On the off chance that I ever direct a show of my own, I must remember the excersize Erin had us do yesterday. We had been rehearsing a scene for what felt like hours in the blazing heat when Erin decided to have us switch parts. She also instructed us to be as ridiculous as possible. The result was so funny that I started laughing onstage. How unprofessional of me.
However, in addition to being amusing, it was quite eye opening. Obviously, different actors make different choices playing the same parts, and some people were quite good in the parts they took when Erin had us switch. My personal favorite during the switch was Desiray's five-year-old niece as the carpenters child (Desiray had her sister's kids with her yesterday). She was an absolute natural.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Women Behind (and In Front of) The Curtain, (part one)
Believe it or not, it took me five minutes to come up with that title. See, I was originally going to riff on the title of the play, but then I realized I did that in the last post...well, never mind.
Anyway, it just occured to me today: how lucky am I to be working with people I actually like? I'm not just saying that, either. You really do meet the most interesting people in theater. Some of the women in the show are circus performers, others teach, some are career actors...I've heard some fascinating stories from everyone I've talked to. Almost makes a girl want to bring a tape recorder to work. I think it might be especially interesting for me because I'm the baby of the group; I'm guessing that the people closest to my age in the play are five or six years older than I am. Needless to say, I feel extremely immature.
Everyone's official bios can be found here (under "bios"). But here's what I've noticed about a few people in the cast:
El Beh (Shen Te/Shui Ta) is amazing. I was lucky enough to get to watch her audition, which was so memorable and funny that I still remember both of her monologues. Her second one was particularly hilarious; it was an obnoxious guy in his early twenties talking about seeing Hulk Hogan in a Del Taco. Even though the people behind the audition table usually keep their faces completely impassive, I think I was laughing by the second sentence of the monologue. I think even Erin the Serious Director Lady was smiling by the end of it.
Holly Chou (Wang) is as kind as the character she plays. She's so very enthusiastic about the play and life in general that being in the same room with her often makes my day. Wang is my favorite character, quite possibly because of how Holly manges to find the perfect balance between endearing and funny; even the big chunks of exposition Wang does are amusing.
According to Anne Hallinan (Mrs. Shin)'s bio, she returned to the stage on the eve of the millenium. The stage is quite lucky that she did; her Mrs. Shin's intelligence, nosiness and melodramatic outbursts make for some of the best moments in the play (if there were a play called "The Smart Person of Szechuan," Mrs. Shin would be the star--she's the only one who figured out that Shen Te and Shui Ta were the same peerson). I got to be there for an hour of rehearsal during which she was the only actor called, so she and Erin could work on her monologues. She's perfect for the part; she has made Mrs Shin into a wonderfully sympathetic busybody.
I have just as much to say about everyone in the cast, but if I said it all right now, I'd be sitting here until the cows came home (and considering that I live in the suburbs ofthe Bay Area, that would be an extremely long time). So, you'll have to wait until tommorrow to hear more about the wonderful cast and crew of "Good Person."
Anyway, it just occured to me today: how lucky am I to be working with people I actually like? I'm not just saying that, either. You really do meet the most interesting people in theater. Some of the women in the show are circus performers, others teach, some are career actors...I've heard some fascinating stories from everyone I've talked to. Almost makes a girl want to bring a tape recorder to work. I think it might be especially interesting for me because I'm the baby of the group; I'm guessing that the people closest to my age in the play are five or six years older than I am. Needless to say, I feel extremely immature.
Everyone's official bios can be found here (under "bios"). But here's what I've noticed about a few people in the cast:
El Beh (Shen Te/Shui Ta) is amazing. I was lucky enough to get to watch her audition, which was so memorable and funny that I still remember both of her monologues. Her second one was particularly hilarious; it was an obnoxious guy in his early twenties talking about seeing Hulk Hogan in a Del Taco. Even though the people behind the audition table usually keep their faces completely impassive, I think I was laughing by the second sentence of the monologue. I think even Erin the Serious Director Lady was smiling by the end of it.
Holly Chou (Wang) is as kind as the character she plays. She's so very enthusiastic about the play and life in general that being in the same room with her often makes my day. Wang is my favorite character, quite possibly because of how Holly manges to find the perfect balance between endearing and funny; even the big chunks of exposition Wang does are amusing.
According to Anne Hallinan (Mrs. Shin)'s bio, she returned to the stage on the eve of the millenium. The stage is quite lucky that she did; her Mrs. Shin's intelligence, nosiness and melodramatic outbursts make for some of the best moments in the play (if there were a play called "The Smart Person of Szechuan," Mrs. Shin would be the star--she's the only one who figured out that Shen Te and Shui Ta were the same peerson). I got to be there for an hour of rehearsal during which she was the only actor called, so she and Erin could work on her monologues. She's perfect for the part; she has made Mrs Shin into a wonderfully sympathetic busybody.
I have just as much to say about everyone in the cast, but if I said it all right now, I'd be sitting here until the cows came home (and considering that I live in the suburbs ofthe Bay Area, that would be an extremely long time). So, you'll have to wait until tommorrow to hear more about the wonderful cast and crew of "Good Person."
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Good Plot Devices of Szechuan
Hello! This is Sophie the Intern here to tell you about Woman's Will's currrent show, "The Good Person of Szechuan." We're already about halfway through the rehearsal process...suffice it to say, I'm waaayyy behind on the blogging.
So allow me a moment to get caught up.
"The Good Person of Szechuan" begins with a scene that one might expect to see at the end of most plays, and the happy end of most plays at that. In the opening scene we see three gods coming through the gates of the city of Szechuan, trying to find lodging for the night. Needless to say, most of the people in Szechuan toss them out on their godly rear ends. But finally, they find someone willing to put them up for the night--Shen Te the prostitute. Satisfied that they have managed to find a Good Person, the Gods give Shen Te a thousand silver dollars (which, at the time, was big money) and off they go. Shen Te uses the money to take over the lease on a tobacco shop. Usually, in situations like that, the protagonist lives happily ever after. No such luck for Shen Te, however. As soon as the town gets wind of Shen Te's good fortune, all her casual aquaintances come out of the woodwork, palms outstreched; her first landlords, the woman who formerly owned the shop, and the homeless guy who hangs out in front of the shop, just to name a few. And Shen Te is so soft-hearted that she can't say no to any of them. To make matters worse, Shen Te falls in love with a penniless deadbeat named Sun. In fact, things get so bad that Shen Te dresses up as a man and claims to be Shen Te's cousin Shui Ta. Shui Ta is everything Shen Te is not. He's tough, ruthless, and excels as a businessman. He has as many successes as Shen Te has failures. As the protagonist goes back and forth between kind-hearted Shen Te and hard-ass Shui Ta, hilarity, and some not-so-hilarious situations ensue. It's darkly hilarious and hilariously dark.
There's just one thing. One of my jobs as intern is to make a study guide. I'm supposed to include the themes of the play on the study guide. Themes that a seven year old could understand. No, I'm not exaggerating; people from the company are going to be teaching a class about this to kids so there is a good chance that seven-year-olds will actually be reading this thing. What themes am I supposed to include on this study guide, exactly? Prostitution? How even your gods will abandon you in the face of Capitalism? How it is impossible to be good to yourself and others at the same time? Szechuan, we have a problem.
However, the play itsself is lovely, as are the actors and director and pretty much everyone involved. I'll tell you more about all of them in the next entry.
So allow me a moment to get caught up.
"The Good Person of Szechuan" begins with a scene that one might expect to see at the end of most plays, and the happy end of most plays at that. In the opening scene we see three gods coming through the gates of the city of Szechuan, trying to find lodging for the night. Needless to say, most of the people in Szechuan toss them out on their godly rear ends. But finally, they find someone willing to put them up for the night--Shen Te the prostitute. Satisfied that they have managed to find a Good Person, the Gods give Shen Te a thousand silver dollars (which, at the time, was big money) and off they go. Shen Te uses the money to take over the lease on a tobacco shop. Usually, in situations like that, the protagonist lives happily ever after. No such luck for Shen Te, however. As soon as the town gets wind of Shen Te's good fortune, all her casual aquaintances come out of the woodwork, palms outstreched; her first landlords, the woman who formerly owned the shop, and the homeless guy who hangs out in front of the shop, just to name a few. And Shen Te is so soft-hearted that she can't say no to any of them. To make matters worse, Shen Te falls in love with a penniless deadbeat named Sun. In fact, things get so bad that Shen Te dresses up as a man and claims to be Shen Te's cousin Shui Ta. Shui Ta is everything Shen Te is not. He's tough, ruthless, and excels as a businessman. He has as many successes as Shen Te has failures. As the protagonist goes back and forth between kind-hearted Shen Te and hard-ass Shui Ta, hilarity, and some not-so-hilarious situations ensue. It's darkly hilarious and hilariously dark.
There's just one thing. One of my jobs as intern is to make a study guide. I'm supposed to include the themes of the play on the study guide. Themes that a seven year old could understand. No, I'm not exaggerating; people from the company are going to be teaching a class about this to kids so there is a good chance that seven-year-olds will actually be reading this thing. What themes am I supposed to include on this study guide, exactly? Prostitution? How even your gods will abandon you in the face of Capitalism? How it is impossible to be good to yourself and others at the same time? Szechuan, we have a problem.
However, the play itsself is lovely, as are the actors and director and pretty much everyone involved. I'll tell you more about all of them in the next entry.
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