Taking The Rules for Granted

Urban Samurai Artistic Director Matt Greseth gave me a lot of really good advice at our first script meeting for "Leave". I took those notes with me to the Great Plains Theatre Conference and poured over them any spare moment I got. They're pretty much embedded in my brain at this point. As I go through the script again to rebuild it, scene by scene, those are the guideposts I keep looping back to.

Some of it was practical advice, from the standpoint of an audience member who had never seen or read the play before, hadn't been part of any of its development, wouldn't take anything for granted. What confused him would confuse an audience member encountering the play for the first time.

There's a scene toward the beginning where Seth, the Marine, and his civilian husband Nicholas exchange letters in code. Seth's mother, Anne, is copying Nicholas' letter over in a woman's handwriting, so as not to arouse suspicion. The letter she writes, and reads, is in code. The conversation between Seth and Nicholas is the meaning hidden behind the code.

But as the scene was written, the audience might have a hard time following along. They don't know the rules of the play yet, or the rules aren't yet clear. I was taking those rules for granted. I know that Seth is overseas, and Nicholas waits back home, and that they aren't really having that conversation directly in the same space. But how is anyone else supposed to know that? I was so concerned with making sure that I established a connection between the two men, that I forgot it was also important to establish the distance between them, and their separation.

And if the audience is spending their time, even a tiny fraction of time, trying to figure out what the hell is going on in terms of structure, they'll miss what's going on in terms of story and character and content. Which would be bad, and a missed opportunity. You want to enter into a contract with your audience, to bring them along on the story - not to spoonfeed them, but also not to leave them behind.

Now Nicholas and Seth still get to be onstage together, but they don't get to see each other. Matt suggested maybe Nicholas was looking at a photo album with pictures of Seth, since Nicholas references pictures later, and a photograph of Nicholas is all that Seth can keep with him to remind him of the man he loves (though even that he needs to lie about). They are together, but separate. The letter Anne is working on seems like more of a vital link between them.

We still get a lot of the same information - the day of their first kiss that became the marker for their anniversary, the strength of the bond between them - but we also get the distance. We know that something is missing, and that something major will need to happen to bring them back together in the same place. The timetable and demands of combat don't allow for regular weekends, or dependable vacation time.

How will they each have changed by the time they see one another again? How long can the situation as it stands continue?

Hopefully we get a window into what's at risk, and what's worth fighting for, and the cost of that personal battle. And the odds of losing it.

Whew....

So as you may have heard from a certain other blogger, I got married a couple of weeks ago. It is crazy how much planning goes into a wedding for about 12 hours of activities. I compared it to putting up a play. It takes about 6 months of planning in total for a production including all the marketing, money raising, pre-planning, casting, rehearsing, and teching. It is remarkable how close that is to what we did for our wedding. We had to "cast" the people who would be in the wedding. We had to raise enough money to be able to DO the wedding. We had to even rehearse and tech the thing. All this took about 9 months of planning. The big difference is that you get at least 10 runs in of a play. This whole thing was over in a day and a half (including the rehearsal dinner). What's even more weird, is that I was equally as tired after the whole ordeal. So I propose this, Twin Cities:

After every show someone should pay for everyone to go on a "Honeymoon" to recoup. How about it?! Isn't that exactly what everyone needs after a show? About a week to rest and get your minds back from the fry-zone? There should be a grant out there that would give us money to do this. I'll check on it and get back to you...

The second Hessburg

Here I am, the second official Hessburg of the group:) The wedding biz is over, and quite a success. It is strange to admit, that as organized as I am, and perhaps always wanting to be in control, I completely let go and let other people take the reigns on the wedding day! Was it difficult? Not really, I guess you could say that my focus was on not crying. So I just sat back, let other people tell me what to do, where to stand, when to go...and I didn't have to worry about a thing!
But have no fear, I am back and at it in full force! I don't let my stage managing duties lay around for too long...
A Few Good Men is underway! No, not rehearsals quite yet, but emails, planning and all the whatnots are starting to pick up and get figured out! What am I excited about the most? Actually starting rehearsals! I am excited to meet all these fabulous actors and get this thing rolling! I know this will mean an end to summer...but oh well. Fall has always been my fav anyways:)

Internet, Why Have You Abandoned Me?

Well, at home anyway. I can't get a consistent signal to save my life. So I spent Tuesday night stewing, and Wednesday night going from one coffee shop to the next til they all closed. Tonight, I'm just going to pester Comcast til they clear it up if it goes down yet again.

So, day job. Short entry.

If I could get online long enough, I'd be sending out messages to try and drum up some silent auction items (mostly theater tickets) for the upcoming Urban Samurai bowling night fundraiser - coming your way on Wednesday, August 25. Save the date!

Since I can't get online long enough, and have to, you know, work at work, if I'm forced offline again at home, while Comcast has me on hold, I may just do something radical like, oh, maybe focus on the rewrites of "Leave" for a while. The world outside the web holds many wonders...

Most of my non-Samurai blogging time these days revolves around the Minnesota Fringe Festival which you can find at the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

OK, day job...

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

If you want to see a really cool picture, the beginnings of the publicity images for my play "Leave" (the kickoff for Season 2011 for Urban Samurai) click here.

The photo shoot this week went ridiculously well. The photographer had his own in-house studio jury-rigged in the attic. The two actors just instinctively knew how to take the ideas we had and run with them, which led to the image we all agreed on. Turning and kissing the guy next to him on the top of the head? Totally a spontaneous actor thing. Brilliant.

I was also amused and pleased how there was no jockeying for position. Because, you know, it's two guys. Of course, it helps that the actors knew each other from working together on Hamlet recently. And even thought it's the publicity for a show with gay content, it's not like it was "who's the top, who's the bottom" situation. But one person was going to be held in the other's arms, so someone was doing the holding, and someone was being held. But the actors have both played the same role, Seth the Marine, in previous incarnations of the play. So they both could have made the case for being the hold-er rather than the hold-ee.

But Nick said to Nathan, "You're taller." So if there was any nestling to be going on, logistically Nathan should hold Nick rather than the other way around. And off they went.

There were a lot of great shots, in different configurations, facing the camera as well as facing away, facing each other as well as facing away. After pouring over them, I narrowed it down to seven, with one clearly in the lead. I'll probably upload the runners-up to various places, too, just to not let them go to waste.

Scott the photographer was good about making sure we used the flag correctly. I was just concerned about making sure it never touched the ground but at one point Scott pointed out, "It's backwards. That's not good. It's a sign of distress." Same with an upside down flag. (Oh, right, I saw "In The Valley of Elah". I should have remembered that. Amazing, devastating movie, by the way. Rent it.)

Actually, technically, the flag isn't supposed to be used as a drape at all. So we're in kind of sketchy territory. I'd seen the flag used much more provocatively in other contexts, in advertising and photo spreads, prior to this, but hadn't really thought about the implications. I just thought they were compelling images. The flag has a lot of meaning for me, and I don't use it lightly. Ultimately, it's a show with a deep vein of love of country running through it. And the policies of the government are cloaking these characters, the symbols of the institution are what they're struggling against. Not "our country's bad" but "this is what you have to do right now, if you want to serve your country."

And it's still. not. over.

Which is fine, from a marketing the play standpoint. But nothing would make me happier than this thing becomes a period piece. I've been waiting for that for over ten years. We're closer. But we're not there yet.

Still, the picture looks great.

I need to rewrite the play so it's as good as that picture.

Firefly

So there's this TV show that aired on Fox back in 2002 called Firefly. And I remember a lot of my friends raving about it back then, friends I believed to have reliably good taste. That told me over and over what a great show it was and how much I'd love it and how unfortunate it was that it got canceled after only one season. And then a few years later when the the season was released on DVD many other friends who I respected told me that it was an "amazing show", "So well done." and that "You'd love it Aaron, it's right up your alley". And yet for no real reason I never got around to watching it. Days slipped into years and this epic television series that was cut down by Fox prematurely due to budgetary concerns slipped out of memory.

Until this year when I happened to sit down at Matt and Marcia's as they were watching the end of the movie Serenity which as it turned out is the movie that had been produced in celebration and memoriam of this legendary tv show. Evidently there was such a public outcry when Firefly was canceled that Joss Whedon, the creator, writer, and director, was able to drum up enough dough to make a last hurrah feature film. I remember thinking as I watched the closing scene that it seemed a little well, hokey, but I assumed that it was only because I didn't know the back story and I was reassured by Matt, Urban Samurai's artistic director who I hand picked, that I would indeed love this show. If there's anyone's critiques that I take heed to on the quality of a show whether its stage or film its Matt's.

