Theatre – Page 4 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: A Powerful Bond Memorialized

Powerful bonds and fast friendships get formed all the time when you’re working in the theatre. There’s an intimacy in the work that sometimes transcends and envelops the work that needs to be experienced to really understand. It doesn’t happen all the time or on every show. Sometimes it’s just a job. But when it does you treasure it, because you know it’s rare.

Our recent production of The Lehman Trilogy was one on the rare ones. And so was the bond that formed.

This past weekend, the three marvelous actors, Michael Gravois, Kevar Maffitt and John Maness, along with his wife Ashley, journeyed north from Memphis to visit me in Chicago. It was a complete and total surprise, aided in no small part by my lovely wife, Thomasin. I mean they got me. Surprise successful. Emotional in every sense of the word. But then, they’ve been surprising me ever since rehearsals began. It was a magical weekend reunion of a magical moment in all of our lives.

Of the many weekend highlights was Michael bestowing a beautiful gift to each of us. Michael is not just an incredibily talented actor, but also a gifted mosaic artist. I’m still finding it difficult to put into words the my experience during this show, so I’m going to excerpt and quote from Michael for the rest of this story:

They may stand independently, but they belong together.

…the week after the Lehman Trilogy closed, I was feeling very melancholy. I began the process as ONE person. One singular person. But over the course of our rehearsals, especially during the week of the snowstorm, a time when the city shut down, four singular individuals decided to brave the elements in order to tame this beast of a show, and I no longer felt like one singular person. I felt like ONE in the plural sense. It was as if we were meant to be together. During the run of the show I felt like a cog in the machine and like the machine itself, both at the same time. We breathed together. We moved together. We thought together. And make no mistake, there WERE FOUR people on that stage. At no time was Warner not with us, even though he was miles away, even though the audience couldn’t see him. For the rest of our lives, no matter where we are on this planet, we may exist as four singular individuals, but at one time we were meant to be together. So I was thinking about this concept of singular and plural oneness, when I remembered this mosaic that I made over twenty years ago. It’s been sitting in my garage all these years, waiting to be framed. I made it with the intention of selling it as ONE mosaic. It was four mosaics, but it was meant to be together.

…we’ll know that at one time, it was intended to be part of ONE group. And this will always be true. As long as these mosaics exist, even after we die, people will look at them as singular mosaics. But somewhere on this planet, three other mosaics will be out there, forever connected to it.

It’s a beautiful gift, a beautiful memory, and a beautiful bond.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s one of those winter Sunday mornings. Time to share a little Sunday Morning Reading while trying to get back into a different groove after returning home from a long gig and nursing a couple of bulging disks in my back. Today’s version is a wide mix of topics today mostly in the cultural realm. Enjoy.

First up, check out Scott-Ryan Abt’s The Euphoria of Quiet Time. Quiet time is something I’m trying to find more time for.

Controversial theatre director Milo Rau is coming to America. Helen Lewis takes a look at why he’s controversial in The Theater Director Who Likes to Go Too Far.

Family squabbles over money and legacies are never fun. Certainly when they invovle art collections. Check out Kelly Crow’s piece about the Neuman family in The $1 Billion Art Collection That’s Tearing a Family Apart.

Legendary record producer Max Norman says there’s no point in making “world class” records any longer because no one cares anymore. Check out The Phonecian’s article on Norman here.

It’s no secret what most of us think of as journalism is in as much trouble, if not more so, than anything else. Phillip Longman offers How Fighting Monopoly Can Save Journalism. It’s a long, detailed look at a troubling issue.

Speaking of journalism, Kirstin Butler tells us why Dorothy Thompson Is The Most Famous Female Journalist You’ve Never Heard Of.

Michelangelo Signorile discusses an issue that I wish was a larger part of our political discourse in Welfare States Declare War On Donor States. But They Have No Money. It’s ironic how those who decry socialism need it to survive.

David Todd McCarty says I Owe You Nothing. He’s right. Go read the piece and find out why.

And finally this week marked the release of The Apple Vision Pro. I posted some links to some great review coverage of the device and what it may or may not promise here. This one, Apple Vision Pro Review: The Infinite Desktop, from Brian Heater is also worth your time, regardless of which device you read your bits and bytes on.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Great Review of Our Work

I’m not one to pay that much attention personally to reviews whether they be good or bad. That’s partially a lie. I like to see the artists I work with get recognition for their efforts. That’s certainlly the case for this Broadway World review of The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. It’s nothing short of a rave, and if I do say so myself, the writer nailed it.

Of course I’ll say that. That said, I’m glad for the recognition of our design team and espeically our amazingly talented three actors, Kevar Maffit, Michael. Gravois and John Maness (left to right above). They are exceptional. Give the review a read.

FYI the photos here are from Sean Moore. He also captured the show extremely well.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

Sunday Morning Reading: Travel Day

Sunday Morning Reading is taking the week off as I depart Memphis and head back home to Chicago. A new Sunday Morning Reading will be back next week. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to read this Sunday morning, you might want to check out this excellent review of The Lehman Trilogy, the show I just directed at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. Sounds like we did it right, at least in this reviewer’s mind.

See you next Sunday.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Standing O!

We’re open. The Lehman Trilogy opened last night to a well deserved standing ovation from the first night crowd. Well deserved, if I may say so. It was a great night for all associated with the production, a great night of theatre for all attending, and a great moment of recognition for some pretty damn good storytellers.

This story begins with the script, but in the moment in the theatre it’s all about the actors. These three, John Maness, Michael Gravois and Kevar Maffit, did a remarkable job and captivated the audience from the first moments in this challenging tale that unfolds over three acts. Actually, the word remarkable sells their efforts short. Individually they are each terrific. Together they are beyond whatever dynamic means. They made strings of numbers and lists of names sing and moments of truth cut like a knife. I’m so grateful for their efforts and my association with them.

As we kept meeting challenges in this final grueling week there were moments when you could feel just how badly the three of them just wanted this show. Tireless and relentless, they wouldn’t let a moment pass when they weren’t working like madmen. I was right there with them. Some shows are just another show. Some are just jobs. This one was and is one of the special ones. Because of the plays length and its heft it’s not going to be put on many theatre schedules. We consider ourselves lucky to say we’ve done The Lehman Trilogy. We’ll have that forever. And boy do we have stories to tell and laughs to share that only a few people will ever understand.

Kudos to all who worked on the show. To those who will see it in the weeks ahead, you’re in for a rare treat. I hope you enjoy the story and much as we enjoyed telling it. Because we enjoyed the hell out of it.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Dancing on the Edge of the Light

We’re right there on the edge. On the edge of completing this production of The Lehman Trilogy. On the edge of creating something special. It’s all there, ready to come into complete focus. Everyone can feel it. It’s like dancing on the border between the light and the dark. One step either way and you have a good show or a great show.

We’ve got two more rehearsals left. Some gaps to close. Some hard decisions to make on those we can’t. The rest is about sharpening the focus. Everyone’s working full tilt. We’re like the tightrope walker in the play. He eventually falls. We won’t.

Onward.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Pure Adrenaline

Adrenaline is a funny thing. It can drive you further and faster. Call it a high. Stories are legion of an adrenaline rush giving folks superhuman-like powers in extreme circumstances. But the bill always comes due once the rush is over and the crash happens.

I’m rehearsing this beast of a play, The Lehman Trilogy, while suffering a bit with a pulled groin. Yeah, that slows you down. During the day I do my usual treatments to ease the pain and get around as best I can doing a bad Walter Brennan impression. I’ve had this problem before so there’s a ritual and a regime. But in the moments before rehearsals begin I feel things easing up and never notice it at all once we commence and push through rehearsal.

One of the characters in the play ends a monologue with the following:

LEHMAN CORPORATION. Created by Philip Lehman.

Pure finance.

Invest money only to make money. No companies to fund.

No industries to launch. No markets to explore. Pure money.

Pure adrenaline

Well, we all know how that ended.

Sure enough, once rehearsal ends though I pay for it as the pain comes back bit by bit and so it’s back to the ritual. Unitl the next rehearsal. Probably not healthy to be doing things the way I am, but hey, we open a week from tonight.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaires here.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Jacks of All Trade

When you’re in school (which was ages ago for me) learning your craft and finding out if you have a voice worth sharing as a theatre director, no one teaches you many of the lessons you will one day need to apply in doing what you love. I’m guessing that applies to most pursuits in life. There are times though that can try your patience unless you were brought up with a father like mine who taught you how to deal with the crazy curve balls that get thrown at you from plumbing to staying warm to how to navigate unexpected weather disruptions.

As I sit here this morning in this lovely Southern town beset by the vagaries of winter, compounded with the already slower rhythms native to the region, we’re having lots of fun trying to keep The Lehman Trilogy ship sailing along. Winter weather is playing havoc with all the usual fun things that come with it: icy conditions, burst pipes, power outages, travel and delivery woes, and a pulled groin from bailing water from one of those burst pipes. I’m not blaming anyone for the choices they are making. Life sucks here for most right now and folks have to make their own choices.

Fortunately, we’re reasonably self-contained as an ensemble and have kept our work on course as we head into technical rehearsals this weekend. I’m sure (hope?) we’ll find our footing and head into next weekend’s opening in good shape. Things usually work out that way in this game.

Onward

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: A Show Finds Its Home

We spent the weekend taking the stage for the first time in rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy here at Playhouse on the Square. What a joyful and glorious weekend of rehearsals it was.

Pictured above is me (on the right) with this astounding cast, Michael Gravois, Kevar Maffit, and John Maness. We’re all smiling because we’re really enjoying this process. These three are putting their all into this beast of a play. Their roles require as much work as if they were each doing Hamlet.. They are rising to the challenge and then some.

Let me tell you it’s not often that you feel this joyful at this point (transferring from the rehearsal room to the stage), but the work is so good, so rich, so fun, and most importantly so collaborative that there’s no other way to express it. The other day I wrote about my fears of missing the intimacy of the rehearsal room before we moved. Well that intimacy transferred right along with our props and all those bankers boxes. That’s rare. The four of us, plus our stage manager, Emma White, continue to experience the work and the story almost like we don’t want each day to end. That’s a bit silly of me to say because we push each other so hard that by the time we call it a day we’re exhausted.

The best part of our transfer from the rehearsal room to the stage is that a good 85% of our work translated intact. Often in that kind of space shift you lose quite a bit. That 85% has allowed us to continue advancing the story instead of spending time adjusting what we wanted to do to new realities.

Don’t get we wrong. We’ve still got a long way to go as we begin adding the technical artistry. Those technical elements are behind so we’re working to keep the cast focused on their part of the story telling and getting a little ahead before the inevitable begins.

Today is our final day off before opening so we’ll get a brief breather. Then onward.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

Lehamn Trilogy Diaries: Moving to the Stage

Last night was our final rehearsal for The Lehman Trilogy in the rehearsal room. Rehearsal rooms are often not sufficiently matched to the space a show will occupy on stage which means the first few rehearsals on stage turn into what is called “spacing.” Simply put that means you transfer the staging from a smaller space to a larger one and adjust a few things.

Often that requires quite a few adjustments. This show should require less than most as we gain more space, because our scenic anchors for the action, though somewhat different, have set our parameters and those parameters will be largely intact. It’s also an opportunity to actually stage some moments that just couldn’t be achieved in the confines of a rehearsal room with no ceiling height. This show has an overabundnce of those. That will be what today’s work will be about.

Things will feel different. Things will feel out of sorts. Things will get corrected to find their sorts. And some things will actually take on new meaning as the stage provides new opportunities. What I’ve been seeing in the “little theatre in my mind” that we’ve been rehearsing in the smaller rehearsal room, will now get its chance to take real and actual steps instead of imagined ones.

I’ll also get a chance to get some proper perspective on the story as I simulataneously get closer to it by stepping farther back. In the rehearsal room staff is literally on top of the actors. In the theatre we get to finally take the seats the audience will in viewing the story. Being able to see the big picture focuses things tighter as the aperture widens.

Most importantly, the story will get a chance to breathe. As we adjust, the wings will spread a bit.

Looking forward to this day. But I have to say I’ll miss the intimacy of the work this team has accomplished in that smaller space. There was indeed a palpable tinge of sadness as we wrapped last night.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.