bloggie blog

My car was filthy. Dangerously dirty when you consider the summer driving phenomenon in LA that involves lots of evening sun hitting your windshield. As is my wont, I washed my car today to celebrate an acting victory from last week, and as I was washing, got the phone call for an acting victory for next week. My car is clean again!

Allow me to recommend a very fun article by French Stewart over at LA Stage Times about theater. About small theater, mostly. Part seriousosity, part tongue-in-cheek.

So why small theater? A couple of years ago I told a friend I was doing another play and she seemed really perplexed. “Why are you still doing this, French? It’s an irrelevant art form. You might as well concentrate on CAVE PAINTING!”

Indeed. For me it’s really simple. It’s a small group of people making something for another small group of people. It’s the same feeling you get when someone sends you an actual letter, prepares a meal for you, or helps you move furniture. It’s personal. Time has been taken, effort expressed. It connects both parties in a very direct way. Plus, you’ve  had an experience that isn’t held hostage on hard drive or film. It’s the sole property of memory. Lovely.

Yup, lovely. This is true and wholesome. But the other side of theater is fun stuff like, “Backstage, we do a pedophile-themed vocal warm up (‘get in the van, I’m a family friend, get in the van, I’m a family friend…’).”

I recommend his current production very much. What’s not covered in this article is that Watson is very inventive in its stagecraft!

In the last seven weeks, I’ve seen seven plays. They span quite a diverse spectrum of good, contemporary American playwriting, including three world premieres. I’m glad I saw all of them! In reverse chronological order, with links to those still running, they were Extraordinary Chambers, No Word in Guyanese for Me, Pursued by Happiness, Re-Animator: The Musical, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, Burn This, and A House Not Meant to Stand.

My highest recommendation of the lot goes to No Word in Guyanese for Me because of the strong performance by Anna Khaja in this one-woman show written by Wendy Graf. You want to see good acting? See her. (Disclaimer: I know Anna pretty well.) I’d recommend the performances of Brooks Ashmanskas and Adam Rothenberg, too, but Burn This has closed.

As for the writing, I loved Neil Simon’s comedy as expressed through the spot-on anger of Jason Alexander starring in The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, but the biggest gut-busting laughter came from a few wonderful moments in the crazy, gory, out-there spectacle that is Re-Animator: The Musical. It needs some small rewrites, if you ask me, but it really knocks home some great laughs — and gross grimaces. I haven’t had such a full-body reaction to theater in a looooong time. On the serious side, I’m glad I got to see Tennessee Williams’s last play, though I didn’t “get” its ending. The chance for reflection on personal tragedies that I got from Keith Huff’s writing in Pursued by Happiness and the reflection I got on personal and global tragedies from David Wiener’s writing in Extraordinary Chambers leads me to recommend these shows and their fine performances and directing wholeheartedly.

Another note. In three of these plays, there’s a role I’m very right for that I tried to audition for or that I actually did audition for. Seeing those actors perform something I’d hoped to perform was interesting. At two of these shows, as I scrutinized, I admired, and that’s that. In one, however, I believe I would have been better, and it was at one of the most prestigious venues on the west coast. What the?

So, with a little luck and a little discrimination, I’ve seen good-to-great performances at a nice little clip lately. You go out and see a good show, too!

Dear Casting Networks aka LA Casting,

Let me get right to it: Please include all dates in notification emails that go out from you to actors. Currently, dates for callback auditions and shoot dates are not included in emails that actors get via their commercial agencies, yet this information is known to you and can be viewed manually by the agencies.

If you do not include callback and shoot dates in notification emails because of some business decision, that is, if you are doing this by choice, reconsider that choice! You are doing an immense disservice to the acting community, to the thousands of actors that you rely on to make a profit. That alone should be reason to change.

If it’s for technical reasons, please hire me to fix it. Are you currently understaffed? Is it some other reason? I don’t know, but I do know this: I could fix it easily and quickly, so easily and so quickly that I would be willing to do it for free. You do not have to pay me to fall off a log, is what I’m saying.

Thanks for listening, and I look forward to a change very soon, or at least an explanation. The acting community deserves one or the other right away.

Respectfully,

Kevin Ashworth
http://www.lacasting.com/kevinashworth

P.S. In case you’re wondering, yes, I took a very big hit last week because of this issue.

