Casting Workshop with Gloria Mann Casting

Back on April 19th, we all piled in the car early in the morning and headed into the Toronto film district so I could take part in a casting workshop put on by Gloria Mann – obviously the principal at Gloria Mann Casting.  Despite our rich tradition of running into construction and road closures, we made it to the class without too much incident.  My dad has requested that I omit all references to the part when he was driving on the sidewalk in a Sobey’s parking lot so I will not mention it at all!

I was a bit worried when I realized that I was the oldest kid in the group.  While being 12 doesn’t exactly make me an old man, I had a lot more auditions under my belt than did most of these kids.  I hit it off right away with Gloria when I walked up to her, shook her hand and introduced myself.  That and I had my headshot and resume in hand. I was surprised when so many of the kids came in without headshots.  I mean, how will they get cast?

Regardless, We spent the morning working on sharpening up our commercial casting talents.  I had to laugh when Gloria asked me if I did theatre work.  I told her that I did and she told me to stop being on stage and start acting for the camera.  I did have a bit too much theatre in my delivery so it was a good tip to work with.  I had a lot of fun helping the little kids with their commercials.  Later on we did a short talent show.  Most everyone sang.  I sang Wonderin’ and Electricity to great acclaim.

In the afternoon, we did improv work with Phatt Al and Danielle Watling from Second City.  That was so awesome.  I haven’t done any improv for a few years and it was great to stretch those creative muscles again.  The biggest challenge was keeping my lines clean with all those kids around.  You know how us actors can get potty mouths.

At the end of it all, I can say that I sharpened up my skills, made a great new contact in Gloria and I had an amazing day.  I really recommend this workshop to anyone that hasn’t had much time in front of the camera.  There was a big change in some of the little kids by the end of the day.  Great job, Gloria.  Thanks.

Review: Disney Performing Arts Workshops

Yes, I could be paying attention, but I knew there was a camera on me.

On Jan 31, and Feb 1st, as part of the Niagara Star Singer’s Disney World tour, I took part in two workshops with Disney Performing Arts.  In a very short summary, they were awesome.

For one workshop we were whisked “backstage” at Epcot to work in a great rehearsal space and for the other, we worked in a performance theatre at one of the resorts.  So the venues were great and we had a Disney performer named Cameron work with us.  He was everything you could ask for in a coach.  Cameron had energy to burn, he pushed us and pulled us along, he was able to share all sorts of insider stories about working at Disney and he was a super teacher.

“So when I’m famous, I’ll have 2 ponies and a mansion…”

Learning the Moonwalk at Disney Performing Arts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While at Epcot, we worked on staging a classic Disney stage number called Adventureland and we staged the opening scene to Beauty and The Beast in our other workshop.  Cameron led both workshops which was great since he already had an idea of what we could do and cuz we liked him so much.

I can’t recommend these workshops highly enough to anyone that does musical theatre or live performance.  We were treated so well and we learned so much.  They were great and two of the best mornings I’ve spent in a long time.

The end of our workshop with Cameron, Minnie and all of the Niagara Star Singers

Celeste and I are rockin’ out with Minnie.