Audience A-ha! Moments
A couple of weeks ago, Toby Vera Bercovici's Adult Acting Class culminated with a public "sharing" of the scenes they had been working on, and I was lucky enough to be able to go. It was really exciting to watch a different group of actors, who I don't see every week, using the same tools and strategies RLT uses. As an actor, one of the biggest challenges for me is not getting stuck in a rut. Once I think I understand something, it becomes hard for me to think about it in any other way. So, as I was watching these new people exploring these common concepts, my brain was making all these connections about what they were doing and what we've been doing in training. I call this an "Audience A-ha! Moment". I was understanding in new ways, and I was as excited to practice these new concepts in my own artistic work as I was excited to be watching the fantastic scenes the students were presenting.
The other cool thing about this sharing was that the scenes were all performed twice, but by different people. Each scene partner pair had a different technique to focus on--objectives, voice, status, etc-- but since there were fewer techniques than pairs, some of these were doubled up as well. This resulted in the audience getting to witness multiple interpretations of the text and of the strategies. From the audience, I could see the ways different pairings had made different choices about the same scene, and how everyone responded to each others' work in their respective scenes. The second time I saw a scene or a technique, I would also think back and notice something from the previous scene I hadn't noticed before.
This is what Real Live Theatre is all about. The whole point of being an ensemble-based company that trains year-round is to continually exchange ideas, techniques, and perspectives. That's why we're so excited to expand our offerings into classes like this Adult Acting Class, and our upcoming Teen Acting Workshop this summer, and why we love making connections with local artists and arts organizations. RLT believes that sharing ideas and stories makes our art richer and more inclusive, and we look forward to many more Audience A-ha! Moments in the future.
Best,
Lucy Gouvin
RLT Member