I miss posting here.

...but I've just been flat-out beat this week.

Normally, 3 workshops come with a residency contract.

This week, we're doing 11. Most days, we've done 3 in the morning, then rehearsal in the afternoon.

We're making extra money for each of them...but boy are they tiring.

But, an improv workshop with an on the younger side did produce this pricless quote from one of the kids playing a gnome, he was playing Beyonce in a scene with the easter bunny:

"You did not just hop at me bunny. Somebody's about to get socked up in this limo. Put em 'up!"

It was brilliant.

Lots of planning and staring at budgets going on lately. Planning on how to get home in a few weeks...then how to get to Chicago/home for Thanksgiving as well. Alot to do, worry about, save for, and hope for...but i'm confident all will work itself out.

Life on an army base is strange. But the prices are cheaper. So I'm getting used to that.

Too tired to keep going. Hope you've had enough...post more soon.

This is my Job?

Sorry its been a while since I posted...this week was very routine...without a whole lot of ultra-bloggable instances.

But show-day always produces a few good tidbits.

Today's biggest happening would probably be my losing my voice to such a capacity that Casey had to perform for me. Yesterday my voice started going again, and this morning I woke up and knew it might be very close, and once I sang the first stanza of the first song, I knew I'd never last. I handed over my lute, hung my head, and stepped off the stage. I really wanted to perform this week. Oh well.

A 6 year old peed her pants again...but this time she was very sweet. There's only one moment during the show where the littlest kids are asked not to go to the bathroom unless its an emergency (if, of course, there is bathroom access backstage) and during that time I always go to shoo off the little ones that are no doubt in line for the bathroom. Something about those lights, and all those people watching them must just make them have to piss like Seattle Slew - they're always rushing to the bathroom when they get off. There were 3 little girls lined up, and I asked them if it was an emergency. Two of them said it wasn't, and went back to sit down. The third, a beautiful little indian (like jewel-on-head, not loo-loo-loo) girl said "It is very ugent for me. I have to go now." So, I waited with her for the bathroom to empty out. The noises form the inside were indicative that it was almost her turn: the flush, the sink on, the sink off, the air dryer, the little girl saying "uh-oh"....wait, that was this little girl, not the one in the bathroom. "I just peed in my pants." "How much? Like a little bit? ...or like, all the way?" "Oh, just a little." "Well, hold it off. It's almost your turn."

I gave her a new pair of pants and sent her on her way.

I had more feelings of "this is my job?" today...its just so unbeliveable that I can enjoy what I'm doing so much. I'm so glad to have this job.

Good news! I'll be home in August! I do get to go home after all. Which is exciting.

OH BTW, I saw Step Brothers last night...the reviews for it haven't been great...pretty down the middle. I think if you love Will Ferrell and John C. Reily enough to forgive them for making a movie filled with immature jokes...you'll love the movie and have a good time.

A FULL Opinion on The Dark Knight

Casey and I turned in our rain checks and finished the movie tonight. We arrived at 7:15, and got tickets for a showing at 7:15, and slyly snuck into the showing that started at 6:15, which was just a few moments before we got cut off on Sunday.

First and foremost, let me say that The Dark Knight IS a very good movie. For whatever reason, I have a tendency to fall asleep during action movies. I intensely involved in this movie throughout, and enjoyed almost every moment.

And now, this: If Heath Ledger were not dead, neither this movie nor Ledger's performance would garner the sort of attention and acclaim it is receiving. While Ledger's performance certainly does not deserve any sort of negative comment...whatever special thing everyone else has seen in his performance never registered for me. I also feel, that the movie did not require the type of approach he insisted on for that particular role. His performance, emotionally effective, was, like his Ennis Delmar from Brokeback Mountain, a physically focused work: it started with the voice, continued with the shoulders and worked his way through his body. Psychologically, I saw little more than a focused actor, balancing a nervousness over doing well, with a confidence that he was, in fact, doing well.

