Broadway, Here I Come

For two weeks, Alexandra, one of our amazing Overtures students, made daily note of her experiences here at Overtures. Here's her final entry! 

Signature Associate Artistic Director Matt Gardiner with the Overtures class of 2013.

Fourteen days ago, seventeen eager young artists stepped into the ARK at Signature Theatre for a first taste of what would be two exhausting and inspiring weeks. We recognized great talent in each other’s first few notes and were stunned by the grace and ease (and the drive to for that grace and ease) in the first dance class. We became fast friends and even stronger supporters, pushing each other to demand and achieve more. We learned from the best and were sponges to every suggestion, opinion, technique session, choreography phrase, posturing realignment, words of advice and encouragement.

Our final showcase this morning in front of a nearly full house in the MAX was the perfect Overtures capstone. Full of big, belted ballads, fast-footed choreography, and captivating performances, our company held nothing back. I couldn’t help but smile (and even start to tear up a little) knowing how hard we worked and how far we each had come. That troublesome double pirouette was not quite so scary. That lyric suddenly had so much more meaning than ever before. Those high notes were spot on. It was our closing number, “Song of Purple Summer” that truly gave me chills. There was a moment as we stepped downstage together that I could distinctly hear everyone in harmony - and I do not mean only musically. We were listening so intently to each other, our breaths in sync, our harmonies blending beautifully. It certainly had a least a few people in the audience reaching for their Kleenex.

It seems strange be writing this final blog entry in the middle of the afternoon instead of at 11 PM after a long day singing and dancing in the ARK and Zickler. It seems incomprehensible that tomorrow we will not all return to perform one last time together in the MAX. As I pour over my notes and listen to the recordings I took from work sessions and group music rehearsals, I am encouraged to think that it will not be long before we all see each other again – probably going together to support a fellow company member in their next show!

I cannot say enough was a true privilege it has been to learn from and work with such an amazing group of master artists, fellow company members, our intrepid education director and interns, and everyone in the Signature family. Their passion, determination, work ethic, love for musical theater and for our 2013 Overtures company has made these past two weeks an incomparable experience and one I doubt we will soon forget wherever our careers take us next. 

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Night Music

For two weeks, Alexandra, one of our amazing Overtures students, made daily note of her experiences here at Overtures. 

Friday, June 28 

As we near the end of a demanding, exhausting, encouraging, and uplifting two weeks, there are few words left that will not sound too nostalgic or cliché to describe what an incredible experience Overtures 2013 has been. Few words, but “Thank you!”

With final tech preparations wrapped for our company showcase tomorrow morning, individual exit interviews with our exceptional instructors, and a chance to make personal reflections on how far we have come these past two weeks and where we will go from here, this evening’s final rehearsal was one last chance to regroup as a company before tomorrow’s performance. With the venerable Darius Smith at the piano arranging a popular, Broadway-geek-anthem, on the fly, we took on a little jam of “Empire State (Part II)” by Alicia Keyes. In under two hours, we made some truly beautiful music together.

Just as there were glimmers of excitement two weeks ago when we met and sang together for the first time, I noticed flashes of enthusiasm, glints of admiration for and appreciate of each other, and sparks of real joy. Joy that we will no doubt share on stage in tomorrow morning’s final showcase of Overtures 2013. Yay us! We make art! 

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I Will Be Presenting...

Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, has taken over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM in Signature's MAX Theatre! 

Today was the day: auditions. Auditions are nothing new to the 17 members of the Overtures company. We auditioned to get into the program, after all! Many of us have lost track of the number of calls we have been seen at, let alone those we were not seen at, and we are sure to forget many more in our long careers. But today’s call with casting directors from Arena Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company and, of course, Signature’s Matt Gardiner, certainly had our nerves on edge. Though the past two weeks have amply prepared us for today’s casting session, the inevitable jitters arose right on cue. But when the time came, we gave it our all.

There is a moment in a performance when the actor’s eyes widen slightly, their breath connects, the hair on the back of their neck rises in anticipation of that note they just recently discovered was in their range, and as the crisp clear sound of a perfect pitch meets the audience’s ears, a smile spreads across the actor’s face. There were many well-deserved smiles in today’s auditions.

