The Florida Theatrical Association the non-profit organization that presents Broadway shows here in town gave me a tip on where to find the cast party for “In the Heights”. I haven’t seen the show yet but I lived in Washington Heights for ten years when I lived in New York City. “In The Heights” therefor is already in my blood. The stage set photos I have seen look like it could be from a city block just north of where my apartment was. I could see the George Washington Bridge from where I lived. I can’t wait to see and sketch the show.
The cast party was held at Mucho’s Mexican Bar (101 East Eola Drive) in downtown Orlando. The bar is right across the street form two floors of office spaces that the Florida Theatrical Association just bought in the Sanctuary Building. There is over 20,000 square feet of space in the building. On the ground floor there is a theater which as of now still has dirt floors and on the second floor there is the huge empty space I sketched.
When I arrived at Mucho’s I was given an orange arm band and I immediately sat at a corner table and started sketching the room. Ron Leger came over and introduced himself. I was honored to find out he follows this blog and supports what I am trying to accomplish. Staff put out the salsa, sour cream and opened up the hot dishes. After 10:30 PM a large black Hummer drove up to the entrance of the bar and I knew the cast was starting to arrive. I got a beer and a plate of food before the room became packed. What followed was of course a feeding frenzy with many loud and fast paced conversations going on. The room was filled with excitement. Cast members were congratulating one another and discussing the finer points of the nights performances. Chris and Jennifer sat at the table next to me. He plays in the Orchestra for the show and I think she is his wife. We introduced ourselves but then I got lost in the sketch again and lost track of what they were talking about. A couple across the way started practicing some dance steps and then they both sat back down laughing. Much of the time as I tried to sketch I was faced with a wall of peoples backs, blocking my view. Rather than get frustrated I would glance off at some other section of room and draw that. Since I hadn’t seen the show, I didn’t know who any of the major players were. For tonight that wasn’t my concern. I just soaked up all the energy and excitement in the room and tried desperately to get it down on paper.
As I put the last washes down, people started leaving. The lights came back up and I closed my sketchbook and headed home.
In The Heights – Chat Back
I went to a Chat Back at Barnes and Noble for “In the Heights”. Rayanne Gonzalez and DeWitte Cooper sat in front of a small audience on the second floor of the book store. I arrived a few minutes late and as I sat down DeWitte was explaining how he got the part of Benny in the show. He was working for Disney in the Finding Nemo Stage Show. He got a call from a friend saying that “In the Heights” was looking for actors of his general build and age. So he took a trip to New York City and auditioned. Of the 300 actors who auditioned the first day, only five remained and he was one of those five. The auditioning continued for another three days. When he realized that he was being considered for the lead part he poured his heart and soul into the audition. He said that the cast really gets along well and that it is like an extended family.
Reyanne has a young daughter that she is taking along with her on the tour. She makes sure her daughter visits every children’s museum and aquarium and zoo in every town they visit. She is hoping this education will stay with her daughter for a lifetime. When asked what she felt is unique about “In the Heights“, she said the show is about community and pride in the place you live. It is about discovering what it is that makes you feel like you belong. It is about home, family and hope, all universal themes not limited to the Washington Heights community.
I lived in Washington Heights for ten years. The block this play takes place on is just a few blocks away from my old apartment. I have sketched on the streets where this play is set many times. I am very familiar with this neighborhood with its corner bodegas and backgammon played on cardboard boxes. It is a shame that when I lived there I was always dreaming of getting out of the neighborhood, to make my mark somewhere else. This play reminds me that there was a vibrant community right under my nose if I had just taken the time to get out and discover it. So now I find myself in Orlando, and now I am reaching out and trying to discover the community that I call home.
Oscar Party
Matt McGrath put out an invite on Facebook for his annual Oscar Party and my wife Terry wanted to go. Matt is the producer of Project F which is a theater production that I pan to follow closely. I had attended Holi Fest earlier in the day and I was covered with brightly colored chalks. I didn’t have time to go home and change, so I just shook out my jacket, and wiped as much color off from my face and neck as I could. I went to the Viet Garden for dinner just before going to Matt’s and I had my favorite dish Pad Tai and a beer.
