Debrief from Chicago

I'm back from Chicago.
I haven't unpacked yet.
I cannot wait to sleep in tomorrow.

This trip was exhausting. I seriously underestimated the mental and physical drain it took. Perhaps that's my own fault; it's hard to tell.

I'm certainly glad I attended the U/RTA auditions. I made it to the final round, had a few private interviews/auditions. The final round didn't go so hot. So that was frustrating (I don't think it was terrible, but I know I've done better--I did like four times the previous day).

The day before final rounds, however, was a success. I met with some schools and the sessions with directors were fascinating. It was fun to explore acting and such with complete strangers. That was awesome. I felt like I was making breakthroughs. I didn't have time to think or sift through information, which is funny since deliberation is a strength of mine (according to STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0--dunno if it's the most helpful acting strength to have, but I'm aware of it at least).

I'll do some follow up next week and wait. Honestly, I'm not expecting much, and that's fine. I've got more to learn. I think I'm a good actor and I've got enough to go off from this weekend to affirm that. If I go back to these auditions (which many people do), I know exactly what to expect.

There's more to ponder about the rounds, the schools, and my acting from this point on. It's kind of daunting and mostly exciting.

Chicago: Ahead

DEATH AND THE PLOUGHMAN

We're waiting to get an actress for our production. It's a frustrating situation, but I think we've got some leads.

That being said, I've just been working on design and marketing for the apprentice show.
You can check out our blog here.

Mainly, I just wanted to make an update so I could let people know that I've "redesigned" this blog. I like the new template. It seems cleaner and more professional or something.

GRAD SCHOOL AUDITIONS

I leave for Chicago on Monday. Here we go grad school auditions! I've been tweaking my resume, finally have my head shots printed (there's nothing I can do about those anymore).

I'm well within the time limit, thank goodness. I just gotta do what I do.

I'll be sure to report what I can, when I can. Yeah it's auditions, but there are opportunities to glean a lot of information from other actors and other programs. This is not only an opportunity for grad school, but I can learn elements that will carry me in rehearsals and productions for this year (and years to follow).

A Massive Update

We're slogging through table work right now. Table work is different depending on the show. For this one, we're slowly going over each "chapter" in the text. A chapter is a long monologue (I'd say they're three minutes long on average). The show alternates between the Ploughman and Death (yours truly). The whole show contains 32 chapters I believe. I have 15 of them - I think. This means I've got 45 minutes' worth of text to memorize.

Let me rephrase this:
I have 45 minutes of text--that was originally written in 1401 in German and has now been translated into English--to memorize.

My favorite word so far: PUTREFACTION. Death calls the human race a "midden heap of putrefaction." (and a TON of other things, but I won't spoil the fun and disgusting. I'll also let you look up "midden.")

The main part of this week's table work is devoted to gaining a total understanding of the text. I read my chapter. We ask questions, discuss tricky points, look up words and other allusions. I'm also working on pronounciation. I've got to be on the look out for the whole "bagel/begel" or "flag/fleg" sounds. Ultimately, this is tedious, slow work. I'm eager to start working on my feet. But I imagine this is going to be a long, arduous rehearsal process. But I think it will pay dividends in the end. We've got just under two months before we open. It's that timeframe that seems a little ways off, but it's dangerously close.

Death is fun. He's not evil (though he is pretty relentless and cold-hearted). But man, this work is hard. I've got to start working on the memorizing.

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OTHER NEWS

I've been hired by the company to stick around for the following year as an annual company member. I work on the marketing team as a "marketing assistant." Essentially, I'm responsible for media relations, setting up interviews, sending press releases, updating event calendars on various websites. Additionally, I work on in house design projects (like season passes, brochures, magazine ads). I also maintain the Twitter and Facebook Fan pages for the company. I'll be looking into other social media outlets for the company. I help get the word out about the theatre. It's essential and actually fun. I'm able to focus some of my other knacks for the art.

Aside from living in a cubicle, I also have some artistic assignments that will be fun.

The biggie is playing Erhart Borkman in John Gabriel Borkman by Henrik Ibsen. We're presenting a brand-new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, which is thrilling. I'm so excited to be a part of this show. That opens in April and runs until June.

Another role I've got is playing the illustrious inventor Charles Dabernow Schmendiman in Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin. This show opens up in May and runs until September. Schmendiman is a tiny role, but it's packed with energy, comedy, and is sure to steal the show (for a brief time).

Both of these productions have new directors who have national reputations as well.

I'm also understudying Antony Wilding in Enchanted April and Laurie, et al in an original company-adapted version of Little Women.

I'd say I've got a pretty full plate this year. It gets a little sparse at the end of the year, but I'm a part of an ensemble, resident theatre company. We all have to share responsibilities on and off stage. The Ibsen project is such a blessing.

This does mean no grad school for Tim in 2010. I'm attending the U/RTA auditions so that I can take a serious crack at auditioning and hopefully talk to some schools. Who knows, deferment may even be an option for 2011. It's all hard to tell.

I'm Still Here

I promise.

I'm about to enter rehearsals for Death and the Ploughman.

I'm still working on monologues for grad school auditions (though that is kind of put on a hiatus; I'll explain more later).

It's going to be a busy year. I've got some excellent opportunities as an actor.

So stay tuned.

Books, Plays, and Attended Theatre 2009

Here's what I read this year. The first list is books (a variety of non-fiction and fiction) and then plays I've read. Finally, I've added a list of theatre performances I saw this year (which is rather slim).


Books
1. Thinking Shakespeare by Barry Edelstein
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
3. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. Wild at Heart by John Eldridge
6. The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman
7. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
8. Kiss Me Like a Stranger by Gene Wilder
9. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
10. Renee Fleming’s Vocal Autobiography
11. Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler
12. Close Calls with Nonsense by Stephen Burt
13. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
14. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
15. The World According to Garp by John Irving
16. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
17. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
18. Sanford Meisner On Acting by Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell
19. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
20. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
21. Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
22. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
23. A Thousand Miles in a Million Years by Donald Miller
24. Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel
25. Straight Man by Richard Russo
26. The Shack by William P Young
27. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
28. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
29. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Plays
1. Mrs Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw
2. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
3. The Road to Damascus (part 1) by August Strindberg
4. Miss Julie by August Strindberg
5. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand
6. Picnic by William Inge
7. Buried Child by Sam Shepard
8. Waiting for Godot by Beckett
9. Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
10. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco
11. The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
12. The Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde
13. Long Day’s Journey Into Night by O’Neill
14. Angels in America by Tony Kushner
15. Fences by August Wilson
16. The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash
17. Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin
18. John Gabriel Borkman by Ibsen
19. Death and the Plowman by Johannes von Saaz
20. Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg
21. Enchanted April by Matthew Barber
22. Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
23. Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon
24. Late: a cowboy song by Sarah Ruhl
25. To Fool the Eye by Jeffrey Hatcher


Plays I’ve Attended
1. Happy Days
2. Eleutheria
3. Bernstein’s Mass (not a play, but it’s a very theatrical piece)
4. A Delicate Balance
5. Endgame
6. Private Eyes
7. Buried Child
8. Grey Gardens
9. The Odd Couple
10. The Tempest
11. A Midnight Dreary

What's been most disappointing is the number of plays I've attended. But it was my final semester of college and then the acting apprenticeship that hampered any chances of catching attending theatre. I hope to catch more stuff in Minneapolis and St. Paul this year, but that can prove challenging.

One more show this year...

I've got the final performance of 2009 tonight.
I think I've been in over 100 live performances this year:

--8 or so Cabaret shows of Miscast 2: Once More with Feeling
--4 of Dames at Sea
--around 70 of The Rainmaker
--7 of The Odd Couple (for understudying)
--close to 30 of The 1940's Radio Hour

It's been a very good year. What a blessing!
Thanks to all family and friends who have caught a show.

Who knows what 2010 will bring (I've got some ideas)?
I'm excited though.

Snow Daze

We've were dumped with snow. And I have proof.

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This is just outside the theatre. I attempted to show how deep the snow got in some places, but that failed.
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The bluff nearby. I'm not sure if this photo can give the proper justice it deserves. Earlier this morning, the sun hit the bluff and made it all shiny with this haunting pinkish tint. You'll just have to take my word for it.



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Obligatory here's-my-car-underneath-a-ton-of-snow picture. Take a look at the front left part of the hood.


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Because of all the snow, I've been cooped up in the house, working on monologues. Here's the initials of every word to a Romeo monologue. It's a handy way to check memorization without having all the words in front of you:



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WE HAD A PERFORMANCE OF 1940'S RADIO HOUR last night. It was so great to be back on stage after three days of sitting around and watching movies. I did a bit of cleaning, but it was a ton of nothing. Last night, I finally had to walk to the gas station and get some milk (it's about a mile walk, round trip). My eyelashes felt particularly frosty after that trip.

BUT I DIGRESS.

The show was a lot of fun. It felt great to have a renewed sense of energy and purpose. The crowd was rather...inebriated... They were responsive to us, but it got to be a bit annoying and distracting.

I have a tiny speech where I talk about being in flight training and going off to war.

I said: "I got a call last night from my folks in Greenwood, Indiana..." I paused, trying to find the best way to say "and they said the best Christmas present I could give them next year would be my being home." Well, before going into that weighty bit, a couple people started cheering, applauding:

"WOO! Indiana!!!"

I stopped, hoping the silence would shut them up. It worked, but it put me completely out of the rest of the speech.

The audience acts as the actual audience of the radio show that is broadcast live throughout New York. So we interact with them and appreciate some verbal nods here and there. This time though...it was unwelcome.

A baby was also in the audience. It wasn't too distracting. While I was changing into my tap shoes and Ann is singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," I heard the baby coo. The mics picked that up into the dressing room feed. That was pretty adorable.

AND THEN TODAY we had 200 middle/high school students catching the show. They just didn't seem to appreciate the 40's. It's funny how one night the entire audience knows ALL the music, and the next it goes right over their heads. I think they ended up enjoying the show (or getting out of classes for a morning).