Another day, another opening. Wait, it's the last opening of the year! Let's take a moment and reflect on all the shows I opened this year, there were a lot of them.
The Muse at Turtle Lane, Savage/Love at the Julie Ince Thompson/Cambridge Dance Complex, The Blue Room at the BCA, The Underpants at the Arlington Center for the Arts, Measure for Measure at the Adam's Pool Theatre, The Mousetrap at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, The Muse (again) this time at Theatre Row in NYC, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Footlight Club, Our Town at Riverside Theatre Works and now Uncle Vanya at Apollinaire.
Oh and I guess I should mention the film things... there was Welcome to the World (if you haven't seen that, here it is) then there was The Ex Factor which has yet to come out but is in the process of being edited and was my first real lead in a film/web series thing, then I shot that Emerson short that (of course) I never got a copy of...
And then there was the big one, Crooked Arrows, the trailer for which will be coming out soon and you can all see me acting real silly. Doing all that stuff, I sure did meet a lot of new people. I wonder if this year I met the most new people of any year in my life, or at least made a connection to the most people I ever have in the work we did together. I'm proud to say that for this entire year, I was constantly working on something and making some forward progress. Like, oh yeah, graduating from college. This past year was absolutely jam packed with happenings. It's hard to predict these things, but I bet in the future, 2011 will have been a turning point in my life. I feel like I've turned a corner and am on the path to a higher level of self awareness and hopefully success. I'm allowing myself all this optimism... that's not like me. Or wasn't like the "me" that I was a few years ago, after everything that had happened. But in spite of all that stuff, here I am and better for it. It's strange to try and process all of it, I wonder if it's worth even trying. Well, I've made a go of it.
Here's to next year being just as incredible, 2012 has a lot to live up to.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The First Laughs
I'm writing from backstage of the final, invited audience dress rehearsal of Uncle Vanya. We are getting our first laughs! People are enjoying themselves! It's a great feeling, and I wanted to preserve it, in blog form.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Directing
Reading other people's blogs lead me to realize that someone with whom I've been collaborating had collaborated with previously another person with whom I had also collaborated in a production which meant a great deal to me, and upon looking up found pictures of I didn't realize existed and... wow. What a trip down memory lane. Oh I guess I'll tell you it was John Kuntz's blog, the person is Adam Stone and he directed the production of Pericles I did several moons ago, which... man what an incredible show that was. I don't even know how to describe it. We turned the entire theatre into Diana's temple. It was there the entire time under white butcher paper, and then at the most pivotal moment she came to Pericles and revealed it, and it was just amazing. I also got to play a bad guy, a really, really bad guy, which was awesome. And I had one of my most incredible on stage experiences. OK so basically Pericles is this Mediterranean prince during like the Roman era and he's traveling around and he comes to Antioch and the court of Antiochus to try and marry his daughter, who is renowned for her beauty and stuff. Except Antiochus, who is super evil (and in our version wore an Iron Maiden shirt and was super metal, if you've seen my Iron Maiden shirt that's where it's from) has this riddle and if you can't figure it out he chops off your head, except the answer is that he's having sex with his daughter, which Pericles realizes and manages to squirrel his way out of. After that, Antiochus comes back super pissed that he figured it out and plots to kill Pericles. So the second night, I wasn't feeling it so much as the previous night and was trying to do something different so I took a rubber head from my pile of heads and was addressing my speech to it but then I thought "this isn't working it's too Hamlet" at which point I threw the head against the ground in rage... it being rubber, it bounced off the ground, spun in the air above my head and came back down... right back into my hands.
The crowd erupts in laughter. It takes all my will power as a performer to keep it together, wait for the laughter to go down to start my next line and put the head back down onto the table which is on stage with me. That was one of the most incredible, serendipitous acting moments I've ever had and since I got started about Pericles, I had to share it.
And then thinking about Pericles and more recently Our Town both of which were fantastic productions due in large part to the strong directorial visions of Adam Stone and Jason Weber respectively, got me to thinking about directing. When I really start thinking about it, I think it's something I would like to do, except... I'm afraid. I directed a few scenes for classes while I was an undergrad, but I've never directed an entire piece. Part of what intimidates me is that I feel before I could really do something I would need a work that spoke to me on such a deep level that I could find a story within it that absolutely had to be told. Or something pretentious like that. Basically I would need to find something that I really, really like. But that I feel is within my power to pull off. For example, I really like Othello. There is no way I could pull that show off though as a director. It's up there with King Lear and Hamlet on the "difficult to make work" scale. Part of me also feels like I couldn't resist my own urge to act, and I would inevitably cast myself and be unable to effectively direct myself or the play at the same time and everything would inevitably suffer.
