Pre-Professional Theatre Training Program Audition Package

Transcription

1 1 Pre-Professional Theatre Training Program Audition Package What is the Arts Umbrella Pre-Professional Theatre Training Program? The Arts Umbrella Pre-Professional Theatre Training Program consists of the Senior Theatre Troupe, the Junior Theatre Troupe, the Senior Musical Theatre Troupe, the Junior Musical Theatre Troupe, the Laboratory Theatre Troupe, the Film Actor s Clinic, as well as the Young Directors Program. These yearlong programs are structured to offer aspiring actors, and directors, a space to sharpen their skills, increase their confidence, and expand their network. Vocal, movement, and theatrical exercises help develop teamwork and cooperation, discipline and technique, creative expression, and individual artistry. Our instructors are industry professionals who help students explore their artistic potential. Many of our students have gone on to postsecondary theatre programs or professional acting careers around the world. The Arts Umbrella Pre-Professional Theatre Program is a September to June commitment (with extra rehearsals necessary to prepare for performances, usually during November, March, April and May). Students MUST be prepared to put a lot of energy and time into training and preparation for tour and stage performances. Participants are chosen by audition to take part in the program and will be placed in the troupe that best fits the students age, experience, skill, schedule and goals. Please note that the Pre-Professional Theatre Training Program is a full year commitment and requires a significant investment of time, energy and focus throughout the year in order to get the most from the program. For more information or to register for an audition, please visit Important note: Because our pre-professional program is designed for those who are considering theatre and the performing arts as a career path, a significant amount of at-home preparation and regular attendance is expected of all students. Missed classes may require changes in casting for our in-house productions. Families are asked to consider this carefully when choosing to audition for the program. Senior Theatre Troupe Get your acting career started with intensive training in voice, movement, non-verbal exercises and professional audition techniques. This year-long program focuses on developing the actor's process, and developing your abilities in finding voice and emotional connection. Focus on developing your process and audition repertoire and scene work in the Fall session. Winter and Spring sessions are dedicated to mounting a professional production that tours to secondary schools across Metro Vancouver. Students also showcase their work as a part of Winter Shorts, and Come Together, at Performance Works as well as Expressions Theatre Festival at Waterfront Theatre. Past productions include: The Phoenician Women (2018), The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare: Abridged (2017), Julius Caesar (2016), The Martian Chronicles (2015), Romeo and Juliet (2014), and "Oh What A Lovely War" (2013). Junior Theatre Troupe Channel your talents! In Junior Theatre Troupe, teens develop on- and off-stage skills. Beyond honing performance techniques, students also experiment with production know-how such as lighting, sound, costume, and set. The Fall Session is dedicated to intensive training that develops strong rehearsal techniques and encourages a sense of ensemble. Winter and Spring Sessions focus on mounting a professional production to tour Metro Vancouver elementary schools. Students also showcase their work as a part of Winter Shorts, and Come Together, at Performance Works as well as Expressions Theatre Festival at Waterfront Theatre. Past productions include: Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy (2018), Charlotte s Web (2017), Story Stew: A Fairy Tale Revue (2016), Alice In Wonderland (2015), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2014), and Peter Pan (2013). Senior Musical Theatre Troupe Cue the music! Musical Theatre Troupe members undergo intensive training with professional musical theatre artists to gain valuable ensemble and solo performance experience, and make the connection between performer and audience. Students polish their

