An Acting Break-Through

My Henry... my beautiful, beautiful Henry had an amazing break-through tonight in his Act III breakdown monologue. I was so happy, I ran backstage to meet him as he came off, pulled him aside and kissed him. I knew he could do it. I was so proud, I had to blog and crow about it. I thank the gods for the day this amazing and fearless young actor came into my life three years ago. Bravisimo!

Sound FX, Guns, Jewelry and My Giant Sausage Fingers

I had every intention of spending time on prop and jewelry making this weekend. I also still had a ton of sound work to do. I managed, with two simple purchases, to remedy much of the sound work. I like finding my own sound FX and music cues and I'm pretty good at it. But I don't understand how they chose the tracks that appear on sound FX CDs. I needed some pretty common things: storm and winds; bugle calls; a factory whistle. The storm stuff was easy. That's all that was easy. One CD was called 1000 Essential Sound Effects. There were literally 1000 tracks on three discs. Not a bugle call or a factory whistle among them. But if I wanted "Jungle Sounds" or "Hobo Vomiting in the Alley" or "Telemetry" or "Laser Beam" or "Explosion," I was covered. Now really, I ask you: Who the fuck is doing science fiction plays set in the jungle featuring nauseous vagrants vomiting while robots wage war against one another? Have the creators of these CDs any idea of the kinds of sound FX modern theatre requires? I was looking for a roaring cheer and boisterous applause. I previewed the tracks labeled "Crowd 'Yeah!'" and "Crowd 'Ooh!!'" and "Crowd 'Whee!'" They were completely generic, false and listless; just many people with the same inflections and tones and about as realistic as the plot of any given episode of 24. "Wild Applause" and "Large Crowd Applause" were both anemic and hollow, sounding more like polite applause at a chamber-music concert in an Emily Bronte novel. Yeuch! So, the search goes on.

Then comes prop-work. Props I know. I can almost make anything, or modify something else to suit my needs. And i have made some pretty strange props, costumes and even wigs in my time, so I was confidant I could handle the guns and jewelry. After an unexpected errand, I got a later start than I intended. I had repaired reconfigured the ray-gun for Henry and Dale had finally made the plastic pistola accommodate the gauge I'd rescued from my old pool filter, for Mr. A's gun. So I sat at my kitchen table, tools, paints, glues, and putties in place, ready to make a fabulously Vernian gun.

The rubber tubing, which had worked so well for Henry's gun, wasn't right for the pistola. I even bought wire and inserted it, trying to make it coil the way I wanted it to, but it was having none of it. Then. I had an idea of using a stainless vertical roaster to exaggerate the muzzle and add more real metal. The opening n the roaster was too small to accommodate the pistola's slightly flared barrel. Sigh.

So, I set it aside and went to work on jewelry. I had all these great gears from clocks, but they were all attached to their rods, with no way for me to remove them without a vise and hacksaw, neither of which I own, being the handyman genius that I am (NOT!). Okay, they are useless as jewelry. But, I happened to set one down near the pistola (no doubt a souvenir from Disney World) and notice that it's construction left holes for the screws holding it together and got an idea. After a few hours of modeling, gluing, drying, re-gluing, painting, and re-drying and the pistola is a thing of Steam Punk beauty. I must get pictures of it so I can post it here and on the company's site.

Back to jewelry while the first stage dries. I get out all the stuff I bought and start to play. I made a kind of cool pin out of part of a locker clasp, but it's messy and not exactly what I wanted it to be. I am going to try another version of it, later. My huge sausage fingers just get in the way and things get smeared and finishes muddied, even using tools like pliers and tweezers. I need a vise! Maybe I'll take everything to the theatre shop next Saturday and see if working on it there helps. Of course, anything could happen between now and then. Aye-yi-yi!

As always, more of this anon.

Prospero

The Run-Thru That Wasn't

Let me start by saying that this is in no way a negative post. I am actually very pleased with our progress. The furniture and props have ben delivered and it's actually starting to look like an approximation of a 'real' Steam Punk house. I can't wait to see it with the walls and everything else.

We were supposed to have our first full run tonight. We also added new elements like using the black-out curtain and having some of the music and some experimental lighting. Our Henry was missing, but we knew that. The big impasse toward finishing tonight was the massive set change that takes place between acts. Choreographing the first one took almost half an hour. It was quite a while before we started Act II. I gave them notes after Act II and sent them home. I have so much to do, myself, that I cancelled Saturday afternoon's rehearsal and gave them the whole weekend off. They are doing well and they worked hard this week so they deserve it, anyway.

My weekend will be spent shopping, visiting with a family member for her birthday and craftinig weapons and jewellry for the show. And hopefully finding time for two weeks' worth of laundry! Yikes!

As always, more of this, anon.

Prospero

Furniture, Gas Masks and a Bruised Head

Back to Flemington this morning to Anything But Costumes for furniture, props and set decoration. They had almost all the furniture I wanted. No rocker for Mama, though. We did get a rather nice set of red and white striped armchairs for both of them and the gorgeous red SP sofa I saw online. The very cool nautical thingy we saw on line was much too expensive. I can certainly live without it, but it would have been perfect on that set. We did find some very interesting things to place about the stage, including one of the strangest wood, leather and brass decorative vases I've ever seen. I handed tagging duties off to my producer after knocking my noggin and being frustrated by my giant fingers and tiny safety pins.

Combined with the costumes I saw yesterday and Dale's walls and roof pieces, all should add up to one very interesting to look at spectacle.

Left there to attend our first JTMF (James Tolin Memorial Fund http://www.jtmf.org/) meeting for the 2009 benefit show, Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Not much to talk about, really. Lunch with some chit-chat. That's not until June. Let me get through one show at a time, please.

Oh - last night my producer emailed me with a suggestion for particular piece of music I'd been looking for. What she suggested wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but close enough for government work. One more thing to cross off the ever-increasing list. I cross off one item, and two more take it's place.

I guess that's it for now. As always - more anon.

Prospero

Costumes, Jams & Pie

My Producer, Technical Director (who are married to one another) and I, all went up to Scaramouche (the costumers) this morning. Our appointment was at noon, which meant I had to leave my house at 10:00. This, with the eminent tropical storm Hannah looming along the east coast. It was a dreadfully humid, grey morning and the drive to their house in Flemington was a bore, but I filled up on relatively inexpensive gas along the way, and certainly enjoyed the company for the rest of the day.

Scaramouche is one of several businesses run on the grounds of a farm owned by two life partners who have taste, money and talent. Mark, the partner I met and dealt with today, is a genius. He plucked the idea for Sabina's Act III costume right out of my head without me having to tell him any details. We managed to find most of the pieces for the main cast members and several for supporting roles. Those pieces we didn't pull, Mark assures me he has, and I trust him completely, especially after the Sabina skirt ESP. We hope we can costume the extras with stock at the theatre (or their own clothes). In addition to the costume rental and construction business, The Boys (as my producer calls them) also run a farm, orchard, country store and bakery, complete with the most amazing home-made pies and pastries, soup and pancake mixes, honey, jams and preserves. I bought jams while my co-horts bought a "Harvest Pie" which we had as dessert to our late lunch (one of the most amazing burgers I've ever had) at the California Grill in Flemington.

Back at their house, my TD and I finally finished out paper-tech (over pie!), which was far less painless than either of us anticipated. Then we took a look through the on-line catalog of the prop house we're visting tomorrow morning. If they have everything I saw and wanted (and we can afford them), I will be a very, very happy director.

The storm proved to be a mountain out of a molehill, and while my drive home had one or two intense moments, I made it back in one piece and can spend the night in my own bed, with my special pillow and my fan for white noise (not to mention being able to stay up as late as I want to blog and what-not...).

Bonus - my producer suggested a music source for a piece I had been searching for and fretting over, and it turned out to be bloody near perfect. Yay! I am off now to work on more music. Feeling better and better about the show as it progresses.

And did I mention the pie? Yikes, was it good!

As always, more of this, anon.

Prospero

Update:

More as promised: I have completely replaced my Act II Intermission music. So happy. I still have several things to play with, but am very happy at my progress.

More anon, again.

New Feature!

Right below "My Blog List," you'll now find "My Site List." These are either sites I visit everyday(IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes), or some of the favorites I like to share to make friends laugh (Goat Trauma) and a few I visit several times a month (Engrish, Empire Online).

I've also added several new blogs to "My Blog List." Visit them and encourage their visitors to visit mine. I may not be too fancy (yet), but I'm getting there. Once the show is over, I'll have all winter to play around with this thing.

"The Skin of Our Teeth #9"

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? My day job shift change started this week and there hasn't been much drama (thank goodness) with the show, lately.

Rehearsals are going quite well, actually. My very smart cast is usually able to answer my most-used question: Why? Why do you do that? Why do you say that? Why did he write it that way? Usually, I don't care what the answer is, as long as they have one. And when I do want a particular answer, it's been relatively easy to guide them toward it. Of course when all else fails, I just have to come out and say what I want, though that seems to be a rarity, especially among the more experienced cast members. Tonight we ran act one with both of "The Extinct" puppet frames. The ensemble has to learn to get out of their way, but the "family" seems to be interacting with them quite well. One of the puppeteers still doesn't get it and often appears bored, but I hope that I can find a way to motivate him into being a living presence. Wow - how artsy-fartsy does that sound? But it's true.

I have found that two or three of my (relatively) older cast members are quite strange ducks, indeed. Two of them have begun to annoy me to no end, but they have minor roles and I only have to deal with them minimally, thank God.

And speaking of God - being a devout agnostic, I find myself having issues with the religious overtones of the play. The opening lines of Genesis are quoted no less than three times over the course of the play. And Mr. & Mrs. Antrobus are obviously Adam and Eve, while Henry is often referred to as "Cain" and Gladys appears to represent the Virgin Mary in Act III. How does a director who believes that "God" is unknowable, reconcile himself to obvious Christian metaphors? I suppose I must (as I have been) approach the issue as academic, rather than dogmatic. My core beliefs often coincide with traditional Christian mores, though being gay and considering myself rather modern and erudite, I am conflicted when it comes to the play's approach to religion. And many reports indicate that Wilder may have been a closeted homosexual, himself. How did he deal with these issues? He probably didn't, as a product of the early 20th Century, when such things were discussed in whispers and gays were forced to hide their proclivities from the rest of the world. Of course, there are no gay overtones in the piece, though I think I might be able to make a convincing argument for Henry being gay. I just have to find a way to convince the gorgeous actor playing Henry of that. He has played gay roles for me twice in the past (and is set to so again next summer), and while he insists he is straight, I have my doubts. Needless to say, while I will always try to find a way to promote LGBT rights and issues in everything I direct, this show may prove challenging to do so.

OK - time for bed. As always, more of this anon.

Prospero