Hey folks,
The world of Joe Mathers has seen some interesting developments in the past few months. To start, for the few of you that are Facebook friends, you'll already know that a show I was in back in November of 2011 "The Runner Stumbles" will be making it's way off Broadway. If that doesn't seem like much, know that it means I'm taking the next step towards being a full time actor instead of a full time stagehand by joining Actors Equity Association. I've made the vast amount of my income in the last year from being a freelance carpenter/electrician/stagehand in NYC. That's good work, and it's fun and exciting, but yeah - I still love performing too much to walk away. Plus I've been booking more fight work too, and since this is a blog about fight choreography I want to talk about a particular trilogy of plays I've been involved with by a favorite writer of mine, Mac Rogers.
Mac is a guy, a guy like any other except for a few things. He's a singularly gifted writer, and lately he's been working on a series of plays called the Honeycomb Trilogy. In short, and without spoiling anything, these plays center around the family of a retired astronaut named Bill Cooke who returns from the first manned mission to Mars with a little something extra - the dying hopes of an alien race of very large... bugs. The first play in the trilogy is called Advance Man which was produced in January. I had the good fortune to do a little of the fight work for the play, which amounted to a bit of gunplay.
I like Mac's work because he focuses on characters and the violence involved is driven by the choices hey've made, and is grounded in who they are. In Advance Man, a teenage girl gets her hands on a pistol and in an effort to forestall the inevitable invasion of Earth takes a shot at a woman intent on triggering the device that will hatch millions of these aliens worldwide. Guess what? A pistol is hard to use if you don't know how to use it, and so... she misses. The very next line of dialogue in the play after the weapon fires is "You have to hold it with both hands."
I loved that.
The next play, "Blast Radius" features a fight between two very pregnant women. As in 8 months pregnant. They are fighting each other with 5 foot polearms, and just last night I had three hours to work with the combatants and director on the choregraphy. Three hours isn't much, but it's a great start and is sadly far more than I usually get to work on something this intense. At speed the fight should clock in under a minute - which is really long for a fight. Needless to say, I'm sooooo excited about this sequence. I can't really talk too much about it without giving plot elements away, but I can say that I'm very lucky to have two actors with miles of guts, patience, and skill. The initial rehearsal and mapping went spectacularly well, I think. A few tweaks here and there and we'll have a fight that should have the audience on the edge of their seats.
Because one of the characters is a little um... different... there are some special circumstances that come into play (on top of them both being pregnant). I can't stand fights that drag on where characters are taking hit after hit and somehow functioning cleanly once they've been cut, punched kicked, etc. So I have choreographed something more realistic - they don't miss, they don't unrealistically absorb wounds that would incapacitate a human. They are just viciously going for it. All out, with intent to kill. And when the kill does happen, it isn't cool. It isn't clean. It's brutal. In a departure from my usual work, it's big and brutal.
So. If you are interested in seeing an outstanding standalone play that continues the story of Advance Man, with a badass fight in it, I recommend you come see "Blast Radius" at the Secret Theater in Long Island City, opening on March 30th, through April 14. You can pick up your tickets here...
Oh and... I'm also in it. I play a guy named Jimmy, I get to make out with my fiancee on stage. Hot.
Then I'm going to go build a bunch of scenery and then get back on stage in Retro Production "The Runner Stumbles." This means I'll also be listening to lot of Nightranger's Sister Christian for comedy's sake. There's a quick fight in that show - which I'm proud of, but it's way different than Blast Radius. Wheeeeeeee!
I'm also coming up on 1 year free of the much hated office gig and I haven't looked at Expedia.com's website once. It's been an awesome year.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Advance Man and The Coffee Shop - I make some nasty!
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 Enquist. 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.
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 Enquist. 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.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Umm... if you haven't watched Walking Dead...
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Right... So... Fall?
Not too long after the prior posting, a solid 8 and a half months ago (during which time, I'm told a whole human can be manufactured inside of a female!) I finally did something I had been meaning to do for a long while.
What's that? You left your cushy yet soul crushing desk job at an unnamed major internet travel retailer?
Why yes, yes I did. It was a semi-mutual decision, suggested by the local regional director and heartily agreed to by me. Though I have to admit, I'd have been ok with the regular steady paycheck continuing but I could have done with a great deal less douche-baggery from their end. Alas, as it turns out - you can't have you cake and eat it too. Or in this case, if I wanted to keep accepting money from them, I had to keep accepting the douche-ness. So I've been more or less freelancing since the end of April.
You've been freelancing as a technician, fight choreographer and actor for 8 months?
Yes. I'll get to that in a second. Stop interrupting me.
Sorry.
But primarily, the biggest thing I pulled off was getting the lady-type to say yes to a marriage. So, there will someday be a Mrs. SmallandBrutal. I say someday because part and parcel with the whole freelancing thing is that there's no actual planning going on at this point. But we'll get there. But yes, I'm taking a second stab at marriage. Or rather a second stab at engagement. Never made it to the marriage part before.
Now - what else have I been doing with my time since April? A lot actually. I've done some highly weird things in fact - among them working in the Madame Tussauds Chamber of Horrors. Which by the way if you think is scary with the lights out, you should breeze through there with the lights on. >shudder< Let's just say, OSHA would have a field day in there. I normally don't like to gossip, but wow. Glad to have kept that gig to just a few weeks.
I've been mostly making my living (and doing OK at it by the way) as an actor/technician. Did you know that they pay movie and TV extras money to do NOTHING?! It's not a lot of money, but you literally do nothing.
There was also Retro Productions Dear Ruth, which was alas completely devoid of combat and violence, followed by the Brick's comic book festival production of Action Philosophers! This show had a bit more violence, but nothing too insane. We actually remounted it in October and changed it up again and had a bit more choreography.
I also got to have a bit of fun with a new Becca Schlossberg (she of 3 Boys fame) play - taking the opportunity to design some moments of violence with a 13 year old actress (playing 11). I and the production were very fortunate in that this kid was sharp and talented. Acted more like a 30 year old than an 13 year old. Which isn't to say she was old before her time, just that she handled herself like a pro. Working out some slaps, punches and grappling with her and her cast mates under the direction of Madeliene Parsigian was a treat. The show suffered a few setbacks none of which made the final production any less of what it wanted to be.
That more or less brings us to where I am now - mid run of another Retro show, Milan Stitt's "The Runner Stumbles." Oddly enough there's a decent amount of blood and some brief moments of violence within this show about priest on nun love and the consequences of denying/accepting that love in a harsh word that blah blah blah...
I'm playing Amos, the jail guard which means I have the character arc of start a mean bastard, end a mean bastard with extended time for backstage boozing between. The show itself has turned out excellently, no thanks to my acting. But I will say I did some nice stuff regarding the violence.
I've been working on a theory that sometimes the slow violence is more meaningful and in the capable hands of experienced and nuanced actors can be very effective. When there's quick stuff to balance it out, you get a nice portrait of a loss of control. One of my new favorite stage directions comes from this play (the other being Winter's Tale "exit Antigonus pursued by bear") and is: "Nun slaps Priest. Priest slaps Nun."
Am I the only one who thinks that's kind of funny?
I had a few variants on this, but with such a simple set, it's really about intent and the physical psychology involved. Rather, with two simple and virtually identical moves, how can I set up the communication with one slap a desperate need to feel something from another that isn't church dogma, and then immediately the return strike needs to communicate animal aggression dressed in blacks. If you've seen the show hopefully you know the moment you know I'm talking about. Specificity in the blocking down to the footwork is key.
And there's also a fun knife effect, which I'm proud of. Rather than use a dummy knife, I took an existing kitchen knife, filed the bejesus out of the edge so it's about as a sharp as a spoon, and then took a Dremel router bit and milled out the handle so I could insert a medicine dropper into the handle. I super glued the bulb into the handle, flush against the tang, and painted it to match the handle wood. The pipette runs about 4/5ths of the way down the blade, and is painted in a med gloss silver metallic acrylic to match the sheen of a used kitchen paring knife. So, when Father Rivard is provoked, he picks up the prop, and deliberately moves the dulled edge across the ball of his thumb to show he does in fact bleed like an ordinary man, the audience sees a knife that was just used to slice fruit slice across a man's hand and blood immediate wells up. No spurting, or squirting. Just deep welling. And dripping. Good smear consistency. I've been rewarded with some nice gasps from the audience.
So what's next?
I honestly couldn't say. I'm just floating from gig to gig at this point, and enjoying working more in film and TV where it's safe to say I've made more money doing nothing that I have busting my ass in theater. Clearly this is something worth pursuing.
More later. Just letting Tim and the not Tim readers of the old Knives Guns and Other Assorted Trouble blog that I'm in fact alive. Yep. Still Alive. I am doing science and I'm still alive. And when you're dying I'll still be alive.
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.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Right... so... Spring!
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What’s on tap for 2011?
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...
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...
Monday, December 20, 2010
Ho Ho Holy crap!
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
