Fringe Fest Play Stuff
Okay, so I auditioned for a couple Capital Fringe Festival plays, and pretty much took the first one that made an offer, mostly because it looked like the windows on the others were closing. Anyway, I'm not sure if I shouldn't have waited and seen what else came up.
The script of this play is chock full of horrible puns, obscure cultural and historical references, and racial invective. What it doesn't have a lot of is conflict and character growth...or even story structure. It is a clever piece, but as we all know, "clever" doesn't always equal "funny." And since this is listed as "comedy" instead of "experimental" like I would have done, people are going to be expecting an actual comedy, and they are going to have to work damn hard for any.
So anyway, the writer is also the director, and he also plays one of the characters in the ensemble (of seven). So all through rehearsal he is correcting us on every single mistake (usually after we stop, but sometimes right in the middle of our goddamn lines. He seems to be under the impression that every word he wrote is so fucking important that no substitutions can be allowed.
On the first rehearsal last Thursday, I look around to see only the actors and director. Odd, I think, where is the stage manager? (For those of you not familiar with theater terminology, the stage manager stays on book so that actors can call for lines during early rehearsals, and makes sure the script and the director's blocking is adhered to during rehearsals and the run of the show. Very important job.) The fact that we don't have one was confirmed last night when the director says, "We don't have the luxury of a stage manager." Holy shit. In my experience, having a stage manager is not a fucking luxury, it is a necessity.
So then we are going through some bits of the play, and he starts telling me that I should take a step at a certain point, etc. Oh, God, he is a fucking puppet-master! All directors fall along an axis. One the one end there are the directors who just let the actors be free spirits and never says anything in a directorial capacity. On the other end are the puppet-masters. They will dictate exactly how to move, how to speak, essentially how to act. Both are bad, but at least with the first kind a group of good actors can self-direct and pull out a decent show. Fortunately, he is not a total puppet-master. Just for some specific stuff. The rest of the time we are free to try to find some of our characters within this truly awful script.
I guess it's not as bad as it could be. And even with all that going against it, it's still not the worst production I've ever been involved with. And hey, for a Fringe show it is paying a decent stipend.
So if you want to spend an hour and a half going, "What the..?!", feel free to stop by. It is at The Bodega at The Trading Post, 1013 7th St. NW, Washington, DC. Performances are Thursday July 16th 9:15PM, Saturday July 18th 10:45PM, Sunday July 19th 1:45PM, and Thursday July 23rd 5PM. Tickets are $15, but I believe you also have to by a Fringe button for $5. However, you only have to buy the button once to attend any Fringe show.
The script of this play is chock full of horrible puns, obscure cultural and historical references, and racial invective. What it doesn't have a lot of is conflict and character growth...or even story structure. It is a clever piece, but as we all know, "clever" doesn't always equal "funny." And since this is listed as "comedy" instead of "experimental" like I would have done, people are going to be expecting an actual comedy, and they are going to have to work damn hard for any.
So anyway, the writer is also the director, and he also plays one of the characters in the ensemble (of seven). So all through rehearsal he is correcting us on every single mistake (usually after we stop, but sometimes right in the middle of our goddamn lines. He seems to be under the impression that every word he wrote is so fucking important that no substitutions can be allowed.
On the first rehearsal last Thursday, I look around to see only the actors and director. Odd, I think, where is the stage manager? (For those of you not familiar with theater terminology, the stage manager stays on book so that actors can call for lines during early rehearsals, and makes sure the script and the director's blocking is adhered to during rehearsals and the run of the show. Very important job.) The fact that we don't have one was confirmed last night when the director says, "We don't have the luxury of a stage manager." Holy shit. In my experience, having a stage manager is not a fucking luxury, it is a necessity.
So then we are going through some bits of the play, and he starts telling me that I should take a step at a certain point, etc. Oh, God, he is a fucking puppet-master! All directors fall along an axis. One the one end there are the directors who just let the actors be free spirits and never says anything in a directorial capacity. On the other end are the puppet-masters. They will dictate exactly how to move, how to speak, essentially how to act. Both are bad, but at least with the first kind a group of good actors can self-direct and pull out a decent show. Fortunately, he is not a total puppet-master. Just for some specific stuff. The rest of the time we are free to try to find some of our characters within this truly awful script.
I guess it's not as bad as it could be. And even with all that going against it, it's still not the worst production I've ever been involved with. And hey, for a Fringe show it is paying a decent stipend.
So if you want to spend an hour and a half going, "What the..?!", feel free to stop by. It is at The Bodega at The Trading Post, 1013 7th St. NW, Washington, DC. Performances are Thursday July 16th 9:15PM, Saturday July 18th 10:45PM, Sunday July 19th 1:45PM, and Thursday July 23rd 5PM. Tickets are $15, but I believe you also have to by a Fringe button for $5. However, you only have to buy the button once to attend any Fringe show.