Glenngary Glen Ross

I am still around, loyal blog readers, and I am in the aforementioned play.

But of a crazy trip for this one. It was supposed to go on in February, not long after I took part in the 24 theatre festival, about which I wrote in the previous post. But community theatre being what it is, schedules fell apart at the last minute and it was postponed until August, with rehearsals having started last month, to a degree.

Schedules are still not great, and for that reason rehearsals have taken a somewhat usual format. Thus far I (playing Williamson) have only officially rehearsed one scene-the very first of the play. Because rehearsal times are split between groups of actors at the moment, I've only had one-hour rehearsal slots.

This is unusual for me, and carries its own difficulties, especially since until this week, I had only one such session a week. Even with reviewing at home, it is not the best way to get into a role or a scene. But that is what we have, so one works with it.

Next week we begin to at least rehearse Act II, because at last all of the actors needed for those sessions will be present at the same time. I think (and hope) I will get a bit more out of those rehearsals because longer pieces of the script will be performed at once. (All of Act II) and further, I will be present for two hours instead of just one. That will be, I think a big help for me.

We don't have much time to get this show ready, since we open on the third week of August. I have no reason to believe we can't do so, but it will require some extra effort. (And in fact, "Shelly Levene" and myself have already made plans to stay after rehearsals a bit next week to work some of our scenes a few more times.

One other aspect of being in, and blogging about this show involved the playwright himself, David Mamet.

He is, to be honest, a litigious writer. He has no problem suing productions of his plays for the smallest of infractions. Theaters are not even allowed to have discussions of his plays with an audience after a performance. He doesn't like people changing or adapting the slightest thing. That is his legal right, though I find it artistically weak-minded. Nevertheless it makes me reluctant to share as much detail about the process and work in this production than I normally share here on the blog.

The odds of Mamet finding out about this blog, or our production are probably somewhere around a million-to-one. I realize that. But I don't exactly want to tempt fate by sharing something with my readers, innocently enough, with which Mamet or his people would find fault. For all I know, he may mandate a certain thing we do not have in our production, (the color of the pencils perhaps) and I'm not willing to be the reason our theatre gets a cease and desist.

I'm even a bit wary of sharing my thoughts on my character and how I am developing him, as Mamet in general seems to think the actor is the least important person in conveying the message of a play.

Truth be told, I am not that fond of Mamet's attitude in a number of areas. I've not read every play of his, though I have read portions of a few, and Glengarry, one of his earliest, seems to me also one of his best. And it too has flaws. But it's strong enough to be worth appearing in. Even those with whom we disagree strike oil once in a while, I suppose.

Despite all of this, I will still post regular, if somewhat more broad and conceptual updates on how this play is going. (There is not much to report on at this time, despite the several truncated rehearsals. So do look back regularly; I'm back for a while.

Belated Send off to Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story

So it's Friday evening, and the show ended on Sunday afternoon. It's been a sort of distracted week for me, and I am just now sitting down to post the summary.

It was a sold out crowd, just as the previous Sunday was. Yet the crowd was not as enthusiastic as the first full house we had. They were not a dead audience by any means, but they didn't laugh as much or respond with as much to the show, or after the show.

To be fair, I don't think we did quite as well for them as we did the previous sell out either. There were a few trip ups, (I myself made a very minor one) and I think the energy was down.

That being said, it was still a decent, even if not amazing conclusion to a show that in many ways was different.

It began just a few days after Macbeth ended, so in some ways it felt like an odd extension of that show for the first few rehearsals. This is especially true given that everyone but one person was also in Macbeth. The total rehearsal time was only a month, (and coming after a show that had three months to rehearse, that was an adjustment for certain.)

I wore my base costume to the theatre and home every night, since I owned the whole thing.Because of this I was actually rarely in the dressing room. Being in the dressing room is a touchstone of the community theatre experience, and things feel off for me when it is missing. I kept my coat and personal items in there during the show, but that's about it. Never dressed or undressed in there during the show. And while I had my usual picture of Olivier there at what would have been my seat in the dressing room, I never taped it to the mirror as is my custom.

Due to the nature of the show, the only time I was in the green room was before the show, and intermission; nobody was off the stage long enough in this production to relax in the green room during the performance. That too made the whole show seem faster, and less official as well, (though it was the same for Night of One-ders.

