Bobbing

Hence starts the theater blog! Last summer as we were finishing What Alice Saw There, the husband of one of my actors and father of another suggested I do something like this, and now that I've got more of a sense of direction and a sense of how much more direction I need, I'm taking his idea to heart.

I guess a good place to start is slating myself and saying what it is I'm trying to accomplish. I'm not going to do that tonight. It's been a day of successes and I'm willing to rest on my laurels for the day.

Instead, the details of the moment: I'm in the early phases of a production of Charles Mee's Bobrauschenbergamerica. I met with a theater owner today and now I have a venue and dates-- Le Chat Noir, November 12-16. It's intimate and set up with tables, like a party-- the central event of the play. She shared her business perspective on some of my production problems. I also got a commitment from an actress who pretty much makes the story for me. These are goals I've been working on for a while and the interest of these people means a lot; I've never directed in New Orleans before and they're putting faith in me. It's been a good day.

In a couple days I leave New Orleans for several weeks on my way to a workshop with the SITI Company in New York, where I'll train with them and help them create their rendition of Antigone. This has me thinking of family traditions, civil disobedience, and Greek music-- listening to Stelios Rokkos and Notis Sfakianakis tonight. On the way to New York, I visit Adam on the Appalachian Trail. I will likely hop a train to get part of the way there. And before all that, I will spend a couple days in my hometown, seeing my mother and friends and the folks from the St. Francisville Transitory Theater, where I am not spending the summer for the first time in several years.

Problems, breakthroughs, questions, and funny stories will be here.