Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

'Chad Diety' Playwright Kristoffer Diaz Compares Wrestling to Theater

Many critics view professional wrestling as a world of superficial theatrics, but Kristoffer Diaz, playwright of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, explored a deeper level of parallels between the wrestling and theater worlds in a recent interview with the L.A. Times.

"There's an independent wrestling scene, but the WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment] is essentially a monopoly," he says. "And as a wrestler, you can say, 'This place is racist, homophobic, and on top of that it's a bad version of what I want to do.' But what are you going to do? You either go to a smaller arena, or you stay in the big time and you're complicit."

A fan of professional wrestling since a young age, Diaz compares that business model with the  way he feels about writing plays.

"If you're a playwright who doesn't want to do people-on-a-couch plays, there are not a lot of avenues," Diaz says. "You can go and do television, or you can stay and fight with organizations that aren't really equipped to support work by people of color or experiment with form."

'The Tempest: The Musical'?

The U.K. Observer has reported that Jonathon Holmes, artistic director of the Jericho House, claims that Shakespeare should have maybe shared credit with musician Robert Johnson for The Tempest, having found evidence that the Bard's last work was actually meant to be a musical.

Robert Johnson (no, not the 1930s blues singer, although that would make for an interesting musical) was a composer, as well as the highest regarded lute virtuoso of his time, and is already said to have written two songs in the play. But Holmes, who spent two years' researching The Tempest before directing his own new production, believes that Johnson may have composed a movie score-like soundtrack to the entire play.

"The norm in the play, I now believe, was continuous sound," Holmes said, "though there is nothing else like this in Jacobean drama." Probably because musicals, as we know them, didn't exist yet.

"Although the idea of a score is something we are used to, it was revolutionary at the time," Holmes added. "It meant that the characters didn't appear to hear the music. It shaped the narrative and it changed the number of lines a character needed. In terms of dramatic importance, it is as if we've been missing a character all this time."

Stars of National Theatre's 'Frankenstein' on Sharing Lead Roles

In director Danny Boyle's critically acclaimed new production of Frankenstein -- currently playing to sold-out crowds at the National Theatre in London and on screens at select theaters in the States -- lead actors Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternate as Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his monster, switching back and forth between roles every other night.

In an interview for More Intelligent Life, the actors describe the unique challenges and rewards of preparing for not just one, but two lead roles in the production, and how inhabiting both characters added depth to their performances.

"Edith" Scores a Hit in Louisville

 
I just got back from Kentucky where I covered the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. This is my third consecutive festival and the best one yet. The eight productions I saw over the press-and-theatre-professionals weekend were almost all insightfully written, passionately acted, and strongly directly. The standout was "Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them," A. Rey Pamatmat's tender comedy-drama about three latchkey kids forming an improvised family when their parents effectively abandon them. Casting adult actors as children usually turns me off, but these young performers intensely portray the pain of adoloscence and the joy of achieving maturity without acquiring a case of the cutes. Teresa Avia Lim is a pint-sized fireball as the 12-year-old Edith. She powerfully conveys Edith's fierce independence and spiky intelligence. One minute she's shooting at an unknown intruder with a BB rifle, the next she's cuddling with her stuffed frog. Lim manages to make both moments and many others truthful and compelling. Equally affecting are Jon Norman Schneider as her older brother Kenny who is just discovering his gay sexuality and Cory Michael Smith as his best friend Benji who is making similar explorations.  The premise had the potential of turning into a syrupy Afterschool Special, but Pamatmat wisely keeps the sentiment to a minimum. With only three characters, look for this work to show up on many regional theatre schedules and possibly in New York soon.

Alliance Austin Presents Actors Fair in Texas

The Alliance Austin — a cooperative of Central Texas casting directors, talent agents and acting coaches — is holding an Actors Fair on Sat., April 2, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., at The Red Building, 1901 E. 51st St. (part of the Austin Film Studios), in Austin, TX.

The Alliance Austin Actors Fair promises to be an excellent networking opportunity and "an all day extravaganza catering to the needs of Central Texas’ acting community." A $10 entry fee is required, but includes workshops with acting coaches, the chance to meet agents and casting directors, and opportunities to talk with headshot photographers, demo-reel producers, and representatives from the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Plus: General auditions are being held by local casting directors and agents at the event.

If you attend the event, make sure to stop by Back Stage's table to say hello to our local representative and pick up a free copy of Back Stage magazine.

Michael Kostroff is 'Les Mis' Tour's "Featured Actor of the Week"

Back Stage columnist Michael Kostroff, who is also an actor best known for long-running roles on HBO’s The Wire and Disney’s Sonny with a Chance, is currently playing Thénardier in NETworks Presentations' new 25th Anniversary touring production of Les Misérables. He toured previously in Les Misérables (as Thénardier) and in The Producers, understudying Max Bialystock.

Kostroff is also Les Misérables on Tour's "Featured Actor" this week on the production's Facebook page. Congrats, Michael!

In addition to his acting career -- which has included appearances on Weeds, Party Down, Cold Case, Veronica Mars, ER, and more -- Kostroff is the author of "Letters from Backstage: The Adventures of a Touring Stage Actor," a behind-the-scenes chronicle of his time on tour with The Producers and Les Misérables.

The American Association of Community Theatre Presents AACTFest11 in NY

Based in Fort Worth, TX, the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) provides networking opportunities, advocacy services, theater resources, and events that benefit over 7,000 community theatres across the United States, plus overseas theatre companies associated with the U.S. armed forces.

Once every couple of years AACT presents the national AACTFest theater festival, which is billed as "both a celebration of theatre and a learning experience for those who take part." AACTFest11 will be hosted by the Theatre Association of New York State (TANYS) and takes place June 20-26, 2011, in Rochester, NY.

View The AACTFest11 press release below:

Learn the "Billy Jump" from the Stars of 'Billy Elliot' National Tour

The national tour of Billy Elliot the Musical was recently in North Carolina, where three of the five young actors who star in the title role stopped by Fox News Rising to talk about the show and teach viewers the "Billy jump." Watch the video below:

Actress Describes Audition for 'Spring Awakening' National Tour

Sarah Kleeman, who plays all of the adult female roles in the current nonunion national touring production of Spring Awakening, describes her audition for the show in the following video:

Alice Ripley on 'Next to Normal' Tour and New Album

Alice Ripley recently spoke with Eden Lane for "In Focus," when the national tour of the Broadway musical Next to Normal was in Denver. The actress talks about reprising her emotionally demanding, Tony Award-winning role as Diana for the national tour of Next to Normal, and also teases her new rock album Daily Practice Vol. 1, which will be released in February.

Watch the interview below: