The Actor’s School Panel with Babs George
We are extremely thrilled to present Babs George and a Panel of Acting Coaches featuring Babs George & Brittany Flurry and a few more tentatively booked from The Actor’s School as our guest speakers on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 @ Baby A’s!
Babs George founded The Actor’s School (formerly the State Theatre School of Acting) in 1993 and has been the Director since its inception. She is a professional actress and has been a member of SAG-AFRA and AEA for over 30 years. She has been awarded many Austin Critics and B. Iden Payne Awards, as well as the Austin Chronicle’s “Best Actor/Actress in Austin” Award. Some of her TV & film credits include a PBS documentary of War of the Worlds, Friday Night Lights, and Sin City. In addition to teaching at The Actor’s School, Babs currently teaches in the theatre departments at Texas State and Southwestern Universities.
Brittany Flurry teaches classes and is the administrative assistant for The Actor’s School. She is an actor, writer, director, and producer. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Acting from Texas State University and studied abroad with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. She completed a two-year Meisner intensive with Richard Robichaux. She is currently working on several projects as one of the co-founders of Team Teamwork Productions. In addition to film and stage, Brittany also performs stand-up comedy and improvisation.
John Ratliff has been performing improv since 2005 and teaching it since 2008. Trained at ColdTowne in Austin and at iO and The Annoyance in Chicago, he’s studied under Liz Allen, Matt Besser, Keith Johnstone, Susan Messing, Mick Napier, and Miles Stroth, among many others. He was in the original and subsequent casts of the Hideout’s Austin Secrets and performed improv for 43 hours straight in that theater’s 2013 Marathon. In 2011 John was named Best Improv Teacher in the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” Awards and in 2011 and 2015 voted Best Teacher or Coach at ColdTowne.
Marijane (Mj) Vandivier is a professional Equity actress with over 55 years experience. She enjoyed a successful television career for 30 years including film, radio shows and commercial work, and has been an acting and speaking voice teacher /coach for the past 24 years. Mj studied at The America Theatre Wing in NYC. She holds a B.S. from the University of Houston in Psychology and Theatre and is a Certified Lessac Voice/Body Trainer. In addition to her many theatre roles, she just landed a national Walmart commercial and will be seen at SXSW in film that is already garnering much attention:
Barbara Chisholm had a supporting role in the landmark and Oscar-nominated film Boyhood, a recurring role in the Emmy nominated ABC drama American Crime, and an appearance in Friday Night Lights. Chisholm recently starred in the world premiere, one-woman play Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End at the Tony Award-winning Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. under the direction of Broadway director David Esbjornson. She has been voted Best Actor three times in the Austin Chronicle’s annual “Best of Austin” Readers Poll and has won multiple acting honors from the Austin Critics Table, the B. Iden Payne Theatre Awards, and Drama Logue.
Please join us for this talent-packed and highly informative mixer at Baby A’s on Wednesday October 12th, and bring some friends. Arrive early for a cold libation, networking, and meeting new folks with like minds.
Last Month
Thanks so much to Samantha Levine, Rob Gonzalez, and Mackinlee Waddell for coming to tell us about this year’s Austin Film Festival and gifting attendees a special discount promo code!
From Gary L. Wimmer:
We were exceptionally happy to have had casting director and author Donise Hardy, CSA as our speaker on Wednesday, September 14th! And what an entertaining and enlightening mixer it was. We started (and ended) the evening by singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Donise, since she just reached 42. Uh, make that 70! Then Donise spoke about acting, casting, and her new book, “Acting Career Basics: On-Camera Audition & Industry Tips” available on CreateSpace & Amazon. Editors Diane Beckham & Ellen Martin were onhand to answer questions and facilitate book signings, and one lucky audience member won the door prize — the book!
Our 3rd and final surprise of the evening was the world premiere of Donise’s new video webshops available on demand at Vimeo: Actor’s WebShops is up and running!
We all extend our deepest thanks to you, Donise, for your passion, intelligence, hard work, inspiration, enthusiasm and professionalism, and as a community, we are all grateful for your continuous contributions, specialized courses and unique insights.
Note: Baby A’s will place pylons on parking spaces reserved for our speakers behind the restaurant. Please do not park in those reserved spots!
Pass along our website and check it for details about each month’s speaker(s)!
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Mixing & Networking @ 6:00PM, Announcements @ 6:30, Speakers @ 6:45
Followed by More Mixing & Mingling and Networking