The Annual Navel Gaze

by Phil RickabyDirecting, Life, Theatre, WritingPosted on 3 Comments

I don’t make New Years resolutions.  They just seem to be a way to set unrealistic expectations, which lead to making you feel disappointed in yourself when you break them.  So, no resolutions for me.

But I will set some goals for myself. So here, in no particular order, are my goals for the upcoming year:

  • Get paid to act.  In the past, I’ve done too many shows just to be doing something.  This has lead to varying degrees of satisfaction. Some experiences were really great, others were not.  So, the goal is to only do theatre that pays, unless (and the unless is important here), I am creating the play, or am invested in it (like a play produced by Monkeyman Productions).
  • Do more directing.  I have an idea for a particular Shakespeare play that I would love to do.  I need to find  a way to fund that.  Before I tackle that play, I’ll want to improve my directing vocabulary.
  • Write more.  Write more. Write more.  Finish the play I’m working on before moving on to the next.
  • Become a better theatre marketer.  I am the “Marketing Manager” for Keystone Theatre, and tried my hand at some publicity for Monkeyman for the last show.  I certainly need some improvement. I have a bit of time before Keystone kicks into gear, so there is some time, but I certainly want to know what I’m doing before that happens.
  • Become a better shmoozer.  Be able to go to parties and make small talk and meet the right people and the like.  I’m not very good at this, and I need to get better at it.
  • Get an agent.

So, those are my goals for the year. There’s more of them than I initially thought there would be.  I might not complete all of them, but at least I’ll have made some serious headway if I accomplish some of them.

What are your goals for the year?

I Am Directing a Play About Zombies!!!!

by Phil RickabyDirecting, Monkeyman, TheatrePosted on No Comments

I am directing The Second Last Man by Jordan Hall for Monkeyman Productions Banana Festival.  The good news is that the play is great.  Also good news is that now I get to play Left 4 Dead 2 and call it “research”.

Not so great is the fact that I’m coming in as a ringer.  Basically, things came up and the director originally slated to direct the play was unable to do so, and the Monkeymen called me.  And (to quote 24) WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

But the best news is that the cast is great.  Tim Nussey, Melissa Zaccardelli, and Jack Morton are pulling the play together and despite the short time, and really finding some great stuff in the scenes.

In a short amount of time, we’ve managed to make some good choices about the characters, flesh out their histories, and get the play blocked.  Now we can start to find the nuance in the scenes, and get the dialogue really moving.

Once thing I’ve noticed about not having a lot of time is that you basically have two options:  you can try and hurry, worrying that if you don’t rush through everything that you’ll run out of time.  Or you can work slowly, making sure that you work carefully.  It seems that best option is to work slowly, taking your time, and ensuring that you work through each moment, not glossing over anything.  This is the best use of the actor’s time.  Working slowly like this means that everything gets its moment, and actually helps the actors to learn their scenes.  Its been an important lesson to learn.