a poor player

Fredonia NY – With a few minutes to spare I am coming up for air for a short post as Rocky Horror prepares to open this coming Friday.  I left town on Thur. to visit my daughter who lives in the Boston area, spent Friday and Saturday touring Walden Pond, the King Richard Renaissance Faire, and getting cars repaired, and drove back Sunday for first tech. Since Sunday night I have been leaving the theatre at about midnight and getting back to work at about 10AM.

I am continually amazed at how much energy and peoplepower it takes to put on a full-scale production in a 400-seat house. Last night we actually blew a fuse somewhere, when just before the last number we were trying to run a fog chiller. It seems that, with a 9-piece band, full lights, a wireless sound system, and all sorts of other things, we still have to be careful about overloading the system.

I’ve been observing this process with a different eye, because in some sense all this is overkill. But, when you have a theatre program with so many students all seeking an opportunity to learn their stuff, you try to create as many opportunities as possible. I have a cast of 19, but I only really needed about a cast of 12. I probably only needed a band of 5, but we have 9 so as to add some horns. The set is large enough to fill a full-sized proscenium stage, with the two towers reaching 16-18 feet in the air (they tell me the bridge across the two towers is rigged to hold 3/4 of a ton of weight). You’re also trying to create a regional theatre scale production with students, because the space and capability it there. One interesting thing is that what we don’t have are stage mechanics for moving scenery, things like hydraulics and such, so every scene change has to be made by humans. The stage crew is pretty large, as we have two jackknife stages to move scenic units in and out, and a huge revolve in the center of the set to go from the castle exterior to the lab interior. So, are we doing too much, or is it just the circumstances of the space, the amount of students, the selection of show, or what, that causes so much frenetic energy towards the end? I had a brief discussion about this with some of my technical colleagues, and hopefully we can find ways to refine this process.  -twl

Fredonia NY – During an all-day tech rehearsal, while designers and technicians write cues and try to get used to the new light board and such, there is a lot of time to sit and do nothing but cruise the net. So I came across this little number as I was reading Arts Journal.

This, to me, is the classic arrogance of New York City theatre – sueing another theatre company 3,000 miles away over an acronym. Two quotes from the article are particularly relevant:

“This is a bullying tactic,” said Gina Driscoll, an attorney and a member of the advisory board at Washington Ensemble Theatre. “If somebody files a federal complaint, you have to answer—and if somebody’s not in a position to fight it, they have to lie down and comply. They’ve put us between a rock and a hard place.”

“What is the state of nonprofit theater in America today,” asked Washington Ensemble Theatre member Marya Sea Kaminski, “when one theater across the country doesn’t believe we can co-exist in a national marketplace, and would rather tie up both their artists and ours in lawsuits and going to court instead of making art?”

What, indeed? -twl

Fredonia NY – While waiting for a sitzprobe of RHPS to start, I ran across this via Arts Journal. It’s a Boston Globe article about a senior at Boston Conservatory in their musical theatre program. In imitation of Isaac’s QOTD, what do you think Stephanie should do – quit and move on, or continue and get her degree? (NB – The Boston Globe link probably requires a free registration to read it. If that’s not your cup of tea, click here for a PDF link.) -twl

Dunkirk, NY – Little is more depressing in life than to come home after a tough few hours at rehearsal for a musical, then turn on the DVR and watch your team fall apart at the seams. I really do take the Yankees pretty personally at times. Sometimes it amazes me how much I have invested in them. Yesterday I had to squeeze in a nap from 3-4:30, then get to rehearsal, come home at 10, only to watch the vengeful gods of baseball unleash a plague of midges onto the field. Surreal.

Rehearsals for Rocky Horror are going along well, such as it is. I am driving the students to learn to be more specific in terms of their execution, and to execute gestures and dance steps completely and fully. It’s funny how they have no real concept of what “camp” means. The works of Charles Busch don’t have much of a ring. I am having some difficulty trying to find contemporary reference for camp, and can’t come up with anything other than the Adam West Batman series. Any help would be appreciated.

Organizing theatre reform in education has taken a back seat for me for the time being. I think during the winter break will be an ideal time for more strategizing with interested parties. Currently the average day lacks enough hours, and I admit freely and openly that at this point of my career I truly try not to overcommit myself and thereby end up having 18-hour work days. 10-12 is enough, thanks. Come November I would like to ramp up some ideas and see if they’ll take off.

