Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

When You Get To Hear It For The First Time…

As I spent the last few days worrying over JCS, that little voice in the back of my head began to whisper to me. Just ever so slightly. Kind of like seeing something out of the corner of your eye.

After a week of rehearsals, the cast got to sing through all ov Act 1 witb minimal stopping. To get them into the spirit of the night, we kicked off rehearsal with some vocal warm ups. After a couple of standards, we threw in something goofy just for kicks. Once they fully comitted to the exercise, I threw emotions at them as they sang “do you want fries with that?” I wanted them to build from a “it’s a great day” to “if you don’t get out of my face i will kill you!” It was fun to see them take this group exercise and make it into mini scenes. Some were more believable than others and when I came across those, I would say that I don’t believe it and I could see the shift in their intensity. It was a lot of fun. I hope they enjoyed the experience.

From there, the cast did a mini sit and sing of Act 1. It went really well and totally made my night to see the cast react to hearing the leads for the first time. It was great to see them really get into it with everyone being in the same room and enjoying the music.

After a small break, we cleared the chairs and told the cast the move around the room in the spirit of a character. It was like watching a show in itself.

To watch the characters begin to take shape, to see the reactions of the rest of the cast, and to know that we are on the up slopes of this process made for an incredible night!
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Cut to 3 weeks later…

We’ve managed to get all but 6 or 7 numbers staged and begin stumbling thru acts this week. Every day I am excited to see what is in store and what is inside these actors. Every day I am grateful that they work so hard. I feel so unbelievably lucky that this particular group of people accepted parts in this show.

I hope that they are still enjoying themselves, even inspite of my frantically worded explanations. As I watch them laugh and chat, I know they are enjoying each others’ friendships. That gives me hope. Hahahaha!!

In all honesty, this incredible group of actors and I cannot wait to share this show with y’all!!!

Even Though I Rehearsed It, This Is What I Ended Up Telling Them…

love-spells5

Last night, we held our orientation for JCS! I don’t know if anyone saw, but after saying hello to everyone, I sat down and scanned the room. Just seeing all the excited and smiling faces kinda got to me.

When it came time for me to introduce myself and explain how I look at the show, I forgot almost everything I had practiced. I told the cast that “I believe the show is all about love. Why do the Apostles follow this man? What is he saying that makes them love him? Why does his legacy entice people to do the same? I always try to look for the good things and what is supposed to have happened to this man is a tragedy. So I need for all of you to find your own motivation as to why you love him so much. On the flip side of loving this figure, what is the response to his death? In our production, no one is to “blame.” Jesus is our puppet master that forces all of the events that need to happen. He does it out of love, though. That brings in the guilt. What could have been done to prevent this from happening? This is where I hope we can start a dialogue for the people. In life, we have those feelings of ‘what could we have done to have prevented this tragedy?’ It’s too often that everything we hear is negative, but if we can put more love into the world, maybe we can get that thought out there that showing love to people can help to prevent them.”

My voice was shaky and my thoughts were zipping through my head at a mile a minute and as soon as I began, I knew that what I was saying wasn’t what I had practiced. Then I told everyone they could go, even after we said that we needed to get some info from people . Ugh, I was a mess. Not a hot mess, just a mess.

My personal philosophy is to always look at and for the positive things that happen in life. From the daily news to the internet, we are constantly bombarded with negative imagery and words. Granted, there are a few small rays of light like Positive News and Daily Good.

While I got the end of my rant correct(ish), I feel like I may have confused some of the people, like my Priests, Pilate, and Herod. I had a great short chat to clarify my intent with Aaron, the actor playing Herod.

Here’s how the spiel went down in my head:

Love is the greatest motivation of all. That is my personal belief. If Jesus was sent here for the reason people claim, in the show, why does he doubt his purpose? Why do the Apostles follow this man? What is he saying that makes them love him so? Why are Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary the two main people who remain at his side even during the crucifixion? Why are the priests so threatened by him, if they call him a madman? Those are just a few of the questions that I would like to present at the moment. We’ll look further into it as the days go by and by all means bring in your questions too. It’s things like this that make me feel like JSC is really a story about love. While this show talks of some of his miracles it never really focuses on them, so in that spirit I would like to present this show to you actors while also adding in the elements of reality and reason. Going back to the purpose of Jesus, doesn’t his whole existence rest on the idea that he was sent here to die for the sins of the people? If so, is there really a person to “blame?” Could this have been prevented? If so, why didn’t they try? In our society today, don’t we look at tragedies and ask “How could this have been prevented?” Can’t we take that thought and become proactive? If we spread love through this world to all people, wouldn’t we suffer less tragedies? This brings me back to my first statement. Love is the greatest motivation of all.

So, tonight we begin to dig into the songs of the show. This is such a talented cast (I know every director says that) I absolutely cannot wait to hear them. I think I may get verklempt. I am so grateful to be on this journey with them. I hope that I honor their work with this show.

And We Begin In Three Days…

just a dream

I have always wanted to try my hand at directing. Partly for the experience, partly because it would be different, but mostly because I wanted to see if I could tell a story in a different way.

Almost exactly a year ago, I had asked the producer of “Sugar” about apprentice opportunities for directing and she said “I will put your name on our contacts list just in case something comes up.” I was totally satisfied with that and happily continued the rehearsal when they were ready for me to pop back into the scene. I had asked another company the same thing and got the same answer so it wasn’t unexpected.

Little did I know that three weeks later I would be asked to present an idea to sit IN the director’s seat of Jesus Christ Superstar. Ever since I found out it was in the season, all I thought about was auditioning to play Judas one more time. At first, I didn’t know what to say. Do I jump at the chance knowing that I have never done anything like this and have no training for it? I had a little dilemma. After taking a few days to think about it, I decided “Why not?” Sure this could mean that if this goes horribly wrong, I may never get the chance to do this again. But if it goes right…

Rehearsals are right around the corner, and to say that I am excited is an understatement. I have been thinking about the show for the last 8 months! Regardless of my nerves, I really think that this is going to be the best learning experience of my life. Not only is it a chance to try something new and in the realm of theatre, but it will allow me to strengthen skills that I can use anywhere and in any job.

Listening: I like to think that I do a pretty darn good job of listening to people. In any theatrical endeavor, collaborating with everyone is essential, and that means listening to everyone’s concerns, ideas, and criticisms.

Problem Solving: Taking all that information and making it useful or addressing why the information can’t be used.

Decision Making: I never knew how much planning and questions I would have to answer even BEFORE auditions. I am usually a “feely” kind of decider. So if something feels right or not is how I usually decide. With a project like this, I had to learn to look ahead and see if the decision would affect anything else in the show.

Time Management: Once the ball gets rolling, there isn’t much time to waste getting all the ducks in a row. I really need to be wary on how I use every minute of rehearsal time so that the actors aren’t sitting around. It’s not fair to them to make them spend their time waiting if I can help it. Also, I have to make sure that all the pieces are put together well in advance of tech week. My goal is to have the show running two weeks before tech.

I can bet that the management at the nursery will love this. It’s amazing at how many skills one can acquire and/or develop in the Arts and yet the educational system deems them less than “academics.” It’s a real damn shame.

Like I said, I never thought I would have this kind of chance this quickly, so I am nervous about this but once we get into the swing of things, I feel like it will be SUPER!!

I Don’t Make Resolutions…

humph

Welcome to the time of year when people swear specifics on how they are going to change.

The problem is that the failure rate for resolutions is HIGH!! Instead of making specifics, why not make them more general? Vow to be a better person. Help people. Simply doing that, I feel will go a long way to getting me to those specifics that I am looking for. For me, it is to simply be a good person. Give when and what I can, when I can. And be grateful that I can do so.

Thank you 2013 for the crazy ride.

While I bid you adieu, I would like to ask you for a favor. I know that you are close friends with 2014. Heck, for all I know you may even be BFFs. I don’t even know if you feel comfortable doing this, but here goes:

Can you please ask 2014 to be better? Not for me, but for my friends and for the many, many people that are struggling, although, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind the extra help.

Friends that have had a rough year of first not being able to find a job, but then landing what could’ve been a great gig, only to have it turn out to be less than ideal, and people that have seen all that they have worked for disappear through hospital bills or tragedy.

It’s not that you were a bad year ’13, can I call you that? I feel like you and I connected in a very moving way. It’s just that there are a lot of good people out there that just need a break. Take for instance, my BFFs Sarah and Tom. To me they are amazing people. Objectively speaking, they are well above average in creativity, intelligence, hard working, and thoughtfulness than many.

Sarah is motivating and motivated. She is funny and contemplative. Her big heart is only matched by her incredible thirst for knowledge. She is a smart cookie that people only smell that she’s baking. But some people think “Is that too much to be in a cookie? I like the simple ones best.”

Tom is brilliant. He’s a funny people person that looks at things from a different angle. He’s analytic and creative. Much like Sarah, he too has too many ingredients for people to appreciate and I worry that all that incredible potential wouldn’t be utilized to it’s fullest.

And there lies the problem. Can you ask 2014 to wave its magic wand over the world to get people to open their eyes that simple isn’t enough anymore.

Much like the nursery, it seems as though people want to get information from them only to leave and find a cheaper way to put that new found info to work. Speaking of the nursery, can you please get people to show some sort of loyalty? Other gardening companies refer their customer to come to us for problems they can’t solve but we can! Yet, for all the amazing knowledge that is in the minds of the nursery people, customers simply walk away with thank you, if we are lucky. It is bothersome to watch this happen. To see what it does to the morale of great people. It’s like watching people drain a lake of fish. Keep going back and taking and soon there will be nothing to take. I recommend if you buy your plant at the orange box, get your information from there too. If they can’t help you, maybe they shouldn’t sell it.

It’s been heartbreaking to hear of the natural disasters that have taken their toll on the human race, so can you please ask for a little less of that too? I know we are causing global warming and it’s just a side effect of our own making, but I am certain more people will get involved with making more environmentally conscious choices in the new year.

I know I am asking for the impossible, but if you could just at least ask 2014 to be… easier, shall we say? Not “better” but easier.

Thank you for every thing ’13! I will miss you, but remember you with such fondness. You have brought some amazing people into my life and that is the best part. Be well, my friend!

5 Musicals, 1 Staged Reading, 1 Webisode, and 1 Play in 12 Months…

To say that 2013 has been a busy year is redundant. I have spent countless hours in rehearsals and still more in performances. But it was such a wonderful, exhausting and yet fleeting year. There were so many high points and a few low points. I don’t want to bore you with them as I have feel I have already shared them with you. There’s nothing that bothers me more than repetitive blogging. That’s part of the reason that I’ve been a little less productive on the site this year.

Crazy cast of Promises, Promises. (rehearsal)

One thing that never changed throughout was my positive outlook. Life is too short to spend too much time marching in the “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” parade. I always say honor your feelings, so if you feel sad, do it. Feel that sadness, but only stay in the parade for a block or two. Don’t let it drag you down the street! There were a times when I was kicking myself for getting in way over my head. I worried and stressed about it, but once I worked through it, I had to come up with a way to fix my predicament. I don’t like to be a victim of my life. I don’t see how it helps me. So the only thing to do is to remain positive. Except when it comes to a strep test. THEN you wanna be full of negative.

Finale of 9 to 5 with some of the crazy cast. Photo by B. Heninger

In my lows, I will admit that it reached points at the nursery where I didn’t want to care about the place. But again, what good does that do? It just creates a cycle of waking up, grabbing a shower, followed by 8 hours of clock watching to then head to the theatre. At that point, I would have to take a moment to shake off my day’s indifference so that I can commit to my characters. Then I thought of how much more fully involved I could make my characters if I took all the aspect of my life and tried to commit to them. How much more can I experience LIFE and use it in theatre?

I began offering ideas to the management at work, and many of them they loved. It astonishes me that once that line of thinking became vocalized how many other ideas seemed to come out of nowhere. Sadly, it took most of the year to pass before I even had the inclination to do this. Still, it opens a new way of thinking and I cannot wait to see how I can utilize it for future characterizations.

In all honesty, I feel like I have to say that this has been a totally selfish year. My goal, in addition to continuing to perform, is to help promote the arts and to celebrate the people who create it. I have been so wrapped up in only my shows that I have failed in helping. So like my new mindset for work, I would like to throw it out to the wonderful community that I am lucky to be a part of:

How can I help you?

I am all ears. I have some ideas in the planning stages so, maybe you are thinking the same thing I am.

Until next time, (which may even be next year!)

jery

P.S. Have a safe and happy New Year!!