Political fundraiser for Martha O. Haynie

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My wife, Terry, suggested I come out to sketch a political fundraiser for Orange County Comptroller Martha O. Haynie at the Abbey, (100 South Eola Drive.) The scene didn’t look that much different than sketching in any bar except folks were dressed in business attire and they all had name tags. Martha was very cordial and introduced herself to me. She immediately found common ground with me when she said that she missed former United Arts CEO Margot Knight.

Terry arrived and waved to me. She moved around the room from one conversation to the next, meeting everyone as I sketched. Janet and Geoff Benge, who lead the Silver Fern Writing workshops sat down at a central table. Terry started attending these workshops after one of my sketchbooks was used as a writer’s prompt. She sat with Janet and Geoff and the laughter grew louder.

As Comptroller, Martha keeps an eye on Orange County finances and she makes sure that money spent is accountable. This doesn’t stop politicians from miss spending money, but it does mean their actions are accountable come election time. Marthe joked that it might not be wise to check the finances of the sheriff’s department since they carry guns. She checked their books anyway. There is someone running against Martha in the upcoming elections so she has to be diligent in letting people know she is doing a good job. Her address to the gathered crowd was short sweet and to the point.

Terry was hungry, so she went down the block to Mucho’s to get some takeout tacos. She returned with two boxes of tacos and we shared with Janet and Geoff. By this time, my sketch was done and most everyone else had left. Martha stopped over and she had a taco with us as well.

Drunken Monkey

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That clock on the wall must have stopped. I agreed to meet Terry for a Beau Soleil concert at the Plaza Theater. Beau Soleil is a Cajun band and Terry just loves them as do I. I decided not to sketch the concert, so instead I went over to the Drunken Monkey right across the street to eat and sketch. I ordered a hot Portobello mushroom sandwich that was absolutely amazing. To drink, I ordered a mango slushy. A guy seated on a couch in the corner of the room was reading his iPad. Hear no evil and speak no evil wooden monkeys were squatting on a bookcase full of board games. The woman seated at the table in front of me had the intriguing habit of holding her index fingers over her lips when she wasn’t speaking.

A heart made of broken mirror shards was mounted on four colorful panels next to the door. As I sketched, someone approached and said, “You’re that artist!” I didn’t quite know how to respond. It was Banjo Bob. He showed me a painting of an owl on a wood panel he was working on. He had been painting outside, but it had started to drizzle. Banjo works at the Drunken Monkey and he said I could exhibit my sketches there any time. I just might take him up on that offer sometime. Hot soup, hot coffee, warm heart. I always enjoy returning to the Drunken Monkey.

The Beau Soleil concert was amazing. The crowd was older than I expected with plenty of gray hair. When I glance in the mirror however, I realize, I fit right in. Terry and I danced quite a bit. Since I wasn’t sketching, I soaked in the music and drank. After two beers I was dancing like Fred Astaire. Terry suggested we show off our best Cajun dance moves. Another couple had some really smooth moves as well. Between sets, I talked to the woman, Joanne Conero. She and her husband Al teach dancing up in the Villages. She was also a member of the Clearwater environmental group. It was at a Clearwater festival more than 20 years ago. Incredibly small world. When Terry returned with another beer, we were shown a new move which we now have to try out sometime. I miss the Clearwater, a community with a heart and a cause.

I no longer go to Drunken Monkey since they used one of my
sketches without consulting me on their Internet welcome page. I usually
support local businesses but I can’t support theft. This was the sketch stolen.

Video Game Burlesque Rehearsal

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Rehearsals were running late at Theater Downtown. After the Vaudeville acts had been rehearsed, the second show, a Video Games Burlesque was run through. Chan Sterling worked as the MC in a white lab coat, a deep grey ascot and big black rubber boots. Ruby Darling appeared at the end of the runway in a sultry black and white dress that came down tight at the knees forcing her to walk like Morticia from the Addams Family. 0n the day of the show, she would be entangled in wires and deliver a menacing monologue. I’m not sure what video game the scene is from, but the burlesque dance that followed was easy enough to understand.

Jolie Hart and her boyfriend cuddled in the front row. Jolie performed an amazing high energy retro dance routine that had her gasping for air when she burst back stage. The blood covered chair at the end of the runway was for Cory Violence and Shy La-Buff’s Bio-Shock burlesque number. Shy wore a strange bunny’s mask and wore a tattered green dress that Violence would later rip off her in shreds.

My favorite number of the rehearsal was when Ruby Darling sang “Soon or a Later” to Nekkid RoboJoe. As she sang she got some Duct tape and taped him to the chair he was sitting in. When the number was over, she dragged him off stage. This routine would certainly have the audience roaring.

Vaudeville

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Thanks to Shy La Buff, I found myself as part of a Vaudeville act at Theater Downtown. The lobby of Theater Downtown felt like a large cluttered living room. There was a pool table in the corner and a small piano in front of a makeshift stage. Theater posters and large photos littered the walls. I didn’t see any theatrical sketches. I planted myself in a comfortable leather seat. Actresses arrived one at a time, listening to iPods and swinging their hips.

There was a rehearsal wrapping up on the main stage so, Ruby Darling started blocking out the Circus act of which I was a part. Cory Violence stood in the center of the red carpet and began reciting “Live Circus” by Tom Waits. He had to read the lines off his iPhone at first but soon he was off script.

Every actress in the room was soon recruited to be in the act. Ruby herself became One Eyed Myra, the queen of the galley. Cherry Bob-omb took the role of Horse Face Ethel and her ‘Marvellous Pigs In Satin’. She wore a dark beard and moved with a dancers grace. A-manda Lorian had a petite frame draped in an over sized mans outfit. The floppy hat was a size too large and it always kept half her face hidden in shadow. She swayed and staggered like a drunk sailor. She reminded me of a feminine version of Charlie Chaplin. Siber Digit was Yodeling Elaine the Queen of the air. She moved with languid and heavy depression having lassoed and lost another tipsy sailor. Shy La Buff was on target as Poodle Murphy. She held her arms high and arched her back so I could sketch. Chan Sterling as Funeral Wells stood prepared to throw his hardware. He tested the sharpness of the blade with his thumb.

I only had five minutes to do the sketch on my digital tablet hooked up to a projector. I had to plan everything out in advance so I could finish in time. Each knife was on its own layer in Sketchbook Pro, so when Violence shouted, “Leave the bum!” I could flick a knife layer on and it would appear on the sketch. No physical knives were thrown only digital hardware.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

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Jeremy Seghers invited me to sketch the dress rehearsal for Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Abbey. I was excited because Joshua Eads-Brown who plays Hedwig had agreed to let me sketch as he put on his make up. When I entered the Abbey, a rock band was warming up on stage. I didn’t know where the dressing room was but, I assumed it had to be back stage. When I tentatively peaked around the back curtain, I practically ran into Joshua who was wearing a knit cap over his hair and not much else. His whole body seemed to be covered with a white dust. The stage manager took me back to the dressing room.

Janine Klein who plays Yitzhak was working on getting her hair tied up. She was dressed as a man. The dressing room was cramped. I stood right behind Janine as I sketched Joshua’s metamorphosis from a man to a woman. He had a bright pink zebra patterned makeup case and open pans of color were scattered on the counter before him. The face makeup was applied thickly. He darkened under his jaw line and boldly accentuated his cheeks with Alizarin Crimson. He put crimson and blue around his eyes then bright red lips outlined in black. His lips and eyes sparkled. The fingers of white gloves draped over the counter’s edge. Janine was getting into a leather jacket and Joshua delicately used an eyeliner brush to give her a mustache and goatee. She became handsome and rugged while he became gorgeous. Large fake eyelashes, the wig and a red white and blue gown finished the transformation. She slipped on the star shaped sun glasses and went on stage.

The dress rehearsal was delayed because a guitar player hadn’t arrived yet. I used the time to block in a second sketch. Hedwig came out wearing a large red white and blue cape. He raised his arms and on the inside of the cape, the words, “Yankee Go Home”, “With Me!” was emblazoned.

The show is staged as Hedwig’s musical act in which he tells his life’s story. He was born in the divided city of East Berlin. A U.S. Soldier falls in love with Hedwig. To get out of East Berlin, a sex change was needed. As he put it, “You must give up part of yourself for love.” The operation is botched leaving an “Angry Inch.” The soldier leaves Hedwig after a year for a man. Recovering from separation she form a rock band called, “The Angry Inch”. She meets Tommy Speck and they write music together. Tommy never accepted Hedwig and he leaves her taking all the songs becoming a very successful pop star.

Yitzhak was a cross dresser. Hedwig insisted he must never again wear woman’s clothes if they were to be together. He would have to give up that part of himself. All her life Hedwig searched for her other half. She couldn’t find anyone who could make her whole. The revelation is that she needed to accept herself. Once she did that she was whole again. We can’t fall back on others to complete ourselves. In the final scene Yitzak came out on stage dressed in a gorgeous black gown with a slit reveling her left leg. She was resplendent and whole. The audience went wild.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is being performed at the Abbey through January 23rd. Check the website for dates and times. This musical will blow your socks off!

The Diviners

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Beth Marshall Presents brought this Depression Era story set in the dust bowl to the Garden Theatre (160 West Plant Street, Winter Garden). Directed by Aradhana Tiwari, opening scene set the stage full of movement as townspeople went about their daily routines. A windmill stood in stark silhouette and Buddy Layman played by CK Anderson gasped awake. Walking down a dirt road was C.C. Showers played by Michael Marinaccio. C.C was a former priest running from his fathers calling. He found work with the Layman family.

Buddy Layman was a high spirited, somewhat retarded boy who referred to himself in the third person. He had a gift for divining where there was water. He used a tree branch to search as farmers followed with eager anticipation. He had a natural gift. He could feel a storms approach on a clear day. It became clear in time that the boy feared water because he once almost drowned. His mother died in that incident and Buddy was unable to accept that she would never return. Buddy and C.C. developed a bond, a brotherly friendship. Buddy’s fear of water was so severe that he would bolt at the sight of a bucket. He feared he could not breath when it rained. He never washed, and that became a problem cause he constantly had itchy feet.

The cast did an amazing job with thick accents and rural mannerisms. I was particularly taken with Marinaccio’s performance. When he demonstrated his father’s preaching, he became bigger than life, bombastic and powerful. What he yearned for however was a simpler life away from the priesthood. But once townsfolk discovered his past calling, they wouldn’t let him be. He was asked to say grace before meals and anytime he was seen with Buddy, they thought he was saving the boys spirit and that he could cure Buddy’s fear of water. This conflict between too much and too little faith is what caused a tragic oversight.

The final scene of the play was beautiful and tragic. The stage was illuminated from below with a green flickering light. C.C. had lost Buddy in the river. They moved under the water and the theatre filled with the muffled sounds of bubbles and rushing water. When they burst up for air, the light burst warmly on and the watery audio stopped. When then slipped back under, the world flickered green and muffled again. They struggled against the current. Townspeople moved in horrified slow motion.

The play ended as it began, a full circle, with townspeople going about their business and then Basil, the town farmer, and Dewey, a farm hand, gave a eulogy. The weight of their words had new meaning. Amazing Grace filled the dark theater. The Diviners will run December 15 -18th. Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm , and Sundays at 2pm.

Next Fall

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l have begun a project called “LifeSketch” where individuals are interviewed by an author while I sketch. The sketch is then matted along with the person’s life story making a unique present and memorable keepsake. Actor and instructor Thomas Ouellette bid on a LifeSketch at a fundraiser and he won. I had forgotten about that auction item which sold many months ago, but Thomas contacted me and invited author Mary Hill and myself to a play called “Next Fall” at the Mad Cow Theater. I asked to be seated in a back row in case I needed a book light to sketch. I arrived right after work and sketched the theater which is right down the street from Avalon Art Gallery. After I was seated, I rifled through my bag looking for my book light. It was nowhere to he found.

The Mad Cow Theater will soon be moving to Church Street so “Next Fall” would be the last show produced in the Magnolia Street address. The theater was small and intimate with the audience sitting on opposite sides of the central staging area. Next Fall was a beautifully structured play that was non linear. Thomas played Adam who didn’t believe in religion yet he fell in love with Luke who was a firm believer. Adam would constantly poke fun and even denigrate his partner’s beliefs. When Luke is in an auto accident, Adam finds he can not visit him in the hospital because he wasn’t “family”. He shouted, “I want more time!” I welled up. A young woman seated directly across from us was also in tears. Seeing her reactions often pushed me over the edge. The actor’s every step and breath was deeply felt in the intimate setting. I’m glad I wasn’t sketching, because it might have distracted me from the overwhelming emotional force of the play.

Luke’s father was a man’s man who refused to admit his son’s sexuality. He loved his son however and when he collapsed in grief, it was Adam who held him, comforting him with Luke’s words of faith. Perhaps Adam had a deep well of faith that he chose to ignore but tragedy brought that faith and hope to light. When the lights came back up, I had to wipe my eyes.

After a standing ovation, the actors sat center stage for a talk back. They confided that they talk about the audience backstage. We were a particularly engaged audience that laughed loudly when things were funny. They knew we might be devastated when they dropped the boom.This play, written by Geoffery Nauffts, started in a tiny theater similar to Mad Cow. Elton John went to see the play and he was so moved by the production, that he decided to invest six million dollars to bring the play to Broadway. It is success stories like this that keep some actors in this business, whose main rewards are emotional, rather than financial. So many times I am finding my mission to sketch people every day has caused me to care deeply for the people I observe. In this way, artists are blessed.

Phantasmagoria

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It would be a fiendish, horrific tragedy if you didn’t get to see Phantasmagoria. Tonight is the final show starting at 8:30pm at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s, Mandell Theater. I arrived early and started blocking in my sketch before the audience arrived. I love these final moments as the actors stretch, warm up and joke to break the tension. The actors gathered in a circle and held hands. Director, John DiDonna said, “Lets build a bridge to next year. Make these final performances fiendishly dangerous. See you on the other side guys.” Brittany Wine shouted out, “Love you all!”

