So, this year was one of those years when my birthday fell on Thanksgiving day. It happens every so often. I think the last time it happened was on my 21st birthday. Yep... my big 21 was celebrated with my parents and borther over turkey... My mom & dad bought me a 4-pack of individual wine bottles. it was a nice effort on their part. It wasn't drinking back at school with my friends, but it was something.
Anyway, last night was #32, and it was basically unremarkable. My daughter gave me a wonderful gift of vocabulary cards and a set of Muppet playing cards. It was sweet.
Both she and I were really sick yesterday, so we staggered through Thanksgiving. We had Cornish Game Hens rather than Turkey. Turkey was going to be too much effort. All the rest of the trimmings were pretty standard, though.
Anyway, Kate Hoff pointed out that her birthday was this past Monday. I didn't know ours were so close together. Perhaps we'll have to hold a joint party next year.
Nothing, too random today... My daughter is revelling in the fact that it is snowing, so we're going to go out and play now.
Toodles,
Chris
Friday, November 25, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time to sign up!
So, it is here. The day is here. Today is the day when the 2006 Fringe Festival becomes more than just a figment of our collective imaginations. Or, really, it just now is able to gain form within our imaginations. Or, something like that!
Anyway, here's the thing. I've downloaded my newly available application, and I am excited to see a number of categories under which I would like to produce a show. Problem is, I'm not entirely sure I can decide which thing I'd like to do. Do I produce a show I've written? Do I produced a friend's show? I've done both of those before. I've directed a show before, but unless I put one together while I'm overseas this summer, I can't actually do the directing. Hmm... If I did that, would it make it an international show? Or, at least an out-of-town show, since most of the folks involved that way would be from New Orleans? I've got to give that some thought. Probably have to make a phone call or two on that one.
My favorite idea at the moment is to coordinate a mini-festival within the festival. I seriously missed the Fast Fringe last year. I thought it was a great addition to the festival two years ago, and I would like to see it happen again. I think I'll try to make that happen.
Anyway, the applications are available through a link on the main page, so why are you sitting here? Go check it out!
Anyway, here's the thing. I've downloaded my newly available application, and I am excited to see a number of categories under which I would like to produce a show. Problem is, I'm not entirely sure I can decide which thing I'd like to do. Do I produce a show I've written? Do I produced a friend's show? I've done both of those before. I've directed a show before, but unless I put one together while I'm overseas this summer, I can't actually do the directing. Hmm... If I did that, would it make it an international show? Or, at least an out-of-town show, since most of the folks involved that way would be from New Orleans? I've got to give that some thought. Probably have to make a phone call or two on that one.
My favorite idea at the moment is to coordinate a mini-festival within the festival. I seriously missed the Fast Fringe last year. I thought it was a great addition to the festival two years ago, and I would like to see it happen again. I think I'll try to make that happen.
Anyway, the applications are available through a link on the main page, so why are you sitting here? Go check it out!
Friday, November 11, 2005
4, 3, 2, 1 ... 2006!
Well, golly! I don't know what to say, other than I'm already looking forward to the 2006 Fringe Festival. How much you ask? Well... let's just say that I'm counting down the days until the applications come out next tuesday. That's 4 days away.
I have no idea if I'll have the money to put up a show this next year, or if I'll be able to coordinate a production from overseas (I'll be in Spain for all of July again), but I'm gonna try! Why not? This is the time of year for dreams. Not only tryptiphan induced dreams after Thanksgiving dinner, or dreams of sugar plums whilst awaiting Santa. It is also the time for dreaming up crazy things that could happen in next year's Fringe Festival. I'm really looking forward to what other people come up with, and seeing that, but I'm also really looking forward to seeing what I might be able to put forth.
Now, I did try to get into this last Fringe, and my little ball didn't pop out in a timely fashion during the lottery. Hopefully this year my luck will be better. Cross your fingers for me. (If you find yourself crossing your fingers at this time, you might want to delay your action until a later date...the drawing doesn't happen until February).
Now, just a couple of random things...
I've been doing a lot of around-the-house cleaning recently. Aparently I prefer cleaning prior to heading into the winter, rather than doing Spring Cleaning like so many others. I've no idea if this makes me weird. I have a feeling that my cleaning habits aren't the source of my weirdness.
1984 was a major work of dystopian fiction by George Orwell.
Mmmm...Ginger snaps!
Trivia returns to my column: "During the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a glass of water!" -- Some things never change!
Top three songs that run through my head...
1. If I Had a Hammer
2. If I had A Million Dollars
3. Mmm-Bop
I have no idea if I'll have the money to put up a show this next year, or if I'll be able to coordinate a production from overseas (I'll be in Spain for all of July again), but I'm gonna try! Why not? This is the time of year for dreams. Not only tryptiphan induced dreams after Thanksgiving dinner, or dreams of sugar plums whilst awaiting Santa. It is also the time for dreaming up crazy things that could happen in next year's Fringe Festival. I'm really looking forward to what other people come up with, and seeing that, but I'm also really looking forward to seeing what I might be able to put forth.
Now, I did try to get into this last Fringe, and my little ball didn't pop out in a timely fashion during the lottery. Hopefully this year my luck will be better. Cross your fingers for me. (If you find yourself crossing your fingers at this time, you might want to delay your action until a later date...the drawing doesn't happen until February).
Now, just a couple of random things...
I've been doing a lot of around-the-house cleaning recently. Aparently I prefer cleaning prior to heading into the winter, rather than doing Spring Cleaning like so many others. I've no idea if this makes me weird. I have a feeling that my cleaning habits aren't the source of my weirdness. 1984 was a major work of dystopian fiction by George Orwell. Mmmm...Ginger snaps! Trivia returns to my column: "During the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a glass of water!" -- Some things never change! Top three songs that run through my head... 1. If I Had a Hammer
2. If I had A Million Dollars
3. Mmm-Bop
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Since the Fringe...
Howdy Y'all! And, Hola!
I'd like to start off by apologizing for taking so long to type anything since the end of the Fringe Festival. As you know, that was back in Mid-August, and here we are at the top of November. Thing is, I've had an odd Fall that has featured a lot of unexpected developments. Because of that, I've not been your faithful colunist... but I do have a bunch of stuff to catch you up on. So in brief... Here we go:
1. Fringe Remounts-- During the Fringe I was a little disappointed that I had to miss so many of the really great shows that I was hearing about from others. That is an occupational hazard when you roll dice to choose what shows you go to. The nice thing is how many of the shows get remounted in the following months. I was lucky enough to catch two remounts this year. The first was Inspector Rex, by Four Humours Theatre. It was remounted at the Old Arizona Studio. What a show! I would love to direct that some time at another theater. It was a solid script. Very funny, and very fun, generally.
The second show that I was able to catch belatedly, was the remount/Katrina-Fundraiser version of Glorious Noise by Rik Reppe. IT was a terrific show. And I would belatedly call it the best show of my Fringing this year...I have more to say on it, but that'll have to wait a minute, because it falls under my next category...
2. Hurricane Woes -- As you may or may not remember, I attend the University of New Orleans for my grad school. Although I go via the internet most of the time (and spend my summers in Madrid), many of my classmates and all of my professors actually live in New Orleans. We had already been in school for a week and a half when Katrina hit. We were expecting a nice week-long vacation due to the storm in the same way that Hugo gave us a few days off last year. You all know what really happened. So... My education went on hiatus. All of my friends and teachers got out alive. There was a frenzy of trying to locate people at the beginning of it all, but things have gotten better since then. Everyone is safe, the university relocated temporarily into a wing of LSU in Baton Rouge, and classes started up again on October 10th via the internet for everyone who chose to stay enrolled for the Fall term.
Rik Reppe and company put together a lovely fundraiser that was held at the Great American History Theater. It raised money to support the musicians who have been displaced by the storm's wrath. My only gripe about that evening was that not enough people came. I was really disappointed by the turn out. C'mon Fringers! I know I personally sent out over 550 e-mails about the event. Others must have too. I think I counted about 75 people there. While it was good that that many made it, many more ought to have. I'm including a link here so those of you who feel guilty about missing it can make a contribution to the group that funds went through.
3. Thirst -- I have a show that I wrote in this series of Thirst shows. It features Charlie Bethel and Nathan Christopher. Those are two darned fine actors, and I feel lucky to have them bringing my play to life. If you get a chance, there are two more performances of my script. They are on Monday, November 28 and Monday, December 5, 2005, at Joe's Garage. Start time is 7:30 p.m.
4. The Y-Show -- It's always nice to receive a bit of recognition for being who you are. I don't know so much as the recognition was warranted, but I was sent a VIP invitation to see The Y-Show when it openned last week. So I went. I took in an evening that claimed that it was going to redefine theater for the future. That's a pretty bold statement. Not too far from one that was made by a theatre company during the Fringe Festival (something about a new paradigm of theatre, as I recall). Anyway, here's my synopsis in a nutshell...
The interactive parts of the show were an entertaining bit that involved the use of handheld digital devices that were programmed to send words up onto the screen from time to time. They were also supposed to allow you to select answers that the main character would occaisionally interact with as well. BUT, from teh very first answer, it was clear that her responses would be the same no matter what we'd answered. When audience-provided text hit the screen it was only taken semi-seriously, and pulled away from the show. Although, I'm not sure that's unfortunate. Why? Well, the lead actress (this is basically a one-woman show) was not good. The video clips that she interacted with weren't good either, but that's probably because she was the main character in those, too. The show was a sermon about liberal values, and the preachiness of it managed to turn me off, and I agree with almost everything that they're trying to sell.
It's sad that the whole thing couldn't have had a plot, had compelling characters, or something like that so that people in the audience would've identified with the liberal message rather than ramming it down our throats. OH! Did I mention that part of it was in 3-D? At least they made us wear the glasses. Can I say something here There is a spinning red lozenge that appears to almost be 3-d. Beyond that, nothing benefitted from wearing the glasses. In good 3-d (read: Disney's Philharmagica) it hurts the head to take the glasses off. This isn't good 3-d... take the glasses off. Side thing... I was seated in the $80 seats. All in all, I'd save the $80 toward a trip to Disney World and go see some really good 3-D. Skip this show altogether. If this is the new definition of theatre, then I'm changing careers right now.
-----Okay, no randomness today, it was just enough for me to get something written at all! Tune-in in a few days. After all, it is only 9 days until the applications for the 2006 Fringe Festival are put out there! Yay!
I'd like to start off by apologizing for taking so long to type anything since the end of the Fringe Festival. As you know, that was back in Mid-August, and here we are at the top of November. Thing is, I've had an odd Fall that has featured a lot of unexpected developments. Because of that, I've not been your faithful colunist... but I do have a bunch of stuff to catch you up on. So in brief... Here we go:
1. Fringe Remounts-- During the Fringe I was a little disappointed that I had to miss so many of the really great shows that I was hearing about from others. That is an occupational hazard when you roll dice to choose what shows you go to. The nice thing is how many of the shows get remounted in the following months. I was lucky enough to catch two remounts this year. The first was Inspector Rex, by Four Humours Theatre. It was remounted at the Old Arizona Studio. What a show! I would love to direct that some time at another theater. It was a solid script. Very funny, and very fun, generally.
The second show that I was able to catch belatedly, was the remount/Katrina-Fundraiser version of Glorious Noise by Rik Reppe. IT was a terrific show. And I would belatedly call it the best show of my Fringing this year...I have more to say on it, but that'll have to wait a minute, because it falls under my next category...
2. Hurricane Woes -- As you may or may not remember, I attend the University of New Orleans for my grad school. Although I go via the internet most of the time (and spend my summers in Madrid), many of my classmates and all of my professors actually live in New Orleans. We had already been in school for a week and a half when Katrina hit. We were expecting a nice week-long vacation due to the storm in the same way that Hugo gave us a few days off last year. You all know what really happened. So... My education went on hiatus. All of my friends and teachers got out alive. There was a frenzy of trying to locate people at the beginning of it all, but things have gotten better since then. Everyone is safe, the university relocated temporarily into a wing of LSU in Baton Rouge, and classes started up again on October 10th via the internet for everyone who chose to stay enrolled for the Fall term.
Rik Reppe and company put together a lovely fundraiser that was held at the Great American History Theater. It raised money to support the musicians who have been displaced by the storm's wrath. My only gripe about that evening was that not enough people came. I was really disappointed by the turn out. C'mon Fringers! I know I personally sent out over 550 e-mails about the event. Others must have too. I think I counted about 75 people there. While it was good that that many made it, many more ought to have. I'm including a link here so those of you who feel guilty about missing it can make a contribution to the group that funds went through.
3. Thirst -- I have a show that I wrote in this series of Thirst shows. It features Charlie Bethel and Nathan Christopher. Those are two darned fine actors, and I feel lucky to have them bringing my play to life. If you get a chance, there are two more performances of my script. They are on Monday, November 28 and Monday, December 5, 2005, at Joe's Garage. Start time is 7:30 p.m.
4. The Y-Show -- It's always nice to receive a bit of recognition for being who you are. I don't know so much as the recognition was warranted, but I was sent a VIP invitation to see The Y-Show when it openned last week. So I went. I took in an evening that claimed that it was going to redefine theater for the future. That's a pretty bold statement. Not too far from one that was made by a theatre company during the Fringe Festival (something about a new paradigm of theatre, as I recall). Anyway, here's my synopsis in a nutshell...
The interactive parts of the show were an entertaining bit that involved the use of handheld digital devices that were programmed to send words up onto the screen from time to time. They were also supposed to allow you to select answers that the main character would occaisionally interact with as well. BUT, from teh very first answer, it was clear that her responses would be the same no matter what we'd answered. When audience-provided text hit the screen it was only taken semi-seriously, and pulled away from the show. Although, I'm not sure that's unfortunate. Why? Well, the lead actress (this is basically a one-woman show) was not good. The video clips that she interacted with weren't good either, but that's probably because she was the main character in those, too. The show was a sermon about liberal values, and the preachiness of it managed to turn me off, and I agree with almost everything that they're trying to sell.
It's sad that the whole thing couldn't have had a plot, had compelling characters, or something like that so that people in the audience would've identified with the liberal message rather than ramming it down our throats. OH! Did I mention that part of it was in 3-D? At least they made us wear the glasses. Can I say something here There is a spinning red lozenge that appears to almost be 3-d. Beyond that, nothing benefitted from wearing the glasses. In good 3-d (read: Disney's Philharmagica) it hurts the head to take the glasses off. This isn't good 3-d... take the glasses off. Side thing... I was seated in the $80 seats. All in all, I'd save the $80 toward a trip to Disney World and go see some really good 3-D. Skip this show altogether. If this is the new definition of theatre, then I'm changing careers right now.
-----Okay, no randomness today, it was just enough for me to get something written at all! Tune-in in a few days. After all, it is only 9 days until the applications for the 2006 Fringe Festival are put out there! Yay!
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