Another season of acting has begun for Island Shakespeare Fest here on Whidbey Island. This year we are doing The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. It is going quite well. So let me share with you three particular reasons this has become my only acting venue.First, acting is time consuming. And I do have other interests. I began drum lessons the other day with a local teacher here whom I met because I helped build his studio. We closed our lesson with a drum jam, which I have never done before, and it was very cool. So I have new directions there. I also am studying Emergency Management through FEMA, and I need to finish those courses and then move on to enrolling in a history program. Right now the one at Arizona State is top contender. All this dove tails together in new opportunities and post-retirement age occupations. I also have aspirations in my meditation practices, which happen to have a higher priority. And most of this couldn't happen if I dove into acting. That sort of activity sucks up all time, it is a siren call. And non-paying. Let alone getting back to firefighter/EMT duties. So it's a matter of keeping it in balance.
Second, I like the vision of our director. Well, she's actually more than just that for now, but she has ideas for our company, and that is for us to be recognized as a professional company. What that means is two fold. One, we get paid. Now, given that our shows are free, that might seems a tad difficult. But getting paid to do a show, regardless of how much, carries with it certain expectations. She knows it won't be a sole source of income for us. But the expectation is that we present a quality show, which is the other fold. To me being a professional is about the quality of work I present. It's true in my occupation as well. I should be able to demonstrate that I can meet quality standards, a knowledge of the use and care of tools, and an organization of my work so that I can meet a dead line if need be. And in acting it's no different. So if I put it all together, the props and voice and story and emotion and blocking, by opening date, and she can put beer or gas money, (or in my case a bottle of Irish Cream), in my hand, then I ands we can claim to be professional actors. There are other aspects to what it means to move towards recognition of being a top notch company, but I'll post them as they happen.
Which brings me to my third reason for confining myself to Bard acting. It's the process of this director that I have never experienced before last year. When you have a professional level director that knows how to bring out the professional level in the actors, it's worth the time investment. It has developed a camaraderie that carries over into the year, a level of intimacy that is binding, and particularly important when on-stage one needs to be trying to kill your comrade! Another part of this process is what she emphasizes from the first day of each season: "Why these words?" Shakespeare is a grand story writer, and we tell that story in the English he wrote. Which includes a syntax and words uncommon to current ears. And if we don't know what the man was saying, then neither (neye-ther) will the audience. And one comment we got consistently last year during our performance of As You Like It, is that we made Shakespeare understandable. Quite a compliment for a first year company! Quite the achievement for our director as well.
This years performance is all the more enjoyable as I have almost my entire family involved. Taylor was in as Abraham, but had to bow out. Miles is "Romeo's man" Balthazar. Jody is working on the costumes, and I am Escalus, Prince of Verona. This year we have a longer run than last year (a sell-out if you will. Our top show had 300 attendees, our in-the-rain show had 80, and we topped over 1000 for our five shows.), and next year we do two plays in repertory. The baby steps are adding up. So maybe when I retire I can have a host of part time gigs, teaching history, playing the drums, Emergency Management writing and consulting, and once a year acting Shakespeare.
