Actor Spotlight: Libby Oberlin

Drum roll, please! Here’s our Romeo & Juliet Actor Spotlight #2! 
Meet Libby Kelly Oberlin as CAPULET (Lord and Lady) 

Q: Describe We Players in four words. 
A: Profound, extraordinary, meaningful, purposeful 

 Q: How has working with We Players changed your perspective of theater, or of the world at large?
 A: Shakespeare got it right when he said, “All the world’s a stage” and We Players takes that quite literally. Working with We really makes you realize that art can and _is_ happening all around us- and it does not have to be confined to a theater. I’ve worked on non-traditional stages and locations but the thought, research, and care that We puts into deriving meaning from a place is quite special. The place becomes another character, another player, and a real means of inspiration.

Q: Any funny or memorable We Players moments, anecdotes, quotes/metaphors you’d like to share? 
A: I think I’m going to get away with it this time so don’t tell Ava or Brooke but, in the past two shows that I’ve performed with We I’ve had the “pleasure” of wearing a flesh colored unitard, known as the nuditard. When in the nuditard during rehearsals, I’d sometimes wear a sweatshirt to keep warm. Park goers always did a double take when they saw me, as it looked like I forgot to put on my pants. Memorable, for sure! 

 Q: What’s your hometown? How has it shaped you? 
A: I grew up in Springfield Massachusetts, the birth place of basketball. No, I’m not a good basketball player but I definitely jammed and broke a number of fingers when I played as a kid. Most Springfield residents I know have an incredible knowledge of and mental repertoire of 90’s R&B songs, myself included. Mary J Blige was/is everything!! 

 Q: If you weren’t an actor, what would you be, and why?
 A: I’ve always known I would be an actor. Since I was seven years old. In addition to acting, I’m also a theater teacher. I can’t get enough! 

 Q: Tell us about some new favorite of yours, whether it’s a lunch dish, a singer, movie, color, or something else entirely. What is it about this new thing that’s rocking your world? 
A: As of 3 years ago, my new favorite person is my daughter Maeve. She’s the coolest!     

Photos by Tina Case and Jim Norrena 

2014 Shakespeare Intensive with John Hadden

Explore the richness of Shakespeare’s language in an intimate workshop setting with John, Ava and We Players.

Visiting artist John Hadden is one of the founding company members of Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts and has been developing his dexterity with Shakespeare’s language for over 30 years. He has an incredible ability to help unpack the specific meaning of the text, with the particular individuals in the unique circumstances of the moment. We are thrilled to have John Hadden join forces with We Players as an Associate Artist.

Due to popular demand, there will be two workshop modules. Participants are limited to 8  people per session. 

First Session: Monday January 13 & Tuesday January 14, 8-11pm

Second Session: Wednesday January 15 & Thursday January 16, 8-11pm

All sessions held at SF Circus Center: 755 Frederick St., San Francisco

Please plan to arrive between 7:30 and 7:45pm to sign in and get settled in the space

Participants: (tuition: $140) must come prepared with a 2 minute Shakespeare monologue. Participation in both evenings of either session is required. For deeply interested actors – participation in both sessions (all four evenings) will be considered (tuition: $250).

Observers: ($20 per session, or $50 to attend all sessions) are active witnesses to the individual work. This is very powerful and instructive for actors, directors and teachers alike.

A New Hunger: John on Shakespeare Intensive 2014

John Hadden, We Players Associate Artist, on current 2014 Shakespeare Intensive Workshops

I’ve been here four days and so far we’ve explored some beautiful and auspicious landscapes for future plays, held auditions for about 60 new actors, worked with WE friends on the complex matter of teaching, read scenes and scholarly essays out loud while making our way through traffic from one end of town to another–and of course, dreamed our way through a dozen magnificent ideas while sifting through nuts and bolts…

And the workshops! I’ve been very privileged to teach lately in a number of classrooms and professional settings and it feels like actors across the age and experience spectrum are ready for digging deeper than usual to make the Quixotic attempt to speak the impossible truth. Why is this? Is there a new hunger in the Zeitgeist? I like to think so, and I like to think it can draw us all together. Not just us oddball theater nerds, but lots of people with all kinds of interests and backgrounds.

Two things I’ve found while seeing people work this week:

1.  Submission is sometimes more powerful, more theatrically potent, than being in charge; listening with a full visceral attention is sometimes more potent than speaking. We must insist on more from ourselves as theater makers. A scene is useless unless something actually happens between the actors. We’ve become too accustomed to faithful renderings of the text. The theater exists only as a medium of transformation–and how can we expect perception shifts in our audience if we don’t open ourselves to that possibility ourselves?

2.  Of course, speaking is important too. Two nights ago, while working with an actor on the purely formal aspects of the language and verse structure in “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…”, I absolutely fell in love with his last go at it. I lost the strength in my knees, my feeling was so complete. What happened was that the beauty of his rendering balanced the despair of his realization–and for one moment, Macbeth was a fully human being who saw the possibilities of love and laughter that exist only in the immediate presence of the moment–and he invited us into that moment as well.

All it takes is one good moment.