Doug Oliphant

Monsters, Directors Labs and Cabarets, Oh My!

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Doug

Here’s one of the many lovely Pandora music discoveries I’ve made recently that seems to fit the current state of my life. The band is called Phantogram, song’s called When I’m Small.

Projects update time! 2013 has brought a bunch of small projects my way, some that have now passed and some that still lie ahead. Here’s what’s been going on:

The Monster (this time, from the caves) in Theatre Mab Town Hall’s It Came From The ______!

In March, I performed as The Monster in a new choose-your-own-play called It Came From The ______!, written by Kathleen M. Reinbold and produced by Theatre Mab Town Hall as a part of Son Of Semele’s SOSE Host program. I happily stretched my movement muscles in the role and created my own animal walk modeled after a sort of chicken-creature. The “bokoks” of the chicken-creature allowed the character to have a voice of sorts, and made for an absurd monster-killer. The show was well-received and I hope it has subsequent reincarnations. Personally, I think it would be a great addition to any regularly-producing theatre’s lineup as a late-night, after-the-mainstage-show production. Click here to read the press release. More pictures from the show can be found on the Photos page.

The Ruby Besler Cabaret – Coming to The Hollywood Fringe Festival June 2013

Prior to that, I signed on as the director for a new show from the mind of actress Anastasia Barnes, adapted from the 9-part webseries The Ruby Besler Show, now titled The Ruby Besler Cabaret. The webseries features Ruby Besler, a fictional 1940′s Broadway star who hosts a television show where she gives advice to women on how to embrace and make the most out of their ladiness. The live show takes that character and puts her in the context of the underground cabaret scene, where supported by sexy burlesque dancers and her pianist Dorothy, she shares her life story, filled with cheeky humor and razzle dazzle. Since January I’ve been developing the script, helping to guide Anastasia along the crazy road that is producing for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The show will have a preview Tuesday, June 11th at 10pm, and will open officially Friday, June 14th at 7pm at The Elephant Space at Theatre Asylum. This is certainly a very different kind of production for me to work on, but with Anastasia’s brilliant comedic abilities and the allure of the 1940′s cabaret vibe, it should shape up to be a sexy, silly, fringey evening.

Doug Oliphant, Cindy Marie Jenkins & actress Lena Gwendolyn Hill on La La Land

Also in the development process is the 14th annual Directors Lab West for which I serve as Production Coordinator. The Steering Committee and I started meeting back in October of 2012 technically, but after the new year, meetings get more frequent and there’s much more work to be done. Back in February, Steering Committee member Cindy Marie Jenkins and I were guests on LA Talk Live’s La La Land, a nationally broadcast radio show that features LA-based artists. We talked about the Lab, shared some personal stories of our own significant memories in years’ past and encouraged theatre directors and choreographers from around the country (or world!) to apply. This year’s Lab will once again be supported by the SDC and hosted by The Pasadena Playhouse, running from 10am – 10pm May 18-25. To get an idea of what the Lab is like, check out these articles I wrote with Dani Oliver last year for LA Stage Alliance’s LA Stage Times.

Choreographing fights for White Hot with The Vagrancy

There have been a number of small projects that have come my way recently. I wrote an article recapping an LA Stage Talks event focusing on Professionalism in the American Theatre for LA Stage Times. I choreographed fights for an independent 2-minute sci-fi short film that’s to be filmed in the next few weeks. I choreographed fights and movement for the trailer of The Vagrancy‘s upcoming Fringe production of Tommy Smith‘s White Hot (which I will also be choreographing fights for the actual stage production in June). I’ve been seeing a lot of theatre lately, getting some quality snowboarding and dog time in, and trying to enjoy the other parts of life while I’m not immersed in a big project.

Coming up on April 19/20th, I’ll be directing a 10-minute play as a part of The Vagrancy’s 24-Hour Play Festival, “Rituals: A Bacchanalia”. I won’t know whose play I’ll be directing, but the participating playwrights are Tim Cummings, Jami Brandli, Boni B. Alvarez, Andie Bottrell, Chelsea Sutton, Megan Breen & Cort Brinkerhoff. I’ll also continue working with playwright Annette Lee on her work-in-progress play at the start of May, the final step before she completes the play and we have “Blossoming”–a full workshop with actors and a scripts-in-hand performance in July.

Also, I updated most of my slider images to much more recent shots of me/productions I’ve been a part of. AND, I finally added photos from Behind Closed Doors – A 2nd Class Cabaret, the new musical I was a part of its initial workshop production in 2011–took a long time for those photos to be released, but check them out on the Photos page.

Lots of small projects lately, though I’m in the very beginning stages of *rights/permission pending* my next rock-album-to-stage adaptation project, which if it works out, will be quite a big and artistically satisfying project. More on that and other potential projects once they go from potential to definite!

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Music, Photos | Tagged 2nd class cabaret, acting, actor, anastasia barnes, behind closed doors, blossoming, cindy marie jenkins, directing, director, directors lab west, fights, hollywood fringe festival, it came from the ______!, la stage times, los angeles, monster, movement, music, the ruby besler cabaret, the ruby besler show, the vagrancy, theatre, theatre mab town hall, white hot | Leave a comment

2012: A Year of Accomplishments

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Doug

The Flaming Lips - Fight Test. The first track from their album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, as well as the opening number in the new musical that recently premiered at La Jolla Playhouse under the same name. The show was thrilling, and the song puts me back in the first scene every time I listen to it. Can’t wait to see how this new musical will evolve, where it will end up, and how many future rock albums-turned-musicals will follow.

