Sivan Raz has been involved with the JET community since 2019, performing with Theater in the Rough and Starcatcher! She has since moved to the United States and dearly misses the JET community! We asked Sivan some questions and would love to share her answers with you.
JET: What shows have you been a part of?
SR: In The Heights, Measure For Measure, Henry IV Part 1 (the early version), God Of Carnage, The Botanic Chorus, [and] Winter Shakespeare Monologues Presentation
JET: Why did you get involved in acting?
SR: I always loved the performing arts, and was taking afterschool acting classes ever since I was a kid. But my deciding moment was in the last year of middle school, where I had to choose my majors for the next 3 years. I went to see the plays the seniors put up that year and I immediately knew I had to be on that stage or I’ll never forgive myself. There’s nothing more exciting than that.
JET: What is your favorite theater memory?
SR: I think the thing I remember most is the sense of strong community and “show family”. It’s little moments like me being tired before one of the Botanic Chorus shows and asking my castmates to shout into the void with me (which they lovingly did and it was great), the cast Shabbat we spent together during In The Heights and meeting everyone’s family, getting together on our days off rehearsal and hiking for fun, and many many moments more. It’s a lot of small things coming together to create such a strong sense of community.
JET: What is the hardest part about being an actor?
SR: Auditioning! For sure. I tend to be a little hard on myself and will sometimes have a hard time even talking about an audition that didn’t go well, but I have to say – I did get much better about that in the last few years! Always working on that one 🙂
JET: What was the most rewarding show you have ever done?
SR: The Botanic Chorus I think. It was a really great creative process that made me feel much more secure of myself and my abilities as an actor and creator. With the lovliest cast and crew, this show was my sendoff from Israel and it really could not have been any better. The level of involvement we as cast members had in shaping the final show made it feel like so much more personal, and made any positive comment we recieved so gratifying.
JET: How do you prepare for different roles?
SR: I tend to go with whatever methods the director brings to that specific production! Every director has their own unique style and I always think consistency within a production is so important, so I try to go with the way they navigate the entire cast! I do find myself always coming back to text analysis though, you can never go wrong there.
JET: What is your pre-show routine?
SR: After warming up my body and voice, I always love hanging around my castmates and just talk. The people are what makes the show fun for me and looking at my friend’s faces is what’ll get me through hard moments in the show if there are ones, so that’s always my go-to in order to feel happy and energetic before the performance.
JET: How have you changed as an actor throughout your career?
SR: This is a difficult question to answer, because I don’t know that I can differentiate how I changed as an actor and how I changed as a person. I guess the two are pretty intertwined. I think acting allows you the opportunity to get to know a lot more people and stories than you would otherwise and that ought to change you somehow. For me this mainly reflects in being more at peace with myself and the world around me, and the ability to make better choices about what it is I want to change in doing theater (activism theater is the coolest form of theater if you ask me)!
JET: What is your dream role and why?
SR: Prince Hal in Henry IV Part 1! Please someone cast me in that role immediately! I just think it’s the perfect play and character. Touches on so many themes I find interesting in my day to day life and I am amazed by how relevant and accurate the social criticism feels even hundreds of years after the play was first performed. I was always fascinated with the idea of fate for this character, and the play between his pre-decided destiny and the amount of agency he has over his own life. Especially wondering how much control does he think he [has] over his own choices. Don’t we all struggle with that? The [tension] between duty and freedom is I think an everlasting human conflict and one I would love to explore through this character. Also I just want to be the handsome prince for once 😉
JET: Feel free to share anything else about your experience with the JET community!
SR: I miss you all so much!
