Pre-Show Grooming

Improv actors get ready for a touring show. Solomon Davis helps out Rob Martin with a beard trim.

Foolish Wiseman Cast Two meets the Bagel Boy

Ever wonder what the Touring Company actors do in the dressing room or what they talk about while on the road to their next show? We hope this video will help answer these questions. Featuring Jeremy Anderson, Josh Smyth and camera/comments by Annelih Holganza. Enjoy!

Responding to the Greenwood Fire

We’ve collected helpful information on our website to answer some questions you might have about Taproot’s response to the Greenwood fire.

Check out our website: http://www.taproottheatre.org/responding-fire

 

Lady Caroline Decides to Dance

By Anne Kennedy, Lady Caroline in Enchanted April

At various intervals throughout the last scene of Enchanted April, four of us exit through the audience. There the four of us wait for Lotty’s final line to signal the end of the show and our cue to run back for curtain call. This is one of my favorite moments in the play. It’s a rare moment of rest—the work is finished, and for a minute or two we reflect on the evening. Sometimes we laugh at a funny reaction the audience gave that night. Sometimes we admit mistakes made at that performance. Sometimes we just take the time to step out of character for a breath. Last night, as we were enjoying a moment of peace, Aaron Finley (who plays Antony Wilding) suddenly announced “It’s time to dance,” and proceeded to spin across the lobby. Jeff Berryman, Nikki Visel, and I watched in mild alarm, then asked him to do it again. Aaron graciously obliged after a requisite amount of pleading.

Enchanted April closes on Saturday, and I will miss telling Elizabeth Von Arnim’s exquisite story of love, loss, and ultimately redemption. I will miss speaking Matthew Barber’s wise and witty lines. I will miss bringing Lady Caroline to life each night in the company of such a fine cast and on such a lovely set. I will miss the costumes and yes, I’ll miss my wig (thank you, Sarah!). But watching Aaron chainè across the carpet last night, I realized it’s ridiculous to feel sad. Not only do we have 4 more shows to go (have you bought your tickets yet?), but there is so much joy that comes from being in a show, that sadness has to take a back seat to excitement and delight. Good theatre comes from the trust that is built among a community of strangers who, for a brief moment in time, agree to play pretend. And out of the confidence we place in our fellow artists, true friendships arise. And that is not something to be sad about, simply because the show is coming to an end. Instead, at each upcoming performance and even as we take our final bow, I think I’ll agree with Aaron. It’s time to dance!

Lotty Wilton, played by Charity Parenzini, and Lady Caroline, played by Anne Kennedy in Enchanted April.

Meet actor Ryan Childers

By Wallyhood Neighborhood Blog

Want to meet one of your neighbors? How about Ryan Childers? He lives on 45th St down near Latona. By day, he’s a preschool teacher. By night, he’s Mellersh Wilton, an uptight and businesslike British gentleman following his wife to a villa in Italy. At least that’s the character he’s playing in Taproot Theater’s production of Enchanted April.  Read the full post at Wallyhood.org

An Actor’s Confession…

By Llysa Holland, Constanza in Enchanted April

OK – I have to confess – Costanza has a secret treat in her life.
Oh, yeessss, and no – it’s not the biscotti, or picking flowers – it’s the Bibicaffe in the concession area!

I (Llysa, the actor) was first introduced to Bibicaffe at a gelateria in Adelaide, Australia a few years back… (How terribly international!) It was just too hot for espresso, and I wanted something a little sweet, but not cloying, like a soda. The barista suggested Bibi, and it was PERFECT. Light, a little sweet, and slightly fizzy on the tongue. Perhaps calling it a ‘coffee soda’ is semi-accurate.. only the drink is more interesting at that. I hadn’t seen it in the States until opening week of ENCHANTED APRIL, and I was so thrilled! And promptly popped a straw into mine (so as not to wreck my makeup) and sipped it up, STAT.

I have been known to come bounding up before the show, and the drink doesn’t even make it to the first landing of the stairs. (oops).

I am pleased to say I have lured a few others in the company and staff to try it – and I hope that audience members take a taste. Think of it as a delightful way to transition from Act 1 to Act 2 – from dreary, rainy England to sunny, fizzy Italy.

All’Italia!

Our Actors have Super Powers

By David Roby, Road Company Actor

This post is guaranteed to make your heart swell like an orchestra playing a Lord of the Rings song in your living room.

At a Road Company performance not so long ago, we performed Super School–inspiring children through super powers in tandem with life lessons. Talk back…magical. During the talk back time, a polite child raises her hand and asks all of us, “Do you really have super powers?” We, the brave five, stare back and forth at one another. I confess, “Well, I can run pretty fast,” and another member of Road Company, Adrienne, explains to the curious girl that we may not have super powers, but each and every one of us has talents. “So, you should point out your friends’ talents to them, because they are very special.” This is only the beginning…

Post talk back…we tear the equipment down and wave goodbye to our munchkin fans when a couple of student girls approach me. I notice the approach and remind myself, “No hugs, David. Only silly banter.” “Deal,” I say in response to myself. One of the girls taps me on the shoulder excitedly and says, “I know what your super power is,” to which I reply with sly (and mockingly sarcastic) confidence, “Okay, young lady. What is my super power?” “No!” she insists. “I know what super power all five of you have.” I stand corrected. Adorable. “Okay, what is it?” “You make people happy.”

Feel free to mop up your melted heart…Take your time. Next, her friend says, just before the two girls scamper off in ignorant bliss (that ignorance being the lack of understanding of the profound weight of what they have each said to such a silly young adult), “And you make people laugh!”

My hope for you, reader, is that you require medication in order to calm the swelling of your heart in the midst of this story of cuteness. So, go medicate–perhaps with a hug, or a pat on the shoulder, or a competition of witty remarks between you and a long-lost friend.

Children=the friend you never knew you missed.

Road Company is back!

Fall Road Co. ‘09 is now in full swing! We’re in the middle of our 2nd full week of touring, and off to a good start. We’ve been performing Super School almost every day, and been getting used to playing new superheros. And toting around a ladder, a Life Support Terraforming Widget, and a sign that says “Martian Marsh” (I’ve noticed other drivers staring at it peeking out our van window).

It’s been good performing for kids again. The energy of the young, new bunch of kindergartners is amazing. There have been many shrieks of excitements and giggles during Super School and Alexander and the Dragon. The audiences aren’t quite as rambunctious during New Girl, but certainly engaged.  It seems that even the most skeptical middle schoolers are asking us at the end if the story continues. After one of our New Girl performances last week, I had a girl come up and thank me for coming to her school. She told me that she gets teased a lot, and that she used to react with anger, but has been learning other ways to respond.

Lights, no camera, action!

By Charity Parenzini, Lotty in Enchanted April

Okay, so coming out of the TV and Film world back to the stage is a wonderful, wonderful challenge. It’s crazy to feel the rush of emotions every time you begin the show… once you begin the run of the show (which for us begins next Friday). At this point in the process, we are able to be on set and run scenes, working through any needed tech issues as we go. It’s so exciting to see the show develop from words on a page to the world on stage. From first conversation with the cast and director to Opening Night. The truth is, for an actor, the main difference in the process of theater versus television or film is this: when you start the run of a (theater) show you must create all of the emotions and moments fresh and new as if they are happening for the first time that time, every time, show after show without stopping until the bow at the end. With film or TV, you must create all of the same emotions and moments – fresh and new – but only until you capture it on film. This may take as little as one or two takes. Then you move on. Needless-to-say that is often why theater is called an “actor’s medium”. Because an actor’s skill is put to the test everytime you do a show. You can not be saved by creative editing or a swift special effect. You and the cast and crew are it. Once the lights go up, the ride begins and doesn’t end until the lights go down at the end. It is truly a wonderful, thrilling experience.

Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk Reflection

Taproot invited actor/artist Sam Vance to display pieces from his water lily collection and sketch actor Nikki Visel during the Art Walk. The sketches will be used as props in Enchanted April (opening next week). Another Taproot actor, Jeff Berryman, visited the Art Walk last week and reflected on the experience of watching his friends work. Click here to read Jeff’s blog entry.

Sam Vance and Nikki Visel

Some of Sam's sketches of Nikki