The Reluctant Stage Mom

Ok, back to the “how to’s” this week. We’ve talked about the audition but not a whole lot about who’s involved and what role each of them plays. Here’s a general idea.
First let’s talk about your child’s agent or manager. There is a good possibility that you have not yet signed with someone and that’s fine when you’re starting out, but it does mean that these tasks then fall on your shoulders. An agent works with a talent agency. Your agent can have anywhere from a dozen to a hundred or more  talented clients on their roster for whom they are finding auditions. They get the breakdown of roles that are being offered, i.e. age, height, weight etc..and will offer you an appointment to audition if your child fits the breakdown. Their primary role initially is finding your child auditions, and getting them exposure with the casting directors.
Managers also get the breakdown. They tend to represent far fewer people as they focus not only on finding audition appointments, but will actually “manage” your child’s total career including publicity etc. We actually truly got started with Zack’s career when a friend saw his talent and, knowing how intimidated I was by the business, offered to “manage” Zack and get us started. This was perfect for us and I will be forever grateful for her patience, assistance and guidance. For our first 18 months I relied greatly on her as she coached me through many of the topics already addressed in this blog. Her own children have always been more professionally involved in film and TV so as we became more focused on musical theater, and Zack was signed by an agent specializing in musical theater, her role with us dramatically decreased. This is especially true since I still resist the “career management” piece with all the publicity etc. We will focus more on agent vs manager , and the very personal decision that is, in next weeks blog.
The audition process is generally run by a casting director. This is the next person involved whom we can talk a bit about. This person, or company, is hired by the people directing the project to find the needed “talent” or cast. They are the ones who will host the open calls and/or the agent/manager appointments from the initial call right until the point of booking the roles. There are several names you may have seen in postings or may have heard or read about. Telsey and Company (Finding Neverland & Sound of Music), Tara Rubin Casting (School of Rock), and Nora Brennan Casting (Matilda and Billy Elliot) are a few who seem to do a lot of work with kids. These people have a whole team who work with them. Often Tara or Nora will be present during a call but sometimes it’s one of their associates running the call. It will generally be set up in a room or rooms at one of the local studios in NYC. The two biggest are Pearl Studios at 500 & 519 8th avenue and Ripley Grier Studios at 520 8th avenue. Telsey has its own set up on West 43rd street that is both very impressive and slightly overwhelming depending on how busy their day is. They will have a sign-in sheet outside the room. You should not arrive more than 15 minutes early and if you are going to be more than 10 minutes late and have an appointment, you need to let someone know. Your agent or manager can handle this for you.
For a bigger call like Matilda or School of Rock there may be a “holding” room staffed by the casting company; I have mentioned this room in previous blogs. If there’s not a room to wait in then there are just chairs in the hallway to share with everyone else who is also waiting. If you arrive too early it gets crowded and your child will be able to hear all he competition that’s ahead of him/her and that can cause unnecessary stress.
When your child is called he/she should hand the staff his/her headshot and resumé. If it’s a call back this may not be required, but better to come prepared. The worst case scenario then is that they say they don’t need the information again and you bring it home.
The casting director will be in the room with the accompanist and an associate or two. One of these may be someone who would read sides with your child. Remember sides are lines from the project. Another may be taking notes, and there could be a third person operating a video camera. Notes, video, and observation are what are used for selecting the children moving on to a call back.
In the room for a call back there are generally the same people but the children are asked to perform some additional material. At this point they may ask your child to prepare a cut of music from the actual project or perhaps some additional sides for a certain character. This is where you can start to get an idea for which role your child is being considered. Occasionally there may even be a creative from the actual project at the call back, i.e./ an assistant music director.
The actual creative people from the project are generally not present until final callback. This is when the casting director has narrowed the field down to the children who have the basic look and the talent to fit the part. At final callback for Matilda Nora makes sure the kids know that they are all perfectly capable of being in the show and now it’s just the logistics of seeing who fits where. At this point the audition room can start to feel crowded despite the narrowed down talent pool. Often they will bring in the creative “team” from the show to see the children audition in person so they can discuss them after they’ve seen them all and together make their pick. When Zack made it to final call for School of Rock there were nearly a dozen people in the room and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was also present to hear the children audition. Poor Zack nearly fell out of his chair when he saw him walk into the audition area! It’s a lot of pressure on these kids, so as the parent your job is to make sure they have the tools they need to be well prepared, but also make sure that they know their job is to be seen and make a good impression. They don’t have control over all the aspects that go into the decision of who is cast in the role. They can’t make themselves shorter or taller nor should they ever be encouraged to change the essence of who they are, beyond basic acting, in order to fit a role.
At this point in the process your child having an agent or manager can be very helpful as he/she can work to communicate with the casting team and advocate for your child as his/her client. Zack’s agent has been exceptional during those moments when he’s had to juggle two or more final call back processes at the same time. I would have combusted under the pressure of those negotiations!
As I mentioned before, if you get as far as a final call back, you should hear about the outcome. This is also the time that I encourage Zack to send a note of thanks to the casting team, in his own words, particularly if he had some great learning moments during the process.
So, there is a little more about the process for you to think about this week. We will definitely talk more next week about having an agent vs. a manager.
Sorry this entry was a bit later than normal. I am currently on tour with Zack and we have been greatly enjoying our last week in the sunshine before returning to the frozen tundra of real winter. There are some very nice benefits that come with all this crazy hard work and sacrifice!

For the last six weeks I have spent a lot of time, and words, talking about the basics of audition preparation and auditioning. When my children, particularly Zack, were expressing an interest in entertainment, the “process” was the part that frightened me the most. Trying to figure out the how’s, the where’s, the when’s, and the who’s. These were all foreign topics for me. What I was comfortable with was my role as “the mom”. These were my kids. I was raising them and no one knew them better than I did. I was totally comfortable with why we were pursuing these activities and was just as comfortable drawing the line in terms of how far I/we would go. I was the captain of my ship. Unfortunately this led to me being blindsided at times by the unsolicited opinions, questioning, and gentle criticism that was often offered by both close friends and virtual strangers.
We , as a family with a child in entertainment, had a very difficult week last week. This made me decide to stray off the topic of “how to” for just this week to offer some insight on being the parent of a child who is interested in this business.
First and foremost , if your child is driven, I mean really has this dream of being on stage or screen, and is pulling you down this path …then buckle up! It’s going to get bumpy! People who don’t have a child like this don’t understand. I know because as I have mentioned before I was one of those people. I was someone who felt pity for a child being forced into this crazy life and contempt for the parents who were pushing their child so that they could vicariously fulfill their dreams. I was so very wrong!
Zack was always a different kid. He played differently, dressed differently, even moved differently. From the age of less than 2 he would plant himself in front of the CD player for hours, methodically learning the music and lyrics to his most recent favorite artist or show. He only needed a scarf or his sisters robe and an  object that could be a microphone to get lost in his dream world. We started to understand then what was coming our way.  Living in a conservative New England town I always expected I would have to offer him some protection from narrow- minded people who wouldn’t “get” him and, as is often the case, leave him out or tease him. As the mother of three other children and then a fourth , all of whom were fairly mainstream kids, raised with an intact extended and supportive family, I never expected to have to defend myself.
The first time this happened was when Zack was about 6 years old. A very dear, older friend of mine whom I’d known and respected since my teen years asked me, “Aren’t you afraid you’re pigeon-holing him into being gay, letting him do all this dance and girlish activity?”. I know…WOW! SO MANY levels of WOW right?!? But it was an eye opener for me. My heart broke a little and the first chip was made in my armor. Should I be letting him do all this? Was I pushing him? He does boy stuff too! He takes karate, plays baseball and basketball, and has even tried wrestling. Granted that didn’t work out when be broke out of the starting position and pirouetted across the mat, but he wrestled that season. I never believed that you “make” someone have a certain sexual preference, but here was a person I respected telling me that his “group” had been chatting about it at the bridge table, and I started to doubt myself.
After a lot of soul searching and some random questioning of Zack, who was starting to think I was crazy, it was verified that he was a very happy 6 year old boy doing what he loved. When Zack was involved in a ” project” his whole being changed. He was more focused, more animated, just happier. In between projects what I thought would be a nice rest,as it certainly was for me, became almost a “funk” for him.
Over the years there were many other times when opinions were offered, many times as questions and often with genuine concern for our seemingly crazy life. “How do you do it all? Do the other kids mind how much time you spend with Zack? How does he manage school? Are his grades OK? Isn’t he exhausted? Aren’t you exhausted? How do you afford all of this? Does he really know what he wants, he’s just a kid?” Good grief! What can get exhausting is constantly feeling like you have to justify your existence.
You will quickly learn who your true friends are. The ones who offer to help when you are running around like a nut without offering judgement.  The ones who ask about how things are going when they know you’ve been going for call backs. The ones who will come to show after show cheering your child on, never seeming to tire of it. The ones who invite you and your “weird” kid(s) to their home and you can breathe and know you’re kid(s) is/are accepted. And finally the ones who can celebrate with you with the success, and at the same time grieve with you understanding, the changes that are about to happen.
Just as you know who you’re friends are, you’re going to have the same ability to sense the people coming into your child’s life who are there for business only and those that are there for business but will also be good to your child. Don’t minimize the importance of your intuition. There are people in the entertainment business, many of them, who live by the bottom line. They will not blink an eye or miss a beat while taking actions that will break your child’s heart. This is, in my opinion, not done intentionally. They don’t set out to be cruel, but the human factor isn’t on their radar. It’s all about that bottom line.
As a parent, you need to be on the lookout for these characters. If something doesn’t seem right, ask questions. Never do anything without a signed agreement or contract. Your child should never be alone in a room with one adult nor should the adults allow themselves to be put into this situation. There are always 2 adults with children. If your child isn’t happy to work with someone, have a casual chat and find out why. You would do this if he/she came off the school bus and didn’t want to ride again. You’d know something was up, and the same thing should come to mind if they’re not happy about going to work for this dream of theirs.
Most importantly make sure that it’s always what they want to be doing. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in a process and get involved to the point that it feels like you’re riding a wave. You have to check in with your child and make sure it’s still what he/she wants, that he/she is still happy and having fun. They are children and sometimes something that sounds so great in theory, is in reality, actually work, and they change their minds. I remember one year for Christmas all Zack wanted was a magic kit. He was so excited when he opened it! He tore it open, whipped out the wand and started waving it around. After a couple of minutes he sadly said “It’s broken!”. You see, he thought the wand would work. The magic he expected wasn’t there. As the parent you need to check on them and make sure they are doing OK. You always have the power to stop the bus!
They are children, but a lot of the time in this business they are doing , and getting paid to do, a grown up job. We choose to keep Zack in the loop on all the business of the business. We don’t offer all the drama but just the facts, how we feel about things, how his siblings are feeling, the financial implications and ask him his thoughts. He understands that we will always support him as long as we can and with this open dialogue there has been no resentment.
We have had to work very hard over the last 6 years to make sure we were going down the path Zack wanted to be on in a healthy and constructive manner, and in a way that was manageable for the rest of our family. This is no small task, and believe me, it hasn’t gotten any easier as he’s moved to the professional world, but it can be done! Find a good friend in the industry whom you can run thoughts and concerns by ; he/she will always bring honesty and often some clarity! Trust your gut!
Next week we’ll get back to business and talk a little more about agents, managers, casting directors, and the creative team so you’ll have more of an idea of who the different players are and what role each of them play.

The last five weeks we have been talking about most of the components needed to ensure your child is ready to embark on his/her first professional audition. You may already have some auditioning experience under your belt. Our kids have participated in several local audition processes. The professional process is a little more structured, at least we have found that to be true.
There are different types of “calls” for audition opportunities. There is the “open call” which is exactly as it sounds, open to anyone. This is where you would need to start unless you already have representation that could get you an appointment to be seen. If it’s an open call for an equity show then kids with an equity card may be seen first. Usually very few equity kids are at this type of call as their agents or managers will get them appointments to be seen, but sometimes the shows don’t offer appointments to agents prior to open call and the kids will come to ensure an opportunity to be seen. These open calls can be huge and take all day. Remember the news stories last winter about the “School of Rock” open calls with 800 kids wrapped in a line around the theater in the rain waiting for a chance to audition?
There are also “principal equity calls”. These definitely give priority to the kids with the equity cards. We thought that Zack could not attend this type of call because he’s not equity, but we were wrong. A non equity child can attend but he/she is not guaranteed to be seen as they will see equity kids first. Fortunately, the children’s calls are generally offered separately from the adult calls. There are a limited number of equity kids so generally all kids are seen at these calls. The equity kids are given first choice of time slot to be seen and then the non equity kids who arrive for the day are slotted in as times become available. This means , as a non equity kid, you don’t get to just breeze in at your appointed time; you have to sit there until they call you. As I mentioned before, it can be a long day.
Some auditions break the categories down even further into singer call and dance call. This is where your child gets to put his/her best foot forward first. We talked about that in an earlier entry. There are dancers that sing and singers that dance. Your child should attend the call that best fits his/her strength. If the casting director likes what he/she sees, then singers will be asked back to dance and dancers will be asked back to sing. Zack is definitely a singer who dances’ so I’ll go forward from here using our experiences auditioning as a singer. We have not experienced auditions as a dancer so if someone reading this and would like to offer any information, please leave a comment!
This business is not for the feint of heart. It is a long , heartbreaking process full of callbacks, cuts, and disappointments before eventually finding some reward. The reward is sweet and Zack says “worth waiting for!”. If you attend an open call you are hoping for a call back. Be assured there may be many callbacks before the creative team makes their final decision. The actual director and his/her creative team may not see your child until final callback, and no one will be cast until the auditioners have been seen by these people.
Be sure to tell your children that their job is to show up, smile, do their best, and most importantly, to have fun. There is MUCH more that goes into decisions than talent. Height, hair, posture, even shirt color have impacted our outcomes. Very rarely is a child cast in his/her first attempt. This certainly can happen, but initially the goal should be to get “in front” of the casting directors so that they get to know your child. Often times you can get a call on another project because your child was seen at a previous audition. This has happened for Zack at least 2-3 times.
Many of these “calls” happen only in NYC. Sometimes, as with School of Rock, they can happen in several cities across the country. The casting directors may also take video submissions for the “initial call”. Ultimately you will need to be prepared to make a trip, or even a few trips, into NYC if your child is successful in obtaining callbacks.
Another opportunity, at least for the Matilda show, is to go to the website for its casting director. Her name is Nora Brennan of Nora Brennan Casting. On her website they will list any upcoming Matilda auditions and whether it’s for Broadway or for the National Tour. They offer an opportunity right on the website to upload a picture and resume to get your child onto her radar. Even if there aren’t any current auditions listed she is known to review those uploads regularly, and you will hear from her directly if your child looks as though he/she may fit a specific need the show has to fill.
With equity shows they are mandated to hold open auditions every 6 months. Sometimes they are actually looking for replacements, sometimes it’s a required call. They don’t have to tell you if they are actually, currently replacing, although sometimes they will. A lot of the time you are not sure even after you have left. Zack has received a callback as long as 5 months after being seen at a required open call. There is no formula for how the process will play out. It’s a wild ride. Two things I can tell you are 1) it’s feast or famine. You can go weeks without anything to work on and suddenly find yourself juggling three different opportunities on the same day and 2) something will happen when you least expect it.
Your audition will have a sign in time. People will arrive as early as 7:30-8:00 for a 9 am sign in time. This is fine if you’re anxious and feel the need to get there early. For adults , getting there early is imperative because there are so many of them that if they don’t get on the list early they may not be seen. With kids they will likely get to everyone so don’t hurry in, you can shorten the day by arriving 15 minutes prior to the sign in time.
If you come to a morning sing call and are able to show them what they are looking for, you’ll most likely have to come back in the afternoon to dance, and dancers who are successful will ultimately have to sing. It can make for a long day. Bring snacks, water, a book, your smile, and patience.
This is where a well organized and prepared audition book becomes your golden ticket. If your child is able to enter the room with his/her headshot and resume prepared as mentioned previously, and can hand it to the person at the door and walk into the room with his/her thumb on the page of the song they are prepared to sing, then the nervousness of entering the room will be minimized. The call notice will state how many bars the child should be prepared to sing. If it says 32 bars also be prepared to shift to 16 bars quickly if the auditions are running late. In the room your child will usually find the casting director, an accompanist, and 1 or 2 associates. Remind them to smile and have fun. Casting directors can see hundreds of people a day. Don’t be offended if they don’t offer a handshake or accept one that is offered. There can be a little germophobia present in their line of work.
Your child many only be in the room for a few minutes during an initial call. There have been days we have travelled 6 hours for ten minutes in the room and returned travel for another 6 hours. There have been 12 hour call days. One never knows. Remember there is no formula. Sometimes they see what they need to see in 2 minutes. Sometimes they may ask your child if he/she has another song in their book to sing. Make sure they have prepared a second song and make sure they don’t have any songs in their book that they would not feel prepared to sing. Sometimes the accompanist will look through their book and ask them to sing a song found in there. That can get uncomfortable if your child hasn’t sung that song recently and doesn’t remember it. The casting director may chat with your child to get a feel for his/her personality and may also give some direction to change the feeling of the song. He/she is looking to see how your child takes direction.
Often, but not always, there may be “sides” also associated with the call. This is where the casting director could have your child read lines from the show to see how they capture the character. This is another time he/she may give directions to see how the child is able to make changes. The sides need to be familiar but not memorized; they can be held during the reading. Sometimes your child won’t get them until he/she arrives, so no need to panic, as he/she can have the copy in hand.
When your child has completed his/her audition, make sure he/she knows to smile and say thank you, even if he/she doesn’t feel he/she did his/her best. Most children feel very strongly that they did well or did not do well as they leave the room. Save the discussion for after you’ve left the area.
One of the most difficult things about auditioning is the waiting to hear after you’ve left. Unfortunately, for an initial open call, you may never hear from anyone if you are not called back. There are just too many calls to make so this is normal practice. We have learned to watch some local chats like “Backstage”. This is a parent forum where parents can start a topic and others can chime in. I can usually find a notice on there that the part has been cast or that call backs have gone out allowing my child some closure. It is not a good idea to call the casting directors yourself. They will be in touch with you if they want to see your child again. If you are fortunate enough to get as far as final call backs you generally would get a call re/ the results of that session.
As a parent, audition calls can be long and stressful. Generally there is a “holding room” you are expected to sit and wait in. Try to be patient, try not to read into what is happening in the room. Believe me when I tell you there will be a lot of posturing going on. People will name drop; they will want to talk to you about all the shows that his/her child has been in; they will call their agents and talk loudly on the phone about how hard it is to juggle all of the possibilities; they will encourage their children to warm up in the room and you will see and hear some incredible talent. Everyone starts somewhere. Don’t let it get under your skin.
What you don’t want to do is make an impression as a difficult parent who doesn’t follow the rules or directions. Believe me, the casting director and his/her associates in the holding room will take notice. Try to go with the flow. If you have a time limit you can let them know; they may or may not be able to make it work for you. They don’t owe you anything; it’s an open call. Mention it once, but if you have to leave then let them know you’re leaving and leave. There’s always the next time. If they ask you to wait in the room then do so. Please don’t follow your child to the audition room purposely placed around the corner and listen with your ear pressed to the door. They will note this and you’re going to stress your child out. Make it your job to encourage your child to drink water, snack lightly, and relax during what could be a very long day.
As a final note I will say that we almost always have a session with our coach(es) prior to a call or audition of any kind. You will find that it helps tremendously in the preparation and your child’s confidence when entering the room.
There is so much more to the audition process but this is a great start. As always let me know if you have any comments or questions. Until next week 🙂

