Plugging: Project: Theater

A friend of mine, Jessi Blue recently wrote me about her fiancé's theatre company. It's called Project:Theater. They're currently producing The Secretaries by The Five Lesbian Brothers, May 21-June 4 at the 78th Street Theatre LAB in New York. So if you're in town, check it out!

Saturday, May 23

The Edge of Peace Workshop

This week, I worked with playwright Suzan Zeder on a workshop of the play she's currently finishing up: The Edge of Peace. It's the final play in a trilogy that she's been working on since 1982 (the first two plays were Mother Hicks and The Taste of Sunrise, but it stands on its own as well.

It's a beautiful play that involves a deaf character (who, it is specified, must be played by a deaf actor). I had to learn a bit of sign language for my role.

I played the role of "Girl", who is born in The Taste of Sunrise and is the main character of Mother Hicks. She's a sassy 23-year-old who is a Women's Air Service Pilot in World War II. It was a fun new type of role for me, and I loved it.

D-Train and Newbie were in the reading as well. D-Train read the role of an 11-year-old boy named Buddy (and he did a wonderful job providing most of the comedic moments of the play). Newbie played June Ricks, a war-wife whose husband is M.I.A.

D-Train, me, and Newbie before the reading

We had a final reading of it yesterday, and actually had a pretty good turn out. We did a talk-back afterward, and the audience had some very insightful feedback. It was great being able to share that work with people.

It felt great being on stage again, even though it was only a reading. Aside from understudy runs and open-classes, I haven't performed in ages. It feels so right. I know this is what I was born to do.

Also really exciting? During the rehearsal process, they made us mugs! In the Repertory company, each actor has a mug in the rehearsal room labeled with their name that they can use throughout the rehearsal period. And for this, I got a mug! I was so stoked!

Three Postcards Food: The Contest!

I thought it would be fun to see if my readers can guess what the food I prepared for Three Postcards actually is. What's real? What's fake? What is something other than it is? Leave your guesses in the comments section, or email them to angelaacts@gmail.com. The person who I think has the best guesses will win a prize. :)

So here are the food things that I was in charge of preparing for every performance of the musical Three Postcards, along with what they were supposed to represent. Happy guessing!!!



"Seafood mousse with mushroom caps and fried grapes"



"Cream of fennel soup"



"Cornish hen with bulgar wheat"



"Veal paillard"



"The duck"



"Rum-flavored apple aspic"



"Coffee and cream"

Saturday, May 9

Hello loyal readers!

I have, in fact, been working on things for graduate school since classes ended. Lots of things. And I keep thinking to myself, "I should blog." But sometimes life gets in my way.

So instead of writing one long, epic blog post listing everything, I'm just going to write little posts with bits and pieces of the things I've been working on, in a belated fashion. :)

Keep checking back for things like:

- meeting Craig Lucas

- watching "Julius Caesar" and "Much Ado about Nothing"

- the Playwrights festival

- Assessments

- our Class Meeting

- pictures of the props I worked with on "Three Postcards"



All good things,

~A~

Quotations: Volume 28

Here are some of the educational, inspirational, and humorous quotations from my classes this week:


"But [Analysis Professor], the difference between you and me and these characters is that neither one of us, as far as I know, has frontal lobe damage." - Me

"Have you guys seen... Oh, what am I saying? Of course you haven't! You don't have any time." - Movement Professor

"Oh, you thought I was going to miss the train. Now look how the train is waiting for meeeeeeeeeee!" - Acting Professor, on holding on to impulses for too long

Acting Professor: You are, after all, doing all this for the audience, even though I kept telling you you're not.
Big Show: Well, I'm not gonna!
Iceman: I'm with [Big Show]!

"Yeah, and why not, I say. Why not?" - Acting Professor, saying that there's no reason that O.D.'s character and mine can't be in a huge fight at the top of our scene, the way we mysteriously had been that day

"This class is the hardest class I've taught in terms of getting people to let go of their subjectivity. And that's not a good thing." - Analysis Professor

O.D.: When I saw your curtain speech for Three Postcards about the theatre and compassion, I started tearing up a bit.
Analysis Professor: (laughs) Oh, honey, you gotta get out more.

Two-Shots-Up: I did not appreciate you in the beginning...
Analysis Professor: No one does.

"This is something they used to say about graduate school, but it's gone out of fashion: the things you're learning now won't all make sense until five years from now." - Analysis Professor

"You have no idea what I do in my personal life." - Voice Professor

Voice Professor: You now have twenty minutes to destructure.
D-Train: Mmmm. Delicious.

"I am the biggest nancy boy on the face of the planet. I don't know Joe Louis from the man who invented Little Debbie cakes, and I can read this play... DON'T WRITE THAT DOWN!" - Anonymous

Sunday, April 26

Well, ladies and gentlemen of the internet, it's official: I am out of classes for the summer. My first year as a graduate student is quasi-officially over (although I still have Conservatory-related tasks that I'm responsible for until the middle of May). As has been said to me several times this weekend, I have now earned the "M" in my MFA.

I kept meaning to write posts over the last few days, but it turned out to be one of the busiest weeks of my semester (and I had the misfortune of being under the weather). I figured that my faithful readers would understand.

So let's see how much of the last week I can remember well enough to summarize...

Movement
We had our Movement Showing on Wednesday morning, and it went splendidly. The 1st-years showed off our West Side Story choreography, and then some of our tumbling skills. Big Show successfully did a dive-roll over 4 people, which I believe set a new class record (I have a feeling that Thrill could pull off the same feat, but he decided to do his front flip instead). I did a couple of assisted back-walkovers, a dive-roll over Two-Shots-Up, some arch cartwheels, flying fish, rotating back-bends, donkey kicks (that turn into handstands for a brief time) and other things that I didn't think I could do just a few short weeks ago.

The 2nd-years demonstrated their Commedia Dell'Arte work, as well as their Restoration-style "stuffed turkey" monologues, and a Menuet. It was SO COOL watching them. I'm excited to start the 2nd-year and apply movement to my acting in a new, more stylized fashion. I think it's going to be a fun challenge.


Analysis
Analysis Professor says that we need to keep reading 4-5 plays a week for the rest of our lives. It's a pretty daunting task, actually. I just got 3 plays in the mail yesterday, so I'll try to read those this coming week. After that, I guess I'll just have to start hitting up libraries more often.

He said that even if you think the playwright put something into the play "for no reason", as an actor you can't PLAY "no reason"; it's important that you be able to analyze a text properly so that you can discover the reason.

He also reiterated something that I learned in undergrad (and that is, to some extent, common sense). As an actor, you have to believe that every role you play is the protagonist. If you play Osric in Hamlet, you have to believe that it's a play about a servant who has to convince the Prince to engage in a fencing match.


Voice
This week, Voice Professor really just gave notes on our Acting scenes.

My notes from Wednesday were:

- good shifting vocal actions
- voice is overall forward -- great
- strong final consonants -- great
- "no music for me" <- off-voice
(translation: I didn't have good vocal energy on that line)
- "sixties" <- s-kst-z
(translation: I needed to work on the consonants in that word)
- "girls" <- z
(translation: I said the final "s" as an "s", but it should be a "z")
- "questions" <- z
(translation: I said the final "s" as an "s", but it should be a "z")
- S+L very good
(translation: I did well with Sending and Landing the text)


I tried to work on them that night. My notes for Thursday were:

- excellent sending + landing
- very clear strong shifts in vocal action
- "forge and foundry sales company" -- this was unclear
- Arlin Border - make this very clear 1st time you say it - it's unexpected. Or is it 'v'?
(translation: in the scene, I'm engaged to a man named Arvin Borders. Because it's not a name you expect to hear, I have to be especially clear when saying it the first time, so that the audience knows what we're saying the other times.)
- "question" - t
(translation: when I said it fast, it sounded like "queshun")
- "little children" - l
(translation: I wasn't being clear about the final "l" sound in "little")


Acting
On Wednesday, my scene with O.D. started with our characters in conflict for some reason. We were both angry and sarcastic. At the end of it, Acting Professor said, "Yeah, and why not, I say. Why not?" He meant that there was no reason why our characters COULDN'T be bonding over their anger and common hatred for the pipe industry, even though it's not written into the story that way. I'm glad that we explored it as a possibility.

Acting Professor said that from the point that something clicks our scene, we have to "move it." Once the audience knows what the ending is going to be, it's better to let things roll quickly and get there. When the conflict is still strong, we can take our time more. But when we hit the transition, we have to drive it home.

He said it was a "very adult piece today, without this kind of 'roses sentimentality'." He said we were much clearer in taking impulses and making shifts.

At our showing on Friday, our piece didn't run the same way at all. In the beginning, I (Hildy Matthews, that is) was nervous that my fiancé (Arvin Borders) was going to leave me. By the end of it, I realized that it didn't matter, because I could replace him with Andy Middleton (O.D.) and the seduction began. It wasn't the most sexual the scene has run. It wasn't the most aggressive. It wasn't the most sentimental. It wasn't the most anything. Perhaps that means it was truthful. I hope that's what it means.

It felt pretty good. And I was glad to have so many people around giving their support (professors, donors, friends, 2nd-years and 3rd-years).

My classmates rocked in their scenes, and I was so very, very proud of them. We've grown so much together.

After it ended, Acting Professor said that our group has been the most challenging class he has ever worked with. He said that we have gone on a journey, and come incredibly far from where we started. He said that makes it especially hard for him to say goodbye to us. He said that his door is always open to us in the future. I plan to take him up on that.


Pictures
My camera broke a few weeks ago, so I was worried that I might not have any photos to post... I would like to thank Pat Baer, who was so kind to take pictures of our Showings, and send them to me.

