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Preparing a trendy audition song seems a logical choice to many. The piece may have universal appeal, and a sense of it being "safe" material. Many actors fail to see that though this may be "popular" to perform in front of their peers, directors might have a slightly different take. Directors are looking for unique & creative individuals, and having "fresh" audition songs can separate you out from all the others. As an actor, you also show the ability to stretch yourself and take a risk on something that no-one else is doing.

A film director, like an orchestra conductor, is the lord of his domain, and no director has more power than a director of animated films. He is set free from the rules of the physical universe and the limitations of human actors, and can tell any story his mind can conceive. That's no doubt why Chuck Jones, after creating the characters of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, immediately wrote down the rules of what could and could not happen in their universe. If anything could happen (and it could), the comedy would be lost in anarchy.

As a young theatre company, Up In Arms has already traversed the best new writing stages with two plays written by their co-Artistic Director, Barney Norris. When I spoke to him, and his directorial partner Alice Hamilton, I wanted to find out how this small touring company, thrust into the spotlight for rural work about everyday lives, was evolving. Their first two plays - Visitors and Eventide - were firmly set in experiences around Salisbury Plain and therefore the 'home' lives of the company's directors (though both now live elsewhere). How would they tackle their new piece but old work - Robert Holman's German Skerries?

Long after the stars take their final bows, production assistants, dressers, marketing directors, designers, physical therapists and house managers keep the Broadway business running. They are among the minds at work behind the bright lights and creative forces driving the industry forward.

I have been teaching properties design and production classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for over two decades. Prior to that, I worked professionally as a properties director, properties artisan and designer when UWM recruited me to start a props training program in the professional training tracks. Students came to the theatre department with a passion for technical theatre having hung lights, built scenery, or run a show in high school or community theatre. However few were familiar with props or had even an inkling a professional properties career was a possibility. Each class of students sifted out a gifted few who excelled in the props area. These students have gone on to have highly successfu

As a person who has had a long stage career as a performer AND a producer/director, I could spend time advising you on all of the things one should do to further their career in theatre. I'm not going to do that. While it may seem like I'm focusing on the negative, it is this humble writers opinion that it's more important to know what NOT to do. A vast majority of actors, singers, dancers, comedians, variety artists, technicians, and stage managers make one or many of these 6 mistakes far too often during their careers, and sometimes unknowingly hurt their chances at booking work. Employers talk to one another, and sometimes one bad reference is all it takes for you to lose the job. And you'll never know why you didn't book it. By avoiding these critical mistakes, you can set yourself apart from all of your contemporaries. While talent and craft is important, the most gifted performer can make themselves completely un-hirable by committing these career sins: