Playmade

This morning started like any normal Monday through Friday. I sat up, got out of bed, and ran a comb across my head...well not exactly, but I love any excuse to make a Beatles reference (love that band). I dressed in my purple and blue costume. Went downstairs for complimentary breakfast (woo-hoo!) and watch the assortment of news on one of the big flat screens hovering in the corner talking about more of the chaos in Libya (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you best be getting to an online paper now). We conclude food, grab our things, and make our way for work. Today would seem a little unusual anyway because we've been assigned four performances. However, no workshops. Fair enough.

The school, once again, is very accommodating. We get to setup right away. Pre-designed fabrics roll out. Chords are connected and taped. Mics are strapped on. Sound checks are finished. The set lights go on. The kids come in. The room lights go off. The sounds of amazement at the orange glow of the curtains. The slight hypnosis from the guitar as we sing a few fun-filled pop songs as the remaining crowd files in. Then...

we begin.

It was hard to choose a favorite story. These kids were willing to jump in with both feet. It was even harder to keep it all straight given the amount of material we generated. There were magical flying Frisbees and a ghost-witch and a Mr. Snatcher. Even Red Riding Hood and Cinderella joined the party. And, when we did the final silly dance to end the show, we took a few extra minutes to make conversation and take questions.

And thus was the ending of our tour.

Now in my guestimation, we traveled over 10,000 miles and saw between 30,000 and 40,000 children. That also means that we have performed our show over 100 times. We have traveled to within shouting distance of Georgia and gone as far south as Miami.

Whew.

It's been quite an adventure. I mean, it's so easy to get tangled in the chaos and logistics that it's hard to keep focus on our impact. We've encouraged these kids to start creating plays with characters far more interesting than Hannah Montana or Justin Beiber or John Cena. We've opened them up to the idea that their voice, unadulterated (in more sense than one), can be, and perhaps should be, an important contributor to our understanding of ourselves. For kids who want to talk about boogie monsters, zombies, and chasing after hamburgers, that's some big stuff.

I'll see you tomorrow.

-Ben

The Road to Lucie's House

Port Saint Lucie, to be exact. And as of this very moment, we're rooming the night in the nearby town of Ft. Pierce (which had a very impressive collection of restored tank and artillery in town).Our impending finale lying only a few hours away.

The road here took us locally through the center of the state again, this time almost to the Atlantic itself. Again, a very pretty image of dotting palm trees among prairies littered with cow and horse pastures. And some orange groves. If not for our lone Floridian on the trip, I would've guessed that these three things were the only things Florida farmers concerned themselves with.

We passed through the darkness until an oasis of light appeared on the horizon. It was this beautiful looking carnival looking place with various Ferris Wheels, rides, games, and so on. It looked so freakin' awesome. So we went to park, paid the nominal fee...only to discover that they wanted a rather large chunk of money at the entrance. Being the starving (sometimes literally) artists that we are, this charge was declined and off we went again.

The hotel here is very nice and we've spent most of our evening here eating Hungry Howie's pizza and pasta while taking a glimpse at the Oscars ceremony: which was, I must admit, very entertaining. A lot of good movies came out this year. It's very satisfying to know, especially with some of the junk that gets out there, that Hollywood does indeed still take storytelling seriously while at the same time pandering to patrons' popular opinion of things.

Anyways, not much else to tell. Today was a very quiet evening. Tomorrow will be a unique ending to a very interesting journey.

-Ben

End-bruary

Yep, the month of Love and MLK are quickly coming to a close. It's been a wild ride. The tour has one more date out of down and it looks to be quite the fitting finale. I've been finding some really wonderful online sources for acting perspective. While I still tease out the extra knowledge and start forming my own conclusions, here's how today went:

We made our way to Ashton Elementary. The school had a huge wooden stage attached to the cafeteria. We had the added surprise of some FST staff coming to show their support. It was great to see them come out--especially when they start chuckling along with the rest of the adults. So, off we went into the imaginative Yonder and had ourselves a whole bunch of fun. The workshop I did had some very bright children in it. Although it drives me crazy when the teacher explains this away as being expected, but because it was a "gifted" class. Whatever. The kids needed a little prodding away from celebrities as their main characters. But once they did and we got into how to solve the main characters' problems, they did some beautiful thinking. We worked out that I was really thirsty, trying to get water (I've used this example before), but the floor was covered in face-melting hot lava. Soon, we had me getting ready to hop desks, turn invisible, use icicle-colling powers to make my way through the lava and defeat the giant rock-crusted lava monster. All in the course of five minutes. Just another example of what suggestion can do for the brain.

