Do you have a question about theatre in general, locally or nationally? Want to know how something theatrical gets done? Curious about what goes on backstage or how an actor prepares for a role? The League of Sacramento Theatres will send your query to a League member for a reply. Just send us your question and check back for the answer!

Question: Would most directors now prefer resume photos to still be in black and white or color? I know that black and white was the standard for quite some time but am not sure if that has changed. Thanks!

Answer: We are hearing that color headshots are the latest thing. This is a cross-over period when we are still seeing plenty of both. We are seeing color headshots for theatre and film. Black and white is still acceptable, but if you are getting new headshots, color is now becoming the norm.

Question: I am writing a book and am looking for information about the passages the actors/musicians use. Areas hidden from the public in general. Have tried doing internet searches without luck. Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

Answer: Theatres differ but, in general, the following areas are the parts of a theatre that the audience doesn't see:

• Wings
• Fly Space
• Crawlspace
• Green Room
• Backstage
• Lighting Grid
• Dressing Room
• Costume Shop
• Scene Shop
• Prop Room
• Orchestra Pit

Question: Why isn't the current August Wilson production at Celebration
Arts listed? Thank you.

Answer: The ability to post on seeaplay.com is a benefit of belonging to the League of Sacramento Theatres. Celebration Arts isn't currently a League member. Click here for information about joining the League.

Question: What is the best way to find out about using college interns to help with a theatre company?

Answer: Intern Programs are generally arranged by the theatre companies. Our suggestion would be to put together an Intern Program for your company, in writing, outlining duties and hours, and then approach Department Heads from all of the Theatre Arts Departments at neighboring colleges to see if they would be willing to offer course credit for those hours and duties, and if they would be willing to promote your program for you to their students. Sac State, UC Davis and the Los Rios Colleges all have strong Theatre Arts Departments. If you are a League of Sacramento Theatres member company, you can post the same outline of duties to SeeAPlay under Volunteer Opportunities to attract those who do not necessarily want to receive college credits for their volunteer time. Good Luck!

Question: I keep getting e-mails on info on upcoming classes which is great, but I can't find the ones that are listed on my e-mail when I click on the home page, I don't see anything that says classes. On the left hand side, I"ve clicked each category. So where do I find Info? Ex. I am looking for the classes taught at Magic Circle that teaches a Masters Musical Workshop.

Answer: If you receive your email in an HTML format, clicking the title of any class in your email will link you directly to information about that class on seeaplay.com. If navigating to the learning section on the seeaplay.com web site, click "about the League" in the left column and then click "learning opportunities."

Question: I am a new playwright in the area. I would like information on placing casting call and stage member notices on your web site.

Answer: The ability to post on seeaplay.com is a benefit of belonging to the League of Sacramento Theatres. For information about joining the League, click here. To apply online, click here.

Question: My daughter needs to "log" in 12 1/2 hours of assisting production work. It can be seating people, selling tickets, lighting or whatever. Who do you believe needs this now? She needs to do this by January 10th. It is for a high school class. We live in the Sacramento area. Thank you.

Answer: Volunteer Opportunities are listed on Seeaplay here. Some of the theatres may have age restrictions, so you will need to call to determine if your daughter is eligible.

Question: Are there any plays/musicals going on on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve? I am trying to find something to do with a few people who have relatives out of town. Some have teenagers.

Answer: There are productions on both Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. You can see what shows are performing by using the calendar in seeaplay.com's production section. Have fun!

Question: Do any local theatres have special groups for people who love the theatre, but don't have anyone to go with? Not a singles-meet-a-mate type of thing, just organized groups that buy group tickets and go to the theatre together and maybe have a meal?

Answer: Theatres generally will offer a group discount but rely on the theatregoers to put together their own group. It's a great idea, though! Maybe you should organize a group interested in attending theatre together. Your group would certainly be eligilble for group ticket discounts at most theatres.

Question: anyone know where it's a a wonderful life is playing on stage in
the area?
- Teri

Answer: The most recent California production of "It's a Wonderful Life" that I can find was at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2005. You might suggest it to your favorite theatre company for their holiday season next year!

Question: Hello, my daughter is 11 years old, she has performed in a local theatre. I would like to see her move on. Maybe in a bigger project. I'm not sure how this work, in the plays that she performed in the past she didn't have to audition. It was more like theatre classes and ending with a final show in front of an audience. I would like her to continue doing the same in a bigger theatre or perhaps she is ready to audition for theatrical projects? Can you please advise me what can I do? If she should continue getting prepare at a higher level where I need to call? Can she assist only on the weekends? Thank you. Francina

Answer: Virtually all theatres will require an audition. The auditions page on seeaplay.com will list most of the audition opportunities in the area. The listings include information on the time commitment, the play and the roles, including age ranges. Another good source of information is SARTA (Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance).

Taking classes is a great way to learn about acting in general, and specifically about audition protocol and techniques. Some of the wonderful youth acting programs in the area can be found on seeaplay.com's learning opportunities page.

Finally, in most community and semi-professional theatres there will be rehearsals on weekends and on weeknight evenings. At the professional theatre companies there will most likely be rehearsals during weekday hours as well. These theatres, however, are accustomed to working with local young people and are generally able to schedule around school schedules. At any level, accepting a role is a major commitment and rehearsals should be your daughter's number one priority. Theatre is a collaborative art and attending rehearsals is mandatory for the sake of the entire cast, and in the best interest of the show. All theatres will accommodate a few conflicts if they are identified before rehearsals begin, but even community theatres are unlikely to grant time off for team sports commitments or evening classes.

Question: What's our hometown Wonderboy, Gregg Coffin (author of Five Course Love), up to lately?

Answer: Playwright Greg Coffin is currently working on "360 Degrees " (working title), a work about the course of human relationships in a culture of isolation. The project received a 2007 NEA grant to support the development, residency workshop, staged readings, and full production of this contemporary musical. Greg will collaborate with Cynthia Levin, producing artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City and resident music director Anthony Edwards to develop the book, music, and lyrics.

Question: Where can we see the play Forever Plaid? Or better yet, how can we convince a theatre around the Sacramento Area that it is worth doing? Thank you. - 12/17/06

Answer: Forever Plaid has been done recently in our area at the Magic Circle Theatre and Garbeau's. It will be playing July 6-22, 2007, in Riverside, CA (click here for information). This is a very popular show, and is likely to turn up every year or two in our area. The best thing to do is keep an eye on the Coming Soon section of SeeaPlay.com for upcoming productions. Also, many theatres will have a questionnaire for you to fill out if you come to see one of their shows, with an area where you can list "what you'd like to see" at their theatre in the future.

Question: How does an actor prepares for a role? - 12/8/06

Answer: Before you have the opportunity to prepare a role you must first GET the role, and techniques for auditions are quite different than for performance.

There are many good books on the subject of auditioning, but the fundamentals are:
1) Be familiar with the text - read the play if you can, or familiarize yourself with the scene you will be reading, in advance if possible.
2) Make choices - make some strong choices about the character and the scene and commit to them when you read. If the director has a different interpretation they will probably give you some direction and another opportunity to read. You are not responsible for guessing what the director has in mind - there is not one "right" answer, so just pick one and make it your own.
3) SPEAK UP, and include the person you are reading with as much as possible. Don't bury your face in your script.
In some cases you will be asked to present a prepared monologue of a certain length. Most actors have several of these, of different lengths and styles, rehearsed and ready to perform at any given time.

Once an actor has been cast in a role, the fundamentals are that he/she must learn his/her lines and blocking (onstage movement.) Some actors do this during the rehearsal process, and some work (especially on lines) outside of rehearsals using their script, a tape recorder or a helpful friend. Some actors do extensive research on the period of the show, the character's profession, background etc. There are sometimes regional dialects to be learned and incorporated into the performance. Many actors work on creating personal histories for their characters which will inform the action. There may be physical characteristics or abnormalities to be researched and rehearsed.

There are many different techniques used by actors when preparing for a role, most of them associated with different schools and philosophies. The British acting schools take a rather technical approach, while most American schools are based on "The Method" (see Stanislavksi's books An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, Creating a Role...) Whether you approach the work technically, starting with external characteristics, and discovering an inner life from there, or start internally, building an emotional life and responding to the work of your fellow actors during rehearsals, and let the physical aspects develop out of that, to be successful you will need to fill in both the external and the internal life of the character. The best way to learn what will work for you is to study some of the different techniques and then get up on stage and use them, as often as possible. There are a great many good books on the subject, other than the Stanislavski books, and a number of fine acting schools in the region, many of them listed here on Seeaplay.com. Nothing can take the place of experience.

Question: I am both an actor and playwrite and would like to know how to contact Actors Equity or any union for their rules. - 10/16/06

Answer: Information about Actor's Equity can be found here:
http://www.actorsequity.org/home.asp.
You might also want to look into The Screen Actor's Guild:
http://www.sag.org/sagWebApp/.
and AFTRA (The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists):
http://www.aftra.com/aftra/aftra.htm.
and here is a link to the Dramatist's Guild:
http://www.dramaguild.com.
and the Writer's Guild of America:
http://www.wga.org.

Question: How do you cast the exact character you want? - 7/24/06

Answer:Through a series of auditions we evaluate the actor's abilities to portray the character that clearly communicates the playwrights intent and helps to clearly tell the story.

Question: How do I read reviews from people who have seen these plays? - 5/21/06

Answer: To read reviews posted for shows currently playing, look for the "see what audience members have to say about this show" link under each show on the Now Playing page. If there is no "see what audience members have to say about this show" link, that means no audience member has yet submitted a review for that show.

Question: I've been told by a friend to watch for productions featuring a talented local pianist/sometime conductor: Graham somebody (she didn't know his last name); do you know of any upcoming musicals featuring this musician? - 2/10/06

Answer: Graham is Graham Sobelman. He maintains a website, grahamsobelman.com which keeps a calendar of his upcoming performances.

Question: What does union mean? If an actor has a union card, does that mean he can not perform at other theatres that don't pay union type wages? - 11/29/05

Answer: "Actors' Equity Association is the labor union representing American actors and stage managers working in the professional theatre. Equity negotiates minimum wages and working conditions, administers contracts, and enforces the provisions of various agreements with theatrical employers across the country."

To apply for membership, actors and stage managers must meet at least one of the follwing eligibility requirements:

Equity Membership Candidate Program (EMC)
This program permits actors and stage managers-in-training to credit theatrical work in an Equity theatre towards eventual membership in Equity. Eligibility under this program requires a total of 50 weeks of EMC work at participating equity theatres.

Equity Contract
You may join the Association once you have been offered an Equity contract from a union theatre.

Four A's (Associated Actors and Artistes of America) Affiliation Membership is also available by virtue of prior membership in a performing arts sister union (such as Screen Actors Guild or the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Applicants must be members in good standing of the sister union for at least one year, and must have worked as a performer under that union's jurisdiction.

Once eligibility requirements have been met, a one time initiation fee (currently $1,100) must be paid to the union. Once a member of Equity, actors and stage managers are permitted to work only in theatres which operate under an official agreement with the union. In doing so, Equity members are guaranteed a minimum weekly salary (determined by the specific contract under which that theatre company operates), employer contribution toward a health and pension plan, and union approved working conditions. As a member of Equity, if an individual accepts an acting or stage management position without a union contract, they are in violation of their membership.

Question: I am a recent college graduate of Eastern Oregon University. While enrolled in a Theater Productions course, my creative beast was released and is now running amok, becoming a dominant character. I have completed a play and am in the process of completing two others (and I have ideas for more). Therefore, my purpose of submitting this inquiry is to find a forum to share my artistic creations. How does a new playwright go about finding a production company to submit ideas and subsequently completed plays? Thank you. - 11/27/05

Answer: There are a number of ways you can go about having your work produced.

In the world of theatre there are not many production companies who produce theatre; almost always it’s a theatre company (owners or renters of a physical building) that produces work. They, like all companies, are trying to find an audience, reach more people and improve their product. More often then not they will have some consistency in the type of work they do. In Sacramento for example you have California Musical theatre which does large scale musicals, the B Street which usually (though not always) does small cast comedies, usually new works, California Stage which usually does original pieces that are driven by topics or issues and so fourth. What you want to do is research the various theatres in the area and locate the ones you feel are doing the type of work do. Go see their work, find out who works there, contact them, find out if you can submit your plays to and even better yet volunteer to work for them – build relationships with the people and organizations you hope to work with. To me this is the best way to go about getting your work produced. But there are other methods which can also produce positive results.

You can also purchase on of the various playwright’s resources guides, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) publishes one that is well thought of. This will give you the submission requirements for theatres across the country. The internet is a great resource as well. There are numerous websites set up to help playwrights connect with theatres and playwrighting competitions.

I would also check out SARTA.com and, of course, the League of Sacramento Theatres web sites for other opportunities.

You can also consider producing your own work, a challenge for sure but a significant learning experience.

As a playwright first and foremost keep writing, be sure to build relationships with other people involved in the theatre community and get out and see as much theatre as you can.