Thursday, June 2, 2016

My Experience With Honk so Far

When I discovered this show actually existed, I was a bit skeptical at first. A show about singing animals? This could be a disaster. I auditioned anyway because I knew my director would look at the show differently and hopefully not make it into a bunch of kids playing cute little animals.

I was right, my director turned it into something different then I had feared it might have been. The choreography is great, the music is great, the blocking is great, everything that we have worked on so far has been great. I expected some things to not go right the first run through because it’s our first run through. The songs are my favorite part of the show. The script is okay but I really like the songs. We have done a lot of Disney musicals recently and this show is a nice change of pace. I can truly discover my character and this show entirely new because I hadn’t heard of it before. I can tell by the work that we have put into this show this far that the finished product will be fantastic.

My role in this show is the Turkey. I have made many discoveries about my character as the show has progressed. The Turkey is the teacher at the school in the duckyard. He teaches the ducks all sorts of things like quacking and bad manners. He isn’t the greatest role model as he completely leaves the children to fend for themselves while he listens in on a conversation about french bread. He also is deathly afraid of Thanksgiving. Assuming birds don’t really know the human calendar too well, Thanksgiving could happen at any given moment. Since I’m the only Turkey in the duckyard, I’m kind of doomed. I can use these thoughts to my advantage to keep the tension in my character. Something else about my character is that in one of my scenes, I teach the ducklings. I can use this scene as a way to explore my relationships with other characters. I can also use this as a way to explore more things about how my character thinks and acts. Being the Turkey has also given me the opportunity to work with some people that I normally don’t work with often.

I was very excited to start working on this show and I have learned many things about theater and about my fellow castmates. I have even discovered some things that I can do in a theater setting. My improvisational skills aren’t that great and because of this show they are starting to get better. It has been an honor to work on this show and I have had a lot of fun working on it!




(As the Emperor, Mulan 2015)



Ryan Hinderaker

"Words don't make a story, actions make a story ..."

Rehearsals for “Honk! Jr.” have been going on for a few weeks.  So far it has been a very different experience than the last two shows I’ve done here at STC.  In the past I struggled with being too closed off, and afraid to try new things, and we were all hesitant to say something didn’t work, but in Honk everyone is realizing a problem can’t be fixed if no one adresses it. Beats are something I find we have worked more in this show, just breaking moments down and trying to get the emotions down rather than just doing a set movement.   
The readthrough was a good opportunity to get a better feel for the script, as we all moved freely while reading through.   This helped a lot when it came time to block, stage, and choreograph because we already had a light feeling of movement and who we were interacting with.  For example, Zander Reed and Grace Bernard form a nice relationship as the characters they play; they are always leaning in, listening, and paying attention to objectives and given circumstances.  Zander does a good job showing the PTSD that Greylag may experience, and you can tell certain words upset Greylag. I also think, of all the cast members, Grace always has the best input to a scene we are working on. She thinks into it and isn’t afraid to say something that could be improved. I think having actors so honest and willing to jump in helps all the other cast members to be more open.  
     There is hardly any time when people are just sitting around.  If we aren't in the primary scene being worked, we go work on other acting techniques;  In one case, we decided to work on the scene between Ugly and Penny, and swapped different people in to play the different characters.  This helped us see what we could do, and what we were doing that maybe wasn’t such a great choice for the scene.
 We have been able to run through the first act twice now.  I can already see it improving, not just the blocking but down to decisions and beats.  Asher Suski is doing an amazing job of this, every time he sings or says a line there are clear motives behind it and you can see him always assessing and listening to everything.  It is really easy to get lost in a scene when you forget the person you are working with isn’t actually a character.
 We tried running as much as we could off book, there were some scenes where lines were rough but for the most part everyone had their lines down.  It’s really nice to watch the choreography become less of a panic and more of a beautiful dance.  Warts and All has some of the best choreography in my opinion, the kick-line is becoming very clean and pretty to watch.  
 This musical has been an opportunity for everyone to do something that maybe wasn’t originally what they were cast for.  Such as Gwen Stewart as a ducking; she has a very soft, sweet voice that she gets to show in the Blizzard with a solo.  Same with Josh Gartin, he plays Barnacles the goose, but he also has a solo in the Blizzard.
 “Words don’t make a story, actions make a story and words are a natural product of the emotion.”  
I’m really excited to see it all come together.  I think this is going to be a show to remember.

          Parker McIntosh.

Monday, May 30, 2016

If We're Honest ...

When you’re sitting in the audience, watching the play, you might be wondering how a children’s show like this looks so professional. Is it the complex set? Maybe it’s the gorgeous costumes?  Or is it that they just have extremely talented actors?  These most likely all fit into the grand puzzle, but what really sets a play or musical apart from the rest, is one that has actors who understand the character so well that they are actually almost one with this character.  In theater, we call this, “being honest.”

Here is an example that will clarify the importance of honesty a bit more:

Drake, played by James Van Dyk, is actually The Ugly Duckling’s father.  At first, when you look at the character, he seems like he is probably a lazy coward, who tortures his hideous son.  Hard to relate to, I know.  One of the challenges James faces was trying  to understand the reasoning behind Drake. Why is Drake lazy?  Why does Drake torment his own child?  Next in the process, James has to make up reasons why.  The more specific the better.  Basically, he’s writing a story from his character’s perspective.  After he has understood the logic behind his character, he now has to stop anticipating so much when he plays his character and act like the events happening to him are happening for the first time. This can be quite difficult because everyone has a subconscious part in their brain that tells them what to do next and when to make facial expressions, gestures, etc. While this may look okay during the first few times, we actually want to stop thinking that way.  Otherwise, it appears forced or practiced, which takes the audience out of the story.  James, has already shown us this multiple times in rehearsals that he understands this, so not picking on you, James.

Therefore, at STC one of our major focuses has been on honesty, which is leading to better developed characters and an overall more entertaining show.   In fact, this is the reason why every show is amazing. If we were not honest to our character, then our program would turn out just like a first grade play, except with really cool sets and costumes.  

Honesty has probably been the greatest idea that I have used to be a better actor.  Whether I’m in STC, or doing improv, if I am just being general in my acting, you might be less inclined to lean in, and hear from my point of view as a character.  It just brings everything together when you’re acting.

What truly makes a play great is every actor being truly honest to their character.


Jacob Peters    

              (Snowy)