Alrighty then! We had 12 actors on Saturday and 12 on Sunday that attended the ATS Audition Workshop and I think things went just fabulously. I talked my friend and creative partner Anna Hadzi of Denver into coming in to coach this with me and Anna did her usual -- charmed and inspired everyone while passing along her wealth of knowledge and experience in such a practical way.
And the actors came in wonderfully prepared, yet still able to jump through the many hoops Anna and I tossed in front of them. We saw some really touching work this weekend -- both funny and poignant stuff.
On Saturday, the actors came prepared to audition for one of three plays -- Angels in America, The Odd Couple (either male or female version) or Chekhov's The Seagull. We had a really solid representation for all three, too. They signed in, filled out an audition form and then came in one at a time to audition. Anna and I gave each of them a few adjustments and had them work those in immediately, all the while recording the process (using the new DVD recorder at the studio -- boy did that make it simple). Then everyone came in to watch the playback for everyone and we also taped the person receiving the feedback. During that, we fielded feedback and questions from the group, then we assigned callback scenes from the plays and ran those, while recording once again. We finished late, but everyone worked hard and got ample time on their feet.
Sunday was the on-camera day. We had actors come in with a prepared commercial audition, taped everything while we gave them adjustments and then brought them all in again to watch the playback. Then we spent quite a bit of time going over our handout for auditioning as an on-camera talent, covering headshots, agents, unions, auditions callbacks, and lots of etc. I can't remember (I think this may have been the only thing we didn't record all weekend). After that, we gave actors scenes from movies to cold-read with, gave adjustments and then played those back to more feedback from Anna and I and the group.
Two full days! I'm currently working on getting some of the stray DV tape onto the DVD Recorder's hard drive. When that's done, I'll be dubbing DVD's for each actor that'll hold all of their work for the weekend as well as their feedback.
I want to thank all of the participating actors for your openness and trust in the two of us. You really make my work a joy -- and this weekend you welcomed Anna Hadzi with open arms and minds. A special thanks to Nancy Wormington for assisting us with "gatekeeping," food and other organizational things this weekend. Nancy, you always get so much done, with such a smile! Thanks!
And of course, I want to thank Anna for taking her weekend to come in and co-teach with me. It's always such a pleasure to watch Anna work and my students always leave their contact with her re-energized and excited about what they're doing. And she does the same for my work. Thanks, Partner.
When's the next one? Probably in another year! AG