of Zombies and Fanny Packs

It was another amusing week of bus rides, rehearsals and work place happenings. I hope I'm not giving off the impression that there's always something interesting happening in my every day life, because there aren't...BUT, there is always something worth writing about every week.

Rehearsals are going well, we're fast approaching opening night and I'm anxious to expose the Chulla Chaqui to unsuspecting audience members! And no, that's not an innuendo for something else. The other characters are coming along well too; I really enjoy watching everyone develop their characters.

Today as I was sitting at work with my fellow box office staff, a HORDE of ZOMBIES appeared (almost without any noticeable early warning) from out of the blue! They lumbered, trudged, and dragged their bloody, mutilated, moaning and groaning selves across the Paseo. Wow...where did they come from? Where are they going? Better yet, where do I sign up to do that next time?! Of course, to break from the 'reality' of their moment, a few of them looked fine! Fine as in, they didn't have a limp. Sure they were bloodied, but they showed no indication of pain, anguish, or even decay! It was surreal because from inside the box office, looking out, you could either imagine you were watching this on television OR that they were coming to claw our eyes out and feast on your BRAINSSSSS!

A WEEK IN PUBLIC TRANSPORATION

1. I broke the string that attaches to the "STOP REQUESTED" device. Whoops, I guess I don't know my own strength?
2. Heh, this one was amusing--imagine this: tall, grizzly looking, hat wearing-fanny packing-steel toeing shoeing Caucasian male steps onto the bus and makes his way to the seat directly in front of me. He starts chatting it up to this Asian fella opposite of him. Wow, he starts going on about how plastic comes from oil, and oil is from Iraq! He then proceeds to tell the Asian fella that there are little black boxes inside the bus that record everyone's stops and that it helps the government enlist younger people into the Army.

HOLY COW!

(#2 cont.) By this time, Mr. Asian guy is sweating bullets and looking for any way to escape this one-sided conversation. (I'm watching this as it unfolds) A few stops later, another "interesting" character hops on the bus and IMMEDIATELY starts to conversate with Mr. Fanny Packing Fella. Imagine, come on try, two cars heading in the same direction on a collision course...except, instead of hitting each other, they both hit brick walls only yards apart. That's how it felt. Both of them "chitchatyammered" it up, yet their conversations had nothing to do with each other! I glance over at Mr. Asian Fella and there's this look of relief on his face for the brief reprieve. Soon, Mr. Fanny Pack and Other fella were out of the bus, leaving Mr. Asian Fella to digest the ear-raping he just received.

Now THAT was worth the bus ride. Who needs a car when you can ride the bus and come home with pages worth of interesting, vibrant characters?

Beep, beep!

The case for space...

...rehearsal space that is. A few of my rehearsals for Pandemonium were moved to the actual space we will be using for the show. It was a bag of mixed emotions. At first it was excitement. Then I spent an entire rehearsal a bit lost. Then it at the next rehearsal I was more comfortable. At the last rehearsal, it felt as if I had full reign of space and boy, everything seemed more organic. I enjoyed watching (the parts I did manage to see) my cast mates reaction as they follow my character deep into the forest.

Nathan, who is playing the lead character, Epimetheus, seemed to enjoy all the physical behaviors associated with the scene. And hey, whatever I can do to make it easier for my cast mates to perform at max potential, I'll explore it. I'm slightly miffed that the rehearsal scheduled on friday will NOT be at the theatre but rather, at the old dance studio which doubled as the space we used for the original auditions.

Hopefully the energy will remain the same, despite the space being a load of blah. I suppose I could always rebuild the stage in my mind and work it out that way. On a separate note, I've resumed work on the first screenplay I've decided to write. I lost interest in it a while ago, and it was probably because the characters didn't grab me in the gonads, but I'm planning on re-writing one of the main characters and actually starting an outline of the story.

If you're interested in reading what I've written so far, leave me your e-mail address and I'll be sure to shoot it over.

Of rehearsals and gigs

Rehearsals for Pandemonium are rolling along well. I'm off-book about two weeks ahead of schedule so I'm feeling OK with everything. Everyone seems to be doing really well also, I'm excited to see this show when it's ready to go. In my scene in particular, I tossed and turned for a few nights trying to make sense of the blocking. My scene takes place in the Peruvian Rainforest and my character is very physical. The character's name is Chullachaqui What bothered me the most initially was the blocking. It's not that I couldn't get it right, it's that I felt awkward doing it the way I was.

The position didn't seem right, the angle, everything. Today, instead of having rehearsals at the dance studio, we were able to use the actual stage the play will be presented! Wow, if ever there was a moment of clarity, this would be it. I took one look at it and knew a few modifications to the blocking and I would feel much more comfortable on stage. And lo' and behold, when time came for my scene--it was spot on. It's a shame I won't be seeing that space for another few weeks, unless of course, we get lucky again. *crosses fingers*

I had a paid gig the other day. It was for a student production at San Jose State University. The entire production was based on television shows and the director (her name is Kelly) who cast me initially planned on a movie review show but changed it at the last minute to a Outdoor Hiking show. Prior to actually shooting it, we went out and discussed the dialogue and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to, without hesitation, answer these outdoor survival related questions. THANK YOU DISCOVERY CHANNEL! The character I played was Ken Matsumura, Forest Ranger/Survival Expert who is on the show to promote his book. It was a fun gig!

I've sent out for a few auditions, hopefully I can keep these gigs rolling in. NAP TIME!