Director's Notes: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 9

For those of you who weren't able to see the show, below are my director's notes that appeared in the program.
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“Good evening.” That’s such a pleasant greeting. Yet, that greeting is forever attached in my mind to a rather large and rotund British man: Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock used that phrase regularly at the beginning of his tv series to greet the audience. It’s such a pleasant phrase, yet when spoken by Hitchcock that greeting took on an eerie and almost supernatural aura of suspense. That’s why it’s the perfect phrase to welcome you to Hard Road Theatre’s production of Ten Little Indians.

Though we’ve updated the setting, Ten Little Indians is a play written by another Brit: Agatha Christie. Christie adapted the play from her novel of the same name. Originally published under a very un-politically correct title, the novel is one of Christie’s best known novels and the play is one her most performed plays. Both works are now usually published under the title of And Then There Were None.

Though murder mysteries have become fairly common, as far as I know Christie’s novel is the first of its kind. It’s the first story where a group of unrelated people who have never met are invited to spend a weekend together in a somewhat exotic locale by a mysterious host none of them have met, but the host turns out to be a killer who murders each of them off one by one and in a twist, the host…well, I don’t want to give too much away now, do I.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy tonight’s performance. The cast is a great mix. Some have never acted on stage before while others are hardcore theatre veterans. They’ve been lots of fun to work with and almost every night I reveled in seeing them discover and reveal different nuances of their characters. I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of them and thank them for all their work and for making this experience such a positive one. I would enjoy working with all of them again.

It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to put together a show. It takes more than just actors and directors to make a show work. A theatre production needs people to design and help build sets, gather props, find and create costumes, set-up and run the sound and lights, stage help to set and remove props, businesses and individuals to donate money, etc. If you have any interest at all in being involved in a future Hard Road production in any way, please let us know. We would love to meet you and help get you involved! Talk to one of us after the show, sign the registration book, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

So, sit back, but don’t get too comfy. This is a murder mystery, after all. But, do have a “good evening."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Culls the Comics

On Monday morning I was reading The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had dropped six comics from its pages and replaced them with six other comics. The comics dropped were:

"Get Fuzzy", "Frazz", "Lola", "Rose is Rose", "Mallard Fillmore", and "9 Chickweed Lane." I'm not sure why these comics were chosen to "die" because in the small blurb in the paper (on the back of the front page completely away from the comics) it doesn't really say. There was no poll or survey; just an editorial decision. I know "Mallard Fillmore" got a lot of complaints, but so does "Doonesbury" and The Post-Dispatch would never drop that "comic". The paper tried dropping "9 Chickweed Lane" a couple years ago, but there was such an outrage they kept it. I like "9 Chickweed Lane", but it's the only one of the six dropped that doesn't have a large fan base.

Of the new comics chosen to replace the "dead" ones, one is a hugely unpopular one that The Post-Dispatch dropped years ago: "Bizarro". "Bizarro" was a comic that always polled at the bottom of every reader survey and poll the paper had. Yet, the editors kept it for many years before finally dropping it. Now, they've brought it back. Unbelievable.

For a newspaper that is struggling in an industry that is on the verge of collapse, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch sure enjoys edging itself further into decline.

Opening Night: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 8

Tomorrow night, the show opens. I'm excited and a little nervous. I'm not on stage, but my cast will be. I know they'll do fine, but for whatever reason, I've got those pre-opening night jitters. There's still some stuff to do. It'll get done, but nevertheless I still find myself thinking of several things at once. I've grown more absent minded in the past few weeks. A play production in and of itself is more than enough stress for a person to have at a particular time. However, there's a lot of other things going on that have increased my stress several times over: lack of money, vehicle problems, troubles at work, and the approaching anniversary of my Dad's sudden death two years ago. All of this compounded with the problems associated with directing a local theatre production in the final weeks has aged my old soul even more. Yet, I'm excited. A theatre production is a strange cocktail composed about half nervous apprehension and half pure exhilaration. I've had enough of the nervous apprehension and am looking forward to the pure exhilaration. So, if you're in or around Highland, IL this or next weekend, come on out and stop by and see TEN LITTLE INDIANS. You won't regret it.

Fading Away: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 7

I mentioned in a previous post that I've been telling my cast for a little over a week that, "I must decrease and you must increase." That's really my function and role now.

Ten Little Indians opens this Friday. Hopefully, it'll be a big crowd. I began working on this show back in February. I read the script over and over and over. I talked to people about helping out with the show. I talked-up and promoted auditions. This summer I was busy gathering together the pre-show music. Up to this point, I've done all I can to make this a great show. However, things are just about out of my hands now.

When the curtain opens for the first time on Friday, it won't be me on stage. It'll be the actors I've been working with for the past 7 weeks. The show is their show at this point; I'm just some guy's name in the program. In the final days leading up to opening night, there's only so much I can do. The set is built. The crew is gathered. At this point, I'm more of a custodian than anything else. That's not to say my job is done, because it isn't. Yet, most of the job is and after Wednesday it will be completely out of my hands. I must decrease and they must increase and as a director of a theatre production, you must be comfortable with that. Some directors can't handle that; they micromanage things even after a show has opened. That's no good because all it does it create unnecessary tension. As a director, you have to have faith in your cast and trust your crew. By the time the show opens, you have to fade away-though you still might be needed, your job is done.

The Joy of Directing: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 6

For me, as a director, one of the greatest joys is watching someone who has never acted before and see them evolve before your eyes over the course of a few weeks from a complete novice into the character in the play. Someone who has never acted before often begins with a characterization of what they think they should be doing; it's as though "acting" in their mind is completely removed from reality. It's true that the "acting" we see on tv, movies, and often on stage is lifeless and nothing more than cardboard characterization. However, real acting and theatre aren't like that. This can be a difficult concept for someone who has never acted before to understand. Yet, as a director, if you are patient, even the most untrained person can appear as a seasoned veteran. It doesn't always happen, but when it does it's an amazing thing to behold.

I've seen it happen in Ten Little Indians. There are two people in the show who have never been on stage before. They have grown leaps and bounds since I first saw them on stage 6 1/2 weeks ago during auditions. I'm very proud of them.

I'm proud of the whole cast, actually. The cast is an eclectic group with a huge variety of personalities. There have been some struggles, but they are starting to find their groove. I've been telling them for over a week that "I must decrease and you must increase." They are. When showtime comes, I'll be there, but it's not really my show. It's their show.

Set Builds: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 5

Two Saturdays ago was the main day of set building for the show. I hate set builds. I'm not a very mechanically inclined person. I can use tools, but I can't build anything; I need someone to tell me where and what they want me to cut or drill. I was lucky enough to have a set designer/technical adviser for the show. Unfortunately, that person had to leave before noon which ultimately left me in charge. When your the director of the show, there are thousands of questions people ask of you during the process. At set build, the number of questions intensifies. You try to keep people busy and involved while they are there, but the work never seems to get done and before you know it the day is done and most everyone has left.

I've been lucky in the shows I've been in charge of so far, because the sets have been kept fairly simple. Yet, on the set build day that doesn't seem to matter. Things always become more complicated than they need to be and the straight-forward plan you started with gets bogged down in the slime of reality. It's even more frustrated when your set designer isn't there and even though you're an incompetent Doozer (that's a Fraggle Rock reference), everyone still looks to you for answers. I hate set builds.

Week #1: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 4

Well, the first week of rehearsals went alright. For the first few weeks, we are only having three rehearsals a night. It's difficult to start out having more rehearsals than that unless you are working with a cast of seasoned actors; they understand the sacrifices involved and often embrace them. However, when you have a cast that includes people who have never done a show before, it seems to me it works best to start slowly and build from there.