We have spent the past two weeks intensely training for moments just like today – standing in front of casting directors and delivering a performance to remember in hopes of landing that gig and another chance to perform. We can second-guess material, we can over think an outfit and feel uncomfortable performing, or we can hold tight to the confidence we have gained and trust in the smart choices we have learned to make. Of course, it helps to have 16 other company members going through the exact same thing looking on with only admiration and support for all the work you have done!

As we shared dinner conversation after a long afternoon of auditions, it was so clear how much our company has grown to care for one another. Heartfelt congratulations and words of reassurance were not in short supply. Our work, all of our work, was and is something to be extremely proud of. With only one more day together and a final showcase Saturday morning, we will, no doubt, pass along many more good vibes and sentiments of affection. We have watched each other grow as students and artists, and I can only imagine how far we will all go in the very near future. Watch out!

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A Multi-Talented People Who Need People

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM in Signature's MAX Theatre! 

Wednesday, June 26

We were never told that Overtures would be easy. We have come to expect the highs, the lows, the tears when our confidence waned and the moments of pure joy as we make new discoveries. Through it all, we have also come to create incredible friendships with our fellow company members.

Competition in acting is partly inevitable and can be stiff, but there are also strong bonds formed through shared trials and successes. A master class with Signature’s Artistic Director, Eric Schaeffer this evening reminded us, “There is no better family than your theater family.” For the six weeks of rehearsal, the month or so of a run, or for the two weeks of a musical theater intensive, your company is family. They see you at your best and your worst. They are there to give you a word of encouragement, share song suggestions, or give an honest opinion about your audition outfit. We can learn so much from our family.

Outside of a classroom we do not often have the opportunity to see other actors work and gain insight from their processes. Overtures has given us the chance to see how someone else does it. Of course we have been sponges to every note and piece of advice our instructors have imparted to us, but we have also benefited greatly from watching our cohorts take on their own challenges. With the incredible range of experience, training, ideas and personalities among our 17 company members, there is plenty to learn from.

And so, as we anxiously prepare for tomorrow’s casting session in front of four of Washington’s biggest casting directors - worrying over 32 bars and our monologue choices, frantically printing headshots and resumes, hopefully getting at least a little sleep - we can all keep one very important thing in mind: as our adrenaline rushes and apprehension takes over, we will have a 17-person family smiling back at us because they have seen how far we have come and how much, much further we will all go. 

Overtures students chat during a break in their master class with Eric Schaeffer.

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Words to Live By

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM in Signature's MAX Theatre! 

Overtures student Ines listens to words of wisdom from Marcy and Zina.

Tuesday, June 25

We hear it every day - there are thousand of aspiring artists competing for many of the same roles. Just like us, many of them have trained to belt a high A, others have “the right look" and still others have more experience, more training and stronger credits on their resumés. However, none of us entered into this business wanting to be just like all the others. Our little kid dreams were to be stars, each entirely unique and truly captivating.

Even if we learn nothing else this week, we'll have learned to be ourselves. Every session discussing the business of show business, each master class, every time we slip into old habits of performing songs the way we think our instructors want them performed, we are encouraged to revisit the work and make it our own.

This evening’s reminder came from contemporary lyricist, Marcy Heisler, and composer, Zina Goldrich. The duo, whose “Taylor the Latte Boy” and “Alto’s Lament” are just two of the incredibly witty compositions in their songbooks, offered us each personalized advice on our song choice and interpretation. It wasn’t long before we recognized a theme to their suggestions – be yourself. There may be 20 other girls singing the same song, “but no one in the room has heard you sing it before,” said Zina.

Candid casting critiques are invaluable at this early stage of our careers. So often we are corralled through 90 second monologues or 32 bars of music in an audition room and hurried along with a “thank you” or, even worse, the dreaded “that’s all we need today”. We long for feedback. After all, we are in the business of being judged! Without feedback it is all too easy to worry ourselves for hours about what we could have done better, what notes we might have missed, what acting points we forgot to hit.

Marcy and Zina offered us their honest opinions as well as suggestions on ways to further work on our performances. But they, along with all the Overtures instructors we have had the privilege of working with this past week and a half, also gave us an important mantra to live by: “Yay me! I make art!” We can spend every audition concerned about our look, being the wrong “type”, or singing a wrong note, or we can be our most confident, art-making, high A-belting selves. “Yay me! I make art!”

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Getting Personal

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM in Signature's MAX Theatre!

Overtures students work on blocking for "King of New York," one of the group numbers they'll perform at the showcase.

In the past week and two days, our Overtures company has worked so incredibly well together. We have made great strides as an ensemble, making beautiful music and putting together tricky choreography. But at the end of the day we all go home with our individual homework and challenges to overcome. Whether running lyrics until all hours of the night so we won’t flub a word the next day or daring to stretch our emotional range in order to perform a more truthful monologue, we all recognize the work that must be done is, ultimately, personal.

Overtures has been like a buffet table; we are given multitudes of approaches to the work, ways to find vocal placement, ways to act a monologue, ways to connect to text and lyrics. Then we must pick and choose which approaches fit best. My swimmer’s shoulders do not drop into proper posture as easily as others, a fellow company member may have old knee injuries and alignment difficulties, and still another might simply psych themselves out every time a pirouette shows up in choreography. But we all still need to land that double, so we practice in our down time and when we return home at night after our eleven-hour days. We push past our own fears and inhibitions in order to be better the following morning.

During this evening’s staging rehearsal I was reminded just how personal and individually meaningful the work is and must be. Though we all sang the same words - “I pull myself together, I’m focused on the prize” - they clearly meant something different to every one of us. Our prize could be Broadway, maybe a Resident Artist contract with a company here in DC, or perhaps just graduating high school and heading off to a stellar collegiate theater program. We gave meaning to those words with a knowing smile, a flicker of hope in our eyes, similar enough but still personal.

Performing requires ruthless bravery: the willingness to take risks, to push ourselves beyond boxes of “type”, to test our presumed limits is integral to our training and development as actors. While we can be technically proficient, there are skills beyond the physical that we will not learn from manuals or how-to videos. Instead, we exhaustively search our souls in order to better bare them under the bright lights of the stage. And thankfully, at least for another four days, we are surrounded by an encouraging and truly caring group of fellow artists all going through the same process of discovery and personal perseverance.

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Inspiration

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM!

The cast of Company

Sunday, June 23
Inspiration can come in all shapes and sizes, in all forms, and at anytime. It can come in a boot camp-style workout early on a Sunday morning. It can come belting through high notes you never thought possible. It can arrive when a phone rings, a door chimes, with company. Or Company.

Bright and early this morning, we returned to the ARK to begin Week 2 in earnest. And boy, did we ever! Our second master class of the program focused on body, voice, and mental fortitude. A grueling workout roused us from our post day-off blur. A group vocal coaching had us singing like aliens, sheep, mice, and squirrels, all to explore vocal placement. And team sessions once again found each individual realizing new vocal and dramatic possibilities. Stop me, if I’m sounding like a broken record!

As I sat watching and listening to fellow company members approaching this new style of coaching, I was amazed by the overwhelming discoveries taking place. I suppose I should not have been surprised by the transformations today since we have already grown so much individually in the past week. Yet the light bulb moments of clarity are constantly and consistently exciting. For example, that moment when someone’s eyes grow wide in anticipation of a challenging note only to find that it comes out crisply and effortlessly. The affirmation that the note sounded great or the story was clear comes when the audience of company members calls, “YES, gurl!” By dinner there was a smile on everyone’s face. Today was a great way to start the week.

And the day wasn’t over after class. This evening we were treated to an absolutely stellar performance of Company in the Max Theatre. Perhaps it was the realization that we were learning from these incredible performers and seeing those lessons applied, that we had a backstage pass to what it takes to put up a show like Company, or maybe it was simply our relishing in the art, but our back row in the second tier was the first to their feet for a standing ovation. There is something special about live theater that pulls at heartstrings, that sparks insightful questions about the magic of how it is done, that truly motivates each of us to continue working toward our purpose and goals of performing professionally. With our own juries and showcase just another five days away, seeing it all done so right may just have been the inspiration we all needed to start off another unbelievable week.

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A Sneak Peek!

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

 

Friday, June 21

Week One of Overtures at Signature Theatre came to a close this evening with our first master class. After a day of hard work and midterms, an encouraging conversation and a few pointers (and songs) from the incomparable Nova Y. Payton were just what we needed to end a fantastic week.





