Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Romeo and Juliet: Show Recap

The show is long over, but it was easily one of my best experiences I've ever had in the theater, and so I wanted to write a little about the experience for posterity.


The Ritz Theater is a semi-professional theater, meaning the caliber of actors attracted to auditions is much higher than in any theater I've previously worked.  Almost every actor in the show has had extensive training in the theater and counts acting as his or her primary profession.  Overall, this was the most professional production I've been a part of in my life.  We had a director, of course, with dozens of shows under his belt over the years.  But we also had a text coach.  A stage manager.  Two trained and certified fight choreographers. 

Honestly, I felt lucky just to have been cast at all.

Like I said in my last post, I had a very small part (I was only on stage for about twenty minutes of the two hour show), but my part required me to learn some pretty intricate and intense fight choreography.  It was incredibly intimidating, but I'd like to think I rose to the occasion and made the fights look as authentic as possible.



But with such intense stage combat comes the chance for injury.  In one our shows, I managed to dislocate Romeo's thumb in a freak accident.  Ever the professional, he finished the show, but we had to modify our fight over the next few nights while his thumb healed.  He waited until after the show was over to get surgery.



Despite taking precautions like warming up before each show, I didn't come away unscathed myself, either.  I was fine the entire run of the show, then on the morning after our final performance, I felt pain in my shoulder.  By the end of the day I could barely raise my arm above shoulder height.  My friend Erik, who is a PA, told me I most likely had tendonitis.  I wore a sling for several days and didn't fully recover for many weeks.

I love Shakespeare and have appeared in a few of his shows over the years, but this was definitely the best one.  To perform such a classic piece of theater in such a historic building with such a talented cast was truly a dream come true.

I even brought Neale to the theater a few times and let him climb Juliet's balcony.  He had a blast exploring the theater and its backstage environs.


If you're in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area and are an actor or just an avid theater-goer, I can't recommend the Ritz Theater enough.  Staffed with wonderful, talented people who offer quality theater experiences, you really can't go wrong.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Romeo and Juliet and Tybalt

First post of 2018.  Let's go...

Pleased to announce I've been cast in my next show: in March I'll be playing the small but pivotal role of Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" with the Ritz Theater Company, housed in an old 1920's vaudeville movie house.  It's a gorgeous old theater that has seating for 336 people and is currently on the National Register of Historic Places.  Considering my last show was in a circle of 20 metal folding chairs in a Philly loft apartment turned church, you could say I'm pretty excited to be a part of this one.

I auditioned all the way back in September at an open call, unified audition for the Ritz's first four shows of the season.  The call back was in December, and I was cast a few days later, though I wasn't able to say anything online until this month when we met for our first rehearsal.

While I only have 37 lines, I get to engage in a few pretty epic sword fights, and this may end up being the most physically demanding role I've ever played.  For this reason, I'm attempting to get back into shape.  I've started running more, and being more conscious of what I eat, and I'm even doing Dry January for the first time of my life (though I'm no stranger to giving up booze for months at a time, usually in the service of marathon training).

Normally when I put this much effort into getting into shape, it's for an upcoming goal race, so it's interesting to be exercising with an entirely different goal in mind this time.  We had our first fight rehearsal last weekend, conducted by two trained and certified fight choreographers.  We started with the basics of sword fighting for the stage, and soon will move into specific choreography.  I'm beyond excited to take the same energy and passion I normally put into a marathon training cycle and apply it to this show. 

We open March 8th, so if you live in the Philadelphia or South Jersey area, come check it out!



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