Theme Post: Valentine's Day & Theatre

So today is Valentine's Day, not traditionally my favorite holiday, but I don't think I've ever dated a guy who did it right. Anyways, enough about my previously tumultuous love life. I'm talking about theatre, the thing we all love.

To be cheezy, and in theme, I'm asking you to tell me where do love & theatre intersect for you?

To be fair, I'll give you my interpretation...

To me when I think of love & theatre, I think about my senior year in college when I was directing Sweet Eros. An admittedly fitting title considering the holiday today, but it's about love on the dark side of the human soul. Do traumatic experiences bring us to love those who hurt us or is it just some mad man's delusions? That's for you to decide.

Your turn.

Photo credit: Photo snagged from here.

New Year, finally a new post.

So I haven't been writing on this blog lately - why?

Honestly I've been too busy between work and working with the BTA Board. Plus I really haven't been doing any theater as of late, so not much to write about. I could write about my work with the BTA Board, but then what would I write about on the BTA blog?

Vicious cycle.

Anyways, I'm prompted to write only to share this brilliant post on the UK Guardian Theatre Blog about why theatre should quit the smoke habit. And for the record, the Guardian Theatre blog, is my fave out of all of the theatre blogs I read. They know how to do it write. (bad pun intentional)

Art & Politics

It's been while since I've written anything on this blog. Maybe I haven't been inspired, maybe life has been so busy it's hard to take the time to look back and reflect. Something inspired me though and I feel the urge to write about it...

A couple of nights ago I watched a film called Battle in Seattle; it is a fictional depiction of the WTO riots that happened in Seattle, cutting in actual footage & balancing that with the multi-character story to tell the story. It was amazing and really made me think about my roots in Seattle. I know I've mentioned it before, but I went to school in Seattle.

I've always had a passion for politics and the world I live in. Though living outside DC for the majority of my life, I surprisingly never actually got a chance to stand up & speak out before I lived in Seattle. When I was at Cornish, the Iraq war was just starting & people started speaking out; I decided to join them.

I don't know how many people know this, but Seattle is a protesters town. People are not afraid to go to the streets and speak out about the things they find wrong in the world. Living in a town like that empowers you to speak your mind, which I also feel is what an artist should do.

I protested the Iraq war many times while in school. There was one day my acting teachers knew a big protest was coming, and to be "politically correct" they said they couldn't allow us to miss class, but understood personally if as artists we felt we would need to. I ended up being the only junior in my department who missed class that day. We started on Capital Hill at SCCC and marched down Pine (I believe, but it might have been Pike) and over to Westlake Center. The same spirit I felt marching down the streets of Seattle was the way I feel when I making collaborative art. It's a beautiful feeling that washes over me. Maybe it's more about being engaged in what I'm doing, but for me the way I feel about art & politics are closely related.

I could go on & on about the link between art & politics, but for me that personal connection was really forged when I was in a place that both existed.

Blog Action Day '09 - Climate Change

This is a tricky topic for me. When I sat down to write this post I really had no idea what I was going to write. When you think of the theatre, you don't exactly think "climate change" as a topic playwrights normally cover in plays.

Nevertheless, theatres can make an impact. Here's a few ways I've seen/heard/dug up that other theatres are making the effort to be a little more "green".

1. If your theatre accepts script submissions, take them electronically only. Save paper and read them on a computer.
   
   
2. Think about the paper products you use. Is it feasible for you to use recycled & eco-friendly paper products?
   
   
3. This one is a bit trickier, but have LD's be conscious of their lighting designs. This is something new that I've seen on a few blogs, but lighting designers have the opportunity to impact energy consumption in a major way. Sure there are the shows that require everything to be bright, light & airy, but does every show the theatre does have to be that way. Is there way to pare down the cues to make them more energy efficient? Food for thought.
   
   
4. Turn up temp on those AC units (or turn them off completely!) when they aren't needed. This one can be tricky b/c for so many theaters there are people in & out all the time. On top of that, if they were turned off and it got really hot, it would take more energy to cool everything down. Just be mindful of ways that you can reduce the use of these energy suckers.
   
   
5. CFLs! Sure it's a bit of an investment, BUT a CFL on average uses 1/4 of the energy of a normal 60 watt bulb. That's quite a bit of savings over the long term AND you don't have to buy light bulbs for like 5 years. Bonus!

Need more information on making your theatre greener? Check out these sites:

Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
EcoTheatre Blog
50 things you can do towards being a green theater from GreenTheater.org


So I've given a few tips I've found. Are there any others that you are using to reduce your footprint?

What are ways individual theatre artists can make a difference?

This post is a part of Blog Action Day 2009, please consider joining the conversation in 2010!

Does the age of an actor matter?

So there was a discussion on a Facebook event invite about the age of one of the actresses in the upcoming production of Mercy Seat at the Strand.

It's a interesting question for directors (and I think for actors too), what's the balance between talent and someone fitting the description of the character?

My initial thought is that it doesn't matter that much as long as the actor can portray the character. (Though this next comment might come off as a little ageist, please don't take it that way...) My second thought is that it is easier for an audience to believe a younger actor as a character that is older, than an older actor playing someone obviously younger. Maybe this view is derived from the fact that when I act I usually play an older character (I really rock at the 60 year-old ladies if I do say so myself), but it drives me CRAZY when and actor is cast in a role that they are obviously too old for.

The first example of this I can think of was Spot's version of Hamlet. Hamlet is supposed to be younger, somewhere under 20, and Ophelia the same. Though Michael Leicht and Jen Mikulski are both very capable actors, it drove me nuts that they looked late 20's/early 30's.

So what do you think? Is talent more important than age or do they need to balance each other?

Are we apologizing for what is in between our legs?

I saw this article shared by Jayme Kilburn, Artistic Director of the Strand Theater about the prejudices that female playwrights receive & how those prejudices negatively affect theatres.

"...reveals that women tend to write plays about women, but plays featuring female protagonists are produced less often than those starring men. And, while the proportion of scripts that get produced is fairly equal between men and women, the total number of productions is inequitable since fewer women write plays (one informal study of nonprofit theaters by the playwright Julia Jordan found that 17 percent of their plays were written by women). One way women have compensated for writing female stories is to write fewer roles, which make their plays accessible to more theaters."

So this quote got me thinking... do we as women artists apologize for what is in between our legs?

I had an experience recently working with two male graphic designers. The initial poster proof had a really interesting design, but at the bottom of the poster was this image of a sweaty belly. My initial reaction was that looked like the belly of some slut. Sure that sounds a little harsh, but I got the image of the girls I used to see out at bars getting trashed and going home with the hottest guy that hit on them that night. She was too skinny, her bones poking out, basically an "ideal" men's fantasy. She was not a real woman to me.

I took objection, saying I loved the design, but had an issue with the belly element. It could be interpreted that I didn't like the belly b/c it was too skinny, but what it really is for me is that I don't want women to be looked at like just a place to make a deposit. It isn't just about what is in between our legs. A woman's sexuality & sensuality starts with the mind & works its way down. I had to remind myself that it was okay for me to have this opinion. As women we are taught by society to apologize for how we feel about something, just go with the flow for fear of being the "crazy bitch".

My art helps me to stop apologizing for what lies between my legs & fully embrace my point of view as a young female.

Btw, the graphic designers I was working with were completely awesome about altering the element. The picture for this post is the end result. I feel it's sexy, sensual & doesn't objectify me as a female, but embraces female sexuality as something powerful.

I want the two hours back...

I hate to say that when I go see a show, but tonight there were very few moments when I didn't regret sitting in the theatre. I'm not going to say it was horrible, but it needed to go farther. I felt like the director was fighting the nature of the play itself, trying to make it this serious journey into a man's soul, and it does have that in it, BUT the show is written as a farce & that is the beauty of it. There is this juxtaposition between the overstated comedy and the torture that this man goes through and what he puts his family through. That's just my two cents though...

