"Uncle Vanya" Wrap Up

We're done with "Uncle Vanya". It's a happy-sad experience like any end of a show is. I think I'm getting too used to it. It getting to be too easy to say good-bye to a show and all of the actors I've been working with.

The show was very successful though! We had a wonderful experience doing and I learned a lot about directing and coaching. It was wonderful to try and help other actors discover how to approach Chekhov. We did such a wonderful job at discovering the humor in this play as well as finding a very natural and honest feeling. We got reviewed by the Utah Theatre Bloggers Association. It was an alright review. Disappointing in that the reviewer missed the point of what we were doing and didn't fully recognize the hard work we put into it. The owner of the company, my friend Anne Shakespeare, however loved the review. You can read her response and explanation here.

I'm not really sure what to say about this experience. I sure learned a lot. I know for a fact that I never want to act and direct in a show ever again. Especially if I just have the show thrust upon me in the middle of the rehearsal process. I learned a lot though. I realized even more than I already knew the importance of vocal strength and physical presence on stage. It makes such a huge difference! If you don't take control of the stage, it can get so boring. It sucks the energy out of the play, even if you are honestly connected and doing everything else you are supposed to be doing. That was probably the biggest issue we faced, just getting the actors to support their voice and not indulge in the emotions.

Along that line I learned a lot about the value of "not acting". Especially for Chekhov it is essential to just "be" in the moment. Never show, never indicate, never "act". Just experience it. Just honestly experience what the character is experiencing. I certainly enjoyed many moments of this during the performance and I know that my fellow actors also experienced it. I improved in my ability to recognize when people are "acting" and trying too hard, and when they are just responding and living.

For future acting I want to remember what I've learned about the importance of vocal power and physical presence. Also, I want to remember the importance of really doing your homework. I need to stop procrastinating memorization and character work. The sooner that gets done, the sooner I can really get to work. It's hard. It's not always fun. It's probably my least favorite part of acting, but it's essential to the work.

For future directing I want to be more bold. I want to have more confidence and let the actors see that. I also want more discipline. I want my actors to be focused and attentive in a way that is almost reverent when we are rehearsing. I'm excited that for next time I will actually be able to prepare myself instead of being thrust into the midst of the rehearsal process.

Speaking of next time, I will be directing "The Importance of Being Earnest" in January for Utah Shakespeare in the Park. Hooray! I'm very excited. It will be a lot of fun and I'm committed to making it a very fine piece of theatre. My focus will be on the actors. I want to continue the training of very able, very aware, very natural and open artists. This is my desire and goal in training actors and I hope this experience will continue to help me along that path.

Pressing Onward

I'm currently reading "Acting Professionally: Raw Facts About Careers in Acting" by Robert Cohen and James Calleri. It's a well needed kick in the butt. I love its direct and honest approach about an acting career. The book never tries to dissuade you from a career in acting but it lays out very clearly what the career entails and what you need to do to survive. It's very sobering.

These are some of my favorite quotes from tonight's reading:

"Work out regularly. ... If you are student reading this, hey, don't delay- do it now! Don't wait until you hit the big city casting offices. Get in shape, lose the weight, gain the muscle, just do it! Then you can hit the ground running, not plodding."

"The specifics of personal physical appearance are not individually critical. What is important is the effect that your person and your 'image' create-and the power of that effect, which should be enormous."

"Cultivate a distinctive appearance. ... Extravagance and propriety are not worth a dram in this business, but distinction in your own terms is. Find yourself, and find in yourself a unique appearance that will intrigue others."

"Every actor must have training and experience. ... Training is the foundation to your career. ... No one should think they are too good to train."

"Many theatre departments project a back-patting coziness that cal lull student actors into a false sense of security, preventing them from developing their craft in a disciplined manner and encouraging them to rest on ill-deserved laurels."

"Remember: Whatever your training, academic or professional, you'll learn as much or more from your fellow students as from your teachers, and you'll be in touch with them further down the road."

"College, acting classes, and the local community theatre can be very comfortable places. A lovely security envelops you. You are known, liked, respected, and well reviewed by the locals and by your teachers. But check your goals. If you want to move on, you better go when you are ready rather than hang around merely because it's safe. ... When you are ready to take the plunge, take it. Only you can decide on the proper time."

