Well paint Kafka's cheeks red

Kafka has a really captivating face to me. Maybe it's because of his writings, and the fact that so many are unfinished and that he wanted them to be burned. Maybe this adds a certain amount of mystery to his persona and face.  Either way, here are some pictures of Kafka.

A really great read. A visual 'romp' through Kafka's life and stories. 

My friend Luc does some really great visual art, and often uses collage in his work. Believe it or not, below is an example of some of his work using collage. Here is a screen printed image of Kafka's head atop Lincoln's body. Lovin' the finished product. 

"I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy"
-Kafka 

Fan of Kafka? Me too. See The Metamorphosis
Thanks Luc!
Check out his blog.
http://lulouandada.blogspot.com/

Sneak Peek

As I mentioned before, I had always had the idea of using shadows for an introduction for The Metamorphosis. Today we had a rehearsal to actually try it out and see if it would work. I was pretty determined on making it work, but having never done anything like this before I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I had enlisted three of the cast members to use in the intro, but yesterday found out one couldn't make it. I was slightly worried about being able to block it and figure out exactly how it would work if we were missing one actor. I decided to see if we could work it with just two actors. This would be easier because well, they were the ones there and it's usually better to simplify and the fewer number of bodies in a small space the better. 

At the end of the three hour rehearsal we had the entire intro blocked out, and ran it twice without stops. We know the spots we need to clean up, but it was a very productive rehearsal.

Making the best of what we've got. 

Pilobolus - Dance Company. They do amazing things with shadows.

Anyone can do shadow puppets.

Celadon, Moss, Lime etc.

We have started to accumulate props and costume pieces. Value Village is THE place to go for props and costumes, especially when the lovely lady helping you with costumes happens to have a stamp card full of fifteen stamps which will get you 30% off your entire purchase. So we took a trip to the double V in Burlington and got a number of items.
I'm not setting the production in any particular time period, but am going for more of a nostalgic feel, so going with anything that seems to point to the 1920's to the 1950's. And I'm doing this with costume, make-up, and music. (Though some of the music will be a little more current than the 1950's).
I tend to get stuck in wanting to go with a grey, or black and white colour palette when it comes to the shows I've worked on. I like to have a cohesive look to the show, and The Metamorphosis is another show that I found myself leaning towards black and white. I like the starkness of black and white; however this time I'm trying to add bits of colour into the show. We're trying to incorporate greens and maybe some purples into the show. Of course there will be other colours, especially in the set, but I'd like green to be the colour that really seems to stand out. Why green? Well, it's an absurd play about a very unreal circumstance, and green just seems other worldly to me, almost sci-fi, though I would not say this play is sci-fi at all, but green is eerie and this play is eerie. When I first mentioned going with the colour green I was told it was a difficult colour to light, so that made me take a step back and reconsider my choice. I asked my dad who is a set designer just how difficult green can be to work with on stage. He told me it's not actually difficult to light on stage, and people tend to look good in green on stage, but it is bad luck to use green on stage. This is what Wikipedia (the authority on everything) has to say about using green on stage:

The colour green is also considered to be unlucky. This is said to date from the time when most performances were given out-of-doors. Wearing green would make it hard to distinguish the actor from grass/trees/bushes in the natural setting beyond the performing area. Despite this superstition, the off-stage waiting area for actors is referred to as the green room.


So, I'm going with green.

Some prop pieces. 

Some cardigans, a sweater vest, shoes, suspenders and a tie.

Vintage aprons I bought from The Maker's Market last weekend.

Phase 2

If I had more free hours in the day, I would have finished these props long ago. The plan is to glue them onto plates and a tray and then spray them with varnish. I am still in need of some plates though, so here is the progress so far. Not bad for someone who is not an artist.
The breakfast foods are for the boarders that stay at the Samsa household, and the rest of the food are scraps that Grete brings Gregor.

At first, the bacon and almonds looked like turds.

roll with butter, beans, peas, eggs, mushrooms and bacon

More from Sir Edward Clarke

Some more from Sir Edward Clarke's Diary, written during the cross examination of Oscar Wilde by Mr. Carson.

Dear Diary,

Yesterday Carson offered me 200 pounds for my halter vest. I politely declined the offer. Obviously, Carson doesn't have the bust to carry it off quite like I do.

Also a photo has recently surfaced of Carson....it seems to have been taken during his school days, in the shameful den of his frat house. The photo features Carson, butt naked, wearing a litigator's tie and only the Holy Bible. Yes, that's right. Wearing the Bible, up in front of you-know-where. I can't give him my vest after seeing that picture.Who knows where he'd wear it...simply won't do.

-S.E.C

Carson's infamous photo.

Dear Diary,

Oscar seems to have willingly given money, clothes, and silver cigarette cases to many boyz...I'd love a silver cigarette case from Oscar. It would be a lovely memento of our time spent together at court. I mean, sure I don't smoke, but I'd still love to have one from him. Maybe when this is all over, I'll get a GOLD cigarette case!

