This past weekend was my first weekend home with no shows. Brian took the kids up to see his parents and I had the weekend to myself. Now, if you read my last post, you'll know that I'm wondering, contemplating, thinking about full-time work and what that would look like. My voice teacher last week sat down and talked to me about my career and life goals and told me I needed to buy the book What Color is Your Parachute and do the exercises. She actually gave me career-seeking homework.
So I went out, bought the book, leafed through it and promptly forgot about it. And, I did what any 40-something who is filled with apprehension about the future would do: I went to the movies. Not just once, mind you. 4 movies in 2 days. It was a great weekend.
Okay, 2 of the movies I watched at home but still, it was a great weekend.
Friday night, I went to dinner with girlfriends and then we had drinks after so when I woke up Saturday, I was feeling a little ugh. Then I realized I didn't actually have to get up if I didn't want to so I flipped on the TV and Down with Love was just starting. That's the 2003 movie with Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger that's a take-off on the Rock Hudson and Doris Day sex comedies of the 1960s. It's so great and funny. You can watch it over breakfast, over lunch, over martinis, anytime. It's light and zany and just a real romp. Of course if you prefer angst-ridden indie films, this might not be the film for you.
Saturday afternoon I went to see Moneyball with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill about the Oakland A's General Manager who put together a winning team on a very small budget based purely on statistics. Interesting side note: The Oakland A's used to be the Philadelphia Athletics back when Philadelphia had both an American League and a National League team. And that's all I say about the Philadelphia teams in light of the Phillies disappointing loss last Friday. Back to the movie: It's fine, a good film. Interesting. If you see it, it's entertaining. If you miss you, you haven't missed much. Brad Pitt is enjoyable and so is Jonah Hill. The screenplay is by Aaron Sorkin so it's fun.
Saturday night after a beer with a friend (I just don't want you to think I was completely anti-social all weekend), I watched Cedar Rapids. Ed Helms plays an insurance agent who has to represent his company at an annual convention in Cedar Rapids, IA. He meets John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. who help him navigate the conference. I really liked this movie. Ed Helms is naive but not so much that he's pathetic. I hate those movies where the protagonist is so pathetic it hurts to watch. Mr. Apatow are you listening? I watched Bridesmaids a few weeks ago which critics hailed as a woman's version of an Apatow film. I found Kristen Wiig's character to pathetic to watch. Cedar Rapids, good flick, endearing. Entertaining. Great for an easy movie night. Again, not really if you like angsty films.
Sunday, after grocery shopping and working out, I made it to Drive before the family returned. This is the Ryan Gosling picture where he plays a stunt driver and part-time get-away driver who gets mixed up with the wrong criminals. This may be the film for you if you like angst films. It's dark. Not a lot of dialogue. Bryan Cranston is great in it and Albert Brooks holds his own. Oddly, when you first see it, the production values almost resemble a 1980's teenage comedy but it's certainly not that. I'm still intrigued by it. If you love films, and you want something different then this is a film for you. But be warned, the violence is on a level that would make Quentin Tarantino proud. It might even make him jealous.
Not a bad weekend, huh? Some people have retail therapy when they are down, I've got cinema therapy. And it works.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
eXtremely pUblic
Okay, I'm finally back. I was off doing a show for the past two months and got out of the blogging habit and then the new non-blogging habit stuck so I had to break that. It's like a cycle with me, I know.
I wasn't signed up for a show this fall but the SM couldn't do it so I got called at the last minute (last two weeks of July to start in August) from this theater that I have never worked with, New Paradise Laboratories. They do experimental, devised works which, to put it in layman's terms, means making it up as you go along. But seriously, they do some wild stuff and it's really good. The Artistic Director, who also works at the Arden, is often referred to as a mad genius. He's also one of the only directors I know who does racy, adult stuff with New Paradise and then directs these amazing children's shows at the Arden.
This show was entitled Extremely Public Displays of Privacy. It had an entirely different format from what you expect from a theater show. The first act was a website where you learned about Fess Elliot and her budding "friendship" with Beatrix Luff. See, Fess is this 40 something mother and music teacher who used to be in a band. She walked off the stage one day "fed up with the bullshit of the music business," became a teacher and got married. In Act 1, you learn that on ChatRoulette one night she meets Beatrix and plays a song for her. Beatrix loves the song, they become Facebook friends, and Bea starts remaking Fess' songs and adding videos, etc.
So Fess wants to meet Bea. But before she can do that, Bea makes her go through a series of public displays which brings us to Act 2; a walking tour. An audience member downloads video onto his/her phone and walks through parts of Center City Philadelphia watching Fess perform these public displays on the phone. It's hard to explain but you (if you were the audience member) would stand at the fountain and watch Fess jump into the fountain on your phone. It's pretty neat. That was the first half of our rehearsal process, filming Act 2. It was pretty cool: we had middle of the night shoots, early morning shoots. It felt very Hollywood. My major responsibility was holding the wipies and driving the van which is probably all I'd be doing in Hollywood. Although, I'd probably get paid more for it.
So Act 3 is supposed to be a concert that Bea has concocted but Fess is fed up with Bea so she goes into hiding. The concert is at this secret location that audience members are told at the last minute and a concert does indeed happen plus stories and stuff. That was the most "normal theater" part of the show. Well, except for the secret location part.
The whole thing was neat to work on as I had never done devised work before. Also, the subject matter was close to my heart. It's really about how Fess, in her 40's might regret giving up her music and trying to figure out how to bring that back into her life. It's also about how the internet has changed how we view things. Really, we can get anything we want with just a few clicks of the mouse button. But is getting that good for us? Is it what we really want? The director called the show lonely and it really is because no one else can figure out these answers for us.
If you are interested in checking out Act 1, which I believe is still up, here's the website: http://extremelypublicdisplays.com/of/privacy As a side note, the actress who played Fess wrote all the songs for the show herself. She's a great musician and listening to her music every night was one of the highlights of the production.
I've been thinking about the show for a while now. My kids are older so I could get a full-time job because they are so much more self-sufficient. It might also help my attitude since it's getting really, really boring to vacuum again and again and again. But I love stage managing and I would do it more but that only takes me away from my family too much. I wouldn't have the vacuuming but I also wouldn't have my family. Of course, the next questions are: what type of job do I get? how do I keep theater in my life? The show really struck a nerve with me as you can tell. And I think that's one of the things I love about theater: how a story can really speak to you and you realize "oh! I'm not alone, other people feel this way too." And I don't really want to give that up. See?! Can you see my dilemma?
I wasn't signed up for a show this fall but the SM couldn't do it so I got called at the last minute (last two weeks of July to start in August) from this theater that I have never worked with, New Paradise Laboratories. They do experimental, devised works which, to put it in layman's terms, means making it up as you go along. But seriously, they do some wild stuff and it's really good. The Artistic Director, who also works at the Arden, is often referred to as a mad genius. He's also one of the only directors I know who does racy, adult stuff with New Paradise and then directs these amazing children's shows at the Arden.
This show was entitled Extremely Public Displays of Privacy. It had an entirely different format from what you expect from a theater show. The first act was a website where you learned about Fess Elliot and her budding "friendship" with Beatrix Luff. See, Fess is this 40 something mother and music teacher who used to be in a band. She walked off the stage one day "fed up with the bullshit of the music business," became a teacher and got married. In Act 1, you learn that on ChatRoulette one night she meets Beatrix and plays a song for her. Beatrix loves the song, they become Facebook friends, and Bea starts remaking Fess' songs and adding videos, etc.
So Fess wants to meet Bea. But before she can do that, Bea makes her go through a series of public displays which brings us to Act 2; a walking tour. An audience member downloads video onto his/her phone and walks through parts of Center City Philadelphia watching Fess perform these public displays on the phone. It's hard to explain but you (if you were the audience member) would stand at the fountain and watch Fess jump into the fountain on your phone. It's pretty neat. That was the first half of our rehearsal process, filming Act 2. It was pretty cool: we had middle of the night shoots, early morning shoots. It felt very Hollywood. My major responsibility was holding the wipies and driving the van which is probably all I'd be doing in Hollywood. Although, I'd probably get paid more for it.
So Act 3 is supposed to be a concert that Bea has concocted but Fess is fed up with Bea so she goes into hiding. The concert is at this secret location that audience members are told at the last minute and a concert does indeed happen plus stories and stuff. That was the most "normal theater" part of the show. Well, except for the secret location part.
The whole thing was neat to work on as I had never done devised work before. Also, the subject matter was close to my heart. It's really about how Fess, in her 40's might regret giving up her music and trying to figure out how to bring that back into her life. It's also about how the internet has changed how we view things. Really, we can get anything we want with just a few clicks of the mouse button. But is getting that good for us? Is it what we really want? The director called the show lonely and it really is because no one else can figure out these answers for us.
If you are interested in checking out Act 1, which I believe is still up, here's the website: http://extremelypublicdisplays.com/of/privacy As a side note, the actress who played Fess wrote all the songs for the show herself. She's a great musician and listening to her music every night was one of the highlights of the production.
I've been thinking about the show for a while now. My kids are older so I could get a full-time job because they are so much more self-sufficient. It might also help my attitude since it's getting really, really boring to vacuum again and again and again. But I love stage managing and I would do it more but that only takes me away from my family too much. I wouldn't have the vacuuming but I also wouldn't have my family. Of course, the next questions are: what type of job do I get? how do I keep theater in my life? The show really struck a nerve with me as you can tell. And I think that's one of the things I love about theater: how a story can really speak to you and you realize "oh! I'm not alone, other people feel this way too." And I don't really want to give that up. See?! Can you see my dilemma?
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