Artist Spotlight: J. Alex Cordaro

There are so many people involved in putting together a play that we just don’t think about.  We really just see the actors, and the finished product that’s onstage.  And even beyond that, there’s a select amount of people that we think about.  Director, stage manager, maybe the person manning the spotlight.  But there are so many people that we don’t think about that we wouldn’t have a show without.

One of these people is the fight choreographer.  If there’s any fighting in a show, it needs to be carefully planned out so no actors are harmed through punches and slaps and everything else that comes along with fights.  Along with safety, all this fighting needs to look real for the audience.  A lot of fight choreographers specialize in just this.  It’s a really specialized job.  J. Alex Cordaro is one of those people.

J. Alex Cordaro did the fight choreography for Archduke, and he did a phenomenal job.  The fights were so well put together, and so real.  I’ve never thought to interview a fight choreographer before, but after seeing this show and the work, I absolutely had to talk to him.  There was just so much passion and expertise that went into the fights that we got to see in this show.  The finesse of this, the beautiful fights we got to see…talking to J. Alex Cordaro was amazing!

What is your background in stage combat/fight choreography?

This answer spans about 40 years, so get comfortable! I started training in stage combat when I was eleven at a summer acting camp in Pittsburgh. At the end of the program I choreographed and performed my first fight onstage, and really never stopped learning, choreographing, and feeding my passion for theatrical violence. At 14, I joined a stage combat based acting company and with them spent the next five years learning new weapons and styles and co-choreographing most of the stage fights in Pittsburgh. When I was 18, I attended my first SAFD National Stage Combat Workshop, where I passed with Recommendation and was invited to perform at the closing ceremony’s ‘A Knight at the Fights.’ At 19, I moved to Philadelphia to attend The University of the Arts in the Acting Program. 

At the time, they offered eight semesters of stage combat training and because of my prior experience I was able to take all eight in my first year. My teacher had to figure out what to do with me, so in addition to competitive fencing and having me do book reports on all existing stage combat and fight direction texts, he introduced me to J. Allen Suddeth and his Fight Director Training Program at the Celebration Barn in Maine. I spent the next three summers there as a Fight Director, Actor, and on Staff. This was really the nucleus of my training, and all of it was informed by my background in acting, singing, dance, movement, mime, partner dance, martial arts, and contact improvisation.

In my senior year at UArts, I was asked to Fight Direct my first Wilma show, Avenue X. It’s where I first met and collaborated with Founding Artistic Director Blanka Zizka and Resident Stage Manager Pat Adams. The Wilma became my early artistic home, and I went on to direct fights in 21 productions with them. Fight Directing took me up and down the East Coast, and performing fights took me to California through my early 30’s. During that period I attended and taught for numerous workshops and summer programs, and danced with a few modern dance companies.

In 2010, I was accepted to the Teacher Training Workshop with the Society of American Fight Directors. That Certification led to Theatrical Firearms Instructor and Fight Director Certifications. All the while I was teaching stage combat at local Universities; Temple, Arcadia, Rowan, and most recently the University of the Arts, where I offered five semesters of training through the Brind School. All of my prior experience helps to inform and support my work as a Fight Director and Stage Combat practitioner.

The fight choreography in Archduke was so beautiful!  What about this play inspired these fights?

I get my inspiration from the text, the Director’s vision, the Actor’s input, and the Dramaturg’s body of research. Sometimes, inspiration will come from pieces of music, paintings or photographs.

How was working with the actors to get these fights down perfectly?

The cast of Archduke was amazing. All five of them are involved in the fight moments, even if not physically. They are all really in tune with their bodies and how they move, both by themselves and with a partner. We built the fights as a Team and slowly built up to what you saw on Opening Night. It was a lot of work, but they are all professionals and incredibly physically grounded. I would work with any of them again in a heartbeat!

Did you have a vision of what you wanted to see going in?  

I learned long ago that coming into rehearsals with precious ideas of how I think things should go is a waste of time. I always start with the script and do as much homework and research as I can to be as prepared as possible and open to new ideas. Fights grow through the rehearsal process, just like all blocking and scenework. People change their minds, try new things, make adjustments, and fine-tune specific moments. In addition, there are design elements that we don’t have early in the process that eventually inform and inspire the choreography and help it manifest its final form. There is always new information to consider when you move from the rehearsal room onto the set and get to work with the other Designers. 

From the audience, everything looked so perfect.  What went into that so we could see some really realistic fight scenes?

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. I’m a big believer in working slowly for a really long time. I find it allows actors the time to get the choreography out of their heads and into their bodies in a safe, repeatable way. It also allows me to easily make adjustments and changes to choreography as the scene work and blocking evolve through the rehearsal process. Working slowly and making adjustments to support the actors' physicality and strengths helps them to ‘own’ the choreography and make it fit more seamlessly into the overall design.

***

I think most people would never stop to think about something like fight choreography, but there are some shows that wouldn’t be as great as they are without it.  Getting to talk to someone about this was super cool for me…I’m just as guilty as not always thinking about these things.  But there are people that this is their entire life, and we need to recognize and applaud that.  J. Alex Cordaro’s fights really inspired me.  I’m so glad I got to experience his work…it was definitely a treat!