Well, the great big lousy awful jus'-plain-shitty news of the week has been that Petey Plymouth (aka "The Funambulator"), that beaten-up ol' 1994 Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan with the flaking-off paint and the constant breaking-down over one thing or another, was actually STOLEN (!!!) from 2nd Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A in Manhattan this past Sunday.Berit and I are annoyed (that our ride is gone), pissed (that we had a few things in there we miss - nothing irreplaceable in the l... Read Full Story

We opened Kitsch on Thursday, and, amazingly, all is going pretty well for such a complex show that was rehearsed in so many pieces, and never got a run-through with the full cast until opening night.I'd write more about it now, but I'm rushed as I've agreed to be an IT Awards judge for a show I'm seeing at a matinee in Queens this afternoon, and still have to type up and email my note son last night to the cast. So I'm attending two 2.5 hour shows today -- one as judge, one as director/tech... Read Full Story

In the past year or so (maybe back to the August, 2008 season), I've begun having a kind of recurring dream as I get to the "stress point" in the production of a show I'm directing/designing -- it's never the same, but it's the same kind of dream:I'm driving my car, and someone else on the road is making a horrible mistake that will result in them hitting me if I don't suddenly do something defensive and correct -- they may have made a wrong-way turn onto the one-way street I'm driving down, ... Read Full Story

Because of people's Halloween plans, as well as the annual crazy huge Halloween event at Theater for the New City, we've wound up with a few unexpected days off from working on Kitsch (while Trav has been working his songs with the singers). Berit is using the time to try and adjust her sleep schedule to something reasonable by the time we're back in rehearsal on Sunday (and at the same time avoiding the scary theatre and movies I plan on seeing, which are not to her taste anymore), and I'm ... Read Full Story

We've been continuing to rehearse Kitsch every night, though we've wound up with some unexpected nights off as we've lost the people or space we'd need to rehearse. Frankly, this one is tiring enough to put together that the nights off (and we get one tomorrow, hooray) are probably more productive for me in giving me some rest and time to consider the work.Still, we're actually a little bit ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point, mainly because the actors are picking things up fairly... Read Full Story

Phew. Rehearsals every single day for Kitsch. Getting tired, but there's work to be done.And today, a day late (as yesterday was taken up with reorganizing last night's rehearsal due to cast member illness), I finally get to the Random Ten (out of 25,580) from the iPod, with links to associated YouTube videos where available . . .1. "Skin Deep" - Stranglers - Aural Sculpture2. "Valerie" - Amy Winehouse with Mark Ronson - Mix Disk - Dad3. "Rubberleg Twist" - The Isley Brothers - Twist And... Read Full Story

We're two rehearsals into Kitsch now, and it's been a good start. We've staged about 26-27 pages of script (out of 101 total) and the tone is becoming apparent. There were concerns about a few things, and whether they'd work or not -- will it work for this farce, which takes place in Berlin in 1989 after the Wall comes down, for some of the characters to have "stage-German" accents and for others not to? Yes, it will -- that are being answered as we try things. There are still tonal thing... Read Full Story

Forgotten in a bunch of travel, meetings, errands, and attempted rest was this week's Friday Random Ten.So, a few days late, but just as odd as always, here are the first random 10 tracks that came up out of the 25,552 currently in the iPod (with links to YouTube versions of the songs, or if I couldn't find them, something moderately close by the same artist):1. "Go Through It" - Blondie - Autoamerican2. "Security" - The Pleazers - Wild Things volume 2 - Wyld Kiwi Garage 1966-19693. "Lione... Read Full Story

What th--?Well, for goodness' sake, I forgot the weekly blog post yesterday.And I won't have time to do it for real until tomorrow -- at least the music/photos/video part of it.So, anyway, I'm back in NYC, and gearing up for Kitsch at Theatre for the New City. Today, Trav and I met with David, the set designer, at the space and discussed possibilities. I mentioned what I needed and David suggested possibilities that suggested additional avenues of approach, so I think we're all on the same ... Read Full Story

A week ago I updated from Maine. Since then, I've driven back to Brooklyn - borrowing my brother's car as Petey Plymouth wound up needing some unexpected work in order to pass inspection here in Maine, where it's registered - and barely made it to the NYIT Awards to lose out on the "Outstanding Lighting Design" award (but had fun celebrating The Brick's Caffe Cino award).Then Berit and I spent a day lighting the excellent show by Happy Hour now going on at The Brick (through Sunday), and tha... Read Full Story