Karina Wolfe as Lyndon B. Johnson in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Photo by Adam Emperor Southard

Every year since I moved to LA, I fly back to Connecticut for the holidays and on that plane ride across the country, I write a list of accomplishments from the past year. That includes things I felt were accomplishments in both my professional and personal life, as they are equally important. After I write that list, I write a list of realistic goals I want to accomplish in the next year. Then, I pull out my old notebook from the previous year and put either a check, a dash, or a N/A next to each item, depending on if I accomplished it, failed to accomplish it, or if my interests have changed and it’s no longer relevant. For me, this is a great way to stay motivated while on this crazy journey that is a theatre director’s life. I can see my progress I’ve made each year by reflecting back on what I’ve done, even if in my day-to-day life I feel like I’m not doing enough. I can also see if there were things I failed to accomplish, and think back on why I didn’t accomplish them, and choose to either accomplish them in the following year by adjusting my strategy in how I pursue them, or dropping the goal if that’s no longer something I wish to achieve. For anyone of any career path, I’d recommending doing this for yourself. Everyone works a little differently, but we all need motivation to keep moving forward, and there’s no better motivation than checking in on how well or poorly you’re doing, and creating a plan of action to improve or stay strong on the same path.

Anthony Storwick, Taylor Calmus and I in Bluenose at Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre

This year however, I changed up the format for how I went about creating my list of accomplishments. For the first year since I’ve been in LA, I felt like this year I made significant progress in the areas I wanted to make progress in. I did things I wanted to do MULTIPLE times, and with a wide variety of collaborators. So rather than list the individual accomplishments, I categorized everything and created a list of stats. I’ll post my professional list here not simply for bragging rights, but in the hopes that you might try out the end-of-year-accomplishments-list yourself and add a little more motivation for whatever you’re pursuing:

Percentage of total yearly income that came from creative theatre jobs: 12.5%
Different theatres/companies/organizations I worked with: 12
Productions I choreographed fights for: 7
Positive reviews received from various jobs: 6
Different cities/regions worked in: 5
New plays read for O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference: 5
Workshops in movement/physical comedy taught: 4
Productions I choreographed movement for: 3
Full productions acted in: 3
Full productions directed: 2
Songs adapted into theatre scenes written: 2
New play readings with public performances directed: 2
New play readings privately developed with playwright: 2
New play readings with private performances acted in: 2
New play readings with public performances acted in: 2
New musicals (workshop/reading) assistant directed: 1
National festivals participated in: 1
Music videos directed and choreographed: 1
Full productions produced: 1
Director’s pitches made to outside theatre companies: 1

There it is. Quite pleased with how 2012 played out, though it sets the bar high for 2013. With any luck opportunities will keep coming my way and I will inch my way a little closer to sustaining myself 100% through creative theatre jobs. Keep motivated!

Posted in Catagories Are Overrated, Inspiration, Music | Tagged 2012, accomplishments, acting, actor, connecticut, directing, director, doug oliphant, drive theatre company, los angeles, mammoth lakes repertory theatre, theatre | 3 Comments

Be Sure You Put Your Feet In The Right Place

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Doug

Radical Face – Welcome Home. Finely crafted unique sound blended into ambient music, making a great anthem for any occasion. Right now it makes me think of autumn in New England, cause that’s home for me.

What a crazy past few months it’s been. Since my last update in June, I’ve worked on 5 different projects that have gone up and still have several others in the works. To recap, I’ll start with the past and work my way to the present…kinda like a certain show I know…

Summer 2012 O’Neill Theater Center All-Conference Photo

In the summer, I returned to The O’Neill Theater Center and assistant directed for the first time at the National Music Theater Conference for the wonderful Jerry Dixon on a new musical by Philip S. Goodman and Ray Leslee called A Good Man. What a terrific experience that was. Spending two weeks working on a show rather than just one (as I was used to from the 3 shows I AD’d in the National Playwright’s Conference) gave me much more time to get to know the director, writers, cast, and therefore learn that much more from the experience. Jerry was a master of eliciting actor engagement, never have I seen a room full of actors so engaged in the dramaturgy of their characters and the story they fit into as this team was. Jerry brings an openness into the room with him that makes everyone feel as though their voice matters, he listens to everyone, and when several people have differing opinions on something in the play, he points it out to the writers and asks for clarification in the writing. What an objective, smart system to follow when working on a new play. I send my best to the team and hope the play goes on to a great world premiere in the near future.

