Profiles to Discourage

I set my fellow company members a task and so far 6 of them have accepted the challenge. I set them a list of questions and asked them to answer them. They all got the same questions and I told them they could be funny or not. I will post their reponses here and remember they really do love one another.

First on the block is one of our two Artistic Directors Jenny McConnell Frederick. She had this to say to the blog:

1. Place of birth?

The recently demolished Columbia Hospital for Women, right here in DC on election day of our great nation's bicentennial.

2. First experience in theater?

"Directing" my brother and cousins in reinactments of Brady Bunch episodes during Sunday family dinners at my grandparent's house....it wasn't just Brady Bunch episodes...sometimes it was really more like a variety show. The dog was occasionally the recipient of my directorial genius as well. (see photo)

3. Where you went to school?

The aptly named Chatterbox Nursery School, then rode the short bus (seriously) to the Gifted and Talented program at Springfield Estates, followed up by requisite pathetic Jr. High experience at Mark Twain, then on to Hayfield Secondary School where I won the Best Actress Award for my stunning portrayal of the disfigured Junie Moon in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, (played by Liza Minnelli in the film version...we're so alike!) And from there I went to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond--urban living with training wheels.

4. What do you do?

Direct, Produce, Write Checks, Sweep, Buy the Concessions, Feed the Actors, Stamp and Label the Postcards, Write Thank You Notes, Beg For Volunteers, Sweep, Mop, Narrowly Avoid Eviction, and Boss Scott Around...in no particular order.

5. What was your first experience with Rorschach?

Probably late 1998 or early 1999 when Randy told me he and our friend Jason were thinking of producing The Hairy Ape and calling themselves Poor Tom Productions. I think I said something tactful like "That's a stupid name. We can think of a better one." "They" become "We" and the rest is history.

6. Company member you would most like to be if you were not yourself?

Rahaleh. You know why.

7. Some story about working on a Rorschach play that either made you laugh or touched you deeply?

(This story did both...)

After a performance of God of Vengeance (about play about pimps, lesbians and prostitutes around the turn of the century), when a woman in her seventies came up and said to me, "You make Lesbianism look so inviting! I'm thinking of taking my friend Myrtle home with me tonight!"

8. Where do you think Rorschach will be in the next ten years?

I have lots of big ideas.....

(If you'd like to make a contribution to Rorschach Theatre's Jenny's Big Idea's Fund you can go to www.boxofficetickets.com/rorschach.)

9. What is your favorite Rorschach show that you were not in?

All of them...Rorschach NEVER casts me. They suck.

10. Scott McCormick harmless adolecent or world conquering super villain?

Are those my only two choices?

Blessed Be the Ties that Bind

Well fair readers yet another Rorschach production comes to a glorious ending. Above is a photo of the various knots that held our costumes together during the run. Final four performances were some of the sweetest, much the same way that Hollywood's elite would show up for Frank, Sammy and Dean's shows we were graced by many of our own personal Rat Packs. Therefore the funny parts were funnier and the sweet parts sweeter and it was a nice way to leave a very special show. Some people cried, others were to overwhelmed to cry and some tried to cry but found that they had lost the ability because of some government experiments they subjected themselves to in the mid-90s to make a couple of bucks.

We will not be starting rehearsals for A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner (Previews start April 19th) for a couple more weeks but I am going to do my best to give you a little more information about the company members mixed in with some original commentaries as the mood strikes me.

And now because a great cast and crew always deserves a second bow, here were the people who made Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards possible:

Cast: Patrick Bussink, Nelina Giridhar, Gwen Grastorf, Cesar A. Guadamuz, Jai Khalsa, Scott McCormick, John-Michael MacDonald, Paul McLane, Rahaleh Nassri, Ghillian Porter, Yasmin Tuazon, Al Twanmo

Design and Production: Debra Kim Sivigny (Costume Design), Nathaniel John Sebastian Sinnott (Set Design), Justin Thomas (Light Design), Matthew Frederick (Sound Design), Amy Kleist (Technical Director), Sharon King and Lindsey Ruehl (Stage Managers)

Director: Randy Baker

Producer: Jenny McConnell Frederick

Thank you all and remember once you have done a Rorschach show all other theater experiences will seem dull in comparison, for good or bad.

Last Dance and Last Chance

Four Shows left folks and then we are out of here. Enjoy the weekend everyone and thanks for the memories. See you on Monday everyone else.

Lessons in Power Ball

Just four performances left of Fair Ladies people. Can we say last chance to see? Can we say hot samurai lovin'? No seriously, can I say that? Tickets are still available but it is the last weekend so I don't know how much longer that will be true. Call 1-800-494-TIXS or visit Box Office Tickets and use the ticket code "PAUL" and get a $12 ticket. That is a third off the regular price.

Mean time welcome to all of the people from DCeiver and from Theaterboy for coming on by the house for a visit. Remember to take your shoes off, we don't like scuff marks on the new floor. And what you are smelling right now if a candle my mom gave me for Christmas. Do you like it? Its something called Fresh Cookies. Wild huh?

As I stare out my work window here on Wisconsin Ave. there is a line starting to form outside of the Rodman's Discount Food and Drug. Fox 5 has set up their cameras to document this mass gathering of people who don't appreciate the odds of winning the $350 million dollars are 1 in 146,107,962. These men and women will stand in line for about an hour to put down a dollar or twenty to win a prize so big that it will move them into a higher tax bracket.

Imagine if you will what I, the member of a small theater company would do if I won all of that money.

1. First off I would get me a really hot girlfriend. Sorry if I am going to do something for the company I need to do something for me first. And she would love me because I am smart, funny, talented and I have like $200 million dollars after taxes.

2. Everyone in the company would go on payroll. I would then expect them to dedicate themselves fully to the company and its goals. Jenny and Randy would completely maintain their positions of authority, I would only make a few small requests and they could either implement them or not. No big deal. Did I mention I would be paying them? I think they should keep that in mind when I make my suggestions. I mean I am not really the kind of guy who would threaten somebody's job if I didn't get my way, but I just think that might be something they would want to keep in mind when they are making plans. Forget I said anything. You guys just keep on doing what you are doing and I will write the checks . . . if I remember. You know what makes me remember? Being happy. And you know what makes me happy?

3. All costumes and set will be made of the finest materials. Fine silks and expensive teaks will fill the space. None of this theater scrimping you hear about, if there is a cheap alternative well we will say no thanks and spend amazing amounts of money on things like leather pants and revolves even if the director doesn't want them. And I don't mean some clunky revolve left over from some Les Mis touring company, I mean the best revolve you can buy. Something they worked on at NASA or for some sort of medical research. And all of our silks will be made using the silk of specially trained silk worms that will be housed in a small village I have purchased in a yet to be determined third world nation. I am not talking sweat shop here people, all of the kids will be paid a fair and equitable wage.

4. Finally I will buy us a space. Something with a retractable roof so we can do outdoor trauma in the summer would be nice.

See I don't think money would change me one bit. Lines forming pretty fast across the street, it may be too much hassle.

Brrreeeport

Tonight starts the final weekend of performances of Fair Ladies. And with all the fussing and feuding going on in a world where the Vice President of the United States is going around shooting lawyers, we could all do with a little more samurai lovin'. (Apologies to our Repubican Reader, I wrote that last sentence to be topical. Apprently it gets the blog extra hits if you talk about Dick Chaney, Britney Spears or something called Brrreeeport.)

But enough of my own left wing agenda for world domination, today is the day I make my mind up about who wins the Caption Contest. Once again here is the photo and here is the winning caption:

Anonymous said...

Nelina: I TOLD YOU never to touch me there!

Takeguchi: He just touched ME there and I'm still lovin' it.

Now I would reward this person if I knew who they were. Anonymous posters always slink around the blog and once again don't get the credit they deserve. Because I don't know who this poster was, the prize goes to the second place winner:

ninja twin #2 said...

Nelina Giridhar. Slapping men stupid since 1983.

Both of these captions are winners in my book because the don't just take into account the action in the foreground but also try and explain what the hell is going on with Patrick in the background. Well done everyone who played along and as soon as I remember which of you is ninja #1 and which is ninja #2 you will receive your coke, either fortified or not.

