ORLANDO – For years, Paul Castaneda has been involved in theater in Central Florida, as both an actor and director.
As the executive director of the Greater Orlando Actors Theatre, or GOAT, Castaneda knows what it’s like to get up on the stage and perform before a crowded audience, and to guide the actors who bring the roles in each production to life.
“For me as an actor, in order to do any role that I’ve ever done, I have to understand the motivation of the characters, where they’re coming from, and I have to be able to find something to like about playing the character, even if I’m playing a villain,” he said.
In addition to being in the theater world, Castaneda also runs his own business, Castaneda Sales and Marketing, which helps companies find ways to maximize their sales potential.
It’s a field where Castaneda has found that his background in acting comes in quite handy.
“When it comes to sales, it’s a similar thing,” he said. “You have to understand what your motivations are as a sales person. You have to learn to like yourself as a sales person.”
This weekend, Castaneda is helping to bring two acting classes to the Sandler Training Institute at 1057 Maitland Center Common Boulevard, Suite 102, in Maitland. The first one is ideally suited to those who, like Castaneda, have started their own business and want to know how to improve the bottom line: sales.
To engage his clients, Castaneda has brought in Anthony Vincent Bova, the acting teacher who runs the Bova Actors Workshop at the New York Training Center of the Eric Morris System. Bova is the artistic director there and has years of experience guiding people who want to learn the techniques of acting. But Bova also knows how to apply those techniques to people who have no ambitions whatsoever to get up on a stage or in front of a movie camera.
“He’s actually doing a class that he does periodically with Sandler training sites, where he teaches acting for business people, how to incorporate the techniques we have in the world of acting,” Castaneda said. “He meets with business people and helps them incorporate it into what they do. He wanted to introduce this methodology that he is allowed to teach by Eric Morris, and he wanted to introduce it to the Orlando community. It was introduced to me because I run GOAT, and I teach acting myself from time to time.”
The class will be held on Friday from 9-11 a.m., and is called “What Can the Business World Learn from the Arts: Learn to act, Learn to sell.” Acting, Castaneda said, is not that far a stretch from closing a business deal.
“Every sales call is a one act play,” Castaneda said, adding that taking the course can help sales people become more confident, and will “get you to take control of the human dynamics process.”
Ordinarily priced at $499, the course is being offered to Sandler students for $299.
As Castaneda noted, even when playing a villain onstage, he felt compelled to find some redeeming aspects of the character in order to create the most realistic portrayal possible. Likewise, he said sales people have to overcome a similar image problem.
“A lot of people have a really bad opinion of sales people, and that’s been ingrained in them for years,” Castaneda said. “But if you’re trying to promote your business, then promotion is sales. And what this class teaches you is how do you do what you have to do in order in survive?”
To learn more about the class, call Sandler Training at 407-740-SELL.
Bova will stick around and offer another acting class on Saturday, March 26, but this one will be specifically geared toward … well, actors. Bova is offering a two hour introductory class to acting techniques for people now working in Central Florida’s theater community.
“Saturday’s class is really focused on theatrical actors,” Castaneda said.
To learn more, log on to http://www.bovaactorsworkshop.com/ or http://www.ericmorris.com/.

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