Theater of Note Marathon show wrap up

I was happy to once again perform The Countess at the 2012 Theater of Note Marathon show in Hollywood last night. Also performing last night were my pals Betsy Salkind (who is also obsessed with the head found in Bronson Canyon Park), Marty Barrett and Brian Deschaneux with the musical stylings of Fogelfoot and Michelle Gardner, who I saw do a kick ass sign language version of Love the Way You Lie, but later that evening had another whole set.

the Countess

Michelle in motion

The house itself is small, seating 50 or so people at a time with a bit of SRO around the edges, and there are minimal production values. The green room is a card table in a parking lot with some PB&J and jug wine, and the stage is the bare floor with a painted brick wall behind it. What makes it incredible is that it is in the heart of Hollywood and the performers are all extremely talented, working actors. This is a night of show people performing for other show people, with a flying by the seat of the pants feel. That slightly crazy woman who can't seem to ever cover herself with clothing, that is a member of every single theater company everywhere? Here, at this show, she is phenomenal, summoning characters from the depths of her soul and has the audience eating out of her hand.

My favorite acts of people I didn't know: (I'm sorry, I didn't get a program. Maybe Michelle or Marty can fill me in)

The guy with the giant flow chart of all of his dead childhood pets, as he tries to explain why he doesn't want to date you if you insist on sleeping with your dog. He allegedly came up with the bit that afternoon. I hope he turns it into a one man show. It was hilarious.

The guy with the essay about winning a blue ribbon in tablescaping at the LA County Fair. I will be entering this competition next year.

The physical comedy duo Ten West. I am humbled. They are amazing.

Christmas Guillermotion! Or how I spent my holiday season...

Here is the intergration (aka commercial built into the JKL show*) I worked on back in November and December. It was a very intense 3 weeks before and after Thanksgiving, and we shot it the first Friday of December. The costumes were designed by my boss, Rodney Munoz, and almost all sewn by me. (We jobbed out the dancing girls.) The moment I am most proud of is Guillermo's break away Tiny Tim outfit that reveals his 100% sequined Santa suit. (okay, giant paillettes too) Guillermo's wife had their first baby that week, so he was not around for fittings too much. That Tiny Tim costume was a pile of clothes and a dream less than 24 hours before we shot this, and I got it built and rigged in time for it to be the second shot up. (tip o' the hat to the stitcher, Maria Haro, who came and worked for us on this job)

We did the breakaway sequence in one take, which is amazing. Jackie, Rocio and Nina had never done something like this before and didn't expect to have a fishing line thrust in their hands at the last second and they all rose to the occasion and pulled like champs. I was very proud, because the entire crew was standing by and executing this bit flawlessly set the tone for the entire evening's shoot.

*I like these intergrations, because it harkens back to the golden age of radio and television when the hosts would drop in these blatant sort of mentions of the sponsors and build comedy bits around them. You know it's a commercial and I think it's less sneaky than product placement or the discreet use of the products in bits. I am always amazed that the clients let us do all sorts of dumb nonsense, but it just shows you all press is good press.

Starting the New Year right

Welcome 2012 and hit the road, 2011! You were a good year, don't get me wrong. Best year in years, really. But time to go.

I'm starting the year off with a link to The Countess. My computer has been acting shitty for two weeks, since I downloaded a Flash update, and have not had the time to deal until today. I kept my membership in the Johnson Family AV club active by solving the problem all by myself without having Steve deal with it. I am bursting with so much pride over this task that it rivals the first time I blew up a kiddie pool with an air compressor.

ARRR!!! I FIX! I FIX!!!! I FIX!!!! ARRR! (bangs chest with fist and waves arms in air)

(I googled "Mac freezes when I use youtube." Turns out, I'm not the only one.)

This clip is from the 2010 Theater of Note Marathon Show. 24 hours of anything goes to raise money for this very awesome and well respected theater company in Hollywood. I hope to be doing the show on January 21st.