The Working Actor's Journey

It's a special one today—a double-bill! Randall Duk Kim and his lifelong professional partner—and wife—Annie Occhiogrosso are one of the great teams of the American theatre. They have worked together their entire professional lives and are dedicated to the classics, and in particular, to the works of William Shakespeare. They, along with their partner Charles Bright, founded American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where Randall and Annie were co-Artistic Directors. Randall has worked as an actor for 50+ years, playing dozens of leading roles all over the country at major theatres. Annie has worked as an actress, director, dramaturg, and teacher.

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode with Randall and Annie:

• Not seeing race as any kind of barrier in theatre
• Moving to New York and submitting to every Shakespeare festival
• Why Annie initially despised Randall over his casting in a play
• The ideas and misconceptions behind "classical" and "method" acting
• Starting their own theatre to work on Shakespeare's First Folio
• How Randall, a lifelong classical actor, ended up in The Matrix

And so much more! Plus, we get another mini-Shakespeare master class: Randall and Annie dive into Hamlet's advice to the Players and share so many wonderful tips and tools!

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Hamlet by William Shakespeare

HAMLET (First Folio version)

Speake the Speech I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you trippingly on the Tongue: But if you mouth it, as many of your Players do, I had as liue the Town-Cryer had spoke my Lines: Nor do not saw the Ayre too much your hand thus, but vse all gently; for in the verie Tor- rent, Tempest, and (as I may say) the Whirle-winde of Passion, you must acquire and beget a Temperance that may giue it Smoothnesse. O it offends mee to the Soule, to see a robustious Pery-wig-pated Fellow, teare a Passi- on to tatters, to verie ragges, to split the eares of the Groundlings: who (for the most part) are capeable of nothing, but inexplicable dumbe shewes, & noise: I could haue such a Fellow whipt for o're-doing Termagant: it out- Herod's Herod. Pray you auoid it. Be not too tame neyther: but let your owne Discretion be your Tutor. Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action, with this speciall obseruance: That you ore-stop not the modestie of Nature; for any thing so ouer-done, is frõ the purpose of Playing, whose end both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twer the Mirrour vp to Nature; to shew Vertue her owne Feature, Scorne her owne Image, and the verie Age and Bodie of the Time, his forme and pressure. Now, this ouer-done, or come tardie off, though it make the vnskil- full laugh, cannot but make the Iudicious greeue; The censure of the which One, must in your allowance o're- way a whole Theater of Others. Oh, there bee Players that I haue seene Play, and heard others praise, and that highly (not to speake it prophanely) that neyther hauing the accent of Christians, nor the gate of Christian, Pagan, or Norman, haue so strutted and bellowed, that I haue thought some of Natures Iouerney-men had made men, and not made them well, they imitated Humanity so ab- hominably.

Mike Moreno hosts The Actor CEO Podcast (available on Apple, Stitcher, etc) and he dives into the knowledge and skills that allow actors and artists to embrace their creative entrepreneur spirit, along with the reality that you both run and own your own business from the moment you choose to be a professional.

Its focus is to help you learn the skills that make a more successful actor by taking control of yourself as a brilliant, creative business and becoming a rockstar CEO of that business. Join Mike in becoming an Actor CEO!

Actor CEO has over 100 episodes and Mike has talked with teachers, industry pros, and actors of various levels, and has covered so many different topics, including actor finances, marketing, social media, auditions, voice over, and so much more!

The show is very well-reviewed and often in the top 200 of all Performing Arts podcasts in the US. Many of you may already be listeners and fans, but if not—get on that!

Many of you may already be listeners and fans, but if not—get on that!

Just a bit of what we cover:

• Where is Mike in his journey?
• The difference he's seen in performers between NY and LA
• What Mike has learned from doing his podcast
• Why it's crucial to create great self-tape auditions!
• The two things that if actors do will put them miles ahead
• What you can learn from Will Smith and The Rock when it comes to performing

I hope you enjoy this conversation—I'd love to hear what you think about this kind of episode, if it's helpful, and if you'd like to hear more like it. Reach out to me on Twitter @wajpodcast, or if you prefer, you can send an email here.

Click here for full show notes and links.

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L. Scott Caldwell, or "Scotty" as she is also known, has been a working actress for 40+ years, from Chicago to New York to LA, and many other places! In fact, right after we chatted, she was off to shoot episodes of Facebook's Sacred Lies, ABC's A Million Little Things, and HBO's Insecure. She stays busy! Scotty has over 100 onscreen credits, including recurring characters on Lost, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Southland, Queens Supreme, and PBS' Original Series Mercy Street.

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode with Scotty:

• Her experience and awareness of the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago
• Working on the play A Raisin in the Sun several times
• The impact of watching very strong women on film
• The personal rejection she experienced being fired and the breakdown she had
• What she took from studying with Uta Hagen, and the one item she uses consistently

Scotty and I ended up talking mostly about her early years, leading up to her first film role, and it's such a fascinating journey, filled with excitement, doubt, challenges, and rewards.

Click here for full show notes and links.

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In this episode, Simon shares how he worked on a couple of different audiobook projects: first, dealing with a practically unreadable chapter in Alan Moore's Jerusalem and then, a bit on The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth.

You'll hear Simon discuss:

• The research and immense work that went into the audiobook of Jerusalem
• How he made sense of unusual spellings, and dialogue without punctuation in The Wake
• And what he believes is good narration

Plus we chat about building confidence, and how to approach audiobook projects you may not enjoy.

It's a great session, and it was really wonderful to hear Simon's process of both experiencing anxiety and putting in so much effort to make sure he does the book justice for both the author and the audience.

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The beginning of "Around the Bend"—the "unreadable chapter" in Alan Moore's Jerusalem

Awake, Lucia gets up wi' the wry sing of de light. She is a puzzle, shore enearth, as all the Nurzis and the D'actors would afform, but nibber a cross word these days, deepindig on her mendication and on every workin' grimpill's progress. Her arouse from drowse is like a Spring, a babboling book that gorgles up amist the soils o' sleep, flishing and glattering, to mate the mournin' son. Canfind in this loquation now she gushes and runs chinkling from her silt and softy bed, pooring her harp out down an illside and aweigh cross the old manscape to a modhouse brookfast. Ah, what a performance, practised and applausible. She claps her hands, over her ears, to drone out all the deadful wile-ing and the sorey implecations of whor farmlay. With her bunyans all complainin' she escapes the Settee o' Destraction and beguines her evrydaily Millgrimage towar's ridemption or towords the Wholly Sea; to wards, the tranquilisity of night.

Simon Vance (@SimVan) has narrated over 1000 audiobooks in his career, with such a diverse range of works, from George R.R. Martin and Steig Larsson's Millennium series (which we discuss), to Brent Weeks and Charles Dickens! He's also focused on getting back in front of the camera as an actor, which we talk about at length because of how much success he's had in audiobooks, and he still wants to explore new territory!

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode with Simon:

• What he initially studied at University that didn't work out
• All the twists and turns and decisions that led him to a job at the BBC
• The weekend workshop that really opened his eyes to being an artist
• The struggles he faced as an actor when first moving to California
• Being nervous before starting to record an audiobook
• His new challenge of getting better as an on-screen actor in film and TV—and so much more!

Simon is wonderfully open about the lack of clarity in his early years, the not knowing, and the challenging relationships. While it hasn't always been easy, he also has some fantastic ideas and insights on what has worked for him along the way!

Plus, Simon even shares how he worked on a practically unreadable chapter in Alan Moore's Jerusalem, so don't miss that!

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In this episode, Jeanne discusses a monologue she worked on from the TV show Threat Matrix. She plays a Cambodian woman who recounts her experiences of escaping the Khmer Rouge. I've visited Cambodia and seen first-hand some of the atrocities that happened there—just horrific, as we talk about.

You'll hear Jeanne discuss:

• how a book she had read two years earlier helped her initially with the audition and then again, once she booked the part
• how she ended up finding a sense of ease with the text the challenges of learning a Cambodian dialect, and how she
• felt insecure about it

Plus, we talk about working on monologues that are stories set in the past vs. things that are happening right now!

It's a great session, and it was really wonderful to hear Jeanne's process of connecting to this material.

Click here for full show notes and links.

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Jeanne's monologue (as Dara) from Threat Matrix

DARA

The stream bed, it was dry season

But the rocks still slippery

Uncle Sam help me, carry my baby

He say he have baby boy long time ago in the States

[AGENT FRANKIE: Did he talk about his boy, did he say his name?]

No, but he say worse pain in world

is losing family

[AGENT FRANKIE: How long did you walk?]

At least three hours, then no more

But Uncle Sam, he move quickly like he see in dark

Then he stop us at pool of water near big boulder

Uncle Sam say, many mines in jungle on side

Only way through water

Water deep, cold

Sam carry my baby high

On other side, we see small house

He had name for it.

Jeanne Sakata has had a 30+ year career spanning theater, film, television, and voiceover. She was in two different stage productions this past year, both with notable companies, jumping from Shakespeare to new plays: appearing in Othello at A Noise Within in Pasadena, CA and in Do You Feel Anger? at the Vineyard Theatre in NY.

For her first play, Jeanne wrote the celebrated and award-winning solo show Hold These Truths, based on the life of Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student at the University of Washington who challenged the American Government during World War II.

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode with Jeanne:

• Growing up on a lettuce farm right near the railroad tracks
• Thinking she would be a journalist and majoring in English at UCLA
• How acting and therapy both came into her life at the same time
• How the Spanish language opened her eyes to working on Shakespeare
• Her deep need to tell Gordon's story based on her own family's history
• How her marriage and relationship has lasted over 40 years—and so much more!

Jeanne even shares how she worked on a monologue with a Cambodian accent for a TV show, so don't miss that!

She has such a great attitude toward celebrating your successes, allowing for flow, and being open to multiple approaches!

Click here for full show notes and links.

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Audrey Moore hosts the wonderfully-named podcast Audrey Helps Actors (available on Apple, Stitcher, Google Play, etc), and it's exactly what it sounds like!

Every episode Audrey invites someone from the business to chat about everything from advice for auditions and getting a new agent, to the nitty gritty of exploring different theatrical markets and information about how you can better use your union.

The show is regularly in the Top 100 of ALL Performing Arts podcasts in several countries; it's often been in the Top 25 and as of publishing, the show is in the Top 50 for Performing Arts in the US—pretty amazing! And she's not even releasing episodes right now—that's how popular the show is!

Many of you may already be listeners and fans, but if not—get on that!

Just a bit of what we cover:

• Where the idea for the podcast started and looking at what had existed
• Why Audrey was doing so well in auditions, but wasn't booking
• How to find the problem you *actually* need to solve in your career
• Audrey's own journey with horrible self-tapes
• How to manage your time and energy with various opportunities

I hope you enjoy this conversation—I'd love to hear what you think about this kind of episode, if it's helpful, and if you'd like to hear more like it. Reach out to me on Twitter @wajpodcast, or if you prefer, you can send an email here.

Click here for full show notes and links.

Get your copy of the NEW FREE GUIDE "10 Ways to Stop Worrying and Start Working"

See additional content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

In this excerpt, Richard discusses one of Leontes' speeches in The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare—it's in the first act where he has his suspicions about his wife and his best friend having an affair. Leontes is speaking with his trusted advisor Camillo, who cannot bear to hear these accusations and Leontes responds "Is whispering nothing?" and goes from there.

You'll hear Richard discuss:

• how Shakespeare drops you into this without any backstory
• the questions you want to ask yourself with words that repeat
• and that if you even explore the sounds of the speeches, they can give you clues too!

It's a great session, and it was a lot of fun to hear Richard's insights on the character and all the possibilities that lay before you with a text like this!

Click here for full show notes and links.

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The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

LEONTES, KING OF SICILIA

[finishes the shared line with Camillo] Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career Of laughter with a sigh (a note infallible Of breaking honesty)? Horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift? Hours, minutes? Noon, midnight? And all eyes Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only, That would unseen be wicked? Is this nothing? Why then the world and all that's in't is nothing, The covering sky is nothing, Bohemia nothing, My wife is nothing, nor nothing have these nothings, If this be nothing.

Richard Riehle (pronounced "Really!"), has had a nearly 50-year career, he's still going!

With 400+ onscreen credits to his name, plus years and years of regional theatre, he is truly a working actor! You've probably seen Richard in dozens of things, with very memorable parts in the films Glory, The Fugitive, Office Space, and Casino, as well as appearances on Modern Family, Grounded for Life, and Black-ish. And of course, that doesn't even touch on the decades of regional theatre Richard did before he even started working on-camera!

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode:

• How he was open to whatever possibilities came along, literally saying things like "Yeah, I guess I can do that"
• How he saw being an actor as a job—it was what he did to put money on the table
• How people can really depend and rely on him
• How he does the audition and then walks away
• Why it sometimes feels like he's starting all over
• Why certain projects (that he was excited about) didn't end up working out

Richard even shares how he works on Shakespeare, with a speech from The Winter's Tale, so don't miss that!

Click here for full show notes and links.

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