UR/TA Experience

The past couple weeks have been consumed with thoughts of The UR/TA Auditions. Dun dun dunnnn. For those who do not know what UR/TA is, it is basically a cattle call audition for grad schools.

Here is a better explanation of what they are and purpose they serve taken from their website: UR/TA website


The University/Resident Theatre Association (U/RTA) advances theatre by connecting educational theatre programs with professional theatre and performing arts industries, promoting professional practices and artistic excellence in higher education, and assisting students with their transition into the profession.
U/RTA is the nation's oldest and largest consortium of professional, graduate (MFA) theatre training programs and partnered professional theatre companies. U/RTA provides a variety of services and informational programs to its members, and to non-member students, theatre professionals and producing companies.
Services include the U/RTA auditions (NUA/Is), which assist theatre artists (actors, designers, directors), stage managers and administrators pursuing professional training at graduate programs. The U/RTA Contract Management Program (CMP) is the largest not-for-profit contract management service of its kind in the country.  In addition, U/RTA maintains important agreements with major theatrical unions that provide contracts for use by universities and other institutions in employing professional artists.

Pretty cool, right? There is  a long list of schools that are UR/TA members, but not all grad schools attend this audition either. This is just one of the many ways to be seen by grad schools and to start marketing yourself. One of the coolest things i found about this audition, was that auditions for undergrad programs were also going on. It was awesome to see so many people who are interested in theatre and passionate enough to put themselves through one of the most nerve wrecking three minutes of their lives. Those high schoolers, although none of them knew it, inspired me so much. They inspired me to just keep plugging forward and to BE HAPPY. I just wish I could have inspired some to NOT wear heels because they had a hard time walking in them.

So, here is a brief run down of how the audition process went down. If you have any questions, please email me! If you are at all interested in going through this process, I do not want you to go in blind!

Signing up: The form is online and extremely simple. You have to name a nominator and a coach that you will be working with, name your school, and everything else that would go on a normal application. And then you pay. That's all. I signed up on the last day which was mid-December. Start looking when the Fall Semester starts. There are limited spaces, so look early...I was EXTREMELY LUCKY I received a slot. You will then receive a bunch of emails and a packet of information in the mail from a woman named Sara Falconer who HAS to be a superhero. She was amazing. She is similar to a stage manager who not only coordinates the Chicago audition, but the Los Angeles and New York ones too. There was a mix up on my original application that I emailed her about and she responded almost immediately and fixed it! SuperWoman. The packet you get and emails you recieve are so very helpful too. It lays out the schedule for the week, places you can stay/eat at, and some Do's and Don't's in regards of what monologues to do, whether or not you should sing (very much encouraged NOT to), what to wear, etc. They lay everything out for you.

Pre-Audition: The auditions this year in Chicago were in the Palmer House Hotel. I am not sure if it is there every year or not, but it was a super nice hotel close to Michigan Ave. The people there were nice and tried to be helpful. A few times, I got lost in the labyrinth of the hotel and had to ask a lot of questions...I got a couple blank stares and some people had NO clue WHAT I was talking about, which made for some funny conversations. I always found where I needed to go and had a good chuckle and adrenaline rush along the way! So, my advice: get their early so you have time to explore and find out where you need to go. There is an orientation at 8:30am on the day of your audition. Here they explain EVERYTHING to you. How the day is going to go, more Do's and Don'ts, and where to go to see your results.


Audition: Ok! So, the AUDITION! Here is the thing, there are several rounds to the audition process. The first is the screening audition. You audition in front of two screening judges. These judges decide whether or not you get passed on to the finals. At the finals you audition in front of tier one grad schools. I am still unsure about how they rank the schools....but that's that. You have three minutes to introduce your pieces and perform them. They do cut you off, if you are over. The stage managers I found were all really nice and encouraging. They tell you in the orientation that these judges WANT you to be THE ONE so they are totally on your side from the second you walk in. And I really felt it.

My audition was very quick. As soon as orientation was over, I checked in, they called my name and I performed. That was it and it was perfect. I didn't have time to scare myself or overthink things. It was really nice! You have to do two pieces: one classical piece and a contemporary. I did one from Othello as my classical piece (although you CAN use other classical playwrights, not just Shakespeare) and one from Love Song.

