CMU School of Drama


Friday, October 30, 2009

One actor, 23 parts, and a storyboard

Berkeley Rep Blog: "In Tiny Kushner, a collection of five short plays by Tony Kushner, Jim Lichtscheidl takes a memorable turn through East Coast Ode to Howard Jarvis: a little teleplay in tiny monologues. Jim plays nearly two dozen characters in a fast-paced story about a real-life tax-evasion scheme born in the Midwest that spread through New York City public employees like a bad disease."

5 comments:

arosenbu said...

i think this show seems cool, and like an extremely difficult part to memorize for the actor. I'm really glad to hear/see that he used his creativity and found another way of laying out the story so he could learn it better. I think having a visual of all the characters lets him really relate to them and almost communicate with them/as them because he can think of them in his head. I think its interesting that he did all the pictures himself.... They looked pretty good!

S. Kael said...

This is a very interesting way for an actor to get into his part, as well as integrate an art he's always been interested in into his work. Certainly, being that many characters must have its challenges, and this method of putting a face, and a description it seems, to each of his parts really lets him speak through each of the parts as if he had become the detective, the bratty teenage daughter, etc. Bravo to Lichtscheidl for going above and beyond.

Timothy Sutter said...

This is a very intersting idea. I mean, not only is the acting ability to play oer 24 characters impressive, but the fact that we is integrating a new aspect into the theatrical realm is iteresting. The use of storyboarding is a unique concept mainly in the fact that drastically changes the dynamic of the performance by giving this through feeelig in the show. I also see that the actor playing all the roles is trained to follow this story board to the tee.

Brooke M said...

This is an interesting topic, because we are currently discussing Fires in the Mirror in Foundations, a play that has many different characters portrayed by one person. While I'm sure this play tells an entirely different story, it is interesting to see how actors approach their roles when they are faced with challenges. This is definitely a good technique for those who are visual in their approaches.

Anonymous said...

These drawings/storyboards that are being used as inspiration/development look eerily like David Shrigley drawings. David Shrigley is an incredible artist who, no joke, has written books of random drawings just like those. While his hold an entirely different purpose, I agree with everything that has been said in that people underestimate their talent when it comes to drawing/story boarding. Even really crappy drawings can turn out into really beautiful images and ideas. People get this sense that they can't draw, but few realize how useful it is, and if you can pick up a pencil and make lines on a piece of paper, it's enough to make you an artist if there's something behind the movement. I am so all for this idea and I hope this inspires other non-drawers to pick up some pencils and see what happens. It's way easier than you think.