Viewpoints

This weekend was a full onslaught of blocking this mammoth show. In 10 hours we almost made it all the way through (short 20 pages), with some Viewpoints work to start each rehearsal.
Each time I return to Viewpoints work I am astounded by the power of bodies moving in space and the stories that are created not through conscious effort, but through physical relationships.

Viewpoints as defined by Anne Bogart include:

• Tempo - the speed at which one moves. I like to take it as a scale from 1 - 10
• Duration - how long something lasts - a gesture, shape, etc.
• Kinesthetic Response - the body's response to any kind of stimulus, external or internal.
• Shape - shapes are made of lines and curves and are either stationary or move through space.
• Gesture - there are behavioral (learned/indicative) gestures and expressive (metaphorical/impulsive) gestures
• Repetition
• Spatial Relationship - the distance between things. We like to say no "Polite" distances, lets go to the extreme.
• Architecture - the set, stage, audience, or otherwise space in which we are working
• and Topography - levels, and the shapes our feet follow on the floor

And I've added the following to think about to this lovely list:

• Direction
• Starts and Stops
• Direct and Indirect

We took these a few at a time over the course of three rehearsals and incorporated them into our "milling and seething" - where we walk filling the empty spaces with our bodies. As we finished this part of our rehearsal on Sunday, we sat down to reflect on what had just happened in the room. Many of the comments addressed how at first it was overwhelming, everyone settled into a sort of groove. This came about because the actors began listening and reacting with their bodies instead of planning and calculating and deciding with their brains. My favorite comment came from Noah, whom I can only paraphrase: "It was incredible to see how I affected other people. I haven't really experienced that as an actor - I'm generally focused on what is happening to me and reacting to that, but seeing how I could start things, or how we could start things as a group, was really amazing." Or something Shoshi said: "I did things with my body that you can't just plan. I had no intention of lying in the middle of the stage in a straight line, but I did it... because that's just what my body had to do."
This process is really informing how the actors move on stage, and I am so glad that I decided to incorporate it. When I say "make a shape in the architecture!" they know what I mean! This really has given us the opportunity to create some beautiful stage pictures and moments.

First Rehearsal!

Red Noses begins!

We had a beautiful, and lengthy read through of the play last night (there are still so many cuts to be made). But still, it was wonderful to have everyone together - in the same room, almost magical! And delicious. We had a potluck dinner with curry, cake, caprese salad, hummus, bean salad, chips, and brownies! Yum.

Shoshi Bass led us in a spectacular warm up where we got to move all together as a group - milling and seething, stretching, and all of that wonderful stuff. The climax of the warm-up was "Me!" - an activity where while everyone is moving around the room, one person shouts "Me!" and forms an angular shape. The rest of the group rushes to them, finds a point on their body to lift, and raises the "Me!-er" into the air. It was beautiful!

Congrats to the Grads!

I would like to welcome a few new folks into the growing group of NEYT Alumni - Rosa Palmeri, Allie Bliss, Riley Goodemote, and Shannon Ward. These four have really taken on great challenges at the NEYT and have brought a lot to the theatre with their work as mentors and leaders in the community. Two of them, Rosa and Shannon, will be joining other alums in a production of "Red Noses" this summer.

Follow this link to see photos of Rosa as Laura in the "Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams

Click here to see photos of Allie and Riley in "Its a Wonderful Life"

Here are photos of Shannon performing her one woman tour de force about Emily Dickenson

And here are photos of the much celebrated 2-woman "Twelfth Night"

There is quite a bit of talent coming out of this little corner of Vermont! I just want to celebrate the beautiful people graduating this month in this post! Congratulations Rosa, Riley, Allie and Shannon!

Gearing Up

I think I have written at least 10 e-mails today just about Red Noses (the play, not the foamy clown accessories). I am spending all my free time reading reading reading about Anne Bogart's Viewpoints as a refresher, and "The Great Mortality" - a book about the Black Death in Europe (an incredibly easy read and full to bursting with all the gory details). Our first read through is on Wednesday night, and I can't wait!
I feel absolutely blessed that the magnificent Kristen Loughry is a part of the NEYT team this summer. She is a student at Ithica College, originally from MA, and she is taking on the thankless task of Stage Manager for our production. (I just wanted to make sure she was acknowledged at least once during this process.) I am excited that she is approaching this task so professionally using equity rules as a guide, and really being on top of all the minutia that a Stage Manager has to deal with.
As I sit at my desk I am surrounded with piiles of research, images, and copies of this script. Can I dig my way out by opening? Yes! I am optimistic and excited and not drowning yet. This play is full of complex issues and challenges for a relatively green director (6 years of off and on experience), but I feel over prepared and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jump and I will catch you!

The New England Youth Theatre of Brattleboro, VT is 10 years old! About the same age as many of NEYT's "green" participants. It seems like, just like a child, NEYT has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. A ten year old child is at least 10 times as heavy and at least two times longer than he or she was when he or she came into this world. NEYT at 10 years has 10 times more students and faculty, and way more space and stuff than it did at "birth" - sans theatre, sans office, sans anything beyond Uncle Stevie's dream.
Founded on the idea that kids could run their own show - take charge and delve into all the arts involved in putting on a play - NEYT began to gather a following. Stephen Stearns has often been compared to the Pied Piper, singing his songs about angels while entranced young people follow dreamily. But he has been more, much more! The motto of the Youth Theatre has always been "Leap and the Net will Appear!" Alumni have taken that challenge constantly in their lives by following dreams and taking positive risks.
For the 10 year anniversary celebration last weekend this "motto" was playfully spoofed by Nick Bombicino and Carolyn Wesley in their original musical in celebration of the 10 year anniversary:

"Jump and I will catch you,
Leap you will not fall,
I am here to catch you,
Clowning through it all.

"And there will always be a net,
And there will always be a red nose
No matter whatever we'll love you for you..."

(Stay tuned for this on You Tube, it will rock your socks if you haven't seen it.)

While NEYT began as an intimite group of youngsters, it has grown and grown, but we are still connected as alumni - we still have a home there, and are welcomed back every time. It is too true that NEYT loves us for who we were, are, and who we have yet to become. I hope that through providing opportuinites for alums to return to perform, direct and teach NEYT will continue to be a supportive artistic outlet for youth, those young in body and those in heart.

Please stay tuned for what is next: Red Noses - howzit going?