New beginnings, an end to false starts, and the art of the re-write

Play it by Ear’s Thrilling Days of Yesteryear company presents The Lux Radio Theater’s adaptation of The Maltese Falcon at The Works in Pacific Grove. Featuring: Steve Kane as Sam Spade, with Rob Eaton, Geoff Mutch, Victoria Blaszczak, and David Manchel. Saturday, May 30 at 7:00pm and Sunday, May 31 at 6:00pm, $5 admission.

Play it by Ear’s A Signal to Noise presents StarStruck: a Benefit for “Gentleman Gene” Colan at The Henry Miller Library. Saturday, August 15 at 7:30pm, $12.00 admission.

And thus on the date of April 10, 2009, Play it by Ear successfully transitioned from Blogger to WordPress.

In the summer of 2002, I created a theatre company devoted to the creation, production, and distribution of original plays for public radio, compact disc, and the internet called Play it by Ear Productions. First up: three original one-act works in New York under the aegis of We Have Ignition 2003, an anthology series which both introduced PibE to the audio landscape and introduces new works for audio from stage playwrights, thereby bringing their works to a wider audience (The Field; The Love Song Of…; and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Chaz). Then in 2003, the company relocated to the Central Coast of California.

In the nearly six years since then there have been many ups and downs, plans made over time, some of the momentous-earth-shattering variety, others of a simpler nature, some of which came to fruition while others were quickly dashed. Regardless of the date that you have stamped on your calendar, other people, circumstance, life in general always gets in the way. Yet still I found myself busy, sometimes a little overwhelmed (especially last year), with Play it by Ear projects…just not studio recordings, which is what PibE is ultimately about. And throughout it all I blogged on what is now known as the “Blah Blah Blah’g.”

2009 was ripe with new beginnings, with everything from a new President (we pushed out da Bush) to a new Doctor Who (if you’re into the new series at all). Another new beginning: the blog, no longer the “Blah Blah Blah’g.” Welcome instead to Notes from the Soundboard, home to extensive news and views corresponding to Play it by Ear’s projects. The term that’s been used a few times for a blog is “push button publishing,” and it’s my intent to take that literally. Short announcements, such as dates and casting, will not receive their own posts, but will be headings to posts (see above). And blog posts will appear because I have something to say, not because I need to keep something up.

Announcements will be given greater detail on the “What’s New” section of the Play it by Ear Productions website, while the site’s home page will feature something of a summary under the “Few Words from the Producing Director” section. Certain blog posts from the old site will be archived for the new site, and there will be some re-writing involved, partly to make elements a little more relevant to the present day, partly because there’s always room for improvement. In fact, this very entry is a re-write of the first “Blah Blah Blah’g” of the new year, with elements of the first ever post, and bits and pieces of other entries spliced in for good measure (so far, so good). I also think they’re among my better entries.

So why did I move to a different blog site? The reason relates to my other company, AudioComics. AudioComics has a blog on WordPress as well called This is AudioComics, and I would like to keep my blogs connected to the same network. Moreover, WordPress allows you to post a podcast through the blog, and AudioComics will indeed have a podcast featuring behind-the-scenes stories and commentaries pertaining to projects called AudioComics Confidential with episodes submitted by Bill, Dan, and myself. Yes, I am looking into a podcast series for Play it by Ear as well. What that’s going to be: I don’t know yet! When I know, you will. There will be no false starts in 2009! Only fresh starts if I have anything to say about it.

The main thing to keep me busy has been (for those of you new to this thing, and I’m sure that there are a few of you are) the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear shows in Pacific Grove. Thrilling Days is a series of old-time radio recreations performed by local actors, many of whom are former disc jockeys with the original KAZU, at our home from home: The Works in Pacific Grove. A list of shows from the 2006/7 and 2008 seasons can be found on the website. Anyway, last year I tried to keep up with a monthly schedule of shows, and in October, our first Signal to Noise show, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial. In retrospect, that was a mistake. Other projects were neglected, and I strongly feel that the quality of the shows began to diminish in trying to keep up with that kind of schedule, not to mention trying to work rehearsals around everyone else’s schedules can be a nightmare.

Ultimately, Thrilling Days is a means to an end, and the means should never become the end. I do have a committed group of performers, and despite the fact that audiences in this area are harder to find than the last dodo, we have a great group of “regulars” for whom $5 admission is the best price in town during these tough times. And The Works has been very very good to us. I sound like Chico Esquela. But there are signs that the end is in sight. Late last year one of the core company members is leaving the Central Coast with a secondary company member for Sherman Oaks. And there’s a more immediate reason, which I’ll get to. The reason is not AudioComics, by the way, although that alone is going to be a hell of a lot of work.

Hence: this year, there will be three shows (if there’s time, four; but right now it’s three). Good Evening, Anybody was January’s offering, featuring the comedy of one of OTR’s first satirists, Henry Morgan. As you can see above, we have our second show lined up for the end of May, The Maltese Falcon, using the script from the old Lux Radio Theater show from ’41. This is something I talked about at our first show in 2006. Jesus Marimba, I do procrastinate, don’t I? But yes, we are (finally) going to do the Lux adaptation of Hammett’s masterpiece. One of the things that excites us is the fact that there is not one bad role in the whole piece: Spade, Gutman, Cairo, Brigid, Wilmer, Effie, Archer; and there will be a “Know your noir” trivia contest!

