Christie Miga’s Mojo

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Christie Miga let me know she was working on a mural. I of course wanted to sketch her at work. She gave me an address of a building near the Fashion Square Mall. I arrived at a corporate looking brick building. I suddenly realized I didn’t know where to look for Christie. I fired off a Facebook message explaining I was looking for her. I decided to walk around the building thinking she might be outside. As I walked out back, she rounded the corner and waved to me. We walked in a back door. The offices were gutted with new drywall going up in places. Thankfully the air conditioning was on. We walked up to a large 55 foot long wall that was isolated from the rest of the construction with a long floor to ceiling plastic tarp. We stepped inside.

The mural is for a company called Mojo Interactive. Mojo is redefining the way businesses survive, sustain and grow. From day one, the Internet has been their chalkboard and imagination their chalk. The mural, which was more than three quarters complete, was gorgeous. It’s vibrant flat colors reminded me a bit of the fanciful world of “The Yellow Submarine.” It was called “The Wall of Wonder.” It was interactive. Black fish functioned as black boards where employees could write messages in chalk. Large white shapes would be covered with white boards which could also be written on. Purple mushrooms under a tree were three dimensional sticking out from the wall. The moon was going to be covered with Legos so employees could constantly update the shape. Christie was painting the negative shape around an evil looking dragon whose wings morphed into a tree’s leaves. The dragon, which represented negativity or laziness, lunged towards a Mojo Imaginaut who held a ray gun that battled the beast with creativity. A light bulb illuminated the muzzle of the gun which was going to be covered with gears that would rotate when a button was pushed. Christie educated me about the supplies she used for the mural. I learned what I could to help me complete the Mennello Museum mural.

Pink Ribbon Project

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The Pink Ribbon Project directed by Aradhana Tiwari incorporated all the art forms to dramatic effect. Her mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Aradhana felt she had to do something, anything, to help. She called together artists of all disciplines to create a show that deals with the physical, mental, and emotional realities of dealing with breast cancer. Though dealing in harsh realities the show also has light moments where I found myself laughing out loud. Ironically when laughing, the deeper emotions have a chance to percolate and surface. Multiple stories intermingle and unfold. Life’s mosaic is sifted for gems. Actors and artists stories are real and told from the heart.

Dancers took to the stage seated in four chairs. Holly Harris choreographed a dance routine which began with nervous anticipation and waiting. When the chairs were in position, they were spiked, meaning glow tape marked where they would be placed in the show. Mundane everyday movements were ignited and intensified. Dancers bit their nails and shook their legs with nervous energy. Heads ticked to the side in beat to the music. At one point the dancers walked as if through quicksilver, lines crossing center stage. A dancer twirled and fell then was lifted by a male dancer in scrubs and taken off stage. The dance was energetic sensuous and vibrant. Everyone in the rehearsal shouted and clapped.

When audience members enter the theater they walk past a large canvas that is lit from behind. People are invited to write their fears on the canvas. In the final moments of the show, the canvas is rolled out center stage. An artist begins to paint white over all the fears. Fear transitions to hope. Art is used to heal. Each of the characters in the play enters and they watch the transformation. A married couple whose relationship was strained by the emotional challenges of fighting breast cancer end up walking away hand in hand. Perhaps together they can fight and win.

There are only two performances of The Pink Ribbon Project left, tonight and tomorrow night at 8pm. Performances are at the Orlando Repertory Theater, 1001 E. Princeton St., Orlando. Admission is $20 for general seating and $150 for a “giving seating” ticket. Purchasing a “giving seat” ticket will fund one mammogram for an uninsured woman. To purchase tickets, go to www.playthemoment.com or call 321-662-0611. Proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Fund at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, which provides diagnostic testing and treatment for uninsured and under served women in Central Florida.

Satchmo at the Waldorf

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I went to an open rehearsal for Satchmo at the Waldorf on the evening before its world premiere. The play was written by Terry Teachout perhaps best known as the Wall Street Journal theater critic. The play, directed by Rus Blackwell stars Dennis Neal. The play was based on 650 reel to reel tapes that Satchmo, Louis Armstrong, made over the course of his career. A tape to tape recorder was on set and a few times Dennis spoke directly to it. Circular tables were arranged cabaret style around the stage.

