Just THREE more performances left!
The cast and crew of Proof are approaching the final weekend. I can't believe this journey is nearly over! We've had some fantastic audiences, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
It has been a real pleasure working with these talented people in the majestic Catskill Mountains. I'll miss my home-away-from-home, but something tells me I'll be back soon...
Proof opens its three-week run this Friday at the STS Playhouse, the first show of its spring season!
And we've been building momentum: the Woodstock Times features the cast in this week's edition and we've had shout-outs on Mix 97.7 FM, one of the region's main radio stations.
This production raises the bar on the type of show that the theater does, and I'm excited to be a part of it. The cast boasts two actors known for their work in upstate New York: Farrell Reynolds, and Kimberly Kay (of Mix 97.7FM's daily morning show, go figure!).
If you plan on coming out, I can send you ideas on what to enjoy for a weekend visit to the Catskills. There's plenty to enjoy as Spring turns the mountains into a leafy vacation spot!
I'm excited to announce that my next full production will be upstate in Proof, a contemporary dramatic play!
Read MoreLast Friday, I joined one of my favorite collaborators, Sina Heiss, in an open-form workshop she put together with a small group of actors and directors. The day ended with a staging exercise: select a new 10-minute play and stage it in under an hour! One of the directors had the forethought to take these pictures to help document our work. If you're wondering, the red bowtie was my decision to add to the costume.
I felt fortunate to make new connections with other theater artists, as well as get some time to work a new monologue in front of fresh eyes. In our wrap-up conversation over coffee at a nearby café, it was clear we had all taken something valuable away from the day.
This October, I was invited to perform in a scene with one of the students in Columbia University's MFA Directing program. The six first-year students are tasked with producing two scenes a week, which is plenty of opportunity for an actor lucky enough to get cast each week. That first scene must have left a good impression, because more and more scene work followed, presented for the likes of Anne Bogart and Brian Kulick, both well-known theater directors in their own right!
By the end of their semester, I had worked on twelve scenes with five of the six first-year directors, including such classic and contemporary works as Orestes, Alcestis, The Glass Menagerie, Melancholy Play and Miss Julie, as well as some devised movement pieces.
Perhaps the biggest challenge was for their course on Greek tragedies ended with a full production of The Bakkhai. All the directors collaborated to create one seamless performance for an audience. I acted in two separate scenes: a wild chorus member in one and a doomed Pentheus in the other.
Luckily, I remembered to snap a photo for one of the scene presentations; not much photo evidence remains otherwise. The picture below was an early conception of the chorus; the costumes for the full production became more, shall we say, military-cabaret chic. Think black lipstick, combat boots, camo shorts and a pink corset!
