Well...This is challenging.

It's March 3rd meaning that we are officially entering the sixth week of rehearsal's for Utah State University's upcoming production of David Lindsay-Abaire's 2007 Pulitzer Prize winning play Rabbit Hole.
I will be portraying the character of Jason Willette. Jason is a seventeen year old boy haunted by an extremely traumatic event (I can't tell you what event it was or that would be a total spoiler). To say this is the most challenging role I've ever undertaken would be a grotesque understatement. Ah, yes. Gone are the days of high school drama, when all I had to worry about was memorizing my lines and being able to project my voice while saying my lines clearly. Don't get me wrong, I still worked during this part of my life. I was cast as Man in Chair for our school's production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Over the course of this production I read Ivana Chubbuck's book "The Power of the Actor" and was exposed to the basic ideas of setting objectives, obstacles, substitutions, etc. But, it wasn't until this production that I truly began to understand how important those things (along with many other techniques) are to a convincing performance. Actually, not just important...crucial!
Rabbit Hole has helped in the ever going transformation and evolution of myself. "Brendon the Entertainer" is on his way out the door, while "Brendon, the honest, true and dedicated ACTOR" is starting to make his entrance. There still is a lot to be done before that transformation is complete! Which is why I look forward to rehearsal every single night. It gives me the chance to play around with different choices and to experiment with which feels more natural and with which don't.
I'm incredibly excited to have been given the opportunity to transform David Lindsay-Abaire's beautiful story on grief and healing to the stage. These past few weeks have been absolutely beautiful. The cast and directors are giving it all 112% and offering nothing but love and support as we continue this beautiful process.

Tonight we run Part 2 and tomorrow night is the designer run! Should be fun!!

If you have a chance come check out Rabbit Hole. I have a link to ticket purchases and show information on the left hand side!