The Nutshell! <\/em>was conceived in October of 2017 and was seen in its first iteration just two months later.\u00a0 Nathan brought kids from the local Boys and Girls Club to the theater with no prior rehearsal, and put them on stage just an hour later as mice and soldiers in the Nutcracker Battle.\u00a0 It worked like a charm and has grown steadily ever since.\u00a0 In the 2020 film version of the Nutshell! <\/em>more than 400 performers will be seen in four unique casts.\u00a0 They will present original choreography created just for The Nutshell!<\/em> by over 50 companies, on five continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a little\nabout yourself and the creation of your theater company? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> Theater and drama\nwere always part of my life, music too, but it took quite some time to add\ndance and complete cocktail that makes up my company, Mannakin Theater &\nDance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As I was growing\nup, my mother would fill the house with music. \nShe is a wonderful pianist, so I have poignant memories of drifting off\nto sleep with her playing Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Anytime she was just about the house doing\nthings she would be playing records on an enormous stereo system. I couldn\u2019t have been more than four years\nold, but I remember the day that stereo arrived at our house because it was so\nimportant to my mother. From then on it\nwas a centerpiece in our home, no matter where we went. It was the size of a couch, a real piece of\nfurniture made of nicely finished, dark wood. \nOne time, at about six years old and alone in the room, I stood in front\nof it as Beethoven\u2019s Fifth came soaring out of the speakers and pretended to\nconduct the orchestra. Or maybe I just\ndanced, but I remember that moment and I remember by mother seeing me and the\nsmile that came over her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My family always\nentertained in one way or another. My\nparents organized a Christmas show every year that we took around to retirement\nhomes or church parties or anything of that sort. We had a whole program that went along with\nthe songs, for one song it was a set of large cards that my five siblings and I\nwould hold up one at a time to spell out CHRISTMAS. For Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer<\/em> my\nfather had created a glowing nose out of a ping pong ball that was painted red with\na light bulb inside. Wires connected it\nto a battery the size of a brick that I would hold behind my back when it was\nmy turn to be \u201cRudolph.\u201d This rig was so\ncumbersome to put on due to all the straps that held it on to your head but the\ncrowds loved it. I remember that you had to manually blink the light by\nclicking a connection on the battery. \nFunny to think how simple it would be to do something like that today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My parents were\nalso a team in drama. My father wrote\nquite a few plays that my mother would direct. \nMany of these took place when we lived in Wyoming. Red Desert Dan<\/em> and another play about\nhow Santa ended up using Jackalopes to pull his sleigh instead of reindeer one\nyear. (Jackalopes are a fantastical\nanimal that is close to the hearts of Wyoming Cowboys.) My father also wrote a lot of poetry. For any occasion, big or small you could\nexpect a poem written by my Dad. He didn\u2019t\nseem like a creative person when you would meet him, but he was intensely\ncreative. He would always joke that he\ncouldn\u2019t tell the different between Tolstoy and a dime store novel, but I never\nbelieved him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I studied the\ntrumpet and the French horn through high school and a little beyond and was\ninvolved in plays and musicals all the time. \nOne of my favorites was A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, directed by my\ngood friend Therese Henning. My costume\nwas incredible! Gold lam\u00e9 pants with a\nmatching cape, combat boots, drawings all over my chest and a crown of twigs\nand branches!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1997 I arrived\nat Brigham Young University and took a beginning ballet class because the\nschool was no longer offering fencing classes and I didn\u2019t fancy any of the\nother physical education classes. I\ncan\u2019t say ballet was love at first sight for me, because it took quite a while\nbefore I felt like I was a dancer, many years, in fact. Ballet and dance were something that I\nunderstood, though, somehow. At first it\nwas mostly because with ballet you can sink your teeth in as deep as you can\nimagine and will still take you years to reach the bone. When you\u2019re in the ballet classroom there is\na clear path for one to direct all the energy one has, and I took advantage of\nthat. One of my early teachers said that\nhe had never seen someone work as hard as I do. \nAnother admitted that I loved it more than he did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What inspired the international project <\/strong>The Nutshell!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> It was just such an obvious pathway when I decided to do The Nutshell!<\/em> on film.\u00a0 Anytime you work in a given medium, you have to overcome the obstacles unique to that medium by using its inherent strengths.\u00a0 One of the great strengths of the film medium is that you can bring the world to anyone\u2019s living room or cell phone, even in the time of the pandemic.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s especially important to do so during the pandemic to help people fell a little unity in this time of stress.\u00a0 That\u2019s what is so important about art.\u00a0 I like to think that art is not an imitation of life, per se, but that it\u2019s a reaction to life\u2014a view of what this moment of life is, or was, through the lens of a particular artist.\u00a0 In the case of this year\u2019s Nutshell the art was literally captured by the lenses of more than dozens of cameras, held by nearly as many filmmakers and directors.\u00a0 The concept came from me, but the work now exists because of a chorus of artists around the world.\u00a0 And this in a time when people are hungering for connection in their lives, many of us like never before.\u00a0 So when I decided not to give up on a 2020 version of The Nutshell!<\/em> the international aspect of it was unavoidable.\u00a0 The task became only getting people on board, which was a lot of calling and emailing and searching, but from the first moment to the last I was met with enthusiasm at every turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A final note on the Nutcracker itself regarding the international nature of my current project is that The Nutcracker is already international in so many ways.\u00a0 The entire second act is a journey from Spain to China through the Arab world, Russia, France and\u2026wherever it is they make gingerbread, probably Switzerland\u2026That and the simple fact that The Nutcracker is <\/em>international.\u00a0 It\u2019s played everywhere and is known nearly everywhere on the planet.\u00a0 That the Nutcracker is already shared so broadly across cultures is why The Nutshell!<\/em> works as a stand-alone film.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your\nfavorite play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> Cool Hand Luke<\/em>\u2014I\nknow that\u2019s not a play, but it should be! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, favorite play\nwould have to be Death of a Salesman<\/em>. \nBut this is a very hard choice. I am drawn to tragedies, in both the\ntechnical and colloquial sense. They,\nlike nothing else show the preciousness of life and make me want to do\neverything I ever dream of doing, and right away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What about your\nfavorite production to direct?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> I mostly direct things\nthat I write or have a strong hand in creating from stage one. That\u2019s not because of any aversion to\ndirecting a classic or a work that comes to me fully formed. It just has happened this was so far. In a way, working on brand new things is much\neasier because it\u2019s fresh snow and you don\u2019t have to worry about the shape of\nthe tracks that were laid before you. \nEven restaging some of my own works, which I have done more than a few\ntimes, is very challenging. Rewarding,\nbut challenging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With all this in\nmind, I\u2019ll answer this question with my own ballet, called Elements of\nPermutation<\/em>. It\u2019s the first piece of\nmine that I ever restaged. And even\nthough it is a dance with no speaking at all, there is a great deal of\ncharacter that goes into the different dancers. \nEnough so that I can confidently call them actors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Top 3 favorite\nprojects you have been involved in?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What qualities do\nyou seek in an actor you work with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> The ability to\nexist in and embrace chaos. I think some\nof the greatest and most worthy beauty is borne of chaos, and regard it as a\nnecessity in the creative process. So, I\nlike working with people who can tolerate and even thrive in that when those\nmoments come. Who handles stress well and\nstill clearly wants to be in the room and part of the process\u2014that\u2019s who I like\nworking with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nskills\/personal attributes are most important to being successful?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> Hard work and\nshowing up. It all comes down to those\ntwo things. And luck, of course. If one can just be lucky all the time you\ndon\u2019t need hard work, and you probably don\u2019t even need to show up. So, if you can\u2019t guarantee a never-ending and\nuninterrupted string of good luck, you had better fall back on hard work and\nshowing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you\nconsider your biggest accomplishment to date?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> In 2010 I created a parody of a work that was performed on the very same program as the premiere of that work.\u00a0 I joke with my friend, Charles, who made the source work (I didn\u2019t tell him about my parody before it went on stage) that he is probably the only artist in history who had a work parodied fifteen minutes after it premiered\u2014from the same stage and before the same audience.\u00a0 Madonna and Michael Jackson had to wait many years to receive the same treatment from Weird Al Yankovic!\u00a0 The piece itself was no great feat, but I regard the fact that I followed my gut in that instance as one of the boldest and, indeed, defining moments of my career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you enjoy\nmost about your job, your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> Literally\neverything. The challenges are there,\nbut you learn to even enjoy them. You\nhave to because you will never avoid them. \nIf you get past one, you are just going to meet another. As it should be. If there is nothing to push against\u2026I don\u2019t\nknow what happens. That\u2019s not to say\nthere needs to be great struggle in all things, there need not, so maybe it\u2019s\nbetter to look at challenges as things we must react to. If there is nothing to react to\u2026I don\u2019t know\nwhat happens. Hmmm, there are problems with\nthat statement too, because I am not one who believes that there is no such\nthing as an original thought. There\ncertainly IS <\/em>such a thing as an original thought, it\u2019s just rare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, the point\nis, I enjoy everything about my job, even the things that present a\nchallenge. Especially the things that\npresent a challenge because they are most often the source of creativity and,\ndare I say, an original thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you express\nyourself creatively in any other ways?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> I love\nwoodworking! I\u2019m not that good at it,\nbut I love doing it. If I had more time\nand space on my hands, that is what I would choose to do more of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there any\nadvice you would give to a young actor starting their career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> Don\u2019t quit until\nit\u2019s time. Only you will know when that\ntime comes, but until does, work your art and craft with savagery. Don\u2019t waste a moment. Take in every voice that comments on what you\ndo and how you are living, but only hold on to the ones that empower and push\nyou onward. People look at our lives and\ncareers as dancers and actors in a strange way\u2014I think a lot of people wish\nthey could have done this, and they think our lives are a constant dream. And a lot of young actors and dancers think\nthe same way, that it will be dream come true. \nIt will only be like that some of the time, but those times are well\nworth the work and persistence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s your goal\nfor next year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> There are so many\nprojects I want to accomplish. For many\nyears I\u2019ve wanted to complete a ballet I started years ago, while living in\nBelgrade. It\u2019s called Gracefully\nExistent<\/em> and it is a portrayal of the responsibility\/burden that women bear\nin evolving\/preserving culture through their dress. I presented an excerpt of it at the Sterijino\nPozorje Drama Festival in 2013 and have wanted to return to it ever since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s next for your\ntheater company Mannakin Theater & Dance? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam:<\/strong> I\u2019ve mostly\ntalked about dance in responding to your questions, but I do direct drama as\nwell, though not yet with Mannakin Theater & Dance. The next step for my company is to bring more\nof what we think of as drama and acting into the rep. I\u2019ve always wanted to take a classic play and\nportray the first act in \u201cnormal\u201d fashion, with speaking and stage actors, and\nthen the second act with dancers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One other project I\u2019d like to complete with Mannakin is a one man show that takes the audience on the journey I made in departing from the Mormon Church.\u00a0 This would be a hybrid program that involves dance and dialogue, perhaps film as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan Cottam is a performing artist devoted to broadening the scope of people involved in dance and theater. Raised in Buffalo, New York and the Mountain West, Nathan was exposed early in life to music and drama, finally joining them together in the study of ballet at Brigham Young University. After completing a BS in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19196,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9002\/revisions\/19196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Credit-Srdjan-Mihic-683x1024.jpg\")
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