Out, out brief candle...
We had our last tour event Thursday Night. We were at the lovely Terranea Resort in RPV. Had lots of friends there. My sweet Rosalind (Maggie...and shut up, Greg, she's my sweet Rosalind. Just because you got to be Orlando doesn't make that any less true. A. I was the director. B. I played her father...and uncle...for awhile. Anyway you slice it. She's mine.) Dorian, who was "my" Roderigo last year and Silvius in that delightful As You Like It we did. Christopher and Andria from last season...Posthumus and the evil (yassss) Queen. And we've seen so many other former SBTS'ers come out all summer. Our family.
And last night we closed out our Macbeth back home at the bandshell in Pt. Fermin park. Home. There is something magical about that place. And once again we had our best show on the final night. It's been growing all summer, and there have been some really great performances where we were flying. But last night, at least for me, it just settled. I was able to experience this play for the first time in a moment to moment way maybe because it was the last time. Settled is the word Macbeth uses when he's convinced to kill Duncan, and settled is the word for what happened on that stage last night. Macbeth is a doer. As my dear little Jackie pointed out I'm a thinker. And so much of the summer I've been getting my thinking in the way of my doing. Last night we just did it. And I wept. And the audience wouldn't stop clapping. We had to go out for another curtain call. The waves of love washed over us. And I can't really talk much about the moments in the play last night, because I was just in them (not 100% because I don't know if that's possible) but a lot. More than I've ever been able to be in any piece. So thanks to all who were there.
I'm really trying not to cry right now because I don't want it to be over. This thing we do every summer is stupid. It's the greatest thing ever. But it's so stupid. And because it is so stupid, only the most amazing people do it. It's seriously the dumbest thing I've ever done, and I've been doing it since 2002.
And here is why--the people. And Shakespeare.
Lisa invented this thing 20 years ago. It's this gift that she has given to the world. And she and Suzanne spend an entire year trying to raise money to keep it going for the next year. Because they love it. And they don't even live in Southern California anymore. So stupid. So amazing.
Steph (my partner in crime) came along 8 years ago with her vision and talent as a director and has infused this thing with epic beauty, despite the fact that she was artistic director of two different theatres at the time and is now working full time in Ventura. So stupid. Thank god for her.
And then the cast comes in. And as you know, we aren't just the cast. We are the crew. We unload a truck every night. And put up a set. And then put on a play. And then take down the set. Put it back in the truck and head to another city. The most stupid. I know a lot of actors. Very few of them would do this. And yet, those that do are my favorite.
And then we have the Stage Managers, the tour Manager, the sound people, the volunteers...and that gets me right in the feels. People turn up to just be a part of this. Just because they love it. I mean. C'mon. That's stupid beautiful. And finally there is the audience. The real reason we do this. To tell these stories to 25,000 people a year. Some of whom follow us around and give us food. Many of whom have never seen Shakespeare before. That's it. And I know I mention friends who come to the show, but what moves me the most is the kids who come. And we get kids from diaper-age to when they can't be called kids anymore. I cannot describe the joy we all feel in knowing that we are introducing children to Shakespeare, and hopefully creating another generation of theatre lovers (god knows we need them). But what is really special, to me, about this is that I know that forever when some of these kids have to read or study Macbeth, the image they have of it is me. And I take that very seriously. I serve the text to the best of my ability. I work on it every day. I am always thinking about how I can go deeper, be more clear, live more authentically in the moment, and how I can best do this.
So many audience interactions happen that fill my heart. Here are a few that happened recently.
-A man brought his son up after the show. The young man was autistic and didn't speak, but he loved the show and beamed at me as we shook hands.
-I love performing in Whittier. This was a park that when we first went there, we were on dirt in front of a basketball court where we couldn't get them to stop playing, and roosters were running wild and making rooster sounds throughout the show, and the audience was very small. And here we are over a decade later and the park is packed with people who have come year after year--I had one guy recognize me from when I played Shylock (ten years ago...it was his favorite performance), and we've been a part of the development of that community.
-My friend Lora won two prizes in the raffle last night. Back to back. Out of the five. It was crazy.
-My first Lady M. (Renee O'Connor) had a toddler when we were rehearsing together 15 years ago. We would meet during the week to work our stuff, and M would sit there and play with a truck or a ball while we Macbeth'ed it up. He came to the show tonight. He's taller than I am. He's a total theatre kid. And I had a conversation with him about this play. And the role. He had just done a speech from it. He wasn't talking the first time I did this. And now he's talking to me about the nuances of Macbeth. Her daughter was there too. She's younger and so sweet and articulate and I was filled with joy to share this play with them, that I was able to play with their mother 15 years ago. And all those memories floated back.
This is my last blog of the summer, so it's going to be a bit long. You don't have to read anymore if you don't want. But I want to talk about the cast. Because I know this blog has been very Macbeth-centric. Hell, I spent the first month thinking that it was impossible. So bear with me, or don't. But they are an amazing group and here are a few things about them that you probably don't know.
Our witches are great. (You know that). And they keep getting better and better and getting more and more recognition from the audience. In the first read-through, I noticed that their voices (when they spoke in unison) created this really amazing harmonic. It was both beautiful and discordant at the same time. It was other-worldly. From the first moment they met. And I think I now hear more compliments about them than I do about my own stuff. And deservedly so. The witches are the X factor in this show. The thing that has to be solved to make it work. And Steph cast it really well. Morgan, Varda, and Kei'la are sooooo great. Morgan plays the ringleader of the three. Her witch is up to some evil shit. I've talked a lot about Morgan. She's our Kate in Shrew...and she's magnificent. She's also an artist that has your back...always. That's rare in most of the theatre world (less so in SBTS, because we are stupid bonded) and her support has been invaluable to me throughout this process. Varda, my Macbeth Journey partner (she and I were in Macbeth Revisited when we started this rehearsal process...but I'm sure you know that because you've read all my blogs...right?) Varda's witch is the earth-mother of the group (and she also plays Lady Macduff, and the doctor looking after Lady Macbeth...genius casting of this nurturing witch). I'm so glad that Varda has been on this journey with me. She is kind and talented. Kei'la plays the young, beautiful witch who will destroy all your dreams as she destroys you and you may not notice or care. One of my favorite moments with her, happens deep in the park where very few people see. And it started happening recently. Right before I come on to see Duncan after defeating all the armies, we pass one another and she gives me this grin and waves...I've already seen the witches and seen the visions of what I may do to be king and seeing that gives me the other side of the horrible prophesy I received from them earlier. It's not just horrible images that they gave me with the dagger, but also the lust for power. I'll go out on a limb right now and say that I think Kei'la is going to be a Hollywood "It Girl" one of these days. But I will still dominate her in Words With Friends.
My fellow thanes and royalty are some of my best friends. When Steph cast Olivia as Banquo I was so excited. Because she's my favorite. Those of you who follow my blog know that I have a lot of favorites, but also know that Olivia is really my favorite. She was my Hermia, my Celia, my Emelia, my lifesaver in H4. I love everything about her. I love directing her, I love acting with her, I love her doing fight choreography (which is badass...as many young girls have commented on), I love that she outworks everybody, always. And I love that she's a true friend and wonderful human being. And I love her Banquo. The dynamic of a female Banquo (even though we didn't change the pronouns and refer to her is he and him) adds something interesting to the mix. Plus we have a very good chemistry onstage and fit together well. I don't know if that makes sense, but I don't know how else to explain it, but as actors we share space really well. And that friendship is so important as a foil to Macbeth. A major question of the play is whether or not the witches make the prophesy happen, or just let them know. Macbeth and Banquo take two very different paths to their truth. Macbeth, with the gentle, loving push from his wife decides to take matters into his own hands to make the prophesy come true. Banquo, on the other hand, immediately calls out the witches as instruments of evil and cautions Macbeth (and later himself) to not be seduced by such things.
My Greg (and literally everybody is going to try to claim that he is not my Greg but theirs, but they can shut their ass-faces. I cast him first and brought his genius and love into our group. So unless you are his parents, who I also adore, he is mine) plays the Thane of Ross. The harbinger of bad news. This world's Littlefinger. His energy is second to none. His spirit is pure love. I love this man. And my favorite moment with him onstage is when he makes me look very strong as I throw him through the air, and he flies like Superman across that stage.
BJ. I don't know what more I can say about him. He's been my lead in all four Shakespeare's I've directed out here. He's the first one I called "my guy." He's my first my guy. That says it all. He's like a little brother, if your little brother always did stuff that amazed you. Yeah. And his Macduff was perfect.
Jessica played Lennox this year. And she's fiery and feisty and great in it and that's a "damned fact." But Jessica also made a lot of memories happen for us with her nurturing nature. She does everybody's hair, checks in with everybody, is so supportive. And she is somehow liaison to all the children of the world. I mean, she teaches, so there's that. But all those kids I mentioned that we love...Jessica really loves and invites them into our world. She is boots on the ground in the fight to create a new generation of theatre lovers. We also celebrated her birthday for a week. She and Jackie got entire weeks. Deservedly so. I got a day. Which if you know me, is more than enough.
Chris, my former carpool buddy (who totally abandoned me this year) played Duncan and one of the murderers (who I believe he named Glenlivet in his head), and various fighting Scots. Much more stage time than he imagined when he got cast. I love Chris. Every cast should have a Chris. He's always calm. He's always got a disarming smile. He's way too handsome (as he will tell you). And he's always present onstage. I remember back when we did Caesar together and I was doing the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech when I needed to talk to somebody in the crowd, I always went to him because he was in it. And that's a long time to be in something in which you don't really speak. That's a gift. And it's a conscious choice to use that gift. And I appreciate the hell out of him. And he kept me sane this summer just by his general dude-ness. He abides. Man, he abides.
Andy and I met doing this show 15 years ago when he played Duncan. He may be the only one who has done more SBTS shows than me. Maybe Suzanne? But I'm not sure. Anyway Andy has done the most. By a lot! This year he's Seyton (Satan?) my trusty porter. I love how the deterioration of the relationship between Macbeth and his man mirrors the collapse of Macbeth's humanity. From joking with him at the beginning, to needing him to take care of very secret things, to insulting him, to finally threatening his life. And his Porter was Sir Toby-esque. A much needed laugh in the middle of this relentless tragedy. Tonight he closes out another season as Baptista and gets the biggest laugh in the play with a silent prayer to heaven. So great.
Ryan is back again. I think this is his fourth season. And he's an integral part of what we do every year. Not only is he fully committed onstage...and I mean all in, all the time. But he's also a beast when it comes to the set. And he drives the truck. And somehow he's never tired...despite him working all day at Disney before he comes and puts in the five solid hours at the park...and he's in both shows. Maniac. I love that guy. My favorite Ryan moment of the summer (everybody's favorite) happened the other night at Terranea. They don't allow outside food there, and it's a resort so it's bit pricey. Anyway, Ryan was starving and broke down and bought a $15 sandwich. About five minutes later the ladies broke out a birthday cake for the never ending celebration of Jessica's birthday. Ryan grumbled about paying fifteen bucks. "If only I knew there would be cake..." But wait, there's more. About a half an hour later one of our friends brought us like all the tacos in the world. (And they were good.) Ryan just shook his head. But wait...as the night was winding down, the catering staff brought us all the leftover sandwiches which hadn't been sold. Like 30. It was the final laugh we all needed as we ended the long tour.
Jackie! (my sweet Jackie) plays all the young boys in the play and Bianca in Shrew. We've become really good buddies this summer. She's so delightful and perky (but like Bianca, there's some danger under there). And she's so thoughtful and kind. Some of my favorite moments happen with her onstage. Our little fake fighting when she's Fleance. Me using her as a threat to Banquo in "fail not our feast." And finally the fight with young Seward and Macbeth. When I choreographed the fight, I just wanted to show the mental and physical invincibility of Macbeth at the time. So we staged a little skirmish before that fight where I lose a sword (In Chris' guts) so the idea was that I would disarm her and strangle her. Which I did. But that little moment kept getting more and more everything. I would toy with her and bat her sword a little bit. (which she hated but secretly loved). But I also wanted to balance that lightness with the terrifying visceral horror of killing a child with your bare hands, so I warned her that I was going to scream as I strangled her. (which she loved, but not the spittle that landed on her...I tried to wipe it off in character). That scene ended up really exposing what Macbeth has become without his lady. An animal. No more poetry. No more self-doubt or abuse. Just a violent killing machine. My world is better with Jackie in it.
Ethan is new to us this year (along with all of our witches and Jackie) and he brought a really great energy. He's mellow and charming. He's great in all the roles he's doing. Actually Malcolm is a really hard part to cast because he has to be believably pure, yet whip smart and able to turn on a dime. That is Ethan. (He's also delightfully funny in Shrew as Grumio). These USC kids are always great to work with. Macbeth and Malcolm have very little to do together onstage. I have two moments with him. One when I congratulate him on being the Prince of Cumberland...a moment when Macbeth looks inside himself and decides he has to get his hands dirty if he wants to be king. And the moment when I describe Duncan's dead body, and I just poured it onto him to the point where he started retching. Which was such a great choice.
I always wonder which of the first year folks will come back. I really love this whole group. They are all part of the family now. Whether they like it or not.
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