As I type this I am watching fireworks from my hotel room window. Indy is in a horrible dry spell and there was talk of no fireworks at all but they decided that professionals could still set them off, but amateurs couldn't.
Ummm yeah... I'm sure that will work this week.
Anyway...
Usually when you work on an equity production, Mondays are your day off. This gives you a full business day to do things like go to the bank, doctor, etc.
Sometimes, if you are working in a very religious part of the country, you'll have Sundays off. I know this was the case when I worked in Utah.
They way our schedule works out here, we have Fridays off for most of the rehearsal process. It's a great day to have off because, among other things, you can go and see other theatre.
Yesterday I was starting to get stir crazy. I had only left the hotel for rehearsals, to run, and to get groceries. I woke up at 6am to run 11 miles before the heat got too bad. I went over my scenes in my apartment, and then just got out for a while. I hit up the mall, got a burger at Steak and Shake, bought myself a new hat, quick little stop at the Godiva Chocolate shop...hahaha Included in all this was going to see a show. As always... it just makes me excited to do theatre when I see theatre.
Today I went to rehearsal. Now today we had an afternoon rehearsal. We usually rehearse from 6-10 but on Saturdays we rehearse from 1-5. Most people don't realize how different that feels. Your body just has different energies at different times of the day, and when you are used to performing or rehearsing at one time of the day, and then you have to do it at another time of the day, it can be strange... the rhythms are just different. It's one reason why I often try to stay away from seeing matinee performances. The odds are that the actors have been mostly performing in the evenings. The matinee is often an alteration from the routine. It can be jarring. So... it took me just a little bit extra to get locked in this morning before rehearsal. I could tell that my breath just wasn't that free, so I did a little extra stretching around my core to try and free up my breath. And my diction... yikes! If you wake up at 10 and have rehearsal at 6pm... that is 8 hours of talking time to naturally free up your diction a bit. If you wake up at 10 and have rehearsal at 1pm.... you have just lost 5 hours of natural warm up time for your diction... so you have to force it more with more exercises.
Today we worked the three scenes that make up Act I. This was fun because, while Act I is a light act for me in terms of lines, I do have a decent amount of stage time. So, I had a lot of time to focus on movement. I started to lock in some choices and then, the actor playing Iago, during one of his monologues, started mimicing my choices as he was talking about me. When you make a choice as an actor, it doesn't just help your own performance, it is a potential gift for other actors to use. The actor playing Iago did just that and made a really cool moment for himself by drawing from what I had been exploring. I was impressed that, even with this being the first day that I was trying it, he was so in-tuned to things that he picked up on it and used it. He's fun to watch, man.
The funny thing is, some of my movement choices I was kind of stealing from Othello. Cassio wants to be Othello someday. So I thought it might be kind of fun to draw from what he is doing movement-wise. What are some of his military stances... and then can I do them, but a bit sharper. Othello can be a bit more relaxed because he is the General. If Cassio is trying to impress Othello, does he keep his stances crisp? Official?
With an hour to go we switched over to rehearsing the drunken fight that takes place in Act II. Often when you have fight scenes in a play you have an official fight choreographer who is in charge of crafting the stage violence. We don't have one for our production. This meant that the cast and director were crafting the fight. Since I kind of drive the fight, and since I have done a good bit of fight combat, I had a lot of input into what was going on.
All I can say is, this may be the coolest freaking fight I have ever done! Cassio is the #2 soldier in this army but what we hear from Iago is that Cassio is more a scholar than a soldier. hahaha... nope... not after this fight! In this fight we really get to see how vicious Cassio might be on a battlefield. I take on a total of four people and, at one point, I cut one guy with my sword, shove him out of the way, pick up his sword (so now I have two), and start fighting two other guys! In other fight in other shows I have fought with sword and shield, I have fought with sword and dagger and I have fought with machete and side-handle baton. I have never fought with sword and sword! It's awesome. I felt like some crazy lethal super-hero and we all worked together to craft some really cool moments. (Of course, in the story, Cassio is fighting friends... not foes. So the more vicious Cassio fights, the more trouble he is getting himself into.)
One benefit of having a fight choreographer is that they are very good about reminding the actors to fight slowly. It is so easy to speed up and go too fast too early when you first learn a fight. And stage combat weapons are real weapons. They have dulled edges but we can do real damage with them. So, I've got to remember to keep things slow. We really don't need to be going even close to show speed until the week of the show. If I can't do it perfect at 50% speed, there is no way I can do it perfect at 100% speed. And if I don't do it perfect, there's a good chance someone will get hurt.
I went to wal-mart today and picked up a couple of thin dowel rods. I can practice the moves with the dowel rods in my hands. Dowel rods mimic rapiers pretty well. Baseball bats or whiffle-ball bats mimic broadswords pretty well. I actually brought my personal stage combat sword but the dowel rods will be a little bit safer in the hotel room and will freak people out a little less. hahaha
Meanwhile... Cassio's sword is beautiful. Oh how I love it. It's delightful and looks so damn good.
There is always the day when the swords first come out that most of the cast (in my experience it's usually most of the guys) turns into an 8 year old jedi wanna-be. Today was that day.
The force was totally with Cassio... even if he was drunk.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
6-28-12 Diggin' in a little.
Crazy day at rehearsal.
As I've mentioned before, we are working at a fast pace. A lot of times, all we have time for with a given scene is to read it over once, briefly talk about, and then try to get a rough idea of what the blocking is. Many times, we don't even have time to go back and run it once. We are expected to remember what we did. I tell my students that breaks aren't always breaks. Breaks are sometimes the time where you sit down and write yourself a bunch of notes so you can remember how a given scene went. Because of the way we work, it may be up to a week before we look at a given scene a second time and we'll be expected to remember the work that we did the first time AND we'll be expected to have improved on it.
Today was different. We allotted nearly three hours to work Act IV scene i. Part of this was because we have a couple of actors in another show and they had a performance tonight so this limited us a bit as to what scenes we could work today. We started with our typical reading of the play, and then our blocking of the play. I got mad at myself during this part. I knew my lines but I was shaky on my cues. It's a difficult scene in terms of cues... I'll talk about that in a bit... and I wasn't always on top of it. This is why it is so important to run lines with someone while you are learning them... step one of memorization is learning your lines... step two is making sure you know when to say them!
So when we got to break I was a little pissed at myself that I had to hold my script. Granted, just about everyone had script in hand, but I felt like I wasn't quite where I wanted to be at first. But, I had a moment in the bathroom where I had to look at myself in the mirror and just tell myself to shake it off and keep pushing to do good work.
I have a chunk in this scene that is tough because I am having a conversation with Iago while Othello is hiding and commenting on what he is hearing us say. So while my line is in reaction to Iago, I sometimes have to wait for the actor playing Othello to say his line before I can respond. Cassio doesn't hear anything Othello is saying... but Chris the actor has to listen for David the actor to finish his line before Chris as Cassio can respond to Ryan as Iago. Craziness... I guess I should forgive myself a little bit for not having my cues pick-ups perfect.
ANYWAY....
We did our read-through and blocking and still had an hour to spare. So we had a chance to run it again... which was real nice... and get notes which was real nice... and we still had about half an hour to spare.
So, everyone was cut from the scene except myself, Iago, and Othello, and the three of us, along with the director, really dove into about 30 lines of the scene and really started to flesh it out. And it was great. Crafting that small chunk of the scene line-by-line... getting into some deeper acting work than what we usually have had time for thus far... at least in much of the scenes I have worked. One hour into the rehearsal I was frustrated with myself but by the end of the day I left excited. I need to hold onto that because I doubt that little chunk will ever get time devoted to it again.
Side note - As I drove to rehearsal today it was 109 degrees. Most of the time we try to rehearse outside at this small ampitheatre on the campus of Marian University, however sometimes we work indoors at Butler University. I am very thankful we decided to switch locations from Marian to Butler today.
Shout out of the day goes to "Hana" D. Thanks for checking in from the U.K.
Shout out of the day also goes to Judge John Roberts. Not trying to get all political with this blog but that was a hell of a call.
As I've mentioned before, we are working at a fast pace. A lot of times, all we have time for with a given scene is to read it over once, briefly talk about, and then try to get a rough idea of what the blocking is. Many times, we don't even have time to go back and run it once. We are expected to remember what we did. I tell my students that breaks aren't always breaks. Breaks are sometimes the time where you sit down and write yourself a bunch of notes so you can remember how a given scene went. Because of the way we work, it may be up to a week before we look at a given scene a second time and we'll be expected to remember the work that we did the first time AND we'll be expected to have improved on it.
Today was different. We allotted nearly three hours to work Act IV scene i. Part of this was because we have a couple of actors in another show and they had a performance tonight so this limited us a bit as to what scenes we could work today. We started with our typical reading of the play, and then our blocking of the play. I got mad at myself during this part. I knew my lines but I was shaky on my cues. It's a difficult scene in terms of cues... I'll talk about that in a bit... and I wasn't always on top of it. This is why it is so important to run lines with someone while you are learning them... step one of memorization is learning your lines... step two is making sure you know when to say them!
So when we got to break I was a little pissed at myself that I had to hold my script. Granted, just about everyone had script in hand, but I felt like I wasn't quite where I wanted to be at first. But, I had a moment in the bathroom where I had to look at myself in the mirror and just tell myself to shake it off and keep pushing to do good work.
I have a chunk in this scene that is tough because I am having a conversation with Iago while Othello is hiding and commenting on what he is hearing us say. So while my line is in reaction to Iago, I sometimes have to wait for the actor playing Othello to say his line before I can respond. Cassio doesn't hear anything Othello is saying... but Chris the actor has to listen for David the actor to finish his line before Chris as Cassio can respond to Ryan as Iago. Craziness... I guess I should forgive myself a little bit for not having my cues pick-ups perfect.
ANYWAY....
We did our read-through and blocking and still had an hour to spare. So we had a chance to run it again... which was real nice... and get notes which was real nice... and we still had about half an hour to spare.
So, everyone was cut from the scene except myself, Iago, and Othello, and the three of us, along with the director, really dove into about 30 lines of the scene and really started to flesh it out. And it was great. Crafting that small chunk of the scene line-by-line... getting into some deeper acting work than what we usually have had time for thus far... at least in much of the scenes I have worked. One hour into the rehearsal I was frustrated with myself but by the end of the day I left excited. I need to hold onto that because I doubt that little chunk will ever get time devoted to it again.
Side note - As I drove to rehearsal today it was 109 degrees. Most of the time we try to rehearse outside at this small ampitheatre on the campus of Marian University, however sometimes we work indoors at Butler University. I am very thankful we decided to switch locations from Marian to Butler today.
Shout out of the day goes to "Hana" D. Thanks for checking in from the U.K.
Shout out of the day also goes to Judge John Roberts. Not trying to get all political with this blog but that was a hell of a call.
6-27-12 - The first half is blocked
First there was a read-through on Sunday.
Then...in 12 hours of rehearsal over the last three days, we have the entire first part staged. Crazy. We have the framework set for part one. (Part one is this case is Act I, Act II and most of Act III. Intermission will come after Act III scene iii.)
What is great about working with this particular company is that they hardly cut anything when it comes to a Shakespeare play. The director forces you to struggle with the really hard lines and fairly archaic jokes, rather than just cut them. Our actor playing Othello has played the role a few times before and he said that there are lines he is saything this time that he has never said before.
Part of today's rehearsal tackled Act III scene iii which is one of the longest scenes of Shakespeare you will ever see. This led to an interesting discussion about what are the actually longest scenes in Shakespeare.
The longest scene I have found so far... and I think it's the longest of all... is Act V scene ii of Love's Labor's Lost which is over 900 lines of text. The entire play is only 2700 lines!
Or... Comedy of Errors is under 1800 lines total. The entire play is 1800 lines and that one scene in Love's Labor's Lost is over 900!
Hamlet is the longest play with around 4000 lines. Othello is around 3550... so it's a long one.
Anyway... Act III scene iii is over 500 lines. It's a big chunk of the play.
I've never worked on Othello like this before... I've never lived with it this way... so it is fun to learn how the play works. What is fascinating is that, here we are, more than halfway through the play, and it subtly seems like not all that much has happened.
Act I - Othello and Desdemona secretly get married and we're sent from Venice to Cyprus to fight a war.
Act II - We arrive in Cyprus... find out that a storm took out our enemy... there's a party... Cassio gets really drunk and loses his position.
Act III - Cassio tries to get his position back and asks Desdemona to help him. Othello begins to grow suspicious of Desdemona and Cassio. Emilia grabs Desdemona's special handerchief.
And who's the character I haven't mentioned? Who's the third biggest character that Shakespeare ever wrote??? Iago. Iago is just subtly, craftily, making all of this happen. It's so smooth. Iago is actually the driving force behind this first half but it really doesn't seem like much happens in these first 90 minutes....but what is really happening is we're just following along with Iago as he sets up his plan for destruction....
And then we come back from intermission and in the next 70 minutes.... Rodrigo... dead... Cassio... maimed... Desdemona... dead... Emilia... dead... Othello... dead... We even find out Desdemona's father is dead!
I mean... the first half of the play could almost be a companion piece to Much Ado About Nothing. It feels, at times, more like one of Shakespeare's comedies. Then BAM. Iago's plan takes hold and all hell breaks loose.
The work for me today was kind of a continuation of discoveries from yesterday. Cassio gets really drunk and then gets in a fight and gets stripped of his position. He sobers up pretty quickly and almost immediately goes off to ask Desdemona to help him get his position back. So the trick is to keep that disheveled, up-all-night (and it was a HELL of a night), kind of feel to Cassio throughout the first act from the fight to intermission. That journey certainly will inform choices. How happy can my character ever appear to be now that he has been stripped of his position?
