Freehold Theatre

"Doing things I didn't think I could" by Noelle Mestres

2012-02-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Noelle Mestress is a Freehold student and is taking our Step II: Acting with Text class this Winter Quarter. We thought it'd be interesting to
follow her along on her class journey. This is the first of her blog posts. More to come over the next 8 weeks of class.

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So, I’m in Sarah Harlett’s Step II: Acting with Text class. Sarah is a fantastic teacher and has a way of making a safe space to, frankly, let whatever comes about, come about, while teaching, supporting and guiding at the same time.

I took Intro to Acting with George Lewis because “I’ve always wanted to act” (so cliché) but mostly because I’m so darn self-conscious and shy that I figured it was a great way to be literally FORCED out of my shell.

I was right.

And, it continues in Sarah’s class.

I’m completely freaked out to be there yet I love it. I’ve been able to do things I didn’t think I could ... in front of people no less! I don’t know if I’ll really be able to act officially but I’ve found that I’m not really too concerned about that right now; I just want to really get what it means to bring my true self to imaginary circumstances. I thought that sounded so easy. It’s really hard. Before Freehold I thought that acting meant being someone else.

This week, we get assigned scripts and partners. That also completely freaks me out but I’ve found that whether or not I can do it is not the point and probably; I’ll be able to do it. I came home from class last week completely energized, wondering what the heck I was doing, being terrified of this week and not being able to wait for it to get here.

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Stay tuned for more blog posts from Noelle!

Welcome to Freehold's New Registrar E. Justin Clarke

2012-01-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to E. Justin Clarke, Freehold's new Registrar! Lucinda Stroud, Freehold's previous Registrar is now Operations Manager at Freehold.

Get to know Justin in our recent chat with him ...

Justin, can you share a little bit about what drew you to working at Freehold as our new Registrar?

My initial interest in Freehold was to try something outside of my comfort zone. I have no background whatsoever in theater or acting, so I thought it would be interesting to submerge myself in another culture that I wasn’t familiar with and learn something interesting and new. I also work and attend a counseling program at nearby Antioch University Seattle, and spend plenty of time here in Belltown.

What discoveries have you made in your new role as Registrar?

My time as a Registrar has been a positive experience, I’ve gotten the chance to learn many new skills while helping eager students pursue their acting/theatre goals. Freehold has a warm atmosphere that makes coming to work pleasurable.

Outside of your work here at Freehold, what other activities occupy your time?

Spare time, I remember those days… generally my time involves spending time with my family while catching up on homework. When I do get time to enjoy myself it usually involves getting as far away from the city as possible and as often as possible enjoying any number of mediums like: Camping, Backpacking, Fly-Fishing, Snowboarding, or Golfing.

WELCOME Justin!

Interview with Tony Pasqualini

2012-01-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Tony Pasqualini is a veteran of thirty-five years in the theatre, Tony has performed in over a hundred plays on many stages around the country, including: The Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, The Vinyard Theatre and Playwright’s Horizons. A member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles, where he’s played Tobias in A Delicate Balance, and Snyder in Saint Joan of the Slaughterhouses (an LA Weekly Award nominee), and Andrew in Loyalties. Tony has guest starred on dozens of televisions programs, including Cold Case, The Office, Without a Trace, Navy NCIS, West Wing, Frasier, CSI: NY, JAG, Boston Legal, and Law and Order, LA. Tony is also one of the Founders of Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio.

What did you first think when Robin Lynn Smith, Freehold's Artistic Director, called and asked you to play King Lear?

Robin has actually talked about her desire to do Lear for years, so I knew the call was eventually coming -- maybe ten years from now when I'd be in my mid-sixties. That seemed about right. So when she called this past summer, my initial thought was, 'oh, wait, I'm not nearly ready for this.' Robin, however, in her most persuasive manner said, "Well, you know Paul Schofield played the role when he was 45." I wasn't too reassured by that because I consider Paul Schofield one of the great actors of our generation. I was much more reassured to hear about the other actors who had signed onto the project. Jose Gonzales, Reggie Jackson, Sarah Harlett, Eric Anderson, Kate Wisniewski, and Kevin McKeon along with all the other terrific young actors, designers, puppeteers and musicians Robin has brought on board, gave me the confidence to leave sunny LA behind for a bit and participate in tackling, what many consider, Shakespeare's greatest play.

What has the process been like as you've begun to dive into the material?

It's a truly exciting play to work on. The story is rich and extraordinarily engaging. The language is incisive, full of passion and nuance, but mostly what I've discovered playing Lear is the complexity of the character's journey and how brilliantly structured that journey is. Many of us have dealt with family members who have lost their bearings. It's frightening to see another human being deteriorate. Shakespeare has written Lear's 'descent into madness' with such painstaking detail that you can't help being deeply moved as this once powerful man is, piece by piece, stripped of his power. And as I've studied and rehearsed the script, a complex road map has emerged for Lear. And I've discovered if I let myself follow the map that Shakespeare has written, I can begin to experience the thrill of playing Lear.

Let me also say this, and this has surprised me. This play is terrifically funny. And I think that is because when people are in their most exposed, vulnerable, human state there is great tragedy, of course, but also great humor.

As you anticipate the summer tour of King Lear, what are some things you are looking forward to?

About four years ago I went out with the Engaged Theatre Tour playing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Honestly I had no idea what to expect. I've been a professional actor for over 35 years; I've performed in hundreds of plays in many different types and sizes of theatre; done many of Shakespeare's roles; always felt deeply rewarded by being in those plays. But to bring that work into the communities the Engaged Theatre Tour takes us to, is an experience that a modern actor will simply not get anywhere else. You set up a stage, you are in the middle of a prison yard, it's the middle of the day, there are no lights, no comfortable air conditioned dressing rooms or theatre to relax in. No, there's not even a concession stand. A large group of prisoners come out. Have they ever seen a Shakespeare play? Or a play of any sort? Are they going to be remotely interested? Why would they be? A modern typical theatre-going audience, the kind one normally plays for, has probably seen King Lear several times, certainly they've read it, studied it in school. This could only turn out to be a disaster.

But here's the thing. When Shakespeare first performed his plays, the actors stood up in an open space in the middle of the day and no one in the audience knew the first thing about King Lear. It was a new experience, a discovery. The theatre was raw and alive and unpredictable. The words and the story connected with the audience in a visceral and powerful way. This rough-shod, unknowledgable audience did not sit quietly and take in the play. They shouted back at the stage, rooted for the heroes, booed the villains, wept and laughed and cursed. When we do Shakespeare today in our very neat, well-coiffed theaters we are all (actors and audience alike) experiencing a rather sanitized version of what was the original theatre experience. So when you are out there on that prison yard, I believe you are quite close to the performance experience of those seventeenth century actors. How can you not look forward to that?

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Our Engaged Theatre Program's Laboratory Showing/Open Rehearsal of King Lear will be on Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30 pm at Glen Hughes Penthouse Theatre on the University of Washington Campus. RSVP: BROWN PAPER TICKETS

“I Get No Kick From Champagne” by Tania Sung

2012-01-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

Tania – female, Chinese-Canadian and thereby looks young for her age
God – Omniscient, good sense of humour, non- corporeal form, eternal
A living room in a small rental apartment in Bellevue, decorated with a mish-mash of furniture cobbled together over the years from Craigslist and IKEA. It is a cool summer night and there is the occasional sound of loud footsteps and laughter that comes from the thin ceiling above.

TANIA: What should I do?
GOD: Ah… your favourite question.
TANIA: I’m way too predictable.
GOD: Take playwriting.
TANIA: What? You’re actually answering me?
GOD: Yes. Playwriting.
TANIA: I’m not sure I---
GOD: You’ll enjoy yourself.
TANIA: But the I-90 traffic is--
GOD: A mess. But at least there’s no tolling.
TANIA: I don’t know if I’ll write anything worthwhile…
GOD: …Trust me.

…and the seed was planted. I finally enrolled in Playwriting I last fall because I wanted to better understand how to effectively use words. I found that while oftentimes my words failed, I still had a tendency to use too many.

Lo and behold that in the second week of class, I learned that words didn’t need to do all the heavy lifting because there was so much mystery to be tilled with subtext. Moreover, as someone who struggles with grammar, I secretly derived glee from punctuating incorrectly to create my own rhythm.

The final homework assignment was to create a ten minute play based on the theme, “I Get No Kick From Champagne.” Although the entire writing process was challenging, my biggest hurdle was to develop a premise that could sustain my interest for ten minutes. I bored myself with my first two writing attempts because I tried too hard to be clever or funny at the expense of emotional truth. Since the assignment deadline loomed, I released my need to write a lighthearted play and decided to heed Elizabeth Heffron’s advice to “write what disturbs you”.

I gathered my courage and wrote about two broken people and the painful aftermath of their dysfunctional relationship. After the initial feedback from some friends, I was upset to discover I had accidentally written a bad soap opera. But as I proceeded to make some revisions, I chose not to change the core story because this very messy play was an inadequate but honest expression of my heart.

For our last class, my classmates and I had a night of play readings for an intimate audience plied with bubbly in honour of the theme. Far from my worst fear that my writing was woefully inadequate, I was touched to see that my play, along with my classmates’ excellent interpretations of the characters, could move people’s hearts.

My first ten-minute play is far from perfect but I’m proud of it. Yes, God’s guidance was spot-on (again). But I couldn’t have done it without Elizabeth Heffron and Dickey Nesenger’s instruction and encouragement, nor pushed through the self-doubt without all the support from my classmates and my friends.

And here’s my toast to my entire class: I get a kick out of you!

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For over 20 years, Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio has been offering a variety of acting classes year round all taught by working professional actors, directors and playwrights. Classes include beginning acting, solo performance, improv, playwriting, directing, voice and movement classes and much more. For more information, go to: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org

Beginning and Advanced Acting Classes at Freehold in Seattle this Winter Quarter

2011-12-15T11:12:00.001-08:00

We are privileged to have highly acclaimed artists as faculty. Our students range from the beginner who has never taken an acting class to the advanced trained student looking to continue their practice.

There is truly something for everyone.

Freehold's Winter Class, 2012 Line-Up:

Step I: Intro to Acting with Meg McLynn
Step I: Intro to Acting with Sarah Harlett
Step II: Acting with Text with Sarah Harlett
Step III: Scene Study Text Intensive with Annette Toutonghi
The Actor's Homework with Annette Toutonghi
Alexander Technique: For The Actor's Toolbox with Cathy Madden
Auditioning with Annette Toutonghi
Directing and Acting for the Camera with John Jacobsen
Improvisation with Matt Smith
Intermediate Clown with George Lewis
Meisner: Instrument with Robin Lynn Smith
Movement with Paul Budraitis
Playwriting II: The Playwright's Vision with Elizabeth Heffron
Shakespeare with Amy Thone
Solo Performance and Presentation with Marya Sea Kaminski
Spoken Word and Performance Poetry with Daemond Arrindell
Stage Combat with Geof Alm
Voice-Over with Gin Hammond

We also have a little space in 2 of our Fall Classes:
Public Speaking with Gin Hammond
Verse and Voice with Kimberly White

Check out our Winter e-newsletter with great articles from faculty and students:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs025/1102313671991/archive/1108903728432.html

To register for a class: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org

If you're looking for outstanding training in a supportive atmosphere,
Freehold is the place.

Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio
2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 323-7499

Memories of Freehold: "What Splitting My Pants Taught Me About Being Human or Lessons from Personal Clown with George" by Cathleen O’Malley

2011-12-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

At the time I registered for George Lewis’s Lecoq-based “Personal Clown” class (Spring 2003) I was, frankly, a little wary of clowns. My opinion of the form was unfortunately tainted by the unoriginal, often-fearsome, pop culture representations of clowns, scary or worse--dilapidated sad sacks with frizzy scarlet hair and a forced attitude of mirth that provoked in me (as for many people, I suspect) a major case of the willies, if not the urge to violence. I had not yet encountered the work of Jacques Lecoq, nor George as teacher, but a combination of the intriguing class description and the awed testimonials from former students convinced me to take the plunge and risk having my mind blown.

During the first week of class, we were given the task of assembling a costume. Intrigued by the vague notion that clowning was somehow related to “failure”, my first attempt resulted in an unsightly head-to-toe ensemble of ratty men’s long johns, pre-stained with indelible grime and sweat and salvaged from the discount rack at the Capitol Hill Value Village. “No, no no!” George rolled his eyes and turned me away with a dramatic flourish of his hands. “What are you WEARING? What is that--men’s underwear? And all the same color--totally wrong!”

I arrived at the next class decked in stripes and jaunty black polyester ankle pants, gloves and (I wince)...a beret. This was my attempt at a “Euro” look, sort of cutesy and androgynous, with a dash of...Parisian street performer? In spite of my efforts, the result was lame and I knew it from the moment I crossed the threshold. George was similarly unimpressed. On that count, it was fortunate that the costume did not last long.

The performance I had prepared (now long wiped from my memory by subsequent events) had tanked, and I was exposed, stock-still and grasping desperately for a new “bit” as my classmates gazed back at me blankly. I deployed the best of my moves--a super-controlled, yogi-like headstand, with my legs rising flat as a board. No response. A freestyle hip hop combination--not a chuckle. Having run out of ideas, my performance quickly devolved into a halting montage of yoga asanas, fake tap dancing, gazelle leaps and rhythm gymnastics across the space, all in an attempt to elicit a reaction from the audience. They remained stone faced. In a burst of desperation, I plunged into a full split--and it was then that the seams gave way.

For anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of studying clown with George (or anyone)--a bit of context. One of the most standard clown exercises is deceptively simple and exceeding provocative. Each instructor has their own approach, but the basic task is this: “Enter. Make the audience laugh.”

While in sketch comedy, a character enters a constructed world and interacts with it (to comic effect), a clown enters an empty space, in which she creates a world with and for the audience.

Getting to that point takes some goading. We all have--as I discovered painfully over the course of Personal Clown and beyond--tricks and habits that we employ towards our basic human desire for love and approval. The role of the clown instructor--like a semi-sadistic Ring Master--is to poke holes in these pretensions, towards the end of revealing the authentic character underneath--open, vulnerable, whole and complete in her imperfections.

Rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. Silence. A breeze. A sinking realization.

“Excuse me miss,” George’s eyes were sparkling “Is there something the matter?”

“Uh.” Clown class had happened to fall at the tail end (no pun intended) of laundry week and, me-at-22 was frantically combing my memory to unsure if I had dressed myself that morning with something recognizable as underwear.

“Weren’t you in the middle of a dance routine?”

“Uh, um.” I am slowly inching my way back towards the tall black flats marking the entrance to the space, and thus, safety.

“Are you holding something behind your back? What’s wrong, miss? Is there a problem?”

The class was in complete uproar and George wasn’t letting me off the hook. An unfortunate blush boiling and spreading up from my neck, I set about the task of recreating my fake tap, gazelle-leaping, yoga asana, rhythm gymnastic routine, all the while clutching the flapping fabric at my back end, two pant legs separated cleanly from top to bottom, held together only by the front zipper, waste band and my desperate efforts. One-handed dance moves were the only available option for the pathetic little clown on the stage. Careful, labored spins eventually gave way to a sort of gawky virtuosity as the laughter of the audience loosened my breath and I began to play. When I finally made my exit to enthusiastic applause, I paused for a moment backstage, quivering and stunned.

“That,” George’s voice rang out, “is called a Gift from God.”

In the empty space of the ring, we learned, the clown emerges though authentic response to the audience, the environment and the circumstances that arise. Thus, every accident is an opportunity; every failure, a springboard for creation. Personal Clown taught that it is our uniqueness and, most poignantly, our failings and flaws that most delight the audience, if we are willing to bring them to the stage--and it is through the red-nosed clown, the smallest mask, that our humanity shines. A lesson to live by, onstage and off!

Cathleen went on to study Lecoq-based Physical Theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts. She now lives and works in Bethlehem, PA, where she is the Education Director and an Ensemble Member of Touchstone Theatre. http://www.cathleenomalley.com

George Lewis will be teaching Intermediate Clown at Freehold this Winter Quarter.

The Secret to Working with Teenagers by Daemond Arrindell

2011-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Freehold Associate Partner and Faculty Member Daemond Arrindell and Teaching Artist Carter Rodriquez have been working for the last several months with several teenagers in our Engaged Theatre residency. Here are some of Daemond's thoughts on that experience.

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The secret to working with teenagers is all in the snacks. If one can tame the raging hunger that distracts them beyond all things, then maybe you stand a chance. Because you might get past the hunger, but THEN what are you going to do? They've likely seen or heard things that are a ton more exciting than what you have to show them or talk about on YouTube last night. And it was flashier on YouTube. And it had back up dancers. And a soundtrack. And Eminem made a cameo. So what else have you got in your bag of tricks? Juggling? Forget it unless it involves pyrotechnics.

So what? Well there is always ... honesty. Talking. TO them. WITH them. There is always showing them who you are and then asking them about themselves. and then asking them MORE about themselves. There is suspending judgment - kinda like you wanted adults to do when you were a teenager - and engaging, and believing what they say and dare I say it: trusting them. And then doing that again. And again and again.

I think one of the secrets of working with teenagers is forgetting at times that you are adults and they are teenagers and remembering that YOU are a person and THEY are too. Thinking of yourself as part of the group and becoming US. This is what Carter Rodriquez and I do with our kids in the Engaged Theatre program's residency at Washington Hall this fall. We talked, sure, but we listened a ton too. We let down our guards and then we listened more. Then they let their guards down and we listened even harder. And we believed in them. And TOLD them we believed in them. Rinse, repeat and add lots of snacks. Because none of the above works unless you feed them.

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The original performance by youth entitled "We Are Tomorrow's Today" with the Detention All-Stars is a partnership of Freehold's Engaged Theatre and the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. Performances were held on Saturday, December 10th at Washington Hall. For more information on our Engaged Theatre residency work, go to: Engaged Theatre Residencies

Memories of Freehold: Freehold Inspires My "Little Dance" by Sharon N. Williams

2011-12-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Whenever I’ve worked with Freehold, they’ve made an impact on my life. And my result to said impact is always the same. I end up doing a crazy dance, I start grinning from ear to ear, and I may even jump up and down. Because that is what Freehold has meant to me. This organization has brought insurmountable joy in my life and to my quest to pursue my passion.

When I first started my organization, The Mahogany Project, George Lewis contacted me. I was sitting at my desk at my day job when George asked if I would be interested in participating in the Studio Series. I was calm on the phone but it took all my strength to stay in my chair. I maintained my professionalism. I didn’t give a definite "yes", I asked some questions and then told him I would get back to him soon. As soon as I hung up the phone, I was on my feet and doing my little dance. We showcased an excerpt from the first play I had ever written a few months later.

The second time I did my little dance was when I decided I wanted to take the solo performance aspect of my repertoire to the next level. What better way to challenge myself than to sign up for Marya Sea Kaminiski’s Solo Performance course? And what a challenge it was.

Now, the first week of the class I was feeling good. I went home with a bunch of ideas for pieces to create for the class. Week two, I went home and I had nothing. I started to feel like I didn’t belong. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t even edit the material I created after the first class! I confessed this to Marya and she encouraged me to just come to the class. So I did. I even told my class that I couldn’t write anything. But it didn’t seem to matter. We just continued with the class. I finally got my voice back a week or so later, but I still had doubt on whether not I belonged. I constantly questioned if being a solo performer was right for me.

At the end of the course I ended up sharing a story that I’ve never shared before and that to this day I still can’t share with my family. But the response I received from the audience that night and the feeling I had after sharing my story was one that made me jump up and down, do my little dance, and grin from ear to ear. By the time you read this I would have performed my second one act solo performance and I already have plans to create many more. Big shout out to my Solo Performance class for sharing this journey with me. I miss you guys.

The third time Freehold made me do my little dance was when Robin Lynn Smith called one morning to ask if I would consider being a teaching artist for the Engaged Theatre program at the Washington Correctional Center for Women, The Ordinary Heroes. The morning Robin called I’d been thinking that I had wanted to focus on storytelling for my next show. I would ask my family and friends to write stories for me to share in my next solo piece. I had already spoken to one of my friends that same morning and she agreed. But when Robin called, I had to play it cool. She shared with me the details of the project. And I shared with her, how I wasn’t and had never been a teaching artist. I could tell she wasn’t accepting "no" for an answer. She believed I could do it and she wanted me to be on the team. I played it cool and even though I knew I was going to do it as soon as she asked. I told her I would think about it and let her know. Little did she know when I hung up the phone I jumped up from my desk, did my little dance, grinned from ear to ear, and then called one my colleagues to tell her the awesome news.

I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into that prison for the first time. I’ve watched television and movies just like you, so I believed in whatever stereotypes there were about prison. To my surprise it was exactly like television. Well the shell of the experience is exactly like television, but when you walk into that room with the women and the door closes, it doesn’t seem like prison. The women look like you and me, talk like you and me, and have issues just like you and me. We always give them an exercise hoping that they will take it and run with it. They always exceed our expectations and everyone involved with this project goes on a life changing journey. The women we are when we walk in isn’t the same women that walk out. I’m not just saying that for the teaching artists.

Freehold has showcased my work, helped me develop my work, and has helped shape me as an individual. There are many other times Freehold has caused me to do my little dance, to grow as both an artist and a person. I can honestly say that Freehold is one of the organizations that I have to give much respect and love to for aiding me in pursuing my passion. Thank you Freehold for 20 years of joy.

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For more information on Sharon Williams' work on The Mahogany Project, go to:
http://mahoganyproject.org/

A Chat with Faculty Member Paul Budraitis

2011-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

Paul Budraitis is a director, actor, writer, and solo performer, as well as a teacher of acting and stage movement. In Seattle, he has worked with On the Boards, the Degenerate Art Ensemble, Annex Theatre, Balagan Theatre, New City Theatre, and Cornish College of the Arts, among others. His solo performance (IN)STABILITY premiered at On the Boards in February, and his production of David Mamet's Edmond received a Seattle Times' "Footlight Award" as one of the best productions of 2010. Paul received a State Department Fulbright grant to study theatre directing at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy (LMTA) in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he earned his master's degree under the mentorship of visionary theatre director Jonas Vaitkus. In Lithuania, Paul worked with the National Drama Theatre of Lithuania, the State Youth Theatre of Lithuania, the Kaunas State Drama Theatre, and Oskaras Koršunovas/Vilnius City Theatre (OKT). He has assisted directors Jonas Vaitkus and Oskaras Koršunovas, and most recently acted in a contemporary re-imagining of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, directed by acclaimed Finnish director Kristian Smeds and performed at the Vienna Festival.

Paul, we're excited that you'll be teaching a Movement class with us at Freehold. You've been teaching at Cornish and now you'll also be teaching at Freehold. What, in particular, do you enjoy about your teaching work?

Teaching is a learning process for me, because every time that I propose a concept to a new student, I'm checking back in with the concept myself. It’s always a rewarding experience to be able to recognize a particular problem a student is having and then to be able to provide specific advice that addresses it. Seeing the proverbial light bulb go off in a student’s mind as they discover a new level of confidence in their ability is probably something that all teachers love about their job. It’s great to be able to watch those moments of discovery add up over the course of a semester and to know that you’ve helped someone develop a deeper overall understanding of their craft.

You're a director, actor, writer, solo performer and teacher. As you began your own training, what came first, your work as an actor, writer, director? How have they informed each other over the years?

I started my career as an actor and worked that way exclusively for several years. Along the way, I developed an ever-increasing curiosity about directing and writing, and eventually began experimenting with both. My first major directing project was an adaptation I wrote of a Herman Melville short story called “Bartleby the Scrivener” which allowed me to combine both of these interests in one project. Since then, I’ve continued working in all three areas, which has helped me gain a more well-rounded understanding of the process of making theatre, as well as a deeper understanding of my collaborators and the specific challenges they face.

I understand that you received a Fulbright grant and studied theatre directing at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy in Lithuania. Can you share one or two memorable experiences of your time studying and working in Lithuania?

It’s difficult to know where to begin, because I have so many memorable moments from my time overseas. One that comes to mind off the top of my head is when I was acting in a student production of Aleksandr Vvedensky’s “Christmas at the Ivanov’s” that toured to the Baltijskij Dom Theatre Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. We performed the play in Lithuanian, and the touring budget didn’t allow for a translator, so we wound up performing for an audience that literally didn’t understand a word we were saying. It was an intimidating situation, but ultimately I found the physically expressive style of the show allowed the audience to understand the actions and intentions of the characters quite well in spite of the language barrier. Having people laugh and react enthusiastically to my work while knowing that it had nothing to with them understanding the words I was saying was an experience that I won’t ever forget.

You recently acted in a contemporary re-imagining of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, directed by Finnish director Kristian Smeds and performed at the Vienna Festival. What was that experience like?

