Wherefore art thou, Sophie Dushko?

Wherefore art thou,
Sophie Dushko?

Well, I can't play it on my phone and record.
Shit.

So...
Do you want me to play it?

If you want to play...
I feel weird asking people.
I'll play, I'll play some ambience. I don't know if I have anything. Oh, I can play a Pandora station.
Great.
I'll play Frank Sinatra Pandora.
You know.
That's, I think...I'm all about this, but that's not what we want. It's too...it's too. There it is.
Great. Fly me to the moon? (It comes on first.) I know Frank.

Um. What's your name?
My name is Sophie Dushko.

Do you want some pineapple?
Sure. Thanks, Mom. Oh, god...I took a lot.
It's okay. Um, yeah, I was a Wellesley Mom this morning. I just got back from the gym and Whole Foods.
Yup.

Um, where do you go to school?
I got a lot of pineapple going on here.
Sorry.
Oh my god. I go to the Boston Conservatory.
Uh huh.
Yeah.

And what year are you?
I'm going to be a sophomore.
Uh huh.
I'm a baby.
A baby?
The baby.

Where are you from?
I'm originally from Canada, from Toronto. I also lived in, near D.C. But like, before I came to...this is not going well.
Sorry.
It's a lot of pineapple.
It keeps me young. You lived near...
When I was really young. I have, it's a confusing story, it's a whole event...but, Toronto...is where I went to high school and middle school.
Do you feel very political living near D.C.?
Um, my family is...um, I'm not super political but I have opinions, you know...
Cool.
I'm a well informed being.
That's great.
Sure.

What attracted you to this program?
Um, well, I did, we did Shakespeare first semester and my teacher, and I did like a sonnets show, and the acting teacher was like, "Hey, we're moving to contemporary next semester, but I like, really want you to keep doing this stuff because it really sits well in you." And I was like "I love it." And he was like "Do you have summer plans," and I was like no, and then he was like, you should consider auditioning for Commonwealth Shakespeare, he was like, they take non-equity, I don't know what they're like right now, cause he worked with them forever ago, but he was like, if not, they also have an Apprentice program, so I'm sure if you audition for the company, you'll also be considered for that.

So I auditioned for Steve, um, and Adam was in the room, but I like, it went well, I didn't hear anything for a couple weeks and then I get an email from Steve being like "Hey, you're 18...you can't be in our show but Apprentice is a thing," and I was like "cool." And then, I didn't get, officially get in until...because he was like you don't need to audition again but can you send in the paperwork. And then I like, didn't know, cause they told us so late if this was a thing, so I was like "eh, whatever." Um, and then I got home and was like, "I guess I'm doing this. Okay." So I'm here instead of working in a Starbucks in Toronto.

Great.
That was a long story.

And you love Shakespeare.
I do.
So tell me about your love of Shakespeare.
My love of Shakespeare?
When did it start? Why?
Where did it start?
I wanna know.
Um, you know. I always liked it but never had a chance to do it because I was super music theater when I was in Toronto. There's not a lot of Shakespeare happening there. I went to art school and was in the music theater, so we weren't allowed to do any plays...but they did a really shitty Romeo and Juliet one year, it was rough, it was rough. Um, but...I like, I went to my first Shakespeare play when I was 8 at the Stratford Festival...I saw As You Like It set in the 60s with like the Barenaked Ladies, like wrote music for it or something, it was kinda fierce. But, um, it's always been in the back of my mind and then my first semester a BoCo I got, we did, scenes...we did the Helena and Demetrius scene, like everyone did it in different gender pairings and we did it like really, in different environments and other stuff and then we did monologues and I did Juliet, which was fun...and I also got cast in a sonnets show, which was like, a new work based on the sonnets and that was like, a really big thing for me, I really loved it a lot, and I like, hold that really dear.

Um, so kinda being like thrown into it so much first semester reminded me of all the other experiences I've had with Shakespeare...and then I did Twelfth Night second semester, which was an interesting experience, but it was really good.

You were Maria. Mare-bear.
I was Maria. Mare-bear. Which is like, so weird. Cause that's wh...like, the opposite of who I'd be cast as, who I'd ever see myself being cast as.
I bet you learned a lot though.
Oh yeah. It was fun...it was a lot of fun. I never get to do comedy so it was very like, very bawdy and I was like "okay."

If you had to choose one play to read...
To read?
I love to read.
Yeah, I love to read too.
Which one would you read right now?
One Shakespeare play? That I'm gonna read right now?
Yup.
Um. I would pick Winter's Tale. I really like...it's got some fierce bitches in it too.

What character do you want to play? What's your dream role?
What's my dream role...like, ever? Um...
Or right now.
Um, I don't know that's hard. I really, like every, I feel like every Shakespeare girl wants to play Lady Macbeth, um but also, Hermione in Winter's Tale one day...and Imogen in Cymbeline...that's like, that could happen soon. And Juliet. I really like Juliet. She gets a lot of shit thrown at her, but you know, I don't think she's as stereotypical as people think she is. She's just like so sexual, like, she's not just a little ingenue.
I love Juliet. I love reading Juliet.
Yeah.
I did a Juliet monologue for Adam.
Yeah?
He was like you're more Juliet than Adrianna, Rosalind... anyone I've been looking at.
Really?
He was like you're more Juliet than anyone else. I was like okay.
Fierce. I wonder if he'd say I'm more Bottom.
Sophie. You're not Imogen, you're not Hermione...the closest is...Bottom.

What...
Are you checking the time there?
I'm like...I hear swords and I'm like...
Am I supposed to be...
Fighting? Like, who's in there?
Kyle...
Why?
He seems passionate.
I think that, I think that's the, that's my dream couple. Yeah, with those two boys.
Yeah, it's a good one. It was a good pairing.
It's a dream.
Like Jordan and I. Joan and her tender lamb monologue.
It's right.
And then I just, like, kick Jordan's ass.

Next question, um, do you have a favorite experience here so far?
Do I have a favorite experience here?
Here, yeah.
Here. Um...
At Shakespeare Camp.
I think, um, probably, I wish we got to work with the CSC actors more because the times we have have been really helpful, like, even though I didn't get to do a lot with Kerry O'Malley, but seeing her work and like hearing her speak about work was really interesting, um and Marianna too, like having that audition masterclass, because they're such inspiring actors...and even like, I really enjoy, even though it's tedi...it's a lot of work on the Common, being on the Common is nice because you get to watch them do their thing and like, I love Twelfth Night a lot, like I really, especially Olivia and Viola, I just love them and like being able to watch those ladies kick ass...I just wish we could see more of them because it's been so enriching when we do.

Kerry O'Malley is fierce.
Yeah.
That masterclass was...that was the work.
And she just like, called people out on their shit, too and would, like, not back down. She's like...we get babied so much, not here...
But in general?
It like...solely, but just in general...
That's what I find in acting training.
Yeah, and even in like, our society, now. It's like you don't want to do something..."okay." It's like no. It's a job. You're doing fucking work.
That's right.

Do you have a monologue?
Oh no.
This is the monologue...
No, it's not...it's not...
You have to do one.
What? Oh no.
You have to turn Frank off and do a monologue, Soph.
Ohhh.
Sit up.
Ooohhhh, I am slain. I am slain.
Turn Frank off, get in it.
Mom...oh god, what am I gonna do? This is Buble, not Frank.
Sorry, it's his Pandora station.
Buble's gone. Buble's over.

Um...Mitchell's just snappin' over there.
I don't understand why they're here early.

(Kyle Walton walks over.)
An interview.
Yeah, you're in my interview...
Sorry.
No it's fun...
Well, I heralded you.
You heralded Kyle into this.
Bye Kyle.
Bye Kyle! Bye Dad!
Bye!
My Grandpa. He's my Grandpa. Jordan's my other Grandpa.
You got two men. Grandma's got two...
Two arms. Two men.

I'll do...I've been doing Imogen for Adam, I'm gonna like open it...this is my test to see if I'm ready to do this monologue later today, so like, I can't really be bothered if I can't find it...I can't find it...This is stressful...where do I look, I can't look at you, you'll make me laugh. Can't use you as my...
Okay.
This is like, a lot. Wow.


I was angry. An angry little fucker.
That's acting.
That's acting, you know. You can't cry, you gotta yell. That's my acting advice for everyone.
Yeah, the next question is, do you have a piece of advice? Anything.
Acting advice or like, life advice? I don't think I have life advice.
Anything you carry with you.
Um, I have like two. Um, one of them is like an actual acting thing that my old director would say in like the first rehearsal of every show...when he's like talking about the show and stuff. He would just like, always remind us to listen...it's like a Jim Henson quote, but it's "listening is the first thing and the last thing." So, like, it's so true cause we get so in our heads as actors like, what are my lines, what am I doing, what's my tactic, what's my...how am I reacting to this...where really all you gotta do is listen and respond. Like, there's no acting and reacting, it's having a conversation.

Um and my other advice is just like, this is what I would tell my little, like, my little sister um, she's like my little mini me at high school, but I'd always be like in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Like my thing to her was if anyone, like if a director's mad at you, if you don't get cast in the role you want, if like a girl is mad cause you did get cast in the role she wanted...doesn't matter, you're here to do a job. And like you do it and it's what you love to do.

So I was gonna swear, but I don't know if this is like, allowed to, I probably already did, didn't I?
Yeah, I mean...but I'm not about censoring right now.
Good, glad.
Thinking very Mamet. You be you, and I'll do my best to make you, you...on my Apprentice blog.

Any last words?
No. I think I have said it all. Said too much unto a heart of stone.

Week 6

Week 6 was our first week on the Boston Common! Twelfth Night started previews this week, which meant the Apprentices have been working front of house! It’s been a lot of work and long nights, but it’s really great being out on the Common watching the show take shape.

Now I think it’s actually time to talk about what Twelfth Night on the Boston Common really means. It’s not just Twelfth Night. It’s FREE theater. In the city of Boston. And Shakespeare?

This concept of free theater, or theater for all, as I like to call it, reminds me every day why I love acting in the first place. Try to follow this...

What makes theater so unique is the crucial component of experience, which changes each and every night. I'm not talking about the actors, I'm talking about the audience. It's like what John Berger talks about in Ways of Seeing; that depending on context, the art changes.

What separates free theater from commercial theater are the people watching. In the audience each night is a group of people brought together without exclusivity. The person to your right or left could be anyone at all. That's a bunch of anyones at all in one space watching the same piece of theater.

This model of theatrical experience promotes justice, not equality, but this blogpost isn't supposed to be political, so I'll give you Joe Papp's words instead.

If you don't know who Joe Papp is, he is the founder of the Public Theater in NYC and the brains behind free Shakespeare at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. He inspired a revolution on how both actor and audience think about theater. He made us think about whom theater’s for, why we choose to engage in theater, and why we make art in the first place.

He talks about the accessibility of art and what stands in its way:

“If there is a single driving force, it is its continual confrontation with the wall that separates vast numbers of people from the arts. This wall – spawned by poverty, ignorance, historical conditions – is our principal opponent, and as we joust and engage with this “enemy,” we distill and shape the nature and style of our theater."

What makes free theater complicated is the "enemy." That wall Joe Papp talks about changes every day. So if you're aware of the wall, you should be able to put on free theater, right? Take a moment to think about the implications of this...and in the meantime...

Look, Joe Papp!

Okay. Back to the wall. Accessibility to free Shakespeare shouldn't initially be a fight against the changing society, it has to support it....

In his book, Free For All, he says that theater should be just as accessible as a library. So if a free performance of Shakespeare is like a book checked out of the library, how does that inform the production? Joe Papp will tell you, again:

“In the general scale of things, certainly it’s important to take care of basic necessities… But part of the spiritual life of the city is its art, its plays, so you are creating a false distinction. I always used to say that Shakespeare should be as important as garbage collection, and I liked having a line on the budget that was close to things that were necessities to the city…. That’s what I think art should be: part of the city, part of every day life.”

NECESSITY. 

Steve says that he wants Shakespeare on the Common to be the best thing he could possibly present to the audience, because for some audience members, this is the only performance they'll see all year. But Shakespeare isn't charity. It's a necessity that begins to go at Joe Papp's wall, even tries to navigate through and around the wall.

Shakespeare on the Common is more than just a performance outside.

And this is how I feel about free theater right now. Just so you know, I've rewritten this post three times now, hence the delay into Week 7...

Anyways, did you know, the Public Theater moved into the old Astor Library on Lafayette? Incredible.

Back to what we do here. The Apprentices went to the West End House this week, where we played Shakespeare themed theater games with the kids. They didn’t have a specific interest in acting, but it was so fun watching kids just jump in. I always learn a lot about courage from kids. Also Team Simon got to perform their Greenshow! Our show is pretty kid friendly, so it was nice performing for a young audience.

The West End House reminded me of my 5 summers spent at Turtle Lane Playhouse as a camp counselor. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I saw hundred of kids run through those doors for 5 years and watched many of them grow up with my own eyes. It was crazy.

Experience of the week? I actually ran into one of my campers from TLP on the Boston Common. I was walking to the info tent and I heard him scream "Caroline." I haven't seen him in two years but I recognized his voice. He's 14 and going into high school. I was his counselor when he was 8. He was Horton in Seussical.

Anyways, the official opening night for Twelfth Night is this Thursday, and Team Simon will be performing their Greenshow! Week 7 is going to be exciting! Hopefully the blog post will be lighter next week.

Or not. Ars gratia artis.

CC

Wherefore art thou, Mitchell Buckley?

Wherefore art thou,

Mitchell Buckley?

UNABRIDGED

  

I’m just gonna start it anyways. Um…

Should I just get the Youtube app…would that be…

I don’t know.

Oh wait, hold on, it’s…come on. Oh, here we go.

They’re so loud, should we go upstairs?

If you want, it’s your thing.

Well, do you want other voices in your monologue?

No.

Okay, we’re going upstairs!

Is Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra Jr.?

No, there is a Frank Sinatra Jr.

But it’s a different person?

It’s his son.

Well, I wasn’t sure if he was the son. Okay, I’m just gonna type in Sinatra.

You, okay, well, we can also cut the…if need be.

Do you want to sit in the chair or the kidney?

I don’t care.

I get the chair.

How ’bout Sinatra my way? What’s your favorite Sinatra song? I’m just gonna turn on Sinatra’s greatest hits.

Okay. Hi.

Hey.

Sorry, still trying to pull up the Sinatra.

What’s your name?

My name is Mitchell Buckley.

You don’t have to lean into it.

I don’t know.

Mitchell James Buckley.

Yeah, Mitchell James Buckley.

The first?

The first of my name.

Where are you from Mitchell?

Um, I’m from a small suburban town in Virginia called Centreville. It’s just outside of Washington D.C.

Do you like Virginia?

Um, I think that Virginia’s a great state. Um, it’s beautiful, it’s an important agricultural state. In terms of where I lived…was boring as hell cause it was a suburb of D.C. There’s not a lot going on in the suburbs. You know, every house looked the same it was one of those places.

Do you have any pets?

I do. Um—

OH MAC.
Mac, yeah. Uh, we recently, very recently, like a year ago got our first pet. He’s a bulldog named Mac.

Do you ever call him Mac Daddy?

No. Um, sometimes we call him Big Mac.

Okay, that makes more sense.

Yeah. I wanted to name him Macduff, but my Mom—

You’re such a loser!

My Mom didn’t like that.

Um, so you go to school at Emerson.

Yeah, I go to Emerson College.

FRANK IS SCREAMING.

I’m gonna turn him down a little bit...

So Emerson…

Yeah.

And what year are you?

I’m gonna be a sophomore and I’m studying acting.

Cool.

Yeah.

The sun.

I know, the sun’s in your eyes. I’ll put my hand…

If I sit like this…I can interview you.

Right. I’m blocking. It’s okay, because this interview has—

It’s all about you.

No visual component.

Well, I mean, I take your picture.

Right.

Um. So you like Shakespeare.

Yeah, I do. He’s a great writer.

Cool.

Um, what attracted you to this program?

I was looking for a program that, I didn’t start off even, I didn’t know about Commonwealth Shakespeare Company like this time last year. Um, I was looking for some…a way I could spend my summer where I could be learning and performing at the same time, which is like really greedy of me. Um but yeah, I wanted to be able to learn and perform at the same time and so this program did appeal to me, obviously, because they have classes during the day and then we’re working with the cast of Twelfth Night, we’re in our own production of Much Ado About Nothing, we’re working on monologues and things, so I really felt like it was a place where I could do that, I could learn and perform at the same time.

You could do what you want.

Yeah, what I was looking for. And I just ended up finding it, it looked like the right fit, and here I am.

Just like, random like that?

Yeah.

How did you find it?

I googled it. Like I just, like, I literally like, I was like oh, like a Shakespeare program would probably be good for what I’m looking for, so I like googled Shakespeare programs in Boston and then, this is what I came across. And here we are today. It’s not a very beautiful story.

It’s a nice one.

But it’s an honest one.

An honest one.

Um, so what is your favorite Shakespeare play?

I love Macbeth. I think Macbeth is a great play. I really sympathize with Macbeth, ya know? He’s a man who wants everything. We all want everything I think.

I guess…you might…want everything? No?

Yeah. I’m ambitious.

Okay.

Um, who’s your favorite character? Wait, changing it, what character do you want to play in your life?

I mean, there are a lot of characters I want to play in my life. There are like stages in a person’s life, I think, like I couldn’t play Macbeth yet because, people who are 30 or 40 or 50 play Macbeth, ya know? 19 year olds don’t play Macbeth or like, I’d love to play King Lear when I’m 80 but it’s not gonna happen anytime soon, ya know? Who, uh, now?! Because I’m the right age, I’d love to play Hamlet, because I’m 19 years old and Hamlet’s a young troubled man and I’m a—

Young troubled man.

I’m a young troubled man. Same with like, Edmund, I’d love to play Edmund from Lear. He’s—

Another young troubled man.

Characters I can sympathize. Obviously sympathize not on their level but, there’s something in me that feels the same things they feel, I think.

As young troubled men.

As troubled young men.

Um, what else do I want to ask?

What?

Um. You like to read.

I love to read.

What’s…if you had to read a play, what play would you read?

Like one play for the rest of my life?

No, no, no, like if, if we went to the library right now, and you had to pick one play to read, what would you read?

Well, I’d pick something I haven’t read yet.

NO.

Fine, you want me to pick something I’ve read.

No, no, no…you can…no sorry, I’m not supposed to like answer questions.

Right.

You…one that you…okay starting over. Go back to where—

We’ll start the question over, we’ll cut that part out.

Yes, but I want to know both answers.

Okay. A play that I’d like to read that I haven’t read?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A play that I’d like to read again that I have read?

Yeah. Which one haven’t you read?

Um, there are a lot of plays I haven’t read. Some of them I’m ashamed of. Ya know?

What?

I need to read Streetcar at some point.

NO. SHAKESPEARE.

I’ve never—OH Shakespeare

YOU NEVER READ STREETCAR?!
No, I thought you meant a play in general.

NO.

Okay.

What, you haven’t read—

Shakespeare I’ve already read—

STOP. You’ve never read Streetcar?

No, I’ve never read Streetcar.

Have you—

No.

YOU ARE A YOUNG STANLEY.

I know, I have read all his other stuff, but I’ve never read Streetcar. Isn’t that weird?

Have you seen Streetcar?

No.

You don’t know anything about A Streetcar Named Desire.

No, I like know the characters, I like know the plot, but I’ve never read it. Let’s get back to the question. I want to read Richard III again because um, the last time I read Richard III was a couple of years ago, and I know that I like, missed a lot of the beauty and horror of Richard III.

Because you were young.

I was young, yeah. I’d like to read, with the understand I have of Shakespeare now, I’d like to read Richard III again. Um, and then um, I want to read the Henrys, I haven’t read Henry VI trilogy. I haven’t read those yet, so. But Joan of Arc is a badass.

Yeah, she’s pretty fierce.

Yeah.

(Sigh) I’m still upset about Streetcar, you shouldn’t have ever said it..

I know, I know…

Fool for Love?

Of course, I love Fool for Love.

And um, True West.

True West, True West is like my dream role, is—

Which brother?

 Aaron.

Okay.

The one who starts off normal and goes crazy.

Duh. Ambitious.

Right.

Um, can you do a monologue?

Yeah.

Which one are you gonna do?

Uh, I don’t know. I don’t wanna do something you’ve seen already.

Why?

