The Thornton Wilder-ness Safari

Blog Bot 3000 here.

One of the reasons I took over this writing gig is because DCepticon has been a little lax in the actual writing about theater aspect of the blog and has been going off on strange journies into worlds of his own creation. I am here to pull things back for a while.

As was announced a while back Rorschach has delayed this season. Some of you were expecting to start seeing previews of The Skin of Our Teeth this weekend and if you go to Casa you will find no sets, no costumes and no actors. You will probably find some angry church folks telling you to get off their stoop (Does anyone besides people from Baltimore use the word "stoop"?).

We are still producing The Skin of Our Teeth this summer (Was I supposed to tell them that? Check with Jenny.).

Therefore today I am announcing a series of entries on playwright Thornton Wilder. Over the next several days The Thornton Wilder-ness Safari will be examining his life, his works and will evern be letting DCepticon contribute an entry regarding his experience of working on Our Town and watching the PBS production of The Skin of Our Teeth that aired in the 1980s.

This will be a work which will probably take you to various spots around the internet, so bring your passport and a boxed lunch. I plan on placing links to the deep dark corners of the world and I might even use a quote or two. Let's see if I can do this with out linking Wikipedia more than twice.

Blog Bot 3000 Takes Control

Greetings humans.

I am Rorschach's new automated blogging robot.

Your previous blogger has as of late been inconsistent in both content and regularity as of late and my creators have replaced him with me.

About me, I am a Blog Bot 3000, built from spare Atari game consoles and the refrigerator used in Rorschach's production of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot.

What difference can you expect on the blog since I have replaced the previous inferior and all too human blogger?

1. There will be no more "Fumors." I will only report the truth here on the blog. There will be no more pickles, bats or Alien vacation stories. Only the plain hard truth about Rorschach and its activities.

2. There will no longer be links to Wikipedia as a primary reference site. If you are unaware of any references made on the blog you should be able to locate the information on your own.

3. I will focus only on the technical aspects of theater and not on the imperfect human element.

4. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

If you have enjoyed this blog in the past, you may find this change in author somewhat disturbing. However the previous blogger was not worthy of your trust and appropriate actions have been taken so there is no going back. If you wish to contact DCepticon you should not attempt to find him in the local landfill.

And for those of you hoping to use logic to disable me in the comments section. I am well aware of the computing pie to the final digit trick and the "Everything I say is true. That last sentence is a lie" trick so don't get cute.

You will enjoy the blog!

Happy Hour or Two and a Half

Being social animals the family that is Rorschach likes to get together and drink from time to time. Last night a group of Rorschach Company Members, Board Members and Artistic Directors got together at Tonic in Mount Pleasant for drinks and conversation.

We met around 7pm and began to experience the winter warmth that comes from friendship, draft beer and tater tots. While some business was discussed most of the evening was dedicated to old friends chatting and busting balls.

I have been very cryptic as to what we will be doing in the near future and hopefully I will be able to share our plans in short order, but last night was just a sweet chance to share an evening with folks who have one thing in common a love and dedication to making Rorschach grow and thrive.

And to the folks who came to Tonic to watch the State of the Union last night, what is that about? I know it helps to be sloshed when watching a political speech but does watching the State of the Union in a bar somehow make it better?

Who does this remind you of?

Fumor in the Front

Beware the Jabberwocky!!!!!!!

Fumor? I don't even know her!

Rorschach gets a Patron Saint.

A soliciatation letter sent to Rorschach Patrons at the end of 2007, has garnered an unexpected response, we have been granted our own Patron Saint by the Catholic Church.

4th Century Bible Translator and lion tamer, Saint Jerome has been named Rorschach's Official Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

"There seems to be some kind of confusion here," says Rorschach Press Guru Scott McCormick.

"We sent the solicitation letter to a number of our patrons and some how a copy made it into the hands of the Pope. Long story short, him being a native speaker of German and a skimmer by nature from what I understand, he only saw the word Patron and assumed we were looking for a Patron Saint instead of cash. Don't get me wrong having a Patron Saint is cool and all but we could have done with the cash."

St. Jerome, is one of the church's most revered scholars and his work translating the New Testament from Greek to the much classier and easier to understand Latin, was a bold step forward during the 4th Century.

