Monthly Archives: December 2015

Non-theatre friends of mine (few that there are) ask me this time of year what I plan to do for the holidays. Of course, I say head to NYC. After all that budgeting to pay the mortgage off on our Washington Heights condo I am drawn to the promised land for the reward – and obviously for some theatre. Read more →

I am sure that all of you teachers can relate to the crazy that is the last day of school before the holiday break. I mean truly – what is the point? But then, of course, if Friday were not the last day then the crazy would be Thursday – and if Thursday was not the last day – then Wednesday – and I think you get my point. Read more →

Today in Company we are completing a review that combines the “Authentic Self” project that we did earlier in the year with the Viewpoints that we have been working on for the past several weeks. They were given a completely clear Blackbox (well, as clear as that room will ever get) and they were given a single music stand. They were asked to divide up their life into a 3 or 5 chapter book – dividing into the sections that defined their big moments. Read more →

I love The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. I love this play – but this play is a tough read! As one of the foundations of western dramatic literature there is no way of escaping this play – – and you SHOULDN’T want to escape this play. Of course, if all you do is read this play – you might find yourself falling asleep. There is just nothing that happens! It is not a play of action and further all of the big moments – the melodarama of the play – happens offstage. The suicide, the drunken fights, the tragedy, the dead children and all the heartache is not brought to the stage but merely TALKED about. How does this make a good play? Read more →

In Directing class, we began a conversation on the audition process from the director’s point of view. We acknowledged that the process is ardous and hardly very scientific. The most compelling question that I heard was a young lady that asked what do if I do if find the very best person for the role, but he does not read well against any other partner. Would I cast this “best person” or would I keep looking around? I explained that in my years of auditioning high school students I have begun to almost exclusively audition and cast in pairs. The idea of being alone on stage is just so rare in theatre – and even then, one is MAKING an acting partner out of the audience. Read more →