|
Yeah, we had a VO track, but it was clearly a living room in a house. [PLACE: A living room in New Jersey. Time: Now.] I'm excited by casting tech staff out of play programs. It feels so easy that it's almost like cheating, but it makes me feel rather clever. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 3, 2011 |
#
?
Jan 3, 2011 01:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 23:40 |
|
|
I was in a production of Mr. Marmalade! Oh, memories . . . antiloquax, I was planning on passing the script for Golden Bee's show around to some of the companies I know in town, but if you're interested in putting it up I can hold off for a little bit. I know you're working on your Daley show at the moment but (from what little I know of your work) this play might be right up your alley. Send me an e-mail or something if you want to take a look at the script: nrshea AT gmail DOT com.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2011 18:08
|
|
|
You can email me adam.mandark@gmail dot com because I've revised it according to Shea's suggestions. I still feel the character we were discussing is a bit...thin, but I'm definitely working on it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2011 18:30
|
|
|
I'm reading your other play now. I have to admit, though, that with the comic book movie craze (not to mention Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog which all of my friends are loving obsessed with) I've been a little bit burned out on the whole Superhero theme, so this one may not be my cup of tea as much as the other one was.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2011 19:10
|
|
|
I don't think Sidekickin' It is nearly as original a play as Apocrypha on Albatross Street: A #1 Girl's Detective Agency Adventure . There are two major reasons though: 1. It's a children's play, which demands a brevity of time, space, location, and even character development 2. I wrote it first, to kind of prove to myself I can write without complex staging, meta-textuality, cuss words or over frequent set changes I was conscious to avoid aping Dr. Horrible though. He and Von Darkness are miles apart in every department, except "unaware of their actual fragility in the face of adversity". To be fair, that's a trait of almost every villain in every comedy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2011 19:59
|
|
|
Golden Bee posted:You can email me adam.mandark@gmail dot com because I've revised it according to Shea's suggestions. I still feel the character we were discussing is a bit...thin, but I'm definitely working on it. I'd love to look at it, e-mail sent.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2011 15:35
|
|
|
Getting a technical cast together is almost comically easy. I have two student directories, a stack of playbills, and facebook, and there's nobody who I can't get a hold of or hear about within a matter of minutes. It kind of feels like cheating.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2011 21:53
|
|
|
Golden Bee posted:It kind of feels like cheating. So I just talked to one of my professors yesterday and got some pretty lovely news. During the Fall semester, the instrumental music majors - including the orchestra for musicals - are completely beholden to the football team. This means that we can't ever have musicals during the Fall, so I can't do Threepenny Opera. That blooows. Not only that, but the new department head wants to know the theatre program's plans a year in advance, so I have to decide on my play today. I'm thinking of Red by John Logan. It addresses alot of the artistic ideas I want to present and DPS is licensing the manuscript. Unfortunately, I've only read about it and seen some footage, I haven't read the drat thing yet.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 13:58
|
|
|
Red was on Broadway last April and DPS is already licensing it? Crazy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 18:48
|
|
|
Finally got a chance to read your plays today GoldenBee. I agree, Sidekickin works well as a Children's play. It's quick and cute. Still digesting Apocropyha though. Definitely an interesting concept, and has some real nice moments. I particularly enjoyed the itemized list of clues after finding the body. Reminded me a lot of Lillian Hellman's Children's Hour actually. It has a lot of similar themes. I'm having trouble putting my finger on the age of the characters though. Sometimes they seem older than 12, other times younger. Would you be casting actual 12-year-olds in the role, or would it be representative or what? I think you still have my email if you'd want to send along the revised ending. OneActs are coming along well, but I could use some more suggestions if you guys have got them. I'm currently putting together an independent study in dark comedies. So far I've got on the curriculum The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman The Seafarer by Connor McPherson Every Good Boy Deserves Favor by Tom Stoppard Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel Either Ruffian on the Stair or Loot by Joe Orton Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad by Arthur Kopit Slow Dance on the Killing Ground: Play in Three Acts by William Hanley When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout... by Sharman Macdonald Killer Joe by Tracy Letts The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh I'm more or less trying to get a feel for the "black comedy" genre and why its effective. The use having an audience experience both laughter and discomfort in the same sitting. I'm also particularly interested in the use of gruesome images on the stage, especially in comedies. I'm just running off recommendations/summaries at this point though, as I won't be reading them until the course starts in the spring, so any opinions on the current selections or recommendations would be appreciated. Pious Pete fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jan 6, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 19:11
|
|
|
I don't use child actors if I can avoid it. I'm casting college age people (which worked for Sidekickin' It; Robin was absolutely brilliant and I kind of wrote Neeka around her). You're right about the characters sometimes being a little older than 12, but I rarely think they're younger. Some of the tantrum stuff is more about comedic immaturity than actually not getting things. Them being smart is in genre. In Encyclopedia Brown [1963], Encyclopedia is reading Nuclear Physics Made Easy. What I really wonder about is the enhanced poetic tone of Neeka and Violets' one on one scenes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 19:25
|
|
|
Pious Pete posted:I'm more or less trying to get a feel for the "black comedy" genre and why its effective. The use having an audience experience both laughter and discomfort in the same sitting. I'm also particularly interested in the use of gruesome images on the stage, especially in comedies. Getting a gasp or a groan followed by laughter is one of the best feelings I think you can have as a writer. Can't really explain why, and it can be hard to do, but it's very rewarding if you can hit the sweet spot. Absolute hell if you miss, though. Last page in this thread has got me thinking that I might try to actually get a tech person to work on my show. It's the first thing I've done since I started to produce that I'm not directing, but I'm still prop manager, stage manager, light board worker, costume designer, writer, producer, promoter, and graphic artist, which is a lot more work than any one person should do. I've been toying with the idea of starting up a co-op theatre where everyone gets paid and classes are reasonably priced (or free). Not sure how that would work in a place like Chicago, but I do feel that a non-profit venue that actually lets other people put up their work could work. I've become a little disenfranchised about most of the sketch/improv theatres in town, and could probably ramble about them at length if I wanted to.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 19:52
|
|
|
OSheaman posted:Red was on Broadway last April and DPS is already licensing it? Crazy. Pious Pete posted:I'm more or less trying to get a feel for the "black comedy" genre and why its effective. The use having an audience experience both laughter and discomfort in the same sitting. I'm also particularly interested in the use of gruesome images on the stage, especially in comedies. I'm just running off recommendations/summaries at this point though, as I won't be reading them until the course starts in the spring, so any opinions on the current selections or recommendations would be appreciated. Wolfgang Pauli fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Jan 6, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2011 19:56
|
|
|
Oh hey, theatre people, awesome! OSheaman tipped me off about this in the Chicago food thread, which seems like a natural segue. So hey, I'm a theatre-lifer in Chicago.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 14:28
|
|
|
Chicago, the best theatre city  Also Lieutenant of Inishmore is a great play and is probably better for the strict "dark comedy" thing you're going for but do not let yourself start reading Martin McDonaugh without hitting The Pillowman; it's IMO his best work and one of my all-time favorite plays.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 17:17
|
|
|
Golden Bee posted:You can email me adam.mandark@gmail dot com because I've revised it according to Shea's suggestions. I still feel the character we were discussing is a bit...thin, but I'm definitely working on it. As a fellow writer, I would love to take a look at your play. I'm going to send you an e-mail shortly. Have you tried submitting it to any of the companies that do staged readings around the city? Might help flush out the characters a little, hearing it read aloud. Edit: Also, if your last name is truly Mandark, you have the coolest last name since I met Troy Awesome.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 17:29
|
|
|
OSheaman posted:Chicago, the best theatre city Well I don't see how that point can be debated  Any of you going to be at the Winter Wonderland Workshop this weekend? rantmo fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Jan 7, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 17:41
|
|
|
Does Chicago have any grad schools that are interdisciplinary? I'm looking for an MFA program, but I don't want to have to choose between directing and writing and technical work.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 18:06
|
|
|
My last name isn't really that. It was a high school nickname based on Dexter's lab. Hope you like the script; I'm at the phase now where nobody is talking about sweeping revisions to events, characterization tone or length. Or even feasibility, which is nice.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2011 23:44
|
|
|
Wolfgang Pauli posted:Does Chicago have any grad schools that are interdisciplinary? I'm looking for an MFA program, but I don't want to have to choose between directing and writing and technical work. I don't know the answer to this as I haven't really done much research into grad schools, but if I had to guess I'd say your best bet might be with Columbia College. They have a bunch of incredibly diverse MFA programs and I think you probably have a better bet there than a more traditional program somewhere else.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2011 08:30
|
|
|
I'm putting together a production of The Last Five Years and, in the spirit of community theater, I think I'm going to have two casts. I'm doing the show two weekends, so one cast the first weekend and another the second. The whole point is to expose people to theater and giving people an outlet for their creative impulses, so including more people without hurting the show is always a good thing in this environment. Now, the problem is that with the people who have auditioned, I have at least two great options for the female lead and only one for the male lead. So what I'm thinking of doing is co-directing with my musical director and being the second male lead. I worry a bit about people thinking this has become some sort of vanity project, but on the other hand I don't give a gently caress. I just want to put on a good show and include more people. I just thought I'd see what some others thought of this that are completely separated from the local drama and such.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2011 17:56
|
|
|
If you honestly don't think anyone could do better than you, cast yourself. But if there's the option to help someone else grow and do a pretty good job, you should go that route. What if you need three male leads for something in the future?
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2011 19:39
|
|
|
Yeah, there are no other guys who are appropriate who have expressed any interest in the show. We know someone who teaches music at Kenyon College who is going to see if she can find us some other folks who might have just missed audition information since they're on Christmas break until next week, but I'm not holding my breath on that front since Kenyon keeps their kids waaay committed and the people she knew of off the top of her head all had prior commitments in March, when we're doing the show. The whole reason to do a second cast is to cultivate a larger talent pool in the first place, so if I can find someone else I'll gladly do so.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2011 23:43
|
|
|
Isn't Last Five Years pretty vocally challenging, anyways? I'm not a music theatre junkie so I don't know my JRB as well as I should.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2011 21:37
|
|
|
From the little I've heard of it (I like musicals generally, but don't keep up on them) it's certainly not gfor the faint of heart. If you're really the strongest option, it doesn't seem like a show you can bullshit vocally. Also, this is where I make an obscure Goonsquad reference to Geekboy, something about Lights being a girl or something.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2011 23:17
|
|
|
I'm going to rant. I warned you. Yeah, it's really vocally challenging (the whole thing is sung and requires a pretty impressive range). There are probably only a handful of people in the area who have a chance of pulling it off who aren't too old to do it, and I am one of them. That sounds amazingly arrogant, but I worked hard to be able to do what I can do and spent too many years not doing theater because I thought I wasn't up to it. If I'm back in, I'm back in all the way and I'm not going to pretend I'm not good at it out of humility. I guess what I have to decide is whether to have one male lead with two different female leads or do I step in so we have two totally separate casts? I'm trying to avoid things looking bad since one of the two female leads happens to be my wife, so I don't want to hear people saying I'm just trying to give her a part she doesn't deserve, when if I thought she couldn't do it I would never embarrass her by putting her onstage and letting her fail. She's drat good, and so is the other girl I'm going to cast. She tends to be the female lead in everything though, so it isn't like she hasn't or won't have the opportunity to do something like this again. Heck, she's got an audition lined up for a professional repertoire group so this may end up even being the last show I get to work with her on. Ugh. The beautiful thing about community theater is that you're giving people who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity a chance to express themselves. It's rewarding to get to do it yourself, and directing lets me stretch other muscles while giving other people the chance to do it. The bad part is that people are still basically high school students forever, so there's always drama inside the drama. I do a pretty good job of staying out of it, but I've only been back into doing this for a little less than two years and I'm already making "enemies." One of the "fun" things about our little town is that even though the population is less than 15K (according to the 2000 Census), there are four community theater groups. One of them is a spin-off from a guy who got his nose bent out of shape because our charter requires that there are open auditions for every show and he prefers to just cast it based on who he feels like casting. This guy is great at putting together financial backers and doing big budget shows full of rented costumes and sets that star as many little kids as he can possibly fit in there. The problem is that his shows are soul-less and he has yet to do a show I've felt like going to see (he did Annie this summer. loving Annie). I tell you all that so I can tell you this: Apparently when his group is badmouthing us, they like to say that they do shows for their audience and we do shows for ourselves. This is meant as an insult, but . . . um . . . no poo poo, Sherlock. Art is always done for the artist. While we're reaching out more and more to get money from more than just ticket sales, I'd rather do 100 shows with costumes put together in thrift stores that I find artistically satisfying than one show where money isn't an issue but the show itself doesn't have anything to say. Also, Lights is totally a girl.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 05:15
|
|
|
You sound like you just want us to justify your decision, which we can't do without hearing you sing. You know what decision to make and even why to do it. Having your wife and someone else as your wife might be weird but you clearly don't have anyone else you feel like casting.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 05:18
|
|
|
Geekboy posted:
Chicago's comedy scene is as diverse as it is because of so many people saying "gently caress you, man, I am funnier than you." It just goes with the territory, I suppose. All those egos. And do what you think is best with the casting. You can't spend time worrying about what other groups think because they'll find some other reason to hate you next week. Anything less that full-blown professional productions are about doing the best you can with the best that's available. If you're the best that's available, then so be it. I do sketch revues about once every three months and inevitably end up writing at least 70% of every show I'm involved in because A) even if I get 50 responses from other writers, only seven of them will be good (most will be rehashes of South Park episodes), B) of that seven, only four will contribute, C) of those contributors, two will contribute two scenes that are about seven pages long each (seven pages and two jokes), one will contribute about a minute's worth of bits, and the other will not finish any of the five sketches they bring up at the first meeting, D) none of the cast want to write anything. So, you know, playbill comes out and my name is all over the scenes, and some people think I'm just some kind of egotist, but the truth is I write as little as I can get away with and still have a viable hour long show. It's not ego or arrogance; it's doing what needs to be done to get a production on its feet.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 06:28
|
|
|
I have a male lead cast other than myself. He can sing it, is a better actor than me, and is passionate about the material. I am just not sure what the better decision is: do I cast him as the sole male lead and just have him play both weekends opposite a different female lead each of those weekends? Or do I need two male leads if I have two female leads? Other than the two of us, the standard talent pool we usually have to work with includes maybe one other guy who could do it, but he's unreliable and I doubt I'd ever cast him again after he just stopped coming to rehearsals for my last show without ever formally dropping out. There is always the possibility that an unknown will pop out of the woodwork, but I'm not going to hold out a lot of hope for that. I'm going to have a different female lead each of the weekends. If to do that I need to have two male leads too, then I'm honestly the only choice based on the existing talent pool and assuming no one new enters the picture. I really hope someone new pops up and I don't have to worry about it anyway. The other side of this is that with community theater, you always have so many more talented girls than guys anyway. The truth is that if I had a dozen guys I could cast the way I do girls, this wouldn't even be an issue. I can probably just chalk it up to having a great group of gals and too few guys and no one will bat an eye because that is always our problem. I'm probably worrying too much about the perceptions of people I don't give a poo poo about anyway. As far as hearing me sing, well maybe I'll edit down one of the videos from recent productions or something to throw up on here some time. I'm not God's gift to acting, but I make good use of the pipes I was given and I enjoy it. I don't have illusions about performing as a full time gig, but getting to dip my toes in during my free time beats playing video games.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 06:32
|
|
|
I honestly think that if you do it (which is fine), you should cast yourself opposite the woman who ISN'T your wife. Doing a play about a marriage forming and breaking up, and rehearsing with your real life partner may create great theater, but it has the potential for real awkwardness and plenty of subtext.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 10:08
|
|
|
I agree with Goldenbee. Also, if you don't need two male leads, don't have two male leads. If you need two, and you're the only alternative, I wouldn't give it a second thought.
antiloquax fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Jan 11, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 15:21
|
|
|
It was never our intention to do the show together and now I have to hear her say, "SEE!? I told you so," since she told me that playing this opposite each other would be a teeerrrible idea and I just thought it could be interesting. Like, mixing bleach and ammonia bad idea. She really hated the idea. A lot. Assuming I don't have another guy come out of the woodwork, I guess the decision I need to make is whether I need a second male lead or not. Thanks for the advice and dealing with my rants.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 17:24
|
|
|
Can we move this thread back to the REAL question of theater please? For example: Who's more interesting in my play, Lace Doil or Scandal Steiner?
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 18:44
|
|
|
Geekboy, your town sounds suspiciously like Charlottesville, Virginia. You don't live there, do you?
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 19:02
|
|
|
OSheaman posted:Geekboy, your town sounds suspiciously like Charlottesville, Virginia. You don't live there, do you? I fear amateur theater is pretty similar wherever you go. I'm in Mount Vernon, Ohio. We're doing a production of The Laramie Project later this month and there is real fear that we're going to have protesters. We're that small a town. There are three colleges in or near town (Kenyon, Mount Vernon Nazarene, and a COTC branch) but it doesn't like to act like it's a college town. I think that's my greatest goal: to make people realize this is a college town and not the farming community it was thirty years or so ago.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 19:21
|
|
|
Just remember Geekboy, if they protest, they are upping your PR at no cost to you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 19:36
|
|
|
rantmo posted:Just remember Geekboy, if they protest, they are upping your PR at no cost to you. And I am not above taking full advantage of that. I'm also not above getting in a heated argument and trying to get one of the protesters to punch me if I can. I know it's smarter to just leave them alone, but I'm really tired of knowing more about religion than the people preaching at me. That's a topic for another thread/day/etc, though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 20:38
|
|
|
If it's Westboro Baptist Church don't bother arguing. They're well-trained in what they are and aren't allowed to do because they know there are literally thousands of lawyers ready to descend upon them and their church if they make a mistake.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2011 23:28
|
|
|
OSheaman posted:but do not let yourself start reading Martin McDonaugh without hitting The Pillowman; it's IMO his best work and one of my all-time favorite plays. I read this on the plane ride home over break. One of those plays you're just dying to act as you read it. I also finally got around to reading August: Osage County - it's not another Buried Child like everyone is claiming (Letts, predictably, tries too much for his own good), but it's a drat good play. Better yet, all of the best roles are female.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2011 18:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 23:40 |
|
|
Let me ask you Chicago theater goons a hypothetical. If there was a place where you could either teach an afterschool theater class, do administrative work, janitorial stuff, paint a room, whatever in exchange for free rehearsal and performance space... would you use that opportunity?
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2011 17:24
|
|