05 November 2008

informal, heavy puppet express fu

8 September: After the previous late night filming, made my way (via Dayton and visiting my brother and his family) down to Charlotte for the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) fall professional auditions. As usual, the space is quite dry, so that coupled with being in the first group of the morning may have kept my audition from excelling. Still felt pretty good.
I had several callbacks. Jefferson Performing Arts Society asked for my headshot/resume. Then I had another with The National Theatre for Children, whom I have seen before at an UPTA and another time as well (maybe two UPTAs?). Pat remembered me right off and I jumped into some cold reads and a bit of improv. We interview a bit after that, and turns out we had added some more people in common acquaintance. Next was an informal callback with Harold Clurman Laboratory Theatre Company (new professional wing of Stella Adler Studio of Acting). They hadn't cemented their season yet, so just expressed interest in my talent as they could gauge from one short monologue! Johnny had worked with Bridgework a while ago, so we talked about that some, and he also encouraged me to look into their Studio also and forward along any questions.

9 September: On the way home (again with a rest in Dayton), stopped in Indianapolis for a reading of TOW with a portion of the cast/crew. Some heavy hitters among them, at least for Indiana.

10-11 September: A few final rehearsals of Complete Works - a lot of improvements had continued in my absence.

12-14, 16, 18-21 September: Run of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) to mostly enthusiastic crowds. Due to my duties (calls, running a few props, puppeting the Ghost), I couldn't see most of the show, but every night I could watch the Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet-interactive scenes, which were the highlights for me anyway, so that worked out well.

17 September: Got a chance to catch a sneak peek of The Express in Chicago, although they overbooked and I, even leaving right after work, was not near enough to the front of the line. I ended up explaining that I had traveled to be there, had worked on the film and would really appreciate getting in, and a few of the nice ladies from Davis Entertainment found a way to make it happen. They got me into an alternate screening with the Boys & Girls Clubs, which was an experience in itself. Dennis Quaid (flight-delayed) finally came in and gave a stump before they rolled.
The film was better than I had expected; the editing, which was not exactly to my general tastes, worked well for this story, although it did make it difficult to look for myself in the background. Finally saw myself near the climax of the film, laughed out loud at the characterization I had effected in that few seconds (and probably a bit from anticipated surprise as well).

27 September: Saw Kung Fu Panda with Kyle at the dollar theatre. Funnier than I had expected from the previews, which I think were misleading; still sachirine and a falsely-deep 'philosophical' bent.