Due to a rather erratic schedule, I pick up serving shifts whenever I can at the restaurant. Today is the theatre company's day off, but I ended up working 7 hours as a server. It was kind of trying. A swell of customers all seem to walk in at the same time. I was serving senior citizens all day, and they had a lot of special orders and needs. For the most part, I enjoy serving. It's fast-paced and has quite a bit of variety. But the thing that is most difficult is when someone throws a kink into your groove. I start to get sloppy and end up having multiple tasks and orders to juggle at the same time. I've got to get better at completing something and then moving on to the next thing. Of course, not everyone realizes that. Then I've got a couple who wants to chat, and I'm happy to chat with them. Another random guy is asking about real estate businesses in the area.
That's the one thing I HATE about living in a small town. I'm expected to know everything about the goings on in the town. It never fails when I'm walking down the streets, working the box office, or waiting tables. I rarely know the answers and I feel embarrassed when I don't. Pretty soon, I won't be able to use the excuse that "I'm new here."
Anyway (I'm getting into an extended analogy, so bear with me).
As I was saying, if something interrupts the flow of what I'm doing at the restaurant, I can get off track and start going a little batty. I have to remember not to snap at people (not that I do, but I started to play those conversations in my head while making more decaf coffee) and to take extra breaths. My being frazzled or annoyed is not going to help the other tables that have been plenty amiable.
This gets me thinking about performing. We've recently had some audience issues. Some people put their feet on the stage. One man was just standing in the vom for ten minutes. People text. People cough a lot. People talk constantly, as if they're watching tv. It's all very irritating. This isn't to say that I'm ungrateful or wish people would never cough. Some of it can't be helped. I'm inclined to believe that many people have reasons for their actions that are completely justified in their minds (that's what's so great about acting). Sometimes, we have slipups. My phone has gone off in too many classes to count. I appreciate audiences so much. I truly do. But there have been some performances of late that have caused all the guys in the dressing room to say: "what is going on out there?!"
One particular show I had my head in about thirty different places, and it resulted in a strange performance that I could not stop thinking about while I was performing.
I realize that I'm a very "heady" actor. I approach things too intellectually sometimes. I become aware that I'm not quite "there" in the middle of a performance, and I start to freeze up. I cannot expect that it's impossible to alleviate those feelings and thoughts. What I do hope is that I can quickly transfer to what's at stake on stage. I give myself a mental slap in the face, but that doesn't seem to work all the time. This doesn't happen with great frequency. I expect it is bound to happen every now and again, especially after doing 50+ performances of something. Still, it's worrisome. I hope I can whisk away the whole, "you're not living as your character right now, so just do it." Because it's not that easy to convince yourself that.
In the morning, I can tell myself: "you should be up and eating breakfast so you won't be late for work." But until I actually roll out of bed, inaction is what's happening--and that's not very eventful.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A Four-Day Breakdown
Monday
Had a kinda rough day. There was just a lot of stuff going on: a restaurant shift, long music rehearsal, a set changeover, and then an understudy performance.
Tuesday
Great day off. Got third season of 30 Rock, bought some books at Savers, saw Inglorious Basterds. That movie was insane. I loved it, but it was intense. So much dramatic irony. Every scene was laced with subtext and nuance (and the occasional burst of Tarantino violence and all-around wackiness).
Wednesday
Opened up the box office at the theatre and spent a long time taking messages and replying to them. Lots of numbers, addresses, dates to keep track of. I manage to get through all the phone messages, but hardly touched the e-mail reservations. Ah well, you can only do so much in two hours.
After that, I went up to the offices and did some Twittering for the company. I also looked up a lot of National Foundations for potential grants. There's a lot to slog through. I've got a long list to sort. I should be finished by tomorrow.
Went on a bike ride, watched a bit of 30 Rock, saw Glee (which is a show that is...well, maybe that's another blog post), and closed out the night with Top Chef.
Thursday
I've got a 10 AM MATINEE for The Odd Couple (final understudy assignment, unless anything freaky happens with the actors playing Speed and Roy). It's a student matinee and it's early.
Later, we've got a company-wide theatre clean, company class, changeover, and The Rainmaker - it's a full day, so I should get to bed earlier than usual.
Peace!
Had a kinda rough day. There was just a lot of stuff going on: a restaurant shift, long music rehearsal, a set changeover, and then an understudy performance.