Heath's performance would not stand out, however, if not for his death. That isn't so much a statement on Ledger's Joker, as it is a compliment to the other performances. I found Bale, Oldman, and particularly Eckhart's performances just as, if not much more effective. (Definitely more so in Eckhart's case...I wish his performance would be recognized as the break-out.) Heath Ledger would merely be a player in a superbly cast, and excellently written film if not for his passing.

Speaking of the writing...even more than his untimely death, the writing of the film, the joker character in particular, is what really is affording Ledger so much credit. This script's treatment of Joker is as rich a characterization as I've seen on film. What makes watching him in this film so enrapturing is his wit and dialogue. Ledger's often cartoonish portrayal would have fallen short if the character were the least bit shallow.

I really did find the movie really excellent overall...and I won't try to pretend I'm not jaded by the attention that Heath and really the movie itself has been getting. There is, I'm sure, a part of me who is being extra stingy with my criticisms of him, but the sentiments above are my true opinions of the movie. Go see it if you haven't yet...and if you haven't yet, who are you?

I expect responses from everyone.

So, in liu of a post about what's going on...week looks good...good auditions today. I pose a couple questions for you to think about and respond to, based on observations I've made lately.

Does it seem logical to you to back into a parking space so you can pull out of it frontwards later? What exactly is the advantage of this? Why would you choose to back into a space between two cars, so you can pull out into a more open, less obstructed path forwards, when you could have more control and pull forward when you're close to the objects, and back into the open space? Why do people do this?

Second: Have you ever heard of anyone who hates Morgan Freeman? I mean, I don't know of many people who really LOVE Morgan Freeman either. But i don't think I've ever heard an ill-word spoke about him.

What a frustrating afternoon.

So Casey and I got to our hotel before check in today, and we decided to go watch The Dark knight to kill time. Halfway thorough, the power went out in the building. A good movie, cut short so early...just as it was beginning to take off. How ironic. We have rainchecks, so I suppose an evening this week will be dedicated to finishing it.

Then, we went to the hotel, only to find out that the reservation for our room has not been made. I haven't been able to get a hold of our contact, but we held tonight's room on my debit card...which, if my gas purchase from last night posts before Tuesday will create over-drafting problems on my account...but, Chase will quickly and easily take care of that, because they are the best bank in the country...however, my credit will still drop a bit if it overdrafts. We'll see how that goes.

All in all, I'm not as frustrated as I probably should be today. I'm feeling pretty nice, sitting here in a wonderfully nice hotel room, enjoying myself quite a lot actually.

"We welcome Lady Lorna, who is here from the Realm of Texas to celebrate her 9th birthday. It is my honor to present her with this princess cap."

Offically Medieval Times was awesome. Casey and I cheered for the Black and White night, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. You should try to see this, if you can.

Just a quick update tonight to let you know I added the wax museum photos to my picasa album, along with some pictures of the New Mexico scnery. I also added pithy captions to most of the pictures...so, you can check those out.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MillerJAllen

Acting Theory

So, this was an unplanned blog. But I as I began to be more and more bombarded with this weekend's obsession with Batman, The Dark Knight, and Heath Ledger's performance of the joker.

I have some things to say about Batman, and how they'll get excited about ANYTHING Batman, whether its dark, light, bad-ass, good-ass, or whatever...but I don't wanna get into that.

I wanna get into the praise being heaped on Heath Ledger's performance. Granted: I HAVEN'T SEEN IT. I want to make that clear.

Even folks very close to me have dedicated a lot of time talking about how special Ledger's performance is. I'm sure it is quite entertaining and quite effective. But, I wonder...what's the price of art?

It is apparent that Ledger's approach to his work had a large hand in the activities that eventually killed him: drug abuse. He was said to have developed a reclusive lifestyle during the filming of The Dark Knight as a way of getting closer to his character. He died, alone, naked, on a mattress on the floor. One of his most recently acclaimed roles is the starring role of Candy, a film about a heroin addict (Ledger) in love.

