An Actor Prepares [for Medea]

CONGRESS IN SESSION

Medea is a role actresses wait their entire careers for. I am playing her at 23. It is quite the undertaking.

I have no equal parallel in my own life to what Medea goes through. But I have experienced the emotions - loss and love, hate and hope, anger and ardor. What makes her human is that she lives always between these contrasts and that is where I will find her.

The beauty of the way we are working on this project is that I do not need to recall sad memories to play this character truthfully. I need only to rely on the intricate text, to push it, analyze it, live in the sound of the words and the emotions will come.

We are using an approach, a system, very new to me on this production. I am like a recent convert to this way of working. It inspires and excites me and I have put all of my stock in it. But I also go through moments of doubt and frustration. I just have to trust it.

It is first and foremost about the text. Everything - character, emotions, honesty - will come from the form. Ryan Emmons, our fearless director, had me read Peter Hall’s Shakespeare’s Advice to the Players.

• "First comes the form and second comes the feeling."
• "Here is the paradox: by hiding the feeling you reveal it, by not indulging it, you express it. This is the contradiction of all great acting."
• "Shakespeare’s text is a complex score that demands to be read as a piece of music, learned like the steps of a dance, or practiced like the strokes of a duel."

Shakespeare may not have written Medea, but we are working with a finely crafted, rhetorical, verse play. Sir Peter has made me hyper-attuned to the sound of words. I dig at the script searching for antithesis, monosyllabic lines, onomatopoeia, and repeated sounds. To this I add the wisdom of Michael Chekhov (I’m currently reading his Lessons for the Professional Actor)

• "Whatever we are going to experience on the stage - even if it is terribly heavy and uneasy - the impressions that it is terribly heavy must be given, but how it is produced must be artistically light and easy always."

For me, at this moment, Medea is not a woman who kills her children. She is a woman in pain. She must sing though she only talks, dance though she only walks.

My mind is very full of ideas at the moment. It is excitingly overwhelming.

Written by Julie Congress

Medea Cast List

I am thrilled to officially announce the full cast for No.11 Productions’ MEDEA!

Medea Cast List (Alphabetical)

JASON - Willy Appelman

MEDEA - Julie Congress

CHORUS - Laura DellaVilla

TUTOR - Mark Ferguson

CREON - David Henry Gerson

CHORUS - Haley Greenstein

CHORUS - Debbie Habib

CHORUS - Sara Kliger

CHORUS - Nina Meijers

AEGEUS - Roger Mulligan

CHORUS - Alison Novelli

MESSENGER - Sam Parrott

NURSE - Vanessa Wingerwrath

LIGHTING DESIGN by Maura Cordial

MUSIC/MUSICAL DIRECTION by Rebecca Greenstein

CHOREOGRAPHY by Ava Conaval

PUPPETRY by Jen Neads

COSTUMES by Brooke Cohen

SOUND DESIGN by Mitchell Conway

ACTING/VOCAL COACHING by Liz Coley

DIRECTED by Ryan Emmons

The Benefits of Starting Out

It’s easy to think, as you watch the group of singers you’re working with huddle around a microphone that you have jammed into a roll of paper towels because you lack a microphone stand, what are we doing?  If you fin yourself looking at that shoved in microphone or building all of your props out of cardboard, don’t doubt yourself…applaud.  Think “wow, this was a way better idea than using that beer glass on a pile of chairs.”   Whether recording a song or rehearsing a play, if you are just starting out, you’re probably working in somebody’s apartment, your neighbors hate you, and you rehearse after an eight hour work day.  These conditions are less than ideal, but at the end of the day, no one is going to see your apartment, they will see your work on a stage, they will assume you had a long rehearsal period in a large studio with a full day of technical rehearsal…this is part of the magic of indie theatre.    

So as you tie up your bed sheets to make yet another set of costumes, I wanted to take a moment to mention some of the positives of creating theatre as a new company:

·      No one is working on a project because of all the money they are going to make, people are working with you because they want to create art and believe that your company can facilitate that.

·      You don’t have to follow any rules…but it’s a good idea to make some up.

·      No matter how ridiculous your choices are, people will read them as gutsy because you’re just starting out – so the theatre you make can be way out there.

·      You can drink wine at rehearsals (not recommended for every rehearsal). 

·      More established artists are super enthusiastic and encouraging about your work…grass roots are trendy right now.

·      You have the gift of time, if you want to spend 5 months on 1 project…that’s possible. 

·      You’re not cornered into a niche, you can keep exploring different genres and mediums.

·      You can choose the work you do, it’s always better if you are passionate and have something to say about the play you are working on.    

·      If you have a flop, it won’t destroy you…your audience base isn’t that big anyway.

 

Those are just a few thoughts…there may be more, but I’m young and have crazy ideas and lots of time…so you’ll have wait.  Be adventurous and let us know when you are…we’ll come check it out.

 

Written By Ryan Emmons         

Medea Performance Schedule

Medea

Presented as part of FRIGID New York

The Kraine Theater
85 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Wed 2/24 at 6:00 PM
Sat 2/27 at 7:00 PM
Mon 3/01 at 7:30 PM
Thu 3/04 at 9:00 PM
Sat 3/06 at 1:00 PM

Medea Trailer

We will have this video up on our website soon...but until then you can view the Medea trailer on youtube at this link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBcYnUw_sNo

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

Surfing Medea Part 4

Alright, here it is...our last picture post before our big release. Things are coming together nicely and we are very excited for the end of the week, but still have a lot to do before then!

Our noble film makers set up the perfect frame.  


The men stand by as the women pose on the rocks.

One of our movie stars consults with the director of photography.  


"That's a wrap!"

Surfing Medea Part 2

Here is the second installment of photos from our film shoot for the Medea trailer!


The wind whips at Medea as she says goodbye to the perfect life that has just been stolen from her.


Two of our actress keep warm between takes, with long scarves and big smiles.


Our cameraman sneaks off for some establishing shots.


The dramatic sky steals the scene in this awesome shot.

Surfing Medea

We just got these pictures loaded onto our computer and cannot wait until our trailer for Medea airs to share how beautiful and awesome the beach was.

Here are a few pictures from the beach to whet your appetite:



The film crew frames the shot for an ethereal looking Chorus from the trailer for Medea No.11 just shot on Long Beach Island.



You might not be able to tell, but these girls are cold wearing an array of fabric, bed sheets and a lot of safety pins in late November on the beach!



A windy scene between Medea and Jason that will blow you away when you see the trailer.



The movie crew and director pack up for the night...never fear though, more pics to come and the release date for the trailer is slated for Dec. 18th.

On Location

This weekend, I felt like a professional director. I always aim for professionalism, but I often cannot help but feel like a young theatre artist who is playing “theatre company” with his most talented friends. This weekend, shooting the trailer for Medea down on Long Beach Island, my friends became professionals, and I was inspired.

Perhaps it was because we were on location, with perfect weather and knew that the cameras were rolling. Perhaps it is because many of us had worked together before, and we are getting a few steps closer towards an ensemble of actors that is happy to work with us on whatever kooky project we propose next. Or maybe we are simply growing into ourselves as people and artists and there’s a certain maturity that comes with age…although I would like to stay young and idealistic for another year at least.

When we came back from the beach one of the actors said, “It was an incredible experience, seeing artists creating the kind of art that you yourself want to be creating, and then also getting to be a part of it.” It was funny to hear this, because I felt the same way…I thought “yes, this is the quality of work we should be creating all the time”. Now, I have not seen any of the edited footage, and who is to say what the final product will look like, but even the clips we saw from each day (those are called dailies from what I’ve heard), I found myself taken aback. Much of the professionalism and tone of the weekend came from our unbelievably talented and professional film crew, which consisted of Danny Caporaletti and Dylan Frayser. These two film makers are not only talented artists, but some of the best collaborators I have ever worked with. The actors were all phenomenal and the beach was a star performer. I honestly could not have had a better introduction into film directing, I’ve caught the bug and you should keep your eyes peeled for even more. We will post some pictures of our shoot soon, as to whet your appetite for the finished trailer, which is slated to be released before the holidays take over!

-Ryan Emmons

Puppet Progress

Jen's turn. The others are hopefully going to wean themselves back into blogging via short Twitter updates (follow us - just search No11productions!). Until then, I'm taking things into my own hands here on the interweb. I'll have fewer insights about directing and acting, but more pictures of STUFF. So.

No.11 has an ambitious and exciting production of Medea coming up in February as part of FRIGID New York. (You may remember No.11 from such past FRIGID productions as Jet of Blood or the Ball of Glass).



The character Medea has two young boys. This will be one of them.



The cat is a real cat. He's mean to me, but he likes to help.





Our boy is starting to get some meat on his bones. This picture was taken right after a field trip to Starbucks, so he's happy and relaxed (he's made out of recycled Starbucks cardboard; he feels at home there). My co-workers were sufficiently creeped out, which means I'm on the right track.

In related news, No.11 is filming its first theatrical trailer next weekend at the beach! Get excited.

-Jen