On Being That Man Behind The Curtain

‘Fast’ Friends

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Since the end of PDP‘s last regular acting classes, we’ve had a lot of people asking when Nikki would be teaching again.  And while it may be a cliché to say their interest was overwhelming, we really were overwhelmed to find out how much those classes really meant to people.  So we looked for the kind of “limited-engagement events” I’d mentioned in that post.

The first of those events came in the summer, as Nikki led a summer acting camp at The Rose Theatre Company.  And parents and kids alike responded really well to Movie Magic.  So when the opportunity for another workshop… well, arose, it made great sense to return to the theater. Continue reading →

The Magnolia Chronicles, Days 4-6: Wrap Stars

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Were I to put a lesson to the production of Magnolia, it would have to be that patience, persistence, and preparation ultimately pay off.  (Were I to put a lesson to my blogging, it might be that I rely a little too heavily on alliteration – but that’s a post for another day…)

Over six weeks, we’d had to make occasional adjustments for locations, actor availability, and especially the weather.  We’d faced drought one week, deluge the next.  But Nikki and Chadd had brought a great team together, so we were able to keep moving forward, knowing that as long as we kept doing our work, it would still come together.

And in our last weekend of principal photography, it really did come together. Continue reading →

The Magnolia Chronicles, Days 2 & 3: Our Time In The Adjustment Bureau

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It pretty effectively goes without saying that filmmaking, especially independent filmmaking, is a process of adjustments.  The unexpected will happen; there’s no way around that.  And while I’m not entirely convinced it’s possible to expect the unexpected – if you could, it wouldn’t really be unexpected, would it? – it’s still possible to prepare for it, to be ready to make the necessary adjustments to get the shot.

Over the last few days of production, Magnolia has been an object lesson in how to be ready. Continue reading →

The Magnolia Chronicles, Day 1: Matters Of Degrees

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My first experience as a PrimaDonna production assistant (a PDPA, if you will) was on Dating Danielle, almost exactly 5 years ago this weekend.  I have a lot of great memories of those 48 hours, but one of the greatest has to be the spirit that developed between cast and crew, as we all bonded while shooting on one of the hottest days of the year.

August is funny that way… Continue reading →

Re-Arranged

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While I’ve enjoyed my recent forays into performance (from Site 13 to Glamour in Glitter to my appearance at Texas Comicon), at heart I’m really a behind-the-scenes guy.  I love the process, the work of making movies that most moviegoers may never see.

So I’m thrilled to be getting back to the other side of that camera for PDP‘s next project.

Continue reading →

Once More Around The Block

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It’s been another something of an arc in this blog (if you hold to the idea I suggested last time of blogs having arcs) that much of the time I spend in the arts is spent meeting and supporting young talent in all fields.  Given that last week’s performance at Morgan’s Wonderland included three young actors, the post it inspired could fall into that category.

I’d like to believe that with the proper development and encouragement, young talent is a renewable resource.  And last night was another case in point. Continue reading →

A Curtain Call

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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 →

In Which A Strange Magic Visits The Cameo Theatre

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Many of us, if not most, have at one point or other in our lives shared a fascination with magic and magicians.  And many of us, if not most, may outgrow that.

This story is about what happens when you don’t. Continue reading →

“I Look A Little Older, But I Feel No Pain”

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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 →

The Love List: … Go

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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 →