Why Reading is Fundamental - Monologue Prep

Do you're research. Do you're research. Do you're research.

When you pull a monologue from a play, read the damn play. [Full Stop]

Been using that same piece for a hot minute and still haven't read it? Read the damn play. [Full Stop]

You're in rehearsals and you keep being surprised by new text. READ THE DAMN PLAY! Read! Read the damn script. Ain't no half-steppin! Do not pass go unless you've READ IT ALL.

Yes, I know you're brilliant. I know your imagination is full that you can create all the imagined circumstances you want. But there's absolutely no feeling like being anchored in a history -- a history that is freely given to you. It boggles the mind the number of times I used to fly solo in my early auditioning days before I got "it" --- that reading the whole damn thing is a good thing! It's like going on a road trip and having a map, the GPS, and unlimited roaming. It'll be damn near impossible to get lost. You have so much information to pull from. Ruminate on. Luxuriate in. (I love ending sentences with prepositions.)

It's hard, even for me, and I LOVE TO READ. You know what I do when I move to a knew city? Find a grocery store, get a transportation pass, and find the closest library. That is me in a nutshell. And with all that passion for reading, sometimes reading the full play still gets to me, which is crazy because reading is a pretty chill activity. Sit. Look. Repeat. (Eat or drink if you want to.)

It's funny that I find myself in my current predicament. I need to read some text, quite a few tragedies. But... I don't want to be depressed. I know, I know, of all the reasons for not reading (like.. you know... actually not being able to read, this one feels weak as hell.) But dagnabit, I'm already going through a lot. So, to willingly read a script that will depress me feeds the procrastination beast within me because I don't want to make  myself go somewhere (in my mind) that I don't want to be. I DON'T WANNA! So what must I tell myself?

It's just a story. It isn't real. Nothing in the story is currently happening. Fascinating isn't it? The power of storytelling? That something imagined can have such an impact! That very (continual) epiphany makes me want to be a storyteller more. So all I have to do is read it. Even though the text will take me on a wild ride of emotions.

But it's just a story. Have you ever woken up from a bad dream where someone betrayed you, hurt you, did you epically dirty? And you end up walking around that entire morning pissed about something that never happened? Pissed at someone who didn't actually do anything to you? Pissed at something happening in your subconscious? Angry at the world about your life... you know... that DREAM life that didn't happen? Or have you ever watched a TV show or movie and by the end, was so angered/hurt by a character's actions and so you stop being able to like the actor who played that character? An actor who in day-to-day life didn't actually do anything? BUT YOU'RE STILL MAD? 

It's just a story.

So yes, I need to get over myself because I have some reading to do. When you're sharing a part of a story (read:the monologue), it behooves you know know the entire story. Ain't no half-stepping. You want to elicit the reaction from the audience and move them. You want to have the story somehow resonate with our very real human experiences of love, loss, lust, longing and so on and so forth. You want to see life. Share that. The power is in the details.

Bastardizing Shakespeare - You Mad?

It's the age of carefully curated posturing. Gut reactions are hard to come by. But mention Shakespeare and two camps immediately emerge: #TeamHolyGrail and #TeamWhatTheF*ck. You either love him or hate him. If you love for him, no doubt you had a great teacher who taught you how to enjoy the juiciness of his language. If you hate him, you probably couldn't get past the pomposity of #TeamHolyGrail and their uppity/non-approachable attitude. As a lover of language and a student of theater, I should fall into the first camp. For the most part I do. 

But let's keep it all the way 100. Shakespeare was a badass and he probably hated all BS and any holier-than-thou tomfoolery. His characters critique the elite while uplifting the sensibility of the working class. Still, he was an artist and he was likely very sensitive about his sh*t. Yes, even us badasses  thirst for the approval of our peers and the tastemakers of our day. 

Luckily, during his time, he got the co-sign from the tastemakers of his time. To the point where in 2017, if an actor "incorrectly" stresses a line of his text, they'll be met with the shadiest of side-eyes.

