THE RAPP BROTHERS DO PORTLAND

I'm going to this tonight. If you don' t know the script you MUST, especially if you work in theater. If you don't know it, let's pretend you do so we can still be friends. Adam Rapp is an awesome playwright. And his brother Anthony (from the Orginial cast of RENT & here on tour) will be reading the part of Wilson. Below is some more information. It's a fundraiser to come out and support and be amazed.

Anthony Rapp joins Portland Playhouse for a staged reading of BINGO WITH THE INDIANS by Adam Rapp (Anthony’s brother and Pulitzer finalist)

Friday, June 26^th

Doors open at 9:00pm

9:30- Nathan James
10:00- The Glyptodons http://www.myspace.com/glyptodons
11:00- reading of "Bingo with the Indians" by Adam Rapp (90 min.)

with actors:
Anthony Rapp, Paul Glazier, Jennifer Rowe, Trystin Chipps,
Lorraine Bahr and Adrianne Flagg.

Portland Playhouse: 602 NE Prescott St.

Tickets: $10 at the door or online at: www.portlandplayhouse.org

The reading is all-ages (wristbands at the door with ID) but the play does contain strong language and adult themes.

Adam Rapp bio:

Nominated for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Red Light Winter".

Recipient of the 2001 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, his play, "Red Light Winter," at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work.

Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons in March 2007. The World Premiere of Nocturne was produced by the A.R.T.'s (in Boston) New Stages Program to enormous public and critical acclaim. It received Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script as well as Best New Play by the Independent Reviewers of New England. Nocturne was co-produced Off-Broadway by New York Theatre Workshop and the A.R.T. in May of 2001.

Blackbird made its American debut at Pittsburgh's City Theatre in May, 2002. Mr. Rapp's Faster received its World Premiere in January 2002 at the Culture Project in New York City. Trueblinka was presented at The Public Theater's 1997 New Work Now! Festival and went on to the 1997 O'Neill Playwrights Conference.

The Play:

“Bingo with the Indians” explores how far people will go to get what they want; how they face desires they barely knew they had; how grief seeps to the surface and pent-up rage explodes. -New York Times

A cross between the high-brow and the low-brow it pays tribute to Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” while featuring a pedophiliac rap “Ballad of the turd burglar.”

First Rehearsal & The Pastor Who Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church

Yesterday was the first rehearsal of THE BULLET ROUND. It was a fabulous first read and I enjoyed hearing it out loud again & can't wait to get it on it's feet. I can't believe the play is finally on it's way, it's only been over a year in the making. And on that note, tickets are now available!

This morning, along with the rehearsal notes from last night my stage manger passed on this article she found in the NYTimes. It's worth a read. Here is a quote:

“God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday as he sat in the small brick Assembly of God house of worship, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from the side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.”

So...I guess what I learned in Religious Education class was incorrect. Glad for the clarification.

Guns-A Late Entry

This is from an e-mail from a friend about his thoughts about owning a gun in America. I thought it was worth sharing and brings up some really good points.
Discuss

1) Do I own a gun? The answer is yes, I own 3.
1.a) do I lock it up? ALWAYS! I remember when I turned 21 & a bunch of my friends went & bought firearms. They would not lock them or keep them safely hidden… I disagreed with this very strongly; I didn’t get my first gun until I was older simply because I wasn’t ready. I keep my guns locked up & most importantly… UNLOADED! The reasoning is simple; the owner of the gun is really the only person that needs to have access to the firearm. Locking it up & keeping it unloaded ensures that no one else uses or more importantly misuses the gun without the knowledge of the owner.

2) How do I feel about people owning hand guns? I feel like firearms need strict policies to ensure safety but bearing arms are part of everyday life as Americans. I feel very lucky to be able to own guns. Although we don’t have anything stated in the Constitution about the right to drive a car I feel very similar about both. I have been told that driving a car is not a right but a privilege… I wish it were the case for owning firearms. I say this because I feel like anyone that is against owning firearms is simply uninformed & that with the proper information the answer is simple. Guns are not the problem… stupid people are. Do we need more firearm training & safety education? My answer would be an overwhelming yes, but not to the point that gun ownership would become over restricted for law abiding citizens.

3) Do I feel safer that our policemen carry guns? YES!!! I wish it were not the case but with many criminals carrying guns themselves (almost always illegally obtained I might add) I feel that the men & women of law enforcement need to protect themselves adequately. I know many police officers whom I call dear friends & I speak with them openly about the stress & rigors of their work environment. Although sometimes petty & mundane they must always be prepared for a day when they will need to fire their weapon… believe it or not most cops that you talk to hope that day never comes. Ask someone who has been saved by police intervention in a violent situation & see if they favor the police carrying firearms? I suppose on the flip side ask someone who has lost a loved one from wrongful fire from the police & their answer will be different. However I think that statistics will show that those cases are outnumbered by good cops simply doing their jobs. Sadly we hear about the negatives much much more… as we know bad press makes the best press

4) I grew up in a good home in a very safe neighborhood. Since growing up & traveling I have been involved in some pretty scary situations where my life has been in danger. I feel like after these instances I felt like properly familiarizing myself with self defense… remember that phrase “self defense”. I will always enjoy learning more & more about survival & guns are a part of this. This does not mean that bc I own a gun that I am some right wing militia-esc whacko… simply a man who likes to exercise his freedom to protect his property & his own person. After all human nature isn’t that tough to figure out so being prepared shouldn’t be looked down upon.

Rutro?!

Portland loses a magazine & one that was a huge supporter of theater...rutro.

How you DO the Drammys

Hire Gary Norman (of London Influence 503-295-0342) to do your hair (actually you should hire him to do your hair all year long. I do.) This year he was responsible for styling Amanda Soden, Amy Newman, Heather Rose Walters, Nicole Gladwin and my hair. And then get Janet Price to do your make up. And that's it. My secret is out.
Here is how he did it:
This is us getting started at 1:30pm. That is Rebecca, we couldn't have done it without her.

This is at 3:30 after all the pins were in. They wrapped my hair around the pins and then flat ironed it. I have a lot of hair. Sorry!?
Side view
And then when they take all the pins out it looks like this. Which is cool in it's own right.
And then Gary pulls on one and it frizzes.
the final product


But the artist is never satisfied. Gary changed the look again for the after party.

I was curious how it would turn out after sleeping on it all night. And to my surprise it didn't really flatten at all. So I had the challenge of trying to style it appropriately for a real estate office. I don't have Gary's skills.
And when you take the bobby pins out when you leave for work you get this:
The question now is: How long do I leave it? How long will it last? I feel like I should wash it because I scared some of the agents at the office. They didn't recognize me & it's bold look for them.
oh well. I rocked it!
Thanks Gary, Rebecca & Janet for making me look so beautiful. And thank you Maureen Porter for the shout out.
I wonder what Gary will come up with next year...

THAT WAS AWESOME

This whole weekend has been full of theater events. On Friday night, Kristan and I with 10 other friends went to see season 5 of Fall of the House. If you aren't hip to this groove train you are seriously disturbed. If you do one good thing for yourself this weekend GO SEE THIS SHOW and I bet you'll be going back for more. And a word to the wise: make reservations.

Then on Saturday & Sunday, I rehearsed a most fabulous play entitled: COOKING WITH ELVIS by Lee Hall, you know the same guy who wrote BILLY ELLIOT. I'm working with the kids at Third Rail as part of their lab series were we get to play around. All I have to say is this one has Tim True playing a quadriplegic Elvis impersonator. Need I say more?

Last night I went to Anonymous Theatre's The Scottish Play and I am still so totally impressed. If I told you that a cast who had never rehearsed together, never rehearsed in the space, and didn't know who else was in the cast, was doing...well, you know, wouldn't you think they were insane & don't you think that the show would be an entire train wreck?! But no. NO! Not under the direction of Liz Young. It was one of the BEST productions of Mackers I have ever seen. Big BIG surprise: Scott Coopwood as the man himself. He wasn't even in town!

Both on Friday and Sunday night I was so SO deeply moved by the audiences. I found myself watching them, not because I was bored with what was going on the stage (that couldn't be further from the truth), but because I was amazed at how tuned in they were. It is so invigorating to be in an audience with people who are excited to be there & sold out the house! WHOOHOO!

I need a fundraiser like Theatre Vertigo's! (p.s. have you checked out their awesome season? Buy a subscription for $40!) Speaking of fundraising, THE BULLET ROUND website has a donation link now. I'm just saying: support the arts!

See you all at the Drammys tonight! Look out for my GIANT hair (designed by Gary Norman)