That's Brahms up there, Opus 119, no. 1, to be exact. It’s in b-minor - a moody key. It looks easy, doesn’t it. This little two-page Intermezzo is one of the hardest pieces I know. So exposed.
Opus 119 was part of my senior recital at Michigan State University where I got my Bachelor's in Music.
Johannes Brahms.
He is a combination of classicism and romanticism that speaks to me in such a way that I recognize myself. Yes, I appreciate the beauty, the genius of the others, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Ravel, Chopin, Bartok, Granados, Schumann, Prokoviev, Shostakovich, so many great composers for the piano, but my connection to Brahms remains deep.
My first piano lesson was on March 20th at some time in the early 60s with Madge Palmer. I played chopsticks as something I knew. All the parts. I was seven. So music is my first love. And music is everything. It is dance, it is theatre, it is any of the live performing arts, because all of those things are experienced in time and use rhythm as a basic component.
We are all a piece of music. We have our individual rhythms, tempos, lyrical qualities and stormy cycles.
But when so many years ago, when I was still a young, young soul, about a junior or senior at Okemos High School, I made my first trip to Stratford, Ontario. The opening scene of Volpone by Ben Jonson is vivid in my mind. Douglas Rain as Mosca and the supremely gifted Bill Hutt in the title role in that opening paean to gold. And in the surprising ways of the universe, it was directed by a man I would come to study Shakespeare with as an actor some 15 or more years later. David William possessed a remarkable mind, was a gifted actor and a brilliant director. In subsequent years, I would see his productions King Lear, Othello, and most memorably his Tempest, all at the Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, where he served for a time as Artistic Director. While getting my M.F.A. at The Goodman School of Drama (The Theatre School, DePaul University, Chicago) I attacked the role of Richard II with his sharp instruction. I aimed high, drown in the moat, but learned a lot.
At The Theatre School, I had two great teachers, one in directing and the other in acting. Joseph Slowik and Dr. Bella Itkin were opposites, and integrating what they both had to offer made me a better director. I also published a book with Bella, Acting: Preparation, Practice & Performance. It was an exploration of sensory technique and physical acting. Bella’s favorite line was “The body never lies.” Joe was my link to Grotowski, having been his translator in the 60s during The Constant Prince. Through both of these teachers, I had direct links to Stanislavski. Konstantin’s statement: “Do not speak to me of emotion, you cannot set emotion, you can only set physical action.” resulted in a third precept from the school - “Emotion is a by-product of physical action.”
Acting uses the whole body. Even when you’re standing still, you listen, breathe, watch, perceive with your entire body. When directing, I strive to make this the dynamic each actor brings to the play, I strive to see living human beings on the stage.
I’ve left out one degree, a Master’s in renaissance literature at M.S.U. It was right after my degree in piano. During those years, I was pretty much accompanying on recitals to earn money and studying Shakespeare in every way possible. If it wasn’t going to Stratford in Canada, it was going to Stratford-on-Avon in England (and London as well). My education involved being in the theatre as much as possible, not only as an audience member but beginning in high school as a conductor of musicals (almost 30 in total), and ultimately as a director, winning a spot in one of the early Directors’ Project units at the Drama League straight after my degree from DePaul.
This led to internships at the Alley in Houston, Arena in D.C., and Second Stage in New York. Also for a period, I was in the Bob Moss workshop at Playwrights Horizons and a member of the Actors’ Studio Playwrights & Directors Unit under Frank Corsaro.
But let’s jump ahead to what comes next, to what follows six years with Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group (www.mptg.org) that culminated in the premiere of SMOKE by Vickie Ramirez (see SMOKE page) and four years with Amios and their monthly Shotz (see Shotz page), to my new endeavor to take charge of who, how, & what I want to produce with the creation of fig productions (www.figproductions.org). Established in 2016, my purpose in pulling together theatre artists I respect is to investigate where theatre can go. Wish me luck.
Life is an adventure.
Little quiz.
Whose handwriting is this and what play is it from ?
Opus 119 was part of my senior recital at Michigan State University where I got my Bachelor's in Music.
Johannes Brahms.
He is a combination of classicism and romanticism that speaks to me in such a way that I recognize myself. Yes, I appreciate the beauty, the genius of the others, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Ravel, Chopin, Bartok, Granados, Schumann, Prokoviev, Shostakovich, so many great composers for the piano, but my connection to Brahms remains deep.
My first piano lesson was on March 20th at some time in the early 60s with Madge Palmer. I played chopsticks as something I knew. All the parts. I was seven. So music is my first love. And music is everything. It is dance, it is theatre, it is any of the live performing arts, because all of those things are experienced in time and use rhythm as a basic component.
We are all a piece of music. We have our individual rhythms, tempos, lyrical qualities and stormy cycles.
But when so many years ago, when I was still a young, young soul, about a junior or senior at Okemos High School, I made my first trip to Stratford, Ontario. The opening scene of Volpone by Ben Jonson is vivid in my mind. Douglas Rain as Mosca and the supremely gifted Bill Hutt in the title role in that opening paean to gold. And in the surprising ways of the universe, it was directed by a man I would come to study Shakespeare with as an actor some 15 or more years later. David William possessed a remarkable mind, was a gifted actor and a brilliant director. In subsequent years, I would see his productions King Lear, Othello, and most memorably his Tempest, all at the Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, where he served for a time as Artistic Director. While getting my M.F.A. at The Goodman School of Drama (The Theatre School, DePaul University, Chicago) I attacked the role of Richard II with his sharp instruction. I aimed high, drown in the moat, but learned a lot.
At The Theatre School, I had two great teachers, one in directing and the other in acting. Joseph Slowik and Dr. Bella Itkin were opposites, and integrating what they both had to offer made me a better director. I also published a book with Bella, Acting: Preparation, Practice & Performance. It was an exploration of sensory technique and physical acting. Bella’s favorite line was “The body never lies.” Joe was my link to Grotowski, having been his translator in the 60s during The Constant Prince. Through both of these teachers, I had direct links to Stanislavski. Konstantin’s statement: “Do not speak to me of emotion, you cannot set emotion, you can only set physical action.” resulted in a third precept from the school - “Emotion is a by-product of physical action.”
Acting uses the whole body. Even when you’re standing still, you listen, breathe, watch, perceive with your entire body. When directing, I strive to make this the dynamic each actor brings to the play, I strive to see living human beings on the stage.
I’ve left out one degree, a Master’s in renaissance literature at M.S.U. It was right after my degree in piano. During those years, I was pretty much accompanying on recitals to earn money and studying Shakespeare in every way possible. If it wasn’t going to Stratford in Canada, it was going to Stratford-on-Avon in England (and London as well). My education involved being in the theatre as much as possible, not only as an audience member but beginning in high school as a conductor of musicals (almost 30 in total), and ultimately as a director, winning a spot in one of the early Directors’ Project units at the Drama League straight after my degree from DePaul.
This led to internships at the Alley in Houston, Arena in D.C., and Second Stage in New York. Also for a period, I was in the Bob Moss workshop at Playwrights Horizons and a member of the Actors’ Studio Playwrights & Directors Unit under Frank Corsaro.
But let’s jump ahead to what comes next, to what follows six years with Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group (www.mptg.org) that culminated in the premiere of SMOKE by Vickie Ramirez (see SMOKE page) and four years with Amios and their monthly Shotz (see Shotz page), to my new endeavor to take charge of who, how, & what I want to produce with the creation of fig productions (www.figproductions.org). Established in 2016, my purpose in pulling together theatre artists I respect is to investigate where theatre can go. Wish me luck.
Life is an adventure.
Little quiz.
Whose handwriting is this and what play is it from ?