It's a tough industry! I've got to make sure I have solid goals and plans in place to achieve those goals. What do I want? What am I striving for? What am I willing to sacrifice to get what I want? What am I not willing to sacrifice? Why? Am I willing to do what it takes?

Sigh.

"The Foreigner" has been cast at the Hale and I have not been selected to be in the cast. Sigh. At least I'm becoming more and more familiar with this whole rejection thing. I've still got a long road of rejection ahead of me! Wahoo!

"Uncle Vanya"

"Macbeth"

Recently I also auditioned for the Utah Shakespeare Festival's school tour. Christopher Clark is directing it and it looked to be a wonderful experience. I would get paid and housed for from January to April while touring schools and communities in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. My audition felt really good. I did my monologue from "Twelfth Night" that I used for grad school auditions in February, and I did a monologue from "King Richard II" that I have used before. Both went really well. I had a wonderful conversation with the director, Chris, and with the producer/artistic director, Michael. Both seemed to really like me and the conversation flowed quite nicely. However, it doesn't look like I got the part. They are only casting 5 men and 2 women to play all the parts and I know of one of my good friends who has been cast as Lady Macbeth. She heard over a week ago, so that's a pretty good indicator that I didn't get that part. Oh, well. We keep trying. That's how it goes in this business.

"The Foreigner"

I auditioned for "The Foreigner" at the Hale Center Theatre in Orem. It's being directed by Laurie Harrop-Purser and promises to be a great opening show for the 2011 Season. And I want to be in it! I love the characters. They are perfect for me. For my audition I did a British-accent monologue from the film "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World". And... I didn't do so well with it. I was pretty stiff (which kind of works if you are British) and I FORGOT SOME LINES! Ugh! That hasn't happened to me during an audition in a long time. I didn't miss a beat and kept going, but it really shook me up.

Fortunately, the next day I got called back! Hooray! After a very successful opening performance for "Uncle Vanya" (more on that later) I rushed up to Orem for call-backs. I was called for Charlie and Froggy and read mostly for Charlie. It went really, really well! I felt great! It was a very competitive call-back though and it will be tough. I heard that the director wants to single-cast the show which further decreases my chances of being cast. I'm still hopeful! I would love to do this show. I need the experience. I need the money. I need the networking and connections that would come from it. It would be an all-around awesome experience. I just hope I did all I could to get it. It's now out of my hands. And so I wait.

Teaching

This last Saturday I conducted an acting workshop at BYU. It was pretty successful. I had approached Barta Heiner, the head of the acting program at BYU, about doing a workshop to cover some of the things I learned while doing the Stanislavsky Summer School. She agreed and set up a time and booked a rehearsal room for me. I initially wanted to conduct it for the Teaching Assistants in the program and then focus on the exercises that Misha taught us, hoping that they would take them and use them with their students. I decided to open it up a bit more and invite anyone from Classical Acting and Auditions who would like to attend as well. It turned out to be a good thing as only 3 TAs came, one classical acting student, and actually two other students who just heard about it. So we had six, myself, and Barta.

I was nervous preparing for the workshop. I had three hours to try and give them a taste of what I had learned in five weeks. I decided to do a couple of exercises and then broke things down into a few different sections: action, events, given circumstances, imagination, and observation. I spent some time on each one talking about its importance and running a few exercises to reinforce the concept. All in all it went really well. I was pleased with the participation of the students and with how things moved along. I certainly learned a lot from this experience. There are many things I will do differently next time I teach a similar workshop.

Speaking of doing another workshop I'm hoping to start doing after school workshops at local high schools. Perhaps once a week. I want to do this for a number of reason. I love teaching for one. I love coaching and assisting young artists in understanding themselves and their art better. While at BYU I was a teaching assistant for three different acting classes and I loved it. I also got to teach two workshops at the Playmill Theatre's Summer Camp when I worked there two summers ago. I learned so much by helping others refine their craft and deepen their art. I realize that I have a gift for this and I really enjoy doing it (for example, I'm loving directing "Uncle Vanya" right now).

So, I got to thinking, why not make money doing this? I could hire myself out as a coach for young actors in the area. I particularly want to reach out to high school actors and help them out. I've created an ad on CraigsList, but haven't done much advertising yet because I'm still not sure where I'm going to be able to do this. I do have a friend who has a studio in the area and so I'm going to talk to him about possibly using his space to meet with clients/students. I'm in the beginning phase of this endeavor, but I really hope it goes somewhere. Wish me luck!