the poet and the adman
In The SF Chronicle today, there was an article about this new
cable TV show called “Mad Men.” I don’t have a TV, so this was
the first I had heard of it. The reviewer was extrenely keen
on the show, whose protagonist is a Madison Avenue cat in 1960
who is oblivious to the fact that the world is changing around
him, but senses that something is not right between himself
and his world. The reviewer relates this one incident in which
our hero is hiding out in a bar at lunch time, and has an
exchange with a guy sitting there reading a book of Frank
O’Hara poems. The main character suspects he’s been snubbed
when the guy with the book tells him he doesn’t think he would
like it– admen don’t go in for poetry, right?
It’s funny, because in the class I am always insisting that
students find visceral ways to describe what they (as their
characters) are pursuing in their scenes. I explain that the
viscera are the intestines, the guts. And that I want people
to speak as plainly as they can about what they are pirsuing.
We try to avoid what I call “Oprah talk.” But getting down to
a visceral way of talking about their scene work can be
elusive for people. This is inevitable, because getting
visceral means getting real and getting crucial (the CRUX),
and it has to be earned. But recently I found myself telling
the students that if they wanted to get visceral, look at the
language of advertising, of taglines. “Got milk?” “Think
different” “You’re not really clean until you’re ZEST-fully
clean.” Or my very own “Because a killer instinct is a
terrible thing to waste.” The folks who come up with this kind
of copy meant to send millions of people running to the store
to buy whatever the product in question is know that they have
no choice but to be direct, simple, visceral. Failure is the
alternative. I think that in advertising there is a powerful
understanding of the efficacy of language, especially plain
language, but because we are all immersed in it, it can be
hard to perceive. But all of this is to say that the adman and
the poet, who also understands (we hope!) the visceral
potential of language, are really just two sides of the same
coin.
–Andrew Wood Acting Studio
==
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
my take on sarah marshall
I haven’t been to a movie in eons, but the promotional stuff
for Sarah Marshall piqued my interest, I thought it might be a
good bet. And it was. It’s not the greatest movie you’ll ever
see, it has its share of cliches and implausibilities, but I
did want to mention that I thought Mila Kunis was fantastic. I
hadn’t seen much of her before, and I thought she showed a
high level of skill and honesty in bringing some rawness to a
raunchy comedy. Check it out.
A
—Andrew Wood Acting Studio
Jeremy Shortlived
Longtime MoIer Jeremy Mascia is acting in this thing called
ShortLived, sort of a playwright’s reality show. Info below.
I’m in a play called Shortlived; after a successful debut last
weekend I would like to let everyone know about it.
(press release)
PianoFight Productions presents a night of fully staged, short
plays, by a myriad of writers, where each piece is scored by
the audience. The two lowest scoring pieces are then replaced
two weeks later by two brand new fully staged shorts. The
writer who’s script(s) receive the longest run / highest raw
score will be offered a four week run of an original full
length play, to be produced by PianoFight, in Studio 250 at
Off-Market.
The opening piece to every performance is an actual audition
of someone we’ve never met, to become a member of PianoFight’s
company.
– Line-ups and results will be posted on pianofight.com
– Anyone who brings a script to be considered for “ShortLived”
will only pay half price to see the show
– Someone from the audience could end up being a writer for
“ShortLived”
– The audience will choose the writer of a full length
PianoFight production
– All submission of all formats/styles (under 30 pages) will
be considered
– So far, all writers have responded to submission calls on
CraigsList
– Go fuck yourself.
– Just kidding. Wanted to make sure you were still paying
attention
Contributing Playwrights:
Megan Cohen, Richard Ciccarone, Geneva Lorraine Fiore, Luz
Gaxiola, Brett Hursey, Ashley Perryman, Rob Ready, Chelsea
Sutton, Dan Williams and more to come …
Starring:
Bennie Bell, Diana Brown, Christy Crowley, Victor DeLucie,
Heather Goddard, Stefanie Goldstein, Nina Harada, Jennifer
Jaleh, Kat Kniesel, Jeremy Mascia, Eric Reid, Rob Ready,
Farrah Saunders, John Steen, Dan Williams and more to come …
Directors:
Gabi Patacsil, Rob Ready, Eric Reid
Audience Reviews:
“I thought that the event was a highly creative one. The plays
were mostly excellent (two, I thought, were mediocre), but the
audience got to vote on the plays! Nice involvement. I thought
they were thoughtfully staged and acted as well.” 4/4 stars
“Hilarious! Super acting to boot! Can’t wait to see it again
in a few weeks to see how it has morphed.” 3/4 stars
Hope you all can make it out (i don’t want to be voted off
just yet), or if you have a short, contribute.
More info: http://pianofight.com
Tickets at brownpapertickets.com
OK, have a good one.
jeremy
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
Hector
Desire
in
Streetcar
Named
Hi all,
I heard from Hector Osorio that he is in Marin Theater
Company’s production. He says:
“Hi everyone, here’s the info on my next show. Opening night
is tonight and it runs almost through the end of April. I play
Pablo, one of Stanley Kowalski’s poker buddies.
Marin Theatre Company Presents:
A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Jasson Minadakis
Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece is about a torrid romantic
triangle set in 1940’s New Orleans. The immortal, fragile
Southern Belle Blanche DuBois arrives at her sister Stella’s
French Quarter row house. Here she encounters the sensual,
sweat-stained Stanley Kowalski. Passions erupt and lives hang
in the balance when genteel Southern culture collides with
frustrated, roiling urban desire.
Performances: Tuesday through Sundays
April 1 – April 20, 2008
Boyer Theatre
397 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Tickets: Previews: $29
Performances: $29 – $47
Click here to go to the box office. “
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
weimar new york
Hey all,
One of the most exciting things to hit this town in a while is
Weimar New York, a group of performance artists doing two
evenings at the SFMOMA on February 13 and 14. The event is
being MCed by Justin Bond (of Kiki and Herb fame) and Ana
Matronic (of the Scissors Sisters.) The event promises to be
truly memorable. There are also a bunch of parties around the
event. More info sfmoma.org/weimar .
xoxox
A
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
Wendy Tremont King gets cast
in Sean Penn film
Hi everyone,
I am very please to announce the 4-time MoI veteran Wendy
Tremont King has been cast in a speaking role in the Harvey
Milk film, being directed by Gus Van Sant, and will have
dialogue in a scene with Sean Penn. She will play Carol Ruth
Silver, a San Francisco Supervisor at the time Harvey Milk was
also a Supervisor, a lesbian and civil rights attorney.
Local girl makes good! Right on Wendy!
Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
TJ on TV
Hi all,
This news from TJ Metz, from the first three cycles of Andrew
Wood. Congrats TJ:
“I am on the tele…cable actually…tomorrow night, Friday
12.14.07 at 8 PM.
The show is a reality show. It’s like dinner and a movie. The
movie is Return to me with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
During the commercials, 3 other actors and myself, pretend
like we’re on a date. It was filmed in beautiful Half Moon Bay
– one very chilly afternoon – last month. I’m guy number 3. I
was hired to be goofy and sarcastic…I hope I delivered. You
tell me. =)”
Take care!
TJ METZ
415.608.8825
[email protected]
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
catch her on the way up
Hi all,
Forgive the long hiatus. I can only invoke Abraham Lincoln’s
observation that it is better to keep silent and be thought a
fool than to open one’s mouth and leave no doubt.
A friend of mine, Elif Batuman, has a star that is rising
quickly: she has had at least one piece published in the New
Yorker, and was recently awarded something like twenty-five
grand for being a promising woman writer. Anyway, she will be
reading at three bay area locations this week, as she reports,
with scintillating wit, in her blog:
http://www.elifbatuman.net
It won’t suck, believe me.
Anyway, cheers, here comes Xmas, hold on tight,
A
———
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
we got mugwumped (and it felt
GOOD!)
It’s so bracing to see a truly original theatrical event. I
went with a bunch of friends to see mugwumpin’s show in the SF
Fringe tonight. These guys have really developed a voice that
is unlike anything I have ever seen, and I am a bit of a jaded
ex-New Yorker when it comes to theater. Fresh, genuinely
funny, enigmatic without being self-important, leaves you
wanting more. What more can you ask for? Props to mugwumpin!
I’ll throw down for you guys anytime! There’s one more show
tomorrow (Sunday, so catch it if you can).
I spoke to Denmo Ibrahim afterwards, who directed the piece.
She was very gracious and approachable, and I am really
impressed with the physical skill of her actors. She studied a
French form of mime called Le Coq (deon’t think Marcel
Marceau) that is a FANTASTIC form of movement training for
actors. I hope she will be gracing the halls of the Andrew
Wood Acting Studio ‘ere long, helping to inspire and instruct.
Cheers,
Andrew
—–
Andrew Wood Acting Studio
Earle Gister does Chekhov in
New York
Hi all,
I was doing some research recently on one of my Yale acting
teachers, Earle Gister (class veterans know who I am talking
about, I talk about him a lot). Well, anyway, I came across
this article about a showcase production of Chekhov’s The Sea
Gull that Earle is staging:
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86319.html
I found it interesting because the way the production came
about is exactly the way I envision starting to produce work
with my students in the future.
I know two of the actors mentioned: one Kimberly Ross, was in
my thesis production at Yale, and the other, Paul Niebank, was
in my class, although we never worked together on a
production.
The list in the article of actors Earle has taught is
impressive, to say the least.
Cheers,
Andrew
——-
Andrew Wood Acting Studio