HAHHAHAA It's only day four! On the other hand... there are only 17 rehearsals left. This play isn't called Cassio so I can't count on an abundance of time being devoted to scenes that I am in. I need to figure things out as quickly as possible.
Tomorrow we already start to move into the second part of the show. We won't look at the first half again until Sunday so I need to make sure that I am taking good notes and rehearsing on my own in such a way that I can remember and build upon all of the good work we did on part one.
Side note: Tomorrow and Friday Indianapolis is potentially going to experience the hottest weather it has ever had in the month of june since 1988. 1988????? Ronald Reagan was president! Thankfully we have moved our rehearsal tomorrow to an indoor venue but come on.
"Highs could reach 106 in some places and at least make it to 102"
AT LEAST 102?
I used to do Shakespeare in Kansas City and there was a rule that, if the temperature at the start of the show was 100 or over, you could take off outside layers of your costume. haha
Shakespeare in the summer... love it!
Side note two: This has nothing to do with anything but my dog was in a magazine. Here is the most ridiculous dog picture you will ever see. She's the one in the pink get-up. Amazing.
Then...in 12 hours of rehearsal over the last three days, we have the entire first part staged. Crazy. We have the framework set for part one. (Part one is this case is Act I, Act II and most of Act III. Intermission will come after Act III scene iii.)
What is great about working with this particular company is that they hardly cut anything when it comes to a Shakespeare play. The director forces you to struggle with the really hard lines and fairly archaic jokes, rather than just cut them. Our actor playing Othello has played the role a few times before and he said that there are lines he is saything this time that he has never said before.
Part of today's rehearsal tackled Act III scene iii which is one of the longest scenes of Shakespeare you will ever see. This led to an interesting discussion about what are the actually longest scenes in Shakespeare.
The longest scene I have found so far... and I think it's the longest of all... is Act V scene ii of Love's Labor's Lost which is over 900 lines of text. The entire play is only 2700 lines!
Or... Comedy of Errors is under 1800 lines total. The entire play is 1800 lines and that one scene in Love's Labor's Lost is over 900!
Hamlet is the longest play with around 4000 lines. Othello is around 3550... so it's a long one.
Anyway... Act III scene iii is over 500 lines. It's a big chunk of the play.
I've never worked on Othello like this before... I've never lived with it this way... so it is fun to learn how the play works. What is fascinating is that, here we are, more than halfway through the play, and it subtly seems like not all that much has happened.
Act I - Othello and Desdemona secretly get married and we're sent from Venice to Cyprus to fight a war.
Act II - We arrive in Cyprus... find out that a storm took out our enemy... there's a party... Cassio gets really drunk and loses his position.
Act III - Cassio tries to get his position back and asks Desdemona to help him. Othello begins to grow suspicious of Desdemona and Cassio. Emilia grabs Desdemona's special handerchief.
And who's the character I haven't mentioned? Who's the third biggest character that Shakespeare ever wrote??? Iago. Iago is just subtly, craftily, making all of this happen. It's so smooth. Iago is actually the driving force behind this first half but it really doesn't seem like much happens in these first 90 minutes....but what is really happening is we're just following along with Iago as he sets up his plan for destruction....
And then we come back from intermission and in the next 70 minutes.... Rodrigo... dead... Cassio... maimed... Desdemona... dead... Emilia... dead... Othello... dead... We even find out Desdemona's father is dead!
I mean... the first half of the play could almost be a companion piece to Much Ado About Nothing. It feels, at times, more like one of Shakespeare's comedies. Then BAM. Iago's plan takes hold and all hell breaks loose.
The work for me today was kind of a continuation of discoveries from yesterday. Cassio gets really drunk and then gets in a fight and gets stripped of his position. He sobers up pretty quickly and almost immediately goes off to ask Desdemona to help him get his position back. So the trick is to keep that disheveled, up-all-night (and it was a HELL of a night), kind of feel to Cassio throughout the first act from the fight to intermission. That journey certainly will inform choices. How happy can my character ever appear to be now that he has been stripped of his position?
HAHHAHAA It's only day four! On the other hand... there are only 17 rehearsals left. This play isn't called Cassio so I can't count on an abundance of time being devoted to scenes that I am in. I need to figure things out as quickly as possible.
Tomorrow we already start to move into the second part of the show. We won't look at the first half again until Sunday so I need to make sure that I am taking good notes and rehearsing on my own in such a way that I can remember and build upon all of the good work we did on part one.
Side note: Tomorrow and Friday Indianapolis is potentially going to experience the hottest weather it has ever had in the month of june since 1988. 1988????? Ronald Reagan was president! Thankfully we have moved our rehearsal tomorrow to an indoor venue but come on.
"Highs could reach 106 in some places and at least make it to 102"
AT LEAST 102?
I used to do Shakespeare in Kansas City and there was a rule that, if the temperature at the start of the show was 100 or over, you could take off outside layers of your costume. haha
Shakespeare in the summer... love it!
Side note two: This has nothing to do with anything but my dog was in a magazine. Here is the most ridiculous dog picture you will ever see. She's the one in the pink get-up. Amazing.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
6-26-12 Act II
I'm beat.
Today was a big rehearsal day for me. I knew it was going to be. We worked all of Act II today which, if I have 110 lines, about 50 of them are in Act II. Act II scene iii is the drunk scene which is a bear.
So, I got to the theatre space about an hour and fifteen minutes early to prepare. We rehearse outside at this small little ampitheatre as much as possible. But... we're on concrete, in the evening sun. So, it can take it out of you a little quicker than it does indoors.
Funny thing was... I started to think about how the first scene of Act II might be laid out. I started kind of walking through potential choices... thinking about that potential layout... where the "sea" might be, etc. Then, when we started rehearsing the scene, the director had the layout the exact opposite way. hahaha And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I warn against trying to craft a performance too much on your own. hahaha
So it was hot... and the sea was behind us instead of in front of us (which makes COMPLETE sense by the way because there is a giant river right behind the actual stage we'll be on... so it will actually be really cool.) With all that said, it was a really good day of rehearsal. The director said of Act II scene iii, "that was really good for the first.... DAY." I was happy to hear that because, for me, that's one of my harder scenes. It's still got a lot of work that needs to be done, but it was a real good start.
It's so nice to lock eyes with another good actor and really start to DO something.
There was an interesting moment of rehearsal today that I think my students will appreciate. After we read through the first scene that we were working on today, the actress playing Emilia said... "I'm trying to figure out my status." As early as my Acting One class I am trying to get my students to think about status in their acting and I thought it was great to hear this actress express the importance of knowing her status for her work. In real life we constantly make choices based on our status in a given situation. If you are around your boss, you will probably make different choices than if you are around your friends and will again make different choices if you are around your kids. You hold a different status in all three scenarios. There is a lot of higher and lower rank situations in this play so it is important for us to figure out and keep track of our status throughout the piece and make choices with that in mind.
Side note: There was a freaking TACO TRUCK in the hotel parking lot today. I was going for a run and didn't take advantage of the opportunity but, next Tuesday, I will definitely be looking for the taco truck.
Shout out to Indonesia. That's right... someone checked in from Indonesia. That makes, I think, 10 different countries that have checked in so far.
Today was a big rehearsal day for me. I knew it was going to be. We worked all of Act II today which, if I have 110 lines, about 50 of them are in Act II. Act II scene iii is the drunk scene which is a bear.
So, I got to the theatre space about an hour and fifteen minutes early to prepare. We rehearse outside at this small little ampitheatre as much as possible. But... we're on concrete, in the evening sun. So, it can take it out of you a little quicker than it does indoors.
Funny thing was... I started to think about how the first scene of Act II might be laid out. I started kind of walking through potential choices... thinking about that potential layout... where the "sea" might be, etc. Then, when we started rehearsing the scene, the director had the layout the exact opposite way. hahaha And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I warn against trying to craft a performance too much on your own. hahaha
So it was hot... and the sea was behind us instead of in front of us (which makes COMPLETE sense by the way because there is a giant river right behind the actual stage we'll be on... so it will actually be really cool.) With all that said, it was a really good day of rehearsal. The director said of Act II scene iii, "that was really good for the first.... DAY." I was happy to hear that because, for me, that's one of my harder scenes. It's still got a lot of work that needs to be done, but it was a real good start.
It's so nice to lock eyes with another good actor and really start to DO something.
There was an interesting moment of rehearsal today that I think my students will appreciate. After we read through the first scene that we were working on today, the actress playing Emilia said... "I'm trying to figure out my status." As early as my Acting One class I am trying to get my students to think about status in their acting and I thought it was great to hear this actress express the importance of knowing her status for her work. In real life we constantly make choices based on our status in a given situation. If you are around your boss, you will probably make different choices than if you are around your friends and will again make different choices if you are around your kids. You hold a different status in all three scenarios. There is a lot of higher and lower rank situations in this play so it is important for us to figure out and keep track of our status throughout the piece and make choices with that in mind.
Side note: There was a freaking TACO TRUCK in the hotel parking lot today. I was going for a run and didn't take advantage of the opportunity but, next Tuesday, I will definitely be looking for the taco truck.
Shout out to Indonesia. That's right... someone checked in from Indonesia. That makes, I think, 10 different countries that have checked in so far.
Monday, June 25, 2012
6-25-2012 William = Cassio ?
Wow...
Just looked at images of Prince William. Love it. Couldn't find a good picture of him standing in uniform but a great combo of military and elegance. One thing that is interesting is that if he isn't doing something with his right hand/arm, he keeps his hand in a fist. It's a little odd but I kind of like that. It doesn't leak classy... it leaks "I will punch you." Interesting...
Just looked at images of Prince William. Love it. Couldn't find a good picture of him standing in uniform but a great combo of military and elegance. One thing that is interesting is that if he isn't doing something with his right hand/arm, he keeps his hand in a fist. It's a little odd but I kind of like that. It doesn't leak classy... it leaks "I will punch you." Interesting...
Left hand on sword, right hand in a fist.
He likes to cross his arms / lock hands a lot.
Cross arms...
Cross arms....
Lock hands...
Not sure what that one is all about but I kind of like it. Cassio has something going on with his hands and a little hand to the mouth thing could be fun to explore.
That is a cool shot. Look how is right hand is a fist. His left hand has control of that sword. He's uptown but he'll clock you if he has to. I like that.
Wonder how many hits this blog will get now that I have pictures of Prince William on it. hahaha
6-25-12 Blocking Act One
Alright... up on our feet moving around and sketching out Act One. That was fun. With so little time to rehearse such a long play, we really won't have a whole lot of time in rehearsal to just work on the acting. Today we essentially spent most of the four hours blocking the scenes (figuring out the basic movements of the scene.) But even within that, I try things out... different actions... different movements...
A few fun things have started to bubble up about Cassio. One is, why did he get promoted? We talked about it partially being a political move. We're saying I come from an important family. On top of that, we're saying I have known Desdemona for a while because she too comes from an important family. Cassio is a Kennedy. Cassio's family would have a house in the Hamptons. He's as uptown as can be. He learned fencing from the best coaches. He's been groomed by the best teachers on all subjects. Cassio would hang out with Prince William.
Another thing we've been talking about is how much does Cassio like Desdemona... or did he like her?
One thing actors often do is they use something Stanislavski called "the magic if." It allows the actor to mentally explore situations they haven't actually been in. I have never been in a situation where my commanding officer liked a girl that perhaps I liked. But what if? What might it be like? What is perhaps a somewhat similar situation in my own life that I can draw from to understand the emotions of the situation in the script?
If I do play that I had a crush on Desdemona (which I think I will for the time being) I think it's kind of like a situation I remember in high school. I remember the point in high school... like Junior year, when I started to realize that some of the most desirable high school girls were now dating college guys. And heck... what if the college guy was actually cool? So yeah, you had a crush on the girl, but you completely understand why she is with the guy she is with, and you are cool with it, and heck, you even like the guy. So... you go and date a freshman or sophomore because who you thought might be your dream girl is off the market.
Same thing with Cassio. He had a crush on Desdemona and they probably had interacted for years. But when awesome Othello asked Cassio to help hook him up with Desdemona... of course Cassio would do it. Othello is like his idol. Cassio would do it happily. And he might let out a masked sigh every now and then that a good one got away, but he's happy for Des and Othello... and so Cassio goes and dates a Freshman... (Bianca). haha
Another thing I was playing with tonight was Cassio's stance. One the one hand he's a soldier. On the other hand, he is very refined. So I was playing with how to give some elegance to my stance, without it coming across as too pretty. I definitely want to appear one of the sharpest on the stage though. No slouching... no hands on hips... Cassio is proper... what is that in movement? Actually, I wonder if I can find some pictures of Prince William in his soldier gear... does he leak elegance?
I was actually thinking about my commedia training. With the lovers in commedia it is fun to imagine that someone is always taking your picture so you always have to be in a good pose. Well, can I use a little of that for Cassio? Can he always have good lines? Something to play with.
If I go that route... then, when I am drunk, I can do the exact opposite and it will show, even more, just how much the alcohol affects me.
Speaking of which, tomorrow is Act II. Act II is my biggest act... including the drunk scene. So, I'm going to try and spend some quality time tonight and tomorrow really working those two scene in Act II.
Oh... and Cassio has a beard... so I've been living with stubble for a while. I talked to the director about that and he said he just wants a 4-5 day beard type thing... sweet... I've got that already. I'm glad I don't have to do a bigger beard than that... it gets so itchy man. Especially in this heat. And running with a beard? Not good. So this 4-5 day scruffy look is very appreciated!
Final thing... it was pretty amazing to see how many people were barely using their scripts today. The more you learn your lines before rehearsals begin, the more you can play when you get to rehearsal.
