Last minute shopping...

Why is it that many theater companies seem to be running around completing little things to big things about a week before they open? Is it because they are completely unorganized and have no idea what they are doing? Actually I think it is because so many artist types seem to work so much better under pressure. I know I seem to find exactly what I have been looking for as far as props/costumes/sound/set inspiration in the last week and a half before the production opens. Yes, I procrastinate. But maybe it's for the better!!

What does everyone else think? Am I the only one who waits so a better product came come out of the frenzy that is tech week?

Next Stop...Tech Week

This week has come and gone for me. I, unfortunately, haven't been at a single rehearsal due to my other job. But I have heard great things. In fact, after the conversation I had last night following the rehearsal, I am super duper excited to get back in the game of things and see this show come to life...
Only a few more things to get done before that can actually happen; finish off the prop list, help get all the costumes lined up, design the lights, get the set built, a little bit of painting, and then we are golden!
The show will be great...it's the anticipation of getting into tech week that's killing me. Once there and we are in the groove, there will be no stopping us, and we will knock out a fabulous show!

Ice Cream!

So, when I signed on as board member, and then member of the marketing committee, I wasn't thinking I'd be scooping ice cream. Oh well...

Since "Bright Ideas" is basically "the MacBeths try to get their kid into a good pre-school," we thought opening night's reception should be in the kid-like spirit.

So save room for dessert, it's "make your own sundae" time!

I have been charged with getting the foodstuffs, while someone else takes care of the decorations.

So join us opening night of "Bright Ideas" next Friday, May 7th at 7:30pm at the Sabes JCC (4330 Cedar Lake Road South in St. Louis Park, MN) and stay around afterward for some ice cream.

It's finally the time of year when it doesn't seem crazy to eat ice cream (because, during winter in Minnesota, ice cream is still tasty, but seems redundant, since we're all human popsicles).

So, see the play, have some inappropriate laughs, be grateful your kid isn't driving you to cause people to meet with "unfortunate accidents," and reward yourself with some ice cream.

Because if there are leftovers, I may be forced to take them home.

And this might derail my fitness goals for the year.

So help a guy out.

Come see the comedy, and help me finish off the ice cream.

Next week, back to a more artsy blog entry.

Tuesday Samurai - Meet C. Ryan Shipley

There's only two cast members of Bright Ideas left to introduce in the Tuesday Samurai, which means something really crazy - Bright Ideas opens in two weeks! Do you have your tickets yet? If not, get thee to urbansamurai.org immediately and get your tickets for the May 7th opening!

This week's Tuesday Samurai welcomes C. Ryan Shipley, who makes his USP debut as a bevy of characters in Bright Ideas.

I've started every introduction by asking how we met, and guess what? I'm asking you, too.

We met during How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Bloomington Civic Theatre (BCT), which was my first show here in the Cities. We were two of FOUR Ryans in that show. I will always remember standing between you and Joe Botten during "Brotherhood of Man" and feeling incredibly short for the first time in my life. I can't believe we have known each other for almost five years!

I am entering the "older than dirt" zone. That's probably really offensive to people older than me...like all the other USP company members. Whoops, I should probably move on. Where would our audiences have seen you lately?

Well, I've mostly performed in musicals during the past five years since I graduated from St. Olaf (blatant Golden Girls reference). I've worked quite a bit at BCT, most recently in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Crazy for You. I've also done five shows at Minneapolis Musical Theatre (MMT), where I first worked with [Bright Ideas costar] Courtney Miner in Summer of '42. I also got to play the role of Goat in The Robber Bridegroom, which is my most favorite role I've ever done...ooh, and I was in Zanna, Don't, too! Last year I was in DreamBoys, which was a blast. Then last fall I was in a production of Biloxi Blues with Theatre Or ([USP venue] Sabes Jewish Community Center's theatre company), directed by Claire Avitabile. I was incredibly honored to be in that show. So...I've done a few things here and there. *wink*

I somehow get the distinct impression that you do a lot of musicals...but Biloxi Blues and Bright Ideas mark a new chapter in your career, where you take on more non-musical roles. What's that transition like?

Lately I've been trying to do things that scare me: straight theatre, waking up before 9 a.m., eating at Hooters, etc. I think that musical and non-musical theatre each have their challenges. I am finding it very refreshing to sort of rediscover what I am capable of as an actor and to sort of remind myself that I have to be an actor first, even if I am doing a musical. Biloxi Blues was the first "straight play" that I've done since college. I was really nervous because I was cast with such fantastic actors and I wasn't sure if I could pull off some of the more dramatic scenes of the play. I remember there was one rehearsal where I made an entrance and Claire said, "You just made a musical theatre entrance." And I realized that I had actually done a sort of prep-step to come onto the stage. I felt like Kurt from Glee trying to play Judd in Oklahoma. Whoa...that joke was SO gay.

Sometimes the most accurate way to explain something is to make it really gay. It's the only way I know how to explain diamond mining in Botswana. But that's for a later (and much different) blog post. You play an insane amount of characters in Bright Ideas - do you have a favorite?

Hmm...I'm not sure if I can pick one favorite. I kind of love all of them because they are SO different from each other. I really love playing the airline steward, and Mr. Scott is pretty fun to play. We're having a hard time making it through certain scenes without laughing onstage because we are cracking each other up so much. I am enjoying the challenge of creating six very different characters and Jimmy has been such a fantastic help in shaping everything.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy! All I ever hear is how great Jimmy is! Ugh! Enough! He can't be that great. OK, I'm totally kidding. I think he's awesome - it's why we're so excited to have him direct for us! And it's not just his love for The Golden Girls...he really has a vision for this show and everyone has been having a great time with him. But this is your time to talk about Jimmy [LeDuc, Bright Ideas director] - 3, 2, 1...go!

