Musings from the Muses

well yes is meant to be an actor-blog but...

2009-07-11T00:30:00.001-07:00

Kate and El have been doing so much else for the company that I can't in good conscience ask any more of them. There has been a lot of suspense this week, as El sprained her ankle Tuesday. Would she be able to walk for opening? Check. But what about doing all the fights, etc? It would be so sad to see all that beautiful choreography (really the most fun part of any "Shrew" anyway) go awol. As of tonight, final dress, the only thing missing is two carries of Kate. Im sure they'll be back for next weekend. Troopers, all of my lovely ladies. *sniff*

Why we love the Bay Area theater community

2009-07-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

This is the most lovely hell week I've ever had. First of all, the show has absolutely blossomed in the past few days. Then, when we realized we couldn't fit our set into our rehearsal space, Cal Shakes graciously let us use their space (thanks Ava and Jean-Paul). Then, our designers were working their asses off, and actors chipped in to help finish details, and designed like pros themselves. (Gotta love how multi-talented all these women are!) As a result, the show really feels like an ensemble creation, like something that everyone involved feels is precious and is working together to nourish into being. That's just how the company started, and just how I could only have dreamed my final show with the company would be. Feeling profoundly grateful and proud tonight.

Why we call it hell week

2009-07-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

Took the truck to the indoor rehearsal space, all ready to do a full dress/tech. Set? 3" too tall for the ceiling there. I need to say, this is not all that tall a set. Sigh... it's always something during tech. We really need to work with that thing. However, the run, once we finally got going, was lovely. I heart my actors.

Kate's diary: a history of injustice

2009-07-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

When just a child, I found a gleaming stone.
A diamond, my wandering dreams it named.
My sister seeing it, cried and cried
she called it hers and quickly lied:
"oh father,father she has my stone!"
Plucked it was from my loving hands
and given as penance for her tears

My mother held my head to heart
and gave peace to anxious trials
Her arms softened my raging fears
and pulled from me a smile
but heaven stole her warmth from me
and lay her body cold
she left me aimless here to flow
and sink to muddy guile

When my body gave way to womanly form
the doors of liberty broke around me
trees no more could be my haven
and every weasling man bloomed quick
into wedding bands heavy and thick
my father dreamed of airing house
of the breath and weight I put there in
But then my heaving heart let fly
the anger breaking from my pores
and I raised to heaven a hellish din
I hoped my waning freedom to win

yet fate holds dear the trick
of giving the carrot with the stick
Fire found fire and burned white hot
it melted fear, revenge and thought
and though I could deep grievance bear
I'd rather flowers of loving peace wear

Crunch time... and awakenings

2009-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend in Dimond Park rehearsing, we had an avid bunch of kids watching. They left a birthday party to come see a stop and go rehearsal! Less than a week from opening—the time we are all trying to cram in the last great ideas, realizing all the things I've done wrong (why on earth did I place everyone in front of Grumio in the second scene?) and making everything picture perfect. Luckily, inspiration is striking. Actors are realizing that they do really know those characters, and this cast seems to feel each other's timing very well. It was also our final day outdoors with the set, so luckily some things didn't work well—meaning we have identified the potential problems already and have time to fix them. As usual I wish we had another few days to rehearse, but it really was a fun show today even as a rehearsal. Nice women, nice play. Our unofficial motto is "kickass women, kickass plays", and we've got a few more days to make the transition from these lovely actors to those awesome characters, and it's looking good.

If it be thus to Dream: or Actor Kate's delusions of destructions

2009-06-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

So i know I have the same name as my character (though I am more often cursed than curst) but there is a point where one wants to leave the wooing and shrewing behind and settle down to peaceful slumber.
Everyone's had the "oh my! the play's about to open and I'm naked without money in a desert in Tunisia and my camel ate my passport then dropped dead!" dream, right?
But I have now evolved to a more complex state of what doctors may--one day--call sub-conscious-narco-drametus obsession. As I slept last night, two characters from the play snuck into my dream. Petruchio and Hortensio joined me in a quest to find *inhale*... something! i do not remember what and the "what" is not what's important for "whats" in the end are usually found wanting. Rather it is the Quest that drives a dream and no Quest could be complete without side kicks. Thus, in a wonderful change of positions (perhaps stemming from a deeply repressed need to control even false semblances of proto-masculine figures) Petruchio became my side-kick and Hortensio downgraded even further to the side-kick of the side-kick. And so we began our Quest for the "what."
The thing about "Whats" is that everyone wants them. So in a Quest for a "what" you inevitably have to battle nazis, ninjas, crusaders, magicians,rabid puppies or possessed kittens. In the case of me and my hapless cast-mates, we had to battle traffic. Yes, hoards of taxi-cabs, scratched-up Mercedes,vengeful Minis, and hellish hybrids dogged us through the streets. We ran and dodged over boulevards and through alleys while massive collisions followed in our wake. No CG rendering could ever live up to the vivid destruction that lay behind us.
With amazing agility I saved Hortensio from a raging Hummer and tossed a clue to the location of the "what" to Petruchio in that same glorious leap. Then the three of us took on a beast of a Caddy with monster shocks and battled our way through a place that vaguely resembled Union Square. (If I could control dreams I would have definitely put a cable-car chase in at this point, but instead...) The ground gave way beneath us and we found ourselves in a dark labyrinth of a parking garage. At this point I think Hortensio was hit by a yellow Beetle with a peace sign on the side. Don't worry, he lived. We carried him (or he levitated?). Next, Petruchio was clipped on the leg by Sharon Stone's limo (Ok,so I just made the limo bit up). At this point, I have one side-kick hobbling like a crab, the other is semi-conscious and levitating, and I only have one measly clue about the whereabouts of the "what." But never fear, Kate will persevere!
Somehow I get a light-saber-like object and slice my way out of the parking garage which it now appears in on the top of a sky-scraper. I and my trusty, but road-rag'ed, companions stand staring at the abyss below when suddenly I'm pushed from behind. Then as is always true, the dream ends without satisfaction. The "what" remains out of my reach and the identity of my pushy assailant remains unknown. Was it a vehicle returned from the dead or could it,would it possibly be one of my own dear comrades? Ah I shall never know.
So what did we learn from this little tale about Theatre, shrews and the meaning of life?
That the malevolent manifestation of destruction symbolizes the downfall of the human endeavors to master their globalized over-birth of technology?
or perhaps... that when a mind is singularly focused on inhabiting a performance the theater reality can become interwoven into all aspects of one's life.
Or...more likely, the moral is that you should never trust a person who's name ends in "io"
-Kate

Why theater is so addictive...

