Here I am

Kennedy dying sucks. But he was old and sick. But he was cool. It happens.

So I've just been keeping busy with Brigadoon; Singin' in the Rain ended a few weeks ago. I have a lot more to do in this one, but it's still the same old shit at this theatre company that I've been complaining about this whole season, and I tried to stop complaining so I don't loathe the rehearsal process. Never again, that's what's pushing me through the whole thing. I don't know why people would ever go back there. Granted, if I was equity, I'd go back there... so maybe that's the thing.

My life has been pretty much the same, job search, rehearsal, exercise, video games, maybe hanging out with friends. I need to get back on the ball with some auditions, but with this past year of theatrey goodness, I think I might want to take a short break for a while. After all, with The People's Theatre, I'll pretty much always have a part.

In the meantime, I'll try and get back on the ball with writing, and maybe I'll start reviewing other things, like shows and movies that Monica and I go see, to keep things fresh. My other writing is slow, but it's happening, so there you go. The best thing to do is write.

I also need to shave.

Just stuff

Things have been super busy in the Ben world as of late. And yet, I still have plenty of time to watch my new favorite, albeit very short, show, Freaks and Geeks; why has it taken me super duper long to find this in my life? Jeez.

Anyway, Singin' in the Rain is going alright for the most part, it's just a constant struggle working with a slightly unprofessional thing when it comes to the running of the entire place; if there's one turnoff in my life, it's disrespect, and this company has it in spades. It was slightly (really slightly) better today at the end - the stage manager really listened to my concern, and actually made some changes in the way the scene change was done. So a high note.

I've been stupidly depressed about not having money, or being in a job that could support me... I'm just tired of being completely dependent. Not completely of course, as devotees know, I'm a super writer and actor and singer, etc., but for some reason my mind has been wandering down the different paths my life could have taken. Weird thoughts happen after a 12 hour rehearsal process.

Also, I'm going to Ikea tomorrow, I think.

What Actually Happened

Yesterday I called in sick to rehearsal, feverish, unable to sleep, I dialed the stage manager's number, telling her I need to get rest, and that I would try to make it, but would call her if I could. I slept the rest of the day.

I mean, what really happened is because of the horrible disrespect they've given me, and other actors (yet most others they don't seem to see it) my little rebellion is calling in sick to a show, something I've never done before, something that made me feel a little weird at first, but then simply washed away. Also, bunches of other people aren't showing up. I guess it comes down to a respect thing.

What I REALLY did yesterday was go to the SF Theater Festival and watch/film the performance of Crazy! We turned out to be the stars of the morning, better than a lot of the stuff that was going on earlier in the day... and later in the day for that matter. I say we, because the cast gratefully emphasized that I'm in the cast as well was directed. And we were approached bunches of times afterwords. So cool.

Now I'm watching Fringe, and going to go on a super big hike later today, to start getting back into shape. Fringe is... very formulaic. Yet big casts interest me. And it's fun.

Surprisingly hard to write lately. I really need to write a little bit every day.

So I really just said to myself, "okay, one more episode, then I'm playing some video games."

I love me some life right now.

Except for some frustrating rehearsals, but eh. Don't want to stress about that a third time.

Takes a Turn For the Gross at The End

July 4 has come and gone, and I rehearsed the entire day. In fact, that's what I've been doing, and will be doing until the end of time. But it's good to be busy, and fun to be in this silly show. I'm confident the show is WAY more fun to be in than it is to watch, particularly because I have hours of time to just shoot the shit, and then a fun song, and then backstage to eat some chips.

It's a hard actor's life.

Granted, the rest of the summer's going to be hard, with ever harder shows that *gasp* I actually need to work on vocals. But not this one! So I'm going to take advantage of it while I can!

Yesterday, Monica and I went to gold country. It was amazing. We watched while people panned for gold, we dipped candles, and we ate ALL DAY LONG. Thus, my tummy still hurts, and my farts are extremely smelly. Yep, tmi, but that's what you get.

Stuff and Rehearsal

So what? I'm called at 6:00 tomorrow? What? Who calls people to rehearsal at 6:00? Especially when they're grown ups who (mostly) have work to do and such. I'm just a little bloopy (I just made a hilarious new word) because they said they would start at 7:30 sharp... rather than an hour and a half early. It's mostly just a principal thing, but whatever. I'll be there, and probably have nothing to do for a very long time. I've been having a great time, it's just... a little unorganized at times.

However, I did find a new D&D game, with real people! Let's hope that happens at some point in the near future.

Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to the Marin County Fair, where I'll probably have more funnel cake. And I haven't seen my mom in like.. weeks, so that'll be a good thing. Miss my mommy. She's awesome.

Monica's home! Time to be homey.

Marin County Fair

Had a night off from rehearsal last night (the suprisingly frustrating Peter Pan) and on mostly on a whim, Monica and I went to the Marin County Fair. Now, this really is a fair, with farm animal judging and stuff, but it also has a great art section; it's like a art museum of our neighbors. Always my favorite part of the whole event. Also, we saw a woman who was wearing a costume from Star Wars (no, not the Leia slave one, the red one where the mouth is covered), and her eyes looked exactly like Carrie Fisher's. It was pretty cool, and I hope she gets tons of work just for that fact. The only odd thing was that I kept on looking, and she kept on catching my eye, and I didn't want to get caught looking, so it was an awkward repeition of me looking down, etc.

As in all county fairs, I ate way too much and too horribly, so it's back on eating better and doing some exercises during the day. I was able to eat some really delicious Gyros, and an incredibly gross funnel cake. Gross = delicious... let's just say it's a good thing I only get those once a year. Bleh. It's always a miracle that I enjoy them.

Tonight it's back to Peter Pan and my Summer Of Musicals. I'm going to enjoy the short run of these plays and the relatively easy rehearsal process. After all, my contract says ensemble (singer), not dancer. So ha! Just wish they realized that I could dance; it's always frustrating when a capable performer like me gets underused. Oh well.

Tell you the truth, I am SO ready for a break.

Funemployment

Today marks the one year anniversary of my laidoffness from SWA. Remember those days? You probably can check previous blog entries from a year ago if you want... they're all pretty abysmal, but I do enjoy the one where I talk about how I had a cold at work. Ah, the office drone days.

I think I'm going to take a moment to reflect on all the things I've done since I've been laid off.

• Looked for jobs.
• Done a shit ton of theatre.
• Made some great connections at the Discovery Channel.
• Lost 30 pounds.
• Traveled to Memphis.
• Planned a trip to New York.
• Am a hair's breadth away from being in Equity.

So. All in all. I'm doing pretty well, and I have a wonderful support system around me; I'm very lucky in this horrible economy... I don't really have to worry, all I have to do is not eat out as much.

And now back to video games.

Crazyyyy

So Crazy, Just Like Me is over. It seems to me like I was just talking about the rehearsal process, and then all of a sudden I was hit with a wave of work - happy work, work that kept me busy and productive and really great artsy stuff, but so much that I took an internet vacation and stuck to zoning out when at a computer, mostly with Half-Life 2.

But. Here's a postmortum on Crazy: it was pretty much better than we could have ever anticipated. Technically speaking, it was a beautiful show, and the actors (including myself, I should toot my own horn sometimes) were fantastic. I was told it was better than the last version, which made me proud, and I genuinely think its true; it was a lot of hard work, but we all pulled our own weight, so I never was really worried it was going to be anything less of a sucess. We never had one of those "I can't believe it all came together somehow" - save the normal "I can't believe it all came together somehow" that all shows have... this one didn't seem as miraculous as some others I've worked on or have seen the processes of.

Good work, everyone. And now, I'm back to being online.. maybe. Who knows? First, I'm back to normal acting.

Love,

Ben

More Craziness

The trouble with the past couple of weeks? I've been way too busy for anything other than sleeping and eating, and the occasional video gaming (but even that's pretty rare, just ask my friends in Lord of the Rings Online). What have I been busy with? Well, that's easy, it's Crazy, Just Like Me, our revival of our production we did last year. It's going incredibly well, and we've had the great opportunity to film some backstage stuff; way more than we did for the last one. Plus, we're much better friends than we were the last time we put this up.

That and I've been lazy. And got a running stop sign ticket. That's fun.

So yes, nap time!