I feel like this is one of those movie press junkets (that word sounds hysterically inappropriate, doesn't it?) and this is where I gush about my director. In all honesty, though, Jimmy has been one of the best directors I've ever worked with. In fact, Courtney and I were just talking about this on the way home from rehearsal the other night. He is very smart and knows how to communicate the idea he is trying to get across or the moment that he is trying to create. We all know what he means when he screams, "Blanche it up!" (He means, "Slut it up!") He screams that at me a lot. And not always during rehearsals. "Blanche it up, Shipley!!"

OK, I know this interview is about you, but I'm about to go rogue here. I can't say enough how much I have come to appreciate Rue McClanahan's performance as Blanche in my adult life. All the Golden Girls are funny, but I would go so far as to say hers is the most nuanced. So many jokes of hers that I didn't get when the series first aired make me laugh so hard now. But I really need to get it together. This is about YOU, Ryan, not ME, Ryan. That makes no sense. Anyway, what's next after Bright Ideas?

Actually, I'm assistant directing Mame with MMT as we speak. I am missing the first two weeks of rehearsal for Bright Ideas and then diving right in. After that I'm playing a groomsman in Colleen Somerville and Nicholas Leeman's wedding (they also happen to be the stars of USP's fall production, A Few Good Men). After that, I will be directing the first short play of An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Possibly a couple other projects in between and afterward...fingers crossed.

Yeesh, I thought I was busy, but listening to all you have coming up is downright exhausting! With all that theater work, do you have any time to kick back and relax...maybe watch some TV? Ooh! Wouldn't it be great if your life was a TV show? If I had to pick, I'd say I wish my life was like that of Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, so that the life of me and my friends was dubbed over with my poignant and eerily topical musings.

Um, I've never seen Grey's Anatomy...is that bad?

Of course not. It's a nutty show, but the perfect example for this little exercise in silliness I've concocted. What show do you want your life to be?

My ideal life would be a combo of Buster Bluth from Arrested Development, Karen Walker from Will & Grace, all four Golden Girls combined, Kenneth Parcell from 30 Rock, and C.J. Cregg from The West Wing for good measure.

Wow, that sounds really complicated. How would that even work?

I'd be an anxious, drunken, horny, ditsy, old weirdo who is also the Press Secretary for the fictional White House. Wait. That is my real life. Bwah bwaaah.

Oh, you crazy kids and your Bright Ideas! (Yes. Yes, I did.) What is going on at those rehearsals? These interviews get zanier every week! I can't imagine what will happen next week, when the Tuesday Samurai presents the final cast introduction, Mykel Pennington. She would have been the first person I thanked when I won an acting award, but those Missourians wouldn't let me speak. Grr...

Maybe C. Ryan Shipley can help me find justice when he's promoted to Chief of Staff in the fifth season.

Bwah bwaaah...

Ryan Grimes

Managing Director

Urban Samurai Productions

Last Week of Rehearsal

Though there are two more weeks (give or take a day) until we open the show, there is really only one more week of actual rehearsing to be done. The last week is tech week, and that's much more about the technical delivery of the show than the content.

And so now I'm feeling the pressure, wondering where the time went, and getting really excited. It's a strange combo in my belly that could be mistaken for gas. I, however, know from experience that it is not. We've got some polishing to do, but I'm confident that the show is in a good place.

I know who else is feeling the pressure. The design team. While they've been planning the technical elements for weeks, sometimes months, the time has definitely come to put up or shut up. So there is some last minute scrambling, as there always is, because last minute saves are practically the definition of dramatic tension.

And we're dramatic folks.

Freesound.org

So having done sound a number of times I have searched the internet hundreds of times for a sound bank that has everything I want. An online site that has sound samples that real people like me have uploaded for the benefit of everyone. Until this show I have never come across that site. I have sifted through pages and pages of Google searches and have never been that impressed with any of the pages I've found. Sure, there have been some sites that have a couple of gems, but nothing that really blew my skirt up.

I spoke with a great friend that I play ComedySportz with who is also really into film production. He told me about this glorious site called freesound.org. It is a database of Thousands of FREE sound effects recorded by amateurs and professionals alike and uploaded to the site. An easy search and BAM! you have a plethora of sounds at your fingertips to download. They are easily manipulated in Audacity (another must for strapped-for-cash theaters) and have a polished, professional sound.

So get out there. Check this baby out. It will change the way you find sound effects. At least it did for me...

Week 4 flew by...

My goodness! Off book week was crazy stressful for myself. I can just about imagine what it was like for the actors;) But, much to everyone's dismay, it went without a hitch! Yes, there was stumbling, stammering, the couple exploitative remarks, the trying to convince me they "really suck" (which p.s. to all actors out there, that line doesn't even faze me anymore, I don't hear you/stop listening to you when you say this). But all in all, I am really starting to see a show:) And you can't go wrong there!
Despite the fact that I had to split my time between my real job and my want job, what I saw this week can be summed up in one word: crazygoodtime.
As I have said before, I am amazed at the talent of the cast, their ability to make me lose my spot in my book because they make me laugh so, and make me want to keep watching and not watch my book, is ridiculous. And could be the reason why I give out wrong lines, or skip ahead and can't find the proper spot when they do ask for lines.
So now, I am off to send line notes, yep, I am the evil person who does that:) And make sock puppets!
You can never go wrong with a show that involves sock puppets!