Baby! Should We Have A Baby?

Is a career in the theatre or acting really a good match to becoming a parent?  Cost of living is high, stress is high, and auditions happen often with less than 24 hours notice.  Does an actor have to choose to act or to parent?  Some would agree to succeed you cannot have a family and others would not.  You have to decide you want a family and then go from there. 

If you choose to have a family, the bottom line seems to be your support system; create or have in place people who you can go to for help.  Now, this does not mean that you have to live next to your family, though that is a rather ideal situation for most people.  What you can do is create a co-op of other friends who are artists or new parents in your area and hope you can be mutually supportive for each other on a variety of fronts.  Going through pregnancy, the medical ins and outs of childbirth, to breast feed or not, babysitting, and the millions of decisions that can overwhelm new parents.  Everything is easier if you do it with other people.

As I evolve my lifestyle with my husband, I continually have to think outside the box to create what I need when it comes to the idea of starting a family.  The way I do this is examine what I desire as the result and determine a variety of options that would lead to the result.  Los Angeles makes this task challenging and possible because many others are in my boat.

Every decision has a consequence.  Will being a parent make me a better person?  I believe it will. Being a mom is something I would love!  I am lucky enough to believe firmly that my husband will be a phenomenal father.  Do I think parenting is hard?  Hah!  It's the hardest thing a person will have to do.  I'm up for the challenge!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Life Happens

I swear I'm not going to go on about my cat in this blog.  I am, however, going to share with you that life and work can intermingle.  I was up for a gig testing a skin care product that I really believe in, and I couldn't make it to the audition because of the things going on with my cat.  I prepared myself for ridicule from the casting director and was pleasantly surprised to find support.

You see, we all have lives that keep going whether or not we pursue careers.  This CD had, in fact, lost a dear creature not that long ago and could appreciate my situation.  Plus, my puffy eyes would not make for a good skin care representative. 

The bottom line is I learned I can be honest about my life and still have support.  I realize this, too, was a gift from my fuzzy love - his parting gift.  Loving is not something to apologize for, it's something to celebrate.

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Healthy Competition

Do you often see friends at auditions? Yesterday, I was auditioning for a hilarious spot that required a talented Shakespearean actress. Of course I'm going to see some friends there!!! After all, how many of us play Shakespeare in Los Angeles?

This started me thinking about healthy competition. I've never been one who feels that I need to knock off all of my competition to get ahead. That competition helps me refine my craft. These people are often my friends who I will work with again, enjoy, and admire.

So many artists are great. Each artist embodies special talents or traits (ideally enhanced by training). Each gig is going to require something special; the casting director is hired to match actors' unique gifts to the roles. Since I can't begin to guess what they think they're looking for, I simply do my best.

After the audition, I give myself the walk from the casting director's office to my car to beat myself up about what I might have done differently - and then I let it go. If I just can't seem to let it go for whatever reason, I do some sort of ritual to let it go like have a fire in my fire pit and write the word "anxiety" on a paper and burn it. Or take a shower and imagine the water is washing away the event. Okay, I like dramatic gestures.

Auditioning is part of the business. If I mulled over every audition for days, I'd soon loose my mind. If you find yourself doing that, try to audition more so you don't attach so much weight to each audition. Let the inevitable competition inspire you to rise to the occasion.

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the heart of every dreamer with her quote above. How often are we encouraged to intermingle practicality with our dreams?

Can an actor really be a great actor if she is wondering how she's going to pay for her next meal? Sadly, artists of most genres are not valued in our culture. As evidenced by the National Endowment for the Arts becoming more of a figurehead than a grant-giving institution as well as our schools cutting arts programs. *sigh* These schools are creating tomorrow's leaders.

I firmly believe that giving people, young and old, the power to creatively express helps people find a voice to articulate their experiences -- which increases happiness because we feel heard. We often don't have words to communicate the state of mind we're in, so we say things like "blah." If big feelings don't have words, creative expression allows that feeling to be recognized and diffused just by sitting with the feeling for a while.

If you're having big feelings that seem all bottled up, get a cheap paint brush and some water and find the nearest concrete, then water-paint. I used to do this as a child and never knew it is also used for expression therapy. If you want to one-up that, go get some inexpensive water colors and some paper and see what you come up with.

Your dream and future may require a sprinkle of practicality, do it with fervor!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Get a taste of Other Times

In our modern day of 2010, many of the rituals and everyday doings of yesteryear can be fleeting, or even unbelievable. If you want to see how people lived in other times, PBS and the BBC (I'd rent them on Netflix!) have treats for YOU!

Another reason to view these gems is you really get a clear idea of where we came from as a society and how a time period can affect the mind, body, and being.

I'd love to hear from you if you have more to add to this list!!!

Click on the image and you'll be directed to Amazon for more information on the series, (other than 1940's House).

Enjoy!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

1940s House (image to left)

Family Matters

You can't regrow a family, much as we dream about it when we're young. In spite of miscommunications and hurt feelings that all relationships have, your family is yours for better or worse.

You don't have to like your family. Heck, you may not even choose to have them in your life. Or you may talk to one or more of your family every day and they may be the most consistent people in your life! Family defines who we are, the roles we play professionally and personally, and instill in us our self-worth.

If you have a great family - do something a little extra special for them today. If you have struggles with your family, do one activity today and dedicate it to growing love and tolerance in your family. Either way, the time you spend will increase love in your life.

And if your family is no longer in the physical realm, creating your own family whom you choose is a worthy and wonderful endeavor.

Family matters.

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

NO is a Great Word

So many actors - and people - think they have no power. Not true!

The only power we often have is the ability to say "no." When we get an offer for a role and we don't think it's enough money, we can say "no." When we are asked to scab, we can say "no." When we are given a script that looks vastly different than the one we agreed to (provided it's in the contract) we can say "no."

The bottom line is you are going to asked to do things you are not comfortable with doing. Your job is to figure out where your line in the sand is and avoid crossing it.

Hear and use the existential advice Polonius gives in Shakespeare's HAMLET, "To thine own self be true."

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Find a Character through Time

When you are hired to play a person living in another time, though we share the trait of being human, that person moves differently than you do now. I am sure you are aware of the fashion discrepancies decade to decade, let alone in another century, so how do you allow these differences to inform how you re-create the world of that time?

Necessary To Do List:

• rehearsal clothing that mimics your costume(s)
• research on undergarments, clothing styles, and garment materials (wool would feel very different than silk - how would that inform how you move?)
• research on that town/area to learn standards of living, culture, belief systems, and where your character would fit both truthfully and most interestingly
  
• what sort of secret might your character have with these given circumstances?
• what sort of props would your character use and how can you create relationships/personalize those props?
  

Your dramaturg is your best friend. Great information will be had through his or her research. Regardless, do your own research prior to your first rehearsal so you can go in with questions, ideas, and fun secrets with which to play.

If you find yourself getting bogged down with the era of the play, you might find tempo of movements free you up. For example, tempo can be the inner rhythm through which your character operates. If you're playing Hedda Gabbler, you might consider her tempo to be that of a persistent heart beat. How would that inform what you do given the time, place, and garment restrictions?

Rehearsal is the time to play, play, PLAY! Use your fine imagination to live in the world of the play; use your intelligence to inform distinct choices about that world.

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Are You Living Wisely?

How do you know if you're living the way you'd like to live? According to Kornfield and Walsh, three major questions will help "motivate us to reorder our priorities, to live more fully and authentically, and to heal our relationships. Careful reflection on our life and inevitable death is a powerful means for developing wisdom.

• Given that we will all die, what is truly important in life?
• If you were to die tomorrow, what would you regret not having done?
• What relationships remain unhealed in your life, and how could you begin healing them?"

Find a quiet place and reflect on these questions. Allow thoughts to roll around in you and let the answers be grand. You can always pare down what you determine and create forms of your grand thoughts IF THAT'S NECESSARY.

We live but a moment. How will you spend yours?

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Classes Keep You Fresh

After earning an M.F.A. and a B.F.A. in theatre, I felt burnt out. Training or taking another class, even though I love classes, just seemed like a burden.

And then I met Alexandra Billings of Steppenwolf West who teaches Viewpoints. At FSU/Asolo Conservatory, while earning my M.F.A. I apprenticed movement expert Margaret Eginton because I find movement to be a delightful way to stay out of my head and dive into a role viscerally. Alex takes that diving to a whole new level.

I was introduced to Viewpoints in grad school, but the Viewpoints never made sense - because I don't think they made sense to my teacher. I read Anne Bogart and Tina Landau's books on Viewpoints and it still seemed murky. Alex cleared the murk and added shimmer!

Not only is Alex incredible at conveying the purpose of the Viewpoints to her students, she also puts the onus of learning on the student without judgment. That makes her one of the best teachers I've had, and I've been a professional student for 30+ (cough) years.

If you're feeling stuck or heady as an actor, or you are just looking for inspiration, do yourself a favor and take Alex's class. It's affordable -- and inspirational. DO IT. DO IT NOW!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

What's the deal with a demo reel?

What do you look like? How do you move? What is your range? How do you get cast? These are some of the answers a demo reel should fundamentally cover. If you don't have a demo, you should make one. In the age of flip cameras, you have NO excuse!

Invite a friend or two over with a camera and play. Learn how to edit, almost all PC's and Mac's have the capability now to do simple editing.

Determine a scene where both of you want something from the other that the other does not want to give, conflict. Determine if you want the scene to be funny or straight/dramatic. Think about where you can shoot it. Think about the place that has the least extraneous noise. Then ACTION!

I have a friend who locked herself in the bathroom at work and shot a funny video in there as if she were talking to her best friend. Do what works for YOU! And then get it on your website (if you don't have one, GET ONE) and get it out to agents and managers and casting directors.

The only way to get work is to make sure people know you can and do work!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Find Your Support

As actors, we examine and live through a myriad of situations including love, killing, having a baby, loosing a child, ending a marriage, and countless more situations. To have an insight to these life changing events, you will have to imagine situations in your own life that could make you justify or understand how you would feel to live through them. That's not an easy task.

When preparing to tell these life or death stories, you are calling upon the crevices of your soul. You are shaking out dust from the primal places in you most people hope to hide from and never unearth. Making friends with your demons is not a task for the meek, it is a calling for the warriors who grace our stages and screens.

Living through these lives of characters, highs and lows, requires support from loved ones. If you are lucky enough to find that support in your family, cherish it and call upon them often. If not, cultivate your garden of friends. These people who believe in you will be your touchstone.

When putting on the paint of a warrior, remember you fight for the right of all humanity to have feelings, express big emotions, and to keep living life to the fullest. You, my friend, are an inspiration for others to LIVE.

Be bold!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Myths About Actors

1. Actors cannot have a family and success as an actor.

Though the pressures of traveling, regional theatre, always looking for the next job, and self-esteem can put pressure on a relationship and family, countless actors you've never heard of enjoy the stability and love of creating a family. Actors have always had to think outside the box to succeed; enjoying a family is no different.

2. Actors need to be unstable to be really talented.

On the contrary, more actors get fired due to irresponsible behavior, including stars. Having or exacerbating a mental illness will not insure a stable acting process, it will make an actor a time-bomb of misery. Actors are sensitive and aware of their emotions and how to access those emotions. To enjoy life, an actor needs to tend to her wellness so she can be resiliant and dependable on set - and off.

Do you have some myths to add? Let me hear about them!!!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Awareness Takes Time

Some people dedicate their lives to breath and awareness in the body; I am one of them.

One of the fundamental involuntary processes in our body is breath. This life supporting function can also be adjusted voluntarily. Because of this duality, breath can and does link directly to the calming or stimulating of the nervous system.

Connecting to the breath will connect you to sensations that are occurring in your body moment to moment. Sensations connect you to emotions. So if you are able to allow and experience your breath, or let your body breathe you, you can then fully experience your NOW.

You may already understand and agree that breath work is fundamental to an actor. Actors take years to train and develop breath support. We hone the ability to breathe in large thoughts to avoid running out of breath. Without good breath support, an actor cannot do quality stage work - no matter how intimate the theatre.

If you are interested in exploring breath work, I offer private classes that are informed by Rodenburg, Berry, Linklater, Fitzmaruice, and Skinner. To breathe is to live.

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

DOing may be our UN-Doing

Charlotte Selver said, "We come into the world and soon learn to feel we always should be doing something instead of simply being open for what presents itself at the moment."

We are conditioned at a very young age to DO because simply noting something does not demonstrate to others you get it. Selver sites examples like a mother demonstrating for her "child, "mmmmm, doesn't that taste good?" (as she smacks her lips), or "Listen to the airplane!" (looking up strenuously)."

So how do we combat or learn alternative ways of being? As artists, or people, healing our souls is paramount. Without health, longevity lacks joy.

Meditation is embraced by many cultures to heal thoughts. WAIT! If you are repelled by the thought of sitting in a room with a bunch of other people trying to clear your mind, you are not alone. This is NOT the only way to create a centering practice.

A centering practice can be anything from traditional meditation to a repetitive action that requires focus, but allows the mind to percolate: it is something you practice often to rid yourself of any unnecessary feelings. Feelings begin from sensation, we interpret the sensation and give the experience meaning, and the meaning is often linked to our core belief system.

Do you crave to be more comfortable in your skin and in your life? Think about sensations you get that calm you down. What are the elements present in those experiences?

Sensations are great in that we can create a new one in our body at any given moment to override the sensations that may lead to uneasiness. Find your happy triggers and use them often!

Give my Core to Win two minute "awakening sensations" a go!

1. Find 2 minutes where you are uninterrupted - TWO.

2. Get in a comfortable position (sitting, lying down, standing) and when your body stills (no fidgeting, scratching, etc.),
bring your attention to the sounds around you.
Close your eyes to tune into your hearing.

3. Begin noticing the closest sounds to you and keep moving out until your two minutes is up. (The sounds next to your body, 1 foot, 2 feet, next room, outside, etc. Be specific.)

4. When you open your eyes and come into awareness, note what that experience was like for you. How do you feel in your body now?
What is your breathing like now?
What was the closest sound, the furthest?

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Ambition is Necessary

"Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds."
~Oscar Wilde

If you love what you do, you'll do anything to do it. This is the artists' cross to bear.

Sadly, you and I know people who are amazing talents who do not have the ambition to wade through all of the necessary meetings, business rigmarole, nor embody the tenacity of spirit to remain okay against a barrage of assaulting thoughts.

What will carry a person through the storms? Ambition. How much you want it will determine what lengths you will go to accomplish your goal. What's too much? Where do you draw the line?

I waited until I was healthy, capable, and honed my craft before moving to L.A. Most actors are encouraged to move here when they are young because it's easier for agents to pitch the young ones. Sadly, many young actors do not an acting process intact so they may land the job, and then get fired or never hired again because the performance given is either flat or unrepeatable.

The lesson? Go take classes from people who inspire you who nurture you rather than tear you down. This business is already full of sharks. There are plenty of teachers and coaches who are wonderful both at sharing craft and helping you create your own. Unabashedly, I have been told I am a great teacher because I love what I do and I love helping another actor hone her process.

Look around and find your support system. Surround yourself with people who love you!!!

I'd be interested to learn what you do to remain in integrity - or even if you choose to remain in the business on and off because of the challenges you've found.

Finding your voice is the first step, using it is the second. Let me hear from you!

Copyright 2010 Heather Corwin

Listen to Your Core - Finding Representation

Acting is a tedious business. While actor training is delightful and insightful to an artist as a person and as a performer, the getting of jobs on the regional stage or screen in the jungle of Los Angeles can hurt the sensitive heart of an artist.

Finding the best match to go forward and tackle your career requires personal insight and listening to your gut. The gimme's of meeting with an agent or manager are:

1. Know who you are - your type. This can best be determined by how you've been cast in the past.

2. Know what type of person you like to work with (direct, brutally honest, nurturing, etc.). The person an artist chooses to represent and help mold her career will ideally have a myriad of elements - know which ones are most important to you.

3. Your representation must love your work. As an actor, you should be able to tell if a person truly enjoys your work. If you cannot tell, look for amount of eye contact during your meeting - if the agent or manager does not seem interested, it's because he or she is not. If you don't get that excited feeling, working together may not be the best match.

As for running your business, Phil Brock puts it best: "You are your own CEO and everyone works for you." If the ship is not going in the direction you want, it's time for a meeting. You need to hire the people who you feel will get you where you want to go - and YOU are the boss.

Okay Boss, YOU have to step up to the plate. First, get your tools in order, then build relationships. This is not the days of old where casting directors actually had open calls to meet new actors. If you want to make it in L.A., you need to MEET casting directors and get your work in front of them. Success is all about relationships.

Your tools are crucial: headshots (that look good as a thumbnail) I love Natalie Young, a demo reel (do a FlipCamera video if you don't have anything), and get some credits. If you just can't seem to get into a screen audition, do some 99-seat theatre. Keep acting!!! I don't suggest paying to get into an acting company because I am a firm believer in being paid for your craft, but to each her own. Get on Actor's Access, which is associated with breakdowns, so you can submit yourself. Get on IMDb Pro so casting directors can find you.

Varient Actors' Lab, run by Amie Farrell, is a great class because the format is casting director guests twice a month and class to work skills twice a month. Other options include places like The Actors' Key.

As an artist, you need to tend to your heart. Integrity is tough when jobs are fleeting, the "next best thing" is always around the corner, and people are fickle. Know the things that make you happy, do them, and keep PLAYING. This is your life, make it happen as you wish.

Copywright 2010 Heather Corwin