The Beggar's Opera: Version 2.1.1

I have no idea what version number* to assign to the project: we did a workshop of the script and songs in 2003 and then I put it on the shelf for a few years; we worked on and performed Benjamin Ickies' new musical arrangements of the songs this past June; now we're about to start putting it all together again for a one week run in December.

Regardless, everybody save the dates!

December 10 - 14, 2008

258 Bowery, NYC (map it)
(just below Houston, the soon-to-be-former-home of Dixon Place)

*I'm really not a fan of theater that uses computer lingo in the title: I'm just making a point about this workshop being yet another step in a continuing process.

Play Try Outs: Beggars CAN Be Choosers...

The Beggar's Opera auditions on Tuesday were great: everyone did a great job with the singing and the acting. It was more fun than I expected, actually. I'm seeing even more people tomorrow night and then I can cast by Saturday, I hope. I can already tell, though, that the hardest part is going to be deciding who not to take: I could easily cast both roles at least twice over with the actors I've already seen and I know the remaining group are not a bunch of duffers. At this point, I think it's going to come down to which actors have the fewest rehearsal conflicts. It's not the way I'd prefer to make my decision but, ultimately, if two actors are equally capable, you have to have something to tip the balance.

When we come back, we'll announce the results of our judges' tabulations....

Floydada

So I was googling Floydada, Texas yesterday for the play I'm writing (which will have it's 'debut' at Dixon Place on the 28th of this month) and got this link to the Floyd County Museum. You'll notice there's a contact link on the site, so I thought, "What the hey: I'll drop them a line and see if I can get some help with my research." I'm not going to bother anyone with every little question that occurs to me, but its great to have this resource for information on the town and it's history that I can't readily find in the New York libraries or online. And, of course, the folks there have already gone out of their way to help me: Frank Potts responded to my query within a few hours (and after hours, I might add) to send me a series of photos taken by a panoramic camera of the town square in 1926 (the above photo is one of them, which I got from their website).

I have a lot of work to do in the next 25 days: I still have a few scenes to write that I think must be in the play, and rehearsals to work out, of course, but I'm anxious to hear how people respond to the play. I'm meeting tonight with Kriota Willberg, who's going to be choreographing the dances I wrote in for Catherine; just based on her off-the-cuff ideas she e-mailed me, I can already tell she really gets it (as I knew she would). And I've gotten lots of e-mails from Richard Galgano, a director here in NYC who also has an amazing wealth of knowledge about music history, with music to consider for the piece! More on this as it develops....