What I'm Working On

This is what I'm working on at the American Shakespeare Center:

• A season of five Early Modern plays in repertory (think Shakespeare and his contemporaries)
• Each play also includes pre-show and interlude music, performed by the troupe
• Each actor chooses his/her own costumes
• Each play has roughly two days to rehearse
• There's no director

So....yeah that's my next contract: the 2014 Actors' Renaissance Season. I thought it'd may be of some interest to three of you. If nothing else, I want more responsibility on my plate. I also need a break from learning lines and playing Candy Crush.

THE PLAYS

As You Like It - Shakespeare (playing Adam, Martext, William, a Page, and Hymen)

The Servant of Two Masters - Carlo Goldoni (playing the First Waiter)

Timon of Athens - Shakespeare (playing Flavius and the occasional Messenger/Attendant)

Epicene, or The Silent Woman - Ben Jonson (playing the loquacious Truewit)

The Maid's Tragedy - Beaumont & Fletcher (playing Diphilus and Night)

THE STRATEGY

I've got my lines for As You Like It memorized. I think my next move is to learn a couple Timon scenes, then learn a couple Epicene scenes (which is the largest line load I've had in a long time). Lather, rinse, repeat.  I do have some Epicene scenes learned already.

When I want a break from that, I'll probably work out some melodies for the songs in AYLI. 

I'm not even thinking about The Maid's Tragedy right now. It's the last play and the line load is very manageable. 

Somewhere in there, I can't forget about Servant. I don't have a large part, but I am the head waiter for the big restaurant scene. Cues and props galore! This is also the second play.

(are you dizzy yet?)

I've recorded my scenes for AYLI and Timon, leaving room for me to speak my lines. I've put all the scenes/tracks on my iTunes, which will also get on my iPod. I'm also chipping away at recording the scenes for Epicene.

I've made line flashcards for AYLI and Servant. I don't think I'll be doing that for Timon or Epicene. The flashcard thing works with heavy dialogue scenes--speeches, not so much. We'll see.

Every actor has received cue scripts for their roles in each play. It's a document with a few words before our entrances, blocking, and lines. The scripts don't even tell you who is speaking the cue before. You gotta listen. We do have the full cut provided, just not in hard-copy form. For Epicene, I've made a document of the full text of every scene I'm in. I printed it out and had it bound at Staples for $11. It's a great investment. I will continue to spiral bind every script I get from here on out (especially those fat Arden editions of Shakespeare plays).

I'm grateful that AYLI is the first play we're doing; I've been in that before. Although I am terrified of tracking down five costumes for that.

So, my "strategy" isn't as systematic as I would like it to be. But I'm feeling okay about things--at the moment. I'm going to work on some Flavius speeches now.

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For more information on the Actors' Renaissance Seasons at the ASC, there are some useful blog entries here.

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?