Tag: Spoon Lake Blues

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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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Spoon Lake Blues dress rehearsal

Tuesdays dress rehearsal went great. I was a little worried about lines and other people’s lines, but even with a few stumbles (and no ability to call lines) it went really well. Something we added to the mix last night was drinks. The drinks are Diet Coke with a Bud Light wrapper. Tell you what. I got a caffeine rush after nearly chugging the first one. Don’t really need to do that. We do open a lot of cans throughout the performance.

Pat Hurley (coach, light and sound, etc.) said it was one of the best performances, best acting he has seen me do at any time. That is great, I am improving my skill. What bothers me somewhat is that with even a small audience, my drive, energy, etc. increases. Not that that is the problem, just that I need to find all that energy during rehearsals and especially auditions. I can feel it, I know I have it, just where is it when I need it.

We rehearsed curtain call. Always an ego type of thing, curtain calls are. I had in mind that Kellee and Kandice would come out together and then Greg and I would come out together. BJ’s first order: Kellee, Kandice, Greg, and then Me. Got a little excited about that. I have had leads and have come out as the last pair, but never been given top billing. (I did say this was an ego thing). So I was excited and like I said, I thought Greg and I would come out together. Final plan: Kellee, Kandice, Greg, and then I walk out. Greg and I are to compete over bowing. Then bow as a group. Then the girls push us off stage. So no single spotlight, but I think this is better. Ego be something-or-other somewhere else.

TIP: Never make a comment about Curtain Call during planning and rehearsal of. And NEVER complain. The smallest things concerning ego can get you disliked. I even had a director once comment the she had never created a curtain call that did not elicit some kind of comment from the actors. I think she hated doing them.

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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.