Welcomed Distraction

So, there's a very good reason I haven't posted in a couple of days. This:



Netflix has decided they would make the Playing Shakespeare series available to their online streaming customers. I really picked the wrong time to be busy.



peace.

The McKellen School

Tonight, I'm going to spend some time writing (or at least, pondering) some material for my current project. Therefore, allow me to leave you with this.

Many people often ask me how I do what I do. This is about the best way I've heard it described.

:)

peace.

Thoughts on Speech Sounds: A Preview

Fast forward to 4:23 if you really want to see something cool.

I'm even a fan of Patrick Stewart's comment after John Barton is done.

There has been a lot of research done on the sound of early modern English since John Barton displayed this in the late 1970s. However, this video still offers us a more authentic idea of how Shakespeare originally sounded. It seemed a lot more interesting to hear back then.

I had a flashback a few weeks ago to an experience with Shakespeare having to do with the usage of certain prescribed sounds of speech that are traditionally, and I feel antiquatedly, associated with the performance of Shakespeare text. I'm currently putting together a post comprised of thoughts and ideas both of my own perspective and the perspective of some of North America's leading experts of voice and speech for the stage. Consider this video a bit of a preview.

We'll speak again soon.

peace.

Winter's Tale Plankage

So I've sat on these pictures long enough. It's time to let them breathe.

These are planking pictures taken during intermission and post-show of the last performance of Delaware Shakespeare Festival's The Winter's Tale. Many may be a bit grainy and/or dark because I was toying with the settings on my camera and the light was fading fast. I didn't want pictures that would keep spilling off the page of my blog!

In the photos, you'll see epic planks by Janice Rowland, Griffin Stanton-Ameisen, Sean Bradley, and myself.

Check 'em out.

The illusive Double-Overhead Compartment Plank

The Under-The-Bus Plank in Workout Clothes

The tricky Double-Across the Headrests Plank

The technically difficult Roadie Box Plank

The Radiant Hermione Plank

The Great Depression Plank

The Tailgater's Plank

The "Papa was a Rolling Stone" Plank

The flamboyant Handrail Plank

Apparently, Janice and Griffin had no idea what plank was until Sean and I began goofing around. Nevertheless, this planking session has sparked conversations about a day of planking in and around the greater Philadelphia area. So if you're a fan of plankage, stay tuned.

peace.

Closure

Well, it's over...almost.

Last night was Delaware Shakespeare Festival's final performance of The Winter's Tale in Rockwood Park. It was a wonderful audience, more vocal than most. We also didn't have any of the weather issues which plagued our run during the second week. But more than anything, everyone seemed to have a ton of fun doing the show and we all had a great time at the closing night party.

Fortunately for us, we'll have one more shot at the show this coming Thursday. The company has been invited to perform at The Freeman Stage in Selbyville, DE. Admission is totally free, so if you're in the area and would enjoy an evening of Shakespeare, I wholeheartedly recommend coming to see us. I must admit this is one of the most solidly performed productions of Shakespeare that I've had the pleasure to work.

peace.

A Man Possessed

This is Jim Meskimen, and he's simply brilliant.

I'm such a sucker for stuff like this.

I spent almost an entire year at York University studying the intricacies of voice, text, and speech sounds in the service of theatrical performance. One of the most important and challenging part of my studies was the exploration of accent and dialect patterns. We spent significant amounts of time practicing the most effective ways to dissect and reproduce any given dialect or accent, with a substantial emphasis on using the International Phonetic Alphabet. In fact, there is a wonderful book by co-authors Edda Sharpe and Jan Haydn Rowles called How to Do Accents (See here.) that serves as a easy-to-use guide on the journey towards playing new dialects. In the book, Rowles and Sharpe emphasize the importance of finding the sensory and rhythmic aspects of a new dialect and using them as the foundation around which the dialect is built. Mr. Meskimen's here is a fantastic illustration of someone who's employed these aspects to delightful effect.

