Right... So... Fall?

Not too long after the prior posting, a solid 8 and a half months ago (during which time, I'm told a whole human can be manufactured inside of a female!) I finally did something I had been meaning to do for a long while.

What's that? You left your cushy yet soul crushing desk job at an unnamed major internet travel retailer?

Why yes, yes I did. It was a semi-mutual decision, suggested by the local regional director and heartily agreed to by me. Though I have to admit, I'd have been ok with the regular steady paycheck continuing but I could have done with a great deal less douche-baggery from their end. Alas, as it turns out - you can't have you cake and eat it too. Or in this case, if I wanted to keep accepting money from them, I had to keep accepting the douche-ness. So I've been more or less freelancing since the end of April.

You've been freelancing as a technician, fight choreographer and actor for 8 months?

Yes. I'll get to that in a second. Stop interrupting me.

Sorry.

But primarily, the biggest thing I pulled off was getting the lady-type to say yes to a marriage. So, there will someday be a Mrs. SmallandBrutal. I say someday because part and parcel with the whole freelancing thing is that there's no actual planning going on at this point. But we'll get there. But yes, I'm taking a second stab at marriage. Or rather a second stab at engagement. Never made it to the marriage part before.

Now - what else have I been doing with my time since April? A lot actually. I've done some highly weird things in fact - among them working in the Madame Tussauds Chamber of Horrors. Which by the way if you think is scary with the lights out, you should breeze through there with the lights on. >shudder< Let's just say, OSHA would have a field day in there. I normally don't like to gossip, but wow. Glad to have kept that gig to just a few weeks.

I've been mostly making my living (and doing OK at it by the way) as an actor/technician. Did you know that they pay movie and TV extras money to do NOTHING?! It's not a lot of money, but you literally do nothing.

There was also Retro Productions Dear Ruth, which was alas completely devoid of combat and violence, followed by the Brick's comic book festival production of Action Philosophers! This show had a bit more violence, but nothing too insane. We actually remounted it in October and changed it up again and had a bit more choreography.

I also got to have a bit of fun with a new Becca Schlossberg (she of 3 Boys fame) play - taking the opportunity to design some moments of violence with a 13 year old actress (playing 11). I and the production were very fortunate in that this kid was sharp and talented. Acted more like a 30 year old than an 13 year old. Which isn't to say she was old before her time, just that she handled herself like a pro. Working out some slaps, punches and grappling with her and her cast mates under the direction of Madeliene Parsigian was a treat. The show suffered a few setbacks none of which made the final production any less of what it wanted to be.

That more or less brings us to where I am now - mid run of another Retro show, Milan Stitt's "The Runner Stumbles." Oddly enough there's a decent amount of blood and some brief moments of violence within this show about priest on nun love and the consequences of denying/accepting that love in a harsh word that blah blah blah...

I'm playing Amos, the jail guard which means I have the character arc of start a mean bastard, end a mean bastard with extended time for backstage boozing between. The show itself has turned out excellently, no thanks to my acting. But I will say I did some nice stuff regarding the violence.

I've been working on a theory that sometimes the slow violence is more meaningful and in the capable hands of experienced and nuanced actors can be very effective. When there's quick stuff to balance it out, you get a nice portrait of a loss of control. One of my new favorite stage directions comes from this play (the other being Winter's Tale "exit Antigonus pursued by bear") and is: "Nun slaps Priest. Priest slaps Nun."

Am I the only one who thinks that's kind of funny?

I had a few variants on this, but with such a simple set, it's really about intent and the physical psychology involved. Rather, with two simple and virtually identical moves, how can I set up the communication with one slap a desperate need to feel something from another that isn't church dogma, and then immediately the return strike needs to communicate animal aggression dressed in blacks. If you've seen the show hopefully you know the moment you know I'm talking about. Specificity in the blocking down to the footwork is key.

And there's also a fun knife effect, which I'm proud of. Rather than use a dummy knife, I took an existing kitchen knife, filed the bejesus out of the edge so it's about as a sharp as a spoon, and then took a Dremel router bit and milled out the handle so I could insert a medicine dropper into the handle. I super glued the bulb into the handle, flush against the tang, and painted it to match the handle wood. The pipette runs about 4/5ths of the way down the blade, and is painted in a med gloss silver metallic acrylic to match the sheen of a used kitchen paring knife. So, when Father Rivard is provoked, he picks up the prop, and deliberately moves the dulled edge across the ball of his thumb to show he does in fact bleed like an ordinary man, the audience sees a knife that was just used to slice fruit slice across a man's hand and blood immediate wells up. No spurting, or squirting. Just deep welling. And dripping. Good smear consistency. I've been rewarded with some nice gasps from the audience.

So what's next?

I honestly couldn't say. I'm just floating from gig to gig at this point, and enjoying working more in film and TV where it's safe to say I've made more money doing nothing that I have busting my ass in theater. Clearly this is something worth pursuing.

More later. Just letting Tim and the not Tim readers of the old Knives Guns and Other Assorted Trouble blog that I'm in fact alive. Yep. Still Alive. I am doing science and I'm still alive. And when you're dying I'll still be alive.