thehefner: (Hamlet: Monologue)
thehefner ([personal profile] thehefner) wrote2008-10-20 08:12 pm

Brain-spew: NYC for McKee and 2009 tour prospects

Heading to NYC Thursday to Monday to attend Robert McKee's writing seminar, on the advice of a fellow solo performer who came to see the original HEFNER MONOLOGUES. McKee's a major name, and the performer called the three-day seminar "one of the greatest solo performances I've ever seen," but I've been told to take his work with a grain of salt. This is a guy who has very clear ideas of what is the right way and what is the wrong way to construct a story. Good to know.

[livejournal.com profile] suburbfabulous, take note: I'll be arriving Thursday afternoon. Let's meet up for dinner someplace before I have to resign myself to the hostel and three packed days of lecture. And [livejournal.com profile] tamburlaine, we will of course be in touch.

Once I get through the seminar, I'm gonna take what I learned and see if it can apply to my HEFNER MONOLOGUES revisions. The same solo performer also suggested that I make the show present tense. He said that I'm a very writerly performer, and that most times I'm telling the story in past tense, sometimes shifting to present tense. He said such revisions would cut my show down by 20%, which would be exactly what I need.

I'm frankly nervous about what I might lose in the process, what beloved bits might go underfoot, how much of it is needless bulk and how much is just... my style. Y'know? But we'll find out, as I'm flat out of other ideas.

The show desperately needs to be shaved by at least fifteen minutes if it's gonna make it through my 2009 tour. Not just so it will be as tight and powerful as possible to audiences, but also... well, heck, I need to keep it fresh for myself too. Especially considering just how much I'm planning to perform the bloody thing.

Here are all the festivals I'm applying to for 2009:

Frigid (New York): Feb. 25 – March 8, 2009
Orlando: May 14 - 25, 2009 (doing a revised "How Hefnerian")
Montreal: June 11 - 21, 2009
Winnipeg: July 15 – 26, 2009
Minnesota: July 30–Aug. 9, 2009
Indianapolis: Aug 21 – 30, 2009
Vancouver: September 9 - 20, 2009

Have I mentioned that I'm goddamn insane? I barely managed to survive doing three this year alone.

Of course, there's no guarantee that I'll get into them all, but I'm gonna try my damnedest. This is what I've gotta do if I'm gonna make it. Also, it's gonna cost assloads of money, especially since some of that is in Canadian money. Thankfully, I will ideally also be earning some of that Canadian money back. If things keep going the way they do, I might seriously have a future sticking to the Canadian circuit!

But yeah, seriously, I am goddamn insane. I will also be poor, at least for the short run. Gotta sick at it. I should start making the cardboard signs now: "Will Monologue For Food Absinthe."

[identity profile] suburbfabulous.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
You want to come up to Long Wharf Theatre and see Brian Dennehy in HUGHIE?
I am pretty sure I can score tickets, and there are some awesome restaurants between points A and B.

[identity profile] thehefner.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hell yes! I've never seen HUGHIE, and Eugene O'Neill is my favorite playwright ever! I didn't think I'd have time to see a play, but I should totally be able to do a Thursday evening performance! Traffic permitting, my bus should make it up there by 3ish-4ish. As Leonard Cohen says, I'm your man!

[identity profile] suburbfabulous.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
I will start making inquiries now.

[identity profile] thehefner.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Drop me an e-mail sometime at curseyourichards at gee male dot com and send you your number, and I'll send you mine.

[identity profile] suburbfabulous.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
640
Will do.

[identity profile] angrylemur.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
If you get into the Vancouver fringe fest, you'll theoretically be in town for my birthday.


I just thought you should know that this makes me very, very, very, very, very, very happy.

[identity profile] thehefner.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
*blush, big ol' grin*

Let's see if I get in first. Otherwise, the back-up plan in San Francisco. Which doesn't mean I still couldn't swing up there afterward, which I probably would anyway. Let's face it, girl, either way, I'm gonna be a seriously tired, stressed-out wreck at the end of six months non-stop driving, performing, fliering, pimping, marketing, boozing, schmoozing, probably not much screwzing. Seeing you will likely be the number one thing on my mind.

And if I do get in and you can pull together as many people as you can to see my show, all the better!

[identity profile] lialife.livejournal.com 2008-10-21 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Go! Go! Go!