Utah Children's Theatre

Exciting news that next Tuesday, June 2 I will be interviewing for an actor instructor position at Utah Children's Theatre.  This is a huge step for me as it would mean living in Salt Lake City.

The story of how this happened is a bit of a crazy one.  When I left for college to get a theatre degree I told my parents that I would not get an educational degree as well because I didn't want to teach.  I wanted to do.  This seemed like a good idea at the time.  I would get done with school, move to New York City, and become a Broadway actor within six months.

Unfortunately, I forgot about this little thing called "finances".  I didn't really know how expensive it was to live in New York or that, as a relatively unknown actor, I would have a tough time getting an acting job.  I also didn't fully grasp the fact that these jobs would not bring in enough to pay my rent.

I decided, six months before graduation, to live in Logan for a while and do technical and administrative theatre as well as auditioning for things in Salt Lake.

After auditioning for "Revengers" in Salt Lake and coming to realize that it didn't pay anything ($50 for the entire run, but still...), trying to get paid for administrative theatre work in Logan; which doesn't pay anything either, and almost having to cave and work at a call center, I decided to go into teaching at a children's theatre.

I really enjoyed explaining myself to the actors that I had directed in college.  I enjoyed telling them why I asked them to do things and how to work on their own to become better actors.  This spurred me to contact Unicorn Theatre in Logan in order to get a teaching job.

Despite my expertise at directing and acting, I was told that the most I could be offered was an unpaid assistantship.  Obviously, I said that I was unable to do that.  After assistant directing HSM JR. with the Utah Festival Opera Conservatory, I decided that my input deserves compensation and that, while enjoyable, I don't have enough to gain from assistantships to merit them being unpaid (which is why I'm an unpaid assistant at LYS, but that's another matter).

While drinking some cheap beer at home one day, I got an alert from Backstage Utah that Utah Children's Theatre was looking for acting instructors.  I applied to them, thinking that moving to Salt Lake would be a good first step if I got the job.

I also applied to a children's theatre in Taylorsville, but they weren't interested.

About a month after applying, I got an email from Jana Cox at UCT that she would like me to come in for an interview on June 2.  I emailed back immediately that I was available and changed my work schedule to fit around that date.

Since hearing from Jana, I have been snooping around UCTs website to learn all about the theatre.  I think I have a pretty good chance at this point.  I guess we'll find out in June.

Cymbeline

As of last week, I have been brought on as an assistant with Logan Youth Shakespeare's production of "Cymbeline".

For those that don't know the play; it's basically a spam of Shakespeare's plays.  Star-crossed lovers, cold and drowsy humour, murder, cross dressing, and the occasional eagle riding God are all included in this play.

Cymbeline is not a comedy nor is it a tragedy (despite Shakespeare's original intent).  The Greeks would classify these types of plays as tragicomedies; the place where all plays that are not cut and dry comedy or tragedy go.  This category includes basically everything on cable today, so it's not very helpful.

I would classify Cymbeline as a dark romantic comedy.  It's basically "Romeo and Juliet", "King Lear", "Twelfth Night", and "Richard III" inside Disney's "Sleeping Beauty".

If you're not sure how that can work, come see the play at the Bullen Center in Logan, Utah.  Performances are set for early August and tickets will be available at the door.  You can see everything going on with LYS and the Cache Valley Center for the Arts here.  While there, be sure to check out the Spring play, "As You Like It", which plays later this month.