Behind the Scenes: Walking the Wire

For me, and for a lot of other actors I know, the stand alone monologue is among the most daunting of pieces to prepare. Above all, it’s a true test of skill. Public speaking without a net. So, “Walking the Wire” is an apt description of the feat you will witness March 5 – 8.

So, how do we do it? Well, it all begins with the piece. Monologues—a fancy term for solo speech—generally have a beginning, middle, and end. It could be an anecdote or a confession, a song or a tirade. And I should note that an actor’s process will differ entirely from one to the next, but for me…I get my monologue, roughly five minutes in length (which is an eternity in theatre), and to boot—an original piece. I like that these pieces are brand new because there will be no expectations for how it should be played. I am free to explore the material and put my signature on it. So, once I get the piece, I read it a couple of times and mull over my initial impressions. Then, read it aloud and see how the words sound. It’s amazing how different a piece rings from one’s mind to one’s lips.

One would think that one five minute piece would be a simpler task than a two hour play. For me, it really isn’t. I tend to rely heavily on the rehearsal process. In rehearsals, I learn a lot in a short amount of time. For WTW, we have two individual rehearsals with Ron before the week of show—thus the majority of the time we spend creating the piece is self guided. I prefer dialogue to monologue, because I can use the impulses and reactions from the other actors to guide the scene. Most of that work is moot for a solo piece, so it challenges me to work outside of my comfort zone.

But what about memorization? Is it hard to learn a five minute speech? It can surely be tricky, but it helps to have a system. I have two methods. First, I always write out my lines by hand. That way, I have to slowly churn each word onto paper and check that I’m learning the lines correctly. Second, I tend to learn a lot of lines “on my feet” while working the piece in rehearsal. Once you get a pattern of movement and blocking associated with certain lines, it really helps to solidify them. After a time, you just have to trust that the lines are in your head and will come out in the right order.

When breathing life into a monologue, an actor should answer the questions: why must I (as the character) say this? why now? And more questions tend to arise from there depending on the character. The foremost aspect of creating a monologue, for me, is to find the truth of the character in this moment they’re sharing. This is really hard to explain. It involves being open and receptive as the actor to the suggestions and frequencies of the character. Having empathy, perhaps. One thing that Ron has encouraged me to explore with my piece is to build a rapport with the audience. Good advice. Casting the theatre audience as my character’s audience is really going to help me find that truth and ground myself in her story. It’s a story that will sound familiar to a lot of audience members, which will only help that rapport.

The beauty of Walking the Wire is that you will see one of a kind performances and one of a kind playwriting in a one of a kind theatre. We’ll be using our own breath to make the characters in this variety show come to life. Come and get ‘em while they’re hot!

-Sarah Hinzman

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Sarah will be performing a piece by Shirley King, "Sandbags and Sandwiches", during Walking the Wire: Monologues at Riverside - Food! The show runs from March 5 - 8, and tickets are on sale now. To reserve your seats, call the box office at 319-338-7672 or visit http://www.riversidetheatre.org/