Auditioning in Philly, Christian Ministry Seeks Talent—and Good Character

July 2012
Peter Crimmins
NewsWorks

You may have seen billboards around Philadelphia from Actors, Models, and Talent for Christ, or AMTC, a Georgia-based ministry that helps young people groom themselves for performance careers.

This weekend, AMTC will be in Philadelphia scouting for people with looks, personality, talent and, above all, character. The open audition at the Marriott hotel, at the Philadelphia International Airport, requires a headshot and a character assessment to determine the applicant’s moral fiber. Executive director Adam She wants to prepare singers, actors and models to change the entertainment industry.

“If you are living in this world, you are influenced by media. I think, for the most part, people agree the media in our country — what’s on TV, the Internet, all around us — can be very dark,” said She. “Bad is bold in the industry. So we believe good needs to be bolder.”

The open-call audition this weekend is free. Those accepted have the opportunity to sign up for performance workshops and a networking conference that can cost an ingenue up to $5,000.

This region has several religious-based theater projects, including Lancaster’s Sight and Sound, one of the largest faith-based musical theater companies in the country.

In downtown Philadelphia, the secular Lantern Theater company has included some kind of spiritually oriented production in most of its 18 seasons. Its upcoming season will feature a reprise of “New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656,” a play about a 17th century argument for the existence of God, which is the company’s most successful production, ever.