Characterization

Movies are an expert source of creative inspiration, especially dramas and contemporary biographies. Watching film is one method of keeping the acting chops alive and buoyant, and watching an amazing actor/actress is simply icing on an already dense and decadent cake.

The extent to which some performers tread to find the characters they represent is a lesson in patience and diligence. It's a mystery, that fine line between being aware as a performer and being completely absorbed as one's character, giving an often fictional being a pulse, desire, and purpose. This duality is intriguing and not always the easiest task to make believable.

In a quest to heighten these ideas on the operatic stage, a few basic conclusions derived from movies and films I've seen or revisited in recent months....

Iron Lady--

Exploit your character's strengths and be mindful of their weaknesses. After all, they are "human." Characters are real beings with real feelings that exist in worlds that are, often, very unlike our own.


The Help--

What is the driving force of your character? It's not enough to simply discover a motivation; that's too short-lived. As performers, we must define the very reason why our character is alive and wants the things they do. Ask, why?




Dancer in the Dark--

Have conviction! There are many types of people in the world and doubly as many for the stage. Just as we are all unique, our characters must also be unique creatures containing independent thoughts and actions.




Latter Days--

Inner development must manifest outwardly. How a character evolves is crucial. Rarely are the characters we become the same people at the start of the movie/opera as in the end. How does this change manifest?





Hunger--

Be ugly, determined and visceral. The feelings our characters have are never wrong. There is no right and wrong when characterizing. Every emotion has its place and each feeling has an infinite spectrum of intensity and meaning.




Hotel Rwanda--

Rely on the talents of your team. No production is presented alone and good artists understand they are only part of huge whole. Rely and trust the talent of your colleagues to better understand your character's circumstance.




Whore's Son--

Our characters must inhabit their own emotions. The way we personally feel must never interfere with the way our characters feel; we are not our characters and they are not us. As singers/actors we work hard to represent who we believe these people to be. Therefore, they must always be independent of ourselves.



Ali--

Celebrate your character no matter who they are. The ultimate aim of characterization is not only to bring a fictional being into life and to give them purpose; but, it is important to present their point-of-view and help them to be understood for better or worse.

Fear and Imagination

I recently saw the 3rd installment of Paranormal Activity, written by Christopher Lanoon and directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. One question, did the movie have me loading the shot gun, cleaning the crucifixes, and buying holy water after my friend left last night? ...Yep!

Everyone knows that I am somewhat of a horror/thriller buff and enjoy a good scare. Call me odd. The PA films are known for their gritty, real-life, as-the-action-happens style. No CGI, no big Hollywood sets; in fact, the set of each movie takes place in a house never leaving its different rooms. We simply experience the hair raising events that unfold for this family, which might I add, are pretty darn frightening. It's not a series for the faint of heart. Even I, a thriller lovin' fiend, found myself clutching the pearls and tossing and turning at night. So, all this got me to thinking....what is fear, really?

Fear takes shape in many forms. It's sometimes heavy, haunting, and horrific, taking our breath away like in the movies I described. Other times, it's just the opposite, abrupt and sudden catching us off guard or by surprise. Fear sometimes sits right beside us and sometimes it's intangible, existing in another universe all together. Sometimes we can only see it; sometimes it's only felt; sometimes it's both! Fear is complex inspiring both the good and bad in us all. But, if I had to bottom line it I'd say, ultimately, fear is proof of the exponential power of our minds and the breadth our imaginations. It's far more harrowing to imagine what's lurking under the bed than to actually see it. Fear is indestructibly bound to imagination, and since imagination can never be fully quantified, both coexist allowing the mind to travel in the most extreme and unbridled directions.

This is pure fuel for the performing artist!

Bling: Opera and Hip Hop

I'm a bit of a hip hop junkie if you didn't already know. There's nothing better than a great beat, crazy rhymes, and a great artist on the mic. And the more I delve into hip hop, the more I witness connections between rappers and classical artists. I wrote about this topic once before, but now sometime later I recognize stronger parallels between worlds that, otherwise, seem just as related as a jungle and desert.

