Biomechanics Intensive: Arming the Imagination

Paul Budraitis will be teaching a Biomechanics Intensive this fall at Freehold. Here's some information from Paul on his upcoming class:

Biomechanics is a system of actor training developed in the early 1920’s by legendary Russian actor, director, and teacher, Vsevolod Meyerhold. Through this training, Meyerhold sought to develop actors whose work would convey a physical precision, an acrobatic lightness and agility, and a heightened rhythmic sensibility. The technique emphasized the development of skills from traditional, non-realistic theatrical sources such as commedia dell’arte, Russian folk theatre, circus performance, Japanese Kabuki theatre, east-Asian dance, and pantomime. Soviet ideology eventually put a tragic end to Meyerhold and his work. He was executed in 1940 for practicing “formalist” theatre (as opposed to the officially-sanctioned social realism of Stanislavski), which was considered “antagonistic” to the Soviet people. Although the teaching of biomechanics was officially forbidden, the system was passed on secretly as an oral tradition until the “glasnost” period and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union.

The training is intensive and physical. Over the course of two intensive weekends, the class will explore a wide range of basic individual and ensemble floor exercises, individual and partner work with physical objects, as well as exercises that develop the body’s rhythmic and expressive abilities. Actors who undertake the training can ultimately expect to experience an increased sense of balance through awareness of the physical center, ability to move from the physical center, awareness and expressivity of gesture and physical form, heightened reflexive dexterity when working with partners and physical objects, and increased awareness and agility in ensemble work.

It’s important for anyone considering undertaking the training to understand that Biomechanics is not a system of acting or a method to create a certain type of theatre. Instead, Biomechanics should be seen as a valuable part of an actor’s personal palette of technique, helping to develop control of his or her body in an expressive and grounded way. This being the case, it can be rightly said that training in Biomechanics is beneficial to an actor’s work regardless of the specific aesthetic of any future project. From Miller, to Beckett, to Lecoq clowning, anything and everything in an actor’s future can benefit in some way from this work. It is in this way that training in Biomechanics is not unlike the honing of technique involved when a pianist practices musical scales or a ballet dancer puts in time at the ballet barre. One of Meyerhold’s favorite actors, Igor Ilyinsky, once said: “Technique arms the imagination.” This is ultimately what the training seeks to achieve, the “arming” of the actor’s imagination.

November 10 - November 17
Saturdays, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Sundays, 2:00 - 6:00 pm
$220 Discounted
$265 Full Price
Tuition is based on household income

To register: https://www.freeholdtheatre.org/civicrm/event/info?id=145&reset=1

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 2011, and his production of David Mamet's Edmond received a Seattle Times' "Footlight Award" as one of the best productions of 2010

Paul was the recipient of 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 worked as an actor on a contemporary re-imagining of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, directed by acclaimed Finnish director Kristian Smeds and performed both in Lithuania, as well as at the Vienna Festival. Most recently, Paul acted with fellow Freehold faculty member Marya Sea Kaminski in Riddled, directed by Braden Abraham.

As a teacher, Paul has worked as a lecturer in the acting and directing faculty of the LMTA, teaching acting and stage movement, and he is currently an adjunct instructor at Cornish College of the Arts, as well as a faculty member at Freehold Theatre Lab. He has taught the Biomechanics technique of Russian theatre director Vsevelod Meyerhold at the LMTA, as well as to students at Freehold, Cornish College of the Arts, and the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Incremental Progress by Rebecca Tourino

What gets in the way of your writing? Is it a creative block? TV? A day job? A smartphone? On stage, obstacles to progress are what make drama dramatic; at the desk, they’re what make writers curse. There’s always something in the way.

Right now, I've got two somethings – adorable little Somethings, ages 4 and 1.

"Mama, I want you to play with me," says One.

"Cracker!" asks the other.

"Just a moment," I answer, squinting at the computer screen, where one of my characters is wooing the other. "I’ve got a little writing to do."

"Cracker!" repeats Something Two.

Since I’ve become a mother I’ve become adept at doing more than one thing at a time. I can carry on two different conversations at once while cooking dinner and playing unending rounds of tic-tac-toe. Writing a scene while feeding the baby on my lap shouldn’t be too challenging, right? I figure I ought to be able to field questions about robots and amp up my character’s central conflict simultaneously.

Sometimes, I can.

Then someone gets hurt, or someone won’t share; a nose starts bleeding or another needs blowing; a belly empties, a laundry basket fills, and . . . where was I?

Be patient, I self-coach, as my characters threaten to expire from ennui. If I can't write this morning, I'll do it this afternoon. If I can't this afternoon, I'll get to it tonight. Not tonight? Then tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow!

Progress is dizzyingly incremental. It can get discouraging.

"Mama, I want you to play with me."

"Sweetheart, please," I beg. "Please, I just need a few more minutes."

My children are teaching me the meaning of the word perseverance.

"Mama?" asks my eldest.

"I’m going to cry!," I gasp. "I just! Need! One! Minute!"

"Well, if you cry, I’ll give you a kiss!"

Breathe, I remind myself, as my characters seek out illicit substances to dull the pain of my neglect. If I can’t have two hours, I'll use one. If I can't have sixty minutes, I’ll use thirty. Twenty. Eleven. Three.

These days, if I can get one coherent thought from my brain onto my computer, I find myself beaming. Because you know what? It’s a step forward. My writing may feel like it's always in process, but so are my little boys – and so am I. My children will not always be children, but I've been telling stories on paper since I was six. I’ll always be a writer.

And my manuscript will always be right where I left it, waiting for me.


Rebecca will be teaching Playwriting I at Freehold this Fall. More information on our upcoming class with Rebecca Tourino: Playwriting I

Freehold Awarded a 2012 Mayor's Arts Award

Freehold was honored to participate in the Mayor's Arts Award Ceremony at the Seattle Center on Friday, August 31st with our other Mayor's Arts Award winners.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the Mayor's Arts Awards, 10 recipients were honored this year. In addition to Freehold, the other Mayor's Arts Award recipients for 2012 are: KEXP 90.3 FM, Li Hengda, choreographer, dancer and artistic director, Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders, Seattle Arts & Lectures, Buster Simpson, public artist, Three Dollar Bill Cinema, TilibSedeb (Singing Feet), Duwamish Tribe youth performance group, The Vera Project, all-ages arts venue and Olivier Wevers, dancer, choreographer and artistic director.

Thank you to all who nominated Freehold for this great distinction.

Here is a link to the video of the event (Freehold's speeches begin at 18:50).
Here are some photos from the event ...

My Solo Experience by Sarah Steinberg

(Sarah pictured far left.)

When I decided to move to Seattle in early 2010, the first thing I started doing was looking for an acting school. I looked online and came across Freehold. Shortly after arriving in July, I started taking classes and was hooked on Freehold from the start. One of the things on my to-do list was to take a Solo Performance class. I’d first taken one in LA about 6 years prior and it changed my life. Not only did I find that I loved the solo performance medium, but I was encouraged to continue with it by people in the audience and by the time I got to Seattle and Freehold I was already taking notes for a new show.

Nothing bonds you with your classmates like taking a solo performance workshop. I believe you bond much faster since the material that each person is writing can be personal and you’re making yourself vulnerable. I’m still in touch with many of the classmates I met in my Freehold class in the spring of 2011.

The Solo Performance class was taught by Marya Sea Kaminski. We learned soon into the class that we’d be losing Marya halfway through and that Matt Smith, a Freehold Improv teacher, would take over. I have to admit: this was not welcome news at first. The subject of my show, mental illness, was extremely personal to me and I felt comfortable working with Marya and trusted her. She is an amazing teacher to work with. I hadn’t taken any classes with Matt and didn’t know him. Luckily, I liked him right away and it was nice to have two teachers with very different approaches teaching the class.

Our time with Marya was spent writing. And writing. And writing. She gave us lots of writing exercises and prompts and it was like writing bootcamp, which I loved. By the time Matt came along, our stories were taking form and he’d start us out doing improv games and exercises – which was completely different from what we did with Marya. I don’t know about my classmates, but I found the change in teaching style freeing and I believe the piece I performed during our last class was better for it. The writing prompts that we received from Marya helped us shape what our pieces were about. She would have us write lists, and some of the elements from the lists would wind up in our pieces. When Matt took over the class, we discovered new things during the improv process, which allowed for our pieces to grow and shift and change organically. While my piece would ultimately end up being about mental illness, I kind of talked around it at first until Marya gently nudged me in the right direction and encouraged me to take risks with the evolving piece. What culminated was a piece I never thought I’d perform in public that took place in the psych ward of a hospital and which was well received by the audience. The audience liking it was a big relief.

Marya was incredibly supportive and before she left, she encouraged me to develop what I’d written into a full-length show. It was nice to get that validation, since that was my intention. At the end of the show, a friend and classmate from another Freehold class also encouraged me to develop it. Thanks to Marya, Matt, and my classmates for their invaluable support, I felt like I was on my way to developing my piece. The last night of our solo performance workshop was one I’ll never forget. Me and my fellow classmates, all very brave souls, performed our final pieces for our invited guests. In addition to my friend Scott’s support, it turned out that my piece was my classmate George’s daughters’ favorite one. She told him that she liked the “Hospital Lady” the best. I had a fan and was grateful for it.

This past April, I previewed the next draft of my show – 10 minutes worth – at the Stone Soup XX Fest 2.0, and it was well received. When I decided to submit my show to the XX Fest, I realized I needed a director. Luckily, I didn’t have to look too far. A fellow classmate from Marya and Matt’s solo performance class, Krista Erickson, stepped forth and we worked together and she proved to be a tremendous director.

Following the XX Fest, I wasn’t sure when I’d perform the next phase of the show. While I knew I would eventually, I didn’t have any imminent plans. Recently, I applied for a Seattle City Government CityArtist grant and figured I’d put up the next version on my show sometime next year. Then practically out of the blue, I was asked by the local nonprofit Sound Mental Health to take my show to the next level. They created a special fundraising event around my show, in conjunction with two local authors who co-wrote a moving memoir called Perfect Chaos. On October 30th, I’ll be performing the next version of my show – Call Me Crazy - at The Hyatt Olive 8. The purpose of our event is to help eliminate the stigma surrounding mental illness. If this is a cause that’s important to you, please join us on October 30th. Tickets are $75. More information can be found at www.smh.org.

**********************
Note that Marya Sea Kaminski will be teaching Solo Performance at Freehold this coming Fall Quarter. More information: www.freeholdtheatre.org

Photo above: From L-R: Sarah Steinberg, Krista Erickson, Jonathan Reis, Krista Erickson, George Shannon, George Tramountanas (wearing mask), Jon Locke, Kelly MacDicken, Ryan Sanders, Cameron Chaussee and Priscilla Umemoto.

Unknown Endings by Christine Marie Brown

Going into the King Lear process I was excited, curious and a little hesitant about performing at Monroe Correctional Complex for Men as part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre tour. How would we be received? Would they enjoy the play? Would I feel safe? The only other time I’d visited a prison was in Maryland (where I grew up) when I was in high school. I guess the teachers thought it’d be a good idea for us to get “scared straight” — maybe some of you remember this program? It was not a pleasant experience being yelled at by inmates who were hoping to put the fear of God into us in the hope that we’d all steer clear of penitentiaries. So, my frame of reference rested between that high school field trip and some pop-culture fare like HBO’s OZ. Despite this, I was eager to meet the real people who were going to be our audience.

And then they turned out to be so enthusiastic and involved in the story.

They were so vocal; talking back to the characters when directly addressed, surprised by the violence, and eager to laugh. When it was over, they stayed to shake our hands and ask us when we’d be back for a future performance. Such gratitude. So many presumptions debunked at once.

For those of us who know this story so well, it felt magical to experience it with an audience who didn’t know the play. It left me with a longing to connect more personally. I would get my opportunity for that when we went back for a workshop.