The most amazing thing about this video is how Jim is able to use the rhythms and idiosyncrasies of each new impression to continue the argument and story of the text. Playing Shakespeare's work is already difficult enough without having to change dialects mid-thought. Somehow, as absurd as it seems, the transition between Droopy Dog (This guy.) and Morgan Freeman (This guy.) seems almost natural and organic.

I listened to the clip once through while following the text he used and it's true he missed and/or paraphrases some bits, but the sense of it is all there. And considering he played in 25 different dialects, I think I'll cut him some slack.

peace.

We're Open!

Last night, we opened Delaware Shakespeare Festival's The Winter's Tale in Rockwood Mansion Park, just on the outskirts of Wilmington, DE. It was a wonderful night.

If you get a chance to see it I can guarantee you'll have a lovely summer evening in the park, as long as you bring enough bug spray!

Look here for more information.

peace.

A Quick Thought on Community

As of this morning, I've been a member of the Philadelphia theatre community for 11 months and 10 days. I've mailed or emailed dozens headshots and resumes, attended tons of auditions, and seen as many plays as my time and resources can afford. It's been a difficult, exhausting, wonderful, inspiring, thoughtful, blinding experience. Even though it's been a year, it's really only felt like a month. I hardly know where the time went.

And in the first months, I hardly knew a soul in town.

Tonight I went to see a fantastic outdoor production of Richard III by Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company. (If you have a chance, check it out! There's information here!) Some of my castmates from Delaware Shakespeare Festival's The Winter's Tale where there to enjoy the show. (If you have a chance, check us out! There's information here!) After the show, many of us stuck around to meet new people, catch up with old friends, and laugh with familiar faces.

As the stories and conversations played on, I began to feel something different about myself tonight.

I genuinely felt as if I was becoming a part of something in this town; a collective; a culture; a society. Due to the important work I've done so far in Philly (both on my own and with others), I've begun to build a respectable history for myself here. I'm no longer the guy that someone met at the bar one time, humbling announcing myself as the new guy in town. I have new energies in my life that are becoming important and welcomed facets of my experience. I felt the beginnings of friendships and important conversations. I sense I'm starting down the right path towards being a productive member of a first rate theatrical community.

It's a good feeling, and I'm incredible grateful.

peace.

The Winter's Tale: Off We Go!

Tonight was my first rehearsal with the Delaware Shakespeare Festival's cast of The Winter's Tale, and I had a really good time. It felt fantastic to be sitting with this large group of people at the beginning of a process that seems as if it's going to be enriching and quite exciting. This is my second experience with this play and I'm looking forward to being part of how this group tackles the play differently than the last. I'm also playing a different character this time (Antigonus before, Polixines now), so I'll be interested to explore a new journey through this play.

As a goof, I searched The Winter's Tale on youtube and this is what came up.

Now I don't know about you, but I think stop-motion animation is hilarious. I'm loving this.

peace.

Light Reading

I finally got around to cleaning my room today and filing the horde of papers strewn about my living space. But what's more exciting (for me) was that I've officially compiled all of the books I'll be taking with me to Vancouver in May to Canada's National Voice Intensive. I'm very much looking forward to this experience, and having the stack sitting here on my desk makes me feel like things are beginning to happen. These books will serve as valuable references for the work that will go on during our five weeks there. Here's a list with brief descriptions of each book.

These are the four plays with which we'll be working. All are by the homie William Shakespeare.

The Merchant of Venice

Twelfth Night

Julius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra

These plays, along with various Shakespeare sonnets chose by the participants, will be our primary source material for all of the text based explorations.

Freeing The Natural Voice (revised and expanded) by Kristin Linklater - Since the primary work of the Voice Intensive is based in the tradition of Linklater, this book is a wonderful reference for examining the vocabulary, progression, and function of voice practice.

The Eloquent Shakespeare by Gary Logan - This is one of the most valuable publications available for any actor who wants to work with Shakespeare. Many of Shakespeare's words have foreign or double pronunciations, and this book is magnificent in decoding them. (Plus, Gary's my homeboy!)