Nothing else; resting today, sleeping, going to a birthday celebration later. Maybe kayaking tomorrow. A final push to opening night mixed with a fall break visit to my daughter’s house in Framingham MA. With any luck NY will be playing Boston right at that time. If not, there’s always Walden Pond. -twl

Dunkirk NY – In order to see Eric’s pictures from Russia, I had to create a Facebook account. Plus, a former student sent me an invitation. I sense convergence here….

Dunkirk NY – It’s October. That means you won’t see too much blogging over the next few weeks. Why? Here’s why:

• It’s postseason time in baseball. My hometown nine, the New York Yankees, are in the playoffs for the 14th straight time, and I’ll be watching. It’s quite unfortunate that given what the next bullet point is going to be, I won’t be able to get tickets to The Jake, which is only two hours away from me. Even if the Yanks lose, I will still be watching every other playoff game, up until the last game of the World Series. That’s what you do when you’re a baseball freak like me.
• Directing Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s the first show of our Fredonia theatre season, and I’m its director. We are just getting into the meat of rehearsals, stringing together the show, with about 10 days before first tech. It’ll keep me busy, running rehearsals and then running home to catch the playoffs. I am grateful for two things: my digital video recorder to record the games while I’m in rehearsal, and the fact that RHPS is only about 90 minutes long and is not exactly a demanding show beyond getting the style right.
• Leaf Peeping. When I’m not doing 1 or 2 above, I’ll probably be outside enjoying the changing of the leaves. There are not too many days left in this neck of the woods before winter shows its frozen face, so with what good days are left until the end of the month I get outside as much as possible. It’s a good thing I have an XM Satellite Radio and enjoy listening to baseball as much as watching it.
• A lack of ideas and thoughts on theatre at the moment. The series on theatre education reform seemed to have exhausted me in terms of commenting on theatre for the time being. I don’t often stray from blogging about theatre; there are enough very good political blogs out there, and expressing my political outrage seems better spent in other venues. I do hope to take a trip to New York City in the same way I did last November, but for now not much to say theatrically, really.

So hopefully there won’t be too much gnashing of teeth on the lack of relevant posts. If something comes up I’ll be around, but perhaps not so eloquently. November, which will bring the darkness and the sense of hunkering down, is more conducive to writing. But not that nothing’s getting done. Ideas are being generated, discussions are being had behind the scenes about a movement to activate reform in theatre education. If you’d like more information, feel free to email me and I can fill you in. -twl

Dunkirk NY – Another reason why American theatre is dying is because we have a total inferiority complex when it comes to all things British. British imports populate the Broadway stage and basically are the only dramatic plays on Broadway. This is another example of how much we have simply ceded to the Brits, and how uninterested American philanthropists are in supporting American theatre. -twl

Dunkirk NY – Those of you who read this blog with any regularity probably know by now that my son Eric is currently in Moscow studying with the Moscow Art Theatre for a semester as part of his BFA education from Northern Illinois University. If you’re interested in keeping up with his studies and observations, he has started his own blog. He calls it From Russia With Love. His latest post has some interesting observations about the first play he saw at the MAT. Take some time to check it out. -twl

(This is the fifth and final installment of a five-part series looking at theatre education today. Please be sure to read Scott Walters’ companion piece over at Theatre Ideas.)

Dunkirk NY – So what in theatre education needs reforming? If I had to sum it all up, I would say that there needs to be a fundamental change in philosophy and approach. The focus of the educational effort needs to move decisively away from the pre-professional model and towards providing students the sort of education which gives them the ability to become active creators of theatre. They need an education attuned to the issues of their time, not ours, and one which develops an independent and critical mind that can turn what they see and experience of life into art. They need a subversive education. Continue Reading »

Fredonia NY – I’ve been tagged with the latest meme going about, as follows:

“Make a list of five strengths that you possess as a writer/artist. It’s not really bragging, it’s an honest assessment (forced upon you by this darn meme). Please resist the urge to enumerate your weaknesses, or even mention them in contrast to each strong point you list. Tag four other writers or artists whom you’d like to see share their strengths.”

My list is as follows:

1. I’m genuine
2. I’m honest
3. I’m perceptive
4. I’m true to my word
5. I have a good sense of humor and a terrific laugh

The only person I can think to tag at this point is Sarah Deutsch, who wrote in my comments about a very interesting project she’s trying in San Francisco. If you’re reading this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged. I think everyone else I know is taken up. -twl