Tour / Play

(Me? A Black Republican???)

I’m back in school.

Last Monday was my last first day of school at Stella Adler.

At Stella Adler the third-years come back two weeks early to rehearse our amended shows.

In an aside: It was quite nice having the school to ourselves.

Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One is cut down to one hour so that we can tour the show.

We go to schools, community centers… We’re even going to Rikers Island.

We’ve already gone to two community centers. One focuses on older New Yorkers and the other on immigrants in The Bronx.

The ID Studio in The Bronx is committed to the cultural enrichment of immigrant communities through performance arts.

I loved our performance there. We only had four people, but we had a real stage and our audience was engaged. There was pizza afterwards so we got to engage with our audience in a more intimate way.

We can’t bring swords on tour, so all the fights are done as if the swords are there. It’s pretty cool to watch. Kudos to my classmates for making it so real.

I only had a small dagger in the original production. Buuuuut, since we don’t actually have weapons… I upgraded my dagger to a pretty bad-ass sword.

We tour on Wednesdays and Thursdays for three weeks.

Then…

REHEARSALS!!!!

We received our casting for our final shows!!!

I’m in a play called Angry Fags by Topher Payne.

Get this…

… I’m playing a Black Republican.

Adler has a twisted sense of humor.

I appreciate the challenge.

I’ve read the play and actually quite like my character.

I get her.

I understand why she does what she does.

What has Adler done to me?!?!?

Here’s what it’s done…

… at Adler our number one maxim is this: Growth as a human being and growth as an actor are synonymous.

Growing as a human means that I can embody the characters I play.

Some will not share my values.

Some will not be nice people.

Buuuuut… I’ll have to find a way inside their skin.

This is one of the reasons I became an actor.

If you want to see me as a Black Republican, get ready to head to NYC:

Angry Fags by Topher Payne

• Saturday, April 15: 3p

• Sunday, April 16 (Two shows): 11a and 7p

• Monday, April 17: 7:30p

• Wednesday, April 19: 7:30p

The shows are free. You have to reserve a spot, but reservations won’t open up until we’re much closer to show dates.

Hoping that some of my DC fam can make the trek.