Professional Theatre
Wed, 28 Mar 2001, 06:15 pmWalter Plinge7 posts in thread
Professional Theatre
Wed, 28 Mar 2001, 06:15 pmThere seems to be a lot of amateur theatre about but not a lot of genuine professional theatre for actors who have trainined and would like to make a living out of the profession. Is there any publication that you can subscribe to which publishes only professional theatre and film auditions. Or do you have to go through an agent to get paid work.
Please let me know as I am moving to Melbourne in a month.
Thanks
Please let me know as I am moving to Melbourne in a month.
Thanks
RE: Professional Theatre
Thu, 29 Mar 2001, 11:22 pmOK.
Now, I'm sure Phillippa was not making any comments about amateur theatre per se, and my gripes are in /no/ /way/ directed at her. My main issue was with the comment 'genuine professional theatre'. This implies to me that amateur theatre is not 'genuine'. Phillippa, my most sincere apologies if it was just a turn of phrase and 'genuine' meant 'paid'. I grovel humbly before you now. This is mainly a trigger for me to vent the sometimes veiled, often overt, contempt of community theatre productions.
While completing my certificate of musical theatre last year at WAAPA, if we performed poorly, we were told our performance looked, 'amateur'. When given criticism in acting class we were reminded of the 'ridiculous performances' seen in 'amateur' productions. When filling out the application for the course, I was pointedly asked only for my *professional* credits and training. If we wanted to perform in a community show we were asked, 'So you only want a career in amateur theatre, then?' Repeatedly, I recalled the endless extraordinary performances I have seen around Perth theatres: Martin Forsey as Banquo, Peter Fry as Willy Loman, David Meadows as Salieri, Helen McFarlane as Sally Bowles, Tracy Woolrych as Olive, the entire cast of Playlovers in Into the Woods. Not one of them paid for any of those roles.
There was a very, very B-grade movie once called 'A Christmas Without Snow' about an amateur group of performers performing the Messiah. The most memorable thing about the movie was a comment made when a soprano not given a solo gave the ultimate insult to the group by calling them 'amateurs'. In response, the conductor said something along the lines of, 'performing purely and simply for the love of performing is not something to be ashamed of, and arguably, requires more dedication than those who are paid for it.
I have a pile of training of my own, and am proud to perform in amateur theatre. Yes, I would love to make a living out of it, and so would most actors. But that is why they generally spend more time waiting tables. Performing is performing whether you are paid for it or not, and personally I would rather perform for nothing than not perform at all.
Unless that David Meadows is directing it. I'd never audition for anything that creep did. :-)
Amanda Chesterton
Now, I'm sure Phillippa was not making any comments about amateur theatre per se, and my gripes are in /no/ /way/ directed at her. My main issue was with the comment 'genuine professional theatre'. This implies to me that amateur theatre is not 'genuine'. Phillippa, my most sincere apologies if it was just a turn of phrase and 'genuine' meant 'paid'. I grovel humbly before you now. This is mainly a trigger for me to vent the sometimes veiled, often overt, contempt of community theatre productions.
While completing my certificate of musical theatre last year at WAAPA, if we performed poorly, we were told our performance looked, 'amateur'. When given criticism in acting class we were reminded of the 'ridiculous performances' seen in 'amateur' productions. When filling out the application for the course, I was pointedly asked only for my *professional* credits and training. If we wanted to perform in a community show we were asked, 'So you only want a career in amateur theatre, then?' Repeatedly, I recalled the endless extraordinary performances I have seen around Perth theatres: Martin Forsey as Banquo, Peter Fry as Willy Loman, David Meadows as Salieri, Helen McFarlane as Sally Bowles, Tracy Woolrych as Olive, the entire cast of Playlovers in Into the Woods. Not one of them paid for any of those roles.
There was a very, very B-grade movie once called 'A Christmas Without Snow' about an amateur group of performers performing the Messiah. The most memorable thing about the movie was a comment made when a soprano not given a solo gave the ultimate insult to the group by calling them 'amateurs'. In response, the conductor said something along the lines of, 'performing purely and simply for the love of performing is not something to be ashamed of, and arguably, requires more dedication than those who are paid for it.
I have a pile of training of my own, and am proud to perform in amateur theatre. Yes, I would love to make a living out of it, and so would most actors. But that is why they generally spend more time waiting tables. Performing is performing whether you are paid for it or not, and personally I would rather perform for nothing than not perform at all.
Unless that David Meadows is directing it. I'd never audition for anything that creep did. :-)
Amanda Chesterton