2009-06-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

There comes a period in almost every rehearsal process when everyone sucks and loses faith and vows not to invite their friends to see the show. It is inevitably the moment when they are forced, screaming, off book for the first time. When trying to remember lines without your script safety-net, they lose their balance again and again, they swear loudly and with feeling, and every ounce of momentum, joy and focus leaves the room. And then, just when I too begin to lose faith, they start to know their lines, and the show takes this magical leap forward, not back to where it was before they dropped script but way beyond, to a place of infinite potential. And man, does the joy flood back into that rehearsal room. That started happening last night, and tonight it was in full force—people making exciting choices, bringing in ideas I had never seen before, even making me hear the script afresh. And I've heard this thing five million times—taught it, been in it, directed it, had a scene from it at my wedding and so on... And you know, that feeling of extreme, group relief that we're not all just fools feels really really good.

Rhyming = Magic!

2009-06-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

Petruchio has some pretty awesome zingers in this play. Besides all the fun, (often dirty) banter that he gets to have with Kate, he has such a wide array of speech patterns that it gives me so much to play with! It also really shows the depths of this character. I have to admit: it’s been a little daunting… but if I can just look at all the language clues that Shakespeare created, then already, so much of the work has been done for me. Sure he’s playful and a jokester and dude’s dude, but he also sneaks so many moments of truth and earnestness into what he says. And thus the treasure hunt begins for all these golden moments, or phrases at least…. Rhyming = magic!

Reasons to be tamed

2009-06-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Trying to write my Director's Notes, but Antoine de Saint-Exupery has already said it for me: "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower . . . I think she has tamed me . . . "

"My life is very monotonous," (the fox) said. “But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . . "

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please--tame me!" he said.

"What must I do, to tame you? asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. “First you will sit down at a little distance from me--like that--in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day . . . "

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . . "

"Yes, that is so," said the fox. And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world.”

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.

"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made a friend, and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become tied, forever, to what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose.

from The Little Prince (please forgive the imperfect quoting)

Kate's playlist

2009-06-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

What sweet melodies would
frolic upon her drum
If Kate had an Ipod...

Rage Against the Machine-Bulls on Parade
The Decemberists- The Mariner's Revenge
A Perfect Circle- Annihilation
Sound Garden- Black Hole Sun
Deftones- My Own Summer (Shove it)
Lunatic Calm- Leave You Far Behind
Smashing Pumpkins-
Pink Floyd- Another Brick in the Wall
Nirvana- Love buzz (should be should buzz...haha)
Jeff Buckley- Yard of Blonde Girls (really more a song about Bianca)
Iron and Wine- Woman King
Cat Power- He War
Modest Mouse- The Good Times are Killing me
Daniel Johnston- True Love will Find you in the End (just to add a dash of hope)

--This actually looks alot like my 8th Grade play list

Kate's Diary June 14th

2009-06-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

My husband was gone yesterday, subjecting himself to painful labor, and I felt his absence keenly. Ruled by a patterned instinct, I looked for his face and felt a subtle sinking when it did not greet me.
Air replaced his rough hand upon my spine and voices from the distance shadowed the familiar words that used to spill forth from his lips.
Strange, after so brief an acquaintance, I should long for that which I despised. Fickle is the heart that follows what it flees.
The servants alone kept me company. After my husband's violent injustices towards them, I feel great sympathy for their state. They bumble and stumble, but seek their best to please.
The green hills of Dolores park also cheered me greatly. Yet, the bright sun beams belied the cold that snuck into our clothes.
I dream of days where the whisper of warmth will heat our bones, yet I fear the powerful onslaught of the sun's beams will make for miserable company.

Leaping into the fray

2009-06-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

Monday night our fight director, Carla Pantoja dropped by, and we all kicked each other's asses.

With all the fighting many of us have to do on a daily business (for our rights, for recognition, for the retention of our credit card limits, you name it), you'd think we wouldn't want to fight when we don't have to. But stage combat (staged fighting) is exhilarating! A big part of the reason we started the company was that many of us women had tons of stage combat training but never got to use it outside of class. And just like men, we love the camaraderie of a good tussle.

I met Carla in 1999 when another fight director said we just had to use her in our "Coriolanus." Love at first sight. I ended up playing Coriolanus (that's still pretty funny to me, at 5'2" and I think I weighed about 100# at the time), and she was my nemesis. We had one scene together in which we raved about how we loved fighting each other much more than sleeping with our wives, and I could feel it. Our fight was vicious and passionate and I felt intimately and infinitely connected to her. She was a company member for many years and still is our company fight director. (She also is co-owner of other company: www.duelingartssf.com, which offers public classes.)

So there we were on Monday night, building comic fights in exactly the same way we build the serious ones. She asks an actor what move comes to mind, what instincts she has, and then builds from there. I leap in and then try to contain my enthusiasm. We try to remember which of us punched the other in the groin in that Coriolanus fight—I think it was me punching her, followed by her kicking me in the face into that backward roll—and suddenly the conversation is all about how extreme a situation would have to be for a man to actually go beneath the belt. Pretty extreme. Or highly comic, anyway. There are elements of Shrew that are pretty "3 Stooge-y."

