Orcas Island (where I live) is a retirement community (and tourist destination in the summer) of about 3,000 people in the winter and lots more in the summer. I think I read somewhere that the average age on Orcas is in the 60’s!

In my experience, there are three types of actors (I use the phrase “actor” to include both male and female actors).

First are the naturals. Those who just have it. Maybe they are born with it, maybe they develop it early in life. The Bravo channel on TV has a series “Inside The actors Studio” where Jame Lipton interviews famous actors, writers and others involved with movies and the stage theater. I have learned from this show that the overwhelming number of famous actors had a childhood that was not happy and supportive. Something must happen internally during that period that gives them the tools they need to inhabit other people. I’m an example of someone who had a great childhood and isn’t (and will probably never be) an above average actor.

Theatrical directors will never miss a natural. You can see it a mile off.

I’ve talked about it before but I want to revisit it:

Sometime around 2005, I saw a presentation of the second play in the King Arthur series: “Arthur: The Hunt”. I was so impressed with the play, I sought out the playwright and got a copy of the first Arthur play: “Arthur: The Begetting”. I loved it. I can’t tell you how much I loved the story. It was (and still is) one of the two or three best scripts i have EVER read!! I mean it was really good!! Get the idea???

It is the story of Igraine, Arthur’s mother, from her teen years until Arthur is born. The last line in the play (I still remember it after all these years. Emrys (The Merlin) faces the audience and says:

“And the next year, in early summer, to Uther and Igraine, a child was given, a child she and I knew would be the hope of the people, a king like none before him.

When the boy was but a twelve-month old, she came to me, and on that same hillside, she gave me him to raise, and bade me call him…Arthur.” That is the first time in the entire play that the word “Arthur” is used.

Jeff Berryman, to my great joy, writes love stories with a strong female lead. Igraine in the first play, Arthur’s half sister Morgan in the second play and a new character, Sinead, in the third.

As you can see from the above, the language is uses is just beautiful: Rich in sound and tone. Fun to say and fun to listen to.

In “Arthur: The Begetting”, Igraine is married to Teyrnon, in love with her childhood lover Emrys and meets Uther Pendragon. For two hours we watch the story unfold.

Anyway, I knew I needed a special woman to play Igraine. I didn’t have that actor. I had a couple coming along that might have been able to pull it off, but they needed more experience. The trouble was that, for a number of reasons, they kept moving off island. After waiting for five years with this play burning a hole in my heart, I decided to go ahead and do the play with what I had. I hoped that out of a couple young women, I could find someone to play Igraine. I had lots of options for the rest of the cast. So I announced auditions.

This is an aside: Every time I start to write something, I keep having to back up and tell you something else before I can continue my story. I feel like I’m telling the story backwards. Remember this journal started out to be about the play I’m directing right now “Love Song”. I have the feeling we will end up at the Big Bang before I’m done.

Anyway, I need to talk about auditions. I hate auditions. Actors hate auditions. Actors hate auditions because they are going to be judged and, most likely, rejected. I hate auditions because I am going to have to tell many people that I did not choose them. I need to have a reason why I rejected them (Well, technically I don’t HAVE to tell them why, but I feel I owe it to them). And many times there is no reason other than a gut feel that one actor will do better than the other. These actors have become my friends and it is very hard to tell them they didn’t get the part.

There are many other considerations besides acting ability that come into play: I’m going to spend hundreds of hours with them over the next three months. Is this a person I want to spend that much time with? How is this person going to fit into the ensemble I’m going to build? Can I trust them? Will that person walk through fire for me? (There are always parts of a play that the actor isn’t going to be comfortable with: Kissing, sexually suggestive scenes, partial (or once total) nudity. Are they going to go outside their comfort zone for me? It’s always a risk. I try to explain it to them before we start but they’ll say anything, agree to anything to get the part. Then reality sets in. “Arthur: The Begetting” required Igraine to profess her love to three different men. Lots of effort to build three sets of sexual tension. Really hard for young women in their 20’s to handle. Most plays have a leading character. Once that character is selected, it constrains my choices for the other characters due to age, height and so on. In “Love Song” (see I haven’t forgotten) I have a brother/sister combination. The ages need to be believable.

I’ve tried several different ways to hold auditions. All are okay, none is perfect. For “Arthur: The Begetting”, I decided to just have people sit around a big table and read from the script. My plan was that every ten minutes or so, I’d switch the actors to a different role.

Anyway, I always start auditions, rehearsals and performances on time (actually three minutes late). My motto is “If you are ten minutes early, you are on time. If you are on time you are ten minutes late.” First, it is inconsiderate to the rest of us to wait around for the last one to arrive. Secondly, I never have enough rehearsal time and every minute is important. The other side of the equation is also true: I will let the rehearsal out on time. Period.

So about a dozen of us (ten actors, my stage manager and me) are sitting around the table just about to start.

In walks a beautiful young woman. (Photo of her as Igraine casting a spell is attached). She had never been on stage before it but always wanted to try. I had already passed out the scripts for the first group of readers. Some of the actors were doing well. The heightened language threw some of them.

After about fifteen minutes I re-distributed the scripts for others to read the parts. This new woman got to read for Igraine. She was a natural. Never been on stage before. About three minutes into the reading the other actors started looking at me. It was a really big “WOW” moment. A natural. I couldn’t have found a better actor. Not only was she a great actor, she was a leader of the cast: hard working, serious about her work. That cast was one of the best ensembles I have ever worked with. Turns out she was 37 with four children.

All this to talk about “natural” actors. Those who are borne with it. Not many of them but they are sure a wonderful find.

Next time I’m going to talk about actors who get there with a lot of hard work.

The photo below is Igraine casting a spell during the performance.