T Minus

Our two hour rehearsals have now stretched out to 4. We've added the clothes, the make up, and sign-age. Our lights and sound people are working hard. Our props and costume people are working hard. Our backstage tumble is turning slowly into a choreographed dance although occasionally we still break step and find ourselves in a pile of wheel chairs or shopping carts.

I've had a change of heart toward buttons. Seemingly innocent and efficient the button is a clever technology. In theater, however, when you exit as a woman and need to reenter in approximately 30 seconds as a man, the button (especially when in groupings of more than 4) is the enemy. And that is a difference between the real world beyond and the stage. A wall separates us from a time and place where the button is tiny and cute. I always laugh at the difference that wall can make. This is theater right? The illusion that whatever is happening in the space directly ahead of your seats is all there is. But not true. Just three feet to the left there is an underworld of moving parts. People rushing and frantic. People focused and undeterred. One character from Minnesota is dusting on their final powder as a character they'd never meet on stage slowly morphs into her Florida do. And all counting how many buttons between them and a late entrance.

We open Thursday. Time to take a breath.

Rising Bank Fees Squeeze Consumers

by Yuki Noguchi

Banks charge consumers more in fees every year. Last year, banks collected $38.6 billion in service charges, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That translates into higher fees for overdrafting accounts, wiring money or using another bank's ATM. (read rest of story)

Food Insecurity in Oregon

FROM THE MOYERS FILES:
LIFE ON THE EDGLE

NOW WITH BILL MOYERS, March 29, 2002

TOM CASCIATO: Cassandra Garrison considers herself a warrior in an army fighting poverty. She fights her battles in what might seem an unlikely locale. This is Portland, Oregon, a city known — quite rightly — for its environmental consciousness, its outdoor lifestyle, and increasingly, its fine restaurants.

It's never far from the top of the list of America's most livable cities, in one of its most livable states.

But it's a state with a problem.

Read transcript here.

Interview with Julianne Moore

Fresh Air interview with actress Julianne Moore. I always listen more carefully to actor's interviews when I'm in a show. At one point Moore says, "It's (film) not an actor's medium. You're really in the hands of the director in terms of how the performance is shaped." On stage as an actress you have you and then the audience. The audience sees you directly, not through a form of edits and color corrections. Also in theater your character gets to have an emotional arch...even if it's half a page. You act it front to back as it is written. In cinema you may film your death scene on page 89 three weeks before you film your marriage scene on page 14.

Listen to the interview here.

A flyer near you

Moving from 4 walls to 4 wheels

Nickel and Dimed addresses this issue but just barely. I would have never seriously thought about if I hadn't been confronted with the idea in the script.

"As the foreclosure rate continues to climb, social workers across the country are starting to notice a new phenomenon: People moving out of their homes and into RVs and cars. Jennifer Collins reports." (Hear story or read transcript)

And the Clock Starts

Holy something! A quick glance at the calendar lets me know we have just over 4 weeks until our curtain rises and we'll stand in front of an audience. This knowledge rests peacefully most often in the back of my mind, but every once and awhile it stirs. At first it's only a rustle here and there, but as we get closer and closer to opening night it builds. There is a knot forming in my stomach and it is vaguely familiar. "Oh hello there nerves. I knew you'd be back."

This week we go off book. Off Book means you no longer get to look at your lines. They should be in your head not in your hands. We can still call for a line where in a friendly assistant director will say the first few words to help jump start our brains, but all the progress we feel we've been making through the past weeks will vanish suddenly on Thursday. This is just how it goes. You get use to having that script there. You get comfortable not actually looking any of your cast mates directly in the eye. And then poof! It takes some readjustment but this is the point (hands free) when we can really begin the acting. The script is necessary but it's also a hindrance. How much can you interact within your character with other characters when you are all face down in paper?

So scary? Um, yes.
Exciting? The fun is just about to really begin.

"37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty"

"A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. They are found from the hills of Kentucky to Detroit's streets, from the Deep South of Louisiana to the heartland of Oklahoma. Each year since 2001 their number has grown."

(Read Article)

Tipping Standards

Every time I eat out I always experience a moment of panic when facing that little white line under my total. The tip. All basic math skills deflate and I'm stuck trying to eek it out not-to-obviously somewhere in the corner of the recite.

This table won't help your math skills, but it will give you an idea what is standard for a few industries. Some were a surprise to me.

Tipping Standards- USA

Nickel and Dimed- the dance

Last night we ran Act I. It was the first time yet to work all the scenes in succession. Our goal was less about the individual scenes but rather how to make smooth transitions between those scenes. We have so many characters coming off and on and so many props and set pieces to go with them that there is definitely a choreography to it all. In this scene I move a bed. In that scene I push a wall. I don't say or do much in Act I but how cool to be there watching it all start to come together. Due to the nature of the play, our rehearsals have felt disjointed. One night we may work one set of scenes and then the next we're working a different random set. Last night was the first time we got to work chronologically front to back. Start on page 11. Work through to page 26. For the first time in many rehearsals my Type-A personality was at peace.

Memory

A hear a fair amount, "I'd love to act but I couldn't memorize all those lines." I never know what to say in this situation because that is exactly what I would say...and still think about. I think I'll have to be acting a fairly long time before I don't worry about the very real possibility of going blank right after entering the stage. For the longest time I wasn't sure I would be able to handle any sort of line load. Directors are putting some blind faith in you when they cast you as a newbie. Once you've done a play it's proof that you're brain can handle it, but there still is an element of jumping off a cliff and hoping the parachute opens.

What I didn't know until tonight however is that there are different types of memory. Knowledge memory, identity memory, event memory, planning memory, personal memory and autobiographical memory make up various sections in our brain. The kind we all hope to have come opening night is knowledge memory. That's the same type that will recall facts and scores. Hopefully this means if I meet a new person (identity memory) between now and July 17th, I won't discard 3 lines of scene 5. (And if that isn't the case, please NO ONE talk to our lead Jane. Her brain has enough to handle.)

To learn more about the different types of memory, go here: (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Different-Types-Of-Memory&id=509242)

A different way to break it down (complete with neat chart!) http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/human-cap/memory.html

Where do I go?

This last week we've been working on blocking. Before I explain what it is, I'll explain how it feels. Like chaos in a chicken pen. Normally competent human beings are face down running into each other speaking lines that may or may not exist. You sort of watch yourself in slow motion be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you're trying to scribble notes as fast as you can but you know you won't be able to read your hand writing later and did the director say come in before Hector says the f-word or AFTER Hector says the f-word. Chaos.

Blocking. Blocking is the completely unintuitive act of figuring out where people are when. Or as wikipedia so aptly defines:

"Blocking is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. The term derives from the practice of 19th Century theatre directors such as Sir W. S. Gilbert who worked out the staging of a scene on a miniature stage using blocks to represent each of the actors."

That makes it sound so clean..and eventually it should be. But until then, awkward at best. The next time you're at the theater notice how the actors use the stage. Notice how action generally happens in a horizontal line in front of you so that you can see everything. The really odd one though is notice that when two characters are talking to each other very often both characters look out at you and hardly make eye contact with each other. This doesn't seem strange to the audience, but it is a weird habit to get into on stage.

Interesting Idea: adding health care into the cost of dining out.

Albany Shelter receives $4K from Siletz charitable fund... (read article)

Program hopes to help homeless get to family... (read article)

Survey: 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses... (read article)

Serving Wine

In rehearsals last night one of my characters serves wine in a fancy restaurant. My part is incredibly short, but I know it's the one place where my brother will be at full attention. The man knows his wine. I, however, do not. And more importantly for this scene, I have no idea how one serves it. (Apparently grabbing it out of your refrigerator, pulling off the tin-foil pseudo cap and pouring it into coffee mugs is less than savvy. Ahem.)

For those of you dying to know how to pour wine, you may now sleep easy.

Wine?
Why yes please!

In 2007, restaurant workers sued their employer for paying some workers as little as $1.40 an hour. Read story.

When in Rome

For first time actors (as I was last year at Albany Civic Theater) there is a lot of reorientation. Most often we come to the theater as patrons so when we step onto the stage we are still thinking in audience member terms. It's sort of like an American in England. We always look the wrong way at first when crossing the road. Everything seems backwards.

And apparently to me it still does. My original graphic was completely opposite of everything it should have been. Upon seeing it our assistant director wrote in something very helpful:
"These terms originated when stages were raked to create an illusion of depth. So actors at the back of the stage would move "down stage" literally. And when they moved away from the audience they literally walked upstage." (Thanks Nancy!)

Who is Poor...Officially

We hear people talk about the poverty line fairly often, but what does that actually mean? There are variations on definitions, but I think this is generally what policy makers reference when thy say "poverty line."


(source:http://aspe.hhs.gov/POVERTY/07poverty.shtml)

The Cast is Set!

Our cast is now a complete list of names and faces. (Phew!)

• Actress 1/Barbara - Jane Donovan
• Actress 2/Gail, etc.- Karen Emmons
• Actress 3/Carlie, etc.- Jessica Carr
• Actress 4/Joan, etc.- Cindy Baughman-Roche
• Actress 5/Holly, etc. - Kelly Powers
• Actress 6/Hector, etc- Bernadette Feyerherm
• Actress7/Melissa, etc. - Miriam L. Royal
• Actor/George, etc. - Dennis Glidden

Congratulations to everyone!

Auditions Night 2

We are two-thirds the way through auditions now and it's looking like the cast is taking shape. Summer is a tough season for auditions. Plays take a lot of work and people want to be able to head home after a long day at work, throw something on the BBQ, and bring in the end of the day. I don't blame them. But for that reason I am extra happy to see those who have turned out. There has been a great group of people sharing their talent and enthusiasm the last two nights. Tonight we will all come together one final time before the director Johanna Spencer and assistant director Nancy Fairchild make the tough choices. (I never envy directors on this front.)

Check back in to see who has been cast!

One Week Out

About this time next week, people across the valley are going to come together and take the stage. Audition time!

Here are the details:
Where: Albany Civic Theater (downtown Albany)
When: April 28, 29, 30 (it's suggested you be there all three nights.)
When (again): 7:30pm
Why: Because you're a veteran actor or an absolute newbie and you want to give it a whirl. I auditioned for the first time ever last year for a play and was surprised at how not scary auditions are. OK, so yes you do have to stand in front of a bunch of people and act but besides that no one is going to say, "Pretend to be a tree!" or "Now bark like a dog!" Auditions are full of supportive people who love acting. You don't have to prepare a monologue, you don't have to bring a head shot. Just bring you...and heat versatility clothing. Sometimes the theater is warm, sometimes it is cold. It's always a surprise.

Also, bring some bottled water. You'll be glad you have it.

The performances run July 11, 12, 13 (matinee), 17, 18, 19 2008

For more information go to http://albanycivic.org/0708_nickel_and_dimed.html

See you there!

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to Nickel and Dimed (The Play)'s blog. This blog will chronicle the Albany Civic Theater's production of "Nickel and Dimed" by Joan Holden. This play is based on the book of the same name by Barbara Ehrenreich. The title says it all: "Nickel and Dimed- On (Not) Getting By in America."

The play follows our main character Barbara as she sets out to find if she can live on minimum wage. We watch as she tries waitressing, housecleaning, working retail and anything else she can do to just to survive. This play is less about her story and more about the stories of all those she represents who are just trying to get by in America.

Check back in often for more updates and make sure to audition April 28, 29 and 30 at Albany Civic Theater .