Birth of the Actor Athlete

What did it take to be a cast member of this show? Time, hard work, and a lot of sweat. But, that is to be expected when your show is about Olympic runners. When you have a passion for something, you strive to be as good as you can at it. When your passion is acting, sometimes you learn new skills in order to play a part. Our actors embraced this and became actor athletes.

In addition to learning their lines, blocking, and working to understand their characters, our actor athletes took part in training to get in the physical shape of a runner. They were given training schedules for every day of the week and met together at 6:00 AM twice a week to exercise together.

But how does all this work translate to the stage?

Choreographer Becky Phillips gives us some insight into her process.

She says “I tried to watch running on youtube and watch track meet clips and watch the movie and take the movements that runners use to abstract them. With the movie there are slow motion clips and we can’t do that, but you have to play with space and time to make that happen."

“The performers are part of the process. They are helping to create it because I can’t really do everyone’s part and see if I like it without experimenting with them and seeing how it works."

“Even just a simple movement has this power when they all do it together. It can be just a simple step or move, but when you have all these bodies and all of their energy, it’s really powerful even though it’s simple."

“We have people in the cast that are dancers to so they can really do movements that aren’t just running. In the opening we want to showcase the things that they can do. They can tumble, they can leap, and do things that show their athleticism and we are abstracting images from other sports into that opening sequence. We want to celebrate the athleticism of these performers and capture that spirit of the athletic training and celebrate what the body can do”.

With the physical exercise, the dance choreography, and the demands of character creation, these actor athletes have had quite a task before them!

See this celebration of sport, dance, and physicality starting March 31st!

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by Emme Corbett, dramaturg As a senior student studying history at BYU. One of the first concepts you learn as a history major is that when you study history, it is vital that you do not bring your modern-day biases with you. As strange as some past behaviors or occurrences may be to our modern eyes, understanding the reality of what life was like in historical societies allows for a more authentic and rich study of the past. It also becomes evident fairly quickly that no matter what point in time you’re studying or where you are in the world, there will be commonalities across many cultures. The shared similarity of the human experience allows these connections to occur, so it is no surprise that researching various time periods could be related back to Caesar in Ancient Rome. It was necessary in our dramaturgical research to explore three major time periods that are encompassed within this play in one way or another. These time periods are first, 49 B.C. Rome, when Julius Caesar first became a dictator of Ancient Rome, and the setting for the original script. Second, 1599 England, when William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar was first performed, most likely at the Globe Theatre. And third, 1919 Italy, when Italy was recovering from participating in the First World War, and the setting for our performance at BYU. This weakened state created a situation where authoritarianism could ensue. It was an interesting experience to be able to connect the culture of Ancient Rome to that of Italy in the early 20th century. The reason for choosing this production of Julius Caesar to take place in 1919 Italy is not random. The significance of that time period is to draw upon the reality that history repeats itself. An aspect of history that is repeatedly detrimental to countless societies is when a group of people finds itself weak and vulnerable--whether that is due to lack of resources, a change in leadership, exiting a war, or simply evolving generations--and a power vacuum is created. This moment in time when desperation allows for someone to assume leadership (based purely on the need to rely on anybody) and provide temporary relief is often too quickly turned into an authoritarian government. The third time period that we also had to account for in this production was the time of Shakespeare in 1599 England. Some of the questions we had to ask ourselves were: Why Julius Caesar? What elements from the story of Caesar’s assassination did Shakespeare feel would resonate with his audience? From these questions and further research on the Elizabethan period, we discovered that, like in 1919 Italy, there was a concern with the succession to the Crown. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne at the time and created conflict among the people beyond her just being a woman in power. Queen Elizabeth never married and subsequently never bore any children, thus failing to secure a successor who was in her direct line. Another element of the play that related to Shakespeare’s audience was the role of the plebeians. Their behavior in the play could symbolize how the lower class in the Elizabethan Era, while uneducated and changeable, contribute largely to the success of their society.

Birth of the Actor Athlete

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Elizabethan England

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