I went to see a production of a musical written by two of my friends, Mark LaPierre and Jodi Eichelberger. I’d seen it nine years ago in Portland, but this was it’s NYC debut and very exciting. It was as wonderful and witty as I remembered. Very clever lyrics and an accapela score that’s witty […]
Rob signed up for the virtual ticket line last night and, much to our surprise, won tickets to the show. We’re going after all. Just in case you don’t know about the virtual line: While the majority of Free tickets for Shakespeare in the Park are distributed via the Free line at the Delacorte Theater,
Hamleting after all. Read More »
Elizabeth Barrette asked, “How did you get into your cool practice of acquiring bizarre props and building puppets?” This is one that comes up a lot and, strangely, I don’t think I’ve posted on it, so I’ll give the long answer. I was one of those kids who wanted to do everything. My parents indulged
How I got started in puppetry Read More »
As the shows I’m working on wind down, and I get various project turned in, I’m seeing snippets of free time appear. I look at them somewhat askance, but I think I might see some more of them. Theater season does wind down in the summer. I think I’ll actually be able to catch up
What should I talk about? Read More »
Dear actors, When you demand a prop, a strange and difficult to acquire prop, which requires some hours of time to get for you, please think carefully when presented with the object before you announce that you prefer what you’ve been using in rehearsal. Many thanks for your time and attention. A prop master who
Note to actors from a prop master Read More »
One of the joys, when I’m doing props, comes from creating paper goods. Letters, diaries and in this case, a 40-page poetry manuscript…. I took the text of the scene, fed it into the Bonsai Story Generator and got titles from the Book Title Generator. That gave me about ten pages, which I fed back
Generating a poetry manuscript for a prop Read More »
So… let’s recap today. Pilot overslept. Then thunderstorms. Still no pilot. Plane delayed by two hours. Miss D.C. connection. Rebooked on a flight for 6:15 am the next day. Sad. Get standby flight. Happy! Flight is delayed. Why? LaGuardia wasn’t letting flights in. Sad. Finally arrive in NYC. All buses are running! Happy! All buses
A mere thirteen hours later Read More »
For Steve and Idi I need a fake jelly donut. I started with blue foam, the stuff used to insulate your house, and laminated two sheets of 1″ foam together to get the right thickness for the donut. Then I cut it out on the bandsaw. My beltsander and I rounded the thing. I used
Time to make the donuts Read More »
Things I say I’m moving back to Shimmer land. Screw the gods. Just be sure you aren’t screwing when the actors get there. Can I get a stiffer rod? I can retain his rods if I hold them between my pelvis and his head May I touch your dead animal head? He couldn’t get it
Things said at work, redux Read More »
Fired a gun for the first time today. It was a blank-firing Glock with quarter-charge ammunition and was for Steve and Idi at Rattlestick. Even with only a quarter-charge of gunpowder, it was really loud. Alas, the Glock throws the spent casings in a twenty-foot arc, which lands them squarely in the audience. I’m taking
Dropped props off for one show. Bought furniture for another. Rehearsed a third. Wrote on the train. Bed now.
Quick recap of today Read More »
Hoooooow? How did I manage to schedule tech week for two shows during the same week again? It’s 2:30 am and I feel like I’m going to bed early. That’s a bad sign.
Two tech weeks, again? Read More »
If you want to have conversations with your neighbors, a good way to do it is to walk down the street with a cart of taxidermy. They might start conversations with such openers as” “My god!” “What is it?” “Are they real?” “May I touch your dead animal heads?” I’m doing props for Bully Pulpit,
Walking in NYC with taxidermy Read More »
I know a number of you are coming into town for Comicon. Why not take a break from all that industry stuff and come see a show? I’m puppeteering Peter in Peter and the Wolf. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf is re-imagined by Mabou Mines co-artistic director Terry O’Reilly and Jane Catherine Shaw
Come see Peter and the Wolf Read More »
I spent today getting props together for Steve and Idi a new play that I’m working on for Rattlestick theater. In the afternoon, Rob and I went down to pick up a rug for the Bully Pulpit, a play about Teddy Roosevelt. In the evening, Katherine and I headed down to the Peter and the
Steve & Idi, Teddy, Peter and Katherine Read More »