NarniaWeb Community Forums

Wow, King_Erlian! That is quite a lot of shows! I wish I could come to see them all, but alas, the distance is too great. Break a leg!

This Spring, I had the pleasure of playing Harold Hill in The Music Man. Then, this Autumn, I appeared in a play based on a memoir of a local author about growing up on a farm. It was a fine little play. I'm happy to have been in it, having grown up on a farm myself. Also, the playwrights are friends of mine, so it was fun to act in one of their shows.

King_Erlian wrote:If things go to plan, I will be in no less than six Gilbert & Sullivan stage productions in 2020 - five amateur and one professional!

Oh wow!! That's brilliant, King Erlian. Which plays are they? (I've been a G&S fan from an early age.)

Patience - third week in March, Bolton
Princess Ida - fourth week in March(!), Sheffield
The Yeomen Of The Guard (professional production) - August, the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate
The Mikado - August, the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate
The Pirates Of Penzance - first week in October, Poynton

For the last week I have been rehearsing with the Logos Theatre in South Carolina!
I returned to New Zealand from England four months ago; I hadn't had any further work in London, but I did fly over to see The Horse and His Boy at the start of March last year, together with some other Narniaweb people. You may have watched the podcast with the Narnia Trivia Quiz (which we recorded while we were together for a couple of days) and heard my voice asking the questions.
I loved the production (see the review by daughteroftheking), and was impressed by the high quality of the work. In chatting to the director afterwards, I remarked, "I'd love to do a show here." Later in the year she contacted me about a role that she thought I would be right for (a very small woman in my age group).

Now I have the great pleasure of working in this amazing Christian ministry. It feels professional, but it is one of the sections of a college - the Academy of Arts. The huge team of cast and crew includes students, local community members, the staff, and me! They are VERY talented in all areas!

The show is called, "A Peep Behind the Scenes", and it's based on a book written by an English minister's wife in 1877.
I found an online copy to read, but in USA the book seems to have been re-issued by Lamplighter, who also did an audio drama of it.
The show is brand new, and has a full set of songs and dances, with a pre-recorded orchestration. It's going to be spectacular!
It has a Christian message, but it also deals with a couple of sensitive issues regarding the treatment of women.
If you are nearby and interested, you might like to consider seeing it.
https://thelogostheatre.com/
Logos also has a Facebook page, where you can find lots of pictures and some video on this show.

So cool coracle! I've heard of that story (through Lamplighter) but had no idea it was being put on by the players at Logos. Congratulations!
Maybe I'll be able to see you in it; (I'm actually living not too far from the Academy!)

Oh please do come.
It's worth getting a few friends together to come and see.
Narnia lovers are most welcome (there are some items on display from the Narnia movies!)
I'm only here for this one show by the way. I'm on a visa waiver for under 90 days.

Question: is anyone in this group involved in the Christian film industry? I've been acting in Christian films since 2016 and have friends all across the industry. Recently, I have been involved in 3 films that will show at the Christian Worldview Film Festival in Tennessee, though it's been postponed due to COVID-19. I'm also a speaker at the festival on how to start a career in acting.

If you're in the Christian film industry, let me know what you do! If you're interested in getting involved, feel free to PM me. I'd love to get you started in the right direction!

Four of the six shows I was to have been in this year (Patience, Princess Ida, The Gondoliers and The Pirates Of Penzance) have been cancelled due to the coronavirus. That just leaves two, The Mikado and The Yeomen Of the Guard, at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate, England in August. The Festival may be cancelled, but I'm hoping it will still go ahead.

Last night should have been the opening night of Patience. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. But the mutual support of everyone in the company on Facebook has been great.

As it looks like I won't be going out much over the next few weeks/months, I've bought an electronic saxophone and I'm going to teach myself to play it.

That's a disappointment, King Erlian!

Our show ran for 2 weekends, a total of 5 performances, and has now closed for two weeks. I'm waiting to hear whether we can resume at the start of April. If not, I think I'll be flying home.
If we do resume, I dont know whether there will be flights in late April to get me home then.

If it doesn't resume now, I will be going home early.

After my previous post, things escalated. The students went home as the semester ended early; there are lots of loose ends for most of them.
On advice from my family back home, and our government, I got flights booked and flew back to New Zealand; I was firstly in quarantine for 6 nights, then was flown to my home city yesterday. The rest of the season is now cancelled, but there is a possibility of a summer run, depending on the pandemic.
I am sad that this exciting time on stage for me has come to an end so abruptly. There must be many other people who have had their normal tasks cut off, but this was something special.
The day before the students were being farewelled, a theatre friend in London posted a Facebook message about leaving a light on in a theatre that has been closed, as a sign that people will be back - it's called a 'ghost light'.
I let the theatre directors know and they took out the prop lamppost from their production of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. It is plugged in, and burning one quiet bulb, until people return to perform once more. I joined the students in a circle on stage around it, as we sang a couple of hymns and prayed.

The show was recorded on video during its first two performances, and as well as selling it on DVD, the theatre is now streaming it for a small cost (less than the price of a seat -as you can imagine, a lot of audience income has been lost).
If you want to try streaming it, here is a link:
https://theacademyofarts.org/virtual-logos-theatre-2/
I have watched it, and apart from seeing every imperfection in my performance, I loved seeing the whole show from the audience's view!
My earlier post told about the show. https://forum.narniaweb.com/viewtopic.php?p=329789#p329789

And NEXT : The Logos Theatre is about to put its trailer on line for The Silver Chair, which will be its next Narnia play, currently due to start in early December. We were shown a trailer for the opening day of our play, and we got pretty excited.
Watch out for the new trailer!

Coracle, it was so much fun to see you in A Peep Behind the Scenes! I’m sorry that the run was cut short, but I’m so happy that the Logos put the show online for viewing so I could watch from miles away.

I’m looking forward to seeing The Silver Chair later this year. Perhaps we could get a group together to go see it.

Thank you. It's an odd thing to have your season cut so short - any of you who have done stage shows will know that as you come to the end of a run every performance becomes special, and there are various farewells you make, asking the rest of the cast to sign your programme, giving little gifts, etc, and the inevitable last night sadness and hugs.
Having been deprived of this, I am still somewhat in limbo and need to work through the fact that it has finished in this way.
Has anyone else had a stage show cut short?

I hope it's okay if I bump this thread up. I was so excited when I found out it existed, because I love acting!

I've had the dream of acting, movie acting, for around four years. I think. It feels like so much longer. Anyway, I have spent so much time researching, trying to find the best way to get to the movies, but have had little success. You see, I don't come from a family of actors, nor do I know anyone else who is interested in movies, so I've pretty much just been relying on Google. I hope no one minds me asking a few questions about beginning an acting career. This seemed the best place to put them.

1. Is it better to start with theater acting, or is it possible to start as an extra in a film?

2. Should I take an acting class first? Is there any good online acting class you would recommend?

3. I would rather be in family-friendly movies. Is the Christian film industry a good place for people like me?

Hi Carley, the best start is getting some acting skills, and local theatre is a good place, plus an acting class. Yes, theatre is a bit non-existent at present, sadly.

You may want to google classes in your area (even if they are currently online, lockdown won't be forever, and it would probably give you good contacts), and maybe convince a friend to try it with you. If you are going to be auditioning for roles, you want a bit of confidence and the basics of where to look, how to speak, the parts of the stage, etc.

Perhaps also find a speech tutor who can give you tuition online or in person for using your voice and words the best way (pauses, emphasis etc).

Look into finding an agent - there are discussions on this further up the thread. Depending on where you live, the chance of finding Christian-based arts will vary.

EDIT: After writing this, I noticed a post from Son of Narnia further up that may be useful to you.

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