PERFORMANCE: The Actors' Roundtable: "Previews"

Each week, Paden Fallis poses one question to a group of professional working actors from a variety of backgrounds. Our goal is not to demystify the work of the actor or explore their careers, but to dig a bit deeper into their artistic working process. ACTOR’S ROUNDTABLE: “PREVIEWS” Previews. Sometimes they can last for weeks or months. Sometimes you get one night. The bigger the show, the better chance you have of previewing in different cities before setting foot in the Big City. More often, you get a handful of previews in the theatre between dress rehearsal and opening night.  But what do previews mean to an actor? Is there a distinction from preview to performance, even though an audience is in attendance for both? Is your prep different from preview to performance? So, I ask, how do you approach previews? - Paden Fallis, Performing Arts Contributing Editor

MANON HALLIBURTON I look at previews as another character added to the performance. A character that helps me find my rhythm and the truth of my own character in the story. I don’t prepare any differently for a preview than I do for opening night, but by opening night and beyond I feel more informed because of what the previews have taught me. It’s a balance of connecting to my scene partners and also letting the audience apprise me of what’s reaching them. Some moments may seem to be clicking in rehearsal and not work so well in a preview… ultimately I prepare the same and hope to gain insight to the beginning growth stages of characterization. It’s a discovery for me, and a way to learn and be informed.

NATHAN KLAU Ah, previews…those two days (or sometimes weeks) before the official opening of the show when we ask ourselves, “are these ACTUAL performances or can we fall flat on our faces with the comforting thought that when we forget our lines and stand there egg-faced for what seems like a decade, the audience will all knowingly chuckle and say in unison, “well, it’s only a preview!” I think, when you’re talking previews, you need to distinguish a preview for Spider-Man from one for The Elephant Man. For the former, the audience will likely not be surprised if technical mishaps occur, for the point of previews for an ambitiously technical show like that would seem to be to work the kinks out. For more traditional dramatic fare, the preview is a chance for actors to finally gauge how the addition of a new character (the audience) will affect the performance of the piece, and to then adjust accordingly (for everything from holds for laughs to pacing in general). While most of my regional work has involved just a few days of previews, the bigger tours involved weeks of previews. However, whether regional work or tours, no matter how often you remind yourself “it’s just a preview”—right before curtain—a house full of 1500 people is the same in the context of a preview or a post-opening performance. You’re exposed and out there, PERIOD. So in terms of preparation, I don’t think I would say I have a significantly different approach to previews. What I will say is that previews are usually fraught with more anxiety and apprehension than a performance later in the run, since it’s the first time you’re doing the work with an audience. So in that sense, the preparation for previews involves more anxiety control while preparation later in the run does not entail the same “opening night jitters”; you can ease into the show a bit more and really start letting the piece breathe. That’s why I enjoy performing in a show a few weeks in, when the deer is no longer in the headlights and I can really start having fun out there…

NELSON LEE My approach towards previews is very much the same as my approach towards opening night or any other subsequent show—it’s a performance for an audience. To approach it any differently as an actor would be detrimental for the performance. Would we approach a matinee differently because we value a night performance above it? Hopefully not.  That being said, the main difference between a preview and a performance is the audience’s expectations of the show. The beauty of the previews process, be it one week or one month, is that you as the actor get to physically and vocally express the toils and labors of your rehearsal process in a relatively “safe and accepting” audience environment. Not to imply that audiences during performances are tomato-whipping zealots, but rather that preview audiences tend to be more forgiving. Transitioning from a small room with lines taped on the ground onto the stage is always daunting and it’s nice to have as much time as possible to adapt to the performance space. When the lights go up, mistakes may happen, blocking may fail, sets may topple over, but the actors perform and the audience accepts.  I feel I have always learned the most during the previews process, especially in the notes sessions that follow a preview show. For me, this has always been a beautiful time of learning and collaboration with your cast, director, and crew. New interpretations crop up, fresh ideas emerge, and problems are identified and then solved. No time is more crucial or enriching as this period. To regard it as anything other is to miss the point completely.

ERIKA ROSE I’m doing a play right now, Mr Burns, and I’m still figuring things out. There are moments in this play that I thought I’d get a handle on during previews, but that hasn’t quite happened yet. I guess I approach previews with the expectation that I’ll work out the kinks before opening. But that’s silly. There’s a learning curve with any play and it doesn’t all magically become clear before opening night. Over the last few years, I’ve been trying not to put much stock in opening night. Most of the shows I’ve done haven’t hit their groove until two weeks after opening. I don’t throw previews away as if they don’t matter, but I also try not to be worried about them. You’re in front of an audience for the first time, getting a feel for how the piece plays to different houses. I don’t think the learning and exploration stop after previews, but I’ve seen in myself and other actors a stronger sense of problem-solving during that first week of shows.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Manon Halliburton is a regional theater actress who has worked all over the country. She has also appeared in television shows such as Law and Order and The Sopranos, and recently shot her first film this past year and closed August Osage County at Kansas City Rep to rave reviews. She lives in Kansas City with actor Bob Elliott. Nathan Klau’s touring credits include Jersey Boys, The Lion King, Forever Plaid, and Anything Goes. Regionally, he has worked at Goodspeed Opera House, Arkansas Rep, and Theater-by-the-Sea. A native of West Simsbury, CT, Nathan graduated from Yale University in 1994 with a degree in History and Theater. He hopes to use it someday. Nelson Lee left his native Canada for New York to pursue training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since then, he has appeared in various television series, including Blade: The Series, Virtuality, Oz, Covert Affairs, Hawaii Five-O, and the Law & Order franchise. Recently, he took to the stage for the world premiere of Zayd Dorn’s play, Outside People, at the Vineyard Theater in New York, and the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) production of Maple and Vine in San Francisco. He currently resides in Los Angeles. Erika Rose is a Helen Hayes Award-winning actress living New York City. Regionally, she’s best known from her eight years of work on Washington, D.C. stages.