Sunday, March 23, 2008

Notes from an Actor

Every so often a play is written that speaks to the heart of the human condition. A play that touches our heart not because of its dramatic moments but its close resemblance to everyday life. A play that gives us pause to reflect on our own life, behavior and relationships. This is one of these plays. I consider myself fortunate to be working on this production because it's the kind of play I strive to be in and it has the sort of words I long to speak.

As exciting as it is to work on a new play, there are many challenges involved in the process as well. With older plays, there are often sources that can be referenced for others' beliefs about the themes, ideas and characters. As this has never been done before, the ideas and themes have not been explored yet so we working with a totally blank canvas. It's about unlocking moments - figuring out why a certain line is said or how it is said - and determining where each character is coming from. And we are unable to move on to the next moment before figuring out the previous moment. While you do this during a rehearsal for any play, this is somewhat more time-consuming. As my character, Delby, says in the play, "time is the only real constraint."

As challenging as the process may be, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with this blank canvas and to watch the other amazingly talented cast members work through that process. Finding out who we are and where we fit into the world of this play has been aided with the poetry of the language, which in the end is all you can ask for as an actor. 3 weeks down, 2 more to go. Hope to see you there!-- Zaki Abdelhamid

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