Hello. My name is Kerry McCue. I play Claire in Actors Theatre's upcoming production of Augusta. And I am a blog virgin.
Though I lack the primal instinct to blog, I may magically trick you (like David Blaine) by exhibiting blog wisdom and quirky punctuation beyond my meager experience. I have attended The School of Blog - Professor: Ron May. Sorry to say, Ron has the lower case thing all locked up. I think he has it, like, copyrighted and s**t. So don't nobody go copying, don't be lazy with that shift button. Capitalize that s**t. I tried my own signature style and went the other way with ALL CAPS. Just looked angry.
Thank you Ron for opening this forum, even if you and I are the only ones who read it (Janice too, of course). I must say you have set the bar quite high with your description of this creative outlet as 'Wet & Wild'. You had me at No Porn, Ron. You had me at No Porn.
But down to business...
Like many women in the theatre I find it hard to balance work and home... with being crazy. But seriously, this role in Augusta is my favorite job I've had in a long time. There were a few long days- 12 to 6 @ rehearsal, 6 to 9 @ performance for 4.48 Psychosis. But well worth it, I just love it. I haven't connected so immediately with a character since playing Aunt Debra in Kimberly Akimbo @ Stray Cat Theatre. Not unlike George and Weezy Jefferson, I too know what it feels like to be movin' on up. From transient. To training-wage Merry Maid.
Mad props go out to Mr. T and Pats (Rich & Patty), and a special shout out to April Smith stage manager extraordinaire for doing a slammin' job so far.
Blog tidbit - sometimes people think it's cute to confess embarrassing things in their blogs. Here's mine - Someday I hope to attain a deep sense of satisfaction from Googling myself. That'll just be our little secret. Welllll... yours, mine, and anybody who has access to the internet.
No blog is complete w/out a survey. Here goes--
Q: What are you going to do after you finish reading this blog?
Thank you, Good Night!
P.S. - Did I mention that Sarah Silverman is my hero?
Actors Theatre of Phoenix Official Blog
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
SUBSCRIBE NOW
this is in response to a comment i got recently about how to subscribe to this blog.
too cool.
the simplest solution i've found thus far is bloglines.
all you have to do is click the icon at the very very bottom of the page and sign up.
i'm new to blogger, though, so if i'm missing something simpler or more obvious, please don't hesitate to let me know here...or feel free to email me at ron@actorstheatrePHX.org
thanks for reading...and thanks to those of you who jetted out to our first rehearsal party last night!!
more soon :)
- rm
too cool.
the simplest solution i've found thus far is bloglines.
all you have to do is click the icon at the very very bottom of the page and sign up.
i'm new to blogger, though, so if i'm missing something simpler or more obvious, please don't hesitate to let me know here...or feel free to email me at ron@actorstheatrePHX.org
thanks for reading...and thanks to those of you who jetted out to our first rehearsal party last night!!
more soon :)
- rm
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
week 1
so week one is done. and it's been quite the week. aside from rehearsing a bigger chunk of a day and more days a week than i'm certainly used to, stray cat closed a show this weekend (4.48 Psychosis - which actually featured kerry mccue - one of the actresses in Augusta.) closing went well - exCEPT - and this is the first time this has ever happened with us (that i know of)...we basically had hecklers in the audience. really more like 2 drunken idiots...but...you say tomato......
the gentlemen in question felt the need to not only CAT call the actresses (and in an intense show with a good deal of silence - evocative of a psychotic breakdown - i'm hard pressed to think why anyone would think that's even remotely appropriate....or warranted.) - giggle loudly at the mention of the word "genitals" (and i mean LOUDLY! like...you'd almost wonder "have they been planted here just to tick us off?" loud.) and supplying a boisterous "YYYYEAH!" whenever the actresses 'kissed'. so closing night felt like a closing night with some refugees from a roller derby. good times. it even prompted a member of the press to get up and MOVE in the middle of the show.
*sigh*
at any rate...that has nothing to do with Augusta. except it put me in a mood before sunday's rehearsal.
we're through almost 1/2 of the show thus far (with preliminary staging and work)...and i have to say...it looks like this thing is gonna be damn funny. biased? of course. but i'm also a wall of insecurity...so typically right around now i'd be more likely to think "this will NEVER BE FUNNY everevereverandmatthewsgoingtofireme" at this point...and i don't. yet. so that has to be a good sign, right?
we'll see, i guess. (if it's funny. and if matthew fires me. :)
i've learned a bunch this week, though.
cliff's notes:
--apparently really expensive silver (like the kind they reference in the script) can NOT be thrown down violently. it would disfigure, warp and bend the silver. who knew? screwed up my blocking, but...oh well.
