We went to see Into the Woods at an outdoor amphitheater as performed by Sandstone Productions. 

I like this theater.  There's something about watching theater outdoors that seems very real.  After about two hours on the stone benches, though, and I've had enough reality.  This show ran almost three hours long, and I would say that pretty much all of the slack was due to the over-rated song stylings of Stephen Sondheim.  The songs in this musical are not that musical, not pleasant to listen to, and I can only imagine that they aren't pleasant to sing, either, though the cast did their best with the material at hand.

The story itself is cute, though I think it, too could have been shorter.  I would have been very happy with the play as it ended in Act II, before the intermission.  The play is basically a re-telling of several fairy tails - Rappunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella - weaving the stories together into one, inter-related überfairy tale.  At the end of Act II, all of the stories are sufficiently interwoven, and have ended in more or less the traditional way.  Act III tears all of our traditional stories apart and seems to have an overall theme of "there aren't really any happily ever afters," which, I don't know about you, but I already knew, thank you very much.

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The Foreigner has a scene in it where a guy in a Ku Klux Klan costume has to "melt" into the floor.  This is done by lowering him into the floor through a trap door while his sheets stay above.  The stage of the theater where TEA performs doesn't have a trap door.

Other than building a platform on the stage and thus raising the performance area another four feet or so, does anyone have any ideas of what we could do instead?

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The theater group I've been involved in is now having weekly script readings to pick its shows for the 2009-2010 season.  Yes, they pick them out a year and a half ahead.  They do this because they operate partly off of a grant from Conoco-Phillips, and they have to have their shows planned before the grant application deadline, which is in June.

Basically, we all get together, pick parts, and read through a play that one of the members recommended.  Tonight we read A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller.  It's hard to say how a man who was having sex with Marilyn Monroe could write something so depressing.  Depressing as it is, however, it's a good play.  We'll see if it makes the final list.

Next week, we're reading The Foreigner.  I recommended it.  The play is almost overdone, but it hasn't played here for about ten years, and it's screamingly funny.

And, on a completely unrelated note...

Please...

Duck Duck Goose

Don't leave personally owned geese.

Seriously.

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Last night was closing night.  Here's one of the articles that came out opening weekend.  I'm not sure how long the link will be good.

There was a review Saturday that said we had them "rolling in the aisles."  :-> 

Something I found surprising was the difference in audiences.  The first two nights were great.  The Sunday matinee I thought someone needed to go out into the audience and check their pulses.  The next weekend, Friday was our best show yet, with about 260 people in the audience and an outstanding response to each joke, then last night, closing night, we were back to performing for a room full of crash test dummies.  Go figure.

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I went on stage tonight, dressed as a woman (a really ugly one, at that), and made a fool of myself to make the audience laugh.  This was opening night for "Love, Sex, and the IRS."  They did laugh, so... mission accomplished.  It would have really sucked if I went through all that and no one thought it was funny.

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I don't know that I've ever had an Italian Chardonnay.  Now I have.  That's about all I can say.  I'm not particularly fond of chardonnay, anymore - it all tastes the same to me, and this didn't stick out.  Still, it was very drinkable, and that's good considering it came in a 1.5 L bottle.

I'm behind in blogging my wine tasting, so you can expect more over the next couple of days.  In other news, I injured myself at rehearsal tonight.  There's a scene in the play where I'm supposed to be edging my way across a ledge outside the apartment window, then fall off backwards.  While I was wheeling my arms around to keep from falling off, I hit a pole behind the set in the scene shop, and now I have a large, painful knot on my arm.

Also, I'm feeling a little self-conscious.  There are two actresses in this play that I'm supposed to kiss at various points.  Both of them have seemed really unwilling to do so, and have had to "psych" themselves up to it.  To me, it's just part of the role - it's what the script calls for.  The fact that they approach the task like they're getting ready to clean a litterbox seems insulting to me.  Oh, well.

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Made you look. I finally ended my hiatus this weekend when I began shooting a short film. (I would have mentioned it sooner, but I had to wait out the jinx period. It seems that if I talk about good things too soon, I jinx them out of happening. Then by the time I was ready to spill the beans, I was too busy preparing.)

