So this would be my final year to accomplish anything of note before going off into the real world. I had the same high expectations that I had when I was a senior in high school and I wound up with the same results: Utter disappointment and there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it.
One thing that was different for the department this year was that they implemented the Rehearsal and Performance class, which would allow students to get credit for being in the productions. In order for students to know if they were going to get credit, they would have to be cast first. This meant that the two mainstage shows would have to be cast at the beginning of the semester. The two shows we were doing were "Wait Until Dark," directed by Dr. W and "The Beaux' Stratagem," directed by Dr. R. As it turned out, the initial casts of the two shows did not share actors.
I was the only actual senior present at the cattle call. (Chud was still at his summer internship.) Dr. R put me in charge of having those who were auditioning sign in. This was a good opportunity to meet the new people. Some were freshmen and some were juniors who had come from community college. Everyone was required to perform a monologue for the directors. No one else was permitted to sit in the auditorium. I was able to peek in from time to time because I was the guy in charge and I had to see when the actor was finished before sending in the next one. None of the new people did really terrible during their auditions. That worried me.
Both directors posted their callbacks. I did not make the callback for "Dark," but I was on the list for "Stratagem." The weird thing is that I don't remember what happened during the callback. I did get cast as Hounslow, but my role only had two lines. They were actually one and a half lines, because I had to speak a line in unison with the peer character Bagshot. Bagshot was played by a freshman. Again, my character did not appear until Act Two.
However, one challenging thing about the role is that it involved me and Bagshot to get into a swordfight with the two main characters. When we started practicing the combat techniques for the scene, Dr. R told me that if he had been aware that my character was going to do swordfighting, he wouldn't have cast me. That stunned me. I felt so unworthy as an actor at that point. As it turned out, I was able to perform the swordfighting very well and Dr. R never complained.
Early in the rehearsals, I noticed that there was a non-speaking role that had not been cast. The character was supposed to move some luggage around during the first act. I started trying to fill in that slot when the scene was being rehearsed. I had hoped that Dr. R was going to have me do that role. But he never asked me and I just figured he wasn't going to utilize that character. But when we started rehearsing the entire show, I noticed that the actor playing Bagshot was playing that part. I now felt completely worthless and that I had just wasted my college education. And the thing that really got me is that, this time, I had made efforts to get that part by putting myself in there during rehearsals, like I should have done during "Mother Courage" the year before.
I just sat there and contemplated all the work that I had put into the department during the last three years. I realized that no one respected my abilities as an artist. I was almost never asked to be a part of directing projects or senior recitals. But everyone wanted me to do the tech on their stuff. I truly felt like a loser, and I couldn't do anything to change it.
I was so frustrated that when I was filling out my bio for the show, I wrote, "MY INVOLVEMENT IN THIS DEPARTMENT FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS HAS BEEN COMPLETELY WASTED!" I was actually expecting someone to come up and talk to me about that, but no one ever did. They really didn't care how I felt.
For the Evening of One Acts that year, we presented "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You" and "The Actor's Nightmare." They were directed by the dance instructor and I was cast as Henry in the second play. I did a bit as Horatio in "Hamlet" during the play. However, the last line I still had to memorize was this short speech. I had the line cut out on a piece of paper and pulled it out during rehearsal. The director thought it looked so funny that she had me do that in the performance. I really didn't want to do that because it made me look like I was unable to learn my lines, but I had to go along with it.
For the spring semester, we did the musical "Anything Goes," directed by Dr. R and an adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland," directed by Ms. F. Again, we auditioned for both directors. I got called back for "Anything Goes." We did readings from the script. I already knew I was not getting any of the lead roles. However, Dr. R had me read for the role of Moonface Martin. As it turned out, he didn't ask anyone else to read for that part. Other actors had to request to read that scene. I actually felt pretty good about that. Unfortunately, I did not get cast in that part. I was assigned to be the Steward. I was somewhat let down, but when I got the script, I noticed I had 35 lines! This was my largest role since "Deathtrap!"
And then I was also cast in "Alice." (I guess Ms. F didn't hold anything against me from "Earnest" the year before.) Ms. F only actually cast one role, the part of Alice. The other members would be playing other various roles and she would determine who would play what throughout the rehearsal process. This was discussed during our first get together. It wasn't an actual rehearsal or readthrough. She just wanted to meet with the cast before the actual rehearsals started after "Anything Goes" was finished.
This all took place during the first couple of weeks of the semester. During that time, the Program Director at the radio station I was working at quit and I was asked to work the overnight shift full time. I immediately pulled out of a bunch of classes I was taking and kept only the ones needed for my degree plan. I went to Ms. F and told her I needed to withdraw from the "Alice" cast. Since I still had my recital to perform, I knew I couldn't spend very much time on the production. She understood. I felt bad about it, but I did stay with "Anything Goes."
And quitting "Alice" turned out to be a good thing. When I watched a dress rehearsal, it came out like a disorganized mess. If it was just Alice and one other character on the stage, it was really enjoyable. But when the entire ensemble was present, everybody acted all at once like they were trying to steal the show. I'd also heard about some actual physical abuse that took place during rehearsals, and they were planned to look like accidents. I was glad I ended my college mainstage experience with "Anything Goes."
So the last actual thing to do was my recital. I've mentioned earlier that Chud and I combined our recitals and would alternate pieces with us doing a couple of segments together. But there was a strange occurence that happened. Chud and I needed to discuss the recital with Dr. R one day. We went up to him in his office. He GROWLED at us that we needed to make an appointment and that he didn't have any time that day. It's scary when Dr. R growls. We scheduled a slot for the next day. Later that night, Chud came to my dorm room and told me that Dr. R had a heart attack and he had to drive him to the hospital. Chud went on to say that when we had seen him earlier that day, he was experiencing the heart attack right then and there and was trying to ignore it.
