Mo`olelo Blog

We just ended another session of Your Mo`olelo Playwriting Class on Tuesday. The students were fabulous and creative and inspiring. Here are a couple of them working on an impulse writing exercise…. yes, that is wine and pizza in the photo… essential playwriting tools, ya know.

Here they are, the creative team behind Mo`olelo’s visual branding: Photographer Nick Abadilla and Graphic Designer Lisa Sarkees of Studio L. With them is Night Sky director Siobhan Sullivan.

What are they looking at? …..

…. the very beginnings of the branding for the show:

All shot at the lovely studio of Abadilla Photography.

Stay tuned for the final image.

source: http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ0ZFP46JC&sub_cat=75#WERNICKE’S%20AREA

We’ve been thinking about the brain as we prepare for Night Sky – looking at images, trying to comprehend aphasia. Anna in Night Sky has Wernicke’s aphasia. A good description of this can be found here: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/aphasia.asp

In contrast to Broca’s aphasia, damage to the temporal lobe may result in a fluent aphasia that is called Wernicke’s aphasia. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia may speak in long sentences that have no meaning, add unnecessary words, and even create new “words.” For example, someone with Wernicke’s aphasia may say, “You know that smoodle pinkered and that I want to get him round and take care of him like you want before,” meaning “The dog needs to go out so I will take him for a walk.” Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia usually have great difficulty understanding speech and are therefore often unaware of their mistakes. These individuals usually have no body weakness because their brain injury is not near the parts of the brain that control movement.

In San Diego, a good resource for support and information about brain injury is The San Diego Brain Injury Foundation. You can find them here: www.sdbif.org.

Night Sky Director Siobhan Sullivan and Lighting Designer Jason Bieber met today at the Mo`olelo office to sign contracts and kick off design discussions. …Yes, the look on their faces is one of disdain for the camera woman, Artistic Director Seema Sueko, ever present with her camera for blog-shots – BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

Photo: Night Sky Director Siobhan Sullivan with Mo`olelo Board Member Kay Chandler at the Night Sky auditions.

Thank you to everyone who prepared so well for the auditions today. We appreciated all your hard work.

 (Photo by K.C. Alfred, Union-Tribune)

Mo`olelo selected as the inaugural Resident Theatre Company at La Jolla Playhouse!

Read all about it here:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080427/news_1a27res.html

‘Ecstatic’ about link to Playhouse

Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm to audition for NIGHT SKY. At this time all of our audition appointments are filled. If you are interested in walking-in and being put on a wait-list on the day of the auditions, here are the instructions on what you need to do:

1) Call the Mo`olelo voicemail 619-342-7395 and leave/spell your email address. Someone will email you the audition sides so you can prepare.

2) On the day of the audition, Monday, April 28, 2008, please arrive at the audition location (10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101) between 4:30 PM and 8:30 PM (no earlier and no later please).

3) Go to the check in table and say that you do not have an audition appointment, but request to be put on the wait-list.

4) The audition monitor will give you an info sheet - please fill this out, staple it to your picture and resume, and hold on to it.

5) Be prepared to wait - bring water, snacks, do what you need to do to keep yourself audition-ready.

6) In the event that we have a no-show AND we are not running behind schedule, we will see people on the wait-list in the order in which they arrived. We will do our best to see people on the wait-list but cannot guarantee it. If you are not seen, please leave your picture and resume with the audition monitor and we will keep it on file for consideration for future projects.

Four of the eight members of the Mo`olelo Board of Trustees. L to R: Garry Prather, Clifford D. Sweet, III, Elaine Hiel, Kristin Yoshimoto. On conference phone: Jake Freifeld. Not pictured: Rashim Gupta, Kay Chandler and Caroline Mckoen.

The Mo`olelo Board of Trustees met this evening and discussed calendars, budgets, fundraisers, Night Sky details and much much more! This mighty group of brilliant, talented, smart, and dedicated individuals are the backbone of the Company, generously volunteering their time, energy, wisdom and funds to make Mo`olelo happen. Their commitment to the mission of Mo`olelo is inspiring.

A Standing-O to the Board!

With the NIGHT SKY auditions coming up, everyone involved with casting decisions has received phone calls and emails from actors saying things like, “You know my work, can I just come to the callback?” I think people are surprised to find out that even the Equity actors who Mo`olelo has hired on multiple occasions have to audition at the initial call — no one’s getting a free pass to callbacks. Why? Well, we try our best to create an even playing field for everyone. It’s unfair to the folks we’ve never met if all the folks we’ve worked with in the past get an instant callback and fill up all those slots. For those who feel a little indignant about this policy, think of it this way, we are helping you make sure that your audition skills and audition muscles never deteriorate. What happens when you finally get called in for a major LORT or Broadway audition, but the last audition you ever did was years ago because all your friends have been casting you without an audition? You’ll be at a disadvantage. Auditioning, whether you like it or not, is a major part of the business… Joanna Merlin in her book “Auditioning: An actor-friendly guide,” writes that it’s the biggest part of the actor’s job. Hope this helps to explain why we do things the way we do at Mo`olelo. By the way, I highly recommend Merlin’s book — no matter how long you’ve been in the business, her book is full of terrific insight and audition strategies.

Here are some audition tips that may be helpful to all the folk scheduling NIGHT SKY auditions with Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company:

1. Read the script before you call for an audition appointment – be sure it’s a play you really want to do and a role you connect to. A reading copy is available at Actors Alliance, and the script is published by Samuel French.
2. Don’t call the audition line and ask us if we think you’re right for a role. We won’t answer that question – and it just reveals that you haven’t read the script.
3. Be aware that we get a high volume of audition requests. When making your appointment, be brief, direct and as low maintenance as possible.
4. Read everything carefully, from audition notices, to audition sides, to confirming emails, etc. We take care to give you all the information you’ll need to prepare a strong audition. When someone asks us a question that has been answered in these materials, it gives us a signal that you may be an actor who doesn’t pay attention to details or tries to take a short-cut to get answers.
5. Most important: take the time to prep, strategize and rehearse your audition sides – mine the script, be in relationship. When you come to the audition be open to adjustments from the director. You will most likely be reading with a reader who will be seated next to the audition table.
6. Plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before your audition time. Check in with the monitor. You will be asked to fill out an info sheet which will be stapled to your picture/resume. Bring water and any other provisions you’ll need with you.
7. If your schedule has changed and you need to cancel your audition, please call the Mo`olelo voicemail to let us know.
8. Be courteous to everyone, from the people who check you in, to your fellow auditionees, to the reader, to the director. Bad behavior seems to always make its way back to the decision-makers.
9. Be professional and ready to work when you enter the audition room. Don’t bring in all your personal belongings with you and don’t linger when you’re done. If you do bring in your belongings, keep them by the door and make sure you can quickly pick them up on your way out. Nothing’s more uncomfortable than an actor lingering in the audition room (putting on their coat, putting things in their purse, etc) after the audition is completed – you can do all that in the lobby.

Thank you in advance for your strategic preparation — Break a leg!

*** Added 4/16/08: A great example of what to do!

Mr. X called for an audition and did everything perfectly, so I thought I’d share what he did and why it made us so happy at the office. Mr. X had once cast someone on the Mo`olelo decision making team in a show – in others words, he had a relationship where the tables were turned. But Mr. X did not use this to his advantage. He didn’t call up with any expectations that his previous working relationship with this person on the decision making team would be an advantage or that this person “owed” him something. Instead Mr. X followed the directions thoroughly. He drove down from LA to get to the Actors Alliance and read the script. Then he called the audition number and left a message that said, “I just read the script at Actors Alliance and I would like to audition for the role of X. My name is X and my number is X. I am available anytime on April 28. Thank you.” When the person who he had once hired called him back to schedule the audition, Mr. X remained professional throughout the conversation. He understood that just because he knew this person in another capacity it didn’t mean professionalism goes out the window. Why is this important to us at Mo`olelo? Because we believe that if you create the precedence that “hey, we’re friends, we once did another show together, so I should get special treatment,” it never goes away. It just compounds itself throughout the rehearsal period if this person is cast. The actor would never stand for, “hey we’re friends, so I’m not going to pay you as much.” So why should the producer stand for “hey, we’re friends, so I’m not going to treat you with the professional courtesy I treat others I audition for.”

*** An example of what NOT to do:

A while ago an actor auditioned for a Mo`olelo show. The actor did not get a callback. Later that evening the actor called the audition monitor and left a message, “I didn’t do my best, can I please get a callback?” The audition monitor asked the Director who decided, “No.” The director had seen other actors who had prepped better who were getting called back. We were all taken aback by this actor’s message, which revealed a sense of entitlement. We decided it was best to just ignore the message and that would be the answer.  Not to mention that the audition monitor had a busy evening already: the monitor had to call all the actors who were called back and give them all the info they would need. One more phone call to an actor who was calling out of turn was one call too many. So we all thought the issue was resolved. Apparently not. This actor then showed up on the callback day demanding that we see her again. We said no. This actor has since requested an audition for another Mo`olelo show. Past behavior is a good indication of future behavior so we decided against giving her an audition.  Now, we understand that we all have bad auditions. That’s fine. Had this actor not called the audition monitor and then showed up out of turn, we would definitely give her an audition for another show. But what she revealed to us during the process made us never want to work with her. So keep that in mind: from the moment you make an audition appointment to the moment you walk out of the theater, you are revealing yourself as an actor. At Mo`olelo, we work very hard to raise the Equity wage that we pay to everyone, so we’re extremely careful to make sure we’re making an investment in actors who are not only highly talented, but also professional.