The film is called Marry Me (you can keep an eye on its progress here:  www.myspace.com/marryme2008) I don't usually like to explain plots, but this is in the romantic comedy genre; guy loves girl, girl leaves guy, guy wants to fix it by asking her to marry him, but is about to find out that he's got it all wrong. It's probably going to be around 30 minutes, and most of it is shot on (I believe) 16mm film. The aspect of it being on real film is exciting enough in its own right. And filming in Seattle, I know there's going to be some gorgeous footage.

We began shooting on Friday night in Bellingham, WA, with the cooperation of some eager and surprisingly patient Western Washington University students who filled in as extras for some party scenes. Saturday morning we came back to Seattle and have been filming on location around town. First Ivar's Fish Bar down on Elliott Bay, then Kerry Park (this is the spot where most of those great skyline photos of Seattle are taken.) I was sad that last week's gorgeous weather didn't hold out for filming, because it was COLD out there!

Yesterday was even more fun, as far as I'm concerned. Despite another late start - due to cell phone alarms that didn't update with daylight savings - we got to take over part of the downtown ferry terminal, then we hopped on the Bremerton ferry and filmed on deck en route. We didn't get off, but kept on filming on the way back. But this time we were on the front end of the ferry, and well, let's just say that I was wrong when I thought Kerry Park was cold. The wind froze me right through. And blew my hair all over the place. Still, it was probably my favourite part of the shoot so far. After that we took over the terminal again for a couple shots we didn't have time for before the ferry, and this time we had an audience. Well, the lead actor did. It was just a shot of him trying to break through the turnstiles, and then sliding under them. But it was gratifying and amusing that, while he is the only person in the shot, 80 people were standing behind the camera, silently watching, and they all laughed at the bit of shtick, but kindly waited until the scene was completely done. We also got to include one of the terminal employees in the scene, and even though I didn't really talk to him, I could tell what a fun, jolly man he was from the first words that came out of his mouth. He was so thrilled to have been a part of it, you could tell it made his day. And that made my day.

After that we filmed in Carroll's Jewelery store on 4th. And I'm so glad we had the privilege because very soon this 113 year old landmark will be shut down so the building owner can gut and renovate the building, and Carroll's will be no more. Of course I've never bought jewelery, and I don't really ever expect to (I hardly wear the stuff), but the loss of the history and the architectural detail alone is enough to break your heart, let alone that the business has been in the Carroll family this whole time. So I'm really glad we got to document this vanishing breed of antique jeweler one final time. And the ladies who work there were so understanding and fabulous we owe them a huge thanks.

Today they are filming in Pike Place Market. I am not in those scenes so I'm stuck making coffee for cash today. I'm sad to miss the action. I know that the lead actor was supposed to have a fish thrown at his head. I can't wait to find out how that went.

Then tomorrow is our last day filming. We'll be somewhere downtown, then down at the Olympic sculpture Park's waterfront in the afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes, and see if I can upload some photos later.

love-love. Lindsay

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I went and saw Urinetown: The Musical tonight at the college.  This is a Broadway musical produced locally with local talent, and I am very happy to yell KUDOS to my good friend Laura for doing an outstanding job as Little Sally.  Laura, you stole the show!

So, Urinetown.  It's a very strange show, and is very self-referential and is pretty much a spoof of musicals while being a real musical itself.  The purposely ridiculous premise is that there has been a 20-year drought and that both private toilets and public urination have been outlawed, so that everyone now has to pay a monopolist public toilet magnate for the privalege of going to the bathroom in a public commode.  I can't imagine a more bizarre concept, but it's camped up the point that you can't help but laugh.

A big round of applause also to Adam Savage, who played the toilet mogul Mr. Cladwell, and did an outstanding job, as well as to the actors who played Hope, Officer Lockstock, and Bobby Strong.

Again, Laura: you rock!

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The play is over!  Thursday was the pickup rehearsal, with performances Friday night and last night.  We struck the set last night, so Friday night we had the cast party at my house.

Last Sunday was the matinee performance, and I took my camera in because after the show we did show shots, where we basically go through all the scenes in costume and do the blocking so they can take pictures for the theater group's website.

Girls Getting Read

I took this one backstage before the performance, with all the girls getting their stage makeup on.

Actor Fuel

Sure this is community theater, but who says we don't get paid for it?  Donuts and coffee kept us going... though of course one of the other actors had to buy it and bring it in.

Michelle

Michelle is the wife of one of the actors, and as such she got roped into being a stage hand.  Her son Talon is here signing posters with her.  Each actor, stage hand, and tech got a poster, and as a result each of us had to go through and sign each one, which takes a while.

And here are the show shots.  Of course, I didn't get any of the scenes with me in it, but Strix was there and took shots of all of them with a nicer camera than what I have.  You can see her shots on her Flickr page.

From Act 1:

I didn't get many shots of Act 2, mostly because I was in most of it, but also because the stage lighting was much darker and most of my shots came out blurry.

Act 3:

Dear Brutus Set Shot 1

A shot of the set with no actors on it, with Act II lighting.  Act I and Act III take place entirely in the house, on the left side of the stage (stage right), which was set up on a giant rotating platform built just for this play.  In Act II, the house is rotated around as you see it here, and all the action takes place on the right side of the stage (stage left) where the tree and rocks are.

Dear Brutus Set Shot 2

The moon played a large part in my Act II scenes, so they projected it up on the wall off stage right.  Of course, it has a fire alarm right in the middle of it.  Pretend it's a Lunar colony, okay?

Joey and Lisa

Joey, in the red dress, between show shots.  She was playing my character's wife, and here was dressed up for Act III, with a leaf still stuck in her hair.  Lisa, right, was the show's director, and she's telling us who's up next.

Strix

Strix, taking a picture in the dark.

Lisa

Lisa, making herself at home.

80s Trivia

The only decent shot I got of the after party Friday night.  I took this from the loft while my friends played 80's trivia.

So that's all for now, and I'm caught up.  Until next time.

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Finding Neverland (Widescreen Edition)

Man, I've been busy, and now that I've started rehearsing for the next play even though the current one isn't finished, it's likely to be like that for a while.

A few nights ago, Strix and I watched Finding Neverland.  Johnny Depp plays J M Barrie, the Scottish playwrite who wrote Peter Pan and - not incidentally - Dear Brutus, the play I'm in right now.  Finding Neverland is supposed to be about the inspiration that lead Barrie to write Peter Pan.  The beginning of the movie says, "Inspired by Actual Events," or something along those lines, and that's all you can really say, because it's not a true story.

In the movie, Barrie meets Sylvia Davies when she is already a widow, in 1903.  In reality, he met them when the patriarch of the family, Arthur, was still alive, in 1897.  Arthur didn't actually die until 1907.  Peter Pan was already written by 1903, based somewhat on the children in the Davies family, so the fact that the movie had poor Slyvia a widow four years before her husband actually died was the screenwriter's way of making her more of a love interest for Barrie.

We put this movie at the top of our Netflix list because I was interested to learn more about Barrie since I'm in a play written by him right now.  The character I play, Mr. Dearth, is semi-autobiographical, I think.  Barrie's relationship with his wife, Mary Ansell, was, at least according to some, a cold and possibly even sexless marriage.  Mr. Dearth is in a marriage with a wife that hates him, apparently for failing to measure up to some unspoken ideal that she had set up.  Dearth is an artist, and his wife is a model, whereas Barrie was a playwrite, and his wife was an actress.  Barrie and his wife were childless, a fact that he apparently regretted since he romanticized childhood so much in Peter Pan, and Dearth and his wife are likewise childless, a fact which he regrets but she does not.  There are a good number of parallels.

Despite the movie's playing fast and loose with the facts, it was very entertaining to watch, and had excellent performances from Depp (of course), Kate Winslet (Sylvia Davies), and an incredibly cold and unlikable Radha Mitchell (Mary Ansell, Barrie's actress wife).

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