So Close

"Great. What's your name?"

"Lira."

"What?"

"Lira."

"K-A-?"

"L-I-R-A."

Dear Struggling Actress

Kyle C wrote in with a question:

I have my headshots. I've taken and still am taking classes. But, I have no experience whatsoever. I've done a few plays in my high school, though.

1. Should I just not put anything on the acting experiences part of my resume or put in the ones in my high school?

2. I have a few friends that work in videography. Would it be fine if I put up a quality demo reel of things that we can film ourselves or would that be a bad idea?

I'm eighteen, by the way. I don't know if that makes any sort of difference.



Hi Kyle! Thanks for reading and submitting your question.

You're 18. That makes a HUGE difference, because, at 18, your tv age could be anywhere from 15-21. You might have a bigger range than that, even. And when agents open up your submission envelope and see that you're young, they're going to already expect minimal credits. Score!

And correct me if I'm wrong, but doing a few plays in high school required a lot of time and commitment on your part. You rehearsed every night for weeks, right? You had what, 4-6 performances? Where you acted? That definitely goes on your resume! You're young, you want to act, so you've already auditioned and booked a role in your high school, and performed the role. These are all good things.

When I was 18, the only experience I had was the community and high school plays I did, and various videos, or indie films, my friends and I made/produced. And those things were on my resume.

And under training, I had my choir class listed too. Anything performing related will go on there. If you took 3 years of a language and are fluent, put that under Special Skills. Played varsity sports? Marched in band? That all goes on there. And agents can get an idea of how well rounded you are.

And now for your second question. If you have a few friends that can create a quality reel, then YES, YES, YES, film yourself. Find plays at your school or local library and find a good scene, or, heck, record yourself doing a monologue because having a reel is only going to help you. Especially if you're currently taking on camera acting classes and know how to perform for camera.

Here's a great sample of an actor's resume from the good people at actorresumeservices.com. The only thing that's missing is the online link to your reel (once it's all finished).

Thanks for reading, Kyle, and let me know if you have any more questions!

Success!

Black and white makes it artsy.

We were hoping to have 8 people in our audience for Our Time of the Month; one person more than our cast. If we had 8 people, we considered ourselves to be very successful.

We had 23.

TWENTY FRICKIN THREE! (that's more than many under 99 seat theatres!)

And it was GREAT! It went so incredibly well for our first foray - everything went as planned and there were no hiccups - NONE at all!

And don't think that I wasn't nervous about the whole thing, because I WAS. I had the evil butterflies that make me have to pee every three minutes (tmi, anyone?) but once we actually started the show, away they flew and it was great. The audience laughed at all the right places, they teared up at all the sad places, and it was so fantastic to see our baby take its first steps.

When we started what I like to refer to as the second act, which required audience participation in order to work, WORKED. They were happy to share their stories, and it was fun to switch roles, from performer to audience, and from audience to now, performer.

Kisses c. Tracy Clifton

The third act, which also requires audience participation, also went smoothly. And everyone LOVED it.

You know what else they loved? All the chocolate and wine!!!

In fact, the lovely ladies at Once a Month even came and wrote about us. 

Our next show is Friday May 11th. Come and see us, yeah?

Rehearsal

Our other three ladies of our first cast of Our Time of the Month were understandably apprehensive about the show. We have one Mandatory Rehearsal, and another final run through on the night of the show, and they were curious as to what we were really doing and how involved they actually were. They've been cast for several weeks, give their material a week after that, and that was it. No other information was given.

The (one) Mandatory Rehearsal cleared it all up for them. We ran the show, the end piece, we talked about our Storytime aspect of the "second act" and then told them what the raffle is. Not only were they Super excited about what we're doing, they are extremely bummed they can't win the raffle (It's going to be epic).

We went from having a group of cautious actors to a full on cast of very excited (and talented!) performers who have a gigantic appreciation not only for what we're all doing, but also for being a part of it themselves.

To watch an idea go from a tiny little seed to a full on blooming jacaranda tree is simply just incredible. And best of all, this tree has branches! There are so many more possibilities, and we can always write more, add more in, switch out others, and grow, grow, grow.

This is our rehearsal space.

It IS a pajama party after all.

I'll let you know how the first show goes.

xoxo
Lira

Thank you Paulina!

Paulina, you are a sweetheart! :)
See you at the show!

Everyone else, you can still buy tickets! Info below.
__________________________________________________________

This is it! This is the show I've been working on the last month and a half. It's a fun Girls Only Night, and you can read about it here.

Of the 20 monologues we'll be performing (there's 7 of us in this thing) I wrote 19 of them. And the last piece, written by the bitingly funny Tracy,  is so freaking awesome, you're going to cheer. Because only Tracycan write about the death of feminism from Twilight in such a hilarious and pointed way.

There is complimentary wine and chocolate, stories shared, and dancing.

Sounds like a ton of fun, right? Right!

You can buy tickets here. I'd love to see you there.

If you can't make it to the show on April 21st, we have another show on May 11th. You can like our page for updates. 

Very excited, you guys. Very excited.

Our Time of the Month

This is it! This is the show I've been working on the last month and a half. It's a fun Girls Only Night, and you can read about it here.

Of the 20 monologues we'll be performing (there's 7 of us in this thing) I wrote 19 of them. And the last piece, written by the bitingly funny Tracy,  is so freaking awesome, you're going to cheer. Because only Tracycan write about the death of feminism from Twilight in such a hilarious and pointed way.

There is complimentary wine and chocolate, stories shared, and dancing.

Sounds like a ton of fun, right? Right!

You can buy tickets here. I'd love to see you there.

If you can't make it to the show on April 21st, we have another show on May 11th. You can like our page for updates. 

Very excited, you guys. Very excited.

Headshots on the Floor

The auditions went great! We only needed 3 women, and we were inundated with so much talent and great personalities that I said to my fellow producers, "...Can we add a fourth and double cast?" I got a huge YES! and that's what we did!

And, get this, we even have a list of alternates; women we fell in love with and want to eventually get onstage. (You're one of them Morgan!!) If all goes well, we'll have a third show, a fourth, and on and on, and we can get everyone we love in this thing.

So now, I'm grouping my ladies, making sure those who have to have one date over the other are in their proper group, which means that I have 8 headshots on the floor with sticky notes on their necks indicating which monologue I've given them.

Eight incredibly talented ladies who flavor the written words with their personalities; who can take a character I've dreamt up, and make real. All eight incredibly talented ladies very excited to be a part of this show.

It's fantastic and wonderful and humbling.