Virgodog's World

Photos from Rabbit Island

2012-02-05T22:35:00.000-05:00

Cathryn Lynne came by rehearsal yesterday and took some great pics.

Reality Killed the Video Star

2012-02-05T10:40:00.000-05:00

This version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" came up on one of my Pandora stations the other day. It's by the Presidents of the United States of America and was used in the Adam Sandler movie "The Wedding Singer." I sort of remember seeing that movie when it came out but don't recall hearing this song. I'm sure I did but I have a medical condition that makes me actively erase Adam Sandler's

Rabbit Island Video

2012-01-24T03:18:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited about this show.

Ghetto Babylon

2011-11-25T16:28:00.001-05:00

I saw a show the other night that was excellent. Usually I just tweet when something is good but this one deserves more than 140 characters. It's a shame it only ran the 20th through the 23rd, but so it goes. It was Dramatic Question Theatre's production of Ghetto Babylon by Michael Mejias and it was performed in the Huron Club downstairs at the Soho Playhouse. If you've ever been, you know it's

25 Cents

2011-11-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

I put together my work sample for the Guggenheim fellowship application tonight. It's one of those things that if you have your stuff together it doesn't take too long. If you don't, then it's more painful. I try to be very careful putting mine together. This morning, I pulled 4 paper binders of different colors for my manuscripts. After punching the holes into the plays several hours later, I

Current Conditions

2011-10-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

Tires sizzle on the wet avenue 6 floors below. I was down but now I'm up. Took day medicine instead of night medicine. An A (or maybe a D) train grumbles and chugs smoothly along. No garbage or recycling pick up in the last couple of hours. When I walked up to the building at 10, a man was laying on the sidewalk. A fire truck and an ambulance was emptied of crew to see how he was doing. Two young

Both Sides of the Desk

2011-10-12T00:53:00.001-05:00

It has been educational running the auditions for Rabbit Island. I will always identify as an actor first. Even if I was stricken with ALS and couldn't talk or move, I'd still see myself as an actor. Most of my closest friends are actors. I've had some of my most important and profoundly human experiences working or just being around actors. But being exposed to more of them, I can see why people

Audition for Rabbit Island

2011-10-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

Rabbit Island Breakdowns We were pushing 900 submissions as of noon today, but in case you missed this... Elephant Run District will be holding auditions for the new play Rabbit Island by Chris Harcum (www.chrisharcum.com) to be produced in the 2012 New York Frigid Festival at Under St. Marks and directed by Aimee Todoroff (www.aimeetodoroff.com). Auditions will be by appointment only on Oct.

There's Gold in Them There Hills

2011-10-03T08:21:00.001-05:00

I try to stay out of saying women are better than men at certain things and vice-versa. My usual exceptions to this are that women are better at giving birth to children and men are better at being lazy pieces of crap. If I were to break this down into the most basic reason why, I'd say it's because one group only suckles while the other also produces the milk. Which brings me to this. There

Glad I Don't...

2011-10-02T22:41:00.005-05:00

In high school, I was quite determined to become a hard rock guitarist for a living. I had the finger dexterity and could mimic difficult licks but lacked certain necessary skills and talents to really be great. My ear was not good. I remember in sixth grade we were taken into the cafeteria to do an ear test to see if we could qualify to be in the school band. I had dreams of being a drummer or

A.D.R. Is H.A.R.D.

2011-06-09T09:14:00.000-05:00

Spent most of Sunday with Cyrus, above left, and Joel, the writer and director of a short film titled Patriot at Bergen Beach Studios (Cyrus's living room) overdubbing where sound issues are bad. It isn't easy. You can match the rhythm and pitch of the line, if you're lucky. It's getting the vocal performance to match and synching the overall timing that's a bear. After a couple of hours of not

Sickline

2011-05-31T15:26:00.001-05:00

I overheard a reporter say recently that deadlines have a clarifying effect. This was said during a talk about how details and setting give a sense of place in a story and how facts by themselves can sit lifeless on a page. I'm pretty sure the first time I heard the word "deadline" was when I was in fifth grade. It must have been in reference to a report I was taking my sweet time starting. In

Oh yeah, that...

2011-05-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

I don't have much of a bucket list. I don't a big list of dreams. I do get feelings that I must do certain things before I don't have a chance to do so anymore or I get a mild case of regret. Each year, I have the intention of seeing the Big Apple Circus when it plops down at Lincoln Center. This year, Aimee and I watched the documentary series on it instead. A good 40% of invites for shows on

Closing Time

2011-05-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

Wound up in a section of the Upper East Side I haven't been in years. Had those reverse deja-vu feelings you get when you know things are different but you can't remember what was there before. There were several of those glass buildings twisting and squating over smaller brownstones. I assume they are designed and made so that eventually the brownstone can be removed and the glass monster can

Here Comes the Judge

2011-05-14T22:16:00.001-05:00

So next Saturday is Judgment Day. I have very loose plans for it at this point. Sleeping in embarrassingly late, having flax seed pancakes and strong coffee, and doing a little yoga. If it's a nice day, I might go for a long walk. There might be a nap or an attempt to catch up on long overdue reading. I hope that will be acceptable.

Radioactive Blood

2011-05-12T10:09:00.000-05:00

I happened to be walking behind the Foxwoods Theater last week and snapped this pic. It's sometimes hard for a show to get good pull quotes. Spider-Man needed to use Glenn Beck. That's a whole new level. There were stage hands hanging out and an actor with a wrap-around mic coming back from a nearby deli. I wished them well. Not to their faces. I kind of blanketed the theater with good will,

Monologue Madness

2011-04-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

I was asked by Edward Daniels, a friend from my University of Virginia days, to travel down to the Warehouse Theater in Washington DC to be a guest judge for Monologue Madness, an acting competition he created. It was a great time. Like the NCAA basketball tournament, this was divided into rounds and the actors competed in pairs until there was a final 4 and then a victor. It began with a

2nd Mark

2011-03-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

Doing a 2-day shoot on a short film in and around the East Village. My character is worried he is being followed. A stranger comes out of my character's building. I turn to face the window of the Vietnamese restaurant next door to be seen by him. Fortunately, between the rehearsal and the 1st take at 9:40 a.m., some random person kindly spilled this bottle of Bud to clearly mark where I need to

Arise

2011-03-24T21:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I awoke to the aggressive crunching, drilling, scraping, shouting, shoveling and truck beeps that come with trees being planted on my street. Without warning. Part of Mayor Bloomberg's Million Tree project. I can attest that at least 12 have been used so far. It's nice but I'm glad it's not a daily process. This morning, the fourth day of spring, brought a gentle dusting of snow on

1st

2011-03-22T09:13:00.001-05:00

We met a year ago today. I was supposed to see Sondheim on Sondheim for his 80th birthday celebration with a friend. She was supposed to do an informal reading of an evening of one-acts. But another friend asked me to be in a reading of his short plays that night and she was given a last-minute ticket to see Sondheim on Sondheim. So I didn't see Sondheim and she didn't do that reading. We met

Staycation

2011-01-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

Took the last few days off this. My cousin came to visit this weekend. Always nice to see her, although the temperatures in the teens and 20s presented a challenge. What can you do indoors while still feeling like you're visiting NYC? Got to have a few nice meals and saw the Flying Karamazov Brothers. I have no idea where to get good schwarma outside lunch spots in Midtown and most are counter

God Bless America

2011-01-17T23:33:00.001-05:00

The last time I had McDonalds, my order was a cup of coffee with a drop of cream. "NO SUGAR?" "No, thank you." "YOU SURE?" "I'm so sweet, it'd be cannibalism." That usually let's me wiggle out without having to have 2 plus scoops of sweetener. In spite of my low consumption of the food-like stuffs at the Golden Arches, I frequently visit them because my bank has mini ATMs in them all over NYC.

Quiet Moment

2011-01-17T22:14:00.000-05:00

Got a weekend day during a weekday last week. Only came across a couple other people in the park. 1/2 calming. 1/2 eerie. Thought coming across this tchotchke with "UFO" painted on it a good omen.

Quiet Moment

2011-01-17T18:14:00.000-05:00

Got a weekend day during a weekday last week. Only came across a couple other people in the park. 1/2 calming. 1/2 eerie. Thought coming across this tchotchke with "UFO" painted on it a good omen.

How to Not Wreck Yourself at Work

2010-10-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

As part of a year of physical therapy I'm undergoing--about which I'll be writing more soon--my doctor paid me an office call to evaluate my ergonomic situation. While I had spent plenty of time writing, I've not really worked an office job until I started working at the Daily Planet about 2 years ago. I used to do a lot more physical jobs: acting, teaching, and many service industry jobs. Not