Behind-the-Scenes Look at "The Lieutenant of Inishmore"

On the 22nd of September, I travelled to Boston for the first time in my life. I came to undertake the difficult task of lifecasting three actors, one after the other, and flying back to Pittsburgh in a single day.

Lifecasting is the process of taking an impression of a person’s flesh (face, hands, or some other body part) and creating a duplicate of them in a synthetic medium. I collected three lifecasts of the actors who play the members of the Splinter Group in New Rep’s production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore has many strenuous special effects demands, and one of the more time consuming ones is the lifecasts of these three heads. The lifecast starts by applying a rubber compound called alginate to the actor’s faces. The rubber is reinforced with a jacket of plaster bandages, which is applied on top of the alginate while it is still on the actor’s face. The aligante and plaster bandages are removed from the actor’s face and the result is a negative impression of the face.

The negative area is filled with several layers of plaster and allowed to cure. The cured plaster cast is removed from the alginate and the result is a positive impression of the actor’s face.

More steps occur before a finished head is produced; but this is all I needed to take back to Pittsburgh with me, and was all I could fit in my carry on luggage. The rest of the work will happen back at my shop. Finished heads of these actors (on a lifecast body) will appear in the show, which runs October 26 to November 16, 2008.

-Steven Tolin, September 25, 2008

l. to r. Curt Klump (Joey/James) and Steven Tolin (Special Effects)

l. to r. Steven Tolin (Special Effects) and Andrew Dufresne (Christy)

l. to r. Ross MacDonald (Brendan) and Steven Tolin (Special Effects)

An alginate negative impression of Andrew Dufresne's (Christy) face

l. to r. A cured plaster cast of Curt Klump's (Joey/James) face and Steven Tolin (Special Effects)

Recipe for a Work of Art

EURYDICE isn’t theatre. It’s more than theatre. It’s a work of art. Which, I submit, is different than art. All theatre is art. But to qualify as a work... well, there are different criteria for works. Works have to transcend their media. Works have to be more than the sum total of their parts. Works have to be immediate and eternal in the same breath, which blows directly into the soul. It’s hard work to be a work.

I have never been involved with theatre like this. When I first read EURYDICE, my heart stopped beating a few times and I cried. When I first read it, that is. “What a sap!” Oh, no, that’s never happened before. Never. Then, at the audition, I had no nerves. None. Zero. That’s never happened before. When I met my co-star on the first day of rehearsal, my heart stood up and said, “Yes.” Strange feeling to have your heart stand up and talk.

I’m sorry I’m not being straightforward here, but working on this play has inspired me to poetry. No, seriously, ask my parents. They’ll say: “How’s the play going?” “Unbelievable! It’s stirring so much in my soul. I’m feeling a profound connection to my true self and the universe as I explore the embodiment of Love.” “Oh. So... it’s going well, then?”

It must be annoying.

But that’s the effect that a Work of Art can have. It can make you write poetry. It can suggest you call your first love to apologize. It can help you understand what “unconditional” truly means, and then help you feel it the next time you hug your family. I feel so blessed to be involved in a work with the ability to go out into the audience’s hearts and play their strings.

And so, without further ado, this is the Recipe for a Work of Art, as I have come to understand it (Rachel Ray didn’t have one, so I put this one together myself. There’s still something missing in the sauce, but it’s pretty dang close):

Take –
a Play
a Poem
a Painting
a Dance
a Symphony
a Love Letter
a Confession
an Apology
and a Discertation,

Put them in a rehearsal hall for 3 weeks and stir them with a Brilliant Director, Loving Actors, Playful Designers, and a Devoted Production Team,

Transfer them to a stage, add an Open-Hearted Audience, and allow to Rise.

Enjoy!


By Brian Bielawski

Riffing on Eurydice

eurydice loves orpheus the demi-god, who is offering her the entire world. is it possible, she's thinking? can it be? HOW can it be? what about her father? what about everything she's never done? is there something else she needs to do first? when will she be ready?

eurydice loves her father. he's dead- but unresolvedly so -not quite laid to rest, which will be clear when he reappears in her life via--

a thoroughly unexpected source -- the nasty, in-ter-est-ing man. hm. options personified.

eurydice loves to know. what is behind door number 1? 2? 3! wait, what about 1? take me back to 1!

the nasty, in-ter-est-ing man is glamour, quickness, facility, intelligence, and all ploy. he is archetypically predatory. he may or may not also be the Lord of the Underworld (complete with death-metal theme music and a tryke-zilla by the way) and may or may not devour eurydice for the sheer sake of domination.

eurydice walks a tightrope. she descends. there is a fall. (capitalize that if you like - it certainly appears in countless creation stories.)

in the original story of orpheus and eurydice (this was ovid's poem, i think), eurydice was an almost unconscious girl-siren being pursued and attacked/wanted by a man who she turns to flee from. as she turned she was bitten (ah, into? tasted?) by a serpent and taken down into hades, where she would have to wait till her lover descended after her with song in order to gain her freedom.

oh, holy imagery. the need to know, the desire to question, love of life, beauty, and the allure of the forbidden. "serpent", depending on your spiritual study, has value ranging from connotation associated to the serpent in the garden of eden all the way to a native american (also celtic/druidic) symbolism representing wisdom and infinity. talk about an oceanic drop-off here. what is sexuality? what is sensuality? when (and how) does love switch allegience from (as Sarah Ruhl has chosen to explore her own affinity to the eurydice archetype) love of the father to love of the husband? what is the nature of responsibility and decision-making? when is faith in the promise more important than contractual details? getting thicker, which comes first? faith in the thing that makes the thing real, or the reality of the proposal that will grow the faith of love?

dear Sarah, i playfully disagree with rick lombardo, you are not a genius, but dear Sarah, i totally agree with rick lombardo: your linking of string theory, "reality", and questions about the nature of the world around us to the simple and heart-plucking question of "do you love me this much, really?" is genius in its reach and profound in its simplicity. it echoes. i should be paying you for advancing my own knowledge of myself through this work.

in our version, Sarah writes eurydice as the one who calls out to orpheus on their ascent out of hades. this is a completely different dynamic than was introduced with the original myth. in the first telling, orpheus needs to be sure eurydice is behind him on the long walk out of hades. he turns and she falls away. in another telling, he is consumed by jealousy and wants to be sure she hasn't "known" anyone else. he turns to gauge her. she falls. rather passively. (i'd like to write about this another time... when i can feel it out a little more onstage.) for now though, these are iconic lovers --- baby, i will cross death for you!/yes, i know you will, do it for me!--- and so somewhere out there is also the version (operatic- 1 out of some 100 of them) that re-imagines the two star-crossed lovers as raised together into the heavens for a final, triumphant movement.

star-crossed lovers. hmm, we've got some romeo + juliet in here too, which is appropriate, given that at the top of the show Sarah's stage directions indicate orpheus and eurydice should be almost "too much in love" - that the actors should stay away from playing them classically. so, in comes youth, zealousness, emergence, fantasy, first flush, temperament, a little bit of selfishness (after all, the world is still about "me" at this point) and intense, unabashed desire, all which serve to raise new questions about love and what it is when it is so young that it can only see its projections and not what it itself is.

eurydice and orpheus grow up and eventually grow together with this transition through the descent/death cycle. they start with the whole shebang, everything they have ever wanted, but are unable to speak or communicate their whole selves directly to one another. they lose one another. then begins the journey of going it alone, sifting through shadows, and repiecing themselves. each must move through a hero's journey(yes, carl jung is in here too)which sets the stage for their perceptions and expectations about how love is and what love is to shift. do they though? can they? what if love is indivisible from all the things about love that make it so painful?

this version is descended from a greek myth and theatre history class teaches us that all greek myths feature tragic flaws in their heroes and heroines as teaching devices. the concept of tragic flaw raises new question. yes, it is overwhelmingly sad that eurydice is uncertain that the sun, moon and stars are really being offered to her. her response to her fear about love and being loved is to question but, limited by her youth and inexperience. she manages to ask only the tip of the iceberg. this girl-woman wants to know that her demi-god lover wants her, really and truly her. underneath the "what are you thinking about?" questions is a great need for reassurance that she is indeed worthy of this kind of love, from this kind of a dream man. she needs to know that orpheus is real as much as she needs to know that her father is really dead.

