Practice House Reading and Writing for PGE's Drop & Give Me 10
5/15/2020
It's taken a while to adjust to the world of acting in plays over Zoom, but it's happened. Obviously the past couple of months of the pandemic have been frightening and the world has been turned upside down in a way none of us have really experienced before, but I am extremely fortunate to be able to continue doing some acting projects in the virtual realm. (Nothing paid, of course, but that's often the life of an actor anyway!)
Last weekend I acted in a Zoom reading of Rachael Carnes's play, "Practice House" with several of the same actors that I read with when we did a reading of it here in NYC back in August 2019. The reading this Saturday was for the Great Plains Theatre Conference. "Practice House" was one of 20 plays accepted out of more than 800! I felt honored to be asked back to play the same role I played in the August NYC reading (an advantage of having the reading over Zoom, actors and auditors from three different time zones could participate together!), and it was really great to see how Rachael had tinkered with the play over the past year, and I loved getting to give feedback afterwards. I really love when I can give feedback to writers about how the play was from my perspective as an actor playing a character--"I loved the clarification of her character here, but then in the middle I wasn't sure what I was doing, was I really drawn into the brainwashing of this world here or was I just play-acting for survival...why did the character act like this here but not here?" etc. I should clarify, I love giving feedback when I feel like it is received and helpful and welcomed by the playwright, which with Rachael it definitely was.
Speaking of writing, I myself am trying my hand at playwriting again with this Sunday's Drop and Give Me 10 at PGE. I have written the first 10 minutes of a new play and it will be read over Zoom and YouTube Live this Sunday evening. I'm excited about this play, I think it might ultimately be the companion piece to my one act play Florence the Firefly. But of course I have only written the first 10 minutes, so I'm not sure where it will end up! I'm hoping it's funny. Listen in and let me know what you think! More info here!
Be well everyone. Please stay as safe as you can for all of our sakes. Wear masks and stay at least six feet away from people whenever you can, even if you live in a state that is relaxing its restrictions. Our country does not yet have the adequate testing or medical resources to re-open. And sadly it will probably be many more months (years? Eep.) before we are able to safely gather again. Performing live in front of people, and singing with people are the two things I do for my livelihood and my life, and those are put on pause right now. Thank Science for the technology that allows us to keep doing at least some of that art together/apart online. It feeds our souls. And keep singing at home, even if you're by yourself. It's good for you. xoxo.