Freehold's Engaged Theatre
Summer Tour
by Sarah Harlett
Sarah Harlett has been an active member of the Seattle
Theater community for many years. Locally, Sarah has been seen at
Seattle Children's Theater, Intiman, New City Theater, Seattle
Shakespeare Company, The Empty Space and On the Boards. Internationally, she performed at the Centre de
Danse in Paris, France with the Megan Murphy Company, staying to create a
new performance piece with European artists. She graduated from Cornish
College of the Arts and received additional training at the Gaiety
School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland and with the Royal Shakespeare
Company at Oxford University. Sarah was a recipient of the Derek Jacobi
Scholarship for her training at Oxford.
In 2005, Robin Lyn n Smith asked if I'd be interested in
playing Hermione in Freehold's production of The Winter's Tale. It turned
out to be one of the most fulfilling theatrical experiences I have ever
had. An experience that became less
about the chance to play this role and much more about the audience.
The Winter's Tale tour brought us first to the Washington Correctional Center for Women in Purdy. We
made our way through a thorough security screening and set up our touring set
in the yard between the guide dog training and the gym.
I've never experienced audiences like those in Purdy and
Monroe Correctional Facilities. The
women at Purdy responded so honestly to The
Winter's Tale. They gasped as the
actor playing my husband threw me (with a fake pregnant belly) down to the
ground, and were ready to beat the crap out of him afterward.
Continued ...
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Working into Will
by Jesse Putnam
I've been getting to know a few kings lately. Richard and
Henry and his boy Hal. Strangely, I'd been hiding from these characters for
years and would've continued to - along with their cohort fairies, jesters,
courtiers and queens - had not Freehold's own nobility suggested I meet
their maker, a certain William Shakespeare.
You see, for years I had been familiarizing myself with the
history, conditions and elements of Shakespeare's life, but conspicuously
avoided something rather important: the content of his verse. Of course, I had
read some of the plays and seen many performed, but most often my experience
was one of hearing the musicality of the language, not understanding much of
it. No doubt not the first to endure this ignorance, I resolved to end it by
taking a Shakespeare class and started at the top: Amy Thone's class at
Freehold.
Continued ...
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Save the Date for Julius Caesar!
Freehold's Engaged Theatre Program Presents:
JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare
Directed by Robin Lynn Smith
Wednesday, July 7 at 6:30 pm at Seward Park, Amphitheater Saturday, July 10 at 8:00 pm at Broadway Performance Hall Sunday, July 11 at 5:00 pm at Broadway Performance Hall
Tickets: Pay What You Can
CAST: Eva Abram, Kjerstine, Anderson, Shawn Belyea, Susanna Burney, Kevin Cavanah, Luisa Figueira de Paula Collova, Sarah Harlett, Trina Harris, Reginald Andre Jackson, Sylvetser Kamara, David Brown King, Kevin McKeon, Kirsten McCory, Lisa Norman, Kate Parker, Lori Evans, Hal Ryder with Butoh Dancers Vanessa Skantze, Jacob Squirrel, Lin Lucas and Musicians, Beth Fleenor and Whitney Lyman.
More Information: Freehold's Engaged Theatre Summer Tour
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 Interview with George Lewis
George Lewis has been
working in the field of movement theatre for over 30 years. His background
includes extensive study in corporeal mime with Etienne Decroux in Paris, in the Biomechanics of Meyerhold with Russian
master teacher Gennadi Bogdanov, and circus skills at the National
Circus School
in Paris. He is one of the founding partners of Freehold and has been
teaching acting and movement across the U.S.
and Canada
since 1978, and currently teaches as core faculty at Freehold. George, you have been collaborating
and directing artists in Argentina
on several pieces. What was the
highlight of working with those artists and on their shows?
Well, for me the highlight is always
the work in the studio, I have worked or am working on five different pieces
since last year, all original clown pieces: two solos, a duo, a group piece,
and my own piece. One about suicide, one about clown/Eros, one called Mal de
Mar (Seasickness). You know, it's heaven and hell: at times it feels stuck and
frustrating and boring and seems like it will never come to fruition. And then
there are those rehearsals when everything comes together and it's funny and
moving and lovely, and the universe makes sense. The actors are all friends and
are all so funny and the process takes us to places that are truly stupid,
which I love, and to levels of insanity where worlds collide and anything goes,
and the only pitfall is everyday logic.
The pieces that have been performed
have been well received, and one got a great review in the big newspaper here
with my name mentioned on the first line, so I am rich and famous and have
groupies and paparazzi following me everywhere, and that is always nice, but
ultimately it is not why I do it.
Continued ...
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Faculty News
CT Doescher will be performing in Wooden O's Othello, July 8 - August 1. More information: Othello

Robin Lynn Smith will be directing JULIUS CAESAR and Sarah Harlett and Hal Ryder will be performing in Julius Caesar as part of Freehold's Engaged Theatre Program. Public Performances: Wednesday, July 7, 6:30 pm, Saturday, July 10th at 8:00 pm and Sunday, July 11 at 5:00 pm. More information: Freehold's Julius Caesar

Tim Hyland will direct At the Feet of Doves for Liquid Morality - Opens May 28th, More Information: At the Feet of Doves and will be in Female of the Species at ACT opening June 18. More information, Female of the Species
John Jacobsen is stll
shooting his tv show for PBS, The Artist Toolbox. John just interviewed
Chef Daniel Boulud (one of the few 4 star chefs in the US) and Isabel and Ruben Toledo (she
did Michelle Obama's dress for the inauguration and he is probably the greatest
graphic designer in fashion working, does all Nordstrom's ads), and also filmed
the legendary jazz pianist, Ramsey Lewis. Isabelle Allende is next! John also just
got hired to direct and produce a new tv pilot called The Perfect Sweat
for The Discovery Channel. The FilmSchool just had its 2nd Annual Oscar Night
Auction which grossed over $160,000. John is also buying the
rights to a Roald Dahl book and writing the script to make that into a movie.
More information on The Artist Toolbox: http://www.mogajacobsen.com/
Daemond Arrindell produces the Seattle Poetry Slam every Tuesday night at Rebar. $5.00 tickets.
George Lewis created 2 clown shows in Argentina this past year. One of them is a solo show with a woman
named Victoria Almeida. It is a multimedia clown piece called "The last time I
threw myself off a precipice", and tells the story of a clown contemplating
suicide. It is performed every Friday night at Teatro Picolino in Palermo at 11:30 pm. There was a 4 star review in La Nacion, the "New York Times of Argentina." George is going back into rehearsal with Nata Voltage (photo above) with a piece entitled "Mal de Mar" (Sea Sick), which is a kind of
clown existential journey. They performed it for 2 months, and will do a more
extended run opening in June. If you are going to be in Argentina, George offers comps for both shows!
Amy Thone will be performing in Wooden O's production of Much Ado About Nothing with her husband Hans Altwies. Performances will be from July 8 - August 1. More information, Much Ado About Nothing
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FREEHOLD's 2010 AUCTION
Thank you to all of our Auction donors, those who volunteered and those who attended Freehold's La Fête Magnifique at Tom Douglas' Palace Ballroom.
It was a great success and we very much appreciate your support!
See you next year!
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Student/Alum News
Eva Abram, Kjerstine Anderson, Shawn Belyea, Susanna Burney, Kevin Cavanah, Luisa Figueira de Paula Collova, Trina Harris, Reginald Andre Jackson, Sylvester Kamara, David Brown King, Kevin McKeon, Kirsten McCory, Lisa Norman, Kate Parker, and Lori Evans will all be performing in Freehold's Engaged Theatre Production of Julius Caesar this summer. Public Performances: Wednesday, July 7, 6:30 pm, Saturday, July 10th
at 8:00 pm and Sunday, July 11 at 5:00 pm. More information: Freehold's Julius Caesar
FourPlay is a slate of four short plays selected, directed and produced by a small team of local writers and directors in association with Eclectic Theatre Company. The team includes several Freehold alumni and students including: Jeff Woodbridge, Louise Penberthy, Rebecca Goldberg (directors), Tom Spangenberg, Moll Frothingham, Jenn Hamblin, Eva Abram (actors) and Jesse Putnam (producer). The mission of FourPlay is to provide an avenue for new Seattle playwrights to see their work onstage. Shows run the second and third weekends of June at 8 pm at Odd Duck Studio. The show on Friday the 18th of June will be a benefit for Freehold Theatre in support of our writing programs. More information here: http://fourplayseattle.weebly.com/index.html
Cathleen O'Malley completed her MFA in physical theatre at the London International School of Performing
Arts (LISPA). Performed in London, Budapest &
Silkeborg, Denmark
with grotesque comedy troupe, Relax Your Face. Have returned to the US to work in Bethlehem, PA
with Touchstone Theatre ensemble, a Lecoq-based experimental theatre company
there.
Louise Penberthy's short play The Cougar in the Coffee House is in Little Red Studio's Erotic Shorts festival in June. In The Cougar in the Coffee House, http://www.littleredstudioseattle.com/ a middle-aged, recently divorced Claire gets an astonishing proposition from a young man of her acquaintance.