It was remarkable, a true gift. Kristian is a director who is on the cutting edge of developments in contemporary theatre, and it is always great to have an opportunity to collaborate with him. I inevitably walk away from these experiences with a newfound perspective on what theatre is capable of and with new questions for myself about how I want to create the theatre that I create. For example, this particular performance took place in a refugee housing area on the outskirts of Vienna, with the first part of the performance involving the actors playing soccer against a team of Somali teenagers on a beat up dirt field. We lost the game in a sudden-death shoot out, and the kids rejoiced as if they'd just won the World Cup. The main action of the play took place in a garage-sized tool shed that allowed the actors and audience to develop a focussed and intimate connection over the course of the evening. It can be said that the creation of this intimate, human connection was actually one of the primary goals of the performance. I could go on describing the project for a long time, but for anyone who might be interested, there are links to the entire performance on Vimeo (see below). If you have an English version of the play, it’s possible to follow along.

Cherry orchard 29-5-2011 intro and football from Ville Hyvönen on Vimeo.

Cherry orchard 29-5-2011 first half from Ville Hyvönen on Vimeo.

Cherry Orchard 29-5-2011 second half in Vienna with German subs from Ville Hyvönen on Vimeo.

You have a great line in your Movement class description where you reference one of Meyerhold's favorite actors, Igor Ilyinsky who said "Technique arms the imagination." How does the Meyerhold's Biomechanics work allow for the "arming of the imagination?"

The imagination is limitless. Our bodies are not. By studying Biomechanics, a student is making the effort to develop the expressive capabilities of his or her body in a new way, essentially working to make his or her artistic process more responsive to the limitless impulses of the imagination. To put it another way, for an actor, knowing the body means knowing the artistic palette. The more an actor understands his or her palette, the more they are able to unleash the power of their imagination. An actor can never know what new challenges will arise in a rehearsal room, so he or she must prepare to engage any possibility with confidence and joy. Biomechanics is a practical, no-nonsense way to accomplish this, which is why I enjoy passing it on to others so much.

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Paul will be teaching a Movement class this Winter Quarter at Freehold. For more information, go to the class page or call us at (206) 323-7499.

Freehold Faculty Upcoming Performances

2011-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Freehold is privileged to have exceptional faculty members. Here's just some of the work around town that they are involved in during the coming months ...

Gin Hammond along with Freehold ETI alums, Phillip Mitchell and Melissa Topscher are developing their piece, Man Catches Fish, at Key City Public Theater's New Works Festival in Port Townsend, February 19 - Saturday, February 26.

Sarah Harlett will be performing in January, 2012 in open rehearsals of a laboratory investigation of King Lear as part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre program. In the Summer of 2012, the fully mounted production of King Lear will be produced by Freehold's Engaged Theatre program and will tour to unique communities throughout the northwest.

Freehold Teaching Artist Carter Rodriquez and Freehold Faculty member Alyssa Keene are performing in Theatre Schmeater's Reckless with Freehold Faculty Member Carol Roscoe directing. Runs through December 17th.

Darragh Kennan is performing in Sylvia at the Seattle Repertory Theatre running through December 11th.

George Lewis has been directing Le Frenchword who will be appearing at the REBAR January 13,14, 20, 21,27, 28 Friday and Saturday nights) at 8PM. According to George, "The last section has been completed - this is the whole tamale, finished and polished, as mixed a metaphor as ever you hope to behold."

Cathy Madden will be one of the presenters at Freedom to Act: 2012, Freedom to ACT: 2012, The Conference on Acting and the Alexander Technique, January 13-15, 2012, New York, NY.

Billie Wildrick will be performing in The Billy Joe Show Holiday Spectacular with the Dusty 45's on December 10th at the Triple Door.

My Voice Class Experience by Jane Anne Wilder

2011-11-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

I recently took Gin Hammond’s eight-week Voice course. It was terrific; changed my craft – and even my life – in ways I couldn’t have possibly foreseen.

I have to ‘fess up and say I expected it to be boring. I mean ‘Voice.’ Yuk. But I want to do more voice work, so I took it like a flu shot.

Can’t talk about the course without a few words about Gin Hammond, for those of you who don’t know her. Gin is extremely knowledgeable, well-respected, caring, passionate about her subject, non-judgmental and a joy to be with. She made what I consider a boring subject intriguing.

Yes, we studied the voice itself. But we also learned how to make it work for us; a heavy emphasis on breathing and how to give our voices power. We did a lot of yoga, because apparently you need open hips to have a strong voice. Ditto lots of posture work. That’s one way my life changed. I now am very conscious of my posture, especially when recording.

We used monologues for practice. Although Gin rarely commented on our acting, it was amazing to see how our acting improved once we put her techniques in practice. She even taught us how to walk into an audition and what to do once there.

We did one exercise about chakras – yes, I rolled my eyes – then did our monologues ‘from’ each chakra. I was astounded – each version of my monologue was different. I saw the imaginary person from entirely different viewpoints depending on the chakra. This gave me a feeling of depth for the monologue I had never had before.

Now that the course is over, it looks like I’m going to have to get back into yoga. I may even study chakras. Am I going to take her upcoming Voice Over class?

I think I was the first person who signed up.

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Gin Hammond will be teaching a Voice Over at Freehold this Winter Quarter.

Freehold's Winter Acting Classes for Beginning and Advanced Students in Seattle Are Now Open for Registration

2011-11-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

We are privileged to have highly acclaimed artists as faculty. Our students range from the beginner who has never taken an acting class to the advanced trained student looking to continue their practice.

There is truly something for everyone.

Freehold's Winter Class, 2012 Line-Up:

Step I: Intro to Acting with Meg McLynn
Step I: Intro to Acting with Sarah Harlett
Step II: Acting with Text with Sarah Harlett
Step III: Scene Study Text Intensive with Annette Toutonghi
The Actor's Homework with Annette Toutonghi
Alexander Technique: For The Actor's Toolbox with Cathy Madden
Auditioning with Annette Toutonghi
Directing and Acting for the Camera with John Jacobsen
Improvisation with Matt Smith
Intermediate Clown with George Lewis
Meisner: Instrument with Robin Lynn Smith
Movement with Paul Budraitis
Playwriting II: The Playwright's Vision with Elizabeth Heffron
Shakespeare with Amy Thone
Solo Performance and Presentation with Marya Sea Kaminski
Spoken Word and Performance Poetry with Daemond Arrindell
Stage Combat with Geof Alm
Voice-Over with Gin Hammond

We also have a little space in 2 of our Fall Classes:
Public Speaking with Gin Hammond
Verse and Voice with Kimberly White

Check out our Fall e-newsletter with great articles from faculty and students:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs025/1102313671991/archive/1107754246809.html

To register for a class: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org

If you're looking for outstanding training in a supportive atmosphere,
Freehold is the place.

Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio
2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 323-7499

Overcoming My Auditioning Fears by Elizabeth Zeff

2011-10-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

Although I’ve been acting for several years, and consequentially auditioning for shows, I – and I’m sure I’m not alone here – have had a fear of the age old auditioning process. It is a scary thought: to go somewhere intentionally to be judged, inspected, and digested. It can be overwhelming and even paralyzing. I decided to take Freehold’s Auditioning class because I’d never, anywhere, heard of a class focusing just on the art of auditioning before. It makes so much sense, though! There are certain things you just don’t know, until you do; it is a class specifically for the ins and outs of that process.

In my short time working with Annette Toutonghi, the instructor for the Auditioning Class, some of the things I learned seemed so obvious it was “Duh”-inducing, but once they were stated simply out loud it made so much sense. Annette told us that the auditors WANT you to SUCCEED! They want you to be the right actor for them. What a concept! I’m sure I knew this, but hearing someone in the business, who has been on both sides of the auditioning table, tell me this with full confidence was pleasing. In our first class we expressed our fears about the process. We wrote them down on a white board, discussed them – and then immediately addressed the answers to them. Mostly all the answers were straightforward, mostly along the lines of ‘be confident, be warm, and be ready to roll with the punches’.

After all the hypotheticals and theoreticals had been worked out, we began practicals. This, I think, was the most beneficial for me. Just to get the practice of coming into a room with warmth and self-assurance, going through these actions and interactions in different kinds of scenarios built my confidence way up; with every class came the opportunity to improve and come into myself comfortably.

Our second to last class was set up like a general audition. Actor and Director, Tim Hyland was our auditor for this class. I remember years of sitting before an audition and with such anxiety, getting nervous and shaky. I remember that jolt in my stomach when I heard “You’re on deck.” With every audition that intense emotion is less invasive, but this time I was hardly nervous at all. I didn’t have a nagging dread or fretful anxiety, I felt that healthy kind of nervous – the kind that keeps you on your toes. I felt confident in my work, my ability, and my knowledge of the process that I was about to embark on. That same night we had a singing for auditions workshop and I did it! Several years ago that would not have happened. No way, no how. After this class, I must say, I felt a healthy abandon that I’m sure all actors must have to harness.

Along with all the very useful, straightforward “do’s and don’ts” that we learned, I also was very pleased to get poignant acting tips for my audition monologues. Annette spoke very directly to little shifts that greatly improved my connection to the material and my delivery of the monologue. Getting one-on-one time to work on my monologue, sides, and cold reading skills with Annette was definitely one of my favorite parts of the class. It was an invaluable experience, because she gave me small but significant pointers that brought to the forefront a depth, truthfulness, and purpose to my monologue that were only murmurs before. Her advice is something that I can apply to all my work from here on out.

The goal that I articulated on the first day of class was to take the fear and questions out of the process, to build a procedure to rely on, and strengthen my confidence through practice. Seven weeks later I feel as though I have accomplished that goal. This was a special, amazingly useful experience and something that I am sure will continue to help me as I carry forward in my life and my career as an actor.

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Annette Toutonghi will be teaching Auditioning at Freehold this Winter Quarter, 2012 at Freehold. Registration for winter classes is now open. More information about Freehold, can be found at www.freeholdtheatre.org

My Discoveries in Movement Class by Shannon Kringen

2011-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

The feeling of Déjà vu comes to mind when I look back on the overall experience I had in Freehold’s Movement class with George Lewis. While the exercises and philosophy were all new to me, the dynamic, kinesthetic, use your whole body and mind and be fully present and aware attitude felt familiar to me.

I learned so much about myself. Over and over again I had to allow myself to feel vulnerable, feel all my fears and insecurities and know that underneath all of that, I have tremendous courage and strength and the ability to be present. I learned that I am mostly an introspective kind of person who likes time in solitude and that I also really like being with others, watching actors work and play and act with them. Working with actors mirroring back and forth stimulates me in a way I am so hungry for. I found myself thinking that people are so unique and fascinating. Each person has a different way of moving and speaking. While there were different cadences in our voices and bodies, we all had similar fears and challenges. I found myself having to deal with my assumptions and projections and realized that most of my problem is my own self holding me back.

I love and admire the work that actors do. My forte is visual arts. I am very moved when I look at paintings or create paintings and photographs and yet when I hear music or see a play or movie I really am affected in a more specific heartfelt way.

This class helped me get a feeling for my weaknesses and strengths both within my own body as well as in working with others, whether it was making eye contact with fellow actors or projecting out into an audience. Meeting twice a week was a benefit as well. Something about the consistent rhythm of meeting for 4 hours twice a week really helped snap me out of my comfort zone and into something new. The class also reminded me of being in a place where who we “are” is flexible and we can decide to add or subtract aspects of ourselves. I particularly enjoyed the movement exercise towards the end of the course when we got to use the set with props and a door and at the same time respond to our scene partners’ movements as well. I learned to be aware of my gaze and to look outward around the room and notice and be OPEN to what is around me and yet stay centered. Doing both in a balanced way felt so good. I was centered in myself in a grounded solid way and yet open and playful and connected to what was around me.

After this class, I am feeling compelled to keep taking acting classes and see where that takes me. I really want to incorporate visual with performing arts for my BA degree and might continue on and earn my MFA in multi-media visual and performing arts. Feeling more connected to community is one of the biggest benefits I gained from taking this course. It made me feel more alive and part of humanity to do this work. This class provided a safe, supportive environment to do this challenging work and I’m very grateful I took the opportunity to study at Freehold.

The New Play Lab Showcase: Renewing My Interest and Imagination by Malika Lee

2011-10-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Photo: Christian Jenkins, Carl Kennedy, Amontaine Woods, Ieisha McIntyre in The Purification Process by Malika Lee

Writing has been a solo journey; until I attended Freehold's New Play Lab. I started writing my first play, The Purification Process, about three years ago and while I shared a few scenes with a handful of friends, I was finally ready to advance my work by sharing it in a safe space. Being a transitioning artist, starting your first project is a lot like walking through a dark cave with a lit match. I was stuck and wasn't exactly sure if I was on the right track. In the workshop phase the instructor, my fellow writers, & I took time reading each other's plays aloud. Their responses of enthusiasm and inquiry renewed my interest and imagination in my play, which had been lying dormant.

Sometimes we are so close to our work that we can't see it clearly. Receiving immediate feedback helped me correct some major oversights. One example is the element of my play involving audience interaction and participation. Elizabeth Heffron (the instructor) pointed out that introducing that dynamic so late in my play would pose a challenge for audience members and they probably wouldn't participate. Now why didn't I think of that!?!! She coached me that the audience needs to know the rules of engagement and what's expected of them early in the play instead of later to maximize that type of scene. As a result, I added a new opening scene which set the tone for the audience and (per my director Erin Kraft) added to the intensity of the following scenes.

The opportunity to experience my writing 3 dimensionally with the help of actors and a director is what enticed me most about the Lab experience. Where else would I have access to these highly skilled and talented people so early in my writing process? Having a fresh set of eyes (director/actors) was yet another opportunity to get feedback on whether my intentions were clear. They asked questions about the characters and relationships that challenged me to clarify back story and situations. The cherry on top was having a portion of it performed in front of a live audience. The audience's immediate feedback of laughter, leaning forward in their seats, deafening silence, (or yawns!) is a gift to any playwright during the writing process.

With the feedback and support from the Lab, I've been rejuvenated and plan to complete a strong draft of my play by the end of the year. Sharing my play with so many through this process has made this work real and attainable to me for the first time! It has gone from just an idea in my mind, a secret between my journal and I, to a living, breathing thing. This wouldn't have been possible without my experience at Freehold. Thanks to Freehold, Elizabeth, my fellow classmates, as well as, all the actors, directors and audience members that joined us on the journey.

New Play Lab Opportunities at Freehold by Kathryn Van Meter

2011-09-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Photo: Kathryn Van Meter (left) and Jane Anne Wilder

I recently had the pleasure of being involved with the New Play Lab series through Freehold and I can't wait for the opportunity to audition for the next one.

I firmly believe in the importance of developing new work and new voices and I think Freehold is doing an incredible job with their Playwriting program. I got the email for the auditions and by some miracle of scheduling, I realized I could not only attend the auditions but would be available for the performance weekend as well. It was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable audition experiences I have ever had. Erin Kraft and Meaghen Arnette, the directors of the 4 plays, were gracious and warm in the room. The playwrights had an excitement about them that was infectious. I had convinced a friend of mine to attend the auditions with me and we both commented afterwards on what a great experience it has been.

I got an email later that evening from Meaghan asking me to play the role of Patty in the piece Lily's Birthday Wish - one of the roles I had read for in the auditions. Ann Eisenberg, the playwright got a draft of the script to us right away. There were 2 rehearsals scheduled, each for 2 hours. Meaghan was wonderful in her respect of the process for both the playwright and the actors. It was really great to watch Ann hear her play in a new way and as we began to ask her questions, see the wheels turning in her head. The amount of changes she was able to make between the first rehearsal and the second was pretty amazing and a credit not only to Ann, but Elizabeth Heffron and the Playwriting program.

We met a little bit early on the night of the first presentation to finish walking through the minimal staging of the piece and I felt very prepared. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of size of the audience and I was presently surprised to see it full! I was thrilled for the playwrights' to be able to have the experience of a full house- BOTH NIGHTS! The order was reversed from the first night to the second so we opened the show on Friday and closed the show on Saturday. From a performance perspective- I found it much easier to open the show - the energy of the audience was fresh off the street and a little easier to get right in the palm of your hand. The second night, they had already experienced the emotions of three plays and I found myself pushing the comedy at the top of the play ever so slightly ... but at least I caught myself!

All in all, it was a great experience. I continue to be impressed and grateful for the opportunities available at Freehold!

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The New Play Lab class is held during Freehold's Summer Quarter with the New Play Lab Showcase occurring in September following the summer class.

Kudos for Freehold from Fans

2011-09-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Photo of some past Freehold Fans, Bob Rousseau (Seattle-ite), Jeff Woodbridge (New Yorker) and Jenn Hamblin (New Yorker) reuniting in NYC and sending Freehold a "Happy 20th" sign.

"When I walked into Freehold in 1996 I started walking up the stairs and said "I'm home!! And I was." Zoe W.

"Robin, George, Kate, Zoe, et al., you have changed my life in too many ways to name since that first Acting I class. All the best. All my love." Nathania

"Freehold touches more lives than can be measured in class attendance and audiences. Thank you for helping better our world." Eva B.

"Congrats and thanks for creating and continuing the miracle that is Freehold!" Lara S.

"Thank you, Robin for welcoming me into your class and to Freehold - it has been everything I could ask for and so much more! Words do not express what you've given me. You bring your all and ask the same of us. And thank you, CT, Gin and George! Each of you are uniquely wonderful teachers. My life is richer for it. Much love." Lucinda M.

"Freehold changed my life!" Thank you, Robin." Kiki Y.

"Freehold you rock." Love, Q.

"Some of my best moments ever were made or originated in Freehold including the moment I walked into my first Impulse and Transformation class and realized I was the only guy in the class!"

"F.H. You've got 20 more years to get this right." Jim L.

"Such vulnerable work. Such a great ride. Congrats on 20 years!" Grace

"Thank you!" Caroline

"George and Robin, So many small things you've said, in class and Rehearsal have stayed with me, changed my acting, changed my life. Your presence and heart is extraordinary." Thank you!" Amber

"LOVE Freehold! You are part of my daily life. Thank you for all the inspiration." Xan

"Dearest Robin, You're swell! George, you suck (smiley face) - oops I'm in trouble if I ever take Clown. Congrats to Freehold!" Cheers, Monica C.

"Freehold is the best! The wonderful teachers have passed their gift onto me and I couldn't thank them enough." Jake A.

"Summer 1999, Lee Eisler and Robin L. Smith, Abby Enson and Mik Kuhlman ... these women literally; gave my heart and my voice a home." Thank you.

"I started taking classes through Antioch University. I had no idea how much taking acting classes would change my life." Thank you! Kymberlee D.

Sandbox Radio - Worth the Wait by Paul Mullin

2011-09-21T13:41:00.001-07:00

Photo: The Sandbox Artists Collective Radio Show Live!

A bunch of us founded the Sandbox Artists Collective a few years ago “as a place for mid-career artists to explore their craft in the company of their peers.” Unlike most assemblages of show folk, the Sandboxers weren’t in any hurry to produce publicly as a group. Most of us were already performing, writing and/or producing professionally elsewhere. We were not, however, completely quiet in our first years, hosting salons, like “Playground” in which four Sandbox playwrights wrote specifically for Sandbox actors. Finally, however — and fully to the credit of Leslie Law’s leadership — the membership felt the urge to share what happens when we put our collective mind into putting on a show. The result was last month’s Sandbox Radio Live, Episode 1, available now in podcast here.

On an individual artist’s note, Sandbox Radio Live has given me the opportunity and motivation to finally flesh out a project I have been percolating since high school. For all that time, all I knew was that I wanted to wright a nasty noir angel detective saga. Now you can listen to the first chapter of Markheim on the podcast, with the incomparable Charles Leggett starring in the title role of the reluctant semi-heavenly gumshoe. Below the fold I am posting the script in case you want to follow along.

And be sure to attend the next episode of Sandbox Radio Live on Monday, October 10th at West of Lenin, the fabulous new theatre space in Fremont, when Markheim adjusts to life in the strange city of Seattle, and begins his search for the reasons that brought him here. Special appearance by the fellow that Jesus Christ Himself once called “the Prince of the World.”

For more information about the Sandbox Artists Collective, a program of Freehold's Lab, can be found on Freehold's website.

Studio Chat with John Paulsen and John Klein

2011-09-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

In honor of Freehold's 20th, long time Freehold student and lab members John Paulsen (Actor, Writer) and John Klein (Playwright, Director, Actor) reflect on their Freehold experience ...

John Paulsen: Hey John, I was hoping to lay down some thoughts about our time at Freehold in the 90's. Maybe we could start with how you first got there?

John Klein: Yeah, cool. Well it was the summer of 1992 and I had just moved to Seattle where I knew no one except my girlfriend who lived in Woodinville with a lot of horses. I remember getting a coffee at Cafe Paradiso and walking down the street towards Oddfellows Hall. I must have seen the letters "Freehold Theatre" or something in the window. I looked at the building and the steps and I remember thinking that I was going to spend a lot of time here. How about you?

John Paulsen: It was '91 and I was waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant called Tlaquepaque near Pioneer Square and I had this feeling that I needed to do something more with my life. So I found a book at Elliot Bay by Sanford Meisner on acting and it seemed like something I could maybe commit to. One thing lead to another and a friend pointed me in the direction of Robin Lynn Smith and Freehold where I signed up for a class called Impulse and Transformation. On the first day of class Robin and George Lewis asked us to walk across the floor and slowly let how we were feeling affect our movement. Next thing I know I was hopping around like a squid on fire and I thought, this could work for me.

John Klein: I think the first time I saw you I was watching the culmination of an Impulse project in Crow. All I remember is these swaths of movement in white, these whole crowds of actors moving across the stage like in a wedding or celebration. Claro Austria was in the heart of it, his bride was Isabelle Calais and Jadina Lillien is some kind of storyteller. And your piece had a family vacation tableaux with a suitcase and picnic. To me the whole thing was a beautiful dream and kind of messy in that way dreams are messy and illogical.

John Paulsen (turning away) and fellow students in Impulse and Transformation class

John Paulsen: Yeah I think I was wearing a dress and cowboy boots and smashing a melon on a rock to feed my kids. We had a string tied to the door between Crow and workspace and it was supposed to magically open it up to reveal a memory. But the string broke and a hand had to reach out to open it. Real dreamlike that one!

John Klein: Right! Even so, I remember knowing that's what I want to do,or be a part of, because here was a collective of people willing to search and to not know where they where going or how they were going to get there.

John Paulsen: That feeling was quite prevalent at the time. Meeting or seeing people you knew you wanted to work with and inspiring each other.

John Klein: That is what I really miss about that time in Seattle and I think Freehold was a real home for people who were trying to find their way as artists and storytellers, to make original work. We felt like we had something struggling to get out and were searching for a way to express it. I really credit Freehold for providing the space, the language and community of people willing to be on a wooden floor late at night exploring the unknown.

John Paulsen: For me the I&T class represented what I appreciated about Freehold. It was how I imagined the wild creative spirit of 60's experimental theatre but achieved with physical and emotional precision. We felt encouraged to use everything at our disposal for expression, be it voice, movement, poetry, painting, song, dance or a bucket of dirt or piles of silverware falling from the sky. Then we as artists would watch and help to chisel it away into its clearer original somethingness.

John Klein: And at some point there became the issue of actually putting something up and performing it. Light Wounds was the first piece you and I worked on in the very first Studio Series.

John Paulsen: More like a fever dream with a boy falling through a hole and meeting a wild woman in a forest.

John Klein: Exactly. And after days of stumbling around in the dark and whittling all this prose down to monosyllabic grunts and half choreographed wrestling we showed it to George. I remember him looking at me and saying firmly and kindly "Do you really want to put this up?" And I knew exactly what he meant, still leaving the door open for me either way. I said "Yes, I do" and he jumped up and said "OK" and gave us some notes. And with that he helped me put up my first original piece of theatre.

John Paulsen: I remember George telling us that the responses he would get to our work would be that it was the best the Studio Series could be, or the other.

John Klein: Nice. The funny thing is that whole piece, or at least the heart of it, found its way into the last play I wrote and directed and performed at Theatre for the New City in New York last year called Autographic Novel. When we performed it, Tony Pasqualini came to see it. He was in town to move his daughter into her apartment to start college. Kristen Kosmas came, and so did Jadina Lillien, and Claro and Isabelle with their son. And even you were in the play, or at least an actor playing you, and an actor playing me as we struggled to make our first play.

John Paulsen: And I had the good fortune to return to the suitcase image from that I&T project and develop it into a more fully realized piece called The Magnificent Quidley. It featured Ted Dowling and Brynna Jordan and we performed it at the Studio Series a couple of years ago. It sure was a nice feeling to experience that the work and efforts we birthed back then are still alive.

Interview with John Billingsley and George Lewis

2011-09-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

We had a chance to talk with two of Freehold's founders, John Billingsley and George Lewis. Additional Freehold founders include Robin Lynn Smith, Mark Jenkins, Ben Rankin and Tony Pasqualini, all of whom will be in attendance at Freehold's 20th Anniversary Homecoming Party on Saturday, September 24 at 7:30 pm at Washington Hall. All are welcome! RSVP's appreciated at Brown Paper Tickets.

How did all the founders (Robin Lynn Smith, Tony Pasqualini, Mark Jenkins, Ben Rankin, George Lewis, John Billingsley) come together in the first place to create Freehold and what was your hope for the organization?

George: We were all teaching at the old Pasqualini Smith Studio, John and I were part of Tony and Robin's faculty and the Mark Jenkins Actor Studio was holding classes there. Ben was a friend/colleague of Mark's. The lease on the space was coming up and was not likely to be renewed because all the noise we made was driving the landlord - whose computer business was under us - crazy. She said the images on the screens were literally jumping around with our jumping. Facing eviction we began talking about a larger studio that would permit us to work together. I remember a discussion about a place where people could learn to do the kind of theatre we believed theatre was capable of so that we could go to the theatre more. And that we wanted to work together making theatre.

John: I have nothing to add to what George wrote, save that he omits the info about how the two of us were only teaching at Robin and Tony's studio in the first place because Robin and Tony so graciously supported the WA State Correctional Authority's stellar 'anti-recidivist' work-release program. George and I spent a lot of years 'paying back', as t'were, by teaching people how to repeat (me) and how to climb an imaginary rope (George). Freehold, as I recall, was Robin's idea (surprise, surprise) and she had many eloquent, moving and inspirational reasons for suggesting we band together, but it's also sorta like that ol' gag "What a dog hears", cuz what I really remember most of all was the phrase "there'll be a pay raise . . . ". Why were we named Freehold in the first place, that's the question that needs to be asked, cuz we spent a looooong time picking a name (we all had to agree, you see).

Where did Freehold get its name?

George: In the initial seemingly- months of meetings in which the Founders were deciding what this new organisation (We were calling it an organism then), at least half of our time was spent discussing names. Somewhere exists a list of those rejected, including Robin's infamous "Pot Garden" (POT being the acronym for "Practice of Theatre"). Finally in one meeting we said let's stop approaching it from a mental place, and so we did sound and movement exercises for an hour, and when we sat down at the table, after a minute of silence, someone said "Free- something (I don't remember what) and then Billingsley said "Freehold". And that was that.

What were the early days of Freehold like for you as founders and as faculty members?

George: Lots of meetings ... So much so that Mark mentioned in one that the "mark of a good organization was the absence of meetings". God we talked a lot. In part because an early decision was that all decisions be made by unanimity. Changing a roll of toilet paper became a subject for debate.

I remember a meeting where we were discussing ad nauseum something that needed to be done, and who was going to do it, and how it needed to be done etc etc etc. I forget what the task was, but at one point Tony slipped out of the room for a little while, and when he returned, we were still debating it. Someone asked him where he had gone, and he said, "I just went out and did it".

The classes were great- there was so much excitement about everything. Robin and I were teaching a crazy improbable class called Impulse and Transformation, based on our extrapolation of the work Joe Chaikin was doing in the 60's. We had a full raft of Acting classes on all levels, and voice, movement, Combat, Improv, Original Performance ... Somewhere in there Tony decided to direct The Time of Our Lives, and it was a stellar cast, with Mark, John and I, Jane Jones, Myra Platt, Geof Alm, Gordon Carpenter, Jose Gonzales - just all these actors working around the city and in LA now. And we were subletting to Book-It, so there was that whole crowd, and all this cross-pollination between the two groups.

John: Yes, meetings and more meetings. George didn't have to go to Book-It meetings, at least. I would sometimes go from a Freehold meeting to a Book-It meeting, back to another Freehold meeting, back to another Book-It meeting, shoehorning in, of course, a quick lunch break, which I'd usually spend at my therapist's office . . .

There were hundreds of creative people running around, of course, sometimes at loggerheads, sometimes experiencing 'breakthroughs' of different sorts, which means that somebody was usually locked in the toilet, crying, (not infrequently Ben, who had to do the books, after all), so I learned to pee in a grape Nehi bottle (which still sits on my desk) ... I vaguely recall that bottle of pee being used in an exercise as somebody's independent activity, but I've repressed the details. Now here's a true story: a student of mine, a particularly large male child psychologist (it wouldn't be hyperbolic to say that he looked like an All-Pro inside linebacker) picked me up by the scruff of my neck and put my head through a wall when I suggested that he wasn't really allowing himself access to the full range of emotion available to him during an early stage of the Meisner repetition work. I suggested to him that this outburst was proof of my thesis ("see, if you put all that angst into repeating 'red sweater', I wouldn't have to patch this wall up now . . "). George was the Facilities Manager at the time and as I recall he hung a reproduction of Van Gogh's sunflowers over the hole. We counted pennies then. Lots of terrific memories, of course, of working with some of my favorite people in the world: Robin's magnificent direction of The Seagull; George's magnificent direction of The Jewbird (a short story by Bernard Malamud). Getting to chew the biggest wad of bubble gum imaginable and then hand it to Mark Jenkins to hold for me while I made a phone call in The Time of Your Life, and getting to listen - as a pre-show warm up - to Jose Gonzales play "In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning" on an out of tune piano, while watching George perform a pas de deux with a kitchen chair. (You had to be there). We didn't have a dressing room, so whenever we did a show in RHINO, we would all get dressed in WALT, the 'attic space' that sat above RHINO. One could go on and on and on. Ah, why did I ever leave? Can I come back? I promise I won't piss off any more child psychologists. (Really, though, I can remember thinking, YOU WORK WITH CHILDREN, BUDDY???)

Any funny Freehold stories or memorable Freehold moments?

George: Yes- most of them unrepeatable because of the people involved. A colleague who began bouncing on a mini-trampoline in the middle of a meeting because 'The meetings were too serious". Selling tickets for people to throw a pie in the face of faculty members at the first fundraiser (Robin earned the most money). Billingsley and a childrens' swimming pool full of chocolate pudding. A reading of all the obscene quotes from the acting teachers at the end of one of the ETI programs (Amy Thone won, hands down). Tony's two word response to a let-us-say demanding professional colleague asking us to fax more info to him ("Fax THIS", with an appropriate mono-digital indication). An actor in a production without shoes saying "I don't do barefoot". A student who had taken a million classes complaining about having to give one too many backrubs. A pair of Meisner students overheard repeating in the hallway, "You're being , like, all, kah" "I'm being, like, all 'kah"?
And a million more, though none involving me.

John: Well, if you cock your head and squint your eye, it was all freak'n hilarious, really. But then, I live in LA now, and make my living playing child molesters, so I can afford to be flip.

Photo: The Time of Your Life, 1992, George Lewis, Jane Jones, and Geof Alm

What was some of your favorite work that you performed and/or saw at Freehold?

George: The Time of Our Life, Mark's writing and direction of All Powers Necessary or Convenient, Tony and I doing Shakespeare's The Tempest, all these great Book-It pieces, Robin's forays into Chekhov and then Shakespeare. All this great original performance work. The annual Studio Series was becoming a place for theatre artists to cut their teeth, and some great work - and great artists - came out of that.

Photo from The Seagull

John: Well, I know George must think that it was the "chocolate pudding work" (as I like to call it) but that was one of those great ideas that kinda backfired. I vaguely remember that the jumping off point for our group's initial 'pudding improv' had something to do with addiction: pudding was a stand in for rye whiskey, perhaps, or PCP, who can recall. What really sticks in my memory is that I smelled like chocolate pudding for months (you see, having performed the initial improvisation in a swimming pool full of chocolate pudding, we were encouraged, by Robin and George, to 'elaborate' on the conceit for our end of term performance, which involved somebody in a wedding dress, an even greater amount of pudding, and an exorbitant amount of clean up after every goddamned rehearsal.) Plus, pudding was surprisingly pricey.

Photo from The Birthday Party, Marjorie Nelson and John Billingsley pictured

I look back on those years and I marvel at how many times Tony Pasqualini and I worked together. He and I seemed to be in everything together. He was always directing something, acting in something, kinda makes me wonder whether things weren't happy at home, back then, in retrospect. The Jewbird, The Seagull, Time of Your Life, The Birthday Party, Sand Mountain, The Lonesome's Ain't No Spring Picnic, and - pre-FH, actually, but still one of my favorite memories - a great Frank O'Connor story called My Oedipus Complex, in which I got to play Tony's bratty five year old Irish boy. Tony took me over his knee and paddled me, during one rehearsal, per the script's demands, and Tony's little boy, Joel, who was in the room at the time, burst into tears and couldn't be quieted down. (He's crying still, in fact, and he's now 24 years old.)

What has it meant to you to be a part of Freehold?

George: The realization of the dream that I had when I first started doing theatre of what theatre could be-a great sprawling mass of people working as an ensemble to experiment in their teaching and creation/performance, to make theatre that was exciting and which had some kind of relevance to the world.

John: Okay. Fine. Be that way.
For all of the fact that we had a lot of laughs, it was an incredible experience for me to work with a very passionate bunch of folks, who sacrificed a hell of a lot to fulfill a very beautiful mutually held dream: the dream of home. Theatre artists tend to be itinerants, and while there's something to be said for the peripatetic life, what inspired me to join Freehold, and what inspires me still, and makes me proud, is the idea that there's value in community and that being part of an artistic community is integral to the development of an artist's craft and conscience.

They say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and while I wouldn't be able to attest to that (I wish there were a few more in politics, though, damn it) I can certainly attest to this: there was one time in my life when I felt like I had true 'trench-mates' in the arts (block that metaphor, as the New Yorker says) and that was during my Freehold and Book-It Years.
On the other hand, now I get residual checks.

Reflections on Freehold turning 20 this month?

George: God I'm old.
God, I'm fortunate.
John: God, George is old. (Did I mention that I was the youngest of the Founders?)

Cast from The Time of Your Life, 1992

John Billingsley has worked extensively in theatre, television and film. John graduated Bennington College, in Bennington, VT, where he studied theatre with Nicholas Martin and literature with Bernard Malamud. John’s theatre credits include Mauritius, Candide, David Mamet’s Bobby Gould in Hell, The Seagull, The Birthday Party, Great Expectations, 12th Night and Bitter Bierce, a one man show he produced about the life and times of Ambrose Bierce. In l990, John founded a Seattle based theatre company called Book-It Repertory Theatre, which was devoted to adapting fiction for the stage and which still flourishes in the Pacific Northwest. John was involved in some Seattle-based film and TV in the ‘80’s and moved to move Los Angeles in 1995 to pursue those mediums. Credits include Nip/Tuck, Cold Case, The Closer, The Ghost Whisperer, CSI, The West Wing, Six Feet Under, The X-Files, Judging Amy, and NYPD Blue. In l999, Stephen Spielberg cast him as Prof. Miles Ballard in The Others. In 2000, Billingsley was cast as Dr. Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise. His most recent TV credits include NCIS, The Mentalist, Outlaw, Scrubs, Leverage, Eli Stone, and Alan Ball’s True Blood, and 24. Films along the way include Out of Time opposite Denzell Washington, American Summer, High Crimes, The Glass House, White Oleander, Born to be Wild, I Love You To Death, A Cinderella Story, 12 Dogs of Christmas, The Least of These, Sironia, Losing Control, and 2012. Billingsley has just completed filming a lead role in the film Trade of Innocents opposite Dermot Mulroney and Mira Sorvino, and he has just started shooting an independent film, RedLine.

George Lewis has been working in the field of movement-based theatre for almost 40 years as an actor/performer, director, creator of original work, teacher, and producer. He has performed and toured with Omnibus in Montreal, Theatre-Mime Mirage in Boston, and the Sykes Group and threeCompany in Seattle. As a director, he has created movement driven productions of, amongst others, Shakespeare, Moliere, Thornton Wilder, Irene Fornes, and James Thurber. His favorite acting roles include Trigorin in Chekhov’s The Seagull, Joseph in Romulus Linney’s When the Lord Came to Sand Mountain, and the talentless dancer/would-be comedian in Saroyan’s The Time of your Life. He has been teaching acting and physical theatre skills, at acting studios, colleges, and universities across the U.S. and Canada. His own background includes three years of study in Corporeal Mime in Paris with Etienne Decroux, circus skills and physical comedy at the French National Circus School, and Meyerhold’s Biomechanics with Russian Master Teacher Gennadi Bogdanov, and Clown with Sue Morrison in Toronto. He divides his time between Seattle and Buenos Aires, where he teaches and has created/directed three original full-length clown performances.

Freehold's Faculty Upcoming Work

2011-09-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

Reginald Andre Jackson and Amy Thone are playing Titania and Oberon, respectively, in A Midsummer Night's Dream for Seattle Shakespeare Company, produced at the Intiman, runs Opens October 20 - November 13. Directed by Sheila Daniels. Freehold's Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) student Riley Neldam will be playing Flute.

Elizabeth Heffron's full-length play Mitzi's Abortion has three upcoming productions on the East Coast, including Ithaca, NY in February, 2012. The play has been chosen by Naomi Iizuka along with Paul Mullin's play The American Book of the Dead for the 3rd edition of The Manifesto Series, published by Rain City Projects. Elizabeth's new, almost-completed, short radio play, Pipe Play will be performed for Sandbox Radio Live! At West of Lenin, on October 10.

John Jacobsen's The Artist Toolbox, currently playing nationwide on PBS and gearing up for its second season with Helen Mirren, Jules Feiffer, Bon Jovi, Carolina Herrera, and more, also airs on Alaska Airlines' DigEplayer, so next time you fly, listen to how today's artistic mavericks create their art and follow their bliss. Both John Jacobsen's latest films are winning awards and making the rounds across the globe. Arthur just won The Action/Cut Award for Best Fiction Film, Best of Fest Award which is given to the top 5% of films in the country each year, and is playing nearby at the Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival this weekend at SIFF Cinema, at the Port Townsend Film Festival September 23 & 24, and the prestigious Vancouver International Film Festival October 4 & 5. You can also see it online now at http://videobookmark.com/ActionCut/2011/Arthur.html and it will soon be distributed by Indieflix. Spinning, his other short, was just completed and played right out of the gate at the Columbia Gorge International Festival nearby, where audiences were lucky enough to see the great performances of Amy Thone.

John Longenbaugh's Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol is going to be produced this holiday at Portland's Artist's Repertory Theatre and Neil Ferron and John Longenbaugh are up for Gregory Awards for their plays.

Marya Sea Kaminski will be participating in Red Light Nights as part of the City Arts Festival at the Paramount on the evening of October 20th. Guests will have the opportunity to experience an intimate one-on-one performance with an artist of their choice - including Tim Stackpole, The Satori Group and Marya.

George Lewis directed Le Frenchwords' Fancy Mud, featuring Ben Burris, Sachie Mikawa and Carter Rodriquez.

Paul Mullin's play Louis Slotin Sonata will receive a production at Cal State - Long Beach or "Cal Rep", on the Queen Mary. And the second episode of his noir-angel-detective story, Markheim will be part of Sandbox Radio's second edition on October 10.

Annette Toutonghi, Dan Tierney, Sarah Harlett and Gin Hammond will also be performing in the Sandbox Radio's second edition of the Sandbox Radio Show on October 10.

Freehold 20th Stories - "Bringing out the Playwright in Me"

2011-09-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Freehold,

A couple of years ago I took Playwriting I,II and III with Elizabeth Hefron and New Play Lab with Paul Mullin. I wanted to let Freehold Theatre know I recently was notified my short play, Operation Sweet Dreams, is a 2011 Heideman Award Finalist. So, big thanks for their effort to bring out the playwright in me.

Congratulations on twenty years of enhancing the theatre world.

Cheers,
Suzanne
Suzanne Bailie

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If you have your own Freehold story, email us via our Contact Page using the pull down menu of "20th Anniversary Story Submissions".

COME to our 20th Anniversary Homecoming Party on Saturday, September 24, 7:30 pm at Washington Hall. It's FREE and we'd love to see you there. RSVP at the link.

LAMDA Week 3 by Phillip Mitchell

2011-08-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Phillip Mitchell, recent Freehold Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) alum, just spent a month in London studying at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (as did fellow recent ETI alum, Monica Chilton - photo of Phillip and Monica at left). Check out this post highlighting his London training adventures ....

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This has been a busy, tiring, challenging, frustrating, wonderful week. Classes at LAMDA with wonderful teachers continue. A few of them (the classes) were the last of their kind, so to speak. We won’t have any more classes with these particular teachers as we go into our final week of the Shakespeare Intensive. This includes Historic Dance and Mask.

Our Historic Dance teacher would probably best be described as "prickly". Many of my young classmates are put off by her attention to detail and drive for perfection. I enjoyed her and the class a great deal. She's a little older than me and has a wry sense of humor. Now that I think of it, she's very much like Harry Potter's Professor McGonagall.

"Mask" is a technique used to discover a neutral state of being. It's a way of being aware and alive and open to one's impulses. True responses are experienced and expressed rather than habitual ones. It was quite enlightening for me both by doing and by watching classmates. The instructor is a jolly sort with a quick eye and even quicker wit.

My scene partner for the Shakespeare class decided she didn't want to do our scene so that she could focus on the other scene she's doing. The good news is I've got a new scene partner and the work is going very well. We surpassed, in one rehearsal, all previous attempts. Our teacher, a Shakespeare director who has worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company, said "I fear we are in danger of having something quite good here". He, like many Brits, is a master of understatement.

Yesterday afternoon after classes and a Skype date with my wife, Sandi, I went to the West End to see a show. I had a couple in mind but wasn't sure which would have an available seat. I got a ticket at the TKTS discount booth and strolled around Covent Garden. There's a big market there that is part shopping mall, part busker festival, and part flea market. I got some paella that was really tasty and watched a little of two different street performer shows. It was a stormy day so I bought a new umbrella at a booth in the flea market but, of course, it stopped raining. Oh well, I might have some use for it in Seattle.

The play I watched is Journey's End. It's about a small group of British Army officers literally in the trenches of WW1. It is an amazing play, very well done, and truly moving.

One of the best surprises I’ve had while at LAMDA is my preparedness for the work. I expected to be challenged, and I was, but mostly in response to the physical demands of courses like Stage Combat and Physical Theatre and a very full schedule. My work at Freehold in the Meisner Progression and the ETI Program has enabled me to ‘swim in the fast lane’ when it comes to acting Shakespeare and acting in general.

I can hardly wait to get it on the stage.

To see Phillip’s blog about his trip to London, go to: http://seattleactorinlondon.blogspot.com/

Read more about Freehold's Meisner Progression

New Play Lab Auditions - Sunday, August 28

2011-08-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Audition for our New Play Lab Showcase!

New Play Lab Auditions

Sunday, August 28, 2:00 - 6:00 pm

Auditions will be held at Freehold Theatre, 2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200, Seattle 98121.

Reserve an audition slot by FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH AT 4:00 PM via our contact form (under "category" choose "New Play Lab Auditions"). In your email include your name, phone number and preferred audition times. Times available are 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 or 5:00 slot. We will be scheduling 5-10 people per time slot. Sides will be provided at the audition.

Here are the details:

Four new plays, modern relationship plays, seek actors to portray characters conflicted in all the right places.

Each excerpt of a play (20 minutes) will require two 2-hour rehearsals with a local professional director and two readings/performances before a live audience, evenings of September 9 and 10. Cast Breakdown: We're looking for men and women, in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s of all ethnicities. Also looking specifically for 2 women, 1 man who are African American, in their late 20s/30's and one woman 60 or older.

Please bring your headshot and resume to audition.

Photo from New Play Lab 2010
Photo by Scott Maddock

New Acting Tools By Brianna Chicha

2011-08-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

John Jacobsen's passion is infectious. In addition to a wealth of knowledge and experience, he's just plain inspiring. Every day I left class with a renewed commitment to myself as an artist. John believes and teaches that if we work hard enough we can reach our goals. And I believe him.

Until last fall when I came to Freehold, my only training had been Meisner training. I love Meisner training and believe it has been instrumental in the formation of my technique. However, my question has always been "how do I show up ready to work without the benefit of rehearsal?" Acting for the Camera not only answered that question, it gave me ample chance to practice. I'm a diligent note taker, and I wrote down all of John's suggestions on the first night of class, yet they didn't show up in my first scene. By seeing the mistakes and jumping right into another scene, I was able to apply the lesson while it was fresh. A chance to practice new methods several times made them present enough in my experience to draw on in the future. What was awkward at the beginning of the class became easier.

I also gained a better understanding of scene structure which helped tremendously with determining the subtext and the rhythm of the scenes. One of the tools that I had never used before was journaling my thoughts through the whole scene. This was the tool I missed on my first scene. Fortunately for me, I got to use the embarrassment of not liking my performance to do better the next time. For the next three scenes I journaled my thoughts, and in doing so discovered where I didn't understand things I had thought I did. I much prefer seeing that while I'm preparing, than later when I'm looking at tape. Because I got a chance to reinforce new habits, they are now part of my process and I don't have to reference my notes to remember them.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the summer!

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If you want to check out our Acting for the Camera class (or our Intro to Acting, Voice or Playwriting classes), come to Freehold's Open House on Thursday, September 8 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Sample several of our classes including John Jacobsen's Acting for the Camera. FREE event but reserve a space at Brown Paper Tickets.
Freehold's Fall Classes are now open for registration. Check out the diverse line-up of classes at Freehold.

The Treasures of Step III: Basic Scene Study by Josephine Hoy

2011-07-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

"There's no such thing as nothing." Sanford Meisner

When I first began my study at Freehold, just the thought of walking up the narrow, steep stairs to the theatre was enough to trigger mental paralysis and terror (and not only because I lack all grace and the ability to navigate stairs without tripping).

I felt like a fraud in a room full of, well, people who weren't frauds. But over the course of the three foundation courses (Step I, II and III), I was introduced to acting as "craft"--not just some lofty art form that people are born and perish with or without a talent for, but something that requires dedication, work, refinement, tools…and yet still, even when Freehold became a second home for me, at the end of each course I would beg my teacher to tell me whether I shouldn't just give it all up and concede defeat.

You see (and I'm sure each instructor I've had at Freehold will find it difficult to suppress their knowing laugh), for many of us, understanding a lesson intellectually and physically feeling it to be true don't always occur at the same time.

And that's why I took Step III: Scene Study twice.

Building upon the lessons learned in previous courses, we continue to engage with our scene partners, to remain present and active, to listen and to give of ourselves. We build our relationships, our lives as characters. We learn to treasure 'the moment before'. We learn to focus on the words we are given. And those we are not given. And we learn to treasure the text as a whole, reading and thinking and unlocking the specificity of the playwright, which enables us to 'make strong choices'.

I can't even begin to express how valuable this class was for me (I mean, really, I took it twice) or quantify every lesson I learned. But I can say that at the end of this course, I didn't look desperately at my teacher and ask him if I should quit altogether. Instead, I asked 'what's next'?

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Freehold's fall classes will open up for registration on Monday, August 15th. To be notified of our upcoming classes, join our mailing list by emailing us at info@freeholdtheatre.org

Freehold's ETI Graduates Upcoming Work

2011-07-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

We are very excited for our graduating ETI students and their exciting future plans/endeavors including upcoming shows and more training. See where you might catch them in the future:

Monica Chilton and Phillip Mitchell will soon be attending a month-long Shakespeare intensive at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Lori Evans is in Wonderland with Theatre Simple at different park locations this summer July-Aug Ballard Locks; Bellevue Botanical Gardens; Lake Meridian, Kent; Auburn) and in September starts rehearsing Into the Woods in Bellingham with Mount Baker Theatre which performs Oct 5-9 2011.

Tony Leahy will be performing with his Improv group Safeword for one night only, this Saturday, July 9 at 8:00pm at the Jewel Box theater, which is in the Rendezvous Bar in Belltown (2322 2nd Avenue).

Parker Matthews will be in Tartuffe, with SecondStory Repertory running August 5-28.

Riley Neldam will be seen in Seattle Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Seattle Shakespeare, October 20 - November 13.

Caleb Slavens will be in Anthony and Cleopatra with Greenstage, July 8 - August 13. Free shows!

Kiki Yeung has a lead in a sci-fi film God Machine, shooting in August 19-28, costarring Robert Leeshock star from Sci-fi series Earth-Final Conflict. Kiki is also doing a stage reading at ACT theatre 8/1 with John Jacobson's mentee, Andrew Iseminger called Little Pricks, a pilot episode sitcom.

We look forward to seeing more updates from our ETI alums and all the great work to come!

Photo of ETI students in Freehold's production of PERICLES.

PERICLES Bios

2011-06-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

PERICLES Cast

Fate 1-(plus Helicanus, Fisherman, Pirate)………Parker Matthews
Fate 2-(plus other characters, Fisherman, Pirate)………Kiki Yeung
Fate 3-(plus other characters, Fisherman, Pirate)……Riley Neldam
Pericles …………………………………………………………………Lance McQueen
Pericles …………………………………………………………………Jonathan Nawn
Cleon, Pander (and other characters) ……………………Phillip Mitchell
Dionyza (and other characters) ……………………………………Lori Evans
Simonides (and other characters) ………………………………Tony Leahy
Thaisa (and other characters) ……………………………Melissa Topscher
Lychorida, Leonine (and other characters)……………Monica Chilton
Marina (and other characters) ………………………………Luisa de Paula
Marina (and other characters) …………………………Elizabeth Deutsch
Bawd, Cerimon (and other characters)………………………Amy Wason
Antiochus/Lysimicus (and other characters) …………Caleb Slavens
Bolt (and other characters) ………………………………………Kevin Dailey

Production Team

Director: Robin Lynn Smith
Producer: Liza Comtois
Directing/Movement Consultant: Lee Eisler
Movement Director: Jessica Jobaris
Composer: Gino Yevdjevich
Musicians: Paris Hurley, Beth Fleenor,
Gino Yevdjevich
Lighting Design: Joshua Tillman
Fight Choreographer: Jesse Sherfey-Hinds
Set Design: Roberta Russell
Costume Design: Hannah Stern
Properties Design: Heidi Hunt
Sound Engineer: Alejandro Iragorri
Stage Manager: Kristina Kyees
Scenic Artist: Montana Tippett
Road Chief/Technical Director: Brandon Chapman
Assistant Director: Marquicia Domingue
Poster Design: Annya Uslontseva

Monica Chilton began her formal theatre training at Northwestern University. After college she accepted a scholarship to study law at Gonzaga, where she earned her degree and passed the state bar exam. Monica has lived in the Seattle area for ten years, working as a legal research professional and - after being presented with leisure courtesy of the recession - rekindling her love of the theatre. Also a classically trained singer, Monica has appeared in several lyric theatre productions throughout the Puget Sound area. "Pericles" marks Monica's first full Shakespeare production. Monica is eager to travel to the UK in mid-July, where she will be continuing her Shakespearean training at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

Kevin Dailey would like to thank God, his Loving Family, Friends, his fellow cast members, ETI Staff, Freehold Theatre, The crew and Especially Robin! This is his first official Shakespeare piece and he is loving every second of it. Kevin has completed two years of training at freehold beginning with Meisner Method and now with the Ensemble Theatre Intensive Program. Currently he is in an improv/Sketch group "Closet Monsters" pursuing my ridiculousness! One day they hope to be Almost Live come Alive Again. This is just the beginning for Kevin with Mr. William Shakes!

Elizabeth Deutsch is a Seattle based actress. She has loved playing characters such as Jess in Neil LaBute's Bench Seat, Carolyn in Lee Blessing's Riches, and Laura in Horton Foote's Courtship. She is grateful to Freehold for all the doors it has opened for her. Elizabeth is a proud member of BASH Theatre and a proud member of this ensemble.

Lori Evans had the pleasure to tour last summer with Engaged Theatreʼs Julius Caesar. Also recently seen in Tacoma in Almost Maine with Gold From Straw, and previously in Book-Itʼs The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and touring The Merry Wives of Windsor, Taming of the Shrew, Puss and Boots, and The Artistʼs Brush with Last Leaf Productions. You can catch her this summer in various parks in Wonderland, a site-specific adventure with Theatre Simple. She holds a BA in Drama from UW. Many thanks to the teachers, staff, and students in the ETI program that have brought inspiration, discipline, and consistency to her work. She is extremely grateful.

Luisa de Paula has been taking acting classes with Freehold for 4 years. A native of Brasil, she has been dancing and performing for most of her life in a diverse setting of cultural influences. She is a member of the East-African Sukutai Music and Dance Group.

Tony Leahy is a Seattle based actor, writer, and director. He primarily works in film and video, but he is happy to be onstage again. After Pericles, he will be developing a feature length solo piece for the fringe circuit. He will also be seen around town performing with his improv/sketch group Safeword.

Parker Matthews has done many things in his life. But there's even more things that he hasn't done. For example, he hasn't ever written War and Peace. Nor has he completed 5 jigsaw puzzles in a day. He also hasn't ever eaten a sandwich. Actually, that's not true. In fact, that's ridiculous. Take-home message: never believe a bio. Actors lie to make themselves sounds impressive. Parker Matthews is no different. Parker Matthews is a liar. In fact, he lies in his cast bios. That sentence itself is a lie. However, he is lying slightly less when he thanks you for coming and hopes that you will be blessed by this show.

Lance McQueen is making his second appearance with Freehold’s Engaged Theatre. He has also been seen in productions at, Intiman, SCT, Book-It and Lakewood Playhouse among others. He is a graduating member of Freehold's ETI training program. Lance would like to thank the entire Freehold faculty and staff for their undying commitment to Freehold. Lance would also like to thank Tammie, Tracie, Chris, Jamie, Gitanya, Giovanna, Delano, Marcello, April, L.C and Gladis. Also, a special thanks to: PKTPJRCAMKMLLE his “bad-assed ETI classmates.”

Phillip Mitchell, after 25 years as an Amateur (for the love of it) Actor and a career in computer systems, Phillip is nearing the end of his career change to Professional Actor with this production of Pericles. Of course, training never ends for any professional but Phillip feels ready and tooled to begin the work of a theatre artist thanks to his training at Freehold including the Meisner Progression and ETI. Phillip would like to express his great admiration and affection for his many teachers, including classmates. Dedicated to Sandi with love and gratitude.

Jonathan Nawn is an actor and solo performer. His favorite roles include R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Todd in The Author's Voice. His solo performance work has appeared at On the Boards and Freehold Studio. He is a former associate artist with Backwards Ensemble Theatre Company. Also a freelance journalist, his writing has most recently appeared in Park Science Magazine. Thanks go out to his family for their continued support.

Riley Neldam is very proud to be onstage with his ETI comrades again in this last stunning installment of the Ensemble Training Intensive saga. This show means so much to Riley as it represents not just the end of a long weary journey but the start of a new one. Furthermore, he would like to let you know that if Freehold's target donation is doubled, he and fellow cast member Tony Leahy will be finishing the tour of Pericles shirtless, food for thought. You can see Riley performing at The Intiman theatre this Spring with the Seattle Shakespeare Company in the upcoming production of A Midsummer Nights's Dream.

Caleb Slavens moved to Seattle to work as a Mechanical Engineer, and as soon as he found a job in that occupation he started taking acting classes. After 5 years of numerous classes, working in a plethora of amazing shows around Seattle, and upon finishing Freehold’s Ensemble Training Intensive (a 1 year intensive acting training program, that he considered Grad-school-esque), he had to quit his job as an Engineer to see if a career in acting was really what he should be indulging in. And that is that story… If you are a friend, family member, and/or fan of Caleb, he thanks you SO MUCH for being here. Your support for art, and him, is what will help him keep the tumultuous tides of career-shift-anxiety at bay... His 'What's Next?' plans include a beautiful Seattle summer in GreenStage's: Antony & Cleopatra, and then he will set off on a year-long, round-the-world trip, to film a series on Fables and Myths from different cultures using local actors in each destination country. If you would like to help him with the trip with recommendations, contacts, funding, or airline miles, he can be easily contacted at ENJOY_EXISTENCE@YAHOO.com.

Melissa Topscher, after graduating from George Mason University in 2006, moved to Chicago where she studied improvisation and comedy writing for two years with the Second City. In Seattle she has worked with Stone Soup, WARP, Macha Monkey, and of course, Freehold Theatre. She is currently working on a personal training certification and hopes to continue to bring her loves of theatre and movement together this fall as she ventures into the world of butoh with Angela Martinelli and Gin Hammond. She’d like to thank the ETI faculty and her classmates for reminding her that community is at the heart of good theatre. Thanks to all for such a memorable experience.

Amy Wason is very excited to be a part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre Tour production of Pericles. She has also loved being part of the Ensemble Training Intensive. She has enjoyed performing the character of Abby Normal in the Solo Festival and Olivia in the Shakespeare Recital.

Kiki Yeung is proud to be part of ETI and Pericles! Kiki performed and taught English Drama in Hong Kong. Recieved a BA in Drama at UW. Performed her solo piece at 12 Mins Max. She also works in commercials, industrials, film, voiceover, & modeling. Deepest gratitude to Robin!! Thank you to CAST & Kristina! Her husband, Kevin, Charles Waxberg and her agent, Gordon Adams! www.kikiyeungjohnson.webs.com

PERICLES Team Bios

Gino Yvedjevich, Composer and Musician
Music: Before the war in Bosnia 4 solo albums (2 of them gold), since 1999 in US w/Kultur Shock 7 albums, since 2003 played over 400 shows, touring Europe, US and Asia. In 2008 in Sarajevo received life achievement award for representing Balkan Music In The World. Theatre: since 1987 composed music and acted for National Theatre of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chamber Theatre 55 in Sarajevo, Croatian National Theatre in Split, since 1995 in US; The Group Theatre, Teaching Assistant for Greek scenes at Cornish College of Arts. In the last 8 seasons, Music Director and Composer for Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Productions.

Jessica Jobaris, Movement Director
Jessica is a movement artist, performer and choreographer. She celebrates her third Engaged Theatre Tour as Movement Director/Assistant with Freehold Theatre. She has performed and choreographed throughout the US and EU, and is happy to be back in Seattle, and working with Robin. More about her work can be found at generamagicjjo.com

Joshua Tillman, Lighting Designer
Joshua is a recent Technical Direction, Lighting, Scenic and Sound Design graduate of Cornish College of the Arts. He works as the Company Technical Director at Seattle Musical Theatre, where he has been designing and crewing shows for four or five years. His recent works include lighting design for Hamlet at Cornish, lighting for The King's Proposal (an original work) with Seattle Musical Theatre's 2nd Season, Scenic Design for Don Giovannni the Musical with Fruition, and Sound Design for Camelot and Chicago both at S.M.T. He is excited to make his debut at Freehold working with such an excellent group of designers and performers and would like to thank Robin Lynn Smith for giving him the opportunity to work on the production and to Carine Boekee Hutchison whose smile makes the day brighter.

Montana Tippett, Scenic Artist
Montana earned her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on scenic and costume design. Recent projects include scenic designs for Hamlet (Cornish), and for Summertime by Charles Mee (Cornish). She was awarded First Place for Regional Set Design at the 2011 American College Theatre Festival for Summertime, as well as a Meritorious Award for Regional Costume Design for a classroom project of Iphigenia and Other Daughters. She assisted Melanie Burgess, Costume Designer, on Jesus Christ Superstar (Village Theatre), All My Sons (Intiman Playhouse), and the upcoming Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (ACT Theatre). Montana is honored to be a part of an Engaged Theatre Program production.

Beth Fleenor, Musician
Since arriving in Seattle in 1998, clarinetist / vocal percussionist / composer Beth Fleenor has carved a place for herself as an energetic multi-instrumentalist and dynamic generative artist. Subscribing to the principle that "art is the discipline of being," Fleenor harbors a strong love for variety and all forms of sonic manipulation. Such flexibility has allowed her to move freely through genres including, but not limited to, jazz, rock, classical, contemporary chamber, metal, folk, ambient, surf, and noise. With performances ranging from shows in nightclubs, festivals, schools and galleries, to prisons, parties and concert halls, Fleenor's work has been featured in live music, theater, performance art, recordings, modern dance works, film, sound art and art installations. She has worked with artists including Robin Holcomb, Denney Goodhew, Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, Matana Roberts, Jherek Bischoff, Joshual Kohl, Eyvind Kang, Amy Denio, Robin Lynn Smith, and Gino Yevdjevich, among many others. Currently she can be found performing with Crystal Beth, Bling, Figeater, Owcharuk 5, Double Yoko, Chick Influenza, Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble, and projects of the Monktail Creative Music Concern. She has also been sited ensuing mayhem with Balkan punk shaman clan Kultur Shock including performances at the Creation of Peace Festival (Russia) and Sayan Ring (Siberia). Fleenor holds a Bachelor of Music from Cornish College of the Arts. ;

Paris Hurley, Musician
Paris has been playing the violin in a multitude of orchestras, chamber ensembles, and bands for the last 23 years. While finishing her degree at Cornish College of the Arts, Paris became a core member of the hyper-experimental performance group, Degenerate Art Ensemble. For over two years she worked closely with the collective, collaboratively creating multimedia works that ranged from explosive rock club sets to large-scale dance/theater productions, notably performing at The Moore Theatre (Seattle), the REDCAT (L.A.), and throughout Germany. Since migrating to Seattle in 2003, she has put these skills into action writing, recording and performing with an array of local groups. In summer 2008, she joined the ranks of art-rock-gypsy-metal-punk band, Kultur Shock - since performing on the 2009 release, Integration, writing/performing/co-producing the 2011 release, Ministry of Kultur, and performing in over 100 shows throughout Europe in venues ranging from tiny punk clubs to 100,000 seater festivals including Sziget (Budapest), Stufstock (Romania), Exit (Serbia), The Creation of Peace Festival (Russia), Sayan Ring (Siberia), and Earth Festival (Greece). In fall 2009, Paris mounted her first piece as Artistic Director, the Live at the Film Forum presented interdisciplinary work, Bridging Wounds: staying the course of uncertainty. Currently, she is in the research and development phases of creating a new solo performance for dance and cassette player orchestra. DON’T PUT ME IN A BOX (i do that all by myself): a piece about dismantling limiting personal/social/cultural definitions, thoughts, and patterns through immersion in a confined space.

Heidi Hunt, Properties Design
Originally from Los Angeles, Heidi received a certificate in Emerging Theatrical Technologies from Citrus Community College before moving to Seattle and graduating from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus in Sound Design. She has participated in theatre as a designer and technician for the last eight years, including working for several event companies and as the Production Manager for the Pasadena POPS Orchestra. Her favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough.

Meisner Progression Interviews

2011-06-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Interviews are available for Freehold's 2011-2012 Meisner Progression, a 3 quarter, 9 month training program based on the work of Sanford Meisner. Classes run twice a week, 5 hours a week in the evening over each 12 week quarter. Check out the great testimonials from previous Freehold Meisner alums at the bottom of this blog post. The Meisner Progression is taught by Robin Lynn Smith and more information about Robin can also be found below.

To schedule an interview or for more information, contact Freehold at (206) 323-7499 or email us at our contact page. Please bring a resume detailing your theatrical and performance experience and be prepared to speak about why you are interested in participating in the Meisner progression. Prerequisites: Previous performance background and some acting experience/training. Interviews will be roughly 15 minutes each.

The Meisner class description for the 3 quarter progression is as follows:

Meisner: Foundation: Step I - Fall Quarter

Through cumulative exercises based on the work of Sanford Meisner, the actor learns to be habitually available to and affected by life that is actually happening in the moment, and to fully release instinctive, uninhibited responses. The class culminates in a work with text.

September 18 - December 13
Sundays and Tuesdays, 5:30 - 10:30 pm
$750 Discounted
$860 Full Price

Meisner: Instrument: Step II - Winter Quarter

Students continue the exercises from Foundation, supplementing them with work in personalization, preparation, and other tools in order to access a meaningful inner life and "make real" the text and imaginary circumstances.

Meisner: Text: Step III - Spring Quarter

Applying the work from Foundation and Instrument to scenes, students focus on detailed, in-depth text and character work -- analysis, subtext, particularization, and moment-to-moment process work on scenes.

Robin Lynn Smith is a Founding Partner and Artistic Director for Freehold Theatre Lab Studio in Seattle. She has worked for the past thirty years acting, directing and teaching in Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and New York where she directed where she directed CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre. She has directed in Regional Theatres and is presently directing Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Program which tours Shakespeare productions to prisons, projects, and tent cities, for which she has directed OTHELLO, CYMBELINE, A WINTER’S TALE, THE TEMPEST, and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. At Freehold she directed the award winning production of Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL, THREE SISTERS, AN ALTERED LIFE, and VERONIKA FALLING. She was an Artist in Residence at the Seattle Repertory Theatre with Dan Sullivan, and directed several productions including MARVIN’S ROOM, FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE IN THE CLAIRE DE LUNE, and CITY OF GOLD, and the developmental workshop of Elizabeth Heffron’s NEW PATAGONIA. She has also directed in Seattle at ACT, On The Boards, The Empty Space, New City Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and Intiman where she is an Affiliate Artist with Bartlett Sher. She has an MFA from NYU TSOA, and she is currently on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts. She is featured in ACTING TEACHERS OF AMERICA, and she is a member of SDC. She is the 2008 recipient of The Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award.

Testimonials from Freehold Meisner Alums

Jon Locke wrote an article detailing his experiences here in one of our Freehold newletters; the other testimonials can be found below.

"Meisner for me was really transformational and not just for the acting but really just for the rest of my everyday life. Meisner really strives you to live in the moment and to react to things as if it is the first time, being genuine and authentic. I do some commercial work on the side and I’ve been told that there is a new quality to my acting and that is 100% related to the work from the class. There is another piece that I got out of Meisner which was unexpected which is that it actually changed the quality of my day to day life … it allowed me to be more present in my life … it makes life much more interesting." - E.J. Gong

My Meisner Progression Experience by Bob Rousseau

I should say that I think calling the class "The Meisner Progression" isn't quite accurate: it really should be called "Meisner and A Whole Bunch of Other Cool Shit Robin Knows". You work through a lot of the exercises and learn the techniques that you would learn in a typical Meisner program, but Robin also brings to the table a whole host of other tools and exercises in areas like movement, meditation, text examination, and preparation, so that you end up with a much meatier experience.

I liken working with Robin to working at a gym with a personal trainer: rarely does anyone push themselves as much as a personal trainer will push them. The trainer's going to make you do those extra sets of push-ups and sit-ups that you might give yourself a pass on, and while you may grouse at times, inside you know that your muscles are getting stronger month by month. Robin pushes you to work your imaginary muscles farther than you ever have - farther than you probably have thought possible - and when it's over, you realize how much stronger those muscles have become, and how much better prepared you are to face the challenges that come your way.

It was through working with Robin that I acquired one of the most important things any actor can get - an actual process on how to bring a role alive. While I've taken other classes from some extremely talented instructors that included some discussion of methods for examining text, the bulk of what I typically got was notes by the instructor as though they were directing me in a play. That is very valuable stuff, but it doesn't really give you much of a process for starting work on a role on your own, nor do you get much of a glimpse of the variety of techniques that have come to light in the theatrical world. Robin gave us tools we could use to bring the character to life in ways that went beyond what was on the printed page, and thereby make those scripted words come even more alive. And I think a huge part of that came from her making us push the limits of our imaginations for nine months.

And about those books about Meisner's techniques - while I now think part of the reason they didn't grab me is that they aren't very well written, to pick up the sports analogy again, you can read a book about playing golf, but actually having someone guide you who really knows what they're doing is going to make you much better at the game and a whole lot quicker. (Now that I've been through the progression at Freehold, I actually recommend you not read the books). And on top of all of that you get from Robin, if you're lucky like I was, you'll go through the progression with a group of actors that also work hard at it so that you feel challenged and inspired to keep up. You inevitably feel closer to those who took the journey with you. There are other talented folks teaching at Freehold who I also look forward to working with in time to focus on areas we didn't have time to cover during the progression with Robin, but I know that my ability to present truthful work grew by leaps and bounds during the past nine months.

To sum up, if you're not sure whether taking the Meisner progression at Freehold is worth your time, let me help you decide: YES! Absolutely! Be grateful that the gods have aligned the planets so that you have this opportunity and grab it!

Freehold Theatre
2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 323-7499

Living Truthfully at Freehold by Laura Grace

2011-06-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

When I was asked to write something about my experience at Freehold, I hesitated. Not because I am totally swamped with the day job AND family AND scene work AND trying to get into shape (all true) but because, as a non profit - I'm not sure Freehold could afford all the ink my story would require. But I will do my best...

Freehold's slogan (for lack of a better word) is: Explore the YOU, you don't know. I can't think of a truer statement to sum up what happens here.

A million years ago, when I graduated from high school - I was hell-bent on going to arts school. Art is all I ever wanted to do... visual art, kinetic art, dance, music, poetry - all of it - but especially acting. I was recruited by several acting programs across the country, offered scholarships, travel vouchers - it was a very exciting time for me. However due to several reasons I won't go into now, I was unable to attend any of these programs and I abandoned, with a broken heart, the dream of an arts education. I held on to that pain for a long time... too long. Fast forward to when I found Freehold. I studied the class descriptions, read and re-read everything on the website, watched faculty videos on YouTube and after all that... decided it was high time to let that old pain go... it wasn't useful. So - I took the first of many risks to come and called to enroll in Step I - Introduction to Acting with George Lewis. Now, after two years of dedicated study and service, my only regret is that I didn't find Freehold sooner. (But everything happens - or doesn't - for a reason, right?)

Now then, if the traditional definition of acting is "Living truthfully in imaginary circumstances," then the introduction to acting is mainly learning just that first part - how to live truthfully. For this reason, I recommend EVERYONE take this class... you don't have to be a wannabe actor to get something truly significant out of it. The first day of class, 15 or so strangers stood awkwardly in a circle. Shifty on our feet, we stood arms folded, hands in pockets, eyes studying the floor or looking nervously around the room. George was VERY amused by this... like a kid with a big surprise... or a monkey just let out of his cage and wondering which one of us to pounce on first (we were wondering the same thing, actually.) I had no expectations, but I was ready to work and give everything I had. Thru a variety of Impulse Exercises we were able to let go of the "shoulds" that keep us from living in the moment, keep us from the truth of who we are. We learned how to trust our impulses, how to trust our "gut" responses. We learned how to be silly. We learned how to be grotesque. Before this class, I thought I was a "go with the flow, in the moment - free and easy - two cents giving" kind of gal. And over the several weeks of the class, as we worked thru improv after improv, hearing George bellowing over and over again "Stop being NICE! Just STOP IT...We are not here to be nice, we are not here to be mean, we are here to be TRUTHFUL!!!" I realized just how skewed my perception of myself was. I was nice, I was really nice... and that ain't good.

As children we ARE ALL impulse, ALL gut reaction. Generally, we have VERY strong opinions on just about everything and generally - we don't hesitate to tell anybody all about it. But as we grow up, we learn that this behavior isn't always so useful, and in some cases (mine, for instance) dangerous. So we negotiate with ourselves, compartmentalizing parts of us here and there, hiding and holding back some things while pushing others to make our lives work, to survive. But at Freehold, I've learned (and continue to learn) how to take those parts out of hiding - they have purpose. In this way, Step I - was revolutionary! (Or would that be "revelationary"?) So much so that in tiny black ink block letters I wrote: "We are not here to be nice. We are not here to me mean. We are here to be truthful," on the inside of my left wrist, everyday for that first year and it has kind of served as a guide post... in my acting and in my life. I must say, however - it was a little rough there coming right out of the chute - I lost 30 pounds (good thing) and nearly ruined my marriage (bad thing)! Things have thankfully settled down a bit since...

The second half of that traditional definition of acting: "...in imaginary circumstances" was introduced in Step I, but applied/coaxed/teased/ into and out of us more specifically in Steps II (Dan Tierney) and Step III (Marya Sea Kaminski). These circumstances, imaginary at first, become more and more real as we study them, as we play with them - and get them on "their feet." We pull them apart, we whisper the words of our characters, we scream them, we turn them in to animals, we turn adults into children and children into elders, we "make believe." We make believe. We create in these circumstances and in our characters - a heart and soul that we can truly believe in. That we can trust in, and release ourselves into. (Believe... just looking at that word right now makes me think.... Believe.... Be Alive.... Create and Be Alive. Hmmm... ) We learned that "Living truthfully in imaginary circumstances," may be the definition and the destination of our work, but "The Reality of Doing" is the road to get there.

The Meisner Progression, taught by "guide on the side" Robin Lynn Smith, cracked the whole world open to me... and I discovered just how much more there is to learn. It's here that I begin to lose my words. Down the proverbial "rabbit hole" as they say... for nearly every tool I picked up in all my former classes at Freehold, the Meisner Progression has taught the what, how and why to and so so much more. From the first day where we were all just acquaintances standing around thinking we knew something about something, only to discover that I was still... mostly just pretending and had a lot of work to do. It was like Step I on steroids! And crack! And some of the first notes I got from Robin echoed the notes I got from George in Step I and that was just the first week! Seriously, I could write a thesis on everything I've learned in just the Meisner http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifProgrhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifession alone. And maybe, one day I'll have that opportunity, but for now, I will end this by saying...

I have been working really hard - I'm not as nice as I used to be - and I am grateful.

Photo Above: Meisner 2010-2011 students. Laura Grace (first row, farthest right)

*********************************************************************************
Interviews with Robin Lynn Smith for the Meisner Progression for 2011-2012 will be held on July 26, 2011 from 4:00 - 8:00 pm. For more information about the Meisner Progression, email us at info@freeholdtheatre.org or call us at (206) 323-7499. More information can also be found at our recent Blog Post.

“Who are you…Really?” by Riley Neldam

2011-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to write a brief statement regarding my overall reflection
of the last 10 months participating in the ETI program at Freehold and it's
culminating production of Pericles: Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare.

I started by thinking about some of the major themes of this production to get
me started. What I first remembered was something that our director Robin Lynn Smith, a founding member of Freehold, had asked us in the beginning stages of rehearsal:

"What does a human being have to go through to find out who they really are?" That question seemed an appropriate place to begin.

Pericles is one of Shakespeare's classic hero stories. As is written by Italian poet Dante Alighieri, "Midway upon the journey of [his] life [he] found himself in a dark forest, for the straightforward pathway had been lost" (La Commedia Divina). I believe I speak for us all in Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) when I say, "I could not have put it better myself.”

The story: Pericles leaves his home a young man trying to figure out what he wants for himself and his kingdom. Looking for love and answers in all the wrong places, he basks in the sun one moment, only to find himself shattered on the rocks, naked and alone the next ... seriously alone, and seriously naked and history has a way of repeating itself many, many times for Pericles. In Shakespeare’s world, the “Fates” are not kind to heroes, thus the question presents itself again and begs another question: why is it that a “hero” can only come to form through untold amounts of suffering?

One concept we have been working with down at Team Freehold is the idea that Pericles has been “selected” for this mission by the higher powers pulling the strings. One can only wonder: would he have opted out of his “destiny,” such a never-ending series of “Shit Happens” moments if he had a choice?

So what exactly have I gone through? And what have I learned about who I "really am."

In the past 10 month's I don't know if I have ever endured as many stretches of insomnia, stress, and middle of the night moments of panic. I have spent long hours away from home and made many sacrifices to be a part of this diverse group, but this journey has been the most satisfying and rewarding of my acting career to date and has given me the kind of strength that can only be found through hardship.

I am not suggesting that my trials and tribulations compare with Pericles. That would be laughable, well maybe not audible laughter but in the same way that one of your martyr friends “LOL’S” after all of those complaining status updates on Facebook. I digress; it has been an absolute joy to take part in a program that made me challenge myself in a way I had never experienced before. A program that informs the way I act as well as how I live. Pericles seems a spot-on pick for those of us at Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI), as we can all relate to this story and we can hardly wait to share it with you.

Freehold's Engaged Theatre production of PERICLES will be performed this coming weekend by our ETI students on June 23, 24, 25 at 8:00 pm and June 25 at 4:00 pm at Seattle University's Lee Center for the Arts, 901 12th Avenue. There will be an additional outdoor performance on Wednesday, June 29th at 6:30 pm Seward Park's Amphitheater. All performances are pay what you can. More information or to reserve a seat: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org/events/2011/06/23/shakespeares-pericles

Photo above: Rehearsal of PERICLES with cast

Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) - "We're committed" by Phillip Mitchell

2011-06-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

“The cast for this year's performance of Pericles will be comprised entirely of students from Freehold's Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) which is a 10 month acting conservatory program. This performance will be the culmination of the last ten months of the students' training at Freehold.” - Press Release, June 6, 2011

Well, the marketing has started for our final production (aka The Engaged Theatre Program). I guess that makes it official. We’re committed. But then, commitment has been an ongoing theme for this program.

As I thought about what to write here, I reflected on where we started and where we’ve been. Last summer, as part of our submissions to the ETI program, we were required to write a Statement of Purpose. Here is an excerpt from mine:
“If I have it right …. We will immerse ourselves in the craft and work to bring out the best in each other. We will learn new skills from great teachers and immediately put them to use with challenging material. Then we will use all we have learned to perform great works and provide transformative experiences for our community and for communities that don’t usually get to see theater. Then we will go back out into the world prepared to do it again and again. I can hardly wait.”

In short - I had it right.

The work has been immersive and challenging. It has also been revealing, vulnerable, frightening, frustrating, exhausting, and inspirational. My classmates have done some wonderful work and, with their support and witness, I have learned, experimented, stretched, struggled, failed, and done some of the best work of my life.

(with apologies to W. Shakespeare)
We have learned skills from teachers great and wise -
Speech, voice, and movement, text and yoga too.
Stage combat’s fun and real good exercise.
Auditions now are cake, if spoke or sung
And scenes are real on cam’ra or on stage.
Solo Performance was a wondrous thing
To play the Bard some genius skills we bring.

We have performed Great Works from Ibsen to O’Neill to Williams. We have also performed our own works in Solo Fest. They may not have been “Great” but they were great. And, ironically, it was during this phase that we came together as Ensemble, supporting each other as audience members, thoughtful critics, and crew. And, of course, we have performed many works of Shakespeare in scenes and soliloquies, some of which were presented in recital.

Now we are (according to the press release above) about to present a Great Work to our Community and we are about to literally ‘take it on the road’ to underserved audiences.

Today is typical of our process to prepare the show. After some of us met early to polish a dance, the ensemble held a physical and vocal warm-up. This was followed by several hours of working with our Movement Director on dances and scene transitions. Then we collaborated with our fabulous musicians putting original music into some scenes. After lunch there was deep scene work. All of this was under the direction of our incomparable Director, Robin Lynn Smith. We daily incorporate lessons learned throughout the ETI program. It’s the hardest and best work ever.

This experience has been transformative for me. Will our show be transformative for our audiences?

I have learned a lot. Am I prepared to go into the world as a professional actor?

Time will tell.

I can hardly wait.

Melissa Topscher and Phillip Mitchell performing in ETI's Shakespeare Recital (2011)

10 Good Reasons to Study Dramatic Movement by George Lewis

2011-06-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

10) We tend to tense up in stressful situations, under pressure, on stage. It feels like our hands have become enormous, like everyone is staring at them, and we don´t know where to put them. We can't stand still, feel like we should be doing something, so we shuffle around. Studying dramatic movement helps make us comfortable to be ourselves onstage.

9) And yet, we have to be actually more than we are in life. We must develop an extraordinary presence that will expand all the way out to the back rows of the theatre. Which is where most of our friends are sitting, in the cheap seats, so we owe it to them.

8) We have to be more focused than in ordinary life: we must develop extraordinary focus. Movement training teaches how to focus not only with the eyes, not only with the mind, but with the entire body, the entire being.

7) We must also forge a greater relationship between what goes on inside of us and how it manifests physically. We must be available to being affected by what is going on around us, responsive to our impulses stemming from that, and then free to allow those impulses to manifest fully physically and vocally. If the audience doesn´t see and hear it, it´s not happening theatrically.

6) We must have the athletic/gymnastic/physical abilities to allow these impulses to come out and take us further than we allow ourselves to go in everyday life. We may choose not to go all the way, but that is a choice and not because we are afraid or unable.

5) We must learn to choose and shape the form of our expression. Just because in life we might respond to a given circumstance in a certain way, that does not mean it has to be that way onstage. Instinctual movement often follows learned/aquired patterns. There is no ART in that. Art involves choice. We can learn to play freely with rhythm and shape and flow and energy- with the dynamics of time and spoace. Not just the WHAT but also the HOW of physical action.

4) We must learn to do this all dynamically with the partners, both animate (other characters) and inanimate (props and set)

3) We must learn to play with the dynamics of space and time. Including stillness.

2) We must learn to play freely and fully onstage. To PLAY an action and not just DO it. To find a deep sense of enjoyment in what we do, even if we are playing Othello strangling Desdemona.

1) We have to excite, intrigue, and inspire our audiences to live more fully than they allow themselves. The body does not lie, cannot lie. If we are extraordinarily alive onstage, then we will be doing our job.

Photo above: Freehold's ETI Students studying movement with George Lewis.

George Lewis is a Founding Partner of Freehold and also a Freehold faculty member. He has been working in the field of movement theatre for over 30 years. George will be teaching a Movement Intensive this Summer, 2011. For more information, go to: Movement Intensive

It's a Radio Show by Vincent Delaney

2011-06-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Phone call from Leslie. It’s a radio show. With a band. In a brand new theatre. Are you in?

Modulated panic. Keep saying yes, maybe you’ll figure out if you can actually do this. Radio? Never tried. I think of Orson Welles, campy sound effects, doors creaking. Does anyone listen to this stuff anymore? I think of NPR, This American Life, that feeling that you’re nodding off behind the wheel. Beaten to a pulp by progressive blandness.

How will this thing work? It’s 2011.

First writers’ meeting. In a bar, of course. Happy hour. Playwrights know where the cheap liquor flows. What gets said? Can’t really recall, but I remember the personalities, the voices, the excitement. LA TheatreWorks? No way. Old school homage? No freaking way.

Elizabeth, Scot, Paul, talking a mile a minute. Everyone has their idea already, or a script finished, or looks like they’re going to have it finished by the third round of drinks.

Maybe if I keep them here long enough they’ll drop an extra storyline in my lap.

I’m deep into my Guinness, it’s a raucous after work crowd, herds of suits and ties and then there’s us, sprawled in the front corner, getting louder. I’m looking out at corporate types getting soaked by the 6pm spring rain, and it seems utterly natural to say sure, give me two weeks and I’ll send the draft.

What did I just say?

Driving home, thinking about narration. The voice of the story teller. How intimate, how much we’re at the mercy of that voice. How most of the time that voice lulls us, makes us too comfortable.

I am a sick man. I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.

The first line of Notes From Underground, Dostoyevsky. No idea why it comes to me. I read it in college, maybe. But that line is there, it’s sticking, and I’m thinking about narration, uncomfortable narration. Train wreck narration.

Thinking about a voice that’s so odd and specific and self aware, invading that comfortable NPR space on the drive home, drawing us in to something wildly comic and dangerous. What is it about that voice?

Seems like a place to start.

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Monday, June 20th, ONE NIGHT ONLY...SANDBOX RADIO Live! An evening of new works written specifically for the radio by Scot Augustson, Vincent Delaney, Elizabeth Heffron, Chuck Leggett, Anita Montgomery, and Paul Mullin; new music from the Sandbox Radio Band led by Jose Gonzales, conceived and directed by Leslie Law, performed live by members of the Sandbox Artists Collective (and some special guests!)- all recorded in front of you, our "studio" audience, for future podcast. Don't miss being a part of the inaugural episode of this exciting quarterly event!

Free Admission, with donations to the Sandbox Artists Collective gratefully accepted. Make your reservation (its free!) at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/179982

Doors open at 7:30 with live music, show starts at 8:00pm, Reception to follow

For more about the Sandbox Artists Collective, visit
http://www.thesandboxac.org/

My ETI Reflections by Luisa de Paula

2011-05-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here, staring. Not able to write a full, comprehensive thought on my experience on Ensemble Training Intensive. I don’t get it. There is so much to talk about. There were so many feelings about it, lessons, discoveries! It’s hard to grasp on to. Where is everything? Where is the me that went through it all? It’s even harder to write about it in a few paragraphs and not a whole essay, pages long.

Well, maybe that is the very reason. Maybe it has caused that big of an impact in me. I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore; we are done with the regular, rigid class schedule and headed to our final project: the production of Pericles, which I can barely wait for! But I guess I am still processing; processing all the new information, new concepts; more familiar ones too that I just hadn’t practiced enough; new depths of work; the exploration of the marriage of emotional/intellectual/physical work; my voice and self expression; new words (oh new words! I love them. Oh, yes, Shakespeare was a word whore!) I know this is a total cliché these days but… I want to say it anyways: his work is mind blowing!! And some days, I swear, I thought my brain had certainly blown up! Brain matter splattered in the best and worst way. Yes, all over the walls, and floor and my bed, bathroom; the streets of Belltown; the dance studio over plies, tendus, jetes; in the black box studio.

It turned me inside and out at times. It made me closer to my true self in a way that I don’t remember ever feeling. It gave me freedom. It gave me the room to be who I am at this moment and express it.

I questioned it though. I pondered over it. What I mostly questioned (maybe out of some subconscious mental efficiency) never seemed to be the reasons of neither the struggle nor the struggle itself but how to overcome it, or better, how to embrace it. Some part of me knew that I was in the right track somehow; that this was a positive way of dealing with myself. This was where I had to be. I tried as much as I could to embrace fear, to embrace the unknown and to trust. Trust what was ahead of me. Trust my teachers. Trust my classmates. Trust the art form. And it felt like a lot of trusting to me but I kept on task, as much as I could. I kept doing what I had to do. Oh, and there was a lot of doing! There wasn’t one day that I wasn’t reminded of all the “doing” I had to do! I learned about less talking, less thinking, less hanging on feelings and a lot more just plain “doing”. It didn’t seem that there was any other route; I wasn’t going to have it my way. It was either do it or jump off the ship.

Well, and I gotta say, on the quitting note, something I realized about myself, unless I give all that I can give, I can’t quit! And somehow I always and I mean, always feel like I didn’t give enough of myself. Hmmm… truly it’s like a catch 22: with acting you are never gonna get it! It might feel that you got closer and closer to it but there is no getting it. God, it’s hard!! And it‘s magical because of it!

We are driven to these challenges.

Photo above: Parker Matthews and Luisa de Paula in their ETI Shakespeare Recital
For more information on Freehold Theatre and all of our acting classes (including our upcoming Shakespeare Intensive class with Amy Thone), go to our website: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org.

"Life Lessons" by Malachy Sreenan

2011-05-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

You don’t always know or appreciate how much someone or something means to you until you wake up one day and can’t imagine your life without them. Likewise, you don’t always realize when embarking on a new project or adventure that it will wind up filling a need or void in your life that you scarcely realized existed. These are just two of the important life lessons that I have learned over the last couple of years attending classes at, and working with faculty and peers at Freehold.

Now while those life lessons may seem obvious to some, the reality is that most of us get so wrapped up in our everyday lives that we forget to experience life at all. In fact, the last thing that I was expecting back in the Fall of 2009 as I walked up the steps at Freehold, having signed up for an Intro to Acting class, was that I was embarking on an adventure at all. On the contrary, I thought that taking an acting class would help me to overcome what I considered debilitating shyness, a fear of public speaking, and a propensity to blush way too easily. Those reasons, while logical, would be short lived.

While they may have been my reasons for signing up in the fall of 2009, the reason why I continued on through the Freehold acting progression, including Step 2, Step 3, Rehearsal & Performance and the Meisner class, in which I am currently enrolled, is due in no small part to the talent, respect, bravery and generosity of the faculty and fellow students, from whom I have learned so much. In fact, it is those very principles and the fact that they consistently and fundamentally underscore the collaborative nature of its teaching, that make Freehold such an important part of the Seattle theatre community and my continuing adventure.

From day one, When Althea Hukari walked into our Intro to Acting class, it was obvious that we were being afforded a unique opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most talented artists in the Pacific Northwest. Teaching us how to develop fundamental acting tools, Althea introduced us to the concept that acting was living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. It is that concept that would not only guide us through our work in that class, but every class that followed. In addition to that, what stood out most for me in that class was when Althea demonstrated the power of words and action used together to tell a story. Our exercise was to take 8 to 10 lines of seemingly benign dialogue, to demonstrate how that dialogue when coupled with various actions could tell vastly different stories. It was awe inspiring to watch as my classmates and I, under her direction, were able to tell what must have been more than twenty very different and compelling stories using those same lines of dialogue.

What I learned from Althea in that class not only prepared me for, but inspired me to take Step II with Dan Tierney. With incredible intuitiveness, Dan not only helped us apply the fundamentals learned in Step I into scene work, but also introduced us to one of the fundamental acting concepts, that while the choices you make may not be wrong, there may be better choices. Working with a partner on Noel Coward’s Design for Living, Dan helped guide me through the process of making those choices, and demonstrated how those choices can really help in bringing life to characters in a script.

In Step III CT Doescher helped us build upon everything we had learned in the previous steps. In addition, introducing text analysis and parallel improvisation, CT helped us continue to broaden and deepen our understanding of rehearsal techniques and the ability to act and react. What was amazing about CT was that he was genuinely excited and enthusiastic to see what we, as students, would bring to the characters and scenes each week. Scheduling meeting times outside of class and calling weekly to make sure that each student was comfortable with how they were progressing, he is a great example of how Freehold faculty goes well above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to ensuring the success of their students.

With Steps I, II & III, under my belt, I was fortunate to be accepted into Annette Toutonghi’s Rehearsal & Performance class. In what was a unique and amazing class, Annette guided us through the process of bringing a play to life on stage. We started with read-throughs, then moved to rehearsal and then finally performance of The Laramie Project. With amazing sensitivity and creativity Annette led us through the process of making choices about characters, helped us bring those characters to life, and helped us work through the complexities of multi-character scenes. What I learned in that class I am fortunate to have been able to bring forward not only to the Meisner class but also to plays in which I have been cast outside of Freehold.

All of these steps have not only led me to, but were essential in preparing me for my current class, The Meisner progression. All of the peers that I had talked with had recommended this class so strongly, and spoken of Robin Lynn Smith in such glowing terms, I knew I had to take this class. And, I will be forever grateful that I did. I have learned way more from the class and from Robin than I will probably ever know, let alone have time to write here; suffice to say, that several classes in I came to the realization that Robin somehow knew each of us better than we knew ourselves. It could be part of the mystique of theatre and her years of experience on the best stages across this country, but the reality, as she has pointed out many times, is that we are conditioned to keep parts of ourselves hidden so that we can survive in the real world.

Based on that premise, my thirteen classmates and I set about the long, but incredibly rewarding and entertaining task of getting in touch with our true selves so that we can bring truth to the characters that we have had and will have the privilege of portraying. After all, you cannot possibly understand a character unless you understand yourself first. Working through many, many exercises including honest repetition, ‘The Mirror’ and personal and extremely meaningful activities, to name but a few, Robin has started us all on an exciting journey that will continue way beyond our last class on June 28th.

Which brings me back to my adventure! Freehold, its faculty and students have not only taught me the fundamentals of acting, but have opened up a brand new world for me, for which I will be forever grateful. Thank you all. I have made lifelong friends, I have shared, and I have learned. I have learned not to be shy; I have learned not to fear public speaking – Ok, I still blush a little too easily, but you can’t have everything.

"Rehearsal and Performance - It's not just about putting up a show" by George Lewis

2011-05-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

Why take the Rehearsal and Performance class? Why not just audition for a play?

I have taught the Rehearsal and Performance class six or seven times since Freehold began, and it has always been an exciting experience for me and for the student actors.

And it is not just about putting up a show.

It is a class. The director - in this case, me - is also the teacher. This means that the actor/students are learning about how to make the interesting choices that will drive the characters and, ultimately, the play.

It means that when the actors are lost, they have a place to turn to.

It means that the result is less important than the process. Although it must be said that as we have discovered in so much of our work at Freehold, if the process is good, the product - the finished piece - is very likely to be highly engaging for the audience. But as process, the actors are not forced into choices: they are encouraged to discover and to try out different possibilities, to succeed and to fail, and to discover from their successes and failures more about how to choose, how to create, how to marry the actor's intelligence with his/her imagination in the creation and staging of the work.

It is also about how to put up work, including research and costumes and set and props and lights and sound and what tech rehearsals are all about. The actors participate in all phases of the work, and will come out with a clear idea of what is involved in self production.

Many of the participants have not performed before in a play. Others have not. For some it is a re-acquaintance with the theatre. Whatever the level of craft, we work as an ensemble.

For those whose training has been with scene study classes and two person scenes, it is a chance to discover what the dynamics of larger scenes are. There is more emphasis in constructing characters that are physically and vocally distinct, sometimes in ways that are very different than our own speech/movement patterns. My own particular interest in comedy and physical theatre means that we will be doing a comedy with great possibilities for comic 'business', so there is a lot to discover in what makes good comedy. And how the acting values that we have experienced at Freehold: moment to moment truthfullness, clarity and specificity of action, meaningful relationship, the ability to inhabit circumstance, physical and vocal and emotional availability: hold true no matter what the nature of the play is.

It is a great transition step between the classroom and that place of being cast in a play, having a script put in your hands, and knowing what to do next, what to expect, what is expected of you.

It has always been a fun and crazy ride for all. I am excited about getting started.

George Lewis is a founding member of Freehold and an Associate Partner. has been working in the field of movement-based theatre for almost 40 years as an actor/performer, director, creator of original work, teacher, and producer. The Rehearsal and Performance class runs July 20 - August 27. More information can be found here.

Top photo: students performing in Rehearsal and Performance class, 2009.

Freehold Faculty Upcoming Performances

2011-05-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Geof Alm is just opening Jesus Christ Superstar at the Village Theatre and will be doing fights for Aladdin at The 5th Avenue Theatre and Porgy and Bess at Seattle Opera this summer.

Gin Hammond will be doing a live reading of a Sherlock Holmes mystery at the Kirkland Performance Center on May 16th. Gin will also be teaching a Voice Over Workshop this summer at Freehold.

Sarah Harlett is an understudy at Seattle Children's Theatre right now in Jackie & Me and is the costume designer for Macbeth coming up this summer at Wooden O/Seattle Shakespeare, running July 7 - 31.

Reginald Andre Jackson plays Henry Drummond, the Chicago attorney (based on Clarence Darrow) in Strawshops' Inherit the Wind. The show will be running in September 2011.

John Jacobsen's series The Artist Toolbox is currently playing on PBS across the country and is slated to start its international release this summer. PBS has requested a second season, and he starts shooting that this summer, with artists such as Helen Mirren, Angela Landsbury, Dave Brubeck, Jules Feiffer, and Carolina Hererra. The short he directed, ARTHUR, plays in the Seattle International Film Festival on May 29th, and his other short, SPINNING, is slated for release early this summer as well. John is also teaching Acting for the Camera at Freehold this summer.

Reginald Andre Jackson will be performing in MacBeth at Wooden O/Seattle Shakespeare Company this summer (running July 7 - 31).

Jessica Jobaris will be performing at On the Boards as part of the NW New Works Festival on June 11th & 12th 8pm, "You're the stuff that sets me free." An extraordinary cast of eight Seattle luminary performers cope with crisis as they hilariously wrestle with the metaphysical and psycho-therapy. For more information, On the Boards.

Cyrus Khambatta will have their annual Seattle International Dance Festival coming up June 10-19 and has a few works that he is presenting.

Timothy Piggee is on Broadway in Catch Me If You Can.

Carol Roscoe will be appearing at ACT Theater in Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World by Yussef El Guindi. More info at Carol's website http://www.carolroscoe.com Carol will be teaching Business of Theater at Freehold this summer.

Matt Smith is performing his solo show All My Children at The Ottawa Fringe Festival, Jun 16-26. And at The Marsh in Berkeley, the first four weekends of July. Tell your Ottawa, and Bay Area friends!

Rhonda J. Soikowski will be performing: Entropy. Redress. A dress was built in a boutique in Los Angeles - then it went on a trip and something happened. Rhonda performs live with digital collaborator contributions from more than 40 artists. Seattle performances - June 2, 3, 4, 5
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/175663

Robin Lynn Smith will be directing Freehold's Engaged Theatre production of Pericles this summer. More information to come soon on our Pericles production. More information on Engaged Theatre: Engaged Theatre.

Billie Wildrick performs in Guys and Dolls at The 5th Avenue Theatre running May 12 - June 5.

Enjoying Plays by Robert Francis Flor

2011-05-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

A guest blog from Robert Francis Flor, past New Play Lab Class student.

In 2003 when my father died, I found myself sorting through my Uncle’s trunks that he stored in the garage of our Rainier Valley home. My dad immigrated from the Philippines in 1932 to join his brother, Baltazar. Baltazar or “Bob” was the dramatist for the Filipino Community during the 30’s. He’d died suddenly in 1942 shortly after graduating from Seattle College.

My dad stored his trunks for safe keeping. On opening them, I found a treasure trove consisting of two plays, a song, love letters, poems and correspondence Baltazar had written. There were also programs from his productions. I shared my discovery with close friends who thought these might make an interesting play.

Growing up in Seattle, I enjoyed plays. The first full-length production I’d seen was “Rumpelstiltskin” when I was in 4th or 5th Grade. I’m not even certain which theater staged it but the memory stuck with me. Since that time, I’ve attend productions from a variety of theaters such as Seattle Repertory, ArtsWest, Balagan, Stone Soup, Theatro Milagro or the Ashland Shakespeare Festival.

Writing plays had never crossed my mind. Up to then, my creative writing consisted of a few poems and vignettes. My professional career was built largely on writing policy papers, reports and grants. My interests were about to take a major turn.

I began to outline ideas based on the findings in my Uncle’s trunks and events in the Filipino community. For months, I toiled at these. I skimmed a few books on playwriting hoping they’d help me better understand the craft. Writer friends reviewed my drafts. I sent them to a few agencies for critiques. And finally, I realized I really had no idea what I was doing.

Tony Bajado, a writer friend, mentioned she took courses in playwriting at Freehold Theatre. Her play “Fish” had been selected for a Studio Lab.

I searched Freehold and discovered a body of courses in playwriting. My first course, Playwriting I was from Paul Mullen during which we focused on dialogue. During this class, I settled on writing a play I titled Daniel’s Mood. Initially as a short-story about my foster brother’s death in 1972, I began to reconsider it for a possible play.

I honed Daniel’s Mood (photo above) through several classes at Freehold Theatre with Elizabeth Heffron and Dickey Nesenger. The play changed course as they will, a new protagonist emerged and I began thinking more about its arc and the underling themes. In 2010, Daniel’s Mood was performed as part of Freehold's New Play Lab class. In the class, characters and conflict were sharpened with mapping exercises.

Beyond class exchanges, re-writes and readings, I worked with David Tucker in the casting and rehearsal processes. He and the actors, Eloisa Cardona and Matt Riggins brought my characters to life. My understanding of how directors choose actors and how actors interpreted characters increased. Rehearsals and discussions resulted in a further character refinement that made them more authentic. Daniel’s Mood – Mestizos was published in 2011. Freehold’s Studio Lab and courses were invaluable. I continue to work toward a complete staged reading.

Looking back on my Freehold playwriting class experience, what I really appreciated was the personalized attention of the instructors and the friendship and support of my fellow students.

It was definitely yet another treasure trove find.

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Want to jump into the playwriting waters? Freehold's Summer Classes will be opening up for registration this week which will include Playwriting I and The New Play Lab.

"Engaged Theatre Creating Transformation and Community" by Tikka Sears

2011-04-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

When I attend Freehold’s Engaged Theater performance at the women’s correctional facility in Gig Harbor, I end up thinking about my own life choices and near misses. How easily bad luck or bad timing could have landed me right where these women sit. I wonder how I would survive this, and I respect and admire these survivors for what they have endured both in their old life on the outside and what they must become on the inside.

When I first see their bodies walk onstage I can't help but imagine the crimes they may have committed and my mind travels far filling in the stories, like a choose-your-own-adventure book. Yet when I watch them push their bodies through the choreography, help one another up between scene changes, gently pick up a fallen mask, and hold the edges of one another's shirts down as they peel off their top shirts to reveal a beautiful new shirt, I am brought to tears by their focused effort, by the care and grace they exhibit. I am reminded of how true stage concentration is like a state of walking meditation where we may be our best selves, where we can remind the world of the vast potential of humanity. One woman spoke of not recognizing the monster she had become. One woman held a small child to her breast and wailed upon learning that the child was not born healthy. Her face contorted so violently it tore out my heart. Her commitment to that moment was so powerful I expected her to still be crying as she exited the stage. Yet when I saw her stand up and quickly walk off stage for her next part I saw the focused attention of a performer, not a broken soul. I respected and recognized this steady gaze and professional way of moving to the next moment, moving on.

Another powerful metaphor was the exploration of the masks we wear on a daily basis and how they both protect us and separate us from others. There were also fun moments where we got to experience the humor these women are filled with. One character was named beaver and there were a series of beaver jokes that were fun and kept the mood light as well as the audience laughing, even when we still had tears on our cheeks. Another powerful moment was a monologue written and performed by one of the women who uses a wheelchair. It spoke about the mask that the world sees of her as someone disabled and yet she spoke of all the courageous and life changing things she had helped others to accomplish. She spoke of her best self, her superhero self.

I particularly enjoyed a movement sequence that showed the women experiencing a psychological death of their old selves and falling to the floor. Individual performers moved through the graveyard of fallen bodies and slowly began to lift the women up one by one with care. To me it symbolized a new beginning, the fresh start the women were hoping for, dreaming for everyday. At the end of the play the women each walked up a ramp and threw their metaphorical old masks into the flaming inferno. It was a powerful moment when reality and performance blended into one another. The line between the performance and their personal lives blurred, and I could tell that by the time they peeled off that first T-shirt they had begun to transform.

Through the performance, through the act of publicly sharing their private suffering, they had transformed not only themselves but us as an audience. I am reminded of the reasons that I love being a theater artist: transformation and community. Theater has the power to transform and affect both the performers and the audience with the public sharing of stories. Theater does not always reach this goal but it always has the potential. The courageous work of the Freehold volunteers and the women at the correctional facility reaches this potential in the linoleum and neon clad gymnasium surrounded by high security doors, alarms and barbed wire.

Tikka Sears is a director, actor and educator. She is co-founder and artistic director of Memory War Theater http://www.memorywartheater.com. Her work has been selected for the 2007 Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards and the Bumbershoot 2008 TPS stage. She has directed pieces for the 2009 & 2010 Studio Series and attended classes at Freehold.

Collaborators Manuel Castro and Tikka Sears, Artistic Directors of Memory War Theater, join creative forces again to bring their newest multimedia play, Below U.S., to the Ethnic Cultural Theatre on June 3 and 4 at 8:00 pm. Below U.S. combines physical theater, video animation, digital projection, comedy and shadow imagery intertwined with reflections of community members on the slippery nature of hybrid identity. Manuel and Tikka encourage you to visit their website at http://www.memorywartheater.com, where you can learn more, join the discussion, and win a free ticket to the show. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for Seniors/TPS members and $5 for students and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets.

Spectacular Spring Acting Classes in Seattle at Freehold for Beginner and Advanced Students

2011-04-15T15:58:00.001-07:00

at Freehold

SPRING CLASSES ARE OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

Our students rave (and you will too):

"I learned how to really listen and engage with my scene partner"
"Remarkable, consistent teachers"
"It was informative, fun and not too scary for a beginner."
"Risk-free exploration."
"I learned that acting is doing something truthfully."
"Terrific."
Freehold is offering a fantastic line-up of Spring Classes plus a new twist with two Preview Classes which give you a taste of some of our fantastic class offerings. Join us!

Here is our Spring Class Line-Up:

Step I: Intro to Acting with Annette Toutonghi
Step I: Intro to Acting with Sarah Harlett
Step II: Acting with Text with Stefan Enriquez
Step III: Basic Scene Study with Dan Tierney
Alexander Technique Workshops with Cathy Madden
Improv with Matt Smith
Meisner: Text with Robin Lynn Smith
Playwriting I with Elizabeth Heffron
Playwriting II with Elizabeth Heffron
Shakespeare with Reginald Andre Jackson
Solo Performance and Presentation with Marya Sea Kaminski
Spoken Word and Performance Poetry Workshops with Daemond Arrindell
Stage Combat with Geof Alm
Suzuki with Shanga Parker
Voice with Gin Hammond
Voice Over with Gin Hammond

and our NEW Preview (one-day) Classes,

Playwriting Preview Class with Elizabeth Heffron
Voice-Over Preview Class with Gin Hammond

TO REGISTER for our classes: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org/studio
5% early registration discount for registering by Friday, March 18th!

If you are looking for outstanding training in a supportive atmosphere, Freehold is the place.

Freehold Theatre
2222 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 323-7499

The Shakespeare Struggle by Parker Matthews

2011-04-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard of our Shakespeare teacher, Amy Thone, was in an interview in The Stranger.

It described her as a pirate.

Who taught acting.

Let’s be honest - who doesn’t want to take acting from a pirate? Much of the acting world would vastly improve if students were taught by extreme personalities like pirates. Or dinosaurs.

Jokes aside, there’s actually some truth in that.

Somewhere.

I was in a Shakespeare class taught by Amy Thone before the Ensmble Training Intensive. Incidentally, it was thanks to that class that I actually heard about the upcoming ETI auditions. So this was not my first experience with Shakespeare via the Dread Pirate Thone.

“Shakespeare” is a word that strikes fear, discord, and indigestion in the minds/stomachs of many a person. In fact, one of my greatest joys comes from conversations at my work.

Nominally Interested Co-Worker: So, are you doing any acting right now?
Me: Yeah, I’m doing a play. [Insert obscure Shakespeare title here].
Nominally Interested Co-Worker: Oh. What kind of play is that?
Me: (incoherent mumbling) It’s a Shakespeare.
NIC: Huh?
Me: It’s a Shakespeare play.
NIC: Ah.
(Long Pause.)
NIC: You know what I like? Movies. Are you ever in movies?

Shakespeare’s works have a fascinating double-life. For those in theatre or exposed to good productions, Shakespeare plays can be explosive and thrilling experiences. For others, the plays are something that exists in some foreign land populated primarily by prissy men with skulls and pantaloons.

So we started the Shakespeare class with the Thonester a few months ago. We all came in with dramatically different backgrounds and levels of experience with ol’ Bardy’s jazz. I’ve got to confess: I cheated. I actually already liked Shakespeare. I had taken a college acting class that got me all fired up about what previously had been the most uninteresting of subjects. But (and I know that this sounds so deliciously clichéd) with Shakespeare, we’re always beginning. As this term reminded each of us time and time again.

Shakespeare’s works are incredible in many ways. To pick an arbitrary starting point, his works are incredibly challenging. Now, of course, challenging does not equal better. After all, attempting to move a mountain one bucketful of dirt at a time is challenging. Shakespeare, though, is challenging in a fantastic way.

We discover (over and over) that his works call for us to apply every single tool and technique in our repertoire. And then (over and over) we find that there’s still so much more to do.

Every tool. Every technique. Completely frustrating, to be sure. Shakespeare’s work has a fantastic way of exposing acting shortcuts and laziness. It challenges you constantly to be so much better. So much richer. Fuller.

And that is absolutely wonderful and absolutely infuriating.

We’ve had front row seats to the near-paralyzing difficulty of this work. The flip side, though (as opposed to bucket-mountain-moving) is that this work has contained some of the most transformational, “eureka” moments for the ETI members this year.

In class we’ve seen and experienced epic, fiery failures. But we have also seen rich, vibrant, bulldozing breakthroughs, breakthroughs of such magnitude that we don’t even recognize the actor onstage. And these are people we’ve been working in close proximity with for the last eight months.

We struggle with the words. We struggle with the language’s structure. The physical abandonment. The impossibly-high circumstances. The ever-deeper ambiguity of the characters. Heck, the memorization.

We struggle.

And yet there are those few moments, those moments that occur after ridiculous hours of over-analyzing, second-guessing, and no-man’s-land-wandering. Those moments where the work clicks into place and you feel the words and ideas and emotions fill you and emanate from you with life that you didn’t think was possible. The moments when you feel completely buoyed by and carried by and swept along with the text, and the words no longer feel like they were written four hundred years ago, but were written yesterday specifically for you and your life.

That’s what the struggle is about.

I don’t know if that’s too idealistic and head-in-the-clouds. To be quite honest, I read fantasy novels and act, so I’m essentially the worst person to judge if something’s too far removed from reality.

Honestly, even writing about Shakespeare is a funny thing. After all, there are libraries full of books on the joe’s works. What can you say in a blog post?

You can say that it’s a struggle. A struggle that you wish to share with ever more people. A gritty, ugly, savory, sumptuous struggle that constantly empties and fills you.

A struggle that makes you crave something more.

A struggle, as Amy Thone says, that has no end point.

There’s great comfort in that.

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ETI Shakespeare Recital

Parker and his fellow ETI students will be performing works from Shakespeare at Freehold's ETI Shakespeare Recital on April 29 and 30th at Velocity Dance Center. Here's the scoop ...

Allow yourself to be wondrously filled up on the bards’ magnificent words at Freehold’s Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) Shakespeare Recital. This very special event includes two evenings full of excitement, passion, love and treachery as only Shakespeare can master. This recital traverses the wealth and breadth of Shakespeare works and includes scenes from: King John, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Richard III, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet.

Join us in seeing the great work Freehold's ETI conservatory trained students have been doing over the past eight months in their training program.

This recital is definitely “a dish fit for the gods.” Join us!

Friday, April 29 at 7:00 pm and
Saturday, April 30 at 7:00 pm AND 9:30 pm

TICKETS: Pay What You Can, available in advance at Brown Paper Tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/170442, or at the door ($10 suggested donation)
LOCATION: Velocity Dance Center, 1621 12th Avenue, Suite 200, Seattle

Shakespeare Class

If this post inspired you to want to take a Shakespeare class this spring quarter at Freehold, we are offering a Shakespeare class with Reginald Jackson. More information about that here. Class begins April 25.

Freehold's Annual Dinner & Auction - Look at our Great Auction Items!!

2011-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

FREEHOLD'S SPEAKEASY DINNER & AUCTION
Monday, May 23
Doors open & Silent Auction: 5:30 pm
Dinner & Live Auction: 7:00 pm

Tom Douglas' Palace Ballroom
2100 5th Avenue, Seattle
Business and festive attire welcome!
Auction table for 8: $400
Auction table for 10: $500
To purchase a table, contact us at (206) 323-7499
Individual tickets: $60 at Brown Paper Tickets or cash at Freehold's office.

Here are just some of our SPECTACULAR Auction items you'll get to bid on ...

Gift certificate to Tula's Jazz Club in Belltown. Tula's is the hot spot for Seattle jazz. At Tula's you'll find music seven nights a week with top jazz artists plus great Mediterranean and American cuisine.

A TOUR of Los Angeles by its very own resident actor, solo performer, Lauren Weedman. To quote Lauren "some highlights of the tour will include The Gayest Coffee Shop they will ever see....The lobby of my managers office on Sunset (because lots of celebrities come by there). The Frozen Yogurt place where I always see a lot of porno people. (not that I KNOW them..you can just tell), Michael Jackson's home...and we'll try and find the Tranny that Eddie Murphy made famous."
Lauren has been seen on THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, has appeared Off-Broadway and has numerous stage credits including her very popular show BUST and NO..YOU SHUTUP. She has appeared multiple times on RENO 911 for Comedy Central, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM and on the HBO series HUNG. She can be seen opposite Steve Carell and Tina Fey in the Fox feature DATE NIGHT and has joined the cast of Universal’s film Five Year Engagement, the comedy being produced by Judd Apatow.

Two season tickets to Bellevue Civic Theatre, providing entertaining and compelling theatre for the Eastside.

Whidbey Island Retreat! 3 days and 2 nights at Whidbey Island Waterfront Home of a Freehold Board Member.

Need a break from your yard work (and who doesn't!)? Yard King is your man to help with sprucing up your yard (in the form of the owner of Yard King, John Leith).

Singing Telegram by local beloved performer Eric Ray Anderson, of the one-man ukulele cover band, "Superfluous", will work with you to order a song that will delight the person of your choosing at their home or workplace. What a great way to treat a special person in your life!

Gift certificate to Hellam's Winemaker Dinner Cruise - Wine Tasting and Crab Feed in La Connor. This 4-hour trip features winemaker/owners Tim Stevens (Stevens Winery), Darby English (Darby Winery) and Chris Gorman (Gorman Winery) - truly some of the best wines in Woodinville ... and Washington State.

This cruise will also feature a Dungeness crab feed, with several side dishes, appetizers and dessert offered (chicken can be substituted for the crab). Delicious!!

Gift Certificate to the delicious Dish restaurant. Listed by Zagat as one of the top 25 breakfast restaurants in 25 US Cities.

The Film School's cornerstone program, 3 Week Intensive, featuring six distinct courses taught by John Jacobsen, Warren Etheredge, Stewart Stern, Rick Stevenson, and Tom Skerritt (Summer 2011, Spring 2012).

Splurge on a gift certificate and enjoy some delicious seafood at one of Anthony's Restaurants.

Enjoy a night at at this popular Capitol Hill night spot: The Garage. Grab a game of pool, or get your bowling game on (and snag some food and drinks while you are at it!).

Two nights at the Deluxe Suite at Hastings House Country House Hotel on Salt Springs Island in British Columbia. Hastings House Country House Hotel is a small waterfront luxury country resort, spa and restaurant which sits on 22 acres on the waterfront of Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Enjoy luxury lodging, fine dining, wellness and relaxation in a casually-elegant atmosphere.

Bread. Bread. And more Bread. Enjoy a loaf of bread a month for a year from Columbia City Bakery. Num.

Seattle Mariners' always popular Swag Bag.

Watch movies majestically at The Majestic Bay Theatre in Ballard.

Tickets to a show at the always amazing Washington Ensemble Theatre (Capitol Hill) in Seattle.

A Week, at Casa Lora in Monterosso Calabria, Italy. Monterosso Calabro is a town of 2,000 residents high in the hills of Calabria, the southernmost region of the Italian peninsula, midway between the Ionian Sea and the Tyrhennian Sea.

Quench your book thirst at Elliot Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill.

Ride the Ducks in Seattle (located at the foot of Queen Anne by the Seattle Center)! Tour Seattle by land and sea on a WWII amphibious landing craft! It's a party on a wheels that floats! Whether you are a native Seattle-ite or a newcomer, this tour never fails to offer great Seattle tour tidbits plus a lot of fun.

Gift Certificate to Babeland, the trendy adult store that aims to please (located on Capitol Hill).

A morning with Matt Smith (Freehold faculty member and improv master) hunting for Chantrelle Mushrooms (includes lunch). What could be more fun??

One night stay at the lovely Chelsea Station Inn B&B located in Seattle in Phinney Ridge. Chelsea Station Inn B & B offers four large suites with living room, dining room, kitchenette, powder room and a sumptuous master suite. More information on the Chelsea Inn: http://www.chelseastationinn.com/suites/

Gift certificate to the Pink Door Restaurant in the Pike Place Market.

Bread galore from Macrina Bakery! “Bread appears as the Sun, anew each day to keep away the darkness and make the earth grow.”

Trip the "light fantastic" with Dancing at Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill.

A year long theatre pass to ACT. You'll definitely get your theatre groove on!

Passes to the EMP/Science Fiction Museum.

Billiards at Jillian's! Partake in Jillian's offerings "A great meal, the best in amusement entertainment (Billiards, Bowling, Redemption, Electronic Games), amazing sports viewing, or just a relaxing atmosphere with family and friends."

A Seattle mainstay - gift certificates to Dick's Drive-In.

Accommodations at the restful retreat at Doe Bay Resort on the restful and beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juans.

One year membership (family level) to the Seattle Art Museum. So much art, so little time! This pass will inspire you to make time to immerse yourself in art.

Kayak lessons on beautiful Lake Union.

Gift Certificate at Le Gourmand where the chefs believe "cooking is an art and that eating is a wonderful necessity."

Golf at the Interbay Golf Center. "FORE!"

One year Family Membership to the Henry Art Gallery.

Tickets to a performance at On the Boards, a leading center for the creation and presentation of contemporary performance.

Passes to the Seattle Aquarium. "Listen to the calls of our region’s orca whales. Stand within a circle of glowing jellyfish. Run your fingers along a sea anemone’s soft tentacles. Delight in the antics of the sea otters." and so much more ...

General admission passes to Banya 5. Get a relaxing soak on at this urban spa and health facility which offers a unique blend of old world wellness rituals in a friendly contemporary environment.

Gift Certificate at P.F. Changs (they have an extensive menu plus a large gluten free selection)!

Get toasty at Capitol Hill's own Hot House Spa and Sauna for women. Free your mind, soothe your body.

Yoga gift certificates from 8 Limbs Yoga (locations: Capitol Hill, Wedgewood, Phinney Ridge, West Seattle).

Adorable Stuffed Animals by Freehold's very own instructor, Sarah Harlett. In addition to being an amazing instructor and actress, Sarah makes these charming critters. Sarah sells her animal buddies at the shop Charley+May on top of Queen Anne Hill.

Take home a great reminder of the evenings festivities with the beautiful painting that Annya Uslontseva did for the auction.

A very special thank you to our Sponsors:

Tom Douglas Catering and Events

Private Valuations

Lazerquick

Blick Art Materials

"Occupied!" by Estrella de Leon, Melinda Parks and Tania Sung

2011-03-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

“Lowly, put your pants back on!” Lights are set, toilet paper stocked, noses polished, and shoes on. Lowly, Loud and Lois Fruit walk in slow motion down the Freehold corridor, feathers and bits of toilet paper littering their wake. They are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with their clown piece, Occupied!

Flash back November 2010! George Lewis has just released three clowns into the world. Two of these clowns crashed into one another, releasing magic into the universe and a Freehold Studio Series piece was born. Stationed on opposite sides of the country and burdened with spotty connectivity, Loud and Lowly persevered against the odds to get their Studio Series application in on time. It would be the last punctual act of their Studio Series experience (sorry Freehold).

Flash forward January 2011! Lois Fruit is crying into her mocha at the Red Robin in Factoria, when she gets terrible news. Occupied! needs a captain to steer this rickety duck boat and Lois is the only one for the job!

Flash forward-er Today! The clowns have endured torn pants, scuffed shoes and the guilt of countless trees felled to support a voracious toilet paper habit. Our own Polaris, Cornish professor David Taft, lights the way in our dark clown nights. Despite humiliation, indigestion and utter failure, the clowns are nourished and happy simply getting to be free within themselves. These clowns know that the humans living inside them are ecstatic to experience a world without boundaries and self-doubt.

Experience the joy of freely laughing at the triumphs and failures of these clowns. Come see Estrella de Leon, Melinda Parks, Director Tania Sung and a very special roll of toilet paper in their clown debut, Occupied! at the 16th annual Freehold Studio Series. This duck boat has been duct taped and is ready for her maiden voyage.

************************************************************

The Studio Series is Freehold's highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. 2011 will be our 16th year of presenting this very popular series. We regard the Series as an opportunity to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance.

The Studio Series will run for three weekends from March 11 through March 26, 2011. Each project will be performed one weekend out of the three weekends with it being performed a total of four times with two performances on Friday night and two on Saturday night at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm at Freehold.
For more information on tickets and the full Studio Series Line-up, go to Freehold's Studio Series.

Four Days Until Clown Time by Tom Spangenberg

2011-03-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Four days until clown time. That is hard to believe since Susie McGee and I have been working together with the intention of creating a piece for Freehold's Studio Series for about five months and if you know Susie then you would agree that after five months I deserve a medal. That's not true of course. Susie has been great. Really.

Sometimes I think that maybe if she was difficult to work with, incredibly difficult to work with, mind-blowingly and gut wrenchingly difficult to work with, then I could spin that into its own story or cathartic solo piece and make a lot of money. Everyone knows that's where the money is. Susie would sue me and we would settle out of court and both be rich. Alas. Lucky me.

If you're not familiar with clown theater, it's easy to imagine scary white-faced clowns in big shoes and orange wigs trying to pack themselves into a VW bug. This assumption is not only misguided, but it clouds over the underlying depth of the art form. Clown theater is about commitment and vulnerability. It's about revealing your own humanity so that others can identify with it. Clown is not acting. Sure, there are performers on stage and they're in character, but a successful clown is not acting. A successful clown is living the truth of the moment – whatever that may be. Often the truth of the moment is so vulnerably human we can't help but laugh. Laughter, though, is not the mark of a successful clown. At her core, a successful clown is in touch with whatever is happening in that particular moment and is sharing that with the world. Sometimes that's funny, but sometimes it's not. Either way it doesn't matter because what you discover is that the truth, itself, is riveting.

The Studio Series is Freehold's highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. 2011 will be our 16th year of presenting this very popular series. We regard the Series as an opportunity to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance.

The Studio Series will run for three weekends from March 11 through March 26, 2011. Each project will be performed one weekend out of the three weekends with it being performed a total of four times with two performances on Friday night and two on Saturday night at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm at Freehold.
For more information on tickets and the full Studio Series Line-up, go to Freehold's Studio Series.

Studio Series 2011 Bloggers

2011-03-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

From Kevin Dailey, performing in Freehold's Studio Series Week 1 in an improv performance entitled NUT HUT.

"Here we go first week Whooooohoooo! The time has arrived for all of our hard work to be realized. Sitting there on Sunday i was curious how everyones journey had been to this point. Was it just as stressful, tumaltious, exciting, obsessive, and amazing as ours has been. It was amazing to see a community come together. All of us bringing something special to the studio series. The hard work that everyone has put in, WOW! I look forward to the journey not the destination." March 9, 2011

The Studio Series is Freehold's highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. 2011 will be our 16th year of presenting this very popular series. We regard the Series as an opportunity to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance.

The Studio Series will run for three weekends from March 11 through March 26, 2011. Each project will be performed one weekend out of the three weekends with it being performed a total of four times with two performances on Friday night and two on Saturday night at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm at Freehold.
For more information on tickets and the full Studio Series Line-up, go to Freehold's Studio Series.

