Announcing: Talent Manager Brad Lemack’s New Book for Actors

A New Landscape Requires a New Strategy
Talent Manager Brad Lemack
Teaches Actors How to Survive and Thrive
in a Challenging Business Climate in his new book
THE NEW BUSINESS OF ACTING:
HOW TO BUILD A CAREER IN A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Coming September 1st from Ingenuity Press USA & SCB Distributors

In an expanded and updated follow up to his popular first book, The Business of
Acting: Learn the Skills You Need to Build the Career You Want, talent manager Brad Lemack offers both young, new-to-the-business and “working” actors a vital perspective on the changing landscape in which they seek to launch and grow (or to reinvent) their professional careers. To be published on September 1, 2010, The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape teaches actors how to be smart, proactive and strategic throughout their career journeys. Lemack teaches actors the critical, non-performance skills they need to build the careers they want – and how to apply those skills in positive, professional and productive ways.

Back Stage called The Business of Acting a “must read” for actors. The New Business of Acting, with a foreword by Isabel Sanford, the Emmy Award-winning star of the long running television series The Jeffersons, explores the revolution taking place in how business is conducted and how those dramatic changes impact how actors must conduct the business of their careers.

Certain to become another must read, this empowering new book builds on the lessons taught in The Business of Acting, while addressing how to apply those lessons to the digital and economic landscape that is the “new” business of acting.

Key chapters explore the changing roles of agents and managers, the new demands on casting directors in the new landscape, the importance of creating, protecting and honoring your “brand,” emotional, physical and fiscal fitness in a challenging economy, and guidelines for seeking out and getting a head shot that fits the frame of the new business.

Readers will learn the art of managing expectations, a required skill in knowing how to act (and when not to) on the global Internet stage of self-submission opportunities, and, perhaps most important for the young actor, those about to or just entering the business will discover what they must know to make a healthy, happy and empowered transition from student of the performing arts to wanting-to-be-working, professional actor.

Readers will also learn how to create and launch an action plan for career success that teaches them how to effectively and strategically use the tools introduced in the book, and how to be a smart actor implementing their plan all along their journey.

It’s not about talent and performance; it’s about perspective, planning and process.

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07-28-10

Announcing: Parasite Drag

ELEPHANT THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
PARASITE DRAG BY MARK ROBERTS, DIRECTED BY DAVID FOFI
SECOND PLAY OF 2010 SEASON
OPENS AUGUST 13 AT THE ELEPHANT SPACE
FOR A LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

Following the much lauded world premiere production of Timothy McNeil’s Supernova, the critically acclaimed, award-winning Elephant Theatre Company continues its 14th season with the west coast premiere of Parasite Drag by Mark Roberts, directed by Elephant Artistic Director David Fofi.  Performances begin Wednesday, August 11, and opening night is set for Friday, August 13. Parasite Drag will play a limited engagement through September 18.

Parasite Drag is a darkly comic play about a small town Illinois family and the stories that haunt them. Estranged brothers Gene and Ronnie are forced together to make arrangements for their runaway sister, whose years of drug addiction have finally taken their toll. At first glance, the two men, driven apart years ago, seem to be polar opposites. But as their sister’s tragedy forces open old wounds, we see that they are very much alike, united forever by a dark, tragic past. Playwright Mark Roberts began his career as a stand-up comic and actor. His credits include appearances on Seinfeld, Friends, The Practice, The Larry Sanders Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and The Naked Truth. Now a producer on the CBS television series Two and a Half Men, Mark’s other plays include Couples Counseling Killed Katie, Welcome to Tolono, Where the Great Ones Run, and Rantoul and Die, which, after receiving its world premiere in Los Angeles last year, will open in Chicago this fall. He is currently the creator and Executive Producer of Mike and Molly, which premieres this fall on CBS.

The cast of Parasite Drag will feature (in alphabetical order) Mim Drew, Robert Foster, Boyd Kestner, and Agatha Nowicki. The design team for Parasite Drag includes Danny Cistone (set), Joel Daavid (lighting), Peter Bayne (original music and sound) and Louis Douglas Jacobs (costumes). Shannon Simonds is the production stage manager, and Parasite Drag is being produced by Elephant Producing Director Lindsay Allbaugh, in association with Don Foster.

There will be two lower-priced preview performances of Parasite Drag on Wednesday, August 11 and Thursday, August 12 at 8pm, and opening night is set for Friday, August 13 at 8:00. THE MEDIA IS INVITED AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THE OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE ON FRIDAY 8/13, BUT IS ALSO WELCOME AT ANY OTHER PERFORMANCE AFTER THAT DATE. Opening night seats are available to the public for $30, which includes a reception with the cast following the performance. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm through September 18 only. All tickets for regular performances are $20 (previews are $15). To purchase tickets, call (213) 614-0556 or reserve online: www.elephanttheatrecompany.com. Also, visit the Elephant on Facebook and follow us on twitter @ElephantTheatre.

The Elephant Space is located at 6322 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of Vine, in Hollywood.
Street parking is available.

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07-20-10

Announcing: Becoming Norman

BECOMING NORMAN SET TO OPEN AT NOHO ARTS CENTER
FOR 18 PERFORMANCES ONLY
AUGUST 6 – SEPTEMBER 12

C. Raul Espinoza, It’s in the Cards, and the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble have announced the world premiere of Becoming Norman in North Hollywood. This new solo show with original music, written and performed by Norman P. Dixon, will play one preview performance on Friday, August 6 at 8pm and is set to open at the NoHo Arts Center on Saturday, August 7 at 8pm. The engagement will run through Sunday, September 12 only. Becoming Norman is about opening up to reconnect with long-buried dreams and finding the courage to be yourself no matter what. This is the real-life story of Norman P. Dixon, a gay man who grew up in a conservative Mormon home in Utah and always wanted to be a performer.  The show follows his struggle to accept himself even as he yearns for the love and approval of those around him. Looking back over his life and the stories that made him who he is, Norman finds the courage to stop hiding behind his fears and to finally let his voice be heard.

NORMAN P. DIXON has a BA degree in theatre from Brigham Young University. He returns to the stage after an absence of many years and is a proud member of the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble. Previously, he was a member of the L.A. Repertory Theatre Company and has appeared in such shows as Private Lives, George M!, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Sunday in the Park with George, Hamlet, and Richard III, among others. Norman is also a greeting card designer and started his own business, It’s in the Cards, in 2001. His handmade cards are sold in fine stationery stores throughout southern California. He was featured on HGTV’s Crafters Coast to Coast, where he showed viewers how he makes custom photo albums by hand.

Becoming Norman is directed by Debra De Liso, and musical director (also on the piano) is Steven Applegate. Scenic design is by Lacy Anzelc, the lighting design is by Coby Chasman-Beck, and sound design is by A.J. Nowak, who also serves as production stage manager. Teal Sherer is the associate producer.

The running schedule is as follows: there will be one preview performance on Friday, August 6 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, August 7 at 8pm. THE MEDIA IS INVITED TO ATTEND OPENING NIGHT ON 8/7, BUT IS ALSO WELCOME AT ANY OTHER PERFORMANCE AFTER THAT DATE. The regular performance schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. The engagement ends on Sunday, September 12.

Admission prices are $20 on Friday evenings and $30 for Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees. There will be a ‘Pay What You Can’ performance on Friday, August 20. Tickets are available by visiting www.BecomingNorman.com or calling (800) 595-4849. Group rates can be obtained by phoning (323) 786-0823. The NoHo Arts Center is located at 11136 Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood.

PRODUCER BIOS
C. RAUL ESPINOZA is a theatrical marketing consultant and producer. He recently worked on the Los Angeles run of the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights at the Pantages Theatre. He spent seven years as Audience Development Manager at Center Theatre Group (Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Kirk Douglas Theatre). Raul has been marketing consultant for various other theatre productions throughout the Los Angeles area from Culture Clash to events at the Ford Amphitheatre. He is an Associate Artist of Interact Theatre Company as well as a company member of the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble, and he also sits on its Board of Directors.

THE NOHO ARTS CENTER and THE NOHO ARTS CENTER ENSEMBLE (formerly Open At The Top Productions) were created in 2004, when theatre veterans James J. Mellon and Kevin Bailey purchased the American Renegade Theatre. Following extensive renovations, the newly christened NoHo Arts Center opened its doors in September of 2004. The Center’s resident company — the multiple award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE) — is comprised of actors, directors and writers, galvanized into a passionate ensemble that creates new plays and musicals, adopting as their vision statement “Theatre for Its Own Sake.”  Critically acclaimed and award-winning productions include Dorian, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Angels in America, Elizabeth Rex, Bush Is Bad, Palace of the End, and Yo Ho Ho! A Pirate’s Christmas, among others.

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07-14-10