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A Diet of Olives and Wine

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A lacrymatory or lachrymatory is a small vessel of terracotta or, more frequently, of glass, found in Roman and late Greek tombs, and supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears. Opening week, and with four days to go we're at 90% of the "break even" point. And that is very nice. Because we deserve it. Because people are going to love this play. As I do. As the cast does. As does Rome itself! Probably. I am a vessel of terracotta or, more frequently, of glass filled with equal parts dread and joy.  Adding to this is the decision I made to accept a job offer this week. It was a very gentle recruiting process, and a soft application process, and it just suddenly happened. Thus, the experiment to take six months off to write and create became three and a half months off and grabbing the first thing that dangled itself in front of me.  It will mean this play will have filled the gap entirely.  It will go on my timeline as how I filled ...
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Beset at the Chess Set

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"You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!" Tuesday's rehearsal was nice and full; we maxed out the time. An enormous group of children swarmed the chess set near the beginning. They really trashed the place, wielding the bishops like clubs and chucking the checkers at one another's feet, but we just slid over to our left and did our thing.  There's a man who uses the second floor of the Amory as his office. He's there seven or eight hours a day with his laptop and headphones. We had to intrude on his area a little. But he didn't seem to mind. I was prepared to offer him a free ticket. I should anyway. The security guards too. The maintenance persons too! Everyone!  This part of the process is almost pure joy. Not every production gets to this place, but this one has. I get very excited about rehearsal beforehand, show up ready to go, and laugh through the whole thing. Different lines crack me u...
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The Noose Tightens

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Imperial Rome — centre of the world — throbbing with the white heat of violence, bloodshed and uninhibited sexuality… Bought as an actor, kidnapped by pirates, sold as a gladiator, young Cleon’s beauty and flagrant masculinity made every woman – harlots and Vestal Virgins alike – desire him. And passion drives Cleon to help destroy a Caesar! Three weeks to go! Wardrobe has sent me video of her dancing with a column-shaped hat and photos of silver sandals. The Emperor's Son has a salon appointment to get his Caesar haircut. I ordered packing tape with the logo on it. It's all happening. We rehearsed my scene last week, and I was in a very playful mood, ad-libbing and jumping around. It's just a cameo, but I'd like it to be fun and not seem like a vanity-appearance. The AD had helpful feedback, pushing me a little and working out some better physicality for the scene. A good time at the chess set.  The two-options-on-three-fingers gesture is working now, ...
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Marketing and the Monarchy

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EXPERIENCE! An ambitious young man on a chariot of leopards! WITNESS! The mysterious inner sanctum of an egg-loving prophetess. We're at the stage where we've got the show blocked (mostly), the actors know their lines (sort of) and we're starting to feel the nervous energy that comes with knowing it's close. The ticket link is live, and while they're not flying out the door, we're seeing some movement. We're probably 25% of where we need to be to "break even." Not a bad place to be with a little less than a month to go 'til curtain.  But I would like a little bit more "buzz."  I was having a bit of an SEO problem. The ticket company we're using doesn't really "rank" in the algorithm, so if a random person had seen one of our stickers and was curious enough to google the play, they wouldn't really find anything. Getting the play into a local social calendar turned that around, though. Our marke...
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Of Musk and Men

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"I am the greatest actor in all of Rome! And yet… they say I merely mimic greatness and do not… embody it." The rough draft of the poster came in this week, and it was pretty glorious. Striking black image on a flat red background. The artist used the font from the poster for Fellini's Satyricon and it fit perfectly inside the wolf's body. I had been concerned about a legibility issue, but I am a famous fool. I was immediately happy with it, waking Sara up to take a look.  Having a keen eye for such things, she noticed the word Music in "A Play with Music and Prophecy" looked like "Musk." Turns out an I and a C together look like a K. A Play with Musk and Prophecy.  I pinged the artist, and I was like, "hey, music looks lik--" and he was like, "Musk! I know, I moved it all around, it's the font."  And I was like, "can you--" and he was like, "I did, this is the best. Just change the word."...
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On a Wave of Litigation

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" As the only living member of the bloodline, I have become Empress! And you are nothing! Oh, how you will suffer! What untold tortures will be visited upon you, legally!" The play needs a poster. In the past, I've worked with comic book artists or gotten my designer coworkers to help me, but for the last few I've been working with The Ohmu, an old friend whose dedicated his pyrite years to developing his dormant skills. He's made some amazing posters for Floating Tomb, a DJ night we're both associated with, and he really came through on The Mighty Sequoias and Tulips of Fury (the productions previous to this one). The Capitoline Wolf is a plot-point in the play, and though I think of that as a famous image, I think audiences usually benefit from a "refresher" on those things. And sometimes they need to be educated. So, the poster can do that work for this one. I asked him to provide an image of the wolf with a single tear falling out of her ...
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Three Choices and an Uninvited Guest

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Cheap, fast, or accurate... pick two! There was an amusing incident last week, where a very high dude sort of wandered into the rehearsal room and asked if he could watch for a while. I made a snap judgment he wasn't taking part in a scavenger hunt with "dead actors" on the list and let him stay. He kind of slumped over most of the time, waking up to say "heh" when the rest of us woke him with our laughter. He seemed fairly bewildered and after about half an hour, I gently told him the rest of the rehearsal was "closed." He smiled, thanked us, and left. I hope it wasn't a preview of how the paying audience will react. Another solid week of rehearsal with some good work with the denizens of Exile Isle. We were able to integrate the actual actors who interact with them (as opposed to reading the missing people's lines) and it got pretty tight. There was a pretty clunky line given to the Greatest Actor in Rome, and I asked her to just rew...
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