Tuesday
Great day off. Got third season of 30 Rock, bought some books at Savers, saw Inglorious Basterds. That movie was insane. I loved it, but it was intense. So much dramatic irony. Every scene was laced with subtext and nuance (and the occasional burst of Tarantino violence and all-around wackiness).
Wednesday
Opened up the box office at the theatre and spent a long time taking messages and replying to them. Lots of numbers, addresses, dates to keep track of. I manage to get through all the phone messages, but hardly touched the e-mail reservations. Ah well, you can only do so much in two hours.
After that, I went up to the offices and did some Twittering for the company. I also looked up a lot of National Foundations for potential grants. There's a lot to slog through. I've got a long list to sort. I should be finished by tomorrow.
Went on a bike ride, watched a bit of 30 Rock, saw Glee (which is a show that is...well, maybe that's another blog post), and closed out the night with Top Chef.
Thursday
I've got a 10 AM MATINEE for The Odd Couple (final understudy assignment, unless anything freaky happens with the actors playing Speed and Roy). It's a student matinee and it's early.
Later, we've got a company-wide theatre clean, company class, changeover, and The Rainmaker - it's a full day, so I should get to bed earlier than usual.
Peace!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Some preliminary search
I'm starting to dig through scripts and find monologues. I've got some leads, but there's very little that is catching my attention.
This is all in lieu of being ready for auditions. I want a strong collection of monologues, and I feel ill-prepared for that. Don't even talk to me about songs.
I don't have anything specific lined up for the future. My apprenticeship is over in March, but there are other possibilities in the works for stuff beyond March. I won't delve into that because it's all completely unofficial.
I received a notice for an audition next week that I could maybe try to attend. It's doubtful, especially since it's for an operetta rep. I'm not saying I can't do it, but I'd have to find an accompanist and really work up some songs. It would be
This has all caught me off guard. Right now, at this moment, I don't have anything to worry about because I'll be working on at least two more shows and another project during this apprenticeship. It's difficult to think about what's next.
Still, I've been thinking seriously about MFA programs, and I'm nearly certain I'm going to attend the U/RTA auditions in Chicago next year. That's sooner than you'd think. I mean, we're halfway through September already. WOOSH! I get little hints of how much I would appreciate that kind of education. We have weekly company classes, and I wish I was more diligent about preparing for them. Anyway, we get into little conversations or exercises that make me think and respond and adjust. I love it.
I like to think I'm a good adjuster, and that I can take criticism and notes well. It happened today: we were doing a neutral movement exercise where we start walking as neutrally as possible. When the instructor claps his hands, we stopped. Snap - we squat. Snap - we sit. Snap - we lie down. Snap - start building up. You have to do it as quickly and fluidly as possible. I was getting hung up about arm/hand placement for the squat. The instructor told me to observe another actor and I noticed her hands were hanging off her thighs. My hands were resting on my thighs. He allowed me to figure it out myself, which was striking to me. The second time we did it, I did the same old habit but moved them immediately. He said, "Nice adjustment, Tim." It was great to hear that. And I was able to snap in and out pretty quickly from then on with the correct placement. The exercise was about being able to start in these neutral positions and then build and lean off them when diving into characters.
What I was also gaining was an intense drive to love the learning process. According to Tom Rath's STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0, one of my top five strengths is Learner. The Learner enjoys learning (duh). There's a process of learning that is just as important and invigorating as having that information (which seems to be a trait of Input, my top strength). During the class today, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoy gathering this information and implementing it. There's a minor bit of struggle, but it's all helping and allowing for growth and development.
It's getting late, and I've got a matinee tomorrow, but I may have to share more about Strengthsfinder. It's really interesting, especially when applied to a resident company like the one I work with. We're able to understand each other with a common language.
This is all in lieu of being ready for auditions. I want a strong collection of monologues, and I feel ill-prepared for that. Don't even talk to me about songs.
I don't have anything specific lined up for the future. My apprenticeship is over in March, but there are other possibilities in the works for stuff beyond March. I won't delve into that because it's all completely unofficial.
I received a notice for an audition next week that I could maybe try to attend. It's doubtful, especially since it's for an operetta rep. I'm not saying I can't do it, but I'd have to find an accompanist and really work up some songs. It would be
This has all caught me off guard. Right now, at this moment, I don't have anything to worry about because I'll be working on at least two more shows and another project during this apprenticeship. It's difficult to think about what's next.