And of course it's not just the actual punches and kicks; fighting starts with how all the characters relate to each other physically, and so off went Carla to see how Kate and Petruchio naturally circle each other and discover how that gets fight-y, while I worked with our servant-clowns to see what tables they might use for hiding places or how their heads might happen to come in to contact with doors or other painful objects. I think we ended up with some hilarious choreography, but right now I don't even care—the night was so full of laughter and wonder both at the crazy things people do to each other and at what we can create together.

Seriously, I think everyone should be given a strict regimen of comic fighting. It's as good as a massage for getting everything out of your system, and I have never laughed so hard at a massage.

—Erin

Dicks forward, Ladies!

2009-06-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

I’m constantly having to remind myself that that extra little piece of anatomy that dudes have below the belt sure does change a whole lot physically! Beyond the obvious “making room” for such a piece, it’s a lower center of gravity, a shifting of the hips and pelvis which then in turn totally changes how you hold your upper body (not to mention the fact that guys don’t have the extra weight on the upper half that we tend to have).

“Tuck that stinking butt in!” is a phrase I’ve become accustomed to having yelled in my direction during this first week of rehearsal.

It’s funny because I felt like I had it down pretty well with Shui Ta, the dude I played last summer (although maybe I could get away with a little more then because technically my character was a female impersonating a male… um… and she was pregnant to boot). Petruchio’s a whole new ball game though. As I said to Erin today: “Shui Ta just wasn’t quite this grabby” (meaning not at all… but that should give you a lil’ sumpin’ to look forward to this show, huh?). I was also just able to stand my ground with him a little more; I could plant somewhere and that was that. Petruchio takes up a little more room on stage… not that Shui Ta didn’t, it’s just that Petruchio is, in general, just a more physical guy.

I sadly had to miss the always eye-opening “Find your Inner Man” class that Woman’s Will offers at the start of every rehearsal process (and which is actually open to the public and if you haven’t taken advantage of that lil’ gem, I guarantee it’s an afternoon well spent beyond the kicks and giggles you get out of facial hair application). I think it would have been extremely useful for me to revisit that class for this process, but by a fine stroke of luck, we got to have a mini discussion of the process during rehearsal in the park yesterday where there as a woman practicing a fight style that I can’t particularly name. Said “woman” had a very manly way about her, (not just in stance but voice as well, although the stance is what captured our attention the most). Her hips and the flat of her feet seemed like they were so connected to the ground and she had this side-to-side swagger movement that she was using in her fighting that was so the opposite of feminine it was inspiring. She also had quite a bit of muscle on her and so much so in her arms that it forced her to have a little extra room in her armpits, which in turn forced her arms to hang a little farther away from her body and her shoulders to round a bit. She would even toss her long hair out of her face, not with a swooping action like you see the stereotypical “valley girls” use on whatever the hottest tween soap is at the moment, but instead she’d remove it with a quick flick of the head, all the while never taking her threatening eyes off her opponent. She also probably had some “medical” help…. maybe I could ask her where she got her stuff…. Just kidding.

(NB: Woman’s Will does not condone the use of illegal substances… no really).

- El (Petruchio)

Location, location, location

2009-06-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

Erin again. Rehearsing at Berkeley's glorious John Hinkel Park this weekend. This is where I saw my first Shakespeare (well, the first Shakespeare I remember), where I studied Shakespeare as a wee teen in the then Berkeley Shakespeare Festival's "Summer with Shakespeare" program. My first year there, Annette Bening was Juliet, and Tony Taccone was one of my teachers.

But it was the park that made it magic. We students were encouraged to see each show more than once, and I walked up to that park for at least 4 shows a week all summer long—watching performances that many times taught me more than I ever could have learned in my admittedly excellent classes, and sitting under that canopy of trees was pure heaven. When I started the company, that was the first place I booked to perform, and I look forward to it every year. It's still the best place we perform (followed closely by Mountain View's Rengstorff House), and the first time we rehearse there, I always see the actors come alive a bit.

We rehearse out in our performance park sites on weekends because the actors need the time to adjust their voices and gestures to the hugeness needed to compete with frisbees, dogs, and the other distactions we see in our parks. But John Hinkel is quiet, with great acoustics, even a bbq pit so we can cook for our first performances. And I don't know if it's all the history there or just some inherent blessedness of that place, but everything feels possible when we are there.

Today we "blocked" several scenes—tried out and set the characters' movements in parts of the play—while a couple of young men ate their lunch and a little boy rode his bike, stopping to watch whenever the actors were speaking their lines. Jon Tracy, who I hadn't seen in ages, dropped by to measure the space for his August production of "The Farm" with Shotgun Players. A very comfortable, collegial place to be. Rehearsal is my favorite part of theater work—it is really very hard work, but it feels like playing, and my actors are all so game to try anything I throw their way. Our enthusiasm bounces off each other, and off the peace of the park, and all seems right in the world.

Kate's Diary June 3rd

2009-06-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

How Dare he! What? does he think I am so easily won?
This is only the beginning.
Last night we prowled around each other, all silent but for the buzzing air between us. Would I could turn that air to lightening to strike him down. I tried to start him and charged and raised my hand. Threaten though I might, he did not flee. Rather, he grabbed me by the waist.
Foolish weakness! Why, I had to bite my lip to keep the smile in.
There was a moment, I could not say how it happened, where our bodies moved simultaneously to attack each other. His impulse was joined to mine.
What of that?
He is no gentleman. That be certain.
What impudence to lay his hands upon me so! Not only did he touch me, but he held my arms in such an awkward form that I was hard pressed to gain my liberty.
That rudesby will soon get his however studied his words may be!

Kate the Cursed is Loose!

2009-06-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

Erin here. Founder of the company, director of the show. We have talked about doing Shrew since we started the company. Such an obvious one for us to do, and everyone wants to know how we'll play that infamous last scene—as if there were any question at all! And no, I'm not giving you the answer here—you just have to come see it. All I'll say is that it's Shakespeare's sexiest, sassiest comedy, and fireworks will be flying all summer around here.

Usually when we rehearse a show, we have one cast member blog. In this show, it's much more apt to have two—Kate Jopson, who is playing Kate (the titular Shrew) and El Beh, who is playing Petruchio, the Tamer of the aforementioned. I'll probably butt in now and then too, since it's my last show with the company (I'll be handing the reins to the elegant and infinitely capable Victoria Evans Erville, but that's another story...), and that has made me particularly wordy about what we do and why we do it.

We do all-female Shakespeare. We do it because when we began 12 seasons ago, there were few roles for women in classical work, and even modern plays weren't giving us the full range of human experience to explore—the men got that, and we were hungry for what they had. Times have really changed—now we have all these fantastic roles for women being written (and more well-rounded roles for men too) and other local companies hiring women for a broader (no pun intended) types of roles. One of the actors in this new production was 9 years old when we started—her experience of women on stage surely is different from mine growing up. I can't wait to see how the company changes with the world.

But for me, for this last show with my first baby, I'm going retro. Thinking back to how rip-roaring fun everything was when we were new and trying all this all-female stuff for the first time, before we had the good reputation we wanted to keep. Back when we were bad girls, shrews even. Thinking back even further to my high school trip to Ashland, aged 16, tripping through a cemetery with a boyfriend, quoting Shrew by heart, wooing each other with this ancient play. Our first time—with Shakespeare. Young and sassy and sexier than we even knew. That's what it's all about. Youth and theater—same hot and bothered energy. And the Shrew? Can't wait to play with her again.

Macbeth Out!

2008-11-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

This is the last post from me. We closed Saturday. Closing weekend had full houses, multiple curtain calls, and lots of old friends in the audience. Joan (the director) was there on closing night and I think very impressed to see how the show had grown.

One of my highlights for the night was during our strike, when Leontyne needed to move the truck across the street, after having been parked in by a minivan and a motorcycle right in front of the nightclub. It was about five minutes of total chaos, and I directed traffic!

All in all playing Macbeth was a tremendous learning experience. I know so much more now about playing characters with status and power, and the nuance required to play a character who grows and changes as the protagonist of a story. It's been fun to blog as well.

Thanks for reading this. Visit the website for info on the 2009 season. www.womanswill.org.

Macbeth out.

Road Trip!

2008-10-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

We've packed up and said goodbye to the Retail Theater, and Ben and Jerry and Tony too.

Highlights of the weekend - 3 packed houses, students in to see the show to write a review for their drama classes, inappropriate gigglers (general consensus is they came to the show somehow chemically altered - we're not sure why)

This week holds a student matinee at a high school in Palo Alto, our Rossmoor performance, and the very special Hallowe'en show in SF to kick off our two weeks in SF.

Did you see the Pink Section of the Chron over the weekend? If not go here to read AD Erin Merritt's interview about Macbeth. There are also cool interviews w/ Victoria Evans Erville and Mark Jackson, talking about productions of Macbeth that they are working on if you'd like to play compare and contrast.

Now What?

2008-10-20T09:10:00.001-07:00

The show is up. We've finished opening weekend. This is the rehearsal blog and rehearsals are over. So, am I still supposed to be checking in here? I'm not sure.

While I mull it over, here's some highlights from opening weekend:
1. my friend D_ telling me the show gave him tears in his eyes at one point
2. K, J, and C saying that I was scary
3. the gasps during the 'Casa de Macduff' fight sequence
4. re-meeting someone who had been my student in the first student production I ever directed over 10 years ago, and now she's an adult and still doing theater!
5. talking to people who had come to the show on their own (without knowing anyone connected to it), and finding out why they chose to come and see us.

See you at the Show!

2008-10-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Whew! Tech for this show has been a slog, but the elements are in place. On the tech/design side: Costumes (thanks Tammy), a Set (thanks Jackie), Lights (thanks Stephanie), Video projections (thanks John), all of it tied together w/buttons pushed, etc (thanks Alicia), On the artistic side: Fight Choreography (thanks Carla), cool shadow-y witch movement (thanks Lauren), general artistic vision (thanks Joan and Claire).

Whew - and then there's all the producing side that the Woman's Will company folks are taking care of - I'm not even sure who's doing what here because they've thankfully kept most of it away from rehearsals so we could concentrate on our stuff (thanks Erin, Victoria, and Woman's Will Company members.

Tonight: Final Dress
Tomorrow: See you there!

The 3 usual questions #3: did you guys really kiss?

2008-10-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, just as soon as they ask about the stage violence, the young ones want to know about the stage romance.

For the less sophisticated question-asker, this question can mean - did your two mouths really actually touch? The answer to this part of the question is and has always been in my experience yes.

For the slightly more sophisticated question-asker, this question I think is a coded way of asking if the two actors are romantically involved with each other. The answer to this part of the question is and has always been in my experience no.

So here's the real problem for 'civilians' - your lips touched but you're not romantically involved with each other - how does that work? My answer here - it works the same way that all good relationships work: communication and respect about comfort level.

There's one kiss in Macbeth. I'm one of the two involved in it (the other is Leontyne, as Lady Macbeth). When we were rehearsing the scene with the kiss in it, we were getting very close to each other, and it seemed like a point where Macbeth would want to kiss his wife. I didn't do it even though I had the impulse - It was fairly early in the rehearsal process and I didn't know Leontyne very well yet and I didn't want to surprise my fellow actor and take her out of her comfort zone. But soon after that Joan, our director, stopped us to make an adjustment, and I said that it seemed like we should've kissed after a certain point in the text. We were all in agreement, so we tried it and it worked. I know that I would tell Leontyne if something about that moment were making me uncomfortable, and that she would tell me - in the same way we'd communicate about fight choreography and personal safety.

A few more thoughts about stage kisses - I have yet to be involved in a stage kiss that has open mouths and tongues moving around. In every circle I've traveled in the stage kiss is kept 'professional', that is lips only, no tongues. And, I think unless the kiss was made explicit by the stage directions or text, a conversation between at the very least, the people doing the kiss needs to happen before it happens onstage. Lastly, for the professional actor involved in stage kisses, oral hygiene is important - brushed teeth, breath mints, avoiding odorous foods. And, in a story I heard from a fellow actor - knowing if your onstage kiss partner has strong food allergies. She was in a show, and kissing an actor with a severe peanut allergy, and ate a peanut butter energy bar in between two shows, and her cast-mate had a reaction to it.

