Crafty like a Fox

Hello readers--are you still there? Its ok if you're not. I think we've won the "world's most anticipated blog update award"--how many months does it take for Whit or Kristi to post? Let's see...a-1, a-2, a-3, a-4...4 months! Longer than it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, that's for darn sure. One day, I promise, a blog post won't start with an intro like this. Little goal--huge feat--I think we can do it.

Now, looking at my title you might ask, "Oh, crafts! Is Whit going to share a fun craft we can do? Maybe decoupage our expired resumes to a vintage something and call it art? Make felt flowers with which to decorate our 16-bars? (accompanists love this, you know) Is she gonna get all Pinterest-y and post 18 ways to use old nail polish to jazz up my boring audition outfit?"

Umm.....

No. (Although, do the things mentioned above (and document it well with you sassy Instagram app), and you earn actor gold star bonus level-ups!)


Ok, so what am I talking about?

Audition packages.

I hate love crafting audition packages. This is why I'm not so in love with general auditions. Yes, its a great time to show your stuff, but I like being specific... for specific shows...for specific parts even. And yes, its maddening--trying to find new material to fit each audition. But what a great way to add to my collection of (almost) 25 monologues in my proverbial back pocket.

And yes, with being crafty comes risk--risk of under-preparedness, risk of cornering myself in a specific type of character, risk of my ideas not meshing with a casting director's. But aren't those the risks at every audition? I'm *learning* to accept risk as part of my artistic journey.

On the plus side, in being crafty, I find that I am reading SO. MUCH. MORE. I'm really starting to put into action our main mission with this project--looking for audition pieces in the strange, obscure, unexpected. I'm paying attention. I'm investing myself in the projects I'm interested in--whether I'm cast or not. I dare you to call me a lazy actor. Go ahead.

And guess what? Risky, crafty fox that I am, I think I've found my first "written for a male character" piece. Whether its appropriate for a specific show...not sold on that. But for a general audition--why the hell not try it?

In risky, crafty fox business, I bid you a good day. Until next time (and hopefully not 4 months down the road),

Whit

Done and Done

Midwest Theatre auditions are over.

*GIGANTIC SIGH OF RELIEF*

Seriously, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. I think a big part of that stems from a surge of wanderlust that struck me right around Halloween and has only gotten swifter and swifter as the months go on. Although Chicago is lovely in the summer (free concerts from the likes of Mumford and Sons and She & Him? Yes, please!) I would like to be elsewhere this year. As I mentioned before, Midwest is bascially a cattle call audition for many summer and year-round theatres, so it was my golden opportunity and I hope you'll allow me this moment of ego...

I nailed it.

My song never sounded better and my monologue was right on track. I LOVE it when you can walk away from an audition and know that, even you don't get called back for anything, you still did the best job you could do and you had fun while doing it.

One of the things I think makes Midwest so great is that you are on an actual stage. Back in the day (and even as recently as the 70's) that was how all auditions were conducted. These days, you are usually in a tiny room somewhere and "overacting" is a serious concern. But not at Midwest. You are on a stage, with house lights out and stage lights up. You can't see the people you're auditioning for (which I love) and you get the added benefit of being on the set of whatever show is currently running in that theatre. All of this helps your audition. A lot. What better way to audition for a theatre job than on a stage? If it was up to me, all auditions would be conducted this way.

I ended up with 4 callbacks (although one of the theatres was not actually attending the callbacks, so I don't count them) Funnily enough, I got a call back from the summer theatre at my alma mater, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. For various reasons, I was never available during the summers while I was in college, so I never had a chance to work with them.The other two theatres were Tibbets Summer Playhouse in MI and Missoula Children's Theatre in Montana. Most of them start the hiring process sometime in March, so fingers crossed I'll hear something soon.

Don't think my auditions are over though. Next week is my audition for GreatWorks Theatre Company (a children's company) as well as Remy Bumppo (a pro company here in Chicago). The following week is the national tour of Mama Mia, Mason Street Warehouse (in Michigan) and the Marriott Theatre (again in the Chicagoland area)

WHEW. Life is busy, friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful Oscar weekend! King's Speech is my vote for Best Picture!

With love and gratitude -
Kristi

Where are we? What day is it?

You guys, I'm gonna be frank.

I'm am going batshit crazy.

I have had a string of several auditions for various summer and year round theatres lately and every audition has required something just a little bit different. As my voice teacher's 6 year old daughter says, "Well. That. Is. Just. SILLY."

I get it. They need to find the right people and they want to see something that will let them know if you will fit into their season or not. I get that. I do. But it's made preparation hard because I can't prepare the same song or monologue for every audition. I guess this is actually the truth about most auditions, but most auditions don't come one right after the other and leave you no time to prepare in between. And that makes for some very half-assed auditions and a very frustrated me.

I must admit, I'm getting nervous about this project. Our deadline is rapidly approaching, I feel like I have no time to put the work in and I'm starting to wonder if we're in over our heads. And then two seconds later, I kick myself and think, "This is your career, you have to make the time." And then I feel lazy and remember that this project is all about not being a lazy actor and the circle just goes round and round....

Once Midwest Theatre Auditions are over this weekend, I'll be able to breathe a bit before the next auditions. Then I'm going to try to AM going to commit some serious time to working on this project. 25 monologues don't find, edit, learn and memorize themselves.

Deep cleansing breathes....and.....GO.

--Kristi

PS: I got cast in a TV pilot at Columbia College here in Chicago! They have a crack team of kids over there in the film school and I'm excited to get started. More info when I have it....

Well?

I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited (bated?) breath to find out how my audition went.

Overall, I felt it went well. My monologue was awesome. If I didn't love it before, I love it now. TV monologues are just SO PERFECT for this situation. They are short, sweet and to the point. I think with a little KK work, I can take it to the next level for Midwest Theatre auditions in two weeks. Judge away, but I'm sticking with it.

My song is another story. I just didn't feel good about it. Specifically, I didn't feel good about one note. (For those of you who are musically inclined, it's D4) It's hard to explain what makes that section of the song difficult without using a bunch of music jargon, but I'll say this. In a performance situation where I would be adequately warmed up and singing throughout the show, it wouldn't be a problem. In an audition situation where I warm up before I go, but then sit around for an hour and don't have anywhere to sing and keep myself warm, it's not ideal.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to change my song or not. I have another audition this weekend and I'm going to give it one more go. If it doesn't work out, I'll change it. I've got some songs on reserve, just in case.

In completely unrelated news, how are you all dealing with the the blizzard aftermath? Have you dug yourself out yet? Chicago got walloped with snow and now we've got no where to put it. Some of the cars in my neighborhood haven't even tried to dig out. My coworker said she'll just take the train until spring. I don't have a car, but it would be really nice if people would plow their sidewalks!

In news that is more related, I think I'm going to begin a program called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron in the coming weeks. I won't say too much about it now, but I'm hoping that putting it out there publicly will give me the motivation to actually do it. :)

With love and gratitude,
Kristi

Tomorrow Is The Big Day!

It's finally here. The day I've been dreading working toward the past few weeks.

Illinois Theatre Auditions.

To tell you the truth, I actually feel completely prepared. I have a great song (Holding To The Ground from Falsettoland) and a monolouge that I enjoy (a piece from Grey's Anatomy) This audition is one of those cattle calls where you have 1 minute 30 secs to give a song and monologue performance. This year, for quite possibly the first time ever, I'm not worried about time. I ran my whole audition last night and it came in at 1:40 the first time. I cut two sentences, ran it again and wham, bam, 1 minute 27 seconds.

Although I am hopeful that something will come out of these auditions, I'm considering this a warm up for Midwest Theatre Auditions which happen in mid-February. My goal right now is to get out of Chicago for the summer and there will be plenty of summer theatres at Midwest auditions.

I haven't had much time in recent weeks to apply the entire KK method to the monologue I'm using tomorrow. I've been doing KK Light; taking some of her ideas and trying them out, but not going through the full boat. Once I see how the audition goes tomorrow, I'll know what worked and what didn't and I'll start applying the full method to my monologue so it's fool-proof for Midwest.

Wish me lots of (figurative) broken appendages tomorrow. Say a prayer, light a candle, kiss up a good wish and keep me in your thoughts!

Kristi

Short and Sweet

Hi everyone! Happy 1/11/11! Wouldn't it be cool if you were turning 11 years old today? It'd be like a golden birthday, only better.

I have a video in the works that I will be sharing with you hopefully in the next day or two. I'm introducing the first two worksheets that Whitney mentioned in her last post, so stay tuned for that!

Today, I wanted to share a note about what I call short and sweet monologues. (I talk about this some in the video, but I wanted to elaborate here)

It seems to me the standard audition is one monologue, under 2 minutes. This is pretty basic for most non-musical audition situations, but I've noticed lately a lot of companies have been asking for something under 1 minute.

To a non-actor, 1 minute might seem like forever, but it's really a very short amount of time. There's not a whole lot you can do with 1 minute. Take a paragraph out of your favorite book and read it out loud. It probably takes you roughly a minute to read it at normal speed. See how fast it went by? Now try to pack something of substance in those 60 seconds.

Part of this project has been to look for monologues in non-traditional places and a great place to go for short and sweet monologues is television shows. I know, I know, it seems weird, but think about it. TV writers have 45 minutes to tell an entire story. So any monologue they write has to get to the point and get there quick.

The current monologue I'm working on is from Grey's Anatomy (my fave show :)). The show is in it's seventh season. My monologue is from season 5. If you chose to do a monologue from a currently running TV show, it's probably a good idea to go one or two seasons back. One of the problems you run into doing a monologue from television is that your auditors may have preconceived notions about what this character is supposed to look and sound like. After all, someone is already playing this character in front of millions of people weekly. If you chose a past season, most likely no one but the hard-core fans will remember that speech. Also, since characters tend to change from season to season, there's a good chance that your character in season 5 is not the same character in season 7.

I always stayed away from doing TV monologues in auditions because I was embarrassed to say, "My name is Kristi and I'll be doing a monologue from *insert TV show here*" However, my friend Brandon, a fellow actor, gave me a great tip recently. He uses a monologue from a popular TV show quite frequently and when he does, he states the title of the episode not the title of the TV show. If they ask, you can certainly tell them what TV show it's from, but by telling them the title of the episode, you hopefully keep them from passing immediate judgement.

I mentioned above that the auditors might have preconceived ideas about who this character is, but it can't be denied that you do as well. I watch Grey's every week and have been living with this character for 2 years, so I certainly have an idea about how she should be played. However, I'm doing everything I can to rid myself of those brain worms*. I only watched the episode once and that was so I could get the story. I got the text of the piece off the internet, but I couldn't quite remember the context, so I watched the episode exclusively for that. During the scene in which my monologue occurs, I didn't pay any attention to the acting, only to the text of the piece to make sure I had it written down correctly. After all, the internet isn't always right.  ...

Once I had done that, I put the DVDs away and I won't pull them out again until after I have finalized my version of this piece. In the video to come, you'll see that I've done some of my KK homework and I'll be finishing the rest this week. It's so incredibly helpful and I can't wait to share with you how I feel her homework has impacted my audition. We know it's done well for Whitney! She got cast in a great show!

Have a great day everyone and don't miss my next video, coming soon!

With gratitude-
Kristi


*Does anyone remember that Private Practice/Grey's cross-over episode when Addison's brother had parasites in his brain?! Intense.

A Quick Update

Hi all!

I've been slightly absent from the blog recently, but I'm taking a break amidst the Thanksgiving festivities to pop in and say hello! Rehearsal is keeping me super busy, but our show open next Saturday and I'll have much more time to shift my focus back to the blog.

I've recently been given some suggestions for new monologues, so I'm really excited to look them up and tackle them when I get back to Chicago. That said, I echo Whitney's post below...

We want YOU, playwrights!

Don't hide behind that computer screen because I know you're out there! We went to college with some talented folks AND I've met some talented folks since moving to Chicago, so...send us your stuff!

Speaking from the heart, new material is my favorite material to perform. One of the monologues I've been doing since I moved to Chicago was something I wrote and it's always gotten a good reception. Casting directors get tired of hearing the same monologues over and over and I get tired of doing them. It's great to have some "standards" in your repertoire, but the new work or the in-development work is the work that gets an actor remembered. And more than once I've had a casting director ask me what the monologue was from and write down the title and author. So they're not just paying attention to the actors. They are paying attention to the material too!

Okay. Enough begging. Time for some coffee, some breakfast and a shower. My family and I have a busy day of museum going and I've got Christmas gifts to finish later.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend and make sure not to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the next 4 weeks. Take some time to enjoy a warm cup of cocoa by the light of the Christmas tree. (Or the lights decorating your windows if you live in an studio and have no room for Christmas tree, like me. :) )

With gratitude,
Kristi

Kristi's 1st Month In Review

Greetings!

It's taken me almost a month to write my Month In Review. Sad. I need to get better!

For me, this month has been all about reading. I've been reading books, newspapers, magazines, online articles, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on. I didn't set out to start looking for monologues in unusual places, but that's how it worked out. I've also been getting stuff from friends, (shoutout to Heidi who has thrown all kinds of stuff at me! I love it!) which is amazing and I really hope to use some of it to create some new pieces.

I've had lots of auditions in the past month and I've basically used 3 monologues. I've talked about all three on the blog, but I'll give a little run down of how I'm feeling about them. I'm not sure if any of them will make the final 50, but they are staying in my binder o' monologues to be worked on.

Here we go...

Calm - Adam Gwon
This is the very first piece I talked about on the blog. If you recall, this is the song I was turning into a monologue. It's a hard process, turning a song into a monologue. I set it down a couple weeks ago and haven't picked it up since. I don't want to abandon it all together, but it's been difficult to make it sound natural.

I think that this piece also requires more character work than I've had time to put into it. As I mentioned in one my previous blogs, I started out basically playing "crazy" which is a terrible character choice and gets you nowhere. When I worked on it a little bit more, I discovered more things about her personality and who she is, but nothing really clicked and felt right. It would definitely help if I could see the show and get some idea of the given circumstances, but all I've got to go on right now is what's in the song.

Current verdict: Staying in the binder but...might not make the 50.

Love After Love - Derek Walcott

This is the poem I found, *ahem*, in the front of the book The Time Traveler's Wife. I love this poem. It speaks directly to my heart. It is so relevant for everything I am feeling at this point in my life and I am just completely enamored with it.

What I've discovered I like about doing a poem as your audition piece is that you can totally create the world surrounding the words. There are no given circumstances (usually), there is no character background to consider, there are essentially no rules. If you want to repeat a section, you can repeat section. If you want to play it one way at today's audition and then do a 180 for tomorrow's audition, you can. In a typical monologue, you can make changes to the performance, but you are limited by the things I've mentioned previously (given circumstances, character background, etc).

Too bad I can't do poems for every audition. I could definitely rock that.

Current Verdict: Love it. Definitely going to keep playing and using it for auditions. Will probably make the top 50.

A Passion Play by Pippin Parker

When I first read this 10 minute play, I really really really liked it. I read it again about a week or so later and I still really really really liked it. That being said, I'm struggling to really really really like the monologue I've been using.

I think I need to check out the book that this play came in from the library again and make a copy of it. I have some questions and some things that aren't clicking that I think would be solved by rereading the play and having it handy for reference. I think once I do that, I'll have more a grasp on the piece and things will start to fall into place.

Current Verdict: Definite potential for making the top 50.





There's the first month of Monologue Mania in review. Next month's review will not be nearly as long because....well I haven't been working on much new material. I guess I've still got two weeks left though....better get cracking!

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and encouragement! Please leave us comments! We love comments! You don't have to be a follower of the blog or have a Google account. (Although we encourage you become a follower and get our updates!)

Until next time!
-Kristi

It's Raining Men

And by "men" I mean "auditions".

Before I get too much further into this entry let's give it up for Whit, who successfully compared the audition process to a PB &J sandwich. Hear hear!

So, remember when I said it's audition season in Chicago? The winds of the season blew in full force this weekend aren't leaving any time soon.

Here in the Windy City, auditions come in waves. (apparently I like weather/nature related analogies) In the fall, we usually have a whole bunch of Season General auditions. This basically means the theatre company is testing the talent waters. You usually are not auditioning for a specific show, but rather giving them an idea of what you can do. If they find you appropriate for one of their upcoming shows, they call you back to audition a second time, but it might not be until March......even though you auditioned in September....it messes with your head, I gotta be honest. BUT, it's quite thrilling to get that call in March that someone saw you audition in September and remembered you. I'll take it!

I have TWO auditions this weekend. One Saturday and on Sunday. Both require two monologues, which means a total of four monologues! Ahh, PANIC!

Sidebar: I have a rather difficult to pronounce last name and when I was in high school, someone gave me the nickname "She's-In-A-Panic", which sounds similar to my last name if you say it really fast. That nickname was well earned. I panicked prematurely then and I still do now.

Once I got over myself, I realized that I really only have to do 3 monologues. (3 because the first audition requires a Shakespeare, which isn't appropriate for the second audition) Here's the direct instructions I've been given for Audition #1:

Choose Thine Own Adventure based on the works of Willy S -
"Please prepare a 1-2 minute Shakespeare piece you love. Don't worry about gender, age, race, comic vs dramatic, etc. Your love for the lines you choose is most important."

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
"Please prepare a brief poem (2 minutes max). Margaret Atwood or e.e. cummings are good examples of poems to look at in terms of style. Using this poem as a base, create a fully realized world for it. Through the language and physicality we should have a strong sense of what is happening. What kind of character are you? To whom are you speaking? What is the situation and where is this moment taking place? The specificity is not meant to intimidate but to allow absolute creative freedom, creativity and artistry. Your imagination is appreciated and celebrated by the Filament artistic team!"

I'll be busting out that old chestnut from Hamlet, "I have of late, but wherefore I know not..." because I love it. I love the speech, I love the meaning behind the speech and I relate 110% percent to what he's feeling at that moment in time.

For the second piece, I think I'm going to work on a poem called Love After Love by Dereck Walcott. (I read it the beginning of the book The Time Traveler's Wife, but shh...no one needs to know that) It is speaking about healing after a break up, but I think the actual words are more universal. I think his words are really about healing in general. Healing after a time of being so despondent, you feel you can't get any lower.

So there's my audition package for the first audition. Down in the dumps with Hamlet, then rising from the ashes with Walcott.

I will use the Walcott poem again for Audition #2 and I'm still trying to find something else that I think compliments it. This company was not nearly as specific about what they are looking for, so I'm on my own.

I have to be honest, I have a lot of work ahead of me this week. Especially to get the poem to reflect what Audition #1 is asking for. I'm pretty excited about it though. I've read Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice and several of her other plays. She's one of my favorite playwrights, so I hope I make a good showing. I would love a chance to do some of her work.

Off I go!

-Kristi

Farm PBJ

Let's hear it for Kristi and her great audition!! HOORAY!

Well, my audition is now a solid 5 days away, and I think I've found my two pieces. (ok, you can pick your jaw off the floor now). Now the process stands in the copy, cut, paste...re-copy, re-cut, re-paste stage. My favorite stage. Well, this stage is a close second to the stage where I'm walking off of *the* stage, finally finished with the darn audition. We'll get there.

Now, you may recall I was looking for classical and contemporary pieces.  Well, I took a leap and went to Classical Spanish plays-not to dear old Willy-and a wackadoo poem entitled "Cow".  Where does the farm theme come in, you ask? Well, the classical is Lope de Vega, and the play is Fuente Ovejuna (also know as "The Fountain Where Sheep Drink"). Get it? Cows. Sheep. Eh? Eh?!

Oh what connections actors find to justify the "perfect" audition package. Heh.

Its a tricky one, this "audition package". I almost think finding one monologue "with considerable range" is easier than finding two monologues. Why? That's a good question.

I think a solid audition package is like the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Bear with me now.)

Now you've got two pieces of bread (this is like your time slot: 90 seconds, 2 minutes, etc.). You search for the best peanut butter and the best jelly to make the perfect sandwich (your assignment: two monologues *or* one monologue and a song for instance), to make the perfect audition package (delicious and nutritious!).

But what do I find at times?

That I've found the best peanut butter. I put that on one slice. Then I go to the pantry and find, gasp, the best crunchy peanut butter! Its good, just as good as the smooth, but different...right? But put it on the other slice of bread and all you have is a PBPB sandwich. Unfortunately, the sandwich is "just so" without that compliment zing of the jelly. There's no variance, no excitement-and the audience definitely stops listening to the same tone of voice, the same objective after about, oh, 1 minute. Not even that sometimes.

When finding an audition package, you *must* look for two pieces that can stand alone, but can also stand together without mushing into one long one-noted speech. Show the audience that you can be the antagonist and the protagonist, that you can embolden them and make them sick, that you can make them laugh and cry.

Make the best PBJ sandwich you can muster! Even if it does smell like barn.

On to editing,

-Whit

So little time...

I'm afraid to say that here I am again, preparing for an audition that was 3 weeks away, but magically has drawn nearer! And I can feel that pattern: wait, search, panic, second guess, wait, and freak starting to set in--but I'm determined NOT to let that happen this time.

This upcoming audition requires one classical and one contemporary monologue, and the hunt begins tomorrow. I have a few classic pieces prepared (one Shakespeare, one not) but neither seems appropriate (either too long or comedic-I need a dramatic). And as far as contemporary goes-well, I just have to say that I'm really tired of women's monologues (the ones in monologue books especially) being centered around the superficial or the overly dramatic (and depressing for that matter). I mean really, where is the solid storytelling? Those that really grip your heart and emphasize the character's goals instead of fabricated emotions. But that's our mission, right?

But for this I'll be looking towards a fantastic poetry book called Staying Alive. 

And I may also be delving in the realm of male roles. Just because I'm curious about what pieces women pass up solely because its not a "women's monologue."

More later-

Whit