Tag: Election Day

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Small of Her Back wrap up

A very good play by Dana Lynn Formby, who was in town the Monday before we opened. She loved what we had done with her play. Afterwards, we went out for drinks and had a great time. There is always the risk that the directors vision of a play is not what the playwright had in mind and tensions can arise. The cast can be nervous as well: Will she like my character I developed? Will I remember all my lines? We all called for lines, but it is a little embarrassing when calling for the lines in front of the playwright.

This is the second playwright I was able to meet. Back in December, I met Josh Tobiessen when he was at the Alliance. We were doing two of his plays: Spoon Lake Blues and Election Day.

The cast in The Small of Her Back did a great job for the four shows. Of the four shows, the first two were Sold Out! And the third nearly was. Sunday was smaller but still half a house.

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Meeting Josh Tobiessen next week

Josh Tobiessen, the author of Spoon Lake Blues and Election Day, will be at the Alliance Theatre for our rehearsals and a Q&A next Monday through Wednesday. On Monday he will see our (Alliance Theatre Acting Program) rehearsal of Spoon Lake Blues. Then on Tuesday afternoon the Alliance Theatre will do a reading of Spoon Lake Blues as a precursor for a possible stage production next year.

The Alliance Theatre Acting Program vs. The Alliance Theatre

There are so many times when I would like to have feedback on my acting or productions I am in. This is one of them. I would really like to hear what Josh has to say about the two performances. Not really something you can ask outright and hope to get a straight answer. If the Alliance Theatre does do a production next year, I will have to see it, see the differences. I have seen other productions of plays I have been in for that reason. Sometimes they were better, sometimes not.

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Update: November 9, 2009

Podcast: I was trying to start a podcast in for the Atlanta area acting community – AtlantaActing.net. It is proving very difficult. With a full-time day job, rehearsals for a play and rehearsals for a TV program, it is very difficult to schedule interviews. Any extra time I have, I just want to do nothing.

Spoon Lake Blues: Next Monday through Wednesday, the casts of Election Day and Spoon Lake Blues will meet and perform for the author Josh Tobiessen. This will be great, meeting the author of the play. Monday, the cast of Spoon Lake Blues will perform. Tuesday is a Q&A with Josh and on Wednesday Election Day will perform.

Yesterday at set build, Pat Hurley mentioned the cast of Election Day is far ahead of the cast of Spoon Lake Blues for being off book. And as I thought about it, most of the cast on Election Day do not have day jobs. If I had all freaking day to learn lines…still, nobody else’s problem but mine. I should be off book with confidence by Monday.

Bright Flames TV: Started rehearsal a few Wednesday’s ago on Episode Two. In this episode, I play Ulrich Zwingli. Besides Robert Howell, who is the host and writer, I am the first returning actor to play a different role (Soren Kierkegaard in Episode One).

Editing for Episode One is nearly done. It will need to be entirely reshot but the thought is to try to get funding. Episode Two will go a lot smother then Episode One and will be shot in multiple segments to get all the shots needed for editing. I do hope this goes somewhere: History Channel, PBS, etc.

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Worry, Headshots and a New Play

Last few posts, besides the weekly tweeter posts, have been multiple topics. This post is the same.

We’ll start with the Worry: This week we started Off Book and NO-Line Calls for 12 Angry Jurors. Monday was painful and embarrassing. I am embarrassed to say that I did not know the play well enough to know where we were some of the time. Not that I am using it as an excuse, but I did miss the first 3 weeks of rehearsal. It is no excuse. I am glad to say I knew my lines, but that is not enough. Having over 300 lines (the director counted) and as the lead, I should know where we are in the play. I should be able to help keep us on track.

Last night I tried to give someone a clue for a line and it backfired on me. It was also a queue for another person and we jumped a page. As much as I wanted to there No going back once it is skipped, especially when the line given is important and a question directed to my character to boot. Sigh. We have a long ways to go and Sunday starts Tech Week. We open one week today.

Headshots:  Had new headshots done this past weekend by a friend and photographer Michael Montgomery. His company is Shutter Artistry. I should see the results tomorrow.

New Play: On the same day as the headshots, I also auditioned for the Alliance Theatre Acting Program’s Fall Players. Usually the Fall Players will do a Christmas show. This year the Alliance Theatre Acting Program will collaboration with the Alliance Theatre’s highly popular Kendeda Playwriting Competition and produce a two plays by Josh Tobiessen who competed in the competition.

I auditioned and was offended the role of BRADY in Spoon Lake Blues.  In an attempt to save their family home from a constant barrage of debt collectors, two brothers, Denis and Brady, start robbing the homes of their rich neighbors in the quickly gentrifying mountain town of Spoon Lake. Everything is going according to plan until Brady develops a crush on Caitlin, a young African American college student whose wealthy family Denis and Brady robbed the day before. While Caitlin immediately takes pity on the brothers’ dire situation her attempts to help out the locals end up causing problems of their own.

The second play will be Election Day also by Josh Tobiessen. Both are about an hour in length and well be presented on the same night with intermission between.

Performances:  Dec 10-12, 7:30pm and Dec 13, 2:30pm.

TENTATIVE extension : Dec 17-19, 7:30pm and Dec 20, 2:30pm.

NOTE: Plays are subject to change due to contract agreement.