FEBRUARY 1999 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ Voices in Contemporary Theatre: MONOLOGUES - A DOZEN DO'S & DON'TS by Jeremy Whelan; and From the Mailbag... Rubin's Corner: Nicole Kidman in The Blue Room Enter Laughing: Entertainment merger's we'd like to see, and More things you never hear in a theatre CyberTheatre Monthly: Theatre Calamaties, Drama UK, Playwrights Noteboard, and American Theatre Web ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices MONOLOGUES - A DOZEN DO'S & DON'TS an article by Jeremy Whelan The monologue is a rare element in the actors life, an occasion when the actor has complete control over his/her destiny. Your career is completely in your hands for those two minutes. You have time to select it. This is probably the only time in your life when you will get the chance to cast yourself. The role of your dreams is yours to chose and you have all the time in the world to find it. You have all the time in the world to put ever ounce of training you've ever had, every piece of knowledge you've ever gathered on acting to work for you. You have time to get coaching on it. Time to gather props and costume for it. Your monologue is the only time in your career when you will ever have all the time in the world to get ready for a performance. There is absolutely, now or ever, any excuse for blowing it In a group casting session last weekend I watched 120 monologues in two and a half days. A good local theatre was auditioning for a Festival of Independent Theatre. Short original plays by local writers affiliated with the theatre's writer's development program. I was asked to direct one of them. The actors were on many levels, quite a few had résumé's a mile long and others just a cover letter. Some awful mistakes seemed to be scattered throughout all levels. I've centered on 11 of those mistakes, read them, take them to heart, and be absolutely sure that you never make any of them. PLAY THE ROOM I don't know what happens to actors, they walk into a small theatre, plant themselves three feet from an auditioner and then blow out the auditioners ears and mess up their hair by performing as if they were playing the monologue to someone across the Grand Canyon. Sometimes you do audition in a giant theatre, sometimes in an small theatre, or an even smaller office. Nothing betrays artifice/looks more phony, quicker and lasts so long, than an actor overplaying a room. I did stop some actors or had them go again after explaining, "Hey, I'm right here, I'm just a few feet from you. I could hear you if you whispered it." In one case I left the table, walked around and stood in front of the actor and said now, do the monologue. With me standing in her face, she dropped to the proper conversational level and a credible performance ensued. I went back behind the table and said do it again and this time it was convincing. That doesn't mean you can't yell when it's time to yell, it just means you yell differently, proportionately to the distance you are from your listener. On that note, I say I can create anything out of energy, but I can't create energy. The energetic actor, the one I have to ask to pull it back a little is always more appreciated than the one I have to say, could you give me a little more energy. In fact I will not ask any actor for more energy, I'll just say, "Thank you for coming." The primary reason many stage actors will never work in movies or TV is because they haven't learned the secret of the INTERNALIZATION OF ENERGY. "Pull it back" is not a term I will use unless the actor is really dense, such a phrase is too easily misinterpreted. I will tell the actor, I really love what you did, and I don't want to lose even the tiniest bit of energy you had while doing it, but I want you to take 30-40-50 (whatever) percent of it and put it inside you, keep it but INTERNALIZE IT. DON'T BE A TALKING HEAD Many of the actors looked like their feet were really darts and someone had thrown them in an arc onto the stage. Where ever they hit is where they stayed as if they were frozen to the floor. It was impossible for me to believe that all that emotion was going through that person when they never moved an inch. It was talking heads time and it will kill any monologue audition. If you're feeling a wide range of emotions, or a very deep connection with an emotion, it should move you at least a little. Let yourself go, follow those urges to move. Another aspect of this is, some actors did their entire monologue sitting in a chair. Why would you do that to yourself? An important part of your charm/value is in how you move. Since we're talking about ways actors limit themselves, your body is also part of your charm/value. If you have a nice one, show it off. Don't come in a thong, don't overdue it, but don't hide it. There are tasteful ways to put your body forward. THE WALL CAN'T HIRE YOU Surprisingly this happened with experienced and novice actors, many did the whole or 90% of the monologue in profile or a modified 3/4 profile. After one such presentation, I walked over to the actor and asked her if she thought that that side wall she just gave her monologue to was going to hire her. I pointed out to the various directors sitting around the room and said no, we are and we're out here. In a monologue, get your face out there, jeez there's only one actor on stage and you're UPSTAGING YOURSELF, hello. SHARE/ATTACK MENTALITY Another thing that was totally incomprehensible to me, many actors took a position so far upstage it was hard to see what they were doing. Especially as the lights were set for