I guess the next logical topic is the resume since it is generally kept together with the head shot. I dread blogging about this as it’s such a personal thing. Your resume is the next best opportunity to make an impression. It’s a chance to “stand out” or to “catch someone’s eye”. Please remember as you read this week that these entries are all written based on my/our personal experiences and opinions. There are only a few “must’s” and “must nots” for a great resume and I’ll make sure those points are clear.
First and most importantly, your resume should only be one page. Your resume will be stapled back to back, in all four corners, to your 8×10″ head shot and then trimmed to match the head shot. This allows you to hand a tidy “business card” to the casting director at an audition. You will want to make sure that your margins allow you to trim the edges without losing any of the content of your resume.
The very top of your resume should have your name. We like ours centered on the top, some people like it aligned on the left margin, this is simply a preference. Just under your name should be the name and phone number for any agent or agency with whom you are working. At one point Zack had agents in NYC, Boston, and Maine so we had a version of his resume saved for each agency. If you don’t have representation yet, just skip to your personal contact which would be just below. For a child you can put parents’ name and phone number, if you would like, but make sure you have marked it as “personal contact”. I have always used my cell phone number as our child’s personal contact. Even when they are 17 years old, business should come through you first.
Below all of the heading information you want to place, along the left margin, some basic statistics for your child. His/Her age or date of birth, height, weight, hair color and eye color. You can arrange this any way you would like. Keep in mind that a key point to a great resume is making sure it is easy to read. Casting directors should be able to glance at the resume and within just a couple of seconds find this information. Use capitalization, underlines, and bold lettering to help them, but try not to make it too busy or overwhelming.
The body of the resume should contain information including work experience, training, special skills, and activities or interests. Zack has two different resumes; one we call his commercial resume and one we call his theater resume. We chose to do this so that when he submits for a movie, commercial, or a print job it is his work experience in those areas that the casting director will see first. On his theater resume his theater roles are listed first, allowing that casting director to easily find the work experience that is more pertinent to him/her. You do not have to have two resumes and you may arrange the information in any way that you would like; however, you should consider the type of project for which you are submitting. You do not want to make casting directors wade through a lot of information before they get to the information that is most important to them; you risk losing their interest.
When Zack was starting out he had very few credits to put on his resume, quite a bit of training, but very little work experience. The margins were quite wide and the font was larger to make the resume more appealing to the eye. I will use his theater resume as an example here.
His header and stats were as noted above. Next we put his theater roles with the most recent role listed first, much like an adult work resume. The section was titled “Theater”. The list included even his school shows and were presented as: title of show, followed by the role he played, and finally the theater or school that presented the show all along one line.
The next paragraph or section was for his commercial work and labeled as such. At the time of his first resume he had only had one commercial job. We listed it similarly to the theater roles with company, role , and then that it was a “print” job.
The next paragraph was labeled “Awards” although it also could be labeled “Recognition” or anything similar. Perhaps your child has been nominated for, or won, some kind of performance award or competition. At this point Zack had been first runner up in his age group for a local singing competition. Including this on his resume wasn’t so much about the award , although he was very proud of it. It was more about showing his time on stage and in front of an audience and some experience taking direction.
The next paragraph included “training” or “special skills”. This may include dance, theater classes, vocal lessons, acting classes, or even martial arts. You want to include the style and number of years of training and rank or “level” where appropriate.
The final paragraph should just be a quick sentence that lists activities or interests. It might include biking, swimming, skiing, chess, reading, etc…
As time went by and as Zack was fortunate enough to have more opportunities to perform, train, and work, the font and margins of his resume shrank. The work can include projects that were only for credit and not for pay. Being able to add those to the resume is the benefit of doing them 🙂 . As the resume grew we dropped first the school productions and then the ensemble community theater roles and they were replaced by the leads in the community theater and the professional theater work he was doing. At one point, in the middle of his growth, we highlighted the lead rolls in yellow to allow the casting directors to see those immediately. Eventually we no longer needed the yellow highlights as he transitioned to primarily professional work.
It is ok to drop things from your resume when you have work that is either equal and more recent or more advanced than something it is replacing. Zack struggled with this. He felt that he was discounting something that had meant a lot to him. I reminded him that those memories are there forever in scrapbooks right where they belong. That his resume is not a scrapbook , it is a business card, and those other roles and work he did are what brought him the new projects that we were adding and would always have value. He was able to wrap his head around that very well and we have a great one page resume!
When Zack started he was just as interested in commercials and film as he was in musical theater. As he grew and we updated his resume regularly it became clear that his true passion was for musical theater. As it turned out his resume was not just a valuable tool for marketing him , it was also a valuable tool to help his mom and dad see easily the type of jobs for which we should be submitting. This allowed us to make choices much more easily when we were faced with several opportunities at once. This business is always feast or famine!
At the risk of being repetitive I just want to say again that your resume should be only one page. If you are just getting started don’t fill it with fluff. Everyone starts somewhere. Keep it updated, pertinent, clear, and one page 🙂
So far we’ve talked about getting started, training, head shots, and now resumes. I think the next step would be talking about getting out there, submitting for projects and/or attending open calls. Next week we’ll get into all of that including how to find projects, the process, and some good tips for audition etiquette and making a great first impression.
Have a great week and as always feel free to offer any comments or ask questions. I am just as interested in learning from your experiences!

If you are a parent you know how unpredictable kids can be. Just when you think you have them figured out they zig when you thought they’d zag. You think “wow how lucky am I to have such a great sleeper” and they become a night owl. Don’t even get me started on clothes and food! Now, can you imagine making a living doing something that is dependent on being able to predict a child’s action or reaction? It takes a VERY special person to be able to capture great children’s photos. We have been so fortunate to have met a handful of them and when you find one that you like and one who clicks with your child it’s like winning the lottery. This is particularly true if you have a child interested in the entertainment business and you will need photos for marketing.
Although the interacting is perhaps the most important piece, you also need to consider flexibility, affordability, and of course , product.
A head shot for a child interested in print work or theater is their most important marketing too. A casting director or booking agent can get hundreds of pictures submitted for a project and you want to make sure your child stands out for the right reasons. In this blog I’m going to talk mostly about theater head shots but many of the same principals will apply to pictures for children who are more interested in print work. The biggest exception is that head shots are typically shot from the shoulders up and for print work the child will also want to have a 3/4 body shot, or mid thigh up, to offer a clearer idea of body type.
To begin with you need to work with a professional. An iPhone snap shot or a picture off of Facebook is not going to be the quality you want to bring to the table. Occasionally a casting director or booking agent will state that an iPhone photo is fine for initial submission , which is great, but you need to have a professional head shot ready should you be called.
Children change quickly. It is recommended that they have their head shots updated at least annually but every six months is even better, particularly if they are in a phase where they are growing and changing quickly. We’ve heard ,through friends ,of photographers who will offer special pricing for children knowing that if they do a great job and are affordable they will be sure to have added some frequent flyers to their business.
A great head shot should offer a true representation of the child. The picture should capture the child’s youth. These should not be glamor shots with a lot of make up or with fancy hair. Most casting directors are looking for a more natural look. Some light lip gloss and clear mascara will do the trick. The emphasis should be on the eyes so make sure nothing takes attention away from them. Children’s eyes are very expressive when they are relaxed, comfortable, and being themselves. It’s ok for a boy to have longer hair just make sure it is kempt. This is not easy! Believe me, I know. Girls can try hair up off their faces or have it falling more naturally, whichever best emphasizes their eyes. Hands should not be in the picture, nor should there be any props. I have a hard time with this one. My boys look absolutely adorable in hats. I just LOVE pictures in hats! There are many places pictures in hats are great but a head shot isn’t one of them. Get some shots in hats and have copies of these made to display at home.
Clothing choice is always difficult. I have trouble dressing myself most days! How am I supposed to manage getting my child dressed for something so important? Here are a few tips that we have been given and found very useful. Children should wear simple solid colors. Choose bright or soft colors that go well with their skin tone and bring out the color in their eyes. The outfit should create a warm feeling; try to avoid black and white clothing. They shouldn’t wear prints or any logos or graphics. Try not to be too dressy. Remember children should look like children. An older child who appears younger is a great advantage when auditioning because older children are allowed to work longer hours.
There are a lot of differing opinions about natural outdoor lighting vs. indoor studio lighting. Personally I love a child outside. Let’s face it, most children love to be outside and they will relax quickly and act like a child which makes for great pictures. Some of my favorite shots of our kids have been at the park in our downtown and at our friend’s horse farm. The background in a great head shot is blurry, however, so as not to take the focus off of the child.
A good photographer will work with you on finding the time of day that will offer the best lighting and work well with your child’s personal schedule. If your child is an early riser then after supper probably isn’t the best time for pictures and the same is true for a night owl who probably wouldn’t do well at an early morning shoot. Midday is difficult due to the high sun and squint factor. Two of my children would be tomato red in the noon day sun due to their fare skin. An ideal day is slightly overcast, just warm, and maybe a slight breeze but what are the chances of that happening on the exact day you are scheduled? If the weather isn’t cooperating you’ll have to bring it inside but make sure the background and lighting don’t take away from the child.
If your life is anything like mine your children will be sick as a dog, cut their own hair, or run into a wall and bruise their foreheads the day before your pictures are scheduled to be taken. I swear this happens to us every time! Send a snap to your photographer and see if they are able to photoshop without taking away from the natural quality. If they’re not able to with confidence then reschedule. It’s not worth spending the money on something with which you are not going to be happy.
Sticking with the topic of money, don’t allow yourself to be talked into an overpriced photographer or a photo package by an agent or agency who is suggesting this will increase your child’s chance of being represented by them or increase their chances of getting work. If you are not happy with the photographer’s work, spending more money than you can comfortably afford, or the chemistry isn’t right, then, again, don’t waste your money. You will regret it. If the agents really wants to work with your child, they’re also going to want to be able to put the best pictures out to the potential clients.
A final thing to consider is black and white photos vs. color. Most people have trended away from the classic black and white head shot but there are still a few hold- outs. When I have our children’s head shots taken, I work with the photographer to make sure we have a great smiling, color shot and a more pensive shot that will be in black and white in case there is an occasion to need one. We have one lovely local theater who is true to the classics and we always need a black and white for their cast board.
Now that I have given you a lot of my opinion based on our personal experiences. I’ll share with you a link to our favorite photographer. Amy Bean was fairly new to professional photography when we met her and through much research and lots of practice she quickly has become a “go to” person locally for head shots and print photos. We were referred to Amy by a few different theater friends when we were admiring their wonderful head shots. Referral is a good way to find a great photographer! Amy has such a great chemistry with the kids. My children get as excited when it’s time to update their head shots with Amy as they do for an ice cream date with their cousins. Check out her gallery, https://amyb.smugmug.com/. These are not all head shots or 3/4 shots, but look at them and see if you can pick out some of each that you would consider to be “great” shots. You’ll know them when you see them! It’s always in the eyes and sometimes it happens when you least expect it, not even when you’re thinking a single thought about a head shot. When you see one, you’re heart will melt a little, even if the child doesn’t belong to you.
We recently had a call back in NYC for a big show with Zack. The casting director knew him well, as she had seen him several times at that point, and she both noticed and appreciated his new head shot right away! It makes a difference!
I think that’s enough for this week! I will be back next Friday with the next topic. Have a great week everyone!

At age 9 Zack had been performing locally for three years, four if you count the seasonal Nutcracker performances. He was having fun and had many opportunities, but was already starting to find audition announcements online and would leave them up on the computer for us to “find”. These auditions were in NYC! I literally laughed out loud! He must be joking! I dreaded driving even to Boston to find our way to the auditions there that had been arranged by his agent.

A friend who had children “in the business” had seen Zack in action and had offered to manage him. When I tell you this woman should be submitted for a nationally recognized patience award I am not exaggerating. She slowly chipped away at my anxieties even submitting him or helping us to submit him for a few projects. Two of these submissions brought Zack to NYC for work. We made it there and back and even lived to tell about it. Ok, maybe NYC was an option, but what does a professional theater audition entail? I knew we were not yet prepared for that performance level.

One day, over Christmas break, I received a notice about a group called Broadway Kids Auditions coming to Marblehead , MA for a one day workshop. This was sent to me not by one, or two, but by three different friends all on the same morning. BKA’s mission statement read “Developing confident and extraordinary kids inside and outside of the audition room”. What’s not to like about that? How could I go wrong with a one day workshop so close to home? A good friend of Zack’s was also taking the workshop so we registered him that day.

I had no idea at the time how this one day would so positively alter our path. We arrived that cold, snowy, February morning with 8 other kids. I quickly noticed that all of the other kids had binders, many with head shots on the cover, and the inside appeared to contain sheet music all in page protectors. Zack had a newly acquired binder and in it the sheet music for the one song that he had been assigned by BKA for the workshop, unprotected. Zack had a wonderful experience during that workshop. He left armed with new skills and bits and pieces of an incredible amount of information about the audition process. In another blog entry I’ll talk more about coaching. Kurt Domoney and Julianne Katz, the co-founders of BKA , will be a big part of that entry. That dynamic duo , and the rest of their team, took on this talented kid and his completely clueless parents and taught us all auditioning 101. The biggest surprise to me from the workshop and future lessons was the “book”. How could Zack have been doing theater all this time and we didn’t know anything about the “book”?

If your child is feeling ready to head out to a professional audition make sure he/she has his/her book AND has prepared the material in the book very well. He/She should be able to handle any direction the team in the audition room may throw out to him/her without losing focus– and the material needs to be memorized! What is in “the book” you ask?? Great question! Ready…here it is the first inclusion:

You need sheet music for at least two songs in the key your child would sing. One of these should be a “standard” song. A standard is something pre 1960’s. Think Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” or Lionel Bart’s “Oliver”. At college auditions they will be particularly strict about this. Make sure you have a true standard and not a “Thoroughly Modern Millie” that is the style of a standard but written as a contemporary. Your other song should be a contemporary song or from a show post 1960’s. Think “Seussical the Musical” or “Shrek”. Girls can further their book by making sure they have a song that show cases their head voice as well as their chest (or belter) voice. In each of these songs your child should be prepared to present either a 16 bar or 32 bar cut for the folks in the audition room. He/she should be prepared to approach the accompanist in the room and confidently open his/her book, show the accompanist where to begin and end, and offer them the tempo he/she would like. Sounds impossible , right? Believe me, no one could have been more surprised than I to watch Zack walk right up to the accompanist at the end of the workshop and do just this! Give these kids what they need and teach them and it’s amazing what they can do.

