The studio's great friend, Rob O'Neill, will be passing through Chicago in June so the big kick-off of Green Wood Studios in Chicago will be workshop co-taught by Rob & Molly.
Exploring the Impulse to Speak
Check back for more information. Date TBA but tentatively June 23 & 24.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Re-opening, Re-inventing
Green Wood Studios is joyfully opening its virtual doors after a hiatus while Artistic Director, Molly Lyons, took on the role of caregiver for her mother.
New home base: Chicago
New websites: www.GreenWoodStudios.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Wood-Studios/281518891889977
New phone: 773-304-4321
We can teach in any city, just contact us.
We can offer private lessons around the world, Skype is the new private lesson arena.
Skype ID: mollylyons
New home base: Chicago
New websites: www.GreenWoodStudios.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Wood-Studios/281518891889977
New phone: 773-304-4321
We can teach in any city, just contact us.
We can offer private lessons around the world, Skype is the new private lesson arena.
Skype ID: mollylyons
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
work & play
You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.
~ Charlie Parker
~ Charlie Parker
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Auditioning: What are "they" looking for?
A colleague recently wrote me and asked:
I'll answer in order of what I think our focus in auditions can be if we make the paradigm shift to reverse the power structure of the audition. What I mean by that is, as a casting director, actors give the folks behind the table all the power which is not the case so, how do actors reverse that and feel they have some power? One: stop worrying about what "they" want and do the work. As actors, we can't get inside the heads of the CD's/directors, but we can do our work: read, read, read the text (however long you have it, spend as much time as you can with it: sometimes that's an hour, sometimes a week, be a detective in the time you have); analyze it; make choices; COMMIT; etc.
1. How to distinguish yourself from other actors? Great question. I used to read for a CD friend in LA who hired actors she liked because she said that 98/100 actors gave the same reading. I didnt' believe her until I sat through my first day of readings. Those who distinguised themselves, revealed THEMSELVES. The great acting teacher, Uta Hagen, says that we all have the possibility of all characters within us because, as humans, we are all capable of all things. It is only our limitations which prevents us from doing all things: evil or good. If we will reach down and pull out what drives the character from our heart and soul, play what I call the magic "if I were the character, I would....", and reveal that, we would be different from everyone else. Truly. The other distinguishing thing is to really REACT to what you're getting vs. what you think is what the character "should" be doing in any given moment (I should be angry now). The great film director, Sidney Lumet, always reads himself with actors he is auditioning. During the reading, he will do something like drop a page from the side or, better yet, toss it. If the actor doesn't even acknowledge it, he will politely finish the read. If they see it, he is interested. If they react, he is compelled. If they react and use it back at him, he is fascinated.
2. Do they want to see character or ability? Great question. I think a couple of things: the character will be "different", see above, if you can reveal your soul through the character's circumstances. Ability is tricky. When I hold auditions, I feel like actors are more concerned with showing me "range" or ability, than the character. I don't want to see technique, I want to see the character and I also want to see what kind of actor is going to play that character. A local director, who is now a Tony award winner, says he would rather see an actor have a discovery or, better yet, make a change, in the moment, than emote. Characters in plays (or whatever type of media it is) are in crisis with a major dramatic problem to solve, whether that's a sitcom or Medea, and are, therefore, constantly having to change their tactics, be opportunists, see if what they're doing works and, if not, change; they must REACT. Actors tend to come into auditions and smear one color of what emotion they think the character "should" be feeling all over it and play that one thing. Human beings change by the second based on what's coming at them and what they are trying to do to others yet actors will tell me they think it's "inconsistent" to change frequently. HUH??? HUMANS do it all the time. Are you playing a human? The same CD friend from above who told me actors all play the same choices says that she looks for the "3 C's": character, choices, change followed by a 4th: commitment to the former 3.
Just my two cents worth. Anything else?
On the subject of auditioning, I could use some advice. The audition I have coming up is a cold reading from the script. In that situation, what would you say the casting director is looking for most - character or ability? Also, do you have any tips for how to distinguish myself from the other audtioners?
I'll answer in order of what I think our focus in auditions can be if we make the paradigm shift to reverse the power structure of the audition. What I mean by that is, as a casting director, actors give the folks behind the table all the power which is not the case so, how do actors reverse that and feel they have some power? One: stop worrying about what "they" want and do the work. As actors, we can't get inside the heads of the CD's/directors, but we can do our work: read, read, read the text (however long you have it, spend as much time as you can with it: sometimes that's an hour, sometimes a week, be a detective in the time you have); analyze it; make choices; COMMIT; etc.
1. How to distinguish yourself from other actors? Great question. I used to read for a CD friend in LA who hired actors she liked because she said that 98/100 actors gave the same reading. I didnt' believe her until I sat through my first day of readings. Those who distinguised themselves, revealed THEMSELVES. The great acting teacher, Uta Hagen, says that we all have the possibility of all characters within us because, as humans, we are all capable of all things. It is only our limitations which prevents us from doing all things: evil or good. If we will reach down and pull out what drives the character from our heart and soul, play what I call the magic "if I were the character, I would....", and reveal that, we would be different from everyone else. Truly. The other distinguishing thing is to really REACT to what you're getting vs. what you think is what the character "should" be doing in any given moment (I should be angry now). The great film director, Sidney Lumet, always reads himself with actors he is auditioning. During the reading, he will do something like drop a page from the side or, better yet, toss it. If the actor doesn't even acknowledge it, he will politely finish the read. If they see it, he is interested. If they react, he is compelled. If they react and use it back at him, he is fascinated.
2. Do they want to see character or ability? Great question. I think a couple of things: the character will be "different", see above, if you can reveal your soul through the character's circumstances. Ability is tricky. When I hold auditions, I feel like actors are more concerned with showing me "range" or ability, than the character. I don't want to see technique, I want to see the character and I also want to see what kind of actor is going to play that character. A local director, who is now a Tony award winner, says he would rather see an actor have a discovery or, better yet, make a change, in the moment, than emote. Characters in plays (or whatever type of media it is) are in crisis with a major dramatic problem to solve, whether that's a sitcom or Medea, and are, therefore, constantly having to change their tactics, be opportunists, see if what they're doing works and, if not, change; they must REACT. Actors tend to come into auditions and smear one color of what emotion they think the character "should" be feeling all over it and play that one thing. Human beings change by the second based on what's coming at them and what they are trying to do to others yet actors will tell me they think it's "inconsistent" to change frequently. HUH??? HUMANS do it all the time. Are you playing a human? The same CD friend from above who told me actors all play the same choices says that she looks for the "3 C's": character, choices, change followed by a 4th: commitment to the former 3.
Just my two cents worth. Anything else?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Art & War
When Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding for the arts to finance the war effort, he asked,
“Then what are we fighting for?”
War is being declared on the arts in all kinds of ways. Here're some notes about that.
From me: Molly Lyons
Theatre Artist
I told my dad when I was little and we were arguing about Vietnam that I wanted to declare a Culture War. "A Culture War?" he asked, "How would that work?" When countries get annoyed about this or that, they should declare a culture war upon the other. He asked: "who wins?". I answered: "Everyone and, for once, the war would leave the world a better place.
Thanks.
Our friends in Canada are also writing about it which is really what inspired me today. Here are some excerpts from recent articles with more to think about in terms of funding, supporting and encouraging the arts in our North American culture.
Bruce Harvey
film producer, Calgary
When Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding for the arts to finance the war effort, he asked, “Then what are we fighting for?” Our culture is what identifies us as a people. The arts are what reflect that culture to ourselves and to the world. The Lougheed government was the first in Canada to establish a provincial funding agency for film and television. The Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation invested in Alberta writers, directors and producers who could bring Alberta stories to the screen. With its help, the film and television industry thrived here. But during the extensive cutbacks of the Klein administration, the AMPDC was closed. The result is a much smaller film community in Alberta - one predominately centered in Calgary and focused on servicing out-of-province productions. Consider this: giving subsidies to the pulp and paper industry does not cultivate literature. Similarly, providing subsidies for labour and services on a Hollywood movie will not build a film and television cultural industry here. Québec followed the Lougheed government’s lead and established a funding body for Québec productions. That funding has grown so successfully over the last two decades that, for a majority of the world, Québec film is synonymous with Canadian film. Albertans, too, are proud of our heritage and place within Canada. We should be able to see our stories reflected in modern media and to have our stories told around the world. It’s time to re-establish the AMPDC.
Towards a Surplus of Meaning
By Colin Jackson
President and CEO of Epcor Center, Calgary.
The division of the art of daily life from the high arts of Western origin is only about a hundred years old. Picture a night at a European theatre in the 18th century. A cross-section of the population was there, behaving in a way we might consider unconscionably rowdy. The commoners in the pit heckled the performers. The wealthy in their boxes glanced up occasionally from their card games to catch an aria.
There were none of the march-on, march-off stage rituals of today. In the 1840s, when Hungarian composer Franz Liszt performed, he greeted patrons at the door and schmoozed with his audiences. Parisian papers criticized another pianist, Alexander Dreyschock, for playing so loudly, the ladies found it difficult to talk. These environs were doubtlessly hard on the artists, but attending a performance was a community experience – intimate, comfortable and shared.
