That Girl

A few weeks ago, The Girl in the Crawlspace made its world premiere in Kokomo, Indiana at the Hoosierdance Film Festival and writer/director John Oak Dalton was there!

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Well, it’s time to say good-bye to Greater Tuna. We wrapped up our run at the Farmland Community Center this past Saturday. I just want to take a moment to thank Tony Robinson, Barry McMullen, Lysa Franklin, Jeff Shull,  Debby Girtman, Jerry Cole, Judy Cole and Roger Wessel for all their incredible work with the show and behind the scenes. More thanks to all you wonderful folks that attended! I hope y’all had a great time in Tuna! And finally thanks to Sean Orlosky, the best of the best! It was an honor to once again share the stage with you, Sean, and I look forward to our next adventure in the footlights whenever that may be!

Photograph of Bertha Bumiller by Sean Orlosky.

Returning to Texas in September

I think it's finally official so I'm happy to announce I'll be in Greater Tuna at the Farmland Community Center in September! September 14, 15, 21 and 22 to be precise.

Fish Story

This past weekend I threw dead fish at people, vomited on stage, insulted audience members, and sang part of a song by Tom Waits to a captive crowd. And I survived to tell my tale!

Good-bye, Creepy Eerie Weird Tales from the Ghostly Vault of Horror

Blast from the Past: Back Again to Lapin Agile

Here's a blast from the recent past courtesy of a sketch book from last year. I was in Muncie Civic Theatre's production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile in 2016 and I was asked by the director, Lysa Frankin to make a cast drawing. Here's a section of that drawing, based on a sketch by Lysa.

Voila!

One of the joys of 2016 was playing Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. I hope I get the chance to do it again someday.
Photo by Taylor Watkins.

Death of a Halloween Show

Halloween is now over and so is Chiller Thriller Theatre 2: Electric Bugaboo.  Yes, Basil Q. Mylk-Bone has shambled back into his tomb with several cases of Merlot and his Criterion collection to fitfully slumber until he is once again needed to entertain the children of the night. While he rests, I just want to thank an amazing cast of actors and actresses who endured an abbreviated rehearsal schedule, an inexperienced “director”, and a plot twist right out of Waiting for Guffman to create a fun and vibrant show! Thank you all for your many talents and for sharing them with our appreciative audiences! Thank you also to our great kitchen volunteers for creating a meal worthy of the Addams Family and more thanks to all the fine folks who traveled to Farmland and attended our little stage fright! 

Adieu! Adieu!

Last Friday night we bid adieu to Waiting for Godot. Thank you to all the kind folks who visited with us wayfarers in the bog and those champion people who gave up their time to volunteer with the production. I want to thank Taylor Watkins and Thomas Nelson III for all of their outstanding work, Wendy Carpenter for her mad makeup skills and to my brilliant cast mates (Barry McMullen, Bob Green, Sean Orlosky and Cody Lee) for making life in the wasteland such a rich and rewarding experience. Thank you to our prolific director Lysa Franklin for guiding us on our journey through the imagination of Beckett. I consider myself blessed to have done two shows with Lysa as my director this year and I hope there many more opportunities in the future!

And finally thank you Lysa and Barry for Think, Dog! Productions! It’s nice to know there is a place in Muncie, Indiana for challenging and experimental work that allows for risk and stretches the boundaries of theatre. May the Dog forever bark loud and mightily!

Photograph by John Lee

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Sad news. The Rabbit died. The Nimble Rabbit is no more at the Muncie Civic Studio Theatre, but the memories of Picasso at the Lapin Agile shall last for a very long time. It's always bittersweet when a show closes especially one where you are surrounded by a group of talented artists that create theatre magic every night. It was wonderful to share the stage with some great friends and some new friends! Thank you to Lysa Franklin, Sean Orlosky, Thomas Nelson, Taylor Watkins, Dakota Reed, Jeff Rapkin, Katy Wolfe, Fred Hefter, Alexandria Hudson, Becca Rankin, Daniel Gibson, Wendy Carpenter, Gabe Carpenter and Mary Williams! It has been a rich and rewarding experience and I hope our paths cross again and again to make some more remarkable theatre! And thank you to our amazing audiences who gave us such a successful run!

 Photograph by Tony Morris

Theatre from the Past: Moon Over Buffalo (2007)

Picasso at the Lapin Agile opens this Friday (June 17!) at the Muncie Civic Studio Theatre (Get your tickets now!). It's been three years since I've been in a Muncie Civic production and, to mark the occasion, I'll be posting some pictures from past shows I was fortunate to be in.
First off is a photograph with the enchanting Helen Graves. I was lucky to have Helen play my wife in Moon Over Buffalo in 2007. It was my first show playing a lead character and I was blessed to have Helen by my side. She is lovely, smart and dynamic! Everything you want in an acting partner! She was and is truly the best!
Photograph by W. Sierra Hoffman.

The Wait Begins

I know it's absurd, but I'll be performing in Waiting for Godot in 2016.

Ten Years on Stage

  I’m lousy with anniversaries. I rarely acknowledge them. I never celebrate them, but last Monday marked a special event that changed my life for the better. On February 24, 2004 I received an e-mail that notified me that I got cast as “Little Harp” in The Robber Bridegroom at the Muncie Civic Theatre. I couldn’t believe it. After years of trying and failing at assorted auditions, I actually got a part in a show! And a musical at that! This was a big deal for me, but little did I know at the time just how big a deal it was.

By getting cast in that one show, my journey into the realm of community theater soon began and for the past ten years this wonderful journey continues to enrich my life in numerous ways. I have been blessed to be part of so many great productions and have had the pleasure of working with so many talented and creative people. Even better I have become good friends with most of these fine folks and, as much as I love to perform on stage, I treasure these precious friendships even more.

So I want to take a moment to thank Darrin Murriel and Julie Lyn Barber for taking a chance on a fat cartoonist ten years ago and giving me the opportunity to become part of a creative community that strengthens my imagination, challenges my meager talents, and connects me to some incredible people. It is truly a gift that I hope I can be part of until the end of my days. Thank you to all my friends, my collaborators, and fellow travelers who made these past ten years, on stage and off, so rich and meaningful for me. You all mean more to me than I can truly express. I just hope the next ten years of my journey continues to be as rich and as full as the first.

The poster drawing for The Robber Bridegroom was by Eugene Mumaw.

Weekend of Carnage

  The second weekend of Muncie Civic Studio Theatre's production of God of Carnage wrapped up yesterday. It was an interesting run of shows. Friday night was our smallest audience with just four brave souls. Well, maybe "brave" isn't the right word because two of them walked out during the show's climax. On Saturday, things got pretty rocky when we skipped over a page or two. It wasn't a complete train wreck. We stayed on the tracks, but the engineer was slightly shaken. However, Sunday's performance rebounded with our best show of the weekend! I still think our show on the previous Saturday was our best one yet, but Sunday was a close runner-up.   We close next weekend and hopefully the momentum from Sunday's show will continue into this upcoming Friday and Saturday. We shall see!

Four Days

Some brief thoughts about the past four days...

October 25: After weeks of rehearsal, God of Carnage opened at the Muncie Civic Studio Theatre! It actually felt more like a dress rehearsal than an opening night for some reason. I thought my performance felt wobbly and uncertain. Afterwards, I deemed it a "Lumpy Rutherford" and vowed to myself to aim for a "Ward Cleaver" the next night.

October 26: It was a super, busy, fun day! The radio gang knocked this month's episode of Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show out of the ballpark! It was our Halloween show that featured the classic "Chicken Heart" episode of Lights Out. Our soundman and soundwoman, Jerry and Judy Cole, out did themselves with the sound effects and everyone in the cast (Bob Green, Sean Heline, Linda Gilchrist, Wendy Carpenter, Missy Donahue, Jim Banta, and Rita Wessel) brought their "A" game to create a wonderful show for an enthusiastic audience! Already looking forward to recreating that magic for November's show!

As for Saturday night's performance of God of Carnage, we nailed it! It was a great show and a vast improvement over Friday night methinks. Hopefully we'll continue to grow as the run continues!

October 27: It was Sunday and I rested.

October 28: I auditioned for a radio version of Miracle on 34th Street that Indiana Public Radio will be producing in December. I thought it went rather well! Of course, I won't know that for a fact until the cast list is posted.

And that brings us up to date!

Four Day Weekend News

  Well, another long weekend has come and gone in a hasty manner. Fools wrapped up its fun run at the Farmland Center and I was honored once again to be surrounded by a talented cast and crew. Much thanks to everyone involved and to our incredible audiences.   Also this past weekend, Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show played to a small, but mighty audience. Wish more people attended because the cast knocked this particular episode out of the ballpark! We tackled Father Knows Best as well as The Happy Hoppy Hopper Show and a slightly naughty The Mayor of Farmland. A lot of fun for just a dollar! Archived shows can always be found at 7am and 7pm at http://www.farmlandindiana.org/. You can listen in by clicking the radio icon or on any mobile device through the TuneIn App, keyword Farmland Radio!   What else? Besides spending the weekend with some great friends, I also won a very cool prize from Ivan Shreve Jr., master blogger and the curator of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear (One of my favorite blogs!). Thank you once again, Ivan!

Fools

  I don't think I have mentioned this before around these parts, but I'm currently appearing in Neil Simon's Fools at the Farmland Center! Pictured up above is part of the talented cast (l-r, Vinny Walker, Linda Gilchrist, Sean Orlosky, Wendy Carpenter, Adrian Hess). The play tells the story of a village in Russia cursed with stupidity and how a young schoolmaster tries to break the curse before he becomes stupid as well. It's a fun show with a great cast and I get to play the villain of the piece which is always a good thing!   We opened last Friday and performances continue May 17-19 and May 23-26. Tickets are $20 (Dinner and show), $18 (Seniors), $12 (Children), and $10 (Show only). Reservations are required at 765-468-7631.   Photograph courtesy of Bob Green.

Link-a-Dink

  Hey, I just got cast as Murray the cop for the Muncie Civic Theatre's upcoming production of The Odd Couple! Should be fun!   Well, "Draw Hiram Lodge Day" has come and gone and I think I can safely deem it a success! Thanks to the following talented gentlemen who made the day so fun: Dale Martin, Keith O'Brien, Jack Bertram, and Jim and Jake Fields!   Just recently I transcribed an episode of the radio show, The Damon Runyon Theater, so we could perform it for November's Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show. I became a fan of The Damon Runyon Theater when it occasionally aired on When Radio Was and, when the idea came about to do an old time radio show in Farmland, I knew TDRT would be one of the shows we would feature. If anybody is curious to read the transcribed script for the story, "Princess O'Hara", you can now find it at The Generic Radio Workshop, an invaluable website that heroically maintains a massive library of Old-Time Radio scripts. If you're a fan of OTR, check it out!   And if you're ever curious about the little radio show I'm involved in, more information can be found at www.farmlandindiana.org

Smoke on the Mountain

We opened Smoke on the Mountain last night and the show was great fun! You couldn’t ask for a better opening night! Everybody sounded great, the harmonizing was pitch perfect, we got plenty of laughs, and the audience really seemed to have a good time. It definitely felt good on stage, too! And I didn’t screw up the lyrics to Jesus is Mine for a change! In other words, top shelf all around! Yay!

Twenty Days

I never did mention I was recently cast in Smoke on the Mountain, a gospel musical-comedy that will be playing at the Main Street Studio Theatre in February. I’m playing Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe and we’ve been in rehearsals for the last three weeks. Things are going pretty smoothly so far. The music and the singing sound great and the cast is populated with a talented bunch of folks. On top of that my friends, Judy and Jerry Cole, are directing and they are doing a bang up job putting things together. Fun times!

Of course, since I’m in a new show, I’m working first shift for a few weeks at Touchy Feely Fotos. I don’t mind first shift though I miss the extra money second shift brings, but I guess that’s the price an artist must pay for his art (Did I just type that with a straight face?)!

What else? I just got an account at Twitter. Of course, I blame John Oak Dalton for that.

The Final Bow

Well, after weeks of rehearsals and three weekends of comedy-packed performances, God’s Favorite is over. Saturday night was the final show. I think we went out with a bang. We had a very responsive audience. We brought out the funny and they laughed throughout the show. It was a good finish after a great run.

It’s always bittersweet when a show is over. You’re happy everything came together and satisfied all your hard work paid off in a series of fun shows, but knowing the cast and the crew are breaking up and going their separate ways is always sad. If you’re lucky, you were able to make some new friends or reestablish some old friendships during the run of a show and, when it’s over, you sorely miss the kinship and the camaraderie.

Of course, the one thing I won’t miss about this show is the set. That thing was a pain in the ass! During intermission, we had to move the set around and that was not fun. To explain, during the course of the play, a gorgeous living room becomes gutted by a fire by the beginning of the second act so all the props/furniture need removed, the French doors get replaced, and all the walls have to be turned around. I especially hate those damn walls! Those things were heavy and I’m so happy I never have to touch them again!

Anytime I get cast for a show, I feel very fortunate. I truly love being on stage, bringing a character to life, and helping create a new world that exists for a couple hours each night. I’ve been lucky to have been in seven shows the last few years and each one has been an utter joy to do. I’ve met so many good, talented people throughout my acting experience and I’m blessed to call many of these folks my friends. Hopefully, there will be more shows in my future, more chances to work with my friends again, and more opportunities to make new friends as well.