<p>austinmtmom, I met your daughter briefly after the Friday night performance but didn’t get a chance to tell her how marvelous she was in the show. I watched her performance closely. She has such a luminous face – one which the spot light loves! – and the stage presence of a total professional. She’s a very talented actor and I’m sure she’s going to go all the way in her career. </p>
<p>I nearly fainted from the heat in the “open air” theater but was so impressed with the cast for their endurance and energy. I spoke to the actor playing Danny Zuko and he said how grateful they all were for the commitment of the audience during the heat. Very gracious of him and a tribute to the kind of people who were in the show. Kudos to your daughter!</p>
<p>As a reminder to all, summer stock should indeed emphasis “summer.” You just never know what the weather conditions might be, lol!</p>
<p>Once the summer is over I would love to hear about the details regarding the theaters and shows that performers were involved with. Also working/living conditions and general overall experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words! The show really came together- I was honestly just lucky to be working with such professionals. The cast was absolutely fantastic, and as some of them leave today (or BvilleLady’s S yesterday :(), it’s a bummer. But we’ll always be together, right? In spirit…</p>
<p>To all this involved in productions at the Gretna Theater -
I was pleasantly surprised to see this. We live just a couple of miles from the Gretna Theater, and our son worked there for several summers in high school and his first summer after starting college. He did everything - acting in both the main stage and children’s shows, lighting, sound, building sets etc. It was a great overall introduction to professional theater. And I love that open air theater in the woods with all its history.
Unfortunately, we just got back from vacation so we didn’t see Grease. Are any of you
(or your kids) in any other shows?</p>
<p>I know that BvilleLady’s S is done, but I’m in the last 2 children’s shows? I’d go see “Meet Me in St. Louis” though. SUCH talent and I’ve heard rehearsals are going well!</p>
<p>Just dropped my son off at the airport. He is on the way to the MUNY in St. Louis. Per alibabba808’s request, will post details when I know them!</p>
<p>Let’s bump this - time to start organizing for summer 2013 (no rest for the wicked - kids and parents of the class of 2016…)!! The summer stock 2012 season is over - and school has started. Does anybody want to share any experiences they had this summer? The good the bad and the (hopefully not too much) ugly??</p>
<p>My D performed summer stock for 2 summers. She worked for Music Theatre of Wichita and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Both theatres were great experiences for D. They were very professional and worked with the young actors in a very nurturing way. She learned a great deal and made some really good contacts. Best of luck to all that audition for summer work this next year.</p>
<p>My DS worked at Gretna Theatre in PA this past summer and, hands down, his greatest pleasure was working with his fellow cast members on a production of GREASE. He said they were all amazingly talented and so much fun to work with. His only regret is that he did not have more stage time with them since he held a minor part and had a late call each night. But he got to hang with them during the weeks of rehearsal and production and made some (hopefully) life-long friends.</p>
<p>Summerstock is an excellent experience for any young actor. I’d advise you to jump on Strawhats immediately!</p>
<p>I highly recommend the Hangar Lab Company in Ithaca, NY. My D was lucky enough to be a part of this company this past summer (long program–early June to early August),
and while not paid, one does earn EMC points. The Lab Company consists of 4 Drama League Directing Fellows, 17 actors, 4 design fellows and 4 assistant directors. Together they produced numerous plays for different venues in Ithaca, to include a few mainstage productions at the Hangar Theatre (small professional)…“Lend Me a Tenor,”
“Titanic” (a very cool new production involving some of the original Broadway cast members), and “Next to Normal” were cast with both Lab Company actors and Broadway folks…I saw all three over the summer and was incredulous my D was able to take part in such a fabulous summer program. Amongst numerous highlights for her I think the most rewarding was the chance to do all kinds of theatre and workshops with fellow MTers and actors from various programs (Elon, CCM, Syracuse, UCF, NYU, Boco, and Ithaca). And, of course, Ithaca in the summer is definitely a fun place to be!</p>
<p>Can someone please tell me about the “Muny” auditions? Can you audition for leads if you are non-equity or just chorus parts? If you are chorus can you do all of the shows in the summer? Are the auditions in St. Louis just for chorus?</p>
<p>I’m about 99% sure on my answer for you: in NYC there are only auditions for principals; those who are non-eq will be seen if there happens to be enough time. In St. Louis, there are auditions for principals but you MUST be AEA to be seen however there are auditions for chorus for both eq/non-eq (though I’m sure the AEA folks get to go first). If you were to receive a contract, what I’m even more positive on though is that you would be eligible to get your Equity card immediately and would be thus required to before continuing. I’m not sure how casting works for each of the shows. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>MTCoach, getting your equity card immediately if cast would be true in NYC, but I’m not sure it would work for St Louis? At least, it’s not true here in Philly, where you could be cast in an equity production as non-equity - if they had slots available - but you’d just get EMC points. Here in Philly - again not sure how it works there- you can often audition in Equity calls as a walk-in. You would just go in early and speak to the assistant–usually there’s a sheet for that. It would be extremely unlikely to get a lead unless you’re a child or a teen. But you could get ensemble possibly. Sometimes equity theatres here have general casting calls specifically for a show in which they are having trouble casting–they will then do a general equity/non-equity call. Well, I’m sure you know that. But here in Philly, this wouldn’t result in instant equity; you’d get EMC points. I don’t know if you already know this and St Louis is different from Philly, but in case it isn’t, I thought I’d share that.</p>
<p>Connections- different theatres or ensembles offer different type of contracts with regard to the union. Certain theatres like The Purple Rose here in Detroit are Equity and if you get cast as non-eq, you gain points through work there like you were saying is similar to what is offered near you, however if you were to get cast at a theatre like the Pittsburgh CLO, it’s a forced Equity contract, so you become eligible for the union immediately (if you don’t join, you can’t do a production there) instead of having to gain the required number of points- and then there are different stipulations and rules from there. The union can be complicated. In any case, the MUNY is a mandatory Equity contract and if you’re non-eq, you can’t sign, so if they cast you, it’s one of those situations where you automatically become eligible. (I feel like I might have just confused you more with that rambly reply… haha… hope I didn’t!)</p>
hope I didn’t!)</p>