Drunken Shakespeare

D-Train came up with the idea to do Shakespeare scenes in a bar, during which time both actors and audience would be drinking. And last week, his idea came to fruition at a The Closet (which is a vintage/art store called "Everything But the Girl" by day, and a small performance space by night.

I chose to stick to drinking water (no, seriously, I did; Voice Professor taught me well). But I did some Shakespeare anyway. :)

I did a Luciana monologue from The Comedy of Errors (in a very contemporary style), and a Constance monologue from King John (in a New York dialect). I also helped Iceman as a silent Isabella in his Angelo speeches from Measure for Measure, and D-Train as a silent Ophelia to Dane's Hamlet in his "To be, or not to be?" soliloquy.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I hope we get the opportunity to do it again.

Two awesome photographers came and documented the event, and I'm completely obsessed with their shots, so I thought I'd share them here!

The first batch came from Scott Braun.












The second group are by Gabriel Hernandez

Unplugged Series article

Here's an article about the upcoming "Unplugged" series, where we are doing workshops and readings of new plays.

Rep tests out new plays in ‘Unplugged’ series

I'm going to be in the play "Some of the People, All of the Time" by Jamie Pachino. :)

Presenting: The Class of 2011

(Top Row - Left to Right): Newbie, Thrill, D-Train, Wifey, Two-Shots-Up, Killer, All-the-Way
(Bottom Row) O.D., Iceman, Angela


(Top Row - Left to Right): D-Train, Wifey, Two-Shots-Up, Iceman
(Bottom Row) All-the-Way, Killer, Thrill, Newbie, Angela, O.D.

I thought you might enjoy looking at some pictures of my famously attractive class.

(Seriously, don't we look like the cast of a hip new show on network television?)

We are just now launching our Showcase Website. Check it out!

The photos were taken by Janna Giacoppo, who is an amazing photographer and a lovely person. Our website has been designed by Sean Patrick Henry, who has been super helpful, and a delight to work with.

Conservatory Life: Our 1st-Years

A local critic/journalist has been following around the current 1st-year class, and will continue to do so for the next two years of their training.

Here's his most recent article:

Conservatory students get technical in acting class

And you can check out a series of photographs of the 1st-years in classes and Late Nights here:

Conservatory Acting Class photo gallery

Las Meninas: Style Lesson

Our historic style coach, Jimmy, during one of our rehearsals for Las Meninas



(or click here.)

Las Meninas Promo

A promo video for Las Meninas. If you're quick, you might notice me, in a black wig and silver dress.



It's formatting a little strangely on the blog for some reason... so if you have trouble seeing it here, click over to:

Las Meninas Sizzles

Wingspace: Las Meninas

This website has some incredible photographs of our production of Las Meninas. The design elements of this show are stellar. Check it out!

Las Meninas production design



(A shot from the scene where I play a nun. I'm the one on stage right.)

Grief Splattered Canvas

Remember how Wifey's husband is making a film noir piece?

There's an article about him in the paper today!

Aspiring filmmaker says its noir or never

He's changed the title (to "Grief Spattered Canvas", which I think is AWESOME), and has decided to make the project into a short film instead of a feature.

To read more about his project, and to find out how you can help, check out his Kickstarter page here:

Kickstarter: Grief Splattered Canvas

You can also visit their blog to watch a teaser trailer and a test scene for the film.

Please help if you can! They have already reached their initial fundraising goal, so the film WILL GET MADE. But every little bit helps!

~A~

New Blog Alert: Gunnar's Mother

So many new blogs cropping up!

A former schoolmate of mine graduated from the Conservatory in May and had a baby in November. Now she's blogging about being a mommy to her adorable son, Gunnar. Check it out!

Gunnar's Mother

New Blog Alert: Wedding DIY

Another one of my classmates has started a blog, but this one has nothing to do with theatre.

I don't know if I've mentioned this on my blog, but my classmates Killer & All-The-Way have fallen madly in love with each other during our three years at school, and are getting married. Super exciting! They got engaged on Valentine's Day of our 2nd-year, and their wedding is going to be in May, a week after Las Meninas closes.

All-The-Way is super crafty, and she has started a blog about wedding-related Do-It-Yourself projects. She's just started it this week, but I've seen the fruits of some of her labors in real life and can attest to the fact that there are tons of good posts to come.

Check it out!

Alicia Dawn's DIY: for the No Nonsense Bride

New Blog Alert: Queen Marie Therese

Wifey has a Tumblr blog to document bits and pieces about Las Meninas. She started it months ago, but I just realized I've never mentioned it on here!

There are pictures of costumes and sets, promo shots, and even paintings of the real Queen Marie Therese (whom Wifey is portraying in the play) and other characters. Check it out!

Queen Marie Therese Tumblr

Saturday, March 12

Unplugged Festival
The press release for the upcoming Unplugged Festival hit the internet today, so I think that means I am now allowed to announce my casting. The festival is to workshop new plays, culminating in readings.

I will be in Some of the People, All of the Time by Jamie Pachino. It will be directed by Artistic Director (he is also directing Las Meninas that I'm in, which opens this coming week).

The description in the press release is:
A priceless collection of Japanese art surfaces and two rival art dealers struggle to find out the truth about the collection's history. Nothing is quite as it appears in this compelling story of passion, art and double dealing.

The performance of this one will be Thursday, April 14 at 2:00pm.


Las Meninas
We had a rehearsal on stage with our set earlier this week (it's unusual to have that happen before tech here, because there are other shows in performing in repertory on the same stage). And as a result of that rehearsal, I'm pretty sure that this is going to be one of the craziest tech periods I've ever had.

The set is mechanized (which is REALLY COOL, by the way), so it might take some time to get the cues down. Also, the actors are moving the set, and several of the entrances onto the set are more narrow than we had been anticipating. Also, some of the wider entrances open up from hidden double doors to the set, and so each time we move large furniture (like beds) through them, there have to be two people holding the doors open so that they are FULLY open, or else the beds won't fit. Not to mention that we're doing all of this in period costumes and platform shoes (one of the main characters is supposed to be a little person, so the rest of us are in platforms to help make him look smaller).



Boeing Boeing
We were sold out for Boeing Boeing earlier this week. We've done it on Wednesday and Thursday, and we're doing it again on Saturday. After that (as a result of Las Meninas tech/opening week), we won't do it again for a long stretch of time.

Monday, March 7

SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT
Today, my theatre did its season announcement for next year. It's strange to think that I won't be around for that season. Three years is a long time to be somewhere. This is my home now. Today was the first time it really hit me that I won't be here for much longer. And that was a little hard to take.


LAS MENINAS
We've been rehearsing for 1 month, 6 days (according to an app on my iPod Touch called "Time Flies", which I love). We are going on the set for the first time tomorrow for a designer run through (which means we'll do the play in front of the designers for the first time, so they can see what the show is becoming). We start tech next week. Our first preview is on the 16th, and we open on the 18th. I think this is the longest rehearsal process I've been in since high school, which is a result of having to schedule our rehearsals around the performances in the Rep calendar.


BOEING BOEING
We had a string last week where I believe we got to do the show 5 times in 6 days, which was lovely. But now we haven't done it since Thursday, and we're not doing it again until Wednesday. Rep is so weird sometimes.

Despite the gaps in our schedule, we're doing quite well. We've been finding new things in the show, which is always a nice place to be. The two performances we had last week were particularly fun, I thought.

Also neat: I got to see the understudy run of the show! It was so cool! I've never been able to SEE a show that I've been IN. There are sight gags that the guys pull while I'm on stage with them that I've never been able to watch, so it was neat to see how they play out. It really is a delightful play. Congrats to our awesome understudies!


LAS MENINAS UNDERSTUDYING
We had our first official Las Meninas understudy rehearsal on Saturday morning. It didn't feel like the first for me, as I have gone on in my role many times in rehearsal. I'm understudying our Acting Professoressa, who plays both the Queen Mother and the Mother Superior. Whenever our rehearsal times conflict with her class schedule, then I have to step in for her. I believe that there's only one scene of hers that I have as of yet to do, which is a scene that is predominantly her character talking (so when she's unable to attend rehearsal, they skip over that scene instead of putting me into it). As a result, I'm mostly off book already, and I know most of her blocking. So that's nice.


DEATHTRAP UNDERSTUDYING
On Sunday, we did the first readthrough of Deathtrap with the understudies. I am understudying the role of Helga Ten Dorp, the Dutch psychic. Voice Professor gave me some materials so that I can work on the Dutch accent, but I haven't had time to work much with them yet. Right now, my Dutch sounds like a cross between German and Italian. It's not accurate, but it's pretty funny. I'm excited to work on this role.

Unfortunately for me, Las Meninas and Deathtrap rehearse at exactly the same times! There are people in both casts who are in Boeing Boeing AND there are people in both casts who are in Twelve Angry Men. As a result, whenever either BB or 12AM are performing, then NEITHER of the other plays can rehearse. As a result, the blocks of time that are open to rehearse for them are the same times as each other. This means that it's going to be VERY difficult for Wifey (who is understudying the wife), Thrill (who is understudying the lawyer), and I to attend any Deathtrap rehearsals until they're in tech. So we're going to have to try to get as off-book as we can, and then learn the blocking at the last minute. YIKES!