Talkback - Timon Edition

We're gearing up for our opening of The Maid's Tragedy. We've had a dress and a preview earlier this week. I think it's coming together quite well. I think a giant sigh of relief will release once we get backstage after curtain call tonight. I'll write more about that later.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you some common questions that some folks have asked during talkbacks--particularly as they pertain to Timon of Athens. We had a performance of that last night and it was fun to engage with the audiences about this show. I love participating in talkbacks. We usually have one after every student matinee, and they are more generalized questions about the Ren Season or life as an actor at ASC. The comedies usually get that kind of response as well. But last night (And every Thursday night, we hold a talkback) was a bit different; folks asked more questions about Timon. I'll relay some of those questions and share my thoughts or what other actors said (this is all paraphrasing):

• How does costuming work?

We are in charge of coming up with costumes. Typically, the actor who's done the most work on the play (whether he or she cut the play or is playing the largest role) has done some thinking about the "design" of the play and comes up with a costume. The rest of the troupe follows suit (or doesn't). In the case of Timon, the logistics of many quick costume changes (I think some of the women have four or five changes in the first twenty minutes of the play). The folks who have to play many characters in this show agreed on having a black base so that they could drape other pieces over without having to do many elaborate changes.

• How do the speeches grow/change over the course of the run? Do you ever get bored?

In my experience so far, it's never a dull moment during the Ren Season. Timon doesn't get boring, ever. And we're doing this show once a week. Everything deepens and strengthens over time. The language in Timon is wonderful. It's Charles Mingus jazz. The audiences help in "teaching" the play during this season. Our rehearsals of the plays happen while we're performing them.

• What's the deal with Apemantus?

Josh (playing the role) said that Apemantus is a kind of Fool in this play (even though there is an actual Fool in one scene). Fools speak the truth; however, because that truth is difficult to swallow for many characters, no one really listens to him. There is a kind of cynic/jester role he plays--especially in the beginning. Partygoers laugh at him. In this production, his punk/alternative vibes suggest a warped sense of luxury. It's almost as if having him around makes Timon's household and parties even more special. And come on, that cave seen between Timon and Apemantus is awesome. 

• What's it like to play so many characters in one show?

I play Flavius for 98% of this show. I do play the messenger of Ventidius at the beginning of the play. It's distinguished with costume, and I deepen my voice a bit. I think my messenger is looking for temp work. He's trying to make some extra money. But anyway, Chris answered this question in the talkback last night. He mentioned that there's a lot of trust with the audience that goes on with doubling/tripling/quadrupling in shows at the ASC. The text is the ultimate guide. Costumes are a big help.

Honestly, the largest hurdle in playing multiple characters in one show is finding the flow of the costume changes backstage. Otherwise, an actor's job deals with investing in the lives of so many different characters. When we're playing a bunch in one show, it's just heightened/concentrated.  For something like As You Like It, I made an effort to change my voice, make significant costume changes, and carry my body in different ways. For some characters, it's not as necessary. The pages who sing "Lover and Lass" are seemingly inconsequential. I didn't develop a giant backstory about that character. I think he's a bit tipsy and fully embracing the forest life. The banishment has been good to him.

When the doubling becomes more significant and switches back and forth frequently, it can be challenging. I haven't had to work on any extreme doubling. I do have an odd doubling that's upcoming in Much Ado: Claudio and the Sexton. Right after the wedding scene, I'm the Sexton for the "Writ down an ass" scene with Dogberry, and then I jump back to Claudio with very few lines to spare for the next scene. It's fast in addition to jumping between high drama and comedy.

• The second half of "Timon" feels like Shakespeare, but the first half doesn't so much. Can you tell when there are Middleton parts in this show? 

I'm not suited to be an authority on this. I have no experience with Middleton. Critics claim that Middleton is responsible for the character of Flavius. I don't really care. It's my job to deliver the text and tell the story. The only thing I have noticed is how irregular the verse is (which is typical of later Shakespeare). It's clumsy, but in a good way. There's a lot of enjambment and parenthetical phrases. All of that is useful for playing a character who is conflicted and deeply agitated. Flavius also speaks, however, with a lot of rhyming couplets. That suggests a certainty and strength. I love the chance to play with a wide spectrum.

The first half is all over the place. Many scenes span lots of locations and characters. Part of that has to do with our swift cutting of the play. The second half is almost entirely at the cave. I love that shift. Shakespeare's plays are all full of conundrums. Some people think this play was a rush job and that this is an early draft. I won't say it's not without its issues, but at the end of the day, as an actor, I can't worry about those issues while I'm playing the scenes. At the end, if the play has got you thinking, asking questions, and talking with fellow audience members, our production has done something right.

• How do you like performing an "obscure" show that audiences aren't so familiar with rather than something like "Midsummer"?

I'm loving this. You can feel the audience lean forward. Most of the folks coming to see Timon have no prior experience. They may have heard of its reputation, but there's not really a "All the world's a stage" line or speech in Timon--in terms of its familiarity. Hamlet is chock-full of familiar phrases. I've heard of one production where the guy playing Hamlet wrote "to be or not to be, that is the question" on a chalkboard and then commenced with the rest of the speech. I think the idea being that when something so oft-quoted and familiar can send people out of a production. Who knows. On the other hand, familiarity can be a wonderful thing with audiences. 

But with this show, we get to give the gift of something new to the audience. I haven't done a lot of new work before, but this experience with Timon has felt like that, and I expect many audiences would say the same. That's exciting. They're leaning forward. It's difficult to know what jokes are going to land (yes, Timon has funny moments). This production feels more alive and vital for whatever reason.

Week Wrap-Up

To be honest, I'm losing steam with this. I wish that weren't the case, but alas. I think part of the reason is that these posts can, on occasion, meander through the day-to-day. I want to continue writing about the work, but I think honing the focus will help things out.

Anyway, the season is winding down (in the sense that we're going to stop rehearsing). We've got three weeks left?!

From what I can tell, the first three shows (As You Like It, Servant of Two Masters, and Timon of Athens) are in some kind of well-oiled machine land. Servant may be less so given the challenges of rapid-fire comedy. But since I don't have much going on in that show, it's hard for me to tell.

Epicene will continue to be a bear. We did a Sunday matinee yesterday (our first for this show), and it wasn't our strongest effort. I got to the theatre an hour early to stretch, warm-up, and review my second half lines. I felt pretty good energy-wise, but the long week caught up with me. There were some flukey mishaps throughout the show. None of them were major. But we were white-knuckling this a bit. I wish that weren't the case. This is a hard one for me, and I'm going to be thinking/learning about this whole experience for a long time.

Before the show, the cast assembled to finesse some storytelling moments. I think they were good fixes. These "changes" involve either delaying or cutting a group response (something of that nature). There's a puzzling moment still--and I won't get into the nitty gritty details--and I wouldn't be surprised if that requires some ironing. The more I do this show, the more confounding it becomes.

Yours truly and Andrew (as Dauphine) in Epicene. Photo by Pat Jarrett.

A big characteristic of this play is that everyone is serving Truewit's plotting, but the folks are at different levels of consciousness of the plotting. Even his "helpers": Cutbeard and Otter, are pawns and subject to Truewit's ridicule. The Collegiates are also accomplices, but Truewit banks on their natures, rather than letting them in on the whole jest. To throw another wrench into the mix, Truewit isn't even privy to the ultimate jest of Epicene's identity... While this all makes sense to me, it becomes difficult to orchestrate group reactions in the big scenes. Each of the characters has a supremely individual response to the action, which can be problematic for the larger storytelling (my kingdom for a director!)

Epicene may not ever get to the well-oiled machine land, which is a shame because this show could use it. I think the best solution to this is doing this show more than once a week. A Jonson City Comedy needs to fire on all cylinders and quickly. I will continue to give my body and mind the best prep before it arrives for the remaining weeks. I'm also optimistic the show will start clicking along.

I should point out that I'm not saying Epicene is a failure. This is more of an artist's "divine dissatisfaction." Audiences who venture to the playhouse to see an obscure 17th century comedy have been enjoying it, and I think we've drummed up some vivid characters in some hilarious predicaments.

MEANWHILE, while all this is going on, we're rehearsing The Maid's Tragedy!

I'm grateful for the break in responsibility, but others have giant loads to bear. I'm in full support mode with these rehearsals. We have our first dress tomorrow afternoon, and I need to make sure I review everything before then.

And in other news, I published by new website. Take a look if you'd like (there are more Epicene photos there).

Recovery

I've lost track of the number of days. Maybe I'll figure it out sometime. Here's a quick recap of things:

THURSDAY, FEB 20
Epicene preview. I was a bit nervous, but doing the show once yesterday was a gift. The folks seemed to like it. Our pace is just off. But that is to be expected for a comedy that we've only been working on for, what, ten days or so? John Harrell mentioned in the talkback that Ben Jonson plays need to click along, and I agree. I feel a pang whenever there's a little gap in the action. The troupe is getting more and more solid with lines (myself included). Another wrench: I've picked up a cold that's been hovering around the Blackfriars. A couple of us have it. It's just a pesky cold (exacerbated by this schedule, no doubt) but it's supremely annoying.

FRIDAY, FEB 21
The afternoon we had a four-hour block to look over stuff. We tweaked some things here and there. We cut a couple lines out of the final scene, which helped smooth out some jagged edges. They both affected my cues and lines--so I made sure to review those again before the performance. We opened Epicene to a great house. The pace quickened. I nearly stopped the show on the line "How? Maim a man forever for a jest?" There was a moment of panic when I forgot to grab a gallant stool for an intricate prank scene, but I was able to get things back on track. I felt great before the show. The energy continued throughout. It was just plain ol' fun. I know I went beyond what was healthy for my voice though, and...well...you'll see how that plays out in the days to follow...

SATURDAY, FEB 22
The adrenaline got the best of me and the cold sort of returned with a vengeance. My voice felt pretty ragged. I opted out of singing "MoneyGrabber" for Timon and "Hongry" in Servant. The shows went just fine. I was incredibly hoarse during Servant, however. Fortunately, it's a tiny part. Been sipping water and teas all day.

SUNDAY, FEB 23
In bad shape voice-wise. My body/energy felt fine. The cold is pretty much gone. The vocal folds, however, are probably in shock. I did, however, sing "Royals" during the interlude. It's not a demanding song range-wise (we changed the key from the original). But my Hymen Hymn was something else. I made up the melody. I attempted to figure out a way around the hymn and the vocal choices I made, but nothing came to me. If this hadn't been the last show of the week, I may have even asked for an understudy, or some kind of re-staging of Hymen. I dunno... The end of this race was something just short of a trainwreck. I immediately went on vocal rest after the show. Our stage manager Sara appointed Symmonie (our all-time understudy) to read my lines for The Maid's Tragedy read-through that evening.

MONDAY, FEB 24
Woke up feeling incredibly rested. But remained on vocal rest through the whole day. It's getting better. This day off is exactly what I needed. I got some reading done. Worked on my cue cards for The Maid's Tragedy. I also started working on a new actor website. It's simple and pretty easy to manage. I'll share it someday once it's finished.

TUESDAY, FEB 25
That's today. I have nothing more to share (other than I'm on the lookout for a job during the months of April, May, and June).

ARS Day 35

Double-Show Day: Timon of Athens matinee + As You Like It on a Saturday night (! -- it's been a while)

No Epicene rehearsal.

We had a nice mid-sized crowd for Timon this afternoon. I thought the show went pretty well. BUT...

(sigh...) I called prithee at the beginning of my cave scene with Timon. (What we say instead of "line" at ASC.)

I went blank when I discovered "yond despised and ruinous man...full of decay and failing." It was a moment when I had no idea what was coming. I considered trying to struggle through it, but it was a little soliloquy, and my attempt to patch up the memory lapse would have resulted in laborious paraphrasing and stumbling that the audience would have wince at. After some quick deliberation, I called prithee. Chris, as prompter, was primed (probably alert to the longer-than-normal pause), spoke the next two words, I immediately knew where I was line-wise. It was pretty terrifying in that instant. But I think I handled the situation as best as I could.

I don't want to call "prithee" if I don't have to (I don't think anyone wants to, really). I fully expect that to happen in Epicene (not that I'm banking on it--I just know it's possible, if not likely for this particular show). There have been some moments in Timon when I've mentally jumped to other scenes. Flavius has language in speeches that, on paper, seem very similar in others. He repeats turns of phrase often enough.

Anyway, it's out of my system. It may happen again, and I'll just keep going along.

That evening we had a large crowd for As You Like It, which was a treat. We hadn't done a Saturday evening AYLI for quite some time, and it was fun. Saturday nights are often the big ticket each week. I knew we were in store for a fun show from the very beginning when people snickered throughout at Orlando's first speech. Greg has navigated it clearly, it's full of tension and some good little parenthetical remarks. He manages to create a young man with strong convictions, but also lets his doubts slip to audience members and Adam. And there's humor in that.

ARS Days 29 - 31

Well, folks, the 2014 Actors' Renaissance Season has opened three plays within a month.
That's quite the feat. The shows couldn't be more different from each other.

On Friday, we spent a bit of time looking at a couple big crowd spots, but most of the time was devoted to working up a song ("Everybody Knows"). Meanwhile, I spent some time at the theatre to work on more Epicene lines.

I was pretty nervous about opening. For whatever reason, this evening felt like a "real" opening night. There was a big home-town crowd with many familiar faces. I think the show went well. The standing ovation we received at the end was the rare "leaping out of seats" kind of ovation (which I haven't experienced for a while). People laughed a lot too. My scene with Timon at the cave had plenty of chuckles. I was startled by it (because Flavius is a pretty vulnerable situation). Afterwards, I realized that if people are laughing this late into the play at a man who has been railing against humanity for the past 45 minutes, I think we're doing something right. I'm not saying this was a laugh-riot scene, but it was energized, and people keenly listening.

I'm not above taking costumed selfies. Here's what I'm rockin' as Flavius.

The next day we had an As You Like It matinee (with 200+ people!) and then a Servant performance that evening. This was the first AYLI were people sitting in the middle section of the Lord's Room (the balcony that sits above the stage where we play most of our music during pre-show and interludes). That was a new kink into playing Hymen from above. I could only see a few actors. There was even a moment when I got on my tip-toes and had to stay up in "relevé" for a few lines. I'm not quite sure what was going on. I was most likely shouting and spitting into the ears of those young women, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Servant went just fine, I think. The long weekends of rep tend to get blurry (and I'm writing this on Monday afternoon).

On Sunday, we had a matinee of Timon. I jumped in on trumpet for "Everybody Knows." It needs some work still, but I'll get it. I wasn't thrilled with my performance. I don't wanna get bogged down by it or make excuses. But it was a long week.

I decided to give myself the rest of the night off and spend Monday (today) working on Epicene lines. I actually watched The Talented Mr. Ripley. It's been on my Netflix list for a while, and after hearing about Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, it just felt like the right thing to do (and I don't care about football). I'm always saddened to hear about the death of great artists, but this one has struck quite a nerve (one that I wasn't expecting).

ARS Day 28

FIRST PREVIEW OF TIMON OF ATHENS!

But first, we had our first student matinee of As You Like It.

The audience was a bit of a tough crowd, to be honest. We've been spoiled with generous houses in the past weeks. I don't mean to disparage this house. It just goes to show that, as a troupe, we can't get too comfortable with the ebb and flow of response and laughter. Not every Romeo and Juliet matinee that we had last year was raucous and I don't consider As You Like It is not wild romp of a show. It's witty and amusing (and the beginning is FULL of tricky exposition and quite dark, actually), but not full of all the bawdy humor that R&J has in the first half. Anyway, It was a good lesson in picking up cues when the jokes don't audibly land on students like they do with adults. Also, there's definitely a culture about attending performances at the Blackfriars. For those who aren't accustomed to how immediate and interactive, it can be daunting. I think seeing plays here demands a lot on the audience (for the better, I believe). This is not a passive theatre-going experience. But if you're not used to that kind of thing, it can be a bit disorienting.

As much as I grumble about waking up earlier for student matinees, there is something incredibly energizing about telling these stories for students. I'm always certain that a matinee performance is the first time some have ever seen this play, possibly the first time they've seen Shakespeare live. I also bank on there being at least one kid whose life is altered by a show. And I gotta say, it's endearing to see kids sing along with a song like "Royals" during the interlude.

After the matinee, we had five glorious hours off before the preview. I took that precious time to relax.

I arrived at the theatre a half hour early and still wasn't ready for the pre-show. One of the hardest parts of this job is opening a show--especially when there's a lot of backstage business. My mind is preoccupied with finding the backstage path of least resistance. Sometimes it's actually easier to keep some costume changes in the dressing room--other times, that's just impossible. I have one major change from my messenger into Flavius (it's, thankfully, not a quick change) but then I'm shuffling around instruments and props, paging curtains, etc. With the exception of Timon and myself, it seems that everyone else in the troupe has anywhere from four to seven changes throughout the night. This routine gets exponentially easier every time we do it. So I'm not worried. But it is my world right now.

There were about four moments when I wasn't completely sure what the next line was and that dash of panic set in. But my mouth knew the words, and if I can just get out of my own way and trust the preparation, the story does come along. Timon is one of the first shows since I've been here where I have very little down time (absolutely none in the first half). Quite a change from Servant and As You Like It.

We had a talkback after the show and some folks were keen to discuss about the play's reputation. This is not a play without issues (which one doesn't though? That's part of the reason we get to revisit these stories over and over and over).

But I don't think it's a "bad" play. It helps to have a strong cut (and ours is a swift one). I think it's fascinating and think we've assembled a story that's full of sizzling, epic language. This is a play that will get people talking afterwards. And I'm honored that this production will be the first time many will have ever it. It doesn't have the interpersonal/familial relationships. It's political, but doesn't deal with the lives of royalty and kingdoms (I suppose you could argue that Athens is a kind of kingdom). There's really nothing like it in Shakespeare's canon.

We officially open tonight. We've got a block of time to sort out any remaining issues (and some songs need attention). But then, the rest of the weekend is devoted to repping three shows.

On Tuesday, we begin Epicene rehearsals. I'm thrilled and terrified for that one.

Music Portal: Flavius

This is a mesmerizing video and a bit of a portal into Flavius in Timon of Athens:

...When our offices have been oppressed 
With riotous feeders, when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine, when every room
Hath blazed with lights and brayed with minstrelsy
Have I retired me to a wasteful cock*
And set mine eyes at flow.



*He means a leaky faucet/tap (not some lazy rooster or something)


We've got our first preview this evening!

ARS Day 27

I'm up at 7:30 am this morning. It's been a while since I've been awake this early. We've got our first student matinee of As You Like It and I'm determined to get in early and work on Epicene lines before our call. The morning has been the most productive time for line memorization.

Yesterday was a frenzy. We worked on the first half of the play, which includes all the complicated bits I've mentioned in previous posts. I tried the work-thru in half-costume, set my props and costumes where I thought they should go, and then we were off. I did my best to be as forgiving on myself as possible. This start-and-stop run of the first half was to joggle the memory and get the panic out of the way before the dress rehearsal. It's a circus backstage. I think some of the actors have three or four changes within the first 15 minutes of the play (not kidding). There's a lot of shifting props/furniture/instruments backstage. It's all quite exciting.

This is all part of the deal. Right now, honestly, it's difficult to root myself in the circumstances of the story. There are so many marks to hit. I just need to remember this is not a new feeling; the fussing over backstage traffic and other technical bits will melt away eventually and leave room for the acting.

In fact, the dress rehearsal we had today went much better than I thought. I did call "prithee" once. I'm actually glad I did that and not what I was considering: jumping 10 pages to a different scene. Already, within a day, the frenzy (for me, anyway) began to fade. Soon, it will become routine.

I'm excited for people to see this one.

ARS Day 26

It's hard to believe we're almost done rehearsing (officially) Timon of Athens.

Today, we worked through the second half of the play (which is supremely less complicated for most of the troupe). This is all "Timon at his cave" stuff (which isn't to say the acting challenges aren't any less complicated).

We also spent a good deal of time working out the masque in context. I'm providing the music (bongos), but since there's no way for me to play the bongos and be on stage, I have to do an intense amount of counting backstage. For whatever reason, this is a giant challenge for me. It'll come, and we ended up in much better shape than when we started. Hooray for progress!

We also worked on a festive little ditty to start off the show. I think it will be the bridge between celebrating the fact that Timon marks the completion of Shakespeare's canon performed on stage at the American Shakespeare Center. The music is fun (but wicked for the valve/finger combos on the trumpet).

For the rest of the afternoon, we kept chugging away on music and hunting down final costume elements.

I'll have more to report on tomorrow with some rehearsal and our first dress!

ARS Days 23 - 25

Happy Monday "Morning" (it's morning for me because I slept in)!

This weekend was full of performances and a bit of Timon rehearsal. The exciting thing about this weekend is we had our rock star Symmonie go in for John since he was out of town for a wedding. She went on as Touchstone and Pantalone. This meant that on Friday, we devoted rehearsal for put-ins. She had the lines down, even stepped in to sing an interlude song that John sings right before we start the second half of As You Like It. It's always fascinating to play with an understudy. Things are just inherently different. In fact, I discovered some new things in my various interactions with Touchstone as a result.

We also had to do some music shuffling. John is a stalwart in the music parts of our troupe. He's mostly covering on the brand-new upright bass. I'm not sure how well it carries into the playhouse, but that instrument is critical for the ensemble in holding down the roots of all the chords. I most missed it during the interlude music during As You Like It.  We did end up cutting two songs in each pre-show, which just meant that we delayed when the musicians came out to play for the audience.

All in all, it was a good weekend. It wasn't without some glitches. I'm starting to understand the true excitement of Ren Season. I'm quite used to repertory now, but rehearsing Timon for three 8-hour days and then revisiting Servant after not touching it for a week is a little nerve-wracking (and I'm hardly even in that show). I can imagine it will only get more frantic as we add the other two shows....

Though this picture doesn't seem like things are that frantic: William and Silvius crush some candies...

I had a great treat on Saturday to have my voice/text teacher, Sara, visit Staunton. It was wonderful to catch up with her. She just finished coaching Private Lives at PlayMakers Rep in Chapel Hill, NC. She has a great little interview on the URTA website for those who are looking into grad school. I owe a lot to her teaching.

On Sunday, we rehearsed for a couple hours in the evening (this is our Friday night, need I remind you...). We finished blocking the play (the epitaph scenes). Since I wasn't in those scenes, I worked on figuring out the notes to an opening "party" song that will start off the show. If all goes well, Greg and I will trade off noodling on our respective horns to help set off the festivities of Timon's great banquet. After that, we plugged everyone into the Masque. There's dancing, a leap/backbend off a table, music, and lots of revelry. I'm doing my best to play the bongos. It's about as Baz Luhrmann as you can get on the Blackfriars.

I'll provide a link to some rehearsal photos. But I will say there are some possible spoiler alerts if you'd like to keep some parts of the show a surprise, you may not want to see some of them. But here it is...

Okay, I'll leave at that. I want to see Inside Llewyn Davis today, but I only deserve that if I make uber-progress on my Epicene lines (and review all of my Timon lines).

ARS Days 20-22

Let's see what I can remember about Tuesday and Wednesday...

Tuesday, January 21

And so, we begin Timon of Athens rehearsals in earnest. René (playing Timon) created a schedule for the entire rehearsal period--with the hope that we can at least work on the entire show twice before our first dress rehearsal next Wednesday. (This is similar to what we did with Servant). HOWEVER, he has not done it in order of scenes. The first day was a hodgepodge of working out of sequence. I'm sure this is just like television/film work. My first scene was a biggie, and Flavius has to weep. Oy...it's a tough one for many reasons (but oh, so cool). The rest of the day was a mix of hunting down costume possibilities, tinkering with music, and staging more scenes.

Wednesday, January 22

It was banquet day for the troupe. Timon holds two big parties in the play. The first has a lot of moving parts. The troupe is in and out of doors. Most folks are playing two characters in the first couple scenes. A large table with chairs and drinks are needed. There's even masque! It took a lot of time to figure it all out.  After lunch, we moved to the "water" banquet, which is much sparser and less complicated (but it still involves a long table and stools). Choreographing all of the furniture movement is always a trick. It became immediately apparent to all of us that Timon is a show that could thrive on having a larger cast (even just three more people). The doubling is fun and a great challenge, but it can be extremely restricting for a show like this. On the flip side, without that luxury, it does hone our options and we make do with what we've got and still serving up a powerful story.

Thursday, January 23

We were supposed to have an As You Like It student matinee this morning, but it was canceled (it's FREEZING, and there was a big ol' snowfall on Tuesday, covering Staunton in snow and ice. So we got an extra four hours of rehearsal. We determined it would be best to work through the first half in sequence to get a feel for how all the scenes flow together. This was an immense gift. Otherwise, it would have been a week before we touched on those scenes again.  We had some extra time at the end of the block, so we also incorporated water into the second banquet. The banquet guests got into t-shirts they didn't mind getting wet. Greg brought up a stack of towels from the costume shop, and René went on his water rampage. It was pretty stellar. I'll say no more--you'll have to see it for yourself.

The afternoon was devoted to Timon at the cave. There is one long scene (close to 500 lines) where different folks visit Timon outside the walls of Athens. René had some great ideas about the "scenery" and transforming the Blackfriars stage into a wilderness. There are tons of props that Timon uses (including rocks to throw at Apemantus).

Meanwhile, downstairs in Tyson, some of the women worked up their "cupid dance/bacchanal" with some of the gents for the first banquet. I'm providing some bongo drumming, Andrew's on the spoons, and our star ASM/intern/violinist extraordinaire, Clare, is playing a great Romanian (I believe) folk tune to accompany.

I had some time off to go costume hunting. I'm trying to find something that says "steward" within the world that René has suggested (think Capitol City in The Hunger Games). After some trial and error, I've come up with something conservative that's a little "out there." Flavius is in the serving class, but he's top tier in Timon's estate, so there has to be a kind of reserved opulence involved in the clothes. It's like the downstairs crew in Downton Abbey. The footmen, valets, and butlers are impeccably dressed in black and white. I think my Paris suit from Romeo and Juliet will be incorporated (probably not the jacket). It's sleek. I still need to figure out something for my little messenger guy in the first scene, but I've got six days to drum up something. I also managed to find a great doublet/pants combo for Epicene. The fit and color are fantastic.

Then, René and I worked on our final meeting at the cave. I'm the last visitor to appear in that scene, and I think it's quite touching. Flavius manages to get Timon out of his funk (briefly, anyway). For only running it a couple times, I'd say it's in great shape.

All in all, I think the stress of the season is starting to creep in, but the troupe powered through a giant day of work. Tomorrow, we're having put-in rehearsals for Symmonie (John's going out of town for a couple days for a wedding) and Timon music. Then we've got an As You Like It performance to begin the weekend's rotation. It seems like it's been months since we've touched on Servant, but I'm sure we'll get back into the groove quickly enough.

ARS Days 17 - 19

Friday, Jan 17

Opening Night!

We had a short rehearsal. Some folks wanted to look at a few spots in the show, and then we worked on music for a while. I was able to get out of rehearsal a good 90 minutes early (and able to get some much-needed grocery shopping done).

Then, it was showtime! The house was pretty big and very generous. The pay-what-you-wills are always a nice hometown crowd at the Blackfriars.

Afterwards, some of us got drinks and a lovely couple who had just seen the show paid for our tab. We were able to shout a thanks to them after they left (and we found out about it from our server). It was such a nice gesture. And on the chance that you're reading this blog (I don't know their names): THANKS AGAIN!

And for no reason, here's an incredible cover of "I Want You Back." We've been jamming to this in the men's dressing room:

Saturday, Jan. 18

Two show day, but now we're repping! (I'm getting really spoiled by doing theatre in repertory. The prospect of just doing one show is becoming foreign to me) The afternoon was As You Like It. We hadn't done it in a week--which is a long time, especially when our brains and bodies have been concentrating on Servant. But I think we got into a groove.

Then we jumped back to Venice in the evening. It was another good crowd with some familiar faces. I'm beginning to understand the rhythm of my track for the show. I reviewed Timon lines in the first act (which I'm not in at all--it's strange to do a set of music and the pre-show speech and then have at least 45 minutes "off"). After the bell rings for the first interlude, it's go-time for me.

Sunday, Jan. 19

We had a good-sized crowd for the As You Like It matinee this afternoon. The music went much more smoothly than the night before, I thought. I can't believe we've been performing this show for three weekends already. This season is going to pass quickly.

After a dinner break, it was time to begin work on show number three (!): Timon of Athens. This show will mark the completion of Shakespeare's cannon at the ASC (and quite nice that it happened during it's 25th Anniversary). I'm excited about this show.

We just did a read-thru, and it clocked in at 1:50 minutes or something like that. We'll probably add some more time, but the cut is quite swift. Critics seem to hate this play. I don't understand it. No, it's not perfect, it's not without its issues (but, you can say that with most of Shakespeare's plays). The language is percussive and oozing with brilliant imagery (it's biting and often ferocious). There are some great, iconic scenes and images. I think it'll leave audiences with plenty to think and talk about, and I think we're already headed in a great direction. I can already "see" this play in my mind after this first reading with the troupe (plus Rene's great idea for the "world" he'd like to create--he's playing Timon). I'll keep mum about any more details for now.

Tomorrow's a glorious day off. I'll have to set aside at least a couple hours to work on Epicene lines, but you can bet I'm gonna sleep in and do a hefty amount of lounging.