Cosplay is Acting: Theatre Techniques To Level Up Your Cosplay

Hello hello and welcome to Cosplay Is Acting, a blog that will hopefully help with some resources for more fully developing your cosplay characters using techniques gleaned from years of acting classes. Upcoming Convention Appearances: AnimeNEXT - June 10-12, NJ Rhody-con - July 30-31, RI Ask box is always open! Send me your questions, comments, and suggestions at any time!

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AAC 2016

Good news! We will once again be at AAC this year, this time with our fabulous three-part series! Watch this space for times and rooms. Hope to see you there!

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Looking forward to RhodyCon this weekend! Come on by for some basic acting techniques and some fun improv games!

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Sorry for not having advertised this more widely, but we were at AnimeNEXT this past weekend and had an amazing time! Definitely looking forward to next year! 

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Breaking news! We received confirmation today that Cosplay is Acting will be returning to AnimeNEXT this year, this time as a three-part series! Look forward to it!

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Clovercon is this Sunday! At the moment we are scheduled from 10 to 11 in the Green room! Let me know if there's anything special you want to see this time!

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It is with great disappointment that I must let you know that we will not be at Quinnicon this year, as the con has in fact been cancelled. Ah well, on to the next one! Clover con is in just a few weeks so get yourselves ready for some more awesome cosplay fun!

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Hello and welcome to all of our new followers! I think our follower count doubled this weekend! Thank you for coming out to the workshops at Anime Boston, and I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! I honestly believe these were the best workshops we’ve ever done!

So, what’s next for Cosplay Is Acting? Well, apparently the creation of a youtube channel! You guys requested it, so it’s going to happen! There’s a lot to work out logistically before it can get started, but keep an eye out!

In the meantime, here’s a list of our upcoming cons for 2016!

Clovercon! - May 15, NJ.

Rhody-con - July 30-31, RI.

We are still waiting to hear back on our submissions from a few cons, and about half a dozen of the cons we’ll be attending have not even opened their submissions, so this is very much not a complete list! Keep an eye on the blog for more info as it becomes available!

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We had a blast today with the warm-ups workshop, and we hope you did, too! Now that that's done with, go check out some more cosplay panels!

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Hey guys! Super psyched for our Warm-ups workshop today at 11:30 in room 309! In the meantime, check out one of these costume or prop-making panels! We've got you covered for the play, now go check out some costume workshops! See you at 11:30!

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Anime Boston has their 2016 schedule up (even the Guidebook app has it up already!), and take a look at those sweet, sweet timeslots!

Friday we’re starting with warm-ups and physical exercises intended to help you develop a physical presence for you character! We’re scheduled just before seating begins for the Death Match!

Saturday we get into backstory and character analysis, working on developing your character’s internal monologue! We’re immediately after the Cosplay Family Feud and right around the corner!

Sunday it’s character interviews! We’ll also be working on thinking up exercises to help you connect personally with your character! Then stick around because an hour later in the same room there’s a panel on cosplay competitions!

We are so excited for this year! Stay tuned here for more info on some of the awesome cosplay panels happening at AB that you won’t want to miss!

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Two Weeks Till Anime Boston!

We are hard at work completely re-vamping the content of our usual workshop, re-working it and spreading it out to fill the three timeslots we have been generously allotted! I think you’re really going to enjoy what we’ve got coming up!

In the meantime, shoot us a message if there’s anything you’d like to see more or less of in the workshop!

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For those of you going to U-con@Uconn this weekend: Well be hosting a panel at 10 tomorrow morning in room 304b! We have two glorious hours, so come check it out!

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Anime Boston 2016!

We will officially be coming back to Anime Boston this year -- bigger and better than ever with an exciting three part panel series! We've also got some other minor announcements that we'll be making as the convention gets closer, so we'll keep you updated with the panel schedule and other announcements as time goes on!

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Question for you!

Hey guys! So a few weeks ago we were at AAC, and those of you who were there may have noticed that it was a bit rushed. This was completely my fault-- I hadn’t taken the time to re-work the content so that it could fit into our hour timeslot, and I believe the workshop suffered for it. That said, even when we have an hour and a half, we still never seem to have enough time to get to everything I wish I could discuss in-depth with you guys.

And so! I was wondering how you’d all feel about splitting CiA into a series of separate panels, so that we have time to really focus on each topic? For example:

Early in the weekend, we could have a panel on warm-ups: breathing, stretching, diction, warm-up games, and ending with the walk exercise to really let you guys focus on creating a physical presence for your characters.

Then we could have one dedicated to the “meat” of the panel topics; the lecture part, which I always end up having to rush through in favor of the more exciting stuff. At the end we could even open it up for questions from you guys!

Then finally a panel that focuses pretty much solely on the in-character interviews, since we never really have time to do many of those. We could spend some time at the beginning going over ideas for character exploration exercises and talking through potential lines of questioning, and then spend the second half pulling up volunteers for interviews.

The latter two would still start with a short warm-up as well.

So what do you think? Please shoot me a message and let me know-- panel applications for next year start soon!

--Vespa

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Hello! I was the Groom at the Cosplay is Acting panel this weekend, and I just wanted to say I had a great time, I miss doing theater stuff and it was really fun to incorporate some of it into cosplay. Also you have so much energy, it was fantastic. Thank you for a really fun panel! (Also "Aaayy what up murder face" was like the best thing thing anyone said to me at the con I'm still laughing about it thank you for that)

Hey Murder Face! Glad you had fun, and that you found the blog!

I really enjoyed your interview! It was fun working through your character, and I wish we’d had time to go more in-depth with it!

Also, I’m glad that I came across as “energetic,” and not as “rushed, crazed, and exhausted!”

Thank you for coming to the panel, and please let me know if there’s anything you want to see for next time!

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Hi!!! I was the Kirito in the dating game!! I had to leave your panel early on Saturday because I was being judged in the hall cosplay contest!! For what I was there for- it was amazing!!! Do you have a Facebook page or (I think you mentioned a blog however I'm unsure if you were referring to this tumblr account) a blog I can follow as well? Everything you talked about was so helpful and I wish I had brought a notebook! I'm basically looking for an online version of notes lol

Hey! You were amazing, and it was so good to meet you!

Yep, this is our blog. The slides are available from the panel are available here (though they have been tweaked ever-so-slightly since that post was made), and if there’s any topic you’d like me to elaborate on, let me know!

We also do indeed have a FB page, here!

Thanks so much, and again, you rocked it in the dating game!!!

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Post AAC!

Hello to all of you whom I was able to meet at Another Anime Convention! We had a blast, and we hope you guys enjoyed the con, and the panel, as much as we did!

I do apologize for how hectic and rushed the last half hour was; I had so much I wanted to share with you, but not a whole lot of time in which to do it. Hopefully next year things will work out better.

With AAC over, this marks the end of our con season here at Cosplay Is Acting. But never fear! Just because we’re not going to panels until next year doesn’t mean you’ll stop hearing from us! We’re going to continue bringing you links and resources, and answering your questions! So please, don’t hesitate to shoot us a message with questions, comments, or requests~!

Love you all,

Vespa