Always Off Book

Facebook Page

2012-01-20T14:52:00.001-05:00

While I will be giving updates and other thoughts here on the blog on the acting troupe I am trying to form this year, you, loyal blog readers, may find it more advantageous to "like" the troupe on Facebook. I have created an informational page on Facebook for just such a thing. The company, (Which I have dubbed The Parapet Players) is of course still in its idea stage, as I continue to seek for a founding partner. The Facebook page nonetheless will feature updates on both physical progress, (finding a partner, and creating a plan) and on mental challenges that arise and get met as time goes on, (such as the editing process of Hamlet for the first show next year.) So if you are a Facebook person, head on over there and give us a "like", and you'll always be up to date on what's going on with that project specifically.

Theatre Company Update

2012-01-16T14:41:00.002-05:00

I wanted to let people know that I am still serious about this, loyal blog readers. And though I got a lot of positive response from friends so far, I have yet to secure a partner in this endeavor. I still ask you for your help and recommendations.

I will probably in the next few weeks start editing the script of Hamlet down to shorter length for performance. I will be doing that alone for now, as again I have no partner. Yet I also think perhaps having an adaptation already prepared will be advantageous as I continue to look for people who want to do this. It can always be edited again for any given production if needs be.

Then there is the matter of naming the company. I don't know what I should call it yet. I have actually had a few pretty good ideas, but web searches indicate in most cases that the name is already taken by someone, and I want to be unique. I am thinking about creating a more mundane placeholder name for the group, (which again right now is a group of one: yours truly). That way I can refer to the group, or at least the plans for the group, and perhaps start a Facebook page dedicated to same. The more I do for it myself the more I theorize people will believe I am taking it seriously.

I posted an ad on Craigslist in the volunteer and artist section. That has been up for a few days, so we will see what that yields. I may tweak it if I get no bites. I also ran into someone local on Twitter who asked me to email them with some information. I have not heard back from them yet, so I will give them a few more days and write them again.

No doubt the entire affair is still rather up in the air, and scary. Not to mention a bit nerve wracking. Having to invite other people into something when you are unsure if anybody will show up is a very daunting task for someone like me. Yet I am confident that there has to be at least one person out there for whom this is the ideal project. It's just a matter of finding them. Again, any advice on resources from any of you would be greatly appreciated. Just contact me here, or via email at tyunglebo@hotmail.com.

I will of course continue further updates as the come along, but for now, that is where the project stands.

Latest Showbiz Piece: Smoking

2012-01-09T13:40:00.001-05:00

This week my column over on Showbizradio.net deals with smoking on stage.

This is an important issue to me, and not simply because cigarette smoking almost certainly contributed to my father's early death. It's important to me because those in the arts, and in the theatre especially seem twice as likely to begin smoking these days than many other demographics, despite decades of evidence of how dangerous it can be. That is an anecdotal, and not a scientific number, but I am willing to bet that those of you in the theatre can corroborate what I say here. A lot of theatre people smoke. And a lot of younger people are in theatre. The combination is as depressing ad it is frieghtening.

I don't know why so many arts oriented people begin to smoke. I guess there is still the image of artists being cool by doing so. Or perhaps it is the relief people think they are getting from the sometimes high levels of stress involved in putting on a show. Or none of the above. But the fact is, it's stupid, regardless.

The article, however, is focused upon smoking for the sake of a scene of a character. As you couldn't tell by now, I come out against it. I advise that any and all steps possible be taken to avoid smoking. Especially if one is not already a smoker. (Leaving a show is not out of the question for me, if that is the only answer.)

Head on over to the article to see some other advice I have for the plays that would appear to need someone to smoke.

Big Announcement! Interested Parties Sought

2012-01-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, loyal blog readers! I hope your holiday season went well.

I could think of no better time than the start of whole new year, where thoughts turn towards blank slates, goals, and starting fresh, to make this theatre related announcement. So if you are in the Frederick County, Maryland area, or know somebody who is, listen up.

Early next year, I will be mountingmy own production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'll be playing Hamlet myself. (HowOlivier of me.)

How? When? Where and with whom? Allof that depends. Ideally, it will be with a highly dedicated cast, willing to commit to such an undertaking.Because I plan this to be not just a production, but as the first step informing a new acting company.

Note I say "acting"company, because I won't be spending resources trying to secure a permanentvenue. Resources will be allocated to recruiting talent, and creating the artitself. I envision 10-12 people as part of this troupe, each contributing tomultiple facets of the company, on stage and off.

Naturally, neither staging Hamletnor starting an acting company can be accomplished overnight. Which is why I amgiving this about a year before even thinking about performing. That time willbe dedicated to the creation of the group, forming of the cast, and only later,interpretation and vision for the piece itself. Then we can scheduleperformances.

I am seeking all kinds of people ofcourse. But the first person I will need, and sooner as opposed to later, is apartner to sit near me at the top of the pyramid if you will. I, as founder andartistic director will need a co-founder type of person who can be the yin tomy yang without being antagonistic. Someone who will complement me where I havestrengths, and make up for me where I am weaker. Someone for whom I will do thesame. A more business/practicality oriented person to balance the artistic.(Though not lacking in artistic merit themselves of course.) A fellow actorcould do it, but I think the position might be best served by either anon-actor theatre fan, or an actor who opts not to do acting with this company.

This is where all of you readingthis come in. I realize many of you are either not theatre people yourselves,or are otherwise busy with your own artistic lives and communities, which isgood. So, while you are welcome to talk to me in greater detail to see if thisvolunteer position might be for you, what I will truly appreciate right now isbeing introduced to other local people you know who may want to join with me inbringing this about.

But what kind of person?

Like I said, a practical, down toearth, organized arts lover. Someone to whom I could talk on a regular basis.Someone reliable. Dependable. A person who shares, or at least admires myparticular vision of theatre and acting. (Which I will describe in a moment.)Someone who will not want to take over with their own vision. Do you know sucha person? If you do, please contact me to get this ball rolling.

Of course, a partner is not theonly person I will seek. That is just the first person I am seeking. I willeventually need performers and other theatre types to make up both thisindividual cast, and hopefully a few permanent members of this company. So ifyou, or someone you know would be interested in participating in this projectin later stages, please let me know that as well.

Regardless of what capacity aperson is interested in filling, I need to give folks an idea of my vision forthe nature of the production and the company. (It is far too early to discussspecific interpretations of the play itself. That comes later.) So here are thecore tenants as it stands now:

--Minimalist. Minimal costumes,props and sets. The key is to spend most of the time rehearsing and creating,so as to be able to take a production to almost any space and perform it withlittle to no prep. This I feel is more easily accomplished when there isless…"stuff" to worry about procuring, storing and transporting.

--A season would consist of one ortwo plays at most, to increase the amount of time dedicated to polishing oneshow, and performing it.

--Self-governing. The group makesdecisions for its own future, together. In essence, it would be its own boardof directors.

--Organized. Regular meetingsthroughout the year, conducted in a formal style that the importance of thesubject matter deserves. A format that allows everyone a chance to contribute.(Possibly an adapted Roberts Rules format for formal meetings of this nature.)

--Traveling. As an acting troupe(vs. a full theatre company), there would be, at first, no permanent venue, butrather a willingness and ability to take the current production to variousperformance spaces in the area. (Which would have to be sought out andsecured.) Anyone within a certain radius who has a space and would be willingto host us for free or for a nominal rental fee will be considered.

--Classic material. That is to sayroyalty-free material. (Such as Shakespeare, Greek drama.) The possibility ofdoing original material would be discussed as the group took shape.

--Utmost and constant respect forand dedication to the artistic process of each individual. Drafting a missionstatement pursuant to those ends.

It is not my intention to create acompany for the purposes of competing with or overshadowing any other theatrecommunity, but rather to add something a bit different to the cultural optionsin the area. Other than time commitment, (which I would expect from allparticipants), I see no reason why during the building phase folks couldn'tcontinue to appear in other shows in other venues. I myself certainly intend toparticipate in other companies during the building process at least.

In closing, why start with Hamlet? Am I crazy? Yes. But that isn'twhy I am starting with Hamlet. I figure the play is not done by volunteers veryoften because it is feared, by both actors who think it is too difficult, aswell as by theatre boards who assume an audience cannot be found for such fare.I intend to show that it can and will be found.

If I am going to do something likethis, might as well hit the ground running and start big. And it will certainlyseparate the kids from the adults when it comes to recruiting, won't it?

So I am going to play Hamlet.Despite the challenge and despite some who suggest you have to be younger toplay Hamlet. And I am going to play him regardless of how my plans go for atroupe. If we have just three people and have to rewrite it so all of the rolesare shared, we will do that. If we can only have a full cast if it is done as adramatic staged reading, we will do that. If it comes down to it and it's just me,I'll rewrite the thing as a one man show if I have to. But the journey toplaying Hamlet in some fashion begins with this New Year.

So, if this sounds like anybody youknow, put them in contact with me, please, and soon. (tyunglebo@hotmail.com.)If deep down you think this sounds like you, let's talk. But be ready to reallytalk quite a bit. Again, I need the partner first, the rest of the troupe willfollow once my partner and I have laid some groundwork.

Thanks everyone. Stay tuned.

If Money Were No Object

2011-12-22T16:51:00.005-05:00

I don't do this often, but this is a cross post with my other blog, Too XYZ. Over there I am taking part in what is called Reverb, wherein bloggers are a sent an email each day in December containing a prompt for that day's blog post. Today's prompt lent itself well to Always Off Book, so I wanted to post it here also.

Follow this link to read it, as I don't think cutting and pasting the whole thing here would make a lot of sense. (Plus Blogger tends to get cranky when I try to do that for some reason.

Amanda's Theatre Joy

2011-12-08T15:23:00.001-05:00

On my other blog, I have been participating in an event called "Reverb11". You can go to Too XYZ to get a better idea of what it is, but in short, bloggers from all over the world follow prompts for each day in December, and blog based on same. The point is to become more introspective as 2011 comes to a close.

I hope you will read my posts over there for Reverb11 as well as those of other people. Yet today I ran across a post for Reverb that I think fits in so nicely with not only the subject but the message of Always Off Book, that I just had to share it with you here, loyal blog readers.

Today's reverb prompt was about describing a moment of "pure, unadulterated joy" from this year. The originator of the prompt, Amanda, writes about how she was struck by such a moment a few weeks ago as she was taking part in her publicity duties for a theatre company.

She goes on to talk about how much the company, and theatre in general has meant to her over the last 15 years. It is this type of company, and this type of actor and theatre board member that I love to encounter, and with whom I long to work whenever possible.

It is an excellent piece, both for reverb, and for theatre lovers like myself, and many of you. Go there, read, and do leave a comment!

A Kiss is Still (Someone Elses) Kiss

2011-12-06T11:11:00.001-05:00

My most enduring blog post ever, on stage kissing, continues to recieve questions and comments on a regular basis. In fact, it received two just this week.

One of them was unique, however. I got a question from soneone on the other side of the kissing situation; I heard from the partner of an actress that will have to kiss someone on stage in the near future. I have never been approached by someone from this angle of the issues before. I thought it deserved its own post. Here are the comments:

My girlfriend is acting in a play that calls for a wedding scene kiss. I've never been involved in theatre and the thought of her having to do romantic scenes did not bother me until she was actually cast in one. I understand that it is a portrayal of her character's emotions and not her own. She is very trustworthy and I know she doesn't have feelings for the other guy. I'm just having a hard time with the fact that it is still a real kiss, and I can't help but feel like I am sharing her with someone else. This probably sounds lame to experienced actors, but I have never dealt with this kind of thing before and I just haven't been able to feel secure about it. She plans to pursue acting as a career and I plan on staying with her, so I need to figure it out somehow, since there will probably be more intense romance roles in the future. I am sure this is a problem with many actors' dating partners/spouses who are not in theatre.
If you have any advice I would really appreciate it, maybe you know an actor with a partner who has gotten over issues with this. Her play opens in two days and I'm kind of freaking out about how I will react. I'm doing alright knowing she is kissing in rehearsals but I don't know what to expect when I actually see it happen. This is the best role she has ever gotten and I need to be supportive.

To begin with, I am naming this anonymous poster, "Pat", because it will be easier to use a name when referencing.

So I will say to Pat that you have the makings of the correct attitide. You do want to be supportive of your girlfriend as she pursues acting. And you do not want to limit her future roles by insisting she not kiss anyone, or by making her uncomfortable with doing so. I have worked with married actresses who insist on kising only their husbands, and scenes have to be rewritten, and it is just akward and time consuming. Fight this urge. She will not appear artistic or professional if she has that albatross around her neck. But you seem already to know this. Go with that feeling.

I also advise you against meeting the scene partner. This is also a very common practice in theatres in which I have worked, but it smacks of insecurity and domination. Don't feel you have the right to meet, talk with, or have dinner with whoever this, or her future scene partners will be just because intimacy will be portrayed in the scene. Your girlfriend has the right to create her art and do her work without the uncomfortable notion of you getting to invade that time and space. And even if she doesn't care, the person playing the partner may. This too is a large temptation. Resist it. It reeks of disrespect and you are better than that, I sense it.

I don't want to get too spiritual with you, Pat, but the idea of "sharing her with someone else" may be part of your issue. Do you love her because of the fact your lips touch hers? Or do you love who she is, what she believes and what she helps you to become? Because if it is the former, you may not ever feel okay with this. But if it is the latter, and I suspect that it is, you already know that nothing about her is being lost to someone else. Not that you own her, but she isn't giving herself away either.

You must remember what she gives to people when she performs, and how it makes her feel when she does so. The art that comes about. I would imagine that is a big part of what she means to you. Don't take the brush away from the painter, Pat. Because even if you say nothing, she will sense how much you don't like her stage kissing. That will make her feel guilty and you don't want that, I know. So the only solution is to change how you feel about this on the inside.

Yes, I imagine it can be somewhat difficult for a non-actor to get a hold on some of these things. But in the end, they are not impossible. In every love, there are things about the other person we may never understand. So take it from me, an actor of 11 years and counting; this is your girlfriend's way of creating and sharing something beautiful with the world. Be no more worried than you would be if she were a lawyer defending a sexy client, or a doctor treating a handome patient. In both cases a person must spend a great deal of time with someone, both are entitled to 100% privacy in their meetings, and both require intimate conversation, and in the case of the doctor, touching. I don't believe you would feel upset by these actions. Don't let the fact that sometimes her lips are involved in her work change that. They are only lips, after all. Acting, however, would appear to be her calling.

This play is coming fast, Pat. You may not be able to make the turn around in what short time you have left. Still consider what I say here. And yes, until you have a stronger hold on what all of this means, try to keep your worries to yourself. Your girlfriend needs you as she enters into the opening of the play. It is a draining, but rewarding process when it works, and it would be tainted a bit if she could sense your concerns. If you think it would help, don't go see the play. (It is not as horrible as it sounds, I know spouses who can't watch for any number of reasons.) Though if you do choose to go, see it as someone you love creating something they love. Not as your girlfriend sharing her lips with someone else in front of an audience.

I wish both you, and her, well with this opening. I hope my words have in some way helped you with your difficulties.

Christmas with Hamlet?

2011-11-29T14:28:00.001-05:00

"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time."

--Marcellus, Hamlet. Act One Scene 1

An obscure (and often cut) indirect reference to Christmas time in Hamlet. I always thought it was a bit odd to have in there. And while I don't know if what Marcellus says is true or not, I do know that as we enter the Christmas season, I am reminded of Hamlet, along with a few other of Shakespeare's plays.

I have read Hamlet in its entirety eight times. (Though not for several years, sadly.) And most of these readings were during the Christmas season.

I really have no idea why I have read Hamlet at Christmas time so often. I speculate it had a lot to do with the fact that initially, when I was in school, I had more time to sit down and just enjoy the play, as I was on a long vacation during the holiday season. Then after the first few times, it became a quasi-tradition. (Which as I mentioned, I have not kept up in recent years.)

When it wasn't Hamlet, I would sometimes read a few of the other plays. Probably because I would often get a copy of any given play as a present at Christmas, and would then read large chunks of it during the holiday. Or otherwise receive movie versions of same, and watch them.

Yet it applies mostly to Hamlet, which clearly does not take place at Christmas. However, I always saw it taking place in the cold, dark, candle lit corridors of Elsinore, where the very cold air bites shrewdly. Most of the events take place within the castle walls, providing a bit of a claustrophobic sense. At least it could be seen like that. And this image lends itself well with staying inside, out of the night and the cold and the wind, and, by tradition back then, spirits and demons and of course...ghosts. (Though of course in this case, Hamlet opts not to avoid a very particular ghost.) When viewed in this fashion on the stage in my mind, it does have a sort of Winter Solstice atmosphere to it, in a way. At least as far as the environment and the supernatural. Perhaps that also contributes to my tendency to think of the play when I think of the holidays.

It is quite possible, however, that like so many mental associations that accumulate within our distracted globes, there is no cogent explanation for it. Perhaps in the apartment building within my mind, the Hamlet (and other Shakespearean) stuff just happen to have taken up residence down the hall from some of my Christmas thoughts, and the inhabitants of both have mingled over the years. At parties or tenants meetings or some such. (I won't beat the metaphor into oblivion. You get the idea.)

It has been a disconcerting and disorienting last few weeks for me, loyal blog readers. I don't know If I will have the time to dedicate to reading the entire play before the end of the season this year. Perhaps I will try. Or perhaps I will read highlights. But in any event, there will always be that small part of my mind that thinks of the Prince of Denmark during the birth season of the Prince of Peace.

WFCT: Signing Off

2011-11-14T10:51:00.001-05:00

The show is closed. And as is the case nine times out of ten on this blog, I didn' cover the Saturday performance the night that it happened, meaning that I need to cover two shows with one entry.

Not that it should take long. I think that by now loyal blog readers have understood how this show was trending. I will say that both performances were acceptable overall, though there were places in each that I think got sloppy and could have been improved upon. Maybe if we had been doing it for two weeks it would have been, I'll never know.

As for which night was best, that is a matter of perspective. Saturday night was the slightly bigger crowd, and I think the performances were a bit more disciplined and on target. I think the energy was higher on Saturday night as well. According to my self assessment it was also the night I feel I gave my best performance of both the background stuff as well as the actual readings of which I was a part.

But Saturday's audience was not quite as responsive as the one on Sunday. For that reason, I was in the minority in my evaluation of the weekend, as most of my cast mates felt that the smaller, more rowdy, but more vocal Sunday audience,represented the best of the run. Especially true, once the laughs started to come from the actors milking things that, in my view, should not have been milked. I never did think that the cheap laugh was something to consider a reward for a job well done. If it were the cheap laugh that was all that mattered, I submit rehearsing would be necessary. We could have just read the script cold for the first time opening night, and which the crowd guffaw and our stumbling.

A few cast mates at intermission expressed to me that they felt the people were supposed to laugh at the dramas, (which they did, especially on Sunday night) because they were designed to be campy and ridiculous. I expressed disagreement with that sentiment, as I feel the dramas are only campy in retrospect, looking at them over 70 years of changing tastes. But at the time they were written, they were probably in most cases quite dramatic. When played correctly.

Now, I agree that a show could be conceived wherein the actor were exploiting over-the-top campiness as related to the 1930's radio style, and such. Yet this production was not presented as a parody of the 1930's. It was presented as a nostalgic look at same, and as such, I really would have preferred that the dramas be played straight. But then again, I have always felt that going for the cheap laugh weakens any comedy, even if the laugh is received. It has never been just about getting a response to me. Even when I am in a comedy. But certainly not a drama.

Nevertheless I remain proud overall of my performance in this production. I remained articulate and paced in my line delivery. Expressive even if not manic. I proceeded from day one with the notion that people who would only be able to hear me, and not see me, would still get 100% of my characters. (This was after all a radio play.) I think I gave them that in the end.

I succeeded at feeling less light headed during my performances in Act Two over the final two shows. I shifted around the mike on purpose while I was performing, instead of standing there as stiffly. I was less tense. I was in less of a hurry to switch characters after the first, opting instead to casually go back to the booth and get my between-shows drink. I think it helped.

This experience has been an interesting one. I was drafted into it, rehearsed it a handful of times for a few weeks, then everyday for a week. Only one rehearsal wherein all of the elements were in place. It all moved so fast, given the non-traditional nature of it. In the coming days I think I will look back and feel almost as if it never happened. Like a dream one has of doing something familiar.

Not that the experience was in any was surreal, but just that the normal deep emotional investment wasn't their do to the brevity and the format, and ergo the impact was different. I even opted out of going to dinner after strike with some of the members of the cast. I almost always go to such things, but I just didn't feel it last night.

I am not sorry I did this show, but it did come at a very busy time for me, and proceeded to unfold in a rather hectic manner. For those reasons, as much as I enjoyed certain aspects of the show on the day, I am somewhat relieved that it is concluded.

WFCT Goes on the Air

2011-11-12T12:31:00.001-05:00

Of course, last night was opening night for Hour of Nostalgia: An Old Time Radio Show.

It went all right, by and large. There were numerous technical issues to contend with, but the performances seemed to go well. I am satisfied with my own appearances. Though doing two consecutive skits with no break, at the energy level I am using left me more drained than I anticipated. In fact after the first skit I was ever so slightly light headed. I think there could be a few explanations for that.

To begin with, the first skit ends with me screaming. So that's intense and requires a lot of energy. But everything before that involved portraying an increasingly unnerved person. So that is intense as well.

Secondly, I have at most 60 seconds to break in between skits. In that time I make my way back to my seat, grab a drink of water to prepare my through for the next skit, grab the script for same, and sit down, for a few brief seconds, to collect myself, before jumping right back into reading. Reading the lead for the second longest script of the evening.

Perhaps I am breathing to quickly? I don't know. I will try to pace myself a bit tonight. What little of that I can do, anyway. It may also help, at least in the first skit, to move around a bit more. Not all over the place of course, but the mike I use in the first one is fragile, and tends to move when I step near it due to a warped portion of the stage on which it sits. So my inclination is to stay still. But I think that causes tension. Plus, the mike wasn't working properly last night. It only picked up sound if one spoke into the side of it, and not the front.

Act One went well for me, though of course I am mostly silent during same. But being in that stage manager character up in the "booth" is fun.I wasn't as deeply into him as early as I wanted to be, but nonetheless I think he started to emerge more fully later on.

As for the audience, I am not certain about numbers. It seemed like about 25 of the 100 seats were filled, but it may have been more. It's hard to tell sometimes, and I didn't count. They laughed at a few places...mainly those in the dramatic plays that were played up to be funny, though not intended to be so. As for the actual jokes, there were a few chuckles here and there, but not a whole lot. We didn't flop. but we didn't have them rolling either.

Despite the small, quietish audience and the technical troubles, most people in the cast seemed to have fun. That of course is important as well. As for me personally, I enjoyed certain moments more than others, but consider the night as a whole enjoyable. I am hoping tonight is better, though. Maybe I can add a few things here and there. We will see.

Standby to Air...

2011-11-11T10:46:00.001-05:00

Our final rehearsal for "An Hour of Nostalgia" was last night. And how do I feel about it?

Though it doesn't much matter how I feel, or really how it went, since it is over, the show opens tonight, and it is what it is at this point by and large, I will say that our last rehearsal went all right. Not great, but okay.

It was honestly still far too loose for me. It technically still wasn't a start to finish run of the show, as there were a few interruptions. Not as many as the previous night, but still too many for my liking for a last rehearsal. In addition to that, the sound cues were still problematic, and timing was off in places with them. Plus, this still elicited laughter from the cast, and commentary as to the nature of the gaffes. With all respect to my cast mates, that should have not been happening at all last night. It is a bit frustrating to have to deal with the gaffes, and the jokes about the gaffes while I am waiting to deliver my next line on the last day I will have a chance to practice same.

Some of that may have been due to the director telling us all to look at each other and feel free to laugh if any mistakes are made. I personally think this ruins any dramatic tension that we need to build for the dramatic plays, and I am a little afraid that the entire thing could, if we are not careful, devolve into a slapstick parody of old time radio, instead of an actual presentation of same. I have no say over how others choose to react, but I myself have no intention of playing up mistakes for laughs in front of the audience.

All of that said, most of the actual performing went well. I finally seem to have the opening down correctly. The director complimented me on always being in character as the stage manager, even when I am just up in the booth. That is an excellent indicator of me doing my job, so I am satisfied to know that.

As for the radio skits themselves, several people mentioned after practice that the thought The Cask of Amontillado went better than it has ever gone. I don't recall doing anything different personally, but it is nice to know that it sounds that good. I still don't enjoy doing that one very much, but if the audience enjoys it as much as the cast did last night, it will be acceptable.

With the exception of a few sound cues that have to be corrected, John Wiffle Concentrates, the comedy/fantasy that I appear in near the end of the production was smooth. I have mentioned before that that is my favorite of the four skits we are doing, regardless of the fact that I am in it. It's goofy, upbeat, and lends itself to high energy from it's performers. My only regret is that it comes immediately after the Cask, and I therefore am constantly performing for about 35 minutes total. (That is more tiring when it is all voice work, than it would be in a standard show, I am thinking.)

One of the cast members said he had several friends coming to tonight's, but beyond that, I have no idea what to expect from any of the nights. (We only run for one weekend.) In either case, I am ready to get on with performing this one.

Start to Finish...Almost

2011-11-10T11:22:00.004-05:00

So we ran the entire show last night. The plan was to do so without interruption for the first time. Yet too many things remained unclear for that to be possible. Several stops in the action were in fact needed to clarify some things. (I myself needed to do it at the very beginning, as I still didn't have the opening correct. I believe I do now, however.) There were also sound cue issues and a few other things that required repeating sections of scenes after all.

Yet we did go through everything, in costume, on the stage. (Except for the singing, because the singer was not there, though the "band" did play the instrumentals of each song.) Plays themselves take up about an hour and 20 minutes total, with a 15 minute intermission. With the songs added the show will run about an hour and a half or so. I know it seems much longer than that when we perform it, but that could be because I hardly appear in Act One. Act Two is much faster than Act One is, though.

The rehearsal itself was still rough in places, especially, as I said, in regards to sound cues. Performances themselves are rather sharp at this point, I think, but they can be easily thrown off by a jumped, missed, or mistaken sound cue. I would have preferred to have had more than two separate rehearsals working on such technical aspects for that reason. Yet it is what it is now.

I did hit a bit of a stride with my background performing last night in Act One. (During which I am the mostly silent stage manager.) I have a quasi-system in regards to pushing buttons on the fake control board which, though in all likelihood technically nonsensical does provide a consistent performance. If I may say so myself. In the very least I feel that I appear to be responding to what is happening on stage when I flip buttons and such.

The cigarette smoking has also become quite natural at this point. And it goes well with the outfit I am wearing. (White shirt, black pants, bow tie, shoes and suspenders.) The stage manager is a laid back sort for the most part. I have rather enjoyed creating and portraying him. I hope to add a little more depth and nuance tonight, and if not night, during the performances. Sometimes the little things don't show up until one is actually in front of the audience. The subtleties that make an already good performance even deeper. It is the sort of thing on which I pride myself when I can pull it off. To be honest, I don't think this guy needs that much more. I think I already establish rather nicely what he is doing, and the attitude with which he does it. Yet if I can come up with just one more little brush stroke, I will be all the more satisfied. I will think on it.

Some anachronisms which I find a bit jarring in places have made their way into the production. Especially considering that I was asked to not use my binder for my script due to it not being period. If the entire shoe were to have remained period, I wouldn't have minded as much. But when modern piano music and other contemporary references are slipped in, I feel a binder would not have been too much of a jump to make. Certainly no more distracting than some of the other modern concessions. Not that it ruins the entire show or anything. Just a personal preference on my own part.

The Edgar Allen Poe story felt better to me last night, though the director thinks it needs to slow down quite a bit. I suppose I and the others in it will make that effort tonight.

The comedy/fantasy, sadly, was interrupted more than once to fix things. That is the one skit that I was most looking forward to doing from start to finish, because I think that one relies to a great degree on the momentum of the performances. (Mine in particular, only because I have the largest role.) Hopefully tonight it will happen without interruption, but I am prepared for the possibility of course that it will not.

One rehearsal remaining.

"Sink or Swim"

2011-11-09T12:43:00.000-05:00

These are the words the director used at the end of rehearsal last night. It is how she summed up our current status and what we need to accomplish for the remainder of the week. I would agree with the assessment. We are falling a bit behind at the moment.

This week's rehearsals have been rough, I won't sugar coat that. It is very difficult to run tech week rehearsals when nearly all of your tech crew is absent. The light and sound guy up in the booth was not available, and neither were the drummer, the pianist, and the singer. Each of those positions is crucial to the timing of what we will be doing, and at this point we have yet to practice the show with all of those individuals in place. Nor will all of them be there tonight. (Wednesday.) So trying to time cues, lines and my own fake duties as the stage manager character have been a rather confusing endeavor this week. Needless to say, I would have much preferred more than a single rehearsal with all of the elements in place. But I won't get one, and of course, neither will the rest of the cast, so at least it is even.

Last night we ran the very top of the show first, wherein everyone makes their first entrance. Then we spent the rest of the evening running Act Two. (Wherein I play a lead in both skits.) As with the previous rehearsal, it was stop and go. Yet the second act is so much shorter than the first that rehearsal last just over an hour. I thought at first we would be going back to run the entire act once more, but we did not do so.

I appear first in a drama, than in a comedy/fantasy. I have mentioned before that the comedy/fantasy is the skit I most enjoy being in. The drama, "The Cask of Montillado", based on an Edgar Allen Poe story, is a bit of a drag to me. I don't like the pacing, the writing, or the characters. I suspect this is due to the fact that unlike the other plays, which were created specifically for the radio back in the day, this play is an adaptation of a work not intended for the radio. As such it feels very forced and unsatisfying. There is absolutely no plot to it. It simply begins, and all of a sudden, it ends.

My biggest problem though is that twice I must refer to everyone acting "gay". Given that this is an adaptation, and not a straight reading of Poe's story, I wish we would could just change the word. That context of the term is now archaic, and people laugh every time I get to the line. As will members of the audience no doubt. It's not a laugh worth giving them, either. Especially in the midst of a drama.

Which brings up another quick point; a lot of people in the cast feel that anything we do in any part of the show is acceptable, including screwing up badly, so long as the audience laughs. I am inclined to disagree with this sentiment. There should be funny moments within the skits, but the production as a whole isn't slapstick. And even if it were, excusing any decision on the basis that someone might laugh has never been my approach to comedy in any play. Yet especially not the dramatic moments in this one.

As for the actual rehearsing, The Cask of Amontillado went well, for what it is. Most of the problems related to sound cues for the foley guy. (The one who creates live sound effects, as opposed to them being played digitally from the booth.) I think this skit has more sounds effects in rapid succession than any of the others, so it requires some doing. When the foley technician has his partner back for opening night it should be easier for some of those sounds to be made on time, I would say.

The comedy/fantasy, John Whiffle Concentrates went on with few hitches. We did have to stop and start a few times for director notes, but most of the sound effects are from the booth on that one, and the booth was empty last night. So we just kept going. As I have said, I feel most comfortable with this skit, and have the most fun with it, despite it being a bit too long for what it is trying to do. It lends itself to high energy more than the Poe story, that is for sure. Though it does present one formidable challenge that is unique within the show.

There are a series of six lines, to be spoken by "bystanders" in the story, which the director wants members of our audience to deliver as part of the play. The nature of how to select these audience members each night, how to get them in place to deliver the lines, and how to cue them as to when to do so remains up in the air. At first the plan was to have the actors step aside from the three microphones, and have the "announcer" bring the pre-selected people up on stage at the appropriate time, and then guide them off stage back to their seats for the remainder of the skit. It was decided however that this would be much too problematic.

The suggestion was made to have the audience members deliver the lines from their seats during the production. Physically easier, but logistically problems still remain. Such as when and how to cue each audience member to say their line. How to get them the line in the first place. Raising the lights in the house, normally dark, so the audience members can read said line. (They of course will not have a full script, and hence won't know when to deliver their lines.)

Then of course there is the idea of selecting the people in the first place. It looks like the "announcer" will be doing that either before the show starts in the lobby, or during intermission. My one contribution to this conversation was to give the entire process plenty of time, in case people don't want to do it when selected. This I think is a real possibility, as I find that traditional audiences often do not feel comfortable being a part of a show they have come, and paid, to see. Some will of course be willing, yet we should be prepared for the likelihood that they will not be.

One of the performers proposed that the three actors not currently in the scene be the ones that deliver these lines. I agreed with the suggestion, but it received no response from anyone else. So we will have two days to work out how to get these three audience members into the scene. Which is tricky, because it cannot be rehearsed, as the audience isn't going to be there for any of the rehearsals. Again, sink or swim. There is much work to do.

The plan tonight and tomorrow night, (Wednesday and Thursday) is to do full dress, and run the entire show, top to bottom, without interruption for the first time. It hasn't been timed yet, and the actors have not yet had a chance to experience the normal pacing of the scenes and transitions. It will have to be done without the crucial musical interludes at this point, but hopefully we can approximate their duration when the time comes. I admit that I am still not certain when all of them occur. It will be an intense two evening leading into opening night. But also hopefully a productive two evenings as well.

"On the Air"...Tech Week Begins

2011-11-08T11:19:00.001-05:00

Last night was the first night of tech week for An Evening of Nostalgia. We only went through Act One. And that was probably as much as we could handle at the time.

There are still many things which need to be ironed out before Friday. Sounds effects and music remain at this time a bit confusing and difficult to pin down. It will not be made easier by the fact that last night was the only time until Thursday that all relevant people will be present for rehearsals. Tonight, the pianist will be absent, and tomorrow the singer will not be able to attend. There are a lot of moving parts to this show now, and I will confess to being somewhat nervous as to putting them all together in just a few days, especially when so many people will have to be missing.

I also confess to being a bit unclear on my responsibilities for the first scene, wherein we open the radio "station". Things had to be changed so many times, that I am uncertain of which version we decided on last night. We won't run the opening again until tomorrow, though, and I don't want to hold up tonight's rehearsal with questions about something we are not working on. So I will do so tomorrow.

We also got another foley sound effects person last night. It just happens to be a friend of mine with whom I have worked before.

I have almost no lines in Act One. Just a bit role in the second skit. So most of my time is spent being the stage manager up in the "booth". That was made easier last night with the addition of an electronic control panel. (Not plugged in, of course.) It gives me something to do during that hour or so when I am not doing anything else. I will fool with buttons here and there, and have already developed a faux system for when to adjust which buttons...as though what is happening at the microphones is determining what I do. That adds something to the character I think.

So does the cigarette. I had fun messing around with that, pretending to smoke the whole time. I even have a light that I used to pretend to light the smoke a few times. Astute people will note that no smoke is coming from it, and that it doesn't burn down during the evening, yes. But if my cigarette is the center of attention, something has gone seriously wrong with the show as a whole.

I also washed one of the provided glasses and had some water pre-set up in the stage manager's booth.

There was much stopping and starting last night, so the show wasn't on constantly, but I tried to keep some degree of character even during the stops. I don't have as much to do now as previously envisioned, as I will no longer be giving cues of any kind as the stage manager. So I see the guy as a technical wizard who has some vocal talents and is required to stand in once in a while when other people cannot do the show. A good natured, slightly mischievous guy who enjoys what he does. Casual but professional. Again, I shouldn't be the center of attention during Act One, but when people do look to where I am, that is the sort of persona I want to convey.

It is always a bit of a challenge to play a character who later plays another character. I have done this a few times in my career, and I think the key is to just vanish into the second character when it is time. Trying to perform as the stage manager who in turn is performing as the character in the radio skit provides too many layers anyway. If the script called for the stage manager to be an especially bad actor that may be an exception. Yet no such requirement exists here, and therefore I will most likely simply delve totally into the characters I play in the skits when the time comes, just as if that were the only character I was playing. Then slip back into the stage manager in some subtle way between the skits, and at the end of the show.
Not that I will have much time to cultivate it tonight, for as I said, we will run Act Two, and I have no chance to be up in the booth for Act Two, given that I am a lead in both of the plays.

Things certainly need to be tighter than they are right now overall. And they can be. There is no reason to assume they will not be. But there is a very large amount of work to be done in a very small window of time.

Talk It Through and Smile

2011-11-03T12:24:00.001-04:00

Last night's rehearsal was just a reading. I know that sounds ironic given that the entire show is just a reading. Yet we were not on stage or on the mikes tonight. We were in the green room reading in a more casual atmosphere. (Though we were one person short. One of the actresses is sick.) We only did three out of the four skits though, and only one of my big ones. The dramatic one.

I think in some weird way it was easier for people to personalize their line deliveries in the green room than it is on the stage. Myself included, at least for the dramatic skit. Doing this in front of mikes is a weird middle ground. Not quite open and free enough to allow for the comforts of a standard performance, yet not quite as casual as simply sitting together and reading the script with one another. Maybe this casual rehearsal will have deepened the performances in some way that will be reflected once we get back to the stage.

Not that I myself find the microphones intimidating, but they are a bit awkward. I am still feeling my way through how best to hold my papers and where to stand and such. I have done the whole radio thing before, but the last time there was more space, and the mikes were somewhat bigger. But that of course is what tech week is for. To iron out those kind of things. That will begin on Monday. And we open a week from tomorrow already. It is easy for a reading like this to sneak up on you if you are not careful.

We also had headshots taken last night. So I put on the costume I have assembled. I am going with black pants, simply white shit with black suspenders and black bow tie. It seems to work. If it gets cold, I have a sweater I can use that should be period enough for our purposes, though I didn't wear it for the picture. A poster will be made for display in the lobby containing the pictures and the fake biographies we all came up with. Should be eye catching. I wonder if he will let us keep the pictures of ourselves. Though I may not want mine, I didn't think to ask to see it after my shoot. I imagine it looks decent though, or he would have taken another.

They also hope to find an echo effect for the one skit that takes place in a catacombs. Nobody is sure if they were able to do that in the 1930's or not. But if so, and if we can replicate it, it will make a nice effect. We already have several nice effects.

It is becoming interesting. I look forward to performing the whole thing start to finish as it will appear for audiences, though. Which o course will happen in a matter of days.

Out of the Cold

2011-11-02T12:22:00.001-04:00

The director informed us at last night's rehearsal that previous plans to have the cast file into the theatre from outside periodically before the show and walk through the lobby has been scrapped. Everyone will now enter the staging area from inside the theatre, as usual. This didn't really affect me, though, because I was never supposed to come in from outside. I was going to be the first one at "the station" since I playing the stage manger. I would have been on stage from the start. Yet it is a major change in the nature of the production itself.

We have a new sound engineer as well. At least so far as the home made sounds. (clinking the glasses, pouring the liquid, and other such things into a microphone on stage.) He will have his own script, so my stage manager character will not be given sound effects cues as originally intended. This doesn't bother me. I don't think it was working to begin with. The way the stage is, the sound person can't see me well anyway. At this point I will still be cuing the music from my "booth". At least for the first half of the show, before I become one of the actors.

I also wrote my fake biography for my "base" character. I didn't turn it in yet, though. It will give me a bit of a personality from which to work. And much like my appearance in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead this summer, I will have a large chunk of time on stage wherein I am not saying anything, so I will have to create some kind of persona. I have been keeping a cigarette in my mouth and pretending to smoke it. I have also been pretending to throw switches on a non-existent control board in the "booth". Just to look busy. Otherwise I am basically just sitting there alone for about 45 minutes.

Rehearsal itself was a rather long process last night. We only did three out of the four plays, but we had to do a lot of stopping and starting so the director could give line notes. I have significant roles in two plays, one right after the other. (I need to remember water) so my voice is a little tired by the end of the second one. But I like performing the second one more than I like the first. The first as an adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe work. Ostensibly horror, but I don't think the story, as adapted, translated well onto radio. (The Cask of Montillado.) Nor do I much care for the character I play there. I don't hate it, and I imagine it will be more enjoyable as time goes on, but it isn't clicking with me just yet. If I had more time with the script I would be less worried, but we go on in 9 days. (!)

The second play I am in, and the final one in the production for the evening is a goofy fantasy. A comedy. I like being in that one much more. Which may explain why that one went much more smoothly last night. (Though my opposite had to leave rehearsal early due to illness, and one of the other actresses had to stand in.) I like the high energy nature of this loony story. (Mr. Whiffle Concentrates, the story of a guy who turns himself into a bird by the power of thought. I told you it was a fantasy.) It's the second longest skit we do, but seems to move much faster. The director seems pleased with the progress all of the skits made last night, which is good news.

We rehearse again tonight, and then are off for the rest of this week. But next week we will be meeting each night in the lead up to opening night. So despite it being a reading it promises to be a tiring week. Maybe not as draining as the tech week for a full scale production, but there will be a lot of time spent at the theatre next week, getting this ironed out. Given the progress so far though, I don't think there will be any set backs.

Tonight is also "picture night". We will have head shots taken to be part of the poster which will go in the lobby during the production. (Which means I have a shirt to iron.) We won't be on stage though. I think one of the musical acts for the show will be there rehearsing. Either way after picture tonight will just be a line reading back in the green room.

I think I am finally finding some good voices to use for each character.

Les Miserables and the Nature of Tweaking

2011-10-31T13:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I went to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to a performance of the national tour of Les Miserables. It was a matinee, and the last performance for this stay at the Kennedy Center.

I enjoyed myself. I have listened to that music for years now, having first seen the Broadway production of it as a student in high school with my family. My mother saw it even before it was on Broadway, when it made its North American debut at the very same Kennedy Center all those years ago.

I don't intend for this to be a review of the production I saw, but I will mention that it seemed different. Rushed in places, not as poignant or powerful in others. Some music was rearranged. Further research after I got home revealed that this was done on purpose. This national tour is employing a slightly more modernized staging, according to the articles I have been reading. It seems that in some circles people were beginning to believe the original staging, (with the now absent trademark rotating barricade and such) was becoming obsolete for modern audiences, and hence was made trimmer, faster, and, once again according to what I was reading, with a plot that is "clarified."

I am not sure one of the most beloved and successful musicals of all time needs to be made "fresh", or sped up. I certainly don't feel anything needed to be "clarified", as I never found the plot to be particularly complex. It's not as though there are many twists and turns in the original. But, that is show business for you. Still, I think as a whole it was less powerful than the original staging. Smaller. More subdued. But it was still Les Miserables for the most part, and still a pleasure to see, and to hear the classic tunes with which nearly all theatre people are at least familiar, even if not fans of the show.

It did get me wondering about that age old question. How does one find balance between keeping something fresh, and keeping faithful to the original intent of a piece? With something like "Les Mis", it isn't as much of a question. It is still a very tightly controlled piece after all these years. Owners and producers still have huge authority over exactly when and where it is performed. There is little room for variation, unless of course, like with this current tour, it is designed specifically by said authorities to be different in key places. But is that good or bad?

I have come to believe that as with many things in theatre, it depends on the nature of the show. Legal issues aside, as an actor, and even as a director, I am usually quite opposed to the popular notion that a playwright owns every single performance of his show until the end of time, and therefore ties the hands of each theatre that performs it. This distant, god like direction from afar in the nebulous mass of "copyright law" constrains theatre in many ways. Especially on the community level, (where, let's be adults here, such boundaries are often ignored, in hopes they will never be noticed.)

Assuming I have a good director that gives me freedom, I usually love being in shows that are not under such restraints. That leeway to create a character, coupled with every other actor on stage doing the same thing, under the direction of someone who is also free to create their own vision is to me what makes theatre alive. It makes it art. It doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.

Then you have something like Les Miserable, which, one could argue, became the phenomena that it is due to the very nature of the staging, the orchestration, and the vocalization. As I said before, if you are in anyway involved in theatre, you have heard of Les Miserables, or else you are locked up in an iron mask talking to nobody when not on stage. So the show has, for good or bad, become a part of the theatre as a whole. And when that happens, might not it be fair to conclude that it has transcended innovation? That like a lighthouse its purpose is not to be fancy, pretty, or mobile, but to remain, exactly as is, so those far and wide can focus upon it? Reach for it? Know that no matter what it is always there, unchanging? I am not insulted by such changes as made to Les Mis for this tour. I just wonder if they were needed to keep it "alive". It seemed to be painting the peacock a bit.

I still think each production of this musical could be unique by allowing some variations in voice, character interpretation, dance numbers. Costumes. So long as the music itself remained essentially in tact. It is, after all, a musical. So I don't suggest that there can be no variation. Indeed I am in the odd position of suggesting that there could be both more personal variation allowed in individual performances, and less variation in the overall impact of the entire production.

In the end, I have no precise answer for these questions of how much freedom artists and producers and directors should have and should not have in any given production. Sometimes as an audience member, I want familiarity. Sometimes as an actor I want freedom. Again, some shows invite one, others invite the opposite. My preferences fluctuate. There may be no formula, if we are talking about pure art, and not legalities. (Which tend to end this debate in an instant, when called upon.)

What do you think? How much variation, change, and updating is needed to shows like Les Miserables? Is any show above the occasional tweeking? If so, how do you determine the cut off point?

The Basics of the Base

2011-10-27T12:20:00.001-04:00

Last night was the second full rehearsal for me for what we are calling "An Evening of Nostalgia". One of the cast members was absent, and a table full of sound props was in place, but other than that, things were basically the same as the night before. Though I did experiment with using a cigarette during the first half of the show, and that went well. I feel it will add a bit more to the character I am playing.

Actually, I should say the base character I am playing, since we all are playing not only the roles within the skits, but also the radio performers themselves between skits, and at the start of the play. I still have work to do with all of the above, but odd as it sounds I think I will in some ways enjoy my mostly silent base character the most. I am fascinated by that era and radio during same. not so much the shows of the era, as I don't know much about them, but by the nature of the medium back then, and the nature of the people involved in it.

I have a bit of a unique challenge in this regard, however. My base character is ostensibly the stage manager of this production. As such he is on stage first as the audience trickles in, performing equipment checks and such. He is also, in theory, supposed to be giving cue to the sound people and the musicians. (Though the timing of that has not been worked out very well as of yet.) Yet this stage manager is also reading three parts within the skits himself. I'm not sure if this would ever actually happen. But since it is happening for our show, the problem lie in explaining, to myself if not to anybody else, why the stage manager's job is so vital for the first two skits, and then becomes non-existent for the second half of the show. (I won't be giving the cues while I am performing.) This detail may not bother a lot of people, but these are the things about which I am always thinking when I am becoming a character in a play. Especially one as open ended as this.

Yet that open ended nature of the character may help with this dilemma somewhat. We are to each write a fake biography for our base character, to be included on a poster in the lobby of the theatre during the show. Not only does this give me a good launching point for a character, (I have sometimes employed this technique on my own to give more depth to my performances), but I may use it to make mention of what someone would be both stage manager and performer in one show. I will have to work on that, but I look forward to creating it.

I'd also like to create a bit more variation in the voices I will be using for the various skits. One of them has a distinct sound, but I need something else for the supposed horror story. Something richer than what I have been using. Despite the setting of that piece, I'd like to avoid an accent, but it may be just the thing I need. More consideration is required on this topic as well.

We don't meet again until next Tuesday, with some set work being done by the director and others on Saturday. So it should look even more like a radio station by then.

Miked Up

2011-10-26T12:08:00.001-04:00

Having missed last week's rehearsal for the Radio Hour due to weather, last night was the first time I was able to rehearse the entire show. It was an interesting experience.

To begin with, in my absence, I have been assigned the lead for another of the four plays we will be doing. Given that this would make me one of the leads in three out of the four at this point, I felt a little awkward. Especially since I have been assigned a new duty...to sit up in the booth and play the stage manager for the fake production. (Giving sound cues, and pretending to turn dials, that sort of thing.) I mentioned that not only did it seem somewhat unfair for me to have that much air time, but also that it may be difficult for me to be almost constantly "on the air", while also trying to portray the stage manager who is supposed to be out and about doing things. The lead for one of the comedies was given to someone else, even though the fear was they wouldn't sound young enough. (I thought it sounded fine, but I didn't hear any commentary on that issue one way or the other.)

There are still a few hitches to be worked out, of course. It is early. But as we get closer, things should get tighter and more comfortable.

The subject of cigarettes was brought up. I had planned to mention that at some point myself, actually. I figured many of them would probably be smoking one. Certainly a stage manager who is running about trying to get a show together is a character that lends itself well to having a smoke in his hand. Though we can't actually light them, and being that close to the audience, I wonder if the effect would be too fake. I also wanted glasses for my character, but as yet cannot find any that are period appropriate.

On the subject of period, I won't be able to use a binder for my script, as a late decisions was made to make the scripts exactly period as they would have been in the 1930s. So we will all now have to hold the papers in our hands. Some have even suggested dropping each page to the floor as it's read, but a final decision does not seem to have been made on that idea as of yet.

A local husband and wife musical team have agreed to provide the show with live incidental music. (Piano and drums.) Dance and singing routines between the plays are also being worked out with certain other people, to add to everything. It is hard to judge from last night's read through since it is so early, but it seems to run about two hours with intermission at this point, though again, it didn't have the singing acts added on yet. And things will get a bit faster as time goes on.

We rehearse again tonight. (Wednesday). The plan is to rehearse twice a week, between now and the time we open on November 11. That is about six rehearsals remaining. Barring huge problems, that should be sufficient to mail this thing down.

Belated

2011-10-18T14:00:00.001-04:00

I only realized a short time ago, than I missed the six year anniversary of this blog! Not that I had any huge plans for same. I made a big to-do about the five year anniversary last year, because five years feelings like more of a solid, milestone type of number, like to or 20. Still until this year I have tried to at least acknowledge the anniversary on the day itself. (October 7.) This year, it just went out of my head.

Which in a way is acceptable I suppose. In the end this blog isn't so much about blogging itself, as so many blogs are. It is about, of course, my adventures, opinions, trials an tribulations in the world of theatre. Local amateur theatre. Something to which I have been dedicated for quite some time now. The story isn't so much how long I have been blogging about it on a regular basis, (though six years is quite impressive for a blog if I do say so myself), but rather that through ups and downs, great shows and really lousy ones I am still doing this theatre thing.

True. As a freelance writer I have more control over my schedule than many other people would have, and hence I can dedicate time more easily to this pursuit. Yet It still makes me a bit nostalgic when i think of how many people back in my college days, (where I first started theatre) no longer do it on a regular basis.

Back then it was almost a given that everyone would go on to do it in some fashion, professional or not. And don't get me wrong, many of them have. Some to pretty decent, albeit not national acclaim. Yet the percentage of the "theatre people" from back at Marietta College that find they cannot or don't really want to do theatre these days is a bit surprising.

I don't want to go back in time. I don't want to relive my college years. But that sense of urgency, raw creative power, and 100% dedication to the craft is something I miss. Something you don't find as much of in many community theatres. (Some more than others, yes.) It is for that reason that even in the present day, during even the smallest of shows, there are those ghosts of Marietta theatre walking about with me. Even those people to whom I no longer speak are, in subtle ways, present in the far removed mist of subconscious as I walk the boards in theatres they have never and likely never will see. They don't direct or control what I do on stage of course, but I would be lying if I said they were absent. Sometimes it is pretty potent, and other times it is a mere shadow. But always in some fashion, even if only for a split second, it is there.

In the end, I am glad of it, despite some of the disadvantages to those memories. It means that some facet of it is somewhere still in me. It means that even one day if this blog ceases to be, the actor in me, unlike some people I have known, will probably never cease to be.

Signing On

2011-10-12T13:47:00.000-04:00

Last night I was over at the Full Circle Theater Company, wherein I do most of my acting these days, for a first read-through of my next project. The title is tentative at this point, but the gist of it, as I mention in a previous post, is that it will be a staged "radio show". Emcee, radio station set, sound effects, microphones. Everything designed to look like a radio performance in the 1930's. 1938 to be more precise. Actors will have their scripts in their hands, so memorization is virtually non-existent.

The script consists of four short radio plays, along with some incidentals between each play. There is no intermission written in at this time. It is supposed to take just over an hour.

The piece was written by a local writer, and it is she that will be directing the production. By her own admission, she has not even looked at this script, (which is unpublished) for several years. Not since she and some other actors she knew performed it as part of a project she was working on at the time. So, I have no reference point for the script itself. No previous productions I could look up online or ask around about. All precedent will come from the memories of the director.

However it was made clear that it is pretty fluid at this point. She expects there will be both addition and subtractions to the script as we all get familiar with it, and feel out what sort of show it is to be. Certain aspects are already clear, however. That the actors will never leave the stage, and hence be in character the entire time. That before the play the cast will be milling about in the lobby, interacting with patrons. (Not my favorite thing to do, but I have done it before.) And that at times the audience themselves will be a part of the performances.

And of course we will be dressed in period costumes. Or at least as close to same as we can get with our own wardrobes. I myself think I can pull off 1938 with the clothing I have at my disposal. It is going to be easier for men, than women, I would guess. I will probably just go with white shirt, black pants, a tie, (possibly a clip-on bow, if appropriate, as I have one of those), and perhaps a set of suspenders, if I can find a pair that will go along with the era. Simple enough. Time will tell if that will work or not. (It was more difficult to pinpoint what men wore in 1938 via online research than I thought it would be...I kept getting the same picture of Orsen Welles...though he was on the radio at the time the picture was taken, so it was more helpful than I thought.)

As for the reading itself, it went well. Casting is not 100% solidified yet, but it would appear I am to be the lead in the first skit---a fantasy wherein a man by use of his imagination, becomes a talking bird. I also read for one of the "dramas" (though there was much laughing during the reading), based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story. I think I like the fantasy better than the horror story, but be that as it may, those are the two I read for. (Not counting one tiny appearance in a third skit.) The final skit in the collection we did not read last night, due to the time. I have not yet read that one over myself, so I am unaware of what it is about at present.

Not everyone who is in the play showed up last night, but most did. I already know most of the people involved, so that is always a comfort.

I am not sure yet when we perform, but I think just one weekend in November. We are to meet again next week for another read through, and of course I will be looking over the script between now and then.

"The World's Toughest Community Theater Coach"

2011-10-07T13:58:00.001-04:00

Loyal blog readers I hope will check out this write up about me by Andrew Beaujon over at tbd.com. He spoke with me via phone a few weeks ago and has on several occasions read both this blog and my articles over on ShowBizRadio. I think the piece is fair and accurate for the most part. To strangers I may appear a bit more morose than I actually am, but the spirit of my theatrical approach is certainly well represented in the piece. Give it a read!

Back to the "Air" Waves.

2011-10-04T14:38:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you never know where a theatre project will come from. In the last two months, I have been asked to take part in two different projects.

The first is still in planning stages, so I don't want to say too much about that one until more is known. But the second one seems to be a go.

The Full Circle Theater Company is planning to have a radio-show production, in the spirit of the 1930's radio serials. There are several such scripts out there, and while I am not certain what the exact nature of this show will be, I have been asked to participate. I have a potentially busy November, but I agreed to take part in this endeavor. It sounds fun, and will, I would imagine, require less of a time commitment.

Loyal blog readers may recall that back during the 2009 holiday season I was cast in a production of "It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play". At the Winchester Little Theater. I had a great time doing that, and though I am sure the Christmas spirit aspect of that show added to the experience, the concept of a staged "radio show" was fun in its own right, and I imagine it will be again, regardless of the nature of the script.

Dates are not certain at this time, but it will be two weekends in November. And again, I have no idea what the story is, how many people are involved, or even who else is taking part. But the WLT didn't do their radio show last year, so I didn't get a chance to enjoy playing radio star then. With this I may get to again. No pun intended, but stay tuned.

Summarizing Me

2011-09-27T13:05:00.001-04:00

I don't often add photos to this blog. And in fact I believe the last time I ever bothered with doing so, it was this exact same photo. I will check on that to be sure.

The point however, is that I was recently working on something that required me to select a photo that "sums up who or what you are." I thought about it for a short while, and had a few other candidates, but it didn't take me long to select this one.

Not that I feel any photo can really "sum up" a person. But this picture, with many layers to it, comes pretty close.

It was taken in the very cramped backstage area in a building called Reynolds Hall on the campus of Shepherd University. The Full Circle Theater Company did not yet have its own space so it was renting this venue for its production of The Lion in Winter. So the theatre aspect of my personality is obvious.

Yet more subtle is the nature of the venue, which I mentioned was a bit cramped backstage. And an astute eye will see that the backstage itself is really more of a makeshift set up. The venue is not specifically designed for full fledged theatre productions, though with the aid of the temporary backdrops and portable walls, (seen to my right) a primitive set is possible. That production, (one of my favorites ever) was very much about low budgets, make shift sets pieces, and elbow grease. It had its problems, and I wouldn't want to use this venue all the time, but it really showed off the resourcefulness and ingenuity of dedicated theatre types. (You can read about my experiences in this play, in this venue right here on the blog, starting about here.)

I like that kind of "rag-tag" nature to art. Indeed I will be at last building my own small theatre company based on such principles sometime next year, hopefully. And this photo also captures that element of my theatre persona. Minimalism.

The photo is in black and white, which sums up nicely my approach to some things in life, whether wise or not. I do tend to be black and white about some things.

It also captures my sometime aloofness. You don't even see my face in the shot. You see my back as I walk away from you. Hands in pockets, probably deep in thought about something. I am not yet in costume, so I am not yet in my performance preparation mode. Yet I am certainly distant, and unto myself here. Which again, though not 100% accurate for all of my time, is accurate enough to much of my time to make a good representation of my persona. Not that anything and everyone is too good for me, and hence being ignored. I knew the picture was being taken. Just that I am often a step to the side.

This could get far beyond the scope of theatre and this blog, so I won't elaborate much further on the nature of what this photograph reveals, but I will say that that sometime aloofness is in fact a part of my performance. An aspect of my art. My introversion at work in a venue of creation such as a cramped theatre.

You don't get the whole "Ty as actor/artist" story with this photograph. But you get the first few chapters at least.

The Perfect Green Room

2011-09-20T13:22:00.002-04:00

So much of an actor's time is spend in the green room of a theatre. In a perfect world, any actor who is not about to enter or who is not on stage should be waiting in the green room. Quietly.

Yet not all theaters, especially on the community level, have the luxury of a fully functioning green room. I have performed in several venues where no green room, or even dressing rooms were available, and it was nerve wracking. I found myself longing for that neutral space with which I could touch base when not performing, and "even out". Without it, I feel a bit more on edge than I like to be for a performance.

An ideal dressing room could make up for this, but those are even less common in community theaters than are ideal green rooms. And while I hope to explore my idea of a perfect dressing room in the future, today I'd like to confine my thoughts to the ideal green room. After all, even an introvert like myself doesn't want to spend 100% of his off stage time up in a dressing room.

To begin with, it would be just the green room. It would serve no other purpose. Not an auxiliary storage room. Not a place where the only bathrooms in the building are. Certainly not a place where friends and family of actors are permitted at any time before, during, or after the performance. It would be a space 100% dedicated to providing a place for actors and crew to congregate and "relax" as much as one can during a show when not performing their duties.

Most green rooms are not far from the performance space. This makes sense, because an performers need to be able to hear their cues, and get ready to enter when it is time. However, if a green room is equipped with a reliable audio monitor through which the performance on stage can be heard, the room itself can be anywhere in the building and still allow the actors time to get into position at the correct time. So not only would my ideal greenroom have such an audio monitor, but the room itself would be a greater distance from the stage than in most venues. That way those in the green room don't have to be quite so much on edge about making noise that can be heard by the audience. I still want my green room quiet and respectful, but if that edge that is often added to a group of people when every other laugh or excited response is met with "ssshhhh", I think everyone would be happier.

Having one of those doors that ease shut automatically behind someone would be fantastic. Something about being in a theatre during a live show turns most people into morons, unable to slowly pull a door shut. An inbuilt need to slam a door on their way in or out of the room will take over the actions of at least half the people ever to enter a theatre.

In this Utopian green room, there would also be enough individual (and comfortable!) places to sit for each and every cast member, of any size show that the venue ever hopes to produce. So adamant about this am I that if I were running my own theatre I would give serious consideration to only casting shows that were small enough to allow each actor a place to sit, should he want one, when he is off stage. That is because fewer things can irritate some people, (such as myself) more than the, "Steal his seat while he is on stage" game that so many people in a green room play. If seats were plentiful and all were of equal comfort level, (not folding metal chairs), there would be no need to fight this inevitable battle for position.

A microwave and a small refrigerator would be present, as would at least one small table. I myself do not like to mess around with food before a performance, but without fail someone will be scrambling to scarf down their only meal all day before curtain. This is messy and inconvenient enough as it is. Let's give those who have to do it as much room in the green room as possible to minimize the effort they have to put in to preparing whatever meal they have to eat. (And believe me, even if it requires putting out the entire rest of the cast, people like this will do so. Nothing is more important to such people as this meal at this time. Not even their lines.)

This also means of course that in an idea green room you could eat. I'd be happy if you could not eat or drink anything in the space, but the more content people you have in the green room, the better your time in there is going to be, and I find too many people need food while in a green room. So I'd allow it to shut people up.

There would however be no televisions permitted. That's just asking for trouble.

The room would have it's own environmental control. We freeze or roast enough as it is on stage depending on the venue. The least you can give us actors is one room where it we might actually encounter hospitable temperatures.

I am torn between tile flooring which is easier to clean during strike, or nice carpeted flooring, which creates a more cozy atmosphere and would be more comfortable to lay on if one decides to do that. I can see that one going either way. What do you think, loyal blog readers?

And finally, though I have said this already not only in previous posts, but earlier in this very post, it bears repeating because it is so crucial to my ideal green room; nobody other than actors and crew for the current show would be allowed into the green room at any time for any reason, for even the shortest duration. Nobody's kids. No spouses. No grandmothers. Not even other actors who frequently appear on the same stage, but are not in the current production. Nobody unless they are cast/crew of the current show. That is what a lobby is for.

A green room must be a refuge. As I said before, a neutral spot. A place where everyone sharing the common story of bringing that production to life can spend time getting ready, gearing down or gearing up, going over lines, and in general just be able to feel that they do not have to be 100% "on" if they don't choose to be. Many people are involved in producing a show, but it is the actors that on show night have the most to do and the most visible job. They work hard and deserve as few distractions as possible. They are ordered about and struggle for eight weeks to bring you a show. The least they deserve is their own room that is off limits to the rest of the world.

That, my friends, is my ideal green room. I am sure they exist somewhere. And in the interest of full disclosure, I have in fact been in a few theaters that came fairly close to this ideal, with a few of my requirements missing here and there. Yet if ever I find a a theatre that contains all of these aspects, I may have to move close to it, just so I can perform in it for the rest of my life.

Did I leave anything out? What would be in your ideal green room?

Auditions: My latest piece on ShowBizRadio

2011-09-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

My most recent column over on showbizradio.net deal with choosing audition pieces.

In the majority of my experiences in smaller, local community theatre cold readings from the script of the show for which you are auditioning are the modus operendi. However on occasion I have had to perform a prepared piece of some kind. It can be nerve wracking at times, but not as nerve wracking as having to witness certain types of other actors deliver certain types of monologues. It can be cringe inducing, and it doesn't need to be this way.

Check out the piece to read my advice on what to choose, and what to avoid, when auditioning with a prepared monologue.

60 Minutes with Shakespeare

2011-09-06T13:22:00.001-04:00

I am a bit late to this party, but I wanted to take this chance here on my blog to highly recommend 60 Minutes with Shakespeare, a presentation by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

There you will find 60 audio files, each about a minute long, and each from a different professional discussing some aspect of Shakespeare scholarship. The nature of the subjects addressed in this collection tends in most cases towards refuting the notion that William Shakespeare did not write the plays attributed to him, though other subjects about the work and life of the Bard are also explored.

When I tweeted my approval for this project after listening to the, I described it as an "excellent collection of concise scholarship." Please do drop into the site and give a listen yourself.

Bored with Boards

2011-08-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

There are several large and well known online gathering places for community theatre enthusiasts such as myself. Message boards. Blogs. But I confess that I am not a part of any of them.

I have tried to be more than once at various points over the years. I may even try to be so again in the future, but I might now. I just cannot "get into" such online communities, even though I know that I should.

I am uncertain why it never seems to take. You'd think with all of the potential benefits of connecting with other actors like myself in other theatres around the country I would jump at the chance. And as I mentioned a few times before, I have. But after a short time it loses its appeal.

Maybe it is just the nature of message boards in general, but I tend to find the same situation in any theatre board I visit. The politics. The less than warm welcome new people receive. The dead threads that leave an open ended question unanswered for months sitting on the same forum right next to a post about something frivolous and irrelevant getting 156 responses and counting. A need to sell one's presence or one's concern before the tribe before any amount of attention is paid to what you say. It's maddening and deflating. If I wanted to bring up a subject and have nobody take an interest in it, I would just hang out in person with 80% of the people I know.

Perhaps such boards tend to attract mostly mainstream thinking. A "hotbed for the conventional" to coin a phrase. And while I am not one to push envelopes or challenge the status quo just for the sake of doing it, my ideas for acting, directing, publicizing and any number of other theatre related topics trend towards unconventional. You would think that artists, performers, and directors would be excited by such a challenge to the norm. And perhaps some are. Yet when I do express an opinion contrary to the standard acting or theatre practice, message board users have tended to respond with silence or with indignation.

Or perhaps I have just not found the right message board for community theatre.

In the end, I know that I need a fresh set of ears for some of my experiences. My theories. My ideas. I work with some talented, wonderful people in my local community theatre circle, but they are the same people over and over most times. The experiences are usually good ones around here, but at the same time I long for a different view from different people. Others who do love theatre, and know what they are talking about, but wouldn't have the slightest notion as to the politics of Theatre A in this town, or the nature of the casting preferences that are obvious in Theatre B. People who can talk of the nature of the craft and enjoyment of same, instead of gravitating towards local personality conflicts and specific tendencies of any given board of directors. I think we all benefit from new perspectives like that.

Any suggestions for such places for discussion online would be appreciated, though keep in mind I have visited the biggest three message boards already so far. Though not for years. Maybe I need to give them a try again.

Creating "Life"

2011-08-24T12:49:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished up the first set of revisions for the novel I am writing. As I have mentioned here on the blog here and there over the last two years, this novel takes place in a theatre during a community theatre production. The product of a writer/actor that is writing about theatre. (Is there some kind of metaphysical implosion risk in there somewhere? I think not, because I have the ancient axiom of "write what you know" covered from many angles in this one.)

As I have been writing this novel, something that I always knew to be true came into even greater focus; that writing fiction and acting are cousins. Not siblings, but certainly cousins. Not that one need be an author to be a fine actor, nor vice-versa. In fact you don't find many that are a legitimate success in both. However both creative activities have similar aspects.

There is the need to create a back story in your mind, even if that is not shared with the world, before a character can be three dimensional. There is putting a little bit of yourself into the characters you create both on the page and on the stage. The sheer amount of mental work and practice it takes to become good and then great is high for both art forms. And they are both enhanced by a keen observation of the world around you, and the people in it. ("People watching" is a pastime of many a writer and actor.)

The people watching leads to perhaps the most important knowledge that both great writers and great actors require, in my opinion. That is an understanding of human nature. Motivations. Reactions. Social trends. Personalities. By no means do I suggest that eithe the actor nor the writer has any chance of understanding all of human nature, and they sure as hell cannot solve it, if we look at it as a conundrum to be deciphered. What I mean is that to understand most motivations for most people most of the time, based on reading, observing, and just plain living as much as one can will give both the actor and the writer a believable foundation upon which they can begin to build a character.

Yes, in both cases short cuts could be taken. Stereotypes utilized. Details skimmed over. Those that do such second rate work do in fact sometimes become acclaimed and rich doing so, both in the writing world and the acting world. It can be infuriating to a lot of people, myself included. But take comfort, loyal blog readers, in the notion that to be a true master of either art form is to touch at the very heart of humanity, regardless of the genre of story. To make people see themselves, or at least some aspect of themselves, in the lives represented. Yes, even the darker sides of human nature must be made familiar to theatre goers and reader alike. Second rate cookie cutter actors and writers will never actually attain this, no matter how many millions they rake in. But those like me, who care about such things will, hopefully after practice and commitment as both a writer and an actor, are able to do so.

I will always strive to be a master of writing as well as acting, kissing cousins that they are.

My Latest ShowBizRadio Post

2011-08-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

Last week my actor's advice column over on Showbiz Radio dealt with the need to keep our individual characters as I main focus, as opposed to the overall arc or presentation of the play in which we appear.

It's easy to get caught up in the bigger picture, and of course we want our shows to do well for everyone involved. But that end is actually best served by taking care of our individual responsibilities as best we can. Check out the column.

More From the Ground Floor

2011-08-03T13:30:00.000-04:00

Last night I took part in the private reading with some fellow actors and a playwright, as I mentioned I would in a previous entry.While the details still must remain confidential, I will say that I enjoyed the experience, for all of the reasons I predicted I would.

The playwright said that the reading was very helpful to him, and that is gratifying to me. I didn't have much to say in person, even when I was asked, because I wanted a chance to let things sink in a bit. I promised the playwright I would email additional comments, which I plan to do today.

Even though I have met the playwright several times over the last two years, I was still slightly nervous during the read. Not petrified by any means, but as a writer myself, (though not of plays just yet) I know how important the process of reviewing drafts can be. So I wanted to be sure to deliver each line exactly as presented, so that the playwright could truly hear how it sounded. Don't get me wrong, I always try to deliver a line as written of course, but it is one thing to flip a line or have to paraphrase in the heat of a moment on stage if the play is by, say Ibsen, as opposed to the guy sitting four feet from you.

The good news is the playwright was pleased with the reading, and was satisfied that each of the actors had honed in on the characters in the way he had hoped we would. Meaning that they are written in such a way as to convey that to an actor without having the entire background story.

Later in the summer this same script, in tighter form, is to be given a public reading at another theatre. When that happens, though I will be unable to attend it, I hope that some small improvement to the script was possible because of the reading and the comments I have offered as an outsider to the work.

I'd be happy to take part in a reading like this again for any playwright that would have me.

Ground Floor

2011-07-27T13:54:00.000-04:00

Due to professional confidence the details of what I am about to share here will have to remain few and far between. I did however want to make mention of it here on the blog.

I have been asked to participate in a private, first-time reading of an early draft of a script penned by a local playwright. Again, I cannot say which playwright, or even what the script is about, as this is a commissioned work for which the writer is getting paid. That makes the nature of the work quite sensitive at this point. Suffice to say I jumped at the chance.

The first reading of a draft of a play, whether in public, or in this case, in private, is of no small significance to a playwright. It is the first chance they have to encounter their work outside of their own heads. Free of their own biases a playwright can, through a reading, encounter the first glimpse of what a performance of his words will sound like. Plays are destined to be performed, and unlike perhaps novels, are never truly explored until they are spoken. Not that novels shouldn't sound good when read aloud, but being heard out loud is the raison d'etre of a play.

Sometimes for these reading the playwright will ask each actor for specific feedback on the character read. Sometimes, the playwright asks for general feedback from everyone on the whole piece. Still at other times, the playwright seeks no direct feedback at all, seeking only to listen to his words from a distance. Truth be told I do not yet know what the expectations are in this case. Yet I am about halfway through the script now, and I can tell you I feel I will enjoy bringing the first semblance of life to this character.

That is what it is, too. Essentially. In some ways I am the first person to come at the character from a completely removed perspective. I won't be "originating" the character, because that term applied to he who will first perform this role in a life production, but I will be perhaps "introducing" the character to his creator in a way. I will be a mirror of sorts which will, (if I am competent) allow the playwright to asses where he wants to go with the lines, the scenes, and of course the character himself. As both a writer and an actor, I think it will be an uncommon privilege to do so.

The 5 Cardinals Rules For Backstage/Offstage

2011-07-20T16:21:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest column for ShowBizRadio.net. In it I share five things I would require of all actors in all green rooms and backstage areas across the country, if I were so empowered to law down such law. If you are an actor of any kind, I think you can sympathize.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...are Closed

2011-07-18T11:49:00.000-04:00

Another show concluded. And while the Sunday closer was not our best audience or performance, I do have to say it went better than I would have thought for a Sunday. The whole second weekend was clearly the best, and the second Sunday was better than any of the days of our first weekend.

I think we had about 15 people, including my own mother. The house was not as warm as the previous night's but they did laugh at things that most of the crowds did not. Yes, I am sure some of that was my mother laughing at a few of my moments, but I know her laugh, and she was not the only one.

It was hotter than the previous two shows. Not just because it was day time, but because the weather was hotter in general, and the house was once again not a very comfortable place to be. Neither was the stage. Even if in my brief moments began to feel a bit hot near the end.

My mother enjoyed what I feel was a good performance of Hamlet by yours truly. I can't say it was bar none the best one of the run. That honor probably does go to the night before. However the usual dip in energy, for both myself and the rest of the cast for a second Sunday wasn't as evident as I might have thought it would be. At least for those who ever had any energy in the first place. So kudos to such people.

I won't miss the umbrella bit, though it went okay yesterday. I won't miss sitting on stage hidden for 20 minutes waiting. I won't miss that costume. I won't miss the heat of a summer show. And I certainly won't miss certain individuals within the cast. But I will miss delivering the lines of Hamlet. I'll miss the pirate scene, as silly as it was.

The entire experience has given me something important, though. I have often mentioned my plans to stage my own Hamlet at some point, probably within the next 18 months if things go well. I knew that that would take work, and it well, both in terms of structure and art. Yet having this chance to be Hamlet in this play gave me a leg up on that experience. It doesn't stand in for the idea of course, but it was just enough to confirm that I do have an idea of Hamlet within me after reading the play so many times. And not just the broad strokes, either. Being in this play provided me with a preview of some of the nuance. The flourishes. The little details that can be utilized pursuant to playing one of the greatest roles ever. Staging the real Hamlet will be a challenge, as will performing the title role. But thanks to being cast in this play, I will not be approaching the role 100% cold. For that I am grateful.

It also taught me patience. Patience with terrible people, and how not to allow them to get to me too much. For while that jackass I have been talking about did piss me off, I take pride in the fact that I still said nothing more to the old fool than "Just leave me alone." I of course refuse to ever work with him or anyone like him again, because life is too short and theatre is too important. But I at least showed that I can be accosted and berated by a lunatic and not let it affect my overall performance in the production. If I may say so myself, I think that is a strength for an actor.

I don't know what my next theatre project will be yet. I am doing a few skits for a picnic next week, and for fun I may post some thoughts here on that when the time comes. But as far as plays, I don't yet know. I usually don't know right away. But when I so know, so will you, loyal blog readers, as it will be right here on Always Off Book, as it has been for over five years now. Thank you for your continued readership and interest in my theatre adventures.

Back to weekly advice posts for now. Hope you stop by on Tuesdays for those.

Photo by Martha Louden. Myself and Roger Hume as Polonious.

The Trend Seems to Hold

2011-07-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

There is one more performance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I realize that. So I would be able to say with certainty that my second-Saturday theory held true. But I can say that last night was both our biggest (20...) and most responsive crowd of the run. And that despite one of our leads having a sore throat and failing voice, it was, from what I could gather, our best performance. Today's matinee could in theory be better, but in the history of my doing theatre, a closing matinee has been the best of the run only one single time.

First off, it is a matinee. Then there is too much fatigue, colder, smaller crowds, unfair comparisons to the night before and depending on the show the emotion of knowing it is about to end. The closing matinee is usually not a showcase of stellar quality. (Which is why I prefer my people not to attend them.)

But that is today. Last night I had a few friends in the audience, and many of the more subtle moments finally got some laughs. Even I as Hamlet got a few chuckles. The bit wherein I reveal I am reading a magazine got a laugh in Act Three. My spitting over the side of the "boat" got it's very first reaction. Even "hawk from a handsaw" amused somebody.

Last night my Hamlet was in top form, I would say. Now I don't want to oversell this point, because as I said, the character is just a periodic presence the pops in and out throughout the play. So it would not be accurate to call this Hamlet a huge drain on my resources. Yet through the tiny slices of Hamlet that I get to enact each night I have gotten a feel for what doing the entire role would require, and confirmed that I could hit the stride of same. In the program I describe this as a sort of "spring training" for Hamlet, and last night I feel I perfectly hit the rhythms of this version of him. Both last night and the night before I got to the place I wanted to be from the beginning: feeling for those few moments as though I am in the actual Hamlet. I was most able to convince myself of that last night, and so I give it the stamp of my "best performance of the run" so far.

The business of us running and hiding from the pirate actually got applause at the end of the scene. That was fun.

The only difficult lie in me moving the damn umbrella about in the dark again. I got it done, but almost missed the chair when I sat down. I think someone laughed. But oh well.

Not an exciting entry, I realize. But a stride has been hit. At least for the last two evening. Hopefully it carries through to today's closer.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Back

2011-07-16T11:55:00.001-04:00

The start of the second and final weekend of this show was notable for a few things, not the least of which was a more subdued atmosphere. It may just have been me of course, but everyone just seemed more laid back last night. No doubt three days rest, and know we had a full weekend under our belt was to thank for this in large part.

It was quieter in the green room most of the time. Less tension. I think the fact that it was a cool night helped a great deal. It was actually cooler outside than inside for a change.

The performance itself also seemed tempered a bit, which I suppose could be see as either good or bad depending on one's point of view. Yet in this case it could not be avoided. "Guildenstern" was suffering from a sore throat and weakened voice. Despite it giving out somewhat near the end of the play, his voice was intelligible the entire time. But the actor's usual intense, high energy voice variations and volume were not possible. Hence the play took on a more intimate approach if you will.

Our audience was again small. 14 by my quick headcount through the curtain. Someone out there was laughing quite a bit though, which I am sure helps things a long. I still hope for a bigger crowd at least tonight, however.

My own experience was also relaxed going in. I have not been unsatisfied with any of my three previous performances, but something always seemed a bit missing. I always seemed to be looking for it. Tonight, heading into the play with such ease I think helped me smooth some of the rougher edges. I am willing to say that last night was my best performance of the run so far. Hamlet just came to me, and I proceeded to present him with even more confidence than usual. It is a small part, but I could not have asked for much more in terms of how I felt on stage. There was no moment of transcendence to another world or any such thing, but then again that is rarely my goal when I perform. No, I just felt that my movements, diction, cadence, motivation, and enunciation all blended into the best mix thus far last night. If the remaining two shows go as well as last night, the entire thing will be quite the success.

I also added a bit to something I started doing on Sunday. I tap at, "clean", and listen to the wall near me during my first entrance with Polonious, wherein Hamlet is pretending to be mad. I thought it added something to Hamlet's "antic disposition". I don't think most people have understood why I do it, but it give the scene more depth for me. When Polonious leaves the stage, I stop, as I believe Hamlet would do. After all, in the real play, just as Polonious leaves Hamlet utters, "These tedious old fools."

Even "To be or not to be..." was timed, in silence, to near perfection to coincide with what else was happening on stage. I began my entrance mouthing "for who would bear the whips and scorns of time...". That seemed to be good timing. At least last night. We will see if it will be again.

I still get nervous in Act Three when I have to move that huge umbrella and deck chair in the dark, but it went fine tonight. I did what I tried on Sunday, and I think at long last I have, knock on wood, found the rhythm to make that work.

One of only two goofs to which I was privy were discovering someone's cigarette lighter on the stage during one of my scenes. It was fortunate that I end that scenes with a low bow before exiting. I merely grabbed it on the bow and stood up as normal to exit. I could have left it there, but I thought given the nature of its round shape someone might slip on it.

The other goof was me having to exchange the letter in Act Three in the dark. Not a major problem there. Just had to move slowly and make the glow tape my friend.

Coming back to a show to start the second weekend of a two weekend run is always an interesting experience. Depending on how things have gone up to that point, the few days off between weekend can either seem like two weeks, or a mere few hours. But regardless there often seems to be a different feel to a show on the second weekend, and the second Friday in particular. A cast can either use this or be thrown by it. In this case, I think most of the cast used it to their advantage.

History indicates that in about 85% of the cases, the second Saturday is the best performance for such runs. What will this second Saturday bring?

Pick-Up (And Put It Down Again) Rehearsal

2011-07-15T00:54:00.001-04:00

This post is strictly archival in nature, as there is nothing substantial to report about today. Five cast members were missing, including one of the leads, so running the show would have been fruitless. We didn't even go out to the stage. Instead we stayed back in the green room and reviewed lines for those scenes wherein the leads were not alone on stage. So I reviewed all of my lines, and didn't have any trouble picking up where I left off. Those that were good at their lines were still good. And those that had to write their own lines because the ones provided in the script were too difficult, continued to struggle.

My hope is that the second weekend will of course be better attended than the first. It usually, though not always is. I don't think the second weekend for A Thurber Carnival went much better than the first, now that I think of it, though this production is in much better shape than that show was.

Second weekend are often a more laid back affair. We will see if that holds true for this one. As usual it feels like both more and less than the actual three days it has been since we last ran the show on Sunday.

Hot Ticket

2011-07-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

I wish the title referred to how many people were beating in the door to come see our matinee. But no, i am actually referring to the fact that the AC was not functioning out in the house, and that made for a rather sweltering experience for the audience. Which consisted of about 12 people. There are only 11 in the cast...

The performance was alright. Several people thought it was the best so far. While good, I personally think Saturday night's went better overall. But that could be because there were virtually no laughs from the few people yesterday, while there were several people Saturday night that understood some of the subtleties, and hence were heard laughing. I can't be sure.

I am sure that my energy in some scenes was lower than it should have been. I'm not talking lethargy here, but I could have used more bounce in a few of the scenes. My most animated scenes were fine, but I think I slipped a bit in my more passive scenes. (If Hamlet is ever passive...)

The umbrella business went easier than on Saturday night. I can't remember the exact mechanics of what i did, but I hope I can repeat it for the rest of the run, because it was much easier. Even though things were in a somewhat different position than previous nights.

One thing that wasn't in position was a barrel of swords in Act Three. These swords play a critical role in one hectic moment of the scene, so an interesting challenge arose.

I start off Act Three hidden on stage behind an umbrella for about 15 minutes or so. During that time I clearly see the area where the swords are supposed to be. And as the lights came up I noted that they had not been placed. I knew this would require some kind of ad-lib later on. But what, exactly?

What is supposed to happen is that eventually I walk up stage, notice that the "ship" is being boarded by pirates, and yell "pirates" to the other on stage while turning and grabbing a sword from the barrel. I then yell to the others, "To arms," and they grab swords. Brief slap stick hijynx then ensue. Having a good 20 minutes or so to ponder how to make up for this I went through my options.

1) See if I could somehow signal to actors waiting in the wings across from me what the situation was. This I dismissed quickly, as I would have no idea how to sign out such a scenario.

2) Instead of walking up stage before yelling "pirates", I could walk off stage and yell same, and hopefully in those few moments locate the swords and then bring out enough for everyone when I entered the stage. For much of the time I thought this would be my plan. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered what would happen if I wouldn't be able to find the swords? I figured they couldn't be far, but I couldn't be 100% certain they were right off stage.

3) I thought about ignoring the missing swords altogether. Playing out the scene in exactly the same way, only "To arms" would mean to look for, but not actually find any weapons, and then proceed. This is almost what I did. But what I went with was...

4) I did everything as normal. I went upstage, yelled "pirates", and then turned to the others and yelled instead, "find me a sword."

You see at this point I don't know if the other actors have noticed the missing barrel or not. Ideally what I figured this would do would be to cause us all to run around in the exact same manner, looking for a sword, before exiting, instead of brandishing swords and then exiting. So I proceeded to run to the places I normally would have done. The other three ran off stage, muttering, "sword! sword!", and actually came back on with the swords. Turns out they were not far off stage after all. They handed me one and I took it. But I wasn't sure if I should then begin the blocking over again, or, as the nominal leader of the half assed charge, I would just cut to the end of the blocking, and exit. This is what I did, and everything turned out fine. I would be very surprised if the audience knew it wasn't supposed to be that way. I must commend the other three on stage for their excellent cover.

Live theatre. At least in this case I had plenty of time to ponder the improvisation. I have many times had to work through a mistake instantly. I am just glad i had time to think this one through.

I must admit I look forward to a break of a few days from doing the show. Despite the great improvement we saw over the last week I was getting tired. I should be refreshed by the time we do the pick-up rehearsal on Thursday. (Though three people, including one of the leads won't be able to attend it, unfortunately.) Then onto the second weekend, which will hopefully be better attended.

Saturday Night's Alright

2011-07-10T03:22:00.000-04:00

In a reversal of the norm, tonight's audience was actually even smaller than last night's. And I feel pretty certain that several of them left at intermission. There were about ten people there by the end. This is frustrating.

However, several people, including two friends of mine, were tuned into the jokes of the play, and hence this tiny crowd was more responsive than the bigger one from last night. That made things a bit easier to swallow.

The best news of the night for me is that I got to do all of my scenes! Nothing was cut off. Further, I got into no more scrapes with certain individuals.

Somehow the cast was high energy for most of the affair. Perhaps we were buoyed by the several laughs, or maybe we just reached the right point tonight, but either way the show seemed a bit tighter, at least from my view.

I really felt I began to connect with Hamlet on that "extra" level that I have been talking about. I won't say it was transcendent just yet, but I felt as though each of my scenes had a depth which previously had only shown up in places. I truly felt for those few moments on stage that I was out there performing Hamlet itself. Which was one of my goals for this show. With four more shows, I like to believe I will have at least one night where I feel at the top of the game. If history is any indication, that will be a week from tonight, mark me. For now it was nice to feel the lines come forth trippingly from my tongue, to paraphrase Hamlet from the source material. Not only is the character showing up more, but the language is becoming more natural as time goes on. I am catching a lot of the rhythm.

A friend of mine, and one of the founders of the theatre told me she loved the way I was presenting the Prince. This was very encouraging, as I have a great deal of respect for her theatrical viewpoints.

I totally botched my mini-set change in Act Three, though. I can't really see anything up there on the pod in the dark, and moving a lamp, lawn chair, letter, magazine and giant beach umbrella in such a small space has been a bit of a challenge this time, though it had worked out previously. This time when the lights came up, the umbrella was sideways, and the lawn chair was on top of the magazine. I tried to yank it out, but couldn't. So I had Hamlet sleep instead until my cue came up. Awkward and annoying, but really the only trying part of the performance for me tonight.

Tomorrow is a matinee and to be honest I don't expect much in the way of attendance or energy. I could be proven wrong, and I hope to be, but Sundays in general, and in this venue in particular rarely seem to break the mode of being poorly attended and somewhat flatly performed. Plus our director won't be there. Still, I think I will be able to take some of the internal lessons I learnen tonight about playing this version of Hamlet and apply it to tomorrow's show. It may not be a stellar day for the show, but I now feel I have a reference point for how I want things to feel for me. I have honed in on a few things now.

Opening NightMARE

2011-07-09T02:45:00.001-04:00

Before you panic too much I will say the majority of our first show was alright. But to quote one of my cast mates, after a certain point things went rather "pear shaped" for me personally.

I have mentioned more than once during my posts for this production that one of the cast mates is very difficult to work with. I won't pretend anymore, for this is my blog and it is really no secret to those in the know that I find this person not only a terrible actor, but a pathetic human being. He never gets anything right, blames everyone and everything but himself for his mistakes, and is very mean spirited when he doesn't get his way. And this is the second time I have had to work with him. I previously worked with him back in October. (See the archive of that month, as well as September for more details.)

His screw up was so big tonight that one of my entire scenes was skipped. Just flat out entered two pages early, and bingo, I had one third fewer lines than I was supposed to. Kudos to the quick thinking of the two leads for covering the foul up seamlessly, but needless to say I was very displeased.

Mistakes happen. And when hard working, honest, decent people make them, I forgive them. I make them. Everyone makes them. But it is hard not to be irritated when I miss so much of my stage time because of such a large mistake by a small minded, ill tempered individual,who already has people putting in extra energy to make sure he hits his mark on time. People whom promptly ignores when he blunders on stage. I dealt with this face to face in the fall when we shared scenes. I thought, foolishly, I was safe from this sort of shambles when I didn't share any scenes with this guy this time around. I was wrong.

In the wake of the last show and our chemistry, I told him to never speak to me again. Yet he continued to try then, and now to do so. When he attempted to talk to me tonight, I told him to leave me alone, as I have done over and over again by now. In response he blew up with all sorts of foul name calling in front of my friends. I am happy to report I walked away without further comment or confrontation, but it sort of ruined my mood for my first night as Hamlet.

