The Artistic World of K.L.Storer



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Sun, July 1, 2012

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AUDITION ICON
My Saturday morning screentest for Freak Club, Film Dayton's the forthcoming web series, seemed to go okay.

What do I know, save for I did nothing that I recall as horrendous. Of course, I did not have the misfortune of seeing a playback, either.


SOUND DESIGNING ICON
PRODUCTION GREMLIN ICON
Most of today I was in Brookville for the tech rehearsal for Souvenir, which opens this coming Thursday at the Brookville Community Theatre. Show Cue Systems has been working just fine but, since I am a much better sound "designer" than I am a sound "engineer," there have been some technical quirks to work out. The bottom line is that I just don't know enough to make my way around an unfamiliar mixing board and unknown power amp systems.

I like to think of it in the terms of me as an architect ("sound designer") and the engineering functions are like the construction foreman who takes the blue print and builds the temple ‐‐ despite that the analogy does not work on several levels, it makes me feel better about certain ignorances that I really think ought not be such for me.

As the result of my "architect status" I could not get the sound directed out of all the house speakers in the exact manner I wished to, plus we had a horrible sound balance problem in the booth, between the stage mics (to hear the actors well in the booth) and the monitor feed for the audio from the laptop. Fortunately, a most-knowledgeable young man named Trevon, who has both designed and ran sound at the theatre, was able to drop by and get me better acquainted with the hardware in BVCT's booth.

The GREMLIN tease put a little lag on the tweak progress, but I think we'll get it going along in a good time. I've arranged to get in a tad early tomorrow to tweak some cue programing, which mostly means volume levels. I'M NOT USED TO NEEDING SOMEONE ELSE TO LET ME IN EARLY..


AND IN OTHER WONDER-FRIKKIN NEWS!:

GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
Saturday, late evening or so, I do believe the hard drive in my laptop failed. At some point, while I was attending to other things, the computer froze, and I could not force a shut down with any commands. I had to do a hard reboot, and was never able to get a successful reboot in to a functioning machine after that.

The good news is, though my back ups weren't as up-to-date as they could have been, I was on a couple days behind and only need to catch-up a few files in terms of data input, all which is possible for me to do, if a little inconvenient. But over all, I have access all my files, so I am not in a panic.

Updates here may be a little slower and sporadic for a while, as I don't have that mobile freedom at the moment. Yes, but, man could it have been a lot worse. I've had that experience of a hard drive crashing when I had not backed it up. I felt like my wife of thirty years had suddenly said she didn't love me anymore and walked out on me.



INDEPENDENCE DAY 2012

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Some day I hope to play this role on a stage.



Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith ‐‐ 1926-2012

"Sheriff Andy Taylor" is truly one of the great icons of American Culture ‐‐ not just "pop" culture.

Andy Griffith was a true innovator who ushered in a new type of sit-com. Really, to call The Andy Griffith Show a sit-com does not give it the respect it deserves. What it was was 22 minutes of casual, small-town Americana story telling, often amusing, certainly always touching to one extent or another, and though many forget this, sometimes quite dramatic with Sheriff Taylor on occasion actually in harms way. And as a friend pointed out, Taylor was either the first or one of the very first single fathers on a TV show ‐‐ I think maybe he was the first.

The Andy Griffith Show was real; the people were real; nobody was a stereotype; nobody was two-dimensional, including Barney Fife; even the odd-ball mountain men and women were played and shown with the dignity of real human beings. That was all Griffith.

Goodbye Andy, you're one of the few who actually made TV more intelligent.





SOUND DESIGNING ICON

The final dress for Souvenir at the Brookville Community Theatre was last night. Pretty good final rehearsal.

I have tweaked the sound quite a bit, and even when in before the rehearsal to do what I hoped would be the final tweaks in Show Cue Systems, but, alas, there were still some issues, mostly one overall volume tweak left the need for some individual tweaks.

I'll attend the opening night this Thursday, for that last final tech check; the goal is to be out of the picture after that, till the closing show when I go back to deal with disengaging that which I brought into the tech booth.


$TICKER $HOCK!!!:

Note Addendum PS icon
FONT FACE="comic sans ms"> Monday I dropped my MacBook Pro off at The MacDepot and the a current estimate is about $350. That to diagnose, buy a new 500 gig harddrive, and do data transfer. Then there's been my automobile whoas. Dropped of the rental car yesterday ($800!!) and picked up my car from the shop (almost $600!!).

Weeks & weeks of paying down my credit card debt: ERADICATED!

Yet, despite this $ticker $hock, my mind's eye looks toward a new car, well, new to me, and a new MacBook Pro (And I DO Mean A New MacBook Pro). The new-to-me car is more likely in the nearer future; it's certainly closer to necessary.



Thu, July 5, 2012

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AUDITION ICON
The auditions for Opus, by Michael Hollinger are coming up tout suite, (or "Tout de suite," for the purists). This, of course being the 2012/13 season opener at The Dayton Theatre Guild, where I really would like to walk the boards again.

I have time before the July 16 & 17 auditions to study up on the play, and shall. I have been told by several people that there are at least two roles in the play I am right for, and my cursory read seems to belie that as true.

DTG Podcast Production logo


In related news, I have permission from Mr. Hollinger's representation to use dialogue text from the script in the podcast.


Meanwhile, I have heard nothing back on any of my recent auditions: Zoot, Freak Club, for Film Dayton, or the full-length independent feature I auditioned for through PC-Goenner.


SOUND DESIGNING ICON
Tonight is Opening Night for the redux of Souvenir at the Brookville Community Theatre. I'll be there in a tech capacity to be sure the sound design programed in Show Cue Systems is as it should be. The hope being that there are no tweaks needed and that if so, this is the last of that.



Fri, July 6, 2012

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MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY:

GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
Yep. I am buying a new laptop. The MacDepot called yesterday with the bad news: my logic board is toasted. Somewhat good news is that the harddrive is not toast, so I can get a complete data transfer onto the new laptop, when it arrives. Though even if not, my Time Capsule backup was only a couple days behind and I would lose very little data.

Just got pre-approval on the loan through my credit union yesterday afternoon. I hammer out the terms this afternoon, and will order the laptop as soon as the loan is deposited. Depending on how I get the better price I will either order direct from Apple or will do so through MacDepot. For those who care, here are some highlights of the spec configuration I will get:

  • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
  • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  • 768GB Flash Storage
  • Apple USB SuperDrive
  • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter


SOUND DESIGNING ICON
Souvenir had a great Opening Night at Brookville last night. Reneé Franck-Reed and Charles Larkowski both were in strong form, as during the last run of the show. The audience was most responsive and this new run is off to a good start.

No problems with the sound, either. I feel okay with the personal absence that I evoke now until strike on July 15.


THE BEATLES -VS- THE ROLLING STONES TRIBUTE SHOW, TONIGHT:

The Beatles
In the audience icon
There is a 99% probability I'm headin' to The Canal Street Tavern tonight to finally hear the lovely, bluesy voice of Miss Lissa of Miss Lissa & Company, along with a long list of others covering two of the big Rock-&-Roll acts, one, of course, being my absolute favorite, and the other one being relatively high up on my list.

The other bands on the docket are, Gathering Mercury, sport fishing usa, Soul Rebels, A Shade of Red, Citizens Unrest, The Fair Shakes, Cydona Rise, and Wild Forrest BlackBerri.

The PR says the bands will do their versions of Beatles & Stones songs as well as their own originals. The show starts at 9:00 and the cover is only $5.00.

By the by: Miss Lissa bears a striking resemblance to Ms. Melissa Young, a most talented actor whom I miss on stage. One follows one's greater passions I suppose. Well, the theatre stage's loss is the music stage's gain.



Sun, July 8, 2012

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AUDITION ICON
K.L.Storer fb post: 'Twice during this upcoming 2012/13 theatre season I have the opportunity to be in one of two great productions; one chance at the start of the season, once at the end. It Will really suck if I get cast in none of the four shows!' I've been officially offered a callback for The Zoot Theatre Company opening production, The Hobbit, which I certainly have an interest in, though it is in direct scheduling conflict with Opus at The Guild. This is information that I revealed at the Zoot general, so the directors, Zoot founder, Tristan Cupp and co-director, Zoot resident artists J. Gary Thompson were aware when they offered the callback. But the deal is that Opus auditions are July 16 & 17, and Director Greg Smith rarely waits very long before casting. He's been known to cast the evening of the second auditions. The callback for The Hobbit is that next Saturday, July 21. It's almost wholly assured that I would know several days in advance of the Zoot callback whether I am still available.

The only other schedule conflict I can think of is during the first week of Hobbit rehearsals when I would have to be doing most of the content footage shoots for the Opus podcast. That may kill my contention for the Zoot show; hope not.

Then, of course, I have the callback for Avenue Q at The Human Race Theatre Company, that which is in direct calendar conflict with Pillow Man, again at The Guild, both at the end of the season.

That's not to suggest that these are the only theatrical productions I have a choice or interest in. And I would not presume I am a shoe in for any of them ‐‐ but, for at least three of them I know there is an interest in me, I got callbacks for two of them and the director for the third has mentioned several times that it's desired that I audition; and I think the director of the fourth show does want me to audition, though that has not been specifically expressed, so I am making an assumption. There's been no sense of discouragement, at least.

Though I wouldn't want to suggest I've been at all singled out, I have also been invited to audition for several other productions, but only in that general sense of being one of the actors on the distribution list. Hey, at least I wasn't purposefully left off those lists-- though who knows? Probably was left off some others.

As for the recent screentest auditions: no word, which at this point probably just means, "No."


MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY UPDATE:

GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
The money to buy the new MacBook Pro model is available, but I have not yet ordered it. I'll do that tomorrow, as I've said, either directly through Apple, on-line, or through The MacDepot, depending on whether the storefront can beat the price from the maker, that second price which I already have.

Either way I will be able to get a complete data transfer from the dead machine (AKA: my new paperweight) onto the new laptop, when it arrives. I am not sure how straight forward that is, so I may have them do it at MacDepot, regardless of how I get the machine.

K.L.Storer fb post: 'Differences between a credit union and a bank? Here's one: a loan agent at my CU just suggested a way for me to get the money that I need to a great financial disadvantage to the CU and very good advantage to me. Not saying that would never happen in a bank; but I bet it's not as likely.'


Meanwhile, my most helpful loan agent at The Wright-Patt Credit Union, Angel, advised me to increase my credit card limit to cover the money for the laptop rather than take out a signature loan for almost twice the interest rate. I then have the option to later reduce my credit limit on the card back down ‐‐ which, believe it or not, I am apt to do.

For those who still care, here still are those highlights of the spec configuration of my pending new laptop:

  • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
  • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  • 768GB Flash Storage
  • Apple USB SuperDrive
  • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
  • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
  • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available



MISS LISSA & COMPANY, THE BEATLES, AND THE ROLLING STONES:

The Beatles
In the audience icon
Friday night I did drop by The Canal Street Tavern for a couple hours during the bar's "The Beatles -vs- The Rolling Stones" show, mostly to hear Miss Lissa & Company, whom I have been derelict in supporting for a while. It's been maybe three years or more since I last heard the band, at Jay's, in downtown Dayton, with some difference in the line-up.

Miss Lissa & Company, on stage at the Canal Street Tavern
Miss Lissa & Company rendering a very nice version of The Beatles' "I Want You," July 6, 2012 at The Canal Street Tavern.
When I got there, sport fishing usa was on stage; next was Gathering Mercury. Both were worth hearing but my focus was, and rightfully so, on Miss Lissa and her crew. All five songs in their set were good, but I'd place a premium on their slightly slowed version of Lennon's "I Want You"*, Jaggar & Richard's "Miss You," and the band's original, "Back to Your Mama," (Melissa Young & Eric Henry).

Somehow I suspected they would also do McCartney's "Helter Skelter"**, and Melissa (Miss Lissa) told me after the set that it was one of their first choices. Nice job on that one, too.

    * ‐‐ that's right, "Lennon's" not "Lennon & McCartney's" ‐‐ Paul had nothing to do with writing this song, so the silly agreement they made when they were too young to know better may dictate that both names are on the credits, but this is a JOHN LENNON song.

    ** ‐‐ that's right, "McCartney's" not "Lennon & McCartney's" ‐‐ this is a PAUL McCARTNEY song for the comparable reason stated above for the other one.




OTHER "YAYS!" DUE:

GENERAL THEATRE STUFF ICON
THE COC RADIO...

  • ASHANTI J'ARIA ‐‐ Ms. J'Aria (one of the lovely voices of the Radio in Caroline or Change at The Human Race Theatre Company) is cast in The Last Smoker in America, book and lyrics by Bill Russell, music by Peter Melnick. It opens Off Broadway, July 11 at The Westside Theatre.
  • KIMBERLY HAMBY ‐‐ Another lovely voice from the CoC Radio is currently in Little Shop of Horrors at the Alpine Theatre Project in Whitefish, Montana. By-the-way, she just happens to be sharing the stage with one Aaron Vega, once one of Dayton's very own actors who has come back a few times to both appear and direct at The Race.

    So, to all three: Yay! YAY! YAY! YAY!



  • Tue, July 10, 2012

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    Ernest Borgnine, tipping his Luit.'s cap to the camera
    Ernest Borgnine
    1917-2012

    One of the best character actors ever!

    As an actor, I would be happy with just a quarter of his accomplishments, or less.

    Rest in Peace, Good Sir.




    MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY, ORDERED & PAID FOR!:

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON

    Yesterday afternoon I ordered the laptop through The MacDepot. This route saved me about $50. Not a fortune, but, hey, fifty bucks is fifty bucks. Best guess is that the machine will be at least two weeks, and probably four weeks away from delivery.

    One thing I am not overjoyed about is that the battery is built-in ‐‐ a portable battery is much more desirable. This is a very expensive piece of machinery and if it becomes a paperweight solely on the death of the battery, well, Apple would lose a customer in that scenario. I was assured that when the battery dies I can have it replaced; although it needs be done by a technician. I'd lie to be able to carry and extra battery and switch them out when I am, oh say, off in the forest using the machine. Well, they said "if" the battery dies, but let's be realistic: the battery will last two years, tops; the machine better have a longer life than that. Then, again, my laptop that just toasted was only a little over three-and-a-half years old.

    Another drawback, in the short term at least, is that the Retina Display version does not have a Firewire port, and the Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter cable is not available yet ‐‐ the Apple says it will be this month. I have to have Firewire capability or I can capture no movie footage out of the DV movie cameras; a bit of a problem as that's one of the key reasons I want this machine: even more improved movie editing.

    In the meantime, I will probably be temp installing Final Cut Express on a Mac Pro in the Mac Lab on campus (where I am as I key these words) to edit vide for a while. Even after I get the new laptop, until I have the Firewire capability I may have to at least Final Cut 7 in the lab to capture the footage off the cameras, even if I can edit in FCE on my machine.

    Work arounds: it's good when they exist, but still, can always live without them.


    BEST LAID PLANS.....:

    'VINGETTES IN BELLCREEK' logo ‐‐ D.P. Fred Boomer operating camera woth Director K.L.Storer next to him. HEART WALKS a full-length double album by K.L.Storer

    Rather convenient of me to say that my recent computer adversity threw a monkey wrench into my plans for this period; yet, it is indeed true. I had a mapped out plan to deal with two projects.

    For one thing, start working and I hope finish the digital mix of the "album" Heartwalks, which I conceived of, wrote and recorded all but one bass-line, in the mid 1980's. "Seems Like a Crime" is from Heart Walks, and ironically is the one that does not yet have a bass line.

    Now that I have named the improv movie project, I have new enthusiasm about pushing toward a final cut. Since I plan to use a lot of music from heart Walks in the movie, the two jobs go hand-in-hand.

    Both are, once again, on hold, and I may not have the new laptop to work on them until after I am again busy in a rehearsal.



    Fri, July 13, 2012

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    AUDITION ICON

  • Opus at DTG ‐‐ Study of the script for the auditions next Monday and Tuesday night has begun. By Monday evening I'll have read the play multiple times, at least once through concentrating on each of the four men, and other times just to get more and more familiar withe the script in general.
  • The Hobbit for The Zoot Theatre Company ‐‐ I have not heard back about an appointment time for this callback; so, perhaps the schedule issue that I gave did kill my contention for this one.



  • ANOTHER "INCONVENIENCE":

    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available

    This is bit of a minor thing, but still...

    Greg at The MacDepot is pretty sure that I will need to re-install some of my software on the new machine since it will have a different ip address. That will be a pain in the neck.

    Not a catastrophe, but still it will get in my way!


    In the audience icon
    I hope to see Elena Monigold on Saturday, the 21st, in the new play, The Best Intentions, written and directed by Charlie Goetz. The play is the winner of the first Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative's "The Best of CPI New Voices." It runs July 19-21, 7:30 pm curtain, each night, at The Aronoff Center for the Arts, Fifth Third Bank Theater.

    Wishing Ms. Monigold a broken leg or two.

    Before that, this Sunday I'll drop in to see the final performance of Souvenir at Brookville Community Theatre.



    Mon, July 16, 2012

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    AUDITION ICON

  • Opus at DTG ‐‐ Have studied the script and think I have enough of a handle, of an understanding of the premise and the characters to at least not fall on my ass tonight and tomorrow night.
  • The Hobbit for The Zoot Theatre Company ‐‐ Waiting for a specific confirmation on my appointment, potential schedule conflicts aside (even if not cast in Opus, I still have to shoot the tail end of rehearsals for the podcast, that period of which overlaps with the start of The Hobbit rehearsals).




    • MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
    xxxx xxxx

    As I wait for the arrival of my new MacBook Pro and the call that it is ready for pick-up, I have spent some time in the Mac lab on campus.

    Though I will admit that I have also done some document update, which includes work on the blog, from my pc ‐‐ and Windows 7 ‐‐ at my desk in the office. So, sometimes a part of my lunchtime has been at my desk, rather than at a table outside.



    Tue, July 17, 2012

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    AUDITION ICON

  • Opus at DTG ‐‐ The first night of auditions went reasonably well for me last night. There was a bit of competition. I don't know that I was brilliant but I probably held my own. Going back tonight.
  • The Hobbit for The Zoot Theatre Company ‐‐ On another note, my appointment for The Hobbit is mid-afternoon on Saturday. The Zoot knows and understands that if I am cast in Opus, I will drop the appointment.


  • Wed, July 18, 2012

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    I'M NOT A CELLIST; I JUST PLAY ONE ON STAGE:

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    The Cast of Opus
    alphabetical by actor
    CHARACTER
    ACTOR
              
    Dorian            Michael J. Boyd

    Alan            Franklin Johnson

    Grace            Mary Mykytka

    Elliot            Matthew W. Smith

    Carl            K.L.Storer

    It feels good to be back on my home stage again. The creation of my index/flash cards for line study has begun. The podcast production will need to be done slightly different. I'll be bringing in someone to shoot much, really most or all the rehearsal footage. I have a couple people in mind.


    AUDITION ICON
    Well, I obviously had to contact The Zoot Theatre Company, co-director of The Hobbit, J. Gary Thompson, to be exact, and let them know I am no longer available for The Hobbit.


    OTHER DTG STUFF:

    Dayton Theatre Guild
    DTG Producer icon
    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE by Paul Zindel at The Dayton Theatre Guild
    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    A TUNA CHRISTMAS by Ed Howard, Joe Sears amnd Jaston Williams at The Dayton Theatre Guild
  • Producing And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little ‐‐ Pre-production for this has begun. See the audition notice below. Auditions are only five-and-a-half weeks away.
  • Designing Sound for Miss Reardon and for A Tuna Christmas

      ‐‐ Though "sound design" is, in this circumstance not what I consider a correct term, I do get to slough through the treasure trove of pop songs from 1970, and maybe a couple years beforehand, to find pre-show, intermission and other music for the production. This pleases me. If you believe that some Lennon & McCartney, perhaps maybe some George Harrison might make an appearance, I'd say you were making a smart bet. But there is a Goliath of a smorgasbord of music from this era to choose from from a large gambit of artists and styles. It's going to be a blast to put these play lists together!

      ‐‐ I thought it was going to be the same for Tuna Christmas. It's been a while since I saw this one. There are sound effects, though I don't think at a level of complexity as something like Kimberly Akimbo, Sugar Witch, or Wittenberg. Still, I was hoping to get a free pass with this one like with Reardon.

  • House Management ‐‐ Time to fire up the motor on being the House Management Chairman for The Guild. But like I said before, this will be a different song than before. I'm not going to take it all on alone. There needs to be a committee and some participation from a lot of other board members. I'm not going to be married to the building like I was before. I want to give time to other stuff... cool smile icon


  • Thu, July 19, 2012

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    TABLE READ:

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Last night we did the table read and it was already pretty frikkin' good!

    Rehearsals start in earnest next Monday. The theory was that we're doing some table work first, before we get on our feet. I say "was" because that was what Director Greg Smith had said Tuesday evening when he cast the show; however, he seems to have moved away from that, or he did not specifically think to bring that game plan back on the discussion mill. I hope we are going to do some table work ‐‐ this script needs some, I think.

    Not that we aren't off to a good start. Like I said, last night's read was very nice. All of us seem to have pretty solid holds, understandings of our characters already; so we're starting off at a good place and it can only lead to some amazing things.

    My Carl got to many of his emotional places. There's a spot where I need to be choked up, and I was able to get there with no effort. I was also able to get to bat-shit enraged when I needed to, as well; and I mean I was actually feeling the anger. But, anger's easy. It's the subtle stuff that is the actor's challenge. And feeling it is one thing, communicating it to the audience is another. Better to fake an emotion with verisimilitude that the audience gets than to really feel it internally without the audience picking up on it.

    As for "challenges": we as a unit have some in a few spots that can be best called choreographed dialogue, too. But, as Greg said last night when we basically cluster@#$%&d one of those spots, "That's why we call it 'Rehearsal.'"


    In the audience icon
    I switched my night to see Elena Monigold in the new play, The Best Intentions, written and directed by Charlie Goetz, to tonight.

    As I wrote in an earlier blog entry, the play is being produced by the Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative, and runs through this Saturday, at The Aronoff Center for the Arts, Fifth Third Bank Theater.



    Fri, July 20, 2012

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    I ' M   S T I L L   W A I T I N G . . . .

      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON



    In the audience icon
    Major congrats to Elena Monigold for her fine work ‐‐ (as usual) ‐‐ in the new play, The Best Intentions, which is written and directed by Charlie Goetz for Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative. I saw the opening performance last night. Pretty good script and nice overall performances from the cast.

    Besides Elena, who plays Rise, also in the cast are Chessie Vigran (Ruth), Linda Wylie (Rita), Marcus Jackson (David), and Max Skove (Alter Boy). Kudos to them all and I was envious of their chance to originate a character on stage with no legacy of other actors' interpretations. One of my favorite things about doing a new play, myself.

    The show runs through tomorrow night at The Aronoff Center for the Arts Fifth Third Bank Theater.



    Mon, July 23, 2012

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    S T I L L   W A I T I N G . . . .

    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available

    Not sure when the machine will be in my hands, but I do know that I will not likely have direct Firewire capability until into September, which seems the earliest I can get my hands on any sort of Thunderbolt to Firewire conversion utilities. September is after I need to have the Opus podcast done. So, I will need to capture the video footage on Final Cut Pro 7 in the Mac lab on campus, then transfer those .mov files over onto my laptop for editing. This isn't ideal, but is an almost reasonable workaround.


    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Podcast Production logo
    Off-book date is Monday, Aug 13, three weeks from today. Doesn't seem a big problem. I have almost got the flash cards done, though still have begun my rote work on the lines, if only barely.

    Fortunately Greg Smith is doing several days of table work, staring tonight and running through Wednesday. Thursday we are on our feet blocking what are best called "The Interview Scenes." Friday is a TBA, which is good because I do have a weekend pass for The Dayton Playhouse's FutureFest 2012 which is this coming weekend and opens Friday evening with A Political Woman, which I'd like to see if I can. But, if we end up in rehearsal, so be it.

    On podcast business: Since I'm in this show and will be actively involved in rehearsals, my doing a lot the shooting for the podcast will be a bit of a problem, so I have contacted Fred Boomer about shooting much of the footage ‐‐ Fred having been my D.P. for Vignettes in Bellcreek, and, of course, its outtake Be Or Not.

    He and I will meet for lunch later this week to work out a shooting schedule.
    xxxx
    Yesterday afternoon, creating my flashcards to memorize Carl's lines in Opus
    xxxx
    Another view
    xxxx
    A closer view



    Tue, July 24, 2012

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    Last night was the first of the table work and it went well. We started out talking a little bit about our characters, with each of us giving our takes on our own, then the others chiming in if they had an observation. It was a productive process.

    It's not my business to share about the other actors' characters, but as per Carl, he's a family man, pretty traditional guy. It's not very likely that he's ever had an elicit affair on the road while away from his wife. He's the peacemaker in the group, or more accurately, the one who steps in and tries to nip the conflicts in the bud when they rise. He's a cancer survivor who, in the course of the play is doing the five-year follow-ups with his oncologist. He's probably good for a beer or a cocktail every now and then but rarely gets inebriated. He hasn't smoked pot since his first child was born.

    I haven't done the backstory yet, but will. Some of it's in the text and tied to the other men, and I won't bastardize that. But beyond that I have a lot of room. Like everyone else in the cast and their own characters, I have only started to get to know Carl.


    MISCELLANEOUS ICON
    I've been left pretty much speechless by the horrific events over the weekend in Colorado. I was planning to write something, may still. In the meantime, Jason Alexander has written a short essay, an extended tweet, actually, that is worth the read. It's been getting around, but in case you've not read it:

    "Jason Alexander on Aurora."



    Fri, July 27, 2012

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    xxxx
    263 flashcards; the lines of Carl in Opus, though many are one or two words, and a couple cards designate actions cued by another's line rather than a verbal response.

    Had Wednesday off from rehearsal but blocked some scenes last night. We ran the second half of the show twice in our Tuesday night table work.

    At this point I'm officially starting to work on my lines toward that August 13 off-book deadline. I'm not very far in yet but will keep sluggin' along.

    This weekend will be much of a bust for memorizing lines as I am at FutureFest 2012 all weekend. I suppose I might get some line work in, but I'm not silly enough to have high expectations.

    Tonight we are not utilizing the TBA rehearsal slot. Monday we have former Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra string instrumentalists coming in to show us how to properly handle our instruments and bows. I've noted that the cello I'm using is similar in size and shape to my acoustic bass guitar, so I can do some reasonable physical work on that at home, without taking the cello and putting it in potential harm's way
    DTG Podcast Production logo

    I trying to line up two people to shoot some of the rehearsal footage and such. I did shoot a little bit of some table work on Tuesday. It was an act of moving the tripod around the room on occasion and it's not what I'd call "fabulous footage," but, production has officially begun.


    In the audience icon
    FutureFest 2012 new play festival at The Dayton Playhouse

    With no Opus rehearsal tonight I will be able to make the opening of the the FutureFest new play festival and the first play up: A Political Woman.

    So, another weekend of six new plays and hardly any sleep. Fear not, I am taking a vacation day on Monday. I will need to drop by campus to get a DV camera for podcast production in the evening ‐‐ with Fred Boomer operating. And who knows, if I'm lucky, I'll going to The MacDepot to pick up my new MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2.6 *(2.7) GHZ with retina display! Least I spend of the day in the Mac Lab on campus doing a blog entry about the weekend. But it won't be in the morning.


    Sometime soon, I need to catch a performance of The Merchant of Venice as produced by Free Shakespeare, too.



    Mon, July 30, 2012

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    Tonight, retired Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra violinists Karen and Robert Young will be at the theatre to tutor us cast members on the proper way to hold and use our bows and to handle our instruments both when our characters are playing them and when we are packing, unpacking and otherwise dealing with them.

    As of yet I haven't pulled out my Giannini acoustic bass guitar, which I already noted is essentially the same size as the cello Carl will use, to get in a little practice at home on the craft of handling Carl's cello. really moot until after the session tonight, anyway.

    My weekend was a bit occupied.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    Had lunch Friday with Fred Boomer (remember: he was my DP for Be Or Not and its parent Vignettes in Bellcreek), who is definitely going to some of the podcast footage, including some tonight and some this Wednesday. Then he'll be back in a couple weeks to shoot more candid rehearsal footage. I'd When we are shooting the "interview" segment as well as the principal performance footage is something I'll discuss tonight with the cast and crew. Obviously I want this done at a time that is both optimum for the play and the podcast. What i really want to avoid is putting any stress or inconvenience that is not absolutely necessary ‐‐ and certainly never anything that's major in either department. But I also need to avoid situations that are less conducive to good footage.

    The only night during tech week that principal footage can be shot is that Tuesday, which unfortunately is the only night that our house photographer can come in to shoot the archival production pictures of the show. The click of his camera is not very desirable, so I want to find another solution. That may be to have some moments acted for the camera on Tech Sunday ‐‐ but Tech Sunday is not an absolute go, Greg, our director, is only mostly sure there will be one. So, I'm not sure when the principal performance footage will be shot. We also have to determine when we get the group discussion footage, too.

    As for the rest of my afternoon before tonight: well, that would be for line study.


    FutureFest 2012 new play festival at The Dayton Playhouse
    In the audience icon

    It was another "Good-Time-Was-Had-By-All" festival and I'll be back with a little more detail a little later. Difficult to fit in writing about it right now, especially without the mobility of the laptop to slide in some attention in places and time unanchored to when I can be at a desktop computer.

    The winner, by-the-way, was Nureyev's Eyes by David Rush, who won FutureFest 2006 with Estelle Singerman. See Meredith Moss' DDN article from today, "Nureyev's Eyes by David Rush wins FutureFest's Top Award."


    N O T   Y E T ! !

      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

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    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON

    How I was hoping that on this, my day off, I'd get the call that the machine had arrived, was full of my old harddrive data and was ready for my pick-up. Well, hey, as I write this, it's only 12:29 and I am in a spot with no cell service. Perhaps it came while I was down here or will come later today.



    Fri, Aug 3, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    Were I little farther along with my line memorization, I'd be happier. It's not an urgent situation, but I'd rather be almost close to done with the bulk of the process and ready to work on true "off-book" status. You know, the refinement work, like saying done rather than finished, and things like that. In the case of this show, there are some spots where all of us cast members have cue lines into our lines that are non sequiturs; i.e.; we are not responding to those lines, they simple mark when it's time for our lines. Stick enough of those in a scene and it's a challenge to get it right when you don't have the book in your hand. Those are going to take drilling in rehearsal.

    We also have to concentrate on making sure our faux playing works. The big issue is verisimilitude of our bow strokes. For me, it's a question of knowing the recorded music well enough that I am only bowing when the cello is sounding. We all need to try to use the proper bowing technique for any given musical moment, as well. That's not going to be a piece of cake, but we all are determined to achieve the correct effect.

    The session this past Monday on how to correctly hold and use the bow, as well how to handle and treat the instruments in general, with violinists Karen and Robert Young (Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, retired) went well. I can tell you one thing, stroking with that cello bow?: My hand got fatigued rather quickly.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    This week I did not have the help shooting that I had hoped to. So, though I do have footage, it's mostly static since I had to set up a tripod, hit record, then join the action, with the result of static shots.

    I'd post a few frame shots from the podcast footage, but I haven't really had time to grab any; add in the image software problem I mention below. I migrated some footage last night in the Mac Lab on campus Wednesday night, and there are probably many good frame shots to steal from all that material ‐‐ but it was almost midnight when I was done importing the footage and I needed to get home and to bed.


    'BE OR NOT' icon

    I'm looking at the 9th Annual Chicago International Reel Shorts Film Festival (CIRSFF), as a place to submit Be Or Not.

    It does not violate any eligibility requirements, because there are pretty close to no restrictions. It's about half the maximum length limit (which is 29 minutes); it's not too old because there is no completion date requirement; the short "may originate from anywhere in the world," has no premiere requirement and can have been distributed, so the movies posting on YouTube doesn't present a problem.


    WAIT! WHAT'S THAT LIGHT?

    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    KLS FB post - "'Your new Macbook Pro with the Retina display has shipped from Apple. Eta to MacDepot is 8-6-2012.' I almost have the patience to wait."
    Tuesday afternoon I got the email, quoted to the left, from The MacDepot.

    It also told me that "Unfortunately the Thunderbolt to Firewire cable that [I] had requested is still not available from Apple."

    Still waiting for word from Belkin about their Thunderbolt Express Dock.


    In the audience icon FutureFest 2012 new play festival at The Dayton Playhouse

    A Political Woman
    By Joel Fishbane
    (fully staged)

    Directed by Cynthia Karns

    Cast in order of appearance
    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Maggie Wylie            Sarah Caplan
    James Wylie            Matthew Glenn
    Charles Barrie            Ray Geiger
    John Henry Shand            Shawn Hooks
    Margarite Briere            Jennifer Lockwood
    Sybil Tenderton            Laura Bloomingdale
    Assistant Director ‐‐ Danielle Burk

    Costumes by Jennie Hawley, Son of a Stitch Clothing


    Provenance
    By Daniel Weber
    (staged reading)

    Directed by David Shough

    Cast in order of speaking
    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Armand Leclair            Saul Caplan
    Joelle Hubert            Ellen Finch
    Anastasia Betz            Megan Cooper
    David Betz            Alex Charmichael
    Special Thanks:
    The Cast, Nancy Campbell and Wellington Grille,
    Arrow Wine, Carol Finley,
    Barbara Pontecorvo and Pontecorvo Ballet Studios.


    Nureyev's Eyes
    By David Rush
    (staged reading)

    Directed by Annie Pesch

    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Jamie Wyeth            Tim Behnken
    Rudolf Nureyev            Darren Brown

    Choreographer            Gayle Smith
    Russian Language Consultant            Yury Sednev
    Dialect Coach            Fran Pesch
    Sound Design            Annie Pesch


    Curve
    By Sam Havens
    (fully staged)

    Directed by Jim Lockwood

    Cast in order of appearance
    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Dakin Abernathy            Geoff Burkman
    Ted Mueller            Ernest Lawson
    Angela Abernathy            Debra Strauss
    Lana Abernathy            Laura Estandia
    Special Thanks to: Yara Thai Restaurant


    Excavation
    By Robert Barron
    (staged reading)

    Directed by Nancy Campbell

    CHARACTER(S)
              
    ACTOR
    Narrator            Dave Gaylor
    Josh Peterson            Shawn Hooks
    Kenny Peterson            Aiden Kesson
    Elizabeth, Mrs. Cole, Parishioner,
    Nurse, Mrs. Pariseau
               Lynn Kesson
    Beggar, The Man, Another Parent, Rev. Fox            Brad Bishop
    Townsperson, Mr. Charles, Constable, Suit            Michael D. Halsey
    Dr. Williams, Henley, Dr. Douglas            Charles Larkowski
    Mary Anning            Annie Branning
    Man with Walking Stick, Madison,
    Pleczkachevsky, Another Doctor
               Franklin Johnson
    Special Thanks to: Fran Pesch


    This Rough Magic
    By Richard Manley
    (fully staged)

    Directed by Gayle Smith

    Cast in order of appearance
    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Father            Richard Croskey
    Mother            Carol Narigon
    David            John Bukowski
    Rachel            Wendi Michael
    Caprice            Kelli Locker
    Donald            Richard Young


    other credits:

    Program Director ‐‐ Fran Pesch

    Production staff
    Scenic Design            Bruce Brown
    Light Design            Anita Bachmann
    Sound Design            Bob Kovach
    Stage Manager            Taylor Frasher
    Publicity            Dodie Lockwood
    Front of House Coordinator            Denise Eder
    Photographer            Art Fabian
    Special Thanks:

    Russell Florence, Jr.
    Meredith Moss
    The Human Race Theatre Company
    The Dayton Theatre Guild
    Heidelberg Distributing Company


    Adjudicators:

    David Finkle, Robert Koon, Helen Sneed,
    Faye Sholiton, Eleanore Speert

    Another great theatre experience of new plays featuring strong women ‐‐ Maggie Wylie in A Political Woman (Sarah Caplan) and Mary Anning in Excavation (Annie Branning); the befuddled Armand Leclair, bearing a legacy of guilt in Provenance (Saul Caplan); an under-famous American painter, Jamie Wyeth, obsessed with capturing the life force of an internationally uber-famous dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, in the festival winner, Nureyev's Eyes (Tim Behnken & Darren Brown, respectively); what I would best describe as a Gomez Addams wannabe and his apparently bipolar, nymphomaniacal wife, Dakin and Angela Abernathy in Curve* (Geoff Burkman & Debra Strauss); and, a super-wealthy investment-banker nerd, from sometime in the near "tomorrow," named David who, can afford, through life-like robots with artificial intelligence, to bring anyone he wants from his past back into his life, as well as have himself a sexy "pleasure"-mate, in This Rough Magic (John Bukowski).

      *Dakin in Curve was the only role I auditioned for. I must say that when Geoff walked into the auditions I was relatively sure I would not be on the FutureFest 2012 stage. Not that I don't believe I could have brought Dakin to life in a very effective manner, I do. My instincts, however, told me Geoff would likely get the role.

    As with any new play festival featuring six new plays, in varying degrees of progress toward final draft, I was not magically impressed with all of the shows, though some certainly did impress me and I thought all the concepts were strong. There were, as always, some very fine performances from many of the actors, as well.

    *No pics from the FF weekend at the moment, either. Two reasons: first, without my own computer, it's difficult to get access to image software to properly manipulate the pics (mostly, change size and sweeten them); second, the pics I took, all with my phone, didn't turn out all that great. Still, there MAY be some posted later, perhaps even added to this entry.



    Mon, Aug 6, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    With the exception of a spot that needs fight choreography, the initial blocking of the show is done. Tonight we start running the show, albeit with books in hand. "Books in hand" is why that fight section hasn't been blocked, yet. As Director Greg Smith said, "There's no sense trying to do that until you have the books out of your hands."

    Though I'm not prepared to say that I'm "off-book," I have made it through the whole script on my initial memorization sweep. Now it's all the dril, drill, drill work. I actually may attempt setting down the book sometime during this week.

    Big bugaboo for me right now is movement; not a new personal criticism and concern, I know. My focus on this is brought about by two things: 1) as I migrate DV footage over onto the computer and the Quicktime movie format, I have the happenstance to have to see me moving ‐‐ and, in my estimation, badly so. 2) At the rehearsal Friday, Greg gave me a note to watch my posture. And watching myself move I see this stout jaunt to my walk that I think looks horrible. It's one of the things ‐‐ my movement in general ‐‐ that I still believe I need to address the most, and I don't feel that I've shown improvement in any significant manner.

    s i g h     !

    DTG Podcast Production logo

    A post production editing concept is developing that is influencing how the rest of the shoot may be done. The idea I have argues to me that I should shoot the interviews 4:3 rather than 16:9. The DV movie will still be 16:9, but the interviews, as I have done before with footage, will be framed inside the wide screen as 4:3 screens in screen.

    On the subject of the interviews, it's likely that I'll do individual interviews rather than that group discusion session I had originally planned. I did write of that here, right? Perhaps not. It still may happen, but only if it does not seem it will be an interference in a tight rehearsal schedule where we need to do a lot of work.


    THE MACBOOK HAS LANDED!

      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON

    The MacDepot called this morning to say that my new toy has arrived. Sometime during the day they will migrate old HD data, from the dead MacBook, to the new flash drive. I'm scheduled to work at the rent-payer until 5:30 today, and have a 6:30 rehearsal. I am tempted to take tomorrow off to handle the certain amount of re-installing and configuring that I need to do.

    Of course, I have another month or more before I have a Thunderbolt Express Dock from Belkin, so I will still be dependent on the Mac Lab on campus to migrate DV footage onto a computer in the QuickTime ".mov" format ‐‐ first onto an iMac in the lab, then copied to an external HD, then onto my new computer for the project editing.


    Seriously, I may be off tomorrow.



    Wed, Aug 8, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Rehearsal has been swimming along. The Monday rehearsal was, for all practical purposes, cancelled. Director (Greg Smith), Assistant Director (Marsha Nowik), and Elliot (Matt Smith) were delayed, out of town, on day-job business, so there was only a limited amount the rest of us could do ‐‐ I was on book for some others while lines were run. Less than an hour in, we called it a night.

    I'd tell you I went home to work on lines, but let us be honest, I went home to start the full configuration of my new MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2.6 GHZ with Retina Display! *(see below).

    Last night we ran most of the show, and it was not bad at all, especially for the first run of scenes, post-blocking. We all still had the books in our hands, "off-book," after all, isn't until next Monday, but we all did relatively well at not keeping our eyes buried in the scripts. There were absolutely times when we all were, to one extent or another, off-book and only holding the scripts for security. Actually, for me, in many spots, I needed the book more for the blocking notes and for some of the cue-lines ‐‐ especially those aforementioned non sequiturs cues ‐‐ than for my lines; I believe that was true for the others as well. There were also a few times some of us (not me) did all or part of some scenes without the book in hand, at all.

    This is all good. The sooner we can start rehearsing with the instruments in hand, the better. I am hoping I can be there before the Friday rehearsal.

    Needless to say, we are all starting to give far more attention and energy to character development.

    So: Yay!

    At the start of my dinner break today, I drilled the scenes on the agenda tonight and did pretty well; maybe 90% accuracy.

    So: Yay, again!

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    When you read the next entry you'll see I experienced a little bit of a panic about my ability to edit the podcast or any other movie editing, for that matter on this new laptop, which I am happy to say I am writing this post on. But, all is well (most is well) and Final Cut Express is up and running on the new machine! Well, it opens, at least....

    The footage shot so far is migrated onto the new laptop and ready for a Final Cut project to be created. One thing I do need is to get Corel Painter 12 running on the new machine *(see below). I always use it for the podcasts, and it will be especially important for this one, based on my final cut concept.

    The plan is still to bring a comera operator next week for a few days to shoot the first of the off-book days, with in the podcast to be determined later. And the cast/crew sound bytes are still scheduled to be shot individually. It's not completely settled, but I'm relatively sure the principal performance material will be from footage where we actors are acting for the camera, not simply in dress rehearsal.


    CATEGORY: ONE OR MORE OF THESE...
    AUDITION ICON
    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON NON-PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    I've been approached to participate in a planned production before the end of the year. I do know what the show is and what involvement I've been invited in for, but I know very little other details, such as whether this is a paying gig and what that pay would be. However, I am sure it's not an Equity gig. More details when they can be made public. Right now, it's a question of sitting down and determining conflicts.


    It Couldn't Possibly Be Straight-Forward....!

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    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    K.L. fb poss ‐‐ "That SOB Murphy has been around my apartment the last 24 hours. To get Final Cut Express operational on my new laptop, I needed to enter the serial number. I had the install disk box but nowhere on it was the serial number. So, I spent part of last night and a lot of today, searching through boxes from my move to find the booklet that contains the number. Nothing. And I need an active video editor post haste and AM NOT USING Final Cut Pro X ‐‐ which I made the mistake of buying a few months back. Even went back and looked at AVID Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. Sticker shock, at least at the moment. So, just a few minutes ago, in a desperate last-ditch move, I opened up what looked like only a space filler portion of the FCE box, and low and behold, there was the booklet. Were I not so relieved to have the software working, I'd be pissed....."

    Who's surprised that I did, indeed, take a vacation day yesterday to deal with the new laptop?

    To those who are surprised: know me much?

    As the screenshot of my facebook post from yesterday evening, here to the left, illustrates, there was minor drama for me when I got home from the truncated rehearsal Monday, and it escalated yesterday.

    There have, thus far, been three pieces of software that would not run after the migration from the old MacBook Pro to the new one: Norton AntiVirus 12, Corel Painter 12, and Final Cut Express 4. With NAV12, I was not able to get it to fully configure, even using the the original install file I had saved. The price to re-purchase was low enough that I did so and after an initial software update it is now running properly. CP12 has similar problems but the full-boat cost is prohibitive. I have opened a service case with Corel to see what I can do to get it up and running. They may send me a new installer.

    FCE4 is the one that caused the bigger of my little dramas, as is seen in the screenshot. I did not have to re-install it, but when opening the software, the dialogue window that asks for the registration key number did pop up.

    Earlier this summer I moved and I must admit I am not unpacked from that move, yet. To find the box with the software's install DVD threatened to be a challenge. Against some potentially bad odds, I found the box pretty quickly Monday evening. Problem?: no registration key on the box or the disk. As is usually the case, the reg key is on the booklet that comes with the disk.

    So, for several hours yesterday, I looked through box after box after box in search of that little booklet. Of course, as it turned out, late afternoon yesterday, "in a desperate last-ditch move, I opened up what looked like only a space filler portion of the FCE box, and low and behold, there was the booklet." So, now FCE4 will open. As I wrote above, I have not actually worked in it yet, so here's hoping, since I need it to edit DV movies and I also use it to sweeten and mix sound ‐‐ and I have a couple sound design projects coming up.

    The current urgency is to get Corel Painter 12 up and running as that is how I edit, process, and create still images.



    Fri, Aug 10, 2012

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    REHEARSAL IS COMING ALONG, BUT WE CAST MEMBERS ARE ALL STILL NERVOUS!:
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    We all feel a little under-rehearsed right now. I don't believe it is because we actually are under-rehearsed as much as there are a few monumental tasks to achieve that we have not yet accomplished.

    There are parts of the play we need to just drill so we can get our lines in the proper sequence ‐‐ most being those places I've mentioned before where our lines are all non sequiturs (or close to) from each other's. Plus there's one spot with a few moments of chaos that we need to have down cold and that can't be blocked until we are off-book. Director Greg Smith plans to have us just run the lines for that until we have them tight, then the movement of the moment can be choreographed. We need, in all reality, a fight choreographer, and I'm not sure why that's not happened.

    Next week ‐‐ when we are officially off-book ‐‐ we start using the instruments in rehearsal. There's much to accomplish. We need to handle them correctly, and their auxiliary paraphernalia; we need to have our bow strokes in synch with the soundings of our instruments in the production recordings of the string quartet; we have to, as well, properly bow, which includes holding the bows correctly and executing the correct type of bowing for each composition our characters are playing.

    I plan to work on the handling and the bowing a lot this weekend. As part of the performance license, Dramatist Play Service has, through arrangement with Playwright, Michael Hollinger, provided a media disk that has videos of a string quartet playing all the production music that the characters play; We actors can see what is proper. Of course, recordings of the compositions, four our mock performances, are on the disk, as well. I will be finally giving the videos and the audio full attention this weekend, so I'm a little less of a deer caught in the headlights come Monday.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    The rest of the podcast shooting is in various states of tenuous. There is going to be a rehearsal on Sunday, Aug 19, and perhaps the next day (which Greg ideally wanted to give us off if he could). My hope is that the directed performances for the camera will be done on the nineteenth. I'll be grabbing actors and Greg & AD Marsha Nowik, for the five-minute interview segments during next week.

    The good news, as highlighted below, is that I have graphic arts capability now on my new laptop, so I can get a bit of graphics preproduction done, some of which is directly related to my visual concept for the production if this DV movie podcast.

    xxxx
    Drilling lines in the board room at the theatre.
    xxxx
    Drilling lines while doing laundry.
    xxxx
    Canon ZR800 3-chip mini-cassette DV camera for the podcast shoots.



    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    AUDITION ICON
    Have an audition this coming Tuesday in Dayton for a local commercial, non-union, probably a couple hundred bucks.

    One of the production days is Friday, August 30, which is a performance date for Opus, but this commercial shoots in Dayton, and my call for the play won't be until likely 7:00 (6:30 at the earliest), and I highly doubt I would be wrapped from the shoot too late to make my call at the theatre.

    A couple weeks back I had to turn down an audition for an industrial that was going to shoot in Louisville, Kentucky, which is a good two-and-a-half to three hours away. There were at least two Fridays and a couple potential weekend shoots that made it too chancy. For the Fridays, I would have had to be on the road back to Dayton by 4:00. That would have been a big risk. Shoots often have delays that make a 4:00 wrap on an actor a gamble unless he or she has only a few minutes on screen and the shoot started early. Really it's all a guess, but having an obligation 150 miles away? It was too risky. The weekends were a case of 4:00 and 2:00 calls for me, at the theatre so, just not tenable to go out of town.

    But this new audition: I just can't imagine there would be a problem. Even if it wrapped at 6:30 I'd probably be good ‐‐ and I'm not thinking the director won't call it a day long before that. Besides, my agency thinks the shots are only a few hours long for each day. And I might not even be called on set on that Friday.


    PREPRODUCTION IS UNDERWAY, SOME:
    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Producer icon
    Thus far, all I've really done as producer is push to get the casting call out and then field a few inquiries from interested actors. Most of the crew has been recruited without my help, though there may be a few spots that need filled.

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    As for sound design: this is, like The Story of My Life was, not a major challenge for a sound creator; no flying cats or such. I've previously written that the big thing as sound designer for this one is the proper choice of music, and that I am quite pleased with the era. The show takes place in 1970, so I have a window of about two-to-three years of great music from my youth.

    The only caveat is that the music needs to reflect the mood, mode, culture and characters of the show, so it's all going to be probably a bit more of what was, in those days called the "MOR" genre, i.e.: "middle of the road." So a lot of artists and/or particular music I'd like to use cannot be justified as fitting. I can easily justify some work by the likes of The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Carly Simon, James Taylor, maybe even Nilsson, and certainly singers like Dionne Warwick. But my focus is going to have to be on Sinatra, Dean Martin, Robert Goulette, that crowd. No Rolling Stones; no Led Zeppelin; no Steppenwolf; no Sugarloaf. Though if I can find a way to make any such fit, I will.


    COREL PAINTER 12 IS ALIVE!:

      MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH, 2.6 GHZ WITH RETINA DISPLAY

    • 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
    • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
    • 768GB Flash Storage
    • Apple USB SuperDrive
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    • Apple Thunderbolt cable *just added
    • Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter ‐‐ when it's available
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
    Wednesday after taking a closer look at the case acknowledgement email from Corel, about my problem getting Painter 12 to work on the new machine, I saw a link to their "Knowledge Base" ‐‐ you know, one of those labyrinths of problems and solutions than can often suck up hours of your time? I am most happy to report that in this case it was a relatively swift and fairly painless experience that has me now with a working Corel Painter 12 on my laptop.

    *See the icon for And Miss Readon Drinks a Little above; that, created with the newly functional CP12.

    The funny thing is that earlier Wednesday I had one of those DOH! moments. I realized that I still have Corel Painter IX on my old Power Mac G4, so, if push came to shove, I could do graphics work at home. Of course, setting up that machine in the new home is another on the mammoth list of things I have not done to move into the new place. But, still, there was a solution. Fortunately, it's back-burner solution, at present.



    Mon, Aug 13, 2012

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    WEEKEND AT THE THEATRE:
    Dayton Theatre Guild
    This past Saturday, then in the morning yesterday were a work days at the theatre, to get it into some sort of reasonable appearance for, first, the annual Guild smorgasbord, which was yesterday afternoon. The smorgasbord includes the annual Murphy Awards the theatre's actors' and technicians' awards for the previous season which are given out after dinner. The work day was also for at least the first round in getting the theatre in shape to open the 2012/13 season. Since there is still some building improvement work going on, there will have to be at least one more round, or two, of cleaning for the opening.

    At the Murphies part of the event yesterday I admit I did not record who won what, which I usually do, and though I think I do remember most, I don't remember all and probably am wrong about some that I believe I remember. So I'll post the list when I have access to an official one.

    MEANWHILE, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE I HAVEN'T YET NAMED HERE!

    I will say, right now, I am happier this year about the sound design award.

    I spent other time in the theatre over the weekend, too, alone, engaged in activities described other places below....


    REHEARSAL IS STILL COMING ALONG, AND WE CAST MEMBERS ARE LITTLE LESS NERVOUS! ‐‐ a Little less:

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Friday was a good rehearsal, one that I felt good about and believe the others did, too. We all again tried, at varying degrees, to work as much as possible without the books in hand. I was one who kept mine out of my hand, and I am quite happy about that. I will say, in defense of some folk who didn't, they have a lot more lines than I. In terms of getting to off-book, I have the easiest task of anyone in this play.

    Though we were not at all required to, we also incorporated the instruments onto the set. We all are aware that we have a lot of work to do to handle those particular props with verisimilitude, both when faux playing and when simply being musicians who have spent years with their instruments.

