In this sketch the Mercury Theater performers, Brandon Roberts, Frank McClain, and Alan James Gallant prepare for another read through of the War of the Wolds Radio broadcast. Chantry Banks sits in the background listening to the old radio and reading a newspaper.
An amazing amount of work went into blocking the public’s performances during this rehearsal. I am discovering new ways of working and have found that I can block in a sketch when the performers repeat the stagings again and again. This will help with future sketches, allowing me to take greater chances.
After rehearsals the cast went to Tastings Wine Bar for a “Coming out Party”. The directors graciously invited me along and rather that sketch I took the time to learn more about some of the actors life stories. I learned about the struggles and sacrifices made to stay true to the calling as an actor or artist. I drank a bit more than I usually do and felt closer to the crew than ever. Mark from “The Dialy City” stopped by and I caught up with him. I had a long talk with Aradhana and tried to find some small nugget of drama in my humble sketch obsessed story. To find drama in what I do each day, I realized I might have to discuss my own character flaws and how they impact others.
After Tastings some of the cast went to see “Snack” at the Rep Theater. Driving over was a fun drama on its own. I laughed like I was back in High School. For once my guard was down and I just relaxed and had fun. Snack is a hilarious comedy and runs through July 26nd and is part of the Target Family Theater Festival. So you have several more days to go out and see this show. It was hilarious. I especially loved watching the children in the audience as they reacted. They know how to express pure joy.
SketchCrawl, Stardust Lounge
Scott Fuller, A Full Sail student, and myself were the last artists still at Eola Wine Room at about 7 PM. We finished the sketches and decided to get to the last stop on the Crawl which was directly across the street. A huge thunderstorm had rolled in and it had just started to pour. We figured, we wouldn’t get to wet if we made a mad dash across so we sprinted across. I was soaked within the first two strides. I started to curse and shout. Time slowed down and I could feel every rain drop as it pounded down on my head. When we were across, winded and soaked to the bone, two women who were waiting at the top of the stairway down to the Lounge were having a good laugh at our expense. They asked us to do it again and with that, I had to laugh as well.
When I entered the Lounge I couldn’t see a thing. As I gained my sight again in the dark interior I saw several people sketching so I introduced myself. Jean Michelson and her husband had traveled from Jacksonville to escort their daughter to a Rock and Roll Summer camp. Jean had read about the crawl and this was the only stop on the crawl they could attend. They picked a good stop since the Lounge has lots of retro color.
The Stardust Lounge is straight out of the fifties. Rat Pack movies are playing non stop on the wide screen flat panel screens and all the furniture feels like it was salvaged from a Vegas 1950’s club. I sketched the crawlers at work. The manager kept dimming the lights so it became harder and harder to see the lines and colors as they hit the page. Half way into this sketch Kattie Windish and her husband arrived. They sat in the red leather booth in the background of the sketch and I decided to sketch them in as well. The place became more and more crowded as the night wore on. I think I called it a night around 10pm after 15 hours of non-stop sketch crawling. It had been a very productive day. I can’t wait till the next Crawl.
War of the Worlds – Read Through
In this rehearsal the cast is checking their lines and sometimes trading lines if the dialogue seems to fit another characters personal world view better. Aradhana and Fetch work with the actors to get these details finalized or gelled. Although this wasn’t one of the longer rehearsals, it was very productive. This new stage area in the Goldman Theater is a bit tighter that the first stage the actors had used so adjustments often had to be made to be sure that the actors had room to move.
During this rehearsal as the Mercury Theater announcer is relating the horrific event as they unfolded at Grovers Mill, a thunderstorm erupted outside. The rain could be heard pounding down on the flat metal roof. Reality and fiction began to mix and compliment each other. Loud claps of thunder accentuated the scene as the martians came out of the metal cylinder and began to spray the unsupecting crowd with a fiery heat wave. Erika Wilhite suddenly remembered that she had left the roof off of her convertible and she apologized as she sprinted for the door. It was time for a 5 minute break, Thank you five.
SketchCrawl, Eola Wine Room
When the crawl arrived at the Eola Wine Room around 4 the place was rather dormant. The artists had their choice of tables. I decided to sit with a good view of the main bar area. At this point in the crawl there were nine artists so we did a good job of filling up several tables. KC sat outside and did a sketch of 4 women who had an amazing number of mimosa glasses stacked on their table. It was a scene straight out of sex and the city. Most of the other artists kept me company. I ordered a glass of white Riesling wine and sipped it while I worked.
The strange thing about this place on a weekend is that about every 15 minutes a young couple would arrive with a baby and the parents would order wine. I sort of envied these couples just starting a family, feeling secure and living in a ritzy downtown neighborhood. But then after a short time the child would start squirming, complaining, and screaming until the parent s felt they had to leave. This scene played over and over again. I joked to another artist that the Wine Room had more infants as clients that adults on weekends.
One of the waitresses was an artist and I tried to convince her to come out to the next Crawl. For many artists this was the last stop on the crawl. As we all said their goodbyes storm clouds rolled in and just as I got ready to head across the street to the final destination, it began to pour…
War of the Worlds – Mercury Theater
Advice for reading this blogcast, Open an new internet browser window while keeping this one open. Navagate to Analog Artist Digital World in the new Browser window. Then click on this link for the audio background music. Then return to this page with the audio still playing and read the copy. When you are done reading explore the Mercury Theater Radio Performance link below and keep the audio soundtrack playing in the background. This involves some complicated internet staging but it should be worth it.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, we bring you the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra. With a touch of the Spanish. Ramón Raquello leads off with “La Cumparsita.”
In this early rehearsal I finally got to see how the Mercury Theater Radio performance would work with the actors I had been sketching all along called “The Public”. I focused on the radio announcers who I hadn’t observed before and although the public was active the whole time with it’s nervous energy I didn’t focus on them as much except in this one instance in which I sketched actress Tanja Mobley Pektas as she crawled in and collapsed during the reading. Here Frank McClain reads while Alan James Gallant prepares to speak. Up until this point the Mercury theater actors and the public actors had been working in separate rehearsals. Director Joseph Fletcher had been directing the Mercury Theater actors and Aradhana Tiwari had been directing the public. Here the two groups came together for the first time and any changes in the blocking of movements on the stage were made. As Aradhana walked past me during this rehearsal she whispered to herself with excitement “This is starting to feel like the show”.
Urban Think
Dina and I left Panera Bread and walked down to Urban Think. Right outside Panera Bread there was a street performer playing guitar and singing the Blues. That would have made a great sketch, but as the host I had to get to Urban Think to say hello to any artists that might join the crawl at that point.
Local Author John Fleming was setting up to sign copies of his book “Fearsome Creatures“.
A group of three other artists, Brian, Travis and Randy joined our group. Jessica Earley and Rick Jones sat outside doing wonderfully quirky sketches of buildings in the neighborhood, bikes and each other.
My goal was to sketch all the people lined up to get their copy of Fearsome Creatures signed. However not a soul showed up to the book signing. Bob Hague, a watercolor artist, explained to John why our group was there, and to pass the time John read to us some of the passages from his book. The passage he picked related directly to artists and he got an ovation from our group. Although I am now curious about Florida’s Skunk cabbage man, I didn’t get a copy of the book. Dina and several other artists left the group at this point and we all said our goodbyes. The next stop was the Eola Wine Company down the street and I thought a cup of wine would do me good at this point to loosen up my line work…
War of the Worlds – The Public Panics
As I set these notes on paper, I am obsessed with the thought that I might be the only artist to ever have witnessed this amazing journey as simple words on a page are converted into a mysterious and dynamic drama. Toward the end of a rehearsal Aradhana asked the actors who play the parts of “the Public” to all sit in a circle so they could read lines from a book of interviews of people who had lived through the panic caused by the Orson Wells radio broadcast. Everyone insisted I join in this reading circle so I did. Each actor in turn would read a line or paragraph from the interviews and revised excerpts from the readings were incorporated into act 2 of the show. It is surprising what people think of when they assume the end is inevitable. A policeman has to calm callers on one hand while wishing he could escape. A young woman wishes she had lived long enough to have a baby. An impoverished woman is glad she doesn’t have to pay the butchers bill and thinks to herself she might as well eat the chicken in the freezer. Some people heard about the broadcast from friends and tuned in as the worst of the Grover’s Mill invasion took place. For some it was just important to be with family and friends and accept their fate and trust in God. Sitting in this circle and adding my own voice to the confessions and lost hopes was sobering and magical.
In this sketch the actors are highlighting lines that they will later be asked to recite in the final play. When I saw the second act with these lines added the result is haunting and unexpected. This scene is lit with a ghost lamp. The tradition of the ghost lamp is that in Shakespeare’s times the lamp was used to scare ghosts away from the performance. The ghost lamp is left burning in the middle of the stage all night. This superstition continues to this day.
