Episode 10: “Dante Signing Off”
Dante talks about what he learned from his acting adventures. He shares his favorite clips and officially wraps his podcast!
You’re listening to Dante’s Acting Adventures. Now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
[MUSIC]
This podcast is brought to you by ‘Jsk Stories’. JSK Stories is a safe, online community where kids and teenagers can learn about all thing’s theatre and film.
For more content like this, and to stay up to date on current and future projects, like our newly released scripted web series, “An Open Letter to Isabella Beck,” follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at ‘jsk Stories’, or online at ‘jskstories.com’. Thank you and enjoy the show!
[INTRO]
DANTE
Dante’s Acting Adventures!
[THEME MUSIC]
Hello everybody! I hope you’ve enjoyed my podcast all about acting and theater. This is my final episode! I’ve had so much fun and I’m going to miss doing this podcast a lot. Mrs. Griffin is going to be pretty proud of me, I think. I don’t have any guests for today. I wanted to use this last episode to recap everything I’ve learned, from all the amazing and cool people I got to talk to. So without further ado…
Let’s. Get. Into. It.
[THEME MUSIC FADES]
[GUITAR MUSIC]
Alright. If you can remember all the way back at the very beginning of my podcast, my goal was to learn more about theater and acting for my class project.
And guess what? I learned tons of awesome stuff! I got to talk to nine different people about all kinds of things. I had no idea theater was as amazing as it is!
So, I wanted to conclude my podcast with nine things I learned about acting and theater.
Here we go. Number 1!
[GUITAR MUSIC FADES]
[SOUND EFFECT]
In my very first episode with Jordan I learned that acting is all about telling stories. The world needs actors to tell stories because stories can change the world. Now when I see a play, or listen to a musical, I try to figure out what the story is that the actors and singers are telling. It’s a lot of fun!
Alright. Number 2!
[SOUND EFFECT]
Do you remember Coco? She was awesome and talked about auditioning! Coco told me that auditioning can actually be really fun, and that it’s important because you get to be brave when you audition for a play or a musical. Plus, you can find auditions at your school or in your community. Coco also told me to practice thinking something nice about yourself before you audition. I really like that a lot.
Let’s keep moving. Number 3!
[SOUND EFFECT]
In episode 3, Jasmine and I talked about a lot of things. I learned so much about acting for the stage. Jasmine really helped me understand what the job of an actor is, and how actors work with other people in theater to be able to put on a show! I memorized the stage positions we talked about. See if you remember them, too! You ready? Here we go. Up-stage, down-stage, state left, stage right, and centerstage! Check me out Jasmine!
[APPLAUSE]
That’s how your director tells you where to go! Plus I learned that I can memorize lines with a little extra practice and a trick Jasmine showed me. Go check out episode 3 to learn about Jasmine’s cool memorization trick.
[CLIP FROM EP 3]
JASMINE
When I’m memorizing my lines, what I do is I will write out the first letter of every word in the line that I’m trying to memorize. That way, when I’m running lines with someone, they’ll say the line before mine and then I’ll look at that piece of paper and the first letter of every word will remind me what word comes next.
[END OF CLIP]
DANTE
Man, I can’t wait until I’m in a show and I can try that out for myself.
Alright. On to the next one. Number 4!
[SOUND EFFECT]
I loved learning about acting for the stage, and I wanted to know more about being an actor for film. Luckily Hallie had all the answers for me. I learned that in a movie, the scenes will be filmed out of order. I also learned some things you’ll hear on a movie set like ‘action’ or ‘quiet on set’ or ‘back to one’. That was super fun.
Alright! Number 5!
[SOUND EFFECT]
Episode five was with Nick. Nick is an awesome dancer and was so fun to talk to. I learned that it’s never too late to try out dancing. Practice is the key to getting better. I also learned that a choreographer is the person who invents the dance moves or combos for the dancers in a show! Super exciting. My favorite thing about talking to Nick was hearing him talk about how dancing and acting come together. Check it out!
[CLIP FROM EP 6]
NICK
That’s a really good question and I think it’s an important question to be asking. I think the way that they come together is to express the emotional state of the actor, of the character that we’re watching. I’ve heard before that when a character is feeling so much emotion that they can’t talk anymore, they’ll start singing. And then when they’re feeling so much emotion that they can’t sing anymore, they start dancing. And so it’s a heightened form of expression of the emotional state of the character.
[END OF CLIP]
[TRANSITION MUSIC]
We are almost half way through! Number 6!
[SOUND EFFECT]
I loved being able to talk to Laurie, who is a college professor! Laurie taught me what a scene partner is.
[CLIP FROM EP 6]
LAURIE
A scene partner is the person that you’re doing your scene with. They’re going to say a line and then you’re going to have a line and then they’ll have a line. But you don’t just say the lines, your scene partner says something and that makes you feel something and think something so you’ll move and then you’ll say your line because they said that line. And then they’ll feel something and move and say their next line because of what you did. And so it’s just like two people having a real conversation.
[END OF CLIP]
DANTE
I also learned about taking acting classes and to try your best with whatever your teachers ask you to do, and remember everyone else in the class is probably just as nervous as you are. That makes me feel a little bit better about taking acting classes. Thanks, Laurie!
Number 7!
[SOUND EFFECT]
Abigail was a lot of fun. She helped me understand more about who a director is and what their job is in theater. Directors create the artistic vision for the show. I think that sounds like it could be a little stressful sometimes. Abigail told me that one thing that helps the director is when the actors come prepared with their character and knowing their lines. I even told Abigail that I want to be a director one day!
[CLIP FROM EP 7]
ABIGAIL
That’s a really good question. I think I knew I wanted to be a director when I would read plays in school and get really really excited about what the deeper meaning of the play is, and wanting to share that with an audience.
[END OF CLIP]
DANTE
Two more to go! Let’s get into Number 8!
[SOUND EFFECT]
Sarah gave me all the secrets about singing. She helped me learn about singing technique and to take care of your voice by doing warm-ups. It was a relief to know that everyone gets nervous to sing in front of people. Most importantly, Sarah taught me that everyone has a unique voice and that you should love your voice because it is so special!
[CLIP FROM EP 8]
Everybody’s voice is different and special and unique, and I as a voice teacher get to find out what is so special about each person that comes into my studio’s voice. I kind of get to be a little bit of a detective. Because everybody has something special and unique about how they sing.
[END OF CLIP]
DANTE
Number 9!
[SOUND EFFECT]
I got super excited for high school theater after having Isaac as my last guest. He helped me know how to get involved in my high school theater. Auditioning for shows, taking classes, going to competitions, and even running for drama council. Isaac says he loves theater because there is a place for everyone. I think that’s pretty special.
[CLIP FROM EP 9]
ISAAC
I think the main thing is that you meet so many awesome people and it’s really just an area where you can be accepted and just be who you are and you can do whatever you want. So it’s just a really nice blend of people coming together and you can really just always find a place in there for something to do.
[END OF CLIP]
[GUITAR MUSIC]
DANTE
I had a super awesome time making this podcast for everybody. I feel like I got to know you guys all so well. It’s been so fun to make new friends and meet new people and learn all about theater. I’m pretty sure Miss Griffin is going to give me an A, and that’s pretty awesome for a kid with dyslexia. Hey, maybe sometime in the future I’ll make another podcast and be able to see and talk to you guys soon.
[THEME MUSIC]
But for now, thanks for joining me on my acting adventures. I’m your host Dante, and I’m signing off!
[THEME MUSIC FADES]