Monday, February 21, 2011

Update

Just finished Act II. It's going to need more work, but most of the play will, I think, need some workshopping to get the timings right anyway. It's hard to know how much or how little dialogue you need to make the timings of entrances and exits work and how much of a chaotic moment needs to be spelled out.

Reglardless, now I can start writing act III.

Inching forward

I love telling stories, be it as an actor, an improvisor, a director, or a writer. That said, the process of writing is a grueling one... even when it's not. When I sit down to write, my goal tends to be three pages a day. If I really knuckled down and treated it like a job, I could probably do 12-15 a day. Of course, I don't. I spend lots of time thinking about the story, and about the characters, and where they're heading and where they've been, but actually putting fingers to keyboard is an ongoing struggle.

This is hardly news. Ninety five percent of writers would say something very similar.

I recently figured out how Mammals in Collision ends. Like 411, so many years ago, the ending of this play has eluded me for years, and as a result it sat untouched in the recesses of my mind. Now that I have a final moment to work towards, you'd think that I'd be leaping at the chance to get it written down.

But look, I'm doing a blog entry.

Today is a holiday, and I hope to at least finish act II today. Procrastination tools involve books, housework, the dog, personal hygiene, Radiostar, and (of course) the X-Box. Maybe if I write in this space that I'll have act II done by 5pm, I'll actually get it done.

Let's see together, yes?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Auditions from the other side of the table

So, I'm stuck watching progress bars in work, and all the other work I need to do involves the program creating the progress bars, so I might as well do a blog post.

I'm in the midst for auditions right now. Specifically, I'm directing my play "Get it? Got it. Good!" for a one-act festival down in San Jose. The original director had to bow out, so I agreed to step in and direct. It's a shame, because I was curious to see what someone else would do with it. Still, I'm just glad to let a different audience see the show, and to tweak (and hopefully improve it) a bit.

We were supposed to have two nights of auditions and one day of callbacks. Because the company had the first night of auditions on Valentine's Day, so that ended up not happening. One would hope however, that we'd just be jam packed with people on the other evening. One would hope, and as often happens when one hopes, one would be disappointed.

We saw a grand total of six actors. My show alone, and there are four shows in total, has a cast of eight. My show is also male heavy. Five definite men, two women, and one role that can switch as needed. We have people who were seen at the TBA Generals and who have worked with Arclight before coming directly to callbacks. I asked how many of them were men. "One."

As it currently stands, even if everyone at callbacks is fantastic, I am going to need to cast at least half my show outside of the audition process. Fortunately, I know a lot of great actors. Unfortunately, if they are Equity members I can't use them. (I used two Equity members in the original production because I was footing the bill.)

Of the non-equity, still living in this state men from the last production, I know that at least one of them is otherwise booked during this time period and one of them is fully engaged with his own projects and recent offspring. So, I'm going through my list in my head and thinking of matches with characters.

The show will definitely be different. Different stage, different actors, improved staging and pacing, cleaned up some confusing lines, etc. I'm working hard to not let past performances color what the characters could be. It's challenging though, and why I was excited to see someone come to the script fresh as a director.

In the end, I expect that by Saturday I will have all my women cast. I also expect that by Saturday I'll be taking my list of awesome actors who are neither Equity nor otherwise engaged and doing some serious wooing.

Now, how did we get in this situation? Actors are always looking for work, after all. Well, there are a few things working against us.

1. No pay.
This always makes it hard to get actors of any substantial experience. Even a small stipend—enough to cover basic travel expenses—is enough to bring in more experienced actors. With no pay at all, the market dwindles rapidly.

2. The company is also holding auditions for their main production at the same time.
Ok, they're actually a week apart, but most of the actors I might have access to are auditioning for "Much Ado About Nothing", which is their big show of the year and will be rehearsing at the same time as the One-Acts. This includes most of the men.

3. Location.
Getting people down to San Jose is always a challenge. The commute can be brutal. Strangely enough, however, almost everyone who came on Tuesday was from the East Bay or the Peninsula. People who wouldn't have to commute however, didn't show up. I'm guessing they'll be at auditions for Much Ado.

4. Small company
The company has a great deal of potential, and lots of heart, but is still very much finding its feet. I've recently become a company member and am hoping that as labor becomes more divided that the company will be able to improve its output more and more and it will grow from a small to mid-sized company. But for now, people aren't signing up for the prestige factor.

In particular, I'm hoping that we can begin raising funds so that people can get paid (removing factor 1) and that we can look at the season and figure out ways to maximize our resources (point two). If we can do that, factors three and four will become less and less of an issue.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Things don't happen, and some things do

Yesterday felt smashingly productive. I got another three pages done in Mammals in Collision, finished the edits on Radiostar, got a call from Juliet saying that she had gotten out of rehearsal #1 early and wanted to meet in Berkeley for frozen yogurt, and then came home and added the musical transitions and intro to the Radiostar episode. In the midst of all this, I got another call (this time from Christopher DeJong) informing me that Radiostar Improv was going to be in the San Francisco Fringe Festival in September. This will make our fourth ever live performance, and our first series of shows.

This morning felt less productive at first. Our numbers for tonight's recording session went from seven, to six, to five, to four due to conflicts, illness, illness, and more illness. We had cancelled last night's session for similar reasons and once we hit four (with one possible drop out due to ... illness), it became clear that tonight would not be spent on mic.

I was bummed, but consoled myself with the thought that I wouldn't have to haul all the gear out to San Francisco, which meant that I wouldn't have to use City CarShare. Not spending money or hauling heavy and expensive gear is always a good consolation prize.

It didn't help that neither I nor Juliet got much sleep thanks to Benedick, who has the very habit of not letting us get a solid eight hours... ever. You'd think that a queen size bed would be adequate for two humans and an 11 lb dog, but you'd be wrong. He seems to swell in the night. Suddenly you awaken to find that he's stretched and his paws are digging into you, or that there's this large furry lump burrowed into the small of your back.

So, tired and mildly frustrated, I jumped in the shower. It was there that I had an epiphany.

I first had the idea for Mammals in Collision about five years ago. I wrote out the outline, and then it sat for years. I always wanted to work on it, but I was so concerned about how to deal with the third act that it became very easy to leave on the back burner. Ultimately, I knew that the play didn't have an ending. I knew the crux of the third act. I knew the issues. But no matter how it played out, it would turn from a comedy into a tragedy... even if it was a tragedy deferred.

This morning, amidst the steam and soap, it came to me. An ending. A brilliant ending. An ending that maintained the tone I had been setting as I wrote the last few weeks. An ending that worked.

I emerged, electrified.

I still need to finish act two, which I think I can do today. But now I know exactly where I am heading. I have a destination, which I'd had for the ends of the first two acts, but not for the whole play.

It's going to be a very good day.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Nothing here. Move along.

I don't have much to post about today. I'm in the midst of writing the first draft of my long delayed farce "Mammals in Collision" and I need to get the next Radiostar show edited for Monday. Right now it's all about working until 5ish, cooking and then writing and editing. Not too exciting here at Casa Wilson-Heller.

Juliets in rehearsals for Beardo over at Shotgun Players, so most of my evenings are my own. This will change soon, however, as auditions for "Get it? Got it. Good!" are next week and then I'll be casting and rehearsing until the end of March.

I feel like I should say something about Egypt, but I don't know what to write beyond "Yay! Good for them."
I really am happy that the people were able to rise up and have a pretty peaceful revolt. I'm thrilled that the military stood up for the people and didn't act as a force of oppression.

I just wish that it hadn't taken thirty years to happen.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Redevelopment

Governor Jerry Brown is looking for a way to fix California's massive budget shortcomings. Early on, he let it be known that we had two choices: raise taxes or cut programs. Redevelopment agencies were on the chopping block, and Brown stated that he was going after services that would pinch the middle class. It seemed sound reasoning to me. Rather than cut programs that only impact the poor, which is what often happens, threaten things that the middle class actually cares about. Remind them that the taxes they pay serve them.

As the deadlines draw closer, however, I'm hearing more and more about cutting funding for the Redevelopment agencies and very little about extending and raising taxes.

The mania and hatred of taxes is something that I can't fully appreciate. We say we want smaller government and lower taxes (or no taxes), but we also complain about high unemployment. I don't know the numbers for every city, but in Oakland the city, county and state are the biggest employers we have. If you want to decrease the revenue of the government, then you're basically saying that you want less jobs available. Cutting taxes means more unemployment, more blight, more crime, more social ills.

There's a nice article about Oakland's need for redevelopment funding here.

What got my ire up this morning was this article in the Oakland Tribune. In particular, the Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia's comments really hacked me off. As someone who grew up in Pleasant Hill, I can affirm that yes, most of Contra Costa County doesn't need much redevelopment money. It's a great suburban sprawl full of wealthy people. What we have with Mr. Gioia is another example of the wealthy completely failing to take the needs of the poor into account. "If we don't need it, why should anyone else? After all, we've got space and lots and lots of shopping malls!"

So, please, Governor Brown, take Contra Costa County's redevelopment money. They neither need, nor want it. For the urban centers, however, just extend the taxes a bit. We can take it. It's worth the slight pinch.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

New Day Dawning

I'm feeling a little bit shamed by the wonderful Becky Haycox, who has committed to writing every day this year, and by Neil Gaiman who is celebrating the ten year anniversary of his blog.

I used to update every day, but that slowed, and with the advent of twitter essentially stopped completely.

So, I'm going to try this again.

Be warned, I make no promises that it will be interesting. When I first started keeping an online journal back in... what was it, 1997? God, I think it was. Anyway, when I first started it then, it was because I wanted a record of my life that wasn't just the emo portions.

I'll be posting about my daily goings on, my thoughts on news of the day, trends, and whatnot. You're welcome to listen in, comment, or ignore. If I feel like I have to perform in this space, I imagine that nothing will get written.

So. That's that, then.

--------

Truth of the matter is, my life is much more boring than it once was. The curious thing is that I am not in the slightest upset by that. I'm forty years old. I have a house and a mortgage. I'm engaged to a wonderful woman. I have a dog, for crying out loud. If it was possible to be more settled down I'd be a potted plant.

This doesn't mean that I'm not quite active creatively or that I never have any adventures. It does mean that I am much more likely to stay inside. I'm not roaming around, looking for interesting experiences to have and interesting women to meet. Yes, it's true. Upon reflection, a major motivation for me to be out and about all the time was that I was looking to meet women. How very pedestrian. How very human.

To be perfectly fair, it's not quite as simple as I like to make it sounds. Part of it is age, to be sure. But part of it boils down to contentment. I'm not looking outside my home for anything to make me happier, or better, or more interesting. It also has a lot to do with investment. Each apartment I had, I felt a little more at home in. My last place truly felt like it was a part of me. Now, I have the house. I'm happy to be here, and I'm heavily invested in it. The financial commitment is one thing, but there's also the endless tweaks and improvements I'm investing in, as well as the sheer size of it. In a one bedroom apartment, there wasn't much space or need to interact with the environment. It was easy to leave and return to. With a house... it's different. It's a home in a way that an apartment never could have been. Apartments are launching pads. Houses are not.

And then, there's the dog.

I thought about getting a dog for a long time, but ultimately decided that I wouldn't because of my lifestyle. Dogs are social creatures, and I figured that I just wouldn't be around enough. It wouldn't be right to the pooch. Well, now I work from home, and I find it emotionally hard to leave him alone in it. His panic when we leave is only surpassed by his ecstasy when we return. I know that he's fine. But every time I leave with him pushed up against the window, whining as I walk away... it kills me a little. So, I find even more excuses to stay at home.

We've talked about getting a Beatrice for our Benedick, and talked about fostering dogs for a while to see if it makes a difference for him. Time will tell if and when we follow through on that.