I saw Play It By Heart last night. Really well-written songs ‐‐
and that coming from someone who doesn't like country music all that much:
Music by David Spangler and Jerry Taylor; Lyrics by David Spangler, Jerry
Taylor and R.T. Robinson; Book by Brian Yorkey. Congrats to Director
Kevin Moore
and
the whole cast and crew
for a fine production. The show is dark on the 4th, but still runs tonight
through this coming Sunday afternoon. The Race has made all unsold tickets
through the end of the run, this coming Sunday, July 6, just $25. If you
want to take advantage of this deal,
CLICK HERE.
To do a tad bit of singling out, you really ought to hear
Trisha Rapier and
Kathryn Boswell
belt out those country melodies.
The VACATION EXTRAVAGANZA
2014 officially kicks off at 3:30 as I shut off the computer at
the rent-payer
and head out the door. First significant stop: RINGO at
The Fraze!
*Just a reminder this can only be a small sampling of the
professional work of my friends and colleagues. I'm simply not
going to be aware of all their good fortunes. Plus, I may screw up
and learn of something and forget about it ‐‐ I can be that
way, easily. But if I know (and remember), I'll give a shout
out for the pro gig successes!
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.
--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw
off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future
security.
--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such
is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former
Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny
over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till
his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would
relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a
right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public
Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into
compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for
opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of
the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers,
incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large
for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and
convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of
Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new
Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing
his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their
substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies
without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and
superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these
States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by
Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a
neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary
government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at
once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable
Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and
tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the
high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the
executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall
themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress
in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been
answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus
marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the
ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren.
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their
legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and
settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common
kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably i
nterrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been
deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must,
therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies
in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America,
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,
and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly
publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right
ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved
from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and
ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent
States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract
Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things
which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of
this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in
the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
The report on the Ringo show should be here tomorrow!
Below is the weather forecast, as of about noon Wednesday,
for Kettering, Ohio, home of The Fraze. By 5:30 the chance
of rain had doubled to 20%, and the skies were not
"generally clear," but those skies were where I
live, some twenty miles north-east of The Fraze.
The Ringo & His All-Starr Band tour trucks, parked
for load-in at The Fraze Wednesday morning. The photo
was snapped by local Musical Theatre Instructor
Darin L. Jolliffe-Haas,
who lives near the venue.
As you five regulars know, I kicked off the
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014
Wednesday evening by seeing
Ringo Starr
at
The Fraze Pavilion.
I must say, Ringo's 2014 All-Starr Band can play a little bit. Seriously,
an excellent show with top-notch performers. Here's the band....
THE 2014 RINGO AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND LINEUP:
• RINGO STARR
(Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and The Beatles): drums, keyboards,
percussion, vocals
Let's take these gentlemen in order of the listing.
RINGO was his affable, lovable, charming self, a
great showman and an adorable mix of self-depreciation and self-awareness
of his legendary status. At one point, as he introduced the song
"Anthem" from his album
Ringo 2012,
the audience cheered and he joked, "Thanks to both of you for buying
it!" Later, as he'd did in 2009, the first time I saw him live, he
shouted to the audience: "What's my name!" To which we all, of
course, shouted back his name. He is a marvelous entertainer and frontman.
STEVE LUKATHER just simply kicks ass on guitar! His
work on the Santana covers, as well as all the other songs, was more than
merely impressive. Major skill!
GREGG ROLIE also has great skill on his keys. I
couldn't snap any good pics of him because he was stationed on the
opposite down stage from where I was seated. But his keyboard work was
impressive in its own right.
TODD ‐‐ You five will know that I was as excited to
see Todd as I was to see Ringo. Most people have no idea just how
influential Todd Rundgren has been to music. The major bonus for me was
that Todd was on my side of the stage. Even better, he frequently jumped
on the woofer amp right by my seat to play his guitar at the audience. At
one point, because he was on a wireless pickup, he went off stage, into
the audience and re-entered the stage on the other side. The big Todd
moment for me was "Love Is The Answer": love the song and his
vocal performance matched the studio recording. There were a few songs I
would have loved to have heard; the top of that list is "Love In
Action."
RICHARD PAGE has an incredible vocal range. If
Todd's vocal on "Love Is The Answer" matched the studio
recording, Page out-did that in spades on both Mr. Mister covers. His
voice was pristine, strong and amazing. He sang a new song, which may not
even be recorded yet, called, "You Are Mine,": a lovely ballad
with another impressive vocal.
WARREN HAM ‐‐ Do any of you five remember Bloodrock
from the early seventies? They had a minor hit, at least in the mid-west,
called, "D.O.A." It was about a guy driving while on an acid
trip who crashes his car. The song is his voice on the way to the
hospital. As adolescent boys, my friends and I thought it was an amazing
song, daring, cutting edge. Bloodrock was this really cool band! The song
and the band don't stand the test of time. Warren Ham, however, who was a
member of Bloodrock (though after "D.O.A."), is another story.
Wednesday night he showed his vocal ability as he took the high portions
of the Toto songs, and others. But his major contribution was his
magnificent wailing sax work! Once again: Major Skill!
GREGG BISSONETTE was obviously not the most famous
drummer on the stage, but he was a drummer with a whole bunch of that word
I've used before: Major Skill. *I also, because of my angle, could not
get really good shots of this Gregg, either.
In short: The All-Starr Band gave us a good night of jammin'-fine
entertainment.
Fortunately there was no rain, but rain was threatened to some extent
which developed as the day moved on into more of a threat. By late
afternoon the forecast warned that "a stray thunderstorm is possible
through the evening." In my neck of the woods it rained a short while
after that warning. But, though it was a bit overcast, it didn't rain
during the show.
BEST MOMENT OF NIGHT: about five feet in front of me,
down stage left, a little girl held up sign she'd made that said "I
(heart) You." At first Ringo, who was down-center stage, didn't
notice. So quite a few of us in the area started waving at him and
pointing toward the little girl, especially when the song he was singing
was over, which if I remember correctly was, "I Wanna Be Your
Man" ‐‐ but it may have been "Photograph"; but it was at
least halfway through the show or later. Anyway, he finally saw the little
girl standing on the chair down by us and came over. He showed her poster
to the audience, hugged her and then posed for a picture with her that her
dad took. Walking back to center stage to start the next song, he said
"Don't start a line, I only do that for five-year-olds." My pic
of the hug and her dad snapping his pic didn't come out. The pics I post
below aren't all great, but still capture most of the moment.
And plus, I was just five feet
away from a BEATLE!
The Set List:
1. "Matchbox" (RINGO)
2. "It Don't Come Easy" (RINGO)
3. "Wings" (RINGO)
4. "I Saw the Light" (Todd Rundgren)
5. "Evil Ways" (Gregg Rolie)
6. "Rosanna" (Steve Lukather with Warren Ham)
7. "Kyrie" (Richard Page)
8. "Bang the Drum All Day" (Todd Rundgren)
9. "Boys" (RINGO)
10. "Don't Pass Me By" (RINGO)
11. "Yellow Submarine" (RINGO)
12. "Black Magic Woman"/"Gypsy Queen" (Gregg Rolie)
13. "Anthem" (RINGO)
14. "Honey Don't" (RINGO)
15. "You Are Mine" (Richard Page)
16. "Africa" (Steve Lukather with Richard Page)
17. "Oye Como Va" (Gregg Rolie)
18. "I Wanna Be Your Man" (RINGO)
19. "Love Is the Answer" (Todd Rundgren)
20. "Broken Wings" (Richard Page)
22. "Hold the Line" (Steve Lukather with Warren Ham)
23. "Photograph" (RINGO)
24. "Act Naturally" (RINGO)
25. "With a Little Help from My Friends" (RINGO)
26. "Give Peace a Chance" (Ringo & His All-Starr Band)
* no encore
*Just a reminder this can only be a small sampling of the
professional work of my friends and colleagues. I'm simply not
going to be aware of all their good fortunes. Plus, I may screw up
and learn of something and forget about it ‐‐ I can be that
way, easily. But if I know (and remember), I'll give a shout
out for the pro gig successes!
This may be the same basic image as I posted two weeks ago,
showing the view at one of my "favorite office
spaces," but, does it hurt to see another such
photograph?
I really can't be on vacation if I ignore all that great forestry around
me in my own back yard, now can I? Thus far I've only got to do a few hours,
over the weekend, but I will get back to those woods before this
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014
is over, I thought perhaps even later today, if the rain ceased. If not
today, then absolutely after I return from Chicago.
The plan was to start my Saturday morning
at one of my favorite spots, the 90° bend in
The Little Miami River
at
John Bryan State Park,
but I was twenty-four hours late. Sunday morning I was able to get to the
bend. I spent a couple hours working on stuff on my laptop.
Then I hiked a little on another part of the Little Miami that's next door
in
Glen Helen Nature Preserve,
a path I haven't traversed for a while, at least a year. Occasional,
misty-light rain showers spotted the morning, but they weren't intrusive,
or even detracting. If I hadn't needed to do some laundry I would have
spend a couple more hours in the loveliness of the forest.
The day before, Saturday, having arisen for the day much later than I
planned, I did at least get to the garage to get my oil changed for the
Chicago trip ‐‐ well, that, and it was past due, anyway. I asked them to
rotate my tires, too, but one of the mechanics advised against it because
the tred on both my back tires was pretty worn down. He gave me the behest
to be careful on my road trip, as well.
