Taking actions, letting go of results...

Times have been hard, economically speaking, very very hard indeed. The interesting thing about the way thngs have gone with respect to work (there is none) and money (there is precious little of it coming in), is that I am finding an increased self-sufficiency and a sharpened impetus to action.
I am walking more often when I travel within Brooklyn and in some cases into the city from home, as well, mainly depending on timing. My cooking craft has increased in terms of what I cook and how often I cook. I am happy to say that making soups and stews is becoming second nature.

I have been finding interesting creative implements in my path as I make my various ways to and from, namely pens, pencils, and even a paintbrush! I take this to mean something about making things, about creating, and about finding my way using creativity as a vessel.

I created an original piece of artwork entitled Traveler's Vessel: Destination 1805 (above), a pastel drawing for the Pernod Absinthe "Creator Of.." Art Contest. I missed their deadline last year, ecoming aware of the contest only after it had passed. This year I was on FB and saw that it was going on again, but this time I had 5 days to the January 31st deadline. I decided to enter, since there is nothing to lose by doing it. I did it in 3 sessions, beginning late Thursday night, again late Sunday night, and spent the morning of Monday the 31st finishing it up and electronically submitting it around 3pm, well before the Midnight deadline. HOORAY!

After finding the paintbrush on Tuesday, I arrived home and made up 60 cinnamon spice sugar cookies. I have baked pies, but had never before made cookies from scratch on my own. Yes, I have "helped" my Mother and Grandmother make up batches of baked goods while growing up, but the kind of assistance that was required of me in those instances was of the "lick the spoon" variety.

How did they turn out? Well, the cookies were eaten too quickly to be photographed, I'm afraid, falling prey to the appetites of the blonde and myself within a 24 hour period. YUM.

The week prior to this I was priveleged to work with a talented crew of actors (Gyda Arber, Steve Burns, Lex Friedman, Gavin Starr Kendall, Jeff Lewonczyk, Douglas Mackrell, Megan McGowan, Ben VandenBoom, Stephanie Willing, Morgan Anne Zipf) under the able and delighful direction of Hope Cartelli as part of "Team B" for "Piper McKenzie's Dainty Cadaver". There were 3 teams ("A", "B", & "C") each enacting an original play constructed Exquisite Corpse style by 6 different authors per team (18 in total), each of whom were responsible for 10 minutes of stage time after only having read the prior author's 10 minutes, and nothing before that. The results were CRAZY PANTS and excellently performed and directed. The culture surrounding the event was highly enjoyable, and palpably RICH in spirit, in joy, and in creativity. That's the kind of wealth that grants nourishment that sticks to your ribs. A "slice" of nice!

Also this week I began rehearsals for The Universal Rundle, one of 4 one-acts in Trav S.D.'s Tent Show Tetragrammaton. I am REALLY excited about this, and our initial meetings are pregnant with possibility...research deepens into Voudoun, cajun dialects, and the Blues...

∞ ♥

"per artem facit Magiam, arte faciendi magick"

28 Months Later...

THEN:
It was September 18th when I wrote my last Blog post, twenty-eight months ago to the day.
I saw a T-shirt once that read: "MORE PEOPLE HAVE READ THIS T-SHIRT THAN YOUR BLOG." FUNNY.

Anyway...
My last post was written just after I had learned that I was cast as Varney the Vampire in Bryan Enk & Matt Gray's Penny Dreadful. In the time since, I have performed in Penny Dreadful (#7: The Peril of Penny - a Damsel Lost in Time, #10: The Science and The Seance, #11: The House Where Bad Things Happen, #12: The Last Century) for Third Lows, Adventure Quest and A Brief History of Murder (Detectives & Victims) for Sneaky Snake, Suspicious Package Rx for Gyda Arber, George Bataille's Bathrobe, The Wedding of Berit Johnson and Ian W. Hill, and The Devils for Gemini CollisionWorks, Rudolf II for Untitled Theatre Company, Kinderspiel and Quantum Poetics for Stolen Chair Theatre Company , Bethlehem or Bust! for Piper McKenzie, STARBOAT for Nosedive Productions at Vampire Cowboys Saturday Night Saloon, and in Bryan Enk and Jessi Gotta's feature-length horror film, The Big Bad (which I hear is close to a screening date).

In the past 28 months, I have had the great gift and pleasure of working with the following slew of talented Artists and Artistic Companies, none of whom I had worked with before:
Mischa Auzins, Olivia Basemen, Ben Beckley, Adam Belvo, David Bengali, Lynn Berg, Alexis Black, Eric Bland, Pete Boisvert, Bob Brader, Sal Brienik, Becky Byers, Anne Carlisle, Hope Cartelli, Lindsey Carter, Josephine Cashman, Chris Chappelle, James Comtois, Rebecca Comtois, Joshua Conkle, Stephanie Cox-Williams, Audrey Crabtree, Kimberly Craven, Michael Criscuolo, Adri Disman, Liz Eckert, Bryan Enk, Saara Falk, Dorothy Fortenberry, Joe Gately, Dina Rose Gray, Matthew Gray, Liza Wade Green, Dave Gochfeld, Romo Hallahan, Mike Hill, Jon Hoche, James Isaac, Ishah Janssen-Faith, Sheila Joon, Michael Karp, Gavin Starr Kendall, Jeremiah Kipp, Julianne Kroboth, Daryl Lathon, Candace Lawrence, Kathryn Lawson, Jeff Lewonczyk, Miriam Lipner, Rich Lovejoy, Doug MacKrell, Jessica McVea, Chelsea Manifold, Justin Maruri, Samantha Mason, Rocio Mendez, Aviva Meyer, Patrice Miller, Mateo Moreno, Brian Morvant, Steve Munoz, Kevn Myers, Eric Oleson, Emily Otto, Robert Pinnock, Kiran Rikhye, Jane Rose, Trav S.D., Jessica Savage,Jack Schaub, Alley Scott, Parker Scott, Vanessa Shealey-Younger, Patrick Shearer, Noah Shultz, Dominick Sivilli, Jon Stancato, Anna Stromberg, Sara Thigpen, Christian Toth, Eve Udesky, Michael Vaccaro, Ben VandenBoom, Darlene Violette, Viet Vo, Art Wallace, David Watson, Jesse Paul Wilson, Mike Yahn, Christopher Yustin, Morgan Anne Zipf
ARTISTIC COMPANIES:
Nosedive Productions, Piper McKenzie, Sneaky Snake, Stolen Chair Theatre Company, and Third Lows.

I was also happy to work again with these people:
Henry Akona, Gyda Arber, Fred Backus, Aaron Baker, Danny Bowes, Katherine Boynton, Maggie Cino, Ivanna Cullinan, Edward Einhorn, Sarah Malinda Engelke, Karen Flood, Carla Gant, Jessi Gotta, Stephen Heskett, Ian W. Hill, Justin R.G. Holcomb, Berit Johnson, Bob Laine, Roger Nasser, Karen Ott, Shelley Ray, Phoebe Silva, Bill Weeden, and Sandy York.

I designed settings and props for Penny Dreadful (#7: The Peril of Penny- a Damsel lost in Time, #9: The Terrible Tale of the Black Dragon, #11: The House Where Bad Things Happen,#12: The Last Century), settings for Caitlin and the Swan for The Management, props for Adventure Quest, and a murderous crucifix (The CRUCIFILER) for Roger Nasser's short horror film Leviticus 26.

In other areas of my life during the last 28, my maternal grandmother, Lucille Curry McCown, passed away in the Summer of 2009, and I went down to be there for my mother. It was my first funeral. I stayed for a week and helped my Mom get things settled. Surreal and natural.

Moved into Bushwick from the Burg, getting much more space for much less money. (The rent is still too damn high) The goal has been to create a rehearsal/performance space out of the new homestead. With the help of Abariss Culjak and Danny Pudelek, I built a big loft, which is 90% complete (is construction/home improvement ever finished?). Building well is its own reward.

I will say that the past 28 months has seen:

• The development of my design/builder skill set -
• An increased trust in my intuition, and the development of that trust into a practice -
• A clearing away of obstacles - both deliberate and happenstantially
• The broadening and deepening of my artistic community -
• A return to visual art as a practice -

TODAY:
I went to the Actor's Equity Audition Center today to audition for Pennsylvania Shakespeare, but arrived far too late to be seen (#141 on the alternate list). I have been lucky at the last few auditions that I have been to at the AEA Center, strolling in at 10 or 11am and getting an appointment. Not so today: the first person on line today got there at 5:30am, The call opened at 8am, and they were out of appointments by 8:30am.
Rumour has it that they will have another date in February (here's hoping), and - lesson learned - I will be up early for the next call and all hereafter.
The venture was not without reward, however, as I was fortunate to see a few friends at Equity - Alexis Black, Amy Liszka, Josh Silverman, and Sheila Joon to name a few - which is always nice, but I also had a bit of a breakthrough concerning the piece I had chosen for today's audition while working through it as I waited. I look forward to doing it soon! More auditions are coming up on the 27th (The Bridge Project's Richard III) and on February 28th there is Hudson Valley Shakespeare, with more Summer Stock opportunities posting every day, so we shall see.

COMING UP:
I will be performing in The Universal Rundle, one of 4 one-acts that comprise Trav S.D.'s Tent Show Tetragrammaton running at La Mama E.T.C. from March 17th - April 3rd (my Birthday!)

ONGOING:
Writing:
Blue-beard Part I: The Angel - in process
Blue-beard Part II: The Devil - in process

A 3-part Dungeons & Dragons adventure to be hopefully sold freelance to WOTC - all in process:
I: The Rooted Court
II: The Shardstones of the PhaseQueen's Horde
III: The Mage of the Silver Tower

As above so below,

Timothy

∞ ♥
"per artem facit Magiam, arte faciendi magick"

Twos-dy

I have had a four-day weekend of social and cultural activity. Friday night I attended a Baby Shower for April Vidal that went late into the evening (those Mothers-to-be sure do like to party!), Saturday I saw Oh What War at HERE (Which was EXCELLENT), and attended a fine after-theatre snack and schmack-fest with tasty treats and an open bar, Sunday we attended a lovely garden party with grilling and Margaritas among cast members of Everything Must Go at Dina Rivera and Matt Gray's place, and Monday (Last Night) was well-spent at The Brick, attending the Penny Dreadful Season Two Fundraiser. Entertainment featured Burlesque by Rita Menweep, Opera by Matt Curran, and Magic by Nelson Lugo, with Fred Backus as The Amazing Viernik, and culminating with the one-night only presentation of Penny Dreadful Episode 6.5: The Future Ain't What It Used To Be with Eric Bland, Gavin Starr Kendall, Katie Brack, Samantha Mason, V. Orion Delwaterman, and Jessica Savage as "Penny". The "mini-episode" was set entirely in 2012 and took place both in the Maximum Security Prison that Penny materialized into from the year 1907 as a result of "The Great Switcheroo", and in an "underground labyrinth" beneath the Prison, the final moments being Penny recoiling in horror from a fresh corpse as a disembodied voice whispered, "Run, Penny, run.", and she did, slipping into darkness... It set the tone of the Serial's Second Season, continued deeply in the vein of its "horror suspense adventure mystery", and definitely created anticipation for the next full installment, Episode 7, due out in October 18th & 19th. I, for one, will Mark my Calendar...

http://www.thirdlows.com/pennydreadful/main.htm

The MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Orson Welles: A Reconstruction For The Stage

The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles: A Reconstruction for the Stage closed Thursday, June 12th to a lovely audience overfilling the Brick, with some at the apron of the stage sitting on mats from Babylon, Babylon!, and others sitting on the edges of risers; all were ready to listen and watch and laugh and take in the tale as Orson intended it to be told.
There is talk and interest among the creatives involved about a possible re-mount in 2009...

Saturday Update

A return to work upon the pair of plays I have been writing, Blue-beard, Parts I & II. I am further along with the second part than I am with the first. I am viewing them as very different plays in that their respective worlds are mixed somewhat differently in terms of what forces are dominantly portrayed as having sway. The first shows earthly forces excercising a kind of victory over spiritual, then the second shows the emptiness of such a world driving spirit to the test. Seeming and Being. I would like them to be complete by the End of the Summer. We'll see. Already thinking about casting as I write, which is a good thing, I think. When I wrote my last full-length, I wrote three parts with specific actors in mind, and those actors excelled in their eventual manifestations of the roles thus written, so...

At any rate, it helps me to visualize as I write, which makes the writing come faster.

At the very beginning stages of rehearsals for Ian W. Hill's adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons, which will go up for four days in June for "The Film Festival: A Theatre Festival" at the Brick. We will screen the version that the Studio released this coming Monday at the Brick.

In the past month I saw The Optimist, Hooray For What?, Di Ksube (The Marriage Contract), Tristan und Isolde, Hiroshima: Crucible of Light, The Taste of Blue, and The Boy That Wanted to Be a Robot.