Momentum Rep is in rehearsals for "Assassins." I am playing Squeaky Fromme. At the first rehearsal, Jackie (MRC co-founder, Producer, and director of this production...) talked with each of us about our characters' motives for killing or attempting to kill a President. So, a room full of sane (well, mostly. Not homicidal anyway.) actors sat around and tried to figure out why someone would do such a thing. All of our characters had different reasons- love, vengence, or because they were actually insane. The problem with that last reason is that it's a really weak cop-out for an actor. "He did it because he was crazy." Well, yeah, sure, but that's not why HE thought he was doing it. It's a tough, sometimes scary assignment to do this kind of character work, but it is exactly this work which will make the piece so effective.
Sondheim offers us lots of potential reasons to want to kill a President, but there is one that is particularly striking to me today. A line in the finale. "Free country, means you get to connect."
We just started rehearsing last Tuesday. Here is a small sample of the conversations I have had in the past week or so:
- Whether the dotted-eighth, sixteenth rhythm written in my score or the two eighths rhythm written in the libretto is the correct rhythm. Discussed: how each of these rhythms sound with the other vocal line, how they sound with the accompaniment, what the rhythm was on the previous page, (which was determined irrelevant information because it's Sondheim and he may have wanted it the same way nine times but different the tenth...) and finally, how one would speak the lyrics in a natural speech pattern. This was for one measure.
- How that chord sounds just like that chord in "Into the Woods."
- How Jason Robert Brown and Adam Guettel tend to write roles for men who sound just like them, and Sondheim just writes what he needs and the singer is expected to work it out.
- How the female assassins are portrayed as weaker than they were in real life.
We are a cast of fourteen. Of those, I knew seven in a professional setting before last week. And among just the seven of us (because those are the backgrounds I know...) we have a combined 40 years of higher education in this field. These are my people. And as tough as it can be- emotionally, physically, artistically, even legistically- this is where we go to connect.
And that's a heck of a lot healthier than shooting a President.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tis the Season
Performing arts groups often organize their annual schedules in seasons. Sometimes the season goes according to the academic year, beginning in September. Sometimes it lines up with the calendar, beginning in January. In our less-than-two-years of existence, Momentum Rep has been flying by the seat of our pants, doing shows when inspiration meets resources. But we're headed toward being organized by seasons, and today feels like the beginning of a new one. We have a coffeehouse fundraiser tonight, we start rehearsals for our next show tomorrow, we have a reading of a new musical the weekend after the show, and we have loose plans to do a musical in August. (with, potentially, a concert musical in July. There's a fine fine line between ambitious passion and insanity...)
Yesterday, my husband picked up one of our company members at the airport. A resident of Chicago for several years, he is now, as of yesterday, a New Yorker. I'll let him tell his own story of how he got involved in MRC, and why he has chosen this time to move to New York. The important thing here is that our house was his first stop. And as soon as he arrived he was greeted by another MRC member, my daughter who's grown so much since he saw her a month ago, our favorite pizza from down the street, and some Sam Adams. We were all so busy catching up and telling stories I had to continually remind us that we had rehearsal in the city at 7:00, and by the time we left my stomach and throat hurt from talking and laughing. Surprisingly, my husband offered to drive us to Space on White in downtown Manhattan.
Once there, we met with a few singers who have never worked with us before but will be performing at our fundraiser tonight.. I let them rehearse first. We worked on their songs. And then, one of the girls said to me, "hey, can we hang out?"
"Sure, you can hang out," responded Jackie, my best friend/ co-founder/ producer.
Of all our accomplishments, all the insane growth we've seen and praise we've received, this was one of my proudest moments with MRC.
We do good work. That's important. Without that aspect, the rest of it is just silliness. But the reason we are who we are- the reason my husband was willing to pack up our 11-month-old daughter and drive us into Manhattan, the reason someone would move here from Chicago, the reason someone would request to stay at rehearsal even though she was finished, is because of the people. We're fun. And we're friends. And we care about each other. Genuinely. And that is what gives us our momentum.
Mindy Kay Smith
Artistic Director
Yesterday, my husband picked up one of our company members at the airport. A resident of Chicago for several years, he is now, as of yesterday, a New Yorker. I'll let him tell his own story of how he got involved in MRC, and why he has chosen this time to move to New York. The important thing here is that our house was his first stop. And as soon as he arrived he was greeted by another MRC member, my daughter who's grown so much since he saw her a month ago, our favorite pizza from down the street, and some Sam Adams. We were all so busy catching up and telling stories I had to continually remind us that we had rehearsal in the city at 7:00, and by the time we left my stomach and throat hurt from talking and laughing. Surprisingly, my husband offered to drive us to Space on White in downtown Manhattan.
Once there, we met with a few singers who have never worked with us before but will be performing at our fundraiser tonight.. I let them rehearse first. We worked on their songs. And then, one of the girls said to me, "hey, can we hang out?"
"Sure, you can hang out," responded Jackie, my best friend/ co-founder/ producer.
Of all our accomplishments, all the insane growth we've seen and praise we've received, this was one of my proudest moments with MRC.
We do good work. That's important. Without that aspect, the rest of it is just silliness. But the reason we are who we are- the reason my husband was willing to pack up our 11-month-old daughter and drive us into Manhattan, the reason someone would move here from Chicago, the reason someone would request to stay at rehearsal even though she was finished, is because of the people. We're fun. And we're friends. And we care about each other. Genuinely. And that is what gives us our momentum.
Mindy Kay Smith
Artistic Director
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