How About Reading a Book, Jag?

Cornwallis

Good rehearsal last night. Started a bit rocky - I'll get to that - but the work was excellent. We focused on listening - I had them do a series of "Repetition" scenes where, before you can add to the scene, you have to repeat the essence of what your scene partner said. We followed that up with split scenes from a group scene, using the Spolin "Converge and Re-divide".

The scenework was solid - now we move on to creating interesting and grounded characters.

The rocky start had to do with their homework. I'm not sure if my rants about being smarter people making the work better are sinking in. They all half-assed the assignment (name three hobbies a 13-year old would have in the 1950's, '60's, and '70's) and I barked at them for a while.

My beef is this: improv students spend thousands of dollars at IO, Second City, the Annoyance. Strangely enough, most improv teams SUCK SHIT. Why is that? Why, after spending hundreds of hours studying with people who are paid to teach the art of theatrical improvisation, do so many - and I mean the vast majority - still stink?

Part of the answer lies with the idea that because you can get up onstage and make it up, you should and should charge people money to watch you do it. To paraphrase a comment I made last year about one of the many burlesque shows going on in Chi-town, "Just because you can dance naked doesn't necessarily mean you should do it in public."

A larger part of the problem is with the concept that art is a hobby and that part of that hobby is to get rubes to pay their hard earned dough to watch you practice your hobby. Which is like having an Art Gallery designed to show only the formless clay blobs and crayola drawings of a group of eight year olds - charming but hardly the height and breadth of quality.

As with Jacko's rant earlier posted, my point is this: How dare you charge money to get up onstage with no more expertise than those paying? How dare you get up on a stage and recycle the same fucking dick jokes that the audience could make up in their walk-in kitchenettes? KNOW MORE THAN YOUR AUDIENCE. Take the time to know about history and politics and the motherfucking ART of telling a story! Don't just know the Cliff's Notes version of "The Republic" - read it yourself. Do you think the writer's of "The Simpson's" only know the sound bites? That the cats who create "The Daily Show" get their news from a quick breeze-thru of CNN online? That the Pythons or Andy Kaufman were essentially just dumb guys trying to get a giggle out of people? Jeebus!

The final part of the equation is that the audience will take what they can get - if the preponderance of live entertainment is presented on an eighth grade level, then they'll enjoy it - they paid to enjoy it. Present intelligent theater and they'll eat it up. If you are presenting a play about the psychological underpinnings of the Peter Pan story, then I insist you know more about psychology than I do; if you're presenting "Hamlet" you better have a better grasp of the multiple meanings behind the language than I do or you should be doing it in your fucking basement and leave the art to those with respect for it.

End of Sermon.

The Boy Who Survived

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

We saw this at the IMAX theater at Navy Pier yesterday afternoon. It was awesome fun.

This was the first of the Harry Potter films I've seen after reading the book - the first three (sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkiban) I only saw the movies. After reading reviews of the sixth book, "Half Blood Prince", I decided that I'd pick up "Goblet of Fire" and see if the books were as interesting as all the hubbub made them out to be. I was hooked after reading GoF and immediately bought "Order of the Phoenix" (my favorite of the lot) and "Half Blood Prince". I'm a freakin' gayboy fan.

As I wrote, this was the first time I saw one of the HP movies after reading the book, and it was a different experience. I immediately found myself disappointed that, in order to condense the sprawling book into a manageable screenplay, they all but got rid of the opening Quidditch World Cup game (although I did not miss the opening scene with Harry's Uncle and cousin). This was the case throughout - missing certain scenes, not missing others. On the balance I dug the film enormously.

Part of the reason these have been so much fun is watching the three leads grow into actual actors. Daniel Radcliffe (who unfortunately will never have the natural gifts or charm that either Emma Watson or Rupert Grint have) is turning out some respectable acting and his Harry is looking more and more heroic. Grint, while beginning to go through an awkward teenage phase here his face and body don't really match up is dealing with Ron's challenges and Emma Watson is growing into a fine little actress (the one of the three most likely to have a real career after all the Harry Potters are in the can) and a first class beauty.

Michael Gambone will never be Dumbledore, however. This was and will be the role of Richard Harris' and Gambone would do well to at least mimic Harris' performance from the first two films. As he stands, Dumbledore does not have the appropriate weight and depth as he does in the books and Gambone's lack of these qualities will seriously undercut the conclusion of "Half Blood Prince."

Overall, I loved "Goblet of Fire" - I had a great time, I totally dig the characters and I can't wait for the next one to come out.

Other Berfday

Due to Jen's lingering hangover (the IMAX popcorn caused some trouble after the movie) we missed out on Nick's Bowling Birthday last night. Instead, we came home, Jen threw up a bit, she had some ginger ale and we watched some old episodes of "The West Wing; Season 4".

The Week in WNEP

This week is all about booking things for the coming month, getting confirmation on future events, and promoting ARH NYE. I've got about 60 posters I'll be putting up this week as well as mini-postcards. We also have auditions this weekend and I'm working on the script - this should be a lot of fun!

God Bless the USA

Hung Over

Jen was hung over in the worst possible way all day yesterday. Throwing up, headache - she was decimated.

I went to the store, got her some chicken soup and ginger ale, then went and picked up some movies - "Shaun of the Dead,""Marathon Man,""Pennies from Heaven," and "The Hudsucker Proxy." We spent the evening watching movies and chillin',

Today we go to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at the IMAX! I can't wait!

Berfday Pahtty

The Day

Got up, did my Pilates (didn't want to, though), went over to Cholley's to meet he dog and get keys (I'm one of four helping her by walking the dog while Choll is out of town).

Did some shopping for the Beez but came up empty until I realized a subscription to "The Believer" was a perfect Beez Berfday gift) - she gets a new cell phone this weekend).

Had one of those "Seinfeld" conversations with J. Pitts about people calling him "Pitts" more often than Jonathan and then got to talking about sketch comedy and his new show going up at the Atheneaum. Always good to yap it up with Pittsy.

Then the evening began.

Reflections of Karaoke

Well, after a sumptuous meal of wine, cheeses, pate, and crepes, Kristine, Rebar, Jen & I dropped Amy off and headed to The Peek Inn for some drinking and singing to celebrate Jen's 32nd year on the planet.

The Peek Inn is exactly what you want when going karaoking - it's a divey kind of bar, complete with four or five barflies, a cast of regulars, a pool table, and, of course, the karaoke DJ over in the corner. As the evening progressed, we celebrated with Ron K, Stephen King, Dave Lykins, Yeater, Cholley, Zimmers, Fisher, Maureen, and Tucker. Highlights from the evening included:

- Tucker & Rebar sing "Islands in the Stream" as promised on the WNEP Message Board - Stephen singing "Just the Way You Are" to Ron - Lykins singing "16 Candles" to Jen - A 24-year old whose birthday was the 24th (hmmm) who was hitting on Jen because he simply couldn't believe she was 32 and not 23 - A dude ass-dancing with Kristine (before Tucker showed up) and both Rebar and Kristine trying to get me to help out of the situation

Last night, I sang my standard Sinatra/Elvis fare ("Fly Me to the Moon" and "An American Trilogy") as well as "Only the Good Die Young" and was pretty much the belle of the ball in the eyes of the regulars - when I closed up with "My Way" I had the dudes at the bar really grooving on it and one fat biker dude came up and said, "Oh yeah. This guy again. I'm gonna throw you my underwear, man."

The other "star" of the evening was Lykins - what a freakin' voice. Dude has chops and rocks "Try a Little Tenderness" like nobody else.

Good times. Jen is completely hung over today and we're both just relaxing.

God Bless the USA

Chief executive officers at 367 top U.S. corporations were paid, on average, $431 last year for every $1 paid to their companies' average production worker, according to publicly available information jointly compiled in September by Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy. In 1990, the ratio was about $100-to-$1. (If the federal minimum wage had increased since 1990 by the same rate as the multiple for CEOs' pay, it would have risen from $5.15 an hour to $23.03, but, of course, it's still $5.15.) [New York Times, 9-4-05]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Holiday Prep

This year is our North Carolina Christmas. After much debate, once Jen & I married, we concluded that we'd alternate our out-of-town holiday traveling - Wichita, KS one year (where my folks live), Black Mountain, NC the next (where her folks live).

