Here are some pictures of some buildings, computers, lab-tops, cell-phones, news events to help the cast get to know 2004 a little bit better.

· Released in 2004, the Motorola RAZR cell phone became a social phenomenon in the United States, grabbing 6.2% of US phone sales in the fourth quarter of 2004. It wasn’t simply a phone; it was a fashion statement and accessory, a cultural icon for the cool.
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· The report finds that 75 percent of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 now have cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004. And the number who say they text-message daily has shot up to 54 percent from 38 percent in just the past 18 months.
The survey, which was conducted with scholars from the University of Michigan, finds the typical American teen sends 50 texts a day, and a sizable number send double that or more. Some teens text their parents, though most youngsters say they prefer to speak with them by phone.
The long awaited World Health Organization Interphone study of more than 5,000 brain tumors that occurred between 2000-2004 and cell phone use failed to deliver a knock-out punch. This thirteen country report found what every study that has ever examined people who have used phones for a decades or more has determined - top users of cell phones had a doubled risk of malignant tumors of the brain.

Disturbing…right?

Click Image to Enlarge. ”Cell phones” by Chris Jordan
Photographed at a landfill in Orlando, 2004


Singapore, July 30, 2004 - Toshiba Singapore Pte Ltd, Computer Systems Division (South and Southeast Asia Regional Headquarters) today announced the availability of the PORTÉGÉ R150 lightweight petite notebook computer.
Acer Aspire 4315-2004 Notebook PC - Intel Celeron new





2004: Apple PowerBook G4

okay...for some reason i was unable to uploud any pictures. sorry about that.
mehheee

wants and objectived...what what!

character work

The cast will now comment about their characters, as explored in rehearsal on Friday.

Take it away, ladies and gents!

I am not my

What a fabulous rehearsal we had tonight! I went in a bit nervous, because I was going to use an exercise I had done in the physical theatre workshop I took in June, and I could only remember doing the exercise, but not anything precise from what Michael (the facilitator) had said. The actors all fully gave into the exercise, however, and blew me away. Here's a clip from the exercise:



I also wanted to share some photos from various rehearsals.

Our first read-through:


The magnificent Cassie Ahiers, stage manager /assistant director of sorts

Look at that seriousness! From left to right: Jack Gallagher (Jacob et al); Diane McNulty (Jewel); and Paul "Pauly Pocket" Cervenka (Young Man et al). It's ridiculous how good Jack and Diane (!) look together as father and daughter.

Some of our lovely ladies: Maggie O'Keefe, who is the assistant projection designer, but was so kindly filling in for another actor that day; Emily "Meow" Williams (Samantha); and BrittneyLove Smith (Beatrice et al).

The cupcakes I made for the first read-through. Pumpkin with apple butter frosting. They were just so-so, not my best work ever.

Contact improv with our choreographer, Sarah Seeber:

And from the design meeting:

Alex Bozeman, our set designer, sharing her inspiration and ideas with the seemingly baffled Pauly Pocket and maybe less so Kelly Baskin (our ASM).

So many thoughts!

I wrote this last night, but my internet wasn't working, so I'm just publishing it now:

Just got home after a wonderful rehearsal, started off with design presentations from Nivan, Alex, and Ben. It was all very conceptual, and might have been hard for the cast to dive into, but that's okay, because we are at six weeks til load in! And I think we're onto something really ... well, really rise in my stomach and chest wonderful. I can't really describe my excitement - you'd have to see it in me.

Ben - something to think about - where the scenes are places on stage. When would it, if it does indeed, be helpful to put scenes in the same area on stage?

The disco ball breaking - I had a thought about this last night during while salivating in the performance (as Alex noted) that is Jonsi. He used these lights that flashed, along with rain being projected on stage, getting faster and faster ... well, you just need to see it to understand it. But holy mother of god, was it affective. A(h) - ffective. If we used those lights right as the disco ball breaks (which could be behind the rear projection scrim, and thus hidden or taken up), sound of the breaking with blackout, sirens wailing (they don't have to be literal sirens wailing, I fully believe that there should be a distortion of sirens wailing) then fade up on them in a cab, kind of blurry...hazy. Not quite all conscious.

That could possibly work.

Ah yes - in rehearsal tonight, Emily Meow brought up that if we say that something isn't real, we lessen the importance of it . Such an intuitive, completely valid point. So instead of discussing reality and dream worlds, I invite us all to say what they really are - conscious and unconscious. Out of conscious perception. Not completely conscious. Hallucinations - a state of mind experienced by so many Americans, when they are hopped up on caffeine or sugar, or drowning in preservatives or booze.

James Joyce's Ulysses

I have been watching a dvd on Joyce's Ulysses, and I wrote down a great quote to share with you all. It was said shortly after Ulysses was published in 1922 as a commentary on the book's significance.

T.S. Eliot writes:

“I hold this book to be the most important expression which the present age has found. It is a book to which we are all indebted and from which none of us can escape. Joyce had made the novel obsolete by replacing the narrative method with the mythical method. Instead of telling a story from a particular and consistent point of view, as 19th century novelists had done, Joyce manipulates a continuous parallel b/t contemporaneity and antiquity; that is, between life in early 20th century Dublin and the mythic episodes of Homer’s ancient epic called The Odyssey. Joyce used ancient myth as a way of controlling – of ordering – of giving a shape and significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy, which is contemporary history.”

The professor giving the lecture (James A.W. Heffernan) also said:
It is a novel of flesh and blood, of pain and passion, music and laughter, a symphony of human voices.
on the characters - Joyce wrote what they do, think, feel, imagine, and fantasize about.

New York City, June 16th, 2010

Mid-Manhattan branch of the public library:


Close-up of those two contrasting signs:








The subway! I measured it as being three people shoulder-to-shoulder in width:

I just really enjoyed this, every time:


The corner of 73rd and Lexington:




I took a few photos of the apartments in this area, as that's probably where Sam lives (I don't know why she would walk 5 blocks to take a taxi...)





The Strand Bookstore in the Village (Greenwich Village, that is):


Look at that gum on the ground!

I just thought it was interesting that on one side of the book are these old books (intellectualism! quickly becoming a thing of the past!), and reflected are cars (industry! machines!), and a sign for Ugg boots (materialism!), and in the upper right hand corner you can see a building (urbanization!):



Inside the strand bookstore (this struck me as very dramatic):


Across the street (and there is no Dead City Cafe in existence):


But there IS a really cool record store on another corner. I found a recording of the monologues in Ulysses, but they weren't read very well, so I went with Edith Piaf and Simon and Garfunkel records instead.


My friend took this picture, and I think it is just wonderful. Especially because Woody Allen is right in the middle.

Statement of Intent

I wanted to write a statement of intent, so as to present my concept in a unified structure, for all of you to enjoy. It was surprisingly very helpful. Here goes:

I was initially drawn to the story of Ulysses due to the style in which James Joyce decided to write what could be considered a very boring day in the life of two men. Joyce challenged the structural ideas of the past, and in doing so, was able to show the true beauty in the day-to-day complexities of life. Dead City carries on this idea, as well as several themes, such as the quest for paternity (now the quest for maternity), as well as the epic hero (before Leopold, now Samantha) being just that due to his or her ability for compassion and understanding in any situation. I couldn’t think of a more important quality in a hero, when our world today is so consumed with violence.

I want to create a play that excites all of the senses, either directly or by calling up the memory of it in the mind. The evocative descriptions of sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and tactile sensations in Ulysses struck me so deeply, and it lends itself greatly to a story that could have been an epic bore. I want to fully envelope the audience in the world we have created, and through that, present a cathartic viewpoint of how we are now living, creating more and more barriers between each other due to our romance with technology.

I promise to constantly question and challenge every member of this production, as well as myself. I will always encourage new ideas, but also embrace those ideas we have agreed upon as truth, fostering them through their development until they can be fully realized. I put the utmost emphasis on collaboration, as it is the backbone of theatre. I will always be striving to integrate all of the elements of design, along with the actors, to create a unified, inspiring production.

- the director

5 Sams

I had a realization today.

I'd been having a really hard time finding the turning point in the play, as there isn't a very clear change written in. After reading some more about Ulysses, and looking at Sam and Jewel much closer, I realized that Sam's arch is during the 5 Sams part, where she is able to finally bare her soul to another human being, even if just a small fraction of it. Today I realized that we see the manifestation of Sam's soul through Jewel, and thus in her words. It is her poem that we hear of Sam's soul - and finally her artistic block (which has been her epic flaw since a young girl) is broken through. This is able to happen because she finally has found some kind of compassionate maternal figure she can listen to and be inspired by. (And if anyone knows about Ulysses, this whole idea should match up to some extent.)

So basically, the 5 Sams part is really important. And I'm really glad all of the actors are a part of it.

As Promised on Sunday

So I've been attempting to make this into a Youtube video, but after a number of processing run-ins, I finally was able to upload it.

And an hour later it was taken down for being too long. What the fuck.

So here it is, on Vimeo. Because they're cool and don't have ridiculous content restrictions.

This was done for the 48-hour film festival in the summer of 2009 with a group led by Nivan, who directed, as well as a number of characters that some of you will know.

The first 4 minutes is just a kind of warm-up, which is usually how I begin things, noodling around and seeing what notes and intervals I'm liking. If you're getting bored with that, feel free to skip to the loud parts. But this will get people to know what to expect if I am to come in and improvise during a rehearsal or two.

Enjoy, and feedback is always appreciated. Even if you hate it.


P.S. - I really want to be able to play during a rehearsal. Just making sure you know.

rhythm and hope

First off let me say wow, what a great design meeting we had today. Thanks y'all for being so present and absolutely inspiring!

I just watched Jónsi's newest video for his sharp, happily rhythmic "Animal Arithmetic". I never really liked this song before, but the video put a completely different perspective on not only the essence of the song, but the rhythm and quality of the music. And what is a great music video if it doesn't challenge our understanding and increase our appreciation of the music.

Anyway, here it is:

animal arithmetic from Jónsi on Vimeo.

I love the use of perspective in this video. It creates such an intimate feel, not only with the people in the video, but also with the instruments, and thus the music.

Jónsi always does such a wonderful job with rhythm, and that continues over into his videos. I found while watching this video that even when the rhythm slows in the middle of this song, the energy still holds the same intensity, just waiting to be released. I can't remember what kind of energy that is, scientifically (kinetic is which kind?) and I'm too on a roll right now to look it up, but it is a concept that is very important in theatre as well as music. I stress this concept in rehearsals, especially with the Viewpoints work.


This idea of intimacy specifically applies when discussing how we can create the club scene. Specifically, what will the projection of the bodies look like (I would think using the rear projector, if we have one). Another possibility is to use silhouettes, maybe even in addition to the projectors.

It would be very helpful if, eventually, we could see sketches from somebody of how all of these projections will work on the set. That might be something we want to put into the model, possibly?


Sometimes I wonder why I am so absolutely in love with these Icelanders. Then today I saw a quote about Jónsi from the New York Times that described his voice as "a messenger of ecstatic hope." And that is what this music does for me -- it can travel to the deep dark places of the soul, express the heartbreak of tragic love, and in every other way find a way to match my energy, no matter how dark, but it always has hope. Making that realization now is so completely full circle, because the one tattoo I have is of the last line from "Viðrar vel til loftárása" (a Sigur Rós song off of their album Ágætis byrjun):

the best thing god has created is the new day.



Hope.

Truth lies behind every window

CLAREMONT by Lewis Baltz, 1973

1. Riding on the brown line towards home, the sun set into darkness. A high rise apartment passed by; my reflection in the window. Dead City... dead city... The train rolled on. Then my reflection in a more distant window described a smaller 'me'. An even further window set me back to nearly tiny. I was enticed by my self's alteration because of the moving train.

It led me to sketch an image of the receding window; considering the great variation in scale that is, consequently, based on where one is situated... to the massive expansion of a city GRID. Look at one from where the clouds float, and see how slight they do seem.

- creating depth by layers of flat surfaces.

2. I'm working on a project currently for my Puppetry class in which I have taken an old window frame, sans the glass, stretched a paper across, and painted a sea-scape. In the corner of the canvas, a smaller metal frame contains a silhouette of a sailboat that is held 'afloat' by a magnet on the other side of the paper. The magnet can then be moved from the back of the paper to move the sail boat across the 'ocean'.

I like the image of something defined entirely by it's contour, but also captured in a constructed box, that can travel within a larger plane. People seem to be doing that every day just by walking around. All the trials and memories and thoughts come along the the body, wherever it may go.

- pane inside a pane. box in a box.

3. From looking at the places that Sam finds herself throughout the day, I began to explore the arc of this play.

sc. 1 - "apartment" is home.
sc. 2 - "street corner" is a traffic place.
sc. 3 - "spa" is a relaxing place.
sc. 4 - "cemetery" is a reverent place.
sc. 5 - "office" is a busy place.
sc. 6 - "eating establishment" is a fancy place, as well as a replenishing place.
sc. 7 - "library" is a quiet place + exploratory place.
sc. 8 - collision of all places : a turning point.
sc. 9 - "internet cafe" is a virtual place.
sc. 10 - "subway" is a traveling place.
sc. 11 - "basement bar" is a dark place.
sc. 12 - "nearby Hudson" is the closest we come to a nature place.
sc. 13 - "maternity ward" is a birth/creation place.
sc. 14 - "night club" is a chaos place.
sc. 15 - "taxi" is a homeward bound place.
sc. 16 - "apartment" once again.
sc. 17 - "bed" is a safe place.

In the beginning, the places she visits have clearer definitions of accepted social interaction, but as the day progresses, we move into more abstraction of the certainties. Sam leaves her home and moves through her day externally to find understanding of her self internally.

- exterior search for clarity within.

We live behind windows that can reflect light from the outside, and radiate light from the inside. As the sun sets, the illumination of the inner grows brighter and stronger.


Questions:
What is in between? Where is the portal that leads us from one flat plane to another? Is there something more 3-dimensional by the end of this play? Maybe we travel from flatness to greater depth.

Words:
journey. unreal. numbness. blur. books. rows. real. refound. surrounded.
libraries are a lot like cities. books get lost like people: mis-ordered, mis-shelved but eventually rediscovered.

a link to some beautiful natural photography : M.F. Wolik
The sand images seem somehow fitting -

We should make a trailer

I would really love to explore the idea of making a promotional trailer. I don't think any directing project has ever done that before, and I think it would just be a really cool thing to do, and something that I would love to have in my portfolio. We could use the music Kevin will have composed, and use some of the video Nivan has taken, as well as some of the videos I took while in New York City. I know Nivan doesn't want to be the one making it, but I would be willing to do it, and would love if anyone else wanted to help out. I might also talk to one of my film friends. I want to not show any kind of scene, but more the setting and overall feel of the play. Maybe have some lines recorded and put in with the music. I'm thinking it would start with a sunrise. Maybe I'll go out and film the sun rising over Lake Michigan. Let me know what y'all think.

If you have 30 minutes of downtime

So I originally wrote this really long post on Friday/Saturday which I figured I did not want you all to suffer through. I had no clue how to concisely show what kind of music I like to make or how my mind operates...and then it came to me! I already did this once, about 2 years ago for a class (Reviewing the Arts). It was actually more of an artistic philosophy than a catalog of influences, potato tomato. But I'll splice in some concrete things for your listening and viewing enjoyment.

Here goes:
I create to challenge. I create music to fill and displace the stale basement air. In my best moments, I dig to find the truth that eludes conventional and, in some cases, sane thought processes. I was raised to be a devil’s advocate, a trait that drives my creative impulses and takes both serious and playful forms.

Art should be improvised—a moment of self-documentation and unbridled truth. Whatever the medium, the art exists as much (or even more) in the creation as the finished product. And as a performance artist, I find the greatest reward in the constant search. I stay nomadic, finding a new path every time I walk towards at an instrument. Improvisation is an experiment of metaphysical scientists being carried out in filthy laboratories. The goal of these experiments is therapy, indicating that the performance or creation of an object provides relief and greater meaning for the creator; an external meditation, a fermenting howl. Only after the artist finds a greater satisfaction should the audience even be recognized.

