Category: Theatre

Off Axis

“Off Axis” is a description I use when directing plays quite a bit. It’s simple really. It’s when a character does something that’s different than we’ve expected from the character. Or it’s when circumstances change around the character, forcing adjustment to new realities.

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Being “off axis” is an uncomfortable state. Which in story telling increases the stakes for drama, comedy, or some combination of both. It’s where you want your stories to live whether on a stage, on a screen, or on a page.

Here in the real world I think we’re getting far too comfortable being “off axis” to be comfortable.

Sunday Morning Reading

As the picture says, I’m on lake time this Sunday morning. So the list of suggested Sunday Morning Reading topics is a shorter one. Here’s hoping you find a little weekend time to chill as well.

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Theatre and opera director Adele Thomas talks about her beginnings, her art and her career and how artists and the challenges (financial and otherwise) that directors face trying to get a career going. Good interview by Fiona Maddocks.

A great piece from Lisa Melton: My Coming Out Party

A couple of interesting pieces on Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial Stimulated Stupidty by Robert E. Wright and Is AI a Snake That Eats Itself? by Om Malik both reflect some of my thoughts on the topic.

And while the world is watching Orcas attack yachts and other sea-going craft, here’s a piece on The Giant Whale That Terrorized Constantinople.

If you’re interseted in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Creating a Bit of Magic with The Egyptian Bride

Fantastic time last night (and this past weekend) working on a new play in development. The play in question is Fouad Teymour’s Egyptian Bride. It’s been in development for several years and this year The International Voices Project picked it up to present its current iteration in a staged reading. I was asked by Fouad to direct and immediately jumped at the chance.

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We put together a stellar cast featuring Catherine Dildilian, Tina El Gamal, Annalise Raziq, Bassam Abedlfattah, Donaldson Cardenas and Anelga Hajjar. We spent a few rehearsals over the weekend working through the piece and the story. Fouad managed to take advantage of the short period of time and slip in a few re-writes. Last night we presented the reading to a very enthusiastic audience. (The photo above is from the talk back after the reading.)

Based on that response the play has legs. Here’s hoping we can keep those legs moving forward for the next iteration.

Congratulations to all invovled and thanks to Patrizia Acerra, the driving force behind the International Voices Project. Fantastic work, proving once again if you put talented artists in a room with a great story you can create a bit of magic.

Ink Diaries: And the Reviews Start Coming In

The cast did a glorious job at Friday night’s opening of Ink at Playhouse on the Square. They received a well deserved standing ovation. And now we’ve got our first review in from the Memphis Flyer, headlined Murdoch’s Legacy: Fast-Paced Ink Delivers at Circuit Playhouse. 

The Circuit cast is solid and the production smartly executed. It’s entertaining from the get-go and stirs up enough issues to provoke discussions long after the final bows.

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Check it out. 

 

Ink Diaries: Wrestling the Doubt Demons

I’m not sure which summons the doubt demons more: Thinking over your work the next morning in the cold light of day or watching that work unfold standing in the back of a darkened theatre. One moment you’re thrilled with how you’re telling a story on stage. The next you’re wondering if you’ve lost your mind.

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Self-doubt is an affliction most artists recognize. You see it in every mirror. No one questions you more than you. No one argues with you louder than you. And generally, no one has any idea but you. It’s a lonely, creepy, dark place.

I’ve reached that point, now that we’re rehearsing on stage, where I’m living and breathing more doubt than air. My oxygen intake will decrease in fits and starts over the next 10 days while the doubt swells. Things start to take shape and become searingly solid on stage and in my brain I’m thinking “wow, that’s good” simultanesouly with what I did with that moment just sucks. I dream the show at night and wake up in a cold sweat with anxieity over a moment I’ve just dream watched.

Fortunately I’ve learned better how to face those demons. I generally trust my gut and my instincts. But every now and then my gut ties itself up into a knot of Gordian proportions. That tangle tightens when you look to you collaborators for some sign of affirmation one way or the other and the answer you see in their eyes is “you’re the boss.”

Well, yeah. That’s true.

But you both long for and hope against pushback.

The dreams are another thing. If they keep landing on the same moments it means I need to reexamine that work. Or I just ate the wrong thing before falling asleep.

On the other hand, if those moments of self-doubt don’t creep in I would know I’m just pretending. Decisions beget decisions. Bold ones beget bigger moments of doubt and bigger chances of success. And bigger demons.

So. I’m back in the river of doubt. In a paradox, it feels good and right to be here again, swirling throught the rapids, simultaneously wondering if I’m just all wet and have hit my head on a rock