Last night we had our initial
table reading,
though not with a full cast. One actor, who is cast, was out
of town, and, as some of you will know, three roles have not yet
been filled. Still it was a good read-through, showing great promise
for the future of the production.
We're dark
tonight, but
Director
Jared Mola has Andre Tomlinson and me in tomorrow night to do
table work
and character work.
The script is centered around our characters ‐‐ Andre's
Franco and my Arthur‐‐ so, our gelling, our chemistry, is
key to the show. But, judging from both the auditions and last night's
table read, we're in good shape. Andre was in
The Guild's mounting
of August Wilson's Radio Golf
at the start of this season, and his performance was impressive. I
am pleased and excited that I get to play against him on stage in
this one. After tomorrow night, rehearsals are dark until next Tuesday,
when blocking rehearsals
begin.
It's not like I'm behind, but I really wanted to be farther along
in line study
and script analysis
than I am. As far as memorization of my lines, I haven't even finished
making my flashcards, yet. As of last night, I finished card number
210, and I am only about 70% done with Act 1, which puts me less than
half-way through the script. Yeah, I got a lot of lines. Hey, I
signed up for it, so no whining here. But, I am tempted to take a
vacation
day or two from the
the rent-payer to
get the flashcards done so I can start drilling myself in earnest.
An off-book
deadline has not yet been given, but, if it's all the same, I would
rather be there as soon as I can be, regardless of a deadline.
I also have yet to do my recording of the lines in the scenes I'm
in. You five regulars may know that I make the recordings to listen
to on headphones while I'm working at the rent-payer, and also to
play at night while I'm in bed, asleep or not. It helps. It really
does. I always record my lines deadpan, with no infusion of emotion
or intent. That way, along with just more work on memorizing the
words, I can also do some line analysis without interference or
influence by a previous dramatic interpretation.
There's also some
dramaturgy
that I want to do as I climb into Arthur.
I am plugging along at making my flashcards for
line study,
and I am almost done with Act 1. At this point my goal is to have
the flashcards completed by the end of this coming weekend at the
latest.
Honestly, I'm starting to get impatient that I'm not done already,
so I can go as full-force as possible down that road to
off-book.
Because of the threat of horrendous weather *(see next entry,
below), I was at The Guild
last night, even though rehearsals were
dark.
I spent the evening in the boardroom,
Gilmore Girls
on my laptop
as background noise, dutifully moving along in flashcard creation.
Tonight, Andre Tomlinson (Franco) and I are in the boardroom doing
table work
and character work
under the guidance of
Director
Jared Mola. Then, as I wrote in the last post,
blocking
begins next Tuesday.
Last night, again in the boardroom at the theatre,
slogging through the creation of my flashcards,
with Netflix
on my laptop.
FALSE ALARM ON THE FLOOD:
If you live in a big swath of the American mid-west you were under
severe weather watches or warnings last night. I was right there
with you. The warnings to "batten down the hatches" was
loud and prominent. Where I live it was the high possibility, even
probability of both flash-flooding and tornados. I left
work early to go do
that battening at my apartment. My anxiety was a little high because
I live in a flood zone, and I am in a corner, ranch-house apartment.
So, both the potential flooding and the potential tornado had me
on edge.
The flood prep was unplugging everything from wall sockets and
elevating all my electronic devices as well as a few other things
susceptible to water damage.
My prep for the tornado is how I justify this being an entry in
K.L.'s Artistic Blog: I took pretty much all of my music
equipment to The Guild and down into the theatre basement, which is
literally a bomb shelter. I also took a few external harddrives
with data I did not want to lose. And I took my T-mobile WiFi port*.
Dayton was a part of the same dire weather warning as was my neck
of the woods. However, my thinking was that the stuff was safer
from a tornado in a bomb shelter than in a corner apartment. And,
the theatre is not in a flood zone, so despite that the basement
is below ground level, I took my chances on that.
However: no flooding; no tornados. Apparently the seriously bad
weather cell split and hit farther north and farther south of where
I and where the theatre are. I don't know weather to be relieved or
pissed off. Actually, I need to be relieved, despite that after I
attend my rehearsal at the theatre tonight I get to lug all my
stuff back home.