Last year, Jen changed "the rules" slightly and went to NC to visit briefly, then flew to Wichita to meet me and celebrate a Kansas Christmas. This year, I'm doing the same - I am, however, going to Wichita a full five days before flying to Black Mountain.

The reason? After my sister dropped the "I'm going to have a lesbian mistress and still remain married to my husband" bomb, things got strained between she and my folks. The result is that my mom, known throughout the Midwest as "Super Grandma" sees her grandchildren very rarely now. This will be her first Christmas without a bunch of family around her and I want to soften the hurt some and spend some extra time before leaving December 23rd for NC.

Jen & I actually celebrate our Christmas on New Year's Day, so it isn't a hardship - I do, however, insist on spending Christmas Eve and Day with my wife - whereever we happen to be.

A Voice from the Past

I received an email from a woman who was my first hardcore high school crush, Heather (Clark) Stoesz. She was a senior, I was a freshman - we were improv partners on our high school forensics team and were in a couple of school shows. As I recall, I was absolutely nuts about her at the time, to the point that I dumped a hot sophomore girl because Heather didn't like her.

She went on to become 1985's Miss Kansas and now teaches the deaf. She has two kids (14 & 11) and has been married to the same man for 19 years.

Her email, of course, put me into a "what exactly have I done with the last 25 years" and I realized that I haven't done too bad. It was a nice thing to think about this holiday season.

Thanks for reminder, Heather.

Proud to Be American, huh?

...uuggghhh...

Man.

I'm still freakin' full.

Our Orphan's Thanksgiving was pretty damn good. We had Rev. Fish, Ron K, Joe Janes, Cholly, Kelli, J. Pitts, Peter D., and Stephen King (not the writer) all huddled in our apartment, eating massive amounts of starchy food. We watched (courtesy of Ron), the all dancing, all singing episode of "Buffy - The Vampire Slayer" and "Kung Fu Hustle". Then we watched "The Iron Giant" and yes - at the end I bawled like a baby and Seth leaped onto the floor, laughing and clapping at my tears.

We now have more leftover food than ever. It's a bit ridiculous, this holiday that celebrates gluttony.

Today is Jen's Birthday. I'm going out to do some more shopping for her and then we eat at Le Creperie and then Karaoke. Rock on!

Thanks, Easter Bunny!!

What I'm Thankful For

Thanksgiving is a holiday for many things: the celebration of "being American" and consequently completely over-indulging on starchy foods; the celebration of the Early Settler's coming to the New World and systematically killing off the natives to make room for the white British; taking stock one's life and giving thanks to [insert Deity] for the blessings of blagh bleh blew.

I'd like to take a few minutes for the later - the two former being only appropriately celebrated tomorrow.

On this day, the 23rd Day of November in the Year of Our Lord 2005, I am thankful for:

• The simple truth that I don't live in a city that was hit by a hurricane and subsequently left to fend for itself for a period of time. Anyone living anywhere not hit by a hurricane this year shouldhave this on the top of their list.

• The fact that my parents are still healthy and happy. It becomes a strange "getting older - getting wiser" deal that one begins to appreciate the parents after it is nearly too late to enjoy their company. I'm grateful that I got wise early in the game.

• The opportunity to be a part of the grand theatrical tradition. Whatever claim to fame I may have down the road, I'm grateful for the chance to speak and be heard.

• Good, fresh-brewed coffee.

• My wife. Jen is a wonderful combination of razor sharp intelligence, stunning beauty, and the ability to act the retard without being self-conscious. She is the light in my life. She rocks.

• Cheese.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but I have laundry to do, some Beez Berfday shopping to do, some Bible Picture for My Mom work to do and to begin to prep The Feast.

Have a great T-Day. Thanks for reading.

"You Are Entitled to Nothing." -- Jacko

CORNWALLIS

Great workshop last night! Their homework was to be able to summarize three Shakespearean plays (exempting R & J, Hamlet, and MacBeth) - they were pretty unprepared so I got on my soapbox and beat my chest for a bit. I'll spare you the "know more things and your improvisation will improve" rant.

After we worked on the Spolin excercise "What's Beyond?" The basic excercise is to have one actor take the stage and have in mind something that happened to him offstage that affected him emotionally and a place he will be going after the scene that has an emotional impact on him. He then goes into the scene with the sole agenda being to communicate (silently) those two things. It's a hard excercise.

Last night, we brought two actors onstage. One starts in the scene alone - the second enters with a "what's beyond?" before his entrance. Without telling his partner what that is, he has to communicate it to his partner while carrying on the scene. Once his partner has an idea of what happened to him before the scene, the partner begins setting up a "what's beyond?" exit.

The Cornwallis cats were great! The scenes were infused with meaning and depth of purpose and went on for ten minutes at a time and were awesome! It's very gratifying to see that.

BEEZ BERFDAY

In addition to Thursday being Thanksgiving, Friday is Jen's birthday. She's going to spend some time with her sister, we're going to go have a birthday meal and then, at 9PM, we head off to the Peek Inn for karaoke with her friends (most from WNEP). Plenty of folks are out of town, but I'm certain that those in town will come out and buy her drinks and serenade her all night long. Fun!

JACKO

A voice from the past popped up yesterday on the WNEP Message Board - Patrick Jacobi!

Jacko was in Postmortem and is one of the smartest people I've known. Moved to Vermont a couple of years ago to study law. He then emailed me - here's a piece of his correspondance:

What have I learned (and this should go in a posting somewhere):

SHUT UP AND WORK. Law school has made me relaize what a lazy person I was when I worked a 9-5. If you haven't exhausted yourself by the time you go to bed, you have wasted your day. You want to be an artist and get paid-- PROVE THAT YOU CAN GENERATE REVENUE SUFFICIENT TO BENEFIT SOMEONE WHO HAS THE MEANS TO PAY YOU. or perish. If I had it to do again, I would have stayed up until 3 or 4 every night writing scripts, getting in shape, sending out headshots, etc. If you are sleeping comfortably when you are trying to make art that someone will pay you to make, you are going about it the wrong way. If law school requires that I work this hard just to become a lame-ass lawyer, than that means becoming an artist requires 10 times as much work.

I have alienated a few with this rant, but I know you well enough that you will heed it or ignore it to your heart's delight. But feel free to pass it on to other WNEP'ers: YOU ARE ENTITLED TO NOTHING. WORK UNTIL YOU DROP AND THEN GET UP AND WORK SOME MORE AND THEN MAYBE THE WORLD WILL GIVE YOU A PENNY. When you can truly say that you are blind with the fatigue of trying to make art, then I will feel for the PERSON WHO CHOSE TO BE AN ARTIST, when so many other easier roads were available. IT IS THE HARDEST of roads, so SHUT UP AND MAKE SOME ART!

I miss Jacko.

THE BEAT GOES ON...

This Really Chaps My Ass

140 hours on Clinton, 12 on Abu Ghraib

EXCESS IS AN AMERICAN TRADITION

Orphan's Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was never one of my mom's *big* holidays. Lotta cooking, lotta cleaning - she generally preferred Halloween then Christmas.

Jen and I, on the other hand, have made Thanksgiving one of our special holidays, one in which I cook my ass off and we host an *Orphan's Thanksgiving* - effectively inviting anyone we know in town without a designated family place to celebrate the rape and pillage of the Native Americans.

Now, if you know Jen & I, you know we are not wealthy. Money ain't growing on trees over here at Ellison Hall. For T-Day, however, we drop the fat dime because if we're going to celebrate the genocide of a whole race, the least we can do is eat until we are temporarily blind. We did our Thanksgiving shop last night - dropped $409.00 on one meal - JEESH!

