The Hatchery

Hello,  I’ve been away from here… but back again…

I’m working with Christine Calfas in the studio now!  Fantastic!

We have been working with many of the voices from the interviews I have been collecting.  (Many good people have shared their stories about their fathers and fishing and family and fatherhood)  What a treat to get into Christine’s space and work.   She has a great style and process for facilitating this kind of work.  She says it is inspired by the work of John Cage, the poet, musician, everyman who had a major influence on modern dance.  Well… I love it and it feels perfect for how I work to develop short “seeds” of movement and gesture.  I plan to take these seeds and arrange them into compositions compatible with the interviews.  Which by the way have become the subconscious world for the main character Max on his journey. 

A fishing trip with his brother’s family. 

More to come… the photo is from the studio… outline of the piece… hopefully you can’t read it too well to give away the plot.  : 0 )

It feels great to wake up in the mornings and sit with pen and paper.  The story of the play unfolding on my lap.  I like to get some coffee… sit out on the back porch and listen… watch… the birds swoop past… squirrels… it’s an easier way to find myself on the lake where the play takes place.  Lovely.

Photo by Owen Carey

The fundraiser has keep me from my posting duties.  But I am back!  Thank for your patience.  The fundraiser at CoHo was a great success!  Fantastic turnout … great food & wine… lots of laughs …. music … support… and I got to present a couple bits of the work made so far.  A great experience.  Plus we made our goal!  My theatre rent for August is all covered.  Nice.  Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

Today I woke up relaxed and did some writing on the back porch.  Listening to the birds… coffee.  Perfect.  Onward.

Went to the Expo Center today… and shopped for props and costumes.  Great finds all around!  Oh the rewarding feeling of finding deals and keeping my budget down.

Ahhh.. movement.  Double day.  Yesterday I met with Rebecca Martinez mid day and we began reshaping an early interview dance that Jonathan W. and I played with way back.  It’s great to work with Rebecca!  She and I have collaborated on several plays and workshops.  I’m liking this new relationship however… she in the outside eye role for me.  In the past we have both been performers in the work… or co-teaching… so this is a fun new look for us.  We made some headway .. and I have some homework to do… listening to music and interviews… she’s got a good ear for helping with the edits.  Some movement we created was pedestrian… then sort of “blown up”  and expanded.  Fun stuff. 

The photo above is from Studio 297.  Christine Calfas and I have been meeting for authentic movement sessions for a while now… though it’s been a while since last we met.  It feels great to get back up into the studio and moving.  Eyes closed.  20 min.  Free.  No objective but to be present and listen to the directions of my own body.  Wonderful … meditative work.  Thanks Christine and Rebecca!

Another fun rehearsal with Philip at Milepost 5.  A very special thank you by the way to Hand 2 Mouth and Milepost 5 for use of the space.  It feels great to be “making and building” something.  You know …. you can sit at home or where ever you sit and write… like writers do… I love to write… but still I feel like a newborn in that area… but as an actor… it’s the working on my feet and in my body that really does it for me.  I love to explore the physical world.  So we start with an idea… and begin to improvise… we play with it… look at it.. and Philip begins helping me shape it.  Thanks again Philip.   We were talking about takes again… to the audience… an Philip studied with David Shiner and said that he would always yell “It’s like glue.” “Glue that.”  or … he would make an explosion noise and say “that’s you … bombing.” 

Funny… I just looked him up and as it turns out Mr. Shiner directed Kooza.  Which is now running here in Portland.  (Anybody got discount tickets?)

Some script notes from today: (I can’t give it all away)

1. Slow breathing – X slow mo DR – Look L – See Fish to hunt-
2. Sound – Stop breath – Turn head R look – Back look – Slow breath –
3. Sound – Stop breath – Turn head R look – Back look – Fast breath –
4. Sound – Stop breath -  Turn head R look – “Uh Oh!”  (Take) 

Also… it was fun because we played with the electric guitar “underwater” sound that Jonathan created our last recording session.  Nice to have working sessions build together!

Another night of music recording… some new cleaned up short banjo compositions as well as acoustic and even Electric guitar… the electric sound gave us a fun underwater feel… may be something to play with.

Rehearsal Space at Milepost 5

First rehearsal with Philip and he had me playing with clown concepts.   I’ve got some traditional monologues in the show… which will be the literal world… so we’ll create some clown world… to take it to an extreme… surreal place…  To get me playing he started me with some simple entrances and exits.  He called it the Swoop.  Which includes some concepts I play with a bunch when clowning for kid shows… like… Takes to the audience.  We explored Transformation… conflict… I brought a suitcase full of clothes, tackle, fishing gear… and we worked ideas for some little sections.  Thinking we will create 6-8 little “clown sections” that will be scattered throughout the piece.  All and all a fun rehearsal… now I’ve got to write it all down… and get specific with some of these ideas.  Thanks Philip!

Had a breakfast meeting with Jonathan Walters (my director) and Philip Cuomo (clown/lazzi development) and the eggs were a little dry but yummy all the same…. No really… what a relief to feel like the many currents of the piece are coming together.  Starting to make sense.  Understood by my collaborators. 

“Let’s get the worm in the water while he’s still movin.”

I received the last of the four monologues from Steve a couple days ago.  Great to have to core of the writing in my hands now and it’s really got me stirring.  I find myself sitting with the pages, reading them over and over again…. making little notes as I  consider the circumstances and begin the process of making these words my own.  Thanks Steve.  Steve Patterson and I worked on The Centering together.  It was a process that took about a year before we showed it to anyone as a work in progress.  (Later working with Director Lisa Abbot to further the development.)  It was a unique collaboration in that… we would meet and talk and then he would write on his own… and I would work out in the studio, developing the physical life (characters, imagery, etc…)  he came in to watch me move and then went back to write some more.  Then I began to write… and Steve gave me permission to edit and rewrite his work … then this process of sending the script back and forth began.  I think we had twenty something drafts by the time we showed it to an audience with Lisa’s help and wonderful vision.   Well, Steve was very generous and seemed to understand that as a new solo work, the story was unfolding from within me and I needed to make the piece my own.  I was writing from the actor perspective.   It was really great to work so closely with Writer and Director.  Thank you Steve and Lisa.

So the process for Fishing For My Father will share some qualities.  Though I have a few more collaborators this time round.   Steve wrote four monologues.  My job at the moment is to dissect them and discover their intent, meaning, impact and soul.  I am relishing this.