Fulton Theatre Backstage Blog

Happy Birthday, Alene!

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:26:00 -0500

Well, what's happened in the last week. The shows are still going well and we continue to have some fun behind the scenes. The cast is getting ready for the Cabaret. This Friday December 18, 2009 most members of the cast will be performing a cabaret after the show. A lot of funny ideas have been flying around. Andy Kindig, Lancaster resident, cast member and all around nice guy (well maybe not but it's all I could think of right now) is heading up the cabaret. He and Eleni Delopoulos (also in the show and hilarious actress) are currently writing some of the acts that will be taking place. DON'T MISS THIS!!!!

One of our cast members Katie Sina broke the bone in the ball of her foot during production week and had to move from her apartment to a closer one. Because of this, we all got together at her apartment last week and had a potluck dinner. What could be better then supporting a cast member and friend by helping out and eating great food, having great conversation and then going to do a show. Wait,.. That was the down side. I think we all ate so much that none of us wanted to do the show because we were so full and dare I say it??? Yes....full of gas. That was an interesting show, but we got through it.

Alene Robertson (Miss Hannigan) had her 21st birthday this week. After the show we all went out to celebrate. When we asked Alene how old she is she told us she is 21 again. We figured it's a good age to be again. So we went out for drinks and wings at a local place. This event was so big that even Chad Coudriet (Burt Healy) joined us. That was a huge shock but we all got through it and even asked him to join us again sometime. What a nice guy.

Secret Santa's start this week. How does this effect you? It doesn't, but we get gifts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yah, we have to give them as well. This should be fun. Some of the creative idea's and gifts going around already have been brilliant. I'll keep you posted.

Well that's it for now. Tune in next time for another episode of Annie...The life after.

We're Open!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:18:00 -0500

Now let's see... It's been a while since we've had a blog. I blame the rehearsal schedule. As I said in the first blog, our director is a slave driver. We've been rehearsing Annie and Nutcracker at the same time and the schedule was pretty rough. However, we opened both shows and both have been received really well by audiences and Annie got great reviews.

In the time of all the rehearsals, a few of us took a tour of the town and ended up at a Cajun restaurant called Prudhomme's. It was awesome. Great Cajun food and not bad drinks.

We had some great times developing characters for each show and have a hard time not laughing at each other on stage.

Paul Aguirre and Becca Nicole Snyder.

Some cast members dreamed of being Annie as you can see.

Robert Kovach designed the set and it is beautiful thanks to Robert, Bill, Steve, Rebecca (paint), Dale (props) and everyone else who helped on the construction.

The lights were designed by Paul Black, he even made Jamie (Daddy Warbucks) look good on stage. David Temby did the sound design and Joe Simon runs the sound. They also made Jamie sound okay. Well... they did the best they could do (again with the jokes).

Great costumes and hair done by Beth Dunkelberger, Anthony Lascoskie, Jr. Our lovely costume mistress Brittany keeps us looking good, even Jamie.

Nykol, Anne and Bryan keep everyone in line backstage... well as best as they can. We'll have to get more into the stage management crew on the next blog........Oh Yah!

So far everything is going well with the show that Marc put up... however I'm sure he can't wait to come back and see the show to tell us to take all of our improvements out and make the show what is was when we opened.

That's it for today. I'll write more before the end of the week.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:11:00 -0500

First and foremost, I want to say that everything in this blog is meant to be fun and entertaining. Everything you are about to read is all in good fun. So this is for your entertainment.

When I was asked...No...Told I was going to be doing the blog for Annie, I think I was thrilled. So here it is. We started rehearsals the second week of November. I do have to say that I have not worked with a cast in a long time or perhaps never worked with a cast that is this nice. What I mean is, not only is everyone incredibly talented from the kids up to the adults, but everyone is so nice and genuine. No one thinks they are better than anyone else and they always have time to stop and say "Good morning" or "Bon Jour" (musical theatre joke) to each other. Everyone is greeted with a smile from the cast as well as the production staff. Can we talk about the production staff??? Everyone is accommodating and fun to be with. When it's time to work, we work but there is always fun to be had and little jokes back and forth to keep the day moving as efficiently as possible.

Rehearsal started with the standard music rehearsal and we went on to blocking the following day. I am pretty sure the whole show was blocked in one week and we started running through the show rather quickly. Everything is running smoothly. When things needed to be cut down for time reasons or continuity, the decision was a simple one for our fearless leader Marc Robin (director, choreographer and all around nice guy). He would come up to me and say "Steve, we're cutting your lines... you never knew them anyway so I didn't think it would make a difference." Of course this is a joke (or is it?).

