A blog on theater (and other stuff) from the fine folks at Apple Core Theater Company
Actor Jeff Auer on the rehearsal room
Today we load-in A Modest Suggestion into our new home, Theatre Row, and as we’ll be pretty busy all day hanging lights and painting walls, we thought we’d take this opportunity to hear from one of our wonderful actors, Jeff Auer.
Jeff has been a collaborator and friend of ACTC from the beginning. He in fact helped launch this whole shindig with his stirring performance as a traumatized war veteran in “The Return of Odysseus” in Won and Lost. Then he took on an equally challenging part in our revival of William Hoffman’s As Is: that of a man stricken with AIDS, when the disease was first emerging in the mid-1980s.
As terrific a writer as he is an actor, here is Jeff’s take on what the rehearsal room for A Modest Suggestion mean to him.
Let me let you in on a little secret. A Modest Suggestion is actually no so modest at all. It tackles big themes and poses questions destined to provoke, all the while going for cackles in the aisles. It very well could piss a few people off. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a project quite like this. Yet stepping into the unknown and the nerves that come with it have been counterbalanced by a much needed sense of serenity.
You see, my life has been, in a word, chaotic. Let’s face it, whose isn’t? Especially in this stressful, unforgiving, wacky town that I love to pieces even when it drives me nuts. But lately I have been ensnared in a particular stretch of madness. Some of my own doing, some not. I’ll explain.
First, the stressful. I’m an actor, so I’ve set myself up for a life of consistent inconsistency. I’ve make my living in voiceovers. If you’ve watched TV or listened to the radio in the last ten years and actually pay attention to the commercials (why you would I have no idea), you’ve probably heard my voice. But as any actor knows, you’re only as good as your last job. For most of us there is no steady paycheck or any sense of stability. Compound that with a mortgage and two young kids to raise, my days are not exactly carefree. Sometimes I bring my children to auditions and while they stare at me as I’m about to read a few lines off a piece of paper that could be worth their college education, I can’t help but think they’re thinking, “Daddy, don’t f*** this up.”
Now, the unforgiving. My family and I recently moved back home after nearly seven months away due to an issue in our apartment that was detrimental to my wife’s health. Unsure how long it would take to fix the problem, we moved eleven times in the first four months until we found a place that could house us permanently. While we were gone my son got eaten alive by bedbugs at one the places we lived, one of our cats suddenly died without us being there for his final days and upon moving back in we discovered we were robbed, including many pieces of vintage jewelry passed down through the generations to my wife who had hoped to give them to our daughter. The cops came, filed a report and really haven’t given a crap since.
Finally, the wacky. I was checking the messages on my home phone which I hadn’t done while we were away. There was a message from September, a man about thirty calling to let me know I had left a backpack at his cafe across the street from my son’s school in Brooklyn. Nothing too strange about that, except for the fact about a month and a half later the young man was found shot to death and burnt beyond recognition in a field in Pennsylvania. After leaving an audition recently I was hustling to get across the street when a man with one lone tooth on his bottom gums ran to block my path, shoved me, said “Move, faggot!”, and proceeded to calmly walk down the street. Then there’s the subway, where one of my agents was on a crowded rush hour train when a woman began screaming uncontrollably right before defecating in her pants and my wife had to flee to the opposite end of a train she was on so she could avoid getting into the middle of a scissor fight between two passengers.
Which brings me back to working on this play. When I step into the rehearsal room, all of life’s extraneous circumstances washes away. No kids, no bills, no faulty apartment, no bedbugs, no dead cats, no thieves, no murders, no psycho pedestrians, no subway degenerates. Three blissful, uncluttered hours of doing what I love to do. For A Modest Suggestion, that means embodying a character who leads a group of men into repeating one of the darkest chapters in the history of humanity. What could be more peaceful than that?
Interview: Russell Jordan
Throughout our production of A Modest Suggestion, we’ll be posting interviews with our cast and production team. We’re thrilled to begin with the inimitable Russell Jordan, who is not only a social media guru (follow him on Twitter!), but also plays the role of “C” in A Modest Suggestion.
Why did you decide to pursue acting?
In a 2004 event that could only be described as kismet, I was reunited with a good friend and fellow York College (CUNY) Theatre Arts alumnus, who after asking the usual catch-up-on-lost-time questions, inquired as to how my acting career was “coming along.” (The reality was that after earning my degree, I had settled into my day-job and was not acting.) I shared with him that since graduation I was basically just plugging away at the day-job… and then 9/11 had happened (I was on the 64th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001)… and then there were the recovery efforts (where my office was moved to Jersey City, New Jersey for year and change)… and then my office was moved back to midtown Manhattan… and then there was this… and after this there was that…
And my friend responded with: “All I know is that you are an incredibly talented actor and I do not believe the reason why you did not perish in the 9/11 attacks was so you could live out your remaining days plugging away at the day-job.”
At that moment, I decided to actively pursue acting.
My off-stage life has had enough drama (9/11, remember?), and being a storyteller affords me, with every performance, the opportunity to balance the scales.
How did you end up in New York City?
No choice as to how I ended up in New York City… I was born here and have lived here all my life, except for one year where I attended Clark-Atlanta University in Georgia.
What’s your neighborhood? What’s your favorite part about it? Least favorite?
I live in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and love my close proximity to Atlantic Terminal while also being far enough away from all the hustle and bustle on Flatbush Avenue. Prospect Heights, like my former Clinton Hill, Brooklyn neighborhood, has been “discovered” and gentrification is happening at a fast clip. Note to Mayor Bloomberg: the introduction of restaurants and bars and the like do not fill the cultural void left by the residents, most of whom are renters, who get “priced out.”
“And the clock begins to wind down.”
It’s so hard to believe that we’re already in our last week of By the Dawn’s Early Light! While we will surely have more blog posts as we wrap up our run, our playwright Mel turned in his final, very contemplative, very heartwarming post last night. (Sigh.)
And the clock begins to wind down.
How is it possible that as I write this, we as a company are about to embark on our final week of performances? Six more shows and the theatre will go dark. Costumes and make-up removed for the final time. Props placed in a box for some other times, others given as remembrance of a joyous creative experience, and others discarded like so many unwanted toys.
It’s going to be tough, no doubt. It has been some ride for me. The journey from first phone call, to table read, run through and first performance – first laugh being heard from the audience, as well as the sniffle of a tear, will be always remembered.
As Arturo Castro said: “Dude, we’re on f**king Theatre Row, bro!” – Yes we were, and we done good.
I have sat in the back of the theatre on many a night marveling as I watch Walter, our director, hunched over the control panel, intensely watching the performance, smiling, shaking his head, cheering, wipe a tear away and still continue to take notes as if it were the first day of rehearsals.
I watch Kevin move deeper and deeper into Freddie’s journey with the ease of a great painter who knows just what strokes are needed to fill in the colors of his canvas.
I still find myself welling up when Karen says: “Victor, when you leave it’s going to be quiet. I don’t like that kind of quiet.”
This has been a truly rewarding collaboration. I have made new friends and have enriched others. The seeds of future collaborations have been planted with the work that we have done as a company.
How did we all get here? Hard work and trust are often good starts to any collaborative endeavor and this one was no exception to that rule, but I think there were other factors involved as well – factors that perhaps in a month or so, when I find myself at a quiet moment, glass of wine in hand, it will come to me. But for now this will have to do: The Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer Kahlil Gibran once wrote, “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
To the ensemble cast: Kevin, Arturo, Gordon, Alicia, Wynn, Camilo, Karen, Mark, Gustavo, Flor, Damian and Jorge – thank you for truly giving of yourself and to your art to brings these stories so beautifully to life.
To Walter and Allison, you remind one constantly of why we do what we do with this life of ours in the theatre and the both of you do it inspirationally.
Yeah, I will be saying the same words as Angie does to Victor once the final curtain comes down on Sunday – “I don’t like that kind of quiet too.”
… “Midnight Mass”!
Here are Joey Castillo’s photos of our second half of By the Dawn’s Early Light.
Remember: we’re only running through Sunday August 28th, and it’s only a 55-seat theater… so get your tickets soon at www.telecharge.com.
We hope to see you at Theatre Row!
Our wonderful photographer Joey Castillo took these great photos of “Los Embrujados” in By the Dawn’s Early Light. And of course, he also took photos of…
We finished up our last rehearsal at MTC yesterday for By the Dawn’s Early Light, before we pack up everything we own and move it on into the theater. Mel took a moment to write down some observations about one of the last rehearsals.
The final rehearsals at MTC prior to our landing at Theatre Row have been fascinating their up and down nature.
Little things are starting to take shape. Nerves are popping here and there. You can feel the actors staking out their little areas of real estate as each tries to focus on the task at hand. At a recent rehearsal there was much buzzing going around and the space was filled with much activity. Farin Rebecca Loeb, our lovely stage manager, is as focused as ever, and Walter our director is on his knees measuring the stage dimensions. Our costume designer, David L. Zwiers has come with a truly wonderful bag of goodies and the actor’s behavior brings a smile to my face. They each remind me of a child visiting FAO Schwartz for the first time as they try on their costumes, play and become familiar with their props.
I sit there with an amused look on my face as I watch the actors walk around in costume, running lines with each other, or in a corner going over their scripts and suddenly for a brief moment I forget that I’m watching a group of wonderful, hard working actors, who have become my friends, but I no longer see them.
Who do I see? I see Richard talking with David. I see Nadia listening to Arturo and I see Victor teasing Angie and finally I see Freddie brooding. Yeah, what I’m seeing is the characters that I have created walking around and doing their thing in front of my eyes. Some glance at me and smile as if saying: “Yeah, here I am. What’s up?”
It’s quite a surreal feeling, but it’s also a wonderful feeling to see actors fully engaged in the work that you’ve created and I am humble by their compassion and commitment. T
he fantasy of seeing my characters come to life is broken by the sound of Farin’s voice commanding the troops to “Listen up people!” and as the actors stand at attention, Farin walks among them breaking down the “rules of the game.” Meaning, “This is YOUR prop table. These are YOUR props and YOU are RESPONSIBLE for them” speech. My brain suddenly begins to drift and I get visions of Lee Marvin addressing his “Dirty Dozen” crew.
As you can probably guess that at this point in the rehearsal process I am a watcher, an audience member, an encourager, a living playwright sitting behind a desk listening carefully to make sure his words (and ONLY his words) are being spoken… and finally and most importantly, a cheerleader and supportive voice, an arm around a shoulder for my actors, my director, stage manager, and finally to my dramaturgy/Producer.
It’s been a heck-of-journey. It’s going be tough to say goodbye to the rehearsal space at Manhattan Theatre Club, it’s been like another home, but our real home awaits us on Theatre Row, and there we shall be and there we shall shine. I have been reminded from time to time watching and listening to actors recite their lines, bringing these characters and their individual worlds to life, of a quote from Stella Adler, the legendary actor teacher and Group Theatre member: “The Theatre Is A Spiritual And Social X-Ray Of Its Time.”
I believe with our production of By The Dawn’s Early Light we are fulfilling Ms. Adler’s decree.
Interview: Karen Sours
We still have interviews on the way for By the Dawn’s Early Light. Today, we hear from the lovely Karen Sours, who plays the role of Angie, the pregnant girlfriend of a soon-to-be-deployed marine, in “Midnight Mass.”
How did you end up in New York City?
When I was 5 years old, I told my mom I wanted to be an actress. My mom smiled, thinking this would be a passing thing, and said: “Claro que si mi amor, lo que tu quieras.”
When I was 9, I started acting in plays in Mexico City. When I was 13, I told my mom I wanted to study acting in NY. Again she smiled, and said: “Si corazon.” I continued to pursue acting in Mexico making my parents drive me around the city for casting calls. Oh, they hated it! Let’s face it: it sucks — being stuck in traffic to go sit at a casting office for hours to get seen for 5 minutes… who wants to do that? I did, and my parents without knowing what they were getting into, agreed to take me.
When it was time to look into colleges, again I told my mom I wanted to study acting in New York. This time she didn’t smile… nor did she frown. She just had that look people have when we realize that something is for real, that that something is actually happening… the look a parent has when they find out their child is moving miles away from home at age 18.
This time she said (in Spanish), “You really want to move to the U.S.?” I said: “Oh, yes. To New York City!” So we started looking at schools in New York. Schools in New York were insanely expensive, especially for international students. My cousin had gone to Texas State University which is right outside of Austin; she studied theater there, and loved it. Texas has a program in which Mexican students can study in Texas and pay tuition as Texan residents. Awesome! I visited the school, loved it, and the next year I was moving to the US. NY was still in my agenda though.
I graduated college, and immediately after, packed my things and moved to New York. There was never any doubt in my mind that New York was the right place for me. I was back in a big city, thank God! Moving from the giant Mexico City to a college town outside of Austin is a little hard, okay, really hard, but New York and Mexico City are much more alike; it feels closer to home. Plus, there are a ton of Mexicans here! And we have REAL Mexican food here, not that Tex-Mex stuff.
I love New York. You can get a taste of every culture here — I don’t know anywhere else in the world where this happens.
When is a playwright done?
Now that our playwright Mel Nieves isn’t rewriting By the Dawn’s Early Light, he has time to reflect and write about about his writerly process. 
As the final weekend of July approaches, we (the casts and creative team) just finished a second run-through of both plays. The script for “Los Embrujados” has been locked-in (meaning, set in stone – no more re-writes) for about a week or so, except for a dash of some Spanish thrown in for flavoring here and there. It’s been pretty much sitting back and taking in the actors as they slowly-but-surely make the roles their own, and listening to Walter’s (Walter Hoffman our director) insightful guiding of the actors as they search for the proper tone for the story they are telling and experiencing.
With “Miidnight Mass,” it’s been a bit a little different. For the most part, the script has been locked in for a about a week or so, but something was bothering me. In fact, it bothered me so much that I would wake up in the middle of the night with a single thought: “What was missing?” It wasn’t until watching a documentary about the war in Afghanistan on Netflix one late, late night that a light finally flickered into my brain.
Though the additional snippet of dialogue was not large in word count, it was large as to the impact it had for the scene and for the actors. It is always a satisfying feeling to have actors look at additional dialogue and not smile because it’s simply more lines, but to see them smile and say, “Thank you” for writing the note that they were struggling to reach and find.
During this last run-through of both plays, I couldn’t properly listen to them in their entirety. My thoughts were with the new lines that I had added for a very important scene in “Midnight Mass” and that’s all I was waiting for. I had the new lines written on a piece of paper and as the scene approached and the sequence began I listened and hoped that these new words would work. And with our wonderful actors, Alicia Fitzgerald and Kevin Prowse, the new lines hit the proper note and tone. Afterwards the actors in unison said: “That’s exactly what we needed. Thank you.”
So what happens now when all the re-writes have been completed and the scripts are now locked, so to speak… is the playwright still needed? Do I simply say: “See ya on opening night!” I don’t know about other playwrights, but this playwright isn’t going away anytime soon. And to be honest, it’s not a matter of protecting my work, but it’s a matter of helping the actors when they are stuck or in need of clarification regarding a moment in text or simply a line of dialogue. It’s funny the majority of the questions from the actors are along the lines of “What were you feeling when you work this?” rather than what the character I’m writing about is going through. It has also been interesting meeting with the set and sound designer as they ask me my thoughts regarding certain things that I describe in the script.
It’s funny: a theatre rehearsal space is my favorite place to be at. I can spend hours and days in that room with actors and writers going over things in a text or just talking shop. In this space is where I feel more myself, more intellectually and spiritually confident. All writing I believe is to some extent autobiographical and there ‘s a lot of me in both scripts –only it’s been more so with “Midnight Mass” (not to take anything away from “Los Embrujados,” which I am most proud of).
It’s been a very interesting process with “Midnight Mass,” and I believe that reason is because it was a play that I originally wrote almost five years ago. I’m obviously not the same person or playwright that I was five years ago and it’s been an interesting and most fascinating of collaborations between the voice I had then, with the voice I have now. I think it’s been a good collaboration between the two voices. I can see the difference in my writing style between then and now and I believe both voices have blended well with each other.
I hope when you come see the plays, you yourself will think so too.
Interview: Gustavo Heredia
Next in our line of By the Dawn’s Early Light interviews is Gustavo Heredia, who plays Miguel in “Los Embrujados.” It was the voice of Gustavo, in fact, that Mel had in his head when he was writing the play for us. When you see the show, you will immediately see the similarities between Gustavo’s journey and the character he so dynamically portrays.
Why did you decide to pursue acting?
I come from a very small village in Ecuador of about 100 people. My thought back then was either go to the army and pursue a career in the Armed Forces — I was attracted to it — or finish high school and go America. But I ended up doing neither one (if I he had gone to the Army, I would not have stayed anyway, for I realized just a few years ago that I have flat feet).
So it was written in my destiny that at the tender age of 16, I should migrate to the United States of America, or New York… however you wish to call it. However, the story of this unforgettable odyssey of what one goes thru to make it to America… is suited for another time and place. To answer the question of how I became an actor I will fast forward a few years.
As you might know, the most usual place where an immigrant can find a job is in a restaurant. I used to work in a restaurant on the Upper West Side as a busboy, a waiter, etc. During those years many clients would ask me if I was an actor. I’d say a WHAT!!??? I would say “No,” and their reply would be, “You should.”
I could care less what they were talking about. I didn’t know what it was about, but most of these people asking if I was an actor were actors themselves. Some of them were in American soaps such as One Life To Live, Passions or movies… one of them was in the movie True Lies with Arnold…
Anyway, I really didn’t pay much attention to those comments or suggestions for that matter. All I wanted to do was work to make enough dinero and go back.
So after many years had gone by and I had decided to stay (for by now, I had made America my Home), I started thinking that I should do something with my life. My motivation for this decision (or was it destiny once again?) was when I had realized how little I enjoyed working as a waiter… but what I can pursue? What can I be? Or what should I be?
Then something hit me. I said to myself, hmmmm… maybe ACTING!! But how do I begin? Or where do I begin? Do I need a college degree to be an actor? Who should I talk to? I would go to the movies and just focus on what the actors were doing, and I would say to myself, “I can do that.” I remember vividly seeing a movie called Pitch Black, one of the very first movies Vin Diesel did. Here is this muscular actor with a deep voice, and I am thinking… I want to that! I can do that what he is doing!! And that fueled even more my desire to become an actor.
I had asked many people how or where I could pursue acting, I got little or no help at all from their answers. I had even asked a Latino woman who I had seen in a couple of commercials but she was of no help at all…
I used to wear a ring that my ex-girlfriend had given me as a birthday present. This ring resembled a high school graduation ring. One day I was serving this lady that I had taken care of for a few years. She had seen my ring and said, “That’s a nice ring… where did you go to school?” I said, “No, this is just a present, but I would like to go to school.” “What would you like to study?” was her reply. “I have been thinking about acting, but I really don’t know where…” I said. Then she says, “Why don’t you talk to my husband? He is an acting teacher.”
And that was the beginning of this beautiful journey that began eight years ago. But only now I realize that I had this actor in me since I was a kid… but that will be yet another story!
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Apple Core Theater Company produces emotional, entertaining plays by American writers. Valuing the immediacy and intimacy of theater, we strive to present plays that cut down to the core and go straight to the heart. Believing that theater should be accessible to all people, we are committed to providing affordable theater to New York City.
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