Right after I finished my second production of Irma Vep, I went off to play in my second production of A Midsummer Night's Dream!  Last time I was Demetrius; this time I was Oberon and Theseus - at the Millbrook Playhouse in Pennsylvania!  Millbrook is an awesome theatre and I'm so happy that I was there.  The Playhouse is very popular and people come out in droves to see the plays.  There are usually productions up and running in both of their theaters (a main stage and a black box) with another play rehearsing at the same time - so the Playhouse, an old converted barn, is a beehive of industry - and a wonderful, positive community.  I frequently found myself walking past an actor from another show in a hallway and we'd ask each other about our respective projects.  And with so many artists, designers, carpenters, directors and technicians, our communal dinner times were always a blast.

I'm very proud of our Midsummer.  Teresa assembled a very strong cast. I especially loved working with my scene partners, Ariel as Puck/Philostrate and Mary as Titania/Hippolyta.  We aimed to create as restrained and refined Athenian characters as possible, to create the greatest contrast to our dark and wild fairy characters.  We wanted the fairies to be animalistic and physical - Puck and Oberon would signal each other with animal noises, climb all over the set and could smell characters before they entered.  Titania and Oberon's relationship was very sexual and visceral, with an intense emotional core expressed through prowling, violent physicality.  It was a total treat  to commit so fully to our scenes and then spy on the other characters as Oberon while "invisible," as well as to watch the mechanicals' ridiculous clowning at our wedding in Act V. 

All of the actors lived together in a large dorm complex at Lock Haven University.  I had limited access to the internet there, which I LOVED.  Without facebook et. al. as a distraction, I had more time to spend with my castmates - we'd often stay up late talking.  I would go to the university's gym most mornings, and often some of us would go to the local coffee shop together, or walk along the nearby river.  After shows we would all go out together to get VERY inexpensive drinks.  There was also an opening night party every week, which would involve a fancy gala at the playhouse.  And every Saturday post-show the playhouse has a cabaret that audience members would stay for and that we'd all perform in.  I hosted it the second week with Jonathon (my roommate, who played Demetrius) and we had more fun than should be allowed.  The third week was themed "Christmas in July" - and I dressed up as a Christmas elf and gave a PSA about Krampus, the Christmas Devil (a real German tradition - look it up!) 

Summary: I made many friends, had a great time and got to be a part of a magical, beautiful play in an awesome place.  Yes, please, any time, thank you!

I thought it would be fun to post photos from both of my productions of Irma Vep side by side - I played Nicodemus and Lady Enid last year at Cortland Repertory Theatre last year and I played Jane and Lord Edgar this year at Lost Nation Theater.  The styles and designs of the two shows were quite different - between that and playing opposite tracks, the whole process was an awesome challenge for me.

Before we get to the pictures, I should post our reviews from the more recent LNT production!

Jim Lowe of the Times Argus said we "played off each other with an intimacy & discipline with the depth of a theater version of chamber music…. It was joyous fun and sidesplittingly funny….several audience members were sure there were more than two actors performing until they were told otherwise at intermission.”  You can read Jim’s whole review here – and you can also read the interview he did with us during our rehearsals here.

OH and you can WATCH an interview with us – spliced together with some rehearsal footage!  Here it is!

Alex Brown of Seven Days wrote “Scheer is equally adept at wordless clowning and mile-a-minute dialogue, and he turns his limber body into a comic instrument in itself.”  She also used words like “lithe,” “acrobatic,” “graceful,” and “androgynous”!  She ends the piece by saying “Love and Scheer connect so well onstage that they remind us of what only live, collaborative theater can do. As tightly rehearsed as this show is, the actors never telegraph a moment. Each exchange blooms up fresh before us, with all the hard work concealed and all the fun conveyed.”  You can read her whole review here.

You can read reviews from last year’s Cortland production on my reviews page.

And NOW – the PICTURES

One More!

Christopher Scheer and Eric Love (Scheer Love, as it were)

Sometime last week I decided I would write a blog post about gratitude, even at the risk of sounding like a New Age facebook status update.

I’m in Montpelier, doing what I love for my job.  April Fools’ Day marked the 4 year anniversary of having no day jobs.  My singular day job was a few months at Starbucks, after my contract with New York Circus Arts ended and before I got a job offer from Theater of the American South.

When I’m not acting, I clown and coach and model – I’m always creatively engaged.  Last year I did three major out of town projects on my own and two tours with Doppelskope.  This year I got rave reviews for King Executioner at Theatre for the New City, slowly grew an underground NYC following with Doppelskope, and booked two summer gigs.

Both of these are favorite shows of mine that I get to do again – playing different characters!  I’m playing the other track in Irma Vep, which is a fascinating experience.  I can now say that I’ve played every character!  And after Irma closes I’ll go on to my second Midsummer, this one at the Millbrook Playhouse.  I played Demetrius two summers ago at Lost Nation, and this time I’ll be playing Theseus and Oberon!

There were a lot of exclamation marks in that paragraph.  I’ll delete none of them.

I’m so grateful that I get to keep experimenting and pushing the boundaries of clown and theatre with Doppelskope.  I’m so grateful that I can take my experiences working with the Jim Henson Company on X-Tink-Shun and use them in my new puppet projects.  I'm so grateful for the communities I've found in the underground clown, theatre and puppetry scenes of NYC - and that I can explore the world and come back to them.

And again, I get to experience these feelings in Montpelier, surrounded by trees and mountains, sore from the gym, from the chiropractor and sore from picking up Eric in every conceivable way.  These are all good hurts.  I’m surrounded by great people here – and it’s a small town, like the one I grew up in.  I get to walk everywhere.  I get to feel like I’m home.

Woo hoo!  Did I express gratitude?

I'm at one of those relaxing times when I have plenty of work in the upcoming months.  Here's an upcoming performance schedule, with listings through OCTOBER!

April 18th at 8PM: Shrink: Puppet Therapy at the PIT! 
http://thepit-nyc.com/show/doppelskope-presents-shrink-puppet-therapy-7/

May 4th at 9:30pm: The Existential Variety Hour at the Tank! 
http://www.thetanknyc.org/comedy/5-the-existential-variety-hour/

May 16th at 8pm: Shrink: Puppet Therapy, back at the PIT!

June 6th - 23rd: The Mystery of Irma Vep at Lost Nation Theater in Vermont (playing Jane and Edgar this time)

July 12th - 21st: A Midsummer Night's Dream at Millbrook Playhouse in Pennsylvania (as Oberon and Theseus this time - I was Demetrius two years ago at LNT!)

October 7th - 10th: Doppelskope performs (An Existential Sing-Along) and teaches at Muhlenberg College!

There are still spaces to fill in, of course, and as always there are irons in the fire.  Stay tuned...

 

Accidental Dialect Coach

Without promoting at all, I found myself with a lot of new dialect coaching gigs in the late spring and early summer!

In NYC I coached Bosnian and Italian for Nora’s Playhouse’s production of The Fallen, and I coached Dad Doesn’t Dance, a wonderful one-woman show for the Edinburgh Fringe.  I also had a bunch of private clients!

New Puppet Reel!!!

I can't embed a vimeo clip, so HERE is the link! http://vimeo.com/55887706

“Some who stood out to this audience member include Christopher Scheer as Rosencranz and Eric William Love as Guildenstern; like their compatriots, Scheer and Love played other characters as well, but they came across as especially loveable as the comic relief and pals to Hamlet. Scheer also shone as Laertes, Polonius’s son.” - Cassandra Brush, Montpelier Bridge

“[Hamlet] enjoyed the most exciting fight scene in memory.  Christopher Scheer gave Laertes, Ophelia's brother, dimension as he sought revenge for his father's death…. And Dan Renkin's fight choreography was genuinely exciting.” – Jim Lowe, The Times Argus

“The dynamic acting was sometimes a bit overwhelming as I don't usually sit in the first row. I kept on getting sucked into the story and forgetting it was a play.

I really liked how connected you made Laertes to his family. Even though he's physically absent for the middle of the play, his ties to Ophelia and Polonius resonated throughout. You made him completely believable as the angry avenger because you had set up those relationships so strongly.

Perhaps it was because the action happened right at our feet, but I was completely struck by the enormous shift I could feel when Laertes is wounded by the envenomed blade. It was as if his entire worldview pivoted and all the consequences struck home. I can't point to what you did that conveyed that, but it was like an avalanche!

I choked up (again!) when Laertes begs forgiveness of Hamlet but I think I got a better grasp on why this time. The plea is so desperate and so genuine that you can't help but respond.” – Morgaine, audience review

“1. How do you make your voice so dark chocolate-rich and intense? Utterly luscious. 2. As Laertes -- How much fun is it to die with that much style and depth of feeling?” – Sarah Andrews Squier, audience review

“Scheer’s strong Laertes stands out.” – Alex Brown, Seven Days

Three weeks ago I was closing Irma Vep at Cortland Rep.  Towards the end of the run I found out that there were some audience members who didn't realize till later in the play that I was playing both Nicodemus and Enid.  That made my night!  At the final performance, I got spontaneous applause at many of my entrances, exits and laugh lines.  It was a perfect way to go out.  Cortland was a great experience.  I would go back in a heart beat!

In my last post I predicted how insane my two weeks in NYC would be.  I was either modeling, clowning or otherwise performing every single day.  Marina and I devised a longer version of The Possible and the Imp.  The piece is an experiment in stillness and minimalism and it's so gratifying to hear the piece reading for an audience.  I'd like to keep performing it as well as turn it into a short film  Ora and I finished our three month run at the PIT of An Existential Sing-Along.  This will the last time for a bit that Stampy, Ora and Joey will go on the ultimate quest for truth with an audience.  Starting soon, Ora and I will be launching two new Doppelskope series, one a set of puppet improv shows, and the other a monthly existential variety show featuring new doppelskope material and special guest artists.

Now I'm back in VERMONT!  It is so good to see all my familiar friends and collaborators here.  I'm going to get a good night's sleep, hit the gym, and head to the first read through!  

There is so much going on, all of it positive!  I'll be spending two weeks in NYC between Irma Vep in Cortland and Hamlet, and a lot will be happening there.

I'll be performing (and developing further) The Possible and the Imp with Marina Tsaplina at the MuseIAM on September 13th.  We'll also be working on The Domovoi.  

I'll be modelling both weeks at the Janus Collaborative.  I also already have one clown gig and will hopefully book more.

An Existential Sing-Along will return to the PIT on September 20th.  http://thepit-nyc.com/show/an-existential-sing-along-4/?cur_d=120920&cur_m=1209

I also just realized that I dialect coached two full length plays this year, and worked with many private clients, and that I'm very grateful for that.

We've been getting a lot of great press coverage for Irma Vep and it motivated me to start collecting my other press quotes into one place.  They need to get their own page on the site but for now they go here:

Cortland is BEAUTIFUL, and we are staying at a beautiful Lake House.  And not to be superficial, but all of my dresses for Irma Vep are SO PRETTY.

I'm exhausted.

I'll be returning to Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier, VT later this fall to play Laertes in Hamlet - directed by Kim, and featuring Kate, Eric and Caleb.

This picture is from a recent performance at The Muse.  It has nothing else to do with this post.  Pictures are good, right?