Le Menu:

Hors D'oeuvres (including 5 lbs of Shrimp Cocktail, smoked oysters, various cheeses and meats, olives and pickles)

20 lb. Turkey (infused and basted with a brown lager, clove, and honey sauce)
8 lb. Ham (same glaze)
Spinach Salad w/ Pears, Cranberries, and Gorgonzolla Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Gravy
Egg Nog Sweet Potato Casserole w/ Rum Soaked Raisins
Yams in Brown Sugar
Green Beans and Onions
Biscuits
Wild Rice (with Mushrooms)
Lime Brussell Sprouts
Baked Brocolli and Cheddar Cheese

We let those coming bring desserts, because neither of us bakes. If Joe comes, he brings Tofu Turkey (--EEK! --). Jen makes the salad, green beans, and Candied Yams - I cook everything else. FUN! (seriously...Fun. I love cooking for people. If I hadn't started a theater company, I would've started a restaurant).

Part of the tradition is to put on a DVD that we know will make me cry. Seth loves that - making the 800 lb. Gorilla cry makes him laugh and laugh. Last year, we watched "The Rookie". This year, I'm voting on "The Iron Giant".

JENNY BRENNAN

Jenny is the Director of Development of WNEP. In my ongoing praise of things that are positive and good about the company, I would be seriously remiss to not mention her.

Jenny is a quiet person. She is pretty and pale and has possibly the coolest fashion sense of anyone I know. She is also an example of someone who, in spite of her desire to avoid big confrontations, can go toe-to-toe with me. She disagrees with me every now and again and when she does, she confronts me. I know that confronting me is not easy but she can wack me on the nose with a newspaper and make me listen. With the frequent complaint that I am dictatorial and unapproachable, Jenny is my prime example in contrast to that.

She is also super motivated, incredibly talented (both in the Development and Fundraising ways and as a playwright) and is the Queen of Follow-Through. I can credit Jenny's influence as a major part of why WNEP is in the process of transitioning from a shoestring Off-Loop company to a genuine player in the Chicago Theater scene.

In short, Jenny rocks and I'm proud to work with her.

CORNWALLIS

This has been a good thing for me. I regularly look forward to working with these guys each Monday night. We work on extended (10 minute) scenes tonight. Fun.

BUY A CALENDAR

Noah made a 2006 Wall Calendar. BUY ONE!

Sundries

Producing Masterclass

"The information presented in this class is the sum total of all the mistakes, all the fuckups, I have made in over thirteen years of producing in Chicago."

There's something truly gratifying about sharing knowledge (and maybe a little bit of wisdom) in a class like this. This particular group was big on questions. Having a lot of questions moves the info in productive ways but tends to get me scattered in my approach, which is why I have the little booklet (apparently a highlight of the class) to refer to.

The fact that these people (many of whom have only been in Chicago for a short time) know who I am, let alone are paying $100 to sit in my living room and hear me talk about theater, is a little intimidating. I don't want to disappoint when they're paying $100. I got the impression they all felt it was money well spent.

Received this email this morning:

Don,

I really enjoyed your class yesterday. It gave me
just the insight I needed on marketing [my show],
getting sponsorship and becoming a non-profit. These
things are going to seriously help my show. I'll
hopefully see you around soon.

Thanks again,
Jon

BAKER & HUFF

Had our first sit down - Fred's producing and, as usual, seems to have his act together. It's nice to work with a producer who is good and enthusiastic without being a spazz.

We talked about the script, about the rehearsal schedule, I spilled my beer all over creation ('cuz I can no longer hold my liquor), and are prepped for a beginning in early 2006.

BUSH SUCKS

More 5 & Dime

From Gaper's Block:

Five and Dime Comedy Hour

The 5 & Dime Comedy Hour is not your average sketch show. The 5 & Dime Comedy Hour = Megan Bell, Molly Hale, and John Pattavina. These three consider themselves old souls and their comedy comes from a love of "old-timey" pop-culture and painful loneliness. The show is directed by WNEP's infamous Don Hall. This is not the same sketch show you've seen where the lights come up, and punch line occurs and the lights go down. 5 & Dime has orchestrated a night of absurdist theatre that will thrill those new to and veterans of sketch comedy.
Saturday nights @ 11pm, November 5th - December 17th @ The Trapdoor Theatre , 1655 W. Cortland St. (In Bucktown behind Jane's restaurant) 10$ and BYOB! $5 for improvisers

Didn't know I was infamous.

Cool. I also see that this writer was "in the groove". Cooler

Words from a Real Hero

READ THIS

Life is a Shiny New Penny

Holy Implosion!

Man. The neo-cons haven't seen a sunny day for some time and we liberal progressives are feeding on this stuff like a pig in shit! There's Democratic Congressman John Murtha sounding off in one of the most patriotic speeches in fucking years:

The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region.

There's the fact that Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is "The Most Influential Man in the World," according to Esquire magazine. The magazine has designated him as "the most powerful agent of change in the world" despite his lack of electoral standing and the fact he was laid low by a heart attack ahead of last year's presidential election.

There's this revelation:

"Republicans can use the reptilian aspects of their brain for the next three years all they want; but history has already judged Bush over how he has handled the so-called "War on Terror". That judgment will have him fighting it out with James Buchanan for worst President ever. My money is on Buchanan, that crooked-necked boob packed a mean "cockpunch".

Then there's Scooter, there's McClellan rumored to be resigning soon, there's Cheney routinely being heckled at publicity events, there's Bob Woodward's "All the President's Men" reputation being tarnished.

If you know me and voted for these jackasses anyway, I TOLD YOU SO! Yes - I am slightly smug - we progressives have been getting our noses rubbed in shit long enough. Time to take this shit back. OK?

5 & Dime

Well, the show received a strange review from the Reader this week:

Even weirder than an unfunny sketch ensemble is a comedy troupe that seems only faintly interested in being funny in the first place. This seriously offbeat effort from Molly Hale, Megan Bell, and John Pattavina lolls from scene to scene like a lithium case on a washed-out Sunday stroll. Occasionally a kind of flattened chaos flickers across the stage in the form of gibberish, empty chatter, bogus interpretive dance, or a Joan Jett imitation, but like a phantasm it's gone just as quickly, leaving no ripple on the show's metaphorically becalmed waters. Can it be an accident that romantic loss looms large in this intermittently interesting, seldom humorous head-scratcher?

Molly has already asked me to direct their Spring show - with this in mind, I won't hold her to it, y'know? This is disappointing, but not entirely unexpected - the show is a head scratcher. I think it's pretty funny, too. Well, apparently, Brian's mood was not in it for our weird, little show. I hope they get some solid audience, though. I think it's worth seeing - I really do.

ARH NYE

We are on the Production ball on this one! We have (in hand) 300 really nice posters, 1,000 mini postcards, dropped off 5,000 program blow-ins for the Apollo staff to stuff into "Menopause: The Musical" programs; I'm sending out press releases Monday, we have several feature article possibilities, and we're already listed in the Metromix; Abbie got us an "On-Air" light for free, and we're already getting liquor and food arranged.

I'm casting this thing on December 3rd and away we go.

About Fucking Time

Licensed to Kill (in a good way)
Chocagoist, November 17, 2005

Small theaters may have a friend in City Council. Yesterday a Council committee advanced a theater-friendly proposal, moving one step closer to ratifying the much touted Performing Arts Venue (PAV) license and relieving small companies who can’t or won’t navigate municipal bureaucracy.

When the City started cracked down on smaller companies performing without a license circa 2002, it made life difficult for troupes like WNEP, who shut down and end up relocating. Tired of looking like schmucks for quarreling with the noble folk doing work on a shoestring, City officials hammered out a compromise for artists more concerned about getting to next season than meeting the standard set by subsection X, page 52, third column.

The new license promises to streamline the application process, to allow theater in “incidental” spaces like churches and Park District facilities, and to charge only $1 per venue seat. The City would also regulate where performers can set up camp so that a neighborhood won’t be overwhelmed with artsy types fleeing pricier Lakeview rents.

LINK

The Late Night Dilemma

5 & Dime

Yesterday, I emailed Molly to find out how the show went Saturday and, while the show itself apparently went well, the folks at Trap Door left them hanging a bit.

It seems that in their push to get things ready for the opening of "Old Clown Wanted" (a show, by the way, that features both Bob Wilson AND Circus•Szalewski - which means that I won't miss for all the tea in China), they changed the light plot and moved the 5 & Dime props, effectively fucking up the warm up time for my guys. Molly and Jonathan had to spend the half hour before opening the house re-plotting the entire show while looking for their stuff.

Now, I have no stones to throw at Trap Door - it is their venue - I will say that when you rent your venue to other folks, there is a standard of courtesy that goes along with it.

In 1999, WNEP was doing the initial run of My Grandma's a Fat Whore in Jersey at the Bailiwick Studio. Our show was fully improvised (and was named that year as one of the top shows to see of 1999 by NewCity, FYI) and didn't require a lot of consideration when it came to lights or set. The set we were used to was an empty black box, vertically aligned (facing east), with no permanent set pieces. We performed the show at 10:30PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Wednesday before our fourth weekend, I get a call from David Zak.

"Yeah, Don. They loaded in their set for the next 8PM run. You might wanna come in a little early on Friday to take a look and prepare."

"How big are the changes?"

"I don't really know, but I don't think it's a lot."

We arrive on Friday. The stage has been turned 90 degrees and is now facing south, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary bolted to the centerstage, there is abedroomm set bolted to stage right, and there is three tons of sand all over the stage floor. THREE TONS OF SAND.

I nearly dropped a brick in my shorts.

Of course, we made compensations and went with it (after all, what choice did we have) and the next couple of weekends went well, in spite of the sand.

Having rented venues for eight years prior to our four years at 3209, I tried hard to make sure these things didn't happen there.

The Trap Door is relatively new at the renting out game - hopefully they'll learn this with experience. Note to all who rent to do their shows - be aware that if you rent late or off nights, you are the lower priority and be prepared for just about anything.

Just Sharing

Thinking Out Loud

The Language of Evil

Most people equate the language of hate with the language of evil. This is understandable as the distinction between the two is murky at best. I think there is a difference - the language of hate is willfully ignorant, with little power to actually change minds. he language of evil is slick, intelligent, and manipulative.

Language of Hate Thank God for Katrina New Orleans, symbol of America, seen for what it is: a putrid, toxic, stinking cesspool of fag fecal matter. MORE...

Language of Evil Interview - July 17, 2004 BORGER: Well, let's get to Mohamed Atta for a minute because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, "pretty well confirmed." Vice Pres. CHENEY: No, I never said that. BORGER: OK. Vice Pres. CHENEY: I never said that. BORGER: I think that is... Vice Pres. CHENEY: Absolutely not. What I said was the Czech intelligence service reported after 9/11 that Atta had been in Prague on April 9 of 2001, where he allegedly met with an Iraqi intelligence official. We have never been able to confirm that nor have we been able to knock it down, we just don't know. BORGER: Well, this report says it didn't happen. Vice Pres. CHENEY: No, this report says they haven't found any evidence. BORGER: That it happened. Vice Pres. CHENEY: Right. BORGER: But you haven't found the evidence that it happened either, have you? Vice Pres. CHENEY: No. All we have is that one report from the Czechs. We just don't know.

The first is so completely sub-moronic that all I can do is shake my head in disgust at these inbred fucking assholes.

The second scares the shit outta me. These fuckers are caught dead to rights and can still manage to weasel their slimey asses around the issues. Look at what Dick says - there isn't evidence that it happened, but there isn't evidence that it did. Y'know, so it might be true.

Well, shithead - I heard that you're the motherfucking Prince of Darkness! No evidence that it's true, but none to demonstrate it's not - let's assume it's true and cut your fucking head off, bury the body in an acid-filled Exxon tanker underneath a Catholic Church and burn your fucking skull while repeating "The power of Christ compels you". I mean, it might be true and I'm all for a little pre-emptive safety - aren't you?

Baker & Huff

I've just been signed on as the director of Lykins and Yeater's "Baker & Huff". After the reading the other day, I'm pretty jazzed. The piece will be performed at the Town Hall Pub (which used to be the WNEP hangout bar while we resided at 3209 N. Halsted). In the past year, the folks at Town Hall have been allowing their bar to be used for theatrical productions (Dirty Water, Picasso at the Lapine Agile).

My hat goes off to these guys. They wrote a script in the hopes that WNEP would produce it. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit what Jen is looking to do in the next couple of years. They didn't ditch the idea - they wrote and wrote, improving it, had readings to help the process along, and are producing it themselves. Fucking A! I love that go-getter shit! I can't wait.

I'm even getting paid!

Yup

Positive Spin!

CORNWALLIS

We were missing two of six (one because she's essentially on her way out - moving to L.A. in January) and Lena who was sick (she emailed me a heartfelt apology for missing and promised to never be sick on a Monday again...). The class was at Gill Park and we warmed up with the Spolin Game "Who Started the Motion?" then sequed into "What's Beyond C/D" - they had a hard time with this - did some Environment Build scenes and then did scenes that Time Dashed.

They are coming along nicely - I'm enjoying the work they're doing and can see progress - what else do you want?

Dealing with the Dramatics

Obviously, with Emily's resignation, came a number of emails and phone calls - "What happened?" I explained it simply and to the point. It was explained to me that she felt like her family had been taken away - my comment was simply that no one took shit away from her - she resigned! I expect some bitter blowback from her, but really couldn't care less. I have more important things to deal with.

Like...

Doing press for these folks. The director didn't hire me but is the primary contact and keeps calling with stupid requests/demands. "Why aren't we listed in the Reader?" This is unacceptable!" "Uhm...you open on Friday. Reader doesn't come out until Thursday." "What about last week's Reader?" "They don't do that." And back and forth. Apparently, she thinks that she's a big deal in Chicago Theater (I'd never heard of her) and thus it's an automatic that people will want to write full feature articles on her - gimme a break.

Producing Masterclass

Doing this Saturday. I like this class - it's fun. My perspective is constantly evolving, so the class is always a bit different. I have 7 students and am looking forward to the day.

STEVE LUND

In an effort to be a bit more positive on my angry, little blog about the W to the NEP (with thanks to "Pride and Prejudice" for a nice nudge), I've decided to feature individuals from WNEP who I have found to be outstanding additions to the company. I'm starting with Steve Lund.

Steve has been with WNEP since he performed in the 2002 remount of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Steve is an example of a blisteringly intelligent actor combined with a soul older than his years. A touch cynical, he is funny, charming, and enthusiastic as well. Steve is fully committed to WNEP (in the short bursts ultimately expected of Artistic Associates) and has always come through with every task he has taken on. Steve does not hesitate to criticize me if he thinks I've earned it and is unafraid to go toe-to-toe with WNEP's resident 800-lb gorilla.

Steve was the Assistant Director of the critical smash Soiree DADA: Neue Weltaffen and I, who rarely use an Assistant Director, found his suggestions and direction of the cast to be excellent and feel no qualms giving him a huge portion of the credit of that show's success.

Steve is not needy or desperate to be seen. He rather picks his moments, takes his time and leaves a memorable impression every time he takes the stage. Steve is a part of WNEP because he wants to be, because he believes in the work, because he enjoys working with Jen - he is patient and extraordinary.

WNEP is a better place because of Steve Lund.

Interesting Sidenote

I expected some of the people of WNEP to be unhappy and concerned with Emily's leaving; I expected some to not really care or be happy about it (she wasn't nearly as popular as she believed). What I didn't expect was the near-manic rush from people wanting the postion of Assistant Artistic Director from so many WNEPeeps so soon after her departure. Jeesh!

Great Weekend!

Saturday was great. Got to have some nice sit down with Sharko (we realized that we both take our friendship for granted and that his living in Oak Park serves as an excuse). The "Metaluna" reading was awesome - fun, insane, and I believe those folks present were very impressed and excited about doing the show in the Fall.

