Wow, I was down that day - the last entry. Suffice to say that since we last left our hero things have improved somewhat. Still, more things pop up. I had a great birthday party with a ... get this... Christopher Walken theme thrown by the lovely and talented Miss Rachel. That was Friday.

Saturday was spent moving mostly, though there's much left to move. The theatre company also decided we need to be out tomorrow entirely, out of the clear blue sky, they told us yesterday. So until next week when the phone is put in at the new place the blog may be spotty. The festival closed Saturday as well - thank god.

Sunday was... Ah yes, Sunday was a "day of rest," supposedly, though it really wasn't and we spent most of it cleaning, setting up, and etc. between place A and place B.

Monday was spent mostly striking, mostly by myself, mostly in the 101 degrees plus Southern humidity plus heat index and etc. - then Hamlet rehearsal started at 7pm (evening rehearsal, for some reason) and we read through. Nothing to report there, except we were noted on the read thru. I thought that was odd.

Today I am still striking, and still moving like a madperson. Sorry no funny linkys on the last one, I'm in a bit of a state. I promise the funny will return within the week.

It's now my birthday, though it didn't seem like it because I worked all day. I'll add the funny to this later, I don't have the energy right now to make the links. Y'all come back now, y'hear? Y'do? Y'wanker.
Thus I have decided come hell or high water tomorrow I will NOT work all day, only half a day, and then enjoy myself.
The lovely Rachel seems to have planned a birthday party for me tomorrow night anyway. She's great. Of course.
Tomorrow will probably seem more like a "birthday" than today did - today was f-ing depressing and made me want to quit my job. I've had that feeling too much lately. I've had times when I've contemplated quitting for hours - and then something makes it better. Today, though, I just kept thinking it. I work on things, income generating things, and have a number of irons in the fire. I get no affirmation. In fact, credit seems to be taken elswhere. For instance, I came up with an idea that saved all the revenue from the last week of the run of one of our shows by switching venues and creating a "special performance"- and apparently that's been overlooked. I don't need lauding and pats on the back, so much, just consideration of the work I do. I fixed and update our website, and what do I get - "That's fine, but..." and then pointed derision. Maybe it comes from this summer being the longest time I've spent offstage (not counting that night in Love's Labour's Lost) in ... many, many years. I probably won't quit as long as things improve a little bit in the office.

Vent, vent, vent. Listen to me, I'm a whiny bastard - like I said before. I'm also working on HAMLET. That isn't cheery, really.

Tomorrow I'm 28. Exactly two years left until Carousel. I hope I renew, but they say no one ever has...

Sanctuary!

So slowly but surely we are moving to the new apartment. It kinda smells of the cigarettes of the last person who lived there, not terribly, but we'll soon take care of that. Any suggestions? Other than scented candles, inscense, and carpet deodorizer? It's not bad.

Working on Hamlet - finally got the cut script.

Did I mention tomorrow is my birthday, ever?

"But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters..."

You ever just spend a goodly part of a day feeling like a whiny bastard? That's what blogs are often all about, right?
Well, I shall spare you the gory details. Here's how today wound up:

1) WE NOW HAVE AN APARTMENT!
2) My birthday is Thursday. That's not new.
3) I spent a lot of money on furniture, also I bought a digital camera for myself for my birthday.
3a) I'm so stressed about money, but being poor is what art is about, right? Right? Hey! Right?
4) My car IS running, it was just out of gas, Grant. Heh... That's funny NOW, but wasn't THEN.
5) Held auditions today to fill out the HAMLET cast. Found our Laertes quite early - A friend I had no idea was that good! Gertrude may wind up being a compromise. One guy we auditioned was SO very good, and yet unavailable. Will be contacting him about the future. Needs maybe to lose some weight, though.
6) Received a WONDERFUL CD in the mail today, and you all must check it out if you like all the music the kids play. The good stuff, not the kind with any initials in the group names. The Endless debut album, "Grumpy Ghost."
7) ALSO got another CD, unexpectedly... Star Wars the Musical. Possibly the single funniest thing I've ever heard, played totally straight. Great.
8) July 25 is my birthday.

"Do you speak Bacchi? Not Splatchy, not Blotchy, but Bacchi? What I need is a droid who can understand Bacchi, but what I need most is someone who understands me." - STAR WARS, THE MUSICAL

Never, EVER discuss life decisions and changes after you've had ANY drinks.