Emotional memory is one of the fundamentals of modern acting theory, but I've always been uneasy about it. I think you'd have to be pretty skilled and careful to tap into memories that have a powerful affect on YOU, and then be able to bastardize them, literally: cut them off from your own personal connection, then transform them into a tool to entertain, enlighten, or what have you. It seems you'll either tap into something you really shouldn't get into, for your own good. Or, the audience will have front row seats for a psychiatrist session between the actor/patient and the good Dr. Stage (or camera.)

For me, acting is about exploring the text, the actions of a written character, and then filling those with life. If you do that, the character will blossom.

The alternative is, an approach like Ledger's, a head-strong attempt to become one's character. In this case, a reclusive, demented, killer. His praises are flowing from every direction. He isn't hear to enjoy them.

So, should we be talking about what a good job he did? Maybe we, as audience, should be thankful that a man would be willing to go so far to entertain us. Maybe, we should re-examine the whole thing, and see a man so dedicated to a harmful approach to his work, that it killed him.

I have a hard time reading comments complimenting him on "becoming" his character. What he gave up to "become" the joker, ultimately affected his life in such a way that he died before he was 30.

He's gonna spew, because he ate too much earlier.

That was said by our contact, after witnessing our A.D. who's 12 and probably pushing 250 lbs., working on his 4th corn dog, while holding the other three empty sticks between his fingers. Welcome to Texas.

Speaking of Texas. "Y'all" is not lazily enunciated "you all." It is, in fact, a word all its own. It is chosen, very carefully, and never used out of context. It is also occasionally placed into a show written by Montanans, by a sweet little Texan playing our Queen. I thought it gave the show character.

Leave it to Casey and I to have our best shows yet be a Friday-show week. (We normally perform on Saturday.) Today's kids, were the loudest, most enthusiastic kids we've had on the job so far. They did a GREAT job, and I don't think we could ask for a better Friday, and not for a much better Saturday performance.

I would attest our success this week to two things. I had been thinking that Casey and I are great from Monday to Wednesday, as at our jobs as anyone could expect. However, from Thursday to Saturday...we just didn't pick up the intensity as much is needed to really succeed at the height of our potential. Well, with the Friday show, we were forced to. Our show day today was as close to perfect as I can think of. Our intensity, the things we went over, the things we said. The show made a gigantic leap between yesterday afternoon, and today's performances.

Also, the staff of the Kids Unite camp that brought us in. We essentially had an entire staff, aside from our ADs as assistants during this short week. They were constantly reinforcing our rules, and making doubly sure that everyone was in the right place, and everything was running smoothly.

We'll not have a nicer week this summer, and maybe this year. Our fellow TADs should fight, scratch, and claw to go to Weatherford, Texas. I will miss it.

As I said before, Casey and I went to Louis Troussaud's wax museum and Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Fort Worth. That was a very fun trip, Casey and I had more fun at the wax museum than Ripley's, though there are some really fun, cool things in the museum. You'll see the pictures of both in my picasa album as soon as I update everything. You'll note when you see those pictures that, for whatever reason, the wax artist thought it appropriate for Rutherford B. Hayes to wear an expression as if he had just wet himself.

I also got to see the new Cowboy stadium going up in Arlington, which is just ridiculously emmaculate. It'll be quite a sight when its complete. (But not nearly as awesome as Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianpolis ;)

Tomorrow Casey and I are fulfilling one of my major goals for this job: go to Medieval Times.

Subj..................

I want to write a blog. But, I'm exhausted.

If I did write a blog, it would talk about Casey and I tripping to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and Lord Trussaud's Wax Museum in Ft. Worth today. Maybe I'll talk about it later. It was alot of fun. They'll be pictures in my picasa album soon.

Also, I'd talk about my recent nostalgia dives. Maybe its the fact that reading Mick Foley's third book has gotten me thinking about wrestling again, a staple of my high school days. Maybe its the fact that I've been talking to Jacob, one of my best friends most nights this week. Maybe its the fact that I talked to Rachel this week too. Maybe I just miss those days. Those high school days, which seem...SO gone, so forever gone at this point. I hope to have a few attempts at rekindling them in my life, though I know it will never be like it was.