I don’t know. I’m, I’m, you know what I’m gonna do? I just learned this monologue recently.

Are you nervous?

No. I’m gonna do, uh, I’m gonna do Romeo.

WHAT.

I know. Isn’t that weird?

Yeah.

The other one I would do for you is Edmund but like—

Are you gonna get up to perform this?

No, no, no, I’m just—

Getting on your knees…

Are you ready, I’m gonna do Romeo…

Okay.

Mitchell.

Thank you.

Some of the lines I messed up. I switched one of the parts and then I couldn’t remember…

It’s okay.

So anyone who’s well read on their Romeo and Juliet is gonna realize that I fucked up that monologue, but—

But it’s okay.

Yeah, I feel like the intention was there—

It’s just “Wherefore art thou,”

To hear my voice, to get my voice out there in the public…

Right, which is what this is.

Yeah.

Do you have a lot of readers? Does this blog have a lot of readers?

No.

We need to get you more readers.

There have been like, 500 views on the website.

That’s not so bad.

Yeah, for…

I’ve read it…once. A couple days ago I read it, your posts.

Did you?

Yeah. Is this still part of the interview?

Yeah. This is still the interview.

Who’s gonna interview you?

I don’t know. I’m a little nervous. I don’t know, I have to choose someone… I trust.

Right. Don’t pick me. It’ll all be like—

It wont be an interview—

Do you like poodles? Like…what…it’ll be weird questions.

Um, duh.

Okay, my favorite question.

Yeah.

Do you have a piece of advice that you like? That you’ve—

Just a piece of advice? Any piece of advice.

Yes, NO…that you’ve either received, given to someone else, or something you carry with you…or have carried with you.

I think my favorite piece of advice is…that I like to give people…

Okay…

Is that….the universe doesn’t care about you, which sounds like a bad thing, but it’s actually very liberating, when you realize there’s no, ya know, there’s no plan. There’s no, like…nobody has any idea where you’re gonna end up, so it’s up to you where youre gonna end up. That’s my favorite piece of advice.

That you give to others.

Right. People who I think, would want to hear it, ya know? Cause there’s a lot of people who do believe that there’s a greater plan for them. I don’t believe in any plans.

You don’t believe in plans.

No. Maybe there’s a god, I don’t know, but—

But,

I don’t think,

There’s a plan.

Where I end up is up to me, I think.

Have you received a piece of advice?

Have I received a piece of ad—I’ve received lots of pieces of advice.

Tell me one.

A good one…plenty of good ones. Um…

Tell me.

It’s something my mother said to me once. Um, when I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to school for acting, if  I wanted to pay that much money, because, to learn to be an actor, and she said to me…and I expected my Mom to hate that idea. I expected her to be like “Aw Mitchell…you gotta go find a job that’ll make you money.” And what she said to me was, she’s like “Mitchell. You’re like 18 years old and you’re good at something…and you like to do it…just go like, just go do it. And if it doesn’t work out, like, you’ll find something else to do.” So…

You told me that before.

Yeah, see? Cause it’s good advice.

It is.

Maybe that’s my favorite piece of advice. I mean, I like mine too.

Okay.

They’re similar pieces of advice in the end…that like, you have the power to choose.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anything else to say? NOPE. I have one more question!
Okay, ask your question.

Do you have a favorite experience here so far?

Oh, oh, that’s a beautiful question. Ya know, I have…I’ve had some good experiences here. Um, I’ve had a lot of good experiences here. I’m trying to think of the best.

You have to be very specific. Very specific.

Okay. Give me a sec…

I want details.
Alright. Let me think for a minute.

…it’s a pretty good Frank song.

It is a beautiful Frank song, It’s New York, New York, and I Get A Kick Out Of You is next, so that’s great.

Can this moment be my favorite?

Every moment’s my favorite moment. That’s dumb. That’s a bad answer.

That’s a dumb answer.

It’s a beautiful answer, but it’s the wrong one.

Yeah, I want—

You want like, an actual thing. A thing that happened…um…

Yeah.

You know, there was, there was a day where, cause we spent a lot of this time intellectualizing Shakespeare and like really thinking about Shakespeare, and like, digging into Shakespeare, which is the right thing to do, when you’re like first approaching a Shakespearean text, so that’s like, what we did with Twelfth Night for a while. We like went at these scenes from very like, like what am I saying, what am I trying to get across, what does that mean for my acting, like all these things, which again you have to do, it’s like, like job number one with any script, Shakespeare, or anything else. Um, but once we had gotten past that, I felt like I was kinda hitting like a block, like, now how do I get this in my bones, how do I get this like, in my gut instead of in my head and uh, Adam gave me a note that was like, he was like “Mitchell,” because I’m playing Olivia in our, uh, our Greenshow piece, um, who falls in love with Viola, he’s like “Mitchell, I want you to think about where in your body your love for Ol, your love for Viola lies,” and um, which like, it’s a good note, it’s nothing like mindblowing, but it’s a good note it’s a good like, reminder to have. And then we did the scene again, and like, I was so much more like, in my body, and I like, I finally felt like really good about exploring the character of Olivia. That was a good moment. Yeah.

I was there for that.

Yeah, you were. It was the first thing I could think of.

I think those are all my questions.

Weren’t you gonna ask me if I had anything to say to the people?

Yeah, do you have anything else to say? WAIT. Did I…I’m making sure I asked all the ques—

Yeah.

I did. Do you have anything you wanna say…to my people?

To your viewers.

To my audience.

Your loyal readers.

Which is ending up to be, well, it’s gonna be you.

It’s gonna be me.

Yeah.

It’s gonna be me reading my own—

Interview.

Word vomit.

Yeah.

Interviews are interesting. I think I would say to the people…make your art. Make your art. That’s it. That’s the whole…that’s all I’m gonna say.

Okay…you sure?

Yeah.

Okay.

Week 5

WEEK 5?

Yikes. Where has the time gone? Quick recap on this week. I'm saving some room to speak thematically.

This week, Much Ado About Nothing got completely staged! We had our first stumble through yesterday afternoon. Sari and I are two watch(wo)men. I can't see, she can't hear. In addition to these specific character traits, we are also hillbillies. Like the girls who get killed in True Detective, I'm going to see if we can be missing teeth. 

We also went to Emerson College this week, aka the stomping ground of Simon and Mitchell. We had a "Teaching Shakespeare" workshop with Robert Colby. There was one exercise where 5 people were the ghost of Hamlet's father and the rest were guards. The guards had to walk around with their eyes closed while the ghosts scared them. Let's just say, I'm still scared.

Emerson has a pretty cool campus. Two of my best friends transferred to Emerson, so I spent some time on campus during my Junior year of college. I never really knew much about their acting program, but now I wonder what it would be like to study acting in Boston. Even though I grew up in Boston, I still feel like I never fully got a grasp of the Boston theater scene.

