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.

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)

My Character

Recently, we have been working on the scenes in this production where I play Jay Bird. Getting into the head of this character, who seems like a stereotypical news reporter at first glance, has been very interesting. At first, I was frustrated that the cheesy script consistently got in the way as we struggled to play our characters honestly. Then, I decided to use the stereotypical traits to my advantage. There must be a reason that people show the traits they do that make others feel they fit a certain stereotype. I began to think, “What makes Jay Bird seem like any news reporter without many unique traits?”. I decided that his super objective, the main thing he is trying to achieve, is getting a good story. He wants to make people like his story, and this becomes a priority over communicating facts. He says many things to get everybody watching his channel to feel a certain way such as, “Can you manage a tear for the camera?”, “That’s good. Defensive yet emotional.”, “Some viewers may find this image disturbing.”, and “In a sinister new development”. He very rarely communicates actual information about the incident. Nobody cares about a whole bunch of random information, but people care about their own emotions. Jay Bird needs people to care about his stories or he will lose his job. I came to a conclusion that my character doesn’t have a lot of “human moments” because he is constantly trying not to lose his job. In fact, Jay Bird doesn’t demonstrate his true feelings about his news story until his final exit.

One challenging aspect of my character has been his transatlantic accent. The transatlantic (or midatlantic) accent was not a natural accent. Important people trained to use the dialect in the 1920’s to 1950’s since it made them sound more distinguished and was picked up by the radio waves more easily. It did not fall out of use until the late 1950’s because honesty was not the focus of performers. (Our story takes place in an early 1950’s social climate.) The artificial aspect of the accent makes it more challenging since it is hard to know how subtle to make it. Is it overdramatic to make sure that people hear my story through the radio waves? How well-trained is Jay Bird at the transatlantic accent? Does his inadequate accent contribute to the fact that he is always struggling to not be fired? Since he is the most famous television figure in the duckyard, is he one of the most stellar performers with the accent? I will continue to think about this issue as I work on my accent for future rehearsals. Another challenge has been the logistics of the accent. I wrote each of my lines into my script phonetically to help me when I was working on saying my lines with my accent, but I still have many things I am working on understanding. How much do I soften the vowels? Am I putting emphasis on every “t” or did I forget some? I am confident that I will be able to make progress with the requirements of the transatlantic accent as we continue to rehearse. At our last rehearsal, Jacob talked with me since he participates in radio news for speech contest. He told me about how they worked on putting breaths at strategic places and not breathing in places where it wouldn’t help sell your story. I thought this was a very interesting idea, and I have been working on making every single thing I do contribute to my objective.

During my second scene as Jay Bird, the scene begins with my character in the middle of giving a live broadcast about the disappearance of Ugly. Every movement I make is supposed to contribute to making the story more dramatic than it is. Kivan encouraged me to watch Robert Stack as the host of Unsolved Mysteries. It really helped me think about how to make every aspect of the production, my television show, contribute to the story. It also gave me a concept of what tactics I could use when my character tries to tell a story in the most interesting way. I am going to build off of these ideas to create my own way of being a news reporter. One of the dangers of watching other performers is losing your originality and honesty and trying to copy them instead. I will try my hardest to remain honest, even when I am getting ideas from another actor. When we blocked my scenes Kivan challenged me with many fascinating ideas. He made me think, “Does Jay Bird start to care about the story when Ida gets involved? When he sees the affect this situation has had on Drake does he start to care? Does he always have selfish motives?” I decided that Jay Bird is always trying to get a good story when he is on camera, but as soon as he is not being seen by the general public he has true emotions. He is no longer at risk of losing his job. I used this idea when I decided that he would show his true feeling about the issue after he is done filming the episode he is working on. He doesn’t care a lot about what is actually happening within the story, but he sees that Drake is suffering when his wife is gone and shows sympathy. I think that most people would have to feel compassion toward Drake when he is in the state that he is.

I am having a blast exploring this character and the other animals that I play as I am sharing the story of Honk!. I am trying to put equal consideration into my parts when I am playing characters in the ensemble, such as a farmyard animal, a frog, and a father duck. I am so excited to keep on exploring this show and watching everybody explore their characters. I am amazed at every rehearsal by what we are accomplishing as an ensemble.

Ben Siegel

Jay Bird

Listen ...

       In rehearsals, we are always doing something. If we’re not working on a scene, we’re in the workshop practicing dances and music, work-shopping scenes, or working on creating an efficient ensemble. In Wednesday’s rehearsal, while Ugly and the Ducklings were working a scene, the rest of the ensemble was doing an exercise to help with listening. We had to count as high as we could with one person saying a number at a time. No overlapping. We had our eyes closed so we couldn’t signal or look around to see who was going to say a number. This got me thinking. What would a show be if nobody listened?

In the rehearsal process it is crucial to listen during every step. If you ignore what the director says or what’s going on in the other scenes, then you won’t have any idea what to do. And if you’re confused, the performances of the other actors can be hindered. If you don’t listen during performances, you’ll miss your cues. From my experiences, this is one of the worst things that can happen during a show. When a person misses a cue it causes the other actors to improvise, until they come on. But possibly the most important time to listen is onstage. Listening while in scene helps keep your acting honest. What I mean by honesty is that by listening to the people in your scene with you and discovering it anew every time you can make your acting seem more realistic. Without this type of listening, acting would just be someone reading lines from a script with no emotion or meaning behind the words. And that would just be boring.

So, if no actors listened, then plays would just be confused people saying random words on a stage. But it only takes one. As I mentioned earlier, if you miss a cue or just don’t know what to do, the other actors onstage must make do and improvise, which is hard to do, but possible. But if you don’t listen in your scene, there isn’t anything that other actors can do about that. It’s like they say, a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.

When I thought of this I got worried. Is this how easily something that we worked on for months could come down? With just one person? Then I realized, no, it won’t all fall apart. Because every person here at STC is just as good as the next. No link is any weaker than another. I am constantly amazed when I see younger actors and actresses, new to theater, acting just as well, onstage and off, as my friends from STC that I’ve known for years. At Story Theater Company, everyone is a strong link, therefore we have a strong chain which is very hard to break.

Zander Reed
Greylag

Act One Take One

         I always reflect about the first run-through of a show because it is such an interesting time in the process of creating the show. We have finished the basic scene work, and we are about to begin a difficult process of tweaking and editing every scene to the best possible way of sharing that moment. We got to the initial run-through of Act 1 much quicker than we have for any other show I have been in. Though that creates the risk of creating moments hastily and not slowly building scenes to their full potential, I do not feel that this was the case. In fact, this was probably the most successful first run-through I have been a part of, and the fact that we are already to the staging of Act 2 will give us time to work each scene until we create the most beautiful retelling of The Ugly Duckling.

Now that I know how to do the dance moves in the opening number of the show, A Poultry Tale,  I began thinking about my character in the scene. Everybody is sharing with the audience and letting them know that their life is perfect in their “patch behind the farmhouse”. There are several moments in the song that demonstrate otherwise, such as the cat discussing her plan to eat the ducklings and the entire ensemble doing chores at the beginning of the show. I am still working towards mastery of the dances in the show, but I decided that I would focus on trying to actively pursue an objective as I did the choreography that was crafted for the song. I thought it was interesting that adding what seemed like it would be an extra burden (acting the song well) made doing the staging easier. I felt that it was easier to move with a purpose driven by my character, instead of moving because Elizabeth asked us to move. It also made me feel more confident with the choreography to be focusing on getting a point across, instead of making sure every move was precise.

Overall, I thought that there was very strong listening during the run-through. As Kivan said at the end of the rehearsal, the duckling ensemble is amazing, especially when it comes to listening. They are always playing off each other and it is evident in their performance. They impressed me a lot today because they all did the same thing together, but they all seemed to have an objective behind their action. Each individual duckling seemed to be driven to bully Ugly, but they also took ideas off of each other to improve their performance. I watched them stage “Look at Him” and they have already made significant improvements from a few days ago. One of the most amazing things about the run-through was that nobody seemed to have decided exactly how they were going to say their line before the run-through. Typically, most people fall into a routine and say their line the same way they always do, instead of listening really hard and responding to their partner in the most honest way. This is one of the biggest challenges I am facing as an actor, and I will continue to work on always being honest. This is also one of the biggest challenges for many shows, and I think that the risk of losing honesty becomes greater as we get farther into the show. Everybody was saying their line in a way that made sense because of what their partner did. I am going to do my best to maintain honesty all the way to the last curtain call, and I am sure the rest of the cast will too.

 I felt that there was some fascinating character development that was demonstrated and some places where the acting needed to be worked. We just staged the show and we were still trying to remember the blocking and timing of the things we did in the show. I think that character development will be demonstrated more in upcoming rehearsals when we have more time to talk about acting and I think that it will be very beneficial when we have a chance to go through everything and look at the specifics of the acting. Making sure that we dig to the roots of our characters is a challenge that we will face throughout the process of creating this story. I also felt that there were some moments where very clear choices were made and you could really see what was driving the character to make certain decisions. When Asher sings “Different”, he has very clear moments when his thoughts are directed at himself and when they are directed towards the ducklings.

I know that we are going to embrace the challenges that this show brings us and continue to make many discoveries as we stage Act 2.

Ben Siegel

(Jay Bird)

Our Ugly Ducklings

               When I tell people that I’m in a musical called Honk, most wonder if it’s some concept musical about cars. “Nope. Not even close. I’m pretty sure cars are not the only thing that honk,” I tell them. I take my time and explain that it’s an adaptation of the notorious Ugly Duckling. Everyone knows the story of The Ugly Duckling. We’ve all read or heard about how the ugly duckling isn’t actually a duck at all, but a swan. The ugly duckling shows us how beautiful our differences are. Before entering the show, this is all I saw. It’s truly a heartwarming story. But after exploring the show with my fellow ensemble, I’ve been able to see the story in a way that I never had before.

               Ugly is just different. Along Ugly’s journey, he meets those who accept his differences, and those who don’t. We not only see this in The Ugly Duckling, but in the real world as well. Many are rejected by the popular and accepted by the few. People like having someone to look down on. I know I do. It gives us security. So the moral of the story is very clear to those who are rejected by society: differences are what make us who we are and differences are what make us beautiful. But what about people who aren’t really that different? Now you must understand that I am definitely not normal, but I’m not really discriminated against in any way. I, Josh Gartin, am a tall, white, teenage male. So what am I supposed to get from the story?

               In The Ugly Duckling, Ugly’s mom, the frog, and the family of swans are the only people who like Ugly at first. It takes everyone else some time to realize that Ugly’s not so bad. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the frog and the swans are some of the most outwardly different characters in the story. I also don’t think that Ugly is the only focus of the story. Honk is a hard script because most of us who are in the show are given such stereotypical characters -- the “ordinary” people. The only problem is that nobody is actually “ordinary.” So we have to develop our characters in our own way to make them un-ordinary.

   People who are considered ordinary are really just hiding their differences. Throughout the story, we see good and bad examples of how to treat people who are different. Because everyone is truly different, we are given a choice on how to treat the 10% of obviously different people as well as the other 90%.

   In The Ugly Duckling, we are shown two things. Our differences are what make us beautiful and we’re shown how to treat those around us because everyone is different and beautiful.

  I’ve been in many Story Theater Company shows. I know when a show is going to be good. This show will be spectacular!

Josh Gartin

(Barnacles)