Hotlanta & Christmas

So, many things to catch up on. And a few pics from Atlanta and Santaland tech.

I went to Atlanta to see some of my favorite people in the world. I was actually in an short form improv show for the first time in 3 years – when I confessed before the show that I was worried that I wouldn’t remember how to improvise – Tim Stoltenberg comforted me with “don’t worry Sean, you never knew ho to improvise” – ah, with friends like this, who needs friends. The show was super super old school silly, and my cheeks hurt afterwards from giggling. I did learn two things while in Atlanta:

1) Whirleyball is the greatest invention since Al Gore created the internet. It’s Lacrosse in Bumper-cars – but bumper cars going really fast and slamming into you.
2) A Boysenberry is blue vodka, soda and a touch of lime – it even has a catch phrase, which goes something like “it’ll grow on ya”.

So, since my trip down there – I have returned to Louis Ville, and am now in rehearsal for two shows at the same time. I don’t know exactly how it works, but stage managers push me from room to room – and that system seems to be rather good so far.

It is such a treat to be doing Christmas Carol with some of my favorite actors of all time – all these people I’ve worked with before, that know me, but don’t know each other. Max Moore (our secretly Jewish Fred – no wonder scrooge doesn’t want go celebrate Christmas at his house – he knows he’s not going to be celebrating it at all!) pointed out that if this was an Agatha Christie novel, all the lights would go out, I would be dead, and then they’d all have to figure out how they know me. He’s a clever one that Max.

So, I was warned that even if you don’t change anything about A Christmas Carol – you’d get letters from patrons upset about what you changed. So, with that mind, I’m changing out everything I can get my hands on – all new carols, new doubling, an attempt to switch the focus back from cinematic storytelling to theatrical story telling – AND, an attempt to tap into some “story-theater” and make it clear that this is an adaptation of a novel, not something that is meant to be a play. These are the kind of well meaning ideas that get you fired.

Day One went well – everyone seemed really jazzed with the changes. And the group sounds AMAZING! There are some serious singers in this group – and the new carols sound really good. These are the kind of well-meaning day one thoughts that make you forget you could get fired for this.

Later some pics from Hotlanta (which may run out of water - seriously), but first, how we spend our days. See if you find our special guest star

Broadway Bound

Our good friend Jon Spurney, music director of Hedwig and the Anthology, is going to Broadway. That's right, his new show, PASSING STRANGE, that he was the music director on (and my wife was the dramaturg! huzzah!) - is going to "the game".

This means he'll be buying the drinks next time we see him.

That's Uncle Sean to you

Things are moving along amazingly with Santaland. It’s a much quieter show after the rock n roll of Hedwig and the exploding crosses (sometimes) of Dracula. Still, the wit of David Sedaris is so tightly wound that it takes days to unlock all the jokes. Which often makes me think of what a silly job I have as I spend my days talking to an elf about how to land the specifics of a joke about how all New Yorkers look retarded when you put your mind to it. This picture is of what I look at for most of the day.

So, big news! I am an uncle. Yes, you can now refer to me as Uncle Sean - all thanks to Evan Oldham (pictured above)

Check out this picture of my wife and nephew – only she can look so good first thing in the morning in a hospital. It's her super power.

Sean

P.S. Funny thing to note - the mop they used to clean up the tomatoes in Hedwig, they went to get it out of the closet, and it's sprouted a little tomato bush. Yep, it's growing Hedwig tomatoes.

And so Santaland begins....

So we are two days into Santaland. Oh the comedy - oh the humanity. That David Sedaris is one funny chap.

The quest with any one man show is how do you keep it visually interesting enough that half way thru the show the audience doesn't think "my god - someone else please walk into the room". Luckily we have Oliver Wadsworth, who is an old friend of the theater, and one hell of a charming chap.

Oddly, Santaland is like Hedwig in that people already know the material and already have a relationship to it (like Christmas Carol also), so we're on the quest to make it our own, without making it "too much" our own.

That and I'm trying to work on my "chewing straws" problem. So I'm eating a lot of gum. Let's see how this holds up.

from BJ Jones' blog

You can check out more of it at:

Beej's Blog

BJ's Blog
October 3, 2007

I had lunch yesterday with the Artistic Associate of Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Sean Daniels. Sean worked at Dad's Garage in Atlanta for many years then spent three years at the California Shakespeare Festival. Mark Masterson, the Artistic Director here at ATL, brought Sean on board to help engender an edgy, forward-looking aspect to the work. It is the same impulse we at Northlight have in bringing in Meghan Beals McCarthy as our dramaturg and literary manager.

Sean and I were talking about the future of American Regional Theatre and he said he was interested in work that is more "theatrical," that is: the kind of stories that you can only experience on stage and not see on TV or in a movie theatre. I think we agree that if we are to give the audience of the future a reason to leave their high-definition home theatres for a night out, they should experience something that can only happen in a room full of strangers.

Sean's career has been very interesting, starting with his work at Dad's Garage (the “Second City” of Atlanta) and then moving to a Shakespeare Festival. He has a perspective that is at once raucous and fresh and yet informed by the structure of the regional theatre as it is practiced today. The concept that “theatricality” is the acknowledgement of the defining characteristic of theatre is not new, and yet many new scripts that we all read come to us less as a celebration of that theatricality, and more of an audition for a job as a staff writer on the next hot TV series.

Subliminally we are giving our audience the opposite of our purpose for being: that we are not aesthetically different than what they can get in their living room, that the process of creation is less satisfying and the experience is the same. More and more of these scripts do not push the envelope in style and scope. The challenge to lift the work from the page to the stage and to celebrate the limits of the small stages is never met. The movement began with Odets and hasn't changed. It’s a bit frustrating as an Artistic Director to receive script after script from young and talented writers who set their work on the set of "Three's Company," and who may have something to say were it not for the environment or form wrapping their themes in the same old package.

Imagine the challenge of the Humana Festival, which produces 6 fully produced new plays every year, all meant to be seen in less than three days, and all traversing different themes, styles, aesthetics, and tones. They must read literally 1,000 scripts to arrive at the six they choose and many of those overlap in the style in which their playwrights limit themselves. In a conversation with Mark Masterson, ATL’s Artistic Director, we talked about the future of regional theatre and our audiences. Many regional theatres are seeing single ticket sales rise but subscription sales falling. Louisville is quite healthy and their audiences are wonderful, if last night's preview of my production The Underpants is any indication. They feel a sense of propriety about the Humana Festival and celebrate the more adventurous work. Mark fully understands the blend of his audience and the industry folk who travel from all over the world to see the work at Humana. It is a challenging job and one that requires the mature and broad vision Mark displays in choosing the 24 theatre pieces his institution mounts every year. 24 plays! I am in awe of Mark. I only choose 5 and that is gut wrenching, although I always feel there is so much more I would like to do if I had the money and the resources. It is a unique challenge and Humana is quite an experience for a viewer, to live through a weekend of six new plays. I highly recommend it if you are as much a theatre junky as Candy and I are.

Sean and I didn't settle anything but the bill at our lunch, but I came away sharing his viewpoint and with a sense of optimism that the future of regional theatre will be in good hands when their time comes.

More Anon,
Beej

Day After Closing

So, lots of wonderful things out of last night’s closing. I really have to remind myself that they don’t all go this way – in fact, it’s pretty rare that they do. When the stage manager called 5 minutes before the final show – everyone yelled “no!!!”. Which is silly, but shows how much they all love doing the show. Then everyone had everyone else sign their posters – it was high school theater all over again – except with bourbon and older men – well, in that case I guess it was just like high school theater. It is so rare that you start rehearsal, it all goes smoothly, everyone loves each other - you end tech early, and then you open up and quickly make double your goal playing to sold out houses every night. I heard that a patron called the box office and complained that there wasn't an extension since she couldn't get tickets. I've often made patrons made, but never because they wanted more.

After the show (complete with new Dracula joke and Led Zeppelin’s Rock n Roll), they band essentially put on some live band karaoke – allowing everyone to get up and sing. As I’ve worked at various theaters around the country, I have discovered that the larger the theater company is – the lamer the party. The joke at Dad’s Garage was that the first five years we were known for average theater and really great parties – and then as we get older, we got known for really great theater and average parties. Hmmm – I guess that’s not actually a joke is it.

Anyway – this was actually a great party – people sang, they screamed, and sometimes they sang as though they were screaming. The band even played WIG IN A BOX so David could take one last lap around it. Everyone sang along and David wept. For rockstars, we’re all pretty sensitive. Who knows maybe Vince Neil cries every time he thinks he’s playing Girls, Girls, Girls for the last time. Though now that I think about it – every time Vince Neil sings should probably be his last time.

So now today is the strange post-partum day. Everyone that is from out of town has left and headed home – and now we start on show 2. I got a text from David stating, “I can’t believe it’s over” and then another one that said “don’t hurt my dead baby in a bag!” I laughed, because I would probably cry if I didn’t.

So, a few days off, and then we see if we can make magic again.