C. Robert Jones, lifelong theater professional and author of I Like It Here and the Lanky Tales, has written a new book just for actors—professional, amateur, wannabe, and students. These 55 Practical Tips for Success include tried-and-true approaches to auditioning, self-presentation, appearance, and even writing “thank-you” notes—all the aspects of getting ready to audition for, and get, a part in a play.
C. Robert launched his professional career as a young man at the Little Theatre of Savannah, GA, and later was one of the cofounders of the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater (SART), affiliated with Mars Hill College (now University), in 1975. In addition to degrees from the University of South Carolina, University of Georgia, and The Catholic University of America in DC, he was a National Endowment Fellow at Yale in 1995. He also studied at the Sorbonne and at the University of Dijon (France) on a Fulbright grant.
He is also the author of more than four dozen plays, including the 1979 musical Rivals, which garnered a David B. Marshall Award in Musical Theater at the U. of Michigan. His play Chiaroscuro (Nocturne) premiered at Theater Memphis in 1984, where it was a winner in the theater’s national play search. He won the Robert Chesley Foundation Playwriting Award in 2011 for both The Catbird Seat and The Love Quartette.
In Acting Onstage, C. Robert includes chapters on Auditions, Rehearsals (and learning lines), Blocking, Lights/Props/Hair/Costumes, and a variety of generic issues involved with stagecraft. It’s truly a must-have companion for every actor, of every age and level of experience.