Thursday, August 25, 2011
39 Steps: Aram
Good Evening,
Greetings Perseverance Blog World!
Aram Aghazarian, here. Perhaps you've seen a portion of my face in a previous posting--my lip is much better, thank you. I'm the fellow playing Richard Hannay in the 39 Steps. For me, the experience has been like making a 200 foot swan dive onto a massive chocolate layer cake. That's what it feels like being an actor in a full on production. I don't do this in Philadelphia--or anywhere. Me and my Strange Attractor colleagues operate more like a garage band or a make-shift laboratory, creating shows from scratch. So, it is both a great challenge and a luxury to be here as part of a team at Perseverance. I'm loving this process and am learning loads. And, despite my diving analogy, there is a lot of time when I'm simply trying to survive moment to moment--Where am I? What do I say? What do I do, now? OH CRIKEY!
39 Steps: What Happened? Was it a MacGuffin?
Good Evening.
Well, well, well.... something went crazy with my attempted mobile posting last night. I was trying to give you all a look at a couple of shots...
These:
Not sure where they went in the interwebs, but it's good to know we've got them back!
So, the pictures are of Akiko working hard on the scenic painting. She's doing an amazing job and I think you will be thrilled with the finished product. The other shot is of the mystery man. Someone I'm hoping you will meet in upcoming blog post.
The days are full right now. Another production meeting earlier tonight. Things are on schedule. We are looking at doing testing of some scenic/light elements this weekend to get a better sense of how it will work. Sometimes, it's problem-solving at its best. I really enjoy that process, lucky for me. We've got some fun surprises in store. Over the blog I will share as much as I can without giving away too many of those surprises. Let's just say there might be many a MacGuffin in store...
From Wikipedia: Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" (sometime McGuffin or maguffin) with this story:[7]
- It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in a train. One man says "What's that package up there in the baggage rack?", and the other answers "Oh, that's a McGuffin". The first one asks "What's a McGuffin?". "Well", the other man says, "It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands". The first man says "But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands", and the other one answers "Well, then that's no McGuffin!". So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all.
Something that is no Macguffin at all is that you will see many Macguffin's in 31 days...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
39 Steps: Back at It!
week two begins! Akiko continues to paint. and who's the guy? ah...the tease...
more to come!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
39 Steps…The Day Off
Good Evening,
It's the official day off today. Why Monday?
Seems to come from tradition mostly. Most weekly performances end with a Sunday matinee, with the company getting the Monday off. This carries over to rehearsal and, in my mind, provides rhythm throughout the process.
One other possibility exists:
"One ghost-related superstition is that the theatre should always be closed one night a week to give the ghosts a chance to perform their own plays. This is traditionally on Monday nights, conveniently giving actors a day off after weekend performances." - Wikipedia Anyone else have reasons that Monday is the "day off"? No matter the reason, we will take it and rest up for take-off in...33 days...
It's the official day off today. Why Monday?
Seems to come from tradition mostly. Most weekly performances end with a Sunday matinee, with the company getting the Monday off. This carries over to rehearsal and, in my mind, provides rhythm throughout the process.
One other possibility exists:
"One ghost-related superstition is that the theatre should always be closed one night a week to give the ghosts a chance to perform their own plays. This is traditionally on Monday nights, conveniently giving actors a day off after weekend performances." - Wikipedia Anyone else have reasons that Monday is the "day off"? No matter the reason, we will take it and rest up for take-off in...33 days...
39 Steps: What a Week!
Good Evening,
What a fantastic week this has been! We ended our first week of rehearsal today, strangely enough, by working on the first scene of the play. Many times, rehearsal starts at the start, beginning with scene one and going from there. But, I think, it all depends on the play.
After our first night of rehearsal, we had two nights of physical exploration and play. If you read Rebecca Noon's blog post Saturday, you will surely have an idea that this is a physical company of actors. We had some questions to explore which would help us on the production side of things (would we need certain set pieces or would the actors be able to do it, etc). I also wanted to introduce the company to this text and work them together as an ensemble, so as we started to approach getting on our feet, instead of starting with Hannay's monologue at the beginning, we began with the train sequence, which I had broken down into four separate "beats".
I was hoping to find an entry into this text through their talents as "physical" performers, i.e., their background in Lecoq-based training. We had a great deal of fun working these moments and I feel that it was the right place to begin.
By Saturday afternoon, we began working with some of the more traditional scene work. Although, I don't think anything in The 39 Steps is all that typical. This work is difficult to describe outside of the room. I don't think I will attempt that tonight except to say that it's creation, in all its various forms - working as an ensemble to discover what the play is telling us and finding in ourselves as artists how best to craft the moments. Let's say this too - it's a comedy, so suffice it to say, we are having a lot of laughs...
...we look forward to sharing this laughter with you in 34 days...
I've pasted a couple of images from the week below. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
39 Steps: And now some words from...
Good Evening,
Today we begin exploring the thoughts of various other members of the company. We start with Rebecca Noon. Enjoy this guest post and see her on stage in 35 days…
Rebecca Noon is a producer, actor and deviser based in Providence, RI. She is a founding member of Strange Attractor Theatre Co. with whom she is currently developing a new play based on Ibsen’s classically “unperformable” epic “Brand”. You can follow more of her thoughts on play-making at http://rebeccamakesplays.wordpress.com.
