See Parasite Drag

There are plays you see that you wish you hadn't and there are plays you wish you hadn't seen that you're glad you did.  Parasite Drag is one of the latter.  The subject matter is... without giving up the surprise... dramatic.  The actors are great and it's got four roles that actors would give their eye teeth for.
Two of the actors in this play are friends (Andy Collins who looks younger than me but is exactly the same age - sorry Andy; and Susan Hammons).  They play a religious mid western couple who is struggling with passionlesssnes and give the roles all they can. 
The cast is rounded out by Kim Strassburger and John Polak who have the meatier roles.  I saw Kim and John in Pillow Man a few years back and have to ask; what is it with John Polak and pillows?
This play is at Ion Theatre (at 6th and Penn).  It's amazing to see what Glenn Paris and Claudio Raygosa have done with that space.  They got everything they could get out of the space and, as of the final preview of Parasite Drag, have got 99.98% of what they need from the cast.  See it.

Kevin Six has an other...

Play Produced!

I'm in Hour Three.

New Works Play Festival Since its inception in 2005, Stagecrafters New Works Play Festival has been committed to the creation and development of new works. Through a "call for scripts," playwrights submit their unpublished, short works for review by a committee of selected directors, seasoned actors and amateur playwrights. The New Works Play Festival provides an exclusive view of the page to stage process. From playwright conception to director interpretation to stage presentation, audiences get a rare, inside look as to how a play makes it to the stage . The past four years have been met with great enthusiasm for the talent of upcoming playwrights, directors and actors. One 15-minute play presented at the 2005 New Works Play Festival, Life and Death on a Park Bench by Edward J. Thomas of Centerline, MI, was tweaked and polished to a full stage play, Working Stiffs and made it's world premiere on the 2nd Stage in Stagecrafters' 2007-08 season. Join us for the 2010 New Works Play Festival and get in on the ground floor of exciting new works. Date: June 25 and 26, 2010 Location: Baldwin Theatre, 2nd Stage at 415 S. Lafayette, Royal Oak, MI 48067 Time: Friday, June 25 from 7 pm to 11 pm, Saturday, June 26 from 12 pm - 5 pm. Admission Fee: $5.00 to attend as many shows as you'd like. See or all nine... come back both days...it's all up to you. 2010 Lineup! HOUR ONE 7: 00 pm   Literary Virus by Laura Tucker Bradshaw, Rochester Hills, MI.               Directed by Kimberly Wallace.                  Cast includes: Jeannine Simpson, Phil Berns. 7:25 pm   Helven by Steve Schultz, Sterling Heights, MI.                  Directed by Barbara Vorves.                  Cast includes: Nick Urban, Cindy Cole-Hansen. 7:45 pm  Unpaid by Lynne McMahon, Chicago, IL.                 Directed by Shar Douglas.                 Cast includes: Patrick Kilbourn, Paul Vendetti. HOUR TWO 8:00 pm   The Stop Smoking Technique by Peter Wurdock, Royal Oak, MI.                  Directed by Bill Dixon.                  Cast includes: Greg Bowman, Brooke Allen/Bowman, Sandy LaJoie,                                          Dave Hoff. 8:30 pm  Grief by Lynne McMahon, Chicago, IL.                 Directed by Rodel Salazar.                 Cast includes: Jerry Haines, Samantha Glover. HOUR THREE 9:00 pm  So Much For Seatbelts by Craig Kenworthy, Bozeman, MT.                 Directed by Hal D'Arpini.                 Cast includes: Nicholas Yocum, Sara Rydzewski, John Nowaczyk. 9:30 pm  Command Performance by Kevin Six, San Diego, CA.                 Directed by Sandy Glover.                 Cast includes: HOUR FOUR 10:00 pm  The Comeback by Audra Lord, Ferndale, MI.                   Directed by Audra Lord.  (Talkback after the show)                   Cast includes: Harry Burkey, Kyle Holton, Liz Schultz. 10:30 pm  A Tribute to Ann Forsaith  (Staged Reading)                  Directed by Vonnie Miller.                  Cast includes:

Kevin Produced in WA

Dear Kevin,
Congratulations!  Your short play The Art of Love, American Masters
was selected as one of our 8 finalists to be presented at the Festival
this year!  Considering we received 87 entries from around the country,
that is no small achievement. 

 
 
Some particulars: 
Unfortunately
we can pay no royalties to finalists, but we would like to offer two
complimentary tickets to be used at your discretion, for both the Friday evening performance, July 9, and the Saturday evening performance, July 10 (for a total of four tickets).  Have your guests call the Driftwood Players box office at (425) 774-9600
to reserve and mention your name; there will be tickets waiting for
them the evening of the performance.  The theater is located at 950 Main St in Edmonds, WA. Our website www.driftwoodplayers.com

 
There
will be an audience People's Choice awards both evenings, as well as a
Judges' Award the final evening.  Please let us know if you yourself
are attending that final evening, and if you would be available to
accept an award if your play is chosen.  I can also send any awards if
you are unable to attend.

 
Please feel free to contact me at this e-mail address, or call (425) 774-9600 if you have any questions or concerns.
 
Congratulations again, and we hope to see you at the theater!
 
Carissa Meisner Smit

Chairperson
Festival Readers Committee

The Hot l Baltimore

The Hot l Baltimore in San Diego

The Hot l Baltimore is a play by Lanford Wilson. Set in the lobby of the Hotel Baltimore, it focuses on the residents of the decaying property who are faced with eviction when the structure is condemned. The play draws its title from the hotel's neon marquee with a burned-out letter ''e'' which was never replaced.

The off-Broadway Circle Repertory Company's production, directed by Marshall W. Mason, opened on 22 March 1973, at Circle in the Square Downtown, where it ran for 1666 performances. The cast included Trish Hawkins, Conchata Ferrell, Judd Hirsch, and Jonathan Hogan. It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play of 1972–73, the John Gassner Playwriting Award, an Obie Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award.


More Links: Hot l Baltimore Sullivan Players Fan Page Hot l Baltimore Event Page

Swedenborg Hall (1531 Tyler Ave, San Diego,92103) has been in City Heights for nearly a hundred years. The hall has been the gathering place for arts and culture for over fifty years. Visit the hall online at www.SwedenborgHall.org.

Bad Kitty

So I was just about to go and surf.  This is something I used to do religiously but have been slacking off on lately.  I REALLY need to surf three or four times a week, man.

So, I'm on my way to surf and I can't find my phone!  So I went back into the house to look for it.  No phone.  But, because it had been so long since I've surfed, I just put off looking for it.

The surf was fabulous, the weather perfect and, should I have drowned, the lifeguard beautiful.

When I got here (Coffee Bean in Clairemont), I resumed my search by going online and texting Jennie at work.  Then I checked my e-mail and saw, send from my own phone, this:

My Car Ride With Craig Noel

I worked at the Old Globe Theatre (as it was then known, now it's The Globe Theatre) from 1984 to 1989.  There I saw many things and learned a lot about how theatre works and how theatres work.  And one day, I was the only one who could pick up Craig Noel and take him to his recently repaired car.
At the Globe, the powers that be were desperately getting Craig ready for retirement.  Little did they know that he would never really retire and, probably on Monday, they will finally have the office space they've wanted since the 80s.  I will never forget my 10-minute car ride with the most important single person in American Theatre.
It almost didn't happen.  I was running late and sped into Balboa Park followed by an off-duty police officer who said that if he had his ticket  book, I surely would have gotten a ticket with multiple infractions.  How could I tell him that I was risking being late to pick up Craig Noel? 
The conversation was pleasant enough.  I didn't really want to bother him with the one million questions I had about his life, career and opinions on acting and actors.  So I thought I'd get around to it by talking about the old days.
Craig had worked for MGM and, before that in Japan.  We talked of those days but Craig talked mostly about his family.  His mother and brother mostly.  His mother was constantly having to deal with these unruly boys getting into all kinds of mischief in what must have been a bucolic 1920's New Mexico.
I never did get to ask the million questions I had but I'll never forget that car ride.  The last time I saw Craig, four years ago, he called me by name and asked how I was getting along since leaving the Globe (in 1989!).  A terrific man, a talented artist (whom I was honored to see at work) and a kind, gentle soul.  I will miss him.  But more so, I will miss his friend and assistant Raul Moncada who died on the dame day.
Raul was the founding manager of one of Craig's greatest theatrical efforts: Teatro Meta.  Raul translated dozens of plays by Latin American playwrights; English plays into Spanish and ran the first program to put them all together for regional theatre audiences (at a major regional theatre).  Raul also worked on outreach, in the education department and as a stage manager on nearly a hundred plays.  He was kind and attentive and looked out for Craig like a mother hen looks over her chicks.
How oddly fitting that Raul was there when Craig died.  Not in the same place: Craig died, I am sure, with many members of his Globe family close by and Raul died alone a few miles away.  But I have no doubt that as Craig left this place and entered the other, there was Raul with a clipboard, a cup of coffee and a deferential smile.  And I'm also sure that Raul helped Craig along the way.
These men who were gentle giants in American (and South American) theatre.  These men who gave so much and asked for so little.  These men whe were the epitome of gentlemen.  These men whom I loved and never told them.  These men will be missed.
All we can now do, if we are to call ourselves theatre artists (or human for that matter) is to live as a testament to their shining example.  To Craig Noel, hero; and to Raul Moncada, quieter, less well-known but no different artistically and humanly; to these men I dedicate the rest of my career.  You were loved, you continue to be loved and you will be missed.  And you have made the world better.
I will prove this to you and the world with everything I do creatively.  I will endeavor to entertain you and make you proud.  With love.