Why Dramatic Artists Play Games all Day.

I remember my first day in a drama class. (Remember, this was before I made up my mind that 'drama' was a bad term for theatrics.) I was amazed that all we did was play some games. I thought for sure that we would be forced to sit there and memorize lines from Shakespeare and draw up blocking charts. We eventually did some of that, but the majority of the semester was on stage, chasing each other around, laughing and having fun.

So, why do they do that? Well, there are lots of reasons, but here are the top 3:

1- To build team relationships.
2- To make actors more comfortable in their space.
3- To fill a time gap.

I know that many thespians would say that the games build acting skills, but in a classroom setting, only about a third of the students are going to need those skills in the future, and that is when you are lucky. Even in a professional troupe, the playing around is not for learning how to act. To be perfectly blunt, Every human being without a disability is born with the ability to act. We tell lies, wear uncomfortable clothes, and let great aunts kiss and pinch our cheeks. Acting is not something that needs to be learned, just practiced.

Many thespian games are awkward and invade personal space. You may have noticed that the true thespians in your life show little finesse in socially delicate topics or situations. They touch, sit in laps, laugh too loud, and even talk about sex and other topics at a simple dinner or drink. Most actors 'lack' these inhibitions because they were taught to ignore them. (To be frank, people invite actors who behave badly as entertainment and the actors use it to study different people's reactions to different awkward situations.)

If an actor cannot invade the bubble of their opposite part, then how are they supposed to do that dramatic kiss scene without the entire audience feeling awkward? How is the goofy guy supposed to do the funny fall if they don't know that their spotter is going to be there? Most games are designed to help actors build trusting relationships with the other people on the team.

Many acting troupes do not stay in the same theatre all the time. Traveling acts, actors who got a better paying job, actors who got any part at all, they move from stage to stage a LOT. Then we add in that no stage is built the same way as another. Stages are like snowflakes, right? No two are the same, just similar. In order to make actors more comfortable, there are a series of games just for learning about a new space that includes climbing up ladders and running from dressing room to dressing room.

Finally, when a troupe does not have the new script yet, or needs to take a short break, games like Bus Stop and caterpiller come out so that everyone can just have some fun and relax.

Other games, like 'Actors Stop' are designed to teach a skill, but are rarely used in an academic setting. I wonder why?

For now, Goodbye.

Sarah K

Be Helpful... Donate Props Today!

It is that time of year where I go through all of my junk and find things that no longer work or are no longer useful and I donate them to a local theatre to use for props. This year I have an old netbook that screams at you every time you try to turn it on and only half the screen works (And I lost the cord). There are all sorts of things that can be useful on stage from kitchen utensils to broken jewelery to battered boom-boxes. So, Donate today and help save the Arts!

Here's how:
1- Take your props (anything that doesn't work or is non-functional, but not broken) to the theatre of your choice when you know someone will be there.
2- Hand them over and say, "I would like to donate these potential props to your theatre. I hope you like them."
3- Smile and have a pleasant conversation before you leave.
4- Feel good about yourself and go on with the rest of your day.

I should make an ad...

Hmmm

See ya!

Sarah K

Actor Superstitions

Before I go into the most common superstitions that can be found in a theatre, I want to say something. A play is something that absolutely cannot be done alone. There are a lot of people( actors, stage crew, build crew) that are on the stage almost every day of production. When that much is happening in such an enclosed space, people get hurt and even die. This leads to speculations and even superstitions. Many of the following have no confirmed origins and the stories vary from storyteller to storyteller. I did some research, both in books and on the internet, and have come up with a solid list and some short explanations for each. Some of these I have never heard before and others, well, you know.

Number 1: Break A Leg!
This is a more common superstition that has cameos in different TV shows and movies. The theory is that to say "Good Luck" to an actor automatically leads to a bad performance. The origins on this are unclear, but it has stood the test of time and is still going strong today.

Number 2: Ghosts
There are a lot of ghostly topics in the realm of theatrics. Having a lot of people, well, overly dramatic actors, in a small space means a lot of energy building up, both negative and positive. This can lead to changes in attitude, temperature, and even memory. This is often blamed on ghosts. Many theatres have a personal ghost, but the most famous ghost is Thespis, the apparent first actor ever. He apparently still haunts every actor ever.
There is also the Ghost Light. It is said that ghosts, especially ghosts of actors, do not like a dark stage and that a light should be left on at all times. (The story my stage professor told us was that the stage crew was tired of drunk and horny actors destroying the sets, so they lit a light so they could find their ways out.)

