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‘The rehearsal process ain’t no tea party’
By TED WADDELL
LIBERTY, NY – The Liberty Free Theatre, a socially active local theatre company founded by Paul Austin, seeks to make “a valuable contribution to the character and culture of village, town and county.” The theatre staged a series of sold-out performances of “Kinfolks and Mountain Music,” adapted from the stories of Gurney Norman by Susan Sandler, from July 24 through August 10.
Directed by Austin, “Kinfolks” featured Cassandra Brown, Rilla Askew, James Euto, Mike Frizalone and Christopher Wells. Music was performed by Paul Jannicola, with set design by Alexis Siroc and light design by Jon-Jon Thomas. Valerie Mansi was general manager. The Liberty Free Theatre’s resident photographer documented the production from the rehearsal process to the final stage.
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| TRR photo by Ted Waddell | |
| Paul Austin, a 40-year veteran of the theatre, founded the Liberty Free Theatre as a way of getting the diverse local community involved in professional caliber productions. He is pictured showing how to portray a key character in “Kinfolks.” “Every play represents a challenge because it portrays a world unique unto itself; the colors, rhythms, textures and tempos are the musical truths of behavior, the substances of people’s lives that can never be expressed by words alone. These are the elements that have to be captured in performance in order to present truthful, in the flesh people to an audience rather than only correctly interpreted versions of them. This is harder for less experienced actors to achieve and it takes practice, time and repetition. But it is this kind of work that members of the company were willing to subject themselves to with great humility of purpose. And it’s also the kind of work that results in a bond that creates a working company.”
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| TRR photo by Ted Waddell | |
| James Euto, left, takes direction from Paul Austin during a three-hour rehearsal of “Kinfolks.” He hails from St. Lawrence County in upstate New York and went to school for drama at SUNY Potsdam at the age of 31. “I enjoy the rehearsal process,” said Euto. “Watching, feeling and guiding the portrayal of a character is one of the pleasures of acting. Working with great people like the folks at Liberty Free Theatre is another. Even on the hardest days, I left feeling better than when I went in.”
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| TRR photo by Ted Waddell | |
| Actor/writer/singer Mike “Friz” Frizalone has been a key figure with the Liberty Free Theatre since shortly after it opened four years ago. As a “41-year-old kid trying to break into acting,” Frizalone said, “I’m not the same jerk who sat in jail 18 years ago… I’ve made the most progress in four years hanging out with the LFT crowd. “The rehearsal process ain’t no tea party. It’s intense and fast paced from day one. Half getting it isn’t good enough. Paul [Austin] brings me to levels in my acting that I never thought were possible. I can’t tell you how many times I say ‘I suck, I’m never going to get this right’, but with hard work and listening to Paul, I find a way to pull it off.“I’m never 100 percent happy with my work—you can’t be, I think. If I don’t get my notes after a show or rehearsal, I freak out inside.”
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| TRR photo by Ted Waddell | |
| Director Paul Austin, center, works with James Euto as general manager Valerie Mansi takes notes during a rehearsal.“The most significant thing about being stage manager for ‘Kinfolks’ was having the opportunity to be part of local theatre, which, like ‘Kinfolks,” is a family affair,” said Mansi.
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| TRR photo by Ted Waddell | |
| Alexis Siroc is the theatre’s resident scene designer, and she has worked closely with Paul Austin to create a series of innovative sets, after starting to design for Off Off Broadway productions in the late ‘80s. She missed working in the theatre after moving here from the city, but found a new home at Liberty Free. Of this production, she said: “‘Kinfolks’ touched me the moment I started reading it… My thought was to create a setting of beauty that was more a feeling from within the characters than an actual physical place.”
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