from "Brighton Beach" to the "Blue Room"

Needless to say the part of "The Student" is a far cry from the character of Eugene in "Brighton Beach Memoirs. for those who have seen both shows the comparison is obvious. You have Eugene: a boy of fifteen finally really rooting himself into depression-era New York--and really just rooting himself into the world of manhood--and then we have "the student." Now, while he is ultimately in a search more grounding himself in his world there is a higher level of comfortability where he is concerned since it is established that he comes from a wealthy family (complete with au pair, i mean come on!) so his understanding of the "world" is somewhat limited, just like Eugene. For me the hardest adjustment in the character came from my own personal opinions and judgements and views on the character, which i think is something no actor can really avoid. To this day I leave the stage following the first scene between "The Student" and "The Au Pair" and think to myself "God, what a dick!" (referring to myself of course...not the au pair...)
But then I feel "the student" somwhat redeems himself in the scene between "the student" and "the married woman." a scene I very much enjoy for both my scene partner (Nicole Yoba) and the scene is much more fitting to my personality. This play is a great treat to be in because everybody gets two scenes in which they play two sides of themselves. The Arisocrat says something to the effect of "Don't we change? With one person aren't we one way and with another we're another?" (sorry vinnie i totally butchered your line but you know what I mean) so it's really a fun play of exploration which makes it that much more enjoyable to watch and really makes it that much more enjoyable to act in. Each night we go on there is a totally new sense of energy to the place. The play is never the same. But one thing that I see happening that is very exciting is people really trying new things and bringing up the passion and sex and pelvis-acting we are encouraged to embrace by our fucking awesome director Philip Cuomo whom i would have be my director any day of the week.
I think through the span of these three shows people have really settled into who they are as actors: everybody has a more prefessional air about them, people are more in tune with the rehearsal and performance process, and with the showcase closing in i am very excited to see the performances we bring to the table.

Oh me, oh my, what a tangled web we weave, how can I express in words what the past week has been like? Undeniably rewarding, but still I cant help but think my body would be thanking me right now if I had turned down the sound tech job. I stretched myself a little thin and am only now starting to feel the burn of it. Now that the final performance of the first week is over and I get to enjoy my first day off in 2 weeks, I realize just how tired I am. I really cant complain because this cast has been at it much harder for much longer than I have, and with wonderful results. I just feel like I have on gotten the grove down yet for how the conservatory operates, and so when I try to operate on the way I am expected to perform in say my job or at other schools I have attended I find myself falling drastically short, or getting overly frustrated when things dont go how I expect them to. its a learning curve that at times seems insermountable to me.

A Day in the Life of A Propster

So, I’m totally plagiarizing Robby, but I’m really feeling the sentiment. Thus, you are about to be subjected to the Jack/Robby bastard blog child. *shudders* this could be interesting. So be prepared to have a mind explosion! So, the "topic" of my blog today is to give a little glimpse into the life of a props master. Here we go!

I suck at props. Bam! There we are. Thank you and goodnight. Ok, that's not it. Here comes the serious part. I have had an interesting time with props. There were some I thought I could never find. Thinking I would be searching from one end of the Earth to the other. But those were actually the easiest to find (i.e the palm pilot, fake cellphones, stuff animals). The hardest ones were the ones that shouldn't be. Like my arch-nemesis... the baby dolls! Dun Dun Dun!!! Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl! Oh, wait, that was an ingrown hair pimple. Anyway, the thing is, I thought props were gonna be my easy job between plays. I could be lazy, catch up on all the sleep I lost during Brighton Beach, move... Yeah, didn’t work like that. I had to be at every rehearsal but didn't have time outside of that to find props because of work so it was this awesome catch 22. The worst part though was I felt so out on my own. I didn’t have my ensemble behind me, not because they were intentionally ditching me, but because as a techie I am not in on the "actor" part anymore. My fellow techies were swamped with their own jobs and I had no help. And with a show as prop heavy and prop speciality heavy as this and with a full time job on top... It sucked. Anyway, if I got into everything I went through the last few months doing props I would regress to the cranky, moody freak I have been during this time. Plus, ya’ll ain’t that interested I’m sure. God bless Sarah for deciding I needed an assistant; I thank God for Katherine and Arlena’s help the last few weeks.

Anyway, when it was getting down to the wire, and I had very little time and money, I found myself strangling kittens. That's when I realized I just needed to breathe and let it go and just ground myself. See, acting exercises aren't just for acting. And after I pried my amazing, talented hands from those kittens and breathed, I turned into Super Prop Mistress and was able to find, thank God, everything I needed. So, I guess, the moral of the story is to breathe and do not strangle kittens.

~Jack (who is happy to be going back to being a lazy actor)

The Word is In for Living Out

It is no wonder tickets are selling fast for Lisa Loomer’s Living Out. The notices are great and the Conservatory has a terrific group of second year students who bring a diverse assortment of life experience, intelligence and talent to enliven the characters written by Ms. Loomer. In Living Out the second year students are led by Veronika Nunez who as the mother of small child, the effervescent Deigo, has a unique perspective and experience from which to create the character of Ana: An El Salvadoran immigrant who works as a Nanny for an anglo lawyer and makes sacrifices for her employer which compromises her relationship with her own family.

Read what Holly Johnson has to say about Veronika’s portrayal of Ana in the Oregonian:

“..the evening belongs to Ana. In a theater piece that begins … very funny .. but turns into a heart-wrenching drama, Ana is always at the center, and Nunez portrays her in a gemlike performance.”

Read the entire review at
http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/04/theater_review_living_out.html

Lisa Loomer’s social comedy is filled with pathos and intelligence, and performed by a talented group of actors. Buy your tickets before they are gone. Only 8 performances left.

Living Out-Opens April 10th

Nationwide Search Finds Executive Director Close to Home!!!

After an exhaustive six month search the Conservatory is pleased to announce the hiring of Nurella Doumitt as Executive Director. A prestigious grant from the Murdock Charitable Trust to create the position of Executive Director propelled the Conservatory to search the country, to interview people from as far away as Virginia and New Hampshire, until finally, we met the right person for this job. Nurella recently was the Director of Admissions and Marketing for Pacific Crest Academy in Camas, Washington and was the Founding Executive Director of The National Conference for Community and Justice here in Portland. She established a regional board of directors made up of corporate, civic and community leaders, developed community, business and government partnerships with Portland Police Bureau, Washington League of Cities, Portland Public Schools, Nike and others. This unique experience in the not-for-profit community, along with with her background in private schools, makes her an excellent fit for the position of Executive Director. Welcome Nurella!

Dressing Room Drama

So, we had rehearsal on Saturday for Living Out. A number of us were in the dressing room and somehow, Vinnie’s elbow or arm bone collided with my nose or maybe my nose collided with Vinnie’s arm bone. Needles to say, I saw stars and they weren’t on the door to my dressing room!



Phoebe whisked me away to the hospital for medical attention. Of course I was asked how this occurred and after explaining that it happened during a rehearsal for a play, the staff was more concerned about what play , where and if I was a visiting actress. I just happened to have some of the post cards for Living Out in my bag and handed them out to the doctor ( who by the way said he would come and bring flowers) and the nurse and asked that they share the information about the show with others on the Hospital’s staff.



So I left the hospital, having done some marketing of the play with my ice bag, a black eye, and pain killers.. We returned to PAC in time to do our last scene.

-Linda Merican