In My Mind's Eye with Brandon Marino
Introducing Brandon Marino! Troilus and Cressida is Brandon’s first production with PCSC, so he’s answering round one of our Acting Questions.
1) How do you typically go about preparing a Shakespearean character?
How do I go about preparing a Shakespearean Character? Well everyone has their own way, but what works for me is looking at it like a regular character, When I was younger I used to think everyone was refined or goofy and those were the only Shakespearean characters. But now I realize that is not the case, they are people that act a certain way because of something, and the something is usually your choice as an actor, the only difference between doing a character for a modern piece and doing a character for a Shakespeare piece, to me, is the language. The trick with any character is to know your history for the time, to not focus exactly on what you say but how you say it or the subtext of what you’re saying.
2) What do you find to be the most helpful part of PCSC’s standard rehearsal process?
What I find extremely helpful about the Pigeon Creek company is the people involved with it and the people who run it, From what I’ve seen a lot of them are teachers or people in teaching or mentoring positions. This means that when you need help you always have it, and it means that people bring forth a lot of knowledge to the table that someone might previously not have known. It also means everyone has a good work ethic and attitude and that rubs off on people. Also, everyone is a theater nerd, and that’s great because that means everyone is passionate and wants to help you be that way as well. Most of all though, everyone is welcoming and it feels very much like a family, which is a great work environment.
3) What do you do for fun outside of theatre?
I think people ask actors the question of what they like to do outside of theatre a lot. My answer to that question is unique I like to think. I like science, I was actually a chem major with a pre-med focus before switching to theatre. the reason for the switch was simply because I decided not to be scared of a career that isn’t stable and to follow what I really loved. But because of my love for science, I tend to read a lot of science books in my spare time, also comic books, just to confirm those suspicions of my nerdiness.
4) What do you want to be your day job?
My day job is a student. Currently, however, I am working two jobs, one, at Mcdonalds which is as great as it sounds. And the second is actually me working with a children’s theatre. I think, the ultimate goal of any actor is to make a living acting. My personal goal is to do that, probably with a traveling company either doing children’s shows or Shakespeare. I would do this for a few years, and then I would try to settle down somewhere like New York or LA and truly try to follow that actor dream, but that’s real long term, right now it’s graduation of college and then a travelling company.
5) What theatre plans do you have in the next couple months?
My plans in the theatre for the next few months are limited because of my going back to school, obviously I would audition for the upcoming plays, one of which is The Merry Wives of Windsor, But as of right now, I have no roles after Paris and Agamemnon.
