I'm at home again, still sick as a dog. I was going to try and do help desk this morning, but the first person I talked to on the phone said that I sounded absolutely horrible.
Dress last night was really our tech, so tonight should be interesting. The general rule is "bad dress, good opening" and last night was the worst Dress I've had in some time. I could hear the light designer cursing in the booth at various points. I felt the same way, believe me.
Still, I think we worked out all the confusions.
Mayu picked me up after watching Hedda Gabler, and made sure I got some Nyquil before taking me home. As a result, I slept beautifully last night. Best sleep I've had all week. I still woke up sounding like Gollum, but phlegm is phlegm. I'm about to go shower, snort some heart-racing, nasal passage clearing medication and head to the theatre. I need to get a bottle of gin, empty it into a thermous and fill it full of water. One of the actors took the prop bottle, after I had told him to only pantomime pouring from it, and poured real rum into everyone's glasses last night. This wouldn't have been that big an issue, except that someone gets a drink in the face at one point and they got a FULL glass of rum all over themselves. Fortunately there is no smoking on stage in this show.
Theatre, gotta love it.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sick and Dress
I was sooo pleased that I'd gotten past the current cold season without illness. So much for that. I tried going into work today, and it was a big mistake. I got through my first help desk shift, but then had to come home. I was light headed, headachey, and barely able to function.
Tonight should be fun.
I'll be hopped up on Afrin, getting through dress rehearsal. We're the last ones up, and tech was kind of a challenge last night. Our poor light designer was stressed to a tragic level and it made things a bit tense. I had written out all the cues, which she had originally understood, but then missed a crucial detail on the script and that kind of threw everything into confusion. It only takes one thing, folks. Still, in the end we got it all taken care of and tonight should go smoothly... I hope.
My goal is to be out of there by 10:30, get a ride home with Mayuko, who is seeing Hedda Gabler without me *sniffle*, and actually get a full night's sleep. I afrin'ed myself last night so I could breathe, but between the heart racing of the afrin and the mild fever I was dealing with, it took me forever to sleep. I'd like to make it back into the office tomorrow, but I had a few of the staff comment on how awful I looked, so I may at least take tomorrow off and do Help Desk from home again. I think that if i can take naps throughout the day, and keep all the windows shut (blessed dark), I'll be able to get through this week.
Tonight should be fun.
I'll be hopped up on Afrin, getting through dress rehearsal. We're the last ones up, and tech was kind of a challenge last night. Our poor light designer was stressed to a tragic level and it made things a bit tense. I had written out all the cues, which she had originally understood, but then missed a crucial detail on the script and that kind of threw everything into confusion. It only takes one thing, folks. Still, in the end we got it all taken care of and tonight should go smoothly... I hope.
My goal is to be out of there by 10:30, get a ride home with Mayuko, who is seeing Hedda Gabler without me *sniffle*, and actually get a full night's sleep. I afrin'ed myself last night so I could breathe, but between the heart racing of the afrin and the mild fever I was dealing with, it took me forever to sleep. I'd like to make it back into the office tomorrow, but I had a few of the staff comment on how awful I looked, so I may at least take tomorrow off and do Help Desk from home again. I think that if i can take naps throughout the day, and keep all the windows shut (blessed dark), I'll be able to get through this week.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Advancements
I just spoke with a "fiddle player" who is happy to provide the live music I've needed for "Nothing in the Dark". I'm terribly pleased, as he's worked with other theatre companies, so even though I'm going into this fairly blind, I believe that we can put something appropriate together. We go into rehearsals a week from tomorrow, so I'm not in a position to pick and choose. This is the benefit, as well as the frustration of directing for tiny, no budget shows. On the down side, if I could pay a musician, I'd have had someone long before now. But since I'm not, and since it's only three performances in a 45 seat house, I can take the risk without it costing me several thousand dollars. If this works out well, I'm sure there will be more collaborations down the line as well.
RadioStar has launched a blog, allowing the performers to reflect on the improv and podcasting process. It's available at the new RadioStar Network web site. It's not technically "live" yet (the site, not the blog) as the only content we currently have is the improv stream and now the blog. But we should have the first of our staged reading up shortly, and hopefully we can get the first interview up there shortly afterwards.
Vial opens on Thursday. Come check it out if you can, it's looking like a great show.
RadioStar has launched a blog, allowing the performers to reflect on the improv and podcasting process. It's available at the new RadioStar Network web site. It's not technically "live" yet (the site, not the blog) as the only content we currently have is the improv stream and now the blog. But we should have the first of our staged reading up shortly, and hopefully we can get the first interview up there shortly afterwards.
Vial opens on Thursday. Come check it out if you can, it's looking like a great show.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Random notes
A neat trick was pointed out to me from T.M. Camp about Firefox. If you use Firefox (and if you don't... why not?) type "wiki" and then a search term in your address bar, then hit return. Firefox will bring up the closest relevant wikipedia entry. Very, very cool.
The second Submergency video is up on YouTube. Check it out!
Adrienne Miller and Tom Neely have had their second child! Congratulations guys!
there's an insightful analysis of our failure in Iraq and suggested directions at the Washington Post that is worth checking out. Thanks to Jon Brooks for that.
Matthew Rossi is an actor I met at the 2005 Fringe Festival in San Francisco, and he's got a sad and fascinating tale of innocence lost and warnings about trust and identity that is worth a read.
The second Submergency video is up on YouTube. Check it out!
Adrienne Miller and Tom Neely have had their second child! Congratulations guys!
there's an insightful analysis of our failure in Iraq and suggested directions at the Washington Post that is worth checking out. Thanks to Jon Brooks for that.
Matthew Rossi is an actor I met at the 2005 Fringe Festival in San Francisco, and he's got a sad and fascinating tale of innocence lost and warnings about trust and identity that is worth a read.
stage and film
Last night we moved rehearsal from the Off Market Theatre back to my apartment. I had rented out the space in advance, and we were short an actor anyway, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to work some of the key 2 and 3 person moments. We got a LOT of stuff cleaned up and polished, which will really allow us to leap forward tonight and tomorrow as we shape the rest of the play around these pivotal points.
As a director, I don't know that I'm the most brilliant visual artist in the world. Perhaps that's partly because I'm so used to working on a shoestring budget. I'm not accustomed to making visual extravaganzas ("Pinch" being the obvious exception). I do have a good sense of how to put a scene together though. I actually surprise myself, watching the actors and suddenly seeing how to communicate what is going on to the audience clearly, and being able to explain exactly why an actor should angle themselves in this way, or what they need to convey emotionally to the audience, or why some choices obscure the intent and some clarify them. After decades of acting, directing, and observing, I've built a very clear vocabulary of movement and performance in my mind and I'm having a great deal of fun bringing all of that to this process.
Vial will be a nifty bit of theatre.
I'm starting to get nervous about my lack of musician for "Nothing in the Dark" however. We've still got time, but I am getting edgy. I found a bed headboard with a "free" sign on it in my apartment building lobby and quickly grabbed it for the show, but soon realized that it was entirely too wide for my needs and had to return it where I found it. As low budget as "Vial" is, "Nothing in the Dark" is even more extreme. The stage is literally the size of my living room, and I need to have three actors and a "bed" in that space. I'm sharing the space with another "Twilight Zone" episode that night, so whatever set I have needs to be able to go up and come down within moments. Interesting challenges. For now though, most of my attention is on "Vial", and I hope that my musician presents him or herself soon.
On totally unrelated notes, I caught "Pan's Labrynth" with Mayu on Monday and was both compelled and repulsed by it. It's a fantastically done film, but one that I found deeply and profoundly disturbing. It's strange to have such a high quality film be one that I can't recommend universally, but this is a "Fantasy" film that children should not be taken to. I couldn't bear to watch some parts of it, because there are certain images I just don't want in my head ... and they had nothing to do with fauns, fairies, or inhuman monsters. As scary as these images are in the film, they are nothing to the human monster that dominates the narrative.
