Some of us from The Spanish Tragedy recently appeared on the Twin Cities Theater Connection podcast with Josh Humphrey.  In attendance were:

Carin Bratlie, director
Keith Prusak, actor – “Heironimo”
Me, actor – “Lorenzo”
Kit Gordon – dramaturg

Go listen! http://bit.ly/d16639

Opening night of Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy is coming up soon which means haircut time!  As for the rest of my appearance, I’ve gained back most of the weight I lost for Some Girl(s) (nothing motivates weight loss like having to be in your underwear for a page and a half), so I’m not as soldierly and man-shaped as I’d like to be.  Oh, well.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Lorenzo. Well, Lorenzo’s head, anyway.

It may be a bit late in the game, but I went to Booksmart and scooped up Machiavelli’s The Prince and Mandragola for research a few days ago.  There’s no overt reference to Machiavelli in The Spanish Tragedy, but Lorenzo’s actions are certainly informed by his medieval political theory.  Maybe I’ll have finished reading them by the time we close!

This is a really solid show.  A committed cast, straightforward, open staging, and lots of violence.  Whee!

Allons-y!

I’ve been involved in the development of a new play by Beck Lee called Subprime, which follows two dysfunctional, entitled Minnesotan couples on a NY vacation they can’t afford.  An earlier version had a staged reading at The Jungle last year, and there’s another one coming up on Monday the 22nd at Hennepin Stages.

Here’s the flyer:

This morning, I was one of several actors featured in a Minnesota Public Radio piece about how actors memorize their lines.   The piece also included Mo Perry, Leigha Horton, and Steven Epp.

Chris Roberts caught up with me at Caffetto last week for an interview and to record snippets of me actually working on line memorization.

Go to MPR’s website to listen to the entire piece and see photos.

The Slumberland commercial I shot is running!  Editing will decide whether I also make it into a second spot and/or the print campaign.  I’m crossing my fingers.

Click here to watch the spot. It’s the one labelled “Dream Team.”

In other TV commercial news, my buddy and former NTC tour partner Mike Rylander’s “Snack Attack Samurai” Doritios ad was apparently the single most-seen commercial minute in television history.  116.2 million people were tuned in for it, breaking a record previously set during the M*A*S*H series finale.  Hooray!

I’ve just started rehearsal for Joseph Scrimshaw’s Adventures in Mating, which will go to New Richmond and Washburn, Wisconsin, on Valentine’s Day weekend.

From the Joking Envelope website:

Adventures in Mating is an audience interactive romantic comedy inspired by the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels of the 70s and 80s. YOU play the role of cruel fate! When the dysfunctional couple on a terrible blind date can’t make simple decisions such as red or white wine, leave or stay, kiss or slap the audience votes and the show takes off in wildly different but always hilarious directions.

It’s a very funny script, and I’m having a lot of fun playing with it. I don’t do enough comedies.

Joseph’s doing a major rewrite (he’s produced this play several times already), extending it into a two-act play. Since it’s a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure play, there are lots of different scenes to learn, so I’ll be cramming one metric buttload of lines into my brain.

I’m also in rehearsal for The Spanish Tragedy. Rehearsing two shows, each quite challenging in their own way, makes me glad to be dayjob-free. Until I have to buy food, that is.

Allons-y!

So, tonight was our second read-through/meeting about A Candid World, a Revolutionary War-era play by Dawn Brodey for the Lights Up! series at the Illusion Theatre.

My character is Davy, a Scottish soldier in the British army, and I am supposed to have a “thick Scottish accent.”  Now, I like to think that I’m pretty good with dialects, though I’ve discovered that (somehow) I’m better at speaking extemporaneously with a Scottish accent than I am at applying it to my actual lines in the script, but hey…I’ve got a month or so, right?

Anyway, tonight, I just so happened to find a YouTube channel of a Scottish gentleman named Mark Day, and I will make him my unwitting mentor.  Here is his scathing indictment of the Snuggie, featuring his cat Mr. Saunders.

Quinton Skinner reviews Some Girl(s) in the current issue of City Pages, calling it “compellingly performed”:

Some Girl(s) hones in on lonesome men

You can find Rohan Preston’s review of Some Girl(s) in the Star Tribune, and while he was unimpressed by the script, he lauds the acting and the production. Check out the unfortunately-titled review:

Careless, calloused, perhaps clueless: Walking Shadow Theatre Company’s well-acted production of “Some Girl(s)” portrays the strengths and limitations of Neil LaBute’s script.

Man, this show has been going great!  I’m really proud of the work we’re all doing, and it’s nice to see that critics and audiences are responding favorably.  I really get off on hearing the audiences’ horrified reactions and incredulous laughter.

Two more weekends left!  Four performances down, six to go!

www.walkingshadowcompany.org

The Pioneer Press has published Dominic Papatola’s review, and thankfully, it’s another good one!

‘Some Girl(s)’ has sharp staging, creepy characters

Tonight is our Pay What You Can! Come on down to Pillsbury House for cheap theatre on a Monday night!