From the Heart Theater Group

12/24/2025

If you are one of the people listed below and would like a copy for Christmas, contact Pastor Jeff by phone - if you still have that, or DM me through "my page", not in the comments here. )One Bethlehem Night is allowed to be posted online - unlike Charlie Brown, and I will put a notice here as soon as it is posted.

A Charlie Brown Christmas Cast
Charlie Brown Dominic Kyer
Snoopy Alexa Dupler
Lucy Lilly Porter
Schroeder Theo Porter
Linus Nathan Dukeshire
Sally Kaitlyn Blair
Pig Pen Brock Stuller
Frieda Caroline Mittendorf
Violet Juliana Barcenas
Shermy Reed Mittendorf
Patty Jenna Pawlaczyk
Ice Skaters
Franklin William Arquette
Lydia Riley Rayburn
Emily Annabelle Show
Eudora Aubrey Stukenborg
Marcie Alayna Tugade

09/03/2025

I (Jeff Cooper, 1977 high school grad) remember all too well auditioning for plays in high school. Terror, fear, uncertainty – they were, and always are, a part of the process, but they should be managed well to give yourself the best audition you are able to give. If it can be boiled down to one rule BE PREPARED! “But how can I prepare oif we are asked to do a cold read from a script we have never seen or sing a song we do not know?” As part of your ongoing acting growth it would be wise to practice both of those often. Grab scripts online or wherever you can get them and read them as if you were auditioning. When you have to do it for real, you will be more comfortable and therefore more natural. Go to karaoke night and ask strangers to suggest a song and only sing ones you don’t know – the result will be the same as above – you won’t be thrown off because you already do that all the time. Will it be embarrassing? Probably, but better there than at an audition.
Now that you understand and will apply rule number one, BE PREPARED, here are some more helpful guidelines.
Jeff Cooper, Director – From the Heart Theater Group

Guidance on auditioning for a high school play
Preparing for the audition
• Research the play. If a script is available beforehand, read it carefully and take notes on the characters, their motivations, and the plot. This helps make informed character choices during the audition.
• Prepare audition material. For many high school plays, one or two monologues are required. The audition notice provides specific requirements.
o Choose monologues from published plays that are age-appropriate and contrast in style (e.g., one dramatic, one comedic).
o Unless specified, avoid using self-written monologues or ones from movies or television.
o If auditioning for a musical, select a song that suits your voice and showcases your personality.
• Practice thoroughly. Memorize the audition material well in advance so you can focus on performance and character choices, rather than the lines. Recording practice sessions can help identify weaknesses and areas for improvement.
• Slate clearly. Practice introducing yourself and the material confidently. For example: "Hi, my name is [Your Name]. I will be performing a monologue from [Play Title] by [Playwright]".
On the day of the audition
• Arrive early and prepared. Arrive about 15 minutes before the scheduled time with any necessary paperwork, such as a completed audition form. This allows time to relax and focus.
• Make a good first impression. Be polite and kind to everyone encountered, from students in the waiting area to the directors. Remember that the audition begins upon arrival.
• Dress comfortably. Wear neat, clean clothes that allow for a full range of movement. Avoid costumes or props unless the director requests them.
• Project and enunciate. Speak clearly and at a volume that can be heard from the back of the room. This shows confidence and ensures the directors hear everything.
• Take direction. The director may adjust the performance and ask for a repeat of the monologue. This tests how well you take direction, so listen carefully, take the opportunity, and be flexible.
After the audition
• Be gracious. Thank the directors for their time.
• Accept the role. If willing to accept any role, be prepared to do so. High school theater is a team effort, and the ensemble is a critical part of any show.
• Don't give up. If the desired part isn't received, don't be discouraged. Use the experience to learn and grow, and return stronger for the next play.

05/13/2024

SINGING AUDITION FOR A MUSICAL
Here are helpful tips for teens and children (and anyone else)
to be at their absolute best at their singing auditions:

Choose the Right Song:
Select a song that resonates with you emotionally. It should be age-appropriate and showcase your vocal range and abilities.
Consider the character you’re auditioning for and choose a song that reflects their personality or situation.
Assume No One Has Heard Your Song Before:
Approach your song as if the audience has never heard it. Tell the story with fresh enthusiasm and engage the listener.
Spit out every word clearly, even if it feels slightly unnatural.

Keep Your Eyes Open:
While introspective moments are powerful, avoid closing your eyes for extended periods during your performance. Maintain connection with the audience.

Visualize Your Audience:
Imagine singing to a specific person in the back of the room. Think of a personal experience related to the song and channel that emotion.

Speak Certain Lyrics:
Speaking certain lines within the song adds depth and emotional layers. It enhances the impact when you transition back to singing.

Maintain Hope Throughout:
Even if your character faces challenges, maintain hope during your performance. Audiences root for characters who believe they can overcome obstacles.

Practice Regularly:
Consistent practice is crucial. Work on vocal warm-ups, phrasing, and breath control. Record yourself to identify areas for improvement.

Stage Presence and Confidence:
Stand tall, maintain good posture, and use your body to express emotions. Confidence matters—own the stage and believe in your abilities.

Dress Appropriately:
Wear comfortable clothes that allow you to move freely. Dress in a way that complements the character you’re portraying.

Bring an Updated Headshot and Resume:
Present a headshot and a concise resume with your relevant experience. Include any training, workshops, or performances you’ve participated in.

Know the Musical:
Familiarize yourself with the musical’s storyline, characters, and themes. Understand the context of your song within the show.

Arrive Early and Be Prepared:
Arrive well before your audition time. Warm up your voice and mentally prepare. Bring any required sheet music or backing tracks.
Remember, auditions are not just about hitting the right notes; they’re about conveying emotions and connecting with the audience. Break a leg! 🎤🌟

03/17/2024

It has been a long time since I have posted acting helps. The following is great for an acting monolgue, audition piece, or even a report you need to give for class. There is no short cut for preparation. Preparing for a monologue involves more than just memorizing lines. Here’s a simple acting lesson to help you get ready for your monologue performance:

Understand the Text:
Read and analyze your monologue thoroughly. Understand the character’s situation, emotions, and objectives.
Identify key moments: Highlight the turning points, emotional shifts, and significant lines.
Character Exploration:
Research the character: Learn about their background, relationships, and motivations.
Create a backstory: Imagine their life experiences, desires, and fears. This will inform your performance.
Physical Warm-Up:
Stretch and breathe: Loosen up your body to be more expressive.
Vocal exercises: Warm up your voice by humming, articulating, and projecting.
Emotional Preparation:
Emotional recall: Connect with your own experiences to evoke genuine emotions.
Substitution: Relate the character’s feelings to your personal memories.
Objective and Tactics:
Objective: What does your character want in the scene? Define it clearly.
Tactics: Plan how your character will achieve their objective. Use verbs like “persuade,” “threaten,” or “seduce.”
Be Present:
Focus on the moment: Forget about the audience or any distractions.
Listen and react: Respond authentically to imaginary circumstances.
Memorization and Rehearsal:
Break it down: Learn the monologue in chunks. Understand each thought.
Repeat, repeat, repeat: Practice until the lines flow naturally.
Experiment: Try different choices and approaches during rehearsals.
Physicalization:
Gesture and movement: Use your body to express emotions and emphasize points.
Blocking: Plan where you’ll move during the monologue.
Eye Contact:
Avoid staring: Connect with an imaginary scene partner or an object.
Look up and out: Engage the audience without directly addressing them.
Performance Mindset:
Confidence: Believe in your preparation and trust yourself.
Enjoy the process: Embrace the opportunity to perform.
Remember, the key is authenticity. Make the monologue your own, and let your emotions and intentions shine through. Break a leg! 🎭🌟

09/15/2021

When auditioning (or acting) the single greatest tool you have is your body. How do you use it? There are many tips that can be shared but to not overwhelm - here are just two to start - others will be added later. Work on these first before your next audtion.

