The Inception (of the Celeb Rehab show):

From the desk of Jeff Love, Artistic Director:

This will be the first part of a series. I'm not entirely sure how many parts there will be in this series because I've never mapped this sort of thing out before. Essentially, what I plan on doing here is showing the steps that I, and occasionally other members of Point of You Productions, take when deciding to write a show for the company to perform.

THE INSPIRATION

At some point, while watching the news, it dawned on me that our society is completely entranced in hearing about various celebrities going to rehab, whether they are famous for acting, singing, or pretending to do those things, we are, as a collective consciousness, spending time thinking about them. This is usually a good indication that POY has a subject to write about.

What also seems to be a fixation is just how much these rehab centers are actual rehab centers versus how much they're glorified country clubs that cater to the wealthy and mentally irresponsible. This dichotomy, along with the need for a subject, seems to immediately indicate a genre best suited for the subject. For me, this genre is clearly comedy.

So there we have it. A comedy, about celebrity rehab.

THE OUTLINE

After already bouncing the ideas off the other company members and some select friends and family, everyone seems very positive (as opposed to my idea of a tragedy musical about dolphins dying in fishing nets) and so all that remains is...well...absolutely everything else.

First an outline (which I've been taught goes in 3 stages: the play's story written in a paragraph, than a page, then several pages describing what happens, with each draft obviously becoming more and more in-depth regarding the events). After that, you make sure all the characters you
need are fully thought out in your head. Are there any who are too similar and should be combined, or one who should be eliminated? This gets particularly tricky when you are trying to write parts for your friends and company members because along with wanting to put on a good show, POY makes it a point to encourage each company member to be challenged and have fun (so, for example, writing a part for Johnny to be a crazy old man in a wheelchair as I did for Five Years Later, while never getting any older or less funny in my mind, wouldn't necessarily be the best for him as a stepping stone to becoming a fully rounded actor).

THE DIALOGUE

Once the characters are fully fleshed out, and I have people in mind (or a couple of people) for the parts, I begin writing bits of dialogue about any general conflict ("who ate my roll!?" or what have you) to get a feel for how the characters talk and interact with one another. This is usually such a fun part of the process, that it completely supersedes everything else, and I've got piles of "bits of dialogue" that may very well never see the light of day...but it was still fun coming up with the lines.

THE CHARACTER AND CONFLICT

Then I begin to see if any bits of dialogue can be directly inputted into the play. I've already mapped out the scenes and the conflicts, so hopefully something as simple as "who ate my roll?" in a celebrity rehab comedy could become, "who vomited on my stash?" (because I hear that can happen in those places). If not, then the process of truly "working" comes in as you try to capture the characters, tone, and conflicts that your play needs. This is often where writers can misstep, because we tend to either love dialogue we've written but it doesn't fit the conflict, or it fits the conflict but seems to be completely out of left field for the characters to say. When either happens, it's important not to be too married to either characters or conflict. And I usually
rely on company members and other writers to tell me if this happens since they'll be the initial audience who decides if everything makes sense (until opening night that is).

You have to back up and see what it is you're trying to accomplish with a scene, character, or play as a whole, and then change whatever needs to be changed in order to communicate the Moral of the story. I had a pair of "judges" for Five Years Later that took me until a month
before rehearsals started to finally admit they should not be kept.

But once you've done that, you've got a working draft, and then the fun part of rewriting after readings happens... I’ll write about that next!

death becomes her...me...uh, us?

never thought you'd have a conversation with death, did you? neither did shamus (played by marc adam smith) in five years later, but he comes nose to nose with her.

it surprised very few that i was to tackle the role of death in poy's current production, seeing as i do have a penchant for the darker roles. (for those who may not remember, i have played two very different versions of satan in deadtime stories and lovesmacked). what may surprise many, however, is that the lovely courtney tisch will be picking up death's sickle (or scroll in this case) as i am forced to leave the production a week early.

it is with mixed feelings, that i do this. playing this part has been such fun and i feel like the show is just coming into its own. but, opportunity has knocked and there is no way i can't answer it. i am leaving the production of five years later to be the assistant company manager of don't quit your night job, a new broadway after hours improv, sketch comedy, and musical review. the first preview is on april 26th, during the last week of five years later. by taking this position, i am fulfilling my dream of my "day job" being theater. go figure it's with a show called don't quit your night job.

courtney will be joining us back stage and in the audience this week to learn all the fun stuff i do back stage (i get to play with fake blood and makeup!) and on stage. i know she'll take the character in new and exciting directions and I only wish i would be able to see it.

want to see the different faces of death? come see me, karron karr, as death in five years later from april 18-21 and go again to see courtney tisch as death april 25-28.

Taco Express - it DOES exist

And is a chain restaurant apparently... to quote Bruna from the show, "Will anyone ride the Taco Express with me?!"

The answer is a resounding YES:


Check out the show, would you???!

The show has opened and audiences like it!

The show opened this past Wednesday and so far so good... everyone who has come to see the show has really enjoyed it. There have been lots of laughs and great reactions to our antics on stage.

New York comedian Johnny Vito attended the show on Friday night and posted the following on our MySpace page:

"5 Years Later deserves 5 stars, five thumbs up! I loved it! I just can't praise this enough. This is what theatre should be! Biting satire, Comedy with teeth (Just the way I like my comedy), highly entertaining! Superbly written! Extraordinary characters! Terrific performances! A must see! And for me a must-see again!" http://www.myspace.com/johnnytzito

Feel free to check out our MySpace page yourself by clicking here or just buy your tickets already!

Postering

A few weeks before the show started several members of the company went around hanging posters to advertise the show. Postering is never a fun job - walking around, entering into various establishments to ask if you can put your poster in their window. Sometimes, you are greeted with kindness, other times, you just get a disdainful wave of the hand.

On this occasion, we ran up against lack of space and foul weather - many of the stores had too many posters already and the weather on this day went from great to cold and rainy.

Hey, but you have to get your image out there - a great poster placement could mean more butts in seats! My sister and her boyfriend were in town and accompanied Paul Weissman and myself as we postered Times Square. Below are two lovely pix documenting the adventure:

Sis caught me making a lovely face while hanging a poster at a local laundromat.
Paul is in the background.

More postering at a new restaurant in the area. What a fabulous poster, if I do say so myself.

Paul and I were stopped on the street while postering to have a passerby ask if that was me in the poster. How flattering! We chatted the couple up about the show and gave them a postcard.

You've got two weeks left to see the show, so hop to it and buy your tickets now!

"More space in the space"

That is the phrase that pays with our merry band of actors. We have been rehearsing in a cost-effective venue that is smaller than the actual performance space we will be in come April, so each time we find ourselves cramped on the “stage” during rehearsal, someone invariably shouts “there’s more space in the space” - that someone is usually Alyssa Mann. We have even joked that we should get t-shirts made with the slogan… I am sure many off-off-Broadway performers can relate.

We got a taste of “more space” this past week as we moved into a larger venue to really get the show on its feet. It was amazing how much of a difference the play felt when we had more room to move. Certain “dead spots” with the blocking were found and we are going to make some adjustments accordingly. I am so glad we were able to use a larger space (as much as I love the space graciously provided to us by POY members Gerard J. Savoy and Tina Trimble).

The show felt different in the space… after rehearsing in a certain environment for the past month and a half, it was eye-opening to run the show in a larger venue with fluorescent lighting. I know that it threw me off a little and I am sure others felt the same way. Thanks go out to POY member Marc Adam Smith for giving us the opportunity to work out the kinks in a rehearsal space closer to the actual size of the stage… it is still a little bit smaller, so ultimately, we’ll be saying “there’s more space in the space” a few more times before the show opens.

Three weeks to go!

Scriptwriting – an outsider’s perspective

I have such respect for Jeff Love and Marc Adam Smith as they work on the script for Five Years Later. We have been rehearsing this play since January technically, but the first month was reading through the script and providing feedback to the playwrights.

It is amazing the metamorphosis this play has undergone! It must be so difficult for a playwright to love a scene or concept and then need to remove it for the strength of the overall piece. Originally, Five Years Later used a play with in a play setup featuring two additional characters from the future looking back on our present. We affectionately called them “The Judges.” Through our initial readings and much heated debate, it was determined that The Judges, while intriguing, were not necessary to the piece. The actual story stood on its own and made all the points the playwrights hoped to make.

Through this same process, various plot points were introduced and then discarded. Hilarious scenes were written and ultimately cut. One version of the script had Death dating Plague so she could get War to notice her!

Know that the play you will see in April has undergone hours of writing and rewriting so that we can bring you a quality piece of entertainment with a solid purpose. We hope you enjoy it!

Five Years Later runs April 11 – 28, Wed – Sat @ 8pm at The Sargent Theatre @ ATA, 314 West 54th Street, NYC.

Purchase tickets now!