So a couple of nights ago I noticed that Firefly was now available for instant viewing on NetFlix. NetFlix described it as "The beloved short lived television series." And so I decided right then and there that I was finally going to see what the buzz was all about. I fired up the pilot which was 86 minutes long. And as the story unfolded before me in all its apparent glory I couldn't help but notice that the show was in all accounts incredibly cheesy. I mean you couldn't make the show anymore cheesy if they started dumping fresh mozzarella on their heads. If you've never seen Firefly the basic concept is Gun Smoke meets Star Trek. No seriously that's what it is, its cowboys in space. It's a group of people flying around in a spaceship that looks vaguely like a horse all wearing outfits that are the love-child of John Wayne and Mark Hamill's respective movie wardrobes. And they fly around to all these different planets that all look exactly like Arizona where they have bar brawls and shoots outs in canyons. And then occasionally the "Alliance" whose ships, uniforms, and attitude are a carbon copy of the Empire from Star Wars swoops in on a occasion to add a little extra tension. I found there was an astounding amount of predictability in the scripting and the acting a slight step above The Young and the Restless. I could not believe my eyes. This, this is what all the fuss was about? Really? They have the spaceship buzzing a herd of wild mustangs in the opening credits for crise-sakes!

Now I must admit I went into this with very very very high expectations. But what I found most appalling about this cornball show is that I effing LOVED IT!!!! I'm already half way through the season. It completely blows my mind that I can look at this show with extremely scrutinizing eyes find all its faults and still completely adore it. God I'm a geek, and my friends know it.

Tuesday Samurai - The Wedding Cometh

The day we've all been waiting for, Nate and Shannon's wedding, is quickly approaching, and I'm in the middle of last-minute preparations to give the wedding a little Urban Samurai twist. What is it, you may ask? It's something I'm pretty good at, which means it involves office supplies...that's the only clue you're getting.

With the impending marriage of the giggly pair, we'll see a significant power shift in the ranks of the USP core company. We'll be evenly split between married and legally single folks, and you know what that means.

Start snapping your fingers, ladies, it's time for the gay boys to start dancing it out a la West Side Story.

OK, so there's really no power struggle, and our relationship statuses have absolutely nothing to do with how we run our theatre company.

But this will be the first wedding that can be credited to (or blamed on) Urban Samurai.

In other words, get ready for the stage debut of Shannon Kiley in a future USP production of Dinner With Friends.

Or...just buy me another drink. TIP IT!

Why I'm barely coherent when I write these blog posts is a mystery to us both. Check back next week, though, when I make a more serious attempt to muse on the theater scene in Vancouver, where I spent a glorious and patriotic Independence Day weekend where all Americans hope to find themselves on the 4th...Canada.

Ryan Grimes
Managing Director
Urban Samurai Productions

my personal tech week

This coming week I will be entering my own personal tech week. Why? you may ask...well I am getting married in 8 short days, and to fellow samurai, Nate:) And as with any tech week that I have ever been involved in...I'm a little bit anxious.
That's silly, Shannon, why you've done so many tech weeks, you could probably work it out in your sleep by now! you may say...
I know, but that doesn't mean that I don't get all nervous and fear that I am forgetting something every time. My issue...the need for perfection. Yes, I do have reality checks that more than likely, not everything will go my way, or as planned. And contrary to popular belief, I'm totally fine with that. When I start tech for a show, I start with a picture in my mind of what I believe the director's intentions are. I have worked side by side the director, heard everything he said (even if he has changed his mind a million times), and can hear how he is saying notes to actors. It's weird and hard to explain, but perhaps that is why I am a stage manager, because of this weird quirk. Anyways, this is how I am going into this wedding tech week. I have a picture in my mind, from 9 months of discussions and planning, and I am looking for the same results as with a production on stage. Will everything go as perfectly as I see in my head? Probably not. And as I said before, I am totally ok with that. Just as long as it turns out alright, and people enjoy themselves at the wedding.
It is, afterall, a one night engagement!!