Actors' Intensive Workshops, AustinOnStage at Gemini Playhouse, monthly, March 11 - May

Received directly from Rob Faubion at AustinOnStage.com:

Austin On Stage Magazine launches

Saturday, March 12th - Saturday, April 9 - plus one Saturday in May

at the Gemini Playhouse, 5214 Burleson Road, Suite 209 (click for map)

Austin On Stage Magazine will launch the new Austin Actors Intensives series - a monthly session of affordable and professional workshops for Central Texas actors – beginning on March 12th. The workshop series continue on the second Saturday of each month at the Gemini Playhouse.

The monthly, rotating series of workshops is designed to provide Central Texas actors the knowledge, tools, and skills that will take their acting careers to the next level. The one-hour sessions will be taught by the top professionals in the business, with curriculum designed to deliver resources that participants can use immediately after the workshops to enhance and further their craft.

The inaugural workshops include:

• “How to Land and Keep a Talent Agent” - Erin Franklin of Agence Talent will share all the information an actor needs to know in order to sign with talent agency. Franklin has repeatedly been named the top talent agent in Austin by the Austin Advertising Federation.

• “Secrets from the Audition Room”- Feature film director John McLean (The Perfect Man Contest, Z: The Zombie Musical) will share his experience and teach the secrets that casting directors are using when casting for film and television.

Marketing Yourself in the Electronic Age” – Marketing expert Scot Maitland will teach participants how to effectively promote their talent and skills with an online presence and reap the most benefits from the Internet, social marketing, and e-marketing.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Arts News: Connor Hopkins and Trouble Puppet Company Honored

Posted by Rob Faubion at AustinOnStage.com, May 29:

Trouble Puppet Theatre Company Founder Honored as Emerging Artist at National Conference

Connor Hopkins, Founding Artistic Director of Austin's Trouble Puppet Theater Company, has been invited to the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Puppetry Conference this summer as an Emerging Artist. Hopkins will workshop segments from his company's upcoming production of The Jungle, based on the book by Upton Sinclair.

Additionally, Trouble Puppet was recently awarded a seed grant from the Jim Henson Foundation in support of The Jungle. Trouble Puppet’s grant was the only one awarded to a company in the entire Southwest. [. . . .]

Trouble Puppet’s production of The Jungle will premiere in Austin at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in September 2009. For more information, visit www.TroublePuppet.com.

Click to read more at AustinOnStage.com . . . .

Interviews: Paul Beutel, Managing Director of the Long Center

Paul Beutel, managing director of the Long Center since mid-2008, recently told Rob Faubion of austinonstage.com,

"Like any new organization, The Long Center has faced the challenges of achieving operating efficiencies. The challenge has been compounded, of course, by the current economic climate. As we have learned more about what it takes to operate the Center on a daily basis, we have confronted the economic challenges and managed to trim our operating budget by an amazing 20%. "The budget trimming did involve the elimination of eight staff positions and job re-ordering. Client and audience services, however, have not been compromised."

Click for full text of Faubion's exclusive interview

Austin Business Journal profile of Beutel by A.J. Mistretta with Qs and As, February 13, 2009

Austin Chronicle article by Robert Faires about Beutel's appointment, September 5, 2008