Wednesday, November 15, 2006

we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet, and surprise them with our victory cry

went and saw the Shadow Box last night, good show.
some real solid acting overall, there were some moments that could have been more, but there always is.
all in all a successful play.
don't know if Kevin would agree, but i'm come to the conclusion that casting is a the big thing that can make or break a show. (script doesn't hurt either).
Sam Mcginnis who directed the play made good choices in casting, and it showed.

i've taken to reading plays again.
i get on these kicks, particularly when the ideas are swimming around in my head for dialogue.
reading helps me get focussed. organized.
i've only discovered a handful of playwrights, and most of them are older (yet solid) writers.
but i'm reading them, some over and over.
Sam Shepard's one such.
i read Fool for Love a couple of nights ago. hadn't read it, though i knew the plot. (also knew Joel was Eddy about two years ago in it), gotta say i was impressed. he really uses the abstract well in that show.
i've also read Suicide and Bb ,i really liked that one, though i could see it being tough to do with the bow and the arrow, and the 45 caliber pistol.
one i keep coming back to again and again by him is Geography of a Horse Dreamer.
i love that script, don't know why.
the dynamic between Santee, Cody and Beajo in the first act. just a great scene.
and the ending, i really like the ending. seems a bit deus ex machina, in a way. Cody's brothers bursting in like they do, but damn it's so unexpected.
i've also been reading Harold Pinter.
read the homecoming last night... verdicts still out on that one.
great dialogue (and some useable monologues in that one too), but i'm pretty mixed by the overall outcome of the play itself.
i'll re-read it a couple more times.
going to re-read American Buffaloe in the next couple of days.
then i think i'll see about picking up some newer playwrights.
who was the fellow that wrote "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" again Kevin?
think i'll pick up some of his stuff, from what i've seen, and what i've heard from hearsay, he's excellent.