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SUMMER CLASS REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN AT FREEHOLD
Here are our SIZZLING Summer Classes:
Step I: Intro to Acting with
George Lewis Step I: Intro to Acting with
Sarah Harlett Step II: Acting with Text
with Sarah Harlett Step III: Basic Scene Study with
Marya Sea Kaminski Acting for the Camera
with John Jacobsen Advanced Clown with
George Lewis Alexander Technique
Intensive: For the Actor's Toolbox with Cathy Madden Movement Intensive
with George Lewis New Play Lab with
Dickey Nesenger Playwriting I with
Paul Mullin Crafting the 10 Minute
Playwith John Longenbaugh Shakespeare Intensive
with Amy Thone Solo Performance and
Presentation with Marya Sea Kaminski Voice and Voice Over
with Gin Hammond
TO REGISTER: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org/studio or (206) 323-7499.
We look forward to hearing from
you!
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Freehold's Engaged Theatre Summer Tour
by Sarah Harlett
Continued ...
At the Monroe Correctional Facility for
Men, they even found new
humor for us. After one character asked
"Where is the thief?", one man in the audience raised his hand and said
"That's
me." But both audiences were so quiet
during Hermione's trial scene, as she plead her innocence and asked the
gods
for justice. Their investment in the
story we were sharing with them was palpable.
In the 2009 Othello
tour, we were given the opportunity to perform in the Maximum Security
Unit. A new location for the tour.
Once we arrived in that unit, it was a
struggle not to be nervous as men serving sentences in Maximum Security
arrived. These men were so silent during
the performance it was eerie. I
certainly didn't know how they would respond to Othello strangling his
wife,
Desdemona. Yet, afterward, they asked
incredibly poignant questions about the play and offered amazing insight
into
our characters. The kind of questions
and comments actors only hope will come out of a post-play discussion.
All of these audiences were relating so
honestly to what we
were portraying. That surprising
openness made me feel more responsibility as an actor. To
tell this story honestly and to be present
onstage every moment, because this story was for them.
Now, I have begun
rehearsal for this summer's Julius
Caesar
tour. I've been thinking, if the
original actors were storytellers around a fire, then we actors need to
remember our craft is the sharing of a story that needs to be told. Now.
Here. To this particular
audience. Our judgments about our
audience, our ideas about what they will like and won't, our judgments
about
ourselves and each other, just hinder us.
As Robin has said, this is about "honoring the humans that we all
are".
Public Performances of Julius Caesar: Wednesday, July 7, 6:30 pm at
Seward Park Amphitheater,
5898 Lake Washington Blvd. S.
Saturday,
July 10 at 8:00 pm at Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway
Sunday,
July 11 at 5:00 pm at Broadway Performance Hall
Tickets:
Pay What You Can Questions:
(206) 323-7499 x14 or kate@freeholdtheatre.org Back to Top
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Working with Will by Jesse Putnam
Continued ...
One of the things I value most about
Freehold is thus: the
instructors are expert at feeding complex and challenging material to
the most
frightened minds with minimal violence. In classic Freehold form, Amy
started
us off with what may be The Bard's most challenging verse to speak. She
had
each of us select a sonnet and dive into it - learn the language,
experience
the sounds, look up those strange yet perfect words. Essentially, get to
know
the poet's voice through (perhaps) his purest verse.
After leafing through my book of
Shakespeare's sonnets to
find one that struck me, I chose Sonnet 46.
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war How
to divide the conquest of thy sight; Mine eye my heart thy picture's
sight would bar, My heart mine eye the freedom of that right. My
heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie -- A closet never
pierced with crystal eyes -- But the defendant doth that plea deny And
says in him thy fair appearance lies. To 'cide this title is
impaneled A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart, And by
their verdict is determined The clear eye's moiety and the dear
heart's part:
As thus; mine
eye's
due is thy outward part,
And my heart's
right
thy inward love of heart.
I wasn't sure why this sonnet caught my
attention, but as I
studied it, recited it and played with it through performance, I found
it
landed quite neatly in my heart. Or is it my eye? That is the question
it
raised for me: which part of my human experience do I credit to for
discovering
things dear to me, and which do I trust to see the true value of things?
The
noble but temporal eye, or the sometimes mythic yet dependable heart.
That
Shakespeare meant to offer this as a broad philosophical dilemma,
without a
specific target that set off the war between heart and eye, is something
scholars may not agree with. But it felt remarkably precise to me - a
question
I had considered many times, albeit more gracefully posed in this sonnet
than
in my thoughts.
Having tasted this beautiful language
and eager for more,
Amy gave each of us a soliloquy to work on. With these we were each
coached, as
we had been with the sonnets; working ourselves into a relationship with
the
verse, the characters and the stories. Through the work on my soliloquy I
found
a joy in the writing that all but replaced the intimidation I once felt.
I was
given a speech from Henry V - the part at the beginning of the play when
Henry
responds to the insult of tennis balls given by the Dauphin. As I worked
on it
I fell in love with all elements of the scene: the language, the
character and
his needs, the story, even my comrades within the scene (especially
Exeter). All elements
seemed to fall together in a harmony that I can't recall every
experiencing
from text before. Ah, so this is what they meant when they told
me about
Shakespeare: divinely challenging, richly engaging, elegantly
constructed. Yea,
perfection.
After the soliloquy work I worked on a
scene with my
classmate Yasmin, who inhabited a perfect Anne for my Richard to woo.
That,
too, was as rewarding, rich and enjoyable as the soliloquy. (That's
another
things I value about Freehold: scene partners who are as committed and
interested
in the work as I am.)
Through this exploration of Shakespeare,
I learned a few key
things that helped me stay with it in the rough spots: 1) I had every
reason to
have felt intimidated about learning Shakespeare. As Amy says, "this
stuff's
hard!" 2) The language is even more beautiful once understood as when it
is
simply heard as music. 3) There are clearly lifetimes to be spent
exploring
this material and all one really need do is make a start... and keep
starting.
This last point has been most helpful
for me. I see now that
I had kept myself away from this material out of fear of not
understanding it.
What Amy and this class has helped me do is allow it to work on me
without the
pressure of getting it, or, perhaps the artist's most corrosive
thought,
desiring to master it. For me, the realization that this process
of
understanding Shakespeare's work is to be enjoyed throughout - even at
the very
beginning, when the obstacles seem so great - has become a liberating
principle; one that I trust, along with the power of the material, will
fuel my
interest in Shakespeare's plays for a lifetime. And allow me to meet a
few more
kings.

Amy Thone will
be teaching two Shakespeare Intensives this Summer at Freehold. For
more information on these classes:, call us at (206) 323-7499 or go to:
http://freeholdtheatre.org/studio/catalog/149
Jesse Putnam is the producer of the upcoming event called
FourPlay at Odd Duck Studio. FourPlay is a slate of four short plays selected,
directed and produced by a small team of local writers and directors in
association with Eclectic Theatre Company. The team includes several
Freehold alumni and students including: Jeff Woodbridge, Louise Penberthy,
Rebecca Goldberg (directors), Tom Spangenberg, Moll Frothingham, Jenn Hamblin,
Eva Abram (actors) and Jesse Putnam (producer). The mission of FourPlay
is to provide an avenue for new Seattle
playwrights to see their work onstage. Shows run the second and third
weekends of June at 8 pm at Odd Duck Studio. The show on Friday the 18th
of June will be a benefit for Freehold Theatre in support of our writing
programs. More information here:http://fourplayseattle.weebly.com/index.html
Back to Top
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Interview with George Lewis Continued ...

You've also been teaching
movement classes in Argentina. What are the particular challenges and/or
benefits of working with the students
there? (photo above of George teaching in Buenos Aires)
I'm teaching in Spanish. Hoo boy. My
Spanish is better each year, but it is still a challenge, For a long
time I
could not rely on humor as a teaching tool: I was just not able to be
verbally
funny. So I had to teach from another place, and that has brought me to a
deeper understanding of what this dramatic movement is about, and how it
connects to a more Stanislavskian approach to acting.
It
has also forced me to listen more deeply to
students' questions. All the speaking is slower, and with more economy
of
words, so it keeps the discussion from becoming too heady. Something
happens
with slowness- some space after the question is asked and before a
response
comes out...some time for consideration. Occasionally I can't find the
right
word, and some students will jump in with their guesses which is at
times
hysterical - things out of left field.
Culturally, I don't
find a lot of
difference in the way they work. Class seems to always start 15 minutes
late,
but everything is late here. Their commitment level is quite high.
God there's a lot of
theatre here.
I've seen a lot of great pieces. The challenges of language have been
interesting here too. All the values of Freehold: connection, listening,
moment
to moment truthfulness, clarity and specificity of action - when they
are
there, I understand so much. It's like the level of theatre that has to
exist
underneath the text. And it becomes so clear when the directing is
imposed on
the play, and when it brings out deeper meaning. I saw one piece where
the
imagery was astonishing but totally disconnected from the life of the
play,
where the actors did amazing and physically beautiful things, but in the
service of nothing. And I saw another piece with four guys in conflict
with
ever-shifting alliances with the simplest of staging that knocked my
socks off.
Small
theatre - called "Off" here - is
often performed one night a week, and if the piece is successful, can
run
forever. The small houses work "cooperatively" which means a 60/40 or
70/30
split at the door, the larger part going to the actors. Usually that
includes
box office support. So you don't have to rent a theatre to do a show,
and can
be performing a few pieces at the same time. A lot of it starts after 11
PM,
and then you go out for dinner afterwards, and that is considered
normal. One
friend whose show was not doing well at 7:30 pm changed to an 11:30 pm
slot and
sold out every performance. It's a very interesting model.
(photo below of students in George's master class in Buenos Aires)

What have you
uncovered or rediscovered in
your own work as a performer that stands out for you over the past few
months?
Well,
I'm working exclusively in
clown here. Have taken 4 different classes - there is so much great
clown
activity that I am sucking up as much as I can. It is as hard for me as
it is
for my students there at Freehold, and I'm sure they would enjoy seeing
me
suffer, both in class and in rehearsal. The clown is either present or
he is
not, and it is seen and felt immediately, and any imposition by the
actor on
the clown is seen as exactly that, and is never funny. I have found out
so much
about myself and about my patterns, and have become ferocious about not
letting
myself off the hook and not letting myself do what is easy and familiar
to me.
I have been working in the studio three times a week with Marina Barbera
who is
a good friend and an amazing clown who is working on a solo piece. She
will
watch me work and direct me/give feedback one session, and I will watch
her the
next. Lots of exploring- neither of us came in with an idea, although we
each
had an image as a point of departure. We're videotaping everything. We
were in
the workshop in Toronto
together last year, and so have a common vocabulary. She is working in
English,
which is hard for her, and my clown is working in Spanish. Again,
something
more simple and truthful comes through, with mistakes in the choice of
words or
phrasing that is sometimes hilarious and sometimes poetic. It is also
challenging for me because I am both discovering who this clown is at
the same
time I am exploring material ... discovering his voice and physicality
and
personal tendencies through his way of responding to different
situations.
The
work we did in Toronto involved an approach to clown through
the creation of six masks, corresponding to the 6 directions. We then
'danced'
each mask in the state of experience and the state of innocence, We
never spoke
of 'character' in this sense, but rather of the masks or different
aspects that
I suppose one could say makes up character. It is fascinating to
experience how
these masks seem to be emerging on their own. Of course that means
looking at
parts of George in his own life that I don't particularly want to look
at, but
which in some exploded form give the clown more wonderful and exciting
dimensions. It's funny, too, although that is not really the goal. But
it is so
interesting to be going through hell and seeing her - my audience -
cracking
up.
This is your second year of
splitting your year half here and half in Argentina. What are you
noticing about the process of doing so?
It is not easy. I really hit the
ground running this year- feel like I have a community, friends, people
to work
with, and some followers for my teaching. Last year it felt like it took
2
months to get going, and then when I returned to the US, another 2
months to
get up to speed there. I hope that will not be the case this time.
I
have experienced there and here
the challenge of finishing work before leaving. Working in an open ended
exploratory way is great, but the actors- and I- don't like to have to
drop the
project for 6 months. That has happened there as well as here. Again,
this year
I am hoping that is changing.
'Next
year when I come back'- I have
forged some connections I'd like to explore. I'd like to see more of the
country- travel a bit. More teaching here, and hopefully some
co-teaching
situations. Go back into rehearsal with the group piece, and put it back
in the
theatre. Work more with other performers. Direct a play - an absurdist
piece-
that we'll have to translate ourselves, a piece I've long wanted to work
on.
Fall in love and have hundreds of babies.
You'll be teaching a movement class
and an advanced clown class at Freehold this summer. In preparing for
the
advanced clown class, what are you looking forward to addressing with
your
students?
Deepening
the work, enlarging the
sense of possibility. Finding the way to take a strong decision and
follow
through with it. Working with more connection with the audience and with
the
partner. Allowing everything to be part of the work. Working with
different
stimuli - color and music, notably. Having fun in the midst of the
uncomfortable, the boring, the unknown. Becoming ferocious in all of
this.
The
more I work with this and with
the movement work, the more I can see the amazing potential that each
holds for
the actor. They feed the dramatic imagination, the sense of possibility,
the
willingness to commit, to give deeply and generously of oneself, and
most
importantly, to work from a place of deep enjoyment. Play.
George Lewis
will be back from Buenos Aires this summer and teaching Movement
Intensive, Advanced
Clown and Intro
to Acting at Freehold.
Back to Top ...
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