The View From Here #162: Winter/Spring, 2014

Photo by Brian McConkey, Caption: Marcus Fernando

Yes, another chapter of “My Fab Life on the Road…!” Will it be the last?

Last January’s book release party went forward SANS book. While I had a couple copies of the final proof in hand, the book itself did not arrive until the day AFTER the performance, and I proceeded to drive copies around the Chicago area. 

Shakespeare's Histories! The first published copies!

The reviews showing up on Amazon included these terrific comments (have you posted yours yet?):

"This book is a must. Tim Mooney’s dazzling, encapsulated renditions of Shakespeare’s plays are robust, dedicated, and nothing short of brilliant artistry. Tim's knowledge and understanding of the work of William Shakespeare, and easily understood dissemination of same, are, for me, comparable to Carl Sagan's interpretation of the Cosmos. Only faster, and funnier." (Eduardo Santiago, award-winning author of “Midnight Rumba”)

 "This book and the performance based upon it do an outstanding job of explaining the larger context of Shakespeare's history plays in a manner that is detailed (but not overwhelmingly so), easy to understand (even for those less acquainted with the material), and above all, great fun. It should be required reading in classical theatre classes, and will be a welcome addition to the libraries of longtime Shakespeare aficionados, those newly enchanted with The Bard, and even those who may not have an interest in Shakespeare works per se (perish the thought), but who simply have an interest in history, and an appreciation of excellent history teachers." ("Lisaie")

"I just ordered the book after watching Tim Mooney perform the live version of “Shakespeare's Histories.” Breathtaking, mindblowing, fascinating, and witty (both Tim and Shakespeare.). I hope Tim willl do an audiobook so everyone can feel his knowledge, passion and humor. In the meantime, read the book or find his traveling shows! Bravo Tim, actor and author!!" (Bruce Bloom)

"Centuries of historical detail and drama strung together in a breathtaking journey! Gives a great bird's-eye view, and as the author says, 'now you know enough to learn all the rest...'" ("ALC")

"After seeing Mooney perform this compilation in an hour, I wanted nothing more than to download these plays to my Kindle and read them. High praise, considering that my prior familiarity with the histories was mostly confined to Henry V's Agincourt speech and "my kingdom for a horse." This book is both a playable script (for someone with genius memorization skills and excellent acting chops) and a handy guide to an important segment of Shakespeare's works. In an era of power grabs, class struggle and corruption, these histories are eminently relevant. Stop letting confusion about rose colors, royals, bastards and battles keep you away. Let Mooney's distilled histories, augmented with photos and helpful family trees, lead you once more into the breach, dear friends." (Julie S. Higginbotham)

The next day, I was back on the road again! I headed west to visit my long-time friends, Jeff and Karen Barker at Northwestern College in Iowa, where I performed “The Greatest Speech of All Time” to perhaps the largest, most appreciative group this show has seen, who were very caught up in the delicate, nuanced moral struggles that each of the characters were engaged in. As they went off to tally the hundred or so “ballots” from this very large crowd at the end of the play, I took a couple of questions, and one of the questions from this predominantly Christian crowd was, “Why didn’t I include a speech from Jesus as being one of the ‘Greatest speeches of all time?’” 

I quipped, “Well, He had an unfair advantage.” The audience laughed and we left it at that.

Checking the “ballots,” my favorite comment, left by the viewers was: “I felt like I was time travelling.”

I headed far, far south, to Laredo, Texas, where the college there was hosting me for performances of “Lot o’ Shakespeare” and “The Greatest Speech of All Time,” almost exactly a year to the day following last year's “Moliere than Thou” booking. These were both well-received, and I also gave an acting workshop, sponsored by the local community theatre.

Usually, I figure that it’s safe to schedule travel in Texas in January, but when the temperature dips below freezing in San Antonio, they freak out and close the highways that have overpasses, so the return trip north hit a major slowdown. Along the way, I got word from the anticipated next-show at Valparaiso University that, due to the extreme cold, school had been cancelled for the date of my show. (Curses!)

Carbondale, looking south on Highway 51

I did manage to pass through Carbondale, Illinois on my way back north, where I caught this sunset photo…!

With Rick Plummer

Speaking of Carbondale, I continued to Ludington, Michigan where my former SIU undergrad acting and voice teacher, Rick Plummer, was holding auditions for my “The Schemings of Scapin” at Westshore Community College. (Rick had already cast me as Scapin, but I wouldn’t be joining rehearsals for a couple of weeks yet.) He got just the number of actors that he needed to make the show work, partially by making his lovely and talented daughter, Emma, take the role of Zerbinette. 

With a brief break, I finally found the time to switch my computer BACK to the system that it had been using last summer. While Apple had promised that with “Mountain Lion” and the subsequent “Mavericks” would be significant improvements to “Snow Leopard,” I found my computer slowing to a crawl, and freezing up several times a day. It took a day or two to convince the tech support guy to help me restore the old system, but as soon as it was installed, my computer went back to working flawlessly. 

Trees outside of Westshore Community College

Heading east, Newman University (near Philadelphia) hosted me for a couple of very fun workshops: “The Life of Moliere” and “Shakespeare Spaghetti.” From there, I spent a long weekend visiting Maureen and Tim in Claiborne, from which they were now getting ready to relocate. Their home, which was perfect in fair weather, was suffering through a thoroughly frigid winter, with extremely little insulation. 

I managed to get in a visit with the charming and innovative Sally Boyette, the Artistic Director of the Annapolis Shakespeare Company, which had produced my “Tartuffe” last summer to terrific response. This summer, they are planning yet another production of “Scapin,” and we shared thoughts about that one, as well as other Moliere adaptations she was considering for the coming summer. 

From there, I headed on to Washington, DC, with two workshops and a performance at the Bullis School, before heading back to Michigan.

Isaac and I

I stopped in Ann Arbor a couple of days in advance of Isaac’s 20^th birthday. This semester, he started as an RA at the University of Michigan, with a very large apartment to himself, perhaps four or five times the size of the previous (shared) dorm room.

Back in Ludington (technically, Scottville, Michigan, though everyone seems to reference it as being Ludington), “Scapin” rehearsals were only barely underway, as conflicts and school closings had limited the early blocking work. Working on my lines, I was amazed at how quickly they were coming back. I hadn’t played the role since 1999, but they were still there, tucked away in the back of my head, waiting to reawaken. This phenomena of memorization was beginning to inspire me to launch my long-contemplated book on memorization, which I now decided to title, “How Do You Remember All Those Lines?” (The most oft-asked first question in any post-show Q&A.)

Word came to me that a scene from my “Imaginary Invalid” (as presented by East Central University) was invited to the ACTF Region 6 Conference, while my “Misanthrope” took first place in the Richmond Area High School theatre festival. I discovered that I was “in” at the Kansas City Fringe Festival and the Minnesota Fringe Festival (where I’ll be presenting “Shakespeare’s Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace!”). AND… my YouTube channel passed 200,000 views!

A friend at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, who was celebrating her birthday, challenged her friends to create flash-mob dance performances of the song “Happy,” to post to their you-tube sites. I didn’t have any flash mobs to work with, and it was freezing outside, so I created a “face dance” from my position at my chair. Just in case you aren’t thoroughly sick of that song yet, here it is again:

This video was shot, by the way, at a lovely bed and breakfast I was staying in while in Ludington: The Lamplighter Inn. The charming couple that runs it couldn’t have been more helpful throughout my stay, especially as the snow and the plunging temperatures led to my car’s battery freezing up a couple of times!  

Rehearsals plugged along at Westshore Community College, and I found myself drilling my lines three times a day in preparation for the show’s opening. I have taken to timing the run of my lines as a measure of how well they’ve been absorbed in my head. 

Gregory Marcus, LeAnna Engwall, and I in "The Schemings of Scapin" 

Working with Rick again was a real pleasure, and the cast was incredibly dedicated. I made a point of coming to rehearsal an hour early every night, and before long, more than half of the cast would also turn up early as well. This production broke my personal tradition of not performing Moliere in “commedia masks,” and Rick was giving me extremely free rein to improvise and create new “lazzi.” 

I particularly enjoyed adding new audience interaction bits, and embellishing on the routine in which Scapin flips back and forth, between playing himself and playing a series of supposed villains who have come to beat up Geronte, who is now hiding inside of a sack. At one point, these two characters started articulating their “t’s” in such a way as to spit in each others’ eyes. Which is hilariously absurd when you consider that it is the same character switching roles and somehow spitting in his own eye. Now and then I come up with a piece of schtick, assuming that the audience will never pick it up, but this time found myself delighted to hear that the cast (on stage the whole time), is finding it hysterical. 

The play was very well received, with “big laughs and spontaneous applause.” The print version of the feature story in the local paper was a bit more elaborate than the on-line verison, as it highlighted the point that this play was definitely “not boring.” (I think they had “Not Boring” as a bold sub-heading.)

It was a bittersweet goodbye to my new friends in Ludington, pushing on to my next engagement, but I was due to perform BOTH “Lot o’ Shakespeare” and “Moliere than Thou” at Alma College, in Alma, Michigan the very day after “Scapin” closed. Which meant that I would be performing six shows in the course of five days! My final days in Ludington were filled with drills of the two one-man shows in my head, while maintaining “Scapin's” performance-readiness. The Alma performances were just as successful as the Ludington shows, with a standing ovation at the end of “Lot o’ Shakespeare”!

Along with the bitter cold in Michigan, there was a ton of snow. When people use the phrase “lake effect snow,” Ludington, Michigan is exactly what they have in mind. It seemed to snow some six-to-ten inches every other day. I stayed indoors a lot, applying for more jobs.

And while there were a lot of applications going out, there was very little coming back in. I have a coterie of “recommenders” who have been writing some brilliant recommendations for me, but of the 40 or so applications, I’ve only received one noticeable “nibble” so far.

Which got me thinking.

Would it be so bad, if I didn’t get a “regular” job?

Might it not be great if I didn't get a regular job?

I started thinking about all of the things I might be available to do: audition, voiceover, local one-man performances (wherever “local” was). I could focus on getting an agent and promoting the new Shakespeare book, which I am increasingly convinced has a big audience out there, waiting.

And, so, IF I were to get back into the swing of life (as I left it, prior to setting off on the “big tour”), what steps ought I be taking?

I made an appointment to get new headshots done. 

I hadn’t done new headshots since prior to “the big tour…” some thirteen years ago. And not only had I grown a few more grey hairs, the nature of headshots had also changed, as color photos had nudged the traditional b&w shots out of the way.

I tried to drop a couple of the excess pounds I’d put on to survive the cold winter, and the pics that Brian McConkey created were really terrific. One Facebook friend, noting how very young I looked, remarked “I’ll have what he’s having!” To which I responded: “Try the Photoshop; it’s delicious.”

Photos by Brian McConkey

Back in Chicago, the weather finally warmed up enough to find the keys that I’d thought I’d lost in a snow-pile. It turned out that I’d actually lost them in a neighbor’s yard, when I paused to help her with her snow blower! (The car key doesn’t work any more.) 

On the road, I headed for Texas, once again, with shows and workshops in El Paso! My host had arranged events for me while he was traveling internationally, and I ended up shuttling to a bunch of high schools and colleges around the city, which had not quite been the original plan. My performances were at the Chamizal National Memorial, which seemed to have a really elaborate list of rules, most of which were fairly irrelevant to a one-man show, though they were quick to remind me of the great privilege to be performing at a National Memorial.

The first half of the performance, “Lot o’ Shakespeare,” featured some of my best stuff: “Hamlet,” “Julius Ceasar,” “Twelfth Night,” etc., but it was the second half of the show which seemed to make the biggest impression, as I returned to perform all of “Shakespeare’s Histories” for the group. (It was a small group, but most of them seemed to be Shakespeare afficionadoes.) I was much enthused for the performances of “Histories” that I’d be giving this summer on the fringe circuit, and very relieved that I made it through the many events of this visit without ripping out my voice in the dry El Paso air.

 
I visited with my new friend, Kate Mura, in Albuquerque (during which we discovered that I’d seen her in a show back in Chicago about a dozen years ago), passing through Flagstaff, and stopping in Las Vegas for a couple of days (where it turned out that Marcus and Shauna, a couple of my new friends from Ludington, just happened to be spending spring break).

I got back to Betty’s house in Idylwild, CA, where she was hosting a presentation of “Criteria, a One-Man Comic Sci-Fi Thriller”. This one was a favorite of Betty's from back when we first met, about ten years ago in Orlando. I hadn’t performed "Criteria" in perhaps two years, but spent the trip from El Paso “waking it back up” in my head. Again, Betty’s friends were very receptive. Between promotional efforts from Betty in California, and my sister, Maureen in Maryland, I have a couple of groupings of “fans” who come out in increasing numbers to catch these very informal performances. Given that “Criteria” was “awake” in my head again, I was looking forward to bringing this one back to Maryland.

Betty’s friends were kind enough to buy copies “Criteria” (the book), and two new reviews got posted to Amazon, as L.F. Salter called it:

“…A 5-star evening of gripping, thought provoking material. Written in 2002, the metaphor is stunningly timely for today...The story is funny, profound, tense, and a great read! …Tim's one-man performance of this (if one is lucky enough to see one) is a breathtakingly energetic and astonishing… His performance-insights and writing mastery will draw the reader into his arena with rapt empathy... You will laugh deeply, ponder profoundly, and wince knowingly! His presentational presence comes across even in his writing and will linger with you for days after the reading (or nag you into wanting to quote him at smug cocktail parties)!... For those of you who cannot witness Mr. Mooney's performance, his thin book is an engrossing page-turner!”

Meanwhile, another anonymous writer, “Prowler,” posted: 

“I recently saw Mr. Mooney perform "Criteria: A One-Man, Comic, Sci-Fi Thriller!" I was eager to see it, but I also must confess, I wondered whether the material would hold up more than a decade after the piece was written in the wake of the 9/11 attack on New York. I was delighted to have my fears punctured and put to rest. A really engaging piece that manages very quickly and succinctly and entertainingly bring the audience up to speed in a history lesson of the future and to place the audience solidly in its own world. Like the most deft of sci-fi writers, Mooney uses the genre not as a tool to talk about laser guns and spaceships, but as an opportunity to explore big and small questions of our lives today. He does so by focusing on the small things -- does humankind ever really change that much? And while we focus on the small things, thoughts of the bigger issues slip into our heads.”

I stopped for several days in Valencia to visit with Kirsten, while catching up on upkeep issues: getting the car emission vapor lock fixed (very expensive), and getting new eyeglasses (also very expensive). It seems that every time I get a nice paycheck from my publisher (royalties from productions of one of my Moliere plays), I have a corresponding breakdown of car/computer/eyeglasses… 

Is it that all of my good news comes with bad news attached to it, or that all of my bad news comes with good news to mitigate it? (I'm guessing this is the eternal half-full/half-empty conundrum.)

Mt. Shasta

I began serious progress on “How Do You Remember All Those Lines?” while working a bit more with Kirsten on her show, “Firecracker”.

Passing beautiful Mt. Shasta, I continued on up to Oregon where I dropped in on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival “Tudor Gift Shop.” You may recall that the woman at this shop (which also carries “Acting at the Speed of Life,” and “The Big Book of Moliere Monologues”) gave me the idea to publish “Shakespeare’s Histories.” When I showed her the now-published book, she was initially excited by it, until she heard the retail price was $19.95. I explained that the color illustrations made the increased price necessary, and she grudgingly took five copies for her store. Overnight, however, having read the book, she turned around and ordered ten more. It’s now available on their website, where she declares: 

“’Shakespeare's Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace!’ is a slim volume of clear, accessible explanations of the history behind Shakespeare's plays. Added to that is a dizzying performance text summarizing the plays, designed to be delivered in one hour-bet you can't do it! This is the most fun you'll ever have preparing for ‘Richard III’.” (Eileen Polk)

With Bill Luce

I dropped in on my brother Pat (and Kathy and Ryan), swung out to visit with William (“Belle of Amherst”) Luce, and continued on to Mount Hood Community College, where they were hosting “The Greatest Speech of All Time” and “Moliere than Thou.” My web-guy, Bruce, got a chance to see “Greatest Speech” for the first time (amid an audience of about 10 people), and I also got a chance to visit with my Oregon-theatre friend, Jo Strom Lane, who introduced me to Michael O’Neill, another hopeful touring-Shakespeare artist. 

Pushing eastward once more! I stopped in to say hello at Meridian High School (site of last fall’s surprise “Misanthrope” visit) on my way to Twin Falls, Idaho, and enjoyed a brief visit with Brenda Larsen in Twin Falls, who continues to work on new ways to present Homer's "Iliad" to her students. (She wants to do with Homer something akin to what I’ve been doing with Shakespeare and Moliere.) 

McCook Marquee

Continuing east, I pulled up in Laramie, Wyoming for a couple of days (where I noticed my allergies springing to life), before descending on McCook, Nebraska, where Clay Grizzle (who had previously booked me in Texas) was now booking me for his new school, Midlands Community College. It was nearing Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, and Clay was gearing up for a production of “The Complete Works… Abridged,” and so he booked “Lot o’ Shakespeare” and a workshop. 

It was an early evening performance in McCook (finishing with an enthusiastic standing ovation), and I made the 5-hour drive to Colorado Springs AFTER the show. (I pulled into Colorado Springs at about one in the morning!) I was, however, revived in time for a Moliere workshop at Colorado College, where the French teacher, hosting me for the second time, threw a lovely reception for me after that evening's performance.

The old homestead-now-McMansion

Racing on to Omaha, I got to visit with the staff of the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival folks once again, this time on Shakespeare’s birthday, where I won the “Shakespeare’s Birthday Pub Quiz” (which meant my bar tab was paid for for the night).

Working my way back to Chicago, I made a stop north of Milwaukee to visit my dear friend, Lisa, whose mother had recently passed away, and on back to Arlington Heights, where the old homestead, which, when we last visited, had been torn down, was now being built up into a McMansion.

TV hidden behind the painting

I had a performance of “Lot o’ Shakespeare” at the University of Cumberlands in Western Kentucky, followed quickly by both “Moliere than Thou” and “Lot o’ Shakespeare” at Seven Hills School in Cincinnati. The Seven Hills folks put me up in a really amazing hotel in Mariemont, Ohio, which was chock full of Tudor furnishings, and which even hid the flat-screen TV behind a painting!

End-of-semester activities dampened attendance at the Seven Hills event, and I ended up workshopping and performing to tiny audiences, though my host seemed greatly enthused, and one of the teachers (Barbara Karol) wrote to say “I was affected profoundly, loved every minute of seeing classics (even if tidbits) that I don't get to see very often.  I spoke to others who were there that night and they all loved your performance, too.”

Finally, I continued on to Clarion, Pennsylvania, where Clarion University (which had booked me to perform Moliere back in 2004 or so) was bringing me back for a long-awaited performance of “Lot o’ Shakespeare.” Clarion University is my late-cousin Mary’s alma mater, and it was great to hang out with the faculty that I’d gotten to know a decade prior, when they’d produced my “Tartuffe.”

And therein did the long National School Tour, finally come to an end. 

The View From Maureen's Porch

Which doesn’t mean that I am done with performing on the road…! I continued the next day on to visit Maureen and Tim, at their beautiful new home in St. Michael’s, this time working “Criteria” back up into readiness.

Experimentation with “Scapin” and with “Shakespeare’s Histories” has alerted me that three run-throughs of a given show in a single day is my magic number. Less than that, and I might struggle with remembering the exact word at the exact moment that I need it; more than that and the words become a little too rote, and I may actually forget whether or not I have already spoken a given line in performance. But over the course of three run-throughs, I may see the time that a particular play takes to recite descend from, say, 62 minutes, to 59 minutes to 56 minutes. (A fourth rehearsal may well creep back up to 60 minutes.)

Repetition is actually more impactful than study. The muscle memory of the speaking gives me the confidence that I am moving smoothly from the shaping of one word to another, without beginning to form odd, uncertain consonants along the way. (Just like the pianist who works endlessly on his or her scales, I continue to work the muscles needed to create my art.)

Outside the Claiborne Village Hall

I realize, hearing an actor proclaim something as "my art" always sounds pretentious. But at some point, we must actually establish that "art" is what we are about, or else we will ever consign ourselves to self-deprecating assessments of "luck" or "hackery."

Two days of 3-rehearsals-a-day worked “Criteria” back up in my head, and I performed the show at the Claiborne Village Hall once again. I’ve now performed for these folks five times, and each time the attendance has increased. This time, following a potluck and a town meeting, there were perhaps fifty in attendance. 

This show was also very generously received (lots of money in the tip jar!), followed by a brief intermission, a few Shakespeare monologues and a party.

A few days later, I traveled in to Annapolis to visit with the director and cast of “Scapin” at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company. Plans had shifted slightly since my last visit, and while ASC had previously intended to open the show on May 6 (which would've enabled me to be there for opening night) medical issues had backed up the opening night to May 20 (tonight, as I type this!). In addition, however, they have slated yet ANOTHER of my Moliere adaptations (“Imaginary Invalid”) for later in the summer, and are hinting that they’d like me to try my hand at a new adaptation: Goldoni’s “The Servant of Two Masters!”

The cast of "The Schemings of Scapin" in Annapolis

I caught lunch with Sally, the director, before the rehearsal, and got to hear these new actors trying out the lines from this now very-familiar play. Sally’s notes to the actors after the read-through gave me confidence that they’d emphasize the words with the kind of value that they apply to their Shakespearean work. She turned the floor over to me, and, having just performed this show, I shared my thoughts about interpretation, with some clues on the intended delivery and some of the psychological nuance surrounding the action. And then we went out for drinks.

The Cast of "The Misanthrope" in Charlotte

A couple of days later, I was on the way south, stopping to visit Shakespeare Carolina, which was ALSO in rehearsal with one of my plays: “The Misanthrope.” They put me up in a hotel for a couple of days, while I dropped in on a rehearsal, running through my acting workshop with them, and performing a couple of monologues. They gave me a “Shakespeare Carolina” t-shirt, we also went out for drinks afterwards and had a terrific visit. The next day, one of the actresses posted the following via the hashtag #MoliereIsMyHomeboy: “What an honor to get to meet our plays adapter, the ever talented Tim Mooney last night! Even more of a privilege to workshop with him! Theatre has stolen my [heart] once again!"

While I was there, a videographer captured some of the workshop and an interview as well (above)...

I shifted to working all “Shakespeare’s Histories” all the time. I was reciting the lines three times a day, and was easily getting my run-throughs under 55 minutes. I did a test performance for my friend, Jenn, in South Carolina, and even with this audience (of one), the performance clocked in under 58 minutes (audience usually adds at least 5 minutes). I was newly hopeful that the show would not get cut off in the waning moments by a technician eager to maintain Fringe regulations. I also found an app for my phone which would provide me with a digital timer big enough to read from about 15 feet away. I was running this with each successive run-through, and it was keeping me on track.

The new, green illustration!

Finally arrived in Orlando, I started coordinating my posters, flyers and “yard signs,” while drilling the lines, out by the pool in Al’s back yard. (Al and Gale are my “billets” in Orlando.) 

Meanwhile, I have received updated art for the “Shakespeare’s Histories” illustration from Lee Rushton. This time around, the sea is in GREEN, and it loses the “heaviness” that the previous black-sea illustration carried.

My three-hour tech rehearsal was also serving as a preview performance, and we took one hour to work through the cues and laptop/projection issues, another hour to race through the performance once, and the third hour with an invited audience. (In other words, I performed two full hours back-to-back.) There were at least three reviewers in the audience, along with some old friends who have seen just about everything I’ve performed in Orlando over the course of my seven or eight fringes here.

I had just one glitch. Somewhere in the middle of the Henry V “Saint Crispin’s Day” speech, my mind wandered off and I lost my place. A couple of blurting attempts failed to re-ignite the next line and I called to the technician for a cue. After a few odd seconds she spoke a phrase that launched me immediately back into the thick of the action, and the crowd let out a cheer. I had only probably been delayed by about 15 seconds, and I reinvigorated my attack through the remainder of the speech.