(click picture to enlarge)

So here's a group shot of my classmates and the professors who have been so dear to us over the last year:
Back row: Acting Professor, Thrill, Big Show, Wifey, Analysis Professor, Iceman, Me (Disco)
Middle row: Movement Professor, Killer, Newbie, D-Train, Voice Professor, Two-Shots-Up
Front row: O.D., All-The-Way


And the requisite goofy shot:
Back row: Acting Professor, Thrill, Big Show, Wifey, Analysis Professor, Me (Disco)
Middle row: Movement Professor, Killer, Newbie, D-Train, Iceman, Voice Professor, Two-Shots-Up
Front row: Tech Instructor, O.D., All-The-Way


Acting Professor talking to us as a group one last time:

L to R: Me (Disco), Acting Professor, Movement Professor, Thrill, Wifey, Iceman, Newbie, O.D., Killer, All-The-Way, Voice Professor, Two-Shots-Up, Big Show, D-Train

D-Train & Killer, The Foster Portfolio


Me (Disco), Find Me a Dream


O.D. and me (Disco), Find Me a Dream


Me (Disco) and O.D., Find Me a Dream


Me (Disco) and O.D., Find Me a Dream


Iceman and All-The-Way, The Long Walk to Forever


Iceman and All-The-Way, The Long Walk to Forever


Iceman and All-The-Way, The Long Walk to Forever


Iceman and All-The-Way, The Long Walk to Forever


Two-Shots-Up and Thrill, Miss Temptation


Iceman, Two-Shots-Up, O.D., Killer, and All-The-Way; West Side Story Suite


All-The-Way, Killer, Big Show, me (Disco); West Side Story Suite


Thrill, Newbie, D-Train, Wifey; West Side Story Suite


Our big strong men! Iceman, Thrill, D-Train, Big Show, Killer, O.D.; West Side Story Suite


Iceman, Wifey, Two-Shots-Up; West Side Story Suite


Iceman (doing Lizard?), Killer (doing Frog?), and All-the-Way; Tumbling


Two-Shots-Up goes into a 2nd-position headstand as D-Train spots; Tumbling


O.D. in a 1st-position headstand; Tumbling


1st and 2nd years bowing together at the Movement Showing; Me (Disco), 2nd-year AG, Iceman, 2nd-year BW, Two-Shots-Up, Big Show, All-the-Way, 2nd-year KFH, 2nd-year KS, 2nd-year SG, O.D.

Tuesday, April 21

Movement
We went over what we will be doing in our Movement Showing tomorrow. We're going to start with some of our tumbling things. Movement Professor asked each of us to make a list of ten things that we would like to do in the showing. (I'm just doing things I like to do, like donkey kicks and flopping fish... some people are focusing more on things that they are proud of, like combat crawls and torpedoes).

After that, we'll do our West Side Story dances.

If anything ends up being videotaped, I'll link to it on here... but I don't know if that's going to work out or not.


Acting
Voice Professor was sick today, so we had Acting Professor twice.

O.D. and I first ran our scene in the morning. Acting Professor told us "don't rush" at the beginning of it, which is probably why it ran so much more slowly than usual. Apparently I missed an impulse to stand up at one point (which was disappointing to hear... I've gotten a lot better about not missing impulses as the year has gone on, and that's a note I haven't gotten in a while).

We ran it again in the afternoon, and it just felt kind of off. My character got drunk a lot faster than usual, and I'm not sure why.

I'm still nervous about the characterization aspect of this piece. Sometimes when I do it, I find myself using what I call my "big girl voice", and sometimes I find myself using my "little girl voice". I'm not sure if one is a stronger choice for the character than the other. I talked to Big Show about it during Three Postcards. He said that he thinks I'm probably doing the right thing by not making a decision on it and letting my voice be whatever it wants to be on any given run. So I'm just going to trust my creative subconscious and try not to freak out too much.


Analysis
We discussed Paradise Street by Constance Congdon. It's incredibly complicated. I generally root on the side of female playwrights and casts that are more than half female, just because both are somewhat unusual in comparison to the norm. This play? Entirely female cast. Call me sexist, but that makes me happy (as 80% of the roles in theatre are male and 80% of actors are female...).


Tech
Three Postcards had a "Pay What You Can Tuesday" performance tonight, so we had a good-sized audience. They weren't afraid to laugh or clap. It was nice.

Being backstage in the dark can take its toll on tech crews. Sometimes we joke on the headsets a little (we try not to do it when cues are being called). It makes the job a little less monotonous.


Movement Tutorial
I forgot to mention that I had my final Alexander Tutorial last Friday. It went quite well, I thought. Movement Professor and I reviewed the tape that we've been making all year of my progress in standing and walking neutrally. It's incredible how much my body has changed over the course of the last eight months. I'm really rather proud of it.

Movement Professor says that I do a lot of things with my body that are dangerous and I need to stop. Going en pointe without shoes on, touching my elbows together behind my back, walking on my kneecaps, and tucking my toes underneath my ribs; those are just a few of my fun Gumby tricks that I have to leave behind for the sake of my physical health. Because really, I don't want to have knee-replacement surgery at the age of 30.