The Axe Begins to Fall

Unemployed in Five... Four... Three...

Somehow I'm super-busy and still facing down not having a job by the middle of next week. What?

In any case, come check out another reading I'm in: Dustin Chinn's hilarious play The Rise and Fall of The United States of Asian America at the Wild Project on Sunday the 31st and Monday, June 1st for FREE!

Also, Lloyd Suh's play American Hwangap is getting amazing reviews and stars some big names, also at the Wild Project. It's only running until the 7th, so definitely make it there, people!

Doin's

Okay, people, I am back to recap about four months of neglect on this damn blog. I was home in Amherst this past weekend and it occurred to me (repeatedly, as it always does when I stop being crazy busy) that the only time I update this thing is when I'm in-between projects and have some time to reflect. I had initially wanted to use this blog as a forum for discussion of art and what I was working on, but whenever I'm working on something it is usually all-consuming and thus, no posting. Are you one of the five people who was like, "What the hell is going on here? No posts since April 11th"? If you're reading this now then you probably are, actually. Awesome. Hellooooo.

So: first things first. I am in a reading of Jon Kern's kung-fu-identity play Tapefaces at Walkerspace this saturday at 3pm. It's being produced by the inimitable 2G (Second Generation) Company and they rock. Qui Nguyen directs. It's free, so if you get a chance, come check it out. Many great friends are also in it: Jon Hoche, Amy Waschke, Jodi Lin, Temar Underwood and Dustin Chinn. Having a ton of fun working with them all, onstage and off. Actually, I shared a good cry with Dustin and Temar at Mahmoun's on St. Marks last night when I put some hot sauce on my falafel and in return it practically burned out my soft palate. Thanks for being there, guys.

Other production news: The Vampire Cowboys are remounting Fight Girl Battle World in July and it'll be a sick reunion for that team, too. Noshir is in LA, and can't make it, but otherwise everyone else is back. The one and only Jason Liebman takes his place as Adon-Ra, the other last human. Check the website for more.

I've been freelancing with Professional Artsists and Paradigm for a little while, and the things I'm getting sent out for have been amazing money gigs. Now I just have to book one. I'm learning a lot on my feet and trying to bone up on some of my fuzzy audition areas and playing the numbers game. My manager Donna has really been amazing and has wrangled me into many rooms I'd have never seen the inside of even months ago. I'm building up a growing list of supporters in the casting community and any day now I will be able to give my relatives something to watch out for on TV. Some of them have always liked the theater stuff, but others have always wanted me to be on their favorite after-dinner shows. I'm going to try and do both.

Kate is working hard on her new play Bird House which is also going up in July at The Mint's space. KNF Co., the producers, are amazing, savvy women and threw a crazy burlesque benefit a little while ago. Elizabeth and Jon were MVPs, getting their faces painted with us and generally being game for anything. More on her show soon, although you can also check out their website. I particularly like their description of what the play is about and its relevance. Kate also has a kick-ass new website for her own self (http://www.katemarks.net/). She participated in a music video festival last month and it was a huge hit. The video starred our good friend Mina Vesper as a woman in a disturbing relationship with money set to the Violent Femmes' "Promise". None of us will listen to that song the same way again.

End Days seemed to close right when things were really heating up, but there's another production happening in PA, so maybe it'll come back around in the future. The process of performing that show was a nightly ordeal with me (and what felt like my personal dresser, Veronica) dashing through tiny backstage spaces to do innumerable quick-changes. And when we weren't racing to throw my robes on or fix my beard I was chillaxing forever with absolutely nothing to do but hang out in the EST office. That is when I really became addicted to Facebook. Now that I do not have mandated free time, the chatting and posting has slowed to a trickle. A lot of people came to the show through Facebook Word of Mouth though, and for them I am very, very thankful.

Hot on the heels of End Days I got a chance to work with Youngblood playwrights Eli Clark and Dorothy Fortenberry for a Brunch and a Bloodworks reading, respectively. It was really good to be back with that crew. A lot of friends I don't see as often as I'd like are out there on 52nd street and it was great to hang with them and meet new kids, too.

My nephew Jalen had his confirmation this past weekend and it afforded a chance to see him, my brother Joe and his wife Deborah, and their families and friends. My sister drove me up from the city (very impressively done), I played Prince of Persia for the first time, played Boggle for the zillionth time, and got a lot of time in with folks and then came back to Greenpoint. It was awesome.

I have been watching a ton of movies with my Smart Partner at the 52nd street project and the films lead us to discussion which will be published in the literary journal Fivey. The movies include (in no order): Quantum of Solace, the Haunting in Connecticut, Underworld 3, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, and fast and Furious. Quality pictures....um, yeah. Well it made him happy.

Okay, until next time.

End Days Pics

Perhaps the theater will give us access to the press photos after the run, but until then I have resorted to nicking them from the internet.  Here are two I never saw before and we're in our third week of shows!

End Days Reviews

Here are some I was able to find just tonight:

TheaterMania
"Lisa Peterson's tightly directed production is perfectly calibrated to mine the play's humor without losing sight of the complex family dynamics in Laufer's script . . . She's aided by an excellent ensemble cast. . . Tolson -- who also doubles as Rachel's drug-induced hallucination of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking -- strikes comic gold in both of his parts."


Variety
"Two acts are too short a time to spend with Deborah Zoe Laufer's lovable characters in "End Days." The sweet-spirited script . . . brings out the best in all five performers, especially a daring Dane DeHaan. His portrayal of Nelson, a doggedly happy bullied teenager, gives the play its heart and soul. While a snide Stephen Hawking and an uncommunicative Jesus vie for the minds and hearts of the traumatized Stein family, Nelson miraculously represents the reconciliation of faith and reason."


Backstage
"Director Lisa Peterson gets smart performances from an outstanding cast and tightly shapes the play. Friedman's performance particularly shines -- his Art is sad, funny, and dynamic. Tolson's double turn as Jesus and Stephen Hawking -- who becomes Rachel's invisible pal after she reads his book -- is impressively funny. Ephraim's angry, sweet teen, O'Connell's desperate mom, and DeHaan's simple optimist are all expertly portrayed."

****

Waited a long time for these to come out, and they're good, too. I know I've been having an absolute blast working on this. Just doing my part to get the word out.

End Days at Ensemble Studio Theatre

So there hasn't been a post here in two months mostly because I have been busy working three jobs and resting in between each of them in a regenerative haze.  Soul Samurai was one of the most amazing experiences of my theatrical life, and I just wanted to shout out to everyone who was involved that we did some amazing shit together, all of us.  It was like sitting on top of a rocket.

While we were performing nights at HERE, I was shuttling back and forth during the day to Ensemble Studio Theatre where I was rehearsing Deb Laufer's amazing play End Days.  It was a series of firsts for me including working on a Sloan play (plays that get grants for productions that bring science and scientists to the mainstream), working with surgical-precision director Lisa Peterson, and operating an electric wheelchair.  Oh yeah.  

(These past months have also seen another first: me getting cut in the head with a samurai sword.  I'm totally fine, but it was a big eye-opener.  Suzette, Abby and Qui all get huge thanks for making sure everything went down smoothly.  I actually had an amazing run of luck following that incident--including booking End Days--and Kate likes to attribute it to all the attention I got from them :-)    For those of you with an aversion to stitches, humans can apparently be stuck back together with super glue.  Oh yeah.

So End Days is in previews for the next two weeks and then we open on the 30th.  I'm playing Jesus and Stephen Hawking in an inspired dual role, and the show features great actors who have done very significant work.  Just Google any of the following names and you'll find some credits that will make your jaw drop: Peter Friedman, Didi O'Connell, Dane DeHaan and Molly Ephraim.  These peeps are kicking ass and taking names.  It's an honor sharing the stage with such theatre royalty.

We run until April 19th, evening shows are at 7pm, people!

Get tickets here!

        

Soul Samurai Interview

Hey Guys!

Qui Nguyen's esteemed blog Beyondabsurdity is featuring another interview with me about working on Soul Samurai and the artistic process.  It's about creating a character and what goes into putting the show up.  

Check it out here.

The Nexus of Art and Activism

This absolutely blew my mind.

In 1990, poet Adrienne Rich was chosen for the National Medal of the Arts and she refused it based on the disconnect between her work and the "work" of the Clinton Administration.  Her poems are literary celebrations of art as a human birthright and the kinship of humanity, and thus she felt she could not accept an award from a president and a government whose America was comically unequal, entrenched in corporate greed and had set a disturbing precedent for the dismantling of arts funding.

The actual refusal letter to the NEA is at the bottom of the webpage, but the letter she wrote describing her reasoning is at the top and is pretty long.  Long and amazing.  Read it here.

My parents gave me a copy of Dark Fields of the Republic when I was in high school.  I had just taken my first poetry class.  I just read some of it again, now that I am a little more prepared for understanding it, and that led me to her letter from the 90's.  Unbelievable that something so resonant today should be found today, unearthed after 15-odd years.