With HJT’s production of bare: a pop opera opening on the Alexander Stage tomorrow, we asked Guest Fight Choreographer Firen Williams a few questions about her process working on the show.
Natalie Traw: How did you get into stage combat?
Firen Williams: When I was young, my family owned a martial arts program so I lived and breathed martial arts for most of my childhood, but it wasn’t until middle school that my priorities shifted to theatre. It took over from that point on and martial arts fell by the wayside. I went to Central Washington University for a degree in Musical Theatre where I took the Stage Combat courses to see what it was all about. My instructor took a chance on my future husband and I and allowed us to choreograph a main stage show which launched us both into seeking training on a larger scale. The SAFD (Society for American Fight Directors) and their National Workshop provided training and ignited within me a deep passion, respect, and commitment to Stage Combat and its principles. Cut forward to the present day, I own my own Stage Combat Theatre Company, The Pen & Sword, LLC, teaching, choreographing, and continuously training.
NT: What does your approach to a new piece look like?
FW: My approach can be broken down into a few key questions: 1) Why are these characters resorting to violence? 2) How skilled are these characters in violence? 3) What power dynamics are coming into play? and last, but certainly not least, I ask the director, “On a scale from 1 to giving people nightmares for a week, how realistic would you like your fights?” Once I have the answers to these questions, I get to work on making engaging sequences that bring the audience into the needs of those characters. It can all seem very abstract or nebulous, but once I’m in the rehearsal room with the actors, it’s all about bringing them up to that level and giving them the tools they will need to succeed in this show and every other show they do from here on out. Safety, Story, Adrenaline.
NT: How do you collaborate with other designers, and then with actors within the process?
FW: My work is colored by the work of all designers in the process, costume, set, lights, prop, direction! So before I even enter the rehearsal room I always aim to have an idea of what the set looks like and what costume restrictions my actors will have to overcome. Of all aspects of the show, fight choreography requires the most training, repetition, and dedication from the actors during the process because they need to be able to do this for the entire run of the show and not go to the hospital. This allows them to have it in their body for when inevitable changes come leading up to opening night. All that aside, my work has to tell the story that the director wants to tell, so I must always arrive with open communication and leave my ego at the door. There is no place for it in the rehearsal room.
NT: How does the violence work function within bare? What are the challenges that will be faced?
FW: bare is an interesting show for me as a fight choreographer, since each moment of violence is broken up into three categories: 1) Desperation/exerting one’s will over someone without wanting a fight, 2) Proving a point/wanting to fight, and 3) “Fake Show Violence” that is meant to read as choreography to our audience. The first two categories are quite common and what most show fights fall into, but the third presents fun challenges that both choreographer and actor will have to tackle. Spoiler Alert: none of the violence you see on stage is actually real! However, for bare‘s “play within a play” we had to create violence that would read as “choreography” to our audience and violence that had to pass as “real fighting”. Though the choreography will help, it’s up to the actors and their vocals to really sell that. I have complete confidence in them!
To see Firen’s choreography in action, grab your tickets for bare HERE! The show runs November 10-13 on the Alexander Stage.