Friday Frustration Random Ten and Cats

So now I wait. Besides the 11 actors already "in" for my four shows this year, I've contacted another 26 for 38 parts, and thus far received back 10 "Yes" answers, 4 "No" answers, and 3 "Maybe, let's talk" answers, from 16 people (one person I asked to be in two shows said yes to one and no to the other). I need more answers before I can move on. I have most of the people for Spell, it seems - I could maybe start work on that, but I'm still short a reply from two people who would be crucial to the show, so . . . no go.

Ambersons, the earliest show coming up (June), is the problem, of course. I did the breakdown and discovered there was no way to do the show with fewer than 20 actors (plus myself narrating). That's 4 more than I'd hoped, but it just won't work out any other way (and I wound up needing more men than I thought, always a pain). I have four people set, as mentioned before, and I've gotten only one "Yes" and two "Maybes" thus far on the positive side. And I've gotten three "No" responses too, in parts where I don't have many good options for casting among the tribe I work with, if any. If I don't get it cast soon and get some first things done before the end of the month, with some of the conflicts coming up on the people already cast, I won't be able to start real work on this until maybe April. I want a cast and first reading by the end of THIS month, dammit (I WANTED it by the end of January, but that didn't happen).

I have plenty to do for other people to fill time, but I want to be working on these shows, now. This week, Berit and I spent some time driving around getting props for the UTC#61 shows, which was alternately fun and annoying (I had to circle several blocks in Midtown for over an hour - the place in the world I like driving least). I have to schlep some video equipment around for a shoot for one of those shows the next two days. There looks to maybe be a cleanup day at The Brick tomorrow, which I should go and help at. Sunday, if the video schlepping doesn't get in the way, I should go and see a runthru of Penny Dreadful episode 4 at The Brick, as it's going to be a pain to light with the current setup and I'm going to have to do a lot more specifically for this one instead of just using the house plot.

Today, I'm interviewing Jon Stancato of Stolen Chair Theatre Company for a 30-minute radio profile on WPS1 Art Radio (taped for later "airing" - I'll let you know when it's up). Jon asked me if I'd do this, as he preferred the idea of the interview being more of a discussion between two theatre artists rather than the normal Q&A, despite my only knowing Stolen Chair's work from Kill Me Like You Mean It (which I loved), and reading the script for The Man Who Laughs (ditto) in one of Martin Denton's collections. This should be an enjoyable time, if a hair nerve-inducing.

So, in the meantime, let's check out the first random 10 from the iPod's 23,414:

1. "Batman Pows The Penguin - or - (Aha, My Fine Feathered Finks!)" - Nelson Riddle - Batman - Exclusive Original Television Soundtrack Album
2. "Sound and Vision" - David Bowie - Low
3. "Speed Car" - Claude Perraudin - Patchwork Library Addendum
4. "Elube" - De Ndirande Pitch Crooners - Culture Shock: Doug Schulkind's 2004 Marathon Premium
5. "Driving Me Crazy" - The Sleepless Knights - Trip in Tyme volume 1
6. "Newspapers" - Stan Ridgway - Mosquitos
7. "I Can't Sleep" - Quik - Psychedalia: Rare Blooms from the English Summer of Love
8. "Scene Pathétique" - Bernard Herrmann - The Magnificent Ambersons: Bernard Herrmann Anthology Volume 1
9. "Rock & Roll" - The Singing Dogs - Las Vegas Grind! - Volume 1
10. "My Heart Gets All the Breaks" - Wanda Jackson - You'll Always Have My Love

Hooker went to the vet twice this week because he was acting odd. Once we'd gone, of course, he started acting fine again. He may have simply been constipated and gassy, we're told. They love him at the vet's, but he was badly behaved this time (which was also suspicious, as he usually doesn't mind going, and he hissed and growled which he NEVER does - he was apparently just uncomfortable). They had to sedate him so they could get a clean x-ray, and he was quite adorable as he was stoned out of his gourd, just a big floppy lump. When we got him home, it hadn't quite worn off, and it was sadly cute to watch him stumble around with his back legs not quite working yet. He's already acting cheerier, and they gave us some kitty laxative.

In any case, here's the little bastard a couple of weeks ago:

And Moni has been preferring to drink from the faucet these days . . .

Maybe more later . . . I have other things to handle during the brief time I have on this computer -- oh, that's right, did I mention that the computer I usually use has died? It was an old nasty PC that could barely do much anyway (it was a gift from someone otherwise throwing it away, and much appreciated), but now the only working computer in the house is B's iMac, which has to be . . . shared. So instead of having a computer always on and ready to answer emails, etc., I'm on for a few hours in the morning, and another hour in the evening. Great.

I have lots of links and videos saved up to share, but . . . later . . .