Die on Stage

I've been drafted

2008-08-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

So my latest project started about a week or so ago and I didn't really plan on getting involved in it, it just sort of happened. I was asked to help with the set up of the new Skyline Theater at UArts, it the new flexible blackbox space on the top floors of Terra, and believe me, it's pretty. Everything is brand new and top of the line. I was very excited to help the designers get the theater ready for load in of our entry into the fringe called, Court Martial at Fort Devens.

The show is interesting, and written by our own Jeff Sweet. He's a reletively well known and very successful playwright who recently had an anthology of his work published titled, The Value of Names and Other Plays. He's a professor and a friend of mine. Anyway, after hanging most of the plot for the show I ended up running the projections, which in my opinion are completely unnecessary but, it's Gene's show not mine. It's nice to be working on a show with a group of people who you know really well and you like, both students and adults. That's why I think Talk Radio is going to be so much fun. (which as a side note, had it's production meeting postponed... agian.)

Court Martial at Fort Devens opens at the Skyline Theater on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. You should come and see it if you can, for no other reason than to check out the new space and shake hands with the playwright. I recommed it. More on the play later.

Kaboom! in the New York Fringe

2008-08-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went into New York City to see a friend in a NYCFringe show called Kaboom! We saw the final performance of the play. It was a kind of off the wall character driven comedy about a conman who gets himself into a sort of I Love Lucy situation. He's got a different character he plays for each person he meets to try to con his way to the top. It was a cute show. Very kitchy. I felt there was a lot of set-up and punchline jokes. As my old boss would say, a lot of rickety boom. The show was fun, but far too long. Many of the comedic moments were drawn out far too long to maintain their humor. There was some very nice character acting from the entire cast. It was clear that they, especially the lead, had worked very physically on developing the various characters they played throughout the show. That was a lot of fun to watch, but often times I felt myself get ahead of the show. That's my worst fear as a comedian, writer, performer and so on. That the audience will know where I'm going before I get there.

The space itself was sort of wonderful. It was a small house in the Village called Cherry Lane Theater. It was started by a couple of playwrights many many years ago from what I understand, and the theater just finished up a Master Class series with speakers like Edward Albee, Harold Prince, and Isreal Horowitz, just to name a few. It reminded me of the Mumpuppet in the way that the walls were all exposed brick and there was a very homey intimate feel. This was definitely somewhere I would like to work.

The other thing I'd like to note is the use of sound. I thought it was interesting, new, and effective. The designer, who's name escapes me at the moment, used the sound to bring to life set pieces that didn't exist in the space. The design would knock for the characters as they approached, what in reality was an empty door frame. Windows, doors knocking and opening all these things were impossible to do with such a small set with only open frames so the design was very clean and effective in that way. I just thought it was interesting. For more info on the show, which is now closed unfortunately you can click here.

Additions

2008-08-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

So this is just a really quick post to alert people to changes. I've figured out how to publish documents to the web and make them links on this page so remember when I said that I'll be posting new work, old work, and concept documents and stuff? That can all be found under the Documents area to the right. You'll also find that I've posted my various resumes, which I have to update. All of these things are viewable by clicking the links, if you're interested in viewing them.

In the documents area at the moment you'll find my design concept for Talk Radio which will basically explain my ideas about the project at the get go. I submitted this concept proposal to get the job. So hopefully you may find it interesting and as always, I welcome any comments that you may have.

Also in the documents area is a silly little play that was a collaboration between me and a few of my coworkers. It's really up there just to fill space. It was a piece that we wrote in a timespan of 2 weeks, for a theater camp with a cast of 30 some screaming 15 year olds so try not to judge it too harshly. It's a very loving parody of Wayne's World aptly titled Dwayne's Word.

I'll be posting other things as time progresses and that'll usually be coupled with a post so you know what it is you're looking at. My next task is to find a way to publish some of my sound work. We'll see how that goes. For now, Enjoy!

The Barrymores?

2008-08-22T07:53:00.001-07:00

While I was out to lunch yesterday I learned that my producer, Ginger, got the entire company a table at the Barrymore Awards. In case you don't know what these awards are, they're pretty much the Philadelphia version of the Tonys. They're awards for excellence in theater in the greater Philadelphia area. More than anything else they're a chance for people in the business to say hello and catch up and maybe get a little work or something, and I'm all for that. My concern is that Ginger was so convinced that Extremities would be nominated for something. To our disappointment it was not. in any category. It was a bummer but I'm not sure if that makes it entirely unclassy to show up with the whole company. I'm not really sure. Either way it'll be fun. I figure, at the very least it's free food and drink and a night of free theater. And I certainly plan to do what everyone else does. Shmooze.

Talk Radio production meeting has been set to Tuesday so I have to start prepping for that. That'll be a Monday project. I've got 2 different quotes and I'm looking at a third company but I think I've made my choice already as far as who I'm going to rent from. I have this idea that part of New City's agenda is to give people opportunity, but then again, it's not my company. Either way, I think a show like this needs a more personal touch so I'm kind of steering away from the big rental houses. I felt like I needed a person who could be another set of ears for me while I'm getting the system together and someone who could double check me because it's such a big job.

Here we go...

2008-08-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

've created this blog because I need a place to really discuss/catalog my findings, ideas, and concepts when it comes to the theater. This is not going to be some whiny teenage angst blog or anything like that. I'd like to at least start with a little bit of credibility. This is going to be mostly for me so I can track myself as my projects and my ideas about theater begin to change as time progresses. I want to be able to say, oh this is what I was doing last year and this is how my goals have changed. The reason it's public is so that anyone who might be interested in my opinions or goals or artistic growth can be a part of it too. On here in the future you will find:

-current project updates

-my thoughts on theater that I've seen

-thoughts on plays I'm reading

-literature that I might recommend

-plays/scenes I've been writing

maybe even design concept sketches, show photos, and so on. we'll see how it goes.

Alright, well let's get this started. The reason I thought this blog was important was because I'm making some real steps forward in my career. A major one took place yesterday afternoon. I went into a meeting with Amy Hodgdon at Philadelphia Young Playwrights and she expressed a lot of interest in taking me on as an intern. We had been talking about it back and forth for some time. most of the summer really. but this was the first time we really sat down and said, "okay let's do this." She went on to tell me all the things that I could hope to take part in at P.Y.P. and they all excited me. So I am now employed with them under the title of Programming Intern/Teaching Artist Apprentice for the next 12 months. My goals there are the following:

-To gain both a theoretical and practical knowledge of what it means to be a teaching artist by taking advantage of teaching opportunities in the classrooms of Philadelphia schools as well as constantly reevaluating effective methods of education through theater and specifically the process of playwriting

-To gain a knowledge of administrative theater in the are of programming. More specifically designing/setting up/marketing for P.Y.P. events throughout the year. Such as their New Voices monologue festival at Interact Theater Company (where I will be directing some professional actors who will be performing student written pieces.)

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about it. My commitment in the beginning will be a couple days a week but Amy said that when the ball really gets rolling in November that things will pick up and that she may even have a desk for me at the office. I'll have a desk, and an office. wow.

My other projects over the next 12 months are:

-Assistant Directing/Designing/Performing in New City Stage Company's production of Talk Radio. You'll hear plenty about that as we get closer to a start date. First production meeting is going to be sometime in the next 2 weeks. Then I'll have a clearer idea of what I'm doing there. The rehearsal start date for that is November 5 and we run for 6 weeks, Dec 5, 2008-Jan. 11, 2009.

-Directing the UArts Studio Theater production of Savage in Limbo by John Patrick Shanley. It's a great play and I would recommend it to anyone. It's a one act that I've chosen to direct for my senior project. I'll be doing all the analytical work up until January and then I'll be actually directing come the second semester. I might even post the paperwork as I complete it.

Those are the 3 major ones (including PYP) that I've got going at the moment, but as is always the case tiny little design or SM jobs will crop up from time to time.

Basically, I figured it was time to start cataloging my career so I know where I've been and where I'm headed. I'm in the process of putting together a 1,3,5 plan for after I graduate and I'll discuss that as it comes to completion. Well, here goes nothin'.