Monday, January 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
He That Shall Endure
About a week and a half ago, Tony and I decided to take an impromptu day at one of our favorite spots on the west coast, Cayucos. We packed up a cooler with snacks, put the dogs in the car and made a day of it. It ended up being a beautiful day at the beach. Sun shining, cool breeze, sand and surf at our feet. Elle jumping into the waves to get her Frisbee and bounding back to Tony, Rio peacefully lounging in the warm sand. I was soaking up the sun when my phone rang and to my surprise, my friend Matt was calling. He never calls. Well, it turned out that he was filming a short movie called "He That Shall Endure" for the Christian Film Festival and one of their lead actresses had to drop out of the film. He was calling to see if I would be interested in taking her place. I was hesitant at first because I don't know these people and the filming started the next day and I had not even had a chance to read the script. On the drive home, I talked to Tony about it to see what he thought, and after our discussion and prayer I decided to take a chance. Needless to say, even though we were filming in the desert in the middle of summer it was an amazing experience. I felt like I had known those people forever, and the 4 days went by incredibly quickly. Below are some photos, but they are mostly of the car chase scenes. I promise it is not all guns and cars, but we will just have to wait until March 2011 to see!!
A brief synopsis of the short: The world is in the realm of the Apocalypse. Being chased by agents of the Evil one, 2 men and 2 women, are running for their life avoiding the mark of the beast.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
"Merchant of Venice" review in the Fresno Bee
(http://fresnobeehive.com/2010/06/theater_review_128.html)
June 25, 2010 3:00 PM
THEATER REVIEW: 'Merchant of Venice'
Meet Antonio. He's a little distracted. This hot-shot business guy, dressed in a sharp blazer, spiffy shoes and cool shades, is in the middle of a big deal right now -- something about a pound of flesh as collateral for a loan -- but that doesn't stop him from peering at his smartphone every few seconds, as if to say, yeah, I've got other projects, and you're not important enough to focus on exclusively. In an era of incessant multitasking, Antonio's truncated attention span is a telling signifier of power in a business relationship: He doesn't even have to give his lender, the gruff Shylock, more than 80% of his consideration.
Such is one of the lively -- and very effective -- modern-day moments created in the new Woodward Shakespeare Festival's production of "Merchant of Venice." Filled with power suits, yoga mats, boutique shopping bags and enough cell phones to fill a junior-high-school teacher's locked contraband desk drawer, the concept makes for a brisk and telling interpretation of this often problematic classic.
It's a fine opening to a new season.
Out of adversity can come good things, it seems, and "Merchant" proves this in both large and small measures.
In the larger sense: WSF was pretty much forced to move from its last venue in the park, across the street from the amphitheater, because of noise issues. By shifting to a space called the 13 Acre Stage in the northern part of the park, it had to give up such amenities as permanent bathrooms and a bigger stage. But, oh, what it's gained from the move! The new space is open and airy, and on opening night we could barely hear the Concert in the Park taking place over in the amphitheater. (A few times the volume crept up, but it was never obnoxious.) There's a gorgeous view over the stage, and thanks to a semi-stormy sky, a glorious sunset swelled into view just as the first half of the production was hitting its stride.
The stage isn't as elaborate as last year's, but that's OK: the set (designed by Jarred Clowes) gets the job done.
On a smaller level, adversity also has an impact. The company had $3,000 of sound and lighting equipment stolen from the premises on Sunday night -- may the Curse of the Bard forever rain down upon the perpetrators -- which meant that there was no sound system or light cues on opening night. And you know what? It didn't matter. The acoustics in the new setting are better than the old, and I heard every line. (Of course, until the festival is able to raise enough money to replace the stolen equipment, it might behoove you to move as close to the stage as possible.) Kudos to the well-articulated cast.
Director Heather Parish's concept and Jeny Sanchez's costumes -- a sort of "high fashion meets high finance" motif -- help tease out some intriguing elements in this problematic title. This is a world of conspicuous consumption, and less materialistic considerations -- such as integrity and humanity -- can be swamped. Thus, we're presented with Antonio (played with nicely subdued swagger by Greg Taber) as a high-flying money guy. When his dear friend Bassanio (a rollicking good Yosef Mahmood) expresses an interest in wooing the wealthy Portia (Brooke Aiello, who has a strong connection with the text), he needs a lot of money to do it in style.
That's when Antonio, whose fortune is tied up in the equivalent of the speculative import-export trade, agrees to pursue a loan from Shylock (Jaguar Bennett), the Jewish moneylender, who insists upon demanding an infamous "pound of flesh" if there's a default.
"Merchant of Venice" is a highly problematic show in terms of Jewish stereotypes, of course, and, frankly, it's tough to really pull it off without seeming highly offensive. It just isn't all the racial stuff that makes it difficult, either. It's actually considered one of Shakespeare's comedies, and a large chunk of the play has more to do with the frothy shenanigans of the Portia-Bassanio story arc. I can understand why directors in earlier times made Shylock a buffoon, and it isn't just because of racism; it's more in tune with the spirit of the play. Certainly, there is anguish in Shakespeare's words, but you can also see where almost every line could be played for comedy.
That said, I found Parish's approach as effective as anything I've seen, including versions that deemphasized the comedy and played up the treatment of the Jews in 15th Century Venice. The theme for the festival's season is "No one gets off easy," and the fact that Christians and Jews both come across rather poorly gives the material a sort of an equal-opportunity sheen. The division here is religious, but it could just as well be racial, or political, or any of the myriad ways in which humans figure out how to differentiate and then discriminate.
Taber is a compelling Antonio, and he's supported by a strong male ensemble, especially Steve Torres as Gratiano and Marcos Hammer as Lorenzo. Taryn Wettstead and Bridget Manders are well-cast as Jessica and Nerissa, respectively, and assistant director Anthony Nico Ran has a giddy turn as a gold-chain-wearing, hairy-chest-baring Prince of Morocco, played with a lounge-singer-meets-"Jersey-Shore" verve.
Mahmood and Aiello have some terrific moments together as the lovers in terms of comedy and chemistry. What I didn't care for as much was Aiello's interpretation of her role. Her Portia is a little shrill and loopy -- sort of a loose cannon. I like the idea of her as spoiled and perhaps even a little bit of an airhead, but Aiello has a tendency to overdo it, such as the scenes in which her first two suitors try to guess which box to open to win her hand in marriage while she practically writhes in the background.
I also wasn't crazy about the staging of both the "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech and the climactic courtroom scene, which lacked a certain needed punch in terms of blocking and delivery.
At the same time, however, the sensibilities of the show remain consistent. And that's what has the biggest impact. In that courtroom scene, one of the supporting characters takes a shot with her camera phone -- presumably to share with the world at large. In this "Venice," woe be to the person who's out of the loop.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Woodward Shakespeare Festival
I decided that keeping myself busy has been my summer's goals. So far I have succeeded in that. I have currently been working on Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" for the Woodward Shakespeare Festival which opened last night. Inspired from the 2006 D&G ad campaign which is reminiscent of the Regency period, we took a modern twist by pulling in "High Fashion". My budget really didn't denote a lot of high fashion prices, but I think what I put together looks really nice! Opening was great! Attendance totaled at least 300 people. I have never been involved with a production that had such high attendance on opening night. But, I was in Fresno, and their admission was free, and it was set in the lovely Woodward park. That being said, I did enjoy myself working on this project. Here are some of my inspiration images, along with publicity shots for the production. (We decided to forgo the big white wigs...)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
All In One Week
For the past few weeks I was blessed with directing a show titled "All in One Week" for the Palm Sunday Service at my church. At first I was hesitant to pursue this because, lets face it, a large amount of church dramas are cheesy and are hard to take seriously. I was even more skeptical when I realized that our small church does not have much theatrical talent, so embarking on this was a huge leap of faith for me. Not to mention I only had three weeks to get this from concept to performance! Long story short, I was completely (for lack of another word) blessed with the people who were brought into my life for this production. They were totally professional (even more so than some of the "professional" theater dwellers I have worked with in the past 16 years that I have been involved in theater), and just amazing to work with. Their passion inspired me, and though I was pretty tough on them they took my suggestions and flew!
I can't forget to mention my Samwise who was a trooper and decided to help me out by being my Asst. Director. I honestly could not have done it without her support. She was SPECTACULAR! I can honestly boast she was the yin to my yang; where I faltered she was there with the perfect suggestions and ideas! Nor will I forget to mention my beautiful sister who lives down in San Diego and lent me the use of some theatrical lighting from the company she works for! It was her lights that really added the "cherry on top" of this production, and made it so special! I also could not have done this production without the coolest guy at our church, Caleb, who ran my sound. He is an actor, he is a techie, he made everything just perfect!! Without these three I would have been totally lost!
I also know it was God working the amazing way he does, because during our last week of rehearsals I was let go from the job I truly loved (and sometimes hated), and I was pretty devastated, though I didn't admit it. I know that if I didn't have these wonderful people to look forward to seeing each day during that week, I would have gone into a very deep depression. I am even welling-up thinking about it now because I don't think they realize that their commitment and their laughter and sweet friendship helped me transition through something that could have been very bleak. So I know that I was meant to direct this show, and be completely blessed with each one of these individuals. If they don't know it, I surely do, that they are a gift from God to me. They have changed me forever!!
So without further ado, a few pictures from our final tech. rehearsal. (The rest I will post on my Facebook page).
Chris as "Jairus" & Marilla as "Shauri"
Jonathan as "Peter"
Josh as "Caiaphas"
"I know, a DONKEY!"
"Where is my Jesus!!!"
