The Passion of the Actor

It has been two weeks since I last wrote. In these two weeks it has just been incredible to see the show progress from actors buried in scripts mumbling around the stage with their bodies to a hilarious, moving, (relatively) smooth-flowing story on stage. It all has come out of these alum's hard work, dedication, and talent - and I guess the theater process too. We have the acting almost ready to show to the public, and that is amazing one whole week before opening!
It is always so refreshing to see how it is possible to coax a story and such humanity from a group of actors in an unadorned rehearsal room. They come in with their cell phones, flip-flops, and jeans chatting, joking, eating food from the Co-Op. As rehearsal begins they all transform into pitiful plague victims, arrogant aristocrats, conniving clergy and riotous Red Noses! As we work through scenes I look around and notice Kario Periera Bailey practicing his recorder (a skillhe is learning for the show), Nick Bombicino juggling against the backstage wall (one of three new skills he has had to acquire for this show), and Noah Smith listening to the music in his head and jotting notes furiously on his compositions. Moments like this I get all warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The passion that each NEYT actor has for each production they are in is so evidently strong in these rehearsals.
It's that passion that connects us to the material of this particular play. Red Noses is about revolutionaries, extraordiarily passionate about their missions. They are passionately fighting to overcome the misery of life during the black plague, the preceeding famine, the corruption in the center of their spiritual world, and the inhumanity of an unreasonable class system.

The Spirit Overcomes!

I chose to direct Red Noses this year because I liked the premise - a monk, with inspiration from God, cheers the hearts of a plague ridden downcast society with clowning, dancing and music, gathering a close-knit group of followers to put on red noses and join him. There is truly something beautiful about curing societies ills with laughter.
In putting this play together, however, I am realizing that there is quite a bit of darkness in the plot, and in the world that they inhabit. It is not all frivolity and joy. The play is set during the Black Death - plague of 1348 - when almost 50% of Europe's population was obliterated by this intensely horrible pandemic. Not only was the plague the cause of many deaths, but the anarchy and demolition of society that ensued during the pandemic caused chaos and death as well. And as it follows, not all 36 characters that appear on stage survive to the final curtain. As a director I am constantly balancing the light and frivolous with the dark and somber.

And these two forces - light and dark - pull at the characters as well. The divinely inspired monk, Marcel Flote, raises spirits and impassions his followers to spread that beautiful lightness of joy and love, although everyone has been touched by the darkness of the black death, poverty, opression, and corruption. Even Flote, who lost his family to the plague, occasionally feels himself sinking down into darkness, burdened with the heaviness of greif or helplessness - but he remembers his passion, his mission - then he picks himself up even from the darkest depths with a light-footed dance across the stage.

The integrity of these characters is awe inspiring as they stand by their passions and beliefs even at the last. More than a play about how laughter helps us overcome things, Red Noses shows us the power of personal integrity and passion and the beauty and courage that it takes to remain loyal to your dreams.

"We lived the vision, rolled back the stony heart a little and the glory is measureless. Nothing to lament, lets pierce the circumference of Hell and dance!" - Red Noses, Peter Barnes