Follow the Mountaintop to Chekhov
This weekend started out on set, for the Social Media Horror Event, Follow, it happened yesterday, if any of you followed, but it should come out on youtube or something as well, in case you missed it. We had originally planned to live stream a bunch of it on Sunday, but because it was going to rain all day, we filmed all of my scenes ahead of time, on the Saturday. Not only is the medium in which the story was told super original and interesting, but the story also touches upon some serious issues. Did you notice?
Through the use of the Instagram stories of 3 separate accounts, you witness the murder of one girl, the stalking of another, and I won’t reveal the end, for all of those who aren’t done watching it yet, but things get serious. It was entirely shot using cell phones, and I was the one behind the camera for most of my scenes. Which was an experience in and of itself. And for those who are paying attention, yes, I am aware that I keep getting cast as someone who takes a lot of selfies and lives on Instagram. It might be a sign that I should work harder at it in my personal life, but I just can’t imagine anyone really caring that much about me writing at home in a onesie. Or what I thought of a movie when I am literally the easiest person to please movie-wise. Perhaps I just need to find a niche, but in the meantime, I am perfectly happy only taking selfies for work!
Once filming was done, I headed over to the Segal Center for one of the last performances of the Mountaintop. A new friend had asked me to join her, and I need to see more local theatre. And make friends. So it was perfect. She was only getting there at 7:30, which usually would have meant I would be playing on my phone in my car until that time, at which point I would walk in and pretend I had just arrived. Because who wants to be wandering alone in a room of people, trying to look busy so it doesn’t look like you just don’t have any friends? That used to be my reasoning. And it is still part of my first instinct. Instead, I parked, replied to the few pressing messages I had, then went straight in. A half an hour before my friend was supposed to arrive. I scoured the room for a familiar face, then decided to kill time by going to get my ticket. And there were the first familiar faces of the evening! They were working though, so I headed back out into the crowd and found someone I work with at McGill. Not only do I know her, she is super nice and interesting and we had no problem talking about all kinds of things until my friend arrived. We mostly became friendly over facebook rather than the first time we met, so it was nice to catch up in person and reconfirm that I definitely really like this person. We talked right up until the play started, then all the ride home.
As for the play, I saw the Lorraine Motel sign as soon as I got out of my car, and knew from having visited the actual motel in Memphis that the next few hours were definitely going to tug at my heartstrings. My expectations were met, and the performances were incredible. Also, I walked out wanting to do better and be better, which can never be a bad thing.
On Sunday, there was a free Scene Study workshop at the Centaur. Jackie Maxwell directed 13 actors in 5 scenes from Chekhov plays over the course of nearly 4 hours. I wasn’t sure I would make it, so I didn’t even try to be one of the performers, but even through watching you learn so much. They were ‘works’ not performances, but they were all incredible, with each try bringing new layers and sometimes completely changing how the scene plays out. I will definitely be putting my hat in for the next one, and recommend it to all of my Montreal actor friends.
“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.”
-Max DePree
