Saturday, June 23, 2007

 

i google myself

I am remiss in my totally venal plug: check out i google myself by my schoolyard chum Jason Schafer, produced by Theatre Askew at Under St. Marks, St. Marks btwn. 1st and A, NYC. It's a delightfully evil play, with porn stars, hot air balloons, and googling. Runs through July 7th, Thu-Sat, 8pm.

Labels: plugs, productions, theatre

posted by Dan 1:54 PM
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Friday, May 18, 2007

 

Poe in Utah

I’ve been off-line, in part preparing for this:



The New American Playwrights Project
@ The Utah Shakespearean Festival
presents a workshop of

Early Poe
by Dan Trujillo
Directed by Charles Metten
August 16, 17, 30
Death, mystery, disease, insanity, blood, poetry: It’s not one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. It’s his life, and he’s only just turned thirteen. Struggling with his severe foster-father, Edgar escapes into fantasy. But when one of his fantasies becomes flesh, it could destroy him and the only father he’s ever known. It’s a weird tale of the wild visions and macabre realities of the young poet.

For information and tickets, go here.

Labels: productions, theatre

posted by Dan 12:57 PM
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Thursday, February 01, 2007

 

They Got Spunk

A couple of photos of the 07 remount of Right On, America!





And there's a podcast interview with the cast at Denverpost.com.

I'm telling you, Denver is sounding pretty good right now. Even with the snow and polar bears.

Labels: productions, theatre

posted by Dan 9:42 PM
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

 

Insert Clever Use of “Mile High” Here

A couple of events in Denver: Jason Grote’s 1001 is kicking out the serious jams at Denver Center, which is terrific news. The selection I saw of the play was great. It looks like the kind of exciting production that I wish we had around this backwater…

Playing Gleek to Grote’s Superman, my sketch comedy show Right On, America (co-written with Josh A. Cagan) will be appearing late-nite at Avenue Theater, Feb. 2-Mar. 10, Fridays and Saturdays, at 10:30 pm. The show was written in 1999-2000, so it’s odd to have a comedy show that makes no reference to the wars. But hey, some jokes are evergreen. Like making fun of cancer.

Labels: productions, theatre, thumbs up

posted by Dan 3:47 PM
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Thursday, January 25, 2007

 

A Thousand Thanks...

To the cast and crew of Talk of the Walk-Up: To Betsy Johnson, Daryl Lathon, Heather Lind, Scott Olmstead, James Prendergast, Ronica V. Reddick, and Mac Rogers for their performances, to Patrick Shearer for his fabulous Foley, and most especially to Isaac for being my partner in crime.

The purpose of this workshop was like an out-of-town tryout…without the opening on Broadway, of course. Some plays just need to be put up in front of an audience before I know what I have. TOTWU’s verbal gymnastics and alternate reality are tough to get a read on from the page, or even a reading. I got a lot from just rehearsing the thing. And I am a lot clearer on what the thing is, and how to help it be more that, after seeing the audience response.

As so often happens: there was an element of the show that never failed to send us into fits of giggles in the rehearsal room, but that pretty much died on stage. It was hard to see this might happen when rehearsing in bits and pieces; but when I experienced the play in order along with an audience, I had a clear understanding of why it wasn’t funny. It wasn’t that the actors were bad, or the direction was bad, or even the writing was bad. It was just a hunk of lead that only revealed itself in performance. So it goes with some gems too.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 4:15 PM
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

 

Seriously, Get Your Tickets Now

Tonight's performance of Talk of the Walk-Up is just shy of selling out. The critics who are all total strangers agree: Talk of the Walk-Up is...odd.

Call 212-501-4751 or go online to claim one of the few remaining seats.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 10:19 AM
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Friday, January 19, 2007

 

JOIN US

Talk of the Walk-Up opens this Sunday! People are in garbage cans! People are in hats! People are who they say they are, and not! LOOKOUT!

TALK OF THE WALK-UP
A fable in freestyle verse by Dan Trujillo
Directed by Isaac Butler

A tyrannical apartment superintendent,
a demented runaway,
and their bad, bad thing...

with
Betsy Johnson, Daryl Lathon, Heather Lind, Scott Olmstead, James Prendergast, Ronica V. Reddick and Mac Rogers.
Live sound design by Patrick Shearer

A workshop produced as part of the manhattantheatresource
Play Ground Development Series
@ manhattantheatresource
177 Macdougal St., between 8th St. and Waverly.
January 21-23, 8pm.
Tickets: $15.00
Reservations: 212.501.4751,
or reserve on line at www.theatreshop.org


Seats are going like shrimp at the buffet. Tuesday especially. Reserve now.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 11:18 AM
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Monday, January 08, 2007

 

THIS IS THE POWERS OF FATE AND DESTINY SPEAKING

Tickets are now on sale for Talk of the Walk-Up, by me, directed by Isaac Butler. Call for reservations at 212-501-4751, or log on to theatreshop.org and buy tickets in advance.

It is your fate to come see the show. Seating is destined to be limited! Elaine! ELAAAAAAAINE!

(to understand what I’m on about, come see the show!)

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 11:29 AM
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Monday, December 18, 2006

 

Silence is better.

For me, sometimes. For work, anyway. When I’m busy here, it’s because I’ve reached a pause in my writing. This is a brief breath before I dive into rehearsals for the workshop of Talk of the Walk-Up, directed by the inimitable Isaac Butler and featuring mild-mannered superhero Mac Rogers.

I hate to call it a workshop, by the way. That can mean a lot of godawful, from a staged reading with awkward blocking, all the way up to a production with plausible denial. Talk will be closer to the latter than the former, but I wouldn’t call it full production. There will be a roughness to the performance because we will be toying with our beakers. Also, there is no entity financially behind it other than me. “Me Productions Presents” may be a little too DIY for this old fogey.

So what to call it. “The Rough Cut?” Perhaps.

The silence here is due to work, of course. Real work. There’s very little that satisfies me more than regular stretches of concentrated work on a script. Morning after morning spent with it. It’s soothing, it’s smooth menthol flavor, frankly. I wonder if the work isn’t a form of medication for me, necessary in part because of my suspicion of pharmaceuticals. When I’m idle, I’m difficult to be around. Petulant. That sometimes comes out here, because this is where I go when idle.

But I love you too, blog! Still, there’s nothing that can substitute for putting my head down and enjoying a silence with a script. I’ve followed many of the discussions going on with great interest. Ultimately I find myself able to contribute very little directly. My contribution is mostly in what I write. It’s the best way to put what I want from theatre. This isn’t to denigrate those who write extensively on their aesthetic. If the good Lord would only hold the sun in the sky for me a few hours each night.

And speaking of that contribution, here’s some great photos of my last production, Jingle Spree, shot by filmmaker and musician Marshal Serna. It starts on the last page of the archive, because the photo shoot reversed the order of the acts. Click the back arrow to see more.

Labels: photos, productions, true confessions

posted by Dan 11:57 AM
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Friday, November 03, 2006

 

Blew It

I’m a big enough man to admit it. I gave my play a bad title. A misleading title. Jingle Spree. Jingles are a candy that figure into the plot. But people who encounter the title think it’s about Christmas. Actors thought that auditioning, audiences think that coming into the theatre. But it’s not about Christmas. Jingle Spree IS NOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS. I should have changed it, but I didn’t.

Titles are not my strong suit. Some people come up with three great titles before breakfast, and to those people I wish syringes in their Fruity Pebbles. But for me, they're are as hard as calculus. I’ve tried all kinds of suggestions, and it still takes me 8 months to come up with a passable title, and who knows how long to find a good one.

So now I have to decide if I should come up with a new title going forward, or if I should be that parent who let my child go to school with the name S**tcan DuBoner.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 12:11 PM
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Thursday, November 02, 2006

 

Here Comes the Talk

Upcoming NYC Production: my play Talk of the Walk-Up will have a short self-propelled run at Manhattan Theatre Source, January 21-23, 2007. Directed by the inimitable Isaac Butler. I'll finally get a chance to see if this looney noodle of a show, you know, works.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 4:18 PM
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Thursday, October 19, 2006

 

But Forget Them, What About Me?

I’m told that one is never supposed to read one’s reviews, and I suspect that most people do anyway. So I did. When you’re all by your lonesome in the operation, you have to. I was happy to get a positive pass on Jingle Spree in my hometown rag, The Oregonian. Definitely a Creamsicle for the inner child, a little love from the paper I grew up reading. I’m even more pleased for the cast, because (as actor Harold Phillips has noted here and here) the rehearsal trip wasn’t clear skies and roasted peanuts. Ticket sales have been slow, but hopefully this will help them pick up.

I’d also like to note that critic Richard Wattenberg actually requested the script in order to write his review. There’s a level of commitment to the critic’s role that puts the big shots to shame, and rightly so. Last night Mattj and I discussed the ascension of the dilettante critic, that wears their ignorance of the form they review with pride. Think this attitude will produce another Clurman? But thankfully Wattenberg proves that there’s still thoughtfulness on the dead flat trees. Of course, if he’d given me a bad pass, I’d probably insult his grandmother.

Let This Be A Warning To All Critics' Grandmothers.

In that vein, I will leave intelligent thoughts on such matters to the other bloggers on the left. I have decided that I am happier being the theatrical ‘sphere’s MonkeyBoy.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 11:40 AM
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Friday, October 13, 2006

 

Broken Legs Wished For

Tonight's the opening of my play, Jingle Spree, in Portland. My thoughts are with Adrienne, Tony, cast and crew. May the laughs come in all the right places.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 1:53 PM
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Friday, October 06, 2006

 

Long Distance Relationship

I continue to wish I was on the other side of the country, working on rehearsals for the premiere of Jingle Spree. The director keeps me updated. Yet I feel helpless. Whenever he asks me to clarify in relation to a problem they’re having in rehearsal, I think to myself, “What’s he seeing?” I can’t give an intelligent answer unless I see for myself. It’s like performing surgery blindfolded. The stage is where meat makes light and sound, and it can’t be conveyed in an email, no matter how pithy the writer.

On the other hand, there’s a perverse thrill knowing that on the other side of the country, some poor schmoes are asking themselves, “But what did he mean by whale penis?”

It puts me in mind of something Hunka wrote at the beginning of the week:

The dramatist is invisible after the theatrical text is created and passed along to the performer for expression, which begs the question: If the dramatist is not expressing during the performative instant, if her work is perceived to have been finished months or years before, what is she doing there? Why there at all, especially in the transgressive performance styles of Antonin Artaud and Reza Abdoh? As profoundly physical as the act of physical performance is, the psychic investigation of the writer requires that she use her body as an open conduit for the perception, investigation, and description of the unconscious Schopenhauerian Will that runs through it. The performer expresses; the dramatist reads impressions of Representations on her body and describes (and inscribes into a hopelessly inadequate language) the linguistic scrapes and leavings of that Will. The dramatist answers the question that is directed to her ("Why your text at all?") with this response: "I leave my markings with what the long culture and history of writing has given to me, adding my own scratchmarks to go a little further along the road to destruction and light: the Will offers both.”

My play is the etching of the physical and psychic disturbances of childhood, as experienced by adults. The kids are played by adults, in part, based on that concept. So there’s a layer of removal. And there’s the layer of removal that it’s a text and not a performance. And there’s the layer of removal that it’s happening so far away from me. That’s three layers of removal. I believe that’s a cake.

I think I might want to work on a short performance piece for myself next. That way I can remember why I should be on page, not stage.

Labels: productions, theatre

posted by Dan 1:06 PM
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

 

Surprise Lineup Change

Jingle Spree got a new director yesterday. This is three weeks before opening. Yikes.

Much love and support to Lorraine Bahr, the former director, who had to step down due to a death in her family. Hard to lose her, she was smart and had a love for the play. But she was split between her family issues and the production, personally and geographically, so it was probably for the best. Godspeed, Lorraine. Hopefully we’ll work together some time.