*) I brought the T-mobile WiFi port both to protect it and
to also see if I could still get internet service from it
some place besides home. I knew in theory I could, since it
receives signal from wireless mobile, just like a cell phone,
rather than a hardwired cable. Of course, it did work. So
now I know for sure, even if I should have already known.
My music stuff:
Embassy Pro bass,
Viola bass,
Tascam 24-Track recorder,
Legato III piano,
Oxygen 61 Keyboard,
all guitar pedals, all mics, assorted cords and such;
plus other things such as a suitcase of clothing
(in case I wasn't able to get into my apartment for
a few days, or more), and some external harddrives,
and other things ‐‐ all in a neat little
pile in the bomb-shelter basement of The Guild.
The rehearsal
was not about blocking.
The focus was text analysis
and character analysis.
It was a fruitful evening for all three of us, I do believe. I
certainly left with some revelations from the evening. Both the
others said the same.
The 2.25-inch stack of flashcards, which are
only those for Act 1. That, demonstratively
illustrating the line-memorization work I have cut
out for myself in my immediate future.
Here's the progress
report on my creation of flashcards for my line-memorization
drilling:
Just before rehearsal last night, while again sitting at the table
in the DTG boardroom
(AKA: the "Ralph Dennler Boardroom"), I finished off the
flashcards for Act 1. The stack of index cards is 2.25 inches tall.
The last flashcard is number 295. But there are more than
295 index cards. My four monologues in Act 1 cover at least two
index cards, each, some three, and that includes Number 295, which
covers three cards, front and back ‐‐ though the front of
the first card only reads: "monologue 4." So, the 2.25
inches actually consists of slightly more than 300 index cards.
One act left to do, and I am happy to say it is shorter! Still,
it's clear I got some work to go to get to that coveted, necessary
off-book
status. But then, I knew that when I walked into auditions, so....
Directed by Kim Warrick
Produced by Christina Tomazinis & Heather Atkinson
Jerry Gorman is a regular guy from Passaic, New Jersey, who
just got promoted to Snack Bar Manager at Wal-Mart. But what
he really wants to do is fly. While the neighbors think he's
nuts, and his mother disapproves, his girlfriend Gracie
believes in him and encourages him to follow his dream. Jerry
soars to 16,000 feet with nothing but a lawnchair and 400
helium balloons. Loosely based on a true story, Flight
of the Lawnchair Man is a musical that inspires hope,
and reminds us that dreams can come true if you believe in
yourself.
The Cast of Flight of the Lawnchair Man
CHARACTER
ACTOR
Jerry Gorman
Aaron Hill
Gracie
Jeannine Parson
Big Jack Preston
Drew Roby
Blaire
Emma Alexander
Mother Gorman
Rhea Smith
Mr. Frankel
Isaac Bement
French Boy/Amelia Earhart
Julia DiPaolo
NASA Official/Leonardo DaVinci
Michael Plaugher
TV Reporter/Charles Lindbergh
Jamie McQuinn
FAA Agent
Jamie Pavlofsky
The promotional trailer for FLIGHT OF THE LAWNCHAIR MAN
IS THERE A "BETRAYAL" IN MY FUTURE? ‐‐ OR,
IT'S EMMA
NOT JAMIE:
A few days ago I learned that the brilliant play,
Betrayal,
by the great Harold Pinter
will be showing at The Goodman
in Chicago this
coming February 8 through March 16, with
Helen Hunt
in the lead role of Emma Downs. Despite Chicago's reputation for
severe lake effect
weather, I am seriously considering a road trip north-west. I'd
probably push it closer to the closing date, to hedge my bet against
any possibly too-heinous snow events. But, I'd say there is at least
an 80% chance I'll be the audience for one of Ms. Hunt's
performances in this. I've been itching to head back to Chicago for
a while; I haven't been there in over five years; I haven't been to
The Goodman in over ten years. The Goodman box office says individual
tickets for Betrayal won't go on sale until November or December.
I will be keeping an eye out; you can count in it.
BLOCKING, THE PATH TO OFF-BOOK, A CAST MEMBER IS ADDED, AND WE
STILL HAVE TWO ROLES TO FILL:
Tonight will be
rehearsal
number 2, and our first
blocking rehearsal.
There will just be three of us tonight. In past productions, during
the early rehearsal periods, especially the blocking sessions, I've
had a lot of nights off. This time, I will pretty much be at every
rehearsal. I may not be
called
for one or two blocking rehearsals ‐‐ maybe
‐‐ but that will be it. Yeah, I know:
What a terrible burdon to bear!
The last index card is numbered 536; so, considering that some of
the line numbers have multiple cards, (such as the monologues),
there are somewhere around 550 index cards used, maybe a few more.
See the photo below of the Act 1 and Act 2 stacks. The two stacks,
combined, stand 4 inches tall. I am, however, not intimidated.
Although I will admit that at this stage of the game, especially
when I have a bigger role with more lines, I do always wonder,
"How in the HELL am I going to memorize all this!?"
But, I also know that I always do.
Last night, I used my
eight-track recorder
to record the
line cues
and my corresponding following lines (this being the audio version
of the flashcards) for me to use as another avenue to that coveted
off-book
status. Some will know that I'll listen to the recordings on my
headphones, especially at work, while doing other stuff. And I'll
put the thing on loop and play it at night while I sleep. Yes, I
do believe this is an effective tool in the toolbox.
Sunday, at the theatre, I read with actor Brandon Teeple, who
Director
Jared Mola auditioned for, and brought into the cast as, Kevin Magee.
Right now, the production still needs to cast two more roles.
Working on the flashcards, again at work, last
Thursday
Working on the flashcards at home this past
Saturday.
The finished Act 1 & Act 2 flashcard stacks.
Recording the audio version last night. I'd set up
to use two mics ‐‐ one channel for the cue
lines and one for my lines ‐‐ but ended up
recording it all on just one channel (one mic).
THE PATH OF THE MOON'S SHADOW....:
This is only somewhat tangential to my "Artistic World,"
but I consider it close enough to deserve noting here.Yesterday,
for the event of the grand, total eclipse of the sun, that my neck
of the woods was in the path of, I arranged to work from home from
the rent-payer mostly
to avoid the projected high potential of crazy traffic, especially
after work, since I would be getting of just about the time the
eclipse was on its wane. It turns out the projection was pretty
hyperbolic, but working in that office space on my apartment patio
is never a bad thing. Naturally, I took a work break when the event
was overhead. I had an extra pair of eclipse glasses, so I cut out
one of the lenses and fixed it over the lense of my
iPhone so I could get
some photos of the eclipse without damaging my phone. They ain't
terrible photos, but I've certainly seen better ones of the event.
Anyway, it was a pleasant way to start off my work week.
Late lunch in the patio office space.
Always willing to make the sacrifice to work from
home on my patio in the sunshine.
I bought a pair of eclipse glasses, then got a
second pair free from work. I used the pair I
bought to rig my iPhone.
Me on the front lawn, checking it out
Again, there are way better photos out there of
yesterday's event, taken by photographers with
much better equipment (and photography skills),
but, these are mine, and they don't suck.
Beyond really getting into the nitty-gritty of the large task in
front of me of memorizing my lines for the play, I also need to get
into some real character work
on Arthur. I believe I have a good, strong understanding of him,
but at this stage, Arthur certainly has not fully shown up; I have
not yet climbed deep into him. As I've gone through these early
blocking rehearsals,
the focus is on when and where to move during the scenes, as it
should be. Still, I am conscious that my delivery of Arthur is not
anywhere close to fully developed. It's not that I think I'm behind
schedule; I don't. It's more that I am impatient, as I always am at
this stage of the rehearsal period,
to be deeper into Arthur's psyche and behavior than I am. It's just
part of my process and certainly part of my motivation toward getting
to the fully-realized portrayal of my character. If you're one of
the five regulars who has followed this blog for a while you know
this is not a unique entry, since I pretty much go through this
for almost every show I'm cast in.
The progress of my trek to off-book
is also going slower than I want, and though it may not be founded in
reality, I am feeling pangs of anxious panic. There are a lot of
words for me to commit to memory. I recorded and mixed my
cue lines
and my lines. It took a few days to process the mixing part, because
I got a little elaborate with panning cue lines left or right in the
stereo mix, with my lines in the middle of the pan, as well as
distinguishing the
EQ
between my lines and the cue lines ‐‐ mine have more bass
to them for a richer, warmer sound. Now that the recordings are
done I will listen to them on loop, as often as I can, including
playing the recordings while in bed to sleep.
There's also the other tactics I will now heavily employ of
rote memorization
coupled with
meaningful memorization,
and the use of my flash cards I've created to drill myself on my
lines. I will be spending most of my time either passively or actively
focusing on Arthur's lines from this point forward, full speed for
the next several weeks, and really still focusing to some extent
all the way up to the closing performance on June 23.
But I can't give my lines all my time, as I have other duties for
this show, the soundwork,
and the promotional trailer.
I also have some time-sensitive
preproduction
as director
of next season's Campaigns Inc., by
Will Alan.
There also will be likely be some more action that needs to be done
as director of
Mark St. Germain'sWednesday's Child,
which ran last fall ‐‐ more on that later.
We now have somewhere around half of the
blocking rehearsals
under our belts (give-or-take). Of course, the character of James
has been blocked on paper but not yet with an actor in the role,
which is a condition we hope to change soon. Monday night was the
blocking for the Act 1 Arthur
monologues,
so I was the only actor called
that night. We'll block the Act 2 monologs next Thursday, the 25th.
The night before that, Wednesday the 24th, Maximillian Santucci and I will
have our first of several
fight choreography
sessions with Fight Choreographer
Kayla Graham.
By-the-way & for the record: in the Apr 9 blog entry I stated,
"I may not be called for one or two blocking rehearsals
‐‐ maybe ‐‐ but that will be it."
Yeah, nice prediction, but, incorrect. I get no days off from
rehearsal. But, then, it's not like I can successfully whine.
The start of mixing my recorded Arthur lines, last
Saturday.
Finishing up the mixing of the recorded Arthur lines,
this past Tuesday, on my "patio office."
The journey, the sojourn, the trudge, to
off-book
is, of course, underway, full-force. I'm spending as much of my
time as I can focusing on Arthur's lines. I'm sitting down ‐‐
or pacing ‐‐ with the script, usually my large-print version,
to do that rote-memory repeating technique. Then I sit or pace with
my flashcards to drill myself on some portion of my lines. I'm also
listening to my recording while doing many other tasks and while
in bed. I've also done a little bit of
dramaturgy,
mostly to understand certain references in some of the
monologues;
and, I'll be doing a bit more dramaturgy, pretty much all dealing
with Chicago and Chicago history.
As for how far along I am in my progress toward off-book: meh, not
nearly as far as I'd like, though probably father than I realize.
I write that last part because I seemed to have already committed
many lines to memory, out of what I've already worked through in
this memorization process, just from the process of
rehearsal.
I am likely to find this true as I press onward. The big thing will
be nailing the monologues. None of them are terribly long, but
there is a necessity to getting them word-perfect because of the
rhythm and literary finnesse. That more so here than the rest of the
lines, where verbatim is still the goal.
Listening to the recorded lines while working
at the
the rent-payer.
Drilling the lines with my flashcards in
my livingroom.
Initial active memorization of a monologue,
using a page from my large-print script.
SEINFELD AT THE SCHUSTER; ROOF MAN IN YELLOW SPRINGS:
Seinfeld's stage at The Schuster, pre-show
Friday evening I saw
Jerry Seinfeld
live, on stage at the
Schuster Center,
and he was very good. I'd heard some of the material before; some
of it he used in the
Netflix
special,
23 Hours to Kill;
some of it I believe I've heard in clips I've seen on
YouTube
of his recent TV appearances. It was still funny stuff.
His opener was
Ryan Hamilton
whose hilarious Netflix special
Happy Face
has been out for a few years. Hamilton was also quite funny Friday
night.
And here's the coolest thing about the evening, outside of Jerry and
Ryan: Jerry mentioned his upcoming Netflix movie,
Unfrosted,
which is a completely fictional account of the invention of the
pop tart. As he was talking about it, it occurred to me that I
had heard that native Daytonian, actor, and
playwright,
Will Alan
had recently been on set of something that Seinfeld was involved with.
