Battery of OA

[GreenLanternMD]

What I Really Want to Do is Direct...

Tonight was one of those nights when I remember why I persued my chosen profession.

The Odd Couple opened tonight to a very enthusiastic audience. The laughs were there... even the ones we didn't expect. One cast member called it the greatest exerience of her life.

This is why I do this. I love directing. I love process. I don't love the stress... but even when everything is fine, I find something to worry about. And when I see the results... when people see something I directed and like it, that makes me proud. I have no children of my own, so this is the highest level of pride I can achieve. I am fortunate to have students with talent and heart. When it comes down to it, they are the ones that make it work. Sure, they're kids, but they do well when it matters to them.

I see my job as an opportunity to direct. I "get to" direct two productions a year. There aren't that many jobs with that include such duties. I "get to" direct. The moment I hear myself say, "I have to direct two shows," it will be time to retire. I don't look forward to that day.

Sure, there were a few little glitches, but they'll be smoothed over tomorrow. Even if the audience noticed, they didn't care. They loved what they saw.

Three of my eight bosses were there tonight. The were all happy with what they saw. :up: When the principal is shaking my hand after the final curtain, that's a good sign.

I'm hoping word of mouth sells the next two nights. I'm a little worried about Friday. There are a ton of sports events happening involving our school. Our football team is close to becoming a state contender, and our volleyball team is already in the second round of state championship. One of my actors is on that team. There will be an understudy in her place Friday night. We've been planning for this, but it's still a bit of a downer.

We did our "Inside the Actors' Studio" simulations today. Fun stuff. I was concerned during the first taping that it wasn't going well, but in between, everyone in the cast was telling me that they were fighting very hard to keep from laughing. Aparantly, my James Lipton impression is better than I thought.

I'm tired, I'm achey... I think I'll have a beer. Too tired to go to the fair for "Awesome Day 4." Another day of work tomorrow, then another show. I really don't want to teach a whole day. Oh well. Maybe I can come up with some kind of BS easy lessons.

What I really want to do is direct...

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Night #2. Awesome.

The day started with a bit of a sting.

We had a "suprise pep rally" this morning to celebrate our outstanding athletes... which is all fine and dandy... but the message from it left me a little sour.

I'll skip the details... but the message we came away with was, "If you're not an athlete, you suck." :bleagh: Thanks, Tom.

Okay, so we coast through the day... blah blah blah... nobody's really learning anything... okay, here we are: Night 2.

Potential Disasters: Missing hair spray, kitchen door doesn't work, and there's a battery stuck in the cam corder. No problem.

(I am so tired right now... I don't think any of this will make sense later)

No disasters... nothing major anyway... okay, the door handle started to fall off in the last scene and Olive may need a tetnis shot... other than that, it was awesome.

Bill was very complimentary... particularly for Josh and Derrick. :up:

I'm planning on going to the Jam tomorrow night (I find it serendipitous that the jam has been moved to 10 PM this month... allowing me time to get there). Radar wants to go, too. I plan on inviting everyone. I don't expect everyone will be able to go, but I'm hoping Josh and Nick will be interested. I wonder where Jim is?

I'm tired. And I want a beer... think I'll comprimise and drink a decaf DP. I don't want to drive anywhere.

Night.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

It's Over... Go Home!

The Odd Couple enjoyed one final night to a warm audience. Closing nights are always bitter sweet. The kids give their all, but there's always that knowledge that this is the last time.

I am somewhat relieved to be finished with it. Watching it last night, I had this feeling that the walls would fall down on everyone's head. I was determinned to build the thing without drilling into the floor. I did, and it's still standing... but I can see points of weakness in the structure that really want to buckle and callapse. Virutually every piece of wood and luan I have available is on that stage right now. On Monday, it all goes back to the shop. I hope I can organize it well.

I went to the Bingo Jam right after. Radar came along. I put her name in, assuming she wanted to play. She was a little surprised by this, but I think it all worked out ok.

I barely remember my set. I do know I started with a solo invocation... Hard to discribe the content... True stream of consciousness.

It should be noted that I was dressed in my best suit for the closing of Odd Couple, so I was, once again, the best dressed mo-fo in the room. :up:

There was a good turn-out for the jam. Thanks to my shameless plugging on asucomedy.com a good chunk of BMi people came out, in addition to the typical A12, Galop., Cator. crowd.

As people were heading home, Tommy and Stacey wondered into the Trunk Space. Stacey was drunk. I've never seen this before. Not sure what I think about it. Couldn't tell if she was enjoying her current state of intoxication or if she was feeling guilty about it. Doesn't matter now. I'm sure she's forgotten it all.

So my month of insanity is over. Now, I go into my month of sparatic vacations. For the next three weeks, I only go to work for three of four days a piece. I'm even taking an extra Thursday off, because I think I've earned it. I may even add a BMi show that day... I'd like to play, but I may even be content to watch.

Still have to write the Christmas show for Elastic. Maybe I'll work on that today. :up:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Today, We STRIKE!

My car is overheating. I don't know why. They're looking at it at the dealership right now.

Today, we strike the set. We begin a few minutes from now. It will be glorious. I hope we get it done today.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

I Have Awesome Parents!!!

Ok, so my car is fixed. I won't be able to pick it up until tomorrow because they're closing right now.

Here's the cool thing. My dad is paying for it. I was willing and able to do it myself... I even suggested that I should... but, he's insisting on taking care of it this time. Since I'm buying the car from him, he figured that the repair was something that should have been taken care of before he handed the keys to me. When I called him this morning, all I really wanted from him was to have him make the appointment... I didn't want money or special favors... just a hook-up with a trusted machanic for a discount price.

I really need to do something nice for Mom & Dad soon. Too bad I'm not married. They deserve another grandkid.

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Stage is clear. The set is gone. Pieces of it (mostly wood and luan) are pilled up in my shop. We still need to clean the wood and put stuff away, but it shall be done tomorrow.

Waiting for Bill to call back. "The Remainders" have our first Monday night practice tonight. It's not till 8, but since I won't have a car until this time tomorrow, I'm just hangin in my office until I get a ride over.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Let's Do Some Improv -- With Feeling!!!

Remainders started late tonight... partly my fault... Bill and Michelle had to come get me.

We worked on story structure w/out music for awhile. The first run sucked. I feel it was mostly my fault. I initiated the first scene, but refused to be the central character. I basicly made a choice of indiferance for the whole piece. Thank God for no audience.

Second time through was better.

I participated in a very satisfying invocation/quartet song about art. :up: Thank you, Improv.

We had a closing discussion about the possible expansion of the group. We've only had one show, and yet there are a ton of people from the Phoenix improv community wanting to join in. We've agreed to get things more solid with what we have first before we bring in new people. Seems like the right way to go. The potential newbies Bill mentioned are all cool people (IMO), so I'd be glad to work with them. I do want to take care of our house before we add to the family... if you'll pardon the clumsy metaphore.

It's 11:30 and I have to do laundry. Damn me for being stranded at work. Damn me for not doing it yesterday.

Damn my pink shirt that I can't wash with anything else.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

The Phoenix Improv Revolution

Went to my first Tuesday A12 Session in about a month. I've been at the shows, but not the practice.

It was preceded by a CareFree Write Prod. business meeting. Nothing big, just a preliminary meeting to talk about what we will be talking about in future meetings.

I don't want to dwell on too many details about tonight. There are a few things I will discuss. For one, we wrapped "early" at around 9:15... and ended up talking about important stuff untill after 10:30.

Long story short. There's an Improv Revolution happening in Phoenix, and we've got front row seats. Awesome things are happening, they're happening very fast, and it's both wonderful and scary. A12 is in a good place, artisticly and so-forth. One thing Bill has mentioned frequently in the past two days is the huge response we've recieved from the one "Remainders" show we did. Not only did the audience love what they saw, but everyone wants to join. I think there are people who weren't even at the show who want a piece of the action. Wow. Scary things happening too. People are leaving troupes in pursuit of new things. :nervous: We, in A12, are okay... but there are other companies exeriencing massive fluxuations in staff... and some improvisers drifting without a home. Hmmm... What happens next? I'm curious... :up:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Strong Scenes

Tonight's Apollo-12 show was all about strong scene work. There were four of us tonight: Darin, Greg, Robin and myself.

Details are becoming blurry. There were a lot of long, well developed scenes with strong relationships between characters. Lot's of call backs. At one point, I did go outside and press myself against the window in various positions (Thank You, Trunk Space :up: ).

We all came away feeling good about the show. Our next appearance is on the 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving. JRC says it's going to be a special show... possibly a murder mystery with pie and gravey. I'm hoping he works the details out with Bill, because I'm a tad confused. I was still show buzzing.

:loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

One Ends, Another Begins

Now that The Odd Couple is complete, finished, done and over, I can rest... right? Well...

The musical opens in less than four months... and I still have to decide on the musical.

I have it narrowed down to 2: Guys and Dolls or Seussical. Guys and Dolls has the "tried and true" advantage going for it... Meaning that everyone else has done it and if I need help, someone can be there to bail me out. Seussical has the "gee wiz" factor of being new... Plus, the timeless familiarity of Dr. Seuss can draw an audience, regardless of age and education. I been reading the script and listening to the cast recording. I like it, but it's one of those that can be either really awesome and fun or really crappy. I'll take some consolation in knowing that this is true of ALL musicals (even the improvised ones ).

I was leaning toward Guys and Dolls before, because I know the show and tried to do it two years ago in my first year. Back then, I knew there was enough talent at the school to pull it off... but it was my first year, and high school seniors tend to be total assholes to whomever replaces their favorite teacher (even if she was an insane bitch). Now, I feel myself being drawn to Seussical. I think the sets might be easier to build... costumes will be eaqually challenging on both shows. I did have some success with Seuss with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Got Caught (or Law & Order: Who-ville). My predicessor seemed milk "Charlie Brown" for all is value... so, I guess my thing might be Ted Geissel.

