The Slog is Over

please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please

Open

Hey. We're open. I didn't get the chance to say it to the company tonight, but I'll say it here: I'm honored to work with every single last one of you (actors, designers, stage managers, directors) and I'm flattered and amazed at how you've brought my impulse to tell this story forward with such blinding directness. I can't say thank you enough in response to your tireless commitment to developing a genuinely honest product. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, and it has so much to do with life as we are living it today. You guys have made me very happy.

John

post-preview/pre-opening thoughts

Our first two previews have been two different shows, w/two different audiences, and two different casts(thanks Ellen;  good to have you back Jason); but I want to share what I feel is the constant which is the story being told and the heartbreaking honesty behind it. The story is nothing w/o each person on stage and in the booth, and nothing still w/o the audience. Wed we were focused on being there for our stand-in actor and were blessed w/a vocally giving audience. Thurs our audience was more intellectual than vocal and our start was disjointed; we did however come together in a concentrated focus on connecting w/the audience.

So between now and opening curtain please be encouraged and let go of any and all mishaps from the nights prior, and remember you're not alone. A great observation from a cast member tonight was that it's impossible to name any characters as "leads"; we are truly an ensemble, we are one. We fall flat or soar together, and I'd bet my paycheck(all 12 cents) that we will do the latter. 

Youth Preview

Tonight we performed a dress rehearsal for more than 150 students. Young audiences let you know exactly when they're engaged and when they're bored. Raise the frickin' roof.

Thanks to Project Success and all you people who made it happen. It was great to have you in the house.

Tomorrow is fixes and preview. We'll be ready.

It's Happening

We are in at The Southern! Marquee full of errors! Dirt under the fingernails! Hope I don't make many spelling or grammatical errors in the program! Please get people to come see this show!

Goodbye Ivy Building, And Thanks For All The Echoes

Animal Farm is on the move. Tonight marked our final rehearsal in the Ivy Arts building, working in Bob Rosen's space. It was a great place for us, in spite of the cavernous tin-can sound quality. Monday we move to The Southern. Anybody want to volunteer? I'll give you comps!

I'll reiterate what I said to the cast tonight: we are NOT behind. We are where we should be. The show is GOOD. Next week we have the opportunity to make it GREAT.

For the few souls who read this blog: I offer you 2-for-1 tickets on opening night (Halloween). Use the code [ORWELL].

Executions

There's a moment in Orwell's novel that strikes even the most astute reader as perplexing. Why in the world do the animals commit (presumably) false admissions of guilt after they've seen the four dissident porkers executed by Napoleon's dogs? Has he threatened them in some way? Could they possibly be so entranced by the cycle of guilt to give themselves up to the chopping block? Are they just brainwashed dimwits?

Well, I'm happy to say now that I think our production addresses all of these possibilities without too much heavy handedness. Thanks to HHB for jumping in there tonight at rehearsal and refining this puzzling moment.

Thank You

To all our donors, raffle peeps, beer-drinkers, nacho-eaters, silent auctioners, and supporters who made last night at the Town Hall such a tremendous success . . .

I hate asking people for money. I spent a summer as a door-to-door salesman selling coupons for car washes and oil changes to people who didn't need them. It's a bit easier when you're asking people to give money for your art; and prizes like homemade apple pie and bacon flavored toothpicks make it easier yet, but it's still a hard thing for me to do.

Thank You.

Once More

I feel the need to ask again . . .

Why shouldn't we be required to vote in a democracy? Assuming we had much better means of making voting accessible for everyone, what if US citizens had to pay a fine for not voting? Is part of our right to choose the right not to make a choice?

Not About Politics

So, I've taken a little heat for straying too far from the path of the MAIN subject of this blog, which is Animal Farm. Guilty as charged. I've been swept up in the current political maelstrom of America, yes. So, to get back . . .

We're in week 3 already. How the bleep did that happen? Incredibly enough, things feel right on schedule to me. Even though our cast has been plagued by the autumnal viruses, we're plugging away, developing the physical language of this play and creating those crucial transitional moments that make the book such a bullet to the chest. And I can't say enough good about our sound designer Tim Cameron, who has been 110% committed to this project since forever ago. He's brought a fantastic score to the rehearsal hall and now I can't imagine doing this project without him.

Random Thoughts:
-I think 85% of my job as a producer is done at the computer. The other 15% is primarily spent lying awake at night creating anxiety-driven to-do lists that lead me back to my computer.
-14 is ginormous number of actors. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
-I've spent too much time thinking about the psychology of raffles.
-What does it really mean when somebody replies either "attending," "not attending," or "maybe attending" on Facebook?
-I heard the first 15 seconds of Paul Simon's song "Obvious Child" off of his Rhythm of The Saints album and thought to myself, "Hell yes, this is Animal Farm."
-Part of the way our show is shaping up reminds me of a really good old-skool Rainer Maria song. Think Past Worn Searching era: intermittent swaths of chaos/noise with tension-filled blankets of quiet.
-This show is not for elementary school kids.
-Does Bob Rosen mind if I use his tea kettle?

Way To Go Connecticut!!!

The 3rd state to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage!
Will Minnesota be next?
(read about it here.)

Likability

There's that old thing about choosing our politicians:

Who would you feel comfortable sitting down with for a beer? Or, Who would you rather be stuck with in an elevator?

The Likability Factor. Or, The Narcissist Factor.

I'm not going to talk about being stuck in an elevator with either candidate on the GOP ticket. Those imaginary minutes/hours frighten me.

I imagine Barack Obama as one of those guys who has at least a little something to say about any topic, so while we probably wouldn't talk about the White Sox, I think we could have a conversation. I think we're both good listeners and he's a pretty good talker, so we'd be all right.

But I'm oddly convinced that sharing a beer or being stuck in an elevator with Michelle Obama would be GREAT. Rarely has a public figure ever seemed as sane or genuine as Michelle Obama. Her husband has been accused of not having that touchy-feely-Bill-Clintonesque warmth, and maybe that's tactical, maybe not. But his wife is just so ... on this frickin' planet.

Check out The Daily Show's October 8th episode. She's talking to Jon Stewart like a human being. Incredible. She even makes the responses she's been coached on sound like her own thoughts. During the interview she also talks with Stewart about how the image of First Lady has evolved as a result of our 24-hour news culture. These days we're not just voting for a President, but for a Presidential Family.

You Handsome Devil

And they dont even get to vote

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1070975/Man-shot-times-street-racist-gunman--wearing-Barack-Obama-T-shirt.html

Debate 2

On nydailynews.com they're running a story about how McCain referred to Obama as "that one" in last night's presidential debate. "Was it rude or not," reads the second half of the article's title. The Obama camp has suggested that it might have been rude, but Biden chalked it up to McCain's "style." Either way, here's one reader's comment in response to the article:

onlycriminalshaverights Oct 8, 2008 1:21:17 PM Report Offensive Post
obama is a terrorist and a HORRIBLE father. You never see him with his kids. Michelle is also one of the UGLIEST women I have ever seen. Those are the truths people dont want to say. You can almost feel the tension between him and her. Its so obvious

What? Really? . . . Really?
This person is encouraging me to learn how to throw ninja stars.

On another note, here's a tally I kept last night while listening to the debate. It's called,

The Number of Times John McCain Said . . .
"cronyism" / "cronies": 3
"steady hand at the tiller": 2
"greed and excess": 3
"overhead projector": 3
"my friend" / "my friends": 19

(that means that if we take the total # of mintues for the debate (90), subtract roughly 10 minutes for the moderator and the audience, and estimate that each candidate talked for about half of the remaining time, John McCain used the phrase "my friend(s)" an average of once every 48 seconds that he was talking.)

{and the kicker . . . the number of times he misquoted his "hero" Teddy Roosevelt's most famous saying: 2. "WALK softly and carry a big stick," not "SPEAK softly and carry a big stick."}

Hypotheticals

Here are two hypotheticals posed by friends in recent days.

1. What would happen if a presidential candidate said, "Hey, I'm not going to buy any television ads. Instead I'm going to use that money to do some good in the world"? Would they even have a chance at winning? Is television advertising more important than the media machine?

2. Can anyone think of one damn reason why voting should NOT be mandatory for citizens of a democracy?

It's 4am...or... Here's hoping this post's coherent

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to sign in and contribute to the blog. Having stared at the 'dashboard' page for the last couple hours clicking on any and everything clickable, rage and frustration building, it occured to me to check my email and search for the invite Catron sent out a couple months ago. I assume you can decipher the result my revelation. 

Here's what I wanted to share. I think it was Wed night mid rehearsal when my internal monologue sounded a bit like this 

Oh what I wouldn't do for a straightforward and complete script....I like this physical stuff but I don't really do this like everyone else...we open when?!?

Only week 1, I know, but I wanted to let anyone else who may have also already experienced these feelings know that they're not alone. Soon after my mini mind meltdown I remembered(like Catron's post prior)that the challenge is the reason I'm here. I get the chance to work w/artists I admire from whom I have much to learn. This story especially at this time of life will start conversations-it already has w/us; and this show wouldn't be worth doing if we made it easy for us. Oh yeah, and it is fun.Like Jon said, this show will be great if we do the work necessary to flesh out and bring life(joy, hunger, hope, fear, loss...) to these characters. I agree, moreover I trust all of us are willing to do that. 

Hard Work If You Can Get It

There are many actors who join in the refrain of "I love ensemble work." The reality, though, is that true ensemble work is frickin difficult and rare. Few actors ever have the opportunity to work collaboratively. It's a dangerous process that seems to perpetually toe the line between inspired success and egotistical disaster. It's unsettling. It can be rejuvenating and it can be demoralizing. Oftentimes it's both in the same five minutes.

I'm nervous, yes. I'm petrified. This whole ship might sink in flames. But if we don't do work that scares us we're not artists. If we continually live comfortably in our work we are no more than sedintary shmucks.

We're attempting something big. I think that's important. I think that's healthy. I think that's necessary.

"Instead of art aspiring towards lifelikeness what if life aspires towards art, towards a creative, controlled focus of freedom, outside of the tyranny of matter? What if the joke about life imitating art were a better joke than we think?"

-Jeanette Winterson, Art Objects

Old Major

He represents Marx/Engels. He's all the philosophy behind the revolution. Pure ideal, the precursor to action.

We started staging in tonight's rehearsal and I had a mini moment of clarity/epiphany during the staging of Old Major's speech. The direction we're headed in is anti-deification. That's amazing, I think. Instead of elevating Old Major with some glowing halo, instead of imitating the bread and butter Communist propaganda images, bring Old Major down to the ground. Watch the prophet communicate and inspire the animals from the dirt and the dust. That's truth, and as a result, it's surprising. Our heroes, our prophets, they are regular folks. Joe Six Pack, I guess (as much as I hate to lend credibility to that character). Ghandi, MLK, etc: these are exceptional individuals. They are not the stuff of which most heroes are made. Get down in the dirt and tell it like it is, Old Major. Yes. Revolution begins in the dust, not on the pedastal.

5-3-8

The most comprehensive polling (leftist) compilation site you could ask for:
www.fivethirtyeight.com

Start

Today is Start.

We begin rehearsals for Animal Farm. Finally. Preparations, when producing a play, seem infinite. I can obsess & OCD & micromanage with the best of them, but eventually the preparations become a white noise loop and it feels damn fine to just drop the first shoe.

Serendipity: this is Banned Book Week. Other than an excellent way to get young people excited about reading "subversive" material, Banned Book Week is a nice time to remember how wonderful it is to live in a place where we have the freedom to disseminate thoughts and ideas (and books).

George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 both have a rich history on banned books lists around the world. Orwell wrote Animal Farm after his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He intended it to be an allegorical criticism of Stalinist corruption of the original Socialist ideals. (Orwell considered himself a "democratic socialist.") But he encountered difficulty trying to publish the book in Britain near the end of WWII, largely because publishers and government advisers recognized the book as anti-Soviet propaganda and, at the time, the Soviets were involved in a delicate partnership with the Allied forces, fighting Hitler's stomp across Europe. Orwell originally wrote a preface which complains about British government's suppression of his book, self-imposed British self-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, but somewhat ironically, Orwell's preface was censored and is not published in most editions of the book.

The Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm, published in 1947, was printed to be distributed among the numerous displaced Soviet citizens of Ukraine who were scattered across Europe. The American occupation forces assumed the edition to be propaganda printed on illegal presses, and handed 1,500 confiscated copies of Animal Farm over to the Soviet authorities.

And now (please forgive the clunky transition) we have a Vice Presidential candidate of the US in the year 2008 who, during her time as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, asked the town librarian how she could censor library books that some voters thought contained inappropriate language. The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, "was aghast," according to the local press at the time. Palin later threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor. Now despite the fervor of blog content on this subject, there remains NO evidence of what books Palin wanted censored, or even whether or not her threat to fire Baker was related to Baker's refusal to comply with the censorship. AND she never succeeded in censoring any books. But I don't really care. That's just plain nuts.

I've reached a point now on this blog where my political opinions are less than subtle. And I've said that I don't want our production of Animal Farm to be a partisan or protest statement. That's still true. But as far as this blog goes, I think part of my self-imposed job is to address examples of hypocrisy in current events as they relate to Animal Farm. I WOULD LOVE SOME COUNTERPOINTS if you've got them.

Palin & Couric

Why did John McCain put on such a pony show last week? NYTimes Op-Ed Columnists Frank Rich & Maureen Dowd both think it was partially to pull the focus away from this disastrous interview his VP running mate did with CBS anchor Katie Couric. Below is a link, where you can watch the excerpt and count for yourself how many times she uses the verb "shoring" and the phrase "crisis mode". Is this the Sarah Palin we'll see debating against Joe Biden on Thursday?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml

And here's an excerpt from the transcript (I think it's funny that the transcripts often nullify dialectical nuances. For example, the very last phrase of this excerpt is written as "I'll bring them to you" when, in fact, I would have recorded more as "I'll bring thyem to ya"):

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?
Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.
Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.
Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.
Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?
Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.
Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Good Pre-Press

Hey. Actor, journalist and theater aficionado Jaime Kleinman wrote a great preview article for us in Mpls/St.Paul Magazine. Check it out:
http://www.mspmag.com/entertainment/theater/113668.asp

Debate 1

I counted seven times Sen. McCain used some derivation of the phrase, "what Sen. Obama doesn't understand . . . "
I counted too many times Sen. Obama began a rebuttal with some derivation of the phrase, "Sen. McCain is absolutely right, but . . ."
I really wanted them to act on Jim Lehrer's plea that they talk to each other.
I really disliked Sen. McCain's tooth-clenching grin.

Just More Information

Educational Background of Candidates:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Stunts

Note to reader: what follows is a completely imaginary conversation.

MCCAIN: I am suspending my campaign! The nation is in turmoil and they need me in Washington!
OBAMA: uh . . . wha? . . . Huh?
MCCAIN: I call upon the powers of President Bush to arrange a very special meeting with myself and Mr. Obama.
OBAMA: What would we talk about?
MCCAIN: Fighting for the salvation America, of course!
OBAMA: Okay, let's get in our respective jets and fly back to Washington to issue a joint statement on the turmoil of the American economy.
MCCAIN: And we shall not rest until the fighting is over!
OBAMA: What about the debate?
MCCAIN: I told you, I am suspending my campaign.
OBAMA: Um, okay, but . . . here's the thing. We both have private jets. It's easy for me to run off to Washington and wrangle this silly press stunt of yours and still be in Florida by Friday for our first presidential debate.
MCCAIN: I will not rest until -
OBAMA: Look, John, you've got to be able to think about more than one thing at a time if you want to be president.
MCCAIN: No, we need utter focus in this time of emergency, just like on 9/11 when we all stepped accross party lines to create that wonderful piece of emergency legislation, The Patriot Act! That's a fine example of Americans working together! "A crisis calls for all hands on deck!"
OBAMA: What the hell does that mean? You and I have been campaigning for 2 years. We're not on any of the relavant committees at this point.
MCCAIN: (whispering) I'm not ready for the friggin debate, okay?!?!
OBAMA: I can't believe this sh#$.
MCCAIN: Sarah? Sarah, where are you? Everybody's looking at me!

$$$

Animal Farm got funded.

Thanks MRAC.

Food For Your Moral Mind

If you've got 19 minutes free & you want to abolish the self-righteous political haze that's swirling around us in favor of a little perspective, check out Jonathan Haidt's speech at TED:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

"I didn't blink"

It may be old news at this point but "I didn't blink" was Sarah Palin's reply to Charles Gibson's question as to how she responded when John McCain asked her to be his running mate. Did she hesitate and question whether she was experienced enough?

“I didn’t hesitate, no,” she said.

He then asked if that didn’t that take some hubris.

“I answered him yes,” Ms. Palin said, “because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

That "don't blink" approach to leadership scares the poop out of me. You didn't talk to your family? You didn't weigh the responsibilities of the acceptance? Not even for the amount of time it takes to wet the eyeballs?!? No. She didn't blink.

Which is, in other words, cowboy politics. Don't blink. Shoot from the hip, ask questions later. Or, as the current Leader of The Free World has revised the maxim, "Just shoot. And don't ask me questions about why I shot or what I shot at because I know what I'm doing (I am the Decider)." Or: "Shut up. YOU gave me the gun. Poppa knows best. Just shut up."

Jacob Weisberg recently wrote a book called "The Bush Tragedy". I have NOT read the book, but I did listen to a lengthy interview with the author on NPR. Below is an excerpt from Alan Brinkley's book review in The New York Times:

(Weisberg) portrays Bush as a willfully careless figure, only glancingly interested in his legacy or even his popularity. “To challenge a thoughtful, moderate and pragmatic father,” Weisberg argues, “he trained himself to be hasty, extreme and unbending. He learned to overcome all forms of doubt through the exercise of will.” Tragedy, in the Shakespearean form that Weisberg seems to cite (although there is nothing tragic about Henry V either), requires self-awareness and at least some level of greatness squandered. The Bush whom Weisberg skillfully and largely convincingly portrays is a man who has rarely reflected, who has almost never looked back, and who has constructed a self-image of strength, courage and boldness that has little basis in the reality of his life. He is driven less by bold vision than by a desire to get elected (and settle scores), less by real strength than by unfocused ambition, and less by courage than by an almost passive acquiescence in disastrous plans that the people he empowered pursued in his name.

So, "what did you think when ( _____ ) asked you to be his/her running mate?"

The response I would hope for from ANY person considering running for public office (mother/father, man/woman, republican/democrat, etc.) to this question would be something along the lines of: "I thought deeply about the committment. I spoke with my family/trusted friends. They fully support me, they know what an enormous job this would be and they know what a tremendous opportunity this is. I am prepared and I beleive I am the best person for the job for reasons A, B and C."

We need leaders who blink. We need leaders who weigh the options. We need leaders who recognize their hubris and put it aside in favor of making an informed decision.

Blog? How exciting and terrifying...this is my first time--(I guess this means I am no longer a blog virgin?) I don't really know how to do this--I guess I'll signout and ask my teenager.

McCain Ad Distortions

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/week37/index.html

Another

"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're really going to shake things up in Washington,'" he said. That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."

Barack Obama, 9.9.08, in Virginia

Another Quote

"In America, we change things that need to be changed. Each generation makes its contribution to our greatness. The work that is ours to do is plainly before us; we don't need to search for it. We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children . . . I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. My friends . . . I have that record and the scars to prove it."

John McCain, RNC, 9.4.08

AF Team Finalized

I'm ecstatic to welcome the Ivey Award-winning Christiana Clark (my very own doolsey-boo) into the company of Animal Farm, bringing the total ensemble to a whopping 14! Thank you, all of you, who have signed on to do this project for far less compensation than you are worth. May we all win the lotto.

So here's the team:

Jon Ferguson - Director

Ellen Fenster - Assistant Director

ENSEMBLE:

Kiana Adams

Jason Ballweber

Katie Bradley

Jason Burnstein

John Catron

Christiana Clark

John Cole

Shannon Forney

Heidi Hunter-Batz

Lindsay Marcy

Kenneth Pierce

Piper Sigel-Bruse

Dario Tangelson

DESIGNERS:
Ron Albert (lights)

Erica Zaffarano (set)

Tim Cameron (sound)

Jim Hibbeler (props)

Lindsey Strange (costumes)

STAGE MANAGER: Kristin Campbell

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Sally Bell

Thank You HHH

A totally Minnesotan anomaly: the DFL. If you grew up in Minnesota (like me) you might think that that smooth acronym is synonymous with the Democratic party of the rest of the country. Nope. The only way Democrats could get anything done in Minnesota in 1944 was to merge with the Farmer-Labor party. Hubert H. Humphrey helped make it happen. So the Farmers (historically Communists), the Laborers (historically Socialists), and the Democrats (the self-proclaimed "oldest political party in the world") join forces to give the Grand Old Party a run for its money. Man, I love Minnesota.

Acceptance

Yeah, I liked Obama's acceptance speech. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I didn't feel so much "involved".

And then it was pointed out to me tonight that the speech he gave at the DNC wasn't for me. He already knows how I'm gonna vote. He wasn't talking to me. I am not part of his target demographic. 

Ouch? Yeah! As much as I hate to admit it, it bruises the ego. And my pigeonholing can really be boiled down to two major factors: my profession & my age.  Damn it: I'm predictable. 

Okay, okay. Get over it. I'm not special. I'm not a wounded vet. I'm not a displaced autoworker from Michigan. I'm just another average American, right?

But no. There is NO AVERAGE AMERICAN. This thing bugs me. I'm still discovering why it bugs me, but it does. It's not new, but it's new to my consciousness. Every single one of the candidates in this primary/election season has peppered their oratory with biographical snippets of "average Americans".  "The autoworker in Detroit", "The single mother in Chicago", "The abandoned veteran"... It's the statistical bullshit that wears at me.  Even if a candidate were to reference five hundred sound-byte-anecdotal-neatly-packaged biographies of "average" Americans over the course of their campaign it would be no where near a big enough sample set for a country of hundreds of millions of people. Even though it's perfectly acceptable semantic logic to use a series of micro examples to support a macro thesis, this stuff is statistically flawed. The macro outweighs the micro so heavily that the experiential support of these true stories becomes irrelevant.  

Yes, it's nice to hear about "real" people. But it's a maneuver. Can you imagine if you had a week to tour the United States and your only job was to talk to "regular folks" and get their opinions about STUFF? I think you'd likely be able to assemble a dozen testimonials to support just about any cause.  

Whether you like the candidate or not, it's a maneuver. 

Are these speeches meant for me?

& I Quote

"What -- what is that American promise? It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have obligations to treat each other with dignity and respect. It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, to look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. Ours -- ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology. Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work. That's the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper ... Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility, that's the essence of America's promise."

-Barack Obama, DNC, 8.28.08

Please Cross Your Fingers

at 9:30 AM, Thursday, September 18th.
Metropolitan Regional Arts Council 2008 - 2009 Arts Activities Support Panel Review.

We could use your good vibes.

Indiana Jones

Who loves the Indiana Jones franchise?  Me.  Even The Temple of Doom.  Even (gulp) Kate Capshaw.  Even (gulp, wipe sweat from upper lip) when they brought in the aliens with crystal skeletons. 

But it doesn't take a part-time professor to realize that the Indy movies are, structurally, a perfect exercise in the most simplistic dichotomy.   Heroes vs. villains, battling over who controls the uncontrollable: an indifferent, omniscient, vaguely spiritual source of power.  Easy-to-hate villains who want to be gods.  Heroes who can't let that happen.    

Yes, I like Indy,

(transition.  stay with me here)

but I love Animal Farm for way it rejects this way of story telling.  There's so much confusion among the characters in Animal Farm.  None of them have clear paths - most of them are just trying to make it through another day.  Snowball (as Trotsky) represents the well-intended.  Only Napoleon and Squealer are true villains.  And bumbling, inexperienced villains at that.  None of the other characters can really be classified as a hero.  Certainly not Boxer - too dense, too misdirected.  He becomes the anti-hero.  Is it cynical to think that this is more like real life? 

One or two bad eggs.

No heroes.

A multitude of onlookers, too caught up in their own survival to assert change.

A handful of privileged pigs, content to wear their blinders.

Preliminary Design by Keegan

A Nightmare

It's dark.  Moonlight slips in through the slatted walls.

High high above in the rafters of a cavernous barn the muted stirring of perched hens.

(If poultry could whisper.)

A few downy underfeathers float down in a silent entourage of dust, float down in and out and in and out of the moon.

Pig snouts in shadows, too-toothy grins brimming with spittle.

The near-silent hum of something falling.

An egg cracks on the hay / wood floor, a sharp treble followed by flowing ooze.  

(Gravity's still working.)

A filthy pair of pie-balds scurry in to lick the freshly dirtied yolk & white.  

This is the Hens' Protest.  

(More than eggs will fall.)

Exposition

I suppose the seed of this production dates back to the Dina Merrill studio, circa spring of 2001. A vast expanse of obtuse and dilapidated 70's carpet bearing mysterious stains, low hanging florescent tubes and faded blue exercise mats, everything mended by duct tape and smelling of the history of teenagers' sweat. This studio is (or was) my least favorite of the work spaces at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, but it's where we adapted small excerpts from Orwell's novel as an ensemble studying at the National Theater Institute.

It stuck with me. And not just the precision and power of Orwell's "fairy story". That way of working stuck with me. It was really the first time in my life I felt the endorphin rush summoned by an ensemble with a modicum of talent and a gargantuan appetite for creation.

Which is why, now that I'm forcing myself to write about it, it makes perfect sense that working with Jon Ferguson on Or The White Whale would bring the possibility of producing Animal Farm flooding back to my conscious life. Jon and his ensembles are the professional version of what enchanted me as a student at NTI. Company created work, brimming with what too often gets overlooked in our standard theatrical model: generosity and playfulness.

So in December of 2007, nearly seven years after the rug burns of the Dina Merrill studio, I began writing my own loose adaptation of Animal Farm, intent on finally ridding the staging of the novel of that meddlesome narrator character. I had coffee with Jon in February. I pitched him the idea. I didn't have to pitch too hard. (Hell, if Moby Dick can be a play...) But the Orwell estate didn't want to talk to us. We ended up tossing my half-finished adaptation in favor of Ian Woolridge's faithful adaptation from 1993.

So here we are. A little more than two months till opening night. We've got an incredible cast, a Cracker Jack design team, a lush and aged venue, and the wonderfully serendipitous timing of the 2008 US Presidential election overlapping our run.

I hope we do ya proud, George (Eric).

Begin (belated)

Today Sally Bell (Assistant Producer) & Jon & I met for a promotional/fundraising meeting at Casey's, the greatest unknown dive bar in Minneapolis. A couple pitchers of PBR sipped over the Twins game & synchro pairs diving in Beijing seemed an oddly appropriate backdrop for ANIMAL FARM discussion. Global competition. Only the strong survive. Anywho, it's happening. We're cast. We've got brilliant people working on all angles of the production. This blog will attempt to track my experience as actor/producer. If that's not interesting to you, hey, the internet is a big place. Seek and ye shall find.