Nice time to reflect a bit

first the play update . . . my new piece is through the first draft stage: I have a beginning and an end so that qualifies it. I think it's pretty interesting but no one else has seen or heard it yet so that might just be me. We'll see. Sort of came out quickly, which is a good sign . . . when that happens there is reason for optimism as far as my experience goes . . .doesn't happen every time that's for sure. 'Damage Control' came out in a fairly quick burst I think. Not too many drafts . . . though the initial impulse for that one was a solo piece as well . . . and that was a long time ago . . . then it became what it is, which has its fans . . . I have a sort of soft spot for it, and would like to see what it does to an audience some day . . . (sigh)

Now for the promised reflection . . . why now? Well tomorrow is the first day of my new job, ending a year of sabbatical which was productive in the extreme . . . culminating in the Woodstock Fringe performances. Wow. Not only that, but today is the seventeenth anniversary of our moving to Nyack! (which means that yesterday was the seventeenth anniversary of the closing of The Trip to Bountiful, still the closest I have come to B'way so far). Amazing what has happened since our move up here. I wasn't writing prior to the move . . . I had written . . . but wasn't actively doing it yet . . . but the wheels were turning . . . the monologue that I wrote about my grandfather (and which I ultimately used in Old Hickory, some of it anyway) was what got me cast in Bountiful . . . Bette said 'See what happens when you write?' So guess how I spent my time commuting?

At first it was screenplays, the first of which was an adaptation of a short story that I had written . . . a horror thing called Family Portrait . . . I've been thinking that would make a good solo piece . . . then my best screenplay, The Craftsman. Someone in a competition somewhere actually called me to tell me how much he liked it . . . said it was something the Coen brothers would do . . . nice shot in the arm that! Eventually, after a few more screenplays, I decided to dance with the one who brought me, so to speak, and I turned to writing plays. My thinking was since everybody and then some is writing screenplays these days, and my love of theater is what brought me to NYC, then . . . well, you know . . .

It became clear very soon that I had made the right decision. I got involved with the Pulse Theater Company, which had a writers group . . . and that lead to three of my one acts being produced there . . . one of these, Thirty Odd Years, was done at the Gallery Players first, but before that had been read at the Pulse . . . I'll never forget the reaction to that play the first time I heard it read! The Gallery is where I met Staci Swedeen, who is how I met the Hudson Valley Professional Playwrights Lab. Which is how I got involved with the Herbert Mark Newman Theater in Pleasantville (three of my full lenght plays were read there). Funny how connected things get isn't it?

Heck, my staged reading of Damage Control in Raleigh is because of meeting Jerry Davis in Bountiful! John Gulley, the director of Bountiful, gave me some of the best advice I've gotten in theater: never piss anybody off! You don't know where they're gonna crop up! (another good piece of theater advise: never carry anything you can drag: Jim Loeffler).

So it's all a journey. If I hadn't gone to Theater Artists Workshop in Norwalk, and met Norman Marshall there, and started Where the Rain Never Falls I never would have met the Woodstock Fringe folk. Norman and I read it for Wallace and some of the crew and Wallace invited me to join . . .then Norman got the radio reading done . . . So it's amazing . . . looking back over seventeen years, to see what's been happening . . . I can't wait for the next seventeen!

New work

Started the day with running the lines for Old Hickory while running . . . if I do my eight miles that gives me plenty of time. It went well, not too rusty, but then it's only been a few days since the play (though it seems longer). Later I had an idea for a couple of lines for my new piece and ended up writing for about an hour on it; yes another solo piece; why not? I'm hooked! I also came up with an ending for the piece. It doesn't have to be an hour long, if I have multiple short pieces I think that can work as well . . . we'll have to see . . . I guess ideally if you do that they should be connected somehow, thematically or otherwise . . . or maybe since it's my damn piece(s) I can do what I want with it/them.

This new piece is way different from Old Hickory, which is a good thing, don't want to get into a rut . . . we'll see what happens with it.

I heard again from Lora Lee at Blue Horse Rep. She wants to meet after Labor Day, so I said 'At your convenience'. I'm debating whether to send her the O'Neill piece or not . . . I should read it over again . . . I don't know what Wallace has in mind if anything and he has his hands quite full right now, so I don't want to bug him.

