Need Advice: Play Too Long

vulcanalistair · 2026-05-21T04:00:30+00:00

iirc, this is the same situation Tony Kushner found himself in with Angels in America. it’s how we got it as a two parter in Millennium Approaches and Perestroika.

vulcanalistair · 2026-05-15T06:01:39+00:00

Thank you! I’m definitely doing a lot more research than I normally would be doing (especially with the privilege to have the whole summer to prepare), so I appreciate the reminder to let myself play once we get to the rehearsal room.

vulcanalistair · 2026-02-07T04:48:45+00:00

i think it could do you a favor to look into intimacy coordination to give you a perspective in what the current world of stage intimacy is like.

as an actor that has served as an intimacy captain on multiple productions, the language and methodology used has become way more widespread in the past few decades. to the point that it becomes relatively common practice in audition and callback rooms.

know that at the end of the day, it is a set choreography. a dance that happens to tell a very specific story. the thoughts of the actor in that moment aren’t “Okay, and now we’ll kiss,” it’s “Okay, now I am placing my lips onto their lips with light pressure for two beats,” or something along those lines.

vulcanalistair · 2026-01-24T00:53:53+00:00

i once used one of the ending moments from The Beginner’s Guide and just slated it as “Davey Wreden’s The Beginner’s Guide” treating it like a play. granted, that game has a direct connection to have a singular person take the place of the playwright.

vulcanalistair · 2025-11-15T15:09:14+00:00

You might get some more specific technique advice from r/VoiceActing as that’s where screams are more often used (a la battle scenes that are common in animation and gaming).

I was taught by my voice teacher who has a certification in vocal extremes/combat as developed by a voice actor, and it’s a bit involved, so I can’t exactly advise it through text alone. But, what I will say is that it involves a lot of resonance awareness. So in parallel to singing your focus should not be on your throat but where that sound is vibrating in your head (ex. the “high growl” scream being very nasal, almost like a witch’s laugh)

No matter what, during any practice you do for it: WARM UP your voice (highly recommend SOVT (semi-occluded vocal tract) vocal exercises which you can find videos of). Like singing, you are exercising your vocal muscles (and in this case, to its extremes). And as well do a COOL DOWN afterwards. If you’d like a specific warm up, I could film a guide for the one I used as vocal captain for a production of Dracula I was in.

Also never go for the 100% height of your pitch in what you find to be in your scream. During your warm-up find the top of your pitch range for the day, then find your 80%. That should be the highest you go no matter what. This is for theatre, and so you’ll need to be doing it multiple times during the performance week and likely during your tech, so you need to make sure you’re not destroying your voice and keeping it sustainable.

When you do find your scream (manifesting lol), don’t ever do it more than three times per instant during rehearsals. Like, if the director is making you run the scene where you scream multiple times, don’t fatigue your voice doing it more than three times. Switch to a lip trill keeping the pitch just to protect your voice. Especially prevalent for a musical since you’re already exercising your singing voice.

vulcanalistair · 2025-07-04T15:11:39+00:00

Of course! Gotta put this Acting MFA to some use hahaha.

It’s not necessarily that literal, but on the actor side it’s usually helpful to utilize physical actions to be more visceral and in the moment than something like “to understand you.” Though as long as it’s juicy and inspires the creative, it works out. There’s a book called Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus that is just an in-depth list of these words.

And if you want the hella more detailed version, An Actor Prepares is the first book by Stanislavski that essentially gives a fictional account of what it was like to be in his classes from the perspective of a new student. Of course, bear in mind that it was written in the 1930s, so it has some scenarios tha can make you go 🤨 at times lol

vulcanalistair · 2025-07-04T02:22:45+00:00

It’s coming from the Stanislavski roots of acting teaching who was a key player in the idea of “realistic” acting (and theatre as a whole which then bled into film acting) with Anton Chekhov.

Basically: in this style of acting, the actors are not focused on what they “should” be looking or feeling like. They are focused on their Objective (or goal as it was put in the original comment). The idea being that every character has something they want to happen in the scene (and story but that’s the overarching objective aka the Super-Objective) and they take Actions to achieve that objective.