Still, I imagine it would be an incredible experience... having that level of ownership and creative control over something, to be able to conceive and execute a vision all your own (with the help and influence of numerous collaborators, of course) and see that on stage. Maybe, probably, someday. In the meantime, I can fantasize.
The crowd erupts in laughter. It takes all my will power as a performer to keep it together, wait for the laughter to go down to start my next line and put the head back down onto the table which is on stage with me. That was one of the most incredible, serendipitous acting moments I've ever had and since I got started about Pericles, I had to share it.
And then thinking about Pericles and more recently Our Town both of which were fantastic productions due in large part to the strong directorial visions of Adam Stone and Jason Weber respectively, got me to thinking about directing. When I really start thinking about it, I think it's something I would like to do, except... I'm afraid. I directed a few scenes for classes while I was an undergrad, but I've never directed an entire piece. Part of what intimidates me is that I feel before I could really do something I would need a work that spoke to me on such a deep level that I could find a story within it that absolutely had to be told. Or something pretentious like that. Basically I would need to find something that I really, really like. But that I feel is within my power to pull off. For example, I really like Othello. There is no way I could pull that show off though as a director. It's up there with King Lear and Hamlet on the "difficult to make work" scale. Part of me also feels like I couldn't resist my own urge to act, and I would inevitably cast myself and be unable to effectively direct myself or the play at the same time and everything would inevitably suffer.
Still, I imagine it would be an incredible experience... having that level of ownership and creative control over something, to be able to conceive and execute a vision all your own (with the help and influence of numerous collaborators, of course) and see that on stage. Maybe, probably, someday. In the meantime, I can fantasize.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Chappy Channukah
I think Channukah is kind of weird but intriguingly post modern holiday but not in the way that it's become overly ironic which makes it both more entertaining and in other ways banal </thesis statement>.
I say this as a person who considers them self at least... I don't know, 25% culturally jewish and 50% genetically jewish. The genetics of course I have no control over, but the cultural stuff I do. At least to a greater degree, as they go hand in hand to a certain extent. Unless I wanted to change my last name from "Handelman" and get a perm to unjewfro my hair, some portion of the culture at large would realize "oh hey that guy, looks kinda jewey". But I also admire the civil right proponents, Allen Ginsbergs, Woody Allens and various other secular aspects of American jewish culture so I like maintaining some amount of cultural jewery that emphasizes those aspects while also not believing in God or supporting the state of Israel... or ever going to temple in my life (and of course then not having been barmitzved)... or circumcised... TMI?
OK! MOVING ON! Channukah has started. For you non jews out there, let me give you a brief history of the holiday, which is believe it or not, not especially significant in jewish religious practice or in the pantheon of jewish holidays. Channukah means "the festival of lights" and its significance to the old testament goes back to the Macabes when there was various religious strife with other non judaic groups in the region and there was this whole rebellion thing and they killed a bunch of people (this is the flow of the old testament, it's pretty dark and violent in places). Oh and then they wanted to relight the lights in the temple after taking it back from the heathens, but there wasn't enough oil, but instead it lasted longer, like eight days and it was a miracle of energy efficiency (or did someone just do a really good job of rationing their olive oil? Like when your making italian and your down to the bottom of the bottle and you can't get to the grocery store till the weekend, you make do).
In the latter half of the 20th century, primarily secular American jews of the middle class wanted to assert their post WWII American jewness and give their kids some presents around Christmas while also being jewish about it. This sort of goes in the face a little bit of jewish habits of assimilation with gentiles which took place over the thousands of years of history of jews in Europe when they weren't be killed or killing one another, but hey it's a new century and to these people getting in touch with their jewness with festive presents and latkes and chocolate coins and shit was important. And that's cool. I like those things. Especially up as a secular humanist, in my family we were into any kind of religious event that involved presents and food and stuff (this basically meant celebrating Channukah for a few nights maybe, then having Christmas and maying do a seder for Passover but also chocolate eggs on Easter but never any fasting or not eating leavening products because fuck that).
But thinking about it now... I don't know. It's all in good fun, but it feels kind of silly. I guess religious celebrations are inherently a little ridiculous, when you really stop and think about them. But they also give life and human civilization texture. Channukah though is basically Christmas-like replacement product for Jewish folks to enjoy, a Kosher winter solstice, if you will (without the pagan symbols or orgys or whatever... wait a minute I'm getting an idea for a mash up "everybody gather round the mistle toe and menora for the winter solstice fuck fest"). But, I mean, couldn't you just celebrate Christmas? Yeah OK jewish kid you get 8 days of presents but does anybody ever actually follow through and give out eight presents over eight sundowns and light all those fucking candles? Just pack it into one day, one glorious morning of tinsel and colorful paper and a new X-Box you know? Christmas is so far removed from Christianity, it's ridiculous. The whole way in which we celebrate it, with the Christmas tree and the feasting and shit, it's pretty inherently paganistic anyway. So I suggest we throw in the towel. And if you really want have a god damn menora, I guess.
*A note, this was meant to be my attempt at writing a humor piece while meditating on my relationship to my jewishness during this time of Channukah so don't get offended and let me know if you liked it*
I say this as a person who considers them self at least... I don't know, 25% culturally jewish and 50% genetically jewish. The genetics of course I have no control over, but the cultural stuff I do. At least to a greater degree, as they go hand in hand to a certain extent. Unless I wanted to change my last name from "Handelman" and get a perm to unjewfro my hair, some portion of the culture at large would realize "oh hey that guy, looks kinda jewey". But I also admire the civil right proponents, Allen Ginsbergs, Woody Allens and various other secular aspects of American jewish culture so I like maintaining some amount of cultural jewery that emphasizes those aspects while also not believing in God or supporting the state of Israel... or ever going to temple in my life (and of course then not having been barmitzved)... or circumcised... TMI?
OK! MOVING ON! Channukah has started. For you non jews out there, let me give you a brief history of the holiday, which is believe it or not, not especially significant in jewish religious practice or in the pantheon of jewish holidays. Channukah means "the festival of lights" and its significance to the old testament goes back to the Macabes when there was various religious strife with other non judaic groups in the region and there was this whole rebellion thing and they killed a bunch of people (this is the flow of the old testament, it's pretty dark and violent in places). Oh and then they wanted to relight the lights in the temple after taking it back from the heathens, but there wasn't enough oil, but instead it lasted longer, like eight days and it was a miracle of energy efficiency (or did someone just do a really good job of rationing their olive oil? Like when your making italian and your down to the bottom of the bottle and you can't get to the grocery store till the weekend, you make do).
In the latter half of the 20th century, primarily secular American jews of the middle class wanted to assert their post WWII American jewness and give their kids some presents around Christmas while also being jewish about it. This sort of goes in the face a little bit of jewish habits of assimilation with gentiles which took place over the thousands of years of history of jews in Europe when they weren't be killed or killing one another, but hey it's a new century and to these people getting in touch with their jewness with festive presents and latkes and chocolate coins and shit was important. And that's cool. I like those things. Especially up as a secular humanist, in my family we were into any kind of religious event that involved presents and food and stuff (this basically meant celebrating Channukah for a few nights maybe, then having Christmas and maying do a seder for Passover but also chocolate eggs on Easter but never any fasting or not eating leavening products because fuck that).
But thinking about it now... I don't know. It's all in good fun, but it feels kind of silly. I guess religious celebrations are inherently a little ridiculous, when you really stop and think about them. But they also give life and human civilization texture. Channukah though is basically Christmas-like replacement product for Jewish folks to enjoy, a Kosher winter solstice, if you will (without the pagan symbols or orgys or whatever... wait a minute I'm getting an idea for a mash up "everybody gather round the mistle toe and menora for the winter solstice fuck fest"). But, I mean, couldn't you just celebrate Christmas? Yeah OK jewish kid you get 8 days of presents but does anybody ever actually follow through and give out eight presents over eight sundowns and light all those fucking candles? Just pack it into one day, one glorious morning of tinsel and colorful paper and a new X-Box you know? Christmas is so far removed from Christianity, it's ridiculous. The whole way in which we celebrate it, with the Christmas tree and the feasting and shit, it's pretty inherently paganistic anyway. So I suggest we throw in the towel. And if you really want have a god damn menora, I guess.
*A note, this was meant to be my attempt at writing a humor piece while meditating on my relationship to my jewishness during this time of Channukah so don't get offended and let me know if you liked it*
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Priscilla continued
A few more thoughts on Priscilla Dreams the Answer. First, the name of the director was Melanie Garber, I guess that's kind of an addendum. My other additional musings have to do with the script. I'd thought not too long ago, "I wonder if there is such a thing as a play that is too short?" Everybody has been to plays have been too long, far too often in fact this is a major problem with plays in general. I guess part of this is our the ADD addled go go nature of our society, and that we have limited attention spans, all that stuff, but also don't make sit still in one place for a really long period of time because that's uncomfortable, you know what I mean? Anyway as a rule I believe less is more, shorter is better. And Priscilla Dreams the Answer is a pretty short play, it's about an hour long, which I admire and enjoyed about the play. But... I almost wonder if this is a case of a play being too short by even five or ten minutes, during which time I would have liked more backstory or more of a sense of character behind the second lead character/romantic interest James (I think his character was named James? Right? Let's go with that). I found that his character was introduced, Priscilla follows him on the game shows she quirkily enjoys and which he bounces around and then he enters Priscilla's life and you know everything that happens in the play happens. He's an interesting character, but where we have a strong sense of who Priscilla is, and even her boss and the aliens all have motivations which I felt I had a grasp on, but James was... I hate to say it, a little two dimensional? He has this quirk that when he goes through this process of internal searching he can answer any question and the play doesn't explain how or why that is and I actually appreciated that about the text and he takes his greatest comfort in empty TV sound stages, sounds good. But I don't know, other then a desire for companionship and his quirky love of bubble wrap, what is it about Priscilla that he connects to? I'm not really sure.
Overall I felt the play to be a collection of components all very artfully put together with strong characterizations, well written dialogue, I mean everything is good. But it didn't feel original, it felt like a pastiche of quirkiness and existential crises. And today, I figured it out, KURT VONNEGUT! Science fiction? Check. Humanism in the face of absurdisty? Check. Quirky characters? Check. It's like a very artfully adapted and staged but lost Kurt Vonnegut short story. This isn't really a criticism, but an observation. However I do feel that the most lasting pieces of drama are essentially original in some way, but I what do I really know.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Losing my Factory Virginity
Can you believe that before tonight's performance of Fresh Ink Theatre's "Priscilla Dreams the Answer" I had never seen a full production at the Factory Theatre? It's bizarre to think I still haven't done a show there, since it's where so many of the fringe groups in Boston regularly perform and I am at this point a member of the fringe theatre community, so what's up with that? One excuse is that I'm yet to be cast in a show at the Factory, but that doesn't explain why I've never seen a show there. Oh well, that's just because I'm lazy. But I'm working on that!
So anyway, I thought maybe it would be nice to see Priscilla Dreams the Answer, it would fulfill my weekly play quota and I'd be supporting a new company. It wasn't really cinched though until I saw it had a write up in the review throughly applauding the production at which point I was like "shit well fine I'll buy tickets for Saturday" which I did and subsequently, this evening, I lost my factory virginity. Mind you I've been in the space once or twice before, and I'd always kind of wondered "how do you stage something in here?" The answer, like that, and I didn't even have to dream it!
BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS, what did I think of the play? I liked it a lot. One thing which annoyed me was my own fault which was choice of seating, directly parallel with the couch where a bunch of the action took place, particularly a few key scenes, left me cut from the actors but that's just an issue of the cramped space and not anybody's fault. Overall I thought the real hero of the piece was the direction, which was very strong throughout. The director, who's name escapes me and because I'm not a professional reviewer I don't feel obligated to look it up, really nailed the pacing and tone of the script so that interconnectedness of the characters and the absurdity and universality of their situations shone through beautifully. Various moments, in particular the various dream sequences, were also just beautifully staged. The acting likewise was top notch, the ensemble really came together, even if at first the guy with the beard's wacky hobby shop owner didn't convince me at first by the end I was fucking sold. And oh man, that ending. Given the content of the script, which to me was fun and insightful and quirky and everything, but not really new or a revelation, shouldn't have gone off that successfully. But man, something about that ending just punched me right in the gut, just that last moment with the two of them asleep, something about that moment just brought a little tear towards my eye but not all the way out. Making my way through the piece, I was thinking "this is really funny and interesting, am I going to get some of that heavy duty you-only-get-this-in-theatre catharsis we're always looking for? Yeah I did, I have to say. I did. And for that the production receives my applause.
So anyway, I thought maybe it would be nice to see Priscilla Dreams the Answer, it would fulfill my weekly play quota and I'd be supporting a new company. It wasn't really cinched though until I saw it had a write up in the review throughly applauding the production at which point I was like "shit well fine I'll buy tickets for Saturday" which I did and subsequently, this evening, I lost my factory virginity. Mind you I've been in the space once or twice before, and I'd always kind of wondered "how do you stage something in here?" The answer, like that, and I didn't even have to dream it!
BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS, what did I think of the play? I liked it a lot. One thing which annoyed me was my own fault which was choice of seating, directly parallel with the couch where a bunch of the action took place, particularly a few key scenes, left me cut from the actors but that's just an issue of the cramped space and not anybody's fault. Overall I thought the real hero of the piece was the direction, which was very strong throughout. The director, who's name escapes me and because I'm not a professional reviewer I don't feel obligated to look it up, really nailed the pacing and tone of the script so that interconnectedness of the characters and the absurdity and universality of their situations shone through beautifully. Various moments, in particular the various dream sequences, were also just beautifully staged. The acting likewise was top notch, the ensemble really came together, even if at first the guy with the beard's wacky hobby shop owner didn't convince me at first by the end I was fucking sold. And oh man, that ending. Given the content of the script, which to me was fun and insightful and quirky and everything, but not really new or a revelation, shouldn't have gone off that successfully. But man, something about that ending just punched me right in the gut, just that last moment with the two of them asleep, something about that moment just brought a little tear towards my eye but not all the way out. Making my way through the piece, I was thinking "this is really funny and interesting, am I going to get some of that heavy duty you-only-get-this-in-theatre catharsis we're always looking for? Yeah I did, I have to say. I did. And for that the production receives my applause.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Remaining Thankful
I feel like this post (as I mentally compose it) belongs it some kind of shitty self help book or motivational lecture, but here we go anyway because it's true.
Thanksgiving is over, for the moment we are technically in the midst of "the holidays" (for the moment, just wait until January, then February and what I'm talking about will truly manifest) and from a perspective of societal conditioning it's a time of year meant to reinforce our senses of gratitude, which as the over privileged members of the wealthiest, most sophisticated society in the history of the known universe we tend to lose sight of, and focus on our "first world problems" (I really enjoy that phrase because it's so true).
I for one am guilty of this, I always have been. It becomes especially difficult to remember that life is fundamentally good when it's as dark and cold outside as it gets during the winter in New England, and to forget about the great things one (in this case, me) has going for one's (my) self.
This is particularly true given the state of the world we live in, we have this incredibly wealthy, technologically sophisticated society and in our own borders people go hungry, can't afford or are even denied access to the right to a decent education (this is especially criminal in our public schools which are being devoured alive by the same forces behind ineffective charter schools which are propositioned as "the answer" but are really just a means to funnel state money into profit making eduventures but that is another post).
Even though Thanksgiving is over, here are things I'm grateful for. My health, running water, electricity, my very comfortable apartment, living in Cambridge, having a supporting family, my girlfriend, my acting career, being part of what's going to be a great production.
Last night especially I lost sight of all that, and was grumpy at the various tasks allotted to me as part of my not exclusively acting related role in this particular production. But then again, I'm working on Chekov, in a great theatre, with a great group of people and so many actors would kill for that opportunity so what do I have to complain about, really?
Exactly. Turning it around to buddhism for a moment... just that. Be in the moment. Appreciate what's in front of you, from the socks on your feet to the breath in your lungs. Seriously. Do that right now. OK continue worrying about things outside of your control, I do it, everybody does it and it's inevitable and futile. Now be in the moment. Repeat. Life isn't so bad. In fact, it is inherently good. That is the only thing resembling a religious mantra I require.
Thanksgiving is over, for the moment we are technically in the midst of "the holidays" (for the moment, just wait until January, then February and what I'm talking about will truly manifest) and from a perspective of societal conditioning it's a time of year meant to reinforce our senses of gratitude, which as the over privileged members of the wealthiest, most sophisticated society in the history of the known universe we tend to lose sight of, and focus on our "first world problems" (I really enjoy that phrase because it's so true).
I for one am guilty of this, I always have been. It becomes especially difficult to remember that life is fundamentally good when it's as dark and cold outside as it gets during the winter in New England, and to forget about the great things one (in this case, me) has going for one's (my) self.
This is particularly true given the state of the world we live in, we have this incredibly wealthy, technologically sophisticated society and in our own borders people go hungry, can't afford or are even denied access to the right to a decent education (this is especially criminal in our public schools which are being devoured alive by the same forces behind ineffective charter schools which are propositioned as "the answer" but are really just a means to funnel state money into profit making eduventures but that is another post).
Even though Thanksgiving is over, here are things I'm grateful for. My health, running water, electricity, my very comfortable apartment, living in Cambridge, having a supporting family, my girlfriend, my acting career, being part of what's going to be a great production.
Last night especially I lost sight of all that, and was grumpy at the various tasks allotted to me as part of my not exclusively acting related role in this particular production. But then again, I'm working on Chekov, in a great theatre, with a great group of people and so many actors would kill for that opportunity so what do I have to complain about, really?
Exactly. Turning it around to buddhism for a moment... just that. Be in the moment. Appreciate what's in front of you, from the socks on your feet to the breath in your lungs. Seriously. Do that right now. OK continue worrying about things outside of your control, I do it, everybody does it and it's inevitable and futile. Now be in the moment. Repeat. Life isn't so bad. In fact, it is inherently good. That is the only thing resembling a religious mantra I require.
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