Wedding Bells (except they'll sound like accordions)

Hey, all.

Email has been sent your way regarding helping out at my wedding. (Thirty-one days from today!) Please respond if you can help (and I hope you can).

In other news: Passport opened last night at Annex. It's a pretty fun show (and thoughtful, too)...and er, not appropriate at all for all audiences. Consider this information in deciding if you'd like to attend. You can get in for five bucks. (And I'll even set seats aside for you if you tell me you're coming; otherwise it's at-the-door-only for student tix.)

Grand Guignol

Hey, folks--if you're able to duck over the bridge on a school night, please come to see Grand Guignol.

We've got one more night this week (tomorrow) and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week.

Y'all can get student tix for five bucks.

More info here or by emailing me...

Follow Frodo

Dear Hobbit-casters:

Happy Opening! May you slay all dragons.

Dear Everyone Else:

Jaeger and I will be making a little island trip with Hobbit intentions next weekend. Perhaps we'll see you there?

g to the j

J to the 'aeger

Dear friends,

You know you love Kate.

You know you love cowgirls.

You know you love stage combat.

You know you love twangy guitars.

This is your last chance to see Ms. Jaeger invovled in all of the above in Macha Monkey's production of The Cowgirl Play. (And even if you think you don't love those things, in order to prove me wrong, you'll just have to witness it!)

I'm going tonight. I realize this is a school night for you all, but there are also shows on Friday and Saturday.

If you're interested, you can get tickets here.

And now I shall teach some geometry concepts to fourth graders. (Let the jealousy waltz begin.)

There once was a girl with a little curl...

...right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very, very good. But when she was bad she was awful.

Unlike that little girl, mirrormask is NOT awful, in fact it's bloody brilliant. Just as you should all see Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal - you've got to see it.

So freakin' cool - can't even begin to explain it. It came out on Tuesday. Go to Blockbuster and rent it.

Go! Now! Why are you still here?!?

Radio On

Princess Umlaut let me know that the cd tracks didn't turn up when she played her cd, so here's a list of 'em:

• Lord, Blow the Moon Out Please, Hem, Rabbit Songs
• By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Doris Day, Somebody Loves Me
• Waltzing Me All the Way Home, The 6ths, Hyacinths & Thistles
• Del, Awesome, Delaware
• Martha My Dear, The Beatles, White Album
• It's Only a Paper Moon, Ella Fitzgerald & The Delta Rhythm Boys, Ella & Friends
• That's My Weakness Now, Cliff Edwards (Ukulele Ike), Singin' in the Rain
• Memories, Michael Tilson Thomas (Charles Ives), An American Journey
• The Left-Sock Thievers, Dr. Seuss, The Cat In The Hat Songbook
• Red Clay Halo, Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)
• I Wish I Was The Moon, Neko Case, Blacklisted
• 1-2 Crush on You, The Clash, Super Black Market Clash
• Griselda, Yo La Tengo, Fakebook
• Fred No Frevo, Ney Rosauro, Brazilian Music for Percussion Ensemble
• Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step-Mother!, Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
• Little Birdy, Kristin Hersh; Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight
• Think About Your Troubles, Harry Nilsson, The Point!
• High on a Mountain Top, Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
• Peacherine Rag, Dick Hyman, Scott Joplin Greatest Hits
• My Favorite Plum, Suzanne Vega, Nine Objects of Desire
• Prairie Fire That Wanders About, Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
• Pink Elisa Spring, Julie Spencer, Ask
• Nothing Matters When We're Dancing, Magnetic Fields; 69 Love Songs, Volume 1
• The Man with the Lightbulb Head, Robyn Hitchcock, Uncorrected Personality Traits
• Refrain's (Always) the Same, Cynthia Hopkins, Accidental Nostalgia
• I'll Shoot The Moon, Tom Waits, The Black Rider
• The Beast In Me, Johnny Cash, American Recordings
• Felaline (with vocals) , Erin Jorgensen, MAGIC (YTN)

If you'd prefer pdf format, you can download that here.

Week One

Whelp, one week down or under your belts or wherever you like to put things after they're completed.

Congratulations to all--I hope you're none too lonely with some evenings off...or off from YTN at least.

I found that, even though I was watching the run of another show I directed, I was wishing I was watching this one. (But, shhh, don't tell anybody because those actors will get so sad and they have to tour all over the place.)

Two things you should all know about:

• our photo shoot will likely be Saturday, February 4 and split before and after the matinee
• Erin and I are working on a time when all the singers can get together with her to record all of the songs with your voices so we have a little soundtrack-y!

I'd love to hear how the shows went for the rest of this weekend...and I can't wait to see it again next week!

(Speaking of photos...I know some of you have, like, one million photographs of this little play...would it kill you to post some of them here? Jeez. I mean, "please.")

The Place Where I Was Born

Hello, all--just a little shout from the mile high city...DENVER! So far today I've seen the hospital in which I was born, a huge blue bear peering into the window of the convention center (okay, like, not a real bear, but it was about 60 feet tall and had the look of "hey, what're you guys doing? do you have any fish?"), theatre folk from all over the country, and hours and hours of sunshine. (Although it's supposed to snow tomorrow.)

I hope finals are going well for everyone. I definitely miss being in rehearsal, but I got to talk about it with folk tonight, so that was a little something.

I also hope, of course, that you are finding time to allow the images of your characters and our show to creep into your head (perhaps the songs...) when they will and that those images are inspiring and not distracting.

I may well have new thoughts for you all as the days progress--though we're in workshops pretty much from 9:30am-9:30pm, so I might hit Starey Joe mode before I hit "I think I'll post some tips and tricks to my dearest ensemble cast" mode.

Know that you are all missed and that I am very proud of the work you're doing in Magic.

(Yes, Gagliardo, even you.)

Wallflower

Now with 50% less spike tape.

Dear non-squirted kittens,

Just another little thanks for keeping it all together today. I know it's no fun shifting from being real boys and girls into seemingly wooden puppets manipulated by a "hold please" here and a "take it again" there, but y'all sure are looking good under those lights and it's only going to get better. (And we at the tech tables really are sorry that there's no way to gage exactly when we'll need you during a Q-to-Q.)

As mentioned, Act II will be completed on Monday evening and then we'll move into a work-through (between which we'll do song/fight call).

As a reminder, Heather will be in on Monday and Tuesday to pull each of you at varying times for costume fittings. (Costume fittings!)

Watch your in-boxes tomorrow for love notes in the form of notes from Thursday's run!

And now, for your previewing pleasure, here are my Director's Notes for our program:

Director's notes, huh? In my own words? Oh, I've got 'em. Too many of them, sometimes: isn't it important to figure out what you think and say so?

What I'm thinking is everywhere in this production: how I feel about theatre, how I feel about storytelling, how I feel about magic--imagined and real. Those thoughts are there for you to interpret. They can also be found within Geoff Ryman's notes about his excellent book Was (a re-imagining of the worlds of The Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum, and Judy Garland):

I fell in love with realism because it deflates the myths, the unexamined ideas of fantasy. It confronts forgotten facts. It uses past truth--history.

I love fantasy because it reminds us how far short our lives fall from their full potential. Fantasy reminds us how wonderful the world is. In fantasy, we can imagine a better life, a better future. In fantasy, we can free ourselves from history and outworn realism.

Oz is, after all, only a place with flowers and birds and rivers and hills. Everything is alive there, as it is here if we care to see it. Tomorrow, we could all decide to live in a place not much different from Oz. We don't. We continue to make the world an ugly, even murderous place, for reasons we do not understand.

Those reasons lie in both fantasy and history. Where we are gripped by history--our own personal history, our country's history. Where we are deluded by fantasy--our own fantasy, our country's fantasy. It is necessary to distinguish between history and fantasy wherever possible.

And then use them against each other.

And that's the world and spirit I hope we have created for you with Magic. I hope it is silly and frightening. I hope it is giddy and beguiling. I hope its flowers and birds and rivers and hills are alive...even though it's just a play.

And I hope you find your own words to describe it all.

Hey, everybody!

I don't think you all realize how much I love tech. See, because I know it's a lot of standing around, but it's when we finally get to move from "pretend really hard that the play is happening" to "ooooo, stuff!"

Y'know, stuff: like spike tape and glow tape and gaff tape. (Oh, my!)

But really, it's when you can be a theatre bad-ass (a what?) and solve problems that make the whole show better.

If you start getting antsy just know I'm looking at you and thinking "you shur look purdy under them lights."

And, just as a reminder, please remember: the squirt bottles are aimed directly into your ears, you little kittens.

Swallow You Whole

Hello, superstars.