I was thrilled to hear some of the snide jokes that I had written (a whole year ago!) now getting big laughs, and I’m always gratified that things that strike me as particular funny also strike a chord with an audience, like describing the way that Queen Margaret forces the Duke of York to dry his tears with a handkerchief drenched in the blood of his dead son as “generally considered to be bad form.” 

The show checked in at around 57:30, and I was immediately off to the races again, this time readying a two-minute preview performance for the out-of-towners showcase that evening. I’d selected and decided against about a half-dozen sequences in short order, and when my technician asked what portion of the show I was going to do for the preview, I asked “What part do YOU think I should do?”

“I like the part where everybody stabs Prince Edward.”

“Great. That’s what I’ll do.”

In the midst of the chaos around the preview event (35 different acts, all nervously hanging out backstage), I figured out where I needed to start the performance so that it would climax with the stabbing scene, and still come in under the requisite two minutes. I transcribed the scene on my notebook, to remind myself of the very specific section that I was going to do, and then ran those lines about twenty times. I wasn’t scheduled to come on until late in the evening (I was 27^th), and so I took that time to drill that section again and again. (Which couldn’t help but improve that part of the show, anyway.) 

The performance went even better than hoped, with big laughs, as Prince Edward calls Richard III “mis-shapen Dick!” and even bigger laughs as I describe the three brothers killing Prince Edward, with the last, George, doing it “Perhaps out of peer pressure.” And as the audience filed out of the auditorium, nearly all of them willingly took the promotional postcards I was handing out.

The next day, the reviews started showing up on-line. Carl F. Gauze noted the special challenges of knowing the necessary history to appreciate the plots of these ten plays:

“…Mr. Mooney set out to clear all this up for us. He’s well equipped for the battle, there’s a PowerPoint presentation with org charts and performance reviews and color coded maps, the detail of medieval romantic politics are explored, and we run across all sorts of interesting women from Joan of Arc to Margaret of Anjou. Armed with a sword and defended by a slit-sleeved doublet, Mooney is the English teacher you always wish you had. His speeches are delivered with a fury that will rally the troops, and I think Shakespeare’s politics are beginning to invade my 20th century skull. You may well be exhausted by the end of the hour, and all you need do is sit still and clap. Yes, this is all the stuff that would be 3 credit hours in an English lit program, but this show is quicker, more fun, and doesn’t have that nasty midterm theme paper due.”

Later that day, some terrific new photos, taken by Tisse Haven at the preview performance (above and below) also appeared on-line. 

The next day, two MORE reviews showed up: first, from the Orlando Sentinel:

"Mooney nicely lays the groundwork for each speech he gives, with family tree diagrams, photos and boundless enthusiasm. I especially liked the segment on Shakespeare's "King John," in which the king urges a henchman to kill a rival — and then passes the blame onto him. The breakneck speed occasionally gets in the way of fully savoring Shakespeare's words — a dramatic pause or two would provide a bit more emotional variation. But such is Mooney's likeability that when he bobbles the St. Crispin's Day speech from "Henry V," as he did in a preview, the audience members cheer him when he recovers. They are, of course, cheering both for Mooney and for Shakespeare's glorious words that are too rarely heard." (Matt Palm)

And later that day, an even better one from the Orlando Weekly, that I can’t resist quoting at length:

"Clad in doublet, breeches and hose, Timothy Mooney goes HAM on the 10 history plays attributed to William Shakespeare, rapidly and deftly explicating the historical and geopolitical background of each play, then delivering choice bits of speeches from the relevant characters. His embodiment of figures from portly fun guy Falstaff to twisted creeper Richard III, from a horridly witchy Joan of Arc to a nastily lisping French Dauphin (oooh, that tennis-ball speech! It made my blood boil), is spookily impressive. Mooney has two settings: loud/fast and louder/faster. I don’t mean that to imply that he’s just shouting all over the place; his control over the material and his delivery of it is almost unbelievable. (Toward the end of the preview I attended, a patron behind me muttered, 'That’s insane,' in awe.) Watching SHAKESPEARE’S HISTORIES is somewhat like attending one of the most entertaining college-level English lectures ever; this is a man imparting a torrent of knowledge upon you, and it’s up to you to drink from the firehose.

"...If you are not an active hater of Shakespeare or of Elizabethan language (and fie upon you, if you are), I’d have to call this a do-not-miss show. Mooney’s rendition of two well-known battlefield speeches from Henry V — from Act 3, “Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood … Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!” and the St. Crispin’s Day speech, from the next act (“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”) will stiffen your sinews and summon up your blood. What better way to leave a Fringe show than with the hair standing up on the back of your neck? And, program in hand, once more unto the breach, dear friends …" (Jessica Bryce Young)

The audiences have been great. With four performances under my belt, I'm starting to get the sense of what's really funny, and where the slightest pause, or bit of exaggeration will confirm to the audience that it is "safe to laugh." I’m doing an outdoor stage appearance tonight, doing Shakespeare Monologues By Request. Rumor has it that "Scapin" got great response Tuesday night (no sign of a review quite yet)…

"Scapin" in Annapolis

And so, it begins again. The Nationwide School Tour is done, though I’m still fielding requests to come out to perform here and there. (If you have a request for a residency or a performance visit, I'm carving out the time now!) I have a new play in hand ("Shakespeare's Histories") that’s getting universally positive response. There are concerns about the information going by too fast, but those issues are pretty-much baked-into-the-cake for now. I’ve got a summer of performing and promoting this show ahead of me, while looking for work, and getting more writing projects underway. 

The future is less defined for me than it has been in living memory, but perhaps that’s because I seem to have climaxed what has been and am ready to transform into what will be. I expect I’ll continue to recount my adventures here, but perhaps this is a conclusion, of sorts. See you on the other side.

Love,
Tim

Miles on the Escape: 197,000 (Total for the tour: 541,000 est.)

Temperature: 86 in Orlando

On the I-Pod: (The I-pod remains stolen; actually “on the I-tunes on my computer): Lonely Avenue (Ben Folds and Nick Hornby) and Pomplamoose.

On Netflix: Second pass through “Breaking Bad!”

Discoveries: However faintly and vaguely, once you memorize something, it remains in your head, perhaps for the rest of your life, waiting to be reawakened. * The quality of your connection to your lines can be reflected in the time that it takes you to recite them. * Never assume those little extra “finishing touches” you add to your character go unappreciated. * Am I chasing after “success” or "security?" * Is it that all of my good news comes with bad news attached to it, or that all of my bad news comes with good news to mitigate it? * Three run-throughs of a show on a given day is the magic number. * Just like the pianist who works endlessly on his or her scales, I continue to work the muscles needed to create my art. * Let someone else choose your preview scene! *
at some point, we must actually establish that "art" is what we are about, or else we will ever consign ourselves to self-deprecating assessments of "luck" or "hackery."

Next Performances: Sat & Sunday (May 24 & 25) in Orlando; July 17-27 at the KC Fringe and July 31-Aug 12 at the MN Fringe.

The View From Here #161: Shakespeare’s Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace!

I know! You’re not used to hearing from me so soon after a blog has just been posted! (Just two weeks ago!) But the excitement is just to great to contain:

The New Book is Out!

Shakespeare’s Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace! is going to be big, big, big!

I’m having a Party! It’s a Book Release Party on Monday, January 13 at the Oil Lamp Theatre in Glenview, IL. Please RSVP and join me! (There are 25 RSVP’s in already, and only 60 seats in this theatre!) The book order has been placed and it will be a race against time to get there in time for the show! (If they don’t arrive in time, I will personally drive copies to your home!)

The Oil Lamp Theatre is at 1723 Glenview Rd. in Glenview, IL. The party begins at 7:30 with a performance starting around 8 pm. I’ll be performing “Shakespeare’s Histories” in its entirety, and we’ll take a break for wine and book sales and signing, and then I’ll climb back on stage to take requests from Shakespeare, Moliere or even “The Greatest Speech of All Time!”

The show is free; book sales and tips are invited. The Oil Lamp Theatre is a BYOB venue, donating their space for this special event, with free corkage and glasses. (They usually have free cookies too.) So, bring along your favorite something and let’s make a night of it! E-mail me back at tim_mooney@earthlink.net to confirm your seat.

And, if you’re too far away to attend, books are already available on-line! I would love, love, love to get some reviews posted on Amazon ASAP! A few generous thoughts from my readers would really help launch this in a powerful way!

And, if you are a Director or Producer, you may want to give a thought to putting this show on for your audiences! Of course, I’m going to be performing it during this, my last semester of the nationwide tour, but it can also be produced with as few as one, or as many as 25 actors! And it provides a great introduction to these history plays for you and for your audiences!

The book is now available on Amazon. ("Be the first to review this item!") Or you can get it at CreateSpace (I get about $4 more when you get it through them). Or, you can pick it up at my website . (I get about $8 more when you buy it directly from me, and I can sign a copy for you before sending it!) 

Here are some of the reviews that have started to show up from readers and from audiences "Shakespeare’s Histories is an absolutely wonderful new approach to an old subject which is often greeted by students with a groan.  Having a degree and Theatre and English and attended RADA, I now teach at university level and will certainly be incorporating this in any Shakespeare or Dramatic Literature class I’ll be teaching.  I’m sure my students’ enthusiasm will equal my own.  Mooney’s work is a delight even to those already familiar with the material." Melissa Berry, Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles 

I think it's a really excellent distillation of very complex history, and the play that he's complied within it contains some of my favorite speeches.  I think the one-man show itself is really compelling, and would make a great companion piece to any season that's doing one of the histories… As a text it's best suited for an intro to Shakespeare class... Its irreverent tone (which helps a lot--some of the "explanations" of Shakespeare's history are incredibly dry) seems aimed at students who are skeptical of Shakespeare, or at least of the histories. I can see using it early in a semester as a way of getting students excited about the power and beauty of the history plays. The speeches he's chosen are compelling, and really do make you want to read the plays themselves! Christina Gutierrez, Ph.D. Lecturer, Northern Arizona University Department of Theatre
Producing Artistic Director, 7 Towers Theatre 

Actor/Director/Writer Tim Mooney has once again taken dramatic subject matter that, for the most part, is difficult to digest and made it palpable and delicious!  His latest, Shakespeare's Histories: Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace!, combines the meticulous attention to character from his one-man show, "Moliere Than Thou", with his vast understanding of Shakespearean performance in "Lot o' Shakespeare" to create a condensed version Shakespeare's History Plays--ten plays that span the lives of King John to Henry VIII--that is both accessible and immensely enjoyable, regardless of familiarity with the original dramas.  As literature, Shakespeare's Histories is a compendious look at over four hundred years of the English monarchy with genealogical charts, biographies, and fascinating perspectives on topics such as sexism and humanism that become essential to the book's other purpose: performance.  Mooney's entire adapted script is presented with performance suggestions, staging ideas, and insights into his process for choosing what key parts of each of Shakespeare's works are included in order to best serve the narrative of telling the story of these Kings and Kings-to-be.  It is a Herculean task, to be sure: Mooney leaves many memorable lines and scenes of the ten plays out in order to create a show that is meant to last seventy (70) minutes in length.  What he leaves in, however, is the pathos of each monarch's journey towards the Crown and how, through various soliloquies and speeches, Shakespeare the playwright was able to blend regency with the universality of the human condition.  He states that it is intended to be a one-man show, but Mooney also offers options for multiple performers to create a production that would be suitable for any high school, college, university, or community theatre to create with relative ease and little expense.  The implications for lesson plans and unit studies for cross-disciplines of drama, speech, and English departments are limitless--Shakespeare's Histories is versatile enough for performance at a fringe festival or a cafetorium, and could be housed within a high school English class or a university library.  For the novice performer or the well-informed scholar, Shakespeare's Histories: Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace! is a must-read/must-own addition to any collection of Shakespeare studies. Aaron Adair

Brilliant, funny and inspiring. Marshall James Smith II  

You can read the book’s introduction in its entirety on my OTHER blog! Just click on over to http://actingatthespeedoflife.blogspot.com/2014/01/shakespeares-histories-ten-epic-plays.html

Gearing up for the last big lap of the country! I hope to see you all out there on the road!

Love,

Tim 

The View From Here #160: Fall, 2013!

Sunset from Key West

Twelve thousand miles later… I’m back!

It’s been the busiest Fall that I can remember, and the coming spring is shaping up as the busiest Spring, ever, as well. Having announced that this is THE FINAL YEAR OF THE TOUR!, folks is coming out of the woodwork… some people I never knew had an interest in booking a show, are responding that the want to get me in while they still can.

Sure, I could whine about “Where have you guys been all this time?” but let’s just ride the wave and be grateful. At least I’m able to eat this year.

It’s impossible to know the impact that you are having on the world. Impressions that you make in passing may be received and transform people well beyond the circle that you encounter. Having a “Google-alert” and a “TalkWalkerAlert” set up in my name, occasionally information about me gets back to me. Last September a woman starting a theatre company in Kansas City mentioned on her blog...

Theatre is a communial art – nothing is done by one person (and when it is, it usually isn’t interesting – unless it’s Tim Mooney)… 

(Thanks for the shout-out, Amanda B.! I’ll be watching for the “No Name Theatre Company!”)

Likewise, following my last blog release, in September, I got lots of great feedback, notably this from Dave Landis in Lincoln:

Congratulations Tim for making your career up out of thin air, grit, talent, commitment and a genius for organizing and highway driving. In your wake are books, monologues, classes, shows, and inspired audiences and students. If that is what the last years have accomplished, I wonder and marvel what the future holds. It will be awesome, I expect.

View from Maryland's Eastern Shore

The Fall tour started out wth a New York booking at Harrison High School. I had met the French teacher, Susie,  at the French teacher’s conference in Belgium about four years back. We’d attempted to arrange a booking perhaps twice since then, and I’d pretty much given up, but this time it came together. We made the mistake of meeting up for margaritas the night before the performance, which was scheduled for 9 am the following morning, and my performance-readiness was touch-and-go for a while!

From New York, I zipped down to Maryland for yet another performance in my sister’s town hall, Claiborne, Maryland, and this time the place was packed for the second-ever performance of “Shakespeare’s Histories.” Again, the Claiborne folks received me very warmly, and their resident Artist, Renny Johnson, did more fun illustrations. One of the attendees, who had just reviewed my “Tartuffe” at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company, responded to “Histories:”

Seeing a true thespian like Mr. Mooney made me realize how often in this society we mistake counterfeits for the genuine. It is only when the genuine is set before you that you realize you have been fooled by the rest. 

It also happens that my sister, Maureen McHugh wrote a rave review in response to this performance, but given her obvious bias in my favor, I’ll resist quoting it. (Though you can read it for yourself at http://claibornemd.org/cc-general-2.php?issue=cc-2013-10.jpg&pdf=Clarion-Oct-2013.pdf)

I raced down to Asheville, North Carolina, for two shows at UNC-Ashville, but as I approached, I could feel my sinuses starting to react to the mold, or perhaps the pollen in the air. I went to bed early, and got up the next morning ready to hunt down some Benadril, but discovered that overnight my passenger-side car window had been smashed in. Someone had stolen the i-pod lying under my dashboard, and the handful of change that was in my cupholder… but had completely overlooked the video camera, the backup laptop, the new projector and several other valuable items. 

Fixing the window was going to cost me almost as much, in money and in bother, as replacing the i-pod! Given the number of screw-ups around Asheville, NC (more yet to come!), a lovely city where I was reassured that auto break-ins virtually NEVER happen, I simply accepted that this was the universe reminding me not to start re-thinking my decision to put an end to the tour. As much as I was enjoying the bookings, and making some good money, there were still plenty of aspects of the driving and living on the road that I would certainly NOT miss.

The New Book… with Shiny New Cover Design

That night I performed “Lot o’ Shakespeare” at the school, and was surprised to discover Kermit Brown, a fellow alum of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, who I hadn’t seen for perhaps thirty years(!) was in attendance! (We got together for lunch the following day, and I was able to show Kermit the latest proof of my new “Shakespeare’s Histories” book, in which, I just happened to have cited HIM, along with several of the other actors that I’d known in Alabama as being significant influences!)

After the show, I loaded out equipment, with the bingo cage, the costume, the books and t-shirts and the broadsword packing into the car, jammed in with all of the other props and costumes for other shows. “Lot o’ Shakespeare,” of course, has a simultaneous ­slide show, that, in this case, was being run off of my laptop. And so, as I out-loaded the show to my car, I brought out my laptop at the same time, setting it by the car along with all of the boxes.

