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July 23, 2007

The pace of things has increased rapidly at Williamstown! We are into the season, which means a new show opens and another one closes every week. So far, I've been on crew for two shows. The first was Dissonance, for which I was on wardrobe. I am now an adept quick-changer, and my shoes even made a cameo in the show! I was just on run-crew for a play put on by "Leap-frog," a non-equity company of actors who helps to develop new projects. Because the run-crew was very small, we got to see the interaction between writer, director, and actors. Watching the same show every night also really informs your senses as an actor. On the flipside of this, because crew was very small, it was very exhausting. It took two and a half twelve hour days to tech the show. In fact, I've never had so little sleep or so much caffeine in my life!

This is also because I am performing in Anthony Minghella's Cigarettes and Chocolate this Sunday as part of apprentice night (yes, project and vision have changed since the last post). We have had less than ten days of rehearsal and are all a little nervous. I have started reciting my lines while pretending to talk on my cell phone everywhere I go. I have also been cast as a back up dancer in "The Revolt of Little Ola" a play about a Swedish rock star put on by an Assistant Director, and will be rehearsing two other projects next week.

Perhaps what I've been most pleasantly surprised by here is learning that equity actors are in fact people, and they often have encouraging things to say. Today for instance, Kate Burton and others talked about their experiences at Williamstown and all of its history. I realized that I'm very lucky to be living in a community of actors who all respect each other's work. In addition, every week the cast of a current show will have a talk with the apprentices called "How I Got Where I Am." It's an informal, but informative session where we find out about the business, but often leave feeling amazingly reassured by the idea that there is no one correct path to take in order to become a "successful" actor. In addition, seeing so much live theater (about three shows a week) gives me a better sense of just what "success" means on stage.