Model Minority

…ahhh…what a handsome corporate logo…

So friends & colleagues gathered last night at what appears to be a ritualistic pre-production brouhaha for the ubiquitous thunderbird theater company.

It was at the cozy yet dive’ish restaurant that has become a bit of an institution in the Bay Area.  Taking over the backroom and probably annoying the hell out of the other dining patrons, 30 or so company members, auxiliary cast members, and people of varying degrees of separation gathered to listen to a bit of comedic farsical mayhem that has been dubbed "The Las Vega-Nauts".

It went very well.

My last post spoke of the unneccesary torture that a staged reading could elicit so thankfully the T-Bird’s continuing goal to simply "have fun" have found a perfect solution to a staged reading malaise.  It’s quite simple and I’d be happy to share their recipe:

1. A stageplay that does not take itself seriously.

2. A group of people who enjoy each other’s company off-stage as well as on-stage.  Sometimes too much of the former but that’s the subject of another post.

3. Alcohol.

4. Food and snacks.

5. No fee for admission.

6. No after-show critique discussion (that’s what emails and phonecalls are for).

7. Alcohol.

As far as a play by play (pun intended) of the night, people gathered, lines were read and THANK GOD, laughter was heard.  And not the polite laughter of the religiously saved but the laugh of the damned…oh yes…we are laughing at jokes about alcoholism, emotional abuse, prostitution and eating babies…and all this in a show about comic book super heroes.  But don’t worry you literary snobs…we got high brow stuff for you to…alliteration, allusions, and allegories in case a show about the illegitimate son of Elvis Presley battling the evil forces of the Swiss Mafia against the backdrop of Las Vegas is a bit beneath you.

Okay. I’m not much for spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.  My co-writer and I have the dubious task of editing the final draft in time for auditions next month and rehearsal thereafter.

A final bit of backstory…i was approached by this very good co-writing friend earlier this year to help him write this story.  It had been gestating in his head for several years (I heard his pitch about this story back 2002).  For some reason that still escapes me, he asked me to help him flesh out the play b/c he had hit a rather bad case of writer’s block as all of us do. You gotta understand, writers like any artists are extremely territorial and protective so for him to share it was quite an extension of trust…or stupidity because you see his writing style and mine couldn’t be more different.  We have extremely similar senses of humor but our execution on paper is completely different…

…wizard monkeys…he insists on keeping wizard monkeys…he won and it got a great laugh but still…i die a little everytime…

…anyway through a lot of arguing back and forth, we churned out 80 pages which for the most part works really well.  And I’ve grown enormously egotistical enough to attach myself to something i never would have conceived of writing several years or even months ago. 

…wizard monkeys…god friggin dammit…

He still bugs the sh*t out of me but the people I’m closest to tend to do that.

Okay. Off to edits, enjoying my weekends for a while, and prepping for my role as director of this whirlwind of insanity.

I’ll update this blog accordingly.

Oh and check out the theater website which will soon be updated with an incredibly cool looking poster designed by one of the core members. If I can fulfill my job of directing something that is as close to the sheer giddy fun that poster elicits then I’ll have done my job.

This BLOG was brought to you by the Ditty Bop’s Sister Kate.

Random Sang Trivia: On a trip to Venezuela, Sang’s arm was almost crushed by a petting zoo’s Boa Constrictor.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 at 10:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.