What is a d20?

Allright, so there have been some questions about what on Earth a d20 is.  And since the whole jist of my blog depends on this item, I thought I'd let you in on an important piece of knowledge.    The following picture is very important:

Those are dice.  I imagine you could've figured that out, but just to be safe, I told you.  Now, those dice are in order from bottom-left to top-right: 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 12-sided, 10-sided (percentile), 10-sided (standard), 20-sided, and another 10-sided (percentile).  Most people are familiar with a 6-sided die.  It is the little cube shaped die that comes in games like Monopoly.  The one that we're going to be worrying about for this column is the white-colored polyhedron.  It has 20 sides and is numbered 1-20.  It is also the die that an entire system of role-playing games is based on...called the d20 system.   Hope that explains it to some degree!

Later today, or sometime tomorrow, I'll be giving my tables and dice a test run and let you know what I may or may not see on the first few days of the Fringe.

Bullfights and other Bull S%@t...

Okay, so my Fringe has gotten drastically more interesting over the past few days.  In the very first column of this blog I alluded to the fact that I've missed the majority of the last two Fringe Festivals because I was doing Sisters of Swing at the History Theatre each summer.  Originally I hadn't any conflicts for this year's Fringe, but now I've rejoined the cast of Carmen at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.  I was in the original production last fall, but couldn't do the remount.  Now that it's been extended, the guy who replaced me couldn't continue, so I'm now replacing him.  Fun, huh?

Now I'm going to miss a bunch of show slots.  I'll still be attending every slot that I don't have a show, but I feel bummed that I'll not be able to see something in every possible chunk o' the Fringe. 

That being said, I have a few things that I want to mention about the folks in Carmen with me.  First is the guy who I'm replacing, Kenny Kiser.  Kenny is in a show called Patrick & James: A Love Story.  Kenny is a dedicated performer who is very good at what he does.  We're I you, I'd add this one to "My Fringe."

Another Carmen-ite who is performing in the Fringe is Jill Anna Ponasik.  Jill possesses one of the best voices in the Twin Cities, in my opinion.  It is rich and luxurious, and I could listen to her sing all day.  So, the fact that she is going to be singing in Nautilus's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, excites me to no end.  You've got to make it to that show.  I'm sure you'll then agree with me that Jill Anna (I never know if I'm supposed to tack her middle name on to her first or not) is a performer to watch over the next few years.

Last rehearsal!!!
Last night was my last rehearsal for Dandelion Snow prior to our tech rehearsal.  It went really well.  Two times through the whole show, and I feel good.  I feel good anyway...endorphines...I've been working out...but, anyway...  This whole project has been an adventure, and I'm glad that I've been able to go on it.  I hope you'll join us for our opening night.  That's Saturday the 7th at 8:30 p.m. at the MCTC Whitney Mainstage.  You'll get to see a great show, and witness my first onstage gay kiss, and that'll be something, I'm sure!

Masturbatory Theatre

What is meant by the term "Masturbatory Theatre?"  Well, as far as I use it, the term means theatre that is done entirely for the sake of entertaining the folks who are on stage, rather than performing for the audience's benefit.  It is theatre by those who long to hear their own voices, or those who think that their perspective on life is remarkable beyond believe.  A subset of Masturbatory Theatre is the "Meaning of Life" play.

The Meaning of Life play is something often written by a first-time playwright who wants to pontificate about how brilliant he is for an hour or so.  Every playwright has written one of these plays.  Remember that I am a playwright when i say this.  Every playwright has written one.  However, the wise playwrights keep it to themselves, or show it to a few friends, get feedback and then hide it away from public view.  Unless you've had one helluva life, or you're a spiritual savant, you shouldn't be trying to preach the meaning of life at the age of 25!  Live a little, then get back to me.

With that in mind... I've assembled a list.  This is a list of shows that will potentially rise above the MT and MoL models, because they are from performers that have earned the right to share their views on what it all means.

1. An Empire Disguised as a Nation: A Call to Conscience -- If Dean J. Seal hasn't earned the right to pontificate about anything and everything, I don't know who has.  This is a show that is timely and needed.  I hope that all sorts o' folks will take it in and make it the "Farenheit 9/11" of our festival.
2. Goddess Menses and the Menstrual Show -- This show is proof that out of the mouth of babes comes wisdom for the ages.  This show was written 2 years ago by a bunch of teens and young adults at Youth Performance Company.  It looks at that monthly burden of all women and how it affects them and those around them.  Remarkably insightful, and fun.  Lat time I saw it the crowd of all women (excluding me) seemed really fired up and empowered by it.  Random cool thing:  If the script is done as it was originally written, one of the monologues is about me!
3. Whiskey Bars --I don't actually know anything about Big Empty Bar Productions, but I do know that the songs of Kurt Weill (Three Penny Opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony, etc.) are filled with great glimpses into the darker side of human life.  So, the material that makes up this one is more than solid.
4. Goats -- You know, I want to cull every bit of wisdom out of this show.  I want to know what it is that makes the mideast tick, what makes Israel what it is, and what it is that we're supposed to know so we can stop getting it wrong.
5. Delaware, and Other Lies -- Ari Hoptman is a comedian who's of a mold that isn't seen much anymore.  He looks at situations with a highly educated and witty mind, and he pulls some meaning from them.  He pulls so hard that his wit bends that meaning around and stretches is like taffy.  His comedy is insightful and Bob Newhart-esque.  It reminds us that we are higher life forms, sort of.

Changing Tables

I made an unfortunate discovery last night.  There are a lot of shows on the Fringe website that aren't listed in the pdf file that I got from the Fringe Office a few weeks ago.  A lot.  For the most part that's a great thing.  More to see.  But when you're already wearing your fingers down to the nubs making charts for each time-slot of the Fringe, finding extra shows that you have to add to your charts isn't a happy-happy-joy-joy. It is somewhat of a relief, however.  I was wondering what was up with the Jungle and Illusion venues this year.  And now I find that there is a site specific show at Via's Vintage Wear called Dressing Room that is showing almost non-stop throughout the festival.  Which incidentally, I thought I'd assemble a couple of odd facts that you might be interested in.

• The Show with the most performances in the Fringe is: Dressing Room (20 Performances @ Via's Vintage Wear)
• The Company with the most different productions in the Fringe: Nautilus Music Theatre (3 different productions @ Hey City, Upstairs)
• The Fringe show with the longest title: Behind the True Intimate Portrait of the Driven Divas of Comedy-Unplugged (The Day the Laughter Died)  (3 Months to Live @ CalibanCo Theatre)
• The Fringe show with the shortest title: DIX  (Terra Incognita @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis)

So, there's a random bit of trivia for you.  Now,talk amongst yourselves!

Cobwebs in my head

Once upon a time, 5 years ago, or so... I was able to memorize a script in a matter of days.  No longer.  The brain theoretically degrades after age 25 and at 30, I'm here to tell you that it is true.  Last night's rehearsal for Dandelion Snow was a bit rough as I was trying to do all my parts off book.  Youch!  I'll have it all down pat by next Monday's next rehearsal, but last night was not a pretty thing. 

Otherwise rehearsal was very encouraging.  The cast is growing together, the show is solid and a lot of fun.  It helps that the script is great to begin with, and the caliber of folks I'm working with makes it a joy to go to rehearsal.

At the risk of too much self promotion, make sure you add Dandelion Snow to your Fringe Calendar.  You'll be glad you did.

A few more faces...

I saw another 20 or so folks audition for the production of "The Father" that I'm directing this fall, and three shows were mentioned that I think are of note.  First is a little ditty called The Great Masturbators, which seems to be one of those shows that tries to capitalize on the shock value of its title (something that no other Fringe show has ever tried, I'm sure).  After reading the online blurb, though, I discovered that it is about Spanish artists of the 1920s.  I'm a big fan of Spanish culture (exempting that whole inquisition thing), and will be studying there next summer, so I'm hoping that at some point my dice will allow me to go see this show. 

Two of the actors that auditioned for me last night are involved in a show called Escape! Dance Like No One is Looking.  I've known about this show for a while now, and I think that the whole thing sounds like fun.  It is a dance show that has a bunch of people in it who aren't necessarily who you'd imagine as dancers, including a 6'7" fella.  Dance to me has always been something that should be better than what it is.  I go see a dance show and I want to see the celebration that comes out of dancing.  Often you see toned bodies doing contortions and straining to try to be beautiful.  A joyous celebration is a beautiful thing unto itself.  So, I'm hoping that this show is exactly that.

The third show that one of my auditionees is performing in is The Brave Little Tailor.  This is a fairy tale/folk tale that I don't think gets its just desserts.  I think part of the problem is that we've become too scared of the violence part of the story.  Traditionally it is a story of tall tales, big threats, and someone who accidentally lives up to his fate.  Gotta tell ya, that sounds like the perfect makings of a kid's show.

That's it from the stuff last night.  Rehearsal for my show tonight, I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Auditionees

I was at auditions last night for a show that I will be directing this fall.  Turn out wasn't particularly good.  I could cast all the women I need, but not enough men showed up.  As a director I like to know that if I absolutely had to I could cast after the first night of auditions, so I'm a little nervous.  Supposedly a bunch o' people will be coming tonight.  Cross your fingers for me.  I realized that I'd forgotten to ask if any of the auditionees were doing anything for the Fringe.  I intend to ask the folks who show up tonight.  The only person who attended last night (excluding myself) who I know is doing a Fringe show is my Assistant Director, Lindsay E. Goss, who will be appearing in City Pagez: The Show.  From what I've heard about it, it'll be a good show.  Oddly enough, I don't know if I'll get to see it, given the theme of my column. 

I'll try to remember to ask folks tonight, so I can mention some other shows to check out.

Toodles,
Chris

I've got a great excuse!

Here's my thing!  I can't come to your show because I have a performance of my own.  What?  You have another one tomorrow afternoon?  Sorry, I already promised Joe that I'd see his show then.  Oh, Jeez!  I guess I'm not going to be able to see yours this year.  Sorry.  I'm not picking Joe over you.  No, really, I do want to see your show.  Look, he asked first.  I know he has other ones that I could go to, but I have other things then, too.  Crap, man, I'm sorry!
 
Yep.  That's the way things go when you're stretched too thin during Fringe Festival time.  That has been the scenario for me every year for the past 4 or 5.  I'm doing a show elsewhere that isn't part of the Fringe, then I'm trying to take in a few shows in my minimal freetime, and then I'm choosing between my obligations to see many shows by my friends.  They all know I can't see them all, and yet they get ticked off that I can't see theirs specifically.
 
Well, this year, no more.  This year I'm not involved with any musicals that involve the Baldwin sisters, and I'm not teaching kids to act, sing, and dance (Actually, I just finished teaching kids to act, sing, and dance, and I may be rejoining a cast involving the Baldwins, but more on both of those situations later).  What does that mean?  I'm able to throw myself completely into the Fringe experience for the first time before the turn of the millenium.
 
I am going to go to a show in every single time slot.  That's the plan anyway... although, in truth, it isn't entirely possible, because I am appearing in one, also.  That's a first for me.  I've directed and produced Fringe shows before, but never have I acted in one.  So, in those five particular time slots I will not be attending another show...I will be attending a Fringe Show, I guess, since my lack of attendance would definitely throw a wrench in the works of the play (which, incidentally is called "Dandelion Snow" and is written by my ever-impressive compatiot in blogging Matthew A. Everett--come see it!). 
 
Up until a few weeks ago, however, I had a huge dilemma.  How to get past those friends whose shows I still didn't want to see, no matter how much I felt I owed it to them.  Let's face it, I get as excited as the next guy about the open entry policy of the Fringe (well, not the next guy, he's got a huge grin on his face that makes me worry about what he might be doing over there).  The non-juried format is what is so completely beautiful about the Fringe.  It is beautiful.  It is also frightening.  One could say it is the good, the bad, and the ugly all wrapped into one.  Some of my friends, not entirely of their own fault, get themselves into some of the worst crap ever put on anywhere, not just the Fringe.  And so, I kind of try to avoid seeing their shows, If I can absolutely help it.  But since I've been very open about my being able to attend the entire Fringe, I've been desperately searching for a way to tell them that I'm still not going to their shows.
 
So I tried to figure out a theme for this column that would involve avoiding every friend I know.  You know, something to the effect of "My column will be entirely objective, because I am not going to any shows where I know the people in them."  Then I realized that such a decision would pretty much relegate me to writing about the out-of-town shows, and that wouldn't be much fun at all, since part of the joy is getting to see what local folks are doing.
 
A side note that will make all things clear.  I love the thought of chaos.  Not in the pratical sense.  I don't want people running around and doing whatever the hell they want to the detriment of all society.  I like chaos as a theory, though.  I'm not talking the higher mathematics, per se, but the more real life applications of it.  I'm also a former gamer, one might say that I am on a temporary-to-long-term hiatus.  And nothing works better to create a controlled form of chaos than a random encounter table.  For those of you who don't speak D&D-speak, there are a lot of charts in role-playing games, and they often require a person to roll a die, or dice, to randomly determine what happens next.  And that's where I got the idea for what I'm going to do for this Fringe blog!
 
I will randomly attend a show during each time slot and thereby keep my initial pledge to do just that.  I will have with me, each day, a set of charts that represent the entire Fringe Festival and the shows available each hour.  I will roll a 20-sided die (d20) on those charts once per time slot in order to select which shows to attend.  Every show I attend will be completely randomly selected by the roll of the dice.  Yes, I realize that I will end up seeing a lot of crap, but I'll also see a lot of good shows.  Yes, there is a chance that this system will force me to see a show involving said friends who are involved in the afore-mentioned crap, but there's an even greater chance that I won't (since each show only gets 5 slots).  The odds and the chaos work to my favor.  Another interesting (to me at least) twist is that I could end up seeing the same show twice if the dice dictate it.  That would allow me the chance to see any changes that happen between one showing and another of the same thing (particularly interesting if this happens to one of the improv shows).

Before I get to the Fringe itself, I have a lot of work to do.  I'm currently compiling the charts, and I wasn't quite aware of what a pain in the butt it would be.  I've had the complete list of shows for a few weeks now, and I'm still only through the second day of the Fringe chart-wise.  I need to get a move-on in that area.
 
Up until the Fringe's launch date, I'll be keeping you posted on a few things:  #1) How my rehearsals are going.  #2) What I'm thinking about some of the shows I may or may not get a chance to see.  #3) The meaning of life in general.  #4) What a sample of my crazy whirlwind Fringing schedule might look like -- when I test the charts out.  #5) What my friends have to say in response to my telling them that after reading my column, it isn't them that I'm talking about.  
 
I'm sure there's other random crap I'll throw in there, too.
 
Anyway, now I can tell everyone that I'm not making any promises to see anything specific.  That way I don't have to worry one way or another about choosing one friend over another, or anything like that.  It's all in the hands of this d20 in my hand.