During the course of the play Dennis plays both Satchmo and his lifelong manager Joe Glaser. He transformed instantly and believably on a dime. It is through this relationship that the hidden details of Armstrong’s life were revealed. Although fellow performers referenced him as an “Uncle Tom”, singing and waving a handkerchief mistral style for the white folks, he was actually quite a bad ass with a sharp tongue. Talking to a reporter about whites spitting at young black children going to desegregated schools, he called them out for what they were, “Mother f*ckers!”

Looking down at his trumpet, he remarked about how lucky he was to find Lucille, the love of his life. “She know this trumpet come first, even before her. That’s my livin’ and my life.” He had never had a Christmas tree growing up and she set one up for him as a surprise. He looked at the lights all night. He wouldn’t let her shut it off.

Dennis Neal gave an inspiring performance. He never played the trumpet but his monologue slowly unraveled the inner spirit of a great performer. Tech for the show broke down at one point when a sound effect was lost and had to be tracked down. Dennis sat quietly on the stage, waiting. He said, “Bad scrimmage, great game.” It was like Satchmo himself waiting for the world to catch up to his inner driving force. Terry sat on stage with him. Photographer Kristin Wheeler took the opportunity to photograph the actor and playwright together. This was a historic moment. A great show was about to be born.

Performances are at 7:30pm Thursday through Saturday and at 2:30pm Sundays through October 2nd at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Tickets are $20general and $16 for seniors and students. Call 407 405-8091 or e-mail SatchmoWaldorfAstoria@gmail.com for more information.

Pink Ribbon Project Rehearsal

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I went to the Orlando Shakes Black Box Theater expecting to find the Pink Ribbon project rehearsal. A group of teenage girls were tap dancing in a circle. Three of them had pink shirts on but the mood felt wrong. I checked my calender again, I was supposed to be at the Black Box Theater at the Rep. I slipped out and dashed across Lock Haven Park to the Rep. When I arrived, Matt McGrath was getting several brooms and a bicycle pump out of his car. I wondered how these props would tie in to the show.

In the first scene I sketched, Marty Stonerock and Mikki Scanlon sat on stage each bathed in a pool of light. They both spoke on cell phones. At first it seemed like they were speaking to each other but then it became clear they were speaking to their respective spouses. Mikki shifted her position in her chair, leaning forward and twisting, “Can you hear me now? I’m at the hospital. No I wasn’t in an accident! I’m fine, really I’m fine. Well, no, I’m not fine. I have breast cancer.” Marty was having a similar gut wrenching conversation trying to comprehend the impossible. “I have it, I have breast cancer… Are you there? Hello?”

Large pink ribbons were hung from the rafters. They will be used in a dance number early in the show. Aradhana Tiwari was directing and the show carries her signature. Multiple stories overlap and bloom during the course of the production. There is brutal honesty as women confront their own mortality. The show’s mission is, “To raise awareness, educating people about the physical, mental, and emotional realities that dealing with breast cancer entails. The aim to offer a therapeutic and cathartic experience for women and their families who are in the midst of the fight, touching them in the unique way that only the arts can. Lastly, our vision is to bring hope, champion faith, and ignite inspiration that will empower women as they walk forward and continue to battle on.”

I was unexpectedly moved when a young boy excitedly tried to keep his mother engaged and entertained although she had breast cancer. He was a live wire running circles around her. He showed her card tricks, dance moves and offered her brownies. She was unable to eat after chemo. Dejected he looked at the pan of brownies in his hands and muttered to himself, “Your so stupid, you know she gets sick after chemo. I have to keep her going, I just have to keep her going.” I welled up, thinking of my own mom’s battle with breast cancer. At ten years old, I was to young to even know how sick she was. But something was wrong and I just wanted to see her laugh again. I couldn’t visit her in the hospital. I suppose they wanted to keep me safe from the reality of seeing her slip away.

Though I only saw the show in fits and starts at the rehearsal, I can tell it will be a multi layered and emotionally inspiring production. The Pink Ribbon Project will be run September 16-18th at the Orlando Repertory Theater, 1001 E. Princeton St., Orlando. Admission is $20 for general seating and $150 for a “giving seating” ticket. Purchasing a “giving seat” ticket will fund one mammogram for an uninsured woman. To purchase tickets, go to www.playthemoment.com or call 321-662-0611. Proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Fund at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, which provides diagnostic testing and treatment for uninsured and under served women in Central Florida.

Music Video Shoot

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In the Rep Theater, actors John DiDonna and Jennifer Bonner arrived on the set. They were told which theater seats to sit in. Scott Wilkins, who wrote the Britt Daley music video script, stood in front of the actors and described the scene. Scott was boldly silhouetted against a fill light that illuminated a scrim. Both actors were to be preoccupied not paying attention to the audition. John was to be turned away talking on his cell phone while Bonnie fingered her cell phone surfing the web or checking Facebook.

The camera began to roll and the director called, “Action!” John started arguing with the person on his cell. “I’m not having this discussion with you now.” He repeated the point again several more times raising his voice till he was shouting into the phone. Jennifer stared vacantly at the screen of her cell phone. In the next shot Katie Peters sang the final note of her audition song. Jennifer glanced up from her phone and shouted, “Thank you!” with disdain and disinterest. Katie walked off screen, crushed.

The next shot was to come after Britt Daley had sung her song, “One and Only“. John and Jennifer were locked together in a passionate kiss. Of course when shooting for a quality production you never shoot a scene just once. John and Jennifer kissed again and again. Scott suddenly realized that they should still be holding their cell phones and he asked John to move his hand lower for the next shot. They kissed again and when Britt’s music ended they were startled back to reality. Jennifer struggled to straighten her disheveled hair.

Britt Daley Music Video

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Inside the Rep Theater there was an all day shooting marathon to complete Britt Daley’s “One and Only” music video. The camera crew set up the tiny digital camera so it was on stage at the Repertory Theater pointing out at the theater seats. They were setting up for a shot of the Director played by John Di Donna and his assistant played by Jennifer Bonner. Britt’s dad sat in the seats so the cameraman could frame the shot before the actors arrived. Fill lights and spots were adjusted to light the seats. The director kept checking how the shot was framed by looking at the laptop. Scott Wilkins looked through the script and storyboards so everyone was on the same page.

A small crate was set up Katie Peters to stand on. She is the female singer in the local band CIRCUS. She stood in front of the camera facing the theater seats. She was instructed to sing the final note of the song she was singing for the audition and then step out of frame. The song she was supposed to be singing was an old minstrel/vaudeville tune, “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home“. A funny choice since Britt Bailey and Britt Daley sound so similar.

Free Jazz, Improvisation

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The thing that I find fascinating about the Accidental Music Festival is that each evening is truly unique. I never know what to expect when I walk into Urban ReThink. This evening was unique to say the least. As sound technicians scurried and adjusted mics, I started blocking in my sketch. I was impressed by the drum set which was covered with decals. In itself it was a visual treat. Kris Gruda performed on guitar. He wrestled with the instrument contorting his body to the sounds produced. He experimented with how to create music. A glass was pressed against the frets, a drum stick banged against the strings. The water bottle at his feet became an instrument as he twisted it creating sharp plastic sounds. I loved when he used a kazoo and played it in a cup of water. That was music any dentist could appreciate.

Jill Burton performed vocals. I can’t say she was singing since there were no lyrics. Her vocal chords were just an instrument to create experimental sounds. At one point she sounded like a whale at another like an Indian princess speaking in tongues. Part of me wanted to laugh and yet some passages were quite operatic. Lord knows I don’t understand opera, yet it is considered art. Her throat howled like the wind, filling the empty room.

My favorite performance came at the end of the evening with Michael Welch on drums and Daniel Jordon on saxophone playing a close approximation of Jazz. Drum Talk was a solo performed by Michael and it sounded very much like a beat generation mantra. The sets were long and uncharted. Daniel introduced himself slyly saying, “It has been a long time since I’ve been the corniest cat at a gig.” When the song ended, he thanked Urban ReThink for, “bringing real musical expression to Orlando in what is otherwise a f*cking wasteland. This evening allowed the artists to perform something new rather than reenacting what happened in the past.”

Contemporary Chamber Music

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The Accidental Music Festival hosted an evening of contemporary chamber music at Urban ReThink (625 E. Central Blvd). When I arrived, musicians were milling around and there was the usual mad rush to get everything in place and working by show time. Violinist Eric Smith introduced himself. He knew of my work since I had sketched a string quartet he played with in Winter Park last winter. He said someone shot video of the performance and there I was in the front row of some chairs set up in the street sketching away.

