Dell Arte: Further in the Mask

Week 9:

Back in the swing of things after the break and I'm glad to say I was itching to get back to work.

Mask work is very hard and technical.  An audience can tell when a person is physically imposing their ideas of what character they think the mask is rather than listening to it.  To finding the physicality, look at the mask and see it.  Ask yourself what the texture is, where are the creases in the face, how do the lines move on the mask, what shape are the eye holes?  All of these questions are helpful and encouraged before you put on the mask.  Consider the physical rhythm, tempo, and how body is influenced by the mask.  ALWAYS when working in mask, you as the wear-er, need to see, hear, and breath. If you don't breath, neither can the audience.  Working with this sequence of actions for an excersize can allow a character to live: Look at something, See it, Interested in it, Go toward it, Scared of it, No-It's funny.  

One of the greatest challenges with mask is how can I keep it simple and yet amplified.

For the P-Lab this week, my group worked with larval masks.  It was extremely difficult because if you google these masks, they are very hard to see out of.  There is no peripheral vision.  The are very simple and are not very intelligent.  They allow for a lot of discovery.  When developing a scene, the simpler the better.  What the lab was created for, was to find character and let the character live.  Our group missed the mark. It became about the unnecessary complex situation we developed rather than the relationship between the characters.   Our masks did not see and we were simply plowing through the actions and not experiencing them as if it was the first time.  It was an epic fail, but I learned a lot.

We had an assignment to make a mask out of cardboard and tape.  It needs to be secure to the wearer's face and be able to see.  This went well.  The review I received after showing it, was that it could really see (win!) and had great form (yes!) and that now it just needs to be painted.  Also, that Ronlin is excited to see how physical the character can get.   I was happy with this, especially since I struggled finding a form that worked.  I made four shapes that week and decided on one on the night before we showed.  I also struggled with finding physical features: lips, nose, ears. Because I didn't want to just stick them on the form, but rather find where the form is allowing the opportunity for these features.

The only way to learn with mask is by doing.  So I continue to play.

Dell Arte: Starting the Mask

Week 8:

Only a three day week for the thanksgiving break.  No p-lab, so no rehearsals at night.  It was to just having classes in the day and have our nights to ourselves.  So, this one will be brief.

What was hit hard again this week was intentionality and that everything we do has purpose.  When we move in this dynamic theater, it needs to have images and be specific. So that every movement we are releasing something in us out to the world and in the air.  We don't just do things, but each of us carries the world.

When wearing a mask, your have to let people in, not force them to look at you.  It's all in the eyes.  The mask needs to be genuine and authentic.  And that is the struggle with masks and like in acting, how do we be authentic.

Outside of school, I learned that breaks are awesome.

Rebhuhn out.

Dell' Arte: Suffering

Week Seven:

We applaud you, because you suffer.

This week started off rough for me.  It was all about music and movement and putting the two together.  I love both of these things and they mean a lot to me, BUT we were challenged in our movement to BE the music, to PUSH the music, to PULL the music, to be WITH the music, and to go AGAINST the music.  All of these needed to be distinguished apart from one another.  People were physically able to do this and I felt that I was the only one in the room who could not.  This of course was not helpful.  Also, our theme for the week was "Whispers of running streams and winter lightning".  We were told that we NEED to step up and invest our entire selves.  Week seven, come on guys, get it together.

Our group struggled greatly throughout the week, as did many.  But no one felt like they had something to say or had a passionate view of the experiment we chose to invest our time in.  On top of that, two of the five group members were battling illnesses.  We had developed a small piece and on Thursday all the groups shared what they had been working on.

Well.
Everyone was told to scrap everything and make an entire new piece for the next day.  Tension was high and everyone was on edge in the studio.  Our group found something and developed it, but after we got a night of rest in, we awoke with the feeling, this is shit.  And it was, we were shooting in the dark and had no idea what we were doing in that p-lab.

P-lab was great.  Every group struggled and suffered.  BUT we worked on our pieces like you would in a lab and workshop-ed specific ideas we were playing with to music.  Everything changed drastically. Everyone was making it too complicated and Ronlin was able to find these great moments and strip them to them down. We were all very vulnerable and could stand up in front of the world and say, I don't know.   And that was ok.  That lab was just what we needed.  Now I'm not saying that we finally broke out of our shells and habits, but maybe something started a crack that day.

Yes, I felt embarrassed during our group's p-lab, but we suffered.  And through that suffering, there are gains being made.  I am incredibly thankful.

Dell Arte: Personal Authority

Week Six:

This we begin the five week section of Actor's Intent.

This week we had Ronlin's identical twin brother, Donlin, come and teach during the week.  Ronlin and Donlin.  No joke.  A little history about Donlin:  He worked with Martha Graham and her company until shortly after her death.  And after working with him, you could say he knows his shit.

Donlin led our three hour afternoon session on Monday.  We had heard stories that Donlin is just like Ronlin, but without the heart and loving side.  So, needless to say, some of us were quite nervous.  The work we did in class was very specific, even more so than we are used to.  As class progressed, you could tell that some people were not present and in the room.  People were entering late during passes we were making along the floor, walking in and out of class for bathroom breaks, and leaning against walls.  A lesson that I walked away with was that we need to take personal authority for what we are doing here.  That we won't come in late on a beat if we are already here and present.  It all comes off as lazy and uninspired.  Nothing of importance.  Not that it is important, but that it matters.  What we do, day to day, matters.  How we engage in class and with people is important.

We had classes with Michael Fields this week as well. He is another teacher here at Dell Arte. Some might say he resembles an angry Santa.  Before each class with him, we sing a song in a round.  This makes us listen on many levels and open our eyes and be aware, not only of ourselves but those in our group and the company.  His lesson is that action is key.  He says it's called a play, not two hours of people talking.  Rather than filling in all the blanks for the audience, follow the action and let the audience use the imagination to develop their story.

Our p-lab of animal picnic went better this week.  You could see a drastic change in the risks people took and the specificity in the gate of the animal.   For example, one of my groups sections was raven.  Once we put the physical image of their beaks in us and imagined this sharp beak cutting into the space in front of us, they became more alive by imagination rather than physically trying to push out our noses.  One thing they told us this week that we really need to abandon doing something right or wrong.  No matter what we do, there will be criticism and if there ever is a chance that there is not, then something was seriously wrong.

We talked alot about contradictions in our work.  That they are all over and naturally exist and that they are to be embraced,  I can't remember why this stuck with me and what it means to me, but I'll write it here anyway.

Um, that is it for now.

Dell Arte: Recap

Week Five:

This caps our first five week term on the Physical Actor.

This week was working with animals, which reminded me alot of the atude work at ISU.  The theme for the week was "animal picnic". Go.

Well...

It was a struggle bus.  Our bodies felt like death by the end of the week.  Why? Because on top of all of the acrobatic and physical work we do during the day, we spent three hours at night moving our bodies in inhuman ways.  There were so many muscles you felt that you did not know existed.  So, it was a great difficulty moving forward through the exhaustion and pain on Thursday to put this animal picnic together by Friday afternoon.

Friday's critique was that we weren't the animals.  And we weren't on a picnic.  The existing question is how can I be an animal?   And it's funny because it's a contradiction in itself because we of course are human so we physically can not be a hippo, for example.  And yet, here we are working toward the impossible, because just maybe, it might not be.

We were reassigned animal picnic.  New groups. Scrap it all. Explore again.

In review:

I don't know how five weeks have passed by so fast.  They started extremely slow and before I knew it, we were halfway through November. During week four, I had a mind fuck (pardon my language).  I went to write week four blog and my mind blanked.  I felt I had nothing new to say and that nothing was sticking and I was learning nothing.  So I beat myself up mentally and kept asking myself, what am I doing here? I can't even learn and I have nothing to say.  I have no purpose being here.

I normally push things down, bottle them up and cap it all in.  However, it comes to a point when one person notices a slight difference in me and they ask "are you ok?"  And I burst.   This happened this week.  It was rough and it sucks.  I am lucky I have made such deep and personal connections with the people I work with.  I opened up, cried, and let it go through me, out, and into the world.  It was a great relief.  On a personal level, I want to learn how to cry when I feel like crying.  Rather than holding it in.

You can not go through this program alone.  It is impossible and the sooner you allow yourself to feel these deep things, and let go, the sooner you can get to the work.  And that is where I am at.

The Tale of Snow White: Opening

It was absolutely terrifying to open this show. I've opened many shows and never has my chest got so tight. My reputation wasn't on the line, but rather the easily bruised souls of children who had poured all they had, for two months, into the show. Sure, they learned a lot and made many friends but would they be able to look back and remember this night with joy if nobody else liked it. If all they could remember was a quiet and bored house.

Of course, I didn't really have anything to worry about. Even if they didn't necessarily like theatre, the family and extended family would all be there to support the children they love. However, once the show got started, what we heard was not an obligatory chuckle but rather an involuntary uproar. They were eating it up.

It was during this first performance that I was able to appreciate Kiersten's directing fully, whether she meant it or not, she had included many jokes aimed at an older generation. In the first few minute we hear empty coconut husks as a horse's trot, reminding everyone of Monty Python. Right after that, we hear many recognizable movie soundtracks. Later, we have Frank Sinatra lyrics laced into the show. Now, not all of the cast understood the references but they still had a blast incorporating them into their show. 

With the house lights out and a sole mission of managing the stage and calling cues, I was able to take in all the stage images the show had to offer. In every scene Kiersten had at least one picture that sticks vividly in my mind. My favorite will always be the seven dwarves huddled around the bed while Snow White sleeps.

Just as I expected, riding the energy of the audience like mini rock stars, the kids absolutely killed the show. Reserves of energy they rarely tapped into for rehearsals, were seemingly at their fingertips as audience cheers egged them on. Moments that never rang true in rehearsal now twinkled every time.With every scene I became more and more confident in the kids, the show, and all the hard work we put into it.

The Tale of Snow White : Tech Week

   Although tech week for the show was very organized, my eyes were opened to all the intricate tasks of a stage manager.
   After sending out all the reminder emails about tech week protocol, hair, and makeup, I then had to focus on training the crew and figuring out all of their scene shifts. Because this show doesn't have many set pieces we had to find ways to keep them interested. I decided to make up a chart of everything they had to do. Not only of the set pieces and exactly when they were to move those on and off, but also if there was ever a time they could grab a prop from an actor just to make it a bit easier for the cast.
I also decided that I would make a prop list for each side of the stage and have them laminated. This way the kids could use a dry erase marker and go through and check off the props before and after the show, to make sure everything was in order.
   Adding the light and sound cues in was a breeze and made for one of the least stressful tech weeks I've ever experienced. It felt like all the elements came together in a way that they complimented each other very well. I learned that it is necessary to keep the parents in the loop as best as possible with reminders and emails because it's very unlikely that they'll check their rehearsal schedule everyday.

Dell' Arte: Place and Event

Fourth Week.

We began this week working more with elements, movement, and masks.

I received some feedback while I was playing with fire: that I need to be grounded.  Once I'm up on toes, the tension goes into the thighs, upper chest, and neck.  I also felt it in my jaw.  All of this would be avoided and make the play clearer simply by being grounded though the foot to the earth. It was also made obvious that no one would ever "get" the elements and it might be that no one ever has. This week made it perfectly clear that the things we do it class are exercises. There is never a right or wrong way.  You just have to play and experience through.

As humans, we are all different in our own ways.  BUT if you strip down everything, we are made of the same stuff and no matter what we have individually, rhythm is our saving grace.  Through a common beat, we can get to the base and out of that we are unified and can engage in a more dynamic theater.  Dynamic through contrast and levels.  This concept was played with during a movement game.  We had to listen to one another and the tempo of the group to play in something engaging for an outside eye.  I do not know if we ever achieved this task, but that is not the point. While moving, there was a beat or structure we needed to follow.  Our challenge: not to be just on the beat but IN it.  What does that mean? and How does one do that? are questions we all had, but no answers.  Here there are no problems and no solutions. Only proposals.

This week was another struggle.  Our p-lab was that we needed to create a place and event.  That was all the instruction we received.  Oh yeah, also, no words. We had an epic fail.  Our concept was in a field when a tornado hit.  This is all well and good, but our situation needed words.  The fact that we didn't use words takes the audience out completely.  Normally, people would be yelling get in the shelter, ya-dee, ya-dee, ya-duh.  So our challenge was to create an event that words were not required and through the event a place would be established.  Ours was very unclear to the audience and did not create a thrilling theater.

The mask focused on listen to it and letting it effect you.  Knowing that when creating a mask, it is a partner ship.  You are learning how the material works and allowing it to move rather than imposing on it your ideas or what you think would look cool here or there.  Being curious and just playing.

Still having trouble breaking out of this shell I'm in.  I'm having trouble taking the risk to fail, to hurt, to love, to cry.  So I continue forward into week 5.

Dell' Arte: Be Ferocious. Be Human.

Week #3:

This week we were re-assigned Nature Day for Friday's p-lab (performance lab).  Everything we did in the first week was to be thrown out and we were to start completely over.

Some people were not enthused about this.  Working with fifteen others on creating this nature day experience was hard the first time around. Now we had to do it again and people showed their true colors.  It made me extremely aware of how little tolerance I have for those unwilling to devote themselves and their time to the task at hand.  I also realized just how much I hate bad attitudes.  All of this is not productive and hinders the work.

We tried to create something real; a place where the audience could dwell.  However people ended up being bored.  We were very timid and safe with our work.  Our challenge: Be ferocious.  Yes we work hard and it's obvious we care about the work, but we need to be ferocious.  We were also comforted that nothing we do is worthless.  What is good today is terrible tomorrow. We strive to grow and improve.

In poetic voice I learned that emotions are not tied to an idea, but concrete descriptions.  We wrote for five minutes not stopping on different images.  Then the task was to imagine addressing a group of people at your dear friends grave.  Laura had music in the background and helped us along.  There were many humorous and sad moments, but what we found out was that words didn't matter when expressing emotion.  That what we feel can live on it's own and doesn't need to be told, but could just live.

This week opened my eyes to the idea that this place is more than a place to study theater.  Here we have the opportunity to learn to be human.  How do we think from day to day?  How do we be alive?  During our colloquium, we watched videos covering these things and discussing the way necessary to approach the work. Vulnerability is key.  Only there can we live whole-heartedly.  Yes it will hurt, but that's the only way to truly live.  A main point discussed was that we have to be gracious with one another and ourselves.  Our only duty is to show up and be here.  That's all.  Everything else will go as it may.


Below are the links to the videos we watched.  I was most taken with "This is Water".  BUT each one made me step out of myself and think about what it takes to be truly alive.  I hope you take the time to watch these, because I believe they apply to anyone. No matter where you are or what step you're at in life.

These are for you.

This is Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaVrn1Sz0H8

The Power of Vulnerability
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

Your Elusive Creative Genius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA

Dell' Arte: Being in the World

Week Two:

This week we started with a complete day in nature.  No talking.  No personal reflection.  We were strongly encouraged to focus in the work of observing the world around us and to experience the world simply as us moving through it.

Packed our food for the day the night before and woke up at 4:45 to meet at 5:45 at River Campus.  Once there we took our silence and headed on a path through the darkness and stars to the river where we sat and waited.  And waited.  It was very, very cold. There was a moment when I just wanted to scream at the sun "COME ON ALREADY!" But I didn't and of course it rose and when it did, a warmth grew all over.  I immediately smiled and felt warm.  The world had color again, literally...everything was black, white, and gray until the sun came out.  After this we headed to Patrick's Point for cliffs and crashing waves.  This was my favorite spot.  I found my own little perch high on the largest rock where the sun hit and the ocean air was brisk and free. Here I could just be. And that felt good.  Next was Fern's Canyon, where I took a mini shower in a waterfall and cuddled with some Redwoods. This location had the cleanest, purest air.  You feel fresh when you leave this place.  Sunset happened where the Mad River empties into the ocean.  It was beautiful and calm.  The moments that filled the time at the ocean, I will never forget.  It was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. 

One thing that really stuck with me on Monday was that the past is gone. Done. Everything is ahead of me.  Death is coming.  And we need to make theater like everyday is the last.  With all we have, while we can.

The rest of the week followed Nature Day.  Our P-Lab (performance lab) for Friday was based on this.  

Assignment was to show our experience for Nature day.  And we struggled.  We have been playing with the concept of being nature and being these natural elements.  It is difficult because nature just is.  It is not trying to be something else.  It is nature.  We are working toward "being".  Not imitating or representing, but being. Our P-Lab did not go well as we all fell into making a nice little presentation-show-thing from beginning to end of our day.  This was fine, but not what we are striving for here.  Anywhere else, it would have been good. People would applaud it.  But here is where we push to the edge and aim to have audiences leaving asking, "what just happened" or hopefully lead them to asking bigger questions about the world and themselves.   So, we have it assigned for next week.  But in this failure, I was not discouraged, but challenged to go further and leap into the unknown and struggle, because here is where we grow.

One of the more powerful moments of the week, was when we practiced "seeing-seeing".  I was familiar with this exercise from a workshop at KC-ACTF that Matt Chapman and Nicholette Routhier led.  This exercise is what pulled me to Dell Arte in the first place.  In this exercise, you walk around a room with an awareness of the space and people around you.  Once you make eye contact with a person, you stop and look into one another's eyes. Then you move onto the next person.  Sometimes these interactions last 5 minutes, other times 30 seconds.  But you would be surprised what you learn about a person in this.  You get past the things people project to the world and get to the soul.  You have conversations.  One thing is for sure, that this inspires a great sense of vulnerability and love.  You can't help but fall in love with everyone you meet.  And it really is baring your soul and laying it out there. It creates a greater level of understanding and trust.  Our ensemble definitely felt more like a unite after that.

I continue to struggle with trying so hard to make sense of everything.  I'm fixed on the idea that there is a right way to do something or that I can accomplish exercises done in class.  When rather, it is that we need to experience it by being present and coming to class with hands open.  Not grasping to make sense of it all, but allowing it to come and go.  A student in the MFA program, who is in her third year, told me that majority of the things we do will not make sense.  And won't make sense until years later.  Ronlin continues to challenge us intellectually while Joe works with the physical body. It is an appreciated contrast, but both very very exhausting.  

We have started work with handstands and headstands.  In this one week, I feel like muscles are being used that haven't been used since my gymnastic years.  It is good to be back in this upside-down work.  We are also running three 5k's a week along with circuit training consisting of versions of push ups, sit ups and pull ups.  

We worked in vocal class and poetic voice this week too. Vocal will challenge me as I continue to fight with confidence issues singing.  Poetic I really enjoy, because we've been learning that what links people to stories are images.  So we've been sharing with one another descriptive writings in class and playing with reading in an engaging way.  That we want to share this with our fellows.

Anywho.  Week two done.  I've been gone two weeks and it feels like two months.  Everything is a whirl wind, but it is a great place to be and I certainly don't mind.

A Tale of Snow White : Getting Close!

This week we  had our first run through. We told them to try to get through it and have fun.

 They had fun.

It was an absolute joy to see them stumble through. Transitions they had previously wrote down blocking for made sense for some and confused others. Many times we had to wait for a kid to run from the house to the stage, as they had forgotten their entrances.
 
Right before the run through started, we reminded them they could call for line and explained to them we did not want to hear any apologies or excuses. We did not want them to break character. "Just stay focused and listen for the assistant stage manager to feed you the line." Of course, the problem wasn't the actors this go round but the assistant stage manager. It's very hard  to feed someone a line if you're are in a different room or talking to your friends.

All in all though, it was a very successful day. We understood what the play would look like as a whole and discerned what areas needed the most work. After this we were able to solidify a plan of attack for the next few rehearsals, which we had left open on the original rehearsal schedule.

Dell' Arte: Week One

I SURVIVED WEEK ONE! 

Alright, let me introduce you to what the schedule was like for the first week.  Our class schedule will change from week to week. But, everyday we need to be ready to work in the studio by 8:45.  Not too early!  We had classes until 12:30.  That was our lunch break and it lasted until 1:45.  After lunch we work from 2-5:15. We are technically done for the day, but we spend 2-3 hours rehearsing each night after supper, which we schedule ourselves. Classes include: Daily Practice, Acro Lab, Vocal Ensemble, A Study with Ronlin (which fills the 2-5:15 time block), Instinct for Play, Poetic Voice, and a Performance Lab on Fridays.

Each week, we have an assigned group task that will be shown to faculty, friends, family, and Blue Lake residents on Fridays.  Our rehearsals at night are for these tasks.  I remember thinking about getting a job while doing this program...HAHA, yeah...right.

For the first ten weeks, we are strictly working with understanding our body, how it works, and how to separate the mind from the body.  One of our trainers, Joe, spoke about how we need to train our body like a horse.  Being aware at all times on how each muscle is feeling, where the tender spots are, and how important it is to keep it nourished and healthy.  That is our responsibility, not his.  He only has an outward perspective.  Joe leads Daily Practice on M/W/F and leads my section of Acro Lab.  He is trained in the Alexander Technique and is extremely knowledgeable about the body, it's structure/physical make-up, and how it was constructed to move.  

The first week was focused a lot on what is practiced here at Dell Arte.  It is clear that this is not a school for clown, not just for commedia, but a school for actor-poets.  This place is about personal journey and growth.  We were encouraged to take our expectations for the year and throw them out. Burn them, because if you hold onto them you will be disappointed.  Here is a place where you need to take each moment one at a time.  Where we must fight not to clench our fists to understanding, but fight to keep our hands open and to receive.  Do not be concerned about understanding and making sense of things or worried about grasping what we do from day to day.  Leave it all in the space, do not take it home.  Here we learn about community.  We have to believe that what we do, day to day, matters in this world.  That what I do in my community effects the world at large and can make things better.

A lot of what was just talked about comes from Ronlin.  He is our teacher who works with us T/TH in Daily Practice and works our 3 hr sessions.  The sessions this past week were about: awareness, availability, and responsiveness.  What I have noticed about him is that when he shakes your hand, he looks straight into your eyes and sees you.  He is very good at seeing the physical tendencies of a person and where they need to grow.  He is also terrible with names. The first day he called me Francis. Two things that have stuck with me is the idea that harmony can only exist with contrast.  People today don't' know how to be themselves in a community.  Yes, blending is fine, but great things happen out of contrast of two parties. In that opposition, magic happens. Another thought is that in order to grow here, you need to abandon everything you know about theater.  Here you need to let go and live in the un-known.  In that fear, because only there will you learn anything.  Only there will you truly find the deep water we are searching for.  There is where you will fully lose yourself and in doing so, find something much greater.

James has been leading Instinct for Play.  James has a way of turning any game into a life lesson. Such as Tag. Never ever give up.  Fight like hell.  Because, what we love to see as spectators or an audience, is the rise.  The beauty lies in a persons ability to rise when they fall.  So for tag, we raised the personal stakes.  Each person engaged their imagination into the image of a loved one being in a air-tight tank.  And if they were tagged or "it", the count down started from 5 releasing poisonous gas into the tank.  The urgency by the players was incredible to watch.  Strive to make the kind of theater that makes an audience engage, sit on the edge of their seats, and move them...which is exactly how we felt watching.  We could see the fear and the fight to save a loved one.

The task for the week was to create a new game and that was what we were to present on Friday.  We divided into groups and got to work.  Our game was based on a game played by little ones called Seaweed. I won't go into the rules and explaining the game, but rather what I learned.  I learned that, like playing a game, actors need to go onstage and fight like hell.  Losing the idea that "people are watching me" and truly fight for your objective. That fight infects us as the audience and moves us.  The type of theater I would love to create would have the audience on their feet cheering for one side or the other.  Now I'm not talking about applause after the show, but a type of theater that moves an audience so that they can not help but cheer and holler and yell at the players! 

This is my goal, to strive to make this kind of theater. One that is exciting and alive.

A Tale of Snow White: Where are you?

     Attendance was an issue this week.

     At the very beginning of the production we have a parent meeting. The parents get all the information about the staff, a rehearsal schedule and a chance to make us aware of any conflicts the kids may have. We try to be reasonable, understanding if a child needs to leave early for a different practice or church. However, we rely on knowing what these conflicts our before we make the rehearsal schedule.

      This week, in one rehearsal, we had six unexcused absences. Only 1 of the 6 parents emailed me the day before to let me know that their child had "other plans". It upset me. They signed their child up for this. We have something very useful to teach them; how to communicate, focus, and work together. Not to babysit whenever it's convenient.

      For a show, where one of our prime educational objectives is building an ensemble, absences are a big deal. You can’t rely on somebody else to get you through a tricky spot on stage if they’re not there. As the stage manager, I felt bad because now I have to send out a very pointed email to address the issue.

Dell' Arte #1: Pure Joy

Pure Joy:

On September 28th I hoped on a train in Omaha to make my way to California.  Waved good-bye to my loving family and rode for 40 hours straight. It was a great experience that I advise everyone take at least once in their life time. I landed in San Francisco on the 30th where my friend from the PTP would pick me up and offer me a place to stay for the night.  I had not met her before, but had communicated over e-mail.  We picked up another PTP gal from the airport that night (she was arriving from Denmark).  In the next morning we made our way up the coast to the land of the Redwoods.

I arrived in Blue Lake on October 1st to a house filled with strangers.  I was the fourth to arrive. I live in a house with eight other PTP (Professional Training Program) students. Total Occupants are: three from the United States, two from Canada, one from Spain, one from Zimbabwe, another from Australia and one from Iran.  Jumping into this was terrifying and exciting.  Each one greeted me outside with a smile, handshake, and a helping hand.  We carried my stuff to a room and headed out to grab a beer.  I barely had time to take a breath and I was off again.  There was so many stories and moments to take in.  Very overwhelming and exhausting.  There are many different cultures and traditions that I am not used to.  One being my Spanish friend, who sleeps in the room next to me, always prepares a surplus of amazingly delicious food to feed his fellow PTP friends (notice they are no longer strangers, but dear friends).  I could go on and on about that, but let's fast forward to Orientation.