When Marc was making his decision to cast me in the show, first he had to weigh out if he wanted anyone to work with me or get to know me. After he made the decision to "Go For It" and cast me, everything that he feared really did come true. So I am saying right now to the cast and production staff...I'm sorry for anything and everything that I have done or have yet to do, but ultimately you will have to blame the director for bringing me into this in the first place.

In all seriousness, Marc Robin is not only a very talented person, but he also cares very much about his shows, the people he works with and the people he casts. If you're having a bad day, he wants to know about it and help you. That is very rare in this field and we all appreciate this very much. Thank you Boss!

Our Stage Manager Nykol first and foremost, has great hair. Long, curly and red. Next, she along with Anne and Bryan (Assistant Stage Manager and Production Asst.) are the best audience in the world. They laugh at everything and applaud, and even keep a tight running ship in the process. I'm sure I speak for everyone in the cast when I say "you're in for a long run."

Ron, our Music Director. Great voice, great patience and great ability to transpose. That is truly impressive. I look forward to getting you to play some Billy Joel for us during production week. I hope that's not a problem.

As we get into production week, I will be able to talk more about the rest of our fearless staff. So no one is safe.

As far as the rehearsal space goes, it's very nice. Two floors and a kitchen. I feel the only thing missing is the coffee cakes and donuts. If we had these things, it would really make the rehearsal time a lot more constructive. But that is just this guy's opinion. We get to move into the beautiful theatre on Wednesday of this week. The day before Thanksgiving. Now the real fun starts. If I may right now, I would like to put in a request for coffee cakes and donuts for the dressing rooms right now. Thank you.

I hope you have enjoyed the first installment of the Annie Blog and I hope you stay tuned for the upcoming ones.

Dial M

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:08:00 -0500

Maida Vale has been my home for the past few weeks--I had a beautiful flat, stoically decorated en grisaille, beautiful clothes, a husband I was desperately trying to make happy, a former lover who was making his presence known, and a phone that seemed sometimes to have a life of its own. I have had to leave, first, Maida Vale, and second, Lancaster. Back in Brooklyn, the life of Dial M still circles around my mind, still demands my attention; my lower eyelashes still bear traces of the bountiful eyeliner Margot wore--I like that it clings a little, spiritually and physically. There is a separation of actor from part, actor from other actor, and I think I like the quiet outward expression of that loosening grip--at least, see a beauty in it amidst the sadness. I thought, maybe, that as I slip away from 61a Charrington Gardens in the London suburb, Maida Vale--a fictional street in an actual English town--that I might explore that geography as it exists in a non-dramatic realm. An aid, perhaps, in the dedomiciling that is under way.

I came to rehearsal with two photos from the actual Maida Vale--one of the tile work at its tube stop, and one of a slightly open window from the back of a town house much like the Wendices'. While there is no street in Maida Vale named Charrington Gardens, there is a Warrington Crescent, and this town house, window standing open for any intruder, faces that street. Mark Shanahan (Tony Wendice) provided me with Gary Giblin's Alfred Hitchcock's London, which tracks the locations used in Mr. Hitchcock's films to their origins, and also supports my assumption that Mr. Knott may have substituted the fictional Charrington Gardens for Warrington Crescent. Surprisingly, there neither was nor is a Maida Vale police station--a locale of great importance in Dial M. According to Gilblin, there was "a police station in nearby West Hampstead and according to Metropolitan Police historian Bernard Brown, its phone number was Maida Vale 1113." And that's how you dial M . . .

As I unpack my bags and reacclimate myself to my Brooklyn life, I am so grateful for Margot--and Tony, Max, the Inspector and his policeman, and ok, Lesgate too. I am grateful to the Fulton Theatre and all its remarkable staff for welcoming me back, and to the Lancastrians I have met and befriended who made my time in your city that much fuller and more special. It is a lovely and rare thing--and I thank you for sharing it with me. My best wishes to the cast of Annie!

Dial L

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:37:00 -0500

by Chris Thorn

"Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Kerouac

Landscape, long and winding road, Lancaster, PA.

The cycling this Fall, during our run of Dial M, has been particularly choice. Here's a recent Facebook status update of mine as evidence: "Lancaster city to Marietta at twilight: top ten bike rides of all time. I rode the last three miles as a cold rain started and swirling winds laid out a blanket of freshly raked leaves before me. Sweat. Sweet. Heaven."

