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Sleepless night. Busy weekend.
From 9.30 am on Friday, I spent 31 of the following 53 hours at The Brick on various projects. Started with recording pieces for the next two nytheatrecast pieces at nytheatre.com for Martin Denton. We'll be adding more pieces to them in June, but I can put most of them together now. I need to figure how how small I can make the files, as they are too large uncompressed for useful downloading/podcasting, while keeping the audio quality passable (the first one is compressed too much, and sounds rather tinny and unpleasant, but only Tom X. Chao and I seem to think so). So we recorded bits for the two June podcasts for a few hours -- got good material that will be easy to edit into a couple of 12 minute or so shows. I'll be able to put them together in the next couple of days, and then we'll just have to wait until June to record and drop in the "review" sections. Jo Ann Rosen did a nice job interviewing me about the show, though Martin had me go back and do a pickup to talk about the part of the show that interested him most, which he wanted to be sure I got in the recording (the use of corporate in-house films and audio and other such audio/video pieces).
Then Maggie Cino came by the theatre to work with me on her big scene in That's What We're Here For, which involved playing the Dylan song that backs the scene as we threw ourselves around the space. It became apparent that I'd have to wind up in the scene as well myself, as Maggie needs a partner for the scene and no one else is appropriate, so I had to figure out how to make it work, as it would be odd for me to be the Narrator and then just come on for this number, so I found a couple of other little places where I can come on and balance it out. Maggie and I improvised quite a bit -- we'll have to set it all later, but it was a good start. Lots of tumbling, spinning, launching, and falling. Rather like the solo dance piece I did back in school -- "Lighting Out/Falling In," set to Laurie Anderson's "Gravity's Angel," falling and slapping the floor in a pitch black room with two flashlights and a mirror. It was nice to feel like I could still do that kind of work, though when I was 17 and doing it, I could do it over and over again for hours and walk away happily. Now, approaching 38, I can do it for a little while and then need a lie-down and a fistful of Advil (of course, the main reason I ache so much now is that when I was 17 I didn't warm up or take care of myself when I danced, and my knees and ankles got quite messed up, so it's all my own damn fault). In any case, the improv led to a definite structure for the whole "Beatnik Bar" scene, and more clarity, so it was a big help.
Then a good and tiring Caveman Robot performance in the evening and to home.
Saturday, rehearsal for my show from noon to 5 pm. Good work. Staged much of the rest of Act I that I hadn't got to yet. Cast right on top of everything. Had enough ideas to make it through most of the day, but was still blocked on Act II. Went back and worked Danny, Stacia, and Josephine into the scenes we'd done the previous time that they missed. Everything looked really good, especially the full "Beatnik Bar" scene once I put everyone in around me and Maggie.
Then, Saturday night, the last Caveman Robot performance and a party in the space afterwards. David Cote came by to see the show and spoke kindly of my acting, which made me feel good. A few other friends who'd seen the show just showed up for the party, including Mr. America himself, John Devore, who has been reading this blog and complains I don't update enough ("You gotta feed the beast!"). Jeez! After I posted daily for the first month or so, and I've just been too tired and busy to keep up at that rate (or, conversely, there have been those periods where I've done nothing and had no interesting thoughts for a day or two running). It was a nice ending to a run that was fun, but rather tiring and seeming to go on longer than usual.
Then, Sunday, right back to the theatre at 10 am for TWWHF rehearsal again. Cast mostly on time, amazingly. I went in still blocked on Act II, but just putting everyone up on stage and starting it got me unblocked. Then, quickly staged the whole act -- just visuals, of course, I need text, audio, and video to go in, but that's mostly the easy part once I have the visual system in place. Then went back and finished the other big scenes of Act I. So all the actual "scenes" of the show are now basically staged except for "Mommy's Kitchen Fantasy" in Act I and "Mommy's Shopping Fantasy" in Act II -- I realized I need to work those first with Stacia before bringing in the rest of the cast, just as I did with Maggie for her scene, so we're planning to get together some afternoon mid-week, and Maggie and I will also meet again to start turning our improvs into set choreography. So we walked-stumbled-crawled through all the scenes of Act I and then broke. The show looks good, I think, and Berit agrees.
It's one DAMNED odd show, though. What the hell is this thing? It makes sense, I believe, and I like it, but what exactly am I doing?
Thank god the cast seems to be behind it and really giving, or at least, bemused, unbored, and working. This week, I have to take Berit's blocking notes, add dialogue and other materials, and turn it into an actual script for what we've done. I have a little bit -- much longer than I'd like, but that's the way it turned out -- until the next full cast rehearsal, so there's a little time to contemplate the whole dad-blamed gesamtkunstwerk before moving on. Have to start moving on Temptation for the HavelFest as well. And what about next year . . ?
And the rains have come, hard and dreary. Time to spend some pure "fun-time" with the new computer to clear my head.
From 9.30 am on Friday, I spent 31 of the following 53 hours at The Brick on various projects. Started with recording pieces for the next two nytheatrecast pieces at nytheatre.com for Martin Denton. We'll be adding more pieces to them in June, but I can put most of them together now. I need to figure how how small I can make the files, as they are too large uncompressed for useful downloading/podcasting, while keeping the audio quality passable (the first one is compressed too much, and sounds rather tinny and unpleasant, but only Tom X. Chao and I seem to think so). So we recorded bits for the two June podcasts for a few hours -- got good material that will be easy to edit into a couple of 12 minute or so shows. I'll be able to put them together in the next couple of days, and then we'll just have to wait until June to record and drop in the "review" sections. Jo Ann Rosen did a nice job interviewing me about the show, though Martin had me go back and do a pickup to talk about the part of the show that interested him most, which he wanted to be sure I got in the recording (the use of corporate in-house films and audio and other such audio/video pieces).
Then Maggie Cino came by the theatre to work with me on her big scene in That's What We're Here For, which involved playing the Dylan song that backs the scene as we threw ourselves around the space. It became apparent that I'd have to wind up in the scene as well myself, as Maggie needs a partner for the scene and no one else is appropriate, so I had to figure out how to make it work, as it would be odd for me to be the Narrator and then just come on for this number, so I found a couple of other little places where I can come on and balance it out. Maggie and I improvised quite a bit -- we'll have to set it all later, but it was a good start. Lots of tumbling, spinning, launching, and falling. Rather like the solo dance piece I did back in school -- "Lighting Out/Falling In," set to Laurie Anderson's "Gravity's Angel," falling and slapping the floor in a pitch black room with two flashlights and a mirror. It was nice to feel like I could still do that kind of work, though when I was 17 and doing it, I could do it over and over again for hours and walk away happily. Now, approaching 38, I can do it for a little while and then need a lie-down and a fistful of Advil (of course, the main reason I ache so much now is that when I was 17 I didn't warm up or take care of myself when I danced, and my knees and ankles got quite messed up, so it's all my own damn fault). In any case, the improv led to a definite structure for the whole "Beatnik Bar" scene, and more clarity, so it was a big help.
Then a good and tiring Caveman Robot performance in the evening and to home.
Saturday, rehearsal for my show from noon to 5 pm. Good work. Staged much of the rest of Act I that I hadn't got to yet. Cast right on top of everything. Had enough ideas to make it through most of the day, but was still blocked on Act II. Went back and worked Danny, Stacia, and Josephine into the scenes we'd done the previous time that they missed. Everything looked really good, especially the full "Beatnik Bar" scene once I put everyone in around me and Maggie.
Then, Saturday night, the last Caveman Robot performance and a party in the space afterwards. David Cote came by to see the show and spoke kindly of my acting, which made me feel good. A few other friends who'd seen the show just showed up for the party, including Mr. America himself, John Devore, who has been reading this blog and complains I don't update enough ("You gotta feed the beast!"). Jeez! After I posted daily for the first month or so, and I've just been too tired and busy to keep up at that rate (or, conversely, there have been those periods where I've done nothing and had no interesting thoughts for a day or two running). It was a nice ending to a run that was fun, but rather tiring and seeming to go on longer than usual.
Then, Sunday, right back to the theatre at 10 am for TWWHF rehearsal again. Cast mostly on time, amazingly. I went in still blocked on Act II, but just putting everyone up on stage and starting it got me unblocked. Then, quickly staged the whole act -- just visuals, of course, I need text, audio, and video to go in, but that's mostly the easy part once I have the visual system in place. Then went back and finished the other big scenes of Act I. So all the actual "scenes" of the show are now basically staged except for "Mommy's Kitchen Fantasy" in Act I and "Mommy's Shopping Fantasy" in Act II -- I realized I need to work those first with Stacia before bringing in the rest of the cast, just as I did with Maggie for her scene, so we're planning to get together some afternoon mid-week, and Maggie and I will also meet again to start turning our improvs into set choreography. So we walked-stumbled-crawled through all the scenes of Act I and then broke. The show looks good, I think, and Berit agrees.
It's one DAMNED odd show, though. What the hell is this thing? It makes sense, I believe, and I like it, but what exactly am I doing?
Thank god the cast seems to be behind it and really giving, or at least, bemused, unbored, and working. This week, I have to take Berit's blocking notes, add dialogue and other materials, and turn it into an actual script for what we've done. I have a little bit -- much longer than I'd like, but that's the way it turned out -- until the next full cast rehearsal, so there's a little time to contemplate the whole dad-blamed gesamtkunstwerk before moving on. Have to start moving on Temptation for the HavelFest as well. And what about next year . . ?
And the rains have come, hard and dreary. Time to spend some pure "fun-time" with the new computer to clear my head.
