Picking music for a show is probably my favorite part of being a sound designer. I mean, who doesn’t like to listen to lots of music anyway? But this is a real opportunity to explore genres and artists I might not have paid attention to otherwise, so there are numerous rabbit holes to explore and enjoy.
Read MoreRecently, our director, Chris Bohan, gave us an exercise called “Primary Event.” The idea is simple, but kind of profound: create an inciting incident for your character that happens before the play even begins.
So the question becomes “how do you build a past for someone who doesn’t technically exist?” Sure, the playwright gives us clues. But a lot of it is on us as actors to fill in the blanks - to imagine a full, lived-in human based on what’s on the page.
Read MoreAt first glance, acting and stand-up can feel like opposites. Stand-up is often labeled “silly,” unserious, even chaotic. Theatre, on the other hand, carries this legacy of prestige—something classical, something once reserved for nobles and royalty. But honestly? The “jester” and the “actor” aren’t so different. The real distinction is often just: who’s writing the words?
Read More“I need to get out of my head!” Many an artist has uttered this phrase, a plea invoked to ‘stop thinking and start doing’. In more desperate cases, an artist might shout “I just want to cut off my head!” thus employing the metaphorical Artistic Guillotine. In a perfect world, the artist is working from a place of true inspiration, that ethereal space where the Thinking (head), Feeling (heart), and Willing (desire) centers are symbiotic, feeding off each other to create beauty. Artists don’t need to cut off their heads, what they need to do is reconnect their head with their heart and their desire. They don’t need an Artistic Guillotine, they need an Artistic Bypass.
Read MoreI have an insatiable need for character research. I often refer to my brain as a series of unorganized filing cabinets, bursting at the seams, unable to close. Character research helps me straighten out the eruption of files and ideas I am accumulating through the artistic process and life as an all too inquisitive observer.
Read MoreThere are two conversations happening at every rehearsal for THE BOOK CLUB PLAY: 1. Who are these people (the characters) and, 2. How do we want to build this play (as an ensemble)? And each day at rehearsal, I learn something radically new that no amount of journaling in the margins or solo recitations whilst walking my dog could accomplish. (I LOVE ENSEMBLE COLLABORATION!)
Read MoreHaving worked in theatre for a decade or more, I’ve always heard the same message when it came to the role actors have in any given production: stay in your lane. Everyone has a job and you stick to doing your own. As an actor, this includes being onstage and making choices with your character. Any creative choice that has to deal with production (set, staging, lighting, etc.) is all done by their own respective designers. This is done so toes do not get stepped on and egos can remain in check for the creative process to breathe. However, this process, working with Seat of the Pants on THE BOOK CLUB PLAY, has helped to reveal conventions are only what we decide them to be
Read MoreHere are five plays that made me the artist I am today. Some of them I saw beautiful productions of and others, when I read them, spoke to me in ways that were deeply impactful. In no particular order, these are the five shows that make Kate, Kate (or at least who she is at this specific moment).
Read MoreThis is something I’ve been fond of saying over the years to my cast mates whenever I’m in a show, moments before the show starts. Those electric seconds as the curtain speech is winding up...as the lights go to black...
“We’re about to do something not everyone can do.”
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