Noah Galuten interviews Noah Galuten

Baltimore!

Hey, everybody! We’re out in Baltimore, Marlyand to cover the opening of Noah Galuten’s new play Bermuda premiering tonight at The Strand Theater and running through February 15th. Luckily, we were able track Mr. Galuten down for an interview about the play, his thoughts on the world at large and the Baltimore dining scene.

NOAHGALUTEN.COM: So Noah. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.NOAH

GALUTEN: Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me.

NG.COM: Have you had a lot of plays produced before?

NG: No, this is my first real production. I had some plays produced in college and have done some nice readings and workshops, but this is the first legit production.

NG.COM: Wow, that’s great. How does it feel?

NG: Really good. I’m really excited about it. It’s always bizarre to see something like this come to life, and especially since I live in Los Angeles and wasn’t part of the production at all. So you’re just kind of showing up and seeing it in its totally completed form, without any idea of what it’s going to be like.

NG.COM: I was just going to ask you about that. So you weren’t part of rehearsals at all?NG: No, I wasn’t. But Jayme [Kilburn], the director, is really talented and I had all the faith in the world in her that she’d do a great job.

NG.COM: So you’re not nervous at all about the production?

NG: Um, a little. [Laughs] You’re always going to be a little nervous. I don’t know if that goes away.

NG.COM: Right, right. So is this play, which prominently features two brothers, does it come from any real experiences? Is this based on anything?

NG: No, no. People always ask me that. But no. I made it all up.

NG.COM: Wow, like a writer.

NG: Yeah. [Laughs] Exactly.

NG.COM: So who are some of your favorite playwrights? Who inspires you?

NG: Um, I take some inspiration from all over, I guess. But Edward Albee was a big influence on me starting out. Obviously, Shakespeare’s pretty good too. I know it’s an easy answer, but Hamlet [by William Shakespeare] is pretty hard to top.

NG.COM: Yeah, of course. Were you a big reader growing up?

NG: Definitely. With great detriment to my social life and skin pigment.

NG.COM: Inside a lot.

NG: Pretty much.

NG.COM: Well, we know you’re also a big food person. Did you have a chance to have any food out there in Baltimore?

NG: Yes. I’ve been here for a full day now. So, yeah. It sort of becomes necessary. But I’m excited to keep checking it out for a little bit.

NG.COM: Right, of course. Well listen. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us. We really appreciate it.NG: No problem. Thanks again for having me.

Stage Managing 101

I have known that I wanted to be a stage manager since I was sixteen years old. That very first day that I walked into my acting class and started learning about theatre was an amazing day and life changing. Until that point in my life I had always wanted to be a teacher like my mom. I knew that I loved helping people and I wanted to do work that changed other peoples lives. My high school drama teacher, Mrs. Lehman, was the most amazing, helpful, and creative person that I have ever met. She taught us about the theatre from it's history to jobs in the field. That really blew my mind that I could get paid to have fun and do what I love. I have never been one to want to sit in an office all day so I decided then and there that THEATRE was my career choice. That was head turning for a lot of people in my family and with my friends. But, the great thing about theatre is it becomes your family and it is where you make most of your friends.



After graduating high school I planned to attend Villa Julie College (now known as Stevenson University). My mother would not let me major in theatre since she didn't think I could make a career out of it and live. So I majored in business management, the thing I never wanted to do and here I was taking courses in it. After a horrible first semester to the point where I made myself sick from stress and worry my mom said that I could change my major! What another great day! I must say that Villa Julie College has the best Film, Video, and Theatre major in the world! It's small enough that you won't get lost in the crowd and yet big enough that the opportunities are endless. Of course I'm a little bias.



I took flight in my new world and have had experiences in every aspect of theatre. I have done lighting, sound, costumes, props, set building, stage managing, acting, front of house personnel, and my favorite strike.



Being a stage manager takes a certain type of person. You have to be willing to put in as much time as the actors or maybe more. You are at rehearsal every night, sending emails about rehearsal, meeting with the artistic crew and director, and finally taking over the show when it opens. That I feel is the best part because the show literally becomes your show. You are calling all the shots and taking care of the actors and crew. The director is no longer around telling you what needs to be done. You have to know and understand what it takes to make or break a show. Most of the time you have keys to the theatre and areas in it. Responsibility is key and organized is another thing that I think you need. Being friendly with the director, cast, and crew is also important because you might have conversations with the director and you need to know what to keep to yourself and what to tell other people. Actors and crew should be able to come to you with problem whether it's a costume change or a dispute between another member. Coming into a new theatre and group of people you have to earn that and respect it. Another favorite thing is when the stress is high you're in the middle of the show on opening night and the lead can't get her dress to zip up, what do you do? Pray that you have enough time to safety pin the hell out of it and hope it stays closed till she has a costume change. Those are the moments I live for, its character building.



Since becoming a part of the Strand Theatre last May. I have loved every minute of it. To have a theatre that you call your own and working with such wonderful people is great. Though I dream of Broadway the Strand will always be my first professional theatre.

“Lugubrious Contemplation”

Merriam-Webster defines lugubrious as an adjective meaning exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful. Contemplation of course means the act of considering with attention.
So lugubrious contemplation is a melancholy introspection or simply...depression.

