Samurai Radio

Two of my favorite practitioners of theater sophistry were on the Kojo Nnamdi Show yesterday making a pitch for our show and our little theater. Totally unsolicited praise came from T- boy himself, Trey Graham (City Paper Theater Critic) and Jane Horowitz (Back Stage Columnist for the Washington Post). They both had some kind words to say about our company and gave a pretty sweet description of Fair Ladies. Some of you may remember me calling into Kojo for The Beard of Avon, but this time I was in a car downtown when the show was on so I couldn't call in.

Thank you Trey and Jane and I look forward to seeing you both on Saturday Night at Opening.








If you want to hear what they had to say follow this link scroll down the page to Winter Theater Round Up and click on the Window Media Player option (for some reason the Real Player link only gives you the first half hour of the show, so you have to use Windows Media Player, sorry). Then you can either listen to the whole thing which has an interesting quote from Zelda Fichandler about all shows almost never happening or scroll to about 36 minutes and 30 seconds into the show for our bit. Enjoy!

First Audience

Well we had our first living breathing, don't have to be there because they work for the theater audience last night and all of the feedback I heard to my face was good. It still has some room to grow and fortunately we still have some time before we open ourselves up to the slings, arrows and semicolons of the press and internet.

People seem to be impressed with the way the piece flows and the way the actors are inhabiting their samurai and court lady bodies.

Tonight is another pay-what-you-can preview as well as tomorrow night.

Hope you all can join us soon.

Pay-What-You-Can Previews Start Tonight

There comes that moment when despite every argument to the contrary, you have to let the audience come see the show. That time has come and we the cast seem pumped and primed for the opportunity. The run last night was a success on so many levels. Technically, actor wise and just some fantastic work on the part of everyone involved in the project.

Pay-What-You-Can Previews for Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards begin tonight!

PWYC Previews for those of you unaware of the theater term are the opportunity for the cast and director to fine tune their performance in front of actual bodies for the first time. Since they are seeing a show which is not yet open, some things may not be up to full performance level. Sets may still need a coat of paint, actors may still be finding out how to move in their costumes, and lighting and sound cues may be changing. Instead of bringing home the fact that this is an opportunity for those of us with very little pocket money to see a show for damn near free, I instead look on it as a way for people who love the theatre to see what happens as a show comes to glorious life.

I hope those who come tonight will come back later in the run to see the wild beast we will have tamed by Saturday Night, but more importantly, I hope they tell their friends if they liked it. If they didn't like it I hope they forget they were ever in the theater and mention it to no one.

See some of you tonight! PWYC Previews continue through Friday and we open to a sold out house on Saturday Night.

Show Poster

Here is an easy way for everyone to help their favorite little guy theater company. I am attaching the brand new Fair Ladies poster to the blog. Click on the image copy it into a word file and then print out one copy or a hundred and plaster them anywhere that looks like it needs a poster. If everyone who reads the blog does just one of these posters that is about 100 posters up and around town without anyone having to do more than point, click, print and post. Choose from either the sexy color high light or the bold black and white.

Thanks for the help and let me know where the posters have gone.

Wonder of the Capital

It is often the case during tech rehearsals that the director or actors go crazy and begin a murderous rampage. I am glad to report that no one was killed this weekend but Director Randy Baker, seems poised to kick some ass in the picture at left.

Tech was a releatively painless if at times a bit excruciating process as these things tend to be, but people met the challenge with good enough spirits. As the elements of costume, lights and sound all get added into the mix, there can always be frustration enough to choke the happiest of Polly Anna's with enough bile to bite the head off of a bat, during a quickly improvised rendition of Iron Man.

Everyone patiently made their way through the cue to cue on Friday night and Saturday morning. Special shouts out to the tech crew behind the board Justin, Lindsey, Sharon and Matt. You all did a great job at keeping us on track and creating some fantastic stage pictures. Nate and Amy get a special set of kudoes, knowing that they stayed up way past all of our bed times to get the set looking amazing. Deb has been slaving away at the sewing machine herself creating and designing kimono's and hakama for all of us, tailored to our special needs. Like my stubby legs. And finally a thank you to Gwen and Randy for creating an actual back stage area for the cast. I think everyone who snuggled into a ball on the sofa this weekend for a nap thanks you mightily. Here are some other images that came out of this weekend. Thanks to the blogger and Gwen for the images. Yeah, I know I just refered to myself in the third person, so what?

Owned

After the run last night a group of us headed over to one of our new favorite hangouts, called Haydee. It's a chill out of the way Central American bar right at the top, or is it the bottom, of Mount Pleasant. We were celebrating some event or another and unwinding with some cold cold margaritas which were just the thing on a unseasonably warm day in January.

Around a midnight a young woman approaches our table with a black box. She opens the box to reveal a rather large assortment of silver jewlery. Rahaleh who was sitting across from me grabs a silver and turquoise ring and slips it on my finger. Miracle of miracles it fits my rather large and yet strangely attractive finger. She slipped it on my left hand, which makes me think I may have just been fiancéd. After talking the girl down on the asking price, she purchased me a rather large piece of hand candy. Rahaleh kept looking at me the rest of the night and saying cute things like "you belong to me now" and "its alright baby, I will take care of everything" and "your a** is mine b*tch." Sorry if you can not read those last words but I don't like to upset our young readers. By the way, stay in school, listen to your parents, clean underwear, and don't join any orginization that's sole purpose is preventing women and minorities from attending an Ivy League school. Sam!

So here it is Friday morning. Tech starts tonight and I am apprently the property of a small Persian woman with unclear motives, who keeps calling me Tina.

Previews start on Wednesay for Fair Ladies. Can't wait for you all to get a chance to see the show, it is starting to become magic people, magic I say.

A Good Day To . . .

To get everyone in the mood for tech weekend I provide the following links and a picture of Patrick looking like the samurai equivalent of Travis Bickle.

First a site featuring various photos of various samurai related locations around Japan at Samurai Tour.

Black Ships & Samurai provides information on Commodore Perry's visit to Japan that marked the end of feudal Japan and the end of the Samurai.

Cartoon network of course features Samurai Jack, this site includes several samurai themed games.

At The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) is an interesting comparison/contrast piece comparing Samurai with their Europen counterparts by J. Clements.

Midnight Eye provides a lesson in samurai movies so you can fake it for the film geeks in your life with Samurai 101.

And finally I really don't know what to tell you about this site, artelino-Art Auctions, except to say it tells you about samurai. The real reason to go is the pictures, as demonstrated to your right.

Enjoy all the links!

Set Pics

Thanks to Gwen here are some really cool shots of a very beautiful set. Enjoy!

Line . . .

When we were working on The Beard of Avon, I asked the cast, designers, director and crew to write about the challenges they face bringing a role to the stage. I extend that same offer once again and I mean that. Don't think this is just my place to post but everyone involved in the process.

I don't want to turn this page into a place where people come to whine but I do want this page to reflect the challenges as well as the successes that are faced when mounting a production. Today I want to talk about my own particular challenge as an actor. I have trouble learning my lines.

In the theater there is a sort of running joke about little old ladies and kids coming up to you after a play and saying "How did you ever learn all of those lines?" Most people laugh about that, I have always been the one person not laughing(OK, I laugh a little, but that is only to cover my pain. Sorry this just started to sound like an after school special, but I have had this problem since I started acting in 9th grade).

For whatever reason I have the hardest time getting my lines memorized. I tell people it may in fact be a trade off because I don't to do the kind of vocal work other people do, but I have to work my ass of to get the lines in my head. It makes me feel uncomfortable having to carry the script in my hands as the rest of the cast is near letter perfect and it has sometimes led to conflict with my fellow performers and directors. I have turned down uderstudy jobs at theaters because I know that I will have to torture myself to learn lines for something I may never get to perform and I can't imagine doing that to myself or the idea of putting anyone in the position where I may not come through for them.

Does it limit me? Yes it does. Am I faultless in this? Not entirely. I have made this into such a daunting task that I dread a new script.

I used to paraphrase a lot and that has gotten better over the years. Now realizing the words are there for a purpose, but I am still the slow one and I worry that it will only get worse the older I get. This isn't a cry for pity but an attempt to explain what I am.

If anyone would like to share any of their process or the obstacles they have had to over come for Fair Ladies please write the blogger and I will post it here.

Volunteers, Redskins and Kurosawa

A great deal of work was done to both the design elements of the show and on the performance this weekend. Saturday and Sunday were particularly productive and I will have photos for you all on Wednesday of the set and some early shots of the costumes being designed by the very busy Ms. Deb Sivigny. Special thanks to all of the people who stopped by over the weekend to help with set construction. For those of you who have not been around a small theater company before a great deal of this work is done by volunteers. Either skilled professionals or enthusiastic amatuers who want the thrill of swinging a hammer, painting a set or contructing the hell out of something. To be honest we couldn't dream of creating the kinds of sets that we do without the hard work of these people who just want to help. If anyone reading this feels like coming down in helping just let me know and we will see what we can do.

The cast rehearsed Act I this weekend, making the kind of adjustments that will take this from being a good show to a great one. Characters became deeper and more fleshed out. Fights were embellished with the cool ass stuff that makes you sit on the edge of your seat and go holy moley that was close. And lines began to be more than just words on a page and instead have the depth of emotion that are needed to convery not just beuatiful poetry but also the people behind those lines. Well done everybody.

Saturday was also Football and Culture Day for the cast. We were visted by Kyoko Pendleton, director Randy Baker's step-grandmother, who shared with us pronunciation lessons as well as cultural information about Japan. She also brought in the brand new set of poem cards for the show and instructed the ladies in how to play the game. These are exciting days my friends.

After that many cast member adjourned to Patrick's house to watch the Redskins beat Tampa Bay and then watched The Seven Samurai for inspiration on issues like movement and swordsmanship. Patrick said numerous members of the cast were in and out all day and the movie, which is a long one, did not wrap up until around 1 a.m.

Personally I was at home studying my lines. Because my head is too small too hold words in and I have a lot to say in this show. More from me later. We have off tonight.

Another Designer Run

Went to take some pictures of the designer run last night and of course the batteries had run out on the digital camera. Must learn to start carrying back-up batteries. Some body remember to tell me that please.

The run went very well and with very few hickups. Apparently the big news of the day was a rather Matrixy looking piece of stage combat executed by Patrick Bussink during the stunning five way battle scene that brings Act I to a close. A fight that goes up over and through the epic worthy set. I did not see said move but it has been described as slick. Patrick ducked a sword swipe and bent over backwards reached his hands behind him and pushed off a wall. Of course this was done totally by accident and Patrick could have been killed but those who saw it just wouldn't shut-up about how cool it was.

There were some genuine laughs at the funny moments from the designers as well as some tender moments to make the play live up to its romantic-comedy status.

Cam Magee is back to help us all make sense of the verse. There she was sitting in the front row counting beats off on her fingers. Yes, Cam I see things.

This weekend we will be rehearsing more and finely honing our swords and our selves. Rememeber folks two more weeks and we are open. If you want to start planning now, Pay-What-You-Can Previews for Fair Ladies at Game of Poem Cards are January 18, 19 and 20 at 8pm. Remember no reservations are taken for previews it is first come first get a seat at these affairs. Tickets for the rest of the run can be ordered on-line at Box Office Tickets or call 1-800-494-TIXS.

It's A Post Card

Swing Away

Well last night we worked the final scene of the play. And Patrick and I got to face off in battle to the death. Me swinging my samurai sword and him fighting me unarmed (well both of us had arms but he had no weapons). Morotaka and Takiguchi faced off as is the way of such things. I have decided to post my notes to give you a taste of the kind of samurai action we are talking about. And I remind you gentle readers that this is just one of the fights in Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards.

- Flat to Rt hip
- Over top downward slah across Rt
- Bring Sword back up same path upward slash
- Hit to neck
- Head throw grab throw up lft
- Feel neck
- Bring sword up x and down slash left side of P
- Back hit x towards up left platform
- Head slash spot/eye/p Drops/slash
- Double hand x into down slash

Harmony

As they often say familiarity can breed contempt. As much as I would like to say that everyone always gets along with everyone else in the theater this is often not the case. Tempers can flare and very smart, very talented and very tired people can often disagree. I am not writing this to tell you that there are troubles. I am not writing this to air dirty laundry. What I wanted to say is that friction is something we should all be wary of and work to smooth the way for one another.

Fair Ladies has the potential to kick a great deal of ass and all of the cast, crew, director and designers have a vested interest in making this come to pass. So breath everyone. Take a great big gulp of air and remember that at least this blogger is in deep love with every single one of you.

That being said please John Michael and Jai, no more attempts on one anothers lives during rehearsal. Jai I know you know a varying number of ways to kill a man, but please try to keep it in check. John Michael you are the one with the sword in this photo, so I know she must have really been pushing your buttons.

Let's all just say we are sorry and move on. There is a run coming up and the less blood there is on stage the better the chance that we will make it through the whole show.

Oh, you kids and your sword play!

It's A Joy To Be Simple

And then we raised a barn. Hello true believers and welcome to the first entry for 2006 of the Rorschach Theatre Blog. Construction of the set was fevered this last week. As you will see in the photo above the big bridge has been built and please note the scale ladies and gentlemen. Special kudos to our set designer and technical director, this set soars and the actors for the most part feel safe and secure as they rise eight feet up into the air.

Last night before rehearsal began we accomplished the Rorshach Theatre equivalent of a barn raising. As you may remember from the scale model of the set there is a large window feature behind the bridge feature. This structure is at least 13 feet tall and had to be constructed on the playing area in front of the bridge. It now needed to be lifted over the bridge and placed in its new home position. So many hands making light work, the cast and crew hoisted the 13 foot high 20 feet wide window up and over the existing set.

Fortunately only one climber was lost during this ascent. She was later recovered by a group of Norwegians who were attempting to climb the peaks south face. Good time!

A Simple Actor's Trick

There are a lot of words in the English language. As an actor you are expected to pronounce them. Now most actors are quite good at speaking, but even those of us with voices like the Late Great Barry White and diction like a Later Day Henry Higgins, sometimes come across words for which we need to look up a pronunciation. The problem faced when pronouncing names and locations in a language like Japanese can be even more daunting. Most of the cast, being native English speakers, find it difficult to pronounce many of these words. Fortunately the proper nouns have been transposed into English in the script so we just need to actually pronounce the vowels the way they are pronounced in Japanese. I have attached a copy of a set of simple syllables provided to the cast by our lighting designer JT who happens to have studied Japanese for several years.

If you ever have a problem pronouncing a word in English I recommend the following resource, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. They have thoughtfully recorded nearly every word in the their print edition and have the accepted pronunications for nearly all of them online.

Say you didn't know how to pronounce zealot. Just type in the word and it will take you to the definition and click on the tiny red speaker and up pops a window and it will say the word as many times as you need so you aren't saying zee-a-lot.

Have fun. You can even make it say the dirty words we all love. It's just like looking up the dirty words in 3rd grade and then you can giggle.

Wednesday! Already?

Well we tonight we are back at Casa for rehearsals. What challenges will we face tonight as Al, Scott, Paul, Cesar and John Michael all face off in the dreaded putting Yoshitsugu to death scene? Dramatic tension will amp up as the play takes its dark turn towards execution. See the battle for samurai supremacy as Paul and John Michael battle over who gets to sit where! View the dramatic tension build as Scott attempts to recap the show after intermission! Witness the power of Al Twanmo sitting in judgement on some form of stool! And behold the wonder that is Cesar facing his own beheading with his head held high, just long enough so that Al can get a good whack at it with his sword!

A Girl and Her Sword

Think of this as a first look at an image which will probably never be used again. But its kind of hot right? I dig chicks with swords and Yasmin has got it going on in this here out take from the post card photo shoot. 

Christmas Theme Contest

Not much to report here from the trenches of small theater land this Tuesday morning. I got a sweater. We will hopefully have a look at the post card image in the next couple of days. And from the news of Fair Ladies rehearsals will recommence on Wednesday Night.

After watching A Christmas Story this weekend I remembered the joys of not just B-B Guns but also the joys of writing holiday related essays and being graded for them. Therefore I open the floor to any of our readers. If you had a particularly good Christmas this weekend or the Holiday which will make you give up on your family all together we want to read about it. Please send one or two paragraphs to the Blogger and we'll publish it here. If you have any photos I will post those as well. Participate damn it!

Naughty and Nice List-Serve

We had our first run-through of the show on Wednesday night. I may have mentioned during The Beard of Avon that the design run is the first chance for the director and designers to see the show from beginning to end. Each scene has been blocked to one degree or another and now the actors begin to string scene to scene like a string of round pale white precious beads that will give the character those magic words of arc and journey. And for the most part the show held together well enough for a first run-through. That being said there is always a lot of work to do and there is never enough time to do it all during rehearsal. Lines have to be learned and blocking rehearsed in order for the show to come to life. I have said that there is a there there before and I think that we are very near the neighborhood of there right now. We have the cast we have the design and we have the direction to create a Japanese samurai play of not just poetic beauty but also to be damn funny.

And after that piece of company propaganda I here present the first annual Naughty and Nice List for Rorschach Theatre. Please remember I love nearly all people and only dislike based on conspiracy theories I have created for myself to explain why the world works in a (excuse my French) such a cruddy way. This list does not judge as much as entertain. Well entertain me at least.

Naughty and Nice 2005

Naughty: Any theater that puts up a blog that continues to post day after day about the blocking and how many pages of the script they got through. Come on give me the good stuff, like how they had to quietly fire someone. And for God sake if you are going to be on the internet try and make me laugh for God's sake, Not just put up the head shots of three blond actresses or using the college intern to write the entry when you are too busy.

Nice: Val Fenton. Her warmth and grace serve as a model to anyone in the future who should happen to play Grady's wife.

Naughty: As always anyone who thinks that theater around Christmas should involve elves, spirits of Christmas Past, Present or Future or dancing sugar plums or fruit of any sort. Go out there and see something dark around Christmas it will make you feel better about your own life.

Nice: My bosses for giving me the Red Skin's tickets this weekend. Go Skins!

Naughty: Tim Getman. Just look at him!

Nice: Arthur Miller and August Wilson. I for one will miss both of your righteous outrage on stage. God Bless the pinkos and the rabble rousers other wise what is the point of doing theater. Besides Arthur Miller was married to Marilyn Monroe, talk about the nerd getting the girl.

Naughty: The guy who decided it was alright to listen in on my phone conversations without a warrant. I know you guys want to keep me safe but come on all I use my phone for is to call out for pizza.

Nice: Finally the casts of both The Beard of Avon and Fair Ladies. For some reason you guys just make me feel jolly. And that is not a word a stockily built man uses easily this time of year.

See you all Tuesday and cast and crew send me an essay on what you did on Christmas Break and we will post them.

Happy Holidays Folks.

100th Post Holiday Edition

Dear Friends, Family, and Yet To Be Determined,

I hope this posting finds you well during this ____________(Insert Appropriate Holiday Here) Season. This year it's my turn to do the family newsletter and I have embraced it with all of the joy and hope a single man in his early 30s can muster for a holiday newsletter (If we were to be putting it on some sort of scale it would be somewhere between Cleaning my Shower and ordering Chinese Delivery, again.) It has been quite a year at the Rorschach Family Ranch.

After Uncle Scott and Aunt Rahaleh split-up at the beginning of the year, things were pretty rocky. See Aunt Rahaleh moved to Boston and started sleeping with this Minister, nine months later little Liz came into the world, all red hair and attitude. The town was scandalized and threatened some sort of long term imprisonment, you know how Puritanical those New Englanders can be. Uncle Scott started stalking Aunt Rahaleh and her new boyfriend and eventually he drove the poor guy crazy. The boyfriend died of some sort of chest infection.

Cousin Timmy moved back from Chicago last spring just in time to hit the road again for beautiful Baja California. Seems he, brother Grady, and that neighbor boy Jason (you know the one with all of the hipster internet friends) all got involved with some kind of religious pilgrimage (a little too much of the funny kool aid if you ask me) and started the road trip from hell. The good news is that everything turned out well and Timmy asked Liz out on an ice cream date.

Brother Grady has started writing plays. He teamed up with some kid he met down at the theater, Eric something or another, and they have been putting on these whacked out shows about wars, cannibalism and incest. I know, pretty crazy stuff. I don't think people go to the theater to be scarred and scared, I think they want to be entertained. They like musicals about baseball teams and nannies who marry their bosses, not rapes and murder. They want good old fashioned stories about people falling in love and settling down, not stories of bi-polar princes living in castles in lower Scandinavia worrying about whether they should or shouldn't kill their Uncle. But boys will be boys I suppose. I hear they are working on a comedy next. Hopefully it will be better than their last comedy, the one with all of the spousal abuse.

And that brings us to today. We are now hip deep in another family crisis. Uncle Scott is stalking another woman, who has absolutely no interest in him at all. So apparently he has staged some sort of frame up to get her, her boyfriend and their two best friends into some legal trouble so they will be put to death. Apparently pre-marital sex is grounds for the death penalty in some places. I can only assume that it is Texas or Florida. He won't give me all of the details but he says everything should be falling into place in mid-January, stay tuned we will have updates.

So other than the whole Uncle Scott creepiness its been a great year. And so from all of the Rorschachs we wish you the holiday greeting most appropriate to your ethnic, religious and socio-economic persuasion.

Happy Holidays,
The Mad Blogger what Blogs at Midnight

Fight Night Part II

Well my cozy little gnomes and gnomesses. Everyone was at rehearsal last night except Herr Director, who was off accepting delivery of his parents. Welcome to America Mr. and Mrs. Baker.

As I mentioned last night was the night where boys and girls alike picked up swords, learned to sit, stand, bow and walk. Casey Kaleba our fight and movement instructor took us through our paces explaining why we American's move so poorly. Or at least inefficently. We learned to stack our bodies and walk without stomping our feets on the ground. Then the cool stuff went down and the swords came out. There were only two injuries I can report, both of them splinter related as some of the practice swords were in fact made of wood. I will only mention that Cesar was one of the victims and leave it at that (There you go anonymous, I mentioned you.).

There were swords drawn, slashing and hacking. And all of it reminded me how my body just doesn't learn this stuff easily. I will be honest with you all this is going to take a lot of work to master before we open. My plan this weekend is to watch some more samurai films and try and figure this whole thing out and find a wooden stick and practice, practice, practice.

By the end of rehearsal I will say that my walking did feel more natural and less forced. Breathing as always seems to be an important element of this whole thing and sometimes I know I for one just forget to do it. This leads to me passing out a lot more often than I like, but it does in fact serve as a wonderful means of kicking off a conversation. "What? Where am I? Who are you? Why do you have your hands in my pants pockets? I didn't say stop, I just asked why." Ah college!

Tonight will be the first designer run and boy are we excited! You can tell because I used an exclimation mark at the end of that last sentence.

A Night of Progress

Last nights rehearsal was one of those no holds-barred events that makes me proud to be an actor. We made it to the final scene of the play which by coincidence was the final scene that needed to be blocked. There was screaming and laughing, murder and seduction, and people being rolled up in tatami mats. True love finds its way and jealousy and evil are punished. Patrick and I found out that we are going to be having a kick ass fight at the end of the show. I am thinking some heavy duty Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker kind of action on with samurai swords instead of lightsabers. But of course I think that because there is only a tiny layer of coolness which prevents me from being the geek I long to be.

Ghill and Nelina, both agree King Kong made them cry. Paul and Al had a button down shirt fight with pieces of wood battle. Yasmin, Jai and I all got rolled up in a floor mat and one of got dragged around by her feet. Patrick figured out he could get to the 7-11 faster if he rode his bike there and back and he was right. Yasmin brought in these Godiva Chocolates that when you set them in your mouth went off like pop-rocks. Which of course led to a conversation about Mikey, pop-rocks and a can of coke. Gwen went into full ninja mode and scared Jai, which made me happy because I now know that I can form an alliance with Gwen and be safe from any of Jai's killing attacks, which apparently now number 37, she claims to have learned 3 more over the weekend.

Randy Baker our ever fearless director, continues to come up with inventive and creative uses for the space. He is also giving himself the night off tonight, as the cast will be meeting with the fight choregrapher. We will be practicing bowing, sitting and hopefully kicking some ass samurai style.

Tanka You

Yasmin Tuazon, actress, post card model, yoga instructor and Rorschach Company Member started the ball rolling with this one. Please note the beautiful Yasmin posing for the post card image on your left.

The challenge involves the poetry form called Tanka which is featured on the Poem Cards from which the play Fair Ladies takes its name. The rules are simple syllable pattern of 5-7-5 7-7. Many of the cast have contributed their own Tanka since the gauntlet was thrown down so here is the collection thus far and Yasmin’s original challenge.

Yasmin:

Last night, while learning how to play poem cards, it became apparent that further study of the Tanka form was required. It was proposed that rehearsal reports be recorded as tanka. I hope this will be the first of many, as the cast swims deep in the warm discipline of syllabic verse.
____________________________

We slide on our knees
across the new floor without
hesitation. No splinters!

Except for the one Gwen got
slapping the tatami mat.
____________________________

In the name of poetry, I will not restrict anyone from writing Tanka about subjects other than rehearsal. Leaves, birds, the seasons, rice, certain flowers, Randy, and lovers rent asunder are still acceptable. But I strongly encourage people to work within the spirit of the play. Tanka about cheese are right out. Such verses may be reserved for the closing night party.

Yasmin:

December air numbs
my fingertips, though I am
surrounded by walls.

Why doesn't the heat filter
into the rehearsal space?

Paul:

Weekend plans evolve,
In sanctuary we meet
To rehearse our play.

The director wants to know
Are all actors off book yet?

John Michael:

Yasmin forbids poets
to praise the glories of cheese,
that most luscious food.

Tonase poops the party.
Do we call this typecasting?

Gwen:

Scott and Ghillian
sent home early, joyous glee!
Sawdust and cold air.

Does the Moon have alzheimers?
Peasants slow down Yoko's search.

Scott:

Scott could go home but
Beer she calls to him and Ghillian
So in cold they walk

Up Mount Pleasant Street and then
Into warmth of Haydee's they go drink.

Jai:

Craziness abounds
Inside my e-mail inbox
Tanka being shared

Does not anyone else have
Occupational duties?

Ghill:

Rehearsal madness
Leads to Haydee's and Guinness.
Feels like a snow day!

No longer mysterious
Drinking with Morotaka.

Paul:
(Not Tanka but instructive)

Grab a fence post, hold it tight,
Womp your partner with all your might.
Hit him in the shin, hit him in the head,

Hit him again, the critter ain't dead.
Wop him low and wop him high,
Stick your finger in his eye.
Pretty little rhythm, pretty little sound,
Bang your heads against the ground.

(courtesy of Bugs Bunny)

Lots of Sets

Welcome back to the production blog for Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards everybody. I seemed to have gone a little bit off topic on Friday but today is a return to the true topic at hand.

To your left you will note the completed set for the show. Notice the screens, the painted backdrop and the majestic bridge that fills the space and create varied and intereting levels on which to play. I know this constuction represented a lot of hard work on the part of our set designer Nathaniel John Sebastian Sinnott.

Unfortunately this is only the scale model of the set. The constructed set will have to be much bigger for the show to be staged but I thought the model was so cool I just had to show you.

The designer and our technical director for this production, Amy Kleist, were hard at work Saturday and Sunday sawing and measuring the pieces that will assemble to build what I think is one of our most beautiful and ambitious sets to date.

For those of you familiar with the space it will sit at the choir loft end of the theater with the audience seated on the "stage" end of the space where The Beard of Avon was performed. The set will stretch from floor to ceiling and incorporate the white fabric which fills the arch that seperates the choir loft from the sanctuary. The playing space will stretch out across the floor of the theater, which has been recently decked with a new paintable and durable floor by Rorchach Artistic Partner Tim Getman.

Here are some more pictures to give you some scale on the scale model. Please note how Lex Luthor is holding a captured Lois Lane as Superman stands by to rescue her. The part of the giant hand is played by Rahaleh Nassri.

Our Forefathers and Foremothers for that Matter

I am going to kind of wing it here today. Mostly because I am pretty sure I have some sort of frost bite and and everytime I try and hit the shift key, my left pinky starts to ache a little. It was cold last night. With a cold hard rain falling on my head and the sound of wolves and badgers chasing me up 16th Street on my way home, one can see how early colonial actors had to struggle in adverse conditions to make it to rehearsal every night.

I don't think that we the performers of the early 21st century truly appreciate the hardships endured by our forefathers struggling to bring quality cutting edge theater to the original 13 Colonies of these Americas. Character actors with names like Scotty "Two Teeth" MacCormick and Grady "Whoopsie" Witherspoon, who traveled up and down the Eastern Seaboard from Nova Scotia to St. Augustine performing high quality topical productions of American Classics like My Sister Has a Spinning Wheel and All the Boys Do Love Her and TEA PARTY! The Musical. Working what used to be known as the Hogshead Circut and filling houses nightly, these brave pioneers of the American stage and their spirit of determination as they faced cold, scurvy and rightly justified attacks by the native peoples of this continent, should serve as a reminder to those of us who whine and complain today.

There is the story of a town in the hills of what was then Western Virginia and is now West Virginia, circa 1756, who were watching a performance of a new work by that giant of American Colonial Theater, Edward Baker. A young actress comes out on stage and begins a fifteen minute monologue on butter churning. The audience rises up and immediately attacks her due to her ears being exposed in a suggestive manner. This of course being a time when a woman's ears were the most sexually attractive of her extremeties.

