Update on the Insane (I)

I guess this will be my series of entries on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Along with whatever else I feel like talking about. Really it's just an excuse to not think of entry names until the end of April.

So in more sane (sort of) news my blog friend Magickat is about to embark on The Crucible in her area. She will be playing Ann Putnam, who is a ridiculously hard person to portray, simply because it's too easy to make her out and out evil and phone it in from there. To make her a real person that you at least understand takes a lot more than that. Reading her last entry she's fairly nervous about the level of preparation they'll have before opening night. If you've ever done theater, you know what she's talking about, and let's face it, Crucible is no South Pacific. You can't just learn your lines then walk on the day before. Still, I'll never stop being amazed at what can happen with three days of panic attacks.

Those of you who've been keeping up know I played Rev. Hale last year. Keep scrolling down. It's all down there. Crucible has a very special place in my heart, partly because it WAS so hard, and the reward was so great. Unfortunately, it's one of the shows you either love or hate. Most of my friends and family fall on the latter side, so I didn't have too many folks coming to it. (All completely understood on my part. I wouldn't make anyone sit through it if they didn't want to in the first place.) So for the other three of you who read this, send some good mojo her way. We should all know what it feels like to be in the trenches. Break legs, Kat, break lots of legs.

Please not your own.

All of that leads up to what's going on HERE. We had the first read through of Cuckoo about a week ago, and I couldn't be more thrilled. With a few notable exceptions, this cast is mostly strangers to me, and you always wonder before going in what it will be like. Fortunately, this group is top notch. There will be some great crazies, and our Ratched will be positively chilling.

I'm not going to say I'm not a little nervous about it, because I am. When you look at all of the phenomenal actors who've played McMurphy before it's easy to feel a little daunted. Also, for those of you who've only seen the movie, there are a lot of differences between it and the stage version. The movie is far more brooding, less about dialogue. The stage version is more on the nose, a bit more beatnik in it's sensibilities. I guess more Kesey than Forman? As much as he fits, I want to do him as much justice as I can, push myself out of my comfort zone.

So finally it leads to preparation. We start rehearsals this Sunday. That gives us about nine weeks, which just typing makes my brain hurt, but one thing I am positively good at is memorization of a script. I can barely remember important birthdays but I can have a full script in my hard drive within two weeks if I put the time in. Disgusting, I know, but I want to get out of the blocking crap as fast as possible, so I can learn how to be nuts.

At least, McMurphy's brand of nuts.

Okay, so...

The only thing really worth mentioning is that tonight I go for the first read through of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, I most certainly am playing McMurphy. I am pumped.

I want to speak a little about the audition process for me on this one. Auditioning for community theater, to me, has always been a frighteningly hard to predict process. The film stuff I've done is very different. I know none of the people auditioning or holding the auditions for the most part, so I feel complete freedom to fail. I put everything out there and if they want me they'll let me know. Fine, no big shakes. I like the process of auditioning very much nowadays. Trying out different roles just for an evening is fun in and of itself, as long as you can forget that it's a competition of sorts. I also tend to think that the film auditions I've done directors are taking the best fits they can find for their piece.

Community theater has so many different levels to the interpersonal connections it's shocking. Many times I've seen shows cast for friends or relations. I've known directors to give friends parts before auditions, then not tell the actors coming in that a certain role has already been filled. (Interestingly, there is one area director who pre-casts some roles, and makes it very clear before someone auditions. For this reason, many local actors will not do his shows. In the same breath they will audition for companies where favoritism is heavy but it isn't ANNOUNCED. Strange.) I've seen casting decisions that just made no sense to me. For these reasons and more I always feel a bit queasy going in to these.

McMurphy, though, he just makes sense to me. I feel drawn to this guy, more so than in most parts I've played. Being him is like getting into a hand made suit. It fits. The audition for this show I left everything on that stage, and knew it. Everyone else in the theater knew it too, you coud feel it. A friend of mine came to the initial audition and said it seemed pretty obvious. Everyone knew it. I walked out of there knowing. It felt amazing.

The call back felt like more of the same. I try to be very encouraging to the other actors around me, even at auditions when we're more or less head-to-head, but this time I knew. I felt supreme confidence. Getting the email on my birthday just made it click into place.

So now I have to prove I'm not full of crap. THAT'S terrifying.

Happy Birthday to ME...

-Woke up at the perfect time.
-Nice breakfast.
-Afternoon snowboarding with my lady and my best friend.
-Email:

RANDLE P. McMURPHY

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, today is a good day.