All By Myself??

Sunday has come again, loyal blog readers, and once again I write not of an opinion or advice, but of a plan percolating in my head in regards to my grasp on the ever changing craft of acting. (Why else would I be putting it here on AOB?)

To begin with, I do realize I have not been as regular as you might like in regards to the Sunday columns. Those who know me and this blog know that they tend to ebb and flow sometimes based on how busy my non-acting life becomes. I do have some ideas and columns socked away for future publication, once the times straighten themselves out a bit. So for those that crave them, just wait. The ship of weekly acting advise columns will right itself.

And you can always head over to showbizradio.net and read my regular acting columns over there. They would love your readership as well.

That is not to say that people are not reading the older posts on THIS blog. I yet again received thanks for the now famous, most widely read (that I know of) entry in the history of this blog..."A Kiss Is Just a Kiss." I once again brought solace to someone who was about to engage in their first ever stage kiss in the near future. I have not heard from them again, but hopefully what i said provided yet another person with the tools they needed to proceed with that most awkward of acting milestones. If nothing else, this blog may go down in history for that entry alone.

Yet, I digress a bit. The point of the entry is to mention some ideas that I am having in regards to acting.

To begin with, I must consider if, next week this time, I wish to return to the Old Opera House for an audition. (The place where I used to do just about all of my acting.) They are having auditions for Ken Ludwig's "Leading Ladies". I know nothing about this play safe the basics. I do know that the Opera House seems to be bent on performing every single Ken Ludwig play currently in publication. The have done I believe three of them in the last 4 or 5 years. (I was in Moon Over Buffalo myself.) Not that there is anything wrong with that per se. I just think that Ludwig tends to repeat himself, and write basically the same type of play every time, just changing the setting and the characters. This one in particular deals with down on their luck actors...just as Moon Over Buffalo did. It may be fantastic, I have not read it. But I cannot help thinking that Ludwig has been here before.

Yet that is not to say I will not audition. I have not done anything at the Old Opera House for a few years. Though this particular director has never cast me in anything, and the Opera House itself has not been able to secure a role for me in any of it's shows for years, it may be worth it just to be back in a larger space. I am fond of all the time and adventures I have had with the up and coming Full Circle Theater Company, as these pages oft have shown, but I think everyone wants to be in a physically spacious performing space and back stage space sometimes. I am approaching one of those times.

Plus I have not been in a total farcical comedy for quite some time. Over a year. That can be good for the soul as well. So, it remains a possibility. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

The other major topic of contemplation for me has no specific date, other than in the "significant future. (Say no earlier than the end of this year, I would approximate.) I have mentioned this in passing before here on the blog, but now I will say upfront that I am considering doing a one man show. Not writing one, performing one that has already been published.

You will forgive me if I do not say which one man show at this time. I am refraining from that because I am not certain if it will come to pass, and I would not want word to get out about it, via this blog until things were more solid. But suffice to say I now have the script, have been reviewing it, and am slowly making the determination as to whether or not it is something I want to take on.

I have never done it before, and I have always said here on the blog how important it is to challenge oneself without breaking one's self. I do not believe this would break me. So part of me says I must at least try it...even if the idea is not popular among others.

I would be performing it at the Full Circle Theater. Initial reactions from the higher ups in that company have been positive, so I dare not throw away the idea before I give it total consideration. It would not be a main stage production, but maybe a special showing between official shows on their docket. Again, lots of details involved in this that really can't be considered much until I make an official decision, and until I see how long it takes to feel comfortable with the idea if i do decide to go ahead with it. But I have to be true to the blog's purpose by reporting that I am giving it serious consideration.

A one person show is a whole other beast. You do not get any of the usual support mechanisms you receive from having a cast to work with. Covering each other, moral support, bonding and increased fun. But to be fair, one also does not have to deal with the draw backs of having others in a show...egos, lack of preparation, varying degrees of dedication, and traffic problems. (For some, not all shows. But the risk is there at the start of every show with more than one person.)

But more than that, it gives an actor the chance to truly hone in on story telling ability, and pulling out of the air and making real those stimuli from which to draw reactions and mood. Things that the rest of the cast is usually there to enhance.

It also requires one to be extra aware of an audience, as the actor must draw them in even further to every word and every moment, since there are fewer distractions from the character, and the words they speak.

So, I shall spend a great deal of time in the near future going over the script and considering all of these things, and more, as I make my way towards a decision. You, my loyal blog readers, will be the first one's informed in the world of my decision. (And you will sooner than that know which one man show I am contemplating."