Comedy tonight! Tonight at 8:00 The ACTion Collective has its third event, an evening of classic comic duos. Some of our favorite actor friends, old and new, will gather and hang out and then perform comic scenes picked at random. They'll have a choice after giving it a go: Choose a new scene, or give the same one another shot. But in either case, they'll be working with a new person. It's an exciting twist on the rhythms of comedy and the exchanges between actors working on their toes.
Tonight I'll be participating in a reading of a proposed comic web series into which I've been offering the tiniest amount of creative input. I can't get into it much here, on account of 'cause it ain't mine, but it should be an amusing evening. The proposal is a funny concept, written with humor as well, and most important: It has heart.
Today I'll be teaching a two-hour workshop in commedia dell'arte movement at the City College of New York. It's a "Body Movement" class, taught by Suzi Takahashi, with whom I've worked several times before. The class will have to be very cursory, but I plan to keep them moving almost the entire time and to continue to quiz them on the archetypes to which I introduce them. It's great fun; these classes are always a fascinating mix of actors, dancers and folks who have background in neither.
Tonight the second event from the ACTion Collective will be held, at 440 Studios. Much is the same -- food and drink will be served and fun will be had by many an actor -- but this time, the challeneges are a bit different. We've extracted short scenes from screenplays and teleplays, and removed identifying details to that our actors can re-interpret them as they will. I'm really looking forward to this one; this time, Andrew and I may just get to play along...
Today I'll be participating in a staged reading of Nat Cassidy's latest play-writing extravaganza: Pierce, a ghost story that swirls around the titular American president. The reading is by invitation only at Manhattan Theatre Source, and I'll be playing young Daniel Asbury, a reporter for the New York Sentinel who gets entangled in the president's deteriorating psyche. At four acts and with over a dozen characters, it's likely to be a long one but, knowing Nat, also extremely funny and interesting.
Tonight I'll be contributing to an independent reading of a new play in development, penned by Margo Hammond. The reading will be directed by Kay Long, someone with whom I have worked a few times in the play-writing labs at NYU. The action of the play concerns itself with a mother and daughter who have suffered ill treatment at the hands of their husbands and who in turn decide to exact a little revenge. I, of course, will be playing the "Ken-doll look-alike" husband of the daughter. They can get me to slick down my hair, but I am not taping up my man parts. I'm Equity, dang it.
This Thursday evening, I'll be doing something a little different. In conjunction with fellow actor and all-around-great-guy Andrew Elliott, I've entered into creating a bit of a forum for actors and (eventually) other theatre artists -- a community where we can all learn about and from one another without the pressures of our usual theatrical environments. It's called the ACTion Collective, and our first event is an invitational reading of participant-submitted short scenes. Lots of my favorite people will be attending. There will be refreshments, libation and, with any luck, liberation. I'm very much looking forward to it.
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