Tired. Went to some "theatre" last night in a semi-official capacity. It was perhaps the most stereotypical production of bad Shakespeare I have ever seen. It was obviously directed by an academic. Wow, was it bad. I've seen "As You Like It," and liked it. I've been in a good production. Okay, it isn't a rip-roaring laugh a minute, but it is most definitely at least a good piece. What I saw last night was the definition of dry, vomitless Shakespeare.

I guess its another case of it being good to see someone else's headshot. I should explain that... Based on the new job, we've been looking at tons of submitted resumes and headshots, and though lately I've been itching to get new headshots done (I really do hate my headshot), many times I've opened the manila envelopes, pulled out the photo/resume, and realized what is GOOD about my headshot. I turned to Grant and said, "Sometimes it's nice to see someone else's headshot, just so yours seems less awful."

This is from WILWHEATON.NET, and I have to say after my own reading of the new "homeland security plan" with its "volunteer informant" corps (Did they even THINK about 1984 before writing this?) ... Check out Wil's entry, which refers to Tom Tomorrow's entry...

When I heard about the US Government's TIPS program this morning, I nearly choked on my breakfast. I've been struggling with my outrage and astonishment at this program all day, trying to compose myself long enough to write about it, but my friend Tom Tomorrow has managed to put into words exactly what I am feeling, far more eloquently than I ever could, so I'll freely steal it from him:


"Facism is a term thrown about too freely, and I don't believe we're at a point that its use is justified--but an oppressive and intrusive government, however you want to label it, does not ride into town wearing the uniforms and waving the flags of recognizable evil. It creeps in slowly, wrapped in the flag of your own country, and speaking the language of patriotism and duty, and at each step along the way, its actions seem plausible and defensible--until one morning you wake up and realize the gulf between the way things were and the way things are has grown so wide that there is no going back. Sinclair Lewis tried to point this out more than a half century ago, and given the current climate, It Can't Happen Here is well worth re-reading (or reading for the first time, if you've never come across it before)."

Twice in the past week I have been approached by men totally unseen by me until trapped in my car, with the door not quite shut. First they say they aren't dangerous, then they ask for money for one reason or another. I'm sure the first guy was just a sad case, a poor homeless guy who needed change (that's all he wanted, fifty cents) but the fact that it happened again - though the dude used a different line this time ("out of gas") - makes me think it's the new racket. I heard a friend of a friend talking about having been mugged with this tact a few weeks ago, so maybe I'm on my guard. Anyway, I've never been mugged or anything like that, thus I'm perhaps less on guard than I thought I should be.

It bothers me that someone can approach me like that without my notice until (what would be) too late. And here I thought I was an international assassin waiting to happen.

http://www.gregthebunny.org

I almost forgot. Who are we if we let this go the way of The Tick, Family Guy, and ... Automan (?) while "Bachelorettes" and the like continue not to have their participants euthanized?

Our high energy, five-person production of LOVES LABOURS LOST was quite different tonight... One of the actors, who plays Ferdinand, Armado, and Dumain... was violently, convulsively, explosively ill and couldn't do it. I had to go on for him, with absolutely no preparation. I lived the actor's nightmare tonight, short of being naked.

The costume didn't fit.
I didn't know the words.
I danced in numbers I'd only watched a few times, weeks ago.
I played several characters and made a lot of stuff up.
And...

The audience was with us the whole way.

Now, I need ice cream. And beer. And Red Fusion. I like Red Fusion, and maybe if I link it again Dr. Pepper will notice somehow and I'll get a free case or seven. Red Fusion.

It was kinda rainy, but that only helped get the crowd rooting for us. This is why we do it. It only could've felt better if I'd been singing it.

Not that I want to do it again, like that. Ever.

I'm going out of my mind.

I woke up this morning quite nicely, then not thirty seconds after consciousness came like a hammer to the skull my imminent-lack-of-dwelling feeling.
Oh, how I need the vacation I only recently realized I haven't had in a very, very long time. Also, there's the need for cash.

We were supposed to go out for drinks (with Grant and Beth) after the shows tonight but things came up - so I'm just going to sit in view of some DVDs all evening. Quietly. Alone. Content.

Today was the day I had nightmares about when I accepted this job. I will not make a habit of "this was my day," unprofound, no bad poetry (this is a blog, you know!) entries, but today was jist extry-special.
See, to sound quite the braggart, this is my first non-acting job in a very long time, though it will entail acting soon. It's just that being Production Manager is a position which stretches some of my qualifications to their theoretical limits. Some parts of the job I am very qualified for. Some I am not. I'm fine with that, because I think my strengths more than make up for my shortcomings. Soon my title will change, as I mentioned earlier, and perhaps I'll feel more comfortable though little will really change. I had a long day, but I kept laughing, so that was fine. It was the first day when both of our "big" shows played at the same time. Also, it was "Take your girlfriend to work" day.

