Annnd.... we're open

Well, Lamb Lays With Lion Vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull is officially open, and not surprisingly, the reviews are mixed! We've had two write-ups, thus far. Lightsey Darst, writing for MnArtists, came to a rehearsal and wrote "I can't tell whether Lamb Lays with Lion vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull is a train wreck or a stroke of genius; I can't even tell where the performances stop or start." In a similar befuddled review, my friend and editor Jay Gabler wrote:

At first, I thought I really did like it. Then, I thought I didn't. Then, I did like it again—and finally, I realized that one of the things I like most about it is that what I thought changed so many times over the course of the show's hourlong running time. When you often write about theater, it's really refreshing when a piece is half-over and you still have no idea what you're going to say about it.

The reason I'm not surprised that both reviewers were so back and forth on their opinions of the piece is because the work itself is so different than the usual theatre fare, which I think is a compliment to Jeremey Cotterton, our director. What's interesting is that the "Lamb's" side isn't all that "avant garde", but the whole idea of the piece, to put the two sides against each other, is something so unusual and so ballsy that you have to give him credit just for that.

Does it work? Well, I have no idea. My friend Ben Kreilkamp asked me what I thought of the piece, and I honestly really can't say. I'm in the piece, and my job is to live the circumstances of my character as truthfully and as honestly as I can. I'm still figuring it out, honestly, even though we already opened. There are moments that I don't think I've nailed yet- particularly at the end of the first act. I also got some feedback that I was coming across as "bitter" when that was not my intention at all, so I'm working to make Masha more vulnerable while pursuing her objectives. As for how well the piece works, I have to rely on people who see the piece and can relay their experience. Ultimately, that's all any artist can do. You can never really know if something works or not if you are involved in the project. So come see it, and tell me what you think.

Masha

Unfortunately I have the annoying habit of letting characters I play pervade into the rest of my life. When I was in Marat/Sade, playing a patient in the asylum, I would have to do yoga after every performance just to get back into reality. When I played Thyona in Big Love, I lifted weights and became very bitchy in my personal life. Playing Masha has similar problems. Her melancholy seeps into my life like a leaking pen. Lines in the play, such as "I am in mourning for my life" or "My life drags behind me endlessly like an unraveling scarf," come into my head throughout my day. They are unwanted. I don't want to be a love-starved depressed alchoholic!

But I do the work. And try to maintain some distance, but not too much. I partially enjoy the pleasure of losing myself in the role- enough so that I feel like Masha sometimes even when I am not acting. I know some actors- including the great Stanislavski, would say that is a big no-no, but that is how I do it. I act in juicy parts like this so rarely that I have to relish in it.

In the particular production that I'm doing right now, I have the added challenge, besides playing the part, of also playing the part while someone else is playing it on the other side of the stage. This causes some difficulty, as concessions need to be made about timing and such. But the cast from the other side have been really fantastic, and are great about negotiating what will work best.

We're working on having everything sync up together, and at the same time I still have to do the work of realizing this character of Masha. I pretty much have used method acting in my process, using substitutions from my own life to fit the circumstances of the play. Maybe that's why I have such a hard time separating theatre from reality. But I've found that drawing on my personal experience for a role is the most effective way to create believable actions on stage. At least for a realistic play. And even though the sum total of two casts performing Seagull will be not realism at all, the fact is that the side that I'm on is definitely doing the play as naturalistically as possible.

In any case, I'm really enjoying playing Masha. I'm really going to miss her, if she ever leaves me.

Synchronicity

This week, the two casts for Lamb Lays with Lion vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull have been meeting together after spending the first two weeks of the rehearsal process working separately. It's pretty intense. Since my side, the Katie Mitchell "realism" side, is performing at the same time as the other cast, I haven't had that much opportunity to watch the other half perform, although it seems to be, from what I can tell, an almost cinematic take, full of irony, using microphones and lighting as tools to alienate and disrupt the audience and performance.

One aspect of performing at the same time as the other cast is how difficult it is to speak in synchronicity with them. While sometimes there are intentional moments of discord, when the actors speak at different paces, for the most part we are supposed to speak as one voice, while our movements, characterizations, and actions are very different.

I'm finding that I have a tendency to be fairly creative with my lines, which I simply cannot do in this production. I have to speak them absolutely verbatum from the script. The process also requires communication with the actor on the other side in terms of when to take pauses and things like that. It can be a bit frustrating, but in the moments when I'm not not acting, and instead watching the performance, it really is a pretty cool effect.

One little perk that I quite enjoy is that the Katie Mitchell cast gets to drink tea and eat biscuits between acts. I can't believe how much more civilized this makes the whole experience! Why have I not been drinking tea and eating biscuits for every show I've ever been in? It's fantastic.

Theatre of Disruption

There has been a change of plan. I went to the first meeting with the Seagull cast(s) tonight and learned that because of extenuating circumstances the original schedule for Lamb Lays with Lion Vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull has changed. Before, we were going to do a preview of the show at The Southern Theater's New Breed Festival followed by a full run of the entire show at the Fallout Center. When we were all gathered in a circle at the Fallout Center, Jeremy Catterton told us that he has made the decision to cancel the Fallout presentation and focus totally on what we are going to do at The Southern.

I honestly am happy with his decision. I feel that this gives us a narrower focus and an opportunity to really push the limits of what we can do with the piece. Jeremey said that in his conversation with Jon Ferguson, he asked "Do I have a right to spill blood onstage?" and Jon replied "Yes." (Note: I don't think we actually are going to be spilling blood onstage."

Jeremey said that he wasn't sure which sections of the script we are going to do yet in the 30-45 minutes we're allotted, but he knows definitely we'll be doing Nina's soliloquy, the play within the play, and the Horse scene. He said we could email him if their were certain moments that we really wanted to be kept in the new cut, but i don't think I'll do that. I haven't been with the project long enough to be married to any one line. I'm really happy to be part of something that is really groundbreaking as opposed to focused on my individual role. I mean, sure, I love the character of Masha, and I will work very hard to create a full and nuanced characterization within the context of Jeremey's concept.

We talked a little bit in the meeting about how things are actually going to work, which may change as we work through the process. The actors will be playing their characters and also themselves as actors. So there is a dual superobjective for each character/performer. The actor has a through-line in terms of the play's text, but meanwhile the character has a through-line in terms of the competition between the two casts. The way Jeremey demonstrated it, it seemed as if we might actually physically step in and out of the character and actor roles.

Some of the other techniques we'll be playing with are synchronicity and repetition. Nina's soliloquy may be delivered twice, for example, or the two casts may speak the same lines at the same time.

There also may be some interaction between the two casts. For example, if an actor is playing a scene, and is missing a prop, he may steal one from the other cast.

Because the actor from the Katie Mitchell cast has dropped out, Jeremy has decided not to recast him and instead his absence might actually be remarked upon and maybe the Katie Mitchell cast might even need to steal an actor from the Lamb Lays with Lion cast. This all will need to be worked out as we rehearse it.

Jeremey said that he didn't believe that ultimately there would be a "winner" in terms of the competition between the two casts. "I love all my children equally," he said. He added: "I want to stack the deck so that as much shit can go wrong as possible."

Huzzah. This is going to be fun.

A tale of two Seagulls.

I'm starting to think about the next play I'm going to be in. I'm playing Masha in Lamb Lays With Lion Vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull. It's a part I've always wanted to play, and I'm thrilled that my first venture in performing Chekov outside of school will be this daring conceptual production.

I studied Chekov in school, both in undergraduate and graduate school, and there is definitely a mystique about it. Everyone has their ideas about the "right" way to perform Chekov's plays. While some "experts" say that humor must be part of any Chekov production, other says that playing the subtext is the most important thing. The result of erring too far on one side of the other is either a very shallow play or a very drab one.

The concept for Lamb Lays With Lion's production is that there are two casts performing The Seagull. One cast, inspired by British auteaur-director Katie Mitchell will interpret the play with period costumes and set, and "naturalistic yet simultaneously symbolic" acting, as one critic described Mitchell's style. (sidenote: Ms. Mitchell did give her permission for the project).

The other cast will employ only four actors, and it will be set in modern day, with a very different interpretation (I'm unclear about what that interpretation is at the moment, but I'm sure it will be a bold choice).

The two casts will rehearse separately, and come together toward the opening. Jeremy wrote me today, and used the analogy of Two-Face from Batman to describe the technique. "One face, one play. Different halves, co-existing but vying for control." Excellent.

So it should be a fun experience. Now I just need to start working on my lines so I can be off book for the first day of rehearsal, and start thinking about my character. More on that later.