Time to break the silence . . . Market Street Blues cast, if you can't get fired up about your Monday night performance, June 6, your theatrical wood is wet! The Friday night performance of Tinsel was magic. The Market Street performance was . . . Divine.
For one hour and three minutes, the god of the theater descended from Mount Olympus, and kissed the stage of Georgetown Middle School. "Cry, I did," Yoda said, following the show. "Knew, I did, that in them, the Jedis had it. Believe in themselves, finally, they did. Impossible, it would be, a solitary moment, to highlight, as 'best'. Stellar, the entire show was."
There's no limit to how good you can be. Can anyone say, summer school?
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
What Can I Say?
Broadway Knights Theater Academy students, don't you ever forget the Tinsel performance, tonight! That is the stuff of theater magic. "Only hope, I can, that proud, you are, as I am." 'Nough said!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
It's a pretty typical storyline: boy meets girl, boy courts girl, boy slips arm around girl's waist, girl cuts boy off. Hey, wait a minute! That's not how the story goes. Que pasa, Jedi Spaccarelli?
The exercise was supposed to be about acting while singing, about bringing emotional intensity to a musical performance. Things started off well. Allie, although understudying for Ciara Jacobi, was doing a great job, singing the song. Matt Rogers performed his part with typical aplomb. But then something went terribly wrong. When Matt slipped his arm around Allie's waist, she stiffened like the Washington Monument, thrust her hip into his thigh, and looked away . . . affecting the dreaded Triple Cut-Off.
When questioned about her acting technique, the only thing she could mutter was, "But it's Matt." And so it always seems. Several actors in the Broadway Knights Theatre Academy shout "Nyahh" for no other reason than Matt. Alyssa Holston delivers her lines like she's trying to beat Animal Kingdom to the Kentucky Derby finish line because of Matt. BKTA actors exhibit Matt-Mouth because of . . . well, I imagine that, by now, the reader can infer the answer.
To test this theory, Yoda did an improv acting exercise to ascertain whether anyone could act in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The results? With the exception of Ciara- acting under her stage name, Clara Jacobo, and, to be fair, delivering lines from Market Street Blues- every other actor approached the stage with fear and trepidation. Perhaps Taylor Jester summed it up best, when she said, "But it's Matt."
"Good thing, it is, that a renaissance man, Mister Rogers is: an actor, a writer, a director," Yoda said of the young Jedi. "A true asset, he is, and will be, in the dramatic arts, as learn, he continues to do." But, as Yoda says, there's one role even the uber-talented Mister Rogers can't pull off, a role owned by his equally talented best buddy and fellow BKTA renaissance person, Joanie Shinn. Try as he might, Matt will never look as beautiful as Jack, in a black dress and heels.
The exercise was supposed to be about acting while singing, about bringing emotional intensity to a musical performance. Things started off well. Allie, although understudying for Ciara Jacobi, was doing a great job, singing the song. Matt Rogers performed his part with typical aplomb. But then something went terribly wrong. When Matt slipped his arm around Allie's waist, she stiffened like the Washington Monument, thrust her hip into his thigh, and looked away . . . affecting the dreaded Triple Cut-Off.
When questioned about her acting technique, the only thing she could mutter was, "But it's Matt." And so it always seems. Several actors in the Broadway Knights Theatre Academy shout "Nyahh" for no other reason than Matt. Alyssa Holston delivers her lines like she's trying to beat Animal Kingdom to the Kentucky Derby finish line because of Matt. BKTA actors exhibit Matt-Mouth because of . . . well, I imagine that, by now, the reader can infer the answer.
To test this theory, Yoda did an improv acting exercise to ascertain whether anyone could act in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The results? With the exception of Ciara- acting under her stage name, Clara Jacobo, and, to be fair, delivering lines from Market Street Blues- every other actor approached the stage with fear and trepidation. Perhaps Taylor Jester summed it up best, when she said, "But it's Matt."
"Good thing, it is, that a renaissance man, Mister Rogers is: an actor, a writer, a director," Yoda said of the young Jedi. "A true asset, he is, and will be, in the dramatic arts, as learn, he continues to do." But, as Yoda says, there's one role even the uber-talented Mister Rogers can't pull off, a role owned by his equally talented best buddy and fellow BKTA renaissance person, Joanie Shinn. Try as he might, Matt will never look as beautiful as Jack, in a black dress and heels.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Starburst and Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Jedi Knights had a fever, and the only prescription was more Starburst and chocolate-chip cookies!
The Market Street Blues rehearsal went very well. It was the best rehearsal we've had thus far. It was fun to stand in the house and watch Ciara Jacobi, watching Allie Spaccarelli perfom her confrontation scene with Anthony Thompson. It must have inspired her, because when she and Matt Rogers got up to perform their confrontation scene, they did the best job they've ever done. Perhaps Matt should have been directing the show all along!
But not everything was perfect.
Alyssa Holston came to rehearsal infected with a severe case of both Trotting-Tongue and Matt-Mouth. And it must have been communicable! It wasn't long before Joanie Shinn was experiencing the symptoms of Matt-Mouth and Syvester-McMonkey-McBean-Syndrome. Then Brittany Yeo, doing a wonderful job understudying Alyson Tober's role, came down with Matt-Mouth and Trotting-Tongue. The only actor in the Tinsel overlay scene with enough theatrical antibodies to resist these debilitating diseases was Ciara . . . probably because she was performing under her stage name, Clara Jacobo.
The Market Street Blues rehearsal went very well. It was the best rehearsal we've had thus far. It was fun to stand in the house and watch Ciara Jacobi, watching Allie Spaccarelli perfom her confrontation scene with Anthony Thompson. It must have inspired her, because when she and Matt Rogers got up to perform their confrontation scene, they did the best job they've ever done. Perhaps Matt should have been directing the show all along!
But not everything was perfect.
Alyssa Holston came to rehearsal infected with a severe case of both Trotting-Tongue and Matt-Mouth. And it must have been communicable! It wasn't long before Joanie Shinn was experiencing the symptoms of Matt-Mouth and Syvester-McMonkey-McBean-Syndrome. Then Brittany Yeo, doing a wonderful job understudying Alyson Tober's role, came down with Matt-Mouth and Trotting-Tongue. The only actor in the Tinsel overlay scene with enough theatrical antibodies to resist these debilitating diseases was Ciara . . . probably because she was performing under her stage name, Clara Jacobo.
Friday, April 22, 2011
How Theater Leads to a Healthy Human Psyche
From the beginning of civilization, theatre has helped people discover themselves and understand their relationship to the world and other people. It has always been a life affirming force. Throughout the ages, drama has opened portrayals to real-life situations that no lecture or book could, and has been more closely allied, than any other art, to the exploration of the deepest thoughts concerning human nature and destiny.
Public education trivializes the arts, including theatre. This is unfortunate, because a healthy human psyche needs to explore and comprehend its surrounding environment, and then express the discovery. When we deny our need to explore our world and express our discoveries in healthy ways, our personal growth is stunted.
Through the theater, people have the opportunity to vicariously experience various life situations. The theatre allows the audience to look through the bakery window, to smell the sweet aroma of the baked goods, without having to purchase anything they may not want.
A great practitioner of the dramatic arts- whether through acting, writing, or directing- can do far more to develop a healthy, mature human psyche than any shelf of self-help books.
Public education trivializes the arts, including theatre. This is unfortunate, because a healthy human psyche needs to explore and comprehend its surrounding environment, and then express the discovery. When we deny our need to explore our world and express our discoveries in healthy ways, our personal growth is stunted.
Through the theater, people have the opportunity to vicariously experience various life situations. The theatre allows the audience to look through the bakery window, to smell the sweet aroma of the baked goods, without having to purchase anything they may not want.
A great practitioner of the dramatic arts- whether through acting, writing, or directing- can do far more to develop a healthy, mature human psyche than any shelf of self-help books.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tale of Two Spaccarellis
There is little doubt that Allie Spaccarelli has some of the best acting chops in the Broadway Knights Theatre Academy. Her ability to express emotion on cue is second to none. Which is why Yoda was still laughing himself silly several hours after Tuesday morning's Enrichment when he thought of Allie's unparalleled performance of Green Lantern.
For the uninitiated- and we can be fairly certain that Allie is one- Green Lantern is a superhero created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 in 1940. The green lantern was actually a reference to a magical ring, considered one of the most powerful, and most dangerous weapons in the universe.
"Surprised, I was, when Jedi Spaccarelli, on stage, did hunch, carrying a lantern." Yoda said through gales of laughter. "Thought, a superhero, she was supposed to be. Diogenes, expect, I did not!"
But perhaps Allie's performance was no accident. Perhaps, her provocative behaviour was an educational stunt, like Diogenes', and carrying a lamp onto the stage was a metaphor, suggesting that she was looking for an honest actor.
But we doubt it. Because later, when assigned the character Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Allie got on her knees and claimed to have no knowledge of him either!
For the uninitiated- and we can be fairly certain that Allie is one- Green Lantern is a superhero created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 in 1940. The green lantern was actually a reference to a magical ring, considered one of the most powerful, and most dangerous weapons in the universe.
"Surprised, I was, when Jedi Spaccarelli, on stage, did hunch, carrying a lantern." Yoda said through gales of laughter. "Thought, a superhero, she was supposed to be. Diogenes, expect, I did not!"
But perhaps Allie's performance was no accident. Perhaps, her provocative behaviour was an educational stunt, like Diogenes', and carrying a lamp onto the stage was a metaphor, suggesting that she was looking for an honest actor.
But we doubt it. Because later, when assigned the character Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Allie got on her knees and claimed to have no knowledge of him either!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Get Real
Why do so many people like movies like A Walk to Remember so much? Because it gives them the opportunity to experience emotions and life situations vicariously; emotions that they feel boiling deep inside themselves, but fear to express, because they don't want to be mocked by their friends or family.
Great actors are shepherds of emotion. They understand that real emotion comes from the inside out, not the outside in. Therefore, they begin by removing their everyday masks and costumes and explore their inner selves. From the platform of reality, they provide emotions and life situations convincing enough to move not just themselves, but their audience.
When you get right down to it, acting is the least mysterious of all crafts. Whenever we want something from somebody, or when we want to hide something from somebody, or when we pretend that we're somebody we're not, we're acting. Most people do it all day, every day, without ever stepping on a stage. Acting is easy. Being real in front of an audience, is not.
"Proud, I am, of the Jedis and Padawan Learners, for making an effort," Yoda told Mrs. Erskine. "Painful, for some, it was. Behind a mask, most of them live. If learn, they do, their true selves to expose, better actors and, more importantly, better people, will they be."
Great actors are shepherds of emotion. They understand that real emotion comes from the inside out, not the outside in. Therefore, they begin by removing their everyday masks and costumes and explore their inner selves. From the platform of reality, they provide emotions and life situations convincing enough to move not just themselves, but their audience.
When you get right down to it, acting is the least mysterious of all crafts. Whenever we want something from somebody, or when we want to hide something from somebody, or when we pretend that we're somebody we're not, we're acting. Most people do it all day, every day, without ever stepping on a stage. Acting is easy. Being real in front of an audience, is not.
"Proud, I am, of the Jedis and Padawan Learners, for making an effort," Yoda told Mrs. Erskine. "Painful, for some, it was. Behind a mask, most of them live. If learn, they do, their true selves to expose, better actors and, more importantly, better people, will they be."
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