Purpose

Originally posted on www.cbtheatre.org

Actors miss out on jobs far more often than we book them. We audition dozens of times for roles that end up going to other people – that’s simply the nature of the business (any business, really). It can be disappointing, and it can be frustrating, but we push on and keep trying and in the hopes of sooner or later landing a job.

What’s truly fulfilling is getting a part that offers the opportunity to utilize the fullest range of my talents and abilities. I earned my MFA in Acting this year, but I also have many years’ worth of background in both martial and stage combat. Not only that, but I’m a fairly large dude capable of bearing and manipulating another person’s weight with relative ease.

This is why, in part, when I tell friends and colleagues I’m cast in A Klingon Christmas Carol¸ I virtually always get the same response. There’s a look of mild surprise, quickly followed by a small grin as sudden understanding is achieved. Then the person slowly nods as if all is right with the world, and then they all say the same thing: “Of course you are.”

Rehearsal is always fun, but this week I’ve had several opportunities to bring my physique to the show under the imaginative direction of Fight Director Zach Livingston. Early in the rehearsal process we had a movement rehearsal that focused mostly on Klingon physicality. As a culture that prizes warriors, the body must be constantly ready to either attack or defend one’s self. We must be able to move in any direction with no warning, preparation, or hesitation. Knees are never locked, and no one ever lounges.

To ensure we’re keeping this in mind, Zach has given us a rule for the room. From time to time, someone will shout the word LUNGE. When this happens everyone must lunge at the nearest person in an attack posture. Everyone shouts and growls and charges each other. It’s particularly amusing to see two people in casual conversation be interrupted by this. Even more amusing is seeing SQuja’ run away from the fight like the dishonorable little coward that serves as the impetus of the story in the first place. Makes me giggle every time.

Early this week we focused on fighting with the bat’leth, the traditional weapon of a Klingon warrior. In addition to being given basic ways to manipulate this fantastically beautiful tool of war, Zach has choreographed us each with different styles of fighting one another. For example, some people use more footwork, while others focus on the variety of ways to manipulate the blade. Here we get to benefit from Zach’s extensive combat experience as well as his imagination to make us look good.

And we do look good. There are four consecutive one-on-one duels, and each one has a different flavor and style. You won’t be watching the same fight over and over.

This Saturday’s rehearsal was a four-hour choreography session for a single fight scene which promises to be the highlight of my year. Three times I’ve tried to describe to friends the aspects of what I get to do in this fight, and three times the conversation has degenerated into the sort of primal joy a five-year-old expresses when trying to describe his favorite parts of an action movie.

Suffice it to say I feel wholly utilized in this fight. This is a brawl on a huge scale with about a dozen actors punching, kicking, leaping, being lifted and thrown, being knocked around, knocked down and knocked out. Several fights happen at a time, and there are as many visual jokes thrown in as there are bodies on the floor by the end of it.

I also developed an intense, new level of appreciation for my castmates. A fight scene takes trust between partners. It’s difficult to commit to an action if you don’t feel like you aren’t going to get hurt, and I absolutely look like I could hurt someone if something goes wrong. Yet everyone I fight in this show (which is very nearly everyone) exhibits and inspires total confidence in myself and one another. Stage combat is just another form of dance, and the best dancing is done between capable partners. This show, and the fights within it, are going to be the most glorious eye candy I’ve ever had the honor to be a part of, and I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to do it with.

It’s a cliché to be sure, but I can’t escape that it’s the plain truth.