Sanford Meisner is Rolling In His Grave

whether you be of the Uta Hagen school of acting, a Stella Adler follower, or a mindless drone of lee strausberg, you won't be using your training with us in boston. here at CTP, the use of layers, the 12 guideposts by michael shurtleff, finding your "moment before"...are not permitted. it's shocking really. everything we do is all on the surface. there is never a discovery to be made within the text...no, no! and why would there be?? it's been working fine the way it is for 30 years, and if it ain't broke...well, you know the rest. everything we do on stage; every word, every step, every look, every gesture, must be BIGGER, LOUDER, FUNNIER. and that is the only concern. oh yeah, and always always always face out front completely (i'm starting to feel a bit 2 dimentional). as much as i (and i assume everyone else) wants to "feel it" on stage, it ain't gunna happen. and i guess i'm becoming ok with that.


THIS PAST WEEKEND...


saw the movie IDLEWILD with my cast...awesome, if you care to know. go see it. it's a bit predictable, but still very enjoyable, and outkast in a 20's funk/soul/romantic/musical is pretty cool...just beware old men snoring in the front row. ;)

i also got to see some a my kin!! i have family from the flaherty side of the family up here, and they were more than thrilled to come scoop me out of dorchester and take me out to lunch on sunday. my aunt pat was so excited she jumped out of the car and waited for me on the street curb. my aunt elizabeth wasn't far behind, which left my uncle Dennis to babysit the idling car. they bombarded me with 8-10 years of questions (it's been a while since i've seen them), and we went to "the fishbone grille".






they tried to stuff me full of everything on the menu, not believing that i was full...and we walked around the harbor. it was a cold rainy day, but that meant that all the boats were in their slips, so in my opinion it made for a better view.

this weekend i also gained 2 new housemates. rhonda, the electrician for the 2nd tour, and lil, an actor in the 3rd tour. rhonda is a veteran at this, and a cool woman. lil, who i just met 20 mins ago seems very nice. a 32 year old canadian, she's going into her first day tomorrow like i did- knowing almost nothing. i'm hoping she tells me all about her cast tomorrow night...just because i'm nosey. :)

tomorrow is the last day in the rehearsal space for my cast and me. we load out the set tomorrow afternoon, and wednesday we're over in THE STRAND theater- a real theater with a huge house, tech, makeup and costumes (shit, this is really happening isn't it?) so at least that will inject some much needed positive adrenaline into my performances...

tomorrow's blog, my director, brian, the cartoonist!