Tony Roma, Ben, Jerry, Macbeth?

2008-10-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

We've moved into our Oakland performance location. It's an empty storefront in Jack London square. On one side of us, Ben and Jerry's. On the other, Tony Roma's. I wish we had the funds to put up a giant piece of signage that would confuse passersby - I'm picturing the thoughts in their minds.

Macbeth's - is it a one-stop shop for tartan plaid clothing? Do they make burgers, fries, and shakes (Scotland PA anyone?)? Or, wait, what's going on - those people have swords - why are they running around and shouting?

So - if you're planning on joining us in Oakland - know that you'll be able to choose from a variety of pre and post show options for dining, drinking, snacking, etc.

I'd love to mention one more thing. Woman's Will is participating in the nationwide Free Night of Theater program, hosted locally by Theatre Bay Area. We'll have free tickets available on 10/8 (that's tomorrow!) for the 10/17 performance. To reserve tix for this program, you must visit www.tixbayarea.org, then follow the prompts to see available Free Night of Theater shows, and find us in the list under 'East Bay'.

See you there!

The 3 usual questions #2: how do you guys learn all those lines?

2008-10-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Repetition and hard work. Whether that's a method where you make a recording of your lines and listen to it over and over, or you read your lines over and over, or you write them out longhand, or you get a friend or fellow actor to run lines with you, you've just got to do them again and again.

A few things that are helpful.
1) Figure out the meaning of what you're saying - it's got to make sense to you before you can learn it.
2) Figure out the reason you're saying what you're saying - is it because you're trying to intimidate someone? or trying to flatter them?
3) Figure out what you're responding to - is this thought in response to something someone else said? Is it further clarification for what you just said?
4) Picture the action that goes with the words. Knowing that you say certain words as you fall to your knees, or turn away from a fellow actor can provide the juice that gets the lines memorized.

Other than this it's a lot of drilling and repetition. Definitely not the glamorous part, but also not the hardest. Learning lines is a basic component of every role an actor plays, so the experienced actor knows what methods work for them, and gets this part of the job done.

tough slogging

2008-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! We did our first run-through last week, and it was exhausting. I was convinced at the intermission break that we'd been working for at least 2 or 3 hours and was shocked to learn that only an hour had passed.

We're into the difficult part now. We put it together once, and now we're taking it all apart again. And getting off book. It's time for growing pains, difficult questions, and commitment. To be honest, this part is hard to write about.

A few things I've been working out and grappling with over the past week:

1. man hands - distilling the essence of what makes a male hand gesture male - watching men's hands on BART as they hold phones, turn pages of the paper, etc. The basic thing seems to be keeping fingers together.

2. the intersection of status, confidence, and maleness. I know that I have a tendency as an actor to make choices which lower my status. I know there is a connection between status and confidence. I believe there is a further connection between status, confidence and maleness. Yet here am I, a female, playing a male character who has status, but at times lacks confidence. How to illustrate status and confidence and therefore maleness without veering into caricature. How all of this is made more difficult by the obstacle of being a female playing the character.

A tactic I'm using to examine #2 is watching films with male characters who are what I'm calling 'warriors'. I don't tend to watch a lot of this type of film, but the examination is interesting - Platoon, Braveheart, Gladiator, Apocalypse Now, Patton.

Another tactic I'm using to examine this is what happens if I don't apologize, especially for the amount of space I take up. This was an interesting one on a walk through a crowded grocery store. Other shoppers apologized to me for letting their carts get too close, etc.

Looking forward, we're just over 2 weeks from opening, and will be moving from the rehearsal space to the Oakland performance space next weekend!

This is so freakin' cool!

2008-09-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

So many amazing things are happening at rehearsal.

I am jealous of every 'witches-only' rehearsal - Joan, Treacy, Leontyne, and Julia are working out this amazing movement stuff w/shadows and lights and fabric, and then I come in at the end of these rehearsals to integrate my text/movement w/the witch scenes. And they give me the shivers.

Carla has given us basic staging for all of the fight sequences - I count 5 onstage deaths. Things are brutal, scary in places, and dangerous looking. Last night's rehearsal was full of people saying 'ohmigod that's gross' 'cool!' 'that looks so real' etc.

Two more freakin' cool people that you need to know about - Claire, our AD (assistant director) - she and Joan are constantly bouncing ideas off each other, and Alicia, our stage manager, in charge of scheduling, communications, generally keeping track of everybody, and on top of all that, she shuttles a few of us back and forth from BART before and after rehearsal. The things these ladies do don't seem outwardly as exciting as broadswords and shadow projection, but are ultimately what keep us all moving forward on this adventure - the coolest part of all.

The 3 usual questions #1: Are those real swords?

2008-09-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

The title of this post comes from my days of touring children's theater - which were many, included 11 states, and sent me everywhere from a monster truck arena in Cheyenne, WY, to an extremely poor school in the border town of Nogales, AZ, where the audience spoke mostly Spanish. But I digress...

After performances, we did a Q&A session for the student audiences, and there were three questions we almost always got. I thought I'd answer those three questions in relationship to Macbeth.

So, #1 - are those real swords? Yes, and no. In general, stage swords are not tipped, i.e. not sharp, so no, they aren't 'real' in that sense. However, they're really made of metal, and they really weigh what real metal weighs, so if used correctly(incorrectly?), you can definitely bruise a person, or injure small body parts like noses, eyes, and fingers.

The other thing to know here is that stage fighting is not improvised - it is choreographed as closely as any dance, and rehearsed prior to every performance at a 'fight call' to ensure everyone's safety. Fight choreographers use angle and body position to create the illusion of actual physical contact, or when a move is performed with contact, we target areas of the body which are able to take it (typically large muscle groups), and pull punches a bit, then sell it w/a big reaction.

