Dogs

Will be brief, as I need to spend some time with my dogs before going to bed. The guilt of being a bad dog dad has gotten to me and I need to walk them around the block – even if it is 3 in the morning – they don’t care, they’ll bark anyway. We ran the show tonight, a nice surprise – it didn’t explode, we never had to stop, and it was rather great – and we discovered our arch nemesis – the scene change – so tomorrow we bust out our scene change kryptonite and tackle it lickety split – allright I’m off to wake up the neighborhood. Also, I truly believe that the sea lion is the wiener dog of the ocean - please compare these two pictures - one of my dogs, and one of sea lions in San Francisco.

My Rock

So, we’re done with the first chunk of tech week. On tech Monday, I always have the same thought; “I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do after theater, as I just can’t do this forever.” Though now that it’s the 20th or so tech Monday, and I’ve come to realize that this feeling is part of the rollercoaster – part of what it’s about, and by opening night, I’ll be nostalgic for it all and looking forward to the next one. This show is tough, but in a great way, in a “we’ve never done this before way”, in a way where you don’t spend your time figuring out how to hide the magic from the audience, but how do you let them in. This morning I woke up to 7 messages on my phone - all slightly panicked and about tech - part of the rollercoaster - just gotta remember. Two days ago Danny Scheie came up to tell me that he so loves shows that try to do things that no other show has done. It was great to hear, because sometimes as you’re teching sound cue #378 that needs to happen when the smog and the 40 lanterns come on – you yearn for simple shows – perhaps a show with one man and a stool – maybe he even chats from time to time – ah, I gotta work on one of these shows. So, what’s great about this week? I’m lucky, because I’m surrounded by some of the most inspiring people in the business, Jon Ludwig is a constant inspiration, as all of our designers who are half insane to have taken this job, and then half brilliant to make it seem easy; and to the cast who never ceases to impress me with how they can be so brilliant, and so patient with tech at the same time. I have a good team, now I just need a good week, and then I can sleep the sleep of the just and start to panic about how long I’ll have to wait until I get back to my next tech week – I’m sure by Sunday, I’ll already miss it.

Tech Day 3: The Search For Spock

Tech was good - at one point I had a small panic attack that we weren't going to finish the show in time - but we all pulled it together, kicked some ass in the second half and now we're back on track. Our props guy Jay is a god, he gave up his dinner so he could figure out how to get us fake waves - god bless him.

I got the e-mail today that always makes me giggle "what should we warn the audience about the play?" Ah warnings, they come on cigarettes, medicine and regional theater - so I thought about it for a minute and responded:

We should warn them that the show contains: loud noises, fog, steam, strobe, exploding flour, ridiculous accents, spraying water, a hidden meaning, audience participation, an unexplained fondness for Warner Brothers, a few holes in the plot, and at least two moments where Danny Scheie feels like Sylvia Plath. If they know that, they should be fine.

Oddly, I think it's all true - though ten bucks says we just end up warning them about the loud noises.

Tech Day 2

End of day two of tech. Technically the crisis of today was that the Cal Shakes computer crashed about 90 minutes into rehearsal, meaning that everything we had worked on up until that point was lost – but still, at the end of the day, we all feel pretty good, and our 1:30 PM frets seem like they happened weeks ago. Still, we’re currently running off of our own computers – but perhaps that will all be cleared up in the morning – we teched in the afternoon for 4 hours on a tiny amp we found – you’ve never seen anything as silly as me and the sound designer standing near a tiny amp talking about which warner brothers cues sound best. Well, maybe you have. There is one 30 seconds of the show that we teched for over 2 hours – which means it will be brilliant or we’ll cut it on Tuesday – maybe both. We’ll see.

Must go sleep – tomorrow we’re rigging the 20-foot marionette in the morning. Yeah!

Tech Day One

First day of tech, and yes, I already have a sunburn - oh, my irish skin, it just wants me to be in dark places (like bars, or places that have the same lighting as bars). Crisis number one arrived about 2 PM - the set was built a tiny bit smaller than it had been designed, therefore our large Falstaff wouldn't fit through any of the internal doors. So, we huddled, pondered and then our brave build team got out their tools and shaved two feet off the back of the set. Crisis averted. The set is wonderfuly, the costumes are beautiful, the sound is phenomenal, and Max Moore didn't break a single puppet - what more could you want out of a day. We got through Act One - which was rather impressive (considering there is a little under 400 sound cues in the show). And at one point, I actually laughed so hard that I fell backwards out of my seat - yep, smooth with a capital smooth. Off to sleep for a bit and find better sunscreen for tomorrow.

It was good.

Great even. I couldn't be prouder of them - they really pulled it off tonight. Now we take it apart and then put it back together with all the elements (technical and outdoors), but for one night, tonight, we're at the top of our game.

Sand People

We’re about to do our “designer run thru” - where the designers come in to see what we’re up to. It won’t be too much of a shock, 3 of them came last night, but still, it’s always strange to go from just having me in the room to suddenly having about 20-30 people (designers, members of their staff, grove talk speakers, etc) – many of whom I have no idea who they are – perhaps they’re like the sand people, and they really mean us no harm, but they’ve come to steal our droids. Oh lord, I’m tired. Afterwards there is a celebratory gathering at Mr. Campbell’s, and then tomorrow, we start tech for real, and we find out if every other department is on schedule…if you’ve ever been to the BRUNS you know it’s sun-lotion and shorts during the day, jackets and scarves at night, looks like I’ve got some packing to do tonight.

And he has better hair than Steve Nash

So, week 3 is at an end. Ron Campbell wins the MVP award for this week, he’s been nothing but charming, nothing but full of brilliant suggestions, and has finally figured out how to work with Falstaff to get a stunning performance out of him. Also he had my favorite line of the day
"last time I did a show like this, I was 7". It's funny because it's true.

Puppets in Lafayette

Last night we went to a cultivation event thrown by one of the theater’s cooler board members. It was a super swank party with tons of food, tons of booze, and tons of people who had never been to the theater before. We brought about 9 of the puppets, and decided that we would give a short workshop on puppetry and then let the people at the party operate the puppets if they wanted. It was amazing. We watched these incredibly shy conservative folks put on the puppets, and then just explode creatively. By the end of the party, people were running everywhere with them, and 2 musical numbers were performed (pictures are coming shortly). One of the guests (while holding Pistol) said “With a puppet, I could do anything, I could be funny, I could be handsome”. Brilliant.

There was one woman there that when she found out I co-directed Nicholas Nickleby, threw down her drink and hugged me – and insisted that after the party we all come back to her house for tequila shots and to talk about theater. There’s actually a much longer story to this, but we did end up at 2 in the morning at her house drinking tequila and talking about theater – ah, the joys of cultivation.

Oh, and also on a comedic note, yesterday Fenton’s jaw few off during rehearsal, and today, Slender’s arm broke during rehearsal – coincidence? Both were being used by Max Moore when it happened – is he trying to take us down by the inside? Hmmmm.

The 24th 1/2 Century

Our first stumble thru – quite a rush/drain for everyone. It was a bit like everyone had that “wild look” in their eye as they suddenly realized what scenes came where. Though really, for a stumble thru, (which are by nature disastrous), it was rather great. It made me realize that this is really a show where everyone has to figure out what kind of artists they want to be. “Versatile” & “team player” are two of the most over-used phrases in the American Theater. Often, when people say they want a challenge – they mean they’d like the challenge to do what they are already experts at – but a bit bigger. That isn’t that. Everyone has to become experts at something they’re a bit afraid of. Whether it’s learning puppetry, being a body puppet, doing Shakespeare for a 550 seat house, or relating to a puppet – everyone has to decide what kind of artists they are, and are they in fact versatile and a team player. I think luckily for us, they’ll all come thru with shining colors.

My other thought today is that Anthony Fusco is in fact Daffy Duck. You’ll see what I mean

Inside Scoop

Last night we did "Inside Scoop" the event where we go chat about the show. When I arrived I noticed that Jean Paul had brought "the octopus" with him, and I knew that someone would raise their hand and say "there's not an octupus in the show" - low and behold, it was the second question, and out of the corner of my eye I saw him pumping his fists in triumph. GRESSIEUX!!!! Jay Yamada thought it was the best one he'd been too, and it was truly a ton of fun. Very fun, but smart also. Afterwards we all retired to the Paragon to relax after a full hour of talking. God I love that bar. Also, got some more Obi-Wan puppet advice from Ludwig yesterday, once that all pans out, I'll post it here.

The Big Man

We do an exercise called “Fast Food Stanislavski”, where each characters sits and the rest of the cast asks them questions. The character responds, and can use or not use anything that they improvise during the session. Usually about half the questions are show related “what do you think about your daughter getting married” and about half are just to help to fill out the rest of the character “what’s your greatest desire” “what’s your greatest fear”, etc. Today we did Falstaff, and we left the puppet attached to the ceiling (where he normally lives) as to not put too much pressure on Ron’s back (today was supposed to be a puppet free day). I usually think that everyone’s is rather funny, but I was amazed by the strong emotional response that I had listening to him. Falstaff talked about what it was like to be kicked out of King Hal’s court and a few other honest/sad things and I found myself really feeling for the guy – which is bizarre, as he was barely moving the puppet. It’s really impressive how much empathy we all had for him as he only moved his mouth – which ties into a lesson we’ve all been learning, sometimes less is more, and in a puppet show with TONS Of puppets flying around the stage, sometimes almost nothing is pretty powerful.

video-taping part 1

So today we videotaped Falstaff, so that we could all watch him tomorrow. When you do body puppetry for tv (such as big bird), there is a tv inside the puppet, so that the puppeteer can see what they look like on the outside (even if it's backwards) – well, that falls slightly out of what we can afford, so this is the next best thing – we’ll spend a good chunk of tomorrow reviewing the tape.

It will also be great for Ron, as he’s never seen what he looks like, he can only see out of the mouth, and he often doesn't know what his arms are doing, as they're worked by other puppetteers. Should be quite a trip.

Let the PR begin

Check out the PR Photos! How very H R Pufnstuff – which is rather great, and rather perfect. Also, if you've ever seen Mr. Show, you'll quickly think of the "The Altered State of Drugachusetts" - which actually isn't at all like this, but is still funny to think about.

Through The Looking Glass

Today we added in the Queen of The Fairies. She’s an 18 feet tall marionette, that has 8-10 strings that operate her. She’s large and in-charge, and large. I think you get the idea.

Our most experienced puppeteer (Lorna) and another actor who started puppettering this morning (Delia) work her. Best of luck to both of them.

The end of the week

So, the week ended well. Now we all get a day off for laundry and saying hello to loved ones.

Today, we worked in a scene where we made Max Moore run all over the set working two puppets – people will think it’s brilliant meta-theatricality. In reality, we just couldn’t afford anymore puppetters – though I guess we didn't need to put the two puppets as far away as possible, but it seemed if we were going to torture the guy - why not? Also, we keep coming up for great ideas for bits and puppets long after we’ve spent all of our puppet and set budgets. Fiddlesticks! Perhaps we can get old-school and make some things on the cheap cheap – we’ll see. Ludwig made a new puppet Friday out of scraps he got from the props department, so yes, I smell some old school coming on.

Still, we ended on a high note, and people actually get some time off, which allows Ludwig to fix some puppets and rig a thing or two. Sadly, he leaves us now for a couple of weeks (Oregon needs puppets stat!), but he’ll be back. Oh yes, he'll be back.

Oh, I forgot to say, when we went for margaritas on Friday night, we went to a bar where someone accidentally pulled the fire alarm at one point, which not only sent sand into everyone's drinks, but also called the fire department. Oddly, we were on the back deck, so we didn't notice till we looked up and saw the place filled with fire-fighters and the manager came out to see if we needed anything and then asked us to not go back into the building. How did we miss that? Two words: margaritas!

So today it happened. The break-thru day.

It started with Jon Ludwig leading a BRILLIANT master class in teamwork and puppet work – After that everyone was grounded, positive and ready to work. We tackled one of the giant scenes of the show, and it actually came to together – as well as any scene can the first time you do it – but good, and funny, and clear. Truly, Ludwig’s work was amazing today, and set the tone for the rest of the day and the rest of the puppet process.

Though, the main success of the day was that we staged our Falstaff battles Shark and Octopus scene, Domenique’s daughter Zoe (who is 9) watched a run of it, and thought it was very funny, and then spent an hour afterwards playing with the Shark. If 9 years old think we’re funny, we’re in.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the classic Falstaff battles Shark and Octopus scene – well, you may be reading an outdated version of the script.

Ah, the Cinco De Mayo rehearsal.

So, another day of slugging through it. As we get close to end week one, the “honeymoon period” is over, and yet we all haven’t mastered puppetry or learned all of our lines – which leads to small amounts of tension and nervousness. To be expected. If everyone was giddy, and the show was done on day 4, we’d be in much more trouble.

The plan for tomorrow? To stop blocking the show, and have Ludwig lead a few hours of workshops on how puppets can work together. There is nothing harder in the puppet world than three people working one puppet (like Falstaff) – it takes three people being of the same mind, and all of them working to make one small action seem normal. So Ludwig will lead some exercises on how our Falstaff and our “arms” (at one point or another the other puppeteers come in to work the arms of the puppet) can work together to really pull off something cohesive.

Today we spent almost 30 minutes on how Falstaff would pick up a chair, move it from one hand to another, and then set it down. Sounds simple, feels like algebra, and actually looks rather cool. Still at this pace, we should be set to open sometime in August of 2007. Dying is easy, comedy is hard, and puppets may in fact kill you.

On that note. Off to have margaritas with the out of town puppeteers.

Sweet Margaritas, they're a bit easier to master.

Fusco and Kids

Anthony Fusco should host a kids show. He is truly amazing next to the puppets. And he has a gifted cartoon sense of humor. He was on-fire today, well, he may have been on fire for the whole week, who knows, but today was the first day we got to him.

Sadly, also today Chris Brown went home. He’s been here tweaking the puppets, making adjustements, working with rigging, etc, but a few days was all we could afford to have him here, so he heads home. As soon as he was out of the door, Ludwig announced “allright now no one break the puppets..at least till opening”. We all giggled nervously and looked at the floor.

will the real max moore please stand up?

So day two.

This is hard stuff. Sure I know every show is hard, and just theatre as an art form is hard (which I think explains why so much of it is bad), but this seems to be rather challenging. Luckily the cast is great, great, great. They’re in there helping each other out, and it looks like every scene in the show is going to feature our 4 main ensemble puppeteers – quite a workout for those 4. I guess what makes it tough is that it’s Shakespeare, which adds challenges, and it has so many different kinds (and just different) of puppets that we’re spending tons of time working discovering what they can and can’t do - Figuring out how they work, and sometimes just figuring out how they walk and talk. As Ludwig said, “puppets are anarchists, they’re not interested in helping you out”. Luckily, he’s a bit of an Obi Wan in rehearsals, offering wisdom, showing tips, and calming our newbie’s.

Also, I found out from my wife (who is from Seattle) that Max Moore (who just moved here from Seattle) was some kind of rockstar up there. Apparently we snagged one of comedy’s best. Go team. I googled Max Moore to find a picture for this entry, but I just found this picture of another Max Moore – who is the on the school board in (maybe?) Hawaii. I kind of wish our Max Moore could look liks this. Sigh.

Also, super props to Lorna Howley, the woman was the Head Puppeteer at the Center of Puppetry Arts for 10 years – and it shows. She’s awesome. Also, she seems to have the foulest mouth in the cast – which if you have to be two things, those are two great things to be.

the first rehearsal

So today was the first day of rehearsal. This meant a meet-and-greet where we gave everyone “the low down” on the design of the show, (we’ll have a podcast of that soon), a read-thru (under 2 hours!!!), watching some cartoons to give us all a common language (we watched 2 Warner Brothers Cartoons, a surreal Betty Boop cartoon and a very sad cartoon from the 30’s entitled ‘The Ten Soldier”), and then puppet camp. What's puppet camp? A Jon Ludwig led training, followed by him then working with each puppeteer on movement and on scoring their scripts.

During the meet and greet, I had mentioned that Jon Ludwig’s Frankenstein was the reason I wanted to get into puppetry. Lorna came up afterwards to let me know that she teared up upon hearing that. Frankenstein was her first show with Jon, and he had then mentored her in puppeteering before she left two years ago to go to Phillly - and now they were working together again. Her reaction - “my god, I have to keep doing this.”

For me, I was slightly giddy at seeing each of the puppets come to life, and then simultaneously overwhelmed by how much work lies ahead for us.