tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66920012008-07-11T11:04:18.082-07:00Mayanoreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-12299207802905890952008-07-07T15:07:00.000-07:002008-07-11T11:04:18.112-07:00

just watched Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. Certainly, there was a miscarriage of justice and Polanski should have gotten away with certain things simply based on procedural issues. But of course the question is--how is it that, even over time, the rape of a 13-year old child becomes acceptable, melts away into the regard for his genius? Or even at the time? The 15-year old Natassja

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-51594674016739836012008-06-23T10:22:00.000-07:002008-06-23T14:41:59.649-07:00

This weekend, I went back to Port Gibson, Mississippi for the first time since 2004.  My boss, Patty Crosby, was retiring from Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, an organization she founded 30 years ago.   Going back to Port Gibson, honoring Patty and celebrating her and the unbelievable body of work which she and her husband Dave have created over the past 30 years has been very humbling for me,

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-86682203370233510782008-02-27T17:49:00.000-08:002008-02-28T08:33:34.911-08:00

Spent two weeks in Patagonia with Ben, a place I've wanted to go since reading Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia 7 years ago (with thanks to Mr. Hancock and Ms. Hanway). It was the brief tourist version, of course--but in some very powerful ways, fulfilled the dream. Why is it so exciting to just be somewhere, to just go somewhere and know you're there? Just being in Tierra del Fuego, at

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-43690292762115955582007-12-28T14:41:00.000-08:002007-12-28T14:45:17.356-08:00

Sam Hurwitt of the East Bay Express saw fit to name CLOWN BIBLE the best show in the East Bay, 2007. Ok, well, maybe it wasn't really in any order, but it was a top ten list, and we were #1. Above Les Waters' Pillowman at Berkeley Rep. Go see! He also said Dave's songs made for the Best Onstage Music of the Year, "because it was impossible to come away from Clown Bible not singing, "I'm

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-15035116311145178282007-11-20T10:03:00.000-08:002007-11-20T10:08:47.581-08:00

The fantastic Annie Dorsen (she most recently directed and guided the development of Stew's outstanding Passing Strange, which was at both Berkeley Rep and the Public) is finally doing a project she's had in the works for years--adapting to stage (conceptually, of course) de Toqueville's Democracy in America. It begins with this, at Joe's Pub in NYC, this coming Monday, November 26. [Annie]

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-87526724369280854492007-11-20T09:59:00.001-08:002007-11-20T10:03:08.263-08:00

in the dream, I'm wearing sexy but conservative grown-up clothes--button up shirt, well-cut skirt, pumps, in dark and neutral colors--with the exception of the tights, which are crazily vertically striped in dark blue and white. As I walk up the stairs to the little upper cafe floor overlooking the rest of the cafe, a man eating (blond, not at all pretty, kind of big and Britishy) stops and

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-49012545860760252062007-11-20T09:07:00.000-08:002007-11-20T09:58:44.865-08:00

Ben and I got married on November 11. It was a truly joyous occasion, full of love and friendship and family. A perfect weekend--from the Chinese banquet and wild karaoke on Friday night, to bagels and coffee at the Gliderport overlooking the ocean on Saturday morning, to the delicious Israeli food and wonderful vibe of my parents' house on Saturday night, to the Sunday morning ceremony and

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-16705517962358693072007-08-07T17:45:00.000-07:002007-08-07T18:03:25.494-07:00

I haven't written since April. I think it will stop being busy, but no. Once CLOWN BIBLE closed, it was tech and opening HAIR. Once HAIR closed, it was pulling together a final performance and ending the school year in East Oakland. Obligations with day job copywriting, obligations with other theater projects that I had a hand in here and there. Once that was done, and I had a full night's

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-22914052454873376632007-04-09T09:00:00.000-07:002007-04-11T14:05:54.768-07:00

I am happy to report that, on Week Three of our run, CLOWN BIBLE finally came together. Week One, we were just trying to avoid total disaster. Week Two, we were tightening farty awkward transitions, and in straining to really clean the damn thing up kind of lost the play of clown. I don't think a single show went by without major changes. Last weekend, we seemed to find the balance. Adding a

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-67005766790564339292007-03-30T10:15:00.000-07:002007-03-30T10:20:37.742-07:00

So we opened CLOWN BIBLE last weekend. I didn't realize how much I missed my cast until our brush-up rehearsal last night. Opening weekend was a trip--and we got great reviews: From our review in the East Bay Express: "hilarious, haunting, and unexpectedly challenging in the hands of Ten Red Hen. Their no-budget {The 99-cent} Miss Saigon was a hard act to follow, but CLOWN BIBLE is better.

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-18387393309559348372007-03-12T11:42:00.000-07:002007-03-12T12:07:19.479-07:00

I don't know why this is--let's blame it on the path that led to me directing: years of being a bad ballet dancer, followed by the years of being an insecure actor--but I have never been very good about demanding resources. I'm demand a lot of my actors, I'm great at demanding a lot of myself, but demanding a stage manager? A real set? Demanding tech? Forget it. There seems to be a part of

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-87965788127661857402007-03-02T11:39:00.000-08:002007-03-03T08:22:42.586-08:00

I am so ashamed that I haven't been blogging--I have been very, very busy. Don't believe me? This year, I've been teaching an Intro Drama class at a high school, the East Oakland School of the Arts (formerly Castlemont) through my employing organization, Opera Piccola. This semester, my class will be doing Week 21 of 365 Days/365 Plays, so I have been generating a syllabus that takes my high

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-29621843603239711692007-03-01T14:31:00.000-08:002007-03-01T14:33:55.319-08:00

Whole new website redesign to be unveiled in the next few days, with all the information about Ten Red Hen's next show (and the reason I haven't been blogging in the past 3 months), CLOWN BIBLE. Working directly from Biblical text, we have translated the tales, familiar and obscure, into an experimental, live theatrical event – combining a full musical score, acrobatics and dance with the broad

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-68678445447960808142006-12-08T14:03:00.000-08:002006-12-08T14:29:36.329-08:00

Info released! Please come tonight! 2915 26th Street(@Bryant), San Francisco, CA, Earth Close to the Cesar Chavez exit off of 101, if that matters to you. or even if it doesn't, actually. More info, as always, here!

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-55308787879505882152006-11-29T09:15:00.000-08:002006-11-29T09:17:30.372-08:00

I've never posted an audition notice on the blog. Let's see how it goes, yes? As some of you know, Ten Red Hen's next production is CLOWN BIBLE. A musical, highly physical, exploration of Bible stories, CLOWN BIBLE will trace the running gags of masculinity, power and corruption that run throughout the Holiest of Texts. The show will be brought to you by the same team that put on {The 99-

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-69646889527748358752006-11-26T11:40:00.000-08:002006-11-26T11:47:14.395-08:00

I just reread it, and I admit it, it doesn't make sense. But I do have something to write about the ensemble created/performer created theater "movement", such as it is, and about the theoretical contradictions in the lingo and technique w/r/t notions of "the psychological", the need for intellectual inquiry and context that's so often lacking, and how the tools end up most effective when

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-61555966874143260352006-11-25T11:37:00.000-08:002006-11-25T12:50:04.951-08:00

Of course I wait until plays are closed or almost closing to do this, but here goes: Love is a Dream House in Lorin, by Marcus Gardley, dir. Aaron Davidman, Shotgun Players (CLOSED) This play was the culmination of a 2-year long process of creating a theater piece about the Lorin District of South Berkeley--deep research, story circles, and ulitmately a play (with a combination professional

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-9086602405540069182006-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:002006-11-20T11:08:48.877-08:00

If you notice over on the sidebar, there are a heck of a lot of plays currently going on in the Bay Area that are terrific. Which never happens. Anywhere. At any time. Is the world ending? I'm serious, the other week I actually saw two entirely wonderful plays two nights in a row. This has never happened to me. And then I saw another great one this week--and my colleagues with similarly

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-79066670141308475792006-11-20T10:37:00.000-08:002006-11-20T10:44:44.888-08:00

Jerry Langford weighs in again: Saw one of the most haunting evenings of theatre ever last night--Woodruff's production of the Philip Glass/David Henry Hwang chamber operas The Sound of a Voice and Hotel of Dreams. Two short pieces where Glass compresses his oceanic style into six, mostly Asian-derived instruments and two voices. In the first, a samurai stops and stays in a rural hut where a

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1162915458171780322006-11-07T07:35:00.000-08:002006-11-09T01:42:21.887-08:00

I have reviews of the three Bay Area plays on the sidebar and a longer update coming soon--but first: 365 Plays / 365 Days In 2002, Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of these plays will be performed as a year-long festival in major cities and communities across the country, spearheaded by Suzan-Lori

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1162323994557834572006-10-31T11:28:00.000-08:002006-11-09T01:42:21.548-08:00

So I dragged Ben and Hao to the Pirates of Emerson, an annual haunted house in the wilds of Fremont. It was a last minute decision, goaded by the good folks at Haunted Bay and my sudden need to be a kid for a moment. It was ok--clearly a ton of work and money had been poured into it and there was lots of animatronic spectacle. As I walked through it, though, I realized that a haunted house

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1162228413419758572006-10-30T08:02:00.000-08:002006-11-09T01:05:30.206-08:00

There are times when blogging really pays off. In June, I wrote about the recent big changes happening at Unto These Hills, an outdoor drama in Cherokee, NC. They were finally updating the racist 50-year old script. This weekend, I received a thorough, measured review of the new production by Keith Best, a former cast member of the old show, who also blogs at Castle of Stink. He currently

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1162002474326285412006-10-27T18:58:00.000-07:002006-11-09T01:05:29.945-08:00

1. Excellent point, Parabasis, that I fell into the trap (which I myself hate) of some nostalgia fantasy of "when things were better." Who knows if things were better? Probably there was just as much crap in the 60s downtown or in the heydey of vaudeville--and we just know about what was worth remembering. But I vehemently disagree about "Thing" being so difficult to achieve. Right now, I'm

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1161888959807770312006-10-26T11:07:00.001-07:002006-11-09T01:05:29.523-08:00

Dan Trujillo has a thoughtful response to Mr. Feingold, requesting further precision--go read it. And I guess I would respond by saying: yes, Feingold is general, because it is generally that big of a problem. So what is the "it" that's such a problem? you ask and quite rightly, be specific! I will sound vague. But it's a stunning lack of the Thing, which I've written about before. You know

Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692001.post-1161703418485655962006-10-24T08:21:00.000-07:002006-11-09T01:05:28.827-08:00

The irascible and honest Mr. Feingold tells it like it is in this week's Village Voice. (Thanks for the link, Matt). Such a relief to see someone say it in print, I can't tell you. I haven't been writing because I've been very busy--teaching, getting the company together, working on projects. Longer update to come.

Mayanoreply@blogger.com