I began my summer heading south, with the last performance of the
year’s “school tour” at the Christel House Academy in
Indianapolis. The Christel House is one of a group of schools sponsored by
Christel DeHaan, who, after seeing my show at the Indianapolis Fringe Festival,
made a healthy donation, and later hosted a “salon” performance of “Moliere than
Thou.” They were bringing me in for a
performance of “Lot o’ Shakespeare,” in a somewhat odd setting in what was
essentially a music rehearsal room (somehow adjacent to a gym, with basketball
noise that bled directly through the walls).
It was a fun
performance for a bunch of kids who obviously didn’t get a lot of exposure to
Shakespeare. They were attentive and responsive, but it wasn’t until “Julius
Caesar” came up that they kids (and their teachers) seemed won over,
recognizing a connection to Shakespeare that they hadn’t previously imagined.
That same night was
the final night of the Big Fundraiser! I had announced the Fundraiser back in
February, once we received confirmation of not-for-profit status (simultaneous to the beginning of the winter/spring tour). And, while
the fundraiser enjoyed a fairly good first week, things lagged as I focused on the ongoing tour, constantly working
to revive the memorized lines in my head before the next performance.
With the summer festival season looming, I put a deadline to close out the fundraiser that night
in Indianapolis, and camped out at
the home of one of my best supporters (Sandi Palombi) and engaged in a series
of “Facebook Live” videos, almost as if it were a telethon, performing“Shakespeare by Request” live on Facebook, doing about 20 minutes of monologues each hour, on the hour, eventually pulling in a couple of thousand
dollars in the final 24 hours.
While the fundraiser did, eventually pull in about $6,800, this did not quite bring us up to our goal of $7,500, and if you’d like to give that total a little nudge, please click on this link to help us out!
I worked my way on
down to Florida, with the inaugural running of the Tampa International Fringe
Festival.
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| The famous "Trish" of the Tampa Fringe production staff |
I’ve done three inaugural fringe festivals over the years, and have mostly sworn off of them. There are rookie discoveries that first-time festival organizers make along the way, and mostly they are playing to an audience who has no idea what a fringe festival is… (which means that I end up playing to the occasional audience of 3). This time, however, a couple of savvy fringe promoters, Will and Trish, friends and veterans of many festivals, had set up the festival as an “opening act” to the Orlando Fringe, which would follow on the subsequent weekend. Up until about 4 weeks prior, I wasn’t actually “in” for the Orlando Fringe, but with a last-minute drop-out, I was now on the schedule there, too, and would be able to do a kind-of one-two punch from one festival to the next.
The Tampa Fringe
hadn’t quite built up a coterie of willing billets in town, which meant that a
bunch of us out-of-towners were coming to town with no place to stay. I took
the initiative to find an “AirBnB” home to support eleven outcast fringe
artists some ten minutes from “Fringe Central.” Which made for a really
friendly artist-home for five different fringe productions to share a space,
sip coffee and, sometimes, drink late into the night.
I was noticing an
increasingly lengthy crack growing in the windshield of my car as well as a
seriously deflated tire in those final miles. Within 24 hours of hitting
Tampa, I’d racked up about $900 in car repair for my “new” MoliereMobile, which
after 18 months and 65,000 miles, needed 4 new tires and a new windshield.
A Tampa reporter had
responded to my media release with the inquiry: “Is there any chance to see the
show before the first fringe performance?” I proceeded to extend an invite to
the reporter to come to the Wednesday afternoon tech rehearsal, in advance of
my opening night.
There’s a growing
tradition with the Orlando Fringe of opening up the tech run-through to press
and Fringe volunteers and sponsors to attend this first tech-through, with the
understanding that it will get EARLY publicity out to the public before the
show hits the ground running. I’ve lived through many festivals in which the
rave review doesn’t show up until all of the shows are actually complete,
leaving no opportunity for the review to have an impact on attendance and,
thereby, income.
My early Tampa Fringe exposure was really good; one of my photos was prominently featured, and
fringe friends (who knew me from other festivals) seemed to have been putting
in a good word for my work.
But when the tech
rehearsal arrived, it was a race to get set up and set a few cues before the
reviewer arrived, about 45 minutes into the process. The reviewer (not the one
who’d been in touch requesting the preview), sat silent through the (highly
audience-participatory) show, with only one other viewer in attendance.
This mediocre review ("...little more than a rambling monologue that's difficult to follow or understand...") showed up on-line about an hour before going on… and I note that the reviewer
herself seems to target me for having requested her attendance at the tech in
the first place, which is not quite how this all came about.
Meanwhile, I got to
see some great shows: I revisited a performance of a show I’d
seen at last year’s Winnipeg Fringe, “Beers about Songs,” which was just as
awesome as it was a year ago, as well as a really disturbing look at the global
warming issue, called “Planet Hospice,” which called into question all of the
timelines that we have seen so far regarding the impact of global warming in
the very near future. (Which has me starting to sketch out a global warming
epic of my own my own…)
While the Fringe
started out slow with some 15-20 people coming to my first two shows. By the end,
I scored much better, with some 40-45 attending the last show, and some of my
fellow artists giving great response:
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| Photo by Tisse Mallon |
“This is vintage
Mooney but it’s kicked up a notch. Even better than his Hamlet because it
covers a play that not as many people know. And it’s so good! Wonderful
characterizations and LOTS of audience participation make this the best Breakneck
yet… (Thom Mesrobian)
Almost
as good: A teacher came up to me afterwards and said: "You managed to
cover in just one hour what it usually takes me five weeks to teach...!"
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| With Lauren Anderson, first met at the NY Fringe back in 2003! |
Immediately upon my
arrival, I found myself listed first among the Orlando Sentinel preview!
I had ANOTHER
invited tech rehearsal early that afternoon, with another quick tech-through,
followed by another invited run-through. This time, the Orlando audience
shocked me with a group of some 40+, mostly good friends who have supported my
work for years.
As I addressed the
audience with my usual pre-show instructions, I found myself tripping over my
own tongue, and interrupted myself to say: “Okay, last night was the Tampa
Fringe Closing night party…” This broke the ice, as everyone laughed heartily,
all having been through post-fringe parties of their own.
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| Photo by Tisse Mallon (from the O-Fringe Preview) |
Within 24 hours,
reviews were already showing up on-line, reaching far beyond my expectations
and, perhaps, even my hopes. Seth Kubersky from the Orlando Weekly has given me
some nice response in the past, but nothing to prepare me for…
“If you think senators backstabbing their rivals is something recent, let Mooney reacquaint you with the Bard’s Roman tragedy of tyranny and rebellion, minus all the boring bits. Mooney is like the high school English teacher you always wished you had… with a wild-eyed energy usually only exhibited by amphetamine addicts, but he doesn’t condense this epic by rushing roughshod over its poetry. On the contrary, his elocuation is so well-enunciated that it illuminates the archaic language for the modern ear, elucidating familiar but frequently misunderstood phrases like “Brutus was an honorable man” and “We must take the current when it serves.” Best of all are Mooney’s snarky asides, fourth-wall-shattering footnotes that poke fun at the play’s oddities, such as Caesar’s irritating habit of referring to himself in the third person, and that infamously anachronistic chiming clock. Even if you usually fall asleep during sword-and-sandal sagas, lend Mooney your ears for this hour of electrifying edutainment.” (Seth Kubersky)
In the past, Matt
Palm of the Sentinel has given me some enthusiastic response, and when I didn’t
see him in the rehearsal audience, I assumed he’d overlooked my show. Later, I
learned that he’d passed the assignment on to an even more enthusiastic
Shakespeare-fan, who produced an almost-as-perfect review.
“Fasten your seat belts, Fringe-goers, Tim Mooney is back with another Shakespearean classic performed at breakneck speeds… 60 cardiovascular minutes that leave Mooney sweating, and his audience shouting “Huzzah!” Mooney is obviously well versed in all things Shakespeare, and his depth of knowledge makes him the perfect guide for this Elizabethan journey, which is enjoyable for “literary-dorks” and “Shakespeare-virgins” alike. His play on words and inflections offers a fresh perspective to a well-known story, and new interpretations take shape as we “friends, Romans, [and] countrymen” look on… Mooney is like mixing your Shakespearean Sparknotes with a triple shot of espresso. (Lania Berger, Orlando Sentinel)
Somewhere between my
first tech rehearsal in Tampa (which left me wondering whether this show might
work at all), and the reviews coming in from Orlando, the show had improved,
not only in the staging, but in the confidence which the response was giving
me.
Every show seems to
go through this phase. There always seems to be that existential moment in
which I find myself questioning, just what is it all worth, anyway? Is this any
good? Was this last year of my life a misguided effort to put
something together that doesn’t really hit home? Once Thom Mesrobian cited this
as “the best Breakneck of all,” I began to realize that I was on to something.
(I’m still not 100% convinced of this: as I write this, I’ve now had over a
month between performances.)
Favorite comment received from an Orlando Fringe patron
who remembered me from last year: "I went back and read 'Hamlet' this year,
and I 'heard' the whole script in your voice!"
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| Photo by Tisse Mallon |
Another patron wrote: "It's rare to find something thatt the entire family loves equally and you manage to impress, entertain and inform each of us. The kids (20, 17, 12) are still thanking me for 'finding you'. (Jennifer Carr McCoy)
That same Orlando Fringe Tech performance was attended by my favorite photographer, Tisse Mallon, who captured more fun pics of the show in action.
The downside to this year's Orlando Fringe was that since the show was a late addition to the fringe, it didn't appear in the printed program, which makes it hard to bring in an audience who hasn't circled the show as they review the day's line-up of shows that they want to catch.
I did get to see loads of great friends and drink my share of beer. I especially enjoyed Rob Lloyd from Australia, who was in town doing a "Dr. Who" one-man show, and who commended me on my "bold American accent" in Julius Caesar!
I had another week in town, with three performances planned for Winnie Wenglewick's new theatre in Sanford, Florida. She's just finished building out a terrific new space with two theatres that will ultimately be able to operate simultaneously for audiences of some 50-65 people. We draped her current set in black and threw a white sheet over it for the "Caesar slide show. There was some nice coverage in the local Sanford paper and a "festival holdover" article in the Orlando Sentinel. I did three performances there to audiences that started out tiny, but grew on subsequent nights.
I headed back to Chicago, stopping in Chattanooga to celebrate Paul Steurmer's surprise 60th birthday party. (The surprise was: we held it on his 59 1/2 birthday!)
And I dove, once again, into a massive e-mail campaign. Yes! I had just recently FINISHED a massive email campaign. But with the new NFP standing, I've lowered my prices and need to make up the difference in Volume-Volume-Volume! So far, so good: I've booked about 17 shows for the fall so far!
That same Orlando Fringe Tech performance was attended by my favorite photographer, Tisse Mallon, who captured more fun pics of the show in action.
The downside to this year's Orlando Fringe was that since the show was a late addition to the fringe, it didn't appear in the printed program, which makes it hard to bring in an audience who hasn't circled the show as they review the day's line-up of shows that they want to catch.
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| Departing Florida |
I had another week in town, with three performances planned for Winnie Wenglewick's new theatre in Sanford, Florida. She's just finished building out a terrific new space with two theatres that will ultimately be able to operate simultaneously for audiences of some 50-65 people. We draped her current set in black and threw a white sheet over it for the "Caesar slide show. There was some nice coverage in the local Sanford paper and a "festival holdover" article in the Orlando Sentinel. I did three performances there to audiences that started out tiny, but grew on subsequent nights.
