Friday, November 2, 2012

Never say Macbeth in a theatre classroom.

For the past five weeks I have been very busy directing an amazing cast in creating an original one-act under the influence of Macbeth. More specifically, the curse of The Scottish Play. 

-->
Directed by Joe Janes

Written and Performed by
Terrence Carey, Bill O’Connor, Patrick Delaney, Jenna Ebersberger, Shoshannah Frankel, Ryan Hake, Caitlin Linden, Carl Andre McGee II, Noelle Prete, Kimberly Vaughn and Johnathan Wallace

Showtimes
Tues, Nov 6, 6:30pm
Wed, Nov 7, 9:00pm
Thurs, Nov 8, 5:30pm
72 E. 11th St – Theatre Bldg     ROOM 602
FREE ADMISSION      For reservations call 312-369-6349     Running time 60 min     

If you are in Chicago, please come check it out. It's for a class. I get a grade.                                               

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Seven Deadly Plays Opens!


Well, I had an interesting week. Last Thursday, I took on the project of writing in and about places that have an element of danger to them. Why? Well, for fun, but let me give you the teacher-y angle. In writing classes, I really hate it when a student doesn't declare where a scene is taking place. "It can take place anywhere!" Sure, it can. But why not take the opportunity to place it in a compelling place that affects and heightens the scene? A pick-up scene in a park may not have the same oomph as a pick-up scene taking place in a fallout shelter. And while some really outstanding scenes can take place in a restaurant, living room or office, I wanted to explore new territory. It was also an opportunity to see how starting with a location affects the writing. And it did. All seven plays are very distinct. In every locale, I felt like a journalist looking for the story that wanted to be told.

How dangerous were the places I visited?

Allow me to rank them from most to least threatening to my physical well-being.

1) The Damen Silos - Easily top of the list. This place has been abandoned. The only safety measures is a chain link fence to keep your ass out. It's dusty, crumbling, dark, dank and very, very tall. We climbed up the inside of a silo to get to the top of one building. This was a straight up vertical climb in the dark. Once on top of that building, there are silo opening and chutes all over the place. One ill-planned step, and you take the express route back. We crossed an overpass built to connect it to a taller building. From there we went three stories up to the top on an external fire escape with steps missing. It was quite the workout. The only injury was banging my head on concrete as I tried to crawl out of the basement through a hole that has eroded in the side of the building. Still tender where the button on top of my ball cap tried to embed itself in my skull.

2) John's Tree - We had two venues fall through during the week. One of them was the bell tower at St. James Cathedral. They had some legal concerns about safety that just wasn't handled in time. Our last minute solution was a suggestion by the director, John "Screeching Weasel' Pierson. We climbed the tree in his front yard. I jumped at this because I literally had the thought about two weeks ago that I really wanted to climb a tree. I haven't done it in decades and I loved it as a kid. He has a great tree in his front yard, so that's where we went. And it was fun! But also high and I was relying on my less-than-stellar climbing skills.

3) Todd's Van - Ton McNeely offered up a ride in the back of his 1999 Mercury Villager as he drove around downtown Chicago. Sounded interesting and offbeat to me. Once we were in the van, I did have a moment of disappointment thinking it just wasn't dangerous enough. Then we got pursued by an angry driver downtown trying to pass us on a busy street. We almost doored a cab and hit a woman when she opened the cab door into traffic. The best part was when we went on Lower Wacker and got lost in the construction and ended up on a site. The van bottomed out at one point and Todd's poor Villager started overheating. We ended earlier than expected so Todd could cautiously get his van back to Indiana.

4) Bachelors Grove Cemetery - The cemetery itself, while creepy, was not at all dangerous and we never saw any spooky shenanigans. However, getting there and back was a task. We parked south of the cemetery and had to walk through 20-30 minutes of thick woods to get there. We saw some coyotes that left us alone. The main threat to our well-being were thorns and burrs. We were covered with those freaking burrs. Lots of scratches on arms and legs from this one.

5) Speedboat - The first adventure was on Seadog Speedboat cruises off of Navy Pier. To be honest, I felt perfectly safe. They are very professional and it was a lot of fun. We also had jets flying over in preparation for the Air and Water Show. So, really, there was only the potential for danger because of all the elements in place - water, speed, low-flying jets.

6) Urban Farm - One of the first places we decided to go to for me to write was Englewood. Essentially, the shooting mecca of Chicago. My girlfriend works for Growing Home which has an urban farm there. Growing Home is a wonderful, beautiful place. The people are super friendly. The places that surround it also look like cute little homes and we saw kids playing in their front yards. It was everything BUT the preconceived notions I had of Englewood. Getting there was slightly more dangerous. I had to wait 20 minutes for a bus at the redline Garfield stop. Had a guy there ask me if I was a cop. I laughed and he left me alone. I got on the wrong bus and went in the wrong direction and got a tour of some very depressed neighborhoods. I was going to get off the bus and cross the street to catch one going in the right direction and my fellow passengers recommended I NOT do that. Just stay on the bus until it goes where I want.

7) Funhouse - This was a result of another venue that dropped out at the last minute. We were all set for the Chicago Children's Museum. It was to be the one goofy location. Show me writing in the ball pit (Excuse me, Dino Pit, it's filled with dinosaur eggs. Not balls.), show me writing amongst kids running around, etc. Somewhere way up the chain of command, someone got wind of it and decided we were not the kind of folk they wanted hanging out around kids. Understandable. Will Clinger was with me. That guy is a jerk to children. Literally, fifteen minutes before I was scheduled to meet some of the actors there, I went to the Funhouse Maze at Navy Pier and they could not have been more friendly and inviting. And, you know, that maze is pretty cool.

The last script went out to the director last night around 11pm. They are going to work on it all day and perform it tonight with all the other pieces.

The show opens tonight. We have an incredible crew.

Directors: Jason Fleece, Cody Spellman, Cassie Ahiers, Brian Posen, Michael Carnow, Morgan McNaught and John Pierson

Actors: Will Clinger, Jill Olson, Erika Geller, Rebecca Loeser, Ruth Bistrow, Jenni Button, Alee Spadoni, Derrick Gaetke, Chris Waldron, Juliana Brecher, Ashley Turkowski, Megan Chaperon, Natalie Sienicki, Zachary Kirk, Jack Gallagher, Anthony Lombard, John Pierson, Paige Saliba, Ryan Hake, Jared Popkin, Jared Grant and Ricky Staffieri

Stage Manager: Dianna Driscoll assisted by John Pagano.

Produced by the incomparable Don Hall.

Shows are tonight, Friday, Saturday at 8pm. Sunday at 5pm. All at The Strawdog - Mainstage (Yay! Air conditioning.) 3829 N. Broadway between Sheridan and Grace. Easy to get to by bus or L - Sheridan. Parking on the street. Tickets are only ten bucks and available on-line at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/265713 or at the door.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Seven Deadly Playces



The project kicks off today!

I will be at Navy Pier at 2pm to hop on board a speedboat and start writing the first 10-minute play for Jason Fleece and his cast. I'll post pictures later today. Thank you Juliana Brecher and Seadog Speedboat Tours for the hook-up!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Seven Deadly Plays

(Love this picture, but can't take credit for it. Lifted it from the lovely and wonderful The Rant.)


Hello, Friends,

I haven't posted in so long because I'm a dork. I changed the template and in the process somehow eliminated a sign-in link. I locked myself out of my own blog! I'm not exactly sure how I got in, so I figure I better post something while I can.

What's happening?

I recently wrapped up participating in a playwrighting competition for Fine Print Theatre Company. Didn't win, but we made it to the finals. It's a rock musical called Senioritis that I am writing with Pete Ficht, a friend of mine from college. The competition turned out to be a great way to kick us into gear.

For July, I will continue to work on that and today I am going to take a crack at a script for Deathscribe. I love horror, but I find it very difficult to write. The problems I run into are similar to problems many people run into with writing comedy. Everything's already been done. How can I make this interesting and scary? It also must be written for radio, which comes with its own set of challenges. A common mistake people make is creating a dialogue heavy piece. As in stage and film, a ton of dialogue and little action runs the risk of being very boring. Radio is a visual medium. It's about painting vivid pictures in people's heads that tell a story. I have half a kernel of an idea that I will see if I still like by the end of the day.

The next big thing is... Seven Deadly Plays. Don Hall and I have had many conversation about how to follow-up 365 Sketches and 50 Plays. I have fallen in love with tight deadlines and wanted to emulate many of the 24-Hour projects I have participated in. I also wanted to challenge myself on where I write and see how environment can affect content. Thus, Seven Deadly Plays. Each ten minute play will be written in a day by me on my iPad in a potentially dangerous location. Some spots we've tossed around are the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, a sewage treatment plant, the shark tank at Shedd, on a street corner in Englewood, observation deck at Sears Tower. If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments section. Would love to have a bigger list to whittle down. Each short play will also use that location for its setting.

We open Thursday, August 23rd on the mainstage (air conditioned!) of The Strawdog Theatre. Eight days out, I will start writing the first play. That means the first group will have a week to put their play together and the last brave group will have the day of opening night. As in many of the 50 Plays, the director and cast for each play will be predetermined and I will be writing a piece for them.

We also might be doing a latenight series that week in Hugen Hall. If we're able to do something, it will either be drawing from monologues from 365 and 50 or more workshopping of Seniroitis. Or both.

I'll keep you updated, assuming I don't lock myself out of my blog, again. Hope you can make it to the shows.


Friday, May 11, 2012

A Perfect Flower

A perfect flower, in the world of botany, has both stamens and carpels.



The stamen is the pollen-bearing organ of a flower, also known as the male part.

A carpel is a simple pistil, the female part.

A perfect flower has both male and female parts.

 

A perfect flower can go fuck itself.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Kidnapping My Best Friend

This is a story I told recently at This Much Is True. A great storytelling event held at the Hopleaf once a month. Get there early, it fills up fast and is often standing room only. The night I was there was no different. There were even people seated behind the storytellers, thus the reference to my bottom. Enjoy.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Pretty From A Distance

Robot vs. Dinosaur's new show opens TONIGHT!




The RvD writers (clockwise from left) Nat Topping, Me, Susie Gutowski, Becca Levine, Greg Wendling, Chris Othic and Rammel Chan
 
Robot vs. Dinosaur Presents: PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE


The cast of Pretty from a Distance (l-r) Mike Johnson, Nat Topping, Torian Miller, Susie Gutowski, Rammel Chan and Becca Levine

 
Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30pm
March 23-April 7

Luna Central
3914 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60613

$15

www.teatroluna.org
 Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance on-line by clicking HERE
 
Like the Horsehead Nebula poised over Orion’s nether-regions, Robot vs. Dinosaur’s latest sketch show, Pretty from a Distance, is a beacon to souls lost in the universe. Directed by RvD veteran Chris Othic, the 75-minute show addresses big questions about our place in the universe and the rituals of life. Unlike a lot of sketch comedy, it's got a lot of heart and minimal dick jokes. We think you'll like it and leave the theater chanting ""Not insignificant, but insignif-I-CAN!"
Starring:
Rammel Chan
Susie Gutowski
Mike Johnson
Becca Levine
Torian Miller
Nat Topping

Directed by Chris Othic
 
 This is a remount of sorts of the sold out show we did at Sketchfest this year. So, if you missed that, come see this! If you saw that, come see this! We added 20-30 minutes of new material and two new actors. Mike Johnson, an old friend of RvD's, is back playing with us and making his debut with us is Torian Miller. The show also features two pieces I wrote that I also regard as two of my favorites. There's Dolphin Encounter featuring Nat Topping as a disgruntled dolphin people pay to "swim" with and Boris vs. Nature featuring Mike as the husband of a small family having a stare down with a giraffe at the zoo. That piece first appeared in 365 Sketches and I re-wrote it for this show.

I'm very proud of this show and hope you check it out. Everyone is operating at the top of their game. This may just be our best show from the top-notch writing to the excellent comic acting to Chris's confident direction.



Wednesday, January 4, 2012

What The What



Howdy!

Been a long time since I updated the ol' blog, so here's a bit of a round-up of what I have been up to.

- I have two shows opening this week! One is a very funny Writing 6 show I directed Fridays at 7:30pm in the de MAAT at Second City. It's called Ground Control To Planet Keith. You can get info on it by clicking HERE. Chicago Sketchfest starts this week. You can see me in a show I co-wrote, Robot vs. Dinosaur's Pretty From A Distance. It's this coming Saturday at 7pm in the Thrust Theater. One show only. You can get ticket info HERE.

- I just got back from a two-week vacation where my girlfriend and I logged over 3400 miles driving. We visited a lot of family and friends. We went from Chicago to Clarksville, Tennessee to Nashville to Orlando to Lake Worth, Florida to Elkin, North Carolina to Scranton, Pennsylvania to Streetsboro, Ohio to Port Clinton, Ohio back to Chicago. Aside from meeting many great people and reconnecting with family, highlights included spending a day at Disneyworld and park hopping - Disney Hollywood to Epcot to The Magic Kingdom. And while it sucked to have our drive disrupted by snow and ice, we did spend the night in the Presidential Suite of a Holiday Inn Express in Streetsboro, Ohio. It was the first time I got to use my AARP discount! The hot tub in the bedroom was worth the extra dollars. Best night of sleep I had our whole trip. Stopping in Elkin was also an added bonus. We stayed at a friend's mother's house. It was gorgeous. They fed us well, too, and turned us on to a local winery where we bought some Booger Swamp White wine. How could we not buy that? The absolute best thing about the trip, though, is that my girlfriend and I still love each other. In spite of my occassional donning of grumpypants after some long hauls on the road.

- I have another 10-Minute Play class starting this Saturday at 1pm at The Second City Training Center. There are still a few slots left. You can get more info by clicking HERE.

- I have been busy writing a one-act play for a cool WNEP project that will be in the spring and the wheels are turning for another 365 Sketches/50 Plays type of event for June.

- With all the writing projects I have, I just don't update this ol' blog as much anymore. For more consistent info from me, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, joejanes1065, or subscribe to my Facebook page.

- Happy New Year. May it be full of health, happiness and all kinds of blow jobs - emotional and physical.