For the first piece Brandon Clinton played piano and Christopher Belt, the festival organizer, played guitar. I decided to sketch from halfway up a staircase. Each chamber music pieces was short and to the point. Eladio Sharron performed with Carrie Wiesinger on flute. Their piece elicited a standing ovation from the 30 or so attendees. On a trip to Germany, I discovered that a very distant relative, Cornelia Thorspecken, is a professional flute player in Wiesbadden. She gave me a CD and since then I’ve become infatuated with the pure sweet tone of the flute. Thad Anderson performed last doing a drum solo. He warned people sitting close that things were going to get loud. If people needed to shield their ears, he wasn’t going to be insulted. Bravely people stayed where they were. It was a stunning way to end the otherwise peaceful evening of music.

On the outer edge of each step of the staircase I was on, there were small candles in glass jars. I was careful to avoid them when I rooted around in by bag for art supplies. When the concert was over, an old man came down the steps cradling his empty dishes from the salad he ate during the concert. He had a cane and it dragged next to him as he walked down. The cane knocked over every candle on the way down. A sound technician followed him down, righting each candle as it tumbled. He turned to me and said, “Unbelievable.” Luckily they were not lit. It was hilarious simply because the guy had no clue about the havoc he was causing.

ReThinking the City

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At Urban ReThink, several local activists and organizers were invited to give presentations about how they are helping reshape the city. Each was allowed to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. John Rife spoke about organic food growers in Orlando. A few years ago there were just 12 organic growers in the organization, at the last meeting there were 150 people. They arranged to sell organic food boxes in Orlando and 400 have been sold to date. Their catch phrase is, “local is lovely”. They are helping bring sustainable food products to Central Florida. A public garden is being planned in an empty lot on the corner of Eola and Robinson. On November 19-20 John is hosting the first Harvest Festival in Winter Park. The two day event will focus on celebrating local food and the farmers, chefs, entrepreneurs and non-profits that bring that harvest of their fields to our plates.

After the local presentations, Dawn Silensky was Skyped in from Pittsburgh. She told us about the storefront project. Together with Jon Rubin, Dawn turned an abandoned store into a waffle shop and a mini talk show TV studio. The shop was between two night clubs and they wanted to attract the club kids as costumers. Locals that frequented the waffle shop were interviewed. Dawn is an artist and she said, “conversations are my process and people are my medium.” The sales of waffles keep the conversation alive. She feels that culture is a personal thing. An intercontinental dinner party was held where skype projected on a large screen was used to make it seem like Iranians were seated at the same table as the American diners.

A portion of the building seemed to go unused and it was converted into the Conflict Kitchen, which is a walk up restaurant where you order food from countries America is at war with. This walk up window is reinvented every six months featuring another countries cuisine. The food wrappers have commentary about the countries culture, helping start discussion and debate. Each meal is a cultural exchange. Dawn feels art needs to move outside the studio and out into the streets. Food helps facilitate that. Food is something comfortable, something everyone needs. The point that Dawn and all the presenters made clear is that we all can help bring culture home. When you have a vision, just go out and do it. Start small and let the idea grow. Don’t over think. Each of us can make a difference.

Accidental Music Rehearsal

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The Accidental Music festival held an open Rehearsal at Urban ReThink. I spoke to Christopher Belt the festival organizer, and he let me know the performers were being paid for their time. Juan Trigos composed and conducted “Ricercare VI” for guitar and chamber orchestra. There was no guitar player at the rehearsal. I recognized the flute player, Colleen Blagov, from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Benoit Glazer’s son sat up front playing violin.

I can’t tell you much about the flow or overall structure to the music. The percussionists clapping out the beat reminded me of a Spanish Flamenco dancer. When the drums joined in, I was reminded of a scene from the Planet of the Apes as humans were hunted. The rehearsal was very staccato with short bursts of music followed by many conductors notes. The piece will have its Florida premiere on September 11th at the Timucua White House (2000 S. Summerlin Ave) at 7pm. The acoustics in the White house are perfect. Benoit Glazer designed the space from the ground up to make the perfect performance space. As always the concert is free. Bring your own bottle of wine if you care to sip a drink during the show. Arrive early this is going to be a big one!