Charlie Rehearsal #2

Just had my second rehearsal with Charlie for the scene "The Clapper". My part in this one is fairly simple and I only have three lines but it is still a lot of fun to work on. We had a much shorter rehearsal today just to make sure everything was solid. I also found out that Charlie lived in the exact room and dorm I am living in right now two years ago. Freaky right? My dad also lived in Bean East in the 70's. I guess its just the place to be.

Sophie Rehearsal #2

Had my second rehearsal with Sophie today for "Treasure". It was a shorter rehearsal today because we already have the basic elements of the scene down. We experimented with the characters a little more and worked with line intentions. There is a point in the scene in which I take two beats that aren't defined in the script. We decided today that those beats would be disbelief and anger. So far rehearsals for this project have been very relaxed and casual. I am hoping that as we get into tech week and crunch time next week that things don't get to stressful. Also, I did my scene in Acting today. It went pretty well although I'm still not completely comfortable with my character yet. The lines were solid but I am eager to work with it some more to really get it.

Maddie Rehearsal

This evening I had my second rehearsal of the day. This was my first 365 rehearsal for Maddie, the third director I have gotten to work with in this process. The scene is called "Greek Tragedy and Jerry Springer". I play the host of a talk show for Greek Gods. It is a nice trip into the comedic from the more serious tones of the other scenes. Maddie seemed a bit scatterbrained but it may have just been cause it was 8:00pm and she was tired. Her directing style seems to lean towards getting things on their feet immediately and trying stuff. The other members of the cast in this one were quite fun to work with and one of them was also at my rehearsal earlier today. I have been enjoying learning these little slice of life type scenes and I am interested as to how they are going to put them all together. This could end up being a very interesting show.

Charlie Rehearsal

I just got out of a rehearsal for another scene I am in for 365. This one is directed by Charlie and its called "Clapper". I play a crotchety old man. The scene is based around this society where everyone is a "clapper" and there is one young man who does not want to conform. In this scene he is telling his parents this. As the Grandpop I have three lines in this one. They are "Huh?", "Masturbation" and "I had a rifle with a laser sight thingamajiggy. I drew a chalkline 4 times, making the shape of a box, told yer father to stand in the box and dared him to step out". Playing an old man in a rocking chair with a gun should be an interesting experience, if only for two minutes. Two of my fellow actors in this scene are quite experienced and have been in main-stage shows already. One of them seems very new to acting and yet quite willing to lend his opinion. The blocking in this scene should be cool because we are going to have the rest of a the cast form a mob of people clapping around us. Charlie's directing style is very different than Sophie's. Charlie likes to discuss possible ideas and largely leave the characterization up to us while Sophie throws out a lot of different characterization ideas and lets us try them out. I have another rehearsal tonight at 8:00 with Maddie whom I have not worked with yet.

Sophie Rehearsal

I had my first rehearsal today for the 365 project. There are four directors on this project: Charlie, Maddie, Maggie and Sophie. They are all taking on their own set of short plays and they will all come together in the end. I am pretty sure I am in at least one play for each of them. Today I rehearsed for Sophie in a page long play called "Treasure" written on July 6th. I am cast as a "Leader" in this one and I interact with two "Soldiers". We tried a lot of different approaches to the characters and experimented with physicality and voice. Sophie is really bright and full of life. She is quite the director to work with. The other two actors in this one are named Bianca and Emmie. Bianca is in my Acting class and I only just met Emmie at auditions. They are both very fun to work with. Bianca is rather short and a true hippie at heart. She loves wearing bright colors and makeup. I don't know much about Emmie yet but I am excited to get to know her. Sophie's directing style seems to be very akin to how I would direct. Lots of experimentation and improv. I am excited to find out more about the other small plays I am in and how they will all be sewn together.

365 Update and Classwork

So I got into the 365 days 365 plays project!! Its going to be tons of fun. There are four directors handling this project and I think that I am going to be directed by two of them. Its been a week since I got cast and I only recently got emails regarding when rehearsals will be. They start next week then the week after we open so its going to be the quickest rehearsal process I have ever been a part of. We are going to be tackling several short plays all grouped together. So far I know that I am in one called "Treasure" that was written July 6th of the year that Suzan-Lori Parks was writing a play a day. One of the other actors in that one is Adam Pascal who is this really cool Junior that I met at a cast party like three weeks ago. Working with him should be really cool.

In Acting class I am working on a scene from "True West" by Sam Shepard. I am playing Lee, a miscreant brother who wants to get a screenplay published. I have to be off book by monday!! More info to come.

Auditions for 365 Plays 365 Days

Today I auditioned for a project here at the U of O called "365 plays, 365 days". It is all based around this woman who decided to write one play a day for a whole year. The audition was very fun and featured a lot of improv. We started out however by singing. We went around the circle and everyone auditioning sang songs ranging from the "Reading Rainbow" theme song to "Fever" a jazz standard. I chose to sing one of my favorites, "Oh Valencia" by the Decemberists. When I started singing, one of the directors casting us lit up and put a hand on his heart so that made me pretty happy. After the singing we moved into some group improv activities including one where we all became monsters and he gave us adjectives to work with. I personally had to be a slutty, judicious and cozy monster. It was quite fun. We also did an exercise where we had to create a pantomimed boat. I was a wave. Overall I felt pretty good about the audition. The cast list will be posted tomorrow.