Naturalism

It has a slightly stylized voice (the play is set in the 1940s) but this is pretty naturalistic, even for me:

SCOTTY
Yeah, well, no doubt she’s off arguing with Merv. New number and
all. And he’s playing too fast or else missing a verse or who knows.

It's almost an acid-test for actors. Can they read the line and deliver it as written? I can tell so much about an actor's "method" and diligence with this one line.

The second draft of Pin-Up Girls is almost done. The first reading will be scheduled soon, and rehearsals begin after that. We open in October! I'm a bit nervous, naturally. But the writing is going very well. Knock on wood.

Evolution of a Line

I'm still learning to exercise economy of words.

I'm working on the second draft of Pin-Up Girls, and I observed myself in the process of editing. It made me chuckle when this happened, and I'd like to share it with you:

Scotty, a WWII vet, has returned home to the burlesque club where he played trumpet before the war. As he sits backstage, eating cold dumplings, he says:

SCOTTY
Yeah. I remember. Jesus. Why does it feel like I've been gone for a lifetime? Why does everything look so different?

Yeah. Clunk. What the hell was I thinking? Here's the first edit I made:

SCOTTY
Yeah. I remember. Jesus. Why does it feel like I've been gone for a lifetime?

"Why does everything look so different" is redundant and a bit hackneyed. Okay, it's extremely hackneyed. No one talks like that.

Not done editing:

SCOTTY
Yeah. I remember. Jesus. I've been gone a lifetime.

Goodbye passive voice! Hello active. We don't need to be told how he thinks he feels. That's what the line did before. It said "I think I feel like it's been a lifetime." No one talks like that who isn't being interviewed by Oprah or somesuch. After this edit the line gives us a peek inside his universe, how he views things. This is good.

There is just one more thing I'd like to do:

SCOTTY
Yeah. I remember.
(pause)
Jesus. I've been gone a lifetime.

The parenthetical "pause" is just music notation. It's a "rest" if you will, telling the actor that the gears are shifting, and "Some sort of psychological change goes here."

Communion

I'm re-reading David Mamet's Three Uses of the Knife. Mamet is perhaps my favorite curmudgeon. He's like a grumpy, older male relative who's seen it all, and doesn't understand "them kids today." Except he really does understand them, he just doesn't understand why mankind persists in making the same damn mistakes over and over.

So please forgive the sweeping generalities and curmudgeon-like words below, or at least take them with a grain of salt. These thoughts occurred to me as I read, and I would like to share them with you:

When you come into the theatre, you have to be willing to say, "We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world." If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.

- David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife

From its Latin root, communion is essentially "a sharing." Removed from any specific religious sense, communion is a form of intimate communication.

The definition with which I am most familiar is the Christian meaning, the eucharist, the sacramental consuming of bread and wine as originated by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. The tradition I grew up in did not believe in transubstantiation, the actual transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but I do know of of it, albeit from Protestant publications highly critical of the belief.

There is something inherently holy about communion, whether we're talking unleavened wafers and wine, or a completely honest exchange between human beings. We live in increasingly unholy times, it seems. What passes for intimate conversation is oftentimes self-centered exhibitionism: "I'm manic-depressive," "Let me tell you what an asshole by boyfriend is." There never seems to be an attempt to dig any deeper into these surface issues, to discover some personal truth that may improve our conditions, or at the very least satisfy our need for some ounce of understanding about them.

Instead we are satisfied to dress ourselves in our problems, put on our neurosis and phobias as if they're jewelry. These "intimacies" are in fact plumage put on display for all the world to see. Yet, I wonder how satisfying this exercise truly is?

Theatre at its most potent is a laying bare of the psyche. It's a means of taking situations, thoughts, and feelings familiar to all, placing them on a dissection tray, and opening up the experience of life for an audience to see and ponder on. So the theatre is a kind of life laboratory. If slapstick depends upon the quality of "safety" to elicit belly laughs, so too does drama depend upon the safety of knowing it's all just a game. The players are merely artists, and we in the darkened house are not witnessing acts that possess any true, lasting effect on the characters involved.

It is in this laboratory and safe zone that theatrical communion can occur.

Any seasoned audience member or actor, any veteran of the stage will tell you there are times when the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, moments when the electricity is in the air, and a sort of psychological transubstantiation occurs. Joe Actor as Hamlet becomes Hamlet, if only for a few lines. A sharing occurs, and intimate communication is had.

It seems funny to me that true intimacy can occur between strangers in a public milieu, yet it escapes us among the closest of friends.

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.