Day After VD

So that was a show and a half ladies and gentlemen. Valentine's Day Show had the flavor of family and friends last night. Gwen's exceedingly adorable posse of family and friends were there last night to give a cast the love that they so richly deserve. Plenty of young couples to fill out the audience and make the evening well worth the sacrafice of our own Valentine's Day Plans. For some of us that would have been sitting at home watching television, so probably it was a good thing we got out.

I am going to harp on this a little bit, but there are only five performances of Fair Ladies left. I know if you are a regular reader of this blog, and you aren't in the cast, you have probably already seen the show at least once. If I am wrong about that, well I am shocked, I don't know why you would be slumming here if you weren't a little curious about the monster we have created.

Tomorrow I will be announcing the winner of the Caption Contest. So if you still want to participate scroll down and leave your caption for the photo of John-Michael, Nelina and Patrick. Remember there is a valuable liquid based prize on the line so please leave me some way of knowing who the post belongs to, so you may receive your just reward.

Valentine's Day Special

In honor of that day so special that Rorschach decides to add a show to an already busy schedule, I have decided to take a trip down memory lane. Rorschach has always been a theater in love with love and the best way to quantify this love is to make a list of some sort. Here is my list of the top five Rorschach Romances of all time:

5. Mere and Pere Ubu in Ubu Roi - (Scott McCormick and Dan Via) - This crazy couple of kids only wanted one thing out of life, Absolute Power. Is that so much to ask? Willing to kill for one another this couple comes in at number five because they are one of the only married couples to actually stay together in a Rorschach Play.

4. Ethan and Alice in After the Flood - (Jason Lott and Anne Bowles) - Ah, love and puppets were in the air when these two high school friends rediscover one another. Ethan tries to figure out what the hell he is doing with his life in the jungles of Malaysia and Anne tries to slap some sense into the boy. Featuring a very sexy scene in their underware and the repetition of the word Monsoon. Mon-soooon!

3. The Master and Margarita - (Scott Graham and Lindsay Allen) - A couple so great they have a whole play named after them. He likes to burn manuscripts and hang out in insane asylums. She flies through the night terrorizing the country side and dancing with the dead. They had a love that even the devil would envy. And in the grand tradition of all great loves they are together forever.

2. Hester and Dimsdale in The Scarlet Letter - (Rahaleh Nassri and Jay Dunn) - Sure he is an ineffectual coward and she a adultorous loner, but their's was a love that made the religious right cry. Their love also spawns the wonder that is Pearl. In the end, despite the body count, theirs has been a love that sophomore's across America have read about for almost two centuries. Not bad for a a minister and a girl who happens to be good with a needle.

1. Calisto/Clindor/Theogenes and Meibea/Isabelle/Hippolyta in The Illusion - (Grady Weatherford and Rahaleh Nassri) - Over the course of an evening these two fall in and out of love three times. Facing every love that the world can throw at them. He kills for her, she lies for him and in the end what really happened? We are all trying to figure it out, but there is no denying it, they are a love for all times.

Photo Caption Contest and The Winter Olympiad

It's Photo Caption Contest Day here at the blog! Post your best caption for the above picture taken by blog special photo-correspondent Gwen and I will by you a coke. And if you are over 21 I might even put a little something in the coke. Tell me what you think is going on between Nelina and John-Michael in the above photo and if you are feeling really creative what the hell Patrick is doing in the background and you can win. Post your caption to the comments section of this post or email them to the blogger. Good luck!

Very responsive and fun crowd last night. There was one guy who was laughing at some stuff we didn't even know was funny. Remember this weekend would be a great time to catch Fair Ladies with the $10 ticket offer when you mention this post for the Friday 8pm and Saturday 5pm and 8pm shows. Keep in mind that there is always a rush the final weekend and the show has been selling out.

So in case you were planning on staying home tonight to watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, I will save you some time. There will be no ice skating. It's like 65 degrees in Turin right now so there will be a lot of talk about there not being any snow. Then they will repeat the fact that there isn't any snow a couple of more times before they trot Luciano Pavarotti out of retirement to sing something in Italian so most of us won't even understand it. There will be absolutely no mention of the 1969 film classic The Italian Job staring Sir Michael Caine filmed in Turin (and I don't care what NBC says, it is Turin if you speak English not Torino). They will once again talk about there being no snow. And North and South Korea will put aside their differences for one night as they march into the stadium as a group, before they go back home to plot the destruction of one another.

Good times?

No get on over to Rorschach before I have get all Boitano on your ass!

Hurts so Good

A.) Ghillian is helping Rahaleh put on her costume for another performance of Fair Ladies.

B.) Ghillian is removing a particullarly stuborn stain from Rahaleh's kimono.

C.) Paul is looking at the new pair of shoes I got at Target, Ghillian and Rahaleh just happen to get in the way.

D.) Something I can not discuss on a family web site.

Second to last weekend for Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards starts tonight. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. And Saturday and Sunday at 5pm. We are offering a $10 ticket special at the door this weekend, mention this post at the door and get a ticket for nearly half off the regular price. Bring a friend and it's like two for one. This offer is not good for the Sunday 5pm show.

Also remember if you still need to make plans with your sweety or just need some out of the house time on Tuesday Night, we have a special Valentine's Day performance. Visit our web site for how to order tickets or call 1-800-494-TIXS.

A.) Cesar considers the challenges of his role as a young Samurai in love.

B.) Cesar runs through his fight moves before the performance.

C.) Cesar is concerned about the plight of the quickly vanishing frog and toad species around the world.

D.) Cesar is trying to remember if he is wearing clean underwear.

Artistic Director Jenny McConnell Frederick on the Helen Hayes Nominations

You know there are many of us that feel robbed this time of year. If you are one of those people take comfort in the fact that we all feel robbed together and can then get really drunk at the after party (or for some of us during the ceremony) and end up making out with someone we shouldn't. It's all good! Here is a message from one of our Artistic Directors on just how we at Rorschach faired in the race for the honor so great it was named after the star of Airport '70, the Helen Hayes.

Congratulations to Rorschach Company Members who kicked-ass at the Helen Hayes Nominations (ok...not so much for their work at Rorschach....but kicking ass is kicking ass!)


Nominated Company Members:
Lindsay Allen, Outstanding Supporting Actress, An Experiment with an Air Pump
Karl Miller, Outstanding Lead Actor, columbinus
Michael John Casey (Kathleen Akerley & Ensemble) for Outstanding Choreography for shkspr prjct

Shows you guys were in that got nominated:
(**ok...I'm SURE I'm going to miss something here...so forgive me!)

PASSION PLAY (featuring Karl Miller)
Outstanding Set Design
Outstanding Supporting Actress (Polly Noonan)
Outstanding Lead Actor (Felix Solis)
Outstanding New Play

DAMN YANKEES (featuring Tracy Olivera)
Outstanding Musical
Outstanding Musical Direction
Outstanding Supporting Actor (Larry Redmond)
Outstanding Supporting Actress (Kay Walbye)
Outstanding Lead Actor (Brad Oscar)
Outstanding Lead Actress (Meg Gillentine)

HANNAH & MARTIN (featuring Rahaleh Nassri)
Outstanding Director
Outstanding Lighting Design
Outstanding Lead Actress Resident Play (Elizabeth Rich)
Outstanding Play

COLUMBINUS (featuring Karl Miller)
Outstanding Director
Outstanding Sound Design
Outstanding New Play
Outstanding Play

BIG DEATH & LITTLE DEATH (featuring Scott McCormick)
Outstanding New Play

EXPERIMENT WITH AN AIR PUMP (featuring costumes by Deb Sivigny and lights by David Ghatan)
Outstanding Supporting Actress (Lindsay Allen)

ELECTRA (featuring costumes by Deb Sivigny)
Outstanding Lead Actress (Jen Mendenhall)

Congrats, you guys! Randy and I feel really proud and lucky to have you all as Rorschach Company Members.
(And extra congrats to anyone I forgot!) Full list of nominees is online at the Helen Hayes web site.

xoxo--

Jen

Also congralations to all of the Rorschach Alums who were nominated this year:

Kathleen Akerley, Jonathon Church, Melissa-Leigh Douglass Outstanding Choreography, Resident Production, shkspr prjct
Colleen Delany, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play, Othello
Mark Sullivan, Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play, After Ashley

Gwen Takes the Photos

Ms. Gwen Grastorf oft time photo contributor and frequent commentor on this here blog sent me a message and a link to her photo collection from the show. She will have like a hundred shots of the process of putting this show together. Today I share her message and some of her shots. Bless you Gwen, bless you indeed. Remember folks just two more weekends for Fair Ladies.

Scottyboo,
I'm waiting to finish this album since i figure i'll have thirty or more pics before the run is up. either way, here is what i have so far. You are the blogmasta and you need hot shots. Rock out! - Gwen

St. Valentine's

Valentine's Day, kissing in a dark theater, hot love scenes in shadow and secret trysts.

I never recommend to anyone how they should get their lovin' but I think I know a good way to show someone you love a little culture and romance. Come see Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards.

Men, do you love your partner and want them to be realize what a romantic sap you can be sometimes?

Women, is your partner really into movies with martial arts battles?

This is the Rorschach that brings both your fight lovers and your love lovers together in a beautiful evening of forbiden hidden love.

Continuing the tradition that Rorschach started last year with The Scarlet Letter, we are giving up our Valentine's Day to do a show for all of you out there.

And if you are spending your VD alone (and who isn't these days) this is a good chance to get out of the house before you start burning boxes of love letters. There is no need to burn things if you can spend the night watching a smokin' hot cast burning up the stage. (God I will go almost anywhere to make a simile.) Visit here for tickets or call 1-800-494-TIXS.

Beck and More Internet Love

A very good review for the show is up at Potomac Stages web site. Here is a quote that sums up the lovin' we got from Brad:

Once the lights dim, the costumes confirm the ancient setting but the predominantly occidental cast make no effort to hide the fact that their names are Guadamuz, MacDonald, Porter and McCormick as well as Twanmo, Tuazon, Nassri and Khalsa. The performance style is both rigidly formal and freely energetic, a mix that is difficult to accomplish but which Baker's cast achieves quite well.
- Potmac Stages

Next I would like to discuss the song from the pre-show music that seems to be trapped in the heads of nearly everyone in the cast. Beck's Heaven Hammer with its sort of strange ether cords and haunting vocals has become a moment of calm before the performance.

Thank you Mr. Beck for all of your mid-80s inspired music which pulls on the strings of this young boy from Baltimore's heart strings and fills me with the images of my first slow dance in middle school with Alexi Coutrous, it was to Time After Time by Cindy Lauper. I miss you Alexi!

Enjoy the song!

We're Back and a Word from the Playwright

Hello everybody and welcome to the third weekend of runs for Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. Here is a link to the playwright Peter Oswald's interview in The Guardian from July of last year. Talks about being the guy still writing in verse.

Remember we have shows for tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. We sold out the last two shows and we expect the same sort of traffic this weekend. But just to sweeten the deal and how much sweeter could the deal get when you have faces like these in the show, if you mention the blog tonight when you come to buy a ticket at the door, you will get a ticket for $12. That's a third off the usual price of $18. I know many of you will want to be home to watch Dancing with the Stars but if you want to see people really taking their life in their hands, come on down to Casa for some hot Samurai Loving®.

®Samurai Loving is a trade mark of Rorschach International and is distributed by Second Right Productions.

5 Questions With Yasmin Tuazon

Rorschach Company Member, Poster Girl, Bikram Yoga Instrustor and closet anarchist, Yasmin Tuazon took some time out of what I know is a schedule literally packed with . . . stuff. Yasmin portrays the blogger's sister the Lady Tonase in Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. She has worked with Rorschach before in God of Vengeance, The Illusion and J.B. She can often be found at neighborhood Jamba Juice stands and recently in my living room watching the Magnificent Seven with me and Al Twanmo. Join me in this rare and carefully scripted interview with the woman who makes members of the postal service nervous.

1. Name the last movie you saw that reminded you of your Mother?

I know it's cliche, but if the shoe fits... Return of the Jedi.

2. Winter is the time of sweaters and hats, where do you get all of your sweaters?

Since the sudden liquidation of Sweater Barn, I no longer get all my sweaters in one place. I must forage for my sweaters wherever I can. This time of year it's pretty competitive, as you might imagine.

The ethical and environmental issues do concern me. According to a study released last year by the World Wildlife Fund, a surge in polar-tek fleece numbers has brought sweaters closer to the endangered list than we ever thought possible. Over-hunting threatens the delicate ecological balance of natural sweater habitats. If the sweater population dwindles, the otter and scarf populations swell. This in turn puts a strain on the natural wool resources; angry sheep consume more grass and buttons. Before you know it, rainforests, hoodies, and the llama are all affected.

On the other hand, I oppose the factory farming of sweaters. Without unilateral health regulations worldwide, many sweaters are raised under despicable conditions in China or Detroit. The footage of these places is heartbreaking. Seventeen sweaters crammed to a cage, living in their own lint; rusty and broken knitting needles; a diet that includes growth horomones and sometimes even cotton or acrylic. And we wonder why there is such a turtleneck problem.

After consulting with clothing and wildlife preservationists, judicious trapping seems to be the most humane option. I also recycle the sweaters via clothing swaps, and by wearing the same four things all the damn time. Traditional spring-jaw traps clamp down on the sleeve or body, and sweaters often unravel themselves completely in an attempt to escape.

I use an Alaskan game trap, which encloses the sweater completely without injury or snags. I use mittens for bait. Most people use socks, but I find they attract more dryers and raccoons.

It's certainly more work than store-bought sweaters. But wild sweaters seem to have more color and texture, and wear longer than their processed counterparts.

3. Recently President Bush admited to domestic spying without warrants being carried out under his orders by the NSA, do you worry about your own privacy given your extreme political beliefs?

Fight fire with fire, I always say. Since 2003, the website for Yasmin's Right-Wing Empornium has featured live webcams linked to every room in my house (and a couple in Amsterdam). I sleep peacefully knowing that my life is an open book that any government agency can peruse at the rate of $1.89 per minute. Discounted rates are available to GOP members that participate in the website.

4. You are a yoga instructor, what part of you body hurts most after a good hour of stretches and positions named after animals and produce?

See #3.

5. As an actor which is harder?

That, by far.

That last question and answer were not typos.

Another Word Search

Diary for Morotaka

The only information you need to understand this piece is the City Paper compares my character to Godzilla and The Post says I give a Orson Wellesian performace in the role of Morotaka. I thought it might be fun to spend a day in the life of this Orson-zilla inspired Morotaka. Follow the links if you don't get the references. Enjoy!

6:30 a.m. - Woke up early this morning to work on unfinished script for new movie involving tortured artist forced to sacrafice dreams of becoming great painter to support a wife he no longer loves by painting houses. Talk to J. Cotton about starring.

7 a.m. - Spy on ladies in waiting for half-hour making sure they all received the poems I wrote them last night.

8:30 a.m. - Attack small fishing boat off Soouthwest Coast of Japan and leave no one alive except paniced old man and small unconsious child. Radioactive breath seems to be acting up must speak to someone about that.

11:45 a.m. - Met with the folks at RKO about possibly filming the script I wrote this morning. Possibly change painter to wealthy publisher. Had a small salad, a troop carrier and a bottle of scotch for lunch. Must call Delores about dinner tomorrow.

12:25 p.m. - Watched ladies-in-waiting taking down their kimonos from the washline.

12:35 p.m. - Battled American naval carrier group. Lost toe, which fortunately grew back. Spotted that show off Mothra talking to those tiny twins in the clam shell again. Always with the ladies is Mothra.

3:00 p.m. - Second lunch with Agnes Moorehead and Mankiewicz. Both of them looking well. Told Mank I wanted to do a fake radio broadcast about some kind of giant creature attacking Tokyo. He reminded me I actually had attacked Tokyo last week. I asked him if I remembered to film it. He said no. So I told him to buy the g.d. cameras and we'll do it again. I am surrounded by idiots. Ate a radio tower washed down with another bottle of scotch.

4:12 p.m. - One of the ladies-in-waiting seems to be paying too much attention to one of the neighboring samurai. Must remember to either stomp into the ground or attack his villiage. Or both. I think it will be both.

7:30 p.m. - Dinner with John Huston went well until I swung my tail and killed him. Its not so much the killing I mind its the cleaning up. And to top it all off I am out of scotch. Will have to go get some more. Remember to send card to Angelica.

8:45 p.m. - Ate a bus load of American Tourists as I made rounds of the palace tonight. SOOOO much responsibility. Fell into electrical lines on the way back to palace after drinking tanker truck of what I belive was scotch but may in fact have been heating fuel.

11:15 p.m. - Dog-eared the poems before slipping them under Karumo's door. Which, since they are sliding doors, is a lot harder than it sounds. Especially when you are 100 feet tall and have hands the size of two RVs. Made quick notes on The Magnificent Smiths script, possibly thinking of changing title to something a little less WASPy.

12:50 a.m. - Long day, but over all a success. Still sorry about killing John. Possibly maimed John Houseman on the way to bed. Eddy Robinson won't return my phone calls and there seems to be a number of helicopters circling the palace. If they don't stop soon, will swat. Reminder if Karumo doesn't return affection soon remember to expose her to some sort of radio active spill. Good night mommy.

Monday, Monday

Before I post the link to The Post review, I would like to call attention to the fact that we Sold Out both Friday and Saturday's performances of Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. I feel like the show is finding its niche and it's finding its legs as well. Everyone who talks to me directly is saying that they love so many things about the show. I was in the Dollar Store in Silver Spring on Saturday evening and someone out of the blue walks up to me and tells me how much they love the poetry and then proceeded to recount their favorite performances. This doesn't happen to accountants ladies and gentlemen. That was one of those moments that make you feel like you are touching people and not in the bad way.

Post Review is fairly straightforward in the things it likes about the show and is also quite clear on the things it does not like. Read it and realize like anyone who loves what they are doing and who they are doing it with I only believe the good bits. Mr. Marks also adds to the list of people to whom I have been compared this week, remember people it's Orson Wellsian not Orwellian.

Morotaka

The Waiting Game

Everyone was back in great form last night as we returned to Fair Ladies. I would even say the couple of days off have allowed people to settle into their roles quite nicely. The first show back, after having a couple of days off, reminds you that you actually enjoy being around one another on a regular basis.

I have posted here each time a review has gone up and right now some of us are holding our breath for the one review that most people will read, The Post. Now I am not saying it is the end of the world that The Post has this week run reviews for Measure for Measure, Tuesdays with Morrie and now Trying, just to name three of the five shows reviewed since we opened on Saturday. But it does make one feel a little less loved, that Metro Stage, The Folger, Ford's Theater and a touring show all get reviewed before the little theater in Columbia Heights.

Your mind starts to play tricks on you and you begin to believe that the review is being held back because it may or may not be that good. There is a belief that many small theaters simply rely on The Post review to get them audiences and put all their eggs in that black and white Easter Basket of daily readership. Not entirely true but you and I both know that The Post reaches a whole hell of a lot more people than theater web sites and The City Paper. So you hope a little and you prey a little and whether it is a good review or a bad one, you know that more people find out about your show with one review in The Post than all of the postering, blogs and handing out post cards could ever accomplish.

Rorschach has gotten some bad reviews from The Post, but I would say overall we are a theater company that produces not only good plays but also some good ink.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Placing the audience on the stage of the DC Jewish CommunityCenter’s Cecile Goldman Theatre brings you face-to-dirty-facewith Yank’s hell. You don’t just watch, for example, thedramatic stoking of the furnace; it rings in your ears andrumbles in your chest. The production rages and bellowsfrequently when you expect it, but just as often when you don’t…”
- Washington Post

"It's not hard to find talent among the more than 80 theater companies in Washington. But brilliance -- that rare confluence of perfect design, direction and performance -- that's something else again... proof that limited resources do not stymie great talents, any more than big budgets can squeeze works of genius from mediocre minds."
-Washington Post

“An engaging, gymnastic production, one who’s highly combustible power source is the six fired-up young actors who portray more than 40 characters… Turning a Methodist church on Columbia Road into their personal playing field, the young men take on the assignment as if UBU ROI were a rugby scrum.”
- Washington Post

"Rorschach's staging grips you from the start... the young and imaginative Rorschach Theatre, adds an eerie theatricality to Hawthorne's already dramatic 17th-century morality tale... Nathaniel Hawthorne may have always been engaging, but he's never been this hip."
-Washington Post

Reviews in the long run are not the reason we do these shows. If they were why have more than 12 seats in a theater and run for 20 performances. Audiences are who tell you that you have made great theater and reviews are merely a tool for getting the elusive Asses-in-Seats problem licked. Sorry that was kind of dirty.

