Christmas Carol pictures!

Our first show, a preview, is on Tuesday, and we open on Thursday! These pictures are from dress rehearsal.

this is the whole cast singing joy to the world at the end of the show. i'm standing next to scrooge on the right.

this is the ghost of christmas past with scrooge. lindsay, who plays past, is an acrobat, and she flings herself around the two silks in the picture. it's super cool.

this is the fred party scene. from left to right, lexi (mrs. fred, a former apprentice), devin (on the ground, apprentice), daniel (topper, apprentice), john (fred, equity actor), jordan (on the ground, apprentice), rebecca (my roommate and apprentice), and martina (apprentice).

pictures

here's a link to the pictures from solo mio round 1:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/actorstheatreoflouisville/5196576341/in/set-72157625442535336/

other than me, the apprentices that did their pieces were monica (red jacket and glasses), victoria (bellydancing), jordan (wearing the hat), brandon (with rope), devin (dancing), and daniel (with the balloons).

rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal

Hello!

Last Friday we started rehearsals for A Christmas Carol, and it is so exciting and wonderful to be rehearsing a play! The version here is very similar to the one at the KC Rep, but there's a little more singing, and the narration is a little different. It's lots of fun to be singing so much again--I'm very grateful for all of those years of choir at Shawnee Mission East (thanks for not letting me quit, mom).

The actors in the show are all quite young, in their thirties...I remember everyone at the Rep being much old. But I think that's because I was 12, and everyone over the age of 18 is pretty much 90 from that perspective. They're a great bunch and I"m looking forward to celebrating Christmas with them everyday for the next two months!

xoxo,

ellen

the humana festival of new american plays

hello everyone!

i'm so sorry it has been so long--the past few weeks have been totally insane. the mystery of irma vep closed, we worked all week on the load in of the sets and lights of a christmas story, i've been watching all of the story rehearsals, christmas carol prep, etc, etc, etc. but this weekend and week my schedule is calming down a lot. so on my to-do list is "call people". if you are a homo sapien that i know, expect a phone call.

we've got big news at actors--the lineup for the humana festival of new american plays! the humana festival is a BIG deal. it's been around since the 70s and is the most important new play festival in the country. lots of plays that you've heard of premiered here--crimes of the heart, dinner with friends, becky shaw, the list goes on and on. the festival runs throughout the month of march, and tons of actors, directors, designers, critics, and theatre lovers descend on louisville to create plays and watch them and then take them back to their own theatres and produce them there. i've attached the link for the press release at the bottom so you can look at the plays and playwrights.

also super exciting is that the apprentice company has their own show in humana--it's called "the end", and it's about the apocalypse. there are five playwrights who are working together to create this play for us, and we do the show during all of the big humana weekends.

http://actorstheatre.org/2010/11/07/35th-annual-humana-festival-lineup-announcement/

talk to ya'll soon!

ellen

'tis the christmas season!

i know it's only the middle of october, but here at actors, it's the start of christmas season. last week we started rehearsals for a christmas story, which runs in the month of november, and in a few weeks we'll be starting rehearsals for a christmas carol, which runs in december.

i'm the understudy to the mother in a christmas story, which means that if she ever gets sick or hurt then i have to go on. it's my job to know all of her lines and blocking and basically do the role exactly as she does it--it's not my job to create my own character. so i've been watching all of the rehearsals and writing everything down and memorizing my lines. it's a lot of work; the apprenti call it "rehearsing for that play you're not in". i would hope that jessie (the woman who plays the mother) would get sick, but she's so sweet and kind (and a former apprentice!) that i can't do that.

for a christmas carol, i got cast as the part of fan! you might remember me playing this role in 7th and 8th grade. the version of christmas carol that actors does is very similar to the version at the kc rep, but they both have added different songs over the years and tell the story slightly differently. there isn't a dickens narrator in this one; the narration is done by all of the members of the company.

so from now until i see ya'll on december 24th, i'll be steeped in christmas!

xoxo, ellen

video time!

Hello!