TCG - Day 2

I'm not really sure how I want to phrase this post, so I guess I'll just do a breakdown of my experiences for the day.

I showed up at about noon or so on the 2nd day. Missed my affinity group, but as I said in my previous post, there were just too many people there for me to create some lasting connections. Maybe I missed out though on the second day as Lydia's idea of speed dating seemed fairly inventive and new, especially with a group of artists that have so much to learn from each other. And then I skipped Nadira Hira speak as she spoke at ASAE (American Society for Association Executives) Annual last year and the Membership & Marketing Conference this year. I understand what she's trying to say, but I've heard it before (from her & others) so I don't know what sort of value it would have held for me to see it again.

Then I actually started to participate in the day... The session I went to was the "Trend vs. Trendy: Focusing Your Online Fundraising Efforts". It was actually taught by a person from Beaconfire Consulting, a company that I run into in my "other life". I never realized how much cross-section there was between the two halves as I've always seen them as two totally different things.

So about the session... I tweeted it (of course), but I found myself being more of a student teacher than an active participant. There wasn't really anything new for me to learn and I missed the focus on fundraising - though the title of the session talks about focusing your fundraising online. The fundraising seemed to be an afterthought to the whole session, though I will say that the concepts in the session were nicely laid out and I liked Ali's "hook" for it. The thing that I'm missing is telling people where to start. As I've said on my other blog, NUMEROUS times, the way you start in social media is by listening, figuring out where people are talking about you and then trying to join the conversation. (I think it's soon going to be time for another theatre/social media post, possibly posted to the BTA blog though)

Next up was lunch - kinda ick, the cookie was good though. A question did raise in my mind - Why are all conferences I attend as of late so biased to Pepsi products? This is not the forum to answer this, but I wanted to throw it out there…

The afternoon general session had a really awesome concept based on the Dr. Seuss book “If I Ran The Zoo”. Karen Kandel, Artistic Associate at Mabou Mines read aloud the book to start off the session. Our zookeepers for the afternoon were Andrea Dymond of Victory Gardens Theatre (Zoo: Arkansas Reparatory Theatre), Kate Taylor Davis at Olney Theatre Center (Zoo: Imagination Stage), Joe Salvatore (Zoo: American Conservatory Theatre) and Meiyin Wang of Under the Radar Festival (Zoo: Baltimore Theatre Project).

So the first half of this session was not as engaging as I hoped it would be. I wish the speakers had spoken a little less, though their ideas for invigorating these theatres were very thoughtful and would bring new blood rushing through those veins. I started to tap in more when Mr. Salvatore was speaking. He had this really awesome idea about creating a national theatre that was actually a network of education sites and theatre spaces instead of one single space. I would agree that this is a worthwhile approach for a country with our sprawling landscape because it would help bring a connected diversity to the American Theatre. Right now many things seem so disparate and I don’t think that it can continue if we want the theatre we love to survive.

Another highlight of the zoo session was hearing Meiyin speak. Having a bit of an experimental theatre background, it was nice to hear her opinion on how we can bring more experimental theatre and other performance-based art (as I like to call it) to Baltimore. She kept mentioning PICA and the TBA Festival though and how the Northwest supports that festival, meaning to encourage Baltimore Theatre Project to take more of a festival approach to what they are doing. I think the reason PICA succeeds with the festival is that they already have a venue in the that region (On the Boards in Seattle) who supports season long programming of a similar nature. OtB also has a Northwest New Works Festival and a track in their season that is solely dedicated to Northwest artists. The reason that festival lives is because there is a network there to support it’s existence. In Baltimore, we don’t have that yet and my thoughts are that BTP could become the beginning of that support system to make a Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC experimental theatre corridor, feeding artists from New York venues that are looking for smaller touring houses besides St. Ann’s, the Walker & OtB. This is something that can definitely be pursued farther and I can say that hearing Meiyin speak inspired me to look at how I can help foster more experimental artists in my own backyard and bring the world’s art to Baltimore.

Then after the session were dine-a-rounds which I skipped out on in favor of spending some quality time with quality people, then off to the MICA party. It was great to see Baltimore representing and picking it up for those that could not make it. Thanks to Cara at MICA who is a fabulous actress and the events coordinator there. If you had a good time last night like I did, you should thank her too. ;)

Next up: Day 3 - Seeing Anne Bogart!!!!!!

TCG - Day 1

As the title states, today was the first day of the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) Conference in Baltimore. My take:

My Highlights:

* The totally awesome jump drive they provided us with as well as their effort to go green (Though from being in the industry, kind of, this may be more to save money than to save the planet. The planet is a bonus.)

* Meeting artists from all around - I got to schmooze with artists from Seattle, met someone from the San Francisco Mime Troupe & had members from Mabou Mines in my affinity group. And then I met some of the Single Carrot people as well. All in all a good networking day.

* The TCG bookstore discount - If this is your first TCG conference, you get 50% off your most expensive item and then everyone gets 30% off all items! Amazing! I ended up spending like $50, which could have been way worse had their not been the discount. I'm a total book whore, I admit it. I walked away with:

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? by Caryl Churchill
Bliss by Olivier Choiniere (translated by Caryl Churchill)
Schiller's Mary Stuart by Peter Oswald
Bad Boy Nietrzche! and other plays by Richard Foreman
The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart

* The American Visionary Art Museum - Best party place in Baltimore. If I were to ever get married (though highly unlikely), I would totally do it there with either Devine or the big fluffy poodle/flamingo thingy in the background. They had good food & Sangria too.

* John Waters speaking - I was laughing so hard my face hurt afterwards. I also plugged the Baltimore Theater Alliance "What's Playing" section when someone asked what theatre is happening in Baltimore this weekend. I will say that his keynote was a little schticky, but all in all I loved it.

The Low-Lights:

* The AEA & it's need for control - I totally support Equity, but they need to blow up their internal structure. I was in a session about new media and what that meant for AEA contracts. Everyone is so scared of just letting go, there just seemed to be excuse after excuse after excuse. What people don't realize is when they let go, they actually encourage people to engage and considering the current climate, engagement is what theaters need. You need an audience that makes a bond with the work that you produce, but if you don't let go of your semblance of control, you will fail at engaging your audience before they walk in your doors. I also totally resented the people from AEA people using their committee structure as a reason for moving so slow. I work for non-profits, and if you're having that much trouble with getting things through your governance system, then you need to implode the system and figure out a new way to do things. You aren't serving your members any better by just providing excuses for your slow moving governance.

* The rain - I forgot my umbrella, something to remember for tomorrow!

* The Affinity Groups - I kind of wish there had been another session in the afternoon instead. Though I appreciate the opportunity to network with other individual artists and I think Lydia's idea for "speed dating" with other artists tomorrow is fab, there were just too many people to really make strong connections. I feel like we needed to be broken up into smaller groups, though it was awesome hearing where everyone was from and what they do, even if some were a bit long winded. And the space was WAY too small for us, they are supposed to be moving us tomorrow, but we'll see.

So I need to get to bed since my Affinity Group meets at 9am (*groan*) and it'll be a long day since I am leading one of the bus tours through Baltimore on the way to the party tomorrow night! Hope you make it on my bus (and that I don't mess it up)!

One last thing... Make sure you visit http://search.twitter.com and search for #tcgcon and see what everyone is saying, and you can check out my person thoughts at http://twitter.com/MissLynn13.

Bogart is coming to town & I don't mean Humphrey.

Okay, so Theatre Communications Group is going to be having their annual conference in Baltimore in June. Well, I just actually looked through the registration fees and agenda and I'm geeking. Anne Bogart is going to be in my town... Anne Bogart in Baltimore. Seriously?

She wrote one of my favorite books on directing, A Director Prepares. She's friggin' brilliant. I totally can't wait and now have a reason to get together the cash to go.

Thank god for individual artist prices!

Some wisdom from Bogart:



If you want to see what's going on with Anne Bogart's SITI Company, make sure you check out their CollectiveX groupsite.

Julie say it isn't so...

Julie are you serious about a Spiderman Musical? I know you're a genius and maybe I'll eat these words after I see it, but I still don't get it... This video is like a year old, but I don't see Julie (yeah I say her name I like I know her, but of course I only wish that) as the type to give up on something that moves her. This is just hard for me to wrap my head around. I think I had heard it before as it seems vaguely familiar, but I think I let that thought fly out of my head. We'll see what happens...

Here's an article about it from E!Online.

In the meantime, here's some Julie Taymor awesomeness...

Smoldering goodness.

So I already told you about the show I saw at Woolly this weekend...

What I neglected to tell you is that I also had a chance to partake in Julie Lewis' Smolder being performed at that Strand.

What a beautifully written play. I'm not usually a fan of plays that have a ton of characters (especially considering it's 75 minute run time) but damn can Julie write a play. I do need to disclose that I have also chosen to direct a short by her later this summer for BPF, but that was way before I saw Smolder or had a chance to meet Julie. In that short/one act she also has a lot of characters, but somehow she knows how to make it work. I envy that a little, though don't tell anyone. ;)

The acting was good, but I think it could have gone farther. There seemed to be a little bit of a disconnect between the two "versions" of Sylvia, like the two actresses needed more time with the director working on the connection between the two. Though their performances were true to what they were experiencing.

I also think that the decoupaging needed to go MUCH further. That room needs to represent Sylvia trying to hold onto the control that she once had over her life. These images she cuts out are her literally trying to piece her life back together to what she thinks it once was. These pictures cover up what has become the pit that Sylvia now lives in. As I was sitting there watching I even figured out how to do it, but hey it's not my show, I'll stop before I cross a line.

And I have one question... Was Reno supposed to be Latino? It threw me off a bit because there were references to Latino culture and the actor was obviously Caucasian.

Anyways, I think Smolder is worth seeing. You've only got one more weekend. You can get tickets here.

A Director Prepares.

So the next show I'm directing starts rehearsing in June. I've technically already started my process because I've been reading scripts and deciding which ones I would like to do. I think I've settled on a night of 4 different shorts. Now is the time to focus on the plays and start breaking them down. I have one little step though that I like to do when I have a bit of time before rehearsals start.

The semester I interned at Intiman in Seattle, I had the pleasure of working under BJ Jones. He's the Artistic Director of Northlight Theater outside of Chicago. As an opening night present, he gave me a copy of Anne Bogart's book A Director Prepares. Every time I start to work on a show (and if I have the time) I like to sit down a re-read it. It reminds me that as an artist, my role is to ask questions of society. It reminds me that as a director, my role is to ask questions of my designers and actors. As a human being, my role is to as questions of myself.

This book keeps me hungry for the work ahead and reminds me that the act of creating is a violent act. Killing ideas that you once held so close in favor of something deeper or more specific. You indeed have to go all Medea and "kill your babies" as an acting teacher once told me.

Do you "dare to suck" in your art?

Dream Roles.

So everyone has their dream roles right? Here's a list of a few of mine and why they intrigue me so much, in no particular order of course.

1. Martha, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee - Who wouldn't want to play one of the craziest, out-of-control bitches in modern theatre? Yet she is so fragile underneath it all. She has one person who knows the real her, yet she wears her heart on her sleeve.

2. Miss Julie, Miss Julie by August Strindberg - I love that the tables flip on her. She goes from being charge to completely helpless and doesn't understand how to handle that because she isn't used to it. Also, the challenge of playing someone who is pushed so far that she sees taking her own life as the only option is something that you either step up to as an actor, or you just shouldn't do the role.

3. Medea, Medea by Euripides - Do I really need to say anything?

4. Tamora, Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare - On the flip side I'd also love to play Lavinia, but if I had the choice I'd take Tamara in a heart beat. She's seems so heartless on the surface, but honestly she's fueled by revenge, and a rightful revenge at that. Her sons are another matter entirely though.

5. Saint Monica, The Last Days of Judas Isacariot by Stephen Adly Gurgis - I don't think I would be the normal choice for Saint Monica, but would I really be for any of these roles I've picked? Saint Monica is tough & gruff, she doesn't pull up with bullshit. That's not to say that she doesn't have a heart though and a big one at that. Her interaction with Judas cuts through to my core.

6. Natasha, Three Sisters by Anton Chekov - We did scene work my junior year in college and I love how crazy Natasha can be when you find those moments to really let go and then how you recover. She is someone that lives in extremes and though she's the "bitch" of the play, I like the challenge that she brings.

7. Antigone, Antigone by Sophocles or Jean Anouilh - Honestly, I love both portrayals of Antigone. She's strong and a martyr for sure. She will allow herself to die for what she believes in, how could I not be attracted to that?

8. Ophelia, Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Ever since high school I've wanted to play her. Since I'm a larger body type I really think it adds a new level as to why Hamlet wants her. It takes it past a superficial level into finding a true connection between the two.

9. Helen, Fat Pig by Neil LaBute - Out of any character on this list, she is probably the one that on the surface I have the most in common with, but I don't know how to tap into her because everything is so similar. For me, she's a challenge because she would force me to really examine myself and the relationship to my body on a level that I don't think I've explored or have been willing to.

10. Lin, Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill - Okay so I never realized how much I would love to play this character until working on a production of this show recently. I love her depth and how her true nature lies in what she does as opposed to what she says about herself. She is one of those character's whose motives are implied, nothing is that upfront and I love that about her.

I guess I chose all of these roles because I think that between my body type, my perspective & my history, I'd have something new to bring to the table to each role.

So what's your 10?

American Theatre = Walmart

There was an interesting blog post that I saw tweeted out by @balttheatre, the source being a friend of mine, Cole Matson. (link to article)

The author quoted Beth Leavel's keynote at Southeastern Theatre Conference:

"All I know is that if I want to work in Chicago, I have to be in New York; if I want to work in Seattle, which is a great theatre town, I have to be in New York; if I want to work in my home town of Raleigh, I have to be in New York."

He goes on to discuss how American theatre is turning into Wal-Mart and NYC is our distribution center. Theatre schools are teaching students that if they want to work they need to go to NYC. Or at least that's what I got from it.

At least in my experience, it wasn't my school that taught me that, it was the regional theaters themselves. I trained in Seattle and we were afforded the opportunity to go to the regional theaters at least twice a year (I think it was actually more than that). My classmates and I quickly noticed that a lot of the bios had NY credits. This wasn't the case EVERY time, but it happened a lot. In the comments of the post there was an interesting discussion about how it needs to be the responsibility of the AD or MD/ED to have the vision and care enough about the artistic community to cast local talent. I agree completely, though I suggest a mix of talent from other cities (not just NYC) intertwined with local talent. This lets your audience experience a mix of local actors they love, while giving them something new to chew their teeth on.

When I was at On the Boards (OtB)in Seattle, their programming was dedicated to showcasing acts from the Northwest as well as bringing talent from around the world to Seattle audiences. Granted they were a type of performance house that supported contemporary work that pushes artistic boundaries, but their spirit was one that I think regional theatres can take a clue from.

How many times do you go to the theatre and see only actors from out of town?

It's about the work.

I had a discussion with an actor friend of mine who is having a hard time in the show they are currently doing. My advice was with whatever is going on, the focus should always be about the work. It reminds me of a quote from Stanislavski:

"Never come into the theatre with mudd on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing -- all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art."

From Stanislavski's Building A Character. Thanks to Hal Ryder for making me read that chapter Freshman year at Cornish.

It's true though. No matter what's going on in your life, if you let that come into the theater your work will suffer. So no matter what happens, just focus on the job you have to get done. Think about the rest later & do what you have to do.

Very stoic, I guess.

Stages.

So I've been noticing that there are four stages whenever you open a show. Here's my theory. This is based on a four week run, but can be adapted to weekend & longer runs as well.

Week 1 - Opening weekend. This is the excited/nervous/tired week. Everyone has been working so hard, pushing their way through hell week to get to this. Where people actually get a chance to get a little bit of satisfaction as a pay off to all the work they've done. It's that exhale after a week of inhaling.

Week 2 - Silly time. Finally you've gotten some rest and this is when the focus can be a little lacking. It's fun, but the experience is unique. The energy can live backstage and die when the actor's take the stage. This week is the hardest to keep yourself connected to what you're working on. Important to know if this is true for you so you can come up with ways to combat this.

Week 3 - The real work. This tends to be the week when people make leaps and bounds in their discoveries. Each show is a little different and you really get a chance to build upon what you've done each night.

Last Week - Senioritis/Bittersweet. Now this week depends on your relationship with the show. Some shows you love doing, some you are just ready for them to be over. There tends to be a freeness to this week in the work that is done, whether that be for good or bad. If you have an attachment to the show, your work can really reach a new level, while if your waiting for the show to just end, your work can become heavy.

Now of course these aren't rules, these are just things that I have seen. What do you think?

Hell was Heaven until it wasn't.

So last night I went to the Woolly Mammoth Theater down in DC to see Hell Meets Henry Halfway. It was originally conceived & created by Pig Iron Theatre Company of Philadelphia, with text by Adriano Shaplin, based on Possessed by Witold Gombrowicz.

It's haunting, it's beautiful and there's a jump rope.

There's big, bold character choices that are expressed to the fullest extent of the actor's greatest tools, their voice & their body.

Steve Cuiffo makes brilliant choices that can be no more than a lift of an eyebrow but echo throughout the space.

James Dunn comes off as a little "playing at" when he first appears, but he slowly relaxed into it. I don't know if it was an off night, just the rhythm of his character or if it has to do with the fact he was replacing the Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron for the last two weeks of the run. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed his performance, I just had questions about it.

Bel Garcia was just awesome as the Prince. Strong character choice, amazing physical commitment and a great voice to support those choices. There wasn't a need for heavy old age make-up, just enough to suggest age (some bags under the eyes), her choices filled in all the details, i.e. the way it should be.

Sarah Sanford was all that she needed to be. She gave to her partners what they needed and played off of them well. She didn't steal focus, which was weird considering the nature of her character, she's a great partner to share a scene with.

James Sugg puzzled me at first. He was Jon the Ballboy, a very supportive sort of role. When he first started speaking he reminded me of the Stuart Larkin character from MADtv. Similar pitch a breathiness, but he fell into the role enough and made choices that quickly distanced myself from those thoughts.

Dito Van Reigersberg played the title character Henry. Probably the stiffest of them all, but the stiffness came out of choice, not actor. Through some scenes he seemed a little disconnected at moments, but he still made me care in the end.

All in it was an awesome show that actually made me giggle in delight, not an easy thing to accomplish. I felt excited and exhilarated by their work and will be planning to make the trip up to Philly to see their show this Fall.

PLUS! Woolly had $5 scripts available to buy. Not of Hell Meets Henry Halfway, but of other plays, and let's be honest, I'm a script hoarder. Seriously. So I ended up being good and only walking away with 4. Can't wait to dig in! Wonder if I could order them online and not have to make the trip to DC.

During all of this happiness there was one thing that really made doubt whether or not I would go back to Woolly for a show. As intermission was ending (and just after I bought my snacks, I was outside while Greg was smoking during the first part), they had a recording saying don't bring any food or drink in. Cool I get it, new theatre. Let me try to finish the last few bites and I wander towards the door. Then all of a sudden a patron was like "You can't take that in there", I responded with a nice "I know." Course what I really wanted to say was "I'm not fucking deaf, thanks." So I realized I was starting to go in the main door and not the door closest to my seat, so Greg and I walked over to the other door and I tried to finish my last few bites of sugary goodness, when all of a sudden from ACROSS THE ENTIRE LOBBY the House Manager* yells "Ma'am, You can't take that in there!" And yes I mean yell. Well being the brassy broad I can be and having just bit my tongue to a fellow patron, I was getting ready to say "No shit!" when I realized that response might incur me not seeing the rest of the show and always wanting to be respectful of the theatre I told her that I was trying to finish it and was putting it in my purse.

Okay, so I understand it's her job to be on top of what happens, and it's not her fault that another patron had said something quite similar not more than 60 seconds prior. What I DO have issue with is a paid employee of the theater yelling across the lobby at a patron. That is completely unacceptable. I would never in a million years do that to a patron, otherwise they might not come back. In fact after the first act I was thinking about how much a season ticket might cost so that way I could experience this amazing space again and again. Thanks to the bitch with the attitude, that's not happening. I can find contemporary theater in any town, I don't have to make the hour drive to DC and spend a lot more money on a ticket to Woolly to boot. I've always had an affinity for Woolly since I went there when I was in high school for one of their "yard sales". While I probably will go to Woolly again in the future, I'm not really looking to make the season ticket commitment as a result.

So other than that one staff person, my experience was amazing. So yeah for Pig Iron and big boo to the Woolly House Manager*.


*I'm assuming she's the house manager, don't know her official title, but she was in charge of the ushers that night.

Bermuda @ The Strand

So Sunday I hopped on over to one of my favorite theaters in town, The Strand. It's a small theater in an old Victorian row home which resides in the Station North Arts District. Just up the street from the Everyman and the Charles Theater, it's a great little place to catch a show.

The show I saw was Bermuda by Noah Galuten (famous for his http://manbitesworld.com/ blog). It's a quick little piece, only about an hour long, but a lot happens in a short amount of time. It's about a new married man and wife who have the husband's brother over for dinner. As we all know, nothing ever good happens over the dinner table in theatre. So chaos ensues. The play kind of reminds me of a mix between "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and Dharma & Greg, but without the kookiness.

It's worth a look for sure. Well written and with a strong director. I think sometimes there was a slight disconnect with what the actors were saying, but I also over analyze any piece of theatre I see.

It runs until February 15th, Friday, Saturday & Sunday. More info at http://www.strandtheatercompany.org/.

Other's passion can be inspiring.

It's really nice to be around a group of people that cares as much about theatre as I do.

Let me rewind a little bit for you...

Today was the BTA strategic planning meeting at Towson U and I was invited to attend because I worked up a proposal for how BTA can leverage social media to help bring exposure to the local theatre in Baltimore.

It was a little strange at first. I think people wondered who the hell I was, but once I started contributing and actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about all was good.

These people are not just passionate, but they are passionate about this city and doing theatre in THIS city. They care about the community as a whole and are working to make sure that we ALL survive. No one goes down. In times like these, where arts organizations are folding left and right, that mentality that we are all in this together is extremely refreshing. Finding ways to provide value to the community, an all hands on deck approach, is really awesome. So thanks to all who were in the meeting today, you really made me feel good about my future in this town.

It's always been my goal to own a theatre company in NYC, and don't get me wrong, it's still what I want, but I think I'm doing alright here in Bmore for now.

And not to be all solicitor-like, but if you're looking to get involved and contribute to the community, let BTA know. All hands on deck, right?