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Home › News & Events › News › Groundlings Theatre Company Member Zackry Colston (’16) Zooms in to Professional Development Series

Groundlings Theatre Company Member Zackry Colston (’16) Zooms in to Professional Development Series

December 18, 2020
Zackry Colston
Photo: Joanna Degeneres

With the Arizona Repertory Theatre season on pause, this fall semester our Acting/Musical Theatre students instead engaged with industry professionals during a new Professional Development Series. Through regular online interaction with more than a dozen notable alumni and special guests, students gained up-to-the-minute insight on how to prepare for careers as freelance professional actors in an evolving industry. Speakers included Broadway performers Tamika Lawrence (’10) and Betsy Wolfe, Tony nominee Michael McElroy, SAG-AFTRA commercial contracts strategist Adam Green, casting director and alumna Marisa Ross, and comedian, writer and actor Zackry Colston (’16), who conducted a 3-day intensive on short- and long-form content creation.

On graduating with a BFA in Acting from the School of Theatre, Film & Television, Zackry moved to Los Angeles armed with one connection. The School’s Head of Acting, Hank Stratton, had introduced Zackry to Tony Sepulveda, Senior Vice President of Casting at Warner Bros. Television and, according to Zackry, it opened up a whole world.

Tony introduced Zackry to The Groundlings Theatre, the renowned improv and sketch comedy theatre and school whose many alumni include Will Ferrell, Lisa Kudrow, Melissa McCarthy, Will Forte, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. In a little over three years, during which he honed his comedy writing, monologue and performance work, Zackry was voted in as a Groundlings Sunday Company member. His first official performance as one of the newest company members was to have taken place in April 2020, but the pandemic arrived and the hotly anticipated show will now take place next year. In the meantime, Zackry keeps busy with virtual auditions and commercial work.

In his sessions for TFTV’s Professional Development Series, the ascending actor discussed the vital importance of networking and how to get your work seen by the people who can jump-start careers.

Zackry talked about how to create feature-length content and brought in his comedy partner, the actor Tru Valentino, to discuss diversity in the sketch world. Together, the two led fast-paced exercises with students in which they were encouraged to write short character-based comedy and dramatic sketches. They led a ‘random word generator’ exercise in which students were tasked with coming up with quick pitch ideas based on random words.

“The response from the students was really awesome – they were excited,” says Zackry. “As soon as we gave them something active to do, they just took off. I was jealous of their ideas! They were on fire. I remember being intimidated to create your own content and felt that it was separate from acting. My goal was to help students feel comfortable applying their acting knowledge and finding their own content. It’s not as scary as you think, and it’s an exciting time to enter this part of the industry. What better time when everything is starting afresh?”

ABOVE: Zackry Colston during a sketch pitch night at the Groundlings Theatre with fellow performer Katie Sharer.

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Netflix has announced their 2021 Film Slate, and with 70 movies filled with Academy Award winners and box office stars, it's clear that Netflix reigns in Hollywood.

“We have found our way into the business with some incredible, world-class filmmakers,” Scott Stuber, the head of Netflix’s film division and TFTV Alum, said in an interview for the New York Times published yesterday. “People saying, ‘You’ll never be able to do it,’ was, personally, the easiest way to make me go do it.”

You can hear more remarks on the future of the industry from Scott Stuber, along with WME partner and agent Brad Slater and TFTV's director Andy Belser during tomorrow's Wonder At Home | Now Streaming: The Rapid Evolution of the Media Landscape moderated by CFA Dean Andrew Schulz.

Wonder at Home | Now Streaming: The Rapid Evolution of the Media Landscape
Live on Thursday, Jan. 14 4pm (MST)
Register now at zoom.us/webinar/register/6516081465499/WN_YKvZ_E7rQhCwKewudC8S9Q
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Netflix, Flexing Its Muscles, Announces 2021 Film Slate

www.nytimes.com

The streaming service’s movies feature Oscars winners and box office stars and are a reminder of its power in a Hollywood that has been irrevocably changed during the pandemic.

1 week ago

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TOMORROW: Join TFTV Director Andy Belser's 'Introduction to The Feldenkrais Method®' live presentation.

This event is part of the ‘Aging and the Arts’ series that will take place on Tuesdays, starting Jan. 12, at 10 a.m., and will be hosted and streamed live from The Forum at the Health Sciences Innovation Building in Tucson. This is the first series to be featured as part of Health Sciences’ focus on health and the humanities. The programming will explore the connections between health care, science, art, literature, music, philosophy and other cultural aspects of human society.

This ‘Aging and the Arts’ series will demonstrate awareness through movement with mental and physical exercises from the Feldenkrais Method, led by Andy Belser, certified Feldenkrais instructor and director of the School of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts.

Anyone interested in attending a session in person should contact Julia White at jcwhite@arizona.edu. Parking passes will be provided. All attendees will be required to follow the university’s COVID-19 campus safety protocols for physical distancing and gathering in small groups, as well as the university’s Administrative Directive on the use of face coverings.

You can register to attend any of the sessions at the following link: arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CjuUCwpFQ0OxLVFM1nNb8A
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2 weeks ago

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At the end of an extraordinarily challenging Fall semester, a class of TFTV students got together and surprised their professor with a sweet note of gratitude. Megan Ewing, a student of Associate Professor Michael Mulcahy's Film & Television Aesthetics class explained why they were so thankful: “[Professor Mulcahy] consistently checked in with each of us, [getting] opinions on what's working and what isn't and what he can do as a professor to help us through these unprecedented challenges.”

Adam Harper, a film & television major, added that Professor Mulcahy "went above and beyond what has become our normal understanding of education and has really embraced what the cultural origins of education are truly meant to be.”

We are so proud of Michael Mulcahy and all of our faculty, and equally grateful for the students, staff, and supporters of our TFTV community as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times together.

Read more about how the students embraced a TikTok trend to surprise Professor Mulcahy at tftv.arizona.edu/news/tftv-students-surprise-their-professor-with-a-sweet-note-of-gratitude/
... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

At the end of an extraordinarily challenging Fall semester, a class of TFTV students got together and surprised their professor with a sweet note of gratitude. Megan Ewing, a student of Associate Professor Michael Mulcahys Film & Television Aesthetics class explained why they were so thankful: “[Professor Mulcahy] consistently checked in with each of us, [getting] opinions on whats working and what isnt and what he can do as a professor to help us through these unprecedented challenges.” 

Adam Harper, a film & television major, added that Professor Mulcahy went above and beyond what has become our normal understanding of education and has really embraced what the cultural origins of education are truly meant to be.”

We are so proud of Michael Mulcahy and all of our faculty, and equally grateful for the students, staff, and supporters of our TFTV community as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times together. 

Read more about how the students embraced a TikTok trend to surprise Professor Mulcahy at https://tftv.arizona.edu/news/tftv-students-surprise-their-professor-with-a-sweet-note-of-gratitude/
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