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Ready to Rumble
MFA Actors Study Stage Combat
By Andrew Cronacher, MFA Candidate, Acting

Almost everyone can recall a time when you’ve sat in a dark movie theatre on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, with your mouth gaping open and your hand full of buttery popcorn frozen in mid-air while movie stars jumped and dodged and slid away from one another in a heart-pounding fight scene, right?  With all the advancements of camera technology these days, the thin line between reality and fantasy can easily evade the excited movie-goer.  However, what happens when the special effects are removed and all that’s left is the actor and a weapon? 

I got to try to answer that question this past Fall semester in the graduate actor stage combat class taught by Marianne Kubik and guest artist J.P. Scheidler.  The semester began with each us well-rested from summer break and eager to start ‘battling with the blades’ as one of my classmates would say.   The truth was, the chance to take a stage combat class had awakened the small child in each of us, and we were ready to re-live our days running carelessly through the mud and fighting with sticks with a blanket tied around our shoulders.  But we quickly learned that this was a whole new backyard with plenty of rules, and there certainly weren’t blankets involved.

The Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) is an internationally recognized organization dedicated to promoting safety and fostering excellence in the art of staged combat. A few lucky straws had been pulled and with generous support from the department, J.P. Scheidler, a local SAFD fight instructor and U.Va. alum  (MFA ’99, Acting), was able to assist Ms. Kubik in teaching us the fundamentals of weapon play on stage. The plan was to spend the semester learning the ins and outs, and at the end of our time, test in front of a SAFD Fight Master.  Passing meant that we could call ourselves actor combatants, opening up many doors to various performance opportunities.

We had to master combat with our hands (unarmed) and rapier/dagger in our time together (the SAFD identifies 8 weapons and requires 30 hours of training with a certified fight instructor in order to test for a particular weapon).  We, too, had watched the exciting swordplay in Pirates of the Caribbean and had grimaced at the scenes in Fight Club, and now we were being asked to step into the shoes of the performers and stage our own fights.  Needless to say, the task at hand was intimidating.  

Through the guidelines set forth by the SAFD and under the watchful eyes of our instructors, my classmates and I learned the tricks of the trade.  Once the basics were sprawled out in front of us, a choreographed fight became our daily focus.  How do we make this believable? How do we make this seem dangerous? How can it feel spontaneous? The rules seemed endless and the rehearsals were exhausting. But the experience, day in and day out, was truly rewarding. 

With excellent coaching, piles of enthusiasm, and truckloads of patience, we finally made it to test day. As we jumped and dodged and slid away from each other on the stage, we hoped the guests in the audience would, if even for a second, hold their breaths at the dance of danger in front of them. And although it seemed for many of us that our shaky hands would never settle long enough for us stage a fight, each of us mounted entire scenes with a well-choreographed and well-rehearsed fight for the Fight Master. 

In the end, the hard work paid off.  What started as a group of hesitant artists had, somewhere along the way, become swash-buckling, death-defying actor combatants.  With certificates in hand and a few bruises to show for it, we left the class as healthier actors – (and my inner child had a whole lot of fun, too.) En Guarde!

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