In The Working Actor's Journey, hear from amazing teachers, role models, and mentors about their lifelong careers. Learn from those who have been acting professionally for decades—to see exactly how they approach the work, what decisions and resources have made the biggest impacts on their artistic lives, and to hear their struggles and successes in the business. How do great actors work? What do they actually do? Let’s find out. These conversations are a virtual toolbox for actors, full of techniques, advice, and lessons learned.
We dive into the scene where Lear and his two daughters quarrel over what how much of an entourage he needs.
It's our final session of 2 scenes with Septimus!
Welcome back to 2 scenes with Septimus!
Welcome to 2 scenes with Septimus! It's our first time diving into this brilliant and hilarious play, so let's get right to it...
Welcome to 2 scenes with Septimus! It's our first time diving into this brilliant and hilarious play, so let's get right to it...
From 2019, our interview with prolific director Robert Goldsby, on the aliveness of Molière, making clear transitions, and being blissfully happy. Bob took his final curtain call on October 27, 2024 at age 98. With a career spanning 60+ years, he accomplished so much and he'll be missed by all who knew him! Click here for full show notes and links.
Session released from the Rehearsal Room ARCHIVE - August 2023
In our final week of looking at the scenes of Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the group used "Italian run-thrus" (rapid line delivery) and continued to work on the scenes switching roles. The group discussed the benefits and challenges of role-sharing and switching between the language styles of Shakespeare and Stoppard. During the Q&A, a number of artists mentioned their growth in understanding and portrayal of these characters. Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more: https://www.patreon.com/wajpodcast You can also watch the full sessions on YouTube: https://workingactorsjourney.com/youtube About the Scene Our group is working on sections of Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare's Hamlet - AND they will also look at the beginning of Act 2 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. CREATIVE TEAM DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport And the PLAYERS: Marcelo Tubert, Nick Cagle and Dan Cordova Hamlet scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/2/2/ https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/2/ More about this group: https://workingactorsjourney.com/workshop/shakespeare-stoppard-rehearsal-room-june-2024 BOOKS Dr. Gideon Rappaport has written three books on Shakespeare: William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Edited and Annotated: https://amzn.to/3xdt012 Appreciating Shakespeare: https://amzn.to/3XjY6Pe Shakespeare's Rhetorical Figures: An Outline: https://amzn.to/3KEzyZK Thank you to our current patrons Joan, Michele, Christion, Jim, Magdalen, Ivar, Claudia, Clif and Jeff! #workingactor #rehearsal #shakespeare #stoppard #hamlet
This week, the actors practiced delivering lines from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" using a technique that involved looking at the camera when speaking and looking at the screen when listening to capture the feeling of direct engagement. Emphasis was placed on understanding the meaning behind the words, which sometimes led to emotional revelations. They worked on specific lines to bring out operative words and discussed the implications of ambition within the text. The exercise aimed to illuminate nuances of the text by slowing down and emphasizing clarity in delivery. Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more: https://www.patreon.com/wajpodcast Watch the session on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MYuYgB7GRFw About the Scene Our group is working on sections of Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare's Hamlet - AND they will also look at the beginning of Act 2 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. CREATIVE TEAM DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport And the PLAYERS: Marcelo Tubert, Nick Cagle and Dan Cordova Hamlet scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/2/2/ https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/2/ More about this group: https://workingactorsjourney.com/workshop/shakespeare-stoppard-rehearsal-room-june-2024 BOOKS Dr. Gideon Rappaport has written three books on Shakespeare: William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Edited and Annotated: https://amzn.to/3xdt012 Appreciating Shakespeare: https://amzn.to/3XjY6Pe Shakespeare's Rhetorical Figures: An Outline: https://amzn.to/3KEzyZK Thank you to our current patrons Joan, Michele, Christion, Jim, Magdalen, Ivar, Claudia, Clif and Jeff! #workingactor #rehearsal #shakespeare #stoppard #hamlet
Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more: https://www.patreon.com/wajpodcast Watch the session on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MYuYgB7GRFw About the Scene Our group is working on sections of Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare's Hamlet - AND they will also look at the beginning of Act 2 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. CREATIVE TEAM DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport And the PLAYERS: Marcelo Tubert, Nick Cagle and Dan Cordova Hamlet scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/2/2/ https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/2/ More about this group: https://workingactorsjourney.com/workshop/shakespeare-stoppard-rehearsal-room-june-2024 BOOKS Dr. Gideon Rappaport has written three books on Shakespeare: William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Edited and Annotated: https://amzn.to/3xdt012 Appreciating Shakespeare: https://amzn.to/3XjY6Pe Shakespeare's Rhetorical Figures: An Outline: https://amzn.to/3KEzyZK Thank you to our current patrons Joan, Michele, Christion, Jim, Magdalen, Ivar, Claudia, Clif and Jeff! #workingactor #rehearsal #shakespeare #stoppard #hamlet
Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more: https://www.patreon.com/wajpodcast Watch the session on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Lv9Rs26SJRw About the Scene Our group is working on sections of Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare's Hamlet - AND they will also look at the beginning of Act 2 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. CREATIVE TEAM DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport And the PLAYERS: Marcelo Tubert, Nick Cagle and Dan Cordova Hamlet scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/2/2/ https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/2/ More about this group: https://workingactorsjourney.com/workshop/shakespeare-stoppard-rehearsal-room-june-2024 BOOKS Dr. Gideon Rappaport has written three books on Shakespeare: William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Edited and Annotated: https://amzn.to/3xdt012 Appreciating Shakespeare: https://amzn.to/3XjY6Pe Shakespeare's Rhetorical Figures: An Outline: https://amzn.to/3KEzyZK Thank you to our current patrons Joan, Michele, Christion, Jim, Magdalen, Ivar, Claudia, Clif and Jeff! #workingactor #rehearsal
The Rehearsal Room has been our successful workshop series beginning in June 2020 - and now it's time for something different! For the first time, I'll be releasing the weekly rehearsal sessions on YouTube for ALL to enjoy. The goal here is to reach more actors, artists, and theatre lovers who would benefit from: a deeper examination of material insight into how the collaborative process brings a show to life I'd love for you to follow along, so subscribe to our YouTube channel – and then click the bell icon to get notification of when new videos are released! You can also watch this update here. There's no reason our Rehearsal Room can't be its own weekly “show”. I'm inspired by all of the participants who have been willing to come together to do this in a “down and dirty fashion” – a la public access channels! – and time will tell how large and popular this could become – but I have high hopes.
