Who are those lovely mustache wearing creatures? Those are you historians, Jake Everhart and Alessandra Bongiardina! Alessandra is the historian in charge of Student Spotlight, but every now and then Jake will drop by. If you're doing anything cool and theatre related outside of school we would be delighted to hear about it so we could then proceed to write about it here! 

 

 Hey Hey thespians! I hope everyone’s years are going wonderfully so far! This is the Part 2 blog about Bella O’Brien’s experiences on filming Hipster! The Musical.  

Recording:

Because it was a film and a musical, they had to go into a recording studio to get the audio for all the songs. Bella said it was odd for her because she doesn’t consider herself a singer, but the fact that she got to set all the levels in her headphones made it easier. “For every song I did a practice and then we recorded, I did multiple takes after given notes. Next we listened to them to figure out how to perfect the songs or we chose the one that was best and continued to the next song.”

Filming:

According to Bella it consisted of long days and early mornings. Bella came prepared in makeup, but would get her costume and change when she arrived and then the cast would eat and do line throughs while the crew set up the shots. “The really great thing about film in my experience was that I did not have to memorize more than the scenes that were being filmed at a time. I was familiar with everything the whole process but I really liked being able to focus on one moment, it was a lot less stressful.”


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Hey hey Children of Thespis! As the marvelous Jake Everhart mentioned above, I'm Alessandra your other Historian for the school year! I am here to glorify all you lovely people and talk about all things theatrical or performancy (I know, not a word) that you all partake in. SS (a classy way of saying Student Spotlight) will be a wonderful way to not only see what other opportunities may be available, but also to learn from the experiences of others and find out something new. 

My first Student Spotlight is about the lovely Bella O'Brien who is currently a supporting role in the movie, "Hipster! The Musical." Bella plays London, a stereotypical hipster with a "consistently dull expression and a mind full of expressionistic poetry." The audition for this movie musical called for her to do the musical audition standard of a monologue and song. Following those, Bella was asked to utilize her British and Oklahoma dialects, both of which she had listed on her resume.

  How is it different from theatre?

According to Bella the hardest thing to adapt to coming from theatre was the lack of continuity. Beyond that she said it was a bit difficult because all the role exploration had to be done outside of filming; there wasn’t a lot of rehearsal time to work it all out. The weather was also a problem for all those involved. “We spent days in 90 degree weather, constantly reapplying sunscreen and wiping away sweat. It was very hard but the entire crew did everything they could to make us, the actors comfortable. If I asked for water, someone on crew would bring me some and same with snacks. I felt that the relationships on set were friendships but also extremely professional which is sometimes hard to maintain.”

Overall Bella really enjoyed filming Hipster! The Musical, and says it was “It was a huge challenge but also the greatest experience of my life.”

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The next day it was time for the dance auditions, something Bella said she was more excited for because the intermediate majors had been doing Hip Hop. She, along with three other people learned the choreography in about 20 minutes and then proceeded to do it multiple times for the panel of auditors. "Laurence [our hip hop teacher] said that even if you messed up it was important to stand out and make an impression. I tried my best to again sell myself and not look at other people." Clearly that worked well for Bella because she soon found out she got a callback for London. She was given sides and used some techniques we learned in theatre in order to be as prepared as she could. She read the sides with 2 other guys who had been called back and following which the director gave them all some feedback before having them do it again. After callbacks the waiting began and Bella eventually found out she would be playing London!

Check out Part 2 up top!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome Thespians to the 2012-2013 School Year. You may say it's too early to start, but with National Thespian Conference next week, it's never too early to get the troupe organized and excited. You know me as Jake Everhart the Outreach Officer, but now I am Jake Everhart the Historian. Let's make history this year! My first Student Spotlight is about our very own Mitchell Lippitt. He has already been very active in theatre this summer, by taking the High School Intensive at the DCTA. The program was 2 weeks long, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, taught by one of our guest artists, Allison Watrous. In the class, they studied Chekhov as well as other playwrights, and performed scenes by Chekhov and from many contemporary plays. They also prepped for college auditions by finding new monologues. Mitchell says, "It was a lot to juggle. But it was beyond worth it."

If you did something cool and theatrical this summer, let me or our other historian, the exquisite Alessandra Bongiardina know, and we can put you in a Student Spotlight! Thank you Mitchell Lippitt, and thank you Thespian Troupe 5869. To those of you going to Nationals next week, see you Monday at 4 AM. Otherwise, see you in August!