Love alwayz,

S.E.C

Peeping Tom

The last few shows I've directed, my friend Damian has produced simply amazing posters for the productions. The previous two shows I directed Damian used photographs as the main images for the posters, but for The Metamorphosis I wanted an illustration, and he just happens to a wonderful artist.
We're both big fans of black and white, grey scale, and stark images with lots of shadow, so we always seem to be on the same wavelength.
Having the right message, or theme conveyed through a poster is an important thing to me. It's the first real image people get of the production so I suppose it's sort of like that saying first impressions are everything...or something along those lines.
The first poster Damian designed for me was for a production of Lee Blessing's Two Rooms which is about a man who is being kept hostage in Beirut. His wife is in America and has cleared out her husband's study to resemble the room he is being kept hostage in. This is the only way she feels she can connect to him, but by doing this, she basically makes a hostage of herself. For the poster, the actor playing the hostage wore a black blindfold while the wife wore a white blindfold and they seemed to be on opposite sides of a door or wall. I thought it was a really telling image. But I can't find it on my computer...

I directed an original play for Black Box Fire's Emerging Artist's Series called A Long Winter, which was about a group of people stuck in a bunker after a nuclear explosion. I used Picasso's Guernica as inspiration, and so did Damian for the poster. I used a single hanging light bulb on stage which worked nicely during transitions and it's a good signifier of being in a basement.

We used this instead of individual headshots.

Nice light bulb

For The Metamorphosis I wanted something that would hint at the transformation Gregor undergoes, yet doesn't really give away anything overly specific, like what kind of bug he turns into. I did know that I wanted it to look as if the viewer was looking through the keyhole of Gregor's door though. We're using a door to separate Gregor's room from the dining room in the production, and I like the sense of curiosity that comes with looking at something through a keyhole. So, once again, Damian has outdone himself and I'm extremely happy with the poster for the show.

Come see it!

Dear Diary

I was recently in Black Box Fire's production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. I played Sir Edward Clarke, Wilde's attorney. There were a few sections in the play where I simply sat at a table and took 'notes' of the proceedings. Sometimes I just wrote down the lines other people were actually saying, this helped me focus and not lose my place, so I did this if I knew I had a line coming up. But there were a few long sections in which I had ample time to write diary entries from the point of view of Sir Edward Clarke. Here are some of those diary entires from Sir Edward's notebook from the production.

Dear Diary,
I've got to get my hands on a copy of that Chameleon magazine. I can tell from where I sit that there are a lot off good pictures in that magazine. From this angle, the way Carson holds the book, I can see pictures of pirates. And I love pirates. Ever since I was a small boy, I've longed for the life of a pirate, the life at sea, peg legs, an eye patch. Oh and I love parrots.


Dear Diary,
Court would be a much happier place, and more pleasant if we were able to drink wine during the proceedings. Everyone would be cheery, relaxed and probably more likely to tell the truth, making the whole process much shorter.
Perhaps I will bring this up when I am given the honour of being able to warm the bench as they say. First comes knighthood, then comes Mr. Justice.
S.E.C

Dear Diary,
I cannot help but think that 'Dorian Grey' may be a code name for L.A.D, or Lord Alfred Douglas; and that 'Basil' may actually be Oscar Wilde. This would mean that Oscar is an artist, not a poet, and that he painted a picture of L. Alfred Dougie, that is showing his true colours and aging somewhere. I'm making it my task to find that painting.
-S.E.C


There are more...but I'll save those for another time.

Flour, Salt and Water

I have decided to attempt to make some of the props for The Metamorphosis. Just a few really. I'm making fake plates of food. They are in the beginning stages of production.  I made dough and then made the shapes I wanted and then baked them.

Baking Dough Recipe
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups water

Add water slowly until the dough is moist but doesn't stick to your fingers. The more you work the dough, the softer it gets and seems to warm up in your hands making it easier to shape.

Place on baking sheet and put in the oven at 300 F until the dough gets brownish. It takes a while, about an hour for the pieces I made.

                                                                  

A Sheet, Scissors, Paper and a Lamp

I'm directing a play which opens January 14th, so I thought I would blog about it. It's an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis written by Charles Dizenzo.
We are in the early stages of the production process but things are happening and we are starting to get the pieces ready to eventually put them all together. Some of my ideas, I worry, are beyond my capabilities or resources, but I'm going to give it a go regardless.
One of those ideas is to incorporate some,let's just call it, shadow work into the opening of the play. I have no experience with this, but what it comes down to is that I like seeing cool visuals on stage and want to work that into the production. I would like to be able to captivate the audience at the get-go, and if my idea works out well, this may be able to do it. Over a month ago, I did a very small and impromptu experiment with shadow puppets and I really liked aspects of it. Basically, I wanted to see if I even liked the look and effect. I did. Now to try it on a larger scale, with people, and try to choreograph something that is effective.