Thursday, June 30, 2005

 
There is a website offering Shakespeare marked up in XML. It may be useful for a computer analysis of the texts, or for customizing the format of a script.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

 
This applies to Characters as well as People:
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
-Aristotle

Monday, June 13, 2005

 

Friday, June 10, 2005

 
 
Stranger Than Fiction, a movie staring Will Ferrell, is shooting in Chicago through about July 18th. Joan Philo is the local extras casting director (you can get her registration form online).

 
The Chicago Children's Theatre's inagural production will open January 20th at the Goodman:
Chicago, despite its vast theater offerings, has long lacked a dedicated children's theater. Many area theaters offer fine children's programs (see box at right) and several smaller companies are wholly dedicated to the younger set. But Russell, who left her position as executive director at Lookingglass Theatre last November, saw a gap and decided to fill it with a theater that could compete at the top levels
(from Chicago Sun-Times).

Sunday, June 05, 2005

 
Sometimes at an audition we're asked to tell them something about ourselves (e.g., Second City Touring Company auditions). Usually the auditors are seeking something brief. I think it's possible that we are best served if we share something that is a safe piece of trivia that no one expects but then it's pretty easy to remember, like what is always said about Adam Curry, the inventor of podcasting: that he was once an MTV VJ. It is unrelated to his podcasting contributions, but follows him wherever he is discussed. Seth Godin pointed out the marketing value of an oxymoron such as this, and finding the best piece of non-acting related trivia about ourselves may help us book more work.

 
The 59th annual Tony Awards will be presented tonight at 8 PM ET/PT on CBS.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

 
The Long Tail and Entertainment:
For too long we've viewed the economics of the entertainment industry through the lens of hits and stars, studios and networks. Just as we are recognizing that the Long Tail is a huge and growing market that was hidden by the scarcity economics of the old distribution systems, we're starting to realize the nature of the goods, the participants and the incentives in this new market are also different
(from The Long Tail).