3rd Year Actors Discuss ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore

March 14, 2013

3rd Year Actors Discuss ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore

Tis Pity Poster Poster for Tis Pity She's A Whore

The Third Year Acting Conservatory has been busy preparing for their final unmounted piece of the  year entitled 'Tis Pity She's A Whore by John Ford which goes up TONIGHT in CFT studio 139. We asked two of the actors, Leighton Williams and Emilio Vieira, about their experience on the show and what we can expect when the lights come up tonight in the studio. Here is what they had to say!

What character(s) are you playing?

Leighton: I am playing Florio in this play, he is the father of the main characters: Annabella and Giovanni.
Emilio: I share the role of Giovanni alongside Jonathon and Andrei. Giovanni is a young man going through what all young men must, the twists and turns of lust and love.

Can you tell me about the process of rehearsing this piece/your character and your experience with Tim Askew as your director?

Leighton Williams Leighton Williams

Leighton: The process of preparing for this role was a bit tricky, because in this condensed version of the play, Florio isn't really the cause behind much action, but his presence or lack-of is definitely integral to the story. Tim has helped pushed me to find this Alpha Male father figure, and use my presence as my number one tool.

Emilio: It has been such a pleasure to work with Tim on this truly challenging piece of work. The language of this play is not the language of our world today, which was a challenge, but with Tim's guidance and trust in us, I think we have accomplished our goal of telling such a juicy story, in a way which is totally relatable to audiences today. The man is a genius, and a joy to work with. He gives the actor exactly what they need to get a fire going, and through excellent use of each person's strengths and personal challenges, combines the actor's discoveries with the emotional landscape of the play. In short, to work with Tim is to be inspired to strive for more out of yourself, to elevate yourself beyond anything you ever thought you could do….and have fun doing it!

What has been the most challenging aspect of this piece for you?

Emilio Viera Emilio Viera

Leighton: My main challenge for this role was to keep Florio relevant towards the story, and allow his body and voice to command the room. When playing assertive dominant characters, it's easy to fall into the trap of playing them as one note; however, the first and last scene I am in, display such dichotomies of emotions. Finding the scale of emotion of someone who is very image conscious and powerful was the tricky/fun part.

What can an audience expect coming to see the show?

Leighton: The audience better brace themselves! Expect to see some steamy scenes, hot confrontations, scandals, and it wouldn't be a play without someone dying right? Incest, murder, and scandal, what more can you ask for?

Emilio: What should audiences expect? They should expect to enter a dangerous world, where people speak and do controversial things, from the truest places in their soul, and then must answer for their actions. They should expect to have doubts about their own personal views on the subject matter and be willing to switch allegiances with characters from moment to moment.

 

 

3rd Year Unmounted: ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore

March 9, 2013

3rd Year Unmounted: ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore

MFA Director Timothy Askew directs 3rd-year York Conservatory actors in
the rarely produced controversial play <em>‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore</em> by John Ford.

First published in 1633, <em>‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore</em> is perhaps the most popular and  frequently performed play by John Ford, considered by many scholars to be the last major dramatist of the English renaissance.

Critics often note the similarities between <em>Tis Pity,</em> and <em>Romeo and Juliet;</em> however, Ford outdoes Shakespeare by creating a love story that is more powerfully sensual and angerous because of his controversial handling of its verboten love story. The result is far more sensational and lusciously, violently dark than Shakespeare’s play, taking the forbidden love to a new extreme. In our modern global society focused strongly on cultural and ethnic acceptance and tolerance, there are few remaining absolute taboos. This play is one of very few that provides an opportunity to explore such extreme behavior without casting a particular bias or point of view – it’s left open. The protagonists aren’t snow white and the antagonists aren’t wholly black. All are smudged and culpable throughout the course of the story. 

The studio production runs in CFT 139 this week, Thursday through Saturday night at 7pm with a matinee this Friday at 2pm. Though seating is limited there are regularly seats available to those who sign up on the waiting list—the sign-up sheet is located outside CFT 139.

<strong>Admission is free!</strong>

 

Devised Theatre Festival 2013

March 8, 2013

Devised Theatre Festival 2013

The 2013 Devised Theatre Festival marks the culmination of four years of theatre making by the first graduating class of the newly developed Devised Theatre (DT) Program. The festival runs over four weeks (March 14th through April 7th) and showcases four completely different original works. Over the course of the past year, the companies The Catalyst Project, Penumbra Collective, Affinity Theatre and Theatre Zoetik have developed their pieces utilizing innovative staging techniques, new technological advances, in-depth research and original writing. 

 

outLET poster outLET Poster

outLET (The Catalyst Project)

The Catalyst Project’s outLET is a 50-minute multimedia experience that explores the consequences of violating the social contracts that govern our lives. Five young people come to a house of illusions to enact their deepest desires – dreams of power, sex, violence, death, and immortality. But what happens when the game changes, the rules disappear, and fantasy becomes reality?

outLET will run in ACE 207 on:

Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 (PWYC preview)
Friday, March 15 at 7:30
Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 and 7:30

 

 

 

 

XYZ poster Ex Why Zed Poster

EX WHY ZED (Penumbra Collective)

Bound in a bathroom, three selves know nothing of the outside world. In order to survive, they construct habits based on what they are taught by the shadows that have found them. They mindlessly perform their day-to-day routines, until one of them finds a way out…

EX WHY ZED will run in ACE 207 on:
Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 (PWYC preview)
Friday, March 22 at 7:30
Saturday, March 23 at 2:00 and 7:30

Penumbra Collective

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quarter-life Crisis (Affinity Theatre)

Quarter Life Crisis PosterQuarter-life Crisis, a piece of “mockumentary” theatre, is a montage of events and ideas that surround Generation Y. Every scene is inspired by real events, people, movies, shows, cats, and places. Affinity Theatre has created a cacophony of hilarity that speaks to the nature of their generation; a generation raised on the internet; a generation of first world problems; and a generation in crisis.

Quarter-life Crisis will run in ACE 207 on:

Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 (PWYC preview)
Wednesday, March 27 at 2:00 and 7:30
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30

Affinity Theatre

 

 

 

 

 

Aragrad PosterAragrad (Theatre Zoetik)

At the depths of the human experience is the desire to fight and survive. We spend our lives pushing through obstacles and disparity towards something bigger than ourselves. When we know that we have reached the end of this great struggle, we want to leave something behind – some artifact or message that will tell people centuries later that we existed. This is the essence of Theatre Zoetik’s Aragrad; a physical theatre piece that collages physical memories, dreams, aspirations and spoken text in an allegory about what it means to be human and the line between good and evil.

Aragrad will run in ACE 207 on:
Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 (PWYC preview)
Friday, April 5 at 7:30
Saturday, April 6 at 2:00 and 7:30

Theatre Zoetik

 

 

 

 

Individual tickets are $10/$7 with student ID and we also have a Festival Pass for $32/$25 with student ID. We will be holding 5 comp tickets for faculty members at each show.
Please email yorkdt2013@gmail.com if you would like to reserve a ticket or one of these spots and you can pick it up/pay at the door.