Now, if you follow my blog, or follow Dayton theatre, you will know
that DTG
is mounting Will's new play, Campaigns Inc. this coming October;
you will also know that yours truly is directing. I texted Will
after the show to verify if he is in Unfrosted. He is. So,
now I can say that I am one degree of separation from Jerry Seinfeld.
I'm also one degree of separation from
Jim Gaffigan,
who is also in the movie and is another of my all-time favorite
stand-ups. Also in the movie are,
Christian Slater,
Hugh Grant,
Thomas Lennon,
Amy Schumer,
Melissa McCarthy,
and Peter Dinklage,
to name a few. It debuts on the streamer, May 3.
The next night I saw the new play Roof Man, by local playwright
and actor, Robb Willoughby at Yellow Springs Theatre Company. It's
a fun, cute, light-hearted comedy that's very entertaining. The
story was brought to life by the cast of: Thor Sage, Ellen Ballerene,
Seth Ratliff, Libby Holley Scancarello, Saul Caplan, and Kayla Graham.
This past Wednesday was our first
fight choreography
session. In attendance were
Director
Jared Mola, my stage combat partner, Maximillian Santucci (Luther
Flynn),
Fight Choreographer
Kayla Graham,
Stage Manager
Deirdre Root, and, of course, myself. It was the beginning of the
process for a fight which, in the script,
Mr. Letts'
describes thusly:
The fight is long. And painful. It is sweaty and bloody.
The fighters display great ferocity. The fight involves
fisticufts [SIC], grappling. wrestling and found objects.
The fight contains gouging, biting, kicking....
Our first session, we barely got into
blocking
the choreography, perhaps covering what, at speed, will amount to
about the first minute of the fight. After that initial blocking,
we ran all of what Kayla has thusfar choreographed; we were nowhere
close to "at speed." That will come later, as well as
fine-tuning and finessing the actions.
In some ways, Wednesday evening was about getting acquainted and
familiar with the process, along with the start of the actual action
getting laid out. Or, I suppose, you could say it was about getting
reacquainted with the process. I haven't, myself, directly
dealt with fight choreography since I took a six-week Stage Combat
class, at least a decade ago, at the
Human Race Theatre Company,
under the tutelage of the incomparable
Bruce Cromer;
and it'd been a while for Max, too.
Thursday night I again, just as the previous Thursday, was the only
actor called.
The aganda was the Act 2
monologues.
Blocking was the focus. Two monologues have Arthur
breaking the fourth wall
to address the audience, the last two such of the show; two others
have Arthur on the phone; one has him speaking to Franco (Andre
Tomlinson), who is present in the scene. We didn't work on all of
that scene with Franco, only the part where only Arthur is speaking.
The conversation between them gets blocked this week.
Though this was primarily a blocking session; Jared did do some
direction concerning his vision for Arthur's intent and emotional
state. Of course, it was collaborative, with my instincts on those
things as part of the equation.
In terms of my
character work,
no one who knows me as an actor, or who has read at least certain
entries of this blog, will be shocked to know that I am still impatient
about Arthur's character development.
Just as I wrote last time I addressed this, his full arrival is
still not behind schedule, and a bit more of him has, indeed, showed
up. I still want to feel I am more completely inside him. Jared's
directions during Thursday's monologues session certainly helped to
some extent, but really he was dealing more with levels and energies;
such was certainly useful toward the character development goal, but
finding Arthur's voice, his persona, that's on me. I can and should
and will take Jared's directions and my understanding of his vision,
for Arthur and for the whole play, into account, but this
part, Arthur's voice, his personality, is my responsibility. Of
course, my duty is to be sure the Arthur I create isn't in conflict
with the director's visions ‐‐ or the
playwright's,
for that matter, as we are able to discern the playwright's vision.
Now, my focus Thursday was on movement: where was I going on stage,
what was I doing, and on what line. But even though I was concentrating
on that, I was still unhappy with what I consider lame
readings
of much of what was coming out of my mouth. My logical self knew that
I will greatly improve and arrive at deliveries that I find true to
Arthur and the moments, and I know this as I sit here and key these
words into the entry, but my impatient self is dissatisfied, regardless.
