time and tanks

Rehearsals are underway. The full read through on Sunday, which followed watching the Academy awards, clocked in at 35:30. We’ll definitely keep it under 40 minutes which is great.

And yesterday’s lighting/scenic design meeting was spent trying to figure out how to build a tank out of improvised objects and tape. Hmmm….

it's drizzling

so where does this play stand:

script- check
cast- check
stage manager- check
costume designer- check
lighting designer- check
scenic designer- tba
title- nope

it's been a busy past week what with casting (yay, there is one!), a crack of dawn production meeting (830AM) followed by an early evening cast meeting, and the looming start of rehearsals.

our first official rehearsal is sunday and will consist of watching the academy awards together.

and then the next day, the real fun begins.

a-u-d-i-t-i-o-n-s

We held auditions today in Durham Studio Theatre. There was a better showing than first expected thanks to a couple of surprise last minute show-ups and I’m happy with the choices. Callbacks are tomorrow and hopefully we’ll finish casting this weekend.

First informal rehearsals are next week- they’ll consist of eating and reading the script. Well, not eating the script but eating food then reading through the script.

In case you want to count down with me, 7 weeks and one day until the opening!

calm before the storm

i think the script is done- or close to it. maybe i'll wait until i hear actors (as opposed to the voices in my head) give it a read-through.

and for those of you who have complained about my poor plot descriptions, here is what was included on the audition flyers:

a short absurdist meta-drama set in a ruined tank outside of haditha, iraq, featuring two iconoclastic cannibals and a no-nonsense military colonel intent on fixing their obedience problems.

also thanks to the friends who have volunteered to lay down for half an hour pretending to be bloody and dying- unfortuntely since it's a berkely production, i can't use any of your brilliant acting talents since you have to be an enrolled student.

costumes and interventions

i was assigned a costume designer yesterday and she's from huntington beach like me. what does this coincedence mean? um, probably nothing.

today, my colloquium group will be having a workshop (or intervention?) for my script.

and have i mentioned that it's open season for any friends who want to read the current draft and give my suggestions for me next revision before rehearsals (are supposed to) start in (gasp) 11 (?!) days. just let me know.

time for auditions

Well not already, but the process is underway.

Today, the audition signup sheet was posted, and flyers and ads for auditions went out. By noon however, the signup sheet had to be taken down and the one person signed up had to be rescheduled because the times on the signup sheet was wrong... whoops.

I also began making the rounds to acting classes on campus trying to pitch my play to potential actors/actresses. That was an interesting experience...

I got more than a couple wary looks from students regarding my plot summary and explanation that one actor will simply lay dying on the ground for the whole play:

"You can't just use a dummy or something?"

fail, fail again, fail better

i finished a pretty substantial and (hopefully) close to finished draft of my play. i'm going to send it out to friends tomorrow for opinions.

the title is still up in there air but here are some ideas:

1. writing checks others pay (the title on the audition flyer)
2. even while it was happening it wasn't happening
3. conflict, at a low intensity

to be completely honest, im not really thrilled with any of them. i keep hoping ill come across the title randomely, like when reading the back of a box of cereal or something. im sure though that when i come across it, ill know it. either that or i really hope to like one those three titles more and more.

Production Meeting Number 1

Our first official production meeting was last Friday.

My initial meager requests were as follows:
- No set, only black boxes
- 1 gun that fires blanks
- Fake blood (stage makeup)
- 1 broken military radio
- 3 desert camouflage military uniforms (one covered in blood)
- 1 military hat
- 1 set of easy-out handcuffs

I meet my stage manager at our next meeting on Friday.

Auditions are (gasp) in two and a half weeks.

And my newest draft, I guess it’s done, but still much too long.

here we go...

I’ve decided to start an all new blog- one entirely separate from my dearly loved shaneboyle.com.

This blog is special. It’s where I will be documenting all the trials, tribulations, and general headaches I am currently and will be going through as a result of this little monster of a play I wrote and am putting on stage at Berkeley in early April.

What’s the play called you might ask? That's a great question that I don’t have an answer to… yet.

But I can tell you what it’s about. Let me explain it this way:

What happens when two rebellious characters with cannibalistic appetites get kicked out of one play and find themselves transported into an all new play, this one set in (where else?) a ruined tank in the middle of Iraq? While one character slowly bleeds to death, the other becomes paranoid that the playwright is trying to kill him (and for good reason, the audience learns). This is all made more confusing by the fact that in addition to bombs exploding all around their ruined tank, the two characters are joined by an all new character, an army Sergeant who has NO idea that he (actually played by a female) is actually just a character in a play! So what ensues? Absolute chaos.

If you think that’s hard to follow and swallow, imagine trying to write and direct the damned thing. Stay tuned the next 2 ½ months as I take on the unenviable task of revising and trying to get this monster on stage.