"All's Well That Ends Well"

To contact us Click HERE
How to begin to describe one of the most challenging, amazing theatre experiences I have ever been lucky enough to partake in? It's a challenge within itself. But, in the words of our heroine, Helena "My intents are fixed and will not leave me!"

I began my apprenticeship (chronicled in about eight blog posts here, on this blog) excited for the chance to work all summer on Shakespeare, but not even fathoming the depth that I would explore and the experience that I would have. We all met, and began our classes, knowing that some of us would be particpating in a seperate project with Dev, and no more than six of us would be cast in the main stage production with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. When they read off those six names, it took me all of my might not to squeal with joy at being called to be in All's Well That Ends Well.

We were sent to the CSC offices later that week to give our best monologues to Steve Maler, the director and one of the founders of CSC. (Slightly nerve-wracking, yes). I chose to use one of my Lady Percy monologues, as I was feeling quite confident with it. After the six of us were finished, we sat down and discussed what it would be like for us as apprentices, understudies and ensemble members in the production, and when we would receive news of our roles. First rehearsal, I was a MESS! I was super excited and hyper, but trying to be as professional as I could be. Listening to our AMAZING cast even just do a read through, I knew I was in for an eye-opening experience.

I got the news a few days later that I had been chosen to be the first understudy to Kersti Bryan, who was playing Helena. If you don't know All's Well, she is the center character. I was at once humbled and over-joyed. And IMMEDIATELY began learning my lines. I wanted to make sure that if I were ever called upon, that I would be ready, more than ready. Also, Helena is such a strong and wonderful character to inhabit, and I wanted to give her due time to study and really step into her shoes. I posted once about briefly playing Helena in an audition I went to, and how connected I felt to the character.

Studying Helena lines at my station in the Women's Dressing room.
Almost always what I was doing when I wasn't on stage.

 Each and every rehearsal, not only as I shadowed Kersti's journey in finding Helena, but my own journey to bringing my ensemble characters to their own life, was different and fulfilling in it's own way. The actors in this cast are not only unbelievably intelligent and talented, but also graceful, kind and very generous. Kersti made sure that we would check in every now and then and just talk about Helena; this troubled character in one of Shakespeare's considered "problem plays." We grew together in the world of the play, and I think the result was that of a very alive, changing, forward-moving story for the summer crowds of Boston to enjoy.

My view of Helena: I found through this rehearsal process; working alongside Steve, Kersti and the rest of the cast, that Helena is one of the oddest female characters you might come across in Shakespeare's cannon. To scratch the surface; she knows exactly what she wants, and she flies by the seat of her pants to get it. Whether or not it (it being Bertram, her love) is worth the struggle in the end, the audience is left wondering and deciding for themeselves. Helena is beautiful, and very smart. You can see that she tries to plot every detail of her very involved plan, but as fate would have it, everything goes amiss and she has to think on her feet. Luckily, she has the equipped strength of character to do it. I think that the best insight into her character is actually the monologue I used in that audition (Act I, sc. iii):

Then I confess

Here on my knee before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest; so's my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenible sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love,
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose agèd honor cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O, then give pity
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.

I loved playing her passion, her courage and her knowledge. She is a character that will not leave me for a long time. Kersti was amazing in the role, and her approach was fascinating. Like Helena, Kersti has a fierce presence and a fragility to her that was beautiful to see. She is an inspiring actress, mentor and friend to me, I will cherish learning from her.

As for my other characters, there were three; the main one being a servant girl, whom we affectionly named Bernice. Bernice was a servant in the Countess' house. Bernice was not very bright, everything she did had to be re-done by Renaldo (the head servant, played by Wayne Fritsche). All my blocking as Bernice was either following or being instructed (and re-instructed) by Renaldo (Wayne) so I created (for myself) a very lively, bunny-like maid character, hoping only to add to the world we were creating for All's Well. My other two characters were only present in one scene each, one was a courtier I named Maeve (for this I got to wear a BEAUTIFUL sky blue and creme colored costume (detail shot coming up!)). And the last was a rather saucy maid living in Florence, who oogles all the solidiers coming home from war. As a part of a long-winded, play-related joke, I named her Fontibell. These characters I am describing are the results of where I took my ensemble roles to deepen the world we were creating. If they sound silly, so be it. It is a comedy after all. Was I mainly focusing on studying Helena? A little. But did I have fun with my characters? You bet your bottom dollar I did.

To close, I have not, nor could I ever write down the amount I learned from being in this production. There are too many great actors to list, praise and thank, crew members to worship and far too many great things I have taken into myself as an actress, that have changed me for the better. Working with Steve Mahler on my first professional show was so wonderful. I have learned so much about not only acting, but Shakespeare, his words and language and his message we were trying to tell with our story.

As I have said, I am beyond grateful for this experience. It confirmed my love for Shakespeare, tested my stamina and improved my acting! Thank you CommShakes! I hope to continuously be a part of this growing artistic family!

All the best,

Micah

P.S. I will conclude my Summer 2011 journey with CSC with a small picture barrage to show an insight of life at AWTEW.

Costumes! (All beautiful)

Detail of one of my beautiful costume pieces! (For "Maeve's" costume)

"Bernice" and A Gentlemen (aka me and Danny, fellow apprentice)

Me and Kersti

Set detail

Lights!

Doing Shakespeare in the evening, outside: GLORIOUS

Just to show a snippet of our crowd sizes. (That's not even 1/8th of our typical crowd)

Here's CommShakes' write up: http://www.commshakes.org/performances/performance/4

Links to Reviews of the piece: http://www.commshakes.org/press/news/news-item/6

From 'Titus' to 'Christmas'...

To contact us Click HERE
We closed Titus Andronicus last weekend, and I cannot say how proud I am of the production! We took some musings we had about the show this summer and created a company that produced a great show that audiences had GREAT reactions to. We never officially "sold out" however, we did fill the house every night. I looked around as we were warming up and saw all the people I know and all the people I have recently befriended doing this show together and I was just beaming with pride. As I have said, I am very proud of my Lavinia; I worked very hard on the role, and had so much fun performing every night. There was a great deal of challenges with the production, and a lot of things that we learned to help us as a company. I cannot wait to discuss where we want to go next. We have a couple of ideas....but I'll share that when we know what we are doing!

Moving on! After a mere five days off, I began rehearsals for a WONDERFUL production of A Christmas Carol with The Hanover Theater! I got cast back in September as "Belle," Ebenezer Scrooge's once-fiancee. (EEEE!) It is a professional contract (I get some Equity points) and it pays (always nice to get paid for the work you love!) It's amazing. We started rehearsals yesterday and so far, wonderful. The show is based on the timeless classic book by Charles Dickens, and no matter what, always moves me.

After the first read through last night, the adult cast (we have a lot of child actors; Tiny Tim, Ghost of Christmas Past, etc) we had an in depth discussion about the show and about the story that we are meaning to tell, and how important it is. The things that really stuck out to me were the following: The reasons why we as the people of London, need to re-tell the story of Scrooge. How it saved him and how it refocuses our energies to what is most important in this world; Love. The fact that, for a 'Christmas' story, it rarely has religious references focusing us on the Humanity of it.

I can't wait to start digging deeper into the character of Belle. She is one of the only people that Scrooge has ever outwardly loved and he loses her because he loses himself. So far, we've only read through and worked on some music and choreography. I've got to get to work on my British accent, but I'll be back soon with more on Belle, and more on our process! In the meantime, fun weird fact I just found out, the beautiful and extremely talented actress who played Lavinia in Julie Taymour's Titus (1999 version of Shakespeare's play), Laura Fraser played my character (Belle) in the 1999 Christmas Carol directed by David Hugh Jones!!! Although she first played Belle and then Lavinia...weird weirdness.


Oh and we need to get back to Hamlet. It's been, what, twenty one posts since my last Hamlet post?
Come on.
Best,
Micah

Shakespeare's Moments: Globe to Globe

To contact us Click HERE
My friend, Joelle, always brings the best things to my attention!


I am in a particular Shakespearean mood these past few days too as I have a call back for a production of Twelfth Night in a few days(!) and I have recently begun re-reading Contested Will by James Shapiro (the ultimate discussion of the Authorship Debate, a review of which, I will soon post about).

Anyway, so this is wicked cool: Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is hosting London's Globe Theater's multicultural celebration of Shakespeare this spring. The Globe has invited 37 theatre companies from around the world to produce Shakespeare's works employing specifically their cultural traditions and languages. Plays including: Titus Andronicus, Othello, Cymbeline and many more!

This is a celebration of the world's multi-cultured love of our Shakespeare! No other global celebration has ever taken place like this. Each theater presents their unique understanding of the plays and PRX brings insights into those performances to you! So take a listen!

Enjoy,

Micah

Why I Don't Like Being in the Water

To contact us Click HERE
So it's finally happened. My bestie and inspiration for craziness has finally realized that I am severely disturbed and probably equally undermedicated. I don't know why. All I did was tell her about my latest dream. I don't know why she freaked out.

I'm at the point in my night life now where I realize that I am dreaming and just decide to have fun. I can fly all over the world, move stuff with my eyes, and smooch a still very much alive Heath Ledger. I obviously enjoy dreaming, but every now and then a nasty ol' nightmare will slip in and ru'rn my life.

Night before last, I had the first non-lucid dream that I've had in a really long time. In my dream, I was watching these freaking idiots kayak in the middle of the Perfect Storm. Naturally, their kayaks all flipped over leaving me creeping about in the sky, praying that I wouldn't have to rescue them because I am absolutely terrified of drowning.

Well, I had to. Jerks and their inability to survive underwater....

I was swimming in the ocean trying to save some of these morons when about 200 of these appeared




Scary. Super scary. Times 200. I'm not exaggerating about the teeth. On the contrary, there were more than that. Luckily, as one was about to introduce me to Steve Irwin, I remembered that I COULD fly and pulled lots of dumb deep sea kayakers to safety.
Part of me wishes that I could say that was the end of the dream. But no. This was one of those dreams that I could not wake up from.
The next thing I knew, I was sitting with a man that I rescued that was apparently my husband. As we were snuggling, I noticed with my X-Ray vision that he was moving in a freakishly similar way to the giant Robot Sharks. I suggested that we go see a doctor who, unfortunately confirmed my fears. My husband was bitten by, and was slowly turning into, a giant, radioactive robot shark.
Obviously, I was devastated. I'm pretty sure that the man in my dreams was attractive. I know I was madly in love with him because I crawled to meet Sheldon Cooper so that we could keep him from turning into a monster.
It worked. Only except for that he didn't know who I was. I used all my chips with stupid Sheldon and he wasn't up for building a time machine to take me back to the point before the love of my life was turned into a freaking zombie of the ocean.
I'm still a little upset about it, actually.

Nice Guys Really Don't Finish Last

To contact us Click HERE
A couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite YouTube stars made a video about how "nice guys" don't really finish last. The basis of Jenna Marbles's video was nice guys go for girls out of their league with which they have nothing in common, are rejected, and then become all emo and pouty.

I was shocked and appalled at the comments left by these "nice guys"!! They were vile!! One responded to the comment I posted (which I am going to discuss here) and called me a variety of unsavory names. I told him that maybe if he stopped playing Call of Duty 18 hours a day and developed some people skills, he wouldn't come across as so repulsive. I regretted that because it only fueled his pathetic little fire.

If by some slim chance in hell any of the "nice guys" who left nasty comments on that video reads this blog, the only thing I have to say to you is you're not nice. You're actually quite horrible.

So while I agree with Jenna's statement, I disagree with her reasons. I think nice guys don't finish last because they go from "nice guy" to "creeper." So really, they are a "creeper who finishes last."

This sounds cruel and was the reason Mr. Call of Duty felt it necessary to call me names, but hear me out.

There are lots of nice guys in the world. Sweet, loyal, friendly, etc. Their mothers and grandmothers have told them what a catch they are and any girl would be lucky to have them. However these guys lack a very important quality: People Skills.

Like Mr. Call of Duty, they are petted by strong female relatives, who may or may not be crazy themselves, but lack the ability to have a conversation with a non-familial female. If/when a new girl approaches this "nice guy" and, God forbid, gives him positive attention, his brain starts to go into overload.

This is the unfortunate trigger that sends Nice Guy into Creeperville.

He starts to become very clingy. Always asks the girl who she is with, what she's doing. Calls every fifteen minutes and texts every two. Next thing you know, you catch him going through your dirty laundry sniffing your underwear.

Now, he's a Creep. What do we do with creeps? We call the police. Or, at the very least, change our phone numbers.

"All's Well That Ends Well"

To contact us Click HERE
How to begin to describe one of the most challenging, amazing theatre experiences I have ever been lucky enough to partake in? It's a challenge within itself. But, in the words of our heroine, Helena "My intents are fixed and will not leave me!"

I began my apprenticeship (chronicled in about eight blog posts here, on this blog) excited for the chance to work all summer on Shakespeare, but not even fathoming the depth that I would explore and the experience that I would have. We all met, and began our classes, knowing that some of us would be particpating in a seperate project with Dev, and no more than six of us would be cast in the main stage production with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. When they read off those six names, it took me all of my might not to squeal with joy at being called to be in All's Well That Ends Well.

We were sent to the CSC offices later that week to give our best monologues to Steve Maler, the director and one of the founders of CSC. (Slightly nerve-wracking, yes). I chose to use one of my Lady Percy monologues, as I was feeling quite confident with it. After the six of us were finished, we sat down and discussed what it would be like for us as apprentices, understudies and ensemble members in the production, and when we would receive news of our roles. First rehearsal, I was a MESS! I was super excited and hyper, but trying to be as professional as I could be. Listening to our AMAZING cast even just do a read through, I knew I was in for an eye-opening experience.

I got the news a few days later that I had been chosen to be the first understudy to Kersti Bryan, who was playing Helena. If you don't know All's Well, she is the center character. I was at once humbled and over-joyed. And IMMEDIATELY began learning my lines. I wanted to make sure that if I were ever called upon, that I would be ready, more than ready. Also, Helena is such a strong and wonderful character to inhabit, and I wanted to give her due time to study and really step into her shoes. I posted once about briefly playing Helena in an audition I went to, and how connected I felt to the character.

Studying Helena lines at my station in the Women's Dressing room.
Almost always what I was doing when I wasn't on stage.

 Each and every rehearsal, not only as I shadowed Kersti's journey in finding Helena, but my own journey to bringing my ensemble characters to their own life, was different and fulfilling in it's own way. The actors in this cast are not only unbelievably intelligent and talented, but also graceful, kind and very generous. Kersti made sure that we would check in every now and then and just talk about Helena; this troubled character in one of Shakespeare's considered "problem plays." We grew together in the world of the play, and I think the result was that of a very alive, changing, forward-moving story for the summer crowds of Boston to enjoy.

My view of Helena: I found through this rehearsal process; working alongside Steve, Kersti and the rest of the cast, that Helena is one of the oddest female characters you might come across in Shakespeare's cannon. To scratch the surface; she knows exactly what she wants, and she flies by the seat of her pants to get it. Whether or not it (it being Bertram, her love) is worth the struggle in the end, the audience is left wondering and deciding for themeselves. Helena is beautiful, and very smart. You can see that she tries to plot every detail of her very involved plan, but as fate would have it, everything goes amiss and she has to think on her feet. Luckily, she has the equipped strength of character to do it. I think that the best insight into her character is actually the monologue I used in that audition (Act I, sc. iii):

Then I confess

Here on my knee before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest; so's my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenible sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love,
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose agèd honor cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O, then give pity
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.

I loved playing her passion, her courage and her knowledge. She is a character that will not leave me for a long time. Kersti was amazing in the role, and her approach was fascinating. Like Helena, Kersti has a fierce presence and a fragility to her that was beautiful to see. She is an inspiring actress, mentor and friend to me, I will cherish learning from her.