Rorschach joins Jerome's other patronages; archeologists, archivists, Bible scholars, librarians, libraries, schoolchildren, students, translators and flamboyant choreographers.

Thanks Pope!

Sunday in the Park with Ghatan

Any guesses what Jenny, Randy and David were doing in the park on a freezing Sunday in January? I prefer answers in either Haiku or Limerick form please!

Bathroom Graffitti Bridge

As many of you know I am a bit of a "Museum Guy." Well not so much a Museum Guy as a guy who occassionally takes advantage of the fact that we in DC get to go to most of our Museums for free and it is a nice way to spend a late winter evening before you rush off to the theater.

Any way yesterday evening my lady love and I went to the National Portrait Gallery by the Verizon Center and the first thing we did was to visit the restrooms on the 2nd floor (actually that was the third thing we did after having our bags searched and the body cavity check, but that is a small price to pay for free museums if you ask me).

There we were about to enter the 2nd floor restrooms and what do we see but the above portrait of Stephen Colbert. Yes there were portraits of the presidents and great men and women throughout American history, but if you look between the women's and men's rooms on the second floor just above the water fountains you will find Mr. Colbert for a limited time.

As Fumor Travels

Fumor #5

Jason Linkins has added a new job to his list of ten, he's playing the jug.

Jason Rorschach's lovable blogger, actor, witch hunter general, surgeon general, muckraker, music critic, thorn in the side of the establishment and fantasy role player, has taken up the jug.

Jason comes from a long line of jug players going back to his great-grandfather Elias "Pouch Cheeks" Linkins. Old "Pouch Cheeks" was famed for his jug handling and his uncanny ability to store nuts for winter. He played with The Good Old Boys, The Plumb Tuckers, The New Good Old Boys, Jasper and the Tolerables, The Plumb Tucker Xperience and Jefferson Bi-Plane (this was Grace Slicks' original band).

Jason has been working up to a public performance for over a year now and hope to have a band together sometime this spring.

Jason says "The jug can be an angry mistress! Not as angry as an actual mistress, but about as angry as a mistress with no arms, no legs and a handle on the side can get. Believe me when I say this is a mistress who can get angry and let you know about it. I suppose it can't use words so it is more about you feeling the anger coming off the jug more than it is actually about you hearing about the anger. With a real mistress, who has a mouth, you would hear about the anger. I am sure that is all she would talk about, and then you would just say I have had enough and go back to your wife or girlfriend and say I am sorry. Jugs are better"

The Fumor Files

Fumor #4

Jenny and Matt Frederick have been persuing one of their life long dreams during Rorschach's Season Delay and are traveling around the country to various sites of where Extra Terrestrials (ETs) have been seen in the last 50 years.

Due to a misunderstanding in her college course catalogue, Jenny confused a class on The Alienation Effect in Theater (from the German Verfremdungseffekt) with a course in Alien Studies in the Spring of 1997. Instead of dropping the class Jenny was captivated by the footage of an actual Alien Autopsy shown on a Fox Television Special hosted by Jonathan Frakes that the professor had illegally taped and showed during the first class. Through no fault of her own and because Jenny thought that the professor was actually teaching about theater of alienation by talking about something no one was really interested in, it took Jenny three more classes to realize that she was actually enrolled in a class studying little grey men in flying saucers. By then it was too late to drop the class and Jenny's love for ETs was established.

Matt on the other hand is pretty sure he has been abducted by aliens. It all stems back to a repressed memory of waking up in corn field in 1983. All he could remember was being taken to a planet covered in forrest with a giant moon in the sky. He was then captured by a tribe of tiny aliens speaking a strange language. The aliens were covered in fur and they had a rather primitive culture. He was taken to their village among the trees and was pretty sure he was going to be eaten, when all of a sudden his friend C3-PO was able to communicate with the tribe. His friend Luke Skywalker then used the force to impress the natives with 3-PO's amazing God-like powers and they were set free. Then the Ewoks joined with Luke, 3-PO, R2, Chewie, the Princess and Matt to defeat the evil Empire. Depsite hours of people trying to explain to him that this was in fact the plot to Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi, Matt still maintains that this actually happened to him. He points to a ray gun he received that Christmas and a light saber his brother got as proof.

Jenny and Matt will load up their RV and hit the highways this February. They have plans to hit all the hot spots of UFO activity in the United States and Canada. Stops will include: Area 51, Devils Tower, Roswell, New Mexico, Graceland, Skywalker Ranch and that place in Canada where they had clones of Mudler's sister and they had all those honey bees.

Fumor Has It

Fumor #3

Rorschach is expanding into the world of Kosher Pickle Production.

Not satisfied to rest on their collective laurels, Rorschach Theatre will be marketing a new line of Kosher Pickels in early spring 2008. Rorschach having long been associated with in your face dramatic endeavors feels that the world of preserved cucumbers is the next logical step.

Company members Yasmin Tuazon and Tim Getman both third and fourth generation picklers respectively came to Co-Artistic Directors Jenny McConnell Frederick and Randy Baker in early 2007 to pitch the idea.

Yasmin says "What is the difference between packing in audiences and packing pickles in a barrel? Aside from the briny solution and size. Most people are bigger than pickles."

If the limited run of Kosher Dills are a success, Getman says "We are thinking about possibly pickeling peppers, pears and persimmons for late fall."

The Pickel Project follows last year's successful Rorschach baby fashion line and the less successful All-You-Can-Eat Peel-Your-Own Shrimp and Sangria Bar that Company Member Jason Linkins was running out of the trunk of his car.

Fumor Mill

Fumor #2

Rorschach has made a deal with the Devil.

After flirting with the Dark Lord in productions like JB, Master and Margarita and A Bright Room Called Day, Rorschach has finally struck a sponsorship deal with the Prince of Lies that should allow us to continue producing well into the next Century.

Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker has agreed to sell his soul and that of 15 DC actors to Old Pitch himself in exchange for the Standard Fame Fortune and Glory Package.

Satan (seen here in a rare photo from his appearance in a 1970s Rankin and Bass holiday special) appeared to Randy in a dream with the standard black poodle and smell of sulfur and what may or may not have been brimstone. Lucifer apologized to Randy saying he was actually lost on his way for a follow-up call to a residence near the Naval Observatory. Randy asked the Dread Lord to stick around for a couple of minutes and proceeded to implore him to take his soul in exchange for a performance space and Hell's Sponsorship of the next 100 Seasons.

Randy says this will have no effect on our play selection, since we had already planned at least 3 shows for next season to include the Devil. Randy says that the Ruler of the Nether Regions was quite impressed by Rorschach's already tainted track record of nudity and foul language in a former church sanctuary. Rorschach now takes it place besides other Hell sponsored companies, such as Monsanto, Lockheed-Martin and Disney.

Randy also sweetened the deal and got a promise for 3 more seasons of Battle Star Galactica. Unfortunately, not having read the fine print, Randy was actually fooled and instead of the New Battle Star there will be 3 more Seasons of the infamous Galactica 1980.

Randy was quoted as saying "Damn it!"

Fumors

Welcome to our first day of pointless meanderings.

As with any right leaning political blog, we here at Rorschach have dedicated ourselves to spinning facts and rumors into a frothy concoction I like to call fumors.

Fumor #1

Rorschach has postponed their winter and spring productions due to the untimely death of our Company mascot "Roary" the Rorschach Bat. This loveable, yet possibly rabid, nocturnal mammal has delighted Company Members and audiences for years with his antics and adorable screeches in the upper reaches of Casa del Pueblo. Things turned ugly when Roary swooped down during a performance of Kit Marlowe and proceeded to nest in the wig of a patron in the third row. Unfortunately for the patron and Roary several members of a NRA Singles Group were in attendance that night and long story short both Roary and the wig were pronounced dead on the scene.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Roary and the wig, which we were given to understand was named Gladys.

Please respond

There are so many things happening. Yet I can't tell any of it yet.

Would people rather I fill these pages with pointless meanderings of my brain or wait until we have something to announce?

Let me know ASAP so I can switch my brain onto filler!

Thanks.

2008 is Here

Happy New Year everyone!

2008 is going to be something special I can feel it in my fingers. I can feel it in my toes.

There are a lot of announcements in the offing for how we are going to proceed with Rorschach's Season in Exile and when I am able I will send you all the scoop. Suffices to say this is something we have never tried before and we are looking at actually having air conditioning for our summer season. More to come on that soon!

Just hope you all are as psyched as I am for what promises to be the greatest year with an 8 in it since 1998.