The Bitter Cold
It is way too cold outside! It's not just that it is cold, but rather it is a biting cold when mixed with the treacherous winds that consume Washington, D.C. I'm glad that I do not live in Chicago and am very thankful that I don't have to be outside for very long periods of time. With that being said, I don't mind cold weather a whole lot. I would prefer a fall day though.
I was cast in The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol. I will be playing the part of Mitchinn, Dr. Gorlitz's deformed and estranged assisstant. It should be loads of fun and I expect to grow very much as an actor. Lindsey Snyder and Kris Messer, who will be directing the project, will be appearing in it as well. It will be a great experience to work with such talented, intelligent actors on such a great performance genre. I look forward to sharing this process with you through my blog. So stay tuned!
We have picked the show for our Fundamentals Capstone Project: a one act called Can Can, written by Romulus Linney, Laura Linney's father. It should be a great project and I look forward to being assigned a role and getting to work on the piece. The play is very remeniscent of show's like The Baltimore Waltz and Our Town. Very expressionistic through its disconnect. I'm not sure which position I would like to be given, but I believe I would be most happy in either the directorial or actor role. In any case, I will still be very happy and enjoy the work I put into the piece with, hopefully, fruitful results. We're doing here at UMD through the Capstone what I was able to accomplish at Abingdon High School: a group of students coming together and producing a show completely free from any instructor's aid. We did, at AHS, have more freedom's because there are rule involved with the Capstone project. But the rules are more like challenges that will test our ideas and inspire further creative involvment to overcome them, because, as actors, we have an innate sense of rebellion against the mainstream. So I will definitely keep you posted on the progress of this project as well.
The puppetry studio with Blair Thomas is coming along as well. We've studied (over the last few classes) bunraku puppets, watched an amazing performance by Phillipe Gentry, and explored how motion can tell a story. We begin every class with yoga, which I am moreso beginning to appreciate, and the class takes off from there to an unspecified location. Not having a syllabus really makes for an interesting class, I have no idea what to expect upon walking through the door but anticipate finding out. Our main theme for the semester is to create some type of puppetry performance based on John Newton and his life transformation, however concrete or abstract we wish it to be. So we have read a series of correspondance by John Newton and have begun to explore the themes of them, what we're drawn to and what we find interesting about them. We are now beginning the dramaturgical aspect of bringing John Newton's world to life by researching various "things" from his time. I am to research houses. I will soon make a trip to the arts library to find some images that I can share and search for some books remarking on the living quarters of people from this time. How they lived, the structures which housed these amazing events, and how the structures influenced and remarked on their society. It will be an interesting time, none-the-less. I truly do enjoy this class. Blair Thomas is an extremely intelligent person and I admire his vast knowledge and honest love of puppetry. This studio is definitely opening my eyes to what this artform truly is and the infinite possibilities which lie within it. Getting past Avenue Q and Sesame Street to an artform of complete honesty and beauty. I am becoming more enamoured and respectful of it. And that is good.
I'm seeing a run-through of The Distance from Here tonight since I'm the light board operator (LBO) for it. Yay theatre practicums! I still need to finish my training for the board though... But tonight will be fun to see the show together. Before the public! It's the professional production for the semester, produced in league with the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company and directed by Mitch Hebert. There are three or four professional actors in the cast, the other three are students. I like Neil LaBute's script for Distance, and look forward to seeing it staged. It's such an angry, raw play. A downer for sure, but enjoyable if done right. Hopefully it will be done right, they spend enough money on the shows here! If it isn't good, it's such a waste. I'll be sure to post on my thought's tomorrow evening. I feel like I've been so unproductive recently, or more like I've been getting behind on things while I submit myself to doing even more! It's crazy. I get up at seven a.m. and get home at eight p.m. or later and manage to accomplish nothing, or seemingly nothing, in the intermittent time! Maybe this feeling will subside eventually, I hope so. But I have to run and get ready for the Distance run through. Thought's tomorrow!
I was cast in The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol. I will be playing the part of Mitchinn, Dr. Gorlitz's deformed and estranged assisstant. It should be loads of fun and I expect to grow very much as an actor. Lindsey Snyder and Kris Messer, who will be directing the project, will be appearing in it as well. It will be a great experience to work with such talented, intelligent actors on such a great performance genre. I look forward to sharing this process with you through my blog. So stay tuned!
We have picked the show for our Fundamentals Capstone Project: a one act called Can Can, written by Romulus Linney, Laura Linney's father. It should be a great project and I look forward to being assigned a role and getting to work on the piece. The play is very remeniscent of show's like The Baltimore Waltz and Our Town. Very expressionistic through its disconnect. I'm not sure which position I would like to be given, but I believe I would be most happy in either the directorial or actor role. In any case, I will still be very happy and enjoy the work I put into the piece with, hopefully, fruitful results. We're doing here at UMD through the Capstone what I was able to accomplish at Abingdon High School: a group of students coming together and producing a show completely free from any instructor's aid. We did, at AHS, have more freedom's because there are rule involved with the Capstone project. But the rules are more like challenges that will test our ideas and inspire further creative involvment to overcome them, because, as actors, we have an innate sense of rebellion against the mainstream. So I will definitely keep you posted on the progress of this project as well.
The puppetry studio with Blair Thomas is coming along as well. We've studied (over the last few classes) bunraku puppets, watched an amazing performance by Phillipe Gentry, and explored how motion can tell a story. We begin every class with yoga, which I am moreso beginning to appreciate, and the class takes off from there to an unspecified location. Not having a syllabus really makes for an interesting class, I have no idea what to expect upon walking through the door but anticipate finding out. Our main theme for the semester is to create some type of puppetry performance based on John Newton and his life transformation, however concrete or abstract we wish it to be. So we have read a series of correspondance by John Newton and have begun to explore the themes of them, what we're drawn to and what we find interesting about them. We are now beginning the dramaturgical aspect of bringing John Newton's world to life by researching various "things" from his time. I am to research houses. I will soon make a trip to the arts library to find some images that I can share and search for some books remarking on the living quarters of people from this time. How they lived, the structures which housed these amazing events, and how the structures influenced and remarked on their society. It will be an interesting time, none-the-less. I truly do enjoy this class. Blair Thomas is an extremely intelligent person and I admire his vast knowledge and honest love of puppetry. This studio is definitely opening my eyes to what this artform truly is and the infinite possibilities which lie within it. Getting past Avenue Q and Sesame Street to an artform of complete honesty and beauty. I am becoming more enamoured and respectful of it. And that is good.
I'm seeing a run-through of The Distance from Here tonight since I'm the light board operator (LBO) for it. Yay theatre practicums! I still need to finish my training for the board though... But tonight will be fun to see the show together. Before the public! It's the professional production for the semester, produced in league with the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company and directed by Mitch Hebert. There are three or four professional actors in the cast, the other three are students. I like Neil LaBute's script for Distance, and look forward to seeing it staged. It's such an angry, raw play. A downer for sure, but enjoyable if done right. Hopefully it will be done right, they spend enough money on the shows here! If it isn't good, it's such a waste. I'll be sure to post on my thought's tomorrow evening. I feel like I've been so unproductive recently, or more like I've been getting behind on things while I submit myself to doing even more! It's crazy. I get up at seven a.m. and get home at eight p.m. or later and manage to accomplish nothing, or seemingly nothing, in the intermittent time! Maybe this feeling will subside eventually, I hope so. But I have to run and get ready for the Distance run through. Thought's tomorrow!
posted by ~chase at 2:23 PM
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