I’ve got to start by saying that, being an acting intern, I probably shouldn’t be writing this. I still have half my Boyet lines and all of my Dumaine lines (2 of my 4 understudy parts) to memorize, I still need to solidify the blocking for all of my understudy parts (the other two being Costard and Cassio), and I’m probably going to be called to do something on stage as I type. In fact I’m writing this on my iPhone on the short break between my morning La Ronde rehearsal (the Fringe show, starring all of us interns) and the start of Day 3 of Othello tech. But regardless, I must fill the Internet cosmos with the plight of the acting intern!

Today the acting interns had a 9am call to work on our show (La Ronde), which is basically a turn-of-the-century sex-coupling-play. Rest assured, all the interns have had the opportunity to get very friendly with one another. This morning’s rehearsal was with one of my wonderful scene partners Brenan Dwyer and my awesome director Kirsten Brandt. As we worked through our scene and I had a wonderful epiphany when I realized just how much stage time I will be spending in my underwear. In the cold. Outside. In the Glen. It’s all very exciting.

After rehearsal I moved onto Othello tech – which basically consists of me running around with flaming torches and getting into knife fights for 12 hours. What’s not to love?

Though we’re on a bit of a hiatus from it, Love’s Labor’s Lost has been an extremely fun and rewarding project. I was lucky enough to receive an actual speaking part in it and one that also plays a pivotal role in the play (if I do say so myself). I come in and turn the play from a silly romantic romp to a melancholy rumination on death and time (Editor’s note: Noah does this at parties, too!). So here’s a fun audience member challenge: See if you can figure out which part I play without looking at the program!

We acting interns do put in long days and are often the butt of many an Equity joke (the Actors union), but we are repaid ten fold by this experience. Getting the opportunity to learn from this group of incredibly talented actors, directors, and everything in-between is unbelievable. The talent and work ethic of the people around me is astounding, and is a constant inspiration and motivation. On top of it all is that everyone in the entire company so freaking nice! Every day I come to rehearsal and cannot believe that people actually get PAID to do this!

If you want get a day-to-day look at all the inner workings of Shakespeare Santa Cruz (from an intern-eye-view) check out my blog:
http://n-a-k.tumblr.com or my Twitter: @N_A_K.

But seriously, I need to get back to those Boyet lines…

My name is Brendan Ward and I’m one of the ten acting-interns here at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. This internship is the best way I can imagine finishing my undergraduate education, and its because of the skills and knowledge I have acquired thus far. Looking back at what I knew 5 weeks ago to what I know now, I cannot dream of ever trying to pursue a career in theatre without taking part in this internship. Being surrounded by all of these incredibly talented actors has given me the chance to ask them questions, talk to them, see what decisions they made at my age, and ask them what NOT to do. Of course, they say there are no answers, but there is advice, and that is what everyone has given me if I ask.

I am in The Lion in Winter, directed by the incredible Richard E.T. White. Being present in the rehearsal process has given me a huge store on knowledge about a professional work environment, which I have been lacking. I learned how far to push and risk in rehearsal. I’ve seen how actors can respectfully disagree with the director and I’ve watched how there disagreements lead to great compromises that add a great deal to the show. I have also been able to just watch and absorb great and different processes from all of the actors in the show. I get to watch how these actors use active verbs, objectives, raise stakes, and listen. It may sound passive or boring, but it is incredibly useful because it gives me tools to steal. Yes, I am a thief.

For the past few weeks our intern company has been in rehearsal for La Ronde, which will be out on the Glen in mid-August, and I have officially been challenged. I am The Poet, and I find myself having to constantly remind myself to consider what I have been watching for the past 4 weeks in rehearsals for The Lion in Winter and to go back to simply using active verbs, objectives, and getting something out of the other characters. There is a bit of sexual material in the play and my mind wants to focus on that, but my great director, Kirsten Brandt, is always asking me for my intention in the lines. I recall a scene in Lion, where Marco Barricelli as Henry is condemning his children: he is in a state of anger, defeat, and betrayal, but Marco doesn’t play “angry,” he is much more complicated than that. He is attacking his children with his words. This is one of many examples I get to watch everyday and learn from. I am a young actor with a lot to learn, and I am so honored to be in this classroom here at Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

–Brendan Ward

**Note from Gina: Casey Hackmeyer is a recent UCSC grad who performed in our Shakespeare to Go production of “Love’s Labor’s Lost” this past spring.  This summer, she is working as one of our House Managers, and wrote this yesterday in anticipation of tonight’s opening of Love’s Labor’s Lost.

As the anticipated opening night of this fantastic SSC season waits for the last night of preview shows to “close curtain”, I am taking this chance to reflect on my experience here with SSC so far. Already having experience working front of house during the school year as well as acting and – most importantly – being an audience member, I am honored to have the opportunity to interact with and optimize the audience’s experience with these fantastic shows.

Casey playing Katherine in this Spring's Shakespeare to Go production of "Love's Labor's Lost."

The front of house team is responsible for setting up the audience’s space, populating it, and catering to the audience’s needs. It is a fantastic learning experience as a practitioner of theater to have this different but still personal interaction with the audience. I love helping people bridge the gap between the audience and the performance.

Though this is my first adventure working front of house with SSC, the Glen and Mainstage are by no means strange territory. I have had the privilege to work in both of these spaces during my undergraduate career at UCSC, both as an actor and as a house manager. I love working in the Glen the most, it has a beautiful character that it contributes to the performances inside it, and works especially well with Shakespeare.

It’s wonderful to be able to catch a glimpse of the shows as they grow and play with the audience. This past Spring, I played Katherine in the Shakespeare to Go (a collaborative theater effort of UCSC and SSC) production of Love’s Labors Lost, and it is exciting to see how the different but equally beautiful spirit of the SSC show acts upon the audience in this longer and more in depth production.

This learning experience at SSC will be invaluable for my upcoming position as Artistic Director of Barnstorm next year at UCSC. Barnstorm is a student run theater company, and I am extremely excited to take what I have learned from this professional environment to my theatrical pursuits next year. Knowing what the audience is looking for and what their concerns are as well as finding solutions for these many concerns is what I find most rewarding about working front of house this year.

It’s hard not to gush when talking about my experience with SSC, and – without giving anything away – those who have not yet experienced a show here with SSC are in for a treat this summer. The season is full of laughs, love, intrigue, and theater magic. Being a fan and audience member of SSC in the past and having the privilege to sneak a peek at the preview performances so far, I cannot wait to be the House Manager for the opening night of this unique and exciting season of SSC this summer.

– Casey Hackmeyer

(**Note from Jessi: Tonight is the opening of The Lion In Winter!  Adam Yazbeck, who is amazing as Philip – King of France, wrote this last night after their final preview.)

Today was our third and last preview. As I sit here writing at midnight I find myself wondering how we made it to opening night so quickly. It has been a fabulous journey filled with lots of discovery, joy, frustration, delight and mercurial moments. I still find myself amazed at the natural beauty of Santa Cruz and am filled with a deep sense of calm and peace as I take in the smell of redwoods and relax in their shade. I have to admit that I am just a little jealous that I do not get to perform out in the Glen, but the Mainstage is an amazing space and one that I look forward to playing!

In many ways, this show has felt incomplete without an audience. The previews have been incredibly informative and there are still many moments where I will be listening to the audience just as intently as they listen to us; I feel that it is through an audience that a show becomes truly full. We are learning every night from them, where and how to land a joke, how deep to stick a barb, how to shape a moment, where it drops out, where to pick it up, and when to tighten it. Like a constant dance or symphony of sound and energy, where a performer and listener meet, like a large pool that we are forever shaping and sculpting, feeling how an action or word ripples, the ebb and flow…..this is the magic of theatre. I have often searched for the words to describe what it is like to be onstage, it is a difficult thing to describe and it’s a different beast for every actor, but I always find it to be deeply spiritual. Acting is raw, naked, honest, thrilling, invigorating, defiant, and constantly challenging.

As we approach the beginning of our run I look forward to absorbing the lessons and wisdom that this show and its’ wildly talented cast has to offer. The work of an actor is never over, it is ever evolving. I like to believe that when a show closes our characters don’t simply fade away into the ether….a part of them lingers inside us to inform and color our future artistic endeavors; it will be fascinating to see what inspirations Philip will instill in me.