Shakespeare's First Texts by Neil Freeman - It's a wonderful guide to the structure of Shakespeare's verse. This book is quite helpful in making sense of how Shakespeare used phrasing, punctuation, and persuasion.

Shakespeare's Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary by Alexander Schmidt - This two volume set defines every word in every single one of Shakespeare's plays, poems, and sonnets in the given contexts of each work. If you're an actor who works with Shakespeare and you don't have these, you're kidding yourself.

Speech Sounds (2nd Edition) by Patricia Ashby - Last year during my training as a voice teacher, we had rigorous sessions of learning the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. This book is a clear and simple resource that allows easy access to IPA without making it feel cumbersome or intruding on the spontaneity of the voice work.

The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau - This is coming with me to help me shake things up a bit; not too much, and not in a rebellious way, but simply to keep folks on their toes.

The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare - While the Voice Intensive participants are working on their monologues and scenes, I'll be working on this. I've been cast as Polixenes in a production of this play at the Delaware Shakespeare Festival, and I'll be primed to begin after time at the Intensive.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Brooklyn, the home of our current Emcee of the Month, Joell Ortiz. My friend Mariana's party is Saturday night and I'm not missing it for the world. If I bump into Joell, maybe I'll tell him what I'm doing over here to see what he thinks. Who knows, I may just get an interview or something!

peace.

Quick Study

In preparation of working at the Voice Intensive this summer, I've been reading the plays chosen to provide material for the program's text-based explorations. Each year, four Shakespeare plays are used as the source of all the scenes and monologues examined by the participants. This year the four plays are:

Julius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra

Twelfth Night

The Merchant of Venice

Tonight I would like to take the opportunity to advocate a Shakespeare resource that I have found exceedingly valuable in getting through these plays, The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare.

The Arkangel is a collection of unabridged, fully dramatized recordings of all 38 plays in the Shakespeare canon. There are close to 400 actors in the series, most of whom are current or former members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Reading an entire play by Shakespeare has always been difficult for me. It's incredibly easy to be swept away by the poetry and imagery, eventually losing any sense of what's actually happening. In addition, keeping up with the meanings and contexts of some of the more antiquated words and phrases can be quite a task that almost always requires two or three readings of a passage or scene.

However, since I've been listening to the Arkangel recordings and following along with my text, I haven't had nearly as much difficulty as I would with the script alone. The story has actual movement and texture due to the opportunity of listening while reading. I can more easily differentiate the characters; their voices don't get lost in my own. And the language isn't as laborious now that actors are there to give it context. I'm finally able to experience the plays as an audience member rather than a scholar; it's much more satisfying.

I've already gotten through Merchant and am now making my way in Antony. And I've been able to read them in record time. If you have the means and the need I wholeheartedly suggest picking up this series. It's fantastic.

peace.

A Quick Thought on Touring Theatre in High Schools

Today I finished a four-week touring production of Hamlet for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre that traveled to various high schools in the Philadelphia area. I must say it has to be the most demanding theatrical project I've ever undertaken.

My days were quite grueling. I usually awoke at five or six o'clock in the morning to drive into center city Philadelphia. After getting parked, the company would load the tour van with all of our necessary props and costumes, then drive to the school, set-up, quickly rehearse our sword fight, perform the show, have a 30 minute question and answer session, pack all the props and things back into the van, drive back to the theatre, and finally put the gear back into its temporary storage until the next day. We were usually done by 11:30 or 12 o'clock.

Let me tell you, there's nothing like beginning at 5am and not breathing until 12 noon to really wear someone out. I was usually no good at all in the afternoon.

Nevertheless, this has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It's a wonderful day when I can perform a play for a group of kids who may have never seen live theatre, or see it all the time, and discovering a mutual sense of inspiration and excitement. I've met some amazing kids during this tour and I'm proud to have been a part of this production.

peace.

Why I Do Theatre

Thanks, Patsy. That's about right.

There'll be more on this down the road, folks.

peace.

Perfecto!

I figure there's been enough coverage of the Wisconsin union battle everywhere else today, so I figured I leave it alone for now. Besides, I was inspired today by something much more illuminating.

Currently, I've been working with the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre as an actor for their school tour of Hamlet. The production consists of one production manager and four actors who practically pack the entire show in a minivan and travel to various public schools in the Delaware Valley to perform. With the exception of the cat who plays Hamlet, each actor plays multiple roles (I'm Polonius, Horatio, Laertes, and Rozencrantz.) and the script is cut from its original four hour length to an hour and twenty minutes or so. After each performance we have a brief question-and-answer session with the students, shake a few hands and such, then pack up our stuff to make our way back to the theater.

Today's performance was at a vocational high school here in Philadelphia. When we arrived, we unloaded our stuff and began setting up on the stage in the school's "cafetorium". As we were loading in, much of the student body were finishing their breakfast in the same room, and it was immediately apparent the school was attended by a majority of African-American students.

Now, I am as susceptible to the frailties of human prejudice as anyone else. Not only that, at times I am apprehensive as to how my work will be received by the folks in my own community. I don't think is incredibly stereotypical to say many African-Americans, though politically liberal and progressive, trend towards social conservatism. Therefore, a stigma exists in the black community towards the exploration of performing arts. Many people who do what I do know this whether they like to admit it or not, which is why quality productions of Shakespeare, Chekov, or even August Wilson are a rarity in black communities. (Boy, I'm going to get in a lot of trouble!)

So I'm expecting the worst; disinterest, lack of attention, sleeping, heckling, etc.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

From the very first moment of the show these kids were incredibly engaged, and their energy was palpable. There received every word and had wonderful responses to every action. Many times throughout the show my cast mates and I heard many verbal responses to the events on stage like, "Oh snap! He killed Polonius!" or, "Wow!" and even, "Get 'em Hamlet!"

By the way, for all of you regular theatre goers, most of us actors like these types of responses. Read up on the groundlings that patronized The Globe.

After the show and a wonderfully rambunctious q&a, the kids made their way to the stage to shake hands and take pictures with all of us. And let me tell ya, there's nothing like a 17 year old asking for an autograph to stroke one's ego. It's almost narcotic-like.

As we were leaving the school we were still in disbelief as to how much fun we had performing at 8:30am. We never expected it. And I think we all learned something as well. All people hope for engagement, especially those that may not have ready access to it. I think it's safe to say we walked a little taller today. Days like today are why we do what we do.

peace.

The Cue for Passion

A colleague of mine was arrested today for attempting to expose strangers in a public place to the art of theatre. It was quite an event. My group all knew there was the possibility of it happening, but I don't think any of us ever actually thought it would. And as rebellious as I feel against the conventions and implementations of contemporary theatre, (I've wanted to be a part of something like this for a while now.) I find myself more conflicted than I anticipated.

In one perspective, I say more power to my colleague. I'm thoroughly convinced that we live in a society whose ability to experience its world and surroundings is ever receding. We live not as solidly in the actual, tangible world but more in the virtual one created by iPods, smart phones, and e-readers. And while I'm undoubtedly supportive of technological progression (I mean, I am saying all this on my blog.), I feel these advances should serve to accentuate our experience the world, not substitute them. So if my colleague's efforts and subsequent arrest today prompted the surrounding witnesses to notice and observe a real, touchable, smellable, taste-able happening and have a genuine response to it, mission accomplished.

However, I must consider the fact that my colleague was in fact infringing on the personal privacies of everyone within sight and earshot of his efforts. No one out there today chose to be a witness to a person performing for them. I imagine some were sitting outside to temporarily escape the stress of their crappy jobs, to converse with a friend or loved one in seclusion, or simply to enjoy the wonderful weather we had today. They never bargained to have someone speak a monologue to them while handing them a flyer about an upcoming theatrical production. And the responses were as varied as the audience; some simply tuned it out, others seemed quite amused or entertained, and some were visibly annoyed.

Perhaps effective rebellion requires a more balanced approach. Consider the latest political upheaval in Egypt. Those people participated in a rebellion that has inspired the entire world. I think a big part of that inspiration stems from the lack of violence and force exhibited by not only the protesters, but the Egyptian army as well. It proved to the world that force may not be the most valuable ingredient in true rebellion, but rather belief and conviction that wins the day. A message need not only be heard, but the ones who hear it need to be impacted in such a way that evokes engaged response, not simply begrudged acknowledgement (see Wisconsin governor Scott Walker). It's at that point when rebellion blossoms into revolution.

I'm reminded of a song by Amel Larrieux called "Infinite Possibilities" off of her 2000 album of the same title. When I first heard it as a 20 year old having my first tastes of political and social awareness, this track fit me like an old shoe. In the first verse, Amel sings:

21

All of life has just begun

Got a temper like a gun

Pointing it at everyone

That's his game

And it helps him to get through the day

When a voice inside him says

"How much longer can I play?"

What does it take to bridge the expanse between rebel and revolutionary?

peace.

"...a regular modern-day Shakespeare."

Check it:

from Henry V, Act IV Prologue

written by William Shakespeare

Now entertain conjecture of a time (10 syllables)

When creeping murmur and the pouring dark (10 syllables)

Fills the wide vessel of the universe. (10 syllables)

From camp to camp through the foul womb of night (10 syllables)

The hum of either army stilly sounds, (10 syllables)

That the fixed sentinels almost receive (10 syllables)

The secret whispers of each others' watch: (10 syllables)

Fire answers Fire, and through their paly flames (10 syllables)

Each battle sees the other's umber'd face; (10 syllables)

Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs (10 syllables)

Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents (10 syllables)

The armorers, accomplishing the knights, (10 syllables)

With busy hammers closing rivets up, (10 syllables)

Give dreadful note of preparation: (10 syllables: preparation has four)

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, (10 syllables)

And the third hour of drowsy morning name. (10 syllables: hour has one)

Proud of their numbers and secure in soul, (10 syllables)

The confident and over-lusty French (10 syllables)

Do the low-rated English play at dice; (10 syllables)

Follow me?

Good. Now check this:

from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Track 2: "Lost Ones"

written by Lauryn Hill

It's funny how money change a situation, (12 syllables)

Miscommunication leads to complication. (12 syllables)

My emancipation don't fit your equation. (12 syllables)

I was on the humble, you on every station. (12 syllables)

Some wan' play young Lauryn like she dumb, (9 syllables)

But remember not a game new under the sun; (12 syllables)

Everything you did has already been done (11 syllables)

I know all the tricks from Bricks to Kingston. (10 syllables)

My ting done made your kingdom wan' run. (9 syllables)

Now understand L Boogie not violent, (10 syllables)

But if a thing test me, run for me gun; (10 syllables)

Can't take a threat to me new born son. (9 syllables)

L's been this way since creation. (8 syllables)

A groupie call, you fall from temptation, (10 syllables)

Now you wanna ball over separation; (11 syllables)

Tarnish my image in your conversation, (11 syllables)

Who you gonna scrimmage like you the champion? (11 syllables)

You might win some but you just lost one. (9 syllables)

One reason Lauryn shifts the syllable count is because she moves in and out of two different dialects in this verse. (There are instances of Shakespeare doing something similar. This simply isn't one of them. Have a look at Leontes' rants from The Winter's Tale.) But more than that, she probably moved it around to entertain herself. Nevertheless, the structural foundations are exactly the same. I've always been fascinated with this particular verse for this very reason. And even though I've observed this in other hip hop tracks, Lauryn's writing on this particular cut highlights these structural similarities exceptionally well.

Here, have a listen.

peace.