orpheus, who can not hear her need for reassurance clearly enough to address it directly, is the other side of the too-young vision of love when he is unable to speak to her need because he does not even recognize the possibility/actuality of doubt in love. to him, what is beautiful is only and simply beautiful. things are not more lovely when they are considered, only more removed from their original form. he ends up turning the spotlight onto the framework and structure of her thinking, and here is where- tragically - they both utterly miss the point even as they experience being exquisitely and soul-fully in love with one another.

it k i l l s me.

dear Sarah Ruhl, why couldn't you have just had eurydice say "orpheus? i love you more than anything that has every been or will be. it is hard to believe that you love me this way too, so every once in awhile when you are composing your endless overtures and knocking out your most-beautiful-songs-in-the-universe, will you just remind me that i am a part of that, that my being here at your side and saying yes, i'll be your wife somehow makes all of that even better? please?

and orpheus will say "baby, ohhh baby, my sweet baby... you're the One..."

--

please come see this play. the literary, poetic, comedic, historic, visionary voice that Sarah Ruhl has tapped into is one of the most exciting i have ever experienced.

by Zillah Glory

According to Tip

Tip O’Neill, like most people, had a temper. But one did not feel the heat of his anger so much as its iciness. I experienced that chill first-hand one morning about thirty years ago outside of Saint Monica’s Church in South Boston.
As I emerged into the sunlight following the funeral of a local dignitary I spied the speaker of the House standing off to the side with one of his aides. I had known him for some years and covered him as a reporter and commentator on Boston television. Moreover, I valued my relationship with him because he was such a unique character and had such personal warmth. I headed over to say hello.

“Good morning, Mr. Speaker,” I chirped as I approached.

He looked right through me, refusing to even acknowledge my presence. I knew it wasn’t that he was distracted or anything because I was standing directly in front of him, only about five feet away.
Uh oh, I said to myself, he’s mad about something I said or did. I slunk away, chagrined at having lost a relationship I cared about but knowing that’s the price one pays for being a critic - which is what we who consider ourselves pundits really are. I found out later that the speaker was not mad about anything I’d said about him, he had a thick skin when it came to that, he was mad about something I’d said about his son Tom, then the Massachusetts lieutenant governor.
That, I surmised, was that – until some weeks later when I was in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel at a speaking engagement. As we were preparing to sit down for dinner the fellow who had over-paid me to go there said, “I suppose you know all the politicians up there in Massachusetts.”

“Yes, indeed,” I agreed.

“Do you know the Kennedys?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

“How about Tip O’Neill, do you know him?”

“I certainly do,” I replied.

Whereupon a guy who was standing with us chimed in, “Do you know that Tip O’Neill is in the function room right next door to us?”

“What?” said the guy who’d paid my fee. “You’ve got to introduce me. I’ve always wanted to meet him.”

Suddenly aware of what had happened the last time I’d been in the speaker’s presence, I began backing and filling. “Well, I’m sure he’s very busy, doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Oh, no,” said the guy, “this is my chance to meet him and you’re going to introduce me.” And he took me by the arm and headed me in the direction of the adjacent function room.

I was literally quaking in my boots as we opened the door. There were about fifty people there, including the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation. The first person that spotted me as we entered was Joe Moakley, the congressman from South Boston, right next to Tip’s district. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he grabbed my hand. Before I could say anything he piped up, “Does Tip know you’re here?”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” I stammered, by this time about as steady as a mound of jello.

Now Moakley had me by the hand, leading me across the room with the guy who was paying me trailing behind, and he was calling out, “Tip, Tip, look who’s here.”

Disaster was at hand. Only my laundry man knew how nervous I was.

As we pulled up next to the speaker, who’d had his back turned, he looked around, spotted me, and threw one of his huge arms around my shoulder. “Oh, for God’s sake, my old pal,” he said pulling his cigar from out of his mouth. He had been mad a few weeks earlier, but he was willing to forgive and forget, at least this once.

My relief, and even gratitude, knew no bounds. “Oh, Mr. Speaker,” I said effusively, “I just wanted to come by and introduce you to my friend John Linstroth.”

Tip grabbed the hand of my host, looked him in the eye and said, “Any friend of Dick Flavin’s is a friend of mine. If you ever have a problem, just call my office.” The guy was thrilled, but not nearly as thrilled as I was.

We headed back to the other room with my host convinced that I must be a really important player back in Massachusetts.

That was Tip O’Neill, willing to let bygones be bygones and, more than that, always finding ways to make those around him look good. Would he have acted the same way if I had offended him second time? I never took the chance of finding out.

Dessa Rose - One Week Left

Our Dessa Rose journey is quickly coming to a close. Yesterday marked the end of our third week of performances. We close on this coming Sunday. What an experience it's been! I have had such a great time getting to know my fellow cast members and chatting with them about life and the business. I really think that the fact that we all like each other as human beings plays onstage. Even when we have scenes where our caucasian friends aren't necessarily being kind to their African American castmates in some of the shows' more difficult scenes.

Speaking of difficult scenes. We had a really great talkback with the audience on Sunday afternoon where some people volunteered how difficult it was to watch some of the scenes as they played out onstage. For example, the beatings, the coffle, and other violent scenes are hard, even when they are put into musical form. However, the example that was given was a point in the show where Ruth leaves the slave quarters and we all proceed to laugh at her behind her back. An audience member commented that this was difficult because it's such a universal occurrence that happens to everyone. For whatever reason, this really stuck with me. It's so interesting to think about the universal messages in this show and why it is so vitally important to make sure this story is told.

A friend of mine came to see the show and asked me how I felt about playing a slave. The question struck me because I realized something about my role in this show. This is so not about playing a slave in a musical. It is more about telling the story of these two women. And their story just happens to be set during a time in American history where this was their truth and reality.

I'm so excited about the remainder of the run - my two sisters and their friends are seeing the show on Wednesday, and more of my classmates from Boston Conservatory will be attending at random points during the week. Having love in the audience really makes a difference in a performance. For now, I'm enjoying my off days and resting up for a great final week!

Dessa Rose - Rolling Along

Today is the first show of Week Three of our Dessa Rose run. Things are going quite well - we've had a lot of lovely, very responsive audiences. Sometimes, it takes the audience a moment to really warm up to the subject matter. That's understandable, given that Act I moves pretty quickly and is really quite a lot to take. But they usually warm up and get lost in the story by Act II.

Last night was the New Rep Gala, and what an event it was! I met a lot of New Rep patrons and audience members. Many people had come to see the show more than once, and it was so wonderful to get an opportunity to chat with them and thank them for their support. Attending the Gala gave me an opportunity to learn about the other programs that New Rep does. One of the highlights of the evening was Rachel York's performance. Apparently, she is in the audience of our matinee today. That's really cool, but also a little nerve wracking, I admit.

We also received a note on our callboard today from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the authors of Dessa, congratulating us on our current run. It's so cool to feel that connection with the authors of this piece and know that they appreciate us telling this story. Between that and meeting Rachel, I'm really starting to feel like a part of the theater community.

Well, once again this is a dressing room post, so I've got to head upstairs for the epilogue. ciao!

Dessa Rose - Back in the Saddle

Tonight was our first night back after a two day break. So interesting coming back to a show after running it for a while and getting a break. I've worked out certain character choices for my characters throughout the show - while allowing the individual changes in each performances to affect them - but it was so interesting finding those choices and really considering why they work or don't work after the show has been left alone for a bit. I think I might have fallen into a rut of making decisions and reacting certain ways to events in the show, but stepping away from it gave me a little perspective. This is not to say, of course, that I completely changed all my blocking and disregarded my props this evening. This is not what happened at all. However, it was so great just to a fresh unfiltered look at what's going on. 

It was also really nice to come back and see the familiar faces of my castmates and catch up on what they did over our break. It made me realize what a bond we're starting to have as a cast. I think that that really plays onstage and helps us have that ensemble feel. We are really going to be bonding this weekend - we have four shows in two days, matinee and evening shows on both Saturday and Sunday. That will certainly be an adventure for all involved :)

Okay, I must go to bed and prepare for my last day of classes (!!!!) and another great show tomorrow night. Until next time...