Where I've Been (Part 1)

Wow. Okay, so, no posts for the entire month of September. Wow. That whole month, just sorta lost to the expanse of the Internet. What was I up to all of that time? Why, I'm glad that you asked.

In the beginning of September, I played Superman in a staged reading of a comic book as a part of the "Superheroes Who Are Super" project done as a part of P&P Theatre in Philly. We performed two early issues of Action Comics from 1938, in which Superman is a tough guy going up against corrupt politicians and slumlords by throwing them through windows. Our director designed the show to resemble a 1930s show from the Works Project Administration, including homemade props and costumes. Hence the hand-sewn Superman costume in the picture above.

The show was a lot of fun, and we squeezed five performances into three days. We were a hit, though, and I had some friends come to see the show who were big comic book fans, and they really enjoyed what we did with the show. One funny moment of the process for me was when, as Superman, I had to pick someone up and fly through the air with them. Fortunately, the actor I had to "pick up" was also a comic book fan growing up, and we knew exactly how to pretend to do that. I grabbed his neck, we both looked up, bent our knees, and then straightened our legs. I looked all tough and flying, he waved his arms like he was in the air. It was simple, effective, and very funny.

After my time in the cape was over, I moved on to play Roderigo in a show I mentioned briefly on this blog, DdS. Here's a picture:

That's me, second from left, dressed in one of the nicest shirts that I've ever worn. I'm playing the young waiter at the restaurant. While the other three in the picture may have gotten more lines and more stage time--in fact, the two guys in suits were onstage for 45-minutes straight--I did get to end the show by drinking some wine onstage. According the script, my character lifts a decanter of wine to his mouth and drinks hungrily, greedily, until the wine pours out of the decanter and runs down his chin and down his body. Something like this:

I went home after every show smelling like grape juice. It was an amazing moment of theatre to have the wine running all the way down my shirt, and the director Aaron and I had a few discussions about what this moment should be. It presented a unique challenge, however, because we couldn't "rehearse" the moment due to the amount of liquid and the mess involved. So we would talk about the moment, I would do the big pour at the end of the run of the show, I would get cleaned up, and then we would talk about it again. A pretty strange way to rehearse a moment of a show, but a fun one.

So, that's what I was up to until September 18th? And what about after September 18th you say? Wait for a day or so, and I'll have a new post up about the next show. I will. Promise.