It's video time! The show i'm crewing right now is The Mystery of Irma Vep, a fun gothic-melodrama spoof. The whole show is done by two guys, Larry and Blake, who play 6 characters. They're absolutely hysterical, and so I thought I'd share their promo videos:

Here's the second one:

And, just for fun, here's a video for the education department that me and fellow apprentice Jordan Brodess did. It's to promote the New Voices Playwrights Festival for high school kids:

flash mob

today, the apprenti took panera by storm and performed a flash mob to promote the production of dracula currently running at actors. a flash mob is when people seemingly spontaneously break out into some sort of performance--of course it's all very well rehearsed. we choreographed a quick dance to lady gaga's song "teeth".

enjoy!

my solo mio

hi ya'll

this friday and saturday i'm performing my solo mio. we've been in rehearsal for these for three weeks. we each wrote our own pieces, and had a director and dramaturg to help us refine, edit, and perform these puppies! i thought i'd post my final draft here, so you can at least read it. imagine throughout the piece that i'm putting on the makeup that i'm talking about. please keep in mind that all names are changed, and characters are expanded for theatrical purposes. i'll post pictures soon!

"Um…guys…it says right here that for blue eyes, lavender eye shadow is good…is this one lavender?"

How did I get here? Buying makeup was NOT my idea—it was Jessie’s! I just brought the seventeen magazine and she picked it up and now here we are, in front of foundation, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip gloss.

-Yeah, Ellen, you should have that lavender eyeshadow, and this blush because you’re pale and your cheeks need to stand out….ohmygosh, can I give you a makeover?!

We went back to my house, and Jessie took me hostage. She came at me with the black eyeliner. Upper lashline first. And then the lower lash line. OUCH! It hurt!

Ohmygod. I looked like one of those cool girls who weren’t in my math classes and who sat at the other table at lunch and who wore Abercrombie and Fitch. This isn’t me, this is someone else…

-It looks great, Jessie! I don’t know if I’ll wear it at school, but…I’d wear it if…I were going to a party.

I didn’t go to parties. But maybe..if I went to that dance at the country club next week…I could wear this eyeliner. And maybe Josh would be there…

-You’re the best, Jessie, thanks!

I kept most of that makeup for a long time, much longer than you’re supposed to keep it for—because I just didn’t use it all that often. My party-going career didn’t take off like it was supposed to in middle school. But high school—that was a different story. There are a lot of parties in high school. The best one is Homecoming. My first dance ever. With my first boyfriend ever. Brian. He’s super cute and does debate.

I went to Target and bought some new makeup—pink sparkly eyeshadow, and some new pink lipgloss, My dress is turquoise, and my shoes and bag are silver, so I’m thinking the pink eyeshadow will be a nice accent. The dance is at school at 8, we’re all going to dinner at 6:30 at Hibachi, and pictures are at 5:45 at Tom’s house. So…I should probably start getting ready at 2. That’s what Caitlin said she’s doing [finish applying makeup]

Okay, So it’s 2:30. Um…Do I need to be doing more to get ready? Didn’t Caitlin say she was gonna start getting ready at 2? Do I need more lipgloss?

I decided I should just do my geometry homework. Finally it was time to go to Toms!

Hey Brian!

-You look really pretty, Ellen

Yeah. Well…I tried really hard.

-Ha, yeah. It’s like totally not fair, like guys just have to shower and put on a suit, and like, girls have to spend so much time getting ready and stuff.

Yeah, you’re right. I had to get ready all day! Totally not fair. Yeah…well, you wanna go take pictures?

I threw out that pink eye shadow a few months later…it was way too sparkly. And I bought new black eyeliner…and I kinda liked it. It looked….definitive.

Mom hurry up! I don’t want to be late to school again! Please drive faster!

-Did you eat any breakfast?

No, Mom, I wasn’t hungry.

-Honey, why do you wear so much eyeliner? I bet it’s the light in the van, you don’t realize how strong it is. If you did it before we got in the car, you wouldn’t wear as much.

Whatever, mom. I like it.

-Well, what are you guys doing in English class today, honey?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s an awesome book. It’s like an allegory, Nurse Ratched is like society in general and the patients are, like, fighting against her. It’s cool.

-Oh...I don’t remember that from the movie.

The movie isn’t as good as the book, mom. Okay I’ll see you after school, Bye!

I applied that black eyeliner diligently every morning those next few years. I got involved with every after school activity. I stayed up late studying to keep my GPA a 4.0, and took every honors class I could to make it weighted to 4.65. I wanted and needed to be perfect. But in English class we read Cuckoos Nest and Catcher in the Rye and All Quiet on the Western Front and The Great Gatsby and I realized that in these books and in the world at large there was something much, much bigger than what I was trying to control with my eyeliner and eating habits and grades. I couldn’t escape those pressures in my day to day high school life, but I could escape with Chief Broom and wonder where the ducks when and see the green light from my window.

In the next few years I went through lots of black eyeliner.

But then I moved to LA. People in LA are easy going and chill…and tan. It became obvious I needed a new makeup routine. So I left the black eyeliner behind, and discovered bronzer.

Okay, Professor. Here’s my abstract for my seminar paper. The two texts I’m using are Julius Caesar by Shakespeare and Appetites by Caroline Knapp.

Hey Sammy, can you do a smoky eye? Thank you, you are the best. Adrian and I are going to dinner at Fat Fish and then there’s a beer pong tournament, so we’re playing in that…How did I become one of those girls that dates a Sigma Chi?

So I want to start the paper analyzing the way that Cassius seduces Brutus into getting him to kill Caesar. And then I’ll compare how Knapp analyzes social pressures on women of our generation. Cassius wants Brutus to seek for more, and Knapp says we’re told to want less, but I want to show how the two arguments are constructed in exactly the same way.

I’m meeting his mom tomorrow… so are we dating? I dunno…he hasn’t asked me to be his girlfriend. I’m not really seeing anyone else…I just don’t know what he wants.

Keeping in mind those arguments, I’m going to analyze this article about Angelina Jolie in last month’s Vogue. I’ll use this modern day example to talk about the pressures on modern day women and how smothering they are. Do you think that sounds okay?

Ohmygosh, thank you so much Sammy! It looks fantastic. You have to teach me how to do it myself.

I got an A on that paper, I learned how to do a smoky eye, and last winter I bought myself my first lipstick. In fire engine red. And then I bought a pinky-red. And then a hot pink . And coral.

Lipstick is grown up. It is sexy. It’s confident.

I am not sure if I am grown up, sexy, or confident. Wearing lipstick doesn’t help with the feeling in the pit of your stomach when the boy you like talks to the other girl at the bar. It doesn’t make you feel less awkward or lonely when the conversation isn’t going well.

But when I’m wearing it, I do feel grown up. I feel sexy. I feel confident. I haven’t created the Ellen that I want to become. But I’ve imagined her. And she’s usually wearing lipstick.

fun links!

Hi everyone!

I don't have much to report that's new this week. kite runner crew keeps on going, and my solo mio goes up next week. that is causing me some panic but...oh well! such is life in theatre.

so i thought i'd share some fun links with you all! first of all, this is the actors theatre homepage:

http://www.actorstheatre.org/index.htm

here is a blog written by one of my fellow apprenti, ryan. he's from iowa and a stand-up gentleman.

http://www.ryanwestwood.blogspot.com/

and this is the inside actors blog, updated by the marketing intern. it's full of great behind the scenes info:

http://actorstheatre.wordpress.com/

so get reading, ya'll!

(yeah i've started saying ya'll. it's super convenient and almost as cool as vosotros.)

xoxo, ellen

new plays!

one of my favorite things about actors theatre is that they are a flagship theatre for developing new works. the humana festival of new american plays is the biggest new play festival in the country, and the shows that premiere here almost always go on to other productions. quite a few have been pulitzer prize finalists or winners, including Crimes of the Heart. remember when you saw me do that in high school? it was the one about the three sisters.

at usc and at bada, my training has mostly been based on classic works and basic tenants of theatre. mary joan and all of my other wonderful professors were always pushing us to understand the heart of the play and analyze how our characters fit into that. we were trained to think about the world of the play and the unity of that world and develop our characters within that.

the great thing about the new plays here is that they push a lot of theatrical boundaries--playwrights and artists here think big. but they always hold onto the basic ideas about theatre that i've been taught. this makes a lot of great plays that tell wonderful stories in new and interesting ways.

i'm off to kite runner!

ellen

the first month

at our company meeting on saturday, michael congratulated us on being at the end of our first month. woo, a whole month! it feels like we've been here for both a really, really, really long time and a just a second. 8 more months!

last week we all began working on our solo performance pieces. i hate solo performance for many, many reasons, so last week was a little trying. but the good news is that i have an idea for my show, which will go up september 24th and 25th. One of the directing interns, Zach, is directing my piece, and i know he's gonna be great. (He did go to Stanford, but i'm able to work through that. fortunately he doesn't know football very well, so we don't have to talk about how I've never seen my team beat his.) i have a draft done and our first rehearsal is tomorrow!

kite runner is getting easier and more fun; i'm actually enjoying hanging out backstage and doing quick changes. and whenever any actor gives me trouble, i just tell him to knock it off or i won't change his clothes and he'll look like a fool onstage. mmm, power!

and finally, i got cast as the understudy for the mother in christmas story! this means i will learn her role just in case she gets sick. this is awesome becuase i get equity point for doing it! also, does anybody know where i can get some black market viral infection to possibly take out a person for 24 hours with flu like symptoms? i mean, i'd never do that...

love,

ellen

running with kites

last weekend, i started working on the crew of the kite runner. it was technical rehearsal weekend, so we worked two twelve hour days back to back. there are four apprentices crewing the show: me, daniel, brandon, and monica. monica and i are the wardrobe girls so we're in charge of all of the backstage costume changes. it's a hard show to work, and we're running around all of the time. it's exhausting. but the cast is wonderful--they are all so kind to us and they are a lot of fun to be around. so while the work is grueling, it's a great place to be.

every time i walk into actors theatre, i fall in love with it all over again. everyone that works here is so kind and willing to teach us, mentor us, and just put up with us. michael and amy, the directors of our program, are so dedicated to us i can't believe it. we put in long hours, but they work harder than we do, making sure that we're prepared for whatever we want to do when we leave here.

over the last few days i've really realized just how challenging this year is going to be, but i also know in my gut that this is the absolutely best place for me to be right now.

i'm off to rub my sore feet,

ellen

week three in luh'vulle

the entire acting apprentice and administrative intern company

(i'm on the left end of the third row. my neck has disappeared.)

i've become a true citizen of louisville: i've learned to pronounce it correctly.

it's not three syllables, lou-ee-ville. mush them all together, luhvull. if you must, put an apostrophe in between (honestly, that's where i am right now): luh'ah'vull.

as week three starts, we're starting to get really geared up for all of our work. our ensemble project, a short, 45 minute play that we've created from newspaper stories, goes up on friday and saturday. also this weekend, i'll begin working on crew for the kite runner. i'm actually very excited about that--the kite runner cast is very friendly, and they have a lot of wisdom to bestow on us young pups. they love to play soccer and go out with the apprentices to the several bars that actors theatre frequents. by the end of this week, i'll have an idea of how the rest of my year will be scheduled.

i finally feel like i'm beginning to have a routine here--i know where to buy groceries, what bars are fun, and i have a running route. i have favorite yoga teachers at the YMCA and a favorite coffee shop. i'm feeling less and less like i'm studying abroad in louisville and more like i live here.

xoxo, ellen

one week ago

...one week ago, the 22 apprentices had just met each other.

rebecca, devin, and dinah outside of the main lobby

this is totally bizarre, because we feel like we've known each other for years. we've all become fast friends, and we're all ready to throw everything we've got into these next nine months. our first project together is our ensemble project, where we create a play out of newspapers we all brought with us from our hometowns. we're performing this in two weeks (crazy!). also, we're starting to work on crew for dracula, the kite runner, and the mystery of irma vep. oh, and we are starting our solo performance pieces next week. the list keeps going on and on.

while this all keeps us super busy, we are sure to find time to hang out and drink margaritas. case in point, last friday at los aztecas mexican restaurant. here is a picture of most of the group.

the new place

i have a new apartment!

rebecca and dinah (my new roommates) and i all moved in early last week. after unpacking, decorating, and shopping at target, it's ready to make its debut. it's beautiful, and i'm very happy to call it home for now. my room:

and grandma's blue chair in the living room:

the other side of the living room:

we're about two miles from the theatre, in a beautiful area called old louisville. all of the houses are old and have been maintained very well. this city is full our surprises; there are lots of blocks of great restaurants and shops and farmers markets.

we start working tomorrow, and i can't wait!

xoxo, ellen

packing up and moving out

hello everyone!

after a year long hiatus, i've decided to start updating on holiday again. on monday, i leave for kentucky to spend a year working at actors theatre of louisville. i'm going a little crazy, doing last minute packing (let's be honest, just plain packing), trying to learn one more monologue before i leave, dog sitting, and thinking of all sorts of other last minute things i need to do.

it's going to be a busy nine months--acting, crewing, working in the office, all day, every day. one moment i'm so thrilled to go and totally ready, and the next i'm panicking and wondering why i ever left los angeles.

i can't wait for this next adventure. over and out!