Our guest artists return!

A note from POY guest artist, David Holt.

So I arrived on my first day of rehearsal for The Block with many expectations. I knew the company from a few years ago and knew they did very good, funny (intentionally funny), and professional work. I was really happy to be back together with them again after a couple years at another company that was not nearly up to the same standards as Point of You. I won't mention who they were, but it was a breath of fresh air to get actual direction as opposed to "let's start rehearsing" and "ok, we are done rehearsing for the day." I'm not kidding. That was the extent of the direction I got a few years previous. Sometimes though, you have to go away for a while to realize how good things can be. I always knew they worked well, but didn't FULLY realize how much it mattered that people actually think about what is going to happen before the day of rehearsal.

Some of the most talented theatre actors and behind-the-scenes people I have worked with are in, or related to, POY. Related to like a 3rd cousin twice removed even! This time was especially fun for me because I got to interact with the people ON STAGE as well as the dressing room (G has a funny story about one such interaction the first time we worked together. Ask him about it, but it did bring us closer somehow). The first time I worked with them, 3 years ago, it was in a show called Fairy Tale Monologues. And as the name may suggest, it was a monologue show. Meaning just my skinny 6'0" butt on stage for 5 minutes before the next monologue was presented and I could not interact with them on stage. All of the monologues were amazing and so were the actors playing the fairy tale characters, but I always wished that I could have worked with them on stage as well.

I got cast in their newest show in the role of Ben. I had observed homeless people for a while, but during the rehearsal process I could not seem to get the character at all - until one day that I got a fever. Somehow having a fever made me think of Ben in the correct way and two days before we opened, it finally hit. I will say that was cutting it as close as I have ever cut it before to finding a character before a show opened. In the end, the show went very well. My father loved it and thought that the company was much stronger than the last one I worked with. Not only him, but everyone that came to see it loved it. They even liked me in it! The most fun I had during the play was when everything went wrong on one performance. The door locked, voices cracked, and one person did a face plant on the stage. When the door locked (on me no less) I really only had a quick little scene, literally 2 lines. But that scene stretched out into about a 5 minute scene of me trying to bust the door down, G saying in his head "Why doesn't that skinny guy just use some MUSCLE!" and me finally pleading meekly at the door "Help." Mind you, all the other actors were backstage with a poised ear to hear how we were gonna solve this, it being the door we ALL used. But that kind of thinking on your feet is what makes live theatre the best art form in the world!

Overall, I loved my second performance with POY and will hopefully be writing another blog one day soon on how my 3rd experience went with them. Thanks for reading! And if you came to the play, I really hope you enjoyed yourself because we all had a blast performing for you.

Being a Psuedo Producer - Not For Everybody

The ensemble speaks! A note from Alyssa Mann:

So I'm a Virgo. I know a lot of people think all that stuff is nonsense which is fine, but whether you attribute it to the stars or my crazy mother, I am a perfectionist by nature. I also am a little high strung and can't stand it when things aren't organized. All these things made being a psuedo producer for The Block a little rough for me.

The first hurdle I faced was the fact that I wasn't entirely sure where my juristiction laid as a pseudo producer, so I ended up getting a little involved with a lot of things, which I think made me less helpful than I would have liked. I was also a bit frustrated with some of the communication between outside parties involved with the show and because I was kind of a producer (and due to my Virgo nature), I felt the need to constantly be patching things that I maybe couldn't or shouldn't patch.

Now, all those things aside, I had an amazing director to work with who constantly talked me down from the ledge and assured me that all I was feeling was normal, helping me see things from a different angle. After each one of those talks (and there were many, Jeff will tell you) I felt better and was able to continue on helping make things happen. That was what I would say was my favorite part of being a pseudo producer... I helped make a lot of things happen. That felt good.

Would I produce again? Maybe with the right people. Would I have to reevaluate the way I think about things? Definitely. I would have to work to make sure that all the stress I have to deal with doesn't affect my acting work, which was a tough balance this time around. I would also have to remember that not everything is going to be perfect and that doesn't mean it isn't good. I'd have to learn to try to chill a little bit and take things more in stride. I'm getting better at it, this I know. But I'm proud of The Block and I'm proud of my work in it. And I am most proud to be a part of POY whose members made it possible for all this to happen. I'm excited to see what's up next.