Joe Massingill and Steve Madar in Megan Breen’s Jackson Demands

After my CT summer-getaway, I returned to LA to direct a reading of a new play by Megan Breen called Jackson Demands with The Vagrancy. It a play about a punk rock star named Jackson who’s caved to the pressure from his audience to play his sellout songs and he no longer has the punk rock drive. In his journey to find his music, a separate story involving his grandmother is taking place in a beautiful contrasting poetic world, that ends up colliding with Jackson’s when she has a heart attack. Jackson leaves his band’s tour to return to his grandmother, who then gives him the advice to seek out Hank Williams Sr, who, to Jackson’s disbelief, is both “still alive” and supposedly his true grandfather. They meet in a desert in Alabama and Jackson learns about country music, bringing him and his music to a newly inspired place of storytelling and passion. The play’s contrasts between metaphor/poetry and raw, gritty realism make it an exciting new work that I hope can go on to a full production someday.

Following that, I began pre-production on 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Drive Theatre’s inaugural production. But during the heat of that, I managed to also head down to Chapman University and choreograph/make safe the fight sequences in their production of the musical Company. That show ran for two weeks in September, and as I was in the thick of 44 Plays rehearsals, I unfortunately wasn’t able to see the production. However the theatre students at Chapman are always terrific to work with (this time was no exception) and I’m sure they had a successful production.

Paul Vroom and Bruce A. Lemon in Conk and Bone at Pasadena Playhouse’s Carrie Hamilton Theatre

Just a few weeks ago, I came in to Mutineer Theatre Company‘s production of Joe Musso‘s new play Conk and Bone and choreographed the fights. The play is a high-stakes dark comedy, directed by Kappy Kilburn and is now playing at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse. The design, cast and crew on this production are all terrific and I would highly recommend seeing it while it runs for the next two weeks.

I’m currently working on a play called Bluenose. It’s a children’s play that I will act in as well as direct. We rehearse in LA but will take the show up to Mammoth Lakes, CA to Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre and perform over the course of a week. While up there, I will also be choreographing fights on their upcoming production of The Miracle Worker, leading a workshop in movement for performers, a physical comedy/slapstick workshop and will be relishing in the snow-capped mountains that I’ll be surrounded by. The play is a great 1-act about three red-nosed clown pirates who are in search of treasure and new lands to pillage and plunder, but then encounter a blue-nosed girl who they pull up from the ocean onto their ship. The three pirates dislike her different colored nose and refuse to accept her, until one of them ends up hurt and by using her non-traditional medicine, heals his wounds. Horray for stories about acceptance and good morals!

The cast for the 10-minute scene presentation of Ella Martin’s Fugue for Edgar Allan Poe

Also in November I’ll be reprising my role of Edgar Allan Poe in Ella Martin‘s new play Fugue for Edgar Allan Poe. I performed a short 10-minute scene back in September at the Electric Lodge in Venice, and the theatre’s artistic director asked Ella and her company Theatre Mab Town Hall to come back and develop the play in a full workshop. So we’ll be mounting a full staged-reading of the play at the end of the month–exciting!

Allison Volk and Steve Madar as Mitt Romney in Drive Theatre Company’s 44 Plays for 44 Presidents

And finally. 44 Plays for 44 Presidents via Drive Theatre Company. It’s been a trip, lots of lessons learned, some in directing but tons in producing. It’s up and running now though and I’m very proud of the cast and the work I and the crew did on the show, so if you’re in LA, please come see it! It runs Thursday-Saturday this week and next, with our closing performance on election night, Tuesday, November 6th. All shows are at 8pm at The Attic Theatre, 5429 W. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. Tickets are available here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/267451

My resume is updated with all the projects I’ve worked on, as is my bio and I’ve added photos from Conk and Bone and 44 Plays on the photos page, so check those out. Onward!

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Music, Photos | Tagged 44 plays for 44 presidents, a good man, acting, actor, bluenose, carrie hamilton theatre, Chapman University, children's theatre, company the musical, conk and bone, directing, director, doug oliphant, drive theatre company, edgar allan poe, electric lodge, ella martin, fight choreography, fugue for edgar allan poe, hank williams sr, jackson demands, jerry dixon, joe musso, kappy kilburn, la, los angeles, mammoth lakes repertory theatre, megan breen, mutineer theatre company, national music theater conference, national playwrights conference, o'neill, o'neill theater center, pasadena playhouse, philip s. goodman, punk rock, radical face, ray leslee, the attic theatre, the miracle worker, the vagrancy, theatre, theatre mab town hall, TYA | Leave a comment

The Aftermath

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Doug

Music today by the Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men. This is the last song from their debut album My Head is an Animal. They rock, make beautiful music and are from Iceland. Enough said.

It’s amazing how your calendar can go from being wide-open to filling up in such a short amount of time. As of three weeks ago, all I knew I had for gigs to look forward to was directing Drive Theatre’s 1st production, 44 Plays for 44 Presidents–which was very exciting, however there’s a lot more time in the year for projects. As those three weeks went by though, I secured three new directing gigs, and just like that, I’ve got projects lined up for the rest of this year!

Tim J. Lord's Down in the Face of God, produced by A Through Z Productions in Los Angeles

Before getting into the new, I’ll reflect on the old. Down in the Face of God concluded its 3-week run with A Through Z Productions at Studio/Stage. I worked very closely with director Caitlin Hart and created movement to compliment her vision of the play. It was an intense 5-week rehearsal process and I was at nearly every rehearsal, but all the hard work paid off and the show came together nicely. It’s tricky to capture movement direction through photos, but Kat Hess took some beautiful photos you can check out here. I’m proud of my work on this show, and apparently Robert Lilly from StageHappenings thinks I should be, “Doug Oliphant’s movement direction is successful in both design and execution”.

