Group items tagged

Put on a stage-crew intercom headset and listen to stage manager, Mark Stevens, calling some of the lighting, follow spot and set cues for the San Diego REP's musical production of "HAIRSPRAY." No rehearsed action is taken by the stage crew unless they hear the word "GO" from Mark's lips. The sound feed from the actors has been turned down on the headset so the crew members can clearly hear Mark's directions. No talking on the intercom please.

The Stage Manager's monologue at the start of the 1989 Lincoln Center Theater production of Our Town, starring Spalding Gray as the stage manager. For more infomation visit www.mastervision.com.

This is especially true when it comes to stage combat. And you may want to think twice before you claim it on a resume. This is true even if you took a workshop or two and/or performed fights onstage a handful of times.

He told The Stage: "Probably the most interesting thing is the bird caller. Plays like Romeo and Juliet have several references to birdsong so it could well have been used as a theatrical prop to create special effects."

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:

Equally comfortable playing romantic leads and action heroes, he has never been quite a force in theatre. This is partly a matter of choice. He has prioritised screen roles over stage opportunities. The last time he acted on stage was in 2009 in a popular West End production of Richard Greenberg's three-hander Three Days of Rain. In the mean time he has been taking a while to shake off the halo of urgent youth. He has tended to play callow characters more sinned against than sinning - the closest he's come to anything like villainy is as Idi Amin's morally compromised medic.

I love nothing more than a theatre full of people leaning forward in their seats so they don't miss a word. And the roar of a crowd enjoying themselves can be immensely seductive.

A stage adaptation of Roal Dahl's 'The Twits' for my directing unit at university.

"'Relaxed' performances, aimed at people with disabilities and their carers, are few and far between - but they have benefits for all of us. The whole point of theatre is that disruption should be possible"

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?

Staged Play Filmed by Jasmine Castillo

"This sketch was performed on stage for an AIDS benefit concert directed by Stephen Fry on September 18, 1989. Rowan Atkinson's character is unnamed, but from the look of him, it seems he's a member of the Blackadder family. The other character, whom you will know, was played by Hugh Laurie."

" But why does mere revision make so many Shakespeare fans so uncomfortable? Some people don't like any alterations to Shakespeare's text nor even presenting them in anything other than their historical settings. To me, such an ultrapurist approach can lead to what I somewhat derisively call "museum piece Shakespeare"-though, I must say, I do enjoy visiting and spending hours in museums, and among my favorite stagings of Shakespeare are text-centric, historically costumed productions. But even these are cut for length. Furthermore, to varying degrees, each could be called an "adaptation" because any time an actor picks up a Shakespearean role, he or she is adapting it for that production, and sometimes adapting it from performance to performance, depending on the theater and audience."

"One of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, Twelfth Night was 'blissfully reborn' (Telegraph) for the 2012/13 season at London's Globe Theatre, under the direction of Tim Carroll. The hilarious tale of misdirection and deception is performed here by an all-male cast, among whom we find Mark Rylance as Olivia and Roger Lloyd-Pack as Sir Anthony Aguecheek. The production also marks Stephen Fry's triumphant return to the stage as the pompous Malvolio, ridiculous in his yellow stockings."

Beginning actors make mistakes. Mostly it's because well, they're beginners! I prefer thinking of them is missteps rather than mistakes - they are things the beginning actor hasn't considered. And it's always a great time to change that! If you're a beginning actor, if you teach beginning actors, review this list and take a step in the right direction. Every misstep provides at least one way to solve the problem.

Williamstheatre presents THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller. Directed by Omar Sangare. Once emblematic of political persecution in the 1950s, THE CRUCIBLE is an allegory that resonates wherever sanctimony is used as a weapon of oppression and intolerance. In this canonical American drama set during the seventeenth-century Salem witch trials, Arthur Miller explores human cruelty and the manipulations, accusations, and dishonesty that afflict a paranoid community looking for scapegoats.

I would say that for this piece I didn't do a lot of image research. I did a little bit, and that's what led to the paintings on the walls [of the set]. Because I was looking at period Russian rooms from the time, but they actually didn't influence the bones of the design from the beginning. I would say it was actually weirdly very intuitive.

Here is a big ole' list of links to Lesson Plans for Drama Teachers. And see the bottom of this post for a printable PDF: Top Ten Tips For Writing Awesome Lesson Plans!