9 to 5 THE MUSICAL!

Can someone please tell me who's casting this and how I can be seen for it? Because I'd be perfect for the Lily Tomlin role. Perfect!

Mabou Mines! Who's With Me?

Ruth Maleczech and Mabou Mines is presenting a project of mammoth proportions, Song for New York: What Women Do While Men Sit Knitting. It starts this weekend on a barge in Long Island City (!) and then I believe changes (?) and goes to a different borough each week.

I was fortunate enough to have worked with Ruth Maleczech and Sharon Fogarty (also of Mabou Mines) a few years ago at the Ko Festival of Performance at Amherst College. They led a workshop where we did everything from super-slow Robert Wilson-y stuff to recreating a Mabou Mines signature piece, the Red Horse. Ms. Maleczech is an older woman, but sharp, and razor sharp when in the rehearsal room. It was one of the most theatrically exciting weeks of my life. Legendary.

Gothamist posted a terrific interview with her today. I love that it captures her sense of humor-- her answers to the questions of class in America and in the Avant Garde are priceless.

I'm not leaving town for the holiday weekend. I'll be in Long Island City, watching beauty on a barge.

Now that the Fringe is over...

I've spent the bulk of today catching up on stuff-- email correspondence, Netflix and generally checking back in with the Non-Theater world.

As I was reading the gazillions of blogs that I haven't seen in weeks, I was shocked to find this article on Gothamist, about a little something the shop Hogan is doing in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Kerouac's On the Road:

The store, an Italian leather company, is "celebrating" the anniversary with their Jack Kerouac Project. The Project offers beatnik-inspired fashion for prices the author himself would never pay, putting this on par with the equally absurd Kerouac Bobblehead of '03. The Village Voice reports that a travel bag goes for $1290, work boots for $475 and a leather bomber jacket for $1,590. The company explains the line is "a clear reference to Jack Kerouac's mood and sensibility to which Hogan strongly relates, captured in the rugged and original preppy nomad appeal."

I grew up in Lowell Massachusetts, home to the Beatnik Prince that is Jack Kerouac. My grandfather knew him (and referred to him as "that drunk bum"-- since gramps was going off to the navy and fighting the wars that the blue collars fight, he didn't find the arty types like Kerouac anything to call a hometown hero). Even though their differences were many, Jack Kerouac and my grandpa, I can't imagine either of them spending nearly thirteen hundred bucks on a piece of luggage.

I'm just sayin...

Done and DONE!

This is my first day with nothing show or rehearsal related in months. It's exciting. I can watch TV. I can do all that laundry that I've neglected like a drunk mother. Or I can go catch up on all my friend's Fringe shows I couldn't see during our run. (hint: the answer is C.)

We closed SCOUT'S HONOR! yesterday to a surprising 30 or so people. Not bad for a 3pm weekday show. And the small but super-responsive house was filled with many friends (thanks, y'all!) and even a literary agent who wants to meet with Ed! So all the rough patches (and there were a good handful) were really worth it after all.

I am going to be part of an upcoming roundtable with Martin Denton of nytheatre.com about FringeNYC. He has invited me and six other members of his reviewer squad who had shows in the Fringe this year as well as in the past to discuss what's different, what hasn't changed and more things Fringe related, as there has been a lot of media attention this year that doesn't necessarily make sense. We're gonna talk about our perspectives on the inside as well as from the outside.

We meet on Wednesday and the podcast should air shortly thereafter. It should be a very interesting discussion. I'll link here once it's posted.

Now... what to do with today... hrmmm... where's my Fringe pass?

Photos from Tuesday's Performance

Big thanks to George Rand for taking such great photos during the show!

SCOUT'S HONOR! Gets 3 Stars from Time Out New York

What a great way to kick off our final week! Read the review here. And if you haven't already, be sure to check out one of our final three shows!!!

Tuesday at 915, Wednesday at 515 and Thursday at 3pm.

Another Show on HGTV

I recorded another promo for HGTV today, this time for Deserving Design with Vern Yip. Sneak peeks start September 9th (with the series premiere beginning 9/12), so my spots should start airing soon.

Will and I flew back from Utah last night where we travelled for our friend's wedding. The flight back offered non-stop satellite cable and I finally got to watch a little HGTV. Let's just say that it's a good thing that we don't have cable because honestly, between home makeover shows and the Ace of Cakes, I would never leave the house!