The 2012 Directors Lab West at the Pasadena Playhouse

The day after DITFOG opened, Directors Lab West began. This was my third year with the Lab, my second as Production Coordinator, and those 8 days were as inspirational and rejuvenating as always. If you’re curious about what goes on during those eight days, intern Dani Oliver and I wrote blog recaps for LA Stage Alliance that you can read here.

Evan Wall and Hana Kalinski performing in Stained Glass Windows

Reaching a little farther back, Drive Theatre Company had its first fundraiser through IndieGoGo and with that campaign combined with direct donations, we raised $4,000! That exceeded our goal of $2500 by quite a bit, so we are very thankful to all our friends and family who donated to help support our dreams. We also produced our first event in April–a staged reading of Steve Sherman‘s Stained Glass Windows. That was successful as well, Steve got some valuable feedback from the audience and actors in the process and he should be in good shape to take the production on to its world premiere at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre this fall.

The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center

Looking ahead now, in less than two weeks I’ll be leaving LA to return to the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center to assistant direct at the National Music Theater Conference! I’ll be assisting for Jerry Dixon on a new musical entitled A Good Man with book and lyrics by Philip S. Goodman and music by Ray Leslee. This will be the third year I’ve been a part of the summer conferences at the O’Neill, but my first time working on a musical. A synopsis from the website, “Just after World War II in rural Mississippi, Albert Clayton, a black sharecropper, decides to paint his tenant house white, and his world turns upside down. He struggles with a desperate wife, a frightened landlord, a sexy sister-in-law, and a furious, closed-minded town.”

Upon returning to LA, I’ll begin work on developing a new play by Megan Breen called Jackson Demands. The play will be presented as a staged reading in a series of five new plays A Through Z Productions will present at the end of July.

Plays for Presidents Festival 2012

August will bring pre-production for 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, followed by rehearsals in September, the production opening October 11th and closing November 6th. We’re currently searching for a venue, more details on that TBA later this year.

And finally, immediately following the opening of 44 Plays I’ll go into rehearsals for a play called Bluenose, a TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) show filled with clowning and physical comedy that will be performed at Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre! I’ll be directing and acting in this show, playing one of the smaller roles (a pirate named Spatt, described as, “a cabin-boy who forever aspires to a higher position but doesn’t have the brains to get there”). I’ll cast and rehearse in LA before gathering the troupe and taking a road trip up to Mammoth Lakes, CA to perform November 8-11. What a terrific opportunity to escape the city for a few days and enjoy the mountain scenery up north!

While the calendar may seem full, there may be room for a few other projects to slip in here and there, but regardless, I’m thrilled to have such an exciting second half of 2012 to look forward to!

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Music, Photos | Tagged 44 plays for 44 presidents, a good man, a through z productions, acting, actor, bluenose, caitlin hart, connecticut, ct, dani oliver, directing, director, directors lab west, down in the face of god, drive theatre company, indiegogo, jackson demands, jerry dixon, la stage alliance, la stage times, los angeles, mammoth lakes repertory theatre, megan breen, movement, movement direction, movement director, music, national music theater conference, o'neill theater center, of monsters and men, orlando shakespeare theatre, pasadena playhouse, philip s. goodman, plays for presidents, ray leslee, stagehappenings, stained glass windows, steve sherman, studio/stage, theatre | Leave a comment

The Storm

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Doug

Here it is, the news I’ve neglected to post on my website for months, finally “revealed”. Truth be told, I’ve been talking all about it for months, and word’s been out on Facebook for the last four weeks. But to make it DougOliphant.com official: I’ve started a theatre company. And for music this time, here’s a song from Explosions in the Sky’s very first EP album (‘How Strange, Innocence’) called A Song For Our Fathers.

Drive Theatre Company produces bold American plays that explore what it means to be an American. At the moment, there are only two of us–Tim Koch and I. Tim is another director I met through Directors Lab West when we both were interns in 2010. We stayed in touch, kept up with each other’s professional lives, and one day I approached Tim with the idea of starting a theatre company. On Drive Theatre’s website, I wrote a series of blogs recapping the full history of the company, so if you’re interested, read more there.

There are now several things going on all at once through Drive Theatre and outside of it. With Drive, we’ve launched our first fundraiser through the website IndieGoGo.com and we’re hoping to raise at least $2,500 by April 13th. As of today, March 25th, we’re 52% of the way there and that’s a very promising sign. Every donation counts, so if you support my work and can afford to donate, click this link to check out the fundraiser page.

We’re also doing a new play development series over the next six months where we’ll aim to work with a new playwright each month, rehearse a new play of theirs with actors for several rehearsals and then present a reading, open to the public. It’s a great way for us to stay artistically engaged while helping a playwright prepare their piece for a future full production. Steve Sherman is our first playwright, and we’ll be presenting his play Stained Glass Windows on Sunday, April 15th, 8pm at Moving Arts Hyperion Station. I’ll be directing the workshop with Drive, but the play is set to have its world premiere at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre this September. The story follows David, a college student who’s come home for the weekend to come out to his sister in the hopes of gaining her support before he tells his parents. That event will be the first official Drive Theatre public event, so if you’re interested and want to come see it, it’d be great to have you there!

Later this year, I’ll be directing a play called 44 Plays For 44 Presidents by Andy Bayiates, et al. The play is a part of a national festival where 44+ separate productions of the play will be mounted in theatres across the country. Drive Theatre will be the sole company representing Los Angeles, and that’s a huge honor for us. That will open October 13th and close November 6th–election night. Additionally, we’ll be filming one of the 44 mini-plays in the production–the Richard Nixon play–and that will be a part of an online video that will be released to the world on election night 2012. Each production gets their own president/play to contribute, so you’ll see a wide range of ages/styles/locations from around the country in that compilation video. You can read more about this production on Drive’s In Production page.

That’s all the exciting news with Drive Theatre, but in the last week another job came my way. I’ll be the movement director for AThroughZ Productions‘ Down in the face of God by NYC-based playwright Tim J. Lord. This is the play’s world premiere and will be directed by AThroughZ’s artistic director Caitlin Hart. It is truly epic, as Caitlin described it to me: A contemporary combination of The Bacchae, Lord of the Flies and Antigone. I’m very excited for this, and it will likely be the most challenging movement direction project I’ve worked on to date. We had auditions/callbacks last weekend and I worked with the actors on some ritual movement for a part of the callback. As we approach rehearsals, I’ll be choreographing/inspiring ritual movement, a character summoning thunder/lightning, a character being raped by the gods, a character transforming into a ‘mudworshipper’, finding a way to destroy a bus shelter, throw bodies into a river, and working with each actor on developing the movement vocabulary for their character’s journey in the play. Thrilling, terrifying, exciting, exhausting, but oh so wonderful–it’s projects like this that you learn the most from, either by succeeding brilliantly, or failing miserably. There’s not a lot of room for anything in-between, so with any luck I’ll help shape this production into a wildly theatrical and powerful night of theatre. Opens May 18th and runs for 3 weekends at Studio/Stage in Hollywood.

Posted in Catagories Are Overrated, Directing Gigs, Music | Tagged 44 plays for 44 presidents, andy bayiates, athroughz productions, caitlin hart, directing, director, down in the face of god, drive theatre company, election night 2012, fundraiser, indiegogo, los angeles, movement, moving arts, orlando shakespeare theatre, plays for presidents festival, richard nixon, stained glass windows, steve sherman, studio/stage, theatre, tim j. lord | Leave a comment

The Calm Before the Storm

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Doug

…3 months since I last wrote an update? Ouch. Well, for Lent, I’m giving up inactivity on my blog. So expect another post to come immediately after this one, because I can’t fit everything into this one update. And listen to a beautiful song by The Decemberists called On the Bus Mall.

David Lengel and Doug Oliphant in the Morgan-Wixson Theatre's Play it Again, Sam

Back in January, Play it Again, Sam opened at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre to sold-out audiences. In fact, that show was the 5th highest attended (percentage-wise) show that the theatre has had in its 33-year history in it’s current 200-seat space. Aside from the commercial success, it was a terrific artistic success, garnering positive reviews and leaving me happy with my performance as a 29-year-old business man, the oldest and most mature character I’ve played to date. There were several reviews I was mentioned in, this one comes from Steven Stanley’s Stage Scene LA, “Oliphant does terrific work as the work-obsessed Dick”.

Amanda Troop, Melinda Parrett, and Geoffrey Wade in the Odyssey Theatre's What The Butler Saw

Also back in January I choreographed fights for the Odyssey Theatre‘s production of What The Butler Saw, directed by Alan Patrick Kenny. This show is in fact still running, closing its 2-month run on March 18th. My choreography for this show was a mix of physical comedy and stage combat, punctuating scenes with slaps, figuring out the staging that leads into them, and roughly choreographing a big wrestling scene at the end of the play (which involved 4 characters being thrown into a heap on the floor, receiving bitten fingers, stomped-on hands, and straight jackets with a gun at the center of it all). It was a workout, to say the least, both for the cast and for my brain to try to organize all the chaos. But with everyone’s hard work we choreographed an entertainingly absurd physical comedy production that’s garnered critical acclaim. I was mentioned specifically by Steven Stanley’s Stage Scene LA review, “Doug Oliphant’s fight choreography makes for some realistically administered, yet comedic, slaps.”

Caroline Boyd and Khail Duggan in Chapman University's The Rimers of Eldritch

And one more thing from January, I was invited back to Chapman University to choreograph fights for their production of The Rimers of Eldritch. The play was directed by Holly Derr and combined her experience in Viewpoints with the play’s non-linear narrative to create a unique and visually compelling production. Once again, the actors were terrific to work with, and Holly’s vision kept me busy as she’d add more and more violence into the staging. I taught the entire cast how to safely get pushed into and out of a chair, and worked with individuals on slaps, falls, kicks, throws, and the rape scene that happens at the end of the play. It’s always great to exercise my movement muscles and I’m very grateful to the school for entrusting me with their students’ safety.

I finally got around to hunting down all the pictures from recent shows (Play it Again, Sam, The Servant of Two Masters, What The Butler Saw, The Rimers of Eldritch) and have them up on the Photos page.

Additionally, I’ve added reviews from Play it Again, Sam and What The Butler Saw to my Reviews and Awards page.

That’s where I’ll leave off for this post. The next one will have all the info on that project that’s been cooking since October 2011…

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Music, Photos | Tagged acting, actor, Chapman University, fight choreography, fights, joe orton, lanford wilson, los angeles, morgan-wixson theater, music, odyssey theatre, on the bus mall, play it again sam, the decemberists, the rimers of eldritch, theatre, what the butler saw, woody allen | Leave a comment

(They Fight)

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Doug

Goodbye Sky Harbor by jimmyeatworld

Chase Cargill and Martha Magruder working as I choreograph The Servant of Two Masters at Chapman University

I’ve been reconnecting recently with Jimmy Eat World, one of my all-time favorite bands. This is a live version of their 16-minute song from their third studio album “Clarity”–an album that many bands currently at the peak of their careers claim to have had a tremendous impact on their music and consider it one of the best rock albums of all time. It’s true emo music, before everyone started imitating it and lost the genuine, humble, heartfelt performance at its core.

So, of course, as soon as I begin a side project as I did with the action-through-music in my previous post, an onslaught of opportunities comes my way and I have to put the side project on hold. Ah well. I’ll see if I can crank those out during the holidays, but in the mean time, good news on a handful of projects:

First off, Servant of Two Masters went up last month at Chapman University and was both a great production and a great personal achievement as it was my first professional fight choreography job I’ve had since being in LA and was the first time where I felt the fight heightened the action of the play. I’m still waiting on the production photos, but check out the rehearsal photo.

Norbert Weisser and Bruce Katzman in The Odyssey Theatre's Way to Heaven

Before that opened, Way to Heaven at The Odyssey Theatre opened and has been playing since the beginning of October. It closes December 18th and has received almost all positive reviews. Assistant directing on that show was a great experience, giving me great insight into one of LA’s oldest and best known small theatre companies. Check out the production photo in this post.

A week or so ago I was offered the position of fight choreographer for The Odyssey Theatre’s upcoming production of What the Butler Saw. I’ve accepted and look forward to choreographing next week. The production is set to open January 14th.

And finally, over a month ago I was invited to audition for another play at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre (where I performed in Caught in the Net last year). I was cast as Dick in Woody Allen’s Play it Again, Sam and have been in rehearsals for the past few weeks. This is quite a different character for me and even demands a different style of acting, so it is proving both challenging and exciting for me. The show opens January 21st and runs for 4 weeks.

Set for Blink-182's music video "After Midnight" vs. Sleep Well's set for "The Greeter" music video

On a somewhat related note, I came across a photo from the newest Blink-182 music video shoot. It struck me as very similar to the set I found and filmed at for the Sleep Well music video series a year ago. I put our two set pictures side-by-side for comparison. Clearly, there’s a higher budget for lights for Blink, but I’d say we still had a pretty awesome location.

On top of all that, I’ve been out on a few other professional auditions, had a few other professional directing-related opportunities or administrative jobs that I either passed on or ended up not panning out. However, the biggest project on my plate I’ve been developing for the past two months now but I’m waiting until 2012 to announce it. It’s very exciting and will be well-worth the wait, I promise.

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Music, Photos, Random Projects | Tagged acting, actor, Blink-182, caught in the net, Chapman University, clarity, directing, director, jimmy eat world, morgan-wixson theater, music, music video, play it again sam, servant of two masters, sleep well, the greeter, the odyssey theatre, theatre, way to heaven, what the butler saw | 1 Comment

Theatrical Inspiration in Music: Episode #1

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Doug

Brand New – Good To Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die by nicandblair1031

Brand New - Deja Entendu

Today, I start a short project that I’ve had in my head for a while and always wanted to publish. Through a series of posts, I’ll link a song that I find contains action-driven emotional resonance combined with an innovative idea that could translate into how we see something played out on a stage. This first song (Good To Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die) is by the alternative rock band Brand New from their 2003 album Deja Entendu. There are several things I want to preface all this with, but for the convenience of having the Soundcloud player and my description close together on the screen, I’ll write my other notes at the end.

Click play and listen to the whole song as you read this–it may not be your taste in music, but bear with me. The song goes through “traditional” song structure (an intro, a verse, a chorus, etc.) and we can relate that structure–just like that of any other song–to a play. We introduce the characters/give exposition/set the tone (the song’s intro-0:00-0:42), bring up the issues at hand (the 1st verse-0:42-1:32), dive into the conflict (chorus-1:32-1:58), allow that conflict to develop (2nd verse, chorus-1:58-3:16), those conflicts then reach their climax (the song’s bridge-3:16-4:20), and then some kind of resolution comes about (final chorus, repeated twice–or in other songs a final verse and/or outro–4:20-5:11). Now, here’s what’s different, and particularly awesome about this song–it seems to be over by 5:11, right? Journey seems complete, music fading out, until suddenly it brings back that guitar riff, an awesomely emotional and gritty guitar riff from the bridge, and THAT’S what makes this an innovative idea for the stage. Imagine seeing a show that compelled you, you felt for the characters, understood the situation, were right there with the play for the whole ride, the climax tears your heart out and you’re left with an uncomfortable or uneasy resolution at what you thought was the end of the play. Then, you’re launched back into the heat of the climax again, as if the uneasy resolution wasn’t good enough to tie it all up, and you’re tossed around again while the characters you love have at it with each other, ending the play with a continued battle rather than a decided resolution. That’s what I imagine with this song and I’m excited to create this one day either through a play that already exists in this structure, or else creating a movement-only ending that follows the last lines of the play.

Hopefully you followed what I was describing and stayed open to the music, even if it’s not your cup of tea. A few things:

-To do the music justice, you need descent speakers with a subwoofer, or else your speakers need to be capable of emitting quality bass. Call me a bass snob cause I once upon a time played bass guitar, but I think it’s paramount in being able to allow a song to resonate inside you. That also means your volume needs to be turned up to a louder volume than what you would have it at casually listening to music at your computer. The goal here is to experience the music and imagine the circumstances I describe, and if the music is quiet, you stay objectively removed from the experience.

-I love a lot of songs and bands, of many different genres–though they tend to always fall under the ‘Rock’ category. However, most of them have songs and albums that I consider “atmospheric” rather than emotional/action-driven. For this project I’m doing, I’m looking for songs with specific sections that both do something innovative and that make us feel. They must also have a quality of immediacy to them, where action can happen over the course of seconds, not through the evolution of the entire song. The entire song is important to know the context of the specific section I’m pointing out, however it’s only that section that’s innovative. For instance, two years ago I began creating a play out of the band The Postal Service’s album Give Up, where the action would be developed through the entirety of each song, and each song would serve as a different scene in the play. That worked because the music was atmospheric, specific, and I felt that each song on the album could fit the mold of a play’s structure, taking us on a journey and giving us a sense of closure by the end. As great as that album and other atmospheric albums/songs are, they are not a part of this project. But just for fun, here’s a few other of my favorite theatrical atmospheric bands: Death Cab for Cutie, Explosions in the Sky, several movie soundtracks, Green Day’s American Idiot (that’s why they made a show out of it), Jimmy Eat World.

-This song is a great song where my point can be observed only through listening to the song itself. Many of the other songs I’ll write about will be tougher to see what I see because they come from their placement in the album. Some of these albums are expertly crafted, and crafted to be a single, cohesive package–again, like Green Day’s American Idiot. Riffs and melodies in the song will be new to you hearing it for the first time, but in the context of the album, they’re serving as callbacks to earlier in the album and become significant because of that. Just something to keep in mind.

That’s all for now. I’ve already made a list of 8 songs, so I’ll write up descriptions for them over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Posted in Inspiration, Music, Random Projects | Tagged Brand New, Deja Entendu, directing, director, emo, inspiration, music, rock, theatre | Leave a comment

Broadway Will Have to Wait

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Doug

Hi, my name is Doug

Jonsi – Go Do by josiahmfilm

From now on, I’m going to post a song I’m really into at the time of the update. This post features the song “Go Do” by Icelandic post-rock artist Jónsi on his solo album Go. Listen to this song as you read–it’ll make for the ultimate blog-reading experience.

A slew of opportunities have come my way as of late and they’ve given me both inspiration for the future, context to what I’m doing right now and put into perspective just how much (and how little) I’ve done up to this point. Here we go.

So a few updates ago I talked about applying for the SDC Observership program (where I get an opportunity to [potentially] assistant direct for a major Broadway, Off-Broadway or regional production). I applied in June and according to the SDC, I was accepted in a pool among “an extraordinary number of highly qualified applicants”–meaning competition will be steep. There are roughly 135 people currently in the pool and throughout the course of a single season, they only offer 25 opportunities.

Fear not, luck and a well-written statement of intent was on my side when I applied for my first Observership opportunity–a new revival of the hit Christian musical Godspell on Broadway. Granted, this show isn’t exactly my cup of tea, though while researching the show’s director Daniel Goldstein and his recent mounting of the show at the Paper Mill Playhouse, this production sounded as though it would re-envision the musical and bring it to audiences in a completely new light. And that excited me. Thinking that I hand not expressed enough interest in the production to land an interview, I was very surprised when I received an email a few weeks ago congratulating me on being one of five candidates for the position and asking me to schedule an interview with Daniel. Suddenly, this seeming impossibility became a very strong possibility, and with nerves firing on all cylinders, I interviewed a week ago. Days of agonizing silence passed before I learned that the position ended up going to someone else. This news, while disappointing at first turned out to have quite a positive effect on me. It became the catalyst I needed to wake up and see the many opportunities I have available at my fingertips if I put myself out there and apply–both on my own at regional theatres in Southern California and nationwide through the Observership program. There will be approximately 20 more opportunities throughout the rest of the year for the Observership, and you can bet that Broadway or not, I’ll be applying to any and all that I can make work with my schedule.

