This informational meeting to introduce people to the arts was held at 8Am at the Shakespeare Theater so people could stop in and then head off to work. John Thiesen the campaign manager introduced the event and explained that representatives from six Arts organizations would talk about what they offer the artistic community. First Sharon Lasic of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater gave a brief history of the building in which we were meeting. The building was for many years the Science Center and History Center of Orlando. After the New Science Center was built, the building was almost torn down to make room for more green area in Lock haven Park. A petition was passed around and the building saved. The Shakespeare Theater started in 1989 at the Lake Eola Bandshell and performances happened outdoors for many years.
Corry Warren from United Arts talked about Arts Fest which will be happening next month. This ten day festival is going on from February fifth to the fourteenth. It is a way to experience theater for FREE although some events have limited seating. Tickets will be available in advance starting at 10 AM on Tuesday February second. Be sure to check the Arts Fest Schedule and get a jump on this amazing opportunity! My calendar is already stuffed full of all the places I plan to go sketch.
Henry Maldinado talked about the offerings at the Enzian Movie Theater. The Enzian is unique in the country in that it is a fantastic place to have dinner and a movie. The Enzian is home to the internationally acclaimed Florida Film Festival as well. I also found out that the Enzina is showing old classic movie on the big screen. This is the one place where you could see Casablanca with Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. When you experience a movie like that on the big screen you realize why it is a classic.
Suzan Bright talked about the Orlando Philharmonic and how they are helping keep Opera alive by offering limited staged operas with the Philharmonic no longer in the pit, but up on the stage right behind the singers. This new Opera series will include Carmen, and Porgy and Bess. Carmen will be performed February 26th at 8PM and February 28th at 2PM. Porgy and Bess will be performed on April 9th at 8PM and April 11th at 2PM. As usual I dream of sketching these shows from the wings. Get tickets early.
Scott Evans talked about the importance of keeping Arts Education alive and well in the Orlando School System. In a study, the students that took arts classes achieved higher grades than students who didn’t take arts classes. Autumn Schafer spoke about the Red Chair Project which offers ways to save on tickets year round. Red Chair offers such amazing deal as two for one tickets and a $99 Arts Sampler which offers a ticket to each of the following, Orlando Ballet, a Broadway Musical, The Orlando Museum of Art, the Philharmonic, Shakespeare Theater, and the Orlando Rep. With so much going on, I can’t understand why anyone would want to be a couch potato at home.
After each person spoke an item was raffled off and I won a United Arts Card which offers discounts to arts events all over town. Whooo Hoo! Look like I will be covering alot more arts events in 2010!
Driving Miss Daisy Auditions
Beth Marshall Presents will bring “Driving Miss Daisy” to the Winter Garden Theater February 12th to the 28th. I sat in on the auditions for this show. Seated at the table are Aradhana Tiwari, the Director, and Beth Marshall the Producer. This auditions process stood in stark contrast to the auditions for Crimes of the Heart. Crimes took 2 agonizing days for the cast to be solidified but this auditions process was fast and painless taking only about 3 hours with about a dozen actors and actresses auditioning.
One actress with a bit of a haughty attitude who reminded me of Sheila in Chorus Line, entered the room and when she greeted the director she wouldn’t let go of her hand. The actresses head shot was from about 20 years ago. After doing the reading she demanded to read another section of the play. Beth said that would be fine and she could come back in after the next set of actors had finished their audition. The actress said emphatically “I should say so”. After a long pause, Beth said, “You know what, lets not waist your time or mine, you can leave.” Beth felt bad for the actor who had auditioned with this actress. She could see that he was embarrassed by the exchange.
Another actress who auditioned for the roll of Daisy was about 30 or 40 years to young for the part. She walked in wearing a black dress with a white lace collar and a gray haired wig. She reminded me of Norman Bates Mother in “Psycho”. Beth glanced over at me and smiled. I was smiling as well. There is something charming about an actress going for a role which is so out of reach.
When I sketched the auditions I tried to pick the actors that I felt were best for the rolls to go in my sketch. At this audition I hit a home run and sketched Elizabeth Murff who will play Daisy and Michael Mormon who will play Hoke. I had met Elizabeth once before at Beth Marshall’s Halloween Party. Elizabeth had won for the best costume as a Cougar. Michael who is 60 had played the roll of Hoke 20 years ago. He has a natural ease and seems very comfortable in the role. Elizabeth brings a humor and honesty to the part of Daisy that is endearing. When she said “Hoke, you are my best friend” the sincerity of this unlikely friendship warmed me, even in this early reading.
As they were packing up to leave, Beth remarked to Aradhana, “Now I had experienced the most difficult and the easiest auditions ever with you.”
Crimes of the Heart Callbacks
This sketch shows Kylie Kusco and Heather Leonardi on stage with Beth Marshall and Aradhana Tiwari watching. Some monologues from the auditions were quite memorable. One fellow had a monologue about being strip searched. The whole time he was talking he was angrily throwing items of clothing on the floor, first his shoes, his socks then his belt. I stopped hearing what he was saying and started to wonder just how far he would go to get the part. The director put her hand over her face in amusement and embarrassment. Another actor rather than recite lines from a play started talking about how he ended up in Orlando after a student work exchange program for Disney and about his first love. I enjoy hearing slices of life like that but I don’t think it got him a part.
Actors who made it to callbacks were in serious consideration for a part. They would pair up and act out scenes from the play. Some scenes I must have heard close to a dozen times yet certain performances had me laughing out loud or swept away in the romantic drama while some left me unmoved offering me time to focus on the sketch.
Any time actors would leave the stage Beth and Aradhana would turn to each other and discuss how certain actors really worked well together or how several actors bought different energies to a particular role. I do not know how they would ever decide since every actor bought something new to the table.
One actress named Kylie Kusco, really stepped up to the plate and she was asked to perform an exercise where she and Beth could only say two lines “Their is not enough time” and “their is enough time”. Each actress had to convince the other she was right using body language and raw emotion. It was like watching two matadors in a ring each circling and moving in for another emotional exchange. The director let the exercise go for a long time and I thought the performances were some of the best I had witnessed that day. There is magic in moments like this.
Near the end of the day Beth and Aradhana placed all the photos out on the table and began to organize them into groupings of possible cast scenarios. They talked about the possibilities for the longest time. I’m reminded of a line from the play Sunday in the Park with George “a blank page or canvas, so many possibilities”. I finished my sketch and packed up to leave. As I left the endless discussion continued and all the actors who had made it through the day were coming back at 5 PM to continue the process. I had to go out to Sanford to do a sketch For Orlando Home and Leisure. Here is the final cast and cheers to what should be a great show!
Crimes of the Heart Auditions
I went into the “Crimes of the Heart” auditions not even knowing the story of the play. I hoped to discover the story through the actors constant readings . I arrived at the Lowndes Shakespeare Theater at 11 Am and only the Stage Manager Chasmin Hallyburton and the Director Aradhana Tiwari were on hand. Aradhana was busy reading a stack of papers in front of her so I just sat in the front row of the theater and started sketching the stage. I figured I could draw the stage and then just draw in the auditioning actors when they arrived. I was a bit disappointed since I had hoped to find a long line of aspiring actors all waiting for a chance to be in the play. The morning started off slow.
Beth Marshall showed up and she told me the rough outline of the story. Crimes is the story of 3 sisters in Mississippi. One sister has sacrificed her life to take care of the father and the family estate. Meg is the black sheep of the family and she is a force of nature and larger than life. The third sister is a bit of a socialite and is concerned with her reputation. The play revolves about these women coming to terms with their fathers death and coming of age. The women’s names are Babe, Meg and Lennie. There is also a cousin named Chick.
Slowly actors began to arrive and each would enter the theater and then present a short monologue. If this monologue was good enough, the director then asked the actor to go in the hallway and rehearse a scene from the play. When they returned Jason Horne would often read along with the them so there could be some interaction. Jason would even read the female parts if needed, which was quite humerus. In this sketch Jason is reading with Britni Leslie. She had on light southern summer dress and looked the part. She was ultimately cast as Babe and Jason was cast as Barnett.
War of the Worlds – Its a Wrap
At the War of the Worlds Wrap party, Chantry Banks complained that in all the copy I had written about the show, I had never mentioned his name. So to satisfy his ego, here is a post lovingly dedicated to Chantry.
Whenever there was a break in rehearsals Chantry would pick up his knitting needles and start knitting. Erika who had to knit on stage while listening to the radio broadcast consulted with Chantry to get her up to speed. During every rehearsal Chantry would say something that would get everyone in the cast laughing. Sometimes after one of these outbreaks an actor would try and say a serious line and would end up cracking up and start laughing for no apparent reason. Chantry is a true professional however and often volunteered to read the Mercury Theater broadcast parts when it would help in the Public’s independent rehearsals. If there was any doubt about what would motivate his character, Chantry would never shy away from clarifying the point with the directors.
While doing this sketch I was intrigued by Chantry’s focus, his hands moved with sure deft precision. Did I mention Chantry? Chantry, Chantry. Chantry.
The play had its final performance two days ago. I am going through a bit of withdrawal. It is hard to say goodbye to such an amazing cast. I miss them all. Hopefully I will see some of them again if I sketch at other show rehearsals.
War of the Worlds – Costume Designer
As I entered the Shakespeare Theater I noticed one of my blog readers Patricia looking at the board covered with sketches I had done of the War of the Worlds rehearsals. I walked up behind her and said “I know that artist, he is a hack.” We laughed and she introduced me to her friend. She asked if I was sketching or just enjoying the show tonight and I explained that I planned to sketch backstage again. She said she probably would not have known about the show had it not been for my blog posts. That made me extremely happy. Several students from my class at Full Sail also came out to this evenings performance.
Once back stage I decided to watch the hectic activity around the prop table again. Kelly – Anne Salazar the costume designer was relaxing and reading a magazine. She had already put out all the costumes and the actors were busy getting changed upstairs. Lindsay Cohen walked past and said “Hey TT“. She has a nick name for just about everyone in the cast and now everyone refers to me as TT backstage. Sigh, its not very dignified, but I have to live with it.
The stage manager announced “Five minutes” and the actors replied “Thank you five”. Alan who plays Orson Wells quietly went over his opening lines to himself. Everyone began wishing each other luck and then the show was on. What I like about sitting back stage is that the place feels like it is in a time warp. Kelly – Anne looked like she could have been straight out of the 1930’s and the poster on the wall hearkened back to war times.
While I sketched I heard a teenage girl sobbing on the stairs above me. She was one of the younger actors performing in “The Two Gentleman of Verona” in the next theater over. I could hear the muffled singing from this musical as I worked and quite honestly the singing was often way off key. Another girl finally tried to comfort the sobbing actress. “What did you do wrong?” The sobbing actress said something in between the tears, but just thinking about it slowed down the emotions. “OK is that it.” “You didn’t do anything wrong.” “It is soooo not your fault.””We are all freaking out, it isn’t your fault.” The crying actress finally said “I didn’t want to do anything wrong.” “Come on.” The two actresses came down the steps hand in hand and went to the green room.
Suddenly a huge standing ovation broke out in the Golwin Theater and I realized War of the Worlds had rocked the house. The actors came out laughing because there had been a strange sort of group delay when they bowed. The audience didn’t seem to mind, they went wild.
War of the Worlds – Prop Table
For Friday nights performance I immediately wandered back to the Green Room to contemplate what I should sketch next. I arrived a bit early and found the room filled with chattering and excited teenagers who were performing next door. Sophia was sitting among them. We both wondered where the War of the Worlds actors were going to change. We walked into the Goldwin Theater and Fletch was there to explain what was happening. It turned out the Young Actor Company had a performance in the theater next door at the same time as War of the Worlds. He found two other rooms for our actors to change in.
When Sophia disappeared Fletch told me about another major problem. Lightning had struck the Theater the night before and the stage lights had been blown out. Suddenly everyone as in a panic. In the final minutes before the show an electrician was called in to try and fix the problem. Fletch dreaded the thought of having to performing the play with just the house lights on.
While all this was going on Lesley Ann was working on the wardrobe placing actors props such as hats and shoes in the appropriate taped grid on the floor. Other props rested on a table with a similar grid. The stage manager gently opened the vintage lunch box and placed in an apple which Joshua would eat on the stage edge facing the audience in the first moments of the play.
Before the actors had finished changing into their wardrobes, the electrician walked past me up the stairs with a line of nervous stage hands and lighting technicians behind him. Five minutes later, an eternity for the directors, the electrician walked past me again down the steps saying, “Another tragedy averted.” He was the hero of the day. I spotted Aradhana at the bottom of the staircase I was sketching from and shouted “They fixed the lights! You have lights!” She shouted with glee.
The actors just before going on the stage would tap fists together and tap elbows for luck. Andy who played Orson Wells, flipped through a magazine. The pace of this show is very fast. Actors would often run to the table to grab something and then they dashed right back on the stage.
The small rag doll on the prop table was created by Tanja and her daughters. It is made from extra curtain material she had on hand and filled with cotton balls. The hair was made from curtain lining material that they soaked in tea.The doll has a quirky endearing quality. For Tanja it is now a family heirloom.
I went to Tastings Wine Bar to celebrate with the cast. They had much to celebrate since the night was a near disaster that turned into a glowing success. Tonight is the FINAL performance of War of the Worlds. It starts at 7 PM at the Shakespeare Theater in Lock Haven Park. I plan to dress is a fine suit to celebrate a great run with an amazing cast. The end is near.
War of the Worlds – The Green Room
A green room is a room in a theater, for the accommodation of performers when not required on the stage. Its function is as a lounge so that performers do not have to go back to dressing rooms and are still easily accessible for their call. For the Sunday performance I finally ventured back to the green room to see the performers before they went on stage. I held off going earlier because I was concerned the actors might feel uncomfortable with me sketching them as they got into costumes. There are three sets of dressing rooms and they all open into the green room. There was a plate of cookies on the table and several actors joked about not being able to stop eating them, “This is my last cookie, honest”.
Linsay Cohen asked everyone including myself to pose for a group photo. She coached us all telling everyone “You just found out Thomas Thorspecken painted you naked”. I smiled broadly, perhaps to broadly and after inspecting the Digital shot Linsay was disappointed that none of the actors had shown disgust or dismay. Kelly – Ann Salazar was on hand in case any costuming alterations were needed. Everyone was energetic and excited. I realized I couldn’t catch all the actors so I simply locked down the few who sat down and relaxed prior to the performance. This left the actors I did sketch sort of isolated as if in an Edward Hopper painting. Perhaps that is why Edward Hoppers paintings seem so lonely, it is simply because he couldn’t sketch the joyous activity fast enough!
When the play started the green room lights were turned off since the light would bleed onto the stage. I was concerned since I hadn’t started adding watercolor washes yet. I considered doing another sketch of the actors waiting in the wings, since there was some light to be found there, but finally I returned to the green room with the stubborn intent that I always finish a sketch once it is started. Painting in the dark was actually easy once my eyes adjusted. I kept the washes fairly light so the room feels light filled.
I worked on the sketch for the entire duration of the show, about 50 minutes. This left me to experience the action on stage strictly with my ears. The performance thus had the impact of the original radio broadcast. All the visceral panic and terror could still be felt just from my listening to the play. When the applause died down, the actors poured back into the green room and there was a blur of activity as they returned to this century. The cast went out to Stardust Video and Coffee for drinks after wards, but for once I returned home to watch a movie with Terry.
You can still see War of the Worlds tonight at 8 PM at the Shakespeare Theater and tomorrow night at 7 PM. Don’t miss it! Time is running out!
War of the Worlds – Text
At Saturday’smatinee performance of War of the Worlds, the usual announcement about turning off cell phones was changed. The back row of the theater was reserved for tweeters. This section would allow individuals to tweet about the performance as they watched it using iPhones and Blackberries. Performance artist Brian Feldman was ushered to the tweeting section and his fingers were in constant motion during the show.
A little late. Good thing I’m very familiar with the War of the Worlds story. 11:19 AM War of the Worlds Actor Brandon Roberts is my long-lost brother. 11:20 AM Where’s Orson? 11:22 AM Trivia: BrianFeldman‘s eaten dinner on OrlandoShakes‘ Goldman Theater stage w/ his family (FeldmanDynamic) 15 times. 11:24 AM Oh cool! The action stopped for a second while they (the actors) decided what to do (world of the show). 11:24 AM RT @ War of the Worlds Zingo! 11:25 AM @War of the Worlds TMI? 11:27 AM Marshall Law? Or Martian Law? 11:27 AM @ Omar Delarosa Believe it. 11:28 AM I know this show’s less than 30 minutes in, but I already have an idea for my own War of the Worlds show. October? 11:29 AM This show makes me want to see Floyd Collins. 11:31 AM I like how this version shows both sides: the broadcast and the public’s response (in a time way before Twitter). 11:34 AM They just mentioned last week’s New Jersey corruption scandal! Relevant. 11:35 AM Heil Martian! 11:36 AM If the heat rays have truly cut off communication, then how am I still tweeting? 11:37 AM This is an actor’s show. 11:38 AM Actor up front sounds like Dan Ackroyd in Spielberg’s 1941. 11:40 AM You’ve obviously never seen any of the “Saw” movies. 11:41 AM @ War of the Worlds Yeah, this should totally be set in New Mexico. 11:42 AM Gas masks? Gas masks?!!! Gas masks? Gas masks?!!! Gas masks? Gas masks?!!!! 11:42 AM Dan Ackyrod’s voice is back! 11:43 Avoid bridges to Long Island; Hopelessly peanut buttered. 11:44 AM Orson Welles v. BrianFeldman – Only at the @ LovingHut! 11:45 AM 2X2L? 11:45 AM “It’s not real?” 11:46 AM You Can’t Do That On Radio! Or Television! Or YouTube! Or Twitter! 11:48 AM And now… The Aftermath. People hate The Great Orson Welles! 11:48 AM I need one of those radio mics. 11:50 AM “You only live once”… unless you’re a cat. 11:53 AM That’s it! War of the Worlds…With Kittens! 12:03 AM Twitter Applause!
War of the Worlds – Opening Night
Opening night of the War of the Worlds was pure magic! When I arrived in the lobby of the Shakespeare theater I was shocked to find the cast had assembled all my blog post sketches on a board in the lobby to share with the audience. I was deeply touched. For once I put away the sketchbook and sat in the front row center to get an up close view of the show. This was the first time I watched the show straight through without the distraction of attempting to sketch. This performance with a full audience had a panicked energy that I had not seen before. All of the actors performed the very physical scenes all out. Everyone was sweating which added a sense of authenticity to the emotions. Certain scenes left me feeling terrified. That feeling lingered.
After the play was finished and the standing ovation had died down, Terry and I were invited back to the green room for a sip of champagne with the cast. I was unbelievably happy and proud of the performers. The cast then went to the Social Chameleon and we all partied late into the night. Joshua and Terry got into a heated discussion on how events portrayed in the play in many ways resembled the emotions and fears generated on September 11th. Joshua actually said he channeled some of those feelings by re watching footage shot on that day of the people, who had to choose between being burnt alive or leaping to their deaths. I stayed at the party to the bitter end, When I finally got home and slipped into bed, thoughts of unfinished conversations and the adrenaline rush of the evening left me unable to sleep. I watched the sun slowly slip into the bedroom and then got up at 7:30 AM to go to a senior center to sketch a writing workshop. The sketch was effortless and had a renewed feeling of humanity.