Introducing the newest members of The Tempest Ladies ensemble: Stacey Bone, Mallory Hammond and Stephanie Strohm!
Stacey Bone is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Some recent credits include an exciting turn on the Biography Channel as Debi Mazar in Celebrity Ghost Stories, a musician singing Shakespeare’s words to Joan Baez’ music in As You Like It (Harold Clurman Lab Theatre), Whitney in Surprise (Turtle Shell Productions), a plethora of crazy characters in Under Milk Wood (Rebellious Subjects Theatre), and Sophie/Celia in Everett Beekin (Stella Adler Studio). She also spent a summer apprenticing at the Williamstown Theatre Festival where she performed and worked on workshop and main stage productions; including being an "ensemble" member in Alex Timbers' production of Beyond Therapy.
Mallory Hammond could not be more excited and honored to join the Tempest Ladies. Born and raised in sweet home Alabama, Mallory moved to New York excited to pursue acting. She attended Auburn University where she earned her BFA in Acting. Since graduation she has toured the southeast as a Spanish mother in Zorro, and the midwest and northeast as a little boy mouse in Stuart Little the Musical. When Mallory is not performing she is writing, watching 30 Rock, or most importantly cheering for Auburn football. WAR EAGLE!
Stephanie Strohm is a Connecticut Yankee and red velvet cake aficionado who traveled further north to study history and theater at Middlebury College. Since then, she has performed in more than 25 states, mostly as a frog. NYC credits include Crave (C) with PTP at Atlantic Stages, Pink! (Abby) at the Abingdon, Platonov (Sasha) at Columbia University, and Suzy for President! (Dawn) at the American Theater of Actors. Regionally, she has played Juliet, Maria, Titania, Luciana, Lady Macduff, and the Princess of France. Her first novel, Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink, is being published this spring (HMH Graphia.) She is proud to be a founding member of MaineStage Shakespeare, and very excited to be a swing for the Tempest Ladies.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
I Do Not Know One of My Sex
The following was taken from Jana's personal blog:
________
On Sunday I had the distinct privilege of sitting in on The Tempest Ladies’ swing auditions. It was a victorious audition experience. Not only did we find our swings, but we were overwhelmed by how many talented actors showed up to play. Everyone aced – no one bombed. That says a few things: This city is filled with LOTS of great actors. This city doesn’t have enough acting jobs for these great actors. And these great actors all want to be a part of our all-female Shakespeare work specifically.
That last bit – the bit that all of these women wanted to be a part of the work we do was both overwhelming and encouraging. It also revealed something to me that I’d never considered before. To prepare for the audition, we asked that each woman bring in two contrasting monologues – one comedic and one of a male character. Wondering if anyone would be able to rise to the male character challenge, we were, again, pleasantly surprised as Hamlet, Cassius and Prince Hal came confidently into the room. In fact, I would go so far to argue that the male monologues were stronger than any contrasting female monologue we saw that day. And I had to ask myself – why are the male monologues better?
The Writing is Stronger? Is it because Shakespeare’s males experience higher stake situations and, therefore, require stronger, and, perhaps, better written pieces of text?
There is Male Confidence? Is it because playing a male automatically allows for a certain confidence that doesn’t come naturally when playing a fair sexed woman?
It allows Freedom? Is it because playing someone opposite to your own sex allows for a certain freedom that you could never experience without making a 180 in sexuality?
If it has to do with freedom, I have to take this a step further and wonder what that says about where our society is today. Yes, for women, we’ve made strides and experience things that even women of twenty years ago wouldn’t have experienced. And yet, there is still an unspoken amount of inequality, isn’t there? Maybe it’s subconscious, but it’s there. Why else would playing a man make us so liberal in our stage choices? So vocally stable and sound? So empowered and grounded? So strong and confident? Because as a male character in the room, these actors suddenly found the authority of a man. The authority that says, “This is my right. I’m entitled to this acting gig. I’m a good actor. I can tell a good story.” Does playing a man assert a certain right? And what does it say that we, as the casting directors, saw more power in the male monologues? Does that mean we have been conditioned to abide by the male right and to accept the male character as more confident, stronger and right for the choosing?
I don’t know that I have the answers to these questions. I certainly wouldn’t be so bold to claim any of this as fact, but there’s something about these questions still lingering with me a week after the audition that speaks volumes to what our culture has been taught and what we still follow based on learned behavior. I don’t know that it is good or bad. I think it is, however, uneven, off-kilter and skewed.
________
That said, we underwent a very difficult decision-making process immediately following the auditions. We took time going through each headshot and discussing each actress. Everyone had brought something worthwhile to the table and it became harder and harder to narrow down the pile of people. Finally, we arrived at a final three. We had initially aimed at casting two swings - in case one ensemble member and one swing couldn't make it, we would have another swing to fill in. However, with three actresses left in front of us and six tracks to cover, we thought: why not cast three swings? Each swing can cover two tracks. So that's what we did - we added three swings to the ensemble! Without further ado, we welcome Stacey Bone, Mallory Hammond and Stephanie Strohm to The Tempest Ladies!
________
On Sunday I had the distinct privilege of sitting in on The Tempest Ladies’ swing auditions. It was a victorious audition experience. Not only did we find our swings, but we were overwhelmed by how many talented actors showed up to play. Everyone aced – no one bombed. That says a few things: This city is filled with LOTS of great actors. This city doesn’t have enough acting jobs for these great actors. And these great actors all want to be a part of our all-female Shakespeare work specifically.
That last bit – the bit that all of these women wanted to be a part of the work we do was both overwhelming and encouraging. It also revealed something to me that I’d never considered before. To prepare for the audition, we asked that each woman bring in two contrasting monologues – one comedic and one of a male character. Wondering if anyone would be able to rise to the male character challenge, we were, again, pleasantly surprised as Hamlet, Cassius and Prince Hal came confidently into the room. In fact, I would go so far to argue that the male monologues were stronger than any contrasting female monologue we saw that day. And I had to ask myself – why are the male monologues better?
The Writing is Stronger? Is it because Shakespeare’s males experience higher stake situations and, therefore, require stronger, and, perhaps, better written pieces of text?
There is Male Confidence? Is it because playing a male automatically allows for a certain confidence that doesn’t come naturally when playing a fair sexed woman?
It allows Freedom? Is it because playing someone opposite to your own sex allows for a certain freedom that you could never experience without making a 180 in sexuality?
If it has to do with freedom, I have to take this a step further and wonder what that says about where our society is today. Yes, for women, we’ve made strides and experience things that even women of twenty years ago wouldn’t have experienced. And yet, there is still an unspoken amount of inequality, isn’t there? Maybe it’s subconscious, but it’s there. Why else would playing a man make us so liberal in our stage choices? So vocally stable and sound? So empowered and grounded? So strong and confident? Because as a male character in the room, these actors suddenly found the authority of a man. The authority that says, “This is my right. I’m entitled to this acting gig. I’m a good actor. I can tell a good story.” Does playing a man assert a certain right? And what does it say that we, as the casting directors, saw more power in the male monologues? Does that mean we have been conditioned to abide by the male right and to accept the male character as more confident, stronger and right for the choosing?
I don’t know that I have the answers to these questions. I certainly wouldn’t be so bold to claim any of this as fact, but there’s something about these questions still lingering with me a week after the audition that speaks volumes to what our culture has been taught and what we still follow based on learned behavior. I don’t know that it is good or bad. I think it is, however, uneven, off-kilter and skewed.
________
That said, we underwent a very difficult decision-making process immediately following the auditions. We took time going through each headshot and discussing each actress. Everyone had brought something worthwhile to the table and it became harder and harder to narrow down the pile of people. Finally, we arrived at a final three. We had initially aimed at casting two swings - in case one ensemble member and one swing couldn't make it, we would have another swing to fill in. However, with three actresses left in front of us and six tracks to cover, we thought: why not cast three swings? Each swing can cover two tracks. So that's what we did - we added three swings to the ensemble! Without further ado, we welcome Stacey Bone, Mallory Hammond and Stephanie Strohm to The Tempest Ladies!
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