Where the Rain Never Falls on WBAI!

So today my play was on the radio in NYC, with myself and Norman Marshall performing the two parts. I was happy with it. Didn't know what to expect since we recorded it last March, and I hadn't heard it with the sound effects and music . . . but it went very well. The response was really heartwarming.

It's hard to listen to yourself objectively, but I didn't knock over any furniture or anything and I didn't get in the way. Norman was exquisite and the production on the whole was effective. There are moments that really sail and it was happy to hear it . . . it's been a while.

I actually started working on this piece at Theater Artists Workshop in Norwalk, CT about five years ago and the impetus was seeing Norman playing an autoharp and singing . . . I had thought about writing about trapped miners for some time, and seeing his authenticity made the pieces fall into place. Neither Norman or I acted in the TRU Voices reading (May 05) or the Abingdon Theater readings (Dec. 06 and June 07), but he came back to it last year and suggested I read Dewey . . . which I had a lot of fun with. We did a reading in Jan. 09 and then recorded this in March. it's been quite the ride.

a couple more things

The genre I refer to for Old Hickory and some of my other things is Hillbilly Gothic. Not all my plays fit, but some certainly do. They aren't necessarily ghost stories, but they have that Appalachian vibe and they deal with things either supernatural or, in the case of Old Hickory, potentially murderous.

Of course, Hillbilly Gothic, might imply humor, and most of my plays that fit under that umbrella are funny (hopefully) the lone exception would probably be Last Request, which isn't funny (which is good because it's not intended to be!) It fits because . . . well . . . there's a ghost in there. Last Request was actually my first multiple act play, and my wife, Bette and I had a wonderful reading of it years ago which was very well received. Peter Demaio (he was in Same Time Next Year on Broadway years ago) played the ghost part and he was wonderful. An interesting sidelight, he came up to me before the reading and said he was losing his voice and maybe shouldn't do it. I said you're kidding it's perfect. And it was. He sounded like he'd been breathing coal dust for centuries!

The other thing that occurred to me after finishing my first post was that I should have addressed the why now of it. Why now a solo piece? Essentially I wanted to work as an actor; and this was a way to make sure that I did something that was a damn good fit. I've been auditioning a lot lately, and it hasn't changed all that much from years ago . . . in other words, yes it's exciting to go in and get the chance to act for someone and give it your best shot, but it's still frustrating to keep doing it and doing it and doing it without getting parts. Not whining mind you, just the way it is . . . so . . . I wrote the piece, submitted it to three places . . . and one has responded, so far. One is fine. I just want to get the thing up on its feet and with Wallace to work with it's definitely ramped up several notches!

The closest thing to a one-hander that I've ever performed in is The Zoo Story with its monster 'story of Jerry and the Dog', which was over twenty years ago. It was quite a rush to tell a story like that and feel the audience change from laughter to fear . . . to feel them on the edge of their seats. To have that kind of control Of course, Jerry and the dog is what, five or six pages? Maybe ten minutes, or so? This baby is close to thirty pages and forty minutes! I'll be very interested to see how agile my brain is as far as learning the damn thing . . . ! More on that later I'm sure.

the deep end of the pool!

I just found out that my solo piece, Old Hickory, has been accepted into the One Man Talking festival in the city. This festival is produced by the Emerging Artists Theater (hereafter EAT) and performed in a 99 seat theater at TADA! It'll go up sometime from mid April to May 9th for one performance.

This is why I have decided to start a blog. I am going to track my progress as I step into the pool and gradually progress to the deep end. I've never done this before, blogging that is, I have thought plenty of times that a diary of sorts for a plays progress would be a cool thing to have. So I'm using this incredible event (for me if no one else) as an excuse to enter the world of blogging.

Since this is the first post, I should bring you up to date: I have been beating around the one person show bush for a while. I wrote a piece about Eugene O'Neill's father, which still might get done some day and it was well received in a couple of writing groups I'm involved in; but it wasn't really something that hit my sweet spot as an actor. Then I hit on the idea of a character talking about his best friend the knife: Old Hickory. I have had a lot of fun with it and have had very supportive response from my writing groups and my wife, who is my most astute critic/supporter. She helped me with focusing the ending of Old Hickory, and really likes the piece. Ditto for Wallace Norman, artistic director of the Woodstock Fringe Playwrights Unit, who is going to direct the piece. Getting Wallace on board was a coup. I love his enthusiasm and insight, he'll be a great collaborator. AND HE CAME TO ME! You could have knocked me over with a feather! Our one rehearsal, so far, was a blast.

Of course, getting the thumbs up from my seventeen year old daughter when she read the play last night didn't hurt either.

Anyway, being accepted for the One Man Talking festival is the impetus for tracking progress via this blog. Should be an adventure. More on everything later. My only hope is that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew . . .