SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING IN THE THEATRE AHHHHHHHH

Man, life was so calm and easygoing for that first month after I got back from Clarion. What the hell happened? Oh yeah. The Jungle Book, our new world premiere musical adaptation of the Disney animated film, directed and adapted by the incredible Mary Zimmerman. We've just extended the show a second time, so it now closes on October 20 (but tickets are going fast, so get 'em while you can!). It's been a pretty crazy time at work, but luckily, all in a good way, with lots of special promotional events for the show that have kept me pretty busy. But here's a little glimpse at a few of the things I've been doing for it:

Our "audience testimonial" video, with some B-Roll from the production, and interviews with real audience members who cannot stop raving about the show (so you don't just have to take my word for it). 

We also took the cast of the show to Fenway Park, where they performed the National Anthem before the Red Sox totally obliterated the Stankees. Here's their actual performance...

...and here's a fun little overview of their entire (did I mention they had soundcheck at 10am for a 1pm game, plus a two-show day starting with a 2pm matinee performance? Yeahhhh it was kinda nuts) 

On top of that, I've been doing some video editing work for Project: Project's upcoming production How May I Connect You (Or, Scenes in The Key of D:/), a really cool devised theatre piece full of hilarious sketches about communication and human interaction in a digital era. That show goes up this coming weekend only, Sept. 26-29, at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, so see while you still can!

(oh, and plus, my girlfriend just directed this incredible production of Nina Raines' Tribes at SpeakEasy Stage Company, which is getting absolute stellar reviews, so you should go see that as well. It runs through Oct. 12.)

Clothes Make the Fan

This has often been on my mind, but the specific inspiration for this piece goes back to the preview screening of THE AVENGERS that I attended. Naturally, there were a lot of people in the audience wearing comic book t-shirts. Because it was a preview screening for an epic comic book movie, and comic book fans (unsurprisingly) enjoy comic book movies (although I suppose "enjoy" can be argued...) and are also the type of people who would seek out passes for a preview screening and stand in line for 2 hours just for a chance to see the movie 3 days before its release. You know. People like me.

But in any large gathering of comic book fans (more than most other subcultures), I tend to notice a lot of awkward compliments. Kid in the Fantastic Four t-shirt sees kid in the Spider-Man t-shirt while we're all waiting in line to go to the bathroom, and of course, he has to go up to him and say "Hey. Cool shirt," as if he's somehow surprised to see that someone else here likes comic books (or that somehow, someone else besides him has heard of the Amazing Spider-Man!). I don't mean to be a miserable cynic — I'm glad that people can find those social connections, because it is both comforting, and important — I just find it odd. It's like going up to someone wearing a Red Sox t-shirt at a Red Sox game and saying "Oh hey man, you like Red Sox, too? I love the Red Sox!" Well yes of course you're at a fucking Red Sox game.

But I digress.

"Cool Shirt, Dude" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Just Another Day at Fenway Park

This past Wednesday, the cast of CANDIDE at the Huntington had the privilege of performing the National Anthem before the 1:35pm Red Sox game against the Toronto Blue Jays. So basically I got paid to hang out behind the scenes at Fenway Park and STAND RIGHT ON THE FIELD DURING THE CEREMONY HONORING TIM WAKEFIELD'S 200^th WIN. Just sayin'.

And here's a little video I cut together of the experience. Did I mention I get to ride in a Duck Boat (after only 7 years of living here...):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZyhFBvK594&w=560&h=315]

Pets That Go Poop

Just over a year ago, one of my chinchillas passed away. Pedey (short for "Dustbath Pedroia") was always the stubborn one of the two — the bully older sister — who thought herself some total badass, when in fact she was, well, a chinchilla. As far as we can tell, the cause of death was heatstroke — she was a little overweight from stealing her sister's food every day, and was too stubborn to sit up on a hot day and get a drink of water. But the saddest part about it (because to be honest, she was a pretty mean pet) was her sister who survived her. Yubnub was always the sweet one, and say what you will about animals and emotion and memory, but for a good month following the loss of sister, Yubnub was visibly depressed. I'd let her out of the cage to run around the house, and she would just sit there, not caring. She was always a little skittish when she was picked up by a human, but for that month, she had no reaction at all — and not in a good way. She hardly ate. She didn't even get excited when she heard the crinkling of the raisin bag (a sound which otherwise inspires a Pavlovian response within her).

After about a month of caring for her (making sure she didn't die from depression!) and letting her know confidently that I am part of her "herd" (which is what they say to do with lonely 'chillas), Yubnub seemed fine. In the intervening year, she's been completely normal. Maybe a little lonely sometimes without another playmate, but, well, Pedey was never very playful anyway, and usually just picked on her. While I imagine that the trauma of losing a loved one has essentially disappeared from her small chinchilla brain, I suspect that somewhere inside she still senses something missing. It might not be a conscious realization or memory, but there's something in her muscles — she can tell that there used to be someone or something different here, and that it's missing, but she might not know what that something is.

This week on FiveByFiveHundred.com, after spending a great deal of time with Yubnub over the weekend (there was a heatwave here in Boston, and we hid out together in the only room with air conditioning), I decided to pay homage to the departed Dustbath Pedroia. While comparing her memories to, well, poop might seem a bit insensitive, it's really not — chinchillas (fun fact!) lack sphincter muscles, and thus have no control over their own bowel movements, which means that Yubnub just keeps dropping little tiny poops on the ground behind her without any regard for it. Chinchillas also poop out 90% of what they consume so...it's a lot of poop for a tiny animal (and, admittedly, the biggest drawback to owning one). The ease with which she poops seemed like a fitting metaphor for the way her memory works, so I went with it.

"Shit For Brains" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Temporary Drinking Buddies

You know that friend who you always see at parties and when you're both drunk s/he is totally your best friend and you talk about everything, but then when you're sober and back in the real world, it's awkward because you're not really actually friends and you don't hang out or anything and then you see him/her on the street and it's totally weird? Yeah. You know the one.

Today on FiveByFiveHundred.com, I share my own story of my favorite drinking buddy from the local pub who I don't actually know. His name is Paul.

Cheers!

"My First Bar Friend," on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot

Happiness comes in many forms. Occasionally, people feel the destruction of public property, or other such violent outbursts, is the only logical way to express these overwhelmingly positive emotions. So today, in light of recent mainstream news, I had a little fun with that idea. Because hey, I'll fully admit — when the Red Sox won their first World Series victory in 86 years my freshman year of college, you can bet your ass I was running around through the streets in Boston in underwear 'till 5am, screaming at the top of my lungs. I just never understood the need for people to smash car windows about it.

(Also I was just getting fed-up with every single person on my Facebook newsfeed feeling the need to EXTREMELY EXPRESS THEIR EXTREME OPINIONS about what happened)

"The Warmest Gun" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaBe-yXDOY&w=425&h=349]"Did you see the pool?! They flipped the bitch!"