This Present Moment: Day Four and Day Five

The experience of life comes down to one of two options: either you are 

enjoying this present moment or you're not. Why not enjoy it?! #ypg

Day Four and Day Five of rehearsal each had their own challenges. I was exhausted after day four because we worked through the biggest chunk of the play and I was frustrated again that my mind wouldn't learn everything faster. I found out that I wasn't breathing, I was trying to do things too quickly and I was using a lot of negative self-talk that wasn't helpful at all.

Day Five kind of started off in a bad way because I was still feeling the stress of day four's rehearsal and couldn't get myself to calm down enough to just breathe through everything. I called Heidi again and she allowed me to vent a bit, which helped a lot. Sometimes just acknowledging that the doubts are there can be a very powerful was to keep them from taking control. It's when we resist what is there that it persists. So acknowledgement can be a very powerful tool for actors and others whenever we are feeling stuck. As usual she helped me to calm down just by listening very openly to my concerns and making a few suggestions.

I sat on a gazebo bench in the rain and breathed for a little while, starting to enjoy the day and the process and realizing that getting myself worked up wouldn't help. I went through my notes, went through my lines for the day and surprisingly, there was a lot more of them retained in my brain than I thought would be. I made a decision then and there to "enjoy the moment I was in" rather than wish for another and today's rehearsal went fairly smoothly. I still have a long journey ahead of me, but I am starting to learn the story and figure out what I need to supply when in order to make it as powerful and entertaining as possible.

I'm starting to look forward to the opportunity to get much more comfortable over this next week as I get the play deeper into my body and mind so that we can go into tech week with lots of energy and excitement about opening the play strongly for the audiences here in Ellenville.

After having a nice dinner of leftover homemade pasta and some delicious fresh tortilla chips from Gaby's Cafe, a wonderful local eatery, I took a long walk while going over the lines and beats and characters and I felt much better by the time I got back to the house, took a shower and then crashed for about an hour while my brain processed what I had learned today. On my walk, I stumbled upon the "haunted Shanley hotel" on my journey and took a picture of a Connecticut Paranormal Research Team vehicle that was parked outside. If you'd like more information about the hotel, visit http://www.shanleyhotel.com/.

Peace, Love & Misunderstanding or Day 3

Elizabeth Olsen, Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener in Bruce Beresford's PEACE, LOVE & MISUNDERSTANDING

I thought tonight's blog should be about the film PEACE, LOVE & MISUNDERSTANDING for several reasons. First, I'm in the film and the story about how I got involved is kind of interesting. Second, I'm feeling Peace, Love and Misunderstanding for the whole process of working on FULLY COMMITTED right now and wanted to share that with you as well.

I met Bruce Beresford, the film's director, after going to an open call for extra's for Peace, Love & Misunderstanding. They called me back in and I went to the BCDF film studios in Kerhonksen, NY to meet with the famous director. We had a chat, I read some scenes and he said that he'd love to have me do something in his film. He just wasn't sure what. I thought that was interesting but kind of unclear.

I showed up on the set that day as an extra for a dinner party scene. No one had sent me a script, and I didn't have any sides until that morning. I just had my nice suit and was hoping to sit next to Catherine Keener at the dinner table. Sure enough, they called us onto the set and I was just to Catherine's right. She introduced herself graciously, but was in complete concentration mode, fully in character and it was really amazing to watch her work. Bruce directed her gently, getting shades and nuances out of her character that must come across as really powerful on camera. I learned a lot from him that day as well. When I'm on set, I try to learn as much as I can while I'm there.

They served us our dinner party dinners and I was actually kind of hungry since I hadn't eaten all day, so I started to dig in. The props people asked me to take it easy on the food and I laughed, because I realized I was chowing down and everyone else was talking at the table, so they weren't eating very much. When we got to a certain part of the scene, the other extras were all agreeing with Kyle MacLachlan's character about how mundane and old-fashioned Eugene O'Neill's plays were and how they should never be performed. We all nodded in agreement, "yes, oh yeah, definitely" but it seemed kind of weird to me.

Prior to showing up on the set, I had done some research on my smartphone about O'neill and his plays, just in case some improv might be called for. Sure enough, Catherine stopped the scene and said, "I don't think everyone should agree with him, someone should disagree." So I said, "I have something." Then I choked back my asparagus, because I put myself out there. We ran the scene again and when everyone else was agreeing with Kyle's character I piped in and said, "Come on, the guy has like four Pulitzers" which is true. I may have exaggerated and said eight, I can't remember. I haven't even had a chance to see the movie yet, so I don't even know if I'm still in the scene. I am still listed in the credits on IMDb, so I'm assuming I'm still in the movie. I hope I get a chance to see it soon.