--prop apples that have buckwheat hulls in them to weight them so they have the 'feel' of normal apples are inadvertantly funny when an actor picks one up as if it's real and it sounds like a maraca.
--kerry mccue has the metabolism of a hummingbird. she can eat the worst junk food on the planet and not gain an ounce. so not fair.
--drawings can be devious. what something looks like in a drawing in regards to 'how much space there is' is not always what the actual case may be. it may look like you could fit the cast of les miz parading through a certain entrance...when in fact...all that may fit is the cast of thom pain.
--richard trujillo's delivery of the line "let me say that again...i'm not going to DO anything" is one of the funniest things i've ever seen in my life.
--patti davis suarez improvising at a photo shoot makes me want to give her a one woman show. she rules.
--when you're used to rehearsing 4 hours a night, your internal clock at about 4 1/2 hours starts to scramble your brain a bit.
--breakaway glass - even when they say it's made out of sugar - should not be eaten as if it were rock candy. it's clearly not.
tonight is the first rehearsal party - a kind of 'baptism by fire' where season subscribers and friends of actors theatre come to chat with matthew and me and the designers (who knows, maybe i'll see some of you there?) - and see the first 10 minutes or so of the show...then chow down on sam's cafe goodies. nerve wracking to be sure. i've never been on this end of a first rehearsal party so it should be interesting.
if you're there...please come up and say hi.
i'll probably be the one nervously shaking in the corner.
- rm
the gentlemen in question felt the need to not only CAT call the actresses (and in an intense show with a good deal of silence - evocative of a psychotic breakdown - i'm hard pressed to think why anyone would think that's even remotely appropriate....or warranted.) - giggle loudly at the mention of the word "genitals" (and i mean LOUDLY! like...you'd almost wonder "have they been planted here just to tick us off?" loud.) and supplying a boisterous "YYYYEAH!" whenever the actresses 'kissed'. so closing night felt like a closing night with some refugees from a roller derby. good times. it even prompted a member of the press to get up and MOVE in the middle of the show.
*sigh*
at any rate...that has nothing to do with Augusta. except it put me in a mood before sunday's rehearsal.
we're through almost 1/2 of the show thus far (with preliminary staging and work)...and i have to say...it looks like this thing is gonna be damn funny. biased? of course. but i'm also a wall of insecurity...so typically right around now i'd be more likely to think "this will NEVER BE FUNNY everevereverandmatthewsgoingtofireme" at this point...and i don't. yet. so that has to be a good sign, right?
we'll see, i guess. (if it's funny. and if matthew fires me. :)
i've learned a bunch this week, though.
cliff's notes:
--apparently really expensive silver (like the kind they reference in the script) can NOT be thrown down violently. it would disfigure, warp and bend the silver. who knew? screwed up my blocking, but...oh well.
--prop apples that have buckwheat hulls in them to weight them so they have the 'feel' of normal apples are inadvertantly funny when an actor picks one up as if it's real and it sounds like a maraca.
--kerry mccue has the metabolism of a hummingbird. she can eat the worst junk food on the planet and not gain an ounce. so not fair.
--drawings can be devious. what something looks like in a drawing in regards to 'how much space there is' is not always what the actual case may be. it may look like you could fit the cast of les miz parading through a certain entrance...when in fact...all that may fit is the cast of thom pain.
--richard trujillo's delivery of the line "let me say that again...i'm not going to DO anything" is one of the funniest things i've ever seen in my life.
--patti davis suarez improvising at a photo shoot makes me want to give her a one woman show. she rules.
--when you're used to rehearsing 4 hours a night, your internal clock at about 4 1/2 hours starts to scramble your brain a bit.
--breakaway glass - even when they say it's made out of sugar - should not be eaten as if it were rock candy. it's clearly not.
tonight is the first rehearsal party - a kind of 'baptism by fire' where season subscribers and friends of actors theatre come to chat with matthew and me and the designers (who knows, maybe i'll see some of you there?) - and see the first 10 minutes or so of the show...then chow down on sam's cafe goodies. nerve wracking to be sure. i've never been on this end of a first rehearsal party so it should be interesting.
if you're there...please come up and say hi.
i'll probably be the one nervously shaking in the corner.
- rm
Monday, February 12, 2007
it alllll starts tomorrow
so rehearsals start tomorrow.
and i'm very excited.
very scared.
but very excited.
i'm used to the 'stray cat' way of life which entails squeezing in about 4 hours of rehearsal 4 or 5 nights a week after work.
now i actually get to 'leave work' (well...my desk) every day at 1:30 or so and head over for 8 hours of rehearsal.
nice little switch - from 8 hours at the desk and 4 hours of rehearsal - to 4 hours at the desk and 8 hours rehearsal.
how i'm going to squeeze in the other 4 hours of desk work into any given day, of course, remains to be seen.
meh. who needs sleep?
maybe i'll clone myself.
and pray i don't run into myself and have a heart attack. (which is apparently what happens if you were to be cloned and run into yourself. though i don't see how this theory could possibly be tested. unless they did it with one of those sheep.)
at any rate, that's where we're at. i'll have more about the show itself soon. promise.
stay tuned. - rm
and i'm very excited.
very scared.
but very excited.
i'm used to the 'stray cat' way of life which entails squeezing in about 4 hours of rehearsal 4 or 5 nights a week after work.
now i actually get to 'leave work' (well...my desk) every day at 1:30 or so and head over for 8 hours of rehearsal.
nice little switch - from 8 hours at the desk and 4 hours of rehearsal - to 4 hours at the desk and 8 hours rehearsal.
how i'm going to squeeze in the other 4 hours of desk work into any given day, of course, remains to be seen.
meh. who needs sleep?
maybe i'll clone myself.
and pray i don't run into myself and have a heart attack. (which is apparently what happens if you were to be cloned and run into yourself. though i don't see how this theory could possibly be tested. unless they did it with one of those sheep.)
at any rate, that's where we're at. i'll have more about the show itself soon. promise.
stay tuned. - rm
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
gotta start somewhere...
hi.
so...first order of business: introductions.
my name is ron may.
i handle audience services for actors theatre.
and i'm an alcoholic.
not really.
well...not officially.
not yet.
if you have season tickets...you and i have likely spoken. hopefully i was nice.
hopefully.
when i'm not at work - i serve as artistic director for stray cat theatre. some of you may have seen our stuff. some of you...maybe not so much. if you haven't, though...you should. you really should.
seriously. you should :) www.straycattheatre.org - get some.
i digress.
i do that a lot.
you'll see.
at any rate, my point - and i kind of have one - is that i am going to be directing the next show for actors theatre - richard dresser's augusta.
good times.
enter the blog.
i guess it's kind of baptism by fire that i am starting up the super official wet and wild actors theatre blog.
we have created this blog as a forum for you to get a little more behind the scenes insight into what goes on over here. over the course of the next several weeks, you can check out what i - and other surprise guest bloggers - have to say about getting augusta up on it's feet. you can also feel free to comment, ask questions, chew me out for writing in all lowercase (sorry...it's what i do) - whetever. open forum...as long as you don't post porn.
no porn.
...to the future...
and thanks for reading. - rm
so...first order of business: introductions.
my name is ron may.
i handle audience services for actors theatre.
and i'm an alcoholic.
not really.
well...not officially.
not yet.
if you have season tickets...you and i have likely spoken. hopefully i was nice.
hopefully.
when i'm not at work - i serve as artistic director for stray cat theatre. some of you may have seen our stuff. some of you...maybe not so much. if you haven't, though...you should. you really should.
seriously. you should :) www.straycattheatre.org - get some.
i digress.
i do that a lot.
you'll see.
at any rate, my point - and i kind of have one - is that i am going to be directing the next show for actors theatre - richard dresser's augusta.
good times.
enter the blog.
i guess it's kind of baptism by fire that i am starting up the super official wet and wild actors theatre blog.
we have created this blog as a forum for you to get a little more behind the scenes insight into what goes on over here. over the course of the next several weeks, you can check out what i - and other surprise guest bloggers - have to say about getting augusta up on it's feet. you can also feel free to comment, ask questions, chew me out for writing in all lowercase (sorry...it's what i do) - whetever. open forum...as long as you don't post porn.
no porn.
...to the future...
and thanks for reading. - rm
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