a poor player

Dunkirk NY – Posting has been light because I’m in something of a vacation mode. Since closing The Tempest 10 days ago, I’ve been working to re-orient my daily routine to something more akin to what it usually is during the school year. I’ve been resting, trying to get back on a more normal sleep pattern, eating better, and so forth. I think I’m there just about now. I call this my de-compression routine. I am always a little taken aback at how long it actually takes to re-adjust mental and physical routines. Your body really gears up during a show, and getting that physical and psychological “there’s a show tonight” feeling takes more time than I’d really like it to. Tomorrow it’s off in the car to visit Eric at Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre down in the hills of Virginia. That’s when the real vacation begins.

As a consequence theatre hasn’t been much on my mind lately, even though I have been doing my best to keep up with readings in the blogosphere. I have been taking mental notes on some of the things I’d like to write about, but they will have to wait until after vacation. I’ll give you a preview of those topics, but before I do, here’s some thoughts prompted by a post by David Cote in Time Out New York that got me thinking a bit on the nature of blogging (h/t 99 seats, whose own post was also thought-provoking). Two quotes for context, first from Mr. Cote:

5. Bloggers: Engage/enrage
This item will generate noise (and that’s the point): I wish bloggers would mix it up more. Does it take a Rachel Corrie fiasco to generate heat? The theater blogosphere has been dull, insular and quiet lately. We need more arguments, more dirt, more bloody knock-down-drag-out fights. Not just self-promotion, obscure manifestos and production diaries. And here’s hoping for a new breed of long-form critics worth reading.

Continue Reading »

Dunkirk NY – Well, tonight is closing night. I am looking forward to having more free time and resting my body for a spell. After that comes a quick visit to see my son down in the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre in Ferrum, VA, and then some lazy dog days in August. It’s been a pretty good summer so far, but I have sorely neglected my Middle States work. It rests uneasy in the back of my mind. August may be consumed with getting that together, as well as preparing to teach the 100-student large lecture class I have this semester.

Last night was rained out. Just enough rain fell on the stage to make it unsafe, so the show was called. That’s always a disappointment, but in this case we had a pretty good cast party to make up for it. Our SM and ASM both had birthdays yesterday, so we went downtown to celebrate. It’s nice to sit and chat with young actors for a buit, but eventually you find your self hanging with the old-timers swapping war stories and what have you. One thing I absolutely love about Buffalo is the feeling of community. There are so many actors who have been on the scene for 15-20 years now that it really makes for a nice community atmosphere. Sitting at a bar, just drinking and passing time, re-living old productions or talking about new ones coming up – it’s pleasant. Even when you’re poking around for work, it’s pleasant. I don’t have anything lined up for this coming season, but having done this summer perhaps something will show up over time. But I am not worried about it all that much, truthfully. A little slowing down could be good for the soul.

This week I discovered protein! In doing summer orientation I was talking with my colleague Sam Kenney (our dance instructor) about diet and such, and how my muscles were so sore. She suggested that it was possible I wasn’t getting enough protein in my diet to replace my muscle mass, and that because I was burning a great deal of energy and muscle during the show (and, frankly, because I’m not as young as I once was), I needed to increase my intake of protein to help the process along. And I think it worked! At least, this week I have not felt nearly as sore as I have during the previous three weeks, and I wake up with more energy and ability to accomplish some tasks during the day rather than just crashing on the couch not moving. It’s really apparent in my legs. So I’ve increased my intake to about 40g of protein supplement to go along with my regular diet. I may keep this up a bit, and perhaps it will help me lose a bit of weight as well.

Not much more to say today. I did upload some pictures to my Flickr site of the production, so you should be able to see them using the picture link on the sidebar. Here’s one below just to tempt you on.  -twl

As Stephano - "Then to seas, boys, and let her go hang."

Dunkirk NY

“Merrily Merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.” 5.1  The Tempest

After tonight and a day off tomorrow, there are 6 performances left of The Tempest in Shakespeare in Delaware Park. It will be somewhat of a rough week, because it will also be the first full week of freshman orientation at Fredonia, which I am also working. While I am in relatively good health, that is not the same as being in relatively good shape. From a physical standpoint, the run is wearing on me. I have been fortunate in that, because of the amount of rainouts we’ve had combined with a day off yesterday, we;ve not done this show three times in a row yet. I’ve been getting sproadic days off, and that has helped.

Yes, it’s depressing. It seems that the last two weeks have been spent doing the show at night and conserving energy during the day to prepare for that night’s performance. I had assumed when I took the role that it would not be so difficult. After all, the Stephano/Trinculo/Caliban subplot involves three scenes, with a small appearance in the last scene to wind things up. There is a dance routine at the end of the first scene, as Caliban’s “Freedom Heyday” song has been turned into a reggae-beat song-and-dance routine. By the time I come offstage after that number I am winded, panting heavily, swilling lots of water, trying to catch my breath. It’s also been a cool run, so thank the stars I haven’t had to do this in temperatures higher than 80º. But strangely enough, after having done this now for essentially four weeks since we started run-thrus, I haven’t had that “breakthrough” which indicates my muscles have built up to the point that they don’t ache. Even as I type this my shoulder and neck areas are achy and tight. I was hoping the physical aches and pains would not be so noticeable, and that during the day I’d be able to continue doing other activities. Not so much. Continue Reading »

Dunkirk NY

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDH3wvlC9pY&rel=0]

Everyone has role models. Karl was one of mine. A true working man’s character actor, Karl Malden came from working class stock, and never let success of any kind go to his head. He remained married to the same woman for 70 years, raised fine kids, and did his job with no muss, no fuss, no mess. And did it well. He was a throwback to the golden age of theatre and movies, with roots in the Group Theatre. And loyal – even in the face of strong opposition he stuck up for Elia Kazan and got him a Lifetime Achievement award from the Academy. I’ll take a man like this over a thousand Michael Jacksons any time.

His NY Times obituary. RIP Karl. You will be missed.  -twl

Dunkirk NY – I and many others have debated the worth of getting an MFA in theatre for any other purpose than teaching at the university level. The core of the argument is that, from an economic standpoint, getting an MFA is not financially worth the debt a student incurs because there is little assurance of being able to pay the loans back through earnings in the theatre. Today’s NY Times has an article in its “Room for Debate” feature where several people question the financial worth of a Masters degree. You can read it here. The summary: not worth much except in certain fields, theatre not being one of them.

*The Greater New York High School Theatrical Kool-Aid Contest continues unabated. I wonder what this cash cow brings in to the producers of the event? Nothing like being able to make a few bucks off some young kid’s dream.

*Happy Canada Day! If you’re heading north of the border to celebrate with your Canadian friends, remember to bring your passport!

*The American Theatre Web site ceases operation today, which I think is a sad moment. Andy Propst took a job with Theatermania, which I assume is great news for him, but not so much for us. ATW was a site with minimal advertising (almost none, actually), and it presented a superb roundup of theatre news across the country sometimes three times a day on a clean, easy-to-read website. His new home is a visually noisy placed loaded down with advertising and marketing to the max (not Andy’s doing. He’s working for them as a writer, not a designer). Even though Andy promises us he’ll continue providing news from around the regions, I really don’t trust the nature of the site itself to give us anything like ATW gave us. But hey, more power to Andy if he’s moving up in the world and getting a chance to earn a living. My guess is ATW didn’t pay too well and was more a labor of love than anything else.

*Finally, with a comment on Parabasis I unintentionally started a small discussion on the dearth of female bloggers and critics in American theatre. Isaac was kind enough to take my comment and turn it into a post which engendered a few more comments. Give it a read.  -twl