The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

Camps are Mon-Thurs, December 19-23 and 26-29th from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, with a daily and weekly sign-up option!
The age group for these camp sessions is 6-11-years-old (K-5th grade).
Sign up for Session 1 here: https://ashevillescience.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5af64a890dd5e292ce82d197b&id=8f3d934c4e&e=16408a818c

Daily rates start at $60 per participant/day and $225 per participant/week!
To learn more, contact [email protected].

Camps are Mon-Thurs, December 19-23 and 26-29th from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, with a daily and weekly sign-up option!
The age group for these camp sessions is 6-11-years-old (K-5th grade).

Sign up for Session 2 here: https://ashevillescience.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5af64a890dd5e292ce82d197b&id=dd3c976dc2&e=16408a818c
Daily rates start at $60 per participant/day and $225 per participant/week!
To learn more, contact [email protected].

Gelli printing is an easy, innovative way to create vibrant, one-of-a-kind monoprints. The results are striking, and all you need is a gelli plate, acrylic paint, and some kind of substrate (paper, canvas, etc.). In this fun, hands-on workshop, paper artist Kristen Grady will teach you everything you need to get started with this super versatile process.

Among other techniques, you’ll learn how to build multiple layers of design, create textures and an “old wall” look, and add stenciling and shimmer to your prints. Kristen will also teach you how to create two-sided prints, work with multiple prints at the same time, create a theme for your prints, use thick and thin paints in different ways, and find your color palette.

There will be plenty of time to practice each technique, and you’ll complete at least four, two-sided prints. You’ll also leave with plenty of ideas on how to use your finished prints, including incorporating them into junk journals, and how to care for and store your gelli plate, which will be yours to keep—a $25 value!

Do you have intentions to start making art, but for some reason aren’t? Or were you making stuff all the time, but now it’s become a chore to get into your studio? Whether you’re struggling to get going with your art or have fallen into a creative slump, this workshop is for you!

Join creativity coach and veteran instructor Robyn Crawford as she takes you on an exciting, 4-week artistic adventure that’s sure to get your creative juices flowing! In this 12-hour, highly interactive course, you’ll kickstart your creativity by watching interesting artistic techniques, solving challenging creativity-building puzzles, participating in stimulating cross-media art experiments, working through selected The Artist’s Way best practices, and doing fun, optional homePLAY assignments.

We’re excited to finally get to offer this popular course. Don’t put your art (and YOU!) on the back burner again. Register today and make 2023 your most inspired year yet!

January is the perfect time to start keeping a “junk journal”: a hand-made book used to collect and store daily memories, mementos, photos, collages, inspiring quotes, or anything you want to remember. You can also use junk journals as art journals, a place for collage or daily gratitude lists, or to inspire a daily art practice in general. In this highly imaginative workshop, paper artist Kristen Grady will show you how to design a junk journal to fit your needs.

You’ll start by cutting and sizing an empty cereal box to create the cover for your journal. After strengthening and decorating your cover, you’ll learn how to turn your precious papers—including any gelli prints that you may have made in Kristen’s Introduction to Gelli Printing workshop—and actual “junk” mail into various types of pages (decorative, envelope, writing, etc.) until you fill your book. Next, Kristen will show you how to stitch your pages into the cover and then go over ways to fill in your journal as you go. You’ll be surprised at how full your book can become in just an afternoon! Finally, you’ll add decor, embellishments, and ephemera to finish your project.

You’ll leave the workshop with a beautiful, personalized keepsake that’s anything but junk! You’ll also have a newfound appreciation for the useful and beautiful creations you can make out of things that you used to throw away!

Performers: Get out of your head and inhabit your character!

In this workshop, acting coach, director and performer Jamie Knox will lead you through a series of exercises to:
– Make your work more physically dynamic
– Prepare for giving a memorable audition
– Approach a character from the outside in, to work quickly with new direction
– Talk yourself up…to yourself! Learn the art of getting into a good headspace and focusing on being a character, not acting
– Work on a specific monologue OR learn to work with any piece given to you

Sunday, January 15th, 2:30pm – 5:30pm
at The Magnetic Theatre
375 Depot St, Asheville NC 28801

About the instructor:
Jamie Knox juggles writing, directing, and acting in plays with running a yoga business and wrangling a four-year-old. She has been coaching characterization since 2008 and is a strong believer in being the character, not simply pretending to be the character. In this workshop expect to be challenged to get out of your head and into your body, finding more authenticity in your work.

Take your business to the next level! A comprehensive business innovation program designed to assist for-profit, not-for-profit, and family-owned businesses to the next level of success. This program begins January 18, 2023, and meets 8:30 am – 1 pm every other Wednesday for five months. Mission Acceleration Business Accelerator is designed by entrepreneurs to help for-profit, family owned, and nonprofit businesses innovate and increase profitability. If you approach the business the same way as you did in the past, it will limit future profit growth. Now is the time to innovate with cutting edge best practices in business management, leadership, planning, branding, marketing, sales, accounting, purchasing, raising capital, information technology, human resources, time management, new business development, operations and distribution. The Program will help you identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in each department of your company to track, monitor and accelerate the success of your business. Peter Drucker said, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Bright Star Music, Book, & Story by Steve Martin; Music, Lyrics, & Story by Edie Brickell

Directed by: Mark Jones

DIRECTOR SEEKS: A large cast ages 20s-60s. All races and ethnicities are encouraged to audition.

-Please sign up for an audition time slot on this Audition Form. (Walk-ups are welcome but will be asked to fill out the audition form on-site and will need to wait until the next available time slot.)

AUDITION MATERIAL: Prepare 90 seconds of a song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided. Please note that sheet music is required. Bring or wear comfortable clothing and shoes as you may be taught a short dance combination. You may be asked to read from the script (see website for sides).

Bright Star Music, Book, & Story by Steve Martin; Music, Lyrics, & Story by Edie Brickell

Directed by: Mark Jones

DIRECTOR SEEKS: A large cast ages 20s-60s. All races and ethnicities are encouraged to audition.

-Please sign up for an audition time slot on this Audition Form. (Walk-ups are welcome but will be asked to fill out the audition form on-site and will need to wait until the next available time slot.)

AUDITION MATERIAL: Prepare 90 seconds of a song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided. Please note that sheet music is required. Bring or wear comfortable clothing and shoes as you may be taught a short dance combination. You may be asked to read from the script (see website for sides).

Join writers and poets from across the country each month for a virtual writing workshop. A link will be added to their name when more details and sign-up information becomes available. These workshops are geared towards amateur writers, ages 16 and older recommended. Follow us on Facebook for notifications too.

Join QuickBooks Certified Pro Advisor, Candy Williams, as she helps you to understand bookkeeping concepts for your small business.

READERS THEATRE SHOWCASE

Hay Fever

By Noel Coward; Directed by Marianne Lyon

AUDITION DATE: Tuesday, February 21, 2023; 10:30 am-2:30 pm on the Mainstage

PRODUCTION DATES: March 17-19, 2023; All performances at 2:30 pm; Friday and Saturday performances at Asheville Community Theatre, Sunday performance at the Reuter Center on the campus of UNCA

REHEARSALS: Tuesdays & Thursdays February 28, March 2, 7, 9, 14, and 16, 2023; 10:30 am-2:30 pm

DIRECTOR SEEKS: Cast of 9: 4M, 5W

Organic Growers School is now accepting work trade applications for the 30th Annual Spring Conference & Market!

The OGS Spring Conference will be held at Mars Hill University from February 24-26, 2023.

In exchange for each shift worked you will be compensated for the same day of the Conference. For example; if you work trade on Saturday, you will have access to the Conference on Saturday and will be free to attend workshops throughout the day, as long as they don’t conflict with your shift hours.

Work traders can select two shifts if they would like to attend on Saturday and Sunday, or three shifts, if they would like to participate the whole weekend.

General work trade shifts do not require special skills or backgrounds. They do, however, require timeliness and a friendly demeanor. Classroom Assistants/Moderators require training and classroom experience.

You should expect to be working during some of the class time unless you are approved for a pre-or post-conference shift, or come as a paying participant.

Please review the website for shift descriptions and complete the Work Trade Application if you are interested.

Work Trade at Spring Conference – Organic Growers School

We appreciate your interest in work trading for the 30th Annual Spring Conference & Market. Work traders play a vital role in the success of this event!

Thanks for your support,

Work Trade Deposit:

All volunteers are required to submit a $40 deposit. Please complete one registration and submit only one deposit. You may include any additional interest shifts in the additional notes section of the work trade application. Deposits are refunded once you complete your work trade shift. Once your schedule and duties are confirmed, it is up to you to show up for your shifts on time and to complete your shift as asked. In the unfortunate event that you do not fulfill your shift, we will process your credit card for the deposit amount. If providing a deposit is not possible, please email [email protected] so we may consider other options.

Fluid art is a form of abstract art that uses acrylic paints with a runny (fluid) consistency. The water-based paints, when combined with silicone oil, react to create beautiful, often awe-inspiring, “cells.” As the paints run amok and spill across your canvas, the possibilities are endless!

In this workshop, local artist Brooke Szweda will share her “secret recipe” for creating the perfect fluid art paint mixture, and you’ll use it to do several different acrylic pours—including a couple of more advanced options. You’ll practice the techniques, making multiple 8” x 10” abstract paintings, and you’ll learn how to finish your painting with an acrylic coating.

This class is great for people who have never created fluid art, but it also gives “frequent flyers” opportunities to try new paint mixtures and pouring methods and continue experimenting with color!

The first show of our 2023 Season! The Montford Park Players, North Carolina’s longest running Shakespeare theatre is pleased to announce auditions for the first show of our 51st Season – “Wendy and Peter”, a Peter Pan story, written and directed by Skyler Goff. Audition Dates: YOUTH ONLY March 5th 3-6pm March 6th 5:30-8:30pm (If needed) March 7th 5:30-8:30pm (CALLBACKS) ADULTS ONLY March 8th 5:30-8:30pm March 9th 5:30-8:30pm(If needed) CALLBACKS (ADULTS and CAST YOUTH) March 10th  5:30-8:30pm ROLES FOR YOUTH (Ages 8-18) WENDY: Age: 11-18 (Role will require singing, dancing, jumping and combat. SWING NEEDED) PETER PAN: Age: 11-18(Role will require jumping dancing and combat.SWING NEEDED) JOHN: Age: 10-16 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat.Potential SWING NEEDED) MICHAEL: Age: 8-13(Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) TOOTLES: Age: 8-13 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) NIBS: Age: 8-15 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) SLIGHTLY: Age: 8-16(Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) TWIN 1: Age: 8-15 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) TWIN 2: Age: 8-15 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) CURLY: Age: 8-15 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) TIGER LILY: Age: 11-18 (Role will require jumping, dancing, and combat) ROLES FOR ADULTS (Ages 18+) NURSE WENDY: Age: 25-36(Role will require singing and running) MR. DARLING: Age: 30-55(Based on casting, Hook/Panther Protea requirements apply) MRS. DARLING: Age: 30-55(Based on casting, Hook/Panther Protea requirements apply) NANA: Age: 18-60+ (Role will require use of puppet. NO DIALOGUE) TINKER BELL: Age: 18-55 (Role will require use of puppet, dancing, jumping and combat.NO DIALOGUE) HOOK: Age: 30-55 (Role will require singing, dancing,and combat. SWING NEEDED) SMEE: Age: 18-60+(Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) STARKEY: Age: 18-60+ (Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) CECCO: Age: 18-60+(Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) JUKES: Age: 18-60+ (Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) FLINT: Age: 18-60+ (Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) COOKSON: Age: 18-60+ (Role will require singing, dancing,and combat) PANTHER PROTEA: Age: 30-55 (Role will require dancing, percussion,  and combat) Various Druids:Age: 18-60+ (Role will require dancing,percussion, and combat) Mermaids: Age: 18-60+ (Role may require use of puppet and singing.) NOTE: ALL ACTORS should prepare a monologue on any theme, memorized, and no longer then one minute. NOTE: All actors must fill out the following Google Forms, located HERE : MPP 2023 Season Audition Form (the role of swings is explained in the Audition Form) Wendy & Peter Audition Signups NOTE: This 2023 Season Audition Form will be used for all our productions this year. Note that this season we will NOT be requiring video audition submissions. Note to Selected Actors and parents: Early Rehearsals will prioritize getting all actors below the age of 18 out no later than 8pm without parent/guardian consent. Adults may be asked to arrive later and leave no later than 9:30pm. We hope you’ll join us for the beginning of a spectacular season of theatre! Skyler Goff, Playwright and Director John Russell, Executive Director

DYSTOPIA WORKSHOP
Presented by Ripley Improv
Learn how to improvise narrative through the lens of genre! Ripley Improv will pull back the curtain and reveal the tropes, themes, and characters that make an improvised play a YA Dystopia. You’ll monologue, you’ll fight, you’ll fall in love, and, in the end, you’ll know how to construct a complete show. After you attend the workshop, be sure to get a ticket to the show. Ripley will be drawing an attendee’s name from a hat. The winner will be one of the tributes to perform in Saturday’s DYSTOPIA show.

About Ripley Improv:

Ripley is an all-female and nonbinary, genderqueer improv collective that creates stories about people who save the day, save the world, and save each other.

Their mission: To awaken bravery, embrace weird, and cultivate play.

March 11, 2023
Saturday at 11am

Raymond McAnally will lead a virtual writing workshop titled “Using Acting Techniques to Write Clear Characters.”

Have you ever had trouble differentiating one character’s voice or reactions from another on the page? Do characters with strong or surprising points of view seem to evade you? Then spend a workshop with writer/actor Raymond McAnally to learn how he uses his experience as an actor to write new characters and find the decisions and actions that draw us to them.

This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels and is a fun way to find inspiration from a new prompt or revise current work. It is hosted by the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara and will use Microsoft Teams for the virtual connection. A link will be emailed to participants the day before the workshop.

Raymond McAnally is an award-winning actor, a produced writer, and university lecturer.  Television acting credits include a supporting lead role in Black Mirror: San Junipero, winner of the 2017 Emmy for Best TV Movie; Guest starring roles on Better Call Saul, Modern Family, Chicago Fire, Rizzoli & Isles, Law & Order SVU, Royal Pains, and 30 Rock; as well as roles on Boardwalk Empire, Nurse Jackie, Mozart in the Jungle, among others.  He has film credits too numerous to mention here.

As a playwright, Raymond’s full-length solo-play, “Size Matters,” received its world premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati in May of 2014.  Directed by Tony Award-winning former Cincinnati Playhouse Artistic Director Ed Stern, the show ran for three weeks; garnering outstanding reviews, standing ovations, and sold-out performances.  The show was filmed before a live audience in 2015 and is now a comedy special available for streaming on Amazon Prime.  Raymond’s short plays, “The Odd Ball” and “Homeland”, have been produced at festivals on both coasts and his short play, “The Next”, will be published the Winter of 2019 in an anthology by New World Theatre.  In 2018, Raymond completed a playwriting fellowship with New World Theatre in Concord, New Hampshire.  In 2019, Raymond’s full-length play “The Cruelty of Children” was a semi-finalist at the O’Neill Center.  From 2010 to 2014, Raymond was the head content writer for the online production company Daily Fiber Films, which produced and distributed over sixty online comedy shorts, written by Raymond, and featured by FunnyOrDie.com, Fullscreen, CNN, New Media Rockstars, and The Food Network.  His short comedies also screened at festivals from coast to coast and earned “Best of the Fest” awards at L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival and the New York Friar’s Club.  In 2017, Raymond’s independent pilot “DPW” was filmed on location in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Raymond is currently a part-time lecturer for the Rutgers Arts Online department, Mason Gross School of the Arts.  He has been a lecturer at universities and guest artist at professional training programs since 2005.  He holds an MFA in Acting from MGSA, Rutgers University and a BA in Philosophy from Sewanee.

The Good, The Bad and The Guilty: A Trio of One-Acts

The Rising of the Moon by Lady Gregory
Trifles by Susan Glaspell
In the Shadow of the Glen by J.M. Synge

Directed by Margaret Crowell

AUDITION DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 2023; 10:30 am-2:30 pm on the Mainstage

PRODUCTION DATES: April 14-16, 2023; All performances at 2:30 pm; Friday and Saturday performances at Asheville Community Theatre, Sunday performance at the Reuter Center on the campus of UNCA

REHEARSALS: Tuesdays & Thursdays March 28, 30, April 4, 6, 11, and 13, 2023; 10:30 am-2:30 pm

DIRECTOR SEEKS:
The Rising of the Moon – 4M
Trifles – 3M, 2W
In the Shadow of the Glen – 3M, 1W

Gelli printing is an easy, innovative way to create vibrant, one-of-a-kind monoprints. The results are striking, and all you need is a gelli plate, acrylic paint, and some kind of substrate (paper, fabric, etc.). In this fun, hands-on workshop, paper artist Kristen Grady will teach you everything you need to get started with this super versatile process.

Among other techniques, you’ll learn how to build multiple layers of design, create textures and an “old wall” look, and add stenciling and shimmer to your prints. Kristen will also teach you how to create two-sided prints, work with multiple prints at the same time, create a theme for your prints, use thick and thin paints in different ways, and find your color palette.

There will be plenty of time to practice each technique, and you’ll complete at least four, two-sided prints. You’ll also leave with plenty of ideas on how to use your finished prints, including incorporating them into junk journals, and how to care for and store your gelli plate, which will be yours to keep—a $25 value!

Are you a female-identifying music student?
You’re invited to…
JAZZGIRLS DAY
Saturday, April 1 at 3 PM
A conversation with professional Jazz musicians and other student musicians from Durham, NC!
The event features special guest trumpeter/composer Arnetta Johnson and bassist Dr. Natalie Boeyink, Lydia Dudley, Serena Wiley, Jasmine Best, Shaena Ryan Martin and Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds.
This event is free to Student Musicians!
We hope that you’ll come and bring a friend!
Hosted in Conjunction with the Tribe Jazz Orchestra, North Carolina Central University, Jazz Education Network North Carolina, the Arts Council of Henderson County, the North Carolina Arts Council, SouthArts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.