All this being said, I'm really excited about the fights in this show - I've got two broadsword fights and what we've done so far looks terrific. There are moments of real bad-assery for both Julia (Macduff) and myself, as well as some horrible horrible injuries.

Questions #2 and #3 in later posts. Stay tuned!

Witches Only!

2008-09-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

That's who's called for tomorrow's rehearsal, so I thought I'd take a minute to talk about them.

Our witches - Julia, Leontyne, and Treacy - have an amazing task ahead of them. I play Macbeth, Desiray plays Malcolm, and these 3 are playing ALL the other roles. It's all part of the adaptation that Woman's Will Artistic Director Erin Meritt has put together - and a way to create a world where the Fates are in charge of what happens for these two men - Macbeth and his successor Malcolm.

It also presents terrific challenges for all involved. These three actors, of course, but also the design staff. Joan, our director, has shown us some amazing Butoh movement imagery as well as images of cancerous cells dividing and spreading through the body. My understanding is that this is something they'll be exploring through movement at their rehearsal tomorrow. Our lighting designer is talking about LEDs, and projections, and the set designer has shown us a model that includes canvas areas for shadow work and projections.

It's going to be a different Macbeth, that's for sure. One that only Woman's Will can do.

You're Being Watched

2008-09-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

if you're male that is. Thought I'd let you know.

This weekend the cast of Macbeth, some Woman's Will company members, and a few other folks participated in two workshops.

In the first, Finding Your Inner Man, led by Rami Margron (mult. roles at Woman's Will including the title role in The Rover and Orlando in As You Like It), we worked on creating male gesture, body language, and appearance. The nearly unanimous conclusion was that we all need to study men more. How do they do what they do? So I thought I'd warn you that as you go about your daily activities - riding transit, walking down the street, eating in restaurants or drinking in bars - we're studying you.

The second workshop was an introduction to the broadsword, let by our amazingly talented fight choreographer Carla Pantoja. I know Carla primarily from other contexts, because she's also an actor and teacher, and was blown away by her expertise here. We are in very good hands, and these fights are going to be really terrific.

The energy in both workshops was palpable. We've got a cast of confident, grounded women. I can feel Joan, our director, is ready to rip into this text with the group. Tonight, we begin a few days of table work, so you'll hear more from me soon.

Here are a few photos from Sunday. In the first you can see Carla (white shirt) leading cast member Julia and company member Marilet through a head parry. In the second, I'm standing 'engarde' with cast member Leontyne in the background. In the third, Carla is demonstrating a shoulder parry.

Taking up the Torch, or perhaps, the Dagger

2008-09-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

I'm Valerie. I'm playing Macbeth. We'll be starting rehearsals on Saturday, September 6th. Tune in here for notes on the process, fly on the wall rehearsal tidbits, and how the sausage gets made. Which will hopefully make you more interested in sampling ;)

First - the pre-rehearsal work. I've known I would be playing this role for about 6 weeks now, which has given me plenty of time for reading, viewing, thinking, and pushups. Different actors approach things differently, but for me, prior to the start of rehearsal is a great time to see how other folks have done it - to know what is possible.

Some of the indispensable books for me on any Shakespeare role include: a Folio edition for spelling and punctuation clues, the Oxford edition for notes, and the Players of Shakespeare series from the RSC - a 6 volume set in which actors write essays about the roles they've played. I usually grab a book of criticism too if I can - and end up skimming it, not finding too much that's useful and then throwing it back.

Also on this role - the pushups. A way to connect with upper body strength and get ready for the sword fighting. I'm following the regimen at hundredpushups.com

So, a salute to the ladies who've written before me on previous Woman's Will productions, and thanks for letting me take over.

Opening Weekend

2008-07-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

I believe the production has finally hit its stride. Granted it's a somewhat lengthy stride (clocking in at somewhere around two hours forty minutes), but it's pretty tight, all things considered.
A few items of note:
The costumes. The costumes range from serious-business (the suit Maryssa/Yang Sun wears after becoming Shui Ta's manager) to hilarious (Susan and my hooker outfits, the Gods robes and hats). My personal favorite would have to be the garish, floral-print dress, matching shoes, and flamingo-pink jacket Lauren wears while portraying Wife. Hats off to Holly for the hours she spent hunched over the sewing machine altering various costume pieces and creating the God's robes.
The set. You should see that thing. Jackie recreated a portion of a cityscape out of flats and hinges, and it looks darn good. And the kicker? That sucker is portable. Because at Woman's Will, Load-In and Load-Out are daily occurances; every day we put the set together, and organize the props and costumes in under thirty minutes, and at the end of the performance, we break everything back down and pack it up in the Woman's Will Truck.
And speaking of the truck. The Woman's Will Truck, which we use to haul the entire production from one public park to another, used to be covered in graffitti, but now has a snazzy stencil of the Woman's Will logo on the side.
The performance. I have this attitude that some have described as "annoyingly positive," so, needless to say, I'm not much of a critic. All I can really say is this: as a rule, I love to laugh, and I love things that make me laugh, and I can't think of a single person in the cast whose performance has failed to do so. Two Snaps Up to Erin our delightful director, for the adaptation, and for putting this whole show together. Let's hear it for the girls.

I must remember this...

2008-06-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

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.

The Women Behind (and In Front of) The Curtain, (part one)

2008-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

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."

The Good Plot Devices of Szechuan

2008-06-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

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.

The Hedgehog of Horripilation

2007-10-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

It really is in the text. Erin determined it would be a stage direction, so you won't hear it appear in a spoken line (but if you can actually identify the moment of stage direction that the Hedgehog occupies, I will personally give you a Big Prize).

The actual text reads, " Time does not like this remark. Becomes a weasel, or a vicious hedgehog, backs up, puffed up in raging horripilation."

