As I've said before, silence on this blog usually means I'm too busy doing to talk about it, and for the most part that's true.
The blog activity slowed down considerably after Secret Garden due to my leaving the unemployment club. I now work 6am to 3pm at a warehouse, mostly driving forklifts about and loading and unloading product. It's fun, but for anyone that's known me for a while the concept of me waking up at 5am (as opposed to say... going to bed at that hour) is a little insane. And yes, it has been insane going through what can only be called a pretty radical change in lifestyle, leaving me seldom motivated when I have the time, to spend it blogging. Sorry about that. On the bright side, life is a bit more comfortable as a result of said job. So... yay!
She Stoops to Conquer was an overall success. My apologies to the second cast for not getting any of the footage up (yet), which I still intend to do. If there is one thing perhaps more than any that I regret as the summer comes to an end its how little of the ever growing backlog of footage from the last few shows has been edited and uploaded. I have on some projects up to a dozen hours of footage to slog through and in more than one case a great deal of sound recording problems to unravel. Fortunately I have a new shotgun mic. which should allow for a significant improvement in sound quality for future recordings.
I've still been composing a lot of music while not putting it all on youtube. Some shall be posted sooner than later. I've also been doing a lot of writing, working on the collaborative novel with Anna and some things of my own. Anna's been rather busy herself, having finished Stoops, she took a break from directing to act in a production of Collateral Bodies at The Bridge. I hear there will be footage from that show going online in the future, but for those that missed it here are some lovely photos. Anna and Gorilla Theater provided some costuming and set pieces for the show as well.
For those looking for a more lighthearted venture, Anna can be seen next weekend in Live Arts' Summer Shorts performing in a piece by Sean McCord (who played Mr. Hardcastle in Stoops) entitled, Moving.
As for Gorilla Theater Productions, Anna has selected the last three plays that will close out the year and will be announcing them soon enough. While work for me around the holidays will make it difficult to participate beyond scoring, I am already starting work providing scores/house music for all three productions, which will be a fantasy adventure for teens and tweens, a small classic Scandinavian drama with Anna in the lead, and something not very small at all by the Bard. These are all projects Anna is very passionate about and after a summer of acting is posed to be very regenerated for attacking. It's going to be a blast!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
She Stoops to Conquer Week One Another Success for GTP!
The show was a blast! Here's a trailer/highlights video:
We didn't get much press out for the opening week and anticipated small turnouts as a result. That is the way of theater sometimes. One can't always sell a show and make sure it's good, so Anna opted for the later and braced to lose money, with the hopes that the turnout would get word of mouth around for the following week. What she got however were two rather healthy turnouts, to put it lightly. Seating was more limited than Antigone, but few seats that were laid out were not filled. Rent was more than paid.
If you like what you see from the cast, worry not. This week's line-up is the same but for three of the youth leads, and while they've been left big shoes to fill, the follow ups are more than up for it - as those familiar with the play might discern from the behind-the-scenes video I previously posted.
Also, sorry this new video took so long to put together. I planned to have it out this monday, but then attended a wedding (it seems that I am at that place in my life where weddings happen a lot), followed by a series of computer problems that kept preventing it from uploading. As usual, please spread the word and check out gorillatheaterproductions.blogspot.com for more info.
Cheers!
We didn't get much press out for the opening week and anticipated small turnouts as a result. That is the way of theater sometimes. One can't always sell a show and make sure it's good, so Anna opted for the later and braced to lose money, with the hopes that the turnout would get word of mouth around for the following week. What she got however were two rather healthy turnouts, to put it lightly. Seating was more limited than Antigone, but few seats that were laid out were not filled. Rent was more than paid.
If you like what you see from the cast, worry not. This week's line-up is the same but for three of the youth leads, and while they've been left big shoes to fill, the follow ups are more than up for it - as those familiar with the play might discern from the behind-the-scenes video I previously posted.
Also, sorry this new video took so long to put together. I planned to have it out this monday, but then attended a wedding (it seems that I am at that place in my life where weddings happen a lot), followed by a series of computer problems that kept preventing it from uploading. As usual, please spread the word and check out gorillatheaterproductions.blogspot.com for more info.
Cheers!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Come Check Out GTP's She Stoops to Conquer!
The silence of this blog has not been due to a lack of productivity, but rather an overabundance of it!
There have been many happenings over the last few weeks that have gone by sadly un-blogged. I will try to get to them all very soon. First and foremost though, I must address that after overcoming many obstacles (including actors battling illness, and a change in venue), Gorilla Theater Productions will be opening their third production, Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, THIS WEEKEND At Random Row Books! While this has been a delight put together thanks to an amazing team of volunteers and a wonderful cast, including many close friends and a smattering of delightful newcomers, I think it can also be fittingly called 'the show that wouldn't die.' It's hard to give praise to my wife without it sounding biased, (probably impossible) but I feel it's fair to say that most producers would have canceled a show like this when the going got tough. After all, it is only theater, and shows get canceled all the time by company's much larger and better funded (i.e., not working out of owner/producer/director/costumer/set builder/fight choreographer's home.) However, Anna's kept this show alive long after there was anything to prove to anyone, and as I stood before the stage this evening as the last touches to the set were being hung, I realized she really might have done it again.
Here's a behind the scenes video I put together from some of the rehearsal sessions I visited:
I think this is going to be a blast. As someone admittedly not in love with the play (it just never personally won me over the way my favorites from its period did) I've actually come around quite a lot while witnessing it leap off of the page. It's a reinterpretation for sure, but the heart is all still there. There's a pinch of Antigone in the approach and as I think that was one of Anna's stronger shows, I'm certainly more than looking forward to it.
I think this is going to be a blast. As someone admittedly not in love with the play (it just never personally won me over the way my favorites from its period did) I've actually come around quite a lot while witnessing it leap off of the page. It's a reinterpretation for sure, but the heart is all still there. There's a pinch of Antigone in the approach and as I think that was one of Anna's stronger shows, I'm certainly more than looking forward to it.
I really hope people will come out and support this production. If you can't make it, please consider passing the word on to anyone else that might be interested. Tickets are only $5 so that we can provide affordable theater to the surrounding Charlottesville community, but it only works if we have a good turn out. We're especially hoping to pack the house this Saturday with many of our vets (some roles are played by different actors from the first weekend to the second) warmed up and then let word of mouth build up for the following weekend's line up.
Cheers!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Opening Night a Success for GTP's The Secret Garden!
It's not easy getting over fifty people to come out to a show on a Thursday, let alone a children's play. You can usually get the parents, some friends and extended family, but it seemed like there were more than a couple people that just came to watch a show. That's what the kids delivered, a show. The jokes got laughs (because they were funny), several songs were fantastic, and I heard only good things about the dance numbers (I was in the back operating the rear projector). The thing one dreads the most in children's theater--everyone standing around on stage completely unable to remember their lines in a frozen panic--didn't happen. They had each others' backs and even saved a song when there was a technical problem. Great kids all around!
There are three shows remaining. Tonight, tomorrow and a late Sunday matinee. I have no hesitation recommending this show to anyone interested in the material, or kids theater, or theater in general. As one parent said, approaching Anna afterwards with a very stern look on his face, "You call this children's theater!?!?" Pause. "Anna, this is theater!"
Again, performances are May 3, 4, 5 @ 7:00pm, and May 6 @ 3:30 pm at Sojourner's Church, 1017 Elliott Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Tickets are only $5.00. Hope to see you there!
Also, I recently looked at the stats on the show's trailer only to discover it is about to spill over 200 hits, of which about 150 are individual viewers! For everyone spreading the word, thank you so much. This is a hard show to break even on and we need all the publicity we can get.
There are three shows remaining. Tonight, tomorrow and a late Sunday matinee. I have no hesitation recommending this show to anyone interested in the material, or kids theater, or theater in general. As one parent said, approaching Anna afterwards with a very stern look on his face, "You call this children's theater!?!?" Pause. "Anna, this is theater!"
Again, performances are May 3, 4, 5 @ 7:00pm, and May 6 @ 3:30 pm at Sojourner's Church, 1017 Elliott Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Tickets are only $5.00. Hope to see you there!
Also, I recently looked at the stats on the show's trailer only to discover it is about to spill over 200 hits, of which about 150 are individual viewers! For everyone spreading the word, thank you so much. This is a hard show to break even on and we need all the publicity we can get.
Friday, April 20, 2012
The Secret Garden Trailer and Involvement Status Corrections
The Trailer:
I had a few technical difficulties putting this together (not all of which were fully resolved I'm sorry to say), but still, I am happy to report that the trailer for GTP's next production is here!
Please, please pass it on to friends and family (especially those with kids!) in the area. It's not easy making theater with children this young and it not turning into a recital, but I feel all involved are giving it everything they've got to achieve something more. There are some really talented kids in the mix. Along with new faces it has been a delight to see some of the older kids who have been in previous productions with Anna really coming into their own as actors on this. So come on out!
To be frank, kids need theater and theater needs patrons.
Involvement Status Corrections:
In a previous post I incorrectly said the Beverly Seng would be providing an original score that I would be arranging for this production. This was a misunderstanding on my part. I had initially planned to not be involved with this show and was then asked to arranged the instruments and sound mix for the tracks about a month in to make things sonically more in the spirit of Anna's last big young children's theater fantasy project, Snow White (which was the first that I had provided any music and sound effects for). Along with instructing the children for the musical numbers, Beverly arranged the original score, simplifying some numbers for our young beginners' ease and tweaking others. Being a fairly peripheral team member on this production, and with many other things going on in my life, I took "rewrote" to mean she wrote something completely new. This assumption wasn't corrected until I started discussing promotional material rather late in the game, but again, I was on the sidelines for most of the pre-production and rehearsals until the last couple weeks.
So, to clarify... Beverly Seng arranged the score and I arranged the instrumentation and sound mix. Sorry for the confusion and misrepresentation. My bad.
I had a few technical difficulties putting this together (not all of which were fully resolved I'm sorry to say), but still, I am happy to report that the trailer for GTP's next production is here!
Please, please pass it on to friends and family (especially those with kids!) in the area. It's not easy making theater with children this young and it not turning into a recital, but I feel all involved are giving it everything they've got to achieve something more. There are some really talented kids in the mix. Along with new faces it has been a delight to see some of the older kids who have been in previous productions with Anna really coming into their own as actors on this. So come on out!
To be frank, kids need theater and theater needs patrons.
Involvement Status Corrections:
In a previous post I incorrectly said the Beverly Seng would be providing an original score that I would be arranging for this production. This was a misunderstanding on my part. I had initially planned to not be involved with this show and was then asked to arranged the instruments and sound mix for the tracks about a month in to make things sonically more in the spirit of Anna's last big young children's theater fantasy project, Snow White (which was the first that I had provided any music and sound effects for). Along with instructing the children for the musical numbers, Beverly arranged the original score, simplifying some numbers for our young beginners' ease and tweaking others. Being a fairly peripheral team member on this production, and with many other things going on in my life, I took "rewrote" to mean she wrote something completely new. This assumption wasn't corrected until I started discussing promotional material rather late in the game, but again, I was on the sidelines for most of the pre-production and rehearsals until the last couple weeks.
So, to clarify... Beverly Seng arranged the score and I arranged the instrumentation and sound mix. Sorry for the confusion and misrepresentation. My bad.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Recent Demos: "Now and Again," "Fingerprints and Vinyl Dreams," and "Smoke Dragons."
Here's a few old songs I've rearranged demos for.
"Smoke Dragons"
This was a song I wrote and performed back when I was attending Charlottesville's No Shame Theater. It's very heavily influenced by Bob Dylan's original version of "All Along the Watchtower" from his album, John Wesley Harding. I used to listen to that album on vinyl in the living room on weekends as a teenager, around the same time I was getting into Leonard Cohen. Chiefly led by the imagery of Tom Waits albums like The Black Rider, Bone Machine and Mule Variations, I was very interested in composing some sort of southern gothic, apocalyptic musical or folk opera, or concept album... or... something. It's never truly made it to fruition, but all along the way I have been dropping pieces, and bread crumbs, and a few brontosauruses assembled from the bones of this or that. This is one of those bones. Probably a femur.
The experimentation with the video generated some of my favorite results of any I've done thus far. I expect the particular look of this one to rear its head in at least one future project. Though that's still a very 'wait and see' sort of venture.
"Fingerprints and Vinyl Dreams"
Also written in high school, this song has for many years lacked a melody of its own. When I first wrote it, the lyrics were just sung to Devon Sproule's song "New Song" off her first album Devon. In that regard I feel like this is the longest song in progress, that I've written as this can be seen as the official melody instead of some reworking like the other songs I've shared. Sadly though, I think this had some of the worst mic/singing problems, and the vocals get a little more Billy Corgan-ish than I have any business attempting.
"Now and Again"
This was written after I graduated from high school and attending PVCC. It was a strange transition for me, from this tight-knit group at The Living Education Center to the comparably larger community college where everyone was a stranger. For all the social diversity at LEC, we were all relatively like-minded in political and spiritual views. Combined with the divisive climate of the time (the Bush/Kerry elections, and the Marshall/Newman Amendment), PVCC was a pretty stark contrast to that environment. It was a good thing, ultimately, but at the time it was frustrating, to the point of feelings even of resentment towards LEC. At its core, the song is very much about that moment where two people are getting along - until they realize they aren't supposed to be. Of the lot, I'm most happy with how it turned out.
That's it for now. I'll have more on Gorilla Theater stuff real soon. Much has been going on all fronts and this last week has been exhausting.
Later.
"Smoke Dragons"
This was a song I wrote and performed back when I was attending Charlottesville's No Shame Theater. It's very heavily influenced by Bob Dylan's original version of "All Along the Watchtower" from his album, John Wesley Harding. I used to listen to that album on vinyl in the living room on weekends as a teenager, around the same time I was getting into Leonard Cohen. Chiefly led by the imagery of Tom Waits albums like The Black Rider, Bone Machine and Mule Variations, I was very interested in composing some sort of southern gothic, apocalyptic musical or folk opera, or concept album... or... something. It's never truly made it to fruition, but all along the way I have been dropping pieces, and bread crumbs, and a few brontosauruses assembled from the bones of this or that. This is one of those bones. Probably a femur.
The experimentation with the video generated some of my favorite results of any I've done thus far. I expect the particular look of this one to rear its head in at least one future project. Though that's still a very 'wait and see' sort of venture.
"Fingerprints and Vinyl Dreams"
Also written in high school, this song has for many years lacked a melody of its own. When I first wrote it, the lyrics were just sung to Devon Sproule's song "New Song" off her first album Devon. In that regard I feel like this is the longest song in progress, that I've written as this can be seen as the official melody instead of some reworking like the other songs I've shared. Sadly though, I think this had some of the worst mic/singing problems, and the vocals get a little more Billy Corgan-ish than I have any business attempting.
"Now and Again"
This was written after I graduated from high school and attending PVCC. It was a strange transition for me, from this tight-knit group at The Living Education Center to the comparably larger community college where everyone was a stranger. For all the social diversity at LEC, we were all relatively like-minded in political and spiritual views. Combined with the divisive climate of the time (the Bush/Kerry elections, and the Marshall/Newman Amendment), PVCC was a pretty stark contrast to that environment. It was a good thing, ultimately, but at the time it was frustrating, to the point of feelings even of resentment towards LEC. At its core, the song is very much about that moment where two people are getting along - until they realize they aren't supposed to be. Of the lot, I'm most happy with how it turned out.
That's it for now. I'll have more on Gorilla Theater stuff real soon. Much has been going on all fronts and this last week has been exhausting.
Later.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Winning Battle Royale
A few weeks back I slapped together a video and submitted it to an Ain't it Cool News contest to win a special edition copy of Kinji Fukasaku's final film, Battle Royale.
And I won.
YAY!!!!!!
For those not familiar with the infamous classic that I now have a very sexy special edition of, lets just say that The Hunger Games is to B.R. what Twilight was to Let The Right One In. It's a film about a class of middle school teens being forced by their government to fight each other to the death, only this film doesn't soften that concept for the mainstream in the least. There's lots of blood and drama and even a few moments of beauty. It's quite disturbing and not for everyone. Made in 2000, it's still banned in several countries. Though my Mom got me an imported copy this last Christmas, this BluRay marks the first official release in the States from what I understand.
Kinji Fukasaku was a giant in Japanese cinema, best known by Americans for directing the Japanese half of Tora! Tora! Tora!, he worked extensively in the Yakuza (Japanese gangster) genre with such films as Graveyard of Honor and Sympathy for the Underdog. For many contemporary fans of Yakuza films from the likes of Takashi Kitano (who stars in B.R., as the former teacher of the class now put in charge of their game of death) and Takashi Miike (who went on to remake Graveyard of Honor), Fukasaku is one of the elders that they are responding to with their existential/surrealistic "Neo-Yakuza" films. My point being... Battle Royale is a blood-soaked masterpiece. I can't wait to look over all the behind the scenes footage and finally compare BluRay to DVD formats by watching the same video in both. But in the mean time, I just wanted to express my gratitude to AICN news for this awesome prize.
And I won.
YAY!!!!!!
For those not familiar with the infamous classic that I now have a very sexy special edition of, lets just say that The Hunger Games is to B.R. what Twilight was to Let The Right One In. It's a film about a class of middle school teens being forced by their government to fight each other to the death, only this film doesn't soften that concept for the mainstream in the least. There's lots of blood and drama and even a few moments of beauty. It's quite disturbing and not for everyone. Made in 2000, it's still banned in several countries. Though my Mom got me an imported copy this last Christmas, this BluRay marks the first official release in the States from what I understand.
Kinji Fukasaku was a giant in Japanese cinema, best known by Americans for directing the Japanese half of Tora! Tora! Tora!, he worked extensively in the Yakuza (Japanese gangster) genre with such films as Graveyard of Honor and Sympathy for the Underdog. For many contemporary fans of Yakuza films from the likes of Takashi Kitano (who stars in B.R., as the former teacher of the class now put in charge of their game of death) and Takashi Miike (who went on to remake Graveyard of Honor), Fukasaku is one of the elders that they are responding to with their existential/surrealistic "Neo-Yakuza" films. My point being... Battle Royale is a blood-soaked masterpiece. I can't wait to look over all the behind the scenes footage and finally compare BluRay to DVD formats by watching the same video in both. But in the mean time, I just wanted to express my gratitude to AICN news for this awesome prize.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)