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Got an email from Jeff Lewonczyk yesterday, fellow Brick-toiler. I had forgotten to write and send in a blurb for Ian W. Hill's Hamlet for publicity purposes.
So I wrote it up quickly. It's okay for publicity, but will need to be cut down for the Pretentious Festival program:
After designing and directing 49 productions in 10 years with his company Gemini CollisionWorks, trying to make exciting, beautiful, moving, intelligent, deep, experimental, entertaining ensemble theatre for the masses, and getting only a valuable, but small, cult reputation in Indie Theater, the respect of his peers, a handful of rave reviews, and a massive amount of debt . . . isn't it time that Ian W. Hill was allowed to get egotistical and pretentious on your ass? Now, downtown's rapidly-aging enfant terrible designs, directs and stars in Ian W. Hill's Hamlet, his 50th production, 10 years to the month after his first! Hill takes a personal point-of-view on Shakespeare's masterpiece, guiding a cast of eighteen through a ruthlessly and idiosyncratically cut version of the play, with an eye on being completely faithful to the dramatic intentions behind the work, while having no respect for the tradition around it, setting it in a class-driven 20th Century American landscape, where the actions of the Prince are just one distraction in a fragile society heading towards collapse. Violent, creepy, funny, and unsettling, Ian W. Hill's Hamlet is a pretentious idea of popularizing Shakespeare. The auteur blogs about his creative process at http://collisionwork.livejournal.com.
I have scheduled rehearsals, and damned if it doesn't all work out - 18 actors and all. I've already had a couple of corrections to make since I sent out the "beta version" last night, but I can fix things easily. It does mean I will have a rehearsal almost every single day from April 26 to May 31. I think I'll have two days off, maybe three. I'm going to be a wreck, but probably a happy wreck.
Last night, we did our first trial at dyeing my hair blond for the show -- we were taking it easy in some ways so that if there was a terrible hair color accident, it would be correctable (I'd heard horror stories about bleaching, that if you screwed up there was nothing to do but cut it all off). I got rid of the beard, Berit plucked my eyebrows to about half their normal width/thickness, and we did the dye. I have come out an interesting (and, luckily, natural-looking) shade of light reddish-brown, kinda coppery. Nice, but not what I want. The hard part, it seems, in trying to avoid bleaching, will be getting the red out of my hair so I don't wind up a strawberry blond rather than a dirty blond.
I'll have photos of this whole process up here in a day or two, including the slow removal of my beard in discrete stages (the "Zappa," the "Selleck," and the "Waters").
Now, off to The Brick for an all-day/night tech on Rachel Cohen's dance pieces, opening on Thursday. Which will be great.
So I wrote it up quickly. It's okay for publicity, but will need to be cut down for the Pretentious Festival program:
After designing and directing 49 productions in 10 years with his company Gemini CollisionWorks, trying to make exciting, beautiful, moving, intelligent, deep, experimental, entertaining ensemble theatre for the masses, and getting only a valuable, but small, cult reputation in Indie Theater, the respect of his peers, a handful of rave reviews, and a massive amount of debt . . . isn't it time that Ian W. Hill was allowed to get egotistical and pretentious on your ass? Now, downtown's rapidly-aging enfant terrible designs, directs and stars in Ian W. Hill's Hamlet, his 50th production, 10 years to the month after his first! Hill takes a personal point-of-view on Shakespeare's masterpiece, guiding a cast of eighteen through a ruthlessly and idiosyncratically cut version of the play, with an eye on being completely faithful to the dramatic intentions behind the work, while having no respect for the tradition around it, setting it in a class-driven 20th Century American landscape, where the actions of the Prince are just one distraction in a fragile society heading towards collapse. Violent, creepy, funny, and unsettling, Ian W. Hill's Hamlet is a pretentious idea of popularizing Shakespeare. The auteur blogs about his creative process at http://collisionwork.livejournal.com.
I have scheduled rehearsals, and damned if it doesn't all work out - 18 actors and all. I've already had a couple of corrections to make since I sent out the "beta version" last night, but I can fix things easily. It does mean I will have a rehearsal almost every single day from April 26 to May 31. I think I'll have two days off, maybe three. I'm going to be a wreck, but probably a happy wreck.
Last night, we did our first trial at dyeing my hair blond for the show -- we were taking it easy in some ways so that if there was a terrible hair color accident, it would be correctable (I'd heard horror stories about bleaching, that if you screwed up there was nothing to do but cut it all off). I got rid of the beard, Berit plucked my eyebrows to about half their normal width/thickness, and we did the dye. I have come out an interesting (and, luckily, natural-looking) shade of light reddish-brown, kinda coppery. Nice, but not what I want. The hard part, it seems, in trying to avoid bleaching, will be getting the red out of my hair so I don't wind up a strawberry blond rather than a dirty blond.
I'll have photos of this whole process up here in a day or two, including the slow removal of my beard in discrete stages (the "Zappa," the "Selleck," and the "Waters").
Now, off to The Brick for an all-day/night tech on Rachel Cohen's dance pieces, opening on Thursday. Which will be great.
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Blonde is as blonde does... or something like that
Date: 2007-04-10 03:32 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)The way you've been describing your Hamlet, I can see him with country club, sun-kissed highlights towards the front of his face (and good highlights are always a signature of well-cared-for, spoiled blondes - just bleaching produces flatness).
Okay, so, yes, I finally decide to comment on your blog when it involves beauty products - so sue me! Or... dye my hair! Oh, whatever.
Good Luck!
Hope
Re: Blonde is as blonde does... or something like that
Date: 2007-04-11 05:37 am (UTC)From:Thanks for the advice! We'll move on that way. What I have isn't bad, just needs to be a little less red and a little lighter. It's nice and natural, just not right for Hamlet.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-11 07:09 pm (UTC)From:Another thing you can try (not always effective, but can help) is dying your hair with MANIC PANIC - VIRGIN SNOW. (http://www.manicpanic.com/best%20hair%20color/virginsnow.html)
You can get it at any rickys and it takes brassiness out of hair. That and you'll have to wash and condition your hair with purple shampoo & conditioner. I have an extra bottle I can bring to rehearsal, if you want...
It's almost impossible to not end up with red/yellow tones, and the darker your hair is to start, the harder it gets...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-11 07:10 pm (UTC)From: