There's something fascinating about sitting in a room with a bunch of people with names that you usually only read about on playbill. Fascinating and intimidating.
Last week I monitored and sat in on the casting sessions for NYTW's production of Peter and the Starcatcher (a prequel to Peter Pan), directed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers and produced in association with Disney Theatrical. I was fortunate enough to meet both Roger and Alex, and the experience was a little overwhelming, not to mention the countless amazing actors we had come in to read for the production. In case you don't know, Alex Timbers is the director of the current Broadway hit Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Roger Rees has appeared in several Broadway productions and worked with RSC back in the day. Oh yeah, he was also the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood Men in Tights. Which I find to be hilarious, seeing as how he's actually a fantastic actor and artist.
The process was really quite interesting. I would usually switch off with Ashley (the other artistic/casting intern), one of us would be outside monitoring and the other would be in the room. We'd basically just get the name of the actor coming in, call it out when we bring them in, and then go sit and watch in the corner. And we saw a ton of good actors, many of whom have been on broadway and in mainstream films and several of whom I'd seen in shows before.
On Friday we had our final session of callbacks, after which I was able to sit in the room while they made their final decisions about the casting. It is truly interesting to see what the directors and casting director and Disney folk are looking for and how they make their decisions. Tons of things come in to play, ranging from look to style to skill, and often times some great actors get left out or don't even get called back for reasons completely outside of their control. So you actors I know out there, take that to heart. We passed over tons of great actors, and there are only so many roles to cast. In the end, while I can't yet say who we cast as they haven't been signed to contracts etcetera, I can say that the people who they want for the show are really amazing actors. I can't wait to see this production when it goes up in February.
On another note, I was fortunate enough to have a play I wrote accepted in to the Strawberry One Act Festival at the Riant Theatre in NYC. Which is really exciting. And also daunting.This will be my first real project in NYC, so it has got to be a good one. I'll also be directing the piece, and now I need to put together a team to produce it! Let's see, need a Stage Manager, Sound Designer, Set Designer, Sound/Light Board Op, and naturally a cast of four actors who may or may not to be of vaguely Middle Eastern descent. Some of those jobs I'll just fill myself, but I do know that you can't produce a show by yourself, and so I'll be looking for people to help out on this production. Should be an exciting project.
The play itself is called BROKEN, and has had a single reading done at Cornell College's New Play Festival last year. The show takes place in front of a giant wall, presumably on the border between Palestine and Israel, and explores the issue of honor killings in Palestine and how the presence of an outside force, of being trapped and suppressed within one's own home can truly drive people to the very brink. I really like this play and am extremely excited to finally stage it fully. The show will go up at the beginning of February, so you if you're gonna be in NYC at the time, you definitely ought to check it out. And if you're interested, auditions will be happening sometime in early December. I'll definitely post the notice here, as well as on Facebook and Playbill.
And that's pretty much all for now. Today we have another reading (NYTW does a reading of a new play every Monday, and working on those is a big part of my job), and they sent us changes to the script (which is 160 pages) at 1:30am this morning, and when we got to the office this morning the main copier wasn't working, so we had to print each copy (2800 pages in total) from the dinky office printer. Oh the excitement of working in an office!
And yeah, that's really all for now. Until next time.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Update: New York City and New York Theatre Workshop
So. It's been forever. I'll attribute that to long hours and just about no real free time before midnight.
But now I'm back. And plenty's been going on. This update's just gonna brief you on what's been going on and where I am now. I've a couple posts that will be coming up (likely tomorrow) where I'll start giving more of my impressions of NYC and the theatre world as I've encountered it so far.
To start with, I've been living in the city for about three months now, and was fortunate enough to find employment at a restaurant (Island Burgers and Shakes) as well as an internship with the off-broadway theatre company New York Theatre Workshop.
NYTW is a pretty cool place. I'm one of two artistic/casting interns, and I've been very fortunate to be around the high quality theatre artists that populate the workshop. When I arrived at the theatre two months ago they were in the midst of rehearsals for The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman directed by Ivo Van Howe. Now, the show itself is somewhat, well, boring. This production, however, was one of the most visceral and engaging performances I've ever seen. Before the show went up I was able to sit in on technical rehearsals as the person on book and got to watch Ivo, a celebrated director from overseas (he's Flemish), work with his actors, which was absolutely fantastic. The direction of the piece was so incredibly dynamic and well thought out, it was clear that no moment had gone unaccounted for. Everything worked seamlessly, there was a fluidity and movement to the piece that I could never have anticipated based on the stodgy pages of the seventy year old script.
I'll get more in to what I do on a day to day basis later, but as a casting intern I've been able to sit in on a bunch of auditions and EPA's, and yesterday I was fortunate enough to meet and sit with Roger Rees and Alex Timbers (the directors of Peter and the Starcatcher, which is coming up next at the workshop) and watch some auditions before going out to monitor the rest.
That's not to say there aren't frustrations. I'm incredibly busy being split between two workplaces and have had very little time to pursue my own artistic endeavors. Also, costs are extremely prohibitive and breaking into Directing is a completely wild thing, there's no prescribed method and no means of audition. It's all about contacts or self producing or festivals. I'm working on all three, and we'll see what comes of them.
New York's a bit of a crazy town. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that I truly do live here. But when I walk home from the station at 181st and look out over the Hudson (I live right on the river, right next to the George Washington Bridge), I realize just how lucky I am to be here, with a job, an internship, and a lot of time ahead of me.
It's truly exciting, because I have no idea where I'm going from here. I suppose that should be frightening, and in a way it is. But at the same time, there's so much freedom to make my own path. That's one great thing about NYC. If you are willing to take the initiative, the opportunities are there. You just have to find them.
But now I'm back. And plenty's been going on. This update's just gonna brief you on what's been going on and where I am now. I've a couple posts that will be coming up (likely tomorrow) where I'll start giving more of my impressions of NYC and the theatre world as I've encountered it so far.
To start with, I've been living in the city for about three months now, and was fortunate enough to find employment at a restaurant (Island Burgers and Shakes) as well as an internship with the off-broadway theatre company New York Theatre Workshop.
NYTW is a pretty cool place. I'm one of two artistic/casting interns, and I've been very fortunate to be around the high quality theatre artists that populate the workshop. When I arrived at the theatre two months ago they were in the midst of rehearsals for The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman directed by Ivo Van Howe. Now, the show itself is somewhat, well, boring. This production, however, was one of the most visceral and engaging performances I've ever seen. Before the show went up I was able to sit in on technical rehearsals as the person on book and got to watch Ivo, a celebrated director from overseas (he's Flemish), work with his actors, which was absolutely fantastic. The direction of the piece was so incredibly dynamic and well thought out, it was clear that no moment had gone unaccounted for. Everything worked seamlessly, there was a fluidity and movement to the piece that I could never have anticipated based on the stodgy pages of the seventy year old script.
I'll get more in to what I do on a day to day basis later, but as a casting intern I've been able to sit in on a bunch of auditions and EPA's, and yesterday I was fortunate enough to meet and sit with Roger Rees and Alex Timbers (the directors of Peter and the Starcatcher, which is coming up next at the workshop) and watch some auditions before going out to monitor the rest.
That's not to say there aren't frustrations. I'm incredibly busy being split between two workplaces and have had very little time to pursue my own artistic endeavors. Also, costs are extremely prohibitive and breaking into Directing is a completely wild thing, there's no prescribed method and no means of audition. It's all about contacts or self producing or festivals. I'm working on all three, and we'll see what comes of them.
New York's a bit of a crazy town. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that I truly do live here. But when I walk home from the station at 181st and look out over the Hudson (I live right on the river, right next to the George Washington Bridge), I realize just how lucky I am to be here, with a job, an internship, and a lot of time ahead of me.
It's truly exciting, because I have no idea where I'm going from here. I suppose that should be frightening, and in a way it is. But at the same time, there's so much freedom to make my own path. That's one great thing about NYC. If you are willing to take the initiative, the opportunities are there. You just have to find them.
Friday, July 16, 2010
A Bit of News and 24 Hour Theatre
So, here we go. I haven't posted on this in a while because, quite frankly, I've had no time and also haven't exactly been leading the most exciting life for these past few weeks/months. After wrapping up with The Baltimore Waltz at City Circle, I've mostly spent my time working and doing a bit of writing here and there. However, I'd say that now's a good time to get this blog up and running again because I'm finally getting out of Iowa. That's right. I've been in the state for over a decade, bar a few summers in Chicago, and while there are certainly things I love about the place, there's no future for me here in the theatre. There's just no career to make. There's plenty of good theatre work being done, I don't mean to suggest otherwise. But the niche for professional theatre in Iowa City has already been filled by Riverside Theatre, and there's no other place in the state I'd be willing to live for an extended period of time outside of college.
And so, as seems inevitable, I'm moving to New York City. My brother and I have basically found a place in Washington Heights and will be moving in at the beginning of August - so about two weeks from now. Andrew's been out there for a few months already, and has a day job to go along with having been cast in several shows. I'm not so fortunate - I've less money in the bank and as a director it seems a bit harder to get in on the ground floor - but I'll make it work. I've applied for a few internships in Casting/Artistic Direction, so one of those would be a good place to start. I've a few contacts in the city and a few ideas regarding some performances to be done on the cheap - I'll do my best to document the experience here.
But, before I go, I've got one last show happening here. Dreamwell and City Circle have teamed up to produce the All in a Day festival, which will be theatre festival of ten minute plays written, directed, memorized, and performed all within one twenty-four hour period. I'll be involved as one of six directors, and I'm definitely looking forward to the bizarre whirlwind that I expect this experience to be. I'll talk a little bit about the experience tomorrow night or the morning after. I'm definitely very curious, to say the least. I haven't really done much preparation other than fiddling with my sound editing software, also going through my music to find a wide array of possible soundtracks for whatever the show might end up being - I'm going to be prepared, and music is a great way to augment and help pull an audience in a certain direction. With the limited time frame, that sort of emotional trigger will be invaluable. Sort of cheating, in a way, but ah well. They're awarding prizes at the end (I don't know what for specifically), and I'm competitive.
In any case, things are finally starting to move again, and I'm definitely excited. A bit nervous, perhaps, but given that I'll have very little room for error with this move (I'll need to find a job ASAP), I suppose it might be warranted. But I am excited. And definitely ready to go.
And so, as seems inevitable, I'm moving to New York City. My brother and I have basically found a place in Washington Heights and will be moving in at the beginning of August - so about two weeks from now. Andrew's been out there for a few months already, and has a day job to go along with having been cast in several shows. I'm not so fortunate - I've less money in the bank and as a director it seems a bit harder to get in on the ground floor - but I'll make it work. I've applied for a few internships in Casting/Artistic Direction, so one of those would be a good place to start. I've a few contacts in the city and a few ideas regarding some performances to be done on the cheap - I'll do my best to document the experience here.
But, before I go, I've got one last show happening here. Dreamwell and City Circle have teamed up to produce the All in a Day festival, which will be theatre festival of ten minute plays written, directed, memorized, and performed all within one twenty-four hour period. I'll be involved as one of six directors, and I'm definitely looking forward to the bizarre whirlwind that I expect this experience to be. I'll talk a little bit about the experience tomorrow night or the morning after. I'm definitely very curious, to say the least. I haven't really done much preparation other than fiddling with my sound editing software, also going through my music to find a wide array of possible soundtracks for whatever the show might end up being - I'm going to be prepared, and music is a great way to augment and help pull an audience in a certain direction. With the limited time frame, that sort of emotional trigger will be invaluable. Sort of cheating, in a way, but ah well. They're awarding prizes at the end (I don't know what for specifically), and I'm competitive.
In any case, things are finally starting to move again, and I'm definitely excited. A bit nervous, perhaps, but given that I'll have very little room for error with this move (I'll need to find a job ASAP), I suppose it might be warranted. But I am excited. And definitely ready to go.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Interview on The Baltimore Waltz
From the Iowa Theatre Blog:
City Circle - Sometimes things don't always go as planned in the theatre world. City Circle had planned to open The Threepenny Opera a week or so ago, but an unexpected illness in the production team forced them to switch gears. Instead, tonight Paula Vogel's The Baltimore Waltz opens. We had a chance to talk to the director of the show, Greg Redlawsk, as well as one of the actors, Nicole Vespa.
Could you tell our readers a little bit of what the show is about?:
Greg: Well, The Baltimore Waltz is a play that revolves around a fantastical trip made by a brother and sister to Europe after the sister has been diagnosed with ATD (Acquired Toilette Disease) and their search for some sort of cure, some sort of hope.
Nicole: Right, when Anna gets diagnosed with her disease, she and her brother Carl decide to take the European vacation they have always planned. During the trip Anna decides to cut loose and live life to the fullest -- by eating out a lot and lusting after various European men. Anna is a fun character to play -- she is sweet and thoughtful, but she can also be incredibly selfish and short-sighted. She has a sense of humor about her predicament though, and I think that's what really carries her through all the things that happen to her during the play. She's a very feeling person - as she says to Carl at one point during the play, "I can remember the things I feel." Anna is really a stand-in for Paula Vogel herself, because the play is an homage to Vogel's real-life brother, Carl and the vacation they never got to take together.
Greg: It is also a thinly veiled but heartbreakingly poignant critique on how people responded to the AIDS crisis in the late 80's and early 90's.
This show was added to the season after Three Penny was canceled. Greg, can you talk a little bit about how this show came to be? Did you suggest it?
Greg: Yeah, I suggested it. I was on the City Circle Board at the time, and so I was aware of the situation as soon as it happened. The Board looked at a number of different options, but eventually decided on going with my proposal. It was at times a bit hectic, just due to the rushed nature of the whole process, typically of course seasons are laid out at least around six months in advance, giving the directors time to find their production teams and prepare for the show, but despite the limited time frame, this show's ended up coming together pretty effectively.
Greg, why did you want to direct this show?
Greg: Well, first of all, this is an extremely well written play. The text is strong and emotionally demanding but still malleable enough to stand up to a number of different conceptual ideas and directions. It is also a particularly challenging piece in that it has thirty scenes in ninety minutes, which presents a certain difficulty when it comes to matters of flow and pacing. While the subject matter of the play is highly personal to the playwright, themes of how one deals with grief and the notion of death can resonate with just about everyone. And that resonating is also a result of the specificity. Vogel didn't try to make it general to appeal to the broadest possible audience, instead she embraced the specificity of her circumstances which lead to a play that is intense and dramatic, gripping and impossible to ignore.
This show combines humor with pretty serious subject matter. How did you deal with the combination of these two elements?
Nicole:It can be hard at times! The play definitely has extremes between funny and serious, light and dark. The play is really a meditation on the loss of a loved one, so it could have gone to a really dark place. Instead, Vogel chose to make it darkly humorous throughout. I heard a quote at some point (and I'm paraphrazing here) that there is a thin line that separates pain from laughter. There are so many things in life that are like that...if you couldn't laugh about them, you'd cry. In that way I think it's a really truthful play...Vogel doesn't have the characters languishing with grief. Instead she has them celebrating life and trying to make the most out of the little time they have left together.
Greg: I think the major thing that the actors have to do in a show like this is simply embrace their given circumstances. Like in any comedy, it is only funny if the actors are truly invested and truly believe in their actions. The humor comes from the situation. So in a play like this that mixes in humor and serious subject matter in starkly vivid and surprising ways, the major thing that must be done is an adherence to this philosophy, the notion that the characters themselves are real people, respond in real ways, and it is the absurdity of the situation that causes both humor and drama to exist simultaneously. The playwright did that work, the work of making it alternately funny and serious. I also do have the habit of working with physicality, something we didn't have as much time for in this process, but an actor can never forget how much their physical body influences their emotional state. So when I say the actor needs to be committed to the given circumstances, that commitment is not only mental, not only about will, but also about the body being physically ready to respond to the demands of the script and work in harmony with intuitively internal responses as well.
And can you tell us a little bit about your actors?
Greg: We have an interesting amount of variety within this three person cast. All three have significant theatre experience, but manifested in some different ways. Kehry Lane is a regular around these parts, and is an absolute joy to work with. His experience makes him able to take on a demanding role like The Third Man (who actually plays twelve different parts) with fluidity and seeming ease. Bryant Duffy has been acting for years as well, with experience in summerstock and theatre around the region. He and Nicole Vespa have developed a great on stage sibling relationship that has gotten stronger throughout the production due to their abilities to work honestly and effectively in their characters. Nicole is currently a high school theatre teacher in Washington Iowa and brings a great freshness to the role of Anna.
Nicole, how has this show compared with others you've done in the area?
Nicole:It's been a lot of fun. I'm really excited to be acting again, and I hope to do more of it in the future. Frankly, all of my recent experiences in theatre have been very positive - I've been lucky enough to work with very talented actors and directors, on well-written plays that really has a heart. I have no complaints.
What challenges have you had to face in the rehearsal process?
Nicole: The language! During the course of the play, characters speak French, German, and Dutch. My character has relatively few lines in a foreign language, but that is a challenge! The play is a very language-rich, which is part of what makes it fun to play around with, but also a definite challenge at times. Overall this has been a really fun play to rehearse, though.
Greg: And there are always a variety of challenges when it comes to a rehearsal process. This play is particularly difficult because, as I mentioned before, it is constantly moving in and out of scenes and you have to find a way to make those changes fluid and smooth so as not to interrupt the sort of whirlwind atmosphere the show engenders. I'm a director who likes to keep tinkering until the end, I often restage scenes multiple times throughout a process, but as we had a little bit less rehearsal time for this show than has been the norm for me, I've had to adjust my style a little bit. I love physical warm ups but have abandoned them for this show, I staged the show more quickly than I may have liked, and not having a stage manager can at times be difficult. But through it all the actors have been a pleasure to work with, have helped keep the process moving forward in a smooth and efficient way, and I'm quite pleased with the end product.
What moments stand out for you in this show?
Nicole:So many! It's hard for me to narrow it down. There are so many scenes that Kehry is in that make me laugh. I am so lucky to be working with such a great cast and director...the whole process has really been a pleasure!
Greg: I mean, the major moment that sticks out for me is the final scene, which I won't talk about here so as not to spoil the surprise. I'll just say that there's a tenderness and vulnerability in those final moments that really elevates the entire production to something special. It's just an amazingly written and acted ending, and I can't wait for people other than me to see it.
City Circle - Sometimes things don't always go as planned in the theatre world. City Circle had planned to open The Threepenny Opera a week or so ago, but an unexpected illness in the production team forced them to switch gears. Instead, tonight Paula Vogel's The Baltimore Waltz opens. We had a chance to talk to the director of the show, Greg Redlawsk, as well as one of the actors, Nicole Vespa.
Could you tell our readers a little bit of what the show is about?:
Greg: Well, The Baltimore Waltz is a play that revolves around a fantastical trip made by a brother and sister to Europe after the sister has been diagnosed with ATD (Acquired Toilette Disease) and their search for some sort of cure, some sort of hope.
Nicole: Right, when Anna gets diagnosed with her disease, she and her brother Carl decide to take the European vacation they have always planned. During the trip Anna decides to cut loose and live life to the fullest -- by eating out a lot and lusting after various European men. Anna is a fun character to play -- she is sweet and thoughtful, but she can also be incredibly selfish and short-sighted. She has a sense of humor about her predicament though, and I think that's what really carries her through all the things that happen to her during the play. She's a very feeling person - as she says to Carl at one point during the play, "I can remember the things I feel." Anna is really a stand-in for Paula Vogel herself, because the play is an homage to Vogel's real-life brother, Carl and the vacation they never got to take together.
Greg: It is also a thinly veiled but heartbreakingly poignant critique on how people responded to the AIDS crisis in the late 80's and early 90's.
This show was added to the season after Three Penny was canceled. Greg, can you talk a little bit about how this show came to be? Did you suggest it?
Greg: Yeah, I suggested it. I was on the City Circle Board at the time, and so I was aware of the situation as soon as it happened. The Board looked at a number of different options, but eventually decided on going with my proposal. It was at times a bit hectic, just due to the rushed nature of the whole process, typically of course seasons are laid out at least around six months in advance, giving the directors time to find their production teams and prepare for the show, but despite the limited time frame, this show's ended up coming together pretty effectively.
Greg, why did you want to direct this show?
Greg: Well, first of all, this is an extremely well written play. The text is strong and emotionally demanding but still malleable enough to stand up to a number of different conceptual ideas and directions. It is also a particularly challenging piece in that it has thirty scenes in ninety minutes, which presents a certain difficulty when it comes to matters of flow and pacing. While the subject matter of the play is highly personal to the playwright, themes of how one deals with grief and the notion of death can resonate with just about everyone. And that resonating is also a result of the specificity. Vogel didn't try to make it general to appeal to the broadest possible audience, instead she embraced the specificity of her circumstances which lead to a play that is intense and dramatic, gripping and impossible to ignore.
This show combines humor with pretty serious subject matter. How did you deal with the combination of these two elements?
Nicole:It can be hard at times! The play definitely has extremes between funny and serious, light and dark. The play is really a meditation on the loss of a loved one, so it could have gone to a really dark place. Instead, Vogel chose to make it darkly humorous throughout. I heard a quote at some point (and I'm paraphrazing here) that there is a thin line that separates pain from laughter. There are so many things in life that are like that...if you couldn't laugh about them, you'd cry. In that way I think it's a really truthful play...Vogel doesn't have the characters languishing with grief. Instead she has them celebrating life and trying to make the most out of the little time they have left together.
Greg: I think the major thing that the actors have to do in a show like this is simply embrace their given circumstances. Like in any comedy, it is only funny if the actors are truly invested and truly believe in their actions. The humor comes from the situation. So in a play like this that mixes in humor and serious subject matter in starkly vivid and surprising ways, the major thing that must be done is an adherence to this philosophy, the notion that the characters themselves are real people, respond in real ways, and it is the absurdity of the situation that causes both humor and drama to exist simultaneously. The playwright did that work, the work of making it alternately funny and serious. I also do have the habit of working with physicality, something we didn't have as much time for in this process, but an actor can never forget how much their physical body influences their emotional state. So when I say the actor needs to be committed to the given circumstances, that commitment is not only mental, not only about will, but also about the body being physically ready to respond to the demands of the script and work in harmony with intuitively internal responses as well.
And can you tell us a little bit about your actors?
Greg: We have an interesting amount of variety within this three person cast. All three have significant theatre experience, but manifested in some different ways. Kehry Lane is a regular around these parts, and is an absolute joy to work with. His experience makes him able to take on a demanding role like The Third Man (who actually plays twelve different parts) with fluidity and seeming ease. Bryant Duffy has been acting for years as well, with experience in summerstock and theatre around the region. He and Nicole Vespa have developed a great on stage sibling relationship that has gotten stronger throughout the production due to their abilities to work honestly and effectively in their characters. Nicole is currently a high school theatre teacher in Washington Iowa and brings a great freshness to the role of Anna.
Nicole, how has this show compared with others you've done in the area?
Nicole:It's been a lot of fun. I'm really excited to be acting again, and I hope to do more of it in the future. Frankly, all of my recent experiences in theatre have been very positive - I've been lucky enough to work with very talented actors and directors, on well-written plays that really has a heart. I have no complaints.
What challenges have you had to face in the rehearsal process?
Nicole: The language! During the course of the play, characters speak French, German, and Dutch. My character has relatively few lines in a foreign language, but that is a challenge! The play is a very language-rich, which is part of what makes it fun to play around with, but also a definite challenge at times. Overall this has been a really fun play to rehearse, though.
Greg: And there are always a variety of challenges when it comes to a rehearsal process. This play is particularly difficult because, as I mentioned before, it is constantly moving in and out of scenes and you have to find a way to make those changes fluid and smooth so as not to interrupt the sort of whirlwind atmosphere the show engenders. I'm a director who likes to keep tinkering until the end, I often restage scenes multiple times throughout a process, but as we had a little bit less rehearsal time for this show than has been the norm for me, I've had to adjust my style a little bit. I love physical warm ups but have abandoned them for this show, I staged the show more quickly than I may have liked, and not having a stage manager can at times be difficult. But through it all the actors have been a pleasure to work with, have helped keep the process moving forward in a smooth and efficient way, and I'm quite pleased with the end product.
What moments stand out for you in this show?
Nicole:So many! It's hard for me to narrow it down. There are so many scenes that Kehry is in that make me laugh. I am so lucky to be working with such a great cast and director...the whole process has really been a pleasure!
Greg: I mean, the major moment that sticks out for me is the final scene, which I won't talk about here so as not to spoil the surprise. I'll just say that there's a tenderness and vulnerability in those final moments that really elevates the entire production to something special. It's just an amazingly written and acted ending, and I can't wait for people other than me to see it.
Monday, April 12, 2010
On Unpaid Internships
So there keeps being more conversation about these unpaid internships offered by the several major and most of the minor regional theaters in the states, and I've read several points that I've found to be quite poignant. In my previous post I linked to Scott Walters talking more about the subject, but this comment on his post at his CRADLE blog was one that I found to be quite relevant.
"People who “just make a living” doing art have to work pretty hard it, no matter where they came from, because the market for non-popular art is small, the costs of making it (including living expenses) exceeds its salable price, and arts funding is limited.Should access to a quality secondary school education be expanded? Of course.Should arts education be expanded? Yes. Arts funding? Yes.Is this overall situation unfair? Yup.And do a lot of faux bohemian aspirants make a bunch of bad art. Yes again. Good art requires craft and knowledge. This has to be obtained somehow — aptitude and educational background both matter.Do people from modest backgrounds succeed? Yes, they do.Is the arts world disorganized, political and often inept? Yes. Is it a systemetized plutocracy? I think that’s a big stretch."
Walters replied to this as such:
"The plutocracy precedes the art. What I am saying is that the opportunities go to those who are privileged. In addition, those who have less financial pressures can more readily afford to focus on their work, popular or non-popular. Yes, they have to work at it — the point is that they have the opportunity to do so. It is easier to reach the magic 10,000 hours of practice plateau described by Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers” if you’re not spending 40 hrs a week putting food on the table. Similarly, it is easier to say yes to an opportunity to get a foot in the door by accepting an unpaid or slightly paid internship if somebody else is taking care of the finances.Do people from modest backgrounds succeed? Sure. People who play a weak hand in bridge sometimes win — they just have to be better players. But those in the theatre present the playing field as flat, and success as based on “talent” (i.e., merit), and that is simply not true."
This is interesting to me. Am I privileged? Yes. Am I born from the upper classes? Yes. If I get either of the internships I am currently interviewing for (at the Actors Theatre and Milwaukee Rep) will I be able to afford to do it? Again, the answer is yes.
And so personally I can completely see what it is that Scott is saying. There is inherently a bias, there is inherently a disservice being done to those who don't have the resources as a result of their familial situation.
But to be frank, what are the other options? Without overhauling the entirety of the American theatrical system (which may be a laudable goal, but certainly isn't coming down the pipeline any time soon), how can you hope to rectify this situation perfectly? If you mandate that theatre companies must start paying interns who work for more than two months minimum wage, these internships will simply vanish. As I mentioned a while ago, these internships existing is better than them not existing, and that seems the only response that there could be to legislation demanding the end of unpaid internships. Theatre simply isn't profitable enough at the smaller end of the spectrum. This is a sad truth.
For instance, Riverside Theatre (Iowa City's resident professional theatre) offers a summer internship that coincides with their Shakespeare Festival, and they pay the interns a minimal stipend and house them for the summer. This theatre produces high quality work on a regular basis, and has a sterling reputation in the community. But the company is barely able to survive as is, relying heavily on donations from members of the community. If this company were forced to pay interns more heavily, this internship would no longer exist. I was a member of the Riverside intern company for the summer of 2008, and it was a fantastic learning experience in a number of ways. It would be a shame if these positions no longer existed.
Of course, if there was more governmental funding for theatre and the arts in general, maybe companies could afford to pay their interns a little bit more. Theatre simply shouldn't have to exist merely as a self-sustaining business. Just as libraries survive without generating overhead because they provide the community with a necessary resource, so should professional-grade theatre be viewed in the same light. But I'll post more on that later.
Another Update
So I'm still having a tough time managing to update this with any regularity, but as the time for graduation looms ever closer, I've been getting ever busier. I suppose there's probably some correlation there. As I write this, I'm currently about to start a rehearsal for The Baltimore Waltz, which is going quite well overall, it is a really fantastic show, and I'll write more about it here in a bit, maybe even later on this evening. I'm also directing junior high students in a midsummer night's dream, which is a bit impossible, but what can ya do. Again, Scott Walters writes more about unpaid internships (which I'm interviewing for!) here: http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/2010/04/on-unpaid-internships.html
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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.
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.
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