Back in July I originated the role of Andrew in a workshop production of the new musical Behind Closed Doors: A 2nd Class Cabaret by Peter Berube (book) and Aaron Beaumont (music & lyrics). A musical primarily about gay rights, the show was met with great praise by LA’s gay community and there is a strong chance the show will be presented again for a full production on a greater scale. The gay community, however, is not the show’s target audience–it’s the non-minority; the straight white American who passively supports gay rights…AKA medium-large theatre houses nationwide. It would be great to have the opportunity to reprise my role again, so fingers crossed for a second production in the near-future.

Following that show, I was recommended by someone who saw my performance in BCD to a director who was casting a staged reading of W.S. Gilbert’s Sweethearts for the Sierra Madre Playhouse‘s Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. I played the role of Harry Spreadbrow and performed for one night only last Sunday.

Lined up for the fall season, I’m doing fight choreography for Chapman University‘s production of The Servant of Two Masters. The production runs November 12th – 19th at Chapman’s Waltmar Theatre. Directed by Directors Lab West co-founder Kappy Kilburn, the production is sure to boast hysterical Commedia dell’Arte performances from the students in a classic farce that I’m thrilled to get to work on.

Today I interview for an AD position at The Odyssey Theatre for their production of Way to Heaven by Juan Mayorga and directed by OTE artistic director Ron Sossi. The play would rehearse throughout September and open early October. More info on that if the opportunity comes through.

In a week I’ll be auditioning to be a fighter for the LA Opera‘s production of Romeo Et Juliette at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. If cast, that production would rehearse in October and perform in November–and that would be a GREAT credit on my resume and would serve as my first major professional stage combat performance job. Exciting stuff.

Finally, I recently had new headshots taken and now have them posted here on the site! Check them out in the left column below the Upcoming Events section. Credit goes to Jeff Larsen for the photography and Cullen Dunn for the touch-ups. I’m very happy with this set and expect them to last me for quite a while. Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post!

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Inspiration, Music, Photos | Tagged 2nd class cabaret, acting, actor, behind closed doors, Broadway, career, Chapman University, directing, director, directors lab west, Dorathy Chandler Pavillion, fights, Godspell, inspiration, Jonsi, LA Opera, los angeles, music, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Paper Mill Playhouse, SDC, SDC Observership, Sierra Madre Playhouse, The Servant of Two Masters | Leave a comment

It Isn’t Enough if It is Just Okay

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Doug

Lysistrata (Anne Yatco) and Lampito (Cassadie Petersen) in The Naked Army

7/1/11 “It Isn’t Enough if It is Just Okay” – Broadway producer Ted Rawlins

A lot has happened and is still happening since my last update. This is a good thing. I’ll touch on everything, starting with Directors Lab West.

So this year I served as the Production Coordinator for Directors Lab West, a job I had been working through weekly meetings for months before the actual Lab happened. It was a lot of work but well worth it as I got the privilege of experiencing the Lab for another year (the standard policy is once you’ve done the lab, you’ve done it and don’t get to do it again). Like last year, I left with a bucket full of inspiration and a list of immediate goals/steps I can take to advance my career. It’s always tough to describe exactly how/why this experience is so important to people who haven’t done it before, but please know that it is. Something about 45 directors in a room together for 8 days, seeing shows and listening to guest speakers from all walks of the theatre world just lends itself to inspiration…you might imagine such an event to be chaos with so many people who are all leaders by trade, but surprisingly everyone’s quite keen to let someone else steer the ship while they just ride the wave.

While at Directors Lab West, I was asked by the folks at LA Stage Alliance to write articles recapping each day. Rather than submitting one a day, I would submit my article every other day, covering both days. If you’d like to read what I had to say or are interested in attending the Lab in the future, these give you some pretty good insight.

Before Directors Lab West happened, the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble‘s production of The Naked Army (an adaptation of Aristophanes’s Lysistrata) opened and is now coming to a close tomorrow night. It’s been a great project to work on and I was happy to have been able to add so much physical comedy and combat elements as the show’s Associate Director. Pictures have been posted in an album on my Photos page.

Speaking of the Photos page, check it out. I’ve figured out how to separate the albums into different categories (though the layout still isn’t perfect), and that sparked the thought to boost the number of photos I display for each show I do. I didn’t go overboard, but I’ve added around 6-7 photos per show, with each show now in it’s own individual album. Browse through those for a better sense of my past work!

Now the current project: Behind Closed Doors: A 2nd Class Cabaret opens a week from today! This musical has been a great project to be working on and I am lucky enough to be playing a great role, one of the most complicated roles I’ve played to date. There is a lot of work to be done in this last week, but with any luck the rest of the cast and I can pull off 8 fantastic performances from just the 7 weeks of rehearsal we had and bring this brand new musical to life! Click here for tickets.

I’ve got a few projects up in the air for the near-future. I won’t announce anything until it’s definite but if they happen it will be quite exciting. For those future projects and the one I’m currently at work on, I will strive for excellence, following the words Ted Rawlins spoke this year at Directors Lab, “It isn’t enough if it is just okay”.

Posted in Acting Gigs, Directing Gigs, Inspiration | Tagged 2nd class cabaret, acting, actor, behind closed doors, directing, director, directors lab, directors lab west, inspiration, la stage alliance, la stage times, los angeles theatre ensemble, lysistrata, powerhouse theatre, the naked army, theatre | Leave a comment