Is theater a dying business?

I was recently reading The Producer’s Perspective, the blog of Broadway producer, Ken Davenport. He was talking about why people will always go the movies, or theatre, or social events in general. Going off a quote from Don Harris who is the President of Distribution for Paramount movies; Ken says that “Ultimately, it gets back to why there's still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies.  We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It's all the reason movie theaters exist and this genre has always been front and center.” This gets to my question of the day.

Why do people feel theatre is a dying business?

Do you research, what is one of the highest profitable industries in the world? It is entertainment. Reason being is the number of different categories that encompass the whole piece of the pie, I.E. Sports, Movies, Theatre, Books, Gambling and Drugs to name a few. The actual definition of entertainment according to Morss Global Finance is... goods, services, or other activities that people pay for to enjoy their leisure time. 

Yes like all industries in our economy, times are hard and theaters are closing. But there will always be theatre, there will always be movies. It may be less at times, but if you stick with it and find other ways to perform then you can, in the words of Tim Gunn, “make it work!”

Theaters have to implore many different tactics now to ensure success. Social Media, Electronic media, Paper Media, (seeing a pattern here? ) but mostly also word of mouth all needs to be amped up in order for our craft to survive the downfall of economy. Because what would life be like without the chance for us to have a night out at the theatre? We would go home, eat a bag of popcorn, and not move. Well that is great for our physical and mental well being, don’t ya think?

Food for thought
V

  

Educational and Community Theatre

I have been involved in a number of recent discussions among friends about different types of theatre that young actors experience and their misconceptions among them. So what types do we have? Highschool, Community, College, Non-Professional and Professional.

Let me preface by saying that I am an avid supporter of all types of theatre not only because it is my craft and I feel that every version has its benefits. The whole craft is a learning process and you need to take away anything you can from any given method. But also because I have at some point in my life and career been active in the afore mentioned types of theatre.

So to the misconceptions. I feel the big issue is among the college age students and what they feel they "need" to have on their resumes. The overall issues I have heard are that students think that in order to get work they need to have 8 musicals, 5 plays, 4 leads roles etc in order for casting directors to be impressed. Let me tell you now, yes experience is looked upon heavily, but training is must as well. Reason being you can have 25 shows on your resume from your local community theaters and 2 from your college, what does that look like to a casting agency? Ok so this actor may have friends in the theatre but not necessarily the talent to back it up. Why have they only been in 2 productions at their institution of higher learning?  I have noticed among the cities I have lived that college students feel they need to do show after show in local theaters during the year when they are in school rather than performing or being active in their educational productions. My question is why.

Why would you want to do something for free when you are PAYING to do something else? I.E. Community vs College. Do you feel that education is not important? There are many and many celebrity interviews about actors who although they already have a Tony Award are going to dance and acting classes every other week to stay fresh. Why at the age of 21 do you feel this isn't important? I am all for local theatre as it has been an amazing part of my life as an actor and director, but I feel like everything in the world, there is a hierarchy and time/place for everything. Do community theatre during the summer, or at least auditions for college productions first and make that your priority and if something doesn't work out, maybe then think of community or other collegiate options. This is advice for college students, if you are out of college by all means rock on with your socks off anywhere you please!

To remind young actors that are just starting out, this industry is commonly referred to in a quote... "Acting is a business". Do you think someone will get hired to run an accounting firm unless they have an education AND professional experience? No, so it is important to have a vast range of experience rather it be learning or first hand. Actors need to constantly questions themselves with, "What really matters"? Does it look better if I have played Billy Crocker in "Anything Goes" 3 times or played Billy once and have experience in Shakespeare and Stanislavski? Any arguments there? I could keep making comparisons one after the other like a broken record, but point to remember...

In any aspect of any profession you need to be well rounded, do not limit yourself to one or any particular aspect of your interests, because (to add a metaphor); why clip your wings, then you won't be able to fly?

Food for Thought...
V

Broadway Lottery and Standing Room Tickets

Broadway, it is the Great White Way and dream for many actors. We strive to be in a show and live the life. If we get that job we will work and work hard 6 days a week, 8 shows a week, and finally get that one night off and what do we do? Go see a show to support a friend or colleague. But will we buy a full priced ticket at the box office? Highly unlikely, though we have weekly paychecks, living in NYC is expensive  and actors salaries are still on the lower end of the scale. It is common to see actors in standing room only or lottery lines to try to win or get extremely discounted tickets to see a show. This brings me to my topic for the day.

Are the current practices for lottery and standing room tickets successful or need to be adapted?

There are a number of websites such as Playbill that list the current policies for any given theatre, which is very helpful for those trying to get all information at once. The issues I have are that there is no consistency among the theaters. Prices range from $20 to $40, either students or non-students, cash or card and so on. Yes I understand that prices may be different due to theater size and production value and I respect this is a business but I wonder if there is a way to make an across the board student or actor price and way to get the tickets that works well from the audience perspective.

The Lottery process itself I don't feel can be changed as far as how tickets are drawn. From most theaters I have been to the process is the same. Names are put in for about an hour, after the hour names are called and you can choose 1 or 2 tickets and when they are gone they are gone, pretty straight forward. I think I have more of an issue with standing room  policies. To those of you who don't know, this is really what it means, you stand during the whole show, for a fraction of the price and possible partial view. Case in point the standing room for Jersey Boys means you will not see the top half of the stage and set because the balcony is in your line of sight. But these sell regardless because for $25, its easy for a 24 year old to stand up and watch something they have been wanting to see. My beef is that the box office knows how many tickets are available before they open so once the line is set, count the number of tickets and let all the rest go home, or rush to try to get tickets to another show.  I say this as a former box office employee, so I am not tyring to be one sided.  It has happened to be 5 times where I am next in line and then they are sold out and I have missed the opportunity to see another show. Most recently that happened at Book of Mormon last month. You can imagine my sense of being disturbed but I took a breath, walked to TKTS and saw Sister Act, so not a total loss cause you doesn't love a bunch of singing nuns with sequin lame? I know I do!

I don't know what theaters can do to change or adapt policies, but maybe as said before we can try to figure out how to tweak. Case in pont, in one of my previous blogs I mentioned how Godspell uses an Ipad to fill out your name for the lottery. I love the forward thinking, however it cause the line to be longer (maybe because now many people due to their age don't know how to use them) but possibly a few more might help. Regardless, this small tweak I have remembered and feel this is how success is made; by making bold moves. I guarantee you other young theatre goers will remember that Godspell uses Ipads and even if they don't win the lottery, may go back to buy a ticket just cause it was on their radar.


Food for thought
V

Can actors enjoy a night of theatre without performing?

As actors it is our job to tell a story right? We try our hardest and overcome many trying circumstances to succeed in this endeavor in order to make the audience enjoy their time.  We have many friends and companions we meet along the way and always try to support them if we can and see their productions. Also maybe just go out for a night of theatre and try to enjoy. Here is my question...

Why is it that actors cant just simply enjoy a theatrical production? Why do we have to analyze every detail and wonder why it was done that way? Notice the word "enjoy" keeps repeating itself.

Maybe it is just me but no matter how hard I try to simply take a breath and enjoy I am constantly wondering and constructively criticizing performances. Is it because this is my craft and I am always working so I want to know why someone chose this as their character's driving force? Why did the lighting director choose blue versus green or the choreographer choose a battement versus hitch kick? Do other industry professionals go through this as well? I.E. Does a Panera Bread employee ( example because I am sitting in a Panera Bread as I type) go to Subway and enjoy the sandwich or wonder why they cut the bread that way and use that type of mayo? Bad example but you get the point.

I am not saying that we can't have a good time and take something away but is it possible to do one or the other. Maybe we are are this way because it is so hard to keep a job and survive in this economy that we are constantly trying to better ourselves and our craft which isn't a bad thing. But don't we all just need a night off? Food for thought...

V

Stanislavski thought of the day

Believing ethics to be of great significance in the success of the theatre, Stanislavski said that even very talented actors should be sacrificed if they could not contribute to the harmonious atmosphere of the group. Since the art of the theatre is a collective work, it is essential that everyone in the group work for the benefit of the whole performance and not solely for himself...

" It is what it is".. or is it?

I recently had a random discussion with a girlfriend just about nothing in particular. You know, one of those dinner evenings where one catches up on life and everything. Well some topic camp up, I dont remember what, and the only answer I could think of when talking about how life is sometimes what the platitude... "It is what it is."

My friend had the rebuttal... "But is it"? BRAVA for making me thing. Alas brings forth the discussion topic. What makes the "it" what it "is"? Why is "it" permanent? Why can't "it" be changed? The fact of the matter is simple, we can change our "is" if we aren't happy with it, but sometime without thinking, we are to scared and just settle. This is never the answer but unfortunately just the way things are sometimes. (BTW excuse all the pronouns and verbs)

How does this relate to theatre, well dear reader I will tell you. :-) Why is that that actors and performers in general give up at the first sign of resistance? I will admit I have fallen privy to this trap on several occasions and felt the brunt of it later. Why do we feel unworthy of a second chance? Or a first chance in that matter? It always amazes me the actors who can be so vulnerable onstage can't seem to have a bit of thick skin offstage. But I guess that topic is for another day.

After reading Seth Rudetsky's Book, Broadway Nights; which by the way was aMAHzing, I recalled a story that I feel fits this topic.

He was telling the story of an actress who went into audition for the role of Marian the Librarian in The Music Man on Broadway. She felt that she was PERFECT for the role. By this time in her career she was an established actress. Her agents called the casting directors and they weren't interested in her because nothing against her talent, but felt she may not be right for the role. This happens very often in the industry, you may be very talented but may not be seen or get cast simply because of height, weight, color or because the casting people feel, based on what they have seen you do, you may not be right for the role. Well that didn't stop Rebecca Luker one bit. Thats right I am talking about that amazing actress from 8 broadway productions. So she scheduled an audition full aware the casting team didn't want to see her, marched in, blew them away, and got the role! Rebecca changed her "it" and succeeded, why can't we all?

So why do we just accept things at face value in this industry? I am not saying keep doing what Rebecca did but if you feel you are right for a role or simply feel you should be seen, who is stoping you? Nobody but yourself. Don't let that inner mousy quality keep you from pouding the pavement because you wont get anywhere unless you lace up those Capezio High Top Sneakers and start that sassy jazz walk to your dream ( I dont know where that metaphor came from but felt it fit just right).


V.

The Show Hub... The Working Actor's New Friend

We as actors are constantly trying to come up with ways to find work, promote ourselves, or make connections. Sometime to success, sometimes to constant failure. Besides the old adage of every 99 times you hear NO, 1 time you will hear an YES... Well the website, The SHOW HUB, is that yes in my opinion. It may not get you work, you still need talent of course but it will help promote yourself in a way we as actors have been waiting to do for a very long time.

A brief description on the website is thus follows: An online ecosystem that provides: production, marketing, and hiring tools for theatres, career management tools for theatre people all online. All in One place. All you need! I met CEO Clayton Whitfield at the fall Southeastern Theatre Conference in Atlanta at a workshop he was co-hosting on how to promote your self in the entertainment industry. The session was informative and both speakers had some great pointers. One of the main things I took away was The Show Hub. I went home and within a day had my site up and running. Now any theatre can search for a specific type of actor and if I meet those qualifications my headshot/resume pops up.

I can not speak for casting directors and theater management but I can see why these tools would be useful. Plus it is AFFORDABLE for an actor. Think about it, where else can you fully be able to represent yourself with headshot/resume/and media links for the price between $10 and $50 and not have to worry about mailing and stamps etc? No where. Plus a great benefit is you can add the link right to an email or website to it is also easy to send anyone with the click on a mouse.