Dr. R did not do any more teaching for the rest of the semester. The next time we saw him was at our recital. We were both glad to see him there. He said there was no way he was going to miss it. I got to meet with both Dr. R and Dr. W separately for a post mortem of the recital. The funny thing was that they each liked different parts of the recital. Chud and I had done this skit that was a put-down of some of the students in the Theatre Department. Dr. W thought it was clever. Dr. R disliked it because he thought it was mean. As for the final scene Chud and I did from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Dr. R said it was the closest to real acting he had ever seen me do. (I'm not certain if that was a real compliment.) Dr. W wasn't very impressed with it.
Any time I look back at my college theatre experience and start feeling bitter, I have to remember that there was someone who actually got it worse than me. You may remember me mentioning the black girl I had approached to be my scene partner during the first audition my freshman year. Her artistry was actually well-respected by the other students. But for whatever reason, she was rarely ever cast in Dr. R's and Dr. W's productions. Her sophomore year, she was cast in "Blithe Spirit," but that was directed by Mr. H. She was cast the next year as a fairy in "Midsummer Night's Dream" and a dancer in "The King and I." The only mainstage production she did her senior year was the Dance Department's production of "A Soldier's Tale." I remember when she was talking about people griping about being in "Mother Courage." She said, "I wasn't even cast in that! Do you know how much I wanted to be in that show and you're complaining about it?"
She was cast in the Evening of One Acts that year, doing the role of the Oscar-nominated actress from "California Suite." Later, Dr. W remarked on how good her performance was. He said, "I really wish we had done more with her." But I have a feeling he never said that about me.
I felt very empty at the end of college and had no idea how real life was going to be any kind of improvement. I did manage to find a few of my niches and capitalize on them. Looking back, I see that I had no real direction in college. When I wrote my article about "Things I Wish I'd Known before Starting College," I could have added, "If you lack any actual direction in college, that flaw will likely follow you throughout your life." That's true, but I've found that not having a solid sense of where I need to be all the time allowed me to improvise when it was needed.
But I guess I should be thankful for how it prepared me for disappointment later on in life. I can take some solace knowing that all those people who were given more favor in the Theatre Department were probably shocked at how much rejection they would face when they went out into the real world. I know it's true in one case and I will write about her later.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department, Part 3: Junior Year
After my sophomore year turned out better than expected in the Theatre Department at Eastern New Mexico University, I hoped that would mean more involvement in getting cast in the productions. I especially thought this was possible because a lot of the students who came in my freshman year were no longer around to stand in my way.
The first production was "Charley's Aunt." Dr. W directed it. For the first time ever, I got called back for a show he was directing. I thought my chances of being cast were really good. But I didn't make the cut. I didn't think much of it at the time as there were still three other shows I could get cast in. I got to design the lights for the show.
Next up was "Mother Courage and Her Children," directed by Dr. R. This was an epic show with a huge cast. I was going to play one of the soldiers. My character was supposedly in a position of command, but I only had ten lines and appeared in only two scenes, but it was still good to be in the cast. At the read-through, we came upon my first scene. Dr. R announced that he had cut the scene. I thought, "No! That's half my lines!" AND THERE WERE NO OTHER SCENES THAT WERE CUT! As a result, my character only appeared at the beginning of the second act and I was killed offstage after saying my lines. I really felt like I was being punished for some reason. (I did get to appear in the rest of the show as a soldier for those scenes in which we needed more military bodies on the stage, but I didn't have any additional lines.)
I could have gotten a larger role if I'd known to step up. The actor playing Mother Courage's oldest son got sick and missed rehearsals. One of the freshmen actors who played a non-speaking soldier filled in while we were waiting for him to get better. When it became apparent that the original actor was not coming back, they just let the new guy keep the part for the performances. If I'd known that was going to happen, I would have started reading those lines because he was not in that scene I was in. That freshman actor would have just gotten my role.
Then we had the Evening of One Acts. I was cast in a play directed by the same guy who had directed "Asylum" the year before. There were also a lot of cast members from that play in this one. It was a play written by one of the students that was based on the game "Clue." I said in my previous post that "Asylum" was the most perfect performance I had ever been a part of. This presentation was the exact opposite. Actors were dropping lines and forgetting the blocking. Props were constantly out of place. At one point, an actor forgot to change into this jacket that was central to the plot and someone had to throw it at him from offstage. He put it on while saying his lines. And just when we thought it was over, where an actor said, "I want to be Miss Scarlett," the stage lights did not go down. We were just stuck up there. The actor with the last line said, "Let's play!" and we all started putting pieces on the game board and mumbled amongst ourselves while waiting for the lights to go down, which they eventually did. However, we all felt like we were going to be stuck ad-libbing on that stage forever. This was truly an actor's nightmare.
The spring semester brought our musical for the season, "HMS Pinafore," directed by Dr. R. I knew that the material called for people who could really sing. We wound up getting most of the cast from the music department. I did get to be in the choir, which had actual lines to say in unison. However, everybody kept forgetting to come in on cue, so I was often the only person reciting the lines. In addressing the cast, Dr. R was getting fed up with the blown cues and said, "I feel like just giving all the lines to Fayd and having him say, 'What they're supposed to say is...'"
This was not planned, but the operetta had been the first production staged by ENMU 50 years earlier. We actually had some surviving members of that cast come to one of the performances. They still lived in the area. I don't know of anyone from our cast who will easily be able to get there when they mount the next production in 2035.
The final production was "The Importance of Being Earnest." Ms. C was originally supposed to direct this, and I was looking forward to it because I thought she would cast all of us who were in her classes. I saw it as REVENGE against the students who had Dr. R. However, her husband accepted a job at another university and they moved away. On top of that, it was just me and Chud left from our original freshman class. That wouldn't have been much of a revenge.
The other graduate student, Ms. F, was called upon to direct. I did not get cast. However, I did get to be the assistant director. The only problem I had with Ms. F as director is that her style consisted of having the cast learn their lines by paraphrasing the words in the script. This wouldn't have been a problem, but getting deeper into rehearsals, the cast only performed the lines that they paraphrased and not the lines that were cleverly written by Oscar Wilde. Once during rehearsal notes, I asked Ms. F if I could say a few words, and I went into this rant about how everybody needed to say their lines correctly. I was really fed up with it. I said that the words in the script were perfect and no one in the cast was able to come anywhere near speaking that well. It didn't go over very well, not even with the director.