Orientation on Saturday!  Everyone was anxious to just get going.  We had enough of laying low and "me time" and wanted to get to work.  We started at 10 a.m. and had a tour of the main building (where the MFA 2yrs and 3yrs work), the downtown area which is all of a coffee-shop and world famous bar called, The Logger.  Then we walked down towards the river where the building the PTP and yr 1 MFA students will work.  It's called River Campus. Why? Because it's right next to the river.  
Once we arrived we began introductions,paper work, and procedures.  There are twenty eight of us in the PTP program.  Fifteen of which are international students.  This is unheard of, usually there are only 5-7 international students.  We already have the feeling our class will be a special one.  After all the paperwork, we received our first assignments: develop a 3 minute play by 6:45 pm Sunday night where it will be shown to staff, faculty, fellow students, and residents of Blue Lake. AHHHHH! We were numbered off and those were who we would work with.   But before you rehearse, there is a welcome potluck until 3:30. Okay.
Potluck, awesome. Great food, great games, and great people.

Rehearsal.  We worked well as a group and developed a story line pretty quickly.  We all agreed that we just needed to pick a path and go with it.  We had a list of this required for the 3 min play such as specific props, text, and a UDA AND A CLEAR BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END.  This was familiar to me which made me thankful for the a-tude work done in Matt Foss' acting classes.  As we worked, I realized that there are completely different ranges of knowledge in the room as to creating theater. This was a comfort and frustration.  Comfort that no one has the answers and frustration in communicating ideas and beats.  You get used to the way you have been doing things at University and being thrown into this new world with different people is quite different. You learn quickly to accept the given circumstances of the situation at hand and move forward.  Our idea was motivated by one of our girls experience making the choice to pursue theater specifically at Dell Arte.  Things went well.  We listened to one another's ideas and began building a mini-play.  I went to sleep feeling a little to comfortable about the whole thing.  Knowing me, I should be terrified about all of this? Why does it feel so comfortable?

Orientation Sunday!  Meeting at 11 a.m. going over procedures in the rehearsal space and why the faculty and trainers are here and what their job and our jobs are.  One being, my body is my personal responsibility. The faculty are trainers, not doctors.  It is their duty to improve our awareness and strength of our body.  We are responsible for taking care of it.  After the meeting, we began rehearsals again for the show that night.  So, now I'm terrified.  There it is.  I began to doubt everything we were doing, felt the need to try to "save" the show...although it did not need saving, and started to compare all we worked for to others as we saw them rehearse. Looking back, it was all silly.  Naturally these plays were going to be struggles.  The whole process was condensed to two days and on top of that, no one really knew what they were doing.  But it was beautiful chaos Sunday night.  I have never experienced that much pure joy before.  I will save all of the magic for a more personal setting, dear readers (Harry potter voice over reference shout out!).

I will say this- I am very grateful and humbled to be given this opportunity. After Sunday,  I feel apart of something much bigger in this world.  And I feel that I am necessary in it and that it is time to get to work.

A Tale of Snow White: Time

     We have finished blocking the show. This week we started working through scene by scene and wringing from each what we can. A lot of what we have do is slow the kids down. They can process information very fast, however, the audience has to be able to see and understand it. This is another reason why we have been incorporating rhythm so much. With a steady pace, kept by their fellow ensemble mates, they're less willing to rush forward. Rushing, as some of them have figured out already, makes you look "silly".
   This week we also discovered how important it is to make your rehearsal schedule as specific as possible. If you call people who aren't needed or assume you can do more than time actually allows, you have extra people. If you have extra people, they will sit in the house and unintentionally distract the people who are on stage.
     
 

A Tale of Snow White : Rehearsals

    Almost four weeks into the production and everything is coming together. Rehearsals this week were incredible. All the kids came in memorized and ready to work. Due to their speedy brains we were able to jump right into character building this week.
    My duties as a stage manager for an STC show is much different than stage managing any other show. I still have to send emails and keep us on schedule, but with so many kids we have to split them up, so no one is sitting in the house for two hours bored to death. This means I don't have to sit in the house and write down all the blocking.
    We have established a system of sorts. At least for all of the blocking rehearsals, Kiersten will call whoever she needs to stage a certain scene. Then, I will pick a group of characters to work with, out of the cast left in the house. Often since they have all ready blocked the scene with the director, we will go out into the lobby, run the scene and then break it into smaller chunks and really clarify the action. Other times we will sit down and focus on the words and beats. My favorite times though are when I get to take all of the remaining cast out to the lobby and work on activities that will benefit everybody in the cast. We will play games that help them to understand the potential in their voices,
or, how listening well can change the entire show in a great way. It's amazing to see how fast they apply the skills learned in a game to their scenes.
   

A Tale of Snow White: First Week of Rehearsal

      We decided quite some time back that we wanted to use lots of rhythm and body percussion for this production. Not only does the script lend itself to this, with all it's raps and limericks, but it would also be a great way to force the kids to work together.
      Before we even had a blocking rehearsal we started teaching them some of the rhythms we had appropriated from various YouTube videos. We hoped this would get them into the world of the play together, rather than having them slowly seep in one at a time as we blocked their various scenes. It seemed to work. Most of them picked up on it very well. If one of them didn't, the rest of the group was more than willing to jump in and assist.
      Besides rhythm we also worked on our animals for the show. In one of the scenes, Snow White, flees from the huntsman through the forest following the advice of some clever animals. There are only five animals we needed to create but we figured it best to have the whole ensemble brainstorm which creatures would be the best. After a while we had them get up and try some of these animals out and then we pulled the best ones and had them explain how they were doing it to the rest of the cast.
      During the next rehearsal, I worked separately with just the five kids who were cast as animals. Having selected what animals they would like to be we started building these animals layer by layer. The first layer we called "safe and curious". Humans get from point A to B (most the time) in the most direct way we can. Animals on the other hand seem to take the most inefficient route sometimes, stopping, backing up, walking in circles. The kids and I decided the animals weren't inefficient at all but rather distracted by their great senses of smell, sight, and hearing, which could tell them if the thing they were approaching was safe or not. After experimenting with this layer we were out of time for that day but I told them all to go home and watch videos of their animals so we decide how each one individually moves next time.
       It felt really great to see all the kids come together over creating animals and stomping their feet. And unlike the last show I was involved in, it feels like their is always something that every kid can contribute. Even if it's just them watching their fellow cast mates and saying "Hey, that looks like my dog!"

Story Theatre Company : A Tale of Snow White

I should have explained what exactly my internship is before I posted my first blog.
  Over the course of the next semester I will be doing an internship for Story Theatre Company, a children's theater based here in Ames. I will be the stage manager and instructor for their production of A Tale of Snow White, an very loose adaptation of the original Grimm brother story, aimed at kids.
    As a stage manager for a children's production I have all the duties of a regular stage manager but also the added responsibility of being the babysitter of almost forty kids for two hours. My main goal in this project is to improve my communication skills in a theatrical setting.
I'll keep everyone updated!

A Tale of Snow White : AUDITIONS & CALL BACKS

Auditioning kids may be the saddest thing I've ever done. When considering who is to play Snow white or the Mirror, it does not matter if they tried “really hard” or if they are adorable. If they can’t project or won’t participate in the creature walk it won’t work out.

 "Will we all get parts?” asked one little girl after a round of monologues. “I’m afraid we don’t have enough parts for everybody” I said, trying not to give anything away in my voice concerning the decision we had made about her. “Oh.”

             You have to pay attention to many different things when going through a call back process with kids. First, you have to ignore your own self reasoning out why one kid isn’t as good as another. Nobody has ever tried to teach them better, or, they did try really hard. What if they really need this?

Secondly, you must pay attention to how you structure the little time you have because you don’t want to give away your casting before the cast list goes out. For instance, you can’t keep calling one person up to read as the evil queen , even if you’re doing the scene for the purpose of finding the right boy to play the Mirror.

Another thing to consider is how conversational you are with the kids, I know some of the kids from other productions but I don’t want to seem like I’m favoring them, even if I am just catching up because it won’t seem that way to the kids you don’t know, or their parents who are watching like a hawk from the back of the theatre.

About kids “from other productions”, you have to use knowledge you've gained about the kids from past productions in your decisions. We have a few kids who are returning after two or three shows with STC. They may be really talented, as most of the kids are but they are also rude, sassy, constantly upstaging, and bad at taking direction. Truly, they did add something to the production but if they were hard to handle, was it worth it?

These are the things Kiersten and I had to consider as we tried to find a cast of 38 out of the 50 talented kids that auditioned.

