On August 16th at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, the 'Thirties Forever' musical workshop was performed for an invite-only audience of about 200 in the Jerome Robbins Theater. Mikhail Shydkoi (the former Russian minister of culture) was the author of the script, idea, and is the artistic director of the project. The cast involved approximately 10 American and 10 Russian actors, with music performed and arranged by Levon Oganezov. The workshop was directed by Gary Cherniakhovsky.
...And the vocal coach was my good friend and colleague Taylor Sutherland, and I was the associate director. Both of us doubled as actors as well, which was nice for a change, getting back in front of the lights instead of being in the house...
The show revolves around a concept and dream long held by Mr. Shvydkoi; to show audiences in America and Russia how similar we are by presenting us with real examples of music from the 1930's that was popular and heard in both cultures and in both languages. The story line revolves around a Russian takeover of an American oldies radio station by the same name of the show, 'Thirties Forever', and the action takes place over the course of the thirties, forties, and today. While the project is certainly ambitious, it underlines a very interesting, and very true point: that we as two cultures have much more in common than we realize.
Being involved in this project as an actor and an associate director simultaneously presented a huge challenge to me; it's the first time I've ever pulled anything this close to what I call a 'Meyerhold', who used to direct and act in his shows all the time. Of course, being involved personally also denotes without question that I yearn for its success. There is much more work that needs to be done for the idea to take the next step, but it certainly seems poised to after the positive reaction of the mixed Russian/American house we had last monday.
Aside from 'pulling a Meyerhold' (it's like being a player/manager in baseball!) this process also reminded me of something very important that one of my teachers once told me, and continues to ring true. Once upon a time when I was still an acting student at Shkola-Studia MXAT, one of my teachers mentioned the following to us. It actually came as an addendum to an already famous story that involved some students of the first studio who were told to improvise and play the following for an exercise: they had to imagine that they had placed all of their money in a bank, and the bank had gone up in flames. What would their reaction be? They say that many tore their hair out, yelled, screamed and so on, but one actor sat in the corner calmly. When asked why he wasn't trying to get his money, his response was 'my money's in a different bank'. Originality and humor notwithstanding, this anecdote was told to us not to praise the student's wit, but rather to encourage us to put our money IN the bank; to invest ourselves in the show and in our partners, to make sure we were all playing on the same team.
And here's the addendum that was once mentioned by my teacher, but that has proven true for me ever since '...Of course, if you want to take more than five kopecks OUT of the bank, you need to put more than five kopecks IN the bank...'
It is precisely that sentiment that made the challenge of working on this project so worthwhile. In the short window of a two-week workshop environment, with so much media attention and so much demand for success, 'result' and 'process' enter into a kind of conflict. How is one supposed to explore a process when there is such an obvious deadline for immediate results hanging over your every move? How can an in-depth process even function properly when the material and rules are so fluid and constantly adapting and changing? The answer is 'put more than five kopecks in the bank'.
In a situation where results are demanded, and the process cannot be ignored, it becomes increasingly important to contribute every single idea you have TO the process; to put all your money in the bank. The more ideas you invest, the better the result will be. For example, if you're joking around with your actors on the side (within reason!), and you come up with something that you think is funny or could be used somehow, even if the director hasn't staged it yet, you have the responsibilty as an actor to say 'That's ridiculous! Let's see if we can try it!'. The more you fill in the blanks for yourself, the clearer the outline of your work will become, and moreoever, the more it will be truly YOUR work. The director always has the final say, but most importantly it will truly be an image (or образ in the Russian) that you have drawn collaboratively. To create this outline, to fill it in, color it with details and quirks, invent a character, a human being from nothing but sheer creativeness without waiting for the director to do it for you...this is the true meaning of the actor's art.
I hope this project continues, and I hope that I have the opportunity to see it through to the end. I have too many kopecks in the bank already, and so many more to invest...It will be a great pleasure when it's all through to see how it turns out, to see how much interest our ideas accumulate...
Pulled some of these pics from the BAC website and the Сноб review. Links to come shortly...Many thanks to all my friends involved, old and new...
-A
Well said brother.
ReplyDelete- Mal :)