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I told him a little while ago that I was thinking about a van dyke for Lance and he seemed to be okay with that.
Now, if only a miracle can occur and I can get "Lance" into the proper physical shape. I have been back in the gym -- which I should have been anyway. My thought is that Lance ought to have bigger arms than K.L. has. Yeah, yeah, I also think K.L. ought to have bigger arms than K.L. has. So Lance is just my weak-ass excuse -- though, really, not a bad one. K.L. needs to do something about a waist line that's a bit, um, "softer and wider" than he likes, too.

Since I am on vacation and leaving town, I am not back in rehearsal again until next Thursday, July 5. I will, of course, be working on lines and character in the meantime. I'll also read a few other plays for forthcoming 2007/08 auditions. And I am taking some free weights on vacation!

AUDITION FOR THE LOCAL INDY MOVIE: I did not audition for The League of Extraordinary Alcoholics VS The Horde of Really Creepy Undead Zombie Flesh Eaters. Though I was never able to find out for absolutely sure, I am pretty certain I would have had schedule conflicts with the principle photography.

A PIECE OF TRIVIA RELEVANT TO VERY FEW ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET SAVE FOR ME (OR PERHAPS RELEVANT TO NO ONE BUT ME): I have just discovered that one of my favorite pop singers, the infamous Harry Nilsson and I, miss sharing our birthdays by one day. I am June 14; he is June 15. And, my modern musical god, Mr. McCartney, is June 18. Gemini's, we all.

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Ahh, to sleep until almost 10 a.m.! Not that I don't have a busy day.

• I head first to the gym, as I am back with this as a routine. (remember?: for Lance and for K.L.)
• Then I hope to get to forestry, most probably John Bryan State Park and/or Glen Helen Park. A goal is to get some casual, "candid," action shots for my agent. No, I still have not gotten the finish of my pictures for my agent. I did take some a few days back, but I did not like them much. So I try again today. I head to Indianapolis for the next few days, and will get some there, too. I hope.
• I finish packing and leave tonight -- well, I hope I will leave late afternoon or early evening, but you know how that stuff goes....
• I am taking my one-person tent; I don't need to be at my Indiana destination until Tuesday afternoon. I will camp tonight, somewhere along the way -- probably Hueston Woods which is west of Dayton, a few miles south of I-70, close to Hamilton, and in the scheme of things, on my way to Indianapolis.
• I have three young birthdays to shop for. Which I likely will arrive early to Indianapolis and do the downtown Indy mall, which, if you haven't been, is very cool. For those who haven't read this blog much (which I assume would three of the five of you who are reading this), my best friend, Dave lives in Indianapolis, and each of his three kids are all just past or about to have such birthdays.
• Now that I think about it, there is a wedding next weekend I have to buy for. Actors Craig Roberts and Natasha Randall will be wed this coming weekend. And I got to witness their coming together during The Cripple of Inishmaan.

LEAVE US NOT FORGET....that I have to keep fresh and improve on lines and character work for Lance in Playing God whilst I am on the road and visiting with best friends, hip young men and darling little girls:

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BEST LAID PLANS: A couple things didn't go as planned. One was a nice surprise, the other, a disappointment.

1. -- I did not camp out on my way to Indianapolis on Monday night. I had the unexpected chance to spend some time with someone at an event an hour east of home on Monday evening. I actually had thought of heading west after my time with said friend, but, it was going to be something like 11:00 or later, and the thought of setting up camp at midnight or later seemed silly. I may not have even been able to register at a camp site.
2. -- My friend Dave's youngin's are not here at his place in Indy. They are spending the Fourth on a farm with their maternal grandparents. I was looking forward to seeing the little rascals. They will not get here until after I must be back in Dayton for Playing God rehearsals.

• This is another one of those places where I inject content that has nothing to do directly with "A Diary of Artful Things," but, you know, it's that It's My Blog aspect factored in.

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Helen and Bartley got married today. Er, um, not Hilen and Bartley McCahrmick, who hahppen t' be brahthur 'n sistur. Rather it's Natasha Randall and Craig Roberts, who played Helen and Bartley, and who came together on the first real steps on their journey toward today during the rehearsals for that play, The Cripple of Inishmaan, which has many fond importance's to me, including this lovely union.

Here's wishing them a long life together of love and joy and adventure and memories galore!!

PHOTOS FOR THE AGENT: Since both Craig and Tosha are with Roof-Goenner Talent Agency, both Jim Payne and Marsha Roof of the agency were at the wedding reception, thus I was reminded that I still owe them the full fleshing of pictures. I actually have been working on that. The CD-ROM should be in the mail sometime this week.

PLAYING GOD REHEARSALS: We did some good work on Act II this last Thursday and last night. Thursday was a night for director Saul to stop us and work on problem moments, and even to go back to a few after we had gotten through the whole act. Friday was pretty much a straight run with few stops and those only minor.

I'm relatively happy with Lance, although, honestly, he's not the most taxing role I've taken on. Not that I want to take him for granted, get complacent and give a mediocre performance. But, as I said in our after-rehearsal social gathering at Max & Erma's, I haven't bothered to do any background work for this "two and a half dimensional character." Perhaps that's a mistake. Maybe I should decide some things about Lance and his family; which New York PS (public school) did he attend? has he ever been married? in jail? Now that I'm writing this, I am thinking it can't hurt.

I didn't get to do this for Teach -- the rehearsal cycle was so tight that I had all those lines and that vernacular to get a handle on. For John Heminge and Lord Burleigh I read some historical information. I can't say I became an expert on either man, but I did come to know a few things. Honestly though, my characterizations of both men in Beard were based on the dynamics it seemed the production needed from them.

Lance is virtually a stereotype but I'd like to soften that as much as I can -- first by playing him real. Saul commented last week that he appreciated that I was doing all I could to fill Lance out into a real person. Nice to know I am on the right path.

OOH! ACCESS TO A GOOD CAMERA IF/WHEN I NEED IT!: Another person I saw at the wedding was an old acquaintance, Fred, who had directed Tosha in a short that is getting close now to a final cut. I had seen him at a performance of The Beard of Avon, which I believe I mentioned in the blog at that time. Well, we were talking shop and I mentioned that I am desperately positioning myself to buy a three chip digital video camcorder. He told me he has two and offered to let me use one of them if the need ever arises. Good information to know. I would, of course, rent the unit; that would only be fair. But, it is good to have access to a three-chip.

So, I guess, in some ways, Tosha and Craig's wedding party was a networking opportunity. I swear I had not any such intentions!!

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I am back to rehearsal tomorrow night and Friday. I was off Thursday, but we have rescheduled it as a full run.

THE CONSTANT WIFE AUDITIONS AT THE DAYTON THEATRE GUILD: I do plan to audition for our Guild 2007/08 season opener. I had approached director Greg Smith and producer Bob Mills about being the AD, but I was too late and the job was already filled.

PHOTOS FOR THE AGENT: I have the headshot pictures for Roof-Goenner Talent Agency. All I need to do is hone the number down to, I'm thinking, sixteen total shots: the best eight studio photos and the eight best from the "candid" action shots I have just been getting. So, I'll be driving myself nuts picking from the twenty-three studio pics and the FIFTY-ONE action shots. But I need to get the CD-ROM burned and off to the agency this week.

CONGRATS TO DONALD SMITH: Donald Smith (G.W. in Sordid Lives and also a cast member in the local indy The Monster's Mind) has been cast in The League of Extraordinary Alcoholics VS The Horde of Really Creepy Undead Zombie Flesh Eaters, that local indy movie that goes into production the end of July. Of course, I had thought about auditioning for but was concerned about principle photography scheduling. But, here's a big BREAK A LEG! to him and the whole cast and crew.

The Monsters Mind, by the way, I believe is going to show at, or is at least submitted for, the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

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FORMER CAST MATES AND SUCH WITH GIGS COMING UP: I am aware of a few things some folk I have worked with are doing.

• I've already mentioned that Donald Smith has been cast in The League of Extraordinary Alcoholics VS The Horde of Really Creepy Undead Zombie Flesh Eaters.
• Remember I have written about the blues band the talented actress Melissa Young sang in, B.B.Redde? Well she is now in a new one, Miss Lissa & Company. Tonight they are opening for The Little River Band at Midsummer at the Meadows at Miami Meadows Park. Melissa, or Miss Lissa, is a powerhouse lady blues singer and here's hoping the show is a success for her and the "& Company" You can check out the band's My Space page at www.myspace.com/misslissaco.
• Reneé Franck-Reed is in the Springfield Civic Theatre production of Anything Goes, which, unfortunately, runs only one weekend; the same as FutureFest. I may be able to check out the final dress.
• Next month, Charity Farrell (Elizabeth in my The Chorus for Candice) will appear as the soloist in "It's Raining on Prom Night" for the Jersey Productions mounting of Grease.
• Speaking of Candice.... Unfortunately for the Dayton Theatre community, Kimberly J. Reiter and her husband, Justin are hitting the road to work production management for touring professional theatre companies. Justin, I believe will be the production stage manager and Kim will be company manager. I may have gotten that wrong though. I do know that at least Justin will be touring with Molly Ringwald in Sweet Charity starting this coming September at the San Diego Civic Theater.

These are not all the things going on with my fellow production mates, only the ones I know about, or at least have not let slip my mind.

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THE CONSTANT WIFE AUDITIONS AT THE DAYTON THEATRE GUILD: Still plan to audition for this. One change was that I was going to have all of this evening off from Playing God rehearsal (it had been scheduled as Act I only, but is now a full run). So I have arranged with CW director Greg Smith to read me early at audition, then I'll zip to PG rehearsals. May do the same thing tomorrow, too. Since Greg won't be able to pair me with other auditioners late in the evening tonight,

UPDATE FOR FORMER CAST MATES AND SUCH WITH GIGS COMING UP: I have on update concerning the entry from last Friday

• Next month, Charity Farrell, along with her work in the Jersey Productions mounting of Grease, will also appear as the soloist for the Ohio Metropolitan Theatre Orchestra on August 25 at the Mason Christian Village in Mason, Ohio. And she is auditioning for 2007/08 season of American Idol.

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That I was not read for John was terribly discouraging and part of me wanted to conclude that I am not being perceived as right for the role, which I believe would be a mistake and an underestimation of me. That conclusion may be chalked up to the anxiety driven cognition that usually afflicts me whenever I audition.

Time was limited again last night, but Greg was sure that I was read early so that I could get to PG rehearsals in plenty of time for Lance's entrance. And I got one good read in for John. I wish I had been able to read him a few times, but time was just too tight. Greg did indicate to me that I did a good read. Experience has taught me, however, that such does mean that I will get the part. Sometimes, it means: "You read the part well but I see someone else as better in the role because he looks the part" -- or -- "....because his chemistry is better with the woman I am casting as the wife," etc, etc

We should see soon. I suspect that if I am cast it will be as Mortimer, a nice but smaller role, and not the one I want. I, of course, believe I should be John. Mortimer is described as "overweight" -- since I am showing some measure of discipline of late, both at making it to the gym most days and better watching what and how much I eat -- Mortimer will not be overweight. In fact, he'll be thinner on opening night than K.L. is right now, if I am he, that is. I put on weight for Johnnypatteen, and purposefully; that was then.

PLAYING GOD REHEARSALS: Rather than on campus at Wright State we were at the Dayton Playhouse Monday night. I missed much of the rehearsal due to that Constant Wife audition. We didn't do a full run in that instead of running Act II we worked on a fight sequence in AII. Just as well for me; I was out of sorts because the Monday audition left me at a low ebb.

Tuesday we did a full run and I got there just as Director Saul was giving notes for Act I. Can't really say how AI went, since I was not there, but the show in general seems to be coming along, so I'd guess it went reasonably well. Act II went well. Saul did pull me aside to let me know he was satisfied with Lance, that his assessment is that I am doing what I should be with the character. Always good to know I am doing my job right.

