Yes, once again I am here to remind loyal blog readers that I am still around.
My hope was that by now I would have had several performances of The King is But a Man to blog about. As it stands, for any number of reasons, I have not been able to book any performances for a while.
It is still very much a part of my plans, however. I continue to think of places and ways to pitch this free Shakespeare based show. I just didn't think that marketing efforts would be a particularly fun read here on the blog, even though they relate to a theatrical project.
That's the thing, as I have said, with being a community theatre type such as myself. One can be active for quite a while, and then hit a drought. I'm in a drought mode at present, though I certainly don't expect it to last forever. I may have to change my approach, both to my own show, and for future shows for which I will audition, but there is still plenty of potential theatre out there for me.
The nature of things change over time, of course. I have had, for some years now, a certain way that I access a possible theatre experience before looking into it more, or trying to be a part of it. It may be time to loosen my criteria a bit. Not in terms of quality, but in terms of certain aspects of time, place, nature of production and such falling into a specific set of places. I may have to be more liberal with my volunteer policies for things outside of my own one man show. (Which I admit, had priority at this time.)
So, I seek to surge with that flow. I just don't know exactly where to go yet. But I will. I am keeping my eyes open, and I have all kinds of ideas. Hopefully once some of them come to happen, I will have ore to write about on a regular basis here on this (still) important blog to me, other than, "I am still around."
Until then, I am in fact still around.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
My Novel About Community Theatre is Out!
Greetings, loyal blog readers!
I have been away a while, as is often the case when I am not in the middle of a play. But this blog, and certainly theatre are not forgotten in my life between performances. In fact, I want to announce the launch of novel, Flowers of Dionysus in ebook form. Available for download for $2.99, this tale of theatre adventure and love of performing should speak to theatre geek everywhere.
It's the story of Matt Blackwell, an exhausted theatre guy who feels it's time to turn in his scripts and give up theatre acting for good. It just isn't what it used to be for him. But, reluctantly he agrees to join the cast of a dear friend's summer production at the local playhouse, more as a favor to her than anything else.
Things don't go smoothly for the production. There are delays, missing actors, mechanical problems and intrusive board members. More than once the production is in trouble. Yet through it all, our friend Matt hears about and finally experiences some unexplained phenomena in and around the playhouse.
He's not sure what's going on, but he is sure that it's going to be no ordinary summer for him and some of his new friends. His views on theatre and himself may change before all is said and done.
I've posted a list of places to buy this fun fantasy over on my other blog. Here's a link to that post.
I hope you will purchase it, read and enjoy it, as both a theatre lover and as a follower of adventures. Theatre geeks will recognize many of the people in this place, but those who have not done theatre will recognize how life has magic in it, if we are willing to seek it out.
If you like it, do leave a review at your preferred location.
Thanks to all, and I hope to by on stage again soon, with more updates and thoughts on same!
I have been away a while, as is often the case when I am not in the middle of a play. But this blog, and certainly theatre are not forgotten in my life between performances. In fact, I want to announce the launch of novel, Flowers of Dionysus in ebook form. Available for download for $2.99, this tale of theatre adventure and love of performing should speak to theatre geek everywhere.
It's the story of Matt Blackwell, an exhausted theatre guy who feels it's time to turn in his scripts and give up theatre acting for good. It just isn't what it used to be for him. But, reluctantly he agrees to join the cast of a dear friend's summer production at the local playhouse, more as a favor to her than anything else.
Things don't go smoothly for the production. There are delays, missing actors, mechanical problems and intrusive board members. More than once the production is in trouble. Yet through it all, our friend Matt hears about and finally experiences some unexplained phenomena in and around the playhouse.
He's not sure what's going on, but he is sure that it's going to be no ordinary summer for him and some of his new friends. His views on theatre and himself may change before all is said and done.
I've posted a list of places to buy this fun fantasy over on my other blog. Here's a link to that post.
I hope you will purchase it, read and enjoy it, as both a theatre lover and as a follower of adventures. Theatre geeks will recognize many of the people in this place, but those who have not done theatre will recognize how life has magic in it, if we are willing to seek it out.
If you like it, do leave a review at your preferred location.
Thanks to all, and I hope to by on stage again soon, with more updates and thoughts on same!
Thursday, April 02, 2015
Promotional Baby Steps
After about a month away from this blog, I'm back with news about The King is But a Man.
On Tuesday I got permission to return to the venue it premiered in, to take reenact some scenes from the show, and take some publicity stills. It was a bit of a chore for several reasons. I was alone, my camera has only a ten second delay, the lighting was off, and the set for a different show was still there. So my range of motion was somewhat limited. Not to mention that my rechargeable batteries wore out on my digital camera too quickly. (This is only the second set I have ever owned. The first set were fantastic, but the company went out of business!)
Being confined by circumstances beyond my control did, however, force me to work quickly, to think less, and just set up artistic shots as best as I could. As is often the case in creative endeavors, the challenges led to some good results. In one or two shots, it led to excellent results. And since my show has no official set anyway, the set on the stage at the time wasn't an insurmountable issue. I just had to deliver speeches in different parts of the stage than when I performed there.
The result was about 25 usable shots of my performing various sections of the show.
I also took a few movies of my delivering some of the speeches. These also turned out well, if a bit tinny in the sound department. (I have no professional video equipment. Only a basic handheld home movie deal.)
I gathered the video and the photos, put them on computer, and came up with a basic promotional website for the show, using weebly. Please check it out.
You may notice that I haven't purchased my own domain name, opting for now to stay with the address with "weebly" in it. Or, you may not have noticed that at all. I provided you with a link in the above paragraph that took you right to the site. My guess is that three fourths of the time, anybody who wants the link to the site will get it via email, so the address itself is less important. For those who do have to type it in, what can I say? I'm just not ashamed to have "weebly" in the address, if it means it saves me some money. The site looks fine, the information i want is there, and anybody who won't bother to learn about the show because I didn't purchase my own domain name is probably not somebody I'd enjoy performing for anyway.
Five years ago I probably would have bought the domain name. I would have probably researched for weeks, studied other sites, asked questions, and tried to create a more complicated, shiny site with bells and whistles to spare. I would have listened to people implore me to "just hire someone." But I'm an artist on a budget who wants to create, and I've simplified my approach to many things over the last few years. The site, though elementary, does exactly what it needs to do, and I know how to change it when needed. That sounds good to me.
So the next step is to survey some local venues or organizations that might be interested in having me perform the show for them. I don't know how that will go, but I at least know I can sent them a nice link to my site that tells them all about the show, and even provides some samples of the production.
Not bad for 48 hours work, I'd say.
On Tuesday I got permission to return to the venue it premiered in, to take reenact some scenes from the show, and take some publicity stills. It was a bit of a chore for several reasons. I was alone, my camera has only a ten second delay, the lighting was off, and the set for a different show was still there. So my range of motion was somewhat limited. Not to mention that my rechargeable batteries wore out on my digital camera too quickly. (This is only the second set I have ever owned. The first set were fantastic, but the company went out of business!)
Being confined by circumstances beyond my control did, however, force me to work quickly, to think less, and just set up artistic shots as best as I could. As is often the case in creative endeavors, the challenges led to some good results. In one or two shots, it led to excellent results. And since my show has no official set anyway, the set on the stage at the time wasn't an insurmountable issue. I just had to deliver speeches in different parts of the stage than when I performed there.
The result was about 25 usable shots of my performing various sections of the show.
I also took a few movies of my delivering some of the speeches. These also turned out well, if a bit tinny in the sound department. (I have no professional video equipment. Only a basic handheld home movie deal.)
I gathered the video and the photos, put them on computer, and came up with a basic promotional website for the show, using weebly. Please check it out.
You may notice that I haven't purchased my own domain name, opting for now to stay with the address with "weebly" in it. Or, you may not have noticed that at all. I provided you with a link in the above paragraph that took you right to the site. My guess is that three fourths of the time, anybody who wants the link to the site will get it via email, so the address itself is less important. For those who do have to type it in, what can I say? I'm just not ashamed to have "weebly" in the address, if it means it saves me some money. The site looks fine, the information i want is there, and anybody who won't bother to learn about the show because I didn't purchase my own domain name is probably not somebody I'd enjoy performing for anyway.
Five years ago I probably would have bought the domain name. I would have probably researched for weeks, studied other sites, asked questions, and tried to create a more complicated, shiny site with bells and whistles to spare. I would have listened to people implore me to "just hire someone." But I'm an artist on a budget who wants to create, and I've simplified my approach to many things over the last few years. The site, though elementary, does exactly what it needs to do, and I know how to change it when needed. That sounds good to me.
So the next step is to survey some local venues or organizations that might be interested in having me perform the show for them. I don't know how that will go, but I at least know I can sent them a nice link to my site that tells them all about the show, and even provides some samples of the production.
Not bad for 48 hours work, I'd say.
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