Hip hop stars have to know "text" like a crazy person! To be at the top of their game, it's not enough to simply use words. Hip hop stars have to master them. They have to be able to command the use of words in fresh and creative ways. We opera people pretty much stick to what's printed on the page, but the hip hop gurus are creating new ways words are used. Either way, both performers have to know what they're talking about.

Improvisation. This key word of Baroque and Bel Canto literature rests at the center of the Hip-hopster's mojo. Prolonging syllables, toying with word emphasis, and manipulating beats and creating new rhythms on the spot is something both the skilled rapper and classical singer share in close common. Improv is a method of embellishment and technical autonomy for both artists.

Lastly, Bling! Both arenas are categorized by decadence, of imagination and the pocket book. Diamonds, pearls, champagne, couture, and delicious decadence. Callas wore Channel everyday; Lil Wayne has exclusive rights to Nikes made only for him; 50 Cent has Stanley Korshak upholstered car interior; and Yves St Laurent designed the entire opening night wardrobe of 3 Metropolitan opera stars.

No matter how it's sliced, opera and hip hop share amazing attributes. Whether it's in the music, in the dressing room, or on the stage, both are worlds of supreme creativity, technique, and extravagance.

Creative Arts Expo

Chicago's Cultural Center is not only a beautiful place, but a place to learn about the business of art! Thanks to this year's Creative Chicago Expo more than 8000 singers, dancers, photographers, and writers came together and learned deeper levels of the arts as a business. The best part of it all, it was totally FREE!

Arranged in a series of 1-hour seminars spread over two days, artists were able to dabble in everything from marketing, project planning, city spending, networking, and a whole host of useful tools to help make what we do a whole lot easier! With more than 60 on site vendors, retailers, and arts organizations, this year's expo was probably fairly successful. It was packed and definitely the place to be with a few extra business cards on hand. More expo info here.

Jennifer Rapp Peterson, a representative of Indiemade, gave a great presentation on creating a strong web presence. She's made all the material from the workshop available online. However, the gamut of her resources is also worth browsing. Check it out.

In case you weren't able to make it to this year's expo, not to worry. Many of the topics and workshops can be found online. Maybe this is just a starting place?

Eye See You

The power of the eyes is unmistakeable. Whether a person is happy, tormented, or full of joy, the eyes really are a window to the soul and an indication of what's happening on the inside, mentally and emotionally. On a recent venture to ol' Lyric Opera, a cast of singers presenting a new production of Rinaldo was a show not only of musical beauty but one containing an emotional integrity worth mention, made especially evident through the use of eyes from the entire cast!

Not until this production did I witness the power of "the eyes" first hand. Granted, I had good seats, still no where near the stage, but with every aria I was compelled at the emotion behind each singer's eyes. Cheryl Studer is a particular name springing to mind when considering the effective use of eyes as a unit of technique. The cast performed at a level beyond the black and white of the page; their characters were real, alive, and feeling.

This is great a enigma for the performer: how to make the character come to life without standing in the way of this process or confusing personal circumstance with that of the characters we create? Bottom line, eyes help audiences understand the character, their thoughts, and all the things that the voice is not be able to completely express.

None The Less

Reading through a few posts I've published in recent weeks, I decided that, apparently, I have favorite word. Why has no one mentioned my obsession with the word nonetheless?

Blogging Opera

Just when you think you're all alone in the big scary world the internet says, "nope, you aren't." On a recent Google search, lo and behold--I love saying that; it makes me feel so biblical-- I found another opera blogger comme moi. Though the blog has taken a mild hiatus, nonetheless, the creator is another opera-loving ranter just like me. I swiped the image from he blogger's original site because it was darn cute. Since her new job, the blog has found a new home at here. Check her out!