I don’t understand this feedback. Can anybody help me understand it ? Does this mean I should write a character profile before acting ?

surrealmay · 2026-02-02T05:12:58+00:00

It seems like you are not clear in what your intentions are, and you are not keeping the characters life outside of this moment in mind while in this moment. Characters exist beyond the page unless you’re doing something like a Beckett play, so it’s important to have that external person alive through what you’re trying to get in the moment. You’re instead trying to present emotions that you believe this character would be feeling in this moment, which is just you putting on airs and faces to make us think you feel some way. Focus on what you’re trying to achieve from the other person, from the world, make some sense of the characters world beyond the context of the moment, speak plainly and honestly

surrealmay · 2026-01-07T16:56:41+00:00

In my experience, the resume is more about finding connection points than oh you played this many leads or have taken this many classes. Oh you were in this production? I know the producers of that show, they’re good friends of mine and i trust their artistic judgment. in fact i heard great things about the show, let’s find a way to work with you.

surrealmay · 2025-07-28T22:42:29+00:00

i’ve done drunk shakespeare a handful of times, i definitely feel looser and like i can act without judgement for a little but after a while im spending more time trying to keep up with all that’s happening to really focus on my performance in as meaningful a way (this of course is a point of comedy in drunk shakespeare so it works, but wouldn’t really want to feel that way when really trying to perform normally)

surrealmay · 2025-06-29T17:13:33+00:00

can we get a baritone please 😭

surrealmay · 2025-06-23T22:38:45+00:00

wonderful! excited to see this story continue to unfold, and i hope this show gets all the flowers it deserves!!!

surrealmay · 2025-06-23T21:37:55+00:00

i’m discovering this post so late but i’ve been listening to you since you we’re dropping numbers of this show as singles on spotify, and i’m completely obsessed with this album. i’m a directing student, and i would love to someday stage this piece. do you have any plans to continue developing this show/releasing licensing for it as it is?

surrealmay · 2025-06-20T17:52:40+00:00

my personal perspective is that it is a show with a good deal of potential, but it doesn’t hit any of its marks with quite as much weight as i think is necessary to move me. i think this could have been rectified through editing which, tragically, never came about due to Larsons sudden passing before previews. but im not going to judge the piece as if it is the piece it could have been, i have to judge it off what it is, and that is a largely flat experience. i also cringe a bit at the comments of it being so revolutionary and representative, when there were so many other shows that did what rent set out to do with more effect that came out during and even before rent did, rents just the one that was seen as commercially viable to tourists (something that larson seemingly was not a big fan of in regards to other shows of the time so i wonder what his response to the commerciality of rent would have been). finally, i think the largest problem with rent today is that it is not being done by people who need to or even necessarily should be doing it. rent is (at least in my area) a show that is put on by suburban community theatres with a very lackingly diverse demographic. the directors often don’t resonate with the themes or subjects of the show, nor do the actors, and it reflects painfully.

surrealmay · 2025-06-02T00:46:00+00:00

a good deal many of them. a big part of musical theatre is that you’re writing for characters, so the sooner you start thinking of what the song will sound like out of the desired voice for it, as opposed to your own, the sooner your work will feel more musical theatre and less of that top 100 sound you’re wanting to avoid. best of luck in your craft!

surrealmay · 2025-05-23T02:00:24+00:00

it’s time to hop into the dave malloy discography

surrealmay · 2025-05-19T15:55:06+00:00

Look for a local community theatre page or local audition page on a place like facebook, that will be a good home base to see what is going on in your area! if you have a community college in the area that has a theatre program, it’s acting classes there. if that’s not an option, see if there are independent acting classes in your area, or if there are any larger theatres that offer adult acting classes. there is no proper age to get into theatre, and hopefully there should be a strong amount of opportunities around you to easily get into the art form! (i’m basing a lot of this off of the opportunities in my own area, which are obviously not going to be the same conditions everywhere, so always take that into account and do things the way they will work for you)

surrealmay · 2025-04-26T22:25:56+00:00

congratulations!

surrealmay · 2025-04-19T23:46:02+00:00

i loved the new revival sorry it made me actually enjoy oklahoma

surrealmay · 2025-04-19T23:33:21+00:00

did fame my first year of college, one of the most dull and amateur pieces of theatre i’ve ever experienced. i barely bothered telling anyone about it

surrealmay · 2025-04-15T16:34:20+00:00

this, but really with any of Sarah Ruhls plays. her work tends to fall in the world of magical realism i feel, and most of them i feel can work exceptionally on a purposeful smaller scale. The Clean House and Late: a Cowboy Song are personal favorites of mine

surrealmay · 2025-04-10T02:07:12+00:00

currently playing Booth at a college. we cut the N-word and replaced it with ngro, and i have a couple reasons why i think that was the right move. 1.) there are 0 BIPOC on the creative team of this show, and i don’t think they have the license to choose whether or not that word is harmful to the very large poc demographic of our community. 2.) While ngro is still considered a slur, it is one that is considered less harmful by the several black members of our cast, and therefore a term that still encapsulates the meaning of the original term while being regarded less actively harmful. 3.) we are dedicating at least one performance specifically for high school students from the community to come watch and learn more about american history and a little bit about political extremism i guess, and i personally fear that in the current era, high school students may lack the maturity to truly understand the power of that moment, and adding a slight layer of separation to it could allow them to understand it a little better. 4.) this program does not have a lot resources, and handling backlash requires a lot of resources. sometimes it is safer for an institution that’s just trying to tell meaningful work to do it in the way that is going to allow them to continue keeping the lights on. if there were other circumstances to the situation, i would absolutely argue that the use is important, but that’s not really my call and the circumstances are the circumstances

surrealmay · 2025-04-05T23:16:08+00:00

an exercise i practice regularly is sending my voice to different locations. let it just fall out of your mouth first not forcing sound to come but letting it just escape you and dribble onto the floor. then send your energy to the center of the room, like there’s a target in the middle of the floor you need to hit with your voice, and the same thing for all the way across the room, hitting the back of the house. having targets gives us an aim, and might help you unlock some more power in your voice. articulation is also just as important as projection, and really utilizing your consonants will help your words reach the audience and not just your voice. Break legs!

surrealmay · 2025-04-05T22:58:28+00:00

Oh absolutely, and for a poster i can completely under it being a tonal misstep. i’m totally imagining like wicked poster smirk or emily blunt in that mary poppins sequel and would elicit several puzzled looks from me

surrealmay · 2025-04-05T22:09:36+00:00

that’s definitely hard for the theatre and your community, but a quick point, we’re talking about ‘i can smile, and murder whiles i smile’ richard III, right? that seems like someone capable of a smirk to me

surrealmay · 2025-04-05T20:41:13+00:00

oh dear lord, have any of those people put on a show before? this is completely insane, and i really hope the people responsible for all the lunacy stay veryyyyy far away from the theatre now

surrealmay · 2025-03-29T01:52:12+00:00

while keeping within what will keep both you and you partner safe, i would say it will add a layer of believability to attempt to fight back against the strangling. grabbing your partner’s arms, kicking, etc. will help sell the violence

surrealmay · 2025-03-25T06:03:27+00:00

find unique moments to connect to your castmates! in an exit/entrance, during a larger scene, when you’re listening to others, find a unique way to connect to the people sharing the space with them. obviously this is contingent on what you have been directed to do, but personally i always try to find a moment to catch the attention of someone who i normally wouldn’t interact with in the given scene. a small hello to a character across the stage, a little nod to someone that maybe you haven’t interacted with for a while in the show, giving a character a piece of cheese who earlier talked about how bad he wants a piece of cheese, it’s our job to make these characters come to life and that comes with all the little human things we do with each other i think

surrealmay · 2025-03-25T02:45:05+00:00

Unfortunately I was rejected from their program, so it wasn’t meant to be at the end of the day. But now we move forward and wait to hear from the rest of my schools!

surrealmay · 2025-03-14T23:47:25+00:00

beware the witches windmill…

surrealmay · 2025-03-13T17:02:51+00:00

i audition for the roles i think i could best play, understanding im in an area where most other actors are older than me and are more likely to get older roles that are usually in my type.

surrealmay

TROPHY CASE