This is the bare minimum for songs for the book. Considering the shows currently on Broadway casting children, the coaches are also encouraging the kids to have a current pop/rock song, a 70’s rock song, a Disney song, and then a song that the child just feel best represents him/her. These songs will change as your child grows and his/her voices mature, but this is a great starting point. It will be imperative that the songs in his/her book are ones that fit well in his/her voice i.e. range and tone, and are songs that your child can connect with and deliver a heartfelt performance. This is the song he/she will sing to make his/her first impression to the audition team. It’s generally at call backs that kids will need to sing music from the show for which they are auditioning, although it can happen in the initial audition, the team almost always asks for the kids’ song from their own book first.

Here are a couple of tips about song choice. If you are auditioning for the “Sound of Music” do not sing a song from that show in your initial audition. Sing a standard or song of “similar” style to the “Sound of Music”. The team will give your child plenty of opportunity to sing songs from the show in call backs. In the initial audition you need to give them something different, but not too different. “Sound of Music” auditions is not where you should choose to sing your Beatles song :-). The second tip is choose the songs that you have in your book carefully. Try not to pick the song that is everyone’s favorite. It may also be your child’s favorite, and he/she may sound great singing it, but you can literally be sitting at an open call and hear “Tomorrow” from Annie three times while you’re waiting. Can you imagine being on that audition team and sitting in that room for 8 hours and hearing “Tomorrow” sung two dozen times? Be original and you’ll get the team’s attention and they’ll remember you. They SO appreciate originality! The final tip is make sure your child chooses a song that is age appropriate. It may seem cute and funny to hear a ten year old sing about getting revenge on a lost love, but, trust me, it’s just awkward and uncomfortable, and that’s NOT how you want to be remembered.

The other big piece of the “book” is the monologue. Your child should have at least one great monologue but two would be even better. The monologue , like the song, should be one that your child can connect with. It’s great to have a more serious and direct monologue as well as one that’s more whimsical or humorous that allows your child to show some versatility. Once again you don’t want to be reading your monologue and have it be the fourth time the team has heard it that day. It doesn’t matter how good you are, they’ve heard it. It’s also a confidence-shattering experience to be sitting outside the room and hear the auditioner in front of you slaying the same material! Talk about a tough act to follow! It will happen at some point, but if you are creative you can minimize the risk. The monologue also needs to be memorized.

Ok, that’s the basics on the “book”. Next time we’ll talk a little more about coaching and audition etiquette for both the child and the parent and also in the near future head shots and resumes and how they should be presented.

As always if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to leave them here or send them to me privately.

I love my mom! She totally “gets” me. I don’t always love that she knows what I’m thinking or what my next move is going to be even before I do, but most of the time it’s nice to not have to explain everything, and she’s very direct.
It was summer time 2006, Zack was not quite 3. My mom and dad are very present in our lives so it wasn’t a surprise to have mom drop by unexpectedly. I was cleaning up from lunch and the kids were getting ready for some downtime, which for Zack meant standing in front of the CD player belting out some Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”. My mom came in and said “Who’s singing?” and I answered “Zack”. She walked down the hallway, peaked into the living room, came back to me and said “What are you going to do about that?”.
That one sentence offered both relief and panic She saw it too! Not only that, but from her statement she knew that it meant he was going to need some guidance, and from her tone she also totally understood my mixed emotions! I just stood there and looked at her feeling all the relief and panic and said, “I have no idea”. Yes something was there, and I knew that if I wanted to have any control over the situation, then I needed to grab the reigns, buckle up, and hold on tight..but where to go?
At his young age there was so little to go on and that was ok. Now I know about singers that dance, and dancers that sing (we’ll talk more about that later) but at not quite 3 that really didn’t matter yet. There weren’t any true musical theater programs in our area for someone so young and I didn’t think he was ready for that anyway. A few weeks later Zack snuck into his older sister’s dance class and fit right in, so we decided that was the way to go. Most places will start kids as young as 3 in a dance class. It exposes them to rhythm and timing, different styles of music, often encourages them to “feel the mood” of the music, and his instructor even encourages the littles to sing along. It was a perfect start for us and it also showed us that he was able to follow directions, not be disruptive, and, best of all, he loved it! How your child progresses will depend not only on talents and physical abilities but also on his/her emotional growth. I think we sometimes go wrong when we are only pushing for improvement in the talents, but don’t pay attention to what they are emotionally ready for. It’s a very tricky balance as a parent, but your child will guide you if you listen to him/her, and a great teacher who knows his/her pupil will also help. It has taken me years to push down my anxieties over the dreams of this boy of ours , stop my tendencies of pushing through obstacles to get where we are going, and learn to breathe deeply and roll with it. Frankly I still have much room for improvement and at 12 Zack still has a lot of growing to do so I’m still rolling 🙂

One thing to keep in mind if you go the dance route is to pick a school with the focus and philosophy you want for your child. Many dance schools are now competitive, which is awesome for kids who want to focus on dance. If your child wants to have the availability to participate in some musical theater productions, then the commitment required by a competitive dance school or team can limit the theater opportunities. Mind you I said “can”. We have had plenty of friends who have been able to manage both and also plenty who have had to choose. As Zack’s focus became more on theater productions we had to stop the recital dance program he was in and turn to private lessons more specific to his theater dreams.

Generally between 6 and 8 years old opportunities become available for kids to start getting involved in local youth musical theater programs. Sometimes you can be lucky to find something when they are younger, particularly if you have a community theater that might be looking to cast younger kids for a production, but that tends to be the exception and not the rule. We are so fortunate to have several programs in our area and they have offered all five of our kids excellent experiences in multiple different projects. This is again where you want to research the program(s) available, and find the one that fits best with what you and your child are looking for. We started in the one closest to home that was a lovely small community theater that performs many classic or “standard” productions. They offered summer camps and year long musical theater classes for all the kids, but the performance opportunities were really only available to the select few who were cast in the productions. This worked for Zack and his brothers, boys in a world of girls, but not for our daughter. We discovered another program, a little further away, where they held auditions for the youth productions, but everyone was cast in a role. At first we were concerned that our kid would get lost in that huge sea of kids, but this group does an excellent job of making each child feel like a big part of the production. Point being , there are so many programs out there, look around and feel them out and find the one that’s the best fit for your child.

As kids get older and are exposed to all the ins and outs of song, dance, and acting, it will become clear where their strengths are and where they need more practice. Your child may be able to do it all very well, but I think every child has one component that they just connect with more easily, and this one would be a strength. Our Zack is definitely a singer who also dances. He just connects better, more naturally, with song. He certainly can dance but if given the choice, he is a singer who dances. Our daughter is a dancer who sings, she has a beautiful singing voice but her comfort lies in dance. Professional auditions are often broken into “voice call” or “dance call”. It’s good for children to figure out which area is a strength as it will allow them to put their best foot forward first, make a great first impression, and build confidence. Generally great singers will be called back to dance, and great dancers will be called back to sing.

It is great to be actively training in both voice and dance, but often finances and schedules can interfere.  I suggest pick the one that needs the most practice to do regularly and maybe slide in workshops or camps for the other when time and money allow.

We found that people in our area wouldn’t offer voice lessons to children until they were ten years old. We didn’t realize how important it was for Zack , who was always singing and playing with his voice, to have training before he was ten. His lack of training led to formation of some very bad vocal habits and much frustration when his voice would “hurt” and he couldn’t make it sound they way he wanted it to. If your child sings all the time, is a true “belter”, and has days of hoarseness because of singing, then find someone reputable who will work with them younger than ten. There is much to be taught at an earlier age to encourage great vocal health.  If we had known then what we know now, things could have been much easier. Skype is a wonderful tool! More on that soon.

I seriously could go on and on about all of this, which is why this is a blog 🙂 But this is where I think you should start with a kiddo expressing interest. The youngest should be in a preschool music class or dance classes, and,when old enough, a good youth musical theater program, and private voice lessons as needed.
There’s so much more in terms of finding auditions, preparing for auditions, finding representation, and even modeling, which is great exposure and practice, but we will save that for another entry. My plan will be to put up a new post each Friday. If you have specific questions ask away! If I can’t answer then I’ll help find the answer for you.

Ever have that moment when you’re just going along with life, day after day, not unhappily but definitely complacently, and all of a sudden something comes hurtling out of left field and you are suddenly unsure of anything!?!  I think we all have had a few of those experiences, perhaps related to the number of years we’ve been on the planet, but not necessarily.  Childbirth for example. Honestly for me it didn’t matter if it was the first or the fifth. Each brought a whole new set of changes with him or her. There are books , blogs, tv shows, and endless people offering you all kinds of advice about how to raise your child from the cellular level on up. I have found very few that offer advice on how to deal with a child who has a dream that is so big and so different from anything that I had in my own vision of raising my family.

A little background.  I am a not quite 50 year old mother of 5 wonderful school aged children.  I’ve been married to my husband for nearly 20 years and we both work, one of us in healthcare and the other in law enforcement. We have a very “normal” life in general although obviously a busy one with the 5 kids. They each have their own personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and talents.  We are a very traditional, some might say conservative, Christian family who still eats supper together every night, head to church on Sundays and have lots and lots of rules..much to the older kids’ chagrin.  Our 3rd and 4th children are a set of twins and the older of the 2 is the reason for this blog to exist.

This child of ours was clearly “different” than the others from the beginning. He could sing before he could speak in full sentences and not just sing…he could SING! Where the heck did that come from? He has incredible rhythm and grace , both of which my husband claims. He is incredibly sensitive and intuitive; I’ll claim that thank you. He demonstrated a great ability for acting by the age of 2.  At 3 he broke into his older sister’s dance class and refused to leave, and by the age of 5 we were hearing the term “triple threat”.  Any of you know what I’m talking about?? Still makes my heart rate increase and I can start to twitch! This was followed by “oh,man, that kid’s got what it takes!” And “good luck with that his is going to be a wild ride!” Even worse than that was this kid of ours clearly had plans! He spent all of his free time learning music, dancing, begging us to get online with him and search for the who’s who of theater and music and see how they got where they are.  Ummmm…hello??  God?? This was not in my plans! Why on earth would you give me a kid like this?? I’m a suburban mom , perhaps even an introvert, who created this quiet world of mine in which I am very content. Before this child of mine I would scoff at the news stories of child entertainers with thoughts of “those poor kids, their parents making them do this so they can live their dreams vicariously.  NO kid could possibly be driving that bus!” Oh boy…was I wrong!

Now at age 12 my “triple threat” has managed to drag us kicking and screaming through the the last 6 years and we are about to embark on our first national Broadway Tour. When I say kicking and screaming I am not exaggerating! I still am not quite sure how I lost control of the “ride” or which turn led us here.  Was it agreeing last minute to let him audition for the local theater with his sister…he was cast in that show and then virtually every other show in that theater for 3 years. When I let him audition for the local singing competition because his teacher told him he’d be great?  Or was it that workshop offered by the “Broadway people” that seemed to start the slide to the big city that we never seemed to be able to slow down? Deep sigh… Any way we look at it I believe we are right where we should be, for my son, and for the rest of our family.  Of course I had concerns and on the list of concerns ,quite a ways down on the list, was what am I supposed to do while on tour? I’ll go crazy without 5 kids, a husband, a dog, a house, and a job to manage.  Several people suggested writing. Finally, my mom, a retired English teacher and published author said, “How much would you have loved to have someone with your knowledge to turn to for advice as (we’ll call him this) Zack was pulling you along this path?  You have to blog. There’s probably a parent out there in your shoes right now wondering what to do…and you have five kids!”  So here it is…my blog…I hope it helps someone. I’ll do my best to offer topics on the issues that we found most challenging (getting started, auditioning, who the players are)  but am more than happy to hear from you readers with questions.  I’ll help if I can or direct you to my resources if I can’t.