    The result of our pushing ourselves ahead a little was a rehearsal that was, in my mind, absolutely successful. Sure it was a bit of a stumble through both in terms of lines and many spots of awkward work with the instruments, yet it illuminated to us all great reasons to be happy and hopeful with where we are at.

    My only complaint is that we did not run the whole show as had been originally planned. Director Greg Smith did stop and rework many moments in what we did, which naturally stretched out the evening. I was very willing to make it a later night and get through the whole show ‐‐ and I know at least some of the others thought as I.

    So tonight we start where we left off, only now officially off-book.

    After the workday at The Guild on Saturday, I did spend a few hours with the provided video of the string quartet that performs the production music. The reason for the video is, of course, so the actors can see how the musicians move and how they bow, especially how they bow particular songs, such as Bartok's "String Quartet, no.2." Then I played the audio files. Just practicing so that I can create for the audience a Carl who has been playing cello for decades.
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    "I'm not a cellist; I'll just play one on stage." ‐‐ a few pics of me last Saturday afternoon, working with the video and the audio of the recorded production music, the compositions that Carl and the rest of the musicians play during the course of the play.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    Will procede this week with podcast production. Kind of hoped to have created some graphics I need for the movie, over this past weekend, but I was too busy with many other things. Now that I am again computer-mobile and have working graphics software, this seems like a lunchtime activity.


    AUDITION ICON
    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    Right now, and until about 5:30 on Sunday, September 9, I am wearing Carl's face for Opus: i.e., garnished with a goatee. The audition I have tomorrow is for a TV commercial, so the picture submitted, and for any subsequent auditions for professional work for the next few weeks, need to be me with the goatee. I had no headshots with such, except for some I took a while back that mostly don't look like the present-day me, and with a different styled goatee. So, I told the agency on Friday that I would take and get current pics to them by this morning.

    I took a couple dozen last night, nine of which are useful. I sent three to the agency last night after processing them for color correction, etc ‐‐ no actual altering of my appearance, by-the-way.
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    Three of nine "temp" headshots I took myself last evening at The Guild.
    Okay, well, on that subject, that of sweetening the photos: it's only trying to improve the quality of the image and not to change who I look like. An actor's headshot has got to look like the actor or casting people, directors and producers will be rather upset when the actor shows up looking different than the picture; this would be for an audition, if you are showing up on set, they've already seen your screentest as well as maybe at least one in-person audition. But camera casting almost always has looking for type involved in the casting. Often the casting people are looking for a very specific physical presence. If they see that in your headshot, that is a primary reason you are getting called for the audition. If the actor who walks in does not have that same presence, because it was "photoshopped into the picture," well, that actor has wasted a trip and the auditors' time.

    Down to brass tacks. I do alter my appearance just slightly, but it is not this sort of dishonesty that I describe above, it is an alteration I will carry onto the set, and usually, by the way, onto the stage. On camera, especially, I have a tendency to have dark bags under my eyes, and I have some blemishes on my nose and it tints a little red, too. I use foundation makeup to remove those things. Last night, when I was taking the headshots, I forgot to take the makeup step and it wasn't until I loaded those picture onto my computer that I realized I needed to take a new set.

    I also needed to experiment a bit with the light sourcing, which was actually good practice for this movie auteur ambition I seem to cling to. I ended up using the standard three source concept. I used the house lights for the overhead, which are pretty soft. Off to the far back with a pov shooting in from the right of the frame I had a light with a blue gel on it. The third source was shooting on dead center front, again back a several yards. I also had the back stage lights on, a fourth source, but this was mostly to provide back lighting behind the curtains, which are part of the set for Opus. Yes, I was on the Opus set. It was a great environment for the pictures. For someone who knows almost nothing about lighting, I faked a pretty good set up for the pictures, reasonable, at least.

    Granted, these aren't the most professional actor's photos in the world, but they're a few levels above crap.

    Would I shave the goatee before Opus closes, you ask? If I had to, I would. But, I would rather not. It just says, "Carl," to me. The facial hair is my concept not Greg Smith's, but he is on board with it, obviously. I'd hate to for Carl to take the stage without the goatee, but if a professional gig dictated it, I would have to acquiesce, clearly.


    In the audience icon
    Part of my weekend, after I did my cello work at The Guild Saturday, was to see a very nice Free Shakespeare production of The Merchant of Venice, performed last weekend at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark in Dayton. It was directed by Chris Shea and touted some very fine work. Kudos to the cast: Riley Able (Antonio), Bob Allen (Shylock), Charis Weible (Portia; also the production's stage manager), Robert Stimmel (Bassanio), Leah Strasser (Nerissa), Justin King (Gratiano), Alex Chilton (Lorenzo), Alexandra Hildenbrandt (Jessica), Ben Miller (Salerio), Michelle Weiser (Solanio), Jason Antonick (Launcelot/others), Marcus Simmons II (Prince of Morocco/Duke of Venice), David Zelmon (Prince of Aragon/Tubal), and Bill Styles (Old Gobbo/Balthazar).


    Daytonys - Dayton theatre Hall of Fame


    CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO TOOK HOME MEDALS SATURDAY EVENING FROM THE 2011/2012 DAYTON THEATRE AWARDS ‐‐ THE DAYTONYS.

    A MAJOR CONGRATULATION TO BRUCE BROWN WHO WAS INDUCTED INTO THE DAYTON THEATRE HALL OF FAME DURING THE SAME PROCEEDINGS!



    Wed, Aug 15, 2012

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    SO, YESTERDAY WAS A BUSY THINGS-ART-RELATED DAY

    Yesterday afternoon into evening was packed with activity....


    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    AUDITION ICON
    The festivities began in the early afternoon with my audition for a DP&L commercial. Shaunn Baker shot the screentests, here in Dayton.

    Without giving details, I auditioned for a role that I am typed for. The actual work will be mos, but for the screentest, so that the producers can see "character," we actors improvised a short monologue that our character might give.

    What I'd been told before I arrived was that i would have lines fed to me. Not a problem though; the new method kept me on my toes. I'd say what I was pretty much spontaneous, save that Shaunn had me do it again with a couple tweaks.

    I suppose I did okay....    smiley icon


    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    Earlier in the day Peter Condopoulos (PC-Goenner) called me about a last-minute commercial gig in the afternoon for Horenstein, Nicholson & Blumenthal. I'd already planned to take the rest of the day off from work to take care of Opus-related errands, so, what the hell: booking a paying gig without an audition? ‐‐ Hell YEAH!

    It's not really going to be a fat check, but I did about an hour's work, so in perspective it'll be good pay. Moreover, I believe the production team was happy with my work and I made sure to remind them to think of me in the future.


    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Right after the impromptu commercial gig, I headed down the street, not very far at all to Price Stores to be measured for Carl's tux for a couple scenes in the show.

    Geez, last time I was fitted at Price Stores it was for my senior prom in 19...

    We are pushing along in rehearsal, officially off-book this week with various degrees of success. We are working in props, though mostly do-fers (Do for now props ‐‐ not the actual production props), of course, using our instruments. With the sound team on site, we have started to work in our bowing along with the recordings. It's the early stages so there's a lot to still master in terms of bowing with a look of authenticity ‐‐ as in stroking congruently with the music ‐‐ and coordinating starts and stops with the sound operator. Which is why we're doing it now, before the official tech rehearsals.

    Personally, I have some business after an entrance in a scene that is going to take some practice to shave down to a good time. I come in and set up all my music stuff: a portable chair, my folding music stand, adjusting end pin on my cello to the proper height, getting the sheet music out and ready, and tightening and rosining my bow. I have a certain window of time to do that which is not terribly long before we start to rehearse a song, prompted by my (Carl's) line, "Let's just play." Actually Matt Smith's Elliott has the next line right before we start to play, but by the time I say, "Let's just play," I have to be sitting and ready to strike my bow on the cello strings. And it really is not a very long after I enter that we are to start playing.

    One thing I will do is have a couple things already actually done off stage so I can do a quick fake of them and move on, those being tightening the bow hairs and running the soap ‐‐ our faux version of rosin ‐‐ across those hairs. The rest of is just going to be a combination of getting a smooth routine down plus some built-in dramatic opportunities to delay returning my lines while I soldier on in the setting up. The moment in the play does allow for that; so long as I don't drag too much, it will work.

    We have yet to do a full run in an evening. There's been so much work being done with each scene that we've eaten up a lot of time inside the work. To quote Carl, however: That's not a bad thing; that's a good thing. To further paraphrase him: It keeps us all in focus, priorities straight.

    My hope is, however, that tonight we finish from where we left off, maybe then work on some spots that need it, then do full runs from tomorrow forward. It all depends on the caprice of Director Greg Smith.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
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    After the Price Stores and before rehearsals I spent some time at the theatre setting up in The Guild boardroom office for the podcast commentaries ‐‐ see the photos on right. That for catching folk whenever for their five minutes on camera ‐‐ any time during this week, really.

    After we had come to a particular breaking point in rehearsal last night, though, Greg suggested I shoot the commentaries. I got all the cast, including me, though I may re-shoot mine tonight as I am wholly unhappy with my ramblings (surprise, surprise). It's all still set up in the office so I can get Greg and AD Marsha Nowik tonight, if not also the boob who plays Carl, again.

    Fred Boomer should be there tonight to shoot what may be the last of b-roll. I am forming a very good idea of the brief moments I want to shoot as principal performance (performed for the camera); I think it can be done rather quickly. I have also arranged to have two cameras for the Sunday rehearsal, which is where I want to shoot the moments for camera. I'll have Fred shoot actual rehearsal, too. And if we are rehearsing Monday, rather then having it off, if Fred can't be there, I'll at least set a camera on a tripod to shoot more potential principal performance footage from rehearsal.

    Meanwhile, I am creating what amounts to a sort of animation for the background of the podcast and will generate some footage of that, starting this afternoon. The idea I have seems like it will work and look very good; we'll see how correct I am.

    In planning good blocks of time for serious editing, I've also arranged to take off at least half days this coming Monday and Tuesday from the rent-payer, as well as the whole day on Wednesday I had already scheduled off.


    CONTINUING FORMAL TRAINING AS AN ACTOR:

    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    There's another acting class coming up this fall at The Human Race Theatre Company with Kay Bosse. It starts Monday, September 17, and I must admit, I am inclined toward enrolling.

    Kay, by-the-way, is appearing in The Race's opening production for the season, Managing Maxine, in the roll of Joanne. It closes Sep 23, six days after class starts ‐‐ but Mondays are dark at The Race, anyway. I have tentative plans to see the show on Final Dress Can Night.



    Sun, Aug 19, 2012

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    A LOT OF OPUS STUFF:

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
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    Introducing Carl McIntyre ‐‐ Cellist for the Lazara String Quartet         *photo by Debra Kent
    CARL & THE BOYS (AND GIRL) & THEIR STRINGS ‐‐ Karen and Robert Young (retired violinists from the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra) dropped back by this past Wednesday to check up on the verisimilitude of our faux playing and how we all handle our instruments. They had a few corrective pointers, but overall were complementary about what they saw.

    The biggest challenge, in my mind, for the faux playing is Bartok's "String Quartet No. 2," which the quartet plays at the top of Scene 2, Grace's audition piece. I spent a lot of time on that particular music last Saturday *(re the pics above in the Aug 13 post). I spent about an hour on that one alone.

    THEM LINES ‐‐ Thursday we did a line run, which was most beneficial. I will say, for myself at least, a few times Wednesday I blew lines I haven't been blowing; they were in scenes when we were playing, so I think I was unnerved by the expert string musicians in the room, watching us faux play.

    To be honest, I would prefer to be a little better "off-book" than I am. I'd gage my level at about 98%, but I have still had to ask for line at least a few times each night. As far as I am concerned at this point that is not good enough ‐‐ I'm behind the curve. Last night I drilled the shit out of the lines in preparation for today and the first tech run, and will do so again after I get to the theatre early today.

    TECH BEFORE TECH WEEK ‐‐ We've been throwing a certain amount of the sound in, which is essentially mostly the recorded music we are bowing to. Friday was our first full run of the play, at all, much less with tech. I would have been happier had I not called for line at all, but at least I did not much. Regardless, it has been good to tech some this week; I am very okay with the early tech work.

    MEET CARL MCINTYRE ‐‐ Well, I have always said I would alter my appearance for a role and to some extent have done so in the past. Hell, I'd shave my head if I could get away with it. The goatee was already a part of Carl's look; that being my choice. The picture on the left here shows that Carl has a head of hair that K.L. does not have; that being Director Greg Smith's choice. As I believe I wrote here before, a few years back, a piece in my everyday life?: no, not likely; on stage?: why the hell not?

    Carl's full development has not completed, I don't believe. I think he's at a full three dimensions bit not 100% here. The hair piece is certainly a great help toward that 100%, but there're still some things to get to. I am not completely satisfied with his voice, I quite literally mean his speech, his dialect. I want a little bit of east coast in there and I have been too concentrated on what the words are to worry about how to say them.

    The last name is my invention. Other than a last name, however, backstory did not get written, either, and now it may not. Oh well.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    THE PODCAST HAS BEEN ON AN OBSTACLE COURSE THIS WEEK ‐‐ The first few obstacles actually came up before this week. First, of course, was me not having a working computer at the point that I started shooting, so I had no access to my Final Cut Express. Then when I did have the new computer, even though the data off my old HD was completely migrated to the new machine, I still needed the FCE registration key to get it to work, and I had some problem finding that key. Then there was ‐‐ IS ‐‐ the problem that my new laptop INEXPLICABLY does not have a direct input for Firewire, so I still cannot transfer footage from the DV cameras to my hard drive until the adapter is marketing which seems to be slated for next month.

    Enter the latest obstacle. I have to use a Mac Pro in the Mac Lab on campus and Final Cut 7 to capture the video into ".mov" files that I then copy over to my hard drive via an intimidate portable two-gig hard drive. Yesterday afternoon I'd planned to stop by that Mac lab to capture all the video that's been shot this week. Problem: Since WSU summer quarter ended on Friday, the Mac labs are closed until tomorrow. Fortunately I will have the day off, thus most of the day to capture, but really I wanted to start some serious editing. Too bad. If there is no rehearsal tomorrow night, and there may not be, I can at least edit past late afternoon. Otherwise, I will be seriously behind where I'd hoped to be ‐‐ or, rather, I won't be able to catch up some. Believe me: I already am behind.

    It also looks very much like there will be very little principal performance footage, certainly not the footage I really wanted to get. That's more than a little too bad, because it means that this podcast will not be anywhere close to as good as it could have been. Let's just say I find it highly disappointing.

    Elseways I have done as much pre-production editing as I can, including all the graphics, music and closing credits as is possible to be done right now. I also have the opening splash created.

    SOME PR WORK ‐‐ Larry Coressel, whose one hat is as weekday morning announcer at WDPR Radio, contacted us about interviewing someone connected to the show for the episode of Arts Focus that will air this coming Thursday. Greg forwarded the request to me, so looks like I'm recording the interview tomorrow morning.

    Now I'm off to The Guild to do some cello work and line work; and later today ‐‐ TECH SUNDAY


    READING OF A NEW PLAY:

    NON-PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON

    Natasha Randall invited me to be a part of the dramatic reading of the play St. Augustine Was a Swinger, by her friend Bob Garvin. The reading will be Sunday evening, August 26, at the Guild, a few hours after I've wrapped the Opus performance.

    According to Tosha, Bob "took his one act Choices and has developed it into a full length play." I believe I attended a reading of Choices several years ago.



    Fri, Aug 24, 2012

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    OPENING TODAY

    OPUS by Michael Hollinger, at The Dayton Theatre Guild.

    fb post - "Last night's dress rehearsal? A good mix of fixes and snafus to be a good omen for tonight! See you there, if not tonight, then before the run is over!!!".
    We open tonight. This has been a difficult production to get to this point. The technical aspect took some by surprise: that they would prove to be as menacing to conquer as they have been. Rehearsals have been glitchy, glitchy, glitchy. It's been so many things, at different times (graciously). One time ‐‐ Okay, "Many" times ‐‐ it's been dropped lines from actors. Then there's the complexity of stagehand work to strike and get props to where they need to be; that either means, where on stage, or where back stage so the actor can grab the prop for his or her next scene. We actors are bringing on or striking what we can, ourselves, but often it's impossible. For me in at least one scene I leave before the scene wraps and it's not logical for Carl to leave with the props in question (namely his cello and his satchel) in hand. Other times, the mere fact that I do strike the cello with me, makes it difficult to strike much else.

    The coordination of the recorded chamber music our characters play as we actors faux play on stage is a bit of a challenge; it's the starting and stopping at the right instant, so we are neither bowing to no music or not bowing when there is music. It's a concerted collaboration between us and our sound tech, Chris Stipp. That has been well dealt with, though.

    There are also a couple places where the light cues are sticky and tricky. last night was almost perfect ‐‐ though lights did come up once on me before I was in place. Our AD mistook the silhouette of our SM as me, so called the cue too early.

    The really good news is that Alan, Carl, Dorian, Elliot, and Grace are all fully present on the stage. We are rockin' our characters, if I do say so, myself.

    And in a note related to both the last paragraph and the next part, as I finished the podcast editing, I watched more footage of me on stage and it's definitely much better for me to have the ideal of what I'm doing on stage in my mind than any video evidence of the actuality. Once again I watched my lumbering around on stage with a wince on my face as I witnessed that "actor" pretty much faltering around; never mind my spastic, kinetic mannerisms; such finesse; I felt like shouting, "Calm down, Dude!"

    DTG Podcast Production logo

    Clearly, the podcast is done. It did not meet my vision because the shooting was somewhat hindered. I could not shoot this exactly as I wanted. The final product certainly is not bad; but: The Good Is The Enemy Of The Better.

    However, I was able to execute the basic, overall concept, and pretty much successfully. There just wasn't any exceptional, controlled principal performance footage ‐‐ though some of what principal performance footage I was able to capture wasn't too bad. On the other hand, some was just simply not usable.

    Click here to see the podcast.


    Just a few hours from Opening Curtain. I'm at the theatre as I finish this post. Why early? Why not? See you when you get here...



    Mon, Aug 27, 2012

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    Neil ASrmstrong and Buzz Aldren on the surface of the moon, July, 1969
    In December, 2003, on the centennial anniversary of The Wright Brothers' first powered flight, in Kittyhawk, North Carolina, I e-published a virtual chapbook on the theme of first flights, titled, as it would be logical, First Flights. In that, along with prose and poetry by others, is an essay I wrote that I republish here in its entirety. It had been originally written as a submission for The Vincent Brothers Review but was passed on by the editors.

    In honor and memory of the late, great Neil Armstrong, who passed away over the weekend, I repost it here.

    *DO NOTE THAT "LAST YEAR" REFERS TO 2002.

    Meeting Two of Ohio's Other First Flyers and Looking at the Nature of "Greatness"

    Last year I twice brushed with true greatness. The moments of these brushes were brief and ultimately shallow, yet still, they were moments of import to me. Brushes with greatness ‐‐ real brushes with real greatness -- don't come often for most people. I've had few. I once met comedian Roseanne before she was famous. I came reasonably close to meeting Paul McCartney when I was eighteen. I have a few other stories like these and they're all the kind about show-biz celebrities that many of us have. However, my brushes last year weren't with the type of celebrity you'll see featured on E True Story. They were with the type of people who would be portrayed in movies by the show-biz celebrities; in fact, both have been. And in several ways these meetings are directly tied to the legacy of Dayton, my home town, and the Wright Brothers' first flight.

    We've now entered into the second century since Orville and Wilbur Wright made that historical first powered flight on a field in Kittyhawk, North Carolina. For us in Dayton, where the brothers conceived, designed, built and first tested their flyer, the centennial of powered flight bolstered Dayton's great pride in two of its native sons. In this town, we jealously hold tight to the conviction that Dayton is the real birthplace of aviation. Kittyhawk is, for certain, the location of a great historical event, there can be no successful argument against that. However, Dayton is where it all was put together. Kittyhawk had the land (and the wind); Dayton had the plan. The Wright brothers are among those relatively few in history who have greatly affected the world. At this one-hundredth anniversary of their flight, we are reminded of how other great historical events and achievements reach directly back to that brief flight on December 17, 1903. In October of last year, I personally experienced my thrilling brushes with greatness, which reach directly back to the Wright brothers' flights, to their achievement.

    I was in the presence of two profoundly significant people. They are two more men (both Ohio natives) who have left their own deep imprints in history, pioneer explorers, the real kind, in the company of not only the Wright brothers, but also the likes of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Marco Polo ‐‐ heavy weights in human exploration. That October day, Wright State University (named, of course, for the Wright brothers) hosted a meeting of the U.S. Centennial Flight Commission and the First Flight Centennial Federal Advisory Board. It was the only meeting of these groups held outside of the D.C. beltway. These two men were among the participants. They are astronauts, and that in itself puts them in an exclusive club. Which astronauts they are is far more impressive. One is John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth (Mercury 2, 1962) ‐‐ and only the second human ever to do so, and also currently the oldest person to ever travel into space, as per his trip on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. The other, the first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11, 1969). Centuries into the future, these will be two members of humanity who, as the Wright brothers, will be answers on and subjects for school exams. And I got to meet them and shake their hands. Small events, but for me, very big deals.

    Of course, the meeting they attended concerned the then coming first flight centennial celebrations, and was held in Dayton, and at WSU, for the obvious reasons. Col. Glenn attended as secretary general of Inventing Flight, Dayton's centennial of flight celebration committee. Dr. Armstrong was a Speaker of the House appointee to the First Flight advisory board. I met these men in a large room I frequent. The commission held the meeting in the group study area of Wright State's Paul Laurence Dunbar Library.

    Some of us on campus knew the summer of 2002 the event was coming. For months it wasn't two astronauts we thought would be there, it was the actor Kurt Russell, a pilot who was also an appointee to the First Flight advisory board. So my first ideas were of a brush with a famous actor. Then I got this notion that his step daughter, Kate Hudson, would for some inexplicable reason accompany him and I could meet her: (because talented, smart, young, beautiful, successful Hollywood actresses keep their eyes peeled for middle-aged, middle-class men). At some point a rumor started to bubble that John Travolta, who's certified to operate airliners, might be there. And Kurt Russell morphed into Russell Crowe. I'm sad to report there will be no picture in People magazine of Kate Hudson in the company of a mysterious, bald, older man "while visiting Dayton, Ohio." Likewise, her step dad, who actually might have been there, wasn't able to attend. John Travolta isn't on the board; and to the best of my knowledge, Russell Crowe isn't even a pilot, and not being American, probably wasn't eligible for the board even if he is a pilot.

    By the day the meeting was held it was clear Armstrong and Glenn would be there. I became far more interested in meeting them than Kurt Russell or the other movie stars ‐‐ even the lovely Ms. Hudson. I used my lunch time and some personal time to attend as much of the meeting as I could. I thought the astronauts might speak from the podium at some point, but they weren't there to present, they were there to listen. Though I was interested in the meeting, itself, I really sought openings to meet these two men. The panel had begun to introduce itself as I entered the room. There were people present from places such as the U.S. departments of Interior and Transportation, high ranking members from the Air Force and Navy, people from the National Air and Space Museum, NASA, the National Forestry and Parks Service, the Rockafeller Center. It was impressive. What impressed me the most, however, was how the two astronauts introduced themselves. "John Glenn, Inventing Flight Committee," said one. Then, a few people down, "Neil Armstrong, member of the advisory board." It wasn't, "John Glenn, first American in orbit, who went back into space at the age of seventy-seven." It wasn't, "Neil Armstrong, mission commander of Apollo 11 and first human being to step foot on the lunar surface."

    Certainly they could both afford to be so humble. It's not like their historical import was unknown to those present. I'm also confident both men have a much different perspective on their "greatness" than those of us who thrust the mantle upon them. Neither man engineered nor built the vessel he flew on his mission. Neither planned the intricate details from take-off to splash-down. Neither executed his mission alone, nowhere close to alone. Perhaps thousands of people participated in each mission. Col. Glenn and Dr. Armstrong are surely acutely aware of all this.

    Human achievement is built upon previous human achievement. The astronauts were, after all, attending a meeting about the celebration of the Wright Brothers' flight. A human had to fly a few yards above a sand bar for a few moments before another could orbit the earth and then another could fly to, and land on, the moon. Before that first powered flight, the Wright Brothers designed and built the Wright flyer by building upon previous engineering. We had to make kites and bicycles and engines before we could make aeroplanes. So the two astronauts I met, these two profoundly significant figures in human history, don't stand alone in their accomplishments.

    Yet, that's only one side of the coin. The other side is that history has cast these men in their significant roles. Only John Glenn gets to be the first American in orbit, the first person in his or her seventies to travel into space. Only Neil Armstrong gets to be the first human to walk on the moon, the first to perform a successful docking of two vehicles in space (Gemini 8, 1966). The greatness of their legacies goes beyond their personal memberships in the human race.

    I was only four when John Glenn orbited the planet. I don't remember it as it happened. But my Aunt Gladys had a 33 1/3 LP documenting the event that I often listened to as an older child. It solidified the greatness of the event for me. It taught me the wonder of the technical achievement and of the metal a person must have to sit in a space capsule traveling at thousands-of-miles per hour. It takes a brave human with the heart of a pioneer, the soul of an explorer, a lust for adventure, to overshadow the tremendous risk to life that space travel presents. We've had two space shuttle tragedies to underscore the point. In my youth, John Glenn was ingrained in me as a bigger-than-life American hero.

    Then, just weeks after my eleventh birthday, on Sunday night, July 20, 1969, I, and perhaps a billion other people, watched a smudgy, grainy, black-and-white image of Neil Armstrong step off the bottom step of the lunar module platform ladder onto the moon. We heard him utter those historical words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I remember my dad responding to Mr. Armstrong's words with a giddy giggle of enthusiasm saying something about how we'd be quoting that in a thousand years. Dad made sure I understood I was witnessing one of the most important events in human history. Unlike most historical events, it was the type where the weight and import is right there, in your face, as it unfolds, where though the total meaning may take historians to decipher later, the fact that it does mean something very big is not at doubt, as it happens before you.

    It never occurred to me I'd ever meet either of these two mammoth historical figures. It seemed as likely I'd have witnessed Orville Wright's brief flight in Kittyhawk in 1903 or would have went to the moon myself. Though, Col. Glenn has spent so much of his life in the public sector, as Senator Glenn, that it eventually seemed a little more likely I'd meet him, yet not by much. But there I was, in a room with both these historical figures.

    The commission meeting took a break. In C-SPAN-like fashion, the participants were beseeched to hold the five-minute break to twenty minutes. I stood chatting with my boss. Dr. Armstrong walked by us and back to where First Flight memorabilia items were on sale. Now, in Ohio at least, it's known to many that Dr. Armstrong is uncomfortable with his "celebrity" status. It's reasonably substantiated that he's only visited the Neil Armstrong Museum, in his home town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, a few times. So, as I stood there, I thought to myself, Oh, leave the guy alone. He's got thirty-three years of people wanting to intrude. Then I thought, On the other hand, that's Neil Armstrong, mission commander of Apollo 11, the first member of the human race ‐‐ the first terrestrial life form, period ‐‐ to set foot on extra-terrestrial ground. I'm in a room with this man and I'm not going to at least introduce myself and shake his hand? A few minutes later as Dr. Armstrong wandered back to his seat at the commission table, I saw myself three decades earlier, an eleven-year-old kid who never dreamed he'd get this opportunity. I excused myself from the small group of people I was currently in and went to Dr. Armstrong, who sat in his chair.

    "Mister Armstrong," I said, standing beside him, reaching my hand out, "I don't want to intrude," he began to stand and grabbed my hand, "But I just wanted to shake your hand and welcome you to Dayton -- the real birthplace of aviation."

    Perhaps because I knew his reputation for being shy about his place in history, I read a slightly embarrassed graciousness that wasn't there. But I don't think so. I think the almost pained humility I perceived was real. "Well, thank you very much, Sir," he said. I told him to enjoy his stay and was on my way. There it was. No big deal. A small encounter. Just two human beings meeting briefly. Dr. Armstrong wasn't godlike, he was just another one of us.

    With Col. Glenn there was less mystique, even though he was the first hero of space travel I was ever aware of. But he's spent much of his life in the public eye. As I shook his hand I used that same real-birthplace- of-aviation line and he laughed and said, "Oh, don't worry, we're all aware of that." He was gregarious and made a point of asking my name; he employed all the \people-person skills a seasoned politician and experienced statesman will use. There it was. No big deal, again. Another small encounter. Just two more human beings meeting briefly. Col. Glenn wasn't godlike, either, just another one of us.

    Neil Armstrong and John Glenn did not have to be the ones who achieved their accomplishments. There were many other men who had the credentials (and I say "men" because, let's face it, in the sixties, women weren't given this sort of opportunity). There were hundreds who had the know-how and skill. There were thousands who had the cultivated talent ‐‐ certainly women can be counted by this level. There were surely millions of men and women who had the potential. It's not that Neil Armstrong had to be the first human to walk on the moon. John Glenn did not have to be the first American in orbit. Orville and Wilbur Wright did not have to be the first men to successfully fly a powered heavier-than-air machine; there certainly were others making the attempt. Someone was going to do it first.

    There are also those millions and millions who could not have stood in any of these shoes. I, as an example, don't do well on a roller coaster, much less in a jet as a test pilot or in a space capsule as a member of a crew traveling thousands of miles from Earth at a speed of thousands-of-miles per hour. But I bet I have the potential for some sort of historical greatness based on something about me, my talents, my know-how ‐‐ we all do. Historical greatness, as with these men I met, and with the men they were in Dayton because of, has as much to do with timing and circumstance as it does with who the person is. This is the idea that seems to drive Dr. Armstrong's timidity toward his historical import. He knows he's not the only human who could have been the first on the moon. And Col. Glenn has been known to credit his wife for more-or-less pointing out this same idea to him.

    Still, they all purposefully put themselves there in those moments. Their places in history are more than just the happenstance of events. They all wanted to fly, from the odd notion that two brothers decided they could make a reality, to the man who accepted the role as mission commander for an extra-terrestrial touch down. And there once was a kid who was in awe that the first people to fly a plane came from the same town as him, who marveled at Col. Glenn's flight into outer space, a kid who sat with his parents and saw the great historical event of a human's first step onto the moon. It didn't have be them, but, it was them. And I met two of them. And because of what they represent, whether either of them like it or not, it was a big deal to me. And I can't think of better place for me to have met the two astronauts than during a meeting to plan the celebration of the first flight and on the campus of the university named after the two inventors who did it, who made it all possible.





    OPENING WEEKEND FOR OPUS ‐‐ NOT BAD; NOT BAD AT ALL:
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
  • Opening Night, Itself ‐‐ It was a good open.
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    As my facebook post from Saturday says, it wasn't perfect but there was much, much, much to be happy about. A couple technical woopsies and a few line flubs kept us from an absolutely stellar performance, but overall it was a really strong start for the run. Our characters were certainly all present and accounted for!
  • PRODUCTION GREMLIN ICON

  • Sophomore Night ‐‐ The Saturday performance was somewhat tormented by that mischievous little theatre gremlin bastard!

    First, we had a lighting sequence discombobulation at the top of the show. There's an exact sequence of different isolated lights that have to come up, individually, on each of the four male actors while we say disjointed lines. If Anything in the sequence is off, everything after that is thrown off. Something ‐‐ which we never fully identified and have since let go of ‐‐ got out of sequence. At one point, my spot came up and because this is one of those "non sequitur" places I've mentioned before, and because it wasn't really my turn, because I had not heard the cue line, I had no idea what to say. I was blank. In character I simply said, "Um...." It got a laugh, and I believe the audience, or most of the audience, thought that was in the script. The several theatre people in the audience, however, most likely recognized the deer caught in headlights.

    Then, the little bastard decided to dislocate the hair strings on Grace's (Mary Mykytka's) bow right at the very top of scene 2, when Grace is auditioning for the quartet. As lights came up, I, sitting next to Mary, heard the audience begin to laugh. I thought, Are they laughing because we are faux playing and they find it amusing? Then I looked to my left and saw my poor young costar bowing along but with the bow hair hanging off the bottom end of the bow. We all find it a funny story to tell...now. At the time it was an OH SHIT! moment for all of us on stage, but I am quite sure a bit magnified for Ms. Mykytka. I give Mary major points for her composure. She soldiered on like a pro and soon the audience forgot all about it. I was probably thrown more than she. I dropped a line right after the mishap; fortunately, Matthew Smith (Elliot) covered for me.

  • Sunday ‐‐ the consensus among the cast is that Sunday's performance was overall the best of the weekend. The audience was docile, which is typical of Sunday matinee audience, at least The Guild's Sunday matinee audiences, but we feel our work was at its best. I think my own work during the climax of the play was better Saturday night, but I do otherwise agree with the consensus. One thing, though, I did get a key line verbatim from the script on Sunday, that which I had clumsily paraphrased the first two nights.
  • And, as on Friday, if nothing else, our characters where still all strong the rest of the weekend.


    DTG Podcast Production logo

    I erred a bit in the closing credits of the podcast. I had to redo them and render a new version of the movie ‐‐ new in that the credits are fixed, otherwise it's the same movie. I had omitted several things and spelled a name wrong. Most importantly I had forgotten to credit Fred Boomer as second camera. It's now all fixed. For a little while there will be two of that podcast at the DTG youtube channel, but the one with the bad credits will soon be removed, as soon as I know everyone who has embedded or linked has updated their connections to the new one.


    THE WONDERLAND EXPRESS AT THE 2012 FILM DAYTON FESTIVAL:

    In the audience icon
    Film Dayton icon
    Saturday morning I was one of many from the local acting community who saw the screening of the full-length indy movie, The Wonderland Express, conceived and directed by Greg Nichols, at the 2012 Film Dayton film festival. The film features three of my favorite people from said acting community: Craig & Natasha Randall and Charles Larkowski. There were also cameos from many other theatre friends ‐‐ I'd list them but I'm afraid I'd leave someone out. Shawn A. Green and comedian Ryan Singer also starred as brothers; Shawn, in fact, plays what I'd call the lead character.

    I must say it is a most enjoyable film to watch. Interesting to me was that it was mostly improvisational, based on Greg's concept. Having shot ‐‐ and, of course, still not cut ‐‐ a similar type movie myself, which happens to have Natasha and Craig in it (re: the outtake, Be Or Not), it was nice to see a comparable work that was cut to success. I'd say this is cut to a better success than I anticipate mine will be.

    Also on the program Saturday morning were a couple shorts, one very much worth mentioning. Young Nick Messinger, a student from Troy Junior High has directed a short-short, Always Believe, which was a big hit. Click on the hot linked title for the whole movie. It's only about ninety seconds and it's worth it.

    AUG 28 ADDENDUM: AHEM, THAT'S ACTUALLY "CRAIG ROBERTS" & NATASHA RANDALL.



