I got in Encyclopedia Dramatica!

Woot! Uh, this is a good thing, right?

Well, maybe not. But still, it's impressive. Link can be found here:

Screwtape Closing Night

We absolutely rocked the house. The crew did a dynamite job, the stagehands were expert and a great time was had by all. I’m not kidding. After a horrific start the night before, I think that everyone just buckled down and came up with the best performance they could… and it was amazing.

I wish that my friends who were in the audience the night before could have seen the second performance, but it wasn’t to be. They got to witness the rough ride we went through 24 hours earlier. But the audience for the second night got to see one heck of a good show!

Screwtape Opening Night

I'll put down a few words here about opening night for Screwtape, just in case there's anyone who is just about to join in community theater and wants to know what it's like.

The Scene: Packed dinner theater. The stage is against one wall and is about 15 inches off the floor. The theater is packed and the food has already been served. In an attempt to keep the noise of the dining to a minimum, dinner has been served before the show. So when the play begins, all guests will be ready to relax and enjoy the entertainment. An announcement has already been sent to the audience requesting that all cell phones be turned off and the house lights have dimmed. The play is about to begin.

The Play: Screwtape. A play which shows the attempts of a trio of devils who attempt to lure a soul into the fiery pit. The soul gets away of course, but it comes close to some pretty eternal punishment from time to time. A morality play, but without the heavy handed preaching element and standard good vs. evil setup. In other words, and interesting religious play.

The Actors: A mixed lot of first time performers and more experienced actors. A wide range of ages as fits the parts.

The Mood: Lots of anticipation and a nervous energy hangs heavily in the air. As you will see, there's a good reason for this.

Curtain Rises, and the play begins.

First issue right out of the box, the director fumbles a line. Not a big deal, and immediately ignored by the audience who has no idea anything untoward has happened. But to the actors who have been rehearsing together for the past few weeks, it’s obvious and comes as a little bit of a relief. I mean, if the DIRECTOR can flub a line then suddenly the pressure is off. No one wants to be the first one to make a mistake, and now that the director himself has done it, everyone can relax and just enjoy the play.

But fate has other plans for this crew.

From the start, it’s rough going. The first act features three people on the stage at one time. An easily controllable number, and not large enough to get out of hand. So the chances of people stepping on each other’s lines is minimal. But it happens. First one time, and then again. And then again. Suddenly the actors who are huddled back stage start to get an uneasy feeling about the night’s performance. Things aren’t going to plan, and as the play goes on the wheels start to come off. A lighting cue is missed, then a sound cue. The actors on the stage are suddenly jugglers. If one actor misses a line, the other one will smoothly take over and advance the dialog in the proper direction. Sure, the script may jump ahead by a few lines, but nothing too critical at all and the audience is unaware that something is out of the norm. But when the second actor then misses their line or cue, the ball is tossed back to the first actor.

This snowballs until the line-readers back stage are struggling to keep up with finding the page the actors are on. One minute everything is fine, and the next moment they have both jumped a page and a half ahead, and there’s nothing that can be done but pray that the guy in the lighting booth can keep up. Maybe they can… maybe…

Still on act one, and suddenly an actor experiences what must be the most horrifying twists of fate and cruelty all rolled up into one. The mind goes blank. This is an odd occurrence and must be something that is limited to homo-sapiens because I can’t readily come up with any good reason for this condition to exist, and yet almost every actor has had it happen to them at one time or other. If you are being stalked by a lion in the savannah, at what point does your brain decide that the best thing it can do to increase your chances of getting out of the tight spot and continuing on so you can pass along your genes to the following generations, is to have you suddenly forget everything including your own name? Why does this happen, what purpose does it serve?

But it happens, and it happened right in the middle of act one. Now since this is opening night, no one has made any plans for this eventuality. So when the actor has his mind go blank, there is panic behind the curtain but nothing helpful. The actors look at each other in horror, but no one knows exactly what to do. So the players are left with sending out psychic messages hoping that one of their brainwaves will get through and unloosen the actor’s tongue.

It doesn’t work. The actor is stuck, the play is halted, and a tension fills the air. The director finally whispers a line from back stage and the actor is freed from his torturous limbo. The play resumes. When the actor is finally able to leave the stage, his brow is beaded with sweat and I’d swear he’s sporting a few extra grey hairs which weren’t on his head when the scene started.

My part comes up. I leave the sanctuary of the back stage and take the floorboards. I hit the stage and am blinded by the lights. We hadn’t practiced in the lights before, and I’m surprised how bright they are. I know that the house is packed, but can’t see a single person in the audience. Nor can I hear them, but I’m not sure if this is because of the acoustics of the theater or because coffee hasn’t been served yet. I get my lines out… pretty good… until the end. I flub a line that I hadn’t flubbed once in practice. No big deal, but the words do come out of order, which is irritating. I have a great part where I get to yell at the top of my lungs and I look forward to it every time I pick up the script. In this case, I still yell, but some of the effect is lost. Ah well. I leave the stage.

But my part isn’t over completely.

When I get off stage, I almost immediately yell one word, pause, then yell a second word. No big deal lots of fun. But again, we hadn’t practiced it completely.

So I get off stage and retreat to the cool darkness that lurks behind the set. I yell my word…. and one of the actors who shared the stage with me moments ago leaves the stage behind me… so when I yell the second word she gets the full force of my bellow right in her eardrums. She reels backwards like she’s been shot with a tazer. It wasn’t my intent, but not much could be done about it. She sits down and tries to get rid of the ringing in her ears and I prepare for the next scene.

The play grinds on. Lines are skipped with a regular basis now, and the actors have gone from dread to resignation. Everyone knows that the play isn’t going as well as we’d like, but it’s going all the same. With praises of gratitude, the house lights dim and it’s intermission. I slip out the back for a cigarette.

Intermission: Lots of murmuring from the audience filters in to the back stage, but nothing can be clearly made out. It sounds like happy murmuring, so that’s a plus. The actors are looking frazzled, and are gathering their strength to get through the final scenes and put this play out of its misery. One fiend has lost a plastic fingernail and is getting a new one superglued on. Another fiend is having his stage make-up roll off is face from sweat. I’m in the first part of Act 2, and I’m ready to go.

Lights flash in the auditorium, and finally raise again. It’s showtime. I listen for a moment and hear my cue. I take the stage. I bobble a few lines, but nothing critical. I’m where I should be and then I get up to cross the stage. And find a problem.

We hadn’t practiced with the furniture. Not really. So when the time comes for me to move behind someone, there’s no way it can be done. So I stand in front of them instead. Not really a problem, but it was something that I hadn’t planned on either. So I make the best of it and press on. I get most of the lines out, and then need to be cued from another actor.

Here’s where my mind gets fuzzy. I’m not sure which part I actually messed up on. All I know is that I was about to say a line, and then realized that I’d just said it about 10 seconds previously. So if I said it again, I’d be repeating myself which would sound strange to everyone in earshot including me. The actor my character is talking too gives me a nice little prompt and I finish the line and then get off the stage. For my character, the play is over. And not a moment too soon. The actual play has more to go, so I get ready for the long haul. I change out of my jacket, put away my prop… and then get called to the other side of the stage.

I’d forgotten that I actually do have another part I need to get done before I can relax completely. I need to take the stage again. I don’t say anything, but I do need to be there. I hastily put on my jacket and get the prop ready, run to the far side of the stage and then slip through the curtain. I walk on… walk off… and now can finally relax. Sort of. Lots of play to go, but I really AM done this time.

The scene is coming to an end, when a fiend takes the stage, and immediately takes a tumble on the 15” clearance. She goes down, and goes down hard. Everyone winces, holds their breath, and prays that she’s ok. She is, and gets to her feet. I’m not sure if there was a reaction from the audience to tell the truth. I’m sure there was, but I was so struck with horror and fatalism that I don’t recall any specific reaction from the guests at their tables.

She gets through the scene, and then limps off stage. It foreshadowed the rest of the play. The play limped to a close, and an exhausted crew assembled for one well-deserved round of applause. Dang. It wasn’t pretty, but it was over.

As a director once said: “Congratulations on a job… done.”

Dead Authors

The drawback of falling in love with a book from a dead author is that you know not to expect a sequel. I mean, if the author didn't write one when they were alive, they certainly aren't going to now. Raffles is such a book. I just finished the last Raffles story every written and held on to every word. The language is unlike anything I've read before, and captures the era in which the book was written. If a modern writer tried to capture that feel, it would only be as a parody or incomplete picture. There are scenes and phrases which could be safely borrowed, but the true essence is probably gone for good.
Grrr.
But hey, it's a heck of a good book and I'm glad to have read it. Raffles has always been a bit of a mystery to me because the setup seems obvious and leads the reader into certain expectations. The guy is a gentleman criminal. No problem. But he is wracked with guilt over his actions, and yet drawn to them by the very nature of who he is. Much of the stories are dialogs about how the acknowledgment of his nature is in many ways a curse to him. He suffers physically from the strain of carrying the burden of guilt for his crimes, as he also tries to reign in his excesses. As a final piece of work, Justice Raffles is a masterpiece and leaves the reader hungry for more. But it wasn't to be. Just like Raffles to leave his admirers puzzled and yet enchanted.

Raffles Quote

"Never had I clearer vision of the man he might have been but for the kink in his nature which had made him what he was."

E.W. Hornung

Hidden Joke

OK, here's the deal. I'm writing a story that takes place on a oil platform in the middle of the Caribbean. With me so far?
Now the publisher has given me carte blanche for naming the location of the story. So after some thought I came up with something that is a riot. It's a play on the infamous "Deepwater Horizon" which simultaneously saved and doomed life as we know it. The crux of the problem is that I can't tell anyone about the name I came up with. But it's a riot! ARGH!
Ah well. If anyone is filming an adult movie on an oil platform, please let me know. I've got the perfect title for your movie.

