Blog Installment June 13, 2011

Hello, it has been quite a while since I have written. The tour actually had a month layoff. Wow, how wonderful to be back home and back in New York City, at least for a little while. It was wonderful to reconnect with acting class teacher and fellow actors, my singing teacher as well as family and friends. Luckily, I was able to participate in a reading of a new play by a fellow acting class actor turned playwright. It took place at Sardi’s and we had a full house. It was a fun role and a fun evening, we even had 16 hours of rehearsal!!! Then it was back on the road.

The tour restarted in Norfolk, VA for a week sit-down with eight performances. It was interesting to get back to work daily after having had four weeks off. We also had smaller audiences until Saturday afternoon. Which brings me to my topic of conversation tonight: Audiences and how they influence the actors, the show and the energy.

There are various Acting and Singing Teachers who have voiced theories about Energy and how it affects performing: the performer and the audience. I was taught that there are three circles that emanate from a great actor: one that circles the actor’s self, one that includes the cast and the third that goes out to the audience and then comes back to the performer. Another voice teacher from the UK, Patsy Rodenburg, wrote a book and included this quote about circles of Energy: “

Second Circle

is The Energy of Connecting.  People who operate in this circle have real presence.  People who operate in this circle give out energy but also receive it back. These are the performers who literally change our lives when we listen to them. You feel they are connecting directly with you personally even although you may be one of a very large audience.  They connect.  These students are the ones who give back energy to you and we emerge from our studio feeling as if we have not been working at all. If only all our students could be like that, we say.”

There is definitely a circle between the audience and the performers that create a natural high.  It is truly amazing, but it does happen. Just such an experience happened to me the last show on Sunday night in Norfolk. Usually during the 5 show weekends, I have been very tired by the last show Sunday night. It has taken more focus and more of my own energy to give the audience the show they came to see. However, Sunday night in Norfolk I felt like I was flying and fresh as a daisy! The show flew by and was a hit from the first moment I stepped on the stage. The audience laughed at all of the funny moments and sent back energy up onto the stage so that all of us could give one of our best performances of the tour. I wasn’t the only one who was flying at the end of the show… This also happened for the entire week in Tempe, AZ. I don’t know why, but every audience in Tempe was excited to be there and really loved the show, sending energy pouring back to us onstage, which of course then poured back or circled back to them, creating incredible theater for us and for them. Friends who were in the audience that week said they had never seen such a great performance of “FIDDLER”.  We are very lucky that our troupe of actors have come together as a family. We have traveled together, had a Seder together, celebrated Thanksgiving together, laughed and cried together!! This has made us a village in reality, not just onstage. I really believe that the energy and love that is passed around backstage crosses the “Fourth Wall” into the audience and when the audience is receptive, it creates a moment of great theater and great energy. I have been very lucky to have been a part of this group and had these terrific experiences as a performer. The best part of all of this is that for some synergistic reason, the entire cast has figured this out at the same time and all of our last nine shows have had that incredible energy circling from the cast to the audience so that the laughs and cheers from the audience have really fueled us onstage. What a life I lead!!!