I headed back to Chicago, stopping in Chattanooga to celebrate Paul Steurmer's surprise 60th birthday party. (The surprise was: we held it on his 59 1/2 birthday!)
And I dove, once again, into a massive e-mail campaign. Yes! I had just recently FINISHED a massive email campaign. But with the new NFP standing, I've lowered my prices and need to make up the difference in Volume-Volume-Volume! So far, so good: I've booked about 17 shows for the fall so far!
Somewhere in the
thick of all of this, the world got hit with the closest thing to a
Shakespearean “scandal” that I’ve seen during my lifetime, as a production of
none other than “Julius Caesar” at the Public Theatre in New York, depicted an
obvious Donald Trump in the role of Caesar. A cell-phone video of the infamous
“stabbing scene” leaked out onto the internet, and the staging of it was so
GOOD that people got really BOTHERED by it!
(I’m not saying it
was good because “Trump gets attacked;” I’m saying that it’s good because it
was really disturbing, and we really SHOULD feel a little stomach-churned about
the grisliness of this assassination.)
Anyway, there are a
few interesting parallels between Trump and Caesar, much as Caesar has interesting parallels with Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush-the-Elder, Reagan, Lincoln
and probably even Washington. Unfettered presidential power will always echo
“Julius Caesar” to the fertile creative mind. This time, however, there are a
lot of folks noticing stuff like this who don’t have quite the NUANCE to
understand that Shakespeare is suggesting that the killing of Julius Caesar
was, overall, a BAD thing. And many of the folks who are getting so upset don’t
stick around to see the assassins get their come-uppance in the latter acts of
the play.  |
| Photos by April Peterson; Compilation by Marcus Fernando |
My overseas fringe friend,
Marcus, had an idea for a new photo compilation for “Breakneck Julius Caesar” (BJC
for short) and, with April’s help, I staged a bunch of shots of Caesar being
assassinated. I touched up the pics, sent them to Marcus and he came back with
these two compilations, above…!
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| Early morning departure for Lincoln Nebraska |
Also at this
conference was my new publisher, “Stage Rights,” with copies of my new Moliere
scripts: “The School for Wives” and “The Learned Ladies.” I was delighted to
see them show up with a big stack of them, and a sign promoting the fact that
these would be personally signed by author, Timothy Mooney.
My booth-neighbors
have been very indulgent of my monologue-performing through the course of a
given day. In Lincoln, a former editor with Playscripts videotaped me
performing for a few giddy students, while in Rochester, they just seemed to
enjoy every time they got to see a new monologue come up in the rotation.
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| With Phil Margo, one of the original "Tokens"! |
He seemed amazed
that I knew the name of the band, and reached into his bag, pulling out an 8x10
glossy of the original foursome of the Tokens, pointing out himself,
considerably younger, in the line-up.
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| My new books! |
When the traffic at
the booth was slow, I was continued to make progress on the e-mail campaign,
which I would ultimately wrap up a couple of days after my return to Chicago.
On the last day of AACT, I was packing up my booth as a guy from a booth one
aisle over was walking by. I’d noticed this guy at least ten times through the
course of the conference, but this time I said hello, and actually read his
nametag.
“Dan Culhane… I used
to know I guy named Dan Culhane. Where was it… I think it must have been back
in undergrad.”
“Really? Where did
you go?”
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| Front cover |
“Wow, I went to
Southern Illinois University!”
“No kidding. This
would have been like way back in the late-70s/early 80s.”
“I was there in the
late-70s/early 80s!”
Of course we
eventually figured out who each other was, a little shocked that we’d
recognized each other by name, but not by face, and spent a half-hour catching
up before I got back to the business of packing up my stuff and loading out to
my car.
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| Isaac and I at the train station (of course...) |
Pausing for a fourth
of July party, Isaac came out to visit once more, just as Pat’s family flew in
from the west for a big barbeque shindig.
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| Most of the Mooneys |
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| Safe to travel... |
Perhaps one of the
most important comments came from my erstwhile co-director Deb Pekin, who
remarked that her favorite part of the show was my pre-show warm-up of the
crowd. In recent years I’ve taken to simply hanging out to welcome the audience
in, almost as if I was the host of a party. It spares me the nervousness of
hanging out backstage worrying about whether they’ll like me or the show. Deb
notes that it also gets the audience into the spirit of my personality and
playfulness, so that they’re more ready for the play by the time it launches
(which seems to be a common refrain in some of the reviews to come).
With that, I hit the
road again… hoping for my voice to recover from the last night’s show. (The
senior citizens got the jokes, but I had to speak up a little more than usual
to make sure they could actually hear them!)
First stop: St. Louis, where the American Association of Teachers of French was holding their annual conference. I hadn’t been back to this conference for at least three years, but they remembered me well. I had a booth in the exhibit hall where they would drop by to visit, and occasionally sign in. I collected about a dozen email addresses from sign ups, and later the association sent me along the list of some 400 attendees, so I had my hands full with mailings for a while.
A little bit after
the exhibit hall closed, I had one final appearance at a workshop presentation
of “Moliere than Thou.” Unfortunately, they scheduled me to appear at exactly
the same time as they were holding their “Delagate Meeting,” (and about 90% of
the people at this conference were delegates, so I ended up with an audience of
perhaps 5 people for “Moliere than Thou.” (I think I’m going to take another
year off from this conference.)
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| Apparently my name and Moliere's have become interchangeable as far as AATF is concerned. |
My first major task
in Kansas City was finding myself a coffee table at a local thrift store to act
as a small platform in my show (with more unloading and reloading the car to
create coffee-table sized space!).
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| KC Fringe Preview Flyering |
The show opened the
following day, and the audience was like a “who’s who” of favorite KC Fringe
fans. Over the course of six KC Fringe appearances, I’d developed a following
of a loyal audience who all seem to show up for my very first performance.
(That steady parade of audience doesn’t seem to actually last through the
course of the festival, which makes me think that this fringe doesn’t have
quite so much depth in the demographic that comes out to see
classical theatre.)
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| My new business cards catch up with me in Kansas City! |
...the charismatic and talented Tim Mooney, whose breathless one-person-one-hour tour through the Shakespeare play is yet another outstanding production by this Fringe Festival performer who has built a genuine following in KC. Mooney alone stages this condensed Caesar run-through – he says he has “sliced this play up… to see more of the forest by removing some of those obstructive trees” – which highlights the major characters, plot points, and important speeches and delivers a side of commentary and historical context... The Shakespeare tragedy has never been so much fun and simultaneously instructive. It's a fringe go-to... (Deborah Hirsch, the Pitch)
People started
spreading the rumor that my show was really great, and that
I’d probably be selling out by the end of the run. As much as I tried
to help spread that rumor and send people into a frenzy of ticket-buying, the
show never quite sold out.
The first night of the Fringe late-night beer tent found a smattering of a dozen or so of us huddled under the tent as an approaching storm lit up the sky. As it came closer, the winds picked up and a serious downpour commenced. All of a sudden, the electricity in the tent went out and it threatened to blow away. All 10-12 of us grabbed onto one of the tent poles, literally holding it down (occasionally lifting off of the ground) as the rain poured.
The first night of the Fringe late-night beer tent found a smattering of a dozen or so of us huddled under the tent as an approaching storm lit up the sky. As it came closer, the winds picked up and a serious downpour commenced. All of a sudden, the electricity in the tent went out and it threatened to blow away. All 10-12 of us grabbed onto one of the tent poles, literally holding it down (occasionally lifting off of the ground) as the rain poured.
There was some
legitimate fear that one of us might get seriously injured or that, if we let
go of the tent, the tent itself would hurt one of us, or someone nearby. In the
face of the panic, I started to shout out the King Lear “Storm Speech,” “Blow
winds and crack your cheeks,” which at least seemed to soften the tension. (See video above... storm kicks in around the 4 minute mark; King Lear at the 5:15 mark.)
Last night's torrential downpour... It's all fun and
games until the storm kicks in about 5 minutes in, and we're hanging on for
life through the 20 minute mark, at which point our cameraman heads off for the
train station...!
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| With Anne Marie Kaufmann and Michael Shaeffer |
Just as importantly, there was a 10-ish year-old girl
front row center who REALLY got into the audience participation portion. She
was jumping furiously to her feet during “Friends, Romans, Countrymen,” as the
audience lines appeared on the screen.
And they all cheered out “huzzah” during the curtain
call.
Terrific reviews continued to show up through the course of the festival, with this one showing up on the Fringe Festival site from a staff reviewer:
Terrific reviews continued to show up through the course of the festival, with this one showing up on the Fringe Festival site from a staff reviewer:
“...I never ceased to be impressed and delighted by Mooney’s virtuosic performance… an enjoyable, holistic, theatrical experience for the audience. From welcoming each audience member at the entrance (with stickers!) to explaining the anachronistic conventions by which the audience will participate and speak their lines as the character, “Citizens,” Mooney sets the entire space – not just the stage – for his production. What’s left is for the audience to hold on to their seats and resist blinking for the next 60 minutes as Mooney solo-performs his way through over 20 characters, several oratory speeches, a couple death scenes and two nifty on-stage costume transitions. Regardless of whether you are a Shakespeare fan or not, this is a must-see – a theatrical treat, really – for KC Fringe-Goers.” (Hephzibah Dutt, KC Fringe Reviewer)
Towards the end of the week, two more reviews showed up, including this one from a reviewer for "KC Applauds" who has lamented two years prior that he hadn't heard how good "Breakneck Hamlet" was until it was too late to catch the show.
FIVE STARS: Timing is perfect for the Shakespeare tragedy of an over-reaching emperor of the Roman Empire as told by the Bard of the Renaissance… This performance needs to be filmed and sold to school districts nationwide… This pared-down recitation strips away much of The Bard’s poetry but preserves enough to keep the action moving and the story interesting and compelling… Mooney races through the piece with accuracy and sweat. He’s well-prepared, focused, and magnificent in his performance. (Bob Evans, KC Applauds)
And, then just as I
thought there would be no further response, this review showed up on Broadway
World.
Remarkably cogent… always excellent… His preparation and rehearsal are obvious, seamless, and audience appreciated. (Alan Portner, Broadway World)
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| Map by David C. Jensen |
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| Opening Night Party with Orlando Fringers |
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| Closing night party with Orlando Fringers |
The next day I was
racing off to Colorado, where I caught a night north of Denver, swung through
Colorado Springs to visit with Amber, Andrew and their baby, Charlotte (photo
by Amber of me on our walk through the hills), and pushed on west.
I was heading on
toward Las Vegas, where the Association of Theatre in Higher Education was
having their annual confab.
 |
Somewhere in Utah
|
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| The view from my Las Vegas hotel... |
Bob’s presentation
followed a discussion of another one-person performance artist (whose work was
very different from my own). That performer was not present at this event, so I
was the only one who got some sort of a “rebuttal” in this setting. Which is
not to say that I had anything to contradict Bob about, so much as to draw a
distinction between what someone’s work may look like on the outside looking
in, as opposed to on the inside looking out. While Bob had researched my books,
program notes, and reviews of my work, to demonstrate my place in a tradition
of Shakespearean one-person performers, I explained how each of my particular
works had developed from a place of the need to express or explain something,
such as the overall arc of the ten Shakespeare
History plays, or the deep dive into Hamlet,
or the need to make sense of Julius
Caesar, after having performed “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” so many times (but being otherwise, so disappointed by performances of Julius Caesar).
And then I
demonstrated the results of those tasks, presenting the opening of Shakespeare’s Histories, the lead-in to Hamlet’s “Oh, what a rogue and peasant
slave am I,” and the resolution of Julius
Caesar.
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| Severe case of "rainbow head" in Twin Falls |
From Idaho, I made
the trip north, finally crossing the Canadian border (for once NOT having to go
inside to present my financial papers), and continuing on through the southern
Canadian Rockies and into Calgary, where the final weekend of the Calgary
Fringe Festival was almost concluded.
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| Canadian Border |
I had told no one
but my previous hosts that I would be coming through town, so when I got to the
Fringe, I headed for the main ticket booth where a handful of people were
selling tickets and Michelle, the Fringe director was staring down at a
computer screen. Someone asked “Can I help you?” and I responded, “Are there
any tickets still available for ‘Breakneck Hamlet?’”
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| Canadian Rockies |
Michelle, still
looking down at her screen, piped in, “That was LAST yea—“ when, looking up,
she realized who was asking. We had a nice reunion, and I spent the next day
going around catching shows, before continuing up to Edmonton on Monday morning
with my good friend, Bremner Duthie riding shotgun.
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| My new books! |
I managed to get
some quality time with a video recording of my performance in Kansas City. My
friends, Ken and Kim Hill had videotaped a fairly good performance, and I
chopped the hour-long show down to some 19 minutes, and, from there, down to 7
minutes, to 3 minutes and to 1:30. I pasted in some review quotes for a promo
and put it up on YouTube (as seen above at the top of this blog).
Performances got
underway in Edmonton, and I was delighted to find that my late night opening
(10:45 on a Saturday night), was fairly full, with an audience of some 90
people, much due to an active ticket giveaway program, and the hiring of a
flyering assistant, who was putting in a couple of hours a day while I was in
town.
Almost immediately
there was a review up on the Edmonton Vue website, which rated the play at four
stars:
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| Meeting up in Edmonton with the friend who introduced me to "Fringing," Beth Amsbary |
“An excellent fit for the fringe… what makes Mooney’s adaptation of Julius Caesar so great [is that] he tells the brunt of the story within an hour, in a one man display of dramatic prowess… Mooney shows a great command of the original text… with real time commentary that criticizes the story’s details through a modern lens… Mooney helps the audience follow the action in intelligent ways too…His production also cast the audience as ancient Rome’s gallery to shout mob-like lines when they appear on screen [which] keeps the audience invested and helps cut through the period jargon, making for a Shakespeare production that’s well worth seeing.” (Kevin Pennyfeather, Vue)
I
had a single day off, before beginning two sets of
three-performance-days-in-a-row. Monday had another reviewer in the house, but
I didn’t find out who until a few days later when a tweet led me to:
“It’s all amazing stuff, and surprisingly unhurried given that Mooney has whacked Shakespeare’s three-hour historical play down to a brisk and brilliant 60 minutes… Mooney, who just might be the most affable performer at this year’s Fringe is a welcoming sort of guy. Before the show begins, he moves among his audience handing out Caesar stickers, trading quips, swapping a few jokes, and setting the tone for what’s to come… Mooney’s seamless editing of the Bard means that he’s kept all the good stuff… But this is not exactly Shakespeare-lite, played for laughs and little else. There is fun to be had here to be sure, but there’s also serious intent at work… Breakneck also manages to provide a fresh interpretation of Brutus, who is presented as a very stubborn, somewhat pompus ass. What if Antony’s final speech, the “here lies the noblest Roman of them all” number, was delivered with the same irony as his “lend me your ears” bit? What then? That changes the whole texture of the play methinks. Hey, I’m convinced. Huzzah!” (Marc Horton, 12thnight.ca)
And then, on my “BJC”
Facebook event page, this commentary was posted…
Give Timothy Mooney credit for truth in advertising, it’s the whole play in 59 minutes and 50 seconds. Or more specifically it’s an exposition of the play with reference to the major speeches and dialogues. Now, I’m a Shakespeare fan, not a fan of pre-digested Shakespeare or one-person shows, but I’ve got to admit Mooney does a darned good job of contextualizing the action, speeches and dialogues (including providing maps and timelines for scene changes which escaped me completely when I watched this in Stratford Ontario). Also, Mooney was entirely consistent in using his toga folds to indicate which chatacter was speaking from moment to moment. All in all, an excellent production. (Gunnar Blodgett)
Unfortunately, no
review ever appeared in the Edmonton Journal (which had given me 4.5 stars the
year before), and while attendance was up from last year’s show, I never quite
threatened to sell out any of the performances. And the final three shows of the
run showed a decline in attendance.
All that said, this
was still the most financially rewarding festival of the 50-60 festivals that
I’ve performed at. While last year’s festival enabled me to buy a new laptop
(which I’m typing on now), this year I’ll settle for being able to pay off my
credit card bill.
Just as I thought I'd written the last about the Edmonton Fringe, with one final performance just 90 minutes away, one last long-awaited review went up on the "Global News" site, with the reviewer giving the show four stars, and calling it "a feat of condensation and memorization... outstanding performance." (Todd James)
In the thick of griping about the review which arrived too late to do me any good, I went on in to the Fringe grounds to pass around some flyers for the final performance, and after hanging out there for about 30 minutes, I somehow flashed upon the fact that I'd left my billet with my laptop (used for my slide show) sitting back at the house.
