I thought being an actor wasn’t for grown-up people, but it didn’t matter whether I considered it that—I discovered it was essential for my soul that I threw myself into this. — Simon Vance If you’re looking for what it takes to be an actor long-term, over the course of your LIFE, then you’ve come […]
Ep #19: Alan Mandell (The Actor’s Workshop, Waiting for Godot/Endgame, Shortbus) on Samuel Beckett, Theatre Artists, and Always Working
Know something about lighting design, about set design, about stage management, about writing. The actors get most of the praise—but there are all these other artists. Acting is important and you have to work hard at it, but you’re not working any harder than anyone else. — Alan Mandell On the show today is Alan […]
Text Work: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 with Tony Amendola
The following is the text work session taken from the full episode with Tony. In this excerpt, Tony discusses Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare. As Tony shares, it’s almost like an “anti-love” sonnet, that it makes fun of sonnets that are too flowery, as it has a very different tone and style with its message. You’ll hear […]
Ep #18: Tony Amendola (Regional Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Stargate SG-1) on Stamping Your Own Passport and Following the Work
Being an actor in Los Angeles can be—if you’re not careful—living off the interest of your talent and experience. And every so often, you need to make a deposit, and that can be doing theatre in LA, New York, in the regions, or it can be a self-generated project, but you do need to do […]
Ep #17: Robert Goldsby (Columbia/ACT/UC Berkeley; Directed 150+ plays, 60+ years in theatre) on the Aliveness of Molière, Clear Transitions, and Being Blissfully Happy
Plays are intensely personal to the writers—when they write them, they’re imagining something that’s very vivid to them. You have to get into their head and try to find another vividness that’s truthful to the original. I’m all for the playwright; that’s where you go to study. — Robert Goldsby On the show today is […]
Ep #6: Nike Doukas (Regional Theatre, Teacher/Director) on Determination and Embracing Emotion
“This is a business and it’s a huge part of being an actor. We go around thinking we’re artists—and we are—but we have to know how to make a career out of it, too.”
Nike Doukas is an actress, director, teacher, and accent coach. She studied at University of Wisconsin, Madison and has an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre. She works regularly in regional theatre and has nearly 40 credits on IMDb, including work on Modern Family and a recurring role on Desperate Housewives.
