Another Day in Davis

I had another one of those days that I walked through campus to my apartment and said -- "oh my gosh, what the hell and I'm doing here." It's been a little bit, but it's comforting that I stay connected to the present. Maybe it's because I had long conversations with Angela and Suehyla in Atlanta over the last few days or maybe because I am trying to keep everything in perspective.

We are currently looking for a new Acting faculty member here in the Theatre and Dance department. They brought in 4 candidates over the last 2 weeks and we were asked to write up our opinions and send them to the head of the search committee.

Within 5 minutes of emailing the head of the search committee, I got an email message from Peter, the chair of our department. He wanted to meet. I felt like I was being called to the Principal's office. He wanted to discuss what I meant about my comments on internationalism. I have to confess it was a hard conversation and tears were shed.

I am indeed a big baby! Because you are going through similar, Trent, I think you will get a kick (or at least something) out of this.

[note: items in quotes have been changed to protect the um, innocent.]

I wrote:

"Head of Search Committee", here are my thoughts on the acting candidates. if you have any questions, please let me know.

I was not able to take "candidate #1's" workshop, so I cannot speak to her at all. However, my international comments about "candidate #3" also apply to her.

"Candidate #2"
I really like her. The connection I had with her was mostly from our lunch together. She is confident, connected and is savvy to the politics of academia. She is aware of some of the challenges of the department and is ready and able to work towards change. That excited me. Her passion about the art of theatre was evident.

The workshop, I thought was good. I was a little taken aback with her sense of nervousness at the top and the constant apologizing. We all know that an hour is a short time to get anything done, but use what time you have and move on.

I loved her use of images and gestural movement and new way to explore character. I also appreciated her handouts -- providing additional material that we can read on our own.

At lunch I learned that she has a background in Cicely Berry's voice work, but I am not sure about her acting technique experience. My guess is she showed that strength (or lack of) in the undergraduate workshop

"Candidate #3"
This one is hard because it's tainted by an extremely tense workshop. Since she is method trained and for the most part we teach Stanislavski it was very difficult to try and get the emotion first. It was interesting to try this approach since I never do it, but thinking about another year of it makes me cringe. She also used words like "right" and "wrong" which are not the most welcoming. Then again, maybe I am just a big baby.

I was also a little surprised by her constantly repeating how nervous she was. She mentioned at lunch that she was a master teacher who travels internationally. If that is the case, why the heck is she so nervous? And speaking of international, her strong dialect was hard to understand and made all levels of communication difficult. On the networking front, I am slightly concerned about the current internationality of our faculty. If I want to work in the US (which I do) I certainly don't need anymore people from oversees. While Jade, Peter & Lynette are all great contacts, most of their connections (that I can see) are out of the country.

I was not able to really learn much at lunch. She was more interested in hearing about us students than sharing more about herself. I know it's an energy thing, but I was also disappointed with her appearance in the workshop. She looks so put together in heels that I saw more of an administrator than a teacher. I know her strengths lie there which makes me question her compatibility with the students.

"Candidate #4"
I first met him in the hallway of Wright and I immediately picked up on his calm energy. First instincts yelled that this guy may just be what we need. I didn't have lunch with him, but heard some good feedback from Tim and Jesse before we went into the workshop.

I liked his workshop and thought his instructions were clear and direct. He mentioned the short time allowance but didn't belabor it and moved on. He was aware of the room and the people in it. The biggest thing is that the goal of his exercise was not clearly stated. I wish I could have gotten a little more exposition about what it COULD be. How we can apply this work to a larger project or scripted work. I know the man is a rockstar in the world of devised work, but I question his skills in technique.

Unlike "Candidate #2", I loved his ability to shed his "professional" garb and get to work. To really use his body and guide us.


Without seeing "Candidate #1", I really cannot make the most educated decision. But I liked both "Candidate #3" and "Candidate #4". The real question I have is truly what the position is. From what I can tell the department is focused on getting someone in here with devising experience. While I love that and that's one of the reasons I came here, we really need a strong technique person. I came in without much classwork. Training is not valued in Atlanta, so I knew I had travel elsewhere. I do enjoy the studies of Boal and using acting and editing in film, but got the most out of Melanie's acting class in the fall because it was so technique based. I think what this program lacks is strong work in straight technique. I can definitely see that with the undergrads. The work we did on Boal exposed me to new ways of working, but I don't think made me a stronger actor. And from what I can tell about Sara Pia's class, we will learn more about techniques of video and editing than straight acting for the camera.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall as the committee makes their decision. Again, if you have any questions or need further explanations, please let me know.

Thanks-
hope