close complete, leap pineapple, ribald fortune

10-11 August: Final performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Felt good, even as it was bittersweet, to see one of the new actors mouthing lines in the audience, to meet another replacer for one brief night before we left the house, to ride over with a new intern getting started on this show, at this theatre and on her path.
We then struck Barefoot in the Park. Odd closure to dismantle a set never-used, to stow our own equipment for additional performances.
I like a lot of the traditions this theatre has, too, for opening, closings and so on.

14, 18-22 August: Over a brew at the local pub, discussed some problems (health and otherwise) the Civic Theatre's production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) has been having, and agreed to join, for an indeterminate period, the ongoing rehearsals. So I have been holding book, taking stage managery-type notes and offering assistant directory-type suggestions and commentary. They have discussed the possibility of me serving as stage crew as well, although I have some conflicts during tech week (and have been auditioning for additional possible conflicts).

15 August: Traveled along with a friend for his scene (6) in Quantum Leap: A Leap to Di for and ended up helping out as a cord wrangler and general p.a. Great energy among the cast and crew!

16 August: Watched Pineapple Express with Kyle. Not knowing much of what to expect from the film, I was reassured by Kyle's assertion that he doesn't really see bad movies (although we had previously watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls). Turned out to be hilarious, unobtrusively-formulaic and slightly subversive, although having a few tone wrinkles. Some good performances by some actors I don't know or hadn't thought about much.

20 August: Auditioned for Lookingglass Theatre's 2008-2009 Season, which includes The Brothers Karamazov (an adaptation of one of my favorite books), Our Town and Arabian Nights. The producing artistic director then asked me some questions and had me redo my monologue, bearing more presently in mind the line that encapsulated my objective. Nice to be able to receive some feedback and take direction at an audition!

23 August: Auditioned for The Sapphire Theatre Company's Lysistrata, the premier production of a new theatre in Indianapolis. This involved, in addition to the monologue, telling a joke. So, of course, I told my favorite, the stupid pirate joke. It was also fun to hear some of the other auditionees jokes, a wide range of joke-style among only a few samples - and all bearing in mind, at least somewhat, the tone/subject matter/concept/bent of the play. I was only able to read an old, somewhat stilted (but in other places quite amusing) translation (Jack Lindsay) of this work by Aristophanes, while the production in question is from an adaptation by the theatre's founders.
I ran into some cohorts there, Nikki (a lead in A Leap to Di for) as well as Lynne (director of all four Bridgework shows), Matt and Emma (her husband and precocious daughter), and then had an amusing lunch with that last three.
Then auditioned for Tow (Grillbust Productions), a murder-mystery feature. This one was a cold read, with which I didn't think I did anything too spectacular, but the auditors appeared to be appreciative. Not sure I'd really like to play the character for which I read, but I will be considered for other roles based on the read.

A Midsummer Night's Dream!

9 August: Penultimate performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We are so good! Despite the fact that we haven't needed it for some time, I am going to miss even running-lines-in-the-car-on-the-way-to-the-show with this cast.

dead vs. iguana

24 July: Forgot to mention, watched Shaun of the Dead with John, Liz and Sam. We were thinking about that previously but had decided on Starship Troopers first since most of had seen Shaun and not Troopers. Enjoyable, more so then the first time I saw it, I think because I was more removed from/less invested in the story, and this made the jokes funnier.

4 August: Watched the second season of Red Vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. I don't think I had watched this in order, as when I first got into RvB they were not all as easily found. The O'Malley plotline makes a lot more sense now. Looking forward to what happens next.

6 August: Read Trust Amanda by Don Yost, one of several Bridgework scripts I picked up while helping clean and organize when they closed. I liked this one better then several of the ones with which we toured.

quick gulch blog dream-sequence

28 July: Auditioned, prepared reads both, for The Overwhelming (Next Theatre Company) and 10 Cent Night (Chicago Dramatists), both new plays. The first was with another actor, the second alone, but each without any direction - one take. Quick!

30 July: Watched a bunch of youtube with Dave Rader, including Season 1 of Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. Still funny.

2 August: Watched Act Three Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, thanks to a tip from Aiea Sauer that these were still available online. Quite a different feel from the other Acts, enjoyable but distinct. I still like the first part, specifically the laundromat song, the best.

3 August: Performed our antepenultimate A Midsummer Night's Dream. First time we've had our standard mics in a while (after not having electricity, using the library's, not needing them (or perhaps there was some problem with the board temporarily)). The crowd energy was a little muted, but it proved to be another solid show.

4 August: Watched Before the Devil Knows You're Dead with John. Superb acting! Unrelenting film that took me to unexpected places; interesting out-of-sequence story (with a few moments repeated in different context) that provided some interesting discoveries and also a few unneeded confusions.