Actor's Gym - Aerial 7&8, Circus 7&8

Aerial Day 7

I was so excited for Week 7 because we were going to work on Spanish Web again.  I had been waiting since the first time we tried it to revisit it.  We worked on the hand routine we had learned the first time, but today we were allowed to try a foot routine.  The foot web is when you put your foot through the loop and hang by an ankle rather than hang by a wrist.

This is a video we got of my first time doing foot web:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMsKrjf4uCo

Spanish Web became even more of my favorite after learning foot web.  I love how the other parts of my body can take over and not be held back by me feet or my back for once.  It's very freeing and very comfortable for me.

Circus Day 7

On Circus Day 7, we worked on tumbling as normal, and then split into our groups.  This time, however, we split up in one group to work on the hand routine and the other to work on the foot routine.  I went with foot routine group to try again.  Unfortunately, the rope burn you get with Spanish Web makes it painful to work for long periods of time.  I would do it all day long if I could.  After web, our group worked on Rolling Globe.  Rolling Globe is still just as difficult as it was the first time.  I was a fine at it, but it is a very nerve racking ground skill.

Aerial Day 8

On our last day of Aerial, we worked on duo trapeze.  At first, I was disappointed that we were working on trapeze again instead of something like lyra or silks, but after we started working on the duo trapeze, my disappointment went away.  It was so much fun.  I loved all of the partnered arts we learned.  It was a lot of fun to work with a partner and learn how to listen and adjust to how they moved.  It's things like this that I have been interested in since my dance days.  While others were working on trapeze, the instructors had a lyra down that we could work on, which I loved.  It gave me one last chance to revisit it one more time before the end of the session.  Another girl and I kept practicing the duo lyra routine, so I was a happy camper.

Here is a video of the duo trapeze routine I learned with Chris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCRdGSSqgm4

Circus Day 8

On our last day, we did our usual tumbling moves: somersaults, backwards rolls, dolphin rolls, handstands and handstand roll-downs.  This time, however, we went in lines of four across the floor and we did the moves all together in time to the music.  That was a neat exploration of ensemble work, which we really hadn't looked at during my time there.  We then worked on the same duo trapeze routine as the day before, which was fun to have another shot at.  After trapeze, we brought some silks down and did synchronized silk knot routines together, which was also interesting.  However, with the different skill and strength levels in the classroom, some couldn't keep up with others, but it was still interesting to explore working together and creating a group piece.  It was a good way to end the session.

Overall, my experience at the Actor's Gym was priceless.  The classes reopened a door that I thought was closed for a long time.  I had really missed dance and movement, and these classes gave me an opportunity to learn a new form of dance that doesn't allow my physical handicaps to keep me from doing what I love.  It was a really special summer for me, and it changed my perspective on my body and its capabilities.  I have caught the Aerial Arts Bug, and I cannot wait to find a way to continue training in this new and exciting art form.

Summer STC Internship

Earlier this summer I participated in the Story Theatre Company production of Willy Wonka Jr.
I was one of 2 set builders on the show. Our process was different than any other process I've ever been a part of. First of all, this was the only time I have ever built a show from scratch without a whole team working on it. Second, I got to work closely with the designer of the show, and he was also the other set builder (Andre). Since Andre and I have worked together in the past it was easy for us to get started. We had limited time to work on the project, and I was also taking 12 credits of summer classes, and working anywhere from 20-35 hours a week at work, so that constricted things a bit more. We had a lot of late nights trying to get things done. I learned a lot throughout the process about set building and scenic painting. I used what knowledge I had obtained over the past year in school towards this project, and I learned so much more throughout it. I also figured out that every shop is drastically different. Over the summer we were working with space and equipment that might not have been completely adequate to do the work that we were trying to do, so we had to learn to cope with that and make do with what we had. There was quite a bit of things we had to figure out how to make with what we had. It really made me miss working in Fisher. It was overall a really good learning experience in all aspects of set building.

CLE Internship part 5 (Last gig)

so this week was an away gig in Monona Iowa about 15 miles from Wisconsin (where our hotel was)
for this install we were doing the entire fly system, however, it was all dead hung so we didn't have to rig up any arbors or head blocks.

well anyways, here is a pic of the space right before we started. notice that there is nothing hanging from the above the stage yet.

Day one we arrived at 8am as per usual and guess what? we ran into problems that weren't our fault at all. we use these special clamps to hang all the points directly from the the building truss. well, the architect told us that the building truss was 5 inches wide. well, someone putting the building together never got the memo that all of the truss was supposed to have a 5 inch width, so they put 4 inch wide truss where all of our points needed to go, and even 3 inch truss on the sides. well, luckily we could have the clamps we needed over-nighted to us and we had a full day of work we could do without the clamps.so, after we figured out that fiasco, we off loaded the truck and assembled the battens, and went over them with some paint to make sure there was no bare metal showing (to keep them from rusting) then we laid out all of the points on the ground with tape so we could just put a laser in the spot so we would know where it goes on the grid. oddly enough, that took all day. (10 hours of work)

Day 2 the beam clamps weren't going to be there until about lunch time so we went over the second half of the pipes with some touch up paint. we also assembled the raceways for the electrics, and the track for the main curtain. after that we went to lunch. when we got back we finally had the beam clamps we needed!so we started hanging all of our points and had the majority of them up by the end of the day. (10 hours of work)

Day 3 we finished hanging all of our points but some of them were really weird because we never got any beam clamps for 3 inch truss sections. the system designer decided to use some eye bolts and washers that hung in the center of the beams. (if you are confused let me try and explain, this is kind of what the truss looks like.                                                                                             the top and bottom beams are two sections of angle iron back to back. the eye bolt goes between those sections of angle iron and the washers support all of the weight. (there are washers on both sides of the beam to clamp it in place))
after all of the points were up we got the electrics and curtain track up. then we went home for the day. (10 hours of work)

day 4 we finished putting up the last two pipes and leveled everything out, then we went through and moused everything (zip tied everything in a way so it couldn't untwist or come loose) and we were done. (4 hours of work) for a total of about 108 hours for the summer.
and here is an image of the finished project. It doesn't look like much but there were a lot more complications that would have taken way more time to explain then i have at the moment. if you really want to know, ask about it next time you see me.

Actor's Gym Day 15 & 16/Reflection

Hello all,

Yes my time at the Actor's Gym is done. For now. The last two days have been a blast at the Actor's Gym. It was fun before, but now it was just a blast.

In aerial on tuesday we went to trapeze again. I really do love trapeze. What made it even more fun though is that we did Double Trapeze. What's more fun than trapeze? 2 people on a trapeze. This was a ton of fun. A little scary at first, but after that it was a ton of fun. I'll post a video down below. This was a lot of fun and a really good test of the things we have learned throughout the summer.

We also did double trapeze in circus as well. That's where I got the video. It's all the same routine from the 2 days. We also worked on double lyra and learned a new silk knot routine. Before all of this for our acrobatics part of the class we worked on doing the things we have learned in sync. So we lined up into lines of four across and did forward rolls, dolphin rolls, backward rolls, and handstand roll-downs in sync. As well as we could. This was brought up again when we had four silk knots down at once and did the new silk knot routine in sync as much as we could. It all ended up looking really cool. Everyone was in a very good mood today which made it even more fun.

I really enjoyed my time at the Actor's Gym. I learned so much and stuff that'll come in useful in the future projects at ISU. I really fell in love with circus arts having come here. It is something I very well could pursue more in the future. I talked to Sylvia about coming back next summer for the Intensive Summer program. I'll need to save up my money, but she said it would be something that would be very good for me to look into. I thought that was nice, because she believed in me. The summer intensive program is very intense and full of students who are very good so to hear her say that meant a lot. Having done research on some of the collaborations and past projects the Actor's Gym has worked on really blew my mind. I would be more than happy to come back. It gave me a little more incentive on considering Chicago as an option to moving to in the future. In retrospect it was a pretty awesome summer.

Thanks,

-Chris

American Shakespeare Center

It's officially my last week here at ASC and to be honest I almost can't believe how much I've learned. This last week I've gotten the chance to learn about taking blocking notes and it has been a really great experience. A great tip for blocking notes is write everything down. For a touring show they have to have multiple blocking options so that they can adjust to different spaces. For example when rehearsing in Tyson (the rehearsal hall) the actors walk through curtains, but when they are in the theatre upstairs where the shows are held during the spring season they have doors and they have to have different plans for different areas. It's been fascinating to do blocking notes because I have gotten the chance to see how movement differs, parallels and shapes different scenes. Blocking tells the story in its own way and it's amazing to watch it do that. For example today we worked on a scene between Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Falstaff is hidden behind the center curtain in the discovery space in order to avoid Mistress Page seeing him, but Mistress Page knows he is there and is part of the trick that Mistress Ford is playing on him to get him back for trying to woo them. The blocking consists of a lot of back and forth movement around the buck-basket (laundry basket) which is the primary focus of the scene. They are running around trying to get Falstaff to appear out of the curtain so they can hide him in the buck-basket and send him to "Datchet Meade" with the dirty laundry. (What they really do is send him with two servants and dump him in the Thames) The movement of the scene shows the fun the women are having trying to trick him. It gives the audience a glimpse of the characters playfulness as they "act" their way through getting Falstaff into the basket. The women have the plan set up but the plan hasn't exactly been scripted out. It is so much fun to watch, and this is only in act one. I would talk about other blocking but I don't want to give away too many ASC secrets.

This company has been a really amazing company to work with and learn from. They are wonderfully professional and I have learned a lot in working with them. I definitely recommend this company for anyone who desires to work in the Shakespeare world one day. My advice though is this . . . show up to work ready to work. At ASC they put in 8 hours of hard work creating a quality play and everyone who shows up for work is there for a reason and is probably there because they are passionate about it, when you aren't ready or if you don't put a hundred percent into your job, they get behind and that's not good for them since they are extremely limited on time. Also know when to speak up and also how to speak up. If you decide to intern at ASC it's best to talk to your boss about your idea before blurting it out, that's not to say don't come up with ideas or don't talk to anyone about it. I came up with a few ideas talked to my boss and he presented them at the meetings, it's a better way to go as an intern because we have to remember that we are there to learn and observe first and foremost so it's better to lay low and observe how things get done before trying to change them. We have a lot of projects at school that we work on, on our own where we get artistic freedom. My last piece of advice for ASC (and this applies to any internship) is have fun, and don't be afraid to try something different for your internship. I once heard Dennis Quaid say he loved college theatre because it was the place where he could fail and it was okay, unlike in the real world when you do badly in a scene and get your paycheck docked or get fired. I believe that advice applies to internships as well. Internships are our chance to see what's out there, to test what we can do, so why not do that? Shakespeare is something I have loved since I was 9 but I've never really been given the chance to really try it, and to really learn it. Now I've had the chance, and to be honest I'm even more in love with Shakespeare than I was before. I got to talk to directors, stage managers, and actors about Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Merry Wives of Windsor. Not to mention I got to watch two different directors and their methods of directing Shakespeare. I have learned a lot in terms of acting techniques, directing techniques, stage management techniques, and proffesionalism. It's been an amazing experience and I absolutely cannot wait to see what next year's internship will bring.

Recap of Legally Blonde

After a practically straight month of shows, Legally Blonde has officially finished its run at the playhouse. This show was really fun to work on and audiences seemed to enjoy themselves every night. The show also stayed strong until the very end, despite actors getting sick and suffering through and still managing to sound amazing. I am so happy I was able to be involved with this show where I actually got to do something and feel like I was really apart of something awesome. Also managed to not get sick myself! (which sadly is a feat since at least half of the cast and crew was sick at some point)
I am both sad and happy that its over, doing the same thing can be exhausting and I can probably quote the whole show verbatim. Not to mention I still have all the songs in my head and have also listened to the soundtrack on spotify (its catchy ok?! don't judge me).
Now the stage has been striked to make way for Fiddler on the Roof which, I believe, is the Des Moines Playhouse's next main stage show.

Actor's Gym Days 13 & 14

Hello all,

I'm going to fill you in on my recent adventures with he actor's gym. So last weekend Elizabeth and I got to usher the summer intensive show. That is a different program than the one we are in. These performers were high school through college aged. But they were very, very good. Some of the stuff was stuff we had learned or touched on, and then they would pull out some trick that was absolutely astounding. Really talented bunch of people. I liked seeing the show with a little bit of knowledge because then I could sort of judge how difficult a trick might be based on the stuff I know now. It was a really great experience.

The last two classes we worked on Spanish Web again. I really enjoy doing Spanish Web. The interesting thing about it is that this is something I was sort of afraid of before coming to this. I used to have(not so much anymore) this fear of climbing. I don't know why. Heights never bothered me but just climbing always got to me. Now that fear is almost completely gone. How do I know that? Because we started working on a little routine called the Foot Web. What is Foot Web you ask? Well that means that you put your foot(rather than your hand) through the loop at the top so you are hanging just by one ankle. I never would have done thins before, but I was actually really excited to do it. I remember being a little nervous, but then I just thought, "I didn't come here to not learn something great." So I got up there and did it. It's kind of relaxing/ exhilarating. Minus all the weight on your ankle.

In circus We worked on Spanish Web some more. We tried tying all of the stuff we learned before with the hand web and the 8 loop routine with the new foot web stuff. My legs started shaking really bad because they were pretty worn out from the acrobatics stuff we did before. We did dive rolls and some really tough stretches. tougher than usual. We also started working on front tucks. That's just a front flip. I wanted to work on this for a while because I knew this was a trick I could land. I did land it so Sylvia's instructions became more of how to pretty it up. After all of that we went onto Rolling Globe again. I was very surprised at how much better I had gotten at it. Especially after only doing it once before.

That is all I have comrades,

-Chris

American Shakespeare Center

It has been a busy start to the week concerning both Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello. We had another dress rehearsal of Othello on Sunday Morning and started working on the blocking of Merry Wives which has been fascinating to watch. We ran the first half of Merry Wives yesterday and have now begun working on the second half after the interlude. It is really fascinating to see everything come together, especially after working on Othello. The world in Merry Wives is much smaller and so more detail and specificity is needed to create the world. The costumes are quite ingenious in how they are portraying the world. They are mixing a lot of Jacobian and Modern elements in the costume to help show the difference between young and old, native and foreign, and good and bad. For example Falstaff, a drunkard knight that has come to stay in Windsor temporarily looks somewhat like the leader of a motor-cycle gang. Different characters have different types of attire, older native Windsorians (a word I made up) are more traditional, whereas characters like Anne and Fenton wear more modern clothing that has elements of the Jacobian era but is not full Jacobian dress.

The other thing I have been working on is the paraphrase style that they use here. I have started working on Helena's monologue from Act 1 Scene 1 of Midsummer Night's Dream for an audition and I decided that I would use the method that ASC uses. It has been really amazing the things I have learned about Helena from the paraphrase just based on the words Shakespeare chooses for her.

Here's part of the verse from the monologue I chose:

For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down Oaths that he was only mine;
And when this Hail some Heat from Hermia felt
So he dissolved, and Show'rs of oaths did melt.

Here's how I paraphrased it:

For when Demetrius looked on Hermia's eyes
He rained on me promises that he was just mine
And in this rain, so passion/love/warmth from Hermia believed
So he evaporated, and storms of promises did disappear


I really like this part of the paraphrase because I felt it showed a huge part of her character. She felt bereft because Demetrius was telling her he loved her and then stopped suddenly. Plus, earlier in the soliloquy she mentions that everyone else thinks she's beautiful but he will not even try to see it. He won't choose her so therefore he does not want her. He loves what he chooses not what his heart tells him.

I could go on and on about what I learned about Helena from this little bit but I feel like I should end this post somewhere. I'm still thoroughly enjoying my internship and I cannot believe I have to leave in a few weeks.

- Lauren Dentler

DAI Week Four Part Two

Day Nineteen started with Daily Practice without a leader. Part way through, one of the students sprained his ankle, so Joe stopped us and showed us all how to provide first aid to a sprained joint (compression, ice, elevation, rest). We then had staff showings of our work so far. The major feedback was that we must play dynamically, interruption is key to keeping the audience's attention, play the silences, be in the moment, and don't deny the reality of the situation. We met again from 5-6:30 to work through the piece.

Day Twenty started with Daily Practice without Joe. We then did written evaluations of the course and a run through of our piece. We had our final showings at Performance Lab. Our piece garnered a lot of laughter from the audience, which is the response we were hoping for. The major notes for everyone was that there was lots of energy, all pieces were successful, there were interruptions and plot turns in every piece, articulate characters, we played the environment, there were well developed costumes and plots, and the masks work better close together in the space. We finished with a post mortem discussion on the workshop and cleaning the river campus building.

Overall, I had a lot of great experiences, met some great people, and made new friends. There are skills, techniques, and philosophies I will take away from this workshop, and I'm sure I'll still be unraveling the things I learned for months to come.

Enjoy the Day,
Brandon Brockshus

The Drowsy Chaperone: Reflection

With the production finished and my internship over, I have had the time to reflect on my time spent as stage manager of a community theatre.  There were unexpected delights as well as cringe worthy moments.  There were brief moments of satisfaction as well as those of utter despair.  The one thing I can say with certainty, this was not what I expected.

From the first day meeting everyone, it was difficult to know my place.  Was I here to add opinions that would help shape the production, or would I be getting coffee and reminding actors of what days we meet?  I had high hopes for the impact I could make, but low confidence in the opportunities to do so.  After having watched the first rehearsal I was told I would be the stage manager.  My first thought was, “I’m going to have to Google that to see where my responsibilities begin and end”.  Having a general idea as to what this would entail I was worried that my voice would not be heard on ways I believed the production could be bettered.

As the weeks began to build, so did my confidence in my voice as an important part of this production.  I began to give notes and suggestions as to what worked and did not while viewing our rehearsals.  This is where the first major obstacle arose.  Not knowing my specific duties was brain-racking enough, but not understanding the director’s method was even more so.  This is not to say he was “wrong” in his directing style, it was just hard to see how we were going to be ready for opening night.

After a few more weeks, the technical side of things began to take shape.  Lights and sound were set and a week before our first show, we had tech rehearsal as well as our first time running through the entirety of the musical, oh and not to mention the first time we added in the orchestra.  The addition of all these things at once created a cascade of problems that needed to be corrected quickly (some never did).  As I began calling shows and making errors that would need to be corrected for the next show, I began to appreciate all the hard work so many people had put into making this production come alive.

The play of course went off with only minor blips and was enjoyable to work on and watch as well, but during the entire experience I did realize one thing.  I do not want to be a stage manager.  Getting the experience of working on the technical side of things gave me a deeper appreciation of the time and effort that is put into making a performance work seamlessly.  This was wonderful to experience and I am sure to use this knowledge as I continue to grow, but this is not the side of things I want to work on as a career.  I enjoyed making notes, reviewing the play, reading and rereading it until it felt like mine.  I loved talking to the actors, making suggestions on what to try.  I loved seeing what I had brought to the production come out through the actor’s performance.  This is the side of theatre I love.  This is what I want to do with the rest of my life.  This internship was wonderful in that it gave me actual experience working on a performance, but more than that, it showed me the love I have for the stage.

Actor's Gym - Aerial 5&6, Circus 5&6

Aerial Day 5

We worked on silks in this class.  Silks are silk knot without the knot, so two free pieces of fabric.  I had been waiting all summer to work on silks, so this was an exciting day for me.  Silks require more strength than silk knot does and the apparatus isn't as stable, so we work a lot harder to work on the silks.  We worked on some basic skills: climbing both silks, climbing one silk, wrapping our feet with an 8-loop, and a crossback straddle or butterfly.  Silks, silk knot, and Spanish Web use a lot of the dance skills I'm used to, so I feel more comfortable on these than I do on the trapeze or the lyra.

Circus Day 5

I completed my summer goal of being able to do a handstand.  I can now do a handstand.  Now that I can correctly get my body into the handstand position, I can work on balance and core strength to keep it longer.  This was the highlight of my class.  We worked on our floor work as usual, and then my group went to stilts.  Stilts are difficult, and understandably so.  You have to reteach yourself to walk with longer limbs than you are used to.  I felt like a baby learning to walk and took a lot of wobbly baby-steps.  I'd love to work on it again.  We spent so much time strapping in, there wasn't a lot of time to actually practice walking.

We worked on silks after that and worked on the same things we did the day previous.  Chris and I also taught ourselves to do this:

Chris is doing a crossback straddle in the silks and I am doing an inverted straddle.  This position is a lot of fun and I really like the way it looks.

Aerial Day 6

We worked on trapeze again today.  It was great to go back to the first apparatus we worked on to see how far we've come.  Trapeze was much easier for me this time because of how much more strength I have.  I still don't have the best grip, and that makes me nervous.  I'm now strong enough to get up and work, but I'm constantly afraid I'll slip off and I have to make multiple trips to chalk my hands.  I'm glad to see how much easier it is to work on the trapeze now though.  We did a lot of new stuff on the trapeze this time, including a new favorite, the coffin:



Circus Day 6

After floor work, my group went to work on juggling pins.  These are a little harder than juggling balls due to the way you have to catch them and the way they have to be flipped.  I was able to figure out how to manipulate one pin pretty well, but I had to stop at two pins.  There is a specific rhythm with two that will take a while to learn.  We went and worked on trapeze some more.  We did the splits, "the angel," and "the bird's nest."  These were all moves we did the day before, but it was nice to get a second chance to work on them.

Actor's Gym Day 12

Hello Everyone,

I wish I had more to say in this blog entry, but sadly I don't. the thing is yesterday in Circus we didn't really do anything that we haven't done before.

We started off doing our warm-up as usual. I am noticing though that I am getting more flexible. Not by much, but I am. And that is one of the things I was hoping to improve as the classes went on. Once we got to the floor acrobatics part it wasn't anything new. We worked on front handsprings again. I did get to work on mine which was nice. I tried to do it in open gym and it didn't really work out. I tried it just on the floor without the mat and I landed it.

Next when we split up into groups my group started out on juggling again. This time though we started juggling pins instead of balls. I actually found this to be a little easier. I don't know why but it was. This will come in really handy if I'm ever one of those fancy bartenders that throws the bottles around.

Then we moved onto trapeze. We didn't do anything new on this today because of time. I was disappointed.

That is all my brethren,

-Chris Grim

Actor's Gym Day 11

Hey y'all

The days are coming to an end, but as these classes are continuing the more difficult(in a sense) and more fun they are getting. They were already fun, but now it is beginning to be more fun. I didn't even know that was possible, but it is.

In this class we went back to work on trapeze. It really interesting to see how we all built on the experience we had already from the last time we did trapeze. I think it is safe to say that trapeze is my favorite thing we have done. I was amazed to see how much stronger I had gotten compared to the last time we did trapeze too.

Some of the tricks we did were a little scary, but exciting. I think part of it was that I was more comfortable on trapeze, I was excited to work on it some more, and that I work on trapeze stuff a lot in open gym. My biggest thing I need to work on is keeping my toes pointed, and making my moves fluid in between the tricks.

This time it was quite the workout. We were all over the place on the trapeze from hanging by or feet to laying on the ropes above the bar.(It's called the coffin. It's super cool) I definitely want to get some video of this. I am really excited to work on it again today in the Circus class.

Until next time,

-Chris Grim

Annie-The Reflection

    Well, the show, and all of the hard work is over. I'm already having withdrawals and it has been two days. I really can't explain how happy I am that I took this opportunity I was so graciously granted and what it has done for my outlook on theatre as a whole.
    But before I get into that, I will recap how the shows this weekend went. First, was Thursday night (Opening Night). We were sold out before the doors had opened; no tickets were left to sell at the show. That was such a great way to get the cast and crew hyped up for their first night of showing off their efforts. We all got together as a group in one of the rooms to get each other ready and get the energy flowing. The sense of community in that room was incredible. Everybody stood together thanking each other, hugging, and laughing knowing we were about to put on this wonderful show for people all over the county (as well as others). The show went quite smoothly and although there were one or two small mishaps, nothing detrimental occurred. It wasn't until Friday, which was also sold out, that we started to get a little shaky. While as I was backstage watching my orphans dance their little hearts out, one of the stage crew members was moving a flat being used, which knocked over a painting, which dominoed into kicking in the leg of the prop table. Talk about a freak accident! This caused literally all of the glassware/tableware as well as other random props to come crashing down. Thank goodness it was during a mansion scene, and we all joked that two of the maids were getting into it in the kitchen. Also on Friday night, when Annie comes up the stairs, she is supposed to run through the curtain in a fit of rage. Well on this particular night, the same said stage crew member was holding the curtain closed which caused Annie to become tangled and not get offstage as it was supposed to be executed. Both of these occurrences were corrected for the other two nights, thankfully. Saturday was about half-full, and Sunday was another sellout.
    It was hard Sunday night to sing "Tomorrow" at curtain call. As I walked out with my fellow cast members, I began tearing up. By the time we began singing, I was bawling; literally unable to croak out any words. Knowing that this whole process was coming to an end really hit me. I have met some amazing people that I will surely keep in touch with, and cannot get over the fact that I was able to be apart of such a phenomenal show. One of the directors said that this is the first time in her 12 years that she has ever had a sold out show, let alone 3 of the 4. Even reviews from audience members were so touching. I had several people come up to me after all the shows telling me, "That was the best show I've ever seen in this building!" or "Best show Carroll has ever put on!" But my favorite was when a bunch of the crew and I went to McDonald's after a show and an 82-year old woman (she told us her age) came up to us and said, "That wasn't a good show. That was a damn good show. You should take that thing on tour." I really can't describe the rewarding feeling of knowing someone was proud of your work and thinks so highly.
    This internship has been so much more than I ever expected. Honestly, going in I thought it would be a couple people from my community getting together to put on a youth theatre show with some average acting and singing. But it was so much more. There was a huge cast full of incredible talent from people of all ages and occupations. We had 7 year old girls/boys to adult doctors to a radio host to college kids all wanting to be apart of it. Taking on the roll of "Orphan Director" made me a bit anxious. Mostly because during last year's directing class, I was constantly doubting myself and my creativity. I would wonder how to put scenes together to really get that "AHA!" moment. Putting your own thoughts into something is really quite vulnerable. I love the metaphor Brad Dell used for the art of directing: It's like your baby. You feed it, you nurture it, and you watch it grow. You just care so much about it and you want everyone to love it as much as you do. I couldn't agree more. Putting so much time into one thing can be exhausting, and quite honestly, it was. It got frustrating having to put hours upon hours into something that, at some points, just wasn't working out as I had wanted. But then there were those times that I would sit down with my orphans and run lines and just seeing them get it, just seeing them find their characters was enough. I understand why directors go through the stress and absolute chaos of what they do. It's to work that passion of theirs into others and watch others get it as they have.
    I already miss my orphans so much. They were so good to me and brought me to tears by the end as we all parted ways. Thankfully, I got an email today from a director saying that we will be having a cast party pot luck this weekend and I'm looking forward to it! This internship really has made me realize how difficult, stressful, and manic being a director can be, but how absolutely worth it it really is in the end.

