Volume LIV Number 1 • Winter 2013 • $8.00 INSIDE: 2013 College, University & Professional Training Program Directory Planning a Showcase? Agents, Schools Share Best Practices Is Design in Your Future? Why You Need to Enter Competitions Beyond NYC and LA Explore Job Options in Regional Theatre 2 Southern Theatre Winter 2013 CVolume LIV Numberontents 1 l Winter 2013 l Southern Theatre – Quarterly Magazine of the Southeastern Theatre Conference Features 6 School Showcases Departments Are They the ‘Open Door’ to Acting Jobs? Should Your School Have a Showcase? 4 400 Words by Ray Paolino Stage Combat Develops Mind, Spirit as Well as Body Professional Perspectives by Robert W. Dillon, Jr. Interviews by Ray Paolino 7 Lynne Jebens, Agent, The Krasny Office, New York City 35 Thanks to our Advertisers 8 Steve Braun, Casting Director, Actor and Acting Coach, Los Angeles 11 Laura Maxwell-Scott, Agent, Collier Talent Agency, Austin, TX 36 Index to Volume LIII 12 Mark Redanty, Agent, Bauman Redanty & Shaul, New York City 14 Linda Gillum, Casting Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre, Chicago 16 Risa Bramon Garcia, Film/TV Casting Director, Los Angeles Special Section 18 Is Your Next Step Undergraduate or Graduate School? Apply Now for an SETC Scholarship to Help Pay for Your Education D-1 2013 SETC College, University & Training by Patrick Gagliano Program Directory 20 Designing a Career Find the right school for you in this Competitions Are the Key to Networking, Landing Jobs comprehensive directory listing SETC member institutions and the degrees by Doug Brown and Robert O’Leary they offer. Professional Perspectives (Special section begins after Page 18.) 21 Richard Pilbrow, Lighting Designer 22 Todd Rosenthal, Scenic Designer Cover 23 Jennifer Caprio, Costume Designer This photo of a scene from the Florida State 26 Beyond NYC and LA University School of Theatre production of William Inge’s Bus Stop was chosen from 160 photos Regional Theatre Offers Opportunities for Emerging, submitted by colleges and universities. Pictured Established Artists are (left to right) Jennifer Acker as Grace and Christopher M. Watson as Virgil. Director: Gavin 29 Michael Edwards: Making a Living in Regional Theatre Mayer. Costume designer: Julia Kosanovich. 30 Avenue Q ’s Jennifer Barnhart Enjoys Opportunity to Take Chances Sound designer: Zach Cramer. Lighting designer: in Regional Theatre Dan Kimble. Scenic designer: Robert F. Wolin. Technical director: Amy Schneider. (Photo by by Jen Nelson Lane Jon Nalon; cover design by Deanna Thompson; Photoshop work by Garland Gooden) Winter 2013 Southern Theatre 3 from Robert W. Dillon Jr., Professor of Theatre 400 Words Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO Stage Combat Develops Mind, Spirit as Well as Body a m t i r e d o f skills, acting skills, movement skills, stage Proportion: the economics of energy; hearing – from combat skills and martial-combative skills hot, cold and cool feelings and movements; I students and teachers – that stage combat is – a skill-set of body, mind and spirit. Stage pushing and pulling; turning and entering; a skill. For one thing, it is a set of skills. For combat not only trains bodies, but also can the hard and the soft; the resistant and the another, stage combat, as author Ken Wilber sharpen minds and liberate passions. yielding; the solid and the fluid and the airy. would say, both transcends and includes Students also benefit when we share Learning stage combat can make stu- mere skill. Yes, an actor can and should with them the three aspects of combat and dent actors’ work better and their lives use stage combat skill in a pragmatic way, life stressed by the Renaissance martial arts richer. It has the potential to provide plenty but the practice has value beyond that use. masters: time, distance and proportion. of skills for “the work” while transcending Stage combat probed deeply melds Time: meshing the sense of the “right that worthy goal to become an element of history, culture, social studies, ethics, mo- moment” with the idea of change and “The Work” – of life, of art, of theatre, of rality and psychology. It explores mental movement in physics; measuring-sensing- acting and of being human. As big and and physical fitness. It uses techniques taking time; pace, tempo, rhythm and scary as that responsibility sounds to us borrowed from martial arts, adapted to tempo-rhythm. mere teachers, dare we, in this tired old theatrical art. At any one time, all or part of Distance: spacing and using space; world, want less? n this holon (a word coined by author Arthur extension, expansion, contraction, telescop- Koestler, suggesting a whole that is also a ing; bridging gaps, making gaps; negative Have an opinion you would like to share part of another whole) may be in play. space and positive; situation-incarnation- with your colleagues on a topic related to theatre? Send your column of 400 words I use stage combat to teach an inter- integration; relationship, otherness, to- or less to [email protected]. locked web of life skills, art skills, theatrical getherness. 4 Southern Theatre Winter 2013 s o u t h e r n heatre FromFrom the the SETC SETC President President … TSETC ExECuTivE DirECTor Betsey Baun EDiTor Deanna Thompson ADvErTiSiNG Judi Rossabi, [email protected] Thoughts, ideas and solutions – these are the tools we use as we search for the BuSiNESS & ADvErTiSiNG oFFiCE Southeastern Theatre Conference best techniques to perfect our craft. In this issue of Southern Theatre, we focus 1175 Revolution Mill Drive, Studio 14 on the next step for emerging professionals involved in that quest. We provide Greensboro, NC 27405 336-272-3645 students and educators with information and new ways of thinking about how PuBLiCATioNS CoMMiTTEE Tto move to the next level. Sam Sparks, Chair, Independent Theatre Artist (TX) We start with a hard look at the acting showcase, used at many schools to Jimmy Bickerstaff, Valdosta State University (GA) Annette Grevious, Claflin University (SC) give acting students an entry to the professional world. Ray Paolino explores the Denise Halbach, Independent Theatre Artist (MS) value of showcases, including what works and what doesn’t, based on a survey Scott Phillips, Auburn University (AL) of schools. He also asked agents and casting directors to weigh in with their EDiToriAL BoArD Jesse Bates, Independent Theatre Artist (AL) thoughts on showcases. Sonya/Tim Bixler, Washington School/Delta Center Stage (MS) For students in design and technical fields, there’s a showcase of sorts, too Doug Brown, Florida School of the Arts – the design competition. Doug Brown and Robert O’Leary explain why every Tessa Carr, Lees-McRae College (NC) Larry Cook, Gainesville State College (GA) design-technical student should enter design competitions and how these events H. Duke Guthrie, Valdosta State University (GA) can help them find jobs. Three designers add their insights on why to compete Kendra Johnson, Clemson University (SC) Jen Nelson Lane, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and what makes a winning entry. Jerry Lapidus, Independent Theatre Artist (FL) Whether they are majoring in acting or design-tech, theatre history or stage Ray Paolino, University of Georgia Scott Phillips, Auburn University (AL) management, students need one key ingredient to keep moving forward: money Richard St. Peter, Texas Tech University to pay the tuition bills. Patrick Gagliano outlines the more than $20,000 in scholar- Steve Willis, Bennett College for Women (NC) ships available through SETC to help students pursue theatre degrees. Amile Wilson, Pippin & Maxx Arts and Entertainment (MS) Students and their teachers will find further help in the center section of the ProoFrEADErS Judi Rossabi, SETC Communications and Marketing Manager magazine, where we provide a comprehensive resource for selecting a school: Philip G. Hill, Furman University (SC) the 2013 College, University & Training Program Directory, listing SETC member PriNTiNG institutions and details on the degrees they offer. Clinton Press, Greensboro, NC When emerging professionals set out in search of that first job, many automati- NoTE oN SuBMiSSioNS Southern Theatre welcomes submissions of articles pertaining cally navigate to New York or Los Angeles and become part of a sea of new faces to all aspects of theatre. Preference will be given to subject seeking work. An alternative that many miss? Regional theatre. Jen Nelson Lane matter closely linked to theatre activity in the Southeastern United States. Articles are evaluated by the editor and explores the opportunities available in regional theatre for artists from actors to members of the Editorial Board. Criteria for evalua tion stage managers – and from emerging professionals to established artists. An actor include: suitability, clarity, significance, depth of treat ment and accuracy. Please query the editor via e-mail before who has spent his entire career in regional theatres tells his success story, and sending articles. Submissions are accepted on disk or via a Broadway veteran shares why she works part of the year in regional theatre. e-mail. Stories should not exceed 3,000 words. Color photos This issue also includes our regular “400 Words” column, in which Robert (300 dpi in jpeg or tiff format) and a brief identification of the author should accompany all articles. Please note W. Dillon, Jr., urges educators to view stage combat work as training not just for any photos, disks and other materials to be returned and the stage, but for life as well. include SASE. Send stories to: Editor, Southern Theatre, 1175 Revolution Mill Drive, Studio 14, Greensboro, NC 27405. Within these pages, you will find thoughts, ideas and solutions that will en- E-mail: [email protected]. able you or someone you know to work and succeed in the theatre business. I Southern Theatre (ISSNL: 0584-4738) is published quarterly hope you relish your time with this issue of Southern Theatre! by the Southeastern Theatre Conference, Inc., a nonprofit organization, for its membership and others interested in theatre in the Southeast.