Number 3: Speaking of Ghosts... The Scottish Play
Shakespeare's play "MacBeth" is considered bad luck for some reason. The tales of the origin of the bad luck vary from death to witchcraft, all of which are added in abundance into the play. One must never say the name inside the theatre or else they are kicked outside where they are to spin around three times, spit, curse, and then knock to be let back inside. Personally, I had never heard of the spinning and spitting part and no matter where I looked, I couldn't find the origin, but there you go.

Number 4: Whistling
The origins for the myth that whistling backstage is bad luck actually has some basis in fact. When the ancient directors decided to use curtains instead of the more expensive, heavier, and more dangerous marble or granite slabs to make a more flexible stage they learned that they were not so good at tying them up or counter balancing or any of that stuff, but instead of giving up, they hired sailors. While the seamen were up in the batons, they would whistle messages and code to each other, like they would on a ship. It stands to reason that anyone else whistling on the stage would confuse the situation and could end up hurt or hurting others.

Number 5: A Bad Dress Rehearsal = A Good Performance
Now, I have personally seen this happen time after time. Still, it is not really a taboo, but more of a mental state. A psychologist might tell you that a performer might be more aware of mistakes during a dress rehearsal, where they are in full makeup, lights, and costume than if they were in an average rehearsal and then they would take their mistakes and then fix them in the performance.

Number 6: Specific Theatres
Generally any specific theatres have their own spooks and bumps in the night. Gary the Guy who fell through the Ceiling, or the Phantom of the Opera. Everyone has something.

Number 7: A Theatre is 'Dark', not 'Closed'
It is said that the spirits do not like the concept of a closed theatre. Or maybe that they like it too much. Instead, it is 'Dark'. That's right, when you leave for the night and text the building owner, you say the stage is dark and the doors are locked.

Number 8: Others

• yellow = bad
• blue = bad unless countered with silver
• peacock feathers = no
• real flowers = not on stage 
• Same goes for money
• real food is just fine.
• three lit candles is bad luck (and generally a bad idea)
• green is no good
• NEVER say the last line of the play in front of an empty house

 These are the basic superstitions found back stage. There are dozens more and then the ones used by each performer. Try not to let skepticism show and try to follow them because it is just safer that way. Have fun!

Sarah K

Movies are Just Plays with Cameras and an Editor.

So, I love being a sort-of theatre major. I meet wonderful people and take fun classes, like Script Analysis. Before I was aiming for a BIS, though, I was an English major which was a bit of a disaster on my part. Anyway, I got into a conversation with a Creative Writing major shortly after "Disney's Frozen" came out. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have issues with the movie. I think that it is incomplete and silly, but it is fun to watch and has some fun characters and one-line quips.

We both agreed that there were some plot holes but then we got into an argument about other things. Then I mentioned something about what I had learned in Script Analysis and the first thing that she said was something about a story is nothing like a script. Now I was a little heated at the moment, but now that I have had time to let everything sink in, I have to say:

A Movie is Just a Play with Cameras and an Editor. 

A play script and a movie script, when placed side by side look remarkably similar. Many plays are made into movies and vice versa. When a book is made into a movie, it takes a scriptwriter to transpose it and before it even hits the production steps, parts are ripped out and changed. When a play (e.g. Roger and Hammerstein's  Cinderella with Brandi and Bernadette Peters) is made into a movie, the scriptwriter and producer and director get together and ask: What can we add to this to make it more fun, more explosive, more it?

So, to the Creative Writing major(s) out there who believe that movies are closer to the novels they are writing than to the plays being put into production, let's see who gets the movie deal first: Cuban Swimmer, or your Great American Novel. (Also, which one gets to stay closest to the original story?)

Harsh Words can Lead to Harsh Actions

I was recently backstage for a production of Seussical the Musical Jr. and I witnessed some bullying. It was unintentional and nonviolent but it was there. So, I will take the words said by the director/teacher as they put on their first showing:

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DRAMA IN THEATRE.

First of all, I am against calling classes where one learns to act Drama. That is just a bridge that should be burned or not built in the first place. These classes should be: Performing Arts, Theatre, Theatrics, Theatre Studies, The Art of Acting, Acting Logistics, or, if you are ambitious and have the slot space, The Art of Standing in front of Your Peers and Making a Potential Fool of Yourself For their Entertainment and to do Something Amazing. NEVER Drama. Ever.

Now, the title of this post is "Harsh Words can Lead to Harsh Actions" which is the point I really want to make. Middle school is a tough world to be in because everyone is evolving at different speeds where before they were pretty much all at the same level. Some people are learning what they are good at and knowing that they are good they will put themselves into a false leadership position and make others, who are still unsure of themselves, feel self-conscious and bad about their own talents and abilities, even if they are better than the other one.

The words said from one person to another can usually be brushed off, but sometimes it can lead to what the police like to call a physical altercation and what I call a fight (or well deserved B* slap, depending on the situation). When this happens backstage, there are a series of things that can, and will, go wrong. It doesn't matter if the actors are six or sixty, all actors react the same way to hate or hateful acts. That is to hate back.

Here is a compiled short list of different things I have personally seen actors do to each other backstage:

• Stop talking
• Taking the other's makeup
• 'losing' tights or small costume pieces
• tripping
• gossiping 
• peanut butter in the foundation
• putting runs in pantyhose
• placing glass in the other's shoes

These may all seem like female 'pranks' but the glass shoes was a boy who got made fun of for a reason I was told I cannot go into.

Words hurt more than a person, it hurts the performance.  The audience can feel when something is off and that means that there will be people going home saying, "That was fun but I don't think I will tell my friends to come see it."

So, I encourage all actors to, before they something they might regret, take a deep breath, bite some ice, and walk away. if you cannot get into character because you are angry, walk away from a number or two unless you have lines, then get over yourself. The production is bigger than any one person and everyone contributes, no matter what your lines, part, or costume. Have fun and the audience will too.

Sarah K

Say as Little as Possible...

When it comes to social acting, which is something that everyone (Yes, even you the totally narcissistic twenty year old with the mental acumen of a fifteen year old) does on a daily basis, there is only one rule to follow: when you want to get all the information without giving yourself away, then say as little as possible.

One of the reasons that people like actors is because they seem easy to get along with, they seem happy even when they are stressed and they bring a great personality and life to any party. An actor can fit into any situation whether it is black tie, rager or one of those awkward cheese and cracker parties at your most stuffy professor's home. I was once asked how it was that professional and semi-professional actors could pull that off. The answer is simply that they know how to observe.

Let's be honest now. The vast majority of people do not like feeling awkward or tense. We have been told that it is bad for our health. some people avoid those situations, but good social actors just act. They know enough and can keep their mouths shut long enough to avoid looking like a moron.

Now, there is another part of social acting that is very important in my personal life that has to deal with saying as little as possible. That is when I go back to my little hometown and walk into the theatre. The six or seven full time board members will be meeting with the three or four part time I-want-my-kid-to-have-a-lead-in-the-next-play-that-is-really-a-bad-junior-version-of-a-Disney-movie mother members of the board will be seated in a circle on hard chairs in the lobby where the really old member who single-handedly destroyed any chance of the productions doing well in the future sits and tells everyone else what to do while the president of the board isn't allowed a word in edge-wise until everyone else has backed him into a corner. In this situation, even though I personally have more training in running a theatre than all of them put together, I am the youngest, and therefore am ignorable and ignorant. It is all I can do to keep from screaming at all of them.

Instead, I take deep breaths and remind myself that if they wish to run their program into the ground, then let them. It will make everything so much cheaper when I come back and buy the building out from underneath them and turn it into the sparkling symbol it could have been if they had only listened to me.

Now, I would like to apologize for the unprofessional turn this post took. I obviously have issues with people who treat me like an ignoramus, like the board, my grandmother and my sister. I will post again soon.

K

Something to Celebrate!

I have an official follower! I think that this is something to celebrate. So, thank you.

Sarah K

I Believe that All Is Well

I am getting ready for my Script Analysis class after reading Miss Julie and I don't know what to think about it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. This particular class has introduced me to a different world of theatrics. The place where I grew up only produced particular types of plays, or to be more specific, particular musicals. Being exposed to new things is a way to produce an emotional response.

The theatrical world is always introducing new stimuli to the patrons. From the Greeks to Shakespeare to Symbolism to Post Postmodernism every step has pushed social boundaries and shocked the public. Many plays, like A Doll's House made many people in polite society frown and made others furious. (The main female character left her husband and children in order to 'find herself'). Nowadays that would not be unheard of, play or not, and is not considered socially unacceptable like it was when first put on stage. Now there are actors who go on naked and symbolically have sex (or literally). Now, that is not necessarily my cup of tea but there you have it.

I learned that it is all right to be confused. I do not need to understand Miss Julie in order to be a good thespian or theatre owner. All is well.

Sarah K

Sorry, but Everyone is Different, and the Same

First off, I want to apologize for not writing in FOREVER. I know that I do not have any followers yet but that is no reason to be rude or forgetful.

NEXT! I want to say something that makes people mad at me: Frozen could have been a million times better than it was and I am shocked that Disney let it out in the state it was in. Also, I believe that Idina Menzel has sold her soul to the devil so that everything she sings in will become popular and do better than expected. (She also needs to learn to move the microphone AWAY from her mouth to not only get better use from it but also to look more professional.)

That was the end of today's rant. (I can't say anything about The Guild today because I promised myself that I wouldn't. I still kinda like it though...)

Now, onto the real business: People. I have spent my ENTIRE life on the outside waiting for someone anyone to welcome me in. Those of us who go mainly unnoticed by the rest of the world tend to see (and hear) things that nobody else wants us to know. You have no idea how many private conversations I was/am privy to because nobody sees me. I understand more about human nature than the average junior psychology major.

This leads to my great big discovery that everyone knows but nobody acknowledges: Everyone may be different but in reality we are all the same.

Before you run for your pitchforks and torches let me explain. There are different types of people, from visual learners to active learners, to stage managers and method actors. A human is generally different from all the other sapiens out there because we can analyze ourselves and move on a path best suited for our personal wants, needs, capabilities and chances for success. We also are more likely than a monkey (or chimp if you are snobbish) to not let failure stand in our way, no matter how awful or disastrous. This is what makes us the same.

Now, I know that I fall under the "Average" category of human beings. I am a lower middle class slightly overweight, full time Caucasian/white female student between the ages of 18 and 44. I own a DVD player and a laptop computer and have never been out of the country, although I seriously hope that is not going to be like that for forever. I have two blogs and I eschew things that are popular (remember my rant about Idena Menzel). I am an average student with average grades and an average blog. Nothing about me yells "THAT IS SARAH K!"

So, if a person is just average how do they become an individual?

I don't know.

I kind of wish I did. What makes me any different from the other 7.3 billion people on Earth? or the 2.7 million Americans that have everything I do?

Am I just another flat character on stage? Someone who has certain lines already filled out and doomed to sing different reprises of the same song over and over again until nobody pays for a ticket to see me and the plug gets pulled and all anyone has to remember me by is some old handbills and ticket stubs washed out by rain and snow?

So I ask myself, and each one of my readers, however few, what makes YOU different, three dimensional, worth knowing. Who are YOU going to be today to distinguish yourself from the other sapiens? What is YOUR next line?

Sarah K

Everything, A Performance

I recently found out that one of my acquaintances moonlights as a stripper in Vegas. Now I personally do not have a problem with this. Why? Well, first off it is a personal choice for her and that has nothing to do with me. I got used to the people around me superimposing their opinions about me onto me and I do not want to be placed in the same category as them. Second of all, it is her performance and I am all for expression through performance.

I am under the impression that every movement, every word and every thought a person makes is all for the Grand Performance. Shakespeare* said, "All the world's a stage, and all their men and women merely players" and I use it as my personal mantra because it is true. Think about the last time you were with a group of people: your family, classmates, neighbors, coworkers, whomever. before you act, react, speak or otherwise do anything you follow a set of rules for that group. For example, you will most likely not talk about your overbearing boss with your kids. Also, these rules also involve the language you use and the motions you utilize.

I know my life is surrounded by the way I act around others and you know too.

Think about it.

Sarah K



*Shakespeare, William. As You Like It.

Disney and the Gay Thing

First: the link to the CNN news article I am getting this information from:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html
P.S. I always encourage readers to do their own research and to tell me what they think I got wrong.

Now I know a lot of gay people but that is not the point I am going to make today. The point I want to make is that Disney should not have given them the funding to start with.

Okay, I know how that sounds but let me explain myself. I like the Boy Scouts of America. My brother and male cousins are members, my father was a scoutmaster for quite some time, I am a Merit Badge Councilor for the organization and I can tell you one thing: the program has ALWAYS been discriminating. They do not allow atheists in. Girls cannot join until they are fourteen and do not qualify to get the Eagle Scout Award. There is a loooooooooooooong history in the BSA of being prejudice against anyone who does not fit the bill of perfect American Boy Leader.

So, why is Disney just now pulling the funding? This quote comes straight from the article above:

According to Disney's charitable giving guidelines, groups become ineligible to receive Disney funding if they "discriminate in the provision of services unlawfully or in a manner inconsistent with Disney's policies on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, or sexual orientation."

One would think that discrimination against atheists would count under that religion thing, right? Apparently not. Still, when one is the only company in the world that could take over Wal-Mart successfully I guess one can do what they very well please, including a large publicity stunt like this. 

I want to wrap this into successful marketing and how it would work in the theatrical world but my leg is falling asleep and I need to do the grocery shopping so...

BYE!

Sarah K

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Community Theatre

I was just staring off into space, like I happen to do a lot in the real world and I remembered when I was doing Alice in Wonderland Jr. in the community theatre at home. I was leading a group of children in the green room in a song and the ever helpful parents (they are the Mama Rose type of mothers found in my not yet posted list of people you might meet in the theatre world) had to stop me from giving the children a vocabulary. I was trying to explain what a preview was and why the theatre did not do them when the mother said, "They don't really need to know that," and tried to lead them from there.

I have a lot of my own opinions and I do not like getting pushed around but in a later conversation with the other mothers in the group I learned something I already knew about the small little town where I grew up. "Never Be Better Than You Already Are" is the motto of many members of the community and the attitude is frequently annoying and contagious. I do not know if they realize it or not but sometimes this mindset gets placed into positions of power and there is nothing you can do about it except educate the next generation.

ANYWAY, so off point, what I wanted to write about was why, after being brainwashed by this community theatre, did I go back after I was educated? I will tell you: because it was an experience. 

Not all theatres are the same, community theatres doubly so but they all have some things in common:
- almost everything is done with volunteer work
- the actors usually have no more than their high school drama class and this theatre for experiance
- doughnuts and pizza are always welcome

Sure, they tend to be unprofessional, unorganized and run by people who would be better off running a liquor store or mom and pop shop. There is always the mother who joins the board because she played Clara in the nutcracker every year until she had three kids and grew taller than the eldest male dancer in the town who wants her children, no matter if they are talented or not, in the lead of every production. The smell of stale popcorn is never gone and every actor thinks they know better than anyone else. Any male part over the age of 27 was coerced or guilted into auditioning (or in reality just showing up to sing). Nearly every production will be a musical because they sell better than straight plays (ones with no music). I am not even going to do my usual rant about the sound and light person who barely knows how to use a light switch exclaiming to everyone that they are the only person in the entire town qualified to use the switchboard and no one else is allowed to use it. The props and many of the sets are made of cardboard for every production and everything has at least twelve layers of paint on them.

So why should anyone get involved? Easy. The experience may be stressful and nobody will listen to a thing you say even if you are Steven Spielberg and have brought an entire film crew with you but it will make anyone willing to learn into a better member of the theatrical community. I learned things that worked and a lot of things that didn't. I was a stage manager, assistant director, and technical director of a triple-casted production of Alice in Wonderland Jr. where every actor (all 138 of them) was under the age of sixteen. I learned most of their names, their acting abilities, their mothers, how to produce a chaotic production, and then to never, EVER triple-cast a jr. production by age (or to triple-cast at all). These are only a few things and I wasn't even wearing a costume.

I do encourage getting involved with Community Theatres BUT do not keep bad habits. Try as hard as possible to make it more professional with every production you assist with or act in. Be the voice of change in making them better.

Amen. :) :P

Sarah K

The Success of a Play

What is the difference between the success of a play/musical and the success of a blockbuster movie?

That's right: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!



Success can be measured by different things depending on who you are and what you want but when it comes to the theatrical world there are two things that make the production a success: You can pay everyone, and you at least break even.

I know it sounds self-centered and inartistic but that is the truth. Unless you live in an utopia state where art is more appreciated than money every production you do needs to understand that if you don't break even you won't get to do another one and if you can't pay your people they won't come back. (Unless it is a community theatre where only the director might get paid, everyone else is there for the sake of being there.)

The same holds true for movies. if you put out a crappy film that doesn't make any money after spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on it (The Last Airbender) you get fired and no one will trust you to make another movie ever again. (I am not even going to mention the freak of nature movies that are awful, or at least not good and that still do well in the Box Office.)

ANYWAY... back to the theatrical world: success is measured in the amount of money you make. If you put on a production of Oklahoma! and not only break even but make enough money to fund the next production, you will be asked to come back. Producers like to see that their investments were not a waste and that they are awesome in every way.



Gotta go, but remember to always dream,

Sarah K

P.S. I promise to write later about artistic integrity...