Anyway, Bruce cut and said he liked the line so keep it in. But I kept stepping on Kyle's lines so he told me to wait until after he said the line to throw mine in there. It was a funny and awkward moment and Kyle seemed kind of peeved with me, but I thought it was a good line and so did Catherine. After we were done shooting, she leaned in and said, "that's how you get ahead in this business." It was quite a thrill to work with and talk to someone whose acting work I really admire and I was also bumped up to a day player, which increased my salary significantly. It's the most I've been paid to improv to date!

So now, with day three of rehearsals under my belt for FULLY COMMITTED, I have to let you know I was a little freaked out tonight and was feeling a bit of misunderstanding for myself. I'm still worried about getting all the work done that needs to be done and I was kind of freaking out that I wasn't PERFECT in the part yet (after three rehearsals). My voice is also a little tired because we worked some pretty exhausting sections of the play today, so the worry about the voice holding up also came up for me. But after talking to Heidi, my wife, she helped me realize that I really just need to be focusing on where I am, not where I would like to be, because that is completely useless. She was right, of course, as she usually is, and I went back to work on my lines, still having some trepidation, but with a much more peaceful and loving attitude. As I worked on the lines and the work of the PLAY, I started to realize that, "oh yeah, I really enjoy doing plays and performing and since this frustration and the tiredness is all part of it, I should allow that to be there as well because it is all part of it and wishing that it wasn't there is using energy that I could be putting into getting the work done." Although it is frustrating right now, I have to trust the process and know that "the work will get me there, not the worry."

The film Peace, Love & Misunderstanding opens tonight and I'll be here in Ellenville at the Shadowland Theatre still working on my lines and blocking. I hope audiences will enjoy everyone's performances in the film, even the "party guest" who is stuffing his face and throws out a random line about O'Neill's Pulitzer Prizes. Let me know if you see the movie and if the line is still in there and whether or not you can tell Kyle MacLachlan was kind of annoyed with me. 

*Update: Saw the movie, line was cut, my facial expression was awesome! Keep LLC'ing people.

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle

Day Two: Rollercoasters and Cash

My brain hurts...

Oh. My. Goodness. Day two was tough. Lines I thought I knew went flying out of the door that was somehow placed in my skull the night before as I was sleeping. Even though I had worked on the script all day before I went in at 4, everything just seemed kind of...slippery. I was nervous and skittery and needed to calm down.

Confidence shattered, Brendan reminded me that it was only the SECOND day of rehearsal. I breathed. I stretched. We worked through each of the moments, clarifying what each of the characters wants and how Sam, the actor character, reacts to them. Adding in the blocking and tricky finger choreography with the phones was mostly the cause of the lines flying out of my brain, but as I repeated each beat, the familiar feeling of a play getting into my body and brain started to come back.

Every time I would go offstage and wait for Brittney, our stage manager, to call "Lights!", I felt like I was strapped into a rickety, old, wooden roller coaster that was clickety-clacking slowly up a very steep grade and as soon as I came down the now imaginary steps and started into the lines of the play, it was the same stomach-churning excitement as that first drop on one of those familiar amusement park rides.

Brendan is so great because he is very, very specific about the play and the characters. He's helped me so much as an actor and as a director because he can really see what the whole play needs and develops the moments to serve the play. Brilliant work which I really appreciate and aspire to. 

I stayed after the call time a bit to just go through everything several more times and when I got back to the actor housing, I was beat. I allowed myself to have a bit of dinner and watched a little t.v. and it seemed kind of strange because I have not watched any television since I started working on FULLY COMMITTED. I spoke to Heidi then I crashed into the bed, dreaming of Carolanne Rosenstein-Fishburn yelling at me from her Long Island mansion. (Carolanne is one of the recurring characters in the play.)

An interesting thing that happened yesterday was that I stumbled onto these wealth manifesting videos from some acting sites I was looking at. The strange way that I came across these sites was that I got an errant email from an acquaintance. She accidentally sent me an email, I contacted her, cleared that up, but in the process of trying to figure out where the email was coming from, I came across some acting groups on LinkedIn, a site I'm still trying to figure out. 

While looking at these acting group sites, I stumbled onto a wealth manifestation video. I watched it, listened to it with earphones and it said that "people would give me money" and that it would work very quickly. On my way to rehearsal, I walked by a van parked outside of Aroma Thyme, a really nice restaurant here in Ellenville, and I heard, "Excuse me, excuse me, do you want to make some quick cash? My mom needs help carrying all of these groceries upstairs."

I was kind of floored, because I had just been watching the manifestation video. I couldn't actually accept the cash though, because I was rushing to rehearsal. Interesting coincidence or actual manifestation? Maybe something BIGGER is on its way.

WP
http://imdb.me/waynepyle
@waynepyle

Day One: First Read Through

I can see through all of your motivations.

Usually on the first day of rehearsals for a play, you get to meet the rest of the cast and crew, exchange pleasantries, look at the sets and costume designs, fill out paperwork, have an election for an Equity deputy with the Actors Equity members in the cast and do a table of the read of the play. Today was unusual because the cast is just me! We still had the Equity Deputy election and I voted for myself unanimously to be the deputy for the production.

When I first came into the theater, Brendan, Brittney and Michael were onstage around the usual "table" and I sat with my back to the audience to do paperwork and say hi to everyone. We did the election, took a "5" and I realized that I was really uncomfortable with my back to the audience, so I asked Brendan if I could switch places with him. It just seemed more natural to be facing out to the house. Plus, I want to start getting the feeling that I'm telling the story to the audience as soon as possible. It's amazing to me, how much more relaxed I was just turning and facing the potential of those seats being filled with people. Brendan said the playwright may come see the show as well. That made me a little nervous and excited at the same time. I'm looking forward to doing it in front of an audience and have them help me create this world.

We read through the whole play, well I did anyway, and I found new things already as I was doing it for the first time and re-hearing it which is what rehearsal actually means, re-hear-sal. The pace was quick and we got through it in about an hour and six minutes, which seems to be about right. There wasn't a whole lot of laughter, but I know we'll get there. I also know I still have a lot of work to do, but Brendan was happy with the overall feel of the characters and where they are going. After the read through we went through the play character by character (there are 40) and I took notes on what to work on with each role. Mostly I want to make sure that the characters have strong wants and are "fully committed" to getting them. I want them to have a truth about them and not just have them be caricatures.

I came back to the actor housing after the rehearsal and started working on the lines again. The memorization still seems like such a bear, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a grasp on it. Because I was tired some of the lines I've known for weeks were a bit ragged but I know after I get a good night's sleep tonight and get some food in the morning, I should be good to go.

I did take a bit of a break in between eating dinner and working on my lines and stumbled on this very fascinating web series called, "KIDS react to" and "TEENS react to" by The Fine Brothers. The kids watch viral videos and the Fine Brothers show both the videos and the kids reacting to them at the same time. The multi-cultural kids are bright and funny and make great comments and the videos are well made with comments about the history of the videos as well. If you want to spend a few pleasant minutes watching internet memes and hearing the "darndest things" that kids say about entertainment on the internet, tune into "KIDS react to" or "TEENS react to." If you watch a bunch of them, you see the kids grow up, too, which adds an interesting poignancy to the series.

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle

The Journey Begins...

Studying my script for FULLY COMMITTED while at rehearsal
for Half Moon Theatre's 10-minute Play Festival. 

Here I am. At last. In Ellenville, NY. It's the night before my first rehearsal for Shadowland Theatre's FULLY COMMITTED, Becky Mode's one-person play about an out-of-work actor who works in the reservations office of a four-star restaurant in Manhattan. 

I moved into the actor housing, had dinner with my wife, Heidi, and my son and then saw them off as they headed home, worked on the first third of the play, Skyped with my Dad and Heidi, and decided to log on to Blogger to put down my first thoughts before we begin.

Nervousness is still there. This feeling of a long journey that has to be undertaken in a short amount of time is still there. Uncertainty over lines and character choices and storytelling is still there. The fear is no longer as prominent because I've spent some time with the script and I've been saying the lines and thinking about the people who inhabit this play every day.

It will be interesting to me, and I hope to you as well, how the process will work to get this play to where it needs to be for opening night. As I work through each section, I'm beginning to visualize ways to make the characters more real, more true, more wanting of something authentic and less just "voices" that I change to distinguish between who is speaking.

For those of you who don't know the play, Sam, the out-work-actor, arrives at his reservation job in the basement of a ritzy restaurant and his manager, Bob, and co-worker, Sonya, aren't there. The phones are ringing off the hook and he gets right to work putting everyone he can on hold and trying to handle everyone else's problems as efficiently as possible.

Needless to say, problems escalate at a faster rate than Sam can keep up with them, and as he tries to keep everything from falling apart he is also trying to figure out how to get home for Christmas to stay with his recently widowed father and he is waiting to hear if he is going to get a second callback for a part in a show at Lincoln Center.

The actor playing Sam also plays all of the 39 other characters who try to yell, plead, cry and cajole Sam into giving them what they want. By the end of the play, Sam has grown, based on some feedback he receives from his agent's receptionist and his willingness to stand up for himself.

It's a fun piece and will be physically and mentally challenging. I'm at that point now where I'm looking forward to seeing what the rehearsal process will bring out of me as an actor and a person. I'm tired as I write this, but look forward to tomorrow with a kind of nervous excitement like that feeling I remember getting when I stepped on to the big yellow school bus for that first day of school when I was a kid.

Right now, I've got to get some sleep so I'll be well rested. I'm going use one of my tried and true memorization techniques which is to put on my earphones with a copy of the play I recorded (on a cassette tape, no less, remember those?), so I can drift off listening to the story and hoping my unconscious mind will pick up some of the words and plot points my conscious mind is still resisting.

I've got several places in the script where I'm still not quite sure what happens next, but I know as I take the risks needed to play each character fully and as Brendan Burke, the director, guides the telling of the story, my body and mind will eventually start to know what part of the story needs to be told at just the right time to be effective. It's all a race against the clock of opening night, which I can already hear ticking LOUDLY in my ears. (or maybe that's just my high blood pressure)

They say "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," but I say it can begin with one word spoken on a stage. I'll be posting again tomorrow after rehearsal. 

WP
http://imdb.me/waynepyle

10 Chances to Make Great Theatre

Half Moon Theatre's 10-minute Play Festival at the Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, NY was an exciting night of theater that really showcased our company and the playwrights who participated in the event.

The theme of this year's festival was anniversaries and it was the fifth anniversary of Half Moon Theatre being established. The first play was GUS AND GLORY by Darrah Cloud, the director of the newly formed Playwright's Collective. The play is a wonderful exploration of how we relate to each other (or not) in relationships by showing a couple who go to a drunk psychic and become possessed by the spirits of their dead mother and uncle.

AUNT PITTIPAT is a tour-de-force monologue written by David Simpatico about the first anniversary of 9/11 and remembering the loss of a loved one who was more than what the New York Times called, "A Planner of Family Fun." The writing is lyric, powerful and moving and the images will stay with you for awhile, much like the images from that event.

DEDICATED, by Suzanne Bradbeer, is another powerful piece about a mother who does not want her to son to go off to college because she can't seem to move on from her husband's death.

DAY ONE is about a young, newly married couple trying to get used to each other at a cabin in the woods. The husband is highly allergic to everything, and his agitation also seems to be symbolic of the anxiety he is having on day one of his new marriage.

MARY'S EDDY by Y York is a surreal piece about a woman who starts to make up an "imaginary" lover when her husband is out of the room. She swaggers around, trying to look sexy, changing voices for both herself and her lover. When her husband catches her, he says his name, trying to bring her back to reality.

DEAR CHINA by Rob Ackerman is about three window dressers in Brooklyn who take turns addressing the titular country about it's woes and wonders. I had the wonderful opportunity to play Duke in the production.

GOTCHADAY is a play by Rob Handel that shows us two parents who have adopted an Asian boy and they are semi-celebrating his "gotcha day" when they made the trip to Hanoi to claim him. They take turns telling their version of that day. The wife cajoles the husband into singing the lullaby that he has been singing to their son because it is the old Tin Pan Alley tune, "Rockabye your Baby to a Dixie Melody." The husband worries that his carefully edited but racist tune will somehow corrupt their adopted child in some way, but he sings it anyway, because it puts him to sleep. I had the privilege of directing this lovely piece and it was well received.

PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE is a play by Jude Albert that I didn't get to see because I was backstage tonight and one of the actors was ill during the rehearsal. From the audience response it was quite powerful.

I also had the great fortune to direct Chisa Hutchinson's BLUE LABEL. A milquetoast of a man comes into a tattoo parlor every year on the anniversary of his wife's death to get a hash mark placed above his heart. This is the tenth year and the tattoo artist has broken out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue to celebrate. They battle verbally and are attracted to one another and eventually he takes a step forward and kind of asks the tattoo artist out at the end. A very sweet and moving exploration of how to move on from sadness and loss.

The final play is ANNIVERSARY SEASON by Jenny Lyn Bader and this one skips ahead throughout the years of a couple's life as they celebrate their wedding anniversary with threats of hurricanes and unwanted guests.

I enjoy being a part of this festival because I like that we can put together a moving, funny, thought-provoking evening of theater without too much fuss and worry. We hold the scripts in hand, use minimal props, costumes, lighting and sound and the effectiveness of good words spoken by good actors is hard to top. I recommend that everyone experience something similar at least once in their lives. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how moving and enjoyable an experience it can be. Keep LLC'ing!

*Update: We've already had another 10 Minute Play Festival this year (2013)!