Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 2, 2026
12 hours ago
Friday, March 12, 2010
happiness is...
Hi Athanks a lot for last night. it was really great to work on the scene with you. just wanted to share with you a couple notes about the experience from my journal this morning:
when i stayed on the offensive i was vulnerable in a totally new way. i was putting it out there and seeing what i would get back in return. there was greater force, clearer direction, and a sense of truly fighting for what i wanted. i don’t think i’ve ever acted that way before. instead i’ve always defaulted to reacting, which generally comes out as a “mood” or “emotional state.” in fact it’s a very neutered way of being.
through the rehearsal i also understood viscerally (and dramaturgically) how Ben is the protagonist in the play, even though everything seems to be happening to him. in the end he’s nearly brought to his knees, until the last scene when he does finally win the fight to count & bring meaning into his life.
that's it. thanks again & see you tonight!
t.
--email from Travis Shakespeare, actor
Monday, March 08, 2010
Mother of Inventioner to play Henry V
Veteran of four cycles of Mother of Invention Los Angeles and currently-enrolled student J.B. Waterman will be gainfully employed playing the leading role in Shakespeare's Henry V this summer at Island Stage Left in Washington state.
Heartfelt congratulations JB! What a magnificent opportunity! And well-deserved!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
what Nina says at the end of The Seagull:
When I think of my vocation, I am not afraid of life.
I thought of that after reading this piece of an interview with Jeremy Renner, the lead in The Hurt Locker:
Did you ever think about quitting acting?
Nope.
Not even for a moment?
Never. It's not about anybody else. It's me. It's that determination and persistence and belief in oneself. When you come up against an obstacle, what do you do? Keep being persistent. I started doing plays again, whatever it took. I did whatever makes me happy. I lived by the candlelight for two years because I couldn't afford power. It was nice and romantic at the time, but if you can't afford power you're pretty broke. You endure it. The sacrifices are you can't have a family, you can't do any of that. I was willing to do it.
What it takes.
H/T Zoo O
Saturday, March 06, 2010
actors on Broadway going (not Lady!) Gaga
Here's how it works:
Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self awareness through your body. Gaga is a new way for learning and strengthening your body, adding flexibility, stamina and agility while lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations and offers ways for their elimination. Gaga elevates instinctive motion, links conscious and subconscious movement. Gaga is an experience of freedom and pleasure. In a simple way, a pleasant place, comfortable close, accompanied by music, every person with himself and others.
Apparently, in preparing for the current Broadway production of The Miracle Worker, the actor playing Helen was coached by a professional purveyor of Gaga. Says the Gaga coach:“For scenes like that we have to help Abby’s body find a new way of being — the way she moves, the way she sits, the way she reacts to Annie — so that the audience will not feel so familiar with the ways that Abby’s Helen acts and reacts,” Ms. Sher said. “Abby, Kate [Whoriskey, the play’s director] and I want the audience to feel that Helen could do something unpredictable, wild or scary at any moment.”
The blogger at Dancing Perfectly Free (linked to above) describes what they did in the Gaga workshop:
We started standing in silence, finding multi-dimensionality in the chest in order to breathe more freely while gently shifting our weight from one leg to the other. Some of the prompts and instructions included: finding quivers at the center of your body and allowing them to move outward to your limbs, back, neck, and even to your voice; melting into the floor and then moving as if you’re standing, but using the floor’s gravity; lifting your bones away from your flesh; sensing a cloud around your body while feeling the earth below your feet; imagining a pool of water in your stomach and a pole that connects your arms by running through your chest.
Gaga is not the only movement discipline to come out of Israel of interest with actors. Feldenkrais is a very powerful modality, comparable to the Alexander technique. It was created by Moshe Feldenkrais, who was a phyicist and a Judo master. There is also the martial art Krav Maga. Martial arts are fantastic ways for actors to develop strength, responsiveness, agility, focus, and groundedness.
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