Open Wardrobes

Kelly and I did another round of photos last night for Schrödinger's Cat Must Die! (which now has its own website). I've learned from this experience that my wife derives entirely too much pleasure from throwing stuffed animals at my head. At any rate, I think I've narrowed the selection of the official show photo (for the Fringe website, postcard, etc.) to the following three photos. This is your opportunity, faithful readers, to give your opinion. Which of these most makes you want to come and see the show?

#1

#2

#3

Yesterday I learned that my children's play The Princess and the Moon has won 2nd place in the East Valley Children's Theatre's 2009 Aspiring Playwrighting Contest! I am very excited to have this play win an award, as I'm very proud of how it turned out. I still hope to find a premiere production for it before sending it out to any publishers, and I've entered the play in a couple other contests as well. Here's hoping this is just the start of many good things for this play!

One of the nice things about producing your own show is that you can take a break from the writing/acting side of things by doing one of the many other things that need to be done. Last night Kelly and I took some show pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

A couple of nights ago I had the opportunity to catch Tim Mooney, a playwright and actor, in performance with his solo show Moliere Than Thou. Tim had brought this show to the 2007 Minnesota Fringe Festival, but I missed it and so when I heard he was back in Minnesota I jumped at the chance to see it. The framework of the play is Tim as Moliere who proceeds to perform speeches from his plays (as his acting troupe has had a run-in with some bad shellfish). The performance was brilliant. To start with the script was very well-done (a testament to Tim as a writer) with wonderful translations which gave evidence to Tim's deep knowledge of Moliere's works. As a performer Tim was filled with energy from start to finish, dashing around the stage and climbing around the theater as he moved from play to play. He reminded me of a young Hugh Laurie (from the likes of Jeeves and Wooster (especially in his facial movements; I've never seen someone act so much with their tongue). What held my attention the most was Tim's complete dedication to what he was doing. The script was enjoyable, the translations excellent, but it was the actor, throwing himself completely into the part, that pulled the whole show together. All in all it was a brilliant piece of work. I'm glad I was able to catch it, and it makes me sorry I've missed Tim's other shows at the Fringe.


As I work on my own one-man show it was inspiring to see a piece like this done so well from both the acting and writing sides. Not to mention a reminder of how important it will be for myself as an actor to sell the piece. And, of course, having a great script doesn't hurt. :-)

...IS A GO!!! This evening I received by email my official acceptance from the Minnesota Fringe Festival as a bring-your-own-venue (BYOV) for this year's festival. So, at long last, I can now move forward knowing for sure the show will take place. It's been a longer journey to get to this point than I had originally expected, but I think the BYOV route is going to work out even better than had I been accepted through the lottery. So mark your calendars for Friday, July 31st at 8:30 PM for opening night!


111 days until Fringe.

...to hear back from the Fringe regarding my Bring-Your-Own-Venue application. I'm supposed to turn in a contract and deposit to my venue on Monday, so I'm crossing my fingers I will get the official go-ahead this week. In the meantime I am continuing to work on the script and have started making other preparations on the assumption I will be in.

So yesterday as I was working on things for my one-man show I heard via Facebook and email (mostly Facebook) that a number of other people I know have been cast in Lakeshore's 10-Minute Play Festival. From the Greens, my Greenie son Andrew has been cast with me in This Town Ain't Big Enough..., plus Candy Striped. His real-life father Syd (our beloved Wind Spirit) has been cast as his father in Candy Striped, and Sylena, one of my Greenie twins, is also in that same play. Jenna and Justin, siblings in real life, will play siblings in another play, and Jessica (my wife in Greens) is acting in the play Claudia will be directing. I've also heard the rumor that Ali (yet another of my Greenie daughters) is in one of the plays, but I haven't heard which one. Lastly, Jan (who played Pinella the witch) is directing one of the plays. On the non-Greenie front, Jim Wescott (who was in a couple of the 10-minute plays last year, and his daughter Anne and I co-starred in Table 11) will be in a play called Double Dribble. And, who knows, there may yet be other old friends in one play or another.


I cannot express how excited I am to have so many of our Greenie family in the festival! We will all, I'm certain, have a fantastic time with our cast mates and directors for each of our particular shows, but it will be great fun being together backstage for each of the performances. (By my count at least half of the plays can boast at least one Greenie.) It was wonderful on Saturday seeing the troupe of Greenie kids come into the theater, and I'm glad we all continue to run into each other and find our way into shows together.

Yesterday afternoon Lakeshore Players held auditions for their annual 10-Minute Play Festival, which consists of 10 different 10-minute plays, each with a different director. I was in one of the plays in last spring's festival (The Guests at Table 11) which was an extremely well-written piece and great fun to do, and so I had long since decided that if I didn't get into Anything Goes I would definitely audition for the festival this year, Fringe or no Fringe.


I hadn't actually been at auditions last year as I was out of town, so I didn't entirely know what to expect this year, but it was one of the most fun auditions I've ever done. My fellow Greenie and movie star Jessica writes here about the experience in a much more entertaining way that I probably will. As there are 10 directors for the festival who all want to see people we were all herded up to the theater after filling out our audition form to join the chaos. I say chaos, but in a good, fun, you-want-to-stick-around-just-to-watch sort of way. Directors would see you, shove a script into your hands and tell you what they wanted you to read. Then, once that director was able to get a turn with people on stage (which you had to be quick about, or another director would jump in!) you'd get up, read selections from the piece, maybe do it again with other actors or with you in a different role, then it would be on to a different play with a different director who would try out different actor combinations as quick as was humanly possible. Then, when more people arrived, it might be back to one of the earlier plays, with some directors bringing people downstairs or into the hall in order to see as many people as they could... Well, I think you get the idea.


Having done a few shows at Lakeshore now, and several others, I knew or recognized a number of people. Many of the other Greenies came out as well (including Jessica, and four of our own lovely Greenie children), plus Anne (who I played opposite in Guests last year) and her dad Jim, Syd the Wind Spirit from Greens, and many, many others. The turnout was much higher than I think any of the directors expected!


I read for three of the plays (plus saw bits of several others as other actors read), all of which I really liked (and was able to read the whole play while waiting for my turn). The first was Kitchen Sink Drama, directed by Michael who played Hal in Lakeshore's recent Picnic. It's a funny piece (about silverware in a sink) and I read both the curmudgeonly Sponge and the heartsick Knife, who pines for the Spoon while Sponge insists a Knife should be with a Fork. Either part would be great fun to do. I also read for Beige Bart, in This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us, a Western with a twist, and the part of a boyfriend who has just been stabbed with a steak knife by his girlfriend. And yesterday evening I had a call from David, director of the Western piece, who offered me the role of Beige Bart which I instantly accepted. This was one of those parts that I loved right away and despite being the smallest part I read for was the one I most hoped I'd be able to do. So yeehah, I get to be a cowboy!


Last year there were a number of actors who were in multiple plays, so I'm still crossing my fingers that I might be offered a part in one of the other two plays I read for. But, regardless, I received a part I really wanted, and it will be fun to be a part of the festival once again. Clearly there will be a lot of fun, talented people in all of the shows; I'm hoping to see many of the people I know in one play or another. It will be a fun diversion too as I prepare for Fringe (should have the final word soon!) and really, how often does one get to play a cowboy? (Or a Knife, if it comes to that?) That's part of the fun of the 10-minute genre - there are a lot of crazy fun concepts that you could never stretch out to a full play, but in 10 minutes... well, you can do just about anything.