The first Audacity Solo Salon

Van Quattro reading his work STANDING EIGHT COUNT

A lot of my theatre activities over the last several years nave narrowed on an interest in solo performance. I started a solo performance blog that touches on, admittedly, only a fraction of the solo performance happening around the nation. I developed and performed three distinct original solo pieces, including CHOP, which is probably the piece I am most proud of and which has proven most artistically fulfilling to date in my creative process. Last May I produced the first ever Dallas Solo Fest, a Fringe-like theatre festival bringing together local as well as national solo acts in a celebration of one-person shows.

Now I am extending this interest, and the ethos of the DSF, into a quarterly event, a sort of solo performance open mic/workshop series I am calling the Audacity Solo Salon.

The aim of the Audacity Solo Salon is to support and nurture both established and emerging solo performers in the north Texas area. It is also a way to extend the mission of the annual Dallas Solo Fest beyond just the festival itself. 

 

This will be a way for solo artists to rehearse, experiment and develop their work in front of supportive audiences. The Audacity Solo Salon it will serve as a collaborative gathering place so solo artists and their audiences can meet and inspire each other and help cultivate a growing community of solo performance in DFW.

This first Salon was on August 25, 2014 and featured local DFW solo performers Van Quattro, Steven Young and Beth Bontley. It seemed to go pretty well, with about a dozen audience members. The solo artists all semmed to come away with some good feedback, too. 

Culture journalist Danielle Georgiou did a nice write-up on the Salon in the Dallas Observer... HERE. And you can see pics from the evening... HERE. And a bit of info... HERE and HERE, as well.

I'm aiming to do the next one on December 8, 2014.

The Elevator Project

AT&T Performing Arts Center

The huge AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District is doing an experiment. They have opened their smaller spaces to several small arts groups (theatres, dance groups and storytellers) to each do one production in the venue during the 2014-2015 season. It is called the Elevator Project. I weighed in on this yesterday after an article about the project appeared in Art & Seek, a local arts and culture website.

Here's me quoting myself...

"In fact, I think it might be a fallacy to believe more mid-size and larger theatres would be good for Dallas. There are so many smaller groups percisely because there is room to operate, room to say something unique and audiences to appreciate what is said at the smaller end of the spectrum. Dallas seems to reward gumption, spark innovation and prides itself on fostering scrappy go-getters. And I would hazard to argue that there are no groups more scrappy than the 40-someodd theatre groups spread all around the Metroplex that do little shows for handfuls of audiences at a time.

Read my whole soapbox rant... HERE.

CHUPACABRA RIGHTS at Dallas 1MPF

With fellow playwright Samantha Rios, 1MPF founder Dominic D'Andrea,
and actors Mayam Baig and Travis Stuebing at the Dallas One-Minute Play Festival

Below is a fuzzy pic of one of my pieces in in performance at the 1st Dallas One-Minute Play Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater, CHUPACABRA RIGHTS. 

The 1MPF played August 16-18, 2014 at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, sponsored by Kitchen Dog Theater. I had two pieces in the production. Dylan Key, of the Undermain, directed my play I HATE IT HERE and CHUPACABRA RIGHTS featured the excellent Danielle Pickard and Danielle Georgiou and was directed by Second Thought Theatre's Kelsey Head.

Danielle Georgiou and Danielle Pickard in CHUPACABRA RIGHTS

The Danielles: Pickard and Georgiou

In reflection, I observed a few things about this unique event: 

1.) It was wonderful to get such a large and diverse swath of the Dallas theatre community together in one big project. Besides seeing a bunch of old friends and dear colleagues, I made some new friends and contacts as well. The scope of the project was a great bringing-together.

2.) I definitely saw the "specific to the community" angle that the founder of the 1MPF concept, Dominic D'Andrea, was shooting for. The plays were purposelfully a cross-section of the interests and concerns of Dallas. They were furthermore grouped into roughly similar themes such as racial issues, gender/sexual awareness, dense traffic, dependenace on technology, Texas pride and so on.

3.) Though I liked being part of the "community" I think it also took a little something away from the individuality of the plays and playwrights involved. Instead of a collection of individual voices, what came out was a jumbled mass of coincidently intersecting "bits." I guess a better way to say it would be that the pieces were plugged into the service of the project, instead of the project serving the voices of the individual writers. This was not necessarily a fault so much as the nature of the beast (all the plays are one-minute long, for goodness sake), but it was definitely noticeable. As an experiment and collective project it was beneficial to participate in, but it runs counter to my own m.o., so definitely not something to engage in very often.

I'm printing CHUPACABRA RIGHTS below. I added "presumeably male" in the opening directions, since I guess it wasn't clear before, particularly after seeing how the piece was presented at KDT. The director took an interesting angle with the piece, by flipping the genders and putting in a bit of interesting blocking (they are sitting in front of chairs). Not completely sure why, but it actually seemed to come out a-okay.

#     #    #

CHUPACABRA  RIGHTS

By Brad McEntire © 2014

Lights up. Two, presumeably male, Chupacabras stand facing the audience. We know they are Chupacabras because they probably have little cardboard signs on them that say, simply, “Chupacabra.” At rise A YOUNG LADY kisses CHUPA 1 on the cheek and exits.

CHUPA 1

Cute right? I’m going to marry her.

CHUPA 2

You can’t marry her. You don’t have the right. You’re not a citizen here.

CHUPA 1

So?

CHUPA 2

You aren’t even human. You don’t have the right.

CHUPA 1

I don’t see the problem. The Supreme Court says corporations have rights, like people. Why not us?

Nice little beat.

… Besides I love her.

Lights fade. End.

Helping Hands for Matt Tomlanovich

With Ms. Erin Sngleton who coordinated the fund-raiser

This past August 20-22 a benefit was held at the Margo Jones Theatre for my good friend and colleague Matt Tomlanovich. It was called Helping Hands and Hyena Haikus: A benefit for Matt Tomlanovich. I acted as emcee and we managed to raise about $6,500 over those three days.

Matt Tomlanovich has been in the hospital since April 3rd, 2014 as a result of a serious MRSA infection in his spinal cord. Since May 14 he has been in a facility receiving rehab and has been making good progress. Though (at the time that this is being written) there is hope that he will recover more use of his limbs, it is probable that he will be a quadriplegic. 

Assistive technology for quadriplegia can run anywhere from $18,000 to $400,000 so the financial goal set for this group is a very rough estimate of the cost of getting Matt the machines he would need in order to once again be creating and some additional funds for the practical costs incurred to his wife and two teenage sons during this difficult time.

Matt Tomlanovich... weird and wonderful dude.

Matt is a wonderful, weird, creative and caring guy. This infection kinda came outta nowwhere and blind-sided him and his family, and by extension, those of us around him. 

I encourage you to visit Matt's GoFundMe page and donate a few dollars. Every little bit helps.

Head... HERE.

"I hate the idea that artists should only do one subject or one style. I love the gluttonous, Pablo-Picasso-Diego-Rivera god-monster of modernism where you try to tackle the entire world with your art.

This is the best thing I've ever heard Molly Crabapple say. Great quote.

DiscoverDenton.com has nice words about LIZARD BOY EATS A DORITO

A MIXTAPE FOR THE YOUTUBE GENERATION

DiscoverDenton.com | Wed, Aug 13, 2014 | Review by: Christopher Taylor 

Tucked into the UNT neighborhoods, round about Malone and Scripture, there’s a building that one does not usually notice. Past the shadows on Jagoe, past Mr. Chopsticks (unless you need pre-show nosh), sandwiched behind a large tree that shades the entrance lies Green Space Arts Collective. The only reason that I know it is there is because I have had the pleasure of rehearsing, performing and viewing work done by any one of a number of bootstrapping theatre companies that perform outside of the gaze of your average theatre goer in Denton. This weekend, you will have two opportunities to see what Sundown Collaborative Theatre, one of the longest lasting independent theatre companies in Denton, is calling We’ve Done It Again: A Mixtape.

If you’ve studied your Shakespeare like good little boys and girls, you know that a green space represents a space where the normal structures of the world do not apply. This short works festival has nothing to do with Shakespeare (although Sundown is producing an adaptation of The Winter’s Talelater this year) and everything to do with defying the expectations of an audience used to being able to drag the scroll bar to the interesting part of the scene. Comprised of 9 short works, there is something here to appeal to all tastes. My particular favorites were John Goes to Mars by Jeff Hernandez, Role Reversal by Kelsey Johnson and Lizardboy Eats a Dorito by Brad McEntire.

John Goes to Mars reminded me of an Arthur C. Clarke story in that it plays in a world that allows for the concept of manned space travel to another planet without the need to explain exactly how it works. Hernandez focuses on the human element, the relationships and experiences of his main character to draw a larger metaphor for escape and through escape, hope. If this were an actual mixtape, John Goes to Mars would be “Space Oddity.”

Role Reversal takes a familiar genre and theme that Sundown loves, mashed up music with frenetic movement. A writer and character twirl around each other, controlling each other in turn until they come to a resolution. This might be the Tori Amos song on the tape.

Lizard Boy Eats a Dorito has, as the title suggests, one character and one point of conflict. Despite its simplicity, Lizard Boy (Robert Linder) captured the audience’s attention like nothing I have seen. Zappa.

I know. The music doesn’t all seem like it would fit together. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. What does work is Sundown’s commitment to bringing creative theatre artists from Denton and Dallas together to create something unique, imperfect, yet still beautiful.

The shows do contain adult language and situations so leave the kids at home for this one and come out to Green Space Arts Collective this Saturday or Sunday evening at 8pm to see what Sundown Collaborative Theatre has in store. If you see the show, make a night of it and head down to the Austin Street Truck Stop for post-show dinner and East Side Denton for after dinner drinks.

We’ve Done It Again: A Mixtape has performances Saturday and Sunday evening at 8 p.m. at Green Space Arts Collective, 529 Malone Street in Denton.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students.

Original post... HERE

My 1MPF plays at KDT

I was one of 30 local(ish) playwrights commissioned to create two plays in the first ever Dallas One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF). It is playing  in conjunction with Kitchen Dog Theater, Sat Aug 16^th, Sun Aug 17^th, and Mon Aug 18^th at 8PM.

My pieces are called I HATE IT HERE and CHUPACABRA RIGHTS.

I'll put the rest of the info below, but if you can't make it out to pay the $20 ticket price, it is also being livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday, August 17 at 6pm PDT/ 8pm CDT/ 9pm EDT. 

Check it out here: http://www.livestream.com/newplay/ . In Twitter use #1MPF to participate in the conversation.

At Kitchen Dog Theater @ The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC), 3120 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204 [Directions: http://the-mac.org/visit/], Tickets are $20 and available at: 214-953-1055 or at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/782940

Featuring Brand New One-Minute Plays By Robin Armstrong, Robert Askins, Vicki Caroline Cheatwood, Bruce R. Coleman, Michael Federico, John M. Flores, Lina Gallegos, Blake Hackler, William Jackson Harper, Isabella Russell Ides, Crystal Jackson, Jason Johnson-Spinos, Tim Johnson, Jim Kuenzer, Joshua Kumler, Jenny Ledel, Cody Lucas, Matt Lyle, Nico Martini, Brad McEntire, Jonathan Norton, Samantha Rios, Marco Antonio Rodriguez, Tom Sime, Jared Strange, Jeff Swearingen, Alia Tavakolian, Lee Trull, Angela Wilson and more.

Directed by Spencer Driggers, Tim Johnson, Nico Martini, & Lee Trull as well as Dylan Key and Kelsey Head, who directed my pieces.

Curated By #1MPF Producing Artistic Director, Dominic D’Andrea

Jeff Swearingen, Me, Will Harper... last three members of Mild Dementia

FUN FACT: The three final members of the Mild Dementia Continuous Play Variety Hour: Will Harper, Jeff Swearingen and myself all are playwrights in this event.

TheaterJones covers Lizard Boy Eats a Dorito

Varied Mixtape 

Sundown Collaborative Theatre's We've Done It Again: A Mixtape has highs and lows, but thankfully there are more of the former.

TheaterJones.com | by Kris Noteboom | Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Robert Linder in LIZARD BOY EATS A DORITO

The art of a good mixtape, as laid out by Rob Gordon (John Cusack) in the movie High Fidelity, is complicated. “You gotta kick it off with a killer. Grab attention. Then, you gotta take it up a notch. But you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you’ve gotta cool it down a notch. There are a lot of rules.” Sundown Collaborative Theatre’s short play program We’ve Done It Again: A Mixtape, features a killer Side A, but ventures into overly abstracted deep tracks on the back side that end up leaving the audience with a lingering feeling of confusion.

. . .

Continuing the tradition of literal show titles established by its predecessor, Brad McEntire’s Lizard Boy Eats a Dorito, as the program even says, “is exactly what it sounds like.” Robert Linder, donning glasses in which the lenses have been replaced by paper cutouts made to look like the bulbous eyes of a lizard, slowly crawls across the stage, contorting his body into many a reptilian pose. At the other end of the stage, a single Dorito sits in the middle of a small, round table. An experiment in the limits of humor, the key is Linder’s Brando-esque commitment to the role. He carefully meanders through the space, testing the air with his tongue and staring down audience members before finally coming to his Mount Sinai—the table bearing a gift from the large bipedal gods.

Arduous pursuit of a goal is something everyone can identify with. Life is stressful and full of unrealized dreams. McEntire’s piece captures this struggle in a way that reflects the absurdity of life. And Lizard Boy’s success in achieving his goal—again, the title is very literal—is a catharsis that delights everyone.

» We've Done It Again: A Mixtape continues at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13 at the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park, and continues 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 16-17, at  the Greenspace Arts Collective in Denton

Original review... HERE

ADDED NOTE: from Kris Noteboom on Facebook: "Brad McEntire's piece, Lizard Boy Eats A Dorito, is worth the cost of admission by itself. Seriously, I'm still in awe."

Lizard Boy Eats a Dorito

I have a piece in Sundown Collaborative Theatre's short works fest. It is called LIZARD BOY EATS A DORITO and it is exactly what it sounds like. It is performed by the delighgtfully bizarre Robert Linder.

Sundown Collaborative Theatre presents…
“WE’VE DONE IT AGAIN”: A MIXTAPE
Sundown's 3rd Annual(ish) Short Works Festival

AUGUST 11-13 @ 8PM
MARGO JONES THEATRE IN FAIR PARK
1121 First Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210

AUGUST 16-17 @ 8PM
GREEN SPACE ARTS COLLECTIVE
529 Malone, Denton, TX 76201

We've Done it Again: A Mixtape will feature nine different works including solo acts, movement pieces, and new plays. Our eclectic mix of styles and moods means there is sure to be something to whet your appetite! You can see all nine works in one night, or come by on multiple nights.

Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 students/seniors.
Group prices are available; please contact us for more information.
To reserve tickets or pay in advance, call 940-220-9302 or email boxoffice@sundowntheatre.org. 

More info at: http://www.sundowntheatre.org/