Sent off some letters with the review yesterday, will do more tomorrow.

Well . . . that was special!!

Despite the flippant tone of the subject line, it actually was special. I didn't know what to expect going into the Fringe, but it exceeded anything I might have imagined; excepting audience size . . . that was a disappointment, but people up there don't know me so why should they show? Maybe based on the success (artistically and critically)more folks would show if I had another piece in next year's festival . . . that's something I have to work toward. . . not out of the realm of reason that it should come to pass. Be that as it may, I can only look back on the experience of the last few weeks/months with real love and a certain pride of accomplishment.

I went into this thing open to anything and came out with nothing that I can point to that I would say, Oh I wish I'd done this better or differently or anything of the sort. I was open to Wallace's direction and insights, and I acted with professionalism and enthusiasm (I think). We had no fights or blow-outs . . . maybe one small misunderstanding, but the regard we hold for each other kept the ship sailing smoothly and audience response was so overwhelmingly wonderful that I have to feel that we did what we set out to do.

All in all a marvelous experience that I wouldn't trade for any amount of money. As someone said yesterday, Byrdcliffe was the perfect place for this piece, and they are right; as it is out of the way, up a mountain in the woods - so when I talk about the place being quiet and stop to listen . . . guess what: it's pretty damn quiet . . . we'd never get that in the city . . . or anywhere else for that matter.

So the journey continues. Working on a new piece perhaps . . . and/or finding another home for Old Hickory. Though this blog started as a way to track Old Hickory's progress, I am going to keep at it. For one thing . . . Old Hickory ain't dead yet, and for another . . . you might note that the name of the blog isn't RicsOldHickoryblog, but Ricsplayblog. So I will continue. I enjoy it and it's sort of therapeutic in a way. If anybody out there reads this I have no way of knowing it, so let me know if you check it out from time to time.

Round three!

Tonight is the first performance of the final weekend at the Fringe. I wish it weren't going to be such a chaotic weekend, but at least I know when I'm on stage what's going on. Actually with getting my daughter ready for college and such there are going to be zero dull moments.

I'm not feeling wistful about the last three shows (well maybe a tad) but I am feeling eager to get in there and do them. I'm sure after Sunday when things come to a screeching halt, I'll feel the void . . . daughter off to school . . . show closed. I am enjoying this so much . . . when something really good happens in theater (or anywhere else for that matter) you don't want it to end . . . that's where this one is.

There have been plenty of shows I've done that I couldn't wait for them to be over, this ain't one of them.

My hope is I can get in there and pick up where I left off with no rust at all, that might be a bit much to expect with four days off, but we are gonna run it at 4 this afternoon to brush it up a bit; that should help. And as I've said before: I have been running lines to keep the embers glowing.

An idea hit me yesterday for a new solo piece . . . hmmm . . . wasn't really planning on that, but if the impulse is there, why not? After all, if you're on a roll, you look for the butter (I might have to use that line!) Very different from Old Hickory . . . I don't want to talk to much about it, but I will say that the first line is 'I like a dog I can kick', which I have to thank Catherine Martini, our assistant stage manager, for; though I think she meant it in a slightly more benign way than I'm using it. Thanks Catherine!

So here we go . . . leaping into the fire with my favorite knife one more time . . . I sure hope there's an audience; but like I always said, if there are more people in the audience than on stage, you go on . . . I think that is likely to happen.

If I can add thoughts over the weekend I will . . . failing in that, I do a recap on Monday.

Review and interview

Wow! A big day! I saw the review of Old Hickory on New York Theater Wire and I got the mp3 of the interview on WAMC! Nice.

The review was a rave; at least I can't imagine how I would have improved on it ('a must see' he said, how's that?) . . . and the interview was nice, in that I didn't come across sounding like a total idiot!

After all that and the positive response we got last week I hope the audience builds this week. If not, it ain't cause we didn't try! Now it's my job to make sure the show is where we left it, which was in pretty good shape.

To that end I have been running lines with Bette the last couple of nights, bless her heart . . . I think it's tiring to run the lines, imagine how she must feel having to follow with the book! But no complaints from her end; she's happy to help and we've done this for each other a lot over the years.

