Conservatory Report

The Muriel Moore/Danny Nelson SAG-AFTRA Conservatory is off to a standing-room-only start this year. We have had four events that played to capacity crowds, all of which were informative, enriching and fulfilled the conservatory’s twin goals of creating and building community amongst the professional actors in our region and raising the bar of professionalism in our community.

We began the year with the panel discussion Stunts: What Don’t You Know. The panel consisted of four stunt coordinators and stunt performers regularly working in our region: Jennifer Badger, Bob Fisher, Michael Long and Guss Williams, and was moderated by Committee Chair Clayton Landey. This was a fantastic evening of information that benefited the actors and stunt performers alike in our membership. Later, in January, Steve Coulter conducted and mesmerized a full house of performers with his Auditioning for Film & Television workshop. Next up, was a meet-and-greet with George Pierre, an inspiring evening with one of the most active casting directors in our region. The evening finished with the opportunity for 20 actors who hadn’t met Pierre previously to have private one-on-ones with this tremendously supportive CD. And what a way to finish February: an improv workshop with Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning director/writer/producer John Joseph! We are really looking forward to our next speaker event: A conversation and Q&A with Brian Beegle, who is currently the most active commercial casting director in our region. There is already a full attending list and the waiting list has begun.