OKAY. ALSO THIS WEEK. STAGE COMBAT. HOLY. I'm just not good at it. I haven't had the feeling of being completely incompetent at something since I did contact improv for the first time at ETW. You'd think that I'd be inclined to be good at badass things, but this badass thing, I can't really do. I'm taking baby steps.

What I'm learning though is that chemistry with your partner is so important. Edmund and I started working together, and we just get each other while holding weapons. With the rapier and dagger, you can hold them either pronated, supinated, or the wrong way, goofinated. We were goofing with our rapiers, but buy the end of our class, we successfully helped each other not to goofinate. We're doing a scene together from R&J. I'm obviously Tybalt and he's Benvolio. "Have at thee, coward."

Okay, thematically. What's crazy about this program is that so much happens each week. Whenever I sit down to write the weekly blog post, I have to look at the calendar to remember everything. Emerson honestly felt like more than a week ago. 

I'm starting to realize that as we enter the second half of this program, I'm beginning to understand Shakespeare as a playwright. He put so much work into his characters and their relationships. The circumstances only give life to the characters. They really breathe off the page.

This thoughtfulness might be inspired from my view right now. It's our day off, so I'm sitting on the deck of my New Hampshire house.

Actually, this is what I'm looking at as I type this post.

Anyways, experience of the week. Yesterday, I interviewed Mitchell for "Wherefore art thou," and he told me he's never read A Streetcar Named Desire. I was so shocked by this, that today, on my day off, I reread it. I think why this shocked me so much is because Mitchell is the Stanley Kowalski of the Apprentice program. If you don't believe me:

That is the face I got yesterday.

Anyways, I've read this play more than any other play. Arthur Miller says that this play is "language flowing from the soul." It's not just a cry of justice for each of it's characters, but a complete synchronicty of it's characters to their justice. Is that even the right tense for synchronized? It doesn't matter.

When Blanche says the "kindness of strangers" line, she better make everyone in the audience depend on strangers too. The kindness of the strangers in the audience to help each other get through the complete desperation of that line. 

But, Shakespeare. He aligns each of his characters so closely to their dialogue, that their character is revealed in language. Like any good character in any book. Or movie, I guess, I just like to read.

Adam asked me during the first week why I like characters so much. It might be language. You learn so much about someone from the way they speak.

..."Wherefore art thou,"

CC

Wherefore art thou, Allison Ciuci?

Wherefore art thou,

Allison Ciuci?

Eating our Linden…

Do you want a bite of this pickle?

Uh huh, wait a second…I’ll eat it now.

Here, you get a whole spear.

Eh, I don’t really like pickles.

Just have a bite.

(I take a bite.)

It’s from Linden, you know it’s good, ya know?

Like this is the best pickle I would be eating,  if I was forced to eat a pickle. I don’t hate it...

A little phallic.

Uh, huh, but it’s cut.

State your name.

Allison Ciuci.

Where are you from?

I am originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, but I  live in Manhattan now, though technically homeless. Huh, sucks.

Where did you go to school?

Um, I graduated from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts.

With me.

With you! Even though we never met.

Oops.

No one gets it, no one gets the NYU thing, that it’s completely normal that we haven’t met. But that’s okay, we met now.

And you graduated in May…

I graduated in December, actually.

Oh, that’s right.

Savin’ that dough. Been auditioning. Going to those EPAs. I did a couple of short films. One involved a meat puppet.

Yikes. Experimental.

I should show you that sometime. It was really funny actually.

Um. Being done with school, what attracted you to this program?

Well, my friend Andrew Dahreddine…

HEY DRAMADDINE!

Dramaddine shout out! He knew I was going to NETC and he said, “Oh, while you’re there you should audition for Twelfth Night and meet Steven. I was an Apprentice there, and he’s really great.” So I said “sure” and I made this whole one woman trek to audition for both. And at NETC I met Adam and talked about the program um, and I realized how much I, you know, I missed being at that very athletic level with my voice and my body, which like, you really need when you’re doing outdoor Shakespeare. So I thought getting back to that and worrying a little bit less about making money and marketability, um, would help me feel like an artist instead of lost in the audition world. 

As I chomp my pickle.

I know, I’m chomping too. Um, so, at Stella Adler, you did a lot of Shakespeare? What have you worked on in the past?

Like scene wise, or…

Yup, at Stella.

Let me see…what are some of my favorite scenes…well my first scene was Amelia and Desdemona from Othello…

Pickles get weird after a while…

I’m sorry, this is my interview. Just kidding. Sometimes the vinegar gets uneven. My grandpa makes pickles.

What? How?

It’s easy, he grows cucumbers and then, you know, you pickle them. You pickle things. 

Okay, so Amelia Desdemona, um, I was Amelia and she talks about husbands being terrible. So that’s about the basis of my Shakespeare. Um, some highlights, uh, Isabella and Angelo, the sort of like, threatening to rape her scene. Uh, and one of my favorite roles was when we did Midsummer and I was Helena. I could relate.

I’m Helena.

We’re both Helena. I mean, I just relate, because one of my favorite compliments from that show was saying that like, someone was like, “Wow, I rarely like Helena.” Either people really like, miss the mark or are just very hard to like because when people are so self-loathing (BURP) Excuse me. It’s really hard to like, like them and I just, that was like, nice, cause it’s like a sort of hard quality to like, for people to get, but I guess, it was fun, it worked.

What characters have you been working on here?

I’ve been working a lot on Portia. Um, just because she’s fiercely intelligent um, and also more status, which is what I’ve been trying to work on as an actor. Um, and I’ve been trying to work more towards darker characters too. I’m hoping in our combat scene I get to work on someone who’s very strong and dark and sort of murderous.

Like I’d love to do Lady M at some point, just to grow and stretch.

That’s the dream too, Lady M.

Yeah.

I feel like that’s just, I keep waiting for it.

Uh huh.

The appropriate time, cause you know it’s there.

Yeah.

It’s just like, am I ready? And I know I’m not…yet.

And, I know, it’s like so crazy, we always think of these characters as like the goal, but they’re all so like, young. Like I was in the script for Twelfth Night today, Viola’s fourteen. She’s fourteen years old. And Lady M’s only like 23, I’m 22, it’s just sort of crazy.

They’re just like us.
Yeah.

Basic. Um, so what’s your favorite Shakespeare play?

Well, I think as an actor, I loved being in Midsummer, like it’s so fun and just, the magic’s really fun to play with, but I think in a sort of wider scope, um I really like his problem plays, tackle…these bigger issues. Like Hamlet’s an amazing play. Um, it’s sort of hard for to like connect with plays where they’re isn’t a role for me, I guess, cause if I was in Hamlet, I’d want to be Hamlet, you know? Maybe I will one day, but, um, I also really love Isabella from Measure for Measure, you know, and that’s uh a really odd play, but some of those scenes are just so great, I’d just really love to see someone do something crazy with it.

That’s really what I want you know, it’s like someone just taking it and like really revamping it…like the all female Julius Caesar that they did. Things like that really interest me, not necessarily like the plays as we think of them and like holding them up on a pedestal, if that makes any sense.

So what’s your dream character to play?

I think, I’d love to do Lady M, you know, there are just so many bamfs, like Queen Margaret in the whole Henry series is awesome. She’s just French, she doesn’t give a shit, she has an affair, I think her lover dies… I don’t know the histories that well. She like leads an army, she’s fuckin’ badass. Then she comes back when she’s old and she’s like venomous and just spews all of this hate truth on the obnoxious royalty. That I think is, she is one of the most interesting female characters. Um, but,

I also really like Rosalind. I really love characters who are so smart. I love that Shakespeare just gave so much of his genius to his female characters, which is why I like him as a playwright.

Do you have a favorite experience here so far? People have been giving me these broad overstatements and I’m like no, personal. Specific. I want the details.

Hey, if you’re an actor, specificity…duh.

I think, part of what I was saying before, I was talking about this with our voice teacher, Paul, (sees a group of high schoolers) UH OH, there’s a crowd.

Scared. I feel scared.

Scared.

I was saying to him that the sort of fear of not getting work and the need to meet people and be likeable is really effecting my acting. Like when I graduated early. And here it was so, you know, it wasn't necessarily low stakes, but it wasn't like a job a risk, it wasn't like I had big industry people in the room, I just had fellow actors and artists, and it really, I really allowed myself to like, drink a tall glass of "fuck it."

So, I mean, I did this monologue in voice, that like, I've been working on for forever, it's just sort of like almost sort of placed to see where I am in my acting and what else I could bring to it. Um, and I just went off, you know, I mean the point was just to sort of let my voice go on this emotional roller coaster with me and it did. And I just didn't care that like I was not like physically ugly but emotionally ugly and like raw and I didn't care if like my character was likable, I didn't care if I was likable and that was really freeing.

And when I was done, I felt like, amazing, cause I like, actually let emotions leave me instead of hanging onto them, which is a very Linklater experience but it also made me think, wow, why do I need to care, you know? Why do I need to care if I'm likable? No one wants to see an actor who wants to be liked, they want to see an actor who does their job.

Do you have a monologue you want to share?

Well, are we sharing already?

Yeah, it's time to share.

I'll share a mono. Um, I'll uh, I'll do some Portia, from Merchant of Venice.

Am I taking off my shades? No.

ACTING.

That was a lot of chair acting. I'm into it though.

So, have you ever received a piece of advice that has moved you?

Well, one of my voice teachers from Adler, if anyone reads this from Adler, they're gonna die. Elethia, Elethia is a Greek goddess of voice. Um, I guess it's not really advice but, um, her sort of mantra, she's Greek, it's just like..it's not really like fuck it, it's like, like, I'm it...I am what I am. And then what she says, before you go onstage, I'm gonna fuck this up, I'm gonna try not to...you breathe, something...what is it? It's four things. I know three of them. Breathe. Why am I forgetting what it is? Uh, she's gonna be mad. Breathe. Something. Trust. Fuck it. What is number two? I'm gonna have to think about it. Really just fuck it you know? Saying fuck it is so helpful. I just love it, I'm addicted to saying fuck it. Like fuck Shakespeare. Fuck the audience. Fuck everything. I mean you love the audience, you love Shakespeare...but when it's the moment, it's just you and that's all you got. 

Day 35: Scared?

Wherefore art thou, Mae Cutrona?

Wherefore art thou, 
Mae Cutrona?

You sure you don’t want to sit in the sun here?  Like a spotlight.

A spotlight.

We’ll trade seats. No, we’ll literally reconfigure the space.

(Mae and Caroline move furniture.)

This is like a talk show. “On the air.”

Okay, your face is in the sun now, we can begin. What is your name?

Are you recording?

Yeah.

Cool. Um. My name is Mae Cutrona.

You can speak up. We gotta hear.

My name is Mae Cutrona.

Perfect.

Yeah.

Now I’m in the sun too.

Where are you from Mae Cutrona?

I’m from the greater Boston area.

Where specifically?

West Roxbury. 20 minutes from here.

Where do you go to school?

I go to school at Muhlenberg College in Allentown Pennsylvania.

And you’re gonna be a senior, right?

I am gonna be a senior.

So, Shakespeare…

Shakespeare.

What attracted you to this program?

Well I really wanted to take part in a program that wasn’t purely, um classwork. Um, since I had done, I had gone to Shakespeare & Company last year and had done an intensive which was primarily text analysis class and movement and that jazz.

I am in this program…it offered a lot of performance opportunities between the full production we’re doing, the understudying, and uh, the Greenshow work.

Did you do Shakespeare at Muhlenberg?

Uh, well, my first experience with Shakespeare was like…was Shakespeare & Company a year ago, and when I went abroad to Italy—

You went abroad?

Yup. In the fall. Last fall. We did some Shakespeare in Italy when we were abroad. A commedia style program, we did some Shakespeare there. And then I took, uh, a Shakespeare course at my school last semester. So it’s been a lot of Shakespeare.

Can you tell me more about Italy?

It’s very warm in Italy.

Had you ever been before?

Yes, I had been there twice before. Uh huh, I’m spoiled. Don’t put that in. Um, yeah, I had been there twice before and um, we it was, a very small school called Commedia De’llarte. Many different schools go there.

Tell me more.

Yeah, I’m trying to. I’m trying to think what’s cool…it was in Tuscany, um and we lived in a villa, so we had the entire villa and did rehearsals, we had three studio spaces or something like that and we were um like a walk away from downtown which was a historic center of Arezzo which is um, about an hour outside of Florence. We’d take the train into Florence.

We did a lot of commedia styling, voice and movement and a lot of um, contact improv, uh, we made our own masks actually, commedia masks made out of leather.

Did you like, make a character?

Yeah you, there are stock characters so I made Alichino, which is the servant.

His name?

Alichino, or Nikki.

I’ve never left the country before. That’s one of my biggest regrets now being done with school. Um, wow, so you were there for an entire semester. And now you’re going into your senior year at Muhlenberg?

Yeah.

So what is your favorite Shakespeare play?

(Pause)

Everyone keeps thinking too hard about it.

I don’t know.

Just trust your gut.

I don’t have a gut.

You have an impulse.

I don’t. I don’t. Cause I like, none of the plays are just perfect. They all have really great points and really awful points. I like this one scene from Antony and Cleopatra that I did recently and it just, I love it so much, then the rest of the play it’s like whatever. It’s, um…

Like, if you had to go pick one play…

Can I pick like a role?

Well, that’s the next question.

Okay then, I’ll pick a play.

Well, maybe, I know like, for me, what’s the first one I’d wanna read right now…do you have one?

Hamlet. Just because it’s so good.

How many times have you read Hamlet?

Uh, once?

Perfect.

I’ve seen the play a bunch of times, but I think I read it once for um, my Shakespeare on Screen class.

Shakespeare on Screen?

Yeah. That was my first exposure to actually. It was a class at my school and…

Starring Kenneth Branaugh?

We saw one Kenneth Branaugh, no, we didn’t even watch the whole thing, it was too painful. Um. We watched a bunch of more recent movies um, like Julie Taymor’s Titus.

Um, so, who’s your favorite character?

To play? Oh god. Um, sorry this is like deep questioning.

Highly disturbing questioning.

Um, just trying to think, plays. Lady Anne, I guess.

From Richard?

Yeah, Richard III. Yeah. I guess. There’s just so many. That’s the first one that comes to mind.

Good. So, if you had a favorite experience here so far, what would it be, and why? Specific.

Uh the day that, it was a Sunday, it was Sunday and we had a open response session and it was just everyone sharing their monologues um, cause it was right before auditioning time, so everyone was working on monologues and it was great to see everyone’s work and sometimes it was feedback and sometimes it was coaching and it was just the point where we were seeing everyone in their element in the piece that they connected most with and it was um, amazing to watch.

Did you share a piece?

I did.

What piece?

I did Julia’s Letter.

The ripping of the letter.

Now, do you want to share the monologue. You can choose any monologue, at all, to share.

I guess I’ll do Cleo.

I know I know the monologue, I just forget the first line.

So have you ever gotten a piece of advice that has stayed with you? That you’re willing to share?

I’m sure I’ve gotten advice I’ve taken at least once in my life. Um. Does it have to be in regards to anything in particular?

No. Anything you carry with you, be reminded of, what is it?

Well, in regard to Shakespeare text, the thing that’s helped me most with working and trying to figure out the material is something I um, my advisor told me, famous quote, is to make it make sense.

I remember that Sunday. Thank you Mae Cutrona.

Wherefore art thou, Sari Koppel?

Wherefore art thou,
Sari Koppel?

Hello there.
Hi.

Got Frank?
It soothes the nerves a little bit. This is really nerve-racking.

Ok. State your name.
Sari Koppel.

Where are you from, Sari Koppel?
I'm from Ithaca, New York.

Where do you go to school?
I go to school at the Hart School in Connecticut. I'm a Musical Theater student.

Year?
I am a sophomore.

Baby.
I know. Can I snap? (She begins snapping to Frank Sinatra.)

First question I'm going to ask you...what attracted you to this program?
I think, I think the real question is...um, attracted this program to me...no, they actually, they kinda found me, um I was at NETCs. And I got called back for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. I was like, what's Commonwealth Shakespeare Company? I've never heard of this before.

And I go in, and, um they wanted me to do a second audition, but I didn't know when I was gonna be in Boston again, and so I was like, I have this piece that I haven't done in a while, and, "Can I look at my phone and like, do it for you in this weird hotel room right here?" And they were like sure. And I was like they're nice people, so I said yes.

That's my story. My relationship with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.

Was it Adam, or was it...
It was Adam and...what's the girl with the blonde hair?

Beth.
Oh Beth. Beth. Adam and Beth. They were really pleasant.

What's your favorite experience here so far?
I'm, we've had one class, but I'm loving stage combat right now. It make me feel a little badass, which is exciting.

Have you ever done it before?
I've done like a little bit of hand-to-hand, but I've never got to hold a sword.

I felt like an idiot.
You just didn't know what you were doing.

The fact that you have a sword in your hand just makes you feel a little more powerful...about yourself.

Do you like the dagger or the rapier?
Um, I'm more of a dagger, because I have no idea what to do with the rapier.

It's so long.
It's so long. The dagger you just back hand it and you could like, I don't know. Griffin and I were like slitting each other's throats all the time the other day. It was fun.

Who won?
I don't remember. We just kinda liked killing each other. It was more the act, we weren't keeping score.

Good.
I hope this is interesting material.

This is the material. Now, back to Shakespeare. What is your favorite Shakespeare play?
I'm really new at the Shakespeare stuff. Like brand new. But, um, I saw a production of Julius Caesar one time with a gender blind cast and it was really awesome. So I'm gonna say that specific production.

Of Gaius Iulius Caesar. That's how you'd say it in Latin.
Yeah, precisely.

In Julius Caesar, there's a line, "What, ho!" I said that to my English teacher once.
How'd that go over for you?

I was a freshman in high school. Yikes. What's the other... "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."
I like to start off my text messages like that.

What characters have you been working on here?
Um, I did a little bit of Katherine from Shrew, but I want to work on a different Catherine, the one from Henry VIII because she's very regal and I want to try that out. I also think Lady Anne is pretty cool in Richard III. You'd get to bawl over a coffin and a dagger fight, so I'd try that too.

So, you're going into your sophomore year, musical theater, what's your favorite musical?
Oh stop.

I'm just curious.
Favorite musical...can you come back to me in like 90 years when I'm on my death bed and ask me again? It might be easier.

A few off the top of your head.
This is easier. Ragtime. Parade. I really, I mean, Bridges is really enjoyable.

Did you see it?
I did. I got to see Steven Pasquale on stage. I almost died. Um, the oldies, like Carousel. Not a lot of people like Carousel.

The song, "If I Loved You," that song, if you go slowly, if you go note by note, it's the most beautiful song.
Note by note.

Literally. If...I...loved...you.
It's beautiful.

It actually came on my shuffle this morning when I was at the gym. I was running those intervals and I heard some "If I Loved You" and I was thinking I can do this.

I forgot one of my favorite shows. It's 110 in the shade. That's probably at the top.

I worked on a song from that show this year. Which one...
That's my top right now.

The one in the beginning. "Love Don't Turn Away"
"Love Don't Turn Away"

"I have so many things I want to do for you"
"I have so many things saved up to say to you," Caroline.

Audra McDonald in that role.
Nobody's gonna get that reference.

That's okay. I love musical theater too. It's funny cause in like, Shakespeare when it goes into verse, it's like a song.
It's like singing, which is why I think it kinda resonates with me. Well, I'm really new to it, but it, the work makes sense to me, not saying I'm a master at it, but it makes sense.

Spiritually. In our musical theater spirit.
It fits well in me. Yeah.

Frank just took it down a notch over here.

Frank has his ways. Do you have a specific goal for your sophomore year at college?
Stay alive. I wanna stay alive. I want to make it through my 8:30-10:30 days.

There's a study done by Yale grad students that says that if you write down a goal, you're more likely to accomplish it.
So, now if I write this down, I'll be able to stay alive.

Right, so I'll write it down for you, and you'll be able to do it. I said I wanted to be in a mainstage production at my school, I was in two.
We don't perform until our junior year and senior year. It's all about the training.

Well, if you had a piece of advice, your favorite piece of advice to either give or get...receive?
Um, well, one thing my parents always say to me is no regrets. Um, yeah, no regrets. Live life with no regrets. Go into every audition without regret and then you won't have anything to worry about because you're like I put it all out there and I don't have to, next time I'll do better.

Do you have a monologue you want to share with me?
No.

YOU HAVE TO.
Um, here, why don't we play a game. It'll be like Shakespeare roulette. We're gonna open up to a page in my Much Ado script. I'm gonna open up to a page and you'll put a finger on the line and I'll read that line.

Are you breaking the rules of "Wherefore art thou," my interview series?
Yup, changing it up. We'll flip to the nearest monologue. Oh here. Wait, I have to look at the background. I don't like this one.

Maybe I should play it your way.

I'm difficult. My journal. How about this sonnet? I like this sonnet a lot. This is Sonnet 25. It's my favorite sonnet.


Is there anything else you want to say?
Caroline is my best friend and my best watchman. Yup.

The tears are coming.

Wherefore art thou, Jordan Lee Cohen?

Wherefore art thou,
Jordan Lee Cohen?

Hi.
Hi there.

What is your name.
My name is Jordan Lee Cohen?

What is your hometown?
My hometown is Medfield, Massachusetts.

And where did you go to school?
I went to school at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts which is in North Adams, Massachusetts. I was a psychology major with minors in Theatre and Sociology. Um, I discovered theatre pretty late, I was a sophomore and I took a random Shakespeare class because I wanted to. And when the teacher asked me why I was there, well she said, "Why are you here?" and I said "I want to be. I want to be here." And the kid in the back of the class saw that and said "Hey, you should be in our production of Taming." And I had the time of my life, and that's what I've been doing since.

So you're, you graduated in what year?
I graduated in 2013. And I spent the last year working for my alma mater as an admissions counselor.

How was that?
It was, it was enlightening. I learned that, I learned that having a void of theatre in my life made me realize that I needed it. So, having...it was a great job. I made money. I was, I supported myself. I was very happy to do that, being one of four kids, having all my siblings in college. Um, that being said I learned that comfort doesn't necessarily make you comfortable. Com, comf, comfort makes, comfort is good, you know, you can put food on the table, you can go out with your friends, do what you want, but you aren't doing what you need. Then something's gotta change.

So I knew something had to change, when I didn't have theatre in my life, and I knew that I felt it physically, mentally, psychologically, and I'll do anything, I'll do anything to stick with it for the rest of my life.

That's great.
Yeah.

Are you gonna, are you going to stay in Boston?
I am. I, I, I...to be honest I'm like frightened of New York City. And I'm not even interested in going to LA because I'm not, not that I'm not interested in Film and Television, I'm interested more in the stage. And obviously, New York's a great city for that, but really big cities scare me, and I don't think I'm ready for that. I don't think I want to do that.

Um, talking to the Boston liaison and talking with these Boston based actors and being here right now has reaffirmed my belief that I could do what I wanna do in Boston.

So, do you think Shakespeare...who's your favorite playwright? Is it Shakespeare?
Hmm...um. I'm really interested in classical work, because I like, my challenge for myself is to make classical work relevant. My goal is to have an audience member who's not, who's not associated with any classical work or training or acting...is to bring that forward. Because the things that really interest me are the things that are timeless.

So, do I like modern work? Yeah. It's interesting. And I think, but the thing I like about modern work is thinking "Will this make sense in 20 years? Will this still apply to people?"

Like Doctor Faustus. That play really interests me.

You should look at Miss Julie. It's not very uppity.
That's why I like House of Cards. House of Cards is so Shakespearean, it's disgusting.

I've never seen it.
Oh my gosh you have to watch it. Kevin Spacey is so cheeky. It's a show that breaks the wall. He's always monologuing and talking to the audience. Always. He's sitting there and he's looking at the camera and he says "This guy. This guy's a fool. This is what I'm gonna do to him." It's so Iago, it's so Richard.

And his wife is just as powerful. Just as sneaky. So Lady M it's disgusting. It is. It is gold.

Alright, so you love Shakespeare, what is your favorite Shakespeare play?
Um, my favorite Shakespeare play ever is probably Othello. Um, mostly because my dream role would be to play Iago. Um, I love that, I think, I think the play has so many dimensions and is just super interesting, because talk about a piece that was way ahead of it's time. Talk about something that's not only way ahead of it's time, but is timeless. Those issues still exist.

And my favorite line in the whole play is, you know, "Where kindness and beauty alack, your son is far more fair than black." That's so interesting and I imagine people in Shakespeare's day were like, "What are you saying?"

And that's probably my favorite play from an actor's standpoint, because I want to do that someday.

So what characters have you been working on here?
Um, so I have, I have a couple of things that I've been working on. My Trinculo speech, my Bottom speech, um, I have a lot of comic things I work on and I tend to gravitate more toward audience interaction, fool work. And that's me, I think that's who I am, and the cheekiness that I have about me.

I'm working on getting into more dramatic work, that work that speaks to me on a different level. So I'm working on a Claudio Measure for Measure speech. And it's probably my biggest struggle because there are times I feel that I absolutely nail it and there are times when I feel like I'm reading words off a page.

Making a skeleton key on getting into the monologue is what I'm trying to do.

And then I'm really excited to be working on the Shylock speech. And not necessarily as something I'd use but something in my back pocket. My first introduction to Shakespeare was being made fun of for having a Jewish last name in high school, and then having a project with Merchant and having everyone call me Shylock. So they went from calling me Jew to Shylock because they thought it was hilarious.

And so I was asked to do a monologue for class, and I chose that.

How does this relate to you? A lot of people look for monologues and they say, you know, "What's your type? What do you look like?" How can you fit your look to what's going on in a scene? Whereas for me, something really personal like that is important to me right now.

Can we hear some words.


The hardest thing about this is we don't confront death until it's in our faces. How do I feel that I'm on the edge of death. Which we are. We never know what's gonna happen. And we face the little deaths and the big deaths, the real deaths, every day.

It's almost funny, I'm my biggest obstacle. I am working against myself because I don't want to think about death.

Favorite piece of advice?
So whenever I go to a show, or whenever I go to a talkback, I ask every actor the same question. And I say, "What was the moment, or how did you know that you wanted to be an actor?" And the best piece of advice that I've gotten is something I keep with me all the time, is that well, you can't want it. You have to need it. It has to flow through you like blood. What you do with your life or whatever you want to do, that thing has to be a physical need for you.

In that year away from theatre, I found out that without it, my body and my mind were not healthy. If you don't need it, do something else. You have to need it.

Your favorite experience here so far?
The voice work with Paul because I've never felt more connected. I, before this program, I didn't consider myself an artist, I considered myself an actor who lives in an artistic world. But I really am an artist.

Paul's made me feel like I can be an artist and not feel ashamed to be called an artist, and I don't need any qualifications on a resume to say that.

My problem is that I'm never in the moment and Paul cracked that open for me.

A specific moment.
Just listening to other peoples' voice pictures and listening and experiencing that, I've never felt more in the moment.

Do you listen or do you wait for your turn to speak. And honestly, before this program I was waiting for my turn to speak more often than I was listening. And now I feel like I'm really listening.

Don't act, be an actor. But don't act.