Interview with Freehold's Associate Partners

Freehold's Associate Partners include Daemond Arrindell, Liza Comtois, Gin Hammond, and Annette Toutonghi. To read our Associate Partners' biographies, click on their names above.

You all have such a wealth of experience in the performing arts. Can you share a little bit about how you were called to your craft?

Daemond: This question always cracks me up- I wrote my first poem as a senior in high school for an assignment over the holiday break. Being the procrastinator I am, I put it off til the day before it was due, then went with what was the shortest assignment - a poem. I thought I'd crank it out in 30 min. But spent all night on it. It ended up in my school's literary journal and I was officially hooked on writing.

Gin: In my teens I was painfully shy, and I saw acting as a way of finding masks to hide behind. As I got older, I realized that great acting was quite the opposite, so I was locked in a struggle between what I aspired to do, and being an introvert. I still remember standing on a sidewalk one sunny day in Minneapolis, feeling existentially lost, and asking the Universe what I was meant to do. "ACT!" boomed clearly in my ears, (really, it did). I thought "Oh nooooo!" and yet the sudden and profound happiness rushing through me was undeniable.

Annette: I was living in a small town in Alaska. In high school, we were visited by a rural outreach group from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. They directed a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with us. Like Gin I was particularly shy, but I think the size of the language inspired me...and I found that with acting I was able to open up and share my heart in a way that I wasn't comfortable with in day-to-day life. And finally, I was a big reader, always drawn to stories. This particular form of storytelling seemed absolutely magical to me.

Liza: I have been embracing and running from this profession my whole life. It’s crazy, unpredictable, unforgiving and amazing. Sometimes I think I am crazy for fighting so hard to be a part of it and other times I am so grateful I didn’t walk away. This world is a rough place and making theatre is the only way I can figure out to help make it better.

What drew you to Freehold and what continues you to inspire you in your work here?

Daemond: Jodie Knowles told me that I'd be great with the Engaged Theatre program and that the new direction could really benefit from some poetry. Next thing I know I'm in a meeting where Robin Lynn Smith, Freehold's Artistic Director and a Freehold founding member, says, "ok, so we are gonna go in and do yadda yadda yadda. And then Daemond's gonna do HIS thing." I quickly raised my hand, "uh, Robin ... what's my 'thing'?"

We managed to work it out and I had an incredible experience doing a workshop with the women as part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women. Robin invited me back several times, then invited me to join the faculty.

Gin: When I moved to Seattle from NYC, Freehold faculty member Kate Wisniewski, (fellow alum of the American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard), suggested I look into teaching a Voice class at Freehold. "The rest is history." What continues to inspire my work at Freehold, (aside from its wonderful students), is how Robin Lynn Smith (Freehold's Artist's Director) continues to push my ability to expand my repertoire as it relates to teaching voice-related classes. Robin throws down the gauntlet and I do my best to rise to the challenge. Through that, I've realized it's all part of the same Core; in fact, everything taught here is so incredibly interrelated!

Annette: I met Robin Lynn Smith in Graduate School at the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program. I studied under Jack Clay, but Robin worked with us for a year as well. She was an inspiring acting teacher and I was smitten with her right away. Her passion, smarts and clarity around the craft moved me. I was interested in teaching as well and was lucky that she was our teaching mentor because she lit a fire in me for the craft of teaching too! I taught at South Seattle Community College, University of Washington and in the late 90's started teaching at Freehold.

Liza: I came to Freehold because of Robin, the work she strives to create and the artists and faculty she attracts. Integrity in the work, a dedication to craft, a search for truth and an authentic interaction with an audience are what brought me to this profession and it fed my soul to find kindred spirits to walk the road with.

If you could have a career wish come true, what would that look like for you?

Daemond: This would be hard to narrow down to one thing, so I'll cheat and give two - star in my own one-man show and have a faculty position teaching Spoken Word at a college, like Cornish.

Gin: For better and for worse, I already love everything I do. If anything, I wish I had a team of assistants! Probably one-long term, lucrative voice-over gig would help make that a reality. Also, I wouldn't mind checking out a few of the many fabulous voice workshops being taught all over the world. There's one coming up in Tuscany that doesn't sound too bad...

Liza: We have a 4-year old and I would love to be a part of making theatre for him to learn about the world.

Freehold is Seeking Candidates for its Board of Directors

As the students and friends of Freehold, your participation in this process is vital. The eleven individuals currently serving represent a cross-section of our community and bring varying professional perspectives to the Board. They are leaders in their respective communities and are united in their deep commitment to Freehold and the work that we do.

We are seeking to grow our board to 13 members over the next year.

Strong board candidates are people whose expertise and point of view can be critical in helping Freehold achieve its goals, including professionals in marketing, commercial real estate, law, fundraising, new media and strategic planning as well as those who can leverage financial resources to support Freehold's work.

Most Board members are appointed to an initial three-year term however we do have two shorter-term slots available at this time. During their term, we expect each board member to be actively involved in the following ways:

• Attend quarterly board meetings, the Annual Board Retreat and Annual Meeting
• Attend Freehold performances and special events and bring members of the community in hopes that they will be inspired to support the organization.
• Participate in the cultivation of current and future Freehold supporters and board members.
• Make a meaningful personal contribution to Freehold.

If you or someone you know would be interested in serving on the Freehold Board, we strongly encourage you to submit a nomination or self-nomination by sending an email to zoe@freeholdtheatre.org with their name, contact information and a brief statement of why they or you would be a strong candidate.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Best,


Zoe Fitzgerald
Managing Director

Freehold Faculty Upcoming Work

Hans Altwies is performing in American Buffalo at the Seattle Repertory Theatre running from January 11 - February 3. More information here.

Christine Marie Brown will be in the 14/48 Festival band on January 11th and 12th, 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm, ACT Theatre. Tickets. On January 14th at 7:00pm, Christine will be performing the role of Miss Ritter in a staged reading of Parfumerie, by Miklos Lazslo, produced by Endangered Species Project at North Seattle Community College - Tickets are by donation. She'll also be performing in Sandbox Radio's next show, Eye of the Beholder, on January 28th at 8:00pm at West of Lenin in Fremont along with a host of other Freehold Faculty, including Sarah Harlett, Gin Hammond, Dan Tierney and Annette Toutonghi. Tickets are on sale at Brown Paper tickets and they go really fast.

Elizabeth Heffron's play The Weatherman Project will be part of the New Play Festival at the Seattle Repertory Theatre running from January 30 - February 3. For more information, go to Seattle Rep. Heffron is one of eight writers in Seattle Rep’s Writers Group, a collection of local playwrights who have been awarded a two-year residency to develop and refine new works using Seattle Rep resources.

Marya Sea Kaminski will be playing Titiorelli in NCTC's upcoming production of The Trial, directed by John Langs and am currently in production for a feature length film of my original rock musical Riddled.

Darragh Kennan will be playing Charlie Cowell in the music man at the 5th Avenue Theatre running from February 7 - March 10.

Cathy Madden will be presenting at a couple of conferences in January: Freedom to Act Conference in New York City and Theaterfest in Houston.

Gary Schwartz is casting for Pinocchio at his theater in North Bend, Valley Center Stage and is also presenting at Valley Center Stage on Jan. 18, 19, a show he directed for singer/songwriter/storyteller Eva Moon in The Mutant Diaries: Unzipping My Genes. The theater's latest newsletter: News from Valley Center Stage.

Matt Smith will be doing a benefit performance of My Last Year with the Nuns: The Film in anticipation of funding a film of the same show. Benefit performance of My Last Year with the Nuns Hugo House (hopefully!) April 19, 7:00pm This date is not yet confirmed. Cost $100 per ticket (Yes! That's right. It's a fundraiser.) To secure your seat: Make the check out to Northwest Film Forum, and make sure "NUNS" is written on the corner, and send it to: Matt Smith 1155 20th Ave. East Seattle, WA 98112

Jen Taylor plays Cortana in the epic science fiction franchise, "Halo". She appeared in the first game of the series, "Halo Combat Evolved", as well as its sequels, "Halo 2", "Halo 3", and "Halo 4" and prequel "Halo Reach". Jen also played the voice of Cortana in the action sci-fi thriller "Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn" TV series, and has appeared in several "Halo" books and comics.

My Meisner Journey, Part Two. By Alexandra Gobeille

Here's part two of Alexandra's posts about her experience in Freehold's Meisner training (so far) this year. To read her first post, go here. **************************************** In our Freehold Meisner training, we started with exercises, known as the Word Repetition Game, consisting of two students sitting across from each other, one voices a simple observation about the other, and they repeat it back and forth, over and over. “You have blue eyes” is an example. It felt inhuman and robotic at first, hard to keep a straight face and awkward staring into someone’s eyes for 10-30 minutes at a time. We’re never that intimate with anyone in real life. But this was the stripping down of old, bad habits and weeding out false behavior. Stanislavsky said acting is learning new habits.

So little by little, week by week, we practiced, in class and out, gradually developing the exercise. From material observations like “you’re wearing a black shirt” to physical-“you’re leaning closer” to behavioral-“you’re attacking me”, and emotional-“you’re upset”. We progressed from changing the words every 10 minutes, to voicing anything, anytime, whenever it hit us. Robin encouraged us to start tuning our awareness, our whole body soft focus, to behavior (physical+psychic emotional energy), and detecting behavioral changes in our partner. She motivated us to start letting go of old habits and defaults such as thinking, reasoning, being correct or entertaining, apologizing, explaining or self-referencing, playing games (i.e. sarcasm), blocking, manipulating the moment or your partner, pretending and many more. Many of our bad habits are due to self-consciousness, and many take us right into our head, our intellect. Meisner built the exercises to eliminate all intellectuality from the actor’s instrument, because it pulls us away from the life, wonder, and truth of the present moment. Away from the spontaneous truth within us.

Robin has us say this: “I am more interesting than the greatest actor that ever lived.”

Our authentic selves, our truth may not always be great; it may be ugly, messy, scary, but it is the lifeline of acting. The honest behavior we strive to enable comes out of our instincts. A rule of the exercises is: Don’t do anything unless something happens to make you do it. This is liberating because all you need is right in front of you and will inevitably trigger your instinct. If you allow it. We just have to remind ourselves to breathe, relax, let go, and let reality take us for a ride.

Robin gave us William Esper’s candid example to demonstrate – “When you step on a nail, do you first think about how you want to react before screeching in pain?” No, you immediately respond from your gut, without thinking. The spontaneous happens in spite of you. We started to see more and more of this in class, when our partner work took us to very surprising places - hilarious, awkward, hostile - all kinds, that no one could have ever planned or predicted. A natural improvisation was created.

To foster this, my peers provide a safe, supportive environment and Robin impassions us to be brave. To listen to our instincts and run with them, whatever they may be. She illustrates this beautifully: We have a school of fish inside us every moment; it’s not about getting the right fish, it’s about picking any one that comes.

Next up: Part Three of Alexandra's Meisner Journey.

The Studio Series May Make You Wanna Jump Back and Kiss Yourself! by Amontaine Aurore Woods

In 2009, I began writing a new one-woman play. I also decided that year to apply to perform a 20 minute excerpt from it for Freehold’s Studio Series. Having performed in the Studio Series before, I knew that it was an effective tool for moving forward in a supportive, intimate, and dynamic environment. I was excited (and a little nervous) at the prospect of taking my piece from page to stage (as we say in The Biz); a crucial step that is rife with challenges.

I worked with director, Tikka Sears, on the project, as I have with several of my other one-woman shows. She’s the bomb (in the best possible and least violent connotation of the word)! Working with her and getting the piece up on its feet is always a highly transformative process, and entirely different from relating to words and ideas on a piece of paper. Now it breathes air. The characters begin to inhabit my bones, speak with my tongue. The situations become real and palpable. The steady drip, drip, drip of the adrenalin fuels the engines, and the pressure of knowing that you will soon be sharing the work with an audience arouses, stimulates and basically, at last, gets your butt in gear.

Bringing new work to an audience is risky business for a person like me, one who is sensitive to criticism. I do not relish critique. But … I ain’t dumb either. I am experienced enough to realize that honest critique is a necessary element to success.

Sometimes in my personal life I hesitate to speak my mind for fear of the repercussions. But as an artist I am driven to bold truth telling, to giving voice to issues and situations that live in the silence, the darkness, or on the fringes of our culture.

When I had the idea for this play that would eventually be called Free Desiree, I wondered how a show that had as its backdrop the revolutionary socio/political dynamics of Black identity in the 1970s would be received. I find that until a play is performed in front of an audience, it remains something of a mystery. One can rehearse in isolation until the cows come home (or ‘til Brad Pitt gets ugly, for those of you that prefer somewhat shaky invention to folksy cliche). But you’re operating in a bubble until you put the stuff out there and experience the dynamic interchange between audience and performer. The nervous giggles or outright laughter, the sighs and little gasps here and there, the silence, are all telling. The fresh viewpoints and clarity gained from feedback become precious tools for charting the path through rewrite and rework. In my case, the audience responses infused me with new energy and encouraged me to keep developing the work.

In 2010, I received a Creation Project performance grant from the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas (CD Forum) to continue the development of the show. This allowed me to finish the writing and an opportunity to workshop another excerpt. In 2012, I received a grant from the Puffin Foundation, which assisted me in presenting the now 75 minute full-length production for a successful run in Seattle and on Orcas Island. Free Desiree will get a facelift in 2013 with a new multimedia component thanks to my receiving a City Artists grant from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. My goal is to tour the show nationally in 2014 and beyond.

It’s been a long and passionate journey with this particular labor of love. Without opportunities, like the Studio Series, which gave me the initial platform to experiment and present the seed of the idea, it would have been much more difficult to take the work into full development. Over the years, the Studio Series has served me well as a container from which to explore, experiment, discover and refine my art. Thank you, Freehold! My appreciation floweth over. Now … excuse me while I kiss the sky.

My Meisner Journey: Part One. By Alexandra Gobeille

I honestly don’t know where to begin.

My Freehold Meisner class has been a flood of revelation, emotion, joy, struggle, and inspiration. I have experienced and witnessed the beginning of a great transformation, starting at our core. Robin Lynn Smith is our fearless leader, masterminding this unpredictable adventure, empowering and inspiring us every step of the way. She brings an immense awareness and knowledge to the course, of not only Sanford Meisner, but influential artists and teachers from all over the world. She has incorporated Eastern philosophy, from assigned reading like Herrigel’s “Zen in the Art of Archery”, to Tai Chi based energy work and principles of other martial arts.

Every class is unique. The warm up, movement exercises, guided imagination and free association activities, group work and discussion, introspection and writing, partner work and direction … have all varied and contributed to the strong foundation we are building. They have brought the teachings to life, so we actually experience what we are learning in our bodies, in our full beings. This training has started to cultivate access to more of our subconscious. Each class has contributed to … setting me free.

Free from old acting habits of pushing, indicating, holding. Free from social habits of politeness, self-protecting, apologizing, and faking. Free from thinking. It has been said that it takes 20 years to become an actor. Because during the first 20 years, we are constantly thinking about everything we are doing. Meisner declared the Foundation of Acting is the Reality of Doing.

It’s so simple. Yet our brains automatically intellectualize it, along with every moment we encounter, because we have been conditioned to lead with our heads. Rationalize, think before you speak, get it right, be interesting, edit, edit, edit! And in other words, lie. How many times a day do we actually tell the truth? Follow our gut impulse, our instinct? Recognize behavior in others and hold them accountable? Demonstrate the emotions we are truly feeling? Probably not many. We don’t for legitimate reasons though - our safety, for one. I wouldn’t recommend telling the person on the bus that they’re creeping you out … unless you enjoy getting socked in the face. Or telling your boss they’re being a real @#$%^*$&$#^@ … I doubt they’d say how much they appreciate your honesty and that you made them feel bad.

These social and behavioral protection mechanisms serve a crucial purpose in a civilized society, but they are not useful for our acting. So how do we knock down the solid brick walls, peel back the obstinate layers of ego, fear, and being in a hurry-the three enemies of acting? Well, Sanford Meisner thought of some brilliant ways.

More on that on my next blog post!

Part Two of Alexandra's Meisner Posts can be found here.

Exceptional Acting Classes in Seattle at Freehold Theatre

Freehold Theatre offers exceptional acting classes in Seattle. Since 1991, Freehold has offered acting classes taught by working professional actors, directors and playwrights including Amy Thone, Darragh Kennan, Marya Sea Kaminski, Gin Hammond, to name just a few. Whether you are an absolute beginner or a working professional artist, Freehold has a class for you.

Our Winter Quarter classes are now open for registration with most classes beginning in January 2013.

Explore the YOU You Don't Know
act.move.write.direct.improvise.

Winter Quarter Classes

Step I: Intro to Acting, Section 1 with Stefan Enriquez
Step I: Intro to Acting, Section 2 with Christine Marie Brown
Step II: Acting with Text with Sarah Harlett
Step III: Scene Study Text Intensive with Annette Toutonghi
Meisner: Instrument with Robin Lynn Smith
Advanced Voice-Over: Video Games and Character Voices with Gin Hammond
Auditioning with Darragh Kennan
Film Directing Course with John Jacobsen and Robin Lynn Smith
Making Theater in Community with Elizabeth Heffron
Improvisation with Gary Schwartz
Movement with Paul Budraitis
Public Speaking with Gin Hammond
Shakespeare with Amy Thone
Singing for Actors with Lucia Neare
Stage Combat with Geof Alm (prior stage combat experience required for Winter Quarter)
Voice Over with Gin Hammond

For more information or to register for a class: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org

Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio
2222 2nd Avenue, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 323-7499
http://www.freeholdtheatre.org