34.

Much has happened in the past week since my last post.

35.

For one, I received an offer to attend grad school.

36.

I also accepted that offer.

37.

This means I’ll be moving to Houston in August (or the end of July). There are dozens, if not hundreds of little decisions and details to sort out.

38.

BUT I'M GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL, PEOPLE!

40.

We started the Ibsen tour on Thursday. It was a quick jaunt over to Luther College, but a nerve-wracking set of circumstances. The major was the space. We’ve been rehearsing in an intimate thrust stage (200-seat house). This, however, was a large collegiate hall, with around 1200 seats. We guess there were around 700 people in attendance. This was also our FIRST public performance of the show. Your voice echoes and bounces off the cement in strange ways.

41.

I am grateful for my uncanny extra-sensitivity to consonants and clarity. This is from choir in college, no doubt.

43.

My grad school reading list has nearly 70 titles, including classic acting texts, plays, and other theatre odds and ends. I’m proud to say I’ve heard of many of these writers and books. I haven’t read them (in fact, I haven’t read a lot of them).

44.

I’ve decided to start attacking the list right away. I’ve made a spreadsheet, organizing the lists by priority (according to the head of program), and creating columns of whether I’ve read the title, whether I can borrow it, or if I have to buy it.

47.

I was mildly entertained by The Adjustment Bureau. But the soundtrack was, perhaps, the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard (trite and cheesy). I am struck by how much of a deterrent that was in my enjoyment. I laughed quite a bit (mocking laugh). And when you've got other movies like The Matrix and Inception to compete with, The Adjustment Bureau pales in comparison.

49.

If you want to talk quality sci-fi, then we can talk Battlestar Galactica. I've been steadily watching episodes here and there. I love it. This is compelling television.

51.

I may be turning into a bit of a nerd. I mean, I know I am one when it comes to Star Wars and other things, but I'm realizing I'm more and more drawn to sci-fi in general. Hmm...I dunno what to think about this. Or if there's anything worth thinking about.

The Final Day in Chicago ( long bulleted list)

While in Chicago I have:

• Witnessed a few nutso people on public transit systems. I am not a public transport kind of guy. I have a car, and used it all the time in the Twin Cities (not that they have an exquisite system). But in the past couple days, I've been navigating the L with aplomb. I even took the bus from Downtown State Street to the University of Chicago late last night--all has gone without a hitch.
• Had three interviews for three programs I would most definitely attend in a heartbeat. Two of them were much more engaging than the one, but I was able to pump out some surprising spontaneous moments--moments that I'm not sure where they came from (except organically in the situation). I pride myself in adaptability and a go-with-the-flow kind of discipline. I don't get bogged down in ritual when it comes to acting and preparation (although I have been doing A LOT more stretching and physical warming up.
• Been annoyed with some actors in the waiting rooms. This isn't a new development to anyone in the business.
• Received some great comments from my screening round. For my first contemporary piece, a judge said "simple, connected, good active discoveries." For my Shakespeare: "very nice partner attention, text clear and specific." WOO HOO!
• Have been moved to the final round of URTA auditions. I was in the same boat last year. Last year, I bombed them. I was too self-conscious, disoriented by the space (a WEIRD stage). This year, the room is much more managable and intimate, which is great for my pieces. I just can't blow this final audition out of proportion. I just have to keep at a nice steady trajectory that I've been on for the past two days. Because I want a lot of callbacks/interviews today
• That being said, I've had some great interviews already (as mentioned before). I just don't want to bank on the very, very few eggs I've placed.
• I'm trying not to obsess right now. I've done some work emails this morning. I caught up on Google Reader (over 160 blog posts and other entries--I did a lot of skimming).
• My sense of anxiety, tension, and nerves are supremely diminished this year. I'm so glad I did these last year. I get the great sense that they have prepared me in ways I can't even imagine. You'd be surprised how comforting it is to know the layout of a hotel this time around. Wabash Avenue is also familiar.
• My sense of using a scene partner and using their reactions (or non reactions) effectively has grown in monologue work. On the flipside, I have come to crave working with someone else on stage. I've had the great fortune of using recruiters as partners (per their request) and bouncing my reactions off of what they give me (isn't that what acting is anyway?). None of my preparation has been acutely refined or blocked and that is a relief.
• My pieces are way better choices than last year.
• I'm FREEZING in Chicago. 
• Attended "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at the Steppenwolf last night. It was exquisite, acerbic, hilarious, and haunting. I was moved to near-tears when Honey became hysterical (George tells a "story" of his second novel that mirror's the whole reason Nick got married to Honey in the first place: she was knocked up). What. A. Play. And what a cast. Tracy Letts and Amy Morton were dazzling (so were the other Nick and Honey actors).
• I could ramble much more. I should head off in an hour. I may try to find some headphones. Mine are busted.