Play of the Day:
A royal dog was ruler of all he could see and smell. But there was Luke, a crafty theif, that always managed to steal his things. One day, he even made off with the crown! The royal dog summon his knights to chase Luke away, but it didn't help getting his prestige returned. They chase Luke all over the land. Up. And down. (And through the curtains). Until finally they caught her by lassoing her up in a giant net and sending her off to the dungeon. Then end.

-Ben

Plays, Budgets, and one very unfortunate Monster

Well hello again.

The noggin's been thinking and doing a lot of reading lately, and sadly not a whole lot of time to jot down notes. (Now writing down that I need to write down notes)... OK. Here's what stuck out.

-Yesterday:
Another early, but kindly short day on tour. It felt like I blinked and we were back. Once we returned, I got right on task. There were some errands (that had been delicately placed at the front of that post-it wall mentioned earlier) I needed to do. I had drop off some new submissions for Summer and Fall work. There were a few plays I needed to pick up for reading and crafting work on potential monologues. There were also submissions for the play festival have been coming in and I grabbed myself a packet to start reviewing (more on this later). I even had time to chat to some of the kindly administration folks. Ah, the feeling of getting things done. Golden.

But perhaps the most intriguing experience of the day was just around the hourly bend...

Word had got to me that afternoon about a company meeting that would be in session. So, I got myself all dressed up for the Box Office, that would happen directly after, and joined the theatrical throng. In summary: the theater is doing well. It's a record season for attendance with over 20,000 subscribers (yeah, that's a lot) with each show being extended at least once (these shows are averaging 6-8 week runs). So, cool. People coming to see theater is always great news. What especially caught my ears was the conversation we had about where the future of theater is going. Our theater's mission is to make good theater and make it affordable. Sounds obvious enough doesn't it? Well, getting a good product and being able to afford the price you put on it are far from easy. A lot of my peers reading this don't need a reminder on how labor and material intensive a good show can be. I don't even want to THINK about what utilities cost. Again, another interesting article in the economics of theater might need to be posted. (Putting into my notes...).

But the point that was being made here is that often there are very particular demographics that can attend--and really we mean afford--to come see live theater. Broadway's great. Broadway ticket prices are downright scary. With the current state of everyone's' wallets these days, that can become even more of a concern. How do theaters find affordable programming that can start to speak to, say, my generation, or a group of kids, or another under-represented group, while not alienating the super-important contributors that have been loyal to the cause for years...? It's quite a quandary. And many theaters haven't found the answer. And such have since closed their doors for good or really scaled down their efforts--in many case, both types trying to come out from huge debts incurred while making the improvements they thought were going to bring in more patron dollars. I'm going to have to get into this more at a later time when more research time is available. It's a really important discussion. Make sure to contact your lawmakers right now, because the government is already slated to cut back national support. And, it could get worse if the House has its way.

-Today:
The last three days we've been road-trippin' in and around the town of Arcadia. Today was another solid show. I ended up being a big, hairy, junkyard monster that was beaten into a fuzzy pulp by a very brave girl who got lost in the junk piles while trying to build herself an automobile from scratch. We had an epic fight over whether or not I would let her pass. And of course I was going to win...
Round 1: She manhandled me. I was tossed all over the place and flattened into the earth.
Round 2: I threw her around a little; thought I had her figured out. But then, she came back with a fury. Once again I was a hairy puddle being made one with the dirt by what interestingly turned into increasingly smaller objects (I think the last one was a gear for the car she was building). I guess my monster head was too hard for just one beating.

In the class I taught, we were busy writing stories about everything from World War II to castles to candy. What excited me today is we were able to get writing very quickly with a big class. Always good news. And that's about all the mental RAMs got going on the brain right now. Tomorrow, we'll get back to our regularly scheduled tour.

By the way...two performance days left for Playmakers (whoa).

-Ben

More Thoughts

-Ok, where to start... my mind has been filled with so many thoughts since the last post. I really enjoy sharing my day-to-day with you, but there are so many big questions that I'm trying to figure out for myself. And last night's post was great for me to share with you; it was just as exciting to strike a cord with all the return replies I have received by email. I really do believe that performing arts are about sharing--we're giving to you. This is my way to give back a meaningful contribution to the collective. That sound a bit borg-ish of me (yes, I have a little nerd in me), but I've always been about a higher purpose in what I do. It's not enough for me to have something to do. What will keep me going for the next fifty, sixty, seventy years (I can only hope) is a big picture vision.

Why--you may wonder--am I talking all big and sage-y these days? It's because the past year has really brought about some great discoveries for myself. Many of them hard to hear and even harder to embrace the change that comes with it. I feel like I've finally had a chance to rediscover the awakening I had mid-way through college that made my commitment to acting as rock solid as it is right now.

As I alluded to yesterday, acting is very much about our ability to be comfortable living. Some might say the two are virtually the same thing--but that's a dangerously contentious digression I will save for another time.

I've also been enlighten by several brilliant blogs out there. It helps to be reminded that having a solid plan is essential. That trusting your will and your heart, once put out into the open, (many thanks to playbillsvspayingbills for that lead!) will find it's way to your desired destination.

My best hope is that this blog has significance not only for myself, but for the potential readers that will encounter it. I open up the doors of suggestion to any thoughts, observations, or other ideas you have about this blog and this post.

-But not so fast... Play of the Day:
Once upon a time there was this surfer named Johnny that love to "catch 10" on the Big Kahunas. However, he wasn't very good, and he kept being tossed to and fro among the waves. He was so sick of being thrown off the big rollers that he was literally getting seasick!

There was also this old man. Watching. And, at last, fed up, he said "you better not crash or I'll kick yer butt!" Well, that lit a fire under our young dude. He dived in. He gave his best effort. But the big watery wall thrusted him back upon the beach. The old guy said "You're not any good! You don't know how to surf". O-oh, did that make the young dude mad. Wipe-outs, seasickness, and annoy old violent men or otherwise, he was going to overcome them all. 

Suddenly, he found himself in a surfing competition with two other hopefuls. They all waited at the sandy starting line; then they springed into the ocean. The mad their way onto the first biggie. The young dude made it through, so did another, but alas one fell into the sea!

They went out again. But the wave was too big... down it crashed and sent the young dude to short. Once again feeling like a piece of wood being rubbed over sandpaper, he expected defeat, but there was the other competitor, also thrown onto land! Therefore, it was declared a tie. The young dude was jubilant, but the competitor said "You're not that good--I could've beaten you on any other day". The old man was also not impressed by his now his rather dulled medallic prize. The young dude braced for abuse, but the old man just left him to his rather anticlimatic return to the rollers.

The end.

"R-n-R"

Ok, so I had to work Box Office during the day...but, it was a nice break from the normal grind. I got to sleep in (7AM wakeup!) and was able to slow down life for a few hours. As an actor it's so important to do that from time-to-time. It's also something that I myself struggle to do. The mind keeps tapping at the back of your consciousness...trying to remind you off all those "to-do" post-its turning the inside of your skull yellow. They pile up until you feel like you can't even move. The mind, like the body, needs breaks, too. Sometimes you need to stop now, so you have enough will to get everything else done--just enough so that you can recharge your inner energy. Other times you just need to do something that uses another side of your brain for a little while. I've seen and used both active and passive approaches very successfully.

It's also challenge to meet everyone's needs, and your own, when you see the same groups of faces (your coworkers no less) from the minute you wake up to the very minute you close your door for bed at night: the challenge of maintaining the line, as my dad describes it, between professional and person life. And boy, can it blur. It can't be helped. Vunerability is wonderful on stage, but downright uncomfortable off of it. The kinds stress that can happen on tour are enough to make even the most patient person edgy. So, it stands to reason that when you're sharing that much of your time with someone else, everyones' lives are going to rub off on each other and the ugly side of human nature can peel through the cracks. I'd imagine there's a bit of that challenge in any industry to which one gets committed. So how do we manage stress and find moments for ourselves to keep up our working decorum?

Here's what I have observed, among myself and my cast, have been doing (either mutually shared or exclusive):

-Taking walks
-Running before work
-Writing
-Reading (books, plays, newpaper, etc.)
-Exercising daily either at a gym or in the apartment
-Making time for the Bible and weekly religious gatherings
-Skyping, calling, texting, and/or facebook-ing with family and friends (sometimes many, many times during the day)
-Staying in touch with their own acting communities.
-Listening to the good ol' I-pod
-Talking to fellow castmates about stresses
-Going out for food/non-actor things
-Finding non-acting folks to spend time with, including outside organizations and classes (where time allows)

The one thing I notice, and these are only what I imagine are a handful of other strategems floating around, is that actors need to make time for themselves as well as for the outside world. Acting, like any profession, does not live exclusive to the rest of life. In fact, it feeds off of it. The trick is to use the flow of our full experience to power the flow of our imaginations. Like a boat following a current, we must respect its course, as well as the vessel in which we use to navigate it. You need to take care of yourself in all aspects, including keeping your connection to what makes you "hot" in your own life. It's essential to maintaining the fire in the characters we need to perform. Actors need outlets to release stress and continue to take in inspiration. Otherwise, the risks to the integrity of the group and of the work could be devastating. It's hard, but necessary as an actor to find ways to, 1, vent out stressors, 2, orient oneself creatively for the work required, and, 3, provide oneself with ways to stay connected to life beyond your job. In fact, it's part of an actor's job to do so.

We are required to be connected to our emotions, but have that wisdom switch that can take notes and nudges from our working partners that could be scalding to the ego. There will be bad days. There will be mistakes and misunderstandings. Good actors know how to manage these challenges and keep their contribution to the group a positive, collaborative experience. They know how to forgive themselves when needed and have the strength to forge ahead towards improvement. An actor must have faith in the work they've done in rehearsal and stay loyal to the director's vision. These alone seem like tall tasks, but the ideas I've outlined here have helped us when the road seemed a little too long and the hills we had to climb a little too steep.

Happy Presidents' Day.

-Ben

It's Friday!

TGIF. Or however you want to show your weekend love. I hope you'll have some time to kick back and take in some you time. I know I will.

Yesterday:
We made the trek all the way down to Fort Myers. And had a blast. We had this one play about an electric snake named Electric (he likes to dance to "the hustle" while zapping the water with mini-bolts of lightning) and he was angry because his skateboard was stolen. So Electric confronted his friend, an electric eel (the way it was suggested was such that we were two different species), and asked her if she took. "No", she said. But she offered to help him find the skateboard, so off they went.

They made their way to the skateboard store and started admiring all the cool stuff inside, when a pinching crab was found, holding Electric's precious board. They tried to get it from the crab, but the crab pinched back. Finally, the crab ran away, with the two electric water reptiles fast on the crab's trail. They get the crab cornered and throw all their electric power into the crab...until she finally released the skateboard. They all decided to make it up after the crab apologize and tried to ride the skateboard together. But, alas, it broke. The end.

Now what makes this play even better was the volunteer we got for the crab. These are part of the one to two plays that we completely improvise out of the kids' suggestions. Naturally, we also make sure to give the kids as many opportunities to get in on the fun onstage. The guy we got was arguably the best volunteer actor we've ever seen. When he came out as the crab, he came out a-pinchin'. He fought back against us for the skateboard, he ran and ducked and dodged us. Then, he lied down and did the most beautifully exaggerated fake electrocution I've ever seen. We all almost lost it. And that's saying something from actors who are supposed to be prepared for the unexpected. It was great. Afterwards, we were all so impressed we gave him a signed postcard congratulating him. We were assured that made his day. And I'm glad. He certainly made ours.

Today:
No electrocutions, thank goodness. It was a very quick tour day. We were in and out before 10 AM had a chance to catch its breath. This was another local school where we did a play about these two very frightened girls who were trying to hang on for dear life while this roller coaster stopped-and-started and swooshed its way to the finish. We also did a play about a girl who couldn't come out of her room until it was clean. But when she started to pull everything together, the dog (this was me) came in and pulled everything out again; making an even worse catastrophe. The girl was mad, but the dog was very ashamed and she forgave her beloved pet. She went back to cleaning when the hard-nosed mother returned. She was furious the room was not cleaned after only one hour.

Before the girl could give a reply there came an answer from this British voice: "You're a very mean mother!"

The dog was talking!

The mother couldn't believe her eyes...so instead they rolled back into her head, and she collapsed on the floor. When the girl and the dog have to awaken her twice before she recovers from the shock. The mother quietly demands the dog to be put outside. The girl and the dog beg desperately on the opposite side. The mother thinks long and hard. At last, she gives in. They all reconcile, everyone is nice to each other, and the family finally becomes tolerant of their very special dog. The end.

-Ben

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Hi everyone,

Every once in a while, I try to give you all the heads up on some great places to be an actor. This happens to be one of them. For many of you that follow my posts, you might have heard of them already. The link below is for their Non-Union company (forwarded from a fellow SPTP graduate), but their education programs (that's the second link posted below) are also some of the best. It's where I grew more in over two months as a performer than perhaps in any other point in time. Also a great place for those of you delving into the technical side of our profession.


http://www.playbill.com/jobs/find/job_detail/35335.html
http://shakespearenj.org/Education/classesandtraining.html (see all the links for the Summer Professional Training Program)

Action-Packed

I'm afraid this time it will truly be brief. The day has been a long one--nearly 17 hours has gone by since I woke up this morning. We had a quick stint at another local school, where by the end of the day I had a lovely chat with one of the staff members. However, our Education Director showed up and had a whole bunch of notes after we got back. I then had a few hours to get some of my own things done before I had to show up for a wild night at the box office. It was truly a full day. There were enough things going on today that I really haven't had the time to digest them, so for the sake of sleeping, I look forward to getting back to my more in-depth self tomorrow.

Looking forward: The good and bad news is that the tour is coming to an end in about two weeks. Preparations for the Under Six Young Playwrights Festival will commence soon. It's a party I sure hope not to miss.

-Ben

Back and Then Out Again

So fast forward two more days and here we are. I'm afraid my body is still catching up from the pace of the previous week and my eyes struggle to keep open. So I must keep it brief. We made our way back from a wonderful school right within Miami's city limits. We performed outdoors for a throng of students (they had just built a brand new outdoor stage). The kids were among the smartest I've encountered and there were plenty of ideas abounding. It would not shock me if one of their plays makes the Festival this spring.

On our way back, I finally got myself a disposable camera (how 90s am I?) And started rationing out my frames until I made it all the way back through the everglades and home to our messy estate. I must make my way over to develop film; sadly, more patience will be required until then.

Today we went back to the local routine. This time we went to a Jewish institution. We had a fun time performing the story of the (kosher) Mr. Salami, who had fell out of a plane and got stuck in the desert, trying to find his way to the frozen isle. He had to pick and pluck his way around an especially annoying prickly cactus. He had wrestle and bump his way around a tumble weed, which he tried to eat, and almost choked to death upon. He came across a companion (the name escapes me at the moment) and made our way to a supermarket where we had to battle the Ninja Fuji Apples. At last Mr. Salami was safe in his refrigerator, recovering from the day. The end.

After that, I worked with a class of first graders. We packed up our things and then made it back for a few hours before I headed off to the box office, and then returned just in time to clean the bathroom for inspection tomorrow. Which leaves me here now writing to you.

Wow...that wasn't such a short piece of writing after all.

-Ben

Miami!

Hello again everyone,

Took the past few days off, and now we're back in business farther south than we've ever gone before. On our way down, we drove through the everglades, which was vast and beautiful--we agreed it looked like the marshland version of the Serengeti. The marsh grass grew tall and green until a magic brown singed top level all the blades and made like a fur out to the horizon which was the only place on our right that had an semblance of trees. To my left where bushy green brush, also extending out into what seemed like forever. It was quite a sight. Our part of Miami is busy with cars and highways, with a mall across the way. We got back about an hour ago from a local Cuban Restaurant--even our waiter greeted us in Spanish. But the food was great, and we waddled ourselves back to the hotel, where I sit presently writing to all your bright faces elsewhere in the world.

Friday:
We had a local, energetic group of kids that really got into it right away. We played around with a girl who had lost her dog Spanky in an abandoned amusement park. She run across this old clown named Squeaky, who admits to knowing where the dog is, but runs away. Undeterred, she makes her way first into The House of Mirrors, but finds nothing. Then, she makes her way into the House of Scary Clowns and is almost immediately jumped by a pack of, you guessed it, Scary Clowns. She is scared at first. Then, she turns the tables and scares them right back. They flee. Finally, she reaches the House of Hamsters. Within, is Squeaky, caring for his nose which has just been bitten by Spanky, tied up next to him. The girl frees Spanky and, just to make sure Squeaky got the point, had Spanky bite him again.

More tomorrow.

-Ben

Rainy Thursday

Other than the rain, it was just fine (and honestly I didn't even mind that). We made our way to a school in our neck of the woods. We did three shows and a workshop. The shows were uproarious and fun. Sometimes, it's tough getting kids who will be willing to go onstage and do something. Sure, they'll be thrilled to be picked, but once all those eyes are upon them or you ask them to actually DO the crazy characters they themselves help create, they can fall inside their little shells. Hey, at least they had the guts to go up there. I wouldn't have done that in the first grade (or would I...?).

There's was also the challenge of the workshop. We start by getting everyone to tell me what they think are needed to create a play. They give great ideas and practically spell out my presentation and then some. It was really impressive, actually. Then we go into settings. Idea abound. Our characters get fleshed out. The main character is Jake, a very lonely hunter out in the Germane Forest of Dreams (I couldn't help wondering, did this kid get this from somewhere? I never heard of a suggestion that was so specific. Anyways, it was a rather beautiful description). Our main character had the very strange habit of attacking strangers that came across his path by turning into a tiger and throwing his spear at him. After some debate, I compromised on Jake wanting to find someone he could stand for company. However, it became a bit frayed after that. Part of it was a conflicting big want we were never able to agree upon and then once we had some sort of a bigging fleshed out I would ask "what's next"...to which I got variations of "to get what Jake wants". I was slightly over time for the workshop, but was just starting to make some progress. Hopefully they'll be able to work the rest out. It's all part of the teacher learning process. There will be some adjustments for next time.

-This had one of my favorite plays to date. Here's my Play of the Day:
Once upon a time, a girl named Hamburger Buns lost her dog Spanky in an abandoned amusement park. While making her way through the dark and rusty ruins, she runs across Squeaky (myself) , a creepy old clown, who refuses to help Hamburger and instead runs away. Undeterred, she first makes her way into a house of mirrors. Nothing. Then she makes here way into a evil clown house, but is jumped by a band of evil clowns. So what does she do? She turns around scares them away. Finally, she tries her luck in the House of Hampsters. And there is Squeaky, his a sore bitten nose from Spanky, Hamburger's dog. The long lost two finally reunite and, just to make sure the point is struck home, had the dog bite its clown thief on the nose one more time. The end.

-Ben

P.S.-The google group is still being a bit tricky. I'll keep you up to date, but it looks like direct email is the best way to go for now. Until next time...

The Very Pleasant Day

It's been quite a full day today. The best news? It went very smoothly. We went back out for our tour today and the evil Tom Tom (whom has often sidetracked us in weird and quirky ways--we often joked it was plotting to run us off the road) was now behaving itself. The school itself was very welcoming and the kids really got into it. I even treated myself to Pizza Hut for lunch. We only had one school to focus upon, and the workshops were cancelled today, so there was an extra hour to get ourselves ready for the rest of the day's activities. The only minor hiccup was having our last performance moved another hour later, which had us all rushing to arrive for our secondaries. I arrive at the house around 4:30. Get food, clothes, and head straight for the box office where I was situated until about an hour ago. Box Office was quiet, the customers were pleasant. Is this the quiet before another storm? That's all speculation, for now I'll just be happy to was a pleasant day. Tonight's post will be short, because I must be making my way to the horizontal plane of my pillow. Let's see what happens Thursday.

Play of the Day: Once upon a time in the jungle there was a tiger who was mad because he was very hungry. he looked up to see a bird perched in a tree. The tiger thought the bird looked tasty and tried to catch it. All over the jungle they went, but the bird was too fast. Eventually they both became so tired that one collapsed in a nearby tree and the other on the ground. While collecting their breath, a gorilla walks in, she is very sad because she has lost her family. The tiger has great pity for the gorilla. In order for the tiger to get his food, the gorilla her family, and the bird to, well, just stay alive, they all decide that maybe they can help each other. First, they try to feed the tiger: they gave him a banana. But, the banana was really gross-tasting and the tiger could barely down one bite. A man passes by on a nearby road and drops what looks to be a steak. The tiger desperately tries to claw it off the road, but it is stuck--turns out it was actually a huge piece of dirty bubble gum. In despair, they all try to figure out what to do. Suddenly another man comes along, but he is a friend of the wild, there to visit animals of the jungle. He hears of each animals plight and just so happens to have a t-bone steak, which leaves the tiger in heavenly munching bliss. He reveals to the gorilla that he has found her family. And, the bird, happily, will leave uneaten.

The end.

-Ben

Red-Eye Plays

Today was wild day: At 4:15am when I peeled myself off my bed. My cast and I get ready then zoom away in the van. Unfortunately, I misread the directions and we, without any other signs to confirm or refute the path we took, ended up miles from where we were supposed to be, but manage to make it just in time to set up.

All we knew was that we were going to perform two shows and do a workshop. What we didn't know is that this school was designed for socially maladjusted and special needs kids from Kindergarten all the way through 22 years old. It was quite the variety. The first show was made up of high-schoolers and most of them played the cool card and kept fairly quiet, but by the end were chuckling and getting into it. The second show was the special needs folks and they had one heck of a good time with us. The workshop was with four high-schoolers and we had a great time figuring out how Falthasar and Bob the Mudding Trucker tried to catch a Piranha.

-Play of the Day: I ended up being Salvador, the Spanish-Soap-Opera-dramatic jet engine mechanic in the military. Salvador worked for a general who, not liking Salvador's work, fired him and flew off with his plane. Salvador search for new work until he came across an opening as an ice cream driver. But, getting a very demanding little girl as his first customer, failed to keep a very high stack of ice cream and topping together; it avalanched upon my face. The very frustrated customer fired me. Off I was again. Then I got work as a custodian cleaning toilets. I have to clean a really nasty toilet in the audience and then, without warning, one toilet clogs and the room begins to fill with water. So who’m I gonna’ call?--Ghost Busters. Who, along with audience volunteers, do the Ghost Buster dance and successfully unclog the toilet. The Principal comes back in and a giant booger monster attacks her. I scrub it off, but decide enough's enough: I'm out. I got back to the military base and get to work on my new plane again. The end.

-Ben

Some New Changes

Since I've moved to the blog, there's still a great many of you who would prefer to get emails. Great! I've spent this weekend doing some research, and it appears that google groups offers just that type of solution for Blogger blogs. My posts have gotten popular enough, and posted in enough different places, that I'm trying to consolidate how many times I post the same post--this is also good for you because that means that much more time worrying about what I write and not how I'm sending it. Some of you may have gotten the past few messages twice. In that case: good! The new subscription list is working.

Therefore, I ask those of you who have gotten repeat messages to confirm that you gotten them twice, and for the rest of you wonderful people to either, 1, go to my blog and enter your email for a subscription or, 2, send me a reply saying "please add", or 3, simply offer no reply if you would prefer not to get email from this point forward. It's exciting times for the journey and for the journey of the journey. Look forward to having you along for the ride!

-Ben

Freedom and (I wish the first name was Bruce) Willis Elementary

-How about those for names of your destination? It was a good way to start a whole bunch of character fun. Some of the highlights were me as a baseball player who really wanted to join the Yankees (thunderous applause erupted when we took this suggestion...however one teacher did give a thumbs down), but didn't know how to swing a baseball bat. He gets three tries. First one he tries to run home (literally). Second time he ends up running so hard that he gets caught in slow motion. But the third time, he make a swing, flies around the bases, and manages to sign a contract with the Yankees while only fainting once.

-The workshops were cooking today: we had Larry the Diver, who had a the curious habit of wrestling sharks while a piece of coral looked on in disgust. He trying to get out of his Dungeon under the sea up to fresh air and dry land. He starts losing air, until the shark and coral help him get to the surface and onto a boat on shore...no one could really agree on an ending until I compromised by having Larry promise to become a land-lover and neither the coral nor the shark had to be bothered ever again.

That's the trick sometimes--you pick the wrong overly-eager child and they might not stop until they've left no more room for anyone else to contribute. I just hope to focus that nozzle of thought onto their own piece of paper before it really starts getting out of control. But you can't teach that kind of enthusiasm. If only more classes had their energy!

-As is common for me, I like to share good opportunities when I see them. There's link on the my facebook page for this blog for a prominent theater looking for non-union work. An acting friend of mine text me and soon turned into a conversation. It was great to hear from my friend and learn all about her own acting adventures.

There's a 4pm wake-up staring me in the face, therefore...adieu.

-Ben

Palatka, Part 3

And so the week ends.


Approximately eight hundred miles and four towns later, we have visited seven schools and performed for at least a thousand children. Today our shows went well. The first stage we went on immediately made me think of one of my first times in front of a crowd. The workshop I did we were able to work on main characters and "big want", or the one thing the main character tries to get through the whole story. The second we actually practice writing a play by creating group play of our own, and they elected to act out some dialogue from the story. This is far as we got: June-Bob the magic-morphing fish (could turn into any finned creature of the sea) went on a quest for a magic potion that could save his grandma's life. But soon after they set out, Octavius Miller, a bully shark, gets in June-Bob's way and starts to pick on him. We acted out four lines that might be in the play.

But the class agreed something was missing... so here's what we added: June-Bob's Grandpa, the kung-fu/karate master, had other plans. Grandpa threatened to throw some Flyin' Fins if Octavius didn't leave his grandson alone. It was great way to see how acting out play while writing one could be a useful insight into making a better play. It was also a fun discovery for me, because they really went for it.

After that we made the trek back home and here I sit, writing to you. The next few days we have off from the tour. And I will be taking a short hiatus from posting for the weekend. But never fear, you'll be reading more from me by this Sunday evening.

-Ben

Palatka, Part 2

Today was two different schools in the Palatka area and both went off quiet well. We had the pleasant surprise of a shorter day thanks to a mixup in the itnerary of our second school, so I was able to have an unexpected lazy hour or two.

I installed my more participatory approach at the first school for workshops and it was in my mind much more successful. There were some great ideas--including two Sumo-Wrestlers that duke it out on the Great Wall of China. There was a great robbery story in there as well. Another had an ice princess struggling against the jealous Dr. Mad, who is trying to marry her instead of her true groom-to-be. Can't wait to read them. However, these kids were quiet from the start, so I shall be very much intrigued about how it works with a rowdier crowd.

The first school was intriguing as they were all domed-shaped: like Luke Skywalker's desert shacks. Apparently, they're designed to be the best Hurricane shelter in the entire county. They're also one of the most environmentally efficient structures in the area as well. The second was much more like yesterday, a school worn out from loving use, but it was also much more isolated.

The week has been a full, but weary one. We are all setting our sights on the last two schools and our arrival back in Sarasota.

-Ben

Palatka, Part 1

Hello again,

Yesterday's post had a bit of the dramatic don't you think? That's what happens when you talk about a topic that big and only have 24 hours to do it in. It's all part of the challenge. Let's lighten the mood starting with last night's first encounter in (this is an editorial correction discovered earlier this morning) Palatka:

-There were lots of little things that also made yesterday a challenge, including a Tom Tom that desperately needed to be updated, but the root we did set upon was one of the prettiest. Being that I'm the driver and all other occupants were sound asleep, I didn't really have free hands to take pictures. Let me try to paint it for you instead: It was full of horse and cow pastures divided by messy forests. There were roads that skated past placid lakes and farms. As if matched up with the somewhat worn houses and sandy back-roads, there were these big trees with Spanish moss on them. That, coupled with the falling sunlight behind me, made me feel like I was in some haunted southern beauty of a countryside that only Tennessee Williams could conjure. (So much for avoiding the dramatic, but anyway...) That quiet prettiness is why I like going through the center of the state—you really get to leave the populations behind and get a taste of nature.

Eventually we come to a condensation of town and people. There are Civil War-old cemeteries and a regally high white-stoned church. There are the old-time storefronts. This is Palatka. And we managed to pull into a Quality Inn, leisurely looking out into this very wide river and it's symbiotic bridge. Needless to say, the accommodations and the scenery could not be much nicer.

-The following day we head in for our first part of the Palatka tour. This is definitely not like the shiner schools we've gone to, but there people are nice and the kids are surprisingly a little more inspired when it comes to thinking up ideas. It's clear from driving through the bigger towns nearby that no one's been hitting the lottery lately. The school is a little older, a little more well-worn if you will, but clean and well cared after. We go through our two shows, which are lively. We do the workshops, which have provided a me with plenty of learning opportunities as a teaching artist. I find these kids get so excited from the shows that they want to talk. A lot. So, I might be switching up my style to see if I can't use their conversing fervor to get some key playwrighting ideas across—I'll know soon enough. The rest of the I've been using for rest and reading. More tomorrow.

-Ben

The Journey goes Blog!

I have some rather smart colleagues of mine. And they pointed out that perhaps I should start a blog, given all this posting that's been going on. Well you know what? I did just that. And here we are. Welcome, to those of you new to The Journey, welcome again, for those who already know the deal, and thank you to those with the smart suggestion.

-Ben