Callbacks

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Callbacks told the story of Mike Rossi (Danny Baynard) and Terry Stein (Jay T. Becker), two aging actors whose careers lead them into the “small world” of theme park acting. They played the parts of Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the explorers who forged their way through the Louisiana Territory. Over the course of the years performing the same show over and over, they find the value of friendship and learn that life doesn’t have to end in a theme park dressing room, if they’re lucky.

Based on over 11 years of experience as a theme park actor, writer Thom Mesrobian crafted a knowing and hilarious valentine to actors and anyone who’s every wondered what goes on behind the castle doors.

Catie Walsh (Sarah Lockhard) as Sacagawea unwittingly became a love interest when Terry became infatuated with her. She smartly avoided love in the workplace. Filled with heart, humor and romance, “Callbacks” delivers an inside look at the people who make theme parks some of the happiest places on Earth. Mike Rossi was adamant about always going to auditions but Terry Stein grew complacent with his role in the theme park show. When the show was shut down Mike bounced to a new position quickly while Terry found it hard to find a new role. Mike ended up rising up to a managerial position and when he bumped into Terry he took him under his wing.

I enjoyed the show. It reminded me of working for Disney as an animation artist for 10 years. The studio was started in trailers set up in the theme park parking lot and during the internship I could see cast entering their dressing trailers next door. All day, I could hear guests screaming as they plummeted down in the Tower of Terror.

The show was directed by Mark Hartfield, former show director at Universal Studios.

“Callbacks” featured original incidental music composed by Ben Shepler. Costumes were by Cristina Hartfield and the production Manager was Tonya Mesrobian. Stage manager was Sarah Moening.

Mark Your Calendars! Thought this show isn’t part of the Winter Fringe Mini-Fest, I thought I would remind you that Mini-Fest is coming! It will run from January 10 to 13, 2019. A Winter Mini-Fest button is $3. A pass to 5 shows is $65. A show ticket and button are needed to get into any show. This 5 Pass includes admission to 5 shows during the 2019 Winter
Mini-Fest (WMF).  This is a $10 savings over the regular price of 5 WMF
tickets.

Unused allocations are non-transferable and non-refundable.  This pass is valid for the 2019 WMF, January 10th – January 13th. This pre-paid 5 pass does not guarantee entrance to a show.  You will
need to redeem your allocations through the box office to receive a
ticket to the specific performance you have selected. Quantities are limited, get yours today!

FOX Station

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Pam Schwartz was asked to go into the FOX News Station for an interview about an exhibit at the Orange County Regional History Center. The exhibit was Things come apart which featured photos by Todd McLellan that showed everyday objects like smart phones and lawnmowers blown apart to show all the parts.

Things Come Apart has ended and has been replace by Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code. This is another Smithsonian traveling exhibition but the History Center staff has created a section that uses the Genome to tell something about Central Florida history. Five Central Florida celebrities were asked to give DNA samples and Pam used that information and online resources to research their family trees. Mayor Buddy Dyer found out that is family has ties back to the Revolutionary War making him and his sons eligible for admission into the Sons of the American Revolution. Former Senator Geraldine Thompson found a relative she never knew about. A man had been trying to find his father for many years. When Geraldine’s DNA went online it became clear that he and she were related. Her brother was this man’s father. Unfortunately her brother has died so this man can never meet his father in person, but he has an aunt he has never met, and they have stories to share.

The TV cameras had just one operator. For the most part the cameras were fully automated wandering from mark to mark like Roombas. The cameraman didn’t seem to have much to do. An hour of waiting, and a quick recording session resulted in just moments on the final cut shown on TV.

Patron’s Pick for Murder at Fringe

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Mallory Sabetodos Vance produced Patron’s Pick for Murder which was a truly interactive “who done it” at the 2018 Fringe Festival. Patrons met outside the Firehouse Museum behind the Shakes and it was in this pre-show quay that the cast mingled with patrons. The mystery was already a foot. Michelle Papaycik played the part of an actress in a show called “Michelle and Lars go to Mars“. This was clearly a spoof of some of the Fringe’s worst possible shows. Rabid fringe fans mingled with actresses and self appointed theater critics. A simple 2 by 4 door frame was the entrance to the main staging area up on a slight hill under a huge live oak tree. I focused my attention on the line of patrons as they mingled with the cast.

Bikini Katie was the guest star for this press preview and she played up the part of being a true diva. A sip from her water bottle resulted in her immediate demise from poison. After this the patrons could interact with the cast asking questions to try and surmise who had killed Katie. Strangely enough you could even ask the corpse for her thoughts, which is a real luxury for a detective to have. As I was sketching, Pam Schwartz was working the crime scene to try and solve the mystery. She is a born detective, but she was not able to solve this crime. The final motive when reveled was quite simple, but I will keep it to myself should you ever have a chance to experience this show for yourself. The show becomes more exciting when you ask the right people the right questions. You would get out of the show what you put into it.

Winter Garden Farmer’s Market

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The Winter Garden Farmers Market (104 S Lakeview Ave, Winter Garden, FL
) is open every Saturday from 9:00am to 2pm in beautiful Historic Winter Garden.  It has quickly grown into a community staple and offers a large selection of vendors from locally grown produce and baked goods, to homemade soaps and fresh flowers. Dogs are welcome.

Enjoy live music every Saturday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. There are Holiday Carriage Rides through downtown Winter Garden on December 8, 15 and 22, 2018 from 5pm to 9:30pm  starting at the Winter Garden Downtown Pavilion.

Other Winter Garden Holiday Events to watch for this season…

December 7

A Merry Winter Garden Light

Show at City Hall, 6 to 9 pm

Holiday Music – Friday’s on

the Plaza, 7 to 9 pm

  

December 8

A Very Merry Farmers Market

with Santa, 9 am to 2 pm

Holiday Music and Horse Drawn

Carriage Rides, 5 to 9 pm

A Merry Winter Garden Light

Show at City Hall, 6 to 9 pm

Sleigh Ride with Santa! 6 to 9 pm

December 14

Holiday Music – Friday’s on the

Plaza, 7 to 9 pm

December 15

A Very Merry Farmers Market

with Santa, 9 am to 2 pm

Holiday Music and Horse Drawn

Carriage Rides, 5 to 9 pm

Holiday Movie Night

(Carolers Pre-Show), 6 to 9 pm

A Merry Winter Garden Light

     Show at City Hall, 6 to 9

 

December 16

Holiday golf cart parade, 4 to 7 pm 

December 21

Holiday Music – Friday’s on

the Plaza, 7 to 9 pm 

December 22

A Very Merry Farmers Market

with Santa, 9 am to 2 pm

Holiday Music and Horse Drawn

Carriage Rides, 5 to 9 pm

A Merry Winter Garden Light

Show at City Hall, 6 to 9 pm

December 28

Holiday Music – Friday’s on

the Plaza, 7 to 9 pm

A Christmas Carol at Orlando Shakes

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1 of 5 Prints SOLD

I have seen A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens many times so I am a bit jaded, however this production far exceeded my expectations. The set felt like an attic and there was a staircase at the front of the stage that heightened that effect. The play began with the sounds of an excited party below the stage, and then the actors walked up from that excitement onto the stage.

Steven Paterson did an amazing job as the crotchety Scrooge. Paul Bernando got to perform some very angst filled scenes as the chain covered Bob Marley’s Ghost. Amazingly he also performed as the kindly ghost of Christmas Present. Many actors got to play up to seven different characters and I didn’t even notice. Tiny Tim, played by Sebastian Cranford had the thinnest legs, making him a perfect fit for the part.

The Shakes really seems to be stepping up their game when it comes to effects in their staged productions. A ghostly door knocker was represented by a framed photo in a spotlight held by an actor from behind. When the ghostly knocker came to life the actor pressed his face into the mesh of the canvas creating a ghostly three dimensional apparition. The ghost of Christmas future was a huge hooded puppet that moved around the stage freely. A four poster bed rose from a trap door and the curtains floated down from above.

More important than the flash however was the emotional heart of the production. This is a great show to warm even the coldest heart this holiday season. It is nice to see innocence and kindness win over a hard heart.

Performances of A Christmas Carol continue through December 30, 2018 at the Orlando Shakes (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803) in the Margeson Theater.

Tickets are $30 to $53.

Smallest Gallery in Orlando

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Trevor Fraser, an entertainment reporter for the Orlando Sentinel put out a call for artists on Facebook for what he called the Smallest Gallery in Orlando. The gallery consisted of a small strip of wall between two doors. I decided to incorporate my 12th Night Orlando Shakespeare Theater sketch to fill the space and my submission was approved.

Trevor and his wife Lindsay Fraser decided to host a party where guests could paint in the sketch. I arrived about an hour early and projected my sketch on the wall and then painted in the dark line work. I Did a bit of painting on the central Shakespearean actor and then relaxed along with Pam and watched as people finished the painting. f course everyone had their own style so the disparate areas didn’t entirely tie in together but that is part of the charm.

All the food served was part of a “Beet Off” between he and Lauren Delgato. Everything had beets in it, Beet hummus, beet salad, beet cupcakes. It is amazing the variety of tastes you can get from a humble beet. It was a fun afternoon.

This little mural wasn’t quite finished by the end of the party, so I am not sure if it ever was completed. There was some talk of using this sketch in the Orlando Sentinel for an article about the gallery, but there was no budget so I saved it for this site. The Noor Salman trial was just beginning and unfortunately the Sentinel also didn’t buy any of the 70 or so courtroom sketches I did for that trial. Only CNN, Channel 9 and Channel 6 and the Orlando Weekly used some of those sketches. March was a crazy month.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for December 1 and 2, 2018

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Saturday December 1, 2018

10am to Noon Free. Orlando Shakes Volunteer Orientation. Orlando Shakes 812 E Rollins St, Orlando, Florida 32803. Please join us for Orlando Shakes’ Volunteer Orientation – a perfect way
to learn more about volunteering. Returning volunteers will brush-up on
the basics and changing policies; new volunteers will learn what they
need to know to join the team.

During this free orientation, all
our volunteers will learn how to get involved, take a brief tour of the
Theater, receive an overview of benefits and policies, and enjoy some
light breakfast food and drinks!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Breakfast & Check-In: 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Orientation: 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM

Questions: 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM

8pm to 10pm Free. Shuffleboard at Orlando’s Beardall Courts.  Orlando’s Beardall Courts 800 Delaney Ave Orlando FL. 1st Saturday of every month.

10:30pm to 12:30am Free but get food and or drink. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL.



Sunday December 2 2018

10am to Noon. Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources.

Noon to 3pm Donation based. Music at the Casa. George Weremchuk and the Hippocrene Saxophone Quartet. Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, 656 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789. Members of the public are invited to visit the historic home museum, listen to live music and take a tour
of our historic home museum and the James Gamble Rogers II Studio by
trained docents.

2pm to 4pm. Museum admission applies. Adults $10,  Seniors (60+) $8, College Students with ID $8, Students (K-12) $3, Members and children 4 and under are free. Meet and Greet Jan Kaláb. Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, 633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789. Contemporary Prague artist Jan Kaláb is known internationally for his
innovative 3-D graffiti. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1978 at a time when
graffiti was a form of protest in Eastern Europe, he made a name for
himself in the 1990s as the country was opening itself up to Western
influences. Kaláb later became known across Europe as “Cakes” and took
his art to New York in 2000, making an impression while painting train
cars alongside other well-known graffiti artists. Since 2007 Kaláb has
experimented with abstractions on canvas, earning him solo exhibitions
in Argentina, Germany, Paris, London, New York, and Miami. The Polasek
Museum exhibit will include sculptures, 3-D canvases, select new works,
and an original installation.

Corsets and Cuties Holiday Kick-off at the Venue

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Pam Schwartz and I went to a dress rehearsal for Corsets and Cuties at The Venue (511 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803). With all the development in Ivanhoe Village, the Venue’s days are numbered. It will soon be demolished to make way for more development. This rehearsal was for a Christmas Holiday Kick-off. This Burlesque Cabaret troupe is not for the faint of heart, but for those with a sense of humor and adventure.

The Christmas tree was fluffed and decorated with care and the Cuties marquee was hung by the boys. An opening number featured Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. All the dancers wore red antlers and pranced with innocent charm. Rudolf came with a glowing red nose until it too was stripped and left to the wayside to allow for some flowing gyrations.

Lady Jaimz explained that they had bought some Disney Costumes at a Lake Howell High School sale, so everyone had matching green holiday garb for the final number. A dancer wasn’t at the rehearsal, so We didn’t see every act but what ensued was the usual chaos and fun anarchy.

The December 1st performance promises a chance to start the season with some fun and teasing with Corsets and Cuties.
Doors and bar open at 9pm.
Showtime 10pm.
Special gifts from sponsor Premier Couples Superstore.

Tickets are $18 by pre-order or at the door. 

Stetson Mansion for the Holidays

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I arranged to sketch the Stetson Mansion (1031 Camphor Lane, DeLand, FL 32720) because they decorate the place for the Christmas Holiday Season. The Stetson Mansion built in 1886 is part of Florida’s First Luxury Estate and the
grandest home ever built in Florida before the 20th century. Built for famed hat maker and philanthropist
John B. Stetson, this winter retreat is Florida’s only richly detailed
mansion actually built in the “Gilded Age” which ended in 1899.

The
eclectic and unusual “High Victorian” architectural design not only had
the most advanced technology of its day, it also includes a variety of
complicated interior carvings, 16 patterns of the nation’s most rare and
intricate parquet wood floors and 10,000 panes of original leaded glass
windows. The understated decorations on the exterior are meant to just allow the architecture to shine. Inside is an entirely different story.

The 8th Annual Christmas Spectacular has the interior is ornately decorated for the holidays and has to be seen to be believed.  Holiday Home Tours continue through January 15th and need to be reserved online. I only had time for one sketch, so I didn’t sketch inside. Being part of tour would mean I wouldn’t have time to sketch in any one room anyway.

I started sketching as the last tour of the day went inside. I was told I had 90 minutes before the tour let out. I worked hard to catch the fading light. After the sun set I discovered that my iPad attracted mosquitoes. They swarmed around my hands as I sketched and tapped against the illuminate glass screen. When they started buzzing in my ears, I lost patience and had to run for the car to escape. A few got inside the car with me and I punched at the windshield to crush them. I am sure I got the last one out as I opened the car window as I was driving and he got sucked outside. That didn’t stop me from itching on the entire drive back.

Brian Feldman’s William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

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It is a tale

Told by an idiot,

full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

I went to sketch a one man performance of Macbeth at the Walt Disney Amphitheatre at Lake Eola Park (99 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801). Several smart phones were set up on tripods to live stream the performance. The program came complete with a set of ear plugs which was a mystery at first. Brian Feldman took to the band shell stage covered in protective gear, another mystery. He held a script and was about to perform the play solo acting out every part. Brian made his acting debut in 1991 in Macbeth on the Lake Eola stage as a child actor.

Actors consider it bad luck to say Macbeth in a theater. Neil Barnes from Essex explained it this way, “Theatrical folklore has it
that, as revenge for Shakespeare’s inclusion of a number of accurate
spells within the play, a coven of witches cursed it for all eternity.
Whether or not you believe this rationale is irrelevant, though, because
the ill-fortune associated with the play is backed up by numerous
examples over its four hundred year history
Initially, King James banned the play for five years because he had such
a dislike for it, but there are also more bloody examples: there was an
unpleasant and lethal riot after one showing in nineteenth century New
York and one Lady Macbeth fell off the front of the stage while
sleepwalking, dropping nearly twenty feet. Even Olivier wasn’t free from
the curse, as one of his performances was enlivened by a falling stage
weight which landed only inches from him mid-performance.
Given the weight of evidence, it’s not surprising that actors are given
to indulge in a little superstition.” Others explained that if tickets for a particular play were not selling well, the theater owners would end the run and replace it with the ever popular Macbeth. Either way, you will never hear an actor utter “Macbeth” inside a theater.

Granted the Lake Eola Band Shell is outside, but years ago this is where Shakespeare plays were performed before the Shakes moved into the theater in Lock Haven Park. I saw a production here when I first moved to Orlando back in 1994.

Brian began his performance. The first word he uttered was, “Macbeth” followed by “Macbeth” and then “Macbeth”. He held the full script in his hands and read the entire play replacing each word with “Macbeth” and trying to maintain the emotion and relevance of each line. He was tempting fate with each word he uttered. At times Macbeths got tangled together as he trued to say them in quick succession. Now the ear plugs made sense. Hearing this endless litany of Macbeths could drive a person mad. I might have missed a few of the plot twists as I focused on my sketch.

The play in all runs about 69 minutes and I was chucking to myself the entire time despite the tragedy being acted out on stage. Irene Pynn produced and directed the production. As she said in the program, “The process was more conceptual than straightforward. Less ‘Give me a stronger emphasis on the third line’ and more, ‘How many people will curse us for doing this?'”