Working backstage thoroughly absorbs you. And, as every activity and experience which challenges you profoundly, it teaches you more in a year than you’d otherwise learn in ten. I treasure all backstage work experience I’ve been privileged to accumulate thus far. Often pushed to my very limits, my growth has been exponential during all those times helping to rock and balance the stage. So, what are the key lessons gained you might ask?
“What Skills Should an Actor Have?”
An excess of options.
When we guide our clients through the branding process, one word that comes to mind is thorough. It’s a detailed process of introspection, feedback and dreaming to create an authentic and unique story about an actor’s product.
Theater and show practitioners, performers and technicians alike, acquire an abundance of valuable skills over the years. These skills help us master difficult shows and creations. They help us think on our feet. They help us succeed on a daily basis in an ever-changing environment. Often, however, we underestimate how much we know. And, how transferrable and useful many of our skills are.
With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the entertainment industry around the world, people are changing the way in which they work through Covid-19.
I have written before about the need to have a back-up plan for when times are tough What’s Your Plan B. We literally work in a gig economy and there are plenty of reasons why you might not be able to make ends meet solely through audio. Whether it’s an injury, family illness, recession or global pandemic keeping you from working, or you simply want a bit of a change for a while, knowing you have an alternative job you can fall back on (preferably one you can do in any health, from anywhere) can be invaluable.
I was at a book exchange party at a friend’s place recently and into my hands was placed the book Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Numerous plane flights later (my uninterrupted reading times) I read and learned about the 10,000 hours rule.
I’ve been stage managing professionally for nearly 25 years, teaching stage management for 7 years and producing the Broadway Stage Management Symposium for 4 years. There are some common themes I’ve seen about how our profession is viewed (both inside and outside the industry). Below are the four most common and biggest misconceptions about the profession of stage management that I’ve seen.
Pursuing a degree in musical theatre or acting is a process. It can also be very costly and stressful. There are increasing demands and requirements placed on students hoping to get into a top performing arts program. Each and every year the competition continues to increase.
Here are 5 tips to help you command the spotlight.
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