Working in Redlands

I had a full day behind the counter at the Redlands Art Association, but forgot my camera! ARGH!
I was hoping to take a few photos of the paintings that I have on display there, but managed to forget my camera on the way out the door. Computer, check. Book, check. Coffee, double check. But the camera didn't make it.
The theme of the gallery this month is "Red, White and Black", and there were a new batch of artists who had work on display. I was stunned by the change in the gallery since the last time I was there. When I'd gone down before, there were plenty of SouthWest themes and lots of Redlands city scenes. But this time there was an energy that was unexpected and wonderful to see. Some of the works were simple, but everything seemed to have nice touches that put them over and above most local galleries.
So how did my stuff hold up?
Pretty well actually, but not a blow out by any means. I held my own, which I'm very happy about. If I had a pocket full of cash on hand, I would have walked out with a few works, I don't mind saying. There was a Dance Macabre portrait that was VERY good. I think I'll send word through the gallery to the artist to let them know how much I liked the paintings I saw.

Saving a Story

Oh! Before I forget, I got published again! This time it was especially meaningful to me because I was able to take a story that REALLY needed help and polish it to a nice shine. It's got weird humor, lots of action and an actually story. So I'm not complaining in the slightest. WOOT!

Always a Catch

Of course writing a blog is a double edged sword, because when there's plenty of interesting stuff going on, I'm too busy to blog. And when things finally die down for a bit and I can catch my breath, suddenly I've got lots of time for writing but nothing to say.
However, every now and then a chance comes along where I've got a few minutes free to keep the blog updated and also take a breather from events. This is one of those times, and I'm grabbing hold with both hands.
The play is less than a week away! Wow! OK, that was odd because I could have sworn I had months to get the lines down and work on pacing. Suddenly, the theater is selling tickets and the set is being built. Tonight will be devoted fully to rehearsal stuff which is a nice way of saying that we'll finally get to see how much of the dialog the leading man has learned. Yes, he's got a lot of stuff going on in his life right now (MLM stuff, a phase we've all gone through at one time or other), but seeing him stumble his way through the playbook is a scary experience.
Also, I'll be heading out to the House of Blues this weekend to catch my favorite local band and also rub shoulders with people who like good music loud. Or loud, good music. Heck, maybe they just like loud music. I don't care, just so long as they can dance.
Classes continue to be good, but more on that later.
Also, I finally got the sheet music for the guitar performance I'll be participating in this Christmas. Sure, it's a collection of standards. But the instructor found some versions which have a nice life to them, so if all goes well it should be a fun set to play. I actually really love Christmas music, but some versions are played more as a dirge than a festive tune. This stuff is actually pretty good.

Improv in the mountains

There is a place called Bluejay in CA which reminds me of Lake Arrowhead for view and culture. It's a small place in the mountains which has many trails and lots of places to take nature hikes. I went there this past Friday to do some improv for a womens retreat that was happening at one of the local community centers. The place is very nice and huge! They have an olympic sized pool on a deck surrounded by trees. Just the place to go when you want to get away from it all!
The retreat had a 'cruise ship' theme, which they celebrated by decking the rooms with nautical decorations. Life vests, sails and cruise posteres lined the walls. Now personally I thought just getting away from the desert for awhile would be relaxing enough, but this gave everyone a taste of life on the open seas.
Even though about 3/4ths of the acting troupe were men, we were invited to provide some entertainment for their lunch. It was a blast! I think there were about 150 women there, and everyone was in a good mood, which made for a very responsive crowd. We were able to joke around with them during the skit, and we got lots of laughs. This is the first time I've done improv as an official member. The prevoius time I allowed myself to get pulled onto the stage to take part in some of their skits. That time the crowd was very small, and I wanted to help them out because it was obvious that the team was trying like crazy to get some enthusasim going.
This was completely different. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and all we had to do was keep the good feeling going. No problem!

Screwtape Part II

One of the dangers of getting involved with a drama crowd (the theater part, not the "my life is a crisis" group), is that there is a tendency to get volunteered for many projects without really knowing it. I'm not sure how it came about, but somehow I volunteered to help out with an improv skit this weekend on a cruise ship. The skit won't be that long, only 20 minutes or so. And aside from the chance to wallow in the sun on a pleasure craft, they are supplying the food. So free food, lots of sun... yeah I made the right decision.
No idea how the skit is going to go, but from what I can tell it involves a lot of hats.

Great White

Great White is a band which has, if you'll pardon the pun, jumped the shark years ago. Now that being said, they are still a cool rock band and I'm looking forward to seeing them today. They are going to be playing in Yuciapa which isn't that far away, and the band is worth the trip.

Also, I'm going to support "Shameless" which is opening for Great White. OK, that's the real reason that I'm going to this gig. Ya have to support the band! I know the lead guitarist and am looking forward to seeing them rock the house. Great White is just gravy!

As a quick little side note, I'll be at the Redlands Art Association Gallery on the 16th to do a day as a curator. They actually have morning and evening shift available, but since it is a gallery and they do have wi-fi connections, I'm planning on spending the whole day there. When the gallery is slow, I can just catch up on school work. If the gallery is packed and there are dozens of people clamoring for my attention, than so much the better!