We’d love to help you get to know our incredible TBG teaching artists a little bit better, so we got Chris Wells to answer a few questions! Check out our interview with him below…
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What is your favorite class to teach at TBG and why?
CW: I really love teaching the 1-Year Programs because I get to see the students’ growth over the course of ten months. It’s incredibly inspiring and rewarding. Also, it gives us time to look at issues related to process that I’m really interested in.
I believe that how we prepare to act is 98% of the game. And that if the preparation is good, then when we come to play, it’s really simple and easy. On the other hand, if there are problems in the preparation process, they will show up when it comes time to play.
What is something you recently learned or were reminded of in the world of acting, writing, or directing?
CW: I recently came across an article, an interview with Mark Rylance, who is my absolute favorite living Shakespearean actor, arguing that we tend to do Shakespeare way too slow. I’m not a big fan of general rules about anything in acting, but I think this is a good point to bear in mind, and at least to experiment with. Because we may have a tendency to slow way down, since the language is so rich, and in many cases so unfamiliar or foreign to us.
I like to do Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” monologue occasionally just for fun, and when I read the article, I immediately tried doing it about twice as fast as I usually do, and I suddenly felt like it made a lot more sense in many ways, and was actually clearer than when I went more slowly. Plus, it opened the door to discovering new things, because I was going too fast to control everything so it gave rise to some spontaneous moments.
What is a recent, current, or upcoming project that you’d like folks to know about?
CW: I’m working with the wonderful composer, lyricist, and playwright Douglas J. Cohen on his play King of the Hollywood Fixers. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood in the 40s, centering on the death of Carole Lombard in a plane crash and the efforts of MGM’s “fixers” to deal with the publicity, and get Clark Gable, who was married to Lombard, back to work. I’ve directed two readings and have been helping Doug polish the script. We hope to stage a production in the near future!
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To take a class with Chris…check out Intermediate Scene Study I: Introduction to an Approach starting 9/6 or Shakespeare Acting Class I starting 9/18!