action

the past two weeks have been awesome- a whirlwind of all-day rehearsals, and superquick 1.5 day trips to new york.

after almost three weeks of table work, we sat down to the table to start another long day, when jim, who plays brutus, said: "arthur, i'm not sitting at this table and reading any more. we can keep reading, but i'm going to stand up." arthur's face was inscrutable for a moment, and then, in his thick french accent, said: "okay. we have a run-thru."

now, a run-thru is what you typically do after blocking each scene in the show. you work on the pieces, then you put them all together. when you go see a play, you are watching a run-thru. what arthur proposed was to skip everything that typically goes in the middle of the process. three weeks at the table reading, and now, hey, let's put on a show.

long story short, it was awesome, albeit messy, weird, and funny-looking. we had a blast, and out of the sheer shock of trying to act out a whole play on the fly for the first time, we came up with a lot of fun stuff that remains in the show now. we've spent the time since then working on scenes individually, and running the show in parts and wholes.

it's great fun to do. during the show i get some great little monologues, plus i get to perform a dance, to murder an emperor, smear my hands in his blood, kill myself, and after dying, help another guy kill himself too. i get to wear a skinny 60's suit, smoke a cigarette, and scream at the top of my lungs. and all the who's of the who in cambridge will come to see it. and the best part of it all: i'm getting paid for this!

(pic is of me in rehearsal waiting for my next scene.)

strangers website

the russian version of the 'strangers' website is up- not super helpful to people who don't read cyrillic, but still fun to check out. once you click on the title page, if you click on the word 'foto' (in russian it looks like POTO), there are some fun pics from the set.

http://www.chuzhiemovie.ru/

spring is early

in the middle of the second week of rehearsals for julius caesar, and it's going great. we're still sitting at tables, and on our fourth pass through the script. we keep discovering new things, and we're making serious headway towards developing an understanding of the complex world of our production. but it's getting harder and harder to sit at that table for hours upon hours per day! i don't know if it's the old theatre chairs from the seventies, or the windowless basement room, or the pasty fluorescent lights, but i'm getting more and more restless sitting there. i'm fully engaged in the work at hand, but my butt cries for some walking around, or at least an ergonomic chair!

the director told us at the beginning that the table work is the most important, and that his style is to keep actors at the table until they're chomping at the bit to get on their feet- the idea being that there will be an energy and excitement and a literal speed to staging things since we'll be so excited to be rid of the table. i think his technique is working!

i did have a costume fitting, which was fun. i'm gonna have a pretty sweet skinny black suit, and possibly some thick black-rimmed glasses. i'd love to get the glasses, because that's a real gift for character development. i've started wearing a suit jacket in rehearsals, even at the table, just to get a feel for speaking shakespeare in one. it makes a difference, even if it is a very small one.

cambridge has been unseasonably warm the last few days, which i've thoroughly enjoyed, but has definitely made the atmosphere outside weird. it's odd that i can pull off flip-flops in january! in some corners and parking lots there are still huge melting chunks of dirty snow!

cambridge is cold

just finished my third day of rehearsals here in cambridge for JULIUS CAESAR. it's been amazing so far- i just pinch myself in rehearsal to see if i'm dreaming- it's an cast, and amazing director, an amazing theatre, and of course shakespeare's play is pretty good, too! i'm tremendously lucky to be here.

 

that being said, it is COLD. the day before yesterday i got lost trying to find a castmate's apartment and when i finally got inside, everyone lauged at the icicles in my mustache. seriously. icicles in my mustache. it's colder here than it was in moscow!

 

plus, i'll have to get internet installed by Comcast if i want it in my apartment here. i am sitting in kinko's now, breathing a sigh of relief, having gone nearly three days without internet. clearly it's an addiction.

 

in a few minutes i go to my first costume fitting, then i will go home to do more homework on this play. shakespeare is demanding!

 

more soon.