2 2 audition repertoire, develop their actor s voice, and learn advanced singing, dancing, and acting techniques. Performances at Winter Shorts and Come Together prepare teens to mount a full-length musical as a part of Expressions Theatre Festival at Waterfront Theatre in May. Past productions include: Oklahoma! (2018), Urinetown: The Musical (2017), The Drowsy Chaperone (2016), Bring It On (2015), Little Women (2014), and "Pippin" (2013). Junior Musical Theatre Troupe Take center stage! Our Junior Musical Theatre Troupe is going big time 2 days per week and is a significant time and energy commitment for those teens who are truly ready to commit to deep development of their musical theatre skills. Members undergo intensive training with professional musical theatre artists to gain valuable ensemble and solo performance experience, and make the connection between performer and audience. Students enrich their audition repertoire, develop their voice, and learn advanced singing, dancing, and acting techniques. Performances at Winter Shorts and Come Together prepare teens to mount a full-length musical as a part of Expressions Festival at Waterfront Theatre in May. Past productions include: Guys and Dolls (2018) Laboratory Theatre Troupe Turn a blank page into an original script. Experiment with other like-minded theatre students to create, produce and perform an original theatre piece that will tour to schools across Metro Vancouver. Similar to the work done in the other Pre-professional Troupes, students gain a deeper understanding of the actor s process, with a greater emphasis on creating original work and sharing knowledge. The Laboratory Theatre Troupe showcases work at Winter Shorts, Come Together, and mounts a full production that tours to schools across the Lower Mainland as well as at the Expressions Theatre Festival at the Waterfront Theatre in May. Past productions include: Outside In (2018), Living In My Skin: (2017), Dangers of a Total War (2016), Shift (2015), "Skylights" (2014), "Tow The Line" (2013), "Objects In Mirror Are Already Here" (2012), and "#ThisismyVancouver" (2011). Film Actors Clinic Find your confidence on screen! Being prepared and feeling confident on set can be a tough thing to master. Learn from industry professionals who will share their casting, auditioning, and on-set experiences. Using authentic audition materials in these three-hour sessions, students practice their audition techniques and delve into script analysis, taking home their filmed scenes to use as a learning tool and as footage for their own demo reels. To audition, please submit a video audition by to theatre@artsumbrella.com Young Directors Program Students are accepted by application only. To apply, theatre@artsumbrella.com Go behind the scenes! Young Directors work alongside professional designers and a Pre-professional Theatre Troupe Director to see what it takes to put on a show. In the Fall, students direct their own scene for Winter Shorts, and then they ll be an Assistant Director in the Winter and Spring for a year-end show at Waterfront Theatre. Standard Class/Rehearsal Schedule: Senior Theatre Troupe - Wednesdays 6:00-9:00 PM, Sundays 2:00-5:00 PM Junior Theatre Troupe - Wednesdays 6:00-9:00 PM, Sundays 2:00-5:00 PM Senior Musical Theatre Troupe - Wednesdays 6:00-9:00 PM, Fridays 6:00-9:00 PM Junior Musical Theatre Troupe - Tuesdays 6:00-9:00 PM, Fridays 6:00-9:00 PM Laboratory Theatre Troupe - Mondays 6:00-9:00 PM, Fridays 6:00-9:00 PM Film Actors Clinic Saturdays 1:30-4:30 PM (at Q7 campus, 77 East 7 th Ave) Note: Updated class/rehearsal/performance schedule comes directly from the instructors at the start of classes Fees include class time, rehearsal hours, technical rehearsals, headshot sitting fee, production fees and commemorative swag.

3 3 Performance Opportunities: Winter Shorts Festival at Performance Works: December 3-9, 2018 Come Together Festival at Performance Works: Feb. 25-March 3, 2019 Lower Mainland School Tours: Late April/Early May 2019 Expressions Theatre Festival Performances at Waterfront Theatre: May 12-25, 2019 *Other performance opportunities often arise throughout the year Important note: Because our pre-professional program is designed for those who are considering theatre and the performing arts as a career path, a significant amount of at-home preparation and regular attendance is expected of all students. Missed classes may require changes in casting for our in-house productions. Families are asked to consider this carefully when choosing to audition for the program. How do I sign up for an audition? 1. Go to and click on the audition link. 2. Choose an audition time and follow the prompts to register for an audition slot. 3. Fill in the questionnaire as best as you can and then click submit. Auditions: 1 st round - Sunday, June 10, nd round and Call backs Sunday, September 9, 2018 How do I prepare for my audition? Memorize and prepare a monologue from a published play. You may choose your own or from the monologues provided. Please choose a piece that speaks to you and make sure you read the play to get as much information about the character and story as possible. If you are so inclined, you may prepare a monologue of your own creation instead. Prepare a song from a musical theatre piece. Please bring sheet music as we will have an accompanist on hand. Although sheet music is preferred, you can choose to bring the music on CD. Audition Day: Each audition slot is 90 minutes in length and will consist of: 1. Group physical and vocal warm up 2. Group work including improvisation and writing 3. Individual audition time with the directors Please come prepared and on time for the audition, wear loose and comfortable clothing. Be brave, make strong choices and above all have fun!!!!!!

4 4 Monologues THAT SUMMER by David French FEMALE DRAMA MARGARET RYAN, NARRATOR Paul had just dropped me off, when I heard the noise out on the lake. Later, Tim said that Daisy had stood up in the boat. Maybe she had, considering what happened the last time they were out there... After I tried to wake my dad, I ran back to the dock. But I couldn't swim, you see. All I could do was stand there, helpless, the most helpless I've ever been in my life. And then it happened. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mrs. Crump appeared. Maybe she'd heard me screaming. Or maybe she'd seen it all from her cottage. I don't know. I only know that suddenly she came sweeping down the lawn, her bare feet slapping on the weathered planks of the dock. I saw her spring silently past me, almost in slow motion, her long flannel nightgown white in the moonlight, then ballooning as it filled with water... And then she was swimming as hard as she could, striking out toward the capsized boat. At first I could see her begin to tire, then struggle, and finally... finally I saw her go under. She wasn't in the greatest shape, Mrs. Crump. And the flannel nightgown, I suppose, just became too heavy... The second time she went down, she never came up, except one pale hand. I could see it in the slash of moonlight. Her fingers seemed to scratch the sky. And it looked to me then, as it still looks in memory, just as though she were waving... (She's overcome by emotion) GOODNIGHT DESDEMONA (GOOD MORNING JULIET) by Ann-Marie Macdonald FEMALE COMEDY CONSTANCE (talking to the audience) Boy, Shakespeare really watered her down, eh? I now know it was only ham I wish I were more like Desdemona. O, what would Desdemona do to Claude, Next to her I m just a little wimp. Had she the motive and the cue for passion A rodent. Road-kill. Furry tragedy that I have? She would drown all Queen s with blood, all squashed and steaming on the 401 and cleave Claude Night s two typing fingers from with Michelin stamped all over me. It s true: his guilty hands. She d wrap them in a box people ve always made a fool of me of choc lates and present them to Ramona. without my even knowing. Gullible. She d kill him in cold blood and in blank verse, That s me. Old Connie. Good sport. Big joke. Ha. then smear the ivied walls in scarlet letters spelling Just like that time at recess in grade five: thief! a gang of bully girls comes up to me. To think, I helped him use me: a gull, a stooge, Their arms are linked, they re chanting as they a swine adorned with mine own pearls, march, a sous chef, nay! A scull ry maid that slaved Hey. Hey. Get outta my way! to heat hell s kitchen with the baking stench I just got back from the I.G.A.! of forty thousand scalding humble pies, I m terrified. They pin me down, O Vengeance!!! and force me to eat a dog tongue sandwich.

5 5 OF THE FIELDS, LATELY by David French MALE DRAMA BEN (talking to the audience) He rushed out the door and down to the school-yard, the first game he had ever come to, and my mother put his supper in the oven, for later I hadn t reminded my father of the game. I was afraid he d show up and embarrass me. Twelve years old and ashamed of my old man. Ashamed of his dialect, his dirty overalls, his bruised fingers with the fingernails lined with dirt, his teeth yellow as old ivory. Most of all, his lunch pail, that symbol of the working man. No, I wanted a doctor for a father. A lawyer. At least a fireman. Not a carpenter. That wasn t good enough And at home my mother sat down to darn his socks and watch the oven I remember stepping up to bat. The game was tied; it was the last of the ninth, with no one on base. Then I saw him sitting on the bench along third base. He grinned and waved, and gestured to the man beside him. But I pretended not to see him. I turned to face the pitcher. And angry at myself, I swung hard on the first pitch, there was a hollow crack, and the ball shot low over the shortstop s head for a double. Our next batter bunted and I made third. He was only a few feet away now, my father. But I still refused to acknowledge him. Instead, I stared hard at the catcher, pretending concentration. And when the next pitch bounced between the catcher s legs and into home screen, I slid home to win the game. And there he was, jumping up and down, showing his teeth, excited as hell. And as the crowd broke up and our team stampeded out of the school-yard, cleats clicking and scraping blue sparks on the sidewalk, I looked back once through the wire fence and saw my father still sitting on the now-empty bench, alone, slumped over a little, staring at the cinders between his feet, just staring I don t know how long he stayed there, maybe till dark, but I do know he never again came down to see me play. At home that night he never mentioned the game or being there. He just went to bed unusually early BANANA BOYS by Leon Aureus MALE COMEDY SHEL (Shel anxiously awaits contact from a girl for whom he has fallen. When the monologue begins, he is staring at his cell phone.) Okay, cell phone, me and you need to talk. We ve been through a lot together. The last 6 months here have been marginal. I ve given your number to a few people, and so far, no one calls you but The Boys back home. This sucks for both of us. I mean, we came to Ottawa to find someone. To end The Quest. Twenty-four years old, and I still hadn t had a serious girlfriend. Or any sort of girlfriend. I almost had you disconnected. (pause) Don t look at me like that, I didn t go through with it. And do you know why? Because the day we stopped looking was the day we met Her. I went twenty minutes out of my way, in minus-thirty-degree weather, to walk Her home, breaking the ice in front of Her with my CSA approved boots so She wouldn t slip and fall. She s wonderful. (He beams.) I have Her your number, and She said She d call. So cell phone, if ever you were going to ring, if ever you were going to make that special connection let it be now. You re fully charged. We re sitting in the bathtub where you get the best reception. So ring. (It doesn t ring.) C mon. Please? (nothing) She s really special. She s got these beautiful eyes, and really great hair, and I m prattling, but the way She The phone rings. SHEL is startled, then fumbles the phone and picks it up. Hello? (pause) Kathy! Hi! (pause) No, I m not busy, just waiting for you. (pause) Oh man, that sounds lame, doesn t it? I didn t uh (pause) Really? Well, I think you re sweet too To register for an audition please visit