I stayed for the summer session. We did two productions that summer: "Carnival" and "Chapter Two." Auditions were held for both plays at the same time. Dr. W was directing "Carnival" and would have first crack at the cast. Our new dance instructor directed "Chapter Two." After we read a few scenes, Dr. W started talking about this one character named Dr. Glass, who could best be described as a nerdy wimp. While he was going on about him, I realized this was the role I was going to be cast in. He called me up first to read for the part. This meant I was not being considered for any of the lead roles. Come to find out, everyone else at the audition had the same thoughts about me playing Dr. Glass.
My experience playing that part will be the subject of a blog post that will be coming up way, way in the future. I will only tell you now that it involved handling live animals on stage. It deserves an article all to itself.
As it was, junior year was a severe letdown for me, but it still did not prepare me for what I would go through my senior year.
The first production was "Charley's Aunt." Dr. W directed it. For the first time ever, I got called back for a show he was directing. I thought my chances of being cast were really good. But I didn't make the cut. I didn't think much of it at the time as there were still three other shows I could get cast in. I got to design the lights for the show.
Next up was "Mother Courage and Her Children," directed by Dr. R. This was an epic show with a huge cast. I was going to play one of the soldiers. My character was supposedly in a position of command, but I only had ten lines and appeared in only two scenes, but it was still good to be in the cast. At the read-through, we came upon my first scene. Dr. R announced that he had cut the scene. I thought, "No! That's half my lines!" AND THERE WERE NO OTHER SCENES THAT WERE CUT! As a result, my character only appeared at the beginning of the second act and I was killed offstage after saying my lines. I really felt like I was being punished for some reason. (I did get to appear in the rest of the show as a soldier for those scenes in which we needed more military bodies on the stage, but I didn't have any additional lines.)
I could have gotten a larger role if I'd known to step up. The actor playing Mother Courage's oldest son got sick and missed rehearsals. One of the freshmen actors who played a non-speaking soldier filled in while we were waiting for him to get better. When it became apparent that the original actor was not coming back, they just let the new guy keep the part for the performances. If I'd known that was going to happen, I would have started reading those lines because he was not in that scene I was in. That freshman actor would have just gotten my role.
Then we had the Evening of One Acts. I was cast in a play directed by the same guy who had directed "Asylum" the year before. There were also a lot of cast members from that play in this one. It was a play written by one of the students that was based on the game "Clue." I said in my previous post that "Asylum" was the most perfect performance I had ever been a part of. This presentation was the exact opposite. Actors were dropping lines and forgetting the blocking. Props were constantly out of place. At one point, an actor forgot to change into this jacket that was central to the plot and someone had to throw it at him from offstage. He put it on while saying his lines. And just when we thought it was over, where an actor said, "I want to be Miss Scarlett," the stage lights did not go down. We were just stuck up there. The actor with the last line said, "Let's play!" and we all started putting pieces on the game board and mumbled amongst ourselves while waiting for the lights to go down, which they eventually did. However, we all felt like we were going to be stuck ad-libbing on that stage forever. This was truly an actor's nightmare.
The spring semester brought our musical for the season, "HMS Pinafore," directed by Dr. R. I knew that the material called for people who could really sing. We wound up getting most of the cast from the music department. I did get to be in the choir, which had actual lines to say in unison. However, everybody kept forgetting to come in on cue, so I was often the only person reciting the lines. In addressing the cast, Dr. R was getting fed up with the blown cues and said, "I feel like just giving all the lines to Fayd and having him say, 'What they're supposed to say is...'"
This was not planned, but the operetta had been the first production staged by ENMU 50 years earlier. We actually had some surviving members of that cast come to one of the performances. They still lived in the area. I don't know of anyone from our cast who will easily be able to get there when they mount the next production in 2035.
The final production was "The Importance of Being Earnest." Ms. C was originally supposed to direct this, and I was looking forward to it because I thought she would cast all of us who were in her classes. I saw it as REVENGE against the students who had Dr. R. However, her husband accepted a job at another university and they moved away. On top of that, it was just me and Chud left from our original freshman class. That wouldn't have been much of a revenge.
The other graduate student, Ms. F, was called upon to direct. I did not get cast. However, I did get to be the assistant director. The only problem I had with Ms. F as director is that her style consisted of having the cast learn their lines by paraphrasing the words in the script. This wouldn't have been a problem, but getting deeper into rehearsals, the cast only performed the lines that they paraphrased and not the lines that were cleverly written by Oscar Wilde. Once during rehearsal notes, I asked Ms. F if I could say a few words, and I went into this rant about how everybody needed to say their lines correctly. I was really fed up with it. I said that the words in the script were perfect and no one in the cast was able to come anywhere near speaking that well. It didn't go over very well, not even with the director.
I stayed for the summer session. We did two productions that summer: "Carnival" and "Chapter Two." Auditions were held for both plays at the same time. Dr. W was directing "Carnival" and would have first crack at the cast. Our new dance instructor directed "Chapter Two." After we read a few scenes, Dr. W started talking about this one character named Dr. Glass, who could best be described as a nerdy wimp. While he was going on about him, I realized this was the role I was going to be cast in. He called me up first to read for the part. This meant I was not being considered for any of the lead roles. Come to find out, everyone else at the audition had the same thoughts about me playing Dr. Glass.
My experience playing that part will be the subject of a blog post that will be coming up way, way in the future. I will only tell you now that it involved handling live animals on stage. It deserves an article all to itself.
As it was, junior year was a severe letdown for me, but it still did not prepare me for what I would go through my senior year.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department, Part 2: Sophomore Year
With a truly terrible year past me, I was looking for some improvement in the fall of 1983. I actually got it, and it was a lot better than I expected.
I auditioned for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was cast as Tom Snout. At the time, I thought that it was a great way to start the season by producing a play with a huge cast. It got more new students involved and excited about being in the department, even if they were only cast as extras. The opening play my freshman year only had six characters in it. Compound that with the fact that no freshmen were in the initial cast of the second production made me wonder if anybody really paid any attention to the freshmen. Well, yes they did, but that spotlight never shined on me.
