Tim Mooney is in his seventh year of touring with "Moliere Than Thou" having introduced over fifty thousand people to Moliere! Tim is the author of 16 celebrated new versions of the plays of Moliere (several now published at Playscripts, Inc.) and he is composing books on acting ("Acting at the Speed of Life"), a "self-help" book. He is currently available to come to perform in your town!
Well, my Mom passed away yesterday. I'll be racing around a bit more than usual the next couple of days, shuttling between performances and family events (I'm home for the moment.) One of these days I'll catch up on my blog update, but for now, here's a brief tribute to Mom ... (She's somewhere in each of these pictures ...)
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posted by Tim Mooney @ 4:49 PM
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Where did the time go? The projects were relentless and demanding. Perhaps the main one was the acting text. I started back sometime in 2002, and have continued to re-draft and re-draw it. This may be the first time that I’ve done two drafts back-to-back, and I begin to feel like I’ve finally got a handle on the thing, 
either to chase the awkward phrasings from the page, or to cut loose from the threads of conversation that don’t seem to connect to anything at the other end. I’ve resolved to self-publish it, at least for now. 
I also now have a hand, or THE hand, in the tiniest decisions, such as the font size, and the page layout, and rather than leaving it in a rather unwieldy double-spaced 500+ pages, I’ve got it down below 300, and much friendlier to the eyes.
I had a friend in Kansas City who was already familiar to the material, and so I knew I’d have at least one sympathetic audience member, and I figured … WTF?
And so, now I’ve got a new show in my back pocket, which I never thought to try to sell to a venue anywhere, if only because just getting the guts to perform it was as much as I imagined I’d be able to do. 
This year I faced a double challenge, with a mega-recession which seemed to hit everywhere simultaneously, combined with my next uptick in prices, as I struggle to hit a balance which enables me to dream of putting a little something away, either for a new car, or a place that I can call my own. 
Meanwhile, my old high school friend Kirsten has surfaced as a benefactor in support of the show, offering matching grants to schools that otherwise might not afford the experience. It’s taken about 8 months since we first discussed the possibility, but at last a couple of schools have followed through on the program, and my first performance of the season (tomorrow, as I write this), is made possible by a generous grant from Kirsten. 
Isaac is now 6 foot 2 (maybe 6-3, by the time you read this), and in pretty good shape as a swimmer. He’s also in driver’s ed, which meant that he could take the wheel for a couple of those hours. 
Finally, I’ve been musing for over two years now, about the Shakespeare show that I’ve want to create, collecting a monologue from every Shakespeare play, and then spinning a roulette wheel to choose which ones to do (or drawing them from a hat or somesuch). Well, somebody was listening last spring, and actually took me seriously! The folks at Auburn University-Montgomery wanted to book me for their Liberal Arts Conference for the second year in a row, 
but since they’ve seen my Moliere show already, they wanted to book that Shakespeare show that I’d been talking about doing. 
Sometimes the most inspiring thing about preparing a show is having a booking! Much like having the Kansas City Fringe scheduled made me work up my latest one, having the Auburn U of Montgomery booking is going to push me into completing this one. 
This will be one-man show number FIVE, and it may well end up being the most popular of the bunch. There was a time when I was astounded by the notion that an actor could carry around an ENTIRE PLAY in his head. Now, I’m up to five! It just proves my occasional point: You never know what you’re capable of until you find out.
Finally (I think I said finally before, but I forgot about this:) I’ve got more plays published! Playscripts, Inc. has now added my “Miser” and my “Schemings of Scapin” in both full-length and forty-minute versions to its collection. This makes for a total of eleven scripts, and I’ve been quite delighted to see productions getting scheduled on a fairly regular basis. I think there are at least a half dozen on the calendar for the coming fall. 
Including, a production of “Tartuffe” that I’ll be directing at Lake Forest College this winter! (Okay, another thing I forgot, prior to saying “finally.”) I’ve already cast the show, and am really, really excited about this project. The students are not only talented, but playing roles that really play up to their talents. 
I haven’t directed this script since my very first Moliere attempt, back in 1997, and I’ve learned quite a bit about Moliere, and about my own directorial sensibility since then, and fully expect that this’ll be an exciting show.
but I’ll save reporting on this show for the next blog, and promise not to wait so long before that one.
posted by Tim Mooney @ 3:57 AM
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Important Notices:
“The Misanthrope” was a big hit at Greenwood Community Theatre! While they’d planned for the show to take a bit of a loss, assuming that people were not that “into” classical theatre, we had great word of mouth from the outset. (Misanthrope photos, below, by Lynn Mcjunkin Photography.) In addition to the review (quoted in the last “View From Here”) 
, which, while positive, had one of the WORST headlines ever ("'Misanthrope' an unlikely candidate for entertaining evening, but is") there was an e-mail campaign, with Jean Park (Bess’ mom) circulating her own rave response, and others adding their own enthusiastic commentary. Jean circulated the following: I have just watched a rehearsal of "The Misanthrope" by Moliere and … I am so afraid that the fact that it is a classic play will scare some people off---- BUT IT IS HILARIOUS!!!
Tim Mooney, the young playwright, has been in Greenwood directing the play and plays the leading role. HE IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! You will not see acting such as his outside of the big cities----but here it is in Greenwood and I do pray you will take advantage of this once in a lifetime chance.
Our Greenwood actors and actresses have never done a play like this before, but he has created from our local talent a polished cast. They perform well, and they are having a ball doing it. He has written every line of dialogue in the play IN RHYME!!
I will tell you this. Do not go to the play with a lazy brain. You will want to listen to every word that is spoken to get the fun of those rhymes. It is a brilliant use of the English language and as witty as it can be. Please do not miss it.
This rave was further circulated by local bon vivant, Jack K. Jennings, who added his own two cents to Jean’s commentary: Well, I have just gotten home and believe I must forward AGAIN the memo from Jean Park to encourage all of you to make an effort to enjoy this play! One patron, that has sufficient opportunity to visit and attend plays in New York City, told me after the play she was glad she had been in the Greenwood Community Theater TONIGHT.
If you don't think you'll be going to New York any time soon then treat yourselves for less than the cost of the taxi (in NYC) to enjoy one of the quality performances this weekend. Even the set design made me believe we were seeing a marbled garden in France--- and I won't be touring there this year either.
It was a delightful five days of performance, darkened only by my fears that my voice might give out at any moment. This 90-minute show featured about 45 minutes of the sound of my own voice, and my need to drill my lines about three times a day in preparation, in a dusty, moldy theatre, had my voice coming in and out of tune throughout the weekend. 
I was particularly impressed (as was most of the audience) with the way that the four high-schoolers in the show, all of whom were handling substantial roles, stepped up in the course of the rehearsals and performances. Following the one bit of recasting we had to do (an actor who was chronically late and unmemorized), everyone seemed to realize that they were going to be held accountable for the quality of their work, and surpassed all of my 
expectations. The actor who joined the show with only two weeks remaining did a particularly outstanding job, and I pointed to his work repeatedly, as a challenge for those who had been cast way back in January. Okay. Superlatives fail me. The production was outstanding, exceptional, superb. Marge and I could not stop talking about it and we agreed that it would have done any stage in the world proud. The final casting of the play was excellent, and the stage direction extremely pleasing to this non-professional. … The exaggerated posing done by the two marquis was also a deliciously funny commentary on the artificial facades created by polite society in Moliere's day. I loved every shift of pose! … I was transported back in time. I was no longer in the Greenwood Community Theatre but rather at the Palais Royal in the late 1660s. Tim and Isaac disappeared for a moment and Moliere and LaGrange reappeared in their place. … Your translations are magical. You somehow manage to capture not just the meaning of the original French but the joy, the energy and the outrageous FUN of the original French. (Jenny Moody)
I recruited Hollys, our understudy, to videotape the show, knowing that she would be the most familiar with where we moved, and when, and she showed up for Saturday’s show. While the show got off to a good start, I was a little frustrated with some gaffes I found myself making as the show went on, so I was relieved when she suggested she wanted to come back for Sunday’s show to take another shot at it.
Sunday’s show got off to a rough start (as we … okay, I, was still recovering from the cast party), but as we hit the second act we found our stride. Knowing that this was the last time I would have to put my voice through these particular paces, I was able to loosen the reins a bit more, and I could sense that we were turning in our best performance. And so, I spliced the two video recordings together, using Act I from Saturday and Acts II-V from Sunday. 
what may be the only viewable full-length version of “The Misanthrope” on-line (in 10-minute increments, as demanded by the YouTube format). Once again, it was really nice to meet you, and you brought the stage to life with your protrayal of Moliere. I think some of the kids might have left that night thinking, "Man, I really need to read that more closely!"With a few days in Chicago, I continued the video posting, and geared up for a performance at Geneva High School. The technician didn’t arrive until about 50 minutes before showtime. I did what I could to talk her through the show, or at least what cues might still be possible to set up in our limited working time.
Since I’m probably as familiar with “Tartuffe” as anyone in the United States, I wasn’t nervous about this interview, and we had a nice conversation. I was actually more concerned about the following appearance I had in the dramaturgy class, which had been researching “Tartuffe” all semester long, and wanted my input on the upcoming production. (As well as I know the show, I hadn’t had any down time to envision what my concept ought to be.) We did, however, have an informative conversation regarding what I felt was and was not a relevant approach for “Tartuffe” in this modern era."I had the good fortune to see Tim Mooney's MOLIERE THAN THOU. Was I ever pleased to be free when he was in town. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment - but the really happy thing is, my husband - who does not have a theatrical bent in his body (it makes our marriage work) also enjoyed it. So it's not just for theatricals! I've only had a few bites of Moliere and am used to the Richard Wilbur translation and I must say Tim's translation are so very accessible. And Tim just relishes the time onstage as I imagine Moilere would have!" Claudia Haas, Playwright
"The performance was brilliant. To start with the script was very well-done (a testament to Tim as a writer) with wonderful translations which gave evidence to Tim's deep knowledge of Moliere's works. As a performer Tim was filled with energy from start to finish, dashing around the stage and climbing around the theater as he moved from play to play. He reminded me of a young Hugh Laurie (from the likes of Jeeves and Wooster (especially in his facial movements; I've never seen someone act so much with their tongue). What held my attention the most was Tim's complete dedication to what he was doing. The script was enjoyable, the translations excellent, but it was the actor, throwing himself completely into the part, that pulled the whole show together. All in all it was a brilliant piece of work. I'm glad I was able to catch it, and it makes me sorry I've missed Tim's other shows at the Fringe." T. James Belich, Playwright
Timothy Mooney: keeping Moliere aliveAnd that evening, they threw a great dinner party for me, with several of the faculty welcoming me to town. The spring weather had turned gorgeous, and when I arrived on campus, I discovered quite a few of the students were more interested in sunning themselves than studying. The show itself, though, was really packed, and the responses were terrific. Driving south the next day, messages came in from the U of Idaho faculty:
Timothy Mooney is keeping Moliere alive and funny as ever. With his one-man performance, “Moliere Than Thou,” Mooney has travelled all over the U.S. and Europe to preserve Moliere’s wit and humor.
Mooney views Moliere as the second-best playwright to ever have lived, behind only Shakespeare, and has translated and re-written 15 Molière plays and incorporated them into his 90-minute one-man act.
Some of Moliere’s humor and wit had been lost in previous translations, but French professor Sarah Nelson said Mooney has managed to keep the humor and verse in his translation.
Last summer, Nelson attended the American Association of Teachers of French in Belgium where she saw Mooney’s performance and has since been the contact to bring him to University of Idaho.
…“I really want people to show up, because it’s a very entertaining show,” she said. “It’s well done, very entertaining and informative. It’s social commentary — funny criticism of Moliere’s society — but it works for today’s society, too.”
In the performance, Mooney appears as Moliere himself, adopting his complex language and witty commentary. “Moliere Than Thou” revives the age of Louis XIV and the beloved plays of the “French Shakespeare.” The play explores relations between man and woman, master and servant and pokes fun at the rich and the pompous.
“People generally find it much better than they thought it would be,” Nelson said.
Everywhere I go, people are exclaiming about how great the show was last night, Tim. Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! And thank you, also, for your willingness to meet and mingle with people all through your short stay here in Moscow--it's been lovely having the chance to get to know you a little, in addition to having the pleasure of your performance. Sarah Nelson, Associate Professor of French, University of Idaho
What a grand success the Runstad Lecture was last night! Congratulations. As you can see from the pictures we had a packed room for Moliere Than Thou. It was a delight! The spectacle was awe inspiring – one of our first sunny days of the year just a few weeks before the end of the semester and, rather than Frisbee throwing and skateboarding (and studying), UI students and Moscow/Pullman community members PACKED into the Admin Auditorium to laugh, applaud (and cavort!) for an hour and a half with a 17th century French playwright. He was hysterical. I went home laughing and repeating “stop – thief!” (nearly every one of them stayed the full time, skateboards idling in the aisles!). Sarah, I hope you don’t mind that I’ve copied our guest, the most memorable and magical Tim Mooney, on this note. Thank you monsieur! Jean M. Henscheid, Ph.D., Director, Core Curriculum
I was at the U of I performance (I was actually the volunteer for Elmire) and I just wanted to thank you for coming to the middle of nowhere to perform. I enjoyed it so much. I don't think that Moliere gets enough credit nowadays. Thanks again, KristinIn quick order, I dropped down to Reno, Nevada, and then on to Fresno, visiting Airplane Jayne, and Santa Rosita with Kirsten (who wanted to watch the DVD of “The Misanthrope”). The next morning I went on to L.A. where I performed at Mount Saint Mary’s College (the school website refers to it as a "brilliant one man show"). I had a brief interview before the show, with Buzzine, which printed a very nice article about the show.
What could have been a daunting feat becomes an energetically engaging and enthralling event. Mooney ... seamlessly shifts from one character to another with an exchange of wig or waistcoat whilst maintaining an ongoing narration that keeps us so involved that we don’t even notice…until there’s a new character — until “he” starts to talk to us through the monologue. (Melissa Berry, Buzzine.com)
After a week at home, I drove down to the Orlando Fringe Festival, where I was performing “Moliere Than Thou” once again. I’d done “MTT” at this festival back in 2003, and I keep getting asked when I was going to bring it back again. This time around I was staying with Al and Gale, who have a swimming pool out back. Alas, it rained nearly every day of the festival. I spent most of my time on completing “The Critique of the School for Wives.” 
pool now and then. Also, my new friend, John Heffner had a show called “How Hefnerian,” and he was being escorted around the festival by a two-woman “entourage.” The three of them came to see my show twice through the course of the run, and I borrowed his “entourage” to be my volunteers for the performances they attended. Fringe: The man who's mastering MoliereBy the end of the run, I was getting audiences of 35, 55 and 75 all told,
By Dewayne Bevil | Sentinel Staff Writer
What brings a man to be so devoted to Moliere that his license plates are a shout-out to the 17th century actor/playwright?
Timothy Mooney, actor/playwright for "Moliere Than Thou" and owner of a MOLIERE plate, says it all started when he was running a theater company in the suburbs of Chicago. …
Like many one-man shows, it's wordy. But "Than Thou" also has a distinct meter and rhyme to it.
"In the Olympics, they would call it 'the level of difficulty,' " Mooney says. "It done by the syllable, what I'm doing. I can't improvise around it."
SIDENOTE: Who says Fringe isn't educational. According to the program for "Moliere Than Thou," the playwright died in 1673 after the fourth performance of his "The Imaginary Invalid." He collapsed during the show's finale, and no doctor would attend to him because he had skewered the medical profession in many instances. ("He really showed what a sham medicine was at that time," Mooney says).
So, he didn't exactly die for his craft, but it wasn't a great health plan, either.
and a local photographer (www.TisseArt.com) showed up for my final performance. Amid that show, a fuse blew, and the lights suddenly went out on me. Eventually, the technician flipped on the room’s fluorescent lighting, under which I finished the show’s final scenes.
posted by Tim Mooney @ 12:05 PM
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And then on to Monterey, where I was performing at Santa Catalina High School for an audience of about 200 girls who were fabulous gigglers. The teacher there had seen my show back in the Washington D.C. area, and remembered me when she returned to the west coast. 
The performance was originally supposed to be an hour long, shortened to 50 minutes, and later cut to about 40 minutes. The teacher was signaling me active from the front of the auditorium before I even got to the “Precious Young Maidens” scene. Even without the climax of the show, a couple teachers suggested that it was the best assembly event of the year. Everybody was positive about the show … The girls were generally "shocked" because of subject content and the power of theater ( you!) to create strong emotions! (Anne O’Dowd, French Teacher, Santa Catalina High School)
The next day I started pushing my way back east again, with overnight stops in Arizona, New Mexico, the Texas panhandle and Missouri. In Springfield, MO, I spent quality time with the Ozarks Technical Community College, as they rehearsed my version of “Tartuffe”, giving them my acting workshop, a performance of “Moliere Than Thou” >
along with a stop at rehearsal. They were working on a 60s version of “Tartuffe” (the 1960s, that is), and later produced a fun video promoting the show (along with a special appearance from myself). They were very, very happy to have me there, and at the end of my visit, most of them asked me to autograph their scripts. (One of them actually turned up on-line on the costumer’s website.)
From Springfield, I drove to Montgomery, Alabama, where I was brought in to present the show as part of a Humanities conference. The host had met me at the American Assn of Teachers of French 
conference last summer, and he introduced me to the theatre department at Auburn University-Montgomery. He gave me a tour of Montgomery, including Hank Williams (astroturfed) gravesite, and several civil rights historical sites. “Your show and workshop were the hit of the conference. As well as the conference went overall, that's saying quite a lot.” (Steve Daniel, French Professor, Auburn University-Montgomery)
That was such a fun evening. Your talent and energy are amazing. I can't remember when I've seen an audience so engaged. (Katie Pearson, Theatre Coordinator, Auburn University-Montgomery)
I came in this morning to write you how much I enjoyed the performance/ Moliere (there just is not enough live Moliere in Montgomery!). Your zest for character and words is contagious--M. Poquelin would be so proud of the evening! (Susan Willis, Auburn University-Montgomery)
The performance was spectacular. I was surprised to find myself not shaking the entire time which was actually the case the first time, but I guess some of the anticipation was gone, knowing what was coming. Nevertheless, I laughed fully and deliciously and (as I'm sure you saw) even had eyes that looked like I'd been crying because of all the tears that come with real mccoy all-out laughter, and I had a ridiculously happy smile on my face whenever I was not actually laughing. (Jennifer Moody, Auburn University)
Resuming the tour, I dropped down to Chattanooga, TN, visiting Sabra and her husband Paul (again we hit the Chattanooga karaoke bar, where we have been mostly famous ever since last year’s SETC conference). And again I pushed on to visit my friend, Lori, in Calhoun, GA for a couple days, before swinging back to Rome, Georgia for a show at Berry College. 
Berry College apparently has the largest campus in the world, which seems to be just as populated by deer as it is by students. They put me up in a nice cottage setting, where the deer lingered nearby. The show itself really rocked, and I got some good footage out of it (which I quickly uploaded to YouTube). The French professor had seen me perform in Belgium last summer, and he was quoted in the press release for the show, saying: Mooney really embodies Moliere’s spirit. You will become spellbound after only a few seconds of watching him. (Vincent Gregoire, French Professor, Berry College)
Tim, your performance at Berry College was perfect antidote to winter doldrums. In awe of your talent, facial expressions, and word manipulation. (Susan Harvey, Georgia Artist)
I set out for Birmingham, where the Southeast Theatre Conference was meeting. This was my fifth year of attendance, and I spent the entire several days, running into one old friend after another. Kirsten flew out from L.A. to catch the performance I was giving at midnight as the opening event of the SETC “Fringe Festival.” While some 300 or more people had assured me that they wanted to catch the midnight show, never before was the phrase “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” more apropos. Perhaps 70 or so people attended the late-night show, and they were very enthusiastic, though they did seem to hit a wall somewhere around 1 a.m. (which meant that “Stop Thief” was showing diminishing returns over the fifteen times I repeat that particular line). On the up-side, though, I’d been invited to do a scene from the show as a part of the opening night reception, and about 500 people saw me do the “Stop Thief!” sequence from “Precious Young Maidens” in the open 16-story lobby of the Sheraton hotel. (People who were lying in bed in their rooms later reported having heart my voice booming through the hotel.)
(This can be a little spooky late at night, when I trip over a life-sized puppet’s feet on the way to the bathroom.) The mirrors on the wall were of great assistance when I was rehearsing “Karaoke Knights”, as I could see how each of the characters were coming across as I was performing them, and eventually I loaded in all of my amplification equipment, to remind myself of the tangle of wires that leads from DVD player to PA system to three separate microphones, and to the projector. Ode to "The Misanthrope"
I seek a way to praise your play,
But the words are quite elusive.
It is brilliant, dazzling, amazing, and superb;
But I fear I become effusive!
I can't find the words---Oh, what a pity!
For this play so fabulous, remarkable, and witty.
So stunning, extraordinary, sensational, and glorious!
Bravo, Tim Mooney! As a playwright you're victorious!!!
(Jean Park)
As Alceste, the protagonist whose rigid honesty makes him the Simon Cowell of 17th century France (at least when it comes to judging sonnets), Mooney brings a wit and style to the stage that easily resonates with contemporary audiences. Anyone who enjoys the television series House will certainly like this play with its clever word play and philosophical insights. (Virginia Dumont-Poston, Lander University)
posted by Tim Mooney @ 1:06 PM
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