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.

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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

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

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

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…

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(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.

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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

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.

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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!

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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”.

 

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I Can’t…I Have Rehearsal

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Doug

Behind Closed Doors: A 2nd Class Cabaret

5/6/11 I remember when Facebook groups were a thing you’d join because they had funny names or spoke an unvoiced truth.  Some of my favorites were “I Use The Automatic Handicapped Door Opener Even Though I’m Not Handicapped”, “The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good” and the classic, “I Can’t…I Have Rehearsal”.

When I was in college it took no effort to be busy all the time with shows.  They fell in my lap and all I had to do was say, “OK” and I’d be involved with another project.  And more importantly, I knew what projects were going to be of quality before I got started and could devote my time to only the best.  Now two years out of school, it’s a very different game.  I don’t know most of the people in my community (the city of Los Angeles), there are plenty of awful projects, money traps, scams and sketchy people that offer at first-glance the same caliber show as a legitimate one, and therefore it’s easy to not be working on what you want, or in a way that you want.  Therefore, it’s far easier to just have nothing going on for fear of getting involved with projects that would waste your time.

I spent my first year or so in this unexciting stasis, happy to be free from the confines of school but sorely missing the constant activity.  Then, suddenly things took a turn for the best.  I attended Directors Lab West last September and took from it great insight into the theatre community I was surrounded by.  A director I met there brought me on board as the movement choreographer for a new musical he was directing for the reputable Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble.  Another director I met cast me in a fantastic farce she was directing.  Then, I got offered and accepted the position as Production Coordinator for the 2011 Directors Lab West and began that shortly after the farce closed.  Two months ago, I came to terms with wanting to solely pursue theatre directing as my career.

And now, the most recent developments:  After reaching out to LATE and expressing my interest in becoming more involved with their company, I was brought on board their production of Lysistrata as the associate director.  We’ve just finished our second week of rehearsal and I’ve been working primarily on building a physical vocabulary with the cast, building muscular flexibility through Andrei Droznin’s animal walks, and working clowning/physical comedy routines.  The last few days, Matt Weedman (Ensemble corps member and the director of the play) has been leading the cast through improv exercises, dissecting the play’s scenes so a new script may be created organically.  The play is now officially titled The Naked Army: An Adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and should arrive in script-form next week.  Previews are June 9, 10, 11 at the Powerhouse Theatre and it opens for a 3-week run June 16th.

Overlapping with Naked Army rehearsals is Behind Closed Doors: A 2nd Class Cabaret –a project I’ve been a part of (on the creative team) since last year.  Originally, my involvement was Head of Media Development, where in pre-production I created media content for marketing/promotional purposes.  I took on a casting director/co-producer role and helped facilitate auditions the last two weeks, and was supposed to be stepping into an associate director position when rehearsals got underway.  While reading as the auditioning actor’s scene partner, I took to one character in particular and was asked to seriously consider auditioning for the role.  I did, and now I’m pleased to say that I will be playing the role of Andrew:  “A young, naïve soul who comes from a very conservative background. Raised by the strict code of the Coalition of the Sacred, Andrew is a model citizen with a boyish charm. His life and everything he knows will change forever as he discovers the true nature of his desires in the realms of the cabaret.”  Behind Closed Doors has its workshop run at Your Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights in July, opening July 8th and closing July 30th.  The show will then undergo revisions and will have its world premiere soon after.

And of course, in the middle of Naked Army and Behind Closed Doors is Directors Lab West, June 11th – June 18th, which I will be responsible for making sure all guests arrive and depart as smoothly and happily as possible. I’ve picked out 5 interns who should be assisting me in the process, so it should be smooth sailing!

So at least until August, I am thrilled to announce, “I Can’t…I Have Rehearsal”.

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Excelling in a Single Direction

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Doug

Having too many career ambitions can be tough to carry around

3/29/11 March has been an extremely productive month in terms of career direction and opportunities I’ve sought out.  Ever since graduating in 2009, I’ve had an overwhelming number of career aspirations that I could realistically see myself pursuing and finding some degree of success with.  For the last year and a half, I’ve tried to follow all of them, but it’s become apparent that you can’t instigate progress with any of them unless you focus your energy on excelling in a single direction.  I realized this maybe about a year ago, but it’s taken me most of that year to come to terms with what it is I really want to pursue as my career–and that’s directing for the theatre.

Coming to terms with that was one of the greatest weight-lifting experiences I’ve ever had.  No longer did I need to everyday worry about not having an acting reel, an agent, union affiliation, the breakdowns, my deep inner conflict with selling myself out for brainless commercials vs. acting for quality projects/scripts, not having a parkour demo, fight/stunt demo, stronger IMDB credits, submitting my short film to festivals, etc.  All these things have plagued me and I wasn’t taking an active role to fix them.  I could have, still could should I choose to, but there was a reason I wasn’t going about it, and that’s simply because it wasn’t where my focus really wanted to be.  That DOES NOT mean that I no longer wish to act, fight, do parkour, stunts, or direct film–those things will just become hobbies, rather than my career pursuit.  I love doing all of them, just as much as I always have, and I will continue to be open to opportunities in all of those areas, but when it comes down to work vs. play, they all fall under the play category.  Which means I do them for fun, and therefore am at liberty to turn down projects that either conflict with a directing project or I deem not fun enough to be worth my time.

That being said, I just had to turn down what I’m guessing was a very professional fight/stunt project I would likely have made a nice chunk of change off of.   It was heartbreaking to have to do, but it directly conflicted with my pre-existing commitment as production coordinator for this year’s Directors Lab West during the week of the conference.  The fight/stunt project was to take place in Chicago, so there was no way I could do both.  Had I not boiled down what I really wanted to do with my career, this would have been a far tougher decision–luckily it came pretty easily.

Some updates–I spent my St. Patty’s Day doing stunts for CSI: NY!  That was great to be a part of, made friends with the other stunt people there and even managed to get one of the guys to come out to SFI the following week!  Our community grows…

I ran the Super Spartan Race at the end of February and it was a tremendous success and major accomplishment.  It happened on SoCal’s coldest day of the year, we had a solid 45 degrees to run in, with a steady rain coming down in the beginning after a downpour the previous night that made all our uphill and downhill paths completely muddy and all the more difficult.  But I ran the 8 miles, overcame the 20 obstacles in an hour and 23 minutes, ranking me at #151 out of 1243.  Not too shabby.

My puppy Rosco is now 15 weeks old and has been doing great!  I can’t express how much joy he brings to my life and just how big of an impact I’m sure he’ll make on both my professional and personal life.  Here’s one of the most recent pictures of him. He’s an incredibly smart dog and has a great deal of respect for me, so training him has been just about as easy as puppy training can be.  He’s trained to ring a bell when he needs to go out, and knows the commands sit, stay, down, shake, make some noise (bark), lay down (to go to sleep), leave it, drop it, easy (if he’s pulling too hard on the leash or chewing fingers too hard), go around (if he walks on the opposite side of a stop sign or telephone pole and gets his leash caught, he’ll go around and undo the tangle), and a few others.  He’s learning jump (if we come across a wall of reasonable height, he’ll climb up and jump off or else just jump over), fix it (if the leash gets caught under a leg, he’s got to lift the caught leg to get it uncaught), and roll (roll over).  I also just got him a frisbee and he loves it, so over the next few months we’ll be working on frisbee catching and tricks he can do jumping off my back, over a leg, etc. while pursuing the frisbee.

The Greeter has been posted in the Video section of my site for a while now, but here’s the official update about it.  Check out all three parts to see the entire 15-minute short film.

I’ve got a number of different directing-related things in the works currently.  No major shows I’m heading, but I am about to apply for an SDC Observership where I’d potentially be selected by an SDC director working on a show in the area and serve as their assistant director, receiving a stipend from the SDC for the duration of rehearsal.  I’m looking into more ways I can get involved with some of the LORT theatres in SoCal, and am hoping my next directing project will involve someone else producing this time and me working with an original script by one of my talented playwright friends.  We shall see.

My next update will be an objective evaluation of The Greeter, citing things I did with the music videos that were effective, ineffective, and throwing out some ideas of ways I could have better told the story.  Depending on how that goes, I might repeat the process watching the videos of my past two fully-realized theatre shows:  There is Truth, Love is Real and Betty’s Summer Vacation.  Stay tuned!

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Lack of Updates = Lots of Projects

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Doug

Gavin and his mother Barbara in Caught in the Net (photo by Fabian Lewkowicz)

1/22/11 It’s been quite some time since my last update, and for good reason.  Since initially filming The Greeter back in October, I’ve been non-stop working on several different projects all at the same time.  And it’s been great!  Here are the bullet points:

  • The Greeter:  Premiere happened in December and was very well received.  We had a turnout of approximately 75 people, sold 20 DVD copies and between DVD sales and at-the-door donations, we made back the entire budget that was spent on the project!  Big success!  The short film will be posted online soon.  Submissions to festivals soon to follow.
  • Group:  The official world premiere of this musical I did choreography/movement direction for happened earlier this month.  Reviews have been very positive and audience turnout has been strong.  The show is still running at The Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica Thurs-Sat nights at 8pm until closing 1/29.  See what the LA Times has to say about it HERE.  I’m given a ‘thumbs up’ in a review by Stage Scene LA HERE.
  • Caught in the Net:  Opens tonight at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica!  In this British farce, I play a 17-year-old boy (Gavin) in love with a girl he met on the internet, now trying his hardest to meet her in real life.  Little do I know that we both have the same father, and he’s trying his hardest to prevent us from meeting and keep his two marriages secret.  In addition to all the physical comedy I do in the show, I worked on creating and tweaking physical bits with other characters and am credited as Movement Consultant.
  • Untitled Caberet Show:  Still going strong in the development phase.  The show will center around gay rights and the idea of the 2nd class citizen in America.  I’m assisting in the creative process of the show, as well as directing a documentary that will follow the show’s progress as well as looking at real-life stories of people and organizations oppressing, being oppressed, or supporting gay rights but remaining inactive in day-to-day life.  Casting for the show should happen at the start of March.  More details to come.
  • Emily:  The web-series soon to be short film has continued to undergo editing.  We finished a rough-cut of the finale today and will be working to create a rough cut of the entire 30-minute film in the next week or two.  The short film will be distributed to a variety of festivals upon completion.

Those are the current projects.  Plenty more in the idea phase right now, and lots of potential for more to fall into my lap in the upcoming weeks/months, time will tell.

Other significant updates–In just 3 days, I will officially be the owner of a 6-week old Australian Shepherd!  This will be my first dog I’ve owned on my own and will be a big shift in my life, but I’ve been looking to take on the responsibility for months now, so it’s long past due.  Rosco, once he’s old enough, will be my running/athletic endeavor buddy.  I plan to do real-world agility training with him (aka parkour) as well as teach him frisbee tricks and other endearing dog talents.  I hope to have him so well trained that he can filter into my professional life in one way or another.  Once again, time will tell.

I’ve taken up a new sport.  It’s (unofficially?) called ‘Adventure Running’ and the gist of it is running on a pre-determined path up and down a mountain with various obstacles placed along the path.  In December, I raced in one called Spartan Race, a 3.1 mile run with 15 or so obstacles including scaling a 12′ wall, soldier crawling through mud under barbed wire, and jumping over fire.  Next up is a longer and tougher race put on by the same company, this time the course is 8 miles and there are over 20 obstacles!  Looking way ahead in May is the Tough Mudder, an 8+ mile run with 20+ obstacles, this time in the spirit of camaraderie, rather than competition.

Those last two updates are a bit off-topic for my site, as I tend to stick to subjects relating to my acting and directing projects, but I feel as though they fall under the inspiration category, and therefore directly inform my work.  More posts soon to come as I’m slowly regaining control over my life again.

Posted in Acting Gigs, Catagories Are Overrated, Directing Gigs, Inspiration, Music, Random Projects, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes everything falls on your plate at the same time

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Doug

11/14/10 Time for a projects update…cause there’s a lot of them.

The biggest one (in my mind) is producing the premiere event for the Sleep Well Music Video/Short Film Project–now officially titled The Greeter.  Everything’s been confirmed except for one more band who will be performing, but once we confirm them we’ll send out the invitations and post the event on Facebook.  Since you’re reading my blogs on my website, you get the info early–horray!

While we’re still on the subject of Connecticut, I forgot to mention in my last update that I led a workshop at Central Connecticut State University for their “Performance Practicum” class.  The workshop was on Parkour and Droznin movement and how it applies to the actor’s training.  We discussed what each of the disciplines were and how they related before getting up on our feet and doing my infamous “Animal Walks” I used to do with the casts of a few shows and a few classes.  Then we moved on to the parkour, starting with the proper way to land, moving from that into shoulder rolls and eventually combining the two as if you were falling, landing, and springing forward into your roll.  The workshop ended with a step-by-step progression for those who were confident enough to work towards the Kong Vault over a wooden table.  There was quite a bit of hesitation with the Kong attempt, but the few who went were quite excited at the opportunity and gained a deeper understanding of the step-by-step approach to parkour.  Fun workshop, great honor to be asked back to lead a class at your home school, and great to see the spirit of the theatre department still as strong as it was while I was a student.

Immediately after returning from my trip to CT, I auditioned for a play that was being directed by a friend I made at Directors Lab West (I literally went from LAX straight to the theatre).  Callbacks the next day, and the following day I was cast in Caught in the Net by Ray Cooney, to be performed at the Morgan-Wixson Theater in January.  I play a seventeen-year-old boy named Gavin who’s in love with a girl he met in a chatroom and is desperately trying to meet.  The play’s a very funny British farce, I’m very excited to have a great comedic role to work with once again, and the theatre’s a great mid-sized 200-seat venue with a subscription-based audience–while there’s no pay, it’s a great opportunity and I’m very grateful for the chance.

I’m also doing movement direction/choreography for another friend I made at Director’s Lab West who’s directing a staged reading of GROUP!, a new musical that’s being produced by The Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble.  Performances are Dec. 9-11

Another new project that’s just started up is a cabaret show that I’ll be assistant directing with Peter Berube and also creating a documentary of some sort along the way.   The show centers around the idea of a 2nd class citizen, specifically looking at cases with oppressed gays, women and minorities.  As both Peter and I are of the straight, white male persona, we make excellent objective directors/observers, checking to see if the pieces that are developed actually make an impact on the straight white male.  We’re in early pre-production phase with it all currently, performances are projected for March.

The Peter Berube projects continue with Emily, the webseries that was shot about a year ago and never caught on is now being turned into a short film.  I posted the trailer in a previous update and now we’re slated to reshoot the finale in the next week or two.  I’m a co-producer on this, so my involvement can be just about anything.  I’m very excited to see this come together in the form of a short film, the story is much more direct and pointed and it’s something that I think anyone can get into–regardless of whether or not you like psycho-thrillers.

During Directors Lab I wrote for the Los Angeles Stage Alliance’s blog site about some of the workshops we attended.  Recently I was contacted by them again to work for them as a writer on projects here and there.  I agreed, and was assigned to a production of Into the Woods produced by the 10-year-0ld company Lucid by Proxy.  After conducting an interview, seeing the show and typing away at my computer the article was published HERE.  While I have this overwhelming number of projects I’m currently working on I told them it’d be a while before I have the opportunity to do another, but I do hope to do another soon.  It was nice to be paid to promote a theatre company you believe in, plus see a great show for free and meet the creative minds behind it.

There was once a time not more than two months ago when I was planning on producing and directing a new theatre show that would involve a number of young directors and young playwrights creating a show in an alternative space, geared toward attracting a new audience into the theatre.  That idea is far from dead, but is definitely on hold for the time being as the flood of other projects has put it farther down on the to-do list.  To give a little more insight on it, my idea was to create a single overarching premise for a TBD story.  Based off that premise, we’d then outline the key turning points or events along the way.  We’d assign a writer and director to each section and they would write and develop that part of the story, giving each part a different voice but all telling the same premise.  Each section must happen in a specific order as each advances us farther along the journey…basically we can’t understand C until we understand A and B.  This makes it very different from the overdone “showcase” or “vignette” theatre, where more emphasis tends to fall on the individual–we’re all collaborating together to tell a single, united idea.

Also making this project awesome is the fact that the event wouldn’t your “typical” theatre experience.  For example, we’d have things like free pizza and beer, interactive games like twister before the play and live music performed by local musicians after.  All these extra things would be somehow relevant to the theme(s) of the play and would get you interacting with the other people there you don’t know–opening you up for dialogue with those strangers after experiencing the show.  That’s the idea.  It will happen…stay tuned and I’ll let you know when!

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