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AND IT'S ON TO THE NEXT AUDITION: I am not cast in The Constant Wife. Turns out the fate was decreed before I wrote yesterday's entry. Greg decided the cast at end of auditions Tuesday night. I just was not privy to the fact.

There are a couple local short indy movie possibilities that I'm investigating. Not aware of an immediate play opportunity. There are a few coming up in a little while

ONE SHORT INDY IN PARTICULAR: There's the opportunity for a juicy little challenge in one of those local indies, a short-subject titled, Still Me being produced by Brookwood Films. I am in the process of arranging to either do a self-shot screen test of sides they send me, or set up an audition with the director -- or both. I have a conflict with their casting calls schedule as I am either at tech rehearsal for Playing God or at the actual festival. I would be up for the role of a man who has suffered a stroke. Again, it looks like a nice challenge.

OTHER ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS: Though I am disappointed at not being cast in The Constant Wife it does give me the time to attack other artistic endeavors. Besides Still Me and other possible film work, there are several of my own projects which have been neglected and I can get back to:

1. Though in reality I haven't been "neglecting" it, I can focus better on reading and selecting work for the WriteGallery virtual chapbook, The Motion In Motive. If you are a writer who may be interested in submitting, click here for details and guidelines.
2. There's the rewrite of my own novel, Starting for the Sun, I haven't gone close to for months now.
3. The screenplay for my thirty-minute short still needs some scenes revised a bit.
4. I have a whole CD album to digitally mix -- the music was recorded in the eighties, but it's good enough to be out out there -- even if it does not go out commercially.
5. I also have had the intention to do a stereo mix of the theme song for the Dice House trailer, "Dice Theme (Roll the Dice)." I also want to burn a DVD of the trailer. I'd give both to the cast and crew as my belated show gift.
6. Let's not forget that I owe DVD's of The Chorus for Candice to the cast and crew.

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Point is, the line error I had made was one of slightly paraphrasing. That's something that it's better to avoid but not something that screws things up. My going back to say the line again, but correctly, was actually worse than the original flub. Such a correction draws attention to what had been an invisible error (to an audience); and it focuses on the fact that an actor on stage has just corrected himself -- i.e.: it breaks the fourth wall and dissolves suspension of disbelief. So, the ideal, beyond not making the paraphrase error, would be to go on, having made no correction, but note the paraphrase error for next time. And that is not what I did.

I am also quite happy that I have been able to keep pretty much every actor's choice for Lance I have come up with. My favorite: in response to another character's imitation of an Irish priest, lance does a pretty awful imitation of Marlon Brando. The script has him say, "I used to do Brando when he was that Guinea gangster," but that I deliver that as the Guinea gangster (Lance's bad version thereof) is mine.

SHORT-SUBJECT INDY MOVIE AUDITION: Looks like I am auditioning this Sunday for the short-subject movie, Still Me. I've been emailing producer Dara Fraley and we are going to meet at the Guild on Sunday. I don't know if the audition will be shot as a screen test, but I imagine there's a good chance it will be. I am auditioning for Jack, who has suffered a stroke. The sides she sent call for some of the physicality of a stroke sufferer, which makes perfect sense.

This would be a great opportunity for my acting. To communicate all the emotional depth while creating the physical obstacles of partial paralysis (of the face especially) is very important. Just creating the physicality of the stroke victim in an authentic manner is vital.

The audition sheet also mentions the option of doing a prepared monologue, which I am likely to do. Probably, but not necessarily, I'd do what I call The Cockroach Monologue from Neil Simon's Jake's Women -- it's a good monologue for me. Even more attractive to me is an invitation to improv as Jack concerning "what [I] think Jack...might be feeling based on [his] circumstances in the scenarios...provided."

See, I knew those improv workshops had great value!

There actually is an option of writing the feelings rather than ad libbing. I could certainly do the writing option. But, I do think I need as much honing of my improv skills as I can get, so I opt for that route.

MY PICTURES WORK: I got a call from Jim Payne at Roof-Goenner Talent Agency yesterday. The actor's pictures (I'd call them headshots except that most are full body or at least medium shots) I sent on the CD are approved as good. So, after a couple details, they will be posted at the agency web site. Probably I'll post them here, too -- my ego, pretending that others are interested in them.

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As a sort of gossip-territory thing, most of the cast dropped into Max & Erma's, by Wright State, Friday, as has been our Friday habit when rehearsing on campus, only to have the cast from the upcoming Springfield Civic Theatre production of Anything Goes, also drop in there. No big news or event here; just thought I'd mention it.

Saturday was a bit tedious -- tech rehearsal, for those who don't know, consists of a lot of hurry up and wait. It's the "rehearsal" that is for the stage manager and the sound and light techs to coordinate the placement, timing and settings for all the sound and light cues in the show. We actors only do the segments where such cues are, and as many times as needed to get it worked out. I sat around quite a bit since Lance does not show up until about half-way into Act II; if this were a movie, I'd say he enters at Act III.

We did do a full run with tech, after the tech rehearsal and it was a good performance. So it was a good day after we worked the tedious out of it.

One sort of technical problem I ran into. Lance is supposed to rush into the scene out of the rain and is to be wet from such. My costume bowling shirt is a dark, off brown color. I got the shirt wet for the full tech run, but those in the audience section could not tell at all. I did not look wet. So I will try tonight, at our first and our final dress rehearsal (that's right, we only get this one), I am going to try to streak the shirt wet and also try to get my head wet in a more dramatically obvious manner.

SHORT-SUBJECT INDY MOVIE AUDITION: I did meet with Dara Fraley, the producer of the short-subject movie, Still Me. We met late Sunday morning at the Guild. I did the screen test for the lead character in the movie. As usual I am hesitant to say "how" I did, though I can't say I "feel" bad about the audition. It didn't seem like the most brilliant audition I've ever done either. Not that I really think I've ever done a brilliant one, although I have been told by at least one director that a particular audition for him was excellent; apparently it was not excellent enough as it was one of the many times I was not cast. But I digress.

As I stated in last entry, the lead character is a man dealing with the aftermath of suffering a stroke. I really did not have enough time to do any research on the physicality of a stroke victim's levels of paralysis so I went with my instincts. My mother had suffered a small stroke a few months before she died, so I had some reference point; though hers was a minor stroke with only minimal paralysis of her face, which receded after a while, and she was bedridden, which made observation of many of the inconveniences to one's day-to-day functioning difficult.

What I did to prep was decide that his right side was paralyzed. I picked the right because I am right handed and having access to only my left hand makes doing chores harder. In my mind it's a better choice for getting to the character's frustration. When I got up Sunday, I got ready for the day allowing only the lefty half of my body to be functional; I admit I did use my right leg to some extent rather than have it be totally useless, though I did drag my right foot.

It was laborious and quite inconvenient. For one thing, I am amazed that I did not cut myself shaving with only my left hand. Tying my shoes with only my left hand was another major challenge -- damned near impossible. I did it all in character and even dialogued with the challenges.

"I'll beat you!" I whispered with determination at the shoe laces I battled, and, of course, speaking only with the left side of my mouth.

I committed to the method for as much of the time leading up to the audition as I could. Now, when I drove the highway from my place to the Guild, I use my full function. I did also, like I said I would, use the cockroach monologue from Jake's Women, and I dropped out of the stroke victim character whenever I practiced this.

This was, in all practicality, the most home court advantage I have ever had for an audition. I got to show up early and relax and rehearse and mentally, physically and emotionally prepare myself in a space where I am totally at home. I arrived at about 9 a.m. and after setting up an audition area with some props and a small table (the table to be a bathroom sink area) I then cycled through the several scenarios Ms. Fraley had sent in the sides plus practice on the cockroach monologue.

Ms. Fraley arrived at 11:00 and shot a couple of the scenarios then had me cold read from more detailed sides. Here's where I made a little error. I just went dead cold on these new sides. What I should have done was ask for a few minutes, or at least moment, to read through the text and have at least some idea what choices I would make. But, instead, I just delivered each line in these, as best in character as I could, coming across them for the first time as I read them. I suppose there is a good value in that for me; but, I would have given the director, who will be viewing the screen tests in L.A., a better idea of what my actor's choices will be, if I had had a little mental warning of what was coming on the pages. Or maybe I am over thinking this.

We also did some footage of me walking and I was able to get her to shoot me doing the left-handed shoe tying exercise.

I have no idea if I have any sort of shot or not. All I am sure of is that I did not totally suck. Other than that.....

ACTOR'S PICTURES FOR ROOF-GOENNER TALENT AGENCY: So, here are the pictures I sent to my agent to be posted at the R-G web site. Not the greatest pics ever shot, but, ehh, they'll do....:

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Last night we were back at Wright State and had a looser rehearsal where we worked on some spots. We actually only did Act II on its feet; for the first act it was just a line run. The work focused on adjusting the nuences of performance in specific spots.

One that effects me is the spot where Lance's fiancé, Noreen (Danika Haffenden) and he are in a major conflict. Noreen is now more courageous and emotional and I now feel like I need to adjust Lance to this. I want to fill him out a bit more towards a whole three dimensions; it's already a bit of a challange as he's written as such a stereotype. I have centered my approach to him with as much genuine thought and motivation as I can, which is a battle against some of his dialogue. I just want Lance to be a real human being up on that stage, something authentic. So, I guess my comment from a few entries back that he's not such a challenge should not be taken to mean he is not a challenge whatsoever. We have slated to work on this key moment for both Noreen and Lance, at the start of rehearsal tonight.

LOOKING TO THE NEXT STAGE WORK: I'm looking at two upcoming productions. One is Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega being jointly produced by Springfield StageWorks and Clark State Community College. The other is Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures, which we are doing at the Guild. Both are up in Novemeber.

For the de Vega audition, I'd have to do a one-minute classical monologue. Lope de Vega was a contemporary of Shakespeare's, so William would certainly be valid material. Actually, the copy of Fuente Ovejuna I am reading is two de Vega plays, the other being Lost in a Mirror, so I may try to pull something from that. But, peforming Shakespeare has its attraction to me. The role I want is Commander Gomez. I probably am not right for the part in many people's minds, but I am in my own and know I can play him; so screw 'em.

Haven't started reading the Simon play yet, but the only male role is Herb Tucker, the screenwriter and the father of nineteen-year-old Libby, whom he abandoned years before.

Fuente Ovejuna auditions are September 11 & 12. It seems that the eleventh is an appointment general audition and the twelth is callbacks, but I am not sure. I Ought to Be in Pictures will probably audition the week prior, but I have not seen nor heard any official dates for the audition, yet.

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It was another stop whenever something needs worked on night. We actually did not work on that Noreen/Lance moment at the start of things as we had planned, but we did when it came up in the run. I have made a few minor adjustments to Lance's behavior and reactions. I think, and so does Saul, that he's a bit more filled out this way. I have moved away from some rather cavalier responses that seem to be suggested by the text, if inadvertently. There was also a place where Lance twice grabbed Noreen by the arm to drag her out of the bar. Saul had me change it to taking her by her hand, if forcefully. He still trying to boss her but not as abusively.

The goal for me, overall, was to trim some of the cardboard stereotype out of my performance and make him a little more emotionally cognizant of what was going on around him. There is specific line he gives which on the surface suggests he is focused on only one point, and a trivial one, that Noreen makes during what amounts to her emancipation speech. But she says several rather harsh things that I am now playing Lance's response line as if he is deflecting those by commenting on the one inane point. I probably ought to be clearer than this, more specific and illuminating, but I don't want to spoil this, on the remote chance that one of the small number of readers who see this will be there Sunday to see the performance.

FUTUREFEST 2007 OPENS TONIGHT: There actually was a convocation last night, where the playwrights all spoke of the genesis of their play candidates. As well, The Dayton Playhouse gave out its in-house performance and production recognition for the closing season, Blackburn Awards. I did not feel well, so I did not go. I am betting that my cast mate in PG, Becky Lamb, got a lead actress award for work as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

All of Saul Caplan, Chuck Larkowski, and Richard Young might get Blackburns for work they did at DPH in 06/07, too.

Actually, if I had not felt ill, I was more likely to have gone to see Anything Goes at Springfield Civic Theatre. Don't really feel fabulous right now, but I am going to the festival tonight.

CLASSICAL MONOLOGUES: In typical overkill, I have borrowed two books of actors' classical monologues from the library:

The Classical Monologue: men, edited by Michael Earley and Philippa Keil.

Classical Monologues: from Aeschylus to Bernard Shaw, vol. 2, older men's roles, edited by Leon Katz. I really don't know if the "older" will skew as too old for me; I didn't look inside yet. But, I can always go to volume one if need be.

These, of course, are for use if I audition for Fuente Ovejuna for Springfield StageWorks/Clark State Community College. At this point it seems likely I will, unless I am cast in I Ought to Be in Pictures, and there's certainly no guarantee there.

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I'm pleased to have finally worked with Saul Caplan, Becky Lamb, Charles Larkowski and Duante Beddingfield. I actually did not know Duante's work, but his stagework has been spoken well of and he's quite a personable fellow. And when I saw his audition work I knew his stage rep was valid. The other three I have seen more than once each on stage and most cases, each doing superb work, and never shabby work. Becky Lamb, by-the-way, did indeed receive that Blackburn Award for Nurse Ratched. I suspect she will pick up a Daytony on August 12, too. There's really no interaction between Becky's Barbara or Chuck's Jim with my Lance, so there will be more meaningful collaborations sometime later, in another show (other shows), I would hope. Of course, I still haven't worked "on stage" with Saul the Actor, and I still look forward to that.

In a way, I have yet to directly work with Alex Carmichal on stage; we were both in Fake at last year's FutureFest, but we had no scenes together. For this show, he was AD, so the only time we "worked together on stage" was the night that Mark Brush was out and Alex stood in for him. And mine and Mark's characters don't actually exchange any dialogue.

Though I worked with Richard in I Never sang for My Father, our characters never interacted there; at least this time we interact -- I even threaten him; uh, well, Lance threatens Dan.

And I was glad to be introduced to Danika Haffenden and Mark Brush. And, Kerry did really well for her first time on stage in a big role for a newcomer.

Here's the cast photo (courtesy of and © Terry Ronald):

BACK ROW: Duante Beddingfield, Becky Lamb, Danika Haffenden, Alex Carmichal *(standing in for Mark Brush), & Saul Caplan. FRONT ROW: Richard Young, K.L.Storer, Kerry Corthell & Charles Larkowski.

*Unfortunately, Mark Brush was out ill the day the picture was taken.

I was pleased to work with this cast. Everyone jelled well on stage and got along off stage. Again, I was pleased to work with Saul.

Sorry to report that Playing God was not the winning script. I am happy to report that festival goers did say they enjoyed both the play, itself, and our performance. On a more self-indulgent note, I got good comments on Lance. And I feel pretty good about him. It was not my performance of the season -- I think both Stefen (Serge) in 'Art' and Teach in American Buffalo were better. John Heminge in The Beard of Avon was probably better, too, if not Lord Burleigh.

As for the script and Mr. Flaxman: the adjudicators seemed to believe there is an ambitious and worthy play here but that it needs more focus. I agree that the play needs a few more drafts, but I can also assert that it was a fun script to do.

AND THE WINNER IS, ETC., ETC,: If I am going to have to miss one show at FutureFest, it will be the one that wins. Two years ago I had an audition for a short movie Saturday afternoon and missed Farragut North, which was the 2005 winner. This year I was not feeling well Saturday morning so I missed the performance of Dawn and Sean, by Joe Lauinger; that being the 2007 winner.

In terms of the other four shows I did see, I saw a lot of really nice performances and a few exceptional performances in them. It was a good theatre weekend.

Farragut North by-the-way, will be produced by the off-broadway 2econd Stage Theatre, next spring. Jake Gyllenhaal may be in its cast. This looks like it will be a pre-Broadway run of the show, which makes it more likely that Gyllenhaal, who supported the John Kerry presidential campaign, will be connected. He participated in a table read of the play earlier this summer, and was interested greatly in the script. Playwright Beau Willimon worked on the Kerry campaign, a connecting fact that makes Gyllenhaal's involvement look even more probable.

GHOSTBUSTERS: SPOOK UNIVERSITY UPDATE: I spoke with Greg Nichols, who was the GB:SU sound engineer and was, this weekend, in the cast of Artifice at FutureFest. GB:SU director Mike Sopronyi was spending most of the day Sunday at Greg's, editing the movie. Greg also said the SFX man, Jerome Kenne, was likely to be able to get back to the project to finish post-production CGI animation in the fall.

I have had no recent word about Nona.

AUDITIONS FOR THE SANDSTORM AT THE DAYTON THEATRE GUILD: Speaking of Kerry Corthell, her auditions for the Sean Huze one-act opened last night at the Guild. If you are interested, they close tonight. She is looking for male actors, most in their twenties.

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As you can see, I have wowed the critics (well, one critic) once again with my brilliant work on stage!

MS. CORTHELL'S SHOW IS CAST; Other PG castmate Kerry has cast her one-weekend production of one-act plays. See below for full details, but note that Duante is in the cast. See also that Katrina Kittle is back on the stage. Making his almost debut on stage is Steve Strawser, otherwise known as stage manager extraordinary.

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Now, of course, despite all attempts at that wear it like a loose garment approach, I can't help but wonder why I was disqualified for the lead role of Jack, the stroke victim. Do I not fit the type the director has in mind? (Dora had decided to read me as Jack for the first screen test). Did I not do a good read as Jack? I did not perceive it as brilliant, I will say. In terms of exact post-stroke behavior, I was winging it and would not think I was totally authentic. Was someone else more physically attractive? -- not a stretch; I may not look like a troll but no one mistakes me for George Clooney, either.

Funny thing is, I had no sights on a particular role when I contacted the producer for an appointment, but once I was called in to read the lead, my ego wanted me to win the lead. This neurosis, despite the fact that the role of Tom is actually a nice role and a worthy character to give my acting skills a shot at. See what I have to deal with?

CRAIG & TOSHA IN A MOVIE: Just found out that fellow Dayton actors and just-married newlyweds Natasha Randall and Craig Roberts have just began principle photography in the cast of the indy full-length feature, 13 FLOORS. Congrats to them and I wish on them the breaking of legs multiple times!

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The actual screen test took less than five minutes. We did talk some about the character. I gave some impressions I had of the character, Tom, and told Dara to feel free to share them with the director and screen writer Beth McElhenny. My approach to the guy, who is the main character's cognitive therapist, is that, though he is a professional he probably has his tie off before he gets to his car when leaving work. He's in jeans (though nice ones) and a sweater, a jersey or some other pull-over, as much as possible. He has a Blackberry (the script says he does) but he only keeps it on when he absolutely must -- which is a bit of the time, admittedly. Based on the text, it's clear he is a personable fellow, empathetic and compassionate.

We discussed the van Dyke go-tee that I still have from Playing God, too. Actually, I asked her in an email earlier in the day if she wanted me clean shaved for the call back, as well as how I should dress. I went casual dress up: blue dress shirt, gray suit coat, black trousers and a gray/blue print tie. Dara had me keep the facial hair and even asked if I could get a full beard by production. Since I already had a beard started (more really that I haven't shaved at all since we did the FutureFest gig) I just kept it all -- as well as sending her one of the b&w headshots of me in a suit with close cut beard.

My understanding is that she sent an mp4 (or whatever format) to Ms. McElhenny in California, last night. I would guess that the verdict comes soon.

NETWORKING MY SPACE YAHOO, OH MY!: No question, I suck at the shmoozing and networking games. In some ways I always want to. In other ways I need to get better at it. I am trying to at least start to network some. mostly because it will increase my exposure to indy movie project casting calls. And it just can't hurt to know as many local theatre and movie people as possible.

When in production for Ghostbusters: Spook University I had to start a MySpace account because I needed one to access the call sheets at the production's MySpace page. I really did nothing with it; it was just utility for me at the time. Last Christmas when I was visiting my friend Dave and his kids in Indianapolis, his fourteen-year-old son said, "You need a MySpace page." I explained I had one but it was not developed.

Well, I have started to develop it. I haven't tweaked the appearance yet -- that will come -- but I have actually worked on the content and have actually began tracking down some of my theatre friends and adding them. Joining some theatre and movie related groups, too: www.myspace.com/klstorer.

Also, I've create a yahoo ID to join some Yahoo theatre and movie groups, and maybe even utilize the Yahoo Instant Messenger: profiles.yahoo.com/kl_storer. Someone already had "klstorer"; I assume it is the doctor and medical researcher of whom I know little more than that she is a doctor and medical researcher. I also have not yet discovered how to add a picture to the profile page. They have changed their system and have not updated the help files.

Of course, it's like I am really going to find a lot of time to check out the groups on either web site.

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2006/07 DAYTONY THEATRE AWARDS: Congrats to all those who took home awards at the annual banquet, which happened last night. The Dice House did quite well. I'll forget someone so I won't bother to list the DH winners. The complete list will be posted sometime soon at the official Daytony web site: www.daytonys.org.

Also, congratulations to The Dayton Theatre Guild's own Ralph Dennler along with Terry Stump of Sinclair Community College for their inductions into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame.

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Production contacted me already about bringing a few "casual dressy clothing choices," with the standard warnings against stripes, polka dots, red, other busy patterns and loud colors. You see, many sorts of patterns, loud colors and any drastic color contrasts wreak havoc on the screen.

Just about to work on my lines. This ain't Teach in American Buffalo so I think my script will mostly if not intirely be in my hand tomorrow night for purposes of writing notes rather than to prompt me.

MORE NEWS ABOUT FARRAGUT NORTH: Just found out, via Adam Leigh, the executive director of the Dayton Playhouse, that the famed Mike Nichols will direct a Broadway production of Beau Willimon's FutureFest 2005 winner Farragut North.

An article at Playbill.com reports, in part, that the play "had been announced as part of Second Stage's upcoming season Off-Broadway [but that it] will now be seen on Broadway and will open in the middle of next fall's presidential election." The article also states that Jake Gyllenhaal will indeed be in the Broadway bow, which will be his BW debut.

I note that as of tonight, Farragut North is still on the 2007/2008 season schedule at Second Stage (aka: 2econd Stage Theatre), but that may just be a case of the web manager not catching up to a change in the season. Or, to conjecture, maybe the producers are testing its legs there first.

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The fact that I cannot remember these actors' names is no suggestion that they are unremarkable, but rather that I am a little too self obsessed and thus do not attend to names as well as I either should or can.

The Xenia house is a nice upper middle class home that will look lovely on screen. I don't know if there will be an establishment shot of the exterior -- there would be if I were director -- but the inside will look nice. Again, I don't remember the owner's name but I can tell you that she's a nice lady.

Before the nice lady arrived to let us in, Darcie and I took a trip around this lovely house to see if we might find a fake rock or other hiding place for a spare key. It did occur to us that we might trip an alarm if we did find a key and get it; we kept searching anyway, to no avail.

Then, Director Beth McElhenny had us actors on the scene peak into a window to see the layout of the living room, where our primary scene will take place. Then we did a rehearsal on the front lawn while we waited for eventual entry into the house.

Beth worked with us on filling out the scene and encouraged us to add a bit of dialogue or tweak what is already on the page. The idea is that we are at a party and we need to create that atmosphere. There will be no chance for ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording), or looping, to fill in the soundtrack, as most of the production crew are heading back to Los Angeles Tuesday. Though we were urged to try and make ourselves available on Monday, in case any pick-ups *(footage shot after the production officially wraps)  are needed.

The camera will be shuttling through we two sets of actors. Darcie and I will be on screen first. I added lines just before we come into frame, or as we are coming into frame, I'm not really sure. It's the "continuation" of a conversation in progress. "It really makes you stop and think. I mean he isn't even fifty yet," I say, then go to the script for, "Were there any warning signs?" -- the emphasis by me. Besides that and adding a "Hey Jack," when the main character enters, then a currently undefined awkward making of an excuse to get away from him, I plan to stick to the words on the page.

Catering was delizioso lasagna from The Olive Garden.

The principles finally arrived and both Scott and Tina seem like nice people. Tina, by-the-way, has shot a guest appearance on the forthcoming ABC show Pushing Daisies, which premiers this fall and includes Kristin Chenoweth and Swoosie Kurtz in its cast. My understanding is that it might become at least a recurring role.

As for the wardrobe coordination, I brought quite a few choices. Beth has me coming back to tomorrow's shoot with my blue shirt, a couple choices for a tie, and my choice of suit coat and pants. I'll likely go with a particular gray jacket I like quite a bit and a pair of black slacks I also favor.

She wants me to keep the beard and has no thought on my hair. I have elected to get a hair cut, which I will do as soon as I post this (or, when you read this, did just after I posted...).

With Teach (Amercian Buffalo at Springfiled StageWorks) and Lance (Playing God for Futurefest 2007) I didn't do much character background, though I did decide that Lance drove a fork lift on the docks for a living. I have sketched out a bit more on Sam for this project:

Sam's last name is Harrison. He's a high school English teacher. He's divorced with two daughters. Cary is a sophomore at Ohio State University and Sheila has the self-described misfortune to be a senior at Beavercreek High School, where her father teaches. His ex-wife is Margie and he and she are "civil" if not still very close friends.

Sam was born and raised in North Manchester, Indiana. He earned his BA in Education from Ball State University and his MA in English Literature from the University of Michigan.

He was an extra in The Shawshank Redemption and one of his favorite moments in life is eating lunch with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. Why did I add this detail? Eh, why not? It's probably not likely that an extra would get to eat with two big stars, but, in this universe, it happened.

As suggested by the director, Sam and Jack met through being on the same bowling team.

Well, next a shower, then off to the hair cutters. Then, I must spend at least some time attacking this mess of an apartment -- a song that keeps playing in the rotation!

My call tomorrow is at 9 a.m. Fortunately the board meeting for The Guild has been moved from tomorrow morning until Sunday afternoon, right before our annual picnic -- another place where it is likely I will not be receiving an acting award.

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Photography had started, perhaps a little after I arrived, with a scene between only lead Tina Gloss and Darcie Davis -- she is my scene mate whose full name I now know. The party scene started shooting, after some run throughs, a few hours later. We got the master shot first, which will be the shot used for Darcie's and my (Annie's and Sam's) conversation, since it is the only shot of that.

We broke for lunch then shot the close ups of the second half of the same scene as that master shot. In this section, all of us supporting cast are saying hello to Jack (Scott King). Scott's a tall fellow. Darcie, Kathleen Cleary and myself are not so much. They put apple carts on the floor for us to stand on for our close-ups with Scott so they could frame the shot a little tighter. There were actors behind us in the line who are not as short as us, so the young fellow, Mike, who was also slating the scenes, was under frame moving the carts in and out of place. He first had to move it out of place after I left, because the next actor, Robyn Barnard was taller; then he had to move a shorter, half apple cart in place for Kathleen, who's just a tad taller than Darcie and I, thus needed less "heightening."

Well, I don't have anything like a complete list of names, but here's whom I do have names for:

The director and screenwriter is, of course, Beth McElhenny.

The director of photography is Chun Ming Huang.

Executive producer -- Daniel Bui.

The producers are Dara Fraley and Amy Tripp-Myers. Amy was also the assistant director, in true function on the set if not actually in the credits. Though she may very well be so credited.

Again, the leads are Scott King as Jack and Tina Gloss as Roseanne.

Supporting cast is David Harris as Tom, the cognitive therapist; Fred King (of WHIO Television (Channel 7) as Jack's brother, Marty; Kathleen Cleary as Marie; Darcie Davis as Annie; and myself as Sam.

I didn't get all the extras' names but I do know there is the aforementioned Robyn Barnard. There was also -- local pop radio station Z-93 weeknight announcer Gina Marie Ferraro; the home owner, Karen (who is also being billed as Location Coordinator for unit B); a young lady named Aleena (I doubt I spelled that correctly) who was also a production assistant.

Beth parents came in from Long Island to support and to be extras themselves. And Dara's sisters and parents were also involved with the production team.

Beth's mother, by-the-way, has a missionary web site: Soul Harvester Ministries, and offers Messenger of Faith Dolls. The dolls are sold and given away for donations of $30 or more to help with the work at an orphanage in India that is part of her mission.

Back to the day, the segments we shot from mid morning into the late evening will amount to probably four minutes of footage, at the most, in the movie. It may be closer to 0:2:30 or 0:3:00.

Though this was, in terms of the "big big leagues," still a small production, it was, in technical terms, the biggest production I have yet to be in. So, wanting to direct and produce, too, I wanted to grab as much observation time as I could. And, I was shooed off set a few times. Can't fault a newby for trying.

As for our two leads. Scott was most excellent as Jack. He has a few pretty nice credits on his résumé, too. He's had the lead in a couple indy full-lengths and played one of Di Nero's stormtroopers in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. He's had a few TV episode appearances and commercials, too, and a really nice theatre stage résumé.

I didn't get to see Tina work much, she and I were not in much of a scene together and our characters do not interact at all. There are two good chances to see her act coming up. As I wrote earlier, she has one guest appearance already shot for the new ABC series Pushing Daisies, which premiers this fall. Her appearance is in the October 3 pilot episode. She plays the mother of the lead, Lee Pace (Ned), in flash back sequence to when he was a boy. She knows she is shooting at least one more episode, several shows into the season. Let's hope she becomes recurring or, maybe even at some point, principle cast! The show seems to have a pretty cool premise. Ned can bring people back to life by touching them. However, if he touches them again, they die again. If he lets them live, someone else dies. Ned is placed in the position to bring back from the dead, his one true love, Charlotte (aka: Chuck) -- played by Anna Friel. Of course, now he can never touch her. Talk about your built in unrequited love!

Also in the cast, like I reported before, are Swoosie Kurtz (Lily) and Kristin Chenoweth (Olive), along with Ellen Greene (Vivian), Jim Dale, (narrator), Field Cate (the Young Ned that Tina works with), and Chi McBride, who is Emerson Cod -- Emerson discovers Ned's power and sees the potential gold mine.

Back to Still Me, the production was wrapped Sunday with the climax scene between Jack and Roseanne. We had all been asked if it might be possible to be free yesterday in case any pick-ups were needed (Pick-ups are reshoots or the shooting of missed or added shots after the production has officially wrapped). There was no call on Monday, however.

It was a good weekend.

Now For Some Green Boy, Wet-Behind-The-Ears, Dorky Newby Stuff --

Here's my check for my first paying gig as an actor on screen. Not a union job; not even an official gig gotten through my agent. But a hallmark, if small one, all the same. SOMETIMES I AM SUCH A FRESHMAN

2006/07 MURPHY AWARDS: You will find the Dayton Theatre Guild 2006/2007 list of our award winners by clicking the link in this section's headline. I am please to report that Natasha Randall won for the Guild's best director of the season for The Beard of Avon. That show took a few more awards, too, as did The Dice House -- which had a really great producer.

I did get a certificate from Tosha for "Best All Around Go To Guy" for Beard.

VIDEO TRAILER FOR THE CONSTANT WIFE: I will be directing and producing a video trailer for The Constant Wife for our Guild YouTube page. Dropping in to watch the Thursday rehearsal to get a better idea of how and what I want to shoot. I already know I want to shoot something staged for the trailer rather than candid shots of rehearsal. But, we'll see.

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The commercial calls for a man forty-five-ish to fifty-five-ish dressed upscale casual, and who has kids in high school and college. I know I have at least one sweater that may work, but I think I am going to an upscale thrift shop after work today to find a nice polo shirt and a new sport jacket. I also need to take Sam's beard off, I think.

Photo taken last night. The beard's gotta go.

VIDEO TRAILER FOR THE CONSTANT WIFE: Sat in on rehearsal last night. The agenda had changed from what it was to be. They did part of Act II then Act III rather than running the whole show. I did note a few places that will work for what I have planned.

This time I have a plotted notion of what I will shoot. I am selecting specific lines ("sound bytes") -- lines that are intriguing and provocative but that will not give much or anything away, especially since they will be presented out of order and out of context.

As I've already indicated, I want to set these up specifically for the shoot, rather than simply doing a candid shoot of rehearsals in progress. This is essentially what we did for the Speaking in Tongues trailer. So the actors will be playing to the camera and ignoring the stage blocking in many cases.

It may not be full-fledged, but I am likely to write a shooting script tonight, after I have chosen all the sound bytes. One reason I want to shoot especially for the camera is that I want the different angles, pov's and over-the-shoulder shots and cuts that one must specifically set up. That's what we did for Tongues. I did five shot setups: One that favored each of the four actors, then a free, handheld shuttle where I walked in and around the actors, focusing on each of them at different points.

I am picking very specific lines of dialogue to shoot in order to better focus and to limit what I use. I want to keep this one much shorter than the Dice House trailer, which at over seven minutes was probably three or maybe four minutes longer than it should have been.

The shoot is scheduled for before their rehearsal this Sunday evening.

I also have a concept for a trailer for the two one acts we are doing at the end of September. Will these trailers happen for every DTG production from now on? I really don't know. I think they are a good idea, though I may not always be able to produce them myself. There are other people around who can.

OCT-DEC, 2003 JAN-MAR, 2004 APR-JUNE, 2004 JULY-SEP, 2004 OCT-DEC, 2004 JAN-MAR, 2005 APR-JUNE, 2005 JULY-SEP, 2005 OCT-DEC, 2005 JAN-MAR, 2006 APR-JUNE, 2006 JULY-SEP, 2006 OCT-DEC, 2006 JAN-MAR, 2007 APR-JUNE, 2007 JULY-SEP, 2007 OCT-DEC, 2007 JAN-MAR, 2008 APR-JUNE, 2008 JULY-SEP, 2008

I feel "okay" about my performance. Saw a fellow walk in right after me who, I suspect, is a little closer to type than I. But then that's just my view on it.

I did go clean shaved. I have decided I like myself better with some form of facial hair -- I think there is something bland about my naked face, that facial hair gives me more character -- But then that's just my view on it. I do know clean shaved is probably best for most commercial work. Wonder what happens when I get a commercial audition while I am in a beard, or some such, for a movie or play.

COOL LITTLE GIG WITH JAKE LOCKWOOD: I got a call yesterday from the Human Race Theatre Company inviting me to help Jake Lockwood with a sort of improv demonstration as a part of Dayton Urban Nights on September 14. Jake is drafting a select group of people who have taken improv classes with him to be a part of this and I am terribly flattered to be counted amung those he would call upon.

Jake works at the Human Race's Muse Machine, and I do not know if the Urban Nights event is for Muse or Race proper. Either way, I'm in.

PRODUCTION OF THE VIDEO TRAILER FOR THE CONSTANT WIFE: Shot some Sunday night. Went to the Guild to shoot last night only to find that Greg does not want any more footage taken until Thursday because there won't be full costumes. I came into the Guild mid-afternoon because I was already in Dayton for the screen test, and I didn't see any sense in driving twenty-five minutes home only to turn around and drive thirty minutes back into Dayton in just a few hours. I guess it's better that I was already in the area so it was not a major waste of time -- and gas. And I did get 2:30 of *room tone for the video production.