On How to Best Prepare for the First Day of Rehearsal (March 29th)

I'm learning how to be ready for day one of rehearsal. It used to be to simply show up with my lines highlighted (preferably). But with so little time in the professional world and the fact that I'm now a, uh, professional, this has changed.

1. Come with lines memorized. Scratch that, come with lines LEARNED. Know what you're saying, but most importantly understand why your character thinks the way he does. Learn the thought, not the orientation of the words.

2. Know the mise-en-scene. Know the who, what, when, where, why and how. Know why you enter and exit for each scene. Know who each person is in the scene and how you're connected to them. Understand WHY you do the things you do.

3. Have a good/clear sense of who your character is and how you will play him. The director will be a great help to you, but don't put it all on him. Have your picture file homework done. How does he handle himself physically? Where's his center? What is the major aspiration of the character? What does he want?

Rehearsals are for smoothing and refining, not for building from the ground up. Directors are there to make a beautiful production, not to tell each actor how to play the character.

Come prepared and you'll be that much further ahead.

Describing the Difficulties in Being a Warm Body

Sometimes, as an actor, you feel like you're just there to fill out a costume and move to wherever the director tells you to move...basically just a warm body.

This is the case with Romeo & Juliet so far. There's a video of the last time they mounted this production of R & J and it seems to be getting the most face time. "Where did he stand the last time we did this?" seems to be a common saying around here. I understand that doing this same production is financially motivated, but it really feels like a kick to the pants as an "artist." I think Peter Brooke would call this Deadly Theatre. It's a good paycheck and it's a good move in terms of working my way up in the theatre world, but I'm bored. I suppose it's on me to insert myself and be more aggressive with my insights, so I'll work on that. But it's more fulfilling to be a part of a collaborative effort.

This might be a good observation of where I want my life in the theatre to go.

But I'm about to see The Lulu Plays, by Matthew Earnst. I feel European right now, which is pretty much my favorite feeling I can have. Reminds me of seeing The Day Before the Last Day at Schaubuene, which is the theater Matty suggested I go check out in Berlin, where, ironically enough, he is right now.

Concerning the difficulties of working so far from home (3/13/12)

Just got into Cleveland yesterday for a 7 week run of Romeo & Juliet at Great Lakes Theater. This is the start of what my life could be like: Whisking around from city to city, working 7 week contracts here, 16 week contracts there, not really living at my "home" (New York? Somewhere else?), feeling unsettled/like a guest.

I really lucked out with housing this time around. Sue Hastings, a board member at GLT and a lawyer, graciously put me up in her mansion and has been wonderfully hospitable. It's a twenty minute drive from Cleveland, which is a bummer, but really glad I didn't have to stay with Heidi and Seth because that would've been a 50 minute drive!

Despite living in luxury, I feel a bit like a second class citizen....NON-equity. I make $450/wk, which is great for me, but EQUITY performers make upwards of $700/wk. AND get apartment housing within two blocks of the theater. Seriously? I'm complaining about little stuff like this? Count your lucky starts, moron, you're making the best money you've ever made and you're being treated like a prince at this house (gasp) 20 minutes away!

But it's an interesting feeling living in a place for seven weeks and not really able to go home. I'm on a semi-permanent business trip...though i do inherit a nice "family" of actors while I'm here. It's a great opportunity, but I just wonder how long i can sustain living this way, even if great opportunities keep coming along (hopefully they will). My goal in acting life is to make work i believe in and that I WANT to be working on. I've worked with Meadow Brook and now Great Lakes Theater and I'm almost treating them as internships...how do big budget theaters conduct business? Artistic choices? Can't say I love being in a production where the director is looking at a previous recording of this very show, telling us all where Abraham and Sampson and the Prince and everyone WAS standing. Doesn't that seem like imitating art? Or is that how they do it in Russia? We saw a THIRTY YEAR OLD production of the Seagull. I'm sure new actors were plugged in there as old actors left...I'm I judging too harshly?

I couldn't help but wonder how people's time could've been used better at today's first rehearsal. Obviously there is always going to be standing around time, but what if it was a process of group creation? Etudes and improves and critiquing performances done as a group? But does that creat a product that people want to pay $30 to go see? Would only 10's of people be interested in something like that?

Conundrum: I want to make things I believe in and I want to create and be the master of (sigh...hate saying this) my ART...but I also want to make money SOLELY from theatre. Is this possible? If so, where is it possible? Is it possible to support a wife and kids?

I sure hope so...and I sure hope I can find it.