{"id":5484,"date":"2010-07-30T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T11:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/working-cohesively-conversation-with-vanessa-rose-parker\/"},"modified":"2010-07-30T11:18:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T11:18:00","slug":"working-cohesively-conversation-with-vanessa-rose-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/working-cohesively-conversation-with-vanessa-rose-parker","title":{"rendered":"Working Cohesively: Conversation With Vanessa Rose Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Vanessa Rose Parker is Player Number 1 in a new play, The Conjugated Beliefs of Usallica, written and directed by Long Beach Shakespeare Company<\/a> co-Artistic Director Denis McCourt<\/a>. The show, which is being presented in The Expo Building in Bixby Knolls, runs through August 21st, with 8 PM performances every Friday and Saturday, and a 2 PM matinee on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Vanessa took some time to share the roots of her passion for acting, and how she developed as an artist. <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: I was acting before I even really knew what it was. My parents both worked all the time, so I spent a lot of time playing pretend in my room. I would think some very emotional thing up and then want to know what it looked like, so I would sit on the bathroom counter so I could watch my faces in the mirror. But I didn’t really start doing it until elementary school. I had a few teachers that basically told me it was something that I needed to do. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Ok… wait just a sec! You’d think “I wonder what ‘sad’ looks like,” then look in the mirror and feel sad?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Yes, but it was a little more detailed than that. I would come up with a scenario like “I have a puppy and I love him, but he died so I have to go to my puppy funeral” Then I would go through the game and feel really sad and anguished, like the dramatic child I must have been. Then, once I felt something, I would want to see what it looked like. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: How old were you when you started doing this?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Um, probably like six or so. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Oh my God! That’s insanely cute.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: [laughs] Or acutely insane. <\/p>\n

\"\"Sander<\/strong>: Well, I don’t know you, so I’ll withhold judgment. <\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Thank you. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: So, in elementary school your teachers recognized this gift you’d been developing. <\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Yes. We would put on little plays and things. I was in the GATE [Gifted and Talented Education<\/em>] program so we got taken out of normal class time to do art projects, mostly plays and music. My teachers always encouraged me to take the lead role. It wasn’t really until Jr High, though, that I started to take it more seriously. <\/p>\n

We had one of those “actor troupes” come through to the school. They put on a play using a few students from the school to act with the “real” actors. My English teacher told me that he and the principle decided that I would play Isabelle in A Christmas Carol, and that character actually had an emotional core that kinda struck me. I performed it in front of the whole school and it felt really great. I also had the opportunity to sit in on my local High School’s drama class during Jr High, so the craft of acting started to take shape for me in Jr. High. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Is it necessary for you to connect with the emotional core of a character in order to create a meaningful portrayal?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: That is an interesting question. I would say yes, but sometimes I feel the emotional core immediately and sometimes I come to it by first wrapping my brain around the facts of the text, and sometimes<\/strong> I literally stumble across it while physically going through the motions of the rehearsal process. But ultimately, yes, I need to connect to the emotional core of a character in order to feel confident in my portrayal. Sometimes it just takes more of a concerted effort on my part to find the secret to the character. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Did you continue acting in High School?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: In High School I took acting probably a little too<\/strong> seriously and must have driven all the other drama kids nuts by demanding ultimate professionalism from everyone. [smiles] I am embarrassed now by the little tyrant I must have been. [laughs] But, during High School, I started to branch out into community and semi-professional theater, and my life just started to completely revolve around acting. <\/p>\n

After high school I wasn’t exactly sure how to get started so I ended up doing theater at Community Colleges and staying to take the classes from the directors I liked. Eventually I ended up at Cal State Fullerton. They have a wonderful, intensive program that functions as a conservatory. Community theater was just kind of a play ground with no goal other than to put on a show, but at CAL STATE they were really working together to create a whole actor, if that makes sense. The physical work, the voice work, the history, the actual acting, all had a common theme and seemed to be working together cohesively. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: What attracted you to The Conjugated Beliefs of Usallica?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Denis. [smiles] I originally met him last October, maybe. He had come to see a Shakespeare in the Park that I had done last summer because he had a friend in the cast. He was planning on a production of A Christmas Carol with the LBSC and called me out of the blue to see if I would audition for him. I fell in love with his passion and artistry immediately. <\/p>\n

He is a very special individual. I could tell from our first conversation that we would work very well together. I did Christmas Carol with him and, during it, he gave me the opportunity to play Sunny in The Exonerated, which was his next play. Then he asked me if I would help him workshop CBU. So of course, when Denis comes a calling I jump to it. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: He called it an ‘absurdist’ play. What does that mean to you?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: Well, absudist to me means a non-linear, nonsensical ‘idea’ play. Like, in this one, we say and do a lot that, on the page, seems like nonsense but, in practice, can mean so much. <\/p>\n

For example, “tooting your own horn” can be such a loaded idea. On the page it can literally mean taking out your horn and tooting it, but when you pour intention into it in a nonsensical way the audience is left to interpret for themselves what it means. Whether that means to stand up for yourself, or force your opinions on others, or being proud of yourself, it is up to the audience to pour their own experiences, values, and initial responses into it to decide what it means to them. Which is really exciting because it allows each audience member to glean something completely different from the show than the person sitting next to them! <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Can you tell me a bit about your character?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: I am the leader and decider, however I can only lead and decide if the group continues to follow me. I don’t like things that are out of line. I like uniformity. I like things the way that I like them. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Life must be very hard for you.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: [smiles] Life is great until someone steps out of line. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Inevitably, someone always steps out of line.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Vanessa<\/strong>: So true, but we wouldn’t have any drama without that. <\/p>\n

— <\/p>\n

Tickets are $20 ($10 for students), and are available on-line at LBShakespeare.org<\/a>. The Expo Building is located at 4321 Atlantic Ave, between Carson and San Antonio Drive.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with Vanessa Rose Parker, who is Player Number 1 in a new play, The Conjugated Beliefs of Usallica, written and directed by Long Beach Shakespeare Company co-Artistic Director Denis McCourt. The show is being presented in The Expo Building and runs through August 21st, with performances every Friday through Sunday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5484"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5484"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}