Monday, January 02, 2012

2012 Lists

Books/Plays:

The Book Thief


Productions (seen, not acted in) & (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

~Student SLAM-Theatre Arts Conservatory
~The 39 Steps-Hale Center Theater, Orem

Anticipated (a wish list of sorts--but there will be lots more):

January:
  • Find and Sign

February:

  • Miss Evers' Boys
  • The Adding Machine
  • Educating Rita
  • Red
  • The Big Bad Musical
  • Emma
  • Seven

March:

  • The Crucible
  • Xanadu
  • Rare Bird
  • The Third Crossing

April:

  • The Scarlet Letter
  • Course 86B in the Catalogue

May:

  • In the Next Room
  • Betrayal
  • Aliens: the Puppet Musical

June:

  • War Horse
  • Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  • Les Miserables
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • Mary Stuart
  • Titus Andronicus

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

  • The Lion in Winter

December:


Movies (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

The Adventures of Tintin
Fright Night
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (can I say I saw this? I think I slept through 75% of it)
The Descendants
The Ides of March

2011 by the #'s

Resolutions fulfilled: Some. But I'm thinking specific resolutions are not the way to go for me. See below.

Plays read: 9. My favorite: Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. And yeah, I'm still pretty devastated that I didn't get cast. But it is one of the plays I'm most looking forward to seeing this year.

Books read: 8. My favorite: Catching Fire.

Productions attended: 57! The girls saw 24 with us, plus the 2 I was in--and they were in 2 themselves, plus there was one production that all of us were involved in. I saw so many great productions this year, it's pretty impossible to pick my favorite, so I'm going to mention my top 5: Spring Awakening (touring), The Glass Menagerie (Grand Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Drowsy Chaperone (Hale Center Theater, Orem), Les Miserables (touring). My favorite performance: Teresa Sanderson in Gypsy (Dark Horse Company Theatre).

Productions performed in: 3 (plus 1 one-night stand).

Movies seen: 32. I saw 8 of those in an actual cinema. My favorite: Hugo.

2011 was another wonderful year. So full and so busy, which is just the way I like it.

Full lists are here.


On to 2012! In which I make resolutions in a different way.
  1. Make friends with 5:30 AM.
  2. Read more, watch less.
  3. Do more, sit less.
  4. Eat less, but higher quality food.
  5. Save/pay off more, spend less.
  6. Give more, expect less.
  7. Be less afraid.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

I Fall in Love Too Easily



Me too, Frank.

Which can make life complicated for an actor. But not in the way you're thinking. I fall in non-romantic love with just about everyone I work with on stage. I love getting to know them in the intense and intimate circumstances of rehearsal. I love having them around. I love being onstage with them and navigating our way through the run of a show together. I love spending time with them offstage. They become like family to me. And then the show ends. And we go our separate ways. A necessary part of the process--there's always another project to move on to, life to get back to. We always declare our intentions to stay in contact, to not let too much time pass before seeing each other again, or better yet, working together again. But, life gets in the way and promises are rarely kept, on my side too. These separations are so acute in the beginning, they feel like breakups. I find myself pining over my lost loves and wonder if I'm the only one that goes through it. And then I wonder what on earth I'm doing in this profession. And then I, too, move on to the next thing and fall in love again. With somebody new. Or with a different aspect of an actor I've worked with before.

Actually, as I think about it, maybe this belongs in the tally of things that are amazing about the actor's life. I get to be reminded, on a regular basis, of what it's like to fall in love. I get to find incredible new friends and deepen older friendships. Hi-diddle-dee-dee, an actor's life for me! Thanks for listening and helping me work through that.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

More blogging elsewhere

clicky on the picture

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Lessons Learned 4

Macbeth--There ARE some new things that can be done with Shakespeare. Also--not necessarily in reaction to the performance, just some things it made me think about--Lady Macbeth is the boss of that marriage. For a while. There is a point at which Macbeth actually becomes what she seems to want him to be and at that point he becomes scary. She loses her power then. And goes a little crazy (?). Maybe because the situation is completely out of her control, where she's used to having everything well-in-hand (?).

Sunset Boulevard--It's possible to be a completely fabulous leading lady and still be humble and gracious. Not that I'll ever have occasion to take a curtain call like that one, but still. A good thing to remember.

Proof--Someday I'm going to be old. And I'm going to have to give up acting. I fear the performance that will make me realize it's time to let it go.

The Odyssey--I will never be as good of an actor as mr. is. Not a chance.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Lessons Learned 3

Anne Frank--An audience doesn't need a character to be what they expect. If the character is played with truth and actions are supported by the script, there's no reason not to challenge their expectations.

Equus--Sometimes naked just makes more sense. It just does.

Borderlands--It is strange to watch someone play a role you've played. It's different if it's a role hundreds of actors have played. When it's one only the two of you have played, it's just odd. Not good or bad, but odd. And there's more to be learned by that process than I can say in just a couple of sentences.

Hairspray--Just keep going. Mic problem, sound issue, whatever. Enthusiasm and energy will keep the audience with you no matter what.

Circle Mirror Transformation--Watching actors perform theatre games is ALMOST as uncomfortable for me as doing them myself. Why? Why do I despise theatre games so much? It's what made me realize I could never be an acting teacher. But I don't think that's why I hate them.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Lessons Learned 2

Persian Quarter--Stillness is okay.

Lady Macbeth (script in hand)--Even in a seated, script-in-hand reading of a play, total commitment to the moment pays off. Just act.

tick...tick...BOOM!--A few great songs don't make a great musical. Even great performances of great songs can't save a script that is less than stellar.

Well--Direct address is incredibly effective if it's done right. If you have an easy, casual, manner with the audience. I don't think I've ever gotten it right.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

10 Reasons Why Dating Actors is a GOOD Idea


This article has made the rounds a little bit. You won't be surprised to hear that I disagree with just about every point he makes. In the comments section, there's a point by point rebuttal that I agree with, so I'm not taking that route. This is my counter-argument in the form of 10 things that I think are awesome about actors. You should know that none of this is about me flattering myself that I'm eminently datable. This is from the point of a view of a woman (me) who has many many many actor friends, who dated her fair share of actors, and ended up marrying one. You should also know that many of these points apply to GOOD actors, not to ALL actors.

1. Actors are emotionally open. They have to be in order to do what they do on stage. If they put up a wall so the world can't see their emotions they can't have that wall conveniently come down only while they're on stage. They walk around with their emotions on their sleeves. Which means, in spite of the fact that they're actors, you'll always know what they're feeling. At least when they're in real life with you.

2. Actors can make even the most mind-numbing, derivative, badly written children's book seem beautiful and thrilling. Your kids will grow up knowing what a good story sounds like, enjoying reading, growing an enormous vocabulary, and will be good storytellers (possibly even good actors) themselves.

3. Actors think outside the box. All the time. They are creative people who spend their time/energy creating characters and imagining how those characters act and react in the given circumstances of the script. That creative-thinking is applicable and valuable in so many areas of real life, including parenting and many different kinds of "day jobs".

4. Actors do their job on stage in front of lots of people. Which means you get to go into a theatre with a bunch of strangers and watch your significant other do amazing things. And you get to secretly listen to the wonderful things those strangers say about your significant other. And you get to admire them for all kinds of new reasons.

5. Actors usually surround themselves with an enormous crowd of other interesting, entertaining people. Which means any parties, dinners, drinks-after-the-show you attend with your significant other will be the most fun you've ever had.

6. Actors usually know they're not going to ACTUALLY make a living acting, so they gain lots of other skills: cooking, waiting tables, bookkeeping, grant-writing, non-grant-writing, photography, clerical work, bartending, catering, computer programming, teaching. Not to mention the other theatre skills they acquire: theatre management, stage management, costume design, directing, lighting design, electrics, etc. All of these skills are great for finding work that DOES pay.

7. Actors frequently change their looks for a part: dye their hair, grow a beard, lose or gain weight, etc (see above for a case in point). So, chances are you'll have yourself a brand new lover for a time when your significant other is working on a particular role. Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little something fresh and new!

8. Actors are students of human nature. Which means they're very good at putting themselves in someone else's shoes. In fact, they will probably understand you better than you understand yourself.

9. Actors are brave. They go on auditions on a regular basis, which, if you haven't done it, is neither easy nor fun. It's terrifying. Yet they do it. Over and over. What's more, they get up in front of an audience and risk making utter fools of themselves night after night, not knowing what strange things might happen, how the audience will behave, etc. See? Brave.

10. Actors do a lot of their own dramaturgy. So they're always studying up on something new--a period of history, a country, a city, a real-life person, a language, a culture, a playwright, you get the idea. So you will never ever ever run out of things to talk about.


Please feel free to add more awesome things about actors to this list. :)