Time Flies When You're Having Fun

It also flies when you're not. Has it really been since August that I've posted a blog entry? Either I've been too busy leading an exciting life filled with action and glamor, or I've been too overcome by ennui to compose more than a sentence or two. I'll leave it to you, Gentle Reader, to decide which is more likely. Any case, I plan to post much more frequently in the coming weeks (and how many defunct blogs have ended with similar statements)?

Hey, maybe I should try out this Twitter thing all the kids have been talking about. That's perfect for people who can't be bothered to compose more than a sentence or two, right?

Happy New Year!

Trilogy of Error

Remember that old movie in which Mickey Rooney tells Judy Garland, "My uncle has a barn - let's put on a show," leading to a spectacular musical revue with amazing scene changes, expensive costumes and expertly choreographed production numbers? Well, neither do I. I'm not that old. But if I did remember that movie, I might have thought of it this month when a filming location and a friend with equipment became available on the same weekend. With the chance to make my own short film staring me in the face, how could I refuse. In fact, to make the most of the opportunity, I decided to make three films that weekend. How hard could that be? Well, as actor, producer, casting director, craft services, prop master, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting, it turns out it could be pretty hard. Harder than just showing up and saying your lines - uh-oh, lines! Yes, even though I wrote the scripts, I had to find time to learn them, sometimes a few minutes before the camera started rolling. Instead of using brand-new original scripts, I adapted three sketches I had written for the stage a couple of years ago. I did this because I had already seen them enacted and new that they had gotten laughs, so that eliminated at least one source of anxiety. Also helping - making the whole thing possible, in fact - was my friend Arnie supplying and operating cameras, lights, and sound equipment. It was an exhausting, sometimes frustrating weekend, but it was a great educational experience too, in the sense of learning what not to do again. Of course performing was a lot of fun, but it was a different kind of thrill to hear my words - which had lain dormant on the page for quite a while - being brought to life by some rather talented actors. Now it's postproduction time, which brings a whole new set of challenges and rewards.

Returning to the Big Screen

A short film I'm in will be screening at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 as part of LA Shorts Fest '09. Returning is the story of a young man who was kidnapped and forced to work on a farm as a child and who is rescued and returned to his family 10 years later. Films screened at this event are eligible for Academy Award consideration. So should I rent the tux, or buy?

Upcoming Improv Shows

I've got two Saturday night improv shows coming up, so I'm not wasting any creativity on a clever headline. Here's the scoop (or is this two scoops?):

May 30: Domi & Friends
Improvisation Inundation member Dominique will be celebrating her birthday, but she won't be taking the night off. We'll be presenting a somewhat Domicentric version of our regular show, possibly with a higher alcohol content than usual.

June 13: A Very Merry Un-Birthday Show
Things return to normal, or as normal as we get, anyway.

Whichever show you plan to attend, reservations are strongly recommended. Contact me to book a table.

The Office
2106 North Tustin Ave.
Santa Ana, California

The entertainment starts at 7:30 and admission is $10. Be sure to let them know you're there for the show. Full meal and drink service are available before, during, and after.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

Improvisation Inundation is taking the stage again for the first time since 2008!

Saturday April 25
Show starts at 8 p.m., room open at 6 p.m.
The Office
2106 North Tustin Avenue
Santa Ana, Calif.
Admission: $10
E-mail me for reservations.

Springtime for Improv: April 25

Our five-month Christmas vacation is coming to a close. Improvisation Inundation will be back at The Office on Saturday April 25 at 8 p.m. Admission is $10 and full food and beverage service is available. If you haven't been to one of our shows before, you don't know what you're missing! If you have been to one, I promise we'll try to do better.

2106 North Tustin Ave., Santa Ana
714-834-0934

Do You Want to Play a Game?