In the 20th century, across Western cultures, we changed boisterousness into awe. Don’t clap between movements of a symphony. Sit down. Be quiet. Admire. This new code of behaviour identified the insider, the elite. It also amplified the authority of those few citizens who chose to denigrate the arts, artists and humanities.
The truth is Albertans, like all human beings, are artful and expressive. We sing, dance, bead, write, draw and paint. Statistics show we overwhelmingly want our children to be literate in the arts. We understand that fluidity with music, words, images and movement will add immensely to their happiness. Confident adults are those possessed with many means of self-expression.
Today the arts in Alberta are at a crossroads. In one direction lies innovation and influence. In the other, irrelevance and marginalization.
The path of innovation and influence amplifies the arts as a means for sharing ideas, values and emotions. Through them, we explore our empathy for each other. Arts enrich the character of our province. The achievements of Alberta artists burnish our pride.
Irrelevance and marginalization occur when the arts are perceived as elitist activities dividing the upper crust from the rest of the sandwich, a frivolity undeserving of serious attention and, at best, grudgingly supported.
The choice between the two paths lies with the province’s leadership and with us, the artists and the arts workers. We have degraded our ability to communicate with the wider community, a sad irony for people whose business is communication. We lost our confidence and, with it, our influence.
There is an urban myth beloved by the cranky that arts organizations are poorly managed. In fact, the failure rate among arts operations is exceptionally low, which is all the more admirable given that the field is notoriously poorly capitalized and the margins of error razor-thin. Another myth is that the public does not care. Also not true. A recent Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 84% of Calgarians think it would matter if there were no performing arts in Calgary.
Maybe because of embarrassment about emotions, maybe because of a desire to control the wild spirit of creativity, Albertans often talk about the arts in the language of the marketplace. There is an embedded mythology that to understand worth we must attach a cash value. Decisions revert to numbers and measurements. How misleading. The fundamentals of life are love, spirit, generosity, joy, well-being, values, rights. This is the language that takes us on our way to a more meaningful society.
The Lougheed government in the 1980s saw Alberta as an arts and cultural leader in Canada. The community responded, proud of the skill, talent and courage of our creators. Subsequent governments were the opposite, seeing the arts not as a community asset but as a private amusement. Some artists, rather than shrugging off such small thinking, internalized the notion of being marginalized. They acted as marginalized people often do – sounding whiny, clingy and entitled.
Alberta’s political parties have defaulted into service providers, promising to alleviate our traffic woes and fears of recession. Opinion polls drive policy. That narrow approach to politics ensures only one thing: that voters will decide nothing. Big political shifts happen because of influential leaders – good and bad – who win over their populations with the dream of a better society.
Boldness, vision, direction based on a blend of passion and reason should determine an election. Alberta, home to mavericks in business, arts and politics, is one of the jurisdictions where people would rise to a unifying call to action. People are looking for inspiration.
We can learn from American presidential candidate Barack Obama who, in a recent speech, said: “Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country. I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m talking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another, to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper. That, in the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.”
And, here lies our opportunity. We Alberta artists, citizens and artist-citizens can co-create our culture based on the best of Alberta’s heritage. Together we can write beautifully, speak eloquently and create film and images that move the hardest of hearts.
We can drop the labels of lesser or more worthy, elite or plain folks. And, in place of judgment, see each other as creative beings sharing a journey of wonder and delight. We are a people, most of whom are blessed with material wealth, health and education. We recognize what an unusual opportunity we have. There are very few places in the world with as robust an economy as Alberta. And fewer still of those wealthy places – think Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore – have the personal and political freedoms we enjoy. All that is missing is a shared dream and the self-confidence to execute it.
The British cultural thinker John Holden observes that throughout history great places did two things very well: they made money and they made meaning. Alberta is a world leader in creating wealth of the pocketbook. Now is our opportunity to create wealth of the soul.
“Then what are we fighting for?”
War is being declared on the arts in all kinds of ways. Here're some notes about that.
From me: Molly Lyons
Theatre Artist
I told my dad when I was little and we were arguing about Vietnam that I wanted to declare a Culture War. "A Culture War?" he asked, "How would that work?" When countries get annoyed about this or that, they should declare a culture war upon the other. He asked: "who wins?". I answered: "Everyone and, for once, the war would leave the world a better place.
Thanks.
Our friends in Canada are also writing about it which is really what inspired me today. Here are some excerpts from recent articles with more to think about in terms of funding, supporting and encouraging the arts in our North American culture.
Bruce Harvey
film producer, Calgary
When Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding for the arts to finance the war effort, he asked, “Then what are we fighting for?” Our culture is what identifies us as a people. The arts are what reflect that culture to ourselves and to the world. The Lougheed government was the first in Canada to establish a provincial funding agency for film and television. The Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation invested in Alberta writers, directors and producers who could bring Alberta stories to the screen. With its help, the film and television industry thrived here. But during the extensive cutbacks of the Klein administration, the AMPDC was closed. The result is a much smaller film community in Alberta - one predominately centered in Calgary and focused on servicing out-of-province productions. Consider this: giving subsidies to the pulp and paper industry does not cultivate literature. Similarly, providing subsidies for labour and services on a Hollywood movie will not build a film and television cultural industry here. Québec followed the Lougheed government’s lead and established a funding body for Québec productions. That funding has grown so successfully over the last two decades that, for a majority of the world, Québec film is synonymous with Canadian film. Albertans, too, are proud of our heritage and place within Canada. We should be able to see our stories reflected in modern media and to have our stories told around the world. It’s time to re-establish the AMPDC.
Towards a Surplus of Meaning
By Colin Jackson
President and CEO of Epcor Center, Calgary.
The division of the art of daily life from the high arts of Western origin is only about a hundred years old. Picture a night at a European theatre in the 18th century. A cross-section of the population was there, behaving in a way we might consider unconscionably rowdy. The commoners in the pit heckled the performers. The wealthy in their boxes glanced up occasionally from their card games to catch an aria.
There were none of the march-on, march-off stage rituals of today. In the 1840s, when Hungarian composer Franz Liszt performed, he greeted patrons at the door and schmoozed with his audiences. Parisian papers criticized another pianist, Alexander Dreyschock, for playing so loudly, the ladies found it difficult to talk. These environs were doubtlessly hard on the artists, but attending a performance was a community experience – intimate, comfortable and shared.
In the 20th century, across Western cultures, we changed boisterousness into awe. Don’t clap between movements of a symphony. Sit down. Be quiet. Admire. This new code of behaviour identified the insider, the elite. It also amplified the authority of those few citizens who chose to denigrate the arts, artists and humanities.
The truth is Albertans, like all human beings, are artful and expressive. We sing, dance, bead, write, draw and paint. Statistics show we overwhelmingly want our children to be literate in the arts. We understand that fluidity with music, words, images and movement will add immensely to their happiness. Confident adults are those possessed with many means of self-expression.
Today the arts in Alberta are at a crossroads. In one direction lies innovation and influence. In the other, irrelevance and marginalization.
The path of innovation and influence amplifies the arts as a means for sharing ideas, values and emotions. Through them, we explore our empathy for each other. Arts enrich the character of our province. The achievements of Alberta artists burnish our pride.
Irrelevance and marginalization occur when the arts are perceived as elitist activities dividing the upper crust from the rest of the sandwich, a frivolity undeserving of serious attention and, at best, grudgingly supported.
The choice between the two paths lies with the province’s leadership and with us, the artists and the arts workers. We have degraded our ability to communicate with the wider community, a sad irony for people whose business is communication. We lost our confidence and, with it, our influence.
There is an urban myth beloved by the cranky that arts organizations are poorly managed. In fact, the failure rate among arts operations is exceptionally low, which is all the more admirable given that the field is notoriously poorly capitalized and the margins of error razor-thin. Another myth is that the public does not care. Also not true. A recent Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 84% of Calgarians think it would matter if there were no performing arts in Calgary.
Maybe because of embarrassment about emotions, maybe because of a desire to control the wild spirit of creativity, Albertans often talk about the arts in the language of the marketplace. There is an embedded mythology that to understand worth we must attach a cash value. Decisions revert to numbers and measurements. How misleading. The fundamentals of life are love, spirit, generosity, joy, well-being, values, rights. This is the language that takes us on our way to a more meaningful society.
The Lougheed government in the 1980s saw Alberta as an arts and cultural leader in Canada. The community responded, proud of the skill, talent and courage of our creators. Subsequent governments were the opposite, seeing the arts not as a community asset but as a private amusement. Some artists, rather than shrugging off such small thinking, internalized the notion of being marginalized. They acted as marginalized people often do – sounding whiny, clingy and entitled.
Alberta’s political parties have defaulted into service providers, promising to alleviate our traffic woes and fears of recession. Opinion polls drive policy. That narrow approach to politics ensures only one thing: that voters will decide nothing. Big political shifts happen because of influential leaders – good and bad – who win over their populations with the dream of a better society.