Still, I've been thinking seriously about MFA programs, and I'm nearly certain I'm going to attend the U/RTA auditions in Chicago next year. That's sooner than you'd think. I mean, we're halfway through September already. WOOSH! I get little hints of how much I would appreciate that kind of education. We have weekly company classes, and I wish I was more diligent about preparing for them. Anyway, we get into little conversations or exercises that make me think and respond and adjust. I love it.
I like to think I'm a good adjuster, and that I can take criticism and notes well. It happened today: we were doing a neutral movement exercise where we start walking as neutrally as possible. When the instructor claps his hands, we stopped. Snap - we squat. Snap - we sit. Snap - we lie down. Snap - start building up. You have to do it as quickly and fluidly as possible. I was getting hung up about arm/hand placement for the squat. The instructor told me to observe another actor and I noticed her hands were hanging off her thighs. My hands were resting on my thighs. He allowed me to figure it out myself, which was striking to me. The second time we did it, I did the same old habit but moved them immediately. He said, "Nice adjustment, Tim." It was great to hear that. And I was able to snap in and out pretty quickly from then on with the correct placement. The exercise was about being able to start in these neutral positions and then build and lean off them when diving into characters.
What I was also gaining was an intense drive to love the learning process. According to Tom Rath's STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0, one of my top five strengths is Learner. The Learner enjoys learning (duh). There's a process of learning that is just as important and invigorating as having that information (which seems to be a trait of Input, my top strength). During the class today, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoy gathering this information and implementing it. There's a minor bit of struggle, but it's all helping and allowing for growth and development.
It's getting late, and I've got a matinee tomorrow, but I may have to share more about Strengthsfinder. It's really interesting, especially when applied to a resident company like the one I work with. We're able to understand each other with a common language.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
1940s Preview
Don't mind me. I'm fiddling around with the look of this.
In the meantime...
SNEAK PEEK!
The whole episode is fun, if you have the time.
At 51:50, I'm singing in a duet from THE 1940'S RADIO HOUR with the actress playing Connie. It's pretty fun (and a live recording, so you know).
In the meantime...
SNEAK PEEK!
The whole episode is fun, if you have the time.
At 51:50, I'm singing in a duet from THE 1940'S RADIO HOUR with the actress playing Connie. It's pretty fun (and a live recording, so you know).
MN Shorts Play Festival
Yesterday I put up posters all around town for the theatre. I’ve still got more to go, but I was able to get a large chunk of them done. It was hot. It didn’t make sense to me since it seems we’re in full autumn swing mode. Ah well.
I attended a development team meeting. It looks like I’ll be visiting some classes this fall to explain more about our company and discuss the themes and elements of THE RAINMAKER. That could be a lot of fun, I think. I’m also going to be learning more about the world of grants and foundations. It all sounds pretty fascinating to me.
After the meeting, I got my things together, pulled a suit and some shirts out for a costume, and hopped in the car with the writer/director of the ten-minute play and his wife, who was my scene partner for NOTHING HAPPENED. We traveled to Mankato, MN for this short play festival.
The festival was in an old school that has been converted to a community center. We had a makeshift greenroom, which was just a section of a hallway that was curtained off. It wasn’t a huge deal; we were only there for five hours tops.
The strange thing about this event is that none of us had any idea of what to expect. It seemed like it was a large blend of professional/academic/community theatre. I was really nervous for some reason. My scene partner and I decided was that it seemed just like an audition. You’ve got all these actors in a rather small space, waiting to go on stage for ten minutes. Some people are very friendly to strangers. Others know each other. I didn’t know anyone.
Ah well. I must say that we did a pretty fine job. We performed the play twice. We were second on, so we were able to catch most of the other shows in the audience. Boy was that auditorium hot. And there was a lot of variety in the plays. One was about a woman with a puppy attempting to attract men. Another play was written and performed by a sophomore in college and it was all about crying and these different stages of relationships and age. Another play was about this washed out rock band who was getting past middle age and debating the merits of tour and going on for a fifth encore.
The writer of our play (and fellow company member) did say that whenever there was laughter from other plays, it was only pockets of people who were friends of the people on stage. In our case, no one knew us. So when we got laughs, it was from the entire house. That was cool to hear.
I guess I didn’t even describe what the play I was doing is about.
I played Eric, who is sitting in a nice restaurant on New Year’s Eve. He’s about to propose to his girlfriend, Stephanie, but he’s got a lot of doubts. He’s had a habit of calling upon his former fiancé, Jennifer, just to hash out his problems. So Jennifer arrives (it’s all in his mind, so he uses his cellphone to talk to her, so as not to appear crazy. But since this is theatre, an actual actress appears and sits at the table—it’s pretty clever, actually. The two exchange pleasantries and get into a bit of an argument. Things get heated, and Eric denies that he’s trying to compare Jennifer to Stephanie. He also (finally) admits that he desperately wants to be “different from the man you couldn’t marry.”
What’s so interesting is how, in ten minutes, you go through a beginning, middle, and end. This play has a LOT going on, and I think we pulled it off with some success (not that this was a competition or anything). That’s hard to do in ten minutes.
I wonder if I’ve got a ten minute play or two I could write out. Who knows!
I’m glad I had the chance to do this. It was a great side project and nice change of pace from doing the same show for the past three months (not that I’m getting tired of THE RAINMAKER).
I attended a development team meeting. It looks like I’ll be visiting some classes this fall to explain more about our company and discuss the themes and elements of THE RAINMAKER. That could be a lot of fun, I think. I’m also going to be learning more about the world of grants and foundations. It all sounds pretty fascinating to me.
After the meeting, I got my things together, pulled a suit and some shirts out for a costume, and hopped in the car with the writer/director of the ten-minute play and his wife, who was my scene partner for NOTHING HAPPENED. We traveled to Mankato, MN for this short play festival.
The festival was in an old school that has been converted to a community center. We had a makeshift greenroom, which was just a section of a hallway that was curtained off. It wasn’t a huge deal; we were only there for five hours tops.
The strange thing about this event is that none of us had any idea of what to expect. It seemed like it was a large blend of professional/academic/community theatre. I was really nervous for some reason. My scene partner and I decided was that it seemed just like an audition. You’ve got all these actors in a rather small space, waiting to go on stage for ten minutes. Some people are very friendly to strangers. Others know each other. I didn’t know anyone.
Ah well. I must say that we did a pretty fine job. We performed the play twice. We were second on, so we were able to catch most of the other shows in the audience. Boy was that auditorium hot. And there was a lot of variety in the plays. One was about a woman with a puppy attempting to attract men. Another play was written and performed by a sophomore in college and it was all about crying and these different stages of relationships and age. Another play was about this washed out rock band who was getting past middle age and debating the merits of tour and going on for a fifth encore.
The writer of our play (and fellow company member) did say that whenever there was laughter from other plays, it was only pockets of people who were friends of the people on stage. In our case, no one knew us. So when we got laughs, it was from the entire house. That was cool to hear.
I guess I didn’t even describe what the play I was doing is about.
I played Eric, who is sitting in a nice restaurant on New Year’s Eve. He’s about to propose to his girlfriend, Stephanie, but he’s got a lot of doubts. He’s had a habit of calling upon his former fiancé, Jennifer, just to hash out his problems. So Jennifer arrives (it’s all in his mind, so he uses his cellphone to talk to her, so as not to appear crazy. But since this is theatre, an actual actress appears and sits at the table—it’s pretty clever, actually. The two exchange pleasantries and get into a bit of an argument. Things get heated, and Eric denies that he’s trying to compare Jennifer to Stephanie. He also (finally) admits that he desperately wants to be “different from the man you couldn’t marry.”
What’s so interesting is how, in ten minutes, you go through a beginning, middle, and end. This play has a LOT going on, and I think we pulled it off with some success (not that this was a competition or anything). That’s hard to do in ten minutes.
I wonder if I’ve got a ten minute play or two I could write out. Who knows!
I’m glad I had the chance to do this. It was a great side project and nice change of pace from doing the same show for the past three months (not that I’m getting tired of THE RAINMAKER).
Monday, September 7, 2009
Future Projects
- I'm performing in a ten-minute play this week: NOTHING HAPPENED. It will be presented at the MN Shorts Play Festival in Mankato on Friday (7 and 9 p.m.)
- I also found out that I'll be part of a staged reading film project for the Mayo Clinic.
- Also, stay tuned for a preview of 1940s Radio Hour, which was taped yesterday for a live radio broadcast. I sang a fun duet, and I'm excited to start work on the next show.
- Finally, my fellow apprentices and I are working on conceptual work for our show. We're in charge of every element of the production: marketing, design, performance, etc. The show will go up in March, but there are many steps involved. I'll be sure to keep updates on the blog, but we may be setting up our own special project blog to keep people updated with out progress, challenges, and discoveries.
More details to follow.
Happy Labor Day!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Reminders...
We're in transition phase for Rainmaker. The original actor playing Starbuck watched the show this afternoon. He came back after the show and said: "My friends are awesome. I'm so thrilled to have watched that show. You have no idea how great this show is." Okay, I may be paraphrasing a TINY bit, but he was gushing.
That was humbling.
We're halfway through the run, and it's been going very well. It's kind of hard to keep that all in perspective.
This morning, I was chatting with a couple while working the box office. They bopped in to ask a question and had seen both THE RAINMAKER and THE ODD COUPLE. She noticed me from the show and smiled: "You're doing what you love. That's great."
I am. What's surprising is that I kind of needed that reminder.
There's things I could wish to be better. I wish I had more money right now. Blah Blah Blah. But when it's all said and done, I'm doing what I want to do. What a blessing!
That was humbling.
We're halfway through the run, and it's been going very well. It's kind of hard to keep that all in perspective.
This morning, I was chatting with a couple while working the box office. They bopped in to ask a question and had seen both THE RAINMAKER and THE ODD COUPLE. She noticed me from the show and smiled: "You're doing what you love. That's great."
I am. What's surprising is that I kind of needed that reminder.
There's things I could wish to be better. I wish I had more money right now. Blah Blah Blah. But when it's all said and done, I'm doing what I want to do. What a blessing!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Adjustments and Notes
I made it through two shows, understudying Speed in THE ODD COUPLE. The first time (Saturday night) was for a sold-out house. We had over 210 people, which was a record (to have this many people come to a single night for a five-month run in a town of 788 people is pretty remarkable). The theatre is a small thrust space and gets around 100 or so, depending on the show and the night, of course.
I ended up slipping on some water that spilled on the stage. It received some laughs--all due to the fact that all of the characters are nearly hysterical. The poker players are all trying to help Felix who claims to have taken a whole bottle of pills. We're all trying to cure him, which includes spinning him around and rubbing his wrists to keep his circulation going. Prior to that, Oscar splashes a glass of water on Felix's face, and it gets all over the stage--usually on the actor playing Felix and the rug. Well, it went a little too far downstage. And I slipped. People laughed. I wasn't injured or hurt in any way, thank goodness.
The next day, a woman stopped me and wanted to know if I had meant to trip on purpose. If only....
-----------------------
ON THE RAINMAKER FRONT
We've reached the halfway point of the run. The artistic director observed a number of performances and sat us down before our matinee on Saturday to give some notes. For whatever reason, I was apprehensive about the whole thing. But I had to keep telling myself that if there were major issues with anything I was doing, I'd get some kind of note immediately. By the time the meeting began, my paranoia was put at ease.
I've always felt a bit "eh" about the first scene of the show, but I could never pinpoint why. It took an outside eye to say that we've been missing the whole point of the play (which sounds more harsh than it was, honestly).
The brothers and father of Lizzie need to hear Lizzie's news from when she visited Three Point. We attempted to set her up with a cousin so that she could get married. So when she comes downstairs for breakfast, we have to know whether or not she's going to get married--if not, we have to resort to an agreed-upon plan B (inviting the deputy sheriff for dinner). Everything else that happens in the scene (and there's a lot of other conversations) is cover for the fact that we're really anxious for Lizzie. Needless to say, the first scene plays much better now and has real urgency.
I got some notes about volume at the beginning, which really befuddled me. This is when I wish I had more technical vocabulary about the voice. I have a feeling that the accent I use (which is this western/southern twang, I don't know the official dialect) may not be sitting in the right places so that I'm not quite on voice. What's odd is that I feel like I'm shouting and overpowering anyone else who's on stage--especially the more reserved qualities of H.C. and Noah. Jimmy (my character) bursts on stage with a bang. I sometimes worry that things are TOO exuberant or loud, but that may not be the case at all. The artistic director saw the show again last night and said a general "good work" to us. I'll have to ask him if volume was an issue or not.