I am glad I attended this workshop, glad I met Clayton, and glad I now have The Show Hub to add to my promotional materials as an actor. I suggest everyone do the same.

V


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Alas for you... My Evening at Godspell

To go along with my previous blog about procrastination, I woke up this morning ready to post my blog about my "Godspell" experience. I had the chance to spend two evenings in NYC last month and was going to relish any opportunity to see theatre as always. The two top shows on my list were "Godspell" because I have been following producer Ken Davenport's blog, (the producer's perspective) as well as some of the cast members on Twitter. The other show being "The Book of Mormon"for obvious reasons. I was with my friend Natalie and we had not won the Mormon lottery and were a bit bummed to say the least. In an amazing series of coincidences; sidebar I don't believe in coincidences, rather everything happens for a reason... but thats another story, through the corner of my eye saw someone I knew only via my friend Nina's Facebook page as a fellow actor from Korea, Blake who now lives back in NYC. Being the outgoing person that I am walked up to him and said, " Hi you don't know me but we have a mutual friend, Im Vincent." After the weird introduction had passed, we became buddy buddy as most theatre folk do and began talking. He informed me the the "Godspell" lottery started 15 minutes after Mormon so I still would have a chance. Well that was my answer, after not winning I hightailed it over to 50th street and jumped in line.

I have to give Ken Davenport props on his lottery setup. Using an IPAD to sign up, Brava on the forword thinking and staying with the times. Although maybe two or three more would have helped the line congestion, but I was impressed from the moment I reared my face at Circle in the Square theatre for that reason also because I went to school there 4 years prior and miss my former home. OK so the night begins...

The Date: Friday October 14, 2011, 2nd night of Previews and GO...
Natalie and I were in line just chilling and such, we filled out our names and got our tickets (she almost forgot her stub) and stood to the side. In the mean time her friend came to catch up and then the number calling began. We made a funny realization that her number was "666". That stood out to us not only because of its history as a number but also because most of the names called out by chance at the Mormon lottery were religious based, IE Matthew, Mary, Judah so the fact that the religious names were there and the devil number was here (also a religious play) made for some nice banter. Cut to they call her number, I am listening and yell, she has no idea because she never wins anything and was so confused. It was worth it all just for that reaction but I was so ready for the next 2.5 hours. I was thrilled to sit on the pillows by the stage like a "sit in" and be close because I felt we were part of the show. Once we got settled in, met our new friends in our little pit who are now very close to us, judged a few of them like our lovely elderly neighbor who didn't understand theatre etiquette and talked to the actors while the show was going on... the lights dimmed. :-)

And SHOWTIME!

I have always been a "Godspell" fan since 8 years ago when I had the change to sing "Prepare Ye" and "We Beseech Thee" in a Broadway Revue. But let me say my love for the piece was met and exceeded. From the first note blazing from the Trumpet I was hooked. I will try not to give any specifics in this review because I want you to attend and support the actors but here is what I will say... There are 7 Elements that stood out most to me, or maybe more but without keeping a notepad and ruining my viewing experience,  this is what I remember.

1) The People... I was so happy to see this as the Broadway debut for many of that cast, and as a true Ensemble show it was so thrilling to see the camaraderie and feel as one from the audience perspective.

2) The Current Trends... This revival decided to bring a new flavor to the story, to add in some flare of the current day with aspects of celebrity, news, media, social networking, any and all aspects that you can think of. It was perfectly melded into the plot and made perfect sense, whether it was on purpose or a result of rehearsal improve or on the spot thinking, it made no difference, the result was spot on.

3) The Impersonations... I can honestly say I was giddy from the inside out to see how these actors, with such quick pace and timing, jumped in and out of their characters to impersonate someone of this day and age to help further the story. Truly a talent that not everyone can master.

