Tag Archive: theatre


Class Reminder

I will be teaching a class this coming Tuesday (May 27) at Horizon Oasis’ Temple in Capitol Hill, in Seattle.

The class is called “The Theatrical Tools of Ritual Drama

Here is das blurb (Yes, there always has to be a blurb)

In crafting ritual drama we spend painstaking hours studying god forms, mystical correspondences, arcane languages, and symbolic representations. Our tool set must not stop there for that is only half the equation. The use of text, performance, environment, and participation of those assembled all come from an art form that is as old as communication itself; theatre. In this class we will examine the tools of the theatre world and how they can be employed in conjunction with Ritual to raise and complement our magickal work.

This class starts at 7pm (which gives almost everyone time to get there after work… unless of course, you wish to traverse the 520 bridge)

The class is open to ANYONE. You do not need to be OTO, Pagan, Theatrical, …. Breathing is preferred.

No preparation is necessary. Donations to Horizon Oasis are welcome and will not be refused 😉

Those of you in Pittsburgh and Boston, should hop a plane now.

What comes around goes around.

I know of at least 10 people on my list will think:

“Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!”
“Again?!?!?!”

I have not been getting enough Vitamin T in my diet.

I intend to do Midsummer… again. (This will be the third time I direct it)

And I’m looking out there to gauge interest.

So… here’s what I’m going to do. Those who read my LJ get first crack.

I’m going to have Theatre nights at my house. I’d love once a week… but I realize everyone’s schedule.
We’re gonna read, pick scenes, direct them, block them. In general… beat the crap out of them.

In one month (Basically I announce at OLO my interest this month and then the assessment the following month)
{Assuming there is interest}

I’ll hold real live auditions for a guerrilla production of Midsummer.

So.. who’s interested? Who wants to spend some time in Bothell? What nights?

Edit: Guerrilla productions means that we get the show ready for performance and basically take over a spot in a park or a festival (faerieworlds….) and just start.

There of course is intent to get promoted ones as well.

Why yes, I’m stuck on a Muscial.

As a director you pick things apart. In a strange way it’s almost like trying to craft the perfect ceremonial ritual. Making sure that every word and phrase is intentional. Finding new life every time you look at a script.

There are times that I wish I had a far better instrument to work with. I consider myself a passable singer, adequate drummer, and overacting ham on stage. I love to be out there, I love to sing along to musicals, and give me a drum circle any night.

But I will honestly not feel like any great shakes out there.

The reason I feel this way is because I have faith in my senses. I often feel that I can spot talent a mile off. One of my dearest and closest friends in college I picked out of a ‘group of extras’ in a children’s production while doing promotional work. She pulled my focus the first time I saw her and she became one of the more memorable actresses the department ever had.

I can see it, I can feel it, and 9 times out of 8 I can pull it out of a performer.

My current obsession (which is now going on several months) is RENT. It amuses me how many people I know who don’t get this show. I’ve heard complaints that too many people are sick in the film. I’ve heard complaints that there’s no compassion for people not willing to pay rent. I just shake my head.

If only this were in open domain I’d snap it up for a production in Seattle. Probably do it solely to raise money for AIDS awareness or SPCC.

So much of my life (as previously mentioned) has mirrored aspects of that show. Even today… there are glimpses.

It is amazing to consider that I am so different from the person I was at 19…. and yet.. so much the core of who I am.

It has been a very long day. I have seen many people audition for a show today. I think I have my choices; but I am only one voice. We shall see how that plays out over time.

“I hear you, I see you, I see it… my film”

ask me about my prequel.

Okay. Sleep now. There is more in my head to put to journal soon.

Last week I made a post.

I auditioned for my first show in nearly 10 years. The show had the potential of actually paying its actors if it broke even.

Now, a note on the world of professional, semi-professional, and amateur theatre.

There are more people going for the job you want that in the computer industry.

A computer position can interview 5-10-15 candidates.

A show can audition 25 and then shoot you down on the case of: Race, Gender, Age, Weight, voice, attitude.

This past year, every interview I’ve gone to has yielded disappointment.

Today… I accepted the role that I nailed at auditions.
I am once again an actor.

Life can be funny.

Wednesday evening. (06.03.22) I did something for the first time in nearly 10 years.

I auditioned for a theatrical show.

I haven’t talked about Theatre much on this journal. Which is something I’m now noticing as Ironic. I think part of the reason I discovered I was poly was a realization early on.

One of my first major Girlfriends asked me, “Do you love me more than anything in the whole world?” and I answered, “No.”

The GF was obviously taken aback.

I looked at her and said, “My first love is Theatre. I am sorry. You’ll have to understand that about me now. I can’t explain it or understand it any more than I can explain why I’m drawn to you. But if it came down to a wrestling match where you’d make me choose… I don’t think you’d win.”

I’d dated a woman in college who I’d met through the SCA. She sat me down at one point and laid down the law for me. She said there were 3 things that I’d need to fix to make me the perfect boyfriend.
1) I needed to stop cheating on her.
Interestingly, it would be 5 years from then before I’d ever ‘cheated’ She was jealous that I had a female friend who was important to me.

2) I needed to dump that SCA crap and get away from all those freaks.

3) I needed to forget about all this silly theatre stuff and get a real job.

So obviously we broke up.

Sadly overtime her curse/wishes came true. All three. And I regret every one of them… In the case of 2… It wasn’t the SCA.. It was letting someone tell me which friends and companions were right or wrong for me.

In the case of 3… I let theatre get away from me.

I remember when it came back to me. I remember when the ghost of what I was looked me in the idea and said, “You remember who you are?” I went to see the film Chicago. I wasn’t really familiar with the show.. but the film looked good.

Stunning film. Loved it. Was depressed for 4 days, sobbed to myself that night.

The SCA satiated it a bit. Well, as long as I stuck to Shakespeare, nothing else was really taken to seriously. The OTO satiated it a bit. As long as I stuck to liturgical texts and seeeeeecrit rituals.

All the while… thinking… “You know, some day, I’m going to direct Noises Off.”

Then came Rent. When I first got introduced to the soundtrack… it didn’t move me. I didn’t know the story of La Boehem. It just didn’t click. Then I listened to it more. Then I figured out what it was about. And then I remembered my own time as the young film maker living on my own in squalor, walking away from my family, detaching from the world, looking for my voice.

I remember sneaking to my home town after failing out of college and spending the weekend with friends who were pretty much on the same social level of low money and establishment resistance. Right down to taking a close friend, an unwed pregnant mother to the local hospital after we’d all been up all night long and an argument with an ex had given her a fear and symptoms of a premature labour.

I saw Rent. And good or bad.. it’s a part of who I am. But it didn’t pop the bubble.

I’d been doing rituals in L.A. OTO but… the flash of the city just didn’t connect me to theatre. I don’t want to say they were bad… many rocked mightily. I moved up here and took part in a rite. Probably the most lines I’ve had in a long time in a script. The process was long and arduous. At times I doubted my own process…but stayed at it. The Show must Go on (An interesting story or two from my past)

This was interesting because months earlier we’d had a karaoke night. If anything would have driven me back in theatrical process that night did. But this was different. There was an audience. A big audience. There was an incompetent theatre critic there. The performance was fulfilling. But in a way that opened flood gates.

Wednesday I auditioned for a potentially professional workshop show. I read script, I sang a few things. (Yes, I willingly sang). I did puppetry. I made the folks at the table laugh. The director looked at me at one point and said, “You’re really good.” (Note to directors… Never do this during an audition 😉 I walked out feeling like I’d nailed the audition.

Now, granted.. in the past 12 months, I’ve walked out of about 10 on site interviews and phone screens thinking I’d nailed them… And I didn’t. And it got under my skin… a lot.

It honestly doesn’t matter if I got this or not. I went back to something that makes me feel like absolute me… 100%. And it felt good… and it felt right.

The show? I think it may actually interfere with every plan I have in June. It’s really not likely that I’d be able to accept the role because it actually rehearses during potential work hours. Which kinda bums me…. but at the same time… It’s not the only show holding auditions in the Seattle Metropolitan area…

It’s just the first one that I’ve gone to… And it’s not the last… And this too is why I am loving life.