The read-through this week went really well. It took longer for me to read through the script than I had anticipated, but beyond that it was good. The first actually rehearsal went well, too. We went through Act I twice and the second time went much better than the first. The second rehearsal of the week wasn't quite as good. We went through Act II twice, but about halfway through Act II all energy evaporated from the actors and things just started falling apart all over the place. I'm not worried, yet. The next time we run through Act II, if things haven't improved, then I'll start to worry.

Much of directing is just finding the right people and then slowly pushing them along in the direction they should go. The really exciting part is when people respond to that direction and then start developing their characters on their own and doing things completely unexpected, yet in character.

Rehearsals begin again tonight; it's week 2. I'm hoping it'll go even better than week 1.

Casting: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 3

Well, last Monday and Tuesday were auditions. They went extremely well. There are only 11 roles in the play and 21 people came out. Everyone that came out and auditioned gave a great audition. There were a few roles that cast themselves and there were a few others that took me a lot of thought about: different variations, weighing the different possibilities, chemistry between actors, physical/age similarity, etc. Overall, it was a great audition.

I'm very pleased with the cast. It's a mixed group of people completely new to the stage and stage veterans as well as new people to the group and people who have worked and acted with us before. I think it's a fine balance. I'm looking forward to working with each of these people and seeing how things will come together.

Our read-through is tomorrow evening and the first rehearsal is the night after that. Things will begin somewhat slow, but the pace will quicken soon: only 6 weeks to showtime!

Casting: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 2

Tomorrow night is the first night of auditions for the play I'm directing, Ten Little Indians. I'm very excited and a little nervous. Directing takes a huge amount of time and effort. However, no matter what anyone else might say, the most difficult part of directing and one of the most important parts is casting. Once you've cast your show, you've done about 60% of your job. If you cast the right people, nothing else will matter because with the right cast they will work together as a cohesive unit and be able to deliver a fine production no matter what the circumstances. It would be great if everyone likes each other and gets along, but I've been involved in shows where the leads hated each other in real life, but on stage they were magnificent together. However, if you cast the wrong people, you've got tons of problems you never expected. A person who just isn't right in a role is something that even a person who has never seen a play before can recognize. Then again the best actors can fit in almost any role no matter how large or small. Casting is huge.

Two years ago when I first directed I was worried that not enough people would even show up to auditions to be able to cast the show. For that show, 12 Angry Men, there were almost triple the number of people I needed who showed up. I'm not quite as concerned this time around because I think the people will come. Yet, there's still this little doubt I have that maybe there won't be enough people. You just can't be too sure. Here's hoping plenty of auditionees show up.

Graphic Novel Review: HEAVY WATER

The possibility of Hitler and the Nazis winning World War II is a popular topic for fiction writers. The interest of such stories is just how possible such an outcome could have been. For instance, if Germany had succeeded in developing a nuclear weapon before their resources were drained, the history could have a completely different outcome. The story of HEAVY WATER is based upon one such possibility.

The story is set in a present day-future. In the setting of the story, the Nazis were able to successfully build an atomic weapon and used it to destroy Britain and the United States. They won the war and now the world lives under a totalitarian regime similar to that of Big Brother in the novel 1984: everyone’s actions are watched, people are kept alive only as long as they are useful, and the government is the benefactor (and ruler) of all. In the city of New London, a small resistance has risen up. They believe defeating the Regime in the present is next to impossible, but if they could defeat them in the past, things would be different. So, they build a time machine. A new recruit is brought forth who has a journal from his ancestor, Knut Haukelid. The journal contains evidence for a real historical location and time. Ben eventually travels through the machine to the past to help his ancestor succeed in destroying the heavy water the Germans need to build their nuclear weapon.

The story has an interesting mix of sci-fi and real history. The graphics aren’t bad, but they are a little too dark in many places, making it difficult to discern who is who and exactly what is happening. Also, the story tends to skip around a bit. No crucial information is ever lost, but it makes the reading a little jolted. It’s like reading an essay without any transitions, all the information is there but it’s not told very smoothly.

I enjoyed HEAVY WATER. Besides just being a good story, it personally led me to hear about the real-life Norwegian freedom fighter Knut Haukelid for the first time and investigate his life further. Young adults will probably enjoy this book and hopefully it will inspire them to look into the history behind the tale as it did for me.

Charlie Brown on Pearls Before Swine

Here's another reason why I love Stephan Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine": an appearance by Charlie Brown!


This is the Friday, August 12, 2011 comic.

Book Review: SWAMPLANDIA!

It is fitting that even before the story unfolds in SWAMPLANDIA! the author sets the stage with a quote from THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS because the journey that Ava Bigtree takes in the swamps of Florida is just as strange and bizarre as anything Alice sees in Wonderland.

The novel is told mostly from the perspective of Ava Bigtree, the youngest of three siblings of the Bigtree clan, a family of alligator wrestlers that run an off-kilter tourist attraction called Swamplandia! The Bigtree clan (family) are a tightknit group. Besides Ava, there’s her older sister Osceola, her older brother Kiwi, her father the Chief, her Grandpa Sawtooth, and her mother Hilola. Except that when the story begins Hilola has passed away. Hilola was the star of Swamplandia! and Ava wants to grow up to be just like her. Hilola wrestles her cancer with the same fierce determination, beauty, and grace that she wrestles alligators but all of her skill, acumen, and grit are no match by the spores of the evil disease as it saps her liveliness and eventually kills her.

The novel is mostly Ava’s way of explaining what happened after her mother’s death and how each member of the clan wrestled with Hilola’s death and how the eventually subdued their grief and sorrow. The story is mostly Ava’s, but there is a touch of Faulkner in the novel as about a third of the novel is told from the perspective of her older brother Kiwi. After Hilola’s death, Grandpa Sawtooth goes senile and is placed on what is basically a nursing home boat. Osceola begins talking with “ghosts” and then Kiwi leaves and travels to the mainland. Later the Chief leaves his girls alone to their own devices (something they are accustomed to) as he travels to the mainland to try to gather money to save their home and Swamplandia! In his absence, Osceola falls in love with the ghost of a Depression era dredgeman and sets out for the Underworld to marry him. Ave knows she must be stopped, but alone she can’t do much. That’s when she meets the mysterious Bird Man who tells her no one can get to the Underworld without a guide, but that he knows the way and promises her that he will lead her there. Ava quickly agrees because she loves her sister so. However, her love for her sister, a longing for her father, and the deep burden of missing her mother blind Ava to the possibility of what the Bird Man really is.

There’s a lot of humor in SWAMPLANDIA! There were a few times I found myself laughing aloud at a particular scene or a line that was said. Yet, the overall tone of the book is one of sadness. Not only do the Bigtrees lose their matriarch, but they are on the verge of losing their business, their home, and their way of life. Their tightknit familial fellowship begins to fracture under the strain and that is the one thing none of them can afford to lose.

One of the things I was impressed about the novel was the writing. Russell has a gift for words. For example, “Curtains of Spanish moss caught at my hair like fisherman’s nets.” (p. 266) It’s such a simple statement, but it produces such a vivid image.

I enjoyed SWAMPLANDIA! However, I was a little disappointed by the ending. Ava and her siblings each go on different, yet incredible journeys and then the story just ends. There’s very little self-reflection and the conclusion feels rushed; there’s a lack of catharsis. Yet, the story is such a good one and told in such a beautiful way that despite the lackluster conclusion, it’s a great novel and I’m glad that I was able to visit Swamplandia! and wish I could have seen it in its glory days.

