“Lend Me A Tenor” -- One Actor’s Diary

(Hill Country Community Theatre, Sept. 28-Oct. 15)

by Preston F. Kirk

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of stories that will track the experience of being an actor, from audition through the last curtain call. It will be an inside look at the process, the foibles, the fears and the thrills of live theatre! To see the writer’s previous diary entries at any time during the upcoming weeks, go to www.hcct.org/

Aug. 21 - Doors! Resolve - Kirk Tatum/Tenor “Tito Merelli” and his fiancée Elaine did it! Six doors on generous loan from Trinity Windows & Doors, all alike, are neatly lining the performance hall wall. Now, more than ever, director Barry Pineo is chomping at the bit to get them on stage to improve the actors’ entry/exit timings. We’ll probably discover just how tight the spaces are. Add furnishings and it is gong to get weird.

Kirk is back! Whew! Kirk, knocked out of rehearsal a few days this past week by a combination of heat, bad news and high blood pressure - all at one time - brings a certain energetic bravado back to all our efforts to master “blocking” (movements instructed by the script or Barry).

Annan Morelli, Mike and Emily’s daughter, made spinach dip surrounded by French bread for the cast. Kirk seriously eyed the dish on the break. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Then, with a surprising, steely resolve and tight lips, he hastily removed himself from the kitchen area. There will be a lot more of those inner struggles for Kirk, I suspect.

Call it sensuous or call it sultry, but “the walk” Barry has assigned to Wendy James/”Diana” the soprano is indeed attention-getting and worthy of lots of good-natured cast banter. Wendy, in black-strap high heels, certainly does “the walk” feminine justice. Boy! Will the two Titos be surprised!

The book (script) in hand makes moves awkward and eye contact with other characters impossible and kissing, couch and bedroom scenes�well, ludicrous. Wendy and Mike Morelli/”Max” as the “mistaken Tito” rehearse a lo-o-o-o-ng kiss, which requires no books. Barry snaps, “I’m hearing the smack. Sounds like a suction cup.” He wants them to lose it and to work on “titillation.” It is really hard to contain our laughter. Glad Emily, Mike’s wife-actress is not here tonight.

“Fine. Fine on the kiss, Wendy,” Barry tells the single woman and jests: “I don’t know what the single men in Marble Falls are thinking!” Wendy replies, “Me either!”

Aug. 22 - Line! - Barry refreshed everyone trying to do scenes without script in hand on how to “call for a line.” In effect, we simply say “Line!” and stage manager April Adams begins saying the line until we remember and pick it up. If we don’t, she just keeps reading. Not too many calls for lines tonight.

Ronda Dale Kirk/”Julia Levrett” (Opera Guild Pres.) gets regular praise from Barry tonight for her characterization and hard work. Ronda is already largely “off book.” But he cautions her: “Don’t rush. This play goes like a freight train. Any chance to slow it down, take it.”

As Julia, she is just as eager to cozy up to Tito, a.k.a. “Il Stupendo,” as the other females in the play. In the story line, she is kind of an “aunt” to the opera company manager’s daughter, played by Emily Morelli, and contending with “50 pounds of rotting shrimp mayonnaise” intended for a gala buffet.

There is a lot of screaming tonight. No, not the director. Me. My character gets freaked out when he find that the great visiting tenor “Il Stupendo” is “dead.” My anger leads me to attack the body. I am hoarse and thirsty after about the fifth take but it gets more hysterical with every take.

Aug. 23 - I’ve got (no) rhythm�.” We did not expect to be “on the boards” rehearsing tonight, but a change in plans opened up the date and we will be off on Thursday night instead. I definitely will be firing up the grill and flopping in front of the “boob tube.”

Barry continues to hammer the rhythm of the script and how line delivery works in concert with stage movement. He constantly asks us to pay attention to the “pause,” a “rest," "a beat," "a long pause” and even the ellipses (those three little dots in the middle of a line of script).”

“Actors hate to stop and rest,” he observes. Each one of the actions commands us to quite talking, to be still. We are still acting, but they help punctuate the line just delivered or about to be delivered or the action occurring on the stage. And then we get a short course on turning the eyes, the head, the body and how each can or should be a distinct movement since they can communicate different things.

Over and over again various cast members repeat lines and scenes trying to nail the “nothing” that is so important. It is hard to hit or recognize those non-word/non-action requests without the script being memorized and without being sure where we are supposed to move next. But when it’s “working,” it is a joy to experience and, hopefully will be to see.

Emily has brought sweet potato pie with pecan topping, real whip cream, chocolate chip cookies and another dessert for our one break of the evening. As we head for the lobby and kitchen, Emily begins to tell Kirk what is available and about three of us begin to interrupt and sh-sh-sh her. Kirk Tatum again resists the caloric temptation. I offer him a small box of raisins with my best wishes and a mini-sermonette.

Aug. 24 - Whew! A night off. I don’t care if it is re-runs. I’m going to flop in front of the TV and rest my voice. Looks like I got scratched up on the temporary platform, so off to the medicine cabinet, too.

Aug. 25 - Platforms & Steps - A few platforms have been put into place providing different elevations. Now suddenly our blocking and movements get a different feel. Energetic Priscilla Castaneda/”Maria Merelli” takes them two at a time and Barry has to slow her down. He wants her to have the persona of Sophia Loren, having her sit a certain way and cross her legs in a certain way. And he wants her to wear heels next week. “Details! Details! We’ll work it out. Let’s get the blocking down first!”

Mike is really getting his “factotum” (all-around gopher) role down. The droopy stature, the nasally voice. Particularly when me as his boss Saunders is hammering on him and dismissing his ambition. Barry keeps reminding me to keep high energy and a commanding voice, although in fact, the character has little or no control at all over the mayhem the storyline has laid at his Grand Opera door step. I’ve shouted more in the past week than I have in the past year.

Barry reminds all the actors that we are nearing the end of blocking and not to forget what we have achieved. “Stay on top of your game,” he reminds us. Translation: Remember where you are supposed to be on stage . . . remember the lines . . . and keep the farce flying into the faces of the audiences.

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