I was noticing that my acting résumé doesn't include that many chorus/ensemble roles. I've been fortunate to play mainly featured/supporting roles with a couple of leading roles thrown in for good measure.
One of my entries that may look like an ensemble part was as part of the Chorus in Medea in High School. In most versions of the play, the Chorus is a traditional Greek Chorus, but in the version we did, the Chorus consisted of myself and one other actor, Johnny Wright. We stood on opposite sides of the downstage edge of the stage, and we had a number of unison lines along with some alternating stuff that had to flow as if it was coming from one person, but moving from one side to the other. Really, it may have been one of the most challenging roles I've ever undertaken.
Johnny and I were honored as members of the All-Star Cast at the District One-Act Play competition that year (1984). Our play made it to State that spring, and along the way, every member of our cast received an acting award at some level. Medea was played by Dana Whitehead, who remains one of, if not the single most talented actor or actress with whom I have ever shared the stage (and that includes a few folks who have some professional TV and movie credits). Dana won Best Actress at every level leading up to State. At State, she failed to win Best Actress. Instead, she was honored with the Samuel French Award as the Outstanding Performer in the entire State of Texas in Class 4A.
Dana moved back to our hometown a few years ago, but unfortunately, being a wife and mother keeps her from getting back up on the boards. It's too bad. She really was that good.
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3 comments:
hadn't read this entry before making my Medea comment below. I remember driving down to Austin to see you guys at state. I was dumbfounded and outraged when Dana didn't win Best Actress, having no idea there was such a thing as the Samuel French award.
anyway, here's a related entry from my blog...
http://journals.aol.com/mikedscott/ScottFamily/entries/407
We were more than a little miffed that we didn't finish 3rd at State. I don't think we were better than Snyder's production of The Crucible or Katy Taylor's production of The Children's Hour, but Tartuffe? I mean, really.
There are already enough good actresses. There are not enough good moms. I'm glad to hear that Dana chose the road with more meaningful rewards. She can always go back on stage when the kids are grown & don't need her as much.
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