Hello to the Perseverance/39 Steps blog –
I am performing in The 39 Steps, which is a dream play for someone like me, a character actor who loves doing funny voices. I am playing the three "romantic women": Annabella Schmidt the German spy, Maraget McTyte the demure Scottish lass, and Pamela Edwards the young and beautiful Brit who gets caught up in the lead character's get-away. What's even better is that the other actors in the show are three of my favorite collaborators.
Aram Aghazarian, Roblin Gray Davis, Jed Hancock-Brainerd and I make up the theatrical devising company Strange Attractor. We have made a few shows together, most recently presenting Phase II of a show in development at the Perseverance 2nd Stage, The Brand Project (working title). We all met while studying together at the London International School of Performing Arts, which is a Lecoq-based school in London that teaches devising and collaboration and, quite humbly, how to build the theatre of the future. Since graduating in 2008, we have all been working at doing just that. In 2009 Perseverance first invited Aram, Jed, and I (who all live on the East Coast) to perform in a show in their season, Eurydice. Roblin was directing and we all jumped at the chance to work together in Juneau. The joy of being a guest artist in such a warm and creative community impressed us right away and, at the end of that winter, we all looked forward to returning. This time however, rather than having Roblin in the director's chair, we are all on stage together, which is always the most fun.
Which brings me to what I am actually the most excited about. For the past year I have been pretty exclusively devising shows, which at our level means working without a producer or designers or a director. Truthfully, I love the crazy amount of work that comes from working this way. I love the all-consuming manic energy that comes with producing a play that you are simultaneously marketing and creating. However, it does get exhausting. When Perseverance proposed that all four of us could be actors in this play, supported by a team of talented designers and a generous director who recognizes what we bring as an ensemble, I knew this was a dream come true. I think we all did. Jed, Aram and I knew we had to put our East Coast lives on hold for a few months and return to Juneau to take this opportunity to play together in a supportive and creative environment.
And alright! Enough with the love-fest! How is it really? Well. . . great! We haven't even had a week of rehearsals yet, and so I am sure there is still time to get grumpy and resent working with a script that I can't invent and get annoyed at whatever small thing comes up that feels large at the moment, but for now I am in awe of my capable partners. I sat back at rehearsal last night and watched them work a scene I am not in. I had one of those moments that comes at the very beginning of some shows where you just say to yourself, oh yeah. This is going to be good.
-Rebecca Noon
Today we begin exploring the thoughts of various other members of the company. We start with Rebecca Noon. Enjoy this guest post and see her on stage in 35 days…
Rebecca Noon is a producer, actor and deviser based in Providence, RI. She is a founding member of Strange Attractor Theatre Co. with whom she is currently developing a new play based on Ibsen’s classically “unperformable” epic “Brand”. You can follow more of her thoughts on play-making at http://rebeccamakesplays.wordpress.com.
Hello to the Perseverance/39 Steps blog –
I am performing in The 39 Steps, which is a dream play for someone like me, a character actor who loves doing funny voices. I am playing the three "romantic women": Annabella Schmidt the German spy, Maraget McTyte the demure Scottish lass, and Pamela Edwards the young and beautiful Brit who gets caught up in the lead character's get-away. What's even better is that the other actors in the show are three of my favorite collaborators.
Aram Aghazarian, Roblin Gray Davis, Jed Hancock-Brainerd and I make up the theatrical devising company Strange Attractor. We have made a few shows together, most recently presenting Phase II of a show in development at the Perseverance 2nd Stage, The Brand Project (working title). We all met while studying together at the London International School of Performing Arts, which is a Lecoq-based school in London that teaches devising and collaboration and, quite humbly, how to build the theatre of the future. Since graduating in 2008, we have all been working at doing just that. In 2009 Perseverance first invited Aram, Jed, and I (who all live on the East Coast) to perform in a show in their season, Eurydice. Roblin was directing and we all jumped at the chance to work together in Juneau. The joy of being a guest artist in such a warm and creative community impressed us right away and, at the end of that winter, we all looked forward to returning. This time however, rather than having Roblin in the director's chair, we are all on stage together, which is always the most fun.
Which brings me to what I am actually the most excited about. For the past year I have been pretty exclusively devising shows, which at our level means working without a producer or designers or a director. Truthfully, I love the crazy amount of work that comes from working this way. I love the all-consuming manic energy that comes with producing a play that you are simultaneously marketing and creating. However, it does get exhausting. When Perseverance proposed that all four of us could be actors in this play, supported by a team of talented designers and a generous director who recognizes what we bring as an ensemble, I knew this was a dream come true. I think we all did. Jed, Aram and I knew we had to put our East Coast lives on hold for a few months and return to Juneau to take this opportunity to play together in a supportive and creative environment.
And alright! Enough with the love-fest! How is it really? Well. . . great! We haven't even had a week of rehearsals yet, and so I am sure there is still time to get grumpy and resent working with a script that I can't invent and get annoyed at whatever small thing comes up that feels large at the moment, but for now I am in awe of my capable partners. I sat back at rehearsal last night and watched them work a scene I am not in. I had one of those moments that comes at the very beginning of some shows where you just say to yourself, oh yeah. This is going to be good.
-Rebecca Noon
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