It started out with Rachel and I doing a little apartment stuff, then we went to one of the venues to move all stuff from that show to our other venue so. Once that was done, I got a tense phone message from our construction place that our remaining platforms and lumber had to go ...anywhere else. "Now." I called Grant (the artistic director) because his Isuzu Trooper is much more trucklike that my Sunbird. We loaded up,found a place, stowed it, then went into the office for supposedly five minutes before we were all going to lunch. At the office, things to do found us for about an hour, leaving Rachel wandering around our offices bored silly. Then lunch, which Grant treated at an Irish pub, and a break. I get to the main venue at about 6:15 to find that the lights, for no apparent reason, aren't working. At about 6:45 we discover, of course we'd forgotten things that morning for the other venue (we hadn't finalized the list yet), which necessitated mad dashes across town and back. While I'm taking stuff to the other venue, five problems arise there, and once I return to the first venue they've rigged halogen lights to light the show - no one could figure out the problem.

There you have it.

(silent scream)

Work is a nice challenge, and whenever I have downtime I try to work on Hamlet. It's interesting to be in the position where you have control over all the things you used to hear bitched about (or bitched about yourself), and trying to make them better for the people under you. However, in many cases things you thought you knew aren't true - and you realize why things were that way in the first place.

Welcome to Don Winsor's "HEY! It's What We've Got." School of Theatre.


Now, please allow me to express the extent of my horror at how frustrating it is to find an affordable apartment in Richmond, VA, home of the old money and what I imagine must be some of the original good ol' boy conspiracies in the country.

Perhaps that's overstating it a bit. I'm just flustered, that's all.

They had a two-week mandatory wait with deposit up front. Being that in two weeks time we'd be really stuck if it didn't go through, we decided not to deal with it. Damn.

Going to have The Meeting about another place... wish me luck.

Okay, comments are NOT working yet.

Update - Yes, they obviously are.

Second Night, Second Entry. Had to go note our new one man show tonight, had to be the third party to a number of... disagreements involving world-shattering issues like whether the intellibeams are really necessary at one point or should be cut. These are the things people in theatre really argue about. Should the pointy light go here or not.

My contribution was, can we afford to replace an intellibeam lamp (bulb) being that we've already blown one? Heads turned toward me, I stood tall, puffed out my chest, and absorbed their evil thought beams.

Still looking for a place to live. A few leads, some I can't really afford. When I brought home one application tonight, Rachel got depressed and admitted she was going to buy me a puppy for my birthday when we were in the new place and now it doesn't look like we'll get a place that takes pets.

How depressing. I bought the Kids In The Hall "Same Guys New Dresses" DVD today... I recommend it. I haven't watched it, who'm I kidding? When do I have any time?

Comments should work now.

Okay, my first night, and my first real entry. Tonight the apartment Rachel and I were supposed to move into August 1 fell through. We are homeless in a few weeks at this point. This is not a feeling I enjoy

And I don't have time to look for a place! I'm learning Hamlet, and Sleepy Hollow... not to mention the fact that I've got all the miscellaneous nonsense to deal with the summer festival until it closes, three days or so before I have to move!

scarybari@aol.com

Just checking to make sure I know how this works.

Welcome to my weblog. Who knows how often I'll update it? A guess costs $1. Every correct guess, after one year's time, gets a cookie.

Please allow me to introduce my-elf. I'm Don. I'm an actor. I'm currently starting my first job as a part of actually running a theatre company, in Richmond, VA. We love the South, don't we? I'm Production Manager of the Encore! Theatre Company, which produces as its main product The Richmond Shakespeare Festival and accompanying tours. If you look, I'm not on their website yet. We work and struggle to make sure we can get paid and produce things we're proud of. This year, I tour as Hamlet. I also become Associate Artistic Director. I almost feel settled, and that's frightening - I've been a castabout pseudobohemian (TM) for years. This isn't where I was headed, but I think it's right. I am part of a creation machine.

Damn, that's pretentious.

Before, I'd move every 3-6 months from gig to gig. If I stayed in one place THAT long. Now, I've in one place for (heave) over a year and a half, thanks to two companies good enough to meet my needs... Wait, how long? Sorry, I have to go deal with a digestive issue.