Acting out

By Billy Taylor
Special to the Coastal Point

	Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY From left, Robin Cannetelli, Rosemary Thomas, playwright Harold Schmidt, instructor Ken Skrzesz, Dan Thomas and Dan Digrazzio discuss some of the finer points of performing arts.

That was part of the exercise. A dozen of us in a circle, standing behind our chairs, with no specific communication, either verbal or otherwise, without signaling, without a leader or followers, were to move in unison. We were to pick up our chairs, take two steps inward, walk around the chair to the right and sit down. All in unison, all together, all at once. Our assignment was to feel the energy of the group build, sublimate our own will to that feeling and move with the group energy.

Every time we moved out of unison, when someone was ahead or behind the group, our instructor would stop us with an authoritative, “Start again,” and we would return to our first positions, waiting for the group energy to build.

This was just one of the improvisational exercises we used to help us focus on being present and paying attention to the moment. I was participating in one of several of the beginning acting classes held in the area by a new performing arts organization called Clear Space Productions. The classes, which have been held in Ocean View and Lewes, have been capped at no more than a dozen aspiring actors each and are taught by Clear Space founder and master acting teacher Ken Skrzesz.

“I couldn’t believe that there was this much interest and enthusiasm in the area,” Skrzesz said. “If residents of Sussex County are this interested in learning about the craft of acting, just imagine what kind of theatre company we can build.”

And that is Skrzesz’s and co-founder Doug Yetter’s goal. They plan to use Clear Space Productions as almost an umbrella arts organization to bring a variety of performing arts to coastal Sussex. From creating a new theatre company to organizing a coastal choir, from teaching acting, voice and movement classes to both adults and teens to a musical theatre intensive summer program for students, they hope to expose new groups of people to the performing arts.

Later, in class, we all sit in our chairs and make up a story. The story is a group affair, and we only get to add one word at a time. Traveling in a circle around the group, one person starts with a single word. Then another word is added by the person next to them. And so it goes around the circle until someone cannot find a word to add or adds one that makes no sense.

This, too, is an exercise in focus and staying present in the moment. It is also practice in giving up control. In the story, as in all acting, we cannot control what comes before our word or what comes after. We cannot control what the other actors say or how they will react to what we say, we can only control ourselves in the moment we have. Perhaps that is a metaphor for life that only actors understand.

In another exercise we all walked around the space in different directions, back and forth, in circles, just walking and looking around at our environment until Skrzesz said, “Freeze.” At that point, we all did so, holding our arms and legs in just the same position. Skrzesz then went around the room, clockwise, and had each person assume the position of the person in front of them. It is an exercise in exact movement and position.

Skrzesz has been an actor, director, choreographer and teacher for more than 15 years. He has performed on Broadway and throughout New York and the country. He has created and led several other theatre and dance companies over the years. Skrzesz earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Towson State University. He is a National Endowment of the Arts award winner, and has won an individual artist award in choreography from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Co-founder Yetter has been in the musical theatre for 30 years as a director, composer, conductor and in virtually every other musical capacity for hundreds of theaters across the country. He continues to teach private voice and piano as well as serve as coach to numerous performers. Yetter earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland and is completing his Master of Fine Arts in the Musical Theatre Writing program at New York University.

The second half of each session in this class is dedicated to monologue work. For each student, Skrzesz has chosen a part in a contemporary play, and from the lines of each part he has selected a monologue that runs about one to one-and-a-half minutes in length. We work on these presentations, week after week, polishing our performances. The goal is to be able to use these monologues as audition pieces.

A few of the students have done just that and were cast in Character Analysis a new play by local playwright Harold Schmidt which Skrzesz will direct and which is being produced by the Village Players in Ocean View. Performances will be held in Rehoboth Beach and Ocean View in April.

For me, Skrzesz selected the role of Uncle Peck from Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive. In this role, I play a man in his mid-40s who has been molesting his niece on their Sunday drives since she was 11. It is he who teaches her to drive at 16, and shortly after she turns 18 she never sees him again. It is clear that he was molested as a child, and once she stops seeing him, he quickly declines and comes to a bad end.

Vogel’s words and Skrzesz’s direction help me to find the sympathy in a character who does such vile things. I can understand and feel sorry for him. I can see both his strengths and his flaws. At times, I even find myself feeling a little guilty because I feel such sympathy for him.

The sessions are a fun and safe place to risk and learn the craft of acting. All of the other actors are supportive, and Skrzesz has a way of positive direction, emphasizing what works and guiding what doesn’t into that same direction.

Skrzesz and Clear Space Productions have more classes starting up in April, and intensive programs for students over the summer. You can sign up by calling the organization at (302) 644-3810, or look them up online at www.clearspaceproductions.com.

But you’d better hurry. I’m going to sign up for the next class, and I’m pretty sure some of my current classmates will as well.