Theatre is an art of “telling the truth in the context of a lie” to quote one of my theatre professors from Towson. To act naturally and believably is to constantly examine and re-examine parts of oneself to find the parts of the character that bring them to life. Most actors that I know are pretty open about their emotions and have come to grips with most of their demons. I have yet to meet an actor that hasn’t gone through bouts of depression at some point of his or her life; it’s one of the most prevalent human conditions. Still, when portraying a character in a show that goes through waves of depression and heightened emotion for hours every night starts to take its toll.

I learned this fact in college while working on selections from Chekhov’s The Seagull. I was playing the character Konstantin. If you don’t know the show he’s a playwright in love with his leading lady. She in turn falls in love with a novelist whom she runs away with. Needless to say, as the play progresses, Konstantin battles with deeper and deeper levels of depression which brings about the climax of the play.

Personally, working with such a depressed character really opens up the darkest sides of my personality. To understand you really have to rationalize the person’s reactions in the glimpses of their life that you’re given in the play. And then you have to share those dark thoughts and feelings with everyone who comes to see the performance...while you may have the character to hide behind a little bit, those emotions and feelings are still a part of you on display.

I won’t go into too many details at the moment, as I don’t want to spoil Bermuda for anyone, but when a character echoes some of your own situations, thoughts and feelings the connection is a little stronger than others. By the end of the show, even though rationally I know the outcomes and, more importantly, all pretend; I find myself emotionally drained and it takes a couple of minutes of thinking to clear my head.

A play is a breaking of the normal stasis of life. That’s why they’re interesting. Who wants to see Jim the Insurance Adjuster’s day to day life? While Jim maybe happy and fulfilled, as an audience it would not be fulfilling to watch. We want the day that’s different, the day with heightened meaning... the open and raw emotions that are the epitome of what it means to be human.

As an actor we have to submit ourselves to the breaking of the stasis of life on a daily basis. Every day is heightened emotions and dire consequences and after a while, if an actor doesn’t think about it, those emotions can spill over into REAL every day life. It’s a fine line to walk, but it’s what makes theatre one of the most powerful art forms.

What makes it really worth it for an actor, with all the emotion that we have to put in before the audience even sees the play, is seeing others making the same connections during the performances; the shared experiences and the hope that they will leave the theatre thinking and talking about not only what they just saw, but what they just felt.

I’m willing to guarantee that seeing Bermuda, the audiences will definitely be walking out of the theatre with plenty of feelings to talk about. That thought brightens up even the darkest of moments.

The Wall

In most productions, you hope to hit the wall. The wall is a metaphorical brick wall that stands in the way of what makes the show good and what makes the show great. The good thing is, you can only hit the wall after you have rehearsed relentlessly, made all the obvious choices, and done all the things you do normally when in a production. I haven't had the pleasure of hitting the wall for quite some time. Usually it is a mad dash scramble to get all the pieces in place before the opening date smashes into me. Maybe an actor drops out, or chunks of rehearsal have to be called off because of illness or work. Maybe you have an actor who takes more of your attention than others. Whatever the circumstance, the wall is only avoided when never getting the opportunity to use the actors to their fullest potential.

In theater, we use what we can from real life. When I speak, the words I decide to inflect and the tone I take change drastically from word to word. We even tend to emphasize different syllables as we make our points. Finding these moments in a play are extremely important for breaking the wall. Pace can help break the wall, but only mildly. And finally, gesturing wildly. Doing things onstage that make you feel uncomfortable, using your hands to paint a picture. Not being afraid to look and feel stupid.

I love the wall and I hate the wall. I love it because on the other side of it is a really great and insightful performance. Now that we have this production set on automatic pilot, we can start to really fly with it. Once the actors pick apart every single sentence of dialogue to discover every small undertone and nuance of each word, then the wall will be broken.

I hate the wall because it is just as much my wall as the actors. I can genuinely look at the play and know something could make it better, but I have no idea what. It is missing the indescribable something that makes it spark, that makes me really care about the characters. I feel helpless because I don't know what magic trick it takes to break the wall. Or, as I suspect, I am not working hard enough to know what is missing. I start to doubt my connectedness to the piece. I tell the actors we have hit a stalemate, and they look at me for answers and I don't have them.

In any case, I can't wait for the wall to come down.

Theater Sports

I was not a particularly athletic kid. I still remember an especially brutal game of “pick up” neighborhood softball where I was not only the last picked but chosen after the team captain tried to take our dog, Baggins, before me. I went home absolutely devastated. My Dad consoled me by explaining that I come from a long line “last picked” for sports but we made up for it in other ways. It did the trick. I stopped crying and went back to play softball. (Although wishing that my “other ways” involved some pyrotechnic superpowers.) I spent that game—like most in my athletic career—with significant bench time.

I learned about teamwork in the theater. A weak or dysfunctional team is usually the number one reason why bad productions happen to good actors/directors/designers. When the lights come up, it really isn’t about the individual set design, lighting, costume or monologue. It’s about the whole—the interaction of the parts. If you want to be a part of a production that you’re proud of you need to know your role, show up prepared, warmed up, and focused. And you need to check your ego at the door. (See Jayme’s blog “Is Talent Enough.”)

We have a strong coaching staff at the Strand. Good special teams too. Last night we could have used medical staff and an ice pack after two head injuries at rehearsal. (It ain’t always pretty!) Like football, you’ll never see the same “game” twice. (You may even see a tackle or two in Bermuda.) Sure, you could spend a fortune for season tickets to the Ravens, but season tickets to the Strand are a lot cheaper!