One thing that movie did, aside from give me the screaming meemies, was take my mind off the abomination that the Ghost Rider film has turned out to be. This is a character that I have a lot of emotional investment in, and from the second I heard that Nick Cage was cast as Johnny Blaze I began to worry. Then I heard that there were two scripts being considered. One of them was a dark, gritty horror script and the other was a "superhero" script. They went with the latter and I worried a bit more. Then the trailer came out, and I thought that some of the visuals looked great, but everything else about the film took me from worry to a sense of forboding doom. Well, now it's out. The reviews are in, and it's craptastically bad. Bad script, bad acting, unfinished special effects, and all the sensibilities of a bad video game.
Everything thinks "I could have done it better", but the truth is... most of us could have done it better. I wanted a film with a young Johnny Blaze. I wanted to see him obsess over his black magic books, obvilivious that he was toying with the real deal. I want to see his anguish over the impending loss of the man who is like a father to him. I want to see his girlfriend save his ass at the last minute. But most of all, I want to see him turn into a demon from hell... and to struggle with his own desires for vengeance. I want to see Johnny Blaze let the Ghost Rider exact the vengeance that Johnny's own anger and frustration and pain demand... and then see what happens when the demon goes too far. A film where the "hero" who is no hero without a human conscience goes out of control and then see how Johnny confronts his own heart, and desperately tries to regain the control he has sacrificed.
That would have been an amazing movie. But instead we get Nick Cage, the plastic Eva Mendez (who didn't even look like she could act in the trailer... which is always a bad sign), and some bullshit about water, air, and earth monsters and a protaganist who is about as conflicted as a man choosing paper versus plastic. I would have preferred that the film had died in pre-production, or gone straight to video because now it will be 20 years before anyone even considers trying to make a good Ghost Rider movie... at best.
As a director, I don't know that I'm the most brilliant visual artist in the world. Perhaps that's partly because I'm so used to working on a shoestring budget. I'm not accustomed to making visual extravaganzas ("Pinch" being the obvious exception). I do have a good sense of how to put a scene together though. I actually surprise myself, watching the actors and suddenly seeing how to communicate what is going on to the audience clearly, and being able to explain exactly why an actor should angle themselves in this way, or what they need to convey emotionally to the audience, or why some choices obscure the intent and some clarify them. After decades of acting, directing, and observing, I've built a very clear vocabulary of movement and performance in my mind and I'm having a great deal of fun bringing all of that to this process.
Vial will be a nifty bit of theatre.
I'm starting to get nervous about my lack of musician for "Nothing in the Dark" however. We've still got time, but I am getting edgy. I found a bed headboard with a "free" sign on it in my apartment building lobby and quickly grabbed it for the show, but soon realized that it was entirely too wide for my needs and had to return it where I found it. As low budget as "Vial" is, "Nothing in the Dark" is even more extreme. The stage is literally the size of my living room, and I need to have three actors and a "bed" in that space. I'm sharing the space with another "Twilight Zone" episode that night, so whatever set I have needs to be able to go up and come down within moments. Interesting challenges. For now though, most of my attention is on "Vial", and I hope that my musician presents him or herself soon.
On totally unrelated notes, I caught "Pan's Labrynth" with Mayu on Monday and was both compelled and repulsed by it. It's a fantastically done film, but one that I found deeply and profoundly disturbing. It's strange to have such a high quality film be one that I can't recommend universally, but this is a "Fantasy" film that children should not be taken to. I couldn't bear to watch some parts of it, because there are certain images I just don't want in my head ... and they had nothing to do with fauns, fairies, or inhuman monsters. As scary as these images are in the film, they are nothing to the human monster that dominates the narrative.
One thing that movie did, aside from give me the screaming meemies, was take my mind off the abomination that the Ghost Rider film has turned out to be. This is a character that I have a lot of emotional investment in, and from the second I heard that Nick Cage was cast as Johnny Blaze I began to worry. Then I heard that there were two scripts being considered. One of them was a dark, gritty horror script and the other was a "superhero" script. They went with the latter and I worried a bit more. Then the trailer came out, and I thought that some of the visuals looked great, but everything else about the film took me from worry to a sense of forboding doom. Well, now it's out. The reviews are in, and it's craptastically bad. Bad script, bad acting, unfinished special effects, and all the sensibilities of a bad video game.
Everything thinks "I could have done it better", but the truth is... most of us could have done it better. I wanted a film with a young Johnny Blaze. I wanted to see him obsess over his black magic books, obvilivious that he was toying with the real deal. I want to see his anguish over the impending loss of the man who is like a father to him. I want to see his girlfriend save his ass at the last minute. But most of all, I want to see him turn into a demon from hell... and to struggle with his own desires for vengeance. I want to see Johnny Blaze let the Ghost Rider exact the vengeance that Johnny's own anger and frustration and pain demand... and then see what happens when the demon goes too far. A film where the "hero" who is no hero without a human conscience goes out of control and then see how Johnny confronts his own heart, and desperately tries to regain the control he has sacrificed.
That would have been an amazing movie. But instead we get Nick Cage, the plastic Eva Mendez (who didn't even look like she could act in the trailer... which is always a bad sign), and some bullshit about water, air, and earth monsters and a protaganist who is about as conflicted as a man choosing paper versus plastic. I would have preferred that the film had died in pre-production, or gone straight to video because now it will be 20 years before anyone even considers trying to make a good Ghost Rider movie... at best.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
ass kicking
The last 24 hours have pretty firmly kicked my ass, but it's going to get better from this point forward, I think.
The first of the Submergency videos has been posted on YouTube. We'll be posting the entire show in chunks over the next few months. Some of these are fantastically funny, and others are just cute, but I'm pleased with the general quality of all of them and am looking forward to further improving the video quality for future shows.
Vial had its first rehearsal last night, and it went ... ok. We were missing an actor and another was an hour late, and two others were about a half hour late. Not an auspicious beginning, to say the very least. On the plus side, everyone had given good consideration to their characters, histories, secrets and relationships and people were largely off book for the read through. We only have two weeks, so I needed people as ready as possible for this start. With one of our actors gone for a third of the rehearsals, keeping things tight and working on the characters (instead of just learning the lines) is crucial.
I'm a bit freaked about still needing set pieces, but Mayu has already promised to help me get some stuff on Saturday. I just need to breathe. People will show up on time. We'll have time to do this script justice, and we'll get through it.
really, we will.
The first of the Submergency videos has been posted on YouTube. We'll be posting the entire show in chunks over the next few months. Some of these are fantastically funny, and others are just cute, but I'm pleased with the general quality of all of them and am looking forward to further improving the video quality for future shows.
Vial had its first rehearsal last night, and it went ... ok. We were missing an actor and another was an hour late, and two others were about a half hour late. Not an auspicious beginning, to say the very least. On the plus side, everyone had given good consideration to their characters, histories, secrets and relationships and people were largely off book for the read through. We only have two weeks, so I needed people as ready as possible for this start. With one of our actors gone for a third of the rehearsals, keeping things tight and working on the characters (instead of just learning the lines) is crucial.
I'm a bit freaked about still needing set pieces, but Mayu has already promised to help me get some stuff on Saturday. I just need to breathe. People will show up on time. We'll have time to do this script justice, and we'll get through it.
really, we will.
Monday, February 12, 2007
On the edge of the rehearsal abyss.
A couple of links first off.
Kim Richards made me aware of this speech by Ross Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City, which I thought was worthy of note.
One of our employees here sent me a link to this case of early tech support that is probably one of the best takes on the HelpDesk experience I've ever seen.
Another good RadioStar recording session last night. We were able to record several short plays by local writer/performer Deborah Wade, and we should be able to begin podcasting them shortly.
Mayu and I were able to catch Eleanor Reinholdt and Candice Milan in "Come back to the five and dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" at the California Conservatory Theatre this weekend. Eleanor and Candice were some of the standouts of the cast, and the show as a whole was fairly good. Definitely worth your time if you're in the area, and they have one weekend left.
