This came about because Kelli, the fantastic actress who is playing Leigh Fondakowski and Romaine Patterson among others, is performing in a show in Chicago on the weekends, so I was asked to fill in and write detailed blocking and acting notes. My notes look like this:
EXCERPT from an email sent to Kelli last week
ACT 1
Up until I next make a note of it, your eyes are focussed on each scene that is going on
Page 1- you now enter and put Rebecca Hilliker's plaid smock on #16 (not the denim jacket) Page 3 - As you say 'Laramie native....' cross over to chairs 5 and 6
Page 5 - After your line 'brown and gold' you have your normal move, but Moises has made a note, he wants everyone to really land/settle here.
Pg 6 - at the end of the scene you now move and stand by chair 19 USR.
Pg 7 - when you and Scott move the chairs, do it more naturalistically. You are moving it more or less to the same place, to the right of 17, behind 18/3. Afterwatds move to behind #2 SL
They have swapped the Reg/Marge and Deb Thomsen Scs around, and Greg has replaced Leigh.
Pg 9 - for the Deb Thomsen sc, look straight out, not at action
Pg 13 - Come DS to R of #9. During this sc, Scott will cross past you, just follow him with your body language(!)
Don't move until after Dave O'Malley finishes his line, and then go and move 4 up a few steps. then move, briskly SL, between 15 and 11
Page 15 - at end of scene, move a couple of steps back
Pg 16/17 - end of sc, move DSC fast, the line at top of 17 is now 'We spoke to Beth Loffred and asked her what events the university was planning to commemorate to 10th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death" At the end of this line, move 6 and 9 into place (last row, two furthermost DS chairs) and sit as per in middle one #9
Pg 19 - Those lines have swapped again, so you are now saying Greg's first line but not the rest - end of sc take 3 steps back and face US behind chair #6
Pg 21 - at the end of Cathy Cons line 'is going on with Matthew Shepard' sit down in #6 - same seat as before
this has been gruelling and exciting and terrifying, but I've held my own and done various American accents and thought about it as an extended audition, which has been good and meant I've impressed them. And I have. First the Stage Manager pulled me aside and said that they are extremely pleased with me. Then Greg told me I was doing great work and have a great Texas accent, and then Moises and Leigh have said great work, great spirit. Mercedes said Kelli ahd better watch her back...! And then Mark, who I didn't even think liked me thanked me for meeting the standards and giving generously. And these guys are amazing. I wouldn't usually talk myself up so much, but I've come to the belief that the NZ Tall Poppy syndrome needs a good shakeup. We are good at so many things. And I, for one, am personally grateful to feel validated as an actress. I know I'm good. Now I have to work on getting better.
The filling in is gruelling, as I said, because I don't have creative license, I - in the end - am not playing the part. It is someone with completely different qualities, rhythm, body language, etc.
So, I have to get the job done but be tentative as to how I do so. And I feel like such a dork sometimes, with no instincts, because I am actively suppressing them. For instance, blocking is occasionally a problem, because Moises is trying to work very fast, and because I have to take specific notes for Kelli, I have to choose the right moment to pipe in and say 'Excuse me Moises would you like Kelli Upstage right or left?' etc. And that isn't always met with patience. Moises is devising around a script for two weeks only. Then it goes on the road. He is also rehearsing a Broadway show, an operatic and puppeteered Puss'N'Boots. The man, though genius, is clearly - to say busy is an understatement - but yes! Busy! With momentous tasks ahead of him.
Notes from the last couple of weeks:
-Giving a breath, letting the audience sit with information, with climactic points. Music/Transitions - How to give a breath?
-Characterizations - with verbatim one can forget that these people one is representing have personalities, and the fallback is to play it really measured, conversational. Eg Marge Murray is clearly a 'character' - those who interviewed her said she is larger than life. But when the editor/writer puts her next to more subdued characters, the actor can come across OTT. How do I keep the authenticity of the character?
-The actor doesn;t want to play a character one dimensionally - some of these people interviewed came across one dimensionally. Truth versus art.
-Trick of TLP is to let the audience into the story. To be truthful, lots of direct address - there are a lot of events, a lot of real life drama. The trick is not to overshadow the events by 'acting' the drama. In TLP:10, there are no events, not really, so the trick is to create the drama out of the information. To structure it so it is exciting and that we grab the audience.
- A lot of TLP is about grabbing the stage from the other person - often characters are 'answering' each other without directly answering each other. This is so we can build the cacophony of opinion, voice, disagreement, info.
- Because the staging is so simple, any shifts need to be pronounced - we notice everything. We need to read the shifts in beats in the body of the actor.
-Muscle of active listening incredibly important. A lot of direct address, focus changes all the time. Even when not looking at the person speaking, we need to feel the actor listening.
- Vocal energy can sometimes be OTT but grabbing the audience and also vocally ending a scene is so important.
- Even though they are essentially copying blocking from the previous production, it feels incredibly organic. I think this is because of the moment work. 90% of the time there is a strong reason for everything. When there isn't, they change it. Keep working within the form and rules set up. Leigh is also wise as the director to make the actor comfortable and understand why certain shifts need to happen. They only have two weeks and they've found a comprehensive structure that works.
- This is about a hate crime. A lot of people interviewed have an emotional reaction to the events or one event. The challenge for the actor is not to go sentimental on it. I stop listening, And I don't hear the person anymore. I hear an actor making a judgement on the person.
So, I'm learning a lot. And I'm learning about how these two directors work. They may have made this show together, but they have a very different approach. It is probably a bit easier for Leigh as she does not have another production about to go up. But, she is matter of fact, she is interested in the actors process and allows time for the actor to work through something without it becoming indulgent. She is working fast too, but more specifically, and on a script that is well finished. We had a meeting yesterday and there is going to be some time allowed to work on TLP:10 with her, which I reckon will be great. I believe she and Moises make a great team.
Last week was a mild blur. Jam packed cacophony of... stuff
I went to see Morgana O'Reilly's show THE HEIGHT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER which was great I wont harp on about it because I'd been asked to review it for theatreview so you may as well read it - http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=3312
Although I wrote the review after a mega action night out and sent it away telling the editor to change and do whatever he wanted to it - he's fairly onto it - and the result was some spelling mistakes! Not by me! Bit embarrassing.
I went to see Morgana O'Reilly's show THE HEIGHT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER which was great I wont harp on about it because I'd been asked to review it for theatreview so you may as well read it - http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=3312
Although I wrote the review after a mega action night out and sent it away telling the editor to change and do whatever he wanted to it - he's fairly onto it - and the result was some spelling mistakes! Not by me! Bit embarrassing.
The night out in question was with Miss Katie West, who is in town for a few weeks, yoga-ing. We met up with some friends of hers who bought everything all night, so we were drinking $25 cocktails and having $50 platters of food, I'm trying to be more food aware on account of frequenting my favourite bagel shop, so I didn't eat much and was crazy silly inebriated. I danced like a hip hop star and became everyone's favourite person at the clubs! Was truly fun but as we got home to Katie's pad around 5 am and then watched movies with some guys till proper morning, I felt hideous.
I cabsied home and wrote the review and notes for Kelli - that took a good four hours and then I languidly walked through Central Park chatting to Alex in the phone then wombled off to the Frick. And wow! What an absolutely divine and gorgeous space. It is so welcoming and calming. I hate museums that you are bustled from room to room but the Frick is almost like a stylish library. You meander along at your own pace and everyone is super quiet. I sat for about half an hour staring at a beautful angel statue by an indoor water garden. I wrote poetry and took pictures, which is not allowed - the photos not the poetry - which I will post in due course. Then, exhausted, I met Olivia and went out to Century 21 in search of my DKNY leather jacket, which I friggin adore. I bought it and what a great purchase - about $200 NZ, but soooo sexy and fabulous. I'll have it for years.
I was so shattered by the end of that whole day, brain-filled excursion, I thought I'd go straight to sleep - but no. The cat - yet again - ruined things with it's yeowling and putting it's ass on my face. I hate it.
I cabsied home and wrote the review and notes for Kelli - that took a good four hours and then I languidly walked through Central Park chatting to Alex in the phone then wombled off to the Frick. And wow! What an absolutely divine and gorgeous space. It is so welcoming and calming. I hate museums that you are bustled from room to room but the Frick is almost like a stylish library. You meander along at your own pace and everyone is super quiet. I sat for about half an hour staring at a beautful angel statue by an indoor water garden. I wrote poetry and took pictures, which is not allowed - the photos not the poetry - which I will post in due course. Then, exhausted, I met Olivia and went out to Century 21 in search of my DKNY leather jacket, which I friggin adore. I bought it and what a great purchase - about $200 NZ, but soooo sexy and fabulous. I'll have it for years.
I was so shattered by the end of that whole day, brain-filled excursion, I thought I'd go straight to sleep - but no. The cat - yet again - ruined things with it's yeowling and putting it's ass on my face. I hate it.
On Monday I went to a NZ screenplay reading down in Greenwich Village, which was ace, because I had such a hilarious time getting there; there was a storm, and I hadn't brought a raincoat, there was thunder, lightning and gargantuan amounts of rain. I was soaked. And I didn't really know where I was going, so I got lost and I got very, very wet. Finally I found the theatre. Wine and cheese and a NZ story of working class family set at the time of the -was it 1981? - Springbok Tour. This film has bones. Rochelle Bright, who invited me, wrote it, and she is a clever gal. There was humour, pathos, drama. Great elements of music and imagery incorporated into this already fulsome script. And I think the notes from the reading will only make it better. I caught the train with Missy Ang and Hilary Halba - who I'm meeting up with at the end of the week - and off I went home. Exhausted.
Tuesday, I went to FELA. A triumph of a musical. This is a musical with real life, breath and soul - there are a couple of cheesy moments, but they are earnt. http://felaonbroadway.com/
The lead actor was astonishing - his sheer endurance. The whole show he acts, sings, dances, plays the sax and trumpet all in direct address. 3 hours worth.
The dancers for the most part were the most exciting things I'd seen inhabit a stage in the longest time. Their whole bodies and souls completely being chsucked around the floor. Enjoying, loving what they were doing. There were two dancers however, who proabbaly thought - because they didn't have as much stage time - that people didn't notice that they were barely present in the show. They looked bored. And it really grated me, because here was this ensemble, f***in going for i, giving it their all, and a couple of rogue individuals ruining it and pulling focus. And the story - when I saw them - was not heard or felt.
Ok. I will continue more later because I've been chipping away at this post for a week now on lunch breaks. And you know what? I need a lunch break!
Tuesday, I went to FELA. A triumph of a musical. This is a musical with real life, breath and soul - there are a couple of cheesy moments, but they are earnt. http://felaonbroadway.com/
The lead actor was astonishing - his sheer endurance. The whole show he acts, sings, dances, plays the sax and trumpet all in direct address. 3 hours worth.
The dancers for the most part were the most exciting things I'd seen inhabit a stage in the longest time. Their whole bodies and souls completely being chsucked around the floor. Enjoying, loving what they were doing. There were two dancers however, who proabbaly thought - because they didn't have as much stage time - that people didn't notice that they were barely present in the show. They looked bored. And it really grated me, because here was this ensemble, f***in going for i, giving it their all, and a couple of rogue individuals ruining it and pulling focus. And the story - when I saw them - was not heard or felt.
Ok. I will continue more later because I've been chipping away at this post for a week now on lunch breaks. And you know what? I need a lunch break!
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