All the actors layed down on the floor and they were covered with black blankets. John warned, “We have a full house tonight with 98 people. Check your extremities, don’t leave anything sticking out.” A female voice boomed over the sound system, “Five minutes to house open.” Members of the cast shot back, “Thank you five.” The room grew deadly quiet and then the audience walked in to find their seats. One actor rose quietly, the blanket still covering him to strike a ringmasters theatrical pose. As the blankets were lifted off, the actors came to life in their costumes of blood red and black. The costumes designed by Jennifer Bonner were lavish and stunning. A scrim behind the actors often acted as a screen for projections of animations and titles.

Each of the acts were built around horrific folklore and poetry. Edgar Allen Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” resulted in the whole cast dancing, celebrating and then succumbing to the pestilence of the red death. No one was spared. Phantasmagoria was a whimsical and horrific poem by Lewis Carol.

“Allow me to remark
That ghosts have just as good a right,
In every way to fear the light,
As men to fear the dark.”

I enjoyed “The Picture of Dorian Grey“. In this act a painter created a stunning portrait of Dorian Grey. When Dorian viewed the painting, he saw it morph, revealing his inner dark self. The picture took on a horrific visage because Dorian was morally bankrupt. In the end Dorian died taking on the horrible appearance in the portrait and the painting returned to its former splendor. A life sized skeletal puppet was used to portray his inner self to great effect.

Music of Eric Satie played during an elegant and beautiful aerial act. Tiny Gina Makarova performed on a suspended hoop while Mila Makarova and Dion Smith performed suspended in silks. Satie’s music expressed the melancholy inner yearning of the creative spirit and the women floated weightless in its ethereal embrace.

The most stunning puppet was the Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland. An actor on stilts acted as the hind legs of the creature and a long silver spine snaked down from head to tail. The head was immense being controlled by a strong puppeteer. A small army was needed to control the beast. I wish I had been fast enough to get a sketch. This show is the perfect Halloween treat.

The Abbey

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Yelp was promoting its new “Culture Club” campaign with a kick off party at the Abbey. When I entered the venue, I saw Kelly DeWayne Richards sitting at the bar so I went over to say hello. He was dressed all in black with a red tie and stylish fedora. I know Kelly from his Sunday morning cabaret performances at the Parliament House. This is the one place where I occasionally get up to sing. It turns out Kelly is now performing at “Musical Mondays” which start at 7pm each week at the Abbey. He was told about the gig just two days before his first performance and had just nine people the first night. I want to get out to the next “Musical Monday” and I know the place will be packed.

The Yelp event featured several performances. Altar Boyz sang flamboyant religious themed songs. They had plenty of pep, but left me cold. The Orlando Ballet performed a piece from the upcoming “Vampire’s Ball.” Robert Hill, the artistic director, explained that in horror films there is always a young innocent couple who is unaware of any danger since they are so in love. The young dancers performed a sensual dance that expressed their longing. It was the undeniable highlight of the evening.

Then Kelly’s baby grand piano was wheeled on the stage. He explained to the audience that he was there to set the mood, so people continued to mingle as he played. He began with “The Piano Man” by Billy Joel. The lights in the room were constantly on the move, switching from reds to blues. I considered going to sketch at the Comedy Improv Festival after I finished up at the Abbey but Terry fired off a text asking when I would be coming home. I decided to call it a night. I typed Hh (heading home) into my cell. She wasn’t there.

Yelp Culture Club Kick Off Party

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Yelp had a kick off party for it’s new “Culture Club” at The Abbey (100 South Eola Avenue). Yelp is an Internet service where people write reviews about restaurants. It allows you to see what your friends think about the restaurant you are considering. Through the month of October, Yelp is offering discounted tickets to museums and theaters around town. Venues include, the Morse Museum, Albin Polasek Museum, History Center, Maitland Art Center, La Nouba, Orlando Ballet, the Social, Beacham, Mad Cow Theater, the Abbey and Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Go to www.yelp.com/events for discounted tickets. They will showcase the best of the arts, entertainment, theater, live music, and basically, all sorts of cultural enrichment in the City Beautiful. Some of the special events are completely free so it pays to check back as offers arrive.

I arrived early and sketched as someone changed the movie marquee sign over the entrance. There was a suction cup at the end of a long pole and he used it to remove plastic letters and then put up the Yelp signage. All the wrought iron made the Abbey feel a bit church like. I found it odd that there was a parking garage right above the Abbey. Two female Abbey employees talked to the signage man as he worked. People walked past with their dogs. Two men valet parked cars as they arrived. As I walked into the Abbey, one of the valets asked to see my sketch.