I don't have much time to tell you what's going on, but I thought I'd send you a few sentences about life in rehearsals. I also don't have my camera cable with me, so no photos - sorry!
I just completed my second week of rehearsals, and came home to Essen to spend the weekend with Sidonie! Our tour group is doing three shows: two original pieces for children (Weasel in the Sack, and Future Perfect) and The Glass Menagerie for young adults. In Weasel, I play one of two evil brothers to the main character. My character, Marmaduke, is a fat glutton who is selfish and prideful. It's a fun show with a fairy tale feel. We climb a mountain, cross a river, fight a dragon and find out that our Cinderella-esque sister is really a princess!
In Future Perfect, I play the lead character, a boy that we see grow from 13 to 22 (both ages that are clearly still in my playing range - right? ;) Jimmy Doramus (my character) doesn't like school, so he doesn't apply himself and doesn't do very well. He tries to find work after graduation, but ends up in the packing department for a toy company: not something he anticipated. In the end, he is discovered by a movie producer, and becomes a big rap sensation (that's right, folks, I rap throughout this piece!) The moral of this story is that while Jimmy made it big without applying himself, this type of success is not common.
In Menagerie I play Tom (for those who don't know the show, that's the narrator and male lead.) This is a role I've always wanted to play, and I'm having such fun rehearsing for it! We've set the play in its original St Louis (accents and all!) This is worth mentioning because both of the women on my tour are Scottish! They're doing quite a nice job adapting to not only a foreign accent, but a dialect of a foreign accent! The other guy on tour is also American (he's from Upstate NY.) We tech on Tuesday and have an invite dress the following day! We're all looking forward to that! We have our first public performance on the 27th of October, and we'll be performing Menagerie twice that day, once in the morning and once in the evening (a rare occurrence as most of our performances are before noon!) We perform in middle and upper level schools and typically perform between one and three shows (in any arrangement) each day. We stay in one place for at least a week (sometimes up to a month.) We're usually done with work by early afternoon each day and are free until our performance the next day. We have Saturdays and Sundays off (but we often travel to a new location on Friday evenings.) We also have nearly three weeks paid leave for Christmas and about two weeks paid leave for Easter.
Our tour is for the NW portion of Germany. We'll be staying in this area for most of the 9 month contract, but we'll also be going up to Denmark, and will be performing in N German cities like Hamburg and Flensburg. My cast mates are happy that I've lived in Deutschland for a year, so that I can help when we encounter folks who don't speak English! (The other two tours are made up of actors from Australia, America, England, Scottland, and Ireland, and none of the others speak German.)
Well, I'd better get back to life here - I've got to get things ready to head back to Soest for more rehearsals tomorrow!
Love and hugs to all! Don't forget to let me know what's up on your side of the globe :D
6 comments:
So glad to get this update and to be able to actually speak with you for a few minutes yesterday! Two weeks is a long time for no contact at all for your mom!
I'm very happy that you are enjoying the rehearsals and can't wait to hear more about it after you do some shows. I hope someone will take some photos you can post! Thanks for all the info about all the shows; it's nice to be able to feel like we sort of know what you're doing :~)! Thanks again for posting a great blog!!! LOVE YOU! Ma
Dad and I would like to see you playing the part of a FAT glutton. :~)
Will these shows be recorded so that we will be able to see them later?
I don't think there will be a recording, but I'll be sure to get photos in my costumes ;}
Congrats, Ry!! I'm so proud of your bilingual skills and so happy you are doing what you love!! Can't wait for those promised pics! BTW, I have an easier time picturing you as a 13 year old than as a fat guy!
YOu are a BUSY Man!!! Have fun doing what you LOVE!!! :)
So exciting! Can't wait for the next update!
I'm down in Jupiter right now at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre finishing a run on LOVE IS LOVE, a brand new Martin Charnin (think ANNIE) revue, directed by the author. It's been a fun and challenging time, as we had to put this brand-new show together in 10 days, eek! But I love my cast and crew and we've had great fun! Andrea McArdle and Shelly Burch are in the cast, along with Avery Sommers and Patti Eyler, and we have such fun!
Miss you!
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