I figure if I do one this year, I can do the other next year. I'll be meeting with the Chuck on Monday to talk it over. I should have a decision by the end of the week.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Reviewing Submissions

Spent the evening at Shane Shannon's house reviewing some of the PIF submissions. I won't go into details (I'm not a big fan of "spoilers"); I'll just say it was an evening of watching improv on video... a mixed bag of pleasent chuckles and painful missery.

There's much more to view, but I'm confident that we'll have a strong line-up this year.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Creativity Should Not Be a Chore

I gave myself the challenge of writing a complete Christmas Show for Elastic Theater. I've been procrastinating on this, even though I've had a ton of ideas in my head for a month.

I'm about half way through the script (after about two solid hours of work). I like what I've done so far. Once I get into the process, it's a lot of fun. But I really want a complete product to show to Tommy, Stacey and Shane (there's at least one song, and I think there should be music throughout) by the end of the day. I'm taking a little break right now. If it turns out as cool as I think it can, this will be an awesome show to do at the Trunk Space (and perhaps for the New Years January Slam at the Puppet Theater).

Okay. Much to do. :loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Wow! Brain Rush!

Okay, I just cranked out a script for the Elastic Theater Show I promised.

I don't know how it will be recieved by the others, but I know I had a good time doing it. :up:

Okay, easy part is done. If we go ahead with it, let's see what we actually do.

 

[GreenLanternMD]

It's a Monday... Or Is It???

Tommy and Shane each endorse my "A Very Elastic Christmas" script. Stacey has withheld praise in favor of caution... understandably so. She wants to know exactly how long we would have for puppet construction and rehearsal (more to the point, WHEN the actual show will be) before she gets enthusiastic about it. So, I've asked Tommy to follow up with Trunk Space to confirm a date... then we'll see.

Ashley has returned to our musical improv family. :up: Rock on! Notice I didn't say she has returned to "The Remainders." Like Shane with Apollo 12, she'll be doing the workouts with us, but she will not be a performing player... not in the forseeable future anyway. I am not comfortable discussing the particulars of why she's not performing... only that we're glad she's back with us.

A personal observation of my work tonight. I did two songs... one was more in the moment and driven by my character choice... the other was a third person narrative. While the latter had more energy behind it (it was more of a group exercise relating to backing each other up and finding endings), I was more content with the earlier song. I think I need to work on making my songs for these shows about my character rather than talking about other people. That way, I can actually create stronger characters.

Not as tired as I should be right now. I did have a nap earlier. It's nice to have a little "me time" in between school and improv.

We should have a Remainders show booked in December. I would like to confirm the Elastic Theater date soon so that they do not conflict. I REALLY want to do both.

Looking forward to having Thursday off, just for me.

I decided that if I go to the BMi show on Thursday, I'm just going to watch and be supportive. I haven't asked to play, and I'm not going to bring it up. Last month was great, but for me it's like going to Disneyland. The rush of getting on Space Mountain again fades if you do it too often. I need some time away from the experience in order for it to be truly valuable again.

op:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

If I Were Icarus, My Wax Wings Would Be in the Garage

I was wisely talked out of doing "A Very Elastic Christmas." The other 3/4 of Elastic Theater (Tommy, Stacey & Shane) convinced me that going forward with it was too ambitious.

Here's the deal: I wrote this thinking we would have at least a month. The only opening we could get at the Trunk Space was December 1. That's now less than 16 days away. There's a lot of shit going on in the next 16 days, including the ITS Conferance and Thanksgiving.

I'm so glad they talked me out of it. A few hours ago, I was so gung-ho about throwing it out there. I'm coming off a month of doing awesome work, and today my ego was screaming "FUCK YEAH! I'M BULLET PROOF! LET'S DO SOME EPIC SHIT AND CONQURE THE WORLD!!!" :loopy:

I'm so glad that Stacey can be down to earth when I have my head in the clouds (or up my own ass). Elastic Theater has been around for almost 4 years. We're the only entity to have done every Puppet Slam. We built and entire set of Audrey 2's in 28 days. We're at a point where we can should be taking pride in our work... and have high quality to go with that pride.

Here's the plan: for the immediate future, we are not going to book a show for December 1. We will do a short piece for First Fridays on the 2nd (either a re-run, or some Baskin Robins spoonful of what I wrote this week).

For the Future: We WILL do "A Very Elastic Christmas" in a year. That's the thing that makes me feel good about this. We've been around long enough that we can think about a year in the future. We can book a show that far in advance and plan on working on it... and take the time to make awesome puppets and do a well rehearsed show that will make people crap their pants. We're bullet proof because we're professionals, and we've been behaving like professionals for awhile now.

