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!

Boeing Boeing: Airline Slogans of the '60s

They filmed this in our dressing rooms during our performance last Saturday. :)

Monday, February 21

Las Meninas
The rehearsals for Las Meninas are going well. We have blocked the entire show, and run each act separately... and we don't open for another month.

I've been going on as an understudy for all or part of most rehearsals. I'm understudying Acting Professoressa in her two roles as The Queen Mother & The Mother Superior. Because of her teaching schedule, when we rehearse from 11-4 or 12-5, she has to leave at 1:30, and I'm her for the rest of the day. Also, she's been off on recruitment (auditioning students for the incoming class of 2014... oh my!), so I've been playing her roles while she was out of town. At this point, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that I've been in her roles more than she has.

On the one hand, that's great: understudies don't generally get this much rehearsal, and I'm further along in learning the lines/blocking than I would be otherwise. But on the other hand, it's tough: because I'm playing my own character AND her two characters, I get confused a lot. I keep missing one entrance as the Mother Superior because I'm already on stage as my own role, a Lady-in-Waiting. (My understudy can't attend most rehearsals because she's in classes). I feel like I'm letting everyone down.

Wifey, Thrill, and Two-Shots-Up all have HUGE roles in this show, and they're rocking them. As the Artistic Director (who is directing this show) said, Las Meninas is the show this season where there are students in the main roles, and the Equity cast is supporting the students. It's neat to see. I'm super proud of them.


Boeing Boeing
The show has been a lot of fun. We only perform it about once a week, which is tough (quite a memory exercise). But I love it when we do perform it. Our audiences have been terrific, and we've been sold out or close to it for every performance we've had, which is awesome.

I have 5 assisted changes during the show, which I am making with the assistance of two lovely ladies named Deborah and Michelle. Deborah is our costume crew, and Michelle is wigs/hair/makeup. All of my changes involves hats/headpieces/wigs getting put on or taken off, so Michelle does that while Deborah helps me with costume pieces/accessories/shoes/props. It's kind of crazy. But the funny thing is, when I tell people who have seen the show that I have 5 assisted changes, they can't think of any of them! A couple of those changes are SUPER FAST, but the stuff happening on stage is so dynamic that the audience doesn't realize that I just changed out of my (incredibly complex) air hostess uniform and into a nightgown in 20 seconds.


Donor Brunch
The 3rd-Years had our annual brunch with donors this past weekend. It was lovely. It's amazing to be in a room with that many people who love and support you.

I mentioned to them that I'm working on moving to London, and I need a way to do it and be legally able to work. If anyone reading this has any suggestions or ideas, please let me know.


Showcase
We have chosen our scenes for our New York Showcase in April, and have started rehearsing them. I'm doing a scene with Two-Shots-Up and a scene with Thrill, both of which are comedic. I'm happy with what I ended up with.


The Thrill of the Chase
We did a free staged reading of a play my boyfriend wrote while he was visiting me from London. We had a great turn-out, especially considering that we did mostly word-of-mouth advertising. The reading was fantastic (and I'm not just saying that because I was in it). People seemed to be really affected by the piece (which is dark and twisted), and I'm STILL getting comments from them about it, and how glad they were that we did it. I'm glad we did it, too. :)


The Love Late Night
The 4th Annual Love Late Night was a huge success. I did a monologue that I wrote myself. D-Train and 1st-Year SB did a scene that my boyfriend wrote. We had a great time.

Summer Theatre Auditions

My school has decided to start a new tradition: bringing down representatives of theatres who are doing summer theatre seasons so that we can audition for them. This round of auditions is being called the "first annual", so apparently, the plan is to continue them (which, frankly, is genius... and I can't believe we never did this before).

Kentucky Shakespeare, Nebraska Shakespeare, Hangar Theatre, Banyan Theatre, and American Stage all sent representatives (Colorado Shakespeare was originally slated to come, but unfortunately was unable to attend).

I did two pieces I've done before, so that I'd feel confident and not stressed out. I think it went well. They laughed a great deal at my comedic contemporary, so I think I had them on board.

I had a callback to Nebraska Shakespeare this morning. The gentleman had me read for Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (which is, coincidentally, my DREAM ROLE), as well as Horatio in Hamlet. It was a really fun callback. He put me at ease. :)

I'll let you know if it pans out.

Here Sat Tori

Several of my compatriot students are involved in an upcoming film project called "Here Sat Tori". The writer/director/producer/visionary of which is the husband of my classmate, Wifey. (I guess we should call him "Hubby"?)

He has started a Kickstarter campaign to help get his movie made. If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, my understanding of it is this...

You pledge a certain amount of money towards a goal. By pledging, you get a certain level of reward for your participation by the projects founder if the project gets fully funded. If the goal is not met by pledges, then no one donates money at all.

Regardless of how you feel about the concept, or whether you have the ability to contribute, GO TO THE LINK AND WATCH THE VIDEO (because wow, it's brilliant):

Kickstarter: Here Sat Tori

The video in the link above is Hubby (with a cameo by Wifey) talking about his project. And I love it. So, so much.

edited to add: Look! I figured out how to embed it!

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This videos below are DIFFERENT videos than the one I mentioned loving a second ago. So don't miss out on the one above, because it's my favorite.

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The first is the teaser trailer, starring 2nd-Year B.B.

"Here Sat Tori" Teaser Trailer from Nick Tierce on Vimeo.

The second is a test scene, starring 2nd-Year B.B. and 2nd-Year K.C.

A test scene from "Here Sat Tori" from Nick Tierce on Vimeo.