P.P.S. If you don’t receive these notices and are curious to see what they look like, I’ve uploaded a few sample screenshots of emails I’ve received over the last year in this addendum.

I have Jury Duty and am going Off The Grid. Catch you on the flip side, daddy-o.

Recently, the United States Postal Service sent out a leaflet about fraud, fraud’s warning signs and how to help stop fraud. Dear actor, I want to help stop fraud. Under the heading YOU CAN AVOID BECOMING A VICTIM OF FRAUD the Post Office published a list of warning signs:

1. Sounds too good to be true.
2. Pressures you to act “right away.”
3. Guarantees success.
4. Promises unusually high returns.
5. Requires an upfront investment — even for a “free” prize.
6. Buyers want to overpay you for an item and have you send them the difference.
7. Doesn’t have the look of a real business.
8. Something just doesn’t feel right.

Now, the sixth item on this list is such an enormous red flag, that even actors don’t fall for it. Otherwise, the other 7 are commonly seen in actor-related services, and more particularly in the promotional materials actors receive. In fact, I’d dare say that a good 3 out of 8 warning signs can be found in a majority of emails that are sent to actors to promote actor-related services in this town.

Fraud, fear and falsehood. Ponder these things, dear actor, ponder.

“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.”
—Jean-Luc Godard

Tuesday, October 5, 2010, was Bow Tie Tuesday! Of course it was, you say, just like every first Tuesday of the month. Of course.

I celebrated several hours, sporting a couple of bow ties throughout the day, posting a pic or two on the Twitter. In case you missed the bow-tie fun, here are two pictures of my ties, plus a Tweet from @kelseylink and one from @kayemjay6.

I hate them. They are ugly. They advertise garbage, including acting and VO resources for the stupid. They take up parking spaces, or — grrr — some drive during rush hour, worsening traffic. You hate them, too, all of you except for my readers who are soulless.

Well. All we need to do is follow San Francisco’s lead, but from Ban Billboard Blight we learn that it’s been 2 years and 17 days since it came up in LA City Council. See Mobile Billboards: Bringing More Air Pollution, Traffic Congestion, Parking Problems.

Let us pray for progress. In addition to problems of pollution and other inefficiencies, there’s the visual vexation of blight. I moved here from Boston and the better aesthetics of driving around most larger streets there is something I haven’t forgotten yet.

You’ve heard about the digital divide, right? There will always be inequalities in the world, but this phrase refers to the new ways in which we are seeing a divide between the haves and the have-nots with new technologies.

Today I would like to take a moment to applaud AT&T on this front. Here in LA, some of the wealthiest neighborhoods have the worst AT&T coverage. I’m talking about the Hollywood hills, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Man, do I admire the Socialist-Commie-Pinko-Democrat-Bleeding-Hearts at AT&T who brazenly do not cater to their richest constituents.

AT&T, you looked at the only neighborhoods in town that could afford iPhones, and you told them to suck it. You go, AT&T!

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of Los Angeles’s best known tourist attractions. In fact, it’s way up there as far as sidewalks go. (Really, is there a more famous sidewalk in the world?) Now, I’m not one to hit up the tourist traps, but the Walk of Fame is one of few touristy things I’ve done. Inadvertently. If walking to a store counts as doing something touristy. This is because in my old apartment and my new one, I live(d) within walking distance of the Walk.

Spanky McFarland used to be the closest star to my pad. His star is at the very western end of the Walk, where La Brea Ave and the north side of Hollywood Blvd meet. Now Franklin Pangborn is closest to me, as his star is at on the east side of Vine St at Sunset Blvd. Both faces I know fondly, but the latter’s name is less well known — unless you love Preston Sturges movies. You watch Preston Sturges movies, you love them. This is a simple, reliable formula (with the exception of The Great Moment, which is a yawner, despite dealing with a worthy, historical subject).

While Franklin Pangborn also did multiple Jack Benny films and multiple W.C. Fields films, I think Sturges withstands the test of time better. So if you happen to be wanting to watch some great old movies, let me recommend the following Preston Sturges films that have Franklin Pangborn in them: Sullivan’s Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero, Christmas in July. These are not Sturges’s best three, but they’re good, and better than The Great Moment, which also happens to have Franklin Pangborn in it. The one film on this list of 3 that I need to watch again, and have been wanting to watch for months now even since a friend said I remind her of Joel McCrea, is Sullivan’s Travels. Off to the library to rent me a DVD!