This Year's ACTF

It is that time of year again. Yes, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival: Region III was about a week ago and here I am to tell you about my wonderful experience. As always, ACTF provides a great opportunity to expand your skills within theatre through attending workshops, seeing plays, and showcasing your talent whether that be as a performer or a designer. This year's crop of shows was a lot of fun. As always, there's at least one show that simply does not impress. Of course, there are also plenty of amazing shows that make up for that one bad play. The shows I got to see this year include: Rent; The Beaux Stratagem; Risata, Sciocco . . . Risata!; Gone Missing; Master Harald . . . and the Boys; and The Circus in Winter. What a great variety of shows to see! I think I both laughed out loud and shed a tear during each one of these shows.

The show I appreciated the least was Rent. I think the biggest problem the show had was its staging. There were some really odd blocking choices that muddled the storytelling. Their use of their amazing set was also somewhat confusing. It was sometimes hard to tell which space the stage was suppose to represent because they didn't keep the entrances/use of space consistent. There were also video projections in the background which worked some of the time during the show but I don't think they should have been running when they weren't the primary focus. All that said, you've got to remember that this show is being performed in a completely different space than where it was meant to be performed and it is often difficult to transfer everything without a hitch. Still, Rent was not all I thought it was going to be.

My favorite show of this year's ACTF was the student written The Circus in Winter. Students from Ball State University collaborated to write this adaption of the Cathy Day novel of the same name. It tells the story of a simple Indiana stable-owner during the late nineteenth century and his experiences in attempting to bring a dying circus back to life. The show was visually stunning and musically incredible.

The magnificent set design depicted the interior of a round barn. The stairways moved to help suggest the different places the characters found themselves in. The costumes were colorful, exciting, and realistic. What was the most impressive about the show, however, was a life size elephant puppet! The design, construction, and puppeteering of the elephant took my breath away. You didn't have to imagine much as the elephant boomed onto the stage! What I appreciated most about this show was its unique use of folk music. Being one of my favorite genres of music, this instantly caused me to fall in love with the show as soon as they started strumming that guitar and picking that mandolin.

ACTF is always an eye-opening, talent stretching experience and this year was no different. So much theatre packed into one week is both exhausting and filled with pleasures. I greatly regret that this is the last ACTF I will attend as a student. I will miss the amazing shows, the great workshops, the beautiful design projects, and, of course, the fascinating people you meet who have just as much a passion for theatre as you do. So long, ACTF. You will be missed.

Lighting the Importance of Being Earnest

There is another aspect of theatre that I love being a part of but haven't had a chance to talk about as much. Besides performing, one of my favorite areas to work with is lighting. At Hillsdale I am one of the Lighting Assistants and for The Tower Players production of The Importance of Being Earnest I was lucky enough to be the Assistant Lighting Designer. I helped Michael Beyer, our Head Lighting Designer, draw the light plot and pick color for the show. Color and lighting are a couple of the most fascinating concepts that go into producing a play. There is so much that lighting can either give to or take from a show. The color and lights set the mood, they provide visual interest and dimension, and they light the actors' beautiful faces. I've loved the process of designing lights for The Importance of Being Earnest and I hope I get to design lights for another show soon!

Waiting for Godot

The Tower Players first show of the season was the modern classic Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Beckett works against conventional storytelling in this play where two characters literally sit on-stage and wait. It has been described as a play in which nothing happens but you want to watch every second of it. I had the honor of playing Estragon, one of the two main characters. With his friend Vladimir, Estragon waits near a tree/shrub/bush for the mysterious gentleman called Godot. In the process two other gentlemen stumble upon the waiting pair and cause some diversion, if only for a short while.

 

I loved every second of being in this incredible show. Waiting for Godot accomplishes everything I think a show should. It makes us take a look at what we believe and why we believe it. While it brings up doubts in humanity, I think in the end it serves to strengthen the belief that there is something at the end of the road and that the waiting will be worth it.

Catching Up

So I've been neglecting my lovely blog for a little too long. I know my plethora of readers are disappointed in me. I can only beg your forgiveness and promise that in the future you will be promptly informed of any theatre happenings in my life. With that said, the next few posts should catch all of you up to speed on my experiences in the last six months or so. Enjoy!

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!