I thought I was on a pretty good roll with "Dream." But that came to a stop with "The Elephant Man." Both of the plays in the fall semester were directed by Dr. R. For the audition, we gathered around in a circle on the stage. He started with us doing movement improvisations. He gave us these pieces of paper, each with one word on them and we were supposed to embody the word each of us were given. He started with two actors. They slowly worked their way toward each other and performed this dazzling fluid piece in which their bodies swayed back and forth between each other. It turned out that their words were "salt" and "water," of which they were not aware of the other actor's word.
Because that took up so much time, Dr. R started putting us in groups of six. My word was "comforter." I don't know what I was supposed to do with that, so I just lied on the floor and moved from side to side. One of the actors crawled over me. That was the extent of my audition. (I should note that if I had been in Dr. R's Beginning Acting class the previous year, I would have known what to do to interact with everyone else.)
After that, he had us do cold readings from the script. He called each actor to come up, EXCEPT FOR ME! (Probably because I didn't do anything during the physical improv.) But I did blow a chance to read. At one point, one of the actors forgot who was supposed to play John Merrick and pulled me up off the floor. In an awkward moment, I pointed at the actor who was supposed to read. Now, if I'd known Dr. R wasn't going to call me up, I would had just gone ahead and started auditioning, even though I knew full well there was no way I was going to get to play John Merrick. In fact, I hadn't even prepared a voice to read for the part, so it was better for me that I didn't commandeer the audition. I would have looked like an even worse actor in front of Dr. R.
I honestly didn't know what I was supposed to do to be considered for the cast. Should I have gone up to him afterward and told him I didn't get to read? Should I have asked to be part of the call back so I would get a chance? Should I risk the chance of him telling me I just was not a good enough actor to even be considered? I just did nothing. Even if I had done something, I still doubt I would have been cast. Those two actors who did the "salt" and "water" piece didn't get cast, either, so it wasn't like I was the only one who came up short. I had hoped he would have realized what happened and invited me to the callbacks, but that didn't happen, either.
However, I did get to do the lighting design for the production. It was very challenging and a lot of fun to put together. Chud got to design the set, so this marked one of many occasions in which we were able to collaborate on projects.
But the whole issue of that audition left a bad taste in my mouth. I started thinking that maybe the problem was that I wasn't really committing myself to the department. I took a look at my degree plan and saw that I would have enough room to declare Theatre as a second major AND I would be able to graduate in December of 1985 instead of May 1986. I went down to the Adminstration building and made the change. I would discover a couple of years later that it didn't really make that much of a difference, except that I could put on a resume that I had a degree in Theatre.
The Evening of One Acts was a go that year. I was cast in "Asylum." I played Chuckles the Wonder Dog. I have to admit that this was the most perfect performance I have ever been a part of. Even Dr. R said he was blown away by our presentation. The only problem was that no one did any publicity for the show, so we only had 35 people show up. That means the Theatre fraternity only collected $35. However, one of the other directors complained that he paid money out of his own pocket to build his sets (which no one asked him to) and demanded that he be compensated. I should note that the director was married and already had a child, so this actually created a hardship for him. The fraternity wound up giving him the $35.
Even though I was one of the better singers in the Theatre Department, I was not initially cast in "The King and I." As I mentioned before, I asked Dr. W if I could play one of the priests. He let me. There were only two of us playing priests. I was glad to be cast in another show. However, I would like to point out that a couple of our A-listers who were up for the lead role were cast as guards. Both of them got mad about the outcome and quit the production. A couple of wimpy-looking guys filled in as guards. And on top of that, they had to run around on stage without their shirts on. They were NOT menacing. We shouldn't have even bothered with guards.
The final mainstage show of the season was "Deathtrap." Mr. H directed it. Even though there are only five characters in it, I got cast as Porter Milgrim. I was finally getting my chance in the spotlight. But it was hard to enjoy because there was another actor in the running for the part. We were both in the callbacks. He claimed there was a battle between Mr. H to have him in "Deathtrap" and Ms. C to have him in her children's theatre production. According to him, he was supposed to be in "Deathtrap," but Ms. C won. While I didn't believe it, it still didn't feel good to hear.
The only other thing about this production is that it set off a bizarre series of castings over the next two years in which my character didn't show up until the second act. The nice thing about this was that I didn't have to do my make up and costume at the same as everyone else. While I would show up at the same time, all I had to do was wait for everyone to clear out so I could do my stuff.
I ended yesterday's post with my ruminitions on my Beginning Acting class with Ms. C. During the fall semester, I took Intermediate Acting. Finally, I had a performance-based class with Dr. R. I was looking forward to playing some much-needed catch-up with my peers. However, on the first day, Dr. R announced that the class would not be like Beginning Acting, in which the participants got all touchy-feely. He said we would learn to work more with our bodies in this class. My first thought was, "No! I'm now going to be three steps behind everyone else." I really felt like I would never be able to reach the level of artistry that I desired. To be honest, I never really did.
But all and all, this was an otherwise great year for my involvement in Theatre. I felt like it more than made up for the cruddy freshman year I experienced. But that feeling wouldn't last forever.
I auditioned for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was cast as Tom Snout. At the time, I thought that it was a great way to start the season by producing a play with a huge cast. It got more new students involved and excited about being in the department, even if they were only cast as extras. The opening play my freshman year only had six characters in it. Compound that with the fact that no freshmen were in the initial cast of the second production made me wonder if anybody really paid any attention to the freshmen. Well, yes they did, but that spotlight never shined on me.
I thought I was on a pretty good roll with "Dream." But that came to a stop with "The Elephant Man." Both of the plays in the fall semester were directed by Dr. R. For the audition, we gathered around in a circle on the stage. He started with us doing movement improvisations. He gave us these pieces of paper, each with one word on them and we were supposed to embody the word each of us were given. He started with two actors. They slowly worked their way toward each other and performed this dazzling fluid piece in which their bodies swayed back and forth between each other. It turned out that their words were "salt" and "water," of which they were not aware of the other actor's word.
Because that took up so much time, Dr. R started putting us in groups of six. My word was "comforter." I don't know what I was supposed to do with that, so I just lied on the floor and moved from side to side. One of the actors crawled over me. That was the extent of my audition. (I should note that if I had been in Dr. R's Beginning Acting class the previous year, I would have known what to do to interact with everyone else.)
After that, he had us do cold readings from the script. He called each actor to come up, EXCEPT FOR ME! (Probably because I didn't do anything during the physical improv.) But I did blow a chance to read. At one point, one of the actors forgot who was supposed to play John Merrick and pulled me up off the floor. In an awkward moment, I pointed at the actor who was supposed to read. Now, if I'd known Dr. R wasn't going to call me up, I would had just gone ahead and started auditioning, even though I knew full well there was no way I was going to get to play John Merrick. In fact, I hadn't even prepared a voice to read for the part, so it was better for me that I didn't commandeer the audition. I would have looked like an even worse actor in front of Dr. R.
I honestly didn't know what I was supposed to do to be considered for the cast. Should I have gone up to him afterward and told him I didn't get to read? Should I have asked to be part of the call back so I would get a chance? Should I risk the chance of him telling me I just was not a good enough actor to even be considered? I just did nothing. Even if I had done something, I still doubt I would have been cast. Those two actors who did the "salt" and "water" piece didn't get cast, either, so it wasn't like I was the only one who came up short. I had hoped he would have realized what happened and invited me to the callbacks, but that didn't happen, either.
However, I did get to do the lighting design for the production. It was very challenging and a lot of fun to put together. Chud got to design the set, so this marked one of many occasions in which we were able to collaborate on projects.
But the whole issue of that audition left a bad taste in my mouth. I started thinking that maybe the problem was that I wasn't really committing myself to the department. I took a look at my degree plan and saw that I would have enough room to declare Theatre as a second major AND I would be able to graduate in December of 1985 instead of May 1986. I went down to the Adminstration building and made the change. I would discover a couple of years later that it didn't really make that much of a difference, except that I could put on a resume that I had a degree in Theatre.
The Evening of One Acts was a go that year. I was cast in "Asylum." I played Chuckles the Wonder Dog. I have to admit that this was the most perfect performance I have ever been a part of. Even Dr. R said he was blown away by our presentation. The only problem was that no one did any publicity for the show, so we only had 35 people show up. That means the Theatre fraternity only collected $35. However, one of the other directors complained that he paid money out of his own pocket to build his sets (which no one asked him to) and demanded that he be compensated. I should note that the director was married and already had a child, so this actually created a hardship for him. The fraternity wound up giving him the $35.
Even though I was one of the better singers in the Theatre Department, I was not initially cast in "The King and I." As I mentioned before, I asked Dr. W if I could play one of the priests. He let me. There were only two of us playing priests. I was glad to be cast in another show. However, I would like to point out that a couple of our A-listers who were up for the lead role were cast as guards. Both of them got mad about the outcome and quit the production. A couple of wimpy-looking guys filled in as guards. And on top of that, they had to run around on stage without their shirts on. They were NOT menacing. We shouldn't have even bothered with guards.
The final mainstage show of the season was "Deathtrap." Mr. H directed it. Even though there are only five characters in it, I got cast as Porter Milgrim. I was finally getting my chance in the spotlight. But it was hard to enjoy because there was another actor in the running for the part. We were both in the callbacks. He claimed there was a battle between Mr. H to have him in "Deathtrap" and Ms. C to have him in her children's theatre production. According to him, he was supposed to be in "Deathtrap," but Ms. C won. While I didn't believe it, it still didn't feel good to hear.
The only other thing about this production is that it set off a bizarre series of castings over the next two years in which my character didn't show up until the second act. The nice thing about this was that I didn't have to do my make up and costume at the same as everyone else. While I would show up at the same time, all I had to do was wait for everyone to clear out so I could do my stuff.
I ended yesterday's post with my ruminitions on my Beginning Acting class with Ms. C. During the fall semester, I took Intermediate Acting. Finally, I had a performance-based class with Dr. R. I was looking forward to playing some much-needed catch-up with my peers. However, on the first day, Dr. R announced that the class would not be like Beginning Acting, in which the participants got all touchy-feely. He said we would learn to work more with our bodies in this class. My first thought was, "No! I'm now going to be three steps behind everyone else." I really felt like I would never be able to reach the level of artistry that I desired. To be honest, I never really did.
But all and all, this was an otherwise great year for my involvement in Theatre. I felt like it more than made up for the cruddy freshman year I experienced. But that feeling wouldn't last forever.
Monday, November 24, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department, Part 1: Freshman Year
I didn't really expect to get full swing into the Theatre Department during my freshman year at Eastern New Mexico University. It was, after all, my minor. I had actually signed up for more Communications classes than Theatre classes that first semester in 1982. I just thought it would be something I wouldn't really devote that much time to. However, the lure of participating in live theatre proved to be too much and I dove in head first before I knew what was going on.
After I was not cast in the first production "How the Other Half Loves," I volunteered to work backstage. Even though I was not in the cast, I did get to go out on stage in between scenes to remove and set props. One of the things I was proud of was putting a large teddy bear in a rocking chair, which was the first thing the audience saw when the curtain opened. I liked that my little touch got to stay in the final production.
I didn't get cast in "The Threepenny Opera," either. My audition consisted of singing a song and learning a dance routine. The dance instructor showed up to demonstrate the routine. She told the students she knew that it was easy. You've probably seen that episode of "Friends" in which Joey has lied on his acting resume that he has studied a lot of dance. During the call-back, the choreographer enlists his help in teaching the dancers the routine. He starts by saying, "Oh, it's an easy routine," and then goes into all these moves that would be simple for an average dancer, but extremely complicated for anyone who hasn't studied any dance. That was how the routine at the audition appeared to me.
