On The Boards Again
I'm not an especially gifted actor, I simply love theatre and acting to the core of my being. Most directors and instructors will tell you that is more important than any 'natural' talent, and with a typical actor's take and insecurity I think, "Well, aren't they kind?"
Saturday was a full day. I got up early, with plenty of time to get to Rachel's improv class. I was reminded of an incident in my Mask class on Wednesday. We were warming up with an exercise named ouroboro, after the mythical snake swallowing it's own tail. Everyone is in a line, following the leader, who is making some sort of movement. Each person does what the one in front of them did to the best of their ability, creating a constantly morphing wave going down the line. At some point the leader turns around, and everyone follows that movement. The person at the end becomes the new leader, and starts walking and singing with everyone following. The previous leader, now at the back of the line dashes and faces the leader, initiating a change of direction and a new person now leads with a movement. We were doing this and I was leading with a song (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star this time) and the person at the other end forgot they were supposed stop me. Without thinking about it I simply turned around, initiating the change. It was funny, because I was startled I had to sing again, and I burst back into the same song, but didn't even get out a full line before the person at the other end turned me around. It was huge fun, and kept things going. There was an added wrinkle to the exercise. We were supposed to go through the whole line, no more, no less, in a set period of time. Even with the hiccup it was the closest we'd gotten.
We were doing a warm-up in the improv class, and thanks to my schedule which has and will force me to leave the class half way through for the first three sessions, I wasn't familiar with Boom-chica-boom, which they did last week. It was fun, and when it came to my turn I simply went for it. I missed or mangled a middle phrase, the same for the last.
From class it was off to rehearsal for the scenes I was doing for Exchange Theatre's gala fund raiser. This is the professional theatre company for which I served on the Board of Directors for several years, and had the small Les Liaisons Dangereuses non-speaking role this Summer. All of the actors were uneasy, we were rehearsing for the first time off book, for scenes we were about to do before a paying audience. We all mangled lines and blocking, and kept running the scenes until the last moment. Then barely an hour later we ran the three scenes. I was in the first and last. In the last scene, The Cherry Orchard I was working off two other actors, with only five short lines. I was mostly a foil and ally for one, and a reaction character for the other. I was cut off on one line. I had to answer another line which the actor delivered to the wrong person, which I answered as an aside to her. I think I messed up a cue myself, but I can't recall what it was. Still, it worked very, very well. We all trusted each other.
The first scene was Playboy of the Western World, and it had all the same little challenges, though it went easier for me as I didn't miss any cues I was to give or receive. My character, Shawn, was intimidated by another character, Christy. I'm big and tall, and Christy was not. A little added humor, as I outweighed my tormenter by nearly 100 pounds. During our blocking rehearsal last week, I was trying to figure out physical details on how I would flee for my exit. Yesterday, I let myself be angry and afraid. Without a thought, I turned and ran off the stage down the aisle leaping down into the lobby at full tilt when Christy made his menacing jump towards me. The magic of stage adrenalin did it's work, and I was really moving, making the scene all the more humorous.
Those two exercises and two scenes were very informative and affirming for me. One of the hardest things for most actors is to commit. In all four instances I had to commit to an exercise or scene, staying in a moment and/or character. I was supporting my fellow actors, and more critically they were supporting me. I found it satisfying my training has taken me to a point where I can usually cover for other actors or myself without breaking stride, dropping out of character, or screwing up the other actors. And all through it was the knowledge that if the other actors weren't present and giving me full support in return I'd have been totally screwed, and looked the buffoon.
I made a point of telling all the actors I worked with in the scenes yesterday how much I enjoyed and appreciated the chance to work with professional actors. I don't think I was too sappy, I was utterly sincere, and sharing my joy in what we had done and pulled off together.
Honestly, I had a roaring good time, but I wasn't impressed with my performance. I was greatly heartened by all the compliments I received in return from the actors, and from the people in the audience, many of whom are actors I know and have seen or worked with before.
The gala tickets and silent auction were the money makers, and one of the popular items was a set scenes like we had just done, though longer with more of an ending, than teaser for coming attractions. People who are planning big parties or soirees bid on these for entertainment. They have proved to be wonderful fundraising and pr opportunities for Exchange Theatre. These are more critical than the scenes we just did, as they serve as outreach to people not familiar with Exchange Theatre. Vince asked if I would be interested in working on some of those scenes. Hell yes! The highest praise he could have given. After a year and a half of steady and committed training, I really am trying out my new chops as an actor for the first time. I sometimes feel all I've learned is how much more there is to learn. Compliments are of course warm and fuzzy, and even more importantly they serve as an indicator I am actually making a little progress.
