'Process Over Product' in SCR's Actor Training

Christopher Huntley (Oberon), Rachel Charny (Titania), Alex Theologides Rodriguez (Bottom) and Jamie Ostmann (Puck) in rehearsal for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Theatre Conservatory Director Hisa Takakuwa teaches her students to understand the craft of acting as they create their characters, rather than concentrating on the result, which is the show itself. That’s “process over product.” It’s deeper and more complicated than memorizing and blocking. In the end, it’s more rewarding than acclaim because it’s what sustains them as actors—and as people. “The process of acting brings confidence,” Takakuwa says, “and that allows students to have fun onstage—and it brings maturity, and that helps them throughout life.

That may sound like pretty heavy stuff, but it’s ingrained in Takakuwa’s students.

“It’s our mantra,” says Rachel Charney of her training. “We care about creating truth on stage, not about showing off how beautiful our costumes are or how pretty we look posing on a particular set piece, but about being vulnerable, emotionally truthful and creating people from words in a script.”

Rachel plays Hippolyta/Titania in the upcoming Teen Players production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has performed in ten Players shows and A Christmas Carol. “I’ve spent more than half my life so far at SCR. It’s a second home for me.”

“In many theatres, they put a huge emphasis on the show—or the final product,” says Christopher Huntley. “SCR is unique because above all else comes the process, or how you got to the final product. I’ve been able to take this outlook and apply it to every facet in my life.”

Christopher plays Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has performed in countless Players shows and appeared twice in A Christmas Carol, first as Boy Ebenezer and later as Peter Cratchit.

Rachel and Chris first met in the Summer Acting Workshop and became friends when they were cast in the Junior Players production of The Velveteen Rabbit. They were in the fourth grade. In June, they’ll graduate from high school. Chris is off to to Stanford in the fall, and Rachel will move to London to further her actor training. Before that, they’ll appear opposite each other in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That will be their last Teen Players production.

They look back today on those years—and on the teacher who inspired them.

Rachel: I grew up here, learning things not just about acting but about people—about life. SCR provided a sort of whimsical escape from reality while making sure that we were always learning and growing. The hours I have spent memorizing lines, talking to myself, rehearsing, or laughing until I cried in the nooks and crannies of this theatre will stay with me forever.

Chris: After a fantastic time in the Summer Acting Workshop exploring acting games and having a blast, I decided to jump into the year-round program. Class never seemed like a class. It was more like a sandbox for the actor—and the person—in everyone. That feeling compelled me to come back year after year.

Rachel: We always say in Players that we want to grow up to be Hisa because there is no one in the world like her. She has been a guiding light for me through all my years at SCR, but especially now that I have become serious about wanting to be an actor. Most importantly, she has taught me to connect, to really listen to people and try to understand them and be an observer of the world around me.

Chris: Hisa is unique because she approaches everything from her background in acting. She helps us create authentic characters onstage, not only through their physical actions but through their emotions, motivations and drives. With Hisa, acting is a mirror of life, grounded in truth. Overall, she has taught me always to be honest with myself and to keep an eye out for the details. I believe these two skills to be crucial on and off stage.

Learn more about the Theatre Conservatory or buy tickets to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"A Midsummer Night’s Dream" Next Up for Teen Players

The Bard’s Most Popular Comedy is a First for the Ensemble

L to R- Amanda Fassett, Mikey Costa, Alex Theologides Rodriguez, Saul Richardson, Joshua Myran and Kat Lewis in SCR's Teen Players production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Within SCR’s Theatre Conservatory are three groups of young actors chosen by audition—the Junior, Teen and Summer Players. Every year these ensembles of talented young actors astound audiences with their performances in shows that challenge them to take what they have learned in class and apply it to their roles.

They’ve performed in classics (Teen Players, Charles Dickens’ Hard Times), Broadway musicals (Summer Players, Sondheim’s Into the Woods) and be loved children’s stories (Junior Players, The Velveteen Rabbit).

But never Shakespeare.

Until now. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nicholas Studio, May 14-15 and 20-22) will be the Teen Players first-ever production of a work by the Bard.

“There’s no real reason for that,” says Theatre Conservatory Director Hisa Takakuwa. “Clearly, I’ve chosen challenging plays for them in the past, and it’s not like I’ve avoided Shakespeare…”

And why would she? Takakuwa is a classically trained actor and longtime member of the classic theatre company A Noise Within, where she appeared in numerous Shakespearian roles such as Maria in Twelfth Night. Her other roles include Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at Indiana Repertory Theatre and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing at Grove Shakespeare Festival.

“I think, looking back, with each new season and each new group of ensemble Players, there has been a play that suits them well,” she says. This year, it’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream."

“Because our Players are vibrant young people, we’ll see the play from their point of view,” she explains, “which is naturally fresh and youthful. This will be an honest, straight-forward production.”

But it is Shakespeare, after all, and that calls for extensive preparation. “These Players are very committed to their work—or they wouldn’t be here,” Takakuwa says, noting that the cast is made up of the most enthusiastic and talented Conservatory students, but they don’t audition for the Players ensembles unless they are prepared to devote themselves to long hours of rehearsal—and that’s in addition to twice-weekly classes during the school year.

Takakuwa started rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the actors seated at a long table, reading the script—for three weeks. She says, “I wanted them to understand the poetry within the text before setting foot onstage. At the end of the table read, they needed to be comfortable with their characters.”

She concentrated on the three major themes in the comedy: love, transformation and dream/reality. “It’s all about how people change,” she relates. “The Teen Players are going through their own changes. They’re all in high school now, and two of them are off to college in the fall. In a sense, they’re on the way into their own forests.”

But first, they have a stop in the forest of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where four young lovers flee into the woods on a summer evening—and where strange and wonderful things are about to happen.

Learn more and buy tickets.

Shakespeare Can Be So Cruel Sometimes

Nick Gabriel, Kathleen Early, Dana Green and
Tobie Windham in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR.

During a fight, anyone can throw out overused insults like “jerk,” “ugly” and “stupid.” Why not add a little intellect to your dispute with Shakespeare’s wit and humor? Aside from sounding smart, you might even diffuse the confrontation. Here are some of our favorites from A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

“You juggler! You canker-blossom! You thief of love!”

• Juggler: A person who is having relations with more than one person.
• Canker-Blossom: In this context it is a reference to the canker-type blight on a plant that steals away the beauty of the blossom.
• Thief of Love: Exactly as it sounds—someone who has stolen the heart of another person’s significant other.

“How low am I, thou painted maypole?”

• Painted Maypole: A tall woman who wears a lot of make-up to cover up their unattractive looks.

“You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made; You bead, you acorn.”

• All of the above can refer to someone who is short or small.

“I am sick when I do look on thee.”

• Erm…this one is self-explanatory.

Hear these and other Shakespearean insults for yourself during the final performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, closing Feb. 20.

Find show info and tickets here.

SCR Welcomes Familiar and Fresh Faces to ‘Dream’

South Coast Repertory has become a home to countless actors who’ve returned to perform here again and again over the years. Mark Rucker’s imaginative production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream brings a number of them together again—including two Founding Artists and a member of the Resident Company as three of the hilarious Rude Mechanicals.

Founding Artist Richard Doyle appeared in SCR’s third production, Volpone, in 1965. Earlier this season he was seen playing Lord Summerhays in Martin Benson’s re-staging of Misalliance. In Midsummer, he plays Robin Starveling.

Fellow Founding Artist Hal Landon Jr. is probably best known for portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. His history with SCR runs even deeper, to 1967 and Playboy of the Western World. His last non-holiday appearance at SCR was in You, Nero. In Midsummer, he plays Peter Quince.

Another Christmas Carol stalwart, Resident Company member John-David Keller, made his SCR acting debut in 1975 in Lanford Wilson’s The Hot l Baltimore, though by then he’d already made his directing debut with Godspell. In Midsummer, he plays Snug.

Patrick Kerr first appeared at SCR in 1997 in The Triumph of Love as Dimas, also directed by Mark Rucker. He last appeared onstage here in the 2008 musical An Italian Straw Hat as Uncle Fez/Viscount. In Midsummer, he plays Nick Bottom.

Susannah Schulman made her debut at SCR as Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew in 1996. Her most recent performance was Ashley Kohl in Man From Nebraska in 2006. In Midsummer, she plays Titania and Hippolyta.

William Francis McGuire first appeared at SCR in the very first play SCR ever performed—but not the first time we ever performed it: Tartuffe. He was in the 1999 production. He’s played Fred in A Christmas Carol for the last two years, and also appeared in last season’s A Wrinkle in Time. In Midsummer, he plays Snout/Egeus.






Two relatively new faces who both appeared recently on the Julianne Argyros stage will make their debut performance on the Segerstrom in Midsummer:

Kathleen Early recently starred as the romantically frustrated Catherine Givings in this season’s In the Next Room or the vibrator play. In Midsummer, she plays Hermia.

Nick Gabriel appeared in the West Coast premiere of the musical Ordinary Days as a young artist looking for a friend. In Midsummer, he plays Lysander.









SCR also welcomes these actors, all making their SCR debuts: Elijah Alexander (Oberon/Theseus), Rob Campbell (Puck), Dana Green (Hermia), Michael Manuel (Mechanical) and Tobie Windham (Demetrius), along with a number of young actors working in the Ensemble.

PHOTO CREDITS
From top to bottom: Richard Doyle as the Judge (center) with the cast of Volpone. Peter Ostling (standing) and Hal Landon Jr. as Shawn Keogh in Playboy of the Western World. The cast of The Hot L Baltimore with John-David Keller as Mr. Morse (far right). Colette Kilroy, Patrick Kerr and Tom Beckett in The Triumph of Love. Susannah Schulman as Bianca (left) and Cindy Katz in The Taming of the Shrew.  William Francis McGuire (left, center) and the cast of Tartuffe. Rebecca Mozo and Kathleen Early (right) as Catherine in In the Next room or the vibrator play.  Nick Gabriel (left) and David Burnham in Ordinary Days.