Swing, Actor, Actor

Swinging from a Script

I've been cast as the female swing for an expressionist play by Sophie Treadwell call Machinal. The show is fantastic and I can probably now call it my favorite play. But I'm not cast as a specific role. I am a swing.

In case you're unsure, a swing in a play is basically an understudy for all of the roles. So in this show there are 5 females. Besides the leading actress, the Young Woman, each girl has about 3 roles. So I go to every rehearsal and learn all of their blocking and all of their lines. Sound like a lot of work? Well yes, it is. I have been highlighting and color coding up the wazoo.

It is a lot of work. I mean, the amount of organization necessary is pretty crazy. I pretty much have to have a filing cabinet in my brain of the different girls in the show and where they are when. BUT it is so incredibly rewarding as well. 

DID YOU KNOW that in order to be cast as a swing in professional theater, you have to have been a swing in the past. 

So I'm really excited to have this opportunity because it will ultimately give me more opportunities in the future. I also really love seeing rehearsal from a different perspective. Instead of being up and active in the scene I can sit back and see better where the director is coming from. I'm learning so much and it's helping me grow tremendously.