working and they fell off as you went upstage. You may only have a minute and a half or two minutes but you own that time. CHALLENGE THEM - Take an aggressive position in physical relation to those auditioning you. Get as far downstage as you can without being in their laps. Give them as close to a Film Close Up of you as you can without breaking the fourth wall. Let them see, close up, all the fabulous feeling running through your character. Don't overwork the close up but don't miss the chance to take it. THE AUDITIONER IS NOT YOUR SCENE PARTNER Don't use the auditioner as your scene partner. You trap them into acting with you and that means that their attention is not where it's supposed to be, on you. Most people who audition actors, were or are actors! Suck them into a scene with you and they, by default, go into an acting mode. You don't want them thinking about their performance, you want them thinking about YOUR PERFORMANCE. I was at a table in the front with a few other directors, and many of the actors chose to use me. I felt like a life raft quite often, a place for their panic to land. Don't use the auditioner unless you are specifically asked to do so. Having someone to use certainly does help, so create them. Usually in a monologue you are talking to someone who would be there in a performance. In a monologue situation you have to really see that person. You must see how what you are saying is affecting them. You have to know exactly how tall they are, what color their eyes are, what their hair looks like. You have to make them real! You must also know where they are in relation to you. Sometimes I think actors are talking to Speedy Gonzales the way that person seems to move. One second they are down left, then wham, their center right, now they are on the ceiling, now laying on the floor, no their sitting, no their standing. Be consistent with this invisible scene partner of yours. Don't let them steal the scene from you. TIP: You can't use the auditioner but you can get so close that you can really affect them strongly. It's like in a camera close up, you want to be as close to looking in the lens as possible without ever looking directly into the lens. So look at their ear or their forehead or even their cheek bone very close to the eye, but never use them, never break the fourth wall. NERVOUS PEOPLE MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS I said this at the top of this article, but it can use this extra investigation. At lunch I commented on the nervousness of many of the actors. One of the other directors said that that was normal. Within a narrow range I'll buy it, but I really believe that it shouldn't be so, NOT WHEN IT's YOUR MONOLOGUE. Not when you've had plenty of time to work on it, polish your characterization and be 1000% sure of the lines. At that point, only an actor can get nervous. The Character can't be nervous unless they are nervous within the context of the scene. If the character is not nervous and the actor's nervousness is showing, the actor is breaking the cardinal rule of acting and that is, STAY IN CHARACTER. If this is YOUR PIECE, you should approach the audition with Power, Purpose, and Confidence. The only reason an actor should be nervous approaching an audition with a prepared monologue is unprofessionalism. Either you haven't worked on it the way any self respecting actor would, or you're hung over or other wise physically unfit to perform. RESPECT YOUR INSTRUMENT At times I would look out into the lobby and see a stack of actors sitting around, chatting, reading over scripts, staring into space etc. I have a real thing about actors warming up. Now many might have taken care of that before showing up at the theatre, but in the two and a half days of auditioning, I only saw one actor stretching and getting her instrument in shape prior to the audition. I did cast that actor. Even if you do a good physical and vocal warm up before you come to the theatre, if your audition isn't on time, and when are they, you might be waiting for some time. Try to find an inconspicuous place where you can get loose again. If you can't find a place, stretch etc. right there, even if the lobby or green room or wherever your being held is full of people. Those other people are actors, they are not going to think it odd. The only thing they should really feel is quilt for not doing it themselves. FRESH MATERIAL IS VERY IMPORTANT Although, some people jump up and down when I say this, unless it's a regional theatre audition, a Shakespeare festival, or otherwise stipulated, don't do any material that is more than five years old. I say they call them scene books because they have been seen and seen and seen. When you're auditioning many actors, your mind can wonder, old material, stuff you've seen many times is a big invitation to let the mind drift. Especially if the first couple of lines aren't delivered with more brilliance and passion than the best of the other 100 actors you've already seen do that speech. Fresh interesting material really makes an auditioner sit up and listen. The world changes gears very quickly these days and writing does too. Think of the music you listened to five years ago. If you come home and pop in an oldies CD everyday, you might have trouble understanding this point. DON'T SELL YOURSELF OUT! This relates to the previous point, but works across the board. Actors seemto think that auditioners have read and memorized every play in the universe and if they get one word wrong, we will know it and subtract points for their failure to be perfect. T'aint so kids. At the