pink wigs & acting gigs

This quiz went around my circle of Facebook friends last week; it seems designed for people who act and audition more frequently than I do, but it also made me realize I've done more stuff onstage than I thought I had.

Last show added to your resume: As an actor, Hecate; as a writer, Macaria (both in Olympians Festival 2016)

Last show you auditioned for but didn't get cast: The Importance of Being Earnest, at Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, just last month. (I got a callback though!)

Favorite musical: today my heart is saying Sunday in the Park with George

Favorite play: Arcadia

Favorite role you've played: Prof. Renelle Fouche in the reading of Christian Teen Dolphin Sex Beach Party 

Favorite costume: Lucinda in Into the Woods; I had a lavender chiffon gown and a cotton-candy-pink wig!

"Beautiful of [dress], but vile and black of heart" as Lucinda.

Favorite superstition: I try not to say "Macbeth" or "good luck."

What was your very first show? The Mystery of the Royal Slippers, a kids' adaptation of "The 12 Dancing Princesses." I was 6; I played the Queen. And thus began my long history of always playing the mom and never playing the ingenue.

Have you ever had a dance solo? Nope

Have you ever had a singing solo? Yes, though it's tended to be solo lines/verses of a song rather than, like, the 11-o'clock-number.

Have you ever been the last person to take a bow? Not as an actor, but I have at opening nights of shows I've produced ("Pint-Sized Plays") or written (Pleiades).

Have you been to New York? Yes

Have you been to L.A.? Yes, though I didn't see any theater while I was there

What's the scariest part of an audition? When they make you do wacky physical or improv stuff.

What's the best part of an audition? When you can sing a song you love.

Name a show you could do for years: It might be lovely to do A Little Night Music for years, it's so beautiful and romantic. And maybe after a year I'd finally have "The Miller's Son" word-perfect!

What are you auditioning for next? Who knows?

Do you keep in touch with past cast members? Yes, but I could be better at it.

Something embarrassing or unexpected that happened to you while you were onstage? Nothing really comes to mind.

Ever been naked onstage? No

Been killed onstage? No

Been drunk onstage? I had to play drunk as Caesar in Our Country's Good. I was 14 and had no idea what I was doing.

Ever played someone half your age? Don't think so

Played someone twice your age? Lots of times

Cried onstage? I fake-cried in the first Theater Pub Christmas show, for comedy purposes, but I've never cried real, serious tears.

Fired a gun onstage? No

Been drenched? No

Been kissed? Yes, as Elsa in The Desk Set. Though you should know that I was the one doing the kissing.

First show you saw on Broadway? Cats.

Will the Burqa Be Banned in Berlin? Some Limericks

Today, The New York Times published an op-ed piece by Anna Sauerbrey titled "Will the Burqa be Banned in Berlin"?

This is a bad headline for two reasons:

1. The article isn't talking about burqas (full-body garments, covering the whole face and eyes), it's talking about headscarves (covering the hair and neck).
2. With its alliteration and its anapestic rhythm, it sounds more like a Dr. Seuss poem or the opening line of a limerick than like a serious newspaper headline.

So, naturally, I had to write some limericks "On German Anti-Headscarf Laws."

Will the burqa be banned in Berlin?
Will Deutsch xenophobia win?
Through secular bias,
Must girls who are pious
Uncover their necks and their chins?

Do Hamburgers hate the hijab?
Will Nuremberg nix the niqab?
Chanting atheist sermons,
Will these good Germans
Turn into a bigoted mob?

Creative Cancerian

Free Will Astrology is a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. Always erudite, positive and well-written, and sometimes uncannily accurate. Of course, that could all just be confirmation bias. Nonetheless, when I read this as my horoscope the week that I begin writing a play that takes place in the WWII era, I can't help but take it as a good sign:

CANCER: "Dear Rob: Is there any way to access your horoscope archives going back to 1943? I'm writing a novel about World War II and need to see your astrological writings from back then. - Creative Cancerian." Dear Creative: To be honest, I wasn't writing horoscopes back in 1943, since I wasn't anywhere near being born yet. On the other hand, I give you permission to make stuff up for your novel and say I wrote it back in 1943. Most of you Cancerians have good imaginations about the past, and you're currently going through a phase when that talent is amplified. While you're tinkering with my history, have fun with yours, too. This is an excellent time for members of your tribe to breathe new life and fresh spin into a whole slew of your own personal memories.

More on adaptation, and the heart versus the head

A couple more thoughts that are rolling around in my head after I wrote my last post:

• I'm amazed that, in my discussion of adapting classic works of literature and whether you can really enjoy a dramatic adaptation of a novel you've read, I didn't expand this to discuss theater --how this might apply to producing/directing classic plays. I think most theatergoers have experienced the phenomenon of going to see a production of a Shakespeare play (or other classic) where the director is so keen to put his own spin on the material that it prevents you from engaging with the play. You know, flash and dazzle productions where you can admire the artists' cleverness, but not connect on an emotional level. I'm not saying that all "concept" productions of Shakespeare are like this, and still less that no modern production of Shakespeare can succeed on an emotional level. But I do have a marked preference for productions whose goal is to "engage deeply with the text" rather than "go by the Rule of Cool."

• In an email, my dad called me out on the following claim, "I tend to believe that art that taps into your emotional, subconscious brain is more valuable than art that welcomes cool, distanced consideration." Do I really believe that? (Or maybe I believe it more strongly than my dad does.) I think this is one reason why I have trouble appreciating contemporary conceptual art. I'm not one of those people who says that art (visual art) must be beautiful, but I do think it must be visceral -- touching you at a level beyond language. Just as with conceptual productions of classic plays, some conceptual art pieces do succeed on a visceral level as well as an intellectual one, and some don't... which is why I consider the visceral pieces to be more fully successful.

• There's a quasi-spiritual aspect to all of this. We have a godlike omniscience when we watch an adaptation of a classic novel and know in advance what will happen, which can also lead to a godlike sense of superiority and boredom. When we watch an unfamiliar story, living and suffering along with the characters, we are not gods -- or perhaps we are like Jesus, making the characters' suffering our own.

A Message from the Universe?

Yesterday morning, as I walked to the train, I turned a corner and found myself looking at this:


It's partly painted over now, but you can still see that the graffiti said "SKUD." A.k.a., the first four letters of my last name. A very unusual combination of letters for the English language.

It was very disconcerting to see this on a wall just a little way from my house. I couldn't help wondering if the Universe was trying to tell me something. Will have to keep an eye out for this graffiti tag in future.