[rocky] Professionalism killed the Rocky star

[jrising]

There was a fantastic discussion at the Rocky party about the state of the cast. The vocal consensus was this:

There's an undercurrent of over-professionalism at the show. In small but definite ways, the drive for professionalism stifles some of the fun of the show and makes working at it a chore. Because the show isn't as much fun, it isn't as good, and the audience has noticed. Both directors, theater 3, and Acid's absence were blamed for these problems.

It's so tough to disentangle real harmful effects from nostalgia. So, tell me: do you agree? Have we gained the world and lost our soul (or raised the bar and broken our backs)? The drive for screen accuracy can push us to do better, but if it drives out jokes and connecting with the audience-- if our performance just duplicates the film-- do we want it? The cast members used to work up the audience waiting outside before the show. Does anyone do that now? We have such a great group, and we can fix these problems, but maybe not without big changes.

Feel free to post anonymously or email me separately.

Comments

[kjcitygirl.livejournal.com]

ok ... here's my 2 cents worth ...

i think everyone has been feeling a tightening on playing around, but i'm not sure if it's a horrendous thing. i think screen accuracy is a very important trait to have - because if you don't know what's going on and you're fucking around all the time, then your performance sucks. knowing your part inside and out is what allows one to have great joking moments on stage because you know where the timing should be, and you know how to maneuver your way in and out of the horsing around.

i think that during auditions, everyone should try to be as accurate as possible so as not to mess up the other actors (this does not mean that there are absolutely no jokes permitted, but insert my above screen accuracy comment) - and since we now don't know when our specific audition night is, i would hope people would be respectful of their fellow cast mates and really put forth a great effort so as to showcase everyone's talents.

one other think i think needs to happen is for people to really think about their characters, and think of their character traits - each week we really make our characters our own, we live them and embody them and there is no way for each casts' performance, nor each actors' performance to carry the same feelings and traits - if our cast really gets into character and interjects their own take of what's going on on the screen i think that will really spice things up - Magenta doesn't have that many lines, but if you were to watch my performance of the character you will see that I hardly ever am not doing someting whether it be physically or facially to try and seduce the audience - i would hope that our audience pays attention to all the characters and not those just in the spot light - i think we should be constantly searching for what our character would be doing at any point in time and using that to really make an interesting performance

i might have more, but i'm at work and don't have the capacity to really fully develop my thoughts ... but food for thought ..

[mals13.livejournal.com]

"i think that during auditions, everyone should try to be as accurate as possible so as not to mess up the other actors"

yeah, honestly, i feel like people forgot that the show two weeks ago was an audition show and there was a lot of horsing around. Personally, I got distracted a couple of times, and while my timing was still on, i was pissed at myself for letting that happen while I was worried that I was being watched closely.

"Magenta doesn't have that many lines, but if you were to watch my performance of the character you will see that I hardly ever am not doing someting whether it be physically or facially to try and seduce the audience - i would hope that our audience pays attention to all the characters and not those just in the spot light - i think we should be constantly searching for what our character would be doing at any point in time and using that to really make an interesting performance"

Yeah, i completely agree with you. I feel like I am always in character even if I'm off screen/out of spotlight, but since the light is on others, people eyes go that way. I wonder if these little off screen/in character moments are ever noticed by the people who need to make decisions. (refer to my other response to twink)

[jrising.livejournal.com]

Very good points. Screen accuracy is the base from which we deviate, and it's important for auditions that we stick to that base, so everyone can show off their abilities. But outside of that, a powerful goal is to be the character, as intensely and audience-drawing-in-ly as possible.

I think the problem has come from a goal like that being posed in negatively. Instead of "being in character" being taken as a goal, "being out of character" is presented as a problem. Screen accuracy is a good thing, but perhaps its a means to an end. If people censor out the other stuff (or aren't motivated to develop them because of other ways they're pushed to do), what's left with isn't really what we want for ourselves or the audience.