So, this exists. Created by a PianoFighter.

In PianoFight’s “no frills” style of black box theater, we let the audience “fill in” the details of a scene much the way someone does when they read a book. If a scene is at the beach, the audience knows that it’s at a beach, and can picture itself at a beach — even though the walls are black and the actors are sitting on wooden black boxes. Through the acting and dialogue, we map a sense of place onto an empty palette, and let the audience fill in the blanks with their imagination. But what if we were to change this empty palette?

We here at PianoFight Productions are looking to do just that. Last Saturday, a team of producers and I went on a scouting trip to the Tomales Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes California, to plan what promises to be an epic show for Saturday, August 27th. The show will be designed specifically for this space, whether it’s the waterfront of the bay, the boat tied up at the docks, or the parking lot. PianoFight is currently without a space and is in the process of building a state of the art theater complex in downtown SF; couple that with the enormous generosity of the owner of the TBOC, and we have a chance to do something truly unique.

When we arrived at the space, I realized that while I had been there for lazy saturdays grilling oysters and drinking beer, I had never before looked at it as actual “space”. When you look at something with an eye to perform, everything changes. Dimensions seem different. You notice things you had heretofore never noticed. Never before had I seen a gold rush era looking building in the back. But now? It felt as if I couldn’t miss it.

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PianoFighter Nina Harada chronicles her journey of pursuing a career as an actor in Los Angeles. Follow her journey on her blog The Scene Partner.

In the past week and a half I’ve been ingesting a whole lot of theater. It wasn’t on purpose, it just so happened to be the thing to do every other day. And what a wonderful thing it is to do! There’s been a lot of debate recently about whether or not LA is a theater town. It’s actually not a new debate; I’ve heard over and over all my life how LA is not a theater town at all and that only Chicago and NY really count. But, I would like to argue that it is. LA Theater is by no means a perfect community, and there is a lot we can work on and places we can grow, but it is here! And I’m talkin’ Good, Original, Creative, Theater.

Here’s a rundown of what I saw and why it was great:

Superior Donuts @ Geffen Playhouse

Well, I talked about this last week when I used Superior Donuts as an example for Something to Strive For, but I will repeat the gist of why this production was awesome: all-around strong acting, writing and directing. Yes, it is the Geffen, and they have big budgets and equally big price tags on their tickets. But I think the Geffen is still relevant. They are doing new work, like Superior Donuts, slowly acclimating the typical theater-going audience to stuff other than outdated and always-produced shows or classics or musicals… ya know, the mainstream stuff as far as theater goes.

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Some back story for this week’s WTFriday: Recently, my roommate, Mark, was leaving work and saw a wallet on the sidewalk. The good samaritan that he is, Mark tracked down the man who misplaced it, let’s call him Mo, and after a few odd Facebook messages was able to get him on the phone. It was to Mark’s surprise that after his many unwarranted efforts to be a nice dude, Mo took on a tone of suspicion and anger even, going so far as to demand Mark deliver his lost wallet immediately in person. I still can’t imagine what bargaining chips our misguided Mo imagined he had in this scenario, nor can I see any reason why a wallet thief would contact his victim for a sadistic game of ‘Come and Get It’, but for some reason Mo was assuming the worst.  His opposite-of-grateful reaction deflated the joy of being kind for Mark, who then decided it was time to browse the Costanza-thick wallet and show its more entertaining contents to his roommate (me).  Along with all his bank account information and a bevy of gift and credit cards the portrait below may explain why this guy was so skiddish to have the wallet out of his possession.

“No matter what happens, don’t EVER lose my picture.”  Well now you’ve gone and done it, Mo.  You’ve betrayed poor Humamrmmma…’s trust AND acted like a dingus to a guy just trying to do you a solid.  Mark may not be a vindictive fella but your sweet ‘H’ WILL hunt you down and make you pay.  From the weathered look of this photo you’ve done well to hold onto it so far.  Maybe just keep it in a safer place than your mobile filing cabinet when you get it back.  This is your warning; the next finder may be a keeper.

- Jed

Unspoken Office Rules are funny, aren’t they? They vary by office, certainly, and they’re often unique to places, settings, or people WITHIN offices. For example, “Come on, man. You know Steve doesn’t like it when you put his Helvetica Mug in the sink.”

Or, “You’re not using the toaster oven to make a quesadilla, are you?”

Point being, there’s simply no way to learn said Unspoken Office Rules until that public shaming that accompanies your first mistake. God forbid that public shaming take place in the bathroom.

-Sean

PianoFighter Nina Harada chronicles her journey of pursuing a career as an actor in Los Angeles. Follow her journey on her blog The Scene Partner.

So, I’m taking this trip next week. I’ll be gone for two weeks, sans phone and internet and computer. No casting submissions, no emails about readings and plays and workshops, no auditioning, no phone calls…. It’s like everything is on hold. I’m in this limbo. I’m already feeling anxious to coming back and I haven’t even left yet.

Well, that’s not a good start to a vacation now is it?

It’s odd to think of taking a vacation from a job that’s as ambiguous as acting is in LA. I’m not clocking in anywhere, or have long hours at the office daily or anything like that to warrant a break. But I do work a lot (though mostly unpaid) and deserve a break just like the rest of us (I’m convincing myself here… I’ve got less than a week to put my anxiety in check so I can actually enjoy this vacation!). Hourly casting submissions, daily auditions driving all over town, picking up shots for a webseries, weekly follow-ups to get that hard-earned footage, updating your website, tweaking your reel, production meetings, dance classes, writing sessions, actor check-in meetings, seeing new work, casting director mailings, researching your type and current shows and realistic agencies…. it all adds up. That’s work. And, not to mention, the work that actually pays the bills.

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Last week, we showed you what it looked like when googley-eyed birds did it missionary style. This week, we explore what single-celled sex looks like. The answer: dirty, drunken and depraved.

Is mitosis a form of masturbation?

This idea evolved over hours of riffing at our creative retreat some weeks ago. With no point of origin clear, Kersey took the bait and simplified many iterations into one simple panel. It should be stated that the creative ownership of this belongs to PianoFight at large, not just Mission Control.

There was one line we sorely hated to cut out of the final version. It came from a three panel draft, that started with an Amoeba sitting alone at a singles bar drinking a beer. In an attempt to get the mitosis started, the Amoeba says to itself, ‘So, what am I doing tonight?’

The weird and wonderful Kersey art will keep on flowing. Check out the rest of her work on her blog.

-Ray

PianoFight is executive-producing a short narrative film called Low Shoulders. Find out more at www.lowshoulders.com.

The voiceover in film has, over the years, developed an unfair bad rap. It has become a despised device, almost as bad as “it was all a dream” or “he was dead all the time!” When I tell someone Low Shoulders will include pretty heavy voiceovers as part of the story-telling technique, the first response is, without fail, incredulity. A grimace tugs at the corner of his or her face, and I can hear an internal groan resound inside his or her skull, and then something jumps in my stomach.

Not that I blame them – voiceovers seem, at first glance, to be the ultimate copout, a way to smooth out narrative inconsistencies, bridge missing gaps, and simply lazy writing. I can think of plenty of examples: Dune, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Little Children, The Shawshank Redemption, and the non-director’s cut of Blade Runner are a few that immediately come to mind.

Charlie Kaufman sums up the attitude towards voiceover that these types of film engender in his script for 2002′s Adaptation:

God help you! It’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character. You must present the internal conflicts of your character in image, in symbol. Film is a medium of movement and image.

But there are plenty of films where voiceover not only does not jar, but is essential to the storytelling and aesthetic of these films, and helps these films become transcendent. I’m thinking of work like The Thin Red Line, George Washington, No Country for Old Men, or even a more pulpy film like Fight Club – all of these have lovingly written, beautifully performed, and truly essential voiceover work.

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