Monday night my boyfriend Alex and I stopped by Theaters Against War's Freedom Follies. Alex took part in writing a collaborative piece while participating in an online writing group, and it was going to be read at the end of the evening. What we didn't realize was that there were going to be many other performers doing cabaret/open mic/vaudeville-style, anti-war pieces as well.
Okay, look: I'm totally anti-Iraq war, I'm totally pro-theatre that makes a difference, and I'm totally into artists organizing for common causes, but this performance was ABSOLUTE TORTURE.
The event was supposed to run 7:30 to 9:00, but the intermission after the first half started at 8:50! It's not even that the work was necessarily bad (although a lot of it was), it was just completely unfocussed, presented with no care (or rehearsal), and not even structured into a cohesive evening of performance. I fell asleep so many times that when Alex found out they hadn't even rehearsed the play to which he contributed, we just left.
TORTURE. Like Guantanamo.
There are some creative people who should just create. Let the organized people organize. Or learn to do things right before you make us other loony lefty, peaceniks look bad.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Saturday, August 27, 2005
The Offers are Out!
After an extra emergency day of auditions on Friday, it looks like we have all our ducks in a row. By which I mean actors. People actors. Not duck actors. There are no ducks in my play...yet.
Hopefully, I'll have some headshots of our cast to post early next week. We're just waiting to hear whether folks accept the roles we offered them. It's too exciting!
"i like it when balls are in my face"
In the meantime: The 40-Year-Old Virgin. How can a movie be this funny and not be mean? I feel like we're awash in mean movies these days, and this flick goes to show that creative people can be funny, even sex funny, without being cruel. I mean, I was dreading the whole, "You know how I know you're gay...?" section. But there was really no need. If you haven't seen it yet, go go go.
Hopefully, I'll have some headshots of our cast to post early next week. We're just waiting to hear whether folks accept the roles we offered them. It's too exciting!
"i like it when balls are in my face"
In the meantime: The 40-Year-Old Virgin. How can a movie be this funny and not be mean? I feel like we're awash in mean movies these days, and this flick goes to show that creative people can be funny, even sex funny, without being cruel. I mean, I was dreading the whole, "You know how I know you're gay...?" section. But there was really no need. If you haven't seen it yet, go go go.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
More work, less play.
WHEW - it's been a long week!
Almost there with the cast. After auditioning till 10:00 and deliberating till 11:00, we're got two of four roles cast and a third nearly cast. However, James (the prostitute/Ph.D.) is still giving us problems. We've got one strong candidate, but everyone else we've seen is so inappropriate we're not sure whether he's the best for the part or just the best we've seen so far.
I am enjoying the whole, "Wow - this is a real show (even if it's a little real show)!" aspect of the thing, but there is something to be said for writing a play, casting your friends, and throwing it up. All this business feels a lot like, well, business. More work than play. And while, obviously, that's what I want one day, I'm not sure today is that day.
I know I'll feel differently when rehearsal starts. Plays are about the playing after all, not about the sitting in a room for hours hearing the same lines coming out of different mouths over and over again while your stomach grumbles and you have to pee and hey, that guy's cute but wrong for the part and I wish I was home in my bed so can't someone just walk in the door right now and be absolutely spot on the dot on the i perfect?
Almost there with the cast. After auditioning till 10:00 and deliberating till 11:00, we're got two of four roles cast and a third nearly cast. However, James (the prostitute/Ph.D.) is still giving us problems. We've got one strong candidate, but everyone else we've seen is so inappropriate we're not sure whether he's the best for the part or just the best we've seen so far.
I am enjoying the whole, "Wow - this is a real show (even if it's a little real show)!" aspect of the thing, but there is something to be said for writing a play, casting your friends, and throwing it up. All this business feels a lot like, well, business. More work than play. And while, obviously, that's what I want one day, I'm not sure today is that day.
I know I'll feel differently when rehearsal starts. Plays are about the playing after all, not about the sitting in a room for hours hearing the same lines coming out of different mouths over and over again while your stomach grumbles and you have to pee and hey, that guy's cute but wrong for the part and I wish I was home in my bed so can't someone just walk in the door right now and be absolutely spot on the dot on the i perfect?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
No Play, No Way - Too Gay
Callbacks for DEVIANT are tonight, although we still may not have a cast tomorrow. We're having problems with one of the roles - the gay prostitute/Ph.D. candidate that makes waves in the lesbian couple's happy home. It seems that hot, edgy, and smart is a difficult combo to come by. We've seen plenty of hot and edgy, edgy and smart, and smart and hot - but no one so far with all three.
Our problems were compounded when a certain talent agency suddenly decided that a handful of their clients shouldn't audition for the show. Maybe it's a money issue but frankly I think it's a sex thang. I've had problems with casting before, facing all kinds of discrimination for all kinds of reasons - homophobia, racism, sexism, you name it. This sitch smacks of some bigoted agent deciding that playing gay (or being gay) is too much of a career risk. S/he has probably even convinced themselves that s/he's saving their clients future problems in their careers, when really s/he IS the problem.
I really don't think I am a latter day enfant terrible (nor do I want to be one), I just don't think that any of the things I'm writing about are wrong. Besides, if you paid $15 to see a show called DEVIANT, wouldn't you expect to be challenged just a little bit? Isn't that part of the fun?
