"The Office": Upcoming Episodes

Here are three chances to see me in another improv show. If you haven’t seen me in an improv show yet, here are three more chances not to see me.

Of course if you DO decide to show up, that would be super, just be sure to call ahead and make reservations. We had to turn people away from the two most recent shows. I don’t know what happened to them, but I can only hope they found the will to keep on living somehow. The cost of admission for each show is $10, and full food and beverage service is available. Come early and eat, drink, and be merry.

Saturday June 7, 8 p.m.
The Office Sports Bar & Grill
2106 North Tustin Avenue
Santa Ana 92705
714-834-0943
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=2106%20North%20Tustin%20Avenue&csz=Santa%20Ana%2C%20%2092705

Friday June 20, 7:30 p.m.
Roderick’s Restaurant
14131 Redhill Ave
Tustin 92780
714-655-2709
http://www.rodericks.biz
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=14131%20Redhill%20Ave&csz=Tustin%2C%20%2092780

Saturday July 12, 8 p.m.
The Office Sports Bar & Grill
2106 North Tustin Avenue
Santa Ana 92705
714-834-0943
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=2106%20North%20Tustin%20Avenue&csz=Santa%20Ana%2C%20%2092705

http://myspace.com/improvisationinundation

I'm starring in The Office!

That's right, The Office. No, not the hit NBC series, the restaurant and bar in Santa Ana. I'll be performing as part of Improvisation Inundation.

May, 17 2008 - 8 p.m.

The Office Sports Bar & Grill
2106 North Tustin Avenue
Santa Ana , CA 92705
Cost: $10

[Map]

We suggest arriving by 7 p.m. if you’d like dinner before the show. Drinks and food will also be served during the show. Try not to chew too loudly.

Sox and the City

I attended an AIDA acting class this week. If I had known we were going to be asked to take our shoes off, I would have been careful to wear matching socks. One thing we were supposed to work on in this class was sex appeal, and I'm not sure how sexy you can be wearing a pair of mismatched socks. Anyway, one of the exercises we did was a mock blind date. Now, if you think going on a blind date is awkward, imagine going on a blind date and being evaluated by a room full of near strangers. Then imagine that, halfway into the date, you hear the group leader ask,“Is he boring you?” Usually the voices like that are in my head and not audible to everyone. Yesterday, I appeared on The Sonny Bozeman Show as part of Improvisation Inundation, making our local public access television debut. It was my first time on live TV, but one of the hosts helped put me at ease by saying that the four people who usually watch the show are pretty nice. Anyway, all the games seemed to work and we got some very encouraging comments from the crew. Then I zipped up to Los Angeles to work in a short film starring Laura Dern and directed by Courtney Cox. I was a guest at a rooftop New Year's Eve party. In the attached blurry cell-phone photo you may be able to discern my “date,” the camera mounted on a boom behind us, the U.S. Bank Tower, and my enormous forehead.

On TV in the LBC

I'll be appearing with Improvisation Inundation on a local cable program in Long Beach. Normally, I would include information such as the name of the show, the channel on which it will air, the time... stuff like that. But all I know for sure is that we're supposed to be... somewhere... between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Friday. I think we can safely assume the show won't air before then. And my research seems to indicate that it will be on channel 65. Or 69. Unless it's on 95. So, my advice would be for everyone to move to Long Beach, subscribe to cable, hook up three TVs, and watch until we come on. You should probably begin preparations ASAP.

Salomaybe? Salodefinitely.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a special screening of Salomaybe?, an amazing film about Oscar Wilde's Salome, but really about so much more. About 12 years ago, Al Pacino made an acclaimed documentary film called Looking for Richard, in which he attempted to analyze and illuminate Shakespeare's Richard III and make it more accessible and significant to a modern audience. In this film he gives a similar treatment to a lesser-known play by a lesser-known playwright (well, less known than Shakespeare, at any rate). But it's not just a movie about a play. To get to the heart of the work, Pacino turns the spotlight on its creator and unravels the threads of pride, passion, and shame that tie the author and the work together. Along the way we get fascinating looks at the art and the business of theater and cinema. Inevitably, it also becomes a study of Pacino himself as he clashes (good-naturedly, mostly) with his collaborators, including stage director Estelle Parsons and leading lady Jessica Chastain. Early in the film, Chastain expresses concern that she looks like she's being difficult as she argues in defense of her vision of the character and the play, and the maneuvers of these three artists sometimes create interesting parallels and contrasts with the relationships at the center of Salome. But it is all justified by Chastain's performance of the play's climactic monologue, which is one of the most shattering performances I've seen recently on stage or screen. I don't know if the Academy would ever give an acting award for a performance in a documentary, but it's something to consider. I could keep writing about this movie, but since it was a private screening of a work in progress I probably shouldn't go into too much detail. After the screening, Mr. Pacino said he'd see us all in six months for the next cut. It's a complex film, and I suppose it's inevitable that the released version will be simplified somewhat, but hopefully not too much. As it stands it's a rich, multi-layered reverie on a sometimes difficult and perplexing play by a sometimes difficult and perplexing man.