In this blog, I write about all aspects of creating a performance – from idea to execution. Visit Page to Stage to learn more about the following topics: Organizing your ideas, writing the script, choosing formats, editing, polishing, rehearsal, sound, lighting and multi-media design, directing, dramaturgy, performance, rewriting, production and marketing.
I’m being interviewed tomorrow and my topic will be presence. More specifically, if it can be learned or taught. These are my thoughts on the matter, put forth in a sort of interview-y preparatory style, still a little raw. Forgive me if I rattle on or sound pedantic. I’m still working it out. What does…
Yesterday I dreamed it was a sunny day in an adobe city. I was walking through the streets in my house shoes. I had left my place, and left my keys in it. I wasn’t sure how to get back. I wasn’t worried. I thought maybe I should go back, and try to get back in.…
http://howlround.com/speaking-of-words-and-other-undoings?utm_source=HowlRound.com%27s+Email+Communications&utm_campaign=2c898297f3-DAILY_RSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9ac5709e38-2c898297f3-45172181 I went to Catholic school. It was at mass that I was first drawn to the setting of the ritual. The way the tall white candles were always lit and extinguished with ceremonial drama by the young acolytes, or altar boys, in red and white robes. The clinking bells that accentuated the pivotal moments…
I direct a lot of new plays, many of them by fledgling writers, and often various aspects of character development have remained in the head of the writer, and are not yet on the page. Or sometimes the character is on the page, but not yet sufficiently specific. When this happens, I use improvisation to answer questions like the…
In my work in theater, I play multiple roles – actor, writer, director, coach, and producer. And they seem to come in waves, the times when I am focusing more on one role than another. Lately, it’s been directing and coaching. I know–from all my experience in this field–that putting the truth on stage is…
I received the Pioneer Award from All For One Theater http://allforonetheater.org/ this week, and here’s the acceptance speech I gave. I have loved being a part of the NYC solo show community since 1996, when I wrote my first solo show. That year I kissed my 13-year standup career goodbye, and started acting. I knew I…
This is a guest posting by Mabel McCoy. I was reading this article last night in my Google Nexus 7 tablet about the cancellation of Honey Boo Boo. And the writer said, “TV shows that stereotype rural Southern families are ‘hicksploitation.” So I know what that is – some media person bein clever putting the…
