Audience Approaches...

Working as a cast alongside an audience these past few days has been a really cool new way to approach a script. Kevin Kline discusses self-consciousness for an actor: "on the one hand it can paralyze you- everyone is watching me, on the other hand, you can reveal yourself because it's not you..." (see the bottom of the this post for the full quote). Going about this process of discovery in rehearsal with the audience has taken them on the journey with us each step of the way. It hasn't ever been about who's watching who. They are participating in our discoveries and our struggles. They are allowed into the sacred space of creation. That may come across as high and mighty, but bringing a script to life is sacred, delicate, amorphous- and jagged.

We, the (For)players are building a relationship with this audience from day one where we know that they are there, but we combine forces and choose to focus on the task at hand- honoring this play and bringing life to it.

We'll see how tonight goes, but I think it will be a different experience for most of us than we know. I've done "staged readings" before- I've done two in NYC Off-Broadway for potential producers. Producers deciding if they should put tens of thousands of dollars behind this product. Did they care if they were "on the journey" with us? "Participated in our discoveries"? Maybe. Certainly they were there in the hopes of finding something they could stand behind, be proud of, and make money on.

But- this weeklong event- (For)Play, is much more than its name! It's (For)Work, (For)Discovery, (For)TheJourneyTogether. Okay, that sounded a little cheesy, but I think you'll find that this cast (although certainly class clowns at times) is one of the most professional ever assembled at NC Stage and our audience(s) this week has also raised the bar.

I look forward to continuing the work (and play) tonight as we move into the theatre and onto the stage. Let's make sure we bring the audience with us because they've been beside us all along and we don't want to leave behind some of the people that got us this far.

See you tonight! -JF (Joe, Prior 1, and Eskimo)

Here's the complete Kevin Kline quote regarding self-consciousness. This quote has been with me for 14 years. My Dean of Drama, Gerald Freedman from the NC School of the Arts, still has it taped to the door of his office (he's directed Kevin Kline several times). I am constantly reminding myself of this wonderful quote.

“Self-consciousness is interesting. On the one hand, it can paralyze you– “Everyone is looking at me.” On the other hand, acting is a mask– you can reveal yourself because it’s not you. Part of performing is knowing what impression you’re creating every second, and part is being completely ignorant of it as well, so open and vulnerable you forget what it is you’re going to say next. You submit, but you submit egocentrically. Of course you know how you look- you’ve just spent an hour making up, looking at yourself in the mirror– but paradoxically you then completely forget it. Both things are going on simultaneously and in harmony. Some actors spend years trying to overcome self-consciousness, but acting isn’t a matter of overcoming self-consciousness, it’s a matter of heightened and informed self-consciousness. You take it to its ultimate limit– and then you try to transcend it.”