    NON-PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON

    Sunday evening, a collection of local actors and I were involved in the staged reading of the play, St. Augustine Was a Swinger, by Natasha Randall's long-time friend Bob Garvin; Tosha directed. Bob comes to a lot of the shows at The Guild, certainly when Tosha is in them or has directed them; he's a really nice guy and a virtual encyclopedia of theatre. It was much fun and most rewarding to give voice to his words for him, and Bob was in hog heaven.

    What a nice way to cap off my weekend of theatre (and cinema).



    Tue, Aug 28, 2012

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    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    We had the first night of auditions last night. It was a decent turnout including a few faces I don't know. Being on lobby duty, I didn't much attend to the auditioning but was told there are some possibilities.


    Wed, Aug 29, 2012

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    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    The second night of auditions closed last night.

    I was again not much privy to the auditions so any input I had was cursory.

    Fortunately for the production there were more good auditions, I understand, than roles to fill, so Director Debra Kent had some hard choices to make and, no way around it, will be not casting some people who could be cast.

    I will post the cast when it has been finalized.


    AS FOR MY OWN AUDITIONING:
    AUDITION ICON

  • You'll note below* that our next auditions at The Guild are for Howard, Sears, and Williams' A Tuna Christmas. A theatre colleague asked me the other day if I was auditioning; I'm not. There is a need, a very strong need, for a robust sense of comedy and sharp comedic timing to successfully do this show, neither that I have any delusion I possess. I've been funny in shows, but that has usually been under coaching and direction from the director; let's say virtually always under coaching and direction from the director; it's sometimes been under heavy coaching and direction from the director.

    * "below" until Oct 10, 2012 when auditions are over

    I know there are other opportunities for me this year at DTG, I just have yet to scope out and target them, save for Pillow Man, which may or may not be tenable, depending on the outcomes of the HRTC callback for Avenue Q, which would be a schedule conflict.

  • A few weeks back I was approached about an independent theatre project that is auditioning soon: a local, limited run of The Rocky Horror Show. David Harewood, the director, contacted me about auditioning ‐‐ along, I'm sure with many other local actors ‐‐ and though I have not committed to the audition just yet, I'm certainly not uninterested. No, I would not be going after Frank N. Furter or Riff Raff (or Magenta, for that matter).
  • There have got to be a whole lot of other opportunities out there in the theatre community that I haven't properly scoped out, too.

  • Moreover, as per that HRTC callback for Avenue Q, I am patiently awaiting the date and the specs!
  • And, of course, any professional commercial, industrial, or feature film auditions I can get through PC-Goenner are always welcomed.


  • Thu, Aug 30, 2012

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    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    The Cast of And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little

    CHARACTER
    ACTOR
              
    Catherine Reardon            Cheryl Mellen

    Anna Reardon            Cassandra Engber

    Ceil Adams            Teresa Connair

    Fleur Stein            Jennie Hawley

    Bob Stein            Michael Taint

    Mrs. Pentrano            Amy Diederich

    Delivery boy            Leo Santucci

    CONGRATULATIONS

    TO

    ALL

    !




    DOH! ‐‐ MIGHT I ADD MY CURRENT SHOW TO MY RÉSUMÉ?:

    On-line PDF of K.L.Storer's actors resume
    It occurred to me that I had not added the last two gigs onto my actor's Résumé, neither Opus nor the commercial for Horenstein, Nicholson & Blumenthal, which I have not seen as of yet, by the way. Both are added now, on each of the different résumés; Theatre, Pro Theatre, Screen, Pro Screen, On Line, and Agent's version.

    Oh, the new Theatre, Pro Theatre, Screen, and Pro Screen résumé PDFs are all copied onto my cell phone for those instances when someone says, "Do you have a résumé and headshot handy." And I will, if not hardcopy. I copied a handful of headshots over, including two of the new "temp" ones of me with Carl's goatee.

    The résumé updates have a goatee pic, too.



    Fri, Aug 31, 2012

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    3 DOWN, 6 TO GO:
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    The sophomore weekend opens tonight. We did not have a brush up rehearsal, even a simple line run, which makes me a little nervous. But I have studied my lines during the week and will likely run them with my flash cards at least twice after I get off work from the rent-payer.

    So, three shows down, six to go...


    REHEARSAL HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN:
    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Producer icon
    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    The table read was last night. Many of our actors already have some clear ideas of where they want to take their characters. The producer has a note for the director. That which I will share with her, probably today. I left before the the closing discussion was done, so I did not speak with her about the issue last night. Actually, I have some scooping out to do as per the note. There is a safety issue to address, clearly, and I am now on the prowl for a person to help with that safety issue.

    DTG fb post ‐‐ "This just in, Leo Santucci has joined the cast...."

    About an hour before the table read, Director Debra A. Kent cast young Leo Santucci in the role of deliver Boy at the top of Act I. So, now the cast is complete. Leo's dad, Pat, made his return to the stage, after a hiatus of some years, as Phillip in Mauritius, on our boards, to end the 2011/2012 season.

    In sound design news, there hardly is any, save that I will get started on that soon. Someone has suggest a song that thematically works as the show opener, but I'm not too sure it's not too rock-&-roll; I think what this show mostly needs, as I have stated before, is pop music listened to by the adults of the late 60's and 1970 ‐‐ that old programming genre classification known as MOR (Middle Of the Road). That qualification leaves only a small handful of top 40 artists of the time and the list would not include much by the artists of that song, and would not include that song.


    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    As of the mail pick up this morning, at said "rent-payer," my registration form for the Advanced Acting Techniques class coming up September 17 at The Human Race Theatre Company, with Kay Bosse at the helm, is on the mail.

    This will be, I believe, my fourth acting class with Kay.

    Here's a screenshot of the class information that is currently at the HRTC website:

    Advanced Acting Techniques- Mondays 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. - September 17, 24 and October 1, 8, 15, 22 - Fee: $150.00 - Instructor: Kay Bosse - Welcome Returning and Advanced Acting Students. Expand your repertoire and improve your acting skills in a relaxed and positive environment. Through scene study and cold readings, you will be working on strengthening your performance abilities. Scenes will be specifically chosen for individuals from the classics and contemporary works, Greek and Shakespearean dramas based on your interests.



    THE BUSINESS OF ACTING ICON
    KLS fb post - "So I did a local commercial just a few weeks ago and I have already received the compensation check. Some may not understand how unexpected that is; many others most certainly will."
    The check for the Horenstein, Nicholson & Blumenthal law firm commercial was surprisingly prompt in arriving. My limited experience with such payments and the standard stories I have heard from all my acting friends all suggests that this was an extraordinarily quick issuance. As I'd written earlier, the compensation wasn't behemoth by any stretch of the imagination, but for about an hour of work, it's not a bad wage at all.



    Sat, Sep 1, 2012

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    NUMBER FOUR:

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    Last night was successful in its own right, but there were problems. There were various timing issues, low energy, and dropped lines. But the audience liked it, regardless of these, in fact didn't catch most of the problems we cast and crew recognized; however, a few they had to catch. I will say that we rocked the end of the play though.


    In the audience icon
    My goal is to make the Springfield StageWorks production of True West tonight. The show is 8:00 in Springfield, which is about 30 minutes away from The Caryl D. Philips TheatreScape. In theory, Opus is over is about 6:45-ish, so I should be able to make it.
    Springfiled StageWorks presents TRUE WEST by Sam Sheppard, directed by Sarah Davis


    Sun, Sep 2, 2012

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    NUMBER FIVE:
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Relatively good show. I flubbed a couple lines in what seemed rather obvious ways. Both were during the infamous documentary interview sequences. I may have actually covered the first one to some extent but I don't think i did the second one.

    The first is a return to me when I am to repeat, to myself, "What is it?" mulling the question over. When the spot hit me, I went up. I had lost my focus because I had spied someone I thought I recognized in the audience ‐‐ amateur mistake. So I said, "Well, uh," then the line came to me. It may have looked scripted.

    The other was later, in another sequence when I jumped to my next line and started, but had to stop and correct myself. We can't say the wrong thing in these non sequitur sections or the following actor may very lose his place, too. So what was heard was:

    "That accent...The quintessential European mutt."

    Might have seemed scripted, but, I'm betting some caught the error.


    In the audience icon
    Last night I was able to make the 8:00 curtain at the State Theatre for the Springfield StageWorks production of True West.

    I was not much acquainted with the script; it was, of course, the usual uplifting, life-affirming fair one expects from Sam Shepard. Yes: sarcasm intended.

    Kudos to Director Sarah Davis and the cast (Joel Bonsell [Austin], Joey Ahern [Lee], Saverio Perugini [Saul], Bonnie Bertelson [Mom]) for executing this dark script and its deep black humor.

    Springfiled StageWorks presents TRUE WEST by Sam Sheppard, directed by Sarah Davis



    LABOR DAY,
    SEP 3, 2012

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    HAPPY LABOR DAY



    SUNDAY'S SHOW:

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    First, an oh-yeah-I-forgot-to-mention addendum regarding the post from yesterday: not only did I have a couple line flubs during the Saturday show, I also missed an entrance at the end of a scene. They covered on stage. I didn't even realize at all until it was pointed out to me.

    On Sunday I had one line flub ‐‐ that I'm aware of. The line is "Even the threat of physical injury." What I said was "And occasionally a hint of physical injury," or something like that.

    But overall it was a good show.

    The houses were pretty good all weekend, too. About sixty-five or seventy people on Friday, one-hundred-and-two on Saturday, and ninety on Sunday. 102 is almost a full house in our theatre.



    Tue, Sep 4, 2012

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    Michael Clarke Duncan
    Michael Clarke Duncan
    (Dec 10, 1957-Sep 3, 2012)

    Mr. Duncan died yesterday from complications brought on by a recent heart attack. He was a man I really wanted to meet and get to know. All reports have always been he was as wonderful a human being as his presence suggested. And what a strong presence he had.

    REST IN PEACE BIG GUY



    PINCH HITTING & THE REGULAR BASE RUN STUFF:

    DTG Producer icon
    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Tonight I fill in at the first blocking rehearsal for the production stage manager, Deirdre Root, who is out of town. I'll be writing down the blocking in as legible a manner as I can manage. Covering such duty a slack that a producer sometimes needs to take up.

    Under the actual producer's hat there's a minimal of things going on at the moment. The cast members are to get their program bios and their headshots to me and I am presently slowly accumulating them. How slowly? you ask: I requested them last Thursday at the table read; I have received two (happy to say both actors gave me pics and bios). I set the deadline for Friday, September 14. I would guess I'll get most of them on that day or Thursday the 13th. I'm half expecting that at least one will be late.

    I'm also arranging for one of our special effects, actually, the only special effect.
    DTG Podcast Production logo

    As far as the podcast goes: nothing. I have not shot footage nor hardly conceived my concept. Further, I haven't heard back either way from the copyright holders of the play about clearance to use dialogue text in the podcast movie.


    MANAGING MAXINE AT THE HUMAN RACE THEATRE COMPANY:

    In the audience icon
    Managing Maxine opens Friday, with the preview this Thursday and Pay What You Can Night tomorrow night. I plan to be there for "Can Night" tomorrow. Along with Scott Stoney and Tim Lile, the other HRTC resident artist in the cast is my stage wife from Caroline, or Change as well as past and soon to again be acting teacher, Kay Bosse.

    And stay tuned as I get myself in gear to attend other productions.


    FULL PRODUCTIVITY STILL ON HOLD:

    MacBook pro with Retina Display ICON
    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON
    In order to do some of my audio type work I recently bought Avid's M-Audio Fast Track II USB Audio Interface so I can record directly into my computer. I can not however, send a stereo signal in and record such with this hardware. At times I will need that ability.

    There are various USB audio adapters out there, some that have stereo inputs. There are also many, I might add, that have only stereo out but mono in, which will not serve my needs. I am looking at iMic 2 by Griffin technology, which does have stereo input capabilities. All I have to do is verify that iMic 2 will work with my new MacBook Pro and OS Lion. I kind of suspect it will, but I have a question logged at the Apple Customer Support Communities knowledge base and am waiting for a geek response. Whether it will work with OS Mountain Lion remains to be seen.

    As reported before, I am still waiting for word from Belkin about their Thunderbolt Express Dock. which will make it possible for me to plug Firewire 800 peripherals directly into my laptop; that, of course being the only way to directly capture DV mini-cassette movie footage into my Final Cut Express.



    Thu, Sep 6, 2012

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    EIGHT-HOUR ROUND TRIP FOR A DAY PLAYER IN A MAJOR INDY:

    AUDITION ICON
    KL fb post "I'm sad to say that this weekend Carl McIntyre, cellist for the Lazara String Quartet, will not have his goatee; I am thrilled to say it's because I have a screentest tomorrow in Pittsburgh for a small role in a major indy production."
    Later this morning I'm heading out the door for a four-hour drive to Donna Belajac Casting in Pittsburgh to do a screentest for a small role in the movie Foxcatcher. So far the movie has Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, and Steve Carell attached to it.

    Peter Condopoulos (PC-Goenner) called yesterday afternoon to say that I was chosen from the profile at Now Casting for the screentest for particular role. It's only a small role and I'll only be a day player, but it's stil a pretty damn good opportunity. Of course, since Ms. Belajac requested me based on a picture at the Now Casting web page the goatee I gave for Carl in Opus had to go. So, as yesterday's facebook post said, "this weekend Carl...will not have his goatee." So oh well. I got a haircut yesterday, too, which does not affect carl at all, since Carl has WAY more hair than K.L. ‐‐ ya know, that full head of hair piece.

    And I am very happy this is today and not tomorrow. Opus may not be a pro gig, but I still would not desert the show and I'd hate to have had to turn down the screentest. I already had to do that recently and I was not happy about it at all.

    The shoot would fall within a pretty big window: sometime between Oct 15 & Jan 15, which doesn't exactly narrow it down.

    Ms. Belajac's office told me when I made the appointment that Director Bennett Miller wants a natural, understated, subdued performance. The sides actually have good dialogue to speak naturally ‐‐ doesn't always happen that way. Also, there are only three lines. Between real dialogue and brevity of amount memorization wasn't be a bear.

    I've rented a car for the trip. Driving 238 straight miles would, I have absolutely no doubt, tax my elderly 1989 Saab. I may have to do it again; there's a possible callback next Thursday.

    On a related note, I went to my profile at Now Casting last night to finally update, after what i thought was a few months of delinquency to see that it's been much longer. But. it's up to date now.


    Not in the audience icon
    Last night I did not make it to Can Night at The Human Race Theatre Company to see the final dress rehearsal of Managing Maxine, with Scott Stoney, Tim Lile, and Kay Bosse. I needed to prep myself for today's audition.

    Looks like I'll be paying full price for a ticket later in the run.


    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
    U.D. Law - University of Dayton School of Law icon
    Fran Pesch has asked me if I was up for the gigs with the law students at the University of Dayton School of Law during this coming academic year. As always, I will clear my schedule whenever I can.


    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Producer icon
    Tuesday I recorded the blocking for Act I in the Stage Manager's script.

    The big question is, will SM Deirdre Root be able to decipher my notes?



    Fri, Sep 7, 2012

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    Happy

    Birthday

    Dad



    Sat, Sep 8, 2012

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    THE SCREENTEST IN PITTSBURGH THURSDAY:

    AUDITION ICON
    The screentest at Donna Belajac Casting in Pittsburgh for that small role in Foxcatcher seemed to go well. At least I didn't leave feeling bad about it. To be honest, I'm not sure I am what the producers are looking for but, as is always the question, what do I know? And I auditioned as if I was perfect for the role, by god!

    The role I was called to read for was as a three-star general, thus the necessity to shave the goatee and force Carl in Opus to look different this last weekend of the run. Couldn't be helped. I also got a haircut, though probably not as close a cut as it really should be. I took some wardrobe choice with me and Ms. Belajac advised the all khaki choice. The general is in full dress in the scene from the movie; I did not have access to full military dress at the last minute and likely would not have gone that far, anyway. But khaki at least suggested military, as opposed to a business suit or such.

    I also brought my black dress shoes but did not wear them for the screentest since my feet would not be in the shot. I was in my sandals with no socks. Why not? I've been in TV News studios and seen anchormen do the news in a suit coat, blue shirt, and tie with jean shorts on ‐‐ they're behind the desk.

    In a side note, when I got home I didn't see my shoes in the back seat of the rental car with the rest of my stuff. Oh crap, I thought, I left my shoes in her office back in Pittsburgh. It looked like I was stopping off on the way to the theatre on Friday to buy a new pair of dress shoes. As it turned out, I had managed to cram them into the bag I brought with my audition accoutrement, so I would not have the shoes to lug separately in addition to the bag itself and the two shorts and three pairs of pants I brought as choices. Not sure why this merits mentioning, but there ya go.

    Further side note: having never been to Pittsburgh, and admittedly not really spending time soaking in the city at all, it still seems like a good city to spend time in. The Belajac office are downtown close to the city's market square, which had I not been impatient to get home, I would have hung out in a bit, perhaps ate at one of the food spots. If (when) I get the callback, perhaps I will work it out to be able to spend some time there.

    xxxx
    Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh
    xxxx
    Market Square, again
    xxxx
    Some downtown Pittsburgh architecture
    xxxx
    More downtown Pittsburgh architecture
    xxxx
    Fountain Square in downtown Pittsburgh, right next to Market Square.
    xxxx
    Somewhere on I-70 East on the way to the audition, just about to leave Ohio.
    xxxx
    In West Virginia on the way home

    The whole trip was almost exactly a twelve-hour adventure, from hitting the road north-easterly bound that morning at about 9:30 to sticking the key in my apartment door lock at about 9:30 that night. I can also tell you I did not make into the rent-payer at 7:00 yesterday morning, either!  It was 9:45, after I dropped off the rental car.

    KL fb post - "When I get back into my car, even after only one day of using a rental car, that which is always newer than 2 years old, usually the newest model, I instantly feel at an intense level of keenness what a piece of crap relic I own." No comment on the facebook screenshot here, it seems self explanatory. The callback is next Wednesday; here's hoping I have to make the trek again. The trip was rather pricey for me. With car rental, gas, AND $24.00 FOR JUST LESS THAN TWO HOURS OF DOWNTOWN PARKING, and meals, the trip came to $148. An investment in my goal of full-tine acting, and tax deductible, for sure. Hefty for a ten-minute audition, nonetheless. Foxcatcher is a SAG/AFTRA gig, and I would have lines which makes me eligible to join the union, though I could Taft-Hartley out of joining, as this would be my first principle work in a SAG/AFTRA movie. And I would opt out this time. I have local actor friends who are SAG/AFTRA and they cannot audition for most local screen work as it is usually not union.

    How's that for putting the dialogue about the audition and its results in a positive frame-work? "Write/Talk as if it's yours."

    PS: Grecos Italian Restaurant in Wheeling, WV, just off I-70, has some great Chicken Parmesan, in case you need to know.


    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Last night was the first of our home-stretch performances. Today and tomorrow are it for the show. I think overall we did a good show last night. Though subdued, the audience was most appreciative of the show, at least based on the feedback after the closing curtain. It was about a half house and we unfortunately got little energy on stage from the crowd to feed off. They lightly chuckled at the humor. They were as attentive (glued to their seats and leaning forward) as the audiences have been at the other shows, during the climactic moment of the show. So, though it mostly felt like a bust, the performance actually went well.



    Sun, Sep 9, 2012

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    CLOSING TODAY

    OPUS by Michael Hollinger, at The Dayton Theatre Guild.

    The Cast of Opus

    ALPHABETICAL BY ACTOR

    CHARACTER
              
    ACTOR
    Dorian            Michael J. Boyd

    Alan            Franklin Johnson

    Grace            Mary Mykytka

    Elliot            Matthew W. Smith

    Carl            K.L.Storer



    Mon, Sep 10, 2012

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    THE OPUS HAS COME TO THE END OF ITS SCORE:

    fb post - "Bye Carl..... :( .... It was good work. I am proud to have added it to my résumé."
    *Photo by Craig Roberts     
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    Yesterday was our Swan Song, and perhaps one of the better performances of the show. Of course, the picture here from my facebook post from last night is not Carl as he looked this past weekend; the was from Tech/Dress week.

    As is usually the case, I need a few days to get my final thoughts about the production and my work in it together. I'll work on the essay from time to time. Plus I'll select and process a few of Craig Roberts official DTG production photos, as well as perhaps some frame captures from podcast footage or other pics that I took, to accompany this final thoughts thing.

    In the meantime, I will say that I feel good about the work I did and the production as a whole. I certainly am glad to have worked with all those I did for the first time on stage as fellow actors, as well as being back on stage with Matt after all these years.

    Another thing I will point out right now is that this may very well be another sort of Swan Song. Greg Smith is moving to Tennessee within weeks, and though he has tentative plans to come back as a visiting director, this might possibly be his last director's work at The Guild. I suppose it's a good way to have ended his work here, but still, it's a bit sad to think that this may be it.



    Tue, Sep 11, 2012

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    PITTSBURGH TOMORROW? SEEMS UNLIKELY:

    AUDITION ICON

    Well, the callback for Foxcatcher at Donna Belajac Casting in Pittsburgh is tomorrow.

    I'm thinking if I have not been notified by now, I'm not going to be.

    Oh well.


    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    My wrap-up essay on this is on the way



    Thu, Sep 13, 2012

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    Wrap-up essay still on its way.

    It's more a question of getting the pics ready than the text.

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.



    DTG Podcast Production logo
    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    This morning I finally got word back from the copyright administrators for Mr. Zindel's cannon. We do not have permission to use dialogue text from the play in the podcast, which is unfortunate. Yet, we've had to work around this before and no doubt will have to again in the future.

    DTG Producer icon

    Tonight is my standard "BRIEF" production meeting that I always try to schedule earlier in the rehearsal period for all the different production people to get together and disseminate or request information. It's simply at least one chance for everyone to be together to have an idea of the whole picture and see if any issues come up as the result of the broader understanding. Not everyone can be there tonight but what-a-ya-gonna-do.


    NO FOXCATCHER FOR ME:

    AUDITION ICON
    It is clearly confirmed: I have no callback for Foxcatcher. All I can say is, "Se la vi," as well as a phrase I haven't used for a while:

    "AND IT'S ON TO THE NEXT AUDITION!"

    In the meantime, I do owe Donna Belajac Casting a hardcopy headshot for their files. It goes in the postal mail tomorrow.



    Mon, Sep 17, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Wrap-up essay is in progress


    Note Addendum PS icon
    On a related note, here's something interesting: a link to the IMDB page for the new movie A Late Quartet, featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christopher Walken, among others. Note that, at least on the face of it, the synopsis at IMDB for this movie has a striking resemblance to the scenario of Opus, for those of you who have a familiarity with the play script. I see nothing, at least at this date, at IMDB that says the screenplay is based on the play script.


    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    DTG Producer icon
    I haven't dropped in much on rehearsals but I've been to a few and, of course, with the cast we have, what I've seen has been the progressive beginnings of the promising show that is expected.

    Saturday was the first day of set construction, for which I was there along with a few others. Newer DTG board member Jeff Sams is our set designer and his ability at the craft comes at a welcome time because of the imminent departure of one of The Guild's primary set designers ‐‐ among many other creative things ‐‐ one Mr. Greg Smith. For those who don't already know (such people being pretty much NO ONE in Dayton area theatre), Greg is moving from the area in just a matter of weeks.

    Saturday, I don't know that we got as far along as Jeff had wished, but he was at least not too terribly disappointed with the progress we did make; * see the pics, below.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    "DTG podcast 1213-03 And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little" will have a lot of stills, a feature I haven't used much in the past several podcast movies. There will be DV movie footage, too, but I'm going to try to use a heavy percentage of stills. To that end I took a few dozen photos with my cell phone last Thursday night. However, the batch I've gone through to process have had a lot of blurred movement spots. I'm going to use my Cyber-shot for most or all of the rest of the stills for the project. The camera has more the twice the mega-pixels as the phone camera, though the processor doesn't contrast color as well. But I seem to remember that I had less blurred movement with it ‐‐ though I certainly do get blurred movement with it.

    I have a DV shoot planned for tomorrow night. I'm not sure I'll shoot any more DV footage this week, but I may drop in Thursday &/or Friday to snap pics.

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    Sound design has not progressed as far along as I had hoped, but it has at least begun. I have compiled a list of selected songs from the Top !00 pop songs of each of 1968 through 1970, as well as the album releases by various adult oriented recording artists from the same period. I have started my scavenger hunt for the selected music but have not been successful save for one particular song. There are also a few on my list that I already owned. Still I don't have enough collected for a thirty-minute pre-show, a fifteen-minute intermission and Act openers and closers. There are a few door bell (or buzzer) sound cures, but I have that in my SFX library.
    xxxx
    xxxx
    xxxx
    The beginnings of the Reardon home as started this past Saturday.



    In the audience - Not in the audience animated gif icon
    Because of the Pittsburgh trip on September 6 to screentest for Foxcatcher I did not go to Pay What You Can Night the evening before for Managing Maxine at The Human Race Theatre Company. Though It's cost me a bit more, I have a ticket for this Wednesday's performance. Though I was able to get a 10% discount through having "Liked" The Race's facebook page.

    K.L. fb post ‐‐ "There's not too much theatre; there's also not 'too much' cash; that's the problem ‐‐ said me to myself about all that I've been missing." There were, on the other hand, several other shows I wanted to see that I missed. Well, at least two. I just could not justify spending the money. I've had a few unexpected personal expenses that popped up. Actually, had I not already bought the ticket, I might not be going to Managing Maxine.


    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    A week from tonight I start a new advanced acting class through the Human Race with Kay Bosse at the helm, just having wrapped Managing Maxine. There are some plays that will be focused on and I plan to read through them before the sessions begin.



    Tue, Sep 18, 2012

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    DOH! :

    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    Yesterday I wrote that "[a] week from tonight I start a new advanced acting class" at The Human Race Theatre Company with Kay Bosse. Um: WRONG! The class started last night. By providence I became aware of that fact yesterday afternoon through the advent of a wrong-number text that was to remind someone else of an appointment last night; it caused me to check my registration and find that I had the start date wrong in my mind. Thus I did not miss the opening session. But so much for getting a jump on reading the plays we will cover.

    Actually it turns out I only need to focus on one of the plays. Kay has given us each our own specific play to read and perhaps pull out a monologue. She assigned me Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, for which Norris won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Also an actor, by-the-way, one of Norris's best known gigs is as the teacher, Mr. Cunningham, in The Sixth Sense. And it's my charge to get to know this play well. Guess I got to fit some reading in this week so I have an idea of the monologue.

    During class last night I attempted a less "presentational" reading of Carl's one real monologue from Opus. I was never satisfied that I was as natural and conversational with it as I should have been, during the run of the show. Last night Kay told me afterward that I could still pull it down more. So, regardless of any material from Clybourne Park that I work on in class, I may still work on that just to finally deliver it in a way that I feel really good about.


    The wrap-up essay is closer
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.



    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    DTG Producer icon
    The deadline for cast & crew to get bios and headshots to me was September 14. Of course, there are those who didn't make the deadline; some haven't still.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    I will shoot the first DV footage for "DTG podcast 1213-03 And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little" tonight.


    DTG Producer icon
    LEAVING IOWA & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    As a DTG producer I picked up the spring 2013 mounting of Leaving Iowa which was to be produced by Greg Smith, who, of course, is leaving Ohio.

    The show doesn't audition until February 2013, and I am in the midst of producing Miss Reardon, but still, this one can at least be on my radar, if not prominently blipping.

    Director Robb Willoughby and I will likely to get together sometime soon to at least touch base in what I guess could be called a pre-pre-pre-production meeting. Mr. Caplan would be proud

    When I first offered to cover this I thought perhaps I'd have to bow out if I manage to get myself cast in Avenue Q at The Race. I wasn't mentally solid on the dates for each, though. Leaving Iowa closes April 21 and Avenue Q doesn't go into rehearsal until May 5; so we're good.


    GENERAL TECHIE STUFF ICON MacBook pro with Retina Display ICON
    This morning I checked the Belkin website to see if the Thunderbolt Express Dock was available yet. It looks like it is not. So, I may be capturing DV footage for the Reardon podcast on a MacPro in the Mac Lab on campus as I had to for Opus.

    Not thrilled about that.       frown icon


    GENERAL THEATRE STUFF ICON
    A couple years back I posted a trailer for a new play, Restoration Dogs, written by actor Mark Finnell, who is married to Tina Gloss. Tina is the female lead in Still Me, my first professional theatrical film gig. If you remember (you five regular blog visitors), Tina also played the role of Ned's mother, when he was a child, in flashback segments on the innovated ‐‐ AND FAR TOO SHORT-LIVED ‐‐ ABC television series, Pushing Daisies.

    There is now a capital campaign, via, indegogo to produce a mounting of Restoration Dogs in Michigan, where Tina and Mark now live and work as actors. I thought I'd pass the info along in case any of you five have an interest. Click here for the indegogo page about the project.



    Thu, Sep 20, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    The wrap-up essay is even closer



    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Producer icon
    Low and behold, I now have everyone's bios and headshots for the printed program! Only complete almost a week after the deadline ‐‐ not a shock, whatsoever.

    Some receipts for production costs are beginning to trickle in. We are nowhere close to the budget ceiling, and I don't think we will hit it in the end. We'll see.

    To the best of my knowledge things in all categories are progressing along. I know in rehearsal Tuesday night, the cast was doing well.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    I did shoot DV footage Tuesday evening for the podcast. Tomorrow night I'll drop in and take copious amounts of stills. Since I still don't have the Thunderbolt Express Dock I have to drop into the Mac Lab on campus and use one of the MacPro towers to transfer the footage shot Tuesday onto my MackBook Pro via the route of capturing on the tower, then copying to an two-terabyte external hard drive, then copying from there onto my laptop hard drive.

    Yep. A pain in the neck.

    The plan was to zip into the Mac Lab right after work. However, there is a class in there that occupies it until 6:00 pm on Thursdays this semester. Guess I stay on campus for a couple hours and, oh, say, work on the Opus wrap-up essay.


    LEAVING IOWA & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Producer icon
    At The Race show last night ‐‐ *see below ‐‐ I happened to run into Director Robb Willoughby and we made tentative plans to get together next Tuesday afternoon after I get off work at the rent-payer.

    We had a very cursory discussion which will be elaborated on next week, I'm sure.


    In the audience icon

    Last night I saw Managing Maxine at The Human Race Theatre Company, starring Jana Robbins and Steve Vinovich, supported by Debra Whitfield, and locals Scott Stoney, Tim Lile, Kay Bosse, my current acting teacher and former stage wife (Caroline, or Change), and Michelle Zimmerman.

    Have to say it was an enjoyable evening, and very pleasant, even "cute," script. I don't know that the play will ever win the Pulitzer, but it is a good script. Kudos to cast and Director Marya Springs Cordes for a fine mounting of a fairly new show.


    Note Addendum PS icon
    BRUSH WITH FAME ‐‐ Okay, Steve Vinovich isn't a major star or anything, but he has worked on screen and stage a lot for decades and was a face I recognized immediately when I saw the promo pics for the show. So this is really more of a "Brush With A Veteren Prolifically Working Actor," which is just as good, in my estimation.

    After the show, I hung out in the lobby, as is often the practice for many so that we can congratulate any actors who come through that way. And of course I specifically wanted to say hello and "good work" to those few cast members with which I have some sort of connection. Mr. Vinovich did come out that way and was very gracious with his Thank You. The two of us ended up walking to our cars together and had a nice little chat that included talk about my forthcoming callback for Avenue Q and that I am in Kay's current acting class. Okay, so it wasn't some great, deep connection, and it's not like that conversation I wished to have had with Philip Seymour Hoffman on the The Ides of March set; maybe Steve Vinovich doesn't have the professional stature of Philip Seymour Hoffman; still, Mr. Vinovich is an accomplished professional actor with a great résumé and a strong skill set, and it was nice to have a moment with the man, even if it was superficial.

    If that makes me a still-wet-behind-the-ears, naive, dork-level actor, so be it.


    PROMOTING MY FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES ICON

    Last summer Brittany Campbell (Washing Machine in Caroline, or Change at HRTC) released her album Black Summer and this is the video for the single "Call Me Baby." Also featured in the video, as the girlfriend, is Ms. Ashanti J'aria (also cast alumnus from CoC, one of the three lovely Radios). Just thought I'd share it.



    Mon, Sep 24, 2012

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    The wrap-up essay is imminent
    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    Hey....it's been a tad busy here lately so giving time as well as intelectual energy to this particular thesis has been difficult. It is in progress and probably fairly close to finished.

    Of course, there's more than a little chance that I care far more about its completion than anyone else: an egomaniac is an egomaniac is an egomaniac.


    OPENING CURTAIN SNEAKED CLOSER WHEN WE WEREN'T LOOKING!:

    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    DTG Producer icon
    Yesterday, while we were at the theatre working on set construction, it dawned on us that NEXT Sunday is "Tech Sunday."

    Yep, Tech Week is only a week away!

    In the meantime, the set is nearing completion. We have spent three days working on it, the Saturday of last week and both days this past weekend. It's starting to look pretty good. Set Designer Jeff Sams will be in during the week, as I believe some others will be. The last push will be next Saturday, which has to wrap it up since Tech Week begins on Sunday.

    Finalizing credits and other material for the printed program is my producer's priority at the moment. I do now have all the bios and headshots, from assorted cast and crew members, edited and formatted as needed. As well, I have the playwright bio and the "About the Play" sections researched and written. Now it's a question of making sure I have all the credits correct and complete before I sent the information to our print media person, Wendi Michael.

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    fb post ‐‐ "At Wright State University, multi-tasking in the Mac Lab, capturing podcast footage for AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE by Paul Zindel and writing words about my work on OPUS at Dayton Theatre Guild." Picture of a progress bar ‐‐ "Copying 3 items to 'Capture Scratch'" - "931.1 MB of 13.25 GB - About 6 Minutes"

    Thursday evening when the Mac Lab on campus was finally open, after a class ended, I was able to get the footage that I had shot Tuesday evening transfered onto my MackBook Pro via the interlay of a campus MacPro and my primary two-gig portable hard drive for movie files. I have shot no more DV footage, probably won't until later in the week. I was to shoot stills of rehearsal this past Friday evening, but I had a monstrous headache and pretty much spent most of that evening at home, sleeping.

    But this week it's al on! As I wrote in a bulk email to cast and crew this morning, I will be in quite a bit, if not every rehearsal, then certainly most, either taking copious amounts of stills or shooting video of the rehearsals for the podcast. Thursday and Friday I will be pulling each cast member as well as Debra aside to shoot the short commentary segment with each of them.

    I may try to edit this one to final cut on Saturday, or mostly so, perhaps leaving spots for dress rehearsal footage to plug in quickly the early part of next week.

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    Show Cue Systems icon - http://www.showcuesystems.com/
    With the exception of some tweaks, the sound design is finished and programed into Show Cue Systems. Honestly it was pretty simple stuff. One sound cue, a door buzzer, that occurs a few times, and is handled in SCS with a designated Hot Key ‐‐ the B ‐‐ so it can be played at any given time with no regard for linear placement in the sound plot. Then there are three songs in the show: one for the opening; one that closes Act I then also opens Act II; then the song to close the show and play over Curtain Call.

    Some sound engineering was involved. The show's opening song will shift from a full-bodied ambience to a more tinselly on-the-radio sound ‐‐ a trick I've used before. There are also several automatic volume changes programmed in.

    The bulk of the sound "design" was simply finding and choosing music for pre-show and intermission; music from the 1970 era that the Reardon sisters would have listened to ‐‐ again, only SOME of it being music I was listening to then (or now, really).


    THE ADVANCED ACTING CLASS AT THE HUMAN RACE THEATRE COMPANY:

    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    Last night was the first time I was able to sit down and look through Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris for the acting class tonight with Kay Bosse. As I read, it was getting later and later, so I must admit I gave the bulk of it a lot more of a cursory skim than I would like to report.

    I'm afraid I will walk into class with a much thinner knowledge of the script than I should, much less than is to be desired.



    Tue, Sep 25, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    The wrap-up essay is imminently closer to around the corner
    at some point...




    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Podcast Production logo
    Dropped into rehearsal last night after acting class, mostly to shoot stills for the podcast. I did take a few publicity shots but my main reason for being there was podcast production. Though I also dropped some of the sound cues in while they were on stage.

    Since one actor was not there when I got there and will not be tonight, there's little sense dropping in tonight as I need images of him more than anyone else. So I'll probably be home processing the stills I've thus far shot.

    Film Dayton icon
    There is a Film Dayton gathering tonight, and I'd love to be there, but I have a lot of images to sweeten. I'd like to edit most of the podcast this Saturday and then maybe plug in some dress rehearsal b-role at the end of the edit process. So, I don't want to spend any more time on sweetening stills on Saturday than I have to. Still, Greg Nichols will be at the Film Dayton gathering talking about The Wonderland Express, and I kind of want to be there for that. Dilemmas dilemmas....

    The podcast production schedule is: stills tomorrow night; commentaries and rehearsal video footage Thursday and Friday, and then maybe dress rehearsal footage Monday; then final post-production to final cut on Tuesday. If I take out the bulk this saturday, then I will be able to get the podcast to final cut Tuesday yet still make the new rehearsal I have to be at, which is in the section below about a new gig.


    NOVICE "work" IN AN ADVANCED ACTING CLASS:

    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    Last night, in the HRTC "advanced" acting class, it was not one of my greatest evenings as an actor. Our instructor Kay Bosse had us do an exercise toward the end of class in which I basically fell horribly short of the intention. Actually, I didn't so much fall short as never move. In the exercise, the three of us who were left in class were to make a secret decision of an action we wanted each of the other two to take (a separate action for each). Then we pulled a card with a verb written on it, from a stack Kay held. We could only use that verb action as our tactic to get the other two to take the designated actions. And that verb was a secret, too.

    My decision was to get one of the other two to take his glasses off, the other, to look at her wristwatch. The first card I picked said "praise." And I was simply stumped as to how to employ praise to engender either action. So Kay let me pick another, and that one read "disturb." Stumped again.

    The exercise is to work on several things, but the two most important to the theme of the evening, at least for me, were being spontaneously in the moment and risking failure. I was not able to get to spontaneity and I didn't risk failure, therefore I failed.

    The best explanation I have for my fail was that I was caught off guard and then I over-thought. My ego sometimes insists I must be "Brilliant" ‐‐ brilliant by my ego's estimation, mind you ‐‐ or there's this unfortunate failsafe that shuts down my give-it-a-try gears. It's difficult to be in the moment when that mode is active; it's impossible to be spontaneous.

    I have had my moments of being fearless with opportunities to be spontaneous as an actor, certainly in some of the improv that I've done ‐‐ try doing improv without being spontaneous and in the moment. This was one of those times when I was more interested in how I was coming off than I was in the work. Those are not productive times and I need to learn to kill that in myself. So, lesson learned. As my former castmate, the male lead of Still Me, Scott King advised, as part of a subsequent dialogue stream to the facebook post shown in the next section: "Embrace the pain!"

    Otherwise in the class, along with finding a monologue from Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park, I am also, as is the rest of the class, to find a comic monologue. Kay wants us all to work on comic sense and timing, as she insists that's what an actor is going to need for the next few years or longer; that, says she, is where the work is going to be.

    We all know how unimpressed I am with my sense of comedy and my comic timing; so, whether she be right or wrong, it's not a bad thing for me to work on.


    PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON fb post ‐‐ "I just gigged up!"; then, in the comment section ‐‐ "And after my cluster@#$% in acting class last night, it came at an opportune time for my fragile (though immense) ego."

    Wayne Justice (who was Hamm to my Clov in the 2005 Springfield StageWorks production of Endgame) contacted me earlier today about stepping into the live performance portion of a revival of his multi-media production Edgar: A Mesmeric Passage Into The Life of Edgar Allen Poe. I already make an appearance in video form as George R. Graham.

    Picking up this gig means that I'll miss half the Tech Week rehearsals for Reardon, next Tuesday and Thursday (Thursday being Final Dress), as well as maybe some Saturday performances, due to rehearsing for Edgar; so-oh-well. Wayne says there'll be some pay involved, but I'm guessing more in the category of stipend.



    Wed, Sep 26, 2012

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    That wrap-up essay:
    Soon....

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    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    DTG Podcast Production logo
    Well so dang it! I was responsible to my show and my podcast, thus, rather than go to the Film Dayton meeting last night to hear Greg Nichols share about his experiences taking The Wonderland Express to film festival, I stayed home and sweetened multitudes of still shots from Reardon rehearsals for the podcast production. I spent the evening in Corel Painter correcting color and contrast/brightness, as well as identifying each photo by the cast and crew in it, while I watched reruns of, first, The Big Bang Theory, then Friends.

    Let me tell you, I did not finish the task. I took a good chunk out, but I still had about 46% (93 images) left to deal with when I went to bed. And I am shooting stills again tonight at rehearsal. Though I am concentrating on Michael Taint, who has happened to not be there most of the time when I have been shooting, thus far. But tonight is a full run and I should get some shots of him.

    As I have already expressed, my game-plan is to get the bulk of editing of the DV movie dine this coming Saturday, then perhaps plug in some b-role of Monday evening's dress rehearsal on Tuesday. I have pretty much resigned myself to taking Tuesday off from work, though I am always chagrinned to use vacation leave for anything other than a professional acting gig, preferably that ever elusive SAG/AFTRA gig.

    *That safety bank of 120 hours will be pushed to February; and if I were to have an actual three weeks for a movie; plus another week for actual vacation and bit-and-piece acting work, it stands as May of next year, providing that I use no more vacation leave before then.

    I digress, however.

    A lot of the standard image work has been done for the DV movie. I have all the actors' and Director Debra Kent's headshots edited correctly for drop-ins, as well as the podcast identification logo and the show logo. I have the closing credit texts ready, too, save for the title of the underscore music. That is something I have left to do, is find and purchase the license for the underscore music for the body of the movie. More than likely I'll grab something from D.A.W.N. Music, which has been my primary source every since Peter Wine recommended that particular royalty-free music site a while back. Here's hoping they have something that'll give off a 1970's jazzy, adult-contemporary pop feel. I used Sinatra, but I don't make enough smack for that choice.

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    On the sound design front, one tweak is that I am changing the door buzzer, dictated by the script, to a standard door bell. The first use is during the opening moments of the show, when a song is playing on the radio. "Ding-Dong" is going to be more distinct during the music than "buzzzzz."


    EDGAR: A MESMERIC PASSAGE INTO THE LIFE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE: fb post - "Just came to agreement with the writer/director of this, Wayne Justice, to take over the role of Fortunato in the Oct 19 & 20 mounting at Springfield StageWorks. Saw it last year from the audience seats; it's a very cool production....EDGAR: A MESMERIC PASSAGE INTO THE LIFE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE"; then comment from Wayne Justice - "Welcome aboard sir!"
    EDGAR: A MESMERIC PASSAGE INTO THE LIFE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE by Wayne Justice, presented by Wayne Justice and Springfield StageWorks.

    In truth, I was already a part of this multi-media production. Project Writer/Director Wayne Justice shot video of me in August of last year, non-verbal stuff where I portray George R. Graham, the American publisher and editor, known for Graham's Magazine, where he employed Poe as a writer for a period of time. On my résumé it credits the work as Graham as a "[video cameo]" in a stage production.

    Wayne emailed me the script yesterday, though, beyond printing it out I've not given it attention, yet. As the facebook screen capture says, I am taking over the role of Fortunato, from Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," which Wayne has played in past mountings of the show. He wanted to free himself up for other aspects behind the scenes. He had someone lined up but they had to drop out, just yesterday morning. So he contacted me to see if I had the time to step in.

    Rehearsals are going to be slim ‐‐ six scheduled rehearsals (Tue & Thu starting next week) with possible Saturday rehearsals "as needed."

    Nothing like a little pressure.



    Fri, Sep 28, 2012

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    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.
    The wrap-up essay is wrapping

    that's the rumor...




    ROUNDING THE CORNER INTO THE HOME STRETCH FOR REARDON:

    AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.

    DTG Producer icon
    We are moving into Tech Week, with Tech Sunday in just two days. cue-to-cue rehearsal (sometimes known as "Q2Q") will be at 11 am, Sunday; it's going to be a dry tech (without the actors) and it's going to mostly be about the lights since I've been throwing the sound cues in already. Although there will certainly be some solidifying of cue execution on the sound and I'm sure some volume level tweaking may happen, too.
    DTG Podcast Production logo

    The still images for the podcast are all shot and sweetened. Last night I shot half the commentaries and got more b-roll of rehearsal. Tonight it's the other half and more b-roll.

    Tomorrow I will edit the lion's share of the podcast. The goal is to have nothing left to do but impose some b-roll of the dress rehearsal this coming Monday, perhaps some footage from Tech Sunday; but everything else, including sound mix should be done already; so Tuesday, the finishing touches should be straight forward, easy and swift.

    We'll see....

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    Essentially, Sound Design is finished, save for the tweaks we come to on Tech Sunday. I have already fussed some with sound levels and at least one fade-in (at the start of Act II). We start that act with same music with which we end Act I, so I have it fading in, further along in the song for the top of the next act, which, in the time of the play, is the next moment in the action. At rehearsal Thursday night it was clear the fade-in was not quick enough. I'd originally set it at four seconds; I've sliced that in half.

    It's starting to be time to start looking at A Tuna Christmas sound design needs. A TUNA CHRUSTMAS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.



    OH YEAH, AND THERE'S ACTING CLASS:

    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ICON
    I need to get some time in working on Clybourne Park before Monday's Advanced Acting class at The Human Race Theatre Company with Kay Bosse. Need to look at comedy, too. I believe I'll go back to an excerpt I took from Woody Allen's Riverside Drive, though I took it from the original one-act version. I used that back a few years ago for my general auditions at HRTC for the 2008/2009 season. For you five who follow this blog, it was the monologue I went up on in the audition in front of the late, great Marsha Hanna as well as Mr. Kevin Moore, and about which they were both very gracious and allowed me to take five, collect myself, and start over. Actually gave me a callback for that season, which floored me!


    OH YEAH, THERE'S A NEW GIG FOR ME, TOO:

    EDGAR: A MESMERIC PASSAGE INTO THE LIFE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE by Wayne Justice, presented by Wayne Justice and Springfield StageWorks.
    With my first rehearsal for Edgar fast approaching (this coming Tuesday night), I ought to give the script a look when I can this weekend, too.

    Not sure when that's going to be, but I'll look for the opening. Guess I'm gonna have to make that opening, huh?

    .....Damn! This just in:

    I'M BUSY!



    Sat, Sep 29, 2012

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    "G  T  A"

    "GTA": in the circles I ran in heavily from my mid twenties through my early forties this terminology means, primarily, "Grandiose Tenth Anniversary." That anniversary being ten years free from alcohol or any other mood altering chemical or illicit drug. In other words, it refers to being ten years clean & sober. GTA can also be co-opted for twenty years sober, or for, in my case, thirty years sober.

    Today, I am thirty-years sober.

    It is most certainly a hallmark event for me, as it would be for any alcoholic or addict who manages to make it three decades substance free. The Grandiose designation is a tongue-in-cheek reminder that one of the big problems we addictive types have is an ego that gets us in trouble. That never entirely goes away, but man has it gotten better! At least it hasn't almost killed me for many, many, many years and today I am much better at winning debates with it.

    That tongue-in-cheek use of "Grandiose" says:

    Okay. Yes, this is a hallmark day. It is a fabulous thing to be an alcoholic who hasn't found it necessary, for such a long period of time, to drink through all the crap and all the good times that would have sent you on a binge before. It's a miracle. But, just remember this, sir -- take that first drink and you'll very probably lose it all and be right back where you were on September 29, 1982!

    At this stage of my life, that does not hang over me like a black cloud of doom. But that there is doom embodied in that truth of what the first drink would invariably lead to, is a fact I just am aware of as part of my existence. Today that awareness expresses itself in some rather undramatic ways.

    The most vital of those, in my mind, is that there's nothing that happens that persuades me that a drink would be a good idea. There is no trauma or tragedy, no happiness or ecstasy that invites the concept that booze will fix it or enhance it. That is miraculous; it amazes me that an alcoholic like me has not been convinced that a beer or a rum or a shot (or a whatever) would work, and I haven't for a very long time. The last time I was intent on drinking I was about eight months sober and had just been confronted by an ugliness from my past. I was on my way to that drunk, but enough of me wanted to keep my sobriety that I went, instead, to talk with a friend who was also in recovery. Crisis diverted.

    It's all possible because I adopted into my life a simple set of spiritual principles, a set that is as old as humanity itself ‐‐ and some spiritual philosophies say it goes back before humanity. How fortunate am I that one does not have to perfectly adhere to those principles, or I'd be screwed; I also would not be thirty years sober today, quite possibly not even alive.

    There's a lot good about my life today; there are a few things that are not so good; there are some things missing, and some may stay missing; I have been struggling to let go of an emotional burden for months, more than a year, really. I am satisfied with many things in my life and not satisfied with others. So, I know there are things to do, even if I don't know what all of them are, to address some of those dissatisfactions.

    Some things are great; some things are okay; some things suck; it's life. I thank God *(as I define "God") that I am awake and able to live this life to some reasonable success.

    This life I have, this imperfect but valuable life I live, stays possible so long as I live those spiritual principles in my life. Otherwise, a drink might just become a viable option, and for a guy like me, the first drink might as well be the twenty-first. Because if I drink the first one, I am sure to drink all those drinks in between that one and the twenty-first one.

    So Happy GTA to me, and my humble gratitude to the multitude of lovely spiritual souls who taught, coaxed, and sometimes carried me to this day

    K.L.     







    The wrap-up writing?...
    Same old story
    Same old song and dance
    My friend

    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo.



    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo. Music and lyrics by Neil Bartram. Book by Brian Hill
    xxxx
    In the Mac Lab, capturing DV footage.
    xxxx
    Capturing footage and working on this blog post; Multi-task Boy!

    DTG Producer icon
    The production seems to be on track and amazingly under budget. Though our food needs through Tech Week and into the run will take a bite. But, otherwise we are pretty thrifted out ‐‐ please, grammar cops, give me the poetic license for "thrifted."

    DTG Podcast Production logo
    After rehearsal last night I was in the Mac lab on campus until 1:30 in the morning capturing the DV footage from Thursday night and last night with Final Cut Pro 7 on a MacPro tower; and I'll have to do this one more time, Monday evening so I can drop some dress rehearsal footage in.

    Belkin can't get that damned Thunderbolt Express Dock out fast enough. I might add, that their site says it's to be out in "September, 2012"; such is almost over, Belkin!

    Today, is all about getting the DV movie as close to final cut as I can, everything done save for the dress rehearsal footage.

    I do have a few graphics to create for a concept I got yesterday. And I have yet to pick and license the underscore music. The first items on the agenda after I have slept a few hours, which I get to right after I ftp this blog update to the server.

    SOUND DESIGNING ICON
    Still some tweaking going on but it's all very minor stuff.


    PROMOTING MY FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES ICON
    Scott King (leading man in the 2008 Still Me, in which I made a small appearance) just sent out this trailer for the new movie that he plays a Nazi heavy in, Puppet Master X: Axis Rising. This is the tenth installment in the Puppet Master film series. It is the sequel to the 2010 installment, Axis of Evil and it introduces new puppets to the franchise.

    Yeah, yeah, "Nazi heavy" as opposed to the "Nazi sweetheart."



    Sun, Sep 30, 2012

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    at some point.........




    OPUS & Dayton Theatre Guild combined logo. Music and lyrics by Neil Bartram. Book by Brian Hill
    xxxx
    What the screen currently says in a two-plus minute section of the podcast DV movie.

    DTG Producer icon
    It's 1:05. Dry Tech is essentially over.

    The show gets a run at 4:00.


    DTG Podcast Production logo
    The podcast DV movie is done except for the placement of footage from dress rehearsal tomorrow night, and perhaps from the run today. I also may tweak a few volume levels during some of the commentary moments; from the intermediate render I notice a few spots where I can't hear well what the actors are saying.

    But the podcast should be at final cut by Tuesday afternoon and posted to the DTG youtube channel and our facebook page by Wednesday.

    K.L.'s Artist's Blog, (previously K.L.'s Blog: a Diary of Artful Things), © 2004-2024 K.L.Storer ‐‐ all rights reserved

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