I recently came across a great positive website for actors. The author, Jack Plotnick, talks about a variety of subjects that really help me and continue helping me on my path being an actor.
Some of my favorite posts there were the one talking about the importance of looking your reader right in the eye and having a selfish “experience” with them. And also the one about the student soldier complex that happens after one goes thru theater school. good reads! Check it out: www.jackplotnick.com
This past weekend I had the pleasure to meet Pamela Jones and Bill Lawrie from Soundswrite . I took part in their voice over workshop. I had so much fun with these two and the other actors who were also part of the workshop. We spent two days where they crammed a lot of very useful information into a fun, motivating and “hands on” well rounded introduction to the business.
We tried a little bit of everything that there is to explore in the voice over world. They covered voice overs, narration, audio books, animation, ADR, WALLA and marketing on hold.
For an actor like me, for whom size can often be an area to continuously work on towards a smaller “good for camera” performance, the exaggerated large size allowed and even valued in voice over work is a welcomed gift. There’s no better joy than finding your short coming to be a gift in disguise.
During the animation portion of the workshop we had to pick a character based on a brief description and the actual drawing of the character. This was one of the times when people tell me “your accent is gone”. I have taken endless hours of private coaching with Trish Allen to address the accent issue and although it seems I have been able to fix the over worked articulation of my mouth I am still unable to dictate when the accent goes away. Truth as it turns out is that it doesn’t, it can only be replaced. Duh!
Simple as it may seem I question if my self image is attached to this accent and if letting go of it, although something I am able to do, isn’t too scary at this point. Otherwise how could I explain people telling me “your accent is gone” when I am playing a character? Weird. A bit like the acting business.
So the workshop got me really excited and I should be setting up a recording booth at my apartment soon to start sending out for auditions, better yet, without an agent and taking charge of part of my career in this crazy fun world.
Fear and self doubt can make us do some funny things.
Imagine that one certain someone, namely moi, would have to exert a substantial amount of effort into a final lap to conclude a “marathon” of a theater program (3 years of conservatory style) with a 20 minute solo piece to be written, edited, blocked , directed etc…all on you.
Wouldn’t this someone want to see and rejoice in the final result, whatever that result might be, as soon as he was able to get his hands on it?
As I said, fear and self doubt can make us do some funny things. Funny contradictory things! But 3 years later and I finally got the balls to sit down and watch my own solo show.
Clumsy, yes. Horrible, hardly.
While concepts remain in our minds they have a tendency to become either smaller than they are in real life, or gigantically disproportionate in a larger scale. Not to be redundant, but let’s be frank.
Watching my solo show made me reflect on what I have done, what could and should be done differently. I was able to see it with a critic, yet compassionate, eye.
In case you are wondering about the pic, the show was called “Out on a Swing” and it was a play on words on Shirley McClain’s movie Out on a limb. There was a swing, some nudity and lots of hard to hear lines in it. And I look like I was having a blast despite the nerves involved.
Good times 🙂
Rummaging the internet for archive material is my latest pass time. While re-writting my bio I remembered about this play I was in a long time ago in South Florida, “The Nature of the Beach”.
I had a minor part but I had so much fun doing this show. The best part of it was meeting Bernadette Peters, who came to see our show. Her friend Richard Jay Alexander was the director, so after the show she came to the backstage to say hi to all of us. Gosh! How I wish I had a picture of that moment.
But I can settle for the next best thing. I found this promo video on You tube. It is from a show called Deco drive. Good memories.
Check my tiny arms! I was sooo skinny! Eat something boy!
I attended the GVPTA Symposium last week, and this web site is in part a result of all of the great info they provided us there. It is so surprising to me how much things start turning up once you open yourself to all the possibilities.
For example: During the Symposium this company called Soundswrite was there and they were speaking about getting started in voice over work. I got interested and emailed them to get more info on their next workshop.
Yesterday an actress friend of mine, Marlene Ginader, texted me about a post on craigslist looking for Brazilian actors for voice over work.
The dots got connected and if all goes as planned, and it will, I am gonna be auditioning for this gig. AND I got an awesome discount on the coming workshop for taking part in the symposium.
Keep your fingers crossed for seeing me underneath that sombrero soon! Yay!
Yesterday while taking a major beating trying to set this page up I came across this priceless shot for the promotion of “Lot’s Wife”, a show we did while going to Studio 58. Needless to say, I think this one never left Sherri Sadler’s table. No matter how many times I look at it Tamera Lay’s expression always cracks me up…Doesn’t she seem to be thinking: Whadda heck am I doing here?
We had so much fun doing this show. It was directed by Jimmy Tate, a precious human being who taught me that there is no limit to how much you can laugh at yourself.
Thank you Jimmy and thank you Tam, God bless you both wherever you are.
Gui Fontanezzi 