And, while I made sure to pack all of my Shakespeare stuff into the car, I spaced out my computer, sitting by my now-passenger-side-window-less car. And as I pulled out of the parking spot, I felt a little bump, as if the car had passed over a low curb. And as the car continued backwards, I could see the computer bag still there, sitting on the pavement in front of me.

I took the computer back to the hotel, opened the bag, and turned it on… and it still worked.

The screen was cracked, but the computer still worked!

The screen wouldn’t even have cracked, had I not had the power adapter, which left a square indentation on the grey computer shell, packed in with the computer.

The next night, the show was “Moliere than Thou,” and Kermit Brown came back to see this one as well!

I headed on to Columbia, South Carolina, where the high school acting teacher had arranged a big event with the theatre students from at least a half-dozen schools. I love doing shows like this, with students who are already predisposed, and excited about live performances and Shakespeare. (We managed to capture scenes on video.) The teacher later responded, “It was GREAT… Talk about lighting up a room.”

I raced off to Florence, South Carolina for another show that same night at Francis Marion College. This time, my old friend, Jon Tuttle (author of “The Hammerstone”) was bringing me in to do “The Greatest Speech of All Time,” my fifth performance in a week, and the fourth entirely different show, having worked my way through “Shakesepeare’s Histories” in Maryland, “Lot o’ Shakespeare” in Asheville and Columbia, “Moliere than Thou” in Asheville and, now, “Greatest Speech.”

“Greatest Speech” got off to a bit of a shaky start, as my old belt broke about halfway into the first monologue of the night (“Socrates”). I could feel some adjustment to my clothing as I was performing, but didn’t dare look down at my pants through the six-minute speech. Given that Socrates was probably wearing a toga, fiddling with a belt would have been a significant break of character. Afterwards I saw that the point where the leather was clamped into the buckle simply pulled out, and was fairly self-evidently broken. Fortunately, my pants were still more or less at my waist (it’s a baggy suit), and I pulled the belt off and continued.

There was a diverse response to “Greatest Speech,” with perhaps half of the students highly engaged, and another half seeming fairly indifferent. (Of course, I usually only notice or remember the uninvolved students.) A month or so later, though, I heard from someone who had been in that audience…

I enjoyed your presentation-performance and was amazed at the amount of memorization. I have been toying for several year with taking some of the Old Testament prophets and take some of the best/dramatic verses and memorizing them for a live performance... Watching you pushed me to quit thinking about it and just do it. Thanks for the inspiration! (Thomas Wampler)

Dammit, Robin! I told you this was our exit!

I had a couple of extra days to get down to Milledgeville, Georgia for two shows at Georgia College and State University, where I had previously performed back in 2004 and 2006. Although I got there a couple of days early, I realized on Sunday that I had left the costume shirt for “Moliere than Thou” back in the hotel in Asheville five days prior! There was no time to ship it to Milledgeville in time for the show, so I spent that Sunday driving up to Asheville and back.

Somehow, I didn’t mind the driving so much. I knew that my “Moliere Shirt” had taken good care of me over the years, and racing back for it was simply part of the cost of doing business. (I was reminded of the passage from “The Hobbit” in which the archer vows to retrieve his favorite arrow from the heart of the dragon.)

Back in Milledgeville, I did three workshops and two performances of “Moliere than Thou.” The students had prepared a fun staged reading of my version of “Scapin” as a prelude to my performances. And three of the faculty e-mailed me with high praises after the show. I was feeling appreciated. 

We had a brief mixup about a videographer who had showed up at the theatre to record the show… a fact I didn't find out about until right before the performance got underway. I had to restrict their recording to ten minutes, given that they were going to have control of the material without my involvement, and there seemed to be a bit of a tiff between my host and the video guy, who ended up leaving in the middle of the show. They DID, however, send me a copy of their recording, which was EXTREMELY good. Between the clarity of the video, and the sometimes-squealing, giddy laughter of the crowd, it ranks among some of the best material I've captured (below).

I then retraced much of the driving that I had just done (about three times now!), to head back to northern Virginia for a show at the Blue Ridge School. They had hosted me about four years ago to perform “Criteria,” and this time were bringing me back to do “Lot o’ Shakespeare”. I had forgotten that they were an all-boy school and, fortunately, two of the female teachers were sitting in the front row, which was great for when I had speeches like “Are you meditating on virginity…?”

Just what I've been looking for...

South yet again! This time I was on to Fort Worth, Texas, making the trip in a single day, which gave me some extra time to relax in advance of my second visit to Texas Wesleyan (who hosted “Lot o’ Shakespeare” last year), hosting “Greatest Speech” this time around. They, too, were warmly receptive, and offered to keep their eyes open for any Texas jobs that might be right for me.  

I pushed on to Alberquerque, where I had ordered a replacement screen for my computer to meet up with me. I found a value-priced hotel in Alberquerque through Priceline, so I lingered there for four days, working my way through most of (the astonishing) “Breaking Bad” on Netflix. Given that the series is set in Alberquerque, I felt like I was in the perfect place to catch up on it.

It was about this time that I learned that the old homestead had finally been knocked down! We lived there for about 48 years, and now somebody was beginning work on putting up a McMansion on that lot!

Kathleen McGeever at Northern Arizona University was hosting me for a third show, this time at a third school! (I think that’s a record!) She had booked me on the first year of the tour to do “Moliere” at University of Montevallo in Alabama, and then again two years later when she was chair at Georgia College & State University, where she hosted me to do “Criteria”. It took her nine years to book me at her new school, but she was able to justify hosting “Greatest Speech of All Time,” given that it had “cross-curricular appeal.” As I approached, I saw that the school had tweeted out that 

The king of the 1-man show, ‪@Molierelover, delivers "Greatest Speech of All Time" to NAU. bit.ly/1ibXfln. pic.twitter.com/qLAUXr7dV6

A promotion! I am now “The King of the 1-Man Show.”

The night before the performance, they had me addressing the theatre students on “Writing, Producing and Touring the One-Person Show.” Since I was speaking at night, there was no class schedule in conflict with it, and I started speaking at 7:00, and got onto a roll, not finishing until about 10:00 that night. The next day I had a workshop on “The Life of Moliere,” and that night I performed for a surprisingly full crowd.

Northern Arizona University Faculty

The biggest challenge of performing in Flagstaff was their elevation of 7,000 feet, with the thin air starting to grate on my throat. It got worse when the microphone set up for the two final monologues, FDR and Martin Luther King (both of the electronic amplification era), turned out to not be working. Which meant putting out even more sound, all the way through to the end of the play. After the show I went out with a couple of the teachers who touted the healing properties of whiskey on the throat.

I decided it was time to tally up the results of the last three performances of “Greatest Speech,” from South Carolina, Texas and Arizona. The results were as follows:

Winston Churchill: 2 votes
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 6 Votes
Abraham Lincoln: 11 Votes
Frederick Douglass: 16 Votes
Socrates: 20 Votes
Mark Antony: 24 Votes
Teddy Roosevelt: 34 Votes
Martin Luther King: 70 Votes! 

Various comments submitted on the backside of the ballots included: "awesome," "phenomenal," "amazing," "I got chills," "a great experience" and "more thought provoking than watching it on YouTube."

From Flagstaff, I continued on to Idylwild, where Betty Anderson was hosting me for yet another performance in her living room, this one being “Shakespeare’s Histories.” This time around, I managed to get the timing of the show down to 65 minutes… Only five minutes left to trim to make it to the magic 60-minute mark, which is the cut-off time for most Fringe festivals. The audience was great, kicking in to the till for “gas money,” and one viewer later wrote to Betty:

I enjoyed Tim’s performance very much.  Yes, he is amazing and talented and has a huge knowledge indeed of Shakespeare;  most impressive!  I appreciated that although he  spoke quickly, each word was clearly understood.  Quite rare these days. 

Another friend of Betty's, Marshall James Smith II, called the show…"Brillant, funny and inspiring."

