Rehearsals Progressing…

Sorry I haven’t posted. Work, rehearsals, photo shoots [I work as a model sometimes, this summer has been good to me in that area]… they’ve kept me pretty busy!

Hanging with some of my cast mates before the Gay Pride Parade in NYC.

So this year I was super excited about my character, a Merry Band wanna-be, tomboy, etc., named Ida Man [yay puns!], but it was shot down during the rehearsal process. My directors weren’t digging the idea.

So I became Ainslee Hoode, farmer’s daughter, not a lady.
Basically, now I’m playing a tomboy who has a lot of daddy issues.

Rehearsals have been going pretty well. Not meaning to toot my own horn, but last year was my first time really improving, and I was okay, but not that great. Working at the Renaissance Faire has really expanded my theatrical abilities, making me a much better improv actress. I’m a pretty good “yes, and-er” now [editors note: "yes, and" refers to the ability to accept what a scene partner says and build upon it]!

My two best friends and I in front of the castle and joust field. In order: Amber, me, Coleen. They're playing the other two witches in Macbeth, and Amber will be playing Katharina opposite me in Taming of the Shrew.

This year our faire is introducing a new thing, Hit and Run Shakespeare. Basically, we’re performing small scenes from Shakespearean plays on the street, in leu of a full Shakespearean production [the company used to perform those before I joined the cast.] I’ve never performed Shakespeare before, but this summer I get the chance to do scenes from two Shakespearean plays, Macbeth [where I'm witch #2 in act 4, scene 1], and Taming of the Shrew [where I'm Petruchio, yes, a guy, in act 2, scene 1].

When did this blog become a list of things I’m doing? I guess hearing this stuff is kind of boring.

On to the good stuff. Gossip. Drama. Whatever.

Eating a pickle during lunch at rehearsal. Pickles help prevent dehydration. So we eat a lot of them.

Any of you who know me, or follow me on twitter, know how cynical of a person I can be. I wasn’t always this way, and I don’t want to bore you with the story of my life, but basically, when you’re told that your only value is your hot body, and no one sees you for who you are because you have a big chest, you kind of start to believe it. No one cares if you’re a virgin or have slept with every guy you know, if you happen to have been born looking a certain way people will label you a slut and there’s really nothing you can do about it. So you learn to accept it. It kills inside, but that’s life. People will talk shit without knowing you. It becomes hard to relate to other women, because you know they’re judging you from the beginning, and as a result, you end up with a lot of male friends. Which probably doesn’t help the situation.
I guess that has nothing to do with working at the renaissance faire.

This weekend things at rehearsal took a turn for the worse. Last year I know a lot of the women I work with talked about me and called me a slut, but this year it seemed to get better. Those women seemed to like me better, perhaps it’s because they realize I was here to stay. Maybe it’s because they realized that I don’t actually sleep around. Who knows, I was just glad things were getting better. I always try my hardest to make people like me, and I was glad it paid off. I found out this weekend that a lot of my cast has been calling me a slut behind my back, and the guys have been saying that I make “the eyes” at them.

Yes. Because I talk to men and have big boobs it means I want to have sex with them. You’ve figured me out. Every man I talk to I want to sleep with.

That was sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell.

This absolutely kill me. As you may or may not know [depending on if you know me in real life], I put on a pretty strong front. I don’t like to show weakness, so maybe people don’t realize how much this affects me. I don’t think I deserve this. I have not had sex with any of my cast mates. Yes, I will admit I kissed one of them this year. Once. But he was the only one I was flirting with. It’s not like I’m walking around kissing all the men.

I wear short shorts, and crop tops to rehearsal. Yes. That may seem slutty. But there are women at rehearsal who walk around in their bras or bikini tops. How is that okay, but my wardrobe is not? It’s flipping hot at rehearsal. Hot enough that we’re constantly told to keep drinking and eat salty foods to prevent dehydration, and people reapply sunscreen every half hour. And anyone who knows me knows that I have a very low tolerance for heat. The air conditioning in my room is generally set at 60 degrees. I sweat like crazy in the sun. So I dress for the weather. Even in minimal clothing I’m sweating like crazy and get dehydrated every weekend.
Another reason being built like me sucks. Girls are always saying I’m lucky because my chest is big, but they don’t realize the price it comes with. Other girls can dress the same way, and no one bats an eye because they’re flat chested.

This might be becoming a feminist piece. Read the book Slut!: Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation by Leora Tanenbaum. One of my favorite books.

So I guess what I’m basically trying to say here is that I’m having a lot of problems with my cast. I wish it wasn’t this way, but it is, and I spent all of my drive home last night crying and I’ve been contemplating quitting the cast. Last year I went home crying every weekend for the first two months of rehearsal because no one, and I mean no one, would talk to me.

I’ve never had this problem with a cast before. Generally my cast mates love me because I work hard and bake for them [not going to lie, my cookies are pretty damn good]. I’m there to act. I love acting. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m not there to hook up, and I’m tired of trying to prove myself to a group that does not think I have any talent and thinks I’m someone I’m not.

Fair thee well,
Emilie  

Musings of a Ren Faire Actress

Although I had always been interested in renaissance faires, especially the idea of getting to dress up or work at one in character, I had never actually attended one. I began taking acting classes when I was 6 and had been in numerous educational theatre productions, but I was looking to do something more. When I was 17 I finally opened up a ren faire website and saw they would be casting for the 2010 upcoming season. Even though auditions were months off, I began preparing, working on my accent [although it still sucks], dialect, character ideas, etc. My audition monologue was probably prepared over a month in advance.

I auditioned my first year as a town prostitute, by suggestion of my 11th grade english teacher who had attended the faire in previous years. My monologue went something like this:

“Oh, thou knows’t who I am! I doth be (whatever the name I made up was), and thou dost owes me for last night!  Oh I see thee brought the lady with thee today! Well, she can join but that is going to cost thee extra!” etc. etc. etc.

Part of the audition process was to answer questions on the spot, in order to test our improvisation skills. I believe my questions were “How much,” “How long,” and “What’s your favorite position.” Yes, rennies are pretty sexual beings. But I’ll get into that more later, so keep reading.

My first year working at the renaissance faire was an experience unmatched by any other. I made a lot of friends in the end, but also a lot of enemies. I didn’t speak to anyone for probably the first two months of rehearsals, and didn’t really make any friends until we opened in August.

Now some of my best friends are girls I met at the NYRF!

Every weekend I’d come home thinking I was going to quit, but I love acting, I loved all I was learning about improvisation and character development, and I wanted to prove to my family and friends, who have never been that supportive or believed I had much talent, that I could do this. I had been accepted into the performance company, and I wouldn’t be one of the ones who couldn’t handle it.

Improvisation has never come easy to me. One of the things I love about acting is that it allows you to become someone else, you’re reading a script, it’s not your own thoughts or actions. You cannot be judged by your character or the stupidity of the script. Improv is something completely different. Not only is everything you say and do coming from your own mind, but you have to make it up on the spot. There is no room to think or edit your work. If you don’t make someone laugh, it’s you. Not the playwright, not the director. All on you. Because of this rehearsals were hell. 16 hours a weekend of pure improvisation and I just couldn’t get it. I didn’t really

Me fawning over my character's love, the town crazy, Sir Henry.

understand how pretending to be a shop keep who’s trying to sell a random item to a costumer would help me act like an obnoxious, stupid beauty queen [which ended up being my character] on the streets of the faire. In fact, I still don’t get it. After we opened several of my castmates told me that during rehearsals they didn’t think I’d get it, didn’t think I’d be good on the streets, but they were pleasantly surprised at my abilities to entertain on the spot. This year at rehearsals maybe the improv game technique will click, maybe I still wont get it, but as long as I pull together on the streets I don’t really care.

Auditions for the 2011 company are in two weeks from today and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been thinking of character ideas all year and I think my character idea is pretty golden, I just hope it gets approved by my directors. You’ll be hearing all about my idea, don’t worry. I’m just not ready to reveal the details just yet.

Keep reading to come along on my journey, from auditions to my final weekend at faire this year [I'll be ending a month early due to college], all the stress, the challenges, the ideas, and the drama that will be going along with it.

Also, if you’re not already reading, check out http://rollingstoneraver.wordpress.com, my blog chronicling my experience in the rave scene.

Faire thee well!
Emilie