Recommending A Voice Over Class

Not only is my friend Richard Tatum, loveable, hilarious, brilliant, talented, goofy, and married to my friend Tracy, but he's also a talented voiceover teacher. Richard has worked in voiceover a goodly time now and has been teaching lessons for about 10 years now.

I took a class from Richard in the basics of voiceover and I loved the atmosphere that he set up. First of all, it's just darn fun. If you're a teacher and you're about the fun and not the fear, you're all right with me. Second, every one had a chance at the mic in every class. We explored different types of voiceovers, (animation, commercials, video games, etc.), and we had feedback at the end of each session. I learned quite a bit!

Richard has another round of classes coming up, starting October 6th. It runs for 6 weeks and will cover animation! Topics will include character creation, parsing scripts, making characters dynamic, and creating and maintaining a character repertoire, as well as broadening your range, audition preparation, and styles.  All students get on the microphone repeatedly every class!

So if you're interested, check out his company, Absolute Voiceover , to see what other classes he has coming up, check here. You may also find Absolute Voiceover on Facebook and Twitter.

Richard is also a wonderfully smart actor and director. If you saw Group the Musical and The Insidious Impact of Anton this year, then you've seen his directing work.

If you're an Awkward Embraces fan, than you know him as The IT Guy. Below is my favorite episode of his.

Theater You Want to See This Weekend

It's closing weekend! I want you to see my show! I also want you to see another show. See some theater, damn it! It's good for you.

First the show I've been proud to be a part of,  The Insidious Impact of Anton, is closing this weekend. I'm part of a wonderful ensemble and we have just been having the best time performing in this show. I would tell you more about the show, but I think this will do all the talking for me.



To find where you can buy tickets and read the reviews go to Absolute Theatre's page here.

The other show that I think you need to see before it closes is The Gospel According to First Squad.
From their site:
The highly anticipated third installment of Tom Burmester’s War Cycle, Gospel According to First Squad, takes place in the Theatre of War. On the brink of civilization in Eastern Afghanistan, deep in the deadly Korengal Valley, the men of First Squad walk the tightrope between boredom and terror everyday. In a valley lit by firestorms of chaos, courage can be proved by a casual walk to the burn-shitter.  As First Squad navigates the human terrain, winning hearts and minds from the Taliban, a new addition to their team threatens their mission, the populace, and their dreams of home.  Gospel According to First Squad will take you on a tour of duty -- as an American -- that will shine a light on our mission, our morals, and asks what you will do -- or won’t do -- to keep your freedom. 

My favorite aspect of seeing a show from the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, is that it is usually the most engaging theater I get to experience in this town. No matter what the piece is, I can see that everyone involved poured their blood, sweat, and tears into a show to give the audience a night of theater they'll never forget. Gospel is no different. The writing is engaging, the directing is flawless, and the acting is brilliant. Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.latensemble.com/2009/Tickets.html

I wish I could find a video to post here, but I'll leave you with this excerpt from a review from LA Weekly:

Director Danika Sudik (aided by Burmester) controls the pace while allowing for necessary outbursts of the tightly coiled emotion and energy inside each solider, all of which are scary in a primal way. Which is, after all, the point. The army, like all fraternities, encourages herd mentality. It doesn't elevate man; it reduces him to his most animalistic instincts -- or so the military hopes, because only when men stop reflecting can they do what must be done to win. The entire ensemble is terrific, but special mention goes to Jonathan Redding's calm-before-cracking sergeant.