My current project has me portraying James Madison for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Through his writings, primary sources and other historical documents I interpret him on the streets of Williamsburg and in scenes of street theatre that exist throughout the year. Currently I'm gearing up for the events of Presidents Day Weekend. For the past two months I've been in extensive research making sure I can tackle any issue about Madison's life and administration an audience can throw at me. Here's an article written in this week's Virginia Gazette, Virginia's oldest newspaper.
WILLIAMSBURG — Bryan Austin has tiny shoes to fill as he prepares to bring James Madison to life as the third president to be interpreted regularly at Colonial Williamsburg.
"Madison was five feet tall and never topped 100 pounds," Austin said in a recent interview.
Austin is about average height and build. He'll be helped by the fact that Colonial Williamsburg's other two resident presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were tall men who are played by tall interpreters.
When standing beside them, Austin will appear short. The key, Austin said, is learning to present himself as the character.
"I certainly don't want the first thing people think to be, 'Oh, he's too tall to be James Madison,'" he said.
One advantage actors like Austin and Paul Giamatti ("John Adams") have is that no one knows exactly what those 18th century characters sounded like.
"There's no recording of their voices," Austin said. "You have to find a voice that's convincing as the character."
Austin and Ken Trice, supervisor of the actor-interpreter unit, were recently holed up at the Rockefeller Library going over the text of Madison's contribution to Colonial Williamsburg's President's Day celebration Feb. 16-17. That's when the Madison interpretation debuts. After that, Austin will portray the fourth United States president on the streets of the Historic Area.
Austin said "coming at it from a theatrical background" was one of the challenges.
He has to be into the Madison character so well, he can speak as the president extemporaneously with guests on the streets.
"And these guys spoke much more eloquently than I ever could," he said.
Colonial Williamsburg historian Taylor Steerer, who is helping Austin prepare, said getting the character right means going back to the basics.
"Our best source on Madison is Madison," Steerer said. "We've gone to the original sources, so it's not the view of a later historian on what Madison was like. We've gone for what he wrote and said. We have transcripts of his speeches. That's useful to give Bryan an idea of his cadence and his word choice."
In the Revolutionary War period covered by "Revolutionary City," Madison was a young man, about 25 years old.
Trice said Madison gives Colonial Williamsburg a hook on which to explore the story of Madison's generation, younger than most of the leaders of the time.
Austin said part of the challenge is to get across to guests that although they know how events will turn out, the participants did not.
Part of the Madison program will involve him looking back at his career, in which he served as the primary creator of the Bill of Rights, as well as president. Trice said freedom of religion was one of the causes that Madison championed, both in Virginia law and in the nation's founding document.
Copyright © 2013, Virginia Gazette
here's the link to the article!
WILLIAMSBURG — Bryan Austin has tiny shoes to fill as he prepares to bring James Madison to life as the third president to be interpreted regularly at Colonial Williamsburg.
"Madison was five feet tall and never topped 100 pounds," Austin said in a recent interview.
Austin is about average height and build. He'll be helped by the fact that Colonial Williamsburg's other two resident presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were tall men who are played by tall interpreters.
When standing beside them, Austin will appear short. The key, Austin said, is learning to present himself as the character.
"I certainly don't want the first thing people think to be, 'Oh, he's too tall to be James Madison,'" he said.
One advantage actors like Austin and Paul Giamatti ("John Adams") have is that no one knows exactly what those 18th century characters sounded like.
"There's no recording of their voices," Austin said. "You have to find a voice that's convincing as the character."
Austin and Ken Trice, supervisor of the actor-interpreter unit, were recently holed up at the Rockefeller Library going over the text of Madison's contribution to Colonial Williamsburg's President's Day celebration Feb. 16-17. That's when the Madison interpretation debuts. After that, Austin will portray the fourth United States president on the streets of the Historic Area.
Austin said "coming at it from a theatrical background" was one of the challenges.
He has to be into the Madison character so well, he can speak as the president extemporaneously with guests on the streets.
"And these guys spoke much more eloquently than I ever could," he said.
Colonial Williamsburg historian Taylor Steerer, who is helping Austin prepare, said getting the character right means going back to the basics.
"Our best source on Madison is Madison," Steerer said. "We've gone to the original sources, so it's not the view of a later historian on what Madison was like. We've gone for what he wrote and said. We have transcripts of his speeches. That's useful to give Bryan an idea of his cadence and his word choice."
In the Revolutionary War period covered by "Revolutionary City," Madison was a young man, about 25 years old.
Trice said Madison gives Colonial Williamsburg a hook on which to explore the story of Madison's generation, younger than most of the leaders of the time.
Austin said part of the challenge is to get across to guests that although they know how events will turn out, the participants did not.
Part of the Madison program will involve him looking back at his career, in which he served as the primary creator of the Bill of Rights, as well as president. Trice said freedom of religion was one of the causes that Madison championed, both in Virginia law and in the nation's founding document.
Copyright © 2013, Virginia Gazette
here's the link to the article!