If I'd Had a Pet Like This as a Kid, the Bullies Woulda Been His Lunch

Have you seen this?


The tyrannosaurus rex wishes it were this guy. Teeth a foot long. A skull double the size of T.R.'s. A bite with 4 times the force. Coming in at about 50 feet long, 45 tons. It's a new species of pliosaur that the paleontologists have dubbed "Predator X" -- which sounds like a great name for a bad Sci-Fi movie. How long ya think it'll take 'em to make that one?

The Last Coupla Weeks

We've been plugging along on Heidi rehearsals the last couple of weeks.

Early on, I had to try on wooden clogs -- like these:
Turns out those clogs were meant for the character "Peter," not the actor Peter (I'm sometimes called "the real Peter" in rehearsal now). That's all fine with me -- I'm quite happy to have tried them on, and quite happy that I wasn't going to be wearing them during the show -- they weren't uncomfortable, but they're not very practical. Like wearing a pair of small boats. Or really short stilts. I suspect it was a fashion thing, like high heels, except without the pain (turns out they won't be in the show, anyway -- too impractical).

We're using goat puppets in the show, so I've been researching goat movement with some help from YouTube. It just so happens that there is a kind of goat that faints (sort of) when startled, due to a genetic disorder called myotonia congenita. Think that's odd? How about this: The International Fainting Goats Association, an organization dedicated to the breeding and showing these goats.

And I and most of the rest of the cast and various other folks from Imagination Stage went to the residence of the Swiss ambassador for a little soiree.  We performed a couple of songs from the show, and we listened to a few brief speeches from the ambassador and some of the Imagination Stage higher-ups. Then time for drinks, hors d' oeuvres, and shmoozing. The ambassador's residence is a spectacular pad designed by Steven Holl. Check the link for details and pics, it's a very green, award winning, modern building.

Non-Heidi related: last Sunday, I was part of a staged reading of Sam Shepard's Unseen Hand at Rep Stage. Not many people in the audience, maybe a dozen, but we expected low number because of the date change. One of Shepard's earlier pieces, it's an interesting, odd play -- a 120 year old cowboy-outlaw, a genetically-modified baboon from another planet, with some social commentary.

3 Months

So, what's happened in three months?

Performed in that scene from Eccentricities of the Nightingale.

Choreographed / coached the fights / violence for two more scenes for that Studio Theatre directing class -- one from Speed the Plow, which Yvonne Erickson directed, the other from The Dutchman directed by Phoebe Duncan. A lot of that turned out to be not so much violence itself, but creating the threat of violence, which in a way is more valuable -- the threat continues the tension.

Went to Mississippi with Jenny, to visit relations. We also visited Elvis Presley's birthplace (Tupelo).
Came up with some anagrams. Here you go:
DICK CHENEY = NEEDY CHICK
TOM CRUISE = MICE TOURS
PETER BOYER = TOY PER BEER (or, BEER PER TOY, take your pick)

Watched the inauguration of Barack Obama. On TV, we didn't go into the city. But it was still cool.

Did a quick industrial for the FAA. Me in coat and tie, and reading (somewhat, I knew the script fairly well) a teleprompter sitting over the other guy's shoulder. Acting while using a teleprompter is odd, because you're "reacting" to someone you're not actually looking at (from the camera angle, you can't tell that we're not actually looking at each other).

(A friend of mine turned into a polar bear.)

Gave a pretty decent audition at the AEA Liaison Committee auditions -- annual auditions for DC / Baltimore area Equity theatres (and a casting agent or two).

Got a call about a callback for a show at Folger, but that didn't pan out due to that show's overlap with Heidi.

Had a callback for Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center.

Auditioned for a small indie film. Got the role. Then shortly before the shoot date arrived in mid-February, the director *disappeared*. He won't return calls or e-mails. I'm still looking for him, so that if he doesn't have a really good reason, I can talk to him like an angry New Yorker.

PA'ed (PA = production assistant) for a photo shoot for a training thing for the TSA, done at Dulles Airport. Three days, and on the third day I was also a model.

Had a couple of callbacks for shows at Imagination Stage.

Almost did a staged reading for Rep Stage of Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand -- postponed because of the arrival of snow.

As you can clearly see, the last three months have been uneventful.