I really hope I don't have to deal with him getting in my face again for the rest of this run...

As for the show, it went well, other than moments like that. The crowd was small. (And in it were two other people I despise...). They laughed at a few places, but overall didn't engage much. If I had been one of the leads, I would have found the quiet exhausting. But I don't know what the real leads thought of it. I didn't ask. I hope it is better tomorrow, though. There was a lot going on in town tonight, so that may have contributed to the small numbers.

I did manage to get to a separate place in my head, mostly. I can't say I am as lost in the character as I would like to be yet, but as curtain approached I was in a zone-like place. And I feel committed on stage. I just wish it were slightly more internalized for some scenes. Though for others, such as "It hath made me mad," I feel quite connected to Hamlet. Maybe because I am yelling, and it is a dynamic scene.

I am not yelling when I mouth "to be or not to be" silently to myself. I have longed to time that speech perfectly to end when my first spoken line of the scene shows up. I have experimented with starting the speech at different places when I enter. (Hamlet is said to be in the midst of the speech when he comes on.) Only once, about three days ago, did I time it perfectly. My hope is to find the right rhythm at least once or twice during the actual run. No big deal if I don't, as I know when to stop, and deliver my line. But it would sure add a nice authenticity.

As would memorizing that speech at the end of Act Two. Or at least the first few sentences of it. ("How all occasions do inform against me...") But once I get up there to pretend to say that one, I forgot most of it. Again, it is not detrimental. Just one of those challenges I give myself that I would hope to achieve by play's end.

In summary, I think that all by one of us has a lot to be proud of tonight despite some goofs. "Ophelia" forgot to take her modern eye glasses off when we entered...something that even I didn't notice during our scene. A tiny light snafu in Act 3. I screwed up placing the chair and umbrella a bit in the dark. But this is a long, at times complicated play, with much to remember. The progress that most of the cast has made this during this non-hellish hell week is to be commended, even if the audience didn't seem to get it.

The opening is under our belts, and I look forward to the second, and in some ways more "real" performance tonight.

The Final Approach

2011-07-08T15:24:00.000-04:00

Last night was our final rehearsal. I don't buy into the notion that a final rehearsal is the opposite of what opening night will be, but even if I did, I wouldn't know how to categorize it. The energy was low, but we didn't bomb or anything.

This is one of those shows that needs an audience. Yes I realize that they all do when you get down to it, but what I mean is that I have discovered that certain shows get to a point where rehearsing starts to get a bit pointless. So invested in the presence of an audience is the script that beyond a certain point one can only guess as to how prepared a show is to go on, and I think we have reached that point. It needs an audience.

My best guess is that there are some tricky spots and pot holes here and there, but that each rehearsal has filled some of them this week. An extra week would have been ideal, but I would gather the show is ready to tentatively take off tonight. I think perhaps the first 15 minutes or so may be slow in going, and then the show and the audience will commence to thaw.

Silly as it is, I am proud to report that none of my snaps came undone during my scenes last night. I think I have finally mastered the limitations of my movements in same, and can gesticulate without causing a problem. There was also a piece of velcro added to the fly of my knickers, so that potential embarassment is no longer an issue. (I had used a safety pin the night before.)

I do think i need to slow down a few of my lines, but that shouldn't be difficult.

I also worked out some of the lighting cue difficulties I had had in Act Three. I need to give a subtle cue to the lighting guy who cannot see the whole stage, but other than that, no problem.

The only unpleasantness about last night is that I had to ask some people in the green room to quiet down do I could hear cues. There has been a lot of yelling and exuberant talking back there of late, but last night we had singing pop songs in harmony, and I really couldn't determine a thing as to cue from the monitor. I believe I angered some people, and while that is not my intention, I do need to hear my cues. Hopefully the presence of the audience will help with that as well.

I didn't time the show, but it seems to take about as long as it did the night before. We were done with everything, including notes, at about 11:00PM. The show is probably a solid two hours and 30 minutes.

For my own part, I continued to perform at about the same level as I have all week. Which is why I hope that tonight there will be that extra spark I mentioned in my previous entry. All of the difficulties and practice and such is behind me now. I am confident that I can and have provided my cast mates with what they need during my scenes. I wish everyone well of course, but I cannot spend too much time any longer pondering what is happening when I am not on stage. (Other than my cues, of course.) Despite the large blocks of time I have without doing anything, I hope to go inward tonight, and just enjoy the fact that I am Hamlet. If I can do that, it should be a fun opening night.

Altered Pants and A Thousand Words

2011-07-07T16:31:00.000-04:00

The local photographer was on hand for last night's rehearsal. I imagine his pictures will appear in either tonight's local paper or tomorrow's. I am not certain. I was in several of the shots he took, but whether or not I will actually be in the paper, who can say? I have actually ended up in that paper a few times, but usually the picture has not been good enough to make it worth me buying a copy for my records. Oh well.

As for the rehearsal itself, I have to correct something I wrote in my previous post. I had mentioned that last night would be the first rehearsal with the entire cast. I was wrong. One of the players was still missing last night, making the pantomime scenes a bit awkward yet. Which means that tonight will be the only time in the entire process that the whole cast has rehearsed together. And of course it will be the only time that happens before we open tomorrow. Again, none of the pantomime really effects what I do much, but I imagine all of the players would have preferred more rehearsals with a full compliment, if such had been possible.

Firstly, my costume issue. After having the snap moved on my pants, the fit somewhat better, but still felt a bit loose. Fortunately, I was able to roll the waist up a bit, and that kept them in place better than before. So I was able to proceed with worrying too much about them. Near the end it was a bit problematic, what with all of the running around waiting for pirates. But that was a brief moment, and didn't give me any huge problems.

Also, the top being a size too small for me, I basically cannot bend down or gesticulate with my arms in any fashion, or the snaps in the back will come undone. That is rather inconvenient given the fact that I am unable to fasten them myself. I require assistance, and I can't have that happen on stage. I just need to hope that each time I am on stage and the snaps become undone, (and they will...I have determined it isn't possible for them to stay fastened if I decide to move at any time), at least enough of them will remain in place to keep the top on. If not, I will simply remove it in character, and toss it out of the way. (This is why I hate complicated costumes.)

As for heat, I am not as blazing hot under the lights so far as I had feared. With people in the house it will be hotter in the tiny space, but for right now I don't experience anything that a brief stay in front of one one of the green room fans can't alleviate. I don't have time to remove the complicated top at all during Act 2, so this is fortunate.

I have been in a bit of a plateau with my performance the last night or two. I don't feel any drastic improvements taking place, and maybe in this context I have peaked in what I can give the performance. Yet I can also say that I have not experience any major set backs either. (Knock on wood again.) I do feel that with an audience I will have more to offer. not that I advocate doing any less than one's best in rehearsals. But try as an actor might, they simply are not going to feel exactly the same, or as exactly engaged in a show without an audience as they do once somebody is out in the in the house. They are, after all, a character in their own right.

That being said, I will make every effort tonight to be extra focused on what I am doing. Speaking slowly. Enunciating. Trying to decrease any tentative moments. Remembering what I have told myself from the start; I am still playing Hamlet, and the rest of the show deserves me doing so well.

Another thing about an audience being there is that the entire building will be quieter. There will be a more serious aura to the place. I don't mean to suggest that the cast is not currently taking their job seriously. In most cases they are. But everyone's focus tends to tighten once performances have begun, for much the same reasons as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. And when that happens, I find it somewhat easier to remove myself from my surroundings when the need arises.

We blocked the curtain call last night. The leads had suggested that they not show up for it, given that, as the name of the piece reminds us, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. But our director rejected the notion. (And truth be told I am not certain how serious the suggestion was.) Not only because many of the other people bowing also play dead characters, but because she believes a curtain call is for actors, and not characters. I have always very much agreed with that view. I have thankfully only been in one or two shows that required "character calls", and I didn't enjoy the concept. I like to bow at the end of a show as myself.

Our light and sound crew was in place last night. I have worked with both before. I thought the director was going to run lights, but there were no disasters. A few snags that have to be worked out, but I am confident that tonight they will be. That is the point of tech week after all. Though I will point out that this tech week has felt less like a tech week than most shows I have been in. I am not sure why. I guess because it isn't that complicated from a tech stand point.

The only issue I am having is moving an umbrella and chair in the dark, and getting into place. Believe it or not, I am a bit more nervous about doing that than I am about delivering my lines in the performance. I just don't want to fall off a platform or drop a huge umbrella back stage in front of people. Another knock on wood.

I have not kept exact records, but I estimate the show is running close to two hours 30 minutes, and two hours 45 minutes. Getting a bit faster each night, but still quite a long evening, both for actors and I fear for patrons. The script itself is longer, yes, but I still think we as a group are taking a bit longer to perform it than would be ideal. But that may just be my own perception from the perimeter. Certainly it has gotten better than it was a mere few days ago. It is hard for an audience to sustain interest passed the two hour, 15 minute mark for most standard shows. If not counting the intermissions we could as some point reach that, I think we would be in good shape. I will try to time it tonight.

One more rehearsal.

Getting Dressed

2011-07-06T16:09:00.000-04:00

First dress rehearsal last night. I am not a huge fan of my costume, but it is okay. Except for the fact that my pants were too big. I suppose I didn't catch on to that fact when I tried them on last week, because at that point I wasn't running around the stage as I do in the show in some scenes. But they are being adjusted, and should be ready for tonight, hopefully tighter but not too tight.

I also need to secure some kind of pin for the fly, which has nothing to keep it closed.

The top I wear, or doublet, or whatever it is called, snaps in the back, and it is a bit tight on me, so the snaps frequently come undone when I move. I don't think much can be done about this, though. As long as it stays closed in the back, I will be fine. It never came all the way undone.

Underneath that I wear some kind of short, with sleeves that are tied at the wrists, as well as being tied at the chest. I opted to come out in this for my first entrance, without the outer shirt, and left everything that should be tied, untied. I also left off one shoe. (My right, or downstage shoe.) Hamlet needs to look disheveled at that point, as described by Ophelia in Shakespeare. ("His doublet all unbraced..." and so on.) I wanted to make sure I would have time to get into full costume before my next entrance. Turns out I do. So I think this is what I will stick with until directed otherwise.

I have black socks up to my knees, because the pants are only knee high.

My concern was being way too hot. And indeed it is warm in that outfit. However between all of the time I have to rest at certain points, and the abundance of fans in the green room, I don't think I will have much of a problem with over heating. I need to get some bottled water though. I should stay hydrated just in case.

Personally, I would choose another outfit, if it were up to me. It isn't terrible, but it feels like there are too many variables that are unpredictable. Many thing to come untied, unsnapped, undone. I don't fear being exposed or anything of that nature, because I can easily wear things underneath to preserve my modesty if it comes to that. But when I am in a costume, I like to wear it, and then forget it. In the sense that I don't have the screw with it. Costumes help me get into character, and in that sense I do not forget them. But I like to mentally absorb them as part of what I am doing, as opposed to thinking about if I need to do anything to them each time I go on.

To that end, though I did alright in performing, I was somewhat distracted each time. I had to move in a such a way or hold my hands in such a manner as to make sure my costume was in place. Needless to say this was not the most comfortable way to run my scenes. The good news is that despite the distraction I didn't make any major mistakes in my lines. That of course does not mean a mistake is impossible. Heaven forbid I should ever think that. It does mean, however, that the lines are in a good place in my head. Automatic, or very near so in most cases. Happy to be there two days before opening.

Not all of us are. The leads I am pleased to announce are very close. But one actor essentially still has to create everything he says once he gets to the stage. Which is difficult, when the lines are Shakespearean. Sadly, this particular person blames other people and circumstances for this lack of line commitment, as opposed to taking responsibility themselves. It is unfair to those who have to share a scene with him, and wait for a cue that never arrives. I won't belabor the point, but I feel for those who must share scenes with him. (I myself do not.)

Despite that very obvious problem, the show proceeded more quickly than it ever has thus far. I caught wind of a few things being skipped here and there by the leads, but only because I was told. I noticed nothing particular myself. And even what was skipped, whatever it was, didn't seem to effect the overall flow of the production. The leads are getting there, and with two more nights, they should be in a solid, if not totally easy place in regards to their lines. Which even further supports my believe that the second weekend should be even better. But then again it often is.

Lights and sounds were added tonight. And though it is not a tech heavy show, I have to say here that I am impressed with how smoothly that went. Often times tech week starts out as a logistical nightmare as light cues and sounds are coordinated with actors. Despite a few hiccups, (such as me almost tripping in the dark in Act 3), I have rarely felt this comfortable with the tech aspects of a show this early on. I will again add the caveat that I am not on stage most of the time. Then again if something major had occurred, I think I would have heard of it.

The rest of the rehearsals will have costumes, lights and sounds. And the biggest thing about tonight will be that, (as far as I know) it will be the very first rehearsal with everyone. That is to say all of the "Players" will be present to perform their mime show at long last. (As well as there few other speaking parts at the end.) The miming has been one of the most difficult parts of the play to orchestrate. Though I am not in any of those sections, I hope that those who are will find things falling together now that everyone is present.

Two more nights. I was correct when I predicted this show would feel like it was hardly here before it was gone. I doubt the leads feel that way, with all of their work, but for me, it is kind of going at Mack 3.

Independence Day

2011-07-04T12:12:00.000-04:00

Independence from rehearsal that is. Too many people said they wouldn't come to rehearsal because of the holiday. Though to be honest, I really would have preferred that we rehearse in some ways. Holidays are nice, but when you have a project sometimes they need to take a back seat. We have a lot of work to do and only a few days in which to do it.

It is by no means a disaster, but it is still a bit rough in going in places. Not that I have a perfect fix on where we need to be. I don't watch every moment of the play. One thing to keep in mind is that given the nature of my role, both it's size and the fact that it tends to show up at random times throughout the narrative, I don't really get a sense of how things are going when I am not on stage. There is a monitor in the green room so we can hear cues, and I will occasionally hear if there is a mistake or something, but by and large I am rather less aware of what the others are doing, and how well they are doing it than I am for other shows.

That being said, the general feel I get based on the parts I do see, and the problem to which I am privy gives me the impression that we probably need all the rehearsal days we can get in order to be in opening night form by Friday. That point is moot, however, as we are unable to rehearse today.

We have yet to have all five of the Players present for a full rehearsal of the pantomime scenes, and we expect yet another to be missing for one or possibly two days coming up. Those scenes do take up a fair portion of the rehearsal and notes time, though I am not always sure why. Never having everyone present probably contributes to the high levels of confusion for those sections, though.

As for me, the last two rehearsals were more tiring than usual. I've been to worse in other shows plenty of times, but I was caught somewhat off guard I suppose. (One reason I didn't update my progress until now.) Saturday we started with Act 3 since we didn't get to it on Friday. Once we covered that we did the entire show in one sitting for the first time. Including Act 3 again. That was a long evening, though I myself encountered no major problems.

In fact by Saturday night I began to get into a true groove with Hamlet. Ideally I would be able to spend more time off with myself before some of the scenes. But this theatre is so small there is really no place to go. I do try to give myself a few extra minutes in the wings before I enter in order to gather some kind of focus. That helps, and I am not ashamed of what I bring to the character once I get out on stage for my brief scenes. I just wish I had more lead in time. It cannot be helped.

I still trip over one certain speech I have. Though it be Shakespeare, it is one of the most extraneous things I think Hamlet ever says. In fact few versions of the story I have scene include it, from what I can recall, though I can't promise that. Beyond that, though I have found the rhythm of the Bard within my lines. With those few exceptions, it is feeling natural now. A bit more natural than my last Shakespearean role of Friar Laurence, actually. I'm not sure why. The point being, I am now comfortable with what I am doing personally in the show.

Most of what I am doing. I have a big clumsy umbrella I have to position in the dark in Act 3 that I am still not certain about. I always feel like I am going to drop it back stage or something. I think I have honed in on the proper position for it now though.

Yesterday's rehearsal was an overall shorter experience than the last several had been. We were in and out in about 3 and a half hours. (Compared to 6.) Which means the rehearsals are getting tighter. This is good for the show, but I myself felt off yesterday. I think it may have been a combination of not having enough to eat before practice, and taking a very brief stroll outside the theatre before I made my first entrance. It was probably too hot to be doing that, even though I really didn't go that far, or move that quickly. The rest of my afternoon was affected. Yet nobody mentioned anything to me, so the degree to which I was off in my own mind must have been higher than what others were observing. (Though I did trip over a line at one point.)

Though I have not been able to go on my daily 4 mile walk in about a week or so, I do usually take walks. Yet after one scene wherein I am running about looking for pirates, I feel winded. Am I really that out of shape? Or am I doing something wrong? I am slightly concerned, but not panicked yet.

I also screwed up some of my pantomime for Act 3. But I feel confident that I finally have it down. Such a strange act for me. To be sitting, unseen for so long waiting for a specific cue.

That about sums up the last two days. I know this is a rather short update given that I have rehearsed twice since my last post. But in all sincerity things have hit a reliable stride for me at this point, and there is not much new to report. I hope to get a bit more polished in my presentation of the role in the next couple of days, but for now, entering the normally hectic and busy tech week, I am on an even keel.

But we start with costume tomorrow, so that may bring about a whole other dimension about which to write, loyal blog readers.

Two Out of Three A'int Bad

2011-07-02T12:13:00.000-04:00

After a delay of an hour and a half, (some set construction issues) last night's rehearsal got under way at about 8:30. Despite the entire play being on tap, it was decided that after Act Two that we would stop for the night. (Which was just as well, it was 10:30 or so by then.)

But the good news is that masking curtains are now up, (though they confused a few entrances), and some platforms we needed as well. More set building and painting and such is going on as I type this, from what I understand.

As for the rehearsal itself, it was probably my most energetic performance so far. I have had some good rehearsals, but I am aware that I have been lower on energy than I should be. And I wasn't feeling 100% by the time we started last night, but I made a specific effort to show energy for my scenes, and from my own perspective, it at least felt like I succeeded. It is of course not always easy to judge such things for one's self.

From what I gather, intermission for this show will be right after Act Two, meaning that the first two acts will run together as one. We did this last night for the first time, and though I didn't make any mistakes it was a tad disorienting to move on immediately to Act Two at the point we had always paused for a break or to end rehearsal previously.

I still struggle to get a line out here and there. Usually the same ones. But my scenes have no major difficulties thus far, knock on wood. So I feel confident that the lingering problems will lesson each day between now and Friday when we open. (!)

I will keep this entry short, for I soon have to get ready to head over for today's rehearsal, which is now going to be the first full run through in wake of last night's early dismissal. There was not that much specific to report this time anyway. I think I will have more to say about tonight's rehearsal, so do check back.

Mind Your Miming

2011-07-01T12:11:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was Act 3. In other words, my (mostly) silent act. It takes place on a boat, and for the lion's share of it, I am sitting under an umbrella on a platform on the "deck" of said ship. For the first half I am unseen. Later, after switching a letter with the sleeping Rosencrantz, the umbrella is turned, I am seen reading a book.

Eventually I do come down and pretend to spit off of the boat. (The nature of this gag is still, honestly, lost on me.) A moment later I lead a chaotic and fruitless charge against some unseen pirates, grab a sword, bump into people, and then jump into a barrel. (Yes, this is the part that is probably the least Shakespearean for me.)

Then later, for about 90 seconds I appear again at the very end of the piece as a dead body of Hamlet. The end.

Most of the rehearsal time was spent trying to get the Players set for all of the pantomiming they will have to be doing. Sadly, one of them cannot make it to rehearsal for another week, where a second one will be gone for the next 4 days. For those of you keeping track, we have had a full cast present exactly once.

Another one of the speaking roles also been absent for several days. He has only been to, at my count 2 rehearsals the entire time. But that is this particular "actor's" normal mode. I have worked with him before this very year, and he tends to not take what he does very seriously, unfortunately. I am ever so glad I don't have to interact with him as I did in the last play I was in with him.

Anyway, Act 3. My personal opinion is that once all the bugs are ironed out, it has to be very high on the energy. At least halfway through. All plays need high energy of course but I think this particular section of the play will be especially problematic if the energy is not kept way up. Pirates and pantomime, and other such things.

I am hoping the umbrella will be set up in such a way that I don't have to be directly on stage behind it right away, because that is quite a long wait to be on stage but hidden and unable to move. If I need to be there, it won't be too bad, but my preference is to abbreviate my time waiting on stage.

The times when I am silent, but visible are another matter. I can perform in character for those moments, and they will go by quickly. Actually, I am in the unique position of having to get off book for sections where I have no lines. As in, I need to commit to better memory those cues which indicate when I am to get up and do my wordless action. I also need to practice "blowing out" the battery powered lamp so that it looks realistic. It's a hard switch, so I need to come up with something.

The biggest news from yesterday though was that I got my costume. A very period looking get up. Doublet. Laced sleeves. Short pants. (I need to procure some long black socks to complete the effect.) The outfit will be hot, and it a little tight, to be honest. But so far not excruciating. (Though I have yet to actually perform in it.) Hopefully it will work out fine. Maybe not feel as tight as I wear it a few times.

Tonight (Friday) marks the first time we will run the entire show, front to back, as opposed to just a single act at a time. Such rehearsals are always a turning point of sorts. Makes everything feel more real. And the first few times, a bit more draining. But We open in a week, so the sooner we can get on with the full runs, the better. It won't give us a great sense of timing just yet, mainly because the leads still need some time with their lines, and of course we will be missing two of the Players. (And in all likelihood, "Claudius" again.) But it will give us a ball park on the running time. Rough ball park.

Rewarding

2011-06-28T23:08:00.000-04:00

Each person in a play is going to have their own idea about when it is going well and when it is not, based on their particular progress as relates to the whole. For myself, I'd have to say that tonight's rehearsal f Act Two was a highly productive rehearsal. (Notwithstanding the fact that once again, one of the least present actors in all of the rehearsals came to the theatre, but opted to go home because they didn't have their glasses. Not go home and retrieve them and come back, mind you. Simply go home, and screw rehearsal.)

The Players began to learn their Dumb Show. (Though we will be missing on player for about a week, and another over the weekend.) So that was very productive. The two leads, though calling for lines more often than last night still seem to have a pretty good grasp on their lines and speeches. I myself, with one exception, remembered all of my lines, and feel that I am starting at last to bring an energy to Hamlet that I confess was lacking in previous rehearsals.

And that is the point, after all. If Hamlet, and for that matter any of the main characters from the source material are weak, it reflects badly on the whole show. The two leads have less to reflect on or react to if we who are playing the smaller roles give them less than our best. Those who know me and/or read this blog know that I have never allowed the background of a play to mean less than the foreground. The cliche of "no small parts" truly does have a basis in a very important truth.

There is still much work for me and everyone to do, but if I may be so bold I have to say I am taking to Hamlet quite well. I knew I would be adequate from the beginning, since I insist on working hard to do my best at any role, but I confess to feeling early on that I may not be able to give Hamlet as much personality as he and the play deserved. Not because of the smallness of the role, but because of it's fame. People are still going to have an idea of what to expect from Hamlet, even if it is in this play. (All of his lines are genuine Shakespeare.) Plus it was an abbreviated amount of time. I can't say I am exactly where I would want to be in a full scale production of "Hamlet", but I am starting to establish something that feels real to me while also being fair to the character. Perhaps my having read the play so often has been of greater benefit than I would have previously surmised.

I have to say that despite the excellent work of the two leads, I have not been watching much of what they do. I have read the script all the way through, so I know what happens and get the gist of what they are saying, but I am finding that by exposing myself as little as possible to what those actors are doing I am contributing to the sense of chasm between their two characters and my own. Or rather the chasm between the planes on which they exist, in this absurdest limbo of setting Stoppard has conjured up.

Tomorrow we run Act Three, wherein I have no official lines. Though now, as I mentioned a few posts ago, I will shout "pirates" while on stage. We will be running the pirate attack slapstick at full speed for the first time, so this should be interesting. Tomorrow will also be the final time we rehearse only a section of the play. All rehearsals after that will be of the entire play. I look forward to that of course.

Back to One

2011-06-28T13:23:00.000-04:00

Act One last night. You know what that means.

Good news is that last night was the very first time that the entire cast was present! This includes all of the "players". They didn't have much to do last night, but they were getting acquainted with the pace of the show, and the nature of their presence.

Last night was also off book night. Not a problem for most of us, but the two leads had their work cut out for them. Huge blocks of script to be memorized in a shorter than usual amount of time. They are not 100% off book, but I applaud them both for how much of Act One they have committed to memory thus far. Not an easy show to memorize, that is for sure.

I took it upon myself to set up and turn on the small baby monitor the theatre owns to feed audio from the stage back to the green room. It's more comfortable sitting back there and I also wanted to get an idea of when to enter and exit. I am zeroing in on the cues I will use to leave the green room and head backstage to wait for an entrance.

Something I did as mostly just a joke during rehearsal is going to end up in the production. I don't know if I should give it away here, in case any readers might want to see the show. But I will say that there is a moment where I, as Hamlet, walk across the stage reading to myself. (This is alluded to in "Hamlet".) Last night, on a lark, I decided to walk on stage reading the magazine I happened to actually have in my possession at the time. It wasn't my intention to do anything but mess around for a moment, but the director thought the nature of the magazine added to the scene, and asked me to keep it. So I will.

That is one thing about this play that the director expounded upon this during notes. It is an absurdist play. Much of what will be seen and heard will not necessarily make linear sense, or seem to come from our dimension. And the director flat out says that when that happens, "I don't care!". In fact she welcomes some of those little moments, which add to the oddity of the entire experience for the audience.

Also in place for the first time last night was the ramp on which I will make many of my entrances and exits. It is tiered, as opposed smooth, as I had thought it would be. But I had no problems negotiating it, even when walking backwards. It's quite a clever design, really. It is in pieces, and the pieces sot of latch together, but remain movable, should the position need to be adjusted. It isn't 100% complete, but already it adds to the rehearsal process.

My "madness" is coming along for my first few entrances, especially the first one wherein I deliver lines. At one point in an earlier rehearsal a fellow actor unintentionally interrupted me during that scene several times as I repeated the line "except my life" three times, as the script requires. He has since corrected this, but at the request of one of the other actors, who found the interruptions quite amusing, what was first a mistake has now been made a part of the scene intentionally. It doesn't bother me too much, I suppose. It could be quite funny. I don't have to change anything I am doing.

I like that scene, even though it takes forever to get to it. Hamlet is supposed to be faking insanity at that point, and it will probably be the only moment in the play wherein I may get a laugh of some kind. I may not, of course, but I am starting to play it in such a way that I could be mistaken for crazy if needs be. At least by Polonius. The rest of my lines and moments are pretty straight forward, but those few minutes, (along with one other moment in Act Two) can afford some levity on my part.

I predict that tonight's rehearsal will be the most active and possibly chaotic of them all thus far, because it snot only my most active section of the play, it is a very active section for the "Players", and it will be the first time we have had most of them. So they will need to learn from scratch what they are doing in said scene. Though very brief, their sections are almost like like a separate miniature production in their own right. They need choreography and blocking, and such things. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Charge!

2011-06-25T21:31:00.000-04:00

Act Three today. As I have mentioned I have no lines in this section, but I do have quite a bit to do. More in fact than in Act One, really.

It takes place on the ship that is carrying Hamlet to England. I spend the first 10 or 15 minutes of the act hidden behind a large beach umbrella. (It's in the script, really.) Though whether or not I will actually be sitting on stage behind the umbrella the entire time, or if I will simply enter behind the umbrella once it is time to be seen is yet unknown.

Then there is the famous switching of letters, which is talked about in "Hamlet". Then the pirates invade and all hell breaks loose.

Due to the nature of our blocking and the stage on which we will be performing, it was decided that I, as Hamlet, would be in the best position to first notice the approach of the pirates. So , "Pirates!" will be basically the only thing I will clearly say that is not an actual Hamlet line from Shakespeare. This followed by my rushing for a sword, and a bit of a keystone cops bit of everyone on the stage running into each other, back and forth and to and fro a few times. Then I am to leap into a barrel or crate or something of the kind. (Not yet determined.) In the dark, I will leave stage for nearly the remainder of the play. I do make one more appearance, as a dead Hamlet in the final few moments, when we recreate the final moments of the actual "Hamlet". (Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes and Hamlet all lying dead.)

I am not certain why this is in the play, to be honest. I think the entire piece would end on a much stronger note if the last thing we heard were the incomplete line uttered by Guildenstern before he vanishes totally into the ether. I suppose the scene is there because the line "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" is uttered at this point. But that by itself doesn't seem to carry enough weight to include that tableau in my opinion. If the whole point of the play is absurdist nihilism, why not end the whole play in the middle of a sentence, followed by totally blackness?

At any rate, I am getting a better sense of the character, and it will be fun to give consistent life to Hamlet during a scene in which he does not appear in the original material. (How does one portray the famous Prince as he is reading in silence in a deck chair? It is my job to determine that.)

It seems that after much shuffling we have now filled all five of the silent player roles, though one was filled this very day via telephone call and plea. This will make those scenes much easier to understand, obviously.

Also, a friend of mine came by today. It looks like she will be doing costumes for the show. I don't have any idea what she has in mind, but I did talk to her briefly about how I was playing Hamlet, so I imagine that will inform her decisions somewhat.

Tomorrow I am off, because it is set building day. I look forward to Monday's rehearsal with a full set. Especially since a ramp figures prominently in much of my blocking, and the sooner I have one to work on, the better.

One-Two Punch

2011-06-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

Last night we ran both Acts One and Two. Only Two was on the schedule, but at the request of "Guildenstern", we did both acts, to establish flow.

I don't mind so much since it is he and the other lead that are in most need of as most practice as possible. (We open two weeks from yesterday!!) I just have so little to do in Act One that I can sometimes get restless waiting. I have enough to say in Act Two for it to not be so bad, and in Act Three I have nothing to say but have a lot of stage time, so that also helps things. But Act One...

I am happy to report however that with the exception of one or two minor flubs, I rehearsed totally off book yesterday. So I am going to go ahead and declare myself off book for this show. It is just as well. The deadline is Monday. (Though I don't know how the leads are going to manage that...)

The director wasn't present yesterday, so the rehearsal sort of ran itself. "Claudius" was also not present, as is normal for this actor, who likes to claim a free schedule during auditions, and then proceed to skip out on 60% of rehearsals. I had to deal with that in the last play I was in with this actor. But thankfully he and I do not share the stage in this play.

Now that I am off book for the most part, I am starting to get a feel at last for playing Hamlet. As I have said from the start of this production it was my intention to play Hamlet in this show as though I were really playing Hamlet in Hamlet. Now I am sure when I do play the real Hamlet I will have much more to offer than I do in this show, but nonetheless I am starting to feel as though there is a character there, despite his small amount of stage time.

Given that about half of the moment's I appear are during times when Hamlet is pretending to be crazy, that has of course informed some of my decisions. The other half of my lines involve a Hamlet who is plotting to trap Claudius, has just killed Polonious, or who is weeding out the "conspiracy" his friends have laid against him. Ergo I am trying to show his cunning, and also his (mostly) contained anger during these sections. I also have to play some affection mixed with anger during the super brief moments I am with Ophelia on stage. That will take the longest to perfect, I would think.

The large blocks of time I spend off stage will also help, in a way, because as I am off with myself, either going over lines or contemplating the next scene, I experience in microcosm that sort of stand offish quality, that isolation that is so essentially to the Hamlet I am creating. Hamlet himself is rather stand offish one could argue, and that is even more pronounced when the audience only sees him for a moment or two at a time.

All and all the lines as well as the motivations for Hamlet seem to be coming quite naturally. Part of it is because I work hard to be a good actor, yes. But another large part is probably how familiar I am with the Hamlet lines, having read the play so many times. Even some of the obscure lines I have had to deliver have been vaguely familiar in the deepest reaches of my mind. Not memorized but recognizable. Like for the first time in ten years seeing an old school mate whom you didn't talk to much. You know you know them somehow, because there were there. You just can't quite place all the details yet. This wasn't true for all of my lines in this play, but more than half, I'd say.

In either case this play is in fact serving as a good spring board for catching the first glimpses, finding the first hint of choices for when I play the character in the actual "Hamlet". (Which I hope to do within a year or two.) That reason alone is enough to be grateful for this chance. Despite the sometimes long restless waits backstage for an entrance of mere moments.

(And once the audio monitors are hooked up, I can retreat to the semi-comfort of the green room when I am not on.)

In about 30 minutes I leave for a rare Saturday afternoon rehearsal. We'll be running Act Three: my silent act. (I guess "the rest is silence" after all.) But I have some silent background stuff. Plus we have yet to set up the final tableau moment where all of the characters from "Hamlet" are laying on the ground, already dead. Actually it is not a tableau since Horatio begins to deliver his eulogy of Hamlet, but close enough. We have not run that yet when I have been there.

Catching Up

2011-06-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

Due to my younger sister giving birth to her first born, and all of the supporting, non-medical duties that fell to me in the last couple of days, I am only just now getting around to blogging about Sunday's rehearsal.

Not that there is much to report. Because I missed Saturday for various appointments, by the time I got back to rehearsals for Sunday Act One was back on the agenda. And as I have said, I don't have much to do during Act One. (Though for my line, "if like a crab, you could go backward", I came up with an interesting backward looking crab-like walk which I think will be humorous. Or at least it will add to the notion that Hamlet is pretending to be crazy at that moment.

I am starting to hone in on the moments I need to be back stage. I am off stage for such long stretches that waiting back there the whole time would not be feasible. And though we don't have the audio monitor set up yet, I do want to get an idea of where in the script I can be relaxed in the back room vs. by which point I need to be getting ready to enter. One good thing about it is that I have at least one entrance which is perfectly cued by one of the actors yelling "fire!" on stage about a minute before hand. That I will hear no matter where I am, monitor or not.

This will not be a very busy week at the theatre, because the director and her family (most of which are also in the play), will be out of town for a few days. Which means I won't have rehearsal again until Friday the 24th. Hopefully I will at last be able to work on some things I haven't had a chance to run through since we blocked them.

By then the show will open in two weeks. Two. This really is going to feel like one of the fastest productions I have ever been in. More so even than a few one acts.

Deep Sixed

2011-06-18T14:38:00.000-04:00

No rehearsal last night. Cancelled due to "Unforeseen circumstances" according to the call I got from the director about five minutes into my 45 minute commute. Next scheduled rehearsal was today (Saturday) but this was one of my conflict days for a prior engagement.

I am annoyed at having missed rehearsal for Act II, which is my most active section of the play. But the good news is, I am almost entirely off book for same at this point.

Next rehearsal I can attend is tomorrow at 2:00PM.

Reprieve

2011-06-16T02:43:00.000-04:00

Tonight at rehearsal, for a brief time, it appeared as though half of my tiny role might be cut from our production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Though I had never noticed it in my script, there is an author's mote which indicates that a 5 or so page section of the script was added in later professional productions, but wasn't part of the original staging. Companies are given the option to perform either version.

It just so happens that at least half of my total stage time takes place during that section of the script. The suggestion was made to save time and hold the audience's attention longer. But by the end of rehearsal it was decided that those lines of mine would not be eliminated. So my role in the play remains intact.

Today we went over Act One twice. As I mentioned before, that is my least active part of the play. Most of my lines are in Act Two, and Act Three provides me with the longest sustained (though silent) stage time. So there wasn't much for me to go over today. I grab Ophelia and sigh, (a moment I hope feels better the more often I do it, because right now I feel like I really suck at it). Later I walk across the stage reading. (Difficult to screw up.) And at the very end of the act I deliver a few lines as I meet up with the leads for the first time. I will say that the second time we ran through it tonight, I didn't need my book for the few lines I had.

I am in fact about 90% off book now. I have a few similar lines to differentiate, one slight speech, and some mixed up words here and there to correct, and I will be off book. No reason why that can't happen within a few days. Then I can start to maybe work on the first few lines of the monologue Hamlet has in Act Four of the original play, so I can mouth them silently. (As I talked about previously .) If I decide to take that route, I've got plenty of time, given that it isn't a requirement. It may even be something I can't so, but we will see.

Not everyone was available for rehearsal today, and the one possible new actor we had to play one of the players is unable to join the cast. So it is getting quite tight in regards to finding enough actors for that scene. I am going to ask around tomorrow to see if I know anybody.

Next rehearsal is Friday evening when we run Act Two. I look forward to that particularly, given that I have more to do.

Abbreviated

2011-06-14T13:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a shorter rehearsal than normal. Only about an hour long or so. I mention in my last post that we'd be going over a scene wherein I had no lines. That was true for the first half of rehearsal, but that didn't require much time at all. (I have a lot of pantomime later in Act Three, but not enough people were present to go over that part.) So after about 30 minutes we reviewed two other scenes in which I, and the two leads appear.

So, not much to report in regards to that.

Something to report however is that two people who were set to be "Players" have opted to not be in the show anymore. This coming a few days after a different one of the players opted out. So at this point we now have only one actor to be a "player", and we probably need at least Six. So the scramble is on to find some people fast. One person is checking his schedule from what I understand to see if he can help us out. Hopefully the fact that none of those parts of lines will encourage people to participate on short notice.

I am about half way off book for my few scenes, however. I will work more on that tonight sometime. Otherwise my next rehearsal is tomorrow (Wednesday) night.

To A Nunnery Go

2011-06-13T12:33:00.000-04:00

Last night we blocked out all of Act Two. At least as much as we could with again so many people missing. (The entire cast has yet to meet at one time.) This was particularly problematic during one certain scene. A troupe of traveling actors is present, as they are in Hamlet. This scene involves one of their rehearsals for the show they will perform for the Danish Court. There is much moving around on the part of these Players as their director narrates the story they are silently performing. It requires about six people.

Last night we had but one of the "traveling players" present. Needless to say, this presented difficulties.

Not for myself, though, as I am not in that scene. I am however in several scenes in Act Two. (There are three acts, remember.) In fact now that I think about it, Act Two is the section of the play which intertwines most obviously with the actual Hamlet. The whole play does of course, but there are more occasions in Act Two when the Shakespearean characters, particularly my own, wander in and out of scenes as they carry on their Hamlet business.

Some of that business is quite intense. I get to run in shouting "It hath made me mad," at Ophelia. (The end of the "Get thee to a nunnery" speech.) So that is pretty intense if only for a moment. It doesn't matter that the scene in the play is not intense. My character at that moment is intense.

Then there are times when I am silent but still acting. At one point I walk on unawares of the title characters, as I am delivering "To be or not to be..." Nobody can hear me doing so of course, but seeing as how I know this speech, I was able to mouth it to myself as I made the entrance, and as I stood off to the side. I want to try to time it so that I am actually ending that speech as Ophelia enters, just as happens in the real Hamlet. Don't know if there will be time to iron that out, but I am going to come as close to it as I can.

There is another scene like that. Hamlet sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern off ahead of him in Act IV Scene 4 of the original play. They go off and he delivers the "How all occasions do inform against me" speech. This one I do not have memorized, and probably cannot have by opening night. However once again Hamlet is seen mouthing this speech, (or at least could be) as the two leads are talking. I'd like to memorize at least some of that speech and mouth it to myself in the background. Adds realism. The best part about that one is that the leads walk off and leave Hamlet there still talking to himself when the lights go off. I wouldn't need more than a few lines of the speech.

Why do I do this? Put in some extra time to memorize lines nobody will hear me delivering? If you are a regular visitor to Always Off Book, you know the answer. I take my work on stage seriously. I want to give the extra push, offer the extra shine whenever I can. The timing may not work out perfectly, but I refuse to be on stage and utter "peas and carrots, pea and carrots" to represent talking to myself. (By the way, an actor should never do that.) If I didn't know the actual lines this character spoke at those moments, I'd invent realistic ones myself. A character in the background is still a character.

Another reason is that it's Shakespeare, and of course beyond that, it is Hamlet. I intend to perform Hamlet in Hamlet in the next few years, but this play offers me my first actual chance to be the Danish Prince on stage. I am but a background role in this show, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy playing Hamlet.

And of course in some ways, I enjoy the extra challenge.

Another of my challenges in Act Two will be dragging the actor playing Polonious down a large ramp and around a tight corner to the backstage. It would appear the scene is optional in the script and the director asked both "Polonious" and myself if we were up for it. We both gave our assent though we didn't attempt it last night. There was even talk of Hamlet's dragging him via a cart or wagon of some sort. A humorous visual. It remains undecided at this point.

Next rehearsal will be brief for me, and unusual; I have zero lines in the long scene I will be blocking tonight. I think that is a first for me. But in Act Three, Hamlet has a large amount of stage time, despite having no lines. So I might as well be there for the rehearsal to at least get a feel for where I will be, and how I will move.

It continues to be an interesting experience, this play.

Enter Hamlet

2011-06-09T01:37:00.000-04:00

First blocking rehearsal tonight. Given that a few actors could not make it tonight, we skipped a large scene in the middle of Act One, but otherwise blocked all of the first act. (It should be pointed out that on paper this script has three acts and not two.)

This director has admitted that she is not fond of giving blocking directions. She prefers to keep things general, and relies a lot on what feel natural for the actor. She has some instructions for us, and will have more as time goes on, but it will in most cases probably be a play of minimal blocking.

Especially for me in Act One. Hamlet enters and grabs Ophelia by the hand, and lets forth a sigh that is "piteous" and such. In fact the stage directions for that moment are almost word for word from Ophelia's speech in Shakespeare wherein she describes to her father what had just happened between the two of them in her sewing room. In other words a silent scene which doesn't appear in the source material. That will require some work in order to give anyone the impression that anything is happening. But this was an early rehearsal.

My next moment, also silent, is when I simply cross the stage reading a book, and then exit. This is also referenced in Shakespeare. It would be the moment when right before Hamlet reaches the lobby, where he is discovered by Polonious, the King and the Queen, pretending to be crazy all along.

Finally I enter again in what would be near the end of the interrogation Polnious gives to Hamlet. ("...if like a crab, you could go backward.") There will eventually be a high platform and ramp down which I will walk for this scene. The director isn't sure exactly what it will look like, but that is the overall plan. Right now the entrance to stage left is blocked, so we just had to fake it.

After a brief break, we ran all of those scenes again.

"Guildenstern" was there today. He and I are friends and have been in several plays together over the years. He only recently came to the realization that this will be a shortened rehearsal process, and indeed it will be. I have to say I think I would have had some fun in one of the two lead roles, but in this case I am somewhat thankful for the smaller role. I won't have as much to work on in these four weeks. That, and the small role being Hamlet doesn't hurt either.

My next rehearsal is not until Sunday. It has been a while since I had that many days between rehearsals. I am therefore going to see if I can get off book for my few lines by then. I may not get all the way off, but I should make a pretty good dent in it if I keep at it.

Much of that time should also be spent trying to get into the character of Hamlet. As I mentioned before I may not have the time, on stage or off to explore the character as much as I would like to. However, it is Hamlet, and I think some interesting exploration can still take place.

A Semi-Start

2011-06-07T00:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the first read-through for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. (Henceforth referred to as RGD as necessary.) Though over half of the cast was missing due to scheduling conflicts. In fact, the schedule will be tight throughout the whole process due to many conflicts from all parties. (One reason we didn't start until today.) So there won't be a full read through with everyone present. We need to jump right into blocking rehearsals on Wednesday.

I have only perused the schedule so far, but it appears that despite my smaller part, I won't have many days off this month, though I will probably be able to go home early a few times. This because most of the play consists of only the two main characters talking to one another, and they will probably be the last to leave rehearsal on any given night, so as to give the rest of us something to do from the start of the evening. At least until we get into running entire acts. And we will reach that point after only about two weeks, as opposed to the usual four or so. Again, it will be somewhat condensed because of the schedule.

I anticipate no particular problems with my few lines. If I buckle down I could probably be off book within a week or two. But during the break between acts today, the director confirmed what I had already suspected; I will appear in several scenes, sometimes for an extended period of time, without any lines. Presumably for some of these I will be silently performing, in the background, some of the lines from the actual Hamlet, while being observed be the main characters. Other times I won't be saying anything at all, but rather just establishing Hamlet's presence in the background. Though I have no idea what exactly I'll be doing and when, I look forward to doing this. Authentic character presentation when in the silent background is a skill in which I take great pride, and one that is often ignored.

The best part of it all will be that I will be, in essence, creating Hamlet. Maybe not as deeply as one playing the real role of Hamlet, but there is plenty of room to explore what Hamlet should and should not be, within the confines of the director's expectations. Besides, you can't do the background justice, if you are not as an actor, treating it as though it were the foreground.

I report for rehearsal next on Wednesday for just such a scene. I appear, and move about, but don't say anything yet. I wasn't even aware I made an entrance in that scene until today. (I have only skimmed the script until tonight.)

The script is not bad. I didn't find it as funny as some of my cast mates did, but it has its clever moments. I am looking forward to seeing how it all develops.

Prep Work

2011-05-31T14:00:00.000-04:00

I swung by the library today and picked up a copy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Even though I will be getting my own private copy next week at the first read-through, (more on that in a moment), I wanted to get a bit of a head start.

Hamlet of course is a small role in this play, and I knew that going in. Now that I have looked at the script, however, I am mildly disappointed that certain of his line's did not make it into this script. Actually there is only Hamlet line in the original that could have made it into this script which I miss. "I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth..." and so on. It is delivered directly to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet, so I figured at least part of that speech was bound to be in there. It isn't.

The script does contain, however, another line of Hamlet's that, though not as famous, is one that I enjoy. Ironic that in the original it is not spoken in front of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but in this arrangement it is. He tells Polonius, who is taking his leave, "You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I would more willing part withal." I always liked that line. It will be fun to deliver, especially if I do not like the actor playing Polonious. (I don't yet know who has that role, but I do know there is a gentleman in the cast with whom I do not get along.)

As for the rehearsal process, it is going to be a shorter but more intense schedule than most standard shows. We will have just over four weeks, and rehearsals will be on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and occasionally Saturdays. I will not have to be at all rehearsals for a few weeks, as it will be broken down by scenes. As of yet the final schedule has not been determined, though the first read through with the cast will take place this coming Monday, June 6th.

Based on the email list sent out by the director last week, I discovered that several people I know are in this play, but again in what capacity I don't yet know. I have a few guesses. Two of them I have not been in a play with since my very first post-college production nearly eight years ago. So it is bound to be fun and interesting either way.

Get ready to check back more often than weekly for a while, loyal blog readers. It is show time again.

What Plays May Come

2011-05-24T13:22:00.000-04:00

I'm in. I was cast in the Full Circle Theater Company's production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in the role of Hamlet.

Despite Hamlet being, in this play, a small role, I am quite excited about it. I have not yet read the entire script, but from what I understand, all of Hamlet's brief appearances in the play consist of actual Shakespearean lines. So while my stage time will be brief, what time I have will still be the Prince of Denmark. That alone should make it extra fun, I would think.

I don't yet know when rehearsals begin, as I believe the director is still coming up with the schedule. Nor as of yet do I know who else is in the play with me. I can only assume of course that at least some of the people with whom I auditioned a week ago today will be in the play, but I suppose I cannot be sure. I could have asked, but I didn't. I will find out soon enough. I do hope that there is a mixture of new and familiar people in the cast.

I predict that this will be a well attended production, though. I don't want to jinx us of course, but this play is a rather popular one among many of my local friends. And indeed among Shakespeare fans even though it is not Shakespeare itself. And since it will take place in the summer. (First and second weekends in July), there should be many people with a lot of free time.

I myself have only seen bits and pieces of the movie version here and there, and have never read the script front to back, but based on my research, and the audition cold-reads, I can certainly understand it's appeal to certain types. Probably a play I would enjoy watching, if I were not already in it. This is just the first theatre around here that has mounted a production of it, and I was told by a friend that the movie is not a good adaptation. Hence, I have not seen it in its entirety.

This should be a especially fun production, I feel. I always look forward to starting a new show, but thus far this one fills me with a keen anticipation.

Last Minute Audition

2011-05-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Loyal blog readers, I saved my normal Tuesday post for later in the evening, because, as luck would have it, a theatre oriented experience showed up today. And though I didn't find out about it until few days ago, I made a last minute decision to go back to the Full Circle Theater Company tonight and audition for Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

As I said, I didn't have much time to think about it, as I only got the notice in my email on Sunday. I knew that this play was on the schedule, but had not really thought much about trying out for it. I have other things going on with my time since Claudie Hukill ended back in February, (mostly my writing) and I wasn't sure if I had taken enough of a break from the theatre to dedicate to my other endeavors. But I decided that given there were at least 20 roles in this play, some of which are very small, I would throw my hat into the ring, just to keep the acting muscles sharp, and my face familiar in town. So I went in this evening.

I had only a cursory knowledge of the play. I had read or seen portions here and there over the years, and it has been the subject of many a conversation amongst fellow actors, but I had never read the whole script. It seemed a bit weird, which of course is the point for an absurdist dark comedy. As a Shakespearean derivative work, however it always held a certain interest, even though I hadn't picked up the script.

The audition itself went well for me. It was the second day of auditions. I think there were about nine or so people there. (Including someone with whom I do not get along at all, sadly.) The director explained that it is a difficult piece to have people read for, because so much of it is non-verbal, other than the two leads. I can see the difficulty in that. Given my age, I suppose, I only read for either Rosencrantz or Guildenstern at any given time, but that of course doesn't mean I will get either of or any role. It is just common sense that a director of this piece would have candidates read mostly as the two title characters. But there are in fact any number of parts that could be fun. In fact, the tiny version of Hamlet's role that appears in this play may be quite fun to play. Maybe I will get that one. I could finally say I played Hamlet.

Whatever happens, the director, (whom I know from my very first community theatre production), said that we should know something in about a week or so, because that is when she wants to start rehearsals. So perhaps by the next time I blog here, I will know. Or then again, if I know before next week, I will blog about it right away.

So stay tuned.

Ex Nihilo

2011-05-10T14:09:00.000-04:00

A church down the street from me was having an indoor yard sale the other day. The have plans to leave the building once their new facility is built nearby, so I imagine that is why. I had never been inside the building before, so out of curiosity, (more than my need for mismatched plates and coffee mugs) I went in.

The predictable collection of out of style clothes, ugly brick-a-brack, obscure book titles and stuffed animals was laid out in what I imagine is their soon to be abandoned social hall. Which interested me more than any of the stuff for sale.

For you see, there was a small stage at the end of this long room. Not simply a glorified platform but an actual stage. Proscenium arch, curtain, and what appeared to be a small backstage area, with access from another room. (The curtains were partially closed so it was hard to be certain.) My rough guess is that it was 20 feet wide maybe.

There was no permanent seating, so it I assume when the stage is used, if it ever is, it would be a folding chair sort of situation. Depending on how they were arranged, I figured you could probably seat between 80 and 100 people in the place, with room for an aisle.

Obviously I will not be able to buy this building when the congregation vacates it. Yet that didn't stop my from visualizing how much theatre could be done in this venue. Not all shows, of course. You wouldn't easily fit a production of South Pacific in there. But any number of smaller, intimate plays could find a home there. Especially those with minimal sets and scene changes. Minimalist plays, like the ones I like. Shakespeare could be done easily in this diminutive performance space. Theatre is begging to be performed here.

Not that a building has to even have a literal stage to be ideal for theatre. Literally right next door to this church is an long abandoned large storefront with huge windows that I have often envisioned as a potential site for minimalist productions as well. Down the block from that is yet another such abandoned building, complete with a raised floor that is even more suitable for the same purpose. (Brunswick, Maryland is a hopelessly dead city, in case you didn't already determine that.)

The point is, it all got me thinking again about how ubiquitous live theatre can be with the right amount of involvement and interest. This church's social hall had no special lighting, no flies, no cat walk. Yet it was just waiting for theatre. Same with the other buildings I mentioned. Theatre can be done just about anywhere so long as it is dry and safe for actors and audience. One doesn't have to look far to find all kinds of non-theater venues converts into theatres. Your town may have one. Either a permanent set up, or something that has been adapted for theatrical purposes for the length of a festival or a single weekend.

I am not a fan of performing outside, but many are, and if you are one such person, you literally have almost the whole world at your disposal for a stage. Fields. Hills. Clearings in the woods. (Just get proper permission of course!)

None of this is to suggest that I personally would want to perform Hamlet in any random location. I admit I enjoy the comforts of an actual stage, dressing room, and backstage. Yet the possibility that Hamlet, or King Lear, or Greek tragedy, or, if you have money to pay royalties for it, plays like Waiting for Godot can be performed anywhere there is room for an audience to sit fascinates and excites me. Theatre truly can be brought forth out of nothing. Ex nihilo.

As versatile as the live theatre experience can be, I wonder why it is not done more often. Is it that the modern digital age moves too fast to enjoy live theatre? That the society of iPhones and Google Reader just doesn't have the attention span to appreciate a play, even if for just a few nights at the local empty former Safeway that nobody else is using?

Is it geography? Are certain areas and cities less likely to embrace it than others? Perhaps this sort of "vagrancy theatre" happen quite often where you live.

Or are people not comfortable with the idea of watching a play in an empty warehouse? Or is it just prohibitively expensive to rent an empty building for a few weeks? That could be it too. I am not sure. I have never done it.

Whatever the reasons, it is unfortunate that it doesn't happen as often as I think it could. But then again, outside of my area, perhaps it does happen a lot more often.

Theatre is, or at least can be, almost everywhere, and I find that fascinating. Though I myself would not enjoy performing everywhere, (I am very much not a fan of the Shakespeare on Subway cars thing I have been reading about), I would perform in any of the venues on this very street that I mentioned. Furthermore I would attend a play someone else was putting on in such a venue.

Ex Nihilo. Out of nothing. That is what theatre can be.

Confessions of Laziness

2011-05-03T17:47:00.000-04:00

I confess to being a bit lazy, loyal blog readers. This manifests in my theatrical endeavors in two main ways.

The first is that I have not been reading play scripts. There are several reasons for this, not all of which are silly. Plays are sometimes harder to find in a library than novels. Newer plays generally have to be purchased, and I admit I am short on funds. And reading plays does not guarantee anybody is going to put them on, even if I like them. Plus I am a slow reader.

Yet those are not truly an excuse. An actor must be reading at least a few plays a year. I don't much care as much as others if they are older plays or more modern ones, but an actor on any level that is serious about it should be reading plays. I have not been.

Nor have I been reading monologues to memorize. These are far easier to find, and I even own my own book of same. Granted, most theatres around here do not require a prepared monologue. In fact I have only ever gone to two auditions ever that required a prepared monologue. But the fact that local theatres do not require them for their auditions is no reason for me to not be memorizing them. Doing so expands my range, keeps my brain in shape, and is just a good thing for an actor to do all the way around. But again I confess, I have not been doing as much of that as I should be.

I don't really know exactly why I have not been, outside of plain laziness. Do I suppose the question should be why I have been so lazy in regards to theatrical things. I have a few answers, none of which are excuses.

It could be because back in February I ended a long six month three consecutive play streak, and needed a break. Yet even before that I did not read as much as I should have. It could be because it is hard to for me to fall in love with a play when I know I will not likely be able to be in it in the near future. (Given the nature of theatres around here.) But that too is rather flimsy.

Maybe, and this is the only possibility to which I will give some credence, I have been immersed in my writing side more in the last year. More of my personal energies have gone towards the writing side of creative exploration than the acting side of same. I should be able to balance both, and I intend to in the future. Yet lately...

I may be more restless, physically than I used to be. I have thought about this, and I realized that sitting still long enough to absorb leisure reading is more difficult than it once was. And if true, perhaps I need to be working on that aspect of myself. Either way, restlessness is just as much the enemy as laziness. (And yes they can exist at the same time.)

All that being said, theatre is never far from my mind, even when I am working on something else. My hopes for starting my own theatre company in the next year or so are actually formulating more solid ideas in my head than previously. I may even be seeking a partner to start all of this up as soon as the summer. (Start, not be ready by summer.) And part of my writing lately, as I have mentioned here, involves a sort of one man show with some classic material as a skeletal basis. So the theatre gears are still turning.

But I would not be a true blogger of acting and theatre if I hid from my readers my weaknesses. So there are a few of them the last year or so. Laziness and restlessness. I don't know when exactly I will be back on track in regards to the actor duties I am shirking, but I do know it will happen, and than you will know of it if you keep checking the blog.

(Another theatre related effort about which I am not lazy. Has anyone noticed the new policy of at least one post a week? Not bad for my usually bone dry time between productions!)

Happy Birthday Week, William Shakespeare.

2011-04-25T12:41:00.002-04:00

Today I am excited to be one of many bloggers from around the world that are involved in the Happy Birthday Shakespeare 2011 project. I hope you will click on that link in the coming days and read how the work of William Shakespeare has impacted the lives of those who populate the blogosphere. And you can start with me and my very own story.

Long before I became part of the theatre world as an actor, I had an eye for the dramatic, and an ear for the well constructed, poetic, or moving turn of phrase. I would spend inordinate amounts of time as a younger person replaying in my mind scenes from my daily life that had impacted me. An argument I happened to see break out in a store, or the interaction between two strangers as one helped the other with a door or a shopping cart. Occurrences that to most others would usually appear to be just part of the every day social fabric of a free society would often to me be for good or bad, microcosms of the human experience. The potentially mundane became noteworthy to me because of the humanity on display.

Of course, I didn't process it in quite those terms when I was a child. I knew only that sometimes a moment, a scene in the street, an encounter between two strangers in a bookstore, or a shouted conversation between two parties working unseen behind a counter at the super market seemed in some way more eternal when processed through my mind, than the same events would be to just about anyone else in all likelihood, including the "actors" in said scenes.

As I got older, the dissemination of things I had seen out in the world became a little more sophisticated. I'd wonder why any given party said what they said. How the sentence they used may have either begun or ended the scene I happened upon. And by high school I would often in my head "rewrite" the scenes, with alternate words, statements, or circumstances that I thought would have made things turn out in a more peaceable, interesting, helpful, or in the very least, dramatic fashion.

Knowing this, is there any wonder why I spend most of my time these days either writing or acting? You would think not, but for the longest time I only wrote casually, and I was not on the stage for the first time until college.

Yet before I got serious about either acting or writing, I was serious about the plays of William Shakespeare.

The first I read was the first that most people read. Romeo and Juliet, in the 9th grade. (Age 14 or so.) It was part of my English class, of course, and we read it out loud during class time, different students taking turns sputtering, fumbling, and hissing their way through their assigned character of the day. I was no different, at least at first. But I found myself going home and reading through speeches and scenes that we would be going over in class the following day. Reading them outloud over and over again until I could construct some semblance of speech, of conversation, and of course, of drama from what I was reading.

Not that it was being read 100% correctly yet, but I found myself wanting to sound like a person in a scene who was encountering other people experiencing something that was happening in a street in Venice. I was trying to make those scenes as real as the scenes from the streets of Frederick, Maryland where I lived, and grew up.

In the end I didn't care for Romeo and Juliet that much. I did not at the time see the hype of it. Nor would I even read it again until two years ago when I appeared in the piece as Friar Laurence. (During which time I developed a greater appreciation of the text than I had as a wee freshman.) \

Yet despite my lukewarm reaction to the overall arc of Romeo and Juliet after my first reading of same, I was already looking forward to future explorations of the world of Shakespeare. And that is because I was beginning to see in him another mind who could, and actually wanted to take even the simplest and briefest of scenes between two walk-on characters and turn it into a high flying and memorable journey through the English language. Like my high school self, the characters in Shakespeare, even the minor ones, strove to use language as their weapons. Their aphrodisiacs. Their calling cards. You may not like what they are saying, but you will love the way they are saying it. Even if you don't yet understand all of it. And in the process, the characters will be reflection of some near universal aspect of the human condition.

That use of language, turn of phrase, precisely timed come back, or searching monologue present throughout Shakespeare was the closest I had come to viewing people behave like they did in the re-imagined scenes from daily life that I played in the theatre of my brain. Every moment potent in some way, and usually thanks to language.

Later on in my freshman year, I enjoyed The Merchant of Venice far more than my first delving into Shakespeare. Language again of course, but to me a far more interesting plot. A court room even! It is hard to beat drama in the form of court rooms goings on.

And so it went throughout the years of my private high school education. Othello. Macbeth. I became one of the only students in my high school's history that actually chose Henry V from the long list of potential summer reading projects that were required. To this day in fact I am one of the few people I know that loves the history plays, though that is not surprising, given that they combine everything I have said about Shakespeare with my life long fascination with monarchy.

Then in 12th grade it was time. The moment I knew was coming for four years. Some dreaded it. Some didn't care. I myself realized it would be important, regardless. Because it was then that we read Hamlet. The play of plays. The one about which virtually anyone, anywhere of substance had commented at least once. The often quoted, borderline mystical piece that I already knew in the minds of many in the know transcended not only all of Shakespeare's other works, but perhaps all English works for the stage ever written.

By 12th grade I was more used to the language. Starting to anticipate the devices used by the Bard. I could actually on occasion read a smaller Shakespearean passage as though I were performing it. (This was years before I was an actor, keep in mind.) So the confusion and question and frustrations of reading the plays of the Statfordian had mostly vanished by now, and it was all about reading the story of Hamlet.

And what a story it was. The impact of Hamlet on my mind cannot be overestimated. Because while up until that point Shakespeare had created drama, characters, and speeches in a manner that gave birth to the type of drama I created in my mind, Hamlet was something even more profound; Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, was me. Fatherless. Intellectual to the point of paralysis at times. Surrounded by people who barely understood him, and a few who wanted him out of their lives. Denied what was his.

So for the first time, Shakespeare went from being familiar, to being personal. I was the only person in the Honors English class that seemed to think by the end of the semester that Hamlet was noble. A hero in a sense. A genius in others. Years and eight readings of Hamlet later, I am still one of the few people I know who raises Hamlet himself to such a lofty position of esteem. And I don't care. All the scholars in the world can write their essays as to why Hamlet is not noble in the end, and it won't change a thing for me. The same can be said on my views on the other plays, unpopular as they sometimes may be.

That is because I see Shakespeare's works as something more than a treatise. Something too masterful to be ignored, but too visceral to be dissected into oblivion. The works of Shakespeare manage to recreate the human condition with virtually every line.

Poetic elevation of the mundane into the realm of angels, as well as acerbic reduction of the momentous and ceremonial down to the bawdy levels of the "common" man. And the universal human drama that plays out as a result. This is what Shakespeare did for me from the first moment. This is what he does for me when I perform him on stage. This is what he continues to do for me to this very day. And there is no reason to believe he will ever cease to reflect the dramatics of the world I see in my mind. And he shall always do it through the use of the English language.

Happy birthday indeed to the Bard of all bards.

Mama, I Want to Sing.

2011-04-19T13:44:00.000-04:00

A little bit. I was just going through some of my theater records last night, and realized that it happens to be six years this very month since I had a lead in a musical. And 5 whole years since I have even been in the chorus of one.

Years ago it was my practice to try out for at least one musical a year or so. And I usually got in.Maybe because men are hard to come by in community theatre, but also because I do sing reasonably well. People in the know have told me so.

All of these musicals were at one theatre. But due to some nasty personal issues with the management, I don't audition for shows at the place anymore in recent years. And the theatre I spend most of my time in now doesn't generally do musicals. (Though they are planning to do one next year.)

I won't go back to that first theatre I mentioned until the horrible management changes. But I do think it is time for me to enter the world of the musical again for another brief stay.

Some people only do musicals, and some never do them. Obviously I fall into neither camp, but I can sympathize with those who never do them. Even if you sing well and enjoy doing so, musicals are so much extra work, what with musical rehearsals and dance rehearsals, and in most cases the feeling of having more than one director. (Director, musical director and choreographer.) They are a more stressful type of production for everyone under the best of circumstances.

Not to mention I hate musical auditions, musical rehearsals, I cannot harmonize, and I can't read music. It would seem to disqualify me. Not to mention that 90% of directors make the horrible mistake of casting great singers who cannot act, as opposed to good actors who can sing, or be taught to do so with practice. When I am in a musical character and acting remain at the top of my priorities, which means when I sing, I do so in character. And when my role is large enough for at least one solo, and everything else goes just right, musicals can provide a certain type of satisfaction that a straight show cannot. They can get old after a while, which is why I only do them periodically, but lately I have missed some of the unique qualities they offer to me.

Even with my long hiatus, I won't try out for just any musical. I prefer some depth to the story. I'd rather not just be in the chorus. (Too much work for too little high.) The less dancing that is required, the better. (Loyal blog readers know of my ineptitude with dance.) And I find that usually big scale musicals are the most fun. (Though one of the biggest and most satisfying roles I ever had in a musical was in this small, more intimate show.)

So, for the first time in a while, I will be perusing the local musical offerings, and pondering in the back of my mind eight bars of music I could learn how to sing, without needing to read them on the page. And if I decide on going for it, you, loyal blog readers, will be among the first to know.

Novel Ideas

2011-04-12T17:30:00.000-04:00

Literally. For though this blog is not about my writing adventures, I did think it was particularly appropriate to mention this piece of writing news here on my acting blog.

For you see, loyal blog readers, for the last 15 months, or thereabouts, I have been writing the rough draft of a novel that takes place inside a community theatre production. And by the next time you read a post from me on Always Off Book, it will at long last be completed! It is exciting and hard to believe news all at the same time.

My story revolves as I said around a community theatre production of a fictitious play. It has it's ups and downs, this production. Until really weird encounters begin to take place. And maybe some messages from above are being delivered to certain people. So it's theatre, it's magic, it's passion. Actually theatre is nothing without a lot of passion and a little magic, as I have been recently reminded. It's also about redemption, in a way, which is often a thread in the good stories.

And I have been amused at how often the same muscles of imagination or flexed when writing as when acting. Being a writer doesn't make you an actor and vice-verca, don't get me wrong. I am just one of the people crazy enough to be both. But the process of delving into a character, giving them nuance and habits, finding ways to reveal their inner workings and their history without spelling everything out for everyone. It may be like comparing arena football with the NFL, but the similarities between acting and writing are undeniable. Only in writing, you are in fact performing every character, and not just one. And usually at the same time.

And of course an author acts as director, set designer, costume person, and so on.

So it has been a very interesting, frustrating, but rewarding and at times even eye opening experience, honing my writing craft while drawing on my knowledge of my theatre adventures and passions.

And not just the knowledge, but the feelings and emotions and thoughts of various kinds of actors in the midst of a rehearsal and a show. If in the end this novel manages to adequately describe to a third party how it sometimes feels to be involved in theatre, my job will be half done already.

Tonight I will write the final chapter, and that too will be familiar to actors; something into which a lot of emotion and time have been poured will be suddenly over. Though of course unlike the stage that is just the first step. There is second revisions. And third revisions. Not to mention the long road to publication. But first things first, and nothing will ever feel quite so visceral as the creation of a first draft, where you breath new life into a story, ex nihilo. And as I said, that aspect comes to an end tonight, and I thought I would share that with you, my loyal blog readers of Always Off Book.

My Latest ShowBiz Radio Post

2011-04-06T12:50:00.000-04:00

This week in my column over at Showbizradio.net, I mention the importance of getting centered as an actor.

We all have different ways of doing this, and I don't advocate one specific method, though I do advocate one specific aspect of getting centered before a show: time alone.

I don't think it is that radical of me to suggest that one cannot get totally centered while talking to or carrying on with other people. Even if you do this before you get centered as part of your routine, taking some time alone in a private corner of the venue to wash away distracting thoughts come highly recommended by me.

Read for yourself.

Only the Lonely

2011-04-05T18:58:00.000-04:00

A one-person show, or perhaps more accurately in this context, a "monodrama", is something I have wanted to try on stage for a while. Scores of examples abound, from Chekov's one-act, On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco, to the full length Give 'Em Hell, Harry! by Samuel Gallu. There are also collections such as Neil LaBute's Bash, which consists of several one acts, some of which have only one character.

I even have a few ideas in my own head for this type of show.

I have never attended such a presentation, and I don't know if it would be better to see one before trying it myself, or seeing it first before watching one. Certainly performing one myself would forever instill in me a greater appreciation for any one else who took it on.

Understand that it isn't ego which feed my desire to appear on stage alone. Nor is it a disdain for other actors. A performance of this variety would be twice as hard in some ways as any other show. Not just because all of the lines go to one person, and that person has no recourse from other actors should the stumble. But also because 100% of the time must the attention of the audience is completely on you.

In a standard show, a person has some break not only from their lines, but from the symbolic spotlight. If they are in the background for a scene, they of course should always be in character, because someone at some point could be looking at them. Yet even so the majority of the attention, expectations, and scrutiny are on others who at the time are the focus of the scene.

One doesn't get such a break with a one person show.

It's the same for an audience. Any variety in the experience must come from one actor, and the parts of the story he is telling at any given time. It is a delicate balance in a one person show to prevent the audience from being bored with you. For if they are tired of the one person in the show for even a moment, the entire production has failed.

This type of play does have its advantages, however, not the least of which is the great challenge to one's skills as an actor. If one can pull of such a show, that says a great deal about one's talents. And one will come out of the experience a stronger actor, almost no matter what happens.

Plus, 100% of the pacing and control would be in a single actor's hands. No adjustments to the decisions, mistakes or presence of another actor (of whatever talents) would have to be made during the course of the show or a scene. If I were the star of a one man show, I would only have to answer to me. Despite the extra "dangers" and work of such a situation, that freedom does hold a certain appeal for me, I must confess.

Without any figures and studies to back it up, my observation has been that community theatres rarely if ever produce such shows. Could it be that companies fear the talent pools are too small in a community to find an amateur with the chops to pull it off? Or do the think that patrons of a community theatre expect a more traditional, or at least larger experience than can be offered by a one person show? My guess is that both these fears, and others explain the lack of monodramas at the community level.

Yet I hold out hope that one day I shall be cast in a local theatre's one show experiment, should anybody offer it. Or perhaps I can commit such a show to memory, and seek a chance to do a special presentation outside of a theatre's season. The same is possible if I write my own and pitch it. It would be more difficult to get the chance where I am, on the community level, but I don't count it out.

Have you ever performed in a one person show? Have you even seen one at the community level? If so I'd like to hear you stories.

Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?

2011-03-29T14:32:00.001-04:00

When you are in community theatre, you run into many of the same people over and over. Whether you are on stage working with them or out in the house watching them, you encounter certain staple individuals, depending on the size of the market. Naturally the smaller the market and the small the company, the more likely you are to get repeat business as it were. I'd love it if this were true less often. In some ways it would behoove community companies to go out of there way to find totally new people on a regular basis. But that's another entry.

So recurring personalities in community theatre are a given, for purposes of my thoughts today. This situation has advantages as well as disadvantages.

Now there are certain companies that have season auditions, and once cast, the same group of people appear in each play for the year. But people know that going in with such places. Now, I mean those that hold open auditions for each play.

To begin with, you tend to make many like minded friends. Those with whom you appear in several shows over the years tend to be more open to you personally after a time. And not only is a good to make new friends, it makes performing with them better in most cases. You establish trust with the other person, because you know their tendencies and style. What to expect from them backstage. When to joke and not joke with them. As my loyal blog readers no, trust is probably the number one advantage to working within someone in a play.

But on the other side of it, sometimes working with the same people can lead to a performance feeling stale if those involved are not careful. It becomes easier to be complacent, or to rely on tricks and such when we perform. People we have known personally for a while are less likely to keep us on our toes, should we begin to slack a bit. Working with new people regularly can keep things fresh for both the performers and the audience.

Not to mention that sometimes you can know somebody quite well, and loath them. Sad, but true. I have not gone to plays if I know that certain people I detest will appear in them. It may not be fair, but it is one of the side effects of working with the same difficult people over and over again, and then finding yourself in the audience.

And on the subject of audiences, familiar faces have pluses and minuses in their eyes as well. On the one hand, members of the community may find it comforting and entertaining to be able to see their local lawyer, or doctor, or their cousin in the plays a lot. It makes them feel connected to what is going on. That they are some how part of the larger community that the company is trying to reach. But then again, it may be harder to attract and keep new customers if they feel they are only going to see the same actors show after show after show.

And there is also the slightest chance of type casting. Some people don't mind it, but if say they always call on Jane to try out for the goofy romantic comedies because she is "always so good in them", and Jane always gets in, nobody, including Jane, may feel confident that she can play something other than that. True, sometimes recurring personalities at a company play a variety of roles and can escape this problem, but then we get back into the previous disadvantage of seeing the same people over and over no matter what the role.

And of course, no matter how good anybody is, when you have known them, worked with them, and seen them several times, there is always the danger of just seeing "George" up there on stage, without really letting yourself enjoy their performance. It doesn't have to be that way to be sure, but if George has been to your daughters wedding, the last 12 parties you have been to, and been in a play with you the last four times, you may have to work extra hard to forget that it is George. Whereas if you have no idea who the people are, it may be easier to set aside your knowledge of them being an actor. Suspension of disbelief tends to decrease somewhat.

So there you have it. Just a few of the ups and downs of having a list of "usual suspects" within a theatre. At least the theatres around here. I imagine it is similar anywhere. They can all be overcome, however, with a little bit of determination, open mindedness and pride in what you are doing. (If you are in the show yourself.)

Acting Alfresco

2011-03-22T12:32:00.001-04:00

I have never performed in a play at an outside venue. I have been in the audience for a few outside performances. (All Shakespeare.) And I have at times rehearsed outside, when casts on a nice day whine and beg for the privilege to do so. And while I will concede that an odd rehearsal outside here and there is not the same thing as an entire production taking place outside, what I learned from those experiences has convinced me I wouldn't want to perform outside in most circumstances.

I have often said here on the blog that an actor must always be prepared for any contingency. The lights going out, the sound system not functioning. Last minute costume changes. To be a good actor one must be adaptable to many different situations that may arise during the course of a production. To insist on everything being perfect in order to perform well is just asking for trouble.

That doesn't mean, however, that I welcome an extra dozen or so variables just for the fun of it. I'd like to at least aim for as much control as possible. Performing outside by default puts so many things outside of the actor's control.

To begin with, weather. While with enough focus I could perform in the pouring rain, why would I opt for the risk? What is that proving? I hate being in wet clothes, and if I am that uncomfortable it is putting an undue strain on my to keep said focus. The same with gusting wind. And the idea of canceling a show due to weather is not an enviable option, seeing as how often weather tends to screw around with my plans anyway. All of that work down the tube because on the day we open it rains? No thank you.

Also, people these days tend to have a hard enough time keeping quiet and respectful in a theatre. Put that same group of talking, texting, food munching patrons outside and you might as well send out an invitation to everyone in attendance that says,

"You are cordially invited to make a bunch of noise as often as possible."

And that is just the patrons. If you are outside, you are guaranteed to have people who couldn't care less about theatre laying on their horn for minutes at a time as they drive by, putting their radios on loud in an adjoining area, or just generally going out of their way to screw everything up. If they did that at an indoor venue they could be asked to leave and if needs be, forcibly removed. How do you eject someone from "outside"?

The classics such as Shakespeare and obviously the Greek tragedies can be played well in such venues, if you are into broad, sweeping interpretations. Which sometimes I am. But most outdoor venues deprive one of intimacy. Subtleties in performance, which I both like to see as a patron, and use as an actor, are lost in your standard outdoor venue. Plus many modern plays simply would not work outside, whereas Shakespeare or the Greek tragedies can in fact be adjusted to work inside.

I'm not unaware of some of the positive points made by those who enjoy outdoor theatre. For one, yes, I realize that the very first theatres were outdoor venues, and that to perform outdoors does provide one with a semi-intriguing connection to ancient theatre. But that was two thousand or so years ago. They also killed people for sport and entertainment back then. The age of a practice is not by itself proof of it's prudence.

Also, most outdoor shows are by default minimalist in regards to sets and props. This I like, because as I have often said, I am a theatre minimalist. But minimalism as a concept is not limited to outside venues.

It is said that outdoor venues are less stuffy and more inviting atmospheres than are traditional indoor venues. The casual theatre goer would feel less intimidated about coming to a show outside in a park than inside in a theatre. I give this a maybe, but with the caveat that there is nothing wrong with a little bit of stuffiness and decorum inside of a theatre. Furthermore, an open, relaxed atmosphere can be established inside as well, if desired.

I suppose there could be an outside venue in which I would consider performing, if it met several criteria.

-An enclosed venue, specifically set aside for theatre. This as opposed to an open, available space in a city park somewhere. If I am going to perform outside, I want to be sure that anybody who can see me is at least there with the intention of seeing a show.

-Observant staff that keep the audience respectful. If people in the audience are held just as accountable at an outside theatre as they are in an inside theatre, that would make it more palatable to me.

-A weather proofed performance area. Or at least one that would be shielded from the rain and wind as much a possible. That way the performers could continue, and let the audience decide if it's worth getting rained on.

-Reasonable size. Some outdoor venues actually have seats, while some just have patrons sit on the ground, or bring their own chairs. But either way, I don't want a sprawling, thousand person "house". If it is still limited to a few hundred people that are rather close to the stage, some amount of intimacy might be saved, and make it worth it.

-Secluded location. Or at least semi-secluded. Far enough away fro major highways, public parks, and other such distractions to make it feel as though despite being outside, everyone has arrived at a theatre once they are there.

-Dressing rooms. I think I need them. Not so much for the privacy of changing clothes. An actor gets used to not caring who sees what backstage. But for the sake of having someplace where the actor can be "off" when he needs to be. I know I need that.

-Some lighting. I'd hate for every show to be a matinee...

All and all, I suppose I could be persuaded under those conditions, to be in an outdoor show. Perhaps I still could be persuaded even without all of these safeguards if the chance were a great opportunity. But all things being 100% equal, I will almost always choose to perform inside instead of outside.

Have you ever performed in an outdoor venue? What did you think of it?

My Latest ShowBiz Radio Post

2011-03-17T13:46:00.000-04:00

This week over at Showbiz Radio, I talk a bit about what you should do to put the community into community theatre. As actors, we really shouldn't feel our job ends with our performances. We should keep in mind how much has to happen in order for a show to be the best it can be. And when the show is better, our individual performances are better.

Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On

2011-03-14T17:29:00.001-04:00

I have had several dreams in the last week or two that took place inside a theatre. I suppose every actor, and indeed every person has their share of dreams pertaining to their passion or hobby, and I am of course no exception. Yet the last two weeks or so have seen theatres brought into my dreamscape with a higher frequency than is usual, even for me.

I will also point out that they were not unpleasant. I have a recurring unpleasant theatre oriented dream. I won't get into that here, but suffice to say I prefer not to have that dream. Yet each of these recent ones have not been unpleasant. Each of them has had a few other things in common as well.

It's funny what you can "sense" or just "know" is true within a dreamscape. A level of understanding that may or may not be directly related to the environment, but is true to you nonetheless. I am sure you know what I mean by that. You dream of a group of people and in the dream you know they have been your friends, and are going to miss you when you leave. But they are not actual people from your life, and you have announced in the dream no intention of leaving to go anywhere. But you just know you are leaving.

It's like you are being placed right in the middle of all of the backstory, emotions, and sensory input of a moment, without having lived the entire life that leads up to it. Not all dreams are like this of course, but those are the ones I usually remember best, and these theatre dreams came with similar knowledge.

For example none of them have taken place in actual venues with which I am familiar in waking life. But in the dreams I "knew" I was connected to them in some fashion. A vague sense that any given theatre in my dream was in fact a theatre with which I should be familiar. (And to go along with that, some familiar people from waking life were present.)

All of the theatre dreams of late were during rehearsal periods, as in empty houses. No audience. Nobody is performing. Actually perhaps not even that, because in a few of the dreams, people were milling about in the house, back stage, up in the booth and various other places, going about obvious work, but not directly rehearsing.

Plus, without a doubt all of the dreams took place at night. I got the sense each time in fact that it was later at night than most people would find themselves in a theatre. In the dream it always "feels" like midnight or later. Yet there was an importance to what we, (as in myself and the cast of characters within the dream) were doing. There was no screwing about. This wasn't play time. We were totally immersed in the idea of getting whatever production it was ready to go. Or perhaps getting the venue itself ready to go, I cannot be certain.

But I think it is that sense of 100% purpose, drive, and dedication within these "dream theatres" that made them so memorable. Everybody there was committed to the theatre as a whole, and not just the particular venue in which I appeared in the dream. IN each case I felt a profound sense of belonging and mission. I am no Freud, but I considered what these five or so recent theatre related dreams of the last two weeks may have meant. I've come up with a quasi-analysis.

The sense of familiarity may represent the simple notion that theatre is in me, no matter what the venue. That isn't hard to determine. The fact that others were present, but none of them goofing off would perhaps be a symbol of those with whom I share this total dedication.

The empty house I have come to surmise may in fact point towards how dedication and passion for the theatre cannot begin or end with the actual performances, but must be present throughout. And those that are committed to such an extent will put themselves into it deeply enough to accomplish success whatever it takes. (Which is why, I theorize, all of these dreams took place so late at night; staying that late to get things done, despite everything else going on being an indication of the type of commitment I feel drawn to when it comes to theatre.

The last place in waking life where I consistently felt theatre working that way was in college. Late nights at the theatre. Doing all it took to get things done, whether it be building, painting, doing lights. Setting your day around what you would be doing at the theatre that night, and watching the end result make it all worth it. There have been some experiences that have held touches of that sort of experience since college, to be sure. But college was where it was most concentrated. Probably because college is different, and it was part of what we were all doing. And you could walk to the theatre. (As well as "break" in after hours, if you absolutely needed to do something.) You don't get that much in community theatres.

Jobs, and kids, and houses and commutes and 101 other things in "real" life tend to get in the way of most people at the community level engaging fully in spirit and not just time and physical energy. Not to mention the sacrifice of quality that sometimes results in the corners that are cut in amateur theatre, resulting in a less satisfying experience sometimes.

Actually I should amend that and point out that this is my personal experience. It is me who has not had many chances in community theatre to find myself in "full immersion" mode. And it is not because of commutes and jobs and schedules. It just that it takes a certain confluence of circumstances, personalities and passions to make it happen. And to be fair, in some of my community productions that has in fact happened. Or come very close to happening. I treasure the memories of those times.

And theatre friends I have who are scattered across the country report to me of productions and companies and such that do seem to attain the "late at night/at all costs/art for art's sake" culture of my recent dreams. So, it is not impossible.

And perhaps that is the final impetus to my dreams of late. A projection of my desire to not only dedicate myself deeply to the art of acting, but to the nature of theatre as whole, whenever I can. As soon as I can. And to seek out those who are of the same mind. Those that understand they have day jobs and lives outside of the theatre, but love to make the sacrifice for it anyway. Not because they are paid to do it, but exactly because they are not paid. Art for arts sake. A spiritual form of making love to the theatrical. And when I find such people, my desire to hold on to them, tightly. (I know a few, as I said, already.)

But if that is the message of my recent dreams, what has changed? Why am I being reminded of these desires? Have I somehow forgotten them? Have I, without even knowing it, softened somewhat in my expectations with theatre? Or has the potential of the theatre to be life changing slipped from my attention lately while I have been too busy worrying about it's minutia?

Perhaps the dreams are just friendly reminders of what I am inside? Projections of what moves me.

Or maybe they were all just dreams, and mean nothing.

Yeah, I don't believe that either.

It's NOT the Economy, Stupid

2011-03-07T16:52:00.001-05:00

I came across this post which summarizes quite well my own views in regards to arts advocacy.

It should come as no surprise to any of my loyal blog readers that I support the arts, on the national/professional level as well as the local/amateur level. Certainly I support them in our schools. Which is why I have been troubled, as many have been, with the dwindling monetary support for the arts from both public and private sources over the last few decades.

Enter arts advocacy groups.

Their job of course is to reverse this trend, and there are many ways to go about it. One of the most popular these days, however, is also one that I think is the least effective. As the post states, there is a great deal of attention put into educating policy makers on the economic impact of the arts. How many jobs they create. How much money they put into the economy. The types of businesses that indirectly profit from an arts presence in a neighborhood. While I don't dispute the truth of the numbers, this position has always bothered me because it fails to advocate for arts as an end unto themselves.

We have already lost the fight for the arts if we cannot come up with reasons why they are the life blood of a civilized, cultured society. If people still view them as elitist, removed institutions with which they cannot identify, than our job is to share why arts of all kinds are so vital in their own right. Not to try to be clever and work around the apathy by making the, "look how much money the arts can make" argument. Because if that is the best we have, the arts get crushed in a rather simple comparison to other institutions.

Make the arts important because they are the arts, and not because they provide X number of jobs, (almost none of which would be accessible to a struggling community's citizens anyway, let's face it.)

As you can see from the article, yours truly left a similar comment in the comments section of the piece.

"The Play's The Thing", (And Not the Text?)

2011-03-03T14:29:00.001-05:00

Here in this article, Helen Mirren takes exception to having school children read Shakespeare, as opposed to being introduced to it via a live performance, or at least a film.

I agree in principle. Certainly introducing Shakespeare strictly as text has its advantages. I'll never deny that. And once students get to high school, it can and probably should be a large part of studying the Bard.

Even then, if one's only goal is to introduce textual analysis and iambic pentameter and other linguistic subjects to a student. And while there is nothing wrong with that approach, (I study such things myself informally, I think as an introductory approach, it misses a great deal of the point.

Shakespeare's plays are scripts. Intended from the very beginning to be performed. They existed for the benefit of actors, and not readers. That is not to say that English scholars have no business dissecting them, but if one's ultimate goal is to introduce Shakespeare itself to young people, as opposed to merely introducing the literary devices he may (or may not) have employed in his story telling, there is a great advantage to having a performance be one of the first exposures to the Bard a student experiences.

I say "one of" because I wouldn't rely 100% on a "cold viewing" in order to introduce students to Shakespeare. A primer on his language and vocabulary would be in order before exposing them to an actual production. A brief discussion of how we believe his plays were staged originally would not hurt either. For I do not, as many do, believe that a "perfect" performance of a Shakespeare play will make all of the unfamiliar language suddenly clear to the totally uninitiated. The Bard was brilliant, but he was not magical. Those four centuries between his time and ours cannot simply be ignored. (Though many companies believe Shakespeare is only ever confusing because it is not performed properly, and that's bogus.)

Still, I favor de-emphasizing textual analysis in favor of viewing of performance for the earliest of Shakespeare exposure. I am, after all, an actor, and Romeo and Juliet first and foremost is in fact a script, not a novel.

And if Helen said it, it can't be that off the wall of a concept, can it?

Six Month Retrospective

2011-02-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

Last night was the closing show, strike, and subsequent cast party for Claudie Hukill, the play for which I have been the assistant-director since Christmas time. The production, not without it flaws and obstacles, ended up having a very good run. Now that it is over, there is a bit of a noticeable void, as always when a show ends. (It happens to directors too you know!)

Yet the end of this show has a particular aspect to it. I have been going to the same theatre several days a week, every week since August. Beginning with A Thurber Carnival, the exploits of which I will not get into here again. Go back through my archive to get up to speed on that if you weren't following me then.

The read through for A Christmas Carol was on the same evening as the pick-up rehearsal for Thurber, so there was no gap between those two shows. Claudie Hukill auditions were on the same day as one of the final performances of A Christmas Carol, and so there was no gap there either. In other words, when the previous two shows ended, I had something else theatrical to jump into right away. In the very same building. The void was still there, but in a sense it was more like one continuous loop. Striking one show, only to rehearse the next show on the same stage a day later. Remnants of the strike of one would be clearly visible during the next.

Without checking my records, I cannot with certainty state that I have never done three consecutive shows before. But I do not believe that I have. Furthermore even if I have, I can guarantee that they were never this close together before. All three being in the same venue enhances this notion that I have in a way been involved in one big theatre endeavor over the last half a year.

When you do a show anywhere, there comes a time when it becomes in a sense like a second home. For a few hours, anyway. Each person tends to put their stuff in the same places. Use the bathrooms at the same time. You know where the quiet spots are, if any. You get used to the climate settings. You begin to move about the place in your dailiy evening ritual with the familiarity and comfort of if not your own home, at least the home of a family member. The rules may be different there, but you hit that groove. And that's just for six weeks of a show. Now multiply that by six months and three shows, and you get the idea.

I will of course return to that place many times. I will see shows there, and be in them. Perhaps even direct one at some point. But each time I come back to venue after a break, it feels a tad different. The longer the break, the more different it feels, even if the venue itself hasn't changed that much. Until of course I am there again for six weeks and it feels like that second home again. Even when I am in a show again, I wonder if ever there will be another solid six month stretch at one venue like this again. Certainly not for the foreseeable future.But such is the way of the community player.

For the first time in a long while, I don't have the slightest idea what my next theatre project will be. There are no auditions lined up right now that interest me. And it is probably just as well. After half a year, I think I should take a months long break from the stage. At least until summer, when something else may show up. I need to spend those months catching up on that other talent of mine, writing.

But do not stay away, loyal blog readers. Some of that writing will be right here on Always Off Book. I am taking a break from doing theatre for a few months. Not taking a break from writing and talking about it!

And so it goes.

Opening Night: From the Other Side of the Stage

2011-02-12T12:36:00.000-05:00

Last night, Claudie Hukill opened at the Full Circle Theater in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. My loyal blog readers know that I have been the assistant director for this show, and though I opted not to give a running commentary on the experience, opening night seemed a good time to write a few things.

To begin with, despite a rough start the show went well. And it was a medium sized crowd, which was decent for an opening night of a lesser known play in a venue as small as that one. I spent most of my time back in the green room. I didn't see a reason for me to watch the show front to back from the audience, and I also wanted to be avilable backstage in case anyone needed anything.

At that point, (and I told the cast as much) I no longer considered myself the A.D. The show belonged to them at that point, and my position was obsolete. (I don't give notes on performances.) Even with that being established, opening night was a surreal experience in some ways.

I have been somewhat on the outside during this production in many ways, despite running some of the rehearsals myself. So that has always been somewhat present. But it was particularly present last night. It's not quite as bad when you are the stand alone director yourself. You have your own energy and excitement about the show finally opening that you must contend with. Not that I had none of that myself last night, because I did. However as an A.D. I was always more of the back-up quarterback. (Actually I had more influence and importance than your average back up quarter back, but the metaphor is sufficient to the moment.) As such it is a little harder to catch that wave of energy that comes with opening night.

Also in my position of course, it was a matter of seeing the broadest picture on the night, as opposed to the more focused outlook I have when opening a show as an actor. I was making sure everything was safe, in place, ready to go, and that I wasn't needed to put out any last minute fires. When I am an actor, I am making sure I am prepared, as opposed to the entire show being prepared.

All and all, I am proud of the cast, and I do feel that spending most of my time as an actor made me better able to see and suggest certain things to the cast which would perhaps elude someone who has only directed and rarely acted. I hope that is the case. I told the cast that I hoped something I said, did, thought, suggested somehow made something better for them during this process. I tried to make them feel appreciated, and tried to inject a bit of energy into them. It's hard to know if it worked, but those are the things I like to hear and feel when I am an actor on opening night, so I gave my best effort to give it to the actors for this show.

In the end I do feel I came away from this experience as a better actor, if you can believe that. I am not often able to just observe and discuss performances of fellow actors from a distance. Directing is the only time I am able to do so. And in so doing I came away with new thoughts, ideas, and perceptions about how to proceed the next time I am an actor. It happens every time I direct or assistant direct, but for various reasons I think it was especially true this time.

In many ways it is the opposite of being on stage. On stage things start out smoother, slower, more leisurely. Then you move into an intermediate phase, and finally burn your built up nerves on stage on opening night. Directors build up anticipation, but don't actively get to burn it off on a given night. It is just...there in a way. Which is why I like to burn as much of it as I can; expend as much energy and passion and creativity during the rehearsal process as possible. That way I feel by opening night that I have given it everything I can possibly give it, and get a chance to relax and enjoy things.

I don't know when my next directing experience will be. i had hoped to direct for this company next year, and there were indications that I might be able to, but last night they announced the schedule as well as the director's for next year. So my plan in that regard won't work out. Perhaps the year after. Who can say?

Whenever I do it, I know the lessons I took from assistant directing this show will go with me.

What is my next theatre project? I don't know the answer to that yet either. I know it will not be at Full Circle, as I have no real interest in their next production, and I have been making the 30 minute trek to that place at least three days a week every week since early August. It might be a time for a brief break. Whatever happens, you will find out about it here.

In the mean time, I'll be posting a few more opinion pieces and links to discuss than I have been previously. I am taking the blog in that direction as well this year.

My ShowBizRadio Column for February 2, 2011

2011-02-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

This week over at ShowBizRadio, I talk about how important it is to be proud of your own stage accomplishments, even when an audience would not be impressed by, or even be aware of same.

It's easy for an audience to recognize the challenges faced by say, an advanced dancing solo or working with an animal. But most actors have something through which they struggle to work through while on stage that may be easy for others. Yet they don't let it affect their performances.

Different things are difficult for different actors. But working through them is key, and something you should be proud of.

Thoughts on Being an A.D.

2011-01-28T13:58:00.001-05:00

I mentioned that I would share a few stray thoughts here and there about how my adventures as an AD would be going. A week from opening night I thought would be a good time to offer a few thoughts.

It has gone well, for the most part. I have had to run two rehearsals and part of a third myself. When not doing so I am paying particular attention to the needs and questions of actors as best as I can.

And I think that is the big thing here. There are those who would conclude that the actor and the director are two different beasts, and never the twain shall meet. But I have never agreed with this, and I still don't. I am on stage far more often than I am off for a show, but every time I step into a directorial type of situation I learn more about myself as an actor. I observe how actors respond to notes or instruction. I think about what I would like to hear in their situation and how I would like to hear it. And it causes me to ask myself what it is about the nature of my acting that would make me more responsive to that type of approach.

And I would certainly hope that my experience as an actor informs me as to how to better approach the situations and difficulties the actors in this, and any cast I oversee are going through. I believe honestly that it has. It is not as easy to asses one's effectiveness as a director as it is as an actor. But if I had to guess, my instinct tells me that I have been able to offer thoughts and approaches that otherwise not be able to offer, had it not been for my on stage experience.

Directing also requires one to delve into a scene from a different angle. A broader, more thematic conception of a scene or a play is necessary than it would be in cases wherein I am responsible for just one character. Yet every time I direct I become, I dare say, better at that sort of broader conception. And while that sort of conception is too broad to be utilized when I act, there is no doubt in my mind that being able to do so assists me in script analysis as an actor.

In other words, when directing, there is a great deal of observation. Observation, observation, observation. And if you read this blog regularly you know that it is observation, paying attention, that remains my number one piece of advice for the performer.

Latest ShowBizRadio Column

2011-01-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

This week over at ShowBizRadio, I talk about the importance of finally making a decision about your performance.

Having questions, both for your self, and for your director, and fellow actors is good. It's healthy. It opens the mind to new possibilities. But there comes a point in time where you have to buckle down and decide on how to proceed. Whether its a specific motivation for your character, a line reading, or something else.

In other words, you won't always get an "answer" which is a definitive solution to a question. You therefore must make the conscious choice, after thinking, researching, pondering, talking and experimenting to decide on something, and remain committed to that decision for the rest of the process.

My Work on Librivox.org

2011-01-18T13:23:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I lent my voice to a Librivox.org recording of Shakespeare's Henry V. The completed product is here. It has been up for a few weeks, but being the holidays those were a busy few weeks, and I am only just now getting around to posting about it.

I mention it here because it was voluntary, and most of the people involved with Librivox projects are amateurs, though not all are actors. I of course am, and I thought my loyal blog readers would enjoy hearing me perform as Michael Williams. You can find me in Act 4 starting at about the 7:30 mark. It's actually an interesting though short scene. A very key moment that I think often gets overlooked in productions of the play. But in it Henry is, in a sense, laying by his royalty, (the "idle ceremony" as he cause it in a subsequent scene) in order to get a sense of how the common man feels not only about him, but about his actions, and the current campaign in France.

Michael Williams is one such common solider, and he has an interesting speech about the men who do not "die well" in a battle, and the consequences of same. I actually think I'd find this to be an interesting smaller role to play on stage as well.

I do make a reappearance as the character late in Act IV, when the king reveals the joke he has played on Williams, by setting him, falsely against another man, whom Williams mistakes to be the hooded figured with whom he fault earlier. I am less fond of that scene, but the Bard wrote it nonetheless, so it is in the recording.

As for technical aspects, in some cases those who read for the recording had access to the lines of the others, but generally we recorded out own lines on our own computers, without anyone else to feed us cues. Later someone else edited everything together. At time you can tell that this is the case if you listen to an entire scene. But LibroVox doesn't claim to be a theatrical production. Just an archive of many public domain works.

I also appeared in King Henry VI Part 2, but those parts were all so minor I didn't bother digging up the links for them. A handful of servants and nameless captains with a few lines here and there. Nothing to write home about, though fun to do.

My plan is to do more for LibriVox in the future. I have done a few poems for them. I hope to do longer things in the future, along with more poems and hopefully more Shakespeare.

Check them out, and not just because I am on there. Maybe you can be a volunteer reader as well!

More Than a Hobby

2011-01-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

To many people out there, including those who perform in it, community theatre is considered a hobby. And I suppose that depending on how serious one takes it, it could be merely a hobby.

Yet acting in a stage production is more than a hobby to me, and while in general I don't like to label any given approach as incorrect, I have plenty of reasons to declare that if you are involved in community theatre, you should treat it as more than a hobby.

In most dictionaries, "hobby" is defined thusly:

"An activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation."

On the surface being in community theatre would appear top fall into this definition. Because few people make money doing it. Those that do do not make a living from it. Not as actors at least.

But let's look again. "Pursued for pleasure or relaxation." I can agree there is a certain amount of pleasure involved, though I think "satisfaction" is more applicable in my case most of the time.

I think we get into tricky territory when we include "relaxation", not only because theatre is not, by definition, a relaxing exercise for the actor, (at least it shouldn't be!) but because that cuts out just about all of the sports, and dare devil activities that people no doubt consider hobbies.

But even ignoring that, doing community theatre requires several things which place it outside of the category of the hobby.

To begin with, it is a collaborative effort. Even if one is doing a one-person show, there are at least several other people involved in making it possible. Director. Stage manager. Prop people. Ticket booth. The board of directors that gave the show the green light at their venue. None of those things are present when one collects baseball cards, or takes up knitting. The latter two examples are mostly solitary undertakings. A community theatre production, while not a source of income, does require accountability to other people.

Not to mention other actors in any show that has more than one person. Other people are giving up their time to participate in a community production, and each for their own reasons. While your reasons cannot be forced to be exactly the same as those of the others, a lackadaisical approach to rehearsing and performing, wherein you justify half-assed attitudes by claiming "this is just a hobby for me" shows a lack of respect for other people. If you want to do things only for your own benefit, take up one of the hobbies I have already mentioned. Nobody will care how dedicated you are.

Then time itself is as issue. I don't mean to suggest that serious hobbyists don't put lots of time into their passions, because they certainly do. But unless they are entering a specific contest, or have entered into some kind of merchant's contract to sell their wares, their time is their own. I would argue in fact that the whole purpose of a traditional hobby is to take part in the activity in the time you have left after you fulfill all of your obligations. But when you are in a play, even at the community level, it is in and of itself an obligation on your time. At least it certainly should be.

There are amateur actors who will blow off a rehearsal or two or three because "it's just a hobby". But as I have already mentioned, if you are going to show respect to all of those other people involved, you need to be present when you say you are going to be present. Your other actual hobbies may in fact have to take a bit of a back seat to your theatrical endeavors during the life of the production. It's not a sacrifice everybody is willing to make. But if one is not willing, one shouldn't audition.

And setting aside respect for other people for a moment, theatre, and all that it requires, has a lot to do with respecting yourself, in my humble opinion. Can you keep your word, without having to sign a contract? Does doing a good job at something, and producing a quality product with no pay something in which you can take pride? When your name is on that playbill, and you are there in front of public audience, what do you want attached to your identity? The mark of someone who tried hard to produce a visual art, or someone who screwed around in front of dozens or even hundreds of people just to get a chuckle out of it for himself? Being on stage when it is not the way you make your living is about stepping up and believing it is worth being there in more ways than one.

But if it is not worth it for you, consider that is should be worth it to the audience. The time, and certainly the money of people who come to see the show is being doled out. You may not be getting paid, but those people out in the seats, (no matter how few seats there are in the house), have paid money to be there. And for some of the community theatres I have been associated with, the ticket price is not always an easy one for working class people to cough up.

But they come. They come because they want to laugh. To hear music. To think. To be moved. To be put into the Christmas spirit. To be scared. To escape. Any of those reasons, and more. But they come, and they give the theatre company money for the privilege. You may never pocket that money yourself, but that doesn't change the fact that people are handing over their own incomes for the chance to watch you do what you do on any given weekend night. I can't speak for every actor, but for me, that makes what I am doing in the rehearsal process a lot more important than simply, "it's just a hobby."

Finally, I'll comment on the big picture for a moment. The importance of the arts to not just a society, but to a community. The arts as an institution play a vital role in society as a whole. They reflect where we are now, where we came from, and where we are going. Whether it be painting, dance, music, or of course theatre, the arts are a way for civilization to write a love letter to itself.

I am frightened at how each year fewer and fewer people in power seem to understand this. They write off the arts in schools as "flippant luxuries", and slash public funding for same right and left. This battle is a serious one that cannot be ignored, in my view. But until such a time as arts erosion on the societal level is addressed and reversed, each individual community can contribute to the overall health of the arts, by supporting them, and displaying them, and making them available to the public.

There are many ways individual communities can do this. Amateur theatre is one of them. And even if your town's tiny little community playhouse is doing nothing more than its upteenth, unoriginal and boring rendition of "The Pirates of Penzance", it is at least weaving itself into the tapestry of arts patronage. And if you happen to be in that tired old production in your town, you should be able to take at least a bit of pride in the fact that you are playing not just a part in a musical, but playing a part in keeping the arts alive, even if only a bit, in your own community. When you look at it like that, it is far more than a hobby.

Remember, it isn't about how much talent you have, or how good your voice is, or how pretty you look under the lights. It is about how much of yourself you are willing to commit to a community production. How present you choose to be. How driven you are to do the best possible job that is inside of you, regardless of the company, the cast, the script, or the lack of pay. If you choose to view it this way, you are already the sort of actor with whom I love to work.

In the end, the standards I have set here are not going to be realistic for many people. And that's fine. People who don't want to approach it like I do are not bad people. Theatre isn't for everyone. But then again nobody makes you do it. It is voluntary. However, once you make that decision to volunteer your time and efforts to a community theatre production, upholding the standards I have outlined here to the best of your ability is, to me, the least you should be doing.

My Showbiz Radio Column for January 5, 2011

2011-01-06T12:52:00.000-05:00

Head on over to Showbiz Radio to check out my latest actor's advice column. This time, I talk about playing as many different ages on stage as you can. Especially those that are far removed from you own.

Many directors will of course not give you the chance, but as an actor you should snap up any opportunity you can to play interesting characters that are far older or far younger than yourself. It expands you range and deepens your understanding of the human condition, something all actors should spend a lifetime observing. (Though you won't ever quite master it, of course.)

An Actor's Auld Lang Syne: 2010 Edition

2010-12-28T13:07:00.000-05:00

I hope all of my loyal blog readers are enjoying the holiday season. (Which to me doesn't end until January 2, basically.) Mine has been going well, for the most part.

At this season, one naturally looks back at the year about to be completed. I thought I'd do that in regards to my theatre activites in 2010, as well as share some thoughts on 2011.

I won't get into too much detail, because I covered the specifics here in the blog. I advise you to go back tot he archive for more. But here is an overview with some thoughts.

In March, I auditioned for the first time for The Potomac Playmakers, based in Hagerstown, Maryland. It was part of my decision to expand my theatre experience beyond the same few location in West Virginia. Obvious I made it into their production of "Heaven Can Wait", and it became my first full production in my home state of Maryland. I made a few new friends, and was exposed to the nearly built Academy Theater. The experience altogether was a pleasant, positive one, despite some very frustrating difficulties with the production itself.I intend to, but as of yet have not, returned there to audition for future plays, even though I learned their play selection tends to lean toward the tame and conservative.

Naturally, that process took up most of my time in April and May of this year. The 6 shows were mostly a success in regards to crowd size and response.

June brought an aborted attempt at a second summer for the Bard's Men, a theatre company with whom I worked a year earlier on Romeo and Juliet. The summer of 2010 was to be a touring summer for the venue-less company, and the material was to consist of several scenes from various Shakespeare plays, along with some educational commentary. The script was created, and auditions were held, but almost zero interest in same resulted in a decision by management to cancel the production, with hopes of preparing for the summer of 2011.

It was a personal disappointment, as I had looked forward to the chance to find venues, and travel to them, in order to present different Shakespearean speeches and scenes. I have had a similar idea for a traveling company ever sense I performed "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" in college, which was also a traveling show and an excellent experience. This Bard's Men production remains the only show in which I was involved that was ultimately canceled.

In August I tried out for what seemed at the time a fun and witty collection of short plays, known as "A Thurber Carnival." The season opener for The Full Circle Theater Company, I was under the impression that the play would be a fun, relaxing, and relatively low pressure experience. I hadn't been on stage at Full Circle for over a year, and I had been looking forward to getting back there.

As my blog entries during that time indicated, it quickly became a very stressful and unpleasant event in many ways. (In a major way due to the unprofessional behavior of our choreographer.) Not to mention some serious ego problems on the part of some truly odious people. As a result, it ended up being more something to be survived, than enjoyed, and I got the feeling I was not the only member of the cast who felt as much. This experience was enduring through half of August, all of September, and a weekend in October.

Before "Thurber" tent was taken down, I was approached to take a role in The Full Circle's production of "A Christmas Carol". I hadn't auditioned for the this play, (one in which I had appeared two years previous), but turn out for auditions was very low. Not enough to cover all of the roles. After some conversation I agreed to appear in the play, if nobody else could be located. Nobody else was, and so I took on the role.(Which in fact was several roles, making it the second ensemble piece at Full Circle in a row I appeared in this year.)

Most of October and November was spend on this project, and in sharp contrast to "Thurber", it was a smooth, peaceful, easy going rehearsal process from start to finish. Some of that I realize was due to the fact I had been in the play before. (Though in a different set of roles.) But dedication and organization played a large role in the smooth as glass production.

There was talk of making that particular adaptation a yearly thing at Full Circle. I determined I'd be willing to participate in it again in the future, provided I had the same roles I had this year. Having done it twice, I have determined the set of roles I had for 2010 (Fred, Old Joe, Young Scrooge) are more enjoyable to me than the ones I had two years ago.

Just as the dust from "Thurber" had not settled before we began "A Christmas Carol", auditions were held for Full Circle's next play "Claudie Hukill" on the same day we performed the second Saturday of "A Christmas Carol". As I have explained, I am the assistant-director of that play. And though I won't be writing regular updates on the experience here in the blog, (as I decided it was not about acting directly), I will be posting some updates here and there.

"Claudie Hukill" doesn't open until February, but it is the theatre experience with which I am closing out 2010, regardless.

So, as it can be seen, 2010 has been a Full Circle year for me. I have had no more than four evenings in a row away from the place since early August. Nor shall I again until Mid-February. But I look forward to it.

And on the subject of looking forward, what might 2011 hold for me in the world of acting? What are my plans?

None specifically at this time. I can say that nothing remaining in the Full Circle season strikes me as particularly interesting. And I have no idea what the other theatres in the area are doing. I will be looking into that at the start of the year.

My hope is to once again audition at at least one theatre that I have never been to before. I am running out of local options, but there must be some within driving distance. I think it is good to keep up that policy of trying to broaden the theatre horizon. And if I cannot find a new theatre, I may consider trying out for something in Frederick, Maryland again, even though all the theatres in the city with whom I have dealt personally are cliquey and have terrible attitudes towards performing. They are under the impression, (so far as I can tell) that they are somehow more important to the world of theatre than those to the south of the Potomac River. I don't like that. But perhaps attitudes have changed. It has been about 8 years since I even attempted to get into a show in one of those places.

I am going to check on the Winchester Little Theater, to see if any upcoming auditions there interest me. After last year's pleasant experience during "It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play", I determined not only that there are some good people there, and that the venue is charming, but that if I were to make the hour-plus commute there again, it would be only for a spring/summer time show. I had a nightmare wintry commute home from there last year.

But again, a warm weather show may be worth the commute, as it was for The Potomac Playmakers. I do want to appear at the WLT again at some point.

I don't yet know what the plans are for The Bard's Men for this summer. I know there was talk of staging "Titus Andronicus", a play in which I have very little interest, I must admit. That is not to say I would reject the chance outright to be in it if that is what they are doing, but if the chance presented itself elsewhere, I would take a look.

Especially for Shakespeare. I have a hope to perform some sort of Shakespeare in 2011, even if it is just a reading someplace. I don't know how or where, but I intend to research that.

I also may finally begin taking steps to start my own theatre company. A traveling, public domain showcase of the classics, including Shakespeare. I have talked about that on this blogs several times before, but 2011 seems to be the year to begin building, even if it is not the year to begin performing. (Though it may come to that as well.) I will blog about that as more becomes known.

When Christmas rolls around again, I hope that the aforementioned WLT is again putting on the "It's a Wonderful Life" radio play. They didn't this year, and I was disappointed. If they do so in 2011, I feel fairly confident I will be there for auditions.

I also plan to spend more time reading scripts. This is a big one for me. Whether I have my own company, or plan to make suggestions to other companies, I have been a bit delinquent in reading new scripts, as far as being an active community theatre personality is concerned. If I hope to direct, I need to be familiar with more scripts. And the more familiar I am with scripts, the more I know going into an audition should a local company decide to perform one that I have read.

I also plan to memorize more monologues. It's good to have a few in one's arsenal, and I have been derelict in my duties pertaining to that aspect of being an actor. That ends in 2011.

One thing in certain about 2011; I won't have any idea all of what will occur. And indeed I predict that at least one theatre project in which I find myself involved during the year will be unexpected, as it pertains to what I am thinking now. But that is the beauty of it, I suppose.

And so, as 2010 prepares its exit from the stage, 2011 is waiting in the wings. I am hoping for a warm and large crowd to welcome it.

Showbiz Radio Post for December 15, 2010

2010-12-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

One thing I have decided to do more regularly here on the blog is to provide a link, and brief commentary on my regular pieces for Showbizradio.net. This is my latest column.

In it I talk about the luxury that community players have over where and with whom they will be working on a show. Particularly, directors. A martyr complex sets in with some people when they do community theatre which convinces them they must work for "the good of the art", even if that mean being around a director they cannot stand. I argue that community players can and should be picky about which directors they audition for. 6-8 weeks is a long time to spend with someone you cannot stand.

A New (Yet Unwritten?) Chapter

2010-12-10T23:43:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe that the second Friday of A Christmas Carol was a week ago tonight. The show went fast, and the time after the show has gone rather fast as well. (The holidays I am sure contribute to this sensation in this case.)

I mention in a few previous entries that the end of A Christmas Carol did not spell the end of my work at Full Circle Theater Company this year. Tomorrow I begin my next adventure there; I will be the assistant-director for a February production of Sean O'Leary's Claudie Hukill.

It should be an interesting and rewarding experience. Auditions were a week ago, and the director has chosen the cast, and contacted same. We have our first read-through tomorrow.

However, I have decided that I will not be posting regular updates about the experience here on Always Off Book.

I went back and forth no it all week, and I said I would do so. I came close to deciding to post about it as I do any of the shows I have been in. I have also previously written about my experience as a director for a one act several years ago. But I decided against doing so this time because as an assistant-director, I am neither a member of the cast, having experiences of the actor, as I usually write about. And nor am I shaping the production myself as director. I have no doubt that I will have influence over the process, as the director has told me so. I may even have to fill in any given day as Acting-Director of a rehearsal, should the director not be able to attend. But in general, my position in this play is, as the name suggests, assistant, and as such I determined it would not be wholly appropriate for me to post thoughts and impressions about rehearsal specifics.

That isn't to say I won't ever be making mention of the upcoming experience. I certainly shall be, when I feel it will fit in well with my goals of sharing knowledge about the theatre. Specifically acting. For any actor that finds himself as a director or assistant-director ought to be able to learn something about acting, as much as they learn something about directing. If not, something is missing. I don't intend to allow that element to be missing.

So my next theatre project will not remain a mystery to you, loyal blog readers. It will simply be less regularly discussed. I can't promise I will never change my mind about that, but for now, I will confine most of the documentation about being the assistant-director of this show to my private production journal.

Yet still check back often, as I hope to start once again posting more advice on acting and links to other theatre related things as we head towards the New Year and beyond.

"The End Of It"

2010-12-06T02:29:00.000-05:00

The title of this entry comes not from the play, but from the last section of the original novel, A Christmas Carol. But I used it for the final entry for this play two years ago, and I am doing so again.

First and foremost, I need to say that it is quite an infrequent experience for me to have my final performance be either the best, or in front of the biggest crowd. Today's matinee, however was both. Five seats short of a full house, and a very response, cheerful crowd at that. They laughed at a few things that the other crowds did not find so amusing.

As well as things that all of the other crowds found amusing. Such as my often mentioned "Happy New Year!" bit. It was always well received, and tonight was it's best reception. And though I didn't reach 100% internalization, (another hot topic here on the blog the last two weeks) I do feel my performances in this final day were of high quality, and full of energy. And the same can be said for basically everyone else in the show.

It was especially true for the break-up scene. It went better than last night, as Belle and I managed to more successfully recreate the graceful hand motion at the end of the waltz that we first did on Friday, but didn't quite achieve the following night. It may have been our best presentation of that scene. If not, it was certainly the second best. I am happy with my move in later rehearsals to present Scrooge's frustration, as opposed to presenting anger or total coldness. I shall miss performing that scene just as much as I shall miss Fred's first scene, wherein he greets Uncle Scrooge.

I had fun with Old Joe, and will miss him a bit as well. I won't miss being Peter Cratchit in either scene, frankly, despite the drama in the second. My brief moments as Christmas Future were always fun, though not my biggest challenge ever. I won't particularly miss any of the scenes in Dickens' attic, even though they are sort of the raison detre of this particular version. I always found myself chomping at the bit to get on with the actual story. (And according to my mother, who was in today's audience, some people in the house agreed with this notion, being confused by the attic moments, and unsure of what was happening.)

And then there is the Fred party scene in the Christmas Present section. The one scene that always made me a bit nervous beforehand, despite it usually being just fine. A scene I did not hate, but probably won't miss too much. And it was just fine today, and the audience was very appreciative of it. But it was not without it's problems.

To begin with, a moment wherein I was supposed to walk slowly off of a 5 step turret we built for the play did not exactly go off as planned. It is round in shape, and as I turned to deliver a line, something happened. I lost my balance for a moment, or caught my show on something, and felt myself falling forward a bit toward the ground, and away from the steps. So in the only thing I could think of to correct it error, as well as to prevent possible injury, I simply leaped off of the turret and landed in the middle of the stage while delivering said line. A bit much, but I don't think the audience noticed, and in fact seemed to be laughing rather heartily at that moment. But whether at my mini-stunt, or at something else going on on stage, I can't say. I can say the jump was a bit higher than I initially thought it would be. But better by far than falling off the thing.

The second snafu for that scene will take some explaining, but was so amusing to me I'd like to take the time to do so.

Fred blindfolds his friend Topper during the scene for a game of "Blindman's Buff". There is a gag here, wherein I look for a handkerchief, and the supposedly unseen Ghost of Christmas Present throws it, and I catch it. It always got a chuckle or two. However, at the top of the act, one of my fellow actors came off stage, and delivered a message to me on behalf of the actor who was playing Christmas Present; He had forgotten to grab the handkerchief.

That actor didn't come off stage for close to half an hour straight. He had no way to get it, and I was about to go on as Peter Cratchit. I pondered ways to cover the problem while performing Peter. (A role which had few lines.) During my brief exit, I discussed it with a fellow actress who suggested something I had already considered...taking off my ascot during the scene and using that. (Ironically, this is exactly what happened two years ago, when another actor was playing Fred, and the blindfold was somehow misplaced.) The problem was, I wasn't sure I'd have time to put it back on for my remaining scenes. I never could get it on without several tries.

Bob Cratchit enters the scene now. Played by the same actor who will later play Topper. During a section we all hated, wherein the Cracthit family had to mime its way through what seemed like a 10 minute speech by the Ghost of Christmas Present, I leaned over toward "Bob" and explained the problem to him. "Bob" then explained to me that he had retrieved the blindfold from backstage and sneaked it on with him. He mentioned it was laying behind us. I couldn't look without being conspicuous, but sure enough when I exited the Cratchit scene, to prepare for the Fred scene, I saw the wayward prop, and pocketed it quietly. It was then available to me during the party scene. And though a joke was lost, the audience was none the wiser of this. (At least until some of them read this entry!) It was a nearly perfect fix involving nearly half the cast, and not a bead of sweat was shed because of it. That is what focus and team work will bring you during a show!

None of that would have been possible if this production wasn't one of the most prepared, well rehearsed, and overall smooth flowing shows I have been in for a while. I have discussed the reasons why this may have been so for in previous entries. I won't go into them again, but suffice to say today was a prime example of the importance of being so.

As well as a prime example of why two weekend simply are not enough in most community theatre shows. Loyal blog readers will know already I have long advocated for a three weekend schedule for at least some community shows, given how almost all of them hit their true stride during the second weekend, right before they close. (If the stride is ever hit at all...) If once in a while that sense of finally hitting that rhythm could carry into one more weekend, I think a show could have more life than most community players would imagine.

A subject worthy of further consideration and discussion, but not here. Here is the time I look back on yet another show that has concluded. A show that I didn't even think I would be in, given I did not audition for it. But one I am glad I agreed to appear in. It was not revolutionary, nor life changing. nor was it perfect. But as I was telling one of the other actors during strike today, I feel it was one of those shows where we basically achieved anything we could have expected to achieve. I don't think we left anything on the stage, as it were. I think we did everything we set out to do, despite the inevitable obstacles. And hopefully we opened up the holiday season on a positive note for at least some of the people who came to see us these last two weekends. Perhaps even converted a real Scrooge or two into a happier frame of mind? One never knows.

So though once again almost none of my friends came to see me, (a sadly regular occurrence) I count this production of A Christmas Carol as a positive one. I give us a B+ or A- for the entire run. Quite the improvement over my previous show.

And an improvement over the last time we performed this show, two years ago, in some ways. Even the strike was smooth and without incident.

Now my focus turns both towards the holidays themselves, and toward my next theatre project; being an assistant-director for Full Circle's next production. I will decide in the coming days whether or not to chronicle that here on the blog, but until then, I bring my blogging about the Full Circle Theater Company's 2010 production of A Christmas Carol to a close. With my thanks to cast and crew of same.

And no, I will not end this entry with the most obvious Tiny Tim reference of all time.

Winding Down

2010-12-05T01:20:00.000-05:00

Very often, I don't end up writing an entry about a second Saturday performance. It's true. Look back over previous shows I have chronicled here, and you will see that often I was too tired on Saturday night, and I end up blogging about both the second Saturday, and the final performance/strike in the same entry. Not this time, though there isn't much to say.

I was at the theatre for hours before call today, helping to run auditions for the show I am the assistant-director of. So I felt more than usually prepared and well balanced with my surroundings tonight. And once everyone else started to arrive, it felt like it was the most relaxed, and in some ways crazy atmosphere in the green room thus far in the run. Everyone just seemed to be more energetic tonight.

Plus we knew we were going to have a very large crowd, based on reservations. By the time it was all over, we were just 14 seats shy of filling the 100 seat house. Not bad. Our largest so far.

And our most responsive. Friday night was good, but most of the folks in tonight's crowd seemed to come ready to laugh and get into the proceedings. I even heard a few people laughing before I did my "Happy New Year" thing as Fred. I think they all knew something was coming from him, they just didn't know what exactly, nor the precise moment it would come. But it got the big laugh again once it did come.

I agreed with "Belle" that our dance and break-up scene felt better on Friday than tonight. Better than most others, and still certainly good, but it didn't flow quite as gracefully as last night. We have one more shot at it. One more shot at everything, of course.

Such as the party scene, which was fine, but sluggish in a place or two for a moment. I am not sure the exact cause, (other than me getting tongue tied once.) But the audience was laughing quite a bit at certain sections of it, so I would call it a success overall.

I almost tripped again on the damn cloak for Christmas Future. I got to wear i needed to go, but felt I had stepped on the cloth, so I stopped. I was still in my light, but could not extend my arm as far as normal when I pointed at Scrooge. Correcting it on stage would have been too awkward for that character, so I just left things alone. But people are a fan of the way I nod my head in that scene. One of the tech crew complimented that again tonight during intermission.

I screwed up in the Old Joe scene. There is always a line or two, even in a good show, that for whatever reason you worry about or struggle with. I had gotten through mine without hitches until tonight, when for a moment I blanked on the next thing I was to say. A few seconds at most, but of course it felt longer as it always does. Then I recovered and delivered the line. I hate that it happened. But am grateful it was as brief as it was, and that it was not some of my other lines at other moments.

Otherwise, another good, solid performance for everyone involved. Now comes the realization that each time I do something in the show tomorrow, it will be that last time. Or in the very least, the last time I will do it this year. There is talk of making this play an annual event, in which case I very well may end up playing the exact same role again in the future. But as for this moment in time, the sand is falling through the hour glass.

But it has not stopped yet. One more show, and despite it being a matinee, promises to be a crowd as big, if not bigger than tonight's crowd, based on reservations. I don't know if I have ever closed with the biggest crowd of the run. But whatever the size I hope it's the best crowd of the run. For even more rarely does one close with one's best crowd. Yet my mother will be in tomorrow's crowd, and I'd like her to see some of our best stuff.

Crossing the Median

2010-12-04T00:24:00.000-05:00

The second Friday's performance of A Christmas Carol seemed to have a few tiny sticky points at the start. Yet in spite of that fact I'd say we had one of our best nights so far.

The crowd was small, but more responsive than the previous three. They laughed a several things that just had not been getting laughs. And though I was not out in the audience itself of course, and could not judge it's overall mood, our choreographer was out there, and she revealed to us during intermission that the peopel were very much into every scene. (A little theatre secret for you: sometimes your backstage people will watch the audience as much or even more than they watch what is going on on stage.) Given that I trust her view on things, I must conclude that indeed we were holding the attention of the small house quite well.

I think the waltz with "Belle" was the best it has been, leading into one of the best break-up scenes we have done.

The timing of the waltz was great tonight, and something happened that doesn't usually happen, which I think led to those enhancements. From the start, near the end of my waltz with "Belle", I step away and into the part of the set wherein Scrooge's desk sits, thus symbolizing the character's transformation from "good Scrooge" to "not so good Scrooge" if you will. While I am doing so, the actor playing the current, older Scrooge finishing the waltz with Belle that I started. Probably the most allegorical moment of the play, now that I think of it.

When I walk away from Belle, I have always done a bit of a flourish with my hand, my arm extended as though releasing a balloon in a matter of fact manner. Tonight, Belle held that hand longer than usual, and as a result her hand gracefully glided out of my own, as opposed to my simply stepping out of it. It made the whole scene feel more graceful. Possibly even more poignant. And from what I am told, (though I cannot see it happening from my vantage point) it led to an excellent timing for the other actor to step into the dance. Really nice effect, so we were told later.

The break-up scene itself went well as usual, but with the added momentum from the previously described new moment. Couple this with me changing up a line delivery here and there, (leaning more towards frustration with Belle, than anger), and we had perhaps the most complete presentation of that whole sequence we have yet achieved. I hope we can replicate the effect in the final two performances.

Beyond this, I am happy to report that my "Happy New Year!" jab and Uncle Scrooge got a luagh again. It always does.

All the rest of my scenes, save one, went by without hitches. I did trip ever so slightly on the long black cloth I wear during the entrance of Christmas Future. It is a very meshy, long and unruly piece of cloth that is probably best suited for a much taller person. It has always been a bit tricky for me, especially during the quick costume change I must make right after that first exit. But today I stepped on it just off stage, and for the first milli-second I was on stage. I don't think the audience noticed, as it was very brief. But finding my balance did prevent me from pointing at Scrooge as early as I usually do. Annoying, but by no means devastating.

This remains one of the fastest runs I have ever been in, and it is a little stunning to think we have but two more performances remaining.

Though it will not mark the end of my time at Full Circle, even for what little remains of 2010. Tomorrow, before the call for the evening show, I will be present there to help conduct auditions for the next play. I am the assistant director of that show. I have not yet decided how, or if I will report on that adventure here on this blog, because this has always been about acting, not directing. I must give it some thought.

But not yet as much though as delivering strong performances tomorrow night and Sunday evening. Until such time as the set is literally struck, that remains, as it must, my primary focus.

Pick Me Up, Before You Go-Go

2010-12-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

Last night we had the final rehearsal for A Christmas Carol ever. A pick-up rehearsal to keep us fresh between our two weekends. Not all community shows have one, but all of them should. I am glad that this show did. Props, but no costumes. Despite that, there was actually some new stuff going on.

I think there is a certain unique freedom to a pick-up rehearsal. It if the very last chance for a cast to feel totally free enough to expand, without the worries of an audience. (Which is why I wish more community theatres would go for 3 weekends.)The show has run one weekend already, and some of the kinks are out. It has been proven that the show can work in front of an audience. So once a pick-up rolls around, actors tend to let loose a bit more, whether consciously or unconsciously. (I am not referring to prank-laden pick up rehearsals, which are common, but I frown upon them.)

I am happy to report that this occurred last night in several places. No specific new choices were made on my part, but as I said, I felt more free and energetic to just go all out with some of the scenes, and the result was some new things happening. More of that treasured nuance about which I write so often here on Always Off Book. For me I think this was especially true during the break-up scene. The director offered particular kudos for that scene. (I didn't think to ask "Belle" how she thought it went.)

I also got kudos for the way I enter in my one scene as the Ghost of Christmas Future, though I have not changed that much for several weeks.

This show is probably one of the most well oiled machines I have been in for a while. The final two weeks of rehearsal, you will note from my blogging, were very productive, and the first weekend proved this. If there were any doubt in anyone's head, the pick-up last night should have removed them; we are running on as close to automatic as any show I have been in at this point. And I do not mean a lifeless automatic, but an automatic indicative of the entire cast and crew being so well prepared for what comes next, that little thought must be placed on it. Flow is the word, in fact. The show flows well from almost beginning to end. I knew for certain he much we had it nailed when both the Fezziwig dancing, and the Fred party word game went by with virtually zero problems.

Not that the entire rehearsal was problem free. An actor who is supposed to hand me a handkerchief at some point did not have it on his person. "Dammit" I ad-libbed, which is something I would not have done had it been anything but a pick-up.

But other than that I am aware of no major mistakes from last night.

So, it is my hope that the new things that were discovered during the freedom and relaxation of Wednesday can be applied to the three remaining shows. It seems that reservations for the second weekend are already at higher numbers than the first, so there will be a lot more people to present the improved show to in the coming days.

A Better Than Average Sunday

2010-11-29T00:52:00.000-05:00

If you have read this blog with any regularity, you will know that I am no fan of matinees. Theatre just seems to belong to the evening. Like football belongs in the cold weather.

Energy is often low for matinees, both for audiences and for the cast. Fewer people tend to come to a matinee, and those that do tend to skew towards the elderly in age. The size, and age of the crowd for today fit that description. But thankfully, the energy factor did not. It was a warmer crowd. The even laughed at a few more things than the evening crowds did. (Despite being half of their size, or about 25 people.)

In turn, I think that gave the actors more energy, which seemed to carry throughout most of the show. In some ways it was the best performance of the show so far. So prepared have we been for the last two weeks that I think for a change the play will peak before the final performance. If we hold on to what we had today in fact, the entire second weekend has the potential to be optimal.

It is more than a little ironic than that the very first moments of the show were almost quite problematic. The sound monitor we use in the green room to listen for our cues was sort of fading in and out there for a while, and the moment of my entrance was upon me much quicker than I am used to. I was in place in time, and I entered on time. But I literally went from the rest of the green room, through backstage, and right into my place off right, and thence to my first entrance, in one long, brisk and unbroken motion. So that made the first few moments exciting, given that I didn't get my usual time to collect myself.

Maybe it was that unexpected excitement that led to some of the energy of the show as a whole? I doubt it. At last I doubt it had much of an impact passed the first few moments. (As important as they can be.) And it wouldn't account for the energy of the others.

Whatever the reason, both the crowd and the cast were unusually into it for a matinee performance, and as a result, I was able to "feel it" more than I otherwise might. Still not the height of internalization that I reached in that one rehearsal, at to which I was close on Friday night, but a fair amount of it was there.

Our choreographer was on hand again today, and she mentioned that not only was she saddened by the break up scene, but also got chills from the moment before it. She couldn't offer details, but she felt them when I stepped out of the waltz with Belle. It is a point that is surreal, because it is not an actual moment in time. It is symbolic of Scrooge going from being the warm Scrooge, to the beginnings of the cold one. At that moment, the present day Scrooge dances with Belle's shadow, as I make my way to the other end of the set, in preparation for the break-up scene.

And the scene itself felt good. "Belle" still feels that opening night was our best for that scene, but I continue to think it goes just as well every night.

The party scene at Fred's gets better each night, though. The choreographer also mentioned how well that scene was going, and applauded the chemistry. I am willing to agree with her assessment, now that the lines are coming easier for everyone. Plus I didn't have as many nerves going into it as usual. They were there, but I think they decrease a little more each night. It is one of those scenes that community players notoriously tend to lethargic in. To our credit, i think we keep the very high energy level going throughout the entirety of that eight minute scene. And that is not always easy to do. I am proud of how much it has evolved.

I am also proud that I have now gone three nights in a row without dropping something at the end of the Old Joe scene. (Another scene that continues to go very well, though there were some tiny hitches in it tonight.)

So at the end of the first weekend, I give the cast of A Christmas Carol at Full Circle a very solid B+, with moments of Grade A material. Here is hoping that we can achieve the overall A for the second half of the run.

But first we must hold on to what we have learned for the next three days until our pick-up rehearsal on Wednesday. If we show no signs of rust for that, I predict a a very strong total run.

Oil On the Machine

2010-11-28T02:36:00.000-05:00

Well, we moved the choreographer to tears tonight. And not because the dance was bad. (It was the break-up scene.) So I would say that the night had quite its share of fine acting moments.

Indeed the whole night was even better than last night. The crowd, though slightly smaller was a bit warmer. More responsive. Which is good, because I think we gave them some of our best stuff in more than one place tonight.

The top of Act One, which tends to suffer from dragging, had more energy tonight. It just felt like there was more pop in some of the speeches and exchanges. It was the most vibrant that my Frederick Dickens had felt in a while. Part of that may have to do with the fact that I was able to get a half an hour or so to myself before getting dressed; an option I did not have in the rushed madness of being late for opening night. But an equal or greater part had to do with the conspiracy of a warm crowd and a group of actors that are obviously very much at ease now with virtually the entire show.

There were some minor flubs here and there. I got tongue tired for a moment once or twice. A line here and there was dropped but quickly covered. What I call "invisible" flubs, because they get covered well and fast enough that there is no way an audience would know any better without a script in front of them. If there were any "visible flubs", I was and remain unaware of what they were.

So, going through things in order. The opening I have already talked about. The first scene with Fred, which has never really suffered from any major problems continued to feel near perfect. My exit got laughs again, and I imagine it often will.

The dance, both the fast one and my waltz went well. I feel we have the group dance nailed down, though it is probably still a bit low on energy.

Then the break up scene. (Which as I said, moved our choreographer.) It continues to go very well. I get the feeling my opposite was more happy with her performance last night, but I have no complaints about it whatsoever. Never have, actually. For my part it continues to feel more and more natural. I have had to walk a line with the scene. Scrooge must be the changed, shallow and greedy Scrooge. That is why Belle is leaving him. However there should still be a palpable sense of loss, and a bit of surprise on the part of Scrooge. Confusion and some disbelief over the fact that this engagement, this life plan which has been in place for so long, borne out of what was once love, is coming to an end. He perhaps feels sustained by the memory of a feeling, more than any actual feeling at this point. At least that is how I have been trying to play him.

Which means he can neither be totally cold and mechanical as he is when an old man. But he can not be a blubbering heart broken fellow either. Perhaps he wishes she would have changed in the same way he had, and is lamenting that as well. Either way he must still show some humanity in the scene, in the way we have been playing it. I think in the last two nights I have taken a step or two towards the man with some remains of emotion, as opposed to the man who has none left. And I think the choice had added the depth to the scene that perhaps had been lacking in some of the later rehearsals. (To my end of the scene, that is.)

The first Cratchit scene is still just...there. Not much to tell about it, really.

The second Fred scene is the one scene that I admit still causes me a slight case of nerves right before I go on. My longest scene with the most moving parts if you will, there had been a few potholes in that scene in the last few rehearsals. It has my longest sustained speeches of the entire play, and some of the quickest dialogue between several characters. There was a minor flub in it today which was covered, but for a moment I admit to being afraid we might spin out. Thankfully we did not. But there would have been little I could do. All of my lines are the result of questions in that scene. The other must course correct when needed.

Otherwise that scene continues to improve, despite my slight nervousness before hand.

At long last the Old Joe scene, which for whatever reason was one of the last scenes to become totally processed in my mind, feel totally natural for me. I now even have a system for taking all of the stuff off stage at the end of it that works. Everything about the scene, (which I think most of my scene partners don't care for) is smooth sailing for me now. Plus there is a slight ham-factor involved. I have to say I enjoy the scene a lot.

I made an effort to put more emotion into the second Cratchit scene. (In the future, when Tim is dead.) Tried to make him more weary, and lost in his grief than I have previously, when I was playing the "brave-face" Peter. I think I like the dazed and mourning one better. I think I will keep it.

Such are the main moments for me. (Though a minor moment wherein I use a hand gesture at the end of the play did get a few laughs.)

As one of my fellow actors so rightly told one of the children in the show today, there is no such thing as a perfect show, and there isn't. But most everything went right today and yesterday, and I am starting to really get inside the show, to coin a phrase. It doesn't always happen on the first night, as much as we wish it would. But on the other side, sometimes it doesn't happen at all. I am glad it happened earlier for this show. I will not be complacent for the final 4 shows by any means. But I am going to try to enjoy the high comfort levels we are all experiencing.

Matinee tomorrow, then a few days off before pick-up rehearsal.

A Christmas Carol: Opening Night

2010-11-27T01:30:00.000-05:00

Tonight was it. After two days off, we opened the show. But you wouldn't know we had two days off, as smoothly as it went. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, there were no major mistakes at any point. A few minor things, mostly involving props falling off of tables. But any previous problems spots to which I have been a party went well tonight. And I heard no mention of major speed bumps anywhere else.

And what of my much talked about "internalization"? Was it present tonight? Some. Not as much as the final dress rehearsal. It may be due to the natural ebb and flow of such things. It may be because, due to traffic I was later in getting there than I wanted to be. (I am always early, but not tonight...) Whatever the reason there was a bit more distance between myself and the characters in most places than is ideal to me.

That isn't to say, however, that there were no such moments. Despite an annoying costume issue on my part, the break up scene was probably the best it has ever been. I think we delivered it a bit different tonight, as the crowd looked on. It has more energy, and I think both I and my opposite were more emphatic in our delivery. Less casual in some places, and as a result more poignant. She even said she almost felt herself tearing up a bit. I rarely do that myself, but as I said, it was better. My natural is the best way to put it. It felt less like a presentation than it sometimes feels like. Maybe because I played Ebenezer as a bit less brooding, and a bit more confused about the turns of events. Not crushed exactly, because then he would not have been dumped in the first place. But tonight it just felt right to play him a bit less cool. And I think it paid off.

The Fred party scene, complete with word game, also felt more natural than ever before. That had suffered both from my tendency to be too fast as well as feeling a bit mechanical during rehearsal. Tonight however it was warmer. More fluid. Engaging. And it got a few laughs here and there. Not as many as it might have, but I can't complain too much.

And I believe I have at last mastered a system of organizing all of the crap from the Old Joe scene that allows me to easily carry everything off stage. I didn't drop anything. And that's twice in a row counting the final rehearsal. So, (knock on wood), it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

The crowd itself I think was more into it in Act Two than in Act One. But the second half is much more dynamic and moves a lot faster, as I have mentioned here several times. And though they did enjoy Act One, (I got some laughs as Fred in that first scene, whilst needling Scrooge with a "Happy New Year!"), I think ti took them a while to warm to this unique version of the story. So not a bad crowd, Just a bit cold at times.

Hopefully my half/vest with the dry rotted elastic belt will not give me as much trouble from here on out. I safety pinned that sucker during intermission. Hopefully it will not unbuckle again as it did during the dance scene. (Which also went well, incidentally.)

So we have proven that we can perform this show as smoothly as we have rehearsed it. We just need to keep doing that, and make it a little better each time. I generally enjoy Saturday performances the most. Will this weekend be the same? Check back tomorrow to find out, loyal blog readers.

Countdown to Black Friday

2010-11-24T02:20:00.000-05:00

And I don't mean for the shopping deals. I mean because it is our opening night, and there are no more rehearsals between now and then!

It is strange. I have on occasion gotten the night before opening night off for rehearsal, but never before have I ever had two days off leading into the first performance. I don't anticipate any major problems, so long as everyone goes over their lines and blocking at some point during the break. Still, I think that come Friday night, the nerves might be at slightly higher levels as we approach curtain than they otherwise would be for me in a show like this. It may feel like we are ever so slightly cold going into the first night. Or at least, lukewarm.

But what of tonight and the final rehearsal? I have to say, not as good as last night. I almost expected that to be the case. We really hit a stride on Monday night, with costumes, make up, lights and sound. The novelty of having everything together probably drove the energy up. The realization that we were getting close contributed as well, I believe. But tonight there were no costumes. The result I think was a decrease in energy and expectation. As well as a few more mistakes.

Last night, one of the kids totally missed their entrance due to playing around too much in the green room. That also happened tonight, though it was a different child actor this time. And I dropped a line in the Old Joe scene myself, though thankfully it wasn't a direct cue line per se. The other person just needed to hand me a prop with their own motivation, as the moment is a tone change of sorts. Still I felt bad for forgetting to say it. I didn't drop any of my stuff when I exited that scene this time, though.

The game at Fred's house scene went well, though. As did most other scenes I was in, as far as I could tell.

Even the dance feels on track. Mostly.

The break-up scene didn't feel as good overall as it did last night. But the ending felt good.

I wasn't without my moments of internalization tonight, don't get me wrong. But the were more sporadic than last night, when they were almost universal and uniform. But perhaps it is good that this happened. Having had a taste of what I know is there, having two days off my provide just enough distance, and hence incentive to focus on each aspect of the performance.Perhaps this will help me internalize as it did when sickness forced me to be ultra-focused a few days ago.

Speaking of sick, I have felt better the last two nights than I have felt in about a week and a half. I still have some head cold issues, but they have become far more manageable, and I certainly hope they stay that way for the remainder of the run.

We also rehearsed the opening moment, wherein we all sing for a moment backstage. We did this after we had rehearsed to full show. And then even later, we rehearsed the curtain call, which is a very simple affair.

So, a short entry about the final rehearsal. But there really wasn't much to report about this nondescript evening beyond what I have already provided here. Though the more I think about it, the more I think having this average final rehearsal two days before opening is a good thing. Not because of the common belief that the worse the last rehearsal goes, the better the opening night goes. I have never totally bought into that one. But because the absence should set off just enough of a spark upon our return on Friday to motivate us into getting it down. Had tonight's rehearsal been out best yet, the two days may have acted as a downhill slope for us to coast into Friday, and lose energy. Or, if this mediocre rehearsal had been the very night before we opened we may have found that inertia would have kept us from hitting the ground running from the start. It may have taken us a night or two. So, according to my theory, the combination of a lackluster rehearsal being two days away from opening could work to our advantage.

This seemed like one of the faster rehearsal periods for any show I have been in for a while.I think it is due both to it coming immediately after Thurber in the same building, and my familiarity with the script from two years ago. Either way, it has been one of the quickest and (mostly) smoothest rehearsal periods in the last two years or so for me. Now all we need are the crowds to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

If you are in the area and would like to come see what I have been referring to the last few months, visit the Full Circle website, and get yourself some tickets today.

Suddenly, Penultimate

2010-11-23T01:24:00.000-05:00

Tonight it was made official; there will be no Wednesday rehearsal. Ergo, we have but one rehearsal left before we open.

Tonight was a dress rehearsal, and all hands were on deck again. Though not fully recovered, I myself was feeling better than I have the last few evenings. In more ways than one.

I think this was my best rehearsal so far. Things were clicking. Connections were being made. Nuances, by nearly everyone were more frequent in all of the performances. I have waded into the Rubicon of internalizing my characters now. I have not crossed it totally yet, and sometimes you don't totally cross it until the audience is there. But this is as close as I have felt the entire time thus far.

I have to give at least half of the credit for this development to my cast mates. Nearly everyone else also seemed to be more intensely involved in there performances tonight. Seeing as how I cannot read their minds I don't know if they too felt things were more internalized today, or if indeed that is a goal of anyone else but me. But I can say that many people had what appeared to be a keener focus tonight.

I have been acting for over ten years, and blogging about it for over five. Yet I still have not found the best way, or even a practical way to describe in words these moments. The best I have ever come up with, as my loyal blog readers will know, is the highly cliched and only partially accurate, "click". And I don't mean the usual use of the word in that everything went smoothly and without mistakes. (We were not without mistakes tonight, which I will address later.) But click into place, so to speak. When what I am trying to personally accomplish as an actor "clicks into place" with what is going on around me. You never quite know when it will happen. Sometimes, it just doesn't. But tonight it did. Not my most definitive clicking ever, but it was there. Even my costume felt natural on me.

Is this a moment within me, or within a show? Or a combination of the two? Most phenomena are combinations of several things, and I would venture to guess, (without being able to prove) that the "click" is no exception.

From here on out, the ideal is that it will feel even better, and equally good throughout each scene I am in. Practically though, oftentimes one scene feel better than others. They all felt good tonight, but I felt Old Joe was the best example. I really like all that I did with that one. Especially the effect of slinging my coat around my shoulders, to get more mileage out of the same costume.

I dropped something on the way out again. But that didn't ruin the whole scene.

And the break up was almost as good. In some ways better. Even my scene partner admitted that it finally felt better to her tonight. (She has never quite done what she wants to do in the scene. Not that one can tell from watching her excellent performance. But each person has their own metric, naturally.) The whole scene has felt better to me ever since the suggestion was made for me to take a small step towards the departed Belle, before turning to leave. As though I almost go after her, but do not do so.

The party scene at Fred's went better than it has the last few nights. No mistakes in the word game, which had given us some trouble the last few evenings. One thing about it, which I remember from the last time I was in the play, but as a different character, is that Fred doesn't really have much leeway in regards to feeding lines to the others in the event of a mistake. 99% of what he says is either "yes" or "no" during the game, because he can only respond to questions. It is the other three that have to be most on guard, I dare say, for chances to cover a mistake. Yet tonight we proved that we have it down, we just need to relax when we do it.

I have to main performance things to work on. "Frederick Dickens" still needs to be a bit less generic than I feel I am making him. I'd like to develop a distinct look and sound to him that is not yet there to the degree I want. I have some things I have been working with, but he still needs a bit more. The character isn't lost, and perhaps I am doing a better job at setting him apart than I thought. But as I said earlier each actor has his own metric, and according to mine, I could do a bit more. Yet after the good feelings I had tonight with so much of the play, I feel confident something will emerge.

One final rehearsal. No costumes this time. Some directors have costumes all tech week, some do not. I'd almost rather wear mine, but I do not think I will do so. I would feel out of place with everyone else not in costume, and feeling out of place doesn't help a performance.

One (and a Half) Men Down

2010-11-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

What does my cryptic title mean exactly? It means that last night we were missing one actress. (Which makes the "men" thing inappropriate I realize), and I myself was continuing, as I am tonight, to fight this cold/fever thing I have had for a month or so.

It's not as bad as it may have sounded, though. I was in some noticeable discomfort Earlier in the evening, which flared up a bit as time went on. But during the constant motion of Act Two, I think I became too busy to be worried about some of my ailments. That, or the small amount of medicine I took had some effect.

Despite these setbacks though, I have to say that in places, I actually felt more in the zone mentally last night than I have in most of the previous rehearsals. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about it being an effect of any cold medicine, I will point out I took nothing so strong as that. Really, just a regimen of cough drops. Yet perhaps my being sick did contribute in a way to those at long last more internalized moments. In order to get passed the illness and fatigue, I had to really be mindful of everything that was happening onstage to a degree higher than it otherwise might have been. Of course I am always paying attention, but last night I had a physical need to just absorb the actions of the scenes, or else feel too run down by the work to get through it. As a result, the much awaited internalization of a few moments.

Oddly, one of those moments was the break up scene, though my opposite in that scene was not present. It just felt like at least I was owning some of the lines when previously I was just saying them. At least some of them.

I also felt more in tune with some of my Fred moments later in the play. That too as more difficult because of the missing actress, but nonetheless my condition forced me to slow down a bit and process what I was saying. I have blogged earlier this month about how for some reason that scene has sometimes gotten away from me. But not last night. It was aligned well, if I do say so myself.

I am hoping to take what I felt last night, and apply it to tonight, while not having to feel so lousy in so doing. And to apply it with the missing actress, who plays an important role in almost every scene in which I appear.

Not wanting to jynx anything, I will say that last night felt like a possible turning point inside my head. I still have some work to do, but I can suddenly see some of my goals on the horizon now, whereas before, I was still waiting.

I also has a few more little costume pieces, and was given permission to take off my coat in one scene if I wanted to. This gave me just enough of a feeling of being a different character in each scene that it too may have contributed to the internalization that was happening here and there for me. I will know more tonight when I run those costume mini-changes again.

The director told us that if we did well enough tonight (Monday) and tomorrow, we may get Wednesday off. The play as a whole truly is progressing nicely, and we shall see soon enough if it has earned us the night off on Wednesday.

But Monday and Tuesday first, and there is still much to do.

Cue to Cue

2010-11-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

Not much can really be said about a lighting/sound cue to cue rehearsal. They are very important for the technical crew, but for the actor they tend to be tests patience/endurance or both. Some theatres do not even have actors present for them. But the theatre being so small in this case, we were there to go over, (and in fact to learn ourselves) when and how the light changes and sound effects would take place. So it wasn't a pointless night for the actors by any means. It just didn't lend itself to be the source of a particularly interesting post here.

Though I have to say, ironically, that we were in and out of that rehearsal slightly faster than some of our performance rehearsals. The director begged our patience the night before, and warned that it could be a very long evening, but in the end it was at most the average length of time for a rehearsal.

Most notable about the whole evening was that I think i set a record for most cough drops consumed at one time. I basically kept them in a constant feed. Despite having shaken most of my cold symptoms two weeks ago, a different set of them, in some ways worse than the first, have returned to plague me for tech week. I really hope they are mostly gone (again) by the time we open the show.

Tonight is full dress.