FINAL LUNT-FONTANNE THOUGHT: WILD WITH HAPPY Id like to just say thank you to everyone that encouraged my writing this past week. This year has been a Wild With Happy ride for me that started when Catherine Schrieber messaged me on Facebook: December 15, 2012 12:02 am. Still want to come to London :) -- please say yes! Um … YAS!!! (((Full belt, no vibrato, above the staff!!!))) It was so important for SO many reasons, among them the fact that Ive always wanted to get my Masters degree and the one-year programs in London are particularly attractive as a mid-career actor. The Royal Central School was at the top of the list and, well, TWO of my students have Masters degrees from there, one of whom is currently appearing in the West End and working on his PhD … by your pupils you will be taught … One of my castmates at the Young Vic had also just received his Masters degree from there. One day, in the dressing room, I asked him about the classical acting teacher. Ben Naylor, Adebayo said, You will love him. I invited Ben to the show and we had a drink in the upstairs bar afterwards. He said, I dont think I have anything to teach you. I was humbled by that (but not deterred). THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS was a huge success in London, but there would not be an immediate West End transfer. Colman and I were talking one day, in that same dressing room, and the subject of his play WILD WITH HAPPY at Baltimore Center Stage came up; it would be the first production where Colman would not be playing Gil. Whos directing? I asked. Jeremy Cohen. I know Jeremy － I was at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis last year. Spoke to Jeremy. Met in NYC at Pearl Studios. Done. So I came home to start rehearsals for JULIUS CAESAR at the Lantern and to resume teaching at Temple University. I got an e-mail with my teaching load which would now include two MFA actors -- the Masters is what I would later call them. I was in the dressing room at Lantern (always in the dressing room for some reason) with Kittson ONeill who was playing Portia and I asked about GIDIONS KNOT at InterAct. Alice Gatling is going to be one of my students at Temple this semester, I said. You dont have anything to teach her, Kittson replied. I was humbled by that (but not deterred). Kittson got me a ticket and she had a point. When Alice came in for her first voice lesson I asked, How can I help you? She told me exactly what she needed and I realized the first attribute of being a Master: to know YOU. Temples MFA program is for mid-career professionals (Julie Czarnecki was my other student, whom I had already seen in a play at the Walnut Street Theatre); its professionals whove already booked the job downtown in many cases. I remember writing it on the board for Alice like it was yesterday. What makes a Master? Lets start with M, I said, and we will break it down. She said, Well, I minister in my work. Is that what you mean? YAS!!! (((Full belt, no vibrato, above the staff!!!))). And thus it began, this journey of being a Master amidst Masters that ended at the Lunt-Fontanne estate for a retreat as a Fellow among Fellows … After Alice and I broke the word down, an exercise that I later shared with Julie, I was fascinated by what we discovered. For my part, I minister to myself, I thought, but I hope to be a mentor to others. And thats when I realized a second attribute of being a Master: to share YOU. After JULIUS CAESAR, I leapt into WILD WITH HAPPY, a beautiful play with a bestial role at the center for someone like YOU, Colman said. He called after a run-thru, told me many things that I wont share, but most importantly he said this: You know too much, Forrest. Dont warm-up and dont look at your script. That night I was dropping lines and banging into furniture, but I was alive and the ride was wild. There it was: the third attribute of being a Master: to NOT know. This week it all clicked: what Jean-René Toussaint (yet another) great Master, said during the Primitive Voice workshops at the Wilma. YOU are here to take and to be taken − to grow. Grateful. Generosity. Grace. Gauntlet. Global. Guidance. Glow. Give. Grow. G … London here I come. Again. I am taking your support and I thank you for it.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:10:04 +0000
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