What I've Been Up To...

Hey.

I’m still here, I promise.

In the past two months (‘cuz that’s how long I’ve been “away”), I closed John Gabriel Borkman and have just moved to playing Schmendiman in Picasso at the Lapin Agile—a small, but mighty role if I do say so myself.


SUMMER

The summer has been nice. I’ve been biking quite a bit more lately. But a few days ago, both my tires have popped—nay, burst. I think I filled them with too much air. So I’ll have to get that fixed. I’ve been itching to go on another longer ride.

NOTE: “Longer” to me means more than twenty miles.


SEEN ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY?

Yes, I have!

Toy Story 3 was brilliant, affecting, and delightful.

Inception was awesome. I’m on the hype bandwagon. There are some naysayers out there on the web. I have to agree that there’s some serious lack of character development BUT this is a smart movie. And with a summer blockbuster like this, you have to pick and choose which battles you want to fight. Chris Nolan has deftly managed another excellent, smart, action film. I want to see it again.

Mad Men starts up again on AMC this summer. I’ve only seen the first season. I like it, but it’s a different show. It moves slowly and the characters are so sleazy and seedy, but you can’t not watch them. I found the second season for $20 at Best Buy the other day, so I indulged. I’ll probably start up with the first season again so that my housemates can catch up.

READING

I’ve started about four different books for reading; it’s been a bit challenging to commit to any one at the moment. I’ve got stacks and stacks on my nightstand and it’s just been no good.

One is The Book Thief, which is all the rage in Young Adult Fiction land. It takes place during World War II and is narrated by Death. I’m about 1/3 in and it’s a little slow for my likes. I’m committed to finishing it though, but I’m waning interest.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman is REALLY intriguing to me. It’s marketed as a darker, mature, hip Harry Potter for adults. I’ve just started reading it, but I’m enjoying.


The Girl on the Fridge is a collection of short stories by Etgar Keret, an Israeli author who writes in this surreal/magical realism form that I can’t get enough of. Salman Rushdie has given his stamp of approval. It’s got a similar vibe to Aimee Bender and John Jodzio. The stories are extremely short and bizarre.


SHAKESPEARE IN A YEAR

I found out that a friend is committed to reading all of the plays of Shakespeare in a year. This has been something I’ve been wanting to do, but had little gumption to follow through. I mentioned this idea to a couple housemates and fellow actors and they seem on board. It’s like a workout plan—it’s a bit easier to do when you’ve got a small support group.

No, we’re not going to read them aloud together.

There is a Facebook group and website devoted to it: www.shakespeareinayear.com, but we’re going rogue and doing our own thing. I’ve developed a rough list to read them in. We’ve got a week to read each play. I mean, this isn’t a ridiculously daunting challenge, and I have to imagine that they get easier over time.

The other benefits include a lot of great monologue research—especially with the more obscure ones (not that it’s supremely difficult to find the monologues, but still, you know what I mean). I’ve probably read or seen a version of the “TOP TWELVE” (an arbitrary title) go-tos for Shakespeare plays, but there are a couple dozen more that need some attention.

I’ll be tracking progress and thoughts in this blog. It needs revival (and you can only write so much about performing Schmendiman over time).

GRAD SCHOOL PREP

It’s about time for serious, serious diving into grad school prep. I made a meager attempt last year—one that I don’t regret by any means. But it’s time to start going over programs, websites, and a set of monologues.

I’ve got some informal meetings I’d like to have with some theatre colleagues, friends, strangers in mind. I also have intentions to make a couple site visits to schools that have lingered on my list for quite some time.

Someone told me to just skip U/RTAs all together—especially if I have a strong idea of which schools are going to work. I’m not convinced that’s the best advice. There could be value in casting a wide net.

In any case, there are a couple trips in order, so I’ll have to be strategic and sensible about which ones to visit and how much money I can spend for these trips. I think I’ll definitely want to see any productions a school may be producing (which makes late fall/early winter an ideal time, and that’s perfect for me because I’m not in any shows after the end of September).

As I write this, it’s become increasingly apparent that I have to make a bit of a “marketing plan or calendar” for this preparation. This could take a lot of work, but it will also eliminate a lot of slip-shod and haphazard work down the road.
Just thinking about all this is energizing and exciting.

How’s THAT for an update?