Choosing a monologue

To audition for Toi Whakaari I have to prepare two monologues - one classical, one modern, each two minutes long -  and a two minute unaccompanied song. So, how to choose a monologue?

Actors training Part 2

Yesterday I was talking about options for actors without much professional experience to create an acting CV for themselves and get noticed by casting agents and directors. The following are by no means to be taken for fact, they are only my own musings about what I think is right for me. It might be different for you. So, as far as I'm concerned there are several options.

Actors training Part 1

A while ago I had a chat with one of the agents here in Wellington. I was lucky for him to even sit down with me to talk about representation, I was told, and he was doing so only because he knew me.

Here's the thing with wanting to be a professional actor: There are so so many of us!

Can't stop thinking about you

I have been fascinated with actors and dancers all my life. I have always wondered what makes them tick. Where do they get their drive to work so hard every day, to always hone their craft, all for only the possibility of being able to live off their dream? I think I am beginning to understand.

Fate

I don't know if I believe in fate but what happened to me yesterday was pretty neat.

A few days ago I was doing some internet research. Unrelated to my search I stumbled across a theatre review from a couple of years ago that sounded intriguing. So, the next day I went to the Library to take out the play. The only copy should have been sitting on the shelf but instead was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday I was running some errands which also took me to Playmarket, your number one stop, dear budding actors, directors and producers, to find and acquire the performing rights for many many New Zealand plays. While there I remembered the lost play and asked if it was available there for reading. The woman I spoke to turned around and pointed behind herself saying that there was the very author of that play. Next thing I know I'm on my way again carrying my very own brand spanking new copy! It was her pleasure, she said.

Will this be the play I find one of my monologues in? I will keep you posted.

Thank you Jean Betts!

Well, here's a story for you...

Since acting has a lot to do with speech, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my natural accent. Although none of its elements are particularly distinctive, my accent is a mixture of Midwestern American, Irish, Kiwi and - lets face it - some German. I have lived in all of those places and some of the local accent has always rubbed off on me. Unfortunately, a non-neutral English accent that is impossible to place won't help me get acting work.

So, I've done some research. While most theatre roles require a New Zealand or at the very least a neutral accent the better part of the film work in New Zealand nowadays requires actors to speak with American accents.

Prologue, I guess

This year I am starting a new journey, not to a particularly exotic destination. In fact, I will be staying right here in windy Wellington, the beautiful, arty city by the sea that is New Zealand's capital.

I have made Wellington my home over the past three years. After finishing uni here it just turned out this way and not going back home to Berlin was a far easier choice than I had imagined. After all, you can't beat Wellington on a good day.