#352 – Rena Polley

Rena Polley is an actor, writer, producer and teacher. She performed in The Chekhov Collective’s The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I Take Your Hand In Mine which toured Washington D.C. Rena has been involved for over 20 years with the acting techniques of Michael Chekhov (Anton’s nephew) and is a founding member of Michael Chekhov Canada as well as The Chekhov Collective. She sits on the board of The Michael Chekhov Association in NYC and is part of the Michael Chekhov Studio Co-op of independent studio from around the world. She also acted in Don Shebib’s new film “Night Talk” which premiered at TIFF this year.

www.thechekhovcollective.com
Twitter: @chekhovcollect
Instagram: @thechekhovcollective

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Transcript

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Phil Rickaby
I’m Phil Rickaby, and I’ve been a writer and performer for almost 30 years. But I’ve realised that I don’t really know as much as I should about the theatre scene outside of my particular Toronto bubble. Now, I’m on a quest to learn as much as I can about the theatre scene across Canada. So join me as I talk with mainstream theatre creators, you may have heard of an indie artist you really should know, as we find out just what it takes to be Stageworthy.

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Rena Polley is an actor, teacher, producer and writer and is a founding member of Michael Chekhov Canada as well as the Chekhov collective. She joined me to talk about the Chekhov collective theatrical staged reading of Anton Chekhov’s The Fiancee running March 1 to fifth at Toronto’s red sandcastle theatre. Here’s our conversation. So Rena, thank you so much for joining me. If you could give me a little just elevator pitch for like if you had to describe to somebody who you are and what your artistic practice is? Sure. How would you describe that?

Rena Polley
Okay, I’m an actor. I went down to the States. In my mid to late 20s. Because I worked in the entertainment industry, I worked at the Toronto Film Festival, the Theatre Festival, and then decided in my early to late 20s, mid 20s to become an actor. So I went to New York and studied at HP studios for three years with predominantly Carol Rosenfeld Herbert burger, and then briefly was Gouda hog. And then I came back to Toronto, and worked worked a lot in episodic television and tonnes of commercials. And I’ve always had a theatre company of my own in one form or another. I sort of missed those formative years in your 20s when everybody goes off and does theatre, and I had a family quit quickly. And then guess in my late 30s, I was doing a play with a friend and I said, Are you doing your work is so fascinating. And she said, I just started studying the Michael Chekhov technique. And so I went to Croatia, where it wasn’t here. And I was introduced to this wonderful technique and community. And I had been practising it for 20 years, I now teach it, I co founded Michael Chekov, Canada with Lionel Hall. And now Peggy coffee. I’ve had couple theatre companies, and I made some short films. But now I have a theatre company called the Chekhov collective where we’ve done Chekhov plays, and now are reading staged reading some short stories. And it allows me to put some of the Michael Chekhov technique into the rehearsal process. So like, everyone and yourself, we all have to do many things to survive as artists. And so that’s kind of roughly what what my background is.

Phil Rickaby
I’m for someone who doesn’t know, what is the Chekhov technique?

Rena Polley
I know, nobody knows. So no, it’s true. I mean, it. The last living student of Michael Chekhov, first of all, Michael Chekhov was Anton Chekhov’s nephew. He was considered one of Russia’s greatest actors. He came out of the Moscow Art Theatre and he was Stanislavski star, student, an actor and he worked with Zentangle off. And then during, you know, he was told by a friend Myhrvold, maybe that if he didn’t leave Russia, he was going to be imprisoned and left with his wife, and then worked in various theatres in Eastern Europe. And then the war kind of made its way into Europe. He ended up in London for three years, where she worked with a group of actors, one of them a Canadian, where she defined his acting technique, and then the war kick there and then he came to New York had to steal accompany was on Broadway, and then eventually made his way to LA where he was a private tutor for Gregory Peck Melvin row lots and lots of actors. Jack Nicholson uses his technique, Clint Eastwood and then died in 1955 from a heart attack. And so there was a period in the states where they were deciding to use either wet Stanislavski technique, or maybe Michael Chekhov, and they chose Stanislavski. And then they created the American method, which was different than the Russian. And he sort of got forgotten. And all his books and notes were destroyed in Russia, because he was considered dangerous to the state. And there’s been a resurgence in his technique. And his last living student, Joanna, Merlin, started an organisation 22 years ago, I was involved 20 years ago, where people teaching it around the world came together. And we did did a summer intensive workshop. And her goal in the last 20 years is to put it into the education system. And it’s pretty well taught in every university in America. It’s taught at lambda and Central, it’s taught at all. It’s now taught pretty well all over the world. And I’ve been trying to get it into theatre schools here in Canada, but they are kind of reluctant to try new things. But it is. He differentiated from Stanislavski. And they believe that you don’t use anything personal, that we are artists. And we have unlimited imagined imagination. And it is a resource that we are under practice and underutilised. And he also doesn’t believe and he believes in doing analysis with the body and the imagination. So it’s embodying everything. And it’s honours creative individuality, it’s really playful. And it’s holistic. And I don’t want to use the word spiritual, but there is a part of it that’s kind of magical, and accepting. Its Yes. And so it’s, it’s really a fun technique.

Phil Rickaby
Now, I think a lot of people have in their heads an idea of what the Stanislavski system was, I think he called it a system or technique. And it was it was Strausberg, who turned it into a method. And I think people understand a little bit, but it’s vague because the American method has become such a juggernaut.

Rena Polley
So so the I have a theatre company, and we did a couple of Anton Chekhov plays, because they’re the best written plays. And he writes great roles for women at any age, truly, unlike Shakespeare. But while they should say that he has some great, older long roles, but they’re not very frequent. And his writing is so beautiful. And I did these productions. And I was also an actor in them. And what happened was because I feel comfortable as a producer, and I’m sure a lot of people know the story who developed your work, is you spend so much time lifting this beast and being a producer, that you ended up not looking after yourself as an actor. That’s true. So that was happening. And then I did a Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was a beautiful production. But I lost quite a bit of money on it. And so I just thought I need to find a way to make this smaller, more affordable and doable. And I had seen at one of the Michael Chekhov summer intensives there was a woman who came out of a from a company in San Francisco where they didn’t let stage literary works. And she presented something and she asked me to be in it. And we did the rave of the poem, and Edgar Allan Poe’s poem. And so I saw the process work. I know that there’s a company in New York that has done literary works out staging them. i The actor still had their script in hand. And I would recommend if people have their own companies to come and see it because it is really doable, magical. You can even do with a stage play. The idea of doing a short story is for checkoff. Not their smooth to his plays, but you get to hear what the characters are thinking, which is kind of fun. So it’s like having checkouts in the room with you commenting on all these things. And Michael Chekhov, I know it’s confusing to check offs. The actor says the actor is the theatre. And so for me, there’s something about going into a space with music stands, limited prompts. I’ve used the same set on all four short stories and and then creating this magical world kind of like theatre storytelling. You We are asking the audience to participate with their imagination. And they go on this beautiful journey and then we end up back in the stands. And so as actors, we create atmospheres, which is also my co checkoff tool. We’re not taught to use space as actors and then put something in it and receive it. So we use space a lot. And you throw that over the audience. So they’re part of it. They’re part of this atmosphere experience. And so in the storytelling, the atmospheres are changing quickly, in different chapters, different locations, different emotional states. And so we can create this kind of Dreamland, with just our bodies or energies and our imaginations. And then of course, these beautiful words and characters. And they’re just an hour. The actors love it, because we play a lot. It’s ensemble based, and they don’t have to learn like, our age isn’t the biggest gift of all. So it’s and we usually say we’ve sold out the last four years, I’ve added two shows this year. Because it is such an unusual and delightful format. And you know, storytelling is at the heart of theatre. And there’s something about stripping it to just the actors tools. Creating a world is is kind of magical.

Phil Rickaby
There is certainly something about it’s one thing to have somebody stand on a stage by themselves and tell a story, but to have all of the actors together, reading and telling the story that way. There’s certain you know, there’s a there’s a power in like, lifting the words off the page.

Rena Polley
Yeah, definitely. And I mean, these, these are extraordinary words. And you know, the wonderful thing about Anton Chekhov is that, you know, he writes about truly the most banal characters his stuff is, I would say all checkup and checkup has always said, every play including the cherry orchard, and if there is a suicide at the end, and he considers it a comedy, that it overstaying he writes his a comedy, and he insists on it. So there is this. The first thing we do as actors is we go, what is the what is the atmosphere of the play, because we don’t want to get the wrong atmosphere. And so the atmosphere of all Chekhov plays, I think, and short stories is this lightness, it sort of dances along quite lightly. And even if there’s sadness, or there’s unreal, it’s just lifted a little bit by joy. So they don’t sink into tragedy. And so it’s kind of bittersweet and kind of funny, in fact, in some, in some ways, the more sad sack they are, the funnier it is. And they’re so full of blind spots about themselves. And, and he described so much through whether it sets up so many, so much of the atmosphere. It tells you more about the characters. And he does, it was such a light touch and there’s so much humanity and humour in his writing. And then, I’ve got I was in