I will leave you with a sampling of Philip’s soundtrack….I am obsessive about warming up and whenever I’m in a show I create a playlist specifically for my character to which I do yoga, and roll around to, it is good preparation and gives a little something extra for me to bring onto stage. This is what helps me channel that “inner Samuel Jackson”, just one of the many creative notes from our director, Richard E.T. White……Enjoy!

Brother Ali – Uncle Sam Goddamn, Victory!
MIA – Paper Planes
Dr. Dre – What’s the Difference
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1, Rebellion(Lies), My Body is a Cage
Band of Horses – The Funeral
Mum – We Have a Map of the Piano, Smell Memory, There is a Number of Small Things
Waldeck – Memories, Bei mir bist du schon
Atmosphere – One of a Kind, Spaghetti Strapped
Vampire Weekend – Diplomat’s Son, I Stand Corrected, I Think Ur a Contra
Jonsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps

–Adam Yazbeck, Actor (Philip in The Lion In Winter)

**Editor’s Note: In addition to being one of the hosts of this blog, Gina Marie Hayes is also Assistant Director of Love’s Labor’s Lost.  Gina shares some thoughts on today’s first preview of LLL.

The lights shine, the music swells, and four beautiful women sweep onto the stage in exquisite evening dresses. It’s a scene that could be described by the lyrics of “Some Enchanted Evening…” *

Except it’s bright daylight.

Matinees are a special challenge here at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the opening preview of Love’s Labor’s Lost just happened to be scheduled as a 2pm matinee. As I write this, the last of the audience has just shuffled out of the Glen, happily chatting about the performance they just saw, and I’m left in the Glen to reflect.

The thing about a Matinee is that it really showcases the work of the clowns. J. Todd Adams, who is playing Costard in our production, has spent his past few weeks “parfecting” his detailed mannerisms, magic tricks, and bawdy jokes that work quite well during our daytime rehearsals, so they naturally play well at a Matinee.  Our Don Armado, played by Victor Talmadge, seems even more pitiable and beloved in the harsh light of day, although I’m sure that darkness will lend him a swarthy romantic quality as well. And the parade of the Worthies – well, I won’t give away any spoilers. Suffice it to say they are hilarious at any o’clock.

As Assistant Director, I have my nose in the script for much of the rehearsal process, underlining words for the actors to emphasize, scribbling notes from the Director in the margins, and adding word definitions, dramaturgy, or simply entrances and exits anywhere I can find space for them. This helps me keep track throughout rehearsals of what notes the Director has given the actors and if any of them have changed since we last went through that particular scene. This is all well and good, but what is truly gratifying is the moment when I am able to put down my script and watch the actors (who have internalized all their notes long before) arrive on stage and incite the audience to raucous laughter.

Some audience members have told me that they come only to the Matinees. Others swear by evening performances. For me, there’s nothing like seeing a play in broad daylight and under the glow of the stage lights at night to know how truly universal it is. And though I may be biased, I’m convinced that Love’s Labor’s Lost plays well in all lights.

–Gina, Assistant Director on Love’s Labor’s Lost

*A song that Director Scott Wentworth frequently hummed in rehearsal before we added in sound cues.

**Note from Gina: Tonight’s preview of The Lion In Winter marks the opening of the 2010 Festival — woo hoo!  Can’t believe it’s already here, and will be over before we know it.  Hope to see you all this summer.  It’s going to be an amazing season!

My inner child is wildly happy right now.  She is just elated.  That’s because I’ve finally become what I wanted to be as a little girl: a princess.

No, not in real life (sigh).  But starting tonight you can find me onstage as French princess Alais Capet in SSC’s production of The Lion in Winter.  Under the leadership of the incomparable Richard E.T. White, our director, we just finished that busy and exciting time in the rehearsal process called tech.  Tech involves moving into the theater, acting on the set for the first time, and spending a few days working with all the design elements.  This is when the play comes to life, when months of preparation come together to create theater.

I’m always slightly shocked during the first day of tech, like a kid who’s forgotten it’s Christmas and suddenly finds presents everywhere.  In this case, I found myself onstage in an exquisite blue gown, surrounded by our magnificent castle of a set, watching as designers and technicians adjusted sound levels or refocused lights.  And the design in this show is nothing less than spectacular.  You’ll have to see for yourself the stunning set created by John Iacovelli, which glows under Kent Dorsey’s beautiful lighting; or the utterly gorgeous costumes by B. Modern, complemented perfectly by Jessica Carter’s and Jakey Hicks’ wigs and hair styling.  The awesome music and soundscape were composed by the fiercely talented Bonfire Madigan Shive in collaboration with sound designer Gregory Scharpen.  And the candelabras that look straight out of 1183?  Those, and all the other 12th century-esque objects, were made by the props department under the leadership of Lydia Bushfield.  These designers, with their tireless crews, have given us a world worthy of James Goldman’s funny, ferocious script.

Mairin (center) with acting interns Kelvyn Mitchell, Alexandra Pucci, Brendan Ward, and dresser Olivia Schlueter-Corey

Tonight we have the honor of opening SSC’s 29th season with our first preview of The Lion in Winter.  After a month of rehearsal and four days of tech, we’re ready.  As the afternoon becomes evening, I’ll bounce into the dressing room, stuffing my car keys and cell phone in my bag, and slip out an hour later as a princess from 1183.  I’ll have stopped thinking about the world outside and will turn my mind toward Alais and Henry; kings and queens; love and family.  I’ll be backstage, excited to spend the next two hours as a character I’ve grown to know and love (and who is, I’ve discovered, not just a princess but a warrior as well), and I’ll be ready to welcome that final, vital element to complete our piece – that is, the audience – you!

–Mairin Lee, Actor (Alais Capet in The Lion In Winter)

(**Note from Jessi: Sara Wilbourne worked for SSC for many years in the staff position that I now hold.  This summer, she’s come out of retirement to work in several different areas of the Festival. . . we are thrilled to have her calm demeanor, years of expertise, and lively spirit around again!)

After being an arts administrator or the past 15 years, I really wanted to have an integral role (no matter how small) in the productions and as well as a backstage theatrical experience.

Welcome to: The World of Minutiae
Part I: Prop Shop

Sara working on those ubiquitous candles for "The Lion In Winter."

This summer I have had the opportunity to work under the tutelage of Props Master Lydia Bushfield. Daily I am astounded by the depth and breadth of her knowledge and creativity, as well as that of set designers John Iacovelli and Michael Ganio. I’ ve worked on 1) multiple hand-written letters, which have important supporting roles in Love’s Labor’s Lost; 2) candles candles candles for The Lion in Winter (one task: giving our 21st century dripless candles that medieval look by hand-dripping wax down the candle surface); 3) “frosting” the glass in lanterns, with several layers of specific spray paint and then using the ubiquitous gaff tape to hold the lantern handles upright; 4) generally: taping, sewing, hot-glueing, sand-papering, painting…. the list goes on…

One Saturday Lydia and I spent some quality time at the SC flea market where we scored medieval-looking bottles, a hairbrush and mirror set for a queen, and a HUGE old trunk perfect for King Philip of France. These examples are a mere drop in the proverbial bucket of what the prop shop finds and creates.

When watching the plays, keep your eye out for anything an actor handles or sits on as well as all the set enhancements. That is the prop shop at work.

Part II: Wardrobe

My second job this summer is running wardrobe. Once the costumes are all made, they are handed off to the wardrobe department, which is the on-the-scene group at every show making sure everything is clean, mended, and in the right place at the right time. This is my first experience with this particular part of a theater production. What’s not to love? Rubbing elbows with the actors, getting up close and personal with all (and I mean all) of their costume garments, on show days being the first to arrive and the last to leave. What makes all of this possible is ORGANIZATION. We’ve got: costume piece lists (for checking both before and after each show), weapons lists, scene breakdown by character lists, mending lists, laundry and dry cleaning lists, (quick) change lists….. thank goodness.

In a week I’ll know in my bones everything about what is happening when and where, but tonight is our first dress rehearsal with Love’s Labor’s Lost, and there is still much to be known. For now – I am loving those lists!

Sara and costume shop manager Noah Marin.

Tonight, specific wardrobe jobs will assigned, and we will begin to morph into a well-oiled team, helping our respective shows to run smoothly.

The Lion in Winter is reasonable, from a wardrobe point of view (7 characters, one quick change). Love’s Labor’s Lost, of course, has many more characters, and it is out in the Glen rather than on the indoor stage. Almost everyone in LLL changes his/her clothes at some point, but not all in a 2 minute quick change. Whew! We actually have three locations to monitor: the main dressing room, the interns’ dressing room, and the Glen backstage. Good thing there are three on the wardrobe crew for this show. There will be just enough going on to keep us alert and interested; I don’t foresee resorting to knitting during long wardrobe lulls…….

Take a breath. Use the lists. Break a leg!

–Sara Wilbourne, Jill-of-all-Trades

I am writing this while I am eating my lunch, because this is about as close to a lunch break as I am going to get today! Technical rehearsals have begun for Love’s Labor’s Lost and The Lion in Winter and that means crunch time for the prop shop. We are a small, but scrappy bunch, the prop shop. There’s myself, the prop master, responsible for not only the research that goes into figuring out what each prop should look like and for building as much as time will allow me, but also the day-to-day running of the shop, making sure we have all of the necessary tools and supplies we need to create the props, keeping track of the budget, attending design and production meetings and generally trying to find, build, recreate, beg, borrow or steal around 300 props. Working with me is: an artisan, Caroline (a talented craftsperson who continually “makes purses out of sows ears” as we say in the south); Richard (the prop carpenter who builds all of the large projects like the bed you will see in LION); Sara (who has come out of the core offices after ten years to get her hands dirty in the prop shop); Scott (the prop shopper who bravely goes out everyday to procure anything we might need from supplies to trying to find just the right lanterns for the soldiers to carry in OTHELLO — when you see those lanterns think about Scott and the hours, and I do mean hours, he shopped to find just the right ones); and I also have an intern, Mary, (who has graciously completed so many tedious projects like hand writing all of the documents in LION).  Together, we are responsible for everything you see that can move off the set or the “properties” of the set if you will. That includes hand props, furniture, set dressing, weapons, consumables and the list goes on.

As I write, Sara and Mary are trying to make the handles on the five lanterns for LLL stay in a permanent upright position, as requested in rehearsal notes a few days ago. Why, you may ask? Ours in the prop shop is not to question, just to make the magic happen. Caroline is creating the leather wraps that will hold the candles on the sconces that yesterday Laura Julio spent an entire day scroll sawing out of wood (yes, they are wood painted to look like iron). Just prior to that, Caroline dry brushed down the ferret chair (bet you never thought you’d see that sentence in print.) Richard is cutting the posts off the foot board that he built yesterday for safety reasons and adding them to the canopy which appears on the bed later in LION. (Yes, some days we build, some days we deconstruct what we just built yesterday).  Next door, a fabulous costume intern, Renee, is cutting some 50 yards of blue dupioni which will drape anything that stands still when Phillip makes his entrance in LION. Scott is off in Watsonville buying a range of things from a twiggy basket (not too tall, not too short) to the metal that will be forged into the blood dagger for LION. (Joe, our technical director, and I are pooling our talents to create this little piece of stage magic.) And I am off to the Glen to do a fire arms test for OTHELLO. We have a real gun, which fires blanks, but a real gun nonetheless. It is kept under lock and key and it is my job to make sure it functions properly before putting it in the actor’s hands. Yes, I am like the person who tastes the food for royalty to make sure it’s not poison.  We have a lock-up in the props shop full of guns, knives, daggers, swords, bows and arrows. If you need something from me in the next few days I suggest you speak softly and carry a big stick. Well, off to test the gun and try to whittle down the some 100 to-do line items on my list. When you come see the shows remember to notice how nicely those handles stay upright on the lanterns in LLL!

–Lydia Bushfield

Next up in The Green Room: Acting Intern Alexandra Pucci

Pop Quiz!

A dramaturg is:
a) German for smart-ass
b) a person who does historical research for a specific production of a play
c) a play editor or translator
d) a sociologist*
e) all of the above

Ok everyone, hum the Jeopardy theme song to yourselves while I get my tenth cup of tea for the day. (Earl Grey. Hot.)

I’m back, are you ready for the answer? Excellent. If you answered e) all of the above you would be….wrong. German for smartass is “Klugscheisser”. But all the other ones are correct, so never fear. (So, next time somebody brings out that tired joke about dramaturges being smartasses, you can show off just how much of a “dramaturg” you are by correcting their German.) Ja voll!

Textual Consultant Michael Warren and Dramaturgical Assistant Mara Sherman

My job as Dramaturgical Assistant to The Lion in Winter is winding down – the research portion of my job ended a week or so ago, and with tech starting TODAY (the 15th) there probably wont be more for me to do until previews start or I can see a full run through again.

(Tech, for those happy few of you who haven’t experienced it, is a series of rehearsals where the technical elements of a play – lights, sound, props – are added. Rehearsals last all day (usually ten or twelve hours) while the designers and stage manager work their magic.)

When tech is over and we get in to full dress rehearsals and previews, I’ll probably take a few notes – point out when the actors have their backsides to the audience, correct line flubs, but really my job at this point is to provide moral support and to laugh at the right times during runs.

That’s all for now. See you at the theater!
–Mara Sherman, Dramaturgical Assistant

*I’m serious- there is a branch of Sociology called Dramaturgy. Google it.

Next in The Green Room: Props Master Lydia Bushfield

As a directing intern, the majority of my job is to sit tight, keep quiet, and learn – so you can imagine my excitement when it came time in rehearsal for us to go down to the Glen and learn art of archery. The hunting scene in Act IV of Love’s Labor’s Lost calls for the four ladies of the court to shoot bows and arrows, ostensibly at deer.  Deer seem hardly their main object, as Boyet quickly highlights that these “shooters” may well be more interested in shooting Cupid-arrows at their “suitors” than bloodying up some deer.  Our goal, of course, is to bloody no one at all, and stage management carefully scoured the area for stray bicycle riders before we began the first bow and arrow lesson. I didn’t think I liked sports—and was pretty certain I hated violence, but (at least when our dramaturg/archer extraordinaire Kayt Ahnberg does it) archery is so elegant – and also empowering (though still definitely scary!)

It is really a shame archery has fallen out of style.  There is really something to be said for the thrill of the hunt – and for once the women are on the hunting side.  This is actually a play in which women have remarkable control over relationship.  These men who have cloistered themselves in accordance with an absurd vow to study with no sleep, food, or female contact, are made the “Juliets” of the balcony scene – with the women pursuing their suits from below (more businesslike in nature than Romeo’s) while the men play Juliet from inside their palace walls.

Fun as all the antics are, the really incredible part of this process has been seeing all these artists, young and old, dive head first into the rich and often complex language of this play.  Veterans of the Shakespearean stage and interns alike engage in this war of wits, challenging themselves and each other to discover the tools that Shakespeare has given us to use in the text.

This afternoon our director worked with the younger actors on some of their speeches and it was amazing to see just how much Shakespeare gives you in the text when someone who’s devoted his life to performing Shakespeare helps us see it..  A seemingly ordinary line of text, “Ay me, I am forsworn,” comes alive brilliantly when you realize what can be done when you hum the mmmms and nnnnns hum and draw out all the long vowels.  As Brett (Longaville) sighed “Ay me,” I could really hear both the despair and the excitement of being “out of the way,” head over heels in love with love.

We were restaging the final performance of the “Nine Worthies” in rehearsal this evening, complete with armour, fake muscle arms, snakes, and helmets with the largest plumes I’ve ever seen.  Yet even as the men devolved from frat boys to four year olds with the most outrageous antics, we were reminded by Scott that the true humour comes from the language of this play.  Scott, half-exasperated, half-elated keeps saying “this play just won’t be pushed!  You try to make it do something it’s not meant to and fights right back.”  More and more I find that, funny as the characters are that these actors are creating, I laugh the hardest when Shakespeare wants me to laugh – at the language itself.

–Avital Rutenberg Schoenberg

Next up in The Green Room: Acting Intern Emily McKeown