Hello my dear FODs (Friends/Family of Doug)!
Greetings from the set of Boardwalk Empire! And speaking of the 1920's, All Hail Cole Porter! Not only is it his (and my) birthday month, but in honor of it, It's Too Darn Hot. But, hey, It's Just One of Those Things, and I Happen to Like New York, so Between You and Me, Let's Do It. Pour yourself that mint julep and Let's Begin this e-journey together, and when we reach the e-conclusion, oh yes, there will be the usual 2 (by which I mean four) items of interest for FODs, because I Get a Kick Out of You!
(And if you're not interested in my monthly e-mail lovin', just let me know. I'll take you off
my e-mail lovin' list and accept that It Was Just One of Those Things.
FODapalooza XI!..Birthday and Burnett!
Join Shawn and me for the eleventh FODapalooza! It's also my birthday and we'll be helping out comic icon Carol Burnett. Read on for details...
WHEN: Thursday June 30, 2011
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
WHERE: People, in the Loft upstairs
163 Allen Street, New York, NY
COST: No cover, cash bar, donations gratefully accepted for the Salk Institute in Memory of Carrie Hamilton (Carol Burnett's daughter)
RSVP: Requested, but not required.
Gather, ye FOD's (Friends/Family of Doug), and meet your brethren at the eleventh FODapalooza! This gathering at People is to celebrate the incredible blessing to have all of you swell people in my world. We'll have the upstairs lounge all to ourselves with the Wall of Rain, meat on a stick, delish-ish margermellon wadderidas (Translation: delicious Watermelon Margaritas), and excellent company. If you have an event coming up or a service you provide (PG-13 please), bring your cards/flyers and we'll spread them around on the tables. Not only is it my birthday, but also the wedding anniversary of Jeff Bratcher and Alexandra de Suze!
(Surely you've heard of Alexandra de Suze!)
No birthday presents, please, but donations will be gratefully accepted for the Salk Institute in Memory of Carrie Hamilton (Carol Burnett's daughter). This great idea comes from FOD Claire Moed: The Carol Burnett Fun and Joy Dinner Party For Artists and Other Miserable Artists. More information on this idea can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.
Directions
People is just a block and a half below the intersection of First Avenue
and Houston (the east end of the F and V train).
The Return to The Public Theatre
I've just finished my second gig with The Public Theatre in Maine, having appeared in Three Little Pigs last fall. The show is BEAU JEST (by James Sherman), and I finally got to play the skeptical, divorced, psychologist brother Joel. Even better, I had the chance to add some extraordinary actors and friends to the FOD Family. Not only was this group of professionals dedicated and curious on stage, it was also one that cooked for each other, put away dishes in the drainboard, and openly provided resources for one another. Heck, we even made ice cream sundaes together! May you all have the chance to work with the excellent staff at The Public Theatre (Artistic Director Christopher Schario, Carol Ham, Jennifer Madigan), director (and co-Artistic Director) Janet Mitchko, actors Damon Bonetti, Sarah Corey, Marina Re, Bill Van Horn, & Brian White, Shawn Durbin as your Assistant Director, Kathleen P. Brown (Costume Design), Amber Callahan (Technical Director), Bert Garvey (Lighting Design), Lisa Bragdon (Props) and crew Sophia Gamache, Katelyn Roy, and Sam Corey. You can see some pictures of this production at the new dougshapiro.com!
Teaching a class with one of my best pals...
Live and in-person! High-Ranking FOD Brett Barry and I will be presenting From Start to Finish: Do-It-Yourself VoiceOver from Home I'm bringing the branding and marketing know-how and Brett is bringing the equipment expertise.
WHEN: Tuesday June 7, 2011
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
WHERE: Paul Michael's The Network
242 West 36th Street, New York, NY, 3rd Floor
COST: $30 online, $40 at the door
Here's the shpiel:
It starts with branding and ends with a recording from your home studio.
Didn’t think you had to Brand yourself for VoiceOver work? Think again!
Like any field you MUST know your specific niche - the difference here is how your voice is perceived. And now with the current trend of the market, having your own studio is becoming a must as well.
Join Savvy Coach Doug Shapiro and Brett Barry, both working VoiceOver Actors, as they delve deep into the toolbox of a VoiceOver actor and how to use those tools to make yourself stand out in this competitive field as well as how to set up your VoiceOver studio for maximum effect!
You’ll learn:
• Branding techniques specifically for VoiceOver
• Networking strategies to build your client base
• Advantages to recording at home (it's the way the industry is going!)
• How to create the ideal acoustic space
• The ins-and-outs of building your Digital Audio Workstation
One participant will actually record a session and the group will be taken through the process of formatting an audition-ready file!
