The dim room is completely filled with people. As I make my way to my seat, the entire room darkens, and the show has begun. Everyone is itching to see the Hedgerow Theatre’s take on “Moby-Dick,” a book that has been widely known and loved for more than a hundred years.
Finding refuge onstage is common among those who fall in love with the art of theater. Owen Corey, who plays Ishmael, the narrator of “Moby-Dick,” said that his love of theater started in his childhood.
Corey stated, “I was very lucky to have parents who took me to shows and played cast recordings of musicals in the car. I only got fully involved with acting, however, when I was 13, in my grade school’s program. From that, I gradually fell in love with it.” In world of passionate lovers of this art, all have a sense of community — either by watching productions, working backstage or even taking lead roles.
Tuning into your emotions to play the role of a complex character takes time and dedication. At theater communities, there are many opportunities to learn more about acting and gain experience. The Hedgerow not only mounts great productions but trains actors too.
As the educator director for Hedgerow, Corey recommends relying not only on talent, but also on getting training, which allows actors or actresses to access and channel their emotions and be able to become these iconic characters. While it is important to know about the character and the play itself, a young actor should do much more.
Corey suggests, “Keep a journal. Feel, acknowledge and appreciate your emotions, and learn to listen to your inner emotional life. Work out, whatever that means for you — your body is your instrument as an actor, so learn to control it — do yoga, run, box, whatever helps you as an individual use your body at its most expressive.”
Preparing for his role as Ishmael, Corey found that reading the novel and the script were great sources to learn about the character and his inner thoughts, feelings and intentions.
“The script itself was the main source: digging and finding for myself Ishmael’s intention with every single word, and then composing that into one cohesive whole: what does Ishmael want, at his core?” Asking these kinds of questions almost transforms the character into an actual person with thoughts, feelings, morals and needs.
The Hedgerow takes classic plays and shows hidden messages that often intersect with the world’s current climate. According to Corey, “Moby-Dick,” for example, says that “power and obsession combined become a dangerous force of nature. Ahab’s ability to manipulate the crew to his insane will leads to massive loss of life, and yet to crew often follows him gleefully. Terrifying, and quite real.”
After “Moby-Dick” Corey will continue his career as a professional actor and move to Philadelphia in June to do so. If you want to catch Corey and the other great actors at the Hedgerow, he will be performing in the company’s next play, “The Three Musketeers,” running from May 1 to May 26.
Lastly, a message from Corey to aspiring actors: “Persist. You will have to knock on a lot of doors before some of them start opening, but they will start opening.”
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