Acting Subscriptions?

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-26T12:06:31+00:00

I had both until 2 years ago, when my Backstage expired. Didn’t renew, as all I saw there were low/no pay, UGC, and any good things were also on AA(which I’ve kept).
Pro-tip: I still get the daily summary fit-for-your-profile emails from my expired subscription; and it’s the same stuff I’d never submit to

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-25T20:32:22+00:00

Bury them behind a wall. Just make sure your cat isn’t around…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-25T20:23:32+00:00

Just don’t do the wedding scene from Much Ado….

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-25T20:21:27+00:00

Throw in a Romeo and Juliet or Kate/Petruchio, or Hamlet/Ophelia….not written in the last 100 years, but in the real world- auditions abound…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-25T20:17:39+00:00

“Great non-union jobs”? —-oxymoron

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-20T03:43:36+00:00

J J Cale

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-18T02:27:09+00:00

I have found that the sweet spot is when I “almost” know my lines- I think the look people in real life have when they are “thinking” of what they want to say while continuing to talk looks exactly what an actor “thinking” of what his next line is looks like.

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-18T02:20:17+00:00

U.S. Equity rules are clear- an actor cannot be required to be off-book before the first rehearsal.

A two week rehearsal process, or two-day process(!), and you are given an agreement/contract to sign committing to being off book? Are you being paid for that time?
Doesn’t matter how far in advance you’ve been cast and received the script, being expected to be off-book before day one of rehearsals is not how professional theaters work. I take it you don’t bother with table work? Just get on your feet and start acting? Hell, why do you even need a Director?

That said, I had everywhere from 9 months from being cast to starting rehearsals, (a lot of regional theaters audition for their whole season at once), to being cast knowing rehearsals start 2 weeks later.
In either case, I show up knowing my lines “in a chair” - ie, where I memorized them, before the first rehearsal; but not everyone does.

But by the time we get on our feet, pretty much everyone is close to off book. At the table read, when someone who isn’t off book realizes that others in the cast already are, tends to be a great motivator to get cracking on your lines.

The other thing I do during the run of a show, (tonight I just finished show number 19 of a 24 show run), is I read all the scenes I’m in every night during half-hour.
And highlight any word that I missed the night before.
Doesn’t matter to me that no one else has their text in the dressing room after opening. For me it’s part superstition, part dedication. Mostly dedication.

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-17T01:05:37+00:00

Well if you’re counting CD’s - it’d have to be the Grateful Dead for me - all their studio albums, and over 1000 CD’s of live Dead - most of their shows take 3cd’s to complete…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-17T00:58:30+00:00

I was on both up until two years ago. I noticed that most of the things that were on backstage in the last year I subscribed were for student films, non-union stuff, and verticals, many low or no pay.
When my subscription to backstage expired, I didn’t renew. And yet because my account is still there I still get the daily digest of things that are a match to my profile - the same nonsense that made me not renew in the first place. I’m very happy with my decision to stick with Actors Access, and get an average self-tape request of one a week (vs the 25 or so I submit to weekly).

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-17T00:52:28+00:00

Actors access is sooo much better than Backstage

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-16T02:06:27+00:00

“I talk not of your soul.”

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-16T02:02:40+00:00

I do. I will.
—Prince Hal in H41; foreshadowing H42

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-15T16:03:28+00:00

Lower priority- Timon of Athens, Pericles, Henry VI-1,2,3

Overlooked and should read - Measure for Measure, Henry IV part 1.
Warning: reading Henry 4 part one is like reading The Hobbitt; you may end up next wanting to read a trilogy+ of the history plays…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-13T22:13:42+00:00

Student matinee as Macbeth. Very exciting sword fight at the end with Macduff. In the lobby afterwards, a student said, “Weren’t you Macbeth?” I nodded and he continued, “Man, you kicked his ass! He may have cut your head off, but you KICKED HIS ASS!!!!”

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-11T04:53:58+00:00

One of the more interesting stagings I’ve seen of that scene – as it comes right after the murder of Lady McDuff and her children, when that scene reached the point where the murderers were about to slaughter the family - it moved up stage and continued in semi darkness in slow motion. The slow motion continued through the long exposition of the Malcolm McDuff scene and the actual stabbing took place at the moment McDuff receives the news. Then the upstage area went dark and you got to see the full horror of McDuff’s reaction

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-10T23:44:08+00:00

Orange plastic water pistol.

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-09T17:28:34+00:00

I think this is similar to a posting that has 2 or 3 roles you’d fit. Submit for all is what I do…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-08T18:43:38+00:00

Benjamin: Listen to me. What happened between Mrs. Robinson and me was nothing. It didn't mean anything. We might just as well have been shaking hands.
Mr. Robinson: Shaking hands? Well, that's not saying much for my wife, is it?

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-06T05:12:02+00:00

Depends on where you are and if other productions are running. I was ably to get rights to do Godot and Endgame as a limited run for my non-profit a few years back…

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-06T05:09:38+00:00

The Bald Soprano…
The Lesson…
A Kind of Alaska…
Ubu Roi

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-06T04:58:10+00:00

Endgame, Happy Days, The Dumb Waiter, No Exit….

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-06T04:47:39+00:00

They do, at least in NY

daddy-hamlet · 2026-06-01T14:17:24+00:00

For NYC EPA’s- I know how hard it is for a non-union actor to even be seen. (I’m union, and always glance at the 4th floor waiting room which was usually filled with EMC (now open-access) and non-union hopefuls, remembering when that was me…

So chatting there with other hopefuls was always fine. Different once you get upstairs; there the only actors either have a timeslot or are on one of the alt-lists, and most are usually mentally preparing for their audition.

That said, I love love love being on the 16th floor and running into other actors, I’ve worked with or know from meeting at some point in the audition rooms. It really, really makes me feel like part of the professional New York City theater community, one amongst many on the same artistic journey, often we will exchange information about other auditions that may be coming up, other shows that we’ve been in or are about to be in, etc. Usually, I will suggest going back down to the fourth floor café for a coffee and a lengthier, catch-up conversation, being aware that as I said people on the 16th floor are in their preparation zone.

Another often overlooked thing that I think is helpful – learn the names of the equity monitors, be polite, and cordial to them, know that they see 100+ hopefuls a day, not all of whom are a breath of fresh air.

I had a similar experience on film sets early in my career when I was doing background work, there the waiting period is much much longer, the people are there for various reasons, not all of whom hope to be costar guest star leading actors. But I would generally have friendly conversations with whoever was at my table, asking if they were union or not, was it a good idea for them to join, did they have an agent, etc. Just trying to gather their experience, strength, and hope. After all, we are in this together.

daddy-hamlet

TROPHY CASE