The Mary Poppins kids I work with on the Broadway production are pretty incredible. They range in ages from eight years old to twelve years old and when other children their age are out playing soccer or going to ballet classes or playing baseball, they are at dance rehearsals or blocking rehearsals or put-in rehearsals or dialect/diction rehearsals. For such …
This last weekend, I saw a fascinating production called “The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler written by Jeff Whitty. Jeff was my student at NYU in the Graduate Acting program and I still remember the first play he wrote. It was for “Free Play” which is a Third Project where the students write, produce and act in their own productions. …
Mary Poppins on Tour. Working as the dialect coach with the new touring company of “Mary Poppins” has been a joy. I was in Charleston, South Carolina for the final dress and first two previews and the audience’s reaction was exciting to watch and hear. The extraordinary cast is headed by Rachel Wallace as Mary and Case Dilliard as Bert …
Why would someone what to take my Voice Training and Speech Classes for Actors? I was interviewing/auditioning an actor for my Voice & Speech Class, which begins this Fall, and I asked her why she wanted to take the class. She told me she had just finished the run of a play with a friend of hers who had completed …
Watching the preview performance of “Measure for Measure” I was again struck by the versatility, talent and stamina of the actors in this production. These are the same actors (with the exception of the beautiful Danai Gurira who is playing Isabella) who jump into their other roles for “All’s Well That Ends Well”. I was at the preview to take …
So yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon visiting my teacher, Robert Neff Williams. He was feeling good and seemed stronger than when I attended his birthday party in March. We talked about many things including his dear wife, Ruth, passing on a few months ago. I told him about an actor calling me this week who wanted to work on …
As I was waiting for the final run of “Timon of Athens” at the Public Theater (starring Richard Thomas as Timon) last night, I heard one of the actors ask Barry (Edelstein, the director) if he was tired. This was at 9:30p.m. and the cast and crew had been in technical rehearsal since noon. Barry said “No, I’m not tired. …
In the last two weeks, a number of actors have asked me to suggest a monologue for Shakespeare auditions that no one else does. I don’t think it exists. Are some monologues used more often than others? Definitely. But these plays are so famous and there are so many companies performing them that it is difficult to find something that …
I’ve been thinking about breathing for actors. Why is that something so basic and something that we all do naturally, seems to be so difficult? When I was explaining the principles of breathing for actors to my new class of private students last week, I was thinking how odd it was that I was explaining breathing. We’re alive so we …
I was thinking about new beginnings a few days ago. It’s because it’s September and September makes me think of going back to school. I always had a new notebook and pencil box for that first day. I was very excited about seeing friends that I had not seen all summer. Had they changed? Was my best friend going to …