ATS friend Anna Hadzi has submitted her short film, Exit Interview to Steven Spielberg's reality series The Lot for consideration. Exit Interview is a script I wrote early in 2003 and Anna did a great job with it.

Go to http://community.thelot.com/profiles/profile.aspx?un=Annah
and check out Exit Interview -- and rate it!

AG

The Actor Training Studio announces another ongoing acting workshop for adults. The new class will meet every Wednesday afternoon from 1 PM until 4 PM. This weekday section will provide a study opportunity to those actors who work outside the ordinary 8-5 schedule -- servers, bartenders, night-shift workers and well, actors.

Like the other 4 weekly workshops at ATS, this class will focus on prepared scene and monologue work, both on-camera and off. We'll also be mixing in the unique open-scene work that's so popular with ATS actors, plus regular sessions of on-camera commercial auditioning. That all happens in a fun, productive atmosphere that's secure for beginners and still provides ongoing challenge to seasoned actors.

OK, so I got bored seeing the same order of pictures on the Amazing ATS Sliding Headshot Bar and decided to wiggle 'em up a bit. And I think I'll do that every time I get a new one -- I can only do sections at a time, haven't figured out a cool random order changer program or anything. Not like I can program anyway -- strictly a cut-'n-paster of code and I'm totally impressed with myself that I can do that.

Anyway -- it's nice to see things shaken, if not stirred.

AG

OK -- after several weeks setting things up and creating content, I've got an ATS store at Cafepress where you can order your own gear with the ATS logo on it - http://www.cafepress.com/andyats Or check out the link in the right sidebar on all the website pages.

Of special interest might be the calendars -- to help you schedule class! -- I've got a couple with fun quotes about acting. And the vertical calendar has stills from ATS Movies!

I hope you find something you like, that'll make you feel like you can take a little bit of the studio home with you -- keep you motivated and giving you a sense of community with other ATS Actors.

I don't know if you notice the different look of the website at a glance, but the functionality of it is really, really different. First of all, since it's (always) about me (right?), I'll be able to much more easily update and improve different elements of the site -- text editing and content management stuff will be MUCH more readily changed.

Also, registered members of the site -- namely, ATS actors will be able to participate more -- keep blogs, make comments on this blog -- and eventually we may be able to have you handle your own profile pages and stuff.

Cool, huh?

I hope you like the new look -- this blog will continue to brag about ATS actors, post auditions and other opportunites for acting in the Kansas City area, ruminate about acting issues and whatever else will let people know about the amazing people that study at ATS and the amazing things they do.

Well Allise and I have returned from England, where our 2-week vacation was even better than we’d hoped. We got to see some theatre while we were there — the RSC’s Canterbury Tales (part 2) at the Gielgud Theatre in London, which was a lot of fun — and then two Amazing productions by the RSC in Stratford; The Tempest, with Patrick Stewart and Much Ado About Nothing.

The Tempest was set in the far North, with a sort of Inuit design — had you thinking that the ship was wrecked in an island off of Greenland. All of the acting was really wonderful — Stewart is a Master, you know? And Ariel was played so unusually, it’s hard to describe — I just wish that his transformation and exit had been … more. They mixed in a lot of video effects, projected off of scenery and curtains, really effectively. Such a daring and brilliant show.