Washington Post thanks for the love you have shown us over the years but I will not hold my breath. If anyone who has already seen the show would like to write in with an audience point of view on Fair Ladies I would love to post them here. Email me or post in comments, and we will see what the opinion of the masses counts for in this town where democracy comes to take a cat nap. Hooah!

Gazpacho

Washington City Paper came out today with their review of Fair Ladies and in my attempt to give you the sour with the sweet in this world where they love you one day and don't know you the next, I will admit that unlike the previous three reviews this one was a little less stellar. Granted Trey Graham had some love to give to the cast and had some nice things to say about the set and some of the stage images, but overall he was about as luke warm as a bowl of gazpacho left on the table for three hours on the hottest day of the year in a only mildly cooled restraunt in a temperate city somewhere on the Mediterranean Sea.

No link to put up so I will give you the best quote and you can pick it up for yourself for free. Also I add a photo representation of what this blogger apprently inspired according to Trey.

There's a good bit to admire: a lovely design, all platforms and screeens and projections that exploit the furthest reaches of the rough-edged Sanctuary Theatre space, plus expressive performances from some among the cast.
-Trey Graham- City Paper

Curtain Up Review

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Rorschach Theatre, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, their chronicler, who alone can tell thee of their saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!

More internet loving from Rich See at Curtainup.com to see what he has to say about Fair Ladies follow the link.

Internet Review and Mars

Well here we glow again. See it's a pun on Go and Glow, as in glowinig review. Our friends at the DCist have given us another near rave for Fair Ladies, follow the link to the review.

It is gratifying to get all this love from the internet. But when hasn't the internet been the source of hours and hours of unqualified love of one sort or another. I think of the times my family and I used to sit around our Commodore Vic 20 and stare in wonder at all three things it could do. We would roast marshmallows and dream of a day when vital information and theater reviews would come into our home, either through a phone line or a cable of some sort, perhaps like the one that brought us all 42 channels on our massive 20 inch screen.

Mom used to tell us to keep on typing in those line commands and some day we could be an accountant or a rocket scientist. And when mankind landed on Mars in late 1997 we would be one of the few people who helped bend the universe to our wills. Making the cosmos our plaything and ourselves Gods over the lives of the puny mortals who were not computer literate. Perhaps there would be life on Mars and we could rule them, because they obviously were too primative to have mastered the line commands of "2 go to 1" and "run."

And so as I think back on those days of Reagan and Genesis, I laugh a little and then I cry a lot, because we haven't made it to Mars and I am an actor here on Earth. So say we all!

Fair Ladies Kids Page

More Pics

Jai in addition to being a fantastic actress is also a photographer with an eye and ability that I envy a little bit and she took these pictures to be used in our press materials. I am sure you will be seeing them everywhere very soon but for now here is a taste of the sights of Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards.

A Grand Opening

Well Opening went off with very few hitches, thank you Saint Genesius for protecting the actors from harm, even if you allowed the strip light to go out in act II. There were more people than seats last Saturday Night and all of the ones I spoke with after the show had very positive things to say to oour faces, and even behind our backs which is of course the real test. Thanks to everyone who came to support the show and please now tell every one you know to come see the show.

Here is a first review from our friends at DC Theatre Reviews. Enjoy the days off people because Thursday night is only three days away.

Weekend of the Opening

We will be opening Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards tomorrow night at 8pm. It is Sold Out so please don't rush the door at 8pm and say I want a ticket, because there will be none, but we do still have a pay-what-you-can preview tonight and the show will continue through February 19th. Until then here are some pics taken during our photo call last night by Gwen. These are not the final pics Jai is working on those, this is just sort of a sneak peek at the costumes on the set and under the lights. Enjoy and see you Monday with details about opening and maybe a couple of reviews. Until then, CHAOS!