Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Keeping it fresh
I asked the cast what, if anything, is changing about the show.
It's kind of a trick question, coming from me, because I am a firm believer that keeping it fresh does not require making major changes that would throw other people off. You can keep it fresh on the inside, and that's all it takes for the audience to get the full experience.
Let me give you an example of "keeping it fresh" can go horribly awry.
I was in a show about 7 years ago (at Foothill as it happens) and there was a scene where my leading man had to "restrain" me, from which I had to break away. Well, as performances slid by my leading man got more and more enthusiastic in his efforts to restrain me, forgetting that, in fact, it's supposed to be acting. Finally one night I had to struggle so hard to get away that when I finally did the momentum sent me falling right on my butt. Maybe he felt that was fresh. I felt it was painful!
So I was actually pleased to get this response to the question from Ray Renati:
"I think that it really hasn't changed much. I see that as a good thing. Jay and Tyler and Brandon really worked hard to make sure it was ready for an audience on opening night. I think the challenge has been to keep it fresh and alive. Speaking for myself, I have found a few subtleties to things that happen in the play for Jeff (my character) that have kept it new and interesting for me. The one thing that has helped me enormously is the addition of the bagpipes during the funeral scene. All I have to do is sit an listen to the bagpipe music along with the people weeping on stage and I'm ready for my next scene. It really puts me in the right place mentally."
Exactly! Keeping it fresh to yourself mentally will mean it's always fresh to the audience...even if nothing has phsyically changed! Great answer.
It's kind of a trick question, coming from me, because I am a firm believer that keeping it fresh does not require making major changes that would throw other people off. You can keep it fresh on the inside, and that's all it takes for the audience to get the full experience.
Let me give you an example of "keeping it fresh" can go horribly awry.
I was in a show about 7 years ago (at Foothill as it happens) and there was a scene where my leading man had to "restrain" me, from which I had to break away. Well, as performances slid by my leading man got more and more enthusiastic in his efforts to restrain me, forgetting that, in fact, it's supposed to be acting. Finally one night I had to struggle so hard to get away that when I finally did the momentum sent me falling right on my butt. Maybe he felt that was fresh. I felt it was painful!
So I was actually pleased to get this response to the question from Ray Renati:
"I think that it really hasn't changed much. I see that as a good thing. Jay and Tyler and Brandon really worked hard to make sure it was ready for an audience on opening night. I think the challenge has been to keep it fresh and alive. Speaking for myself, I have found a few subtleties to things that happen in the play for Jeff (my character) that have kept it new and interesting for me. The one thing that has helped me enormously is the addition of the bagpipes during the funeral scene. All I have to do is sit an listen to the bagpipe music along with the people weeping on stage and I'm ready for my next scene. It really puts me in the right place mentally."
Exactly! Keeping it fresh to yourself mentally will mean it's always fresh to the audience...even if nothing has phsyically changed! Great answer.
// posted by ElisaC @ 11:27 AM 
