Odds and Ends #2
Starstruck: a Benefit for “Gentleman Gene” Colan at The Henry Miller Library, Big Sur. Saturday, August 15: 6:30pm reception, 7:30pm performance. $12.80 advance admission, $20.00 at the door. Featuring Lance Roger Axt, Victoria Blaszczak, Arden Eaton, David Manchel, Geoff Mutch, and Barbara Smythe, with Lance Roger Axt, Rob Eaton, and David Manchel on SFX.
Yes, it’s that time again: Odds and Ends. What’s happening with Play it by Ear Productions. Neither fair nor balanced. And as you can tell from the heading, there’s an event missing. Maltese Falcon’s over. One down.
I will say this, we had our biggest crowd to date, partly ’cause, y’know, we were doing The Maltese Falcon. But we had a few surprises this time, including the “Know Your Noir” trivia contest and advance reservations for the Starstruck benefit for Gene Colan. But the biggest shocker came during the third act: in PG we have a barber, who just also happens to be named Gene. And Gene is quite the movie buff, so much so that he is one of three honest-to-God movie critics for one of the local affiliates. He is also a collector of movie memorabilia, and wouldn’t you know it, has one of the authorized replicas of the actual falcon from the 1941 movie. Which he let us borrow. You can only imagine the shocks on the faces of our audience members when I pulled the bundle out of the Trader Joe’s bag, snipped the jute and removed the newspaper covering to reveal the black bird. Which a lot of people wanted to touch! …Okay, that just sounds dirty…
I have a lot of pet peeves in my life: typos in news articles, sitting through boring theatre, extreme egotism, bullying, conservative politics and attitudes, the Christian right wing, anything with the words “post apocalyptic” or “zesty” in the description, etc.; another peeve is flakiness. I hate flakiness. I mean I really hate flakiness. And I have had to deal with a lot of it in my theatrical life. Some of the biggest flakes I ever met were actors in New York City. I worked hard to avoid having to go to the Equity lounge at the AEA building in NYC, simply because I frequently saw unprofessional (and downight ugly) behavior from union actors.
But the Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear company here in PG is a very notable exception. These folks are not flakes. Not in any sense of the word. Yes, there were circumstances beyond control with this particular show, but in all other cases they have been some of the more reliable people I have worked with, and I would hire these folks to do an audio project in a heartbeat. Why? Because they show up for rehearsals, give me lots of advance notice if there’s a problem, are ready to work and have fun. They conduct themselves in a professional manner and honor their commitments. Take that, NYC.
Like I said, one down. June is now ”mad month” with You Have Five Minutes… followed immediately after by the NATF. The pre-recorded SFX has been collected, and the week’s rehearsal schedule is a go. And yes, we have our acting company of: Alexa Bauer, Hakim Bellamy, Eric Brown, Clifton Chadwick, Jean Effron, Andrea Kepple, Joel Miller, and David Sinkus. Now who’s playing what, well that’ll be decided come the 15th. More importantly, time to put effects to disc.
In the interim, I did a short interview yesterday with Fred Greenhalgh on his “Radio Drama Revival” show on WMPG in Portland, ME; I also thank him for playing The Field and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Chaz on his show’s podcast. Personally, I still think I need a hell of a lot of work with my phone interview skills (you know us perfectionists, pain in the asses that we are), but among the topics discussed were Play it by Ear, the NATF, AudioComics, and Starstruck. Now as to the NATF, just being a participant is not nearly enough for me: in addition to keeping up with social networking from West Plains, I will be serving as RDR’s “Man from NATF” providing regular updates for the show, not to mention Continuity Director for the live show. I think the only thing I’m not doing is catering it…
Starstruck is almost completely cast, and I’ve put together the SFX list. Not to mention gifts are slowly coming in for the silent auction, including or two or three or four big ticket items! You will note that its $12.80 for advance reservations (the $0.80 is the service fee), which can be made by contacting the Henry Miller Library directly via their website at: www.henrymiller.org. Otherwise it’s $20 at the door.
Finally, “HOLY CRAP!” That’s how the e-mail started. From a fellow actor from SFSU. Google somebody’s name, you can always find a trail of websites leading you to that person. After writing my blog about the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love and those wonderful days at San Francisco State University on the old site, I contacted a few people who part of the latter. They’ve read the blog, and have passed on other contact names and info to me. Now the SFSU network is re-building on Facebook. And I couldn’t be happier.
So much so that I am going to give one of these folks some free publicity. Stephanie Silverman graduated from State in 1991, went on to Rutgers in New Jersey for her MFA. She’s one of the most talented actresses I know, and if that weren’t enough, she’s a voice-over artist and a public speaking consultant available for coaching. So if you’re looking for some help on that presentation, or you need help re: an upcoming performance, e-mail Stephanie at stephanie@silvermanspeechcoach.com.
Currently 87 degrees in Albuquerque…
