Took the last fifteen pages of Family Matters to the Fringe on Tuesday. It was nice to hear, though a little weird since I read the closing monologue as part of my eulogy for mom's funeral. The actors did a nice job though and now I have that off my plate I can take in the new two hander until that is all read and I can figure out what to do with it.

I did manage to get a spot in the Voices from the Fringe reading series, and it works out pretty well . . . I am doing the O'Neill piece on May 7 in the city and then on May 31 I will read my new solo piece (as yet unnamed and unfinished). That gives me plenty of time to get it together and polish it. That piece has sort of taken a back seat since my mother's health crisis, and once I get past spending my spare time learning lines I can return to it and figure out what it's supposed to be.

I have been putting in an hour every morning when possible to commit the lines to memory and it has been going well . . . I'm on page 7 out of nine and a third pages . . . so it should be smooth sailing.

Wallace said he'd help out with the direction, which will be nice; I like working with him and it won't be nearly as intense as last year with OH; the piece is much more intense but I don't think we're going to put that kind of rehearsal time in . . . hard to believe I was able to spend three hours a day learning lines last year . . . that's what happens when you ain't working . . . this piece is going to be challenging in other ways, very dramatic, very dark . . . it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

More on everything later.

What a difference ten days make . . .

I noticed on my previous posting how exciting the coming week was gonna be culminating in my performances at Blue Horse Rep . . . wow, if only. The day after that posting things spun a tad out of control, my mother went into the emergency room and I went down to WV to be with her, thinking to return on the 17th (Thurs.) to rehearse, or at latest Friday to perform . . . of course things didn't turn out that way and my mother died on Friday morning the 18th, with my dad, my brother and I at her bedside, in fact I was holding her hand and watching her face intently until that last gentle breath. It was a stunning moment and one that will live for me always.

At any rate, I contacted Lora Lee of Blue Horse on Wed. when I knew things were not going very well to talk about options, and a few minutes later Peggity called and to very graciously offered to postpone the performances. I was relieved to say the least. So it will be in September some time as the arts center is being renovated.

Which leaves me with more on my plate for sure. I have the upcoming performance of the O'Neill piece at One Man Talking, that is to be Sat. May 7th; and I'm working on a new piece that I am still having fun with; I was sort of hoping to read it during the Voices from the Fringe thing this year, but when I got the schedule I wasn't on it! Don't know what that means. Probably only means that who ever was doing the scheduling lost the thread with my name on it!

Right now I am working on learning the lines for OMT. It's a big job, not as big as Old Hickory, but learning nine to ten pages is learning nine to ten pages no matter how you cut it . . . and there is no easy way to do it; it's hard work. Having said that it is going well . . . I started yesterday and have about two and a half pages in decent shape . . . my goal is to be functionally off book by next weekend. Then I can solidify the lines and then in the last couple of weeks rehearse some. More on all this as it progresses of course.

Blast off!

This is the week of the performances and I'm pretty pumped. Lora Lee (co-artistic director of Blue Horse Rep) wrote to tell me their Irish music thing sold out this weekend . . . I hope that's a good omen. I've been working Old Hickory (ran it for Bette yesterday, which was first time on its feet with some semblance of blocking, she had some great comments and it went pretty well) have a couple of rehearsals this week so the momentum builds and then two performances and . . . that's it.

I guess there are two ways to look at it: disappointment over having only two performances; or joy of having two performances. I opt for the latter. I'm ready to rock and it'll be a gas, especially if there is a large receptive audience . . . that's when it's fun to do this stuff. When you have the audience eating out of the palm of your hand and you take them on a journey. It's an awesome feeling!

The first time I felt it was doing The Zoo Story way back when. I may have mentioned that in a previous posting, but to have packed houses laughing and with you . . . and then the turn of the screw when the play gets dangerous . . . you can feel it, it's electric. Good plays have that power, and if you nail it performance wise, wow! For the audience it's magic; for the actor . . . it's quite a heady brew.

I saw Kathy Bates work that magic in a solo show disguised as a two hander, The Rain of Terror. Saw it in Louisville in the mid-eighties. I thought so highly of it that I directed it with my good friends Micki Maley and Rick Brown. It was well received everywhere we did it, and I never asked Micki (that I can recall) if she felt that kind of audience response, where they were with you all the way . . . One thing I will never forget though is taking it to a competition and getting feedback from the academics who were judging. This is a play about an obese woman who sits there and tells a story, and it casts quite a spell. Well this putz says, 'I think you ought to find some place where she could get up and move around'. Ah, academia!

With Old Hickory I've felt it during almost every performance, though less so when the audience is eleven or twelve people. I didn't feel the performance suffer, but it sure takes some getting used to if you're accustomed to enthusiastic audience response and then get an audience that is listening . . . anyway, every audience is different and bless their hearts for being there in the first place . . .

But I digress. I have been adding more to the new piece; and I'm still having fun with it, so that's a good sign. We'll see how it comes out, but I'm beginning to get a sense of where it's going and it's surprising me all the time, which is also a very good sign.

It's been a challenging last few days. My mother's health is deteriorating, but she is hanging in there; I've talked to her almost every day just to check in . . . she seems to be getting better, but at my parents' age, that is a tad relative . . .

Close to packing it in . . .

I came close to packing it in with the O'Neill piece this weekend. Sort of one of those 'what have I gotten myself into moments'. And then I went back and read it with a very critical eye. I figure a trim here or there and it's do-able. It's not as close to my heart as Old Hickory and never will be, and it's one that I wouldn't mind someone else tackling, but for now I'm down with doing it. It has some wonderful things to say about art and the life of the artist, and this guy is definitely staring into the abyss, so that's a nice acting challenge . . . a good workout.

It is a daunting task to learn the lines. It's about half of what Old Hickory was this time last year, as I remember it was 21 pages when we did the One Man Talking, and O'Neill is 10. It'll absolutely be a challenge, especially since I can't spend three hours a day every day working the lines, which I could last year as I wasn't working . . . it'll get done and then I can move on.

Speaking of moving on, I am working on yet another solo piece that intrigues me. Another hillbilly gothic tale of murder, this time not ex-wives . . . if it works out it could be a companion piece to OH, which is sort of my goal. Make it an evening of hillbilly gothic, maybe even call it that. We'll see. Gotta get it written first. I'm making progress, a little chip at the block every day, one of these days the only thing left will be this play . . . as long as I'm having fun with it that's the main thing . . . otherwise, why bother?

Arts on the Lake

Met all the folks involved in the production for Blue Horse Rep today. Nice folks. I have known Lora Lee for quite a while, going back to the early Blueberry Pond days; and I had met Peggity on one other occasion, nice folks who are doing it for all the right reasons.

I got the chance to hear the other piece that shares the evening, Cemetery Man by Ken Jenkins. Nice piece. Funny, moving. Goes well with Old Hickory I think. In fact, it would be hard to think of a solo piece that would be a better fit, similar vibe, by which I mean more of what I call the hillbilly gothic thing. I won't say too much about it other than to say I'm happy to be sharing the bill with it. George Kimmel, who is acting the piece did a very nice job, and we were just sitting around a table running lines, can't wait to see him act it. Another in a long line of connections that keep springing up with these people, turns out George was in a play that I saw during one of my Louisville excursions back in the mid 80's; I didn't remember him in it, but I remembered seeing the play which was called 'In a Northern Landscape', a stark piece with a really lovely set; the only actor I can remember in it was Frederick Majors who played the lead, but anyway it was a nice kick that George was in a play I had seen there.

Old Hickory got a nice reception from the folks around the table. Lots of laughs (and where they are supposed to be thank you very much). So now I have just under two weeks to get it burnished back into shape. I really feel like I could do it right now and it would be just fine; but with a few rehearsals with Wallace it should be singing again. I can't wait.

Actually started another piece this morning, we'll see what happens with it. I got the idea as I was watching another piece at the Fringe the other night, and I actually started working the idea some this morning . . . if I can capture what I think is there, it could be good creepy fun. More as it happens.

The O'Neill piece

I heard this morning about 'the Red Hand of O'Neill's' acceptance into the One Man Talking Festival. It'll be in early May some time. I have mixed emotions about performing this piece because it's such a stretch for me and to be honest, it's a tad intimidating, if not out right scary . . . so of course I have to do it. How can you walk away from a challenge like this?

I know an actor, an early and enthusiastic supporter of the piece, who would love to do it, but when push comes to shove . . . if you only perform parts that are close to you, then why call yourself an actor?

So away we go. When I have more time I'll write a bit more about the source and inspiration for this piece; it actually was the first solo piece that I wrote, then it hit the back burner for a while . . . now . . . we'll see . . .

to be continued!

New piece went over well

I took the (still untitled) new piece to the Fringe last night and it went over very well. I have to say I didn't know what to expect. It is very hard to listen to something for the first time and the laughs were sporadic (of course, it ain't slap your knees funny). I expected some criticism but everyone seemed to really like it. I wondered if it took too long to get rolling but everyone seemed to think it was just about right . . . but they did say that they got to the point where something should happen.

Wallace did think it lacked a little in the urgency dept., but that could be that it was read cold by the (great) actors and Jerry McGee asked about one problematic line. I thought it was funny when I wrote it, but it sure didn't read last night. The line is "if is half of life", and when asked what the other half is, the character answers "l and e". I still think it's funny, but maybe the only place it'll work is in this blog, cause I guess it'll have to exit stage right from the play.

No other big news. Production meeting for Old Hickory this weekend, and I still haven't heard from One Man Talking regarding the O'Neill piece, so I guess that ain't happening.