Phantasmagoria

Posted on by Thor

I went to a dress rehearsal for Empty Space Theater Company’s, Phantasmagoria III in the Patron’s Room at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center. The circular room was magically transformed into a circus ring. Suspended below the circular dome was a circular screen which was used for projections. The rehearsal began with a 7PM fight choreography session. Even rehearsed at 1/4 speed, the sword fight was strangely menacing in the small space.

John DiDona, the director, then circled up all the actors to hold hands before a complete run through of the show. He told the cast, “Every story is important. We are dangerous, we have seen to much.” Someone shouted, “Merde!”, or was it “Murder? The room went dark as actors took their places. Two clowns in simple black suits began wrestling with boxes in the ring to comic effect. John let me know that this was the 13 minute pre-show that went on as the audience filtered in.

The Phantasmagoria cast tells some of the classic horror stories incorporating music, dance, puppetry and drama to sinister effect. The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe made great use of projections on the overhead screen with chipped wall paint patterns and then  giant eye as the narrator discussed the cold blooded, highly thought out plot to kill his neighbor, an old man. The whole cast recreated the sound of the heart with guttural verbalization. It was creepy. The Cold Embrace told the tale off an artist who fell in and out of love with a cousin. Heart broken, the cousin died and then returned to haunt the fickle artist, embracing him with her invisible cold fingers.

The dark show was filled with dancing skeletons, a giant bloodthirsty wolf and beings in the darkness that were hard to identify. The ringmaster was barefooted, because corpses are barefooted in the morgue, Brittany Wine explained. Characters at times stood behind me as they whispered their lines sending a chill down my spine. The circular room is intimate, small, with no room to escape. These were classic tales told with drama and effect. Now in it’s third year, the show keeps growing and evolving along with it’s characters, each of whom had a dark painful back-story.

When: October 12-31st,  8:30 p.m.

Venue: Lowndes Shakespeare Center, Patron’s Room

Address: 812 E. Rollins St.

Phone: (407) 328-9005

Web Site: http://www.redchairproject.com

Price: $20

Creative City Project

Posted on by Thor

Sarah Lockhard invited me to participate in a Creative City Project she was organizing in Lake Eola Park with Brie Hinman. The Creative City Project was birthed out of the belief that artists
can change a city for the better by making it a more beautiful,
meaningful and interesting place to live.

The original plan was for me to do a digital sketch projected live while Brie danced to a Tom Waits poem. Creative project have a way of morphing and we didn’t have any opportunity to rehearse, so I decided to simply sketch the dance event like any other event. Sarah told me the morning before that Brie would be dancing on the grassy peninsula beside the Japanese pagoda. I arrived a half an your early to start blocking in the composition.

Ducks, geese and swans populated the peninsula and the was bird droppings everywhere. I don’t think they had planned for this so I fired off a text to Sarah that simply said, “Bird Poop!” I found a spot near a tree stump and started sketching. I planned to put the dancers in when they arrived. The tree stump ironically had a brass plaque that said thee tree was planted in dedication to the patients that suffered from Cancer at Florida Hospital. That scarred stump was an odd form of education.

I finished the sketch and started populating it with geese. The dancers were late. I saw a girl on the dock next to the pagoda and I figured she was the dancer. The sky’s were overcast and it rained lightly several times but not hard enough to stop me. My sketch was finished when Sarah, Brie and Genevieve Bernard showed up. Genevieve set up a picnic blanket to relax and watch the dance. A small boom box was used to play the sound track from Amelie. Brie was dressed in a light flowing blue skirt and she flowed with the music. It began to rain and Sarah joined the dance with her umbrella. I quickly sketched them into the scene. The rain grew heavier but Brie continued to dance. It was a magical moment.  Soon my umbrella started leaking sending large drops onto the watercolor. II had to pack up and go in order to save the sketchbooks from getting permanently damaged. as I left, Brie and Sarah were still spinning in the torrential rain. Some creative endevours last but a moment.

Disney Security Kiosk

Posted on by Thor

Before leaving Orlando, performance artist, Brian Feldman wanted to produce a second performance of Thor sketches the Audience for the United Arts, Arts Fest in February . He had the idea of using the theater at Disney University as the venue. I drove down to Disney to meet him and Tommy Wingo. Tommy handled all the tech details the first time around with the projectors and screens. I changed into my nice pants since I figured I needed to fit the Disney look as we met the theater promotions folks.

When I got to the Disney Institute the security guard at the entrance asked me for my driver’s license. I searched my pants and wouldn’t you know, my wallet wasn’t there. I had left it in the old pair of pants. Fay, the security guard couldn’t let me onto the Disney property. I sat with her in her little security kiosk as I called Brian and the Disney folks to try and get in. I think one of the promotions people went out to the wrong kiosk to get me. Security has been this tight ever since 9/11 and I just might be a terrorist. I know I’m an anarchist.

The theater is absolutely gorgeous with plush theater seats
and an old school look, reminding me of the Ford Theater where Lincoln was
shot. We discussed lighting and the position of screens. The Disney folks were
a pleasure to talk to. The first time, I rented the theater space at the Shakespeare
Theater for about $300. In the parking lot near the Disney Theater, Tommy, Brian
and I joked about how expensive it would be to rent the Disney Theater for the
night. We placed bets and I believe I had the high bet at $5000. Much later, we
found out it would cost $30,000 to rent the space. That included renting
several Disney Buses to transport audience members from a distant lot. The
invoice did say that they world throw in a folding table for the evening at no
extra cost. Needless to say, we didn’t rent from Disney.

Art Class

Posted on by Thor

Christie Miga was an instructor at an art school for kids over the summer. I visited the class to show the kids some sketchbooks and hopefully get them fired up about sketching. At their young age, they are all uninhibited and creative work horses. The lean in and sketch with absolute conviction since no one has curbed their enthusiasm. One of the instructors sat in a chair and modeled for the room of artists. I liked how one little girl flexed her flip flops as she drew. Children’s drawings are often bold with bright colors. There is plenty I learned from them.

Right now I’m in the South of France where Vincent Van Gogh did his vibrant inspired paintings. Some buildings have a reproduction of one of Vincent’s paintings as a claim to fame. One such place in Arles was the Van Gogh Cafe. It looks just like a painting Vincent did of a café at night. The outer walls of the cafe were painted a bright yellow. I think in Vincent’s day those walls were a boring cream or stone color. He painted the bright yellow to contrast against the Ultramarine night sky. Today people try to copy from his fevered imagination. He didn’t paint only the colors he saw; he used colors to convey feelings, emotions and warmth. He always hoped people would sit in a comfortable chair and warm themselves besides the warmth of his hearth. As the sun set over the southern landscape, the warm light made it seem like every tree was on fire, reaching towards the crystal blue sky. The landscape flew by at 70 kilometers per hour. The engines roared as people raced each other to their destinations. But now was he time to slow down and look.

Blog Con

Posted on by Thor

Blog Con, organized by Bess Auer of Central Florida Top 5, was held at the Orlando Science Center on Saturday September 15th. The event was sponsored by Florida Institute of Technology and it was even bigger then last year’s event with about 120 attendees. I arrived a bit late and ended up missing the keynote speech by Lou Mongello in the morning. When Bess greeted me she helped me upload the conference schedule onto my iPhone. It was an impressive little program specially designed for the conference. The first talk I attended and sketched was Marketing Yourself – How to build Your Media Kit by Callie Cowen. Callie was a working mom from Venice Florida who blogs about her journey to a healthier lifestyle and hopes too inspire a few other “wannabe athletes” along the way. I had never considered making a media kit for my blog although I had seen many kits when I worked in the magazine business. She offered plenty of food for  thought.

Different rooms were set up so break out groups could attend different sessions running simultaneously in different rooms. Mark Baratelli who runs thedailycity.com gave a funny and cynical look at how he finds content that leads to a passionate following. He ironically noted that attending “Tweet Ups and other social media gatherings is a waste of time. Mark used to organize the Mobile Art Shows in Downtown Orlando and he had people gather at local food trucks to sample the menu. The food truck angle eventually morphed into the very successful food truck bazaars that he sponsors now. He lamented that getting people to contribute content t thee blog was usually a wasted effort in which time was spent with meetings to get people involved but in the end the contributions would dissipated since, well, people don’t put in much effort when asked to work for free.

My favorite talk was by Josh Murdock who showed us a whole bunch of fun widgets and gadgets.  There were gadgets for animation, film editing and all of them were free or cheap. Who could ask for more? Justice Mitchell gave a great talk on Storytelling and Problem Solving: The Keys to the Infectious Blog. He made it clear that as bloggers, we are all contributing to an ongoing dialogue by telling stories which is a tradition that began way back in the days of the cave man. He advised on creating content that helps people solve problems noting Myth Busters as an example. On Myth Busters they begin with a premise, they apply science and they form a conclusion. There was one session on Analytics that went way over my head. Apparently there is a numbers crunching attribute to this blogging business that is something I have been blind to. Blogging isn’t easy. But this day was a great way to get informed to try and catch the social media train before it leaves the station.

Spring Awakening

Posted on by Thor

I decided to finally post this sketch because a dear friend Jeremy Seghers left Orlando to go to New York City. Jeremy directed two productions of Spring Awakening in Orlando and he was always open to the idea of letting an artist sketch the process. He invited me to the auditions for Spring Awakening and I watched the halls of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater fill with young hopeful actors. The first production was a direct staging of the original play set in a turn of the century German high school. The second production was to be based on a Broadway musical adaptation.

I heard a young girl singing in the woman’s room. For most of the actors, this was a chance to chat and catch up of theater gossip. There was a woman seated at a table and she took names. Actors were to have a musical number ready to sing. The pianist hadn’t arrived yet, so actors that had musical accompaniment on a CD moved to the top of the list. When they entered the theater, I could barely hear their muffled singing from my vantage point in the hall. Some actors left the auditition feeling elated that they had nailed their performance while others had doubts. Even so, art is a fickle process and a directors choice involves more variables than just talent.

Voci Dance

Posted on by Thor

Voci Dance is known for their mystical and surreal dances often times performed gorilla style in unexpected urban settings. Genevieve Bernard was one of the founding members of Voci dance, there were five back in the day, Adrienne Nichols got the group together. At the Orlando International Fringe Festival, the dancers performed with camping head lamps. The performance was staged next to the Orlando Museum of Art and the dancers interacted with the huge blue steel sculpture that is next to the museum on the green lawn of fabulousness. It was just past dusk and the dancers resembled dwarfs returning from the mines. Well, let me restate that, the dancers didn’t look like dwarfs, they were sleek and limber, OK I’ll stop digging. An audience of perhaps fifty people gathered in the darkness around the dancers. This was one of those situations in which I couldn’t see my sketch as I worked on it in the dark. Sometimes that can be a blessing when the sketch finally sees light.

La Granga

Posted on by Thor

La Granga is one of my favorite spots to grab dinner before going to an event to sketch. It is located across from Full Sail on 436 at the corner of Aloma Avenue. This place serves spit roasted chicken for cheap. A ¼ or ½ chicken meal comes with an inverted bowl of rice and a bowl of black beans. This time I asked for them to leave off the black beans but they gave me two bowls of rice instead. Needless to say there is always plenty of food.

I just ate at a fancy Paris restaurant that also serves spit roasted chicken. I ordered the prix Fix dinner for like 50 Euros and honestly I prefer the chicken at La Granga where a whole meal is only a few bucks. The Paris restaurant also had a hideous five foot high painting of a clown face. That hideous painting, in and of itself could ruin an appetite. Water was served in a clear wine bottle with the label removed. The inside of the bottle was tinged a rust color and the water when poured in a wine glass had a subtle yellow tint. I decided to skip drinking the water that night.

I usually eat at La Granga on evenings I plan to go to Mystery Sketch Theater and I relax to a nice long meal while listening to Spanish TV. The salty black beans and dry rice tend to leave me wanting more Mountain Dew than I get in a single can, so I ration my liquid elixir trying to make it last the whole meal.

Miami Beach Farmers Market

Posted on by Thor

When visiting Terry’s friend Elaine Pasekoff, I wandered on my own to the Farmers market down the street from the Miami Beach condos. I just found out today, while in France, that Elaine’s sister passed away from Parkinson’s disease. She was far too young. About a dozen tents were set up in the Miami Beach park offering fresh fruit and produce. I sketched from a bus stop which offered shade from the intense Florida heat. We were visiting for Art Basel which is a huge art fair that happens every December. I’m getting excited and making plans to report on Art Basel again this year possibly in partnership with The Daily City. Gears are turning.

I didn’t actually buy anything at the farmers market. I just needed to get a sketch under my belt before joining the assembled entourage on a day’s social outing.  There was some Egyptian looking odelisk in the public park where the market was staged. I believe the market is open the same day each week. Art Basel is a walking marathon and I need to remind myself to schedule a little time each day do just sketch. Last year, convincing the public relations people at Art Basel that I was press was a real chore. This year I hope to get a jump on all the required paper work. Sometimes getting the sketch is the easy part. Getting in is the challenge.

Shakespeare Gala

Posted on by Thor

Terry and I were invited to the Shakespeare Gala by our lawyer, Keith Hesse. I quickly set up at one of the tables and started sketching this couple enjoying champagne and food from local restaurants. The circular Patrons Room had all of the silent auction items. At the end of the evening I noticed that none of the art work had sold. Jeff Ferree who works in the Shakes scenic shop stopped by my table to say hello. It turns out he was the model who posed in the red t-shirt and ruffled collar for the Shakespeare poster in my sketch. I asked him to stick his tongue out to verify his identity. Betsy Dye who does the graphics for the Shakes said hello as well. She acted as a spotter during the live auction.

There was a live auction later in the evening and all told, over one hundred thousand dollars was raised to help support the theater. I showed a sketchbook to Harriet Lake and I was pleased that she took delight in flipping through the pages. I let her know that I had sketched her reading Catcher in the Rye and she responded, “So you are that guy?!”  Actors quickly acted out a scene from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. Delivered like a fast paced sports commentary the scenes were witty but I’m not fluent in all the plays, so some references slipped past me. The Shakes staff are fun and vibrant.