Boldness, vision, direction based on a blend of passion and reason should determine an election. Alberta, home to mavericks in business, arts and politics, is one of the jurisdictions where people would rise to a unifying call to action. People are looking for inspiration.
We can learn from American presidential candidate Barack Obama who, in a recent speech, said: “Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country. I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m talking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another, to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper. That, in the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.”
And, here lies our opportunity. We Alberta artists, citizens and artist-citizens can co-create our culture based on the best of Alberta’s heritage. Together we can write beautifully, speak eloquently and create film and images that move the hardest of hearts.
We can drop the labels of lesser or more worthy, elite or plain folks. And, in place of judgment, see each other as creative beings sharing a journey of wonder and delight. We are a people, most of whom are blessed with material wealth, health and education. We recognize what an unusual opportunity we have. There are very few places in the world with as robust an economy as Alberta. And fewer still of those wealthy places – think Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore – have the personal and political freedoms we enjoy. All that is missing is a shared dream and the self-confidence to execute it.
The British cultural thinker John Holden observes that throughout history great places did two things very well: they made money and they made meaning. Alberta is a world leader in creating wealth of the pocketbook. Now is our opportunity to create wealth of the soul.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
AIRE 2008 post-poned
Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters of the Actors International Retreat Experience (AIRE),
The Green Wood Studio is currently in what I will call a “Development Year” and we have decided for a variety of reasons to postpone this year’s annual AIRE event scheduled for January 2008. I am in the process of making some important decisions professionally and am actively pursuing teaching, directing and acting jobs outside of my usual communities which may involve some big professional & personal changes.
That said I am working closely with our beloved faculty and administrators on refreshing and reinvigorating our experience so that when we do produce our next event it will be an even more rewarding experience for all involved. One of the things we are actively doing is scouting new geographic locations in the hopes that we can reach an even wider array of artists to come play with us. If you have any recommendations or suggestions we would welcome your input. Please send any and all feedback to Emi Clark at chicago@greenwoodstudio.org .
I know for many of you this is sad news as you were no doubt looking forward to, as I do every year, exploring, growing, and working with instructors and classmates you’ve come to love. I thank you so much for your dedication to our community and I can assure you we will be back and better than ever for our 10th anniversary season in 2009.
I will of course keep you posted, via email, website and blogspot, as details develop about the exciting changes we have planned. In the meantime I encourage you to take classes or privates with me in various cities I already visit, with any of our other instructors (Ted Hoerl, Steve Scott – Chicago, Rob O’Neill – New York, David Smukler – Toronto, Vancouver) or with someone you find in your own city so that you can keep at the top of your game. Martha Karl and Madeline Muravchik are planning to bring me to teach in Washington DC as soon as possible in 2008 in lieu of attending the retreat and if you’d be interested in bringing me or any of our other instructors to your town for a workshop I’d be more than happy to help facilitate that event.
If you have any questions, please contact me or any of our area coordinators. This week, I am both training actors & in training (YBB for those of you who know!) in Los Angeles so may be slow in responding.
Thank you all again for your friendship and support and I look forward to working together again soon.
With love,
Molly
Molly Lyons
Artistic Director
Green Wood Studio
Actors' International Retreat Experience -A.I.R.E.
lyons@greenwoodstudio.org
www.greenwoodstudio.org
http://greenwoodtree.blogspot.com
The Green Wood Studio is currently in what I will call a “Development Year” and we have decided for a variety of reasons to postpone this year’s annual AIRE event scheduled for January 2008. I am in the process of making some important decisions professionally and am actively pursuing teaching, directing and acting jobs outside of my usual communities which may involve some big professional & personal changes.
That said I am working closely with our beloved faculty and administrators on refreshing and reinvigorating our experience so that when we do produce our next event it will be an even more rewarding experience for all involved. One of the things we are actively doing is scouting new geographic locations in the hopes that we can reach an even wider array of artists to come play with us. If you have any recommendations or suggestions we would welcome your input. Please send any and all feedback to Emi Clark at chicago@greenwoodstudio.org .
I know for many of you this is sad news as you were no doubt looking forward to, as I do every year, exploring, growing, and working with instructors and classmates you’ve come to love. I thank you so much for your dedication to our community and I can assure you we will be back and better than ever for our 10th anniversary season in 2009.
I will of course keep you posted, via email, website and blogspot, as details develop about the exciting changes we have planned. In the meantime I encourage you to take classes or privates with me in various cities I already visit, with any of our other instructors (Ted Hoerl, Steve Scott – Chicago, Rob O’Neill – New York, David Smukler – Toronto, Vancouver) or with someone you find in your own city so that you can keep at the top of your game. Martha Karl and Madeline Muravchik are planning to bring me to teach in Washington DC as soon as possible in 2008 in lieu of attending the retreat and if you’d be interested in bringing me or any of our other instructors to your town for a workshop I’d be more than happy to help facilitate that event.
If you have any questions, please contact me or any of our area coordinators. This week, I am both training actors & in training (YBB for those of you who know!) in Los Angeles so may be slow in responding.
Thank you all again for your friendship and support and I look forward to working together again soon.
With love,
Molly
Molly Lyons
Artistic Director
Green Wood Studio
Actors' International Retreat Experience -A.I.R.E.
lyons@greenwoodstudio.org
www.greenwoodstudio.org
http://greenwoodtree.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
First Registrations for A.I.R.E. Actors' International Retreat Experience
As we head into our 9th annual event of the Actors' International Retreat Experience and are already receiving registrations from as far away as Washington DC, I thought I'd post our 2008 instructors and some quotes from A.I.R.E. alumni.
2008 A.I.R.E. Instructors
Ted Hoerl - Act One Studio instructor & Casting Director, teaching Auditioning with prepared monologue from contemporary theatre.
Ted Hoerl - Act One Studio instructor & Casting Director, teaching Auditioning with prepared monologue from contemporary theatre.
Molly Lyons – Director of the Green Wood Studio, international director/classical teacher, teaching Playing the Classics with prepared soliloquy or monologue from classical theatre.
Rob O'Neill – NY based Performer & International Movement Coach teaching Embodiment.
Steve Scott - Associate Producer of Chicago's Goodman Theatre teaching Scene Work with prepared scenes.
David Smukler - York University and Canada's National Voice Intensive teaching Voice.
You can read full bio's on the instructors and find a ton of information at:
www.greenwoodstudio.org and follow the links to A.I.R.E. on the home page.
Actor Quotes
Describing A.I.R.E. is difficult because I tend to feel as though I am exaggerating and simultaneously not even getting close to communicating the impact of the experience. Let's just say: I now measure my artistic life in terms of Before A.I.R.E. and After A.I.R.E. I expected it to nourish me as an actor; it did that, but it also fed me as a writer, as a musician, and as a human being.Come ready to work. And work. And work some more. But also to rediscover the absolute joy of this work, and to approach your entire life with a new sense of purpose and truth.
Elizabeth Bagby, Chicago actor, writer, artist
Elizabeth Bagby, Chicago actor, writer, artist
Thank you for the wonderful experience. Thank you for filling up my tank with all that good stuff.
Kenny Hull, LA actor, director, producer
I have never before been so immersed in my art -- constantly creating while also being creatively filled. The instructors are truly gifted, insightful and specific. They teach with love and respect, while being fully willing to jump in, play and learn along side you! The environment itself also fills the artistic soul. I definitely recommend it.
Lisa Benner, NY actor
I learned more in one short course with the Green Wood Studio than I did in two years at a training institute.
Melina Pyron, Soprano, actor
If you're serious about your craft, willing to do the work, and unopposed to having some fun in the process, you'll not find a better learning opportunity, or value for your money. The setting is sweet, the meals tasty, the staff welcoming and helpful. But it's the program that'll keep you returning year after year ('07 will be my third). The instructors are superb, the best group of teachers I've ever worked with. They're not simply knowledgeable, perceptive, humorous and fully human, they know how to teach.
Norm Stamper, Orcas Island actor, writer
This acting retreat focused my passion and sharpened my skills. I was given the truth about what I was doing in a useful constructive way. Your Integrity is Respected.
Tom Pickett, Vancouver actor
Every person should attend this retreat, whether they’re an actor or not. Molly Lyons and her incomparable team of instructors not only teach us to be stronger actors but better people. Through their combined genius they encourage us to face our fears and embrace our passions. Together we strengthen our work as artists and our spirits as human beings. I recommend everyone to experience what I have had the joy of experiencing, a safe, enlightening and joyous atmosphere in which to grow, learn and laugh with people who are truly inspiring.
Dan De Jaeger, Winnipeg/Vancouver/Prescott actor
I never would have had the confidence (to play the part) without having worked with these great teachers.
Annette Clark, South Carolina actor
I don't know when I've felt more alive. This work is magical and transformative.
Louise Carnachan, Orcas Island/Seattle actor, improviser, producer
The retreat is an experience I give myself as a gift as often as I can. As an artist in this unforgiving world at times it is easy to lose focus and lose the wonderment of the craft. I come to the retreat to stretch my creative muscles and fill my spirit with the magic of the work. Every year I have attended the retreat I have left feeling full of inspiration, with a new and renewed awareness of my craft, my instrument and my artistic self as a whole. I am absolutely nervous, excited, and blessed to have this opportunity. The retreat to me is a sacred place to nuture the artist within by working with people who have the same passion an love for this work. I come to refill my well!!!
Betty Lorkowski, Chicago actor
The whole week was beyond belief. I loved the commitment and the intensity we had. Everybody worked so hard; I learned so much. I came to [the retreat] alone, not knowing a soul, and left with new friends and a wonderful experience of theatre.
Robin Hall, Washington DC actor
Nowhere else have I found such immediately applicable and long-lasting coaching and career advice than this week-long intensive.
Ian Farthing, Vancouver actor
I had my first audition since I've been back and I got the part! I cannot tell you how different my experience was. I was so much calmer and 100 times more confident. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Stephanie Pottruck, LA actor
Thank you for the life lesson.
Abe Brown, LA actor
This is where I go every year to re-open as an artist and sharpen my skill set. Plus you simply can't find better instruction - all assembled in one intensive week - anywhere else in the country. These are instructors who are Masters and it is inspiring to work with them. I can't recommend it highly enough!
Emi Clark, Chicago actor
I used to think your marketing materials claim of "life-changing event" could not be true. Now that I've attended the retreat, I know it is true.
BD Freeman, LA actor, comedian
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Working with what I've got
As I reflect back on my recent work at the Shakespeare Festival, where I have had the pleasure of working for three seasons, my mind races with all the valuable lessons I learned during this one paradoxically glorious and tumultuous summer.As the season began, I was full of doubts as to whether or not I was up to the task of playing Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Hippolyta/Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
My friend, Ian, gave me the book Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life by Dominic Dromgoole, currently the Artistic Director at the Globe Theatre, London. The book became my muse for creating the characters.
Feeling fairly insecure & as if my very messy life would somehow wreck my work, during rehearsals, Dominic's words about being “human” helped me a great deal. Some of the most important quotes which struck me deeply are:
- "All through my life, when wounds had opened, Shakespeare had appeared with comic balm or tragic suture, to patch things up."
- "With such a shining example of rich and creative complexity before us, how can we not attempt to be as human?"
- And, although I must paraphrase - forgive me - because I cannot find the exact quote, the idea which moved me most to trust that my life, however messy it may be, is all that is necessary to live under the text:
The richer the text, the less we need to embellish but rather let the words remind us of what we have lived. (which was the response I wrote in my journal one night when reading the book.)
Providential timing, really, that I had this book to read during this summer. (Thank you, Ian.)
As I mentioned in the post below, my other great inspiration over the summer, during performances (thanks to my Canadian colleagues in the cast), was the Canadian television series, Slings & Arrows, about….a Shakespeare Festival in Ontario! The all too brief series (compared to mediocre American tv series which seem to go & on season after seaon ad nauseum) quickly became an addiction for me. I devoured all three seasons, including the extra features like out-takes, interviews, etc. Co-creator Susan Coyne’s comments also moved me to trust the very human experience I found myself struggling with all summer:
As I mentioned in the post below, my other great inspiration over the summer, during performances (thanks to my Canadian colleagues in the cast), was the Canadian television series, Slings & Arrows, about….a Shakespeare Festival in Ontario! The all too brief series (compared to mediocre American tv series which seem to go & on season after seaon ad nauseum) quickly became an addiction for me. I devoured all three seasons, including the extra features like out-takes, interviews, etc. Co-creator Susan Coyne’s comments also moved me to trust the very human experience I found myself struggling with all summer:
- If I have a mission [about Shakespeare], it is to present him as a living playwright for today.
- 400 years later, we're still laughing at a joke ... because we know who these people are ... they're human as we are.
- (About presenting theatre on tv) What we do, the theatre, might be important.
My conclusions:
Shakespeare, the actor/playwright, wrote of human behavior and it is my job as an actor to get to my most human behavior when performing. Audiences come to the theatre to see human behavior onstage; to see me “hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature” and let them recognize their humanity through the expression of mine. To keep my humanity at arm’s length will keep the character at arm’s length and, therefore, the audience at arm’s length from the story Shakespeare wants us to tell.
Oddly enough, during the rehearsal process, what I feared I might lack, I discovered were the characters’ fears; what I was afraid might be “inappropriate” for the character in some given moment, I discovered was the most appropriate experience to reveal the soul of the woman in that very moment.
The character who taught me the most about myself was the one I didn’t think, initially, I was at all comfortable playing: Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. I told the director, Craig Walker, when he wanted to cast me in the role that I felt 1. too young, 2. I didn’t get the comedy of her and 3. I always thought I was more like Lady Cap.
The “too young” part was substantiated for me by, of all things, the character, Ellen, on Slings & Arrows, who said to the young woman cast as Juliet: “It’s the lot of the actress, my dear. You play the leads, the queens, the duchesses, the dreaded Nurse, then it’s a bed in [the actors’ nursing home]." I suppose the age issue was soothed a bit by the fact that our Juliet really did look about 14 and it is, primarily, in her eyes that the Nurse seems: "old", "lame", "heavy", etc., and because she is impatient for news Nurse is to bring of her love. So, thanks, Emma!
As for getting Nurse's humour, I finally decided, partly because Craig told me that, onstage, I relish being funny and also based on Dominic’s quote about “how can we not attempt to be as human?” that I would simply pour all of myself into Nurse. Now, this at a time when I have been moving through a season of my life where I felt pretty far from the woman I used to be; the woman I think I can be; the best woman I always have been.
As for being "right" for the role ....For nearly twenty years, I have longed to play Titania and I had the time of my life every second I played her. My great surprise this summer was how pleased I was when I read my R&J director’s opening night card and the description he wrote of the Nurse, as I created her, is closer to the real me than I have felt in a long time.
Without even realizing I could begin to heal & find my best self again through my work, by simply deciding to bring all I had to offer to the circumstances of each character in each play, I came damn close to finding that woman again.
Since closing, I continue walking on the healing journey which began when I felt called to get back onstage and was furthered at the Shakespeare Festival while exploring these three glorious women: to find my most honest & glorious self again. I believe the walk will take me every day closer and, now, finally, I am ready to move forward into it.
To think, a few years ago, I wondered if getting back onstage was the best choice for me; if I still had what it takes to do the work truthfully and skillfully. This summer, I found that, for me, I did indeed make the best choice and I am simply grateful and joyful every time I get onstage. I feel ready for just about any role any one wants to offer me knowing I can approach it with confidence: trusting that my “mess” is all the humanity any character needs.
I simply need to work with what I’ve got and all of it.
--ML
Photo credits of my work with colleagues this summer at SLSF:
Titania & fairies (Emma Hunter, Ashley Keefer, Kaylan Lindsay, Kyle Evans;
Hippolyta & Theseus (Ross Neill);
2 - Nurse & Juliet (Emma Hunter)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
what we do might be important
This is my farewell note to the company of this summer's St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival.
A quick farewell and wish for the future ....
Some events of recent days, & indeed of the summer, have left me feeling a real need to value what little time we truly spend on earth and to ensure that people know the impact they may have upon my life.
Several of you are responsible for getting me hooked onthe fabulous Canadian tv series, Slings & Arrows, about a Shakespeare festival in Ontario, the first two seasons of which I watched during our run and Craig kindly left me season three upon closing.
The theme of season three, watched in the past few days, re-inforced my renewed sense of communicating value to those I care about or admire. In the special features section of the DVD, I watched an interview with Susan Coyne, co-creator, writer and actor (the Shakespeare festival's administrator, for those of you who might not know) and she said something which caused in me great sentimentality - shocking I know - about our season and the affect we have had on the community here and on each other as artists.
Forgive my cutting & pasting of her words:
- If I have a mission [about Shakespeare], it is to present him as a living playwright for today.
- 400 years later, we're still laughing at a joke ... because we know who these people are ... they're human as we are.
- (About presenting theatre on tv) What we do, the theatre, might be important.
Thanks for letting Shakespeare live. Thanks for your humanity. Thanks for letting the work be important - to each other and to the community.
May you be blessed with more of the same whether we work together again or not.
Sincerely,
Molly
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Romeo & Juliet review
Molly Lyons as Nurse & Perry Mucci as Romeo
Rain no obstacle to Star-Crossed Lovers
Brockville Recorder & Times
By RONALD ZAJAC
Staff Writer
PRESCOTT -- The Fort Town's first taste of Shakespearean tragedy is hardly bitter.The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's Romeo and Juliet, which opened last night despite the vagaries of nature, is first of all a perfect opposite to A Midsummer Night's Dream in the festival's "Summer of Love" theme.
But it is also a perfect play to ease a local crowd accustomed to comedies, since the start of the five-year-old festival, into the darker side of Shakespeare's work.It is perhaps easy to forget how lightly this tragic tale of star-crossed lovers begins. The dialogue in the early acts is full of quick-firing puns, ribaldry and bawdy humour, lines, such as Sampson's famous "maiden-heads" pun, that one would expect to hear from some of the characters in Midsummer. Where the play turns tragic, where these lovers' story crosses a line beyond which there is no possibility of a happy ending, is in Act 3, Scene 1, when the rivalry between the Capulets and Montagues begins to claim lives. By then, the audience is already drawn in by the strength of the characters and is ready for a descent into darkness that is stunningly choreographed.
Director Craig Walker, who also doubles as this play's conscience in the character of Prince Escalus, had to make some difficult decisions to bring this production down to its practical limit of just over two hours. Gone is some of the dialogue in key moments, and audience members will have to seek reassurance in the original text that the likable Friar Lawrence (compellingly played by Tyler Murree), is forgiven for his well-intentioned but ill-fated scheme. But in return for such textual sacrifices is a tragedy that, by paring away some of the text, provides an emotional crescendo driven by raw emotion.In particular, leads Perry Mucci and Emma Hunter perform the challenging death scene almost like a dark dance, conveying the tragedy through movement rather than words. The resulting shift between the warring families from rivalry to reconciliation, upon the discovery of the young lovers' bodies, is also conveyed wordlessly, with Shakespeare's text serving more to confirm the transformation rather than effect it. This is achieved through the pacing given to the play by Walker's edits, and the effect left the small but determined opening night audience transfixed.
While there are no weak links in this mostly seasoned cast, Mucci in particular stands out because he shows himself worthy of the challenging role of Romeo after the succession of comic characters he has played in the local festival. (Indeed, on the nights he isn't playing Romeo, Mucci will be speaking in a deliberately ridiculous falsetto as Francis Flute in Midsummer.) Romeo is above all driven by an immature emotional extremism that ultimately claims his life, and Mucci, cited by Walker for his "boyish" looks, plays this with the right pitch. Similarly, Hunter captures the fluttering innocence of the 13-year-old Juliet, complete with prattling silliness, in the earlier acts, then grows up very quickly, as she is required to do, in the latter part of the play.
The entire cast, crew and indeed the audience members deserve citations of valour for what has got to be the five-year-old festival's most difficult opening night. As thunder began sounding in the distance, Murree used it to his advantage by incorporating it, at least gesturally, into Friar Lawrence's early dialogue. By the end of the intermission, artistic director Ian Farthing (Mercutio) remained optimistic, telling the audience the brunt of the storm missed Prescott and the play would continue in the Kinsmen Amphitheatre. It wasn't much later, however, when the rain began in earnest and everyone was moved uphill to the nearby tent, to see the play's denouement coincide with an invasion of mosquitoes. It is perhaps a testament to this production's power, however, that during the final scenes the slapping and shooing seemed to diminish for a moment. The mosquitoes were the result of the delay caused by the move to the tent. Festival regulars will know that by now, these Shakespeareans have learned how to time their productions to end right before the after-dark infestation begins. That is, when the weather co-operates just a little.
Despite what the weather has in store for the next few weeks, Romeo and Juliet is a production that deserves a much bigger crowd.
Published in Section A, page 4 in the Thursday, July 19, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.Posted 4:31:49 PM Thursday, July 19, 2007.
Molly Lyons as Nurse & Emma Hunter as
Juliet
A Midsummer Night's Dream review
Molly Lyons as Titania & Craig Walker as Bottom
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival off to first-rate start
Brockville Recorder & Times
By RONALD ZAJAC, Staff Writer
PRESCOTT -- Of all the Bard's plays staged at the Kinsmen Amphitheatre so far, this one is arguably the most apt.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which opened the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's fifth season on Saturday, is a romp through Shakespeare's "Green World."
It's a play that deserves to be performed outdoors, making the waterfront amphitheatre an ideal setting for it. (Friday's preview performance was indeed staged outdoors, although Saturday night's opener, given the weather, was held inside the festival's nearby tent. On the upside, the tent was full.)
The "Green World," a term coined by the late critic Northrop Frye, is the wilderness to which many of Shakespeare's comic heroes escape.
Under the trees, potentially tragic lovers like Lysander and Hermia are governed not by strict Athenian law, but by whimsical, magical beings who lure them astray with their tricks, yet have conscience enough to make everything right by sunrise.
The Prescott production not only captures the sheer joy of Shakespeare's best-known comedy, but uses the "Green World" magic of the amphitheatre to full advantage. Characters sweep down on the audience from above, while music from an unseen performer wafts over the trees during the woodland spirits' games.
This is, truly, an enchanting way to spend a midsummer's night.
It's also a worthy rendition of the quintessential Shakespearean comedy.
Director Steve Scott has remained faithful to the text and the performers, many of them festival regulars by now, do it justice.
In particular, leads Ross Neill and Molly Lyons bring the right mixture of severity and comedy to the roles of the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania, while Michael MacDonald, whose talent for physical comedy is by now well known, is an excellent choice for the mischievous Puck.
Meanwhile, the four benighted lovers (Amanda Levencrown as Hermia, Dorian Foley as Lysander, Lisa Benner as Helena and Dan De Jaeger as Demetrius), whose confused trip through the Green World is the core of the play, are also well cast.
In particular, Benner, the delicate Hero in last year's Much Adoe About Nothing, and Levencrown, who gives a somewhat coarser edge to Hermia, make for interesting echoes of the play's two other female archetypes: the fairy queen and the amazon.
And while the St. Lawrence troupe does it for budgetary reasons, casting the same two actors for the Theseus-Hippolyta and Oberon-Titania pairings conveys the message, first delivered with a similar twin-pairing in Peter Brook's famous 1970 staging, that the worlds of the mortals and fairies mirror each other.
But for comedy of the side-splitting variety, enter the "rude mechanicals," the Elizabethan term for lower-class labourers, whose hilarious play-within-a-play, and the attempt to rehearse it, provide the real from-the-gut laughter.
All six of these characters provide the play's comedic climax with their mis-staged tragedy that serves as a satire on the potentially tragic love that has just been healed in the "Green World."
In particular, Craig Walker, as Bottom, takes on the challenge of being unwittingly elevated to main character status when Puck gives him an ass's head, while Oberon magically contrives to have Titania fall in love with him.
And here we find this play's main flaw, likely the bane of every Midsummer Night's Dream director: what to do about that ass's head.
It's a tricky dilemma. Having a character run around with a donkey's head without knowing it is the stuff of pure physical comedy, yet at the same time, the audience needs to see that confusion in the actor's face. The result, as in this case, is often a head with ass's ears, but little else to suggest a donkey Walker compensates for this forgivable problem with all the facial expressiveness Bottom demands, and throws in his own deliberately asinine laugh to boot.
This Midsummer Night's Dream comes with arguably more double-entendre than other renditions, most of it delivered through physical comedy, and there are brief moments when the physical comedy distracts the viewer from the text.
But then, one could argue this is how the Bard intended it, as Puck looks on and observes: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
The Shakespeare festival's "Summer of Love" continues Wednesday with the opening of Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday.
· Published in Section A, page 3 in the Monday, July 16, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
Brockville Recorder & Times
By RONALD ZAJAC, Staff Writer
PRESCOTT -- Of all the Bard's plays staged at the Kinsmen Amphitheatre so far, this one is arguably the most apt.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which opened the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's fifth season on Saturday, is a romp through Shakespeare's "Green World."
It's a play that deserves to be performed outdoors, making the waterfront amphitheatre an ideal setting for it. (Friday's preview performance was indeed staged outdoors, although Saturday night's opener, given the weather, was held inside the festival's nearby tent. On the upside, the tent was full.)
The "Green World," a term coined by the late critic Northrop Frye, is the wilderness to which many of Shakespeare's comic heroes escape.
Under the trees, potentially tragic lovers like Lysander and Hermia are governed not by strict Athenian law, but by whimsical, magical beings who lure them astray with their tricks, yet have conscience enough to make everything right by sunrise.
The Prescott production not only captures the sheer joy of Shakespeare's best-known comedy, but uses the "Green World" magic of the amphitheatre to full advantage. Characters sweep down on the audience from above, while music from an unseen performer wafts over the trees during the woodland spirits' games.
This is, truly, an enchanting way to spend a midsummer's night.
It's also a worthy rendition of the quintessential Shakespearean comedy.
Director Steve Scott has remained faithful to the text and the performers, many of them festival regulars by now, do it justice.
In particular, leads Ross Neill and Molly Lyons bring the right mixture of severity and comedy to the roles of the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania, while Michael MacDonald, whose talent for physical comedy is by now well known, is an excellent choice for the mischievous Puck.
Meanwhile, the four benighted lovers (Amanda Levencrown as Hermia, Dorian Foley as Lysander, Lisa Benner as Helena and Dan De Jaeger as Demetrius), whose confused trip through the Green World is the core of the play, are also well cast.
In particular, Benner, the delicate Hero in last year's Much Adoe About Nothing, and Levencrown, who gives a somewhat coarser edge to Hermia, make for interesting echoes of the play's two other female archetypes: the fairy queen and the amazon.
And while the St. Lawrence troupe does it for budgetary reasons, casting the same two actors for the Theseus-Hippolyta and Oberon-Titania pairings conveys the message, first delivered with a similar twin-pairing in Peter Brook's famous 1970 staging, that the worlds of the mortals and fairies mirror each other.
But for comedy of the side-splitting variety, enter the "rude mechanicals," the Elizabethan term for lower-class labourers, whose hilarious play-within-a-play, and the attempt to rehearse it, provide the real from-the-gut laughter.
All six of these characters provide the play's comedic climax with their mis-staged tragedy that serves as a satire on the potentially tragic love that has just been healed in the "Green World."
In particular, Craig Walker, as Bottom, takes on the challenge of being unwittingly elevated to main character status when Puck gives him an ass's head, while Oberon magically contrives to have Titania fall in love with him.
And here we find this play's main flaw, likely the bane of every Midsummer Night's Dream director: what to do about that ass's head.
It's a tricky dilemma. Having a character run around with a donkey's head without knowing it is the stuff of pure physical comedy, yet at the same time, the audience needs to see that confusion in the actor's face. The result, as in this case, is often a head with ass's ears, but little else to suggest a donkey Walker compensates for this forgivable problem with all the facial expressiveness Bottom demands, and throws in his own deliberately asinine laugh to boot.
This Midsummer Night's Dream comes with arguably more double-entendre than other renditions, most of it delivered through physical comedy, and there are brief moments when the physical comedy distracts the viewer from the text.
But then, one could argue this is how the Bard intended it, as Puck looks on and observes: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
The Shakespeare festival's "Summer of Love" continues Wednesday with the opening of Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday.
· Published in Section A, page 3 in the Monday, July 16, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
Ross Neill as Oberon & Molly Lyons as Titania
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Duke & the Bard
Greetings,
Here are some audience reviews of a recent performance in Ottawa. In short, it was the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington's suite to Shakespeare, called Such Sweet Thunder. Ross Neill, Ian Farthing and myself, all from the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, were asked, along with another Shakespeare company, to perform with the Impressions in Jazz ensemble.
I learned a great deal during this process, which was a bit hectic to say the least, the most important one being: my passion & joy for simply saying the words is enough to lift me. Playing a bunch of the strong, sometimes bad women, all in one night, was a thrilling experience: Lady Mac, Tamara, Kate, Titania, a witch, a brief revisit with Cleopatra, etc.
Also, I learned when I trust my scene partners, the wave of creativity really takes me on a fun surf. I was so thankful that Ian and Ross were performing with me because I know their work and can trust them. For instance, I saw them both make a really cool blocking choice when we were each taking chorus for a scene from Romeo & Juliet, so I followed suit and imitated them. I believe it made the choral bits work better and lent very tight focus to the 2 actors playing R & J.
It was as if we were influenced by the jazz and were able to jam in realy cool ways.
The music was positively inspiring and the orchestra ROCKED.
Once again, it is always rewarding to be onstage but, I must say, last minute frantic-ness aside, this was particularly FUN.
Here are some audience reviews of a recent performance in Ottawa. In short, it was the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington's suite to Shakespeare, called Such Sweet Thunder. Ross Neill, Ian Farthing and myself, all from the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, were asked, along with another Shakespeare company, to perform with the Impressions in Jazz ensemble.
I learned a great deal during this process, which was a bit hectic to say the least, the most important one being: my passion & joy for simply saying the words is enough to lift me. Playing a bunch of the strong, sometimes bad women, all in one night, was a thrilling experience: Lady Mac, Tamara, Kate, Titania, a witch, a brief revisit with Cleopatra, etc.
Also, I learned when I trust my scene partners, the wave of creativity really takes me on a fun surf. I was so thankful that Ian and Ross were performing with me because I know their work and can trust them. For instance, I saw them both make a really cool blocking choice when we were each taking chorus for a scene from Romeo & Juliet, so I followed suit and imitated them. I believe it made the choral bits work better and lent very tight focus to the 2 actors playing R & J.
It was as if we were influenced by the jazz and were able to jam in realy cool ways.
The music was positively inspiring and the orchestra ROCKED.
Once again, it is always rewarding to be onstage but, I must say, last minute frantic-ness aside, this was particularly FUN.
Molly Lyons as Kate from Taming of the Shrew with Ian Farthing as Lucentio, Ross
Neill as Petruchio and Emmanuelle Zeesman as Bianca with Impressions in Jazz
Conductor, Adrian Cho, looking on.
- The Duke & The Bard audience quotes:
“Your orchestra is superb - I heard the music truly come to life thanks to their passionate and skilful playing.”
Ian Farthing, Artistic Director, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival
“We were both extremely impressed by the show. The venue, the atmosphere, and all the little extras only complemented the quality of the performances. The pairing of music and acting made for a complete package and a very unique experience.”
Sandra Stockley
“This was a brilliant show. We enjoy baroque music and jazz - it was amazing to have them brought together like that. I've been a bardophile for years, so it was a real treat to hear music express characters. We usually feel that modern settings and costumes don't work for Will S's plays, but the jazz sure did. What a great group of musicians - we'll be keeping track of their gigs.”
Judy Benner
“A brief note to congratulate you and your musicians for your wonderful performance last night. I thought it was beautifully put together and executed.”
Jacques Émond, Programming Director, Ottawa International Jazz Festival
“Congratulations on a fabulous show last night! All ensembles were awesome and it was apparent that everyone was having a great time, enjoying both the readings and music.”
Sonia Dimitrov
“Sweet show! The music was so tight. I loved it as did the gang that accompanied me.”
Mary Catherine Jack
“Just a note of thanks to you and to all of the IJO team for the wonderful evening Tuesday. This was my first chance to hear the orchestra and I was bowled over by the precision and vibrance of the playing - fantastic achievement. The whole conception of the evening was a revelation to me. This is the kind of cross-cultural synergy that is so needed but so seldom encountered. Looking around me, I couldn't find a single face that was anything less than animated throughout the evening.”
Bob Reid
“The concert was spectacular and the audience was very appreciative. What you are doing is like a breath of fresh air in Ottawa; we are blessed with some great musicians and you have given them a high class focus for their talents.”
Keith Richardson
“Congratulations on Tuesday's performance! Everyone at my table was ecstatic; none had heard the IJO before and all said they'd be at future concerts.”
Ron Sweetman, jazz writer and radio producer
Other photos available at
http://www.impressionsinjazz.ca/gallery/v/2007-2008/CP-120607/
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Soul Cleanse
“El arte lava del alma el polvo de la vida cotidiana.”
Pablo Picasso
(The art washes away from the soul the dust of the daily life.)
(The art washes away from the soul the dust of the daily life.)
The above quote was given me by Silvana Goldemberg, the mother of playwright, Muriel Faifman, whose new play, Waves of Immigration, we just workshopped last week in a collection of one acts called Sea of Stories. The stories were commissioned by the Gateway Theatre in Richmond BC in an admirable effort to reach out to their community which consists largely of emigrants.
The performance consisted of 6 new short plays, all tales of emigration, all by women, which together created a powerful evening. I found there to be common threads of great hardship and suffering woven with great redemption and hope. The countries represented included: Russia, Argentina, India, Japan, Switzerland and Canada.
I got to play Muriel's great grandmother, Guite, who fled a pogrom in Russia and emigrated to Argentina. Muriel's family fled recent violence in Argentina and now live in Richmond, BC, Canada. The two stories were woven together giving us the simultaneous impact of generations of a strong family fleeing violence and seeking a better lives for their children.
No matter how I might have felt personally last week, which wasn't always great, the creative process and artistic result left me with a cleaner soul and a great sense of pride in what we accomplished.
Quelemia Sparrow - actor, Elaine Avila - director/dramaturge, Ian Farthing - actor, Bill Clark - composer, Gabriel Faifman - actor, Molly Lyons - actor, Muriel Faifman - actor / playwright and new Canadian citizen.
(And she turned 11 years old during our rehearsal process.)
ML
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Work of my Artist / Teacher Peers
When my mentor, Bill James, was advising me on becoming a teacher and my nose wrinkled, as if to say, “but I’m an ARTIST,” he said: "those who can, do; those who can do better, teach."
Recently, when seeing the work of my several of my fellow teacher / artist peers, I fondly remember how wise my mentor was.
I saw David Smukler, AIRE voice instructor, in The Seagull in Toronto in February. I thought he was charming, dotty, funny, vulnerable, surprisingly forceful … a wonderfully dimensional performance. Wonderfully Chekhovian, too, because he brought both HUMOR and pathos to the play. (Can't resist saying that Kate Fenton, as Masha, with whom I worked at St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, was born to do Chekhov! So terribly funny until the last moment when her grief retched out of her on one breath.)
