Flash 2

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A second Flash Mob was planned to promote Orlando, The City Beautiful. Secret rehearsals were held at the Orlando Convention Center. I was happy there was Free parking available behind the West building. I don’t sketch many Convention events because of the price of parking. There was a long walk from the back entrance first up and then down frozen escalators. I followed a man who looked to be in his 80s and when I passed him, I followed two high school girls that looked like they knew where they were going. When I entered the convention room I was stunned by the vast empty space. The rehearsal took up less than a quarter of the space. When I entered, Randy Ross was speaking with all the volunteer dancers letting them know that they had to mingle and act natural prior to this flash mob performance. The last Flash Mob at the Millenia Mall, people stood around in a circle leaving the staging area wide open. It was painfully obvious that a staged performance was about to begin. This time they planned to do it right. Linda Elchak of NAO Dance then took over the rehearsal getting two large groups formed. This was the second rehearsal so most people quickly took their places. New arrivals were instructed where to line up.

I love the music they choose for these flash mobs, it is fun to sketch to. My favorite moment in rehearsal came when a group of about 20 retirees took center stage and shook their booties to Whoop There It Is! All the younger performers cheered and whooped. The youngest performer was the nephew of Linda Stewart and he held his own keeping up with the best dancers. Enthusiasm and a lust for life has no age limit. I decided not to publish the sketch prior to the Flash to keep the performance top secret. At one point Linda said, “Don’t go past the grid, you will fall into the water.” At that point I assumed they would perform at Lake Eola. I had to work during the time the Flash Mob happened. In hind sight it would have been an impossible sketching situation. If you went to Spring Fiesta at Lake Eola at the right time then you got to experience a high energy treat!

Philharmonic Rehearsal

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I went to the Shakespeare Theater to sketch the tech rehearsal for the Playwrights’ Round Table seven short play’s launch for 2011. I hadn’t been given a time so I was guessing what time the rehearsals would start. Peeking in the theater B, I found the space empty. As I walked out of the building I noticed someone approaching with a large cello. I decided to follow him and he lead me to a room where Orlando Philharmonic musicians were gathering. There was twenty minutes before the rehearsal started and so I sat down and started lightly sketching in the space. As musicians arrived I placed them in the sketch using ink. When everyone was present, conductor Christopher Willams suddenly appeared. The musicians all found a common tone, then Christopher raised the baton and the music began.

They were rehearsing Shumann’s Symphony No. 2. There were a few stops and starts but in general the music flowed and I let the lines I was putting on the page flow with the same fluid tempo. When the symphony was complete, Christopher said, “My theory is, that in this room you should just keep playing.” I believe he meant, that in such a small room it might be impossible to gauge proper levels to the various sections. After one moving section, he praised the strings and he remarked that they were pulling together as a unified whole.

When the break rolled around I was finished with my sketch and I decided to talk to Caroline Blice for a while. She had been at my 2 year anniversary party for AADW a few days before so we talked about he party.

Red Chair Affair – Rehearsal

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On the evening before the Red Chair Affair, I went in to the Bob Carr to watch and sketch the rehearsal. John DiDonna, the director of this production, welcomed me warmly and showed me around backstage. The very first person he introduced me to was Boomer Bardo who is in charge of all the sound for the show. Finding a spot backstage to set up was a challenge. I sat down and discovered I was blocking a doorway. Then I scooted over to find myself next to boxes and boxes of programs. The rehearsal was absolute pandemonium at the start. Homer would call out sound cues in his headset and then walk on stage probably to signal to the folks up in the booth at the back of the theater.
The Red Chair Project is a community service designed to increase participation in Central Florida’s arts and culture. As a collaborative campaign involving more than 300 arts and cultural organizations, it promotes and grows the arts in the region through RedChairProject.com , a website with arts and cultural events, discounted tickets, classes/workshops, and getaways. The 6th annual Red Chair Affair would kick off the 2010-2011 Central Florida arts and cultural season.
As I sketched Boomer, a large group of Orlando Repertory Theater Power Chords youth singers stood in line in front of me. They each had stunningly bright colored outfits on. They waited for their coordinator to shout out their number and then they slipped the waistband mini-microphone into a hanging shoe holder. Several of the exuberant youths bumped into me and apologized. Their performance had been high energy and spectacular. They had performed a hip upbeat version of “Lean On Me” that was a joy to listen to. Boomer asked one of the soloists from the group to stand next to him at the soundboard and he adjusted the dials as she sang.
I had one other concert I wanted to sketch this night so once I finished sketching Boomer, I packed up and headed out the stage door hoping to get to “A Time Warp” up at the Unity Church. I was running late. As I was leaving, Tod Caviness said to me, “I don’t know how you keep your hands from cramping up with all the sketching you are doing.”

