disturbia

Currently waiting for Verizon to come by the Bread Job and install new phone lines. They've got an hour and fifteen left in the designated window. I am not particularly optimistic. My experience with these guys and the demons over at Time Warner Cable is equally wretched.

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Aussie has been mentioning her interest in starting a monologue group up for actor-practice. I need to keep my chops in good working order as well, and I told her I would be psyched to hang out, tweak, critique and help shape one-minutes, two-minutes, Shakespeares, contemporaries, etc. once a week. We could work out of the Commune in Queens (where Aussie, PJ, Sessoms & Miss Kim all live), or all throw down about 5 bucks and rent a TR or Shetler space. I'm more in favor of the rental; rehearsals in a house tend to be distracting. Anyone interested?

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Man is sound board op for King of Shadows down at Theater for the New City. I went to the opening with Sessoms on Sunday. Besides the room being downright frosty, it was a decent experience. The sound design (done by the delightful M.L. Dogg) was actually my favorite part - in fact, the design of everything was gorgeous. The performances were a little, er, confusing to me - a lot of the show seemed muddled, and very disconnected. I kept wanting to yell "Talk like humans!," but I don't know if this was the fault of actors, director, or writer...or if it was done intentionally.


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The first "real" theatre work I ever did in NYC, I was 17. I had an internship at Chicago City Limits, and I was submitting my ten minute play "Spoons" to every address I could find. The very prolific Theatre Studio Inc. Playtime series picked it up. I was stoked.

I wound up doing a bunch of things at TSI around that time - acting in several other plays, doing a few different runs of "Spoons." It wasn't particularly glamorous, but it was a really great, friendly way to get broken in to the theatre scene. I haven't been back to TSI since 2003, when I performed as Sudi in a show my friend wrote called "Sudi's Day Comes." I hear they got a new space, revamped their programs (they're caled TheatreVision now), and I keep seeing their calls for directors in Backstage.

So...I bit the bullet, and sent an email saying whattup.

I recieved a response pretty quickly, and I gather I will be directing a...something?...for the Octoberfest Bar-ometrics Pressures Festival. Rock n roll.

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In Other News:

-Congrats to Daisy for booking Theatreworks Christmas Carol tour!! Daisy definitely has the biggest rack of any Tiny Tim ever. I am allowed to say this cuz we is BFF.

-Please come check out RTC's Bal Masqué, to raise funds for our 2009 season. We have some really wonderful performances planned and will be silent-auctioning off a lot of cool shtuff - framed, signed David Bowie artwork, an original '79 Rocky Horror poster, tix to NY City Ballet, baskets of alcohol...come!

-I don't know what to be for Halloween yet. This is not good!

a little supernatu naturalitee

I FINISHED THE GREEK PLAY.

Now to finish all the costumes for Footloose, all the performance of Metropolitan Operas, and attend all the first year final-scenes this week, without losing my mind, killing someone, or crying in front of Blackstone's. Again.

RTC was invited to a theatre networking event that I will post info about very very soon. I think all actors, designers, etc. should go to this thing - I was invited by Emily Oh, who, since Alice, has taken on marketing as her thang. And she's quite good at it too. You can check her out at emilyowenspr.com.

Also, after being very very wrapped up in Final Pros over at NP (where the whole gang is kickin' major ass - Sessoms, Daisy, Boss rock the house with full preparations; uber-sexy Stormy & can-I-drool-on-my-lap-over-him-any-more Swank play a married couple that hate each other; Sweetheart steals my heart, of course, as a very unusual bum)...I was thrown back into HAIR-ville today, after not thinking on it for a whole four days. That's a lot for me! I toured around Central Park with Stone, Man's best friend from Arkansas, who's been living here since the days when Man & I actually lived in one city. Throwback of all throwbacks. Much like Man & I, yet much unlike Man & I, he's with the same gal as he used to be, and still hackin' away at a theatre career. He did HAIR in Summerstock a few years ago, and just got back from playing Riff in an Illinois company of "West Side Story." Man recommended highly that I take him on, and although I was sorta full up on white boys, my instincts said this was a must-take. I invited him sight-unseen since 2002, and today, I realized why. We met on the corner of 96th, and from across the street, it was like "Oh, yep. There's my missing peg."

I can't explain it. I wasn't missing a character, or anyone at all. But Stone's got an energy that will complete the Tribe. So as far as I know, we're fully cast, and ready to roll on May 15th.



So other readers out there in Retroland...if you'd like to come see Final Pros, check out the Second Year website for all the info you'll need.

I'm in Metropolitan Operas, which runs on the 7th & 9th at 7:30 PM, and the 11th at 2 PM. It's a tico tico experience.

second morning

There's a thing I do that I think must be very specific to freelancers and people in the arts. It's called the Second Morning.

So you get up for the first time. You're running just barely on time to make a morning appointment for your Bread Job, an audition, a rehearsal, a something. The Something takes an hour or two, you finally eat something. You head home. Then, when you put your key in the door, the Second Morning begins. It's still very much daylight, and it's although it's 2 or 3 or 4 PM, the house is still in a state of 10 AM. You make coffee. Maybe you even get back in your pajamas. Take that shower you didn't have time to take when you breezed out for the First Morning. You check your email.

I love Second Mornings. I'm already on the go, so I'm more inspired to do all the personal work I have to do - theatre paperwork, character research and the like - but there's not that nasty time factor when there's a pressing outside world appointment impending. The outside world has been handled. Now all I have is a show to attend tonight, when the sun is down. The day is mine, and I can face the rest of it in sweatpants.

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The Playhouse time is fairly complete. I got a strange cameo role in the Final Plays - I'm the Madonna in a Pintauro short called "Fiat." I am slightly disappointed, but I think it might turn out to be a surprise. And I can't look a gift horse in the mouth here. I'm involved in three other productions that require my immediate attention, and I've totally neglected them in favor of being a Nei-Play slave. Now I've been given the time to work on these things. And get a real job. So, to add to the list I made months ago, 2007 shows now include:

#6: "Footloose" at Talent Unlimited High School
I will be: the costume designer

#7: Undetermined Real Theater Company Straight Play, starring Sessoms
I will be: the director/producer

and work for "Greece is the Word," (formerly known as "Untitled Greek Mythology Play") at Hunter Elementary, and the RTC production of "Hair" are in full swing.

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Mom & I are each other's primary collaborators. I usually have a second and a third floating around, and it seems the primaries in 2007 are definitely Sessoms and Swank. I got very lucky, because...they both kick major ass, for very different reasons. The things I have in development for 2008 and beyond seem so much more possible because of the two of them.

Last night, after our final Gary Ramsey presentation (oh thank heaven!), Swank, Sweetheart, Daisy & I met up with Sessoms at Blackstone's...in daylight, which was truly bizarre. The bar was full of suits, so we ate our food, drank our beer and headed up to my place. Boss & Metro are in Disneyworld, so it was a weird Maggie Moon-hosted party, and Swank became my co-host (I bought eggs to dye and halfway through our shared bottle of Hypnotiq, had a very difficult time figuring out how to hard-boil them, so he assisted). With Sessoms came the ever-mysterious Professor and another first year, Goldlist. Somewhere along the line, far into the alcohol, past the egg-dye, the SceneIt! and the altercation with my {gap-toothed lazy bitchass} next door neighbor, Sessoms & Professor are in the bathroom having one of their talks, Daisy & Sweetheart are thumbing through my Hippie book together, and Swank and I are dancing about. Goldlist exclaims, in frustration:

"This is just great. Here I am with the adorable redheads, the glam-rock biters, and the crazy drama couple. Great."

Later, when it was nothing but the biters hanging out, I spilled my life dream for Swank's perusal. He got a grin on his face that made me feel like a magician.


Today, I got a job at the Central Park Boathouse. Looks like Daisy, my old directorial pal Nikki, and me shall be hash slinging hostesses this summer. Unless something more lucrative comes along.

I'm imagining myself living in abundance...

not-for-profit

I am so excited.

One of the things I had intended to do over break was look into the future of The Real Theater Company and see if I could begin to make it a serious matter. An actual company, not just in practice, but on paper too. And the thing is...

It's possible.
It's more than possible. It's do-able. I can do it, and I can start doing it right now.

So by the end of the week, our corporation papers will be filed, and RTC will be a reality.

Which means we can have subscribers. Members. Benefactors. Eventually paid performers. Eventually a paid Artistic Director. Yes! I can maybe make my living at this! Maybe I'm not looking at a lifetime of temping and bartending after all!

I looked at the history of NYC's largest not-for-profit theatre company, Roundabout, and I got chills.

This is gonna happen!