Prepping to Direct a Play: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 1

I'm directing a play this fall: Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. I tried to get a filmmaker I know to film the next seven weeks to make a documentary because the process of putting together a play and seeing it through the end is fascinating. I didn't feel comfortable doing it myself because I'm too close to everything to make it an honest piece. There's all kinds of drama and comedy and lots of pathos. The possible filming didn't occur, but a friend suggest that I blog about the experience of directing the show. I thought that was a good idea.

So, here I am, less than one week away from auditions for the show. I can't put into words how excited I am. I've directed one show (12 Angry Men) and produced (Harvey) another. Both were huge critical successes, but only the one I produced was a financial success. I've been involved in theatre on a consistent basis for over twenty-years and those two shows are among my proudest accomplishments. Though done through a local non-profit amateur troupe, they were on par with any professional production I've ever seen. I hope we are able to produce another high-quality production in this latest attempt.

My directorial debut two years ago was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I've worked at a lot of different jobs in my life and I've been blessed with some very unique talents. I'm a good writer and a great actor, but I've always wanted to direct, too. Two years ago I got my shot and it was the most natural thing in the world. Yet, that whole experience is forever marred in tragedy for me by the sudden and unexpected death of my father on opening night. I am hoping that I can finally put the bulk of the tragedy behind me by directing this show. It's something I need so that I can continue to move on and eventually pursue my dreams and goals in a place where there's more opportunity.

I'm taking a little different approach to the show than usual. For starters, I'm giving it a modern setting and taking it out of England and putting it in the good old U.S. of A. Perhaps more about that in another post. I'm almost done Americanizing and updating the script. Script-wise, about all I need to do is pick the scenes for people to perform at auditions. The scripts are here, the stage is reserved, and I've sent out the audition notice press release. Yet, I keep thinking there's something I've forgotten. If I have, I hope I remember soon because Monday night will be here before I know it.

Curious George in THE PLANET OF THE APES

Here's the latest HiJinks Ensue cartoon. I found it funny. Not quite what I thought H.A. Rey had in mind.

Spiritual Pop Lyrics

"Into the night
Desperate and broken
The sound of a fight
Father has spoken.

We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the children of a lesser god
Between heaven and hell, Heaven and hell."

-30 Seconds of Mars

HUGO Trailer

I am really looking forward to this movie.



The trailer is magnificent: the best trailer of the year behind the one for TREE OF LIFE. Beyond that, this trailer has introduced me to a band I didn't know anything about before (30 Seconds to Mars) as well as a book (THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET) I might never have looked into reading before. I think the movie will be superb: it's a Scorsese film, albeit in a genre and style he's never tackled before. Other than THE DEPARTED, Scorsese's movie's have taken a slightly more upbeat tone the past few years (and even THE DEPARTED had evil loosing). Perhaps his Catholic roots and upbringing are finally having their say.

I would have to see the film, but if the film is like the trailer, this is the type of movie I want to make.

Why Gas Causes So Much.

I remember when oil executives and political pundits used to say that the reason gas prices go up so much further than inflation is because there are a variety of factors involved and oil isn't like other things people buy. My reaction to that always was a big question mark.

Well, we all know that's a bunch of hokey now. Speaking of the rising costs of oil even though demand is down, Tom Kloza of Oil Price Information Service said, "The market is just looking for an excuse to go higher."

I told you so, the game is rigged.

The Formerly Known Planet of Pluto and Pearls

When I think of the disservice done to Pluto, I feel like Pluto in this comic (from 7/13/11).
Just another reason why "Pearls Before Swine" is the best comic strip around.

My First Commercial

Here's a short commercial for West County Honda in Ellisville, MO that I was an extra in. You can see me in the background behind the car and later on the far right in the group shot.

Come See YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN!

If you happen to be free this Saturday evening and are anywhere near the St. Louis area, you should drive up to the Community Center in Litchfield, IL. There's a production of YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN at 7:30 this Saturday,July 9, 2011. I hear that the guy playing Charlie Brown is the best Charlie Brown you will ever see in the role. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I'll be there.