I'm in a real bubble about this show. I feel like I'm floating a mile off the ground and I don't ever want to come down. We'll see what happens but it's been a pretty charmed experience . . . and to tell the truth, as I said to one of Laurette's friends tonight, I really wouldn't mind if this play ends up putting her through college! Yeah, it sounds far fetched, but this time last year my SOLO PIECE being the kick off of this year's Woodstock Fringe Festival sounded pretty far fetched as well . . . or it would have if the thought had even entered my brain.

First weekend roundup

The first weekend went very well performance wise . . . could have been better attendance wise, but hey . . . you can't have everything (try though you might).

The radio interview finally happened yesterday, so maybe that'll help some. I did it from my house, so it was easy for me; though oddly enough I still had not heard from them when they started introducing Wallace, then the phone rang . . . good thing I had determined to be around no matter what! They mentioned me in the earlier part of the show when they mentioned Woodstock Fringe, so I knew to expect something . . . they sure took their sweet time about it! I think I may have sounded somewhat intelligent, but I'll let you be the judge of that! It'll be archived on WAMC's website.

As to the performances: the last two were almost glitch free (the first two had some line flubs that no one but yours truly noticed), which was nice and people overwhelmingly responded well . . . one friend from Blueberry Pond days, Lora Lee Ecobelli was there and is interested in producing it at her theater in Carmel, NY. That would be lovely. They are Equity and are looking for small, easy to produce pieces, this certainly fills that bill!!!!!

So three more performances in Woodstock and then, who knows? A good review would help and I think we'll get one, the only question is when it'll be posted, hopefully before it's too late!!!

I'm loving it though. It's everything I had hoped for (now if we can just go out with a BANG!)

A big step!!!!!!!!!!!

Opening night went very very well. The audience loved it and most of my slips were unnoticeable and minor. I could hardly be happier. Wallace acquited himself well yet again on the party front . . . wings. MOONSHINE! Truly wonderful. I love that guy.

It was so nice to get audience response . . . in fact sometimes I thought they were way overboard. This one guy was laughing so hard I thought he was gonna plotz! And it turned out he was a reviewer! That should be an interesting review!

A lot of wonderful people stuck around after to say hello and tell me what they thought. It was a very special evening. I kind of could tell it was gonna be; we all napped for a while in Eastover (the artists housing) and there was a gentle rain falling on the trees . . . that place is just magical when that happens. I went to the theater rested and raring to go.

I dropped one of the first lines of the play but no one but people close to the script knew it and I was off like a shot . . . holding for laughs is a wonderful feeling . . .

So six more times; I think this is gonna build to a wonderful ending next weekend, while I will hate for it to be over, I am cherishing every microsecond of this experience.

Opening Day!

the moment we've all been waiting for. It's kind of hard to express the depth of feeling here. I was sitting in a chair on the set last night when no one else was in the theater and just appreciating all this effort and all this work for my play. It's an amazing feeling.

The dress rehearsal had its problems, but nothing insurmountable. Some line glitches and the like, but it was a bit distracting to have noisy lights being tested and all that, but hey, that's live theater, you never know what to expect. The one thing I do know to expect tonight is to have fun. It's gonna be amazing and a moment that will live with me forever.

I'll write more about it tomorrow, after the event . . . but for now . . . it's all just flooring me . . .

Thank you Wallace, wherever you are!

What a great night!

The gala opening of the Fringe Festival last night was a big success I'd say. What a load of talent. The poets started things off and I went second. The audience was absolutely full, maybe one or two empty seats, but it was a nice crowd, I'd like to have that for every performance! They were into it too! They laughed and were attentive, so who could ask for more. I got a lot of nice comments after as well. The only bummer was that the food was all gone by the time I was done; Wallace was funny, he said he had 25 RSVP'd guests and the rest just showed up . . . I hope they coughed up some bucks for the Fringe. It was a very successful party! I particularly enjoyed the Brel/Piaf songs and the two comedians, Giles and Mikhail, who did a rap version of waiting for godot . . . it was priceless!

they are performing on the Sunday of my last performance so I'll have to make sure to see them!

By noon today I had run eight miles and run lines twice (once while running and once with Bette on the porch). Now is no time for dilly dallying . . . this is what separates the men from the boys . . . much as I'd like to party down after rehearsal I'm gonna limit myself to one or two of either beers or glasses of wine . . . perfection may not be a reasonable goal, but I'm gonna shoot for it; what will ever be more significant than this in my theatrical life? I am intending to leave nothing on the table and at the end of these seven performances, I want to be able to know that I never once gave less than my best. If I can say that when all is said and done, then I will accept whatever happens or doesn't happen with this piece and know that this little adventure with Wallace has been something very precious and real.