Our problems were compounded when a certain talent agency suddenly decided that a handful of their clients shouldn't audition for the show. Maybe it's a money issue but frankly I think it's a sex thang. I've had problems with casting before, facing all kinds of discrimination for all kinds of reasons - homophobia, racism, sexism, you name it. This sitch smacks of some bigoted agent deciding that playing gay (or being gay) is too much of a career risk. S/he has probably even convinced themselves that s/he's saving their clients future problems in their careers, when really s/he IS the problem.
I really don't think I am a latter day enfant terrible (nor do I want to be one), I just don't think that any of the things I'm writing about are wrong. Besides, if you paid $15 to see a show called DEVIANT, wouldn't you expect to be challenged just a little bit? Isn't that part of the fun?
Monday, August 22, 2005
FAT Staph ASS
I've recently been sick for quite awhile, and the whole story is so disgusting and weird that I have to share. So here's my first long post...
One day in July I had a little ol' zit on my bum. I popped it. It got infected.
WITH STAPH!
Soon my little ol' zit was a big ol' cyst approximately 3 in. wide x 1 in. deep, burning red, and pulsatingly painful. I went to my doctor and immediately he sent me to a surgeon to have it slashed open and drained. Apparently, the strain of staph I had could cause meningitis if it infected my spinal fluid! Because of the nature of the infection, the surgeon couldn't use any anesthesia (it wouldn't have done any good), so he just covered the cyst with this freezing spray that numbed me a little bit when he made the incision. Then he SQUEEZED. Ouch!
I was put on two oral antibiotics - one of them so poisonous that they had to monitor my liver while I was on it. I also had an anti-bacterial cream that I had to shove up my nose and an anti-bacterial body wash that I had to sponge bathe myself with twice a day. On top of that, a nurse came to visit me everyday to drain the wound and then repack it with gauze. Ouchie ouch ouch...
This was two whole weeks of misery and complete boredom. I couldn't sit, I could barely walk, and I was so hopped up on vicodin that the only thing my brain could focus on was TV. I re-watched some of my favorite recent flicks (HAPPINESS, 28 DAYS LATER, lots of STAR WARS), caught up on QUEER AS FOLK (Season 3 was way better than the first two), and pissed and moaned a lot about the sheer boredom of it all.
I've been moving around and all that since then, but I'm still relatively weak. I've tried going to the gym a few times but can't get back into the groove. And, of course, I've been thinking a lot lately about illness and being infirm/an invalid.
A Very Important Lesson for 2005: DON'T POP YOUR PIMPLES! (Your mother was right!)
One day in July I had a little ol' zit on my bum. I popped it. It got infected.
WITH STAPH!
Soon my little ol' zit was a big ol' cyst approximately 3 in. wide x 1 in. deep, burning red, and pulsatingly painful. I went to my doctor and immediately he sent me to a surgeon to have it slashed open and drained. Apparently, the strain of staph I had could cause meningitis if it infected my spinal fluid! Because of the nature of the infection, the surgeon couldn't use any anesthesia (it wouldn't have done any good), so he just covered the cyst with this freezing spray that numbed me a little bit when he made the incision. Then he SQUEEZED. Ouch!
I was put on two oral antibiotics - one of them so poisonous that they had to monitor my liver while I was on it. I also had an anti-bacterial cream that I had to shove up my nose and an anti-bacterial body wash that I had to sponge bathe myself with twice a day. On top of that, a nurse came to visit me everyday to drain the wound and then repack it with gauze. Ouchie ouch ouch...
This was two whole weeks of misery and complete boredom. I couldn't sit, I could barely walk, and I was so hopped up on vicodin that the only thing my brain could focus on was TV. I re-watched some of my favorite recent flicks (HAPPINESS, 28 DAYS LATER, lots of STAR WARS), caught up on QUEER AS FOLK (Season 3 was way better than the first two), and pissed and moaned a lot about the sheer boredom of it all.
I've been moving around and all that since then, but I'm still relatively weak. I've tried going to the gym a few times but can't get back into the groove. And, of course, I've been thinking a lot lately about illness and being infirm/an invalid.
A Very Important Lesson for 2005: DON'T POP YOUR PIMPLES! (Your mother was right!)
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Deviants on Parade
My play DEVIANT is kicking off the Vortex Theater Company's 2005/06 season. Today we finished the first round of auditions - my first experience with casting directors and sides and all that jazz.
Our preview is on October 6, we officially open October 7. I'll keep you posted.
Gay Ph.D.'s selling their asses for cash, lesbians having babies...or are they?, and boyfriends found in bath houses - what more could you ask of an evening at the theatre?
Our preview is on October 6, we officially open October 7. I'll keep you posted.
Gay Ph.D.'s selling their asses for cash, lesbians having babies...or are they?, and boyfriends found in bath houses - what more could you ask of an evening at the theatre?
Monday, August 15, 2005
Am, too. Are so.
I like plays. I see them, too. I have a boyfriend. He has one, too. I am Filipino-American. Other people are Filipino-American, too. I can write and speak in longer sentences. I'm just not.
I like to play. Play, Rey, play.
Welcome to my blog. Have fun.
I like to play. Play, Rey, play.
Welcome to my blog. Have fun.
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