Tech is Over!

Hello!  It's another beautiful day in NYC.  

We wrapped up tech Saturday night, took Sunday off, and start invited dress rehearsals tonight. Open on Thursday.

Tech has been a lot of work.  Tuesday through Thursday we were at the studio from 2 until 10. Friday and Saturday 4 until 10.  We moved from our rehearsal space to our performance space on Tuesday and, of course, the space is just a little bit different.  OK, a lot different.  Pretty much all of our blocking had to be changed.  The room is narrower and longer than where we were working so everything shifted slightly.  But it's all good.  Once I erased all the previous blocking directions from my script and was left with only those we're actually doing, everything finally made sense.  We did our only complete run though Saturday night and it was kinda surprising how well it went.  The last scene was still a little loose cause we've only done it once... but no one committed any major gaffs so overall I think everyone was pleased.

Afterwards Toks, Jeremy, Ien, Kate, and I had beers at Hooters.  We discussed how the waitress's dolphin shorts don't ride up into the... well, you can figure it out. 

Had a voiceover today for Ethan at Speakeasy in Baltimore and we had some ISDN problems. Tomorrow I have an audition for Ramona at Gilla Roos and I get to play the ukulele.  Sweet! It's getting overcast here in Bryant Park and I'm hoping it's not gonna rain.  But then again, so what?  The D express is right here and it's a fast blast up to 7th avenue.

On to invited dress!

Adios.      

Times Square

Good morning from Harlem!  The dog's been walked, the coffee's in the cup so let's blog! It is another beautiful day here in NYC.  The weather has been so nice that it's kind of unbelievable... was actually chilly yesterday morning... in August!  Sweet.  Yesterday was our last rehearsal at our practice space in Times Square.  We've been meeting in suite 701 of the Paramount building on Broadway between 43rd and 44th streets for the past two weeks.  Tuesday we move to our performance space at 244 W. 54th street between Broadway and 7th avenue.  It was nice to have the same space available to us throughout the rehearsal process.  Apparently some productions aren't so lucky.  It was also cool to be rehearsing in the heart of Times Square.  Most days I'd take the A express from 125th to 42nd street and walk one long block east from 8th avenue.  Or I'd catch the D and end up at Bryant Park and walk one block west.  It is always a madhouse whether it's 11:00am or 9:00pm.  Masses of people everywhere and you're just trying to work your way through without bumping into too many.  Musicians on the street playing guitar, or snare drum, or ukulele for whatever you will give.  Hawkers promoting comedy shows or discount tour tickets, forcing a pamphlet into your hand.  Tourists looking up at the lights or down at their maps trying to figure out where the hell they are and where they're going.  Street vendors selling water and sodas and magazines and purses and pretty much whatever else you can imagine from their kiosks or the sidewalk.  Throngs massed at street corners trying to fight their way across Broadway or 7th or 42nd.  Buses, taxis, and cars trying to make a turn while the wave of humanity continues against the light.  It's nuts!  But for the past two weeks it has been great... to fight your way through the crowd because you're going to work.  In New York City.  As an actor.

At yesterday's rehearsal we ran the play for the first time without scripts in our hands.  I was taken by how strong the performances were once everyone was freed from carrying a script. And also how funny parts of the play are.  This is a serious play and yet it is filled with much humor.  My tendency, because of the subject matter, is to play the part overly straight(I'm playing a very powerful Washington insider).  Which, to be honest, was completely disingenuous.  I wasn't feeling anything.  Tye(the director) has pushed me to lighten up, to see all that happens as positive things.  To see that even the most powerful person can be a bit of a goof ball!  He is directing me toward my strengths and I think I just might pull this off.  Also, Olivia Negron, who I have all my scenes with, has been very helpful in telling me what her character is thinking... so my actions are in sync with where she is.

Tuesday we start tech(2pm - 10pm) and open a week from Thursday.

Away from the play... I have a voiceover I'm doing today here from the apartment(I'm doing it today, Sunday, as they are doing construction on the church next door and they're jackhammering all day weekdays) and I'm doing another on Tuesday from a beautiful 19th floor studio at 11 W. 26th street.  Also plan on meeting up with Keith and Cathy who are in town from Norfolk, and just might do an open mic performance at Kenny's Castaway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  

What else?  Have been out to dinner with Mary a couple of times, heard a Brazilian guitar duo with an opera singer at Barbee's in Park Slope, saw Amoreena perform with her improve troop, drank beer and wine with Melisande, asked Diana to please clean out my refrigerator back in Norfolk, had drinks with the lovely Miss Lisa Simonetta near South Street Seaport, and got up with an old girlfriend whom I hadn't seen or talked to in 3 years.

Brett Favre is now a Jet.  Guess I'll be watching that loser team this year.           

Trash

I'm sitting in the Lobby of the Hotel Edison on 47th Street just off Broadway.  The lobby is quite cozy with murals on the walls depicting Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, the Cotton Club and other icons of NYC.  XM channel 4(the 40's channel) is playing which seems appropriate given the age and vibe of this place.  Perfect place to be sitting on a rainy day in New York.

Took Donald for a walk this morning over to the Morningside Park dog run.  Ran into Dottie who has lived in the same apartment on Amsterdam avenue for all of her 66 years.  She's part of the volunteer crew that maintains the dog run.  Very pleasant woman who gave me a brochure about activities that are happening in August in the neighborhood between Amsterdam and Central Park West, stretching from 96th to 110th street.  Lots of good stuff going on including the Jazzmobile(free jazz concerts in the Park) and a couple of farmers markets.

We also talked about Trash.  New York is one of the most beautiful cities in the world but also quite possibly the filthiest.  People who live here don't seem to respect it.  Chicken bones, condoms, beer cans, Pringles cans, plastic bottles, paper, piles of cigarette butts, dog shit... everywhere you look there is litter.  You really have to not look at it or it can make you crazy. I've been to a number of large cities(London, Paris, San Francisco, Chicago) but there's nothing quite like NYC.  Donald has an incredible nose and he's always finding chicken bones on the street.  And if he sniffs them out before I see them they're in his mouth and swallowed before you can say "Purina".  New York is incredibly safe these days(I've been in Harlem, Bed-Stye, Dumbo, East Village, Tribeca, Mid-town, etc this trip and have never felt threatened) but still very dirty.  And I imagine, with the economy the way it is, it will only get worse.  Too bad.

But still, life is great.  Rehearsals continue and tonight I'm headed down to 21st street to see a friend of mine who performs with an improv troupe.  Or I may see an off-broadway play about a family that suddenly realizes the horrors of the Suburbs!  Sounds hilarious.

Till next time.

              

One Nation Under

One Nation Under is basically the story of three couples:  Arlene and Wesley.  She's a Circuit Court judge and he's a Washington insider interviewing possibilities for the Supreme Court.  Eric and Darcee.  Eric is Arlene's son and a computer wiz who gets a job with Halliburton and goes to Iraq to make some money and escape his mother.  Darcee is a young single mother from the Bronx who gets called up to serve in Iraq as she's in the National Guard.  She's assigned to protect Eric.  Quinta and Lilifrieda.  Quinta is Arlene's law clerk, Lilifrieda is Darcee's sister who is in the Bronx taking care of Darcee's infant son Chester.  Through a series of events, mostly made with good intentions, the lives of these characters are intertwined and forever changed.  Sounds like good theater to me!  The cast has been a blast to work with.  We start rehearsing again today after two days off which, it turned out, I needed!  Took a nice long nap yesterday after a week of constantly moving.  Of course it also might have to do with the fact that I went to a Jazz club in Harlem Wednesday night with Amoreena and was out until 2am. It's pretty cool taking the subway that time of night... they were washing down the stop on 145th street and there was water and hoses everywhere.  Starting singing and dancing while waiting for the train.  Last night I took in a band(at Banjo Jims, Lower East Side) called Dusty, 3 women who sing close three part harmony in the style of the Andrews Sister.  Very entertaining.  You can find them on MySpace under Dustygals.