portray intimacy with other actors (even eye contact, which is essentially to good acting, can make new actors nervous). You really learn what you're capable of every time you take on a new character and analyze them to find out what you have in common. You really get to know yourself, which I think is an essential part of being confident. 3. Actors have more fun than other people. I guess after actors have already made fools of ourselves and exposed raw emotions on stage, it really liberates us to not care as much about what people think. That's why you might see actors walking around singing on the bus, wearing their costumes outside of rehearsal, or doing generally crazy things. While working so closely on a show, it is also normal for actors to get together lots, since actors usually build very close bonds with each other.

4. Acting cultivates an appreciation for culture and history. Many plays are based on historical events and historical places, and when you act in such a play, you're learning about the history since playwrights usually take care in researching true facts. 
You're also in a sense, getting to be a part of history and experiencing it by acting in a historical story. As well, much of the history is very dramatic. I was recently in the Crucible, which is based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusett's in the 1600's, and getting to feel the fear and power that the girls likely felt when they were falsely condemning people as witches back then made that event in history a thousand times more interesting for me. Have you ever acted, and do you think it has affected who you are as a person now?

Stage Acting vs Film Acting

     I recently got the opportunity to try film acting, and it really made me appreciate the differences between acting onstage and acting for the camera, as well as the advantages to each.

•   Since the camera is so close, and able to pick up so much, film acting requires the actor to be completely authentic in their actions, words, and facial expressions­ . This often means that less equals more on the camera. As well, the camera will pick up on the slightest amount of nervousness, or any tiny habits, such as blinking fast or flaring your nostrils, therefore it is necessary to have complete control over your body.

• Theatre on the other hand, needs a balance between authenticity and exaggerating volume, actions, and your character`s physicality, as you may have audience members sitting very far back in the theatre.

• Performing live on stage allows the actor to pass through and build on their character arc throughout the play because the scenes are happening sequentially, right after the previous ones. You`re not being required to go in and out of character between each scene. I think staying in character for a longer time is easier, because it takes a lot of focus to get into the mindset of your character in the first place.
• When shooting a film, often the scenes aren`t shot in a sequential order. This is often because some locations are only available at certain times. Therefore, an actor probably needs to fully develop their character before starting shooting, and they must be able to fully access any emotion at any time. They might shoot a scene where they`re having a happy phone conversation, then right after, shoot a scene where they`re at a funeral. They need to very quickly get into the mindset of the character in the funeral, in order to fully portray the sadness needed.

• As well, obviously in onstage acting, if you make a mistake, the show has to somehow pick back up and keep on going.
• In film acting, theoretically you could take as many shots as you want until the acting is perfect (there isn`t always time for that, though).  

• The camera picks up on the tiniest imperfections.
• Stage acting is more forgiving towards appearances, and the bigger a stage and the farther away an audience, the more makeup and hair products that can be used.
  
  
       There are of course many more differences, but I believe that the ones that I mentioned are the biggest differences that an actor should know about. 

5 Steps to Preparing an Amazing Scene

  If you get overwhelmed when becoming acquainted with a play, or you're curious as to how actors go about taking a script and bringing it to life, keep scrolling down.

1. Look at the entire play from which the scene is taken. 

     When does the play take place (time period, time of year). In the world of the play, where is the play taking place?

2. Now look closer at the actual scene. 

     Who's onstage, and why are they there? What happens right before, during, and right after the scene?

3. Get to know your character through inferencing the text.

     What kind of person are they? Confident or shy? Their age? Even take time to consider smaller facts like the kind of breakfast that they enjoy. What is their occupation? What kind of parents do they have? List any important relationships to them. 

  

     If you can't find some of this information in the text, you can make it up yourself using reasonable judgement as to what makes sense for that character or what would add more depth to them. How do other characters describe/act toward your  character?

4. Determine the character's objectives/motives in the scene. 

     Where did they just come from? What mood are they in? What do they want from the other characters? Do they want something physical, like money? Do they want the other character to leave? Once you figure this out, you must act out the scene with every sentence, every movement with this motive in mind.

5. Use your knowledge about who your character is and their motive, and work on the physicality (eg. how they walk, how they speak). 

     I often use Laban's movement analysis. He determined that movements use space, and that space can either be direct, or indirect. Movement also has different weights to it, which are either light, or strong. Movement uses time as well; either movements are sudden, or they're long and sustained.

He has given names to each combination of movements:

1. Direct, strong, sudden--------punch

2. Indirect, strong, sudden------slash

3. Direct, strong, sustained-----push

4. Indirect, strong, sustained---wring

5. Direct, light, sudden----------dab

6. Indirect, light, sudden--------flick

7. Direct, light, sustained-------glide

8. Indirect, light, sustained-----float

    Next you can try to match these movements to your character, also keeping in mind their mood.

If your character is uptight and unhappy, you might choose to use slash or punch. If you choose slash, you will incorporate direct, heavy, and sudden movements into the way you talk, the way you step your feet, how you walk, and into every part of your body.

    And there you have it. The basics for any actor to prepare any scene.

In my next post, I'll be taking a look at some of the differences between stage acting and film acting.

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