Overtures - Singing with Tracy Lynn Olivera

Tracy Lynn Olivera demonstrates good vocal technique.

Private vocal sessions are a wonderful and necessary thing to have and receive as a student studying musical theatre and performance. This one-on-one time with a vocal instructor gives the student the chance to ask questions and focus on problem areas that they might not otherwise be noticing on their own. Here at Overtures, in addition to a litany of other classes, workshops and master classes, the students each receives several private voice sessions with Tracy Lynn Olivera. Tracy is a singer, actress and teacher based in the Washington, DC metro area and has appeared on the Signature Theatre stages in Gypsy, Crossing, Company, Brother Russia, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Les Miserables, Merrily We Roll Along,The Happy Time and Allegro. 

Adrianna presents "An English
Teacher" (Bye Bye Birdie) to Tracy and others.

Tracy comments on
students' performances.

We are thrilled to have Tracy teach with us at Overtures. With a long list of teaching experience and venues that include Catholic University, Theatre Lab, Adventure Theatre-MTC, Imagination Stage, and her very own basement (for private coaching), Tracy brings a plethora of experience to the students here at Signature. In both her private sessions and group vocal sessions, Tracy is a constant delight. Her relaxed attitude and knowledgeable musical mind make the students at ease and realize they are in the best hands when it comes to vocal educators.

In one of her most recent group vocal sessions, Tracy put the students through a gauntlet of exercises as they presented their showcase songs. Tracy's side coaching throughout their performances as well as her suggestions on song presetatin helped amazingly. Whether it was a simple physical adjustment or vocal intonation change, the suggestions and adjustments she made increased their performances greatly. 

Edward Simon listens as Tracy offers advice on his
performance of "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" (The Book of Mormon.)

 We are only five days away from the Overtures Showcase in the MAX here at Signature Theatre. (June 28th at 11 AM) The students still have several oppurtunities to squeeze as much information and knowledge out of Tracy as they can. You do not want to miss this performance this coming Saturday. 

The Overtures Showcase is free and open to the public. Doors open at 10:30AM. 

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Overtures - Darius Smith

Darius Smith gracefully conducts and plays off of
the Overtures students.

We are entering the period in Overtures when it's time to start really buckling down. In a little over a week, the Overtures students will show off all they have learned in a showcase in Signature's MAX Theatre. The showcase will naturally feature solos from the roster of students but will also feature a slew of group numbers featuring the entire Overtures company. One of the most exciting aspects for the students is getting to work with Darius Smith in preparing these group numbers.

Adrianna and Christina run
through Next Story.

Darius Smith is the music director of Overtures and has premiered several different original works in the DC area.Some of these include The Snowy Day at Adventure Theatre and U.G.L.Y. at The Kennedy Center. Not new to the area and Signature, Darius has worked on both Dreamgirls and Defying Gravity at Signature. In addition to directing music around the DC metro area, Darius is also an educator and currently coordinates the musical theatre program at Howard University. 

This is Darius's second year as the music director of Overtures and he couldn't be more excited to work with all of the talented students that this year brings to the table. I recently sat down with Darius and the students as they ran through the three group numbers for the showcase. The songs include "Magic to Do" from Pippin, "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello, Dolly!, and "My Next Story" from Glory Days. This eclectic mix of massive group songs was a pleasure to watch in rehearsal as Darius instructed the students on the intricacies of each song. We are halfway through Overtures and the songs / performers / sequences are only going to get better as times goes on!

The Overtures Tenor and Bass section hard at work.

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Alicia: Heart to Hartz

For the next several weeks, different cast and crew members of our talented Signature in the Schools program will be taking over our blog. Check back for frequent updates to get an inside track on their process and mindset with our latest production, Hero Worship.

This time around we sat down for a video chat with one of our senior cast members Alicia to talk about some of the successes, challenges, and questions that Hero Worship brings forth.

Hero Worship performs March 10th and March 17th at 8:00 PM. Tickets are free, but reservations are required. To reserve seats, call 703-820-9771. Reservations are available beginning February 10th.

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Usman: Why I Came Here

For the next several weeks, different cast and crew members of our talented Signature in the Schools program will be taking over our blog. Check back for frequent updates to get an inside track on their process and mindset with our latest production, Hero Worship! 

Today we will be hearing from Usman, one of the actors in Hero Worship. It is Usman's first year with Signature in the Schools and we thought it would be fun to hear a little bit about why he decided to join us.

Usman, hard at work, studying lines during a rehearsal for Hero Worship.

1. How did you find out about Signature in the Schools?

I saw last years Signature in the Schools production, Revolution, with my former high school Washington-Lee. I was very impressed and told myself that I would audition for the program next year. I was sadly too late to audition for the fine arts program that would allow me to audition for Signature in Schools so I thought I just had to wait till next year. Luckily, I made some new friends, met some amazing teachers over the summer and decided to transfer to Wakefield High School. Then, with some additional luck I got into Signature in the Schools.

2. Why did you want to join Signature in the Schools?

I have always loved theater and performing in shows with my school. However, I wanted and needed to branch out to other theaters to experience more of what the area might have to offer me in terms of theatrical education and training. After I saw the previous Signature in the Schools show I knew where to start.

3. What was you favorite part of our first few weeks of “boot camp” rehearsal?

My favorite part was the improvisational exercises we did throughout the first few weeks. Improv has always been my favorite type of performance. Performing with a group of other talented young actors made it even better and has allowed me to explore and create so much more both on and off the stage.

4. What do you hope to learn / accomplish by the end of the Signature in the Schools program?

I feel that with every role you play you always end up taking something away from it. If the character is romantic you become a little more suave. If the character is evil you become a little more devious. I hope that by the end of Signature in the Schools I can take something great away from my character, "Dominic" and I hope everyone can take something great away from me.

Hero Worship performs March 10th and March 17th at 8:00 PM. Tickets are free but reservations are required. To reserve seats, call 703-820-9771. Reservations are available beginning February 10th.

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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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Breakthrough

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

Wednesday, June 19

The dictionary defines “breakthrough” as an act of breaking through an obstacle, a sudden advance, or a person’s first notable success. As Day Four of Overtures came to a close, I could no longer count  the number of breakthrough moments our company had already had.

So much of what we do as actors, musicians and dancers is done behind the scenes in table work and rehearsal that it is easy for the audience to forget the effort that goes into a final performance. But with two weeks devoted entirely to working through our own individual preparation processes, as well as learning from others’ practice, our company is seeing so many of those vulnerable moments of frustration, so many of the incredibly satisfying moments of discovery - those breakthroughs.

It can often feel that as actors we are constantly throwing ourselves to the wolves in auditions and cattle calls. We can spend months scrambling for work. We can be proud to put something up on its feet and then be devastated by that one really horrible review. So when we do have the opportunity to revisit how we prepare, the chance to repair our creative routines, the freedom to explore once again, we may find ourselves somehow both reluctant and anxious  for the sting of honest feedback. We were warned on Sunday that we might need to invest in Kleenex after all. Acting is work. Acting is emotional.

But we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t truly love it. All of it (the joys and the tears). Over the next two days, as we wrap up Week One of Overtures 2013 with midterms (a word that, I’ll admit, brings back many an unnerving memory from my college days!) we are bound to have many more breakthroughs. Sure, those moments may follow near breakdowns, however, those critics offering brutal honesty and insight are also our closest friends (our fellow company members) and our greatest advisers (our reassuring instructors). We could not be among more encouraging people as we work through dance phrases, practice monologues on lunch breaks, or check in with each other after particularly frustrating classes or one-on-one sessions. Just like one of our final showcase songs says, “I could almost go to pieces, but I’m not quite there yet.”

Instructors Tracy Lynn Olivera and Matthew Gardiner give Sarah Anne feedback on her performance.



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An Afternoon at Rehearsal: Brandi

In Signature in the Schools' premiere production of Revolution, actor and high school sophomore Brandi plays Basma Bouazizi, the younger sister of Tunisian revolutionary Mohammed Bouazizi. Below, Brandi takes us through a typical day at rehearsal:

A typical day of rehearsal involves the actors who are called for that day warming up with the directors with vocal exercises, stretching, and tasks involving concentration. After we are all warmed up, we jump into scene work. In rehearsals we typically run through scenes several times with the guidance of one of the directors and work on reactions, objectives, and relationships with other characters. In between working scenes, we occasionally do exercises that help with characterization and movement in-the-round. Each day we laugh and joke around, but when a serious scene is being worked or our attention is needed, we all are ready to concentrate. There is a good balance of fun and focus and you learn something new every day in rehearsal.

Reading lines for the first time.

Rehearsing  a scene with fellow actor Max while David, the director, looks on.

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Catching Up with Karl

Actor and high school student Karl plays a quiet, intelligent teen named Zerah in Signature in the Schools' premiere production of Revolution. Here, Karl shares some insights into his experience as an actor in the show:

In three sentences describe your experience with Signature in the Schools.

Signature in the Schools has been a phenomenal experience so far. It’s been amazing to have the opportunity to work alongside such talented actors and dedicated directors. Signature Theatre has provided me great exposure to the field of theatre which has broadened my view on the arts, culture and life. 

How do you feel Signature in the Schools has helped prepare you for the future?

Personally, Signature in the Schools has done a fantastic job fostering dedication, commitment, and teamwork in me; all vital characteristics to success no matter where my future may take me.  

A wise man (David) once told me this story: The story takes place back in history, when it was custom to bring wedding gifts of wine to contribute to large vat at the wedding venue where everyone else was to contribute. The bride’s family constructed a large vat, and the following evening at the wedding reception everyone brought their best wine and poured it into the vat. When they poured the wine though, do you know what poured out? Water. Pure water. See, each person that came thought to themselves, "With such a large vat and everybody else contributing wine, nobody will notice if my contribution is water. The wine will taste no different." And so each person poured in water, assuming everybody else's wine would make up the difference. And indeed the vat was filled with 100%, pure water. And such is the lesson David taught us. When you work on a team it’s expected you bring your genuine “wine”, because if not, you’re left with something that doesn’t mean much to anyone: water. You can’t control what anyone else contributes but you can give your best. Don't give water, expecting everybody else to contribute wine for you. 

What’s your favorite scene in the show? Why?

My favorite scene would definitely be the scene between Caroline, Patrick, and Zerah in the cafeteria. I love this scene because it feels so authentic and real. I think we can all relate to Zerah, in having an experience when your best friend is crushing on the cute kid, and finally decides to heed your advice and strike a conversation. At that point all you can do a is sit back and watch your best friend either kindle a new relationship or have it go in flames. 

Karl working hard at rehearsal.

Karl participating in a line-through of his favorite scene.

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An Update from Max

Actor and high school sophomore Max plays a troubled teen named Patrick in Signature in the Schools' premiere production of Revolution. We've asked Max to answer a couple of questions about his experience being part of the show:

What is your favorite scene in the show? Why? 

My favorite scene in Revolution is the final scene. The potential for shock it has is so immense. It is quite beautiful. 

What’s the funniest thing that has happened in rehearsal?

During rehearsals we were working on the scene where Caroline attempts to talk to me, and Ariel, who is playing Caroline, chokes on her own saliva mid-monologue. The awkwardness was hilarious.

What have been your favorite parts of Signature in the Schools so far?

My favorite part of Signature in the Schools has to be how the directors, cast and the ones who make the show WORK are all able to input valuable information that will make a certain scene or the performer themselves more authentic. It's almost like a family (as cliche as that sounds). 

Max hard at work.

The final scene being rehearsed, with Max in the center.

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