As for my other characters, there were three; the main one being a servant girl, whom we affectionly named Bernice. Bernice was a servant in the Countess' house. Bernice was not very bright, everything she did had to be re-done by Renaldo (the head servant, played by Wayne Fritsche). All my blocking as Bernice was either following or being instructed (and re-instructed) by Renaldo (Wayne) so I created (for myself) a very lively, bunny-like maid character, hoping only to add to the world we were creating for All's Well. My other two characters were only present in one scene each, one was a courtier I named Maeve (for this I got to wear a BEAUTIFUL sky blue and creme colored costume (detail shot coming up!)). And the last was a rather saucy maid living in Florence, who oogles all the solidiers coming home from war. As a part of a long-winded, play-related joke, I named her Fontibell. These characters I am describing are the results of where I took my ensemble roles to deepen the world we were creating. If they sound silly, so be it. It is a comedy after all. Was I mainly focusing on studying Helena? A little. But did I have fun with my characters? You bet your bottom dollar I did.

To close, I have not, nor could I ever write down the amount I learned from being in this production. There are too many great actors to list, praise and thank, crew members to worship and far too many great things I have taken into myself as an actress, that have changed me for the better. Working with Steve Mahler on my first professional show was so wonderful. I have learned so much about not only acting, but Shakespeare, his words and language and his message we were trying to tell with our story.

As I have said, I am beyond grateful for this experience. It confirmed my love for Shakespeare, tested my stamina and improved my acting! Thank you CommShakes! I hope to continuously be a part of this growing artistic family!

All the best,

Micah

P.S. I will conclude my Summer 2011 journey with CSC with a small picture barrage to show an insight of life at AWTEW.

Costumes! (All beautiful)

Detail of one of my beautiful costume pieces! (For "Maeve's" costume)

"Bernice" and A Gentlemen (aka me and Danny, fellow apprentice)

Me and Kersti

Set detail

Lights!

Doing Shakespeare in the evening, outside: GLORIOUS

Just to show a snippet of our crowd sizes. (That's not even 1/8th of our typical crowd)

Here's CommShakes' write up: http://www.commshakes.org/performances/performance/4

Links to Reviews of the piece: http://www.commshakes.org/press/news/news-item/6

From 'Titus' to 'Christmas'...

To contact us Click HERE
We closed Titus Andronicus last weekend, and I cannot say how proud I am of the production! We took some musings we had about the show this summer and created a company that produced a great show that audiences had GREAT reactions to. We never officially "sold out" however, we did fill the house every night. I looked around as we were warming up and saw all the people I know and all the people I have recently befriended doing this show together and I was just beaming with pride. As I have said, I am very proud of my Lavinia; I worked very hard on the role, and had so much fun performing every night. There was a great deal of challenges with the production, and a lot of things that we learned to help us as a company. I cannot wait to discuss where we want to go next. We have a couple of ideas....but I'll share that when we know what we are doing!

Moving on! After a mere five days off, I began rehearsals for a WONDERFUL production of A Christmas Carol with The Hanover Theater! I got cast back in September as "Belle," Ebenezer Scrooge's once-fiancee. (EEEE!) It is a professional contract (I get some Equity points) and it pays (always nice to get paid for the work you love!) It's amazing. We started rehearsals yesterday and so far, wonderful. The show is based on the timeless classic book by Charles Dickens, and no matter what, always moves me.

After the first read through last night, the adult cast (we have a lot of child actors; Tiny Tim, Ghost of Christmas Past, etc) we had an in depth discussion about the show and about the story that we are meaning to tell, and how important it is. The things that really stuck out to me were the following: The reasons why we as the people of London, need to re-tell the story of Scrooge. How it saved him and how it refocuses our energies to what is most important in this world; Love. The fact that, for a 'Christmas' story, it rarely has religious references focusing us on the Humanity of it.

I can't wait to start digging deeper into the character of Belle. She is one of the only people that Scrooge has ever outwardly loved and he loses her because he loses himself. So far, we've only read through and worked on some music and choreography. I've got to get to work on my British accent, but I'll be back soon with more on Belle, and more on our process! In the meantime, fun weird fact I just found out, the beautiful and extremely talented actress who played Lavinia in Julie Taymour's Titus (1999 version of Shakespeare's play), Laura Fraser played my character (Belle) in the 1999 Christmas Carol directed by David Hugh Jones!!! Although she first played Belle and then Lavinia...weird weirdness.


Oh and we need to get back to Hamlet. It's been, what, twenty one posts since my last Hamlet post?
Come on.
Best,
Micah