I don't know what to expect this week other than it'll be a lot of work. We rehearse tomorrow at three and then begin tech at 6:30 . . . then we have two days to get it all right.

Today's the gala

Today is the opening of the festival. The big gala where I'll do the first few minutes of the play and several other performers will do a bit of a preview. Should be fun. Tomorrow is an off day, and then it's rockin' into Thursday!

The last couple of days were pretty intense. Thursday we ran the show twice virtually back to back; the first time was to see where we are and the second for the lighting and set designers, who are both very good. It's exciting. As nice as the One Man Talking thing was, we had not much in the way of design, general lighting and no set; this time everything is gonna be tailored to the show and it promises to be pretty amazing.

Yesterday we rehearsed, but were disrupted by stuff being delivered for the gala and such; but it's all good. This week I'm gonna zero my focus into a laser beam . . . nothing is gonna stand in my way!

I'll write tomorrow about the gala!

Rehearsal update (and more!)

It is so beautiful up there at Byrdcliffe (the artists colony being high jacked for August for the Woodstock Fringe Festival . . . well two of the buildings of it are). I'm not sure if the theater and Eastover (the housing for artists) are original buildings, but they sure feel like they could be; and original buildings would put them at having been built in 1903! I stayed up there Tuesday night and it was pretty amazing, so quiet and just gorgeous. It's about two miles from the center of Woodstock and it might as well be a million miles away!

We went to Albany for a radio interview on their public radio station, and got there and waited . . . and waited . . . only to be told that we weren't on their schedule! I don't know what happened internally there to make that transpire we weren't too happy about it, but it was a nice chance to spend a little time with Wallace away from the hubbub of rehearsal and all.

Rehearsals have been going great! We now have a stage manager so that is a big help especially for Wallace. We're busting ass but it never felt so good! I know I've said it before but this is the ultimate theater experience of my life . . . I don't know if I'll ever find its equal again, but I'll tell you one thing, I am savoring every moment. If I get tired I just remember that this is what I want to do and this is who I am . . . if you can't have fun doing your own piece then forget about it. I'm in a state of bliss that must be what the ancients meant when they talked about nirvana!

First day at Woodstock

Boy was it fun to get on that stage! And is it ever big! Much larger than anywhere we have been rehearsing or the TADA! stage we did it on in April. That leads to some adjustments, but it's all very good. And to be doing it at the historic Byrdcliffe artists colony is really cool.

I'm staying up there tonight and Wallace and I have an interview tomorrow morning on the public radio station in Albany . . . that should be interesting and fun . . . maybe not Leonard Lopate, but you gotta start somewhere!

We started from the top of the show and worked through to just after the new stuff ... supposedly today we'll go on from there so that eventually we'll make the end of the show! It seems like we have plenty of time, but hello! We open a week from Thursday! Danger danger! We have our work cut out for us . . . but it's gonna go great and today I get to meet stage manager and Catherine, who has become Wallace's right hand person.

Oh, and did I say, it is beautiful up there!

Eve of Woodstock

Very excited about rehearsing up in Woodstock. Should be an awesome experience and I'm looking forward to it. This weekend I've done a lot of work on the script; specifically some of the new stuff. Wallace had asked me to look at the scene in which Jimmy meets his future ex wife as he felt it could stand some focusing . . . and there was a lot of stuff that I liked a lot that sort of had to hit the cutting room floor. It was difficult to do, but I think it'll prove to be the right decision. As Wallace put it during rehearsal the other night, anything that is unnecessary is chaff. Sometimes you have to kill a few babies, and some of it was hard; but you have to be kind of cold blooded about this stuff; you can't hang onto it if it bogs things down and some of the stuff I cut, while I didn't at first agree, the more I looked at it the more I saw the wisdom of some trims.

Having said that: I also rewrote some stuff to smooth the transitions that I like almost as much as the stuff I cut . . . so it sort of finds its own level I suppose.

At any rate, it's gonna be fun to work on this in a really concentrated way . . . momentum is really jacked up right about now!!!