The Working Actor's Journey

Clyde Kusatsu (@judgeito1948) grew up in Hawaii amidst a rapidly developing culture and economy, did summer stock with musical theatre star Howard Keel, became a "college working actor" at Northwestern, and worked twice with the legendary actor Toshiro Mifune, the John Wayne of Japanese film. He has over 300 credits on IMDb and is currently the National Vice President Los Angeles for SAG-AFTRA. This episode is sponsored by Audible: get a free audiobook and a 30-day trial at workingactorsjourney.com/audible

Peter Van Norden from Ep. #7 talks text work on performing platitudes and pauses in Harold Pinter's The Hothouse. As he was in rehearsals when we spoke, you'll hear how Peter is still figuring things out, still asking questions, and not really sure exactly where he'll ultimately arrive with this piece, and we're along for that journey.

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Peter's monologue from The Hothouse by Harold Pinter

ROOTE

Patients, staff and understaff. A very merry Christmas to you all, and a happy and prosperous new year. And on behalf of all the staff I'd like to wish all the understaff the very best luck for the year to come and a very happy Christmas. And to the patients I should like to send a personal greeting, to each and every one of them, wishing them the heartiest compliments of the season, and very best wishes, on behalf of the staff, the understaff and myself, not forgetting the Ministry, which I know would be glad to be associated with these words, for a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

/Pause/

We have had our little difficulties, in the year that is about to die, our little troubles, our little sorrows as well as our little joys, but through working together, through each and every one of us pulling his weight, no matter how lowly or apparently trivial his job, by working, by living, by pulling together as one great family, we stand undaunted.

/Pause/

We say goodbye to the old year very soon now, and hail the new, but I say to you, as we stand before these embers, that we carry with us from the old year...things...which will stand us in good stead in the new, and we are not undaunted.

/Pause/

Some of you, sitting at your loudspeakers tonight, may sometimes find yourselves wondering whether the little daily hardships, the little daily disappointments, the trials and tribulations which seem continually to dog you are, in the end, worth it. To you I would say one simple thing. Have faith.

/Pause/

Yes, I think if I were asked to convey to you a special message this Christmas it would be that: Have faith.

/Pause/

Remember that you are not alone, that we here, for example, in this our home, are inextricably related, one to another, the staff to the understaff, the understaff to the patients, the patients to the staff. Remember this, as you sit by your fires, with your families, who have come from near and from far, to share this day with you, and may you be content.

Peter Van Norden has been acting for 45+ years on both stage and screen. We cover how musicals shaped his life, training at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner, working with two star-studded productions of Hamlet, learning from Meryl Streep, how to measure your acting career, and we work on a monologue from The Hothouse by Harold Pinter (Peter is now appearing in this show in LA). This episode is sponsored by Audible: get a free audiobook and a 30-day trial at workingactorsjourney.com/audible

Nike Doukas from Ep. #6 talks text work on performing contemporary iambic pentameter and verse from Mike Bartlett's King Charles III. You'll hear that Nike brings the same tools that she would to any verse text, classical or modern. There are some wonderful insights she brings to the language of this piece and what you need to be thinking about.

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Nike's monologue from King Charles III by Mike Bartlett

TV PRODUCER

This may seem strange, but sometimes I wake up From nightmares where I have been on TV And something's happened, just by chance, perhaps A light has blown, or chair collapsed, but I Am shocked, and jumping look ridiculous. And then that clip goes viral and from then Forever more, I am the girl who jumped It is the matter of my life, and when I die it will be what is writ, not all I did, and wanted, and achieved, but that: A captured idiocy stuck on repeat.

/Enter Charles/

Your Majesty. Welcome. Here's the microphone Into which you'll speak, the autocue is there.

Nike Doukas is an actor, director, teacher, and accent coach. She studied at University of Wisconsin, Madison and has an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre. She works regularly in regional theatre and has nearly 40 credits on IMDb, including a recurring role on Desperate Housewives. We talk about hating the winter, auditioning for grad school, arriving off-book, and getting emotional. This episode is sponsored by Audible: get a free audiobook and a 30-day trial at workingactorsjourney.com/audible

Geoffrey Wade from Ep. #5 talks text work on performing The Player from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Geoffrey played this part at Weston Playhouse in Vermont and he even shares some of his script notes from rehearsals.

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Geoffrey's monologue from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

THE PLAYER: We're actors…. We pledged our identities, secure in the conventions of our trade, that someone would be watching. And then, gradually, no one was. We were caught, high and dry. It was not until the murderer's long soliloquy that we were able to look around; frozen as we were in profile, our eyes searched you out, first confidently, then hesitantly, then desperately as each patch of turf, each log, each exposed corner in every direction proved uninhabited, and all the while the murderous King addressed the horizon with his dreary interminable guilt…. Out heads began to move, wary as lizards, the corpse of unsullied Rosalinda peeped through his fingers, and the King faltered. Even then, habit and a stubborn trust that our audience spied upon us from behind the nearest bush, forced our bodies to blunder on long after they had emptied of meaning, until like runaway carts they dragged to a halt. No one came forward. No one shouted at us. The silence was unbreakable, it imposed itself on us; it was obscene. We took off our crowns and swords and cloths of gold and moved silent on the road to Elsinore.

@geoffreywade is an actor, director, teacher, photographer, and acting coach. He has performed on Broadway and off-, works extensively in regional theater, appears in episodic television, in radio and on tour with LA Theatre Works, and films include Steven Spielberg's The BFG. We chat about inspirations, being a professional, non-paying theatre, and the Player from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This episode is brought to you by the FreeMeditationCourse.com - start your journey today!

Harry Groener from Ep. #4 talks text work on singing a Noel Coward song ("Mrs. Worthington") and performing King Lear's "Reason not the need" speech from Shakespeare's play. If you're following along, this speech is at the end of Act 2, Scene 4. He also shares ideas on how to make the most of your rehearsal time.

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Harry's Monologue from King Lear (Act 2, Scene 4) by Shakespeare

KING LEAR

O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's. Thou art a lady; If only to go warm were gorgeous, Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st, Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need— You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, As full of grief as age, wretched in both. If it be you that stirs these daughters' hearts Against their father, fool me not so much To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, And let not women's weapons, water-drops, Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags, I will have such revenges on you both That all the world shall—I will do such things— What they are yet I know not, but they shall be The terrors of the earth! You think I'll weep: No, I'll not weep. I have full cause of weeping, but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws Or ere I'll weep. O Fool, I shall go mad!

Harry Groener has three Tony Award nominations (Oklahoma, Cats, Crazy For You), and has also been a series regular on Dear John, and played Mayor Wilkins on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Born in Germany and growing up in San Francisco, he got started with ballet, and then worked with PCPA and studied at the University of Washington. He has acted around the country in regional theatre and has over 80 credits on IMDb. This episode is brought to you by the FreeMeditationCourse.com - start your journey today!