Wherefore art thou,
Geoff Van Wyck?
DATE NIGHT EDITION
Testing, 1, 2... Testing. This is a destination interview! With, uh, Geoff.
Hi.
Hey Geoff. Maybe we don't have to project as much, you know. Hey. Okay. Uh. What's, what's your name Geoff?
My name is Geoffrey Prescott Van Wyck.
Great. Um, where are you from Geoffrey Prescott Van Wyck?
Prescott's my middle name, you don't have to add that.
No, it's fine...I like it a lot.
Um, I'm from...
Geoffrey Prescott would be a great film name.
Geoffrey Prescott?
Well, actually Van Wyck is very theatrical. So I would...
I mean, I've never thought of that before, but yeah, maybe...but I'm from Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Mahblehead.
Mahblehead.
Where did you go to school, Geoff?
I went to school at uh, I went to Marblehead High School and then...
And then where?
I went to uh, Curry College for two years and then I went to Marymount Manhattan for the remainder.
Cool.
Where was your favorite...what was your fav...when you transferred out of Curry, was Marymount all you ever wanted?
Yes, in the fact that it had a more established acting program um...
Did you study acting at Curry?
I did, I uh, I didn't major in it though, they had a, uh, concentration in Theatre, so I majored in Communications for the two years and that's where I like, did all their shows, um and it was a great experience. The program did Romeo and Juliet my first semester...
Were you in it?
I was Mercutio.
Get out.
Yeah, I know. It was great.
That's great!
It was awesome, I loved it. One of my favorite shows I've ever done.
Have you done a lot of Shakespeare?
Um, yeah, I have. I uh, my first experience with Shakespeare was with the uh, the Rebel Shakespeare of Salem. It was like a teen, like no, not even, like a...I don't know...young kids program where we would do Shakespeare shows...Midsummer there one year, then Hamlet the next where we toured around Massachusetts, um, and, then I did Romeo and Juliet. Uh, and then my next show was Othello and then I did Love's Labour's Lost...I also did The Tempest and um, and now I'm doing Much Ado About Nothing.
That's more Shakespeare than I've done. I've done...
Zippo.
Zip.
I remember you did your first monologue and I was like, yeah.
Adriana?
Yeah. You had such a clear vision, you had this, your smells, what the room smelled like. I was so like, I don't know, wowed by that. I'd never seen that kind of script work from an actress before.
Thanks Geoff.
Well I was watching...I spent a lot of time watching people audition for film my last semester at school...and...I...I realized that people were making those choices and I wasn't and I was...obviously I can make that choice. It's an easy choice to make. It's just about specificity. So ever since then, ever since I've been watching for that, it's not just about the words you say. It's actually about where you are...it's about the whole thing! Like, I wanna be in the room with that character. You know?
Yeah, totally.
If you're in a close up on film and you don't know where you are, then like, it doesn't make any sense. So that's where that comes from. Like who you're with. Who just left. Who you want to be with. Sorry, I'm getting pretty theatrical and this isn't my interview. That's the problem. These have become conversations.
I really like working with Adam. You can see him put a lot of personal investment in all of us. Like, how...
It's pretty impressive.
Yeah.
Shout out Adam.
Hey.
So, what's your favorite Shakespeare play?
Oh god, um, it's, uh, I just have so many. Uh...
Pick one.
Top five.
No top five. Just right now. It changes...
Henry IV Part 1.
Okay. Any reason?
Um, I really identify with Hal. Just uh, his, uh, relationship with his father, um, the, his struggle with, um being a prince and not necessarily like, appreciating the fact that he is and he kinda, and you know he has this duty to be uh, next in line for the crown but he's just trying to like, uh, live his life and be with the people he finds at the time to be uh, the most real...the most down to earth. And that's just you know, the people that are living loosely.
Living loosely.
Yeah, yeah. Um, also I love The Tempest, Titus Andronicus, it's such an out there show. I wanna do shows that aren't done as often I guess.
That's how I feel sometimes too. Someone's gotta give 'em justice. That's why I whip out Adriana all the time.
So, who have you been working on at Shakespeare Camp?
Um, well, definitely Puck. He's the one that I spent my time with learning a monologue from him and I love characters like that where they are supernatural...that I can invest my body fully and he's someone who isn't human. Like when I was a kid I would literally walk around and pretend to be the animal I was interested in at the time, whether it be a cat, a pterodactyl, whether it be an alligator.
You do have some reptilian characteristics.
Thank you.
Now, do you have, do you have a favorite experience here so far?
That's uh...um, performance wise, I was most uh, I felt very, I felt like I had contributed something as a whole to the Apprentices, uh, when I first did my Puck monologue for everyone and like Adam's one on one session with everyone. I, I don't know, I felt like I just...it was my first time showing it to anyone and uh, I just felt really invigorated at the time. Doing it, after it...I just felt very whole...I guess.
Yeah, I remember being there for that. I remember...
Eating the flower.
The Magic card.
Yeah.
Do you want to explain that moment for us?
THE WAITRESS COMES OVER
Thank you.
We can talk and eat! We can eat and talk! And we're...this is the moment we're eating!
Yeah.
The choice is to eat. My intention is eating.
And it's perfect, we're talking about eating the flower. Uh, well the Apprentices, mostly the guys have really taken into playing Magic The Gathering and I just chose to eat a Magic card because I knew it would connect to a lot of the guys...
A lot of the men.
A lot of the men. I actually made that decision to eat the card early on in the process. "What if Puck eats this flower" and I just tried to make that happen.
It was so appropriate. That's the thing too that I love, that you can make choices for your audience, and you can't be afraid of that. If you know who's gonna be watching, why not? I thought it was so funny. You looked at Courtney too and she's still traumatized.
Yeah, we had a moment.
I skipped a question so we have to go back.
Alright.
The question is this. What attracted you to this program?
Last summer I was searching Shakespeare companies in the area and I stumbled across Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and I saw that they had an Apprentice program and immediately I was intrigued with what they were offering. Stage Combat initially caught my eye along with more movement work and um, just a, a next place to work on Shakespeare. I had just taken two Shakespeare courses in college um, one text and play research and the next performance research and I was just very uh, very excited about Shakespeare at the time and at the moment I realized I couldn't apply because I had missed my opportunity, so I just kept that in the back of my mind for a year, that I was gonna do it and I auditioned for Adam in the very rehearsal space where we spend most of our time working um, and I uh, I got in.
Wow. That's great. I auditioned a year ago, when there were no spots for me. I got an email about doing to program this year, and I didn't have anything, and I was like, this is perfect. So, that's why I'm here.
Honestly, I can say this has been the best summer that I can like, honestly remember. With like detail...all the friends I've made, uh, the experiences I've had. We're all working to increase our level of ability and our passion and we just, we all just love each other.
It's nice to be with people who are really passionate.
Exactly.
It's also like, how did Adam put these people together? Because we kinda work, like, in a really interesting way.
Yeah, we do. I feel...
I'm always skeptical. I'm always skeptical about group dynamic. But it just kinda...works.
Yeah, it really does work. And going completely off what Mitchell told us about his conversation with one of the volunteers, that there was a lot of drama last year...
Yeah, WHAT?
I feel like there's very limited drama for our group. I'm really happy about that also, because we can sort of get past it and just work on what we love.
Now, next question, I know you're eating...
I am eating. It's really good.
Um, I'm gonna ask you to do a monologue, but you can do that after a few more bites...
Okay.
Just keep that in the back of your mind.
Do you have a favorite quote that you Geoff Prescott Van Wyck carry with you?
I just can't get rid of the quote that's like, ringing in my head right now at this very moment and that's "What fools these mortals be." And I feel like that kinda just, that particular quote...when I'm reading everyday news or you know, life events, I'll just think...We can fuck up sometimes, but um, we all make mistakes, we're all humans...that's Puck by the way.
"What fools these mortals be."
Do you wanna do your monologue now? Here?
I mean...I have to keep my voice down.
You can just speak the text...
Okay.
With passion.
Do you have a request, or should I just go.
How do you feel, two bites into your lobster roll, here at Back Deck, a little shout out to our location, drinking a strawberry lemonade is Geoff and I am drinking a beer. A beer. Me. This Juliet is drinking a beer.
Gender roles reversed.
And our Puck is drinking a strawberry lemonade. Go ahead, do your monologue.
Geoff Van Wyck. One of the only Apprentices to look me in the eye. What is acting, friends?
And you know how hard that is, especially for me...remember Paul's class?
Any last words?
To those reading this blog and considering applying to this Apprenticeship, it's really a once in a lifetime experience and the training you get is A quality and Adam is a great director and Steve is a terrific director of the entire Commonwealth Shakespeare program, it's just been a wonderful experience.
Geoff's Tony speech, ladies and gentlemen.
