Caught. Upon the January Wind.

It seem like I turned around and the month is gone. There was all this cool stuff I was gonna do! Didn't the Joker say something about people who try making plans?

Anyway...

January has been about getting Unreachable Eden ready for next week (!), networking, job hunting, and of course, auditioning.

I have been commuting from the Shore (yes, that one; thanks to Monstrously Trite Viewings) to New York City. The goals as of now have been to live in New York City by the end of the year, develop a steady stream of creative activity in my daily living, and push myself to be in position to sign with an agent and/or manager.

The immediate concern turned to income, with housing a very near second. If this sounds familiar, I was in the exact same place last spring and remember all too freshly how vastly unprepared I was for the labored carnage that is our economy. Acting is a business as much as an artistic endeavor. Consider it more like running a theater company: you're the self appointed artistic and managing director. One gives you vision, the other, the provisions. The challenge is to never compromise one for the other. Both are necessary for creative survival.

The hope has been for actor employment, but I learned from last time, that the only ideal job is the one you can get. I opened my search more widely, but this time, only New York would do. I'm teaching myself wines in response to restaurant hirings. It's been really fun actually.

The added bonus of The Hunt is the presence of this freakishly useful smart phone, with which I type to you now. The laptop has been down all month due to a faulty charger (soon to change), which has made communication itself a radical transition.

The Third War of Unemployment has officially ended as of last week. The result is a new job and I'm very close to having a place near the city. So much money and time soon to return!

Acting itself has gone well. Unreachable Eden runs on schedule. Can't tell you how happy I am to be an actor amongst actors again. Again, the show starts next week. I have to relearn how to post links through here, but we've had press releases published throughout the New York websphere. I also got a featured on Monmouth County Arts Council twitter site. These folks are directly responsible for a lot of the creative scholastic and theater fundraising back where I grew up. Much thanks to them! Rehearsals are very different from the touring work I've done. We only go for 4-6 hours (sometimes less) at a clip. And we'll have had this entire month to put the whole thing together (for those wondering, that's quite a luxury!).

As for networking, there are companies you can pay a nominal fee to meet agents and managers. For the unfamiliar, these are what the business calls Sellers. They are the sales force partner that fights for you out there, grabbing the attention of casting directors and producers-otherwise know as the Buyers.

Now to be clear, since 'getting an agent' becomes a bit of an obsession among performers, now is the right time for me, as I've already got training and professional experience working my chops on the past three tours. I'm even garnering regional theater interest now. The response at auditions has been incredibly positive. Although the most surprising discovery so far has been how many of these talent-pros think I'm a camera friendly guy.

Hey: acting is acting, to me!

-Ben

The Post-Post New Years Post

First off, Happy New Year! Whether it was loud or quiet, I hope your celebrations were good ones. I was truly blessed with the number of you I bumped into this past month. There's no better gift than getting time with those you care about most.

Some interesting facts about the blog: it's been viewed almost 1800 times and it has been read in 10 countries (whoa is right!). So thank you for helping me make a grand splash for 2010. We'll be making a lot more waves this year!

Let's look at remainder of the month at all the happenings.

• Now, many of you have been expecting stories of the tour. Those will be coming shortly. I promise. I am sorely behind and intend to at least give you one good account.
• A few of you suggested I make a list and of all the places I've went to stuff my face during my travels...consider that one an on-going project (too many eateries for me to remember!).
• My actor thoughts and plans for Resolutions.
• And what I'm 'bout to say below...

Ok, now for the REALLY REALLY good news: I'm in another show! In New York City! And it's a brand new play called Unreachable Eden. (WOO-HOO, ticker tape!)

The show opens February 9^th and runs through the 26^th of the same month. Thursday through Saturday shows are at 8pm and Sunday's will be a 3pm matinee. You can already get tickets through the theater's website here.

This is based on the true story of a woman named Eve Adams, a Polish Immigrant who lived in Greenwich Village back in the 1920s. And through some great misfortune, found herself deported into Europe...right in the middle of the ensuing chaos that was soon to come. It's been really exciting since we have primary documents (their letters, transcripts of trial cases, etc.) and other research the author has collected on Ms. Adams, as well as some well-known authors that she happened to know—like Henry Miller and Anais Nin, for instance. A lot of work and love has, and continues to be, poured into this project. The whole cast and crew has been absolutely awesome and rehearsals are moving with haste. We're also extremely grateful to have Theater for a New City supporting us. If you don't know who they are, check them out: they've spent over 40 years devoted to the creation of new artistic endeavors.

Given the number of people already asking about this show, I've posted all the show information and more in a box near the top left part of my blog page titled “UPCOMING EVENTS”. For the facebook inclined, there's also a facebook event for the show you can get to through this link, with lots of cool graphics and stuff (sorry folks, still a bit on the low-techie end here). However, I have attached some very purdy digital postcards here...

so spread the word!


-Ben

P.S.- Look below for the digital postcard(s)!

Shameless 'Unreachable Eden' Postcard(s)

The title says it all. Some eye candy for ya while you're waiting for the show. If you haven't already heard, listen on how I got these guys and plans for the coming year. Enjoy!

-Ben

P.S.-And while you're at it...wouldn't hurt to let some of your friends seem them, too (just sayin').

Gulliver's Tour

My dear friends. You have all been most patient with me: We pulled out of Boston, drove all the way over to Wisconsin...and then found ourselves lost in the mysteries, oddities, and kindness of the Midwest.

Or at least the incredible amount of work that laid ahead.

So, time flew by. We had our truck break down multiple times, I drank and ate wonderful local things with my cast, I managed to win at chess (whoo-hoo!), and even had time to take A LOT of pictures. Our adventures have stretched from the Great Lakes to West Virginia to Minnesota to Connecticut. Oh yeah, and there's a lot more to talk about...like my time at Niagara Falls and how we had to end a show early because of a teacher in a dancing chicken suit. It's so much more fun to tell stories when you know they're true...and thus I will have to find ways to catch you up with all of it. Of course, I'll break down my duties a bit more, too. I promised myself as a person and an artist to plunge more thoroughly into the world beyond the digital and have succeeded to the sharpest of my sleepy perceptions. The writing muse also needed some conjuring, but here I am! (Must've been all the turkey and ham I ate this past week that has revived my energies...thank you, to parents for a fantastic feast.)

As for today we were in Pennsylvania and then bounced back into Dover, DE, for our show tomorrow. We then head for Scranton. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend; I'll be talking to you all soon!
-Ben

More than A Feelin!

So you might be wondering what all my more mysterious, symbolic, highly dramatic talk is all about. Today, I ship up to Boston. And there's a touring company up there that I've been in conversation with for awhile, and at long last has come to fruition. It's another children's tour. I'll be serving as understudy/ house manager/ sound tech. But this time it's national: well, at least across the midwest (but that's a pretty big chunk of land right?), but it's a legit national tour for which I will be working. So excited and nervous and all of those things. This is just another step in the journey-march. It all began while auditioning for these fine folks right around the time I was accepted into Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

It is here that I will live. Boston : the town is awesome. A lot of good friends and family have gone here for college (being that it's THE college town on the planet!). So different from NYC and that's part of its charm. No two East Coast cites are alike and that's the fun of the travel my friends. Oh and gettin' ready for some chowdah time (one of my all-time favorite bowl-meals of childhood). It's a complete 180 from where I was working close to this time last year.

Really. I can't wait.

New England and I aren't strangers in the least. I used to come through New England to Boston and part of Rhode Island and Maine. My family has even skied upon the Catskills of Upstate NY (if you count that as NE...) It's practically my second home.

So here I am on Bolt Bus (which if you don't know about you better, because it's next-to-nothing to travel through the BosWash corridor.

Now here's the even BETTER news. I'm getting a smart phone. Which means I will finally have a decent portable camera. Which means you'll be seeing a lot more pictures from me. Which is nice, because I wouldn't mind having a few for me-self.

Let's get green and jolly...and make the luck o' the Irish be with me.

10 Years ago today...

I saw people in this country show more genuine care about each other than I've ever seen before--strangers doing things for strangers that "best friends" might not even do.

Ever since, I've been wondering where that selfless spirit went.

I think today should be about helping someone else. And not just the person you find laying on the side of the road or at the Food Bank. Go out of your way to do something needed, maybe it's small...for someone who's not looking to be saved.

(A thought for today. More writing soon to come.)

-Ben

My American Dream

We're on the verge of a precipice.

Both at the apex of one mountain and the foot of the other.

The end of the valley and the beginning of the climb.

I've been auditioning again. I've been advertising my presence again. Like the early morning bulb of a train that meets the horizon, the light has come back. And with it, the echoes of opportunity.

Took awhile. Had to get through an earthquake, a hurricane, a recession, poorly paying survival jobs, long travels, and a slump. Had to swallow a lot of pride. Had to learn an awful lot. Had to make a good share of mistakes.

I couldn't tell if it's because I've payed my dues or that I'm just dumb lucky. But it appears I will get another shot.

Amazing how life goes on. How the first bird gets the worm...even if it's most likely that crazy bug-eyed feathered fiend was there the night before, watching. Or that the other fowl crossing the road needed courage because there really was no reward on the other side.

Sheer persistence and love of the pursuit: even in failure. When your reward no longer depends upon success, when your self-esteem has nothing to do with a popularity contest, you will be a force. That is why I'm still here. And that's why I'm still writing. It's also the reason why I'm being overly-dramatic. Because I'm dealing with feelings so big it's only natural to exaggerate.

I saw this movie for the first time a few months ago. I think when you take into account the probability of ever being a paid, liked, and respected (you should consider yourself in good stead to be any one of these qualities) actor, writer, director, producer, stage manager, stage crew, or friend of the arts, understand that the ones who stay, hopefully, aren't doing this just because they're looking to obtain something that will assure them they've 'made it'. I'd bet everything in my bank account that they believe they already have.

So, today, no matter what happens, I feel rich. I feel successful. I feel like I've climbed Mount Everest and I'm still on this couch. Where I'm writing to you right now. THAT'S the gloriously unrefined charm of creative optimism: blind and relentless. The survivors have it. The best at least emulate it. Or they're completely miserable (angry energy also seems to go far, but remember how Mr. Montana turned out?). And the rest of us struggle like mercury in the thermometer, hoping for a cooling rationale against a red roaring hunger to climb.

My life got dark. Like so many others out there, I've had to scratch and claw my way to September 2011. And the way I've made my march has been based upon the fact that I don't give a Hoover Dam about whether I obtain an accolade, a pat on the back, or some flimsy paycheck. Or whether or not you think I'm easy to deal with, or my writing's any good, or that I'm with the in-crowd with the big names, or can rock it with a Black Swan's grace. In the end, my choice is all that matters and where I am at any given moment ought to be enough for a celebration. Because even when I take judgement seriously, even when I have my moments of weakness, I'm still going to be here. Waiting for the next thing. Because this journey is the only reason for me why it's worth being here in the first place.

And I friggin' love it.