Music remains my expression of choice, although I have heard the more polarizing words ‘sound’ and ‘noise’ used to describe my work. I do not always agree with, but fully understand, these epithets, as I strive to erase many of the assumed limitations and rules of music while I am playing an instrument. The presumed ‘correct’ way to treat a guitar, proper technique on piano, and commonalities of Western music—they all choke the purity of raw creativity.

Instruments are only imperfect interfaces that musicians use to communicate their idealistic visions of sound. As the tool is inherently imperfect, everything I hear will always come up short. Knowing this, I search for new ways to fail, hopefully corrupting sound into something completely detached from my preconceptions.

So, thats something. I took out two paragraphs of that because I don't completely agree with them, so, excuse the choppiness. But concrete influences...I guess there's this paragraph, which I changed in the final version.

I would love to claim these ideas as my own, but it must be obvious that these ideas come from a very recognizable selection of artists that came before me. My curiosity about the realm of chance was undoubtedly inspired by 20^th-century visionary John Cage. He, more than any other artist, pushed to challenge the social assumptions of what ‘music’ is. I find the never-at-rest and aptly named band Sonic Youth and minimalist composer Steve Reich to be some of the most forward-thinking musical artists of our times. Not only do they create beautiful and fulfilling soundscapes, they do so by turning the meaning of limitation on its head. Outside of music, I have been a followed and believed in George Carlin since my teenage years. After my parents showed me Carlin on Campus, I have found courage to never take my consciousness for granted. Most of the musical product of punk usually disappoints me, but the immediacy and the energetic masochism of the creative process is a force I can connect with. But, more than all of these, I am driven by the search for one pure experience.

So yeah, I'm fueled by confusion and anger and restrictions and paradoxes and noise and societal rebellion and all that. It's all therapy, as I said in the writing. Basically, I begin to go crazy when I don't play music or use my creativity.

Here are some listening/viewing favorites

This first one is a clip of the first time I ever heard Sonic Youth, which became my favorite band almost instantly:

On Friday, I saw a show at the Empty Bottle, the artist was a guy who goes by his last name, Fennesz. He is an ambient/minimalist musician who uses technology as his slave. I've seen enough people with laptops on stage (zzzzzz...), clicking away and processing samples, but I've never seen anyone show a level of complete mastery like I saw Friday. It was a seamless 75-minute set that built slowly to an explosive climax--an extremely sexual performance. Twists and turns and beauty and passion and tension. And then, complete immersion. I'm having a really hard time choosing clips that do the sound quality justice, but here's one that seems passable:

This became pretty long anyways, but that's usually how I do things. GET USED TO IT

Inspire

What i find inspiring in all this is the way light in all of these various places differs from each other. I get inspired by realistic things that can play with each other. Light is a living thing that can be explored as much or as little as we choose. These places offer light of all different shapes and sizes. Soft and sweet as well as rigid strict and focused. Different light can give different feeling to a show and this difference can add or take away from the show. Playing with the realism and surrealism looks in this show makes it so that our options are endless and i look forward to playing with them.

my thoughts on all this

I find it inspiring when people put their cell phones down and turn off their ipods to take the risk of connecting with a stranger, forget about themselves for a moment and relate to people without that screen that we put up so often because we are concerned with what people will think of us. I find it inspiring when someone forgets about themselves in their concern for another person, like Samantha does with Jewel, and they let their self-constructions fall to the ground in order to do what they think is right for them to do. I enjoy seeing people do something not because they feel compelled by society of by peer pressure but because something inside them tells them that it is what they should do. something that is not dictated by their preoccupations with the future, but by their moment to moment existence. It is amazing to see someone go all out for something or someone they really believe in, and to see that succeed, result in change, makes me truly happy.
On a more practical side,I have been thinking about what I wish to convey with my design. I think the main thing projections can do in this show is convey the complexity, speed and violence that our thoughts have inside our heads, as well as the way our experience of events differs from what is actually going on. I want the projections to show what is really going on in samantha's mind. I want to show her convoluted, confused thoughts, drawings coming to life in frame by frame drawn animations, I want to see things bot the way they are but the way she sees them. In the end for me nothing in the play is objectively real. Of course there are things that are obviously not real, but ultimately everything that happens is sen through the filter of Sam's perceptions, and is therefore distorted. I don't want to show what is going on when sam enters the night club, i want to show what Sam's subconscious perceives on entering: the loud music, bright colors flashing in the dark, bodies writhing and touching each other, skin, sex, sweat, thirst, that need for contact which pervades the whole play. that need which people try to achieve in the most roundabout ways, thinking that by "letting themselves go", by "losing control" they can come closer to something real, when it is only by accepting things around one's self and by being genuine that one can truly connect. Striving for connection will never lead anywhere, it is when she lets go of everything and lies down next to Gabriel that Sam finds the only true connection she has.
I would like to play with silhouettes, with projecting on the floor (although this might be impossible) and i need to know whether you (Emily) want rear or front projections to be more emphasized. that is, if you want rear projections they will be a main feature compared to any other projection (and they can be on a surface like the jonsi concert, which already has a basic design on it (windows in fact could work great) but if you don't want rear projections (and save the possible hassle of setting up a projector backstage and not letting anyone cross in front of it unless it is part of the show, which could be awesome) we need to figure out how to to what we want with several front projectors. right now i think we could go for on large rear projection that covers most of our needs plus two more crazy projections from the front using possibly the film projector. if my projector is backstage that would also let me maneuver it without being on stage or in the middle of the audience (which however might be what you want). let's talk about it, and if any of you other guys have something to say about this, don't hesitate to comment.

What inspires me..

What inspire me is....
people of every race and culture coming together, embracing each other's unique ideas, and learning from one another. The idea of finding strength and unlimited possibility in our differences. Knowledge and understanding on the deepest level of humanity. we are all one. Only love is real... like the moment at the end of the play when Gabriel and Samantha acutally touch. Communication is key, communication on the level of humanity, outside of what is palpable, but what is true experience and understanding. PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE for SUPPORT of ONE ANOTHER
more to come...

Summary

So in directing class we always have to write a summary of the play we are directing. Every semester I have struggled with this, but every time it gets a bit easier. I managed to write the summary for Dead City in about 15 minutes, which I was very impressed with. It really helped me, because this play is so full of action, to define what exactly is happening on stage. I wanted to share it will ya'll:

Samantha Blossom, an optimistic forty-something advertising agent, dreams of Jewel, a young poet, staggering home on the pedestrian path near the West Side Highway at sunrise. Cut back to the morning before - June 16th, 2004. New York City. Samantha is preparing breakfast for her husband Gabriel in her Upper East Side apartmnent. Sorting through the mail, she finds a letter addressed to him from his music manager. The scent of the envelope raises in her a panic. She moves about her day in a half-daze, running into an annoying aquaintances, then zoning out to reminece about her secret online lover; imagining a friend's husband speaking to her from the grave while at his funeral; dreaming of her dead son in a seedy basement bar. She runs into Jewel, the daughter of an acqaintance, in an online magazine offive, then again at the library, and again in a maternity ward. Same is strangely drawn to this moody intellectual, and, having been sorely let down by her rendevous with her online lover on a dock near the Hudson, decides to follow Jewel to a lesbian nightclub, hoping that some meaningful connection can finally be made. Jewel becomes belligerant, and Sam drags her back to her apartment for hot cocoa. After Jewel leaves, Sam crawls back into bed with Gabriel, quickly recounting her day before passing out. In the dark, Gabriel is drawn to reveal his saucy affair with his manager, his suspicion of Sam's own infidelity, his fantasy of making love to Jewel, how amazed he was when Sam was pregnant, and how he can't connect ot her anymore. Waking Sam up, Gabriel tells her that all he needs is something small, and they fall asleep touching each other.

My summary of the change will probably change. More to come.

Meet Katie Spelman

Check out this blog post about the choreographer of Sideshow's Theories of the Sun (for which I just basically production managed). I think her approach to using movement in theatre is really inspirational. Sarah saw the play last night, and I think she liked the dancing - maybe she'll share more of her opinion when she joins this blog.

C'est tout.