Alexandra Silber's Blog, page 4

The Talkback: An Epilogue

 Epilogue: *

 * "It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue..."
— William Shakespeare

1. This clearly touched a nerve.

I'm vaguely in awe of the enormous response to my post regarding the talk back. The shared outrage and anger surprised and moved me. I'm not certain why— but perhaps it's because in my "Other" roles I so often feel left hanging so I didn't expect such support.  But genuinely? None more so than as a woman.
We don't allow women to speak. And when we do, we don't listen ver...

The Talkback: Part 2

This piece is a more detailed account of a specific negative talk-back that occurred, and is continuation from more universal theatre talk back experiences. For those thoughts, Part 1: is HERE.

Helpful background  
Now, as for what happened tonight after The Merchant of Venice. The producers advertised this particular evening as "Pride Night—" and welcomed the audience to stay to discuss the themes of "Othering" in society, the play itself and in our production.  For those who may not be familia...

The Talkback: Part 1

Me V. Outraged Guy
Just left a horrendous talk-back held after the show Off Broadway down at Classic Stage working on The Merchant of Venice.  I wanted to take this opportunity to comment on a few of the subjects that came up in this particularly activating evening.  1. EtiquetteThere is a proper and improper way to engage with artists, (and I propose that audiences and theatre producers would be wise to hear our experiences.)
 2. Be Responsible for Yourself
We must take responsibility for the ener...

No F*cks!

Pardon my verbosity about something possibly “silly” to the outside world.

But indulge me for a sec. LOOK. Here I am:
- a woman
- [semi] alive in the 21st century
- with a disordered eating and body-dysmorphia history
- covered in scars from 4 life-saving bowel surgeries
- and FORTY-ONE FREAKING years old
- in a BIKINI
- on STAGE
- in NYC
- doing simulated S&M
- with a man 1000% hotter than me. 
with José Espinosa, photo by @antonovpavlun

Even 5 years ago me would be in total shock, and probably requ...

Farewell to Our Class

There aren’t words for what this role, play, group of creatives, and telling a story like this at this moment in history has meant to me as an actor, a Jewish woman and a human being. 

As an actor, I don't know that there has ever been a greater ask of me: the challenge and privilege to play a single human being from the age of 5 to the age of 83 across the spectrum of her entire (incomprehensible) lifetime. I love "little Rachelka" as much as I love "old Marianna," and I marvel at the twists, tu...

Call Me Adam: Merchant of Venice

1. I can't believe it's been six years since our last interview together! At that time, you were starring in Camelot in Washington DC. How would you say you have changed the most since that time? It’s almost unutterable how much I have personally changed and how much the world has too.

I have had a major organ removed and reconstructed. It saved my life.
I fell in love and got married.
I turned 40

There was a worldwide Pandemic. And the world is even more inside out and upside down. 

2. This fall...

All hail "Gang Cult"

Were we a "gang?" Were we a "cult?" Who knows? And who cares? 
We weren't sure, so we called ourselves "Gang Cult" and that was that.  I couldn't have gotten through the last few months without these boys, and our "Annie Zuks--" wardrobe woman extraordinaire, always staying til 1am, doing our laundry and mostly getting chalk out of ... everything. 
  We met almost every night post show. We greeted our friends in the lobby or outside, then we'd sauntered back within-- rip the curtain that...

Farewell, Ilia

Ilia. My Władek. I will miss you with my entire soul.   What we built, created and shaped every day together as Marianna and Władek will stand out as the most unique partnership and subsequent creation of my career. It stands out like a rare, glimmering, inexplicably-created star.
 
Oh Ilia, we searched the entire world for you, and your preciousness was evident within seconds. (I’ll never forget after reading with you over Zoom, feeling that spark across the screen, then immediately calling our ...

"Hallelujah"

© Michael Kushner
The great arti-vist Lauren Molina asked me to be a part of this incredible evening celebrating Equal Rights (with an all female band!) at 54 Below months ago. It’s always an honor to contribute my voice to the chorus crying out for peace, equity and freedom.

The world is in crisis, and I think about it privately far more than I discuss in internet spaces— partially because these spaces can be didactic and unforgiving of nuance, but equally because … there is sometimes simply not...

Phoenix Rising

Thank you to the brilliant, visionary, cheeky, and utterly fabulous Dustin Dale Barlow for having fun with me dressed in my favo(u)rite celebratory colo(u)r in the heart of New York’s Chinatown. He’s the real deal.
 
For an hour I felt like the very best of myself.Rising like a phoenix from an artistically abundant, but privately quite challenging (but ultimately victorious) summer of health ups and downs. 
Oh friends. I realize I'm being a little cagey and secretive about my health right now. The...