After your audition you are free to go. There are schools all around the hotel. The majority were undergraduate programs, but there were a number of grad schools there too. They had flyers and info packets everywhere. Some of the schools had walk in auditions. You can sign up and audition for them. Some of them cost money though. I spent the time after my audition looking around and auditioning for three different schools. A couple schools worked with me; gave me adjustments, talked through my pieces...or had me sing (woof). Two then had an interview with me, where we talked through my resume, why I wanted to go to grad school, they talked about their programs...and one asked me why I found myself in theatre and why I love it (BOY did he get a passionate earful).

Results: SO...after a day of marathon auditioning, we all gathered together to get our results. We each received a comment sheet where the judges made comments on our audition pieces and other things they saw as well as whether or not we advanced to the finals. If you do not advance, you automatically are registered for the Open Call. Open Call meets the same day as the Finals and gives you the opportunity to audition for many different grad school representatives at once. The finals and open call were held the day after the screening audition.

MY RESULTS

Scramble: So...I MADE IT. However, I was totally unprepared. I didn't have a hotel room, any change of clothes, anything to shower with..it was a mess. But on the happiest day of my life, it didn't matter! After talking to Steve Snyder and my Mom I came up with a plan. I got a room at the hotel the auditions were being held in and made a trip to Walgreens. That night, I ran and ran and ran my monologues, trying to keep the adjustments I was given and comments in mind. 


Finals: ....were terrifying. We had an orientation in the morning again. But this time in a smaller room with far less people...and a lot more eyes. We walked through the space which had a nice stage set up and bunch of chairs. This time after the orientation I had about 3 hours to wait. I walked around the block a bunch of times warming up and running my monologue. I then spent some time in the building playing the ukulele and hanging out with my friend who came for moral support. When I went in to the auditions I felt good. Nervous...and maybe they got the best of me...but I felt like I did what I needed to do and the best I could have in that moment. Most of the people in the finals were older then me and really good, but I hope I at least held my own. 

I talked with a couple schools afterward, passed out headshots/resumes and came home. It was a long two days....and it was hard to believe it was only two days. I have my eyes set on a couple schools...and hopefully they have theirs on me, so now it is just the lovely waiting game.

UR/TA auditions were an amazing experience. Even if the only thing I got out of it was the opportunity to perform several times...THAT in itself made it worth it. Being surrounded by people who are passionate made it worth it. Seeing the different paths that are available to me made it worth it. 


I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. If anybody has any questions or wants advice on the process and weekend, please shoot me an email. I would love to help you out! 


OH! and UR/TA isn't just for actors, but for designers and stage management as well! 

.....and in the spirit of putting myself out there and trying to get my name and face out in the world.....here is my headshot and resume! Please pass it along to anybody who would like to cast/enroll me! ;@)

Out of Martha's House

It is hard to sum up this book with anything other than "inspirational". Although written about Martha Graham, the founder of Modern Dance, it provides many golden nuggets about art, performance and life.  The book strips away the ego and selfish reasons to do art and reveals the essence, the beauty and simplicity of art and life.

Here are just a few of the treasures within this book:

* Some people when looking at the stage see lights and curtain and a floor used for presenting 'shows'. When I look at a stage, I see the world.

*I know they are. They have had lives of their own and like anything we love we must ask of them, demand of them, and be willing to listen quietly to hear what their reply is and then be willing to give what they ask and demand of us.

*To be attentive enough to hear ourselves speak, sensitive to feel ourselves move to recognize one's self like the old proverb about a stranger at the door, knocking and being told to go away again and again until the man in the house of of desperation or exhaustion or both throws the door open only to recognize himself standing on the other side asking to come in; to battle each day.

*To stand in one place on the stage and to bring the test of the stage to me or just to walk as though one foot's fall would tell all that needed to be told.

*I AM, I LIVE, I AM A BUILDER-DESTROYER. I FIND CONSISTENCY IN CHANGE. I AM ALONE BECAUSE I AM TOO CLOSE TO HUMANITY. I WILL SING WHEN I MOURN SO YOU MAY FEEL HOW I LOVE AND DANCE WHEN I PLOT REVENGE SO YOU WILL SEE HOW TERRIBLE MY LOVE IS. SONGS OF JOY DANCES OF PASSION, THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST KNOW. MOVEMENT OF THE AGES DRAGGED KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO THIS CENTURY TO BE HARNESSED TO HER CHARIOT TO DO BATTLE WITH THE UNKNOWN.

* This work demands you to do more than listen. You must feel. It demands you to do more than see, you must taste. To know what the wind can do what the animal can do and what man is capable of doing is consuming but essential to the work. It's about artists in their own right shouldering the responsibility to discover who a character is rather than waiting ot be told. Being a part of the process of discovery.

* I love to perform a work where there is no exit until the end. But...the performer has to create this feeling for himself like taking hold of a rope at the bottom of the cliff and pulling himself up and over the top. Never letting go for a second an appointment with destiny.


*...And still they do not understand what a performance means to those of us whose performances were limited before we even started like the number of rainbows we will see in a lifetime. When i lose a performance it is gone like someone I should have met but didn't a conversation denied something I might have learned or understood but now never will.

*The animal's scream within me is never heard though it shakes my whole body dear body frail and vulnerable demanding to be strong but crying unable to respond. How long can i continue this masquerade.

*We can dream only so many dreams then we must bring some of them to reality or we stop dreaming or the dreams themselves become false and impotent, no longer as pleasant or passionate vision.

*I am an artist in a world of distraction and disillusionment To dream is to live to remain true to my beliefs, and to continue with faith and inspiration.

*But the works are not ours and never will be, except for the finite time allotted us during performance, and of course, then they are ours like our skin is ours.

* Great works take on lives of their own and have voices that need to be listened to and it's hard for us to listen when we are already demanding that they give something to us before we give our full attention to them. I did not originate many of the roles i perform...They were not comfortable to my body but i wrapped myself around them and by holding on absorbed them to penetrated them and taking the challenge worked to fill and give breath to their shapes.

* I dance for them to understand or see with their intellect I ask that they see my blood, my flesh and when they see that, I will open it so they can see my heart don't ask em to explain the doing.

*Each work is like a mountain unto itself with its own gods and devils. Here, love and hate are not separated by a fine line but are laid one on top of the other like lovers. Sometimes love is on top, much of the time hate is on top, but all of the time they are both there and the product of their union is ocean, wind, desert, plain and mountain of humanity, with with all its terrors and its devastating beauty.  

*My strength is in silence

My life is in the storm

I threw away the compass years ago

The four corners lost their meaning

Forward is my only direction

To simply continue whether inspired or not is the challenge.

Many times the goal is not the finish line but merely to 

put one foot in front of the other. 

When we go until there is no more strength and we continue 

just to continue one foot one hand

one after the other until there is no more artifice

then is when the end becomes the beginning.

*Love is not decorative

it is like nature's elements

nourishing and brutal

love is essential

Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika

11-11-11 solidified its place in history as The Best Day of My Life. It was the day we opened Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika. As dramatic and exaggerated as this may sound...it is true. It was the day all of our hard work, an amazing story and a great work of art was to be shared with the public. Now, I can't think of anything more perfect then that.

The rehearsal process and run of the show was nothing short of amazing. Day after day I would take time to just look around the room and marvel at the vast amount of talent and love that filled the space. Rehearsals were the highlight of my day. Everyday began with hugs, the occasional Tony award and the immersion into group who day in and day out rooted for the successes in each other. This is a rare commodity. Not only did we get along in rehearsals, we all became close friends outside as well. In just a few short months we went from strangers to simple cast mates to best friends. Half of the cast worked on Part One together and already had an established relationship, however, rather than feeling like an outsider to the group, the newbies (I feel like I can speak for all the newbies when I say this) were immediately welcomed...no questions asked.  I found a family in this group...and I hope they found family in me in return. This was not limited to just cast members, but crew as well. We were like a well oiled machine who was working on churning out an excellent product.

