clawofiron

This evening I have a musical theatre audition. I haven't done a singing audition in years, so, naturally, I'm a bit nervous.

This show is bound to get a lot of auditioners, so there may be a long wait to be seen. They don't have rooms where actors can go to warm up.

Do you have any tricks to staying in good vocal shape/nicely warmed up when there's a long wait to audition.

I won't have a car - otherwise, I could go there to sing.

Thanks!

Is there a place where I can find out, without a doubt, whether a work is in the public domain in the U.S.?

The particular work I'm interested in was published in 1928 in Canada. It looks like it's public domain in Canada and Australia, but despite all the sites I've looked at about copyright laws and public domain in the U.S. I am not sure it's public domain here. It's confusing. I don't know if the book's copyright has been renewed - or how to find out if it ever was.

Would contacting the Library of Congress be the correct route to go to find out one way or the other? Or is there a better source?

Thank you for any help.

I'm having trouble deciding which to go with, for the play I'm writing...

1. King Charles, the brother-in-law of the late King, your husband.

2. King Charles, the husband of your (late) husband's sister.

3. King Charles, the husband of the late Louis XIII's sister.

The character is talking to Queen Anne of Austria, whose late husband is Louis XIII. Louis XIII's sister was married to King Charles I of England.

I'm going to submit to a casting notice I saw from a California production company that will be filming this project in the town I live in.

The notice says they prefer an actress with a recognizable name for the role I want to submit for. I am certainly not a household name by any stretch of the imagination, but I have worked with people who have fan followings and recognizable names (in the genre movie world). I'm not sure if that's something to mention (name dropping).

I've always been horrible at self-promotion and tend not to talk myself or my projects up (which is probably why I'm not further along in my career than I am.) Finding the balance between self-promotion and sounding arrogant or boastful, seems challenging to attempt, since I tend to be shy and self-deprecating, usually.

What kinds of things should I write to sound like a good candidate for this audition?

I was reading a lovely article - "Teen Discovers Promising Cystic Fibrosis Treatment." About a young man who won 1st place in the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge.

The comments on the article started out positive - about what this could mean for those who suffer with Cystic Fibrosis and how more money should be spent encouraging young scientists.

The comments then turned into how terrible it was that athletes and movie stars earn so much money compared to scientists.

And one person commented that Actors and Athletes are useless to society - and their comment received many, many thumbs ups. There were many more comments with the same sentiment - and that society doesn't need entertainment (and by the amount of thumbs ups - it seems to be a popular belief).

I'm curious to know what you think. ARE actors useless to society? Why do you think so many people feel this way? And how would you respond to someone who thought actors/athletes were useless?

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

I was reading a lovely article - "Teen Discovers Promising Cystic Fibrosis Treatment." About a young man who won 1st place in the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge.

The comments on the article started out positive - about what this could mean for those who suffer with Cystic Fibrosis and how more money should be spent encouraging young scientists.

The comments then turned into how terrible it was that athletes and movie stars earn so much money compared to scientists.

And one person commented that Actors and Athletes are useless to society - and their comment received many, many thumbs ups. There were many more comments with the same sentiment - and that society doesn't need entertainment (and by the amount of thumbs ups - it seems to be a popular belief).

I'm curious to know what you think. ARE actors useless to society? Why do you think so many people feel this way? And how would you respond to someone who thought actors/athletes were useless?

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

I'm just looking for personal opinions.

I've seen some people advise that someone going into acting should have a back-up plan just in case.

And I've seen others say that if you have a back-up plan, you're going to end up using it. And that if you want to be a successful actor, you need to devote your full attention to the pursuit of your acting career.

Actors - did/do you have a back up plan?

Those who want to be actors - will you have a back up plan?

I've seen a lot of questions lately from people who want to become famous.

I'm just curious to know what fame means to you. What do you imagine it would be like? What about fame seems appealing to you?

I think we've all dreamed about it at some point in our lives.

For me, in my fantasy, fame means that I would be sought after as an actor and would have my choice of roles - and not have to audition as often. Perhaps financial stability would come with it, which would also be nice. Again, this is my fantasy. I don't know if I could handle the reality of fame.

So, what about you? What do you imagine fame would be like?

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine, who recently had a nice guest role on an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

Someone who saw the episode found out her name and found her on facebook and sent her a message saying how much he enjoyed her performance in the episode. This was her first piece of "fan mail."

She's wondering how to deal with it, since she admits it feels weird and a little bit creepy. I've gotten some e-mails and facebook messages from strangers who have seen my work too, so I know it feels weird and a bit creepy, though a bit nice that someone took the time to write to say something kind about our performances, but still strange.

The question is, should we respond and say thanks, to be polite? Or just not write back to prevent further weirdness or future awkwardness if they write back and it becomes a conversation?

It's not like we're celebs, we're just struggling actors trying to scrape by - so we don't have experience in this sort of thing or have a large support group of agents and managers to help us with this.

Are there any rules of etiquette that would cover this scenario?

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine, who recently had a nice guest role on an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

Someone who saw the episode found out her name and found her on facebook and sent her a message saying how much he enjoyed her performance in the episode. This was her first piece of "fan mail."

She's wondering how to deal with it, since she admits it feels weird and a little bit creepy. I've gotten some e-mails and facebook messages from strangers who have seen my work too, so I know it feels weird and a bit creepy, though a bit nice that someone took the time to write to say something kind about our performances, but still strange.

The question is, should we respond and say thanks, to be polite? Or just not write back to prevent further weirdness or future awkwardness if they write back and it becomes a conversation?

It's not like we're celebs, we're just struggling actors trying to scrape by - so we don't have experience in this sort of thing or have a large support group of agents and managers to help us with this.

I've done some work that was just for the internet - I was in a web-series and I also do a bunch of video ads for a well-known on-line company.

I don't really know how or even if to list these things on my resume.

Especially the video commercials, which are posted on the website of this company via YouTube. Do they count as commercials, or do they not count because they're on YouTube, though they are featured on this very well-known website.

These videos get a lot of views, the lowest number of views for a video I've done for them is over 25,000 - the highest is over 1.6 million. So, they really are getting seen.

Can these ads count as commercials? Are they something else? Is there a place on my resume for on-line work? What about a web-series?

I've worked with some brilliant directors, but I've also worked with a few turkeys.

One director wanted an actor to jump from a second story balcony on stage onto the sofa. The fight choreographer told him it was not safe. The director insisted it was fine. The fight choreographer took him up to the second floor balcony and asked him to demonstrate the jump onto the sofa. The director quickly changed his mind and decided that perhaps they could come up with something different.

Sadly, I have several such stories. What are some of yours?

There's a good chance I'll be working on a short film where I will have to fight a CGI dragon. I have extensive stage combat training, so I'm not at all worried about the fight aspect. I also have a very vivid imagination, so I'm pretty confident I'll be able to picture the dragon.

I'm just wondering if there are any good tricks or hints that will help me give a better performance. Or anything I should know about working with CGI that would be helpful considering this is my first time.

Any useful tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

There's a good chance I'll be working on a short film where I will have to fight a CGI dragon. I have extensive stage combat training, so I'm not at all worried about the fight aspect. I also have a very vivid imagination, so I'm pretty confident I'll be able to picture the dragon.

I'm just wondering if there are any good tricks or hints that will help me give a better performance. Or anything I should know about working with CGI that would be helpful considering this is my first time.

Any useful tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I'm going to be puppeteering the rabbit puppet in a production of "Bunnicula." I've been watching youtube videos to get a sense of how rabbits hop and move. I've owned small animals, but never rabbits.

I was wondering if there are any quirks or specific mannerisms rabbits have that would make a rabbit owner think, "Wow, she nailed it." I know my Shetland Sheepdog has very specific Sheltie quirks that if I imitated, sheltie owners would know I nailed the sheltie personality.

I'm looking for things that aren't so obvious to a non-rabbit owner (like me) - and things I wouldn't be able to just know from watching youtube videos of rabbits hopping or eating.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

My dog of 10 years very unexpectedly died yesterday in my arms. Three hours later, I was at rehearsal for our final dress. I haven't had time to grieve yet, but we open tonight. How do I hold it together enough to make it through opening weekend?

I guess this is the downside of being an actor - you can't exactly just take time off. The show must go on and all that.

I will be teaching an audition workshop at a performing arts summer camp. I have a lot of things I would like to cover in this workshop, but know I won't have time for everything.

What are your most burning questions about auditions that you would love to have answered? What have you always wondered about?

I want to make sure I cover the questions most people have. The class is for kids and teens.

Thank you for all of your help.

As actors, we all need affirmations once in a while. Sometimes there are those compliments or reviews that were really special and stick with you. What were yours?

I guess my last question was confusing to some, so I am rephrasing it.

For example, I have:

*Jumped off a cliff

*Filmed intense fight scenes outside in freezing temperatures

*Danced with severed heads

*Had a dog rescue me

*Got entangled with a chair and walk around with it as if nothing was wrong

You get the idea (I hope.)

Have you ever been involved in a project (theatre, tv, film, etc.) where you just reflected on the role you were playing and thought... "boy, I never thought I'd be asked to do *this*?"

Something that was certainly not covered in any acting class, college course, master class, etc.

What are the strange/interesting things you've found yourself doing as an actor?

For example, I just played a role where I had to suck the last breaths out of the decayed skulls of my parents. And I actually had that moment on set where I thought with amusement, "They never covered this in any acting class I've ever been in."