New York Neo-Classical Ensemble

Start Some Shit - Returning to Classical

I spent the last week helping out with the repertory shows of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labors Lost at NYU’s The Classical Studio.  I had run into Louis at the opening of Book of Grace at The Public, and since I had some free time during the next twoish weeks (and I’m incapable of doing nothing), I volunteered my ADing services while Daniel Spector enjoyed a second spring break week in Florida.  

I wanted to return to the studio to observe neo-classical technique in action in prep for As You Like It.  This year’s group is pretty damn strong, and working on two plays that are predominantly about passionate young people problems really played to their strengths.  I was thoroughly intimidated by a few of them, and their control over the technique and the text and how both were made better by the contribution of their creativity and talent. When I was in Classical I didn’t understand that positive action was directly tied to my creative input as the actor; that the emphasis of the endeavor was on what I could bring to the table - hence why I tended to do better with comedic as opposed to dramatic parts.  I wanted to really get it, and wasn’t able to understand how insanely simple the work actually is - do something, don’t show something, don’t just feel, do something, the words tell you all you need to know and will guide you to where you need to go if you rise to their demands.  

There are aspects of the work that we as a company don’t emphasize as much because of the pressures of production, and I think I’m scared of giving up the amount of interpretive control necessary to fully do a production purely based on neo-classical technique.  That said, I’m learning to listen better, and to figure out when to jump in and contribute/edit as opposed to tweaking each individual moment of text.  

After a day of not quite knowing what my job was in the room, I found I was able to offer some help and insight.  I especially had fun working the opening scenes of both plays, and how often in the initial moments of Shakespeare plays we need to focus on starting a real, no holds barred ARGUMENT to get it going.  The words matter, use them to get what you want, the verse line is there to support what you’re arguing for, and the inherent structure of the text will inform your emotional life more than anything you could place upon it.  I tied this to the beginning of Act 1 of As You Like It, and Orlando’s enormous speech.  If you effectively start that argument suddenly the audience is listening and understanding what you’re saying and drama is created - you want something, we get to see you either get it or not get it, and then what happens next.  If you concentrate on energizing those initial moments suddenly everything comes together.  Louis gave me the opportunity to chime in and offer any words of advice before they began.  ”Start some shit” was what I said.  And start some shit they did.

It’s definitely strange returning to a place that ended up having such a major impact on your life, and to see just how young you were (and then to remember all the insane after-hours stuff you were doing while being a responsible, contributing member of The Classical Studio).  What I took from it, the necessity of the work WITHIN a full production, is actually an enormous challenge.  It might be impossible to effectively do both - create a theatrically thrilling production AND have absolutely impeccable ensemble text work and acting.  BUT! That’s a challenge that excites the living hell out of me.  So here we go once more.  Let’s start some shit.