Fringe: The Light Bringer

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The Light Bringer is a one woman Fringe show about an Arab family coming to America and finding the American dream.

I thought I might be sketching the performer seated beside the lantern but Laila Lee immediately jumped up and related her tale with endless enthusiasm.

She was a young girl when her family immigrated to America. She loved discovering American culture which conflicted with her parents wanting to hold onto traditional ways. She truly had the energy of a 12 year old as she discovered American music and fashion.

Around her neck was a long shining yellow scarf. It turned out that scarf was actually a hijab which should be worn around a woman’s head. In high school she wore it as a bandanna to look cool.

Her desire to blend in and accept American fashion came head to head with her fathers ideas of what would be good for her. He wanted to marry her off to save her from becoming an American slut. Laina had to choose between her family or becoming who she felt she needed to become. As another act of rebellion she started taking acting classes which lead to her eventually taking the stage today and I am glad she did. There is a second show she has developed which takes off where this show left off. I for one desperately want to know more.

This was an amazing show brimming with energy. I give it 5 hijabs.

The Light Bringer is in the Blue Venue. It is rated 13 and up with a run time of 60 minutes. Tickets are $14,

Remaining show times:

  • Thursday May 23, 7:00pm
  • Saturday May 25, 9:20pm

Fringe: 1001 Red Flags (Shereen’s Version)

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I met Shereen Kassam at several Fringe Press preview shows and loved her back story so I had to see her show. 1001 Red Flags is a candid hilarious romp with equally candid views of American racism.

Shereen worked at Real Radio in Orlando which is a talk show station. Two talk show hosts kept teasing Shereen for not getting herself out there in the dating scene. They set up a dating game and invited men to come into the station to try an win a date with her.

Over 100 men applied but in the end she had to pick between three contestants. One was an a-hole of a jock who simply bragged about how long he could last in bed. Another wanted to get her knocked up immediately. The third was a fireman who said he had a steady income and would support her career. She picked the fireman.

Red flags started popping up immediately that hinted at the fact that they did not belong together. She was a bit drunk on the first date and didn’t want to be alone so she ignored the signs. She talked about just wanting to meet a guy with good insurance. As a freelance artist I can relate to that. Two doctors I have used have left the practice and my last doctors phone line was disconnected. Doctors ghost patients worst that any would be date.

In one stand up comedy show in Central Florida Shereen mentioned in her act that she was Muslim. After the show she was actually physically assaulted by a woman from the audience. American hatred and isolationism runs deep. All Shereen wants to do is make people laugh and she does that in spades.

She loves sneakers and wore a different pair during each section of the show. She had one pair that was absolutely gorgeous with vibrant rainbow springtime colors. I admire that obsession though I only wear earth tone hiking boots anywhere I go.

At one point Shereen was joking about the wonder and joy of uncircumcised penis’s. She might not have gotten along with her boyfriend, but she loved his penis. That started up a discussion in the audience members directly in front of me. Rather than ignore them, or heckle them, Shereen joined in their discussion to find out the guy was bragging about his penis. A mom seated directly in front of me was offering her opinions and mentioned off hand that her daughter was seated beside her. It was a hilarious unscripted moment you only get in live comedy theater. The hilarious discussion could have continued but Shereen managed to steer her show back on track.

I highly recommend this show. I love any performer who can share their life experiences so openly. It was a blast.

1001 Red Flags is in the Blue Venue in the Shakes. It is rated 18 and up and runs for 55 minutes. Tickets are $15.

Remaining show times:

  • Saturday May 18, 9:50pm
  • Sunday May 19, 3:00pm
  • Monday May 20, 8:10pm
  • Tuesday May 21 6:45pm
  • Friday May 24, 10:20pm
  • Sunday May 26, 9:40pm

At the Table with Keith Brown

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The Fringe show, At the Table with Keith Brown is being performed in the huge Silver Venue in the Orlando Family Theater. This magic show features intimate slight of hand card tricks best observed close up. Four folding chairs were on stage and four audience members were invited on stage to watch the magic up close and personal.

The rest of the audience got to see the magic through multiple cameras. One camera was aimed at Keith, while another was aimed down on the table.

Since I was sketching, I am not the best person to try and catch how the tricks were done. I just trusted through audience reactions that there was some pretty stunning tricks being performed.

Keith told a story of a trip he went on with his family as a teen. He was still honing his magic skills, when someone in a bar approached with a card trick intending to get a free drink with a bet. He didn’t know he was trying to con a magician. Of course the young Keith won every time.  Soon a crowd had gathered and people hooted and hollered every time the young Keith guessed right.

Some people believe in magic and some don’t. I am in the camp that there is magic to be seen every day. You just have to be looking for it, and in my case, I need to sketch it to prove that it exists. I was amazed and awestruck many times during this show. I give the show five ace of spades.

At the Table is rated for all ages and runs 60 minutes. Tickets are $15.

Remaining show times…

  • Saturday May 18, 9:30pm
  • Sunday May 19, 6:00pm
  • Tuesday May 21, 7:55pm
  • Thursday May 23, 8pm
  • Friday May 24, 9:05pm
  • Sunday May 25, 1;05PM

 

COVID Dystopia: I Can’t Breath

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The shot, I Can’t Breath, from COVID Dystopia has the camera panning downward. I added flames shooting off of the building but they are only visible for a fraction of a second.

A depth map helps make the scene appear somewhat dimensional. I could animate protestors waving their iPhone around, but I don’t think that is needed.

The sign is based on an actual protest sign at the time. Today, protestors at college campuses around the country are still wearing masks.

When arresting students police are ripping the masks off, they claim it is so that the students arrested can be seen by the media. Police have suffered more that most professions from COVID. When you have been infected so often, and brain cells have fused,  you want to share the suffering.

In North Carolina a law is being passed to ban masks in public settings. A university banned people from wearing masks to a commencement ceremony. Being able to breath clean air should be a basic human right, but those in power seem intent on making sure we all die either from the initial infection or the resulting complications. It will be cheaper to make sure people die before they start to collect Social Security.

People think they are immune, but they are not. Each repeat infection increased the chances of Long COVID which can completely disable a person for the rest of their life. How many millions of disabled people are needed before we decide to clean the air.

COVID Dystopia: Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

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The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse shot from COVID Dystopia has the flames animated. There is a fast pan from right to left slowing down towards blind justice.

The fifth horseman also tilts back a bit but that is hardly noticeable with everything else going on. I could pump the fists up in the air, but that might distract from looking at the horsemen. I created some nice distortion in the smoke rising as well. I consider the shot complete.

Tonight I will begin sketching Fringe shows. The next week should be filled with reviews as I sketch each show in turn.

If there are any show producers who would like me to sketch a tech rehearsal, let me know. I plan to be sketching multiple shows every day and I will not have time on my end to reach out. Shows that reach out to me always get top priority for a sketch and write up.

I haven’t sketched at Fringe for the last several years due to COVID. With COVID levels low compared to the insane peaks, it is time for me to get back in the theaters and sketch my heart out.

I plan to sketch digital this year, so the drawings will be like the film stills but rougher, since a sketch has to be finished in an hour rather than a day.

COVID Dystopia: MFers Explode

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In this scene from COVID Dystopia, the Zeros fly by rather fast and one drops a COVID shaped bomb. At the cut to the next scene the bomb explodes. The audio of the bomb being released and whistling downward is rather rough at this point. here is an audible click in the audio as well that I hope can be fixed.

When viewing the film at the Cleveland International Film Festival, l got to hear the surround sound audio for the first time. I was hoping to notice the sound coming at me at times from the back of the theater, but I didn’t hear that.

The song audio is in stereo which means the lyrics and the instruments are locked on the track together. My sound guy in Georgia tried splitting the stereo track between the speakers at the front of the theater and the back of the theater. The people making the Digital Content Package (DCP) felt that was a bad idea since people seated in between speakers in the large theater would hear the same lyrics from in front and behind. Since sound travels relatively slow, they might hear the same lyrics twice and the words would become gabled.

Lyrics should come out from a speaker right behind the movie screen and the instruments could come from any of the other 4 speakers. I am in touch with the song composer, Andy Matchett and trying to see if the original tracks for the song exist. Justin Beckler who did the production, mixing and engineering for the song hopefully has that audio on a hard drive somewhere. If so we could create a much better surround sound mix. A solid sound design for the film in surround sound is the final step to seeing the film complete. Most Film Festivals will still not want to project the film since they are proud to have returned to packing theaters in a rush to “Normal”.

COVID Dystopia: Wanna Watch the MFers

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This shot from COVID Dystopia, was fist created when bars and restaurants first reopened after the “lock-down”. America was never really locked down. People found every excuse to get out and about.

Numbers are low right now though in America the baseline is always higher than any where else in the world. I always mask indoors with a n–95 or KN-95 and I sill refuse to pack into a tight indoor crowd.

In England, a new variant, called KP-2 is taking over from JN-1. The spike in cases is astonishing. It is the single largest rise in COVID positivity in over two years. This last week saw 2 54% rise in cases. If that continues the following week then this will be the largest wave in over two years.

The variant is being found to be very immune and vaccine evasive. It will be hopping the pond soon and no one is watching. this one effects the lungs and heart. So by late May or early June expect that wave to be hitting America. I will refrain from indoor dining for some time.

In this shot the animation consists of the masked hazmat wearing bartender leaning forward and placing a drink on the bar. With that action and all the flames, I think there is plenty of action in the shot.

In the following weeks I am putting lots of time into painting the Orlando Shakes posters for next season, so animation is on hold. I had an evening off this week, and thought about going out to do a sketch on location, but I couldn’t stop myself from working on the posters.

SELF

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SELF presented by ARTiko Espacio Creativo was performed in the black box theater at the Orlando Family Stage, 1001 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL. Actor, producer, Stephen Lewis told me about the amazing work this dance company is doing. He put me in touch with producer Alexander Rivero and we arranged for me to get in and do a sketch.

I arrived a touch early and a line had already formed to get into the lobby of the theater. I remained unmasked but kept 22 feet of distance from the crush of the crowd. It was heart warming to watch hugs as friends and family met.

Since I was keeping a distance, I was the last to enter the lobby. My mask went on just before entering.  when the doors opened. The crowd completely filled the lobby. I was luck because a portable air conditioner had been set up to try and cool the air. It blew right on my at 62 degrees. The doors behind me opened several times as late comers pressed in. Finally a woman with huge sun glasses in a white dress and clear raincoat slapped her hands against the glass entry door. This was dancer Scarlet Sans. People turned to look and hushed one another. On man in the crowd worked his way to the door to open it for her. This was unrehearsed since the stage hand next to me started to laugh. He was just being a gentleman. I suspect she would have spent much more time struggling to get in if it weren’t for him. Ah, the joy of live theater.

Raincoat woman entered and started exploring the floor with her umbrella. She now had everyone attention. She then pushed through the crowd which parted to make way for her. I lost sight of her from that moment on. There was a large monitor in the back of the lobby and an opportunity was lost by not projecting her performance in the monitor. I tried to see what she was doing by looking at iPhones which were raised high above peoples heads to take video. I couldn’t see much on the postage stamp sized screens but she was at a canvas. The entrance to the theater was covered with thin clear plastic and I started to fear that the whole show might happen in this tight confined lobby. The CO2 levels had to be skyrocketing.

Eventually the plastic was ripped away from the entrance to the theater and people started pressing forward. Since I was press, I was told to stand behind the bleachers. I was considering the sketch opportunities of sketching the show at butt level through a gap between two people when the director Carlos Dimas found me and ushered me to a much better view on the side lines of the theater.

The show was in Spanish. I picked up just a few phrases from my study on Duolingo. So rather than trying to understand the show through words, I had to trust the movement and raw emotions expressed to flavor the lines I put on the screen.  There was much angst with dancers curled up as in pain or huddled together as if comforting each other. Mauricio Vega opened the show lying on top of a box and then rolling onto the floor and coming to life. Dancer Katherine Dalis had a long moment where she stood motionless with the tassels hanging from her costume waving is the breeze.   Alexia Palacios caught my eye because she resembled Pocahontas and moved with the same stealth pride. There was an unbridled sensuality about the show with an underlying dark foreboding tone.

In the final scene the dancers knelled before water bowls and splashed water on their faces. I took this to mean they were washing away some of the angst and looking toward the future with hope.

COVID Dystopia: Watch the MFers Explode

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has flames that were hand animated. I layered some after Effects textures over the larger flames to add more movement to the painted effects. I was pleases with how the animation turned out on the torch flame. The ex-president also raises his arms a bit. His animation was always rather limited.

The waves do distort and move a bit but they are not fully animated. If I were to go back in and animate anything it would be the flags waving. I don’t want that motion to distract from the audience looking at the sinking ex-president.

Today I am off from teaching so I plan to spend the day painting Shakes Theater posters. For each poster I also have to paint a horizontal format version. I want to make sure all the vertical format posters are approved before I start that process which will double the amount of work I need to do.

 

 

Eye Doctor

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I have been having trouble seeing out of my left eye. When looking straight ahead I see a warped second image that arcs downward. When I look at something like a roof line, I see one as straight across and then a second that scoops down. My binocular vision then combines those two images to come up with a sort of jagged edge.

As a freelancer I pay for Ambetter Heath insurance. About a year ago I got glasses from an ophthalmologist on Michigan Street. That doctor no longer takes my insurance. My general practitioner dropped my insurance as well.

I searched through the few eye doctors who do take my insurance and decided on Dr. Sandra Mauro. I researched her education, and she has been in the eye business her whole life. She website also stressed how the office is run with COVID precautions in mind. That however was old news. I was the only one masked. Her office is a small concrete block building with parking behind it. All the parking spots were taken but I was lucky that someone pulled out. It seems like everyone is loosing their sight.

The waiting room was full of moms and their kids. After filling out some paperwork I got my eye pressure checked and a doctors assistant used a bright light to view the inside of my eye. Doctor Mauro had me look through a series of lenses. I was shocked when I found my left eye could not read any of the letters she showed me. I explained that the letters arced downward and were blurry. I wore my mask through most of the procedure but at one point the mask was fogging up the lens, so I pulled it down for that procedure.  She put drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils. When she left I sketched some of the equipment in her office.

She asked me to look at a grid and I could see the whole grid which was good she said. At least I don’t have cataracts. Then she repeated the procedure of s shining a bright light into my eye. Her assessment is that I have a swollen macula.  Essentially the back of my eyeball is caving inwards. There is also a “floater” in my left eye and I was surprised to find out my right cornea has a scar. She didn’t have the equipment needed to do any more tests, so she refereed me to a retina specialist.

My eyes are a mess. Possible treatments include pills to reduce the swelling, shots into the eye, laser or scalpel surgery to remove the swollen tissue. I am fascinated at the thought of having fluorescent dye shot into my veins to see how the blood flows into my eye. The thought of someone coming at my eye with a knife is terrifying. I am thinking a pirate patch might be enough. Even a cyclops can be an artist.