Center Theatre Group Blog

Mike Sablone is CTG’s Literary Associate, starting left fielder and third-string shortstop for Dark Monday, the CTG softball team.

So you know how I go on and on and on and on and on and on about how the new plays and musicals we work on are in development, and just because we’ve had the world premiere doesn’t mean that our work is done?

(If the answer is no, punch yourself in the face, and then go along with me. Harsh? Yes! Fair? I think so!)

Two weekends ago I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the second production of a show that is near and dear to my heart.

BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON.

When we closed the show here we were thrilled with how the production looked and very happy with where the script was. Happy because we knew which parts were working the way we wanted them to, and which parts weren’t working as well as we wanted them to. By the time the show had closed, Alex Timbers (director, book writer), Michael Friedman (music and lyrics) and I had had numerous conversations about the next draft, cut chunks of the show, rearranged where musical numbers went, and generally were chomping at the bit to get it up again.

Saturday, May 16^th, 2009, I saw the show again at The Public in New York.

And I was blown away. The script is tighter, the jokes funnier, the exposition clearer. It was the show I always knew was there.

I am so incredibly proud of the work that Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman have done on this show. Two of the funniest, smartest, and most talented artists I’ve ever encountered continue to amaze me with this piece.

I’d be lying if I said to you that five minutes after the show ended, still grinning and elated from seeing the show, Alex and I didn’t talk about two or three moments that we still wanted to tweak.

Which is what makes this piece so thrilling. Even when it’s working the way we want it to, there are still small tweaks that we feel can make the show even better.

This show is everything I want theater to be. It’s young, it’s smart, it’s effing hilarious, it uses actual contemporary music to help elevate the story when it needs it, and it’s got a message, but most of all? It’s fun. Theater shouldn’t have to be work. Theater doesn’t have to be boring, bland vegetables all the time. Theater shouldn’t be something young people and kids should dread.

It can be so much more.

It can be BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON.

For all of you Spamalot and Monty Python fans out there, Eric Idle and Hank Azaria (Spamalot original cast, The Simpsons) will be teaming up for an evening of Pythonesque humor in Hollywood this September.

Whet your absurdist whistle with Monty Python’s Spamalot, playing the Ahmanson Theatre beginning July 7! Tickets are available now. No Chief Wiggum, but we’ll take Seinfeld’s John O’Hurley as King Arthur any day!

Mike Sablone is CTG’s Literary Associate, starting left fielder and third-string shortstop for Dark Monday, the CTG softball team.

I told myself like I always do: it will be a quick weekend of shows in New York. I’ll go in, catch BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON at the Public, see two more shows, then fly back, refreshed.

Per usual, that plan got thrown out immediately once I looked at what else was playing.

The thought process went something like this:

“Jesus! CORALINE is in previews?!?! David Greenspan, Stephin Merritt, Neil Gaiman AND Leigh Silverman? Did they design this show specifically for me? I have to see this. Right away. In fact I’ll land Friday at 5, go directly to the theater and then my trip will be off to a great start (which proved to be true)…”

And then it’s:

“Jenny Mudge! I’ve got to see her in THE PHILANTHROPIST! I’ve known her forever! We go way back! I can catch a Saturday matinee of that show…”

Which was then chased by:

“Wait, I can see all three of Tarell McCraney’s plays at the McCarter under the title THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS on Sunday? His plays are hauntingly beautiful and I can only hope that the productions do his vision justice (I was not let down. They are gorgeous productions of stunning plays, especially IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER.)…”

Which was quickly followed by:

“Wait, they added a Monday evening performance for 33 VARIATIONS? Written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, featuring much of the design team for our BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO? Regardless of all of that (which was enough for me to see the show), it has an old friend of mine, Scott Barrow, in an ensemble track. I mean he was my roommate for two years in New York. We shared a one bedroom apartment that had a shower in the living room which was also the kitchen. And two years earlier I had to go on for him in a show I was stage managing when he sliced his knee open on tour. Why would I not see this show? Plus if I go on Monday I can tell them about the (justifiably) good reviews for BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO…”

And then it’s Tuesday and I’m seeing JACKSON for the second time. Five days. 8 shows. Not sleeping. But seeing talented people in wonderful shows back to back to back to back to…well you get it.

