NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

GORGEOUS PEOPLE: MICHAEL CYRIL CREIGHTON.

Tarhearted ( Joshua Conkel) - Tue, 02/09/2010 - 12:26pm

In a "cleansing burst of synchronicity" to quote Ms. Flemming from Heathers, one of my favorite blogs is profiling one of my favorite actors (and friend.)

The Huffington Post on Michael Cyril Creighton.

Michael brilliantly played the role of Nanna in my play MilkMilkLemonade. He is a generous actor with impeccable comedic timing as well as being a really wonderful and supportive friend.

Michael Cyril Creighton? Gorgeous.

(Also pictured, Andy Phelan as "Emory." Also gorgeous.)

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

SF Bay Area Outrageous Fortune Conversation Feed #1

Ghostlight ( E.H Spreen) - Tue, 02/09/2010 - 12:02pm

Decided not to go. But let's do the math: babysitter 2 hours travel time + 4 hours for event (6 hrs total) x $16 per hour = $96. Hmm? Maybe I'll just check out the live twitter feed (go to #newplay) and the TBA Chatterbox blog updates here.

For the past hour, it's been mostly introducing the background of the study and the research methods. Now Todd London is going over the chapters of the book. Lot's of talk about risk aversion and old models (Joe Papp model) that either don't work or don't exist. Alli Houseworth points out via twitter feed that there's a discrepancy between the finding that only 31% of AD's believe that audience is a obstacle to new play production and the complaint that playwrights aren't writing for "our audiences."

Anyway, check it out. I'll update when I can.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

A POST ABOUT CAT DRAG.

Tarhearted ( Joshua Conkel) - Tue, 02/09/2010 - 11:19am

A promotional site for RuPaul's Drag Race (which The Fiance and I love, obviously) has a fun game that let's you "dragulate" yourself. Naturally we wanted to see our beloved Gus all queened out.

Gus before.

Gus after.

Fierce! Now I wanna buy Augustus as many kitty wigs as I can afford.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Price and Poe

The Theatrefolk Weblog - Tue, 02/09/2010 - 7:00am

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore                 – The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe

I’ve been on the lookout for my next adaptation project. Trying to sniff it out. I love creating theatre versions of works in other genres. They’re always a challenge; it’s so much more than taking some words out of a novel and plunking them into play form. Adaptations require a lot of balance. It’s important to uphold the intention of the original work,  and at the same time making sure it’s truly a theatrical exploration. An interesting walk across a tightrope which can take many tries to figure out.

Originally, I thought about Hunchback of Notre Dame – I saw a production ten years ago that used puppets and mask in a way that I’ve always known would work well in schools. It’s a good piece to incorporate theatricality and physical movement.

But on my last travel trip, I explored a new phone app which allows you to download public domain books. And they have a high school reading list section. And in there, a ton of Edgar Allen Poe.

I have had a vague relationship with Poe. I’m most familiar with The Raven, and The Telltale Heart as is everyone else. I know there’s one where a guy gets walled up in a catacomb, there’s one with a pit and a swinging razor thing, there’s  people being buried alive, and death and gore and other eerie stuff.

But after a week of reading piece after piece, story after story….I am really excited about working on Poe.

First of all the guy is wacko. His work is wacko. There is some deeply disturbing stuff. There’s a man eating worm, and a guy who de-teeths a girl who’s been buried alive. IT’S AWESOME! There is an horror filled imagination that really few teen scream blood soaker modern movie can hold a candle to. But further to that, there’s some really funny pieces. Have you ever read Lionizing? Or The Devil in the Belfry? Me neither, till now. Poe was a rather sarcastic fellow, which is right up my alley. I love being surprised at the variety in tone in his work.

So, what’s next? Reading, reading and more reading.  Making sure I understand every word (That Poe, he done uses the fancy big words). Finding the theatrical door to every piece. Figuring out the through-line, the connector between pieces.

I’m ready to get back on the tightrope.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Spread the Love: The Art of Rejection by Christian Kiley

The Theatrefolk Weblog - Mon, 02/08/2010 - 7:00am

This week we spread the love for The Art of Rejection by Christian Kiley. Filmed live on location at the 2010 Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA) conference in Dallas, Texas.

Click here if you can’t see the video above.

Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. This week we are in Dallas, Texas at TETA – The Texas Educational Theatre Association conference. Phew! And we are talking about The Art of Rejection by Christian Kiley. Which is actually two plays: The Art of Rejection, where the main character R is alone in a sea of numbers, and Chaired where sometimes the hardest thing to do is stand up. Craig, what do you love about The Art of Rejection?

I think we can all identify with the central characters in both plays. The Art of Rejection shines a spotlight on that part of us that always feels like we’re being rejected, always feels like we’re being put down. And Chaired looks at that eternal struggle we face between having to go with the flow, or standing up and asserting our independence. Lindsay what do you love about The Art of Rejection?

Christian Kiley is a master at combing abstract and realism. The characters in the plays are very realistic and very relatable. Love that! But the situations that the characters are in are extremely abstract. That combination I think is awesome for students to experience. That’s why you should read these plays. That’s it for Spread the Love.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Outrageous Fortune Community Discussions

Ghostlight ( E.H Spreen) - Mon, 02/08/2010 - 1:39am

Todd London and Victoria Bailey will be at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley this Tuesday, February 9, 10am to 2pm, to engage the local theater community in discussion about the findings from their Outrageous Fortune study and to explore possible solutions. The event is free and open to "playwrights, directors, critics, funders and everyone concerned with new play development." If you'd like to attend, you need to RSVP. For more information and to find out where to RSVP, go here.

I'm tempted to see if I can rearrange my schedule for the day to go to this. I hear people are taking off work to go which really means that the event isn't free at all.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

5 Things: Up Since 3AM Edition

Ghostlight ( E.H Spreen) - Sun, 02/07/2010 - 10:45am

1. How to Feel Miserable As An Artist - Keri Smith.
2. Lemon Shaker Pie, Oh My.
3. Three things that are kind of similar: The Art Monastery Project. I took an online workshop back in September and one of the participants introduced me to the AMP . I'm fascinated with the project for two reasons: 1) It's in Italy. 2) It's an example of what I've been dreaming about creating here in the U.S. Two more examples of implementing a similar idea in an urban area - the Des Moines Social Club and the Philadelphia Art Hotel.
4. Kathryn Bigelow's Uncanny Strange Days. And what about that opening scene, eh?
   
5. V.S. Ramachandran TED talk about mirror neurons.
   

1. Catalog artwork of All the Dishes on Ebay by Penelope Umbrico.
2. How to Read A Movie by Roger Ebert.
   

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Some Great (and Free) Audio Resources

The Theatrefolk Weblog - Sun, 02/07/2010 - 7:00am

London, Ontario based Resource Stage has some great free printable resources on all things audio.

The articles that seemed most helpful for schools are:

• Evaluating And Comparing Speakers
• Your Simple Audio System Cheat Sheet
• Glossary of Audio Terms
• Portable Sound Systems

The only problem is that they’re a bit tricky to find. You want to click on the icon in the top right corner that looks like a folder. I’ve circled the icon you’re looking for in red on the graphic above.

Tip of the hat to the CODE (Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators) blog.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

Pie of the Week: Shaker Lemon Pie

Piefurcation - Sun, 02/07/2010 - 4:33am

Obsessing about this pie. Part of me wants to rush out and buy lemons right now then come home and get it started. Thinking I'll make it sometime this week instead - perhaps for Valentine's Day? I've also discovered Betty's Kitchen on youtube. Check out her tour of the Maker's Mark distillery. Plus she has a recipe for Derby Pie - excuse me - a version of chocolate nut pie.

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

POODLE AEROBICS.

Tarhearted ( Joshua Conkel) - Sat, 02/06/2010 - 11:20pm

My love of fitness VHS and vinyl has taken me to a lot of weird places. Jackie Stallone's Silver Foxes, Alyssa Milano's Teen Steam. Facercise and Jazzercize. But this is the most fucked up, weirdo shit I've ever seen. I can't keep watching it!

WHY ARE THESE DOGS DOING AEROBICS? Poodles are so thin.

First cake farts and now this. You're welcome. Now don't ever say I never gave you nothin'!

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs

AU PAIRS.

Tarhearted ( Joshua Conkel) - Sat, 02/06/2010 - 11:13pm

I went to a show with my best friend Jenny tonight.

I never go to shows. Well, I will if The Gossip is in town because they're too fucking good live to pass up, but other than that I never go to shows. I don't drink and I've become so anti social that I just can't take it, despite really loving music. It's weird, because I grew up going to shows in Seattle at least once a week. We'd take the ferry over and see as many shows as we could with the $20 buck we'd manage to wrangle together and just get older dudes to buy us drinks and food. One boy I was friends with had a 25-year-old Navy boyfriend who'd kind of take care of us. We could usually count on him for a 40 or a gyro or something (It wasn't safe, but it was fun. Where were my PARENTS!?) And in between all of this we'd catch shows by Bikini Kill and 7 Year Bitch and Babes and Toyland. (I once broke a bottle over somebody's head at an L7 show, but that's a story for another entry.) Or later, when my girlfriends brought straight boys around, we'd see Built to Spill and Modest Mouse and The Halo Benders. It was a pretty fun time in my life, actually, when I was in the city and not at my halfway house of a highschool. But I digress. I have no idea why 15 years later I can't stand being at shows. Except that I do...

The older I get, the more I find other people insufferable.

The show tonight was full of Type A personalities in skinny jeans with oversized glasses on. I look just like them, so I can't make fun. But going to shows feels different than it did then. The shows I went to then felt so exciting and subversive. This show felt like a middle school dance full of trust fund kids on coke. I don't know what the band was called, but they sounded like off brand New Order or a D grade Cure. Like when you're doing dishes or folding clothes or something and listening to New Order, but the whole album and not just the songs you know and love and there are all these songs that kind of just become background noise except for the moments when you're all, "What the hell New Order song is this? No wonder it wasn't a single!" They were like that. Like watered down New Order, not bad enough to dislike but not good enough to pay attention. Adequate... with synth!

I hope we get a wave of great new music soon because everything just sounds the same now. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of new bands, but I feel like the last time we got a whole wave of great music was around 2003 or so when The Yeah Yeah Yeahs et al were coming on the scene. And remember Electroclash? Remember PEACHES? God, I loved Peaches. Good times.

Anyway, about Au Pairs. Au Pairs are a band I'd always heard of, but never heard except for their performance in Urgh! A Music War! They were a major influence for a lot of the riot grrl bands I loved when I was a kid. Last weekend Jenny and I were shopping for records when I very stupidly passed up buying an Au Pairs LP, opting instead for the safer Plastic Bertrand album. I am a fucking dumbass. Au Pairs are so fucking good!

Au Pairs sound kind of like Gang of Four but with an awesome feminist, lesbian singer with a smokey voice. SWOON. And all of their songs are about super lefty even when they're not about gender issues. I love them really hard.

Listen to my favorite song right now, "It's Obvious."

Categories: NaPlWriMo Participants Blogs