Second Year of Theatre School

I haven't written in such a long time because... Theatre School.

Now my last post was last May which was about the time I finished up my first year of theatre school. My first year of training was coming to an end and I was feeling good about the work I had created with my ensemble, but it was summer!!!!

I saw so much theatre, I worked a ton of hours at silly part time jobs, and I went to London, England with my best friend Jessica Goddard. So Summer 2013 treated me very well.

By the Autumn I started my journey in the dark tunnel of second year at Humber College's Theatre Performance program. I wrote in my journals throughout the year how it was not a dark tunnel and how the faculty should stop referring to second year like that because it was such a negative image... BUT SECOND YEAR WAS A DARK TUNNEL.

It was so dark, sometimes I didn't think I even existed or would make it to the exit. We just did so much through the semester, I'm surprise nobody evaporated from exhaustion. We trained in the studio to find the play with our vocal technique and electrify our dynamic alignment, physically.

But besides the training we stared workshopping pieces. We worked with:
Nancy Palk on The Machinal
Kelly McEvenue on The Beaux Stratagem
Alex McLean and Marissa Zinni on Orestia
Kennedy C. MacKinnon and Thomas Hauff on Twelfth Night and A Comedie of Errors
Marie Beath Badian on The Fight.

So yeah... we were basically working on an entire season as if we were part of a professional theatre company. But this is why I love my training at Humber, its practical. Its so similar to what to expect in the real world, from rehearsing classic shows from Shakespeare or Contemporary Dramas or devising as a collect collaborative.

Now that its summer and a full year has cycled through I am so happy to be moving on into my Third Year at Humber. Next year will be stressful and informative and fun, but before September arrives theres a lot that needs to be worked on and I've never been as excited to read, research, train and observe as I am right now.

This summer is going to be different then last. For instance I said goodbye to Walmart last summer and now I'm currently a Barista at Starbucks. I am also continuing my teaching at StageCoach and will be playing Mary Poppins alongside my beautiful head teacher and my rugrats. And this year, I'm excited to be part of Theatre Relay's project.

Its a collective collaboration among 8 artists who have each created solo work to be performed by another artist in the company. I'll post more information about it later, but this work is something that excites me and I'm so stoked to be part of.

And although I am not going to London, England with Jessica, or anywhere exciting this summer, I'm still seeing theatre across southern Ontario; venturing to Shaw and Startford to see some great productions and I'll also be digging through Fringe, Summerworks and Luminato to see some new works.

So I'm back and I'll be writing every Monday and Friday on various topics including Theatre, Music, Movies, Travel, Community and anything any of my followers may want to read.

With love,

Lisa Alves

My Fair Lady: Shaw 2011

So most of us know the story of Pygmalion that was revised to a musical made famous my Julie Andrews, Rex Harrington and Audrey Hepburn. (If you don't, please research because you won't be let down). Well in 2011, my grade 11 drama teacher mention this woman, Deborah Hay, who he went to university with and how she was in My Fair Lady at The Shaw Festival. So I convinced my mother to get some tickets (it was easy because it was a fun musical) and I ventured off to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see what my teacher was talking about.

2 years later, I am still fascinated with this production of My Fair Lady. There was everything in wonderful in the show; the edgy design of costumes completed the antique set, the elegant dancing dazzled with the fresh voices. The performance by Benedict Campbell shouldn't have been overlooked as well, he knocked Professor Higgins out of the park and was a an excellent force to be wrecked with Hay's Eliza.

There was something real I saw on that stage that night, and that was the night my heart was stolen by Deborah Hay. She was the show stopper, with Cockney accent and all. She made the role her own, not necessarily following the footsteps of Andrews (who's brilliant, but no replica required). It was evident in every beat she danced, every note she sung, and every line she said. Deborah Hay became an inspiration to me in the she took her final bow and it was because she re-created Eliza Doolittle.

And that's why I am at school for theatre performance, to be my own actor. Even though I have so many actors I look up to and admire, I admire them because they don't try to be another actor, they are their own actor in their own right. For me, it' difficult, but that's why I am learning and that's why I still keep Deborah Hay's performance in my mind. 

I am envious that my drama teacher went to school with such a fine actress and knows her. But it reminds me that it took even her to learn the ways of theatre before she became her own performer. 

If you'd like to see more fabulous Shaw Festival Productions click on this link http://www.shawfest.com

With love, 

Lisa Alves

Musical Start

I grew up with music everywhere.
My mother says that when she was pregnant with me she would put headphones around her belly and  play Sir Elton John for my listening pleasure. I'm sure many mothers do this across the world, and I'm going to say as the baby in the womb, I'm sure it was pretty useful.
When I was learning my ABCs and 123s I depended on song to memorize them thanks to programs like Sesame Street and Barney. (And the sad thing is I still do use the songs to help me out in times of brain fart-age)
By the time I was 6 my parents enrolled me in piano lessons to see if I could become the next great piano genius. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but that's when I began to build the basics of music in my neurological pathways. By the time I was 8 I wanted to be a singer, so along with piano and learned the about my voice. This was extremely beneficial because at 18 I  still go back to recall what I learned from back in the day to help me learn music.
Through my childhood my mother also always had the radio playing in the house. Not the Top 40, but easy rock stations filled the air of our house. In the car, my father would blast the classic rock. From there I fell in love with Billy Joel, Sarah McLachlan, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, The Beatles, Madonna, Rolling Stones and Shania Twain.
From there my musical tastes grew and currently on my iPod I have such a huge diversity of genres.
Unfortunately I stopped taking piano and singing lessons for personal reasons, but it's helped me immensely in my theatre training, more than I could have imagined.

I'm going to pose a question, and feel free to answer in the comments.
Do you think it's important to have a basic music background as a theatre artist? Why or why not?
And how has music shaped your life?

Remember you can tweet me @LAALVEZZ

With love,
Lisa Alves