Brett Barry is a VoiceOver performer of many national commercials, promos, and audiobook narration (including the "For Dummies" series). With his wife Rebecca, he runs Silver Hollow Audio, a professional broadcast studio, out of their home in Chichester, NY. He has been a speaker on this topic to an audience of AFTRA members and he teaches production and performance classes at SUNY.
Doug Shapiro is a career coach with the Savvy Actor and has voiced national commercials as well as multiple characters for video games and Disney.
Cavorting with Composers and Whisking about with Wordsmiths...
My FOD Composers and Wordsmiths continue to bring amazing things into the world and I get to be their vehicle! Here's the latest news:
LONELY RHYMES: The Music of Pete Mills
Who can write an hilarious song about the color-coded threat levels from the Bush Era? Pete Mills. About cell phones breaking up? Pete Mills. About an amorous triangle, complete with delicious geometric puns? Pete Mills, and I got to sing that last one. I had my debut at The Laurie Beechman, people, singing the works of one of the fiercest composer/lyricists on the scene: (say it with me now...) Pete Mills! LONELY RHYMES is his contemporary music song cycle and it was performed as a fundraiser for the Prospect Theater Company. Directed by Cara Reichel and Stage Managed by Kat West with fellow performers Jason Collins, Victoria Huston-Elem, Jaygee Macapugay, Liz Power, Robby Sharpe, Lucy Sorenson and Max Spitulnik. The band included Pete Mills, along with Dennis Michael Keefe and John Herin. Not only was there a full-house and a great deal of talent, but the whole thing was live-tweeted by two of the cast members as well as Alexandra de Suze!
(Surely you've heard of Alexandra de Suze!)
Sundays at Tiffany's
I sang the role of a tough dispatcher of guardian angels in a song demo of "The Girl's in Trouble" from the musical Sundays at Tiffany's, music by Fred Thaler, Lyrics by Susan DiLallo (one of my all-time faves), and based on the novel by James Patterson. I was joined in the recording booth at Macrose Music by the very talented Darcy Yellin.
Coaching with Clients...
Such clients I've got! In my side career as a career consultant with The Savvy Actor, founded by the actor/business mavens Jodie Bentley and Kevin Urban, I have been helping my savvy clients set up systems for themselves to treat their acting craft as a business through classes, coaching and seminars. (Yes, we coach by phone, too.) Recently, my clients have signed with managers, booked off-broadway shows, earned their union cards, and got things DONE. Interested in doing this work for yourself? Click this link to set up a free half-hour intro session with me. I also recommend our amazing book The Savvy Actor Career Manual. Let's get your career going too!
And I'm teaching too! Remember what you read a few paragraphs ago when your mint julep was 3/4 full? Brett Barry and I are still teaching From Start to Finish: Do-It-Yourself VoiceOver From Home on June 7. I'll also be teaching my usual section in the Crash Course MBA Weekend on June 4th and 5th about Enriching Your Support System. Oh, and if you're interested in the Weekend, e-mail me. I know a guy that can get you a FOD discount. ;-)
And speaking of getting your career going, my next webinar: Mailings - Faster, Smarter, Cheaper! is coming up on Sunday, June 26th at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time and you can be there from your own computer. Now I can even show you how to add video to your card. That's right, add a scanable QR code that links to your demo video which you can then send to Industry folk. Click this link to register for this webinar!
Dougbytes
***I returned to the set of Boardwalk Empire as a member of Mickey Doyle's gang. What have I already done as a dangerous gang member on this show? Well last time I MOVED BOXES. But I promise I did so in a really evil manner. This time? I smoked and drank in a Speakeasy. Ain't I just so unsavory?
***VEGUCATED is going to have its first public sneak peek screenings this summer at various vegetarian/animal protection conferences. Marisa Miller Wolfson produced this guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it’s all about. I provided a fun game show host voice for a section that takes place in the supermarket.
***I'm entering the world of Audio Books! Starting with Paul Ruben's Audio Book Narration Class. It's a delicious 6-week course and I'm having a great time learning the tools to this next step in my VoiceOver career. It's a very talented group of people: Denise Ashlynd, Drew Davidson, George Kuch, Suzanne Landgren, Ilka Panera, Ira Rosenberg, Cecilia Vanti, Christine Verleny, and me with expert engineering by Barbara Vlahides. I really want to list some of the great things I'm learning here, but the best place to read about them is at Paul Ruben's excellent blog.
***I continue to sing Sunday mornings at The Madison Avenue Baptist Church with choir director Paul Stephan, singers Erika Buchholz, Karen Rich, Christopher Preston Thompson, Brian Long, and Alexandra de Suze!
(Surely you've heard of Alexandra de Suze!) The congregation is led by the fabulous Reverend Susan Sparks and Leslie Jackson. The sermons are podcast! (The choir is not.) On June 12th, I'll be soloing on Twila Paris's "When You Speak to Me" and on June 26th (Gay Pride Sunday) I'll be duetting on Sandi Patty's "More Than Wonderful."
Please Don't Panic! I'm busier than a woodpecker in a lumber yard-- but for you, I'll find the time. Should you need me to speak the spot, give face time for the photo, or sing the song, let's create something great together.
And now the monthly Two (by which I mean Four) Items of Interest for FODs...
You deserve a little Lovin' from me to you...
In this new world of 140-character dashed-off responses, we tend to forget that we're all on this Earth struggling to really relate to each other, to be truly emotionally felt by one another. We need to remember to be human, which is what inspired me to write the article Being Human for the Savvy Actor Newsletter, based on my great experience with actor Cheryl McMahon. While you're at it, check out my subsequent article The Five Stages of Your Audition.
There. Thou hast been coached.
You deserve to listen to a great book...
This one's for everyone. If you enjoy books about nature narrated by an expert reader, you want to check out the Silver Hollow Audio titles The Outermost House by Henry Beston, and Autumnal Tints by Henry David Thoreau. Both works are narrated by Brett Barry and will take you out of your daily grind and into a place of gratitude for the mighty works of nature. (You know who is in serious competition with Brett Barry for most mentions in this newsletter? Alexandra de Suze! Surely you've heard of Alexandra de Suze!)
You deserve a FUN/RAISER...
Remember the Carol Burnett event that I mentioned in the FODapalooza XI when you were still on your first mint julep? Well, the lovely and talented Claire Moed came up with an idea because she, like me, adores Carol Burnett. Claire piloted this project as a tribute for everything she's gotten from watching her show and singing along with the soundtrack Once Upon A Mattress.
Because Carol Burnett's daughter Carrie Hamilton died of cancer, Ms. Burnett is a staunch supporter of cancer research, in particular, the Salk Institute in California. So, Claire came up with an endless dinner party and game that would FUN/RAISE for cancer while giving the rest of us artsy folk a break from our multi-layered lives. It's called the Carol Burnett Fun and Joy Dinner Party For Artists and Other Miserable Artists.
Here's how it is goes! (Please note that we're not doing this at FODapalooza XI, we're just raising funds, but you should definitely do this.)
1. Bring something to eat for six people. Anything easy to heat up or to nibble. Or bring a bottle of wine or anything you might like to drink.
2. Bring a check made out to the Salk Institute in memory of Carrie Hamilton IN THE AMOUNT OF THE LAST TAKE-OUT OR EAT-OUT MEAL YOU HAD.
3. Now here's where we artsy folk get to play: While gathered around the dinner table, everyone throws words into a bowl, such as:
Carol Burnett
Fun and Joy
Miserable Artist
Dinner
or Claire's favorite: Support Group For Cats of Writer
4. Each person would then pull a word and be given 10 minutes to write or draw/create something starting with/ based on that word.
5. Each work will then be posted on a new blog called - yep -the Carol Burnett Fun and Joy Dinner Party For Artists and Other Miserable Artists.
6. Now, here's the endless part of the dinner. Would you then go back to your home and friends and have your own Carol Burnett Fun and Joy Dinner Party For Artists and Other Miserable Artists ? Can you imagine what this could grow into if each one of us invited our friends to raise money for cancer while having fun and making new work and then our friends invited their friends and their friends invited their friends? A bunch of money honoring Carrie Hamilton and lots of wonderful new work on the blog.
Start this on your own and look forward to food and fun!
You deserve financial guidance...
Of course I must brag on my husband. After eighteen years as an actuary, Shawn brought his industry savvy to the people side of the business seven years ago to be a financial advisor. His business has grown wonderfully and he is helping a lot of people start to save money and protect their loved ones. Have you been reading the news lately? Perhaps it's time to talk with him. He knows his stuff, will not try to sell you something you don't need, and is quite easy on the eyes. Send him an e-mail at scowls@mac.com to start the conversation.
Life is good here. Shawn and I went down to Princeton University for their Reunions weekend. We were also celebrating the 25th anniversary of the organization he founded, Fund for Reunion/Princeton BTGALA, which is devoted to improving the quality of life for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people at Princeton University and to strengthening their ties as alumni with each other and with the University. Over the past 25 years, the organization has funded three post-doctorate positions at Princeton in Gay and Lesbian studies (the first of its kind), created networking opportunities all over the globe, and inspired alumni at other schools to form their own organizations. Needless to say, I'm incredibly proud to be married to this guy.
Take some breathing time for yourself, tell me your birthday, sing some Cole Porter songs in honor of his birthday on June 9th, and thanks for being in my life. Please let me know what's going on in yours!
Enjoy Yourself!
Doug
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