DUMP before Kissing

Acting Career FAQ - DUMP Before KISSingbyBob FraserOne of the most familiar business principles around is - K.I.S.S. - which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. I'm sure you've heard it and wondered, can I apply that to my acting business?The answer is; you CAN apply the K.I.S.S. principle ... AFTER your business is up and running. But, until you've established exactly how your acting business is going to be marketed - K.I.S.S. is the cart before the horse.First, you have to know exactly what kind of business you are in - and most actors don't understand exactly what kind of business they are in, when they start. (Some actors never figure it out and are forever labeled "struggling.") Do you know what business you're in?Here's an excerpt from You Must Act! that may help:"In the final analysis, show business is two words. "The show part is important - but the business part is critical. "You must understand how to run your business in order to be successful. Here’s the first important question:"What business are you in? "As an artist in show business ... you will always do business by contracting your “services” to other companies. "This is a just a factual matter. “Contracts for services” are the only kind of deals you will make in this business. "That’s how things are done in show business. "Which means ..."YOU ARE NOT AN EMPLOYEE! "YOU ARE NOT A WORKER! "When you talk about getting a “job,” you are really talking about landing a contract to perform services for a show - a movie, television or stage productionand, therefore ..."THIS IS IMPORTANT..."YOU ARE A CONTRACTOR."Think about that. The first distinction you must make in order to be successful in show business, is this: The business you want to succeed in is the contracting business."This chapter from You Must Act! goes on to explain how this one distinction can change your approach to your career. The important part, for most actors, is the understanding that since you are a contractor, advertising your services is a fairly complex undertaking. So keeping it simple is probably not the place to start.D.U.M.P. is where to start building your business. This stands for Delineate Unique Marketing Position.In English that means that it's easier to sell a specific product than to sell a generic one. This is particularly critical in a competitive field like acting.Most actors make the error of trying to sell themselves as "actors" - when observable reality is that producers don't buy actors - they buy "characters."To make your marketing more effective it is crucial that you define for the buyers precisely what you're selling."I'm a serious actor" does not work."I'm a talented actor" does not work."I'm an actor with range." does not work."Get me an actor type!" Is a phrase you will rarely hearcome out of a producer's mouth.None of these "marketing positions" solves the buyers' problems. They are looking for solutions to story-telling issues - not "serious actors."In other words, producers are looking for characters - "I need a smart biker, a vice president of sales, an innocent girl, and a violent street criminal." So back to the marketing message ..."I'm an educated derelict." works."I'm an uptight corporate weenie." works."I'm a virginal seeker of wisdom and truth." works."I'm your worst nightmare on a dark night." works.Well, I'm sure you get the idea - the more specific anduseful your marketing message is, the more likely you are to get that call to "come in" and "show your stuff."And when you're a contractor, that first call to "place your bid" is always the most important call your business receives. After you've worked out your specific product and really delineated your unique value to the buyer - then you can start applying the K.I.S.S. principle.So, DUMP before KISSing.=============================================Bob Fraser is an actor, writer, director, producer/show-runner and the author of You Must Act! The Acting Career Course On Your Computer - and - Headshot SecretsRevealed - How To Get A Great Headshot That Gets You Called InBob's in-person seminar - Show Biz U - is available every so often. The next session is Saturday August 12 in Burbank California. Go here to find out more:=> http://www.showbizu.com