Antonio Sonera is the new director. Checking Google…I see he’s done work at South Coast and…oh, Teatro Milagro in Portland, whose production of Icarus by Edwin Sanchez I dug in a major way. Hopefully Tony and I will chat soon.

It’s an odd experience, this Jingle Spree. I’m removed by geography from what is my first major production in years. I feel a little helpless and scared, unable to check in on what’s going on, relying entirely on the wisdom and skills of those behind the project. My wife thinks that I should enjoy being out of the loop, and therefore responsible for nothing. I suppose I am sometimes. But I wish I was independent wealthy so big daughter and I could jet out there one weekend and put in an appearance. But I’ll have to wait until after opening to see what they’ve done. Oh well, it’ll be a surprise when the stage lights some up.

Do other writers enjoy being out of the process? Or would you rather have your mitts in the stew?

Labels: productions, theatre

posted by Dan 11:15 AM
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

 

Long Silences Make Me Seem Deep, Right?

MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 6, 2006

Contact: Cindy Lyndin
admin@cohoproductions.org

COHO PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES 2006-2007 SEASON

Portland, OR - CoHo Productions is pleased to announce its 2006-2007 season, which includes two world premieres and a Northwest premiere: Jingle Spree by Dan Trujillo, Chateau Joyeux by William S. Gregory, and My Matisse by Howard Ginsburg. All performances will take place at the CoHo Theater, 2257 N.W. Raleigh Street in Portland.

Jingle Spree is an unforgettable portrait of contemporary parents and their children; a comedy about adults and an electric organ and children and a gun, and a drama about the consequences. The play mixes horror and amusement as both sides struggle for maturity in a world of familiar distractions and evasions. Adult actors portray children and parents in a style that is both utterly realistic and highly theatrical. A world premiere production by Dan Trujillo, a native Oregonian now living and writing in New York, Jingle Spree will open October 18, 2006 and run through November 18, 2006.

This is a big deal for me personally. My friend Adrienne Flagg and I have been trying to get this play done for years. The fact that it's getting its debut in Portland, and is in part a play about growing up there -- that makes it sweet.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 12:31 PM
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Friday, May 19, 2006

 

Been Fishing

or Recharging the Batteries or Giving the Lungfish a Breather or whatever you want to call it. Been away. I should have posted something saying I would be gone, breaking blogger etiquette there.

I'm also breaking blogger etiquette by blogging about blogging, too...

Man, I'm up the creek on this.

Did I mention the shows? Sunday and Monday, my short play "The Dog" goes up with plays by Kayla Cagan, Robert Libetti, Daria Polatin, at the Arthur Seelen Theatre in the Drama Bookshop, 250 West 40th St., at 8pm. Admission is $15.00. No reservations. Just show up and wrastle for your ticket like a red-blooded son of General Washington.

Also, I'm appearing with Rapid Response Team this Tuesday in lovely Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 8pm. Should be plenty to laugh about, including my drop-dead hilarious sketch about mixing up which week a topical cabaret company is scheduled to perform. Topical like ointment! Ha! Zing!

Recharged and sensible on Monday.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 4:00 PM
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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

 

Quick Note

Just a reminder that my thesis play, Conference With the Bull, gets its reading tonight at 8pm, 721 Broadway, 7th Floor, NYC.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 9:43 AM
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Thursday, April 13, 2006

 

Either a Light at the End of the Tunnel, or an Oncoming Truck

My thesis reading, the culmination of my two years at NYU:

CONFERENCE WITH THE BULL
by Dan Trujillo

May 2, 2006
8:00 pm

Rita and Burton Goldberg Theatre
721 Broadway, 7th Floor
NYC

Free Admission

Teddy Burdock, a reluctant indoctrinate into the world of business conferences, meets Myna, a workshop leader of mysteries. Her dangerous faith, beyond resumes and power lunches, promises to fulfill him. Or is it leading him into a labyrinth of the forbidden?

I hope you can come.

Labels: productions

posted by Dan 11:23 AM
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