Using an iPad in rehearsal.

I'm currently rehearsing a production of Measure for Measure right now, one thing about this rehearsal process that's interesting for me is I have chosen not to print and physically highlight my script, instead i am working exclusively on my iPad.

I know plenty of actors and directors with differing opinions on how much we should allow technology to be a part of our process. Opinions range between these two stances;

-- A tablet is no different from a cellphone and has no place in the rehearsal room. It is a distraction. You cannot move about on stage with a $500 piece of technology in your hand as you can with a pile of papers. Simply using your physical script is fine, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

OR

-- A tablet is a great enhancement to the rehearsal process. It saves paper, saves weight, and allows highlighting and notes just as well as paper and markers. You can use the tablet to record songs or make video of dances you need to learn. The tablet can serve as the one device that has everything you need for rehearsal on it. As long as you're not playing games or surfing the web when you should be working, their's nothing wrong with rehearsing with a tablet.

Now, lets assume you are working with a director who doesn't treat you like a twelve year old and lets you use a tablet and/or simply doesn't care as long as you do your job. I thought i'd make some bullet points on how to maximize your efficiency while you use your tablet in rehearsal.

* There's an app for that, so use it.
Don't just throw the script PDF on the device and start rehearsing. Spend a little dough and get a good reading/annotating app, if your using an iPad i recommend "goodreader", it will read just about anything you throw at it, and has tons of options for highlighting and annotating, it even lets you create a duplicate file so you can keep a clean version of the script, without all the notes and highlights.

* Set up the device before you get to rehearsal.
Turn the ringer off, turn wi-fi off, turn the brightness to the best level to read by lock the screen orientation to portrait. Make sure you fiddle with the settings before you get into the room so you aren't fiddling with settings when you should be working. One of the advantages of a tablet over a computer is you can completely focus on one task without alerts, system messages, or other distractions, so do yourself a favor and nip those things in the bud.

* Be a professional
When you're in rehearsal, the iPad is your script. Just because you're not rehearsing at the moment doesn't mean you get to fool around. Don't show a friend a Youtube video, don't start throwing birds at pigs, and certainly don't go on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media.

* It's a privilege, not a right.
Make sure you get a clear stance from your director or other supervisor on whether or not you may use the tablet in rehearsal. The director and/or producer has final say on how rehearsals are going to be conducted. Don't fight them on it, if they want everyone working off of paper scripts, thats how its going to be. Making a fuss is going to ensure you a invitation to leave the production, or ensure you won't work with this director or anyone on his production team again.

* There are some places where it's just not appropriate.
If the production team has sent you sides to read for an audition, just print em' out. Walking in with an iPad is just awkward and unprofessional. Also, if you are handing sheet music to an accompanist for a musical theater audition, they are expecting a binder with pages in plastic sleeves, don't complicate this process with something that is un-nessesary. You want them thinking about you and how well you auditioned, not how annoying it was to play music off an iPad screen.

What does "Dream Sleepless" mean?

I know I use variations of "Dream Sleepless" or "Sleepless Dreamer" a lot in my posts, I swear its not some kind of esoteric, Bowie/Gaga-esque saying I use to draw in fellow snobs, without myself knowing what i'm talking about.

I have had a lifelong obsession with dreams. I find it fascinating the little show our brains put on for us while we sleep. What do they mean? Why are they so real one second, then obviously a fabricated reality the next? How do they happen? Questions like these and others have made dreams a universal among all of us. If you're from New York, Paris, Hong Kong, or anything in between; you've probably got that one dream that freaked out out, gave you insight, and you'll always tell to a circle of new friends or at a party.

For this reason i've always held dreams in high regard. It's the one thing we all do right? If it's the one thing we all do, maybe it's the key to finding a common ground.

However, the title of this blog is not "Dreams," that name was probably taken a long time ago and I would have to spell it with a 3 for an 'e' or a 5 for an 's'.

The funny thing about dreams, as we've learned from Inception (one of my favorite movies of all time), is that whilst we are dreaming, we are simultaneously creating and observing the world we are creating.

This fact has led me down some very strange roads; If we are creating the dream as we dream it, then where's the cutoff?  Do we create a vision in our heads and then we observe it?  Or is it happening so fast it appears to happen at the same time?  Or, is it actually happening at the same time, and you are actually multitasking?

And now the grand finale...

If a dream is a vision that you create and observe while it is happening, then I seek to create my own world around me and observe it as well.

My goal is achieve a dream without sleep, by simultaneously changing and observing the world around me.

This blog will contain anything and everything i think of that relates to the theme of sharing a dream or vision.

You will see:

* Photography by me, anything i think is dreamlike or amazing enough to share.

* Prose/Poetry relating to dreams and their effect on people.

* Anytime I have a noteworthy dream, you all will be the first to know.

* The occasional essay relating to this concept of creating and observing the world, my mission to creat a sleepless dream.

So lets hope I have a voice out here in the blog world, better yet, lets all hope it has something to say.

Presidential Election Thoughts

I think this presidential race is going to be a close one, it's going to be a close, dirty, angry race, but i do believe Obama will pull through.

I think the first and most basic reason is that at the end of the day Obama is more likable than Romney. Romney may be trying to make Obama look bad, but both Obama AND Romney are making Romney look bad.  Romney is a millionaire, the first presidential candidate to have overseas bank accounts, he won'r release his tax returns.

This doesn't mean Obama is some kind of paragon of presidency.  He has his failings, and there are programs and laws he had suggested that have been shut down, and he has said things that allowed for extremely negative interpretation.

But nothing Obama has done is above and beyond what a typical president would not succede in accomplishing.  I don't believe the dissatisfaction of Obama's presidency is strong enough to convince people to vote against their own interests.  It's not as strong as the sentiment against Bush, its just disillusionment that Obama is not as awesome as his strongest supporters said he'd be.

Given the fact that sitting presidents are rarely voted out of office (only 10 out of 38), and Obama certainly hasen't made anything worse, i do not believe the Obama hate is strong enough to un-seat him.

Unless Romney gets caught volunteering in a soup kitchen in Detroit handing out 100 dollar bills, (which he wont do), or Obama get caught banging an intern (which I hope he wont do either), i believe it will be close, but Obama's got it.

Actors: Rivers and Freight Trains

In my experience acting in and around New York City, i have come across many actors.  I'd say that  most of these actors fall into two basic types.

Rivers and Freight Trains.

River actors are like what the name implies, they move in largely the same direction, following the path laid out for them.  Whenever something is in the river, that usually isn't there, say a boat, a swimmer, or a rock, the river moves around it and it's flow adjusts to whatever is necessary to flow around the obstacle.

River actors are masters of spontaneity, no matter what happens on stage, a late entrance, a missed/jumped line, or a technical failure, these actors can adjust, adapt, and move on.

Freight Train actors are the opposite.  Freight Trains travel along an established track, going at the exact speed thats allowed by the track.  The train may stop from time to time, to let off passengers or take on cargo, however the start and end of the trains route do not change.  Freight trains also take really long to slow down, and a really long time to accelerate.

Freight Train actors are masters of consistency.  These actors have a practiced and rehearsed performance, they know what they're going to do, when they are going to do it, and everything in between.

So which are you?

Are you a Bricklayer or a Paintballer?

I'm not a person who like to make generalizations.

That being said.  I think most actors can fall into more or less two different methods of work durring rehearsal.

Paintballers and Bricklayers.

Bricklayers, spend many hours constructing (preparation) bricks (their playable choices) and will bring the bricks over to the worksite (rehearsal) and lays the brick with cement, but will let someone else do the brushing with the foxtail (the director)

Paintballers are the more chaotic of the two.  Paintballers come to rehearsal with a paintball gun (preparation), some paintballs (their playable choices), and an infinite row of canvases (rehearsal).  The Paintballer simply shoots the living crap out of the canvas and asks what the art critic (the director) what thinks.


the thing is that both these approaches lead to the same thing.  A practiced and well prepared performance.

So are you a bricklayer of a Paintballer?