Which equals me arriving back in Los Angeles this past Wednesday. Satiated, but frigging exhausted.

It was completely worth it.

Next week I devote an entire blog entry to BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON: THE CONCERT VERSION.

Here’s a sneak preview: it’s frigging awesome.

On her blog, actress Julia Stiles reflects on Oleanna, just 2 days away from beginning in previews at the Mark Taper Forum, and about the always-jarring transition from New York to Los Angeles.

Ana Rose O’Halloran is the Communications Coordinator for Center Theatre Group’s Development Department.

This past week, I cut off 14 inches of my hair for the second time in my life and donated it to Locks of Love. This non-profit organization uses donated hair to create wigs for children who suffer from medical hair loss because of alopecia or cancer. My parents have always taught me the importance of helping others and have donated to non-profits my whole life. They have instilled the importance of lifelong giving in me, which is why I donate my hair and make contributions every few months to my undergraduate university and a homeless/women’s shelter down the street from where I live. I think this is part of the reason why I love working in development at CTG so much. I am able to help raise money for something that I love - theatre. Donating my hair made me wonder what other people who raise money for a living choose to support when they make donations.

A few weeks ago, several CTG staff members held a very successful bake sale to raise money for National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I also conducted an informal survey amongst some of the Development staff and there seems to be several common causes that receive donations from them - alma maters, art organizations, health organizations, human rights organizations, and pet organizations (there are a lot of animal lovers in Devo). Most surprising to me, is that there were several people in our department who donate to CTG! Not only do they work long hours, but they reinvest part of their paycheck into the organization because they believe so strongly in our mission.

A few weeks ago, when I informed the department that I had been growing my hair out to donate it, my boss Liz said that if I wrote a blog about my donation she too would become a CTG donor. So, I am happy to report not only did I donate 14 inches of my hair to a child who needed it this week, but I also cultivated a new CTG donor.

Actor Glenn Davis plays Tom, an American soldier, in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Moisés Kaufman. He will be contributing to the CTG blog periodically as the show gets ready for the stage.

So we are in the stretch run now. We finished tech (which was a BEAST to say the LEAST) and we are now rehearsing during the day and previewing at night. Every night, the show gets stronger it seems.

We’re finding the nuance in our performances now, which is great. It’s like the final phase of the show just before you open. It feels great to just run the show after such a long tech. We open on Sunday so we still have a few more performances to get it right. We have also been flirting with different endings. With a new play, especially one this profound, it’s fairly common for the writer to give the actors rewrites all the way up until opening, in some cases beyond. I was lucky enough to sit in on the rehearsal process for August Wilson’s King Hedley II at the Goodman when I was in Theatre School. He would give actors rewrites the day of opening. It was funny in a way, but I remember thinking that those actors were brave. Now I think to myself, “it’s what we do”. It’s actually kinda fun for me. It adds a sense of danger. What makes theatre so thrilling, essentially, is the notion that something can go wrong. It’s like walking a tight rope. 

Of course you don’t want the person to fall, but the mere possibility that they could, is why you watch them in the first place. THE MOMENT is something artists talk about often. It’s what we live for. So, that said, I like getting new pages. It’s a challenge to find the structure of the scene, the character, the MOMENTS as quickly as possible. Deadlines make the world go round. So Rajiv has one, Moisés has one, and we have one. We all know it’s there but we rarely talk about it in those terms. And when it’s fast approaching, you see what you are really made of, as well as the artists around you. It’s supremely scary and thrilling all at once.

So yeah… we open on Sunday and we are in a great place with the show. The previewing audiences seem to really enjoy it. Sometimes it’s alarming how well they take it. There are moments in the play that one does not see as funny when reading or even rehearsing, for example. But those are things you don’t count on as an actor; or at least you try not to. I find that it does not help me to presume an audience will laugh at something that I may think is funny. Once I do, I’m dead. Moisés is waaay better at detecting funny moments in the play. He will say, “they will laugh at this”, and I go, “really, u think so?” I may even think to myself, “they are NOT gonna laugh at that”. Sure enough, they laugh. Needless to say, that is why Moisés is a director and I’m not.

The audiences have been really great thus far and I’m excited every night as we negotiate the storytelling with them. It’s a dance between us and them. We are all extremely excited to be a part of this world premiere and looking forward to opening night. As Brad would say, “It’s gonna be rad”. He also uses the word, “narly” from time to time. I know what you’re thinking. I don’t get it either. But, that’s my boy.

Arian Moayed portrays Musa in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. He will be blogging for CTG periodically and tweeting as well: you can follow him at twitter.com/ArianMoayed.

About to go into a rehearsal before Preview #4. Boy oh boy. It’s been a roller coaster. I’ve been so excited with all the re-writes. Last night we got rewrites at 4:30pm…that had to be implemented into last nights performance. We had to do it with a script in hand. That is the first time that’s happened to me but the audience really seemed to enjoy last nights performance and weren’t thrown by the new pages.

Some nice lady came up to me and started crying after the performance. It had really moved her and I didn’t really know what to say. I just said thank you and thank you and thank you. Theater can really be powerful. This play has that ability.

This is a wonderful play. I can’t say enough about it. I’m truly blessed to be working with such great designers, crew members and actors. CTG is wonderful.

Who knows what will happen for tonights performance? Maybe we’ll have more new pages…

Arian

PS: I’m still TWEETING at my account. Check me out at twitter.com/arianmoayed

Actress Julia Stiles (The Bourne trilogy, State and Main, 10 Things I Hate About You) will soon be starring opposite Bill Pullman in David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Mark Taper Forum.

She recently blogged about the experience and about revisiting the challenging work after a successful run in London a few years ago.

Mike Sablone is CTG’s Literary Associate, starting left fielder and third-string shortstop for Dark Monday, the CTG softball team.

I was working on a blog posting of the favorite rap and hip-hop tracks/videos from the creative team of VENICE, but along that way got distracted by various YouTube videos. I mean, how could I not watch the extended “Fight The Power” video over and over again?

But it wasn’t just old Public Enemy videos that got me excited. It was a handful of remixes. That I shall share with you.

Just because. Stop asking so many questions. Jeez.

I start, first, with the Auto-Tune The News guys, Michael and Andrew Gregory. Their newest: Obama Flashback, is pretty great, but to me nothing matches “Auto-Tune the News 2: Pirates. Drugs. Gay Marriage.” Good god I love this video.

Before you watch, a warning: It’s insanely catchy. Seriously, I’ve had it in my head for the past two weeks. Mostly because Katie Couric is a genius. The other parts are great, but better once you understand the lyrics. Helpful hint: download the mp3, specifically for that Angry Gorilla section which is unintelligible in the video.

I’m thinking about telling the guys for VENICE that if we need more laughs, we kick up the auto-tune. Because, frankly, everything does sound funnier with auto-tune.

Case in point. Who doesn’t love Vince Shlomi? Who is Vince Shlomi, you ask? Do the words ShamWow and Slap-Chop mean anything to you? They don’t to me. But you know what does mean something to me? Rap Chop.

Side note, if anyone knows where the kid is that shows up 1:18 into the video wearing the Nike sweatshirt, please tell me. I need him to teach me his sick dance moves.

You know what the songs in VENICE are not like? This Domino’s Pasta commercial:

Dominos Pasta DUDE!

The best thing about this is not the terrible, terrible “rapping pasta” but the families justifiably frightened response to a rapping piece of pasta. It’s like the ad execs had an idea, then were so mortified by it that they had two of the people in the ad revolt. Good work Domino’s, good work.

This last one isn’t auto-tuned, or rap, but the spirit of cutting and pasting and remixing is brought to another level with “Thru You: Mother of All Funk Chords”:

What Kutiman (the artist) does here and in seven or so other videos available on YouTube is phenomenal. Sampling, remixing, cutting and mashing-up these video and audio snippets to make not only his own song, but a clever video as well, is a rare talent.

I’ll have more hip-hop postings soon, but those will have to wait a bit. I’m heading to New York next weekend to see BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON and need my brain to switch from hip-hop to post-punk power-pop.

I’m hoping this mashup will help me put the nail in the coffin of the bastardization of the rap/rock genre by creating JUDGEMENT NIGHT: THE MUSICAL.

Caitie Hannon is the Grants Associate for Center Theatre Group

Three exciting things happened last Thursday - I got to hang out in the Douglas lobby with a group of young professionals talking about what kind of theatre they love; I got to see a really exciting and promising workshop of a hip-hop musical; and I ate dinner at Chipotle.  All in all, a very exciting evening.  Let me break it down for you.

We’re planning to start a Young Professionals group at CTG and thought we’d talk to people from our target age range (22-35) to get feedback.  So we told some of our corporate donors to spread the word that we were looking for young professionals to survey, expecting 25 or so to show up.  We ended up getting 50 RSVPs, which is how I became involved - we had only been planning on having two staff members, and since that wasn’t going to be sufficient, I was asked to come along.  I was thrilled, as much of what I do involves sitting at a computer and writing grant applications … I definitely enjoy writing, but human to human contact is always a nice change.

The discussion was great - my group had a lot of good ideas, and was very excited about all of the possible benefits we discussed.  If I didn’t already work here, I’d totally join - who wouldn’t want to meet lots of young, fun L.A. folks and see some good theatre?

So after the discussion, the focus group members went to Rush Street for dinner and drinks, and I met up with my brother at Chipotle.  More on that in the last paragraph…

After dinner, we all met back at the Douglas to see a workshop of Venice, the aforementioned hip-hop musical.  Having seen Clay last season at the Douglas (which was written by the same folks that wrote Venice - Matt Sax and Eric Rosen), I was really looking forward to this sneak peek at their latest adventure.  They had invested a lot in this piece already, and their passion definitely showed.  The performance was a blast - the cast was incredibly talented, some of the music and lyrics were stuck in my head all night (in a good way - an “I want the soundtrack” way, not an “I can’t get that song from Annie out of my head” way), and it was great to see a new side of Matt and Eric’s writing.  The talkback with Matt and the cast afterward was fascinating and we got to hear all about their process (they learned their roles over a few weeks amidst constant re-writes - and yet most of the cast members were impressively off-book).

And finally, Chipotle was delicious, and I had leftovers that I wanted to save for later, so before the show started I went backstage to put them in the fridge - and ran into Matt in the hallway.  Man, I hate it when I get star struck.  It’s embarrassing, I mean, this is a normal guy who just happens to be incredibly talented.  I was too speechless to say or do anything other than smile shyly and look down while bee lining for the fridge.  After we left the green room, I nervously turned to my brother and asked, “Did I play it cool?  Was it totally obvious that I’m a ridiculous fan of his?”  He reassured me that Matt probably hadn’t even noticed I was there, and I breathed a sigh of relief … and, of course, after the show I completely forgot that my Chipotle was in the fridge and left without it.  Sigh.  Oh well, hopefully the cast got to eat it.

Kelly Karbacz and Bryan Terrell Clark (front) and the company of “Venice” by Matt Sax and Eric Rosen in a workshop presentation in DouglasPlus at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.  Photo by Craig Schwartz.