Burning Ring of Fire
Three weeks to preview! It seems pretty soon. Of course, we have a short and dense rehearsal schedule for this show. Three or more hours every day except Fridays, though only those that are needed for specific scenes stay for the whole time slot. A very professionally run schedule.
I didn't get to the zoo last weekend. I wimped out because I didn't have my new membership card yet. I know, lame, lame, lame. I was not very motivated after getting up at 6 AM, and having nearly two hours to wait for the zoo to open after my errand. So I went back home and slept instead, which with the weird weather changes, made my weekend great. This weekend I'll have two days to go, Sunday and Monday, and I better motivate myself to go at least once.
On Tuesday I wasn't called, but I went anyway. I hadn't been called to a rehearsal since Saturday, though I showed up for a few minutes on Sunday to be sure. I like rehearsals, and having done enough set and prop design, stage managing and such I don't feel at all weird when I don't have a scene to work in. A show is a community, and I've almost always worked with generous actors. Even so, I like to be a regular participant.
Paula, Steve, and Gregory sometimes call me Peter Pan. I'd no idea why they picked that handle for me, so I asked. When I was in grade school Peter Pan was one of my favorite make-believe games, and I assumed that wasn't the reason I was being called Peter Pan again. They say I'm a kid, and I'll never grow up. Now that is neat. I feel that way and am a little astounded anyone else does.
I need to exercise those kid muscles. I want to have well-defined characters, and need to get the imagination going full out. I'm not called for rehearsal tonight. While I'm tempted to go anyway I decided not to. I need to stop at the library and get some prospective books for my class next week, and more to the point need to do some homework. Do some focused daydreaming around my characters. For one of the characters that have a few lines I've done some voice work, which drives the character for me a bit and also distinguishes them for the audience.
In addition to daydreaming and more back story I realize it is more important to get to the zoo than I was thinking earlier. I have three on stage personas, and one or two more for voices heard off stage . I still have a slight limp, which increases as the day wears on, and while I hope it will be gone in three weeks there is no way I can depend on it. That will make finding different physicalities more challenging for the on stage characters. I need to find some animals, to help me better define the characters physically. I'm still a big fellow, and I'll have a bushy beard, which I'll play with to look slightly different for different characters, but that will be subtle and won't do much. I know I have to work on character and physicality to differentiate the characters. There is no way the audience won't notice the 6'2" 230lb servant, passer-by, and stationmaster are the same actor.
It occurs to me it is a matter of honor. I must honor the audience enough to create real characters, so they'll honor me and let me be different people. If I go out with shallowly defined caricatures I will be asking them to do my work. My goal is for someone to tell me, "Wow your characters were believable and totally different. I was not confused for a moment." Using the same actors for multiple characters is not part of the humor as in Greater Tuna or The Mystery of Irma Vep, and adding that as a gimmick to Chekhov would be a mortal sin. I'm sure the earth would open up, and I'd be sucked into the eternal fiery maelstrom of acting hell. Nope. Don't want to do that.
I didn't get to the zoo last weekend. I wimped out because I didn't have my new membership card yet. I know, lame, lame, lame. I was not very motivated after getting up at 6 AM, and having nearly two hours to wait for the zoo to open after my errand. So I went back home and slept instead, which with the weird weather changes, made my weekend great. This weekend I'll have two days to go, Sunday and Monday, and I better motivate myself to go at least once.
On Tuesday I wasn't called, but I went anyway. I hadn't been called to a rehearsal since Saturday, though I showed up for a few minutes on Sunday to be sure. I like rehearsals, and having done enough set and prop design, stage managing and such I don't feel at all weird when I don't have a scene to work in. A show is a community, and I've almost always worked with generous actors. Even so, I like to be a regular participant.
Paula, Steve, and Gregory sometimes call me Peter Pan. I'd no idea why they picked that handle for me, so I asked. When I was in grade school Peter Pan was one of my favorite make-believe games, and I assumed that wasn't the reason I was being called Peter Pan again. They say I'm a kid, and I'll never grow up. Now that is neat. I feel that way and am a little astounded anyone else does.
I need to exercise those kid muscles. I want to have well-defined characters, and need to get the imagination going full out. I'm not called for rehearsal tonight. While I'm tempted to go anyway I decided not to. I need to stop at the library and get some prospective books for my class next week, and more to the point need to do some homework. Do some focused daydreaming around my characters. For one of the characters that have a few lines I've done some voice work, which drives the character for me a bit and also distinguishes them for the audience.
In addition to daydreaming and more back story I realize it is more important to get to the zoo than I was thinking earlier. I have three on stage personas, and one or two more for voices heard off stage . I still have a slight limp, which increases as the day wears on, and while I hope it will be gone in three weeks there is no way I can depend on it. That will make finding different physicalities more challenging for the on stage characters. I need to find some animals, to help me better define the characters physically. I'm still a big fellow, and I'll have a bushy beard, which I'll play with to look slightly different for different characters, but that will be subtle and won't do much. I know I have to work on character and physicality to differentiate the characters. There is no way the audience won't notice the 6'2" 230lb servant, passer-by, and stationmaster are the same actor.
It occurs to me it is a matter of honor. I must honor the audience enough to create real characters, so they'll honor me and let me be different people. If I go out with shallowly defined caricatures I will be asking them to do my work. My goal is for someone to tell me, "Wow your characters were believable and totally different. I was not confused for a moment." Using the same actors for multiple characters is not part of the humor as in Greater Tuna or The Mystery of Irma Vep, and adding that as a gimmick to Chekhov would be a mortal sin. I'm sure the earth would open up, and I'd be sucked into the eternal fiery maelstrom of acting hell. Nope. Don't want to do that.
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