Rehearsals start tomorrow for "Vial", and I'm still in need of some chairs. I have two weeks, so it isn't dire yet, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it. I'm still trying to nail down a musician for "Nothing in the Dark" as well. Feel free to refer people to me!
I got confirmation that we do NOT have the rights for the hoped for July show at the Exit, but I'm not too discouraged as that may open up time and energy and resources to convert "Pinch" into a short film. I've been getting a ton of ideas of how to film it, and floating it by people seems to be getting a positive reaction. Granted, I've also had people express a desire to shake me and yell "slow down! For god's sake, just slow down!'.
I'm not sure what they mean by that, though.
Kim Richards made me aware of this speech by Ross Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City, which I thought was worthy of note.
One of our employees here sent me a link to this case of early tech support that is probably one of the best takes on the HelpDesk experience I've ever seen.
Another good RadioStar recording session last night. We were able to record several short plays by local writer/performer Deborah Wade, and we should be able to begin podcasting them shortly.
Mayu and I were able to catch Eleanor Reinholdt and Candice Milan in "Come back to the five and dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" at the California Conservatory Theatre this weekend. Eleanor and Candice were some of the standouts of the cast, and the show as a whole was fairly good. Definitely worth your time if you're in the area, and they have one weekend left.
Rehearsals start tomorrow for "Vial", and I'm still in need of some chairs. I have two weeks, so it isn't dire yet, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it. I'm still trying to nail down a musician for "Nothing in the Dark" as well. Feel free to refer people to me!
I got confirmation that we do NOT have the rights for the hoped for July show at the Exit, but I'm not too discouraged as that may open up time and energy and resources to convert "Pinch" into a short film. I've been getting a ton of ideas of how to film it, and floating it by people seems to be getting a positive reaction. Granted, I've also had people express a desire to shake me and yell "slow down! For god's sake, just slow down!'.
I'm not sure what they mean by that, though.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
bleh
Well, last night was kind of a wash. I got the current RadioStar show up in the afternoon, but I had hoped to get a jump start on next week's show and get some writing done. I just couldn't pull it together, though. I played with Second Life a bit, creating an account and avatar. I wanted to see what this thing was like and if it was worth creating a space there that could be a virtual RadioStar Listening Room. After an hour and a half of tooling around and only seeing three other users outside the welcome kiosk, I'm not sure it would be worth the time or effort. I'll play around a little more and see if I can find if ANYWHERE is better populated, but I'm not terribly hopeful right now.
I went to my last tango class for the next several weeks, but didn't do much dancing. In an odd turn of events, there were 9 men and only 7 women, so I opted out of most of the practice time since I don't actually pay for lessons. (I've done web work for the instructors for over 7 years, most of it unpaid, so I get free lessons). It was a bit frustrating, especially as I had to walk home in the rain afterwards.
I got home and finished dorking around on Second Life for a bit, and generally completely failed to get any writing or significant editing done. Everything I tried to work on turned to dust and I found myself drifting off energetically. I hate nights like this, when I just can't focus to save my life and there are too many bright and sparkley things around to distract me.
I went to my last tango class for the next several weeks, but didn't do much dancing. In an odd turn of events, there were 9 men and only 7 women, so I opted out of most of the practice time since I don't actually pay for lessons. (I've done web work for the instructors for over 7 years, most of it unpaid, so I get free lessons). It was a bit frustrating, especially as I had to walk home in the rain afterwards.
I got home and finished dorking around on Second Life for a bit, and generally completely failed to get any writing or significant editing done. Everything I tried to work on turned to dust and I found myself drifting off energetically. I hate nights like this, when I just can't focus to save my life and there are too many bright and sparkley things around to distract me.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Stuff and Nonsense
Not a lot new on the personal front. I'm a week out from beginning rehearsals for "Vial", with a full cast and most of the tech stuff all lined up. Angela, Mayuko and I went and saw Kodo Taiko at U.C. Berkeley on Saturday, which was awesome and reminded me that I really need to keep abreast of what is going on at Berkeley. Much thanks to Eric Katz for sacrificing his ticket so that Mayu could attend. Also, Jeffrey Bihr has fired up Suzuki classes again, which I drug Mayu (willingly) to. I'm thrilled to be resuming this work, even if it is on Sunday mornings.
A few random thoughts on the news:
A man wanted internationally for bombings, espionage, attempted murder, and hijacking was elected to Iraq's parliament fourteen months ago. We just realized it. I wonder if his career of violent opposition to Kuwait and America was part of his election campaign process. If not, obviously his opponents didn't do their job in exposing his past very well. What ever happened to modeling their election process on ours?
The big news today is about the astronaut who went all Jerry Springer on a perceived romantic rival. It's about time that the sciences began to compete with professional sports in the area of scandal and lame ass behavior. I'm just glad that astronauts have to go through all that psychological testing before they get sent into space so that they don't go bug fuck crazy up there . ... wait a minute....
Tony Blair accused Iran of "a strategy to create maximum trouble" in the Middle East. Interesting comments from the largest supporter of America's violent invasion of an Arabic nation. Seriously, what grounds do America or England have in claiming that Middle East nations are trying to create maximum trouble in the Middle East while we're invading, stationing military bases in foreign lands (whether they want us there or not), detaining foreign citizens in countries that don't belong to us, and generally poking the hornet's nest with a big stick while chuckling imbecilely? What amazes me even more is that this kind of comment after one of Iran's diplomats was kidnapped by what appear to be US backed Iraqi special forces. Is Blair suggesting that Iran kidnapped it's own people in an attempt to justify a war with the U.S.?
I have to wonder, in the case of the friendly fire incident, where American pilots opened file on a British convoy, if Iraqi families whose families are killed "accidentally" get the same rights of inquest as British families. Or are the Iraqi people not our allies? This is not to say that it's not horrible that we killed our own allies, because it is. But I suspect that we kill a lot of people who are not trying to kill us and I'm asking more and more what makes "news" newsworthy, and why this death is more sensitive than the deaths of the people that we are supposedly there to protect.
and now, an atrocious picture of a young Neil Gaiman. I hope I never get so famous that people take pleasure in pointing out how bad my hair used to be
.Finally, it looks like you'll be able to download movies and television to your car in the next few years. I remember as a kid, we had a van for trips that had a little television in the back. The reception was absolutely terrible, but we watched it. It had shag carpeting, and two fancy seats with cup holders, a little kitchen sink and a fridge. The back seats folded down into a bed. Ahhh, the 70's.
A few random thoughts on the news:
A man wanted internationally for bombings, espionage, attempted murder, and hijacking was elected to Iraq's parliament fourteen months ago. We just realized it. I wonder if his career of violent opposition to Kuwait and America was part of his election campaign process. If not, obviously his opponents didn't do their job in exposing his past very well. What ever happened to modeling their election process on ours?
The big news today is about the astronaut who went all Jerry Springer on a perceived romantic rival. It's about time that the sciences began to compete with professional sports in the area of scandal and lame ass behavior. I'm just glad that astronauts have to go through all that psychological testing before they get sent into space so that they don't go bug fuck crazy up there . ... wait a minute....
Tony Blair accused Iran of "a strategy to create maximum trouble" in the Middle East. Interesting comments from the largest supporter of America's violent invasion of an Arabic nation. Seriously, what grounds do America or England have in claiming that Middle East nations are trying to create maximum trouble in the Middle East while we're invading, stationing military bases in foreign lands (whether they want us there or not), detaining foreign citizens in countries that don't belong to us, and generally poking the hornet's nest with a big stick while chuckling imbecilely? What amazes me even more is that this kind of comment after one of Iran's diplomats was kidnapped by what appear to be US backed Iraqi special forces. Is Blair suggesting that Iran kidnapped it's own people in an attempt to justify a war with the U.S.?
I have to wonder, in the case of the friendly fire incident, where American pilots opened file on a British convoy, if Iraqi families whose families are killed "accidentally" get the same rights of inquest as British families. Or are the Iraqi people not our allies? This is not to say that it's not horrible that we killed our own allies, because it is. But I suspect that we kill a lot of people who are not trying to kill us and I'm asking more and more what makes "news" newsworthy, and why this death is more sensitive than the deaths of the people that we are supposedly there to protect.
and now, an atrocious picture of a young Neil Gaiman. I hope I never get so famous that people take pleasure in pointing out how bad my hair used to be
.Finally, it looks like you'll be able to download movies and television to your car in the next few years. I remember as a kid, we had a van for trips that had a little television in the back. The reception was absolutely terrible, but we watched it. It had shag carpeting, and two fancy seats with cup holders, a little kitchen sink and a fridge. The back seats folded down into a bed. Ahhh, the 70's.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
something random
Don't mind this. It's for a practical joke that Neil Gaiman is playing on Penn Teller.
New Year Dawning
I meant to write earlier, but Blogger was down. So it's not my fault.
A few quick updates on things:
"Vial" for the Bay Area One Acts is two weeks out from rehearsals. I've met with the set, light, and sound designers and things are looking good. I was short an actor for a while, but I think I've got the role recast finally. This one aspect of the production has generated the most stress for me, as I had several actors who would have worked well in the role and would have loved to do it, but were already cast elsewhere. This is the problem with these tiny unpaid festivals. Since you can't pay the actors (casts for 10 distinct one-acts, plus directors, playwrights, crew, etc. etc. etc. would cause the budget to skyrocket, and the venue is expensive enough as it is), it's not unexpected to lose high quality people to paying gigs. Unfortunate, but understandable. Still, we've got a great cast and I think it's going to be a really good piece.
"Nothing in the Dark" is cast, and I'm waiting for confirmation on my violinist. There's not a whole lot I can do about this late March show just yet, so I'm just trying not to fret about the music side of things.
RadioStar continues to go well. We had over 600 downloads of shows last month, and I'm hoping that our audience will just keep growing. Our most popular show has had over 150 downloads since it was first created (we have over 55 shows online now), so I don't know that our actual audience is more than 200 people or so. If you listen to us, please feel free to leave a review on iTunes, or send us an email.
The first meeting of the League of Professional Small Theatre Companies was last night, and while it's way too early to make any predictions as to it's effectiveness, the potential there is impressive. I set up a discussion board for us to use, so hopefully the hundreds of small theatre professionals in the area will be able to more effectively share resources and solutions.
I edited the first of the Submergency videos last night as well. Once I have a few more of them done I'll start posting them online. At this point I think I'll post them on the CCP server as a podcast for iTunes and also on YouTube. That will be 15 videos when all is said and done, and by that point we'll hopefully have another show lined up, so it might behoove us to make Submergency a semi-regular video podcast.
I've started seeing someone, which is a big change over the last two years. I'm taking things week by week, but it's very nice and I'm certainly feeling grounded. She lives in Sacramento, which is actually working out well. She's out here most weekends anyway, so my guilt at the dating commute isn't as great as it might be, and since she's heavily interested in the arts we've got lots to keep ourselves occupied (like that's ever been a problem for me).
Speaking of keeping occupied, I've been taking tango lessons from Gigi and Warren Jensen again and greatly enjoying it, and will begin taking Suzuki acting lessons from Jeffrey Bihr again starting this Sunday. Tango is going by the sideboard for a month or two while I'm in rehearsal for "Vial" and "Nothing in the Dark", but the Suzuki class is on Sunday mornings so it doesn't conflict with anything other than my laziness. A class I will not be taking, but that is of interest, is Paul Jenning's Shakespeare classes. Paul is gearing up to teach Elizabethan theatre technique and is looking for students. If you're interested in this, let me know and I'll forward your information to Paul.
Other good, if somewhat surprising news, is that novelist, playwright, and scholar Mandy Keifetz got married a couple of weeks ago! After a brief and whirlwind romance, Mandy got married while on a visit here in San Francisco. She's staying in New York but will be out here frequently until her new hubby can complete his own move out to the Big Apple. Cheers Keif!
On the dark side, my Aunt has been fighting a mystery infection that is so bad that she's been put into a controlled coma. She's been under for a few weeks now, and they still can't seem to find where the infection is concentrated. It's extremely scary, but every time I talk to my mom there has been no news. It all happened so fast, and now weeks of nothing. No change, no progress, no new information. It's a strange kind of limbo. And stuff like this goes beyond the inevitabilities of old age. It's something darker and stranger and unpredictable and all I know to do is to hope for recovery.
I want to end on something a bit more hopeful, so I'll mention that I've made bit more progress on the novel. Chapter six is finished and I have the outline for what I think will happen in chapter seven all worked out. With everything else going on, though, I'm not sure when I'll be able to announce the next chapter's completion.
A few quick updates on things:
"Vial" for the Bay Area One Acts is two weeks out from rehearsals. I've met with the set, light, and sound designers and things are looking good. I was short an actor for a while, but I think I've got the role recast finally. This one aspect of the production has generated the most stress for me, as I had several actors who would have worked well in the role and would have loved to do it, but were already cast elsewhere. This is the problem with these tiny unpaid festivals. Since you can't pay the actors (casts for 10 distinct one-acts, plus directors, playwrights, crew, etc. etc. etc. would cause the budget to skyrocket, and the venue is expensive enough as it is), it's not unexpected to lose high quality people to paying gigs. Unfortunate, but understandable. Still, we've got a great cast and I think it's going to be a really good piece.
"Nothing in the Dark" is cast, and I'm waiting for confirmation on my violinist. There's not a whole lot I can do about this late March show just yet, so I'm just trying not to fret about the music side of things.
RadioStar continues to go well. We had over 600 downloads of shows last month, and I'm hoping that our audience will just keep growing. Our most popular show has had over 150 downloads since it was first created (we have over 55 shows online now), so I don't know that our actual audience is more than 200 people or so. If you listen to us, please feel free to leave a review on iTunes, or send us an email.
The first meeting of the League of Professional Small Theatre Companies was last night, and while it's way too early to make any predictions as to it's effectiveness, the potential there is impressive. I set up a discussion board for us to use, so hopefully the hundreds of small theatre professionals in the area will be able to more effectively share resources and solutions.
I edited the first of the Submergency videos last night as well. Once I have a few more of them done I'll start posting them online. At this point I think I'll post them on the CCP server as a podcast for iTunes and also on YouTube. That will be 15 videos when all is said and done, and by that point we'll hopefully have another show lined up, so it might behoove us to make Submergency a semi-regular video podcast.
I've started seeing someone, which is a big change over the last two years. I'm taking things week by week, but it's very nice and I'm certainly feeling grounded. She lives in Sacramento, which is actually working out well. She's out here most weekends anyway, so my guilt at the dating commute isn't as great as it might be, and since she's heavily interested in the arts we've got lots to keep ourselves occupied (like that's ever been a problem for me).
Speaking of keeping occupied, I've been taking tango lessons from Gigi and Warren Jensen again and greatly enjoying it, and will begin taking Suzuki acting lessons from Jeffrey Bihr again starting this Sunday. Tango is going by the sideboard for a month or two while I'm in rehearsal for "Vial" and "Nothing in the Dark", but the Suzuki class is on Sunday mornings so it doesn't conflict with anything other than my laziness. A class I will not be taking, but that is of interest, is Paul Jenning's Shakespeare classes. Paul is gearing up to teach Elizabethan theatre technique and is looking for students. If you're interested in this, let me know and I'll forward your information to Paul.
Other good, if somewhat surprising news, is that novelist, playwright, and scholar Mandy Keifetz got married a couple of weeks ago! After a brief and whirlwind romance, Mandy got married while on a visit here in San Francisco. She's staying in New York but will be out here frequently until her new hubby can complete his own move out to the Big Apple. Cheers Keif!
On the dark side, my Aunt has been fighting a mystery infection that is so bad that she's been put into a controlled coma. She's been under for a few weeks now, and they still can't seem to find where the infection is concentrated. It's extremely scary, but every time I talk to my mom there has been no news. It all happened so fast, and now weeks of nothing. No change, no progress, no new information. It's a strange kind of limbo. And stuff like this goes beyond the inevitabilities of old age. It's something darker and stranger and unpredictable and all I know to do is to hope for recovery.
I want to end on something a bit more hopeful, so I'll mention that I've made bit more progress on the novel. Chapter six is finished and I have the outline for what I think will happen in chapter seven all worked out. With everything else going on, though, I'm not sure when I'll be able to announce the next chapter's completion.
New Year Dawning
I meant to write earlier, but Blogger was down. So it's not my fault.
A few quick updates on things:
"Vial" for the Bay Area One Acts is two weeks out from rehearsals. I've met with the set, light, and sound designers and things are looking good. I was short an actor for a while, but I think I've got the role recast finally. This one aspect of the production has generated the most stress for me, as I had several actors who would have worked well in the role and would have loved to do it, but were already cast elsewhere. This is the problem with these tiny unpaid festivals. Since you can't pay the actors (casts for 10 distinct one-acts, plus directors, playwrights, crew, etc. etc. etc. would cause the budget to skyrocket, and the venue is expensive enough as it is), it's not unexpected to lose high quality people to paying gigs. Unfortunate, but understandable. Still, we've got a great cast and I think it's going to be a really good piece.
"Nothing in the Dark" is cast, and I'm waiting for confirmation on my violinist. There's not a whole lot I can do about this late March show just yet, so I'm just trying not to fret about the music side of things.
RadioStar continues to go well. We had over 600 downloads of shows last month, and I'm hoping that our audience will just keep growing. Our most popular show has had over 150 downloads since it was first created (we have over 55 shows online now), so I don't know that our actual audience is more than 200 people or so. If you listen to us, please feel free to leave a review on iTunes, or send us an email.
The first meeting of the League of Professional Small Theatre Companies was last night, and while it's way too early to make any predictions as to it's effectiveness, the potential there is impressive. I set up a discussion board for us to use, so hopefully the hundreds of small theatre professionals in the area will be able to more effectively share resources and solutions.
I edited the first of the Submergency videos last night as well. Once I have a few more of them done I'll start posting them online. At this point I think I'll post them on the CCP server as a podcast for iTunes and also on YouTube. That will be 15 videos when all is said and done, and by that point we'll hopefully have another show lined up, so it might behoove us to make Submergency a semi-regular video podcast.
I've started seeing someone, which is a big change over the last two years. I'm taking things week by week, but it's very nice and I'm certainly feeling grounded. She lives in Sacramento, which is actually working out well. She's out here most weekends anyway, so my guilt at the dating commute isn't as great as it might be, and since she's heavily interested in the arts we've got lots to keep ourselves occupied (like that's ever been a problem for me).
Speaking of keeping occupied, I've been taking tango lessons from Gigi and Warren Jensen again and greatly enjoying it, and will begin taking Suzuki acting lessons from Jeffrey Bihr again starting this Sunday. Tango is going by the sideboard for a month or two while I'm in rehearsal for "Vial" and "Nothing in the Dark", but the Suzuki class is on Sunday mornings so it doesn't conflict with anything other than my laziness. A class I will not be taking, but that is of interest, is Paul Jenning's Shakespeare classes. Paul is gearing up to teach Elizabethan theatre technique and is looking for students. If you're interested in this, let me know and I'll forward your information to Paul.
Other good, if somewhat surprising news, is that novelist, playwright, and scholar Mandy Keifetz got married a couple of weeks ago! After a brief and whirlwind romance, Mandy got married while on a visit here in San Francisco. She's staying in New York but will be out here frequently until her new hubby can complete his own move out to the Big Apple. Cheers Keif!
On the dark side, my Aunt has been fighting a mystery infection that is so bad that she's been put into a controlled coma. She's been under for a few weeks now, and they still can't seem to find where the infection is concentrated. It's extremely scary, but every time I talk to my mom there has been no news. It all happened so fast, and now weeks of nothing. No change, no progress, no new information. It's a strange kind of limbo. And stuff like this goes beyond the inevitabilities of old age. It's something darker and stranger and unpredictable and all I know to do is to hope for recovery.
I want to end on something a bit more hopeful, so I'll mention that I've made bit more progress on the novel. Chapter six is finished and I have the outline for what I think will happen in chapter seven all worked out. With everything else going on, though, I'm not sure when I'll be able to announce the next chapter's completion.
A few quick updates on things:
"Vial" for the Bay Area One Acts is two weeks out from rehearsals. I've met with the set, light, and sound designers and things are looking good. I was short an actor for a while, but I think I've got the role recast finally. This one aspect of the production has generated the most stress for me, as I had several actors who would have worked well in the role and would have loved to do it, but were already cast elsewhere. This is the problem with these tiny unpaid festivals. Since you can't pay the actors (casts for 10 distinct one-acts, plus directors, playwrights, crew, etc. etc. etc. would cause the budget to skyrocket, and the venue is expensive enough as it is), it's not unexpected to lose high quality people to paying gigs. Unfortunate, but understandable. Still, we've got a great cast and I think it's going to be a really good piece.
"Nothing in the Dark" is cast, and I'm waiting for confirmation on my violinist. There's not a whole lot I can do about this late March show just yet, so I'm just trying not to fret about the music side of things.
RadioStar continues to go well. We had over 600 downloads of shows last month, and I'm hoping that our audience will just keep growing. Our most popular show has had over 150 downloads since it was first created (we have over 55 shows online now), so I don't know that our actual audience is more than 200 people or so. If you listen to us, please feel free to leave a review on iTunes, or send us an email.
The first meeting of the League of Professional Small Theatre Companies was last night, and while it's way too early to make any predictions as to it's effectiveness, the potential there is impressive. I set up a discussion board for us to use, so hopefully the hundreds of small theatre professionals in the area will be able to more effectively share resources and solutions.
I edited the first of the Submergency videos last night as well. Once I have a few more of them done I'll start posting them online. At this point I think I'll post them on the CCP server as a podcast for iTunes and also on YouTube. That will be 15 videos when all is said and done, and by that point we'll hopefully have another show lined up, so it might behoove us to make Submergency a semi-regular video podcast.
I've started seeing someone, which is a big change over the last two years. I'm taking things week by week, but it's very nice and I'm certainly feeling grounded. She lives in Sacramento, which is actually working out well. She's out here most weekends anyway, so my guilt at the dating commute isn't as great as it might be, and since she's heavily interested in the arts we've got lots to keep ourselves occupied (like that's ever been a problem for me).
Speaking of keeping occupied, I've been taking tango lessons from Gigi and Warren Jensen again and greatly enjoying it, and will begin taking Suzuki acting lessons from Jeffrey Bihr again starting this Sunday. Tango is going by the sideboard for a month or two while I'm in rehearsal for "Vial" and "Nothing in the Dark", but the Suzuki class is on Sunday mornings so it doesn't conflict with anything other than my laziness. A class I will not be taking, but that is of interest, is Paul Jenning's Shakespeare classes. Paul is gearing up to teach Elizabethan theatre technique and is looking for students. If you're interested in this, let me know and I'll forward your information to Paul.
Other good, if somewhat surprising news, is that novelist, playwright, and scholar Mandy Keifetz got married a couple of weeks ago! After a brief and whirlwind romance, Mandy got married while on a visit here in San Francisco. She's staying in New York but will be out here frequently until her new hubby can complete his own move out to the Big Apple. Cheers Keif!
On the dark side, my Aunt has been fighting a mystery infection that is so bad that she's been put into a controlled coma. She's been under for a few weeks now, and they still can't seem to find where the infection is concentrated. It's extremely scary, but every time I talk to my mom there has been no news. It all happened so fast, and now weeks of nothing. No change, no progress, no new information. It's a strange kind of limbo. And stuff like this goes beyond the inevitabilities of old age. It's something darker and stranger and unpredictable and all I know to do is to hope for recovery.
I want to end on something a bit more hopeful, so I'll mention that I've made bit more progress on the novel. Chapter six is finished and I have the outline for what I think will happen in chapter seven all worked out. With everything else going on, though, I'm not sure when I'll be able to announce the next chapter's completion.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
News, and not news
A few announcements!
First off, I've been doing some end of year tallies, and I was startled to find that RadioStar Improv had over 4,500 shows downloaded in 2006. Go team!
I'd also like to give congratulations to Tom Neely and Adrienne Miller on the birth of their son William Miller Neely! I especially offer my congratulations to Adrienne for passing something that weighs 9 lbs and 14 oz through her tender bits.
In unrelated, but interesting news, I came across this article by Sarah Weaton about the big controversy about Keith Ellison being sworn with a copy of the Koran.
"Mr. Ellison is not swearing in on the Koran. And no incoming members of Congress swear in on the Bible. Everyone is sworn in together during a private ceremony without any religious text. It'’s only during a ceremonial photo-op that a book may be brought out."
full article here
We've also got two Buddhists being sworn in it seems, and no one is raising a fuss about them. Of course, they're using Bibles for their photo ops in order to maintain tradition. And yet, no one seems to mind that the use of a Bible in swearing in ceremonies is not actually any indication of reverence and respect for the Bible per se, but rather a desire to maintain traditions of the popular culture. I.e., it's not remotely an act of faith.
So, what's the big deal? Well, there really isn't one, except for the one that the pundits, the press, and the radicals want to make. Ultimately all that is at stake here is maintaining the fiction that America is an Evangelical Christian nation, and doing one's best to plug one's ears to the reality of the separation of Church and State.
What amuses me most of all, though is that Mr. Ellis claims that he isn't a symbol, but has chosen to use the english language copy of the Koran that belonged to the Diest founding father, Thomas Jefferson. Right. No conscious symbolism there. No politicing to make a statement in that choice.
This is why, by and large, I avoid the newspapers.
First off, I've been doing some end of year tallies, and I was startled to find that RadioStar Improv had over 4,500 shows downloaded in 2006. Go team!
I'd also like to give congratulations to Tom Neely and Adrienne Miller on the birth of their son William Miller Neely! I especially offer my congratulations to Adrienne for passing something that weighs 9 lbs and 14 oz through her tender bits.
In unrelated, but interesting news, I came across this article by Sarah Weaton about the big controversy about Keith Ellison being sworn with a copy of the Koran.
"Mr. Ellison is not swearing in on the Koran. And no incoming members of Congress swear in on the Bible. Everyone is sworn in together during a private ceremony without any religious text. It'’s only during a ceremonial photo-op that a book may be brought out."
full article here
We've also got two Buddhists being sworn in it seems, and no one is raising a fuss about them. Of course, they're using Bibles for their photo ops in order to maintain tradition. And yet, no one seems to mind that the use of a Bible in swearing in ceremonies is not actually any indication of reverence and respect for the Bible per se, but rather a desire to maintain traditions of the popular culture. I.e., it's not remotely an act of faith.
So, what's the big deal? Well, there really isn't one, except for the one that the pundits, the press, and the radicals want to make. Ultimately all that is at stake here is maintaining the fiction that America is an Evangelical Christian nation, and doing one's best to plug one's ears to the reality of the separation of Church and State.
What amuses me most of all, though is that Mr. Ellis claims that he isn't a symbol, but has chosen to use the english language copy of the Koran that belonged to the Diest founding father, Thomas Jefferson. Right. No conscious symbolism there. No politicing to make a statement in that choice.
This is why, by and large, I avoid the newspapers.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
End of year
I'm about to jump in the shower before spending a day with Mayuko, cruising museums, getting the last of my items for the apartment from Ikea, and seeing Mindy Lym's show tonight.
Mayuko and I met on Ryze years ago and have had an on again, off again email correspondance. She came to the closing of Submergency two weeks ago and we've been spending a lot of time together since then. It's always a treat when people re-emerge from the shadows, and this is no exception!
I've continued being a complete homebody over the last week, enjoying this rare opportunity to nest. I'll be out all day today, and tomorrow night is New Year's, and 2007 promises to be a crazy year indeed. I'm happy to announce that Bryce Byerley will be appearing in my Twilight Zone adaptation in late March. I'm still in negotiations for the other two roles. I'm also going to be looking for a violinist to compose a score for the 20 minute piece and play it live. So if that's you, drop me a line, ok?
RadioStar is expanding. Starting in January, we'll be recording original one-acts by local playwrights as a second podcast stream. Beginning in February, there will be RadioStar: Improv and RadioStar: Off the Page. This means some capital outlay as we're getting a new mixer and some more microphones, but we're all very excited about the possibilities of this.
Cassandra's Call itself is going to be making some big changes in 2007. The big goal over the next several months will be to restructure CCP into a non-profit. I've actually got volunteers to help me in this endeavor and I'm very excited about expanding the CCP family into something coherent as well as prolific.
At this point, we've got the two podcast streams, the Bay Area One Acts, the Twilight Zone festival, the as yet unnamed festival that I'm co-producing with Chris Hayes and that will feature the remount of Vagina Dentata, and hopefully something for the SF Fringe Festival in September.
I sat down to write a rough draft of the Fringe Show, but it became clear around page 9 that I was just writing Vagina Dentata again. I started out wanting to tell a story about love and dating in an era of disillusionment and bitterness (i.e. someone's 30's) and ended up with Kelli from "411", Clara from "Vagina Dentata" and Tammy from the unfinished play "Wings to Fly" in a bar together being witty, raunchy and clever... just like the many sequences in Dentata. I'll put it aside and let that idea simmer for a bit. Instead, I may take a short story idea I've had about a news reporter, homelessness, fungus and alien abduction that I've had tossing in my head for the last couple of years and turn it into a one-act. With both Monday and Tuesday off work, I should be able to whip out an outline and figure out what it would take to mount it. I'm thinking of doing mask work, which is always delightful but super-expensive.
A larger priority, however, will be getting the video from the last Submergency show into the computer and edited so we can start posting it on YouTube.
And speaking of online video, I'd like to end this little update with something I saw posted over on Bex Schwartz' blog.
It's tasteless, but that's ok because it was made 10 years ago. In memory of Gerald Ford
Mayuko and I met on Ryze years ago and have had an on again, off again email correspondance. She came to the closing of Submergency two weeks ago and we've been spending a lot of time together since then. It's always a treat when people re-emerge from the shadows, and this is no exception!
I've continued being a complete homebody over the last week, enjoying this rare opportunity to nest. I'll be out all day today, and tomorrow night is New Year's, and 2007 promises to be a crazy year indeed. I'm happy to announce that Bryce Byerley will be appearing in my Twilight Zone adaptation in late March. I'm still in negotiations for the other two roles. I'm also going to be looking for a violinist to compose a score for the 20 minute piece and play it live. So if that's you, drop me a line, ok?
RadioStar is expanding. Starting in January, we'll be recording original one-acts by local playwrights as a second podcast stream. Beginning in February, there will be RadioStar: Improv and RadioStar: Off the Page. This means some capital outlay as we're getting a new mixer and some more microphones, but we're all very excited about the possibilities of this.
Cassandra's Call itself is going to be making some big changes in 2007. The big goal over the next several months will be to restructure CCP into a non-profit. I've actually got volunteers to help me in this endeavor and I'm very excited about expanding the CCP family into something coherent as well as prolific.
At this point, we've got the two podcast streams, the Bay Area One Acts, the Twilight Zone festival, the as yet unnamed festival that I'm co-producing with Chris Hayes and that will feature the remount of Vagina Dentata, and hopefully something for the SF Fringe Festival in September.
I sat down to write a rough draft of the Fringe Show, but it became clear around page 9 that I was just writing Vagina Dentata again. I started out wanting to tell a story about love and dating in an era of disillusionment and bitterness (i.e. someone's 30's) and ended up with Kelli from "411", Clara from "Vagina Dentata" and Tammy from the unfinished play "Wings to Fly" in a bar together being witty, raunchy and clever... just like the many sequences in Dentata. I'll put it aside and let that idea simmer for a bit. Instead, I may take a short story idea I've had about a news reporter, homelessness, fungus and alien abduction that I've had tossing in my head for the last couple of years and turn it into a one-act. With both Monday and Tuesday off work, I should be able to whip out an outline and figure out what it would take to mount it. I'm thinking of doing mask work, which is always delightful but super-expensive.
A larger priority, however, will be getting the video from the last Submergency show into the computer and edited so we can start posting it on YouTube.
And speaking of online video, I'd like to end this little update with something I saw posted over on Bex Schwartz' blog.
It's tasteless, but that's ok because it was made 10 years ago. In memory of Gerald Ford
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Putting out the search
It's been an interesting mix of busy and slacking off this December.
Submergency had a great closing, which was remarkable since we actually caught it on videotape. Over the next few weeks I'll be editing together excerpts and putting them on YouTube. Stay tuned!
I just finished casting Vial, which I will be directing for the Bay Area One Act Festival. I needed to use actors who had made the audition process for the whole festival, but my choice for one role had to bow out. As sorry as I am to lose that person, I'm thrilled to have Stefanie Goldstien ("Vagina Dentata", "Get it? Got it. Good!") on board.
I found the Twilight Zone episode I'll be adapting for the TW Festival a few short weeks after the BOAs. Well, I say I'll be doing this one, but it will depend on finding an actor to play Wanda. I want to do "Nothing in the Dark", which was an episode from 1961 with Robert Redford that explored our fear of death. It'll work perfectly on the Darkroom stage. Finding a sharp, 65+ actor to play the lead role will be the challenge. I know some people, but they're equity, which could make things messy. Still, time for next steps.
RadioStar is going well, and we've got some big plans for 2007 that I can't really go into right now. I will say that RadioStar has the potential to become a network of shows.
This actually gets to something I want to put out into the universe. If you're interested in becoming part of Cassandra's Call Productions, let me know. With our great variety of offerings, all manner of skills are needed. Video editing, sound editing, lights, costuming, set design, set construction, box office, equipment operators, camera people, actors, directors, foley designers, musicians, INVESTORS, grant writers, accounts people, PR people, event coordinators, legal experts, etc, etc, etc. I need to begin to turn the company into a legitimate non-profit and I'm so busy on the creative side of things that there's no way I can handle all the business side of things. So, if you're interested in helping in any capacity... let me know.
Submergency had a great closing, which was remarkable since we actually caught it on videotape. Over the next few weeks I'll be editing together excerpts and putting them on YouTube. Stay tuned!
I just finished casting Vial, which I will be directing for the Bay Area One Act Festival. I needed to use actors who had made the audition process for the whole festival, but my choice for one role had to bow out. As sorry as I am to lose that person, I'm thrilled to have Stefanie Goldstien ("Vagina Dentata", "Get it? Got it. Good!") on board.
I found the Twilight Zone episode I'll be adapting for the TW Festival a few short weeks after the BOAs. Well, I say I'll be doing this one, but it will depend on finding an actor to play Wanda. I want to do "Nothing in the Dark", which was an episode from 1961 with Robert Redford that explored our fear of death. It'll work perfectly on the Darkroom stage. Finding a sharp, 65+ actor to play the lead role will be the challenge. I know some people, but they're equity, which could make things messy. Still, time for next steps.
RadioStar is going well, and we've got some big plans for 2007 that I can't really go into right now. I will say that RadioStar has the potential to become a network of shows.
This actually gets to something I want to put out into the universe. If you're interested in becoming part of Cassandra's Call Productions, let me know. With our great variety of offerings, all manner of skills are needed. Video editing, sound editing, lights, costuming, set design, set construction, box office, equipment operators, camera people, actors, directors, foley designers, musicians, INVESTORS, grant writers, accounts people, PR people, event coordinators, legal experts, etc, etc, etc. I need to begin to turn the company into a legitimate non-profit and I'm so busy on the creative side of things that there's no way I can handle all the business side of things. So, if you're interested in helping in any capacity... let me know.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Whee, Wii
Damn Zack Stern. It has been a few weeks since we had a game night. Everyone's been busy, and between Dave and Kate Austin-Groen's new baby, Submergency and all the other madness, Game Night was the first to go. So a few of us gathered at Zack's tonight to play with his Wii (because that joke never gets old). I've certainly been aware of the device and heard good things about it. Graphics aren't "next gen, but it's a lot of fun, but really more for gatherings than solo play" seem to be the concensus.
Well, I'm friggin hooked on the thing now. I love the idea that playing a video game can actually get your heart rate up, and boxing against Dave certainly did that. I got my ass handed to me, but it definitely wasn't a sedentary experience. The accursed thing isn't even that expensive by console standards. My one concern was the infrared transmitter, due to the way I'm set up with my LCD projector. Zack informed me that putting some candles in front of my screen surface will work as well.
I love the fact that I can make a super groovy new high tech gadget work with candlelight.
So, guess what I'll be getting myself for Christmas?
-------
On the way home, I was sitting on BART, working on the novel. I finally began to figure out what this chapter was about and all the twists and turns these characters make. I'm working with the Queen of Thune and the head of her espionage team, so nobody can afford to make dumb choices. The question is simply how many lies and deceptions get piled up on one another before truth is achieved. But that's neither here nor there. As I'm writing, the woman next to me interrupts me to point out that when I type, my right pinkey sticks out and that could cause me ergonomic trouble over time. I had, of course, never noticed that before. Now I'm paranoid about it. I can barely type now without it feeling weird and stress inducing. I was fine, before and now I'm freaked. The even stranger this is that she's an actor. We did readings together for the Actors Reading Writers event a few months ago in Berkeley and she's working with the SF Playhouse on their current show.
I've been meaning to catch the show, and now I really want to (she's quite good)... but I don't know what I'm going to do about this damn pinky.
Well, I'm friggin hooked on the thing now. I love the idea that playing a video game can actually get your heart rate up, and boxing against Dave certainly did that. I got my ass handed to me, but it definitely wasn't a sedentary experience. The accursed thing isn't even that expensive by console standards. My one concern was the infrared transmitter, due to the way I'm set up with my LCD projector. Zack informed me that putting some candles in front of my screen surface will work as well.
I love the fact that I can make a super groovy new high tech gadget work with candlelight.
So, guess what I'll be getting myself for Christmas?
-------
On the way home, I was sitting on BART, working on the novel. I finally began to figure out what this chapter was about and all the twists and turns these characters make. I'm working with the Queen of Thune and the head of her espionage team, so nobody can afford to make dumb choices. The question is simply how many lies and deceptions get piled up on one another before truth is achieved. But that's neither here nor there. As I'm writing, the woman next to me interrupts me to point out that when I type, my right pinkey sticks out and that could cause me ergonomic trouble over time. I had, of course, never noticed that before. Now I'm paranoid about it. I can barely type now without it feeling weird and stress inducing. I was fine, before and now I'm freaked. The even stranger this is that she's an actor. We did readings together for the Actors Reading Writers event a few months ago in Berkeley and she's working with the SF Playhouse on their current show.
I've been meaning to catch the show, and now I really want to (she's quite good)... but I don't know what I'm going to do about this damn pinky.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Entering December
first off, some updates:
New York was great. Many thanks and kudos to Megan Kilian, Mandy Kiefetz, Renee Racan, and Neil and Lex Howard for their couches, company, and general grooviness. If you're in NYC, I highly recommend Evil Dead: the Musical, Avenue Q, and Putnam County Spelling Bee. Avoid the Producers. Just rent the original movie and consider yourself $70 richer and better off.
I am madly in love with my new apartment and am finally no longer sleeping on the couch. Thanks to Joseph Maurer I was able to get mattress and bookshelves from IKEA and transport a glass bar table and some lumber from the CCP rehearsal room. The murphy bed in the apartment offered absolutely no back support and my first time attempting to sleep in it resulted in constant sleep interruption and back pain. By cannibalizing some of the Manumission set, I was able to give the mattress the firmness it needed and now I'm in heaven. I'm not sure what the neighbors made of me operating a circular saw in my living room, though.
I had a bit of a health scare, but all ended up ok in the end, although I now have another kidney stone to add to my collection. I keep them in a little plastic coffin, because I'm just weird that way.
I didn't get the multimedia producer job at WestEd, but I'm still doing some of that kind of work since there's more work than can be done by one person. I'm also being pulled off of Help Desk and placed into a more full time training position. This is almost as good as the job I was angling for as it will allow me to explore multiple avenues of training, including flash presentations, videos, and live trainings.
Submergency is having its challenges due to trying to compete with holiday parties and some PR missteps. In short, people who see the show are having a great time. Sadly, very few people are seeing it. We had to cancel a show last week since we only had to very nervous people in the audience. I went with Kalina Wilson to a comedy show once and we were the only people in the audience and it is debatable who had a worse time of it, us or the comedians. We set them free, and I hope that we don't have a repeat of that situation this weekend.
I spent most of last weekend in auditions. No, I wasn't going to auditions, I was holding them. I'm directing "Vial", a new play by Nicholas Turner for the Bay Area One Act Festival. As I write this, I'm on my way back from the callbacks. It's a curious process, since there are ten directors angling for actors from the same auditions. It isn't as simple as just picking the people best suited for the roles (as if that's ever simple). I need to select first, second, and third choices and then await the decision of the Festival directors, who take all the directors' and actors' listed preferences and then assign final casting. It's not an ideal process, but given the structure of the event, it's the best way to go about an awkward situation. On the plus side, I've seen many actors I wouldn't normally have known to call in for auditions and I'll be adding their headshots and resumes to my stack for future reference.
I also just agreed to direct for the Darkroom Theatre's Twilight Zone festival, which will take place mere weeks after the BOA's. I just got recruited this weekend, so I only have a vague idea of which episode I'll adapt for the stage. Netflix, here I come.
Radiostar continues to go well, with downloads steadily increasing. I'm particularly pleased with this week's episode, which was one of our first "La Rondes" and one of our first recording sessions with Julie Kurtz and Jennifer Jajeh.
In what amounts to my free time, I've re-taken up Argentine Tango lessons with Warren and Gigi Jensen over at the Lake Merritt Dance Studio. Remington Stone has been joining me, and Suraya Keating will be coming too which makes it all extra fun. I haven't danced tango for a good five years, so it's interesting getting my skills back up to speed.
Other than that, not much is going on.
New York was great. Many thanks and kudos to Megan Kilian, Mandy Kiefetz, Renee Racan, and Neil and Lex Howard for their couches, company, and general grooviness. If you're in NYC, I highly recommend Evil Dead: the Musical, Avenue Q, and Putnam County Spelling Bee. Avoid the Producers. Just rent the original movie and consider yourself $70 richer and better off.
I am madly in love with my new apartment and am finally no longer sleeping on the couch. Thanks to Joseph Maurer I was able to get mattress and bookshelves from IKEA and transport a glass bar table and some lumber from the CCP rehearsal room. The murphy bed in the apartment offered absolutely no back support and my first time attempting to sleep in it resulted in constant sleep interruption and back pain. By cannibalizing some of the Manumission set, I was able to give the mattress the firmness it needed and now I'm in heaven. I'm not sure what the neighbors made of me operating a circular saw in my living room, though.
I had a bit of a health scare, but all ended up ok in the end, although I now have another kidney stone to add to my collection. I keep them in a little plastic coffin, because I'm just weird that way.
I didn't get the multimedia producer job at WestEd, but I'm still doing some of that kind of work since there's more work than can be done by one person. I'm also being pulled off of Help Desk and placed into a more full time training position. This is almost as good as the job I was angling for as it will allow me to explore multiple avenues of training, including flash presentations, videos, and live trainings.
Submergency is having its challenges due to trying to compete with holiday parties and some PR missteps. In short, people who see the show are having a great time. Sadly, very few people are seeing it. We had to cancel a show last week since we only had to very nervous people in the audience. I went with Kalina Wilson to a comedy show once and we were the only people in the audience and it is debatable who had a worse time of it, us or the comedians. We set them free, and I hope that we don't have a repeat of that situation this weekend.
I spent most of last weekend in auditions. No, I wasn't going to auditions, I was holding them. I'm directing "Vial", a new play by Nicholas Turner for the Bay Area One Act Festival. As I write this, I'm on my way back from the callbacks. It's a curious process, since there are ten directors angling for actors from the same auditions. It isn't as simple as just picking the people best suited for the roles (as if that's ever simple). I need to select first, second, and third choices and then await the decision of the Festival directors, who take all the directors' and actors' listed preferences and then assign final casting. It's not an ideal process, but given the structure of the event, it's the best way to go about an awkward situation. On the plus side, I've seen many actors I wouldn't normally have known to call in for auditions and I'll be adding their headshots and resumes to my stack for future reference.
I also just agreed to direct for the Darkroom Theatre's Twilight Zone festival, which will take place mere weeks after the BOA's. I just got recruited this weekend, so I only have a vague idea of which episode I'll adapt for the stage. Netflix, here I come.
Radiostar continues to go well, with downloads steadily increasing. I'm particularly pleased with this week's episode, which was one of our first "La Rondes" and one of our first recording sessions with Julie Kurtz and Jennifer Jajeh.
In what amounts to my free time, I've re-taken up Argentine Tango lessons with Warren and Gigi Jensen over at the Lake Merritt Dance Studio. Remington Stone has been joining me, and Suraya Keating will be coming too which makes it all extra fun. I haven't danced tango for a good five years, so it's interesting getting my skills back up to speed.
Other than that, not much is going on.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
new york
It's been quite a while, but a lot has been going on. I've moved into my new apartment, which I have fallen completely in love with, although I'm not yet completely moved out of my old place. I'm still trying to get rid of some old furniture and that's weighing on me as I'd hate to just take it to the dumps as it's really quite good furniture... I just can't store it anywhere until I find a buyer.
I'm in New York right now, currently crashing at Megan Kilian's apartment in the Lower East Side. Tomorrow I stay with an online friend who I've never met face to face, and then it's Renee Racan's and then Neil Howard's place. It's a whirlwind visit, but I'm having a blast.
Submergency is coming along, with the postcards arriving just before I left, and rehearsals starting shortly after I return from my trip. Radiostar continues its evolution, although I missed doing our update this last Wednesday due to the move and work being unusually jam packed. I have no DSL at home yet, and have barely had time to think while in the office, so no update. I should have my DSL by the time I return, though, so it shouldn't happen again.
Speaking of the office, I had my interview for the multimedia producer position this last week, so we'll see what happens. I may hear something as early as this week, so everyone keep your fingers crossed.
as for now, I just saw a sparsely attended comedy show in the lower east side and am a bit buzzed from the two drink minimum. so, I'm signing off and will talk to you all soon.
I'm in New York right now, currently crashing at Megan Kilian's apartment in the Lower East Side. Tomorrow I stay with an online friend who I've never met face to face, and then it's Renee Racan's and then Neil Howard's place. It's a whirlwind visit, but I'm having a blast.
Submergency is coming along, with the postcards arriving just before I left, and rehearsals starting shortly after I return from my trip. Radiostar continues its evolution, although I missed doing our update this last Wednesday due to the move and work being unusually jam packed. I have no DSL at home yet, and have barely had time to think while in the office, so no update. I should have my DSL by the time I return, though, so it shouldn't happen again.
Speaking of the office, I had my interview for the multimedia producer position this last week, so we'll see what happens. I may hear something as early as this week, so everyone keep your fingers crossed.
as for now, I just saw a sparsely attended comedy show in the lower east side and am a bit buzzed from the two drink minimum. so, I'm signing off and will talk to you all soon.
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