Reed Birney played Uncle Vanya at SoHo Rep in 2012 in a translation by Annie Baker, with a cast that also included Michael Shannon. He joined us in December 2021 to discuss the character in depth. You'll hear Reed and I talk about: his ideas going into Chekhov what he discovered and connected with about the role trusting the script challenges in the production and playing trapped characters We also learn lots more about Reed in our lightning round with a couple special New York questions! This episode marks our third installment in our Chekhov series as we focus on Reed playing the role of Uncle Vanya. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out two most recent episodes of our Vanya workshop and Libby Appel's Q&A. I suspect you'll have an even deeper appreciation of and curiosity for the works of Chekhov. This episode also concludes Season 5, which began way back in March! We've released a dozen episodes this year, from interviews to workshops to text work and Q&A's. Thank you to everyone listening and I hope you've enjoyed this season as much as I have. I'd love to hear below if you have a favorite episode, guest, or moment. I'm also excited to share that we just passed 40K downloads and the show regularly appears in the top 100 of arts podcasts around the world! Reed and I first spoke on the podcast back in Season 2 about his life and career. He has over 130 credits on stage and screen over the past 45 years. He is a Tony Winner for The Humans, a Tony nominee for Casa Valentina, and you can see him in the film Mass (now streaming on Hulu and elsewhere), HBO's Succession, Apple's Home Before Dark, and currently in theaters in The Menu with Ralph Fiennes. He also just closed a production of Chester Bailey with his son Ephraim at Irish Rep in New York. This guy just keeps working! -- Get your copy of "Keys the Pro's Use to Unlock Any Script" See additional content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
This is a wonderful follow up to our Chekhov workshop from last episode with an even deeper discussion with the director! You'll hear Libby and I talk about what she looks for in auditions, what she expects in rehearsals, her inspirations, what things went well, what scared her, and yes, we have another lighting round! Libby Appel is the author and translator of Five Chekhov Plays, the former Artistic Director for Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Indiana Repertory Theatre, and former Dean of Cal Arts Theatre. It was a great honor that she gave so much of her time to both the workshop and this Q&A. Gaining insight into “the other side of the table” is always valuable and few directors have accomplished as much as Libby, so I'm sure it'll be a fun and very informative hour for you. Learn more about Libby @ theworkslibbyappel.com -- Get your FREE copy of the guide "Keys the Pro's Use to Unlock Any Script" - plus you'll receive 2 other bonus guides with lessons and wisdom from professional actors! See additional content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
We have our first workshop scene NOT from Shakespeare, and there's a great reason! From October 2021, we present a deep dive into the first half of Act 2 from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with director Libby Appel - who wrote the translation along with our dramaturg! Uncle Vanya - excerpt of Act 2 DIRECTOR: Libby Appel (Q&A) DRAMATURG: Allison Horsley VOICE: Ursula Meyer PROFESSOR: Alberto Isaac (interview) SONYA: Deidrie Henry MARINA: Jully Lee VANYA: Howard Leder YELENA: Sara Mountjoy-Pepka ASTROV: Corey Hedy One final thing I'll leave you with before we get to it is that Sara mentions toward the end that Libby asks such great questions, which is really the basis of any deep work, creative or otherwise. What questions do you need to be asking yourself, and as an actor, how far are you willing to push yourself to find answers? Fantastic work after only a few weeks of rehearsals; listen in to the cast and director continue to discuss the process. Part of The Rehearsal Room series. Prefer to watch the session? Find it here on YouTube! Get your copy of "Keys the Pro's Use to Unlock Any Script" See additional content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. --- The WAJ podcast is designed to show you HOW the work is done, WHAT the realities of the working actor life are like, and to share all the different ways actors have come to this career. There is no one path and no single answer. We want to learn from all of those further down the road, to shorten the learning curve and to discover what helps and what doesn't when it comes to having a lifelong career as an actor.
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