One of the things I started doing several podcast productions ago was getting as
much finished as I can before shooting even begins. I get the text of the credit
scroll as finished as I can so when it's time to generate the actual key mat for the
movie all I have to do is copy and paste from a .txt document. Likewise, I create
all the matted photographs (headshots, the graphics for the show, etc) so they are
ready to be inserted when the time comes.
As I said I would, I did revert back to shooting in standard definition with
three Canon ZR800 DV Camcorders
rather than using the
Flip MinoHD camcorder.
The quality of the picture may be a little lower, but not really all that much in
the end. And there is not that annoying audio/video synch problem with the SD, nor
did I have the major annoyance during editing of re-rendering after almost
every edit change or addition to the movie.
I think the three-camera shoot worked well. I placed one on a tripod a little down
left (DL) to the side of the four men sitting at the bench on stage (the cast &
the director), a second in the relative DR, and I hand held the third, taking roving
positions in front of the men. And in case you're interested, in Editing, I imposed
the audio from the footage from the camera I held onto the footage from the two on
tripods, because the mic was more directly in front of the men on mine and thus is
better sound.
Gil Martin, Tom Stiver & Richard Young during the
Jan. 2, rehearsal.
Another view of the same rehearsal night, from the Tech
booth.
Getting the DR & DL pov cameras ready to shoot the
podcast on Dec 30.
Last night I recorded an audition for PC-Goenner
for a voice acting job through Audio-Rabius. Inc.
The end-of-line client is Teradata, whom I did
another marketing campaign for this time last year. I'm thinking that might work
against me, since my voice is already associated with the series, as another
character, but what the hell? What do I know?
OPENING WEEKEND:
The first weekend is down. There were three really fine performances from the whole
cast, but meager audience counts.
That facebook post coming, via my
myTouch 4G Android cell phone,
at just about the closing curtain on Opening Night. Because, meanwhile, I had
brought in Rachael Pope, one of our new folk, to do sound so that I did not have to
be at absolutely every show. Unfortunately, between production needs I should meet
as producer, and an unfortunate need to fill host slots, I will be at every show.
Unless I am cast in that full-length feature which may start shooting before the
play closes
The show has three new people on the crew; well, two -- one hasn't been around for a
long while. As producer I picked up Travis Dalhoff, our stage manager, and Ms. Pope,
our sound technician, from the
on-line volunteer application
at the DTG website. Scott Wright, who is sharing lighting technician duties with our
lighting designer, Nick Vanderpool, has crewed at The Guild in years past, but it's
been a while. Before I showed up on the DTG scene. He crewed Old Wicked
Songs, which had Gil Martin as one of its stars. Travis, Rachael and Scott are
all doing great work for us!
Now the trick: Keep 'em around without burning them out!
But a little bird says Ms. Pope is on the crew for
Wittenberg.
Part of the audience, Opening Night for Heroes, from
the pov of the sound & light booth.
More Opening Night audience, from the booth, with Thomas N.
Stiver & Richard Young on stage.
Thomas, Gil Martin, & Richard during the Opening Night
performance.
The cast on stage during the third performance on Sunday,
Jan. 8, 2012.
Again from the third performance.
Once more from the third performance.
And it's time to start really looking at -- working on -- the sound design
for this one. I have found one particular sound I need, and a song that the director
wants in a particular place, actually, several versions of the song.
Where Heroes was an easy and straight forward sound design with only three
sound cues outside of opening, scene transition, and closing music, Wittenberg
calls for more.
Well, I guess there is also the out door ambient sounds that run through the whole
of Heroes: mostly the occasional bird chirping or singing, a few scattered
cars and trucks driving by in the distance, one airplane flyby and a far off train
passing; plus the low-volumed, airy, mid-toned white noise as a constant.
Still, Heroes was an easy sound design to build and an easy one to run.
Wittenberg proves more challenging and I am conscious that I need to simplify
the operation of the sound as much as I can, as I am not the one who will be running
it and it's much easier for one to operate their own complex design than for someone
else to run it.
The biggest challenge I see: tennis ball hits. The sound itself isn't a problem,
that is the "one particular sound I need" that I found. It's the timing
of the cue to keep the first hit of each volley, the one representing the hits by
actor on stage, synchronized to that actor's swing. It's making sure that
the "POW!" is playable instantly.
And there's some incidental background noise and such. It's not demanding the
overall complexity of something like Kimberly Akimbo, Frank's Life, or
Sugar Witch, or the mother of all sophisticated sound designs, Park Your
Car In Harvard Yard, but it's a bit more than completely straight forward.
I'm headed to Audio-Rabius. Inc. at noon
today to do voice work for the Teradata
marketing campaign. However, this was an independent booking based on the work I did
for A-R last year. One of the several scripts he's producing for Teradata calls for
the same character I did before so John Rabius has called me back in, separately
from any audition, and actually before he'd received the new audition mp3 file I
recorded earlier this week. As I wrote in the last post, I wasn't likely to be
booked for any new character, anyway.
Though it didn't hurt to do the audition -- if for no other reason, the practice at
doing a DIY voice audition. For one thing, it has highlighted how I need a more
"True" sound-studio-like acoustical environment at home, even if only
rudimentary and virtual.