That's more words than I thought I'd muster. Off to zzzs. Get some sleep you.

"the bottle said generously"

Well, its officially started. I can't keep track of what city I'm in at the moment. I kept calling it "Allen" in my call in to the home office today, which is next week, and in my brain, I keep calling it "Taos." "Weatherford" just never registers.

At any rate, these kids in Weatherford have definitely been our most eager and quick to learn so far. we were worried about it at auditions on Monday, because they seemed very tentative and....well, not very talented. These aren't theatre kids, they're just kid kids, at a camp. We're not even the first or last thing they do each day. There's a myriad of activities for them provided both before, and after rehearsal is over. They're just regular kids doing a theatre activity during the day.

So its nice to have kids who aren't jaded. They were so excited to set up the set with us today, and are noticeably having more fun this week than any of our last three residencies, who were all old hats at theatre and our shows.

Texas is, unsurprisingly, miserably hot. On the illness front, Casey is still sick, though I've gotten better. Our hotel room is covered in pharmaceuticals and supplements, Emergen-C, Vitamain C supps, echinacea, Tylenol Cold daytime, Theraflu Nighttime, Mucus suppressants, pain relievers, acid reducers (for my seperate, constant, and equally as annoying acid problems) If only we had sudafed, we'd probably be the most suspicious guests here.

Speaking of suspicious......





Only a cap full next time.

"Oh God, It Smells of Skunk!"

So that's what it feels like to drive 13 hours in a single day.

It actually wasn't all that bad. I wasn't the least bit sleepy a single time, which is a good thing. We have safely arrived at our Holiday Inn Express in Weatherford, TX an outskirt-ish suburb of Ft. Worth.

When we arrived, Casey and I did our usual "which room will we stay in" check. We each get a room, but ended up really only using one. We always check to see if there are any differences between the two rooms before settling on one. Casey laid in her room while I went to see mine. Mostly the same. Then I went to the bathroom.

Room 203 is a hot tub suite. Sweet.

This is a great room to come to after a long drive. Soft beds, a nice sofa, coffee table, fridge, microwave, wifi for me and dataport for Casey. Nice.

No crazy stories from the road. Just a long day, glad to be here safe. Hope you are too.

Red or Green?

I prefer Christmas.

Back in Loveland, whenever the company CEO visited. He said "something may be fundamentally wrong with your discipline. Mainly, because no matter how bright our kids are, we can't get them to shut up. It was the same issue this week. We just can't get them to be quiet backstage. I hope we find the magic trick we need to find to accomplish this better soon.

Other than the chatter from backstage being too loud at times...and don't get me wrong, this wasn't the EASIEST group to get quiet. For as much as I gushed about the older group at the beginning of the week, the younger half was the opposite. For example, our middle-aged children had been a healthy mix of genders. This week there was 9 boys, 9-11 years old mostly. And the most Tomboyish of Tomboy girls. (So much so that the younger girls would object loudly when she changed in their dressing room.) They were by far the rowdiest group, and I have been my most stern this week. When I asked "Are you embarrassed? Because I am." I felt so Adult. Sort of made me ill.

Anyway, this afternoon's show was good, with a rough patch here and there. One of which was completely my fault, and I felt terrible. I have a hard time separating "director" and "actor" - the pianist had hit an improper button which caused all the songs to be playing in a higher key. And of course she didn't notice. She was a handful.

Speaking of ill. Casey and I were both ill this week. Her, early in the week, and me currently, today, and right now. We're hoping its not something as contagious as strep. But its definitely a throat-attacking whatever-it-is. I sounded very interesting by the end of the two performances today.

Here's a couple good stories from today. One of the bees ended up pissing himself waiting to turn his costume in. The mom proceeded to get angry at Casey for it. M'amm, if you feel your child responsible enough to send him to rehearsal with two people in their early 20s everyday for a week, then he should be smart enough to hold it, pinch it off, or get to a john. Thank you.

