09.18.14 • BACKSTAGE.COM 0918 COVER.indd 1 9/16/14 2:15 PM Untitled-11 1 2/24/14 10:06 AM CONTENTS VOL. 55, NO. 38 | 09.18.14 CENTER STAGE COVER STORY 16 Footloose and Fancy-Free For Clyde Alves, Jay 14 Armstrong Johnson, and Tony Yazbeck, “On the Town” is pure, muscle- UPSTAGE aching joy 20 Here You Come Again NEWS For these three actors, the 05 The 5 Point Plan second time is as sweet as Follow the advice to live your the first best life this week 21 Side By Side 07 Top News Erin Davie and Emily Padgett Choosing the best audition unite in “Side Show” monologue 08 Stage Previewing the DOWNSTAGE Off-Broadway season 09 Screen CASTING Is the entertainment 23 New York Tristate industry embracing LGBT Notices talent? 16 Audition Highlights ACTOR 101 33 California 11 Inside Job Notices Mara Walker, COO of Audition Highlights Americans for the Arts 38 National/Regional 12 The Working Actor Notices How to control your Audition Highlights preparation CHARTS 13 Secret Agent Man 46 Production Prioritize for optimum The films, television shows, productivity and theater currently casting around the country 14 Now Streaming “Capitol Hill” MEET THE MAKER 48 Iain Forsyth and Cover: Clyde Alves, Tony Yazbeck, and Jane Pollard Jay Armstrong Johnson photographed The directing duo behind in NYC Aug. 26 by Matt Doyle. Grooming “20,000 Days on Earth,” the by Marcela Alcala. Cover design by new film about musician “CAPITOL WES HURLEY; HILL”: “ON THE TOWN”: MATT DOYLE; WALKER: RODNEY CHOICE/CHOICE PHOTOGRAPHY; NIXON: STEVEN SEBRING Robert Wilson. 11 20 Nick Cave BACKSTAGE.COM UPSTAGE NEWS | ACTOR 101 | CENTER STAGE COVER STORY | FEATURES | DOWNSTAGE CASTING | CHARTS 09.18.14 backstage 1 0918 TOC.indd 1 9/16/14 3:38 PM T HE MOST CO NVENIENT CASTING FACILITY IN LOS ANGELES PRO VIDING Q UALIT Y SPACE WITH Executive Vice President & Editor National Casting Editor EASE FOR 10 YEARS! Mark Peikert Luke Crowe EDITORIAL Digital Editor Rebecca Strassberg Staff Editor Briana Rodriguez Staff Writer SPACE Jack Smart Copy Editor Brandy Colbert STATION Contributing Editors Tim Grierson, Marci Liroff, Sean J. Miller, CASTING STUDIOS Stephen Tobolowsky ART Creative Director Robert Wilson Art Director 8 STUDIOS RANGING FROM Margaret Ruling CASTING $12/HR. TO $40/HR. 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Reynolds Graphic Designer Jeff Lilley Chief Technology Officer Mike Mepham Chief Product Officer Josh Wilson Community Manager Britney Fitzgerald Corporate Controller Barrett Heacock Accounting Manager Scott Wilson Advisor Jim Jazwiecki Backstage was founded in 1960 by Ira Eaker and Allen Zwerdling EDITORIAL OFFICES 770 Broadway, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10003 (212) 493-4420 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 525-2356 [email protected] CASTING DEPARTMENT N.Y.: (212) 493-4420 • L.A.: (323) 525-2358 [email protected] DISPLAY ADVERTISING [email protected] CUSTOMER SERVICE (646) 455-1645 • [email protected] PERMISSION For one-time use of our content, as a full article, excerpt, or production prop, contact [email protected] BACKSTAGE, VOL. 55, NO. 38 (ISSN#1930-5966 USPS#039-740) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY (except the fourth week of December) by Backstage LLC, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003, $3.99 per copy, $99 per year. 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Explore endlessly while you’re carving out your touchstone community that you come back to when you need consistency. Enjoying your life is good for your work.” —STEVE BRAUN AND RISA BRAMON GARCIA FIND A REP WITH PASSION. “The actors who get to compete for every role they’re right for are the ones who have reps that kick open doors for them. These reps have the relationships with casting offices, and if they don’t have those years-long relation- ships with certain offices, they have no fear or hesitation in pick- ing up the phone and making a strong pitch for their client.” —JOSEPH PEARLMAN BE OPEN TO DISCOVERY. “There are mysteries to be explored. There are new sto- ries yet to unfold. There are possibilities available to us that we often shut out because of our conditioning and see- ing things from our set paradigms. There’s magic. And things we don’t even yet know about ourselves.” —ANTHONY MEINDL WRITE. “Actors have to deal with time spent not acting and, during these dol- MAKE AUDITION drums, doubts about the MATERIAL PERSONAL. “Look for topics that inspire you, that you’re inti- validity of the enterprise mately connected to. Rather than trying to leaf may arise. Doing some through a play to find that one funny monologue writing could help chase that will book roles, start by making a list of all those spooks away.” of the topics that inspire your passions.” —D.W. BROWN —ERIN CRONICAN LOS ANGELES: RAY_OF_LIGHT; REP WITH PASSION: DISCOVERY: PALTO; SUNNY STUDIO; WRITE: AUDITION YAVIKI; MATERIAL: ANDREY_KUZMIN BACKSTAGE.COM UPSTAGE NEWS | ACTOR 101 | CENTER STAGE COVER STORY | FEATURES | DOWNSTAGE CASTING | CHARTS 09.18.14 backstage 5 0918 FIVE POINT.indd 5 9/15/14 3:33 PM EXPERIENCE THE BEST CONSERVATORY TRAINING IN NYC! ACTIVATE YOUR MIND. ENGAGE YOUR SPIRIT. 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More info at broadwaysalutes.com. the playwright. “A lot of contemporary theater reflects the times; it can be really rough, crude, cruel, explicit,” Hackett, who still directs theatrical productions, told Backstage. “I think that young students have to be careful that they don’t choose material just ’cause they think it’s contemporary, and then “They think they look embarrassed performing the process it because the content is actually too is brutal explicit or raw. They should choose and they content that is appropriate to where are going they are in their lives.” to be torn Performers also need to know the apart and context—why is Stanley Kowalski humiliated yelling at Blanche DuBois?—of the publicly.” material. “That is a big problem,” —MICHAEL HACKETT said Hackett. “A lot of people literally do not know what the words mean in the speech they are doing.” After settling on a monologue, the rehearsal process is Michael Hackett known to induce sweaty palms, irregular heartbeats, and nervous tics in prospective students. But there’s a simple solution: Forget about it. AUDITIONS “The day before the audition, what you should not do is stress out about it,” said Hackett. “Go through it once or twice and then don’t think about it for the rest of the day.” Don’t stay up late at night going over lines, and in the morn- Never Say ‘Say ing, go for water instead of coffee, he advised. “Dehydration is a big problem with people who are nervous.” Some young actors get bad advice before their mono- logues—like being warned not to ask for a redo after an early What’ Again stumble. “You should know that everybody gets nervous, including the interviewers,” said Hackett, who has spent 35 academic UCLA’S BY KATHERINE BRODSKY years at UCLA (five as chairman of the theater department).