I made the decision that it was not prudent to make the trip with the
tred-deficient tires. I had new rear tires mounted this morning. The 172
bucks strains my vacation budget. It eats up all my buffer allotment.
Apparently that's what the buffer money was for. To confirm, that was not
what I planned on it being for. I actually contemplated raiding a savings
account I would rather leave alone, but I backed away from that idea. You
know, unless there's something very cool at the memorabilia booth for the
McCartney show, I don't have to come home with anything. I got two t-shirts
from this tour last July. There may be new designs, and that will tempt me.
Still, regardless of memorabilia, I will have a lot of pics and
probably some video from the show. As for the three plays, I
already have a
Victory Gardens Theater
coffee mug, a nice one. I might grab a
Goodman Theatre
or
Steep Theatre
mug, or some other souvenir from one or both, but I can definitely keep
the theatre merchandise below what I budgeted.
The restaurant budget, however, stays as robust as possible!
The concept of having a tire blow-out at 75 miles-per-hour somewhere
on I-65 North just seems less desirable than foregoing a few amenities.
Even if I kept control of the car and didn't, oh, DIE, the hassle of
dealing with repairs on the road just does not appeal to me. Plus, in the
I-Don't-Die scenario, my vacation itinerary could get severely screwed.
Then there's the
I-DO-Die
scenario, for which I'm not volunteering. Meanwhile, here's some more of
my yesterday morning:
I am hitting the road in a little while, heading north-west to continue my
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014.
We are transitioning from
Pre-ChiTown
Vacation
to
Chicag0
Vacation
2014.
The five regulars will know about the major itinerary, as well as a few
other things I have on the agenda ‐‐
The Art Institute of Chicago
being a definite one of those other things. And I think I wrote this
already, but my hope is that I get into town and check in to my hotel
room early enough that I can take
The L
into
Lincoln Park
to walk around and maybe even eat dinner before tonight's show.
It seems pretty improbable that I'll be able to snap pictures when I
visit the Art Institute, but I will snap a whole crap-load of pics whilst
in Chicago: Lincoln Park,
Millennium Park,
The Gold Coast,
wherever else I end up. Just like in yesterday's post entry, "After
Ringo, Before Chicago," expect pictures and accounts from the trip
that have little or nothing to do with the "artful things"
tagger for this blog. Well, The Art Institute of Chicago, will certainly
fall into that theme, be it pictures and text, or just text only. For the
pictures and text that don't really associate with the "artful
things" aspect, just remember the question I have posed before in
respect to this specific issue:
Whose blog is it, anyway?
It'll be nice to visit The Victory Gardens Theater
again. It was five years ago I was last there, on the occasion of seeing
William Petersen
and
Mattie Hawkinson
in
David Harrower's
Blackbird, which
at least three of you five will know we took onto the stage at
The Guild
about twenty months later. I don't know
Sandra Oh's
work; as I wrote before, I have never seen but a portion of an episode of
Grey's Anatomy;
I remember that Ms. Oh was in some of those portions, but I have no
impression of her work. Many of my theatre arts friends like her work, and
a couple rave about her work, so I am looking forward to the show based on
their impressions. It might be noted that she and Petersen do have
an important common ground: both left highly successful television shows
to return to the stage, and, at least in the case of VGT (and for
Petersen,
steppenwolf
as well), to a non-profit
Equity
stage where the paycheck isn't going to completely match their star power.
I'm sure both do better than union scale when doing such gigs, but I'd bet it's
not what either can command. It's clear that as William Petersen has,
Sandra Oh has returned to the stage for the idiosyncratic craftwork of
the forum. That, in itself, makes me excited about this evening.
I have a good agenda for the day and can't sit at the hotel desk on my
laptop whilst there's stuff out there to do!
Well, I am off now to
The Art Institute of Chicago.
But for your entertainment, ((?)),
below is a brief look at some of the
Chicag0
Vacation
2014
thus far.
Over the weekend, or something like that,
I'll get to a lot more detail, and way more pics, a sort of overview like
when your aunt and uncle insist on showing you their 700 photos from their
vacation in (insert tourist destination here).
I know, you can't WAIT!
I snapped this while driving up I-65. My target
was the highway sign and "Chicago 90
Miles." I didn't notice the "Adult
Superstore" sign until I looked at the photo
on my computer.......REALLY!
Late dinner, on the sidewalk, across from the
Biograph.
Tonight will be the ninth time I have seen Macca in concert. The odd thing
is that I have not had the customary dreams where I return to the same
universe, the ame reality, where Paul and I are friends. This started as
the show in 1993 was approaching (the third time I was to see him). I had
a series of dreams where I had somehow managed to meet him after seeing
him on his
The Paul McCartney World Tour
in 1989/1990, his first world tour since
Wings Over The World
in 1975/66. He'd started one in 1979 but it was cut short when he was
busted in Japan for possession of marijuana.
This will be mostly the same show I saw
last July
in Indianapolis, except that he's switched out some songs for a selection
of cuts off his latest studio album, the most-excellent
NEW.
I am sorry to say that according to all accounts I have seen, he will not
be performing my favorite song off NEW,
"Appreciate,"
which is a shame. It's a great song. I do wish the overall song line-up was
shaken up a bit from last year; there are many songs I would love to hear
him perform live that I have not yet; some, I fear, I will never hear him
do live. A small sampling of that wish list (as it occurs to me at this
time, and in no particular order):
"Little Lamb, Dragonfly"
"3 Legs"
"Get On the Right Thing"
"Stranglehold"
"On The Way"
"The World Tonight"
"About You"
"Summers Day Song"
"That Was Me"
The list could go on for a while, but these are a few that popped into my
head, this time. While I'm on the subject, I'd love to hear a
full-band arrangement of "You Never Give Me Your Money" live.
What he did on the
2002 tour
was okay, but it was a cocktail-lounge version. Let's hear it as a
full-band performance, Paul! However, in the end, though I am seeing a
show I have mostly seen before, tonight will still be worth the trip.
Again, the accounting of this event is being deferred.
Suffice to say it was, well, it was Paul! A good time was had by all! In
the meantime, here's a randomly selected pic from the evening.
Before I start doing theatre today, I believe I will check out this year's
incarnation of
Taste of Chicago.
I attended one in 1984, I believe it was.
Lots to share that is all quite germain to the professed theme of this
blog. There, too, is other
Chicag0
Vacation
2014
stuff related only to itself that I am still going to blog about here.
Why not?
Of course, I have two more plays to add to the
Sandra Oh,
Paul McCartney
and
The Art Institute of Chicago
items in the queue of "Diary of Artful Things," waiting to be
recounted when I can sit down and gather it all into cohesive, coherent
wordage. Though, as I have been doing, here's a few pics from yesterday's
leg of the adventure:
A shot of a room full of sculpture work at
The Art Institute of Chicago. Okay,
technically this is a pic from the day before
yesterday.
A view just after I walked into the 2014
Taste of Chicago
through the Michigan Ave. entrance.
There's more ‐‐ the final more ‐‐ on my
Vacation
Extravaganza
2014
coming, including more photos. Though the thought of anyone waiting in
great anticipation is a rather ludicrous one, isn't it?
THE GUILD'S TIME STANDS STILL WINS BIG AT THE
WESTERN REGIONAL OCTAFEST:
For whatever self-involved reasons, this blog is clearly pretty important
to me. I write to it as if there is a large following. There isn't. There
never has been. I strongly suspect there never will be. I jest with my
addresses to "you five"; meaning the five people who regularly
visit and actually read the thing. I'm not really sure how accurate or
unduly conservative that number is, but I suspect it's closer to reality
than the part of my ego that needs validation would want to know.
But here I am, writing about my trip to Chicago to see some plays, a
living musical and pop-culture legend, and otherwise simply my return to
and further exploration of a city for which I have a great affinity. Let's
face it, I'm writing this for me. This is, as it always is, a judiciously
censored public accounting of personal stuff that it's unreasonable for me
to expect any of you to care much about. So, I write it for me but you're
invited to peek in, if for some reason you should want to do so.
However, despite the dedication I have to this blog, I was not about to
get home from Chicago and immediately spend all my time working on the
text and image work to blog about the trip. I have worked on it off-and-on
since I got back, but I attended to other things to, especially some good
dose of chill time.
Back to Tuesday, July 8, and my first "event": Sandra Oh as
Paulina in
Ariel Dorfman's
Death and the Maiden
at The Victory Gardens Theater,
along with her castmates,
John Judd
(Roberto) and
Raúl Castillo
(Gerardo). I rather like the fact that my first whole experience of Ms. Oh
as an actor was live on stage with her often only fifteen feet away from
me. Further, I liked her performance quite a bit.
The set, designed by
William Boles,
is another strong feature of the production. When I walked in to sit in my
"good" seat (third row center, three seats in) there was a big
ol' wall on stage facing me and most of the audience. It was a wall of the
house the characters exist in, Well, that didn't look good. But, as
it turned out, the stage was on a 360° turnstile that rotated as the
characters moved to different sections of the small house, giving the
whole audience a good view of all the action. The rotation certainly isn't
a new concept, but it worked absolutely perfectly for this production. And
the set design itself (i.e.: the look of Gerardo and Paulina's home) was
most elegantly fitting. If you are on facebook you can see some pics of
the set here.
As a sound designer myself, I appreciate
Mikhail Fiksel's
sound design, which was subtle, unobtrusive and enhanced the sense of
verisimilitude. The story takes place on a beach on one of the
South American coasts; the pre-show "music" was the low,
rhythmic crashes of ocean upon the shoreline.
Also worth commenting on is Director
Chey Yew's
casting of Ms. Oh in what is still unfortunately considered
"non-traditional" casting. The world of her character, Paulina,
is that of an unnamed Latin American country just shortly after a
dictatorship has fallen. Ms. Oh, born in Canada, is of Korean ethnicity.
There's is nothing inherent in the script to say that Paulina cannot be
Asian, and there are Asian immigrants in South America (read: Chile, the
country of the playwright). This sort of deviation from the norm in
casting is, of course, becoming more frequent, but it is still a deviation
from the norm. Won't it be nice when there's no occasion to remark upon it?
My personal take is that there are times when the actor must meet certain
criteria: age (frequently), race (frequently but not as much so as age)
body size, attractiveness (as widely subjective as that is), and in many
circumstances at least two actors in an ensemble have to credibly appear
as if they are genetically related, or more accurately, not look as if
it's not likely they are related.
I am a verisimilitude kind of a guy, so if the script calls for such
specifics as those above in casting, and if it demands verisimilitude,
which is fairly often, then that's what I want to see on stage (or screen)
as an audience member, and how I would cast in any movie I make or when I
finally join the ranks of stage directors. Yet, even when the script calls
for verisimilitude, in the broad sense, I still believe the casting field
should be opened wide if there isn't some inherent need or directive to
cast a certain type. I'm glad to see that it happened in this incarnation
of Death and the Maiden.
*I
BELIEVE I SEE AN EXPANDED ESSAY SUGGESTED BY THE END OF THIS
SECTION
Grant Wood's
American Gothic.
Not the only reason I visited the Art Institute,
but certainly a big motivator!
The next day, Wednesday, I started the day off by walking from my hotel on
Michigan Avenue up said street to The Art Institute. As the screen capture
of my facebook post from later that day shows, I had a hard time leaving.
There is just simply so much to see there, and the couple hours I allotted
myself was simply nowhere close to adequate to satiate my appetite.
Right now, and for a few more months, there's an exhibit of work by
Belgian surrealism artist René Magritte called
Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938.
Interesting, and to me and my uncultured-self a little surprising, is that
the Magritte exhibition was the only place the patrons are not allowed to
take photos (the only other restriction is: no flashes). I know that
generally in museums there is no issue of copyright, most items are well
into public domain use, but I expected that photography would not be
allowed, but it was, and as you can see, I took advantage. Except for in
the case of surrealist Magritte. There were a few images I would have
loved to photograph, too.
I didn't take any photos of paintings by
Monet,
either, but not because I was not allowed. When I walked into the room
dedicated to his work, there had to be more than a dozen paintings, maybe
more than two dozen. I just couldn't decide which ones to photograph and
taking a shot of them all just seemed, I don't know, gluttonous.
Seriously though, I am going to have to take a trip dedicated to spending
a lot of time at the institute. Here are most of the pictures I took of
of work exhibited:
This was virtually the same show I saw
last July in Indianapolis.
The only differences in the play list were that several cuts from Paul's
lastest album, last fall's
NEW,
replaced some of last summer's songs, plus one other switch-out.
Interesting is that my seating position for the Chicago show was
virtually a mirror of my seating for the Indianapolis show, roughly
lending a symmetry to the experience by giving me almost the correlative
point of view and distance from the stage, this time house-right
(stage-left), the opposite from that in 2013.
As for how good the show was: well, it wasn't my favorite McCartney show,
however, it was Paul. It was good. The man is a consummate showman with
uncanny stage presence. No, it wasn't my favorite Paul concert I've
attended ‐‐ that would be
Columbus, Ohio in 2005
‐‐ but it was indeed worth the trip to Chicago, ignoring for the moment
the other draws for this particular vacation.
Most interesting story about this concert was the young lady who sat next
to me for the first twenty minutes or so of the show. She is a major
Macca fan who had already met him twice and I suspect met him again July 9.
She had met him previously because she had "worked in the
industry." That night her best friend and her friend's husband were
down in good seats close to the front row and had also attended the
meet-and-greet before the show because the friend knows one of Paul's
guitarists,
Brian Ray.
A few songs into the show, the husband came up to our section and retrieved
the young lady to come sit with them, as there was a seat open. The friend
and her husband had a back stage pass for after the show. It's easy to
extrapolate that the young lady would be meeting with Paul for the third
time that night.
SOME PEOPLE!
Paul McCartney 2014 Chicago United Center Play List:
1. "Eight Days a Week"
2. "Save Us"* ‐‐ replaced "Junior's Farm"
3. "All My Loving"
4. "Listen to What the Man Said"
5. "Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady"
6. "Paperback Writer"
7. "My Valentine"
8. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
9. "The Long and Winding Road"
10. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
11. "I've Just Seen a Face"
12. "We Can Work It Out"
13. "Another Day"
14. "And I Love Her"
15. "Blackbird"
16. "Here Today"
17. "New"* ‐‐ this & next replaced "Your Mother Should Know"
18. "Queenie Eye"* ‐‐ also replaced "Your Mother Should Know"
19. "Lady Madonna"
20. "All Together Now"
21. "Lovely Rita"
22. "Everybody Out There"* ‐‐ replaced "Mrs. Vandebilt"
23. "Eleanor Rigby"
24. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"
25. "Something"
26. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
27. "Band on the Run"
28. "Back in the U.S.S.R."
29. "Let It Be"
30. "Live and Let Die"
31. "Hey Jude"
Encore 1:
32. "Day Tripper"
33. "Hi, Hi, Hi"
34. "Get Back" ‐‐ replaced "I Saw Her Standing There"
Encore 2:
35. "Yesterday"
36. "Helter Skelter"
37. "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End"
*Songs added to the show from the album NEW.
No photos from The Goodman visit; I was in a bit of a rush
getting there, and after curtain down I needed to head
toward my next stop. But I did pick up a cap and a
coffee mug, as seen here from my front stoop at home.
If you remember, this was added to the trip because I wanted to add a play
to the trip. I went to The Goodman's web site because I had not been to
this theatre before and decided to see what was playing there while I was
in town. I had never seen a stage production of
Brigadoon
and so what the hell. The musical is by
Lerner & Loew
but in this production playwright
Brian Hill,
(re: The Story of My Life),
revised the book. According to Hill it was a substantial revision that
kept the "tone of the original." I was a kid of maybe six or
seven when I saw
the movie.
I only saw it because I was with my parents at someone's house where it
was on TV; I have a strong suspicion, based on my age at the time, that I
may not have been either impressed or engaged. I barely remember seeing it,
only that I did see it about a half-century ago. The point here is that I
can't comment on Mr. Hill's revision, but the text I saw performed July 10
was good work.
How did I like the show? you ask? I found the production most impressive.
The entire ensemble is a cast of top-notch tripple threats. The closest
thing to a stand-out to me would be
Maggie Portman
in the role of Meg Bockie, but that may have more to do with the
feistiness of the role and her ability to own it. All I can say is that
when she was on stage my attention was drawn to her. I may be singling Ms.
Portman out, but be assured she is on stage with an excellent compliment
of castmates.
It was simply a fine, fine production all the way around: the singing, the
dancing, the choreography (by Director
Rachel Rockwell)
that the dancing stood upon, the acting, the
orchestra, the set design and special effects. What a great introduction
to The Goodman to have experienced.
One complaint though: the seats could stand to be raked a little bit.
The lobby of Steep. The steps lead up to the tech
booth. It brings to mind the tech booth at the old
Guild
on Salem Ave., save that we had a ladder.
Thursday evening then, my theatrical swan song for
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014
was, of course, seeing Rob Coon as John in
A Small Fire,
by Adam Bock
at Steep Theatre, a
storefront theatre
on West Berwyn Ave. in
Edgewater.
Steep is a small theatre, very intimate, which I believe is the norm for
Chicago storefront theatres. For this production the stage was set up as a
traverse stage
of about eighty square feet and seated about forty people (20 on either
side). I got the impression from Board Member
Ted Lowitz
that the seating was more limited than usual for this show, but I
suspect that even with different set designs that accomodate more seating,
the house reaches fifty seats, tops. So: intimate theatre that outdoes The
Guild and other small Dayton theatres.
The play itself is a nice script, rife with metaphor in the underpinning
conflict, that lends itself to the intimate staging. Kudos to the whole
cast: Rob as John Bridges,
Melissa Riemer
as Emily Bridges (John's wife),
Julia Siple
as their daughter, Jenny, and
James Allen
as Emily's foreman, Billy Fountaine,
as well as to Director
Joanie Schultz.
Kudos also to sound designer
Thomas Dixon
for his original music both pre-show and during production. The work was
composed of understated chimes, bells and like percussion sounds. It worked
very well; as a fellow sound designer, I appreciate the approach and its
appropriateness to the script and the production.
I further have as much appreciation for attending this intimate,
storefront production, with a couple dozen fellow audience members, as
for the two big
Equity
house productions, both sold out at perhaps 300 seats each, of not more.
Added bonus, I have the privilege of attending
Dayton Playhouse FutureFest 2014
this weekend and reporting to everyone that our absent adjudicator
is a good actor!
ASSORTED
CHICAGO
VACATION
2014
DIVERSIONS:
"Diversions" only really means stuff not directly related to
that "Diary of Artful Things" thing. There are the neighborhoods
around and about some of my theatre experiences, two in specific. There
are also outings to
Grant Park,
Taste of Chicagoin Grant Park, and
Millennium Park.
Let's start the "diversions" by accounting my use of the
CTA (Chicago Transit Authority).
On my way to Death and the Maiden, I walked to the Roosevelt subway
station and purchased a
Ventra card,
which is, as it turns out, the new pass card system for both the L subway
system and the surface bus transit system. According to the CTA website,
the Ventra card system launched system-wide July 1, or only one week
before I arrived for my stay. I put three days unlimited transit on the
card and used the train, and in a few cases, the bus, for all my travel
in the city during my entire stay. My car was parked in hotel lot the
whole time. Don't go thinking that was an amazing savings. Parking at the
hotel was $38 a day, or $114 for the stay. More than a savings it was a
hassle reducer. More so, I liked the experience of getting around town on
the transit system. It took me no time at all to feel at home with it all.
It's almost as if I was rehearsing for a time when
I might be a resident of the city. I might point out that I
do still have the card, ready and waiting for more money to be
credited to it
.
Thai Bowl, when I spied it before Death and the Maiden
and decided that would be my late dinner destination after
the show.
When I arrived that day, my hope had been to get into town, check
into my hotel room, and then get to
Lincoln Park
early enough to hang around the neighborhood and perhaps grab dinner
before Death and the Maiden. There was a construction slow-down on
Northbound I-65 in Indiana that dashed that hope, at least for the most
part. I got to explore a little, but had defer dinner until after the show.
But it was a nice night ‐‐ the weather during my whole stay was lovely ‐‐
so, as intimated by the earlier pic from the July 9 posting, I ate across
the street from
The Biograph
at
Thai Bowl.
It was a tossup between there and
Pizano's Pizza,
just two doors down from the theatre; Thai won this time, but, I will
return to The Victory Gardens Theater again, so, Pizano's is highly likely
to be in my future.
A sculpture display of children in play, in the small
park down the block from The Victory Gardens Theater.
I was able to catch the train into Lincoln Park early enough to explore
the nearby neighborhood somewhat, though not near as much as back in 2009
when I got out of the theatre after a matinée. I did check-out the
little park area at the end of the block, where Lincoln Ave., Fullerton
Ave., and Halsted St. meet ‐‐ didn't catch the name. I walked down a few
side streets and checked out the architecture, and the foliage ‐‐ a lot of
the Chicago neighborhoods, as well as Downtown Chicago, have a lot of
greenery, flower beds and foliage adorning the street life. I took a few
photographs on the nearby side street, W. Montana St. I do wish I'd had
more time because I remember the walk around the neighborhood. I suspect
if I moved to Chicago ‐‐ once more, a concept that
is not absolutely off the table, as I have written before ‐‐ I
would want to live there; I also suspect I'd better be coming to a
lucrative employment situation, or I will not be living there.
The children at play sculpture from another point
of view.
The children at play sculpture from yet another
point of view.
One example, on W.Montana St. of Chicago urban
greenery.
Wednesday I walked down Michigan Ave. to The Art Institute, traversing the
parts of Grant Park between my hotel and the museum. After I left the art
museum I checked out Millennium Park, which is just next door. Both Grant
park and Millennium Park are garnished with sculpture work. Great stuff.
Grant Park, Wednesday morning, July 9, on the way to the
Art Institute of Chicago
Michigan Ave., Wednesday morning, July 9, also on the way
to the Art Institute of Chicago
The dome grid at Millennium Park
Sculptures at Millennium Park and a picture of the park
from the art institute
Michigan Ave., Wednesday afternoon, July 9, also on the
way back to my hotel
A late lunch on the
Pret A Manger
patio on Michigan Ave., on the way to the hotel from the
Art Institute and Millennium Park.
Some pics from Grant Park on the walk back to the hotel
Before my theatre double-header on Thursday, I went back up to the
end of Grant Park by the art institute to spend maybe an hour thumping
around the 2014 Taste of Chicago. I dropped about $40 there on a few
types of pizza, several varieties of chicken, some veggie burgers, and
assorted other food and drink. This time I road the bus up because I was
a little concerned about time and I also didn't feel like taking the
mile-plus hike.
Later that day, after Brigadoon, I took the
Red Line,
up to Edgewater and got there early enough this time to have dinner before
the show. The Red, by the way, conveniently lets off right next door to
Steep Theatre. After arriving by the theatre, on Rob's recommendation, I
took the bus about ten or fifteen minutes away to an area of Clark Street
with a nice little run of restaurants and bars in
Uptown.
Rob specifically recommended a place called
Hopleaf,
but as I was walking toward it I spotted a little sushi restaurant across
the street, Ora Sushi, where I dined as the only patron in the restaurant.
Still, the food was good, and it was priced as sushi usually is priced.
It was a nice atmosphere with decent decor and new age music.
Having time to kill before I needed to be at the theatre, I strolled a bit
up and down the street. Feeling like being a hedonistic tourist, despite
that I was relatively satiated by the sushi, I thought to myself, I
bet somewhere down this strip of restaurants and bars, there's an ice
cream shop. Maybe thirty seconds later, a guy walked by me with a
monster ice cream cone in his hand. I didn't even bother to ask where he
got it; I simply walked the direction he came from and I soon came upon
George's ice Cream & Sweets
just a block down the street. I had one dip of cappuccino chocolate topped
with a dip of strawberry cheese cake on a baked waffle cone. I sat on a
little bench close to a street corner and savored in my excess desert.
When I got back to Edgewater and Steep Theatre, I still had some time to
kill before the doors opened, so I stroled down the street some and
checked out that neighborhood. Then I went and watched Mr. Coon on
stage.
Taste of Chicago with Grant Park's
Buckingham Fountain
and with the Chicago cityscape.
The Red Line over Wabash Ave., close to Grant Park,
as I was walking toward an L platform to catch
it to go to The Goodman, and Brigadoon,
after A Taste of Chicago.
A shot of Wabash as I continued toward the L
platform.
The No.92 Foster bus I rode from the Berwyn Red
Line station to Clark St., and back.
My cappuccino chocolate and strawberry cheese cake
ice cream dips on a baked waffle cone from George's.
A shot of part of the Clark Street restaurant strip
Another shot of Clark St.
The Best Western as seen from Grant Park
My hotel,
The Best Western Grant Park Hotel
is on Michigan Ave., across from the southern end of Grant Park. As of
Friday morning I hadn't checked out that section of the park, which
included yet more sculpture works. I managed to awaken early enough my
last morning in the city to head over and explore some before my noon
check-out deadline.
The Field Museum as seen from my hotel room window.
Out my hotel window, which looked over the southern-most part of the park,
I could see off in the south-eastern distance a museum structure which I
originally thought was the Art Institute. It is, however, the wrong
direction and wrong street. The institute is north of the Best Western
and is on Michigan Ave., just as is the hotel. This museum is
actually off Lake Shore Dr. It turns out to be
The Field Museum of Natural History,
and I'm sorry to report I was not able to carve out time to get over there.
I also noted, when doing some on-line research on The Field Museum that
right behind it is the
John G. Shedd Aquarium.
I know there are other museums, art and otherwise, that I ought to check
out.
Walking back to the hotel from the Roosevelt subway station one night I
realized that part of
Columbia College Chicago
is right there, next door to the hotel on Michigan Ave., across the side
street: 11th St. In the back corner of that education building, on 11th
St., is the college's
Getz Theatre Center.
Just ticking off more reasons to
go back to Chicago.
And here are some photos from Friday morning, including a few selfies;
hadn't done any yet. Anyway........
Yahoo Maps puts the round trip from my apartment in South-West Ohio to the
Best Western Grand Park Hotel in Downtown Chicago and back at 607.75 miles.
It ended up being 614.8 on my trip odometer. The extra seven miles came
from my trip home. I went to Chicago by way of the main highway route:
I-70 West to Indianapolis then I-65 North to Chicago; according to Yahoo
Maps, that's just fifteen minutes shy of a five-hour drive and, of course,
virtually the same in reverse. My trip over and up to Chicago was a little
longer due to that road construction on I-65 that I mentioned above. My
tip home was much longer because I did not take I-65 South to I-70 East,
I took rural routes out of Chicago (Illinois) into Northern Indiana then
took I-30 East into Ohio; I continues that rural, scenic drive home; it was
something like eight hour. There weren't a whole lot more miles involved
in this route than the major-highway one, but a lot of lower speed limits,
plus I did stop to eat in Merrillville, Indian then later for a few minutes
at Grand Lake St. Mary's
in Celina, Ohio, but neither of those stops accounted for the extra
three-some hours so much as the slower speed. Had I been able to start
early enough the previous Tuesday, I would have taken a similar back-roads
up.
Since I didn't need to report to work at
the rent-payer
until the following Monday morning, that weekend was still a part of
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014,
albeit less eventful, even if I was back home. There was a little trip on
that Sunday to nearby
Yellow Springs
and to the local park system, with a short hike at
Clifton Gorge
after a Saturday of doing pretty much nothing, because, to quote myself
from the Monday, July 7 blog post, "I really can't be on vacation if
I ignore all that great forestry around me in my own back yard, now can I?"
On Saturday, I think I did process a lot of the
vacation
photos. Perhaps I also started the composition of this elaborately,
over-written, bore-fest of an entry, but little else. I did indeed have
my laptop with me on Sunday and most certainly worked on both
vacation
photos and text, but I did not get anxious about getting it done, as the
date of this posting proves.
I-30 ‐‐ not sure if this is Indiana or Ohio
A bar on I-30 somewhere around Van Wert, Ohio
Rural driving in the mid-west means, farms
Drove right past Grand Lake St. Marys, in Celina,
Ohio on my trek southward. Had to stop and snap
some pics
Big Bob: the world's largest handmade bass, at
Grand Lake
SR 571 as I get closer to the Dayton area
In the spirit of my visit to The Windy City, I ate lunch
that final
Vacation
Sunday at a sidewalk dining table at
Current Cuisine
in Yellow Springs.
Clifton Gorge that same Sunday. I may have a crush on
Chicago in all its urban glory, but I still and always
will have a strong affinity for the woodlands and their
environs
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014
Any of "you five" who have,
indeed, read to this point: I know that you know that after the stressful
experience of
The Dead Guy
at The Guild I really felt the need for some sort of great vacation, and I
was glad I had the Chicago trip already on the calendar; on Dead Guy
closing day, when I added Rob Coon's show to the trip, that made it
sweeter. If you haven't been paying attention,
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014
was an emotional and spiritual success. Yes, indeed, more than slightly
good for my soul, it was fantastic for my soul, and not just the
Chicago part; though, would it shock anyone that the Chicago part is
significant to me?
Just like I'd planned, I went "on vacation for several days in
Chicago and [did] so in some sort of style, even if [it, for the most part,
favored] a more modest style. But I [stayed in] a decent room, I [ate] in
restaurants that charge more than I am used to, I [bought] souvenirs from
the events, and I [walked] around [portions of] Chicago, drinking in the
'City of the Big Shoulders.'" I also did have to take out that
signature loan, though I dropped the requested amount down by 30%; that
reduction was before I knew about the two rear tires I needed for my car
and the parking fee at the hotel in Chicago ‐‐ both which took a combined
$285 away from my
Chicag0
Vacation
2014
budget. Yet, I still was able vacation in some style.
Why, beyond self-involved egoism, would I believe this whole thing is
worth blogging about, I can't definitively postulate with absolute
certainty. Unquestionably, with the four* performances I attended and the
visit to the art institute, there is that strong element of the "Diary
of Artful Things," involved. Too, there is that aspect of "whose
blog is it. anyway?" concerning the rest of the trip. However, again,
as I suggested at the start of this entry, I can't think of much reason
why anyone reading this entry would have that much interest in it as a
whole, and I'm unsure that many will read through to this paragraph. Sure,
it's interesting to me, but then, it's my life, it's my experience;
I'm the one charged to make sense of it.
This was my first time to see three professional theatre productions so
closely together**: I liked it. Several of my theatre friends have gone
to New York City to take in three or more plays in a few days, usually a
weekend; some have done that more than once; some do it approaching
regularly. On a few occasions I have seen three or more theatre
productions in such close proximity (outside of FutureFest, where there
are six shows in three days), but never have they all been
"professional"; though, there's been professional quality
to be claimed by some of those shows. I'd love to be able to do that all
the time, take in multiple professional plays in a tight time period. Had
I the income and the time, it would be a regular thing. The New York
adventure, with at least one being on Broadway, is attractive, but doing
it again in Chicago has strong appeal. There's always Cincinnati, with
several professional houses, as well, and currently a more practical
option. Of course, I'd love to go to the movie theater a lot, too,
regardless of what city, but that's another issue.
Beyond the artful events of my Chicago vacation, my affinity for the city
made the trip a welcomed rejuvenation. I wrote above of how fast I felt
assimilated into using the transit system to get around town, I didn't
really feel like a tourist, save for not being completely sure when my
stops were coming up and that really felt more like being new in
town. There was a sense that this was a small, virtual trial-run at being
a resident commuter. I'm not prepared to say that was what it was, but I
can't deny that I was willing to pay attention as if it was, to say to
myself, you could easily accept this, couldn't you?
I believe I've mentioned before on this blog that I am far more of a rural
kind of a guy than I am an urban one. For almost two decades I have
inhabit a bit more of a rural abode. The idea of once again living urban
does not generally appeal to me. I want forestry close by, such as I have
right now, and I mean Forests: large acreages that are preserved for
wildlife. I hate urban driving. I hate it in Dayton, and Dayton
is a mid-sized city where the driving conditions are mild compared to
bigger urban places, hell, even Cincinnati. This isn't the first time I've
admitted on this blog that despite my anti-urban leanings, I am enticed by
the idea of living in Chicago ‐‐ except, of course, for its winter
weather.
Undeniably, whenever the city comes up in whatever situation, I consider
how much I would probably like being a Chicago resident. One element, I'm
sure, of why I like the defunct TV show,
My Boys,
so much, besides the fact that I have a celebrity crush on
Jordana Spiro,
is because the show is set in Lincoln Park. What I know I need to be aware
of is that I have only been there as a visitor, a tourist. I see the city
through the eyes of one who has spent no more than a few days at a time
there and hasn't dealt with any of the day to day particulars of living
and functioning as a resident citizen. Perhaps "rose colored
glasses" isn't the precise word to use, but certainly I see Chicago
through a vistor's filter. How much the vision is skewed I obviously can't
say.
The bigger consideration is acting, theatre especially. I've been told by
several reliable sources that the professional theatre community in
Chicago can be closed, that it's difficult, regardless of talent and skill,
to break inside the circle, or, more likely, circles. I have essentially
done that in Dayton's small professional theatre community, but only to an
extent. I would not suggest anyone look for me to become a resident artist
at The Human Race,
anytime soon. Certainly I have been graciously welcomed there, and I
greatly appreciate the three opportunities I have so far had to play on
those boards, but I'm not wholly "an established professional
stage actor" in Dayton. Establishing myself as a professional stage
actor in Chicago would surely be more of a task than it's been here. It
doesn't mean it couldn't happen. This is all me thinking out loud, or I
suppose, more appropriately, it's me thinking in text.
Even if I were to decide to move to Chicago, it wouldn't be any time soon.
It's not a financially viable option at the moment. I will be back there
though. I got a
Ventra subway and bus card;
Can't have the card and never use it.
* five performances, if you count Ringo on July
2. ** go back to Play It By Heart on July 1 and
that's four professional theatre productions in nine days, which is also
new to me.
Now, some more pics from all over
VACATION
EXTRAVAGANZA
2014:
OK, here's the thing, time is moving on and I have a full plate
the next several days (as I write this), so I will update this
entry later with the promised photos; meanwhile I did not want to
delay the posting of this entry any longer. So, stay tuned. *08/05/2014 addendum: Still stay tuned. The additional pics
ARE coming
Alas, I shall not be on the stage due to a serious casting error (or two),
but I will be in the audience at
Dayton Playhouse FutureFest 2014
all of this weekend, starting this evening.
*Just a reminder this can only be a small sampling of the
professional work of my friends and colleagues. I'm simply not
going to be aware of all their good fortunes. Plus, I may screw up
and learn of something and forget about it ‐‐ I can be that
way, easily. But if I know (and remember), I'll give a shout
out for the pro gig successes!
IN MEMORIAM
A little bit of catch-up to recognize three actors whose
work I join millions in admiring. All three who passed
away in the last month
The other five plays, meritorious in their own rights, were, (in
alphabetical order):
The Humanist by Kuros Charney,
The Killing Jar, by Jennifer Lynne Roberts,
Masterwork, by M.J. Feely,
The Paymaster, also by M.J. Feely,
and
Wash, Dry, Fold, by Nedra Pezold Roberts.
All the adjudicators were returning judges, though one,
Roger Danforth,
had not been to the festival for maybe a decade. I don't recall ever seeing
him before, so I don't think he's been since I started attending in 2005.
The others were the usual suspects from the last several years or longer:
David Finkle,
Faye Sholiton,
Helen Sneed,
and
Eleanore Speert.
As always there was a lot of good work from the actors, and as per usual
there were a few excellent performances. It was just as lovely as always
to hang with the five playwrights, and to meet the new ones, plus, of
course, for Michael (M.J.) Feely, whom has been a contendor (and one-time
winner) at FF several times before, and has become a friend of mine. Also
cool to hang with the adjudicators, like always.
A good time was had by all!
AND NOW, MORE PICTURES:
Sugarhill director & cast
Kuros Charney
The Humanist director & cast
Jennifer Lynne Roberts
The Killing Jar director & cast
M.J. Feely
Masterwork director & cast
The Paymaster director, AD & cast
Nedra Pezold Roberts
Wash, Dry, Fold cast
My apologies to the cast for using this
blurred & otherwise marred photo. The
image file for the better pic I snapped a
moment later was somehow corrupted and
can't be used.
The FutureFest 2014 adjudicators
The adjudication of Wash, Dry, Fold from an
audience perspective at a distance
A few shots of the FutureFest 2014 audience:
FutureFest socializing and commensality over the weekend:
The exterior setting for FutureFest: the lovely
environment around the Dayton Playhouse at
Wegerzyn Gardens(THE DAY WAS BIT OVERCAST, BUT
STILL...):
The process of gathering production music has begun. Last week I met with
Director
Ralph Dennler
concerning sound in general and a few sound effects that aren't strictly
in the script but that are worth considering. We also discussed the
logistics of a couple speakers for directed sound.
Saturday I dropped in to address a problem that had occurred a few shows
back. Somehow, when using the channels to the four house speakers directly
through the computer I could not get the up-left house speaker to accept
a signal. It would take a signal when coming through the eight-channel
mixing board, which was good news because it meant no one had to try to
run down a cable short between the booth and the speaker. The problem had
to do with, most likely, a sound driver. Not being able to run directly
from the computer system meant we lost the ability to isolate any single
speaker out, we could only send things in stereo. I was able to solve the
problem this weekend so we can isolate sound to any one of the speakers.
