Shots of the clumslethrough

Below is a little gallery of images from our clumslethrough of "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo" that we held a week ago. I got a new camera for my birthday (thank you, sister!) so I'll be able to take photos of our process on this show. I used it at rehearsal to capture what I thought were promising physical images, the sort of things that might be incorporated into the final production. For now, check out the gallery. No captions on this one, but maybe the next gallery will have some.

Being a Directing fly on the wall

Last weekend I attended two musical rehearsals in New York for "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo." They were wrapping up their musical work on the piece, and I was there to hear all the music and how it works with the text. I didn't have a whole lot of input in the show yet, but I was more just listening to everything to start getting my own ideas. I talked with the writer/producer and the stage manager about the general concept I have for the show, and they seemed to go for it. The story is not a straight-forward one, and it requires a bit of an abstract touch to really give the right atmosphere to it. I was a little concered that I was "dangerously unprepared" to direct a show like this, but after sitting through two days of musical rehearsals, I'm confident that I have enough ideas to put up something amazing on this stage.

Directing project

As some of the readers may know, I have been signed to direct a production in New York City in January. As a part of a festival based on the works of Herman Melville, I am the director of an original one-act musical based on the short story "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo." (Read the story here: http://www.pluckerbooks.com/works/melvilleh/cock/cock.html ) The story is about a small-town farmer who is depressed by the world until he hears the crowing of a rooster that restores his spirits. He then abandons the rest of his life to search out and find this rooster, because having it would restore his spirits permanently. But he finds the creature in the hands of the poorest man in the town, and that challenges his perceptions even more. But, Melville being Melville, the story has a very bleak ending. The story is also a long dirty joke, since Melville never uses the word "rooster" and only uses the word "cock."

My girlfriend Andrea was in a musical based on the works of Mark Twain, and it was written by the same composer. When he again hired her to work on this Melville piece, she suggested to him that he talk to me about directing. Once I read the story and she sung me some the music, I was very interested in the gig. It's not an easy, straight-forward story, and it's going to require something other than a neat, traditional way of staging the story to convey it onstage. I started the process with only a few ideas, but as I've read the story more and more, and I attended two rehearsals last weekend, more ideas are starting to collect.

I will be living in NYC for two weeks in January to work on this project; Pella windows gave me the time off I requested. So I'll get a two-week artistic vacation, and I'll have nothing to do but experience the joys of New York, work on the show, audition, and play Xbox. But I also plan to blog either during or after every rehearsal we have, to provide as close to an "in-the-room" feeling as I can on this project. I say that a lot, but I'm going to try to mean it this time. I'll just make it part of my day.

Rehearsals begin again on Jan 3rd, but there is a lot to do before then. We'll have to get a final version of the script, we have to plan out our rehearsals, and we need to think about any technical aspects of the show that we'll need before we start. Also, I still have four days at the window mill, thinking about the show every chance I get.

So stick around and check back often, it should be a good ride. And feel free to post suggestions if you have any....

New headshots

Two Sundays ago now, I met my friend, co-worker, and long-time contributor to this blog, Mr Jeff Paris, over at Valley Forge National Park, and we took some new headshots for me. My current headshot is a few (5) years old, which is far too old in the theatre world. They say you should get them re-taken every year, but it's more important to have new ones every time you change the way you look. Well, I need new ones. Jeff has a photography business and a website for it, and he offered to take some headshots for me.

We met on a windy and stingingly cold afternoon at the top of a hill, and spent about an hour taking photos of me around a church on the hill. It was really low key, and a lot of fun to work with him. He freely admitted that he hadn't done anything like it before, so we were collaborating on things like locations and backgrounds, posing and lighting. We'd plan some things out, and then adjust our plans as we got different ideas. It was a good time, a good creative and collaborative afternoon.

I've since been able to look at some of the shots, and they look great. Once I really narrow it down to my personal favorites, I will post some of them up on this website for everyone to check out. And comment upon. And such things.

Working with friends

Yesterday I went to a reading of a new play. I had seen the posting on Craig's List looking for actors to participate in a reading, and I sent in all my information right away. I really like doing readings of scripts. There's no pressure to perform a monologue as an audition, the people in charge aren't really judging your suitability for the show, and there is always the chance that you can rock the reading to make the author want to keep you with the show. Secretly, that's what every actor hopes for when they agree to do a play reading for no money. They hope that they make such an impression on the produciton team that they are hired back for subsequent readings and stagings of the show.

Yesterday's script was an abstract one, reminding me a lot of the Charles Mee play I did a year ago. When I was reading it on my own, it was almost too abstract to really get into. I wasn't sure how fun it was going to be. But that all changed when I walked into the room and saw Bryan, a buddy of mine, sitting at the table. He and I used to do Tony n Tina's Wedding together, and we had been emailing each other earlier this week. So it was the craziest thing. But the hits didn't stop there, because one of the girls they had selected was my other friend Lesley, someone that I don't see as much of as I would like to. The jokes surfaced that Philly is such a small theatre community, that everyone pretty much knows everyone.

When it became clear to them that the other two girls they had recruited were not going to show up, the three of us took it upon ourselves to read all the characters on the script. I was tapped to play the other leading female role, which made for some very unintentionally funny scenes between me and Lesley. But Bryan and I also had our share as I played a photographer from Adventurous Male Magazine who was taking pictures of his character dressed up as an Eskimo.

When we started reading the script out loud, most of us agreed that it was much funnier than we thought it was going to be. And I was having a blast working with my friends. They are the sort of friends who make me excited to work with them. They inspire and motivate me to have fun, to push myself, and to do the best work that I can. Those are the kind of people that I always want to work with, because it means that I do my best work around them. I'm trying to recruit them both into my next film, if they are free.

Is brilliant too strong a word?

Curio Theatre Company is currently presenting a one-man version of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I was fortunate enough to attend the opening night performance and reception last night, recruited by their PR contact to write a review of the performance. A little piece of my review will follow on this blog, but I just wanted to get the word out that the performance was fantastic. It's the kind of show that I really think that everyone needs to see. Here is the website for the theatre. Tell your friends!

www.curiotheatre.org

In any other business...

I had an audition today for the world premiere of a new play. Although I was on the young end of the casting breakdown, I know the artistic director so I went down to audition. I gave a very solid audition, starting with a monologue and then finishing off by reading the scene provided. After my audition, the director was very complimentary. He started off by saying that I was a little too young for the role. But after that, he said that I was a very thoughtful actor, and that I gave a wonderful reading. He said I was the best actor they had seen all day. We talked for a bit, I thanked him for the compliments, and then I went on my way.

Now, in any other business, that would translate into the job. But in this business, I am not one of the three men called back. (They are all older, in their late thirties.) It was a very nice ego boost to hear those compliments from the director, even if it doesn't translate into the actual job they were offering tonight. He's a well-known director and playwright who does a lot of work in regional theaters all over, so he's certainly a good person to know.

More often than not, this career has a way of propping you up and pulling the rug from under your feet at the same time. Just as I had a few bad auditions and meetings that didn't go anywhere, I went to this audition literally on a lark, and I walk out feeling good about my career. Now, I didn't get the callback and I didn't get the part, but I got just enough support and encouragement to push me forward.