Knives, guns, and other assorted trouble...

Advance Man and The Coffee Shop - I make some nasty!

2012-01-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

Howdy howdy ladies and gents – time to get back to regular posting, since it’s been noted how absent from the Small and Brutal blog I’ve been for awhile. Yes, Walking Dead is good TV. I’m glad you get it.

SO, for the past several weeks I’ve been up to my usual activities, stage handing, carpentry and choreographing isolated moments of violence. In particular, I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite young directors, Ms. Olivia Harris who directed John Doble’s “Coffee Shop” an odd little play about a first date that goes horribly wrong/right. A young man pushed to the unthinkable limits of good taste and how to impress a lady decides that knifing the snarky waiter at the small coffee shop they are in is the way to go. Well maybe he doesn’t decide it, but his impulses get the better of him either way. They certainly get the better of the poor waiter, played to irritating perfection by another of my favorite younger professionals – Alex Engstrom. By the way – they aren’t kids. They’re just not 30 something. So they seem young to me.

For this stabbing I went to the spare bedroom workshop to grind down a piece of old steel bar scrap from the Public Theater into a prop hunting knife. Since this is a prop is it is never intended to take or hold an edge, plate steel is fine, hard enough to withstand rigors of prop usage yet soft enough to never be workable as a real blade for very long. It’s about as sharp as a thick spoon.

That said, it’s still a chunk of steel, and handled poorly it’s still not the kind of thing you want clunking into someone. The murder is conducted in the span of just a few seconds – and due to the constraints of budget and time onstage for this little one act shorty, this is also a bloodless effect. But working out the details in what was a rather intimate space meant I had to go back to my trusty Gray’s Anatomy for some quick bio-mechanical analysis. One stab, and the victim drops is what I needed. Dead quickly.

I surmised that the best way to stab someone in the back and have them drop like they’d been poleaxed would mean somehow disrupting the controls from brain to body. That, to me, suggested a strike to the base of the neck, into or damaging the spine, and possibly some major blood vessels. Except, let’s also be honest – it’s very very difficult to do that. Even on purpose. Especially for a character who is NOT a proficient user of the tool.

So, the stab is on purpose, but the rapid demise of the victim is somewhat of a surprise. The move was choreographed as a roughly overhand strike, in reverse grip with the edge pointing up. This – by the way is similar to the “Psycho” shower stabbing scene, except that the edge is facing out at the victim, not back towards the attacker. Don’t get me started.

As the blade is coming close to the victims back, the attacker needs only to bend his wrist so that his knuckles (gripping the handle) tap the victim on the back, to the side of the spine. The victim goes rigid in the upper body, and immediately collapses to his knees, and the attacker simply “rides” the hand down. All the while seeming to struggle to remove the blade from the victims back. The yanking and tugging is done by the victim, only for a brief second or two before the distraction of the blade coming loose is covered by the victims head bouncing off of the table in front of him. He slams to the floor, dying very rapidly, and capable of no further purposeful action. By the way – the audience is facing the victim directly, so they never see the blade once it is past the victims shoulder, allowing for very safe and very fast movement.

Yes, in the real world this would be a VERY twitchy, bloody, and disgusting thing. But as I mentioned, it’s a one act and they have to get offstage for the next play in the festival, so no gore.

It’s hard to describe the movement, and I would like to start getting some film footage up here, so we can all see what it is I’m talking about. But alas, apparently that’s not always allowed. Ah well…

Simultaneously, while working on “Coffee Shop”’s little moment of nasty, I also had the distinct pleasure of working with Gideon Production’s latest, Mac Rogers’ “Advance Man” – part I of the Honeycomb Trilogy. I won’t review it – there’s enough great press about it already. It’s awesome. Go see it for the fight work, and stay for the far more incredible script, directing, and performances that my own work.

Which brings me to my next point – if there is a playwright who understands the general nuances of violence on stage, it’s Mac Rogers. Some limited gunplay in this show includes a young woman NOT holding a weapon properly and a resulting shot that goes a little wild. The very next line? “You have to hold it with both hands.”

I love that. There’s someone who’s paying attention.

However, I discovered that sometimes there are actors who are either unfamiliar with stage combat in general or actors who are very familiar with highly stylized stage combat. A single punch to the solar plexus between two such individuals, which I assumed would be simple, easy and the least time consuming and worrisome moment required quite a bit of finessing as we went along. This is not to say that the actors themselves were the problem – quite the opposite.

The actors were game. They were great. They ARE great. The problem is their fight choreographer. He (he being me) seemed to have a hell of a lot of trouble communicating his ideas clearly and succinctly. In retrospect, I believe I’ve discovered what the issue was.

In my haste and hubris to steer clear of the stylization of SAFD type of work, I glossed right over my OWN basics and workouts. What could have been and should have been more time spent at the top of the process developing an open and concise language and getting it into their bodies was skipped. The result – a lot of nerves and questions down the road as I worked to fine-tune the moment. In the end, it comes off rather well, but at the expense of performer anxiety. Next time around? I’ll be taking everyone to my school up front - so to speak.

And hopefully, next time around will be Part II of Mac’s trilogy of plays. “Blast Radius” has a scene consisting of two very pregnant women going at each other with vaguely scythe-like weapons. Neither of the two characters is a trained combatant with this “reaper” weapon, both are a little wobbly from pregnancy. I am excited because it is also a fight – a real fight, to the death between very desperate characters. It will be fast, it will be brutal, and assuming I can get a solid 9-12 hours with the combatants, it will be horrifying to watch.

So, until next time _ which honestly will be soooo much sooner, since I’ve also got a line on a doing some work for Boomerang Theater Company, which may include a rock fight, a broadsword and something entirely weird. Heh heh heh.

Stay small, stay quick, stay quiet, and stay brutal.

Oh and p.s. – the home knife shop is also churning out some nice blades these days. All stock removal, but I’m having fun.

Umm... if you haven't watched Walking Dead...

2011-11-29T23:25:00.002-05:00

Stop what you're doing and watch it now.

I bring this up because the most recent episode, which aired on AMC this past Sunday evening was a perfect example of everything I believe could be right with fictional violence if we as storytellers had the balls to do it the right way.

Violence should not be easy for characters that aren't insane, even when it's forced on them by someone who isn't thinking clearly. Or by the shambling corpses of zombies. Violence should not be without consequences, and just when those characters think they understand all of those consequences, there are often unforeseen ramifications to the choice to use force.

And when writers understand these things, the resulting scene is haunting, inexpressibly sad, and will likely stay with you for years.

Spoiler Alert. Good news, we found Sophia. Bad news, we found Sophia in the barn.

Also - hooray for guy shooting one hand "gangsta-style" and getting criticized for bullshit form and not hitting anything.

Right... So... Fall?

2011-11-15T18:41:00.003-05:00

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.

Right... so... Spring!

2011-04-05T16:56:00.002-04:00

OK I kind of fell off the wagon here. My bad – I got so busy with everything that I forgot to tell folks what everything was.

So, let’s begin with a quick review of the TAD Gear Fast Pack EDC I scored for myself in February. As every day carry bags go, this is a big one. Every day carry indeed, and I feel quite confident after jaunting around with this mammoth on myself for over a month that I’ve got all the every day I need. Hell, I could easily weekend trip with this bag, and an overnight hike with this puppy would be an easy matter. 1800 cubic inches. That’s a big bag.

Some key features I love:
Endlessly modular – this is covered in PALS webbing and MOLLE compatible with pretty much whatever you want to throw at it. There’s even a beaver tail with a sleeve that rolls out, meaning I can comfortably carry a rifle (which I don’t have) on the outside, or – more practically, any long, narrow tool/item I do own.
Tough – made of mil-spec denier cordura nylon, this isn’t flimsy. Strong straps with compression fittings on both ends, a removable waist belt (also swimming in PALS webbing) doubles as bandolier if I want to run light,
Nifty features - Internal hydration bladder ready which yes, adds a lot of weight, but sure beats a swinging canteen. Or adds to it.

To sum up – check this guy out – it’s worth every penny: http://www.tripleaughtdesign.com/Equipment/Bags-And-Packs/FAST-Pack-EDC

I love me some TAD. If I lived in San Francisco, I’d be jumping through hoops to work for them.

Now on to the more interesting stuff – fight choreography!

I’ve wrapped my work on John Doble’s “To Protect The Poets” which runs through this weekend – it’s an interesting show, but I’ll stay away from reviewing it, and stick to the work I did, which I’m actually quite pleased with. At the end of Act 1, the police officers who are the main characters have apprehended their first suspect in a brutal 2 man rape/homicide – they know he did it, and they’ve got evidence to prove it, but they need to get the details on who committed the murder of a young woman.

Where I step in is the two officers are playing the oldest game in the book – good cop/bad cop to elicit the confession they want. “Bad Cop” named Bear is knocking our Suspect around a little, in a clear but apparently permissible show of force. For this, I went with one simple cross body jab, moving upstage, which I was very happy to see the performers master quite well, and looked real at a distance of 3 feet since it comes explosively by surprise from Bear.

Next up were a few threats of more violence but no contact, though things get exponentially more harsh by the end of the scene. “Good Cop” named Jablonski or “Jab” has gotten everything he needs, Bear’s left the room, the camera’s off and Jab rides one over the edge. A solar plexus strike, followed by a kidney hit that breaks a rib, all in rapid succession (oh and… the suspect is cuffed). This is all topped by Jab throwing an arm across the Suspect’s throat, reaching down between his legs and crushing his… well… as Jab says later, “I made sure he’d never do it again.”

Having never choreographed a sterilization by brute force before this was a new one for me, but as it turns out, it’s not all that tricky. There was a lot of screaming from the suspect, and a lot of uncomfortable shifting from the fellas in the audience. Guess it works.

That’s that for recent decent fight work, I expect to be on a brief hiatus for a bit – I’ll be onstage again in May in Retro Production’s show “Dear Ruth” a charmer of a comedy from the 1940s. No combat, but good fun and I’ve snagged a fun little role with a great cast. If I’m lucky I’ll have a snazzy Army Air Corps dress uniform to rock out in too. Yay.

Oh and I’m making great progress on the new fighting knife I’ve been making for myself – not a prop, this baby has a good edge. I’d like it to be a great edge, but I’m still learning. I’ve got enough leftover steel to make a nice prop piece once I’m done with the real one, so we’ll see where that goes. Images shortly...

If the timing pans out I’m going to spend some time with Vamp Cowboy’s founder Qui Nguyen this summer while he’s in NYC. I'll be trading some knife skills for some of his extensive martial arts experience. Summer of 2011 still looks pretty open though – keeping my eyes open for the right gigs. There’s rumors of some Shakespeare around – and I wouldn’t be adverse to getting a crack at another Crystal Skillman show in Brooklyn, if I can score the audition. But for now, I’m free and clear after May. Drop me a line if you want some nastiness staged. I haven’t been able to do a solid bloody fight lately. I'm itching to try a few new tricks.

What’s on tap for 2011?

2011-02-08T15:58:00.002-05:00

With the 2010-11 Saloon Series now complete, and a one and done project at the Brick called “Dainty Cadaver” wrapped, I’ve found myself with my evenings relatively free to do things that normal people do, like laundry and occasionally cooking a meal, as opposed to scarfing down whatever passes for nutrients in the immediate vicinity of my rehearsals. It also means I can watch the big glowing rectangle in my living room occasionally. Hi Netflix Instant. Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be fast friends.

A word (or several) about the Dainty Cadaver project though… the idea was based on the Exquisite Corpse game, apparently played by surrealist painters. Essentially, one artist draws an image on a piece of folded paper and a second artist continues the image from the first. The third artist bases their work from the image of the second, without viewing the first, the fourth by viewing the third, fifth from fourth etc etc.

So, the Piper McKenzie folks over at The Brick (where I’ve spent an inordinate amount time in the last year) thought this should work with playwrights too. One writer writes a scene, a second reads it and pens a second scene, the third writer reads the second and continues, writer four reads number three’s and so on until the sixth writer wraps it up based solely on the events of the fifth scene. In theory the resulting play should be a work of surrealist weirdness, with massive shifts in tone and plotting.

In reality, that is in fact exactly what happened. Cool, if you’re into weird surreal theater. For me, since I’m not all that excited by that sort of thing, the script I performed in left me a little at sea. However, under the steady and excellent direction of John Hurley and with a great gang of fellow actors, I think we made something rather nifty out of it.

So far as fight choreography goes, we were sorely pressed for time (maybe 4 solid rehearsals total) but the piece did allow me to stage and perform a very basic murder with a brick. Two strikes to the face - the first a jab and the second a rising arc uppercut. Then to top it all off a final blow to the side of the skull. But wait there’s more - because this was surreal, the Angel of Death comes in... and magically compels me to smash my own head in next. Never done that before.

Bloodless and simple, due to constraints of time and scant resources, however in my head…

I’d have gone with a foam brick. The victim actor (in this case the HUGE compared to me Ryan Andes) would have been prepped with blood bombs and a couple of loose teeth (furnished by the lovely and alluringly skilled Stephanie Cox Williams). I’d have kept the choreography similar to what we did, two main strikes. The first hit would bring Ryan’s hand up to his mouth and nose. Detonating the blood bomb, he’d splutter through some dripping goo, and the second hit would knock him backwards and to the floor, detonating the second bomb, simultaneously while throwing those loose teeth up into the air. As he lays gasping on the floor, maybe a piece of uncooked pasta could be slipped in his mouth. Because when I grab him by the shattered remnants of his face, some crunching and crackling would be nice. I say some utterly creepy things, and then deliver the killing blow. Another blood bomb for me when I smash my own head in and everyone wins.

Basically the audience saw all of that, minus any gore. I’d had loved to make it happen, but then again I also would have preferred to have a script that didn’t have characters dying and being erased every 10 minutes or dancing around with water bottles but that’s just me and my taste for narrative over esoteric.

On the up side, getting to actually hang out with the renowned Ryan Andes and both of us noticing we were each dripping with TAD gear, led to some cool conversations, talking firearms, and the potential to pick up some nifty new skills as well as exchange some of my knife knowledge with some of his performer friends who have sword skills. It’s always good when you find a like minded fellow who also happens to have similar interests and likes. And who is seriously, like 7 feet tall.

So – next up? A review of my new TAD gear FAST PACK EDC and then I’m going to be enrolling in some on camera classes. Time to dust off that skill set and try to make some damned money at this acting thing again. It’s been awhile since a decent paycheck came my way from pretending to be someone else.

There's a little ray of choreography sunshine on the horizon as well, a little cop on criminal beating if it pans out. We'll see...

Ho Ho Holy crap!

2010-12-20T14:50:00.003-05:00

It’s Christmas time, and clearly I haven’t made an update to this ol’ blog since, well… the end of August.

This has been due to a number of things – getting swept up in post show depression from "Endless Summer Nights", beginning work on Crystal Skillman’s new Saloon Series play “Killer High”, cleaning the ol’ apartment, sketching various blade shapes, spending some LONG overdue time with family, etc, etc.

Yeah, I have to be honest… I let the “assorted trouble” fall by the wayside here, and if it hadn’t been for a timely email from Tim, that one guy who reads this blog, demanding to know what the hell had happened, I probably wouldn’t have gotten off my ass and updated things. SO! Here’s some random musings and thoughts covering my life since the end of August.

As previously mentioned, I had built the exploding apple rig for Boomerang’s "Venus Observed", which ironically is now residing with trusted friend and MFA graduate student Brian Smallwood at Yale University. Word is, the Yale theater folks want to take a look at the thing and consider how best to improve it’s reliability and effectiveness. Yee-ha, my contributions academia know no bounds. Do I expect to even recognize it in subsequent versions? No, I do not. But if it makes for more compelling staging down the road for folks, that’d be cool.

“Venus Observed”, by the way, in a decidedly late and short winded review, was absolutely charming, and I LOVED it. And speaking as very happily attached fella, I have to admit, much like the Duke in the play, I found myself utterly in love with any and all of the women in this show. My god - how could anyone have seen the show and not wanted to run away with any of them? Because I’m straight, I was less enamored of the dudes, but they too were awesome. For me, "Venus Observed" was a peak of Boomerang’s season, barring of course my own turn as Scotto in “Endless Summer Nights”. I was... awesome? Or something. I had a blast, and ultimately on the level of indie theater, if you’re making yourself happy and folks dig the show, that’s a win in my book. And for the reviewers who found some players too “well mannered” – well, I don’t know what show they were watching.

As a side note, performing a scene with one of my favorites - Nora Hummel - was a highlight. Even if I humor-whored her one night when I biffed on a line and took away a classic joke. I still feel bad about that. But getting to work alongside indie titans like Michael Criscuolo (everything you’ve heard about him is true – he really can fly) Synge Maher (a lady who I would have puppy-dog followed in high school) and recent addition to the nytheatre.com definitive list of awesomeness Becky Byers was sweet. And - relative new comer Brett Hoskins will be a name to watch in the coming years both as a performer and writer.

Plus, the theater had an ancient bowling alley hidden away in the basement, which made for closing night hilarity. Less so for our poor ASM, who overindulged a bit on the whiskey front, but thankfully Synge was there to save the day/night/day.

And then – there was Uncle Vanya. Among my least favorite shows ever, Boomerang’s production was actually a lot of fun to do, purely because everyone involved was a fun bunch with level heads, and big hearts. They kept the show from being a morose exercise in Russian death wishes. You don't often get to have that kind of experience doing Vanya. Also, getting to hang with Alex Engquist (of “3 Boys” fame) and powerhouse SM Stephanie B. on headset knocking out crosswords kept me sane. For the record I was gigging in as “Watchman #1” and I had a sound cue for a dog. Yay.

And then I was done. But not for long. By episode 2, I was into Crystal Skillman’s “Killer High” featuring my lady love as a middle school military brat hell bent on rescuing her kid sister from a gang of 3rd graders intent on killing everyone over the age of 10. It’s sort of like Apocalypse Now with kids. Sort of. Just go with it. And, I gained a new Nemesis, Sarah. She cheez-wizzed me onstage. Vengeance will be mine.

Aside from that, November was about settling in to the slightly slower pace of just working my day job and occasionally only working on side projects, while re-vamping our apartment and re-organizing life. Back to back to back to back and simultaneous shows can leave one a little off-kilter, and I’m still wondering how it got to be December already. “The Vigil…” was successfully published, and now people who read that play have to think of my dumb ass forever since I’ve been immortalized as the guy who played Jan. If the fates allow, perhaps “Vigil” won’t be the only published new play I appeared in during 2010. But I’m not saying anything else, since the writer of that play was very “confidential” about that possibility. Yay.

With regards to fight choreography, I did have a meeting with a playwright and director in November about a possible upcoming gig – but I’ve not heard anything back, leaving me to assume they either didn’t like the flavor of violence I brought to the party, or they’re just waiting to get the project more off the ground. No worries though – now that director John Hurley has returned from a months long sojourn abroad, I’m hoping Impetuous will have something in the works soon I can devote some time to. Whether or not I'm on stage, that is. Not being picky after the 2010 I had. Plus some webisode work on a little sci-fi action may be in the air too.

Then of course, there’s the blade design. I’ve got two knife designs I’m working on, one a real practical fixed blade, customizing a variant of Bram Frank’s Abaniko to be a little more stylized for my grip and the particular habits I’ve developed practicing CSSD SC blade combat. A slightly extended blade length, with a wider spine, a little more bell to the edge, and a handle that’s also swelled and curved to fit in the hand more like the folding LLCs. This is all an experiment of course, as I try to teach myself the basics of good knife making. I probably won’t ever do much more than show it to some friends. If it works. Since I have the utmost respect for both Mr. Frank, and the people who manufacture his designs, I’m not trying to mess with what is already a wonderful thing. I have a feeling that those blades are designed and made the way they are for very good reasons, and I’m just going to make major mistakes so that I can learn exactly why.

The other design I’m tinkering with is a real weird one – inspired by some of the wilder looks I’ve seen in the custom blade magazines and has a real “sci-fi’ feel to it. I want to see how out there I can get while still creating a functional camp knife. For the record, I expect to mostly create a lot of junk. On the other hand, getting some decent steel and making it look really sexy but still just be a prop knife is also on the agenda, so every junker I make can still be salvaged to be a safe prop weapon by rendering it duller than the back of a spoon.

And that brings me back to fight choreography. Just when I had put enough cash aside to perhaps spring for the Vampire Cowboys fight school, Qui Nguyen up and moves to Minnesota. Don’t it just figure. I’ll be watching the Rabid Vamps website for updates on how that will effect their training program, but I still want to see about bringing more toys to their table. They do the classic eastern martial arts really well. But modern tactical and firearm deserves it’s place at the fake fight table too! I still believe that, and getting away from the myth of the unarmed combatant is something a lot of theater could stand to try.

So for 2011, I’m going to be pursuing more and more stage fight work with an eye towards modern weapons, and modern techniques. If you know someone or you are someone who is looking for that kind of mayhem, drop me a line here –

knivesgunsntrouble@gmail.com

P.S. - Hi Uncle Pete.

My dad’s brother reads this now – which is cool. The man knows his weapons and his hunting (he hand loads his own ammunition) so I will be picking his brains about firearms between his travels around the world.

So that was a scatter brained and hard to read update. Expect more regular output here though – I mean it. In the meantime, enjoy your holidays, and be sure to watch the Walking Dead on AMC in re-runs until they do season 2. It was awesome.

Big Gay Dogs and the occasional exploding apple...

2010-08-30T17:31:00.002-04:00

The latest show I’ve been working on, “3boys” a new play by the relatively young playwright Becca Schlossberg and produced and performed by a crew of Drew University folks has had it’s opening in the NYC Fringe Festival, and is now more or less done its run. It was a tricky show, but one which allowed me to really test some of my theories about the nature of violence on stage, as well how best to communicate something very specific with that violence. I think it worked.

I’m not going to pretend that the effectiveness with which my stuff is landing (reviews and commentary on the show are glowing) comes solely from my work – that’s unrealistic and silly. Rather this is a deft and sly script directed with a steady hand by the Madeleine Parsigian. We came to an early agreement about the style and meaning behind the movement of three humans pretending to be dogs onstage, and furthermore how to make sure that movement communicated the feelings of anger and denial from barely contained homosexual impulses.

Not being gay or a dog, I was a little unsure of how best to proceed, but she knew first and foremost, dudes romping around on all fours would be dumb. I agreed. Dudes who behaved as humans and evolved into more canine gestures and movement as their “human restraints” break down depending on the emotional charge of a given moment is better. But since dogs bite and throw all their weight around, and humans tend to punch, kick and use tools (and their thumbs) meant we had to find ways to safely keep these actors from knocking each others teeth out on each other and the floor.

I had to first choreograph this in my head as humans would fight it out, and define very clearly the emotional impulse that was the impetus for each movement. Once I had defined what the impulse was for one character and then the impulse for an opposite character’s reaction, I had to define how a dog reacts to the same stimulus, and then how to translate that back to a human. Finally I had to split the difference and make it safe, replicable, and cool to view. A tricky and risky plan, since if the fighting looked too human it wouldn’t work and if it looked like people playing “dog” it would take away from the impact of each moment.

After long hours of watching dogs and wolves attack various things on video and a few tumbles with a dog being trained to find cadavers and guard against humans, I came up with some cool stuff, and I was able to get our actors to understand where this was coming from, what it could mean and how to do it safely. I’ve been rewarded on this particular project by a lot of good reviews, and a lot of good feedback from peers. I’m calling it a win.

If there’s any kind of supernatural force guiding the path of the righteously good theater experience, 3boys will see some more action somewhere down the line, or at least the production team that brought it to life will get the chance to explore more work with profit and exuberance.

Next up I’m appearing in “Endless Summer Nights” with Boomerang opening in mid September, and while this hack of a playwright (Hi Tim! – Tim, for the non Tim readers, is a director, writer of the play and the man behind Boomerang Theater Company) couldn’t be bothered to craft a single solitary moment of violence in his otherwise touching and humorous look at a couple on opposite ends of a strange continuum, I’ve been given the chance to design a special effect for another show running as part of the same repertory season, “Venus Observed.” At some point in that show one character shoots an apple held in the hand of another. Sooo… I got to make the rig that makes the apple explode as if shot.

A quick youtube search will show you lots of high speed camera footage of apples being impacted by bullets. You’ll notice that the apples seem to virtually explode. A high velocity projectile, even the relatively low mass of a bullet transfers a ton of energy to it’s target upon impact. In the real world the primary cavity bored by the bullet, is next to invisible as the shock waves are transmitted through the apple. Almost instantly, the skin of the apple ruptures as the interior of the apple is pulverized and turned into liquid secondary projectile sprayed in almost all directions.

Yummy.

However, as you can guess, there isn’t much I can do to safely and repeatedly detonate an apple onstage, in an actor’s hand, both without covering everyone in a 15 foot radius in apple goo, and also potentially harming the actor with flying chunks of high speed material. I opted for an effect that is a little less realistic, but is safer and gets the point across. By prepping the actor with a C02 charge and the appropriate fittings, and pre-setting a bored and cored apple on stage, the C02 charge can be triggered simultaneously with the “gunshot” and the apple explodes leaving the apple in the actors hand (also containing the fitting) and spraying “apple shrapnel” in two directions, to actor’s left and right, clear of himself and depending on how big we want the effect to be onstage, leaving a massive hole blasted through the center of the apple. Safe, repeatable and actor controlled. Compressed air to the rescue folks, once again. Come see the Boomerang rep season beginning on the 11th of September. An exploding apple in “Venus Observed”, me acting in “Endless Summer Nights” and hey why the hell not, since I don’t like to be bored, I’ll just pop up once or twice in “Uncle Vanya” too.

Lest you think I’m done after this, so far I’ve got tentative plans to appear once more in the Vampire Cowboys monthly Saloon, courtesy of writer Crystal Skillman as she crafts another wacky adventure. From what I hear, it’ll be a fun one. Beyond that – my horizons are clear for now. Just in time to begin forging prop knives over the winter courtesy of lessons learned from Wayne Goddard’s “$50 Knife Shop.”

Ideal Husband is done...

2010-07-25T18:23:00.004-04:00

While this is essentially my fight choreography forum, I did want to mention that we've completed an all too brief run of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" after an elongated yet strangely underwhelming rehearsal process. In the end we came across with a suitable production of the piece, but I was left wondering about some of the choices - always an uncomfortable feeling when one is performing in the show one is questioning.

That said, I worked with some old friends, new friends, and was exposed to some folks who really knocked my socks off with regards to talent. A learning experience all around, and a fun one. But, how does this relate to my fight choregraphy?

I now have a very clear idea of what feeling adrift without usable guidance in critical moments can feel like. It's an experience I suppose I've been very fortunate to have missed out on in the last 12 years of performing in and around NYC. As a fight choregrapher I've resolved to insure that no performers I'm working with ever have that feeling. Especially since if it was that disconcerting when the most rigorous physical action involved changing my pants, I don't want to put performers through a fight where every move isn't justified and cleanly worked if I can help it.

Which brings me to 3boys, coming soon at the NYC Fringe Festival. It's actually an excellent script, by Becca Schlossberg, and I think provokes some interesting questions on the nature of our relationships to man's best friends. With the plethora of options available to see I do hope folks make it out to see this show. It's well worth the effort!

Running on Overdive...

2010-07-19T16:50:00.002-04:00

I have become faced with a particularly interesting problem. Actually doing all this theater and fight/special effects work when coupled with a day job and a desire to actually spend some quality time with friends and loved ones highly limits one’s ability to write on one’s own blog about the aforementioned theater and fight/special effects work. I’ll spare you my thoughts on my day job except that to say that the film “Office Space” remains oddly timely and relevant to my life in ways that are too numerous to discourse upon.

But as promised, I wanted to talk about Hack! During the earlier “Saloon Series” runs of the episodes, rehearsal times were limited, as was the actual performance. However once the run at the Brick for the Too Soon Festival commenced (and was extended for additional shows!) there was ample time to rework the fight, and really get comfortable with it as performers.

As I also mentioned earlier, I feel victim to one of my own greatest pet peeves – I choreographed a fight that was cool, but had very little to do with the tone of the play, and was somewhat disconnected from the characters. Without the extremely knowledgeable eyes of director John Hurley to reign things back to where they’d serve the play, I’d have been exactly those people I get so annoyed about watching. But I digress, and I’ll cover that later.

Initially a whirlwind of close quarters arnis and eskrima style fighting, it took John pulling me aside and asking if I could do something a little more “spaghetti western” to get me to take a closer look at what I was doing. Sure it was gritty, and given enough rehearsal it might have approximated something close to the Bourne Identity movies in it’s intensity, but honestly, that was NOT was Hack! was about.

After some brief rethinking, and going back to the source material, the fight became something far more comical and “western-y”. On the one hand, this is something I really don’t like to do – make violence silly, or “cool” – but on the other hand, making a fight very grounded in reality when the ENTIRE SHOW was so far from anything like that is as bad a choice as say, a realistic style world where the fighters are suddenly proficient martial artists out of nowhere. More on that in moment.

As a result, the Hack! fight was very broad, very goofy, and full of huge whiffing roundhouse punches. Replete with the steadying hand on your target, punches were thrown that spun characters around in a 180 degree turns and yet somehow were simple and easy to recover from. The bad guys were sent packing and the heroes marched on. It was violence (comic violence) but violence for violence’s sake. Exactly what a bad spaghetti western features rather often. A lot of fun, and it came out well. I did still manage to toss in a few of my favorites moves, because hey, why not, but mostly things were silly.

I mention the fighting being grounded in the world of play here however because I wanted to mention a show I saw recently – James Comtois’ “The Little One.” A play about vampires, the script featured an abundance of differing philosophies from apex predator characters on how to deal with relating to humans and each other. I had some opinions on the direction and pace of the play, but since I’m not really a director, I try to keep those to myself. There were some things I’d have done differently, and there were some incredibly creative things I wouldn’t have come up with in a million years. This is just to say that I’m not taking a stand on direction and pace beyond my general enjoyment of the play and my appreciation for the work everyone did.

I did have one major problem with the play – and it’s a problem I have with Qui Nguyen’s fight direction. Much of what I saw seemed so similar to his work in “Fight Girl Battle World” and other work he’s done that I was kind of turned off. Much of the fighting seemed to be unfounded in the reality of the play. By way of example – when the nimble young lady who played the eponymous “Little One”, was attacked and turned into a vampire, she struggled, attempting to fend off the vampire who was turning her more or less for kicks and was unsuccessful – she was NOT a fighter. A matter of days (or nights) later she was tasked with fighting several vampires at once. Suddenly, she displayed a level of proficiency in martial arts that was distracting to say the least. I was willing to accept super human speed, strength and agility (such as live theater permits regarding style) but her fighting style was identical to everyone around her.

The fights were based in the style of fighting that Qui Nguyen knows and has trained his actors in. There was not much regard to a character’s given circumstances. Or perhaps not enough for me anyway. Every combatant fought the same way, and it was rather hollow to me. This is not to say that Qui Nguyen is not an exemplary fight choreographer, and has a skill set that is the envy of many a stage combatant, but rather to underscore a need that I think exists for fight choreographers to grapple more with the psychology of the character, and the overall tone of the play.

Again, no weapons (at least not for the vampires) and Nosedive's “gore factor” rumored to be highly proficient was disappointing. I’ve done work that was far nastier myself with 24 hours notice for comedy sketch teams. Random side story there, but thanks to LA’s The Midnight Show for being a great gang of gamers and willing to compromise! I had high expectations for “The Little One” - perhaps too high. Regardless, I found myself (and other audience members) tuning out of what should have been intensely important moments in Nosedive’s play.

Now, why all this yammering? Can I back this up? I hope so.

As I wrap up working on being a British Lord in Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” – yay for wit and accents - I am turning my attentions to fight choreography for Becca Schlossberg’s “3boys” directed by Madeleine Parsigian for the NY Fringe Festival. A play about three dogs, there a few moments of genuine violence in the show as the alpha and his “pack” come to terms with their existence as pets. Will there be arnis? No. Eskrima? No. Kung Fu? No. Kenpo? No. Tai Kwon Do? No.

Dogs don’t fight that way, like humans. Dogs fight like dogs. My challenge is to get three actors to move like people moving like dogs. Dogs throw their entire weight and bite. HARD. I need to get actors to do this safely and repetitively with their scene partners. I can’t have the lads biting each other, but I need to find a way that the audience understands that a given grapple and throw is about as close as we can get to humans clamping down, dragging, and shaking an enemy with their non-existent muzzles. Can I do it? I think I really can. I think what I’ve cooked up so far is going to be pretty outstanding actually – but we’ll see what these actors are comfortable with and go from there.

Oh and by the way – I did more than a little research for it. Beyond watching tons of video on dogs and wolves taking down prey, I had the good/bad fortune to be face to face with Luke – an 80 pound Dutch Shepherd pup being trained by NJFA Chief Instructor Lateif Dickerson. After spending some time down at Ft. Dix in central NJ blasting away at targets with an AR-15 for my latest rifle class, we got to play a bit with Chief Latief’s newest pup. Luke is being raised to perform as a cadaver dog for searches, but he’s also being trained as a guard. Luke is an impressive dog. Nothing gives you a better appreciation of what he can do than letting him do his thing.

By the way – I’ve passed my level 1 rifle certification and I’m just waiting on the paperwork! So, I’m handy with pistols, basic rifles (the SOCOMII is just so damned cool) and I’m looking forward to shotguns next. I don’t have any targets to show time time out though next time I’ll be ready with a zoom lens. After 100 yards, my target looks like a small white square and you can’t really see a damned thing.

I got rather busier than I intended...

2010-06-18T16:18:00.002-04:00

Hello, there you - occasional reader of my musings on theater, combat, and stage choreography...

So, Hack is nearing the end of it's official 5 show run (woo-ee... 5 shows...) but it appears because this little show has been packed and is the best reviewed, best seller of the festival, we'll be doing a few more nights... possibly the 20th (this Sunday) and the 27th.

Since I last wrote here, the fight that takes place in HACK was somewhat altered. Director John Hurley noted that all of this fast modern combat stuff I was cooking up was neat-o... but not... well... western-y.

Duh.

A day later I was back at rehearsal with some more bar-room brawling type activities (upping the unrealistic is always easier as opposed to making things more truthful). The end result has been very well received, for it's camp factor and it's extremely spaghetti western feel. Also, one of my favorite moments is getting huge response and true to form, I set it up so that I could watch the whole thing and enjoy it. Since the show isn't over yet, I'm not spoiling anything by writing out the fight map yet. But I'll post it up soon.

For now though, it's wrapping "HACK!" for the time being, getting "Ideal Husband" up, and really digging into the dogfighting for "3boys" a Fringe show I'll be fight working later this summer.

On a side note, friend and former roomie Lori Prince reports that her show "Killing Women" went well enough closing a successful run at Theater Row, and was herself pleasantly surprised at her ability to load and ready a replica Colt M1911 .45 without looking at it. I'm not saying it's because I showed her how to do it, but I'm not saying it wasn't that either.

And finally, just to be clear on something. Whenever I think I'm bad-ass enough, I can always count on my friend and teacher Mike Stone to school me. He killed a fly buzzing around his room by shooting it with a paintball fired from a compound bow. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I know people will want to stick with me, but I'm headed to his house.

Concerning Hack and the concept of comical fighting...

2010-05-20T10:46:00.003-04:00

We're chugging along in rehearsals for Hack, which to be perfectly honest is more about hanging around with a bunch of really cool funny people while we also do our work. I love being in this show. It's funny. Over the top melodrama at it's most campy - simple moments become the goofiest things just by virtue of the fact that we have to make choices as actors that are decidedly NOT good acting. It's actually a little trickier than it looks, but it does work.

As mentioned in previous posts, there's a fairly tight bit of fighting that needs to happen in Episode 4, and while I was happy for the most part with how it went down last winter, we had only a truncated rehearsal process and couldn't quite get things to where I wanted them to be. Safety first of course, so it was a little sloppy and distant looking.

This time we've got some more time under our belts so the fight sequence is actually changing a lot. Because the rest of the show is SOOOOO distant from anything approaching a grounded and real world, the fighting is becoming a bit more comical. While I don't want to push into the full realm of spaghetti western bar room brawling, I'm adding new stuff that takes it into the silly. The attacks and their defenses are still pretty real looking stuff, however when those hits land, these characters are able to stoically continue onwards in the fight where a real person would be pretty disabled. I've added in a touch of kung-fu and jiu jitsu, mostly for a few throws and a shoulder dislocation, and ironically, the final moments of the fight sequence are less of a piece of combat and more of a "Darth Vader" choke out. I'm really looking forward to that.

Last night I also began the work of getting our "Soldier" a pivotal character - the little ten year old psychotic up to speed with two handed blade weaving, using a bit of Filipino sinwali. She's picked it up quite quickly thankfully, and we've even managed to throw in a dash of Flamenco dance posture. Because hey, martial arts are cool, but martial arts presented as a dance are funny. There's no strikes using the techniques, it's more her just getting herself prepped to interrogate another character. Where that moment goes is actually pretty damned goofy, but then... that's Hack! for you.

But there you have it. I also begin rehearsals tonight for "Ideal Husband" which features not a whit of combat, but will feature a lot of rambling British dialects. That one goes up in July, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for news on that one.

Oh and I'm disappearing for the next week - the lady-type and I are going to rest up on a tropical island for the next 7 days so I'm off the grid while I explore all that a small Caribbean island has to offer. So far, I'm thinking beaches, snorkeling, hiking in the jungle and rum. LOTS of rum. I'll post again when I'm back and can sober up.

Welcome to summer 2010, folks. It's going to be a good one.

A valuable lesson learned...

2010-05-10T16:03:00.002-04:00

Now that "The Vigil or The Guided Cradle" has closed, I can talk a little shop...

First off, I have a natural paranoia about scenic elements which I've kept in check now for several productions. I tend to second guess people's work. I guess it's an OK habit, especially since I usually keep my comments to myself and try to test to destruction on my own time. Then again, I sometimes assume everything is kosher when it may not be. Let's face it folks, if MY alarm bells are going off about something it probably bears taking a closer look.

Before I begin, I want to be clear, our designer (and ultimately the prop master and TD as it bears out) put together one hell of a set. It looked cool, and handled rather well over the run. She did it literally on such a tight budget, that it's astonishing she got anything done, let alone what we had, which was awesome.

So, I'm not attacking anyone. But here's the thing about the Vigil. While it was a set piece, it also functioned perfectly well as an actual medieval torture device. I came to discover this over the course of the run. If you think you can tough it out for 15 minutes, as long as you get a break, be sure you can tough it out if you DON'T get a break. Otherwise you'll discover exactly what you're made of come closing night when the curtain that was hung with hooks designed to support the load of a plastic shower curtain finally fails, leaving you unable to extricate yourself from said torture device without totally killing the moment for the audience.

So, I had to man up, so to speak, and learned that for the future, I'm going to to test everything to destruction, so I don't have to experience prolonged discomfort like that again. I was never in danger, mind you, just uncomfortable. And if it can be avoided, it's something to work for.

As it turns out, I'm made of stern enough stuff that it wasn't a problem to stay in the Vigil, which surprised the shit out of me, I'll tell you. If you had asked me in April if I thought I could have pulled that off, I'd have said no.

Very early in the run I noticed the hooks on the curtain were stressing and failing, but pulled a ladder out only once to take a look for myself and make an adjsutment. Then I said, "well, I'm sure they'll be fine." Even though I should have either kicked up enough fuss to the producers, or just taken matters into my own hands and bought better hooks.

Serves me right.

Other things I've learned - I'm still trying to find just the right mix of color to viscosity to cost-per-effect in the blood work. We certainly got the most bang for the buck on the stabbing effects mentioned in previous posts - but I was only 85% happy with it. With a little money and time invested I think I can develop a good washable stage blood that is non-toxic, and viscous enough to run correctly. (too watery and it begins to look "Kool-Aid-y", too much stage blood and it's too gelatinous).

Since I have a small amount left, I'm thinking about seeing how certain opaque liquids - like soy milk for instance reacts to stage blood and vice versa. It won't taste good, I know that, because soy juice is nasty, but there is something about the rich opacity of blood fluids that I just haven't found in a stage blood yet.

Fine I'm being a nit-picky chump. But I really want to get this right for next time. One never knows.

But anyway, I'm letting the character of poor Jan go to his well deserved rest, courtesy of "Ipp. O. Lito" and his neck snapping power grip. Which by way, went well most nights. The ol' uncooked noodle in the mouth for a good neck break sound always gets 'em. Or almost always.

Now, back to Hack. Cal the Gunslinger rides again.

Opening weekend opened. I opine.

2010-04-26T16:06:00.002-04:00

Here on the safe side of opening weekend of “The Vigil or The Guided Cradle” I’m ensconced in my little cubicle world, reflecting on it all. It was quite a busy weekend, all in all and one of my better ones lately in a lot of ways. First off, the show has been rather well received, and the audiences are grasping Crystal Skillman’s message adroitly, a sure compliment to her work, as well as John Hurley’s, who throughout the all too brief rehearsal process was able to distill the already rich mixture of Crystal’s play into a tight 75-80 minute adventure through the best and worst of a slice of human psyche. No easy task, I’m sure.

After now working with these folks for a month I’m still pretty much of the opinion that I have blundered into the cast through a happy accident. I’m not saying I’m not any good at this acting thing, but rather the cast is eerily good. Not a show went by this weekend where the following thoughts didn’t blast through my skull…

1. The hair on my arms stands up every time Dion says that thing about “The one your father is holding down is my brother. He’s the red in the photograph.”
2. Christian as Ippolito is terrifying. I have no idea how I’m consistently staring into that guy’s face without wetting myself.
3. Vinnie pulls off arrogant clever torturer so well, you’d think he actually was an arrogant clever torturer. Ka-boom.
4. Travis York is funny. Also creepy. But mostly funny. That’s skills.
5. I didn’t know Pappas could be as scary as Christian. Try letting him hold a knife to your throat and give you that snarky smile sometime.
6. Susan’s ability to play casual fun and then minutes later be terrified for her life is uncanny.
7. 5 tense guys backstage right before a show goes up is a situation that inevitably lends itself to fart humor.

So the reviews we’ve gotten so far are positive, and I’m still chuckling over the fact that Martin Denton called my performance “heroic.” That’s not an adjective I ever expected to see aligned with my name unless there was a negative modifier in there somewhere, but I’ll take the compliment because hey – a good review is a good review, and I like Martin Denton’s thoughts. Even when they aren’t so favorable.

In the midst of all this torturing tomfoolery I went in and auditioned for “An Ideal Husband” on Saturday morning, and as luck would have it, I’ve managed to snake a plum role in an Oscar Wilde play… so this July I’ll be slick and debonair as Lord Goring, a role I’ve always wanted to tackle simply because it’s hilarious, and despite it’s overtly misogynistic outlook on the roles of women in society, as a period piece, it’s a damned funny one.

And lastly, I might have a line on a little fight choreography work this August – but as I don’t quite have the details just yet, I’m keeping mum.

And of course, we got the show dates for HACK! Coming to you tentatively June 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th and 19th… but that may be revised.

For now, I’m just hoping to keep myself in good health and rest up before I have to hang from the Vigil again on Thursday night. Come see this show. It’s a doozy.

And we're heading into tech...

2010-04-20T16:41:00.003-04:00

Hey you, dedicated reader of my little blargh. (Again, that's vomit speak for blog.) Tonight begins the all too brief period of TECH for Vigil, and I think we're in a great place as far as the show goes. I'll be able to issue more informed commentary tomorrow once we've done the thing in the space, and have gone for real with the effects and make up. I'll try to snag a few pics of the set and some of the effects, but don't count on it. This will likely prove to be a long night, and I don't know how much time I'll have for snapping pictures with the ol' camera phone.

But if you haven't already been bombarded by emails and various other marketing... meh, I'll skip it. Just go to www.impetuoustheater.org and check out the site. It has all the details on getting tickets and seeing the show.

Now I'm aware that you, reader of my rambling commentary, are probably already coming to see The Vigil or The Guided Cradle. But if you're on the fence, allow me to issue the following statement: It's a great show. It's not an easy show, it's not light or fluffy or something you go see for laugh riot. But I do really believe in it.

Come see the show, then come have a beer with me. I want to know people's honest thoughts on something like this - and if the conversation is good, I may buy that beer for you.

The first (successful) make up test

2010-04-15T14:43:00.002-04:00

So I took some research time and dug around the interwebs for some trauma photos and came up with this as a make up effect for myself for "Vigil."

I'm particularly pleased with how I've managed to make my nose look out of place. Travis and Vinny (two of the cast members of Vigil) will be so happy with what they've done to me.

By the way, don't google image search various terms for injuries if you've got a weak stomach. Yech.

Umm, You've Got Some... Umm... Blood On Your...

2010-04-13T15:37:00.004-04:00

I don't want to spoil anything from the upcoming production of "The Vigil or The Guided Cradle" so... spoiler alert.

OK. You were warned.

Ben Linus has the real Maltese Falcon, lives on Shutter Island, has been dead the whole time, and his real name is Kaiser Soze.

Anyway...

So, there are a couple of stabbings in this show, and I'm having a good time with them, even though I'm not the attacker or the victim. Though frankly, my character is plenty messed up without having to be stabbed. At least, he doesn't get stabbed onstage - he’s been beaten to mush offstage already. Onstage, he’s just strung up over a spike. It's not a pleasant or discomfort free stretch of time for me. But it will look cool.

Now - the stabbings - yay for realistic bladed violence - one is less than deadly, but is really painful looking - one of the characters gets a fork driven through his hand. At lunch, of all times. If that doesn't put you off your roast chicken, I don't know what will. I'm using the plastic baggie blood bomb method and it is proving to be effective. Palmed in the assailant's weapon hand, and ruptured at the moment of impact, apparently spiking the victim’s hand to a table. There's a real gory spurt though the attacker’s clenched fist and based on the water test we ran last night, it'll be a nasty looking moment. I’m reserving final judgment to see if we need anything more, but we should be OK.

The other one I’m working on requires substantially more finesse, though the two actors are game and easy to work with so far, which is a treat. I’m finding though, that some actors try to go fast when mapping out a bit – and I’m still not sure why. Perhaps it’s a desire to impose an emotional truth on the moment as soon as possible. Mostly I’m just encouraging/demanding of them to GO SLOWLY.

One of the characters, in a feigned moment of intimacy is able to stab another in the neck with a knife. We’ve been using one of the Lapu Lapu trainers in rehearsal, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the tool make it all the way to production – it just works, looks vicious and is safe. The strike to the neck is upstage of the audience, so we’re well clear of contact and the victim takes control of the dulled blade, holding it “in” his neck, because as we all don't know, puncture wounds become exponentially more dangerous when the foreign object is removed from the wound.

I wanted the initial contact to be bloodless at first, so the audience has a moment to absorb the shock of the impact. The next step is for the victim to bite down on a blood capsule or two in the mouth and begin coughing up some blood. We now know it’s serious. The victim then “removes” the prop weapon from the neck, at the same time bursting the blood bomb held in the hand (covering the wound site). Because the wounds comes to the carotid and jugular vessels in the neck (sure it’s a lucky hit, but that’s show biz) it bleeds profusely and loss of consciousness comes show biz quickly, due to shock. The victim then collapses across a bed, further bleeding out onto the floor. I’m trying to rig a system into the “bed” itself to allow blood flow to drip onto the floor, sparing the actor costume as much as I can, but I’ll keep working on how that will work exactly.

It’s coming along well. I’ll be posting some shots of the effects as I can get them, so don't be weirded out if suddenly there's a pic of me looking like hell up here.

A parenthetical moment...

2010-04-02T13:00:00.003-04:00

I recently was hit up on the Facebook by someone I don't know, asking me about knife throwing lessons - particularly where she could take them. I was recommended to her by an old friend. Cool. But...

It may seem odd, but I really have no idea where toget knife throwing lessons. What knife throwing skills I have are purely self taught "game" skills. Why? Because throwing a knife is a showy thing, rather than a practical application in a combative moment. Even if I have several throwers on my person, chucking one at a moving target in a hostile situation is about as good as handing an opponent another weapon to use against me.

The chances of scoring a hit that would actually stop an attacker are virtually zero. We'd be talking about a throw that plants a knife into the attacker's chest, either penetrating the ribcage(which is hard enough when you're holding the knife) causing serious damage to the heart, or somehow delivering a powerhouse throw into the solar plexus to drop them. I don't know anyone with the strength to deliver a few ounces of metal with sufficient force to cause a target to drop from it.

Of course, I could throw the knife at the head or neck of the attacker, but again we're talking about years of practice to hit a moving target the size of the human eye. The skull is thick. Tough. The neck less so, but... extremely hard to hit.

Missing these tiny targets by an inch means I may have a wounded attacker, sure, but still an attacker capable of directing purposeful action against me. Except now they're angrier and now have my knife. If I totally missed, well that's one less weapon I have to use now.

In the pretend world of movies and comics, knife throwing is a showy, bad ass way to cooly take out your opponent. In the real world, it's a giant waste of time. Unless like darts, it's a game - wicked fun, but still tricky and dangerous since throwing knives that don't strike on point tend to bounce off the target in really unpredictable ways.

In the pretend world of stage combat, I just can't see a way to throw a "knife" at an actor that is reliably safe, unless both the thrower and "target" actors are both very experienced throwers and stunt people and the blade is little more than an unsharpened piece of lightweight material incapable of causing serious harm.

As far game or sport knife throwing for the casual learner (because, yes there are people who've practiced for years and years and could probably successfully go hunting with a set of throwers) the only advice I have is that throwing a knife is not in fact, "all in the wrist" but rather more in the shoulder. Flick your wrist and you could end up over rotating the point and strike the target with the unsharpened sides or grip. Practice, practice practice. Outside. From 20-25 feet away.

Me, I'll focus on dodging the slow moving projectile and then locking or cutting my opponent into submission.

Seriously. I just got really booked.

2010-04-01T16:08:00.003-04:00

Yes yes, it's April Fools Day, yes, yes, I'm a master of comedy. Now I'll tell you what's going on...

First off, rehearsals for "The Vigil or the Guided Cradle" are trucking along - it's a tough piece, and so far I'm having a blast with it. I haven't yet been able to climb into the aforementioned device, but I have a feeling by the time the run is over, I'll really be hating that thing. Which is I suppose, a normal attitude towards a 15th century mechanism for causing pain.

I'm also getting to learn a bit about Crystal Skillman's process as a writer - and how open she is to working with director John Hurley is really great. I've worked with writers who are convinced of their own genius and extremely resistant to change a scene. Actually, I may be describing myself when I write, but that's besides the point. It's really becoming an ensemble piece in the best sense of the word as a creepy moment has now gone into truly horrific, just by changing a few little things. I will not spoil it... but... the implied violence and feeling that we are seconds away from something that is straight up EVIL creates some very good theater.

And if that weren't enough - today I also received word that I'm going to be hanging around the Brick theater over in Brooklyn a lot in the next few months.

Why you ask?

Well I'll tell you. I blarhgged (which is my way of saying blogged - sounds more like hurking up something) a lot about "Hack." It was fun, silly, and regrettably over in January. Or so we thought...

The Brick's Too Soon Festival has selected Crystal's "Hack - The Live DVD Experience" to run for 5 shows, which means that we do the entire show in one night, 5 times over. A fully staged version also means I get to expand and rehearse the fights exponentially more - and we've got much higher production value than slapping this together at the Battle Ranch of the VC (who are unsurprisingly running a show called "Alice in Slasherland" at the moment. I haven't caught it yet, but I hear things).

Oh and lastly, anyone who's known me for at least two years can probably testify that I was mightily displeased with what went down at the "Mock the Classics" fundraiser in April of 2008. So displeased was I, that a formal challenge to one of the producers was issued. Dawn-ish in June of 2008 I shot the man and continued my undefeated streak of redressing wrongs on the field of honor with paintball pistols.

I vowed to never to do such an event again as well, it was so... distressing.

Except I am doing it again. I'm referee-ing the event, and this time... woe to any audience member who displeases me, or endangers a performer. Yes, this time I won't be the one getting screamed at, pelted and generally abused. This time, I get to bounce audience chumps.

And I've been needing a workout. I'm sadisitically looking forward to it.

The difference a month makes…

2010-03-19T13:24:00.003-04:00

In the interminable doldrums of February, I was more or less mucking about with new tools and trying to translate my knowledge of CSSD SC into a rapidly learnable choreography system (which is going quite well – and has the added benefit of being more or less an intro to the actual fighting system). Now a month later, I find myself hip deep in projects, and more prospective work to come.

First up, this weekend I’ll be appearing in (and in Hoboken NJ of all places) a very short comedic piece by a favorite writer of mine, Janet Zarecor, called “Jerk Circle.” No fighting, but as it’s a comedy scene about a misogynistic doctor’s office, there is a fair bit of ball grabbing. Yep. No need to go back, I wrote “ball grabbing.” I have no idea where this is happening though, so… assuming I actually get to the show, I don’t know if anyone will see it. Which is sad, because it’s really funny.

Later in early April, I’ll be turning up in another short comedy piece “A Cold Reading” by C.L. Weatherstone (a fellow “12th Night of the Living Dead” and “Hack” veteran) – essentially he’s created a fart joke in 10 pages. High class, no. But hilarious? Yes. And while I’m not above a fart joke, I do try to stay on the side of good taste. So, we’ll be fart joking for charity. You can donate here.
Again, no combat – but worth mentioning. As we get closer to show date, I’ll post up more information.

Some friends over at kef productions are potentially putting up Marisa Wegrzyn’s “Killing Women” – this looks like it will be a fun one. More comedic than not, it features a fair amount of gun play. With any luck they’ll select me and buddy Bri-Guy to supply them with their stage props, and the basics on realistic firearm usage. I think we made a very competitive bid on the gig. And frankly, even if we don’t get it, I’m still looking forward to it. I’ve yet to see them produce a loser – and the version of the script I read was very, very cool.

Now, on personal level, the big news is that I was cast in the Impetuous Theater Group’s spring production – Crystal Skillman’s “The Vigil or The Guided Cradle.” First off, I’ve got a great role, which is shocking considering the level of talent who showed up for the audition. I must have done one hell of read – I’m now working alongside some truly awesome people. Helmed by none other than John “Dirty” Hurley, this one is not a comedy. “Vigil” is perhaps best summed up by the phrase on the poster… “A play about torture between now and then.” There is a lot of violence in this one, and suffice to say, this piece is very close to my heart, mostly because this isn’t violence for exploitation’s sake. Stabbings, Inquisitional torture methods, at least one suffocation all feature prominently in the action. I'm playing a 15th century terrorist, sleep deprived and not long for this world.

I love it. I’m hoping that I’ll also get to exercise some of my effects skills to pull off some of the more disturbing moments, as well as having to work my acting chops a bit. I haven’t done a show this serious in a long time, and while I don’t think I’ll have any trouble with the role, it won’t be a fart joke in the park. I’ll be posting more regularly as rehearsals go – and here’s hoping I can ride the wave of good fortune forward through the summer.

That is, if I don’t find a new job and move to the Virgin Islands. Which would be pretty sweet.

Direct from Germany...

2010-02-18T13:51:00.003-05:00

There's always a fun and exciting feeling I get when a medium sized box comes to my desk with a return post label on it that reads, "CheruskerMesser Stiegeweb 36e D-49565 Bramsche." It's a sure sign that whatever is in that box is going to be cool.

Today's special delivery comes from Dirk, who made my day by letting me know he could offer me a hell of a deal and a steal when the Desangut did not go into production. Basically, they sent me four pieces for the price of two.

Instead of going hogwild for more blades (which was very tempting) I opted to grab some trainers. Three of them, individually boxed, shiny with that newly forged steel smell. For my fourth piece, I selected an LLC CRMIPT or Close Range Medium Impact Tool. That's pronounced "crimped". I guess it sounds better than "krrmm-ipped"

While much of my training involves using a much larger blade than anyone who wishes to stay on the right side of the law would carry such as the Abaniko, I primarily train with (and carry) the Lapu Lapu Corto. The Abaniko has a cutting edge that is anywhere between 5 to 7 inches depending on the model, and the Lapu Lapu Corto has a cutting edge less of less than 4 inches, in accordance with NYC law.

To be even more specific, I don't carry a live blade on my person. Even though the law may be on my side with a small blade like that, experience has taught me that most NYPD don't seem to give a damn about any actual laws if it means they can score an arrest.

For the last few years, I've carried a training drone on me. It couldn't effectively cut much of anything, but is still useful if you know how to use it. It's also great as a prop weapon. It looks like a knife, but isn't.

However one might need something more, and police especially are on shaky ground with any blades they carry and might use. If they defend themselves against an aggressor by using a blade, they are open to a host of problems - lawsuits and questions about the appropriateness of using an edged weapon to control a dangerous situation. (Silly, I know. Don't attack a cop. They have directives and stuff.)

Enter the CRMIPT - the same weight, material and shape as the live blade and training drone, but somewhere in between. Instead of a cutting edge, it has a roughened surface of mild serrations. The CRMIPT can't cut, but it does cause pain. Pain, but not serious damage. This means the user can defend themselves, and control a suspect using the same techniques as one would use with a live balde all without cutting said aggressor into whacko tar-tar.

Here's the three types, the drone up top in red, the CRMIPT in the middle in blue, and the live blade on the bottom.

You can't see from this shot those rough serrated edges on the CRMIPT, but trust me, they're there.

Even better, the CRMIPT is available for civilian purchase, and since it's not a live blade, it stays on the happy side of the law. That doesn't mean I can go flashing it around in public, but it does mean a more effective tool for defending myself in the highly unlikely situation that I need to. After all, my number one key to beating an attacker is: don't be where you'll get attacked.

Unless of course that attack is scripted, choreographed and for an audience. In that case, I won't be using a CRMIPT on an actor.

Quality and Time...

2010-02-05T12:09:00.002-05:00

I thought it might be worthwhile to comment on the difficulty in staging an excellent piece of violent action without time to rehearse it.

In my experience - outside of professional environments, there are a great many directors who cast roles without much regard to an actors level of experience with combat, yet they ask that the performer learn a combination or sequence for a fight in very little time and perform it with expertise, realistic aplomb, and safety.

I hereby issue this plea to directors and producers everywhere: if you desire to have any staged violence in your show, be prepared to pay for it. It may cost some actual money to produce, but aside from the monetary factor, you must be prepared to pay for it in the currency of Time.

It may seem nigh impossible in the restricted rehearsal time allotted to independent theater production to devote hours of rehearsal time to what is essentially a few seconds, or minutes of action as part of a much greater whole, but here are some excellent reasons why the time is worth it...

1. Safety. Safety, safety, safety. The more complicated the sequence is, the easier it can be for performers to make mistakes. Even the most simple single punch or slap can go wrong if it isn't rehearsed! Factor in close quarters, various weapons, or props and mistakes can and will occur. Adequate rehearsal time will help reduce or eliminate the potential of those mistakes.

2. Professionalism. Actors are simply (to take a horribly un-artistic stance for a second) walking and talking most of the time. Yet we rehearse the walking and talking stuff for hours on end. Most of us walk and talk quite a bit in our daily lives and have a resonably strong familiarity with walking and talking. Many of us do not however have a working familiarity with striking other people, or discharging weapons at them. Devote a modicum of time to allow your actors to bring as much of their craft to the combat as possible. I HATE watching actors turn into bleary eyed automatons during a fight scene.

3. Quality. Any fight director/choreographer can map out an easy sequence and your actors can perform it. The more time that is allotted to build the moment however, means more interesting combat. It's a lot like comedy. Old jokes we all know just aren't that funny. Staged combat can go from blase to compelling by keeping things original or by putting new spins on familiar moves.

4. Philosophy. The combat might last 5 seconds but remember, in many cases this is a pivotal moment in these character's lives. The character(s) have chosen or been forced into using physical action over words. The next few seconds can redefine how the audience perceives the character for the rest of the show. Don't throw away a moment like that. The world's most boring character can become mysterious or amazing, loved or hated depending on how the combat happens. Yes, much of this is defined by the script, but there could be room for flexibility. By way of example, for those Lost fans out there, think back to the scene with Ben Linus leaving the island and appearing in Tunisia. Sure, he made short work of those guys who showed up. But if he had shot them all with a concealed pistol, instead of using that concealed baton, he'd be a hell of a lot less impressive.

And... rant ended. Enjoy your weekend!

Finally found...

2010-01-22T16:24:00.002-05:00

...a reputable dealer in nonfiring replicas that isn't charging an arm and a leg for good quality "Law Enforcement blue" pistol replicas. Obviously, bright blue plastic pistols aren't suitable for stage performance (unless you're playing "Mercenary Smurf" in Smurf The Musical - which I pray never happens).

However, rather than a skittish performer having to handle a blank firing piece for the first time on stage, or in rehearsals, the actor can get used to handling and hefting a weapon with a steel interior coated in detail molded plastic. The worst they could do is drop it on their toe.

Being bright blue, they're hard to miss, so as a fight choreographer and/or props coordinator it also helps to be able to track the "weapon" with one eye while still being able to take in the action of the sequence. I can take corrective notes about how the pistol is being drawn, held or aimed much easier without having to focus solely on it during a moment.

In additon using the trainer in the rehearsal period spares the "good" blank firing pieces from being damaged by a novice user who drops them, throws them, or does generally foolish things like actually pistol-whipping someone.

So, we're continually building our arsenal of training and stage safe knives as well as guns! Hooray!

It's like magic. No really, it could be.

2010-01-14T15:38:00.004-05:00

I’ve written earlier about illusion and misdirection on stage. After all, what is stage combat based in, if not illusion and misdirection. Hell, all theater is illusion, and the willing suspension of disbelief. But – there is something inherently different about watching a magician or illusionist perform as opposed to watching a play. This got me thinking about stage and street magic in general, and wondering why with all the incredible illusions available to the general buying public (don’t believe me?) more integration between traditional magic and traditional theater hasn’t taken place?

Performing a magic act is, to my understanding, an act based initially on spectacle. The performer is asking the audience to view an event and be astonished, perhaps disturbed, or in the case of that Criss Angel guy, Mindfreaked! Whatever the hell that means. I’ve never been mindfreaked without generous application of whiskey, and golly, do I know how to make that disappear. Magic!

Anyway, magic performance is inherently based in spectacle, but the best performers seem to downplay the suspension of disbelief. In fact, a good magician seems to say, “I defy you NOT to believe what you’ve seen.” Theater – that is, good theater, attempts the same thing. An audience views an event on stage, and is moved to a different emotional state. They laugh, they cry, or if you’re watching a Tim Errickson show, sometimes both, at the same time, with a little drooling. And all while becoming a better person, because Tim can do that. Hi, Tim. Tim, for the not Tim person reading this, is a director here in NYC.

I digress – where magic tries to stomp the willing suspension of disbelief flat, we are, as performers, complacent with asking our theater audiences to suspend their disbelief more and more. Yet despite the similar motives and hoped for results of both general types of performance, there seems to be a strange division between magic and theater. Stage and street magic employ very sophisticated skills and technology in a seamless manner (in different ways) to defy apparent reality right in front of an audience. I think the aim of the best magicians is not to terrify their audiences, but rather challenge them to question their perceptions and what they know and accept as truth. I would argue that good theater does the same. So, a live theatrical production that also employs some killer “magic” might be quite an amazing thing to experience.

I’m probably not thinking anything that hasn’t been explored before, but I feel like this may be a way for me to advance the nature of fight choreography. Amping up the visuals and emotional content of what audiences experience by adding a deeper level of illusion. Paradoxically that deeper illusion may illuminate deeper truths.

That’s mostly mouse farts however (and believe me - mouse farts is nothing) if I don’t suggest and employ something more vibrant. For that, I’m looking at a specific piece of magic… an illusion by mastermind Sean Fields called “Sick.” In short, I believe it offers the potential for realistic knife wounds in real time, and the attendant blood and gore might just change people’s perception of what a stabbing or slashing is like. It’s not clean. It’s not neat. It’s awful, horrific, gut wrenching to see and profoundly gross. Some of those links are pretty disturbing folks. Sorry.

If a work of theater dares to present an act of violence, we should endeavor to bring as much truth to that moment as possible, and there are some magicians out there who have already done all the work for us. Maybe it’s time to start bridging the gap a little.

Desangut... no.

2010-01-13T17:17:00.002-05:00

I've just heard the official word from Cherusker Messer GmbH. It is a sad collection of words:

The Desangut will not be produced. No new knife. Poop.

On the other hand, they are going to send me 4 other existing models for the price of the two knives I preordered. So, it's still kind of a win.

I guess.

Poop.

Hack in action...

2010-01-07T12:01:00.003-05:00

It's 2010. Where's my jetback, biznotches?

OK - aggression dealt with.

For early 2010, I've got this final episode of Hack on tap, going up on Saturday January 9th. It will entail a 4x faster version of the fight we did in the last episode (which should be interesting, and probably a lot sloppy to say the least) and on top of that, we'll have another quick round of combat with a different character. When speaking with John Dirty Hurley at the last rehearsal, he noted he wanted it nasty. We can always make it funny later.

So... nasty to me means less combat and more selling a beat-down. Nothing distresses an audience more that a one sided fight with some brutal use of props. I'm excited.

In other news, the NJFA has moved locations meaning it may be a good deal easier to reach from NYC, which in turn means far more range time for me. CSSD SC classes should be resuming soon as well. With any luck, I'll get my new Desangut set soon too!

We are all systems go for a new addition to my already fun collection of body art. When it's all done, I'll be posting pics. Since I'm going half sleeve with color, it'll be a long process, but I'm looking forward to it.

And finally a resolution: choreograph at least 6 good fights this year for shows I'm not necessarily appearing in.

Here's to 2010. Which by the way I'm pronouncing twenty-hundred and ten. Just to be different.

Happy (punch!) Holidays! (smack!)

2009-12-23T11:03:00.003-05:00

Because it's time to hit the holidays, and I may not have a chance to post again anytime soon as I take a needed break, I wanted to wish the one or two people who occasionally tune into my disjointed ramblings a happy holiday season.

The final episode of Hack is coming in January, and so far I've kept my schedule clear of anything too crazy after that. We'll be resuming blade training in January (post a comment and let me know if you want into a class) and I'll be trying to hit the new location of the NJFA for more pistol work.

So, enjoy a bright season of holiday merriment and remember - anything that could be re-gifted could also make an excellent melee weapon prop. Just don't actually hit anyone with it. It's all about pretend violence, because the more we fake it, the less we need to actually do it.

Hacked Up

2009-12-14T15:39:00.002-05:00

After spending a week in Las Vegas for day job business (and before anyone asks, I avoided the tables for the most part, and also avoided anything involving “laps”) it was back into the swing of things for the latest episode of Crystal Skillman’s “Hack.”

I may be biased since I’m in it, but I have to say I really feel like we’ve hit a good stride with the purely ridiculous. If you saw it, you know that things became even more silly than usual, what with the musical underscoring many of the moments – and CL Weatherstone’s further descent into villainous mania. Of course, that is assuming he is in fact the villain, and the eponymous hacker of “Hack.” Which to be honest, can’t be assumed since I still don’t even know if my character is the “hacker” or Neimah’s character. Oh hell, it could still be anyone. I’m just looking forward to finding out how this all wraps up, since next month (January) is the final installment.

The in-the-dark fight sequence did go fairly well, actually, despite rather limited rehearsal time to devote to the combat. Placing it in the dark was a good way to keep it from looking too sloppy. Credit is due to Dirty Hurley, though as it turns out, Hack was not the only piece to have a “lights out” section. If I’m not mistaken “Lady Cryptozoologist” also took place almost entirely in the dark.

While I know that all good things must come to an end, I still have high hopes that I’ll get to square off against one of my favorite actors, Nick Monroy. We ended this episode with him strangling me, so there’s a chance I’ll get to do a little something cool before the big showdown. If you’re a director, and you haven’t cast Nick Monroy, you’re just plain missing out. By god, the man is funny. Dry, witty and funny.

I was hoping for some more shooting updates, and scans of my targets from the plethora of gun options offered in Las Vegas… but thanks to the weather being the way it was last week, an 8 hour travel plan became a 15 hour travel reality killing all of my free time. So, no assault rifles for Joe.

However, I did plot out a couple of test fights for the sake of killing time on the planes. If someone ever wants a fight that takes place at a big travel conference, or two old people at bank of slot machines or some good old swanky nightclub mayhem… oh man… I was so inspired. Perhaps even a little bored at times since I was taking notes on how a fight would look in these environments as opposed to paying strict attention to the presentations.

Hack!

2009-12-04T17:00:00.002-05:00

Fun times ahead for the next installment of Crystal Skillman's Hack at the Vampire Cowboys monthly saloon. Our lady wordsmith has written a five person fight scene, which is to take place in a sewer tunnel. Since director John Hurley likes to keep things interesting and fast moving, he's determined the best way to transform the stage area of the Battle Ranch into a sewer tunnel is to turn off all the lights.

Further complicating matters is the fact that what can be seen by the audience past the second row is roughly mid torso and up, so very few low strikes or kicks because they just won't be seen by the majority of the audience.

The five combatants (including me) will be navigating their way through the tunnel with flashlights. That means every person has a melee weapon, and it also means this fight will be just the kind of combat I like: fast, dirty, and confusing.

Sooo... I've mapped out a nice 20-30 second match up, with plenty of modular, a dash of gunting and a pinch of sinwali thrown in for comedy's sake.

With flashlights.

In the dark.

Nice.

Good news...

2009-11-23T15:09:00.002-05:00

As I continue my quest for greater authenticity, I've just now received good news from friend, biz partner, fighting instructor and recent father Brian Smallwood.

An aquaintance and friend of ours - actor, veteran and USMC combat firearms instructor (and handsome fella) Jason Audette will be joining us on our quest as we strive for more realism in fake violence.

In short we've just added a heavy dose of real experience and talent to our available pool of fight choreography skill sets!

Nice, right? Looks like its gonna be a good week.

Lesser Seductions of History, and More Seductive Roller Derby...

2009-11-23T13:04:00.002-05:00

All in all, a good weekend.

Friday night began with Flux Ensemble's performance of "The Lesser Seductions of History" written by Gus Schulenberg. Since I'm talking fighting and violence, I'll keep it brief. The show was well written, well directed and excellently performed. There were maybe 1 and a half moments of violence, all of which was so stylized (and it worked) as to make them essentially physically non-violent. So, that's that. Nothing to report.

It was a great show, full of great performers and design, but it was one of those shows I inevitably come away from going... "meh." This is likely due to the disparity in personal philosphies I have with Cap'n Schulenberg - I'm not saying he's wrong, just that I disagree with the guy about a few of his ideas regarding the forces of history and personal involvement. Especially during the 1960's.

So, if you missed the show, you definitely missed out. I'm not trashing the work at all, since it's way better to have seen a great show I just don't agree with, than a bad one I do agree with. Good theater all around, and a well deserved congratulations to Flux.

Now, Saturday night was more chaos as the Lady-type and I strolled over to see the Manhattan Mayhem try for the local title against the Bronx Gridlock.

It was, for casual fans of Manhattan, a heartbreaker. Bronx won the day, though not for lack of Manhattan's efforts. It was a close one, with the Mayhem actually doubled over the Gridlock at the half way point. Unfortunately, Bronx seemed to have some new tricks tucked away in their tights when they came back in, and despite the best efforts of Em Dash, Fisti Cuffs, Surley Temple and crew, they couldn't maintain the lead against the fierce blocks of Ginger Snap, Brigitte Barhot, Luna Impact and guest skater OMG WTF (normally of Brooklyn I believe - who by the way, took an insane hit into the bleachers - then got up and skated some more. What a woman.)

Now, if you were there, you'll note that I've omitted mentioning a particular player - Polly Gone. This is because any mention of Polly Gone must rightfully be phrased like this:

POLLY GONE!

And yea verily though I love my woman, bow to no man (and serve the Queens of Pain) - I think Polly stole a little piece of my heart, and rolled right over it. She was a fighter all the way to the end. MVP indeed.

I would love to see what happens if someone gave these ladies paintball guns and an open field. If they can shoot like they skate, they'd dominate the sport in short order. Hell, I'd even watch them remount a production of that Lloyd Weber atrocity known as Starlight Express.

Sunday was a day to relax and do a little research on the upcoming Brooklyn Fight Fest... a festival of stage combat works. More on this later, since I'm shopping for a company to sign on with and further develop my choreography skills.

Drawing a Blank...

2009-11-19T16:54:00.004-05:00

As illustrated in a previous post, my shooting skill levels currently leave a bit to be desired. More often than not, I'm not hitting my targets consistently and tightly. Added to that particular brand of awful shooting, is the speed at which it happens.

To rectify the problem through more rigorous practice (without wasting ammunition, alarming the cat, neighbors and the police) I borrowed a blank firing stage pistol from Bri-guy. I figured it couldn't hurt to work on my stance, my grip, and my sight picture. A blank firing pistol is assuredly not the real thing, however it's not so far off that it doesn't help as it turns out.

I was able to correct my problems by dry firing the blank pistol (a Beretta 9mm replica) with a laser pointer attached. I activate the laser, ignore the red dot, take aim, and squeeze the trigger. Right away, I began to see the laser wandering all over the place just from my trigger pulls, that was an indication that I was doing something seriously wrong. With no recoil, theoretically there should be minimal movement of that little red dot.

A steady hand, I was not.

In reviewing my notes and the literature I've obtained regarding pistol shooting, right off the bat I discovered something critical I had either forgotten or likely never quite grasped. No pun intended, it had a lot to do with my grip. During my last outing on the range, I was applying force to the weapon in all the wrong ways while attempting to control the recoil. I was squeezing the weapon in both hands, with lateral force, instead of using a "push/pull" kind of feeling with my hands and locked arms. My follow through, if it was there at all, was abysmal.

Now with the practice I've been putting in with dry firing the pistol - usually 20-30 minutes a day - I'm able to establish a quick sight picture from initial presentation and deliver trigger pull after trigger pull with that laser point staying where it should. Suffice to say, if this were a game of lazer tag, I'd be getting close to Roland of Gilead good.

Lock 'em up!

2009-11-11T17:50:00.000-05:00

In the course of any script with aggressive characters, you're bound to come across a moment when one character needs to control another. Now if you're doing Oscar Wilde for example, chances are that control is gained through the generous application of ascerbic commentary, caustic dialogue and flippant ripostes. All of which, when well performed, is marvelous to behold. British flavored devastation abounds.

But... since I'm not writing a blog about exploring the subtle effects of wit on a character's psyche, I'm more concerned with those scripts where one character physically controls another through - you guessed it - (fake) violence!

More specifically, how does one actor gain apparent physical control of another actor? And more important to me, how do we keep it looking realistic without tearing each other apart?

In the real world, those of us not hopped to the gills on PCP (and you know who you are) can be controlled through pain. That's what joint locks can do for example - your joints are locked by someone or something and biomechanically, you just can't move 'em. Or maybe you can, but the degree of pain and damage to the joint that any movement will cause is a sufficient deterrent to keep you immobile. Real joint locks are frequently effective because for example we twist the arm in a direction it doesn't usually go all that easily and couple that movement with conflicting pressures. Bend the arm in the right (or wrong in this case) direction, apply pressure and and you've got control - ahh the joys of the arm bar. Unfounded rumor says there's a guy who can disable an assault helicopter with the correct techniques.

In stage combat though, doing this to a fellow actor will result in a lot of bad bad things. As a result, we usually see controls on stage that are very safe, and to be honest in all but the worst cases, they're being sold exceptionally well by the actors - a great deal of faked pain. But anyone with a rudimentary understanding of actual combat wonders why the actor who is being controlled hasn't done something to get out of it.

When I've seen controls being employed in the last few years, I almost invariably see the classic "hammerlock." There's a reason for that - it's what we've seen cops on TV do for eons, it's easy to fake, safe to fake and most audience members can't tell a real one from a false and painless one. Also apparently many choreographers are not all too familiar with some of the possible escapes. So, hammerlock is applied, and things get quiet, static, and boooooooorrrring. I want to know why no one's thrown an elbow or dropped the shoulder and made a a grab for the leg, etc.

Armed forces, law enforcement (and other professionals) have been using a much wider variety of practical joint locks, armbars, leg locks and pain compliance holds that are just peachy. And wouldn't you know it, they are as easy to fake, as easy to keep safe and allow for a much wider variety of combat action to take place. Because most audiences haven't been beaten over the head with these other holds, they will be fresh, frightening, and keep the actor combatant looking cutting edge. Granted these kinds of holds and locks are generally employed at the very beginning or more often the end of a fight. As a director, you want good sightlines and fluid storytelling sure, but allow your choreographer to do his or her job and be creative within the bounds of the characters and you'll get some really amazing results.

If your actors are in command of their bodies, and can at least do some basic falls, you're in for a real treat.

Fishnets, roller skates and bruises

2009-10-28T14:45:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I took a break from fake violence, to go see some sporting violence. (And women in daring outfits doing daring things on roller skates.) My girl and I were off to see the double header exhibition games as the Rat City Roller Girls from Seattle, The Sockit Wenches, faced off against the Brooklyn Bombshells and the Queens of Pain. If you've never gone to the roller derby or haven't seen one since you were a kid, you are as deficient in your lady type bad-assedry as I was.

Having immersed myself in staged violence now for some time, I'm always happy at a sporting event with genuine unchoreographed chaos involved. I watch a little football, a little hockey and the occasional bench clearing brawl on the diamond always is an interesting diversion at the ball park. However I started to notice something weird at the roller derby. Once I got past the tight uniforms, and fishnets on a lot of these women (what can I do - I'm a guy. I notice that stuff.) I noticed that despite the absolute brutal focus and application of physical force to each other, these women were able to fiercely compete without getting aggressive in the same way that men seem to.

There was a lady on the Sockit Wenches who was nigh-unstoppable. This woman is quite possibly the closest thing to an actual Valkyrie I'm ever likely to see. With her blonde braids trailing behind her, "Anya Heels" who rolled primarily as a blocker, prevented just about every attempt to pass by maneuvering her body in ways that would make a rhino blush. She was no waif, sure - in fact if Peterbilt Trucks was going to try and design a woman, it might look a little like "Anya Heels" - but that's not to suggest she wasn't one of the fastest, nimblest most brutally beautiful things I've ever seen. A hip check from her could knock a guy like me into next week, and she wasn't shy about using her strength. She was a major reason the Sockit Wenches defeated both Brooklyn Bombshells and Queens of Pain.

As a guy, I know that in a competitive arena, I'd be nothing but ultra testosterone-y about that. But these women who were grimly facing down each other during the match and getting slammed around were also so... I don't know... girly? When the game was over, there didn't seem to be any lingering bad vibes. They were having fun. It was a game. A tough game, full of bruises, breaks, and rough hits, but none of these women radiated the strange aura of male over-aggression that I see when men play violent sports. To be clear, I'm not surprised in the least that women are tough. I've known that since the earliest days of my childhood - I had good parenting. Women are tough, strong and can be every bit as powerful as men if not more so.

What surprised me was that women seem to be more capable of playing a violent game and then letting go of the violence. It's as if they were simply donning an aspect or displaying a single facet of themselves - one of intense violence - and then putting it down when it no longer was necessary or called for.

I think there's a powerful lesson there, so go check out the roller derby.

I also think I'm in love with the Queens of Pain.

If you don't care about any of the above and just want to see hot chicks on wheels, look no further.

Hit or miss. Mostly miss.

2009-10-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

Last evening, I took a jaunt out to North Bergen NJ with Bri-guy for a pistol clinic over at the NJ Firearms Academy. There were a few familiar faces and a goodly amount of new (to me and Bri-guy) faces who as it turns out are the more regular competition shooters. We got out on the firing line, and started out with a couple boxes of 9mm, splitting time on the Glock 17.

As mentioned earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the Glock, and about 30 feet, here's my first target...

Clearly I'm doing something mostly right - those circles are about 3 inches in diameter. Except for that one guy who sort of wandered off into the lower left. Well, that little guy turned out to be my undoing. I spent the next 30 rounds of 9mm or so trying to correct that, overcorrecting, and let's just say that as soon as I started to think about it too hard, I began the downward spiral of milking the trigger, pulling off the target, anticipating the shot, and in general, not following through.

I'm not posting scans of those targets. They're embarrassing. They got better again, thanks to wise words of coaching from Trevor Dickerson. Then Bri-guy and I moved up to the Sig Sauer .40 cal pistol - an intense departure from the composite 9mm Glock. With the Sig's all steel frame and much more responsive trigger, I tended to do much better...

... again a 3 inch diameter circle at about 30 feet. With a more solid weapon despite the recoil I did some decent shooting. It wasn't long before my bad habits came up again, but I controlled them far better. Less side to side wavering and more of an up-down issue.

I did have a tendency to shoot a bit low though...

The total diameter of this target is about 8 inches.

Those two shots up top are from Trevor, who was helping me get a better read on why I was pulling low. In fact, the order of placement starts low and tends to get much closer to the center of the target.

All in all, clearly I've my work cut out for me before I can consider myself even a mediocre shooter as compared to men and women (yes, Virgina there are ladies who can bullseye a target at 50 feet one handed with a .45) who are on the NJFA competition team.

Then again - I don't feel too bad about this outing. For my second legitmate pistol experience, I think I did pretty well all in all. And frankly, had these been zombies, they'd all be dead. I mean dead-dead, not undead.

But for the record, Bri-guy's final magazine of the .40 caliber resulted in what I'd definitely call a tight grouping... he put six rounds through about a 1 inch pattern. We could tell it was legit by taking a spent casing and matching it up around the edges. It was, quite a sight to see, I assure you.

Head smashing goodness...

2009-10-13T17:34:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was the second Saturday Night Saloon down at the Vampire Cowboy's Battle Ranch - Episode 2 of Hack.

Perhaps needless to say, the event was a success despite every effort by the New York MTA to suspend service on multiple subway lines. At one point in the evening, I performed a very simple "stunt" during Hack. My character, Cal aka "Gunslinger", reaches a level of frustration with his compatriots at Carson Capital - the fictional hedge fund where the former hacker characters are employed as IT security. I was directed by John "Dirty" Hurley to display this frustration in an overtly physical way, and so... I did. I decided to have Cal smash his head into an upstage facing door. A little stage magic, and - POW! a loud ringing thud, the door rattles in its frame and I spin around to angrily stomp back to my scene partners with nary a wobble in my step. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently, some of the audience was rather stunned. How'd I do that?

There was a time when in my youth, I may have considered simply actually head banging the door, but let's face facts. That's dopey. Bad-ass maybe, but dopey certainly. So in order to make this little trick work all it takes is a little practice, timing, and oddly enough, some basics of magic and illusion.

Every magician or illusionist relies on fooling not just the human eye, but the human mind. I bring this up on my stage combat blog because the underlying principles that make stage combat both safe and effective are very similar to those that the "Frantic Amaz-o" uses to saw someone in half. In short, it's misdirection. Look over here, while I do something else over there, and presto.

In brief, Cal approaches that door three times, the third time, head butting it. The audience is given a pattern to view, in the first two approaches. By the third time they see me go to the door, they know I'm not going through it. No one thinks anything of me turning that knob so the door can open and close freely. They know I'm not going through. I rear my head back drawing audience focus and setting up the expectation that I'm about to slam it forward. When I do quickly bring it forward, I've already simultaneously opened the door about a half inch - misdirection! My head comes nowhere near the door, as I quickly slam it shut with the hand on the door knob. There's a loud BANG! and I let the door rattle a bit in it's frame, like it's been hit. With my face.

As any magician will tell you, the follow through is crucial. The rapid spin around to face the audience gives them a chance to see my face as I stoically react to having just smashed my forehead into a solid door. Blink a couple of times and stomp back to the front of the stage and do my best to look like 6'4" of tough guy in a skinny 5'8" bag.

Granted, it's not combat and more of a stunt but the principles are the same. The audience has a mental shorthand for what they believe they are seeing, and don't focus on the minutiae of movements made by the performer provided they don't "contrast" with the mental picture of expectations they already have in their minds. Since I already set up the expectation that I'd have my hand the doorknob each time, there was nothing unusual about me actually using it. And the movement was so subtle and quick that it appeared that my head had actually knocked the door partially open for a split second, adding visual merit to the already resounding sound effect I had created.

About hand to hand combat though - a common misconception in stage combat is that every punch has to have a "nap." The sound of an impact, usually done by a performer slapping a hand on a part of the body not easily visible to the audience. If it's done well, it sounds like Indiana Jones punching out four Nazis at once. However, I don't know that I've ever seen someone take a punch in the head that sounds like a slap. It's usually a very quiet thud. Not something that'd be audible beyond a few feet.

I don't know why I brought that up, but it seems like we're focusing so much on incredible sound effects with our combat that we've made our stage combat exactly that - beyond credible. Bring some "magic" into play though, and through misdirection and sleight of hand/fist/head we get something much more real.

But enough pontificating... I'm going to be late for my pistol class if I hang around here much longer!

October is up and running

2009-10-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

I'm headed back to the NJFA next week for a pistol clinic - and let's be frank, I need the help. If the goal is a three inch grouping at 25 yards, I've got some shootin' to do. After all, that kind of standard is being applied to today's top target shooters and law enforcement, and if I'm aiming for ultra realism on stage, I'd better get handier with a pistol. I mean, it can't hurt, anyway.

In other news, it turns out Neimah Djourabchi - musician, artist, longtime pal and co-actor in this weekend's upcoming Vampire Cowboys Saloon Series has got some wicked fun stuntwork under his belt. That's got to be a good gig - and a great way to learn more about the current state of fight choreography in film and TV. I'm hoping that if we can bring him into some classes on knife combat he'll help a guy like me slide into the world of fake bad-assedry. I don't know if bad-assedry is a real word, but I'm running with it.

Kind of funny how things can work out, isn't it?

More next week on how the latest episode of Crystal Skillman's "Hack" played out, and maybe a few pics showing the results of a few more hours under Cheif Dickerson's instruction.

TV fighting

2009-09-28T07:49:00.000-04:00

A while ago I got to spend a solid block of time with Mr. Stone, my current training "master" working on more modular and gunting work, and he and I got to talking about fight choreography.

There were several times during the training where I asked Stone to repeat the combinations with me again. We found that generally with the deletion of a few things, the combative and defensive techniques were readily adaptable to safe stage play. So there's a combat system that's easy to learn that can also work effectively in staged combat.

I mentioned that I'm just not seeing this kind of advanced work on stage and even on television and in film it's less prevalent - is it a question of this being not particularly showy or flashy, or is this a matter of it being less well known?

Thankfully, Mr. Stone not only had an idea of exactly what I meant, but he then busted out DVDs of a show called "Leverage." While the show is fun and mostly quality from what I saw, one thing stood out... Christian Kane's fight work as "Eliot Spencer" is excellent. I'm still trying to dig up who the choreographer is exactly, but hands down, it's some of the best fight work I've seen on TV. At least, in the category of "fighters who are supposed to know how to fight."

I'm also watching the DVDs of Lost, and while it's a fun show, people are whiffing out haymakers and thunder-punches all over the place, and that doctor - Jack? He's a pretty fair hand with a pistol and an AK-47. I suppose I'll get some back story reveal about when he learned how to do all of that. Right? Secrets...

In personal news, I've preordered my Desangut set from Cherusker Messer...

Yeah, they're great. Like nasty little karambits with 1.75 inch blades and that handy ring off the bottom. With Bram's signature ramp on the blade spine they also work as less than lethal tools. I won't see them until sometime in 2010 I think, but I'm happy that they're being made. I ordered number 25 out of a first run of 200 signature sets. Now I'm waiting on the newer non-Ontario Abaniko. 7 inch cutting blade. That's not intended for everyday carry in my world by the way. More for camping. OR ZOMBIES!

My new machine is here

2009-09-27T17:49:00.000-04:00

It's a laptop, and goes fast. It's also very shiny and black which makes me happy, and came with Windows Vista which makes me a little worried. So far, so good though. I was able to import my old iTunes library onto this new laptop.

I'm currently sharpening my tools and blades, and enjoying the Sunday evening sounds of Morphine and My Girl Cleaning the Other Room. Morphine, for those who forgot was among one of the greatest musical acts of the 90s, and My Girl Cleaning the Other Room isn't a band. It's actually my girlfriend finally getting into the failure pile that is the not-bedroom bedroom of our apartment. If it were a band it would certainly feature Felicia on lead dust sneeze or possibly main magazine piler-upper.

Trash day tomorrow will be epic.

On the road to teaching...

2009-09-25T15:22:00.000-04:00

Earlier this autumnal week (which by the way I'm not happy about - as a friend put it, "I want a refund on summer 2009") I had the good fortune to assist buddy Bri-guy with teaching a CSSD SC class. It was a small class consisting of 4 people: 2 students, one certified instructor and one other guy - other guy being me. Since I don't have the certification, I'm not going to be billing myself as qualified to teach a class.

That isn't to say I'm not capable, in fact, I consider myself pretty handy with an edged tool these days, and while I might not be getting any prettier as I age, I seem to be getting smarter. I like to think I brought some value to the session, and I'm a pretty fair sparring partner. Bri-guy's teaching also helped me to see something very basic about myself that I will need to keep squarely in check when I begin teaching someday.

In this class we covered 1-4-12 of modular and the first two gunting entries. In my head, I was thinking "Why aren't we moving to 2-3-12? Or 1-2-2? Why no mention of decision points and switch points?"

Right? I'm sure we're all thinking the same thing.

I'll tell you what though - after some 4 years of study and practice it wasn't even until this past February when Master Bram Frank personally rag-dolled me around the lower east side that I really internalized a lot of this.

I tend to want to teach everything all at once. I have to remember not to do that. It's a simple, effective system, but if you dump anything on anyone all at once, don't expect them to remember much of it.

Oh and I got my certificates in Basic pistol from the NJFA the other day. So in addition to the patch, I now I have paper and knowledge... and you know what they say about knowledge.

Hey neat-o! I got a patch!

2009-09-21T18:02:00.001-04:00

With ears still mildly ringing, I'm back in the day job office, reflecting that for some people, handling firearms is not a by product of their careers such as MILLE type folks, but indeed their entire job. At the risk of sounding like a 12 year old, that's pretty sweet.

Enter Lateif Dickerson, Director and Chief Instructor of the NJ Firearms Academy, who's list of accomplishments and titles is longer than I care to cut and paste. Hence the link. A surprisingly relaxing and informative day out in Jersey City under his tutelage was a really really fun day as well.

The course in NRA Basic Pistol 1, which I have now passed (with only one error on the written exam - pesky wording mistake involving elimination of wavering sight picture as opposed to reduction) has shown me a number of things I long suspected but have now confirmed. Here are some of the highlights:

1. The Glock 17 is an excellent firearm and has a well deserved reputation. I prefer the Beretta.
2. I really really do like revolvers. Specifically, in the .38 flavor. I'm just old school that way it turns out.
3. .40 Caliber pistols are the upper limit of my current ability to control. .45s are just simply so big that I currently need an act of God, and a semi-magical solid steel frame to consistently hit a target at 20 feet.
4. Cleaning pistols is exactly the calming and relaxing process I suspected it was.
5. A novice firing a pistol with one hand is probably going to result in a missed shot. The reason there is a proper stance for beginners to fire a pistol is because it's the proper way to do it.
6. I have new appreciation for the phrase "Suddenly, his hands were full of thunder."
7. My long standing personal outlook on purchasing a firearm may be changing. Someday in the right environment, I just might become a gun owner, since the M1911 is available in 9mm. Sorry Mom.
8. I want to get much better than I am at this, and I'm actually not too bad at it to begin with.
9. Gunshots I've staged in theater in the past haven't actually been too silly. Now they'll be much better.
10. Handling a firearm is a delicate process, but need not be a frightening one.

Most important, I paid a lot of attention to the lessons "between the lessons." Watching Lateif and his son Trevor (the assistant on the range during the day) handle the weapons taught me a lot about how professionals operate and behave with these tools. Beyond no lapse safety basics and must have knowledge regarding grip placement and sight picture, being able to seamlessly duplicate the actions of someone familiar with the parts and operations of modern firearms can say a lot about a character.

It was the little things about body positioning, how comfortable and sure of the weapons they were when racking, assembling, and loading the pistols and how they became a legitimate extension of themselves that helped me understand. Best of all, these "little things" aren't impossible to learn, or duplicate. They are simply things that need to be practiced to sit in an actors mind and hands. These behaviors will translate on stage to the overall impression that the character has a level of expertise in accordance with who this character is.

Even if a shot is never fired onstage, and the "stage gun" is a solid piece of rubber or plastic, there are still ways to handle, move and use that prop so that the audience is under the impression that this is the real thing.

The way I see it, if you're striving for realism, there is no better way to go than to learn the real thing and adapt it into your work. No kidding, Lateif Dickerson's schooling is about is real as it gets, without staring down the barrel from the wrong side. I would recommend this class for anyone and everyone who's ever thought about a gun in any way.

One quick note...

2009-09-15T17:50:00.000-04:00

My home computer has died. After years of middling performance from a below average cut rate sale priced desktop, courtesy of Dell, I found myself in a similar situation to poor Strong Bad...

Oddly enough, I more or less got the blue screen of death, and while the words "Flagrant System Error, Computer Over Virus = Very Yes" didn't appear, my barely maintained virus protection didn't come through. I believe I was able to salvage some of my data. I snagged my iTunes library onto the portable hard drive purchased for just such an event, in any case so hopefully the damage is relatively limited.

Attempts to salvage the machine itself were... unsuccessful. Time of Death: 8:04 PM 9/14/09. Oddly enough, that's almost 4 years to the day when I first turned that bad boy on. So tonight, it's laptop shopping time. I'm not ready (emotionally and financially) to make the leap to Mac so it's back to PC land. I wonder if Dell is having a sale on laptops...

Countdown to NJFA courses!

2009-09-14T12:34:00.000-04:00

I'm now 1 week off from the latest iteration of firearms training - some basic pistol. I've had my hands on a few pistols over time, and squeezed off the occasional round in the appropriate setting, but I'm looking forward to a formal program with a variety of calibers and a variety of weapons. It's my hope that I'll come away from this weekend's schooling with a more in depth understanding not just of the tools, but the most effective uses of them. Once I've got that under my belt (and the appropriate paperwork) I'm going to make the purchase of a few blank firing props and begin marketing myself in earnest to the indie folks.

Speaking of indie folks - I also recently took place (just this past Saturday night, in fact) in the Vampire Cowboy's Saloon Series. Now, I've mused on the VC before, but since this isn't their production I'm not stressing it. The Saloon series is in fact something I had the chance to participate in briefly last year, however other commitments interfered, and left me hanging unable to keep playing. A shame since it was Mac Rogers' play "Asymmetric" a spy thriller that I adored. There was to be torture and gunplay all over. A fight stager's dream. Alas. In short, each year, Vampire Cowboys invite top indie groups and writers to stage 10-15 minute installments of a full piece. Each month, audiences cram in to view the latest "episode" of the plays.

This year, I'm involved in Crystal Skillman's show - "Hack" a twisted combination of computer IT hacker mystery and spaghetti western. Directed by John Hurley and featuring some of my favorite people to work with, it is also a nice little showcase for groups who don't know me. I also get to employ the gravelly "gunfighter voice" that no one in their right mind would ever employ on stage. Since it's 10 minutes once a month - no harm done. It's fun, and I hope to get to stretch my choreography muscles a little at some point down the line. It'll be tough since these are the nerdiest of the nerds and not exactly capable fighters, but that has it's own joys, I suppose.

Depending on how this process goes, I may investigate taking a class or two at the Vampire Cowboy's Battleranch (this is their studio space in Assendofnowhereburg, Brooklyn). I might be able to pick up a thing or two from them, and possibly trade a little knife and gunskill along the way.

On another note, now that things are getting cooler, and most of my compatriots are working semi-regular hours again, it's getting time to start actually shooting at one another again. Paintball season for the casual player is upon us. I'm hoping I can con my brothers out on a weekend jaunt at some point this fall.

In the meantime, it's practice practice practice in CSSD SC, keep working up fights, recording ideas for improvised melee weapons, and seek out excellent work on film TV and stage to be inspired by. By the way - "Leverage" has excellent stuff. It was recommended by my instructor, the venerable Michael Stone, and I have NOT been disappointed in the least. Brutal and accurate, it's not the usual flying fists and kung fu kicks. This is rapid, tactically efficient sequence after sequence (sometimes stretching realism) but ultimately fun. I love when I see something and either I am able to break it down into a series I can duplicate, or even more exciting, say "I know how to do that in real life!"

On the sad side... I saw another show with eastern styled martial arts slowed down to the point of looking like it was under water. I'm not naming names, but holy shav'ed cats. What a waste of time. I just don't get it. If you don't have the chops to choreograph something that advanced, DON'T DO IT. I don't know kung-fu. I'm not going to stage a fight with something remotely approximating it. And for god's sake, stop with the facing off. Ugh. It's cheesy in Japanese cinema, and it's even worse with two chumps on stage.

That certain feeling, you can only say it in fisticuffs...

2009-08-07T16:45:00.001-04:00

And now I expound on my philosophies regarding fake physical violence:

Violence, as we tend to see it dramatized is very different from what is experienced when it is right in front of us either on the streets, in the bar, or ye gods forbid, happening to us.

Most of the time, voilence happens very close in, very quickly, and it's not particularly poetic to see. A moment of frenzied scuffling and then the combatants either separate, are separated by others, or the fight is over. The fight is over generally means one or more combatants have been rendered incapable of continuing the fight and further hostilities are not needed. Violent action may continue but it's less of a fight and more of a series of really nasty things at that point.

On film, and in theater, fights have been "exploded" to present a clearer element of storytelling, add comic effect and in some cases, elevate a character to super-being status. We all recall the incredible exploits of the Trinity character in the first few moments of the first Matrix film, with her wire aided (though still by no means physically easy) flying kicks. That's what I mean by super-being.

We live in a culture where it is near impossible to not be exposed to some kind of fictionalized violence, though it may have been sanitized, polished and made unreal or "cool." In fact, I would venture to say that the average person on the street could recount at least 3 violent acts in fictional media of the top of their head, and could describe them in some detail.

Further drilling down to our film/tv and theater, it seems that in many cases these works strive for hyper-realism in many aspects, indeed most of our theater strives for some degree of realism in many aspects. The illusion of real emotion from our actors, the illusion of place and time via scenic and lighting design among other elements all combined with a willing suspension of disbelief (the magic phrase) to make the fiction seem real.

Why then, I ask, do we not strive for hyper realism in our choreographed combat? Why have we exploded violence onstage into something that would never happen in the streets and accept it? If an actors line delivery was as rigidly structured and unrealistic as some of the combat I've seen, I would walk out / change the channel.

Real combat is messy. It's not cool, or cool looking. It's fast, small and brutal and frequently confusing. That's what makes it terrifying. I'f you've ever seen a real bar fight you know it can be a profoundly scarring experience just to witness. Why do we protect our audiences from this kind of emotional impact? Surely we aren't using the illusion of violence onstage to evoke a response that isn't in keeping with emotional truth, are we?

Or rather, are we as a culture so removed from the emotional impact of real violent actions that we as an artistic subset of that culture - those responsible for creating fictionalized violence - so unfamiliar with violence that we don't know how best to perform it?

I refer specifically to a violent act such as a shooting that may take place on stage. Guns are loud and destructive tools. Discharging a firearm at another human and hitting them with a high velocity projectile results in a lot of mess at the very least, and generally there is a lot of screaming shortly afterwards from the wounded. The consequences of a gunfight in theater and on stage are comparitively sanitized so much that we as a culture tend to think nothing of it. Hence a cavalier attitude towards gunplay as artists, and eventually a cavalier attitude in our audiences.

Why not instead expose our audiences to the same kind of realism or heightened circumstances in staged violence that we supply them in love scenes, or songs? (I'm not advocating for "Mr. Orange! The Resevoir Dogs Musical here.)

A closing note - violence, when stylized can be both cool and funny. Matrix would not have been nearly as cool without the stylized combat. The 3 Stooges wouldn't be funny if they were scary to watch. I only argue that when striving for realism, don't softball your choreography. Make it brutal, make it fast and if you don't have the skill set or time to make it dirty, then keep it simple. I firmly believe almost any scene's pivotal moment is the character's choice to use violence, and the immediate consequences. Not the violence itself.

An update on progress...

2009-07-31T16:39:00.000-04:00

I'm in the pre-register stages for the pistol courses I want and have begun, in earnest the investigation of practical stage firearms to supply and train with. I'm still a major proponent of experimenting more with compressed air as well - cheaper, safer, and hopefully as effective in the "noise" department.

You see, most stage weapons don't actually expend a used round, even a 1/4 or primer round. All bang, no "clink." Since 8mm primer cartridges don't have the necessary kick to eject and chamber a subsequent round, there's a dearth of gunfights using semi automatic and even automatic fire. Unusual since most lethal usage of the actual weapons in combat situation involves the expenditure of multiple rounds.

I want more realism.

There's a company called Nightmare Paintball which builds .43 caliber paintball markers with an emphasis on extreme realism for L.E. and military use (as well as weekend gamers like me). They have a line of assault arms, rifles and pistols which are, having test fired a few at NJ Nam (I'm in their gallery! - 4th pic) excellent.

Most exciting to me is that their markers operate again, on extreme realism, meaning each .43 caliber paintball is encased in brass (or biodegradable platic) casings which are ejected after each firing. I'm considering the purchase of their P99 replica pistol (built up from the RAP4 P99 fully licensed by Walther) simply because a pistol that ejects brass adds an excellent element of realism often absent from stage firearms. This also means repeating fire, or full auto fire for incredible effect onstage. When's the last time you saw someone open up onstage with an assault rifle? Me either. But I've seen a lot of big guns that go off once and only once.

Of course, every expended casing must be tracked by stage management, and there is the risk of an expended casing sailing into the audience - but with no projectiles, it may be that the marker could operate without a casing as well, so it becomes an optional feature depending on the wants, or needs of the show director.

Of course, they aren't cheap, but a few rentals of this piece out to companies should cover costs over time. Using compressed air again becomes a safer, less expensive alternative to primer, half or full load blank rounds.

Meanwhile - tonight there's another fundraising episode of "Mraz Inc" the incredibly awful ongoing theatrical series that somehow manages to mash up "24" with a bad soap opera and awkward staging. I'll be reprising my role as "Eric" the undervalued tactical operative who isn't in the inner circle, ends up betraying the good guys, and then gets shot in the face. I told you it was awful. I modified my Tippmann A-5 to look a little more MP5-ish for the occasion. I'll attach an image later on.

I'll be reclaiming my 18th century (nonfiring display only) Italian duelling pistol this weekend, as well as "The Big Iron" my (replica) Griswold and Gunnison Confederate blackpowder repeating pistol. Ye olde Charleville and Brown Bess muskets are due for cleaning as well. Ahh, antique firearms. So glad I don't actually use ye.

A word on those Vampire Cowboys in NYC...

2009-07-20T12:33:00.000-04:00

This past Friday night, 7/17/09, the ladytype friend and I journeyed down to the HERE Arts center to catch the remounted production of Vampire Cowboy's "Fight Girl Battleworld" which was heralded as a zenith of comic silliness.

Now, before I go too far, I do need to say that I've been vaguely familiar with the Vamp's work over the last few years, though I'm not a huge fan. I am in fact, far too biased regarding their work when it comes to scripting, fight choreography and tech. I'm not personally big on mixing too much comedy and violence, nor am I a fan of the sort of martial arts stage styles they tend to use. Also, as an Impetuous Theater Group pal, the ultimately unrelated "Living Dead in Denmark's" sudden emergence prior to Brian Smallwood's "12th Night of the Living Dead" always left a bad taste in my mouth.

All of that aside (and by "that" I mean my own personal tastes) we took a look at "FGBW" and I am hereby issuing the following statement: it was tremendously fun.

The script itself does border on plain stupid in some instances (this coming from a guy who finds zombies in Shakespeare to be a truly first class jest so... take "stupid" with a grain of salt) but "Fight Girl" was more than expertly performed by a hilarious cast of nimble, strong and engaging performers.

I'll leave off the commentary on the acting performances and comic timing for someone else though, simply stating that I'm a sci-fi geek and there were enough nerd-core puns, gags, and easter eggs to keep even jaded, bitter me thoroughly amused from start to finish.

Since this is a blog on fight choreography though, let's get to the point where the fist meets the air. It was clear to me that Friday night's show was a little tired, and while there was a never a moment I was concerned about safety, there were more than a few times the moves were stretched past the point of credulity.

This is a high energy show, and credit is certainly due to the cast and creator/choregrapher Qui Nguyen, but it struck me that this limited remount could have used a little more rehearsal in the space, correcting sightlines, and in general some tightening of the combat.

Nguyen and the director use a variety of film style techniques to keep long fights moving to great effect, both in choreography and comic potential, but I found that ultimately, all of the combatants were immersed in using a very finite series of moves in a similar style. To me, the fighting characters all seemed to have trained together. Doubtless, the actors all trained together - and again to good effect. I'm just being nit-picky about the lack of combat diversity among characters, several of whom came from entirely different worlds.

I'd have enjoyed seeing a variety of styles mashed up - some brawling, messy and wild, as contrasted with a more expert level of martial art, something like kenpo, or aikido. To me, clashing styles in a fight is part of the story telling, probing for weaknesses and holes in defense, rather than flying fists and kicks is something I find reveals a great deal about character in a fight, also allowing for earned results in an outcome. In "FGBW's" case, many of the moves became predictable, and were so far from their targets as to be wholly comical - perhaps even when not intended to be so.

Also, there was an interesting lack of hand held melee weapons. It would appear that in the far flung and silly future of "Fight Girl Battleworld", the deplorable myth of the unarmed super-combatant persists still.

Now, don't get me wrong- I had a blast. FGBW was innovative in a lot of exciting ways, the staging alone catapults this show into the realm of unforgettable. In fact, I haven't had this much fun at a show in a loooooong while.

I'll be going back to see what the Vampire Cowboys have in store for their next offering of course, but I'm going to hope for something new. I've seen a lot of the same punches, kicks and martial arts based moves onstage already. Here's hoping they can level up for the next show.

The good news is that even if they don't experiment, they are still so good at what they already do that I'll likely only complain once more and gloss over virtually everything they do right. And for the record, what they do right is better than most everything else I see in that vein.

Who's running this thing?

2009-07-14T14:05:00.000-04:00

Over the last 10 years on the independent theater scene here in NYC, I've been in a lot of shows, and worked on building more than a few. Along the way I also had the chance to get my "hands dirty" by staging some violence - nothing too heavy, the odd bout of fisticuffs, an occasional beating and a fair bit of gun play.

I've always got a charge out that, and it always floors me how many actors out there are just plain miserable at (and terrified of) using modern stage weapons. I've seen plenty of stage directions that read like this:

"Doug pulls a knife and Frank blocks the attack and wrestles the knife away from him."

The subsequent staging of that moment usually left me wondering which actual fighting style the fight choreographer knows, or why these guys are suddenly proficient at martial arts, or somehow worse, it left me wondering why "Doug" attacked "Frank" with a dagger in a style extremely reminscent of European sword duelling.

On top of that, there's always a pistol showing up on stage being weilded extremely cautiously by an actor who is terrified his 1/4 load blank round will kill everyone onstage. The poor actor holds the pistol like it's their first day on the firing range, and it inevitably detracts from the action of the play. Especially when the character is a police officer, soldier, or someone with more than a passing familiarity with a weapon.

Obviously, not every character is supposed to be good with a weapon, but when they are, and the actor is not, it kills me. I'm a big proponent of safety first, especially when dealing with weapons, and combat choreography... but there's a difference between Safety First and boring stage combat. There's also a world of difference between real combat and telling a visual story. But there has to be a balance.

So what's it take?

I think it takes being expressly familiar with the real stuff - or as close as one can safely get. So that means training. It means being a good and patient teacher. And above all it means having an artistic eye towards making the combat look as real as possible while still being visually gripping and not so fast and brutal that the storytelling falls by the wayside. Every real or training fight I've seen has been over in a few shots. Many stage fights I've seen have been long, and silly. I intend to split the difference.

In any case... I'll be posting regularly as I go - it's a fun side project.