News & Views

The News & Views page is where you'll find updates on what MacLeod is up to and hopefully a thoughtful reflection or funny story here and there. This is the blog of my blog-site.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Nobody update

Nobody has begun it's sold out run at the intimate Seventh Street Small Stage at Jimmy's 43.
Crystal's play is such a pleasure to work on! It's one of those challenging pieces that you can never really "get right". Every night is an experiment, a search, which as an actor is exciting because I get to let go and move on after every performance in anticipation of the next night. This offers me the freedom to live very much in the moment on stage rather than trying to manufacture a "correct" performance. Of course I learn more every time and build upon each show.

Daniel's direction has really made this possible. He established for us the tone and the goal-the idea of the piece-but offers us the freedom to find it on our own. But what's most important is that he's constantly pushing us to find more, never to be completely content or set in our performances. For me, this is a most crucial attribute for a director to have. Obviously a director must be sensitive to different actors' insecurities, offer encouragement, but as soon as we are satisfied with our work the theater is no longer vital and we are merely entertaining. In a long run this can be incredibly tiring, searching endlessly, never having the security of a finished or lasting product. That's why the work of the actor is so challenging. I strive to remind myself that it's never enough to merely show up. Acting, though hopefully fun, though hopefully fulfilling, is hard work. I highly recommend reading Sean Penn's interview in Rolling Stone which reinforced this idea for me.

Good Things,
MacLeod

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