Auditions for Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird

By Appointment

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it… There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Join us for the Academy of Performing Art’s production of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Opening on the 29th of March, the cast is 9 men and 6 women with parts for all ages. Auditions will be held by appointment; call the Academy Theater at 508.255.3075 or send us an e-mail - theacademyplayhouse@apacape.org to schedule your audition. Please bring a prepared monologue along.

Theater Etiquette – How To Be A Great Actor

As a community theater, we encourage actors and actresses of all abilities and ages and backgrounds to take part in our plays, musicals and revues. So since not all of our thespians come to us with a strong familiarity with putting on a production, indeed for many, this is the first time that they’ve set foot on a stage, here are some tips on how to interact with your fellow actors, behave in and around the stage, and what to do if all else fails.

1. When you step off the stage, you vanish. Walk quietly backstage, in access corridors, up and down stairs, and everywhere in the theater. No talking or whispering off stage. No loud noise in the dressing room. Nothing ruins a scene more than the thumps of someone running to make a cue or someone talking in the wings.
2. Once the house is open, stay off the stage and out of the theater. Don’t mingle with a waiting audience; you have other things to keep you busy.
3. Never talk when the director is talking!
4. Never miss an entrance. Even if you don’t remember your lines, get your body on to the stage so your fellow actor or actors at least have someone to talk to. They can coach you along if they have to. If you’re not there, they might have to monologue or soliloquize and we definitely don’t want that to happen!
5. No mobile phones, especially in the wings! When you’re waiting to enter or supporting the on-stage cast from the wings, the show deserves all of your attention. Put the phone away and save the texting and tweeting for after rehearsal or the night’s show.
6. Accept all notes from the director graciously and say, “Thank you.” Never disagree with the director in front of the cast and if you don’t understand the note or disagree, ask the director for some one-on-one time to discuss.
7. Never give other actors notes and don’t accept them from other actors. If someone does offer you notes, say “Thank you but we should take that through the director.” The only members of the production who should be giving notes are the director or the stage manager. It’s their job to make sure things look and sound the way they and the producers want, not yours. Constructive criticism among cast members is welcome, even encouraged in community theater since that’s the way we learn our chops, but all changes to the production must go through the director.
8.  Never add something to or remove something from your costume. It’s the costume designers job to put you in something appropriate for the show, not yours. If you have suggestions or problems with a part of your costume, take them to the costumer or the director.
9. Don’t hang out in the wings to watch the show. Backstage areas can be tight and crew and your fellow actors have to get to where they need to be. If you want to watch the show, buy a ticket or get the DVD. Hang out in the dressing room.
10. Pay attention to the monitors so you know what’s happening. There is no excuse for missing a cue. If you’re not going on-stage for a while, be respectful of those who are: stay out of the way of costume changes, don’t make a lot of noise so that other actors can’t hear the monitors, and don’t get in the way of travel corridors.
11. Keep the dressing room neat and clean. You’re going to be living here for a while and there’s nothing more terrifying than losing a piece of your costume amid the mess, moments before you go on.
12. When waiting in the wings for an entrance, watch your sight lines, that is the path between the audience and the stage. If you can see them, they can see you; and if you aren’t in the scene, you shouldn’t be in the scene!
13. When entering and exiting, try to avoid brushing against scenery, backdrops, teasers and tormenters. Apart from breaking part of the set, all that motion can be seen by the audience and distracts them from the action on the stage.
14. Tech rehearsals can be tough. Hang in while the crews fine-tune cues and equipment and remember that they control all the lights! Give them the respect they deserve while doing their jobs: pay attention, stay quiet, and be available as they jump from scene to scene.
15. Pay attention to the stage manager. He or she will be telling you important stuff to keep the show running smoothly. And don’t forget to thank the stage manager when he gives a call (“15 minutes!” “Thank you 15!”). That’s so the stage manager knows that you heard the call and are ready to go.
16. Never touch someone else’s prop, even if you think it’s out of place. They may have moved it there on purpose in order to help the flow of the show. Bring it to the attention of the stage manager if you think it’s in the wrong location.
17. Always check your props before curtain. Things happen, props get bumped or moved or crushed. It’s also comforting to know that everything is where you expect it to be before the curtain goes up.
18. Props don’t belong to you, they belong to the theater. Treat them with respect and be sure to return them to their rightful locations after you’ve used them. If you’d like to practice with a prop at home, DON’T. Find an alternate or make arrangements with the director or stage manager to come in and rehearse at some other time.
19. Unless you’re doing improv, don’t ad-lib. The authors and playwrights wrote the lines that way for a reason so if you want to mess around with the script, write your own play.
20. Whether it’s a rehearsal or production night, don’t miss a call time. There’s a very good reason that the director made a call for 6:00pm even if you don’t know what it is. And if you’re going to be late or miss a rehearsal, let the stage manager or director know as soon as possible so that they have plenty of time to make allowances.
21. Always give your best! Whether it’s a 1pm matinee with a house full of kids or an 8pm curtain in front of the reviewers, the audience paid to come see you become somebody else. There’s no excuse for giving less than 100%! Focus!
22. Always be respectful of everyone you work with: the staff, the crew, the directors, the designers, the other actors, and yourself.

spring weather, grab our clubs – and support the Playhouse! 

We are happy to announce this year’s

Golf Tournament on May 21st 2012

Please consider joining us again – or for the first time – this year!

For details or to participate click the link below to download the 2012 registration form

http://www.apacape.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/apa_golf4.pdf

Peter Milsky as Tevye-Robert Tucker/Focalpoint Studio

February 16~March 18

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm

On February 16th, welcome back Peter Milsky as Tevye the milkman in the Academy’s production of Fiddler on the Roof. Joined by a stellar Academy cast, the classic musical by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein, based on Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye the Milkman and Other Tales, tells the story of Tevye and his daughters as they struggle with outside influences challenging their faith and their traditions in 1905 Tsarist Russia.

Tickets are $22.00. Please call 508-255-1963 for more information and to reserve your tickets now!

Reviews

Cape Cod Times: With strong lead actors, academy delivers heartfelt ‘Fiddler’

Scholarship Fund for Dance

Dear Friends:

We are very pleased to announce that two of our Academy parents, Tish Murphy and Paula Peden, have initiated a scholarship fund in memory of Jackie’s father; The Judge John Underwood Scholarship for Dance . This scholarship will benefit Ballet students, Level 4 and up.

If anyone is interested in making a donation to this scholarship, you may do so by making your check out to the Academy of Performing Arts, noting the scholarship on the check and mailing it to 5 Giddiah Hill Road, Orleans, MA 02653.

Jackie will be notified of any and all donations to this scholarship.

Thank you!

Academy Playhouse,  120 Main Street, Orleans

Four Legged Friends Fine Art

By Rebecca S. Lach

http://www.capecodfineart.net/index.htm

Rebecca’s pet portraits come alive. Whether it’s a pedigree poodle, a graceful greyhound, or a sophisticated feline, her pencil paintings reflect the warmth and personality of every companion animal. Her artwork truly captures an animal’s endearing essence, and always reminds people of why each pet is “part of the family”.

Rebecca is a self-taught artist with a degree in early elementary education. When not drawing fur-children, she can usually be found tending her vegetable garden or reading a good book, curled up with her dog Scotia.

In addition to individually commissioned portraits, she has designed several motifs for Image Source International. Rebecca has also illustrated several publications. Twenty-one of her illustrations appear in Cape Cod at Three Miles an Hour: A Sense of Place Which Can Only Be Learned on Foot, which is a collection of nature essays about the natural history and conservation areas of Cape Cod.

Creator of Four-Legged Friends Fine Art, Rebecca is an accomplished artist who cares deeply about the welfare of animals. Her passion for furred, feathered, or scaled creatures shines through in one-of-a-kind pet portraits, enjoyed by families across the country.

For Reservations or more information please call 508-255-1963

Stephen Russell

January 14th at 8pm Tickets are $12.00

A Synopsis From A.R. Gurney’s Website http://argurney.com/

Every play has its own trajectory, and this one has had a particularly unusual one. It began with a reading at Lincoln Center, went on to a fine production at the Williamstown Theatre Festival with Mariette Hartley playing the lead,  then graduated to another good run at Buffalo’s Studio Arena Theatre, with Betty Buckley doing the honors. Yet for about five years after that, nothing much happened to it. Finally, after writing several other plays, I found that Buffalo Gal was still tugging at my sleeve. The original director, John Tillinger, was unavailable to work on it any more, so I offered the play to Mark Lamos, with whom I had worked several times before. Together we cut it, eliminated the intermission, tinkered with the ending, and brought the play up to date. The producers at Primary Stages, who by that time had done several other plays of mine, were willing to give this lady with a checkered past another chance.

Meanwhile American culture had changed as well, and the themes of obsolescence and loss in the play seemed now to have more relevance. So we opened almost eight years after the play’s first reading, with an excellent star, Susan Sullivan, and an unusually good supporting cast composed of James Waterston, Mark Blum, Jennifer Regan, Carmen M. Herlihy, and Dathan Williams, We garnered a generally enthusiastic response from the New York critics. Our audiences, too, were enthusiastic, buying into the play from its first preview and enabling us to extend our limited run. So it looks like this pre-owned vehicle, refurbished, tuned up, and differently detailed, may have finally turned out to be one of my more successful endeavors.