I raced back to the house (an 18 minute drive), picked up the laptop and started to race back to the fringe when I realized that both of the remote controls that I use to actually make the slides go forward were still in the laptop case. I raced back once again, grabbed the remotes and got back to my venue at almost exactly the time that they were about to let the audience in. I hooked up the laptop, aimed the projector and threw my costume on, with just enough time to do my usual pre-show banter and start.
I generally, actually LIKE having a last-minute crisis to throw me into action. It keeps me from sweating the small stuff when I've got plenty of "big stuff" to concern myself with. But this time it felt like one too many crises. By the time the audience came in, I was feeling a bit bewildered and dizzy, and while it didn't affect my performance at first, I think I came off a bit brusque to my audience (like, when they didn't sit close to the stage as is my usual preference), and eventually I missed a cue to move the slides forward, which threw me off in the middle of Brutus big eulogy in Act III.
And, as "off" as I might have felt, at the end, the audience still came up and told me how very much they'd enjoyed the show.
Just as I thought I'd written the last about the Edmonton Fringe, with one final performance just 90 minutes away, one last long-awaited review went up on the "Global News" site, with the reviewer giving the show four stars, and calling it "a feat of condensation and memorization... outstanding performance." (Todd James)
In the thick of griping about the review which arrived too late to do me any good, I went on in to the Fringe grounds to pass around some flyers for the final performance, and after hanging out there for about 30 minutes, I somehow flashed upon the fact that I'd left my billet with my laptop (used for my slide show) sitting back at the house.
I raced back to the house (an 18 minute drive), picked up the laptop and started to race back to the fringe when I realized that both of the remote controls that I use to actually make the slides go forward were still in the laptop case. I raced back once again, grabbed the remotes and got back to my venue at almost exactly the time that they were about to let the audience in. I hooked up the laptop, aimed the projector and threw my costume on, with just enough time to do my usual pre-show banter and start.
 |
| The Alberta/Saskatchewan Border |
I generally, actually LIKE having a last-minute crisis to throw me into action. It keeps me from sweating the small stuff when I've got plenty of "big stuff" to concern myself with. But this time it felt like one too many crises. By the time the audience came in, I was feeling a bit bewildered and dizzy, and while it didn't affect my performance at first, I think I came off a bit brusque to my audience (like, when they didn't sit close to the stage as is my usual preference), and eventually I missed a cue to move the slides forward, which threw me off in the middle of Brutus big eulogy in Act III.
And, as "off" as I might have felt, at the end, the audience still came up and told me how very much they'd enjoyed the show.
Cue the closing
night party, packing up my car, and hitting the road first thing the following
morning. I made it back to Chicago in three days, and while I was driving, my
new publisher, Stage Rights, put out this blog post interviewing me about my
work.
Discoveries: “There always seems to be that existential moment in which I find myself questioning, just what is it all worth, anyway? Is this any good? Was spending the last year of my life, a misguided effort to put something together that doesn’t really hit home?” * “Hanging out to welcome the audience in spares me the nervousness of worrying about whether they’ll like me or the show. It also gets the audience into the spirit of my personality and playfulness, so that they’re more ready for the play by the time it launches.” * I like having just ONE last minute crisis just before a play gets underway. More than that and I get befuddled.
On the
I-tunes: Ivy Levan, Gin Wigmore and Elle King
On Netflix: Shameless and The Defenders
 |
| While the outline of Michigan is usually called "the Mitten" The outline of Manitoba looks like "a Mitten with the thumb and fingers chopped off in some horrible threshing accident." |
Temperatures: 50s-70s in Edmonton (or, as they call it 10-20s)
Timothy
Mooney Repertory Theatre Tour Schedule
(Already-booked dates in GREEN; Tentative
bookings in RED)
MTT = “Moliere than Thou”; LoS =
“Lot o’ Shakespeare;" GSAT = “Greatest Speech of All Time;” SH –
“Shakespeare’s Histories” BH – “Breakneck Hamlet;” BJC -- "Breakneck Julius Caesar"
FALL,
2017
Sep 5-10: ILLINOIS
Sep 9: Pathways
Fundraiser, Wheeling, IL (Emcee)
Sep 11: Riverside
High School, Indianapolis (LoS)
Sep 12: Centre
College (BJC)
Sep 13-14: KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE (Daytime Only)
Sep 14-16: EdTA
Conference, Nashville, TN
Sep 17-18 TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY
Sep 19: Tusculum
College, Greeneville, TN (BH)
Sep 21: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts,
North Adams, MA (SH)
Sep 22-25: NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW
JERSEY, DELAWARE, MARYLAND
Sep 26-27: Berkshire
School, Berkshire, MA (BH)
Sep 28-29: DELAWARE, MARYLAND, D.C., VIRGINIA,
NORTH/SOUTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE, GEORGIA, ALABAMA
Sep 30-Oct
1: FLORIDA
Oct 2: TEXAS, LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI
Oct 3: TEXAS, MISSISSIPPI
Oct 4: Texas
Lutheran University, San Antonio, TX (LoS)
Oct 5-6: TEXAS
Oct 8: Black Box
Theatre, Las Cruces, NM (BH & BJC)
Oct 9-10: NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA
Oct 11: CALIFORNIA, OREGON
Oct 12-13: CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON
Oct
12-14: Rocky Mountain Modern Language
Assn, Spokane, WA
Oct 14-15: WASHINGTON, IDAHO
Oct 16: IDAHO, MONTANA
Oct 17-18: MONTANA, NORTH / SOUTH DAKOTA
Oct 19-21: NACA Central Conference
Oct 19: MINNESOTA
Oct 20: MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN
Oct 21: WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS
Oct 22-23: Monmouth
University, Monmouth, IL (BJC)
Oct 24: The Webb
School, Bell Buckle, TN (BH)
Oct 25-26: Lee University:
Tennessee Theatre Association (BH)
Oct 27-28: Young Harris
College, Young Harris, GA (BH)
Oct 29: MISSISSIPPI, OKLAHOMA
Oct 30-31: Southeast
Oklahoma State U, Durant, OK (MTT)
Nov 1: ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, KANSAS, NEBRASKA,
COLORADO, UTAH
Nov 2: ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, KANSAS, NEVADA,
NEBRASKA
Nov 3: IDAHO, WYOMING, NEBRASKA, NEVADA
Nov 4-5: COLORADO, NEBRASKA
Nov 6: Iowa Wesleyan
University
Nov 7: MINNESOTA, IOWA, MISSOURI, WISCONSIN
Nov 8: ILLINOIS
Nov 9: Herron High
School, Indianapolis, IN (BJC)
Nov 10-12 APCA Midwest
Regional Conference, Chicago, IL
Nov 10: MICHIGAN, INDIANA
Nov 11: MICHIGAN, INDIANA, OHIO, WEST
VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA
Nov 12: WEST VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA, NORTH
CAROLINA
Nov 13: Georgetown
College, Georgetown, KY (BH)
Nov 14: SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA
Nov 15: Marietta
Senior Center, Marietta Georgia
Nov 16-17: GEORGIA
Nov 18: Old Theater,
Oriental, NC (BH or BJC)
Nov 20-22: VIRGINIA, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, TENNESSEE,
KENTUCKY, INDIANA, ILLINOIS
WINTER/SPRING
2018
January 5-9: APAP
Conference, NYC
January 4-7: MLA Conference, New York City
January 24-27:
International Performing Arts for Youth Showcase, Philadelphia, PA
Jan 10-12: NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY
Jan 13: NEW JERSEY, MARYLAND, DELAWARE, DC,
VIRGINIA
Jan 14-15: MARYLAND
Jan 16: VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA
Jan 17: NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA
Jan 18: SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA
Jan 19-22: GEORGIA, FLORIDA
Jan 23: ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, LOUISIANA
Jan 24-27: Texas Educational
Theatre Association, Galveston, TX
Jan 28-29: TEXAS
Jan 30-31: NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA
Feb 1: Snow
College, Ephraim, UT
Feb 2-4: CALIFORNIA
Feb 5-6: CALIFORNIA, OREGON, NEVADA
Feb 7-8: OREGON, WASHINGTON, NEVADA, UTAH
Feb 9: NEVADA, UTAH, COLORADO
Feb 10-11: COLORADO
Feb 12: COLORADO, KANSAS, NEBRASKA, MISSOURI
Feb 13: KANSAS, MISSOURI, OKLAHOMA
Feb 14: OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI
Feb 15: ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, TENNESSEE
Feb 16-17: TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI
Feb 18-19: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY
Feb 20: KENTUCKY, INDIANA, OHIO
Feb 21-22: INDIANA, OHIO, WEST VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Feb 23: WEST VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA, DC, MARYLAND
Feb 24-25: MARYLAND
Feb 26: VIRGINIA, DC
Feb 27: VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA
Feb 28: NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA
Mar 1: SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA
Mar 2-5: GEORGIA, FLORIDA
Mar 6: ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI
Mar 7-10: SETC, Mobile, AL
Mar 11-12: LOUISIANA
Mar 13-14: OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, KANSAS
Mar 15: USAO,
Chickasa, OK (LoS)
Mar 16: OKLAHOMA, TEXAS
Mar 16: AWTY
International School, Houston, TX (MTT)
Mar 17-20: TEXAS
Mar 20: Laredo
Community College, Laredo, TX (BJC)
Mar
21-22: NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA
Mar 23: ARIZONA, NEVADA, CALIFORNIA
Mar 24-25: CALIFORNIA
Mar 26: CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
Mar 27: CALIFORNIA, OREGON
Mar 28: OREGON, WASHINGTON
Mar 29: WASHINGTON, IDAHO, OREGON
Mar 30-31: IDAHO, MONTANA, OREGON
Apr 1: Easter
Apr 2: MONTANA, WYOMING, UTAH, OREGON
Apr 3: Portland,
OR, Reynolds High (MTT)
Apr 3-4: UTAH, NORTH / SOUTH DAKOTA, NEBRASKA,
WYOMING, OREGON
Apr 4: MINNESOTA, IOWA
Apr 5: MINNESOTA, IOWA, WISCONSIN
Apr 6: WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS
Apr 7-8: ILLINOIS
Apr 9: ILLINOIS, INDIANA
Apr 10: INDIANA, MICHIGAN
Apr 11: MICHIGAN, OHIO
Apr 12: OHIO, WEST VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Apr 13: PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK
Apr 14: NEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND
Apr 15-16: NEW ENGLAND
Apr 17: Blair
Academy, Blairstown, NJ (LoS)
Apr 18: NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA
Apr 19-20: Geneva College,
Geneva, PA (GSAT)
Apr 21-23: WEST VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, DELAWARE,
D.C., NORTH/SOUTH CAROLINA
Apr 24-26: GEORGIA, FLORIDA, TENNESSEE
Apr 27: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY
Apr 28: KENTUCKY, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI
Apr 29: MISSOURI
Apr 30: MISSOURI, KANSAS
May 1: KANSAS, COLORADO
May 2: COLORADO, UTAH
May 3: NEBRASKA, IOWA
May 4: Northwestern
College, Orange City, IA (BH)
May 5-6: MINNESOTA
May 7: MINNESOTA, IOWA, WISCONSIN
May 8: WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS
May 9-11: ILLINOIS, INDIANA
SUMMER,
2018
May 10-13 Tampa Fringe Festival
May 15-28 Orlando Fringe Festival
May 23-28 Oregon Fringe Festival (estimated dates)
Jun 21-Jul 1: San Diego Fringe Festival
Aug 2-12 Minnesota Fringe Festival
Aug 15-25 Indy Fringe Festival (
FALL, 2018
Sep 4-7 ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN
Sep 10-11 IOWA, WISCONSIN
Sep 12 WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA
Sep 13-14 MINNESOTA, SOUTH/NORTH DAKOTA, WYOMING
Sep 15-17 MONTANA, IDAHO
Sep 18 IDAHO, WASHINGTON
Sep 19-20 WASHINGTON, OREGON
Sep 21-23 CALIFORNIA
Sep 24 CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
Sep 25 NEVADA, UTAH
Sep 26 UTAH, COLORADO
Sep 27 COLORADO, NEBRASKA, KANSAS
Sep 28 KANSAS, NEBRASKA
Sep 29-30 KANSAS, MISSOURI
Oct 1 MISSOURI, IOWA
Oct 2 IOWA, ILLINOIS
Oct 3 ILLINOIS, INDIANA
Oct 4 INDIANA, MICHIGAN
Oct 5-7 ILLINOIS, INDIANA
Oct 8 INDIANA, MICHIGAN, OHIO
Oct 9 OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA
Oct 10 PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK
Oct 11 NEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND
Oct 12-14 NEW ENGLAND
Oct 15 NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA
Oct 16 NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY
Oct 17 NEW JERSEY, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, D.C.
