New Deadline and Deep Thoughts

Hello readers!

Yes, I fell of the face of the planet. It hurt. But 3 shows and 6 weeks later, I can say I survived with only minor bruising. Whew!

Kristi and I have talked-well we emailed-about the fact that (here comes the deep thought...) if you're performing and working as an actor (and working somewhere else to pay the bills), its not the most convenient time to find new material. Now, you may say, "You lazy actor!" Yes, I admit, we could be dedicating *some* time...but when you're trying to learn your lines, it takes alot of will to not just stop there.

So the good news: we're working! Bad news: The blog (and our monologue collection) gets all dusty from disuse.

We have made great strides so far. KK has really helped us (she's helped me alot!), and the fact that we've been incredibly lucky using the material we've found, the outcomes are positive--I think we were just a bit too ambitious to set our deadline this year.

We are extending our project of 50 monologues to next Memorial Day (2012 for those of you living under your comfy cozy rock ;)).

On a side note-I just auditioned for another musical last night and got cast! Information has not been posted on the theatre's website yet, so I won't say much--but I am SYKED....SIKED....SYIKED (however you spell it). I was so excited, that I had a really really hard time sleeping last night.

And you know what? For this audition, I had to sing. And ONLY sing. Usually, I'd rather have at least one monologue or dance number in my back pocket...but I sang. And I sang two songs. And I survived. Whoa.

And I accepted something that's been touched on here (another deep thought-you can handle it--deep breaths)--you have to ACT your song just like a monologue. So therefore, I'm claiming these two songs as part of my top 25 list. Because they worked, they were active, and they were a heck of alot of fun to perform.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming....

-Whit

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....

Speaking of dropping that ball...

Happy New Year! Well, Kristi wasn't the only one. I dropped the ball too--off a steep cliff--into a mile deep canyon. But as a New Year's resolution I promise to be better (or atleast try) at keeping this blog afloat.

I left you hanging after that last audition-I got it! I performed my Cow monologue again, and this time with more confidence and success. I do believe KK would be proud (I did my KK homework after all). I also sang...did you guess it?..."Keys" from Passing Strange by STEW. If you haven't listened to this autobiographical, small cast rock musical, you have an assignment. Listen. Look it up on PBS (they filmed a performance). Just brilliant.

So the audition yielded a part in another rock musical. One about a bat who's half boy, or is it the other way around? Who knows. But I get bitten. Then I die. But not before singing and dancing my little heart out and dressing in drag.  I'm excited. The cast and creative crew are awesome, and we start in February.

But on to those pesky monologues. Playwrights-seriously. All of you blossoming young Ionescos, Becketts, Parks, etc. send us your stuff! What about this: we won't video tape our rehearsals--we'll SKYPE WITH YOU!! Live feedback!!

Come on-you know you want to. :)

Also-look for some KK worksheets in the future. Kristi and I are hard at work making some "cheat-sheets" for you "auditionees" that we think might help.

Good Timing, R&H Theatricals

Just wanted to clue you all in on something exciting I read today. (Well, exciting for me at least. :) )

In case you weren't aware, getting a Broadway or Off-Broadway musical recorded is not an easy thing. Most of the major recording labels don't like to take the chance, as approximately 85% of the population doesn't rush out to buy new cast albums. A while back, two Broadway singers, Sherie Renee Scott and her husband Kurt Deutsch, started Sh-K-Boom Records; a recording label that would make original cast records of shows.

As their label expanded to include actor solo cds, recordings of live entertainment (like 1 person shows) and the various pop record, they then created the Ghostlight Records division, which is solely dedicated to the preservation of traditional musical theatre.

If you've stuck with me this long, I appreciate it because I am now going to tell you why this is relevant to our project.

In my Month In Review post, I wrote about the song "Calm" and how it just wasn't clicking for me. Part of the reason for this is because I've never been able to see a performance (other than snippets on YouTube). Well, thanks to Ghostlight Records, a cast recording of the Off-Broadway production of Ordinary Day is coming out!

*gigantic sigh of relief*

I really did not want to abandon this monologue because I think it is just too good. And this cast recording will allow me to hear other songs from the show and get a better idea of what goes on. There will probably also be some liner notes that give a basic plot, so I have more to go off of.

Also exciting, R&H Theatricals will be accepting applications for professional productions. So everyone cross your fingers that a production comes to the Chicagoland area.



See, you all thought this monologue project was going to be no big deal, didn't you? It's complicated, ya'll!



Here's a link to the article from Playbill.com, in case you're interested.

-Kristi

Positivity

I had a great audition this morning.

Nothing puts me in a good mood like having a smooth audition. I did not have to do a monologue, but I did have to sing. I felt I sang well and I was asked by the auditor to sing the song a second time, with some direction he gave me.

I love getting constructive criticism in auditions. It really helps to hear people's impressions of what you are doing and what they feel you can improve on. I wish there was more time in auditions for people to give feedback. Everyone would get so much better at auditioning if this was the case.

On the monologue front, I haven't done much this week. I just sort of dropped the ball. But I have to get back on the wagon because it's audition season in Chicago!

More on that later...


-Kristi