Hiya (that's Scottish for 'Hello'),
We're settled into Edinburgh and have seen a variety of sights in the past view days ranging from a man in a chicken suit, to women dressed as courtesans. We've seen people making balloon animals on every corner. We've seen the woman with the most piercings. Ever. We've seen actors making glaring statements with their eyes in the streets so you'll ask them about their show. We've seen people standing on cement blocks. We've seen people covered in 'blood.' We've seen men dressed as Queen Elizabeth. We've met the Disney Princesses. A man with Dementia. A woman painted blue like a smurf. And we've met some really anxious people shoving fliers into our faces. We've also met some pretty nice, down to earth people as well. :) This is busking it would seem. Interacting with other artists and Edinburgh tourists in hopes that they will take an interest in seeing our show. We've found it works to take an interest in someone else's show and then encourage them to come and see ours. We also find people don't always know The Tempest, but they know Shakespeare and they know women and they like the two of them separately...so they'll probably like them together.
"If you like eating peanut butter out of a jar, you'll love Cafe Arret," said a busker to me as I ate my lunch. Yes, you would eat peanut butter out of a jar, too, if you brought it from the states and it keeps well and saves you money. But this was another tactic we liked regarding busking. We've decided to approach people and say things like, "If you like drinking tea, you'll love the Tempest." Another attention-getter.
As far as adventures go, we've seen good theater and bad theater. We've gotten lost on the Royal Mile. Climbed Arthur's Seat. Drank Tea. Eaten Shortbread. We've had dinner in a pub. We've drank our pints. We've bought phones (parents you can expect calls from us now). We've gotten our bearings.
The venue is GREAT. Perfect size. We teched last night and that went pretty well. We've figured out the changes needed in regards to technicalities. I.E. The space is wider than the one we rehearsed in and allows for a smaller amount of "backstage" space, so that took some adjusting. We did a rather slow, low-energy run, which is to be expected after all the traveling we've been doing. We all went to bed early last night and tried to get some rest. I think we'll be ready to open tonight after we busk and busk and busk!
A couple more girls are feeling under the weather (prayers and good vibes please). I think they will be fine, but it sucks to be sick and it sucks to have a show going on while you're sick. They probably won't busk with us, but will (of course) rest up.
That's the gist...my time is running out.
Love always,
The TLs
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Made it!
Hey All!
Thanks for your patience! So sorry I didn't update the day we left...I spent the day in the emergency room because my tonsils were swollen and my ears felt clogged. When the Dr. flushed out my left ear, the water went right through it and out my nose! So I had a perforated ear drum just in time for traveling! Thankfully, I was given antibiotics, pain meds (including narcotics...I slept well on the place) and ear drops and will be good as new or good as can be in terms of performing.
We got through the traveling phase with what I would describe as "grace." It's not easy traveling for 21 hours in a group, but we slept (or tried) and ate (or tried to) on the place and got through lay overs by sleeping at eating.
Getting into the city yesterday was magical. It felt like we were embracing an old friend. We had all been here for a short period (a day) two years ago while studying abroad. It feels good to settle into the University housing we're using. It's a small apartment with kitchen and living room. We each have our own bedroom and actually took time yesterday to unpack and get settled. It will actually feel like we're all living in Edinburgh for ten days.
We ate at a pub last night and had our pints. So British and so perfect. Some of us went to a show called Dealer's Choice. An hour-long comedy. Fun. We enjoyed it. The people in the show were out busking (convincing people to see their show) when we were on our way to dinner at the pub and they had us play Texas Hold 'em with them. If we won the game, we got a card from a deck and the card entitled us to a 'buy one get one free' ticket for the performance that night. We had enough of us win that we could each buy and ticket and get another ticket free and split the cost so the show was cheap for all of us who went and we had a good time.
I'm running out of time. We are going to meet the press today and pick up our Fringe participation badges. So much to do and so little time. Can't stand to be in front of a computer for most of it. We all bought phones with international minutes, so be looking for a call from your daughters, parents!
With Love,
The TLs
Thanks for your patience! So sorry I didn't update the day we left...I spent the day in the emergency room because my tonsils were swollen and my ears felt clogged. When the Dr. flushed out my left ear, the water went right through it and out my nose! So I had a perforated ear drum just in time for traveling! Thankfully, I was given antibiotics, pain meds (including narcotics...I slept well on the place) and ear drops and will be good as new or good as can be in terms of performing.
We got through the traveling phase with what I would describe as "grace." It's not easy traveling for 21 hours in a group, but we slept (or tried) and ate (or tried to) on the place and got through lay overs by sleeping at eating.
Getting into the city yesterday was magical. It felt like we were embracing an old friend. We had all been here for a short period (a day) two years ago while studying abroad. It feels good to settle into the University housing we're using. It's a small apartment with kitchen and living room. We each have our own bedroom and actually took time yesterday to unpack and get settled. It will actually feel like we're all living in Edinburgh for ten days.
We ate at a pub last night and had our pints. So British and so perfect. Some of us went to a show called Dealer's Choice. An hour-long comedy. Fun. We enjoyed it. The people in the show were out busking (convincing people to see their show) when we were on our way to dinner at the pub and they had us play Texas Hold 'em with them. If we won the game, we got a card from a deck and the card entitled us to a 'buy one get one free' ticket for the performance that night. We had enough of us win that we could each buy and ticket and get another ticket free and split the cost so the show was cheap for all of us who went and we had a good time.
I'm running out of time. We are going to meet the press today and pick up our Fringe participation badges. So much to do and so little time. Can't stand to be in front of a computer for most of it. We all bought phones with international minutes, so be looking for a call from your daughters, parents!
With Love,
The TLs
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Stop the Presses!
Check out this article about our project:
http://vpa.syr.edu/news/drama-alumnae-tempest-ladies-take-production-fringe-festival
In the airport waiting to board our first of three flights!
xoxo
Holly for The Tempest Ladies
http://vpa.syr.edu/news/drama-alumnae-tempest-ladies-take-production-fringe-festival
In the airport waiting to board our first of three flights!
xoxo
Holly for The Tempest Ladies
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Double Run Rehearsal
Hello! We are narrowing the gap between now and Edinburgh! We have a rehearsal today that will take us into a "packing party" tonight and leave us ready for our flight out of Syracuse tomorrow evening! Ah-haha! We are doing it! ...Can you tell that we're excited?
Yesterday was another great rehearsal. We keep tweaking and tweaking to make a better show. We came in and re-worked the Goddess. We still haven't found a way to make the transition into the Goddess smooth due to fabric hindrances. The fabric doesn't want to stay on the Goddess...so we're going to find a way to button/sew it on and that way the transition will be smooth and quick. After messing with the Goddesses, we found the characters' 'zeros' beginning with the fools and working all the way up to Prospero. We now have physical similarities between each of us that should link the characters from actor to actor as we change parts.
After solidifying physical consistency, we ran the show and had a few people watching. Among those in the audience were Tim Davis-Reed, our Fringe faculty advisor, Leslie Noble, an SU Drama faculty member who saw the original production, and, Tim Bond, the Syracuse Stage Artistic Director. We were so grateful that they were willing to take time out of their busy schedules to come and see the piece. They were very supportive of the work and said it had found a deeper place, which was exactly what we had hoped for in remounting the project. Leslie left us with some food for thought, which I think will only allow the piece to unfold more.
It's finally starting to hit us that we are going to Edinburgh. We're sending packages home that we don't want to lug through Europe. We're doing laundry and getting the props and costumes we need ready for transport. We have to find a way to get all of our props, costumes and intruments into our own suitcases...that will be an adventure tonight.
Our itinerary is to fly out tomorrow night at 6:30pm. We land in Philadelphia about 7:30pm and have a small layover before flying to London at 9:55pm. We reach London at 10am on Friday morning. We then have another layover before we fly out of London to Edinburgh. We will reach Edinburgh around 4pm local time. ...And then we perform and see theater in Edinburgh Scotland and have the time of our lives - We're really excited!
Today we have rehearsal in which we will repair Goddess fabric and get it to stick together, we work with Ariel fabric transitioning into the Harpy and then we will do a run. We will then take a break and do another evening run between 6 and 8pm, the timeblock in which we will be performing in Edinburgh. This is to get used to performing at that hour as well as to get used to setting up and breaking down the set on either end of the show and within our reserved two hour timeblock.
That is that. Should be able to update tomorrow!
Love and hugs,
The TLs
Yesterday was another great rehearsal. We keep tweaking and tweaking to make a better show. We came in and re-worked the Goddess. We still haven't found a way to make the transition into the Goddess smooth due to fabric hindrances. The fabric doesn't want to stay on the Goddess...so we're going to find a way to button/sew it on and that way the transition will be smooth and quick. After messing with the Goddesses, we found the characters' 'zeros' beginning with the fools and working all the way up to Prospero. We now have physical similarities between each of us that should link the characters from actor to actor as we change parts.
After solidifying physical consistency, we ran the show and had a few people watching. Among those in the audience were Tim Davis-Reed, our Fringe faculty advisor, Leslie Noble, an SU Drama faculty member who saw the original production, and, Tim Bond, the Syracuse Stage Artistic Director. We were so grateful that they were willing to take time out of their busy schedules to come and see the piece. They were very supportive of the work and said it had found a deeper place, which was exactly what we had hoped for in remounting the project. Leslie left us with some food for thought, which I think will only allow the piece to unfold more.
It's finally starting to hit us that we are going to Edinburgh. We're sending packages home that we don't want to lug through Europe. We're doing laundry and getting the props and costumes we need ready for transport. We have to find a way to get all of our props, costumes and intruments into our own suitcases...that will be an adventure tonight.
Our itinerary is to fly out tomorrow night at 6:30pm. We land in Philadelphia about 7:30pm and have a small layover before flying to London at 9:55pm. We reach London at 10am on Friday morning. We then have another layover before we fly out of London to Edinburgh. We will reach Edinburgh around 4pm local time. ...And then we perform and see theater in Edinburgh Scotland and have the time of our lives - We're really excited!
Today we have rehearsal in which we will repair Goddess fabric and get it to stick together, we work with Ariel fabric transitioning into the Harpy and then we will do a run. We will then take a break and do another evening run between 6 and 8pm, the timeblock in which we will be performing in Edinburgh. This is to get used to performing at that hour as well as to get used to setting up and breaking down the set on either end of the show and within our reserved two hour timeblock.
That is that. Should be able to update tomorrow!
Love and hugs,
The TLs
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Opening in less than a week...
Hello!
We realized before we ran the show last night that we open in LESS THAN A WEEK! Whew!
We had a good rehearsal yesterday. We worked on scenes that needed more attention. Particularly the fools scenes, Act III.ii and the end of Act IV. They're looking and feeling a lot better.
We ran the show last night and had three people watching - one of whom was video taping! We are debating whether or not to watch the footage before we leave for Edinburgh. Part of us wants to see how it is looking visually but the other part doesn't want to be distracted by how we look, etc...so that we can just go with what we know and have and trust. We'll see.
Felix, our advisor, saw it last night and had some good feedback for us - focusing in on physical detail. We decided we need to revert to something we found in the original production and that is to find a physical "zero" for each of our characters. This means we find the way in which a character always goes back to standing/sitting physically. Whether he leans a certain way, tightens a certain muscle or twitches, we each need to know the physical zero of the character so that the audience will see the zero occurring through each actor playing him from scene to scene and know it's the same character.
The show felt stable last night. We have been encouraged to trust in the work we've done. Something helpful that was shared with us is that we all play "real" very well and need to trust the work we've done in "realism" and now let that work expand, grow, breathe and catapult so that our energy hooks the audience from the get-go. We need to go for broke, essentially.
I think what's most reassuring is that we can do this because we are doing this and we have done this. All that's left is transferring this to Edinburgh, which is sure to bring a new energy unlike any we've ever experienced.
With Love,
The TLs
We realized before we ran the show last night that we open in LESS THAN A WEEK! Whew!
We had a good rehearsal yesterday. We worked on scenes that needed more attention. Particularly the fools scenes, Act III.ii and the end of Act IV. They're looking and feeling a lot better.
We ran the show last night and had three people watching - one of whom was video taping! We are debating whether or not to watch the footage before we leave for Edinburgh. Part of us wants to see how it is looking visually but the other part doesn't want to be distracted by how we look, etc...so that we can just go with what we know and have and trust. We'll see.
Felix, our advisor, saw it last night and had some good feedback for us - focusing in on physical detail. We decided we need to revert to something we found in the original production and that is to find a physical "zero" for each of our characters. This means we find the way in which a character always goes back to standing/sitting physically. Whether he leans a certain way, tightens a certain muscle or twitches, we each need to know the physical zero of the character so that the audience will see the zero occurring through each actor playing him from scene to scene and know it's the same character.
The show felt stable last night. We have been encouraged to trust in the work we've done. Something helpful that was shared with us is that we all play "real" very well and need to trust the work we've done in "realism" and now let that work expand, grow, breathe and catapult so that our energy hooks the audience from the get-go. We need to go for broke, essentially.
I think what's most reassuring is that we can do this because we are doing this and we have done this. All that's left is transferring this to Edinburgh, which is sure to bring a new energy unlike any we've ever experienced.
With Love,
The TLs
Monday, August 2, 2010
Three Days!
We're down to the dwindling numbers now! THREE LEFT! What a relief! What a surprise! I suppose we knew this day would always come...but that it has actually come is another thing. We found out nearly a year ago that we would, in fact, be going to Edinburgh. To describe this feat to people when the project was so far in the distant future felt strange...like describing a dream that seemed "so real." And yet, here we are about to leave. Here we are - GOING! There is some victory in that. It's like we have made it to the top of a hill we never thought we would get to climb. We are surrounded by blessings.
Today we're looking at the breakdown and set up of the set. We have ten minutes to get into the theater and set up the show. We then have an hour and a half to perform the show, assuming we start on time, and ten minutes to break the set down and get out so that the next act can get in and set up. We're going to divide tasks and time the set up and break down to make sure we can get in and out of the space in ten minutes. After we cover the breakdown bases, we're also going to work any scenes that feel wonky or need polishing.
After a good, long lunch break, we'll reconvene at 6pm to run the show again. Our faculty member and Broadway sensation, David Lowenstein, has graciously agreed to come and support us by watching the run through. We're grateful to have him.
This is short and sweet with candy and love,
The Tempest Ladies x
Today we're looking at the breakdown and set up of the set. We have ten minutes to get into the theater and set up the show. We then have an hour and a half to perform the show, assuming we start on time, and ten minutes to break the set down and get out so that the next act can get in and set up. We're going to divide tasks and time the set up and break down to make sure we can get in and out of the space in ten minutes. After we cover the breakdown bases, we're also going to work any scenes that feel wonky or need polishing.
After a good, long lunch break, we'll reconvene at 6pm to run the show again. Our faculty member and Broadway sensation, David Lowenstein, has graciously agreed to come and support us by watching the run through. We're grateful to have him.
This is short and sweet with candy and love,
The Tempest Ladies x
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Calm Before The Storm...
Sitting in a quiet coffee house, I, Sarah, not Jana, feel an overwhelming sense of calm. Is this the result of having two days off in a row? Perhaps. Is it the result of sleeping for more than 7 hours the past 2 nights? Maybe... Or is it because an artist will always ultimately find peace with what they've created, and rests\ easy knowing that they've done good..? I vote for that one. ;-)
The six of us ladies have been living with this project for over a year now, and while it has grown and changed, failed and succeeded, it still remains the passionate piece of theater that we all initially came together to create. We've pushed ourselves in every sense; as actors, directors, ensemble members, producers, costumers, prop managers, set designers, script editors, PR agents, everything. We've created something to be proud of. We've done good.
Every artist comes to a point in their work where they can choose one of many options. They can abandon their art, deeming it hopeless and unworthy of their efforts. They can continue to challenge said art, searching for deeper meaning and forcing it to be better than it already is. They can put it to rest for a moment, knowing full well they will be returning to it when "inspiration" hits. Or they can step back, admire what they've created, and give it away to the world, allowing it to impact and affect all who come into contact with it. The best part of performance art..? There's one more option: To step back, admire what you've created, and while trusting that it's strong and solid, allow yourself to experience your own art. You can actually actively contribute to the direct impact your art is having on the world. What a thought!
This is the point I believe I am personally at. I'm confident in the scaffolding we as artists have put up, and I am now ready to step back, admire it, and then actively contribute to it's impact on the world. I find peace in this.
I now leave you to watch the last half of 'Harold & Maude,' which I began yesterday, but was forced to take an intermission as my computer died. Have a great day & be sure to smile at someone! ;-)
The six of us ladies have been living with this project for over a year now, and while it has grown and changed, failed and succeeded, it still remains the passionate piece of theater that we all initially came together to create. We've pushed ourselves in every sense; as actors, directors, ensemble members, producers, costumers, prop managers, set designers, script editors, PR agents, everything. We've created something to be proud of. We've done good.
Every artist comes to a point in their work where they can choose one of many options. They can abandon their art, deeming it hopeless and unworthy of their efforts. They can continue to challenge said art, searching for deeper meaning and forcing it to be better than it already is. They can put it to rest for a moment, knowing full well they will be returning to it when "inspiration" hits. Or they can step back, admire what they've created, and give it away to the world, allowing it to impact and affect all who come into contact with it. The best part of performance art..? There's one more option: To step back, admire what you've created, and while trusting that it's strong and solid, allow yourself to experience your own art. You can actually actively contribute to the direct impact your art is having on the world. What a thought!
This is the point I believe I am personally at. I'm confident in the scaffolding we as artists have put up, and I am now ready to step back, admire it, and then actively contribute to it's impact on the world. I find peace in this.
I now leave you to watch the last half of 'Harold & Maude,' which I began yesterday, but was forced to take an intermission as my computer died. Have a great day & be sure to smile at someone! ;-)
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