4) The Improve...Well I can say that Nick Blaemire and George Salazar rocked my world with their uncanny ability to crack me up while feel totally immersed in the story at the same time. They have the talent enough to not play for the laugh but make the script (or improve) speak for itself, not many actors understand this. To not give away anything, a modern dance piece emoting from one of these cast members  brought me to the floor (remembering I was already on the ground!)

5) The craft of each actor... As previously stated, this was and is an ensemble show, but what I loved most was that each actor brought his/her personal statement to the fold. The girls rocked with their quirks and voices, the boys well nuff said. Telly Leung, your rendition of "All Good Gifts" was so heart warming I felt like you were speaking to each of us individually as well as a whole. Hunter Parrish, "Beautiful City" was such a sense of "this is ..." that made all the story more real and I can't even describe. I am so happy the song was re worked to be in this version.

6) The emoting... As an actor and sometimes audience member I hate when I see an actor "acting" versus being in the moment. Well I never felt that hate this night. Every time the script called for sadness or joy or laughter you felt the true connection that each actor had to the story and what was happening, I felt part of it like Jesus was preaching to me and teaching me these parables and became sad and happy along with the whole gang.

7) The Set... One of my favorite aspects which I will not give anything away. But lets just say that the ingeniousness of this sets ability to adapt to each song whether it needed water or height or smoke or a few more surprises was spot on.

And you can round this all off with the theatrical experience of seeing Stephen Schwartz, Zachary Quinto and a number of other people in the audience that just makes you realize we all just want to enjoy a fabulous theatrical evening. So I bid you adieu and ask that you attend if you can, the show is now open, previews are finished, I am unaware what changes were made but I am sure the result deserves a huge BRAVA!

V



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Unpurposeful Procrastination

We all know what it means to procrastinate. It means we fine some excuse to not do something we should do even though the excuse is total B.S. I aimed at writing this blog daily about something I am feeling, or thinking, or any aspect of theatre and art. Surprisingly I have not come through.. well at least half way.
I have been making daily topics and thoughts and writing them down in notes on my computer to write but by the time I get to the computer I have 5 hours till I need to be up for the next day and you know how the story goes. And I woud do it on the 4 flights a week I am on a plane but I refuse to pay for internet and now most airports aren't free wifi anymore anyway, so its a never ending cycle.

But rest assured my 3 avid readers. I am writing just not posting. But that will soon change... My brain is twisting and turing with new sessions to come...

V

Quote of the Week 4.1

"You have to be strong enough to be vulnerable for your creativity and your art... and for your life"
Stuart White   via "Happy Accidents" by Jane Lynch

To Succeed you need to ...

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine that helped me come to a realization about something.
To succeed in life, or in the case of this blog, in a career of performance, you must have an amount of talent which goes without saying. But what else really is the key factor that makes us reach that pen-ultimate goal we dream about??? Anyone???

DETERMINATION

We all can have dreams and we can think about them for days on end. But you need to have the drive to find a plan that gets you to the goal. You need to sieze an opportunity even though you may not feel it will help, you'll never know and if you don't grab it, you've lost the chance.

Do a stage reading!

Do an obscure musical you dont think any one will pay to see!

Write a play your self!

Pull a Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins and strap musical instruments all over your body in Central Park for all I care!

The key is that if you just sit and wait for that golden chance to come your way, well you may be sitting for a long time. Keep in mind goals can change and it is good that they can change because we as humans change so this is the natural progression of life. I have had a difficult time lately trying to focus on my goals and I realize it is because they are blurred and I am looking at things in life differently. Now that I have realized that I am going to harness these goals and I am going to succeed, and do you know how???

DETERMINATION!

This isn't a half time speech to pump up the boys to get out there and beat the other team, we all come to self realizations at times in our lives so why not share them. Hope you do the same...

V

Quote of the Week 3.2

"You can put jelly on peanut butter but you can't put peanut butter on jelly"... Dick Van Dyke