|
    
SPEND 9/11 WITH A GAY MARINE
For some people, that may be an effective marketing strategy.
After Dark Theatre Company's inaugural production will be Leave, or The Surface of the World. 5 days and counting til opening night as of 8/31.
First performances will be THIS WEEK at the University of Minnesota's Morris campus in their Black Box theater on Friday and Saturday, September 5 and 6 at 7pm (If you're in Morris or headed out that way, call 612-396-5653 for tickets)
Then NEXT WEEK we bring our act to Minneapolis at the Bryant Lake Bowl for two Thursday night performances only, also 7pm curtain time. Our first is, fittingly enough, Thursday, September 11th. The second and final performance is Thursday, September 25th. Tickets on the phone at 612-825-8949, or online at www.bryantlakebowl.com and brownpapertickets.com
I kept thinking the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays and lesbians serving openly in the military would be a thing of the past, and my play a period piece almost immediately - back in 1999. Over nine years later, we revisit Seth the Marine and his civilian lover Nicholas with a different cast of supporting characters, and a very different and dangerous world - where the hypocrisy is all the more galling. Details on the upcoming production below, and here, and you can preview the play here with scenes, monologues, synopsis and cast list - with more pictures to follow later this week.
 MONOLOGUE OF THE WEEK
Nicholas tries to explain to Tyson just how tenuous the cover story is for himself and his Marine husband Seth, and how it could come unglued at any moment, in a speech from Leave...
"Except the second anyone catches the two of us, looking at each other across thousands of miles of ocean and sky and sand, they’ll know."
"His tongue darted out and got the sour cream. And he just kept chewing and grinning and looking at me."
MONOLOGUES AND SCENES FOR ACTORS,
ACTRESSES, AND DIRECTORS
The centralized searchable database for all the scenes and
monologues on the site is up and running!
Monologues for men. Monologues for women. Scenes for men. Scenes
for women. Scenes for men and women together. It's all here
for your perusal. Click on the "Monologue
Search" or "Scene
Search" functions in the menu at the left, or just click here.
SCENE OF THE WEEK
Seth and Jonas, Marines serving together overseas during wartime, share the beginnings of what will become an intense bond over their shared secret lives, in a scene from Leave...
"The fear. Not fear of the enemy. Not even fear of getting caught. Fear of someone knowing. Being sure."
 PLAY OF THE WEEK
(No, I didn't forget to rotate the category. This is gonna be the play of the week for the next couple of weeks - plenty of new and updated material to peruse there. Give it a look...) Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell... Don’t Love? The strains placed on a couple separated by war are further compounded by the need to remain in the closet. Coded messages and secret identities are at the epicenter of the struggle between love of country and love of a lifetime. The new version of Leave...
"I’m not just out of the closet, I’ve completely dismantled it and put in some French doors. So who’s the coward?"
Click on the links and pictures above or visit these plays
by going to the Plays & Musicals or Screenplays & TV Scripts sections and clicking on their titles there.
(setting this aside, just for the next week or so, but peruse the links so far...more to come...)
In Search Of... Monologues...
for my actress friends, I thought I'd do the same thing I just did for my actor friend - pulling together a short list of monologues I recommend on the site as likely prospects for audition material. I'll dole them out in the monologue spotlight section here over the next several weeks (if you have other suggestions for ones you like, drop me a line...)
First, a couple of published monologues, here and here, from the award-winning haunted love story Heaven and Home (the full script of which is available for purchase here). Then some unpublished ones from The Surface of the World - here, here, here, here, and here. Then two different versions of same character and same opening speech across two different plays - the Duchess appears in the one-act But Not For Love (full script available for purchase here), and also in the full-length Love's Prick, and her opening salvo can be found here as well as here. Another unpublished speech from Heaven and Home here. Also one from The Hopes and Fears of All The Years here. Then, something new here from the latest play, Leave. (We'll pick this thread back up once the production is behind me, I promise)
MONOLOGUE SEARCH - FOR THE GUYS
An actor friend of mine emailed me the following plea recently...
"Hey Babe...do you have a good 2 - 3 minute serious monologue??? I LOATHE having to find new monologues. I think I would rather vomit like 8 times...ok, maybe just once-but you get my drift!!! LORDY! I am trying to expand my rep and I am coming to a road block! YIKES!"
First, I offered up this one and this one as a couple of my favorites. Next up, four published ones here, here, here and here. Followed by two from But Not For Love, here and here (the full script of which is available for purchase here). Then a couple from the award-winning haunted love story Heaven and Home here and here (the full script of which is available for purchase here). Then one from The Surface of the World (here), and one from Studpuppy (here - the full script of which is available for purchase here). Finally one from the Dandelion Snow cycle of short plays (here) and one from the Thirst collection (here - both full scripts are available in Short Plays Volume 2, available for purchase here)
 SAMPLE
SONGS...
from the Christmas musical, The
Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Find, download and listen to these songs in the Hopes
and Fears... section of the Plays
and Musicals area of this site or just click
here.
INTERESTED IN PRODUCING ONE OF THESE
PLAYS?
Please contact me.
Feel free to use the scenes and monologues for auditions or
classes if you like (and drop me
a note and let me know how it went).
So, take a look around and tell
me what you think. I'm going to get back to work on those
upgrades.
WRITING GROUP
September is approaching, and the writing group I'm part of needs some new blood. Check out the details and let me know if you're interested. We're also always looking for actor friends to come in and help us read the works in progress. Contact me about that, too.
MY FAVORITE SEARCH PHRASE OF THE WEEK
No Name Jugglers
Just the name of a favorite act from Fringes past. There was something very refreshing about watching someone do something that seemed physically impossible, almost magical. Hope they're doing well in their juggling game these days...
THEATER RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE TWIN CITIES
Slowly, I rebuild...
The new play is still all-consuming in terms of trying to get the word out, and I want to get *something* posted in the way of a front page update quickly, so watch this ever growing space for more. Right now, off the top of my head, I have to give a big shout-out to...
Bedlam, which has a great slate of entertainment going on this week, primary among it the fantastic Nonsense Company and their double whammy of the satirical song stylings of The Prince Myshkins, alongside the devastating and brilliant Great Hymn of Thanksgiving / Conversation Storm (a play so good it depressed me quite thoroughly as an artist - "well, if they've done something that good, what's the point in even trying?" I got over it, but really amazing theater will do that to me sometimes.) If you missed them in Fringe 2006 or 2007, don't make the same mistake again. They're phenomenal and I don't say that lightly.
Also deeply cool stuff kicking off this week in the area...
The
Mechanical Division member Kelly Wells presents the world premiere of the comedy Laid Back - The Sons of the Lamb - America's premier Christian boy band - were on top of the world until a microphone mishap ruined their careers. Five years later, their smooth-talking manager has talked them into returning as an ultra-sexual R&B group. Will their careers - and their souls - survive? Lakeville Area Arts Center - more details, directions and ticket info here (thru 9/13)
Yellow Tree Theatre gives us a runner-up for the Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Prize, String, "a poet's quest for extraordinary love, unraveling the beauty of the mundane exposing the ridiculousness of perfect love." (thru 10/5)
This Week Only...
The latest edition of the Wordless Music Series hits the Southern
Theater - Friday 9/5 at 8pm
Also Opening This Week...
Lamb Lays With Lion, presents a showcase of spoken word artists, comedians and slam poets called "SPIT" every Tuesday at 8pm at the Sound Gallery's 3rd floor - 414 North 3rd Avenue in Minneapolis
Children's
Theater Company sets Peter Pan flying again (thru 10/2)
Currently playing...
My review of Fences at Penumbra should be posted with MNArtists.org shortly - suffice it to say I can yet again very highly recommend this latest edition of the theater's ten play Wilson cycle (thru 9/21)
The Fringe hit Three Way from 8
Ball Theatre is back again, retooled and revived at Hennepin Stages (thru 9/20)
Other productions still dangling that I have links for...
Joseph Scrimshaw and friends continue an open-ended run for
the ever-evolving and always amusing Adventures
In Mating (they took a break for the Fringe, but they're coming back Monday, September 8th.)