I also will be able to easily send isolated sound to either of the two
extra speakers I mentioned above.
Tomorrow night I drop by before rehearsal to coordinate the recording of
some off-stage voices.
On the promocast front, I have secured clearance from Playwright
Lee Blessing
to use dialogue from the script in the DV movie.
So:
MORE
Tonight I will drop into the Dayton Playhouse to meet with Jeff Sams about
the sound design for his directorial endeavor. As I've already written,
this will be a very simple design. I will not be in charge of the body
mics or the mic mixes, only the sound cues and the pre-show/intermission
music.
I will also be designing the sound for this national debute at DPH,
directed by Geoff Burkman.
This will be another case where I will not be in charge of the body mics
or the mic mixes.
The weekend after FF2014, I saw some more theatre:
Miss Fleeta Mae Bryte at
The Drama Workshop in
Cincinnati ‐‐
Greg Smith
just wrapped a two-weekend stint reviving his role as Fleeta Mae in
Ted Karber, Jr.'s Precious Heart as a fund-raiser for The Drama
Workshop in Cincinnati. I dropped in to revisit Miss Bryte on the closing
day, this past Sunday.
Fleeta was as Fleeta is: charming, disarming, a little naive and half
crazy. Couldn't help but sit there during the performance and recall the
sound cues from the Guild Christmas rendition we did, where I adapted
Michael Boyd's original sound design for the first DTG production of this
show to fit Ted Karber, Jr.'s re-writes for the holiday version.
Having hedged my bet by leaving with more than enough time to make the
trip down to Cincinnati from home, I arrived about an hour before the
curtain. I was able to visit with the Drama Workshop people; in fact,
President Ray Persing showed me around the theatre, which has been
converted from a bowling alley. Nice ste up; Ray and I commiserated on the
never-ending needs of a theatre's building and facilities.
The big sound design push is on. I moved my visit this week from Wednesday
to Thursday, due to a Monday night injury in the gym ‐‐ I needed to
spend some time off my feet, as I overworked my upper calves and was at a
level of pain at one point that almost made me go to Urgent Care.
Tomorrow, before the shindig mentioned below, I'll head to The Guild to
connect the two directed speakers, that I hope will occupy both channel 5
and channel 6 out of the computer (one for each). They both may have to be
sourced from channel 5, which I would rather not be the case. That would
mean the sound tech will have to manually redirect to the appropriate
speaker during the show; that's do-able, but I'd rather avoid it.
THE 2014 INDUCTEES INTO
THE DAYTON THEATRE HALL OF FAME:
Saul Caplan
Barbara Jorgensen
Tomorrow evening two important colleagues of mine will be honored with
induction into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame at the 2014 Hall of Fame
Induction & Daytony Awards.
Saul Caplan is one of the Dayton theatre people whom I have worked the
most with; he may actually hold the spot as the one I've worked the
most with. We have shared the stage in two professional and two
non-professional productions; I have designed sound for six of his shows
(seven if we count the re-boot of Souvenir); he has directed me in
five shows (some making up part of the sound design count). Saul is one
of the stronger presence on stage on Dayton theatre; it's great to see him
honored with this induction.
Barbara (Barb) Jorgensen and I have only been in one show together, and it
was back at the very start of my return to acting,
The Cripple of Iniishman,
my first productuon as an adult in early 2004. She was Mammy McDougal to my
Johnnypat McDougal. Barb was very good about tutoring me and making me
feel at home, as everyone was, but she was just a little better at it.
Here's a note I wrote her at the close of the production:
I want to especially thank you for all the support, advice and
kindness you've shown. Everyone was so good at welcoming me ‐‐
but you were more so and I am grateful.
I am about to start my eleventh season as a Guild board member, sharing all
those fiscal boards with Barb, along with others, of course, and she has
always been a member of the nucleus of passionately dedicated members who
keep the Guild alive and going strong. And if you've seen her on stage,
you know she's also a strong presence on stage and it is equally gratifying
to see her induction.
As an actor, I have dabbled some into the craft of improv, and I
know that some who will read this have, too. Some far more than I.
I'm sure they will all agree that to watch Robin Williams riff off
was to watch one of the true masters. His ability to surrender to
the muse, to let his mind wander to wherever it might find nuggets
of comedic gold and then thrust them to the surface was often
breathtaking ‐‐ and most often that lack of breath was the
oxygen depletion from the side-splitting belly laughs. His
dramatic work was also impressive, often as deep into dramatic
angst as his comedy was out-of-left-field effervescent.
In all of his work there was honesty and vulnerability; he was
able to expose those to us, which is why he was so damned good at
his work.
Certainly we, in the general public, the masses, have no way of
knowing who any well-known public figure really is. But I just
know, with all the fiber of my being, that Robin Williams was
exactly the gentle, lovely, beautiful soul that his public persona
would sometime betray to us in between all the manic, comic
genius that burst from him.
To me, Ms. Becall's sex appeal had just as much to do with the
class, style and strength she exuded, as it did with those classic
features, if not more so. And wasn't she still just as stunning in
her "twilight years" as the femme fetale of decades ago?
As an actor, she did not take home the number of awards she should
have. No, she did not.
I have a soft spot for
Sr. Richard's
work as John Hammond in
Jurassic Park,
but man what an illustrious body of work otherwise, which includes his
directorial work on the multi-Oscar-winning
Gandhi
as well as his directorial work on a personal favorite of mine,
Magic.
Another true classic of the cinema world gone from us.
MACBOOK PRO WITH RETINA DISPLAY FLICKER PROBLEM:
A little over a week ago my laptop succumbed to what I, in short order,
discovered is a known infliction of Macbook Pros with retina display. It's
a screen flicker that, by all accounts, cannot be fixed save for replacing
the entire screen.
The flicker screen work-around.
I do have a work-around, but it renders my computer much less mobile. I'm
using my small 24" HD TV as the monitor (connected via HDMI cable) and my
old Mac desktop keyboard and mouse (both USB connected). Fortunately, the
computer functions with no problem; it's just the screen display that is
malfunctioning; so, I'm only slightly handicapped via the lesser mobility.
Honestly, I can use the laptop, open, using the flickering onboard screen
display, but it is rather annoying, and for some tasks, such as graphics
creation/editing and movie editing, are not very practical on a
flickering screen.
OPENING WEEKEND:
The first three shows seemed to go well. As is often the case, I was busy
with house management so I didn't attend much to the performances, but the
audiences were very responsive.
I shot the promocast footage during the Tuesday, August 19
tech/dress rehearsal and
edited the next day. My work-around setup work well, of course, being home
I had no need to be mobile at all, so that wasn't an issue. I posted in the
late afternoon than had a sharp observer note that
Lee Blessing's
name was spelled wrong in the closing credits. I deleted the DV movie from
our
YouTube channel,
fixed the spelling error, re-rendered the movie, re-rendered a compressed
version, re-posted, now at a twenty-four hour delay. But hey, it's up!
DTG 14/15 SOPHOMORE PRODUCTION ABOUT TO GO INTO REHEARSAL:
Auditions are tonight and tomorrow night, starting at 7:00 pm both nights,
at the theatre.
I have not really started to design sound for the production, but some
ideas have been floated.
We had a production meeting last week, just to start getting everyone on
the same page(s).
MORE
I'm attending a production meeting at the Dayton Playhouse tomorrow night,
before Good People auditions at The Guild.
Another production meeting at DPH Wednesday.
Yes, it is proper to question the wisdom of designing sound for three
shows which so closely overlap in terms of production, pre-production, etc.
Four, if you count Nice People Dancing.
*Just a reminder this can only be a small sampling of the
professional work of my friends and colleagues. I'm simply not
going to be aware of all their good fortunes. Plus, I may screw up
and learn of something and forget about it ‐‐ I can be that
way, easily. But if I know (and remember), I'll give a shout
out for the pro gig successes!
Last night was the first night of auditions. Fourteen people came to vie
for roles. Auditions continue and conclude tonight, starting at 7:00 pm,
at the theatre.
Auditions are over and the cast of the show is as follows:
CHARACTER
ACTOR
Margaret
Rachel Wilson
Jean
Wendi Michael
Dottie
Heather Martin
Stevie
Alex Chilton
Mike
Shawn Hooks
Kate
Shyra Thomas
MORE
I attended the production meeting at the Dayton Playhouse this past
Tuesday. The sound will be likely a little more involved than I
anticipated.
Turns out there actually wasn't a formal production meeting for this show
on Wednesday, that was a misunderstanding on my part. But I did watch the
run for where the sound cues fall, and I started getting familiar with the
hardware that will be involved. Last night I gathered all the production
sound effects I need ‐‐ though I would like to find a different version
of one of them. Tonight I will build the
Show Cue System cue file, as
well as search and gather some of the pre-show and intermission music. I
have a lot of what i want in my music library, already, but there are a
few specific songs I don't have yet; I will tonight.
It's Tech Sunday. The
cue-to-cue and the
tech rehearsal are today. I
dropped into the theatre yesterday to install
Show Cue Systems, migrate
the cue file and all the source files onto the DPH computer, and to do the
initial sound check. There will be assured tweaks today. I also will be
swapping out one sound file for a better one. As I indicated before, I was
not wholly satisfied with one sound; I searched for a better version and
could not find one. I used the Mallet setting in
Garageband
to make what I think works better.
