You’re ready to go on in a hit Broadway play. Your stage is ready. Your audience is filtering in. It’s feeling good as one of your eight performances this week. All good until a theatrical violation occurs. One of your audience members comes on the stage. As reported and confirmed earlier this week, a patron Read More
Actor
The Slippery Stage. Find your footing when wet. Or dry.
There’s a lot to contend with when doing theatre in the park. Add rain and you’ve got a challenge. Big time HATS OFF to the entire production company of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival for their outdoor performance of King Lear with John Rensenhouse in the lead (masterful performance). That’s tough going when you’re Read More
Talent + Bone Structure: Trusting your Readiness
I was ready to go on stage. But apparently not ready enough. My entrance to the stage was through the audience for the first performance of “Pieces of Eight” a medley of significant short plays assembled by the famous theatre director Alan Schneider. As faculty at UC San Diego in La Jolla, Alan directed the Read More
Singing for Supper: Adapting to Audience. And air.
At the Palace Hotel in Cripple Creek, Colorado, music was in the air while diners dined. That due to the talented Lays family – Bob, Martha, Rick, Martin and Bob Jr. Dang that family could sing. Imagine sitting down around large oak tables to a Friday night Colorado prime rib dinner in a hundred-plus-year-old hotel Read More
Creative Tension. Stretching to engage your Audience.
The third grader in the back of the room couldn’t stand it. He was just dying to let go. Holding the attention of an elementary school class may be the biggest challenge you’ll ever face as a communicator. I know it was for me. My daughter asked me if I would come talk to her Read More
Gesture. Who’s it for, anyway?
Watching the local news last night, I realized I was in good hands. Then I started watching the anchor’s hands. In one segment where she stood in front of a large video display, she held her tablet in one hand and gestured with the other. Interestingly, she gestured with every word. This is a very Read More
Be Still.
They asked me to teach Movement. I learned to teach Stillness. In acting disciplines there is “Movement for the Actor” which I was asked to teach at the University of Washington Graduate School Professional Actor Training Program. 12 member classes were selected from national auditions to participate in the rigorous 3-year Master of Fine Arts program. Other Read More
To Belittle. Is it on your Action list?
Coming home after a tough rehearsal, I felt really small. The Director made me feel that way. As a grad school intern, I was so excited to audition for The Old Globe theatre in San Diego. Nestled on the edge of Balboa Park right up against the San Diego Zoo, the three-theatre complex and its Read More
“Misuse of energy makes one accident prone.” How to avoid the accident.
Famous international stage director Tadashi Suzuki got it right. He’d say, “misuse of energy makes one accident prone.” Having worked with Suzuki over several years—from his rigorous, life-changing physical Actor training to performances at the Japanese Emperor’s theatre to having him snap photos of us “gaijin” actors making a mess of ourselves eating watermelon outside Read More
The Tail of Truth. How cats help communicators.
If you want to know the truth of a cat, watch two things: Their pupils. And their tails. If you want to know the truth about communicators, watch their body. Ten presenters and a handful of leadership mentors took to the huge stage at the beautiful Kansas City Kauffman Center last night. Among the ten Read More
