FLORIDA TODAY
FIVE THINGS
Make great impression at theater auditions
Work out jitters with
practice, practice
and more practice
By Christina LaFortune
FLORIDA TODAY
T
heres something magical
about being in a play. For
some, its the transforma-
tive power of stepping into
another persons shoes and
telling their story to an audi-
ence. For others, its a creative
outlet that gives you the oppor-
tunity to collaborate with peo-
ple who share your interest. It
could be the catharsis that
comes with performing a dra-
ma, or the joy and laughter
that comes with a comedy.
Brevard has an abundance
of community theaters, and
they are all gearing up for
their seasons. That means
plenty of performance oppor-
tunities on the horizon. If you
are considering trying out for
one of these theatrical perfor-
mances, you might be a little
anxious about that daunting
but necessary first step: the
audition.
No one likes auditions. Ev-
eryone gets nervous. Keep in
mind that the theater commu-
nity is supportive and welcom-
ing to newcomers. The direc-
tor wants you to succeed. The
other actors are happy to see
new faces. The challenge, of
course, is to put your nerves in
your pocket and give the best
audition you can.
Here are a few things you
can do to make a great first
impression.
1. Read the play. It seems
obvious, but this is the
most important thing you can
do to prepare for the audition.
In fact, I recommend reading
through the play a couple of
times to familiarize yourself
with the story and characters.
The better you understand the
Sculptor
Continued from Page 1E
to the seven-day festival that
formally was the 2014 Bienal
del Chaco. Chaco is where the
selected artworks will remain
for a month before they are
placed at locations around the
city.
When that event finished,
Rubio headed for Cordoba,
another Argentinian city that
hosted its first biennial, in
which artists created dance-
inspired works.
For the Bienal del Chaco,
Rubio created a 12-foot geo-
metric, nature-inspired mas-
terpiece called El Despertar
de mi Eterno Guardin, or the
The Awakening of the Eternal
Guardian, which should sur-
prise no one who knows him
here, where he and his family
have lived for nine years.
The notion of guardianship
looms large in his ideas: He is
the artist behind the Vision of
the Harbor Guardian, which
was installed in Campbell Park
in downtown Melbourne. Ru-
bios works have been seen
elsewhere in Brevard County,
including the Knowledge Ex-
change in Palm Bay in The
Ocean Guardian, a project
undertaken with the Brevard
Cultural Alliance.
Lynne Brezina, art installa-
tion manager of BCA and coor-
dinator of its exterior sculp-
ture program, has endless
positive things to say about
Rubio.
I love Harak Rubio, she
says. He is professional; he is
fun; he is just a delight to work
with. He has no attitude what-
soever, yet he is known all over
the world. Harak puts his heart
and soul into creating each
piece, and what is foremost for
him are the creative process
and his passion for art. You can
see that he enjoys his work.
To Rubio, its not complicat-
ed. Sculpture belongs where
the multitudes can see it
see it, appreciate it, be inspired
by it. As Ive said before, its
like putting a flower in a vase.
It brings color to the whole
area. People get curious. Thats
the reason it is very impor-
tant.
Rubios importance to the
world of sculpture of art in
general cannot be under-
estimated.
The native of Puerto Rico
says art always has been part
of my life, not surprising for
the son of Pablo Rubio, also an
internationally renowned art-
Auditions are a nerve-wracking but necessary part of being in a play. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
play, the more youll be able to
do with the lines youre given
at the audition. If you cant
find a copy at the library, con-
tact the theater ahead of time
and ask if you can borrow a
copy to read but make sure
you return it.
2. Practice, practice, prac-
tice. If there is a partic-
ular role you are interested in,
read those lines out loud at
home and try saying them
different ways. You might feel
a little silly drawling, I have
always depended on the kind-
ness of strangers to your cat,
but believe me, you will feel
exponentially more confident
Harak Rubio works in his Melbourne studio on Oceans Guardian. PHOTOS BY MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY
ist. After working with his
father and taking up various
media, he enrolled at the Uni-
versity of Puerto Rico in 1989.
Three years later, Rubio
completed his education in
metals, jewelry and silkscreen,
and mastered design, drawing,
painting and sculpture.
He then traveled to Spain,
where he was hired by a film
production company for
the summer but ended
up working in movies
for a decade and a half
on everything from
low-budget films, videos
and commercials to televi-
sion productions and major
movies for companies such as
Universal and Miramax.
An outgoing, congenial man,
he laughs about working with
the likes of Gene Hackman,
Morgan Freeman and Johnny
Depp lots of people, he
says with a shrug but the
heart of one of Puerto Ricos
better-known cinema artists
was in art. He left filmmaking
in 2007.
By then, he and his family
his wife is gerontologist and
family physician Dr. Karen
Stewart were ensconced in
Brevard County. He is as posi-
tive about the Space Coast now
as he was when he arrived. I
love it, says Rubio, who main-
tains a studio in Puerto Rico.
It has sunshine and water, just
what a guy from Puerto Rico
wants.
Still, he jokes about what
happened when he first moved
in the audition if youve tried it
out ahead of time. And while
youre at it, test out any dia-
lects or accents so you will be
more comfortable with them
when it matters.
3. Remember your diction.
Rushing through the
lines and mumbling are sure
signs of nervousness. When
you get up to read at the audi-
tion, slow down and read the
lines clearly. Unless the direc-
tor has requested a prepared
monologue or audition piece,
you wont be expected to have
it memorized. The words will
be in the script right in front of
you. In real conversations,
to the area: In a deed-restrict-
ed community, one of the conti-
nents great sculptors inno-
cently placed one of his art-
works in his front yard, and
that brought out the communi-
ty association.
I didnt know you couldnt
have sculptures (on your
lawn) without permission,
he says, laughing ironically.
You can have (cheesy)
things ... but they jump you
for having real art.
Rubios real art, on his
lawn and otherwise, has
been seen by millions.
In 1997, he received
an invitation to
participate in
International
The
Harbor
Guardian by
Harak Rubio is on
display at
Campbell Park
in downtown
Melbourne.
people listen and react to each
other. That kind of connection
is vital to telling a story on
stage.
4. Make choices. The cast-
ing director will want to
see you make specific choices
for the character, even if that
may not be the way it ends up
in the final performance. Ac-
tors who take risks, who show
imagination and understand-
ing, who can connect to the
other actors in the scene, and
who bring their unique voice to
the script are the ones who will
be remembered. Its better to
be over-the-top than to be bor-
ing.
Snow Fest 98 in Canada. In
2004, he designed and built two
sculptures for the Third Inter-
national Symposium of Sculp-
ture, Sculptors of the World
2004 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
He has had a number
of solo art exhibits, par-
ticipated in more than 35
group exhibits interna-
tionally and has public
sculpture in Puerto Rico
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014 3E
5. Own the stage. Those
few minutes you get on
stage at the audition are your
time to show off what you can
do. Walk out there with confi-
dence. Treat it like a perfor-
mance. You know youre amaz-
ing. Now, show everyone else.
That doesnt mean behaving
with arrogance or swagger, it
just means keeping your com-
posure and believing in your-
self.
Christina LaFortune has performed in
numerous community theater productions
on the Space Coast. Email LaFortune at
clafortune@floridatoday.com
Twitter: @lafortunec
and Mexico. His art graces
collections and galleries in
North and South America, as
well as in Europe.
Done in various materials,
they are not kids stuff, nor are
they anything anyone would
expect to see anywhere but
where art is understood and
appreciated.
The sculptures by Harak
Rubio are not mere childish
experiments, but excellent
sculptures very well-designed
and professionally executed,
art critic Manual lvarez Leza-
ma wrote in the newspaper El
Nuevo Dia in San Juan. In an
interview in England in the
60s, someone asked Jimi Hen-
drix what he was trying to do
with his electric guitar. His
answer was short but wise:
Make it sound different. Ha-
rak Rubio has managed to do
something different with his
sculptures, and I think his
success is assured. His works
have a metaphorical weight
that makes them almost time-
less.
Rubio, who looks every bit
like a hard-working, good-
natured welder when in his
studio near Holy Trinity Epis-
copal Academy, wants to see
more of it, and works by other
artists, too, in public places
here.
From the beginning of
civilization, art has been at the
center of everything, he says.
People should see art. ... It is
inspiration and it is education,
and if you dont have educa-
tion, only the people who could
afford art would have it.
A shameless booster of the
area, Rubio, who still paints,
designs and works in various
other media as well as sculp-
ture, thinks Brevard County
would be an absolutely
wonderful place in
which to host major
art affairs.
I believe in
this town and
hope one day
we can start
holding bien-
nials and
international
events
here, he
said. If
other cities
in other
countries
do this with-
out big bud-
gets, we can
do it, too. The
future of art in
Melbourne is
going to be
great.