I cut back north to Las Vegas, performing “Lot o’ Shakespeare” at the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts, where I’d performed Moliere, some eight years prior. That first time, it was the language arts people who had brought me in to perform, with almost no coordination with the theatre department… which was actually an irritation to the technical coordinator at the time, who wasn't ready to accommodate my rehearsal needs. But, the show, itself, sold them on my work, and this time, it was they who were bringing me back, and their tech coordinator, Rebekah, took terrific care of me for my two days in town.

I had a little time to kill, and rather than head straight north to my next event in Spokane, I decided to swing out to visit Kirsten in Santa Clarita, CA. She and I have been planning a website, which is being built by my web guy, Bruce in Portland. Kirsten is working on a performance of an almost-one-woman show (“Firecracker”), about life as a deaf woman in a hearing world, and being caught between those two worlds. The show, and the website, will be opening very soon!

Crossing Northern California...

I continued north, stopping in Redding, California for the night, where a “GoogleAlert” that I’d set to alert me of any appearance of the title “The Misanthrope” on the internet, popped up to cue me to a review of a performance of my adaptation of Moliere’s “Misanthrope” that was happening in Boise, Idaho that weekend. The review noted that the final performance was the following night.

 The trip from Redding to Boise was about 10 hours long, but the opportunity to surprise the director and actors was more important than the bother that the extra driving might present. (It was, of course, ironic that I had taken the long way through California, when I was going to swing all the way back to Boise, which had been almost directly north of my last appearance, in Las Vegas, in the first place.)

I arrived perhaps twenty minutes in advance of the show, buying a ticket at a table out in front of the high school’s auditorium. I asked them if the director was anywhere around, and they were certain she would be in attendance, but hadn’t seen her yet. They asked my name. I told them not to tell anyone else that I was there, and slipped them my business card to pass along, and proceeded in to sit down in the auditorium.

I enjoyed the first half of the show, a modernized version of my script, and when intermission arrived, one of the ushers came up to inform me that the director wanted to meet me. Apparently, the woman at the box office hadn’t recognized my name, but when the director saw my card, she understood immediately, and was “fan-girling” at the back of the auditorium. (Which is, I believe, a gesture in which you point your fingertips toward your cheeks and “fan” yourself… hyperventilation optional.)

We made plans for me to say a few words to the cast afterwards, and I watched the second half of the play. Afterwards, the word went out that the director wanted the casts (they had double-cast the roles with two distinct versions of the play) to come out to the auditorium afterwards. The 40 or so company members took seats in the auditorium, thinking that they were, perhaps, in trouble for some imagined misbehavior.

While I lingered in the wings, just barely in sight, the director explained that they had been treated to one of the greatest honors in the school history, as the adaptor, Timothy Mooney, had shown up to watch the play tonight…

I walked out on stage to what I think it might have felt like to be one of the Beatles in 1964. The cast was thrilled, with some glistening eyes. I took their questions for about forty-five minutes, and we took a group photo of the bunch of us. As we were exchanging hugs and handshakes, some member of the cast had the idea to get me to autograph their program, and pretty soon everyone had to have my autograph on a program, or script or poster. This went on for another half-hour, and after the cast had all gone their way, the director had me come backstage to sign the dressing room wall.

The next day I drove to Spokane. And, as I was driving, the director posted on her Facebook page:

This really happened: last night I was so surprised and honored to find out that the gentleman who wrote the adaptation of the play we were performing CAME TO OUR SHOW!! Tim Mooney drove hours out of his way to see our production of the script he wrote. He knew about the performance because of a review he read on Broadwayworld.com by Teresa Linson Rodrick. I didn't tell the kids he was in the audience. I only told them that they had a surprise after the show. We announced him, the kids went CRAZY (I cried... A bunch) and he stuck around for an hour and a half for a talk back, impromptu performances, and signed everything that we put in front of him (including the wall in the makeup room, next to Brianna Mae White). Rocky Drama is so honored to have him visit. I am beside myself, proud of my kids, honored to have this man's time and attention and happy to share it with all of you.

Not long after, I received this note from Laurel Rengo Lewis…

As a parent of one of the leads in the modern play, that drive you did to see the play made many many students LIVES!!! Such an awesome experience that will surely throw many of them into this career or continued experiences that only Drama can bring. What you did for the students/teachers and parents of the Drama department of Rocky Mountain high school will forever be remembered. I hope they also made a mark in your heart.

The casts of "The Misanthrope" at Rocky Mountain High School

Gonzaga University was bringing me in for a return visit (Eight of my visits this fall were return visits… nine, if you count Northern Arizona!), and this time, I would be performing both “Lot o’ Shakespeare” and “Moliere,” and giving two workshops as well. Long after booking the performance, and just a couple of weeks before the show, I learned that Gonzaga was also looking for an Acting/Directing teacher for the coming year, and the possibility of showcasing my work in advance of applying for a job was appealing.

I was getting into a rhythm of applying for about two jobs per week, and a couple of my references were gracious enough to share their generous recommendations of my work. To date, I have put out perhaps nineteen applications with three “passes” (we don’t call them “rejections”) coming back so far. Alas, I will not be Artistic Director of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. 

This visit featured the some of my higher highs and, also, some of the lower lows of my tour thus far. The morning of my first workshop, I arrived early, sitting off to the side to review my notes on Moliere’s life before working my way into my big “Life of Moliere” presentation. The department chair, a lovely woman who was incredibly supportive through the visit, came over to say hello and check in on plans before the workshop got started. As the time to start came up, I got back up, and just as I was heading for center stage, she noted sotto voce, “By the way… check your zipper.”

Yipes.

The workshop itself went great; the performance of “Lot o’ Shakespeare” that evening went great. Joe Jacoby from North Idaho College brought several students out to see the show, and he and I met up for a drink afterwards to celebrate my Birthday.

The next morning, I was back at it, with a presentation of “Acting in the Classical Theatre” for the theatre students. This, too, went well, and the Theatre Chair gave me a tour of the campus afterwards. (We also discussed the faculty opening that they had coming up.) We stopped out for lunch and, though we were having a great conversation, I made the mistake (that I sometimes make) of trying to talk and eat at the same time. I suffer from what seems to be an occasional acid-reflux reaction, which sometimes keeps me from swallowing completely, leading my stomach, sensing the obstruction, to send acid to attack the obstruction. Once it has started this process, it often will not stop until my stomach is completely empty.

This was one of those instances.

I headed back to the hotel, where I lay in bed, occasionally running to the bathroom to evacuate my stomach. The process had to conclude at some point, but every time my stomach seemed to have settled, there was further irritation. There was a tech rehearsal scheduled for 4 pm, during which I had to continuously break away for the bathroom. We made contingency plans for announcements, and pauses in the action which might enable me to leave the stage, and, around 5:30, I finally managed to relax in a darkened dressing room, which seemed to recover my sea-legs before the 6:00 show-time.

The department chair made a cautious introductory announcement requesting the audience’s indulgence, should the performer need to exit the stage at any time, and I started the show. While my voice, to me, sounded as ragged as Tom Waits, I was relieved that my heightened energy did not seem to have renewed my stomach upset. By the time I got through the first in-character monologue, I was fairly certain that the show would continue without a hitch… and found my voice losing its gravel as I proceeded.

The North Idaho College Acting Class

By the end, no one in the audience had realized the condition I was in, and assumed that the opening announcement had been a part of the prevailing joke of the performance, given that the central joke driving the action is Moliere’s cast having gotten food poisoning.

I returned to the hotel, having dodged another bullet, and the next day I dropped in on the Theatre Chair’s History class, in which they were discussing Moliere and Shakespeare. Afterwards, I continued to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where, the following day, I dropped in on one of Joe Jacoby’s acting classes, putting together an impromptu lecture-workshop.

Joe Proctor and I

Mary Linn (Snyder-Swanson) Crouse

I pushed, slowly, west, dropping in on Joe Proctor in Missoula, Montana and swinging through Helena, MT for the first time, to say hello to Mary Linn Crouse (Formerly Mary Linn Snyder-Swanson), a fellow SIU alum, who I hadn’t seen in some 30 years. (We had appeared together in “Diana, the Spartan Comedy.”)

Next stop: Jamestown, North Dakota, with a performance of “Moliere than Thou” at the University of Jamestown. It seemed to be a Convocations Committee that was bringing me in for this show, and my e-mail contact was not actually present when the show came about, which always throws me a bit off. The host wrote later to explain that “Everyone who was there told me it went great.” And the representative for the convocations committee wrote to send me the evaluation results, tabulated from audience responses filled out following the show.

The tabulation results themselves are always a bit humbling, as, even when there may be 20 respondents who rate my work as a “5” on one of the criteria, there are usually a couple of “1s” at the other end of the scale. The only criteria that was universally positive was the response to “I was able to hear and see the speakers/events.” (Nailed it.)

I worked my way back to Chicago, with a show at Geneva High School.

The French teachers at Geneva had brought me in about seven years ago for a performance, and were, actually, going to bring me in last year, but had to cancel, late in the process, due to some unanticipated conflict. They, did, however, go ahead and pay me for the performance, with the understanding that I would credit them for the performance this year. Which meant that, I would be receiving no check at the end of this particular performance, which can feel like a bit of a letdown.

Titus

The show went very well, and I caught about five days back in Chicago, launching into what I am hoping is my final e-mail booking campaign, with yet another 15,000 e-mails to go out in a very short window of time. (I wanted to catch as many teachers as possible before they headed off for Christmas vacation.)

Hamlet, with a "Sharpie" as dagger

I broke off the booking campaign to head on down to Texas, with a series of eighteen workshops in the three days of the Texas Thespians conference. These workshops were a mixed bag, with some very low attendance, and some crowded with 40 or 50 students. Two of them, which had been scheduled over the lunch and dinner hours, ended up with no students in attendance, and I gasped for a much needed breather.

I don’t really have an “off-switch” in these sessions, and the first day found me doing eight workshops, which left me at the point of borderline fatigue/illness by the end of the day.

The second day was much lighter, and that night I took a walk out to the “grassy knoll,” to absorb some of the energy from that day’s 50^th anniversary remembrance of Kennedy’s assassination.

The third and last day found me back in the thick of performance, hoping that my voice would hold out, and one particular student, who, it seems, had attended four or five of my sessions, left me with a lovely note after my last workshop.

I truly enjoyed all of your classes (if you couldn’t tell). You had a very fun approach to Shakespeare, and I appreciate your sharing it. You also had a fun, magnetic personality, and your passion was clear. Truly, your passion was a breath of fresh air for me… [and more stuff that I can’t retype without getting overly embarrassed.]

Another student followed up with a very kind e-mail a few days later:

I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming down to Texas for the Thespian Festival! I really enjoyed your workshops and I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to work with me on my Shakespeare monologue. It helped so much! After going to your workshops, I have finally made the brave decision to focus on classical theatre next year in college. Thank you for helping make that decision. You are such an incredible inspiration and I am so blessed to have met and worked with you.

Mask shopping, with Kate Mura

I was reinvigorated with the notion that, however much it might take out of me to do it, I was having a positive impact, and, as seems to be my recurring theme this time around, I will only ever hear anecdotal evidence of what impact I may have, and here, in my last year, it’s starting to come back at me in a rush.

The next day I was off to New Orleans, to catch the final day of the New Orleans Fringe Festival, with a performance by Bremner Duthie, another performance by Facebook friend, Kate Mura, and the closing night party.

Sweet Crude

Bremner and Kate were both very good, and we met up at a bar at the end of the night for the Fringe closing night party. The conversation was lively, and I dreaded to see that there was a band setting up at this crowded, smoky bar. I figured on waiting them out through a single song before pushing on for the night.

But the band came on, not with roaring guitars, but with percussion, horns, and amazing vocals. The foot began to tap, the hips to sway, and I hung around for one more song, and another and another, through the rest of the performance. Standing back by the sound board, I was shocked to see that there was really no one running the board. Whatever they were doing, they were creating that sound live and in person. It was like watching the Talking Heads during their Funkadelics phase, (but before they had become famous).

I got the name of the band (“Sweet Crude”) and watched for their big upcoming release, “Super Vilaine,” a 5-track EP, which I recommend highly. (Available on “Bandcamp” at http://sweetcrudeband.bandcamp.com )

The Poster

After another day of visiting in New Orleans, I pushed on to Orlando, staying at the Pergande’s house while Al flew out to pick up Gale, and bring her back from her annual excursion to Maine.

I resumed the big e-mail campaign while working up “Lot o’ Shakespeare” for three performances at Seminole State University. The folks at Seminole State were enthusiastic. One of the teachers there had caught my show at the Orlando Fringe a few years back, and, bumping into me at a thespian festival, had the idea for booking me for a short run at the tail end of their semester.

The Outdoor Marquee

While the audiences were fun, they were pretty small, with perhaps 40 per night, as well as a lively workshop. Carl F. Gauze came out to see the show, and published his review: “This show may not improve your English lit grades but it’s a pleasant way to fill in the corners in your cultural education.” 

I finished off the e-mail campaign in record time, and the response to this “Final Tour” announcement was so good that I had to eliminate the Dakotas and the New England states from the campaign, knowing that the time available to divert into those areas had almost entirely evaporated. Making a booking work for those states would be almost double the work, and drain valuable energy which would be in short supply in the coming Winter/Spring semester.

Me & Aunt Evelyn

Somewhere in there, the Orlando Fringe Festival hosted their annual lottery for fringe performers, and I am “in” once again! And while I was working on yet another draft of “Shakespeare’s Histories,” I dropped a note to the Literary Manager at Samuel French Publishing, and she agreed to take a look at the book for possible publication and licensing! And, with a moment to actually concentrate, I went over to Healthcare.gov and arranged a really sweet deal on insurance for the coming year, which saves me over $300 per month!

I gave myself a few days “off.” As much territory as I had covered over the past year, I had never made it down to the southernmost point of the U.S. Mainland, and, hiding out from the winter weather that was waiting for me in Chicago, I ducked down to Key West, visiting my Aunt Evelyn (still going strong at 93!) along the way.

The farther south you go,
the smaller the people get...

The drive to Key West was sunny and in the 80s, but moments after my arrival, just as I went to unpack the car, the clouds opened up with pouring rain, the temperature dropped 10-20 degrees, and the island stayed cool and cloudy for the remainder of my visit. (The sun came out and the temperature rose, just as I was leaving!) I got more work done on my book.

I dawdled in Orlando for a few more precious days, starting up an e-mail campaign to find a literary agent (getting a subscription to writersmarket.com), and finally setting off north.

I visited with Sabra and Paul in Chattanooga on my way north, enjoying an impromptu party, before pushing on to Chicago the following day.

So, here I am back in Chicago, enjoying Christmas with Dad, Kevin, Sue, April, and the kids. I’ve got the seventh draft of “Shakespeare’s Histories” in transit from the printer. (#8 should be the last before I’m ready to publish). And, there are some sixteen job applications pending, with another five or six to send out in the coming days. The Winter/Spring tour will start up in the middle of the month, and keep me busy well into May. And, maybe I’ll pick up a few job interviews here and there… I’ve laid out a map of “places applied to so far…!” Are YOU in any of these neighborhoods?

And, finally, I'm looking to set up a Book Release Party for "Shakespeare's Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace," complete with a performance of the one-man show. We're looking for venues here in the Chicago suburbs for Monday January 13! Check back in with me if you'd like to attend!

Miles on the Escape: 178,662

On I-Tunes: Cara Emerald

On “Bandcamp”: “Sweet Crude”

Discoveries: Just ride the wave and be grateful. * It’s impossible to know the impact that you are having on the world. Impressions that you make in passing may be received and transform people well beyond the circle that you encounter. I will only ever hear anecdotal evidence of what impact I may have. * Limit one margarita on nights before early morning performances. * Rather than getting pissed off about all of the crappy stuff that might happen on the road, see it as a gift from the universe of a reminder of all of the things that you will not miss when this is done. * Some stressful crises are simply “the cost of doing business.” * What may be a burdensome extra few hours on the road to me may well mean the world to a young student. * If you do a good job the first time, quite often they will invite you back… and by the time twelve years have gone by, about half of my business is return business! * One area where I consistently excel: “I was able to see/hear the speaker.” *

Next performances: January 16 at Northwestern College, Orange City, IA; Jan 22-23 in Laredo, TX; Jan 27 at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN…