Upcoming Projects

So, I've been a bit slow to post more on here, due to a complete lack of time over the past week. I don't see that slowing down, but I will attempt to post more often. I'm currently beginning rehearsals for a production of The Baltimore Waltz that I'm directing for City Circle Acting Company. We've got a strong cast, and the play itself is extremely fascinating and well written, it was the first of Paula Vogel's plays to gain real national recognition, and for good reason. The cast, composed of Bryant Duffy as Carl, Nicole Vespa as Anna, and Kehry Lane as The Third Man, seems to be a good group of strong actors, we'll see how it all progresses, but right now I'm particularly excited about the project.

Beyond that, I'm teaching my weekly classes at the Junior High, and we're supposed to be putting up an abridged version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which may or may not be successful, given scheduling issues and such. Frustrating, though. Like herding cattle. Although they still show up, which is good.

LBOing for Akarui. That's simple enough.

Daily Plays

Check out this site, really quite interesting. http://playswithothers.blogspot.com/

Basically, she reads a play a day and writes about them. Nifty little resource.

Suzuki and More

Just got back from a workshop in Suzuki technique taught by Alley Theatre company member and UW MFA grad Chris Hutchison. I'll probably edit this post later, as I have some things to say about it, but not that much time right now. I'm off to hold auditions for City Circle's production of The Baltimore Waltz, directed by, well, me. So that'll be interesting to. I imagine I'll have more to say tonight. In the meantime, take a look at this video - Ohad Naharin on Gaga (Video) | Dance In Israel.

The question of Internships

Looking at this post by Scott Walters (Theatre Ideas: Class, Geography, and Internships), I can't help but notice the relevance here. I'm in the process of applying for several internships, including one at the Actors Theatre of Louisville (which does not pay or house their interns) and another at Milwaukee Rep which pays maybe 75$ a week, and so I worry constantly about how I'm going to support myself if I manage to snag one of these positions. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely take one of these internships if it were offered. The allure of having an internship at such a prestigious theatre is extremely powerful. But I think he's right in the sense that there's a problem here.

The problem lies with the notion that young artists are expected to support themselves in these positions after having just spent four years of their lives paying out the ass to receive a degree which grants them the ability to claim that they are educated theatre students (which is often not the case at all). The degree does not get your foot in the door, does not help you in getting a job or getting cast (at least not all that often), but it does seem necessary to have a degree in order to be recognized as *legitimate* in the theatre world, especially as a director.

Of course, you can't just do what is suggested in the post at TheatreIdeas, because the moment you take these unpaid or lowly paid internships and use legislation to require them to pay at least minimum wage, the internship pool will dry up. Many of the companies offering these internships could not afford to continue doing so if they were required to pay their interns more. As a student, and someone who is trying to find a way in to the business, I really don't want that to happen.

I'm not sure what the third option is at the moment, and because I can't thing of a better alternative at this point (other than hoping for federal funding in the US along the lines of that which exists in Europe), I'd say that I hope that this legislation never comes to fruition. I'd rather these opportunities exist than not, and so despite the problems with the current system, I'm not sure that there's a better viable option.

New York?

So here's the thing. With graduation coming in just a few months, I'm at the point where I've got to decide what is coming next. I've sent out several applications for directing internships around the country, but barring those, I've really got no complete idea as to what's coming down the pike. My brother is making the big move to NY in April, with a gig at the Momentum Repertory Company, and I am very heavily considering moving in with him after graduation. However, there's a lot scary about that idea.

First of all, I'm not exactly rolling in cash. Second, I have only a few contacts there, most of whom are around my age and might not be that helpful in the short term. As my brother has gone Equity, I fully support his decision to go there, but I'm not sure it would really be in my best interests at this point. At the same time, it really is alluring. The theatre scene in NY (outside of the Broadway behemoth) is so much more closely related to the work I want to do than a place like Chicago or Minneapolis. Meaning, I'm really into the works of people or groups like Richard Foreman or Mabou Mines, and I want to be able to see and hopefully meet and of course ideally work with these types. Essentially, I want to do theatre that makes a point, visceral theatre, the sort of thing in line with the aesthetic ideas I already have, but that will still challenge me to keep creating and to keep growing. That exists in New York.

On the other hand, there's Chicago. Where just about everybody I know is heading. There's obviously a ton of stuff going on, and from what I can tell it is a pretty good place to be as a young theatre person. However, it seems to me that in Chicago there's a ton of work going on, but it is almost impossible for any one place to separate itself from the crowd, to stand out. Sure, there's the House, but other than that, all you've got are the big ones, Steppenwolf, Goodman, etc. It seems almost impossible to become commercially viable. Not that that's easy anywhere... anyways. Mounting Sarah Kane in Chicago seems like a safe way to go bankrupt.

So basically, I'm stuck. Hopefully I'll figure it out sooner rather than later.

The Value of Unity

What is the value of unity in art? In theatre? Of unity of the self – natured arguments perceiving even more thoroughly the necessity of progress but as a dystopic thing, a divided thing and when the new is not separate but with itself complete and whole there is no way the thing can leave you anything but whole. Perfection is the great enemy of the audience who needs not to be whole but to be torn apart. To be separated – the body at least somewhat taken apart left open because in perfection there is no necessity in perfection there is no art there is no provision – no impact. The well made play is a fallacy. A dangerous object masquerading as masterpiece. The necessity resides in the imperfection, in humanity beyond sensitivity, in inability, in failure in not the perfect circle but the broken line. The broken line, and art must be broken, we must be broken in order to fulfill any sort of basic emotional, cultural, or personal need. It seems so basic to me this idea of unwholeiness. Intrinsic, to me. Keep the work challenging, stop the flow and in the process stop us, separate us from that collective morality juggernaut of pseudo religion and actual perversity, the judgment of the public. The value of unity lies simply then, not in the level of presence, but in the lack thereof entirely.

A Couple Things

So this is my first attempt at sustaining a real sort of blog, and I think what I'm hoping it will turn out to be is a place for writing about random thoughts, mostly theatre based, and responding to what I'm seeing out there currently in the blogosphere, there's a lot going on out there and I'd like to think I can add something to the discussion.

Firstly, about who I am and where I'm coming from at this point in my life:

My name is Greg Redlawsk, I'm currently completing my fourth year as a theatre student at Cornell College in Mount Vernon Iowa. I started out as an actor from the time I was relatively young, but have switched over more towards the directing side of theatre, a shift which began in earnest during my second year of College. I have directed a relatively large number of productions these past few years, ranging from Danny and the Deep Blue Sea to 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane. I've been influenced in my thinking by several prominent theatrical luminaries, such as Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, Jerzy Grotowski, along with Peter Brook.

To be a little bit more specific with my intentions, I think I'm looking to document my experiences as I finish school and move on towards trying to find a place to live and work and survive and that whole drill. As I said, from time to time I'll be posting random thoughts and reactions to events around me, I also plan on posting snippets from essays I've written on the theatre and thoughts I've had about what needs to happen to keep theatre as a viable and sustainable artistic force in the world. Hope you're as excited as I am, although that does seem unlikely at this point. But I'll get you there.

That's all for now.

Greg