Open Wardrobes

On Saturday night Kelly and I caught the final performance of Robots vs. Fake Robots, the latest offering from Walking Shadow Theatre Company. (I know, I know, if I'm going to review a play I should do so while there's still a chance to go see it!) The play is science-fiction, set in the year 6000 where robots rule the world and organic life is all but extinct, save a handful of humans (who are clearly subservient to the robots). For about the first 5 minutes or so my main thought was, "This is just odd," but I have to admit, the play soon started to grow on me. It's an interesting theatrical challenge - how to have characters on stage (played by humans) feel like robots? Playwright David Largman Murray tackles this issue first by giving the robots a distinct, and certainly mechanical, pattern of speech, whereas the two human (or "peetle") characters speak in a natural style. Andrea Gross' wonderful costumes also heighten the sense of the robot characters as, while "perfect" (in their own minds, at least), artificial. The strong acting all around finished the job by creating the individual robot personalities that definitely do not feel human. And this sense also comes from the overall theme of the play - that while humans may not share the robots' "perfection," we do possess the emotion and thus compassion that they lack. The robots (with wonderfully salvaged names such as Nintendo 64 or Morse Code) for all their robot lovemaking are incredibly cold, killing the "peetles" who get in their way with barely a thought, leaving the humans to eke out a miserable existence in the shadows, trying to stay out of the way of the robots and their Underground Patrol.

The conflict of the play arises when Joe (played by John Catron), fascinated by the robots and their lifestyle, sets out to become one of them, aided by robot Kneepad (Nathan Surprenant) who can remove a human's most distinguishing feature: their scent. Joe does indeed pass himself off as a robot, but he is pursued by his girlfriend Sammie (Lindsay Marcy) who seeks to show him how cold and fake the world of the robots really is. The title itself suggests the robots' point of view, but Sammie alone understands that it is really the robots who are the fake humans and ultimately lack all that makes human life worth living.

All in all Kelly and I both really enjoyed the play. It is always a pleasure to see a piece that is strong all around, from the script to the acting to the technical elements, and here Walking Shadow certainly did not disappoint. I personally feel it is the strongest of the scripts they have presented this year and hope to see scripts of a similar caliber in their roster next season (not yet announced).

And while it's too late to catch this show, Walking Shadow will be making an appearance at this summer's Fringe Festival with SQUAWK, written by company member John Heimbuch. I am a little sad that their originally planned show (Scrimshaw: the Unauthorized Biography) won't be happening, but the tagline of their new show reads, "An elite military intelligence training program. Two officers. One penguin. Who will make it out?" And really, can you ever go wrong with penguins?

It's hard to believe I've been rehearsing for about 2 weeks already! The Fringe inches ever closer... I've had several rehearsals with my director Kevin already, plus a number on my own. It's been incredibly useful to have Kevin as part of the process. Sometimes you just need another person to react to in the creative process and spur new ideas. Our rehearsals together have mostly been focused on character: Who is Dr. Volt? Who is the Assistant? Why are they doing what they're doing? We've taken the first few pieces and talked through the subtext (what the characters are thinking), for example, to get an idea of their unspoken goals. Kevin also had me take the Assistant character, which I've been a little nervous about, and improv him starting at the very beginning. We learn in the play that the Assistant is a result of one of Dr. Volt's experiments, and so he had me start there: at the Assistant's moment of creation, and just play around with what happened next. It was a great exercise and a lot of nice moments came out of it. I also felt like I was able to start getting my brain around the character, and together we came up with some important character points that have been very useful as I continue to work with the character. The Assistant is a silent character, and so having definition to what he's thinking is vital. Otherwise what will likely come out is a bunch of mush - movement and actions with no real purpose behind them. The past several days I've been working through some of the Assistant pieces, trying to determine very specifically what he is doing and getting those actions clear in my own mind.

So things are moving along! Last week I agreed to be part of an "open mike" night hosted by Rockstar Storytellers, which will consist of a number of Fringe shows each doing 4-5 minutes of material. That takes place on July 7th at Kieran's Pub in Minneapolis, starting at 8:30 PM. It's a little daunting to think about doing a performance of this piece so soon, but I think it'll be good to get out there and (hopefully) get some buzz going!

Just 37 days left until Fringe!

Last night my director Kevin and I held our first rehearsal for Schrödinger's Cat Must Die! (another of the pluses of a one-man show: you can rehearse in your basement). I read through all of Dr. Volt's dialogue again, this time on my feet, and then we walked through all of the show's experiments. I've been working the past several weeks to collect as many of the show's props as possible, as being able to rehearse the experiments from the start will be important. It was a good first rehearsal - good to start working through the experiments in reality (already some tweaks will be needed) and to again hear the words that I've been fiddling with on the page for so long!

Somehow the readthrough of a one-man show lacks something. At any rate, last night I sat down with the entire cast of Schrödinger's Cat Must Die! to read through Dr. Volt's dialogue and get an idea of the total time. Dr. Volt's bits ran about 34 minutes in total, which is pretty close to where it needs to be (I expect the Assistant's bits to run about a half hour as well), and if anything might be a little long (once you add some pauses, reacting with audience, etc). So I was rather glad to find out the show isn't going to only run 30 minutes! My deepest fear was to find out that the show was, in its current state, was far too short to fill an hour.

It felt good to start to hear things out loud, and though I still have a few script issues to resolve, I feel that I am very close to starting rehearsals in earnest!

Lakeshore's 10-minute play festival wrapped up last night for another year. As a 10-minute play is a "flash of theatrical lightning" (as others have called it), so too is the festival. After a few individual rehearsals with our own show, we all come together for a few tech rehearsals, then the whirlwind of 6 shows in 4 days. Then... it is over, and the process begins again. (In fact, they are already accepting submissions for next year's festival.) It was a joyous, if tiring, week. I was reunited with many of my Greenies, scattered throughout various productions, as well as other old friends from last year's festival and other shows. I also met new people, wonderful and talented, who all together made this a great festival. I think the festival is the perfect way to crown the season, a way to celebrate new plays, to laugh, and bring together so many talented members of the Lakeshore family in one final hurrah before the summer... then the fall and it all begins again. I can't wait.

My friend, Chris Bowlsby, is a visual genius. Need proof? Here is the front side of the postcard he's designing for Schrödinger's Cat Must Die!

Chris also does kick-butt wedding photography which you can learn more about on his website for Bowlsby Photo. I should, of course, also credit my genius wife Kelly for taking the great photo.

Last night we had our tech rehearsal for Act 1 of Lakeshore's 10-minute play festival (tonight they tech the Act 2 plays). My play, This Town Ain't Big Enough for the both of Us, in which I play a sort of British cowboy-type character (yes, the play does verge a little on the ridiculous ), is shaping up nicely and I feel that we'll be more than ready for opening on Thursday. I was also able to watch the other 4 shows in act one, and I based on those (plus what I know about Act 2), I can safely say it's going to be a good festival. There was one script in Act 1 I personally wasn't too excited about, but the rest I thought were good scripts. Take Two was another script I wasn't originally excited about (directed by Claudia Haas), but Jessica Scott (a fellow Greenie) and Joe Hendren did a really nice job with it.

Anyway, I have tonight off, then final dress on Wednesday, then our 6 shows!

It's hard to believe, but June has come, which means Fringe is just around the corner! The script is nearing completion (there is one moment towards the end that I'm still working through), at least as complete as I expect it to be in order to start rehearsals, I've started searching for props, and Kevin (my director) and I are scheduled to meet for our first rehearsal on June 10th. Just 2 months to go!

This week is also the week of the 10-minute play festival at Lakeshore. I have tech rehearsals tonight and Wednesday, then 6 shows Thursday through Sunday, in what will be my final distraction before I must turn my attention 1005 to Fringe.