auditions, an actor came in and stated that his monologue was from this certain play. He asked if any of us knew it and we all said no. He gets about two thirds through it and he's been doing great. I'm seriously considering him for my play and I'm sure other directors were too. All of a sudden he stops. Says he's lost. I tell him, take a moment and then pick it up. He does just that. When he's finished, I told him that he blew it. I told him that he knew that none of us knew the play, that if he had stayed in character, he could have said anything and we wouldn't have known it wasn't the script. He would have gotten away with it and probably would have found his way back to the text in short order. Here's the deal, if in real life you forget what you were going to say to someone, you don't turn into a Mongolian sheep herder, so if you're really in character and you forget what you were going to say, WHY SHOULD YOU TURN INTO AN ACTOR? It happens all the time in performance. An actor goes up in lines but he's got an audience up his butt so he makes something up and the show goes on. Apply that idea to auditions, we're an audience too, give us a professional level show, that is what we're there looking for anyhow! IF WE DON'T KNOW THE PLAY WE'LL NEVER KNOW YOU SCREWED UP, AND IF WE DO KNOW THE PLAY YOU'LL GET BIG POINTS FOR COVERING SO WELL. PRESENT YOURSELF PROFESSIONALLY I don't care if your going out for a feature film, Broadway show or your college production, acting is a profession and you must act like a professional, what ever level your on. I don't expect every actor trying out for the middle school play to have an 8x10 glossy, a long resume or even a cover letter, but professionalism still applies. If it is a professional job you looking for, get a decent Picture and Resume together. Maybe you don't have any experience, no big deal. Everybody had to start somewhere, but make a real attempt at presenting yourself in a professional manner. Don't hand somebody an oversized hand written resume stuck onto a bad picture with bubble gum or a paper clip. I usually feel that it is safe to go to the bathroom during that audition because I would never hire somebody like that. If you're into acting or you hope to ever make money at it, realize, professionalism is the most important part of your career. For example, I noticed a picture in a pile and said who's that, a few directors there knew the actress and said that she would be great for my piece. I asked when she was coming in and was told that she was supposed to audition the day before and didn't show up, but I could call her as she would really be good. Not, I'm going to chase trouble? At the first sign of unprofessionalism, either the actor is out the door or I am. Everything I do professionally reflects on me. If an actor blew off an audition and didn't even think to call, I don't want to have anything to do with her. OK, maybe she was in a full body cast from an auto accident, well then I couldn't use her anyhow could I? GET OUT WITH STYLE AND PROFESSIONALISM. Actors, please don't get offended but, "Thank you" at the end of an audition really means, "Get the hell out of here." This is a point to be very aware of, when you finish your piece and the auditioner says thank you, EVEN IF WE LOVED YOU, "THANK YOU" STILL MEANS, "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE." As I said, we looked at 120 actors in two and a half days, we don't have time to talk to you right at that moment. I don't care if you're the only actor auditioning, it still means the same thing. We made our notes, we saw what you did, we know who we liked and we will get back to those people. Don't hang around to get stroked or mumble and drivel your insecurity onto our lapels. Be professional, this is the deal, this is the script, we say thank you, you say thank you, an then, you get the hell out of their with all the dignity you can muster. NOT ENOUGH COLORS. This is a lot more subtle than the other points I've made, but in the end it is as important as many of them and more so than others. Sometimes an actor will come in and seem to do a great job on a powerful monologue. The auditioner is momentarily extremely impressed, but as the joke goes with Chinese food, a few moments later you realize something was missing, something vital and important. It's like when you've just been conned, they were so charming when they were in front of you, but even as the con person is walking away from you, you realize you've just been cheated, you've just been lied to. This almost always boils down to the fact that there wasn't enough VARIETY in the performance. It had power, passion, with all seeming sincerity and at the moment it moved you, but something was unreal, unhuman. It becomes clear that the intent was to deceive. The variety of human speech is infinite and this one was finite, limited, you realize that it had been planned for effect. Anyone aware of the work I do with actors is familiar with the phrase, Emotions Are To Actors What Colors Are To Painters. I call this work Emotionology and having written entire books on it so I'm not going to even try to get into that right now. I will ask you to look hard for that natural VARIETY that is in all human speech and question yourself, is that quality is in your work? Personally, as we have ignored the all important study of emotions in actor training, I don't see how it can be. This is the primary reason I personally find 95 percent of todays acting boring and lifeless. The other five percent is contributed by actors with instinctual genius, but there is no reason