Acting & Performance

Jonathan Mandell looks at the 2013-2014 Broadway season and the six productions which featured men cross-dressing

The gnaw came on slowly. It started to bother me more when people asked if I thought I’d ever “go back to theater?” I started peeking at audition postings every once in a while. I started telling my husband boring stories about how I “got a laugh” during a workshop or a conference keynote. I always said it will have to be the right show at the right time for it to work, for it to be worth the additional upheaval to my life.

Eric Bass provides insight into the art of puppet theatre. 

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was an actor’s actor; the best, many said, of his generation. And yet, in the aftermath of his death, you realize that he was just like the rest of us, full of insecurity. Bennett Miller, who directed Hoffman in "Capote", tells of his friend’s fears two weeks before the opening of "The Sea Gull" with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. Hoffman confided that he was nervous and would be found out to be a fraud. A fraud? The best actor of his generation? He told of the exhausting stress caused by the psychophysical commitment it takes to play a role.

Bertie Ferdman reviews Mallory Catlett's adaption of Uncle Vanya featuring actors in their sixties and seventies.

Over the course of my freelance directing and teaching career, I have observed a troubling trend. The professional actors I direct, and the undergraduates I teach, are having an increasingly difficult time remembering their lines. Some, alarmingly so. When I encountered this initially, I sloughed it off as something particular to that actor, style of material, or time constraints. I made lots of excuses. But with each occurrence, over many years, actors’ inability to memorize has become harder and harder to ignore.

But this particular day I was walking uphill in ninety-five degrees heat wearing hosiery, a corset, a silk slip, a long sleeved collared shirt, a wool skirt and a wool coat. Oh, and a pretty doofy hat. "Boardwalk Empire" followed the unfortunate schedule of filming its winter scenes in summer and summer scenes in winter. At some point I muttered to myself, "I hate this."

When Joseph Campbell spoke of the power of myth he didn’t have LA stage actors in mind. Yet a powerful and prevailing myth has spread for years in theater centers throughout the country about why actors do theater in Los Angeles. The legend claims that LA actors are somehow less serious and do theater only to be seen by casting directors in “the Industry” and not for the art of the work. This is simply not true.

Allison Vanouse continues her look at productions from university students in Boston. In this post she reviews Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis, directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue

People kept telling me, "There are no small parts, only small actors" and "small roles can steal the show." And the more I heard it the more I convinced myself I was doing something wrong.

What Playwrights and Dramaturgs Need to Know About Staging Violence. These two articles are based on a workshop I’ve taught at venues that include ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), Region I KC/ACTF (Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival) , The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and other organizations. The idea for it was based both in the experience of fight directing premieres of new plays and from my own experiences in the classroom during my MFA in playwriting.

Indy Actors’ Playground also gives working actors a chance to see their peers at work, a chance for theater professionals in the audience to see other sides of these actors, and a chance for students from local theater programs to be exposed to a wide range of plays. It gives our actors a chance to get past commercial considerations and ask themselves, “What do I really want to do?” In a largely dependent career, the chance to act on their answer can be exhilarating.

Holly L. Derr writes about The Antaeus Company and the evolution of their "partner casting" practice, where each role is cast with two actors.

Jonathan Mandell sets out to figure out just why so many stage accents fall flat for him. What is it about the theater that breeds these mistakes? And what can we learn from the film industry?

Jacob Richman shares insight into his piece The (unfinished) Ballad of Adam and Elena Emery as a roving performance. 

Meron Langsner shares insight into the difficulty and importance of creating a successful combat scene. 

As a New Jersey actor, artistic identity cannot be completely detached from New York. This does not dismiss that there is a pride and ownership in being a New Jersey actor.