Since I was doing really badly in a lot of my classes, I decided not to work on the crew of that production. But I still had to show up and help strike the set. I went backstage before the show was over so I could be there to take things apart. When some people saw me, they would ask, "What are you doing back here?" I found out later that there was some sort of rule that said that if you weren't part of the cast or crew of a production, you were not allowed to be backstage. This would include rehearsals and performances. However, I saw everybody violate the rule during rehearsals. Of course, no one told me this beforehand, but they acted like I was supposed to know.
One thing that worked in my favor during my freshman year was that the Theatre fraternity was planning its Evening of One Acts. I submitted a play that I wanted to direct. My selection was not chosen. However, they decided they needed a short play to be performed in front of the curtain while sets were being changed between two of the plays. I came up with the idea for "Allergies" from the incident with Pad and Scod. I was surprised when it was selected and that I would get to direct. I got to sit in with the other student directors during the cattle call auditions and choose my cast. After rehearsing and getting it down, the Evening got canceled. First, one of the productions had to pull out because of problems getting the cast to rehearse. Then, another one shut down because one of the actors decided to take a leave of absence from school. With two one acts and my little "skit," there wasn't enough to fill an entire evening. I would later use "Allergies" as my Advanced TV Production project my junior year, but I had problems doing even that.
I was not selected for the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof," which was the first production of the Spring semester. It was also directed by Dr. R. I could have been in it if I had signed up for one of the choirs, but I wasn't ready to get into the music aspect of college. If I'd realized I was going to go 0 for 4 in the productions my freshman year, I would have just joined that choir and been in the show instead of being the light board operator.
The fourth production was "Blithe Spirit." The campus bookstore had copies of the play, so I purchased one with the intent of studying it in order to improve my chances of getting cast. But by the time I had decided to dig in, it was a week before the auditions. I didn't get cast even though it was being directed by Mr. H and I was one of the few students on his good side. I was credited with doing the sound design for the production, but Mr. H kept wrangling the project out of my hands.
The only acting I got to do outside of class was at the Southwest Theatre Conference and an advanced directing scene. I think the student doing the directing took pity on me and put me in his project just for the heck of it. It was fun, but I don't think anybody noticed they hadn't seen me do anything before.
I knew I was going to be around for the summer session, so I auditioned for "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off!" directed by Dr. R. I still did not get cast. I wound up working the lights, both setting them up and running the light board.
Also during the summer, a few of us Theatre students performed a weekly improvised soap opera called "Suds" in the Coffee Shop. We actually had a large following by the end. However, it was not without its drama. Right before we were going to perform the third episode, the main guy in charge wanted to cancel it because he didn't like how the rehearsals had been going. None of us wanted to cancel it, so we actually performed it and it came out a whole lot better than we expected. In fact, it was probably better than our first two episodes. During the run, I played two different characters. They were twin brothers. One died early on and the other replaced him in the next episode. It was something fun to do during the summer when we didn't have a whole lot of other stuff going on.
But the one thing that had the largest impact on me was my Beginning Acting class that I took during the fall semester. As I wrote before, my choice of time for the class immensely affected my participation in the Theatre Department for all four years.
I needed to have Dr. R as my acting instructor. When I found out Ms. C was teaching my class, I didn't think it made much of a difference. This was until the next semester, when I got a chance to see how he ran his class. He had his students do some deeply intense acting exercises and improvisations. Everything Ms. C taught us was stuff I had already learned in high school. When I mentioned that I ran into Dr. R before that first class, I really wish he had said something along the lines of, "You're in the wrong class. You need to be in my class." I guess he didn't expect Ms. C to be such a sub-par acting teacher. Dr. R's class leaned more toward learning how to be a method actor. Ms. C's class was more focused on learning lines and trying to say them in an manner that sounded somewhat intelligent.
I already knew I was off to a bad start before entering college because I had already seen amazing acting from the schools in Albuquerque. I was hoping to be able to at least get to that level, but Ms. C just wasn't going to make that happen. Dr. R came and substituted for Ms. C for one class and watched us run through the scenes that we were preparing for our final. He gave some valuable critiques, much better than what Ms. C had to offer. After the class, I heard Chud's partner tell him that they needed to get with Dr. R to improve their scene. When they performed the scene for Ms. C, she had nothing but BAD THINGS to say about their presentation. I think she found out they got coaching from Dr. R and was angry about it.
Because I didn't have Dr. R as my Beginning Acting teacher, he didn't really get to help me grow as an artist. He only ever expected surface acting out of me and nothing more. This was why he never cast me in any major roles in the mainstage productions he directed. I only ever got minor roles, but at least I did get cast from time to time. I just know I was capable of more.
But despite these setbacks, I did feel like I made headway during my sophomore year. That will be tomorrow's post.
After I was not cast in the first production "How the Other Half Loves," I volunteered to work backstage. Even though I was not in the cast, I did get to go out on stage in between scenes to remove and set props. One of the things I was proud of was putting a large teddy bear in a rocking chair, which was the first thing the audience saw when the curtain opened. I liked that my little touch got to stay in the final production.
I didn't get cast in "The Threepenny Opera," either. My audition consisted of singing a song and learning a dance routine. The dance instructor showed up to demonstrate the routine. She told the students she knew that it was easy. You've probably seen that episode of "Friends" in which Joey has lied on his acting resume that he has studied a lot of dance. During the call-back, the choreographer enlists his help in teaching the dancers the routine. He starts by saying, "Oh, it's an easy routine," and then goes into all these moves that would be simple for an average dancer, but extremely complicated for anyone who hasn't studied any dance. That was how the routine at the audition appeared to me.
Since I was doing really badly in a lot of my classes, I decided not to work on the crew of that production. But I still had to show up and help strike the set. I went backstage before the show was over so I could be there to take things apart. When some people saw me, they would ask, "What are you doing back here?" I found out later that there was some sort of rule that said that if you weren't part of the cast or crew of a production, you were not allowed to be backstage. This would include rehearsals and performances. However, I saw everybody violate the rule during rehearsals. Of course, no one told me this beforehand, but they acted like I was supposed to know.
One thing that worked in my favor during my freshman year was that the Theatre fraternity was planning its Evening of One Acts. I submitted a play that I wanted to direct. My selection was not chosen. However, they decided they needed a short play to be performed in front of the curtain while sets were being changed between two of the plays. I came up with the idea for "Allergies" from the incident with Pad and Scod. I was surprised when it was selected and that I would get to direct. I got to sit in with the other student directors during the cattle call auditions and choose my cast. After rehearsing and getting it down, the Evening got canceled. First, one of the productions had to pull out because of problems getting the cast to rehearse. Then, another one shut down because one of the actors decided to take a leave of absence from school. With two one acts and my little "skit," there wasn't enough to fill an entire evening. I would later use "Allergies" as my Advanced TV Production project my junior year, but I had problems doing even that.
I was not selected for the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof," which was the first production of the Spring semester. It was also directed by Dr. R. I could have been in it if I had signed up for one of the choirs, but I wasn't ready to get into the music aspect of college. If I'd realized I was going to go 0 for 4 in the productions my freshman year, I would have just joined that choir and been in the show instead of being the light board operator.
The fourth production was "Blithe Spirit." The campus bookstore had copies of the play, so I purchased one with the intent of studying it in order to improve my chances of getting cast. But by the time I had decided to dig in, it was a week before the auditions. I didn't get cast even though it was being directed by Mr. H and I was one of the few students on his good side. I was credited with doing the sound design for the production, but Mr. H kept wrangling the project out of my hands.
The only acting I got to do outside of class was at the Southwest Theatre Conference and an advanced directing scene. I think the student doing the directing took pity on me and put me in his project just for the heck of it. It was fun, but I don't think anybody noticed they hadn't seen me do anything before.
I knew I was going to be around for the summer session, so I auditioned for "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off!" directed by Dr. R. I still did not get cast. I wound up working the lights, both setting them up and running the light board.
Also during the summer, a few of us Theatre students performed a weekly improvised soap opera called "Suds" in the Coffee Shop. We actually had a large following by the end. However, it was not without its drama. Right before we were going to perform the third episode, the main guy in charge wanted to cancel it because he didn't like how the rehearsals had been going. None of us wanted to cancel it, so we actually performed it and it came out a whole lot better than we expected. In fact, it was probably better than our first two episodes. During the run, I played two different characters. They were twin brothers. One died early on and the other replaced him in the next episode. It was something fun to do during the summer when we didn't have a whole lot of other stuff going on.
But the one thing that had the largest impact on me was my Beginning Acting class that I took during the fall semester. As I wrote before, my choice of time for the class immensely affected my participation in the Theatre Department for all four years.
I needed to have Dr. R as my acting instructor. When I found out Ms. C was teaching my class, I didn't think it made much of a difference. This was until the next semester, when I got a chance to see how he ran his class. He had his students do some deeply intense acting exercises and improvisations. Everything Ms. C taught us was stuff I had already learned in high school. When I mentioned that I ran into Dr. R before that first class, I really wish he had said something along the lines of, "You're in the wrong class. You need to be in my class." I guess he didn't expect Ms. C to be such a sub-par acting teacher. Dr. R's class leaned more toward learning how to be a method actor. Ms. C's class was more focused on learning lines and trying to say them in an manner that sounded somewhat intelligent.
I already knew I was off to a bad start before entering college because I had already seen amazing acting from the schools in Albuquerque. I was hoping to be able to at least get to that level, but Ms. C just wasn't going to make that happen. Dr. R came and substituted for Ms. C for one class and watched us run through the scenes that we were preparing for our final. He gave some valuable critiques, much better than what Ms. C had to offer. After the class, I heard Chud's partner tell him that they needed to get with Dr. R to improve their scene. When they performed the scene for Ms. C, she had nothing but BAD THINGS to say about their presentation. I think she found out they got coaching from Dr. R and was angry about it.
Because I didn't have Dr. R as my Beginning Acting teacher, he didn't really get to help me grow as an artist. He only ever expected surface acting out of me and nothing more. This was why he never cast me in any major roles in the mainstage productions he directed. I only ever got minor roles, but at least I did get cast from time to time. I just know I was capable of more.
But despite these setbacks, I did feel like I made headway during my sophomore year. That will be tomorrow's post.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Watch where you leave your car
Sometimes, it appears that people just WANT their cars to be totalled so that they can collect the insurance money.
The scary thing about this is that someone might just pull up and park here, and immediately try to get out of their car without looking behind them. This is still a very narrow street, even when it's two lanes of traffic on both sides.
The scary thing about this is that someone might just pull up and park here, and immediately try to get out of their car without looking behind them. This is still a very narrow street, even when it's two lanes of traffic on both sides.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Mom was paranoid
I have a good relationship with my parents now, but that wasn't always the case.
A few years ago, I got into a discussion with my mother about the past. The conversation wound up with her crying almost uncontrollably. I really felt bad and figured that I could never really talk about the past ever again.
A few years ago, I got into a discussion with my mother about the past. The conversation wound up with her crying almost uncontrollably. I really felt bad and figured that I could never really talk about the past ever again.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department: A Prelude
On Monday, 11/24/14, I will start writing about my experience with the Theatre Department at Eastern New Mexico University. I will start like I did with the Radio/TV Department and work my way through each of the four years that I was there. However, since the professors played a large role in the department, I need to tell you about the three main ones since I will be making frequent reference to them. In Radio/TV, I just basically had classes with the professors and almost never saw them outside school hours. But in Theatre, I had to rehearse and work with these professors on a constant basis when I was involved in a production. I also frequently went to their homes.
The head of the department was Dr. R. (Actually, he didn't get his doctorate until the end of my freshman year, but I'm going to just call him Dr. R all four years to avoid confusion.) Dr. R was around 42 years old when I came to ENMU. He grew up in Texas and had an extensive background in Theatre before he started teaching at ENMU.
I first met him during my junior year in high school. He had come down to participate in our Career Day with other people from the Music Department. As I was in Student Council at the time, I had been selected to introduce him and the others in the seminar they were taking part in.
Dr. R was a very heavy-handed director who was known for his passion for perfection and his sharp witticisms. If he didn't feel like he was getting what he wanted out of an actor, he would go up on stage and slap him. Everybody on stage would freak out when this happened and they all upped their game in the next runthrough of the scene.
Dr. R appealed to the intellectual and artistic sides of the students. Everybody worked to gain his approval. He was very much the father figure of the department.
As such, Dr. W was the mother figure. His approach to directing was quite different from Dr. R. He was rather nurturing toward the students and worked to build a strong rapport among the cast, going so far as to make everyone chili for lunch after a Saturday rehearsal. While Dr. R thrived on chaos behind the scenes, Dr. W would act quickly to stop things from getting out of hand.
Dr. W was born and raised in Utah. He was 50 years old when I started college. I first met him during my sophomore year in high school when I attended a make up workshop during the ENMU Drama Festival. I approached him to be the volunteer for putting on a beard and got one. Dr. W did remember me from that.
Dr. W taught the Theatre History classes. He was very knowledgable on how Theatre was performed in past civilizations and made those classes enjoyable.
The funny thing is that as much as I liked Dr. W as a professor, I recently realized that he never actually cast me in any of the mainstage productions he directed during the school year. While I played a priest in "The King and I" my sophomore year, I was not part of the initial cast. He posted that he needed people to play priests and to come see him if we were interested. I wanted to do something in the show, so I volunteered. The only other times he cast me was in the 1985 summer session production of "Carnival" and in a "black box" production of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane."
The third constant on the Theatre staff was Mr. H. He was new to the department my freshman year as our technical director. Mr. H had some big shoes to fill as his predecessor was absolutely LOVED by the students. His predecessor spent lots of time working on the sets for the productions. However, Mr. H had a family, so he tended to rush through getting everything set up as soon as possible so he didn't have to spend any more time on the projects. They still came out good, but all the upperclassmen continually griped about him. Mr. H really only got along with two of us, Chud and myself.
Dr. R currently lives in Las Vegas, NM. Dr. W passed away two years ago at the age of 80 and Mr. H left ENMU after I completed my senior year. Chud still keeps in contact with him.
There were other people on the staff. For example, Mr. H's wife worked in the Costume Department. We had a couple of different Dance instructors, and Ms. C and Ms. F were graduate students who taught a few acting classes. While I will be making a few references to these, I will mostly write about the top three people in the department.
Like I said, the fun begins on 11/24/14. I am going to take a week off as I have some personal stuff going on and don't have as much time to devote to the blog. I hope to hammer out at least a week's worth of articles. I've noticed this has been a pattern lately, in which I post every day for two solid months and then take a little time off. I always need that time off to focus my thoughts, otherwise everythng comes out rather forced and what is supposed to be a light-hearted look at my life will suddenly turn into despair.
I don't want anyone to worry about me.
The head of the department was Dr. R. (Actually, he didn't get his doctorate until the end of my freshman year, but I'm going to just call him Dr. R all four years to avoid confusion.) Dr. R was around 42 years old when I came to ENMU. He grew up in Texas and had an extensive background in Theatre before he started teaching at ENMU.
I first met him during my junior year in high school. He had come down to participate in our Career Day with other people from the Music Department. As I was in Student Council at the time, I had been selected to introduce him and the others in the seminar they were taking part in.
Dr. R was a very heavy-handed director who was known for his passion for perfection and his sharp witticisms. If he didn't feel like he was getting what he wanted out of an actor, he would go up on stage and slap him. Everybody on stage would freak out when this happened and they all upped their game in the next runthrough of the scene.
Dr. R appealed to the intellectual and artistic sides of the students. Everybody worked to gain his approval. He was very much the father figure of the department.
As such, Dr. W was the mother figure. His approach to directing was quite different from Dr. R. He was rather nurturing toward the students and worked to build a strong rapport among the cast, going so far as to make everyone chili for lunch after a Saturday rehearsal. While Dr. R thrived on chaos behind the scenes, Dr. W would act quickly to stop things from getting out of hand.
Dr. W was born and raised in Utah. He was 50 years old when I started college. I first met him during my sophomore year in high school when I attended a make up workshop during the ENMU Drama Festival. I approached him to be the volunteer for putting on a beard and got one. Dr. W did remember me from that.
Dr. W taught the Theatre History classes. He was very knowledgable on how Theatre was performed in past civilizations and made those classes enjoyable.
The funny thing is that as much as I liked Dr. W as a professor, I recently realized that he never actually cast me in any of the mainstage productions he directed during the school year. While I played a priest in "The King and I" my sophomore year, I was not part of the initial cast. He posted that he needed people to play priests and to come see him if we were interested. I wanted to do something in the show, so I volunteered. The only other times he cast me was in the 1985 summer session production of "Carnival" and in a "black box" production of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane."
The third constant on the Theatre staff was Mr. H. He was new to the department my freshman year as our technical director. Mr. H had some big shoes to fill as his predecessor was absolutely LOVED by the students. His predecessor spent lots of time working on the sets for the productions. However, Mr. H had a family, so he tended to rush through getting everything set up as soon as possible so he didn't have to spend any more time on the projects. They still came out good, but all the upperclassmen continually griped about him. Mr. H really only got along with two of us, Chud and myself.
Dr. R currently lives in Las Vegas, NM. Dr. W passed away two years ago at the age of 80 and Mr. H left ENMU after I completed my senior year. Chud still keeps in contact with him.
There were other people on the staff. For example, Mr. H's wife worked in the Costume Department. We had a couple of different Dance instructors, and Ms. C and Ms. F were graduate students who taught a few acting classes. While I will be making a few references to these, I will mostly write about the top three people in the department.
Like I said, the fun begins on 11/24/14. I am going to take a week off as I have some personal stuff going on and don't have as much time to devote to the blog. I hope to hammer out at least a week's worth of articles. I've noticed this has been a pattern lately, in which I post every day for two solid months and then take a little time off. I always need that time off to focus my thoughts, otherwise everythng comes out rather forced and what is supposed to be a light-hearted look at my life will suddenly turn into despair.
I don't want anyone to worry about me.
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