Saturday was a full day. I got up early, with plenty of time to get to Rachel's improv class. I was reminded of an incident in my Mask class on Wednesday. We were warming up with an exercise named ouroboro, after the mythical snake swallowing it's own tail. Everyone is in a line, following the leader, who is making some sort of movement. Each person does what the one in front of them did to the best of their ability, creating a constantly morphing wave going down the line. At some point the leader turns around, and everyone follows that movement. The person at the end becomes the new leader, and starts walking and singing with everyone following. The previous leader, now at the back of the line dashes and faces the leader, initiating a change of direction and a new person now leads with a movement. We were doing this and I was leading with a song (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star this time) and the person at the other end forgot they were supposed stop me. Without thinking about it I simply turned around, initiating the change. It was funny, because I was startled I had to sing again, and I burst back into the same song, but didn't even get out a full line before the person at the other end turned me around. It was huge fun, and kept things going. There was an added wrinkle to the exercise. We were supposed to go through the whole line, no more, no less, in a set period of time. Even with the hiccup it was the closest we'd gotten.
We were doing a warm-up in the improv class, and thanks to my schedule which has and will force me to leave the class half way through for the first three sessions, I wasn't familiar with Boom-chica-boom, which they did last week. It was fun, and when it came to my turn I simply went for it. I missed or mangled a middle phrase, the same for the last.
From class it was off to rehearsal for the scenes I was doing for Exchange Theatre's gala fund raiser. This is the professional theatre company for which I served on the Board of Directors for several years, and had the small Les Liaisons Dangereuses non-speaking role this Summer. All of the actors were uneasy, we were rehearsing for the first time off book, for scenes we were about to do before a paying audience. We all mangled lines and blocking, and kept running the scenes until the last moment. Then barely an hour later we ran the three scenes. I was in the first and last. In the last scene, The Cherry Orchard I was working off two other actors, with only five short lines. I was mostly a foil and ally for one, and a reaction character for the other. I was cut off on one line. I had to answer another line which the actor delivered to the wrong person, which I answered as an aside to her. I think I messed up a cue myself, but I can't recall what it was. Still, it worked very, very well. We all trusted each other.
The first scene was Playboy of the Western World, and it had all the same little challenges, though it went easier for me as I didn't miss any cues I was to give or receive. My character, Shawn, was intimidated by another character, Christy. I'm big and tall, and Christy was not. A little added humor, as I outweighed my tormenter by nearly 100 pounds. During our blocking rehearsal last week, I was trying to figure out physical details on how I would flee for my exit. Yesterday, I let myself be angry and afraid. Without a thought, I turned and ran off the stage down the aisle leaping down into the lobby at full tilt when Christy made his menacing jump towards me. The magic of stage adrenalin did it's work, and I was really moving, making the scene all the more humorous.
Those two exercises and two scenes were very informative and affirming for me. One of the hardest things for most actors is to commit. In all four instances I had to commit to an exercise or scene, staying in a moment and/or character. I was supporting my fellow actors, and more critically they were supporting me. I found it satisfying my training has taken me to a point where I can usually cover for other actors or myself without breaking stride, dropping out of character, or screwing up the other actors. And all through it was the knowledge that if the other actors weren't present and giving me full support in return I'd have been totally screwed, and looked the buffoon.
I made a point of telling all the actors I worked with in the scenes yesterday how much I enjoyed and appreciated the chance to work with professional actors. I don't think I was too sappy, I was utterly sincere, and sharing my joy in what we had done and pulled off together.
Honestly, I had a roaring good time, but I wasn't impressed with my performance. I was greatly heartened by all the compliments I received in return from the actors, and from the people in the audience, many of whom are actors I know and have seen or worked with before.
The gala tickets and silent auction were the money makers, and one of the popular items was a set scenes like we had just done, though longer with more of an ending, than teaser for coming attractions. People who are planning big parties or soirees bid on these for entertainment. They have proved to be wonderful fundraising and pr opportunities for Exchange Theatre. These are more critical than the scenes we just did, as they serve as outreach to people not familiar with Exchange Theatre. Vince asked if I would be interested in working on some of those scenes. Hell yes! The highest praise he could have given. After a year and a half of steady and committed training, I really am trying out my new chops as an actor for the first time. I sometimes feel all I've learned is how much more there is to learn. Compliments are of course warm and fuzzy, and even more importantly they serve as an indicator I am actually making a little progress.
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