So, the second night of the first weekend of 14/48 January 2009 is done. I'm sure Ben will come in behind me with his own fabulous blog comments about the show. Here are mine:
Sold out again - great energy. Fun riffs on the theme "Liquor is Quicker."
1. A twist on AA with four members of a different group embracing their alcoholism and the "success" it has brought them. Hilarious performances by all including Jon Lutyens as a hilarious martini swiller and Hillary Pickles as a pregnant lush.
2. A silent ballet of a high school love triangle set in the 80s and set to 80s music that featured the wonderful 14/48 band rising to the occasion brilliantly.
3. An ex-drinker (Katie Warren) runs into her ex-boyfriend (Anthony Winkler) on the subway and wants him and a drink.
4. Five women wake up in bed with each other post-drunken orgy - great brave performances by Kate Jaeger, Annie Lareau, Khahn Doan, Jaimie Roberts, and Imogen Love as the poor woman who took a power nap and missed the fun.
5. Mullin's dark and epic story of God's cruelty and seeming irrationality. I love it when a piece dares to strike an unusual and startling mood. Kudos to the director and cast for playing it straight and hard.
6. A script that is sometimes seen at 14/48 - a self-referential piece about a playwright with a cast and a theme who's trying to get his 14/48 script written. This one succeeds with its big, strong Broadway number.
7. A Medieval family waits for the return of the father, out slaying a mythical monster. Hilarious and a fabulous finish to the evening!
Really strong night - congratulations all!
I'm too old and too sober to stay for the after party.
Becky Hellyer
14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival Blog
Showing posts with label Saturday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saturday. Show all posts
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Gossip
The life of a 14/48 blog contributor:
Every once in a while, someone stops what they are saying, looks at me and says, "Oh, jeez, you're blogging! You're not going to put that on the blog, are you?"
How could anyone think I would do that? Idle gossip, repeating things I've heard one artist say about another, telling tales - this could destroy delicate relationships that are budding here at the festival. I mean, I hear about crushes and baby names and lactation and professional differences - confessions of all kinds. I would NEVER.
But, I will tell you that Imogen Love and Alex Samuels discovered over lunch that they went to the same college. During the same period of time. Knew many of the same people. And they think that it's possible that they've slept together. Maybe. At least, that's how I heard it.
Becky Hellyer
Every once in a while, someone stops what they are saying, looks at me and says, "Oh, jeez, you're blogging! You're not going to put that on the blog, are you?"
How could anyone think I would do that? Idle gossip, repeating things I've heard one artist say about another, telling tales - this could destroy delicate relationships that are budding here at the festival. I mean, I hear about crushes and baby names and lactation and professional differences - confessions of all kinds. I would NEVER.
But, I will tell you that Imogen Love and Alex Samuels discovered over lunch that they went to the same college. During the same period of time. Knew many of the same people. And they think that it's possible that they've slept together. Maybe. At least, that's how I heard it.
Becky Hellyer
Stuff I Ain't Never Seen Before
So, 14/48 participants start out all in one room and then, as the day progresses, they break up into groups and rooms and roles and finally, at about this time of day, each one is completely focused on his own process, his own task. This is how so many people miss knowing what is going on in the next room, or even in the next rehearsal. And this is how it is that I've never seen a band rehearsal or laid eyes on a director's meeting- both of which I got to see today!
The band rehearsal was like listening to a lovely conversation between friends - or people who are becoming friends. I sat up in the balcony and read my book and listened at the same time, enjoying the slow blending of instruments, the expertise of musicians who can hear a key and play a tune they've only heard a few times. Apparently, the band has a heavy load today. They have a ballet, a big musical number, a theme, and a bunch of cues. They talk to each other with instruments and shortcut musician language and Leslie Law's lovely voice. This is a part of 14/48 that I would totally eavesdrop on again - any time.
The director's meeting is when the directors sit around a table and, in order of their shows, make sure the stage manager knows all the needs - lights on the stairs at the end of a show, a bar that needs to be shared by two directors, a subway handle strap hanging from the ceiling, movement of set pieces, who needs the beer cans and how much and can they be open. These people look tired. Their jobs are almost over.
As Peter Dylan O'Connor just said, "I think it's time to open a beer!"
Becky Hellyer
Saturday Rehearsals
The second day of 14/48 always feels like someone picked up all the players from the night before, shook them up in a Yahtzee cup, and poured them out on the board again. Some of the players are still joined (Mark Boeker & Shawn Law, I notice, are still together - so are Tina LaPlant & Troy Fischnaller & John Lutyens). But almost everyone else has been rearranged, regrouped, refamilied.
Today, the two worst rehearsal spaces from yesterday have been switched up. Elevators are required. And by the time I get there, most of the playwrights have already cut out and table work is happening everywhere in the building.
I first find Brian Faker in the Microsoft Lobby with Aaron Washington, Erin Stewart, and Andrew McMasters. Playwright Louis Broom is also at the table. They are discussing a big Broadway musical number. When the costume people come Brian says, "If we could have three canes and three top hats" and Beth Matthiesen says, "It's always good to ask. If you could only have one or the other, which would it be." Brain says. "Hats. Canes. Hats."
In the blue lobby George Mount and his cast are discussing what sounds like a biblical piece - or Mafia - or something like that. It's hard to hear exactly what's going on. This is one of the most frustrating rehearsal spaces because people walk through during the day. Later, I notice they've moved into the main lobby.
Upstairs in the buster lobby Tina LaPlant and her cast are have a raucous good time. It almost sound like (and this is from a sensitive playwright's point of view) that they are writing the script on the spot. Are they adding lines? Re-writing? Saying whatever comes to mind? But it's just rehearsal and they're laughing. It's wild. Troy admits there is "a part of me that always wants to go too far." Tina says, "Just don't upstage. You can do that in the 10:30 show." And she says, "I'm already out of control. I can tell."
In the Allen Theater Lobby space David Grossman has Charles Smith, Michael Patten, and Jennifer Jasper. There are blonde wigs and ballet movement and hands in pants and no lines. Excellent!
The added rehearsal space on the 8th floor is by far the best space in the building. Gorgeous, light, huge. There is a five women cast and Opal Peachy at the helm. They are still just chatting, telling stories from past 14/48, Kate Jaeger is saying some of her students may have been in the audience last night seeing her pull sex toys out of her cleavage. They are still casting.
In Buster they are not only cast but on their feet and blocking it. Peggy Gannon, Chuck Leggett and Megan Ahiers are working with Don Fleming. They're laughing and discussing and trying things out. Lisa Viertel and Shane Regan wait for their turn.
Finally, in the echo chamber, is Nicole Boyer Cochran and the two person cast for tonight - Anthony Winkler and Katie Warren. They are also on their feet, working through the internals of the scene, walking, holding their ground, discussing what this means to their characters. Man, I love watching rehearsal.
Becky Hellyer
Today, the two worst rehearsal spaces from yesterday have been switched up. Elevators are required. And by the time I get there, most of the playwrights have already cut out and table work is happening everywhere in the building.
I first find Brian Faker in the Microsoft Lobby with Aaron Washington, Erin Stewart, and Andrew McMasters. Playwright Louis Broom is also at the table. They are discussing a big Broadway musical number. When the costume people come Brian says, "If we could have three canes and three top hats" and Beth Matthiesen says, "It's always good to ask. If you could only have one or the other, which would it be." Brain says. "Hats. Canes. Hats."
In the blue lobby George Mount and his cast are discussing what sounds like a biblical piece - or Mafia - or something like that. It's hard to hear exactly what's going on. This is one of the most frustrating rehearsal spaces because people walk through during the day. Later, I notice they've moved into the main lobby.
Upstairs in the buster lobby Tina LaPlant and her cast are have a raucous good time. It almost sound like (and this is from a sensitive playwright's point of view) that they are writing the script on the spot. Are they adding lines? Re-writing? Saying whatever comes to mind? But it's just rehearsal and they're laughing. It's wild. Troy admits there is "a part of me that always wants to go too far." Tina says, "Just don't upstage. You can do that in the 10:30 show." And she says, "I'm already out of control. I can tell."
In the Allen Theater Lobby space David Grossman has Charles Smith, Michael Patten, and Jennifer Jasper. There are blonde wigs and ballet movement and hands in pants and no lines. Excellent!
The added rehearsal space on the 8th floor is by far the best space in the building. Gorgeous, light, huge. There is a five women cast and Opal Peachy at the helm. They are still just chatting, telling stories from past 14/48, Kate Jaeger is saying some of her students may have been in the audience last night seeing her pull sex toys out of her cleavage. They are still casting.
In Buster they are not only cast but on their feet and blocking it. Peggy Gannon, Chuck Leggett and Megan Ahiers are working with Don Fleming. They're laughing and discussing and trying things out. Lisa Viertel and Shane Regan wait for their turn.
Finally, in the echo chamber, is Nicole Boyer Cochran and the two person cast for tonight - Anthony Winkler and Katie Warren. They are also on their feet, working through the internals of the scene, walking, holding their ground, discussing what this means to their characters. Man, I love watching rehearsal.
Becky Hellyer
Letters from the middle of the night - part deux
I asked the playwrights to email me in the middle of the night, in the middle of the process or when they were done, to let me know how it had gone (reminder: the theme is Liquor is Quicker)
12:48am - Paul Mullin is done. He says it has no comedy in it at all. (We'll see.) "I had it mapped out by the time the bus dropped me off in Green Lake. It's so obvious in retrospect. We all know who the greatest alcoholic of all time is."
1:19am - Brian Neel and Paul Shipp were separated last night after the first show. "We're fine now. Midway on page two."
2:24am - Celene Ramadan writes to say started at about 11pm and she's done and she's happy with it. "I see it as something I'd like to film someday soon, which was a goal of mine for this weekend but nothing I wanted to force."
3:160am - Glenn Hergenhahn sends an email that he's finally finished. It's the second night he's finished by 3. "Too early to tell if it is intelligible, but there is a monster with horns and vikings (sort of) so how wrong could it go?"
4:59am (ouch!) - Brian Neel writes to say that he and Paul Shipp had each, in their separation, written some ideas and sketches. When they reunited "we shoved our material together and discovered that Mr. Neel forgot to include our fifth character. Hurdle number one." Once again, a photo (above) from the boys. I'm thinking that co-writer thing sounds a little dicey after all.
6:11am - Jerry Kraft actually finished his writing by 2am but was up early reviewing it and reflecting on the previous night's performance and tonight's. "The fact that my show will be the first up tonight actually helped me focus on the kind of thing I wanted to do, and since the style is more presentational than last night's play, it was easier to compose."
The emails give a glimpse into the war zone of the Friday night writing process. It doesn't really tell anything except how hard it is to do. And perhaps Brian Neel sums it up best when he says, "Take heed: do not seek perspective in the blur of creativity at four in the morning."
See you soon!
Becky Hellyer
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