Without missing a beat Witherspoon and MacCormick break into a chorus of Jimmy Crack Corn and the crowd falls into a hushed silence (actually I supposed a hushed silenece is the only kind of silence you can have). Reaching the final chorus, they have backed their way to the barn doors, grabed the young actress and started to run for it. They don't stop running until they reach the shores of Lake Champlain, where they opened a little pottery shack by the side of the road and would sell medicinal herbs and clay pipes. And that is how the first head shop was born.

Where was I? Any way those were people who knew about suffering.

As I sit here in front of my magic counting and typing machine I can not help but think of the famous last words of that great comedic actor and signer of the Constitution, Timothy "It's only a Rash" Getman, "Hey I am still alive give me back my boots!" Give me back my boots Mr. Getman, give me back my boots indeed.

Chikamatsu Monzaemon

Despite some complaints that there has been way too much talk about Rahaleh on this page I would like to point out that for every entry on the kidnapping there have been two about the other two shows. So for those of you who have become bored with the kidnapping story line here are some valuable links regarding the playwright Chikamatsu.

Often refered to as the Japanese Shakespeare, Chikamatsu is the originator of the tale we tell in Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. He lived in Japan (obviously being the Shakespeare of Japan and all) from 1653 until 1725, when his death apparently interfered with his living and then he was just in Japan. He wrote 130 plays which beats Shakespeare by about 90 plays and wrote for both Kabuki theater and bunraku (puppet) theater (Fair Ladies is based on a bunraku work). He was known for his writing for the Japanese middle-classes and also for writing some quite bloody historical and romantic dramas, some of them ripped from real life(sort of an early version of Law and Order). Tales of merchants falling in love with geishas being ruined and committing suicide to be reunited in the after life on a lotus leaf occur in two of his works, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (1703), and the late The Love Suicides at Amijima (1721). He also wrote a number of historical plays much the same as Shakespeare, featuring bloody battles, regicide (the killing of kings not the killing of Philbins) and samurai, samurai and more samurai.

Chikamatsu's father and brother were both doctors, so we can all imagine what a disappointment it was to his mother that he went into the theater.

Amagasaki, Japan calls itself the City of Chikamatsu and there is an annual festival celebrating his life and work.


Bio information can be found here.

And there is some more here.

Be It Ever So Humble There Is No Place Like Stockholm

This is a statement prepared by Rahaleh upon her return from captivity. Her claims to the contrary I think she has really been impacted by this near brush with vacation. Read on gentle readers, read on:

Statement from RAHALEH NASSRI
(released December 15, 2005)

I am back in Washington, DC in rehearsals for Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. Save minor back pain resulting from a boogie board incident, I am in good health. I want to thank all those who expressed concern. To all those who secretly prayed I would not return or return disfigured, maimed or in a body bag, I can only say this: someday your life will turn around, you’ll be happy, and you won’t have to spend so much time wishing misfortune on others.

I always try to see the brightest side of every experience. I do not harbor any anger toward my abductors. They are good people and this whole incident may have been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Sure, it was scary at times and a few tears were shed, but I grew very fond of my kidnappers and, judging from their actions, they were very fond of me. They say, “If you love something, set it free?” I’m free now and must admit I have pangs of nostalgia when I think of the duo and my time in captivity. They gave me stickers and kissed my tears away. They bought me ice cream and tamales and drugged me only once. Don’t get me wrong, their sh*t DOES stink. And I imagine yours does too (although, mine doesn’t).

I want to end by stating emphatically that no action, legal or otherwise, should be taken against my abductors.

-Rahaleh Nassri

NB: This is not a case of Stockholm Syndrome (See also Patty Hearst and blink 182. The Editor). I was never in Sweden. I know this because it was warm and the people were happy. I hear Swedes are depressed.

Back of Al

For a couple of rehearsal we were forced out of Casa by a super secret construction project being carried out by Artistic Partner, Tim Getman. Mean while rehearsals carried on over at what I like to call the "Woolly Mammoth." Thanks to the folks at Woolly for lending the space. To the left is the Back of Al Twanmo getting ready to behead Ceaser standing over to his right. Or is he? Bwahahahhahahahahahhahaha!

We Don't Even Use Ushers!

Praise for The Beard of Avon is still pouring in day by day. Apparently the show was awarded the Usher's Favorite Show Award for the month of November. The details can be found at Potomac Stages Daily News Page. I should clarify and say that we tied with a certain other Shakepeare production in town for the honor. I won't tell you who but their show in Pig Latin would be Omedeycay ofay Orerrays at the Akespeareshay Eaterthay staring my good friend Arnimay Enningpay . Potomac Stages had already made us a pick with a fantastic review in October and now this is really too much!

It reminds of what all of us at Rorschach continue to tell ourselves on a fairly regular basis, the work no matter how much money you have or don't have to throw at it will shine through.

This is all the more gratifying when you consider that we don't even use ushers at our performances. Relying on the odd actor, designer or board member who happens to wander by to point people towards the restrooms.

Congratulations everyone and thank you Ushers!

Ransom

This is Rahaleh. Rahaleh was abducted and taken to Mexico.

I for one am relieved that the prayers of a small theater company in Washington, DC could bring our little girl home.