The biggest thing I can attribute to this immediate bonding and togetherness was that we all stood behind the story we were telling 110%. We knew we were a part of something bigger then ourselves. We had a job to do everyday: to tell this story in the best, most honest way...and because of this, the day to day B.S. and other things that were fighting to keep us down  physically, mentally, or emotionally just melted away.

Here are some photos!

 
Not only were we proud of each other, we received great reviews as well!

Angels in America - Perestroika

Corn Stock Theatre
November 11-13 & 18-19
By Douglas Okey

“God is dead,” Nietzsche wrote in The Gay Science in 1882.  One hundred years later, Prior Walter discovers that God, in fact, has merely wandered off. 

This celestial factoid is revealed to Prior in the second half of Tony Kushner’s iconic Angels in America.  The latter half of the seven-hour “Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” titled Perestroika, is currently on stage at the Corn Stock Winter Playhouse.  Those who saw the first half, Millennium Approaches, last season will find a satisfying conclusion to the saga.  Others who may be new to the story will have to work a little harder to catch up, but there’s much in director Dani Keil’s production to reward the effort.  

Perestroika picks up pretty much precisely where Millennium Approaches left off.  It is 1986 in New York.  Prior Walter lies sick in his bed with AIDS.  His former partner, Louis Ironson, continues to develop a new relationship with Mormon Republican Joe Pitt, who has left his emotionally unstable wife, Harper.  Joe’s boss, McCarthyite demon Roy Cohn (inspired by the real-life closeted homosexual), slowly dies of AIDS in his hospital bed, attended by nurse and ex-drag queen Belize, while Joe’s Mormon mother, Hannah, fresh off the plane from Salt Lake City, works to bring her son and Harper back together.  

Oh, and there’s the Angel that smashed through the ceiling of Prior’s apartment in the closing image of the first part of the play.  And the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg haunting Roy as he dies.  And figures from a diorama at the Mormon Museum who stroll out of the display to talk to Harper.  And the fascinating, bird-like Principalities of the Earth whom Prior, apparently a Prophet of the Old Testament stripe, encounters when he visits Heaven with the Angel.  No attempt to explain these bizarre elements will fit them neatly into any preconceived idea of drama.  It helps if you don’t ask a lot of questions, or at least ask them later, when you have time to reflect.  

Corn Stock’s production emphasizes the restructuring implied in the title: of society, of politics, of lives, of relationships—of, seemingly, the universe as God created it.  The play finds its fundamental chemistry in the volatile and riveting reactions in the unlikeliest pairings: Verbal jousting between Roy and Belize, played here with fierce intensity by Clark Rians and Eric Gore; socio-political and emotional fencing between Louis and Joe, performed by Andrew Rhodenbaugh and Aaron Hoover; and the surprising and moving spark of affection between Hannah and Prior, in portrayals by Rebecca Frankel Clifton and Jacob Uhlman.  Sarah Tilford has a surprising amount of fun with Harper, while Natalie Patrnchak turns in a dynamic and athletic performance as the Angel.  

Overall, the performances are electrifying.  Clifton, Uhlman, Gore, and Rians shine in their reprisal of roles from last season, while the newer performers slip seamlessly into their parts and inhabit them fully.  The play can confound at times with its multiple levels of reality and the fugue of parallel scenes, but the cast never misses a step.  It is in part a tribute to the design work of Liz Tanner and the direction of Keil that the evening proceeds so smoothly.  If the piece drags at times, it can be attributed to Kushner’s style, which has been described as “overwrought.”  

Theatregoers up to the challenge can see Angels in America: Perestroika at the Corn Stock Winter Playhouse November 13, 18, and 19.  Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and are available by calling 676-2196 or online at www.cornstocktheatre.com

Posted November 16, 2011

We were also mentioned in the PJ Star's Remembering 2011 in Entertainment. 
REMEMBERING 2011 IN ENTERTAINMENT



GRANDPA even came to see the show!

GRANDPA VISITS THE ANGELS CAST

It has been a real honor getting to know and work with a group of talented, loving people. I thank my lucky stars everyday they found me. My life has been so enhanced and changed for the better. They make me strive to become a better person and artist everyday...and for that, I am eternally grateful. 

RAGTIME

CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL CAST!

AND THERE WAS DISTANT MUSIC SKIPPING A BEAT, SINGING A DREAM...

Sunday October 2nd, 2011 Bradley University closed it's production of Ragtime. This was more than just a show that a group of us worked on, but an experience we all shared. This was evident in the tearful, sniffly last notes we sang in the epilogue. Our director and choreographer paid special attention to the inner workings of the Ensemble. The challenge laid out before us the first day of rehearsal was to be 'the most gracious and generous cast'. In many ways I believe we rose to his challenge. Naturally, we had minor problems throughout the process, but in the end, we achieved our goal.

The story of Ragtime is a hard one to not care about. It has a lot of strong characters and story lines that you are bound to find one to relate to. The themes explored are ones that are still applicable to today...perhaps even more. The ideas of looking past the outward appearance and our own preconceived notions of each other and recognizing that we are all the same, rather than an 'other', empowering one another to achieve our dreams and forgiveness are just a few themes that are explored throughout the show. While there are many sad and heartbreaking moments, the show has a hopeful tone, that one day we will be able to overcome the things that keep us apart.

What touched my heart the most about working on this project was just how much we cared about each other. Many of us did jobs that was outside of what we normally do as actors and backstage crew, and went above and beyond to make sure the show ran smoothly. The more we ran through the show, the more we learned each others pathways and were then able to page a curtain, help with a quick change, grab a prop, or take someone's line if they didn't make an entrance. Not only actors, but design team went the extra mile. I know they met outside of normal rehearsal hours to make sure everything looked and sounded perfect. And more than just picking up where someone needed help, it was done with humility. HOW FREAKING AMAZING IS THAT! Above all, everything that we needed to do to protect and serve the story and our audience, was done. This is the type of theatre that I love and want to work on FOREVER.

The best part of this process was the new friendships that blossomed and the strengthening of old friendships...the artistic empowerment to create and the obsession we all had with this show.

Just like that tune,

Simple and clear,
I've come to hear
New music-
Breaking my heart,
Op'ning a door,
Changing the world!
New music!
I'll
Hear it forevermore!

It was the music
Of something beginning,
An era exploding,
A century spinning
In riches and rags,
And in rhythm and rhyme.
The people called it Ragtime...
Ragtime!

Tommy Rapley, the choreographer and I

Reunion with two members of our Once On this Island cast! Note: OOTI and Ragtime were written by the same people!

Right Up!

Read my blog to read a write up about my blog that I write up!

a write up about my blog that I write up

SMILE

"Smile" was composed by Charlie Chaplin for his 1936 film Modern Times. John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics and title in 1954. Nat King Cole was the first to sing the song in 1954.

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

"Hope... I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business - I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...

Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers - don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.

The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."
— Charlie Chaplin

THE PARADOX OF 'PHYSICAL THEATRE'

Many people ask: what exactly IS physical theatre? Most people assume it is just doing strange/trippy 'out there' pieces of art. While that can be one avenue, the bigger picture of what physical theatre IS and the importance of it is both easy and difficult to understand. It is like trying to remember a dream you just had, but as the seconds tick by, the dream fades away...you can still feel the dream, see images, and you know SOMETHING happened. This is somehow, in my twisted way of thinking, similar to trying to explain what physical theatre is.

 YAY INTERNET! As I was geeking out and researching information on physical theatre, I stumbled across Giovanni Fusetti's article on The Paradox of 'Physical Theatre'.

The Paradox of “Physical Theatre”

by Giovanni Fusetti

The idea that theatre can be non-physical it’s a nonsense. The only non-physical theatre possible is radio drama. And even that, is somehow not true, because some radio performances have some dynamic qualities that could be defined as physical.
In the moment in which an actor enters the stage, his body is there. Even if he does not move one finger and he simply tells his text, his body is there and the audience is watching it. This definition of Physical Theatre carries in itself the germ of a war, based on the old separation of body and mind.
Let’s see what happened. The work of Jacques Lecoq was the culmination of the experience of long sequence of brilliant theatre minds who explored different ways to reconnect theatre with the body. Lecoq’s contribution to the story was his pedagogic talent, that brought him to devise a full training program and to set it into the frame of a school, where a pedagogy could live and develop. In doing so he created a field of pedagogical excellence where many have been able to experience a life changing journey. Since its beginnings, Lecoq School has been an international setting, attracting students from all over the world, with a prevalence of European and English speaking countries. Between the 60’s and the 80’s a growing number of theatre artists who trained at there, went back to their country and started making theatre applying the principles they learnt at the Ecole. The type of work they produced was so peculiar, innovative and creative that the theatre scene found itself in the necessity of finding a definition to this particular way of theatre making. It’s interesting to notice that this need to define it as physical happened in British theatre, where the influence of Lecoq’s work has been the strongest. In no other country his approach has had more influence. The word Physical Theatre came to life, to define a movement based theatre were the physical skills of the performer and his creative use of space are dominant over the other elements of more conventional theatre like the text, the set and the directing. The preference of Lecoq trainees to create and devise their own work, rather than using existing texts, led very soon to a kind of opposition between Physical Theatre as being actor-creator based and the other existing theatre being based on texts by authors.

So if one is physical what is the other one? The names reveals the nature of this contraposition. In English speaking countries we find, Traditional, Text Based, Conventional, Classic, but the most curious of all is the well diffused Straight Theatre. In this duality Physical versus Straight we find the explanation of this useless and damaging conflict. If we analyze the words we see that straight refers to a linear thinking based on structures and ideas, well expressed by texts. While physical involves a more fluid and dynamic movement, based on the body, in which movements are not straight but they mostly follow curves and spirals.
The problem of this opposition is that it hides the real issue. What is specific about Lecoq’s approach is not the body, but the body in space. His most defining principle is that the essence of theatre is the body in space. So movement in itself is not the focus. The focus is the movement in space. Movement in space means relation, play: le jeu. That’s why masks are absolutely fundamental in this work. Masks are movement structures that project the body in space and create play. If we take away the space we still have physical work, but we don’t have play any more. Meyerhold’s Biomecanic, being very physical and based on movement, doesn’t involve the space. Grotowsky work, with a very intense use of the body, doesn’t project it into space: it expands the inner space until it includes the audience, but there is no play, jeu. Therefore, speaking about “physical theatre” doesn’t make sense because it hides the real innovation of Lecoq work which was to reconnect the actor’s body with theatre space. This has amazing consequences in the very essence of the theatre action. One of the famous sentences that Lecoq used to say to his students was: “Most of all, you need not to have ideas”. In the language used at the school, “psychologique” meant something that was just in the thinking of the actor and did not have any relation with space and therefore did not have any projection into space, or “envoi dramatique”. I think this concept could be better expressed with the word ideological, rather than psychological. The application of this is that if an action doesn’t involve space it doesn’t exist on stage. It’s not theatrical. In a theatre world often very committed to intellectual contents, ideas and intentions, this approach can be almost unbearable. The necessity of silence is very hard to accept if one believes that his most important contribution to art is his own ideas. In pedagogic practice, the first experience that touches this core issue is the Neutral Mask, an amazing tool to open the actor’s sensitivity to space. In the rigorous practice of this Mask, the students learn to be silent and to listen to the space as the first form of practice. Another big issues that is connected with this split is the idea that movement simply involves gestures of the body. Nothing can be more false. Stillness is movement as well as acrobatic.
In doing this, we create the necessity of defining another form of theatre that can express the world of the brain, with all the words and the texts. Here we are, in the core of the split: physical versus straight. Now, words are movement, text is movement, ideas are movement, everything moves. There is no difference between inside and outside. Only a continuum of variations. A change in mood changes the space, as much as a physical gesture, sometimes more. The difficulty of going beyond this split is that in doing so we need to face a core split of our entire civilization, from ancient Greece onward, with her split consciousness between matter and spirit, body and logo.
This is a tremendous epistemological act and we could spend billions of pages to recover the traces of this in the history of many discipline, from physics to theology, from psychology to anthropology, from ancient esoterism to quantum mechanic. This would go far beyond our humble task of theatre makers, but, we need to know what the struggle is about. It’s about the priority of experience towards theory. On stage what I generate with my actions in space and what the audience perceive, comes first, well before my idea about my act, the director’s intent and the audiences intellectual knowledge.