...When you start thinking about why training is important.

In the Theater world, there is the idea of the "Kiss or Kill" zone. When you are so close to another actor onstage in an emotionally charged scene that you can only do one of two things physically: Kiss or Kill them. Most actors who have no training in stage combat can get physical with their fellow actors, but not in a safe, controlled, or repeatable way. So they end up really only having the one option: Kiss.

With this training, the options for "kill" become wide open and varied. There is a whole other world of intricate details about a character that come out when you put violence into the mix. Will you run away? Will you stand your ground despite not knowing what you are doing? Are you scrappy? Are you a brute force kind of person? What do you fight for and why? So many interesting questions that can only come out and be understood once you throw some type of violence into a scene.

The problem is that we don't, as the actors, REALLY want to hurt our scene partners. So when they are asked to do something violent to another actor, one of two things usually happens:
1)- they are taken out of the moment in the scene because of the awkwardness of what they have to do and the scene seems disconnected from that point on, or
2)- one or the other or both actors (or more) get hurt.

REGARDING SITUATION 1)

When the actor is untrained and holds back because they don't really want to hurt the other actor, the scene and the show suffers for it. The moment looks contrived and the audience is immediately taken out of the action. Being trained can provide the confidence needed to remain present in the scene. Because they can have faith in the training they have received, they are free to explore the many character choices available to them. They can find all of those wonderful nooks and crannies of acting moments and expand on what the author and choreographer has given them with the lines and movements.

The actor/actress can seek out classes and workshops to gain experience in the techniques usually seen onstage. There are fight societies around the world working to ensure the quality of training is always getting pushed to another level. There is the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), Fight Directors Canada (FDC), the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC), The Nordic Stage Fight Society (NSFS) and The Society of Australian Fight Directors (SAFDi).  The instructors and students with each society work to ensure the highest level of quality in training and fight direction. They have studied historical manuals, Kinesiology (how the body moves), acting, the art of illusion, and have learned from the best themselves. Every year, as new techniques are developed they compound on the experience learned from the generation before. To not take advantage of this experience would be a detriment to any show that might call for any level of violence.

These societies certify teachers, who then go back to Acting programs at universities or to theatre companies or to their private classes and pass on their acquired knowledge to the next generation of "Actor Combatants". And, at least in the SAFD, these teachers gather each year at various regional workshops around the country to share and compare new ideas and techniques with students and fellow teachers alike. At these regional workshops, you can take classes in the basic weapons offered by the SAFD as well as advanced classes offered by the instructors. These can be classes the teachers have been developing, researching, and experimenting with and this is their first opportunity to try these ideas out with actual students. These have ranged from "San Quinton Knife Fighting", to "Crate Hook", to "Fighting in Skirts and Heels", to "Lightsaber".

So in general, there is no end to training opportunities. I believe that his is a skill that ever actor should have in their back pocket. This skill should be continuously refreshed and updated. No actor should have "Stage Combat" in their list of skills and not have the skills to back it up. So if they took one class at a regional workshop 15 years ago, this should not be a skill on their resume. But I will leave that for another post at a later date. So just like voice lessons, or dance lessons, some kind of stage combat lesson should be in an actor's schedule of classes.

REGARDING SITUATION 2)

Because a production manager or director did not bring in a properly trained Fight Choreographer/Director (or did not bring one in at all), there have been too many times where an actor has gotten hurt needlessly. Directors often don't understand the need, or don't want to front the cost, and it is the actors and the production that hurts in the meantime.

I recall a article I once saw about a theatre company in NYC. The artistic director did not want to bring in a Fight Director because he believed it looked too "fake". Soon it came time for the show they were rehearsing to get on their feet. When the cast got to the part in the show where the main actress was on her knees downstage and the main actor was suppose to come up behind her and twist her arm behind her back, the actor actually came up behind the actor and twisted the actress's arm and broke her arm in a few places and she was out of the show.

Most actors don't realize that a contact slap can actually break a jaw with enough force. Most directors don't realize that a fight takes as much rehearsal time as dance choreography. Most producers don't take into account the possibility of actor injury in the production driving up their insurance costs. The amount a production would spend on medical and insurance costs, on finding a replacement actor and training, on publicity adjustments, on bad publicity in the papers, all because an actor got hurt in the production without someone qualified to keep them safe is not worth it in my book. That money could easily be saved by bringing in a qualified Fight Director and properly rehearsing any form of violence.

If the production fails to bring in a qualified person for the type of violence they are called in to do in a show, the actor has several courses of action they can take. In actors unions, there are usually regulations regarding this and a theater could be in a lot of extra trouble by violating these regulations. In a non-union job, the actor is usually on their own, but still has a voice. But I will go into detail about that in a later post.


LONG story short, there is no excuse for a trained person being on a production in one capacity or another. Making sure every actor, crew member audience member is kept safe and gets the FULL experience of the show being presented is the main goal I think of every Fight Director and should be of every Production manager out there. Every actor should have the training to no only perform a fantastic fight onstage and engulf the audience in the visceral moments, but also be able to recognize an unskilled performer and be able to keep themselves safe. There is SOOO many more reasons I could go into, but I shall leave those for other posts. ;-)


THIS IS WHY I THINK TRAINING IS IMPORTANT!!

You find that this is your passion.

In this blog, I want to talk about the many an varied topics related to and concerning the field of Theatrical Violence or Stage Combat. I will also be touching now and then on what it's like for a woman in this male dominated field. Not many I talk to outside of theatre know what Stage Combat is. Whenever I explain it to them, I've been able to distill it down to basically one sentence:

"Stage combat is the illusion of violence in a safe and repeatable manner." That seems to get the point across in the moment, but there is so much more and I hope to elaborate on that here.

 

For my first post, I figured I would chat a bit about how I got into this field.

 

In 2004 I began studying at Arcadia University as a Theatre major. It wasn't until fall 2005 that I came across my first Stage Combat class. Taught by FM Ian Rose, the first course was all about unarmed combat. Basic punches, kicks, slaps, falls, and even some slap stick from the 3 Stooges. It was one day a week for 3 hours, but I LOVED getting that kind of workout. We started every class with a half hour of stretching and it made me really look at how my body was moving and how I needed to adapt based on what I was called on to do. It required full energy and allowed me to basically "leave it all on the stage".

 

When we got to the point in class when we were learning chokes is when i got a good taste of the "reward" you could get from this art form. I had to partner with the TA in class because I was the odd person out, and Ian always choreographed a short fight for us to incorporate what we learned in class that day. We got the choreography and I worked with my partner until we had the moves pretty much down pat. When it was time to perform our little fights, and it was my turn, I got up with my partner and we rocked it. But what was even better was the reaction we got from the audience (the other students). The fight ended with my partner (who was a 6 foot tall, very broad gentleman) choking me to "death". I couldn't see his face and all I could see, since I was facing the audience, was the reactions: "OH NO! TERRI!" I remember calling my mom after class and telling her how excited I was that I got this great reaction from an audience by getting choked to death, and all she could say was "only my daughter." ;-)

 

I found out later that my partner had this CrAzY look on his face, but it was the genuine reaction from the audience that got me hooked. When I found out that single sword was the class next semester, I couldn't wait to sign up.

 

So 7 1/2 years later, and here I am. Recognitions with both the Society of American Fight Directors and Fight Directors Canada at the Advanced Actor Combatant level. Experience with at least 15+ weapons styles, a curiosity about various martial arts, and am on the road towards my teaching certification with Fight Directors Canada. I've realized recently that no matter what job I hold as a day job, this will always be my passion. And whatever I need to do to spread that passion to others is something on my To Do list.

 

SO I know I'm a Stage Combat Chick because I can't imagine doing anything else.

 

(Photo credit: Kim Carson Photography)