I've written some articles on how to play some improv games: action replay, alphabet, emotional changes, late for work, limericks, lines from a hat, scene from a musical, and stand, sit, kneel. I just thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to, you know, maybe go read some of them and maybe, if you feel like it, click on a Google ad or two.

Bannon Strikes Back - Feb. 15

Major General Bannon will be making a special return appearance in the final episode of Tales of the Extraordinary: Mexico Strikes Back, recorded in front of a live audience* at The Spot (4455 Overland Ave., Culver City) on Sunday, Feb. 15.

"Tales of the Extraordinary" is a 1926 radio drama (except for the "1926," "radio," and "drama" parts). You'll be able to listen to the episode online in a few days, but you'll miss the opening musical performance by Windows to Sky as well as the backstage antics (which, there being no backstage, must perforce take place in the open).

Did I mention admission is free? Seating is limited, so arrive early. Coffee, tea, and food are available. The show starts at 7 p.m.


* The best kind!

For Your Information

It occurred to me yesterday that I've actually learned a thing or two about the business of show. Maybe even three things! It also occurred to me that these things might be of some value to others. So I decided to write some articles. My first one is about making a resume. If you find it useful or just want to something say nice about it, feel free to leave a public comment. If you hate it or have some constructive criticism, please feel free to let me know privately! When I add new articles, they'll show up here. Not here, here.

Keith for Sale: Free Shipping and Gift Wrapping Available

Ah, Bank Issues, a subject that hits close to home for me and many of my readers, or would, if I had many readers. As a bonus, this DVD includes The Magic Pie, and who doesn't like pie? (Pie sold separately.) That's more than five minutes of video! In color!! Available on Amazon.com.

Tale of an Extraordinary Evening

My friend Spenser told me she was performing in Tales of the Extraordinary tonight, so I said I would go see her. For those hypothetical readers who can't be bothered to click on a hyperlink, Tales is a podcast in the style of a 1920s radio serial, recorded in front of a live audience. When I got there, it turned out there was one actor to few or one part too many or something, and I found myself reading from a script I'd never seen before with a group of people most of whom I'd never seen before in front of another group of people I'd never seen before.Well, I'm used to that last part. It's called an audience. So now I'm a radio star! Except for the "star" part. And the "radio." Anyway, the episode with my contribution is supposed to go up this Friday at www.emptysea.net. It's "The Revenge of" something or other, episode 1.

Square To Be Hip

I'm not a background actor, OK? But a guy's gotta eat, so here I am. Fortunately, I was able to find an outlet (an electrical one, not a creative one - it's background work) and an unsecured WiFi network, so I'm able to do some online work, check my e-mail, tend to my Facebook and MySpace pages, and this. I submitted myself in several categories on this project - producer, business traveler, etc. - but I got called in today as a hipster hanging out at a Silverlake coffee shop. This startled me a little, as I thought my hipster eligibility had expired a few years ago. In any case, that particular subculture kind of passed me by - along with grunge, emo, and whatever subcultures have arisen in the past 15 or so years. Googling "silverlake hipster wear" showed me that apparently the hipster species comes in many varieties. The only common denominator I could see was tight pants. Plaid seemed fairly common too. So here I am in my tightest pants and plaidest shirt, staring at the crafts-services table, afraid that if I eat something I might pop a button.

Broadway Melody of 2008

So now I can honestly say I've acted and sung in a musical on Broadway! (Well, it's honest in the sense that it's technically true but horribly misleading, as Broadway in this context refers to a thoroughfare in Anaheim, California.)

Mars Attacks!

I did a documentary a while back called The History of “The War of the Worlds”. I did this a while back but never got a copy or found it on the TV schedule, so I thought it was "lost." I only recently discovered that it did in fact air, but as part of a series and with a slightly different title. So for anyone who may have thought I made the whole thing up, here are some highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_B5O8WhaNw

"Anne"-Ouncement!

Yes, I know it's a lame title, but it is the middle of the night after all. So here's some news about "Anne of Green Gables": If you're planning on buying tickets but are hesitating because of the price or you just haven't gotten around to it, contact me ASAP and I may be able to get you a big discount. If you already got your tickets, pretend you never read the previous sentence and enjoy the show! Also, be sure you got to the right place. This is not a theater I've performed at before, so if you go to one of those, who knows what you might end up seeing.

Anne of Green Gables
December 18, 19, and 20 at 8 p.m.
December 20 at 2 p.m.
Anaheim Heritage Forum
201 E. Broadway, Anaheim

Skin Flick

In Jordan Raabe's It's Nice Out, I play a man who comes early from a business trip and walks into a coming out party.
This was a student project in which everyone in the class was given a different scenarion but the same few lines of dialogue.

Real Exposure

I'm not a big fan of reality shows, in part because generally when one of them is on in place of a drama or sitcom, fewer actors get work. But when I received an invitation to audition for a reality show about acting, I decided to go for it. Sure, there was the risk of ending up an episode featuring embarrassing clips from the losers' auditions, a la American Idol. Even worse, it might have turned out be like that horrible WB series where contestants thought they were competing to be chosen as the best singer but they were really competing to be named the worst for the amusement of the television audience. But then I reminded myself that I'm pretty much maxed out on humiliation at this point. There's not much more they can do to me. And it could even turn out to be legitimate. In any case, there's the promise of some pay and exposure and the possibility of it leading to bigger things. So I put together a mini stand-up routine and polished up a brand-new dramatic monologue that I thought would really set me apart. (There would also be a solo improv component to the on-camera audition). I got to the audition location in plenty of time, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to run through the monologue one more time, out loud, but I didn't want to disturb the other auditioners, and I was too self-conscious to rant outside on the sidewalk, so I walked down the hall and into the restroom. Well, as long as I was in the restroom, I figured I might as well empty my bladder. So there I was engaged in passionate soliloquoy and bodily discharge when the session runner opened the door, interrupting the verbal stream if not the liquid one. It was a small room and the urinal was situated so that he had a comprehensive view from the doorway. His eyes got wide and he stammered a little, but I guess I really don't embarrass as easily as I used to because I just smiled pleasantly and said I thought I had locked the door but obviously it didn't latch properly. A few minutes later I was standing before the camera as if nothing unusual had happened. I got laughs during my stand-up and improv and a wow after my monologue. When I was done he said I was definitely in the top 5 percent he had seen.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the members of the crew of a short film I acted in asked me to be in his short film. In the previous project, I played a father who was eager for his son to come out of the closet. This time, I play someone who isn't ready to accept it at all. The moment where my character finds his home filled with half-naked young men dancing to techno music made me want to laugh during rehearsal, but I think I pulled off being suitably disturbed on camera.

Nov. 22 Final Improv Show of the Age!

That's right, Improvisation Inundation's next show will be the last one we do in the G.W. Bush years before the dawn of the Obama era, and that's an absolute guarantee (unless we have another show scheduled that no one has bothered to tell me about)!

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

[Map]

Come join us for an evening of improvisational comedy fueled by audience suggestions! Arrive early and have dinner and drinks. Food and beverage service will continue through the show. Reservations suggested. Call (714) 834-0943

Come Again?

Lordy, here's a blast from my past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6f2rl_yn1c.

You never know what's going to show up on YouTube.

Anne Opportunity to Save Some Green

Tickets for Anne of Green Gables - The Musical are on sale now. Readers of this blog have two ways to save up to $25 on the best seats in the house.

Ticket prices are:

Section A: $45 ($35 group rate, $20 early purchase)
Section B: $35 ($25 group rate, $20 early purchase)
Section C: $25 ($20 group rate, $20 early purchase)

Groups (10 or more) get 2 free tickets for every 8 purchased at the group rate.

The early purchase price is only valid until November 14 and is only available online. Visit https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/59312/prm/avonlea.