Gemma Philbrick 1st year Degree

Zaks Bio in 80 words:

Theatre Credits:

Strictly Ballroom (West Yorkshire, Playhouse, Toronto), West Side Story (Felsenreitschule, Salzburg
festival), Let’s dance again (dance captain), legally blonde Original UK tour (understudy
Nikos/Padamadam/Chad/Dewy/Kyle), understudy Daddy Brubeck in Sweet Charity, Chicago,
Carousel (UK tour/Savoy Theatre), understudy Aladdin in Aladdin, Understudy Robertson Ay in the
original London cast of Mary Poppins, original London cast of We Will Rock You.

TV credits:

Absolutely fabulous, children in need, blue peter, top of the pops, Des & Mel

Cast Recordings:

We Will Rock You and Mary Poppins

My Bio:

Training:

Currently Studying Musical Theatre at Millennium Performing Arts.

Theatre Credits:

Strictly Come Dancing tour in 2011, 2012, and 2013 (Central Theatre in Kent), Chinese New Year
Parade (London in 2012)

What is Spotlight, how can it help you?

Spotlight is a company which was founded in 1927. They help Performers to find work by connecting
them with roles in theatre, television, and film productions. This company can help me because
joining Spotlight would allow me to promote myself, it allows casting directors to look for
performers, and it allows opportunities to progress in my career.

How can you access and identify job information and opportunities? What is the stage? Where else
are you able to find audition and job information?

You can find job information and opportunities in many places, for example The Stage. The stage is a
company that was founded in 1880, they bring out magazines and have a website to show
information about current productions, show reviews, news and events within the industry, and job
information and oppertunies. However, you are able to find job information and opportunities with
other resources. For example, there are agency websites where you can promote yourself as a
performer, you can use the internet to find open auditions, and you can have an agent to find you
jobs.

Wide range of employment opportunities in the UK and abroad:

Gemma Philbrick 1st year Degree

In the UK you can find many oppertunies, for example there is West End shows (e.g. Musicals, plays),
straight acting, television and film, and tours. There are also companies that hire actors for their
events. E.g. London Dungeons hire actors to play characters from that attraction to make it seem
more realistic for the costumers. However there are also many oppertunies abroad, for example
there are cruises, Disney, Broadway, international tours, Holiday entertainment. For my particular
skills, I would love to go into West End, Disney, Television and even Broadway.

Differences between commercial productions and Subsidised venues, theatre projects:

Commercial:

1. The heart of a commercial theatre company will either be a producer or a team of

producers.
2. They will have established a knack for finding ‘hit’ shows (e.g. Wicked, Legally Blonde etc.)
3. They will have industry ‘angels’ which are a loyal group of financial backers of investors, they
invest money in a production for a percentage of the shows profits.
4. They are unlikely to stage the work of new or unknown playwright, or cast unknown actors
with lead parts.
5. Commercial productions don’t own their own theatres.

Subsidised:

1. Subsidised theatre companies are either run by the arts council or other arts organisations.
2. They make no profit.
3. They use funds donated by a Patron. E.g. in the UK Subsidised theatre companies Patron is
the British government.
4. Subsidised theatre companies mainly stage the work of unknown or new playwrights.
5. Subsidised theatre companies can take risks in terms of context and content of a playwright.

Key personalities within the industry:

1. A director as someone who helps to block dialogue and to insure that all rehearsals, and
performances are running smoothly and to their expectations.
2. A musical director is someone who is involved in casting for a production and they also help
to stage dialogue and musical moments within the production.
3. A musical supervisor is someone who oversees all musical aspects of the production.
4. An assistant director is someone check the progress throughout the rehearsal process and
the performances, they prepare all daily call sheets.
5. An assistant choreography is someone who helps to choreograph the movement within the
production whether is a dance piece, or movement during song.
6. A producer is someone who manages all financial and managerial functions of a production
or venue, they also are in charge of people on the creative team, e.g. finding a venue, hiring
lighting and sound crew etc.
7. An agent is someone who is in charge of representing a performer and is in charge of finding
that performer job opportunities within the industry.
8. A casting director is someone who is in charge of casting people for a production.
Gemma Philbrick 1st year Degree