INTERROGATING INTIMACY, BY JULIA FISHER
As an intimacy director, at least half of my job is asking questions. I have questions for actors; for directors; for costume, lighting, sound, and set designers. But my favorite questions (even when they can’t be answered directly) are for the playwright.
As a playwright myself, I know that every stage direction (at least in most scripts written since the ‘70s – but that’s a conversation for a separate blog post) has been just as carefully crafted by the playwright as any line of dialogue. So it is my job (and joy!) to analyze intimacy-related stage directions with as much love and vigor as an actor will analyze their lines.
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THE WORK OF THE DIALECT COACH, BY MATT KOENIG
Ever wonder what exactly a dialect coach does on a production? Now’s your chance to find out! In today’s blog, join Matt Koenig as he walks you through the type of work he’s doing for our upcoming production of THE CHILDREN. And try out some dialects for yourself!
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AN INTERVIEW WITH NANNA INGVARSSON
Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with Nanna Ingvarsson, who is making her Seat of the Pants debut in our production of THE CHILDREN, playing the role of Hazel. Here are some excerpts of what she had to say about the play, her role, and her process of acting in general.
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THE GENERAL BEAUTY OF THE CHILDREN, BY CRAIG JOSEPH
If you’ve been following Seat of the Pants for a while, you know that one thing we do to get our cast and production team on the same page is to collaboratively create a conceptual statement to guide our interpretation of a script. Though it’s written by the director, it comes out of conversations we have as a team around the table and discoveries that we make on our feet in the rehearsal room. Here’s a teaser of where we’ve landed for our production of THE CHILDREN, opening on October 24th!
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PROP CONSTRUCTION: FROM CONCEPTION TO EXECUTION, BY ERIN OCAMPO
The prop I’ll be walking you through is the ideation and build of a Geiger counter. I’ll avoid spoilers for the play, but physically, this particular prop had to “measure radiation” and be able to distinctly point to highly-radiated areas.
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AN APPROACH TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, BY TOM WOODWARD
So, my approach to creating the character of Robin in THE CHILDREN by Lucy Kirkwood is not about actually creating him at all. I consider Lucy Kirkwood the creator; I am merely a Vessel and a Messenger of her words. I am also an Interpreter of her punctuation, the spaces and pauses she offers up in the threads and the thru-line of how Robin co-exists in the shrinking world borne out of a dire and heightened circumstance that has changed everything for him and his wife.
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FOCUS, CONNECTION, & TRUTH, BY MICHAEL J. MONTANUS
. . . my job as an actor was to support and connect with my cast mates through listening and reacting, making my contribution as truthful and as vulnerable as I could every night. Because no matter how insignificant it might seem, the beauty and truthfulness of everyone’s work shines the brightest when we’re all equally invested in our circumstances together onstage.
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BEING A TECHIE AT A READING, BY SAM LANDGRAF
Readings tend to bring out voracious readers of plays or books, other playwrights, and avid theatre goers or performers. As a technical theatre person who is not a wordsmith, or a huge reader, and most definitely not a performer, I am not the typical audience member and I don’t hear or see the play in the same way.
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BRINGING A NEW PLAY TO LIFE, BY JEANNINE GASKIN
Directing the first reading of a new play is less about staging and more about creating a safe container for discovery.
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