why, with proper training and given the right tools, all actors could not reach that level of emotional truth. I seem to be getting on a soap box right now and this was meant to be a quickie, straight forward presentation of important tips for actors auditioning, so I'll stop. I will wind up with this thought. It is a portion of the Emotionology chapter from my new book, New School Acting II - A Practical Manual. Even out of contest, I think the idea comes through. Do not work from your own emotions, work from the characters emotions. How can you do that if you don’t know what they are? I’ve taught emotions to actors for too many years, in classrooms all over the country, not to know that you don’t know the names and meanings of all the emotions you feel. Some of them are so difficult to pronounce, we can’t even say them without working on it. If actors are going to paint with an abundantly colorful pallet they have to study emotions objectively. Actors have to understand emotions on a universal, abstract level. Pure emotions, not emotions stained/decorated by the actors life experience with that emotion. Emotions are much too hyper-personal to be transferred from one person to another, and your character had better be a person. The characters emotional life must evolve in synthesis with their physical and intellectual life. The study of emotions is a vital, but completely neglected part of the actors artistic education. It is simply knowing all the creative options open to you, the parameters of potential. Building your emotional vocabulary increases your emotional mobility and brings many new colors into your performance. If this study of emotions only contributes one extra color to your performance , it might be the one that will win you the job, think about it. It’s that One run, One goal, One point, One basket, One stroke etc. that wins EVERY GAME. IT'S THAT ONE EXTRA COLOR THAT WINS THE AUDITION, AND SINCE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MANY COLORS THE OTHER ACTORS ARE BRINGING, SHOULDN'T YOU BRING EVERY ONE YOU CAN??? The important difference of "lending" your emotions to your character so they can transform them into their own through the alchemy of art, as opposed to portraying your emotions in the disguise of your character, is what differentiates old school from New School Acting. This is not just a semantic difference. It is a fundamental shift in the actors approach to and the audiences reception of a performance. I got a little carried away there at the end, but I don't think so much as to diminish what this article was meant to achieve, more jobs for hard working intelligent actors and less pain/more fun for auditioners. Get that part, Jeremy Jeremy Whelan is the author of NEW SCHOOL ACTING II: A PRACTICE MANUAL and numerous other titles available at the Stages Bookstore. His website for New School Acting is at http://www.jeremy-whelan-acting.com/; Spanish link at http://www.Jeremy-Whelan-Acting.com/sp From the Mailbag: Subject: 177-Feedbacksound "They say that one useless man is called a sound person, that two or more are the backstage crew, and that three or more become our orchestra!!!" --from an auditorially-challenged production of 1776 Subject: Status Quo Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the Banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the apes with cold water. After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result-all the apes are sprayed with cold water. Turn off the cold water. If, later, another ape tries to climb the stairs, the other apes will try to prevent it even though no water sprays them. Now, remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one. The New ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other apes attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a New one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a third original ape with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest ape. After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not? "Because that's the way it's always been around here." Sound familiar? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner The Blue Room As I get ready for my annual winter trip to London, I notice that most of the London productions have come to Broadway. Closer and The Weir, both West End hits, will open in March. The latest London entry is a play, directed by Sam Mendes, which is an adaptation by David Hare of La Ronde, the classic and bitterly comic turn-of-the-century Viennese play by Arthur Schnitzler about love, sex and uncoupling that can characterize male-female relationships. The play stars 31-year old Australian actress Nicole Kidman. She has brought the play to New York after a run at London’s Domar Warehouse. The play is called The Blue Room. Kidman and her co-star, Iain Glen, each portray five characters in pursuit or in terror of the perfect connection. She is, in turn, a streetwalker, an au pair, a married woman, a young model and a star actress. Tickets have been scarce mostly due to Ms. Kidman’s nude scene and Mr. Glen famous cartwheel. Kidman admits that at first she had reservations about adopting her artistic suggestion. She says that once you get into the play it’s far easier than doing nudity in film. The idea of The Blue Room began in London, where Kidman and her husband, Tom Cruise, spent the greater part of a year and a half making their film, Eyes Wide Shut. The playwright Patrick Marber introduced Kidman to Mendes, the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse. Kidman liked the idea of doing a play at this small theater. The themes of The Blue Room appealed to her. They hold up today in terms of what people will do to get sex, the ways in which they will change their identities to get what they want. The play also shows the ways in which people are constantly searching, and how things can change so dramatically after sex. Even the beautiful Ms. Kidman can repeal men at a certain point. Ms. Kidman was born in Honolulu to Australian parents. Her parents constantly took her to theater. At age 14 she was cast in an Australian film, Bush Christmas. Her films have included Days of Thunder, Far and Away, Batman Forever, Portrait of a Lady, and To Die For. She recent appeared with Sandra Bullock in Practical Magic. This production is at the Court Theater until the end of March. Tickets are hard to obtain, however last minute returns and cancellations seem to be available. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter Laughing Entertainment merger's we'd like to see: Polygram Records, Warner Brothers and Keebler: New company will be called Poly-Warner-Cracker. Metropolitan Opera Company with 3M, J.C. Penney: 3 Penney Opera Amusement park Knott's Berry Farm & National Organization of Women: Knott NOW! Zippo Manufacturing, Audi, Dofasco, Dakota Mining: Zip Audi Do-Da More Things Never Said in the Theatre By the stage manager: It looks as though there'll be time for a third dress rehearsal. Take your time getting back from break. We've been ready for hours. No, I called that perfectly the first time-let's move on. The headsets are working perfectly. The cue lights are working perfectly. The orchestra has no complaints. The whole company is standing by whenever you want them. That didn't take long. No thanks I don't drink. By the producer: Of course there's enough money to go around. We have money left over. No thanks, I don't drink. By the director: Wow, the designers were right on, weren't they? No, today is the tech rehearsal, we'll rework that scene later. I think the scene changes are too fast. Of course I think that we'll be ready in time for opening. The crew? Why they're just wonderful! No thanks, I don't drink. By the designers: Of course all of my drawings were turned in on time. Yes, it is absolutely my fault the set looks awful. You know, you might have a point there. The director knows best, obviously I wasn't giving him what he wants. We have too many gel colors in stock, I can't choose. Of course the shop will have the costumes ready on time. No thanks, I don't drink. By the technical director: This is the most complete and informative set of drawings I've ever seen. We built it right the first time. No problem, I'll deal with that right away. I love designers. No thanks, I don't drink. By the actors: Don't...Let's not talk about me. Really, I think my big scene should be cut. This costume is SO comfortable. I love my shoes. No problem. I can do that for myself. I have a fantastic agent. Let me stand down here with my back to the audience. I'm sure someone told me there was a wall here, I just forgot. Without the crew the show would never run; let's thank them. No thanks, I don't drink. By the stage crew: That instrument is not in the way. There's room for that over here. We'll get in early tomorrow to do it. No, no I'm sure that is our job. Anything I can do to help? All the tools are carefully locked away. Can we do that scene change again please? What a marvelous show! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CyberTheatre Monthly So many Sites, so little time... Our readers are suggesting so many wonderful theatre sites, we're going to vary the formula a bit this month and tell you about as many as possible. Next month we'll return to a more in-depth focus on 1 or 2 sites. Write and let us know which approach you prefer. Theatrical Calamities http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/8244/ Describing this site would ruin the fun of discovering it for yourselves. We'll just list a few of the calamity categories - the list says it all: The Show from Hell, Fire Arms, Technical Difficulties, Live Animals, Practical Jokes, Audiences who think they're the show, Set design gone haywire, props with a mind of their own, theatre hauntings, opening night jitters, and more.... Drama UK http://www.eGroups.com/list/drama_uk This is a discussion group for anyone teaching Drama at any level. The list seeks to promote: communication among Drama educators a sharing of ideas a virtual meeting situation in these busy times a noticeboard for events to be publicised an opportunity for new uses of this list to be explored. Group Moderator: drama_uk-owner@egroups.com. Archives of Drama_UK mail items are kept on the web at: http://www.eGroups.com/list/drama_uk. To subscribe, send a message to drama_uk-subscribe@egroups.com or go to the home page listed above. American Theatre Web http://americantheaterweb.com/ An honest to god national database of Theatrical productions, broken down by state and production, or - if you're ambitious, an alphabetical listing of the more than 1100 shows and companies. Good search features (thank god), and a new Call Board. ATW fills a real void left when Theatre Central became a part of Playbill. Only thing it's missing is a really good collection of thatre links that are not show-specific. Hope you caught the article about them in the NY Times. Playwrights on the Web http:// www.stageplays.com/writers.htm An international database of playwrights & their websites run by Paul Thain (paul_thain@stageplays.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1999, Mersinger Theatrical Services