Falling in Love with Solo Performance by Lance McQueen

2011-03-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

For about seven years I had both admired and feared solo performance. The idea of opening myself and creating a purgative art piece personal enough to be engaging, yet not so personal as to cause me embarrassment was terrifying. But as someone in Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) said, “your desire to succeed has to outweigh your fear.” So here I am having fallen completely in love with solo performance and hoping to articulate the importance for actors to create projects for themselves.

When I was growing up between California and Alaska, I hustled up odd jobs to keep candy and soda money in my pocket. California summers allowed me to mow lawns and Alaska winters meant shoveling driveways. In the ninth grade, I discovered Junior Achievement. J.A., as it was called, introduced, developed and empowered young people through business fundamentals and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Our group met once a week to discuss and develop a business plan. Our great idea was to produce emergency roadside kits using materials donated by the local hardware store and peddled to the unsuspecting shoppers exiting the neighborhood Safeway. We hadn’t reinvented the wheel, but there seemed to be a genuine need for the kits in Anchorage. The concept of, “creating my own thing,” was forever emblazoned on my psyche.

Fast forward many years later.

At its core, I believe solo performances work best when the material is generated by the artist performing it. Perhaps there’s a catalog of proven, published solo pieces that actors can perform, but what makes for one actor’s powerful, dramatic storytelling can lack that personal feel the medium is known for.

Our ETI class began by using short, timed writing exercises to build confidence and endurance. Our subjects ranged from trivial to personal. Short and structured to fervently streaming our consciousness. Marya Sea Kaminki, our Solo Performance instructor, used these drills to free our imaginations and get us accustomed to deadlines. Evidently procrastination is common among artistic types and deadlines prod the writer onward. The absence of deadlines has caused a shoe box in my closet to fill with half finished poems, scripts, scenarios and inventions. Our first week of class completed, we received initial assignments: use all the tools in our small developing toolbox to write a five minute childhood memory piece.

Terror struck nearly all of us.

My fear came from finding myself on the precipice of artistic freedom and not knowing whether others would find my stories interesting. But again, Marya was there urging us to push through fear, concentrate on our truth and results be damned. We were learning that this skill was like a muscle that had to be developed and in developing any muscle there would be discomfort, even pain. Sometimes old dusty memories are funnier left in the attic. I was feeling a little discomfort.

For my piece, I focused on a neighborhood grouch whose very presence rivaled the affect the Wicked Witch had on the Scarecrow. Any of our errant balls that found his yard received death sentences. I memorized, rehearsed and performed it for the class.

And … they liked it.
They laughed.

They actually traveled back and accompanied me into the grouches’ yard to retrieve that ball. I liked the feeling of completing something. It was just the push I needed. My first play had been produced!

Over the ensuing weeks, Marya would set new parameters. One week we would write two person dialogues, acting and speaking both parts. The next week we would write two person dialogues, but only play one part. We would then leave a silent gap and imagine the other character speaking the lines. Each week the task would change. We’d adjust and Marya would expertly guide us toward our goal: a final showing of one of the four or five previous assignments, but extended from five to ten minutes. This showing would come to be known as, “The Solo Festival.”

My Festival choice was an earlier assignment that showed signs of power, irony and sensitivity, but it needed length and polishing. It centered on an aging professional athlete and the unavoidable consequences his unguided youth created. Our pallets had grown considerably. I combined several formats to create a powerfully, touching story.

The tide was turning.

If you work in any business long enough, you’re likely to experience highs and lows. Before ETI, I was definitely at a low. I never got tired of acting. I was just damn tired of jumping through hoops to do it. Actors need not only a strong desire to act, but love, perseverance and positive encouragement. Before I developed friends, mentor and elders, I lacked support. I allowed myself to be come bitter and disenchanted. Acting’s migratory nature and the gypsy-esque lifestyle can wear thin. Needing other people’s approval to ply your craft can create frustration and resentment. So, to finally empower myself and to give myself permission to “kiss myself” was monumental.

Four months of hard work would culminate in sixteen different plays. Some of them humorous and insightful, others thought-provokingly poignant and some just outright hilarious. We crewed for one another which solidified the ensemble.

Now it was time to let the audience in.

The performances would be the icing on the cake. Some art can exist alone in a closet and some art needs that symbiotic relationship. This art demands a certain give and take in order that the art be fully realized. We sold-out every show. They came. We gave. They received and I watched with pride and satisfaction as sixteen budding artists emerged from their cocoons, discovered their new selves and set off for new destinations.

This new destination of mine, this love of solo performance, has me looking with great anticipation to the future and to creating more of “my own thing”.

I highly recommend it.

Photo at top: Lance McQueen performing in "The Solo Festival"
Photo at bottom: Lance McQueen and Luisa de Collova in ETI Class

Freehold's Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) is designed for emerging artists who are ready to make a vocational commitment to the theatre. ETI is a ten-month conservatory course that focuses on developing the technical skills necessary to meet the demands of classical text and contemporary material composed in extraordinary form.

Freehold will be offering a Solo Performance class taught by Marya Sea Kaminski as part of its Spring Quarter classes. Registration will be open Monday, March 7. For more information, Solo Performance at Freehold.

Memories of Freehold: Me and Freehold by Norman Bell

2011-03-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Me and Freehold? We go way back. I remember when I was just a wee lad in my mid-20’s, and Freehold was just a youngster too. It was 1995, and Freehold was just four years old at the time.

That year, I took my first Freehold class - Intro to Acting I with George Lewis. The class was in the Oddfellow’s Building on Capitol Hill, Freehold’s original space. It was there that I learned that acting wasn’t about pretending you were someone else. It was about finding that person in yourself, and about “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances”. It was also about being curious about what emerged right in front of you in the present moment. As George used to say (and probably still does): “Doing is doing. Doing is doing.”

I soon became a Freehold junkie. I took Intro I & II, Scene Study, and the first Meisner class, and had a lot of amazing (and sometimes frightening) experiences along the way. Each room in the original space at the Oddfellows Hall had its own feel – Rhino, Workspace, The Loft. Each teacher had their own style. But it was all grounded in Freehold’s exploratory approach to acting.

In addition to the classes, I had the privilege to participate as a stagehand for Freehold’s production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull”. Directed by Robyn Lynn Smith, with an all-star cast that included George Lewis and one of Freehold's founders, John Billingsley, the production was a sight to behold. Every night, me and a fellow stagehand would sneak under the bleachers in Rhino, Freehold’s original theatre space, to watch Nina’s tragic final monologue. “The important thing,” the actress playing Nina said, “is learning how to endure.” It gave us goosebumps every time.

In 1997, I stopped taking Freehold classes and started travelling – over the course of seven years, I lived in Alaska, then Japan, and then Spain. I continued acting in plays, and even a movie or two. But then in 2003, I came home for Christmas break and met up for coffee with an old friend. One of the many signs I got that day that this was the right person for me was when she mentioned that she’d been taking Freehold classes. That person - fellow actor and Freehold junkie Zoe Wright-Bell - is now my wife.

I came back to Seattle in 2004, and a few months after that, I started taking Freehold classes again – but this time, I wanted to write and perform my own work. So I took Playwriting I and II with Elizabeth Heffron, and Original Performance with Maria Glanz, and then with Marya Sea Kaminski. Out of these classes came my first two solo pieces, “Little Hand” and “Mango”. I performed both of these pieces in the Freehold Studio Series, and then went on to do two more, “Subprime!” and “Enlightened”. I actually ended up making “Subprime!” into a full-length solo play, which was directed by Freehold’s own Gin Hammond.

Performing in the Studio Series was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The opportunity it gave me to perform my pieces in front of a live audience was invaluable. And it was so fun and satisfying to meet other performers and feel that “Hey-kids!-Let’s-put-on-a-show!” spirit backstage. (Note to current Freehold students - If you’re thinking about doing the Studio Series, do it! You won’t regret it!)

Right now, I’m taking a little break from Freehold. I’ve got a ten-month old baby daughter, Sophia Rose, and lately all of my performing energy has been dedicated to her. But mark my words - I’ll be back. And I have a sneaking suspicion I might be bringing someone with me soon enough. We’re already starting to see a little performer emerging in our daughter, so maybe it’ll only be a matter of time before Sophia Rose makes her way down to Belltown to take her first “Intro to Acting I” class at Freehold.

Photo at top: Norman Bell performing in the Studio Series his piece Subprime.
Photo at left: Norman and his daughter Sophia Rose.

A Trip to the Washington Corrections Center for Women (Purdy) by Bev Kelly

2011-03-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

If you've never been to Purdy to view the play put on by the women who participate in Freehold's theatre residency program, you've missed an exciting and moving experience.

Under the inspiration and direction of Robin Lynn Smith, Freehold's Artistic Director and founder of the Engaged Theatre Program, and the Freehold volunteer artists, the inmates create the dialogue, sets, costume, music and choreography. The interaction between the audience, the performers, and the Freehold teachers is powerful; especially the comments and feelings expressed after the performance. The inmates express profound appreciation for the experience; especially love for the teachers. Many stated it was the best experience of their lives. Sincere tears of joy and gratitude for their growth and their hope for a better future were expressed.

The value of the Freehold artistic staff is priceless. They are like a mirror held up to each inmates allowing her to see herself as valuable and worthy of respect. The staff models mutual appreciation for each other and the inmates and their ideas. In their teaching the staff creates a safe space encouraging the inmates to be trusting, vulnerable and authentic.

The staff's generosity of spirit, time, talent and love allow the inmates to work thru issues and to develop positive attitudes of self. Hopefully it motivates them to be their best selves. The teachers will never know the far-reaching effect they have in the lives of these women.

The first time I visited Purdy, I was apprehensive not knowing what to expect. I had feelings of superiority, thinking - they're bad law breakers, but I'm good ... I don't have anything in common with them. How could I relate to them?

But soon I realized that these women were no different than people you see every day on the street. In fact, we're all a work in progress. Given different circumstances and/or choices, I or any family members could wind up here. They didn't seem to be resentful toward us, the society that incarcerated them. Their open warmth toward an audience of mostly strangers replaced my disconnect with an authentic and comfortable love connection. I enjoyed our fellowship and knew they are no different from myself.

The women in the residency seemed to develop a sense of belonging, bonding and working together toward a common goal. They also clearly had a feeling of success at the end of performance. Nothing succeeds like success. When you've proven what you are capable of and have experienced success, you gain self-confidence and self-love. You see yourself in a new way - valuable and worthy. It encourages you to be your best self.

This Engaged Theatre project demonstrates what theatre can accomplish. The hard work in developing the play was key. Joy in this process was at least as important as the end restult. As far as the performance - in that time and place we were connected, a gift to each other. And hopefully we all grew into more compassionate human beings.

It is an honor to be associated with such an incredibly valuable adventure. Thank you for allowing me to be part of the transformation!

Bev Kelly has been an invaluable contributor to Freehold over the years in many capacities. She is solely responsible for the creation of the Bev Kelly Library at Freehold (photo at left) which includes thousands of theatre books that Bev has donated to Freehold over the years. The library is available to all Freehold students free of charge.

This year's Freehold's residency at the Washington Women's Correctional Center will culminate in a performance Monday, April 4. Guests to the event must provide clearance information of their legal name, date of birth and social security number by 3:00 pm on Monday, March 7 to attend this very special performance. Contact Kate Gavigan at Freehold at (206) 323-7499 by Monday, March 7th if you are interested in attending.

Preparing for the Studio Series by Robert Riedl

2011-02-25T11:14:00.001-08:00

Rehearsing for the Studio Series is like independent study. Without the pressures of preparing a full-length play, there's more time for exploration and experimentation.

Our particular cast has been examining the physicality of performance, drawing on a variety of sources from Suzuki to Spolin. In one exercise, we wandered about the rehearsal space in character, opening our awareness to the other characters, noting their physical attributes - their presence, their gaze, their distance, their walk - and how these attributes affected our character.

Often times when we let ourselves be directed solely by the text of a play, we forget about the physical, nonverbal cues that can carry more emotional information than just words. By opening ourselves up to the physical nature of theatre, we can better explore our characters and their relationships through movement, bearing, position and stillness.

Everything we've learned and experienced at Freehold is essential to our continuing work. We often find ourselves quoting Freehold instructors and putting their guidance into action. And we continue to discover more and deeper meaning in what we thought we'd already learned.

Robert Riedl is working on a Scene From a Play for the Studio Series featuring Jenni Taggart, Aaron Moore with Fred Cassidy directing. The Studio Series runs from March 11 through March 26 on Friday and Saturday nights with two shows, 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Robert's Studio Series piece will run the second week of the Studio Series on March 18, 19 at 7:00 and 9:30 pm at Freehold. Pay What You Can (Suggested Donation: $10.00) Tickets at the door one hour before the show. More information: Studio Series 2011.

Freehold's 16th Annual Studio Series

2011-02-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

March 11 - 26, 2011
Three Weekends with a Different Line-Up Each Week!

Friday and Saturday nights, 7:00 and 9:30 pm
@ Freehold, 2222 2nd Avenue, 2nd floor
Tickets: available at the door only
All tickets are Pay What You Can
Box office opens one hour prior to the show
($10 Suggested Donation)

The Studio Series is our highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. 2011 will be our 16th year of presenting this very popular series. We regard the Series as an opportunity to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance.

The Studio Series runs for three weekends from March 11 through March 26, 2011. Each week will have a different line-up of performances with two performances on Friday night and two on Saturday night.

We look forward to seeing you there!

WEEK ONE: March 11 - 12, 7:00 and 9:30 pm

THE MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT, by Bonnie Foster; Cast: Thomas Alberto, Ron Corwin, Jess Haynie-Lavelle, Marsee Skidmore, Ultrakarl, Amanda Woodard; Director: Bonnie Foster
SHE WAS CALLED SANDY, by Jenny Rachel Weiner; Cast: Jessica Grant, Narea Kang, Henry Mark; Director: Norah Elges
IN SESSION, by Jonathan Locke; Cast: E.J. Gong, Amber Zipperer; Director:Rebecca Goldberg
NUT HUT, Cast: Ashley Almon, Cody Bernius, Cory Blankenship, Kevin Dailey; Director: Kevin Dailey
SCENE FROM A PLAY, Cast: Chris Parks, Michael Su; Director: Eric Jordan
WALKING AWAY, by Machelle Allman; Cast: Machelle Allman, Kristal Baker, Lisa Larsen, Natalie Moe; Director: Rachel Bowen

WEEK TWO: March 18 - 19, 7:00 and 9:30 pm

AVACADO, by Jesse Putnam, Cast: Tom Brophy, Kevin Dailey; Directors: Julianna Chen, Jesse Putnam
SCENE FROM A PLAY, Cast: Aaron Moore, Robert Riedl, Jenni Taggart; Director: Fred Cassidy
THE TAMING OF WHO?, by Shakespeare, Cast: Lee Ann Hittenberger, Ken Michels; Director: Gordon Coffey
FRANCES FARMER HAS ALREADY HAD HER REVENGE ON SEATTLE, by Tony Leahy, Cast: Tony Leahy; Director: Julie Horowitz
BANQUET, Cast: Susie McGee, Tom Spangenberg; Director: David Taft

WEEK THREE: March 25 - 26, 7:00 and 9:30 pm

OCCUPIED! Cast: Estrella P. de Leon, Melinda Parks, Director: Tania Sung
FAIR EXCHANGE, by Geoffrey Spelman, Cast: Robert Agonstinelli, Betty Campbell; Director: Wesley K. Andrews
GATED, by Scott Maddock, Cast:Meli Alexander, Samantha Camp, Richard Carmen, Jennifer Davies, Steven Gomez, Caleb Joslin, Russ Kay; Director: L. Nicol Cabe
SAFEWORD, by Jaime Cara; Cast: Jaime Cara, John Flick, Emily Hove, Tony Leahy, Steve Lombardi; Director: Emily Hove
DIGITAL STAR BOY, by Caleb Slavens, Cast: Caleb Slavens; Director: Gin Hammond

Freehold Student and Alum Upcoming Work

2011-02-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Freehold's Studio Series will run from March 11 - March 26 at Freehold, 2222 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor. The Studio Series is our highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. 2011 will be our 16th year of presenting this very popular series. We regard the Series as an opportunity to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance. Each project will be performed one weekend out of the three weekends with it being performed a total of four times with two performances on Friday night and two on Saturday night. Pay What You Can (Suggested Donation: $10.00). Tickets available at the door one hour before the show.

Erwin Galan will be in a staged reading Passport, by Gustavo Ott, Translated by Heather L. McKay, Directed by Arlene Martinez-Vickers, Saturday, Feb 26 7:30pm ACT (Buster's Special Events Room), and Saturday, Mar 5 2:00pm Burien Little Theatre,
Tickets $5.00 (for each date), Buy at: www.acttheatre.org OR www.burienlittletheatre.org. Info at: info@eseteatro.org and http://www.eseteatro.org/

Steven Gomez will be playing Jonathon in Scott Maddock's short play Gated, directed by L. Nicol Cabe, at Freehold's Studio Series on March 25-26. He will also be performing in Zachariah Robinson's piece 21st Century 101 at Nebunele Theatre's TheatrePoems performance on April 2.

Rosalyn Le will be playing the fair Hero in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at SecondStory Repertory in Redmond, Directed by Corey McDaniel, February 4-26, 2011, Fri & Sat Nights at 8pm, Sun Feb 13 & 20 at 2pm, Tickets: $25 adults/$19, students/seniors/educators, TPS Rush discount tickets (day of performance) $10

Jonathan Nawn, a Freehold ETI student, performed the Solo Performance piece he developed at Freehold at On the Boards' 12 Minutes Max on February 27, 28.

Andy Tribolini is part of the Film School reading at ACT on 3/28, Z vs. V! Andy has also been cast in 3 films shooting this month: Pony Man, Basket Case and Snorkel.

Heidi Wolf recently earned her Certified Teacher credential from the Society of American Fight Directors, which makes her the 3rd CT trained at Freehold, and one of only 4 female CTs west of the Mississippi. She is currently teaching stage combat at the University of Puget Sound.

Freehold Faculty and Community Upcoming Performances

2011-02-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Geof Alm is doing fights for Don Quixote at Seattle Opera which runs February 26 - March 12.

Hans Altwies will be performing in This at the Seattle Repertory Theatre which runs April 8 - May 15.

Gin Hammond will be directing The Colors of Our Lives at the Young Playwrights Festival at ACT on March 11, 12. The culmination of the Young Playwrights Program at ACT returns for its ninth annual festival, showcasing eight world premiere plays by talented student writers ages 14 to 18.

John Longenbaugh will be directing and producing a show he co-wrote with Ron Richardson last year, "My Time with the Lady," that'll go up at the Market Theatre from April 7-April 30. It's the story of Seattle's famous Lusty Lady Peep Show, told through the eyes of a young man who manned the front desk for several years during the mid-80s. For more info and tickets, visit mytimewiththelady.com.

Paul Mullin and Dawson Nichols (with support from Tom Paulson) wrote The New New News: A Living Newspaper. Directed by Dawson Nichols. "The New New News: A Living Newspaper" examines journalism in the age of new media, paying special attention to the implications to information and democracy created by the collapse of newspapers, the 24-hour news cycle and the demands of monetizing media. All performances Pay What You Will. Reserved seats are available for $15 at Brown Paper Tickets for each performance venue: Olympic Theatre at South Seattle Community College (SSCC), Friday February 18 and Saturday February 19 @ 7:30pm, Sunday February 20 @ 2pm, The Erickson Theatre on Capitol Hill, Thursday February 24, Friday February 25 and Saturday February 26 @ 7:30pm
Sunday February 27 @ 2pm and Stage One Theatre at North Seattle Community College (NSCC),, Wednesday March 2 at Noon, Friday March 4, Saturday March 5, Friday March 11 & Saturday March 12 @ 7:30pm, Sunday March 6 and Sunday March 13 @ 2pm.

Shanga Parker, Reginald Andre Jackson and Carol Roscoe will be in All My Sons at Intiman Theatre running March 18 - April 17. Shanga Parker and Carol Roscoe will also be in Pilgrims Musa and Cheri in The New World at ACT running June 17 - July 17.

Timothy Piggee is performing on Broadway in NYC in Catch Me If You Can at the Neil Simon Theatre with previews beginning March 11.

Darragh Kennan is at the Folger Theatre in Washington DC playing Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors until March 6th. Darragh will be the dialect and acting coach for the upcoming New Century Theatre Company production of Oh Lovely Glowworm running April 13 - May 15th More information: www.newcenturytheatrecompany.org

Amy Thone, in March, will act in a two-week workshop of a new play, South of Settling, at ACT, which won their 2010 New Play Contest.

Billie Wildrick is performing in Vanities produced by the 5th Avenue and ACT running from February 4 through May 1 at ACT's Falls Theatre.

The group Kulture Shock, of which Gino Yevdjevich is a member, has a new album being released with a show in Seattle at The Crocodile on March 25, 2011 and New York at Webster Hall (March 30, with Slavic Soul Party), before heading to Europe for a 15-date tour. Gino has been an integral part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre Summer Tour as he composes the music for Freehold's Summer Tour productions every year. With over 600 concerts under their belt and a rabid fanbase that spans the globe, Seattle music stalwarts Kultur Shock defiantly return with their highly anticipated new album Ministry of Kultur. The outfit's most refined and masterful effort to date will be released on March 1st, 2011, and was recorded by legendary Seattle producer Jack Endino.

Request for Support for Jessica Goldstein and family

2011-02-10T14:14:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

Most of you know longtime Seattle educator and actor Jessica Goldstein and some of you may know her husband actor Brian King but you may not know about the troubles that have befallen them and what you can do to help.

In the fall of 2010, Jessica was diagnosed with an extremely serious and aggressive brain tumor. About a month after Jessica’s diagnosis, both Jessica and Brian’s Cobra health insurance expired. Private insurance is extremely expensive, Jessica’s medical bills are mounting. Brian and Jessica and especially their four year old son Jonah need the help of those of us fortunate enough to be financially stable and healthy.

I am organizing a multi-tiered fundraiser to raise money for health insurance for Brian, Jessica and Jonah.

What can you do, you ask?

1. Come to our fundraiser on April, 10th at Mountaineers Building located at 7700 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 at 7pm. It will be a great time. We will have a No Limit Texas Hold ‘em Poker tournament, a silent auction and a raffle for a fabulous vacation package. Plus world class entertainment, fabulous food, and a well stocked no host bar.
2. Help us secure donations for the silent auction. If you know anyone who owns a swanky restaurant, makes cool handbags, owns a vacation rental, or works for Starbucks, Adobe, Microsoft, Alaskan Airlines or some other mega producer, we need cool stuff that people want to buy.
3. Help me pull this together. If you don’t have friends in high places and struggle to get by yourself, or if you’re really stinking organized, I need help putting this all together - please consider donating your time to the backbone of this event.

Please, these are good people who have given a lot of themselves and it is their turn to get something back. I can be reached at 206-271-9384 and fatyeti@gmail.com.

Yer Old Pal,

Dan Morris
www.fatyeti.com

Discovery Moments at Freehold by Jonathan Locke

2011-02-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

The Freehold Studio Series is a wonderful event. It's a living experiment. A place to do work and push limits but also to watch and listen and be delighted. And this year, the experimental staging of a scene from my first full-length play, "In Session", marks the end of a journey that started for me more than five years ago in Elizabeth Heffron's playwriting class. I could not have known it at the time, but my desire to write a play would take me to all kinds of inspiring and quite unexpected destinations. If you had asked me before I ventured into Freehold what I thought about acting, I would've certainly said “Are you kidding me? I'm a writer, not an actor. I could never do that.” But Elizabeth got me up on my feet and something happened. Fast forward to 2009 and I found myself wrapping up a year in Robin's immersive, life-changing Meisner class. I began to wonder: "Could it be that I don't know myself as well as I'd like to think?"

Over the past several months, that same process of discovery has come around again. Apparently, I unconsciously decided that the best motivation for getting back to writing a play would be to partially dislocate both of my shoulders and spend months in physical therapy. Although painful, this plan worked well and I soon found myself writing again. But this time my writing was informed by a new understanding. I had some idea not only of what a good script looks like, but also of what actors are looking for in text when they go to interpret it. I knew not only how to write characters, but how to create meaningful conflict and how to make beat shifts clear. But that was not the surprise. I could have told you that before I started writing. The surprise was the way that my new acting background transformed my approach to writing (as well as other aspects of my life).

One of the things that you learn in Freehold acting classes is to value discovery and in-the-moment truth over end-result. And that value system had spilled over into my writing, which became more exploratory and mysterious and less result-oriented. Just being willing to stay engaged in a discovery process -- in a zone of not fully understanding what I was writing -- caused all kinds of interesting visions to emerge. And as I wrote and observed what was happening "in the moment" (with some help from my very sharp writing mentor, Warren Etheredge), my understanding of what I had been writing shifted. It shifted slowly at first. But then, a couple of months into the process, I had the very Discovery Moment I had been secretly hoping for. My writing, a scraggly bunch of disordered apple trees, suddenly lined up in neat, blossoming rows: I was shocked to discover that my play wasn't about what I thought it was about at all! And again, I found myself wondering: "Could it be that I don't know myself as well as I'd like to think?"

And now it's happening yet again. With Rebecca Goldberg, a friend of mine from Meisner class, directing the talented actors E.J. Gong and Amber Zipperer, I'm ready for another Discovery Moment at the Studio Series. I can't wait.

Photo at top: Jonathan Locke
Photo at bottom: Amber Zipperer and E.J. Gong in upcoming Studio Series piece, "In Session"
*******************************************************************************

Freehold's Studio Series is Freehold's highly anticipated yearly event that presents work created by current and former Freehold students, lab members, and faculty. The Series is an opportunity for participants to investigate work in a "studio" setting and then to experience the evolution of the work through performance. This popular series includes original works, scenes written by renowned playwrights and new original works premiering in the series, improv performances and puppet pieces. The Studio Series will run for three weekends with a different line-up of pieces every week. Come and see them all!
The series runs from March 11 through March 26, Friday and Saturday nights with two shows: 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Suggested donation: $10.00. Tickets at the door. For more information about the Studio Series Line-up this year:
Studio Series 2011

The best part of the evening ... By Dickey Nesenger

2011-02-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

During last year’s Faculty Showcase, the best part of the evening was not hearing my play read aloud before an audience – even though Gin Hammond and Matt Smith’s take on my comedy-drama The Language of Birds added new meaning to the term dynamic duo--but that it offered me the opportunity to participate in Freehold’s yearly hail of--let’s get a gang together and put on a show! That gang by the way included prolific playwrights and directors, accomplished actors, distinguished teachers, arts activists, and friends of Freehold. That was the best part of the show, the chance to meet and greet others--for one night at least--under a roof of common interest — the love of theatre.

Tickets are $10 for Freehold's Faculty Showcase and Benefit, on Monday, February 7, 6:30 pm at The Erickson Theatre (on Capitol Hill). For tickets: Brown Paper Tickets

Freehold Student and Alum Upcoming Work

2011-01-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

Jenny Schmidt will be performing in Penguins: Suffer the Children at Annex Theatre. Written by Scot Augustson and directed by Bret Fetzer. Featuring Daniel Christensen, Chris Dietz, Katie Driscoll, Karen Heaven, Sophie Lowenstein, Jenny Schmidt, Jillian Vashro, Lisa Viertel, and Clayton Weller, Jan 28-Feb 18, 2011 | Fri-Sat at 11 pm, $10 gen / $5, TPS/senior/student, Industry Night (PWYC) Mon Feb 14, 8 pm, Pay What You Can Feb 11/12

Erwin Galan will be in a staged reading Passport, by Gustavo Ott, Translated by Heather L. McKay, Directed by Arlene Martinez-Vickers, Saturday, Feb 26 7:30pm ACT (Buster's Special Events Room), and Saturday, Mar 5 2:00pm Burien Little Theatre,
Tickets $5.00 (for each date), Buy at: www.acttheatre.org OR www.burienlittletheatre.org. Info at: info@eseteatro.org and http://www.eseteatro.org/

David Kubiczky booked a featured extra spot in the new David Fincher film (american re-make) Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Rosalyn Le will be playing the fair Hero in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at SecondStory Repertory in Redmond, Directed by Corey McDaniel, February 4-26, 2011, Fri & Sat Nights at 8pm, Sun Feb 13 & 20 at 2pm, Tickets: $25 adults/$19, students/seniors/educators, TPS Rush discount tickets (day of performance) $10

Jonathan Nawn, a Freehold ETI student, will be performing a Solo Performance piece he developed at Freehold at On the Boards' 12 Minutes Max on February 27, 28.

When Everything Old is New Again by Jenni Taggart

2011-01-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

PBS recently aired Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, recorded in March 2010, in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday. In Act II, six of the grandest dames of musical theatre take the stage in luscious red Diane von Furstenberg dresses. Patti Lupone steps up to the mike first. She proclaims, “I'd like to propose a toast!” The crowd bursts into applause---we all know what's coming. She cracks her knuckles and launches into “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Company.

Here's the thing. When you sing a musical theatre song for a musical theatre crowd, it's difficult to surprise your audience. We know the words and the melody as well as you do (most of us are singing along under our breath). When Patti Lupone started singing, I thought I knew what was coming---I was wrong. By the time she bellowed the last line, imploring everybody to rise, my jaw was on the floor. While I had heard that song before, I had never heard that song before. How did she do it? How do you take a song that your audience has heard a thousand times and breathe new life into it? I believe that the answer is here at Freehold.

When I'm working on a song, I work with the text just like I do with scene work for class. In the Meisner progression, Robin Lynn Smith taught us to write out a script with no punctuation, no capitalization. You then speak the text one syllable at a time without inflection---kind of like a robot—-until you've got it memorized. (This is especially difficult with a song that is familiar. Try saying the lyrics of “The Star Spangled Banner.” When you said “oh say can you see by the dawn's early light,” how many syllables were in the word “oh”? Did you pause between “see” and “by”?) With spoken text, this keeps you from reading the same words in the same way every time. When it comes time in the scene to say those words, you know what to say, but you've not memorized the words with a specific rhythm or inflection---they come out in response to what's happening with your scene partner in that moment and that moment alone. With song lyrics, rhythm and inflection are tied to the music. Freeing the text from the music allows me to hear new patterns, and discover highs and lows for myself.

I identify my scene partner in the song and what I want and how I'll get it---I'm specific about objectives and tactics. In Scene Study, Annette Toutonghi suggested finding the places in the script that don't make sense—-that's an opportunity for a shift in action or tactic. Working just with the script without the music gives me the opportunity to discover a subtle shift that might otherwise be hidden in the middle of a musical phrase.

In her class on Theatrical Song Interpretation, Billie Wildrick taught me that there are no wasted words in a song. Every lyric is chosen for a specific purpose. I say each word and just let it ring, seeing what images come to mind. I think about what happens to me emotionally if the word is repeated and then I make a choice as to why the word is repeated. I consider what the lyricist implies by choosing a word over its synonym. In “The Ladies Who Lunch,” for example, there must be a high-stakes reason that the character yells for “another vodka stinger” and not “another vodka sour” and that reason cannot simply be that “stinger” rhymes with “zinger.”

Once I've done my work with the text, it is always interesting to pair the words again with the music. In her Shakespeare classes, Amy Thone points out that, if a character consistently throws extra syllables into her iambic pentameter, that's a clue to her state of mind: perhaps she has a lot to say or is losing control. In a song, if the rhythm changes from straight to syncopated or the song changes key, that must mean something to the singer.

I came to Freehold just hoping for a little help with audition monologues, but Freehold has given me a great deal more than that. The fact that I now get so much more satisfaction from singing has been a very nice surprise. The techniques I've learned at Freehold mean that even the most familiar song can be new every time I sing it...or hear Patti Lupone sing it.

Jenni Taggart has appeared at Seattle Musical Theatre as a doomed Hungarian "murderess" in Chicago, Jane's evil Aunt Reed in Jane Eyre, General Cartwright in Guys & Dolls, and Ma Templeton in George M! Her appearances on other Seattle stages include Godspell (UPAC Theatre Group), Flow at the Triple Door (SoleSound Visual Music Productions), and A Tap Dance Christmas Carol (Anacrusis Modern Tap Dance). Jenni studies acting at Freehold Studios and is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Washington.

Photo above: Jenni in Guys and Dolls
Photo below: Jenni in Jane Eyre with FX Wood.

In the Gallery: Postcards from the Floating World, selected collages by Melanie Reed

2011-01-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Melanie's artwork is currently being displayed at Freehold Theatre, 2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Growing up in a world out of balance, I was able, through some mysterious combination of luck, survival skills, experience or personality, to find comfort in nature and a definite, immediate affinity with certain types of art. Surrealist art became a favorite touchstone, because its evocative, symbolic and often disturbing language is so appropriate for describing the "floating world" between nature's harmony and man's disharmony - a world of flux, confusion and intense conflicting feelings, despite whatever creative new "machine" one tries to build to stabilize oneself.

I eventually found the making of my own art to be an excellent way of organizing the chaotic and overwhelming thoughts that often accompany a life out of balance. Expressing these thoughts through the language of surrealism has helped me to feel connected to a community of kindred spirits and understand that my own experiences are not isolated, but have been felt and observed by many others in the same or similar ways.

The process begins with the collection of a number of unrelated images to which I find myself drawn by a mysterious yet distinct resonance. These images serve as dormant life forms, which, when placed close together in certain particular groupings, give life to each other and transmute into newer and more complex life forms. During this process, I strive for high levels of both personal emotional awareness and compositional craft, attempting to match the sensibility both of my own emotional "landscape" as well as that of other artists' more representational landscapes to which I tend to have the strongest emotional response.

To address the balance issue even more broadly, thoroughly and effectively, I am interested in advocating higher levels of emotional consciousness in relationship with ourselves and others in order to move towards a greater sense of integrated harmonious connection. But before we can do this, we have to first be able to see the strangeness that is us. Surrealist art should be thought of as snapshots from a dream world that reflects the real world by throwing its imbalance into sharp perspective. It need not be intellectually "understood," but should be felt viscerally and recognized personally, in ways that may often prove to be disturbing and complex.

I would like to invite the viewer to let the imagery in each of these pieces flow over them, enter into the spirit of the piece, and allow its energy to work a subtle transformation of body, mind and soul. Just as change of place gives new perspective, these pieces aim to conjure up new worlds, new ways to see ourselves, creating landscapes of personal resonance that are broad, deep, and emotionally evocative enough to allow their visitors to return again and again for expanding, ever-changing explorations.

Melanie is a dedicated theater-goer and long-term supporter of Freehold.

Photo above: Wraith
Photo below: The Takeover

Stage Combat Elements by Caleb Slavens

2011-01-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

Stage Combat--- or as I referred to it over the holiday break, “a really neat trick to show my brothers and freak out members of my family and the community.” Let me set the scene; here is me dressed in semi-formal wear, milling about in the waiting area of a mid-sized food chain (lets say Chili’s), over there, about an arms length away, is my youngest brother. He is facing the interior of the restaurant, I’m facing the door. He makes an audible comment about my shirt, I retort with a snide remark about how stupid his hat is, we get into a heated debate about fashion styles, and then out of nowhere he swings at me and punches me in the face with a haymaker that could down a horse. I fall to the ground holding the left side of my face, and contorting the rest into a look of anger/ pain/ and surprise. The restaurant is silent. I slowly wobble to my feet as my brother backs closer to the door. Someone sets a hand on my shoulder and says in my ear ‘let it go, settle down.’ I shrug them off and through gritted teeth, I hiss, “I’m fine. I’m not going to do anything.” I step closer to my brother, until we’re face to face, I can feel the tension in almost every patron in the restaurant rippling through the atmosphere… that’s when I make my move, I pirouette, grab my brothers hand and we both bow to the crowd, he tips his hat, and then we run out the door and across the street giggling like children until we enter the waiting area of the Olive Garden one block over and report to the rest of my obviously bored family ‘how packed the Chili’s is’ and ‘that we had better just wait for a table here.’… Now, you might say that what we did was an immature use of what I’ve learned in stage combat, and I will agree with you to a point, but I have to say that it was actually the perfect opportunity to teach my brother and my family the important elements of the fights they see on stage and in films. Those elements being; control, choreography, the lead-in, distance, timing, perspective, action, re-action, and then resolution.

I learned these elements in the Stage Combat classes I have taken at Freehold, from both Geof Alm, in his annual 3 class series, and Hans Altwies as part of the Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI). Both instructors have helped me discover the necessary tricks needed to captivate an audience with the bait that there just might be a throw-down, and then hold their attention as I gracefully miss my scene partner by mere inches, either with blade, fist, or stick. But from the audiences PERSPECTIVE, if I used my training correctly, it looks like I just sliced through my scene partner with a broadsword. (And even though, in real life, my cut would have left him gasping for air and disemboweled on the floor, in this instance, cause it was stage combat, he is still alive and healthy enough to jump up and stab me in the jugular.) ... I mean there is just a lot to say about the art form of fighting. In the world of visual arts though, it is closest related to dance. It is a dance with your scene partner: a dance where every move is essentially choreographed, and wrapped around ‘words’ and ‘actions’, as a dance is wrapped around measures in a song. But unlike dance, it packs the accepted machismo of the human emotions behind it. Dance is an enlightening art type, meant to lift the spirit, but combat is meant to pull us all back into the animalistic nature that is either hidden or locked up in all of us. When resolutions can’t be found in words, or walking away, but instead your only out is through a release of testosterone and adrenalin into your system and then turning your limbs into a barrage of blunt surfaces. Whew! Let me catch my breath.

Where dance and combat differ though is in the level of control. In dance there typically isn’t a chance that somebody could get stabbed (not counting stilettos, of course). This is a critical point of Stage Combat training; learning about the balance point where your body and appearance can give every impression of delivering a killing blow to your partner, but internally your calm and in control enough to stop the weapon from even touching your partner if they forget their blocking. This level of control doesn’t come easily and requires rigorous training and repetition. For the sword to become a ‘safe’ extension of your arm requires hours swinging it through the air practicing your cuts, parrys’ (blocks), and drilling your body on the techniques needed to move you in and out of the range of your partners weapon. Eventually, you’ll reach that comfort point where you’ll be able to know where the blades are at all times, and then you can start to refine the acting bits needed to fill out the scene. You may ask ‘what does it feel like to be comfortable with a sword’ to which I can say “It’s like when you have been driving the same car, or riding the same bike for many years, and you know just how fast you have to be going to merge into traffic, or park in this or that spot, or just how narrowly you can avoid a disastrous collision and squeeze between two vehicles going the same speed as you. It’s all still really dangerous, and you have to be completely aware of what you’re doing, but you’re comfortable with it because you’ve trained with the right tools and techniques.”

I think having Combat training is necessary for all actors. At the very least it makes one more aware of their body and the things they can do, and is an excellent primer on possible self-defense moves. Plus, you can go home and get in fake fights with your friends and families and with any luck you’ll be able to spice up that boring cocktail party or picnic you get invited to every year.

Freehold's ETI Students will be performing their Solo Performance work in the Solo Performance Showcase on January 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 pm and January 29 at 2:00. To reserve tickets, email us at info@freeholdtheatre.org. For more information: Solo Performance Showcase
Photo above: Lori Evans and Caleb Slavens in ETI Stage Combat class

Responding to a Calling by Joel Benjamin

2010-12-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

When I was in college pursuing a degree in Theatre one of my professors told us a story that stuck with me all these years. It was a story about one of the most significant events in all of theatre history; and yet it gets very little attention in most theatre history books and classes. It was the moment that Thespis, a common place member of the then common place Greek Chorus, committed a truly revolutionary act; he stepped from the Chorus and spoke his own words.

Think about this, here’s a story about an ordinary man, who one moment is just another voice among many, playing out a traditional spectacle of which there was no thought of reinterpreting, and then in the next moment he does something that will forever change the evolution of western theatre! That, in and of itself was pretty amazing. But what really fascinated me about the story, and continues to do so to this day, is not only what Thespis did, but the question his bold act raises: why did he do it?

Now, there’s no way of knowing for sure why he did what he did. He probably wasn’t motivated by the desire for fame. Back then fame didn’t really exist unless you were an emperor, a king, or Socrates. He probably wasn’t acting in response to urgings from his fellow chorus members. Can you imagine? “Psssst. Hey Thez, I dare you to do something that no one has every done before and will probably result in some spectacularly violent and very public demise for you. What do you say, buddy?”

To me, the only thing that explains Thespis’ revolutionary act was simply this: he couldn’t stop himself. He was compelled by something deep within, as all great artists are, to step into the unknown and, for that time in history, to take the biggest risk an actor had ever taken! Thez was moved by something much more powerful than himself.

I mean, when listening to Mozart or Beethoven, or viewing paintings or sculptures of Michelangelo, or reading the words of Shakespeare or Thoreau, who could deny that the artists who created these works were directly inspired by an energy that no one can see except in the things and moments that are manifested from it?

The root of the word “inspire” is “in spirit”. Our ancient friend, Thespis was truly inspired to do what he did. And on that long ago day, when a single person responded to a calling that could have only come from the center of his heart, the very seat of our soul, he not only stepped out of the Chorus, he transcended them. And rightly so. Because why should inspiration and spiritual evolution only be the relegated domain of musicians, painters, and poets? The actor too has the right, and the means, and the need to enter through those mysterious gates to our soul, to struggle to awaken, and to share, through each performance, the brilliance of what is discovered with us all.

Joel Benjamin will be teaching Yoga for Actors at Freehold, Joel also teaches in Freehold's Ensemble Training Intensive (ETI) Program. He is very excited to be bringing yoga to Freehold. He has been practicing yoga since 1998, and has been teaching since 2004. Joel believes that when the ancient yogis created what we refer to today as yoga, it was never their intention to design a series of exercises to develop "yoga butt," (even though this is how many in the West have come to view this 5,000 year old art form.) Yoga is a system of breathwork, mindfulness, and physical postures all designed to improve the quality of our lives by bringing us into the present moment and opening our hearts. At its core, Joel believes that the true intention of yoga and the tools necessary for good acting are the same: embodied presence and emotional responsiveness. Joel has a BFA from Syracuse University in Theatre, and is certified to teach yoga from Pacific Yoga, and master teacher Max Strom. He is also a member of the Yoga Alliance. Joel owns Yoga Shack, a private yoga school in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle.

Photos of Freehold's ETI students in their Yoga training with Joel Benjamin, Fall 2010.

On Truth, Beauty and Color ... with a dab of career counseling by Jesse Putnam, this month's gallery artist at Freehold

2010-12-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been wondering if I made the right choices in deciding the ever-obstinate 'what do you want to be when you grow up' question. My first choice (center-fielder for the Red Sox) didn't catch on with the scouts. My NASA space explorer quest ended in expulsion from flight school (apparently cocaine and Cessna single engines don't mix). And my Senatorial ambitions ran into the ideological, puritanical buzz-saw that kills most lefties (read: I'm a socialist with an appetite for Vegas). I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't have given up on growing up altogether and stuck with... I don't know... finger paints? After all, I do like color. No telling where that could have led.

In all seriousness, I have, in my somewhat delinquent adulthood, found more than a mere career in the arts: I've found a true love. A love for the conceptual, the colorful, the wry, the rich, the pure, the ruined, the divine (and on and on). And in no art-form I've explored have I found more luxury than in painting. I first discovered a special attraction to painting primarily in my study of the 20th century painters: Kandinsky, Klee, Newman, Mondrian, among others. Though I've yet to pursue the painter's craft with the dedication required to live the art, I have enjoyed peering into what lies underneath it. Kandinsky, for instance, was driven by an intense philosophical and spiritual urging – what he called the “inner necessity." His paintings were vehicles for his profound spiritual beliefs. Newman thought that painting was as much about metaphysics as physics (and smartly tore at critics who didn't appreciate his pursuit of both).

And Mondrian, perhaps my favorite painter, (photo left of Mondrian's Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow) explored the weights and balances of life through color and form – his canvasses became as much a stage for pure color as the black box is for the performer. For me, these painters pursued what all artists are bound to: Truth, Beauty, Spirit, Meaning. It may seem silly to place an image of a Mondrian painting next to one of the photographs I have displayed in the space Freehold provides to local artists. It is not to compare my work to his. It is to celebrate the questions and discoveries his art has helped me to enjoy. It was his exploration of color and form that spoke to my inner truth in a way that compelled me to explore my own ways of expressing that truth. Through his art he tapped me on the soul, triggered that inner necessity Kandinsky spoke of, and forced me to investigate what it was that was generated within. In the case of these photographs (hung in the Freehold space), that became an exploration of the delightful and curious relationship color and form have to beauty; how elements of matter on a canvass (or any surface) can, if specifically arranged, tickle the interior in a way that nothing else does – save, perhaps, a corresponding sound (nod to Kandinsky).

In the end, I'm OK with my “chosen” career. Being an artist surely isn't about money. Or fame. Or even happiness. But it is, for me, the only career path for those who want to explore the unseen and discover truths that are buried in the deepest parts of each and every living thing. Unless, of course, NASA opens up Mars.

Jesse is currently a student in Freehold's Ensemble Training Program.

My Story of My Work by Taryn Collis

2010-12-13T09:29:00.001-08:00

“What do you do?”
“I teach theater at the women’s prison.”
“Oh. That must be… interesting.”
“Yeah.”

When you tell people you volunteer at a prison, they instantly know what you do. Or, they know what they think you do. Last year was my first year volunteering at WCCW, and I too thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

Since graduating from college I’ve spent the majority of my artistic life making art with people who didn’t spend outrageous amounts of money on an arts education, didn’t have any semblance of ‘advanced training,’ or who straight up thought theater was for rich white people wearing pearls. I’ve sung and danced with underprivileged teens, I’ve paraded through the streets with farmers and homeless populations, I’ve even moved to the West Bank of Palestine to make puppets with refugee children.
“Prison?” I thought. “I got this.”

I love being proved wrong.

My favorite thing about working with the women at WCCW is their ability to surprise me each and every week. More so than most ‘trained artists,’ they are willing to jump right in and risk and try new things and be messy. They are brave, they are generous, and I don’t think they have any idea that they are some of the most talented artists I have ever had the pleasure of working with. It’s easy to title someone as a “prisoner,” an “offender,” a “criminal” and think you know everything about them. But when you walk into a room full of “women” and give them the space and the freedom to tell their stories, you never know what might come up. You look around the room at a sea of grey sweatpants; everyone equal, everyone the same. But within a few hours you begin to notice that, in fact, this one is a poet, and this one a master at improv. This one can tug your heart strings, and this one can make you laugh till you cry. Within moments everything you knew flies right out the window and over the sparkling barbed wire fence.

When I talk someone through a typical Sunday afternoon out at WCCW they usually prep themselves for a story filled with crying women lamenting over their crimes and the ordeals of incarceration. It’s not that those things don’t happen, it’s just that within the same three hours you’ll also see a room full of grown women throwing a “ball” of gibberish at each other, transforming into a dog or an elf or a surfer, or harmonizing in a haunting wordless song. As we kick off the residency this week, my only goal is to remain ever present and open. We head in with a book full of exercises and writing prompts, but there’s no telling what they’ll bring to the table each week. More so than getting up in front of the women to teach, we’re there to listen. Each and every one of these women has been through things I can’t even imagine, and I feel blessed that they’re willing to share even some part of themselves with me and with us.

We all have stories. We’re just waiting around for someone to listen.

Interview with Sharon Williams, Engaged Theatre's Teaching Artist

2010-12-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Robin Lynn Smith, the Artistic Director at Freehold, created an extraordinary program in 2003. The Engaged Theatre program tours theatrical performances and workshops to culturally under-served populations. Additionally, Freehold and its teaching artists facilitate an annual residency at three separate Washington Corrections facilities, in which we enable the participants to write, direct, rehearse, and perform their own show in a five-month period. Residencies guide participants through the creation of an original performance based on an exploration of the archetypal hero’s journey. Participants invite their peers, friends and family to watch their performance at the culmination of the residency.

What inspired you to be part of the Engaged Theatre's WCCW Residency Program?

The first inspiration was the opportunity to work with Robin Lynn Smith, again. We worked together years ago and I love her spirit. She’s passionate, genuine, humble, and a wonderful artist, who loves to teach and I admire her for that.

In addition to working with a great artist, I accepted the challenge to be a part of this residency, because I believe that no matter what, everyone has a voice. The one thing no one can take away from you is your voice no matter what your circumstances are. Over the past couple of years the work I’ve created for the Mahogany Project has been to give a voice to the voiceless. I created projects that spoke to the downward spiral of the state of African American men and that addressed the effects of homelessness in our community. Being a part of the WCCW residency was the perfect opportunity to continue doing the type of work that will hopefully allow at least one person a chance to see the power they have in using their voice to tell a story. Working on the WCCW residency is an opportunity for me to continue trying to be more than just an artist who entertainers but hopefully be an artist that can help inspire people to share stories that will in turn help society as a whole become a better place. One voice at a time...

I understand this is your first year volunteering as part of WCCW's residency program. What are you most looking forward to as you head into your first rehearsal this Sunday?

We’ve been trying to prepare ourselves for this moment for the past couple of months, and I’m eager to see how our discussions and prep-work will translate in working with the women. The process of creating a new piece of work can be so unpredictable; therefore, I know no matter how much we thought we prepared, the truth is, it’s going to take on a life of its own and that’s the beautiful part about being on this journey. This Sunday, I’m looking forward to meeting the women and beginning a journey that I know will change my life forever.