SketchCrawl, Panera Bread
At 10 Am Orlando Sketch Crawlers headed to Panera Bread for breakfast and a chance to share sketchbooks and talk. Megan, an artist I had sketched before, showed up with her mom and was taking photos of the event. Our group filled up these three front tables and people talked art while others sketched. I was sitting on the long leather bench shown in this sketch, but after eating, I decided it made more sense to get up and sketch our group. Ricardo the photographer for the Sentinel sat behind me the whole time I sketched watching every line and wash as I put it down. Usually I get distracted with such attention but I had to get this sketch done, so I lived with it. Kristen or Kelp as she refers to herself online, can be seen sketching the photographer and myself. She has the art of clandestine sketching down because I never actually noticed her glancing at me directly. I am sure this is a skill I have as well.
As I was sketching, artists slowly got up and headed out for the next leg of the crawl. There were artists sitting in the two empty chairs when I started the sketch. By the time I was splashing on the final washes everyone was gone. The photographer said he had more that enough shots and we said our goodbyes. When he left, a woman who was seated in a leather chair behind me, introduced herself. Her name is Dina Mack and I knew of her work through a friend named Summer who had told me of an artist journal workshop that Dina was going to organize. Dina and I spoke for close to an hour about art and journal keeping. Sketching on location isn’t something Dina does often, but she said she liked having the time to fully soak in the environment. We joked about how Panera’s is such a sterile place with harsh glass cases and coffee dispensers that look like space station refueling depots. A cafe in Europe would have a much different feel. The smells of the pastries is pleasant however and I kind of wanted to sketch them and the cashier but we had to get to the next stop on the Crawl route…
War of the Worlds – Viewpoints
I have to interrupt this sketch crawl to bring you more news from the rehearsal hall of War of the Worlds. I will bring you an eyewitness account of what is happening. I will continue relating events as they unfold for as long as I can talk and as long as I can see. In many ways what is happening is indescribable, it is the most extraordinary experience, I can not find the words…
This second rehearsal built from the first using exercises called Viewpoints. The actors move on an imaginary grid exploring extremes of tempo and pacing to start. They then began exploring kinesthetic responses, namely why are they moving and are they responding to another actors movements. At times they were asked to repeat another actors movements. They were asked to become aware of the space around them and to be mindful of how they fill the space. Layered on top of this they were permitted to explore behavioral and expressive gestures. Lastly each actor was given a line from a poem which they could recite in order to further express themselves.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Have you heard.”
“This is it.”
“Are you sure?”
“This IS happening.”
As the actors explored their movements on the grid, Aradhana would shout out questions which would further affect the performances.
“Does someone elses panic affect your own?”
“How does panic build?”
“Are you more afraid?”
“Explore the way out of your panic.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Your words are what you hold onto when you are most afraid, they are all you have left.”
The panic although expressed in an abstract fashion with limited dialogue was palpable, overwhelming and exhausting. I vastly admire what the actors were able to emote using just body language tempo of movement and limited expressive dialogue. These exercises inspired new thoughts in the directors and allowed the show to develop with every actor contributing to the final gelled look of the show. As the youngest actress, Sophia Wise, stated so eloquently, “War of the Worlds is a delicate balance between the abstract and reality.”
23rd World Wide Sketch Crawl
Saturday Orlando artists gathered for the 23rd World Wide Sketch Crawl. I got up to go to the event before the sun was up and I arrived at the Red Pagoda where early birds were to meet at just a few minutes after 7AM. Several artists were already out and sketching namely Karen Cali, Kristen Pauline and Glen Ward. We all talked for a few minutes, I handed out crawl course maps and then we scattered and started sketching. While I was doing this sketch several other artists could be seen as they arrived and started sketching. When I started the sketch the sun was low on the horizon and I was in the shade of some trees but within minutes I was in the direct sun and squinting into the bright light. I was on a small peninsula that juts into Lake Eola and all around me geese and ibis were swimming and diving down for food under water. By the time I was ready to head to the next stop, about 10 artists had gathered and were sketching away. Although I didn’t do a perfect job of keeping track of everyone, I believe altogether about 22 artists showed up at different legs of the crawl that day. That is an amazing turnout! A reporter and photographer from the Orlando Sentinel came out early and interviewed all the artists that were on hand at this early hour.