I saw Ted Hoerl, AIRE audition instructor, in The Weir in Chicago in March. Now, this is a play I LOVE and it is based in the area of Ireland from whence my people hoist their pints. Of the many compliments I paid Ted, one was: “I recognized you as a guy from my town sitting on the bar stool.” The other amazing thing he did was LISTEN like nobody’s business and this is no small feat, especially with the staging of this particular production. He actually made other people’s stories come to life without detracting from their telling in the least.
I saw AIRE’s scene work instructor, Steve Scott’s production of Rabbit Hole in Chicago in March. How does one recognize the work of a great director? It is nearly invisible, really, but Emi Clark & Betty Lorkowski (who saw the show with me) and I agree that there is a recognizable Steve style: careful attention to human detail. Particularly in the supporting characters, there were such amazing human quirks and foibles, little lifts of the eyebrow or tiny straightenings of the spine that told me Steve spent weeks asking questions! (Review of Steve's recent work, Frozen, is a couple of posts below.)
Although not directly Green Wood Studio / AIRE related, I saw colleague Craig Walker in Candida in Kingston, Canada, last week. Craig is a drama professor at Queen’s University, hence the relevance, & played Benedick to my Beatrice last summer in St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival’s Much Ado About Nothing (co-directed by meself & Steve Scott). Tricky thing for Craig with Candida was, he directed himself as one of the leads: Rev. James Morrell. I thought his direction of the show was excellent: clear, clean, uncluttered, no schmacting; his take on the show seemed to be to let Shaw's feckin brilliant text shine. I also liked his performance very much. He gave us a full range of human behavior: warts and all. Who the heck is crazy enough to take on a role like that and direct themselves? What was he thinking? Oops. Pots & kettles calling each other black.
(Reviews of 3 of the shows below.)
It gives me great satisfaction to say that I am blessed to work with a fistful of artist / teachers who can do better.
This summer, I get to work with two of them again: Steve Scott is directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Craig Walker is playing Bottom and I am playing Hippolyta / Titania. Craig is directing me as Nurse in Romeo & Juliet.
P.S. Want to guarantee I'll not miss a show you're in? Remind me OFTEN and give me comps. So many students & colleagues ask me to see their shows: making it easy on me will ensure I'm there. If I'm in town ....
Reviews of the above shows
David: Sorry I don’t have a review of Seagull !!
The Weir
Signal's The Weir opened last week to critics' raves and enthusiastic applause.
The Daily Herald's Barbara Vitello writes, "Prentice's discreet, graceful direction underscores a wonderfully understated production from Signal, a relative newcomer to the Chicago scene and a company that bears watching. So convincing is this well-acted, well-paced production, you might find yourself tempted to order a pint and join in the conversation that unfolds over the course of a stormy evening in this out-of-the-way pub in Northwest Ireland."
A "must see" show for
ChicagoCritic.com's Tom Williams, the play "features some of the finest ensemble performances I’ve seen on stage in quite awhile."
Jeff Recommended
"Features a note-perfect set by Melania Lancy and subtle, unhurried performances...— Reid, Chicago Reader
"This is a brilliant production of a fantastic play with five outstanding performances that unfolds as one mesmerizing night at the theatre. This is one of the finest plays of the year!" — ChicagoCritic.com
"John Zinn and Ted Hoerl anchor this amazing show. " -- Chicagocritic.com
"There’s Jack (Ted Hoerl, expertly tempering sarcasm with regret) a mechanic who opens the dam’s floodgates with a fairy story and closes them with a bittersweet, cautionary tale." -- The Daily Herald
"Hoerl, in particular, is in fine form as the cantankerous old man of the group." -- Time Out Chicago
"The players emote with such casual competence that you almost forget that they’re acting….Hoerl’s affectionate portrayal of Jack has an edge-worn, lived-in feel that rightly owns the show." -- Centerstagechicago.com
Jeff Recommended
"Features a note-perfect set by Melania Lancy and subtle, unhurried performances...— Reid, Chicago Reader
"This is a brilliant production of a fantastic play with five outstanding performances that unfolds as one mesmerizing night at the theatre. This is one of the finest plays of the year!" — ChicagoCritic.com
"John Zinn and Ted Hoerl anchor this amazing show. " -- Chicagocritic.com
"There’s Jack (Ted Hoerl, expertly tempering sarcasm with regret) a mechanic who opens the dam’s floodgates with a fairy story and closes them with a bittersweet, cautionary tale." -- The Daily Herald
"Hoerl, in particular, is in fine form as the cantankerous old man of the group." -- Time Out Chicago
"The players emote with such casual competence that you almost forget that they’re acting….Hoerl’s affectionate portrayal of Jack has an edge-worn, lived-in feel that rightly owns the show." -- Centerstagechicago.com
Rabbit Hole
Taken from the March 21, 2007 Illinois News Wire
Dan ZeffCopley News Service
Review of Rabbit Hole at the Goodman Theatre
CHICAGO - Why would anyone want to watch a play about two parents trying to deal with the grief of losing a child in an accident? If it's a play like Rabbit Hole, the rewards are considerable, thanks to sensitive and honest writing blended with humor, all presented in a flawless performance at the Goodman Theatre.
The David Lindsay-Abaire drama was a surprise hit on Broadway last year. Lindsay-Abaire made his reputation with a pair of absurdist comedy-dramas called Fuddy Meers and Kimberly Akimbo, neither of which prepared audiences and reviewers for the finely tuned realism and compassion of Rabbit Hole.
Given its off-putting subject matter, the play wasn't a candidate for a national tour. Goodman picked up the show for its subscription series, for which local theatergoers should give much thanks.
The storyline is simple. Howie and Becca are a thirty-something husband and wife living in the suburb of Larchmont, N.Y. As the play begins, it's been eight months since their only child, a 4-year-old boy named Danny, was killed by an automobile when he ran into the street to chase the family dog. The first scene is disarmingly light, with Becca bantering and bickering with her disheveled younger sister Izzy, who hasn't been able to get her life together and now finds herself pregnant.
The casual humor of the opening minutes gradually yields to a portrait of both Becca and Howie floundering emotionally as they grieve over their boy's death, each in his or her own way. Becca is tortured by reminders of the boy scattered throughout the home and even wants to sell the house. Howie treasures those reminders, whether they are a videotape of the boy just before his death or his childish paintings pasted on the refrigerator door. Becca's mother Nat adds to the emotional mix, a blunt woman still dealing with the suicide of her adult son 11 years ago.
The play is shot through with tensions among all the characters, including Izzy and Jason, the high school boy who drove the car that killed Danny. The marriage between Howie and Becca is under psychological siege. Both characters are locked in their own worlds of suffering and they often rub each other raw. Ironically, the flighty Izzy seems to grow in strength of character as her pregnancy advances.
To the playwright's credit, he offers no easy solutions or bogus happy endings to the agony of the bereaved parents. For them, a term like "closure" is psychobabble. They will never get over the death of their child, but in the play's final moment there is a hint that perhaps they can face their loss with a resolution that will preserve their marriage and their mental health.
In a play of this delicacy, the production is everything. One false note of melodrama or sentimentality would shatter the evening. The script must have been a scary project for director Steve Scott, but he rose to the challenge with a staging of sustained intensity, leavened with humor, that looks and sounds just right every moment.
The performances are beyond criticism. Each of the five characters comes across with realism, credibility and humanity. I can only speculate on the emotional toll the play must take on the cast each performance. But, they all seem born to play their roles. The obvious centerpieces of the ensemble are the actors who play the parents, yet I'll start with Jürgen Hooper, who makes three appearances as Jason, the young driver of the car that killed Danny. The boy is obviously suffering a misery of guilt and regret over the incident, but he speaks with an understatement that delivers more impact that any weeping or breast beating. Hooper's rendering of the boy's quiet pain is indelible.
Lia Mortensen plays Becca and Daniel Cantor plays Howie. Both capture the anger and frustration and agony of their situation without a misstep. Mortensen and Cantor create decent and intelligent people struggling to handle an appalling catastrophe, which at this time looks like a lifetime sentence of unending sorrow. They reach out for consolation but the ache and desperation are often just too much.
Mary Ann Thebus provides some welcome comic relief as Becca's outspoken mother trying to cope with her own demons in the loss of her son. Amy Warren, an actress on the rise in area theater big-time, is just right as Izzy, the disheveled sister who talks a lot of undiplomatic common sense to Becca and Howie.
Scott Bradley designed the bi-level set that authentically re-creates the kitchen and living room of the suburban home on the first level, with the bedroom of the dead child above. Birgit Rattenborg Wise designed the contemporary costumes, Robert Christen the atmospheric lighting, and Richard Woodbury provided the sound design and original music.
The show gets a rating of 3 1/2 stars.
Bernard Shaw’s State of the Union
Theatre Kingston's comedy sees two men - a poet, the husband - fight for Candida's love.
Madness - or rather the attribution of madness - appears as the lightest of comic leit motifs in George Bernard Shaw's Candida.
When a character's behaviour pushes beyond the borders of the conventional and the expected, he or she is quickly judged mad by those who db not comprehend it.
