Writer’s groups are a dime a dozen these days and very few distinguish themselves.  Inkslingers, based out of Madison, WI, is one of the very few who do and manage to have their work produced.  I have been lucky enough to act for them on and off throughout the past three years at their staged readings.  However this year, I was asked to direct two of their short plays to be produced in a small theater in Madison.  The kicker with Inkslingers is that the playwrights are the producers of the show.  So the pressure was on.

Four directors had about four weeks to find actors and direct a show of twelve short plays.  The diversity of voices in the works had us scrambling for actresses over 50 and other types of actors you normally don’t have to worry about in mainstream theater.  However, the quality of the work written gave the directors in particular a myriad of was to go with their production.  The writer’s were faced with finally letting go of their work and allowing someone else to bring their voice to fruition.  Which I have to say they all handled very gracefully (more so than I would have).  The actors were given an opportunity to do original work, written and produced in their home town.

My actors met for once a week, due to schedules and not having a whole cast until a week before the show.  We did two plays one by Jan Levine Thal “Identity” and one by George Farah “Tech Support”.  Luckily, I had actors that could do both so I didn’t have to worry about separate casts.  I also had the fortune to work with actors ranging in age from late 30’s to mid 70’s.  One of the writers was at first skeptical of casting decision but once that writer came to rehearsal, all fears were allayed.  The other writer was did not come to rehearsal but was very open to suggestions about wording and other ideas on the play in general.  There were four performances and I am happy to say they were sold out each time.

Madison is fortunate to have a glut of artists that live in town and show their work here.  I am pleased that I have had the opportunity to work with one of the gems in this artistic community and bring quality writing and acting to life.

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Dana Pellebon is also known as “Ms. Behavin’” with Foxy Veronica’s Peach Pies Caburlesque Show

and also blogs about her son, Cobain, at www.loveformyson.blogspot.com

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Entitled  My Mother, the Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife, the play has the avowed message that “We too are human beings like you, and this is a profession like any other.” The play opens March 18, to portray the people who interact with the sex workers in everyday life.

“We are also humans” 

“We sell our bodies to earn money,” says Sangeeta, a sex worker and actress in the play, “but we don’t murder anybody. We appeal to society to let us live.”

Director Sushma Deshpande adds “There is nothing in the play that is far removed from reality. Everything shown here happens in real life. The play will help people understand the lives of sex workers.”

This is quite a stretch for a culture that lambasted Richard Gere for inappropriate affection towards one of the Bollywood stars. Still,  there’s a similar tradition in our country – best exemplified by activist/artist/sex worker Melissa Gira.

For that matter, we did just give an Oscar to Diablo Cody, who worked as a stripper before turning her hand to writing. So perhaps our culture is moving out of its collective puerile attitudes towards sex and sex work?

Well…I wouldn’t go that far. But I wish these brave Indian actresses luck, and hope they will accomplish their goal without paying too high a price.

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In the first half I was Don “Big Jim” Ravioli, a crime boss. There were all sorts of undercurrents and sub-plots with the other characters – my daughter was marrying someone I didn’t approve of, my ex-wife (played, amusingly enough, by my ex-girlfriend) was supposed to be giving me much grief about my new, much younger wife, my business partner was moving directions I didn’t like, there were capos from New York in town, and that annoying Inspector Neville “The Nose” Nutella.

That was the first half. Then I was going to get killed, just before dinner was served, and I would magically transform into Congressman Darrin Toosteal, with a whole new set of complications (including the fact that I was having an affair with Big Jim’s ex-wife, who, you’ll remember, was played by my ex-girlfriend). Then the Inspector (and many others) would talk about the things they knew and didn’t know and hopefully come up with the solution to the crime.

I had fun with the characters – I went from foofy black & costume jewelry to white-shirt-and-bow-tie, and my hair was long enough that I could change the style pretty thoroughly. More to the point was the character, though – “Big Jim” needed to be congenial, but in a presumptive, you’re-going-to-be-friends-with-me-because-you-know-what’s-good-for-you way, and have a tough-guy temper as well (especially when his young wife called him “pookie” in front of others) (come to think of it, I’m rather proud of one little bit of extemporaneity – my young wife was played by the real-life girlfriend of “Al Capone”. Her character would have had to pretty much ignore him through the night – except that I, in character, asked him to “take care of her” and told her to “have fun with him”, which gave them license to spend much more time with each other.)

Then the congressman, who had presidential aspirations, would be the schmoozer, pumping hands, smiling, talking a little too loud and in constant hyperbole. I also got to be comedic – when the “affair” got too hot, for example, with someone asking me about my past, I chugged my wine as they talked, then said, brightly “Oh, look, I need more wine” and got up and left, quickly. It was a blatant steal from John Malkovich in “Queen’s Logic”, I confess.

But it was fun, if exhausting. Long before we really knew who’d killed Big Jim (and after three other murders had been committed, to the Inspector’s chagrin, and just before he himself got rubbed out) we as a group were tired of being our characters–and why wouldn’t we be? None of us were highly trained actors, and while the evening started with everyone roaring to go, by the end of the night, well-fed and worn out from trying to keep the facade up, we just wanted to take off the fake fedoras and be ourselves. I think that the plot line, as planned by the game designers, was a bit too complex, and I don’t know that it would have been possible to figure it out in time (no way to compare it, really).

Still, as dinner theatre goes, it was a great way to spend an evening.

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But it did establish Christian Bale as an action star (paving the way for Batman) and I’m not the only one who likes the movie, especially for the brilliant fight choreography. Wimmer came up with an entirely new fictional martial art he calls “Gun Kata” that has actually gotten quite a lot of documentation on the web. I won’t link to it, but feel free to google at will…

The point is this little quote from an interview with Wimmer. Bale wasn’t perfect for the role because he had martial arts training. No, it was a different kind of training…

“…I thought we’d just choreograph it and do it! I realised quickly that wasn’t going to be the case. But Christian is a gifted athlete, and he’s also a trained dancer, but more importantly he has an uncanny ability to remember choreography in a short period of time and execute it under pressure. We often only had one take because if there are multiple squibs going off, we didn’t have time to reset for a second take. He was able to do it first take and get it right every time. He has tremendous timing, and he saved my ass. Had it been almost anybody else, the results would have been really terrible.” – Dreamwatch Magazine, via EquilibriumFans

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CLIP INCLUDES VIOLENCE AND LOUD ROCK MUSIC. PLEASE DO NOT VIEW IF YOU OBJECT TO GUNPLAY IN MOVIES.

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This, however, is not one of them. So unless you are ready to see a musical with the graphic portrayal of a serial killer literally splattering blood across the camera lens, wait for his next vehicle, when he’ll play George Jetson or somesuch.

(no, I don’t actually know who’s playing the lead in the Jetsons or even if they’re making a movie version. But really, how could they not?)

It’s hard to write a review of Sweeney Todd, though, because it’s a musical I’ve always wanted to like. There’s no disputing the genius of Sondheim,  but I gotta be honest: I don’t especially like his music. It’s a little too contemporary, hard for me to like for more than an instant before the phrases change and I’ve lost the melody somewhere else.

That being said…I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Not for the music, though – for the vision of London that Tim Burton brought to life. See, that’s the other problem with the music – Depp and Bonham-Carter and the rest of the cast (with the exception of Jamie Campbell Bower) are only mediocre singers, and so while I was amused by the songs (such as Mrs. Lovett’s introductory pie song, or the duet about women sung by Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp) I was more intrigued by the story. It is told well, and simply, and the actors are often able to express more with a simple raised eyebrow than most movies have in their entire cast (kind of like Denzel Washington’s powerful “mmmm…HMMM.” Oscar winning onomatopoeia).

My girlfriend, who saw it with me, was unprepared for the gore – hence the warning at the beginning of this review – and was also dissatisfied with the story arc itself, which really doesn’t offer much in the way of redemption – well, not of the Hollywood style, but that’s all I’ll say for risk of spoiling things. But while it may not be the cheerful holiday family movie, it’s well worth seeing, and if you can, do it on the big screen with the good sound – some of the melodic structures really do deserve your complete attention, as the story is told through the deft twining of word and note.

Two razors up!

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When Liza sang her first solo, I realized what an amazing amount of sound quality is lost in recording. Her voice was like a crystalline glass filled with gleaming in the morning sun. The lighting of the stage, the ingenuity of the set design and choreography..for example, at the Opening Day at Ascot section I would almost picture the palette scraps, the renderings the costume designer must have made, the choreography…

Well, actually, the choreogaphy was one minor gaffe, in my book. During “With a Little Bit” (outstandingly delivered by Tim Jerome)  they stole a STOMP! technique and had the hoi-polloi dancing with trash can lids strapped to their feet. While the dance technique might have been interesting if you had never seen STOMP! before, if you had, it was pretty pale in comparison. The robust nature of the number itself made up for it, but I kind of wished for more originality.

It restored my faith in live theatre, and my own commitment to go back to more. Later in the season I’m going to get to see Spamalot (second time!), Avenue Q, Spelling Bee, and the one I’m looking forward to more than any other…The Lion King!!!

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The Actor Space, founded and run by acting coach Joe Palese (Hill Street Blues, Days of Our Lives), premieres its first full length play SHADOW HOUR beginning October 6 th 2007 in its new Sherman Oaks facility. A gripping and suspenseful courtroom drama written by Ralph Tropf, SHADOW HOUR revolves around the trial of Senator Adam Martin, accused of raping his young assistant Christy Connelly.

SHADOW HOUR’s incisive look into the contentious jury process and testimonials is augmented by a three level stage design by Tim Shukar with overall supervision by producer Lynne Jacobellis. Under the direction of Joe Palese, the experienced cast includes: Becca Battoe (Scrubs, Invasion), Allison Coster (Rome and Jewel), Charlotte Marie (Succubus: Hell Bent), Jen McAllister, Tim McLaughlin (Monk, Everybody Hates Chris), Tawney Mertes, Stacey Miller (Rodney) Julie Schaller (The Darwin Awards), Peg Shirley (Close To Home, Devil in the Flesh) and Dominic Calandra as Senator Adam Martin .

For ticket information please call 818-462-5273 or email lynne@theactorspace.com. Group or presale discounts are available via phone, call 818-879-6520. $20 at the door and $17 via presale by Oct 5th. Industry comps are available.

It opens today and has a 6 week run, which means there’s a chance I’ll get to visit her for an interview before it’s done (it looks like I’ll be spending a few days in L.A. after Blogworld Expo in Vegas, thanks to the generosity of some fellow bloggers).

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Now, here’s the fun part: this is actually one of my favorite movies. Specifically, the part where the lead jumps out of a perfectly good aircraft without a parachute just to make sure the bad guy doesn’t get away. That’s dedication!

Only slightly less scary, I think, would be the way they actually break the fourth wall:

“the starring role of Keanu will be selected at random from the audience each night, with the lucky winner reading their entire script off of cue-cards. This method manages to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting.”

Oh. I’ve got to see this. GOT to.

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So, here’s what Google & MySpace showed me:

• Lodestone Theatre
  
• The Independent Shakespeare Company
• Looking Glass Theatre
• Lame Dog Theatre

…and then it peters out. And it doesn’t answer the problem that Beckloooo identified of the fact that actors come to LA for TV and film, and so will sometimes abandon a theatre piece for a sprite commercial. And I’ve no idea how extant those that I listed are – though every one has something on their page that is at least within the last year.

Any other suggestions for independent theatre in LA? Or am I way off?

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However, an even bigger treat happened this last weekend, when I got to see i Arroganti performing the Commedia dell’Arte at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. I’m a longtime fan of commedia, and if you like Loony Tunes or the Marx Brothers or A Fish Called Wanda then you would be, too (especially the latter-it’s almost exactly a commedia farce set in modern times).

The original commedia was improv comedy loosely structured around a plot line with some set bits called “lazzi” that the performers could insert at any given time. For example, a lazzi of Arlecchino and his girlfriend, Ruffiana, would be to suddenly wax eloquent about how much they loved each other, using somewhat questionable descriptions: “I love you like the flies love rotting meat…” It was also unusual for the fact that it was interactive, often directing corpo de masquere (the blow of the mask) towards the audience, letting them in on the jokes.

i Arroganti had it all. Their timing was impeccable, the characters were as over-the-top and shameless as they were supposed to be, and the masks…oh, the masks. A good commedia mask has a life of its own. You don’t “put on” the mask, you become the mask. And I talked with Ernesto, the director afterwards, specifically to admire the fine maskwork (of which you can see an example above, from Jorge Añón of Mascared.com.

He writes of his masks:

“We are aware that masks have been present in the noblest and in the most despicable events of human civilization , in the most beautiful and in the most terrible ones. They have been with us at our loving dances and the expiating ones , at births , initiation rites , wars , parties and funerals.”

And at the funniest. A quick look at YouTube gives a fine example:

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