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.
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.