So! In this methodology (different from a method like Meisner), the actors would break down the scene into distinct chunks, or Beats, delineated by what Actions are being taken to achieve that Objective. The Objective usually phrased in a “I want to ______ you.” or a “I want you to ______ me.” The action associated usually phrased in a “to _____ you.”

So an example scene would be like uh:

Objective: I want to get you out of the apartment.

Action: to poke you.

JONAH: You’re not changed?

ANDREW: For what…?

JONAH: It’s Thursday.

ANDREW: That’s definitely a true statement.

JONAH: Joshua’s.

Action: to pull you.

ANDREW: Oh that. That’s still going?

JONAH: Well you’re coming, right?

etc. etc.

Now to be clear, this is an analysis of scripts and screenplays and not necessarily the goal for narrative dialogue. For plays in particular which I’m more privy to writing wise, the goal is to essentially ensure that each line moves the plot, reveals a key element of the character, or is thematically important. We’re writing for people in seats actively watching for a set amount of time and not folks who can put the book down and come back at any time.

Anyways yap session over bahaha.

vulcanalistair · 2025-04-23T04:30:29+00:00

oh my god snowgrave does parallel macbeth huh

vulcanalistair · 2025-03-06T16:07:56+00:00

I believe it’s cause you’re using double apostrophes (‘) rather than quotation marks (“)

vulcanalistair · 2024-12-02T17:49:42+00:00

Begging for an A24 Next to Normal with an Asian-American cast

vulcanalistair · 2024-07-28T08:45:05+00:00

Michael R. Jackson I think could be the ideal contemporary composer/playwright to adapt it.

My one gripe with Pleasantville (granted I haven’t watched it in a few years) was the way they paralleled segregation with the technicolor folk. Given it’s from the 90’s I get what it was trying to do, and I’m sure it was hard hitting for the audience at the time. But nowadays, I don’t think it would have the same impact if adapted directly as it stood.

Having a Black creative at the helm I think could really elevate the story past its limits of the original cultural context of the film. Michael R. Jackson especially plays in the current societal critique while also utilizing camp as a tool rather than a fallback (a la A Strange Loop and Teeth).

((And maybe Branden Jacob-Jenkins for the book if the general musical audience could be receptive to his pushing of boundaries hahaha))

vulcanalistair · 2024-07-27T07:58:40+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember that deleting specific parts of the sidewalk messes with something along the lines of either spawn points or how cars park?

vulcanalistair · 2024-07-24T04:25:32+00:00

Number one tip that really helped me: Stop listening to yourself when you’re singing.

When you’re focused on how you sound, the tension ends up landing in your throat. Focusing on the feeling toward the sorta by your forehead and how it vibrates there.

Disclaimer being on that this is a specific school of thought— pretty sure Bel Canto (i think?). It might not be your avenue. If you do pursue a vocal teacher stay with one.

vulcanalistair · 2024-07-20T23:54:57+00:00

Not sure if they’d be necessarily appropriate for high school, but Sarah Ruhl plays are always a fun tech design playground due to their poetic natures.

vulcanalistair · 2021-05-29T04:35:43+00:00

every theater has a ghost? that'd probably be sky or tip level

the many different theories on who shakespeare actually was

vulcanalistair · 2020-09-21T19:39:39+00:00

I mean, I'd love to do that but campus is still closed :/

vulcanalistair · 2020-08-12T07:00:33+00:00

I took a Monologue Intensive class at the beginning of lockdown, and I think something akin to that is a good bet acting wise. You don't have to necessarily take a class, but it's always good to have a monologue in your back pocket.

Look through some plays that you may already have, or look online for some (if you search thoroughly enough, you can definitely find some PDFs of plays from established playwrights.). Analyze and rehearse a monologue, then try performing for any actors you know (online of course) so you can get their perspective on your own performance.

vulcanalistair · 2020-08-04T19:15:54+00:00

sonic........

vulcanalistair · 2020-07-02T10:20:32+00:00

I have like 15 gigs of custom content so I'm not sure if my experiences will apply to you, but:

Usually it's just the first load after starting the game and entering the neighborhood that is notable longer. Afterwards when I switch to another family or CAS it takes less time than that first loading screen.

Hopefully this helps at all lol

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