MACJOURNAL 1.1

I work as a staff Audio/Visual Technician for a liberal arts college in Southern Idaho. The College has graciously allowed me a leave of absence from July to November to perform in a production of Shakespeare's Scottish Play in Boise and later in Cleveland, Ohio. The following is a log of my process, written in an effort to share my experience with my family and the good folks at The College. Enjoy!

'The labour we delight in physics pain.' - MacB, Act II, Scene 3

I wake up in the early morning, shave my head and most of my face and bike down to the theatre. I get there by 10am or so. There, I meet up with the resident sound designer/composer, my mentor of many years. He and I visit the roof of the theatre, face the sun, and he leads us in a 15-minute, somewhat physical, ancient Japanese warm-up ritual, immediately followed by a 10-minute run. The ritual serves two functions: it jump-starts the focus and readies the body but it also serves to ward off negative energy and cleanse one's energy.

After we finish running, we work through the scoring for the scenes in the daily rehearsal call, before the actors arrive at noon. I stand Stage Left with my entire attention span focused on the actors onstage. I try to learn to match their rhythms, both vocal physical. I try to learn how each actor moves through their text and what they see to convey throughout their performance. I learn when, and how, to accent the action onstage through the instruments I am given.

An alum of the College I work for is also performing in the show and has a really cool fight sequence which he performs brilliantly. During the fight I get to underscore his movements. I have to watch with a keen eye... many of the sounds we're playing have to land with perfect timing. I play a large bass drum, a sheet of jagged steel hung behind me, as well as a variety of flutes.

Actors come and go during the rehearsal calls, depending on whether they're in the scene that's being rehearsed. The drummers, however, are there from beginning to end. Some nights rehearsal has to end early because most of the actors are also in the theatre's other productions in the evenings. On those nights, I work on revising my run script so that I can read it in the most effiecient way possible during the show, using limited page turns and clear notation.

I can't say much about my costume but I'm going to look great. I was measured for my costume two weeks ago. I have reduced my intake of bad food and drink. Most days I excercise, in some form, for about an hour, in addtion to the drumming and the bike ride to and from work (uphill on the way home). I also have a series of stretching excersices for my hands and wrists to keep my forearms from becoming too tense and to prevent further episodes of the tendonitis from the Berklee days. I also do similar exercises for my upper back and sides, as I have to keep my arms aloft and active for long periods of time.

It has been a tiring schedule from morning until late night and has pushed me physically and mentally. I am probably near the best physical shape of my life and working hard to maintain it. I am learning new ways to meditate and bring my mind into harmony with my surroundings. I rarely have any down-time and most of it is spent keeping my muscles limber or going over my show notes. I have a newfound respect for the professional stage performer and the ability to hold intention and focus. I used to ignore breakfast. Now, I try to eat a little something each morning to keep the machine moving forward.

I'm having fun. When people think of accomplishment in music, they think of the Grammy Awards or top-of-the-charts singles or begin named first chair in the London Symphony. For me, this show is a culmination of a great deal of work and training in theatre and music and it is a point of great pride to be doing this for such a unique company.

I can't wait to share this amazing work...!

A Little Background

It is said that, unlike the drama of Romeo and Juliet or the boistrous comedy of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's Scottish Play is more like an action movie. It is even 'ripped from the headlines' in that it is a dramatization of historic events in Scotland. King Duncan was a Scottish king who was murdered. MacB succeeded Duncan and was probably one of the murderer/conspirators. The play was written during the reign of King James I, who claimed to be a decendant of Banquo, another character who, in the play, is foretold to have future kings in his bloodline. King James I was apparently also very interested in the occult, having himself written a book on witchcraft. Shakespeare may have written the play partially to appeal to the personal interests of King James I.