Other notes were more about specific moments that just needed to be tightened. But a caveat was that speed for speed's sake is no good. So it's a tricky balance. Intent and meaning always have to be at the foreground--the speed of a scene or act or play will fall into place after intentions are established.
All of the reminders were great. It wasn't as if these notes were revolutionary (although the opening scene bit was significant), but it was good to hear from an "outsider" in a sense.
We've done one show with a new Starbuck. He'll be a permanent change in a couple weeks and stay with us for the rest of the run. The original Starbuck has to return to the Cities for work and such. This is a different situation than understudying. It's my understanding that an understudy must do everything as close as he/she can for the originally cast actor. But in this case, we've got an arrangement for a whole new actor to do, essentially, what he would do with a role. Does that make sense? In this role shift, the new actor has much more time and space to play with since he is owning the role in a way that an understudy wouldn't. Apologies if this is confusing. I also realize that no actor can completely mimic another actor's performance--understudy or not.
Needless to say, this run of the Rainmaker has been one of constant adjustments on small and large scales. It's rewarding, gratifying work.
I ended up slipping on some water that spilled on the stage. It received some laughs--all due to the fact that all of the characters are nearly hysterical. The poker players are all trying to help Felix who claims to have taken a whole bottle of pills. We're all trying to cure him, which includes spinning him around and rubbing his wrists to keep his circulation going. Prior to that, Oscar splashes a glass of water on Felix's face, and it gets all over the stage--usually on the actor playing Felix and the rug. Well, it went a little too far downstage. And I slipped. People laughed. I wasn't injured or hurt in any way, thank goodness.
The next day, a woman stopped me and wanted to know if I had meant to trip on purpose. If only....
-----------------------
ON THE RAINMAKER FRONT
We've reached the halfway point of the run. The artistic director observed a number of performances and sat us down before our matinee on Saturday to give some notes. For whatever reason, I was apprehensive about the whole thing. But I had to keep telling myself that if there were major issues with anything I was doing, I'd get some kind of note immediately. By the time the meeting began, my paranoia was put at ease.
I've always felt a bit "eh" about the first scene of the show, but I could never pinpoint why. It took an outside eye to say that we've been missing the whole point of the play (which sounds more harsh than it was, honestly).
The brothers and father of Lizzie need to hear Lizzie's news from when she visited Three Point. We attempted to set her up with a cousin so that she could get married. So when she comes downstairs for breakfast, we have to know whether or not she's going to get married--if not, we have to resort to an agreed-upon plan B (inviting the deputy sheriff for dinner). Everything else that happens in the scene (and there's a lot of other conversations) is cover for the fact that we're really anxious for Lizzie. Needless to say, the first scene plays much better now and has real urgency.
I got some notes about volume at the beginning, which really befuddled me. This is when I wish I had more technical vocabulary about the voice. I have a feeling that the accent I use (which is this western/southern twang, I don't know the official dialect) may not be sitting in the right places so that I'm not quite on voice. What's odd is that I feel like I'm shouting and overpowering anyone else who's on stage--especially the more reserved qualities of H.C. and Noah. Jimmy (my character) bursts on stage with a bang. I sometimes worry that things are TOO exuberant or loud, but that may not be the case at all. The artistic director saw the show again last night and said a general "good work" to us. I'll have to ask him if volume was an issue or not.
Other notes were more about specific moments that just needed to be tightened. But a caveat was that speed for speed's sake is no good. So it's a tricky balance. Intent and meaning always have to be at the foreground--the speed of a scene or act or play will fall into place after intentions are established.
All of the reminders were great. It wasn't as if these notes were revolutionary (although the opening scene bit was significant), but it was good to hear from an "outsider" in a sense.
We've done one show with a new Starbuck. He'll be a permanent change in a couple weeks and stay with us for the rest of the run. The original Starbuck has to return to the Cities for work and such. This is a different situation than understudying. It's my understanding that an understudy must do everything as close as he/she can for the originally cast actor. But in this case, we've got an arrangement for a whole new actor to do, essentially, what he would do with a role. Does that make sense? In this role shift, the new actor has much more time and space to play with since he is owning the role in a way that an understudy wouldn't. Apologies if this is confusing. I also realize that no actor can completely mimic another actor's performance--understudy or not.
Needless to say, this run of the Rainmaker has been one of constant adjustments on small and large scales. It's rewarding, gratifying work.
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