WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE SAID
An Anthology of One Acts for L.A.

My new theatre company is currently presenting an evening of one acts, and I'm involved in two of the plays:

* At the Threshold, which I directed, is an incredible short work by Phillip Kelly. It deals with something I'm all too familiar with, the unstoppable crash of adulthood into an otherwise happy-go-lucky, young adult life. It's a quarter-life-crisis story that's not soppy or self-indulgent. Nor is it too heavy. I'm a big fan of this play, and I literally jumped at the chance to direct it. My cast is just incredible. Jacob Smith, Darci Dixon, Gregory Crafts, Lisa K. Wyatt, Katie Sikema, and Jenn Scuderi bring this work to the stage.

* Three Small People in Very Big Shoes, which I wrote, is a satirical look at backstage life at Disneyland. It's a sex farce expertly helmed by director Jim Blanchette and brought to life by Jacob Smith, Vanessa Hurd and Ana Therese Lopez.

And here's a deal readers of this blog just can't beat: Mention my name at the box office (or when reserving your tickets on our reservation line) and you'll get half off the price of admission this Saturday and Sunday! Holy smokes, that's a good deal!

I'm really proud of the work we've done, and I want to share it with as many people as possible. Because what's the point of doing this stuff if I don't get to share it?

Details: June 12 - 29 , Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm At THE COMPLEX in Hollywood, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd. Tickets: Normally $20, half price this Saturday and Sunday if you mention my name (Andrew) To reserve your seats: (818) 849-4039

And after you see the show, come back here and tell me what you thought!

Here's what Pat Taylor at The Tolucan Times and Canyon Crier thought:

"A 'cutting edge' fearless and talented bunch who 'tell it like it is,' just opened this series of gritty, thought-provoking scenes, exploring the complexities of desire, ambitions, regrets, self-identity, love lost, and the delicately diverse art of communication."

"This is an e-ticket ride into the dark and vulnerable psyche of human nature ..."

What We Should Have Said

An Anthology of One Acts for L.A.

Ticketing information available here. (NOTE: If you purchase tickets through Brown Paper Tickets, type in the passcode "Spike" for savings of $5 off the price of each ticket!)

As the title suggests, this evening of one acts is concerned with communication. From the Artistic Director's statement:

Whether it's abundant or lacking, communication is at the heart of dealing with everything from personal issues to world affairs. Regret, ego, anxiety, denial, love, ambition -- these are all intagibles that affect our need and desire to communicate who we are and what we want.

I wrote one of the pieces and I directed another. I hope to see you there!

Theatre Unleashed Spring Company Member Auditions

Theatre Unleashed is a highly organized, artistically motivated force looking for fellow artists to partake in creating something spectacular in the world of live theatre in Los Angeles. We're not only looking for actors, but writers, directors, designers, stage managers and tech people to join our company and help us bring new life to the classics but also to help shape and mold original works.

At its core, the mission of Theatre Unleashed is simple: to work together as one, passionately and professionally, in creating truly remarkable theatre. Theatre Unleashed celebrates the creative collaboration process by encouraging its members to explore fresh, thought-provoking approaches to both original works and established shows. Theatre Unleashed will experiment with various forms of multimedia to heighten the entertainment experience while staying true to the playwright's words, characters and thematic intent. Story-telling will always be the driving force behind any Theatre Unleashed production as the company pledges to always push its artistic boundaries, striving to reach that emotional resonance with our audience that only live theatre can create.

Theatre Unleashed is a dues paying company. The $40.00 a month will allow you the opportunity to be a part of a creative community as we bring some of the finest theatre to Los Angeles through our series of main stage shows, travelling variety shows, experimental theatre, labs and workshops specific to the Theatre Unleashed experience. It will also allow you the opportunity to hone your skills in a community of exceptionally talented writers, directors, actors and other like-minded artists.

Having a strong company with members focused on supporting each other in creating great theatre is the only way we feel an impact can truly be made on our audience and the members truly recognized for their craft. Our goal is to unleash ourselves from artistic restraints and to unleash ourselves upon the city of Los Angeles.

To be a part of this:

Please prepare a one minute contemporary monologue and a one minute classical monologue for your audition.

To learn more about our company and our 2008 Season check out our website: www. theatreunleashed.com

The Details:

When: Sunday, May 18th 11:30-4 and Monday, May 19th 6:30-10pm

To schedule an audition please email: erin.scott@theatreunleashed.com

A Choreography Experiment

Our Theatre Unleashed intro show was Thursday night, and it was a wild success. Our first fundraiser brought more attention and money than we initially estimated, which is a fantastic thing to say for a company that was officially incorporated on April Fool's Day.

I choreographed a cabaret chair dance number for the show. We have a Latvian pop star in our company and a lot of talented ladies, so she sang while some of the ladies did a chair dance. We had about a month to put the whole show together. My dancers were all in other acts in the show, so that limited our rehearsal schedule. I'm a professional burlesque dancer so I have shows of my own, limiting our rehearsal schedule even more. I estimated that the last two weeks of the month would be spent running the show, so those nights were out for choreography. Finally, this is Los Angeles. It's really difficult coordinating six people's schedules and a rehearsal space when you don't have money to throw into booking a space at the one perfect time when everyone is available.

My solution was to choreograph the first minute and change and video it in my living room. I uploaded the video to You Tube and told all of my dancers to learn that piece of choreography before our first of four scheduled rehearsals. We went over that bit of choreography at the first rehearsal and added a little more. I videotaped the second chunk of choreography and uploaded that to You Tube so they would have the first two minutes down perfectly for our second rehearsal. This was also helpful with people having vacations and acting classes and other rehearsals on rehearsal nights; this gave them the opportunity to keep up. I continued with the videotaped choreography to the end. The dancers were able to run the number in their homes when it was convenient so they all had it fantastically when they ran the number together.

I'm happy to say my little experiment worked. The girls all looked fantastic on show night. They were seductive, playful, naughty and fun. I think I may try this again the next time I have to choreograph a piece that needs to be ready in a short period of time.

Ladies and Gents, the big show is coming VERY SOON! Check out www.theatreunleashed.com for tickets!

Incorporated

Theatre Unleashed is officially incorporated! We filed our state incorporation paperwork through Legal Zoom. Legal Zoom is a great resource for do-it-yourself types. We didn't have the money to spend on a lawyer, and it seemed that a regular person could fill out the forms without one. The format was easy to follow. We got expedited service, a binder for our Articles of Incorporation, membership certificates, a disc of forms and a company seal. The longest part of the process was gathering the money to pay for it.

Our next step is drafting by-laws. We also have to fill out our federal non-profit application. The first milestone has been passed!

Directing like Michelangelo, Directing like Da Vinci

Ancora Imparo ("Yet I'm Learning")

-- Michelangelo

This is a companion piece to "Writing like Beethoven, Writing like Mozart" a blog posting from about a year ago. In that piece, I offered up a couple of observations on writing. This time, I'd like to talk about directing.

I enjoy directing. I enjoy working with actors, breaking out a script like it's my great-grandmother's cornbread dressing recipe, rolling up my sleeves, and dirtying up the kitchen a little bit. I like to think I'm pretty good at it, as well. I've had more successes than failures, at any rate. I haven't heard much complaining from my actors, either. Not even the ones I forced to walk around with those stupid looking puppets last year. (Note to self: make sure I'm not just horribly out of touch.)

MICHELANGELO:

When my wife and I visited Italy, we did the usual touristy things, including going to see the famous statue of David. Huge, imposing statue, that David. He lives in the Accademia Gallery these days, and the grand hall that brings you to the great Biblical king is lined with the Slaves or Captives.

To me, these four Captives are far more striking. They're not as "posed" as David. They feel more alive.

And they demonstrate something wonderful about Michelangelo's work. As he said about another of his sculptures, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." Michelangelo would spend hours just looking at the marble, until he could see the statue inside. He would then chip away everything that wasn't the statue.

And so we come to my first observation about directing. There is a real art in observing the raw materials before you, and chipping away everything that is not the play. You know the old saying about how good directing is 80% casting? It's true. I'd much rather shape a performance, and discover serendipitous little synergies between my vision and the actor's vision, than have to drag a performance kicking and screaming from a recalcitrant actor. It's much more fun to free the captive, so to speak, than to keep plopping spackle on an incomplete form.

DA VINCI:

Da Vinci was a total gear head. He had to know how things work, to the point of performing autopsies to better understand human anatomy, and thus improve his painting. He was an accomplished engineer as well.

I like to find out what makes people tick, what makes dramatic literature work, and how all of this comes together before an audience to move that audience, enlighten and entertain. I read a lot. I watch people. I scribble little notes in my comp notebooks, and refer to them later.

Breaking out a script is part of this. Finding the beats, figuring out why the writer has character A say this, or character B do that. This is all structural, it's all engineering. It also helps me define the skeleton on which to drape the play. Arbitrary and perfunctory choices in other people's work drives me batty. Arbitrary and perfunctory choices in my own work makes me want to crawl under a rock.

The best way to avoid the mediocre is to know what you're doing, inside and out. Even if it's not necessary to know which way the blood flows in order to paint a pretty picture, maybe that extra bit of knowledge will inform your choice of skin tone, or blush; some subtle little touch that will communicate to your audience on a sublime level.

ONE LAST WORD:

Frescos. Paint mixed in with plaster. The way I learned it, this combination would dry fast, so the artist would have to quickly make his paint strokes, pushing more pigment into the wet plaster, and shoving it around like some miraculous technicolor mud. No time to second guess your instincts. All the observation and study leads up to this moment, this here-and-now. The cast is arrayed before you, and they're looking to you. It's time to pick up your brush, and mix the pigment with the plaster.

Well ... it's what I strive to do.

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

-- Da Vinci