The Race Goes On

from Joseph Mitchell Parks, Associate Producer

As I sat and read my colleague Christa Kimlicko Jones’s latest blog post, I realize we are in the exact same boat, and furthermore it is the same boat that most of us as artists sail through life in. We do anything and sacrifice anything to be a part of the theatre community that we all love. 

Right now I am in the middle of the rehearsal process for Othello running at The Secret Theatre the end of this month.  In addition to playing Cassio, I am also co-producing the project.

My day begins at 6am with my morning coffee and a sensible breakfast. I have always treasured my mornings since I was a little boy. I have never been one to wake up and go; I need time and caffeine to ease myself into the day. For this very purpose, I get up early and I usually even try to squeeze in a little bit of a favorite film or television show.  My castmate (and roommate), Valerie Redd, often teases me about my morning dramas. It is not unusual to find me drinking my coffee while watching Revolutionary Road, The Reader, The Hours, or any other gripping drama. These types of films always give me perspective on my life and I appreciate my life so much more when I watch them. It’s a true catharsis.

Following my morning ritual I try to make it five times a week to my gym to get in a good workout, which always improves my day. Then I am off to work a full day for The Acting Company, where I am the Producing Assistant and Resident Company Manager, which entails problem solving and helping take care of other artists all day, which is wonderful. It is gratifying to spend my whole day working for a classical theatre company.

Rehearsals begin at 7 and I cannot eat between work and rehearsal, otherwise my stomach will be in knots. I try to shrug off the day and be completely present in the studio, but at this point it has already been a long one and I have a few more hours to go. It is a challenge we all face everyday.

At 10pm we end our rehearsal and my Co-Producer and Director and I debrief and then I head home. Like Christa it is now midnight and it all starts again at 6am.

It is a fascinating thing how we choose this life, but I would not give it up for anything in the world. 

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Othello opens October 25. Buy tickets at www.secreattheatre.com 

or visit the company website at www.wanderingbarktheatrecompany.org

Photo by Olli A

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Marathon Days

from Christa Kimlicko Jones, Associate Artistic Director, Director of Programming:

I just closed a show.  Up until last Sunday, I was acting in a new play called The Woman Standing on the Moon, by James Haigney.  We had a 16 performance run at Urban Stages in NYC.  During tech week, classes started back up, so I was teaching a full load and then walking over to the theater each night.  My ritual each evening was to touch base with my husband and pick up the largest bottle of water I could get, a yogurt, a banana, a coffee (I know, I know, not the best thing, but…sometimes I treated myself to a Pumpkin Spiced Latte, and that just made me happy!), and some kind of protein bar.  I couldn’t really eat anything more than that before the show, because, though it was long, it was very emotional, difficult subject matter.  Most nights after the show, I would need to walk it off.  I’d walk in the night air—a full 12 extra blocks to get to my train.  I’d get home close to midnight, sleep for an average of 4 ½ hours, and do it all over again.

Since school had started back up, I invited my students to come, which many of them did.  (I have to give a big shout out to them right now: Thank you to the students, especially of Stella Adler Studio.  You know how to be great audience members!!)  At any rate, I can only imagine it was an interesting introduction to me; they definitely saw me in a different light than in the classroom!   After the show, there were many dear moments with those students…and the next day in class…and days after.  One day, I recall many of them swarming around me and asking me how in the world I could do that show and then come to studio each day bright and shiny to teach and give so much?  And truly, I have to say… I wasn’t quite sure myself.  I don’t know exactly know where the energy came from or how I got through…all I know is that I had to be right in the moment.  I knew what my objective was for each class, and I pursued it to the best of my ability.  I tried not to think about what was going to happen at the end of my day (i.e. get in a major fight and completely crumble into a snotty, wailing mess in the middle of the stage).  If I thought of that too much, I’m not sure I could get through.  But instead, I was with my students.  And the moment. I took one breath at a time, one moment at a time, and the next thing I knew it was the second act, and I was in the middle of that stage.  During this process, I learned how to pace my energy out.  Whenever I found a quiet moment during my day, I took it.  I drank water all day long.  I ate light, but healthy.  I figured out what my body needed so that I could run the marathon.  Oh, and I laughed A LOT.  With my students, my colleagues, my husband, and my cast mates.  Laughter is good stuff.

I am so happy to have had an opportunity to play a role like that, for many reasons of course, but also to be able to tackle that question of, what does one have to do to be present, to not play the endgame, to not collapse from exhaustion when you’ve got so much ahead?  I think it has to do with breathing and taking that first step.  Taking every moment for itself.  I remember in graduate school, I was talking to my professor, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, who had played Medea. I asked her how in the world she did that every night.  She said, “I took a breath and I walked on the stage.”  And I realized then, “Oh, that’s what we should do every day—take a breath, start the day, be in the moment, and allow yourself to be surprised by the outcome.” 

The motto at the Stella Adler Studio is, “Growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous.”  What a great truth that is.  I am so proud to get to do what I do every day.  I am often amazed.  Man, to be an artist, to learn how to be in a moment in life—and to help shape and hopefully inspire young minds—what could be better?  Sure I like sleep too, but…that’ll come soon enough.

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photo by Eva the Weaver