July / August 2013 AUDITIONING IN THE FALL? SETC FALL EVENTS Hilton Atlanta Airport Successful Actors Share Tips for Getting a Job SETC asked three experienced professional actors who will be auditioning at the Fall 2013 MASTER CLASS SETC Professional Auditions to share their best advice for fellow auditionees: Michael Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture HANNAH TIMM: Auditioned at Fall Professional Auditions in 2012. Sat., Sept. 7, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Received offers from theme parks, regional theatres and children’s the- atres. Currently acting in 11 shows weekly at Sight and Sound Theatre. Don’t miss your Tips for Auditionees: opportunity to • Be yourself and know yourself. Show your character, not someone study with Joanna or something that you would like to be perceived as. Merlin (right), the • Present yourself in the best manner, not just during your audition, only student of but also outside of the audition room. SETC provides opportunities Michael Chekhov to network with producers and fellow artists. Take advantage of every who is still teach- interaction that presents itself to develop connections. ing today. • Further your education and awareness through lessons, master classes and seminars. Cost to participate: $125; 15 max Remember, if you WANT the work, you have to DO the work. Cost to observe: $75; 10 max www.setc.org/events AARON CHOI: Auditioned at Fall Auditions in 2009 and 2012. “Through the 2009 audition, I booked a job at Sight and Sound Theatre in their FALL GRADUATE SCHOOL original production of Joseph and originated a role in the production.” AUDITIONS & DESIGN/ Tips for Auditionees: TECH INTERVIEWS • DO find material that shows off your strengths as a performer. Sat., Sept. 7 Even if it’s not a role you’d actually get cast as, if you find a For actors and design/tech students monologue or song that you can knock out of the park, then use it. interested in grad school in 2014. • DO NOT learn a song or monologue at the last minute before the Application deadline: Aug. 22 ($25) audition. www.setc.org/fall-grad-school • If you’re not a singer, DO NOT SING at your audition. I’ve watched other performers at auditions who are extremely strong actors and then they ruin their FALL PROFESSIONAL audition with a weak song performance. QUALIFIERS • DO move on. Once auditions and callbacks are done, don’t harp on them. It will eat you Sat., Sept. 7 up. Move on to the next audition or performance. Qualifying audition for actors not meeting all professional requirements. REGINA HARBOUR: First auditioned at SETC in 1977 and has au- www.setc.org/images/Auditions/Pro- ditioned many times since then. Also is an auditioner and served as fessional/FALL/fallqualifyingInfo.pdf the Georgia state auditions coordinator for five years. “Last job I got through SETC was a three-theatre tour of Me and My Girl with Prather FALL PROFESSIONAL Entertainment in 2011.” AUDITIONS Tips for Auditionees: Sun., Sept. 8 - Mon., Sept. 9 • Choose audition material that you are so familiar with, you can do Early bird deadline: July 15 ($35); it in your sleep. Advance deadline: Aug. 22 ($45); • How you say or present your name and On-site walk-ins: $60 number is critical. Yes, be you and be natu- What’s Inside www.setc.org/professional ral, but don’t mumble. As a hiring director, if I can’t understand the first words out of 2013-14 SETC Calendar...................Page 2 FALL BOARD MEETINGS your mouth, the rest is for naught. Professional Corner .........................Page 3 Fri., Sept. 6 and Sat., Sept. 7 • Whatever monologue or song you choose, Meetings of SETC committees, make your audition look effortless. Be it What’s New in Your Division?.....Pages 4-5 Executive Committee drama or comedy, let us see you enjoy School Auditions Date Change ........ Page 6 and Board of Directors doing this. Don’t show us your strife. Screening Auditions Schedule.........Page 7 www.setc.org/board-meetings Show us a person we would love to work Succession Planning ....................... Page 8 with! STATE ORGANIZATION NEWS, CALENDAR State Organizations 2013-2014 SETC Calendar Death Provides a Wake-Up Call July 1, 2013 2014 SETC Convention hotel reservations open: www.setc.org/hotel-info on the Importance of Records Aug. 22, 2013 Deadline: ◆ Online submission, professional actor/dancer applications for any times, as an SETC board mem- Fall Professional Auditions M ber, I have heard people question ◆ Online submission, student applications for Fall Graduate why SETC places so much empha- School Auditions/Interviews sis on manuals, bylaws, rules and discussion ◆ For POSTMARK on applications by companies for Fall about minutiae. At times, even I have felt that Professional Auditions and by schools for Fall Graduate School spending too much time on these issues has Auditions/Interviews bogged down SETC. ◆ Hotel reservations for Fall Meetings/Auditions However, I have a whole new perspective Sept. 6 – 7, 2013 Fall Board/Advisory Council Meetings, Atlanta, GA after recently becoming executive director Sept. 7, 2013 Fall Graduate School Auditions/Interviews, Atlanta, GA of the Florida Theatre Conference (FTC). Many of the documents that SETC mem- Sept. 8 – 9, 2013 Fall Professional Auditions, Atlanta, GA bers take for granted (manuals in particular) Sept. 30, 2013 Deadline: Workshop proposals for 2013 SETC Convention would have been a real help in making my Sept. – Nov. 2013 Deadline: Applications for SETC Screenings for Spring Professional transition from an FTC board member to Auditions (dates vary by state). See Page 6 for list; or check with your the executive director, state coordinator, your college or university theatre department; or who manages the day- From the visit www.setc.org/setc-screenings Administrative Oct. 15, 2013 2013 SETC Convention registration opens to-day operation of the Vice-President Nov. 15, 2013 Deadline: organization. Steve Bayless I assume that, like ◆ Fringe Festival applications Florida, many other ◆ Convention program advertising state organizations Nov. 21, 2013 Deadline: SETC Young Scholar’s Award entries have executive direc- Dec. 1, 2013 Deadline: High School New Play Contest entries tors, presidents, past Dec. 18, 2013 Deadline: presidents and division ◆ Early bird convention registration chairs who know and ◆ Early bird Commercial Exhibits and Ed Expo reservations understand their own Jan. 14, 2014 Final Deadline: role within the larger ◆ Convention Commercial Exhibit space reservations organization. ◆ Education Expo space reservations (Non-Commercial Exhibits) But when a dramatic/traumatic transition Jan. 15, 2014 Deadline: takes place, where is that wealth of knowl- ◆ Professional AUDITIONEE application/registration edge recorded? ◆ Refund requests – no refunds after this date When Bob Ankrom, our former executive ◆ SETC Secondary School Scholarship (High School Students) director, passed away unexpectedly, we ◆ Keynote Emerging Artist of Promise (KEAP) Award (High School found that much of FTC’s institutional mem- Students) ory and pattern of work did not reside on ◆ William E. Wilson Scholarship applications (High School Teachers) paper, in ◆ Denise Halbach Award applications (Graduate Study in Acting or Musical Theatre Performance) Succession Planning for documents or in others’ ◆ Leighton M. Ballew Award applications (Graduate Study in Directing) Organizations: memories. ◆ Robert Porterfield Award applications (Graduate Study) See Theatre and the Law, In essence, ◆ Tom Behm Award applications (Theatre for Youth) Page 8 it died with Jan. 16, 2014 Deadline: Convention program to printer; no changes after this date. him. Our Jan. 21, 2014 Deadline: organization struggled to understand his ◆ Polly Holliday Award applications (High School Students) processes, locate his contacts and connec- ◆ Marian A. Smith Award applications (Costume Design) tions, and recover his institutional memory. Jan. 22, 2014 Deadline: EMPLOYER registration for Spring Auditions and I challenge each state organization: Job Contact Service • to follow the SETC model, collecting Jan. 28, 2014 Deadline: institutional memory, processes of work ◆ Online applications from auditionees for Graduate Auditions and and manuals; Undergraduate Auditions/College Interviews • to update bylaws and manuals regularly; ◆ Entries in Graduate and Undergraduate Design Competition • to collect/share important contacts (e.g., (Scene, Costume, Lighting, Crafts/Technology) newsletter printers and tax preparers); and ◆ Convention advance registration (Individuals, students and seniors) • to note deadlines for fee payments and ◆ Applications by college and university institutions and other details related to 501(c)(3) status. representatives for Graduate and Undergraduate Auditions/Interviews I will no longer question the open, re- FULL FEES WILL BE CHARGED to all applications postmarked corded, exhaustive process that has made after this date and on-site SETC so successful. I challenge you all to Feb. 17, 2014 Deadline: Convention hotel reservations organize and share! March 5 – 9, 2014 65th Annual SETC Convention, Mobile, AL 2 PROFESSIONAL CORNER Professional Artist Ricky Cona Spotlight ‘I absolutely love the Fall Auditions’ Ricky Cona is cur- rently “having a blast” playing Pinocchio in Shrek the Musical at Prather Entertainment Group’s The Broad- way Palm in Fort My- ers, FL. In 2013, he played Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors at the Derby Dinner Playhouse. Ricky went through SETC Fall Profes- Kelly Sina appears in the title role of Cinderella at Derby Dinner Playhouse in 2010.