Back at Monroe a few weeks later, we wait in a classroom space with linoleum floors and fluorescent lights for the men to arrive to the workshop. They slowly trickle in; men of varying ages and races, some smiling, some uncertain of their choice to be there. I relate to that feeling. I am out of my element; self-conscious, aware of every handshake, of every time I say my name. I was looking forward to this but I am caught off guard. Here I’m not performing; there are no lines or costumes or sets to hide behind, there is no script. Who am I in this place? What can I possibly offer? But I do want to see what, if anything, there is between us. What divides us? What connects us? Thankfully, there are people like Robin Lynn Smith, Daemond Arrindell, Reggie Jackson and Sarah Harlett with me who have done this many times before. I look to them. They are my signposts and my talismans for this journey. They seem to be so at ease.

Once we get about 30-ish guys, we begin. This number of participants is really encouraging. In addition to the 7 of us, our Assistant Director Meme Garcia is working a small, child-size puppet named Sophie. Many of the men are drawn to the puppet. We start by asking the men to throw out themes from King Lear onto a big piece of construction paper. Then we begin the theatre games by creating tableaus based on the King Lear themes and then move into improv exercises. We discover quickly that these guys are ready to play, there is no testing the water here - they jump in, head first. It is beautiful, fun, and inspiring.

But the most amazing part of the day is when we have time to share some original writing. Based on prompts Daemond gives us, we have to write a letter to a fallen hero — could be someone we know, could be a fictional character or a famous person we have looked up to. We write our letters, in silence, separately. When our time is up, Daemond tells us all we must write another letter - from our fallen hero back to us - a response to the first letter. We hear audible groans, but we all write. When our time is up on the second letter, Daemond opens the floor for sharing. All of us from Freehold are prepared to read to get the ball rolling if need be. They have been so game with all of the activities, but this is different, personal. Will they want to share?

Several hands shoot in the air. And after the first man has read, hand after hand goes up as we progress. They have been told they don’t have to share or that they can read a small part of what they have written, but each of them gifts us with BOTH letters. The men write to family members, famous idols, and 2 even write to Santa. Their letters are, by turns, funny and gut wrenching -- some are even raps. A few men can barely get through reading what they have written they are so choked up. The guy next to me gently encourages a struggling fellow inmate, “Take your time, brother.”

But what is most moving are their response letters. When they take on the voice and walk in the shoes of the ones who have hurt them, the amount of compassion and understanding is so well articulated. I am heartened, humbled, undone. In some letters, the need to forgive and be forgiven feels so palpable; it’s as if there is another presence in the room with us. And I am blown away by their openness, these hulking men whose frames are shaken to the core by reading aloud their stories of betrayal, loss and abandonment. The circle of sharing begins to feel like a thin place; we feel things happening which none of us can see. But the air is shifting, one story at a time.

Last, one man asks to hear from Sophie, our puppet-child, and the lone female voice who ends up reading before our time is up. She writes of an older sister who has left before showing her the correct recipe for fairy food. We find out from the sister’s letter that she has gone to camp—and will be back for Sophie and the fairies. We are grateful for a happy ending, smiles abound. Last, as Robin leads us, we take a breath together as a group. We inhale, and then exhale - and I am gone.

What is it we have just gone through together? It feels like a blessing - or might it be that the fairies have been with us? In any case, my face is leaking as I shake these means’ hands. I thank them and wonder when I can come back. I have forgiven myself my awkwardness, my fear, my assumptions and I feel a bit more human. I am ready to laugh, open to cry, grateful.


Annette Toutonghi (left) and Christine Brown (right) in King Lear. Photo by John Ulman.

Freehold Faculty Members' Upcoming Work

Amy Thone, Sarah Harlett, Kate Wisniewski are all in Upstart Crow's All-Female Production of Titus Andronicus. September 6 - November 7, Thursday-Saturday: 7:30 pm, Sunday: 4:00 pm, Lee Center for the Arts. Tickets are all PWYC and all proceeds will go to the actors. Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets.

Hans Altwies and Amy Thone will be performing Antony and Cleopatra at Seattle Shakespeare Company in November. Hans Altwies will play Mark Antony and Amy Thone will be Cleopatra. Hans will be also playing "Teach" in American Buffalo at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in January.

Gin Hammond is currently the vocal and dialect coach for The Pullman Porter Blues which is premiering at Seattle Repertory Theatre, then moving on to Arena Stage in Washington, D. C.
Gin is also the dialect coach for Skriker. It will be a rare opportunity to see a large, top-notch cast and amazing production values (including an aerialist) outside of one of the big theaters, not to mention a fully realized version of one of Caryl Churchill's trickiest plays. Gin also did more voices for World of Warcraft: Enchantress, Mirana, Vengeful Spirit, and Drow Ranger. In 2013, Gin will also be in Book-It Repertory Theatre's Huckleberry Finn. Jane Jones will be directing a small cast where each actor will embody multiple roles (male/female, young/old, black/white, etc.) April 16 - May 12, 2013.

John Jacobsen's show, The Artist Toolbox, starts airing again on PBS across the country this fall. John will also be teaching a brand new three quarter course on directing with Alison Narver at The University of Washington this fall.



Marya Sea Kaminski will be traveling in October with her co-teacher Daryle Conners and nine students to Paris, France for their first Writing on Location workshop.


Meg McLynn performed on September 8 a one-night tribute concert, celebrating the career of the fabulous Patsy Cline. Meg will also be onstage at ArtsWest, performing the role of Rachel Jackson in the Northwest premier of "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson", running Sept 19--Oct 20. More info at: http://www.artswest.org/theatre/


Paul Mullin is having a reading of his very latest play Philosophical Zombie Killers about scientific and philosophical investigations of human consciousness at the Bathhouse Theater in Green Lake on Oct. 15. And his new play Ballard House Duet will be world premiering at Washington Theatre Ensemble produced by Custom Made Plays. Also, Paul wrote one of The Betty Plays which will be premiering in September at Theater Schmeater. More information at www.paulmullin.org

Matt Smith's solo show All My Children was selected for the Fringe Encore series. Matt will be back in NYC in mid-September for additional performances at the SoHo Playhouse. Schedule: September 12 at 8:00 pm, September 14, 7:00 pm, September 16 at 5:00 pm and September 17 at 8:00 pm.


Billie Wildrick will be heading to Broadway to perform in Scandalous: The Musical with previews beginning October 13. Tickets: Scandalous.

Rediscovering the Bard by Alyssa Keene

Signing up for a Shakespeare Intensive seemed exciting, slightly impetuous, and a bit daunting. After 13 years of acting on Fringe and LORT stages and everything in between, I had only been in one Shakespeare play... as a tiny blue kabuki cowboy singing Sons of the Pioneers songs. I hadn't had any verse on my lips in a long time.

Additionally, I am a teacher and Amy Thone, the instructor for the class, is a colleague of mine at Cornish College of the Arts. I teach voice and speech and many years ago grew tired of the way that Shakespeare was used as the go-to author for voice and speech text. Frankly, I had grown weary of Bardophiles. I wanted a way to come back to this text, find the wonder in it while casting aside the groupies, and possibly find a new way in to teaching voice and speech.

Amy Thone spoke to us about meter and using it in a way that finally turned on the lightbulb over my head. I taped my text over my kitchen sink while washing dishes and bobbed up and down to learn my lines. I read plays again until the language felt fluid before my eyes. As a voice teacher, I was familiar with highlighting comparisons in a text, but I had never thought of them as a form of persuasive speech. Suddenly, my dry technique had a fire under it, a need, a hungry pursuit.

I watched my classmates of varying levels of skill and experience crack open, grow, find passion and clarity. Their bravery and intellect was invigorating and their openheartedness was palpable. Everyone rooted for each other in their work and we gave both criticism and praise. Amy demanded more of me as an actor than I can remember in many years. The specificity, clarity, and ballsiness that she helped me find was new territory... And in the end, I found my own love of the Bard.