I have been writing a lot about the truly generous, determined, and talented artists in our 2013 company, but perhaps it’s finally time to let the cat out of the bag (or the ARK). With our showcase just around the corner this Saturday at 11am, here’s a sneak peek of some of our work so far. 

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Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. Again!

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

Choreographer Karma Camp works with students on their tap technique.

Thursday, June 20

Someone once told me that a dance call for a non-dancer is just a good workout. While I have six years competitive ballroom on my resume and am certainly more than just a mover, I have often felt apprehensive when called in for choreography. Not unlike fellow Overtures company members, I was wary of stepping up to a ballet bar for the first time in two years and doubly unsure of the racket I would make when I laced up my hardly-worn tap shoes. But then again, working on my dance and choreography skills was one of my reasons for applying to Overtures in the first place.

Enter Karma Camp, Signature choreographer-extraordinaire. This past Sunday, I joked about our first warm-up being enough to potentially scare away the faint of heart and Karma herself warned that we would be screaming her name when we woke up in the morning sore. But after a week together, our groans brought on by aching muscles and moments of frustration are nearly gone, replaced by points of clarity, confidence, and can-do attitudes. And that warm-up (even the ab workout that goes along with it) is fun; especially when stretching to a Norm Lewis original while Karma records an iPhone video to send to her friend, Norm Lewis!

The choreography is certainly nothing to scoff at either. Our big showcase number, “King of New York” from Newsies (including an 8x8-count dance break) is definitely testing everything we are learning. And expectations are high. While we may slow something down briefly, we are constantly asked for more. We are learning to attack choreography, rely on our “buddy system” with our fellow company members to run phrases in our downtime, and trust in what we have already learned in just a week while also pushing ourselves to be better. We are discovering the mechanics of a double pirouette, working out the sounds in a shim sham (or at least most of the sounds for the non-hoofers), and breaking down the story of the dance. We are realizing that we are perhaps dancers after all.

Martha Graham once said, “No artist is ever pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” With midterms tomorrow, followed by a well-deserved day off, I have a feeling the 2013 Overtures company will “keep marching” - running lyrics while folding the laundry, checking tap sequences in the aisles of the supermarket, and we will be ready and eager to jump right back into the work on Sunday morning.

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We've Got Rhythm, We've Got Music

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

Tuesday, June 18

Anyone passing by The ARK today was treated to quite the cacophony. There were, of course, the familiar sounds of songs being rehearsed, the shuffle-ball-changes of tap sequences, the occasional groan of frustration or sore muscles, the “Who are you talking to?” and “Where’s your focus?” of our first acting sessions with Andrew Long. But it was the sounds outside of dedicated class time that might have pleasantly surprised a few passersby.

After only three days together, the 2013 Overtures Company feels like a true ensemble. When we make discoveries and breakthroughs in group work there is applause and even resounding calls of “Werk girl!”. When we lose our balance in relevé or our flaps don’t sound quite right, our fellow company members are there to buddy up and go over the step one…okay, three more times.

So perhaps it was not all too strange that during much of today’s “down-time” we were found playing old-school theater games or jamming. Put 17 musical theater artists together in a circle and we will make music; improvising drum beats with hands, binders, water bottles and feet, riffing and rapping “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. On a dreary day packed with demanding (and exhausting) classes and sessions, our scheduled breaks were much-appreciated moments of collective clarity.

As we ended our busy Tuesday by running through our first two company showcase songs, there was a palpable joy bouncing around the rehearsal room. Though it’s certainly easy to smile with lyrics like “My personal puss on a wooden nickel,” a dozen and a half artists finding a rhythm and groove will more than brighten any rainy day. There is some truly beautiful theater-making happening at Overtures, and we still have another ten days together!

Don't miss the Overtures Showcase! Saturday, June 29 at 11 AM in the MAX Theatre. Admission is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

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What Do You Do with a BA in Theatre?

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

Overtures students during a Tap class.

Monday, June 17

On our first morning of Overtures, group introductions included the standard answers to “who are you,” “where are you from” and “what’s your background”. A few of the college graduates in the group, sounding only slightly jaded and world-weary, claimed diplomas declaring theater or, more precisely, “glorified placemats”.  Quick to add a litany of goals and hopes for near-future successes that would change our feelings towards those fancy pieces of paper, we also recognized we had perhaps skipped a few steps along the way and still had much to learn.

Enter “The Business of Show Business," a class with Matt Gardiner, Signature's Associate Artistic Director. Following a second go at Karma’s ballet class (two and a half hours of strong technical breakthroughs, if you could make it through the warm up!), half our company pulled out headshots and resumes for an insider’s scoop. Feeling like a high school English student again, dreading the red correction pen, I readied myself for circles and x’s all over the 8”x10” page. After all, as young actors entering an often trying industry, we are all too familiar with the stories of bags of trashed headshots in the hallways of New York’s casting agencies, auditions gone horribly wrong and many young actors simply giving up to follow a “more sensible” career path.

And yet, there was no scary red pen. Sifting through copious notes this evening I find myself perusing insightful questions from a fellow company member, a funny anecdote from our Matt, a “NO” in all-caps followed by several exclamation points next to possible outfit choices for an audition (perhaps a little retail therapy is in my future). And tucked away in a margin are the words “persistence” and “respect”.

           

Overtures students warm up at the start of dance class.

        
Persistence has helped bring many of us to Overtures. Daily persistence is needed in our fledgling careers, especially when the industry is at its most unforgiving. Persistence will undoubtedly lift us over the next two weeks when we are at our most vulnerable, learning new skills and breaking down old habits in pursuit of our artistic goals. But persistence must be countered with respect. Respect for the industry and the incredible professionals we have the opportunity to learn from over these next two weeks. Respect for our fellow company members who have just as many questions as I may have . And especially respect for ourselves and those 8”x10”s that really aren’t all too horrible, those turn outs that even after only two days are already better, those discoveries we continue to make in voice sessions on songs that were intentionally picked for us to be challenges.

So, what do you do with a BA in Theater? Proudly list it right at the top of the “Training” section of your resume, just above your “Special Skills” and right below your growing list of “Theater Credits.”

Don't miss the Overtures Showcase! Saturday, June 29 at 11 AM in the MAX Theatre. Admission is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

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Sunday in the ARK with...

For the next two weeks, Overtures student Alexandra, a graduate of Colby College, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

Dance instructor Karma Camp gives Overtures students
feedback following their morning dance class.

Sunday, June 16

Eleven hours ago, I sat groggily at one of the tall tables in the second floor lobby of Signature Theatre, glancing at unfamiliar faces, flipping through sheet music one last time, and anxious to step into the ARK theater for the first day of unknown challenges and explorations. Behind the glazed eyes indicative of not enough coffee for a Sunday morning, I caught the glimmers of excitement. Here was a group of sixteen budding artists that shared at least one thing in common – we love musical theater. And, because of that love, we are spending two weeks of our much-coveted summers (at least for those in undergrad and high school where those still exist) back in the classroom at Overtures: Signature Theatre’s Musical Theatre Institute.

Whether we came to Overtures hoping to find more technique and training than a school program could provide, to realize true potential that lay dormant after college careers ripe with extracurricular promise, or to explore ulterior motives (gasp) and make the jump to a professional career in Washington, the Overtures class of 2013 has set our individual bars high. And so have the instructors. Diving in first thing this morning with pre-prepared songs ala an audition (albeit in front of three instructors, our Education Director, two Education Interns, and the entire Overtures class), we certainly gave it our all.

Overtures students Nina (left) and Ines (right) review their music.

For anyone who has leapt back into a classroom setting after a long time, after day jobs, and after a couple of years nurturing bad habits and trying to look like you know what you’re doing, the smacking sensation of a full day’s work in a class (and, more specifically, critique) will certainly remind you of  “the good old days”. “Make discoveries.” “Find focus.” “Be a sponge.” Ahh, the wise words of seasoned professional and teachers ready and eager to work every skill, every dance step, every high note, every riff, every conceived notion of dramatic interpretation. The dance warm-up alone might have been enough to scare away the faint of heart if not for the outgoing, sensitive, fun, and loving personalities in the program. 

Today was only a glimpse of all that Overtures undoubtedly has in store for us over the next two weeks.  Pleasantries aside, we are prepared for a difficult experience, an experience that might even make us cry (according to Tracy Lynn Olivera’s un-minced introduction), but an experience that ultimately will prove incredibly rewarding.

Don't miss the Overtures Showcase! Saturday, June 29 at 11 AM in the MAX Theatre. Admission is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

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