DPS Publishes

Dramatists Play Service is pleased to announce the publication of:
9 PARTS OF DESIRE by Heather Raffo1 woman (or 3 to 9 women)Winner of a 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show. “…a triumph…thrilling…an example of how art can remake the world…In this remarkable one-woman show, [Heather Raffo’s] writing…is marked with wit and by a scrupulous attention to the details of character.” —The New Yorker. “It brings us closer to the inner life of Iraq than a thousand slick-surfaced TV reports. Yet [Raffo’s] beautifully shaped one-woman play is a play, not a stodgily earnest piece of documentary theater, and therein lies its singular force and compulsion: It is persuasive precisely because it is beautiful.” —Wall Street Journal. “…powerful, impassioned, vivid, memorable…The voices are a study in contrasts: vivid and subdued, sophisticated and naïve, seductive and standoffish. But they cohere to form a powerful collective portrait of suffering and endurance.” —NY Times. “The female half of Iraq has come to America.” —Gloria Steinem.
AND BABY MAKES SEVEN by Paula Vogel1 man, 2 women (doubling)“AND BABY MAKES SEVEN is a profound and clever comedy.” —Drama-Logue. “What’s remarkable about BABY—a really lovely play—is the sense of innocence and optimism that rises from potentially dark subject matter.” —Philadelphia City Paper. “AND BABY MAKES SEVEN is a hilariously inventive play. Playwright Vogel’s writing is witty and precise.” —Daily Californian. “Don’t you sometimes want to howl like a dog, giggle till you drop, pout, pitch a fit…eat like a pig, get-your-own-way-no-matter-what, fly off with the balloons? You can go to Esalen and take a Transactional Analysis weekend to learn about your Child Within, or you can see AND BABY MAKES SEVEN. The second way comes with brownies at intermission.” —Providence Phoenix. "Filled with outrageous touches, AND BABY MAKES SEVEN offers one of those rare theatergoing opportunities where everything comes together in a string of magical moments. Be prepared to be enchanted seven times over.” —Austin American Statesman. “What makes AND BABY MAKES SEVEN fascinating is its brilliant unsettling of our notions, not of sexual boundaries, but of the real. It is theatre that cleverly theatricalises the everyday in a way that is both startling and funny.” —Age (Australia). “[BABY is] most original and important for its redefinition of family. What is one to make of a family in which the boundaries between illusion and reality, power and subjection, friendship and love, female and male, are so porous…and in which family members freely materialize and dematerialize. It is a celebration of narrative, of the power of the theatre to make fantasy real. It commemorates the childhood one never had, the friends wished for but never gained, the desires never acknowledged.” —David Savran, Introduction to The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays .
THE IMAGINARY INVALID by Molière, translated and adapted by James Magruder6 men, 5 women“Translator Magruder is [known] for his brash injections of present-day lingo into seldom-seen French comedies that had been deemed ‘stuffy’ before he got his ink-stained hand on ’em. Anything goes, anything for a laugh, any port in a storm, even if (especially if) that port happens to be an outhouse. It’s a rude, bright, wild show.” —New Haven Advocate. “Magruder has emphasized the play’s origin as a ‘comédie-ballet’ in three acts, ‘with two musical interludes and a grand finale.’ The last introduces Hillary Clinton in a health-care mode, one of the many liberties he has taken in his unstinting efforts to make this INVALID fabulous and contemporary.” —Hartford Courant.
THE LAST WORD ... by Oren Safdie2 men“…a sad and gentle comedy that revolves around a clash of opposing ideas and explores the colliding forces of classicism and modernism…A thoughtful and balanced portrayal that captures the mortal dread under Henry’s obnoxious certainty. Len’s progression from passivity to indignation is also neatly accomplished…Highly recommended.” —LA Times. “With his clever and refreshingly literate dialogue, Safdie has created something remarkable, keeping the stakes high and urgent throughout the exchange between his intricately complex characters…This haunting take of rejection and the fear of failure crosses generational lines, leaving in its wake a poignant bittersweetness that celebrates the ephemeral, often discouraging world of the artist in contemporary society.” —BackStage West. “The interview quickly becomes an emotionally charged and comedic debate between two unlikely companions, which successfully pulls at the heartstrings while keeping the audience entertained.” —Palisadian Post. “Safdie’s rapid-fire banter turns a play about a job interview into a touching, often hilarious journey of two very different generations coming together and teaching each other…The audience experiences a barrage of emotions throughout.” —Malibu Times.
LOVE AND HAPPINESS by Julian Sheppard4 men, 2 womenA fast-paced comedy with something for the whole family and with a little extra for fans of Arthur Murray, Leibniz and the NRA.
THE WINNING STREAK by Lee Blessing2 men“Blessing has forged a conflict peppered with flinty dialogue…written with economy and precision.” —Variety. To read about these titles and purchase acting editions, click on the links above.
To view all our recently published plays, click on Now Published.
Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
440 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
Tel. 212-683-8960
Fax 212-213-1539
www.dramatists.compostmaster@dramatists.com

The Alexander Technique

Introductory Events:

1. The American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) invites you to join us for our Free Monthly Introductory Lecture/Demonstration on
Monday, September 11, 2006 from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM.

In this free experiential event, we will introduce the basic concepts and exploration of the Alexander Technique. Many students study the technique to develop tools and strategies to manage stress, enhance body awareness, relax and improve posture and coordination. Well known among performing artists, the Alexander Technique is a movement theory that aims to reeducate people about the way they move in order to reduce tension and create more easeful, dynamic movement.

ACAT Graduate, and AmSAT Certified Teacher Amira Glaser will lead our September event.

RESERVATION REQUIRED: Please call (212)633-2229, Mailbox #3.

*ACAT sponsors this free event on the first Monday of every month through the end of 2006 (2nd Monday in October) from 7:00 PM to 8:30
PM. Please feel free to forward this information to anyone you know who would be interested.*

2. The 92 Street Y Harkness Dance Center is holding an Open House Sampler Alexander Class led by Jane Tomkiewicz. Sunday, September 17 from 10-11 a.m. in the Lower Dance Studio. Please call Kathryn Wilkening with questions, 212.415.5553.

3. Rebecca Tuffey is holding a FREE Intro Event in the Alexander Technique on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 7-8:30pm. Come meet Rebecca and get a taste of the technique. Everyone will receive some hands-on attention. This event will be held at the Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre/Learning Worlds, 15 W. 26th St, 2nd fl. A $5 donation is welcome but not required. R.S.V.P. to Rebecca at (718)274-7452 or Rebecca@rebeccatuffey.com. Visit www.rebeccatuffey.com for more information

Upcoming Group Classes:

1. Amira Glaser offers a 6-week group class plus personalized individual lesson.

Discover the Alexander Technique. Re-Discover your Natural Ease. Open to all Levels.

Monday Evenings from 6:45 – 8:00 p.m. Individual lesson to be scheduled with teacher.
Dates: Sept. 18th- Oct. 30th (no class Oct. 9th)
Early-Registration Fee Extended for ACAT until Sept. 10 -- MENTION ACAT when registering: $175 ; $200 thereafter.
Location: The American Center for the Alexander Technique, 39 W. 14th St. #507, between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Please call 646.246.7983 or email lessons@amiraglaser.com to register.

2. Rebecca Tuffey invites you to register for her fall group class, a Technique for Living.

Held Sundays 5-6:15pm at the American Center for the Alexander Technique, 39 W. 14th St #507.
The class meets 8 times from Sept. 17 through Nov. 5.
Cost is $220 and includes a 45 minute private lesson.

To register, call Rebecca at (718)274-7452 or email Rebecca@rebeccatuffey.com. Visit www.rebeccatuffey.com for more information.

3. Jenna Zabala - 6 WEEK ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE GROUP CLASS

Cost: $180 for series, optional private lesson with teacher for a reduced rate of $60. (To be arranged directly with teacher)
Tuesdays evenings 6:30pm-8:00pm
Dates: 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24
Location: Moving Body Resources, 112 West 27th Street, 4th Floor, NYC between 6th and 7th Avenues

Please call 718.431.4549 or email jenna@jennazabala.com to register.
Payment must be paid in advance and can be made online at www.jennazabala.com


4. ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE GROUP CLASSES AT THE 92ND STREET Y

Faculty: Jenna Zabala
Class Times: Wednesdays, Sept. 20, 12:30 ­ 1:45PM, 10 Sessions
Code: AD3DL01-03
Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, Lower Dance Studio
Fee: $200

Faculty: Jane Tomkiewicz
Class Times: Thursdays, Sept. 21, 6:30 ­ 7:45PM, 10 Sessions
Code: AD3DL01-04
Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, Rm. S104
Fee: $200

PLEASE CALL 212.415.5500 TO REGISTER.

For further information, www.92y.org or 212.415.5552 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center School of the Arts, 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street NY, NY 10128 An agency of UJA-Federation

American Center for the Alexander Technique
39 W. 14th St. #507
New York, NY 10011
212.633.2229
acat@acatnyc.org
www.acatnyc.org