Phil Rickaby
theatre school, our acting teacher, we would talk about Anton Chekhov, he also would tell us that the works of Anton Chekhov are considered a check off consider them comedies. And, you know, our exposure to Chekhov had been the opposite. And so I, at the time, I figured that was just being Russian

Rena Polley
that he had no, I read it, you know, I sometimes will redo shows and nobody’s laughing, it’s like, it’s the Russian audience. And it’s because they’re listening. And they’re just listening. And, and so we think if there’s not hifter, it’s not funny. And so you have, what you have is two atmospheres splitting each other, you have this weight of the audience, and you’re trying to lift up this material. And so you just have to keep and you have to keep really honouring that, and and sharing it with the audience. But I also think that we tend to be reverential about it. And he was never reverential about his his his writing. I mean, he was serious about it. And he was very dedicated. He worked really hard. But he, you know, he said, Don’t, don’t just write, just just get on and write and have those great quote, I found that somebody had an article I read where he said something like, his character is just over. Well, yeah, checkup loved life more than the meaning of life. And so sharing these banal characters and their simple lives was way more interesting to him. And ultimately, he came from poverty. He worked as a doctor in the countryside. That was his life. You know, he didn’t like potential and heirs. And He honoured those the honour those simple tales And yet there’s so much ambiguity and humanity in it. A friend of mine, Arizona, he came out of the business world banking. And He’s now retired. And he’s working with a group of international bankers who are trying to put the humanities back into all the Ivy League, business schools. And on the curriculum is checkup stories, because what it teaches you is ambiguity, compassion. And it’s an important thing particular from business world to learn, I think.

Phil Rickaby
I think it’s interesting the idea of of an audience listening intently and enjoying it, and comedy, but they’re not laughing out loud. Yeah, I think sometimes audiences. audiences need to be told. They need an indication sometimes that they’re allowed to make noise. They’re allowed to laugh and it may be coming into an entitled Chekhov play. They don’t know that they’re allowed to find this funny.

Rena Polley
Oops, did I lose you?

Phil Rickaby
Oh, no, I’m still here. Can you hear me? I am still here. Yes. I love you. Okay. When I said was, I think sometimes audiences don’t know that. They’re allowed to laugh at something. Because they’ve been they’ve sort of been taught the idea of of the this this reverence for Chekhov checkoff, Chekhov’s plays, that, that they may come into something like that with the idea that, Oh, this is far too serious for me to laugh at.

Rena Polley
Or they’re listening. You know, I think as a performer Hennis had director Our job is, and one of the first things I do to when I work with the actors is say, let’s send this out to the audience, I imagined the audience’s would check Michael Chekhov did as well. into rehearsal. Imagine the audience being there, and you’re constantly sending energy out doesn’t mean you’re pandering to the audience, or it’s just that you’re sharing with the audience. And ultimately, I think you’d go on stage and send love to the audience. They had gotten in the colours, they paid their money, it’s bad weather, you know, they’ve trapped in here, they want to be here. They want to be entertained, or they want to not entertain, but they want to be participatory. Sometimes people just respond differently. My husband gives me jokes all the time to read. I’m like, Yeah, that’s funny. Except you didn’t laugh. It’s like, yeah, wait, so it’s not our job to be responsible for how they respond. It’s our job, I don’t like your job. But it’s to share this joy and listing unto them, regardless of what the characters are going through. And what you can set that atmosphere, the minute you enter, I like to set it when I do a little intro, you know, then you lay up this atmosphere of what this is going to be, and the tone of it. And then how they respond is how they respond your name, you can’t really be responsible for that.

Phil Rickaby
You can only do what you can do.

Rena Polley
Yeah, yeah. And every night is different. And it’s like having, I mean, the wonderful thing about an audience is it’s like, it’s like improvising with a new partner every night. That’s part of that’s part of the of the equation. Because, you know, this idea of a fourth wall, fourth wall, which I was taught, and in the States, it is the fourth walls for the character. It’s not for the actors. And it’s the actor’s job to share all this with the audience. The character may not know the audience’s there. As we’re reading, it’s different, more storytelling to an audience. So it’s completely different format. And we want to bring them along with the story and create this world in the space by saying, here’s the house, along the back of us the street, and then there’s the town over there, where you can’t see me, too, I’m saying so you’re, you’re it’s like painting. It’s like painting the scene for the audience.

Phil Rickaby
I’ve, I’ve seen some actors. I mean, I think the idea of the fourth wall, I think some people take it too far to heart. Because I’ve seen some pro actors who they’re not like you say they’re not pandering to the audience. We’re not talking to the audience. We’re talking to their stage, their, their, their fellow actors on stage with the characters, but you can feel that they’re feeling that audience. So I’ve seen some brilliant comedic actors who never miss a beat, because they feel this audience needs this moment. They feel just by like, feeling the energy of the audience. Audience they’re able to do that. And I think it’s a fascinating separation between the idea of like you said, the fourthwall being for the character, not for the actor. Yeah.

Rena Polley
And you know, we’re, you can do I have to use Michael Chekhov vocabulary. He talks about radiating so and even Peter Rick talks about three circles, there’s the eye. So you just keep the energy to your skin level and you walk around, then you share it with the stage and your audience and your partners. And then you share it out to the audience or the camera when you’re on set. So there’s always a witness or, and they are part of that vocabulary there, they are still your part. And you may not be speaking to them directly. They may not be part of the characters world, but they’re part of the actor’s world. And the actors always present with a character. You know, when you’re on stage, and you’re in a character, and your mind goes, Oh, what about this, this and this, I’ll maybe I’ll tweet out tweet this. And because the actors always there with a with it with character. And so the actors always aware of the audience. Because they’re part of this equation. That’s what’s beautiful about live theatre. Yeah, there was something I made a note of this last year when we did our show. Because COVID was so hard on everyone being isolated. And particularly as performers, we need an audience that that is the that is the definition of a performer. And, and the audience could be a camera. And there was a friend of mine told me about a study that was done with an orchestra where they put the headsets on all the orchestra members. And they connected it to their own heartbeats. So every orchestra member was listening to their own heartbeat. And they said, Okay, we want you to start playing this song, this this symphony. And so you can imagine that the beginning was just this cacophony, just whatever. But eventually, over time, they all slowly began to play to the same rhythm. And so I’ve always heard in the theatre world, that audiences heartbeats, over time begin to be in this one. And it’s this collectiveness, this sharing, that we missed, you’re in COVID, and I, and what we love about live theatre, and this space, we’re doing our show in at red sand castles, really small, the there, you’re right there with the actors, there’s nowhere to hide. And so it makes it really intimate. And I like to think that somewhere where it’s through the show, we all began to breathe and move as one organism. And, and that’s what’s so great about like theatre.

Phil Rickaby
Absolutely. And the red sand castle as an intimate space, I think is is is one of the most intimate in the city. Because for the actors, I remember I was talking to an actor, they were like, I’m doing a show at the other red sand castle, I never been there before. And they were trying to get some feedback on the monologue they were doing. And I, I told them, you’re, you’re playing this, like the audience is far away from you, I want you to keep in mind that where you’re standing, there’s a set of feet, like almost touching yours. Like, that’s how intimate it is, you’re talking to them, you can practically feel them. And it’s such a great space for that, because of the closeness between the performer and the audience.

Rena Polley
Oh, and people talk about it all the time. And this intimacy, another reason why you can’t ignore the audience through your partner. Because the rate besides you can be like sitting at a, we do it all the time we sit at a bus and we pretend the person beside us isn’t there. Stupid, sad. And so you, you, you acknowledge op ed, but for us, it’s different because we’re storytelling, so we’re actually taking them along on a journey. And then we’ll storytelling then and then have little scene, and then storytelling. And even as the characters are commenting on what they’re saying, because we’re bringing the literary work to life, we’re not cutting it, they can do it in the scene. And sometimes it’s an aside to the audience, but it’s usually all part of mistaking are. And it can be funny because it can become contrary to what’s being said. Or it can support what’s being said. Yeah, so it’s interesting.

Phil Rickaby
Really, I mentioned, sorry, go ahead.

Rena Polley
No, I’m not going

Phil Rickaby
okay. We’re gonna You mentioned, you’re doing some work in in the Toronto Film Scene and before, you know, going to the stage to study acting. One of the things that I’m always curious about is people’s journey to the theatre. And so you didn’t start in 10 Out of the theatre, but you found it. So tell me a little bit more about about what it is that that that sparked that and drew you into into studying. It’s,

Rena Polley
you know, I came from a background where going to university was a gift. And so you went to be trained for a job. And at the time, I was very athletic. So I thought okay, I guess I’ll be at present teacher so I went to but I studied Kinesiology at Waterloo and I didn’t like it. And then I tried, but I took some dance, a lot of dance classes. And then I went to Queens in sunny present. And then I did a minor in drama. And I came out and I worked at a did the film festivals for many years in the summer, terrible theatre. I worked in that industry. And then realised I wanted to act. And I also wanted to go live somewhere else. And at the time, there was a lot of places in Toronto, it was a National Theatre School and that kind of it and I didn’t feel equipped to audition for it. And I was maybe 23 at the time 24 and 25, I can’t remember anyway, practice set up, be a great adventure and go to New York, and stayed there three years, and it was super fun. And then it came back. And I didn’t really trust my acting. So I got an agent, but I didn’t work a lot. And then I started to work. And I did fringe shows I did a lot of episodic and commercials. But then I had three kids back to back life to cover but I always kept. I had a theatre company with Catherine Hughes Costello stiletto theatre company where we combine physical theatre and clowning with text. And we did that because our writing was weak. And so we could physicalize stuff better than we could write. And we did, I think three or four productions, door nominations and websites published, we wrote it with the wheelchair. And and then I left because I felt limited. I felt I am stunted by my limitations in terms of a writer and performing. And then I had a friend who was in the film industry and I made three short films. They toured at festivals when played at TIFF and toured for years part of their 10 best films as a short film. And then I against URLs that I do. And the meantime, I’m still doing television and stuff. And then I started the checkoff collective and I guess so 2013 I started that. So it’s 10 years old now. Well, better try to do a show a year.

Phil Rickaby
Hmm. I mean, it’s good to it’s definitely good to have that. That kind of regular schedule people can can look forward to the work, right, if you’re doing it every year.

Rena Polley
Yeah. Oh, also, I forgot to say I helped my sister left a business. Yeah, that I was 10 years doing that. But the money I made from that, but did this theatre company. And it was, I don’t know, if you’re in Toronto, I am. So body blood spots, the women’s opens to those and then so I helped to lift all that. Yeah, so I’ve always done different things. But my goal now is to honour the artist. And I have to remind myself that when I get overwhelmed with producing stuff, to keep it simple and honour the artist,

Phil Rickaby
yeah, now the the drive to create your own work is something it’s become more and more an important part of any theatre career is is to make your own work. And some people do it because they they feel they have to. And some people do it because they are driven to do it. It sounds like you’re driven to create your work.

Rena Polley
And I definitely I am a couple of things. I think this is a shady business. And it’s a long business, you can come out of the gate really busy and then it can Peter off it can you know, it’s it’s a long road. And so there’s a couple of things you have to build a life and then you have to find things that feed the artist feed your love of this and, and separate it from the business of waiting to be chosen. And that was an impulse. I also felt I needed a bigger voice I don’t know I’d have been i Oh, I just did a zoom shortfilm cheering up during COVID That was completely improvised with Susan Coyne and stored our dot and it was I’m quite happy with it. And it had like to have an idea and see it through and so the same way that I helped my sister lift his business because she’s an entrepreneur, it’s the same impulse which is you have an idea and you see it come to fruition and then it it it yeah just gives you a bigger voice and more control. I can bring in wonderful artists to work with me I get to show the Michael checkup work with this company and introduce people to it just slightly you know actors don’t want to learn new technique when there’s a brief rehearsals, but we can let me lay it in. So I think people do it for many for all those reasons.

Phil Rickaby
Now the people who get exposed to the micro checkout checkout technique through their little you know, their their their slight exposure to it when they’re when they’re working say with you on on your work. Do they do they often find that they’re interested and they want to learn more?

Rena Polley
Well, I’m usually working with more mature actors here. They are really good. And so they’re adding tools to the toolbox, which is really, I wish I say to everybody, everybody finds their own system on here, because I also teach I teach. I teach online, and I teach in person. And I teach an international group of actors since COVID mi can access people from around the world. I also, this is an aside, I meet weekly with independent studios around the world that teach this technique, I think it’s the only technique where everybody pretty well knows each other. And there’s a big, huge community. But I think, I hope it’s an enjoyable experience, I help I honour their creativity, and that they pick up some tools that they can use. You know, I’ve tried reaching out and teaching, and then, you know, people have their ways. And so I’m at a point now where people can find me. And I find that an insane way that I found the technique, I just the method wasn’t working for me. And this just is so honours, play and creativity. So actors, even the mature actors that have their own techniques, respond to it, because it’s actor friendly. It’s just in line with the imagination, and giving it a little form. Truly, all I did was watch what people did, and give it a form. So it’s very intuitive, and it’s not daunting, not something completely different. It’s just a Yeah, just a slight adjustment.

Phil Rickaby
Now you sit on the board of the Michael Chekhov Association in New York. Yeah, in New York. How did you? I mean, was that a choice? Did they approve?

Rena Polley
Now they approached me it was really just then, like, all kinds of organisations, it began as a group of actors wanting to come together to apply this technique and teachers. And then now it’s become a big organisation, because they, they reach everybody around the world, and, and they have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. And so they’re at a crossroads, because like, everyone, they’re out of money. COVID drain them of finances. They’re actors that are bit overwhelmed by the administration. So it’s just reaching out to the committee and saying, how can you help us? Can we get you to help us with this? And it’s just supporting that. And it’s been they’ve been it’s been my artistic home for 20 years, and I’m happy to help out and give back.

Phil Rickaby
What can you tell me about the the production the stories that you’ll be doing at the red sand castle,

Rena Polley
we’re just doing one. This the start the story this year is called the fiancee, and his tales are deceivingly simple. As above, it’s a woman who’s getting married in six months. She’s 22 years old. She has been dreaming about her entire life. And then her friend Sasha arrives and turns her life upside down. Um, the interesting thing about the short story was it was his last short story that he wrote before he died of tuberculosis at 44. It was written as he was also writing The Cherry Orchard. So there’s, it’s called big themes in it like cherry orchard, and there’s some stuff in it that is actually very similar to the cherry orchard, you can see stuff bubbling up that either comes to fruition or is discarded in the cherry orchard. And the thing about checkoff short stories is that they are. Prior to him a short story had a beginning, a middle and an end. And as Susan corn always says, she has been my collaborator for the last three, it was kind of like a check. It’s like a New Yorker stories where you’re reading a New Yorker story, and you turn the page. And that’s it. That’s the end of the story is there’s Is there a page missing? And you could fake ad until checkup for that? Because he just, you know, is it up to the minute they get rid the beginning in the end and just present a moment. But this story actually has an ending. So it’s unusual in that way. And it’s a positive ending, which is unusual. And yeah, so it’s, it’s, this is really interesting. And I have great cast. Sadly, Susan was supposed to do it. And she just got her dream job, which I can’t say. So she just had to step away. So we have Helen Taylor stepping in. So I have David Stuart, she’s done three of them with us. up we’ve got Brenda Robbins he’ll be the narrator and then Helen Tanner, nice. And you know, for me it’s really wonderful to ask mature actors, particularly women to do these readings. The age doesn’t matter the character because their rooms and and so to have this wrapped of talent on stage, to work with these beautiful words. Is such a gift. It’s a gift for all of us. We really, we have fun doing because if you don’t what’s the point of doing that? That’s true. I mean, we get down to work, but it’s it’s got to be joyous, particularly at this point in our lives. And then it’s infectious to the audience too. And yeah, if you’re

Phil Rickaby
not enjoying the work, and it’s not like you’re you’re messing around, because you think it’d be some messing around. But you know, if you’re not enjoying the work itself, why are you doing it? That’s, that’s yeah, I

Rena Polley
mean, some people get hired for a job, and then they get in there. Oh, oh, oh, this is what I’m up for, oh, this. And so I want to make sure I get people that also are that are willing to try new things that are open that want to have fun, and ultimately, the ensemble is more important than the individual?

Phil Rickaby
Mm hmm. I think that that’s that that being part of an ensemble is kind of such a hard skill to learn. I think because an ensemble is a an organic thing.

Rena Polley
Yeah, it’s a breathing living organ. Yeah. And I think it has to be put in right away with by the director that says directors responsibility to make that happen. And what can happen is things move quickly. In theatre, we have short rehearsal periods, people are under pressure, there’s a system that everybody does, which is, you know, I don’t do table work. I don’t, don’t, I’d rather I we will read it. But I would rather a warm up the imagination and the body. And a voice comes along for the ride, as opposed to have them sit and be in their analytical head for two days, and then have to get up and body. Because I think there’s all kinds of exploration you can do on your feet. That’s fun. It’s called playing for a reason. And so what happens is, sometimes people just actors in particular, I do this, we get myopic, but you know, we highlight our lines, what do I want, you know, even when we’re doing sides for auditions, for television, or show, and you really had to discipline yourself to look at the whole, your character is responding to something, somebody says, You can’t isolate your character. You can’t isolate it from the full story. And so we can kind of get self protective and busy in our own heads trying to figure out what we have to do. When in fact, your partner can help. And I do improv classes with Kate, the wonderful Kate Ashby. And, you know, the first thing you’re taught is how your partner’s back, how do you make them look better. And, and then takes the focus off of you. And there’s some tools you can use, particularly in the medical checkup work where if you trust the tool, it takes the focus off you and it will feed you images feed you Elka atmospheres, lots of things can feed you. So yeah, putting the focus on the on sample sample is makes it easier for everybody. And you have more compassion for the whole. Yeah. And, you know, a Michael, Chuck has a chapter. It’s in some obscure book, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read. And it’s called love. And he talks about how love is people are embarrassed by it sentimental. They don’t really talk about it. And he means bringing love into your creative process into your fellow actor, look for the higher self, be in your higher self and look for the higher self and the other person find one thing that is that you’d like about them. levelled the audience? First thing I do is throw out that love to the audience. And is it way better to love your art form than to work on a craft. And so this even equally you can slide this in sideways. But people get very scared by it. They get they think it’s it’s actually I think anarchistic and dangerous to even bring those words in. And I think it’s interesting

Phil Rickaby
yeah, no, absolutely it is. And I’ve had the privilege of being able to work in a couple of productions that with with some like shows that were truly ensemble pieces and man there’s nothing like a truly ensemble piece when you because I feel like any even more than the the average production where you feel a closeness to your classmates with when it’s an ensemble. Once you leave that’s like these people like I haven’t there’s people that I was in the shows with. And I haven’t seen them in years but they’re still family to me, because of the the way that we worked in those shows.

Rena Polley
I think that’s why people are drawn to the arts. You have this this this if it’s a good excuse Have you had this wonderful intimacy, and it’s it’s a safe intimacy, it’s an imaginative intimacy. Because at the end of the day, it’s just your imagination, shake it off, walk away. So we can have these really intimate, emotional, physical, whatever seeds. But it’s playing, it’s our imagination. And we, you’ve come into this world together. And how fun is that? And, and then you step out of it. And you go, Okay, that was the imagination. That was fun. Should we jump back in again? Or, you know, and then you jump back out, you have these thresholds? And, and so, that’s, I think we’re drawn to that as as, as creative beings.

Phil Rickaby
Yeah, absolutely.

Rena Polley
And we need we need we need actors can act alone. I mean, if you’re doing a monologue, there’s an audience. Or you’re acting with an image. You know, what I teach, and you know, so much now for auditioning, or camera at, you know, you’re you’re at home. I mean, I have my daughter on Zoom, with her vocal fry. Behind me one point, I didn’t have my stuff with me, I’m somewhere else. And I have the phone on a ladder, trying to create this imaginary world. And so the more we and my partner had to be the camera that had to be the zoo, the.on, my computer or my phone. When I’m teaching people on zoo, I’ll have them reach up to the wall and receive the wall. What’s the walls personality, what the more we use the imagination to embody something else. Always need a partner. And it can be the air. You put something in the air and receive it. But we need a partner. We can’t act alone. Yeah. Yeah.

Phil Rickaby
I remember. The first time I performed a solo show, my director had said to me, the most important thing that you’re going to do is you’re going to be making eye contact with the audience because you were in this with them. They’re your scene partner. And when as soon as you said that, I could feel my stomach drop, because that’s not something I was used to. But God dammit, he was right, you know? Oh, no. Did

Rena Polley
you know it’s puke? conducing. Oh, not? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Well, I you know, I would suggest people take improv classes, cladding classes, because once you get that contract in high for them, it’s very addictive. And also, you have all the power on stage. Is the RSA don’t fuck with the person on a mic? And it’s fun having an audience as a partner. And you can play with them. Yeah, yeah. No, it’s even if an image is your, you know, is your partner and still a partner? Yeah,

Phil Rickaby
yeah, I grew up with people when I was in theatre school struggling with with soliloquy ease in Shakespeare. Because there was a bit of a, who am I, who am I talking to? Who am I talking to? And if I’m talking to the audience, where did they come from? And over the years, I’ve watched a lot of a lot of productions of Shakespeare. And for me, the ones where the soliloquy works best is for the most part where the actor just is talking to the audience. Like, well, you’re there for

Rena Polley
him. Yeah. And if they choose not to speak to the audience, you’re talking to a version of your younger self. I mean, when you’re having a dialogue with yourself, you’re either you have a vision of herself, an image of herself, and maybe the stubborn part of you. Maybe it’s the the undecided part of you the neurotic side of part of you saying just calm down. So you’re always putting that person out there and add me Chekhov has this wonderful thing, Michael chucker, because our imagination is so underutilised. What you can do is you can say to the character, present yourself. Come on, show yourself. Okay, show a little more. Alright, show just a little bit more turn around. Let me see how you move. And your imagination will show that. And then you can draw the outside of it. You can colour in the colours, or just step into that body, and then be that body and then step back and say no, I don’t like that. Show me more. So frickin imagination can do all this stuff. So in your soliloquy, just put up an image of yourself, or you can even embody it in a chair and jump back and forth talking to yourself as an exercise. I mean, you know, as as a way of exploring it. It’s like Gestalt therapy always embodied the other thing. Yeah, so I get this many ways of approaching it.

Phil Rickaby
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So the fiancee is gonna be at the red sand castle theatre from March 1 to march 5.

Rena Polley
So we’re doing we’re doing a march Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm. And you’ve added two shows Saturday and Sunday at 230. I think tickets are $25. And then yeah, mask mandatory at, at at the theatre because it’s very small. That’s their policy.

Phil Rickaby
It’s such a small space. It’s such a small space that that it’s so necessary. And they’re one of the few theatres in the city that hasn’t had an outbreak. So

Rena Polley
yeah, and also, it’s, it’s an at the shows an hour, I mean, you can keep a mask on for an hour ahead, or it’s a little over an hour, and just allows everybody including us on stage without a mask, to just sit back and enjoy the show and not care about anything else. And we did it last year in the height of COVID. When we were nobody got it, but Well, I got to the final night. I couldn’t. I couldn’t go to the show. I had got it from my husband. But yeah, nobody got it. And it was it was it was great. It was actually magical. The audience was so ready for it.

Phil Rickaby
Now just before I let you go, I’m curious you you don’t do rehearsals but for for something. What do you mean? Like do I mean? I mean, you do rehearsals like for this for the reading? Um, okay, now we rehearse Oh, yeah. Rehearse. You don’t be able to answer be off book but but people need to rehearse. I don’t know why I said you don’t rehearse. I’m just like, clarify that. But you. What does the rehearsal look like for this? Okay.

Rena Polley
So enter? Well, in the morning, I will do a little checkoff work. And I’ll just do stuff that we’ll use in the rehearsal process. One of the first things I do the first day is we look at the space. Because once once you get into text and the play, you don’t really look at space again. So polarity is a big thing. We’ll look at the first of all, what is the atmosphere of the short story, it’s a comedy light expensive dances along, and we’ll put that in the space. We’ll look at the beginning and the end of the short story. All checkup place, at the basic level opening expansion, arrival, this and that ending contraction, small space, a debt, someone’s dying, you’re in a tiny room. That fiance opens on a beautiful spring, summer day. And while every chapter is different, and then we’ll look at the beginning and the end of each chapter and how the atmospheres are different. So that we have a journey to go, we had this polarity. And then we can do the entire short story. So we have a sense of the whole first day, then we get up and we and we have have already explored the space. So we’ll just lightly put some scenes on their feet. How do we bring it to light? What are the moments in the scenes? What are the shifts you know, traditional rehearsals except they have script in hand. Usually the beginning of the end is done at the stands. And one point in will go back to the stance. And I tried to use this space as much as possible in a funny way. And I have really good actors they come up with a lot. So that it’s just like any rehearsal space, we just go through it, chapter by chapter ship. event by event. them like we break them down and just look at smaller sections and then put it together. But I really believe in beginning with atmospheres it can and polarity. Because it gives you an outline of a journey. And you can get a sense of the ebb and flow and rhythm changes at the peace. Nice letter, and we throw balls and I know it sounds crazy.

Phil Rickaby
Everything listen, and it says people who aren’t in a rehearsal room or haven’t been in one everything we do in there sounds crazy.

Rena Polley
Yeah, I for me, the the most important thing is that it’s a yes and space, that it’s expensive. Because we know once an actor is shut down, they will not produce anything I know from experience, and I’ve witnessed it. So you want to keep them expanded and exploring. And you want to encourage that. And you want to keep it keep them in their imagination and in play. And then we start editing and we start we start using stuff to sort of put it all together. But for a long time you want to keep that open. Right, encourage them. And we create characters. We do all kinds of fun stuff. Nice. Just with the bodies. It’s amazing. It’s fun.

Phil Rickaby
Rena. Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Oh, for your time.

Rena Polley
Thank you for allowing me to speak about this and thank you for your really great questions. It’s been fun to share this

Phil Rickaby
this has been an episode of Stageworthy. Stageworthy is produced hosted and edited by Phil Rickaby. That’s me. If you enjoyed this podcast and you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can leave a five star rating. And if you’re listening on Apple podcast, you can also leave a review those reviews and ratings helps new people find the show. If you want to keep up with what’s going on with Stageworthy and my other projects, you can subscribe to my newsletter by going to philrickaby.com/subscribe. And remember, if you want to leave a tip, you’ll find a link to the virtual tip jar in the show notes or on the website. You can find Stageworthy on Twitter and Instagram at stageworthypod. And you can find the website with the complete archive of all episodes at stageworthy.ca. If you want to find me, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at philrickaby and as I mentioned, my website is philrickaby.com See you next week for another episode of Stageworthy