I have a 20 year love affair with the bike and the road. A relationship made all the more rich during my last five weeks in Lancaster. In order to know a place I have to learn its pavement and experience it at street level. I've had many afternoons in Lancaster running laps on the streets downtown. I've had long rides east, west, north, and south. I finally found the Susquehanna in Marietta, PA. Lancaster county stands out as some of the most beautiful terrain I've covered on two wheels.

Being an actor requires a relationship with the road. New cities and new people are always on the horizon. Every actor handles the unfamiliar geography differently. It is a bittersweet thing to come to a community, be a part of its cultural life, and then quickly move on to the next experience. A friend of mine calls acting making "statues in snow." I've also heard it described as "writing in water." There is little to hold on to after a performance. Maybe you're able to take a small prop or purchase a costume piece or salvage a part of the set during strike; but the thing you really want to hold onto exists only as a memory. That's what I value about the road, it's a map for my memory. I'll remember the landscape of Dial M both on stage and off very fondly.

The following quote from Blue Highways ( a book about a man who circumnavigated the lower 48 states in a Dodge Caravan using only the pre-Interstate U.S. Route system) captures some of what I go through when I move on down the road. Thanks for having me to the Fulton and thanks for paying the taxes that help maintain the gorgeous Lancaster County pavement.

"What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road." ~William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways

Please stay tuned for the final installment of the Dial M blog--I'll be writing it from Brooklyn on Monday as the last couple of days here in Lancaster slipped by too quickly for me to devote to the blog the attention it demands. Margaret

Dial K

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:16:00 -0500

Margaret Loesser Robinson in Dial "M" for Murder. Photo by Craig Leaper.

Kelly, Grace. A fellow Scorpio. A Pennsylvanian native--maybe I can say I am one at heart. The Margot Wendice that all other Margot Wendices are based on. When I put on my dress for Act I, I feel as elegant as she always seemed; and her image persists as a emblem of style and, well, grace today. Walking along Madison Avenue in New York a week before I left for Lancaster, I passed by a Talbots, their new ad campaign featuring a black and white image of Grace, looking effortlessly chic. She wore clothes with such refinement and loveliness, and, as reported on her wikipedia page, humor:

"At the rehearsal for the scene in Rear Window when I wore a sheer nightgown, Hitchcock called for Edith Head. He came over here and said, 'Look, the bosom is not right, we're going to have to put something in there.' He was very sweet about it; he didn't want to upset me, so he spoke quietly to Edith. When we went into my dressing room and Edith said, 'Mr. Hitchcock is worried because there's a false pleat here. He wants me to put in falsies.' Well, I said, 'You can't put falsies in this, it's going to show and I'm not going to wear them.' And she said, 'What are we going to do?' So we quickly took it up here, made some adjustments there, and I just did what I could and stood as straight as possible - without falsies. When I walked out onto the set Hitchcock looked at me and at Edith and said, 'See what a difference they make?"

I can't help but think of my own sheer white nightgown in Dial M, but I think that's as much as I'll reveal.

Dial J

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:11:00 -0500

Mark Shanahan as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps.

My thanks to our leading lady for letting me chime in with a blog entry.

As we near closing, it seems a good time to let you know just what a unique experience Dialing M at the Fulton has been for me. Like many in our audience, I know the film version of Knott's play well, and the chance to step inside of it has not only been a pleasure, but an eye opening reminder of the difference between the demands of film and stage.

On Mondays, when the theatre is dark, I teach a course at Fordham University on the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Last Monday, I added Dial "M" for Murder to the syllabus and spent my day off once more at the Wendices' flat, albeit introducing the film to a group of college juniors and seniors rather than plotting Margot's demise for a Fulton crowd. After a lively discussion of camera angles, the 3-D history of the film's original release, and a detailed discussion of Knott's script, one student asked, "if the film is practically unchanged from the play, what makes this a Hitchcock movie and not a Frederick Knott movie?" A complicated question, to be sure. The director was constantly looking for source material he could transform into a "Hitchcock" picture, and Dial M fit the bill.

Mark Shanahan and James Black as Hitchcock in Hitchcock Blonde at The Alley Theatre. Directed by Gregory Boyd.

When asked about Dial M, Hitchcock famously stated, "When the batteries are running low, take a hit play and film it." Interestingly, in recent years, the theatre has taken Hitchcock's philosophy and turned it on its head. In fact, Hitchcock, one of our towering cinematic legends, has become somewhat of a creative inspiration for theatre artists, with various scripts and productions ruminating on his life and works. I've been lucky enough to explore some of these works first hand, as an actor. But more on that later.

Of course, Hitchcock had a history in adapting stage plays and novels as a young filmmaker. The Lodger, the silent-era thriller which the director himself considered the first "Hitchcock" picture, was adapted from a novel and play, as was 1929's Blackmail, the first British talkie. Both, however, bore the singular stamp of the director, wildly diverging from their stage versions. Alternatively, 1930 saw Hitchcock take on Juno and The Paycock, the O'Casey masterpiece. Although Hitchcock was celebrated for his filmed version, he claimed " it had nothing to do with cinema," as he simply trained his camera on the play. Rope, a reworked, Americanized version of Patrick Hamilton's hit play, kept Hitchcock's camera confined on a stage set, restlessly roaming its various corners in what appears to the audience to be one long, brilliant take. Hitchcock loved the theatricality of confined spaces, similar to those of a stage set. In Rear Window, Lifeboat and The Lady Vanishes, the characters are practically defined by their enclosed environments.

Many of his masterpieces were altered so greatly from their source material, particularly novels, that one can barely recognize them. The script he developed with screenwriter Charles Bennett for The 39 Steps, based on John Buchan's adventure story, added various love interests and villains, and only tangentially retains the structure of the Buchan's work. In fact, in the middle of writing the screenplay, it is said that Bennett asked Hitchcock, "wait a minute, what are the 39 Steps?" Hitchcock answered, "we'll figure that out later." (In the novel, the steps are a location and in Hitchcock's scenario it is the name of a spy ring.) The Man Who Knew Too Much, which Hitchcock filmed twice, retains only the title of G.K. Chesterton's novel. Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca gave Hitchcock an opportunity to shoot a Gothic romance complete with his trademark suspenseful flourishes, and DuMaurier's The Birds, a European World War II parable, became an early 60's masterpiece addressing a changing American culture. Psycho, of course, is much more than the elements laid out in Robert Bloch's novel and deserves a blog for another day.

Hitchcock's pictures often use the settings of the theatre itself. The 39 Steps opens and closes in a theatre. Saboteur finds the villain stepping off Radio City's stage, pursued by the hero. The Man Who Knew Too Much virtually climaxes at The Royal Albert Hall (Dial M gives it a shout out!). Stage Fright literally delves into the world of footlights and greasepaint.

But, it is North By Northwest which references Hitchcock's fascination with the theatre with the most finesse. When Cary Grant is mistaken for a spy named George Kaplan, a villainous James Mason scoffs at his denials, stating "With such expert playacting, you make this very room a theater... Has anyone ever told you that you overplay your various roles rather severely, Mr. Kaplan?" In a great bit of world weary Cary Grant-ishness, our hero answers, "Apparently the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead." Says Mason, "Your very next role, and you'll be quite convincing, I assure you." Indeed, many of Hitchcock's characters seem to be fueled by the art of acting and the need to create themselves in performance. Sometimes, taking on a character can have terrible consequences, of course. I'm looking at you, Norman Bates!

Which brings us to Dial M. Filmed in thirty-six days on a sound stage, the picture was often dismissed by Hitchcock as a minor effort. "There isn't very much we can say about that one, is there?" he said to Francois Truffaut. I'm not so sure about that.

Unlike so many of his other films, Hitchcock barely altered the script from the stage play, hiring Knott himself for screenwriting duties. The director noted that a great play relies on recognizing its very theatricality. To open up Dial M for scenes in courtrooms and the streets of London, or with flashbacks, would rob the play of its excellence. "The basic quality of any play is precisely its confinement within the proscenium," he said. Even though the film was to be released in 3-D, the director doesn't seem to make many concessions to the 3-D fad. Outside of the celebrated scissors shot, Hitchcock once again places his camera in furtive places, peering around lamps and desks, in keeping with his interests in voyeurism.

And Knott's play seems entirely well suited to all of the hallmarks of a Hitchcock picture. We have a sociopathic villain disguised as a gentleman (Suspicion, 39 Steps, Frenzy, North By Northwest), various metaphors and complications with keys and handbags (Marnie, Notorious), the shadowy doppelgangers that are Tony and Lesgate (Strangers On A Train, Shadow of a Doubt), the wrongly accused innocent person (The Wrong Man and...well, take your pick!) and of course, the icy cool Hitchcock Blonde, the centerpiece of so many of Hitchcock's pictures. Is she simply a victim, or the strong survivor who defies the evil men in her life?

Notice how Hitchcock opens his film, with Kelly in white, happily eating breakfast with her husband. Her eyes glance at a newspaper announcement that the Queen Mary is arriving in London. Cut to Kelly, dressed in scarlet red, secretly meeting her lover. Before a word is uttered, Hitchcock has told us an entire story, expertly cutting these images together. The play opens with an equally skilled first moment. We discover Margot alone with Max, her boyfriend. She turns off the radio and says "For a minute I thought that was Tony. I'm sorry, what were you saying?" And we're off to the races, with secrets, lies and passion bubbling just below the surface.

At the Fulton, we have spent the past few weeks delving into Knott's great play. Every night, we seem to find something new about these people. Although it is fun to wear tuxes and drink highballs and speak witty lines in British accents, these people are pretty brutal characters. All of them are up to no good, to some extent. Of course, some more so than others. After an entire act laying out the proposed murder of my wife, I love the opening line of Act Two. We find our characters talking about a tennis match and I remark on a particular player, "after that he lost his concentration and he didn't win another game." And of course, I don't win another game either, as everything comes undone. Knott basically states that all of those great plans from Act One are about to go downhill rapidly. And isn't that the fun of watching what transpires?

The audience at the Fulton seems to love the fact that Knott's play demands justice be done. The Inspector always gets a great response, as does Margot's boyfriend Max, as they put two and two together to uncover the truth of Tony Wendice's deception. But can they catch him at it? Knott knew how to play on his audience's emotions as though he were playing a pipe organ, much as Hitchcock described his role as a director. There are times where I feel the audience rooting for me to get away with murder, so to speak, and times where I know they want me thrown into jail! Only a great writer can lead you through those emotions.

Now, a few words about what it means for me to step into this world. Our own director, Bill Roudebush, has given me a great gift in inviting me to play Tony. He has demanded that we throw away any preconceived notions about the play and make these characters our own, with all due respect to Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and company. He has encouraged us to try and always stay a step ahead, and batter the audience around, not to be afraid to drop the polite veneer of these characters and show them for what they are.

And it's great fun to actually be in Tony and Margot's house. To actually play in the Hitchcock universe a bit, which has become something of a habit for me. I mentioned up top that whereas Hitchcock took a hit play and filmed it, the theatre has looked to him for inspiration. I was fortunate enough to be a member of the original Broadway company of the hit comedy The 39 Steps. Although that play lovingly spoofs Hitchcock's film, it is a fantastic tribute to the theatre itself. It was great fun to play Hannay and shout "What ARE the 39 Steps!?" Equally, I found myself in the curious position a few years ago of performing Terry Johnson's Hitchcock Blonde at the Alley Theatre in Houston. In that piece, I played a Hitchcock film professor, of all things. In the opening scene I was to be seen grading a student's paper. One night, I couldn't help myself and actually brought a real student's paper onstage with me! Johnson's play is fascinating, pondering our own obsessions with a filmmaker who was preoccupied with obsession himself. Hitchcock is alive and well not only on our screens, but on our stages as well.

Being at the Fulton has been a joy. I've loved working with the cast and staff and meeting the audience members, so many of whom stop us in the street to talk about the play. If you want to do a time honored, well oiled play like Dial M, you want to do it right. The Fulton is the place to come, if that's the case. I hope you thought we were up to the task, as we have loved every minute of it.

Hitchcock said of murder (or cutting together films?), "the best way to do it is with scissors." What a joy to be at the Fulton to take a . . . stab at this great play. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Dial I

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:35:00 -0500

The Wyeth Museum on a beautiful fall day

In which I celebrate myself--my birthday. I'm very happy to spend a birthday in Lancaster, doing what I love to do. My parents came to town for the show and the occasion, and we had a nice dinner at Gibraltar. On the day off, we drove out to the Brandywine Conservancy to visit the Wyeth Museum, a really lovely place. I made my second visit ever to a WaWa. And I enjoyed the day very much.

Been wondering how we make those phone calls? This is me preparing to call Tony from the theatre--Max and I are at a show called Sweet Yesterday according the tickets we've been given.

The show continues to grow and change and every day I delight in it a little more. As I returned home after a recent performance, a woman approached me from next door--and it turns out Eva was part of the family I'd seen moving in some six months ago when I was here for The Foreigner. Now firmly rooted as the next door neighbor to the building the Fulton has just for actor housing, she described how it was a little mystery at first to figure out why the residents next door seemed not to stay very long, and kept, perhaps, odd hours but when she found out the story of the building and its changing inhabitants, it became for her an important part of her Lancaster living experience. She and her granddaughter see the shows and are always looking forward to seeing new actors come by. Eva's seen Dial M twice, and has even been following the blog--as she said, she and I were already best friends even though I didn't quite yet know it! It sounds to me like something out of a Noel Streetfield novel--like Ballet Shoes--an insight to the world outside but thoroughly of the theatre; the comings and goings of people on their way to become other people, live other lives, always to return at night from where they left in the morning, as habitual as anything else--and that Eva gets to see the same slice of life over again, and over, but with a changing cast of characters.

Dial H

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:47:00 -0500

Lisa Albrecht from Visage a Visage and me, perfectly coiffed.

Halloween is one of my most favorite times of the year--it happens to be the day some years ago that my mother went into labor, and carved some pumpkins before going to the hospital. But besides being near the day of my birth, it was always a day I loved to celebrate. My mom made me awesome costumes ( I've often bemoaned my ineptitude with a sewing machine knowing my future child will suffer on October 31st), and well, to be frank, I love candy. This year my costumes were provided by the Fulton Theatre, and candy was handed out by Aaron Young (he only had candy that begins with an M--M&Ms, Milky Ways, 3 Musketeers). I broke a mirror, a black cat ran in front of me in Grant Alley, and the full moon is approaching. Mark, Chris, and I celebrated by watching The Haunting with Julie Harris, carving pumpkins, making red velvet cupcakes with black icing, and eating candy corn--I have an unfortunate rapport with the sugary stuff and went to town on the bag bought at Rite Aid on Queen Street. I was up until five in the morning. I was really into The Haunting--I like idea of houses being living things, with hearts, wombs, minds, and how they can turn on you, betray you. In Dial M, curtains hide an intruder, keys are hidden and lost, doors are locked, windows broken; humans and house share secrets.

Pumpkin carving

I've had a few lovely surprises this week--some beautiful flowers delivered to my dressing room, a visit from Matthew Toronto, who directed me in The Foreigner last season, and word from Lisa Albrecht at Visage a Visage on North Lime Street--who does my hair for the show--that a lot of her clients are Fulton Theatre goers and are excited to have a hair salon connection to one of the actors.

Deb, Jane, and Dave, I'm so glad you liked the show. We love performing for you!

The finished products.

PA Bryan enjoys one of my goulish treats.

Dial G

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:53:00 -0400

We really didn't have a clue

Gossip Girl has stolen my Gimlet glory! This week's episode features the opening of a prohibition-era style club called, you guessed it, Gimlet. Or maybe Margot Wendice and I started a trend that can be felt all the way from Lancaster to New York City.

On my day off this week, I drove down Old Philadelphia Pike and stopped in the Quilt Museum in Kettle Kitchen Village. I took the tour of the Amish House and Farm, which stands in unharmonious proximity to Target. I watched for the third time Double Indemnity, graciously provided for me from Mark's extensive lending library, and was surprised that I hadn't remembered its similarities to Dial M--only, of course, in reverse. I started to try to think of movies I've seen that share in Dial M's murderous matrimony--How to Murder Your Wife with Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi came to mind as a comedic, and way more overtly, misogynistic parallel to our play. But perhaps we should all watch Volver again and see just how the tables might be turned. . .

I took this photo of the floor backstage left. These are the markings left over from painting the art that hangs on the Wendice's bedroom wall; theatres are layered with performances past, paint layered over paint over paint--it fades, is covered over, but will always be underneath.

As Halloween approaches, I'm immersing myself in all kinds of horror besides that that I face on stage every night--Paranormal Activities made my hair stand on end for a few moments, I'm gearing up to watch The Haunting while carving my pumpkins, and I was really looking forward to visiting one of the several frightastic locales this town has to offer--Field of Screams, Chamber of Fear, Jason's Woods. Sadly, I don't think we'll be able to get to any of these places--that darn phone keeps ringing every night and I just keep answering it. We played the worst game of Clue ever last night--we thought maybe we'd be above average players considering our current positions, but alas, no. No. We did however, have a great post-show feast: savory pies, carrot soup, poached pear. And a wine, again suited to our play--Sinister Hand.

Weekly Blog Feature: Dialing Through Time

Sometimes, early telephone operators would get to know their customers so well, the customers would ask for a reminder call when it was time to remove a cake from the oven, leave the phone off the hook near their sleeping child when they left the house, hoping the operator would hear any cries of distress, request a wake up call before taking a long nap.