Marc Santa Maria. Supporting one of my cool clients

Hello My Acting Amigos!!

Please excuse the group email thing.  But I have some totally random news to share. I have a new hip hop dance workout video with Crunch.  

Folks can use http://crunchlive.com/Marc  to sign up. There's a FREE trial or you can also pay just $9.99 for a month of access to a bunch of different workouts. They are all super fun. I'm friends with all the teachers and I take their classes too. Every month, new workouts are added to the library (with other friends of mine). I also personally do one of these workouts when I'm short on time and want to workout for 30minutes from home.

If you could pass this info to friends who might wanna try it out for a month - I'd be super grateful. There's some friendly competition among us teachers who get the most sign-ups. I basically want to win concert tickets to Justin Timberlake plus I dig competing with these friends of mines!

Hit me back if you have any questions!

- Marc

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Marc Santa Maria

P.O. Box 568 / NYC 10276

website: 

www.marcsm.com

(917) 566-4516

"Know your purpose." - Alejandro B. Santa Maria
"Live Life Large." - Marc Santa Maria

 

Puma on Broadway!

Puma came w the belief that Opera singers do not act. Oh by they do, they act in many languages, the styles maybe different but the truth & connection on the inside is the same. My dear Puma, never stop sharing your gifts with the world we need your passion and your humor and your music,

Assiatou makes a scary debut!

 

I was lucky to have the incomparable Roz coach me while shooting my first starring role in a thriller film produced by Spike Lee! She listened, saw where I was and took me further than I had imagined I would go. Working with Roz on YOU"RE NOBODY TIL SOMEBODY KILLS YOU provided me with the foundation to explore the work more authentically. Roz, the movie just got released by Lionsgate on  DVD, just in time for Halloween, boooooo! If you believe in justice as well as to be scared, download from amazon with one click here: http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Nobody-til-Somebody-Kills/dp/B008JFSQBI

or get it on DVD while it lasts!

 

ASSIATOU 

Vanessa Got The Job!

When Vanessa called to tell me she got the job, my face hurt from smiling so hard, I was so happy for her. As an acting coach I am always getting these phone calls, texts, and emails from my clients who have booked the job and are sharing their joy with me. I always feel high with happiness when someone's hard work pays off in the way that they want. At some point the emails get deleted, the texts are covered over with new mundane, phone calls end and feelings evaporate. This time I wanted it to be different.


I asked Vanessa to put the feelings into words so that I could remember it and share it with you guys. Thank you Vanessa for allowing me into your creative process and for sharing your experience with us all. Now I have to get a plane ticket for Pasadena.


How ROZ COLEMAN helped me book Intimate Apparel- Pasadena Playhouse fall 2012
I went to Roz because she's my dear friend, an amazing director coach and awesome actress!
I was particularly interested in her insight on Esther because I had seen her do a kick butt job in the role at a theater in Philadelphia.
I came to her with all my actor angst and a litany of questions.What does this scene mean,
what's the secret to Esther, what emotional place I should be in for the particular audition scene I had been given? I figured Roz would know all the answers she'd played the role (magnificently I might add) she knows exactly what's going on. She got to discover on her feet what was going on in the play!
Roz took a breath calmly said "Vanessa have an authentic experience of material."
"Oh!" I said to myself "Oh ok...I know how to do that. This is beautifully written material I understand it, I know what's going on, I'm having an emotional response to the material already."
Roz continued "...have an authentic experience and don't focus on the result!" In other words trust yourself, trust your instrument Vanessa ...you can't get it wrong.
I was relieved and went on to have a fantastic audition armed with this sage advice and another gem of wisdom Roz had already given me in a prior coaching session which was "This is your job until otherwise notified!"
These words I carry all the time to every audition I have. These words completely and totally take me off the hook and allow me to relax into the present moment and the present joy of doing the work that I so love to do. And isn't that the truth of the matter anyway? Don't we as actors spend so much of our lives more than anything else we do trying to "get"the job?
So why not go ahead and enjoy this process, fully embody it and enjoy HAVING the job for as long as we can or ....until otherwise notified!
I spent more time going over the scenes, rehearsing, discovering, but now without all the worry. I was doing the part I was "in rehearsal."At the call back I was calm rehearsing with the director with the other actors who were also "in rehearsal."
I saw the other actresses who were also up for Esther, beautiful, fine looking actresses whose work I'm sure was fabulous, all the while I had a calm sense of whatever happens it's all good I'm already doing it, already doing the work.
I left feeling exhilarated inspired accomplished and detached from the outcome... I couldn't lose.
My agent called me three days later...I booked it! Thank you Roz!

Sent from Vanessa's iPad

Good news for stage actors

Casting director Sara Finn says:

Finn says that she still uses the theater as a primary source of new talent for upcoming film projects. Even if she can't attend every production, "I read reviews very diligently," Finn says. "I try not to limit myself to L.A. I also try to find out what's going on at Louisville, and what's going on at Ashland, and what's going on in Chicago. I guess because I have a theater background, I know how well trained theater actors are and how dedicated they are, and I feel like that's always a fantastic resource for us to find new talent. How do actors catch our attention? I think that's a great way to do it. Be in a theater company, be performing, and get mentioned in reviews. That's something that people pay attention to."

Thank you! From Florida

I am taking some time off from teaching to work. It's good for me to act professionally. It certainly keeps me humble. Learning. Growing.

 

I miss my clients so much.

 

This aknowlegement by Backstage readers makes me feel so appreciated.

 

I can't wait to get back to focusing on helping others breakdown scenes and connect to the materail in a way that is unique to them AND works for the story.

 

In the meantime. Thank you.

 

Here we are at Disney (where dreams come true)

 

 

Florida thoughts

Not too long ago I had decided Florida was dead to me.
George Zimmerman.
The zombie attack.
The voting issues: hanging chads,but all it took was a decent gig and all is forgiven. Thank you Florida. I can't forgive your past...but there is hope for your future with me. Vote O and I can see me spending a lot of time (and money) here.

humbling, intimidating, and fun. Day One of Love, Loss & What I Wore

I am new to the show and the other ladies have done the show before. They are very good and the play is much better than I ever even realized having only seen it once. Why didn't I realize that this is a great play? It's written by the Ephron sisters. Of course it's great. What's really wonderful is for me to be acting in a play and not understudying it. this play is full of wonderful stories and monologues and great range of characters. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience the place so many different wonderful roles, great language with the legendary actresses. I am very very thankful.

I am acting with Donna McKechine of A Chorus Line fame. When I was a teenager I used to listen to her record of A Course Line for hours. I had it memorized. I used to perform the song she sang as a monologue for my friends. It's unbelievable that one point in the play we play mother and daughter.


One more cool thing they have a wonderful training program in MFA for actors down here and they have a resident theater company. Next year they are doing the play Clybourne Park.