Oct 18 DELAWARE, MARYLAND, D.C., VIRGINIA
Oct 19 D.C., VIRGINIA, MARYLAND
Oct 20-21 MARYLAND
Oct 22 VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA
Oct 23 NORTH/SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct 24 SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA
Oct 25 GEORGIA, FLORIDA
Oct 26-28 FLORIDA
Oct 29 FLORIDA, GEORGIA
Oct 30 GEORGIA, TENNESSEE
Oct 31 TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY
Nov 1 KENTUCKY, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA
Nov 2 VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA
Nov 3-4 WEST VIRGINIA
Nov 5 OHIO, KENTUCKY
Nov 6 OHIO, KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE
Nov 7 TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ALABAMA
Nov 8 ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, ARKANSAS
Nov 9 MISSISSIPPI, ARKANSAS
Nov 10-11 LOUISIANA
Nov 12 LOUISIANA, TEXAS
Nov 13 TEXAS, OKLAHOMA
Nov 14-15 TEXAS, OKLAHOMA, KANSAS
Nov 16 TEXAS, NEW MEXICO
Nov 17 NEW MEXICO
Nov 18 NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA
Nov 19 ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA
Nov 20 CALIFORNIA
Nov 21-27 CALIFORNIA, HAWAII, OREGON, WASHINGTON,
NEVADA
Nov 28 NEVADA, UTAH
Nov 29 UTAH, COLORADO
Nov 30 COLORADO, NEBRASKA
Dec 1 NEBRASKA, IOWA
Dec 2 IOWA, ILLINOIS
SPRING,
2019
Jan 3-6 MLA Chicago
Jan 7-Feb 16 Available
for Residency
Feb 17-18 ILLLINOIS
Feb 19 MICHIGAN
Feb 20 INDIANA
Feb 21 INDIANA, OHIO
Feb 22 OHIO, KENTUCKY
Feb 23-24 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI
Feb 25 MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA
Feb 26 ALABAMA, GEORGIA
Feb 27-Mar 2 SETC Conference, Knoxville, TN
Mar 2-4 GEORGIA, FLORIDA
Mar 5-6 FLORIDA
Mar 7 GEORGIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
Mar 8 SOUTH
CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA
Mar 9 NORTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA
Mar 10 VIRGINIA, MARYLAND
Mar 11 VIRGINIA, DC, MARYLAND
Mar 12 D.C., MARYLAND, DELAWARE
Mar 13 DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA
Mar 14 PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY, NEW ENGLAND
Mar 15 NEW ENGLAND
Mar 16-18 NEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND
Mar 19 NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA
Mar 20 PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO
Mar 21 OHIO, MICHIGAN, INDIANA
Mar 22 MICHIGAN, INDIANA, ILLINOIS
Mar 23-24 ILLINOIS
Mar 25 ILLINOIS, IOWA
Mar 26 IOWA, MISSOURI
Mar 27 MISSOURI, KANSAS, ARKANSAS
Mar 28 KANSAS, ARKANSAS, OKLAHOMA
Mar 29 LOUISIANA, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS
Mar 30-Apr 1
TEXAS
Apr 2 TEXAS, NEW MEXICO
Apr 3 NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA
Apr 4-5 CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
Apr 6-8 CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
Apr 9-10 UTAH, COLORADO
Apr 11 COLORADO, NEBRASKA
Apr 12 NEBRASKA, MISSOURI, IOWA
Apr 13-19 ILLINOIS, WISCONSIN, INDIANA
Apr 22-23 WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA
Apr 24 NORTH DAKOTA, SOUTH DAKOTA
Apr 25 NORTH DAKOTA, SOUTH DAKOTA, WYOMING,
MONTANA
Apr 26 WYOMING, MONTANA, IDAHO
Apr 27-29 IDAHO, WASHINGTON, OREGON
Apr 30 WASHINGTON, OREGON
May 1 OREGON
May 2-5 Oregon Fringe
Festival, Ashville, OR
May 6 OREGON, CALIFORNIA
May 7 CALIFORNIA
May 8 CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
May 9 UTAH, COLORADO
May 10 COLORADO
May 11 KANSAS
May 12 MISSOURI
May 13 TENNESSEE
May 14 GEORGIA, FLORIDA
May 15-26 Orlando Fringe
Festival, Orlando, FL
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