Heather Goes to the Theatre

Something Sassy

2011-09-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

Jerusalem

2011-08-12T06:18:00.001-07:00

It's true what everyone's been saying. Each person I've asked what to see on Broadway has told me that I must see Jerusalem, written by Jez Butterworth and titled for the famous British hymn by William Blake, simply because Mark Rylance is so damn good.
The other cast members come together to create this story in a brilliant way, it's true, McKenzie Crook as Ginger, Jay Sullivan as Lee, Charlotte Mills as Tanya and all the rest, but Mark Rylance transforms himself so completely and lays himself vulnerable to the carnage of the stage in such a way that so utterly befits the character, Johnny "Rooster" Byron, that you cannot disbelieve him for a moment. That best actor Tony is so well deserved.
My favorite thing about Jez Butterworth's work, as he weaves us the story of a woodland strung-out slacker facing impending eviction from the illegal silver bullet trailer he's been living in for twenty years, was the sense of magic he brings to the play. Taking place on St. George's day, and fair day for this particular town, Butterworth alludes to elves, fairies, giants, ghosts, Peter Pan, The Pied Piper, Robin Hood, and so on. Johnny Byron, has such an ability to create fantastical tales one after the other, that you are distracted from the character's deep, deep wounds (physical and emotional) and begin to wonder if you are, in fact, watching a mythical figure.

Sleep No More

2011-08-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

So, last night, I saw the most fascinating, guttural show I have ever experienced. No piece of theatre has ever done what this show did to me.
Yesterday an old friend, who I really can't thank enough, got an extra free ticket through work to the hottest show in town. Sleep No More is not on Broadway, it happens in three warehouses on W 27th where Punchdrunk (a British site-specific company) has created a fully decorated abandoned 1930s hotel. Complete with bar and live flapper music, the hotel is dark and terrifying and beautiful beyond measure. Upon entering each guest is given a ghostly mask and then sent wandering at their leisure through a pleasure trove of horrifying rooms. Floating from some of the graphic installations (a baby's room with nothing but an empty crib and a hundred headless stuffed babies flying just overhead perhaps) into bedrooms where you're welcome to open drawers, read letters, eat candy, and generally snoop, or step through a curtain and find yourself in an expansive forest, or literally chilling graveyard with dirt and statues and walls.
If the atmosphere and free range of the five floor set isn't enough, you may find yourself, as I did, turning a corner into a stairwell and coming face to face with Macbeth himself. All around you in the hotel the characters of Shakespeare's infamous play are also set to wandering. Reliving the play over and over in a series of movement and dance based scenes. Find Macbeth, follow him a while you'll watch him have a blood bath orgy with the witches and the devil, have a passionate row with Lady Macbeth, murder Duncan in his sleep, be washed by the lady in their private bath tub, kill Banquo, and so on. Follow Lady Macbeth a while and watch her spur on Duncan's murder, wash the blood from her husband, and dissolve into insanity in an institutional-like washing room with twenty stark bathtubs where the nurse puts her mad mistress in a tub to wash imagined or maybe real blood stains. Follow Duncan? See him have a restless nap plagued by nightmares and foreboding, pray helplessly in his private chapel, get a tense shave and shoe shine from his manservant, and watch the time tick down to his own death. Other characters are lurking through the hotel as well. You may stumble on the suite of who I assumed to be the Macduff's. In a small sitting area adjacent to an eerie nursery erratically dances the apparently mad with poison, very pregnant Lady Macduff and her deeply concerned husband.
The characters all join together before Duncan's murder for a silent dinner and lively dance in the main hall. Find yourself in the hall again later and notice the trees lining the walls have all moved signaling Macbeth's death. At some point I found myself one of the few masked ghosts in this hall when I was unexpectedly approached by an actor, a surprise as usually the actors looked right through the spectators as though we were truly mere phantoms. I could not see for the dark which character was speaking to me, but he came in very close to my ear so that I could feel the heat of his whispered breath on my neck and spoke some Biblical sounding verse ending in, "for the kingdom of God is holy as thou art," looked me right into my eyes and wandered out into the play. That was scary.
Actually, the whole three hours I spent wandering the play were full of fear, but also an unending amount of discovery and wonder. It was the most profoundly theatrical experience I have ever had. I will never see Shakespeare quite like this.

Freud's Last Session

2011-07-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hurray for off-Broadway! Seriously.
Last night I rushed a ticket at literally the very last minute to Freud's Last Session at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre on W 64th. I had left my number with the box office just in case there was a cancellation, and at 7:45 (fifteen minutes before curtain) they called to say I was in. Luckily I was in the neighborhood-ish. I had gone on a lazy stroll through Central Park, which was breathtaking yesterday evening, and had to hurry over to Central Park West as soon as they called. The scurry was completely worth it, though.
If you haven't heard, the show takes place on September 3, 1939 (the day of the king's speech) in the eighty-three year old Dr. Sigmund Freud's office where he is entertaining a theological debate with a pre-Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis. The events of the play, written by Mark St. Germain, are almost completely fabricated, and are based simply on Freud's journal entry on that date stating that a young Oxford Theologian had come for a visit. Lewis and Freud spend the next hour and a half in lively discussion regarding the existence of God. The opposing views are so fundamentally different and communicated so thoroughly and intelligently that the talk itself is riveting. Add the possibility that the U.K. could be bombed at any moment, and Freud, who died a few weeks after this date, has a painful and debilitating oral cancer, you have one exciting as well as provocative play.
I was able to meet both Martin Rayner (Sigmund Freud) and Mark H. Dold (C.S. Lewis) after the play during a talk back, and I told them personally how much I had loved their work. They've been performing the play for a year now, and they say that each night is still a new discovery, fresh and different. They're both truly impressive.

The Shakespeare Forum

2011-07-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to this really cool thing: there's this event every week at the Space on White called The Shakespeare Forum. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome to come, and it's simply a group of actors getting together and working on pieces. You can bring in something you're auditioning with, or something you're just playing with, a monologue, a scene, whatever. As long as it's Shakespeare. After you do your piece for this group of thirty or so really supportive fellow artists your work is open for constructive feedback. Being a new-be I was told that The Shakespeare Forum is like fight club (less in the sense that I can't talk about it and more like fresh blood has to get up there). Luckily I had brought in the Lady Anne (Richard III) I have been working on, among other speeches, all year, and did that. It went over very well, and the notes I got from the group were congruent with the notes I get all the time in grad school, it was nice to have them reiterated.
It was so wonderful to just go and work for a little while, and it made me really feel great to know that even when I'm in my downtime while I'm living in the city there will be safe places like this where I can be an artist.

All's Well That Ends Well in the Park

2011-07-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

I'm in New York City, not permanently yet, but I am spending the rest of my summer here in hopeful preparation of living here when I am done with graduate school in a year.
I arrived yesterday, and of course, why would I waste time in seeing fantastic New York Theatre? No sooner had I gotten off the plane and set down my bags, but I was back on the subway from my place in Greenpoint headed for Manhattan where a very kind friend who'd spent the morning in line had picked up a Shakespeare in the Park ticket for me too!
It was my first time seeing All's Well that Ends Well onstage, and I was so excited to cross this one off my list (I've actually decided to keep track of how many plays I've seen from Shakespeare's Canon, I'm up to nineteen now).
This production was so impressive. It was visually stunning, of course! So many beautiful actresses in beautiful costumes. Set in the nineteenth century the play opened with a small ball in which each woman onstage with the exception of the Countess of Rousillion (Tony A Pinkins) and Helena (Annie Parisse) wore a delightfully individualized green gown. Offsetting the peaceful scene's of the courtiers were riveting war scenes created so gorgeously by looming cannon smoke. Not only was the smoke lovely with the natural park backdrop, but immediately transported us to the front lines.
Conversations I've had about this play have always revolved around how a smart, generous woman like Helena could love such a flat out jerk like Bertram (André Holland), the Public's production, however, makes Bertram less overtly cruel and more youthful and foolish. At times he is almost sympathetic, which makes the unlikely love affair much more believable. André Holland makes a handsome and honorable soldier were it not for his boyish tendency to be distracted by the prospect of dishonorable relations with pretty little virgins.
I so enjoyed Kristen Connolly as Diana, and I most definitely enjoyed Reg Rogers as Parolles. He was hilarious!
Fantastic first night in the city! I couldn't have asked for better!

Horror Movie Chase Sequence, starring me

2011-06-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is fun.

Click HERE

Man=Man Stills

2011-06-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

I played The Widow Begbick. So I'm the clown with the big red wig and freaky underwear.

Production Stills from The Misanthrope

2011-04-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Their 35th Humana Festival, My Very First

2011-03-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Louisville, Kentucky is only a five hour drive from Athens. I would not have known this exactly if I had not hopped in a car at noon on Thursday with good friend Sarah Nelson (an Oregon native who I happened to meet out in Ohio) and driven Southwest until precisely five o'clock when we arrived in Louisville.
I had a mountain of work to do: Prepping for Man Equals Man which I began rehearsals for on Monday (I'm playing Begbick); also I was prepping for my first acting class in grad school dedicated completely to Shakespeare (I've had voice classes in Shakespeare already, but an acting class will cause its own immense challenges); and of course there are all the stresses of beginning a new term. Despite all that I chose to spend my last days of Spring Break in Louisville. What's the draw? Well, besides the museums, the neighborhoods, the great food and even the Bourbon, the Humana Festival is happening right now at the Actors Theater of Louisville!
The first night Sarah and I were in town we popped into the theater to see A Devil at Noon by Anne Washburn, which was this really disturbing little story about a science fiction writer (Joseph Adams) whose characters begin coming to life on him in the most unnervingly realistic fashion. The mime work in this show was so impressive. There was, in effect, no set to speak of, but everything in the "kitchen" was created through the specific movement of the actors and the spot-on sound design of Matt Hubbs. Every invisible pill bottle that was shook rattled, the invisible coffee machine made whirring bubbling noises when it was turned on, the imaginary cupboards shut, and the unseen apple crunched when it was sliced into by the non-existent knife. Apparently the actors began with a fully dressed set, and slowly the kitchen was taken away until they were miming everything with only sound. Sarah swore that even though she knew there was no actual coffee on set, or a coffee pot, or a counter, she could still smell the aroma of a freshly brewed cup. It was a really well executed choice.
On Saturday, after a day of simply seeing Louisville, it was time for me to head back to the theater. Sarah struck out on her own to tour some of Kentucky's Bourbon distilleries and had an incredible time, but I was too excited about the new plays being produced. So I stayed in town to see the afternoon showing of Bob by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and an evening showing of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A Rey Pamatmat.
Bob was one of the sillier plays I've seen in a while. It was the story of one man's life, Bob's life. The play begins with Bob being born and almost immediately getting abandoned in the bathroom of a White Castle in Louisville, Kentucky on Valentines Day. The rest of the play is a ridiculous and wild ride involving a tan Chevy Malibu, Mount Rushmore, a fated rest stop, a woman named after Amelia Earhart, fudge shops, a butler named Tony, so much laughter, and fleas. It was truly a perfectly ridiculous afternoon, and I'm pretty sure it made White Castle very, very happy.
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them was one of the best pieces of theater I have ever seen. In my years being a theater enthusiast (I'd say that's about ten), I have seen many shows that I loved, but only a few that really touched me. Only a small few that I have felt completely illuminated by. These shows are, in order, Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of Richard III in 2005, Portland Center Stage's production of Sometimes a Great Notion, August: Osage County on Broadway with Estelle Parsons, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of Three Sisters just last year, and now this year's Humana Festival's Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them. It was that good.
It was the story of a twelve year old girl named Edith (Teresa Avia Lim), her older brother Kenney (John Norman Schneider), and their equally youthful friend Benji (Corey Michael Smith). All but abandoned in their farmhouse in rural middle America the three children band together to create their own family and find strength within themselves to stand against their absent and unsympathetic parents. I laughed and cried and was so, so moved. The actor's work was superb. Such simplicity. Something I really hope for in my own work.
On my last morning in Louisville (I had to get the heck out of there because Spring term was starting up again the next day) I saw The End. A play put on by the Acting Apprentice Company, made up of numerous interconnected short pieces about the Apocalypse by playwrights Rey Pamatmat, Marco Remirez, Jennifer Haley, Allison Moore, and Dan Dietz. It was intriguing, funny, and terrifying all in the space of an hour and a half. Personally I thought it was nice to bookend my trip with A Devil at Noon and The End as they both explored an end of the world sort of theme. Here's the end of the world, and a weekend of theater! Woohoo!
Now I am back for spring term of my second year in my MFA program, and we are already a week into rehearsal for Man Equals Man, so I'd better get back to work. But thank you, Louisville! And best of luck through the duration of the festival!

Erin's Lovely Photos of the Misanthrope

2011-03-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

Throughout our work on The Misanthrope (fabulous production photos to come) in which I played Celimené, we were followed by talented young student of photojournalism here at Ohio University, Erin Corneliussen. Here are some of her lovely pictures in the Athens Post. Her words that follow the photo gallery are a sweet remembrance of how hard we all worked to bring this production to the community and campus! I love plays!

Some Stills From Holiday

2011-01-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

In the New Year

2011-01-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's 2011. It's 2011, I am 23 years old, and I am in my second year of graduate school for acting. Midway through graduate school really. Chipping steadily away at my Masters of Fine Arts. I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me obscenely proud. It does. I'm feeling really great about my work. I can feel myself learning so much and gaining new insights everyday about acting and about life.
It's a new year, and time for a new play.
Last night we began rehearsals for Ohio University's production of Moliere's The Misanthrope. I'll be playing Celimene, the uncontrollably coquettish antiheroine who causes the main character, Alceste, so much grief. In the most recent production of The Misanthrope in London Keira Knightly played Celimene.
Although the show is restoration comedy the OU design department is wildly spicing things up. Setting the play in the world of lavish excess among French aristocracy before the revolution, the set and the actors will be dressed to the nines. Tall wigs, corsets, big skirts, and everything with a touch of modern rockstar flair.
Characters will be dancing, singing, seducing, making enormous entrances. We're so excited. The play is going to be eye-candy with loads of laughs and surprises!
It's time to get to work.

A Brief Encounter with New York

2010-12-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays, everyone!
I'm home in sunny Southern Oregon for a couple of weeks, but I did spend one brilliant week of my winter vacation in New York City. I know. I should have been home memorizing The Misanthrope, reading a bunch of plays, and prepping for all the auditions I have scheduled, but who wants to do that when you can see Manhattan all decked out for the holidays? Little Italy, by the way is the most gorgeous Christmas scene I've ever seen.
The first show I saw was a new play called Michael & Edie by Rachel Bonds at The Access Theater. I went specifically to see my dear friend from undergrad, Jake Wilhelmi. It was a delightful way to start off my visit to the city, wrapped in Access' intimate space with the set made up of encroaching piles of books. The play was touching, and clever, and it hit a little close to home for me, being an audience member who has lost a sibling to suicide (an important exploration within the plot). I found it's dealing with this sensitive subject tactful but heartbreaking, and I was really happy to see a show that was not afraid to express the pain of depression in siblings far away.
Next it was off to Broadway!
One night on a whim I hopped on a train up to Times Square and got into Noël Coward's Brief Encounter! Having just played Elvira in Blithe Spirit the summer before, this show was really a joy. Having done that show, I was familiar with Noël Coward's whimsical style, though I admittedly have never seen the film Brief Encounter. The first number was "Any Little Fish" which is a favorite Noël Coward of mine, and it was such a joy to hear Gabriel Ebert and Dorothy Atkinson sing it. The best part of the show was their charming use of theatricality. Watching the actors create a boat on a lake, or the cherry tree blossoming above it, or the trains coming in and out of the station was such a delight.
The final show I had time (and dinero) to see was Time Stands Still. I have to say, I have dreamed of seeing this play many, many times after browsing Broadway.com. Starring Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy, Eric Bogosian, and Christina Ricci, the play told a war photojournalist's (Laura Linney) story of readjusting (or at least attempting) to a stable world not torn apart by terror after surviving a car bomb overseas. I felt so engaged by this show. It was heartbreaking, and beautifully executed. I'll always have a very warm place in my heart for realism, and Time Stands Still left no detail unnoticed while still managing to be a little meta-theatrical and make fun of itself at times, but listen to me, I'm writing like a graduate student. The point is, I loved the show. It felt like a very real look into the destructive nature of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it's affect of civilians involved in war, a change in perspective from the more popular affects on soldiers.
So I guess I didn't get to see A Christmas Carol, or The Nutcracker Suite this year, but I am pretty pleased with my large dose of play viewing this holiday. After so much time in Southern Ohio, this trip to the city is just what I needed. I <3 NY.
Happy New Year!

A Little Press on Holiday

2010-12-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Oops! Forgot to remember I have a blog!
I was interviewed for this article in The Post here in Athens!

Holiday

2010-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

My goodness. I haven't written a blog in two and a half months. That's probably because after my lovely summer on the cape I went right back to Ohio to continue on to my second year of graduate in acting training, and I've been busy ever since. One of the things that has kept me so delightfully busy is playing Linda in Holiday here at OU. If you've never seen the old Carey Grant, Katharine Hepburn version, watch it! It's lovely! We're going into tech weekend tonight and will begin previews on Wednesday, opening night is Friday, November 3rd! Wish me luck!!

Cape Cod Journal 12: Much Ado About Nothing

2010-08-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

So today is the day, or rather, tonight is the night. We are opening Much Ado About Nothing here at the Monomoy Theatre, and I am playing my first actual dream role. That's not to say that I haven't been exceedingly proud of a lot of other parts I've done, but that I have literally been dreaming of playing Beatrice since I was a very young teenager. I mean, she's Beatrice. What more can I say?
The show looks truly gorgeous. Set in 1945 in a post WWII Italy, our costumes are beautiful and we step out onto the stage to find a war ridden Italian town square. Green shutters on the implied buildings and the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea in the background.
I must confess that I am a little nervous to be playing such an iconic role, but I'm sure as soon as Benedick (Jonathan Silver) marches up in his army uniform, I will forget all about that and fall in love with him.

Cape Cod Journal 11

2010-08-04T10:22:00.001-07:00

It's coming up quick!

Cape Cod Journal 10

2010-07-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

We're working on Much Ado About Nothing right now! It's set in 1945 Italy and the town of Messina is welcoming the American troops back for a post war visit filled with love, betrayal, good wit, and good wine! Here are some photos we took today all in costume before the publicity shots were taken. They're of Marissa Wolf as Hero, Chris Young as Claudio, Jonathan Silver as Benedick and me as Beatrice!

Cape Cod Journal 09

2010-07-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, sorry I haven't written for a little while, but things have been a little crazed around here. Primarily because we successfully launched Blithe Spirit which the producer here at the Monomoy Theatre aptly titled, Noël Coward's Hamlet.
We've been having such a fantastic time doing the show, despite how hectic it was getting it to fly (technical rehearsals until 2:00 a.m. and whatnot). The audiences seem to love us, and I am getting recognized around town as Elvira, the mischievous ghost.
As usual a couple of the local papers have written quick reviews on the show. It's always fun to see what they have to say.
The Barnstable Patriot
The Cape Cod Times
The days have also been a little nuts because for the last several days my family was here to see the show! My father came all the way out from Oregon, and my sister, Jennifer, who lives in Maine and her family (including their four small children) came. She brought the girls, Anne (8) and Sarah (6) to see the play, and they were just enthralled. She also had me give them a tour of the whole theater, and with how excited they were about the whole business, I think Jennifer had better watch out lest her little girls get swept up by show business like us poor souls.
During the day we're all working very hard putting together the second big musical of the summer, Once Upon a Mattress, which is most definitely the silliest comedy I've ever been involved with. It's absolutely ridiculous. We've all been here for several weeks now, and the demands of the theatre don't let up for an instant, so things from time to time get admittedly a little tense, but this particular play must simply be cheery no matter what, so it's kicking us up into high spirits every day.
Ah! Time for rehearsal! Bye!

Cape Cod Journal 08

2010-07-11T08:12:00.001-07:00

A really nice review of The Dining Room, which sadly closed last night. Please check it out at The Barnstable Patriot.
Also some stills from Fiddler on the Roof.

Cape Cod Journal 07: The Dining Room

2010-07-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

We've had two performances of The Dining Room so far, and will continue to play through the rest of the week. It's been lovely to see that the Monomoy crowd turns out for smaller shows just as much as they do for musicals. Being onstage with this piece has been a lovely experience so far. It is captivating in it's episodic nature, and the audience always seems to be right with us. I have to admit, I'll be very sad to see it close. I'm so proud of the all our accomplishments, and our director, Rich Cole, was an absolute joy to work with. We'll have to say goodbye to him soon as he's heading back to New York.
The reviews are around today, and I thought The Cape Cod Times captured the nature of the show quite nicely in theirs.
As true Monomoy Theatre fashion would have it, we had hardly begun dress rehearsals for The Dining Room before several of us were thrown into rehearsals of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, in which I am playing Elvira, the blithe spirit of Blithe Spirit. I'm really having a grand time rehearsing this part. She's such a vibrant, deviant, wildly funny, and wildly dangerous little ghost.
Well, I'd best be off. We began the morning with a rather strenuous, but productive and fun Blithe Spirit rehearsal, and now it's on to both a matinee and an evening performance of The Dining Room!

Cape Cod Journal 06

2010-07-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Some fellow company members and me all geared up for the Chatham, MA 4th of July parade! Photo by Lily Ferguson!

Cape Cod Journal 05

2010-07-01T09:05:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on life on the Cape.
Fiddler on the Roof continues splendidly. We are down to only four more performances and are sold out for every one. As I've mentioned in the past, the Cape community is highly supportive and excited about our theatre. It's wonderful to go out on stage and be greeted with such enthusiasm.
So, Fiddler on the Roof closes on Saturday, we begin rehearsals for Blithe Spirit on Monday, and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room directed by Rich Cole is opening on Tuesday (oh my gosh, that's coming up quick). There's truly no time to stop and breathe at this place. It's just go, go, go, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The Dining Room is looking to be a really smart show. First produced in the early 1980s, The Dining Room is a series of intertwining scenes brought to life by a cast of usually six actors, but in our case eight actors. The scenes serve to display the "dying culture" of the North Eastern American WASP as they chronicle moments in the lives of the well-to-do throughout time. Each of these snippets of life takes place in the dining room, of course, and create a sometimes hilarious, sometimes satirical, and sometimes heartbreaking portrait. It's really a fun project for an actor as we pop in and out of the play as so many different characters. Each of us, at some point, plays a child, and all the women, at some point, play maids. My fellow cast members and I are having a good time covering this expansive range of characters. I, for example, jump into one scene as a neglected 1950s housewife throwing a birthday party for her little girl, Winkie, while contemplating an affair with, little party guest, Billy's father, and leap into my next scene as an elderly extremely senile grandmother at Thanksgiving dinner. Fun.
So things are good.

Cape Cod Journal 04: Fiddler on the Roof

2010-06-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness!
I have died and gone to heaven! Let me tell you, Chatham, Massachusetts may just be the closest thing to heaven on earth. It is just the most lovely beach town ever, and all I do here is theatre, theatre, theatre all the time.
On Tuesday night we opened Fiddler on the Roof here at the Monomoy Theatre. I'm just playing a small role, but I am so excited. The Cape Cod community really enjoys coming out to see the plays and we've been greeted with full houses and big smiles every night so far. We've even gotten our first reviews of the summer from The Cape Cod Times and The Cape Cod Chronicle. They certainly seemed to enjoy the show, The Cape Cod Times said, "the folks at Monomoy Theatre have staged a powerhouse musical that will be hard to match in the months ahead."
As for me, the theatre opening for the summer feels magical. The place has suddenly become so lively. We're doing two shows today, and there will be plays almost every night all summer. Just magical. Sitting in the courtyard yesterday evening waiting for my next entrance listening to the music leaking out from the theatre, and the sounds of a delighted audience I was brought back to my evenings spent working as a stage hand for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's greenshow. I was only a teenager, but I was so in love with the way you could hear the trumpets blow, and the actors begin, and especially the audience laugh echoing out from the Elizabethan stage. I think, theatre, when at its best, is the force that brings a community together, and it does that here at Monomoy. Magic.
We've already begun rehearsals for The Dining Room which is being directed by New Yorker, Rich Cole, and opens on July 6th. More details to follow!

Cape Cod Journal 03

2010-06-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

We made it! Chatham is beautiful! I love it! It's so small and so New England. Had lunch at The Squire Tavern then went to the beach where they don't allow dogs all summer. How upsetting. It's really gorgeous here though. The theatre is on Main St. Chatham and we are all boarding in the two very old little houses next to it. Bunk beds, and broken dressers. Total actor housing, but I'm happy with my light house printed curtains! We'll be working so hard I imagine it will be rare that we notice how crammed in we are. Rehearsal starts tonight after dinner! Fiddler on the Roof is first!

Cape Cod Journal 02

2010-06-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

We've done it! Finished one whole year of our Masters in Fine Arts in acting program at Ohio University, and it was rough, to say the least, but certainly fun as well. So now it's time for a true test of heroism; The Monomoy Theatre in Chatham. My classmate Nicole Tuthill and I drove all day long, from Athens, Ohio all the way past Baltimore, past Philadelphia, past New York City, to Stamford, Connecticut where we are staying the night in a cheap hotel before leaving early tomorrow morning for the theatre we are spending the next three months living in, eating in, celebrating in, and acting in. Boy, do we have our work cut out for us. I think I mentioned before that my major roles are, of course, being an ensemble member in The Dining Room, but also being Elvira in Blithe Spirit and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. In fact, I'm in everything but The Lion in Winter and The Cherry Orchard. It's going to be an extremely full summer!
The rest of our classmates should be arriving at various times tomorrow. The eight graduate students with the addition of one senior from OU are making up the main acting company at Monomoy, but of course there will be several more artists coming in as professionals and students from other schools to work with us as well!
Nicole and I had a fantastic day, though, despite all the driving. We met this great waitress at a diner in the middle of nowhere Maryland who was so excited about us going to Monomoy. She even told me that she had played Elvira twenty years ago. Which may or may not be true, although as Nicole pointed out, she did seem pretty sincere about it.
More driving tomorrow! Night!

Just a Note: Othello at PICT

2010-05-25T10:14:00.001-07:00

The drive from Athens, Ohio to Pittsburgh takes about three and a half hours, but considering that I was getting to see Othello staged for the first time, it was worth it. Not to mention, my acting coach, Shelley Delaney who is playing Emilia, and graduates of the OU MFA in Acting program, Georgia Mallory Guy and Allison McLemore who are doing Bianca and Desdemona.
So a few of my classmates and I braved the three hours happily, embarasingly belting show tunes and folk songs much of the way. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, or at least it is on a bright May afternoon! To be honest, just getting out of Athens made for a delightful day trip.
It was so exciting to see this masterful work of The Bard. It's truly one of my favorites, and the jealousy, deceit, sex and murder was so fun to see on stage. Also, it made me really proud to see the great work coming out of my program. Georgia Mallory Guy who played Claire in the recent production of Proof I was in, was a lovely Bianca. She was so strong and responsive every moment she was onstage. Allison McLemore, who I don't know personally, also did a fantastic job. Her Desdemona was wonderfully traditional in wilting flower Desdemona fashion.
I had never seen a Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre (PICT) production before either, and I really loved their space. They're location is perfect, its right by University of Pittsburgh which gives the whole neighborhood a very college town feel. Lots of little restaurants, gardens, and statues of dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs.
We had dinner at a little Mediterranean place with Shelley and Georgia, and then grabbed some Caribou Coffee and headed back home to Athens. Successful day.

Cape Cod Journal 01

2010-04-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard my summer vacation is not going to be a vacation at all. I'll be working hard with my fellow graduate students as part of the main acting company at The Monomoy Theatre on...drum roll...Cape Cod. And while we're still about five or six weeks away from heading out there to begin our long, hot summer, we received our roles and scripts yesterday, and I thought I would just let you know what all I will be playing: The summer will begin with Fiddler on the Roof (June 22-July3), I'm just a villager in that and very happy about it; next is The Dining Room (July 6-10), this play is made up of an ensemble of several actors of which I am one; while some of the company will be working on The Lion in Winter (July 13-17), I'll move right into playing Elvira in Blithe Spirit (July 20-24); follow that with Lady Rowena in Once Upon a Mattress (July 29-August 7); and then immediately onto the role I'm most excited about, my very first Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (August 10-14); and finally after other members in the company finish The Cherry Orchard (August 17-21), I will conclude my summer playing Gloria in Three Men on a Horse (August 24-28).
There is much work to be done before I hit the Cape, but you can rest assured that I will blog about my adventures out there every step of the way so I hope you tune in! Oh my gosh, I get to play Beatrice! I'm absolutely thrilled!

Heather Does not Go to the Theatre

2010-04-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

I feel already that the title of this post is misleading as every day I do go to the theatre. In fact, I tend to spend all day long at the theatre. The lengthy list of things to do never seems to end; acting class, voice class, movement class, seminar, teach acting, rehearsal for Olympic Village, see a show, read a show, discuss a show, it never ends. So this morning, as I have nothing theatre oriented to do until 4:30, I just took off. It's a beautiful sunny day, and I just drove off in my old pickup truck into rural Ohio. Out past where my cellphone worked, past Stroud's Run, to a tiny, tiny town called Amesville, Ohio that is quite literally nothing but a church, a bank, and a pizzeria. I stopped there, on the fringe of Amesville and hiked my way up a country road. There were butterflies aplenty, the sounds of woodpeckers in the trees, Redwing Blackbirds flitting in and out of the grass stopping only when hawks would pass, and a pair of haggard looking nags lazily grazing by a pond. Rest assured that while I miss Oregon, and I can't wait to get to New York City, the beauty of this middle-American state is not lost on me.

In Memory of My Life Pre-Graduate School

2010-03-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

I bought a VOGUE Magazine today. It's an old habit of mine that I haven't indulged in for a while. I simply haven't had time between acting classes, student films, plays, auditions and readings to concern myself with the frivolities Coco and Oscar can offer, but today, today I bought a March VOGUE. While I'm sure I'll very much enjoy the photography, the clothes, the interior design, and whatnot, a stipulation for my purchasing it was that it contained a theater section this month. I can't even look at a fluff magazine without concerning myself with the stage these days.
After an alarmingly difficult second quarter of graduate school, I am taking a few days to myself, spending my time reflecting on my studies, imagining my life and career as an actor, and preparing myself for the challenges ahead. Upon returning to school I will be auditioning for roles at the summer stock on Cape Cod where several of my classmates and I will be acting (I'm very excited to be living and working on the cape this summer). I am also readying myself to play a key role in Olympic Village a new play by David Mitchell Robinson, a third year playwright at Ohio University who's play Carapace won the 2010 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. Olympic Village will be part of Ohio University's annual spring playwright's festival.
So it's been nearly seven months of constantly eating and breathing acting, taking small breaks to consume organic produce from Athen's ample year round farmer's market, and I cannot say I'm unhappy. Even the days I feel totally overwhelmed, I still am happy to be where I am, learning as much as I am. Of course, someday I look forward to buying a fashion magazine without checking for a theater section.

Show Stills from Proof

2010-03-10T21:10:00.000-08:00

This is the Week

2010-02-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all,
(I felt the need to begin this post the way my Texan of a director begins her notes at the end of a run).
Just a quick note to let you know that this is the week! This Friday my first full production as an acting graduate student is opening. I am playing Catherine in Proof. We have a very strong cast and production team, and I am so excited to share our hard work with all of you!
I am constantly amazed by the fantastic work that is produced here at Ohio University. This past weekend I saw the first full production of the award winning Carapace written by our very own David Mitchell Robinson. It was an extremely captivating and moving piece. A big congratulations from me to the cast and crew!

Slogging

2010-01-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

Slog, Slogged, Slog-ging, Slogs -verb- 1. To walk or progress with a slow heavy pace; plod, 2. To work diligently for long hours
This is one of my favorite words in David Auburn's Proof, which I am currently working on at Ohio University in an all graduate student cast. I play Catherine.
I think it's my favorite word because I have the opportunity to use it so often in my real life these days. It's the second term of my three year Masters in Fine Arts acting program, and I am slogging. It's not that graduate school is terrible, it's simply that it is forcing me to work on some of my most difficult and reoccurring acting problems. Which is easier said than done. In case any of you are under the impression and unfortunately common misconception that acting is easy, you're wrong. Acting is, in fact, incredibly hard.
I am, however, trying not to be discouraged, and I repeat my personal mottos to myself all day.
1. Failing is good. If we do not fail, we do not grow. We must fail, and fail harder.
2. I went to graduate school to become a better actor, and although attempting to let go of my bad habits is frustrating, it is worth it.
3. I must remember to give my all in my work here, and if I continue to do that I will ultimately succeed.
In other words, I'll be fine.
Proof is going quite well. Catherine is an extremely challenging character and I am doing my best to manage her. As a cast we are doing very well. Only half way through our rehearsal process, we have worked all the way through doing a second round of scene work through Act I, and we find ourselves in a place of great exploration, curiosity, and promise. I am pleased.
Add that to all the class work, and of course the fun things like Friday night madnesses and you have quite a party!
Speaking of Friday night madnesses, this photograph was taken by Andy Black last Friday before the show. The man in it is Scot West, a talented third year MFA student who co-stared in Andy's short piece with me.

Back

2010-01-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

After such a long stretch in Oregon over the holidays, getting back to being a graduate student in Athens, Ohio, is a little shocking. Suddenly my world has gotten a lot smaller (this town is tiny), and my life has gotten a lot busier. Yesterday, for example, was not only my first day of classes (acting class included), but I also did a play reading and went to my first rehearsal for Proof. I'll be playing Catherine in February in an all graduate student cast. A very talented all graduate student cast I might add. We're also working with a very enthusiastic graduate student director. I'll certainly be working to keep up with my colleagues on this one. Everyone is really passionate about the project, though. We just began last night with a read-through and some table work, but the conversations that are happening about the play are already really interesting and exciting.

Christmas Carol at PCS

2009-12-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is sometimes as hectic as it is joyful. Why, I've attended three different holiday parties this week alone, but when a friend of mine invited me on a group outing to see A Christmas Carol at Portland Center Stage (PCS) somewhere between fretting about gift buying and what to do for New Years, I found I just couldn't say "no." Maybe it was because Dicken's ghost of Christmas past was tugging at me, because I knew I would be in for a night of really interesting special effects, or because two of the Northwest's very talented theatre practitioners (Rose Riodan, direction, and Mead Hunter, adaptation) had brought the show to life this year, but despite the particular reason, I was compelled to go.
I can honestly say, from the bottom of my heart, that it was my favorite production of A Christmas Carol I have ever seen. Yes, it's the same old story, yes, it's certainly a little silly, but for me it recaptured some of the magic of this season that tends to lose its sparkle as we grow older. Jacob Marley was terrifying, the snow was beautiful, the way objects would occasionally move about by themselves or voices would resound in eerie whispers across the house was ever so spooky, and Ebbe Roe Smith's Ebenezer Scrooge was charming.
I have to confess, I have an awful habit of getting teary in the scene where Scrooge is shown the Christmas of Tiny Tim's death. This year Michael Fisher-Welsh as Bob Cratchit just made me weep as he held his grieving family close. As comical as it sounds, my friend sitting next to me was understanding enough to pull a handkerchief out of his pocket for me.
So, I loved it. It was a nice dose of holiday cheer without all the hustle and bustle, and at the end of the show, when it began to snow once more, not just onstage but on us as well, I could not keep the smile from my face.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

Reindeer Monologues at RTR

2009-12-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

It is lovely to be back in Oregon for the holidays. I'm so enjoying seeing my family and friends, and, of course, some of the delightful holiday theatre that's happening around Portland.
In fact, these days, I've been spending my time on Santa's sleigh team in the dark Christmas comedy The Eight: Reindeer Monologues at Readers Theatre Repertory. This NOT CHILD FRIENDLY version of the Santa Claus myth is told through the eyes, hooves and antlers of his eight emotionally dysfunctional reindeer. It really is quite a scandalous tell-all revealing Mr. and Mrs. Claus' strained, alcoholic relationship, what really happened with the Rudolf foggy Christmas debacle, and why Vixen has accused Santa of sexual assault.
Come down to RTR and see me, Dancer, along with my seven teammates, Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen at 8:00 tonight! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all!

The Lying Kind at Third Rail

2009-11-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Portland for the holidays, and the first thing I wanted to do was go to the theatre!
On Thursday night a group of friends and I went to the World Trade Center to see Third Rail Repertory Theatre's winter production. I don't believe anything makes this Anothy Neilson play, The Lying Kind, a holiday show except that is takes place on Christmas Eve. I can't say that the story of two police officers attempting and failing to tell an elderly couple that their thirty-four year old daughter was killed in a car accident on the way home for Christmas is what I would call the stuff of farce, but to my surprise, the show was, in fact, very funny. I was particularly fond of Richard Mathews work as Balthazar. Although, Michael O'Connell and Amy Palomino created my favorite slapstick comedic moment in the show. It was a surprisingly fun evening considering the subject matter.

Three Sisters at Cincinnati Playhouse then Dinner with Frank Wood

2009-11-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

As the term was coming to a close here at the Ohio University graduate in acting program, a group of us decided it would be a good weekend to make a little road trip to Cincinnati, and not just any road trip. We had tickets to Sarah Ruhl's version of Chekhov's Three Sisters as directed by John Doyle at the Tony Award winning Cincinnati Playhouse. This production was unlike any other Three Sisters I've seen or heard about. Upon entering the theatre we saw no birch trees, no parlor. Instead we entered a tall looming space. A crumbling room which seemed to have one point been an elegant home, at another point had been transformed into an office building, and now was lying in virtual ruins as though it had been abandoned for several years. The walls were literally decaying and broken plaster laid strewn about the set. The actors stayed onstage then entire show. When they were not part of a scene they sat and watched from the deteriorating walls of this oppressive space. Like the three sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina, who always speak of moving back to Moscow and never leave their little village, the actors talked about leaving the house but never actually did.
The performance was stunning. Particularly Laila Robins (Broadway: Heartbreak House, Frozen, The Herbal Bed and The Real Thing; Film and Television: The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Law and Order, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, etc.) as Masha. Her command of the role and specificity of action was absolutely beautiful. I was engaged by every moment of her performance. I was also particularly fond of Lynn Cohen (Broadway: Orpheus Descending, Ivanov (with Kevin Kline); Film and Television: Sex and the City, Across the Universe, The Station Agent, Law and Order, The Cosby Show, etc.) as Anfisa. Her final monologue exclaiming how happy she ended up in life (Anfisa, the old maid, is the only character who finishes the play joyfully) was so charming and touching. The kind of thing that makes you want to jump out of your seat and hug her.
After the play we had dinner with another memorable actor from the production, Tony and Drama League Award winner Frank Wood (Broadway: August: Osage County, Side Man, Hollywood Arms; Film and Television: The Sopranos, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Changeling, Dan in Real Life, The Royal Tenebaums, etc.) who played Tuzenbach. Over dinner we discussed the production and he told us about his experience working on Sarah Ruhl's version of the play as well as having John Doyle for a director. He asked us how graduate school was going, and the whole night was fun and fascinating. Even the point where I couldn't contain myself any longer and had to geek out and tell him how much I'd loved his work in August: Osage County.
It was wonderful to be at the Cincinnati Playhouse for the first time, and what a powerful first production to see. I can't wait to return soon.

Autumn in Athens

2009-10-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (Post Performance)

2009-10-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

Last night, all over the world, at one hundred and fifty theaters, it happened. The reading of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later was quite an event. Our production went off without a hitch. The live feeds before and after the show were broadcast on a large screen behind the stage, and the show itself received a fairly good response. One of the characters I played, Romaine Patterson, closed the play with a lovely speech about defining her friend Matt Shepard in two ways, "There's Matt who I knew and the good friend I had, and then there's Matthew Shepard. And Matthew is very different from Matt. Matthew Shepard is this iconic hate crime that has happened in our history, and Matthew Shepard is not necessarily about Matt, it's about a community's reaction, it is about the media that followed, it is about the crime, but it's not about Matt..." When I finished the speech, and we all shut our notebooks, the audience stood up.
It was great to be part of a project with such magnitude and power. I am very proud of what we accomplished last night, and I'm honored to be part of this global community.

Laramie Ten Years Later, It's Happening Tomorrow

2009-10-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

We've done 25 to 35 hours of rehearsal as a cast. Today we were in the beautiful rotunda on campus where we'll be performing (it's like acting in the Jefferson Memorial). Tomorrow night, October 12, 2009, it's happening, all over the world.
One important update to mention is that the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed in the senate the other day! This act will expand the national hate crime legislation to include crimes motivated by the victim's gender or sexual orientation. Yes! Theatre and politics!
As for the show itself. I don't know if I can really express how much this experience has meant to me. Suffice to say that I am very deeply affected by it. I now have a more pressing understanding of the importance of taking responsibility as a culture for the negative events in our history and the importance of using that history to inform our cultural changes. I believe we can and will make this world a safer, better informed and more loving world for all of us.
If you're near a reading tomorrow night go see Laramie Ten Years Later.
These are some photographs from today's rehearsal.

A Laramie Update

2009-09-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

Graduate school seems to be moving at the speed of light. When I'm not in a three hour acting class I am studying movement, or voice, or speech. Perhaps I'm reading a book about acting methodology in Japan, or running to an audition, or rehearsing with another student for class, or performing a playwright's new project, I don't know! It's just a blur, but when I have an hour or two I am working on The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. An event that I continue to be extremely excited for.
In preparation for our reading here at Ohio University, a lot of really astounding information about the project on a national level has come to our attention. One thing that happened was House Resolution 777. This resolution was introduced in Congress on the 24th and actually honors all those participating in the production of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later in remembrance of Matthew Shepard. As a participating member in the national project I am ecstatic to be recognized by the government, and I hope that such recognition will continue to spur awareness and legislation concerning hate crimes against all victims including those of alternative sexual lifestyles.
So the preliminary event to the mass nationwide reading of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (in which over 150 theaters are now a part of) is the live feed that is coming from New York's Lincoln Center. This webcast will be hosted by Glenn Close and will include Judy Sheppard, Matthew's mother. There will also be a a post-production Question and Answer session moderated by National Public Radio Arts and Culture correspondent Neda Ulabay (information from Playbill.com).
I am so happy to be part of this far-reaching, powerful project. A project that displays how meaningful the Matthew Shepard story still is, as well as art's ability to influence a nation. If you're anywhere near a reading please, please, please go see it. Portlanders, that means you! I know there's one at Oregon State University, and the New Century Players are also presenting a reading at Newmark Theater; Portland Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Portland. So, no excuses!

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

2009-09-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

Also known as possibly the most important piece of theatre I've ever worked on.
Those of you who know the original Laramie Project (the show created by the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming) may be wondering what all this "ten years later" is about. The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later is an epilogue to the original play, and it is so brand new that the copy I have has a big bold warning label saying, Share it with only those people you think indispensable and insist to those people that they not share it with others.
How am I so lucky to have a copy? The first year Masters in Fine Arts graduate students here at Ohio University were asked by our professor and director, Shelley Delaney to participate in one of the 100 first readings of the play that are happening simultaneously around the United States on October 12th (the eleven year anniversary of Matthew's death). We begin rehearsal on Monday.
I cannot fully express to you how excited I am about this work and how much the project means to me. I only hope that it proves to be as meaningful, heartfelt, insightful, and inspirational as its predecessor.
This Youtube video was created by the Tectonic Theater Project as a trailer for their new play. I would definitely recommend watching it to understand more about what this piece is. Click here.

First Week in Actor School

2009-09-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I have survived four whole days of graduate school relatively unscathed. Although my muscles are feeling a little worse for wear after the two three hour movement classes I attended this week. I guess somewhere between the spacial awareness viewpoints and the yoga I worked some spots that usually stay lazy.
My other classes include a voice/speech class where we are currently working on Linklater techniques and freeing our breath through a number of very relaxing breath focused exercises. I have a grad prep class with the entire twenty-five or so new graduate students in the school of theatre (playwrights, actors, directors, lighting designers, costume designers, set designers, technical directors, etc.) where we will be reading and discussing a number of books and essays about theatre in addition to doing projects and having guest lecturers. Then, of course there is acting class. Two classes, three hours each, every week. This is a Meisner school (for all of you non theatre practitioners, Sanford Meisner was an American actor and acting coach who developed his methodology, the Meisner technique, during and following his years in the Group Theatre during the 30's. Other famous acting teachers who came from the Group Theatre include Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. A fabulous book to help understand the Group Theatre and those who arose from it is The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre & the 30's by Harold Clurman.) So right now my Meisner training is all about repetition execises:
Actor A: I like your blue shirt.
Actor B: You like my blue shirt.
A: I like your blue shirt.
B: You like my blue shirt.
A: I like your blue shirt.
...and so on and so forth constantly attempting to be in the moment having an honest response even though the piece of text you are repeating means virtually nothing and becomes rather irritating after a short while. Fun.
What happened late last night, though, was super cool. Every week all the graduate playwrights are expected to write, cast and produce a short play. They're all put on at Midnight Madness beginning at 11:00pm every Friday night. I was asked to be in Garret Schneider's, and while the whole process was rather slap-dash, it was exhilarating. Sometimes you get three rehearsals, sometimes none. Sometimes you get the script two days in advance and other times, like me last night, you're handed the piece an hour before you take the stage. Midnight Madness is wildly popular, and if you're not participating, there's room for fifty people or so to cram into the studio theatre and watch. I love working with our playwrights. They're a talented and passionate group, and I'm already planning to be a Madness addict, so I'll hopefully be in a short piece every Friday late at night.

Rounding Third

2009-09-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

After so many days of blogging about the places I've seen along my road trip, I am finally back to blogging about theatre. Gasp! Professional theatre in Southern Ohio? That can't be! I didn't even have to go to Cincinnati to see it. In fact, I only had to go up to Nelsonville, the town just fifteen minutes up the Highway from Athens. How is this possible? After several years of wanting their own professional company where equity and professional artists can come create, the theatre faculty of Ohio University found themselves with not only many very talented professors, but a few very talented spouses of professors, and after doing some staged readings and workshops, they were finally ready to open their company, the Brick Monkey Theatre Ensemble, with their premiere production of Rounding Third by Richard Dresser. That opening was last night, and you'd better believe I was there.
New beginnings are always so exciting to me. If theatre is dialogue then new beginnings, be it new artist, new concepts, or new companies, are adding voices to conversation. They enrich our understanding and view of the world.
Before I discuss the show, let me just quickly say that I really loved their space. Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio is one of those old pre-ninteen hundreds places where you can still feel the residue of the burlesque girls and the traveling Vaudeville acts. It was magical. Of course, those who know me know that I think any theatre is magical, but trust me, it's a lovely space.
The show they chose, Rounding Third, was the perfect end of summer show. It's the story of two little league coaches with opposing views of guiding children spending their first season together on the field. I found it funny, touching, and above all, cute. Ledger Free and Brian D. Evans who made up the small cast did a great job handling the juxtaposition of the two characters. I really enjoyed watching them.
Congratulations to all involved, especially director, Dennis Lee Delaney. I was a wonderful premiere performance!

Athens, Ohio

2009-09-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Not Athens Greece, but it's still a really great place.
After several days on the road and a few days getting acquainted with the town, I sent Dad off to the airport in Columbus this morning, and I am now free to enjoy graduate school on my own.
Well, not quite on my own. In the incoming class of actors there are eight students. A small number, but it does not include all the directs, playwrights, and designers who will also be joining us. A primary order of business for the eight of us actors was to get to know each other, and we've already gone out together a couple times. They all seem to be really great people and I'm excited about working with them. We have five men and three women (one of which is my housemate, Marissa, who I adore), and we range in age from 22 to 34. My classmate Jon and I are the 22-year-olds, and I keep joking that we're the babies. Jon also recently completed his undergraduate and is from Montreal.
The town, campus and countryside are lovely. Yesterday, Dad and I drove the forty minutes to the West Virginia border and had lunch overlooking the Ohio River, as we had over the Mississippi a few days prior. I included some photos of the river as well as campus and town. There are very endearing old brick roads all over the downtown area which is only a short walk from my house. These roads, along with the old Victorian houses make Athens feel very quaint. The neighbors are so welcoming and gentle here that it all feels a little back in time.
Marissa, a New Yorker of ten years, and I, a recent North Portlander, both commented on our walk home from campus today that although we would simply ignore the sound of sirens at home, here them seem out of place, and make us turn our heads wondering what had happened.
That final photograph I uploaded was meant to illustrate one more point about Athens. It's quite a party town for the young frat boys, and evidence of that culture is everywhere. Luckily, I will be spending so much time in Kanter Hall (the theatre, of course) that I imagine I will miss a lot of the party life. Fine with me!
I'm sending you all my love from Ohio. As my Portland friend, Michael Buchino, informed me, "you can't say 'Ohio' without saying 'hi.'"

Heather Goes a Long Way to the Theatre 05

2009-08-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not blogging yesterday, but afterall, we weren't on the road. We were in Iowa visiting relatives. Lots of relatives, and after a day of running around with small children, catching locusts and playing volleyball, I was thinking less about blogging and more about crashing. Here are some photographs I could not upload on Aunt Maryjoe's Iowa backwoods computer.
Today, Dad and I were back on the road! We gave Maryjoe a hug goodbye and took off across Iowa. The scenery was lovely, but both of us were happy to be making progress again on the highway. A few hours later we crossed into Illinois right over, get this, the Mississippi River. I had never seen the Mississippi in person before, and having been excited about it for days, I made Dad stop for a picnic lunch on the Illinois side looking it over. I'm a fan of Mark Twain, and looking at the river that Tom Sawyer and his friends swam across to their island and Huckleberry Finn road down on a raft with Jim, the escaped slave, made me feel much closer to the author. The last photo I included in this post is the view we had of the Mississippi over lunch.
We must have been well-rested from the day before because Dad and I breezed quickly through Indiana as well, skirting around the Indianapolis beltway. We had full intentions of just pressing on and reaching Athens, Ohio, our final destination, tonight, a day early. Upon calling my landlord, however, we discovered that he has been painting my floor with a sealant today and that we would die of fume inhalation if we stayed in the house tonight. So we scrapped that idea.
Instead Dad and I are staying in a very nice hotel between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. We'll only have about two hours to drive tomorrow and then I will finally be at my new home! I'm so excited to begin unpacking and getting myself in gear for my MFA in acting! Of course, it is a little bitter sweet to end such a fun road trip, and I have also really enjoyed blogging my experience. Thank you all for reading. Soon, probably tomorrow, I will write and tell you all about Athens!

Heather Goes a Long Way to the Theatre 04

2009-08-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is frustrating. I have so many beautiful photos from today, but I am unable to share them with you tonight because I am at my Aunt Maryjoe's farmhouse in Iowa using their painfully slow country computer. We're an hour outside Omaha, Nebraska and the internet just isn't hopping out here. Oh well, I promise I'll post the photos of today at my earliest convenience.
Today our trip across the United States took us all the way through Nebraska, the home of Arbor Day, or so we were informed by the welcome sign crossing the border. Strange that a state with what I, as an Oregonian, would call relatively few trees created a holiday dedicated to celebrating trees.
Well, they may not have pine forests, but they do have thousands of miles of corn fields. Corn, corn, corn, stretching as far as you can see. Often we'd see a big old red barn out in a field, but again, our view of it was obstructed by corn. Sometimes we'd see a break in the crops and a lone dirt road would stretch out with absolutely nothing on it until it either disapeared over a rolling hill or simply faded into the horizon.
Something that I've found fascinating about this area is the overwhelming amount of grasshoppers. When walking along the edge of a field they all jump away just as I put my foot down as though I was splashing water as I stepped. Their hum and buzz is deafening. I've found that if I stand quietly for a few moments I can hear the chirping and whispering of trillions of grasshoppers that inhabit hundreds of miles of field and farm. It is a unique and lovely sound. I am convinced I have never heard anything like it.
Upon stopping at one rest area, Dad and I became very preoccupied with catching and photographing the grasshoppers (I'll have to share the photos with you at a later date). I was fascinated with the different kinds and sizes I could catch. We were, in fact, so interested in our endeavor that I began to wonder how we would explain to our relatives in Iowa that we were delayed because we stopped to take pictures of bugs.
Anyway, now we are at Maryjoe's country house in Iowa, and we're taking a break from driving tomorrow to stay here and visit with a bunch of the relatives on my father's side of the family. My father's family, by the way, grew up in a fairly rural area of Michigan. There were seven children in the household, and I am excited to say that after twenty-two years of life, today after meeting Maryjoe and tomorrow after meeting Uncle John, I will finally have met all six of Dad's siblings.
I think that Iowa is breathtakingly beautiful. So far there are just as many farms and corn crops as in Nebraska, but the landscape is a little more varied as upon reaching Omaha, the terrain became far more hilly than flat. It feels strange to be so centralized in the United States. I feel as though I am the farthest away I could be from any ocean. I am landlocked.
One more happy thing I'll mention before I sign off, Dad and I crossed the Rocky mountains yesterday, if you'll remember. That means lots of different animal species that never got to the west coast. I was taking a walk this evening in a corn field, and began to see several of a specific little creature that is a favorite of mine. Fireflies. Silently lighting up and then quickly fading again as though people were standing among the corn stalks lighting matches and blowing them out over and over again. Wonderful.
I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Goodnight, from middle America.

Heather Goes a Long Way to the Theatre 03

2009-08-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today Dad promised me a shorter drive, and it was shorter, by an hour. Ten and a half hours all the way across Utah and Wyoming. We're staying with friends for the night near the Wyoming border in a lovely little Colorado town called Milliken.
My morning started out great. I went jogging in Wendover, very early (6:00am at the hotel and 5:00am a block away over the Utah/Nevada state line). It was so early, in fact, that the sun was just coming up over the desert. The sky was bright orange and I could see the towering silhouettes of rock formations in the distance. Simply breathtaking. It was only too bad that the artificial lights from the casinos were still flashing like mad.
Not to pass too blatant a judgment, but I-80 Utah is gorgeous. Especially having spent so many hours the previous day driving through Nevada. Gross. I saw the Great Salt Lake this morning for the first time, and I was surprised to see that at this time of year it isn't really much of a lake. There are some pretty wet, marshy areas, but most of the hundred miles we drove over it we just saw big sparkling salt flats, and high mounds of the stuff in places where it was being harvested.
The landscapes today were beautiful. Utah had big red rocks and lovely little towns. As we crossed the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming there were swooping hills, hay bails, and large patches of yellow daisies. It was magical.
Here's a note for the state of Wyoming, though; not enough rest areas on I-80! Dad and I drove for two hours searching for one. We were tired, achy, dehydrated, and above all, hungry. Lunch was very necessary. Luckily when we finally found one, it was clean and beautiful. There was even an antelope to watch while we ate. I added a picture of him, if you look closely you can see him standing out in the sage brush.
We're going through Nebraska tomorrow. Dad promises it will be a shorter day.

Heather Goes a Long Way to the Theatre 02

2009-08-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

Dad and I left my hometown of Medford, Oregon at 7:30 this morning. Eleven and a half hours and 640 miles later we arrived at our first night's destination, Wendover, Utah.
One of the most exciting parts of the whole day was when we were skirting along the brush, dry landscape of the Oregon/Nevada border and came across a large amount of wild burros. They were lovely, and unmistakable proof that Nevada has wild ass.
The Nevada desert was absolutely beautiful, and virtually desolate. There were several times along the road that I thought to myself, a) no wonder the government hides aliens out here, and b) this would be the saddest place to live on earth. In fact, upon passing by one town, Dad exclaimed, "What's this placed called? Depressedville?" Right then we drove by a sign that said Welcome to Devil's Gate.
After settling into our hotel here in Wendover, I gained two brand new experiences. The first was seeing my first cockroach, which Dad caught and brought to the front desk to inform them of their pest problem. I suppose, as I am only 1/8 of a mile into Utah I can count that as my first wildlife sighting in this state. The second new experience was gambling in a casino. Dad and I walked about a block to get back over the state line into Nevada and went to the Nugget where Dad played about four minutes of craps earning him six dollars, and I played about two minutes at the slot machine promptly loosing one of the six dollars Dad had earned. Needless to say, we were fine with returning to the hotel after that.

Heather Goes a Long Way to the Theatre 01

2009-08-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, life as I know it will be over.
I am leaving Oregon! Leaving lovely Rogue Valley where I grew up, and leaving the home state of my beloved city, Portland, where I spent the last four years completing my undergraduate degree and soaking in enormous amounts of great Oregon theatre. Yes, I am leaving all of it behind to get my Masters of Fine Arts in acting at the reputable Ohio University. For the next three years I will live, dare I say it...in the Midwest.
First, though, I have to get there.
My father and I will be spending the next five days squeezed tightly in my little GMC pick-up truck which is currently piled high with all my stuff. Oh boy.
Shopping for road food with Dad today was definitely the most amusing part of the afternoon. He got Doritos, I got Soy Crisps. He got Dr. Pepper, I got Hanson's root beer. He got a box of cookies, I got a bunch of Odwalla bars. He got cheese and crackers, I got hummus and carrots. About the only thing we'll be sharing is fruit. It should be an interesting ride. We did make sure to get a bottle of organic red wine and a cork screw.
He's also made sure to remind me that he wants to stop at every "Welcome To..." sign, and also the "Leaving Oregon" sign. I sat quietly for a while and then told him I could not express my excitement in words.
I'll keep updating the blog. So feel free to tune in! Ohio or bust!

The Bullet Round

2009-08-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Portland now, but it's very temporary. I'll only be here nine more days, and then I'll be off on my big grad school road trip. As I will be traveling to theatre school, I feel that it counts as a 'Heather Goes to the Theatre" adventure. So I am planning to blog the details.
Tonight I saw The Bullet Round by The David Mamet School for Boys. No, it's not an actual school for boys. It's a theatre company who is "dedicated to producing work that challenges conventional playwrighting." I strongly suggest checking it out.
The Bullet Round, written by Steven Drukman and directed by Megan Kate Ward, was very engaging. I thought that relationship development among the characters was one of its strongest assets.
It's playing through the 23rd at Theater! Theatre! So if you can, check it out.

Don Quixote at OSF

2009-08-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple weeks since I have blogged, and I am excusing that behavior by saying that after JAW I needed a little relaxation. Believe me, though, I am still buzzing with the joy of that experience.
Anyway, the break is over and I am back where I should be, recalling my most recent theatre encounter behind the safety of my little white Mac. My most recent theatre encounter, by the way, was Don Quixote a la Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As I am down here in Southern Oregon visiting my parents, I felt it would be a shame not to dedicate one evening to the theatre.
And what an evening it was! The show is really fun! One of my favorite elements was the multi-media. Specifically the puppets! I really enjoyed seeing the horses, donkeys, sheep, geese, owls, vultures and doves come to life! The design element of using so many found objects to create the props was also really cool. I was fond of the usage of bicycle parts and potato bags among other things. It was so fun and funny. I really enjoyed watching Josiah Phillips as Sancho Panza. It was a great way to come out of hiding and go back to the theatre.

JAW 2009: I play rough!

2009-07-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of JAW a Playwrights Festival at Portland Center Stage (PCS), and everything seems to be winding down. Thank you everyone who came to see me in the three short plays I was in at the festival. I felt really good about how they all went, and the audience seemed to enjoy the shows a lot. I imagine that's mostly due to the brilliant young playwrights who wrote the shows; Robyn Pritzker who wrote Open the Box, Alec Chase who wrote Fleeced, and Emily Schad who wrote Mental Ugly.
I was very happy to see so many people at PCS yesterday seeing JAW. It's wonderful that so many people in Portland are interested in seeing new work! And what new work to see! The mainstage shows have been brilliant so far. Yesterday afternoon was Futura by Jordan Harrison, quite a treat for anyone into typefaces, and yesterday evening was Middletown by Will Eno. What I love about Middletown is that while it's very funny, it kind of sneaks up on you. Both last night and in our preliminary table readings at the beiginning of the festival, I felt like I should spontaneously burst into tears at some points of the play and laugh hysterically at others. Both Futura and Middletown were so evocative!
Well the festival is not over yet, so if you can make it I highly suggest the shows today. At 4:00 is Kick by Ivy Knight and On The Nature of Dust by Stephanie Timm. At 8:00 is Ovum by Malcom Stumpf and 99 Ways to Fuck a Swan by Kimberly Rosenstock. Both are FREE, so come!

JAW 2009: First Day, Big Weekend!

2009-07-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

Alright, everyone, tomorrow is the big day, the big weekend at JAW begins!
This week has been exhausting, but really fun. The whole JAW crew managed to take a break from rehearsal on Wednesday to all go to the beach. We had a wonderful time. Thanks, Kelsey Tyler, for BBQ-ing all those hamburgers and hot-dogs!
All our toils over the past week have put together brilliant performances of six brand new full length plays, and six wonderful, new short plays which will serve as curtain raisers. Tomorrow the weekend kicks off at 4:00 with Freefall by Daniel Felder and Birds of a Feather by Marc Acito. Then, later in the evening at 8:00, Open the Box by Robyn Pritzker (a short play that I am performing in) and Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West by Naomi Iizuka are performing.
Please come! The shows are free and I would love to share my first experience performing at Portland Center Stage (PCS) with all of you!

JAW 2009: Rehearsing

2009-07-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

For several days now I have been hard at work at Portland Center Stage (PCS) contributing to JAW a Playwrights Festival by rehearsing for the Promising Playwrights series. This series is made up of six separate short plays written by six talented young playwrights. They will be performed before each main stage show this weekend.
There are a bunch of really great shows this weekend, and I hope you can make all of them. If you're only coming to a few, however, the plays that I am performing at the beginning of are Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West by Naomi Iizuka at 8:00pm on Friday, Futura by Jordan Harrison at 4:00 pm on Saturday, and Middletown by Will Eno at 8:00pm on Saturday.
Looking forward to seeing you there!

JAW 2009: The Missing Pieces

2009-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched the third show in the Made in Oregon series, The Missing Pieces by Nick Zagone. What a wonderful weird comedy that was!
It was the story of a slightly dysfunctional family in Portland 1980. Between the crazed Irish Catholic mother, the confused twelve-year-old son, the dead-beat older brother, he waitress named Honey, the featured playmate in May 1963, a spiritual cult leader called The Bahgwan Shree Rajneesh, and Hugh Hefner, the audience was kept in constant suspense of what shenanigans were going to occur next.
Tonight is the last of the Made in Oregon series, Bad Family by Andrea Stolowitz. It's free at 6:00pm at Portland Center Stage (PCS).

JAW 2009: In School Suspension

2009-07-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

There was a great turn out for the second play of the Made in Oregon series last night. So if you missed it, I'm sorry, but you missed a good show. In School Suspension by Brian Kettler was a piece that made me very proud to come from such a talented state. It was diabolical and thrilling, a real edge of seat kind of show. It was about an English teacher at a private high school (Darius Pierce) who, seeking fame for his outlandish methods of emotionally preparing his students, has hired one student as an actor (Paul Glazier) to perform a highly realistic simulation of a school shooting. Two of the school's dangerously disturbed students Danny (Alec Wilson) and Angela (Lauren Blair) are locked in an old Spanish classroon where students are kept for in school suspensions. I really liked the show. The whole thing had a sort of Niel Labute feel for me, and I know it could be considered rude to compare one playwright to another, but I mean that as a complete compliment.
The show tonight is The Missing Pieces by Nick Zagone. Again admission is free and the show starts at 6:00. Also, today Mio Gelato across the stree from the theatre is offerin $1 gelato! With free theatre and a $1 treat, why wouldn't you come?

JAW 2009: The Lost Boy

2009-07-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first reading of the annual JAW a Playwrights Festival at Portland Center Stage (PCS). I'm really excited about JAW this year, not only because I am in their Promising Playwrights series, but also because PCS has an exciting line up of new plays and talented playwrights.
Last night marked the beginning of the Made in Oregon series in which four shows from Oregon playwrights are being read on the main stage. The Lost Boy by Susan Mach was the first. Her play was the haunting story (based loosely on true events) of a four-year-old boy abducted from his home in 1874 and held for ransom. The play explored how greed for money, entertainment and fame overpower humanity. I thought it was a great start to the festival.
Please come support new works at PCS these next few weeks. The admission is free and the material is quality. Tonight is the second play of the Made in Oregon series, In School Suspension by Brian Kettler. It's at 6:00 pm at PCS, can't wait to see you there!

Equivocation at OSF

2009-07-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

A Little Night Music ended, and I took off straight on vacation. Finally a break from the tyranny of school and work. I spent nearly a week at the coast first at a friend's beach house in Walport, and then continued heading south to my parent's place in Southern Oregon. Summer down here means just a few things, great hiking, rafting on the Rogue River, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF).
Last night I got my mother to head to the festival with me where we grabbed tickets for the world premiere of Equivocation. This show was saturated with history and inside theatre jokes which the highly educated, Shakespeare loving audience adored. It weaves the complicated tale of William Shakespeare and his band of actors after being commissioned to put on a play chronicalling the infamous 1605 Gunpowder Plot. In their efforts to put on a true account of the event they manage to unearth a dangerously political would be conspiracy and realize the full extent of the religious division in England.
Equivocation was touching, funny, and provocative.

Closes...Final Episode of Fall of the House

2009-06-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today was not only the closing day of A Little Night Music which I worked on all June, but it was also the final episode of Fall of the House Season 5. I really enjoyed this season. It completely filled my drama fix for the month. Congratulations to all involved, good show, good show! I definitely recommend it to any Portland citizen! Check it out at Action Adventure Theatre.

Great Review of Ohio University's Summer Stock Theatre

2009-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

As I will be attending Ohio University's graduate in acting program beginning this fall, and I will certainly want to be spending time at their summer stock theatre on Cape Cod, I thought I should share this rave review in the Cap Code Times of their production of Anything Goes. Congratulations OU, I am so excited to join you!
Click here for the review!

Grey Gardens in the last weekend

2009-06-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

I saw Grey Gardens at Portland Center Stage right at the end of the run this weekend. To those of you who missed it, I am so sorry. To tell the truth, I usually shy away from musicals. They're simply not always my cup of tea, but this one got to me. Perhaps because it's so terrifying. How did the Edith Beales fall so far? Truly what fascinated me about the show is the wild change between act 1 and act 2. In the first act everything was clean, wealthy and sparkling in the second I could almost smell the scent of fifty-two cats, I could sense the filth and poverty, and it was all surrounded by an uncomfortable crazy feeling. I spent most of act 2 mouth agape.
It was a stirring show, one I will not forget anytime soon.

The House Continues to Fall!

2009-06-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

Just saw Fall of the House episode 2 of season 5! I am always delighted to see a full house of people for this show. It's so cool to see theatre supported! An unsung hero I don't think I mentioned last week was Matt Hopkins who plays Andrew and did a really great job. I can't wait to see what our housemates get themselves into in the coming weeks, and of course The Pied Cow Coffeehouse afterword with friends is always wonderful!

Finally Saw Crazy Enough

2009-06-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to see this play for forever. The first time Luke and I had to change our ticket because we realized we had a trip to the beach planned for that day. So we changed the date to June 5th. That would've been great, except that I got this job working backstage A Little Night Music and that show opened on June 5th. Gritting my teeth, I gave that ticket away. Not one to give up on a show that everyone in town is talking about and one that I have waited to see all year, I stood in a surprisingly lengthy stand-by line last night at 6:30 (an hour before the show). I had just bet Luke a burrito and a sweet tamale that I would not get into the play that night when a woman came by offering a single ticket for that evening's performance for twenty bucks. I jumped on it and ended up sitting in the second row center, an awesome seat for this type of piece. Of course I now have a burrito and sweet tamale on my conscience.
As for the show, can I just say, Storm Large, I love you. That was awesome. And let me tell you, a crude, raw, hilarious, touching one-woman show about being a troubled rock-star is just what I needed after so many nights in a row of A Little Night Music. I was so jazzed by the play that the bike ride back up to North Portland did not even phase me. Maybe that's because I was blaring the Crazy Enough soundtrack on my ipod the whole way.
Truly, the show was great. The music was fantastic. There are some brilliant original tracks, and Storm's beautiful cover of the Pixies "Where is my Mind" absolutely gave me chills. It was inspiring to see Storm open her life so much onstage. She's very brave to be able to tackle personal family issues, mental illness, promiscuous sex, and drug addiction among other things in a room full of strangers night after night, but rest assured I'm convinced that everyone there loved her for it. She is entertaining, inspiring, and totally cool, no doubt.
Speaking of the Drammy's Crazy Enough earned Storm the 'Musical Actress in a lead role' Award--congratulations, and she and James Beaton took home one of the 'Original Music' awards. Crazy Enough was recently extended through July 26th. So please go see it at Portland Center Stage (PCS).

Hey, I Saw That! (2008-2009 Drammy Awards)

2009-06-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Drammy Awards are put on annually by the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. They recognize certain shows and individuals for their outstanding work in Portland theatre over the past year. This year some shows that I saw and wrote about here on Heather Goes to the Theatre were recognized. Two of the 'Actor in a Lead Role' awards went to Bill Geisslinger and Denis Arndt for their work in Artists Repertory Theatre's (ART) The Seafarer, and one of the 'Actress in a Lead Role' went to Sharonlee Mclean (one of my favorite local actors) for her role in CoHo Productions' The Receptionist. One of the 'Lighting Design' awards went to Daniel Ordower for Portland Center Stage's (PCS) How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found. A 'Music Direction' award went to Rick Lewis for PCS's production of Guys and Dolls. PCS took home both scenic design awards for Chris Rousseau's How to Dissapear Completely and Never Be Found and Nancy Keystone's Apollo. Jen Raynack also recieved the 'Sound Design' award for How to Dissapear Completely and Never Be Found, and Ebbe Roe Smith took home one of the 'Actor in a Supporting Role' awards for his work in the same play. A PCS production was also recognized in the 'Actress in a Supporting Role' awards as one was given to Lisa Renee Pitts for her work in Doubt. Finally, congradulations to Megan Murphy, Cameron McFee and Mead Hunter who recieved PATA spotlight awards.

Fall of the House Season Five

2009-06-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening, after finishing up backstage on A Little Night Music I headed over to the lovely Belmont with a group of friends. After a few drinks and selections from the happy hour menu at the Blue Monk we went across the street to Theater! Theatre! and purchased season passes to the fifth season of Fall of the House by Action Adventure Theatre. Maybe you remember me just raving about their fourth season in February. I think Fall of the House is one of the coolest theatre ideas I have ever seen. It's a live ongoing drama with a new episode each week for four weeks.
Their opening episode was great! It was totally hilarious, surprising, and heartbreaking! I loved it. This week I was especially impressed with Aubrey Jessen's work as Julie.
Don't be daunted by the several seasons, or even missing an episode, I promise you'll still be able to follow the story. If you're at all interested I hope you try to make it next weekend to season five episode two. This show is such a wonderful Portland thing to do. It's so much fun!

A Little Night Music...Every Night

2009-06-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

For the last month I have been virtually chained to a sewing machine creating some of the most complicated and gorgeous dresses I've ever seen. I've been working for the Mock's Crest production of A Little Night Music which opened yesterday. Throughout June I'll be a dresser backstage attempting to get these lovely creations onstage flawlessly.
The show itself is rather bitter/sweet. It features Margie Boulé as Desiree Armfeld.

Three Sisters at ART

2009-05-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Theatre savvy Americans always laugh when someone says that Chekhov intended his plays to be comedies. Maybe in Russia they are funny, but here in our vastly different culture, Chekhov always turns out downright tragic. I recently saw Three Sisters at Artists Repertory Theatre (ART), and I was pleased that while, yes, the play does turn out downright tragic, it found the irony through the gloom and in places was even humorous. I can definitely say that watching all these characters go around and around in their monotonous lives and never doing anything to eleviate their suffering, boredom, and general dissatisfaction with everything really made me want to get out and live.
I liked the show a lot, and I thought that most of the actors had really stellar performances. Marjorie Tatum played Natasha and she was just as evil as I hoped she'd be. As soon as she would come onstage I would just cringe. Todd Van Voris, who I've seen in several shows about town now, as always did a wonderful job. Patrick Dizney, who has seen more of my work than I've seen of his, was quite impressive. Making a very attractive miliatry man, it was easy to see how his Vershinin could have been a "lovesick major" in his younger years. Of course, the three sisters themselves (Luisa Sermol as Masha, Andrea Frankle as Olga, and Amaya Villazan as Irina) did very well.

So Excited for Actor School!

2009-05-22T00:03:00.001-07:00

I've been sharing this video with a lot of people! Just in case you want to see what my graduate program is like you should check it out! I am so excited to begin in Fall!!!

Ohio University Theatre Video

Five Actors, Five Plays at RTR

2009-05-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well it appears that my time with Readers Theatre Repertory has come to a close for now. Last night was the final show of their season and they will not begin again until September after I will be away a graduate school.
I really enjoyed what they chose to do with their final show, though. They did five short plays in under an hour with five different actors. The shorts were quick but powerful. They were just long enough that you could get a taste of them and then move onto something else. The woman sitting next to me joked that they were just like eating candy. Out of the five my favorites were The Sniper and Daniel on a Thursday. Really good show to all involved, and thank you for sharing this eighth season of RTR!

The Last Show You'll Ever See

2009-05-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

"A Woman. A Trombone. Apocalypse."
I could not describe Sarah Liane Foster's one-woman show better myself. The show is presented by The Nomadic Theatre Company which works on physical theatrical forms such as clown, mask, puppetry, dance, acrobatics, etc., and let me tell you, it was hilarious! Sarah Liane Foster plays her uncomfortable, goofy character, Petroleum Jane as she attempts to get through performing a trombone concert without stopping too often to warn the audience about Apocalypse, the perils of pushing buttons, time stopping, and a plethera of other wild and terrifying explorations of thought while remembering to inform us of the closest available exits and affective safty procedures.
I totally loved the show, it was truly a blast! Plus, it's at Curious Comedy, and a cocktail with live theatre is a fabulous idea.

Frost/Nixon at PCS

2009-05-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

There's no doubt Portland is into politics. The biggest audience I've seen at a non-musical, non-opening performance at Portland Center Stage (PCS) was last night at Frost/Nixon, and everyone was really digging the show.
Written by Peter Morgan and directed by Rose Riordan, Frost/Nixon is the story of a series of interviews with former president Richard Nixon a few years after his resignation, conducted by British journalist David Frost. No, I have not seen the new movie, so I cannot compare the two, but I did find the play a really fascinating time.
Incorporating multimedia into their set designs seems to have been a theme this season at PCS , or at least it certainly happened in R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe and in Apollo. In Frost/Nixon the multiple screen background showing a number of different images really worked for me. It not only helped set mood and location, but it provided images from the time period and also gave the audience an understanding of the intimate nature the camera brought to the interviews with Nixon.
A memorable performance was given by Bill Christ as Richard Nixon. I found myself feeling truly sorry for the former president character at the end of the show. He appeared to me, a man in a world of media he could not quite understand or fit in with. A world that reduced his achievements down to his regret for his illegal involvement in Watergate. I thought the show was moving and impacting. The ensemble was wonderful. Congratulations to all.
Unfortunately, I saw the play rather late in it's run, and this is it's last weekend, so hurry over!

Freakshow

2009-05-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last night a friend invited me to go see Theatre Vertigo's production of Freakshow at Theatre! Theater!
Having gone in not entirely sure what to expect, we were still a little perplexed after an hour and a half of starring at Torso Girl. The play's tale of breaking ties to this place of nightmare and security, the freak-show, brings the audience a glimpse of the sad day to day life of traveling freaks at the turn of the century in a time when economic burdens are growing heavier and side-show acts aren't selling as well as they used to. Among other characters, Theatre Vertigo gives the audience four delicious freaks; the girl with no arms or legs, the dog-faced woman, the pinhead, and aqua boy, the human salamander. The physicality and make-up of each character was alarmingly realistic and quite intriguing.
It was certainly one freaky evening, and I would recommend it to anyone with a taste for the bizarre. Freakshow is playing through May 16th, so if you can check it out you should!

Some Stills from Marat/Sade

2009-04-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Barber of Seville: an Electric Opera

2009-04-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, so my last four posts have been about things happening at University of Portland! So what! It may be the last things I get to write about good old U.P.
Anyway, this time I have something truly incredible to share. A massive group of students from both the theatre and music departments (and elsewhere) have put together the first to acts of The Barber of Seville as an electric opera. I saw it on Sunday and was absolutely blown away! Now I like opera anyway, but an opera where the clarinet is played by a hammered organ, the violins and violas are played by guitars with string tone, the oboe is played by a guitar with the engaged wah pedal stepped out, etc. etc., it gets a little crazy! Not to mention how cool it is that all the characters look like they've stepped out of punk band/glam rock music videos.
Bobby Ray, a senior who played Figaro, took this project on as his baby this year, and I hope he is proud, because it was an enormous undertaking that turned out remarkably well! Steven Quirk as Count Almaviva and Danielle Larson as Rosina were great. Danielle can hit high notes like you wouldn't believe! Connor Bond was hilarious as Doctor Bartolo, especially in is Ozzy Osbourne get-up. My favorite song, though, belonged to Brittney Harris who played Bona Basilia. Something about her aria, "La Calunnia," just sounded amazing with rock music backing her up! Not to mention, she totally has the hottest costume!
Also, congratulations to the budding young theatres that my fellow students are getting off their feet. Two student project theatres were involved in this production; Portland Organic Theatre, and the Electric Opera Company. Incredible work, you guys! I'm so proud!
At any rate, I totally recommend checking it out if you are near the U.P. campus on Thursday. It's only a minimum of a dollar donation to get in, and believe me it will be a dollar well spent. The show begins at 7:30 on Thursday and runs about an hour and a half in the Mago Hunt Theatre.

Sorry, I've Been Busy

2009-04-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

So Marat/Sade ended and I thought I would finally have a minute to breathe. Oh no, I was wrong. I've had to work on an amazing amount of academic theatre projects in the last week.
Tuesday and Thursday my Commedia Dell'Arte class was doing final performances. As Commedia is mainly a pedestrian art, we were trying our hand at street theatre around campus. We put on masks and trooped around doing small Commedia skits at popular campus hang outs. In my performance I played Arlecchino with one classmate playing Capitano and one playing Dottore. Our skit involved a pumpkin pie, it was very funny.
Wednesday evening I was in a musical revue for my musical theatre class. I had a duet as well as a solo from The Magic Show, and I had a fairly substantial solo in one of our group numbers as Dolly in "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello Dolly. So that was fun.
Wednesday and Thursday night I participated in this awesome project. The University of Portland finally has a new play festival that they hope to make an annual thing. Five plays were read both nights. Some were staged while others were choral readings. I was in a play by my friend William Steele called Wheat and Grapes, in which I played a pregnant seventeen year old considering an abortion. Though I thought all the young playwrights did well, I was particularly proud of my buddy Conor Eifler. Eifler is a young playwright who although he's only finishing his sophomore year in college has enjoyed such successes as having his shows read and Visions and Voices at Portland Center Stage and at the JAW; a Playwrights Festival also at Portland Center Stage. His show at University of was a full length one act, and it was hilarious! Way to go!
Finally, on Friday night it was time to do our annual Performing and Fine Arts Banquet. This is kind of the departments farewell to the seniors. It was very fun and very emotional. I recieved the Outstanding Achievment Award for On-stage work.
So that's why I haven't written much. I promise I'll be back out seeing plays soon!

Marat/Sade at UP (an update)

2009-04-17T15:45:00.001-07:00

So Marat/Sade opened Wednesday night, and we'll be playing through Sunday. I feel our production is solid and that we've had two very good performances, although I worry that it's a bit much for a lot of our audience. As one of my friends told me after the Wednesday night performance, "you're not supposed to like this show, it's terrifying, but that aside, I loved it."
From those who "get" the show, we've gotten a wonderful response. Jeff Gauthier, a philosophy professor at the university wrote me this morning to say that Marat/Sade is one of his favorite plays and that I am now his favorite Marat. It was such a nice compliment, though not entirely unexpected from a someone who teaches philosophy.
Anyway, I am truly proud of this production and I'm sure this wonderful cast will have a great three more performances. It's been so much fun. Congratulations to our director, Collin Murray, a directing graduate student at University of Portland. He's done a wonderful job!

Marat/Sade at UP

2009-04-12T11:35:00.001-07:00

I apologize for not being able to write too often these days. I've been working hard on my final production at the University of Portland. We're doing Marat/Sade, and even though the role is out of my age range, type, and gender, they have me playing Jean-Paul Marat. Anyway, tonight is the first dress rehearsal, and we'll be opening on Wednesday.
This show tends to be a bit difficult to follow so here are my top four things (not in any specific order) to know before coming to see it:

1. Charenton is the location of the show. It was a famous insane asylum founded in 1645 in France. It was known for its humanitarian treatment of patients especially under Abbe de Coulmier (an important character in the show), and may be most famous for housing The Marquies de Sade.
2. The Marquies de Sade is where we get the term "sadism." This stems from his fascination with writing about sadomasichism, rape, bestiality, and necrophilia. He was also a philosopher and revolutionary. Interestingly, Sade wrote the Eulogy for Jean-Paul Marat.
3. Jean-Paul Marat was a Swiss born physician, political theorist, and scientist who was far better known for being a radical journalist during the bloody French Revolution, and was considered, at one point, one of the most important men in France. History calls Marat responsible for the Reign of Terror which killed some 20,000 to 40,000 "enemies of the revolution." Marat unfortunately suffered from a debilitating skin disease which kept him confined to his bathtub for three years prior to his famous murder.
4. Charlotte Corday was associated with the Girondins, the rival political faction of the Jacobins (the party Marat lead), and in 1793 Corday was executed under the guillotine for the murder of Marat, famously pictured in the painting by Jacques-Louis David above. This murder incited a new streak of executions in France.

I would recommend checking out the movie Quills. It takes place at Charenton, and Geoffrey Rush does a beautiful job with his character, The Marquis de Sade!
Hope to see you there this week! Despite the history lesson, it is a lot of fun!

Fresh Northwest at RTR

2009-04-11T09:16:00.001-07:00

This month at Readers Theatre Repertory (RTR) is a celebration of new works by local playwrights, a celebration they call "Fresh Northwest." The plays read were Pete and Petey by Gary Rogowski and Little Vixens by Dalene Young. Pete and Petey is a dark comedy that takes place between two men sharing a bed platonically in the middle of the night. I was very fond of this show. It's been a while since I've laughed so hard. Jonah Weston and Andy Lee-Hillstrom make a hillarious pair. Little Vixens took a more sentimental turn as it is an exploration of a small group of female friends growing together from budding teens, through college, marriage and children, old age and even death. I was especially happy with Ana Reislman's performance. The show is happening tonight, too! I cannot stress enough how important I feel it is to support new works, and I thank RTR for their contribution!

The Wilhelmis Go to the Theatre (Humana Fest at ATL) III

2009-04-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to say that the Wilhelmis are safe at home after their successful trip to Louisville. Here are the last few shows they saw at the Humana Festival!

Brink!
by Lydia R Diamond, Kristoffer Diaz, Greg Kotis, Debrorah Zoe Laufer, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb & Deborah Stein
directed by Sean Daniels
This show, written specifically for the 2008-2009 Acting Apprentice Company, proved itself hilarious. It showcased the acting talent of the Apprentice company with an anthology of sketches based around the 'Rites of Passages' theme. While silly and rambunctious, the show was also thought-provoking, touching on many creative & insightful observations on today's 'Rites of Passage', from a Jewish neu-extistentialist (Anna Kull) receiving her modern Bat Mitzfah (Today I Am a Woman, by Laufer) to a struggling father (Jacob Wilhelmi) who decides & declares (with his magnificent voice and questionable mustache!) to revolt against the current financial fiasco (American Dream by Kotis). Along with scenes current with today's news, there were also creative scenes from the past, such as Evolution by Laufer, where a family of fish argue about their 'different' child (Allison Moy) with land-bound urges. Alison Clayton plays up the evolution-fish's sister to a note-worthy hilariousness. Another scene, Instructions to my Future Life Partner… by Debrorah Stein, has a convincing Matthew Baldiga meandering through his future last wishes with great enthusiasm recalling the emotional surge of life I personally find parallel with listening to Radiohead's Videotape or Animal Collective's Flesh Canoe). Also standing out from the crowd, Anne Veal, who collectively plays her many parts with a subtle richness that balances perfectly with the chaos often ensuing elsewhere on stage. Her part as the Jewish mother in Laufer's Today I Am a Woman brought a refreshing humor through naturalism, catching the nuances of the polite mother at a party. Recognizable scenes from everyday life & running scenes that we come back to again and again keep the material intriguing & cohesive even at its fast running pace. A particularly entertaining insight was the plethora of theatre-insider jokes, a plus with this festival. The Apprentice Company and the playwrights involved pull this show off as a whole, successfully & impressively. Yet another recommended show at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays!

The Hard Weather Boating Party
by Naomi Wallace
directed by Jo Bonney
The play starts off cool, mysterious, dangerous & intriguing. The cast of three drop hints and pieces of a puzzle to come. As it draws you in, however, abstract thoughts & puzzling choices get laced into the plot, becoming more dominant as the show rolls along. Finally, an epic, puzzling ending suddenly surprises everyone at the end for better or worse. Intriguing, but somewhat unpolished, this show is a weaker production at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays!

Slasher
by Allison Moore
directed by Josh Hecht
With a behind-the-scenes of a low-fi, low budget B rated slasher film in a small town, this show captures humor and slasher-esque horror with all the scantily clad women, bathtubs of blood and, horror upon horrors, Churchies! We enjoyed this show, the light-hearted sequential production of the festival. I enjoyed Lucas Papaelias' slack-jawed approach to his Slasher-enthusiast character. Mark Setlock, a possible familiar face in Portland if you saw Portland Center Stage's Fully Committed, also commanded attention with his performance calling the likeness of John Malkovich. The many characters of Christy McIntosh also stood out for being vastly different in all areas but the level of humor brought to the show. Definitely a shiner of a show at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays!

Ten-Minute Plays
1) On the Porch One Crisp Morning
by Alex Dremann
directed by Sean Daniels
2) 3:59am: a Drag Race for Two Actors
by Marco Ramirez
directed by Amy Attaway
3) Roanoke
by Matt Schatz
directed by Steven Rahe
These 3 Ten-Minute Plays were a fun little ride, each packing a punch in its limited time. While showcasing the the short scripts, it also gave another angle of depth into the acting abilities of the few members of Actors Theatre of Louisville's Apprentice Company. In On the Porch… it was interesting to find Nancy Noto again wrapped up in assassin attempts. 3:59am… certainly found a somber tone with Daniel reyes & Matthew Baldiga, and the threesome wrapped up with Roanoke a silly mockery of the land of failed actors, aka, Historic Reenactments at the Roanoke Colony Living Museum. Although short as a whole, this provided a breather from the fast pace of the festival, and clearly exists as a favorite with long time festival goers.

Under Construction
by Charles L Mee
directed by Anne Bogart
created & performed by Siti Company
http://www.siti.org/
The title is the theme, which is explored throughly & still left wide open for interpretation. Siti Company performs Mee's show Under Construction, which is the third piece in a future collection of four, although I'm pretty sure they are meant to stand alone. Regardless, this show certainly does work alone, as that's how i saw it and that's how I loved it. Avant Garde, Artsy-Fartsy, and yet full of comprehendible moments. Often in piece like this, it seems too much is random and not enough thought has been given to the underlying purpose or rhythm. This show is certainly crazy, on the edge, sometimes trying, but there were still a great many moments, elements & strains that really gave it weight & purpose. And since this paragraph is sounding a little like fluuf itself at this point, I'll stop and say this is definite recommendation at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays! (even though it's over by now. ahem.)

…and that wraps it up for the Humana Festival! Sorry to be recommending shows after the fact, but keep an eye out for those scripts, and we better see you there next year for the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 34th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays! This is the HGttT field team, signing off!

The Wilhelmis Go to the Theatre (Humana Fest at ATL) II

2009-04-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

More play reviews from the Wilhelmis' trip to Humana Fest at the Actors Theatre of Louisville!

Ameriville
by UNIVERSES
(Gamal Abdel Chasten, Mildred Ruiz, William Ruiz aka Ninja & Steven Sapp)
The buzz preceded our arrival, and so we entered the theatre with excitement.
Described as putting "the state of the Union under a microscope—race, poverty, politics, history and government—examining our country through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans", this show captures it all with amazing accuracy & inventive delivery. The three men and one woman cast clap, stomp & generally beatbox their way through the show, interweaving the stories & social commentary with emotion & wonder. This was fantastic production. The timing was on, from musical elements to present day relevance. The vocals of Mildred Ruiz made our jaws drop. It was a voice that commanded attention, and then justified it. A completely recommended show at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays!
Link: http://www.actorstheatre.org/humana_ameriville.htm

ABSALOM
by Zoe Kazan
directed by Giovanna Sardelli
This new show by Zoe Kazan is probably the most naturalistic show I've seen period. The set is beautifully rendered 60s-70s home, complete with the inside of the house, as only seen through windows, and a impressively large, climbable apple tree. The naturalism doesn't stop there, as the cast uniformly capture the years of depth & authenticity with each character & their relationships. Peter Michael Goetz commands the stage with a authoritative voice that matches his patriarch persona. Todd Weeks, Ben Huber, Katie Kreisler, J Anthony Crane & Stephanie Janssen pull off the complexities of the interwoven relationships between members of a large family (siblings, step siblings & sibling-in-law). Relationships are never explained, but voyeuristically pieced together by the eager eyes of the audience. Another completely recommended show at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays!
Link: http://www.actorstheatre.org/humana_absalom.htm

Where All This Ends Up

2009-04-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

To my dear family, friends, and frequent readers,
I cannot thank you enough for being on this journey with me over the last few months. You've been there for me through my exciting and successful trip to the U/RTAs in Chicago, through my final KCACTF experience, and through my whirlwind visit to Rutgers. Today I am very proud to announce, I have made a decision that affects not only the next three years of my life, but also my career in the theatre.
I recieved an offer the Thursday before last to attend graduate school at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Their program at OU is very focused on nurturing artists to grow, they teach Meisner there, and all my sources tell me that they train very good actors. The University is closely affiliated with a summer stock theatre on Cape Cod. The graduate in acting students from OU may choose to act at this theatre over the summer while enjoying free room and board as well as salary. Every summer guest artists and directors are brought from New York and elsewhere to work on the shows with the grad students. In addition, the faculty members at OU invite successful people in theatre to come spend time in Athens and meet with the graduate students. By the way, did I mention that OU is offering me a full tuition waiver plus stipend for teaching?
I originally became aware of Ohio University's program when I was at U/RTAs. Shelley Delaney, associate professor and head of the actor training program at OU, and David Haugen, assistant professor, were two of the people who called me back after the general audition following the screening audition in Chicago. I truly enjoyed my interview with them. We talked a lot about our mutual love of regional theatre.
In an effort not to be too hasty with my decision, although OU pretty much had me at the words "Cape Cod," I contacted Deborah Hedwall at Rutgers to inform her of my outstanding offer. She told me that while I had made the very short list, Rutgers was still struggling to put together a company of actors, and she advised me to take my "great opportunity" with Ohio. Which is what I did.
Today I called Shelley Delaney, who I am so very excited to have as my new acting coach, and let her know that I was accepting her offer. Shelley seemed really happy and expressed her feeling that I would be a good fit in their program.
My current acting coach, Mindi Logan, is thrilled and thinks that this is the perfect choice for me. I agree with her.
Thank you all again. I am so happy that I know what path to take next, and I couldn't have done it without your ongoing support.
Love,
Heather

The Wilhelmis Go to the Theatre (Humana Fest at ATL) I

2009-04-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

As I have been lately tied up with working on my own show, Marat/Sade at University of Portland, I was sadly unable to travel with the Wilhelmi family to Louisville, KY to see the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL). They have kindly volunteer, however, to keep me posted on what shows they are seeing at the festival, and here is what they have to say so far:

HeatherGoestotheTheatre's field report team (the Wilhelmis), covering Actors Theatre of Louisville's 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays (mouthful!)
The excitement of the play festival met us as we walked out the airport gates at 6p. Unfortunately, the chauffeurs with signs were NOT for us, so we rented a car and zipped along to the DuPont Mansion (a favorite B&B of the HeatherGoestotheTheatre field team located in old Louisville, http://www.dupontmansion.com/index.htm) we quickly checked in @ 7p, and raced to the theater for the first show at 8p! Whoo hoo!

Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Berry
Adapted for the stage by Marc Masterson & Adrien-Alice Hansel
Described as a multimedia compilation of Wendell Berry's poetry, the show does just that, with beatifully rendered photographs projecting behind multiple instrumentalists weaving in and out of poetry by Mr Berry, coming in at a acceptable 68 minutes.
The show successfully captures the very essence of 'Nature' that Wendell's poetry describes. The set specifically worked, with a small dabble of grass & stones backed by two immense video screens, with a superb resolution, allowing a seamless melding between actor and set.
Standing out in the small cast of 5 was Larry John Meyers, who fell into his characters with authenticity. There was an especially poignant scene between Meyers and Helen-Jean Arthur as an older couple in love that stood out.
The spotlight was accurately handled by Jacob Wilhelmi. ;)

Link: http://www.actorstheatre.org/humana_wendellberry.htm

The Importance of Being Ernest at PCS

2009-03-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

You all know how much I love deep, impacting, even political theatre. There's a reason why I wrote a blog a mile long about How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, but I also believe there is something to be said for good, old silliness. I saw The Importance of Being Ernest last night at Portland Center Stage (PCS). Honestly, it was kind of nice to just sit back and escape from the world for a little while. For a few hours there was nothing but a beautiful world full of flower gardens, country homes, and elegant turn of the century dresses. Instead of worrying about wartime, or the economic crisis, or the trials and tribulations of a new presidential administration, for a few hours all I had to think about was whether Algernon and Jack would succeed in attaining Gwendolen and Cecily. In the cast I was particularly impressed by Todd Van Voris who played both Lane and Merriman, the two servants in the production. Though his role was small, he made me laugh everytime he made an appearance. I last saw Van Voris in The Seafarer at Artist Repertory Theatre (ART) in which I was also very impressed by his performance.

Speaking of the economic crisis, PCS is offering some interesting deals for The Importance of Being Ernest. Right now tickets are available for only twenty dollars, and if you produce your ticket from this play you can recieve ten dollars off your ticket for Frost/Nixon, PCS's next mainstage show, directed by Rose Riordan, written by Peter Morgan, and the basis for the award-winning film.

Clowns Without Borders

2009-03-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I, along with several other university students, was volunteering for the Clowns Without Borders Benefit here in Portland. Clowns Without Borders is a non-profit organization that sends clowns from all over the United States to areas of crisis around the world to relieve suffering (especially that of children) through laughter. Thanks to the generosity of the Portland community, the Portland Clowns Without Borders bring in the most money for the organization of any other group.
Last night's performance brought at least five hundred people. The show was put together of several clown and acrobat acts, and everybody had a lot of fun!

Rutgers (My Visit to the MFA Program) 02

2009-03-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today I sat through six hours of acting classes, and I had some really nice conversations with the faculty. I am exhausted, but I really liked what I saw, and I think that Rutgers would be a good grad program for me. If not this year, then perhaps another. I've had a blast here. The students are so warm and inviting. All of them were wonderful, but a special thanks goes to Michael Kane and Lacy Dunn who both really took care of me while I've been here.
I take the New Jersey transit back into New York City tomorrow morning, and Sunday I am flying home! Hurrah!

Rutgers (My Visit to the MFA Program) 01

2009-03-12T12:14:00.001-07:00

So last night, after leaving August Osage County on 8th and 45th I had to run like mad with my bags to 8th and 33rd to grab a train to New Brunswick on the New Jersey Transit. It was 5:20, just about time for everyone to get dinner before going to the evening Broadway performances, or for everyone who was just coming out of work to make it to the subway, or Port Authority, or, of course, Penn Station (where I was headed) to finally get their tired city-walking feet home. To make a long story short, there were people everywhere, it was the longest twelve blocks I've ever had to travel.
I did make it to the 6:15 train, and an hour later I was stepping out onto the charming main road of New Brunswick, George Street. A few first year MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) students, who are referred to here as MFA 1's, came to pick me up, and I ended up spending my evening meeting and chatting with many of the current Rutgers graduate in acting students. They were all very excited to meet and talk to the prospective students, or "prospies," and all of them have been very helpful and informative.
This morning, after staying the night in the home of some MFA's, I, along with some other "prospies," came to class with the MFA 1's. First was their voice class, which for the part that the "prospies" were there for was more like doing Shakespeare while doing yoga. Fun. Then we headed over to the MFA 2's clowning class, which was a very interesting experience.
Right now I am writing on location at one of the Rutgers campus libraries. I'll be joining the MFA 1's in their theatre history class as soon as they have finished taking their midterm.
So far I am having lots of fun. The MFA's are incredibly busy, and the training is difficult, but they still all seem quite relaxed, happy, and comfortable with where they have chosen to train.
I really am having a good time! Tell you more later!

August Osage County

2009-03-11T21:19:00.001-07:00

This afternoon before I had to run and catch a train out of Penn Station for New Brunswick, I went to the matinee performance of August Osage County, the winner of five Tony Awards including best play. It was great!
I fell in love with this unfortunate, dysfunctional Oklahoma family. Their many exhibited problems made me laugh, cry, and cringe.
This script is loaded with strong older female characters. Estelle Parsons (who you may know as the mother from Roseanne) as Violet Weston took my breath away! So did Johanna Day as Barbara Fordham and Elizabeth Ashley as Mattie Fae Aiken.
It was a very beautiful experience. The set was mind blowing! It's literally a three story house onstage without a wall facing the audience so all the rooms are opened like a doll's house. It exposes all the family history and some of its secrets just like the show does.

New York and Rutgers

2009-03-11T08:29:00.001-07:00

Surprise, surprise, I am on yet another theatre business trip! Between going to Chicago, spending a week at home, going to Idaho, spending two weeks at home, now being here in New York City, and tonight traveling to New Brunswick, I feel like I just keep falling asleep and waking up in new cities.
I am here because during U/RTAs, Rutgers asked me to come visit to get an in-person look at their graduate in acting program. It's a very intense three year program in which you graduate with a Masters in Fine Arts (the highest degree available in theatre). I'm really excited to check out the school and program over the next couple days!
I made a point of flying in and out of New York City, however, because I wanted to see some friends, and I figured as long as I was in this part of the country, I should seize my opportunity to see some New York theatre. This afternoon I have a ticket to the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning show, August Osage County at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. I'll tell you how it goes!

How to Disapear Completely and Never be Found at PCS

2009-03-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a little embarrassing that my schedule forced me to wait this long to see the American premiere of How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found at Portland Center Stage (PCS). I feel like I've already talked about it with everyone. I've had to run out of a hundred conversations with my hands over my ears saying things like, "don't tell me anything, I'm seeing it next Friday," as though we'd been discussing a new blockbuster film or the end of the final Harry Potter book. What I gathered from literally everyone I talked to about the show was that it was great and that they could not believe I had not seen it yet.
OK, OK, everybody, you were right. I did love the show!
Going into the production I was curious to see how the book How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found, the highly intriguing, occasionally humorous, and always surprising manual to erasing your life, could be turned into a piece of theatre. I wondered if this show would be like the other more educational productions PCS has had in their current season like R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe and, more recently, Apollo. While How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found retained the manuaul-like humor of the book in parts, I found it fascinating that British playwright Fin Kennedy decided to take the "what you could do" tone of the book and create a haunting, biting story of what place a person would have to be in to disappear, and what would happen to them.
I was very impressed by the intensity and intrigue of the piece. It held my complete attention the entire way through. The abstract, angular set was interesting to watch, but it still remained unintrusive, while costume design was simple and affective. Cody Nickell, who played Charlie (though his name is Adam later) gave a strong performance. His character deals with extraordinarily painful experiences, and being an audience member I could almost feel his hurt, sick, and exhaustion from my seat. The other characters were all distant in their own way, leaving Charlie contantly alone even when he was surrounded by people. Honestly, I was impressed by each member of the cast. Ebbie Roe Smith was entertaining with every character he played, he served as a much needed beacon of warmth in the show as Mike. I was also quite drawn to Kate Eastwood Norris as Sophie, her character was gentle and mysterious as she calmly added even more confusion to the show. Laura Faye Smith, who I last saw in The Receptionist at CoHo Productions, and Darius Pierce are both local actors, and they were just delightfully corporate and cold throughout most of the show. One of my favorite parts was with Pierce as the "buerocratic" court records keeper.
Well, I've talked too much, but I must say that How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found certainly lives up to all its praises throughout the community. It's playing until March 22nd, so please go see it!

Stop Kiss at UP

2009-03-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, the second university theatre post I've created in two weeks... oh well.
Tonight I went to see the small student production of Stop Kiss at the University of Portland. I liked the play. I loved that it was a series of scenes about real people who are all dealing with a difficult situation from their unique perspectives. No fancy gags. For those of you who are not familiar with the show, the whole plot is affected by the central occurrence of characters Callie and Sara being attacked in a New York City Park because they are kissing. What I thought was fascinating was how each character in the show had to reconcile how they felt about this incredibly offensive, violent occurrence, and also the homosexual relationship between Callie and Sara they are suddenly faced with.
There was a talk-back after the show that included members from two important campus groups, the Gay/Straight Partnership and the Feminist Discussion Group. Talk-backs are cool. Personally, they give me a sense for how the play is resonating with its community immediately afterward, which, as an artist, is both helpful and inspiring. During this particular talk-back, the audience discussed a lot about society's need to label its interpersonal relationships, and how Stop Kiss is not a play about "lesbians," though that seems to be the common interpretation, but that it is a play about two friends who fall in love. I found it really interesting.
Stop Kiss is also showing tomorrow night. It begins at 7:30 and it's free admission.

Fuddy Meers at UP

2009-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

I'm spending my evenings locked backstage these days. What a surprise, right?
I'm working as a stagehand on my university's production of Fuddy Meers, the story of a woman with amnesia who is kidnapped by her severely physically scarred ex-husband and taken to the home of her mother who recently suffered from a stroke debilitating her ability to talk in understandable sentences. There's more, but all you really need to know in that everyone is this show is seriously messed up. It's very funny, though!
Call the UP box office for tix! 503-943-8000

Season Finale of 'Fall of The House'

2009-02-22T15:34:00.000-08:00

This week is the season finale of Fall of The House (the live ongoing drama by Action Adventure Theatre). This was the first season I'd ever watched, and I found the whole thing really enjoyable. It's a cool idea, they've got a great set-up going on at Theater! Theatre!, and their show is quite entertaining. It was funny how attached I got to some of the characters, just like I would with a favorite television series! All the actors did a fabulous job, truly. I was particularly fond of Aubrey Jessen as Julie, Bobby Ryan as Jacob, Bri Pruett as Betsey, and Amanda Jensen as my absolute favorite character, Sam. Way to go on a successful season! I will definitely be there when the next one begins!

Leaving Idaho

2009-02-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Last night was the end of KCACTF 2009 region VII in Idaho. The awards ceremony was just about the culminating event (although I am going to a response from the judges of the final round this morning before we take of). I was happy that the full production that was asked to be held by the Kennedy Center (which means its being considered to be shown as a production this year in Washington DC) was The Distance From Here by Colorado State University. Having seen their show on Thursday night, I can honestly say that theirs was my favorite show from the entire festival. So, congratulations Colorado State!
Also, the finals round of the Irene Ryans was very talented, and I was honored to be performing with a wonderful group of people. I'm pleased to announce that one of the Irene Ryans was Philip Orazio from the University of Portland. We're all very proud.

KCACTF Region VII in Idaho 2

2009-02-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

This is a photograph I took of our acting coach, Mindi Logan, helping one of our Irene Ryan Nominees, Philip Orazio, work on a scene from Love is a Time of Day the night before the semi-final round. It was too priceless not to post.
The semi-final round, by the way, went very well. There were a lot of talented people in the thirty-two of us that were passed on.
Last night we received the results about who will be performing in the final round of the Irene Ryan competition. Only sixteen out of the original one hundred and fifty compete in this round, and I am pleased to announce that three people from the University of Portland will be competing; Philip Orazio, Brittney Harris, and myself. This is my second year in a row of making it to the finals, and I am so stoked! I'm also really proud that so many of us will be there.
I've seen two university productions since I last blogged. Linfield College from back in Oregon put on their production of Crave a piece by the highly depressed British playwright of the 90's, Sarah Kane, and Boise State put on their production of August Strinberg's famous post psychotic break show, A Dream Play. Needless to say, it's been a heavily psychological last few evenings. Good job to Linfield and Boise for successfully bringing in shows!
Also, yesterday, I watched the keynote speaker of the festival, Oskar Eustis, speak. He is the current artistic director of The Public Theater in New York, and is rumored to be the next Joseph Papp, founder of Shakespeare in the park. Eustis' talk on bringing theatre back to the public and recreating it as an artform was immensily inspiring. He is very hopeful that theatre in the United States will find a rejuvenation in the current time of crisis and change just as it did during the The Great Depression of the 1930s, but that it is up to those of us who practice the craft to create that rejuvenation.

KCACTF Region VII in Idaho

2009-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

So, this week I am in Idaho. Yes, warm, sunny Idaho, for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region VII. We Irene Ryan nominees competed in the preliminary round on Monday morning. Thirty-two nominees were chosen too move on and compete tomorrow out of the original one-hundred and fifty. I was chosen along with three of my classmates, Brittney Harris, Regina Galbick, and Philip Orazio, to continue competing tomorrow. It's very exciting! Last year I made it to the final round in which only sixteen actors compete, and I ended up winning the Mark Twain Comedy in Acting Award. It was so much fun, I hope that I am lucky enough to make it to finals again this year, but whatever happens, I'm sure with so many University of Portland students competing in the semi-finals, we're bound to have a few move on.
Another perk from this trip has been the opportunity to meet again with the Actor's Theatre of Louisville. I've scheduled an audition with them for their apprentice program on Thursday afternoon which I am really excited about.
One of the cool things about the KCACTF festival is getting to see the full productions other colleges that have been chosen over the last year to perform at the festival. In 2007 the University of Portland was chosen to bring our production of Getting Out. I played Arlie, and it was such a thrilling experience to do a show at the festival that I have been in admiration and envy of those who have been chosen in the last couple years. Last night we watched the University of Idaho's production of Tartuffe. It was very colorful and light-hearted, and I loved finally having the chance to see a production of a show I've had to read so often for classes. Way to go UofI!

Go See 'Fall of the House' With Your Valentine!

2009-02-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Having only experienced Fall of the House for the first time last week, I returned last night eager to see how the story continues. For those who don't know about this brilliant idea, Fall of the House is a live ongoing drama, similar to a television show, only its live and local! This week's episode, being a mix of Friday the Thirteenth and Valentine's Day is packed is great jokes and provocative drama that really gets the packed-in audience going. I know I said this last week, but Fall of the House is really awesome, and easy to get into, so check it out at Action Adventure Theatre!

Company by BrunDog

2009-02-14T00:25:00.000-08:00

Last night I was at the final preview performance of BrunDog Productions (in association with JANE a Theatre Company) production of Company. Seeing musicals is a rare treat for me, and I have never seen another production of Company. So I welcomed the opportunity learn. It was entertaining, although, having gone with a group of my peers, I got the sense that we may not be at the stage of our lives, being twenty-something college students in Oregon, to really appreciate a plot that revolves around a desperate thirty-something guy's struggle to escape the pressure of his married friends in New York City. Despite the age gap, there was one number that I really enjoyed. Kelly Stewart did a great job as Amy. Her song, "Not Getting Married" went splendidly. Company just opened tonight and it runs for three weeks!