Prossy, the straight-laced. outspoken and love-struck secretary to Morell; Marchbanks, the naive, romantically obsessed but surprisingly resilient poet; Morell, the Christian clergyman and pious socialist whose other god is honesty and straight speaking; and Candida herself, Morell's eminently practical. managerial wife - none are immune from the allegation.
As Burgess, Candida's father, says, "Why, it must be catching! Four in the same house!"
These precipitous attributions of insanity give rise to some of the comedy in this pleasantest of Shaw's Plays Pleasant. But they also function as satiric Shavian fingerpointing at those who fail to understand his ideas. They serve, too, as a warning to his audiences that they must look beneath the surface to grasp the meaning of the conundrum presented in his play.
And what is the conundrum in Candida?
How is it, Shaw asks, that we are able to do good in the world? From where does the strength, the grace to do so, come? Does it come from being in the right and wielding the power and the authority that flows from being right? Or does it arise out of the love of one human being for another?
It is somewhat more than 100 years since Shaw wrote Candida. In Theatre Kingston's production of his play, the puzzle still intrigues and the working out of the resolution continues to delight.
Paula Schultz's Candida is a woman whom, in Morell's words, "Everyone loves... they can't help it." She is clear-headed, charming, tender, motherly and, when provoked, indignantly angry. Above all, she is sensible and practical. Schultz switches neatly from role to role and it is easy to see why she can become all things to all men.
However, Candida is placed on something of a pedestal. Much of the tension in the play arises from the fact that each man sees in Candida whatever he desires her to be.
Conflict is inevitable. and those who have the most invested in herthe parson and the poet - must do battle for her:
The Rev. James Mavor Morell is Candida's good-looking, vigorous, honey-tongued and charismatic husband. Passionately committed to the socialist cause, he thunders it from the pulpit and night after night whips up the members of various social action groups to enthusiastic applause.
Morell loves Candida; to him she is the perfect marriage partner: To Candida, however, he is "my boy... spoiled with love and worship." Craig Walker gives us both of these sides of Morell and lets us see clearly that he is ripe, and probably overdue, for a fall.
Naive in his way and piously certain of his relationship with Candida, when Morell's marriage is threatened; Walker modulates nicely from confident laughter through doubt-filled anxiety, then genuine hurt, violent anger, to climax in child-like self-pity.
But Walker, rightly, never allows his character to become merely pitiable. Rather, Morell struggles honestly with his fears, confronts them courageously, and finally understands and accepts Candida's role in their marriage.
Mr. Eugene Marchbanks, the son of an Earl, the romantically anguished 18-year-old poet is cast as the threat to the Morell's middleclass love nest.
Marchbanks is blind to how Candida can have fallen in love with Morell. He is appalled that Candida must slice onions and ruin her hands wielding a scrub brush.
Instead, he offers to sail her away "far from the world. where the marble floors are washed by the rain and dried by the sun." Goodness and beauty don't belong in the ugly, real world.
If occasionally he appears to have an overly "shrinking manner" (Shaw's description), Adam Wray as Marchbanks creates an effective foil to Morell in which his tormented passion and acute sensitivity are a worthy match to the parson's sermonizing.
Inevitably, the conflict between these two is foisted on the mother/goddess, Candida: "I am to choose, am I? ... I am up for auction it seems." And with her decision resolving the Gordian knot that Shaw has created for us, the play ends.
Much of the laughter is provided by supporting characters.
Proserpine (Prossy) Garnet, played by Emma Hunter; is lovingly obedient to her superiors and, on the other hand, earns some fine laughs cutting down to size her over-pretentious peers, Lexy and Burgess.
David Condren as the Reverend Alexander Mill (Lexy), is delightful in his over-the-top dotage on his master; Morrell.
**** out of 5 stars
AIRE instructor Steve Scott's recent review
'Frozen' asks if evil or injury drives killer
THEATER Virginia slayings could make audience cool, even to hot performances
April 18, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
What a difference a day makes. Until Monday's slaughter at the Virginia Institute of Technology, the ideas about violence, retribution and forgiveness in Bryony Lavery's 2004 "Frozen" -- a London and Broadway hit now in a stunningly acted Chicago area debut at Next Theatre -- might have reached receptive audiences. They might even have bought into the British playwright's neat assessment of the difference between those who act out of willful evil and those driven to do terrible things as a consequence of damage caused by physical and emotional abuse in childhood.
But now, all that research might seem like so much hogwash. True, there are thugs who kill and destroy for venal or radically political purposes. Equally true, there are those whose violent acts might well be rooted in the extreme cruelty meted out to them early in their lives. Yet when the corpses pile up -- and your own child, parent or loved one is among the innocent victims -- does it really make a difference? And is acceptance and forgiveness the best way to move on?
Lavery's play is set in a rural English town where Nancy (Laura T. Fisher), has been emotionally frozen for 20 years -- ever since her 10-year-old daughter was abducted, raped and murdered by Ralph (Joseph Wycoff), a serial killer since imprisoned.
Now, Agnetha (Jenny McKnight), an American psychiatrist with a severe case of panic disorder, has come to London to deliver a research paper written in collaboration with a married man she loved, and who was recently killed in an accident.
Agnetha's thesis is that the brain of an abused child does indeed develop differently, so the adult actions of that person cannot be condemned as evil but as the consequence of illness. Incarceration might be necessary, but compassion and forgiveness also are needed. So in a climactic scene, Nancy visits her daughter's tormentor, and both appear to find mutual catharsis, even if this takes radically different forms.
Director Steve Scott, who has a terrific flair for casting, has chosen his cast to perfection. Fisher, in a brilliant portrayal, easily suggests a 20-year gap, and McKnight, sensual and mysteriously wounded, is quite the neurotic. As for Wycoff -- head shaved, eyes like bits of coal and strangely sexy in the hypnotic, rhythmic patterns of his speech -- he will wow you. In fact, for a few days now, I've been compulsively repeating Ralph's little mantra ("Oh, yes; oh, yes").
Lavery's argument is very hard to swallow, but these actors will make you bite all the same.
hweiss@suntimes.com
THEATER Virginia slayings could make audience cool, even to hot performances
April 18, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
What a difference a day makes. Until Monday's slaughter at the Virginia Institute of Technology, the ideas about violence, retribution and forgiveness in Bryony Lavery's 2004 "Frozen" -- a London and Broadway hit now in a stunningly acted Chicago area debut at Next Theatre -- might have reached receptive audiences. They might even have bought into the British playwright's neat assessment of the difference between those who act out of willful evil and those driven to do terrible things as a consequence of damage caused by physical and emotional abuse in childhood.
But now, all that research might seem like so much hogwash. True, there are thugs who kill and destroy for venal or radically political purposes. Equally true, there are those whose violent acts might well be rooted in the extreme cruelty meted out to them early in their lives. Yet when the corpses pile up -- and your own child, parent or loved one is among the innocent victims -- does it really make a difference? And is acceptance and forgiveness the best way to move on?
Lavery's play is set in a rural English town where Nancy (Laura T. Fisher), has been emotionally frozen for 20 years -- ever since her 10-year-old daughter was abducted, raped and murdered by Ralph (Joseph Wycoff), a serial killer since imprisoned.
Now, Agnetha (Jenny McKnight), an American psychiatrist with a severe case of panic disorder, has come to London to deliver a research paper written in collaboration with a married man she loved, and who was recently killed in an accident.
Agnetha's thesis is that the brain of an abused child does indeed develop differently, so the adult actions of that person cannot be condemned as evil but as the consequence of illness. Incarceration might be necessary, but compassion and forgiveness also are needed. So in a climactic scene, Nancy visits her daughter's tormentor, and both appear to find mutual catharsis, even if this takes radically different forms.
Director Steve Scott, who has a terrific flair for casting, has chosen his cast to perfection. Fisher, in a brilliant portrayal, easily suggests a 20-year gap, and McKnight, sensual and mysteriously wounded, is quite the neurotic. As for Wycoff -- head shaved, eyes like bits of coal and strangely sexy in the hypnotic, rhythmic patterns of his speech -- he will wow you. In fact, for a few days now, I've been compulsively repeating Ralph's little mantra ("Oh, yes; oh, yes").
Lavery's argument is very hard to swallow, but these actors will make you bite all the same.
hweiss@suntimes.com
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
AIRE 2007 images - Rob O'Neill's photos
"Clumps" - part of
Shakespeare
Workout
Carolyn Cox - Seattle
Vicky Drake - Seattle
Valerie Sing Turner - Vancouver
Lisa Levan - Seattle
Tricia Rogers - Chicago
Louise Carnachan - Orcas Island
Liz Bagby - Chicago
Norm Stamper - Orcas Island
Kristen Nedopak - Seattle
Kara Whitney - Seattle
Emi Clark - Chicago
Eleanor Crowder - Ottawa
Christi Proffitt - Seattle
Betty Lorkowski -
Chicago
Bert
Steinmanis - Vancouver
Adam Bergquist -
Vancouver
Sorry we could not get everyone!
Your performances were, after all, riveting. God bless Rob for being able to
focus as it was.
Your performances were, after all, riveting. God bless Rob for being able to
focus as it was.
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