Also, I have to say that in some ways, despite the changes in venue, script and cast, it sort of feels like a production of A Christmas Carol is never quite over for me. This was my sixth production of this story in some form, and no doubt there will be more. Many of the lines, and certainly the characters are the same for each one, and so though I still have to get off book each time I help tell this story, it sort of feels like a mere hiatus between such tellings. I've not been in this version of the story before, but once we got started on it, it didn't feel like it had been that long ago since I had been in a version. (Though it has been about three years, I think. Maybe more.)

Which is why I am almost always willing to be a part of this story on stage. The time may come when, for whatever reason I have to decline to be a part of a production of A Christmas Carol, but it hasn't yet. So timeless is the story, so loved by actors and audiences, and so tied in with a holiday that so many people revere that when in A Christmas Carol on stage, I feel part of Christmas as well as part of a show. (And I get to start celebrating the holiday a little earlier than most people when I am in a show like this.)

So, I do bid goodbye to this version, but it is only a matter of time, perhaps only a matter of less than a year before I help tell the story again.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone.

Black Box Arts Center and A Christmas Carol

As the house manager at the new Black Box Arts Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, I'm happy to announce that on the 14th of this month at 6:00PM, there will be an open house as well as a staged reading of A Christmas Carol.

The script is based on the performance script that Dickens himself used on his tours. I myself have been a part of this reading on two other occasions, and I'm looking forward to taking part in it again later this month.

Readings are fun in general; they have the fun of performance but with less commitment to rehearsal time and other such things. Readings of A Christmas Carol are particularly fun, because of the beloved status of the work. I can think of few stories better suited to gain interest in a new arts center. If you're in the area, stop by and see us. I'll be in the reading, though I don't know in what capacity just yet. But they'll be tours, and some refreshment involved as well. I'll be updating on that as we get closer to the day, for those who can't come.

I'd also like to share some videos I produced for the Black Box Facebook page. They were fun to make, and give the idea of the sort of open, fun loving atmosphere we hope to create there. Give them a look at these links:

The first video addresses a very famous authorship debate that rages through academia and theatres alike these days.

This second one exhibits the professionalism and maturity of those of us involved in the Black Box.

In both videos I am in desperate need of a haircut, which I received less than 24 hours after I filmed those clips. Schedules...

I'll be back soon to talk more about the reading. Let me know what you think of the videos!

More Mish Mash

In my effort to continue posting here once a month or so, to my loyal blog readers I have not given up on this end of my online universe, I present two things of interest today.

To begin with, I will soon be assuming responsibilities as house/facilities manager at the recent opened Black Box Arts Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. This facility used to house the now defunct Full Circle Company, at which I did the lion's share of my acting in the last several years. FCTC had various issues and was, in short, forced to dissolve. But I have high hopes for this new endeavor in the building. (Which will be open to not just theater but other sorts of arts-oriented activities. I will post updates about some of my adventures there here on the blog.

I will in fact probably be posting a bit more content on theatre related activities that are not strictly reflections on my experience as an actor in a show. Though that has always been the backbone of this blog over the years, I have, (as I mentioned in my last entry) always meant to at some point slightly expand the scope. Theatre being the umbrella still, but including perspectives, polls, and other content that can make the blog more sustainable when I go through a drought of performances, as I am now. So do check back, as always.

Secondly, I went to a used book sale about two weeks ago, and came across a book for acting students in a pile in the back room. It's kind of old, but I bought it anyway. I finished it today. Here's my Goodreads review of it. (I'm only the second person on Goodreads to have ever read it, and the first to write a review.) Go check it out, and let me know if you've ever read it as well.

I'm also getting closer to revising and finishing my series of short stories that take place in the same fictional theater. I plan to publish that in e-book form sometime next year. It will be a bit of a prelude to my novel that takes place in the same fictional theater, which I hope to either shop to agents, or publish myself next year as well.

I'm proud of the stories. They need some work, and perhaps won't appeal to the broadest of audiences. But anyone who has spent any time in a theatre will, I feel, recognize the sorts of characters and situations presented in this short-fiction collection. I can't wait to get that off and running, so I can offer it to the theatre-minded folks out there.

Finally, my one-man Shakespeare show continues to evolve. I'm no where near performing it yet, but if the edits and the test reciting i have done be myself continue to progress, I wouldn't be surprised if it could go up sometimes in the fall of 2014. I'm excited about that as well.

So that's where I am in the theatre world as it stands now. I am by now means out of theatre, and in many ways will hopefully be back into it head long very soon, and will have more to say more often here on the blog again, between shows.

Until next time, loyal blog readers.