And so it begins...

Well folks, yesterday evening, several actors, one director and one stage manager from all across the metro gathered together and started...A Few Good Men rehearsals. It was an unconventional start to the process with no read-thru (causing one stage manager to have to read the play before rehearsals actually started), but it didn't even faze anyone. Clearly the actors have been reading the script, studying the lines and the characters, and are already right on pace...of course this is after only one night. But when an actor comes in and can pretty much do a scene off book day one, I'm thinking these people mean business. So yay to the actors thus far! You are impressing me already!! Now just get me your bios and headshots...;)

Bowling and Running and Writing (Not Necessarily In That Order)

The 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival is history.

I saw a show in every slot again this year, including the encore. 56 performances, 53 shows (Three I went back for a second look, one of those I even had a very odd cameo appearance in). 29 reviews down, 24 to go.

The day after the Fringe, an epic Fringe Decompression podcast with Josh Humphreys and Nick Decker for Twin Cities Theater Connection, which should be posting in the near future.

Back at the day jobs, a lot of catching up to do.

And of course there's a play to write (the first of a couple, actually, which is nice)

Tomorrow, I head down to Winona with two vanloads of teammates for the Ragnar Relay's Great River Run. It's a 24 hour run from Winona, up along the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side, and back into Minnesota around Stillwater, running on back to Minneapolis. 192 miles. 12 runners, doing three legs of the relay each. I'm the 6th runner on my team, last in my van (Van 1)to go, handing off to the 2nd half of the team in Van 2 when I'm done. We got a late start time for our team (2pm), so I won't be starting my first leg til around 6pm. 8.3 miles. Then I've got a breather til around 3:30 in the morning Friday/Saturday, when I run another 7.1 miles. Then my last leg will hit around 11:15 in the morning Saturday, only 3.5 miles. That one's rated "Moderate," my first two are both rated "Very Hard" (gulp). 18.9 miles total. Needless to say, I scheduled myself off from pretty much everything on Sunday.

And because that's not quite enough to completely derail the blogging for a few days, how about we throw in a bowling night fundraiser for my new artistic home, Urban Samurai Productions?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

8pm to closing time

$10 to bowl all night (it includes the shoe and ball rental)

Park Tavern Bowling and Entertainment Center
3401 Louisiana Ave S
St. Louis Park, MN

You can get your tickets online or at the door.

Also, they're raffling off three monster prize packages - $10 per raffle ticket, or you can get 3 for $25. Here, too, you can order raffle tix online now, or grab yourself some the night of the event. Better yet, why not do both?

The prizes...

Grand Prize - Ultimate Jackpot Getaway
A Weekend Stay at Mystic Lake Resort & Casino
Gift card for your choice of activity at Mystic Lake
Centerspace Pilates Gift Certificate
Urban Samurai Season 2011 Tickets (includes a new full-length version of my play "Leave")
Gift Basket from Caldrea
Bottle of Wine from Wine Time
Guthrie Theater Tickets


2nd Place - Theater Lover's Package
Urban Samurai Season 2011 Tickets
Theatre Unbound Tickets
Theatre Pro Rata Tickets
Crave Restaurant Gift Certificate


3rd Place - Comedy Lover's Package
Urban Samurai Season 2011 Tickets
Comedy Sportz Tickets
Brave New Workshop Tickets
Chipotle Restaurant Gift Card


So, you know, bowl, win stuff, support live theater, everybody feels good.


The Samurai website says...

"Urban Samurai Productions is celebrating Season 2010 by knocking down pins! Everyone's invited to the Park Tavern to join us for unlimited bowling, raffles, games, karaoke, and general merriment. Whether you're the King Pin or Gutterball Grand Poobah, it's sure to be a smashing good time, all supporting theater with Urban Samurai!

Bowling on the lanes with karaoke! A raffle with FABULOUS prizes and bowling challenges for awards! HILARIOUS entertainment! Drinks and food available in the restaurant and bar for purchase. Because this is a grown up event, Park Tavern requests that all guests be 21 or older.

What if you can't make it? It can't be true! Well, life happens, (sigh). But don't fret. You can still share in the fun by entering the raffle for fabulous prizes, or making a tax deductible donation to Urban Samurai. That way, you can be a part of making future productions possible."


And the day after all that, I turn 46.

Yikes. Where'd that year go?

Checking in from the Fringes

Hey all

Another Thursday out Fringing, so the only blogging you'll be seeing out of me is here...

See you after the Minnesota Fringe Festival dust has settled.

Meanwhile, don't forget the upcoming Samurai bowling night (Wednesday, August 25th!)

Tuesday Samurai - What Day Is It?

I've been slacking for the last month and I know it. And this week, I thought, "Ooh, I'll post on the blog this week!" And then I logged in today and realized it's Wednesday, not Tuesday, and that I'm a moron.

Well, what else is new?

OK, so here's the deal: It's been a crazy summer and I can't even believe it's almost over. Isn't that depressing? Sure, not as depressing as this disgusting weather we've been having (don't talk to me about humidity...it won't be a fun conversation), but all that time I thought I'd have this summer...GONE!

We start A Few Good Men rehearsals in the coming weeks. That production I thought was so far into the fall is now within reach. Seriously, where does the time go? I'll be assistant directing for the production, though my time with Men will be limited due to my commitment to perform in Minneapolis Musical Theatre's Evil Dead: The Musical. Fall will be yet another busy time of this year, but I probably wouldn't want it any other way.

One thing I'm going to do to try to kick back and relax before fall is our super awesome Urban Samurai Bowling FUNdraiser that is coming up on Wednesday, August 25th. The Park Tavern in St. Louis Park has donated their fine establishment to host bowling, karaoke, games, and just all-around merriment to celebrate Urban Samurai's Season 2010. It will be a blast and we hope to see all our supporters there.

But, let's be real. What I'm really stoked about is our raffle at the FUNdraiser. There's three prize packages up for grabs, each with its own theme. The grand jackpot includes a weekend stay at Mystic Lake and a giftcard for one of the many activities available at the resort. The prize packages also include tickets to the Guthrie, Theatre Unbound, Theatre Pro Rata, ComedySportz, Brave New Workshop, not to mention season passes for Urban Samurai's Season 2011.

Are you salivating yet? OK, here's the scoop. More information about the raffle, as well as a way to get your raffle tickets online (and advance admission to the event), is at our website. More specifically, http://www.urbansamurai.org/news.

Do it up!

Ryan Grimes
Managing Director
Urban Samurai Productions

Some Men and One Women

Well things are underway for A Few Good Men! And so far so good! Emails are a pouring out, getting conflicts, giving information, it never seems to end. It's crazy how it's less than a month before we start and I've already learned so much from the cast, and I haven't even met half of them! But nonetheless, it will be a good one! I am truly looking forward to meeting these fine actors and settling in for a show that I actually get to work on from start to finish, with virtually no interruptions!! This scenario has not happened, since, well, um, about 3 years ago. And I say boo to that. You become so distanced when you have to take off even one night. I hate that feeling that I missed so much...even though it may only have been one 3 hour rehearsal. But alas, as I said, this won't happen during the course of this show! And thank goodness, because working with a cast this large, keeping everything straight is the most important thing.
So cheers to us, getting the ball rolling and looking forward to the read-thru!

Fringe Break

Hey all

This Thursday and likely next Thursday, the only blogging you'll be seeing out of me is here...

See you after the Minnesota Fringe Festival dust has settled.

Meanwhile, don't forget the upcoming Samurai bowling night (Wednesday, August 25th!)

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.