I want to do this show, and I want to do it right. Now I'm inspired to write other stuff. Nothing specific, but I'd like to do seasonal or themed scripts of the same magnitude, and plan on taking the time to do them right.

Perhaps I can dust off some of our 3-Ring Asylum ideas and revisit them.

Life is easier when you're not rushing through it.

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I had a moment this afternoon that made me proud of my place as an educator. I have my theater students working on group projects. It's a way to finish out the semester by making them do all the work.

Anyway...

One of my students was having a serious problem communicating with his group. I listened to everyone involved and concluded that there was no viable solution that involved these people working together. I asked Josh to "adopt" one of them into his group. That one decision made everyone A LOT happier. It evened solved one of Josh's problems. Sometimes I can be effective in the class room.

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CareFree Write Productions is becoming something of a reality. We're actually putting stuff to paper and DOING all of the "wouldn't it be neat if we could have (do)...." stuff.

Fantastic. :up:

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Apollo-12 was pretty fast and loose tonight. Did some more work integrating Shane's improvised scores. Not the most productive practice, but a laid back one at a time when we could use one. I'm sure we'll be hitting it hard core next week.

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I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday. Having been at Bill's the night before for "The Remainders," my mind had confused it with my normal Tuesday night visits for A12. Took me a moment to realize that it was still Tuesday.

Oh well... Tomorrow is Wednesday... which will be my Friday as I will not be working on Thursday.

Did you all see "The Office" where Dwight thought Thursday was Friday? Awesome. :up:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Progress!

I did very little teaching today. I spent more time sitting at my computer, calculating mid-quarter grades. At least the students had stuff to do, but today was more about beurocracy than education.

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Had a big meeting today to see who wants to do the musical. My classroom was overflowing... and I have a big classroom. This is a good thing. Now, if I can get these people to stick with it...

There appears to be a number of guys coming out to audition. Good news. Now I feel confident that we can do Guys and Dolls. I prefer to save Suessical for next year... much in the same reasoning that Elastic Theater is saving "A Very Elastic Christmas" for next year... I need time to research it more and do it right.

Chuck wants us do do 4 nights. Eh... Ok... We can try... op:


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I reactivated The Knowbodies today. I now have time to start working with the school improv troupe. I'm concerned that I don't have a large crop of returns. DJ and Josh are back, but I think we'll have Jacque... Eugene is doing cheer for awhile... and there's Liz... poor kid is so crippled with fear, I don't know why she keeps coming back.

Lots of new kids, lots of energy. Not a lot of focus. We'll have to work on that. Today, I put the emphasis on fearless, honest, (GREEN LANTERN!) and ruthlessly playful. We closed it with Jill Bernard's walking finger exercise. They need to give themselves more permission to be free.

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I have the day off tomorrow, just for me. Planning on visiting BMi, but just to watch. :up: Not sure what I have planned for the rest of the day.

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I have a lot of good feelings about the future. As Shane said to me about a week ago, it would be great if PIF 5 had the success of PIF 4 without the massive amounts of stress. I think that will happen. There seems to be a lot of "learning from history" happening... commitees are on top of things... we're trying to be ahead of the game. We're not making any drastic changes like there were last year. We have the same venue, a lot of the same groups are coming back, and we're doing the same number of shows. I think if anything is differant, it will be a handful of new groups in the line-up. I think there will be more local representation and involvement. That's pleases me.

I'm excited for A12. We're on a roll, and I'm not alone in thinking this. Bill has made mention of it too, and has observed that people outside the group have noticed. Yes, we're upping our professionalism. This is not a bad thing, and it's not something that will kill the little boys and girls within each of us. If anything, part of our progress has been that we've become more playful on stage. We're finally doing the ugly grunt work that hasn't really been done.

I don't see A12 becomeing Phoenix's IO or UCB. I'm not even sure if CareFree Write, as an entity, can do that. It doesn't have to be like that. I'm just glad that we can continue being proud of what we do... and others are strating to see we're as cool as we claim.

The word of the week is HUBRIS...

 

[GreenLanternMD]

My Day for Me

I took an extra day off because I think I earned it.

Slept late.

Didn't hit the shower till around 10 AM.

Went splurging at bookstores. I spent a lot of money on books today, and only one of them was a comic.

Went down to ASU to see the BMi show. Today was their last show before the "Rest Of" show in a couple weeks ( they call it the "Rest Of" show because it's the last one of the semester, and the Farce Side does a "Best Of" show with all of their best sketches... so, since you can't show the "Best Of" your improvised scenes again, they just do what they have left... or the "Rest Of". I actually suggested that as a joke back in `94... and they still use it today. Viva La Legacy! :up: ).

I ran into Darrin while I was there. He made it through about half the show, then had to leave for work (or so he says... :wishy: ).

This was their "Audience Choice" show. They listed games they could play in each segment, and let the audience decide which one to do. Wise of them to list similar games in each seagment... that way they can guide the tone of the show as normal but still give the audience some "choice."

My favorite moments of the show were the golden moments of pure improv.

1) Sander, the autistic man who has been to every Farce Side and Barren Mind show EVER... got one one the biggest laughs when he shouted "..with a dog" in the middle of a scene. I giggled for about 5 minutes from that.

2) *Same scene... Steve and Alison were playing brother and sister in a game of New Choice. Kevin, who was calling the "New Choice" found a game of trying to manipulate them into a sexually provocative scenario. Both players called Kevin on his dickery... to the point of Alison looking off stage and screaming "Fuck you, Kevin!"

*This brings up an argument of why there seems to be a shortage of women in improv. The old, sexist argument of "chicks aren't funny" has never held water. It is undeniable, however, that the male to female ratio in the global improv community is about 3 to 1. Here's why IMO: Women will attempt improv with great enthusiasm when they're young (ie high school or college), usually in the presence of hormone driven, immature boys... or young men who are experiencing the total freedom of improv for the first time... At any rate, it is very tempting for the young male improviser to create potentially uncomfortable situations for the young female improviser. This usually happens before a rowdy college crowd or a collective of poorly supervised teen agers... Depending on the level of mutual trust that exists between the improvisers, they will either A) Heighten the offers to unexpected levels and wow each other as well as the audience or B) the Female improviser will form an unpleasant association in her mind, connecting improv to unwanted personal exploitation. In the case of the above example, I have observed a strong level of trust among the current players in BMi, so I have no fear that anyone walked away from this with a bruised psyche. I believe women can be fantastic improvisers... doesn't matter how young or pretty they are... It's the guys that need to have an open mind about it.

OK, tangent over...

3) While they were playing "World's Worst," a small child had wandered into the room. Once this adorable little moppet came into view of the players on stage, there was a beautiful moment of panic. Now, had they plowed on "uncensored," nothing would have happened to them. There are disclaimers posted by the audience saying that the show is for adults, so this kid's mom had nothing to complain about. But, I admire their very pure sense of responsibility. It's very amusing for me to see a very show be forced into the "G" rating out of embarrassment. It wasn't long before the little girl's mom wandered in and collected her child. I noticed she had an expression of amusement as she left. I think she knew exactly what BMi was, and I think she was delighted to see the indirect respect for her and her baby that was provoked by this unexpected visit.

4) Their final game was pure audience choice. They asked the audience to scream out a game they would like to see. Me being a dick shouted things like "Armando" and "Scramble". What they took was "What happens next..." which really isn't a show friendly game but rather a "Yes, And" exercise. Now if you are with BMi and you're reading this, please don't take offense... but this was not a strong closer... that's all I have to say about that.

I stopped to say hello to a few of the players and then went about my business. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I did not push to be "included" in this show as I was a month ago. I'm glad I didn't. It would have been intrusive. I know I'll be taking the Thursday of PIF off in April... Perhaps I may ask to sit in for that show. It would be a nice promo... but that's a ways off and I may have too much going on that day anyway.

I hate being full of my own shit.

I'm going to try and find a copy of Guru to buy and take with me tomorrow. I feel like I'm the only one in Phoenix who hasn't been reading it. I know that I'll have a bit of down time at ITS in the next couple of days, and that's the book I want with me.

I've been trying to avoid thinking about work all day. Easier said than done.

Oh well... Day ain't over yet. :up:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

AZ State ITS Day 1

Today was long, exciting, fun and exhausting.

I'm so glad I took yesterday off. I have to do today again tomorrow.

Today was Day 1 of our 2 Day State Thespian Conferance. It's an increadibly insane event with nearly 2000 High School Theater Students assending upon downtown Phoenix and filling the convention center. It's two days of workshops, networking, performances, and strange moments of bonding. It's the two days in November we love and hate. We love it because we get away from our classroom for a couple days and advance our art. We hate it because there are so many moments of chaos.

This is the first time in three years that Apollo-12 hasn't provided a workshop. That's okay; there's no real shortage of improv workshops at this thing. Jester'Z, NAUghty Bits, and ComedySportz LA all had workshops (that I know of... there could have been or still could be more). We decided not to do one because the room is usually ill equiped for what we want to do, and there's always too many people and not enough time for full participation. I happen to know that CSz LA and Jester'Z essentially did the same workshop. I sat in on James' CSz workshop in the morning, and I overheard Jeff and Jason planning the Jester'Z workshop. The good news is that they were both going over good, useful stuff like "Yes, and," communication, and listening skills. I just hope that all the improv-happy kids weren't let down if they went to both, only to repeat the same material. I almost went to James' teacher workshop, but based on the synopsis, it looked as if he was covering stuff that I was already doing. I already know I cover more improv than most High School teachers in AZ, and I'm one of the only ones that seems to do more Del Close than Spolin.

The mainstage show was Hamilton's production of Up the Down Staircase. I was particularly pleased to see this show because 1) Hamilton's director is a good friend of mine and 2) my kids have been down on Staircase ever since Moon Valley's production last year. They definitely liked Hamilton's more than Moon Valley's. I've been toying with the idea of doing this show next year. Taking a page from a production my mom worked on a couple years ago, I think it would be a fun experiment to do the play and cast both students AND faculty. I know there are teachers at my school that would dig the opportunity to do something like that. When I mentioned this to the students during the dinner break, most of them liked the idea... even the ones that were a little down on the play itself. Have I actually taught them to have an open mind? Have I earned they're blind trust and misguided loyalty? Are they kissing my ass because I plan on casting Guys and Dolls in the near future?

Ran into Ric a few times throughout the day. He was doing some stage combat, as well as helping out with the technical business of the conferance. I asked him if he saw Staircase. He said that he elects not to watch the mainstage because he thinks it's the least important part of the conferance and if it were up to him they'd do away with the mainstage plays all together. I do agree with him somewhat. The civic center is not the best venue for a play. The accustics are bad, the seats are uncomfortable, and 2000 people is too large an audience for a high school play. These plays are best performed to a crowd of 500-1000 (whichever fills the house). Also, it's four-six hours of potential workshop time taken up by the plays (up until last year, there were 3 full length plays. Now, there are only two. Progress! :up: )

I sat in on a musical theater workshop. Got a refresher on techniques for taking care of one's voice and maximizing breath, volume, and vocal stamina. If I can remember this stuff, I may bring it to "The Remainders."

I also went to a teacher workshop presented by a couple of ASU MFA students working on their thesis. They are developing a theater teacher resource guide that actually sounds pretty user friendly and useful. For being at the workshop, I get to beta test it... so my theater classes may be a little easier to work with in the future.

The kids had a good time, and they're all looking forward to tomorrow. I'm hoping some of us can get in on the back stage tours.

One of the frustrating things about ITS is that there are troupes that bring 30-40 people. Not all of the kids are "Thespians". Some of them are freshmen who have the status of "guest" (so they had to pay a few bucks more"), and a lot of the kids in the bigger groups don't really want to be there. They just want to screw around. My groups have been small so far. Last year I brough 9, this year only 7. My criterea for going: You have to be an inducted member of ITS, and you have to pay your own way. The drama club cannot afford to foot the bill all the way. This narrows the field to the kids that REALLY want to go. Plus, it makes my job easier. I'd rather be in charge of 7 kids who want to be there and will get something out of it rather than baby sitting 30 kids, half of whom will cause trouble and rob me of any joy I may experiance from this.

It's midnight, and I have to be back on the short bus to Phoenix at 7AM. I'm going to finish my beer and go to bed. :loopy:

 

[GreenLanternMD]

AZ State ITS Day 2

So we were required to get everyone back to the Civic Center by 8AM so that the kids can be in the ballroom and... whatever... I'm not sure what goes on in the ballroom on Saturday morning. All I know is, the teachers have to go to a "short" meeting with stale bagels and mediocre coffee.

I'm not entirely sure what the meeting was about. It seemed to be a lot of promos for acting festivals and tours (including AZ Jewish Youth Theater's Youth Improv Festival in January... thanks, Viad Center :up: ). There was one moment during the meeting when someone's cell phone rang. Okay, mistake #1: IT RANG... it didn't vibrate, it rang.... loud. Mistake #2: He took the call. WTF?!!! Okay, maybe it was important. I think someone was lost and needed directions. How do I know? ASSHOLE WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Okay, so he REALLY needed to take that call... IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING MEETING. OK, I know he's not the first person to do this. But I'm not talking about a dumb 7th grader at a movie theater. We're talking about someone who TEACHES THEATER sitting in a room full of THEATER TEACHERS!!! What do you tell your kids when you teach theater etiquette, you hypocritical ass-fucker? :tsk:

There was one major change from last year. They only had two mainstage shows instead of three. Great! That means more time for workshops... Oh, and a special "Opening." Um... ok... Apparantly, back when the conferance was small enough to be held at a high school, the host school would do some kind of opening ceremony. OK. Well, now that we're at the Civic Center, there is no host school... so they decided to pick an opening the same way they picked the mainstages.

Basicly, the removal of the third mainstage show was a lie.

As for the show... sorry, opening... well... I should preface this by saying that the director at the school is someone I admire and respect. He's someone I've taken classes from, have substituted for numerous times, and I think of him as a friend. He's a talented artist and instructor, and he has an awesome program. That said, I regret having seen this piece. It was a collection of performance art compositions based on the theme of family. What inspired this? The instructors recent divorce. I was very uncomfortable watching this. I felt as if he was sorting through some very personal and painful stuff, and he was bringing the kids along for the ride. A lot of the pieces were about pain and loss (or more to the point, death, cancer, and divorce). It was well executed, but a bit too heavy for 9AM on a Saturday. And, it was scheduled to run about 20 minutes. It took an hour. What pisses me off is that someone had to have seen this before they were given the performance slot... so someone had to have known it was a long piece. Why then was it only scheduled for 20 minutes. :loopy: Needless to say, the extra workshop we were given because of the cancelled third show ended up being only 45 minutes. I didn't do a workshop. I found a nice chair and read a few chapters of Guru.

I had been avoiding most of the improv workshops because I did not want to sit through stuff that I was already "good at." The point of these workshops is for 1) the students to learn stuff that I don't always have time or expertise to teach them and 2) for me to learn new stuff to teach. There was one improv workshop I was curious about. It was described as being a workshop connecting improv to auditioning. Sure, I know something about this, but I can't really know everything, so I went in with an open mind (and my open copy of Guru).

First, the woman running the workshop said she was going to spend the time talking about audition techniques that aren't normally discussed in other audition workshops... then she spent 20 minutes talking about the stuff she said she didn't want to talk about.

Okay, she had a few useful pointers, but nothing that was really new to me.

Then she seagued into the improv portion...

OH... MY... GOD!!!

I must have disagreed with about 95% of what she was presenting.

Some of the things that forced me to bite my tongue:

1. "Develop a series of stock characters that you can go to all the time."
2. "On the day of the show, spend some time thinking of funny words or ideas that you can use that night."
3. "There are differant kinds of improv shows... some are funny, some are serious... Go see the show and find out what games they're playing before you audition." There was no mention of longform.

I said nothing. Made no mention of being an improviser. I avoided drawing attention to the fact that I had a copy of Guru with me. I was a bit of a dick when we were playing Worlds Worst... but everyone's a dick during World's Worst.... It's WORLD'S WORST!!!

In the moment, I justified my silence as professional courtesy. After the workshop, I thought of some more reasons to validate my choice. I thought about Mick Napiar's book and how he writes about figuring out what the hell you want and doing that... how every improv troupe should be what it is and not force itself to be something differant. I can imagine the scenario being reversed... this woman in one of my workshops... How would I react if she challenged my authority and proceded to tell every student in the class that I am wrong in how I choose to explore and perform my art. It is art. She has as much right to do the art with stock characters and planned bits as I do in wearing my characters as a thin veil and initiating scenes with strong choices based on the moment rather than anything dreamed up in the car or in the shower. (I often tell myself that if I see a scene in my head, it will never appear on stage... unless it's in a play or a sketch that I'm writing for a non-improvised show).

We had a leisurely dinner break followed by several hours of boring shit in the ballroom. There were tons of awards given out, which may have been nice for the winners but for us it only seemed to remind me how small my department is. We sat through the other main stage show... a poorly executed farce that seemed to provoke about 200 unnecessary applause breaks (I beleive most of the kids in there were bored with the first 10-15 minutes, so they decided to wake themselves up by overreacting to everything). It was a two hour show with NO intermission. There were other things going on after, but we didn't care. We left. The rest of the business didn't really apply to us... mostly awards that we weren't winning and officer elections that we didn't care about.

I know I'm bitching a lot, but it was a good experience for the kids. I'm hoping in the future, there will be more workshop time and less business in the ballroom. They may be reflecting the attitude I'm projecting, but the kids seem to agree with me.

Oh well. Tomorrow is Sunday. All I have to worry about is laundry and PIF.

Nap time!

 

[GreenLanternMD]

AZ State ITS Day 2

So we were required to get everyone back to the Civic Center by 8AM so that the kids can be in the ballroom and... whatever... I'm not sure what goes on in the ballroom on Saturday morning. All I know is, the teachers have to go to a "short" meeting with stale bagels and mediocre coffee.

I'm not entirely sure what the meeting was about. It seemed to be a lot of promos for acting festivals and tours (including AZ Jewish Youth Theater's Youth Improv Festival in January... thanks, Viad Center :up: ). There was one moment during the meeting when someone's cell phone rang. Okay, mistake #1: IT RANG... it didn't vibrate, it rang.... loud. Mistake #2: He took the call. WTF?!!! Okay, maybe it was important. I think someone was lost and needed directions. How do I know? ASSHOLE WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Okay, so he REALLY needed to take that call... IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING MEETING. OK, I know he's not the first person to do this. But I'm not talking about a dumb 7th grader at a movie theater. We're talking about someone who TEACHES THEATER sitting in a room full of THEATER TEACHERS!!! What do you tell your kids when you teach theater etiquette, you hypocritical ass-fucker? :tsk:

There was one major change from last year. They only had two mainstage shows instead of three. Great! That means more time for workshops... Oh, and a special "Opening." Um... ok... Apparantly, back when the conferance was small enough to be held at a high school, the host school would do some kind of opening ceremony. OK. Well, now that we're at the Civic Center, there is no host school... so they decided to pick an opening the same way they picked the mainstages.

Basicly, the removal of the third mainstage show was a lie.

As for the show... sorry, opening... well... I should preface this by saying that the director at the school is someone I admire and respect. He's someone I've taken classes from, have substituted for numerous times, and I think of him as a friend. He's a talented artist and instructor, and he has an awesome program. That said, I regret having seen this piece. It was a collection of performance art compositions based on the theme of family. What inspired this? The instructors recent divorce. I was very uncomfortable watching this. I felt as if he was sorting through some very personal and painful stuff, and he was bringing the kids along for the ride. A lot of the pieces were about pain and loss (or more to the point, death, cancer, and divorce). It was well executed, but a bit too heavy for 9AM on a Saturday. And, it was scheduled to run about 20 minutes. It took an hour. What pisses me off is that someone had to have seen this before they were given the performance slot... so someone had to have known it was a long piece. Why then was it only scheduled for 20 minutes. :loopy: Needless to say, the extra workshop we were given because of the cancelled third show ended up being only 45 minutes. I didn't do a workshop. I found a nice chair and read a few chapters of Guru.

I had been avoiding most of the improv workshops because I did not want to sit through stuff that I was already "good at." The point of these workshops is for 1) the students to learn stuff that I don't always have time or expertise to teach them and 2) for me to learn new stuff to teach. There was one improv workshop I was curious about. It was described as being a workshop connecting improv to auditioning. Sure, I know something about this, but I can't really know everything, so I went in with an open mind (and my open copy of Guru).

First, the woman running the workshop said she was going to spend the time talking about audition techniques that aren't normally discussed in other audition workshops... then she spent 20 minutes talking about the stuff she said she didn't want to talk about.

Okay, she had a few useful pointers, but nothing that was really new to me.

Then she seagued into the improv portion...

OH... MY... GOD!!!

I must have disagreed with about 95% of what she was presenting.

Some of the things that forced me to bite my tongue:

1. "Develop a series of stock characters that you can go to all the time."
2. "On the day of the show, spend some time thinking of funny words or ideas that you can use that night."
3. "There are differant kinds of improv shows... some are funny, some are serious... Go see the show and find out what games they're playing before you audition." There was no mention of longform.

I said nothing. Made no mention of being an improviser. I avoided drawing attention to the fact that I had a copy of Guru with me. I was a bit of a dick when we were playing Worlds Worst... but everyone's a dick during World's Worst.... It's WORLD'S WORST!!!

In the moment, I justified my silence as professional courtesy. After the workshop, I thought of some more reasons to validate my choice. I thought about Mick Napiar's book and how he writes about figuring out what the hell you want and doing that... how every improv troupe should be what it is and not force itself to be something differant. I can imagine the scenario being reversed... this woman in one of my workshops... How would I react if she challenged my authority and proceded to tell every student in the class that I am wrong in how I choose to explore and perform my art. It is art. She has as much right to do the art with stock characters and planned bits as I do in wearing my characters as a thin veil and initiating scenes with strong choices based on the moment rather than anything dreamed up in the car or in the shower. (I often tell myself that if I see a scene in my head, it will never appear on stage... unless it's in a play or a sketch that I'm writing for a non-improvised show).

We had a leisurely dinner break followed by several hours of boring shit in the ballroom. There were tons of awards given out, which may have been nice for the winners but for us it only seemed to remind me how small my department is. We sat through the other main stage show... a poorly executed farce that seemed to provoke about 200 unnecessary applause breaks (I beleive most of the kids in there were bored with the first 10-15 minutes, so they decided to wake themselves up by overreacting to everything). It was a two hour show with NO intermission. There were other things going on after, but we didn't care. We left. The rest of the business didn't really apply to us... mostly awards that we weren't winning and officer elections that we didn't care about.

I know I'm bitching a lot, but it was a good experience for the kids. I'm hoping in the future, there will be more workshop time and less business in the ballroom. They may be reflecting the attitude I'm projecting, but the kids seem to agree with me.

Oh well. Tomorrow is Sunday. All I have to worry about is laundry and PIF.

Nap time!

 

[GreenLanternMD]

Guru

Last night, I finished reading GURU: My Days with Del Close by Jeff Griggs. Most of you know how awesome this book is, so I won't go into a "you must read this" rant.

I was caught by surprise by something on the acknowledgements page. I know a lot of people who have read the book actually know the people mentioned in the book... ie Charna, Miles, Stefie Weir, etc... and even though I've been in the same room as some of these people, I don't actually know them... but when I got to the end and read "...I was standing outside of ImprovOlympic talking with my friend Chris McAvoy..." I about dropped the book. Chris went to ASU some years ago, around the same time that I did. Even though our paths had crossed many times and we had been associated with a couple of the same groups and many of the same people, ironicly we have never performed together. I knew he was in Chicago, but the last thing I expected was to see his name... let alone a quote from him... in a book about Del Close.

Awesome universe we live in. :up: