This past weekend I had the pleasure of performing in Experiment America 2012 at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) in Boston.  My director was Mikhael Tara Garver and the event was part of the Emerging America Festival.  

During this process I also had the opportunity to work closely with Will Pickens, the sound designer and voice director, who directed and recorded me in an A Brief Guide, an "audio tour" written by Jason Gray Platt, as well as with Jeff Stark, who guided me through the suitcase installations (more on those later on).

Experiment America was a large immersive theatre experience  utilizing the entire museum.  It was a big project.  Really big.  The sort of thing that falls under Richard Schechner's concept of Performance of Magnitude; that is, a performance that is too large for any one spectator to experience the entirety of.  Keeping that in mind, I cannot hope to describe the event as a whole.  My own small part, however, was interesting and fun enough to give me plenty to write about.

It is a dark, dark world that we whistle in...

Not very long ago I shot an abuse-prevention training video/PSA at Triangle Inc with Ablevision as part of their new IMPACT: Ability program.  

The last time I acted on camera was a little over a year ago for Malarkey Films, which in turn was the first time I'd done that in several years.  That shoot involved a stuffed monkey puppet and a gas mask.  This project however, had a significantly more serious tone.

It was great to be a performer again, as very few other arts have the same degree of immediate gratification.  I had almost forgotten how fun it is.

This however, was not a typical shoot...

Last month I had the pleasure of having a public staged reading of my new full-length play, Burning Up the Dictionary, performed with Vagabond Theatre Group.  This took place at Trident Booksellers & Cafe as part of their "There Will Be Words" reading series.  

Before I say much more I do have to point out that I was very amused to have a play that's largely about language appear in a series called "There Will Be Words." 

Readings are a step in the development of a new play.  I once discussed this process with a computer programmer friend and we realized that we had something significant in common: neither playwrights nor programers really know what they've done until they get to see it running.  The staged reading is a sort of a test run of a play wherein the writer can figure out what changes they intend to make as the work evolves.

This was the first time I've heard the play in its entirety in front of an audience.  I did have the privilege of a table reading of an earlier full draft at the Lark Play Development Center this past November (which I blogged about here) and I got to hear a chunk of it at a Small Theatre Alliance reading back in September (which I also blogged about) after earlier development through Playwrights' Commons' Summer Playground.  All three were really useful experiences, and the script has come a long way because of them, but this last piece was a larger step as it was an opportunity for me to evaluate the current (more advanced) draft under more public conditions and figure out what to do with it next.

This past Monday I took part in a  Small Theatre Alliance of Boston Open Mic Night at the Charlestown Working Theater.   I brought in a section of a new full length play I'm working on called Burning Up the Dictionary, which I'm billing as "a story of language, love, lust and loss."  I'll be having a round table of the entire thing at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City next month, so this was a great opportunity to test-drive a section of it in front of an audience and see how things play in front of an audience as I work on it in preparation for the Lark.  I've been developing it through the Playwrights' Commons/Company One Playwrights' Playground this past summer (which was quite a blessing), but this was the first time I'd heard it in front of an audience as opposed to workshop participants.