“Hurry Up and Wait” is an unavoidable part of the theatre rehearsal process. I made this image at the first dress rehearsal for It’s a Wonderful Life the other night.
Category: Theatre
It’s a Wonderful Life
Last night I shot a dress rehearsal of “It’s a Wonderful Life“: a staged radio play based on the timeless movie of the same name, being staged by Toronto’s Alexander Showcase Theatre. At first glance, the concept may sound odd: a staged radio play? You’d be surprised just how visually appealing this production is! The image below is of Toronto actor and artist Sharon Zehavi, and is indicative of her positive energy throughout the play.
I also produced a short slideshow video which gives a flavour of the show:
You may know how the story ends, but you’ll still love the show! Highly recommended!
Craft
Earlier this week I shot the final rehearsal for Mambo Italiano, a funny, touching and moving play being put on by Alexander Showcase Theatre. If you are on Facebook, you can see some of the pictures I took here. This is an amazing show, and well worth seeing! Today’s picture is one I took before the show began, of cast member Antonio Olivito stretching and warming up. I had the privilege of working with Antonio earlier this year in Man of La Mancha: he is an interesting mix of manic, spontaneous energy and a serious approach to the art and craft of theatre, and I’d like to think I captured that in this image.
Steam Punk Polaroid
Expect to see more steam punk images over the next little while! Today’s image is of Ren Brockhouse, who I know through a Toronto theatre group. One of the things that appeals to me about steam punk is how it celebrates technologies that were accessible: things you could build, repair, change or hack with the right tools or know-how. So much of technology today is hermetically sealed away and abstracted; we seem to know so little about how things work, and that is a dangerous state of affairs!
Personality Distilled
Today’s image is of actor Caitlynne Medrek. We did a shoot at High park in Toronto, and Caitlynne was a joy to work with. Every now and then I am lucky enough to capture in one image these essence of a person’s personality, and I think I did so here; it’s hard not to smile back at this kind of smile! 🙂
Expressions, Again
More expressions, this time from Natasha Henderson, a Toronto comedian and actress, whose strong personality and presence made for a lively and fun photo session combining a retro film noir look with poking fun at old attitudes regarding the role of women. Natasha’s enthusiasm was great, and as a result she created a memorable character!
See Natasha in action on Youtube. She is the host of Comedy Thursdays at the Starving Artist in Toronto.
L’Homage Pour Édith Piaf
Today (the opening night of Man of La Mancha in which I play the Governor and the Innkeeper) seemed like the perfect day to post this image of model Léah, who wanted a portrait that pays tribute to her hero, twentieth century French singer and icon Édith Piaf. I have to admit I didn’t know much about Édith before working with Léah (I had heard La Vie en Rose, but hadn’t made the connection), but in reading about her, listening to her music and watching performances on YouTube I was struck by how this tiny (4 foot 8 inch tall) woman had such a powerful, commanding stage presence, and how her essentially tragic life is transmuted into the emotional intensity of her singing. She literally put everything she had, and everything she was into her performance. As an amateur actor who clearly has so so much to learn, I can really take a lesson from her life and music.
The Eyes of the Actor
I took this photo for a production of Man of La Mancha that I am currently in, and shows two of the main characters, Don Quixote (played by Robbie Burko) and Sancho Panza (played by Antonio Olivito). What strikes me are their eyes — it shows how much they have both internalized and become their characters, as well as how much energy they bring to their roles. When I work with models, I try to get them to think like actors: find a story, a reason for a facial expression, etc. In a lot of ways, actors make the best models.
If you’re in the Toronto area, why not come see the show? Show dates are May 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th. (More information and tickets here) I will be playing two roles: “The Governor” (a rather nasty prison gang leader) and “The Innkeeper” (who is actually a rather nice guy).
Hope to see you there!
Essense of Defiance
A musician from Ottawa answered a casting call for my Broken project; he would be in Toronto, and was I interested in photographing him? Yes, and I am glad I did! The image below won’t be part of the broken series as the object is not visible, but I really like the intensity that comes out of this image!
Interesting guy” he collects vinyl LP records, so naturally he had an interest in real film 🙂 It was also fun chatting about guitars.
No Strings Attached
The latest image from my Women and Cameras series features Memento Mori, an example of a model who understands the important of having a story behind the image, On our shoot in High Park last week, one character after another appeared, as a story out of a Lewis Carroll type fairy tail appeared. In the image below, we have a puppet without strings.
My Third Eye 