Ensemble Diaries:TSP Company Member Logan Keeler

The Seeing Place Theater is thrilled to announce its 2016 Fundraising Initiative. As a part of the initiative we want you to give you a chance to get to know our members, so we gave them a little challenge. To start, the Seeing Place asked each of its members 3 questions which they could answer via text or video:

1) What is your hometown?
2) What is your dream role?
3) When was the last time you contributed to a campaign and how did it make you feel?

We then asked them to craft a little blog post about what brought them to The Seeing Place and why it means so much to them. We hope you enjoy getting to know our ensemble!


"DRAMATURGY- WHY ALL THE FUSS?" BY LOGAN KEELER

Company Member Logan Keeler

As the story goes, when Steven Spielberg approached Daniel Day-Lewis for the role of Lincoln, which later won Day-Lewis his third Oscar, the actor looked it over and said, “Ok, but I’ll need a year.” And you know what? They gave it to him. Now you might ask why anyone would need a year to discover a character. Take a few weeks to get the lines down, rehearse with a cast, sure. Take a month, fine. Sequester yourself in a cabin in the woods and delve into the desires, fears, behaviors, physicality of the character. Yes, this seems reasonable, even by today expedited Shoot It, Cut It, Sell It rigor of Hollywood. But a year?! Sure enough, one year later Day-Lewis came back to Spielberg after reading over 100 books on the famous president among personal accounts from the man himself, arguably surpassing the research of Tony Kushner himself, who wrote the biography of which the film takes its name.

Call Daniel Day-Lewis neurotic, over-excited and extreme in his methodology. But you could never call him careless. You could never call him rash. You could never call him unprepared. He took the precautionary measures to learn- historically, mind you- how Abraham Lincoln spoke, how he walked, the clothes he wore, the shoes he wore, the health conditions he was subject to, the sleep he had or had not, the pressures put upon him by not only the Civil War at home but relations abroad, age, relations, everything of the time and everything of the man. Lincoln’s mother-in-law didn’t appear in the film but you know that he had an opinion on her!

I bring this up today, because as necessary work that the actor must do, dramaturgy should not only be seen as pivotal but yearned by the actor. What a profound opportunity to find oneself in, to bring a character off the page to life. As one might expect upon seeing our shows at The Seeing Place Theater, we have our standard four weeks of rehearsal preceding it. What’s not so known to the theatergoer is that this rehearsal period is itself preceded by three or so weeks of a dramaturgy period. This time is spent in round table discussion asking the pivotal questions of the who, what, where and why. Every story we tell exists in a world larger than the stage you see from the house and all this is taken into consideration. Each decision of the character is questioned and discussed and the story behind the story is collectively written before we even hit the rehearsal room.

The Seeing Place ensemble find the humor in 
this lively dramaturgy session for OTHELLO

The purpose is simply this- to get the story and all its pesky details out of the way so that the actor may be free to explore it. Imagine entering your bathroom to brush your teeth only to find the light is out. You could probably go about the task with surprising ease. The cabinet is this far away, the toothpaste lies here, the faucet is exactly here. By Day One of rehearsal the goal is to know the story, understand the character and embodied the lines as much as to have the openness and freedom to move about the space as freely as you would reach for the toothpaste in the dark. The only real question now is how to go about it.

From my own personal experience, I can easily become trodden down by the tedium of research. This is different though. As objective as dramaturgy begins, naturally over time, I find, the character, without prompting, begins to flesh itself out. As Day-Lewis himself said, “Whilst you are learning you are not necessarily staying objecting.” The tedium is lost when we learn that dramaturgy is not about research at all, but discovery. We are not surveyors, we are archeologists.



3 Questions

1. Hometown: Falmouth, Maine
2. Dream Role: George from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"
3. Last time I gave: I dropped a few bucks to Doctors Without Borders. I generally am hesitant giving to individuals that I don't know personally know but the organization and their goals I respected. I knew that my contribution would go far.

The learn more about Logan, visit www.logankeeleractor.com.

-------

To help create new work with Logan and The Seeing Place by contributing to our campaign, visit www.TheSeeingPlaceTheater.com

Ensemble Diaries:TSP Ensemble Member Danny O'Shea

The Seeing Place Theater is thrilled to announce its 2016 Fundraising Initiative. As a part of the initiative we want you to give you a chance to get to know our members, so we gave them a little challenge. To start, the Seeing Place asked each of its members 3 questions which they could answer via text or video:

1) What is your hometown?
2) What is your dream role?
3) When was the last time you contributed to a campaign and how did it make you feel?

We then asked them to craft a little blog post about what brought them to The Seeing Place and why it means so much to them. We hope you enjoy getting to know our ensemble!



"THEATER SAVED MY LIFE" BY DANNY O'SHEA

I was raised in The Queensbridge Housing Projects (the biggest housing project in the United States) by my Mother who for most of her life suffered from chronic and severe venous leg ulcerations. I never saw my Father (they separated before my birth and divorced when I was two ) but there was much talk of him and none of it good. I was an okay student, an altar boy and like all of my friends loved sports of any kind. As I reached my teens the one thing I was consistent with was getting in trouble and daydreaming.

I was a 17 year old dropout, shooting pool one day at my local community center. The activities coordinator invited me to join her and a group of local seniors to see a show on Broadway. I said sure. I had nothing to do. All my friends were in school. Off I went with some new friends to a matinee performance of DRACULA. This was the first show I ever saw on Broadway- come to think of it, it was the first show I ever saw. I was overcome by the power of the theater.

Danny O'Shea

Not long afterwards I went back to school (sort of) and decided to be an actor. I was fortunate to be able to study with the great Herbert Berghof who taught me that the theater is a sacred place that must always be socially relevant. Dear Herbert - from whom I learned so much - the least of which was acting. In the final analysis, Herbert taught me (eventually) how to be a human being, how to stand on principle and that being smart and gentle is the epitome of cool. He even taught me how to be a better flirt.

I was lucky enough to also study with and audit classes offered by other magnificent teachers like Uta Hagen, Carol Rosenfeld and Earle Hyman among others. One teacher (it was a woman - who exactly I forget) was giving some feedback after a scene I did and she told me, "The energy you're giving this piece is violent and staccato like Stravinsky but it needs a light, flowing legato touch almost like Schubert." I looked at the teacher like a cow that had, just moments before, been prodded by a stun gun. She asked, "Surely you know who Stravinksy and Schubert are ? " "No." I replied. Her response was a pained, "Ohhh..." which in itself was a lesson in subtext. She didn't have to tell me the disgust and disdain she felt for me at that moment- it was expressed loud and clear.

This was just what I needed  I spent hours at The Library For The Performing Arts at Lincoln Center listening to Stravinsky (who I loved) and Schubert (who I liked.) I listened to everything. I went to museums. I read voraciously. An actor (if they want to be any good) spends a great deal of time researching epochs, history, culture, painting, enlarging our psychology and looking at other points of view. I read Hemingway, Fitzgerald, John Donne, Balzac, Salinger- one of my all time favorites Saul Bellow.

Danny on the set of "Boardwalk Empire"

Here I was, a young man that HATED school work and was forever in trouble. Now I had no time to get in trouble I was too busy. Plus I had other people who were now counting on me (directors, cast mates, scene partners) who I couldn't let down. And now, my wife is a lover of the arts and that's one of the things that binds us so closely together.

Many of my childhood friends did well but so many fell victim to crime and ensuing incarceration, alcoholism, drug addiction and oftentimes death. I was following that path of self destruction but the theater saved my life.

Theater is a life affirming, life saving art form. As an actor and an audience member I am constantly required to employ empathy and to listen and weigh out other people's points of view. This in turn increases a person's capacity to feel and also enlarges ones imagination. Theater takes on the challenge of giving meaning and context to our lives, to our values and morals (or lack thereof) through narrative and metaphor. Theater "holds the mirror up to nature" so we might see our lives objectively for the purpose of examination, enlightenment and let's not forget entertainment. Theater is one of the last art forms to not be totally consumed and taken over by technology. And at The Seeing Place Theater we pride ourselves in telling stories in an organic, simple and compelling way.


Learn more about Danny at www.actordanieloshea.com.

-------

To help create new work with Danny and The Seeing Place by contributing to our campaign, visit www.TheSeeingPlaceTheater.com