When I parked outsides his place I could see that he was rushing around the living room cleaning up. I realized I was probably the first to arrive. The walkway up to the front door was decorated with a red carpet of sorts. It was held in place however with gray duck tape which kind of threw off any hint elegance. A strobe light kept blinking which Matt later explained simulated flash bulbs going off. The door had a large silhouette of a golden statue.
I was indeed the first to arrive, but Matt was gracious and offered me a beer and I sat at his bar in the back patio. Later a friend referred to the space as “Matt’s Man Patio.” Besides the bar with it’s fully functional tap of Guinness, there was a stripper pole and a pair of animating breasts on a plaque. He also had one of those bar trivia games and I tried playing a game where you had to find 5 differences between two photos. I lost every time. There were four red sheets covering some of the screened windows and each had a golden statue in the center. Bright gold streamers divided the window decorations. All of the food for the party was named after Oscar nominated films, the most obvious being a stack of 7 UP cans for the movie UP.
Slowly Matt’s friends arrived and surrounded the bar. We all started filling out our pics for the winning categories. I started feeling sure of myself, but halfway through the list, I was filling out answers by guessing, since I hadn’t seen enough of the films to make an educated guess. Most of the people at the party were actors and actresses and there was plenty of catty remarks about the gowns being worn in Hollywood that night. A few people came to Matt’s party dressed to the nines as well. I was dressed in my Sunday best but I had been covered with chalks at Holi fest that morning and I didn’t get all the chalk off. Louise Bova had a friend visiting her from Brooklyn and she called me on my cell and asked if I knew of any good Oscar parties. I talked to Matt and we invited her and her friend over. My wife dressed up as Nora Desmond with an antique hat she had just bought at the Mount Dora Antiques fair. She had long black gloves and plenty of sequins. If there had been a prize for best costume she would have won.
I was drinking Guinness all night, but I still got cold outside and eventually moved into the living room. In the living room my ears started getting warm perhaps from the drink so I bounced back outside. Matt’s big screen TV outside had the ability to freeze and even rewind. When I went out there I saw the same category being awarded that I had just witnessed in the living room. I debated about shouting out the winner, but held my tongue.
At the end of the night as we tabulated the results of everyone’s Oscar ballots, I discovered that I only got 6 out of 47 categories right. This was a sad showing indeed. Next year I plan to study up. The winner got 13 categories right and left with a gift bag of trinkets. As he said, “Its not what you win that matters, it the winning that counts.” He was sitting right next to me when we filled out out forms, I should have cheated.
Holi Festival
Holi or the Festival of Colors is celebrated every spring by Hindus, Buddists and Sikks. It is primarily celebrated in countries with large Indic diaspora populations. From what I read, I anticipated people decorating themselves with brightly colored chalks. This was something I had to sketch. I read that this celebration was taking place right here in Orlando so I packed my art supplies and drove over to the Citrus Bowl where it was taking place. That evening I was also going to a Oscars party so I put on a nice suit and dress pants.
When I arrived at the Citrus bowl, I could hear the very loud music. Parking was $10 which was annoying, but I bit the bullet and drove into the dirt lot. When I entered the fenced in area where Holi Fest was happening there were a few tents set up for food and assorted goods. There was a table full of colorful, romance filled and vibrant Balliwood DVDs. Leaning against the fence were a wide variety of paintings of Krishna, Radna and other exotic and beautiful gods. The place was rather deserted when I got there. People were just setting up and the sound engineers were standing near the stage truck and the huge wall of speakers. As I was finishing my sketch of the main stage, a woman approached me from behind and rubbed her hand along the back of my neck. I thought, well, isn’t that friendly. Then when I looked back at my sketchbook, I saw that the page was covered in bright pink powdered pigments. I quickly blew off as much pigment as I could but some had landed in a wet patch of watercolor so it remained. Then I noticed that my suit jacket was also coated in the pigment. Glancing around I realized that the field was now filled with hundreds of people, most of them dressed in white and covered in various pigments.
With my first sketch finished, I stated wandering around the crowd looking for my next subject. Everywhere I looked people were throwing or wiping brightly colored chalks on each other. People were using super soakers full of pigmented water and squinting each other. I was in a colorful war zone. I backed myself up against the fence and relaxed in the shade of a tree for a while.
Rather than try and draw the huge and constantly moving crowd, I decided to approach these children who were relaxing behind the speakers. I asked I they minded me sketching them, and the young girl said, “Of course not!” I sat a few feet away and started working. I was anointed with pigments several more times as I worked on this sketch. I realized that I stood out like a soar thumb since I was the only man in a black suit and everyone else was dressed mostly in white. I slowly blended in as I became more colorful. Performers who approached the stage would walk right in front of me. They were smart, having covered themselves with long raincoats which they only took off when they got on the stage. There was music and dancing all afternoon. Songs often would have to do with the epic love story of Radna Krishna. I didn’t understand the words, but the spirit and playful fun of the event were not lost on me. By the time I finally decided to leave there had to be several thousand people crowded on the field. Everyone was brightly colored and often soaking wet. The family I sketched had flown from New York State to Orlando just to go to this event. I gave the mother of the children I had sketched the address to this blog so she could get a copy of the sketch. She then offered me a huge plate of Indian food which was fantastic. There was an apricot pastry, and several really tasty Guijia, which are fried dumplings. It is often impossible to sketch and observe an event without it coloring and influencing my life. How great that Orlando still offers new and unexpected experiences. This is a fabulous, fun and free event that I certainly plan to attend again next year.
ZOOm Air Adventures
As I was sketching at the Lazy Gator bar, Dina Peterson told me about the Sanford Zoo which as a Zip line course set up. I had seen the course set up a few months ago when I went to the zoo for a party hosted by one of Terry’s clients. I realized that this was something I should sketch and possibly experience. Dina and a group of friend were going to do the course Saturday or Sunday and I figured I should sketch before they all showed up. I went to the zoo two hours early to give myself a chance to get a sketch under my belt before people arrived. It was a beautiful day and I walked the course for a while trying to decide where to look. People were in constant motion as they progressed over the ropes wires and suspended logs. I finally set my chair down and leaned back against a tree and got started. Where I was seated, people would actually tight wire walk right above me. One young boy shouted out, “Hey look I am over the artist.” I shouted up, “Don’t fall now.”
A children’s birthday party was going on at a picnic table behind me. Ten year old boys chased each other around. One boy stopped right in front of me and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was sketching and he pointed at the page and said, “you drew that?” I pointed up to the platforms in the tree and than he looked up and back at the page again then ran off.
A woman and her husband were struggling to get across the wire line above me. He went first and she followed. She started shouting out, “Stop shaking the wire you are going to make me fall. That isn’t funny.” He said, “I’m just heavy, I can’t help it.” She shouted back, “I’ll shake the f*#^%* wire when you are over the pavement then we will see how funny this is!” She wasn’t a happy camper.
The course takes quite some time to complete. People who were just starting the course when I started sketching were not back on the ground until several hours later. I am betting that this is a good work out. An older husband and wife team came up to me after they had finished. She said, “I kind of wish I had worn hiking boots or shoes with a real solid soul. It was a real challenge at first, but after a while you get over the fear and it is fun.”
The friends I was waiting for never showed up, I must have heard the date wrong. But I got a decent sketch so I returned home satisfied. Who knows someday I might find myself in the treetops.
Mennello Museum Folk Festival
Thanks to Arts Fest and United Arts, the Mennello Museum was able to host a full day of folk performers at its annual Folk Festival. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a festival with blue skies and a cool breeze. Terry and I attended last year and we both decided it is one of our favorite events of the year. There are plenty of tents set up with artists of all kinds displaying their wares. We first stopped at the Kerouac House table where Kim Buchheit and Summer Rodman were having a lively discussion. I became infatuated with a book by Kerouac called “Sketches”. This is an amazing book in which Kerouac describes scenes and places in bold poetic broad strokes. All of the sketches were lifted from small moleskin notebooks in which he jotted down his notes on the spot. With words he recreates scenes very much the way I sketch every day. It is an inspiring read. I am maybe half way through the book now.
Dawn Schreiner had a tent set up with all her wonderful portraits and doodles. She was sitting in the grass with her children and sketching. Next to her tent was an artist who makes elaborate cigar boxes which are encrusted with glued on objects. I stood and watches as he made a space ship themed box with day glow paint a space shuttle and plenty of beads as planets. I wanted to sketch him, but this was Valentines day, and I had decided to stay focused on my wife and maybe sneak in a sketch of the stage if time allowed.
We had lawn chairs and set them up in front of the stage. As Sarah Purser performed, I felt myself become fully relaxed and at peace. I sat back and enjoyed the sun and view overlooking the lake. It was time to sketch. Travis Blaise who is dating Sarah explained that she is classically trained and in fact performs for the opera. Her voice is stunning and she has a lighthearted humor that is infectious. In the foreground I sketched Gordon Spears who was wearing a distinctive red hat and leaning back talking to a friend. Someone told me that Gordon booked all the acts for the event. Later that night I had to take down my display of sketchbooks at the Cameo Theater and Gordon was there helping Louise Bova as she took down her work. I had never met Gordon before, but here I was bumping into him twice in one day. This town just keeps getting smaller.
Scotish Highland Games – Caber Toss
Now this is a manly sport! Heavy men in kilts competed to see who could toss this heavy pole end over end. A perfect score is achieved if the end of the pole the handler is throwing ends up furthest away from the thrower at 12:00 on the hands of a clock. For the duration of this sketch, not a single contestant managed to toss this caber end over end. There were a few agonizingly close attempts, but the fact remains that no one ever flipped the caber. I missed the finer points of judging but the winner would have been the man who got his pole to face closest to 12:00. A judge always follows closely behind the thrower and once, a contestant was off balance and the huge log almost clobbered the judge. His reflexes saved him. Another contestant lost control and somehow he found himself straddling the end of the caber as it hit the ground and then it bounced up and hit him between the legs. There were a number of jokes told for the rest of the afternoon in high squeaky voices.
After the days events were over, we were allowed to walk on the field and test out some of the equipment. I could barely lift the end of the caber off the ground. There is no way I would be able to lift the darn thing and throw it.
The Swan Boat Talks
At the start of the new year, Brian Feldman set about meeting with ten different artists to discuss ways in which they could collaborate in the new year. These meeting were held on Lake Eola’s swan boats over the course of a month. I finally had an opportunity to go out and try and sketch one of these meetings when Brian met with Anna McCambridge. I had sketched Anna before when she was working with three other women on an artistic collaboration called “A Confluence” where all of the artists worked on the same paintings together.
It was a cold, brisk day when I got down to Lake Eola. I watched the pigeons cooing and bobbing their heads. If someone walked by, the whole flock would take off and swoop out over the lake and then return once they realized it was safe to do so. A squirrel boldly approached me on the park bench, twitching his nose in annoyance when he realized I had no food. I saw Anna over by a swan’s nest. She was taking photos of the little newly hatched swans that looked like little fur balls with beaks. I hadn’t even noticed the nest, so I walked over to take a look and say hello to Anna. Anna always offers a warm hug, and on a cold day it certainly was appreciated. The small lakeside bar was just opening and Anna asked if they had hot chocolate. We ordered two. Brian, as usual, was late for his own meeting. When we were just about done with our hot chocolates, he wandered over to the dock and put down his miniature marquee.
I explained to him that I planned to paddle out on a second swan boat and follow them around while I sketched. Brian was quick to point out that if I paddled a swan boat alone I would just spin in circles. I needed a co-pilot. Brian and Anna made a few cell phone calls to see if there was anyone nearby who might be willing to paddle. They came up with nothing. Brian then decided to run to the far side of the lake along the path hoping to find someone at the Farmer’s Market who might be up for the task. It was easy to follow his progress since he was wearing his bright orange life vest. On the walk back he found Mark Hackaba, who looked just like a longshoreman with his blue coat, skull cap and gray beard. I suspect Mark was homeless, but what the heck he seemed up to the adventure.
Brian and Anna’s boat seemed to paddle much faster than ours did. It was a constant struggle to stay on the same side of them as they moved around the lake. The wind was blowing hard and would cause our boats to float off course. Mark was a trooper doing his best to keep us on course. I was sketching the whole time while paddling in an attempt to keep up with Brian and Anna. There are plenty of smudges and fingerprints on this sketch as I kept sticking my fingers in the wet paint. Anna was taking video the whole time with her iPhone and Brian stood up once, almost falling overboard to get a shot of me and my deck hand. The sketch might not be worthy of a major museum, but the experience required to get it? Priceless. This may be the most difficult sketch I have ever had to do!
McRae Art Studios Open House
I always love to sketch artists at work in their studios. So when I found out McRae Artist Studios in Winter Park was having an open house, I headed right on over. The first artist I visited was Dina Mack who is an abstract painter who also teaches a course called Destination Journal. Dina had a set of colored pencils that were made from tree branches and we debated for some time how they got the leads inside the pencils. It made sense for them to have drilled out the center then shoved the leads in, but the branches sere gently curved to a straight drill bit would have been useless. I decided they might have grafted the leads onto the sides of trees and let the branches grow around the leads, but that would take too much time. Another studio visitor wandered in and conjectured that the colored pencil leads might have been molten or liquid and allowed to dry, but that still doesn’t account for the hollow space needed to pour the liquid into. Quite simply, it is an unexplainable miracle.
After wandering around a bit I found that there was always a group of people standing outside the studio of Susan Bach. Susan is a potter who makes wonderfully ornate funeral urns and vases. She was demonstrating how she throws a pot on her potters wheel and she sometimes invited passers by to try the wheel for themselves. Hal Stringer, who I had met a few weeks before when he hosted an artists gathering at his home, decided he would give the potting wheel a try. He struggled with the clay at first, using a bit to much brute force to try and keep it centered on the wheel. Susan encouraged his to relax and close his eyes. Then with just his sense of touch he gently began to build the form. He did a fine job, and Susan placed his piece aside so she could fire it and glaze it later.
A crusty old fisherman who used to be a captain of a fishing boat on the Bearing Sea near Alaska stopped to watch Susan work for a while. He told her about how he was the only captain who had an all woman crew in the cold arctic waters. This is a fine example of artists and patrons sharing and learning from each other. This was a fabulous event where it was possible to see artists as they work. I hope the McRae Studios continues this tradition.
Yow Dance
Shortly after getting back from Pennsylvania, I went to a performance by Yow Dance at Seminole State College of Florida. Yow dance is Orlando’s “Traditional modern dance company”, which sets it apart from the other dance companies in the area. The company tends to gravitate more towards dance elements that were seen in the early 20th century when Modern Dance was first founded as a rebellion against traditional ballet. Eric Yow pulls his inspiration from this era in his choreography, which often will echo the influence of the founding pioneers of Modern Dance, such as Martha Graham and Paul Taylor. He also looks to one of his favorite choreographers of present day, Mark Morris. The style of Yow Dance has been described as “classical” and “traditional” in comparison to other companies.
Throughout his career, Eric has performed with various companies around the country. Including; the Martha Graham Ensemble, David Hochoy’s Dance Kaleidoscope and Pascal Rioult. He takes stock in what he has learned and melds it with the stories he is compelled to tell through dance.
Seminole State College of Florida’s presentation of Spring Into Dance was a very special opportunity for Eric to showcase his work with Yow Dance. Seven pieces were showcased during this run of performances. They included the premieres of Summer Suite and Tango of Ember, along with a personal and moving solo performed by Eric, himself, entitled, The Fisherman. And though Yow Dance is only in the middle of its second season, audience favorites have emerged from previous performances. Compromising Raven and Tabula Rasa are back after receiving rave reviews during Yow Dance! and the Thang Dao Contemporary Dance Festival in New York City. Other new works will be performed as well that will depict Eric’s light-hearted and humorous side.
While sketching this performance, I noticed a dancer collapse in the wings. A stage hand went over to her to see if she was OK. As other dancers exited the stage they clustered around the fallen dancer to offer their support. No one in the audience could see this scene unfold, but I was up in a balcony seat which looked straight into the wings. I got an e-mail from David Mooney that night informing me that, although there was some concern, the dancer was alright.
The performances were at times light hearted and sometimes lyrical and mystical. I stopped sketching to watch the dance I had seen rehearsed several weeks ago. With the addition of strong orange lighting against the dark stage, the scene became mesmerizing. I feel so privileged to watch a performance like this develop over time.