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*HELP! On Golden Pond Auditions!*

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Acting
Forum Discription: Q&A about auditions, character development and other aspects of the craft
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1941
Printed Date: 11/25/24 at 7:04am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: *HELP! On Golden Pond Auditions!*
Posted By: Thespian_4_ever
Subject: *HELP! On Golden Pond Auditions!*
Date Posted: 7/24/06 at 10:34pm
I need to know anything about Billy Ray in On Golden Pond auditions are Saturday! HELP!



Replies:
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:28am

What do you want to know?  He's a brat.  He's never met his grandparents, because his mom and grandpa have been at loggerheads for years over absolutely nothing.  (Which, by the way, my own family mirrored for years, so I have a bit of a soft spot for this show.)  He's a good kid, really, but he's inherited the Thayer bullheadedness.  Don't play the negatives, they're written.  Play the positives:  he's fascinated by his surroundings, he's intrigued by everything, but he has a limited way of expressing that.

Now, a question for you.  Are you auditioning for a play you haven't read?  Which fairly closely tracks a widely available movie, that perhaps you haven't seen, either?  Why?

As the board veterans might remember, I did Hedda Gabler several months ago.  At auditions, a college student, bright, very involved in theatre, a good kid in every way, said, to fellow auditioners:

"So, this is some kind of tragedy, right?"

This was not some obscure avant-garde piece nobody's ever heard of.  It was Hedda Freaking Gabler.  Now, I'm not going to say that Ibsen invented the modern realistic play, but, well, he did.   So how does somebody (smart, interested in theatre) show up at auditions with no idea what that play is about?

Thespian_4_Ever, I'm sorry for the rant.  It's really not directed at you.  Break a leg at auditions.  But it can only help you to read the play, okay?



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POB
Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard


Posted By: theaterbrat
Date Posted: 7/25/06 at 1:23pm
Originally posted by POB14


Now, a question for you.? Are you auditioning for a play you
haven't read?? Which fairly closely tracks a widely available
movie, that perhaps you haven't seen, either?? Why?


As the board veterans might remember, I did Hedda
Gabler
several months ago.? At auditions, a college student,
bright, very involved in theatre, a good kid in every way, said, to
fellow auditioners:


[ So how does somebody (smart, interested in theatre) show up
at auditions with no idea what that play is about?


[


I want to tell that to SO many people in my community theater! I
am a teenager, and very into theater. I try to act as professional
as possible, reading the play beforehand, knowing the
characters, having a headshot and resume, etc. Then I get
labled a "snob' and a "know-it-all" by other teenagers, and that
makes me so mad.


Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 7/26/06 at 12:25pm

Three things to suggest Matt:

READ THE PLAY!

READ THE PLAY!!

READ THE PLAY!!!

 



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BD

"Dying is easy, comedy is hard."


Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 7/26/06 at 5:17pm
To elaborate on BMD's comment.  I don't believe he's repeating the phrase for emphasis, I think he means to read the show at least three times.  That is how I was trained and that is what I do. 

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Investigate. Imagine. Choose.


Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 7/26/06 at 11:10pm

Originally posted by castMe

To elaborate on BMD's comment.  I don't believe he's repeating the phrase for emphasis, I think he means to read the show at least three times.  That is how I was trained and that is what I do. 

Uuuhhh......ok that too.   LOL



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BD

"Dying is easy, comedy is hard."


Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 7/27/06 at 11:28am

Theatrebrat,

just keep doing what you are doing. don't worry about what the other teens say. If that is the way they think they will never have a chance in geting a real theatre job. sounds like you have a good attitude you should go far. Besides it just means you will get better parts

Rock On!!



Posted By: Thespian_4_ever
Date Posted: 8/17/06 at 10:23am
Well I ended up not auditioning for the show becuase another show I'm stage managing conflicts with On Golden Pond...

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Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 9/13/06 at 3:21pm

Just for the record..........

but he's inherited the Thayer bullheadedness

Billy Ray WAS NOT a Thayer.  He is Bill Ray's son and Chelsea Thayer is his step-mother (to be until she and Bill get married).  About the bullheadedness though, he COULD easily have been a Thayer - which is why he probably gets along with Norman.  But it's a moot point now since you didn't take the role.

TonyDi



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"Almost famous"


Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 9/14/06 at 9:53am
Oops, you're exactly right -- I had forgotten that.  Please imagine that I said that "he HAS the Thayer bullheadedness" instead of "he's INHERITED" it.  

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POB
Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard


Posted By: Nanette
Date Posted: 9/14/06 at 12:17pm

Are you auditioning for a play you haven't read? 

I would have to say nearly the same thing for audiences!  At least read the background info on performaces before you go see a show you're unfamiliar with. 

I attended a production of "Chorus Line" at a Philharmonic Center for the Arts (NOT cheap tickets ... wealthy patrons ... the whole she-bang) and half the audience left at intermission because of "Tits and A--".  Good for me, though, as I moved into better seats for the second half of the performance! 



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In a world of margarine, be butter!



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