Tech Sunday is behind and the
show continues Tech Week. Some
tweaking on the sound was needed: volume levels. There is a sound file that
was inherently low that needs to be much louder. Last night I edited the
file to push the gain, and I also then dropped the levels in the sound
program for all the other sounds. Tonight I'll push the master volume on
the sound board. Thus the one file will now be as loud as it should be with
the others comparatively at their old levels with the new master setting.
Now, excuse me
while I spend the afternoon in the laundry room
Show opens tonight. As well as the Sunday Tech, I was at the Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday tech rehearsals, though I left at intermission
Wednesday. The show is shaping up and I am at least satisfied with the
sound design. there was, of course, the inevitable tweaking during the
week.
I am thankful that Bob Kovach did all the mic rigging for both the actors
and the orchestra. A) that's not my strong suit; B) I don't know the DPH
rigging.
I'll be there for opening night tonight.
Rehearsals officially began Wednesday night with the table read.
I dropped in at the top end to discuss deadlines and get the ball rolling
on various paperwork.
I haven't really began to work on sound design; that'll happen soon.
In terms of promocastpreproduction,
I have, at the playwright's request,
sent a clearance agreement to his agent. I usually don't have to jump
through such a hoop, but, whatever it takes.
We had the first of two Skype
sessions scheduled for tonight with
Dialect Coach D'Arcy Smith,
who was once at Wright State University,
here in the Dayton, Ohio area, then went to the
Toi Whakaari Drama School
in Wellington, New Zealand, but now is at the
University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis/St. Paul. However, that session needs to be rescheduled or.
D'Arcy has an unavoidable last-minute conflict for tonight. For the rest
of this week there are actor conflicts and I have a few conflicts, which
are relevant because I am supposed to be there to make the Skype connection
‐‐ though it honestly would be possible for the sessions to happen
without my direct involvement.
Meanwhile, it's too early in the week to know what's what with clearance
from the David Lindsay-Abaire camp to use dialogue in the promocast. His
agent won't even receive the clearance agreement I drafted until tomorrow
at the earliest, and who knows when he'll actually open the envelope.
SATURDAY IN THE THEATRE:
The first show of our 2014/15 season has wrapped with good audience
response, overall decent-sized houses, and some fine performances from the
cast. I was actually an audience member on Saturday, but it was difficult
for me to keep myself from scrutinizing the sound design, so much so that
I essentially failed. I was mostly
satisfied with the design. Well: another good run at the home theatre.
A couple shots of cast & crew striking the Nice People
Dancing set on Sunday.
I left the Saturday matinée at The Guild to head to
The Dayton Playhouse
to catch the 8:00 for How to Succeed. Another nice production with
a lot of fine work happening on stage and a lot really good design work.
Again, it was difficult for me to keep myself from scrutinizing the sound
design, still essentially failed; I hate to repeat myself, but I was
mostly satisfied with what I
heard.
A week from tonight marks the first session of what I believe is my eighth
series of advanced acting classes with
Kay Bosse
through The Human Race Theatre Company.
The first dialect coaching session, via
Skype, with
D'Arcy Smith
is tomorrow evening. I however, will not be the "on-duty tech"
as was planned. I have a colonoscopy Thursday morning, and in consultation
earlier today with the gastroenterologist's office it is clear that being
out in public tomorrow night is not a wise option. I will be in the midst
of the preparation for the test; if you aren't aware, it involves copious
amounts of laxatives, and I have been warned I will need to be close to
the restroom all evening.
Staying at the abode seems like the right action to take.
I will drop by the theatre in the early afternoon to set it all up before
I get into my personal situation.
I may audition for a show tonight.
Haven't completely made my mind up ‐‐ it's mostly a schedule thing.
So stay tuned......
:
My advanced acting classes series with
Kay Bosse
through The Human Race Theatre Company
does not begin next Monday, it begins the following Monday, the 22nd.
I have set up the rigging for the
Skype session with
D'Arcy Smith
for this evening.
As for the preproduction
on the promocast, I would imagine David
Lindsay-Abaire's agent has just received the dialogue clearance agreement
in the post. I probably will not know about a "yes" or
"no" until Friday, and that at the very earliest. Next week is
more likely.
Well, I had contemplated auditioning for the Geoff Burkman helmed
production but I ended up not making it to the audition. For one thing,
the only character in the specs that I came close to typing in for is
more than ten years younger than I, though I suppose that would not have
completely counted me out. Regardless, I'm a designer for the show. Plus,
there are always all those projects on the back burner that ought to have
my attention.
I'm a good twenty-four hours into fasting for my scheduled colonoscopy
tomorrow morning. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit hungry, but I have been drinking
hefty amounts of water and clear juices today. Did some chicken broth for
lunch, too. So I don't feel like I'm starving. I'm about to start all that
prep with
Dulcolax™, Miralax™,
and Gatorade™. I'd give you a
post-game report on that, but I suspect no one is interested.
It's not just New York
It's not just Washington
It's not just Shanksville
It's not just the buildings
It's not just the airplanes
It's not just the field
It's not just the symbols
It's not just the pictures
It's not just the dead
It's not just the heroes
It's not just the hearts
It's not just the sorrow
It's not just the nation
The Skype rigging I set up Wednesday, using the DTG
laptop hooked into the 50" TV that will very shortly be
in our lobby as an information kiosk and a monitor of the
performances happening on the L. David Mirkin Mainstage
The report is that the first Skype
dialect session with
D'Arcy Smith
went quite well. This was, of course, Wednesday evening. You five will
know that I came in Wednesday afternoon and set it all up, but by the time
the session began I had a date with four tablets of
Dulcolax™ and 238 grams of
Miralax™ mixed into 64 oz. of
Gatorade™ as prep for my
colonoscopy appointment, yesterday.
As promised, I won't be reporting in any
detail on my Wednesday evening, save to say that it was good that I was
not at the theatre.
Director Debra Kent did text me yesterday to say that the session
"worked out great." There will be one on Saturday afternoon with
a cast member who couldn't make the Wednesday evening session, which you
may remember was a last-minute reschedule from what was to have been this
past Monday night. Next Wednesday (the 17th) is the next Skype session
with all of the cast, save one, whose character is not Bostonian.
I have received no email communication from David Lindsay-Abaire's agent
concerning the dialogue clearance agreement that I mailed in hardcopy
form to his New York
William Morris Endeavor
office. I really don't know that I would get an email from him. The
agreement has a self-addressed, stamped envelope to send back a signed
copy of the agreement to me; I did not address it to my home but rather
the theatre. I have to be there Saturday, so perhaps the envelope will be
waiting for me when I arrive.
Should be able to see up to three different shows this weekend:
Saturday morning several of us members of
The Guild board of
directors attended a class for
First Aid, CPR and AED Certification
from The American Red Cross.
This was brought on first because, through the instigation
and financial contribution of a former board member and a long-time patron,
Cindy Raymond and her husband, Skip, as well as collaboration and matching
contribution from
Lois and Don Bigler,
we recently acquired an AED
(automated external defibrillator).
Also, it otherwise seemed like a good idea.
Shawn & Rachel do a dialect session via Skype with
D'Arcy
Saturday afternoon was a second Skype
dialect session with Dialect Coach
D'Arcy Smith.
Only two of the cast members were at this one, Shawn Hooks and Rachel
Wilson. There's another session with all the cast members this coming
Wednesday.
Still waiting for the signed dialogue clearance agreement to arrive in the
postal mail or some other communication from David Lindsay-Abaire's agent.
I had originally bought my ticket for the opening night of
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
at
Beavercreek Community Theatre this
past Friday. However, on the way to show Friday, my car had convulsions a
couple miles from my apartment. Fortunately, it was a minor thing. The
spark plug wire that was recently replaced had come loose. The tow truck
driver actually fixed it at the scene. Unfortunately, it was almost and
hour into Act I. I had already left message on
the box office voice mail explaining the problem and asking to change my
reservation to yesterday afternoon, and BCT was more than happy to move my
ticket. All I can say is what I said on
facebook last evening:
Without going into detail, the nature of what I do as sound designer may
have to change based on the licensing of the show. I don't know what that
all means at the moment. But, it'll be clear sometime soon, I'm sure.
I am attending the first rehearsal, the read-through,
tonight.
Tonight we do the last Skype
dialect session with Dialect Coach
D'Arcy Smith
for Good People. It's all the cast that must commit to a Southie
dialect (South Boston dialect).
An-n-nd still waiting for the signed dialogue clearance agreement to
arrive in the postal mail from David Lindsay-Abaire's agent, or for that
other unfortunate communication from said agent ‐‐ the other being likely
unfortunate because it would probably be a "No" via email.
I attended the first rehearsal, the read-through,
Monday night, for George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead™
Live, took some notes, and laughed....laughed a lot.
This is a funny damned show, campy, silly and lots of fun.
Ms. Carter appeared in Lewis Black's
play,
One Slight Hitch.
The significance in this context is that Mr. Black, who's better known as
an A list stand-up comic, was at the performance last night to support
Ms. Carter. So, I got to shake the hand of one of my absolute favorite
stand-up comics and tell him I love his work. Not much of a real
conversation ensued, but to be able to express my appreciation to a great
comedian for his good work was a privilege to me. Believe me, I wanted to
corner him and take him hostage for a conversation about his work, but,
you know, that's not polite or cool. But it was so damn cool to be able
to say, "I love your work," to his face!
Recently received a casting call for a short film being produced by
Burnmill Productions,
of which Lana Read is
associated. Lana was once in the PC-Goenner Talent Agency office as
an associate agent, which is where I met her.
The open casting call is this coming Saturday, which I cannot make due to
obligations at The Guild.
But they are accepting DV movie submissions for the audition. I have the
sides for a monologue by the
character I am going after. I'll probably shoot and process it Friday
evening and get an MP4
headed to the producers that night.
Well, I may start another six-session acting class with
Kay Bosse
at The Race on Monday. Unless
the enrollment is too small. In that case it'll all get cancelled.
The Skype
dialect session, last Wednesday, with Dialect Coach
D'Arcy Smith
went as well as the other two went. This was the final coaching session
with D'Arcy, but the cast has plenty of audio files for reference. Also,
at the request of the director and cast, D'Arcy has provided some
phrases for the cast to use as warm-up and practice ‐‐ some phrases
specific to needs of individual actors. The director reports that the
cast is doing good work at perfecting their Southie (South Boston) accents.
So when you see the show, prepare to get the urge to look around the
theatre to see if
Click and Clack (the Tappit Brothers)
are in the house.
As producer I still haven't completely filled out the technician crew,
either.
Sound design got set back somewhat. I was to spend all day yesterday
working on it, but barely got to it as I was debilitated by another
crushing headache that I am sure is connected to what I believe is a bad
prescription for my eye glasses. So I need to jump on sound design heavy
tonight and the next couple days ‐‐ Tech Sunday
is next Sunday, less than a week from now.
I did, however, the bulk of the pre-recorded voice over we need; that
being
Saul Caplan,
playing the role of the priest calling the Bingo games. Or, as Debra has
dubbed him, the Jewish Boston Irish Catholic Priest.
Still waiting for the signed dialogue clearance agreement to
arrive.
Friday evening I did shoot the planned DIY screentest
for an upcoming short-subject narrative film being produced by
Burnmill Productions,
and for which past PC-Goenner associate agent
Lana Read is attached.
I gave the producers two different reads on the sides
I was sent. Of course, my hyper self-critical tendencies were escalated
since I had to edit on the DV movie, so I was witness to my performance in
the audition. I shot it two-camera mostly so i could better control the
pacing by trimming unnecessary pauses out by cutting from one shot angle
to the other. I don't consider this cheating since any good movie editor
does this on a regular basis: that is, manipulates the pacing of the scene.
This is an audition for a movie, what counts is how the actor comes off
in the final cut.
Who of you five will be surprised to read that I am not overly impressed
with the performances in either reading of the sides? I also did not have
a chance to fine-polish the final cut of the screentest. It was getting
late and I had a morning board meeting at
The Guild, so I did not
match the color between the footage from each camera nor match the dynamic
of the audio for each. Thus, though slight, there's a mismatch between the
cuts from one angle to the other. I also converted the .mov original final
cut to compressed MP4,
which was still a little bigger of a file that I would have preferred:
25 megabytes. Hey the original file was 3 gigs, so the 25 mgbs is not what
could be called a major problem.
Honestly, I am not wholly sure that I am actually correct for the role,
but I did this anyway, for several reasons:
He, she, or they who are casting the project get to make the
final decision about who is right for the role; and unless I am
clearly the wrong type ‐‐ for instance: the character is a special
forces Marine in his mid-twenties ‐‐ I need let those who are casting
decide what they want and don't want.
In conjunction with that, Sometimes the specifications for a
role as listed in the casting call does not wholly or perfectly
communicate what the casting people are really looking for.
Moreover, sometimes those casting a project may stumble across a
quality, a look, or something in the actor or the actor's audition
that they were not looking for but suddenly see as perfect for the role.
I haven't auditioned for any movie projects for a while, and so I
need to just flex that muscle just for the sake of doing it.
In follow-up to the last point, I need to rehearse auditioning. I
was once told that actors should consider each audition a dress
rehearsal for the next one.
I need to start and get into the practiced habit of DIY
screentests. There's a big and growing trend in such auditioning, not
only for movies and television but for theatre productions. Every time
I have done a professional theatre production, at least one out-of-town
cast member has shot and sent an audition video to a theatre casting
call, usually for producers in New York but not exclusively.
I want to act in front of the camera again. Might as well give
this a shot.
Still frames from the DIY screentest for the Burnmill
Productions casting call.
I am sad to report that the Advanced Acting Techniques class that was to
start tomorrow night and run a total of six Mondays at
The Human Race Theatre Company,
under the tutelage of
Kay Bosse,
has been cancelled due to under enrollment. Though in reality, a smaller
class size could have been more beneficial for those of us in that
smaller class; but, I recognize, of course, that the theatre company needs
to take in enough tuition to justify the course.
So-oh-well.
Saturday evening I saw the debut of the original play
Plenty of Reasons, written and directed by Shannon Lewis, that was
produced over the weekend at the
South Charleston Opera House.
It was nice collection of vignettes about love relationships in various
states of "problem." I don't have the playbill with me as I
write this so I can't list all the cast, but there were several actors on
stage I have worked with: Ryan Deity (whom I have appeared with in three
productions, American Buffalo< Catch 22, and C.C. Bond's
Sweeney Todd ‐‐ all for
Springfield StageWorks),
Jessica Broughton (also in Sweeney Todd at StageWorks), and
Tony Weaver (who was one of the actors in the staged reading of St.
Augustine Was a Swinger, written by Natasha Randall's friend Bob
Garvin, and of which she arranged the reading to be done at The Guild late
in the summer of 2012).
One really interesting story about this production of Plenty of
Reasons is that it was expelled from the original venue due to the
language and content. See the article about this
"Play cast asked to leave Clifton theater,"
by Tiffany Y. Latta
for the Springfield News-Sun.
My favorite source quote from the article: "This kind of thing may be
OK in Yellow Springs, but not in Clifton." The quote is rendered
classic when you realize that Clifton is about a five-minute drive from
Yellow Springs, maybe ten minutes.
You five may remember back on August 25 I posted about my laptop suffering
from a known infliction: screen flicker. Like I wrote then, it's a common
problem with Retina Display MacBooks. Well, several days ago it went away.
I did nothing, at least not purposefully, yet it simply stopped flickering.
Then, a few days ago it started again until I knocked, with my knuckle, on
the component that attaches the screen to the computer. It stopped and has
not started back up, yet. That being clear evidence that it is a hardware
problem that has to do with some sort of shorting out.
The relevance to this "Diary of Artful Things" is that my laptop
plays a big role in much of what I do outside of straight-out acting. It
also plays some role in acting on occasion, such the editing and processing
of the screentest I just DIY'd.
We are entering into Tech Week,
with Tech Week, in two days. I
must admit I have not been around as often, on site, during rehearsals.
It's usually my practice as a producer to drop in frequently, especially
in the second half of the rehearsal period.
This week I recorded the two other off-stage voices, the six-year-old
daughter of one couple in the play, and the sound of an elderly lady
winning at Bingo.
A very sweet little six-year-old was referred to me and I went to visit
her and her mother early in the week at their home and record said little
girl. Unfortunately that did not work out. The little girl was overwhelmed
by this strange man coming into her home with strange equipment. Her mother
worked with her for about a half hour or so to help get her stress level
down. Mom had to take Daughter into a stairwell so I was out of view to get
her to do it. They had a mic, but I had given it to the child so she could
see it, hold it, and get used to it; it wasn't plugged in. The little girl
got to a point that she overcame her shyness and stress enough to say the
lines, but she was doing it into the dead mic, and it really seemed to me
if I interrupted to plug that mic in, she might slide back into her earlier
stress level. So I hooked another mic in and got as close as I could
without showing myself. So while she was saying the lines into the dead
mic, I was recording her on another mic, from a little bit of a distance.
When I listened back to the recording on site, through headphones, it
sounded usable. But when I got home, I discovered that when I pulled the
gain (volume) up enough for a good level on her voice, there was too much
room tone that I could not filter out.
The child was really very sweet; she was just too intimidated by the
situation. With what I had recorded being ultimately unviable, and with the
Tech Rehearsals looming in a few days, I had to move on in production. I was
also a little concerned that going back and having her do it again might
be too much of an ordeal for her.
I went with my back-up plan and recorded
Natasha Randall
the next day, as she lives close and I knew we'd get a good take. It took
about fifteen minutes, including setup and teardown Natasha already has a
high pitched voice; for this, she pitched her voice up as high as she
could, then I used a pitch filter to take it a little higher.
I contacted the mother to explain the unfortunate situation. I really wish
I'd had time to go back and have the little girl try it again, but it was
too late in the pre-production period. I couldn't risk taking the time if
she was going to be too stressed to deliver again, or if it would take
some big chunk of time I need to do other things. Right now, time is
premium. I hated making the decision to move on, and I hated making the
call to Mom; I really liked the idea of using this little girl.
As for the old lady, that voice work was done by an anonymous actor
being credited as
Georgette Spelvin.
It's highly probable that I will end up being in the tech booth for this
production, but only because I have not been able to secure a lighting
tech. I do have a young lady who has come on board to be a tech. She was
originally slated to be sound tech, but if I don't get a "yes"
from one of the many people I have solicited to run lights, she will be
moved to lights and I will operate the sound board.
Though I was in the theatre yesterday to take a photograph that will be
altered to become a stage prop for the show, I forgot to check my mailbox
to see if the dialogue clearance agreement from David Lindsay-Abaire's
agent happened to have arrived, and arrived signed.
I was not cast in that short-subject, narrative movie I did the
DIY screentest for last
weekend.
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