NYCAP & Baltimore Shakespeare Festival

February 29, 2008 by Dennis Baker 

I attended my first New York Casting Access Project (NYCAP) that is run by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. It is free casting workshops for SAG actors to meet and read for New York casting directors. Liz Ortiz-Mackes from Casting Solutions was the casting director at this workshop. She has a great, positive energy. It was great to interact with industry again and meet positive people. She had some great things to say and what I held onto was the idea than an actor needs to be inspired for their work to be inspiring. So much of this environment is negative and being in that negative place for the last year and half, it felt like fresh water to be with someone who was positive and respectful. The read went well. She could tell that I had a strong theater background and thought that I took the adjustment really well. It’s nice to start building a professional contact list in New York.

I also went down to Baltimore to audition for the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. They open their season with two outdoor summer shows, Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew. I read for both directors and the experience was great. They have a great indoor stage at a church. The directors asked to see a contemporary monologue and was asking questions about my callback availability, always a good sign. So much so, I will be heading down there this Sunday for callbacks for Twelfth Night. I’m excited because this is a show I have never done, and just fully read it today. I have not heard yet what role I was called back. i saw outdoor pictures from past shows and the outdoor space looks beautiful as well. The one catch is they do not provide housing. I am going to send out feelers to east coast people to see if they know anyone in Baltimore. The rehearsal and performances span five to six weeks, so if all else fails maybe I can get a room to rent through craigslist. I am going to worry about getting a part first.

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Filed under: Acting, Auditioning, New York, Shakespeare
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School: Teacher & Student

February 12, 2008 by Dennis Baker 

So you might be wondering what is next in regards to school for me. I applied/auditioned to four MFA programs: USD, Delaware, Fullerton, and Shakespeare Theater in DC. I have the Shakespeare Theater audition this Saturday and I have completed the other auditions. Fullerton at first seemed like they were interested, but I have researched and heard that the main acting teacher is very similar to the one at Rutgers. If that is the case, I will probably not attend. Unless the Shakespeare Theater audition goes amazingly it looks more and more like an MFA program will not be in my future.

We know we will be living in the east coast for at least another year so I applied to the M.A. in Educational Theater at NYU Steinhardt. I have mixed feelings about the program. They have a focus for people that want to teach at the college level which interests me, but I always told myself that I would not fall back on an MA program. With that said this has been a year of complete change and slowly comes the realization that one does not get to choose everything in life. Some paths in life are chosen for him/her. The program is 36 units total and can be completed in three semesters. If I am accepted and start this summer I could be done in the spring. That sounds very appealing.

In regards to teaching, I have applied for a part time drama teaching position at the Brearley School in New York. It is a position that will begin in the fall. It would work well with the NYU program as I could teach during the day and take classes at night and on weekends. I was also was hired on last week as a substitute teacher for the Grace Church School. They hired me and put me in a classroom all in the same day. I spent most of the week teaching various subjects from ages K-8th grade.

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Filed under: NYU Steinhardt, New York, Teaching, Theater/Theatre
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