Note To Self: Deep Breaths

I have just spent the better part* of 45 minutes writing in my rehearsal and performance schedule for AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. I also began working on the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS schedule.

I had a mini panic attack.

Anyway, It's come to my conclusion that yours truly has very little free time for the rest of the winter, spring, and summer. Fall is completely undecided, but I have a strong feeling that will be insane-o too (I'll find out in March).

I've got 6 performances over the next four days for The Odyssey.
After that I'm off to Chicago for URTAs and some other grad school interviews.
The week after that, I'm back to the grindstone in Lanesboro and we begin ENEMY rehearsals.

I'm not complaining, I'm just coming to terms with the reality of my schedule. My roles in ENEMY and LITTLE SHOP are rather substantial (Hovstad and Seymour, respectively).

I'm anxious and eager (mostly eager). I'll just have to be extra diligent with time management and organization (which has been failing me a bit as of late).

I'm also going to have to cut out coffee once the sun sets.

*Where did this phrase come from? What does it even mean?

February melts away

I've been silent quite a bit. Part of that is from working hard on the apprentice project. We've got our own blog, so I'll point you to that. I'm playing the role of Death, but I'm also in charge of marketing it. This means scheduling media appearances, sending out press releases, I designed the poster, I post the event on various websites. It's a lot of work.

http://ctcapprenticeproject.wordpress.com/

So if you'd like to hear more about that project, I suggest you pay a visit. You'll get some perspectives from the other members of the team. I think it's been pretty successful. Now I just hope people come to the show.

Last weekend I saw Macbeth at the Guthrie and then Eurydice at Prospero Theatre Company. It's a brand-new theatre that has been started by friends from college. They are a great crew of people and put on a lovely show with literally nothing. Last Saturday, I saw theatre that had some of the highest production values (like a $800 wig for Lady MacBeth) to none. Each had stunning moments.

I had a friend who was an essential in MacBeth (it's the Guthrie's way of saying "extra"). He showed me around backstage. It's mind-boggling. There are tunnels and hallways and rooms all over the place. It's hard to keep track of it all. That building is gigantic.

Today, I've got a much-needed day off. It's my first true one that has no obligations. I've caught up on Lost. I'm sipping on coffee. I'll probably do some reading today. We're off book next week for the show, so that means I'll need to dive in and get some monologues under my belt both today and tomorrow. This will require more work than I'm willing to admit. I don't have a method save for wandering around the house and speaking the text. It's archaic language. I'll probably write them out. We'll see what happens.

We did a run yesterday. There were some great moments and some shoddier ones. But I think we're on an excellent track. We open in three weeks.

And February is nearly over. It was almost a month ago that I was in Chicago. I've not really heard anything from schools, so it feels like a bust at the moment. I'll keep my eyes peeled in the next week, but I'm not holding my breath. And...well...I've got a commitment this year. So....I won't say anymore.

Instead, I think I'll start tackling some lines. I've got work to do NOW. I've got three shows lined up for this year--each role is vastly different than the other. I'm a working actor right now. I can't complain, ya know?

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.

------------------------------------------

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.

Movin' Right Along

I need more creative titles.

We do six shows in four days: 1 Thursday night, 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 1 on Sunday afternoon. It's quite a feat! The audiences really seemed to enjoy our performances this weekend. It's great.

Today, we had a special event called "Sunday Salon," in which an invited guest comes to discuss some topic that deals with the show. Today we heard some WWII stories. One couple was invited to explain how they used song titles as a code system. If "White Christmas" was mentioned in a letter, the wife knew her husband was in Hawaii. "I'll Be Seeing" you meant he was in Japan and so forth. It was very clever and never censored! Other people chimed in from the audience, sharing their stories from the war and using the radio as a means for entertainment and news.

It's great to hear these accounts. There were lots of tears in the room during the salon. This medium has a powerful impact on people. I think this show takes many by surprise.

Yesterday, we had a rehearsal look-back. The cast gathered with the artistic director and discussed how the rehearsal process went. We expressed what we loved, what was frustrating, how we grew as artists, etc. It was interesting to hear what people had to say. I won't go into details, but it's great that we had an honest conversation about what worked and what didn't. Hopefully what didn't work out so well can be remedied for future shows of this nature and others. We're constantly learning in this company, which I appreciate. We'll also have a production look-back or post-mortem to examine similar elements (outside of rehearsals, obviously).

---------------------
GRAD SCHOOL COUNTDOWN

I'll be auditioning for grad schools in less than two months.

Tonight, I'll be lookin' over Shakespeare stuff. I've got a bit of anxiety about choosing the right Shakespeare monologues. I'm looking at the ingenues, which just seem to be so cliche, but with my age and looks, that's my options (it's just weird to me to think I may end up working on Romeo's lines). There's a lot of Shakespeare that I haven't read. So I'm trying to find a good balance of working with what I know and stretching beyond that a bit. As much as I enjoy Shakespeare, I can't just sit and read it for long periods of time. I need to speak it and hear it. The problem is that time is ticking and I've got some finalized decisions that need to be made sooner rather than later. I aim to have a list picked out by Tuesday (probably of five or so monologues).

I do have my contemporary monologues. One is Alan from Picnic and the other is Pip from Three Days of Rain (which may be a bit too old for me, but it's got such a great amount of energy and humor, and I genuinely love the piece)

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

I had to go to the basement of the house today. That's where all the storage is. In the storage are hats and scarves and blankets. Alas, I'm in Minnesota, so go figure.
It snowed almost all day. It's let up by now, and I hear the sun will be out tomorrow. It'll be all melted (most of it has already). It was optimal snowball snow.

Shoot, I need to find my gloves.

Plenty of leaves are green.

Flowers are still out...lilting, but they're still there.




This morning, I woke up at 5:30. This is early. This is supremely early for me. I usually roll out of bed around 9 or 10...or 11. I had to tag along for a pre-show workshop for some students. The school was an hour away, and their first period begins at 7:50...I just shudder at the prospect of having early American Lit that early in the day.

Anyway, another actor and I gave them a bit of a jumpstart on The Rainmaker, explaining the world of this drought in the late 1930s and just how much of a big deal it is for Lizzie to get married--not only for her happiness and comfort, but for economic reasons too (of course, Jimmy, my character, thinks the world's going to blow up, so he just wants everyone to be as happy as they can before the big BANG!).

The actor (who plays Starbuck) is in charge of a lot of educational elements with the theatre. Afterwards, we talked about how we can be more effective. We both agree that getting them on their feet doing some of those goofy acting warmups isn't a bad idea. That also gives a small taste of what it may be like to participate in our summer conservatory.

The students will see the show on Friday morning (which will start at 10 am, that's quite an early call...) I hope our little talk was helpful or provided a TINY bit of context that will orient the stakes.


[Above is the view from my window this morning]


I spent the rest of the day calling a lot of community education departments in the area. Each school district has an office for community ed. We're hoping to advertise our workshops for students and teachers (and the conservatory). I left a lot of phone messages and quickly got over my phone anxiety. It usually takes a couple trials to figure out how best to say what I'm trying to say. But trust me, I've made plenty of strange voice messages where I just end up fumbling over my words. Ah well.


I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather. I've been pumping lots of Emergen-C and water. I bought a bunch of soup and orange juice. I'll be getting to bed earlier than normal (and it feels like midnight already, but it's only 9 pm). Tomorrow is a long day at the restaurant.

In other news, I'm starting to dive into grad school audition work. Doing some re-research and looking over scripts and monologue possibilities. I've got some good leads that are pretty exciting.