Alexgotahaircutdidyouseeitohmygodohmygodohmygodyoulooksodifferent (sorry, it just seemed like so much fun. I thought I'd do it too)
Ah, theatre games. My long lost friend. It's nice to get back to really truly thinking of acting as play. Occasionally I get too wrapped up in the seriousness of theatre as work (I said that in my head with an overly important inflection. You can't tell so much on the blog because it's just words on a screen), so it is helpful for me to stop thinking for a bit about playing actions and making stage pictures and all of the other stuff I've gleaned over the years (one day, I will excise R&G words from my vocab).
I'm really looking forward to working with Justin on two separate things. In spite of having been together on four (Four? Yes, four. I think.) productions, plus shortform and longform improv, we haven't done very much together for some reason. It must be the clashing of our overwhelming machismo. Yes, that's it. Don't laugh, dammit.
Also, long live Basque! Without him, all of the rest of you would be without a chair to sit on. Just thought it bore mentioning.
On an unrelated note, I'm very, very, very, very preliminarily thinking of directing a Black Box next year. I haven't really given too much thought yet to type of play, but I am always open to suggestions. I don't have much time now to devote to reading plays (what with the directing one right now and all) but I've got a whole summer to do some ruminating and I would love suggestions on a place to start from.
I'm out like everyone in the final scene
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
RIP, R&G
Parting is such sweet sorrow...
The run went well, other than the whole getting sick and losing my voice for the second weekend. It's a little hard to do a character whose sole feature is volume when you can barely talk, but oh well. ACTF went pretty smoothly, as did strike. I wound up with the same strike-time frustrations as always. None of the actors really want to be there, but they go about handling this in one of two ways: some people pitch in and help so that everyone can leave a little sooner, and some people stand around with their thumbs up their asses so that they don't have to do the work that they don't want to be doing. Oh well. One more play down.
So, onto directing. Going well, albeit slowly. Rehearsals were moving along at a slower pace, since three of my actors, not to mention I myself, all had R&G as a schedule constraint. But, now that's over, and it's time to kick things into high gear. Opening night is in less than three weeks, and there is work to do.
Until next time...
The run went well, other than the whole getting sick and losing my voice for the second weekend. It's a little hard to do a character whose sole feature is volume when you can barely talk, but oh well. ACTF went pretty smoothly, as did strike. I wound up with the same strike-time frustrations as always. None of the actors really want to be there, but they go about handling this in one of two ways: some people pitch in and help so that everyone can leave a little sooner, and some people stand around with their thumbs up their asses so that they don't have to do the work that they don't want to be doing. Oh well. One more play down.
So, onto directing. Going well, albeit slowly. Rehearsals were moving along at a slower pace, since three of my actors, not to mention I myself, all had R&G as a schedule constraint. But, now that's over, and it's time to kick things into high gear. Opening night is in less than three weeks, and there is work to do.
Until next time...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Rests Are Music Too
Well, it's time to condense two blog entries into one...
On Shakespeare:
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Everyone's monologues and scenes were delightful, and it was a wonderful exercise in theatrical decision making to see five different actresses' takes on the same character. On a personal note, I came into class feeling sick, and my energy was pitiful. For some inexplicable reason, energy magically appeared for my monologue, then disappeared again, then reappeared for my scene, then disappeared again. I wish the little man at the controls would just leave the switch flicked on. My scene was great fun, but I wonder, since there were about three or four things in the performance which were completely new, what might have been with another week or so. Oh well.
To the present:
How interesting it is that the day when we were all so sniping with each other is the day when we start a play entitled, "The Misanthrope". Hmm.
While reading, I found myself getting sucked into reading the rhythm as dictated by the rhyme scheme. I was trying to let the punctuation help dictate emphasis, but I found myself getting drawn toward the singsongy rhyme scheme anyway. As an exercise, I'm thinking of rewriting the lines as paragraphs, just to see what that does to the reading and emphasis of things. All a part of playing with the text. I'm trying to think of the text in a spoken word sort of way. Now it needs execution.
Like a number of the group things we've done (set design for Electra, anyone?), there were probably too many people eager to lead, which is why I'm willing to sit back and follow. It's not so surprising that the times when productivity raced along were when we actually slowed down and gave the floor over.
My scenes seem fun, and Justin and I also both picked out an additional monologue that we're both going to do. I'm pondering the idea of something a bit more creative and interesting than just two people with the same monologue. Dueling Monologues? A Round? Brainstorming and honing is needed.
On the subject of Silverado:
I continue to quest for the perfect story, or at least a good one. I like the idea of the class interacting as "the class". That could be interesting (and by interesting I mean, interesting, with overemphasis on the first syllable).
Kumbaya
On Shakespeare:
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Everyone's monologues and scenes were delightful, and it was a wonderful exercise in theatrical decision making to see five different actresses' takes on the same character. On a personal note, I came into class feeling sick, and my energy was pitiful. For some inexplicable reason, energy magically appeared for my monologue, then disappeared again, then reappeared for my scene, then disappeared again. I wish the little man at the controls would just leave the switch flicked on. My scene was great fun, but I wonder, since there were about three or four things in the performance which were completely new, what might have been with another week or so. Oh well.
To the present:
How interesting it is that the day when we were all so sniping with each other is the day when we start a play entitled, "The Misanthrope". Hmm.
While reading, I found myself getting sucked into reading the rhythm as dictated by the rhyme scheme. I was trying to let the punctuation help dictate emphasis, but I found myself getting drawn toward the singsongy rhyme scheme anyway. As an exercise, I'm thinking of rewriting the lines as paragraphs, just to see what that does to the reading and emphasis of things. All a part of playing with the text. I'm trying to think of the text in a spoken word sort of way. Now it needs execution.
Like a number of the group things we've done (set design for Electra, anyone?), there were probably too many people eager to lead, which is why I'm willing to sit back and follow. It's not so surprising that the times when productivity raced along were when we actually slowed down and gave the floor over.
My scenes seem fun, and Justin and I also both picked out an additional monologue that we're both going to do. I'm pondering the idea of something a bit more creative and interesting than just two people with the same monologue. Dueling Monologues? A Round? Brainstorming and honing is needed.
On the subject of Silverado:
I continue to quest for the perfect story, or at least a good one. I like the idea of the class interacting as "the class". That could be interesting (and by interesting I mean, interesting, with overemphasis on the first syllable).
Kumbaya
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