Download a PDF - Stage Directions Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Feature By Nancy and Thomas Hird A Festival for Success The American College Theatre Festival showcases students’ commitment to excellence. Neno Russell, Montreal-based costume designer and KCACTF respondent, listens as Jennifer Goodson from the University of Georgia discusses her costume design for Balm in Gilead. Begun in 1969, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival continues to energize the creativity of more than 600 colleges and 18,000 students annually. The festival encourages, celebrates and promotes noteworthy college productions. Dawn Monique Williams, who now works professionally for a number of Bay Area theatres, participated many times. She says, “You get to see what academic programs and industry professionals view as professional promise while also observing the work of students who have gotten into or will get into really great graduate programs.” Dawn also suggests that “when preparing for the competition, the best thing a student can do is to follow the published guidelines.” This holds true for all of the many KCACTF activities. Departments and students will find a wealth of helpful information on the festival Web site, http://kcactf.org/. KCACTF produces eight regional festivals. At the Web site, colleges may enter their shows in one of two categories, Participating or Associate. By entering a show, a theatre department provides students the chance to showcase both their shows and individual craft. Even when a department does not enter a show, their students can attend the regional and find plenty to do. Shows must be entered in the Participating category to be considered for an invitation to the regional festival. In my Region VIII, shows are selected in December. During the fall term, theatre faculty in the region share responsibility for responding to each entered show. Unlike a reviewer, the respondent does not merely critique a show. They attempt to explain their experience of the show, including the issues observed and production values that contributed. Not only do they react to the performances and designs, they nominate shows and students for the regional festival. A national team of judges attends all the regional festivals in January and February to select work for performance at the Kennedy Center in April. The selection criteria for shows are based on the goals found on the national Web site. Always there are more shows to celebrate than there are invitations to extend. However, performing and seeing shows represents only a fraction of the opportunity to learn and grow artistically at a festival. The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions According to the Web site, the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship provides “recognition, honor and financial assistance to outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education.” Students should think of their Ryan audition as a professional opportunity. At the regional festival, the Ryans progress through stages from the cattle call-like preliminary round, with hundreds of actors being seen, to semifinals and finals. Eve Himmelheber, professor of theater at CSU Fullerton and the Region VIII Ryan Coordinator, points out that nominees perform with a partner in every round, but they should create what Himmelheber calls “shining moments” for themselves — brief monologues, not long ones — within their audition scenes. Professor Himmelheber participated five times as a student. For her part, she says, “I got the opportunity to work in front of people I didn’t know. Their honest feedback proved invaluable then and has made a difference for me ever since. The main value was a sense of professionalism. I became more confident at auditions, too.” Anyone who is nominated must also apply. The Region VIII application involves submitting the Intent To Participate Form sent to each nominee. The form can also be found online at the regional Web site, linked from the main KCACTF Web site. The regional Web sites typically provide helpful information for preparing correctly, too. 34 November 2007 • www.stage-directions.com
John Pankratz Greg Hritz as Vladimir in a production of Waiting for Godot at the national level of competition. Admittedly, the Ryan event is an audition for a scholarship and not for a show, but the savvy student will treat it like a job interview and prepare accordingly. Successful nominees often find a faculty coach to help them. Many schools even assign coaches. A coach will help to select suitable audition pieces and to secure the rights to perform them. Choice of audition literature needs to fit the partner, too. Williams advises, “Pick material that you would be cast in. The most successful students have chosen material that allows them to really shine, while also demonstrating their physical and emotional range. Rehearse, time yourself, perform for friends and teachers and love the work that you do.” Williams’ comment about time is important. Nominees should review the rules online because a long audition is probably the most common problem for new Ryan performers. Prepare work well short of the limit for each round. To craft a character efficiently and effectively, rehearsal is critical. Those who rehearse for months consistently outperform those who prepare for weeks, and certainly those who count only days or hours of rehearsal. At the festival, successful students exercise the same discipline found in successful professional actors. They care for their instrument — their body — by sleeping well and eating properly. For Designers — Design Juries Regional festivals also offer valuable events for design students. When a student working on an entered show completes a significant design assignment, they may be invited. Costumes, scenery, lighting, props and sound are KCACTF www.stage-directions.com • November 2007 35
Page 1: • Gravity works — So your riggi
Page 6: Departments 9 Letters High school v
Page 10 and 11: www.stage-directions.com Publisher
Page 12: By Jacob Coakley In The Greenroom t
Page 15 and 16: Chinchilla Productions LLC, based i
Page 18 and 19: Tools of the Trade Audio Takes Cent
Page 20: Theatre Space By Bret Love A PAC to
Page 23 and 24: whereas here we have the room for a
Page 25 and 26: in after-school stage design and se
Page 28 and 29: Sound Design By Bryan Reesman The S
Page 30 and 31: Sound Design “So she sat on the e
Page 32 and 33: Sound Advice By Jason Pritchard Mul
Page 34 and 35: This is a graphical “map” of th
Page 38 and 39: Feature Porfirio J. Solorzano Porfi
Page 40 and 41: Feature Basic rigging hardware and
Page 42 and 43: Feature Even experienced riggers sh
Page 44 and 45: Special Section: Lighting & Project
Page 50: Special Section: Lighting & Project
Page 53 and 54: is reduced as there is no need for
Page 55 and 56: experience of doing them in my body
Page 57 and 58: TD Talk By Dave McGinnis When Do Yo
Page 59 and 60: The Play’s the Thing By Stephen P
Page 61 and 62: For more information about the comp

Download a PDF - Stage Directions Magazine

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?