Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Another Good Review For Adam and Eve

Potomac Stages has published a wonderful review of Searching For Eden: The Diaries of Adam And Eve.

"Combining Twain's view of the essential differences between the sexes and Still's view of the battle of the sexes in more modern times, gives Larry Dahlke and Tomasin Savaiano sharp material to deliver and they do so with verve under Warner Crocker's swift direction. The result is a delightful evening."

You can find the full review at this link.

Adam And Eve Get Some Reviews

Reviews are starting to come in for Searching For Eden: The Diaries of Adam And Eve. So far one is good and the other not. The writer of the negative review didn't seem to care for the play, although he liked how we produced it. (sorry this paper still doesn't put anything on-line for me to link to.) The more positive review liked just about everything. Here's a link to that review, (some registration required.)

Regardless of the reviews, audiences are loving the show and the great work of the actors. Looks like it is going to be a fun month.

Enjoy!

Diaries Of Adam And Eve Opens

Last night was a tremendously good time. We opened Searching For Eden: The Diaires of Adam and Eve to a very enthusiastic audience who seemed to love every minute of the play. Thomasin and Larry were sensational and everyone did their job wonderfully. What a wonderful way to close out our current season. Here's to a successful run.

More pictures can be seen here.

Why Do I Do This Theatre Thing?

Directing this production of Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and Eve, and working through preparing for next season at Wayside Theatre has been both a very active and very reflective time for me. I’m going to go on a bit of a ramble here, so to save those who don’t want any part of the little theatre that is in my mind, I’ll ramble further after the jump.

Tempted?

Art Linkletter Eat Your Heart Out: Kids Tackle God And The Scriptures

Kids do say the darnedest things. Got this via The Anchoress who caveats that supposedly this list of kids wisdom contains real answers to Sunday School quizzes. Fun and precious stuff.

• In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off.
• Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark and the animals came on in pears.
• Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.
• The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic genitals.
• Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.
• Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.
• The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
• The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
• Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
• David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.
• Solomon, one of David?s sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
• When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
• The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.
• The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
• A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony

 

Fun With Props: Drowning Cell Phones

One of the requirements of the play, Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and Eve, is that during the second act both characters carry cell phones. (The second act takes place in contemporary times.) Not only that, but both characters end up dropping (intentionally) their cell phones into a hot tub. One of those requirements that drive a props master crazy.

We're been out scouring the local distributors for broken phones and demos that they no longer use, so we can destroy a couple every night. Most have been happy to comply, some look at as like we're crazy. It's a shame really, Eve's movie mogul character really needs to be sporting a blackberry or a Treo,  but that's not going to happen. Adam could get by with a much simpler device. Gadget accessories play another role as well as both characters arrive in the second act toting computer bags and luggage. It's fun thinking about what gadget helps define which character best.

So as our collection of phones grows and we prepare to send them swimming with the fishes, will see how we do. Maybe we should have volunteered to test these devices in the drink.

Using A Tablet PC As A Staging Tool

The first week of rehearsal for Searching For Eden: The Diaries Of Adam And Eve is complete and it has been an excellent week of rehearsal. We've got the entire show blocked and are actually moving forward into scene work. Blocking (or staging) the play is the frist step with the actors but much pre-planning has already gone into the effort.

Adam And Eve Real?

Working on the play, Searching for Eden, Diaries of Adam and Eve, is a real treat for many reasons. One of those is the many interesting philosophical discussions that pop up in rehearsal. When my buddy, Larry Dahlke, pointed me to this J-Walk Blog entry, about DNA pointing to the fact that perhaps Adam and Eve were real,  I was very intrigued.

There is astonishing new evidence to support the position that homo sapien sapiens exploded onto the scene less than 100,000 years ago from a single man and a single woman.

It sort of followed some thinking we were tossing about in rehearsal today. So, let’s assume for the moment that every human on this planet is descended for the same two parents. Isn’t it intriguing that the Mozart, Hitler, Einstein, Pol Pot, Howard Dean, Bill O’Reilly, Ghandi, Stalin, Howard Stern, Mother Teresa, you, and I all sprung from the seed of the same loins? Sorta gives a new twist to that brotherly love thing doesn’t it.

Diaries of the Diaries of Adam and Eve

Today we start rehearsals for a new play at Wayside Theatre. This is one I have been looking forward to for a long time. The playwright, James Still, has done a wonderful job of adapting Mark Twain's wonderful The Diaries of Adam and Eve into a thrilling new play, Searching for Eden, The Diaries of Adam and Eve.

If you are familar with the original, Twain created a lovely conceit of having both Adam and Eve write diaries of their adventures and discoveries in Eden. Still has taken Twain's genuis one step further in his dramatization. In the second act, after the duo fall from Grace, Adam and Eve are transported to a current day resort named, yep, you guessed it, Eden. The play is a wonderful journey of discovery, the ups and downs of relationships, and most of all love.

I'm working with two of my favorite actors in this show. My good friend (and fellow blogger) Larry Dahlke plays Adam, and my lovely wife, Thomasin Savaiano, plays his rib, Eve. (I'm gonna get hit for that one.)

As usual when I blog about my expereinces with a play here at Wayside Theatre, I also blog about how I integrate my Tablet PC into my process. I'll be doing that here in these diaries and I have a few things to try during this rehearsal.  I'm really looking forward to this adventure and if you're in the area during the month of April, let me know, and stop by to see the show.