A View From The Other Side

Another guest blogger this week! Blake L. Pfeil, playing Giuseppe Zangara in ASSASSINS, has agreed to spill his guts for us. Read and enjoy! - Nik

Hey, Blake here. We’re thru the first weekend of performances…to sold-out houses each night, mind you. Huh. I should have prepared the talented Mr. Walker, our tour-de-force Balladeer, for my guest blog spot a little better.. I have a few things I need to get off my chest, so please, if you need a glass of water, I suggest you get it now. You won’t want to get up.

I’m 20. I consider myself the baby of Company One’s cast of ASSASSINS...the youngin, the newborn, Sam Byck’s “bubula.” So imagine, for just a second, the what I might feel each time I am onstage with my fellow actors, each of whom (in some sense or another) has taught me a few things about this craft. I can go to school all I want, and I can study the mysteries of acting as much as I damn please, provided I schlep out a $40,000 check each year. But this is something much more exciting.

I’ve slowly developed more this summer (alongside truly gifted professionals) than any year of schooling will ever be able to give me. My mother knows: I’m a hands-on person. I can’t sit in a classroom filled with people and pretend to listen...instead I can watch Ed Hoopman as Czolgosz try to break a bottle every night and always get something else out of it. I can attempt to pry David DaCosta's Booth off Jon Popp's Oswald every night and always learn something different. I can sit and cry each night because Nathanael's Hinckley and McCaela's Fromme feel unworthy of somebody’s love. You can’t imagine what it does for a budding actor to listen to Mason Sand drive two entirely difficult Byck monologues home every night, swearing left and right, giving an audience something to think about…and I mean REALLY think about.

I’m trying to explain just how much these people have educated me in an artistic environment that I LOVE. It’s no mistake that I learn something different from Penny Hansen’s screams as Billy Moore for a Bubbalo Bill every night…or from the murderous rage that engulfs Liz Rimar's Sarah Jane Moore when Billy needs that goddamn Bubbalo Bill. See…when you can watch and listen to something like that night after night, it affects you.

I was talking to Jeff Mahoney, Mr. Looking-on-the-Bright-Side gonna-win-an-award-for-playing-a-real-Guiteau, about this feeling of elation that I get each night watching and listening to this group of extraordinary actors. Elaine Stritch said it best: “If somebody doesn’t have any talent, get off the stage! You’re wasting my time. But if they GOT it – and I’m talking about Mama Rose kind of talent: you either got it or you had it – I am so uplifted by talent. I can’t stop crying, applauding…screaming.” I am get this night after night after night. These people got it, and I am so thankful they do, because I am reaping so many benefits.

I’m 20. I should not be allowed onstage night after night with a company of such gifted actors. I’m learning. I’m dreaming. Somehow, by the sheer grace of God, I’m surrounded by this experience. This Wednesday can’t come soon enough.

Please come bear witness. If not for me, the 20 year-old (or, the Italian with a severe stomach problem and murderous hatred towards the government), then do it for my fellow cast members. You won’t believe your eyes. Your ears. Your head.

Heart? Oh, yes.

-Blake

Ballads and Bonding

Nik Walker, coming at you with round two. Thanks to Alex and eclectic_liz for commenting on my last entry. Y'all make me feel special.

Question: Why is it as hot as you know what here in jolly old Boston? What was it today, 100 degrees? God, why are you so mad at us? Not cool, man. Not cool.

Sunday, after rehearsal, some fellow ASSASSINS kiddies and I beat the heat by going to the cafe next door for some ice cream. It was mad chill bonding with them - we gotta to do it more in the future. Blake Pfeil and Danny O'Connor, our Guiseppe Zangara and David Herold (respectively), are ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. If you see them on the street, please go up to them and ask to hang with them; they will definitely show you a rollicking good time. Also with us that day were Penny Hansen of the ensemble and Meredith Stypinski, who is playing Emma Goldman. Actually, as we speak, Meredith is right now at a callback in NYC for a touring production of Oliver! Break a leg, Stypinski.

This past week, we blocked two of my three Ballad scenes - "The Ballad of Booth" and "The Ballad of Guiteau". David and I are having a ton of fun playing around with the racially charged tensions in "Booth", especially because I happen to be a black man, and Booth is, as demonstrated in the scene, a blatant racist. I'm excited about Company One's casting decision in this instance...putting a black man forth as the representation of America in this particular show is an incredibly bold, fertile and provocative move, especially now in the midst of the Obama Mania that has swept the nation. It could potentially put a new spin on the show that's never been explored before. I've done some research, and I really can't find any other place where The Balladeer has been cast with a person of color. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I'm definitely interested to see how this pans out by opening
night.

Well, I gotta bounce. Liz Fenstermaker, the show's dramaturg, is coming to rehearsal tonight to give us historical contexts for our characters and help us out with any queries. I always love that stuff. That's right. I am pumped to get edu-ma-cated.

Talk to you soon.
-Nik