We presented "Spirits of Another Sort" to an audience last Wednesday and Thursday night at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. This is the final post about the process leading up to those presentations. If you missed our most recent post by CCNY Associate Professor, Jan Valle you can read it here.
Spirits of Another Sort Workshop Journal #4- An Assumption Of Competence
An interesting thing happened during "Spirits of Another Sort." Halfway through our rehearsal process everything fell apart. No one could remember their lines, the blocking was a mess, and it looked like all the hard work that had been put into the workshop prior to the arrival and integration of the entire ensemble, simply hadn't happened.
This was expected, I had even anticipated this and had tried to express this to my fellow producers and directors. However, the reality of seeing the process implode in the rehearsal room was something none of us could have prepared for.
For the last three weeks we had been preparing our Rude Mechanicals to be in a room with professional actors by giving them the tools of professional actors. When rehearsals began with the entire ensemble it became clear that the Rude Mechanicals were/are not professional actors. They are lay people and they are disabled. We had to stop pointing them towards the performance we wanted them to give and we needed to celebrate and encourage the performance they were giving and how they were communicating it.
This is easier said than done, because we also had the responsibility of mounting a show and presenting our work in front of an audience in a week's time. In addition, there was an underlying tension between the actors with disabilities and the able-bodied actors about the expectations and depiction of disability through this play and process. The Rude Mechanicals, primarily amateur actors, were intimidated by the sudden influx of professional actors in the room.
The question of when and how to acknowledge Disability in the room has been one I have grappled with as an actor throughout my career. This is an issue that has proven particularly complicated for me as Artistic Director within the context of The Apothetae and its recent productions. I wrote on this issue in a recent article I contributed to Theatre Communications Group's 2014 National Conference: Crossing Borders {Art|People Blog Salon}.
I mention the then, up and coming workshop of "Spirits of Another Sort," and my concerns about bringing these disparate communities together under one roof for a common goal. You can check that article out here.
Four Artists at the Crossroads- by Heather Helinsky and curated by Caridad Svich
In the article, I stress the need for the creation of a strong ensemble.
"If an ensemble is an assemblage of parts, then all of those parts need to be acknowledged and respected. If one or more of those parts is misunderstood then that misunderstanding can lead to mistrust. Mistrust will kill ensemble, a positive working experience and can even derail the entire production. We can try to better, more simply acknowledge the discrepancy, the awkwardness and initiate a conversation about the thing that is other or different. It may be difficult, but if addressed at the onset, it will be a lot easier than if it festers until eventually boiling over. Chances are we’re all thinking “it” anyway. Chances are “it’s” not such a big deal. Then keep walking and get on with the business of seeing and being seen. That’s what we’re all here for anyway, isn’t it?”
Director, Alice Reagan called a meeting with myself and the producing partners and stressed the need for clear story telling. Stephen, our Peter Quince, was asked to prompt the Rude Mechanicals in Act 5 Scene 1, the play within the play if they went up on their lines. Our Starveling/Moonshine, Danielle Coles, has a more severe case of CP and has a speech impediment. Alice, suggested the creation of cue cards for her. Will Dickerson, our Oberon/Theseus, who is also a special education teacher, stressed the importance of letting go of the time constraints associated with making a play, and instead giving the actors the time and space to find their lines and to create their character's behavior independently. He was concerned that by having Stephen as Peter Quince at the ready to feed the lines, that the actors would become dependent on him, not be actively involved in the scene, and be cheated of a full experience.
The next evening in rehearsal I sat everyone down and discussed the reasons for doing this play in particular, and how I felt Disability could be truly shown and celebrated through these specific characters. As people with disabilities, so much time is spent in our daily lives, hiding or concealing the disability, not acknowledging it and trying to pass or blend in. I wanted this workshop to be something different for everyone. Through the inhabiting of their characters, I felt that each individual's disability could and should come through in a new way. This would allow each actors' humanity to come through the role as well. For instance, no one was asking Regan Linton, who uses a wheelchair to walk again to play this role, this was her Titania.
When Danielle saw Stephen with the cue cards, the first words out of her mouth were, "Am I that bad?" That idea went out the window. We needed to adjust our process. We all needed to be reminded that this was a workshop and release ourselves from the pressure of presenting a fully polished, fully produced production. We needed to trust our actors and the work we had put into the process thus far. Will was right, with time and patience from us, "the professionals," the actors would find their lines. We needed to trust that the audience would catch up, that watching an actor search for a line in the scene was inherently dramatic and true to what the individual actor was bringing to the role. Danielle's voice was hers, and it was beautiful. Sara assisted her with some stretches and vocal techniques to relieve tension in her face and mouth, and to give her a sense of freedom and confidence in speaking. She needed to do her work, and we assured her that it was okay to let the audience sit in the place of trying to understand her. Let them be the ones doing the work for once! Group vocal and physical warmups became mandatory at the start of every rehearsal leading up to the presentations.
We had two great showings of our work for "Spirits of Another Sort" at Ensemble Studio Theatre last week. In addition to presenting some really strong work, The Apothetae employed five (5) actors with physical disabilities and four (4) actors with intellectual/cognitive disabilities integrated with four (4) able bodied actors. Our work was shared with over 150 people in those two nights, and the audience consisted of every ethnicity and ability. Also in attendance were representatives from The Public, The Lark Play Development Center and Theatre Communications Group. We presented an hours worth of material from A Midsummer Night's Dream with less than forty (40) hours of rehearsal.
Not too shabby...
The feedback was multi-faceted and on the whole very positive. The piece of feedback that stood out to me the most and resonated with the audience, was the need for this work to be presented in a legitimate, mainstream venue with the full financial and artistic support of an established institution.
None of this just happened. I didn't do this alone. I am indebted to all the talented artists and individuals who contributed their time, talents and energy to this process. I feel something truly wonderful happened on that stage at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and I look forward to continuing the work in the future.
Sincerely,
Gregg Mozgala, Artistic Director
Spirits of Another Sort Workshop Journal #4- An Assumption Of Competence
An interesting thing happened during "Spirits of Another Sort." Halfway through our rehearsal process everything fell apart. No one could remember their lines, the blocking was a mess, and it looked like all the hard work that had been put into the workshop prior to the arrival and integration of the entire ensemble, simply hadn't happened.
This was expected, I had even anticipated this and had tried to express this to my fellow producers and directors. However, the reality of seeing the process implode in the rehearsal room was something none of us could have prepared for.
For the last three weeks we had been preparing our Rude Mechanicals to be in a room with professional actors by giving them the tools of professional actors. When rehearsals began with the entire ensemble it became clear that the Rude Mechanicals were/are not professional actors. They are lay people and they are disabled. We had to stop pointing them towards the performance we wanted them to give and we needed to celebrate and encourage the performance they were giving and how they were communicating it.
This is easier said than done, because we also had the responsibility of mounting a show and presenting our work in front of an audience in a week's time. In addition, there was an underlying tension between the actors with disabilities and the able-bodied actors about the expectations and depiction of disability through this play and process. The Rude Mechanicals, primarily amateur actors, were intimidated by the sudden influx of professional actors in the room.
The question of when and how to acknowledge Disability in the room has been one I have grappled with as an actor throughout my career. This is an issue that has proven particularly complicated for me as Artistic Director within the context of The Apothetae and its recent productions. I wrote on this issue in a recent article I contributed to Theatre Communications Group's 2014 National Conference: Crossing Borders {Art|People Blog Salon}.
I mention the then, up and coming workshop of "Spirits of Another Sort," and my concerns about bringing these disparate communities together under one roof for a common goal. You can check that article out here.
Four Artists at the Crossroads- by Heather Helinsky and curated by Caridad Svich
In the article, I stress the need for the creation of a strong ensemble.
"If an ensemble is an assemblage of parts, then all of those parts need to be acknowledged and respected. If one or more of those parts is misunderstood then that misunderstanding can lead to mistrust. Mistrust will kill ensemble, a positive working experience and can even derail the entire production. We can try to better, more simply acknowledge the discrepancy, the awkwardness and initiate a conversation about the thing that is other or different. It may be difficult, but if addressed at the onset, it will be a lot easier than if it festers until eventually boiling over. Chances are we’re all thinking “it” anyway. Chances are “it’s” not such a big deal. Then keep walking and get on with the business of seeing and being seen. That’s what we’re all here for anyway, isn’t it?”
Director, Alice Reagan called a meeting with myself and the producing partners and stressed the need for clear story telling. Stephen, our Peter Quince, was asked to prompt the Rude Mechanicals in Act 5 Scene 1, the play within the play if they went up on their lines. Our Starveling/Moonshine, Danielle Coles, has a more severe case of CP and has a speech impediment. Alice, suggested the creation of cue cards for her. Will Dickerson, our Oberon/Theseus, who is also a special education teacher, stressed the importance of letting go of the time constraints associated with making a play, and instead giving the actors the time and space to find their lines and to create their character's behavior independently. He was concerned that by having Stephen as Peter Quince at the ready to feed the lines, that the actors would become dependent on him, not be actively involved in the scene, and be cheated of a full experience.
The next evening in rehearsal I sat everyone down and discussed the reasons for doing this play in particular, and how I felt Disability could be truly shown and celebrated through these specific characters. As people with disabilities, so much time is spent in our daily lives, hiding or concealing the disability, not acknowledging it and trying to pass or blend in. I wanted this workshop to be something different for everyone. Through the inhabiting of their characters, I felt that each individual's disability could and should come through in a new way. This would allow each actors' humanity to come through the role as well. For instance, no one was asking Regan Linton, who uses a wheelchair to walk again to play this role, this was her Titania.
When Danielle saw Stephen with the cue cards, the first words out of her mouth were, "Am I that bad?" That idea went out the window. We needed to adjust our process. We all needed to be reminded that this was a workshop and release ourselves from the pressure of presenting a fully polished, fully produced production. We needed to trust our actors and the work we had put into the process thus far. Will was right, with time and patience from us, "the professionals," the actors would find their lines. We needed to trust that the audience would catch up, that watching an actor search for a line in the scene was inherently dramatic and true to what the individual actor was bringing to the role. Danielle's voice was hers, and it was beautiful. Sara assisted her with some stretches and vocal techniques to relieve tension in her face and mouth, and to give her a sense of freedom and confidence in speaking. She needed to do her work, and we assured her that it was okay to let the audience sit in the place of trying to understand her. Let them be the ones doing the work for once! Group vocal and physical warmups became mandatory at the start of every rehearsal leading up to the presentations.
We had two great showings of our work for "Spirits of Another Sort" at Ensemble Studio Theatre last week. In addition to presenting some really strong work, The Apothetae employed five (5) actors with physical disabilities and four (4) actors with intellectual/cognitive disabilities integrated with four (4) able bodied actors. Our work was shared with over 150 people in those two nights, and the audience consisted of every ethnicity and ability. Also in attendance were representatives from The Public, The Lark Play Development Center and Theatre Communications Group. We presented an hours worth of material from A Midsummer Night's Dream with less than forty (40) hours of rehearsal.
Not too shabby...
The feedback was multi-faceted and on the whole very positive. The piece of feedback that stood out to me the most and resonated with the audience, was the need for this work to be presented in a legitimate, mainstream venue with the full financial and artistic support of an established institution.
None of this just happened. I didn't do this alone. I am indebted to all the talented artists and individuals who contributed their time, talents and energy to this process. I feel something truly wonderful happened on that stage at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and I look forward to continuing the work in the future.
Sincerely,
Gregg Mozgala, Artistic Director
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