That's just the way it is for me, and for those who will think I am
beating myself up: I am not. It may seem that way to you, but you
are wrong. It is simply the way I am and I have accepted it. Still,
it serves me to discuss it, even if discussing it is a rehash of a
rehash ‐‐
'cause I've touched on the subject
before in this blog.
Lines, and lines,
and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines,
and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines,
and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines,
and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines..........
A very big chunk of yesterday, and pretty much most of the rest of
today after this blog entry is posted, was, and will be about
moving ever-so-closer to that coveted status of
"off-book."
For a good part of my afternoon, I took the
line study
to the joined parks of
Pearl's Fen
and
Oakes Quarry Park,
two local parks that I really enjoy.
Full disclosure here: I dropped my "No TV Zone" icon over
on the left because that was my intent for the whole day. I pretty
much adhered to that edict until I sat down to eat dinner, then later
when I had to deal with a minor setback in the my process of line
memorization, the setback which I'll get to shortly.
By the time I went to bed last night I had a reasonable handle on
my Act 1 lines. Were I in the space in a
rehearsal
I'd definitely still be
calling "line,"
at least to some extent, and certainly for the monologues, but my
progress thus far ain't bad at all. And I believe I am almost
completely off-book for some big chunks of Act 1. Actually, I suspect
there are decent portions of Act 2 I'm off-book on, too. I will
test that theory here, in just a little bit.
So, I had a
DOH!
moment yesterday, when I realized I had lost some 60 flashcards while
I was hiking around Oakes Quarry Park. I must have set the stack of
what I'd already worked down, while I was sitting, either to drink
water or to work on the cards that followed. And the thing is:
I'd made a mental note to never set the cards down while I was
there. I decided that for two reasons: one, it was a little windy
at times which might lead to the obvious problem; and two,
I DIDN'T WANT TO INADVERTANTLY LEAVE THEM BEHIND!!!!!.
Yet, here we are. By the time I discovered what I'd done, it was a
futile idea to go back and recover them; that was simply not going
to happen. So, I lost a little bit of time moving forward in the
line study last night as I sat down and recreated the lost flashcards
(numbers 211-269) I stuck a DVD of
My Boys
into the Blu-Ray player whilst I worked on the problem. It took a
little longer than I would have wanted, but it's taken care of.
That silly screw-up aside, yesterday was productive, and I hope
today is, as well. It's such a nice day out I'm tempted to take
part of the line work to another park today, but I'll probably just
spend a good part of the afternoon pacing on my apartment patio
‐‐ which, by the way, is where I happen to be right now.
Without getting into much detail, because I don't want to spoil this
for those of you who might end up sitting in the audience, I've had
some input into Arthur's
costuming.
I have successfully campaigned with both Director Jared and with our
costume designer,
Carol Finley, for a particular piece of Arthur's wardrobe. I also
suspect that at least one more piece of his wardrobe will come from
my closet (a normal thing in
non-professional theatre).
More than one piece may ultimately come from my closest, in fact.
I've actually ordered the piece of clothing I campaigned for as part
of my costume.
I've bought a few pieces so I have backup, and I'll
be distressing
them for the show. Arthur's an old hippie who likes to "be
comfortable."
In the end, however, much of how Arthur is dressed is indicated by
the text of the script, so, though there's room for creativity on
all our parts, there are clear parameters. Not that there's anything
unique about that in theatre (or film/TV).
Line study yesterday at Oakes Quarry Park; perhaps
around the time that I lost the damned flashcards!
Later yesterday, working on the end of Act 1 while
making dinner.
Later last night, remaking the AWOL flashcards
BONUS PICS: While walking the parks, working on
lines, I also got a few shots of frogs while at
Pearl’s Fen. Here are a couple. It’s always a
challenge to capture images of these little suckers.
They usually jump into the water before I’m close
enough for a good shot.
A RETRY ON NUMBER 3!:
I'm going to see
Ringo
for the third time. It's actually my fourth Ringo ticket (all at
Fraze Pavilion)
but I could not go to the 2018 show because I was cast in Band
from Baseball at
Human Race Theatre Company;
I had a performance the night of the concert, so I sold my ticket.
That would have been my third time seeing Ringo. For this new
ticket, I got excited and erred in where my seat is. I read the
"Row II" as "Row 2," but that was just
hopeful Beatle-freak optimism. I'm in the ninth row, not the second.
Hey, ninth row ain't exactly a lousy seat!
Still not a BAD seat, even of it's not in
the second row.
Showing weekends
Jun 7-23, 2024
Tickets available...
Still lines, and lines,
and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines, and lines....(ad
infinitum)
Yes, last weekend, Saturday and Sunday especially, was all about
line study
on my critical mission to get
off-book;
and, yes, I reasonably conquered Act 1 on Saturday; Sunday, however,
though still a productive day on this front, was not as ground-gaining
as I hoped it would be. I did however, get good work done on the
first scene and the first
monologue
of Act 2. I'm by no means disappointed in my work on Sunday; it
just was not what I wanted it to be.
Again, as virtually always, my anxiety on this matter is unreasonable
as I am not at all behind schedule. I mean, for godsake, we haven't
even finished
blocking
the show.
And, just as I promised in the last blog post, just before I started
the work that day, I did spend a big portion of my day on my
apartment patio, mostly pacing, repeating lines, then drilling myself
on what I'd just "learned."...:
...'Cause, yeah, the pseudo-perfectionist* in me gives me a really
hard time when I keep stumbling over sentences, or paraphrasing, or
the one that always gets me the most: when
my brain won't conjure up the WORD that the text calls for
*) "pseudo" because I, of course, never quite get
to perfection despite my ego's delusional asperations that
I can.
Periodic frustrations aside, it was a lovely way to spend a sunny,
Sunday afternoon, in the shade, into the twilight, in my little
rural neighborhood, the occasional dog-walker passing by and wondering,
"why is that dude talking to himself."
Since last weekend, I've really not done any active work on memorizing
lines, though I have
run the lines
that I have already have actively memorized. Otherwise, I
have done passive work, i.e.: listening to my recordings of the
lines. Meanwhile, in
rehearsals
I've again found that I have quite a bit of the show down, yet, I
have much more ground to gain. I am confident that of that
ground will be covered soon. I will get through all the active
memorization this weekend ‐‐ the read, repeat, then
say from memory ‐ read, repeat, then say from memory....
process for the rest of the play. That will start tomorrow evening
and I should have no problem getting to the end of the script. I've
already made a good inroad into Act 2; I have much less to get to
than I've already done. Then comes solidifying it all as close to
perfectly verbatim as I can humanly get to.
I could not say that my
character work
on Arthur is finished because it's not, but it seems to be coming
along well. If I were to quantify it, I'd put Arthur's
character development
at something like 80%, maybe a little higher.
I certainly have plans to write about this more in depth, probably
after the show closes in a
post-mortem
essay here, but Arthur and I have a lot in common; we also have
some vast differences. The job for me now is to capitalize on our
sameness, but also manifest the Arthur that is not like me at all.
Many of those differences are just basic facts, as is always the
case with a character an actor is portraying. But much of it is also
persona. I believe I have a handle on this, so it's all about me
getting to the place of having fully discovered and become Arthur.
Last night's
fight choreography
session went just as well and as promising as last week's did. The
same members of the
company
were there as the first session: production staff ‐
Director
Jared Mola,
Fight Choreographer
Kayla Graham, and
Stage Manager
Deirdre Root; cast members ‐ Maximillian (Max) Santucci (aka:
Luther Flynn) and myself (aka: Arthur). Kayla is creating a most
interesting fight. We're probably about half-way done laying the
foundation of the whole fight sequence. Jared is adamant that all
the elements of
PlaywrightTracy Letts'
description of the fight are present on our stage. Kayla is right
there with him. And apparently, according to our grand leader, the
half of the fight left to choreograph will be greatly stepped up in
intensity, which adheres to the script. And, hey, I did read
the script, so I knew what I was auditioning for.....
