Friday, July 24, 2009
Lapse in the Stimulated Mind
I realize that I left something out in that third post... This was the fact that I also, around the same time as auditions for The Diviner's auditioned for a community production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast which we perform in December, and that I can honestly say will be brilliant. I was cast as the Baker, a townsperson, and I'm thrilled to be a part of this show.
The Thought Process of a Stimulated Mind
So at physical therapy (I'm going twice a week because of my knee surgery) today I had some time to think, and what did I do with that time? I stared blankly off into space and did absolutely nothing useful with it! But, I guess that's just how I work when I'm on electric stimulation getting who knows how much electricity put through my leg.
But that's not the point, the point is, I'm getting to the next point in my life in the theatre...
So, I think I said that we moved to Missouri, and that my mother had had the foresight to email the theatre teacher here to get information about their program. Well, that resulted in me being pretty much immediately integrated into their program. As a matter of fact, the play that they had started a the beginning of summer, their fall play, had just lost some members in the tech crew, and the teacher had me turn in an application. So, I was a proud member of the tech crew of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker. You can imagine how excited I was to be back in the theatre mix. The immediate acceptance and friendliness of the people in the group was also amazing. Anywho, the show was performed, and I was extremely happy that I could just have been a part of it.
Now, I think I should explain that back in Colorado, there was no real theatre program. Basically what their program consisted of was the poorly directed fall/winter play, and that was all. Now, in this little podunk town in Missouri, however, there were classes, a drama club, a program to integrate older people with newer people, at least three plays a year, and theatre classes, which I found myself in quite a few of this year. More on that later, though. Needless to say, this felt like a huge change for the better in that area, but it just wasn't the same without my friend.
Anyway, the timeline continues with Little Shop of Horrors which we performed February 12, 13, and 14. Yes, that's right Valentine's Day. I auditioned and was cast as Mr. Mushnik, the shop owner/man with visions of grandeur. I absolutely loved the role of Mushnik. He was evil, yet likable all at the same time, quite a paradoxical character. But there was a difference with this play. That difference was that I wasn't helping with the tech aspect. See, in Colorado, everyone helped with tech, but here, there were designated crews. And I see why it had to be this way, but I still felt useless. So, here's where things get confusing.
First semester I was scheduled in one theatre class, the intro to theatre class. Second semester, I was originally supposed to be scheduled for one, and that was for the theatre two class, but I had an opening in my schedule, so I was scheduled for the Intro to Acting class, which was the continuation of the intro to theatre class. These fell on the same day, but an hour apart (I had a physical education class in between). During my frist day in the physical education class, I had an episode of a heart condition that I have had for quite a long time. Needless to say, I couldn't continue in the class if the exercises were going to continue to be that strenuous, so I went for a schedule change... It just so happened that the technical theatre class fell on that hour. So, I jumped on the opportunity. I no longer had to feel useless knowing that I was standing at rehearsal with nothing to do, because I was helping with the technical aspect of the show in class. So, for the rest of the year, I had math, then theatre, then theatre, then theatre again. An awesome schedule, to say the least.
So, the performances of Little Shop of Horrors went very well, and we found ourself in the class play for theatre two with auditions for the children's show Charlotte's Web right around the corner. So, I auditioned for both, and I got the part of Templeton in Charlotte's Web. Now, for the class play, we did something a little different. We performed a Green Show, which is basically a pre show to a Shakespeare-era play, which just so happened to be Hamlet, which I was also a part of as a player and a pall bearer. It was fun to say the least.
We then performed Charlotte's Web, and we wrapped up the school year with auditions for the play we are currently working on: The Diviner's. A brilliant story about a young mentally challenged boy who is afraid of water, and his pastor friend's quest to clean him. So, I guess there's the background... Three long-ass posts and ten tired fingers later.
I guess I'll keep updated as events happen now.
If you're reading, thanks, though I highly doubt anyone is.
But that's not the point, the point is, I'm getting to the next point in my life in the theatre...
So, I think I said that we moved to Missouri, and that my mother had had the foresight to email the theatre teacher here to get information about their program. Well, that resulted in me being pretty much immediately integrated into their program. As a matter of fact, the play that they had started a the beginning of summer, their fall play, had just lost some members in the tech crew, and the teacher had me turn in an application. So, I was a proud member of the tech crew of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker. You can imagine how excited I was to be back in the theatre mix. The immediate acceptance and friendliness of the people in the group was also amazing. Anywho, the show was performed, and I was extremely happy that I could just have been a part of it.
Now, I think I should explain that back in Colorado, there was no real theatre program. Basically what their program consisted of was the poorly directed fall/winter play, and that was all. Now, in this little podunk town in Missouri, however, there were classes, a drama club, a program to integrate older people with newer people, at least three plays a year, and theatre classes, which I found myself in quite a few of this year. More on that later, though. Needless to say, this felt like a huge change for the better in that area, but it just wasn't the same without my friend.
Anyway, the timeline continues with Little Shop of Horrors which we performed February 12, 13, and 14. Yes, that's right Valentine's Day. I auditioned and was cast as Mr. Mushnik, the shop owner/man with visions of grandeur. I absolutely loved the role of Mushnik. He was evil, yet likable all at the same time, quite a paradoxical character. But there was a difference with this play. That difference was that I wasn't helping with the tech aspect. See, in Colorado, everyone helped with tech, but here, there were designated crews. And I see why it had to be this way, but I still felt useless. So, here's where things get confusing.
First semester I was scheduled in one theatre class, the intro to theatre class. Second semester, I was originally supposed to be scheduled for one, and that was for the theatre two class, but I had an opening in my schedule, so I was scheduled for the Intro to Acting class, which was the continuation of the intro to theatre class. These fell on the same day, but an hour apart (I had a physical education class in between). During my frist day in the physical education class, I had an episode of a heart condition that I have had for quite a long time. Needless to say, I couldn't continue in the class if the exercises were going to continue to be that strenuous, so I went for a schedule change... It just so happened that the technical theatre class fell on that hour. So, I jumped on the opportunity. I no longer had to feel useless knowing that I was standing at rehearsal with nothing to do, because I was helping with the technical aspect of the show in class. So, for the rest of the year, I had math, then theatre, then theatre, then theatre again. An awesome schedule, to say the least.
So, the performances of Little Shop of Horrors went very well, and we found ourself in the class play for theatre two with auditions for the children's show Charlotte's Web right around the corner. So, I auditioned for both, and I got the part of Templeton in Charlotte's Web. Now, for the class play, we did something a little different. We performed a Green Show, which is basically a pre show to a Shakespeare-era play, which just so happened to be Hamlet, which I was also a part of as a player and a pall bearer. It was fun to say the least.
We then performed Charlotte's Web, and we wrapped up the school year with auditions for the play we are currently working on: The Diviner's. A brilliant story about a young mentally challenged boy who is afraid of water, and his pastor friend's quest to clean him. So, I guess there's the background... Three long-ass posts and ten tired fingers later.
I guess I'll keep updated as events happen now.
If you're reading, thanks, though I highly doubt anyone is.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Boredom Sets in...
Well, summer break officially sucks... Aside from a knee surgery, some play rehearsals here and there, and a little bit of time with friends, it's been a really, REALLY boring summer, and today was no different. So, it is here that I find myself writing this post to tell more of my background story in theatre...
Now, I was at the part where I had auditioned for the summer community play Westward Whoa!
I had no intention to audition, but my friend was apparently being hounded by his neighbor that she had "a couple of perfect parts" for us again and wanted us to audition. So, of course, I got dragged into it... Now that I look back on it, I see that it was good for me to do it, because it got me to where I am today... Kinda...
So we auditioned, and my friend got cast as Straight-shooting Sam, and I got cast as The Arizona Kid in the production. Now, I will admit, I didn't like the play... In fact, it was downright horrible... It was a musical melodrama, which in the hands of a less than competent director who had no idea the concept of anything good, was even worse than it sounds with THAT description. The experience was different under the director this time, though. She was much more schedule oriented, and didn't make any last minute additions... Possibly because I cussed her out during The Royal Bachelor, or possibly because my mother did. But either way, she stuck to the schedule.
Actually, this time, it was more in the area of the SET that there were problems... I had always helped out with the set building because I feel that if I don't do something tech oriented, I'm pretty much dead weight and in the way. Unfortunately on the set build day, I couldn't be there because of an obligation I had before even auditioning for the show, and I therefore couldn't help build the outlaw cabin in which I would spend a majority of the show.
The outlaw cabin was a raised platform, standing about eight inches off the top of the stage, and hanging off a good two or three feet. It had a small overhanging roof that looked like a couple sticks and a piece of cloth, and on the left side (stage right) was a wall made out of literally shards of left over wood. So it was rickety to say the least... But the wall was the least of my worries...
They made the floor out of thin sheet wood, like the wood used to make the walls for sets. Less than a quarter of an inch thick, and it had only one or two supports underneath... So I'm walking on it, and it's cracking under my weight. Not breaking, but you can hear the wood begin to crack...
They decided not to do anything about it for quite a while, and we went on rehearsing. That was, until the dress rehearsal two days before opening night, when I dropped down on my knee, like I always had done, and put it through the floor, upsetting my balance, and falling five feet to the hard floor below. After months of warnings, I finally proved that the floor would crack under my weight... Unfortunately it was at the expense of my back, and almost at the expense of a very expensive microphone that just so happened to be in my "flight" path. And wow, that was a lot of "expense" for one paragraph...
But, as they say, the show must go on. And it did, and both performance nights, the entire cast received a standing ovation.
Shortly after this, I started my junior year in high school. I had had every intention of auditioning for the next play because I realized that I truly loved acting. But catastrophe struck, and my family and I were forced to move from our home in beautiful Colorado, and come to not-so-beautiful Missouri... Now, don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough state when it comes to the people, but nothing can top the view of the mountains from your back yard.
Luckily my mother had the foresight to email a theatre teacher here in the town we moved to, and get information about their program. But more on that in a different post, because I think this one's getting longer than the last one...
Now, I was at the part where I had auditioned for the summer community play Westward Whoa!
I had no intention to audition, but my friend was apparently being hounded by his neighbor that she had "a couple of perfect parts" for us again and wanted us to audition. So, of course, I got dragged into it... Now that I look back on it, I see that it was good for me to do it, because it got me to where I am today... Kinda...
So we auditioned, and my friend got cast as Straight-shooting Sam, and I got cast as The Arizona Kid in the production. Now, I will admit, I didn't like the play... In fact, it was downright horrible... It was a musical melodrama, which in the hands of a less than competent director who had no idea the concept of anything good, was even worse than it sounds with THAT description. The experience was different under the director this time, though. She was much more schedule oriented, and didn't make any last minute additions... Possibly because I cussed her out during The Royal Bachelor, or possibly because my mother did. But either way, she stuck to the schedule.
Actually, this time, it was more in the area of the SET that there were problems... I had always helped out with the set building because I feel that if I don't do something tech oriented, I'm pretty much dead weight and in the way. Unfortunately on the set build day, I couldn't be there because of an obligation I had before even auditioning for the show, and I therefore couldn't help build the outlaw cabin in which I would spend a majority of the show.
The outlaw cabin was a raised platform, standing about eight inches off the top of the stage, and hanging off a good two or three feet. It had a small overhanging roof that looked like a couple sticks and a piece of cloth, and on the left side (stage right) was a wall made out of literally shards of left over wood. So it was rickety to say the least... But the wall was the least of my worries...
They made the floor out of thin sheet wood, like the wood used to make the walls for sets. Less than a quarter of an inch thick, and it had only one or two supports underneath... So I'm walking on it, and it's cracking under my weight. Not breaking, but you can hear the wood begin to crack...
They decided not to do anything about it for quite a while, and we went on rehearsing. That was, until the dress rehearsal two days before opening night, when I dropped down on my knee, like I always had done, and put it through the floor, upsetting my balance, and falling five feet to the hard floor below. After months of warnings, I finally proved that the floor would crack under my weight... Unfortunately it was at the expense of my back, and almost at the expense of a very expensive microphone that just so happened to be in my "flight" path. And wow, that was a lot of "expense" for one paragraph...
But, as they say, the show must go on. And it did, and both performance nights, the entire cast received a standing ovation.
Shortly after this, I started my junior year in high school. I had had every intention of auditioning for the next play because I realized that I truly loved acting. But catastrophe struck, and my family and I were forced to move from our home in beautiful Colorado, and come to not-so-beautiful Missouri... Now, don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough state when it comes to the people, but nothing can top the view of the mountains from your back yard.
Luckily my mother had the foresight to email a theatre teacher here in the town we moved to, and get information about their program. But more on that in a different post, because I think this one's getting longer than the last one...
Theatre Chronicles: The Beginning
Well, I guess this is the beginning of a new era for me... I'm starting this blog, not necessarily for other people to read, but to keep a record of things that have happened/will happen in my life since/after I found the theatre... For good or for bad, I need to keep a record of it...
Those few of you who might read this blog can call me Alexander, or Alex. So, introductions complete, I guess it's time for some background.
I began my journey into theatre in the seventh grade, so only five short years ago (I will be a senior in high school this upcoming school year) with my best friend and brother in a little class in a small town in Colorado. We spent an entire semester learning absolutely nothing about the art, and simply diving in to the play that we performed... There was no auditioning, there was no process, it was simply "who wants this part," or "who would like to have that part." Rubbish, if you ask me...
Needless to say, I didn't pursue theatre, or, as they so pointedly called it "drama" (which is a genre, not an art) again in that middle school... It wasn't until sophomore year that I was actually thrust into the art for what it was.
My friend/brother's neighbor had seen the two of us together during one of his piano lessons, and it just so happened that she would be directing the school's next production. She said that she had the "perfect pair of parts" for us two, and that she would be "delighted" if we would audition... So we did, and we got those parts... My friend was cast as Prince Daft, and I was cast as Conroy in the musical production of The Royal Bachelor. Now, don't get me wrong, it was fun, but the director was a bit of a loon... Her idea of scheduling was less than a "standard" idea, and scheduling extra practices the day before didn't help with the attitudes of the cast... Add in the fact that she cut someone two weeks from showtime without an understudy lined up, and you have yourself a rather uncleanable mess... Oh, and as it just so happens, the person she cut was one of the main people in one of the best songs in the show, and I don't just say that because my friend and I were also in that song, it really was... She had to cut the song two days before the show... Not ideal...
I vowed never to partake in another show with that woman as the director... Apparently I lied, because about a month later, I found myself auditioning for the community musical production of Westward Whoa! No matter how much i dispised the director, she still couldn't keep me away from the art. From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I knew the direction I wanted to go in.
I suppose this post is long enough, though, so the events during/after Westward Whoa! will come a little later.
For those of you who are reading this, thanks, it's much appreciated.
Those few of you who might read this blog can call me Alexander, or Alex. So, introductions complete, I guess it's time for some background.
I began my journey into theatre in the seventh grade, so only five short years ago (I will be a senior in high school this upcoming school year) with my best friend and brother in a little class in a small town in Colorado. We spent an entire semester learning absolutely nothing about the art, and simply diving in to the play that we performed... There was no auditioning, there was no process, it was simply "who wants this part," or "who would like to have that part." Rubbish, if you ask me...
Needless to say, I didn't pursue theatre, or, as they so pointedly called it "drama" (which is a genre, not an art) again in that middle school... It wasn't until sophomore year that I was actually thrust into the art for what it was.
My friend/brother's neighbor had seen the two of us together during one of his piano lessons, and it just so happened that she would be directing the school's next production. She said that she had the "perfect pair of parts" for us two, and that she would be "delighted" if we would audition... So we did, and we got those parts... My friend was cast as Prince Daft, and I was cast as Conroy in the musical production of The Royal Bachelor. Now, don't get me wrong, it was fun, but the director was a bit of a loon... Her idea of scheduling was less than a "standard" idea, and scheduling extra practices the day before didn't help with the attitudes of the cast... Add in the fact that she cut someone two weeks from showtime without an understudy lined up, and you have yourself a rather uncleanable mess... Oh, and as it just so happens, the person she cut was one of the main people in one of the best songs in the show, and I don't just say that because my friend and I were also in that song, it really was... She had to cut the song two days before the show... Not ideal...
I vowed never to partake in another show with that woman as the director... Apparently I lied, because about a month later, I found myself auditioning for the community musical production of Westward Whoa! No matter how much i dispised the director, she still couldn't keep me away from the art. From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I knew the direction I wanted to go in.
I suppose this post is long enough, though, so the events during/after Westward Whoa! will come a little later.
For those of you who are reading this, thanks, it's much appreciated.
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