PBT 10×10x2

So my 10 minute play Random is in this festival…come check it out!

what’s the latest?

Since I last wrote…let’s see…TN Governor School for the Arts has had auditions, I am starting to line up the summer program and staff.  My university has held our regional KCACTF festival.  I drove a shuttle van so…I didn’t see much of the goings on at all, unfortunately.

I am gearing up for my travel season, LOL!  I will be at SETC in Lexington, KY in a couple of weeks at the beginning of March and then off to the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville in the last week of March.  In between…there’s an R and R week at Disney and my wedding anniversary.  Seven years by the way for those that might be interested.

Oedipus Rex at the Parthenon

So after I tackled Shakespeare at MTSU…I performed as Oedipus in Oedipus the King.  I have had the most wonderful time working with John Holleman who directed the project and created our masks.  It goes without saying how much fun this project  was with such a wonderful pair of actors to work with…”Hollywood” Jackie Springfield and D. Richard Browder.  That’s right…the three of us played all the roles.  Holleman made wonderful cuts without losing the meat of the story.

The other thing that was really cool was we performed at the Parthenon in Nashville at the feet of a very tall and very golden statue of Athena.  The ambience that was created was spectacular!

So what’s new…again.

So time has flown by and updates are forgotten…this is why the artist’s way was not a big success for me.  Journaling and  updating are clearly not my strong suit.  I have to admit sometimes I can get ‘technoed out” and the last thing I want to do is face a computer screen…yeah, I know… what kind of cheese would I like with my w(h)ine.

So what’s been happening…Gov. School came and went this summer with a great success and a little stress (ie. moving venues and meeting a very strict schedule) but the students were awesome and their work was amazing.  I have to give a big shout out to the faculty as again this year they were…fantabulous!

I have to admit that I reached a state of burnout and that I wanted to do very little to anything but play golf.  Snicker, snicker…golf…yeah, I know and I have to say that I am really not that good.  But I really enjoy it and I look at golf as a walk with strategy.  Plus, you gotta love the pants, right?  I estimate my handicap to be somewhere between 40 and infinity…but that hardly matters.

I am teaching 5 classes this Fall: 4 Theatre Appreciation and 1 fundamentals of acting.  It’s still early days but the students seem to have a great energy to them and I hope we can build on that over the course of the semester.

I have a shakespeare project lined up and maybe a few other things…more on that later, I swear!

On the Move

So March is a month on the move for me…I started it off by going to SETC in Birmingham with IDS.  I ,then, went on vacation to the world of Walt Disney with the family.  Soon…the family and I will be attending my cousin, Jessica’s wedding.  I shall finish the month in Louisville attending the Humana Festival.  More on that soon…

Summer and Smoke opens TONIGHT!

(Derrick Raley as John Buchanan, Jr. and Brandee Kent as Alma Winemiller)

Tonight is the opening of MTSU’s production of TN Williams’ play Summer and Smoke and I am very pleased with the production.  The cast have worked their tails off and the lights, set, costumes are gorgeous!  If you are in the Middle Tennessee area please stop by Tucker Theatre Feb. 18-21 at 7:30pm and Sunday Feb. 22nd at 2:00pm to see this fine play.  Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door.  House opens at 7:00pm.

New Look…New Year!

All right, so with the new year comes a new look for the website.  I know it is February already…but better late than never.  I felt that with the incoming year of 2009 that the Tao of John needed some sprucing up.

A lot has been going on…Summer and Smoke is moving right along and I have been blessed to direct a great group of actors who have clearly put a lot of work in on their own time.  This will pay great dividends guys as we get closer to performing in front of an audience!!  If you are in the Murfreesboro area,  stop by Tucker Theatre Feb. 18-22 and check it out for yourself!

IDS is planning a few trips in the next few months.  Our first stop will be SETC where will do some recordings and present a workshop.  Then later on in March we will be heading back to the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actor’s Theatre of  Louisville.

TN Governor School for the Arts has held auditions and looks to be an interesting summer program that is starting to take shape…more on that later!

RIP Dale McGilliard

I will not presume to know the scope and breadth of everyone’s relationship with Dale nor will I prescribe an emotion to their hearts; however, since this also serves as my vessel of grief…I will say that I lost a mentor, teacher, and friend. I am deeply saddened. Time is limitless but our lives are finite so please appreciate those in your own lives a little more today. For Dale.  (1951-2008)

Sincerely,

John

Summer and Smoke

Well, it’s official.  I will be directing MTSU’s February production of Tennessee Williams’ play, Summer and Smoke.  I am very excited to be working on this project and I am looking forward to auditions on November 16th.  This play will have some very intriguing challenges but I am sure that I will grow as an artist and teacher because of them.  More Later…

True West

So I have a gig!  I am Saul Kimmer in People’s Branch Theatre’s production of True West.

Show Info:

TRUE WEST

True West is one of Sam Shepard’s funniest plays, as well as one of his most brutal.

Austin is a stable, successful Hollywood screenwriter, Lee his menacing vagabond brother, and True West is the story of their attempt to trade lives.

Their tragicomic quest to change identity ends in a stalemate, but along the way this Pulitzer Prize-winning author takes gleeful potshots at Hollywood, the myth of the frontier, and the escape fantasies that drive the American imagination.

• September 18-27, 2008

For tickets please go here!