It’s a Wonderful Life at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

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Frank Capra‘s iconic holiday film,”It’s a Wonderful Life” was adapted for the stage by Joe Landry.  The theater lobby was abuzz with activity when we arrived at the theater.  A newspaper boy was hawking his papers, then a man in uniform wandered through the crowd announcing that there was a telegraph for Al, then two girls in uniform offered popcorn.  The time and place were the sound stage at WOST radio in NYC in 1946.  The stars of the radio play were announced and screaming teens rushed them for autographs.

After George Bailey (Duke Lafoon) wishes he had never been born, an
angel (Brandon Roberts) is sent to earth to make George’s wish come true.
George starts to realize how many lives he has changed and impacted, and
how they would be different if he was never there. George dreamed big and wanted to escape from the small town of Bedford Falls.  On graduation night in 1928, George talks to Mary Hatch, (Sarah French) who has
had a crush on him from an early age. They are interrupted by news of
his father’s death. George postpones his travel plans in order to sort
out the family business, the Bailey Brothers’ Building and Loan.

Georges future looks bleak when his absent minded uncle looses $8000 which he was supposed to deposit at the bank.  Today that amount would be equal to $100,000.  When George contemplated suicide, he was saved by his guardian angel. Most actors play several parts in the radio play so in some ways it is better not to see the actors since it can get confusing as to which part they might be playing at any given time.  Since I was sketching, I experienced the play by listening as I sketched. I didn’t catch all the actors on stage, but focused on George and Mary as they fell in love. 

The story is a Christmas classic and it was very fun to step back in time to become part of a 1940s radio studio audience.  The applause sign triggered just the right amount of applause when needed.  I wish I had been closer to the sound technician who slammed doors and walked shoes in the sand to recreate the sound of walking in fresh snow.

If you need a heart warming classic to get you in the mood for the holidays, then “It’s a Wonderful Life” is your ticket.

“It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”

By Joe Landry | Original Music and Musical Arrangements by Kevin Connors. 

Orlando Shakes – November 29 – December 30, 2017

For tickets and more information, visit http://ow.ly/73BW30fprCM  

The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.

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The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told by Paul Rudnick and Directed by Tommy Wooten, is now playing at Footlight Theater at Parliament House (410 North Orange Blossom Trail Orlando FL.)  Tim Evanicki productions backed out of producing the play, so the cast and crew are now producing the show themselves.  This same show appeared on the Footlight Stage way back in 2001 and was the first published play to appear on the stage. 

A stage manager, (Beth Marshall), headset and prompt book at hand, brings the house lights to half, then dark, and cues the creation of the world. Throughout the play, she’s in control of everything. In other words, she’s either God, or she thinks she is. Beth brought just the right amount of arrogant and bored attitude to the part.  I was laughing out loud through most of the first act. 

Act One recounts the major episodes of the Old Testament, only with a twist: Instead of Adam and Eve, our lead characters are Adam (Brett McMahon) and Steve (Tripp Karrh), and Jane (Sara Jones) and Mabel (Camilla Camilo), a lesbian couple with whom they decide to start civilization (procreation proves to be a provocative challenge). My sketch might imply full frontal nudity, but Adam and Steve wore tight bathing suits with fig leaves and then puppet floppy bits. A hilarious scene involves Adam talking to a seated Jane and his bits are hardly hidden by a loin cloth inches from her face

Act One covers the Garden of Eden, an ark, a visit with a highly rambunctious Pharaoh and finally even the Nativity. Along the way, Mabel and Adam invent God, but Jane and Steve are skeptical. This brings about the Flood, during which Steve has a brief affair with a rhinoceros and invents infidelity. No longer blissful, Adam and Steve break up only to be reunited as two of the wise men at the Nativity.

Act Two jumps to modern day Manhattan. Adam and Steve are together again, and Steve is HIV positive. It’s Christmas Eve, and Jane is nine months pregnant even though she always thought of herself as the butch one. The two women want to marry and want Adam and Steve to join them in the ceremony. A wheelchair-bound, Jewish lesbian Rabbi from cable access TV arrives to officiate. The ceremony is interrupted as Jane gives birth, and Steve confides to Adam that his medication isn’t working and that he’ll probably not survive much longer. Bound by their long life together, and the miracle of birth they’ve just witnessed, the two men comfort each other even though they know their remaining time together will be short.

THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD

by Paul Rudnick

Directed by Tommy Wooten

At Parliament House Footlight Theatre, 410 N. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32805

Fridays and Saturdays, December 1 – 22

Special Industry Night Performance on Monday, December 11.

All performances 7:00PM.

Tickets: $20 at phouse.ticketleap.com or 888-202-1708

Installing a Winch

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Pam‘s dad, Ron Schwartz repairs large farm equipment in Iowa. So when he has time off for Thanksgiving, he can’t resist tinkering and repairing his own equipment. One of the first things we did when we got to the family farm was to go out to the work shed and help Ron install the winch. At first he worked solo, but eventually he relied on his daughter for assistance. As Pam says, he has huge bear paws for hands and the task involved getting some bolts lined up in a very tight space.

I started the sketch as Ron drilled holes in the winch support assembly he had custom built. Then he spent the rest of the time at the utility vehicle so I switched gears mid-sketch. The task of installing the winch was harder than expected, giving me plenty of time as father and daughter worked on the install together. In random spots around the work space, deer skulls could be found in buckets or mounted to light bulbs. Pam’s niece Destiny sat behind the steering wheel of the Rhino utility vehicle the entire time, as if she would drive off the second the install was complete.

After the install, Pam took me on a spin around the 16 acre property. There is a pond in the ravine and some steep hills that I felt might tip the vehicle over if approached at the wrong angle. The lake had a thin sheet of ice over its surface and the wind made the ice sing. There was what looked like a stabalized stick shift bar and grip on the roll bar that Ron referred to as “OH shit!” grips. I clutched those grips tight the whole time.

Ron needs the utility vehicle and winch to haul hunted deer back to the work space where they can be dressed and cut up as a winter supply of meat. The deer is field dressed where it is shot, leaving all the stink and weight of the innards of the animal behind. After being brought back the deer is skinned, hanged in a cooler for a few days before being processed. Each evening Ron would go out to shoot a deer but they eluded him all Thanksgiving. One faced him and was just six paces from being shot. That buck eluded the bullet by standing strategically behind a tree before bounding off just in time.

The Winter Wonderettes at TheaterWorks

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I went to a final dress rehearsal for “Winter Wonderettes,” written by Roger Bean and presented by TheatreWorks Florida at the the Davenport Community Campus  (8 W Palmetto St, Davenport, Florida 33837).
This is the second production in the inaugural season of Theatre Works Florida. Scott Cook founded this new production company and I am always excited to see a new cultural hub pop up like a mushroom in the woods of Florida.

The Wonderettes offered a scrumptious musical confection of holiday hits. This seasonal celebration finds the girls entertaining at the annual Harper’s Hardware Holiday Happening but when Santa turns up missing, the girls must use their talent and creative ingenuity to save the holiday party! Featuring great ’60s versions of holiday classics such as “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Run, Rudolph, Run,” and “Winter Wonderland,” the result is, of course, fun and fabulous. This energetic and glittering holiday package is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

I felt self conscious going in to the rehearsal since I seem to have an unending cough. I had to step out in the second act because I needed to get a drink of water to stop my hacking. A hitch in the rehearsal came when one of the Wonderettes had an intense migraine so she had to be driven home, but the rehearsal must go on. I decided to sketch one of the Wonderettes twice to account for the missing actress. The assistant director or stage hand read her lines to fill out the full run through of the show.

This was a high energy production with the actresses in constant motion, dancing and singing with endless 60s kitch. In an interactive bit with the audience they asked “Who is the most famous elf singer of them all?” Pam Schwartz guessed correctly, which I think they didn’t expect, but it could very well happen with a full audience. The actresses seemed relaxed in the roles which required tons of energy. With the right audience this could be a hilarious night. Bring the whole family.

Fluffing the Christmas Tree.

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For Thanksgiving, Pam Schwartz and I traveled to her
parent’s home in Iowa.
Thanksgiving in the Schwartz home involves 25 or more relatives playing games
and having a huge Thanksgiving meal. Kids of all sizes run about and everyone
talks at the same time. After the big meal, everyone plays board and card games
at the kitchen table. The card game Canasta can last until three in the
morning. As I am writing this, a board game of Malarky has just begun. Everyone
has to come up with answers to little known facts, including reeling a story about why an octopus is thrown on the ice
during a playoff hockey league game. Three answers were made up and one answer was
correct.

The day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas tree is set up.
The family used to cut their own live tree but that tradition ended when two
mice were smuggled into the house within it. The artificial tree was
tightly bound and wrapped in a green drop cloth. Pam untied the multiple knots
and then set up the compressed mess of branches. Each branch had to be spread
and then fluffed so that all the needles were spread out. When tree was first
set up the trunk which is wrapped in a garland didn’t look very convincing, but
by the time Pam had the whole tree fluffed out, it looked reasonably real. She
also set up all the lights and hung tinsel. She has a very specific technique
in her tinsel hanging. Individual strands were hung creating an airy cascading
effect.

There is a family tradition that the tree came with strands of
Christmas lights already pre-hung, but one year Pam couldn’t take down the tree
because of her scheduled flight out of state. Her dad took down the tree that year and instead of remembering that the top two pieces of the tree don’t come apart, he ended up cutting off the strings
of lights in annoyance. It should be noted that he actively denies this family accusation.

Every year Pam’s eyes swell the next morning from the dust and the make of the tree branches. That doesn’t stop her from taking care of this
traditional chore. The rest of the family sits on the couch and watches or wander throughout the house with other decorations. A new
angel went on top of the tree this year since Pam destroyed the previous one attempting to retrofit it to a different light bulb. The new one has translucent violet and green
illuminated wings that sparkle.

10 X 10 Urban Sketch Workshop at the Orange County Regional History Center.

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One of the Orlando
Urban Sketching Workshops was held at the Orange County Regional History
Center. The lesson of this workshop was to focus on value and color without
much use of line. It was the same evening as another large event in town, so
turnout was down, but we made the best of it. There was also a wedding on the
ground floor, so we stayed in the exhibits on the top floors.

The Citrus Industry exhibition was where we started. The first sketch
was of a lifecast on a ladder picking oranges from a tree. There is a clear
advantage sketching a mannequin as opposed to a live model since it never
moves. I gave pointers on composition and then we all got to work. The goal of
the class was to finish two sketches with an emphasis on color and value.

Pam Schwartz, the History Center’s Chief Curator joined
us. She has done plenty of art in her past, so she fit right in. As we sat working, she noticed one of the
text panels in the Citrus Exhibit was missing a letter, so she touched it up.
The entire museum is going to be renovated with new exhibits in the upcoming year or two, so the museum as it looks today is a bit of an antique. New interactive
exhibits are on the horizon.

After sketching the citrus trees, we moved over to the pioneer cabin where two lifecast children were on the porch pulling taffy. This porch set up
was a good exercise in one point perspective and bold blocks of color. I
explained that the open window created a pool of light in which the main action
took place. The mural on the wall next to the cabin had a painting of a chicken
that was larger that the cows in the field. It is a strange touch that most
visitors probably don’t notice. When you take the time to sketch, however, such
strange size relationships become obvious.

Stir Fry.

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Not every sketch I do is of a big event. I am always
encouraging my art students to carry a sketchbook everywhere they go. As a
friend prepared stir fry, I did a quick sketch. The smaller the sketch, the
faster it can be created. Every sketch good or bad, finds its way to this site. It is an ongoing visual journal of my life. Even the most mundane moments become important when
you take the time to sketch them.

I am in the process now of creating an inventory of every
sketch done since Analog Artist Digital World was founded in 2009. So far over
3,000 sketches have been added to the spread sheet. My work is being appraised
as a joint asset in my divorce case, so everything must be accounted for. I also have
been told I can not sell my work since it is a joint asset.

Pecha Kucha at the Dr. Phillips Center of the Performing Arts.

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Pecha Kucha, which means chit chat in Japanese, is an evening of high speed series of presentations by local residents about a wide range of subjects. The talks are kept short because the Power Point Presentations can only consist of 20 slides. Presenters then only have 20 seconds to discuss each slide. In the past I had done one presentation myself and it is a challenge to edit back what can be presented. Rehearsals help in trimming the talks back. What remains is bare bones poetry.

The theme of the May 26th presentation was “We Need to Talk.” Billy Manes was a presenter on this evening. Billy was one of Orlando’s most dynamic and entertaining journalists. He says exactly what is on his mind. on this night he wore a grey suit, pink tie and a rainbow ribbon in memory of the Pulse Nightclub victims. His personal life story was instrumental in the fight for marriage equality for gay couples. Later this year, we were all shocked when he passed away.

One presentation involved picking people from the audience to give improvised presentations to 20 slides. The images were not related in any way and what people came up with to tie the slides together was hilarious.

Tisse Mallon and Jack Graham gave a joint presentation about living room theater. Jack performed on his guitar, which was a great way to tie up their presentation. One presenter talked about the Trump protests and the slide I liked the most had a protester holding a sign that said, “So bad even introverts are here.”

The next Pecha Kucha night, Volume 21, will be on December 1, 2017 at the Dr. Phillips Center of the Performing Arts (445 S. Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL 32801). The theme for the evening will be “Building a Better Man.” Performances will be at 6 PM and 9 PM. Tickets are available now. These community events tend to sell out. Trust me, it is a great way to discover what amazing things are happening in Orlando.

Third Thursday at Avalon Island.

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On every Third Thursday the downtown art galleries open for the beginning of new exhibitions. I often stop at The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801) since there is live music in the bar area. I started drawing the wrought ironwork surrounding the stage and then stopped half way through the process, realizing that the intricate pattern wasn’t adding anything to the sketch. I have
been doing that more and more lately, just leaving out what doesn’t interest me
and sometimes drawing what does interest me several times. This willingness to
change history has allowed me to complete sketches must faster.

Two children sat playing video games the entire time I
sketched. They were oblivious to the art around them, but the games employed
artists to help design the world in which they were playing. Headphones
further guaranteed that they were isolated in this virtual world. The music was
pleasant to sketch to. I had sketched these musicians before. The gallery
curator, Patrick Greene, is often at the bar serving drinks. The gallery doesn’t
get very crowded, so it is nice to sketch a set and then move on to see more
art downtown.

Art Opening at Maxine’s on Shine.

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Right before Valentine’s Day I went to Maxine’s on Shine (337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL 32803) for an art opening. The art for the evening was all predictably heart shaped. All of the canvases had a heart or several hearts as the center of interest for the composition. This local eatery has always supported local artists. I had a solo show there several years ago and it was a great experience. All of the nails used to hang the art are in place so hanging a show can take less than an hour. There is no careful measuring or aligning works along a line.  The artist was Ronda Richley. She paints with a heartfelt passion. Pieces are priced up to $12,000.

Artists were gathered around a table top showing their support for the art on the walls. The wine flowed and conversations flourished. Other heart art was by RV (Robin Van Arsdol), a local urban artist who had a book which featured his wor, along with renowned artists like Keith Haring. I flipped through the book, excited to see the graffiti art work from the booming 1980s.