Backstage: The Off Broadway Alliance is set to host a panel focused on the ins and outs of the Off-Broadway casting process. And the best part? It’s completely free!
The event, called "Casting for Off Broadway: From Development to Opening,” will be held Sunday, Oct. 23 at 12 p.m. at New York City’s Anne L. Bernstein Theater and will feature creative forces behind some of the biggest Off-Broadway shows of the last several years.
3 comments:
This is such a unique, wonderful opportunity. Not many things in life are free, so it is nice to see this opportunity created for actors geared toward off-broadway. There is so much stigma toward making it on Broadway, but what about off Broadway? It is so often forgotten that some of the best shows start off-Broadway, or shows that are no "name brand" find their home off-Broadway. I think this was a great investment for Broadway Alliance to produce. In addition to this workshop offered, I really enjoyed the video attached to the article. One of my favorite thing mentioned was the fact that they "are not looking for only hot actors, but vivid people". I think that dispels a lot of misconceptions about headshots. Over editing and wearing an ungodly amount of make-up will not help you get the job, but rather frustrate the casting directors. I think we all want to appear as the super hot person, but in reality it is more interesting to directors to cast real people, not Barbies. I'm really glad this opportunitys now available to actors in New York. I think it will further the off-broadway casting pool.
While this information doesn’t really affect me, I don’t plan on ever being an actor, I think it is helpful information to know. I was interested to learn the opinions casting directors have on head shots and how it can affect actors’ employment. I think the casting director in the video make a good point when he goes in depth into the difference between headshots and glamour shots. He made it seems like an actor should focus more on distributing pictures of their true selves as opposed to trying to take the very best picture of yourself. It’s interesting to make that distinction, because one would think that the best picture of themselves would be the most desirable, but it looks like casting directors are shifting more towards wanting genuine actors. I think this shift is an important step in the theatre business and in casting direction in general.
This is such a wonderful opportunity for actors to get some insight into how to best brand and represent yourself when you go out into the world and you have to make a living all based off the fact that you are your talent. Your body and personality and ability to be a character is what you are using to get money, not some physical talent, and that sounds really scary. This seminar sounds like a really amazing way to get your foot in the door by learning what the people who are going to hire you really want to see when you come in, and this is so important. More important almost, than simply learning how to be a great actor because if you can’ get a job because you don’t know what the casting people are looking for, the talent alone can’t help you. I think similar seminars for all kinds of jobs would be really beneficial to anyone hiring because it teaches you how to help them pick the right person for the job. And it’s especially great that they are offering this for free, because it just shows that they are trying to support and build up the actors themselves into getting better roles.
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