A few fun things have started to bubble up about Cassio. One is, why did he get promoted? We talked about it partially being a political move. We're saying I come from an important family. On top of that, we're saying I have known Desdemona for a while because she too comes from an important family. Cassio is a Kennedy. Cassio's family would have a house in the Hamptons. He's as uptown as can be. He learned fencing from the best coaches. He's been groomed by the best teachers on all subjects. Cassio would hang out with Prince William.
Another thing we've been talking about is how much does Cassio like Desdemona... or did he like her?
One thing actors often do is they use something Stanislavski called "the magic if." It allows the actor to mentally explore situations they haven't actually been in. I have never been in a situation where my commanding officer liked a girl that perhaps I liked. But what if? What might it be like? What is perhaps a somewhat similar situation in my own life that I can draw from to understand the emotions of the situation in the script?
If I do play that I had a crush on Desdemona (which I think I will for the time being) I think it's kind of like a situation I remember in high school. I remember the point in high school... like Junior year, when I started to realize that some of the most desirable high school girls were now dating college guys. And heck... what if the college guy was actually cool? So yeah, you had a crush on the girl, but you completely understand why she is with the guy she is with, and you are cool with it, and heck, you even like the guy. So... you go and date a freshman or sophomore because who you thought might be your dream girl is off the market.
Same thing with Cassio. He had a crush on Desdemona and they probably had interacted for years. But when awesome Othello asked Cassio to help hook him up with Desdemona... of course Cassio would do it. Othello is like his idol. Cassio would do it happily. And he might let out a masked sigh every now and then that a good one got away, but he's happy for Des and Othello... and so Cassio goes and dates a Freshman... (Bianca). haha
Another thing I was playing with tonight was Cassio's stance. One the one hand he's a soldier. On the other hand, he is very refined. So I was playing with how to give some elegance to my stance, without it coming across as too pretty. I definitely want to appear one of the sharpest on the stage though. No slouching... no hands on hips... Cassio is proper... what is that in movement? Actually, I wonder if I can find some pictures of Prince William in his soldier gear... does he leak elegance?
I was actually thinking about my commedia training. With the lovers in commedia it is fun to imagine that someone is always taking your picture so you always have to be in a good pose. Well, can I use a little of that for Cassio? Can he always have good lines? Something to play with.
If I go that route... then, when I am drunk, I can do the exact opposite and it will show, even more, just how much the alcohol affects me.
Speaking of which, tomorrow is Act II. Act II is my biggest act... including the drunk scene. So, I'm going to try and spend some quality time tonight and tomorrow really working those two scene in Act II.
Oh... and Cassio has a beard... so I've been living with stubble for a while. I talked to the director about that and he said he just wants a 4-5 day beard type thing... sweet... I've got that already. I'm glad I don't have to do a bigger beard than that... it gets so itchy man. Especially in this heat. And running with a beard? Not good. So this 4-5 day scruffy look is very appreciated!
Final thing... it was pretty amazing to see how many people were barely using their scripts today. The more you learn your lines before rehearsals begin, the more you can play when you get to rehearsal.
6-25-12 The last 90 minutes of my life
Maybe I'll go work some lines on the Elliptical.
Maybe I'll switch over to the hot tub for a bit and keep working lines.
Maybe I'll jump in the pool and cool off and run lines in my head for a few minutes.
Maybe I should snag a couple of shampoos from this cleaning cart.
Maybe this is going to be a real fun month.
Maybe I'll switch over to the hot tub for a bit and keep working lines.
Maybe I'll jump in the pool and cool off and run lines in my head for a few minutes.
Maybe I should snag a couple of shampoos from this cleaning cart.
Maybe this is going to be a real fun month.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
6-24-2012 First Rehearsal
Theatre is great.
I show up in a city I haven't been in for two years, I walk into a rehearsal room, I get hugs from a bunch of people I haven't seen in two years, I meet a few new people, and then we all sit down together and do a really good reading of an amazing play. When you do a show with someone... you really do become part of some strange family-like thing. And even if you haven't seen someone for a couple of years, if you've done a show with them, the friendship and the connection is, more often than not, instantly established the moment you reunite.
And it's great. And what is really exciting is seeing that everyone has put work into this already. And we hear that work coming out already. And it's just awesome.
So for the first rehearsal, it is common to do a read-through. This is where everyone sits around a big table...all together for the first time... and reads the play. Then, afterwards there is often some beginning discussion on the play.
Perhaps the biggest mistake an actor can make during the read-through is trying to prove to everyone else that they deserved to be cast. I remember, when I first started getting professional gigs, how surprised I was at how understated read-throughs were. It taught me a valuable lesson... don't force things at a read-through. So tonight was great. Sometimes there were moments where two or more actors really started to build something. Other times the actors just kept it mellow. One fight scene was fairly energized. The other was kind of mellow. It's just where the actors went. That's cool.
At the end of the rehearsal, all of the actors who were equity stuck around to elect a deputy. Every show has an equity deputy who kind of serves as the liaison between the cast and Actors' Equity Association. No one ever really wants to do it. hahaha So it tends to go to the person who has never done it before or the newest person to equity. I am NOT the equity deputy. haha
Othello is a pretty interesting play. It's starts big and we are talking about impending war in the Mediterranean Sea and by the end of the play all of the action is taking place in a bedroom. It goes from huge to small.
It is also fascinating how the first half is really Iago's play and the second half becomes Othello's play. The first half and second half are so very different. The first half is rather comical at times but wow... by the second half... it gets heavy.
It's also pretty amazing to me how modern parts of this play read. There is a whole scene about one guy trying to get another guy drunk. Then when he is drunk, he does typical things to try and prove that he isn't drunk. There's another scene where Emilia is telling Desdemona that if husbands cheat on their wives, then wives should cheat on their husbands.
Othello was one of the first plays that I latched onto when I started getting into Shakespeare but I haven't lived with it like I will be this month and I am really looking forward to that.
Speaking of living... my hotel room is nice. The hotel is nice. It's great when you can go for a run and then come back and immediately jump into a pool to cool off. The only downside right now is, I think there are a number of (perhaps) professional athletes here. I don't know if some of the Colts rookies are staying here or what... anyway... I have someone large staying directly above me because they do not walk softly. hahaha
I always experience this feeling when I first move into my temporary housing... something along the lines of "why am I doing this? Am I REALLY going to live here for that long??? Why the hell do I do a job where I have to leave home?" In Italy last summer, that feeling lasted a few days because my living arrangement was pretty rough. Plus it's just harder to get situated in a new country. Here, it wore off pretty quickly, and the final reverberations of that sensation went away as soon as I walked into rehearsal.
So, I'll probably do updates after each rehearsal now. Tomorrow I'm called from 7-10pm. We're doing all of Act I. We move fast here so I am glad to have done the prep-work that I have done so far.
Shout-out of the day goes to my in-laws who hooked me up with a sweet Brandon Phillips bobble-head doll to decorate my hotel room. I always like to have something to decorate my temporary housing to make it feel like it is "my" space. Usually I'll buy some stupid poster from wal-mart or something but the bobblehead is definitely a more fun option.
Four weeks from now the show is over and it is nothing more than a credit on the resume. Here we go!
I show up in a city I haven't been in for two years, I walk into a rehearsal room, I get hugs from a bunch of people I haven't seen in two years, I meet a few new people, and then we all sit down together and do a really good reading of an amazing play. When you do a show with someone... you really do become part of some strange family-like thing. And even if you haven't seen someone for a couple of years, if you've done a show with them, the friendship and the connection is, more often than not, instantly established the moment you reunite.
And it's great. And what is really exciting is seeing that everyone has put work into this already. And we hear that work coming out already. And it's just awesome.
So for the first rehearsal, it is common to do a read-through. This is where everyone sits around a big table...all together for the first time... and reads the play. Then, afterwards there is often some beginning discussion on the play.
Perhaps the biggest mistake an actor can make during the read-through is trying to prove to everyone else that they deserved to be cast. I remember, when I first started getting professional gigs, how surprised I was at how understated read-throughs were. It taught me a valuable lesson... don't force things at a read-through. So tonight was great. Sometimes there were moments where two or more actors really started to build something. Other times the actors just kept it mellow. One fight scene was fairly energized. The other was kind of mellow. It's just where the actors went. That's cool.
At the end of the rehearsal, all of the actors who were equity stuck around to elect a deputy. Every show has an equity deputy who kind of serves as the liaison between the cast and Actors' Equity Association. No one ever really wants to do it. hahaha So it tends to go to the person who has never done it before or the newest person to equity. I am NOT the equity deputy. haha
Othello is a pretty interesting play. It's starts big and we are talking about impending war in the Mediterranean Sea and by the end of the play all of the action is taking place in a bedroom. It goes from huge to small.
It is also fascinating how the first half is really Iago's play and the second half becomes Othello's play. The first half and second half are so very different. The first half is rather comical at times but wow... by the second half... it gets heavy.
It's also pretty amazing to me how modern parts of this play read. There is a whole scene about one guy trying to get another guy drunk. Then when he is drunk, he does typical things to try and prove that he isn't drunk. There's another scene where Emilia is telling Desdemona that if husbands cheat on their wives, then wives should cheat on their husbands.
Othello was one of the first plays that I latched onto when I started getting into Shakespeare but I haven't lived with it like I will be this month and I am really looking forward to that.
Speaking of living... my hotel room is nice. The hotel is nice. It's great when you can go for a run and then come back and immediately jump into a pool to cool off. The only downside right now is, I think there are a number of (perhaps) professional athletes here. I don't know if some of the Colts rookies are staying here or what... anyway... I have someone large staying directly above me because they do not walk softly. hahaha
I always experience this feeling when I first move into my temporary housing... something along the lines of "why am I doing this? Am I REALLY going to live here for that long??? Why the hell do I do a job where I have to leave home?" In Italy last summer, that feeling lasted a few days because my living arrangement was pretty rough. Plus it's just harder to get situated in a new country. Here, it wore off pretty quickly, and the final reverberations of that sensation went away as soon as I walked into rehearsal.
So, I'll probably do updates after each rehearsal now. Tomorrow I'm called from 7-10pm. We're doing all of Act I. We move fast here so I am glad to have done the prep-work that I have done so far.
Shout-out of the day goes to my in-laws who hooked me up with a sweet Brandon Phillips bobble-head doll to decorate my hotel room. I always like to have something to decorate my temporary housing to make it feel like it is "my" space. Usually I'll buy some stupid poster from wal-mart or something but the bobblehead is definitely a more fun option.
Four weeks from now the show is over and it is nothing more than a credit on the resume. Here we go!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
6-21-2012 Packing
A friend of mine recently finished a gig Off-Broadway and now he is up in Boston starting rehearsals for another gig. He lives in NYC but is frequently doing gigs out of the city. His facebook status read...
"Closed a show with wonderful castmates yesterday, and now on a train to Boston where the next one begins rehearsal tomorrow. Love the work, but sad to leave those two beautiful ladies back home in NYC for a bit. Trying to be actor means always saying goodbye."
And it's true. You say goodbye to your people at home and go off and do a gig. You become incredibly close with your cast and then you say goodbye and go home. Craziness. Heck, I'm only gone for a month this time but I've had gigs last up to 18 weeks and I have friends that have done gigs that took them away from home for over a year. Actually, I met the friend that I mentioned above because we were sharing a townhouse together for a summer at a gig. We're still great friends.
The flip of it is, that you get to temporarily live in a lot of places that you never would have visited before, and, if they like you, you may be asked to return. I'm excited to see some people that I have worked with before that I haven't seen in two years. And... Theatre + Free Travel = Awesome.
But, as I pack up to leave for just a month... I get a little sad to leave the family and the house and all that.
ANYWAY...
I wanted to keep this entry rather light today! haha
So I'll be living in a hotel for a month. Always kind of fun. No free breakfasts at this one... but I'll have a limited gym and a pool and HOT TUB... AWESOME. Can't wait to go for runs and then just jump in the pool. hahah
The trick to gigs like this is to pack light but to not half to buy a bunch of stuff when you get there. We all know how expensive it is when you move into a new place... you have to stock the fridge... the bathroom etc. I'll be driving so I can take whatever I want but I don't want to load my car with a ton of stuff.
So... obviously clothes... laptop... toiletries... blah blah blah.... but here are a few things that I think are good to take on gigs like this.
1) Olive oil and other cooking oils and also spices. I have seen more olive oil get thrown out by actors than you could believe. The move to their temporary home, they buy olive oil, they use a quarter of a bottle, and then dump the rest... usually because they are flying home. I don't want to have to drop 10 bucks on olive oil when I have plenty at home. So I'm bringing some.
2) Laundry detergent. How many loads of laundry am I going to do? 5? 6? Not 32! No need to lug around a bunch of detergent. I'll poor some into the marinated artichoke heart glass jar that I just finished tonight and be good to go.
3) Bug spray. A rehearsal essential. Where and when do mosquitos like to hang out? In grassy areas in the evening. Where and when will I be rehearsing? In grassy areas in the evening. When I saw the show in Central Park last week, one of the first questions my friend asked me after the show was... "Did the mosquitos get you?" Not this time.
4) A few trash bags. Sometimes you just need a big trash bag for something and hotels don't always have them handy. And I certainly don't want to buy a box of 20.
5) A pair of crappy shoes. I'll be doing stage combat and stage combat often leads to scuffed shoes. Best to have a crappy pair to put on during combat rehearsals. If they get trashed... I throw them out at the end of rehearsal.
6) The crappiest pot and a pan that I own. A lot of times, you'll move into a place that has some cooking stuff. I'd rather just bring my own pot and pan. Same deal... trash 'em when the gig is over. I never use them at the house anyway so it gets them out of the house for good. haha
7) My own pillow and pillowcase. It's nice having one pillow of my own plus, when it is time to do laundry, I can stuff my clothes in the pillowcase to get to the laundry room.
8) A big backpack. It's nice to have one backpack. Sometimes you have to make up your own gym workouts with what you have around the room a la Rocky. So, I'll fill up a bunch of empty bottles with water. Stuff them all in this backpack.... and then I can do a variety of exercises. I did that in Italy last year and it worked well.
9) A little mini first aid kit.
Finally... these two are just reminders so I don't forget...
All my chargers... phone... laptop... etc... I always forget chargers.
My stage make-up. It's outdoor theatre and I probably won't use much, but... I sure don't want to have to buy more make-up.
Any other favorite tips when living in temp housing for a stint?
"Closed a show with wonderful castmates yesterday, and now on a train to Boston where the next one begins rehearsal tomorrow. Love the work, but sad to leave those two beautiful ladies back home in NYC for a bit. Trying to be actor means always saying goodbye."
And it's true. You say goodbye to your people at home and go off and do a gig. You become incredibly close with your cast and then you say goodbye and go home. Craziness. Heck, I'm only gone for a month this time but I've had gigs last up to 18 weeks and I have friends that have done gigs that took them away from home for over a year. Actually, I met the friend that I mentioned above because we were sharing a townhouse together for a summer at a gig. We're still great friends.
The flip of it is, that you get to temporarily live in a lot of places that you never would have visited before, and, if they like you, you may be asked to return. I'm excited to see some people that I have worked with before that I haven't seen in two years. And... Theatre + Free Travel = Awesome.
But, as I pack up to leave for just a month... I get a little sad to leave the family and the house and all that.
ANYWAY...
I wanted to keep this entry rather light today! haha
So I'll be living in a hotel for a month. Always kind of fun. No free breakfasts at this one... but I'll have a limited gym and a pool and HOT TUB... AWESOME. Can't wait to go for runs and then just jump in the pool. hahah
The trick to gigs like this is to pack light but to not half to buy a bunch of stuff when you get there. We all know how expensive it is when you move into a new place... you have to stock the fridge... the bathroom etc. I'll be driving so I can take whatever I want but I don't want to load my car with a ton of stuff.
So... obviously clothes... laptop... toiletries... blah blah blah.... but here are a few things that I think are good to take on gigs like this.
1) Olive oil and other cooking oils and also spices. I have seen more olive oil get thrown out by actors than you could believe. The move to their temporary home, they buy olive oil, they use a quarter of a bottle, and then dump the rest... usually because they are flying home. I don't want to have to drop 10 bucks on olive oil when I have plenty at home. So I'm bringing some.
2) Laundry detergent. How many loads of laundry am I going to do? 5? 6? Not 32! No need to lug around a bunch of detergent. I'll poor some into the marinated artichoke heart glass jar that I just finished tonight and be good to go.
3) Bug spray. A rehearsal essential. Where and when do mosquitos like to hang out? In grassy areas in the evening. Where and when will I be rehearsing? In grassy areas in the evening. When I saw the show in Central Park last week, one of the first questions my friend asked me after the show was... "Did the mosquitos get you?" Not this time.
4) A few trash bags. Sometimes you just need a big trash bag for something and hotels don't always have them handy. And I certainly don't want to buy a box of 20.
5) A pair of crappy shoes. I'll be doing stage combat and stage combat often leads to scuffed shoes. Best to have a crappy pair to put on during combat rehearsals. If they get trashed... I throw them out at the end of rehearsal.
6) The crappiest pot and a pan that I own. A lot of times, you'll move into a place that has some cooking stuff. I'd rather just bring my own pot and pan. Same deal... trash 'em when the gig is over. I never use them at the house anyway so it gets them out of the house for good. haha
7) My own pillow and pillowcase. It's nice having one pillow of my own plus, when it is time to do laundry, I can stuff my clothes in the pillowcase to get to the laundry room.
8) A big backpack. It's nice to have one backpack. Sometimes you have to make up your own gym workouts with what you have around the room a la Rocky. So, I'll fill up a bunch of empty bottles with water. Stuff them all in this backpack.... and then I can do a variety of exercises. I did that in Italy last year and it worked well.
9) A little mini first aid kit.
Finally... these two are just reminders so I don't forget...
All my chargers... phone... laptop... etc... I always forget chargers.
My stage make-up. It's outdoor theatre and I probably won't use much, but... I sure don't want to have to buy more make-up.
Any other favorite tips when living in temp housing for a stint?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
6-20-2012 Now it gets fun... Objectives and Actions
For the next few days a lot of my work will focus on identifying objectives and actions for each scene. So what does that mean?
Last post I identified a Super Objective to begin playing around with:
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted."
Now, within each scene, Cassio has at least one Objective. An Objective is something that I need to accomplish in order to achieve my Super Objective. These are based on things I need other people to think or feel or do.
The magic sentence I use to craft Objectives is this...
I want to get (insert the name of the chararcter I am dealing with) to think/feel/do ___________.
It's that easy. And by making sure that these objectives are based on needing something from the other people onstage, it ensures that I am acting WITH my fellow actors rather than IN SPITE OF my fellow actors.
So... the first time we see Cassio, he is searching around Venice with messengers from the Duke urgently trying to find Othello.
I see Cassio's Objective as being:
I want to get Othello to go to the Duke's immediately.
It's a pretty easy Objective to identify. Now, does this Objective support my Super Objective? Sure it does! It's likely that the Duke, when he couldn't find Othello, sent Cassio to find him. Cassio wants to impress the Duke by promptly dealing with Othello. At the same time, the manner in which I do it, will hopefully instill more confidence in Othello about my abilities. If my Super Objective is:
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted"
then doing this task successfully and quickly will be one step in doing just that.
In order to achieve an objective we play actions. Actions are verbs that we are going to do to the other person to achieve the objective.
Example...
My first line to Othello is...
"The Duke does great you General, and he requires your haste poste haste appearance even on the instant."
One possibility here would be TO EXCITE Othello with the line. (HEY THE DUKE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU NOW!!! WOO HOO!!!! THE DUKE!!!!)
Another possibility might be TO WARN Othello with the line. (Othello! Something is up and the Duke wants you at his place... NOW!)
Either are valid possibilities to use to achieve my objective.
Othello asks me if I know why the Duke needs him there... and I reply...
Something from Cyprus as I may divine:
It is a business of some heat: the galleys
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels,
And many of the consuls, raised and met,
Are at the duke's already: you have been
hotly call'd for;
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
The senate hath sent about three several guests
To search you out.
With this line I could do all sorts of things. Again I could try To Excite. Perhaps Cassio is really fired up about the potential of going to war and he's trying to excite Othello too. It's possible. I could try To Impress Othello, showing him just how much good information I have picked up, but while that helps my super objective, that doesn't really help my objective. I don't know that my impressing him would get him to come to the Duke's. The line "you have been hotly call'd for" seems a great line to use TO WARN... but I need to figure out if I want to try and warn throughout the entire line or if there are other things I could play.
Perhaps the first half I try TO WORRY Othello about the seriousness of the meeting, and then I try TO WARN him that the Duke has been trying unsuccessfully to get Othello to the Duke's. The hope being that if he sees the gravity of the situation and the fact the our superior, the Duke, has been calling for him, Othello will make his way there immediately. Which... will help me achieve my Objective, which in turn helps me to achieve my Super Objective.
This seems to be a solid possibility because Othello replies...
'Tis well I am found by you.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.
'Tis well I am found by you. ---- as if Othello acknowledges that this is heavy stuff I am saying and it was good that I found him as opposed to one of the other groups that the Duke sent out in search of Othello.
Throughout a rehearsal process actors try out different actions on each other in order to craft a scene. But, it's good to have an idea of what I'm going to start with before rehearsals begin. A lot of times, I'll list two or three actions by a single line, so I can either play around with a few things or, if a director doesn't like a choice I have made, I have another possibility prepared.
This is where the acting really begins. Memorizing is not acting... it's homework. This action and objective type work is where the craft begins.
So that's two lines... 108 to go. haha
Shout out of the day goes to the cast and crew of GOLAC, many of whom have been following along rather consistently.
Last post I identified a Super Objective to begin playing around with:
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted."
Now, within each scene, Cassio has at least one Objective. An Objective is something that I need to accomplish in order to achieve my Super Objective. These are based on things I need other people to think or feel or do.
The magic sentence I use to craft Objectives is this...
I want to get (insert the name of the chararcter I am dealing with) to think/feel/do ___________.
It's that easy. And by making sure that these objectives are based on needing something from the other people onstage, it ensures that I am acting WITH my fellow actors rather than IN SPITE OF my fellow actors.
So... the first time we see Cassio, he is searching around Venice with messengers from the Duke urgently trying to find Othello.
I see Cassio's Objective as being:
I want to get Othello to go to the Duke's immediately.
It's a pretty easy Objective to identify. Now, does this Objective support my Super Objective? Sure it does! It's likely that the Duke, when he couldn't find Othello, sent Cassio to find him. Cassio wants to impress the Duke by promptly dealing with Othello. At the same time, the manner in which I do it, will hopefully instill more confidence in Othello about my abilities. If my Super Objective is:
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted"
then doing this task successfully and quickly will be one step in doing just that.
In order to achieve an objective we play actions. Actions are verbs that we are going to do to the other person to achieve the objective.
Example...
My first line to Othello is...
"The Duke does great you General, and he requires your haste poste haste appearance even on the instant."
One possibility here would be TO EXCITE Othello with the line. (HEY THE DUKE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU NOW!!! WOO HOO!!!! THE DUKE!!!!)
Another possibility might be TO WARN Othello with the line. (Othello! Something is up and the Duke wants you at his place... NOW!)
Either are valid possibilities to use to achieve my objective.
Othello asks me if I know why the Duke needs him there... and I reply...
Something from Cyprus as I may divine:
It is a business of some heat: the galleys
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels,
And many of the consuls, raised and met,
Are at the duke's already: you have been
hotly call'd for;
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
The senate hath sent about three several guests
To search you out.
With this line I could do all sorts of things. Again I could try To Excite. Perhaps Cassio is really fired up about the potential of going to war and he's trying to excite Othello too. It's possible. I could try To Impress Othello, showing him just how much good information I have picked up, but while that helps my super objective, that doesn't really help my objective. I don't know that my impressing him would get him to come to the Duke's. The line "you have been hotly call'd for" seems a great line to use TO WARN... but I need to figure out if I want to try and warn throughout the entire line or if there are other things I could play.
Perhaps the first half I try TO WORRY Othello about the seriousness of the meeting, and then I try TO WARN him that the Duke has been trying unsuccessfully to get Othello to the Duke's. The hope being that if he sees the gravity of the situation and the fact the our superior, the Duke, has been calling for him, Othello will make his way there immediately. Which... will help me achieve my Objective, which in turn helps me to achieve my Super Objective.
This seems to be a solid possibility because Othello replies...
'Tis well I am found by you.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.
'Tis well I am found by you. ---- as if Othello acknowledges that this is heavy stuff I am saying and it was good that I found him as opposed to one of the other groups that the Duke sent out in search of Othello.
Throughout a rehearsal process actors try out different actions on each other in order to craft a scene. But, it's good to have an idea of what I'm going to start with before rehearsals begin. A lot of times, I'll list two or three actions by a single line, so I can either play around with a few things or, if a director doesn't like a choice I have made, I have another possibility prepared.
This is where the acting really begins. Memorizing is not acting... it's homework. This action and objective type work is where the craft begins.
So that's two lines... 108 to go. haha
Shout out of the day goes to the cast and crew of GOLAC, many of whom have been following along rather consistently.
Monday, June 18, 2012
6-18-12 Bring on the Stanislavski
Back on May 29th I posted a picture of a guy named Constantin Stanislavski. Here's another sweet pic of the guy...
In the late 1800's and early 1900's Stanislavski developed a technique for acting that eventually revolutionized actor training throughout Europe and United States. For the last 100 years, the majority of the great actors... and most likely your favorite actors... were trained in some form of Stanislavski's work.
A large part of Stanislavski's technique is based on identifying character motivations and objectives. It has become cliche to joking say "what's my motivation" to impersonate an actor. There is good reason for this... a good actor is constantly asking that of themselves as they figure out a character.
One term that is used with this technique is Super-Objective. The exact definition of this may vary a bit depending on what teachers of the technique one has had, but, in my mind, the Super-Objective is the one major thing that a character is trying to achieve throughout the course of the play. The more of the play the Super-Objective encompasses, the better.
So... if we were talking Romeo and Juliet, and if I was playing Romeo, I would NOT say that my Super-Objective is to marry Juliet. Why? Because Romeo doesn't even know who Juliet is until the end of Act 1 and they get married in Act 3. That is only about 40% of the play right there! Instead, I might use a Super-Objective like "I want to spend eternity with my one true love." We could argue that almost every single thing that Romeo does throughout the course of the play is covered by that one Super-Objective.
But I'm not Romeo... I'm Cassio. So I'm not trying to figure out Cassio's super objective. At one point I thought maybe it would be something along the lines of...
"I want to do everything I can to become general someday."
Othello is general and this Super-Objective does imply a lack of connection between Cassio and Othello. Cassio was just promoted and now he wants Othello's job? hmmmm
After more though... including the observations that happened from the exercises that I wrote about over the last few days... it is clear that Cassio and Othello are tight. I don't think I want to work against that.
So perhaps another option is...
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted."
This is something completely different. Trying to prove my worth in every scene could be interesting. Trying to show my the soldiers, or Desdemona, or Othello, that I am worthy of being Lieutenant could be a great jumping off place for exploring most of my motivations in these scenes.
So now that I am going to play with this as my Super-Objective... I will start going through each scene and try to figure out what my Objectives are for each scene.
More on that tomorrow.
Side Note: This one is especially for my Acting II class. Had an audition today. I tell my Acting II class all about potential distractions in an audition room. Well, today I was auditioning while hammering and drilling were going on in the room above me. It was rather comical but at the same time it was an opportunity for me to show the auditioners that I can be a good sport and that I can overcome that kind of stuff. By the end of my second monologue, I got a nice laugh from the five people watching me despite the fact that a drill was buzzing. hahaha You have to be ready for anything at an audition!
In the late 1800's and early 1900's Stanislavski developed a technique for acting that eventually revolutionized actor training throughout Europe and United States. For the last 100 years, the majority of the great actors... and most likely your favorite actors... were trained in some form of Stanislavski's work.
A large part of Stanislavski's technique is based on identifying character motivations and objectives. It has become cliche to joking say "what's my motivation" to impersonate an actor. There is good reason for this... a good actor is constantly asking that of themselves as they figure out a character.
One term that is used with this technique is Super-Objective. The exact definition of this may vary a bit depending on what teachers of the technique one has had, but, in my mind, the Super-Objective is the one major thing that a character is trying to achieve throughout the course of the play. The more of the play the Super-Objective encompasses, the better.
So... if we were talking Romeo and Juliet, and if I was playing Romeo, I would NOT say that my Super-Objective is to marry Juliet. Why? Because Romeo doesn't even know who Juliet is until the end of Act 1 and they get married in Act 3. That is only about 40% of the play right there! Instead, I might use a Super-Objective like "I want to spend eternity with my one true love." We could argue that almost every single thing that Romeo does throughout the course of the play is covered by that one Super-Objective.
But I'm not Romeo... I'm Cassio. So I'm not trying to figure out Cassio's super objective. At one point I thought maybe it would be something along the lines of...
"I want to do everything I can to become general someday."
Othello is general and this Super-Objective does imply a lack of connection between Cassio and Othello. Cassio was just promoted and now he wants Othello's job? hmmmm
After more though... including the observations that happened from the exercises that I wrote about over the last few days... it is clear that Cassio and Othello are tight. I don't think I want to work against that.
So perhaps another option is...
"I want to prove that I was the right man to be promoted."
This is something completely different. Trying to prove my worth in every scene could be interesting. Trying to show my the soldiers, or Desdemona, or Othello, that I am worthy of being Lieutenant could be a great jumping off place for exploring most of my motivations in these scenes.
So now that I am going to play with this as my Super-Objective... I will start going through each scene and try to figure out what my Objectives are for each scene.
More on that tomorrow.
Side Note: This one is especially for my Acting II class. Had an audition today. I tell my Acting II class all about potential distractions in an audition room. Well, today I was auditioning while hammering and drilling were going on in the room above me. It was rather comical but at the same time it was an opportunity for me to show the auditioners that I can be a good sport and that I can overcome that kind of stuff. By the end of my second monologue, I got a nice laugh from the five people watching me despite the fact that a drill was buzzing. hahaha You have to be ready for anything at an audition!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Clues on Cassio continued...
A few observations based on the work last night.
1) Cassio is from Florence. The army in question is the Venetian Army. So, like Othello, Cassio is an outsider in one sense. This may explain why he was willing to give in to the soldiers and drink.
2) I was surprised at how often it is mentioned that Cassio helped Othello get together with Desdemona. Cassio and Iago have far more time together on stage than Cassio and Othello but it is becoming clear that Cassio and Othello are very tight... and Cassio and Iago are probably relatively new friends.
3) I always like to see what the single word is that it used most often to describe my character. With Cassio, that word is "Good." Five different characters call him "good" and some call him this multiple times. I think it is significant when a playwright uses the same word over and over to describe a character. For Iago, the word used over and over is "honest," which is great because he is anything but!
4) There is multiple mention of the love between Othello and Cassio. Not a romantic love but love is used to describe how close they are.
5) Cassio clearly is a charmer and is good with women. It is said over and over. It's fitting that he's Italian. I definitely know an Italian or two who, if you didn't know them, would appear to be flirting with every woman, and this could come across threatening or shady. However, once I got to know them, I realized that they were good people and that they were much more innocent than I first thought. Cassio may be in that boat. Who was that cook on Top Chef? Fabio? haha
6) Something is up with Cassio's hands. There are a few moments in this play where Cassio's hands, and what he is doing with his hands, are significant. I even found this old picture...
7) It is interesting that twice Cassio has the opportunity to speak for himself about the drunk incident to Othello and can't do it .
8) Looking at the list from yesterday... a few words that stick out... good, gentle, friend, honest, proper, disciplined, humbled, penitent... I mean, that is a great character description that Shakespeare has given us about Cassio!
9) Iago calls Cassio "a great Arithmatician." I wonder if that is a good jumping off point for some movement choices. Are his movements sharp and clean like math... not curvy but crisp and angular.... something to think about.
So the real lesson here is, there are often many clues in the text for building a character, and these clues should be the foundation of building the character!
1) Cassio is from Florence. The army in question is the Venetian Army. So, like Othello, Cassio is an outsider in one sense. This may explain why he was willing to give in to the soldiers and drink.
2) I was surprised at how often it is mentioned that Cassio helped Othello get together with Desdemona. Cassio and Iago have far more time together on stage than Cassio and Othello but it is becoming clear that Cassio and Othello are very tight... and Cassio and Iago are probably relatively new friends.
3) I always like to see what the single word is that it used most often to describe my character. With Cassio, that word is "Good." Five different characters call him "good" and some call him this multiple times. I think it is significant when a playwright uses the same word over and over to describe a character. For Iago, the word used over and over is "honest," which is great because he is anything but!
4) There is multiple mention of the love between Othello and Cassio. Not a romantic love but love is used to describe how close they are.
5) Cassio clearly is a charmer and is good with women. It is said over and over. It's fitting that he's Italian. I definitely know an Italian or two who, if you didn't know them, would appear to be flirting with every woman, and this could come across threatening or shady. However, once I got to know them, I realized that they were good people and that they were much more innocent than I first thought. Cassio may be in that boat. Who was that cook on Top Chef? Fabio? haha
6) Something is up with Cassio's hands. There are a few moments in this play where Cassio's hands, and what he is doing with his hands, are significant. I even found this old picture...
So there may be something there... something about his hands... how he uses his hands... how he holds things... Desdemona's hand... her handerchief... etc...7) It is interesting that twice Cassio has the opportunity to speak for himself about the drunk incident to Othello and can't do it .
8) Looking at the list from yesterday... a few words that stick out... good, gentle, friend, honest, proper, disciplined, humbled, penitent... I mean, that is a great character description that Shakespeare has given us about Cassio!
9) Iago calls Cassio "a great Arithmatician." I wonder if that is a good jumping off point for some movement choices. Are his movements sharp and clean like math... not curvy but crisp and angular.... something to think about.
So the real lesson here is, there are often many clues in the text for building a character, and these clues should be the foundation of building the character!
Friday, June 15, 2012
6-15-12 Shakespeare's clues on Cassio
So the lines are getting pretty good. I should be in good shape by the time rehearsals start. It's time to start looking at Cassio as a character in greater detail.
Now one thing that I need to remember in crafting a character is that my choices need to come from the text. Often, you'll see actors just start to come up with characters choices based on their initial readings of the play without really digging into the script. This often leads to characters that don't necessarily mesh with the demands of the text. Who cares what my grand concept for Cassio is if it isn't informed by the text? You see this all the time in bad acting... someone makes a character choice that clearly goes against what the script says the character needs to be. BLEH
So, for me, the first thing I do is look at what the text says about Cassio. Now Shakespeare didn't write some detailed report about Cassio's personality... or did he? I actually say he did... and the people that report the information are the characters in the play. Playwrights do this all of the time.
One of the first things I like to do in crafting a character is to see how the playwright chooses to have the character describe himself and how the playwright chooses to have other characters describe the character.
Tonight I read the play highlighting any spot where I characterize myself or where others characterize me. Now, it's tricky with Othello because this play has a lot of Iago lying in it, but this process should still reveal some things. It will be interesting to see what attributes of Cassio, Iago chooses to use for his schemes. (I'm pulling these lines from the folio so there will be some crazy spellings of words.)
Amazingly enough... we get a detailed description from Iago within the first 38 lines of the play about Cassio:
Forsooth, a great Arithmatician,
One Michaell Cassio, a Florentine,
(A Fellow almost damn'd in a faire Wife)
That never set a Squadron in the Field,
Nor the devision of a Battaile knowes
More than a Spinster.
Mere pratle (without practise)
Is all his Souldiership.
So that's a real nice start for this exercise.
HOW CASSIO DESCRIBES HIMSELF:
As he kisses Iago's wife - 'Tis my breeding
That gives me this bold show of Curtesie.
About drinking - I have very poor
and unhappie Braines for drinking. I could well wish
Curtesie would invent some other Custome of entertainment.
I am infortunate in the infirmity, and
dare not taske my weakeness with any more.
About religion - I hope to be saved.
About having drunk too much - I am not drunke now:
I can stand well enough and I speake well enough.
When Othello questions him on the drinking - I cannot speake.
About losing his position - I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of
myself and what remains is bestiall.
About asking Othello for his position back - I will rather sue to be despis'd, then to deceive
so good a Commander, with so slight, so drunken and so
indiscreet an Officer.
About the incident - (I) frankly despise my selfe.
I am desperate of my Fortunes if they check me.
On talking to Othello about getting his job back - I am very ill at ease,
unfit for mine owne purposes.
On Othello - I, with all the office of my heart
Intirely honour (Othello)
About the last week - I have this while with leaden thoughts been pressed
About Bianca being around him near Othello's place - I do attend here on the Generall,
And thinke it no addition nor my wish
To have him see me woman'd.
About Bianca - Not that I love you not.
About wanting his position back - want even kills me
About Bianca - I must leave her company
When he is attacked - I am maym'd for ever
I am spoyl'd, undone by villians
My legge is cut in two
About Othello thinking Cassio slept with Desdemona - Deere Generall, I never gave you cause.
HOW CASSIO IS DESCRIBED BY OTHERS (with who says it):
Othello - Friend
Iago - A proper man.
Iago - He hath a person, and a smooth dispose
To be suspected: fram'd to make women false.
Gentlemen - Though he speake of comfort
Touching the Turkish losse, yet he lookes sadly,
And praye the Moore be safe;
Montano - Good Lieutenant
Desdemona - Valiant Cassio
Iago - He takes her by the palm... it had beene better you had not kiss'd your three fingers so oft which now againe you are most apt to play the Sir, in. Very good: well kiss'd and excellent Curtsie:
Iago - Yet againe, your fingers to your lippes" (obviously Cassio has some character gesture that involves the kissing of his fingers)
Iago - A knave very voluble: no further conscionable then in putting on the meere forme of Civill and Humaine seeming for the better compasse of his salt and most hidden loose Affection... A slipper and a subtle knave, a finder of occasion: that he's an eye can stampe, and counterfeit Advantages, though true Advantage never present it selfe. A divelish knave: besides, the knave is handsome, young: and hath all those requisites in him, that folly and green mindes (young women) look after. A pestilent compleat knave, and the woman hath found him already.
Iago about Cassio and Desdemona - They met so neere with their lippes taht their breathes embrac'd together.
Iago - disciplined
Iago about Cassio's lack of ability to handle liquor - he's rash and very sodaine in Choller: and happely may strike at you, provoke him that he may.
Iago - That Cassio loves (Desdemona), I do well beleev't.
Iago - I fear Cassio with my Night-Cape (wife) too.
Othello - Good Michael
Iago on Cassio drinking: If I can fasten but one Cup upon him
With that which he hath drunk to night alreadie,
He'l be as full of Quarrell, and offence
As my yong Mistris dogge.
Iago on Cassio's drinking: He's a Soldier, fit to stand by Caesar,
And give direction. And but to see his vice,
'Tis to his vertue, a just Equinox,
The one as long as the other.
(there are a few other things Iago says about how much Cassio drinks... not sure yet how many are actually true though... Iago lies and embellishes a lot... but Cassio is, indeed, a nasty drunk.)
Montano - good Lieutenant
Montano - you're drunk
Iago - good Lieutenant.
Iago - swift of foot
Iago - good Lieutenant... I think, you think I love you. (Cassio agrees with this)
Emilia - (Othello) loves you.
Desdemona - Good Cassio
Desdemona - You do love my lord. You have known him long...
Iago - he would steal away so guilty-like
Desdemona - a man that languishes in your displeasure.
Desdemona to Othello - For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That erres in Ignorance, and not in Cunning...
Desdemona - so humbled
Desdemona - he's penitent
Desdemona to Othello about how Cassio helped Othello win Desdemona's hand -
Michael Cassio,
That came a wooing with you? and so many a time
(When I have spoke of you dispraisingly)
Hath taken your part....
We then learn that Cassio often would act as an inbetween for Othello and Desdemona.
Othello - Honest
Othello - He was of my Counsaile,
Of the whole course of wooing;
Iago - I think that he is honest.
Iago - Cassio's an honest man.
Iago - Cassio's my worthy Friend
Iago - tis fit that Cassio have his Place;
For sure he filles it up with great ability;
Desdemona - Good Cassio
Desdemona - Thrice-gentle Cassio
Bianca - Friend Cassio
Bianca - you do not love me
Iago about talking to Cassio about Bianca - He, when he hears of her, cannot restraine
From the excesse of Laughter...
And he shall smile....
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviours
Othello - he laughs
Othello - he denies it faintly: and laughes it out.
Iago - he laughed
Iago - if Cassio do remaine,
He hath a dayly beauty in his life,
That makes me ugly:
Iago - Herre's Cassio hurt by villians
Bianca - deere Cassio... sweet Cassio
Bianca - he faints.
Iago - good Cassio
Emilia - Good Cassio
Iago - Poore Cassio
Desdemona - I... never loved Cassio
Desdemona - he is betray'd
Lodovico - Cassio rules in Cyprus.
AND FINALLY... Cassio is listed in the list of characters as "an Honourable Lieutenant"
___________________________________________________________________________
So... why should I come up with all of MY ideas for who and what Cassio is, without looking at all of these clues that Shakespeare gave me? There is a lot of great stuff here. Now that it is all typed out in one place, I'll look at it in greater detail next time.
Now one thing that I need to remember in crafting a character is that my choices need to come from the text. Often, you'll see actors just start to come up with characters choices based on their initial readings of the play without really digging into the script. This often leads to characters that don't necessarily mesh with the demands of the text. Who cares what my grand concept for Cassio is if it isn't informed by the text? You see this all the time in bad acting... someone makes a character choice that clearly goes against what the script says the character needs to be. BLEH
So, for me, the first thing I do is look at what the text says about Cassio. Now Shakespeare didn't write some detailed report about Cassio's personality... or did he? I actually say he did... and the people that report the information are the characters in the play. Playwrights do this all of the time.
One of the first things I like to do in crafting a character is to see how the playwright chooses to have the character describe himself and how the playwright chooses to have other characters describe the character.
Tonight I read the play highlighting any spot where I characterize myself or where others characterize me. Now, it's tricky with Othello because this play has a lot of Iago lying in it, but this process should still reveal some things. It will be interesting to see what attributes of Cassio, Iago chooses to use for his schemes. (I'm pulling these lines from the folio so there will be some crazy spellings of words.)
Amazingly enough... we get a detailed description from Iago within the first 38 lines of the play about Cassio:
Forsooth, a great Arithmatician,
One Michaell Cassio, a Florentine,
(A Fellow almost damn'd in a faire Wife)
That never set a Squadron in the Field,
Nor the devision of a Battaile knowes
More than a Spinster.
Mere pratle (without practise)
Is all his Souldiership.
So that's a real nice start for this exercise.
HOW CASSIO DESCRIBES HIMSELF:
As he kisses Iago's wife - 'Tis my breeding
That gives me this bold show of Curtesie.
About drinking - I have very poor
and unhappie Braines for drinking. I could well wish
Curtesie would invent some other Custome of entertainment.
I am infortunate in the infirmity, and
dare not taske my weakeness with any more.
About religion - I hope to be saved.
About having drunk too much - I am not drunke now:
I can stand well enough and I speake well enough.
When Othello questions him on the drinking - I cannot speake.
About losing his position - I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of
myself and what remains is bestiall.
About asking Othello for his position back - I will rather sue to be despis'd, then to deceive
so good a Commander, with so slight, so drunken and so
indiscreet an Officer.
About the incident - (I) frankly despise my selfe.
I am desperate of my Fortunes if they check me.
On talking to Othello about getting his job back - I am very ill at ease,
unfit for mine owne purposes.
On Othello - I, with all the office of my heart
Intirely honour (Othello)
About the last week - I have this while with leaden thoughts been pressed
About Bianca being around him near Othello's place - I do attend here on the Generall,
And thinke it no addition nor my wish
To have him see me woman'd.
About Bianca - Not that I love you not.
About wanting his position back - want even kills me
About Bianca - I must leave her company
When he is attacked - I am maym'd for ever
I am spoyl'd, undone by villians
My legge is cut in two
About Othello thinking Cassio slept with Desdemona - Deere Generall, I never gave you cause.
HOW CASSIO IS DESCRIBED BY OTHERS (with who says it):
Othello - Friend
Iago - A proper man.
Iago - He hath a person, and a smooth dispose
To be suspected: fram'd to make women false.
Gentlemen - Though he speake of comfort
Touching the Turkish losse, yet he lookes sadly,
And praye the Moore be safe;
Montano - Good Lieutenant
Desdemona - Valiant Cassio
Iago - He takes her by the palm... it had beene better you had not kiss'd your three fingers so oft which now againe you are most apt to play the Sir, in. Very good: well kiss'd and excellent Curtsie:
Iago - Yet againe, your fingers to your lippes" (obviously Cassio has some character gesture that involves the kissing of his fingers)
Iago - A knave very voluble: no further conscionable then in putting on the meere forme of Civill and Humaine seeming for the better compasse of his salt and most hidden loose Affection... A slipper and a subtle knave, a finder of occasion: that he's an eye can stampe, and counterfeit Advantages, though true Advantage never present it selfe. A divelish knave: besides, the knave is handsome, young: and hath all those requisites in him, that folly and green mindes (young women) look after. A pestilent compleat knave, and the woman hath found him already.
Iago about Cassio and Desdemona - They met so neere with their lippes taht their breathes embrac'd together.
Iago - disciplined
Iago about Cassio's lack of ability to handle liquor - he's rash and very sodaine in Choller: and happely may strike at you, provoke him that he may.
Iago - That Cassio loves (Desdemona), I do well beleev't.
Iago - I fear Cassio with my Night-Cape (wife) too.
Othello - Good Michael
Iago on Cassio drinking: If I can fasten but one Cup upon him
With that which he hath drunk to night alreadie,
He'l be as full of Quarrell, and offence
As my yong Mistris dogge.
Iago on Cassio's drinking: He's a Soldier, fit to stand by Caesar,
And give direction. And but to see his vice,
'Tis to his vertue, a just Equinox,
The one as long as the other.
(there are a few other things Iago says about how much Cassio drinks... not sure yet how many are actually true though... Iago lies and embellishes a lot... but Cassio is, indeed, a nasty drunk.)
Montano - good Lieutenant
Montano - you're drunk
Iago - good Lieutenant.
Iago - swift of foot
Iago - good Lieutenant... I think, you think I love you. (Cassio agrees with this)
Emilia - (Othello) loves you.
Desdemona - Good Cassio
Desdemona - You do love my lord. You have known him long...
Iago - he would steal away so guilty-like
Desdemona - a man that languishes in your displeasure.
Desdemona to Othello - For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That erres in Ignorance, and not in Cunning...
Desdemona - so humbled
Desdemona - he's penitent
Desdemona to Othello about how Cassio helped Othello win Desdemona's hand -
Michael Cassio,
That came a wooing with you? and so many a time
(When I have spoke of you dispraisingly)
Hath taken your part....
We then learn that Cassio often would act as an inbetween for Othello and Desdemona.
Othello - Honest
Othello - He was of my Counsaile,
Of the whole course of wooing;
Iago - I think that he is honest.
Iago - Cassio's an honest man.
Iago - Cassio's my worthy Friend
Iago - tis fit that Cassio have his Place;
For sure he filles it up with great ability;
Desdemona - Good Cassio
Desdemona - Thrice-gentle Cassio
Bianca - Friend Cassio
Bianca - you do not love me
Iago about talking to Cassio about Bianca - He, when he hears of her, cannot restraine
From the excesse of Laughter...
And he shall smile....
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviours
Othello - he laughs
Othello - he denies it faintly: and laughes it out.
Iago - he laughed
Iago - if Cassio do remaine,
He hath a dayly beauty in his life,
That makes me ugly:
Iago - Herre's Cassio hurt by villians
Bianca - deere Cassio... sweet Cassio
Bianca - he faints.
Iago - good Cassio
Emilia - Good Cassio
Iago - Poore Cassio
Desdemona - I... never loved Cassio
Desdemona - he is betray'd
Lodovico - Cassio rules in Cyprus.
AND FINALLY... Cassio is listed in the list of characters as "an Honourable Lieutenant"
___________________________________________________________________________
So... why should I come up with all of MY ideas for who and what Cassio is, without looking at all of these clues that Shakespeare gave me? There is a lot of great stuff here. Now that it is all typed out in one place, I'll look at it in greater detail next time.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
6-14-12 Inspiration (a.k.a. Trip to New York)
Things have been crazy the last few days, particularly yesterday.
Every once in a while I like to do the following...
Wake up
Drive to New York City
See a show
See friends
See another show
See more friends
Drive home and try not to fall asleep...thank you MONSTER energy drinks.
It's kind of crazy but I like getting the double-dose of NYC theatre.
Yesterday was one of those days.
The first show I saw was One Man Two Guvnors. It's a modern adaptation of an old commedia dell'arte play called The Servant of Two Masters. I was actually in Servant out at Utah Shakes, so I knew the original well. I also spent last summer doing commedia in Italy so I know a decent amout about that. The show was right up my alley. It stars James Corden who, on Sunday night, won the Tony for Best Actor. There's a lot that I could talk about regarding this show but in terms of the blog... I just wanted to point out this....
Sunday was the Tony's.
Sunday Night = Crazy Tony parties.
Monday = Try to recover from crazy Tony parties.
Tuesday= Only one show... in the evening... ok... still recovering.
Wednesday=Uh-oh, two shows including the Wednesday Matinee.
The first half was very high energy but then you could see that the cast, as a whole, didn't have the energy to pull off the 2nd half at the same level. A+ first half... B- second half. I felt like I got jipped a bit out of a better 2nd half because they weren't up to it. I didn't pay for them to not be up to it. So, I go back to conditioning. You've got to be in good enough shape and you've got to take care of yourself enough to pull off the show you are doing. They seemed to just "get through" the 2nd half.
Maybe I am reading it wrong... maybe they were sick or whatever. I know what it is to just "get through" a performance. But, as I have said before, nobody cares... we just want a good show. Especially if the ticket was over 100 bucks.
Anyway...
Then I went and saw my friend Justine in the production of Shakespeare's As You Like It by the Public Theatre in Central Park. All sorts of big names involved in this one, Director Dan Sullivan, Music by STEVE MARTIN (wild and crazy), Oliver Platt was in the cast... blah blah blah.
The show was really quite good. It's a huge theatre space that seats around 1900 people and it was great to see a really good production of Shakespeare right before I go into my own rehearsals. This cast was full of good actors... some were successful, and some, I thought, weren't. It was good to sit there and analyze what was working both in terms of delivering the lines and in terms of what works movement-wise in a space that size, since the space I will be working in is also large.
One thing that I found wonderful was that, some of these lines are so good, that sometimes all the actor needed to do was stand and deliver. No crazy movement... no raging emotion... the words are enough. It's hard to trust that but hell... we as an audience just want to have these great lines delivered to us in a way that we can understand them. There were great moments of simplicity in this play and that was a good reminder for me as I move into rehearsals.
And overall... seeing good theatre (and both of these shows I would definitely recommend to people) just inspires me to want to make good theatre... want to put in extra time... work harder...
It also reminds me once again that, having the opportunity to share a great story with an audience is a real gift and a real priviledge. And the odds are that I probably won't ever do this role again... possible this show again... and I need to go all out.
First rehearsal in 10 days. Time to start double-timing it.
Shout out to Justine for her great work in As You Like It!
Every once in a while I like to do the following...
Wake up
Drive to New York City
See a show
See friends
See another show
See more friends
Drive home and try not to fall asleep...thank you MONSTER energy drinks.
It's kind of crazy but I like getting the double-dose of NYC theatre.
Yesterday was one of those days.
The first show I saw was One Man Two Guvnors. It's a modern adaptation of an old commedia dell'arte play called The Servant of Two Masters. I was actually in Servant out at Utah Shakes, so I knew the original well. I also spent last summer doing commedia in Italy so I know a decent amout about that. The show was right up my alley. It stars James Corden who, on Sunday night, won the Tony for Best Actor. There's a lot that I could talk about regarding this show but in terms of the blog... I just wanted to point out this....
Sunday was the Tony's.
Sunday Night = Crazy Tony parties.
Monday = Try to recover from crazy Tony parties.
Tuesday= Only one show... in the evening... ok... still recovering.
Wednesday=Uh-oh, two shows including the Wednesday Matinee.
The first half was very high energy but then you could see that the cast, as a whole, didn't have the energy to pull off the 2nd half at the same level. A+ first half... B- second half. I felt like I got jipped a bit out of a better 2nd half because they weren't up to it. I didn't pay for them to not be up to it. So, I go back to conditioning. You've got to be in good enough shape and you've got to take care of yourself enough to pull off the show you are doing. They seemed to just "get through" the 2nd half.
Maybe I am reading it wrong... maybe they were sick or whatever. I know what it is to just "get through" a performance. But, as I have said before, nobody cares... we just want a good show. Especially if the ticket was over 100 bucks.
Anyway...
Then I went and saw my friend Justine in the production of Shakespeare's As You Like It by the Public Theatre in Central Park. All sorts of big names involved in this one, Director Dan Sullivan, Music by STEVE MARTIN (wild and crazy), Oliver Platt was in the cast... blah blah blah.
The show was really quite good. It's a huge theatre space that seats around 1900 people and it was great to see a really good production of Shakespeare right before I go into my own rehearsals. This cast was full of good actors... some were successful, and some, I thought, weren't. It was good to sit there and analyze what was working both in terms of delivering the lines and in terms of what works movement-wise in a space that size, since the space I will be working in is also large.
One thing that I found wonderful was that, some of these lines are so good, that sometimes all the actor needed to do was stand and deliver. No crazy movement... no raging emotion... the words are enough. It's hard to trust that but hell... we as an audience just want to have these great lines delivered to us in a way that we can understand them. There were great moments of simplicity in this play and that was a good reminder for me as I move into rehearsals.
And overall... seeing good theatre (and both of these shows I would definitely recommend to people) just inspires me to want to make good theatre... want to put in extra time... work harder...
It also reminds me once again that, having the opportunity to share a great story with an audience is a real gift and a real priviledge. And the odds are that I probably won't ever do this role again... possible this show again... and I need to go all out.
First rehearsal in 10 days. Time to start double-timing it.
Shout out to Justine for her great work in As You Like It!
Monday, June 11, 2012
6-11-12 The Final Act... or... Thick...
So I'm hangin' out with my mother for a couple of days and I'm running lines with her last night and she says...
"I don't know what the hell is going on here!"
hahahaha And that was certainly understandable. First off... we were just skipping around to parts in the play where I had lines, so she was getting no real feel for the story as a whole so of course it was confusing.
But there's another thing at play here... Othello is THICK. These lines are THICK. Sometimes I read a Shakespeare play and it is easy to grasp the language. Midsummer is a pretty user-friendly play. The language is fairly easily obtainable. And the parts that are probably the biggest challenge fall mostly into three categories:
1) Oberon says them and they are real pretty and all about flowers and "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows... blah blah blah"
2) Puck says them and, we just love Puck, so even if he is speaking some random monologue about the wolf behowling the moon, we're with him.
3) The lines are horrible and they get cut. These are usually said by Theseus and Hippolyta. Not a lot of people know that in Midsummer there is this whole little chunk about hunting dogs. HUNTING DOGS??? What??? There just isn't a widespread appreciation for Hunting Dogs these days so those lines get cut and the actress playing Hippolyta gets mad because half of her lines are gone. haha
In Othello, we don't have a bunch of magical fairies saying the most difficult lines so we can't just bounce around the stage all magical and have the audience stick with us even if they don't understand us. It's challenging stuff... I go on my runs and just think about phrasing, etc. Well, I do that for the first half of the run... the second half of the run all I think about is surviving... haha.
I've moved on to Act II which is the final act of the five act play that I need to memorize. I'm starting with Act II scene one and line for line, this might be the "thickest" that my speech gets.
Here's a little example... BACKSTORY: We're in Cyprus... there was a horrible storm... my ship has landed... we are still waiting for Othello's ship to arrive. Othello and I left at the same time but I lost him in the storm. Meanwhile, Iago and Desdemona hung back for a few days and are now on their way. Somehow, they managed to avoid the bad weather and are about to arrive before Othello.
So as I wait, a character named Montano asks me if Othello is married. Here we go... haha
MONTANO
But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?
CASSIO
Most fortunately: he hat achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame,
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And in the essential vesture of creation
Does tire the ingener. (Re-Enter Messenger who was checking on a boat that just arrived)
How now! Who has put in?
MESSENGER
'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
CASSIO
Has had most favourable and happy speed:
Tempest themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands--
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,--
As having sense of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
The divine Desdemona
MONTANO
What is she?
CASSIO
She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits
And bring all Cyprus comfort!
Enter Desdemona, Emilia, Iago, and Rodrigo
CASSIO
O, behold
The riches of the ship is come on shore!
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
Before, behind the, and on every hand,
Enwheel thee round!
...............................................................
So yeah... that is thick. These are the lines where Shakespeare becomes sudoku for the actor. How do I phrase this... where do I breathe... how might I inflect... to make this crazy line both useful to me as the character in the scene and understandable to the audience? If I can use these lines clearly as a character, the audience will have a good shot at understanding their meaning. And the best thing in the world is to have lines like that and then to have someone come up to you at the end of the show and say "I could understand everything you said!"
So, shout of of the day goes to my mom for busting out some lines with me.
"I don't know what the hell is going on here!"
hahahaha And that was certainly understandable. First off... we were just skipping around to parts in the play where I had lines, so she was getting no real feel for the story as a whole so of course it was confusing.
But there's another thing at play here... Othello is THICK. These lines are THICK. Sometimes I read a Shakespeare play and it is easy to grasp the language. Midsummer is a pretty user-friendly play. The language is fairly easily obtainable. And the parts that are probably the biggest challenge fall mostly into three categories:
1) Oberon says them and they are real pretty and all about flowers and "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows... blah blah blah"
2) Puck says them and, we just love Puck, so even if he is speaking some random monologue about the wolf behowling the moon, we're with him.
3) The lines are horrible and they get cut. These are usually said by Theseus and Hippolyta. Not a lot of people know that in Midsummer there is this whole little chunk about hunting dogs. HUNTING DOGS??? What??? There just isn't a widespread appreciation for Hunting Dogs these days so those lines get cut and the actress playing Hippolyta gets mad because half of her lines are gone. haha
In Othello, we don't have a bunch of magical fairies saying the most difficult lines so we can't just bounce around the stage all magical and have the audience stick with us even if they don't understand us. It's challenging stuff... I go on my runs and just think about phrasing, etc. Well, I do that for the first half of the run... the second half of the run all I think about is surviving... haha.
I've moved on to Act II which is the final act of the five act play that I need to memorize. I'm starting with Act II scene one and line for line, this might be the "thickest" that my speech gets.
Here's a little example... BACKSTORY: We're in Cyprus... there was a horrible storm... my ship has landed... we are still waiting for Othello's ship to arrive. Othello and I left at the same time but I lost him in the storm. Meanwhile, Iago and Desdemona hung back for a few days and are now on their way. Somehow, they managed to avoid the bad weather and are about to arrive before Othello.
So as I wait, a character named Montano asks me if Othello is married. Here we go... haha
MONTANO
But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?
CASSIO
Most fortunately: he hat achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame,
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And in the essential vesture of creation
Does tire the ingener. (Re-Enter Messenger who was checking on a boat that just arrived)
How now! Who has put in?
MESSENGER
'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
CASSIO
Has had most favourable and happy speed:
Tempest themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands--
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,--
As having sense of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
The divine Desdemona
MONTANO
What is she?
CASSIO
She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits
And bring all Cyprus comfort!
Enter Desdemona, Emilia, Iago, and Rodrigo
CASSIO
O, behold
The riches of the ship is come on shore!
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
Before, behind the, and on every hand,
Enwheel thee round!
...............................................................
So yeah... that is thick. These are the lines where Shakespeare becomes sudoku for the actor. How do I phrase this... where do I breathe... how might I inflect... to make this crazy line both useful to me as the character in the scene and understandable to the audience? If I can use these lines clearly as a character, the audience will have a good shot at understanding their meaning. And the best thing in the world is to have lines like that and then to have someone come up to you at the end of the show and say "I could understand everything you said!"
So, shout of of the day goes to my mom for busting out some lines with me.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
6-10-2012 Diction
I've noticed the last week or so while running lines with people that my diction is horrible right now. We don't tend to talk on a day-to-day basis in a manner that requires a heightened level of diction. We can slur our words in a fairly pedestrian manner and still be understood. However, when I'm speaking in front of hundreds or thousands of people, I can't get away with such relaxed diction. The audience won't understand me.
I notice that as an acting teacher, as soon as my students leave for the summer, my diction starts to get a little relaxed. It's as if I feel like I need to have good diction in my classes if I am demanding good diction from my students but then once summer hits... the slurring of words begins.
So, with two weeks to go until rehearsals begin, I'll start doing my regular physical and vocal warm-up along with a heightened amount of diction work. When a football player shows up to training camp, they are expected to be in shape. If they aren't, you often hear about it on the news. Players are expected to be ready to go... ready to work on the actual craft of football rather than simply trying to get their body ready for physical exertion.
The same thing holds true with acting. I can't not act for months on end and then show up day one of rehearsal expecting my physical instrument to be ready to perform. I have to get it back in shape. I've talked about the gym work I've been doing already, but none of that exercises vocal production.
Two weeks to go until rehearsal starts... a great time to start honing my voice, my diction and my breath into performance mode.
I notice that as an acting teacher, as soon as my students leave for the summer, my diction starts to get a little relaxed. It's as if I feel like I need to have good diction in my classes if I am demanding good diction from my students but then once summer hits... the slurring of words begins.
So, with two weeks to go until rehearsals begin, I'll start doing my regular physical and vocal warm-up along with a heightened amount of diction work. When a football player shows up to training camp, they are expected to be in shape. If they aren't, you often hear about it on the news. Players are expected to be ready to go... ready to work on the actual craft of football rather than simply trying to get their body ready for physical exertion.
The same thing holds true with acting. I can't not act for months on end and then show up day one of rehearsal expecting my physical instrument to be ready to perform. I have to get it back in shape. I've talked about the gym work I've been doing already, but none of that exercises vocal production.
Two weeks to go until rehearsal starts... a great time to start honing my voice, my diction and my breath into performance mode.
Friday, June 8, 2012
6-6-12 Scripts Are In!
I was working on lines in my office yesterday. I'd say some lines then I'd double check with the script that I keep in my office. Something startled me. There were multiple times where I would look at this script and see versions of lines that I had never seen before. In one instance, there was an entire line that I had never seen before!
I realized that I was getting to the point where I really needed the version of the script we will be performing.
Then it came in my e-mail last night. Hooray!
It's pretty amazing how varied a script of Othello can be. Apparantly the first folio version has a whopping 160 lines more than the quarto version of the play. Meanwhile, the quarto has some lines that aren't in the folio. Then, modern editions look at all of these old editions and form their own edition of the script. So, now I have the version we'll be doing, and I can start to lock into one specific set of words...
HOWEVER...
I am finding that occasionally I don't like the way the line reads in our script when compared to other editions that I have been using, particularly the folio.
I will say that the acting edition that the director has come up with is fairly close to the folio that I have been working with. But there are some definite differences. So, there may be a moment or two in rehearsal where I try it one way and then I ask permission to try it the way it reads in a different edition of the script.
A quick note about doing things like that... Try it the director's way first before you tell her/him that you'd like to do it a DIFFERENT way. I trust the director made an informed decision about what version of the script we would be using. He is looking at the big picture... not at which edition showcases Cassio the best. haha So there may be a moment or two throughout the process where we discuss a word here and there but I will always try it the way it is written in this edition of the script first. Then, if it just seems like maybe we can get more out of a moment by exploring a line or two (or even a word or two) from a different edition of the script, we'll look.
Along with the script we received the rehearsal schedule. It's absolutely crazy. Often at a professional theatre, you'll rehearse a play for three weeks and then spend the first half of week four "teching" the show and during the second half of week four, the show will open. A week of rehearsal is typically 40-48 hours. 6 days, 7-8 hours of rehearsal a day. That's a typical professional schedule.
So, you figure in the first three weeks, you rehearsal somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-150 hours.
Our show has a similar rehearsal schedule in terms of days. Three weeks of rehearsal, then move to the space and tech the show, then open. But... instead of a typical 7-8 hour rehearsal day, we rehearse 4 hours a day.
So, in those first three weeks, we're rehearsing 72 total hours. 72 hours to put together one of Shakespeare's longest plays and have it ready to add lights/costumes/move into the space/ during that final week.
Craziness. And yet another reason why I just can't afford to waste rehearsal time with my nose in the script. The audience doesn't care how long we rehearsed. They only care if it is good or not.
Shout out to Jordan Y. today for doing a little acting work with me.
Also, HOLA to the people from Venezuela and Spain who have checked in over the last week. It's pretty funny to see who starts looking at your blog when you put up pictures of famous people on it.
I hope all is well with all of you! Thanks for all the emails telling me what you have been up to this summer.
I realized that I was getting to the point where I really needed the version of the script we will be performing.
Then it came in my e-mail last night. Hooray!
It's pretty amazing how varied a script of Othello can be. Apparantly the first folio version has a whopping 160 lines more than the quarto version of the play. Meanwhile, the quarto has some lines that aren't in the folio. Then, modern editions look at all of these old editions and form their own edition of the script. So, now I have the version we'll be doing, and I can start to lock into one specific set of words...
HOWEVER...
I am finding that occasionally I don't like the way the line reads in our script when compared to other editions that I have been using, particularly the folio.
I will say that the acting edition that the director has come up with is fairly close to the folio that I have been working with. But there are some definite differences. So, there may be a moment or two in rehearsal where I try it one way and then I ask permission to try it the way it reads in a different edition of the script.
A quick note about doing things like that... Try it the director's way first before you tell her/him that you'd like to do it a DIFFERENT way. I trust the director made an informed decision about what version of the script we would be using. He is looking at the big picture... not at which edition showcases Cassio the best. haha So there may be a moment or two throughout the process where we discuss a word here and there but I will always try it the way it is written in this edition of the script first. Then, if it just seems like maybe we can get more out of a moment by exploring a line or two (or even a word or two) from a different edition of the script, we'll look.
Along with the script we received the rehearsal schedule. It's absolutely crazy. Often at a professional theatre, you'll rehearse a play for three weeks and then spend the first half of week four "teching" the show and during the second half of week four, the show will open. A week of rehearsal is typically 40-48 hours. 6 days, 7-8 hours of rehearsal a day. That's a typical professional schedule.
So, you figure in the first three weeks, you rehearsal somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-150 hours.
Our show has a similar rehearsal schedule in terms of days. Three weeks of rehearsal, then move to the space and tech the show, then open. But... instead of a typical 7-8 hour rehearsal day, we rehearse 4 hours a day.
So, in those first three weeks, we're rehearsing 72 total hours. 72 hours to put together one of Shakespeare's longest plays and have it ready to add lights/costumes/move into the space/ during that final week.
Craziness. And yet another reason why I just can't afford to waste rehearsal time with my nose in the script. The audience doesn't care how long we rehearsed. They only care if it is good or not.
Shout out to Jordan Y. today for doing a little acting work with me.
Also, HOLA to the people from Venezuela and Spain who have checked in over the last week. It's pretty funny to see who starts looking at your blog when you put up pictures of famous people on it.
I hope all is well with all of you! Thanks for all the emails telling me what you have been up to this summer.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
6-5-12 The Company
Some of you have been asking questions about where exactly this production is taking place and what company it is with.
It's a great story. Back in 2006 a group of actors in Indianapolis got together and decided they needed more professional theatre opportunities in Indianapolis. They formed a company called Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre (HART). They started to put on shows and staged-readings.
In 2008 they decided to do a one-night only performance of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Their venue was a large ampitheatre in a state park that is right in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. It is a gorgeous location. The backdrop is a huge river. Off to stage right is a large pedestrian bridge. There are really cool lamps lining the bridge. The sun sets over the river and bounces off the water. It's just stunning.
Merchant was a hit. I wish I had seen it but I was kind of new to the Indy theatre scene. I had just been cast in a production of Macbeth at Indiana Rep (the biggest theatre in Indy), and many of the actors were coming straight from Merchant to Mac.
There was clearly a demand for professional summer Shakespeare in Indy and during the next two years I was fortunate enough to participate in productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Two Gentlement of Verona with HART. Much Ado moved to two performances and we had something like 2300 people over the course of two days. For Two Gents, we moved to three performances and had over 3000 people.
One problem is that the venue is a state park. There are all sorts of activities that go on there so it is tough to lock down the space for a few weeks to have a long run of the show. I think Othello has a chance to be real big. Hopefully, if the three performances can draw some big numbers, the city will start to see that perhaps they should start investing more time and money into this venture.
That's the other thing... it's free Shakespeare. Free Shakespeare is a beautiful thing... but when the cast and crew are professionals, well... money becomes more of an issue. What I'd love to do is figure out a way to eventually have the company do the show in Indy and then do it up in the Finger Lakes for a week. But yeah... money...
So.. the shout out of the day goes to The Lilly Endowment and Christel DeHaan Family Foundation for providing a whole lot of money to make this year's production possible.
If you want to check out more about HART... http://heartlandactors.com/ It's a really great website and you can see the actors the actors that make up the core company of HART, past production, and some great photos from past Shakespeare productions which will show you the beautiful setting including this sweet shot...
It's a great story. Back in 2006 a group of actors in Indianapolis got together and decided they needed more professional theatre opportunities in Indianapolis. They formed a company called Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre (HART). They started to put on shows and staged-readings.
In 2008 they decided to do a one-night only performance of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Their venue was a large ampitheatre in a state park that is right in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. It is a gorgeous location. The backdrop is a huge river. Off to stage right is a large pedestrian bridge. There are really cool lamps lining the bridge. The sun sets over the river and bounces off the water. It's just stunning.
Merchant was a hit. I wish I had seen it but I was kind of new to the Indy theatre scene. I had just been cast in a production of Macbeth at Indiana Rep (the biggest theatre in Indy), and many of the actors were coming straight from Merchant to Mac.
There was clearly a demand for professional summer Shakespeare in Indy and during the next two years I was fortunate enough to participate in productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Two Gentlement of Verona with HART. Much Ado moved to two performances and we had something like 2300 people over the course of two days. For Two Gents, we moved to three performances and had over 3000 people.
One problem is that the venue is a state park. There are all sorts of activities that go on there so it is tough to lock down the space for a few weeks to have a long run of the show. I think Othello has a chance to be real big. Hopefully, if the three performances can draw some big numbers, the city will start to see that perhaps they should start investing more time and money into this venture.
That's the other thing... it's free Shakespeare. Free Shakespeare is a beautiful thing... but when the cast and crew are professionals, well... money becomes more of an issue. What I'd love to do is figure out a way to eventually have the company do the show in Indy and then do it up in the Finger Lakes for a week. But yeah... money...
So.. the shout out of the day goes to The Lilly Endowment and Christel DeHaan Family Foundation for providing a whole lot of money to make this year's production possible.
If you want to check out more about HART... http://heartlandactors.com/ It's a really great website and you can see the actors the actors that make up the core company of HART, past production, and some great photos from past Shakespeare productions which will show you the beautiful setting including this sweet shot...
Monday, June 4, 2012
6-4-12 Iago vs. Cassio
One of the interesting mysteries of the play Othello is why Othello chose to promote Cassio over Iago into the #2 spot.
At some point things fell this way...
#1 - Othello - General
#2 - Some person we don't know - Lieutenant
#3 - Iago - Ensign
#4 or lower - Cassio
Then, something happend to the #2 guy. Perhaps he was killed in battle. Perhaps he took some other position... who knows?
So then Othello had a decision... who was going to be the new #2? Who was going to be the guy that, if something happened to Othello, would be the best to take over command? Iago says that he is much more of a battle-tested soldier than Cassio. Cassio, in turn, is deemed as being more of a scholarly tactician.
Othello picks Cassio... which vaults Cassio above Iago. So, by the time the play starts we have...
#1 - Othello - General
#2 - Cassio - Lieutenant
#3 - Iago - Ensign
First off... you can understand why Iago is mad. The gig was his and he got passed over.
I read something today that talked about how Iago is always at war. We only see him and hear about him in terms of conflict. Othello, on the other hand, seems to excel during both peaceful situations as well as war situations. Othello perhaps knows Iago can handle war... but will Iago ever stop trying to wage war? Can Iago thrive in a peaceful situation? Cassio on the other hand is very personable and charming. He's not just a military guy but you can see that he could be a diplomat as well. In fact, Cassio is so personable and charming that Iago is able to use these qualities of Cassio's to make Othello think Desdemona may have feelings for Cassio.
Whatever the case is for Cassio's promotion over Iago, I think that there are strong clues to be found in how to play Cassio based on why Othello chose Cassio over Iago.
At some point things fell this way...
#1 - Othello - General
#2 - Some person we don't know - Lieutenant
#3 - Iago - Ensign
#4 or lower - Cassio
Then, something happend to the #2 guy. Perhaps he was killed in battle. Perhaps he took some other position... who knows?
So then Othello had a decision... who was going to be the new #2? Who was going to be the guy that, if something happened to Othello, would be the best to take over command? Iago says that he is much more of a battle-tested soldier than Cassio. Cassio, in turn, is deemed as being more of a scholarly tactician.
Othello picks Cassio... which vaults Cassio above Iago. So, by the time the play starts we have...
#1 - Othello - General
#2 - Cassio - Lieutenant
#3 - Iago - Ensign
First off... you can understand why Iago is mad. The gig was his and he got passed over.
I read something today that talked about how Iago is always at war. We only see him and hear about him in terms of conflict. Othello, on the other hand, seems to excel during both peaceful situations as well as war situations. Othello perhaps knows Iago can handle war... but will Iago ever stop trying to wage war? Can Iago thrive in a peaceful situation? Cassio on the other hand is very personable and charming. He's not just a military guy but you can see that he could be a diplomat as well. In fact, Cassio is so personable and charming that Iago is able to use these qualities of Cassio's to make Othello think Desdemona may have feelings for Cassio.
Whatever the case is for Cassio's promotion over Iago, I think that there are strong clues to be found in how to play Cassio based on why Othello chose Cassio over Iago.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
6-3-12 Three weeks until rehearsals begin
Three weeks from today is the first rehearsal. I'm happy where I am so far.
If I go back to the data that I typed out at the beginning of the process, all of the scenes in bold I have now memorized pretty well.
ACT - SCENE - NUMBER OF LINES FOR CASSIO
Act 1 - Scene 2 - 6 lines
Act 2 - Scene 1 - 14 lines
Act 2 - Scene 3 - 35 lines (this scene has stage combat)
Act 3 - Scene 1 - 8 lines
Act 3 - Scene 3 - 4 lines
Act 3 - Scene 4 - 9 lines
Act 4 - Scene 1 - 12 lines
Act 5 - Scene 1 - 12 lines (this scene has stage combat)
Act 5 - Scene 2 - 5 lines
The scenes in Act 5 are decent but still need another day or two to sink in. Then I'll jump back to Act 2 and work on that.
It's nice to get this kind of a jump on lines for two reasons. First, it means I can learn my lines at a leisurely pace. Cramming lines under pressure is never fun. Second, it means that I can let lines sink in all that much more. Actors often talk about having their lines sink in. Another way actors sometimes describe this is that the lines are no longer in the actor's head... they are in the actor's body. They have sunk in. I guess what this really means is that you know your lines so well that you don't have to think about them in order to say them. They are ready to be used when I want to use them and I don't need to struggle to search for every word. The five scenes that I put in bold are really starting to sink in, which is nice. I can go for a run and recite my lines, amid my huffing and puffing, with minimal effort from my brain... they are in my body.
This can be a dangerous time though. It is very easy to accidentally learn a wrong word here or there and then lock it in thinking that it is the correct word. This is why now, I will really start trying to run these five "bold" scenes with people on a regular basis. As I have said before, it isn't good enough to kind of know my lines... I have to be word perfect. There seems to always be someone in the audience of an outdoor Shakespeare play that brings along the script and reads along as the actor says their lines. I don't want to take this person out of the play by saying the wrong words. Also, when you do Shakespeare, there is always a decent possibility that someone in the audience, or a fellow cast-member played your role at some point in their life, or that was in a production of the show, or directed the show etc. You definitely don't want to say incorrect words if that person is there.
Thankfully I've got a couple of people who I can bounce lines off over the next few weeks. If I get this blog done soon enough, I'll try to get some line work in with my wife before we watch Mad Men. haha I will also continue to look at my script at times while I work these scenes... just to make sure I am saying the right words.
Meanwhile...
I have encountered a new trap while I have been learning Act 5 Scene 1. This is one of the two scenes where Cassio gets into a fight. It's going to be a tough scene. I get attacked at the beginning of the scene... my leg gets slashed open... then I hang out on stage nearly bleeding to death for 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe not 10... but definitely 5+ minutes.
Along the way I say things like...
"I am maim'd for ever! Help, ho! Murder! Murder!"
and
"My leg is cut in two."
Shakespeare always does that. He writes lines like "Oh I am slain" and things like that. I am finding that I am already trying to craft the entire scene in my head while I learn these lines. I keep having to remind myself to stop that... just learn the damn words. The worst thing I could possible do is to already start to impose some crappy independent acting on what will be an emotionally charged melee of a scene. I have no idea how this scene will shape up so I need to stop thinking about it while I learn these lines. It does feel dumb to say "I am maim'd for ever" with very little energy or intention or inflection right now, but I have to trust that it is better than imposing some forced acting to the words right now.... forced acting that could become habit and stick. BLEH! It's hard enough to pretend that your "leg is cut in two." It is even harder to do it in your living room by yourself when you haven't even rehearsed the scene with other actors ONCE. So I need to stop that.
Bad Chris... haha
Lines then Mad Men! Thanks for reading. Shout out of the day goes to my wife who just got cast in a production of Godspell.
Hatch
If I go back to the data that I typed out at the beginning of the process, all of the scenes in bold I have now memorized pretty well.
ACT - SCENE - NUMBER OF LINES FOR CASSIO
Act 1 - Scene 2 - 6 lines
Act 2 - Scene 1 - 14 lines
Act 2 - Scene 3 - 35 lines (this scene has stage combat)
Act 3 - Scene 1 - 8 lines
Act 3 - Scene 3 - 4 lines
Act 3 - Scene 4 - 9 lines
Act 4 - Scene 1 - 12 lines
Act 5 - Scene 1 - 12 lines (this scene has stage combat)
Act 5 - Scene 2 - 5 lines
The scenes in Act 5 are decent but still need another day or two to sink in. Then I'll jump back to Act 2 and work on that.
It's nice to get this kind of a jump on lines for two reasons. First, it means I can learn my lines at a leisurely pace. Cramming lines under pressure is never fun. Second, it means that I can let lines sink in all that much more. Actors often talk about having their lines sink in. Another way actors sometimes describe this is that the lines are no longer in the actor's head... they are in the actor's body. They have sunk in. I guess what this really means is that you know your lines so well that you don't have to think about them in order to say them. They are ready to be used when I want to use them and I don't need to struggle to search for every word. The five scenes that I put in bold are really starting to sink in, which is nice. I can go for a run and recite my lines, amid my huffing and puffing, with minimal effort from my brain... they are in my body.
This can be a dangerous time though. It is very easy to accidentally learn a wrong word here or there and then lock it in thinking that it is the correct word. This is why now, I will really start trying to run these five "bold" scenes with people on a regular basis. As I have said before, it isn't good enough to kind of know my lines... I have to be word perfect. There seems to always be someone in the audience of an outdoor Shakespeare play that brings along the script and reads along as the actor says their lines. I don't want to take this person out of the play by saying the wrong words. Also, when you do Shakespeare, there is always a decent possibility that someone in the audience, or a fellow cast-member played your role at some point in their life, or that was in a production of the show, or directed the show etc. You definitely don't want to say incorrect words if that person is there.
Thankfully I've got a couple of people who I can bounce lines off over the next few weeks. If I get this blog done soon enough, I'll try to get some line work in with my wife before we watch Mad Men. haha I will also continue to look at my script at times while I work these scenes... just to make sure I am saying the right words.
Meanwhile...
I have encountered a new trap while I have been learning Act 5 Scene 1. This is one of the two scenes where Cassio gets into a fight. It's going to be a tough scene. I get attacked at the beginning of the scene... my leg gets slashed open... then I hang out on stage nearly bleeding to death for 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe not 10... but definitely 5+ minutes.
Along the way I say things like...
"I am maim'd for ever! Help, ho! Murder! Murder!"
and
"My leg is cut in two."
Shakespeare always does that. He writes lines like "Oh I am slain" and things like that. I am finding that I am already trying to craft the entire scene in my head while I learn these lines. I keep having to remind myself to stop that... just learn the damn words. The worst thing I could possible do is to already start to impose some crappy independent acting on what will be an emotionally charged melee of a scene. I have no idea how this scene will shape up so I need to stop thinking about it while I learn these lines. It does feel dumb to say "I am maim'd for ever" with very little energy or intention or inflection right now, but I have to trust that it is better than imposing some forced acting to the words right now.... forced acting that could become habit and stick. BLEH! It's hard enough to pretend that your "leg is cut in two." It is even harder to do it in your living room by yourself when you haven't even rehearsed the scene with other actors ONCE. So I need to stop that.
Bad Chris... haha
Lines then Mad Men! Thanks for reading. Shout out of the day goes to my wife who just got cast in a production of Godspell.
Hatch
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