Rehearsals for Heidi start tomorrow. And that staged reading I just mentioned was rescheduled for Sunday, March 15th at 2pm, being presented at Howard Community College, in Columbia, MD -- and it's free, yo.

Ferrets of the English Restoration

I'm in rehearsals for a scene from The Eccentricities of a Nightingale by Tennessee Williams, playing the role of John -- Natasha Staley is playing Alma, Yvonne Erickson is directing the scene. This for the directing class at the Studio Theatre.

By the way, I did a few drawings during the run of The Way of the World. Here's one:

Kicking

Recent news:

The Way of the World has closed. Great cast, I'll miss those folks.

I'm also proud of my work as an understudy. I believe that good understudies are very underrated. They are like kickers in football, little attention but major day savers -- would the Colts or the Pats have made it to the superbowl without Adam Vinatieri? Can you name any other kickers? Have you noticed how many games are won by last-second field goals?

Doing My Job

Understudies often get very little rehearsal time, and it often happens after the first audiences show up.

I put in a lot of hours at the Shakespeare Theatre in rehearsals for The Way of The World. Some of those hours were spent in the greenroom, waiting to rehearse my little bits. I read, I chatted, I went over lines and blocking for my roles ("The Messenger" and "The Footman") and my understudy roles ("Witwould" and "Petulant").

I've known some understudies who've done little or no preparation, and fortunately not gone on. And I've heard horror stories of those that had. Some people think I have good discipline, but really it's the fear of embarrassment. I can't handle the stress of praying please don't let me be put on the spot today I'm not ready. Better to put in the work, relax, and not go on, than to go on unprepared and embarrass the theatre and myself.

Saturday, Oct. 4th: unforeseen circumstances threw me into the role of "Petulant" for two preview performances. Suddenly I was in front of an audience, trying to hold my own with actors who had been rehearsing these scenes for weeks. At this point, I had only officially rehearsed the first scene in this role, and never with the regular actors.

But I had done my prepwork. Both shows went off without a hitch. I even managed to cover someone else's line flub by slightly changing one of mine. The first performance fried my brain; the second performance, I had some fun. I even had a number of compliments from peers who were onstage with me and in the audience that day.

Thank you, just doing my job.

DUSTIN LOOMIS = SMILODON SUIT

This a picture of Dustin Loomis and Barbara Callander in Unnecessary Farce, currently showing at Wayside Theatre and getting great reviews.

Dustin and I worked together once on a production of Twelfth Night at Cumberland Theatre.

"Dustin Loomis" is an anagram for "Smilodon Suit."

Coincidence? Some look to anagrams to reveal hidden meanings.

Could Mr. Loomis actually be a prehistoric creature in human disguise? The smilodon (a.k.a. the "saber-toothed tiger"), if standing on its hind legs, would be rather tall. And Dustin is rather tall . . . .

Playing Ketchup

I've been a busy boy. Baltimore Shakespeare Festival's Taming of the Shrew opened July 18th, closed August 3rd. I started rehearsals for Wayside Theatre's Moonlight and Magnolias on July 22nd, which opened August 8th and closed August 24th.

Wayside and BSF are 115 miles apart, so to pull off both shows with these the overlapping dates, I did a lot of driving -- 2000 miles in 2 weeks. Add to that, both shows involve a lot of scenery chewing. By the time Shrew closed and we got into the final week of rehearsal for M&M, I was getting a bit googly-eyed. But -- I was having a ball, being so busy doing what I like.

Three days after M&M closed, I started rehearsals for Way of the World at the Shakespeare Theatre. It's a rare and beautiful thing in this business to go from one job right to another like that.

And here's a link to pictures from Moonlight & Magnolias.

DEMETRIUS, P. 5!

Way cool:

Jen and I were talking on the phone today -- she's out of town for a few weeks -- and she said, "Guess who called me today."

"Who?"

"Demetrius."

!!!!!

He called her and left a voice message.

We'd both been wanting to call him, but nervous about it -- so we were going to talk with friends who were more "in the know" first.

But then Dee beat us to it.

Rock on.

(Image via)

Check Out The Shrew

No, not that one.

This one:

The Taming of the Shrew opens tonight "In the meadow at the Evergreen Museum and Library." Yup, it's outdoors, so bring your lawn chairs or blankets, your picnic basket, and some nicely chilled vino or brew, and have yourself a grand time!