Shake in a Day

This summer I'll be working with Theatre Terra Firma in the Twin Cities and I'm stoked. We'll be doing three 24 hour productions of Shakespeare. Yes that's right, we'll pick the show, design it, rehearse it, and perform it all in one day! Crazy right? It's going to be so much fun and I am really looking forward to it. Shake in a Day performances will be taking place at Horton Park in St. Paul on Sundays June 19, June 26, and July 3 at 7:00pm. Come on by and get your Shakespeare on!

Fuente Ovejuna Did It!

So this is a little bit of a belated update as we've been done with Fuente Ovejuna for about two weeks now but with last minute projects, papers, and exams going on I think I'm justified. Anyway, The Tower Players' production of Fuente Ovejuna was phenomenal and was a huge success with our audience. Great student designs, amazing directing, and wonderful performances brought the little town of Fuente Ovejuna right into the black box. The intimate nature of the space put things right in the audience's face so they couldn't escape the strong emotions surrounding the story.

Miriam Poole's thorough research and hard work resulted in a realistic depiction of a small Spanish village with a menacing castle. The stark lighting from Cory Drewry left no question of the moods of the play. The student designs helped move the story forward and added that punch that subconsciously coaxes the viewer into the plot without them knowing.

The villagers were incredible. Stunning performances from Kirsty Sadler, Caitlyn Hubbard, Stephan Godleski, Daniel Racke, and Pat D'Amato aroused sympathy from the audience and set up the jovial everyday life of Fuente Ovejuna.

As Commander Guzmán, I had the pleasure of performing with some equally villainous actors. The Knights of Calatrava benefited from performances by Trevor Freudenburg, Ryan Black, Josh Dygert, and James Allen. I had such a great time with this show! Lope de Vega is a brilliant playwright and I am honored to have been a part of a theatrical tradition that has existed for four centuries.

A Little Town in the Mountains

We are about a week away from our performance of Fuente Ovejuna! Rehearsals have been coming along smoothly and we're all excited to see the end product. Exploring the character of Commander Guzmán has been such a crazy experience! His arrogance and confidence has actually helped me become a more confident actor. Guzmán just is what he is and he doesn't let anyone get in his way. Since this show will be in the Black Box, the audience will really get to feel the intensity of this show. They will be mystified by the swords, armor, banners, and music that makes this show so epic. It's all coming together and it's bound to make you laugh, cry, and everything in between!

The Worst Villain in History

Fuente Ovejuna has been cast and I play the evil Commander Guzmán! This will be new ground for me as I'm typically cast in the awkward lover roles. Both George Gibbs and Christy Mahon are shy, lovable characters; Guzmán couldn't be further from that type. His arrogant, corrupt, and dishonorable personality manifests in his abuse of power and in how he takes advantage of the humble village of Fuente Ovejuna. It's in his nature to disrupt the balance and turn order on its head just to entertain himself. I am really looking forward to stretching my abilities as an actor with the role of Commander Fernán Gómez de Guzmán; a true villain.

The Rakatá Theatre Company's production of Fuenteovejuna

The King Stag in Performance

Well, the performances came and went. Yesterday was our last performance of The King Stag and it was a bittersweet end. It all came together and all our hard work paid off. The show was magical, epic, fun, and colorful. We really created a wonderful fairytale world that our audiences believed and thoroughly enjoyed. Of our five performances, three were sold out, including a Sunday matinee! And since we promoted it as a kid's show there were usually a substantial number of children in the audience which only made performing more fun. The shrieks of delight when the big bear puppet comes out and the uncontrollable giggling at the slapstick of Smeraldina and Truffaldino only added to the performance.

One of the funniest scenes of the play was this scene between the comic Smeraldina, King Deramo, and his magical bust:

 

You can see the vibrant colors used in the set by our set designer, Dave Griffiths, and the amazing costume designs by senior Rachael Erichsen.

And then of course, there were the puppets. They became one of the most admired parts of the show. The puppets literally did wonders for The King Stag. Of course I might be biased, but the King Stag was pretty awesome. Even though I had to wear a unitard for the role I was proud to operate the King Stag.

 

Pretty cool, right? Well, it's all over now and so we look forward to the Tower Players' next production: Fuente Ovejuna. Auditions are tonight and tomorrow! We really don't waste any time, do we? More on Fuente soon!

King Stag Rehearsals

So rehearsals have been going on for quite a while now and things are looking great! It's all still very skeletal right now: chairs representing trees, wire bodied puppets, rolling boxes in place of pillars, but you can really imagine how grand the show's going to look finished. Things with my King stag puppet are going fairly well. I'm having trouble keeping my puppet from bouncing ridiculously as I run away from the hunters. Despite that, I'm optimistic as to how things will turn out. This really is going to be a fantastic show!

Cast List for The King Stag is Up!

The director has made his decisions and the auditioners huddle around the cast list in apprehension. With a cast of 27 actors and puppeteers, The King Stag is going to be massive, at least for the Tower Players. I've been cast to puppeteer the King Stag! I'm very excited about this as I've never done any puppeteering before and I get to learn using an elegant and graceful stag puppet. The other casting decisions look excellent; I'm looking forward to working with everyone on this production. It will be full of fun, magic, and downright hilarity!

The King Stag Auditions

The next production of the Tower Players is The King Stag by Carlo Gozzi. I'm really excited about it! It's a fairytale story full of everything that should be in a fairytale: love, betrayal, heroes, villains, forests, castles, magic, and illusion! Our production is going to be a very big, very epic, and hopefully, very magical show. Auditions are this coming Wednesday and Thursday and I'm nervous and excited to see how things go. No matter what, this show is going to be a lot of fun!

A picture from Boston College's production of The King Stag

KCACTF Region III

So, my most recent activity in the acting world was my involvement at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival: Region III. It took place from January 4th to the 8th and it was a blast. I was nominated to compete for the Irene Ryan Scholarship because of my role as Posthumus Leonatus in Cymbeline. My scene partner, Paul Rezzo, and I didn't make it past the first round but it was fun none the less and I thought our scene was strong. Luckily, the Irene Ryan competition is not the only activity going on at ACTF. There's shows from other schools being put on, workshops in acting, design, and play writing being taught, design expositions on display, and various other events to tickle your theatrical fancy. And all of it is highly educational. Over the course of the Festival, I saw several shows including Unser Zuverlassiges Haus; The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Art; Real Girls Can't Win; My Soldiers; Almost, Maine; and The Drowsy Chaperone. Some of these shows were good, some not so good but all were entertaining in one form or another. Of these shows, Real Girls Can't Win ended up way at the bottom of my list.

 

 It was full of technical difficulties, cliché plot devices, and bad story telling. I can forgive the technical problems in knowing that it is difficult to move a show into an unfamiliar space, however, the story proved weak and laughable. This would be alright if it were supposed to be a comedy but Real Girls Can't Win is trying to send a message about how women see themselves and how they don't need to take their clothes off in order to get attention. It's a prevalent theme and is worth addressing but this production goes about it in the wrong way and just ends up being pathetic. It tries to be shocking when it doesn't need to be. Its attempts to raise the stakes just come off as unrealistic and over-the-top. The acting was actually decent but it didn't do much to redeem the show either. Oh well, all I can say is better luck next time.

Now, it's always hard to pick a favorite as there were so many good shows over the week but I think I've narrowed it down. My most favorite ACTF show this year (well, at least the most fun) was The Drowsy Chaperone.

 

 Set in the outrageous era of the Roarin' 20s, this show follows the ridiculous wedding preparations for a well known and talented chorus girl. What makes this show really great is that it is narrated and presented by a nostalgic old-timer remembering the good-ol' days of Broadway. The show starts off with the narrator sharing his love of the old, simple, entertaining musicals giving The Drowsy Chaperone as an example. He puts on his old record of the show and we are catapulted into the story. The music was fantastic, the dancing was fun, and the meta-theatre was hilarious. An absolutely lovable show with lovable characters, I would see The Drowsy Chaperone again in a heartbeat.

Whew! This was a long post. And I told myself I was going to try and keep things concise! It's okay, though; ACTF kind of deserves a little more space. Besides, I hardly scratched the surface of what goes on there. What I will say is that I had a ton of fun, learned a lot, and loved every minute of it.

Eric's Got a Blog!

So I've been thinking about getting a blog for a while and now it's actually happening. Hopefully, this blog will keep those who are interested up to date as to what I'm doing in the acting world. Also, I'll probably post interesting things that I run across, opinions I have about shows, and experiences both funny and profound I've had on stage . . . you know, I'll blog. Anyway, I'm excited about it.