Ese’s Weekly Shoot and Quote Challenge – Bare

September 15, 2013

Some of my favorites

Acting is not about dressing up. Acting is about stripping bare. The whole essence of learning lines is to forget them so you can make them sound like you thought of them that instant.

Glenda Jackson

One of my favorite improv moments – Spring Awakening Meets Shakespeare Abridged

This one was tough – this quote is close to my heart as an actor and I felt the picture (taken by Daughter) should show me acting. This photo was taken shortly after we did Spring Awakening a few years ago. Much of that cast went on to do Shakespeare Abridged. After the show we launched into an improv melding both shows. It was hilarious.

But the challenge is about a photo I’ve taken.

I don’t take backstage photos. I like to preserve the magic of the show.

In fifty-plus years of being on stage, I’ve accumulated a script or two. These are some of my favorites (all the ones I could get my hands on in a minute or less – I’m due to sing at Mass in an hour and I really should be getting ready).

Some are roles that stretched me, some were as comfortable for me as walking barefoot on the beach. Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean has special meaning as my daughter and I played the same character (Mona Then for Daughter, Mona for me). There are many, many others not pictured here – Kaddish for the Last Survivor, A Table for Two, See How They Run, You Can’t Take it With You, The Pajama Game, Cheaper By the Dozen, The Country Wife (a stretch for me as I am a city girl), Man of La Mancha, The Sound of Music, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (my first music director gig), A Christmas Carol (time and again – I love love love that story) and many, many more.

The Lion in Winter I have yet to do (outside of a college acting class). It’s my favorite play and Eleanor of Aquitaine is my dream role. I auditioned for it a few years ago and the director said “That was fabulous, but you’re way too young – come back in about ten or fifteen years.” I was disappointed that I didn’t get it but overjoyed that he thought I was younger than I actually am. I will take that note any time.

Each show for me represents parts of myself I never knew existed, parts of myself that I know well and could bring to life for others, friendships that extended far beyond the life of the show.

Acting for me is taking what is not real (words on paper) and making it real so as to touch hearts and souls.

For more on this challenge go here

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