The hedgehog moment isn't funny ... and I can and do absolutely appreciate it as a real direction, a real thought, a moment, an action from Wellman, for whom I have developed an enormous admiration. STILL: the line secrectly cracks me up. A Hedgehog of Horripilation. The words are just funny.

Under less intelligent and confident direction this play would run not just a risk but a likelihood of being intolerably pretentious. It is brilliantly composed, but complicated; the ideas and images in the text are dense. It requires a very skilled director to interpret it in such a way that it will make it alive and immediate in the experience of the audience. Erin is doing this in lots and lots of different ways, and one of the most vital of these is in being alive to the humor that is written into the play, and finding moments where we can interject humor of our own.

Of course I can't tell you about the funny bits because that would spoil them. But they're there! You won't miss them. Slapstick, even. No kidding! Antigone doesn't quite meet Buster Keaton here, but there are moments closer to this than you might think. As a professional clown, thinking about the nature of humor and how it works and doesn't work in performance is part of my job description, and it is often the case that the humor that really hits us deep is intimitely related to the things that make us most uncomfortable, the darkest parts of ourselves, individually and collectively as well. Makes all the more sense to me that Antigone SHOULD meet Buster here ... I think the content of the play is more full that way, more integrated, more real. Melusina and I both bring our clown training and skills to this work, quite directly... and besides having the freedom to do this and the enjoyment of seeing how humor actually amplifies this work - there is the huge joy of working under a director and with a cast who don't take themselves too seriously.

The Hedgehog of Humor! Hooray!

--Clotho, the one who spins

Whose Line Is It, Anyway?

2007-10-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Generally the process goes something like this: The first rehearsal is a sit-down read through of the script. Following this everyone learns blocking (movement) in rehearsal with scripts in hand. Then the day arrives: The first day "off-book" - that is, without scripts - that is, memorized.

WAIT! I should go back. Usually the scripts are written so that certain characters have certain lines. Right. This is what we usually understand to be "a play." We might expect actors to forget their lines, but we wouldn't generally expect actors to forget which line belongs to whom - for Stella, for example, to accidentally holler out, "STELLLLLLAAAAAAAAA!"

We wouldn't, that is, unless the cast happened to be rehearsing a Mac Wellman interpretation of "Streetcar" (there isn't one ... but wouldn't that be interesting?), in which case Stella might very well be taking that line ... or not ... or taking it WITH Stanley, Mitch, Blanche AND the upstairs neighbors ... perhaps even as the opening line of the play.

It's a Mac Wellman World - not merely a reinterpretation of Antigone but of our understanding of "traditional" dramatic form. Wellman's text identifies the characters, but gives no assignment of which lines belong to whom, or even which parts of the text are to be spoken and which are stage direction. One might be tempted to call it formless and yet it is also certainly not that: The shape and structure of the play (act division, overall arc, language and punctuation sequences) are in many ways extremely specific.

Wellman's piece, like the work of Shakespeare and Sophocles, reads as poetry. We call this "non-traditional" drama - but whose tradition do we mean? In building this piece we're incorporating music echoing very specific traditions (Gregorian chants, Western nursery rhymes), movement inspired by Japanese Butoh theater and the work of Isadora Duncan, and much of the text seems to be served well by an acting style more closely related to ancient mask traditions than to the more emotionally complex, naturalistic performance we associate with most contemporary theater. Lauri (one of our three Fates) spoke earlier of a Greek theater tradition involving an all-female cast integrating dance, music, and poetry. From this perspective, it is really more "multi-traditional" than non-traditional - which, applied to this work, could even be considered the ultimate misnomer!

As an actor, working to get off-book while also trying to learn the arc of a very non-linear (multi-linear?) story, while also trying to learn some extremely challenging physical movement sequences, while also trying to sing in three-part harmony, while also trying to play a washtub ... even NOT backwards and in high heels, it's uniquely challenging.

But even at this stage of the learning curve, I don't resent Mac Wellman. At the risk of sounding a bit of a Pollyanna I have to say I love him now even more. Working together to remember which lines come out of which mouths informs my understanding of these four characters ultimately being different facets, expressions of a single entity. I feel it more deeply in my body, I understand it more in my brain the more we do it ... and my work is not about simply my lines and my blocking and my character. It is about that, but for all of us it is about learning and becoming together the character that is and is not each of us, the character that is that The Play itself.

--Clotho, the one who spins

nothing moves antigone

2007-10-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's the director here, and I shouldn't be butting in, but people have started coming to rehearsals and telling me what they see. This is an incredibly frightening and exciting moment for me in particular because so much of what I'm asking the actors to do is physicalize verbal puns, ie, create movements that represent things that, if you said them, would allow someone to hear something differently. In several cases, I wanted to keep these words as lines, but they just didn't work, rhythmically, so they became stage directions. One is: "Creon turns on Haemon. Haemon turns on Antigone," which I have directed them to perform as if read "Creon *turns* on Haemon. Haemon turns *on* Antigone. " Another is "Nothing moves us. Nothing moves Antigone" to which I have told her, "The existence of 'nothing-ness' moves you." No one will get that, right, when watching? And sometimes the whole process feels like that—we're embedding layer upon layer of references to pop culture (Tom Waits, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure...), ancient tales (Anansi, Greek legends...), children's books/games (Winnie the Pooh, itsy bitsy spider, ring-around-the-rosy...), and anagrams and on and on and on... so what will people actually take out of it? Turns out, a surprising amount. I heard from a recent college grad that she sees that the Fates aren't human and that the Shriek Operator is controlling them somehow, has some sort of authorial voice to the tale. And today I heard from someone who had seen our postcard (marketing something right is always key to happy audiences), "This Antigone looks really interesting—she looks so feral!" Since that was the one word I could come up with during that photo shoot (Hey Lauri, that's great but can you make it a little less human and a little more feral?), I'm feeling... well, useful. Also feeling lucky I have these four excellent women on stage—their translations of my instructions are sometimes even more interesting than I imagine.

all the print that fits the new

2007-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

just about halfway through rehearsals; at least that is what erin told lauren, laura and i (yeah, that's right, there is a lauren, a laura and a lauri in the cast, thinking of renaming melusina "laurelusina" - there are also 3 pisces; no fire in the group at all!) and we realized that we weren't doing as bad as we could be, all things considered. it is a very difficult piece, with lots of allusion and wordplay and a great deal of physicality. we've started adding the music as well. lauren has come up with some beautiful melodies. i think my favorite right now is the "junkyard blues."
monday night we attempted a run, or rather stumble-thru of the show. i left feeling exhilarated and exhausted. it is interesting to me that the process of this show is reflecting the writing, absolute opposites. i am and i am not. i feel like i go back and forth between divine inspiration and utter confusion. the characters i am playing are difficult for me, true stretches, i am enjoying the work, but it *is* hard. even my short solo dance is a movement challenge, as it is a style of dance i have not really studied at all. i have always wanted to study duncan dance though and this is a good intro. several years ago this woman read my palm and one of the things she said was that she saw me working with children and teaching isadora style dance. the movement is really beautiful though. the butoh and duncan combined with the circus backgounds of laura and mel is unique and strange and wonderful; and not like any dance i have done before.
tonite we are to work the 2nd and 3rd iterations of the show - this will make sense when you see it - and i am really excited about breaking the piece down again aand again into its smallest parts, even though there are still places where i don't know what's going on or where i am supposed to be!
i guess that is part of the thrill of this. i know that i will be working and learning and practicing until opening night and i am sure we will be discovering elements throughout the run.
now it's time to get my tea ready and get ready to go.
oxxxo,
aglaia, the one who measures

the unique situation

2007-09-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

we are already in the third week of Antigone rehearsals. it seems to have flown by. this process has been incredible so far; academic, stimulating, challenging on many levels. it is such a pleasure to work with a director like erin who is not only a supersmart girl, but also has a deep understanding of theater and actors. she gives us the tools to to make "choices" - a particular acting pet peeve of mine is when a director says "make a choice" when you ask for specific input, then overlooks telling you what choices were strong and which ones didn't play - and gives direct, intelligent and thoughtful responses to our work.
in the first week, we spent time together developing vocabulary and attempting a get a handle on the language and ideas in the script. working with christina, our choreographer, using a combination of butoh and duncan techniques, we are creating unique dance segments. i am looking forward to the next music rehearsal as well, when we will continue exploration of the songs with our unusual and not-quite_instrument instruments.
it is actually time right now to dress and head out, so i say good bye for now. there is so much more to share, this is to be continued...
~aglaia, the one who measures

I am and am not named Antigone

2007-09-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's my introduction to Woman's Will and we're wrapping up what has easily been the most curious and multidimensional week of rehearsal I've ever experienced.

Coming myself from a mixed background of traditional theater, physical theater and clown, I've participated in the creation of work with all kinds of different texts: solid and static text; no text; physical "text" without words, borrowed and reconstructed text, original text created by by the performers in rehearsal. BUT! I've never before encountered a text that is, in fact, a solid and set text, a PLAY, but with no formal indication of which lines belong to whom, or in fact which lines are lines and which are stage directions ... stage directions such as: "Time does not like this remark. Becomes a weasel, or a vicious hedgehog, backs up, puffed up in raging horripilation."

In school, I loved studying poetry - I being able to take the time to enjoy every contour and resonance of a single word, and the relationship of those contours and resonance with those of every other word around it. My clown teacher likes to say that clowning is a kind of poetry, in which every moment and image is intense, distilled, resonant. Here is theater, a play, in which this exploration is textual and physical: three dimensional exploration of language - and the philosophy, and the history, of the story of Antigone.

We have sat together amidst piles of big sheets of papers, free-associating around words and images from this play: Eggs. Eyes. Spiders. Web. Cat's Cradle. We have taken time to vocalize words from the text, finding every corner of every consonant and every possible shape of every vowel, every way of putting them all together with variation in pitch, speed, breath, timbre, looking for the sounds of the three Furies (also the three Graces, also the three Facts)... We have found different ways of moving individually and together to shapeshift as these characters do.

Shapeshifting, role-playing: They all are and are not themselves and one another.

This is the tip of the iceberg!

--Clotho, the one who spins

Woman's Will presents Mac Wellman's ANTIGONE

2007-09-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON TO
TEMESCAL ARTS CENTER:

Mac Wellman's ANTIGONE
October 19 to November 11, 2007
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 8pm
Tickets $25-15 sliding scale

ABOUT THIS BLOG:
ANTIGONE actors discuss the rehearsal process of this collaborative drama, dance, movement, and music piece by award-winning wordsmith Mac Wellman.

ABOUT THE SHOW
Join the circle as the Three Fates wind the strands of their own immortal lives into ours while they re-generate and distill one of the world's legends. This is not the Greek tragedy you read in school but a pre-historical/hysterical, paradoxical/paroxysmal celebration of storytelling that asks the musical question, "What is more weird than man... or woman?"

Not at all the story of Sophocles' Antigone, but a kaleidoscopic exploration of its themes interpreted through the delirious scribblings of the Three Fates (yes, those Three Fates) under the interfering eye of a character known as "The Shriek Operator", this mind-bending musing, this devilish dreamland will electrify even your jaded mind.
More information at http://www.womanswill.org/antigone.html

ABOUT THE COMPANY
www.womanswill.org

Woman's Will, the Bay Area's all-female Shakespeare company, exists to provide opportunities for women and girls to work together in a supportive yet challenging environment, to entertain and educate through high quality classes and performances, and to expand the boundaries in which audiences and artists see themselves. Woman's Will is a multi-ethnic company that operates under a strict policy of non-discrimination and strives for triple accessibility at every event: all people must be able to reach our events, afford our events, and relate to our events. Finally, and most importantly, we love our work, and it shows. Our actor- and text-based productions are both intelligent and visceral, yet clearly told so even the youngest members of your family can join in the fun. Relax with a picnic and some friends, and let us show you what wonders arise under the influence of a Woman's Will.