Even the smallest art show is an ambitious undertaking. An art show with live models might be more so. And an art show with live models impersonating pop-cultural icons? To pull something like that off, you need great people at every level.
With Glamour in Glitter, we had them. Continue reading
When we were working with The Renaissance Guild on Rumors, there was some discussion on whether to keep its late-80s setting or to update it to the present day. The decision was ultimately made to make it contemporary to our audience, which meant adapting some lines and references to make sense to a 2010 playgoer.
For one example: In Neil Simon’s original script, there’s a reference to the 1986 film Platoon. Someone (and it might actually have been me) suggested changing the title to The Hurt Locker, and we went with it. I thought it worked pretty well; like the movie, the play’s all about characters trying to defuse a bad situation before it blows up in their faces (though I’ll admit there’s a little less… drama attached to our play). But if I have to be honest about the reasoning behind my suggestion, I really just wanted to hear Danielle King say “The Hurt Locker“.
I bring this up to illustrate that the production of a play is not always a process of exact translation or transcription. Sometimes we have to make some changes to get the story and characters from page to stage. Which of course brings us back to the San Antonio Stage Script Study Group. Continue reading
For five years, I’ve been blessed to work with Nikki and Chadd at PDP. And in that time, as Nikki’s unofficial Boswell, I’ve done my best to chronicle the many chapters of her career as a performer, producer, promoter, and teacher.
With that in mind, today’s post will be rather bittersweet, as I’m writing the close to one of those chapters. Continue reading
One of the great marvels of films like The Fugitive or The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is their incredible sense of place. It’s a testament to the talent of the filmmakers involved that Chicago and New York become characters in their own rights; as I’d written of Pelham,
There’s a quality more felt than seen about the film, a sense that what happens in it could only happen in this city, at this time, with these people. And the film’s so much stronger for it.
This is one of the things I love about the San Antonio Neighborhood Film Project (the brainchild of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs). It’s a chance for local filmmakers to bring one of their favorite characters to life onscreen. And it’s a chance for local filmgoers to look at their hometown in whole new lights. So I was looking forward to being a part of last night’s screenings. Continue reading
As I’ve said before, the San Antonio Stage Script Study Group was “one of my favorite Stone Oak Youth Theatre activities”. And in the time we met there, it had developed the kind of following you’d call Small But Devoted. So when the group was put on hold following the end of Nikki‘s tenure at SOYT, it was inevitable that we’d find a new place, a new time, and meet again.
That brief hiatus ended with 2011, as we met again in January to chart a new course for a new year. And in that discussion, we agreed that the time had come for one of the group’s earliest and most promising ideas. Continue reading
“If only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.”
-Roy Batty
Even at the time, it seemed all too fitting that my first experience with Blade Runner came as an undergraduate. There’s something in the film’s mix of genre tropes, in a visual universe that’s at once startling and familiar, and in a philosophical subtext that’s so blatant it’s practically text, that appeals to the young intellect trying to assert itself before it’s really earned the right to do so.
But that I still revisit it today, some 20 years on, suggests that there’s something more to the film, something in the alchemy of all those elements. Why does Blade Runner still have that hold on me? Why is its power stronger now than when I first saw it? Continue reading
That title is a lyric from a favorite Warren Zevon song, “Lord Byron’s Luggage” (a song that’s also noteworthy for successfully building a rhyme around the term persona non grata). It seemed an apt description for how I’m feeling as I look back on 2011.
It’s not a bad view, as these things go. Continue reading
As I write this, it’s just shy of five years since I met Nikki, and just shy of just shy since I informally joined the PrimaDonna team. I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things about the industry in that time, but it’s still a surprise, and no little honor, when I’m asked to share my experiences with others. Me being an ex-teacher and all, I have a hard time passing up that kind of opportunity.
And that kind of opportunity came again a couple of weeks ago, with an invitation from that man about two towns, Michael Druck. Home from New York for a time, Michael (through his Actors Network SA) was hosting an Actors Expo, an event designed to bring talent together to network with and learn from industry professionals. (Michael being Michael, the event also served as a fundraiser for the North East School of the Arts, one of the many essential organizations that foster and encourage the growth of young talent here in S.A.)
And that list of professionals turned out to include me. Continue reading
Over four weeks of rehearsing The Love List, we had a list of our own to work on. And with each run-through, we refined and tweaked it, checking and re-checking each item.
It goes without saying – so of course I’m saying it anyway – that the dress rehearsal is one of the last, and therefore most important, steps in that process. It’s where we take all the pieces we’ve created and collected and put them together to see how they work as a whole. Set: check. Props: check. Costumes: check. Blocking: check. Lines memorized: check. Sound and light: check. MaMaLu Olivo as our stage manager: check. It’s our best chance to see how the show will play before we bring the audience into the theater. Continue reading
As I write this, we’re nine days from opening night for The Love List. And in our third week of rehearsals, the play continues to take shape, each run-through bringing us closer to that one moment we’re all striving for. Continue reading
Lee Hurtado, Writer 