I've been meaning to write about "Smackdown"
I know it's Thursday, and here I am writing a "Weekend in Review." Whoops.
We arrived in Madison on Friday, and took care of all the administrative details with our tax person. So, hooray. The taxes are done. Then, it was a Valentines dinner at Prime Quarter (highly recommended BTW) and I was off to find out whose play I would be directing for Blitz Smackdown II. I got paired with "I Eat Babies" Konoplisky. Following the Actor Draft, we headed out to the Nauti-Gal to do Karaoke. In a fantastic development, most of the cast of The Maple Bluff Mystery joined us out there.
Saturnday morning, I headed down to the theater (stopping for a ham & swiss on Asiago bagel, yum!) and got my script. It was faily monologue heavy and was divided into 9 scenes, most separated by a blackout. Normally, this would create a problem, but the only thing happening in the blackouts were characters moving (not furniture) so I figured we'd be OK. My biggest challenge came at about 11 when Potter informed my that we were working on the assumption that an actress I had cast as one of the principles in my show was a no-show. This created a slight scramble. People were called. Thankfully, (and I cannot say again how awesome it is) animal_eyes answered the call and my cast juggling really paid off.
I tried to do my ususal thing during Blitz of giving actors enough time to memorize on their own as well as doing run-throughs and creating a collaborative process of give-and-take with characterizations and the "what's-really-going-on-here" speech. I worked individually with all the actors that had large monologes in order to not have a "talking head" play. We also ended up cutting a song, with the author's blessing.
We stayed right within the guidelines for "Space rehearsal" and tech, which I am super proud of. For the Tech, Potter yelled "TIME!" and I said great! we just finished, which wasn't even a lie. We HAD just finished. So, just a few minutes later (actually it was 4 hours that only SEEMED like minutes) I got introduced next to "I Eat Babies" as "The Shoehorn." This was a nickname of my own choosing, and I tell people that it was due to my ability to put people into a role they might not be QUITE right for, but stil get the most out of them. Also, it's a dick joke.
After the 6 shows, the audience voted, with Kirk's Decibel Meter as the judge. baronvonreed's piece was a finalist, but there was a tie for second between our show, and robmatsushita's. In what I would call a stunning upset (there were several LOUD dudes behind us cheering for Rob) we got the slot for the Final Face-off. Lisa's one-pager was simple and funny. It called for 1 Tuna and a school of Salmon. Lisa told me I should have a tall male actor play the tuna. In a stroke of luck, I had 2 tall guys. Maury and "the guy" from radio_redhead's play. Somehow, one decided to ride on the other's shoulders, for that much more addtional height. I figued "Why not take the risk?" and said Sure. Somebody handed them a lab coat. Perfect. I doled out lines during the first read-through and gave simple blocking assignments. I didn't get to see it, but fountainal was still dressed as a panda, and he was one of my salmon. I have no idea how, but it worked.
Here's the kicker. We won. I mean, this whole thing is a collaboratve venture, diguised as a competition. (Thank YOU, Alabaster County!) It was great to be a part of the team that got the loudest cheering, and I'll definitely be back next year for Blitz Smackdown III, assuming Madison community theater hasn't died by then.
Our plan was to see The Maple Bluff Mystery for the Sunday matinee at Broom Street, but that got derailed (along with nearly everything else in Madison) by the snow and ice storm. We still set out, because we both had to work Monday morning, and one of us does not get paid days off. There was a portion of pretty hairy driving between Lodi and the Dells. The rest of it was just slower than normal. I think it was around Black River Falls that I felt comfortable traveling greater than 50 mph.
We made it safe and sound, and it was a great Blitz weekend!
We arrived in Madison on Friday, and took care of all the administrative details with our tax person. So, hooray. The taxes are done. Then, it was a Valentines dinner at Prime Quarter (highly recommended BTW) and I was off to find out whose play I would be directing for Blitz Smackdown II. I got paired with "I Eat Babies" Konoplisky. Following the Actor Draft, we headed out to the Nauti-Gal to do Karaoke. In a fantastic development, most of the cast of The Maple Bluff Mystery joined us out there.
Saturnday morning, I headed down to the theater (stopping for a ham & swiss on Asiago bagel, yum!) and got my script. It was faily monologue heavy and was divided into 9 scenes, most separated by a blackout. Normally, this would create a problem, but the only thing happening in the blackouts were characters moving (not furniture) so I figured we'd be OK. My biggest challenge came at about 11 when Potter informed my that we were working on the assumption that an actress I had cast as one of the principles in my show was a no-show. This created a slight scramble. People were called. Thankfully, (and I cannot say again how awesome it is) animal_eyes answered the call and my cast juggling really paid off.
I tried to do my ususal thing during Blitz of giving actors enough time to memorize on their own as well as doing run-throughs and creating a collaborative process of give-and-take with characterizations and the "what's-really-going-on-here" speech. I worked individually with all the actors that had large monologes in order to not have a "talking head" play. We also ended up cutting a song, with the author's blessing.
We stayed right within the guidelines for "Space rehearsal" and tech, which I am super proud of. For the Tech, Potter yelled "TIME!" and I said great! we just finished, which wasn't even a lie. We HAD just finished. So, just a few minutes later (actually it was 4 hours that only SEEMED like minutes) I got introduced next to "I Eat Babies" as "The Shoehorn." This was a nickname of my own choosing, and I tell people that it was due to my ability to put people into a role they might not be QUITE right for, but stil get the most out of them. Also, it's a dick joke.
After the 6 shows, the audience voted, with Kirk's Decibel Meter as the judge. baronvonreed's piece was a finalist, but there was a tie for second between our show, and robmatsushita's. In what I would call a stunning upset (there were several LOUD dudes behind us cheering for Rob) we got the slot for the Final Face-off. Lisa's one-pager was simple and funny. It called for 1 Tuna and a school of Salmon. Lisa told me I should have a tall male actor play the tuna. In a stroke of luck, I had 2 tall guys. Maury and "the guy" from radio_redhead's play. Somehow, one decided to ride on the other's shoulders, for that much more addtional height. I figued "Why not take the risk?" and said Sure. Somebody handed them a lab coat. Perfect. I doled out lines during the first read-through and gave simple blocking assignments. I didn't get to see it, but fountainal was still dressed as a panda, and he was one of my salmon. I have no idea how, but it worked.
Here's the kicker. We won. I mean, this whole thing is a collaboratve venture, diguised as a competition. (Thank YOU, Alabaster County!) It was great to be a part of the team that got the loudest cheering, and I'll definitely be back next year for Blitz Smackdown III, assuming Madison community theater hasn't died by then.
Our plan was to see The Maple Bluff Mystery for the Sunday matinee at Broom Street, but that got derailed (along with nearly everything else in Madison) by the snow and ice storm. We still set out, because we both had to work Monday morning, and one of us does not get paid days off. There was a portion of pretty hairy driving between Lodi and the Dells. The rest of it was just slower than normal. I think it was around Black River Falls that I felt comfortable traveling greater than 50 mph.
We made it safe and sound, and it was a great Blitz weekend!