We’re actors.  We love to share our stories.  We tend to feel that if you have enough of them at the end of a night, a run, or a life, then you’ve really lived.

But other people come to the Park on nights that we play and find their own ways of telling their stories.

Here is Bob Marcotte’s blog post about his evening photographing his experience in Woodward Park with our actors:

A Late Summer’s Night Made Glorious

from Heather Parish
Artistic Director

As I write this I am awaiting the publication of the Fresno Bee’s review of Richard III.  Normally, I don’t wait at the computer for such things to come out; I get really busy doing something else.  I usually know what the reviews are going to say on any given production I am involved with.

But this one is a bit up in the air.  Last night, when Mr. Munro was in the audience, the generator that powers our lights went out for the second time.  The first time we thought it was a fuel issue and corrected it.  The second time?  No clue.  Turns out the generator’s alternator was kaput.  Nothing we could have done to forsee that or properly diagnose it before the show.  Thems the breaks.

But whenever that happens, it automatically throws off a show’s performance.  The actors have to hold while we rig backup lighting and it is on their minds throughout the rest of their performance.  While the performance that they continued to give was excellent in my view– they’re a very well prepared cast– the technical failure can’t help but throw off the mojo.

So, we wait to see how we are reviewed under those circumstances.  I recommend to all cast and crew members NOT to respond to any public criticism as it doesn’t serve the artform or the performance at all.  But I am tempted, as I wait, to take up for them now.  No excuses, just the knowledge of how different the circumstances are for actors working outdoors in a temporary space.

But I cannot do even that.  We aren’t a “pansy-ass” troupe.  We take our hits with good grace, mount up again and ride on.  We learn from the mistakes that make us appear less than we really are and hopefully fix them (a new generator is on the way today) to become more than we once were.

This cast is amazing.  I hope theatre-goers and Shakespeare-lovers come out to the Park to see them and the passion they’ve put into this play.  Every time something has gone wrong it is the blessing of the audience and the willingness of the cast to continue that saves us.  That connection constitutes poetic faith and it is what theatre is about.

So, whatever Mr. Munro has to say– good and bad– we will hear with a spirit of generosity and a desire to continue to give free Shakespeare to Fresno.

And tonight, we will check and double check everything for a terrific Friday night performance.

Take some time to join us this month.  Find out what is really happening out there when all the technical riff raff is stripped away– terrific performances in space and time and body.

That’s really all you need.

James Sherrill, who currently appears as Richmond in WSF’s production of Richard III, shared this charming moment with an audience member after last night’s show:

Best Donation… Ever.

via Facebook

I was the last one to come out from backstage on opening night of Richard III. I grabbed my donation bucket and started wandering through the dwindling crowd, trying to catch eyes and thank them for coming to the show.

Sorry, Woodward. You’re not getting this dime.

The Quick FAQ on WSF’s production of Richard III

The following questions have been asked of Heather Parish, the show’s director, multiple times during the summer over drinks, during dinners, at meetings and mixers around town.  We have constructed them in the form of a conversation:

Which one is Richard III?

HP: He’s the one Ian McKellan played in that movie adaptation from around 10 years ago—the Fascist England adaptation.  He’s also the one they thought killed the little kids in the Tower of London.  Technically, Richard III was a ruthless and shrewd man who schemed his way to the throne of England only to lose it a short time later.

So, it’s a history play then?

HP: Not strictly.  Shakespeare took many, many liberties with history when creating this story.

How much of it is true?

HP: We’re treating it all as if it were fiction.  While a few plot points bear some relation to actual history, the play Shakespeare wrote in terms of character, timeline and motivation is largely fiction.

We’re more interested in the themes and questions Shakespeare’s play asks than in portraying the actual history of Richard’s reign in England.  That’s an entirely different play.

So, what questions are you asking?

HP: The same questions Shakespeare always asks:  What does it mean to be human?  How should we act? What should we do?

. . .  Seriously, what questions. . . ?

HP: *sigh.. . * Questions of power and seduction, fear and action, loss and gain. . . There are many other questions that come out of how we are telling the story and what the audience brings to the table.  We try not to answer the questions. . . we feel that the asking of the questions is important so that the audience can live the human experience of the play vicariously and try to answer the questions for themselves.

What’s your concept?  What time period are you setting it in?

HP: I don’t usually deal in straight concepts. I usually have an approach at the beginning of rehearsal and the concepts come out of working with the actors and what they bring to the table.  For the visual context, the aesthetic is Elizabethan turned a bit on its side.

So, it’s Elizabethan. . . isn’t that about 100 years after the reign of Richard III?

HP: Elizabethan costuming and staging is the aesthetic—the world of the play we’re producing in the now.  But again, we’re treating the play as fiction—a story of what havoc one man can bring upon a society.  That idea is universal and can be played in a number of different time periods, costumes, and settings.

And you have lots of women in men’s roles.  Are they playing men?

HP: No, they are playing characters.  Unless a character calls for a specific gender relationship to another character—wife/husband, mother/father, sister/brother, etc.—I will cast either men or women into the role and let the actor decide how and when to use their gender point of view or sexuality to further the story and flesh out the world of the play.  I cast based on the ability of the actor to tell the story effectively and try to see a variety of strengths and abilities in various people to create interesting characters.  It makes for bolder choices in storytelling and can really turn a show on its ear.

So, Buckingham’s a woman?

HP: *sigh*. . . . yes, the character of Buckingham wears a skirt and brings all of those societal assumptions toward a person with no spouse or children to speak of.

So, what are you trying to say by that?

HP: As a person who wears skirts and also has no spouse or children to speak of, no comment.  I’d rather the audience ask what they themselves read into it.

And, how’s the show coming along?

HP: Quite well, if I do say so.  But we won’t truly know anything about the show until the final character enters the scene:  the audience.

This FAQ can be reproduced publicly for WSF Richard III promotional purposes only.  Quotes taken from this FAQ should be verbatim and used in proper context.  ©Heather Parish 2009

About a month ago I had a brief sit down with my friend  and costume designer Kat Brinkely Clowes regarding the costume approach for Richard III.  Kat is an accomplished historical costumer, but has a distinct eye for translating it to a modern aesthetic.

After a brief run down of the practicalities of the show– it is a history play we’re doing, but one we aren’t setting  inside an explicit time frame; we’re having a number of women play traditionally male roles; the set design is a very non-literal unit; we want something that looks immediately “traditional” but that won’t look entirely foreign to the modern eye — we decided on a traditionally Elizabethan silhouette and style, but with a variety of contemporary fabrics, textures, and colors.  As Kat likes to say, “. . . a period style that wouldn’t look entirely out of place in some of the couture runway shows this year.”

We’re emphasizing the Elizabethan look because we want to focus on SHAKESPEARE’S Richard III and the story he tells about the fight against tyranny, not the historical Richard III.  So staying away from most of the medieval era clothing was important.

The next step for Kat was to get a look at the majority of the cast, begin sketching, and go on the prowl for the best sample fabric swatches she could find– at a modest price!  In her sketches you can see the Elizabethan look influenced by the Shekhar Kapur films starring Cate Blanchett.  But where Kat does her job so brilliantly is in her fabric choices.  Using a variety of colors and textures, she’ll assemble an amazing array of garments, each of which will begin to capture the character’s function and personality in the show.

Here is what Kat has to say about some of her choices:

I’ve played a bit with light and dark and colors that inspire.  Of course the princes are in lighter, purer colors, the King is in greys with gold and silver to display a sort of bland-sickly feeling and the queen matches in a much more flashy, overdone manner.  Lady Anne is in a modern blue/grey print that’s fabulous in person while Princess Elizabeth, like the princes, is in a light, pastel yellow with my silk embroidered forepart.  I put a lot of thought into the murderesses, wanting to give the impression of a smoldering fire while simulatenously choosing colors that represented decay to me.

The nobles are in prints/weaves that have a lot of geometry, representing the complexity of their positions in all of this.  Buckingham will have a skirt of a burgandy/gold print that reminds me of the Elizabethan weaves of the era while having a strange, almost stucco way about it (it’s my favorite fabric of the show).

In the coming weeks, Kat and her crew will be making mockups of the principle pieces for initial fittings and then they’ll get to work building the massive amounts of doublets, bodices, skirts, and slops (Elizabethan pants) needed to pull of this grand fictional court.  We’ll definitely keep you updated!

Heather Parish
Director, Richard III

I have a few shows I’ve directed in the past that have been extra special to me; they carry an extra-special place in my heart:  The Importance of Being Earnest was the first show where I truly found my voice as a director– an aesthetic and and approach that spoke to me, personally.  The Turn of the Screw challenged that approach with an pair of consummate actors and fostered my love for non-traditional spaces.  And Enchanted April was a beautiful show to run and perform because of the commitment to ensemble work that the cast showed each and every step of the way.

I’ve directed a few shows since then, and while I always enjoy the work and have been lucky enough to have casts I like, I haven’t quite felt the spark of potential that those three shows embody for me.

Until this weekend.  Richard III began its initial rehearsals at WSF a few days ago, and I am absolutely charged up by the specific energy, intelligence, and style this group has to offer this play.  They’re smart.  They’re committed.  They’re up for anything.  They’re also vocal and challenging and fiercely independent which means I’ll have to stay on top of my game– a challenge I’ve probably needed for some time.

I am looking forward to what this cast and this play will teach me in the coming weeks.  At the end of yesterday’s rehearsal I expressed my expectations of them:  to be courageous, to take specific action, to do their homework.  I expect the same of myself as we move forward to craft this story together.

But I know that one other thing will come forth from this process:  love.  Love of the art form, love of the people who commit to it, and love of the way it can move us all in the creating and performing.

Heather Parish
Artistic Director and director of Richard III