Your first ventures into professional acting are generally at the local level with live theatre and local TV, commercials, films and other performance media. Your job is to find out who the local directors and producers are. One way is to use the internet. How? Well, let's say you live near Lafayette, Indiana. You can go to the AWOL Search Machine at http://www.redbirdstudio.com/AWOL/AWOLSearchForm.html then punch in "Theatre Groups" and "Indiana" and you will get a list of Indiana theatre groups. In that list you will notice a link for the Civic Theatre in Lafayette: http://www.lafayettecivic.com. Click the link and you will reach their web page,

Along with information about the Civic's classes, you will notice audition information for their various productions.

You will also notice they list the directors of each production. Let's say one of the directors is Enoch Barnswallow (it's not, but let's make believe). Who is Enoch Barnswallow? Beats me. But if you want to do some acting in Lafayette, Indiana, it is probably a good idea to make a director contact card for Enoch Barnswallow with a note that he directed "Peter Panfish" for the Civic Theatre (he didn't). A director is a good person to make the acquaintance of. Someone who maybe was once professional; or who might one day become a professional; or who maybe knows professionals or others in the acting community; or who maybe can teach you something you don't know; or who might be able to introduce you to someone who one day might make a big difference in your professional desires.

You will also notice that the Lafayette Civic Theatre is a non-professional, amateur theatre. Why would you bother with an amateur, non-professional theatre group? Because, until you start regularly performing in professional productions, amateur productions is where you will be getting your experience, practical know-how - AND - AND - AND - AND - AND - start developing relationships with like-minded people; people who maybe were once professional; or who might one day become a professional; or who maybe knows professionals or others in the acting community; or who maybe can teach you something you don't know; or who might be able to introduce you to someone who one day might make a big difference in your professional desires.

So, as insignificant as Enoch Barnswallow might seem to your professional ambitions, he is someone who is involved in the Lafayette, Indiana entertainment scene and you should add him to your list of local directors.

What if you live near Goshen, Indiana? Well, if you use the AWOL Search Machine at http://www.redbirdstudio.com/AWOL/AWOLSearchForm.html, you will find there is a theatre group named Bridgework Theatre. You will find that this group is a touring group that performs plays for schools throughout the Great Lakes Region - Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. and also to the mid Atlantic states (based out of Washington, DC) of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia - and is an equal opportunity employer - which means if you are not white and/or beautiful, please apply.

These guys pay money and provide lodging - COOL! This group should get a contact card under the category, "Production Companies - Theatre". Who knows, maybe Enoch Barnswallow knows a producer or director at Bridgework Theatre. Aren't you glad you spent the time cultivating Enoch's acquaintance?

You can also meet directors, producers and other entertainment people at local and regional film festivals. Almost every state has a film festival or two. At local festivals you can meet many of the people involved in your local entertainment business; producers, directors, actors; behind-the-scenes people like stage managers, acting and voice coaches and instructors; technical people like film editors, camera directors, lighting designers, sound technicians, costumers, and props people. At some of the bigger festivals, you can meet nationally and internationally recognized members of the entertainment community.

To find film festivals use an intenet search engine like Google http://www.google.com. Enter as keywords "film festival" and your state name. You can also find film festivals at this web site: http://www.filmfestivals.com.

As you perform in local productions and become affiliated with the various local production companies, you will hear about or meet many local producers, directors and others in the local entertainment business. Create a contact card for everyone you meet or hear about. Any one of them might one day be your key to getting started in the business.

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