PERFORMANCE: The Actors' Roundtable: "Stage Fright"

Each week, Paden Fallis poses one question to a group of professional working actors from a variety of backgrounds. Our goal is not to demystify the work of the actor or explore their careers, but to dig a bit deeper into their artistic working process. ACTOR’S ROUNDTABLE: STAGE FRIGHT In my one-man show, The Play About The Coach, the thoughts and actions run a mile a minute—a sprint from beginning to end. At moments during the show, I become aware of the speed that my mouth is moving and the pace that the words are flying. I worry that if I drop a word or a line, the whole thing might go off the rails. At other points in the play, I’ll feel the watchful eye of the audience bearing down and the pressure is such that I fear I might figuratively drop the ball and break down in tears. I cite these two examples as being the seeds of Stage Fright. Stage fright is one of those terms that actors have heard since day one. I’ve yet to experience a real bout of stage fright, but we know it can hit any of us, from Olivier on down. It’s the price of doing business in live performance. Have you experienced stage fright? And, if so, how clearly can you explain that feeling to us? Conversely, if you don’t have the experience, do you fear it?

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Crazy 4 Kate Kelton's Cult Culture

Kate Kelton pointing to her work at Gallery 1988’s Crazy 4 Cult pop-up show.

Gallery1988 is an LA-based pop culture art gallery. On Thursday, I attended the opening of their very first New York show, Crazy 4 Cult, and the line was around the block of their Meatpacking district pop-up. Fans actually arrived in the morning to hold their place in line. Fortunately, participating artist / actress Kate Kelton was there to let me in, saving me hours of waiting in line.

To get a feel for the culture here, Kate is among the 200 artists in the show. She is known from her prolific appearances in Tic Tac ads over the past decade, and as one of the twins from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, but that will change starting Thursday and Friday, August 16 & 17, when the IFC series Bullet in the Face premieres. In the show, she plays, “a pretty fabulous femme fatale,” alongside co-stars Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts in what is being billed as “the most violent sitcom ever.”

Kate’s work in the Gallery1988 show—like the rest of the art—references cult film. I managed a short exchange with gallery co-owner Jason Karp to learn how he creates so much interest in his openings.

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ADVENTURE: The Mongol Rally - Never Piss Off The Fixer

Lachlan is learning a lesson.

[Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of posts by former stated feature artist, Charlie Grosso, as she takes on the 10,000 Mongol Rally.]

First thing Wednesday morning we arrive at the Turkmenistan Consulate in Baku (yet again, this is starting to feel like Groundhog Day) to see about Pam’s visa. Ishmael, the fixer, is already there along with a few other ralliers. Fully understanding what is at stake here, I walked straight up to Ishmael and said hello to him first before I chatted it up with the rest of the ralliers.

Enter Lachlan.

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PERFORMANCE: The Actors' Roundtable: "The Audition Moment Before"

Each week, Paden Fallis poses one question to a group of professional working actors from a variety of backgrounds. Our goal is not to demystify the work of the actor or explore their careers, but to dig a bit deeper into their artistic working process. ACTOR’S ROUNDTABLE: THE AUDITION ‘MOMENT BEFORE’ Let’s go into the audition room, specifically the prepared monologue / song audition and not the audition with sides and a reader. Typically you walk in, greet the auditors, take your spot in the room, announce the piece, take a moment for yourself, and begin. I’m specifically interested in that moment that you “take for yourself”. Oftentimes we lower our head or gaze and gather our thoughts before diving in. What do you do / think in that moment? Full disclosure, I usually think something along the lines of, “You better nail this first moment,” or “These damn things are so contrived,” or “Here goes another canned performance,” or “How in the world are they going to see what I’m capable of in sixty seconds,” or… Don’t tell me what I should be doing in that moment. I want to know, what in God’s name are you doing in that moment?

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PERFORMANCE: The Actors' Roundtable: "Rhythm"

Each week, Paden Fallis poses one question to a group of professional working actors from a variety of backgrounds. Our goal is not to demystify the work of the actor or explore their careers, but to dig a bit deeper into their artistic working process. ACTOR’S ROUNDTABLE: RHYTHM Rhythm. This is everything to me when playing a role. I work tirelessly through rehearsals, trying to find the rhythm of a character’s thoughts, movements, speech. A good performance can usually be traced to me being in rhythm with the role, a bad one usually means I’m out of their rhythm. Rhythm. Each actor accesses roles in a different way. Some actors do so through the emotional life of their character, others through the physicality, and others through their character’s costume. Of course, many things serve as triggers for us, but oftentimes one specific aspect puts us over the hump and squarely into that character’s skin. Give me a word (or two or three) that says how you access your roles and explain.

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