After the show, Casey and I went to a store to supply what has become an after-show day cocktail tradition. I bought a package of 4 Bailey's minis and some milk and coke so we could drink some white russians. (with a splash of coke...colorado style) I was of course carded, which they seem much more strict about in these areas. My driver's license has a crack in it...has had it for some time. The lady was hesitant, because there was "physical damage near my picture." My picture is obviously me. Obviously. You could put a huge cracking crack down the nose of this picture, and you could see it was me. The crack is through my hair. I said, without any intent to incite a confrontation. "It's only a crack. No one's ever had a problem with it before." Her response was "No, I can refuse you service if I choose to."

I was a little bit shocked to receive such an aggressive response from her. I believe she must lead a very boring life, to be so excited to jump into such a trivial confrontation. I very nicely say "I'm well aware within your rights, I wasn't implying you weren't." She made me show her my social security card, before selling me the $11.00 pack of 4 Bailey's minis.

As I signed my receipt, she muttered under her breath. "but you do need to get a new id, as quickly as possible."

You need to find a new personality.

Equate brand...

Maybe Zantac will help my chest not feel like its on fire.

My diet doesn't help.

something so sour that it makes my eyes tear is not refreshing

9 packets of sugar, and 2 packets of Splenda.

I ordered a glass of Lemonade at dinner tonight. When the waitress brought it to the table, and said "hold on, I'll bring you some sugar" I thought something was unusual. Have you ever, ever in your life heard of unsweetened lemonade. It tasted like straight lemon juice, which was wonderful for my throat, and horrible for my acid reflux. The above mentioned sweeteners were what it took to sweet it to a barely drinkable level. I also kept dilluting it with water to finish it. There's still a burn in my throat. The Chicken Picatta, was delicious. Savory lemon butter sauce. So savory.

Nothing too out of the ordinary today. Rehearsal went well, if the yahoos were a bit scatter-brained all day. We haven't had the terror-fridays that have been described by other TADS, but this week might be the week. They're getting loopy by Wednesday. I'm gonna have alot of fun performing in this show, with these kids. Most of the high schoolers stayed after today to help the put up the set, getting to know them was really cool. The majority of this group is into Anime and rock music. Casey says its weird knowing that if she were their age, they'd be the kids she'd hang out with. We had so much fun with them that we stayed and chatted for a while after we set up the set, and when they saw our truck parked at the laundromat, they came in to invite us to go salsa dancing at a local club tonight. Unfortunately, fraternization like that is against the rules, but if it were otherwise...I'd go, though I wouldn't dance. I can barely foxtrot. Let alone Salsa. I mean, really.

Taos Yum

The subject title was the name of a dessert at a local restaurant here in Taos.

For the record, I love food. Not just like everyone else does. Casey often makes fun of my "tasting face." I love trying the local specialties. (i've gotten green chilies on as many things as possible here in New Mexico...you can get them at Subway) I like craft beers, artisan wines, even home-made sodas. Pizzas, sausages...whatever, if its local, if its unique, i wanna try it and pretend I'm Anthony Bourdain.

At any rate, we ate at a place called Taos Pizza Out Back. On my half of our medium was pepproni, capicolo, green chilies, and smoked cheddar (along with the mozarella) Casey tried mushrooms, artichoke hearts with basil pesto sauce, rather than traditional.

The pizza was excellent. The crust was a sesame seed style, which was interesting and delicious. But, the real exciting thing was the salad. Anybody who knows me, knows that its really interesting thing for me to love a salad.

More background: I used to hate salad, and despise lettuce. As a sidenote, I used to also gag when looking at onions. I've been forcing myself to get over these sort of foibles as I get more and more into food, cooking, and chefery. (It's my new word, get over it.) This salad had a house basil parmasean dressing and was one of the tastiest things I've ever had. I'll go back and get another salad. A bigger salad.

I apologize for that part. I really don't know if anyone would find that interesting.

Taos has been, in 2 days, our best residency thus far. We have yet to be this far ahead of schedule. This show will feature the most talented cast thus far, easily. Take for example the young man playing the title role. He has Tuesday off, because, in truth, his role is not the largest, though its the title role, and he learns most if not all of his stuff in one session on Monday. He was very concerned with the fact that he was the title role and not called on Tuesday, so much so that Casey came up with a wonderful gem. "Tuesday is your memorization day, because your the title role and you have so much responsibility that you need to take a day to work on everything at home." A fabulous ruse, IMO, and one that isn't entirely untrue.

It apparently backfired on her though, because our actor and his mother walked into our second session today. He claimed he wanted to watch the Assistant Director go through his part, because while running through his stuff at home, he realized he'd forgotten part of his blocking. Luckily, the kids move so fast that we were ahead of schedule, so I just plugged him into a couple of the few things he hadn't done yet. We're VERY ahead of schedule. One of the CEO's advice points when he came was "I'd rather you let them out 5 min. late than 5 min. early. In fact, I'd rather 5 min. late that on time." Its been a struggle to fill up those last minutes so far.

Another addition I have to tell any other TADs that might read this (though I think, Emma is the only one.) We might possibly have the best freckle ever this week. Our two Knights sing a weird song in the show that is supposed to be a bit of a spoof glam rock and roll scene, as they end in full on rock-star mode along with the minstrel at the end of the song. Today during Lunch, one of the Knights was jamming with the other kids on his electric guitar hooked up to a mini-amp. Naturally, we were excited to ask if he wanted to play it in the show during the scene. Comic gold will ensue as he one ups me and my tiny guitar, so what if its totally anachronistic? And, as it turns out, the other knight has and plays an electric guitar as well, they were choreographing their big finish with some extra time today.

This week, literally, rocks.

"Oh, God!"

Raton, NM

...

I don't know why anyone wants to live there. There is NOTHING in the town. 2 ATMS, a Movie Theatre that shows one movie, a BIG K mart, and a group of fast food restaurants that does not include Taco Bell.

It was wonderful to see friends, and the price of the room we were in (zero dollars and zero cents) was well worth the week, but Casey and I found ourselves staggeringly bored, completely out of our minds. More power to the folks who enjoy living in Raton(from what I could see, average age was about 65). There is alot of talk there about this "RACINO" contaption, which I think is something like a state-funded casino...and putting one in Raton. One piece of literature I read mentioned the fact that young people are leaving the area in droves as quickly as possible. It shows. What young people there were working at fast food restaurants and such seemed very unhappy. Not for me.

Their fireworks show though, was quite satisfactory...especially their finale. So that was nice. I would've been very upset to have seen mediocre fireworks on my week off.

Speaking of a week off...I wish it would've come later in the summer. Casey and I had just gotten rolling. We both missed doing our job this week, maybe it was because we were so bored in Raton, but I really think it was more because we really are enjoying our work. It'll be nice to get back tomorrow.

A story: As we were driving from Loveland on Sunday, we came abouts a Renaissance Fair in Larkspur, CO. I can have fun doing just about anything as long as its spontaneous, and going to my first renaissance fair on a whim was excellently spontaneous. Casey and I walked up to the gate, lamenting our lack of costumes...when it dawned on us that we have a giant stock of costumes in the back of the truck...(that are, as it turned out, slightly earlier than Renaissance style) So, I donned the minstrel costume and Casey put on a villager dress...and we locked my pants in the truck...with the keys in the pocket...and my wallet...and my phone...so we had to call a tow driver to come unlock our door, us dressed like medieval folk. It was a fun little trip. Becasue we couldn't use our Ford roadside assistance, normally we wouldn't have to pay, but our Fleet Manager thought our story so "unusual" that we deserve to be reimbursed. I love Guido.

Anyways, we're here in Taos now which seems a little more popping than Raton was. The drive from Raton to Taos was absolutely, without a doubt the most beautiful 90 miles I've ever experienced. Its tough to describe the beautiful Mesas, rocky cliffsides, evergreen slopes...it was wondrous. I'll have some pictures up on my picasa site soon.

I sincerely hope you're all doing well, and hope your world wasn't crushed without an update this past week.(:-/) Internet was also quite scarce in Raton.