Irma Vep: a photo

Last week we had a very fun photo shoot for The Mystery of Irma Vep (which opens June 6!). Here's an outtake:

Jeff McKerley and Dolph Amick, hamming it up.

March Featured Actor - Mike Niedzwiecki

How did you get into acting? Where did you go to college?
I was in church plays when I was in elementary school, but I really got into acting in high school. My first role was the Ray, the detective, in Rebel Without A Cause. I realized that it was easier to get noticed by girls if you were working on a play with them. Plus I really needed the compliments on my performances at the time.

I went to college for the first two years at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. I was studying journalism as it seemed like a more practical career path. It proved to be too dull and restrictive for me. I decided I should study something that interested me instead so I decided to study Theater at Florida State University in Tallahassee. I got my degree in December 2005, stayed in town to finish my last play (Amadeus) at FSU and then moved to Atlanta.

How did you get your start at the Shakespeare Tavern?
Which takes me to the Shakespeare Tavern. My first professional audition out of college was for the apprenticeship at the Tavern. I thought for sure I hadn't impressed anyone because of how nervous I was.

What is your favorite Shakespeare Role that you have performed?
My favorite Shakespeare roles have been Dr. Caius in Merry Wives, Dick the Butcher in Henry IV, part 2, and like most people Tybalt as it is what recently played.

What is your favorite non-Shakespeare Role that you have performed?
I really enjoyed playing the Herald in the college production of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (you can call it Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss). It was especially interesting because I was playing a mental patient who was in turn playing the narrator of the play within the play.

What is your dream role in Shakespeare?
I, of course, would love to play Hamlet before I get too old. I am also interested in Michael Cassio and Iago in Othello and Orlando in As You Like It.

What is your dream role in non-Shakespeare?
I couldn't say specifically what my dream role is of all time. I don't know what kind of older person I will become so I have a mostly limited vision of characters I would like to play at my age now. I would love to be Algernon or Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest, I would love to play Wolfgang in Amadeus. I would be anything in anything by Pinter, Stoppard, Beckett, LaBute, Durang, honestly anything pretentious.

What challenges you as an actor?
The obvious answer is the economy. Not knowing whether not I can afford to be an actor or if I will be someone with a minimum wage job that lets me take off whenever I want for rehearsal. Nothing really romantic there, but its definitely the biggest challenge.

What would you like to do in the future?
I love film. I just know better than to try and cattle call my way into acting. I am much more inclined to write my own material and give myself the best roles. Shakespeare did it and I think he had it right.

Tell me about your role in Canterbury Tales
I guess what's interesting about the Miller is that there is the Miller character at the top of the show, who is drunk but somewhat in control and persuasive, then he comes back in his rival's (the Reeve's) tale and is thereafter described as kind of an ass at the butt end of a joke he told about the Reeve.

I also enjoy cutting a rug, as the kids say, in the Merchant's Tale as Sir January.

What is one thing that a lot of people don't know about you?
My younger brothers are triplets. I often site this as one of the reasons I got into acting. My parents had a very long stroller built to accommodate three babies that was quite a sight rolling through the malls. I was three when they were born and old enough to be walking on my own at that point. I would walk next to the stroller and people would always come up to my parents and ask if they were "twins." ( My parents would politely point out that there are three of them and only about half the time would anyone notice the mistake). And I was ignored. So my parents had a bright yellow T-shirt made with big block letters that read: "I'm the big brother." So, that might be why I crave the limelight.

What is with All the Insects?

By Amee Vyas

Savvy blog readers will have noticed that former Apprentice company members sometime make reference to the insect they were, for instance my apprentice class was nicknamed “Butterflies.” Why and how did this practice start?

Technically, the practice didn’t begin until the 3^rd Apprentice class was at the Tavern. Kirk Seaman (a 2^nd year Apprentice company member, a “grasshopper”) and I were working in the Tavern offices, mostly by ourselves, when I started laughing. I was working on some grant narrative and in the place for achievements/education was listed “Pre-Professional Emerging Artist Training Program” – this was a grandiose way of listing “Apprentice Company.” What struck me as funny, and what I turned to Kirk to say, was the “Pre-Professional” description, considering that both Kirk and I (prior to joining the Apprentice program) had both been professional actors. When I shared the phrase with Kirk, he laughed and said “Emerging...what like pupa?”

From that we started joking about what our years would be named, and then a tradition emerged with each most recently graduated Apprentice class naming the current group.

Here’s a breakdown of what we have so far, as for the reasoning behind each name...well, let’s just say that’s an Apprentice/Tavern secret.

1^st year: Butterfly
2^nd year: Grasshopper
3^rd year: Cicada
4^th year: Worker Bee
5^th year: Fruit Fly
6^th year: Praying Mantis
7^th year (current class): Silverfish.

December Featured Actor - Paul Hester

Paul Hester joined the Shakespeare Tavern as a member of the 2003-2004 Apprentice Company. He was called back from a General Audition and he says that he really liked the feel of the Tavern the first time he ever saw a show here. After his apprenticeship, his big break at the Tavern came when he was cast in The Mandrake, which was also his favorite classical comedy here.

Paul has always wanted to entertain, though he was never quite sure in what way until he moved to Knoxville at the age of 14. He was visiting the high school that he would be attending and sat in on a drama class. The teacher had him join in with some improv and he had “the best time he had had in school ever.” From there, Paul became active in theatre and eventually attended Wright State University, earning a BFA in Acting.

Paul’s favorite non-Shakespeare role so far was Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Hi favorite Shakespeare role was Cassius in Julius Caesar. He says he really enjoyed playing the villain.

Paul hopes one day to play Treplyov in Chekov’s The Seagull. He says that he is really intrigued by the relationships in the play. It is a very tragic role and Paul would like to “take that ride”.

Paul would love to (but never will) play Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus. He would also like to play Henry V or Iago in Othello.

When asked about his favorite Shakespeare quote, Paul says that he has a monologue in mind of Hermione’s from The Winter’s Tale that he finds striking. He likes the monologue because in it Hermione “shows strength and resolve in the face of oppression and tyranny”.

In the future, Paul wants to be the most diverse actor he can be. He would like to work on some contemporary non-Shakespeare classical plays. He finds himself less drawn to film and television, but he says that he wouldn’t turn down a chance to be in a Joss Whedon show. Paul is moving to Minneapolis in the Spring and hopes to spend a month or so next year in New York City. He says that he “doesn’t want to do one thing his whole life.”

Something you didn’t know about Paul? He is very into turn tables and is a hard core scratch DJ in his spare time. He is into “real” hip hop and likes to go and home after shows and scratch to wind down.

You can see Paul as Bob Cratchett, Topper, and a narrator in A Christmas Carol during December. He says that he is greatly enjoying the role as it is “something new to chew on”.

Other featured actors appearing in A Christmas Carol include:

Matthew Felten
Andrew Houchins
Rivka Levin
Mary Ruth Ralston

Ask an Actor #1

Here at the Shakespeare Tavern blog, we have a form in the sidebar where you can submit a question to one of our actors. Please feel free to submit your questions and we'll have answers for you soon!

Actor : Matthew Felten

Question:

I recently went to see one of your plays with my school. I wanted to say that I loved your proformance. You were amazing and also my favorite actor. I wanted to know are you as funny in real life as you are in A Midsummers Night Dream? I also wanted to ask how did you manage to get the accent and the exact words of your character? Was it difficult?

Answer:

First, thanks for coming to see the show and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Am I as funny in real life as in the show? I don't know. I tried to bring some of my own playfulness ad sense of humor to the role although my own sense of humor is a little darker than Puck's. 

Puck has more of a childlike innocence. That childishness is where the voice came from. When I was learning the lines my voice naturally wanted to go higher the younger I tried to make him. I eventually found a balance that felt natural for the character. I hope this answered your question. Cheers!

To answer another question that has been submitted, Paul Hester will be a Featured Actor very soon, just watch this space!

First Impressions from Working at The Shakespeare Tavern

By Kristin Hall

Education Development Coordinator

After a month as the new Education Development Coordinator for the Shakespeare Tavern, I can tell you that working for the Tavern is not your usual desk job.

For one thing, I’ve been a fan of this company for years, and I still can’t quite believe that I actually work here now. I find myself grinning as I walk into work because the first thing I pass on the way to my office is the Tavern stage.

That being said, I am still getting accustomed to the [fake] tortured cries of anguish that sound without warning through the wall beside my desk, as the cast of the Henry VI trilogy rehearses their battle scenes. Or yelling “Coming through!” every time I pass through the curtains that lead from backstage into the theater during rehearsal—a safety measure, used by the whole company to make sure that no one will come flying at me wielding a broadsword as they make a hasty exit from the stage.

The people I work with are talented and dedicated actors but also have a real talent for juggling different responsibilities. My coworker Tony Brown, for example, has recently been performing in or rehearsing for five different plays at once—Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the three Henry VI plays—on top of his job as the Programs Coordinator for our Education department. It’s still a bit strange to realize that as I waltz out the back door on my way to the car, having completed my 9:00-5:00 day, most of them are just beginning to arrive for a long night of theatre-making.

So far I have done a lot of watching, meeting, and learning. I’m excited to have had the chance to sit in on many rehearsals for the November Henry VI trilogy which, as a diehard fan of Shakespeare’s history plays, I have watched with no small amount of geeky bliss. There is always plenty to do at the Tavern and working here requires that you be, if not a jack of all trades, than at least a jack of lots of trades. One day I might be helping to teach high school students during one of our in-school ‘playshops,’ another day I might be working on a grant application to keep those playshops up and running, another day might find me spending a few hours sitting in on the Apprentice Company’s textual study class.

Working for the Shakespeare Tavern is much, much cooler than your usual desk job.

November Featured Actor - Mary Ruth Ralston

Mary Ruth Ralston has been with the Shakespeare Tavern since 2006 when she joined the 2006-2007 Apprentice Company (the Fruit Flies). She had just graduated with a BA in Theatre from Brenau University.

Mary Ruth starting acting in High School. She had always been raised to be very playful. Her parents were imaginative and encouraged her by playing lots of games throughout her childhood.

In college, Mary Ruth chose to portray Lillian Hellman in Cakewalk for her senior thesis project. This was her favorite role. She says that Lillian is a crazy, selfish and funny person and that playing someone so far out of her age range was very challenging. She also felt that because she was portraying a real person, she had a responsibility to get it right.

Mary Ruth is currently playing Joan of Arc in Henry VI Part 1, which is her dream role in Shakespeare. She says that she “enjoys the outlandish take on her that Shakespeare had, making her a whorish witch instead of a saint”. She finds the whole role very fun, from mocking Burgundy to all of the combat involved. She says that she believes that Joan thought that she was right and is impressed by the fact that a woman was able to command an army in medieval France. Mary Ruth obviously has a lot of respect for Joan of Arc as a historical figure as well as a character in a play.

In the future, she would love to play Viola in Twelfth Night.

Mary Ruth mostly enjoys performing in very classical work or very edgy contemporary plays.

In the future, she plans to stick with live performance. She finds having a live audience is more rewarding, especially as in film you only have to get it right once, but when you are on stage you have to get it right every time.

Mary Ruth also does stunt work, which she finds very fun.

This month, Mary Ruth is also playing Margery Jordan in Henry VI Part 2. In December she will be joining the cast of A Christmas Carol.

When asked to tell me something most people don’t know about her, she replied “I have a scar on my tongue. This is why making faces at yourself in the mirror while standing on a plastic stool is a bad idea, kids”.

Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 will be playing throughout November. Other featured actors appearing in these plays are:

Nicholas Faircloth
Matthew Felten
Andrew Houchins
Bryan Lee
JC Long
Matthew Nitchie
Daniel Parvis
Jacob York