Also on tap right now, productions
at... Bloomington
Civic Theater (thru 9/14), Old Log Theater (thru 9/27), Guthrie (thru 10/19), Commonweal
Theatre (thru 10/25), Brave
New Workshop (thru 11/8), Chanhassen Dinner Theater (3 of 'em, thru 10/4, 10/26 and 11/1), and Actors
Theater of Minnesota (ongoing)
Plus, an ever-changing and diverse roster of good
stuff on hand at venues such as Balls, Bedlam, Brave
New Workshop, Bryant
Lake Bowl, Center
for Independent Artists, Death Comedy Jam (every Wednesday at 10pm at Grumpy's Bar - hosted by the Grin Reaper), Dreamland
Arts, Hennepin Theater District (Hennepin Stages, Orpheum, Pantages & State Theaters), Improv-A-Go-Go (every Sunday), Interact
Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, Intermedia
Arts, Monday
Night Improv, poetry readings at Nina's Cafe, Old
Arizona, Ordway, Patrick's
Cabaret, the Ritz, Sample Night Live (first Wednesday of the month), Six Ring Circus (Tuesday night long form improv), Slam MN (2nd & 4th Tues of the month) with your hosts Allison Boeren and Wonder Dave, the Southern
Theater, Walker
Art Center, and the West
Bank Arts Quarter at the U of M, in addition to the open
mic travels of award-winning local comic Ben
Sandel, the storytelling workshops and performances of Nancy
Donoval, and a whole lot more...
For instance, check out the links to the following theaters
who recently shuttered productions what what they're up to next
- Actors
Theater of Minnesota, ARTisphere Theatre, Ballet
of the Dolls, Bedlam
Theatre, Alan
Berks, Black Label Movement, Bridge Productions, The
Brink, Buckets
and Tap Shoes, Buffalo Gal Productions, Burning
House Group, CalibanCo Theatre, Cantus, Chicago Avenue Project, Cityceased, Civic Stage, Commedia
Beauregard, Cromulent Shakespeare Company, Emigrant
Theater, Ensemble Productions, Ethnic
Dance Theatre, Jon Ferguson, Flaneur Productions, The
Flower Shop Project, Flying Foot Forum, Fort Wilson Riot, Four Humors, Frank
Theater, Gallery
Theater Company, Girl
Friday Productions, Gremlin Theatre, Hardcover
Theater, History
Theatre, Illusion, In The Basement Productions, In
The Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, Joking Apart Theater, Katha
Dance Theatre, Keane Sense of Rhythm, Lili's Burlesque Revue, Live
Action Set, Maximum Verbosity, Minneapolis
Musical Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Mixed
Blood, Dave Mondy and friends - The Radio All Stars, Mounds
Theatre, Mu
Performing Arts, Nautilus
Music Theater, New
Theatre Group, Nightpath
Theatre, Nimbus, No
Refunds Theater, Off-Leash
Area, Old
Gem Theater, Old Log Theater, Olson Brothers Entertainment, Open
Book, Open
Eye Figure Theater, Outward
Spiral, Paneer Project, Pangea
World Theater, Park
Square, Paul Bunyan Playhouse (June to August), Pendulum
Theater, Penumbra Theatre, People Sitting Around Doing Theater, Perpetual Motion Theater Company, Pigs Eye Theatre, Pillsbury House Theater, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater, Plymouth Playhouse, Ragamala Music & Dance Theater, Red
Eye, Rockstar
Storytellers, Ronin Theater Company, Sabes
JCC, Sandbox
Theatre, the Scrimshaw Brothers, James Sewell Ballet, Skewed Visions, Sossy Mechanics, Spirit In The House, Stages
Theatre Company, Starting
Gate, SteppingStone
Theatre, Swandive Theatre, Swearing Jack, Teatro del Pueblo, Tellabration, Ten
Thousand Things, Theatre of Fools, Theater for the Thirsty, Theatre
In The Round Players, Theatre
de la Jeune Lune, Theater Latte Da, Theatre L'Homme Dieu, Theatre
Limina, Theatre
Pro Rata, Theatre Unbound, 3am Productions, 3
Sticks Theatre Company, Torch Theater, TU Dance, 20% Theater Company, Twin Cities Chekhov Festival, Twin Cities Improv Festival, Twin Cities Magic, Twin
Cities Metropolitan Ballet, Upright Egg, Urban
Samurai, Tim Uren, Vilification Tennis, Walking Boxes, Walking
Shadow, Wild
Yam Cabaret, Women Stand Up, Workhaus
Collective, Workhouse
Theatre Co., Youth Performance Company, Zenon
Dance Company, Zorongo
Flamenco Dance Theatre, plus my friend Jesse's Obie-winning NYC company Red
Bull, my friend Heather's NYC theater Retro
Productions, and the group my friend Galway works with in NYC, Stone Soup
You can also find a lot of good information and links (plus
handy discounts) in the button discounts section of the
Fringe website (still under reconstruction but more info will be added almost daily) and through the
calendar on the Ivey
Awards website, which I highly recommend as a
handy tool. Sign up for their
email updates and post
your own reviews, too. Still more can be found at MN Artists Online
FRINGE BLOG 2008...
I went straight from closing night party of the Fringe on Sunday to first rehearsal for my new play the next night, Monday. Consequently, my annual Fringe blog clean-up and archiving has been delayed. Rewrites and emergency trimming needed to be done on the script, but that's now mostly in hand. So I turn my attention this coming week to tying off the many loose ends in my Fringe coverage on the blog I'm doing for Twin Cities Daily Planet. Multiple mini and maxi reviews, overviews and the like. It was, yet again, another great year of Fringe, and not just because I had a show in it. In fact, had I not had a show in it, I would have been able to see so much more. A nice dilemma to have, to be sure. All in all, 53 performances of 46 shows seen (I saw all five of mine, of course, plus repeats of three other favorites). I've got copious notes and fast typing fingers so, watch this space. I'll also be trying to get it all archived on this site, and do future posts as I go in all locales, since the rush of it all has naturally let up a bit. Thanks to everyone who came to see "The Bronze Bitch Flies At Noon" and "Dog Tag" and even bigger thanks to everyone who also took the time to review it and tell us, and other audience members out there, what you thought. It's all very much appreciated. Still got a lot of paperwork to clean up, but what a great experience it was!
Handy links abound for past coverage of the Minnesota Fringe Festival from 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. And soon we'll get something similar set up for 2008. Thanks, as always, for reading, and Fringing. It really is the best time of the year in theater.
THE TWIN CITIES IMPROV FESTIVAL
The article I wrote for the community arts website MNArtists.org, covering the Twin Cities Improv Festival is live at last. You can view it here. And get out and see some improv comedy - it's incredibly active year round (not just on festival weekend), and a heck of a lot of fun.
ONLINE PUBLICATION IS NOW A REALITY
After several months of work, the following scripts are now available for purchase - the award-winning full-length play, the haunted love story
Heaven and Home; 
the Allegheny College commissioned one-acts -
Studpuppy,  and But Not For Love; 
 short play collections including The Bronze Bitch Flies At Noon, All Hallows' Eve, and Blight (volume 1),
and the Dandelion Snow cycle  (Dandelion Snow, Across Their River, Extra Cheese, & Tools)and Thirst plays (Invisible, Head Above Water, Dents, and Template) (all in volume 2);
plays for young actors and audiences 
created for Starting Gate Productions (How The Coyote Stole Fire) and Pillsbury House Theater's nationallly recognized Chicago Avenue Project (Bethesda, Dr. Worm, Champion of Breakfast, and Snowball's Chance);
and last but not least, a fundraising volume for Theatre Unbound, volume 1 of selected scripts from their 24 Hour Play Project,
 written with Anne Bertram (Hunt For the Bus Monkey, Feather Duster, Touched By A Handbag, Accessories, and the recent road trip excuse, Dog Tag - all profits from the 24 Hour Play collection go to support Theatre Unbound).
Just a little tweaking of the interface to improve the preview pages visible online, but the scripts are at last out there. So, if you've been wondering what I've been up to the last couple of months, check out the results online - click on the titles or script covers, or go to the main store page at http://stores.lulu.com/matthewaeverett
Of course, excerpts from all these plays will still be available for viewing here, but for the full text, you now have a place you can go. Can't wait for a hard copy? There's also a handy (and immediate) download option - cheaper, since you have to print that yourself.
Familiar with any of the plays? - Hop on over and post a friendly review.
WILL WORK FOR THEATER
TICKETS...
One of my life's little ironies: If you work in theater, you
often don't have the money to attend theater. However, I'm not
above the barter system. Would
you like to see a review of your production on this site? Offer
me a ticket to come see one of your performances. Curious?
For more details, click
here.
WEBSITE UPDATE
Dang. The new site's gonna be gorgeous, but there's a heckuva lot of work to be done on my end, tagging blog material, uploading pictures and the like. Meanwhile, Oliver my programmer is my new personal hero, mowing down problems right and left, which then results in more work for me, but I don't mind. The thought of finally having this sucker upgraded is very exciting. More ease of use for visitors, more ease of maintenance for me. Coming soon. Watch this space...
LOVE'S PRICK
Time to review all the DVD transfers of the tapes of the workshop performances and
post-show discussions to help jumpstart the rewrite
process.
Workshop done, paperwork filed with the Minnesota
State Arts Board, time to gather the feedback, review the
disks and gather together the ideas on the next phase of the
development for Love's
Prick. I think I know where the rewrites are going. We'll
see how it turns out. The continuing blog on the process can
be found here...
AUTUMN ROSES -
THE VANYA PROJECT
Still prodding the new script into life via writing challenges
from the biweekly group meetings. That, and the other side projects,
make it all slow going, but at least it's progress. Taking the
same approach as I just used on "As You Like It" with
another of my favorite plays, Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya."
The blog on the new play's progress can be found here...
DESPERATELY SEEKING
STRAIGHT MEN (Monologues, that is)
I received an interesting challenge of sorts in my e-mail box...
"...I was just wondering if you had any monologues on
your site that did not concentrate on homosexual relationships..."
Why, yes. Yes, there are. Click here
to learn more about the
results of the scavenger hunt...
 MY
FIRST BRUSH WITH PUBLICATION
The opening monologue from Studpuppy
is part of Playwrights'
Center Monologues for Men. You can go to Hienemann publishers
website (www.hienemann.com)
and get all the details there (you can download pdf of the table
of contents to check out all the authors and plays involved
- or just check out the links to my samplers of everyone below),
and purchase your very own copy. There's also a companion volume,
of course, Playwrights'
Center Monologues for Women, featuring still more of my
friends' work, so check that out and add that to your bookshelf
as well.
In addition to the Hienemann
site, you can also purchase the book at Amazon.com
and Barnes
& Noble.com (just click those links or search for Playwrights'
Center.) You can preview the Studpuppy
monologue by clicking on the link below:
"So here's the
story of how I turned into a dog."
 SAMPLES
OF OTHER MONOLOGUES
FOR MEN and...
FOR WOMEN
I put together a set of sample lines from all the other monologues
in the Monologues for Men collection from The Playwrights' Center
(as well as Monologues for Women collection) to give you a look
at the range of talent and subject matter on display (and to
encouage you to hopefully buy the book for your own personal
library). Check out the teasers in the In
My Humble Opinion section or, for the Men, just click
here, and for the Women, just click
here
SIX
MONOLOGUES FEATURED IN AUDITION ARSENAL SERIES
 Four
monologues in the Men
in their 20s volume, one in Women
in their 20s, and one in Women
in their 30s (all noted below). These are collections of
101 Monologues each, split out by gender and age, and split
within each volume into categories such as: Angry/
Fed Up; Blunt/ Direct;
Haunted/ Guilt-Ridden; High Strung/ Neurotic/ Stressed-Out;
Intimidating/ Tough/ Dangerous; Joyful/ Enthusiastic/ Excited;
Lonely/ Yearning;
Lost/ Confused/ Trying to Make Sense; Maternal; Melodramatic;
Nervous/ Awkward/ Uneasy; Persuasive/
Inspirational; Romantic/ In Love; Sexual/
Flirtatious; Troubled/ Pained/ Rough Life; Vulnerable/
Hurt/ Exposed;
Wacky/ Quirky/ Odd; and Youthful/ Naive. Drilling down one level
further, each monologue in those sections is tagged as either
Dramatic, Comic, or Seriocomic. So there's all sorts of ways
to zero in on the type of audition material you're looking for.
I'm working on getting sample lines from all the work in each
of the volumes posted for your perusal (one book read, another
nearly complete, two more to go). Meanwhile, if you're interested
in purchasing one for your own personal library, just follow
the links below...
All four volumes in the set are edited by Janet B. Milstein
and have the same subtitle - 101 Monologues by Type, 2 Minutes
and Under
 Audition
Arsenal for Women in their 20s - purchase from: Barnes
& Noble or Amazon.com
Audition Arsenal for Men in their 20s - 
purchase from: Barnes
& Noble or Amazon.com
 Audition
Arsenal for Women in their 30s - purchase from: Barnes
& Noble or Amazon.com
Audition Arsenal for Men in their 30s - 
purchase from: Barnes
& Noble or Amazon.com
(I don't have any material in this one but why not have the
whole collection, right?)
Both B&N and Amazon have the books searchable under both
Audition Arsenal and editor Janet B. Milstein.
The six chosen monologues break down into three from Heaven
and Home, and three from Leave
(The Surface of the World). There was also one that made
the cut but had its category eliminated from this round of books
(with luck, it'll be back for the next round) - it came from
The Bronze Bitch Flies
At Noon. You can find more detail and links to those speeches
further down on the front page here.
MY SECOND BRUSH WITH PUBLICATION
Audition Arsenal features two female monologues: both
from Gabby in Heaven
and Home - click on the quotes or pictures below to see
the full monologues...
 "It's
just -- words. Three words. They don't mean anything anymore."
- found in the Lonely/Yearning category of the Women in their
30s volume
 "I
can't do this. This. What we're doing. You. Me. Movies in the
dark on my bed."
- found in the Vulnerable/Hurt/Exposed category of the Women
in their 20s volume
 Four
male monologues: one
from Vincent in Heaven
and Home - click on the quote or picture below to see the
full monologue...
 "There's
this huge chunk of my life now that's gone completely out of
focus." - found in the Angry/Fed Up category of the
Men in their 20s volume
 Two
from Nicholas in Leave
(The Surface of the World) - click on the quotes or pictures
below see the full monologues...
 "I
can't be unselfish where you're concerned. I need you with me."
- found in the Angry/Fed Up category of the Men in their 20s
volume
 "I
need you near me in the dark. So I can feel safe again."
- found in the Vulnerable/Hurt/Exposed category of the Men in
their 20s volume
 One
from Seth in Leave
(The Surface of the World) - click on the quote or picture
below to see the full monologue...
 "Except
for loving you, being a Marine's the only thing I ever got right.
It's the only thing that even comes close." - found
in the Persuasive/Inspirational category of the Men in their
20s volume
As an added bonus - One
from David in The
Bronze Bitch Flies At Noon - (when the Men in their 20s
volume had a Sexual/Flirtatious category, this speech was slotted
in. Right now it's in a holding pattern, publication-wise) -
click on the quote or pictures below to see the full monologue...
 "I
mean, do you ever just do anything?"
ON A PERSONAL NOTE...
As of 8/31/08, it's 141 days til the next inauguration (less than 150 days now, people! Woo hoo!) - which
should give you an inkling where I stand on this
comedy, and this
tragedy.
With winter in full force in Minnesota, I also think again of
my wandering friend Jeremy and his blog of equatorial adventures
at www.blythlywayinguyana.blogspot.com
(even though he's back in the US, camped out in Philly at the
moment)
Oh, and you can also find various bits and pieces of me elsewhere
on the web - still being upgraded (my first home in the ether
still gets the bulk of my time and attention) - at Minnesota
Artists Online, TCMusic.net,
TC
Theater and Film, www.blogger.com,
[I'm set up on Callboard.org,
even though I'm not much of a message board person] and yes,
even MySpace
and Facebook
Want a site like this one? Visit my friends at www.netacceleration.com |