Photos from the Show!

We've just posted photos from Saturday's show. See them here.

Playwright Ed Valentine goes Furry!

Like I said, we are going to great lengths order to publicize our show!

Here, our trusty playwright Ed Valentine donned his bear suit to hand out postcards at Fringe Central during a preview we presented in the sweltering heat this past Sunday.


And, Mr. Chance I'll Also Go To Great Lengths Muehleck gave the audience a little taste of Mrs. Babcock.

Intrigued? Buy tickets. Our next show is tomorrow!

SCOUT'S HONOR! is open! And... Our First Review

We opened yesterday, and although there are still a couple of kinks to iron out, it was GREAT. The audience really seemed to enjoy it-- hearty belly laughs throughout!

Our first review comes from Patrick Lee. Patrick keeps a blog and is in a race with Aaron Riccio and David Bell to "blog the most shows in a calendar year". (Lee won last year).

He says

This cute, exactly-campy-enough comedy at the Fringe Festival, comprised of a sketch about the Boy Scouts (Snipe Hunt) and a longer and even funnier one about the Girls Scouts (Becky's Beaver), should get a special merit badge for its warmth...

Read the full review here (also here on the Show Showdown page).

Publicity is a Tough Game, or How We Got on the New York Times Video

Holy. Crap.

The lengths you have to go to in order to promote your show in the Fringe. On Sunday night, my friend of over 12 years Carrie Haugh and I dressed up like Girl Scouts and headed to Chelsea for the Fringe Launch Party (somehow, I'm sure we weren't the first adults to dress up like that in Chelsea, but that's another story).

I didn't mention this in my earlier post (mainly because I couldn't find it online, but also because my teeny-tiny superstitious side didn't want to... well, you know...) but at that party, Carrie and I were stopped by a Lady with a Microphone and her friend, Video Camera Guy.

To be honest, I am friendly with the publicist for the Fringe and he tipped me off early in the evening that the New York Times was in the house and that I should "look out for the camera". And that's exactly what I did.

I spotted a lady with a very expensive and professional looking still camera and tried to get Carrie and myself in front of her as much as possible.

She didn't exactly seem interested.

So we danced and danced and danced and left.

We started walking toward 10th Avenue when the Lady with a Microphone stopped us and asked us to "do something" from our show for Video Camera Guy (must have been Carrie's ukelele that tipped her off).

What to do? Sing a song about Beaver!

We sang, we gave her our info and a postcard and were on our way. I then realized that I never asked who she was with and where we might find this video masterpiece, so I ran back to ask her.

Her reply? "The New York Times."

Um.

HOLY. CRAP.

See it here.

This is never exactly how I imagined I'd be recognized as an artist, but hell, we've got 180 seats in that theater. If it takes two thirty-something (oh, God!) ladies in Mint Green to fill the house, then hand me my sash and beret, dammit, I'm hittin' the streets!!!

And now... our Trailer

Ok, so it's not Hollywood style, but I think it's charming just the same...

Scouts at the Fringe Launch Party!!!

A couple of the SCOUT'S HONOR! scouts made a splash at the Launch Party for the Fringe Festival last night at HOME in Chelsea.







Marty Schwartz (Robin Reed) and Becky Biedermeyer (Carrie Haugh) get their groove on and set off a full blown dance party!

Here, Becky and Marty get friendly with the Sheep from the show BAAAHHH!!!

And Becky chats with Diane Allison and her puppet from the show Miriam, while the Unicorn (Michael Hirstreet) from the show Animals and Marty look on.










Marty sifts through so many postcards advertising the great shows coming up at the Fringe-- just how does one choose!??!

Wow.

My high school prom date had a baby. This baby, here, to the left-- the little one there in the Pink Red Sox hat (yeah, it's a Boston thing-- not my Boston thing, but a Boston thing).

I feel old. Eeesh.

SCOUT'S HONOR! on the nytheatrecast!

Last night, Carrie, Ed and I recorded a little sneak peek preview with Trav S.D. at nytheatre.com. We're third in the lineup of eight. First, Ed talks with Trav about the show and his own scouting experiences, then Carrie and I do a scene from Becky's Beaver.

Trav really sets Mr. Valentine up beautifully for some funny bits, and we had a great time listening to the other previews.

Listen to it here.