Tag: acting

Need some help with the perfect Holiday gift for the Actor in your life? At Acting Studio Chicago, we’ve come up with 12 Holiday Gift Ideas for Actors (regardless of whether or not they be aspiring, experienced, amateur or professional.)  1. A Functional Bag that’s also HUGE. – Actors sometimes have to go to work, then an audition, then back to work, then another audition and then to rehearsal. Having a…

More and more frequently, you’ll find yourself opening your email to see a message from your agent with the subject: Self-Tape Request. You could certainly tape the audition yourself (see the previous blog post “3 Tips for Self-Taping At Home”), but as the need for self-taping grows, you might find it’s easier to create your self-taping with a professional. When you hire someone to record your audition, there are a…

by Kate McCoy As the demands of casting offices and production companies evolve, the requests for self-taping has increased. You might opt to have your audition professionally recorded, in which case a lot of the work is done for you. If, however, you choose to tape the audition yourself – either your schedule doesn’t allow you the time to go into a studio or you simply want to save money…

The following is an excerpt from Acting In Chicago: Making A Living Doing Commercials, Voice Overs, TV and Film And More by Chris Agos, and has been reprinted by permission.   If you don’t know what an ear prompter is, you’re going to thank me for introducing it to you. Ear prompters let you deliver your lines word for word, without memorizing them or holding a script in your hand. It’s sometimes…

Grind and hustle….  Hustle and grind. Those are the classic actions of the Chicago actor, are they not? Bouncing from one audition, show, set to the next. All the while, trying to maintain a sense of control over the uncontrollable fluster of your creative life. Have you ever thought about creating your own work? At the end of the day, we are each in control of our preparation, choices, and…

Why Stage Combat? By Christina Gorman Christina is an actor and fight choreographer, originally from the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York. As an actor, Christina has studied in Chicago and abroad, including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. She teaches Youth & Adults acting and stage combat at ASC. Earlier this year Christina was seen fighting & acting on stage in BoHo Theatre’s production of CYRANO at Theatre Wit.  She was also the  Intimacy…

Learning to navigate the “business” and demystify the actor-agent relationship is much of what I teach every Winter to BFA Seniors at the Theatre School at DePaul University. This year the students were assigned to interview the agents. Two students visited each Chicago SAG-AFTRA franchised agency and asked them questions about their agencies, audition advice and marketing for actors.  Not only were the agents generous with their time, they also…

Oh, the day job. Most of us need one in order to survive, but as actors, we need flexibility in our work schedule. This can be a challenge because it means the typical 9-5 job isn’t going to work for us. So what do we do? It means that most of us need to be resourceful and flexible to create a stable income while we audition for that guest-starring role…

Many Chicago theatres are in the midst of holding their General auditions. These auditions require a monologue. Performing a monologue, (while a standard in our trade) can still seem daunting. Finding the right piece can be one of the most stressful parts of an upcoming audition. It’s one of the only times in your career when you will get the chance to cast yourself.  What should you choose? What are Casting…

As actors, our resumes and our head-shots are essential in our business. If you’ve never had to put together an acting resume before, it can be a bit confusing. Your resume should be helpful and informative, so what kind of information should you include on your resume? What should it look like? What’s a good format? Here are the basics: Your acting resume is always on one sheet of paper…