We've got a new song to use for Belly of the Beast: Erin is arranging Johnny Cash's The Beast in Me. Here are the lyrics:

The beast in me
Is caged by frail and fragile bars
Restless by day
And by night rants and rages at the stars
God help the beast in me

The beast in me
Has had to learn to live with pain
And how to shelter from the rain
And in the twinkling of an eye
Might have to be restrained
God help the beast in me

Sometimes it tries to kid me
That it's just a teddy bear
And even somehow manage to vanish in the air
And that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me that everybody knows
They've seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear if it's New York or New Year
God help the beast in me

The beast in me

Heather and I met this morning about costumes: you all are going to look freaking awesome.

Flying puppies

Just thought I would share - I'm sitting here in the Dallas airport waiting to come home to Seattle. I was reading the blog and thinking about how excited I am to get back home and back to work on the show. Of course I have headphones on and am sitting on the floor, so I'm all in my own little world and I feel something hit my leg. Ready to yell at the person I think is about to step on me I looked over and there was a little puppy saying hello. Puppy love is better than being stepped on any day!

Also, I expect them to start requiring passports to visit Texas soon - it just HAS to be a different country. Everything here is so BIG!

See you all soon (hope you've been working on your lines!!!!).

Diversionary Tactic

Who doesn't like looking at wedding photographs? The bitter, that's who.

Here's a link to the wedding photos of Heather, our lovely costume designer. Guess who made her dress?

Holiday Cheer

My peeps! I'm starting to get a little too excited about tonight's work-through of Act I. It's making it very difficult for me to focus on the b-e-a-utiful curriculum I'm finishing up for an in-school residency. So, I'm using all that unfocused energy to do, what else, make a list. In this case, it is a list of some theatre you all could see during your holiday break (if you have a break). Click on the title to read more about each show:

The Snowflake Factory (think Roald Dahl, think Lemony Snicket)
Wonderful Life (not that one)
Little Women (our playwright is in this)
Holiday Triple X(this is at Meghan Arnette's theatre)
EveryXMasStoryEverTold (I know the director...)
Stones in His Pockets (click and scroll down to read about this show)

And I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I thought of right away. I have only seen one of these so far (Stones in His Pockets; it was fantastic), but am planning on more...and so should you.

The End.

My Unceasingly Fabulous Family

Can you believe I forgot to add a link to Erin's website. I mean, my own sister! And our composer.

Well, it's there now. Give it a click, ye procrastinators.

Writing your bios...

Is fun for me, but not THAT fun.

You must get it in to me by today or that's exactly what will happen.

I'm totally not kidding. Please email it by midnight tomorrow.

okaybye
meggan

Bring your parents!

Hey, you guys! Yeah, you! Bring your parents with you to rehearsal on Monday. We want to have a parent meeting, and it's really hard to do that without parents.

So yeah, please bring them along. They'll need to stay until 6:45 or 7:00.

Okay great, thanks.

So. Much. Information.

It's all there, friends:
Meggan and I hacked out (lovingly) the rehearsal schedule. Click on the Production Calendar link to marvel at its wonder. To see all pertinent info (whether or not you're called, what we're working on, who's the AD), click on the item. You can view it day by day in the calendar or as a monthly list (scroll down, yo).

Totally Important Downloads now contains such glossy monstrosities as the Cast List and more Scene/Page Breakdowns than you even knew were possible: and color-coordinated!

Happy Thanksgiving!

homework- kinda

Hey! So check this out:

Double Dutch

There's an xbox commercial here with a bunch of people jumping rope. I really don't know what it has to do with the xbox, but the commercial is freakin' cool - so go look.

Raise your hand if you can jump rope like these guys!!

-Greetings from Gillian & Meggan, who're creating the "official" schedule right now

The Monster That Was in Your Closet

I just got back from our first production meeting and found myself describing a costume image as follows:

"It's like when you're lying in your bed at night and there's just enough moonlight to make all the things in your closet look strange and scary. So what if everyone on stage looked a little bit like everything in your closet had come to life?"

So. I ask you: which article of clothing came to life for you? The old sweater that you're pretending is cleaning itself while it's hanging in the far reaches? Your favorite skirt? That pair of pants with the grass stains and holes patched with old bandanas? The tie rack? The basketball uniform that you should have turned in when the season ended? The pile of mismatched socks? The box of holiday decorations?

Huh? Huh? What came to life to make you?