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.
My mother came to NYC for the first time when I got married in 1998. She was a country woman, not unsophisticated but certainly no urbanite. She’d lived in small towns most of her life. It took her less than an afternoon of our wandering around NYC to figure out its essence. As we walked…
The recent coming out of Bruce Jenner as Caitlyn Jenner is provoking posts on Facebook that reveal a lot about how we see gender. Responses range from supportive to scathing. I was, after my first initial delight, a little sad to see how glamorous the tone of the photo shoot was. Not that Caitlyn doesn’t…
Tonight I dumped my memento drawer into a box And turned on Nature, to accompany my foraging Through ten years of precious moments caught on paper Programs, postcards, thank you notes from actors, writers Newspaper clippings. Stage Left this and that. A pile grows at my feet. There’s the…
This is a great article. I think we can draw a parallel between adjunct professors and non-union actors – we work for far less than we are worth, but we find joy in our craft. And we are crucial in modern day theater. .http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/o-adjunct-my-adjunct
I’m a big fan of Abraham-Hicks quotes of the day http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/lawofattractionquotes.php, and of the basic principle behind them– which is that we need to pay attention to what we want, and to allow that to manifest in our lives. Lately I have seen this principle playing out in my own life. Having made up my…
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…
