VIRTUAL STATE 2020
“I do not accept any absolute formulas for living. No preconceived code can see ahead to everything that can happen in a man's life. As we live, we grow and our beliefs change. They must change. So I think we should live with this constant discovery. We should be open to this adventure in heightened awareness of living. We should stake our whole existence on our willingness to explore and experience.”
― Martin Buber, On Formulas For Living
I read the above quotation today and it really made the think about “living in constant discovery” and how to be “open to this adventure in heightened awareness of living” right now. As our physical travel is limited, can our creative world open up? Since we can’t physically go and attend workshops or see great shows at our Florida State Festival, but is there a way to take a State-like journey virtually? I started to find resources that might help us to have a “virtual state conference” for all of us who want to “stake our whole existence on (a collective) willingness to explore and experience.”
Each section is like a different area of theatre to be inspired by: acting, design, museum tours, and then productions you may not have seen online. I will keep adding things daily, so every day there will be new content to explore. Just like at State! If you know of something that you think would be useful to add, let me know by emailing me a link to your suggested video or webpage and an explanation of why it qualifies for State! Let these suggestions be a springboard, there is a whole virtual world of Theatre to explore and NOW IS THE TIME to do that!
* Note that I haven’t watched EVERY MINUTE of ALL of these and they may have language or other *asterisked items in them. So watch with caution!
Hope you can find LOTS to explore & experience during this “Virtual State Festival.” Journey on my thespians, can’t wait to hear about the destinations your visit, may they surprise you and delight you in amazing ways…
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” ― Martin Buber
WATCH A PLAY ON INSTAGRAM
For a week, Monday 23 March 10am to Sunday 29 March 10pm GMT, anyone with an Instagram account will be able to watch the full production by following @hampstead_theatre or @lalatellsastory (Lauren Gunderson). The play will be available to view on demand on their IGTV channels.
Also Lauren Gunderson is doing a master class on playwriting on Facebook! CLICK HERE TO WATCH HER FIRST SESSION!
The show must go online: Shakespeare read live online
I love creative people who also love Shakespeare. This is so clever and so well done! They will be doing live readings of all the Shakespeare plays in the order they were written…
Take a free online Meisner Acting class
Register on this website https://www.trueactinginstitute.com/ and you can attend live or watch it afterwards. But you must be registered to get the link after the live workshop.
MEET BROADWAY PERFORMERS, designers, authors, career advisors, composers and more…
Visit Camp Broadway’s website https://campbroadway.com/atthisstage/ to sign up and see when your favorite Broadway persona will be holding an online class for FREE for theatre students! Ignore me fangirling along with ANDREW BARTH FELDMAN on Mon., March 23 1:30 pm – 2:15 pm EDT. Ok, thanks.
Learn how to make a GREAT self tape for your college auditions!
Casting directors Sarah Cooney and Chad Eric Murnane offer some tips for actors auditioning via video. Thank you PLAYBILL for this great resource!
For my theatre history buffs…
There are 50 videos about EVERY aspect of Theatre History. I love these videos and they really do have a lot of great information and are presented in a fun way!
Calling all aspiring Stage Managers…
The next best thing to SEEING live theatre, is HEARING live theatre…
LISTEN up, you can listen to 25 different plays performed at this website https://latw.org/students . What a great way to explore vocal choices for characters!
Join Playbill for a live showing of Cinderella ON FRIDAY, MARCH 20th!
Time for a movie night! This Friday, March 20, we’ll be watching the 1965 Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Lesley Ann Warren and we want you to watch with us! Available for free on YouTube, start the movie at 8pm ET and follow along with us on the official Playbill Twitter account, as well as the Rodgers & Hammerstein Twitter and Instagram for trivia, fun facts, and giveaways. Use #RNHMovieNight if you’ll be watching with us! Bring the family together for a lovely night and start your own movie night tradition. WATCH HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkQjuwihYI&t=25s .
Let’s start with some warm up games from Drama Menu
You may recognize some of these from our Theatre class. Play along to get yourself in the Theatre spirit. If you check out their games on YouTube and find one that we haven’t played, let me know and you can teach it to us when we return to school!
Have you always wanted to take acting lessons from Jeffrey Tambor? HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!
Well, here are a couple of classes that he taught over the years at the SXSW festival. One of them features Greta Gerwig (director of LadyBird & the new Little Women movie that I am OBSESSED with.) Turns out she is an incredible actor as well as a brilliant director. OF. COURSE.
Take Checkov MasterclassES ON ACTING
I took a Checkov Acting class this past summer at Tennessee Arts Academy and it was so interesting and useful for me as a director to have a new way to talk to actors and encourage them as they create characters.
FOR MY TECHNICAL THEATRE FRIENDS
A whole playlist of some incredible Technical Theatre videos on a variety of subjects: lighting, sound, set design, costumes, & choreography. What would we do without our Technical Theatre students making all the magic behind the scenes?
INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE
I find that visiting Museums is a way to get inspired. And here are 10 top Museums that you can visit virtually without leaving your comfy couch AND while wearing your pajamas!
BROADWAY PLAYS & MUSICALS YOU CAN WATCH ONLINE
Though if you use this time to watch Cats, I am judging you…
HEADING OUT FOR A WALK? TAKE ALONG A THEATRE PODCAST…
THEATRE RELATED TED TALKS
Because you know that I love a good TED talk…
No trip to Tampa would be complete without a field trip to Oxford Exchange.
So here are some links/photos to help you spend a few moments in Mrs. Marshall’s favorite bookstore/tea shop in the world (well, I haven’t seen all of the bookstores/tea shops in the world, but for now, this one ranks #1 on my list.) A recipe to make my favorite tea drink sold there is here also. Enjoy…
