Pat Hurley (coach, light and sound, etc.) said it was one of the best performances, best acting he has seen me do at any time. That is great, I am improving my skill. What bothers me somewhat is that with even a small audience, my drive, energy, etc. increases. Not that that is the problem, just that I need to find all that energy during rehearsals and especially auditions. I can feel it, I know I have it, just where is it when I need it.

We rehearsed curtain call. Always an ego type of thing, curtain calls are. I had in mind that Kellee and Kandice would come out together and then Greg and I would come out together. BJ’s first order: Kellee, Kandice, Greg, and then Me. Got a little excited about that. I have had leads and have come out as the last pair, but never been given top billing. (I did say this was an ego thing). So I was excited and like I said, I thought Greg and I would come out together. Final plan: Kellee, Kandice, Greg, and then I walk out. Greg and I are to compete over bowing. Then bow as a group. Then the girls push us off stage. So no single spotlight, but I think this is better. Ego be something-or-other somewhere else.

TIP: Never make a comment about Curtain Call during planning and rehearsal of. And NEVER complain. The smallest things concerning ego can get you disliked. I even had a director once comment the she had never created a curtain call that did not elicit some kind of comment from the actors. I think she hated doing them.

Spoon Lake Blues: Next Monday through Wednesday, the casts of Election Day and Spoon Lake Blues will meet and perform for the author Josh Tobiessen. This will be great, meeting the author of the play. Monday, the cast of Spoon Lake Blues will perform. Tuesday is a Q&A with Josh and on Wednesday Election Day will perform.

Yesterday at set build, Pat Hurley mentioned the cast of Election Day is far ahead of the cast of Spoon Lake Blues for being off book. And as I thought about it, most of the cast on Election Day do not have day jobs. If I had all freaking day to learn lines…still, nobody else’s problem but mine. I should be off book with confidence by Monday.

Bright Flames TV: Started rehearsal a few Wednesday’s ago on Episode Two. In this episode, I play Ulrich Zwingli. Besides Robert Howell, who is the host and writer, I am the first returning actor to play a different role (Soren Kierkegaard in Episode One).

Editing for Episode One is nearly done. It will need to be entirely reshot but the thought is to try to get funding. Episode Two will go a lot smother then Episode One and will be shot in multiple segments to get all the shots needed for editing. I do hope this goes somewhere: History Channel, PBS, etc.

On a brighter note, I have landed a couple of roles. First audition on Monday night was at the Art Institute of Atlanta for student projects. I landed a role as the WIDOWER in a Drug Free America PSA. I did audition for another role for another student and I was awful. Interesting how you can be a very good fit for one role and read well for it and then very bad for another.

The second audition on Monday night and the one I am really excited about, if for the role of JUROR EIGHT in 12 Angry Jurors. Pat tells me it is the lead. Very excited about that. Thrilled even.

12 Angry Jurors runs October 8th – October 25th at the New Dawn Theater Company’s Second Stage in Duluth.

This will also be a very short run, only 4 shows. I try to avoid doing such short runs. A cast will work for weeks is not for two months or even longer and I want to have a good long run to make up for all the work I put into rehearsal. That’s just me. I enjoy the whole process, but a short run just does not seem worth it.

This is an exception of sorts. It is the Alliance Theatre! Although I cannot put just the Alliance Theatre on my resume, people will see Alliance Theatre Acting Program.

Last night was Tech. A lot of standing around, doing parts of scenes while lighting was done. While 10 of us were on stage at the very end of the show, for lighting, it got very quiet. Just then my bowels made a very loud, very long grumble. It was so embarrassing. Everybody heard it and looked in my direction. What was even funnier was that about 2 minutes later, the girl I was standing with also had a small grumbling in the tummy. Everybody fell out. Alpha Trivette made a comment: “Like the Whale Songs which can be heard 400 miles away…”

Anyway, I ramble.

Details

Powered by Twitter Tools.

BJ Hughes and Pat Hurley are the directors for Reps 1 and Reps 2 respectively, so the audition was in front of both of them. After introductions, BJ asked if I had any monologues. Monologues were provided if you did not have one. Well, I have been working with Pat on a comedic and a dramatic for the Atlanta Unifieds.

BJ asked me to do the comedic monologue and so I do. And then Pat turns to BJ and says that I know MARTY. So I do that one as well. When I finish, Pat gave me a thumbs-up hidden so that only I can see it. Pat tells me on Sunday that not only was that the best he has seen me do those two monologues, but also that BJ said it was the best he has seen anyone do MARTY. Sweet.

Both were satisfied with the monologues and did not want to see a cold reading. BJ even said he was familiar with my work. I don’t remember BJ being at any of my plays. But he seemed very please.

As I am leaving I hear BJ tell Pat, “Great start to the evening”.  It seems to have been one of my best auditions. There was very little in the way of lessons learned except that as I am waiting in the green room, I did not prepare for my monologues. Got lucky. Pat says my instincts are very good. I really should have been preparing in the green room with my monologues or even for a particular role if that is what I wanted to audition for.

Powered by Twitter Tools.

RT @DocGyver: @SWayward People crazy about watching crazy? <–ummm goes without saying, I suppose. #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

I think the lead male actor is already filled and I put on the downloaded audition form that I would only accept that role. When I arrived there were sides for the other males. I ended up sticking with my choice of only auditioning for the lead for only a single reason: Alliance Theater Summer Repituar.

I was, well still am, torn about accepting another role than the lead. I do want to be seen in as many theaters as possible. My thought was that if I get the lead, I will skip the first two Summer Reps and could still do planned vacation in May. If I don’t do Misery, then I could audition for the Summer Reps, but I would miss vacation in May. I still may not get a role in a Summer Rep, but Pat Hurley, monologue coach and instructor, would like to see me audition. He is directing 2 of the 4 Reps.

Back to the audition: My first read was two different sides with a female partner and they went well. Because I was the only non-callback male there, the director asked me to read with other ladies. So I did. The more I read, the more I get to display my acting ability. Of course I am not going to NOT read with anybody.

In the end though, because I was only looking to do PAUL, I don’t think I will receive a role. That’s OK. Next audition is for the Summer Reps.

One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest – 10 down, 5 to go

But let’s backup a bit. The weekend actually started on Thursday evening with an 8 PM showing of Cookoo’s Nest. And as I write this, I cannot remember how many people were in the audience; less than 10, I believe. Friday saw a very responsive crowd of about 30 or so. For Saturday’s matinee, I had arrived in time for cast call having just left the Bright Flames TV shoot. Really had no time to spare between those two. Saturday saw our largest crowd of over 50 people. That was a great night.

Sunday Slush and Calamine

I had been hearing for about 5 days or so, that there would be snow on Sunday, but as Sunday drew closer with no significant drop in temperature, I figured whatever snow we did have would not stick. So as I am driving towards the theater it turns from rain to very heavy snow. Still, I was thinking that nothing was going to stick to the roads. I can admit it; I was wrong. Some of the streets were starting to be covered in slush. Even the parking lot was covered in wet snow.

Once I get to the theatre, which is in Duluth, I am thinking I am not going to drive to the Alliance Theatre after the show. I had an appointment with Pat Hurley for practicing my monologues. From the Alliance to my house in Buford is 37 miles (74 miles round trip). And from Duluth to the Alliance is 12 miles less. Rescheduled with Pat for Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile in the dressing room, the cast is going over who is going to do what if 2 of our cast members do not show up. Who is going to say this line? Do we need that line? What lines are important? So we kinda work this out, but thank goodness they show up.

Meanwhile, again in the dressing room, I was saying I was not going to get dressed until we have an audience. “There are 20 people on the books.” OK, nevermind, I will get dressed. We didn’t quite have 20 but still a larger crowd than we had for Saturday’s matinee even with the snow.

Later on stage: There is a point in act ii when McMURPHY and HARDING are mixing a drink concoction from the medicine cabinet. Greg (McMURPHY) grabs a wrong bottle and puts it into the hot water bottle that is being used to hold the drink. When he poured it out into small cups it was this white-ish looking liquid. Only one or two people drank it. I had a sip thinking maybe it was a treat from the stage hands. Turns out it was Calamine lotion. Vant (TURKLE) and I have to take all the cups and bottles off the stage at the end of the scene. And usually I will drink anything that is still left in the small cups, but I was not drinking this stuff. I sit at the table near the end of that scene and so in character, I emptied all the small cups of Calamine laced liquid back into the hot water bottle. Had too. Could not get it all off otherwise.

At the end of the show, the snow had lessened and even was beginning to melt off. By 6 or 7 PM, it was nearly all gone, at my house anyway. I could have gone to the Alliance.

Bright Flames TV

Finally, after about 5 months for me (longer for the rest of the cast), we were able to get in the studio and actually shoot. And we didn’t get done. We had until noon and really only got 1 hour of shooting done. Tech took a long time, but they needed it. Focusing lights, sounds, etc.

On Friday, I received a frantic phone call from Teresa. The group providing the costumes lost the measurements for everybody. And the phone number for Teresa was on that sheet of paper. So I gave here some measurements and they grabbed some costumes, but did not have time to alter them. So Saturday morning, I pull up the paints and I look like I have just done a commercial for losing 100 pounds. What was worse was there was no belt loops or suspenders. I borrowed a belt from Doug and sort of just put the belt around my waist to hold up the paints. Once the vest and jacket were on, you could not see the belt.

So with an hour studio time left, we actually begin to shoot. I had never used teleprompters before, but I knew the concept. What was unfortunate was that the teleprompters were on 2 of the cameras. So for large swaths of dialog, people are actually looking straight into the camera. The early thought was to have 3 cameras: Straight on for all five people and one on each side for the 2 people on each side. The teleprompters were supposed to be just off camera.

And we did not finish, damn it! I believe we need another 3 hours of shooting, to get various camera angles, hopefully without looking directly into a camera. Robert wants to do some close ups, etc. I hope this turns out to be an OK production.

Eventful weekend to say the least.