Met with Zims regarding "degenerate Art" - again, productive, enthusiastic - we've decided to definitively go with the Kafka-esque approach and raise the stakes significantly. I'm re-affirmed on this project.

Saturday night was dinner at the Mowery's - good I love Fred and Sarah - they are the very definition of "salt of the earth". Both of them are sweet and funny and, in spite of a few glasses of wine opening the floodgates of my ceaseless mouth, the evening was at turns delicious, elegant, funny, and informative. And Tybalt is a rockstar dog - I love that big, drooly old man!

Sunday was just as good - we had a breakfast production meeting that turned silly, went to a reading of Yeater and Lykin's play "Baker and Huff" about the end of a partnership between two Catskills comedians. It was much improved from the last reading and, with some direction and tweaks on the characters, this will be a genuinely lovely play.

Jen & I came home, I cleaned up the house some and we watched "Freeway", a very strange movie made in 1996 with a young Reese Witherspoon as a white trash, as kicking Little Red Riding Hood vs Keifer Sutherland's creepy, serial killer Wolf. Surprisingly funny and fun.

Then the Ellison-Gardiners (my in-laws) took Jen & I out to RJ Grunts to offer me a "good job on the not smoking" dinner. All in all, great weekend.

And the Lancing Begins

As I've continued to rant on this blog, I am mystified as to why anyone would want to be involved with WNEP if they were unhappy or unsatisfied with my leadership of the company, I've discovered this morning that having those folks leave is as easy as asking for a meeting. I emailed Emily last night to set up a meeting. I wanted to discuss the fact that her tendency to over commit to a variety of projects leaves her work with WNEP a bit wanting, that I would like her to take on the Educational aspects of the SKALD but only if she could make it a much higher priority in her busy schedule and discuss obvious conflicts she has with me given her tendency to complain pretty regularly to a number of people about myself and WNEP in general.

To my surprise, I received a return email that was her resignation from WNEP altogether - no meeting required. Her email was both a list of her many positive contributions to WNEP (none of which I deny) and her many problems with my dictatorial methods, my unprofessional attitudes, and this blog.

I can't say I'm sorry to see her go - due to her consistent backbiting about me personally and her association with people who are, in my opinion, enemies of WNEP, I stopped seeing anything but poison come out of her for some time. That view is most likely tainted by my having been "shit talked" behind my back, so take that into consideration. I think Emily is a fine artist and wish her the best - as soon as she grows up some, I believe she will go far.

I Do Not CRAVE This Show

REVIEW: CRAVE by Sarah Kane
Presented by the side project

The expression of deep depression can be either a catharsis or a bore. Histrionic wailing about the meaninglessness of existence and the pain of everyday monotony and the cruelty of human relationships needs a deft hand to navigate the melodramatics and engage a less depressed audience. I can only guess that "Crave" is ultimately about the craving for love and validation. This production of "Crave" is only about a craving for the recognition of doing avant garde theater with some rape in it.

Playwright/poet Sarah Kane's psychotic (and ultimately suicidal) depression is the fuel for the fire in this spoken word quasi-play. My initial opinion is that the only reason anyone would produce this mess is because the fact that Kane hung herself at the age of 28 lends a certain authenticity to the torrent of depressed images and words flung about the room. On second thought, perhaps a better director could coax a more nuanced set of performances out of the four, uniformly decent, actors. As it stands, this production feels like a repetitive one-note race to the end, the words blindly speeding past at the same pace and volume. The effect is quite numbing and by the time the 50-minute play was over, I was nearly asleep and had looked at my watch twice in hopes that the end was near.

The only thing I dislike more than self indulgent "avant garde for the sake of avant garde" theater is over-the-top, screamy farce (and only because with the former, at least there is the pretense that they're trying to say something other than "What? You're not my wife! AAAGH!"). This dreck received a Critic's Choice from the Reader and Hedi Weiss was sitting right behind us this evening. I'm sure she saw the emperor's non-existent cloak and will regale this production with great praise. NewCity compared it to early Steppenwolf. The Tribune recommended it and Windy City called it flawless.

The best I can say is this: go find a crazy, homeless woman who obsessively writes her internal monologue on scraps of paper - type the half coherent psycho-rant into script form - give it a provocative title and have your friends read it real fast in your apartment. You'll end up with a very similar experience as I did this evening.

NOT RECOMMENDED

I LIKE WINE TASTINGS

PS2 Game: Psi Ops

Bought this used the other day. Playing the game and realize that I'm being instructed by a hot blonde Psi Op agent who sounds exactly like...Joanna Buese! I check the credits and not only is it, in fact, Joanna's voice, but later on I'm talking to an animated Merrie Greenfield! This shit is a crack up!

SHOW: Invasion of the Minnesota Normals

Got this booked for May 11 - June 10, 2006 at the Apollo Studio Theater. Now all I need to do to be able to put together a 2006 brochure of some kind is book a Fall '06 run of 'Metaluna" and we're booked for the year. Sweet!

EVENT: Champagne and Spirits Tasting

In a last minute invite, Jen & I joined Rebar and Christine (Tucker's better half) at a tasting last night. For $15, we were each given a wine glass and a tally sheet and walked around in this wine shop across the street from the Davis Theater and sipped champagnes and spirits, ate cheese, bread and fruit and got pleasantly hammered.

I'll take the opportunity to say that I love Rebar. She is one of the coolest people I've had the pleasure to meet on the nearly 40 year journey I've been on. Smart, frequently wise, funny as hell, generous, passionate, shoots from the hip, and just *this* side of white trashy enough for me to feel like I've known her my whole life. I've always been a sort of "out of sight, out of mind" kind of guy - I don't have a lot of long enduring friendships with people I went to school with - Rebar is one of those few that if I moved to Paris and she stayed in Chicago, I'd still correspond with her at least once a week for the rest of my days. Simply put, she's a keeper.

Following My Own Advice

In an effort to make sure I'm not one of those know-it-all fuckbags that avoids practicing what I preach, I did a quick check against the advice I gave Larry the other day. Given that, in an effort to get a full-time, well-paying J.O.B., I've sent out over 75 resumes and cover letters since October 11, that I've been smoke-free for a month, that I'm taking some pains to become a better listener (I realized that it's hard to be a good listener when you're talking all the time - go figure that out...), that I'm preparing to lance a couple of toxic relationships from WNEP, and that while I spend an awful lot of time looking back, I'm spending an equal amount of time looking forward - I think I'm doing all right on that front.

This weekend

Meeting with Sharko Saturday morning, doing the "Metaluna" reading, then going over to the Mowery's Saturday night for some fajitas and quality time with a genuinely spectacular couple of people. Sunday Breakfast meeting, going to hear a reading of "Baker & Huff" by Lykins and Yeater, then hanging with my wife. Good weekend.

QUOTE:

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Regarding the Ghost of Productions Past

READING: Metaluna

We're reading Joe Janes' first play this Saturday. Unlike most readings, we're not reading it for feedback or to help the author get the thing done. This is a reading to present the play we'll be producing in Fall '06 to those folks from WNEP who never got the opportunity to hear it (which, at this point, is quite a few). We last presented the World Premiere of "Metaluna and the Amazing Science of the Mind Revue" in 1996 - the reprise production is a tenth anniversary dealio.

This play has some personal significance for both myself and for WNEP. It was the first WNEP show my mother ever saw (she loved it, by the way). It was the first WNEP show Jen (my wife and the Artistic Director since 1998) ever saw and, as legends go, Jen saw it, went home and decided that she would be the Artistic Director of the company that put on such original, subversive, and fun shows. It was the first time WNEP was featured in Section One in the Chicago Reader. It was the first production in which the marketing caused me to be hauled into court (for illegal flyposting - I went with Joe Bill because we were performing it at the old Annoyance - we were fined $20.00). This is the first WNEP show that people I know did not see it claim they did.

The play was originally pitched in my attic. We used to have meetings in my attic where the ensemble (we had an ensemble at that time) would sit around and 'pitch' show ideas out to the group and we would vote on which show we were doing next. These meetings usually lasted forever. As I recall this particular meeting, Joe had just joined the cast of "KLOWN: Prick Us and We'll Burst" (pictured) and had begun formulating the idea for the first "Soiree DADA" with Joel Jeske. He typed up the synopsis of "Metaluna" just so he'd have something to pitch, with no real intention of writing the play.

He read his pitch and after some discussion, we voted and it was unanimously decided that WNEP would be doing this play that Joe had not written. Following the meeting, Joe looked at me and commented, "Now I have to write this fucking thing. How am I going to write this?"

He wrote it, alright.

It'll be interesting for those who didn't join WNEP until after 1999 (which is most of the company at this point) to hear this "early WNEP" script. I believe it will shed some light on the recent push to focus on better, more artistically risky material.

Just thinking about all this reminds me of this company's history. The first ensemble (known as 'Level 6') was an ambitious, talented group. I recall that at the aforementioned pitch meeting other shows were presented - the adaptation of 'The Lost Weekend," the dirty 1960's pulp novels that became "Monte LaGrosjambe presents'Sex Est Une Femme'," the silent musical piece that became "The Stink of Destiny" - creatively risky fare with both artistic and philosophical points of view. It also reminds me of how the inherent pettiness that develops in any group began to get in our way.

'Level 6' started as an excited, funny bunch of actor/improvisers and became a snarky, back-biting community of people looking for the group to provide them with opportunities. The bar was usually the place where most of the shittiest smack-talking occurred. As people realized that there were issues that WNEP could not address, opportunities it could not provide for them, arguments that they did not win, a festering blister grew. In spite of the opportunities the company opened up for everyone (going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe being the outstanding example in my mind) dissatisfaction flourished. In 1998, things came to a head for most in the ensemble and a huge number left, vomiting anger and bile at each other and with myself as a focal point in which to direct the most vitriolic hostility.

In some ways, WNEP has unfortunately come to a similar place - disillusioned people within the company, unhappy with what they get out of the experience, bonding in small cabals of "let's shit talk WNEP for a while" combined with folks who are genuinely looking toward the future and have committed to making their time with WNEP as fruitful as possible. The big difference is that I've been here before.

What I know now is that it always comes down to the work - regardless of personality conflicts and anger, we created "Metaluna" as well as a number of incredible original stuff. What I know now is that an organization like ours will be plagued by this sort of degradation balanced only by the quality of the work. What I know now is that I don't want the pettiness of today's WNEP to derail the forward motion of the work.

We revisit "Metaluna" - it reminds me of why Katie Caussin once called me the "Henry Rollins" of Off Loop Theater. It reminds me that doing the impossible was what we did best. It makes me look back with pride and look forward with enthusiasm.

The Trouble with Larry

ADVICE

A colleague of mine came to visit and get some advice yesterday. For a certain degree of confidentiality, we'll call him Larry.

Larry is at a crossroads in his life - wondering were he fits in the Great Design, wondering what the hell he's been doing with his life. He is stuck with no J.O.B. and scrapes together not-quite-enough money to pay his bills each month. He is stuck in a dead-end relationship with a woman who makes him feel like even more of a loser than he already feels himself. His relationship with his father has degenerated to a money-lender/money-borrower dance and Larry, a bit intimidated by his father anyway, is thirsty for his father's respect far more than his money.

Larry is feeling as if he is at the end of his rope - no prospects, no self-respect. His "girlfriend" regularly sleeps with another guy and seems to have the emotional maturity of a child. She belittles Larry and he feels stupid around her. When he brings this up, she pulls out a joint and gets naked. Or cries - and Larry cannot handle the histrionic crying jags she goes on.

Larry gave up sending out resumes a long time ago and has instead spent his time doing "pick up" jobs for actors (working children's parties, all day flyering, extra work). He wants a career but doesn't really want a career outside of acting, but has been on 6 auditions in the past seven years.

All of this has begun to cave in on Larry and he has been having some pretty violent mood swings - from screaming rage to hysterical crying in public. He came over to my place to vent, to explain, to hear what he already knew - a pattern he had apparently repeated with a number of his friends, turning them all into amateur therapists.

As the visit stretched out, the inevitable hesitancy of his sharing became a flood of emotional reactions and Larry began to focus a lot of his angst on his whorish girlfriend. He couldn't get past the fact that she had no problem sleeping with him only a few hours after sleeping with another guy. He was fixated on how bitchy, critical, and aloof she was. At one point, he pointed out that his "girlfriend" shit mouthed me a lot behind my back - then realizing that "I forgot, Don. You don't care if people talk smack about you behind your back."

SIDENOTE: It's not that I don't care if people that I work with talk shit about me. It is simply that I'm used to it and have learned to dismiss the opinions of those who habitually trash me in private.

After about 90 minutes of him pouring out his bile, I began "the advice."

Dump the girlfriend.

She obviously has some self esteem issues of her own and two people who don't feel good about themselves are not going to be a good combination. Put your cock back in your pants, focus on yourself and not the needs of another. People that like to "play the field" while telling you how much they love you are spreading poison around - lose her Typhoid Mary ass and wack off for a while. DO NOT have sex with another woman until you have enough money to fuck her on a bed in a room at the Drake Hotel that you paid for.

Put a halt to the frequent smoking of the weed.

Nothing wrong with grass. NOTHING wrong with it - except if your problems are a general lack of focus and ambition. Weed will only sap your focus and ambition, which is why it's so freakin' relaxing to smoke. Larry, however, needs all the fucking focus and ambition he can muster. DO NOT smoke a joint until you can comfortably afford to buy some for all your friends.

Wake up every morning as if it was on purpose.

While sleeping until noon, playing video games, smoking grass and fucking are all superfun, they are not methods to self improvement (unless you are Rebar who carries more stress around with her than anyone I know and needs to engage in a serious "sleeping in-PS2-marijuana-getting laid program). Send out resumes. Seek out auditions. GET OFF YOUR ASS.

The most interesting thing is that Larry knew all of this stuff without me saying a word of it. He didn't need therapy. He didn't need advice. He needed (and needs) to do what he already knows is right for him. Perhaps we all need someone to point out the obvious every now and then. At one point in my life, my mother asked me "Why do you spend so much time with people who only make you feel bad about yourself?" "I dunno." I replied. "Then stop."

Yeah. It's sometimes just that simple. I felt like a big fucking loser for about 18 months after leaving the space this time two years ago. As has been pointed out to me, in spite of feeling like a loser, I still managed to accomplish in the 18 months more than most accomplish in five years (hell - Bob Fisher called it heroic). I know what it feels like to be on the bottom rung. I also know what it takes to pull yourself out of that - self will and perseverance. Guts. Balls. Righteous anger. Whatever you need to pull your tired, sad, frustrated carcass out of bed and achieve something beyond merely surviving or passing the time.

Go ye therefore and rock.

RELATED THOUGHT

Back to the point Larry made about people within WNEP trash talking me. First, I'm going to hear about it eventually - I almost always do. Second, it really doesn't bother me, but don't be surprised if your opinions on things that matter - like shows, casting, marketing, etc. - are completely dismissed. Third, I have respect for someone who, upon realizing that I cannot supply him with what it is he needs, leaves to find that need somewhere else. I have no respect for the pathetic shithead who, upon realizing that I cannot supply him with what he needs, stays in the company and shits on me behind my back. You gotta beef? There's the door.

WEEBLES WOBBLE...

PILATES

In an effort to a) shed a few pounds and 'tone' up (Christ!) and b) help my wife with her *slight* weight gain brought on from the nnon-smoker route, we're now doing Pilates together at 6AM every morning. We purchased the 10-minute Pilates DVD (due to busy lifestyle OR because doing things like this is easier to take in ten-minute blasts) and are working the abs, the buns, my flexibility, etc.

Let me tell ya, being physically built like a gorilla seriously inhibits the flexibility thing - Jeesh - I'm rolling around on my tailbone like a fucking Weeble, vainly attempting to reach my fucking ankles!

I'm rounding out the Pilates with some regular old push ups and standard stretching, and I'm feeling pretty good - sore in some weird places but good.

Putting It Together...

Abbie got us an "ON AIR" light for the ARH NYE show - for nothing!! I have a commitment from the writer/editor of the Chicago Theater Guide that she's going to do a story on the show for their December issue. The tickets for the event on on sale at The Apollo. Designed and ordered posters, mini-postcards, and blow-ins for the programs of "Menopause: The Musical". I love it when a show starts coming together!

I Like Winston

The other night, as Jn & I were debating my ongoing search for the ultimate male archetype (there'll be more once I've sifted through all the brain chaffe), she asked me if I looked to FDR as a viable male role model. "Of course I do," I said. "But my use for him as a complete model for me is limited. He was born into wealth - never worked a 'real' job in his life." She nearly clocked me until I commented that Churchill on the other hand, while a drunk and a bully, was a genuine badass.

Here's a quick Churchill quote that reflects upon our current administration:

Churchill on November 21, 1943
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."

Go ye therefore and rock!

KICKIN' SOME ASS!

Cornwallis

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll remember that last year I was asked to 'coach' a CIC improv team called 'Cornwallis'. As was typical of the coaching scene, there was plenty of missed rehearsals, people doing other shows, and my own bizarre relationship with the concept of 'coaching' in general.

The kids of Cornwallis had a few personnel changes and have asked me to come work with them again. I decided to eschew the 'coaching' model that I understood to be standard and do it my way. Tonight was the first of seven skill-building rehearsals. I made it clear to the group that missing rehearsals was not an option (except in extreme cases) and NEVER for another show. I made it clear that my goal was for them to be excellent improviser/actors when I was through with them. I made it clear that they would be given homework and failure to complete it was not an option.

We then leapt into some hardcore Spolin excercises and I made them work hard for approval. I busted their asses.

AND...

They were great. They worked hard and generally improved inside of three hours. I've put together an ambitious lesson plan for them and they seem jazzed to be pushed so hard. If, after seven Mondays with them, they continue to bust ass and grow in skill, I'm going to throw them into one of my insane, it-can't-be-done show forms.

degenerate Art

Seems that the reading has lit a fire under Zim's ass - he's back in enthused mode. Cool.

Just in case you forgot my main man...


Remind Yourself Why He's a Great Patriot

THE WORLD OF THEATER

READING: degenerate Art

The reading went well. We got started a bit late and the turnout was pretty dismal but the 94-pages translated into app. 65 minutes and those of us there talked at length about the pros and cons of the piece. At one point in the feedback session I got a little testy because Jen, as moderator, allowed the conversation to turn the corner from discussing clarity to becoming a list of ways Zims and I should write the thing, but overall, it went well.

Zims and I got what we needed from the experience and now it's his turn to crank away, taking what we've got and adding to it. It's a complicated play in that it sparks quite a bit of heated opinion. One of the fascinating things about it is that the main character is modeled (at least in her strong opinions on art) after me. She has become a cipher of sorts for what I want to say. Interestingly enough, in both readings, people don't care much for her - they find her preachy and strident. This is a concern both because if she is seen as preachy, she becomes less persuasive and that it makes me wonder about how I am perceived by these same people.

Am I preachy and strident? Or are my opinions on the art vs. commerce debate simply not popular among the artist set? The character uses stories and anecdotes that I use to illustrate points and one of the respondents even went so far as to call her "cheap therapy." I'm unsure if the cheap therapy accusation is accurate but more importantly, if it is true that I've created a character to examine my own demons, why that is a bad thing. Arthur Miller's entire body of work is cheap therapy, yes?

That character aside, the play needs a lot of work. The first reading was an experiment in how much information we could withhold from the audience and get away with. The piece was intentionally plot heavy and highly stylized. The experiment this time was to remove all plot points and focus strictly on the character development - in that I succeeded - beyond the general unease with the Zoe character, most of the character were more identified with than before and there is some flesh on their bones.

The next reading for this is scheduled on March 5th. Zims and I will yap about the results of the reading and take another stab.

SHOW: Five & Dime

They were awesome. Jen came and laughed throughout. The cast was pretty much spot on, JM was excellent on tech, and the audience was at times laughing and at times confused. I believe they had a good time and, with the sole exception being the thunderous rain, nearly drowning out the more subtle moments in the show, it was a great opening. I certainly hope they get some press. Jen LOVED Molly. I mean, she wants Molly in WNEP shows NOW. I agree.

The cast put the following in the program:

A special letter to the director from the actors:
You took a box of doll parts and sewed them together. You drew on a face and clothed her in a dress made from the fabric of your own sick imagination. Lastly, you electrocuted her and brought her to life. Thank you so much for being so damn twisted, creative and cool. If you are sitting in the audience tonight and don';t know who Don Hall is, check out the WNEP website: www.wneptheater.org. He is a Chicago treasure and we are very lucky to have him.

That was just damned sweet, you know? Made my night.

QUOTE O' THE DAY

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.
Christopher Morley
US author & journalist (1890 - 1957)

CAPOTE: A MUST SEE

Capote is a truly brilliant film.

The word 'brilliant' gets overused a bit, but it fits in this case. Jen and I went out last night, did some shopping, went to a dive bar called 'Half Shell' and had some awesome seafood, then went to see 'Capote.' Unbelievably good.

First, the performances (from the always excellent Chris Cooper, to one of my personal favorite film actresses Catherine Keener, to Clifton Collins, Jr. and finally to Phillip Seymour Hoffman) were the best all around performances in a film since "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." This is a film that takes it's time and allows the space between the notes to breathe. Watching Hoffman's Capote agonize over his role in the eventual execution of Smith and Hickock is as interesting and vital to the story told as any single phrase or piece of dialogue. The director, Bennett Miller, knew how fucking rock solid his cast was and he let them have the room to create. Hoffman takes a potentially acerbic and annoying character, one with very few redeeming qualities beyond his talent, and makes him sympathetic and fully human.

Second, this is how biopics should be made. Instead of watching Capote grow up and deal with the process of becoming 'Truman Capote,' we get to see him as he creates the work that defined him as 'Truman Capote' of legend.

Finally, the theme seems to be the vampirism of art - the idea that artists who use words and narrative to create literally steal the blood from their subjects, detaching themselves from a conventional sense of humanity in order to observe. Capote's sin (if that is an appropriate word to use) is that, in order to create his book, he blatantly manipulates his subjects into helping him create the best outcome to his creation (specifically, extending the stay of execution so he can 'get the goods' directly from Smith and Hickock) and then abandoning them when the need has been fulfilled.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The Regular Lineup

SHOW: Five and Dime

We ran the show three times last night. As is standard, it got tighter and better performed each time. It's ready for viewing.

The stage was a 'bit' different than anticipated. Trap Door Theatre is building the set for "Old Clown Wanted" and is in transition - which means my guys perform on an incomplete set that will change slightly each week. They'll be fine; the piece is pretty solid without external concern and we used all the stairs and obstacles to our advantage last night.

I'm happy with the shw - no second guessing. I really like it. I'd pay money to see it and feel like I got more than merely a belly laugh in exchange. I'm looking forward to watching an audience watch it.

INTERVIEW

It seemed to go well. I was not hired. Ugh.

She was, by far, the most upfront with me than anyone else I've interviewed with. She explained that my greatest strength (in her mind) was my diversity of skills and ability to learn new skills rapidly. My greatest weakness was that I've been self-employed for nearly eight years and she was concerned that I couldn't be 'managed'. My dad made the comment that he had never been very successful working for someone else so he understood my dilemma.

I'll keep looking - Jen needs out of her Full Line job - it's sapping her self esteem. I either find a steady 9-to-5 or start pulling in significantly more money than I do now freelancing.

READING: degenerate Art

This Saturday, WNEP is hosting a reading of a play I've been working on, 'degenerate Art.' Steve Zimmers and I wrote the first draft (actually more like the fourth) and we read it about six months ago. After changing a substantial amount of the script, we now have our second reading. I'm interested in the feedback, to see where this thing is - as I've said before, it could use some more "high stakes edge" for my tastes.

NO SMOKING=ORSON WELLES

Jesus - I feel like a fucking house! I know, I know - quit smoking, gain some weight. I get it. I also know that I feel like a novelty circus act riding my bike ("See the Silver Back Gorilla Ride a Bike!") and am, for the first time in my life, feeling the "tit-jiggle." I've always been big, but I've always been solid. Jiggly is bad. Don't want Jell-O tits.

Just saying.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. -- William Ellery Channing

WHAT MAKES A MAN? - AN ESSAY

We are now in the 21st Century.

The defining characteristics of what makes a man have changed as has our understanding of manhood. In my lifetime (1966 - 2005, thus far) the role of the man in society has changed dramatically. In 1966, the definition of manhood was suddenly contradicted from what had been established during WWII. A man in the 1950's was one with a family, a wife who stayed at home and tended this family, who served (or had served) his country, and who was a productive part of the industrial machine.

With the baby boom came a youth culture that by the mid-1960's was overwhelming and, with it's size and diversity, began to unravel the traditional definitions of manhood as well as a man's role in society. A man was sensitive and lived life independent of allegiance to a corporation or even an ideology. A man was also a traditionalist, still clinging to the 'isms' of the 1940's. Yet another definition was that of the active rebel, challenging all definitions and trampling the ideas of conventionality.

As the definition of what a man was splintered, the definition of what a woman could be began to evolve rapidly. Possibilities for women opened up in ways unimagined, with the burning of brassieres becoming analogous to the throwing down of the shackles of bondage forced upon them by society's mores.

As I was growing up, my male role models were all caught in this crossfire. My Grandfather was a machine gunnery sergeant in Patton's Army, an oil rigger, a southern gentleman and a take no prisoners man. My father (who was only in the picture until I was four years old) was the sort of man who believed the world owed him - he went to Viet Nam and came back with a monkey on his back. After the stability offered by dear old dad came Dennis (stepfather number one) who was into style, a fashion hungry wife beater who exerted his manhood by terrorizing and brutalizing those less able than he. He beat my mother and I until we stole away in the middle of the night with our worldly possessions stuffed into black Hefty® bags.

By the time mom, my little sister and I split at 3AM from 2525 Wildwood Lane in mom's brown Gremlin, I was done with the male role models mom was choosing for me. I was nine years old and my Grandpa was the Man. He was everything a man should be, in an Ernest Hemingway sort of way - bluntly honest, dependable, hard working, funny, true to his word; angry, scarred, and a chain smoking drunk.

I have to stop to say that writing that last line is painful; my Grandpa is the cornerstone of who I am as a man, and to write critically of him hurts.

While my Grandpa was the primary male influence (thus sealing my fate to be defined at least in part by the mores of the 1930's male), I was raised by my mother. From her I developed an unmanly sensitivity to smaller creatures, an unrestrained ability to cry, an artistic side, and a flair for the dramatic (although my Grandpa was the storyteller - the yarn spinner - I got that from him, I'm sure).

In the 1970's, the archetypes of manhood were as diverse as the dancing John Travolta, the sensitive Phil Donahue, the heroic Han Solo, and thehomicidall Travis Bickle. The 1980's gave us the greedy Gordon Gecko and the chipping away at the warrior persona the Army had proliferated since before WWII. The 1990's offered the ultimate male role model for men of my generation - Bill Clinton - an intelligent, kind hearted, sensitive, ambitious, self-interested womanizer.

I am now 39 years old. It is 2005. I am known to be a bit of a bully sometimes. I am also known to cry at movies. I work as hard as my Grandpa ever did, but I make no living at it - my wife is the primary source of income in the household. I'm no fan of organized sports or religion. I'm described, affectionately, as "The Bear," and I act paternally to most in my circle of influence. I still play videogames in my living room, read books written for teens (the Harry Potter books are written for teens, even if we adults love them, too), and wear sneakers more often than "adult" shoes. I look around me and see similarly conflicted men, searching to carve out a niche that says "I am a man. This is the kind of man I am."

So.

The question. What makes a man? What defines manhood aside from the obvious physical characteristics associated with 'maleness'?

I know homosexual men who are, in my opinion, of stiffer character than some heterosexual men I know, so sexual preference is not the deciding factor (the fags often dress better than the straights and with being well-dressed at the top of the "adult human being" list, I'd say that factors in).

The ability to play sports can't be it - there are far too many professional athletes who rape, beat their wives, steal and cheat for athleticism to be a primary factor.

While being educated is on the top of my "quality human being list" I don't believe that is necessary to be educated to be a man - Dick Cheney is educated, but he is not a role model for manhood, just greed and ambition.



Here is, courtesy of Fred Mowery, Gene Autry's Cowboy Code:

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.

2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.

3. He must always tell the truth.

4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.

5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.

6. He must help people in distress.

7. He must be a good worker.

8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.

9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation's laws.

10. The Cowboy is a patriot.

Ever since I read this in September, I've been drawn to the ideas behind it. In a "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" kind of way, this list appeals to me. It defines manhood in simplistic terms, but in terms that everyone can follow. It does not invoke a physical archetype, or a sexual tendency. Gene Autry was a singer, so the code does not exclude the artistic.

Perhaps, the only way to define manhood is to simplify the definition and follow a code of behavior. Be true to the instincts that are a part of being a good human being and perhaps the rest will come.

THE "JAWS" DOG IS A CRACKUP

SHOW: Five & Dime

Nice rehearsal last night. We ran through everything once, with JM on sound. It has real potential and, plain and simple, it makes me laugh. I wish we had at least one additional night in the actual venue, but we'll make due with the extended Thursday night.

I always take a step back at this point in directing a show and wonder "have I fucked these guys?" I mean, it really boils down to the audience both understanding and embracing the positives in the show. So far, I've been successful in that most audiences see the same things as I do - laugh at similar stuff. I've done well in that shows like "The Fall of the Duke," "LEOPOLD!", and "Christmas My Ass" (all sketch comedies) were fall down funny for myself as well as the audiences.

Looking forward to Saturday night.

TO DO: INTERVIEW

Going on a job interview today. She said it was casual (!yeah!) but I'm wearing the slacks, the tie, the dress shoes - my dressy is what most refer to as "casual." My casual is what most folks call "naked."

I've been on enough of these in the past six months that I realize it's mostly chemistry and personalities. Apparently, I'm an intimidating person - Amy Ellison seems to think I look like I'm in charge wherever I go - and the interviews haven't always gone so well. That is to say, the results of the interviews did not involve me getting hired.

I'll just be myself - bottom line on this one is that if I pretend to be someone I'm not and I get hired, it will simply be a matter of time before I shed my "hire me" skin and show them who I really am. Make it simple and just "be."

THIS MADE MY DAY

DEMOCRATS GROW A COUPLA PAIR

AS DID THIS

GUESS WHAT?

POST HALLOWEEN

NOT AS GROUCHY AS I THOUGHT

Last night Jen was teaching her ComedySportz class so it was up to me to hand out candy to the little dressed up candy-grubbers. My humbug attitude toward Halloween melts in the face of little Luke Skywalkers and babies dressed as ladybugs faster than a paper hat in the rain.

We had app. 50 - 60 kids come by, knock on the door, exclaim "Trick or Treat" and hold out their bags for their demanded treat. Given that we live acoss the street from an elementary school that caters almost exclusively to the projects across Clybourn, many of the kids had no costumes - just Walgreen's bags and maybe a plastic mask. Didn't matter. It was fun throwing a couple of Snickers mini-bites and Sweet Tarts into their goody bags and wishing them a Happy Halloween.

I like that our apartment is one of the "known" treat places.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Insist on yourself; never imitate... Every great man is unique.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson