Wind Talkers

I direct plays at the school where I work, and the students are always asking for clues as to what the next play will be. I put up some clues on this webpage, and thought some of you might like to try your hand at them. Two of my students cracked the clues last night. Let me know if you want any help?

Cheney and the Goat Devil

Maureen Dowd on Will Farrell's latest - a trip to Broadway as W.

Friends on a Raft

Here is a link to Friends on a Raft - something I wrote for our current production of Big River, the story of Huckleberry Finn, which opens on Wednesday.  I am really proud of the production, and wrote this note at the request of the administration to take advantage of a teachable moment with our students on the issues of race and diversity.  I'll be posting pictures when we have them.

Would love to hear any comments you may have.

Human Mirror

Some people from my old theater department are in charge of Improv Everywhere. They do cool and fun stunts - their latest is a Human Mirror on the subway, where they found 16 pairs of identical twins to ride all together in a subway car. Check it out here.

Their complete mission list is here - all worth watching. My favorite is Anton Chekhov.

Here's the video of the Human Mirror, but be sure to check their website too.

Collegiate Play Photos

Just put this together. It's a collection of photos of plays at Collegiate since I've been here. They look pretty impressive when all put together. Check it out!

You can also feel free to poke around the rest of the site while you're there. I'm putting all my classes online, and I'm pretty happy with it so far (though it will be tested in the fall...).

Romeo & Juliet

Here's a slideshow of some pictures of the last play I directed at Collegiate - Romeo & Juliet. Some of them really need to be seen big, so click here if you want to see them full size.



The wiki page we put together for the play will give you an idea of the kind of work we did on the play and where some of the ideas came from. One of the aspects I was most proud of was the Music - all written by students - and you can listen to some of it here.

And here's an early draft of the opening video that went along with it. This is not the version we used - we cut it down some, and took out a few scenes. It was much cooler on the huge screen in the theater with our brand new Line Array Sound System (the best in any school system in Virginia), but this gives you a basic idea. When we first played it on opening night, with the new sound system, it was like witnessing the power of the fully armed and operational Death Star.



I was really proud of the actors and designers on this show.

If you're interested, pictures from the other past plays are here.

Chaplin and J. Edgar Hoover

Many people know Charlie Chaplin for his impeccable vaudeville technique. W.C. Fields was reported to have called him the best ballet dancer in the world. But fewer people are acquainted with his politics. His film The Great Dictator used his little tramp image to satirize Hitler - and this was in 1940!

I didn't know about this film, Monsieur Verdoux, which is being run again in New York at the Film Forum. It was released in 1947, and dealt with the issues of the Cold War. The subtitle is "A Comedy of Murders." Here is the NY Times article about it that I read today.

And now that Robert Downey Jr. is back on top of the world with Iron Man, I am reminded of how brilliant he was in Chaplin. Al Pacino incomprehensibly won the Oscar that year, which, given the depth and technical brilliance of Downey's performance, seems like grand larceny. It's definitely worth another look.