Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

Argh! One weekend left and the pursuit of perfection is still on!

This afternoon after leaving Yamagami’s Nursery, I hopped in the car and set out for the theatre and this afternoon’s matinee. But as I was heading southbound on Hwy 85, I began to feel sluggish and a case of the “boy am I tired’s” hit me like a ton of bricks. My body was sore from the Zohar rehearsal for the winter showcase and from the week off of the show, and from my gym workout after a 3 week break on Saturday.

But sure enough, as I get into place for the opening of the show, the lovely Roberta gives me a pep talk and I am raring to go. And go we did. Weeeellllllll, until after my first exit. Hahahaha. When I come back on stage with Finch, we totally forgot what it was that I was supposed to say. Actually let me rephrase that. I knew the line, but it always trips me up because the way that it’s written. It’s written as “My secretary will take care of the forms and getting your particulars.” For me, I feel like saying “My secretary will take care of getting the forms and your particulars.” It’s that one little word: getting. And what came out of my mouth was “My secretary will uuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..getting your particulars and filling out the forms.” I swear that “uh” felt like the longest moment in the world!

Then I began to joke and say that I would make it a character choice and go on the rest of the show and use that randomly throughout. Like, “Well, uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh, this is something.” Or better yet, as I am singing: “A secretary is not uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh a toy.”

Just be sure that the “uh” sound like and old dry wooden door opening. Had to make sure you had that imagery in there for ya.

Other than that, the only other thing that I can knit pick is that I was early during that same dance break that I rolled my ankle on last night.

The audience was small but mighty! People came out in to the lobby in such high spirits it was wonderful to see and the hear how much they enjoyed themselves. I am so happy, but with that in mind, we have to get the word out about this show to have our last two performances sold out. So if you would be so kind and please write a review of the show on Artsopolis, I can’t tell you how much all of us in the H2$ family would appreciate it. After today’s performance, I got to meet a number of wonderful people who did happen to enjoy themselves so a special shout out to Bijou and Bo. A lovely young duo how were very knowledgeable about theatre and all the little things that we accomplished that some people may have missed.

If you haven’t been able to make it out to the show, I would personally like to invite you to come out and watch the show. Also, let me know if you are coming so I can be sure to look for you after and thank you personally. I hope to see you there on Friday on better yet, closing night!

Oh, Saturday night, why dost thou mock me?

Tonight’s performance of H2$ was pretty good over all. I went it with the focus on getting everything right. Hitting every movement clean and sharp. Making sure all my lines were enunciated clearly and not too fast. Right off the bat, after Scene 1 in the first Act, the audience was catching the jokes and giving us on stage some great energy to feed off of. I knew that this was going to be a great night!

Then we came up to dance break in “Coffee Break.” At one point, Lea, Stephanie, and myself break off into our own dance steps. During the step where I swing my arm overhead and turn, my ankle rolled so I turned on the side of my foot. Luckily, it didn’t hurt, but man!!! I was kinda mad, but I decided ‘well, one little step won’t be so bad.’

Then the rest of the night was fun and quick and mistake free from that point on. However, even if I would have gotten the step correctly, I still wouldn’t have gotten to the perfect that I want.

During the number “Secretary Is Not A Toy” the audience (to me) doesn’t respond as well to that number. I think it’s because of the content which is about sexual harassment. Well, what we now consider SH. I think that there has to be a way for us to get a great response from the crowd. While the subject material may be uncomfortable, our choreographer Val, gave us some playful movement to diffuse the harshness of it. It’s a fun little number, that just seems like the least favorite. After my friends watched the show, they were offering suggestions about it. One of which was that the look of concentration on some people’s faces is a little off putting and that it pulled them out of the number. While my friends appreciated the dancing, they were saying that using our faces in character to convey what we are singing and dancing about would make a big difference.

Well, there’s always tomorrow’s matinee!! Get your tix at www.wvlo.org!! Also, you can check www.Goldstar.com and see if there are discount tickets available. Hope to see you there, as my search and reach for perfection continues…

Two more weekends to reach Awesomeness Maximus!!

Ms. Roberta Inscho-Cox and Ms. Samantha Stidham letting you have it!!

The show as it is, is a good fun show. We’ve trimmed off some of the excessive time over the last weekend and now have a show that runs pretty smoothly. The cast has been working hard and keeping it all together during this time of the year when crazy colds or flu viruses are making the rounds. Some battles have been lost, but the rally that happens when one of our cast mates has been caught by the bug is pretty impressive. Everyone that has throat drops, Advil, sinus medicines, Day-quil, Ny-quil, or any cough suppressant is offering it up in the hopes that it happens to be the magical thing that will cure the ailment.

But back to the awesome, I mentioned earlier…

I love the show, I truly do. But I think, deep down, we can take the show further.

What we would need is for everyone to pitch in and give that something a little extra. I can’t say exactly what it is completely, but it’s what makes all the difference. For example, let’s say you had to point at someone so you kind of just casually point. There’s a little bit of a bend in the elbow as it sags from lack of tension. The finger is just lazily extended enough so there’s an idea of the direction. Now, point with a purpose. Point as though everything depended on the person needing to know that direction. How much stronger is that motion? When I think of it this way, my hand and arm are level with my shoulder. There is no bend in my elbow and I feel like energy is trying to lead the way for that person.

That’s the little something extra that needs to be in there. People like Lea Simon, Karl Schweitzer, Andrea Brady, and Robert Summers amaze me because I can always see that focus in “the Moment” while they are on stage. There are others, but this is just a quick post so I can’t name them all right now. It’s thrilling and I know the audience can see it in them too. Oh, and the two ladies in the picture: Way, Way Awesome!

Maybe it’s just me, but when I leave after seeing a really, really good show, I feel like I’ve had an experience, and it’s that sort of feeling I look for in the audience at the end of the night. There are a few people that have it as they leave, but I want everyone to have it. Is that an unrealistic expectation to have and to try to live up to?

I don’t think it is and I feel like it’s also part of my duty as an entertainer to strive for it. So for these next two weekends, I am aiming for the unachievable. I am going all “Black Swan” and reaching for perfection. If I happen to fall upon my own knife while in this pursuit, then it will have been for a worthy cause. (Of course, I speak figuratively. Just so’s ya know…)

Will I be successful? Come and see! There are a limited number of discounted tickets for the show but you have to call 408.268-3777 and mention the code word “Gold.” These are for tickets on Saturday night 11/26 and Sunday afternoon 11/27. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!!

Have you ever wanted to do something perfectly? How did it go? Do you think that striving for perfection is a lost cause? Let’s chat about it.

Conference notes Pt 3…

But back on track…

Before we got to the Ben Cameron video, there was a dreamy and yet grounded performance by the Dandelion Dancetheater entitled Friend. There were people dancing on the house floor across the front of the stage and along the far side of the theatre house and in the main aisles. Here’s my video footage, and sadly I was too riveted by the interactions on stage that I didn’t get any of the other dancers. I apologize…

After this moving performance, came the panel discussion from Pt 1 Notes.

Then came a very funny and creative play about an audience talkback by Liz Duffy Adams. The play was actually called “Talkback: A Play About Talkbacks.” In theatre, the most common, but not often the most fun audience participatory event is the talkback. This is when an audience, after a performance, has the opportunity to ask questions of the cast or artistic staff, like the author director, about anything regarding the show. Often times, it becomes more of a critique than a questioning period. In this production, the play is Shakespearean and it’s a talkback about a new show that William has written. Its filled with the comments like “I loved it. It was moving, and well written, but I think it’s too wordy.” Or “Great play, but do you really need three hours to tell me the obvious.” So by the end, William is curled up in his chair trying to just disappear.

One of the last lines from the “audience” was hilarious. A woman stands up and marches to the stage and says, “I was a good play, but it made me feel stupid and I resent that!” then stormed back to her seat. Then the other audience members chimed in as she walked. It was all in the timing. Then, the director and stage manager, once the audience leaves, come up to William to discuss rewrites. Luckily, our “hero” sticks to his guns and says the play is perfect just the way it is.

Then next cool thing that was shown was a seemingly impossible task. Conductor Eric Whitacre, had a brilliant idea and it’s better to let him explain: