Author Archives: Ashley Long

Painting the Stairway

I suspected that when I would start working in the shop I would be lifting heavy boards and nailing things together, but that wasn’t the case at all. Sonya, our lovely set designer, and the rest of the staff in the shop had already completed most of the heavy duty work. I can only imagine how many hours they spent building the set that became “the estate” that we as actors all came to love and that our characters all despised. My work in the shop consisted of painting the stairs. The work was not hard or confusing in any way. I simply painted what needed to be painted. In painting all of the staircases as separate pieces, it was difficult to see how everything was going to come together to become the design that we saw on the first day of class. I knew that those pieces would come together. Every time I walked into the shop, Sonya would be working on a larger piece of the set which made the over all vision of the design easier to foresee.

The next time I walked into Shaefer Theatre, the finished product, minus a few pieces like lamp fixtures and the door collage in Vanya’s room, was complete. I could see all of the things that other members of the cast had helped paint and sand, but the most exciting part for me was seeing the stairways that I painted. Seeing them integrated into the rest of the set was fulfilling. The first thing I did was to go around and touch pieces of the set, to get a feel of the tarnished atmosphere of the whole estate. Then, I walked it. I heard the creaking floor and felt splintered wood and smelled all of the paint that was used to develop this world that we came to inhabit. Being a part of that process was humbling and rewarding. As an actor I think it’s easy for me to isolate myself from the rest of the developing process, but this let me know how important it is to be a part of everything, from assisting with light cues to building the set. Working on a production is a communal effort that requires help from everyone in that community. I am blessed to have been a member of the family that was and will forever be Uncle Vanya. Thank you everyone.

Laugh Through the Silence

The audience’s reaction to the show has been different each and every night. Some have been deathly silent with seemingly no reaction. Others have laughed and awed, even shaking their head in opposition or affirmation when we directly addressed them. Despite the mixed vocal reaction members of the audience that I have spoken to have thoroughly  enjoyed the show. They have expressed confusion during our pre-show opening and doubling up. I guess upon witnessing it, the show resembles a circus in the beginning, but morphs into this beautiful cohesive story that the audience understands and appreciates, even if only seeing it multiple times. During our Friday talk-back members of the audience who chose to stay really expressed their thoughts about doubling the roles, linking the choice to enhancing the character’s motivations, relationships, and arcs.

While no one has verbally displayed negative feelings towards the production to me, I imagine there are members of the audience that are bored and confused and still don’t understand the world of Chekhov. I encourage those people to continue to see his plays because there is a piece of you in those characters. Before taking a directing class focused solely on Chekhov’s plays I thought Chekhov was stuffy, boring, and completely irrelevant to my experiences. This is partly due to a production of The Cherry Orchard in London that I thought was particularly mundane and uninteresting. However, after reading, watching, and performing all of his major plays I have found a love for his work that will last forever. Audience members attending any show, but especially matinee performances, be open-minded, receptive, and giving to your experience. Thank you for attending shows because you keep us actors employed (if we got paid for this!) 🙂

Autumn Roses, lovely and sad

Act I

It seems like I arrived at the estate years ago, but it’s impossible that more than 6 months have gone by. My husband goes through these phases where one day he is in chronic pain and the next he’s completely fine. I don’t know which one I prefer because at least when he’s in pain I can confine him to a certain area of the house. When he feels well he can find me and pester me. We did go for a nice, long walk today along with my step-daughter Sonya and the estate attendants. I love it when I can get out of that stuffy house. Vanya didn’t come with us though. He was sleep. I’ve known him for so long now and thank God I have him to talk to, but at times I want to strangle him. Why can’t he understand that we are only friends– nothing less and, absolutely, nothing more. It’s such a hassle keeping that balance with him. I feel lost here. Before the Professor and I were married, Sonya and I used to talk all the time and now she barely speaks to me. I didn’t mean to hurt her, it just kind of happened. Her lack of verbal communication, however, has not stopped me from noticing her infatuation with the country doctor, Astrov. She’s in love with him. She fawns over his every word. It’s very sweet to see, but it doesn’t seem like he has the same feelings. I’m too shy around him to talk about it, so, I’ve just been watching from afar. I don’t blame Sonya for being intrigued by his thoughts. They are quite bizarre. If I were Sonya I would marry him in a heartbeat, but maybe that’s why I’m in a heap of misery now. At least the estate keepers play music around the house.

Act II

It’s one of the Professor’s bad days. Now, I definitely know which one I prefer more. Being locked in a room with that man is pure torture. He complains the whole time about his pain and how no one listens to him or cares about him. I am his wife and for that reason I love him, but I merely tolerate his presence. It pains me to think that one day I’ll be old like him and aggravate everyone I come into contact with. Vanya, also, started drinking again and with vodka comes vulgarity. At least he’s as annoyed at the Professor at me. Astrov was here again. We had small talk, but something about him frightens me– in a good way– but I don’t know what it is. He’s been here five times this week and he’s always carrying these maps and carrying on about the forest. It’s quite endearing. I finally confronted Sonya about everything– the fact that she hasn’t talked to me in weeks, why I fell in “love” with her father, and I tried to give her some advice on living in this mundane world. It’s nice to know I have another friend in the house besides Vanya and a woman none the less. She told me how much she loves the doctor and it really got me thinking about my own feelings towards him. Why do I get shy? Why do I listen to him talk about forests? I don’t even like forests.

Act III

So… I am beyond bored. It isn’t even possible for someone to be this bored. Sonya, Vanya, and I just sit around the house and they tease me about being a witch and putting spells on people. Vanya says I have mermaid blood. Whatever that means! Sonya’s having a hard time with the fact that Astrov doesn’t notice her, so, I volunteered to talk to him. It probably wasn’t the smartest move on my part. I realize that I like him a lot and I’ve noticed when he comes here he is always looking at me or finding a way to talk to me. I made up some stupid excuse to talk to him about Sonya, but inside I know it was for me. I guess I was testing my limits, but it really went too far. The worst part is Vanya saw us. I’m mortified and embarrassed and I don’t know if Vanya is going to tell my husband. I’ve asked Astrov not to come back to the estate, but it doesn’t matter now because I have to leave. My husband had some absurd proposition to sale the estate and it sent the house into a complete frenzy. Vanya tried to kill the Professor. I tried to stop Vanya and thank God he missed and gave up. Poor Sonya… I feel horrible leaving her like this and knowing what I’ve done, but I have to leave.

Act IV

I left the estate today with my husband. I know I’ll lead a boring life. One without love or passion, without children or adventure. Knowing my fate, I approached Astrov one last time. I was nervous and heartbroken given our last encounter. I can’t help, but to think he’s the man I’m supposed to be with. I’ll never know, but I left with a little reminder– the pencil he uses to draw his maps. I’m happy to have left because I don’t want to be unfaithful to my husband. I’m, also, heartbroken. I know what love is supposed to be now and with the Professor I’ll never have that. I probably won’t see Sonya or Vanya again. I don’t know who I’ll have to talk to about the day. When people say I’m boring all the time I’m bound to believe it at some point, but when I enter a room the floor does turn, the atmosphere does shift, life does change for everyone, but me. Hopefully, there’s music wherever I end up next.

 

Moving from Within

 

I would just like to start off by saying that these movement classes with Kali are The Bomb Dot Com! Through a number of exercises we have explored interdependency of one another, inter-corporal vs. inter-spatial movement, and onomatopoeia space filling. We’ve learned and investigated many more ideas and themes, but the one that resonated with me the most was the difference of inter-corporal vs. inter-spatial movement and how to connect this to the text.

I always find it hardest to connect my words with movement and vice versa and I have struggled to find methods to assist me in this process. This, by far, has been the most eye-opening moment in the class for me. Inter-corporal movement is moving from within the body while inter-spatial movement is moving within, between, and around the given space. Isolating one from the other accesses different modes of accomplishing a  task or “getting what you want.” You can also combine them to complete the same thing. While I obviously know that you have to move I had trouble deciding how to do so to get what I want from the other person. I look forward to exploring the options of movement as this process continues and putting words to those motions. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but I’m working on it.

Questions that I still have:

How can the actors with two halves incorporate similar movements and gestures to unite the character?

Is it necessary to have distinct movements that are only characteristic of one Yelena and not the other?

How can I continue to use the things Kali has taught me in other aspects of my life and in my work as an actor?

For now, that is all my chickadees,

Ashley Diane Long

 

First Day Jitters

Chickadees,

My name is Ashley Diane Long. I’m a senior double majoring in Theatre Studies and Biology and a proud member of the fall production’s cast of Uncle Vanya. Our first day of class was this past Tuesday. We devoted this day to filling the remaining roles for the cast. I’ve only sat in on one other audition process, but it did not include the variety in artistic choices that I saw that day. From dancing to singing, in addition to monologues and duet scenes, no performance was short of surprising. We filled all of the positions for the production and I’m glad to welcome Phil, Rory, Madeleine, Aurelia, Bart, and Jaya to the already existent cast of Vanya. I can’t wait to start working on this amazing and innovative rendition of Uncle Vanya with all of you. On the second day of class we watched Vanya on 42nd Street, which is a 1994 film by Louis Malle and Andre Gregory. The film echoes to many of the ideas we will be exploring in our take of Uncle Vanya: breaking the barrier between what happens between the rehearsal process and producing a completed show, a side that most audiences never get to see. I’m curious to play with these ideas and let you know how they are fashioning out. Until then, talk to you later chickadees.

Love always,

Ashley Diane Long