A couple of the
costume
pieces I ordered on-line came in this week and I have been wearing
them to rehearsals. I have to
distress
those clothing items; I'll do that this weekend. I also have another
item out of my closet that I think is perfect for Arthur. I haven't
yet ran that one by the Carol Finley, our
costume designer,
but I have run it by Director Jared, who's okay with it if Carol is.
I have some other thoughts, too. We'll see if they fly.
Sort of wardrobe related is that this week I've been in my sandals
during the day, but I've been switching to shoes during rehearsal.
I don't like to walk the stage in footwear my character will not
be wearing. Since the play takes place in December and January in
Chicago, it's not too likely Arthur would be in sandals, even if he
is an old hippy.
I suppose this can be called "Shameless Self-Promotion,"
but WTF. Once again, as I almost always do, I've created a
6x4 postcard promoting my appearance in the show, which I will
mail to a few people, mostly friends, but also theatre colleagues,
especially those occupying the professional realm of theatre.
I did a self-portrait for the
headshot
so that my pic is tailored to this show and Arthur. It's what will
appear in the
playbill.
The production still needs to cast one last role. The character
specs are narrow, so we need an actor who fits the
type
described below. Also, since DTG is
non-professional theatre,
the actor can't be
AEA;
the show's budget will not allow for a
special appearance contract.
Here is the remaining role we need filled:
Kiril Ivakin
Male, 20s-30s. Russian. Max's nephew who appears at the end
of the play. A large man, he is described as looking like
Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. (Speaks with a Russian accent)
For more information or to make an audition appointment
please contact:
Jared Mola at
mola.jared@gmail.com
"Just exactly how many photos is this guy gonna
post of himself memorizing lines?"
"Jeesh!"
Roughing it last Sunday, working at least on the
start of my Act 2 lines.
Leisurely pacing the patio can be exhausting!
There were some strong breezes and occasional
wind gusts, so I employed some "paper
weights."
Late lunch ‐ low carb, gluten-free
pizza.
WEDNESDAY'S CHILD IS FULL OF REPRISE:
In the April 18 blog entry, I mentioned in passing that there might
be "some more action that needs to be done as director of
Mark St. Germain'sWednesday's Child."
Actually, I wrote that there likely would be. There is, and
has been for a few weeks.
The cast will perform an excerpt from the play, about the last thirty
minutes, or so, in
*friendly*
competition with other theatres from the OCTA western region.
The cast was on board with going and we were able to secure excerpt
rights from Broadway Play Publishing;
the only sticking point was that Kayleen Nordyke has moved to
California, so we needed to recast the Becca Connor role. This past
weekend I was able to do that, and, I might add, at the proverbial
Eleventh Hour, as the deadline for apply to compete in July was
looming most closely.
Our new Becca is Susie Gutierrez, a fine actress whom I sort of
worked with during The Guild mounting of
This Random World.
by Steven Dietz.
I was on board to be
AD for
the show, but then I got cast in Banned from Baseball, by
Particia O'Hara, at HRTC.
I still
designed the sound,
and I was wrapped from Banned... in time to make the
tech rehearsals,
so, though I wasn't AD, I did work on the show with Susie, and I've
seen her on stage a few times as well. Plus, she gave a good reading
at the Wednesday's Child auditions last September. She'll
do great.
Of course, we won't be firing up rehearsals for Wednesday's Child
for a few more weeks. Right now, I have another show to concentrate
on......
_and_script-2024-04-03-300.png)
So, I had a
DOH!
moment yesterday, when I realized I had lost some 60 flashcards while
I was hiking around Oakes Quarry Park. I must have set the stack of
what I'd already worked down, while I was sitting, either to drink
water or to work on the cards that followed. And the thing is:
I'd made a mental note to never set the cards down while I was
there. I decided that for two reasons: one, it was a little windy
at times which might lead to the obvious problem; and two,
I DIDN'T WANT TO INADVERTANTLY LEAVE THEM BEHIND!!!!!.
Yet, here we are. By the time I discovered what I'd done, it was a
futile idea to go back and recover them; that was simply not going
to happen. So, I lost a little bit of time moving forward in the
line study last night as I sat down and recreated the lost flashcards
(numbers 211-269) I stuck a DVD of
