Nathan Allen and BADA

Schooling to become an actor isn't enough when one wants to become a serious artist.  In David Mamet's book True/False, Mamet compares the benefits of attending university after high school vs. throwing yourself right into auditions.  He believes most strongly that gaining real world experience is more important than what schooling can provide.  In some ways I agree with him that finding work allows one to study how the real world works and how one can learn from working with professionals, but this doesn't necessarily establish a wholistic and healthy view of one's own existence.  In my experience, seeking out real world opportunities provides one with the schooling needed to base judgments off informed speculations concerning one's ambition for a craft, while being at university.  I've been blessed to have had the opportunity while at school to work for a number of summer theatres, gaining valuable professional experience as well as observing the politics that govern my craft.  But one experience stands out to me the most, and that was working with Nathan Allen of the HOUSE Theatre in Chicago to produce the nationally acclaimed production Rose and the Rime.

I always knew that studying abroad is what I wanted and needed, especially after living in

 bubbly conservative Holland MI for three years.  London was always tops on my priority list as being a place to find a culturally informed artistic community.  Nathan drew my attention to a school called the British-American Drama Academy.  After discussing it with him, researching the other abroad programs in London, and discovering that some of my extended friends had experienced the program, I decided it was the right one for me.  So after auditioning and months of paper work, I was accepted to the program of which there are only 45 from around the world.  What drew me to this particular program was what Nathan had absorbed and used to create his immensely successful company in Chicago: training that empowers actors to produce highly effective work within an ensemble.  With this idea, the individual is showcased through through the support of the group's efforts to invent new ways of looking at old styles.  The training at BADA is primarily classically based, but we are shown how valuable classical work such as Shakespeare is still incredibly important and relevant in our modern world.  What Nathan did was take these ideas and brought them to the HOUSE ensemble (his closest friends from SMU and BADA) to produce original work geared toward "the average joe."  Don't mistake this as being primitive work, for it is highly intellectual but presented in a way easily understood and accessible for all, and most of all, FUN!  Rose and the Rime is the perfect example for this kind of work.  This is difficult work to produce, and it is rarely achieved successfully by a group of people who call themselves an ensemble.

Last week I saw the Tricycle Theatre's production of Twelfth Night, which was in association with a group called Filter and the RSC.  The advertisement suggested that it's aim was to create an interactive, fusion version of Twelfth Night.  Upon entering the theatre and seeing the actor's setting up the space themselves, being conversational with audience members, and allowing for general admission, I felt as if I were in Chicago at the HOUSE.  I was so excited to be in this inclusive environment again, that I found myself part grinning with glee and getting teary with reminiscence.  The production's success lay within the actors who cut the play down to 1hr 30min and having only 6 actors represent all the characters, along with some crafty help from several electronic devices.  The stage was set up as a rock concert with instruments strewn throughout the space, along with the stage manager upstage center calling all the cues.  As the play progressed, pizza was sent through the audience, Velcro balls were thrown between the actors and audience, and the movement spilt fluidly throughout the theatre; all of which were welcomed by the crowd.  However, I found myself concerned and upset at the production within the first five minutes.  It failed because the play lacked a central world, and a reasoning for the decisions that were made.  Sometimes as actors we think we're so funny that we joke about charging admission for our rehearsals rather than the actual production, but we're never completely serious.  This group was, and did just that.  Casual performing, if there can be such a thing, can be achieved when actors remain within the space of the audience throughout the show, but NOT as a featured observer without a purpose.  Merit can be granted to the company for selling out the theatre and having it contain 80% young people, and for some progressive ideas on presenting Shakespeare.  The problem herein was that they just didn't dig deep enough as collaborators to tell the story not only in a new way, but a highly effective and inventive way.

It is needless to say that Nathan Allen has been a tremendous influence in my life as a growing artist, and that his ideas have inspired me to take a similar road with the work that I do through my art form.  Theatre can be a gift when, if done for a group of strangers, can transform minds and define a community within a two hour performance and at a low ticket price.  Nathan achieves this individually, but only with the support of his great community.  That is what Nathan and BADA are teaching me, and this is how theatre will continue to thrive as long as people continue to experiment and invent new ways of doing things that provoke thoughts and encourage community.

The next time you're in Chicago, please look into seeing a production at the HOUSE Theatre.  You'll thank me and yourself for doing so.  You can access them at thehousetheatre.com.  Rose and the Rime will receive it's Chicago premiere in late February at The HOUSE.