Project F Projections

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At the last minute on a Sunday I got a Text Message saying I should come out to a Project F rehearsal because something new was in the works. I jumped in my car and drove way out to Bithlo where several actors, Ryan Price and Aradhana Tiwari were gathered. When I entered there was chocolate cake and red wine on the table. Aradhana’s lovebird was flying about the place perching on peoples shoulders on occasion to say hello. I got myself some cake and opted to get a coke instead of a wine. From the dining room table where everyone was seated I could see a blue glow coming from the next room. Aradhana disappeared into that room and I heard her talking to Ryan. I grabbed my cake, soda and then a pillow I found in the hallway and went into the empty room. A digital projector was set up along with a laptop computer. Ryan had set up a cool way of projecting video where the actors image is sent through filters and processors which distort and create halo effects.
Becky Rankin was the first actress to try out the new imaging effect. She sat in front of the computer and acted like she was typing. The video effects distorted her image making intriguing imagery. Whenever she would move the negative space she had just occupied showed a Facebook page in a stuttered digital effect which resembled stop motion animation. Soon Ryan and Aradhana were experimenting with different ways to alter the imagery by waving such items as gauze clear plastics and the ultimate find an old doily. These items when waved in front of the camera lens would set a color tone over the image and add intriguing patterns and distortions. Whe the recorded video was played back on the wall, everyone would whisper, “Ooooh, Ahhhh!”. Just as if they were watching fireworks. The process was fun experimental and fully interactive.
Soon Aradhana had the actors waking in front of the projector creating a viewpointing session like no other where the final result made the actors look like they were surrounded by a blue halo. If an actor stopped moving they would disappear from view and then they would reappear when they moved again. The final effect was ghostly and mesmerizing to watch.
Another filter was tried which pixelated the actors image to the point of barely being recognizable. Again Becky was the first to try out the technology. She sat and acted as if she were working at her computer screen. Ryan and I experimented with lighting and settled on using the projector lighting up the wall as a light source that he then kept moving to alter the image. What was really nice about these images is the fact that the Facebook blue was the primary color in the scene. It was a joy to be a part of this playful afternoon of play and discovery. The actors were giddy with delight when they saw the unexpected final video results. Chelsea Anderson had to use the bathroom. When she returned the light from the open bathroom door created an amazingly clear image on the computer screen. Aradhana asked her to enter the room again leaving the door open when she did. She then sat down at the computer screen and a fabulous scene was created all because of a chance combination of factors that bought the image to life. Such moments of pure serendipity are a spark of pure genius because everyone was open and ready for any new discovery. Project F is truly a cutting edge production.

Tomorrow Thor will sketch DRIP musician auditions at 4502 Old Winter Garden Road Suite E2 between 10AM and 10PM.

Ironhead

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I went to several rehearsals for Ironhead. Ironhead is a fun quirky play about a group of friends who get sucked into a vortex after rippinq an original Ironhead instruction manual. The protagonist, who later plays Ironhead, Josh Geoghagan, just had a child with his wife and he felt playing video games was a waste of time. The friends find themselves inside the video game battling for their lives. Their objective is to find the Evil Lord of Evil Darkness and kill him.
The group of friends battles foe after foe. A particularly memorable scene happened on the Island of Cat People. Here everyone was offered cat nip as a diplomatic sign of friendship. Soon everyone is writhing on the floor together in a state of ecstasy. After rehearsing this scene, Sarah Lockhard said, “I couldn’t find an opening.” The unintended double meaning had everyone in the room laughing to the point of tears. This scene alone is worth the price of admission.
This action packed play was written by Marcie Schwalm and directed by Christian Kelly. The rehersals were held at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater on International Drive. When I arrived, the actors were standing in a circle. An actor would shout out another actors name and then the two actors would change places by crossing inside the circle. The pace picked up until the director asked them to just use eye contact to initiate the exchange. In another exercise the actors walked freely on the stage using peripheral vision to avoid running into one another. At one rehearsal Sarah Lockhard and Josh Geohagen arrived late because her car overheated. After an acting warm up the director asked an actor what he was thinking of. The actor said, “I was wondering when my turn would come. ” The director turned to Sarah, in tears she said, “I was thinking about my car.” That girl couldn’t lie if she tried.
Bottom line, this Fringe play was a fun filled romp.

Play in a Day – Showtime!

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After a solid day of rehearsing, Beth Marshall called all the writers, actors and directors into the Margeson Theater for a last minute prep talk. Everyone had worked hard all day to to get these six productions up and running. Lindsay Cohen had written a piece about high school girls getting locked in a bathroom during a high school prom. In this piece, Sarah Lockhard played a drugged out youth and she was hilarious. She spun on the floor and used toilet paper to play a game of “He Loves Me, He Loves Me not.” At one point, she put her ear to the floor on one of the colorful circles and started pounding her fist, screaming “Get us out of here!” My favorite line of all the shows was screamed out by Sarah, “ROYGBIV your a beautiful freaking genius!” This was particularly funny because of the colorful 70’s themed “School House Rock!” set.
The night before Lindsay had gone with fellow writer Tod Caviness to the Drunken Monkey Coffee Bar to try and write. The plan backfired when a guy kept hitting on her. He just wouldn’t take the hint that she had work to do. Her play started as a Unabomber dance party, but gradually was reworked into the high school prom bathroom drama we saw. Lindsay wrote all night, and finished at 6:50am and before running over to the Shakes to hand off the script to Laurel Clark, the play’s director.
A production that was like a 70’s sitcom similar to “Sanford and Son”, looked to me like it was going to crash and burn based on the rehearsal I saw. Marty Stonerock, the lead actress in that piece, looked at me while Beth was talking to the assembled group, and she took her scarf and made a gesture like she was being hung, sticking her tongue out comically. In this play, the lead actor, Barry White, craves a drink from his trusted bottle of ripple that he keeps under the desk. Marty had taken the ripple off stage by mistake. As the helpless actor searched for the now missing bottle, Marty finally rolled the bottle into the theater and it got the loudest laugh of the night.

DRIP – The Pollock Project

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Beth Marshall is presenting a theatrical collaboration with DRIP to bring Jackson Pollock’s turbulent and brilliant life to the Mennello Museum of American Art. The Pollock Project will be part visual art, part performance, part history, part dance and part music. This collaboration will explore the marriage of Jackson Pollock’s art and the human condition. This Mennello Museum is now displaying “Auspicious Vision” which features works from Edward Wales Root’s personal collection of American art. Jackson Pollock’s work is on exhibit along with paintings by William de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Edward Hopper among other artists through May 23rd.
I went to the DRIP warehouse to watch a rehearsal for this multimedia project. In the center of the huge space was a large yellow wooden platform which had a large Plexiglas “canvas” mounted on top. The dancers were high up on ladders and Jessica Mariko turned on the recording of music performed by Phillipp Vandre and the Turfan Ensemble. I remembered this high pitched, plunking, haunting modern music from a video I had watched about Pollock when I researched his painting methods for a Halloween costume I made which I called “Jack the Dripper“.
The dance begins with the dancers struggling against gravity as they slowly climb the ladders. Upon reaching the heights, the dancers begin painting with wooden stirring sticks in unison with fluid motions. The dance surged with the electric energy of the music. Watching Pollock work is much like watching a ballet. He would lay his large canvas on the floor and walk around and on the painting as if dancing on its surface. He would bend at the waist as he waved his arm like a farmer sewing seeds onto his field. He was essentially drawing with paint, the lines fluid without describing a specific form. His work was about expressing feelings rather than illustrating them.
After the dancers finished the painting on Plexiglas, I wandered over to look up at they had created. The paint was a bit too thin so it just pooled upon the plastic like mercury, not retaining any linear forms. Jessica decided next time they would have to use thicker paint. There was also some concern as to how they would clean up once the piece was done. It would be impossible to transport the huge sheet of Plexiglas outside to hose it down. I suggested they stretch a thin plastic film onto the frame and then they could poke a hole in the center when they were done and drain the paint into a paint can. I will be curious to see how they resolve this in the end.
I am very excited to see how this artistic collaboration turns out. There are only two performances of “The Pollock Project”: Saturday March 27th at 7 PM and Sunday March 28th at 2 PM.

Project F – First meeting

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Project F will explore the many facets of social networking and community on the Internet through the lens of Facebook using a theatrical microscope. At this first meeting, Aradhana Tiwari, the director, asked all the actors who were in the circular patrons room at the Shakespeare Theater to read a commitment contract. Actors would each read a sentence in turn when they felt inspired to do so. Sometimes several actors would jump in and read the line together…
I promise to be an artistic adventurer. I will navigate this process with the wonder of a child and the wisdom of an old soul.
I will strive to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone and expand my range of artistic identity. I will always try my best, give my all and share my utmost.
When I enter the space I will leave the baggage and stresses of the day at the door. I will breath in the energy of a blank canvas and look to paint upon it.
I will believe in the process…even when it’s hard, even when I am tired, even when I have doubt.
I will embrace collaboration as a gift and tend to it with grace, patience and respect. I will be honest about my point of view while opening myself up to other’s viewpoints.
I will always try. I will fail. I will try again. I will succeed. I will understand that succeeding is to try.
I will respect my fellow artisans by honoring our work with my steadfast, and punctual attendance. I will make discoveries about my artistic self and attempt to grow in ways I don’t expect.
Aradhana asked the actors to split up into groups of four or five. Then she gave each group packets with 5 statuses written in chalk on black paper and assorted objects. Within one minute the actors were asked to create a scene using the props and statuses. The groups then performed each in turn as the rest of the actors sat in the audience and watched. The perfomances were fun, unexpected and at times bizarre.
Afterwards, she asked the actors what they found frustrating about the process. Actors found the time constrain rather tight and the props obscure. One actor said he was always second guessing himself. When asked if the emerged a leader within the groups, no one wanted to admit that a leader ever emerged. Perhaps there was not enough time.
Aradhana then asked the actors to walk in a grid pattern on a stage area she had set up with four chairs in a Viewpoints session. First she asked the actors to consider their tempo, how fast or slow they moved. Then they explored duration, how long they might stay in a particular speed. They were asked to explore stopping and stopping. Then they explored kinesthetic response, the physical reaction to movement outside of themselves. She asked the actors to allow everything to affect them and to be open and listen and react through their bodies. They were asked to open themselves to surprise encounters. At this point Michael Sloan and Sarah Lockhard found themselves back to back locked together like puzzle pieces. Sarah smiled and leaned her head back. I wish I had sketched fast enough to catch that moment.

Yow Dance – 3 In Motion

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Tonight – Saturday, February 6th, at 7 PM, Yow Dance will collaboratewith with Valencia Dance and the Dr. Phillips High School Dance department at the Dr. Phillips High School Auditorium (6500 Turkey Lake Road) at part of Arts Fest. This is the sixth year these three dance companies have joined together on the same stage.
Yow Dance marks itself as Central Florida’s most dynamic modern dance company. I went to a rehearsal at the Center for Contemporary Dance in Winter Park. Artistic Director Eric Yow was nice enough to take the time to explain a little bit about what they were rehearsing the night I sketched them. “We were rehearsing “Compromising Raven”, a favorite piece of older repertory. The music was by Philip Glass. The theme of the piece is quite dark. Iit is about rising above those oppressive feelings that may come about from any of the many variables around you.”
Besides drawing dancers at rest and stretching in the background, I sketched a section of the dance where the dancers would be on their knees and bent over in what looked like a position of reverent prayer. They would then slowly rise up into the position sketched and then roll over and repeat the movements. These dancers put in some long hard hours. I had arrived a bit late to the rehearsal since once again, I got lost looking for the place. But I think that panicked, rushed quality to the sketch actually helped breath new life into the sketch.
One of the dancers had her son on the sidelines as she rehearsed. As expected, he became infatuated with what I was doing. He stood beside me pointing to each of the dancers as I drew then and he would identify them for me. When he stood in front of me, David Mooney had to come over and pull him aside. The boy had a non-stop stream of questions and I patiently answered them, but it was a little distracting at times. Dance rehearsals are always inspiring with the non-stop movement and high energy. My sketch developed in pieces as I caught dancers at different times during the rehearsal freezing them at the moment when they best filled their role in my composition. In this way sketching is alot like theater viewpoints exercises, I try and capture scattered illusive moments in time as the action unfolds quickly before me.

Trees – Glory in the Highest

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Having seen the final production of “The Singing Christmas Trees”, I now know that “Glory in the Highest” is one of my favorite numbers in the show. Here Jenine, the choreographer, is teaching the children the dance moves. The children are arranged with the smallest in front and the tallest in the back forming perfect wedges. A proud father sits on the side lines shooting digital pictures of his child.
In the final production the core group was on the main stage doing hand signs to the music’s lyrics and the children were on the steps leading up to the stage. They were all dressed in flowing white robes and the long sleeves billowed as they moved. The hand signs were graceful, slow and beautiful when timed to the music. I have to sing every time I hear this song. I always like to skip a beat and then belt out “Highest” a moment after everyone else. The great thing about this show is how everyone rose to the task. Not everyone was professional dancers or actors but after months of dedicated rehearsals everyone came together as a group and put on a stellar show. If someone needed extra help to learn some dance moves another cast member would step up and offer help. Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.
At the beginning of one rehearsal a cast member pointed out to the circled cast that she had wanted to give up on the show. The work was hard and endless and she just wasn’t feeling any joy in the process. Her voice broke as she told everyone this. She read that night a verse that struck a chord in her. “In humility count others as more significant than yourself.” With that thought she decided to rededicate herself to the show, trusting in the director and the cast. When I saw her beaming on the stage swaying to the music during this number, I was filled with wonder and joy celebrating the strength of the human heart.