As I begin to prepare for my 2011 tax return filing I am painfully aware how much I
have to catch up with hundreds of actor and volunteer miles -- if not moving into
the four diget realm. And I have income and expenses to record. I remember a few
years back when I was smart enough to have diligently recorded all these elements as
they occurred and placed all documentation in a safe place. Perhaps, I ought to catch
myself up here on Day Number 12 of 2012 and then get back into the intelligent
habits of old.
...Rather they're things that nag me as all needing my attention. Okay, okay,
perhaps they aren't nagging me about themselves as much as
I am nagging myself about them.
Let's start with the damned improv movie project. Fred Boomer and I started shooting
that in November of 2008 at The Guild
Wayne Avenue building before it was the Carly D. Philips TheatreScape, before there
was an L. David Mirkin Main Stage, while the theatre was still producing shows on
Salem Avenue. We wrapped principle photography at the home of Mike Rousculp and
Debra Strauss the next June.
I've done some pick-ups since then, mostly outdoor, snow-covered road shots, as well
as specific pick-ups for the outtake short, then known as The Audition.
Those specific outtakes being a series of shots on the front end, the establishment
sequence. Those happening in November of 2009.
Color correction proved patience-draining and then it got worse. It almost drove me
to, I don't know, one of suicide or homicide; or some kind of "cide."
After months of trying to get a viable color edit of "The Audition"
I finally bowed to the inevitable and turned both the short and the full-length in
black-and-white.
As some reading this will know, (you five regular
visitors), The Audition became Be Or Not which met it's final
cut in late August of 2011, was submitted to the
Sundance Film Festival and was,
um, NOT accepted.
Be Or Not is in final cut, but the rest of the project? I have done no
editing on the rest, whatsoever. The plan, in 2010 was to attack some big chunk of
it during the summer. I even skipped auditioning for
FutureFest 2010
in order to keep time open. But....
As I've said in the past, the several segments shot for the project are a bit
disjointed from each other and it may be difficult to edit together something
cohesive. I may have to ignore cohesiveness.
But, even though I may not have a final cut that will rip through the film
festivals, I do feel a need to get it there.
Meanwhile, Be Or Not, though not blessed with the greatest production values
out there, it's a funny film with wonderful performances and I really need to submit
it to more film festivals.
And some may remember that I wrote a screenplay for a longer short narrative back a
few years ago. That one needs some real fund raising to shoot. I am so out of the
know about how to do that.
I may be a good producer, as some praise me as, but a "good executive
producer": not so much. And I have a couple other ideas for screenplays.
From about 1984 through 1987 I recorded what eventually became the album Heart
Walks, from which there is one music video on
YouTube,
"Seems Like A Crime."
I wrote that one with my music partner at the time, Rich Hisey. I also pretty much
used all equipment owned by him to make the album. All the Moog synthesizers and the
Fender Rhodes piano were his, as was the four-track cassette recorder the tracks
were laid on. I used my bass guitar.
Though, ironically, there is not bass -- YET -- on "Seems Like A Crime."
The video does not have the finished mix on it. I've actually composed a bass
line in my head, quite a while ago, but I'm gonna have to bone up on my bass-playing
skills before I could execute it.
What I need to do, even if it's piecemeal, is gradually take each track, of each
of each four-track recording, convert it to digital from the original analogue
recordings, and finally get Heart Walks mixed.
And then there's my novel.
Recently I and a friend from my childhood have reconnected and I sent her the
most recent draft of Startung for the Sun. "Most recent" is a
relative turn; that draft is about three years old, and a re-write that has not
fully made it through the manuscript from beginning to end.
Mixed emotions about this one. Part of me wants to stick the damned thing on a shelf
and forget about it for a couple decades. The other part wants to dedicate all my
time to a re-write starting right now. Has to be
a middle-ground, somewhere.
As for that last icon in the left column above -- the newest addition to my new
practice of making icons for things: before I started acting again, I was in the gym
at least four times a week and usually six, and on some occasions, seven days a week.
I have never gotten back on a regular routine. It's been eight years now. It's hard
to fit it in when I'm involved in a production and it's been difficult to pick up
the routine in between.
What I want is to no longer have to have that eight-hour a day job. It is simply in
my way. But breaking away from the regular work hours thing is not happening
probably any time soon. Yet I am embarrassingly aware that I am so far out of the
shape I want to be in. I don't have be Mr. Buff, but certainly want to be back
where I was in say, late 2003, and then improve on that. That means pushing for
regular time in the gym -- and better, soon.
Yeah, yeah, that means perhaps maybe eating a little
better, too.
SECOND WEEKEND OF HEROES:
The performances went quite well, and the audience sizes improved, with close to a
sold-out Saturday.
The gremlins plagued the sound booth, however, very especially on Sunday. The
sound levels were off and channels kept cutting out.
To be honest, our gremlin is most certainly very Homosapien. I checked the whole
sound system hook up after the Sunday show and found things unhooked as well as
hooked differently. Someone did that. And right now it's best if I do not know the
identity of this person.
I stayed for a while and put things back and ran a couple dry techs. It seems things
are okay now. I'm hoping to run a dry tech before the show on Friday, just as
insurance. And I've put the world out for people to just stay the hell out of the
booth.
I didn't threaten violence, but perhaps that's not out of
the question....
In the meantime, here are some pics from this past weekend:
Director
Fred Blumenthal
gives the curtain speech during a performance last weekend.
Gil Martin
(Gustave), Thomas N. Stiver (Henri), & Richard Young
(Philippe).
The Dog.
The prop table, illuminated in blue light and the stage manager's script
stand, illuminated in red, just back stage at the up left stage escape.
As you may know, in solidarity with Wikipedia.com and many other internet
web sites, I made my whole website dark for just less than forty-eight
hours to protest the ill-conceived congressional bills SOPA & PIPA.
Both acts are theoretically intended to combat piracy and other thefts of
intellectual copyright on the internet. That is a real and valid concern.
But you don't cut off people's heads in order to cure their headaches.
In their current forms the bills circumvent due process and make it possible
for corporate executives as well as the federal government to censor and
suppress free speech and the free flow of information and ideas. All that is
required is the accusation of copyright infringement to shut down a web site,
or the accusation of collaboration, including unintended collaboration, in
such infringement.
It is a slap in the face to the Democratic idea of Due Process, which is a
cornerstone of America jurisprudence and that of other free societies.
At present both SOPA and PIPA make it possible to unfairly and with false
or at best questionable, accusation interfere with the free flow of ideas
that are disagreed with or that are a threat to particular points of view.
That may not be the intention, but it is only the most unintelligent of
fools who will believe that such opportunity will not be ceased upon.
The current versions of SOPA and PIPA need to be fatally wounded and those
who are pushing them need to be reminded they are members of a free society
and such shameful disregard for that society is intolerable.
Fortunately, for the moment at least, The White House seems to be responding
in support of the petitions and the protests. And some congressional support
for both bills has waned. It's best to not assume more than a battle has
been won, however.
See more
here
at the only Wikipedia page that was up during the blackout.
Josh Katawick
is casting director for a short-short narrative movie and he contacted me to offer
a cameo role, as it were. As I told him, if Spielberg or Scorsese or Soderbergh
haven't called me in on a project, I should be available for the several hours --
tops -- it would take to shoot the moment in the short.
The little close-ended web series I was approached by
Shaunn Baker
about last fall still seems to be on hold.
Shaunn did contact me about participating in a table read for another web series
project, however, one connected with
Film Dayton. I have no
details.
Red at
The Human Race Theatre Company
-- I attended the Pay What You Can, Final Dress this past Thursday. Really good work
from both Michael Kenwood Lippert (as Mark Rothco) and Will Allen (as Ken). It's a
nice script, though I was not as impressed with the words as I was the execution.
The Color Purple at The Kuss Auditorium
-- Next Thursday, Jan. 26, I and several of the local Caroline, Or Change
cast & crew will go see Ms. Taprena Augustine
as Shug Avery in this this touring compnay, making an Ohio stop in a performance
presented by the Springfield Arts Council
as part of its Broadway and Beyond series. Tuprene was fabulous as Dotty in
Caroline..., and I have no doubt she will be fabulous as Shug. Here's an
intersting piece of trivia:
Robert Griffin III,
who won the Heisman Trophy last December, is Taprena's cousin.
Oleana at
Springfield StageWorks -- I
hope to catch this one, which opens Thursday, Feb. 2. Probably will have to go that
Saturday, the fourth.
Sabath Does Sondheim -- And then there's another
castmate from Caroline..., Bruce Sabath
(Stuart in Caroline), who will be playing Joe Josephson "as well as my
clarinet and saxaphone" in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in
March. Guess it's getting time to buy a ticket.
Nabbed a few sessions in a series for the U.D. Law students about a medical
malpractice case. I will be a doctor. I don't have the material yet so I don't know
exactly what this doctor's role is, but I know he's testifying on the defense team's
side. If he's an expert witness or the defendant I'm not 100% clear on; though it
looks like I may be an expert witness.
Have a few sessions spread out over what I assume is much of the length of the
class term, starting in mid February and ending in mock trial in April.
Don't know if that wil be a conflict with any possible movies, but I did warn
Fran
that I'm not turning down a good movie gig if it shows itself.
Got six short scripts for the web series being supported by
Film Dayton; they're in
the second draft and it's expected they'll be in at least one more draft by the
table read at the Film Dayton meeting next Tuesday.
I haven't had the chance to read them yet, but I'm looking forward to the reading.
And I half suspect this "reading" is serving, at least to some extent,
as an audition.
Monday night marked the first of six new acting classes in Round 2 with
Kay Bosse.
I'd been leery of enrolling at one point, when I was hoping I'd be in the last
stretch of rehearsals for Oleanna at
Springfield StageWorks during the
wealth of the class sessions. That did not come to be, as we know. With not being
cast in that, with Heroes wrapped *(see next), and with less obligation to
Wittenberg than I might have had *(see next after next), things are a
little more open.
Kay is even thinking of having me do something from Oleanna in class. So I
may still get some sort of chance to be John.
It being the first day of class we all did some sort of introductory performance.
Mine was a loosely paraphrased
"Cockroach monologue" from Jake's Women: my fallback monologue. We
also did a freeze-tag improv and I was not on my game at all. As the "story
line" progressed, with other students yelling freeze then taking one of the
two scene partners places and moving the action in a different direction, I was
sitting there, coming up with nothing. And when I did finally go up, what I did
was lame, lame, lame.
But I did also do a relatively decent and fairly cold read of a monologue: an
African-American teenage boy, which was in obvious ways a method of having me do a
little stretching.
DOWN:
Of course, Heroes closed last weekend. It was a charming script with very
nice performances by all three men and it's a shame the audiences weren't bigger. I
think we had one house that was close to full; most other shows were around half,
with two shows that had much less: one about twenty-four, the other about thirty.
A day-time work colleague and long-time season subscriber to the Guild asked me
which role I would have wanted in the show. I think I would have most liked the
Philippe character, as it's the one an actor can have the most fun with. I know
Richard Young enjoyed the role a lot. As well, I would have loved to play some of
Henri's bemused and bewildered moments as he listen to the cockamamy statements and
ideas the other two had. But Gustave would have been fun, too, with his
cantankerous persona.
So, all three, but in order of preference: Philippe, Henri, then Gustave.
Gil Martin
as Gustave, Thomas N. Stiver as Henri, & Richard Young,
whose Philippe is sure he just saw the limestone dog move.
"There! What did I tell you?"
"I'll move it for you."
"There. How's that?"
"We'll all keep our eyes on it!"
UP:
Bare bones of
Up.
Well, okay, not exactly "Up," yet.
But,
Up.
And In Rehearsal.
The sound design is in a slog at the moment, but I plan to take out much of it over
this coming weekend. I still have some sound and music to gather up, but beyond that
I need to get familiar with the new sound operation software Bob Mills has installed
on the pc he donated to The Guild.
That software is, of course the Show Cue Systems software previously mentioned here.
As the pics below show, the new booth set-up has happened. The DVD/CD player and one
of the two minidisk players have been removed to storage, as has the littler mixing
board. Though the bigger one really ought to be replaced as some of the pots are
dirty and occasionally failing -- we had some problems during the run of
Heroes with pots cutting out on us. The new system by-passes the mixer,
though we are keeping as a precaution.
Back on exact topic: I have a learning curve to immediately address before I start
assembling mixes and edits. I need to know more exactly how SCS does what it does
so I can tailor the design to it. Though there are two segments that need the same
music and effects, the music being rather ethereal and mystical, and I am
contemplating writing and recording that music tomorrow evening.
I also have taken steps to be able to work on programing the show cues remotely,
meaning not being tethered to the DTG booth at the theatre.
See the next entry, which touches on that.
Screenshot of the Show Cue Systems edit window
The new sound technician set-up in the DTG booth.
A closer look at the computer.
The mixing board. Not quite as many cable plug holes filled
as before.
The one minidisk player we kept, setting under the mixer.
Nothing to do with the sound system, and not destine to
stay in the Wittenberg production, but still a cool
image to shoot and to display.
$752.80:
Yep: $752.80. That's how much I have spent this week on tech stuff for myself, the
bulk being for more external harddrives.
The impetus was the Show Cue Systems software and my desire to, as I wrote above,
not be tethered to the booth in the theatre on Wayne Avenue to work on programing a
show. SCS is a Windows-only software. What that means is one of two things:
I either buy myself a Windows pc, one new enough to run the software or...
I buy a virtual machine and run Windows on my Macbook, thus SCS on my
Macbook.
I opted for the second choice. So I bought
VMware Fusion 4 and
Windows 7 Home Premium.
The latter in which the 2.8 gig set-up resource file will be downloading most of
this evening, if not all night and into the morning. I started downloading it while
at the rent payer today, but it became clear it was going to be time to leave before
the download was complete, so I cancelled it and rather downloaded the executable
instal file as well as the other smaller set-up file. But FedEx did deliver VMWare
Fusion to the office today.
Though the VMware Fusion emulation software will only take up 5 gigs on my laptop
harddrive, I still have been thinking about moving all audio and graphics off it,
anyway, so I can always have a s much free space as possible for current movie or
audio projects. I've already been keep almost all movie files, save for whatever I
am presently working on, off the main harddrive. I have been keeping them on a 1
terabyte external, with another 1 tb as a back up.
Those external movie drives were both up to about 900 gigs, so it was clear I was
soon to need more space. So, earlier this week I bought two 2 tb drives for the
movie drive and its back-up. All audio, music and sound effects are going on the
1 tb drives (with one a back-up for the other).
I did have pretty much all my music, i.e.: my entire iTunes library on a 235 gig
external, which is now designated for graphics (all still images, be they digital
photos or graphic arts). I bought a 500 mgb drive to serve as the other graphics
drive; and, actually, I have another 500 mgb drive that will end up as the second
graphics drive and the 235 will be retired as an extra for whatever miscellaneous
needs arrive. That other 500 mgb serves right now as the Time Capsule for my Mac
Tome Machine (the whole system and memory back-up for my computer). But, here
soon, I'll get a 1 tb for that and then reassign the 500 to graphics.
Got it?
Well, hopefully, sometime in the next day or so I will be able to work in Show Cue
Systems on my laptop.
THE COLOR PURPLE:
Tonight I see Taprena Augustine
as Shug in the touring company performance of
The Color Purple at The Kuss Auditorium
in Springfield, along with a handful of fellow actors and production crew from this
past autumn's production of Caroline, or Change at
The Human Race Theatre Company.
Where we all met the lovely and most-talented lady of the hour.
Taprena, just this week was voted Broadway World D.C.'s 2011 Best Featured Actress
In A Musical Touring, for this very production.
Click here to see.
OH YEAH... In my litany the other day of current and forthcoming shows I hope to
see, I did not mention Spring Awakening at
Encore Theater Company, which is
being billed as "a new rock musical." That opened last Friday and runs
through Feb. 4, at the Courtyard Crossing, which is on 2nd St. in Downtown Dayton,
across from the Schuster Center, and next to Boston Stoker.
And there's another Bruce playing in Cincinnati soon, this of the
Cromer variety. Bruce is appearing in
Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell, also at
The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as is
Bruce Sabath who's up next in the same
venue in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.
A young lady classmate and I have officially been assigned some pages from Mamet's
Oleanna
as our major scene work for the class.
But the library copy from
"Day Job"
is checked out by someone else!
Instructor Kay
has a copy and she loaned it to my scene mate and I was able to borrow a copy from a
fellow Guild board member.
This past Tuesday evening I participated in a table read of six scripts for a
no-pay short web series titled Freak Club. The series is a collaborative
production
sponsored by Film Dayton.
The screenplays are by a young woman named Alexandra Grizinski. The work is good.
There were a few folk I know, or at least have met, reading at the table with me,
as well as some new acquaintances. It was a fun time. The character I read is a
fun one for an actor and I very much hope I am considered for the role when the
production begins shooting. Oh, I mean
offered the role.
Click here for a FilmDayton blog
entry about Freak Club.
Here's an interesting point: as of yet, I haven't worked on the sound design at all
in Show Cue Systems on W7 in the VMware Fushion 4 on my Macbook. All my work has
been done in the booth at The Guild on the booth pc. And it's safe to say I'm on the
home stretch with the design. There's been a bit of a learning curve with the SCS
software, but I am starting to actually know what I'm doing.
The were a few segue moments from one cue to the next that I was sure I could
program in and make automatic. At first I could not find the correct programing
commands and had to come up with a rather clunky manual method to execute them.
But I eventually came to see how to porogram them, so I went back and fixed all
the spots already in the production cue file. Andm for the few remaining spots: I
now know what to do.
There have been a few other set backs which can be attributed to miscommunication,
but in spite of some obstacles, the design seems on track. With the exception of the
tweaks and the switch-out of a few sound cues, we are "wired
for sound," and I am ready for the cue-to-cue rehearsal tonight.
I'm sure I'll then be at DTG late tonight working on the adjustments I'll need
to make.
Working with the new sound operation set-up & Show Cue
Systems, in the Dayton Theatre Guild tech booth this past
Wednesday.
Meanwhile, preproduction on the Wittenberg podcast is done and shooting
started Wednesday night with the first two of the four (or five) interviews for the
movie. I finished the cast interviews last night. I may get the director this
weekend and will shoot rehearsal footage over the next few days. And since the
playwright, David Davalos has granted permission to use dialogue in the movie, my
hope is to stage at least a brief moment or two specifically for the camera.
Now the question is how to fit post-production in and have a final cut that is
on-line by at least Friday. I actually can do some post work right now. I can get
together the opening DTG logo flourish as well as the ending credit scroll.
I've already picked the underscore music. I'm using "Chord Sounds," which
is written and recorded by Moby. Moby granted
permission, through his
Moby Gratis web site, to use
that instrumental for the underscore for the podcast for The Boys Next Door,
last year. When the movie was cut, however, the music didn't fit any more. It
will work this time, so I re-applied for permission. I haven't heard back yet,
but I am working on the assumption that he will grant permission again for this podcast.
So, I now have a massive amount of info from Ms. Barb Jorgensen about the character
I'm playing in the upcoming trail practice class. Barb usually does this character
and has amassed a good amount of most helpful research.
I hope I can soon get to a slowdown with Wittenberg so I have the material
in my head before the gig on February 15.
An Exceedingly Mean-Spirited Gremlin In The Booth & Other
"Monkey Wrenches In The Machinery" -- There have been all sorts of,
um, let's say,
"interesting"
technical developments concerning Wittenberg during the move into Tech Week.
Let's start with the theatre gremlin being a real punk Friday of last week.
A serious punk!
Here's the story: When I arrived at the theatre around 4:00 Friday I had about 90%
of the sound cues programed into SCS
and was in early to finish that work then do a dry tech for myself before the
scheduled cue to cue commenced later that evening. Besides that as my agenda for
the day, the other item was to record cast and crew singing a Martin Luther hymnal
to use as a sound cue, "All Praise to Thee, Eternal God."
I got there, booted the pc then headed off to set up the mics and the recorder for
the song. When done with that I went back into the tech booth only to find that
Windows had started CHKDSK and it seemed to be frozen in the process. I had to do a
hard reboot and after that I could rarely get the pc to boot all the way into an
account; and when it did it would auto shut down after only a brief period of time.
I contacted Bob Mills and he came in to take a look. While he was on his way I
called both the director and stage manager for Wittenberg to let them know
it was not likely there would be a cue to cue with sound on Friday.
The final determination was that the pc was now a very large paperweight. And, of
course, I had not backed up the cue file, so even though Bob brought another pc
as replacement and installed the Show Cue Systems software on it, I still had to
rebuild the whole show cue program. That I did, late Friday evening and much of the
day on Saturday; and I did so on my Mac, finally employing my
VMware Fusion 4 and
Windows 7 Home Premium.
Clearly I did not need to stick around for all of the run of the show that replaced
the cue to cue on Friday. I went home to work on rebuilding the show cue program as
well as digitizing and mixing the analog recording we'd made of "All Praise to
Thee, Eternal God." We did two takes of a total of about a half dozen people
singing the song a capella. And, as it turned out, both takes were at the same tempo
and in the same key, so I was able to combine the two to get a dozen voices without
needing to tweak the speed or pitch of either take. The only minor glitch was one
pause between verses that differed in the two takes, but I was able to synch up the
following verses in the editor. Thus, no, this is not a "monkey wrench"
item.
But here's one...:
To meet a need of the show, Bob and I determined we could place some mics (which I
have loaned to the production), hooked to self-contained speakers, just off stage in
two different locations, in order to amplify some off-stage dialogue and also keep
the sound focused in the locations. Bob would bring in a karaoke machine he had and
I would bring in my small, bass practice amp I've had for years. Except that: I don't
seem to have that practice amp anymore. As I was about to head to bed Saturday
evening, I gathered things at my front door to be sure I took them to the theatre
for Tech rehearsal on Sunday. This is when I discovered I have no practice amp in
my apartment. As I posted on facebook right before bed, and after several rounds of
checking the apartment again: I may have loaned it out, or gave it away, or sold it;
and I have this wisp of a memory of something along these lines, but I am simply not
cognizant of what happened to the damned thing.
Because my discovery was made late last Saturday night ~~ technically most early
Sunday morning ~~ the dilemma was at a state of urgency; it was important to
be able to incorporate the amplification into the tech rehearsal at 2:00 pm on
Sunday. I decided the best route was to pick up a new practice amp on the way to
the theatre. A replacement bass practice amp was the ideal purchase but not an
imperative.
The final down left off-stage amplification set up for some
moments in Wittenberg.
*The small self-amped speaker, the
microphone & mic stand, all being mine.
Imperative, however, was that I be at the theatre with plenty of time to transfer
all the sound files and the cue file into the "new" pc in the booth, then
do a dry tech. Let's not forget set up the off-stage amplification. So I left my
place at probably a little after 10:15. I mapped out several different places
between my home and the theatre where I might be able to pick up a small practice
amp. The pawn shops were not in that plan as none are open on Sundays. My first
stop was a Best Buy, but the Sunday hours, as I found out when I got there, start
at 11:00 am, and I did not have time to wait. My last stop, if necessary would be
the Radio Shack that's about five minutes from DTG; but it wasn't necessary because
just a little bit further away from the theatre is a music store named Pace Music
that had an amp that I could use, though it's not a bass amp. Unfortunately, Pace is
going out of business; however, due to that, I got the small practice amp at less
than cost.
The built-in amp is a little weaker than what we need so I've run the mic through a
small mixing board that was donated to the theatre. That does the trick and now we
have the volume we need for the down-left off-stage voices to be adequately heard.
And now I have a small practice amp that I have little personal use for. If it were
a bass amp it woud be a little more practical for me.
I'm sure I will be able to employ it usefully
once again at some point after this show closes.
It's still a mystery
what happened to my original bass practice amp.
Another monkey wrench was thrown in when I lost crucial
flexibility to shoot the way that would have better served the podcast. The podcast
is done and up, as you see, but there are some problems directly resulting from not
having the shoot opportunities that I would have had. The schedule was changed from
doing two full runs on Monday and Tuesday of Tech Week to doing only Act
I on Monday and then II on
Tuesday. I was depending on the two full runs to, in some cases get two takes of
good moments to use, and in other cases to note moments I missed on Monday that I
would be sure to grab on Tuesday. I wasn't able to do that. So I had less good
material to pull from than it could have been possible to have had. I made do, but
there could have been better choices for the final cut. And Wednesday night, rather
than be shooting, I needed to be editing, which was what I was doing.
The interviews could have been lit better, as well, but that's wholly my fault.
One last monkey wrench: weirdness with the pre-show music.
The last glitch -- and let us underline that "LAST" --
came up at last night's performance. There was a problem with the pre-show music.
The pre-show music is in a Play List as part of the Wittenberg Cue List in
Show Cue Systems. All the music files
that are part of the pre-show music list are in one folder, appropriately titled,
"pre-show music." When I created the play list I simply selected all
those aif files, about fifty, which added them all to the play list. Then I checked
random play so that each night the pre-show will be different. There is more than an
hour of music there, maybe almost ninety minutes. Pre-show music starts a half-hour
before the curtain, so obviously not all the pre-show music will be played. And with
the program choosing randomly from well more than thirty minutes of music, each
performance will have unique pre-show music: some small to great amount of different
music from the previous and the next, and a unique order of play for any duplications
from the others.
Last night, the list kept stopping. Fortunately I was there as host and was able to
make a fix by going in and disabling the random play command, which at first seemed
to be the malfunctioning aspect. But then I stayed after the show and ran the play
list again with Random activated and was able to determine with 99.9% certainty what
the problem was.
After the list was first created, Saul Caplan,
the director, decided we needed more music in the production, at a scene change that
takes longer than anticipated. So, I pulled a song from the pre-show to use there.
We really don't want any production music in the pre-show or intermission, so I
moved the song from the "pre-show music" folder to the "production
music" folder. I had thought I had deleted it from the Play List in SCS, but
apparently I did not. When I was running the pre-show play list after the show, to
discover the exact problem, it did finally halt again, and I was able to see that
the program was looking for that specific file in the pre-show folder. So it was
clearly still on the play list and the program was resting upon that title as the
next song to play and since the file was no longer there, the program came to a stop.
I had moved at least one other song from "pre-show music" folder to
"production music" folder, so, just to be sure it was all clean, I
deleted the whole Play List cue and rebuilt it again with the contents of the
"pre-show music" folder as it is now. But before I rebuilt it, I moved
another song to "production music" folder, which I know I am adding to
the show cues for next weekend's performances; thus, it's also not on the list the
program is reading, thus the program is not going to search for it where it's not
at.
BROADWAY STYLE?:
Just because the show is up doesn't necessarily mean that the sound design is done.
In the tradition of a show in preview on Broadway, we have some tweaks in the works.
During Tech Week, a particular sound cue that Saul had conceived, perhaps months
ago, did not work as he had envisioned it would, so he had me kill it from the
design. But, after seeing a light cue that was incorporated late in Tech Week, he
has decided that a variation on his original idea will work.
Unfortunately I had pressing personal business the night of Final Dress and I was
dead-sick Opening Night, thus home in bed, so the word could not get to me until
last night when I was back, this time to host ~~ and, as we also know, to
trouble-shoot.
Last night Saul also asked to have the transition music added, which I alluded to
above. That and the reintroduction of the pulled sound cue (but in a revised manner)
will show up next Friday.
One other change was requested, which I took care of last night while working on the
Play List snafu. Saul believed a sound cue at the end of Act I
was too long, so I changed the programing to facilitate its reduction.
As for how the show is going: What I saw of rehearsals, especially during Tech Week,
suggests it's a mighty fine production with mighty fine performances.
Perhaps biased, but Saul felt good about the opening show, and what I saw and
heard last night was good stuff.
Today, I missed the Wittenberg performance because, with the exception of a
break or two to finish off the text for this post*, I've been studying the massive
amount of material I need to know for the series of gigs coming up for the U.D.
Law School case.
But some breaks have been necessary unless I want my head to implode, or explode,
whichever event might occur.
Fortunately I am basically free both tomorrow night and Tuesday night to continue the
study before the first gig this Wednesday. I do have acting class tomorrow but it
ends at 7:00.
No required
attendance at a rehearsal this week!
*) Most of the text for today's post has been in progress for days, some was
written last Sunday. SHHHH! Don't tell!
Saturday, the 4th, I took a break from re-programming the Wittenberg sound
cues to catch some live theatre at another venue. As my facebook post above says,
it was nice diversion. Congrats to all involved!
Yikes! tonight is the fourth session in this course series. We are more than half-way
through. I need to start working to get off-book on the Oleanna pages my
scene mate, Kelly, and I are doing for the class. But, that's going to have to wait
until after I have kicked out the first night of U.D. Law gigs, that which is this
Wednesday. Until then, all my mental efforts must be about getting all the info for
that into my head.
Plus Kay Bosse
has proposed a couple different "field trips" to see some theatre, one
being the production of
Donald Margulies'Time Stands Still
at steppenwolf. It's up now and runs until
May 13, so for me it's not out of the question.
There is a lot of information for me to cram in my head. I wish I had not been so
busy with sound design last week. Some serious work on this starting several days
back would not have been a bad thing at all.
As it is I have arranged for the day off Wednesday for one last chance to study the
material before the late afternoon call for the first gig.
Of course, to burn as little vacation time as possible I have arranged to work
late tomorrow, Thursday and Friday (and a little later today). I will end up having
to use 1.5 hours, which is better than eight.
Click this image for a PDF of my current actor's
résumé
See clips & the trailer
from the forthcoming fan film, Ghostbusters:
Spook University.
Directed by Mike Sopronyi
Screenplay: Mike Sopronyi & Loren S. Goins also see my pics gallery
A look at my first venture back into acting
after twenty-seven years.
ENDGAME
Pictures from the Nov 2005 Springfield StageWorks
production
The plan Monday night was to get home from the acting class, take care of a couple
chores around the abode, eat, then study the material for the U.D. gig. I did the
chores, then ate, then settled in to study. I guess my error was to grab the material
and climb into bed.
Yep, I fell asleep, and it seems pretty quickly. I don't remember looking at one
new piece of information.
To about a 98% degree, I had already committed the character's pedigree to memory,
but I had not studied the facts of the case at all. And there is a bit to know.
Strike that: there is a "LOT"
to know. So Tuesday eve I began that process, starting, of course, by creating my
handy-dandy flash cards. More, to be precise: I had already made some to get the
doctor's bio info memorized.
After I got all the flashcards made, I took an hour nap, then woke up and began the
memorization-by-rote process. Every couple hours I took another one-hour nap. So I
didn't really sleep through the night at all Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.
I was relatively fresh when I did the gig late Wednesday afternoon into early
evening. I was not as well-versed with all the material as I would have wanted, but
I was familiar enough to be able to get though the sessions with the different
teams of law students. The agenda was deposition prep so I did have enough memorized
to do my work appropriately.
In two weeks it's the mock deposition and I do need to be better schooled in the
vital information.
After the U.D. gig I dropped by the theatre to implement the addition of the two
sound cues (actually five) that
Director Saul Caplan had asked for
last Saturday.
Why "actually five," you ask? Well, you see, in
Show Cue Systems, as in most of not all
such sound cue management software you can, and usually should, program in a Stop
Cue command, so for each sound cue you usually have at least two commands: Start and
Stop. Of course, sometimes the cue is to play out to the end, so those only get the
start command.
There also a command that can be programmed in to change the volume level or change
the stereo balance. One of my cues has this feature to even out a volume swell in
the original sound file. That one is an automatic cue that the sound tech does not
need to execute.
So, two sounds files; five cues (or commands).
Meanwhile, this morning I discovered a gratifying message that had been left at
the DTG facebook page
on Opening Day of the show:
The cast table read happened to be last night so when I was done with the sound
design modifications for Wittenberg I spoke with the cast about shoots for
the podcast.
I haven't been dropping in to get random early rehearsal footage for a while. I
probably will with this one. And since
Playwright Lee Blessing has
granted us permission to use dialogue in the podcast, there is again a chance that
I will shoot some intense moment -- that isn't a spoiler -- as played specifically
for the camera. Certainly I will try to get some good footage of the rehearsals
that can be used, too, as is SOP.
Dayton Theatre Guild
AUDITION NOTICES
DIVIDING THE ESTATE by Horton Foote
Audition Dates: March 19 & 20, 2012,starting at 7:00 pm both nights.
The Dayton Theatre Guild at the Caryl D. Philip TheatreScape
430 Wayne Ave, Dayton OH, 45410
937-298-5993 -- www.daytontheatreguild.org
Directed by Ralph Dennler
Produced by Debra Strauss
Production Dates: April 27-May 13, 2012
Two generations of former Texas gentility connive and grope to wrest control of the
once-cherished and valuable family estate from the hands of the venerable matriarch,
who still wants the estate to remain a proud symbol of a vanished way of life. A
host of family members square off against her, and each other, in a comedy that
precisely captures a time, a place and a way of life.
Casting Requirements
Cast includes 4 men and 9 women ranging from the 20's through the 80's
(These are the ages to be played.) Lots of juicy parts.
CHARACTER
NOTES
Stella the matriarch
80's Think Barbara Bush not Laura. A tough survivor not without charm and
feelings. The past is often her present.
Lewis
50's-60's - Stella's son - A grown child who drinks too much, spends too
much, womanizes too often but still remains a charming fellow.
Doug
91, African-American who has been a part of the estate since his youth. He
has become a cherished member of Stella's life and serves often in the play
to remind everyone where they have come from and where they have been. A
sweet caring man.
Boy
30's Stella's grandson who has become her trusted Manager of the Estate's
day to day operations and its always precarious finances. Honest, straight
forward guy trying to make his aunt and uncle happy over their future share
of the estate.
Lucille
50's-60's Stella's daughter - Boy's mother - decent, perpetually nervous
woman who has stayed on with her son, Boy to care for Stella and the Estate.
Mary Jo
50's-60's - Stella's daughter - Intense, quick to flare up, wants to make
sure she, her husband and her daughters get their share of the estate
preferably right now. Has lots of social pretensions that really never click.
Bob
60's - Mary Jo's husband - Confident, seeming expert real estate
salesman-except that things are falling apart in his real world.
Emily and Sissie
25-35 Bob and Mary Jo's daughters Ready to continue a grand life in a world
their parents cannot afford and without the slightest inkling of what's
going on.
Pauline
30's School marm who intends to marry Boy. Intelligent sensitive woman.
Irene Ratliff
19 or so- Lewis met her at the Whataburger where she works. A nice young
blue collar gal who actually likes Lewis for who he is.
Mildred and Kathleen
20's 30's African-American women who are past the Texas that Doug grew up
with and serve to remind us of the Texas of the present.
A simple head shot and resume will be appreciated although not necessary.
All newcomers are welcome and encouraged to attend.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE Music and lyrics by Neil Bartram.
Book by Brian Hill
Audition Dates: April 9 & 10, 2012, starting at 7:00 pm both nights.
The Dayton Theatre Guild at the Caryl D. Philip TheatreScape
430 Wayne Ave, Dayton OH, 45410
937-298-5993 -- www.daytontheatreguild.org
Directed by Debra Kent
Produced by K.L.Storer
Production Dates: June 1-17, 2012
Thomas Weaver, a successful writer, returns to his hometown to perform the eulogy
for his childhood friend, Alvin Kelby. He struggles to find the appropriate words,
but comes up with nothing but blank pages. With the help of Alvin, who appears from
the recesses of his mind, Thomas sorts through story after story of the events that
made up their friendship, searching for his role in his friend's untimely death. We
follow the lifelong friendship between the two men, an inspiring story told mostly
in song.
Casting Requirements will follow
As an actor I was privileged to have a small roll in this multi-award
winning, very touching, most poignant short film. I was further
privileged to accept the award, on behalf of Beth McElhenny, for
Best Family Film at the 2008 Secret City Film Festival in Oakridge,
Tennessee. The film has won awards far more than that one time.
Click on the image to go to the official site and see the successes,
thus far.
Continuing the 2011/2012 Season:
CHARACTER
ACTOR
Martin Luther
Charles Larkowski
John Faustus
David Shough
Hamlet
Jared Mola
The Eternal Feminine
Lynn Kesson
The Podcast for Wittenberg
And following Wittenberg at the Guild....
The Cast of Going to St. Ives
CHARACTER
ACTOR
Dr. Cora Gage
Katrina Kittle
May N'Kame
Catherine Collins
The Podcast Highlighting the 2011/2012 DTG Season
And, if you live close by or will be
visiting soon, check out these other theatres in the greater Dayton Ohio
area for their upcoming or current productions:
