Re-Learn To Fly

I’ve had a very uneventful few months in the theater. I have really only worked for The Acting Company on their truck as I have mentioned. I had a few things lined up and then all of them flamed out and nothing came of them. Finally, some light at the end of the tunnel. And for me, when it rains it pours.

I am currently sitting in rehearsal for Once Removed (Note: I did actually write this during rehearsal, I'm just getting around to posting it now) a new musical with book by Melissa Bell and music and lyrics by Graham Russell. For those who don’t know, Graham is someone you’ve heard of even if you haven’t registered it. He’s one of the founding members of Air Supply, the Australian soft rock band. I have yet to meet him, but he’s supposed to be in rehearsal tomorrow to hear a read through of the piece. I’m really excited! I love those random celebrity run ins!

I have also reconnected with Joe Tantalo and Godlight to work with them on a few things. I can’t return as my traditional position. Since I’ve turned Equity, I am not allowed to stage manage his productions until he turns the company into an AEA company. Then I can retake my throne. Until then, I’m this sort of strange nebulous undefined role player in the company. Joe and I are trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to do.

Regardless of what my title is, Joe picked up a time slot at Theater Row to produce Rupture which I know literally nothing about. I picked up a bunch of books this summer for Joe’s in the works projects, and Rupture may have been mentioned but it didn’t register. It’s a tight process though. First preview is November 12 and we haven’t begun rehearsing.

In the middle of that, we are also doing the staged reading of Grand Central Winter by Lee Stringer. We are traveling to his hometown to perform at a theater and celebrate the re-release of the book. By the middle, I mean the 11th of November. Which means, odds are Joe, Maruti (Godlight Production Designer) and myself will have to leave the production of Rupture to go work on Winter.

During all of this, I landed a PSM/Production Designer role on Clemenza and Tessio Are Dead, an unauthorized parody of The Godfather. Frank Senger, whom I worked with back in the day (all of two years ago) on Epitaph for George Dillon, posted a job on playbill.com and I responded and away we go.

I am actually quite terrified because I have never been a production designer in my life...well sort of. I was basically production designer for Coffee Shop in college. But that was because I wrote it, and directed it (which I recommend against for EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER!) and didn’t want to give up any creative control. I had people do some of the leg work, but I did a whole bunch more than I should have. I should have let some people just do their jobs instead of me doing it for them and saying “Wow, you did a great job.” Cause I bet you they would have done some things better than me.

So that’s what’s going on in the world of theater right now. well....at least my world of theater.