I am reminded of Mel Gibson before he went crazy in the film Ransom. His character Tom Mullen said these words and they are as true now as they were in 1996:

The whole world now knows... my son, Sean Mullen, was kidnapped, for ransom, three days ago. This is a recent photograph of him. Sean, if you're watching, we love you. And this... well, this is what waits for the man that took him. This is your ransom. Two million dollars in unmarked bills, just like you wanted. But this is as close as you'll ever get to it. You'll never see one dollar of this money, because no ransom will ever be paid for my son. Not one dime, not one penny. Instead, I'm offering this money as a reward on your head. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter. So congratulations, you've just become a two million dollar lottery ticket... except the odds are much, much better. Do you know anyone that wouldn't turn you in for two million dollars? I don't think you do. I doubt it. So wherever you go and whatever you do, this money will be tracking you down for all time. And to ensure that it does, to keep interest alive, I'm running a full-page ad in every major newspaper every Sunday... for as long as it takes. But... and this is your last chance... you return my son, alive, uninjured, I'll withdraw the bounty. With any luck you can simply disappear. Understand... you will never see this money. Not one dollar. So you still have a chance to do the right thing. If you don't, well, then, God be with you, because nobody else on this Earth will be.

I think we can all agree with those sentiments. Rahaleh, I for one am glad you are back. But if you had any fun on your little vacation, I will hunt you down. Cheers!

Catching-Up Issue

On an almost daily basis I am sent items by members of the cast and Rorschach staff regarding the posts and ideas that people have for the blog. Today I will catch-up on some of these items, but first a couple of my own thoughts.

1. There seems to be some concern for Rahaleh's safety and my apprent disregard for her safety. To be clear we received no ransom demands and if we did I am sure we would all chip in a couple of bucks to get her back. I was going to save this for later but I saw Rahaleh last night and other than some traumatic story about the way room service treated her, she seems to be fine. Although we all know how these boughts of post-kidnapping stress can sneak-up on you, so if you see her sitting in a corner quietly humming Feliz Navidad to herself it is probably better to leave her alone for a couple of minutes. She promised me she had more photos from her kidnapping to share later.

2. I have been informed by Jai that there are in fact 34 ways a woman can kill a man and she knows 27 of them. Both Rahaleh and I asked "What happen did you miss the last class?" She seemed very sincere when she said it and made a very threatening gesture with her right hand when I asked about number 26. So if I wind up dead it might be someone who is very . . .

Hi Jai good to see you how did you get in here? Me nothing I am just typing. About you? No, just something funny about wigs. You know how I love to write about wigs. Please don't! Oh sweet merciful crap don't!!!! Oh the pain!!! I am feeling very sleepy now. Grandma is that you? Why are you standing next to that brilliant white light? You want me to come to you grandma? You look glorious. No wait for me grandma. Wait for me!

3. I had all of my hair cut off on Sunday and I bought a new hat at Urban Outfitters. I know how cool am I right? Well not very cool at all but what can you do a month shy of 33?

4. John Micheal McDonald one of the talented actors from Fair Ladies did some research:

Halloo, all.

For anyone who hasn't found it already, the narrative version of Fair Ladies, translated by one Asataro Miyamori is at Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards.

It isn't a terrific read, but can be a helpful reference.

As ferrinstance, where Oswald is somewhat unclear with

"Though Master Morihisa's Beautiful flute entranced me for a moment,
Because he told me he is a woman, I had to let him go."

Miyamori is a little more straightforward with:

"Master Morihisa certainly played a very pretty tune on the lute at last year's
mushroom picnic on Mount Kita, but what an effeminate fellow he is!"

It also has footnotes which are handy for explaining some of the Japanese references: Football was one of the stock court amusements. Needless to say it had little in common with that organized form of refined savagery which we find in the west to- day. It was a stately game, played in a costume of which the voluminous trousers formed not the least important item.

Hentsugi is a game in which Chinese characters have a prominent place.

Kaiawasa is a game played with a number of clam shells. Roughly speaking, what constitutes this game is the picking up and fitting together of the two respective sides of the shells from those which have been scattered about. The insides of the shells are painted with coloured illustrations of the fifty-four scenes of The Story of Genji, the greatest work of classical fiction.

Enjoy.
John Mike

5. Yasim Tuazon actress and Rorschach Company member contributes this link regarding the Empress to be portrayed in our play Rahaleh. Empress Kenrei-Monin. It is actually quite touching.

Well that is all for right now. But I will try and get some more stuff together real soon.

Empress Missing - Monday

Look closely at this picture and all the clues are there. This picture was sent to me from someone's cell phone cam around 1pm today EST. The subject line was "Looking for a Safe House." From the clues we have been given previously, the Spanish words Buena Vista on the sign above them, what appears to be an access road to a beach and the fact that these people are not wearing coats in December, you should be able to at least take a stab at where they took Rahaleh. Please note neither one of them is wearing a vest.

Also kudos to the slooths who pointed out that nowhere in Rahaleh's packing instructions did it mention the need for a jacket.

Please feel free to post some guesses as to where Rahaleh went.