American Shakespeare Center

Merry Wives of Windsor has officially started!!!! We started on Friday with Ren Run Prep where I worked as "the prithee girl" (What I like to call myself) Instead of calling line at ASC they say prithee. The reason behind it has never really been explained it just what they do. The ren run went amazingly well on Sunday Morning and I felt really proud of the troupe. We started table work that afternoon on Merry Wives and we got to meet the director. On Merry Wives of Windsor we will be working with a new director Rob Clare from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Working with him has already been a pretty amazing experience. The director is really trying to get into Shakespeare's head and understand the clever word play that he's using to help the actors understand the characters. We worked for 4 hours on Sunday talking about the characters and trying to understand how Shakespeare set them up. (The actors already knew the script and knew their lines from performing the ren run so they had done a good amount of homework already.) It was really fascinating to sit in on the conversation and see what discoveries the actors made about their characters and the community of Windsor just from sitting and talking about the play as a whole. Merry Wives of Windsor has characters from a few of the history plays and this play was actually requested by the royalty at the time because of the character of Falstaff (presumably). It's an amazing play and the depth of the characters is fascinating. For example Falstaff, a portly drunkard, is a wordsmith and a genius one at that. It is a play of trickery and quite strong female characters who are not afraid to stand up for themselves. To be honest it reminds me a lot of I Love Lucy and I already have so many ideas that I've come up with during rehearsals and scribbled in my notebook for future reference if I ever get to be a part of it again. I can tell you a million times over this is a production I will never forget.

- Lauren Dentler

Reflection: Door Country

After spending my time up in Door county and helping them build the theatre that they have recently put to use for the inaugural season of the new artistic team, I have realized all that I have done for them and all that they have done for me. I have heard and read that this season is one of the best that they have seen up in Door county in a long time. Both plays are selling out, and the new theatre is definitely a hit. I have seen some pictures of the space now, and the way they mold it into the worlds of Macbeth's Scotland or Ferdinand's Navarre is awesome. They use the space and everything that we put together to put together a great looking show.
I realized that some of the things that I learned up there are already rubbing off on me. As I am working on some shows to perform down in Des Moines, I see that we are running some of the rehearsals like the way we ran our workdays up there. It is a really democratic structure and ideas are welcome and invited from everyone. Not everyone is good at everything, so using each others abilities to lift the entire group is necessary and an awesome experience. If everyone is working on something different at that time, you know that they are working towards a common goal. You know that the goal is so huge and important to everyone that you have no worries that they are working hard and will get the job done. I honestly believe that this mentality is something that is bringing our shows together, and it is something that helped bring the theatre at Door County together. This experience was very valuable to me, and I am hoping that with my last semester at Iowa State I can use what I have learned there, and wherever I end up after that.


-Drew McCubbin

Reflection: Pippin

     My experiences with Pippin were definitely what should come from a good theatre internship. The performance aspect was quite fun, once the show opened, and the choreographer aspect was an excellent first-time experience. However, I did have to learn some other things the hard way.
     First, my eyes were forced open to how different directors can be. Throughout my time at ISU, I have had the same couple of directors, both of whom I work with very well and understand their methods and processes, one of whom was my mentor/professor in Directing classes. Within those classes, I was taught how to direct in a particular way, a way that after two different experiences putting into practice made logical sense to me. But because of my limited range of experiences and how set my directing education was, I wasn't quite prepared for how differently directors can work; its a reality I should have seen coming, but due to my time with Pippin, the reality is becoming much more real to me.
     Second, I really learned how vital a number of things are:
          1) Collaboration - all of the team leaders need to be able to work together to create a strong and united idea for the production, covering casting, set and lights, music and dancing, costuming, and the direction of the show
          2) Communication - it is beyond imperative that each team member be in constant communication with each other throughout the rehearsal and design process - this prevents any major problems from occurring, and helps correct the smaller problems efficiently. In addition, it helps strengthen the powers of collaboration (see #1)
          3) Pre-Planning and Preparation - this one was taught due to the fact that a number of our rehearsals, sadly, felt like a waste of time. I learned that to maximize progress made in rehearsals, there has to be a lot of work done before rehearsals, and this goes for everyone involved - actors, the director, the choreographer, designers, and musicians. Many of us in the cast, crew, and band grew frustrated when our rehearsal time was used to begin work on something new; I know that this could be how the director likes to work, but many of us felt that there still needed to be work done outside of the rehearsals.
     Finally, my last major learning experience came from my opportunity to choreograph a number of the pieces in the show. I gained at least a basic knowledge of the choreography process due to a number of my dance classes, and here I actually got to put it into practice. With that, I began to find my own style of working. It also dawned on me how vital "studio time" is; having that time to create a dance where you actually work through it piece by piece. Dipping my toes into the world of choreography came with a whirlwind of information, and the realization of how hard it can be.
     However, I had a wonderful time working as a choreographer for this show. It was an incredible learning experience for my first time doing it; though I know I could have done more with the dancing if I had had more time, I did what I could with the time I was given, and it turned out quite wonderful. I earned a lot of positive feedback, and even a few things I could have improved on (which is always a good thing). I know more rehearsal time could have made it even better, but at one point you have to stop and let it thrive on its own.
     Overall, though it was a local production, my experience with Pippin as both a performer and a choreographer was one of the best learning experiences I could have had, and definitely one I needed. Though I didn't really want to learn some of the things I did, they only made me a better theatre-maker. One of the greatest aspects with this show, however, was the cast; this was hands down one of the BEST ensembles I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I got to work alongside many old friends, make new ones, mentor a couple "theatre newbies" and learn from some of the veterans. I thank them all for such a wonderful run of Pippin. So, even though the show came with more struggles that I expected, it still turned out to be one of the best learning opportunities in my life thus far, and for that I am forever grateful.
   

DAI Week Four Part One

Day Sixteen started with Daily Practice with Joe. We got our assignment for the final project, a devised piece, from Ronlin along with some explanation using poems, philosophy, and stories. We worked on painting the masks for the rest of the morning. Nicholette gave a presentation on her class's thesis project from 2010 on how a piece of theater lives (basically how they went about devising). They met for 9 hours a day for 8 weeks in 3 hour blocks. We don't have that kind of time, but she did have some really great advice on how to work, manage time, and meet goals. She emphasized the importance of the working atmosphere, safety, acceptance, and no self-censorship. She talked about personal daemons that are our genius. These daemons follow us around the room and give us our best ideas. They are intuition, the inner child, and the divine. Hers takes the form of Dobby the House Elf. That night, our group (the four cardboard mask people) met to play in the masks and come up with improv scenarios we could play with the next day.

Day Seventeen started with Daily Practice, but this time Joe just told us when to switch activities rather than leading us in every movement. This is so we can devote the sequence to memory and continue Daily Practice on our own back home. Our group did some character work just playing together in the masks. We came up with a short skit involving a villain that took a girl's lollipop then was chased by her father. Since this is what we had, we shared it during the afternoon staff showings. The comments the entire class received included find a way to be inspired by the dynamic mask, inhabit the mask with the whole body, respond and play to the reality of the situation, find clearly articulated actions that drive the piece forward, report to the audience, interruption is important, be clear about the situation, and find the identities of the masks. The film colloquium that night was a showing of MirrorMask. Ronlin emphasized the importance of contextualization not convention in our devised pieces.

Day Eighteen started with Daily Practice and tumbling. Our group played some scenarios under Nicholette's supervision. We worked on anti-mask where the character suddenly becomes something very different from what it was. We nailed down a narrative structure in our afternoon session. We settled on a hunting show as the proposal for our piece. We met again in the evening to play through the structure a few times.

Enjoy the Day,
Brandon Brockshus