1. Master Your Space
Spatial norms, known as proxemics, are an important element in the audition.

Researchers have found that how we use space can give us interesting information. Specifically:

The body to body distance between two parties encodes the nature of the relationship between the participants themselves as well as observing third parties. In other words, we use space to decide how someone feels about us and we look at space between others to try predicting their relationship.

Everyone has their own space bubbles. These are the areas around our body where we like to interact with different kinds of people. Everyone’s bubble is slightly different, but here are some averages:

Intimate space is 0 to 18 inches from our body. People who are in that space have to be intimate with us because they are close enough to reach out and touch us. You never want to go into someone’s intimate space accidentally.
Personal space is 1.5 to 5 feet from our body. This is the most common zone we use. We easily can reach out and shake hands and speak so someone can hear us. This is our favorite zone to use when talking to friends at a party or colleagues in the break room.
Social space is 5 to 7 feet from our body. This often is used with people you feel are not a threat, but you are not necessarily interacting with them. It can be at a party or networking event or even in a large event space.
Public space is beyond 7 feet. This gives us enough space to figure out someone’s intentions before an approach. At 7 feet, you can see their entire body, their hand gestures and posture. We like to get a good read on someone before talking to them.
Action Step: Practice safe space boundaries. Remain in the personal and social space zones with the casting director and other decision makers.

2. Know the Seven Microexpressions
A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression that appears on a person’s face according to the emotions being experienced. Unlike regular, prolonged facial expressions, it is difficult to fake a microexpression.

In other words, when we feel an intense emotion, that emotion reveals itself on our face (for better or worse).

The seven universal microexpressions are:

Disgust
Anger
Fear
Sadness
Happiness
Surprise
Contempt
In an audition, you want to project the emotion of the character you’re portraying. If your script is sad, practice showing the sadness microexpression in the mirror beforehand to truly get into the mind and body of the character.

Additionally, smile only when you want to show happiness. Many actors make the mistake of plastering on a fake smile throughout the entire audition. Unfortunately, we can spot ingenuine happiness a mile away, so be mindful of your smile and intention behind it.

Special Note: Be sure to avoid negative expressions (disgust, anger, contempt and sadness) as you enter and leave the room, especially if you’ve been given negative feedback. Remain as facially neutral as possible to leave a positive, lasting impression.

Action Step: Memorize the seven microexpressions so you can use the correct one in the correct scene no matter what script you are handed:

05/18/2021

Movement Exercises for Actors

Being comfortable in your body is an important part of being a successful actor. Spending time on your physicality is as important as spending time on your voice. In much the same way as voice training can benefit your vocal expression, movement training frees the body to express itself naturally, and increases your physical presence on stage. Taking care of your body will keep you fit and able, prevent injuries on stage, and make you a more grounded and competent performer.
Outside domestic naturalism, you can almost guarantee you will be faced with some sort of choreography. Whether this is dance, fight, or elements of physical theatre, being in tune with your own body will make you a more versatile and malleable performer, and invaluable to any company you join. This does not mean you need to be an olympic athlete, but keeping yourself fit, strong and agile keeps you ready for anything that might be thrown at you.
Whether you are wanting to warm up before a show, loosen tight muscles, or simply awaken a tired body, movement exercises for performance can be incredibly beneficial. Below are some exercises and advice for making sure your body is fit, free and ready to perform.
Movement Practices for Actors
Codified Movement
Learning a style of codified movement is a great way of keeping the body free and able. Different people will tell you different things about what is best for the body, but at the end of the day, you should do what makes your body feel best.
Whether its yoga, ballet, martial arts, crossfit, tai chi, feldenkrais or calisthenics, learning a codified form of movement will strengthen your core, improve your posture and give you many techniques to awaken and invigorate your body. Any popular movement style will have more pros than cons for your physicality, as long as you ensure your training is balanced. Learning a style of movement is a great way to stay fit and healthy and in touch with your body all year round so you are physically prepared for your next audition or performance.
Plating
This is probably my favorite movement exercise and one I employ as part of every warm-up. As with most good movement exercises, not only does plating awaken your core and align your balance, it also has huge benefits for the voice.
In a wide stance, imagine a plate is on the up-turned palm of your right hand. Explore the full range of movement you have whilst being careful not to let the ‘plate’ drop off your hand. Another way to think of it is your palm must always face the roof. In long circular movements, stretch out the front, to the back, to the side. Keep exploring how far you can stretch and contract this movement, exploring its full range whilst keeping your feet planted.
Repeat on the left side. After each side is warmed up, combine the movements and explore the relationship of the two sides, with the aim of creating fluid complementary circular movements.
You should feel this exercise stretch your ribs, engage your core and focus your balance.
Arm Swing
This is a gentle warm-up that is particularly useful when under-energized or when your body is a bit tender. It helps alignment and increases focus, as it relies on intense concentration.
Standing neutral, raise and drop your right heel, keeping the ball of your foot on the ground, and your leg straight. Allow the slight shockwave to go up the right side of your body. Repeat this five or six times to awaken the right side. Start slowly and gently swinging your right arm back and forth. Allow the weight to move between the ball and heel of your right foot, as you concentrate on loosening the right side to complement the arm swing. Now concentrate on the path of the arm. Imagine a perfectly vertical circle that your hand would make if you swung it in a full large circle and slowly start to swing your arm around this circle, concentrating on keeping the line of the circle completely vertical and consistent. Allow the body to move freely to allow this movement to be precise.
After some time, come to a rest as you stand neutral. Notice the change in the right side of the body and compare it to your left. Repeat the exercise on the left side.
When you come to rest your body should feel relaxed, loose and symmetrical. If one side stills feels tighter, or you feel one shoulder is sitting higher than the other, you can repeat the exercise again.
Balls
Do yourself a favor, go to the local department store, and buy two or three super bouncy hollow rubber balls. They are about the size of a tennis ball, only cost a couple of dollars and can be used in a number of ways to warm up.
Massages: Either put the ball on the ground and massage your feet or massage your back by putting it between yourself and a wall. These little balls are a market stall masseuse you can fit in your bag. Work the ball in all directions under each foot. You will feel incredibly grounded and well-balanced after a few minutes.
Line-Runs: You can use these balls in line runs by throwing and catching as lines are delivered and received. It is a great way to mix up a stagnant scene, or to create better connection. The coordination required is not huge (depending on how well you catch!), but it is enough to awaken the body and trigger our reflexes, making us more present and responsive. You should always try and increase the difficulty of the throwing and catching over time. It is also a great way to free up your delivery, as your brain is concentrating on the action, rather than overthinking the performance.
Warm-Ups: Playing piggy-in-the middle, or handball, or even just throwing and catching is a fun, gentle way to warm-up the body and awaken the senses. It can be between the whole cast, you and a friend or even against a wall by yourself. The most beneficial part of using a ball is it makes you aware of your surroundings and focuses your concentration on something outside yourself. It makes you present and responsive.

This article was written by Michael Abercromy 8-17-17

04/28/2021

10 TOP INDUSTRY TIPS ON VOICE TRAINING FOR ACTORS

The voice is one of the most important tools for actors, adding nuance and quite literally breathing new life into texts. But taking the time and making the effort to train the voice isn’t just the difference between a good performance and a goosebump-inducing showstopper, it’s crucial for the vocal health of actors – not just when they deliver lines, but in their everyday lives.

Actor and City Academy Voice Training expert, Harriet Whitbread, gives us her top ten voice work tips for thespians, screen actors and all performers alike, or anyone who experiences plenty of day to day physical demands on their voice. Have a read, and find out how to strengthen and take care of your voice, whether it’s for stage whispering or belting out a musical theatre number, through practical tips and mindful practice.

voice-tips-for-actors

1. Always warm-up. Do this before every audition, every rehearsal and every performance. Even five minutes makes a big difference, so try to fit in some mindful voice work every day.

2. Practise sight reading. This is when you recite books or scripts you’ve never read before, out loud. It’s an essential part of almost any audition and the more you do, the better you get – remember to look up at the end of thoughts, this will help you be more convincing.

3. Breathe at punctuation. It may sound obvious but punctuation divides text into thoughts, helping you make sense of it. So it’s important to breathe at punctuation to gain a better understanding of the character’s thoughts. Be careful though, if you breathe when there is no punctuation, you will be in danger of unintentionally transforming that speech into a list.

4. Relax the jaw. This is so important, as it creates room in the mouth for the tongue to move freely, which is the part of our mouth that actually creates the shapes for us to articulate sounds, so it really helps with oral resonance. Try saying “ahhhh” with a tense jaw and then hear the difference when you allow the jaw to drop open.

5. Strengthen your tongue. Do exercises such as letting the jaw drop open and pointing out the tongue, touching it to the top lip, bottom lip, top teeth, bottom teeth, top gum ridge behind your top teeth, and the bottom gum ridge behind your bottom teeth, the hard palate and the floor of mouth. Repeat the sequence five times and don’t forget to breathe or make sure that the jaw remains relaxed!

6. Shape the words. Each word has a different combination of vowels and consonants that give it a different feel when spoken. Try to become more aware of the physical sensation of speaking these, particularly when practising sight reading.

7. Practise good alignment. Your body is the carry case for your voice, so if your posture is aligned correctly, your instrument remains in good condition. Imagine your pelvis as the foundation stone of the spine, and try to be tall through the back, so that your neck is straight, rather than curved.

8. Yawn. This is an easy one for most of us. Yawning is one of the best voice exercises you can ever do, as it lessens constriction in the throat. Indulge as often as possible and always make it part of your warm-up.

9. Breathe consciously. Breath is the power behind your voice, but it’s so easy to allow it to become restricted – once in a while we all forget to inhale, perhaps if we’re stressed or shocked. That can lead to shallow, throaty vocal delivery, so try to let the breath drop in deeper and as you breathe out, sense how the stomach muscles contract to help the diaphragm push the air out of the body.

10. Drink water. One of the most easily forgotten points of vocal health is making sure you are well hydrated. Drink at least a couple of litres a day and carry a bottle of water around with you, so you make a real splash while doing any type of voice work.

04/07/2021

Here is a list of 8 acting techniques in drama that every actor needs to know:

Stanislavski Method
Classical Acting Technique
Method Acting Technique
Meisner Technique
Chekhov Technique
Practical Aesthetics Acting Technique
Uta Hagen Technique
Viola Spolin Technique

Click here to learn more about each of these techniques.

Studying acting takes a lot of commitment and hard work. Like many art forms, acting is a craft that can never be perfected. There is always an opportunity to learn and building a solid foundation through the mastery of acting techniques is always a great approach. Additionally, there are plenty of....

11/11/2020

CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS and ONE BETHLEHEM NIGHT cast and crew; apologies cannot be strong enough for not having your videos prepared yet. Not completely, but partly due to COVID-related issues of time. Rest assured, you will get it at some point. From the Heart Theater Group can't wait till the time we can be fully functioning again in a "post-pandemic" world. God bless you all this Christmas Season.

10/07/2020

Prime Day is Oct. 13-14 on Amazon. If you shop Amazon on those days (or any time with or without prime) make sure you do it at smile.amazon.com and select "From the Heart Theater Group" as your charity that will receive a donation for every purchase you make. Thank you for sup[porting community theater in these very unusual times we are living in.

06/03/2020

Thank you to those who use smile.amazon.com and have chosen "From the Heart Theater Group" as your charity. We are not setting the world on fire with this but received our first "free money" - Amazon Smile: Direct Deposit for From the Heart Theater Group $6.48 If you use Amazon at all please click the link below and choose From the Heart Theater Group as your charity to support - it costs you absolutely nothing but can help us a great deal.

When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate to From The Heart Theater Group. Support us every time you shop.