Our last show (as it stands) will be the holiday offering that we could not get to last year because of…well, life.

Then there is A Signal to Noise. Thrilling Days of Yesteryear celebrates the golden age of radio and is (to be blunt) entertainment for the whole family. The Signal to Noise series celebrates the present in a unique way: the Central Coast is a community theatre town. I hate community theatre. I remember, years ago at Trinity Rep, hearing about a director who chided his cast during previews for phoning in their performances, to which he said that he would “sooner burn down the theatre” than sit through a boring play. If that same director came to this part of America and actually did what he said, Carmel-by-the-Sea would be in flames.

There’s very little here that’s really different, that’s exciting, that echoes the theatre I saw in San Francisco during my undergrad days, theatre of passion and experimentation at the Magic and the Theatre of Yugen. That’s what A Signal to Noise is all about. Its new work and rarely-performed plays presented as audio theatre-style readings, two per year. Always engaging, not necessarily for everyone, and never passive. Theatre is not fluffy. My dog is fluffy. Pillows are fluffy. Fluffer Nutter is very fluffy. Theatre should be a spike to the heart. And yet that kind of theatre is rarely, if ever, performed around here.

I am under the belief that in order for a theatre to survive, a theatre needs to evolve. With that, Play it by Ear began presenting a new live series which features audio theatre adaptations of contemporary and modern stage plays. In short, the plays that the theatres around here don’t do, we will do. Community theatre this is not. I don’t do amateur hour. What’s more, these shows will not benefit Play it by Ear Productions. There are two people that I know of who have it ten times worse; they are artists who are, or were, gravely ill. So these Signal shows will have a dual purpose: to present adventurous works foreign to this area, and to benefit these artists who need help. I mean, AudioComics plans to donate some of its profits to help charitable causes; if the cause is just, Play it by Ear should do the same.

We have announced above the next Noise show, StarStruck! This is a piece that I have wanted to do for over a decade, with proceeds going to a good cause. Now StarStruck requires an entry in itself, so I won’t go into it here. Suffice to say you will hear more about it very soon.

And now to why the end of Thrilling Days is nigh: these pieces were ultimately designed to do one thing: raise funds to produce a world premiere audio play in New York: Stephen Tesher’s pre-Civil War tale Turn to Stone. Once we hit the mid-point of what was necessary to produce this piece, the influx of production capital sort of…stalled. The economy was not in good shape when I announced this piece in mid-2004. I was turned down for more grants than you can shake a stick at. I’d be surprised if some of those foundations are still around. And I told myself I would avoid spending my own money, if at all possible.

With things going the way they are going, by the time I reach the amount necessary to produce it in New York, another five years will have passed. So let’s make lemonade: Turn to Stone will not record in New York City, but in Monterey, with yours truly in the director’s chair.

Sue Zizza, who was originally scheduled to direct, is instead serving as directing consultant and dramaturg. And yes, she is getting something else of Play it by Ear’s down the road. I feel terrible in having to take this away from Sue (and David Shinn, our awesome sound designer); thankfully she understands, and when I say I will give her another big project to do, I MEAN IT. But in 2009, it happens this way or it may not happen at all. The actors will be comprised of those who I have worked with here in the area. Voice-over recordings, edits, pre-recorded SFX, live foley, live ambience recorded from the farms and fields in Carmel Valley on my totally awesome H2 Zoom, music, everything will be handled with kid gloves. Slowly, meticulously. Five hours production for every minute is a possibility. Once the dialogue and SFX are recorded and edited, back to the studio to record the soundtrack with many of the musicians I have met through the Thrilling Days shows who likewise perform at The Works. When are we hitting the studio? What studio? Who’s “we?” The answers to these and other questions will be unveiled when I have dates down. No false starts! And Turn to Stone has been felled by many.

So what else is there to discuss? LOTS. But I’ll save that for later.

Finally, I’ve said it once before, I’ll say it again for you newbies. Boys and girls, I love getting comments. I appreciate comments. It means there are people reading this who have an interest in audio theatre. But those kind of comments are the ones I want to see. I’ve deleted comments in the past from other bloggers, many of whom seem to use the same intro; “you have a very interesting blog; would you like to check out my blog?” When I see that more than once, I have to start wondering; are people actually reading this or are they just “mass commenting” in order to bring traffic to their blogs?

So, if you have a comment or question about AUDIO THEATRE, leave it at my blog. If you’re writing from Nigeria with a business offer on behalf of your late father in exile, don’t leave a comment. Spam is spam is spam, and it comes in many versions. And spam is one of my bigger pet peeves. Thank you for understanding.

When I started this journey, I quoted Mr. David Mamet, who is no stranger to writing audio theatre: “the time is auspicious for a re-birth of the American Theater, and radio would be a good place to look for it to happen.” I agreed then, I agree now. For those of you who have been a part of this since its inception, good to have you back. For those of you who came in late, welcome.