I call shade. Shakespeare invented new words. Just. Because. He. Felt. Like. It. And with that example, you know what I say? When learning Shakespeare, bastardize it.

Definition: Bastardize - to change by making alterations. (Admittedly, I'm playing it fast and loose with this definition.) If he made new words, take those words and play with them. Find fluidity within form. The dictionary must reflect the culture it catalogs and so you too can catalog your culture, your reality. When attempting to discover meaning in the text, let the imagery connect to *your* truth. 

My first experiment in this bastardization will be Hamlet. I'm gonna have some FFFFUUUUHHHHNNNN henny!

Bastardize it henny!

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That: Working Amidst Self-Doubt

I am a worrier by nature... well my present nature. I don't think think I was always this way and I certainly hope not to be when I hit 30/35/30. (Everyone always talks about hitting those ages as this amazing time of "don't-give-any-fucks" with such joy and serenity. But that's where I sit now. And I don't like it. I really don't like it. It can be immensely overwhelming to think about how something, someone, some choice from your past may detrimentally affect your future. Hell, by the sheer virtue of my blackness, I may not get a job from some company. And what if I really wanted that job!? Or, the fact that I went to Harvard makes people give me a second glance, as if some institution makes you better? I mean, I'll take that advantage, but that doesn't guarantee me anything. Or, what about that potentially infamous picture that's on Facebook (don't go looking for it) that some "frenemy" won't take down? Or, that one time I.......  Or, the fact that I am pro-choice (not pro-terminate)... but pro-choice and I decide to express the values? So forth and so on. I won't divulge every victory or failure of my past of which in the latter there are many... but you see how my mind works? 

The only solution I've found on my worst day seems trivial... and on my best day seems life- affirming. 

• Say/Pray something to God/Higher Power/Heavens/Universe
• Connecting with good, honest people with whom you can talk and fellowship
• Be outside in nature listening to the little miracles, ie birds chirping, wind blowing, rain drops hitting the ground, bugs trynna bite me (I think I may have been a tree in another lifetime. HA!)
• Writing
• And recite the serenity prayer. Like a lot. Like.. to the point where my shoulders relax. Reminding myself that I can't control everything and attempting to, will surmount in a massive panic attack.

So in the meantime, I'm going to work on things I CAN control, like publishing a book of monologues this fall, and keepin it movin'. Cause when it comes to worry.... "ain't nobody got time for that."

Writing A Monologue.... Why Try?!

So, my writing/editing session had to be rescheduled and THAT bummed me out. BUT since I know that continually creating work is imperative to my career success and overall trajectory, I am moving on to another new project in the mean time.

If you didn't know, actors, always have to audition. That's the real job, auditioning. If you can imagine constantly having to go on a job interview, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a day...actually don't. That's the annoying bit, especially for me because I just want to act, not clamor to get the chance to do it. But, one of the things that I have learned in my many years of auditioning is that one of the best ways to set myself up for success in an audition is to pick good material that resonates with me. It may speak to my personal experience or it may just scare/excite me in some way. Since I know me best....  why don't I just write with my own monologues? Why don't I! As my friend Mark Brown II told me

"Make the art that you want to make. Be critical later. Some ideas are great on paper and suck in life and some ideas aren't the best on paper but ROCK in real life."

So, my next project will come from that. My inspiration? Music that I love. To be honest, this idea started when I saw a quote from the infamous 1999 summer jam by Sisqo entitled "The Thong Song." You laugh now, but can you imagine a monologue that seriously dealt with the concept of the thong? Or a monologue where the protagonist IS a thong? HAHAHA. I'm cracking myself up just thinking about it.

It may be a tremendous failure, or... it could be my biggest piece of genius. So, let me know what your favorite songs are, and I might make a monologue based on your inspiration. I'm looking to make at least 1 good one but I'll write 10. And in case, if you've forgotten: