February 1, 2003 (Saturday)

The long-form improv group I taught and continue to coach, Devil's Dancebelt, performs this Sunday, 2/2/2003, at the improv show "Holiday Inn Siberia," the brainchild of Sarah Burns of Dark Champions fame.

The show is free and is in a dive bar known as Siberia. Devil's Dancebelt performs with Boss Tweed, The Royal We, and MuckleChampsdelFuegomentary. Below are the details:

DEVIL's DANCEBELT
to debut a new long form
at HOLDAY INN SIBERIA

Sunday, February 2nd, 2003
8pm

Free!

Siberia (a dive bar)
Next to 356 West 40th Street btw 8/9 Ave.
(Unmarked door with the light over it)
(646) 674-1710

The show is downstairs in the bomb shelter...

Devil's Dancebelt is . . .
Christopher DePaola, Amy Ellenberger, Mike Faber,
Victoria Libertore, Rebecca Lupardo & Jesse Wilson
Coached by: Ben Hauck

 

 

Today I played the role of Paul Dumont on Law & Order: SVU. The episode is entitled "Dominance," and it will air in about six weeks.

I'm in a couple scenes. In my first scene, I'm lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of my mouth in the background, while Ice-T and possibly another detective talk to a neurosurgeon in another room about the blunt trauma to my head. We did a close-up of my condition, which was pretty nasty: dark black eye, dark bruise on my left cheek, and a wrap around my head apparently from brain surgery ... and the tubes in my mouth.

In the other scenes, I'm pictured in handout photos. We took pre-attack photos of me smiling in front of a plant, sitting reading a book, and typing at a computer--looking rather normal. There are also handout photos of me in the hospital bed, beaten up.

Ice-T came up to me and talked to me in the hospital bed. That was so cool! He agreed I looked pretty beat, and said I need to have "chronic" hooked up in the tubes feeding to my mouth. Mariska Hargitay was a little disturbed by my makeup when we passed in the hall.

It was a nice day of work on the SVU studios. I can't wait to see the final product!

 

 
February 4, 2003 (Tuesday)

Today I had my first class in Contemporary Stage Combat at HB Studio. Ian Marshall (who has cast me twice but never was I able to accept the roles) is the instructor. Ian is the substitute teacher for B.H. Barry, the legendary fight choreographer who only teaches at Circle in the Square.

I'd trained in stage combat in college at Otterbein--unarmed, rapier, and quarterstaff. I wanted to reacquaint myself with stage combat technique after filming The Disenfranchised, and since B.H. Barry was not available to me, Ian Marshall was the next best thing.

Today we did a very physical warm-up, and then played a very simple game of tag. The game of tag helped show how two people confront each other, attack each other, arrange each other, and employ different tactics when confronting each other. We also worked on stage slaps and stage punches.

After class, I went over to the open call for the Nicole Kidman film Birth. There I met Kristine Bulakowski of Kristine Bulakowski Casting.

 

 
February 5, 2003 (Wednesday)

This morning I went to an audition for The Theater At Monmouth. All of the appointments were closed, so I left my headshot and résumé.

 

 

This afternoon I had a go-see for a fashion editorial for Esquire. Laura Barnett of Laura Barnett Casting was in attendance.

 

 
February 7, 2003 (Friday)

This morning I auditioned for The Mountain Playhouse. In attendance were Teresa Stoughton Marafino (Producer) and Scott Baron (Director).

 

 
February 9, 2003 (Sunday)

This evening I auditioned for the film Drowning. Writer/Director Scott Graham was in attendance. Also in attendance was Maitely Weissman of StageRight Productions, for whom I auditioned for the play The Metamorphosis--she was simply serving as monitor for this audition.

 

 
February 10, 2003 (Monday)

This morning I auditioned for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. In attendance was Director and Casting Assistant, Kurt Rhoads.

 

 
February 11, 2003 (Tuesday)

Today in my stage combat class with Ian Marshall, we worked again on the simple game of Tag and then choreographed games of Tag. We were to make them as realistic as possible.

We also focused on staging hits in a way that it's realistic to every audience member. The principle behind staging an effective hit for all of the audience is simple:

Imagine a diagonal line coming from the outermost seats in the front row, and crossing through the chin of the person you are striking. These imaginary lines continue on their path past the person's chin. When you go to strike the person (you are not really striking the person), your hand must cross through the path of both imaginary diagonals that are upstage of the person you're striking.

We also worked more on slaps and hits, especially ones that were done at profile to the audience. To make them effective, your hand must travel vertically, beside the person you're hitting's shoulder.

This class is fun!

 

 

Slavercise, the video I participated in the filming of, gets a plug on page 29 in this month's (March 2003) issue of Men's Journal. Look out in the index for the teaser: "The dominatrix workout that can whip anyone into shape."

 

 
February 12, 2003 (Wednesday)

This morning I auditioned for Manhattan Theatre Club's world-premiere production of Marsha Norman's play, Last Dance. In attendance was Casting Assistant Jessica Morgan.

 

 

I think I'm in tonight's episode of Ed on NBC. The episode is called "Blips," and in a bar scene, some plates of hamburgers are slid into the shot. The camera then pulls out, at which point you'll probably see me talking with a redheaded actress down the bar, the both of us drinking a beer. I'm sitting three places down from Ed, and I'm generally facing his direction when some guy comes and hits on the girl Ed talks to.

On the same day we shot that scene, we shot another scene for another episode that may have already aired. When Julie Bowen talks to another actress whose name I don't know about coffee that has "elephant tranquilizers" in it, I'm in the background getting up from a bowling alley booth to walk to the counter to get some sugar. When I sit back down, I think I'm talking with a lot of animation.

Ed is on NBC Wednesdays at 8pm EST.

 

 
February 13, 2003 (Thursday)

While indeed I was on Ed last night, I was only on for about a second and I was a little blurry. But indeed, I was in the shot as expected. Thanks to all who watched and saw me!

 

 
February 14, 2003 (Friday)

This morning I had an audition (first one!) for the lead in the Ivan Reitman film, Ugly Americans. In attendance was Adrienne Stern of Adrienne Stern Casting.

 

 
February 18, 2003 (Tuesday)

Today in Contemporary Combat class with Ian Marshall, Ian impressed upon us that never should we agree to do a stage slap that involves contact between the hand and face.

He set his point up brilliantly, too. First, he had us pair off. Then, he had each of us feel our own cheeks at an angle, finding the fleshy part of the cheek that isn't bone. We patted at it gently. He then told us places that you should not hit when doing a stage slap, because of the problems that could happen. "Don't hit the lip, because you could make it bleed." "Don't hit underneath the ear, because if you strike the bunch of nerves there, you could be knocked unconscious." "Don't hit the jaw, because you could dislocate it." Essentially, he was saying you need to strike only that fleshy part of the cheek. To further scare us about the dangers involved in stage slapping, he talked about the rare, hereditary condition of "glass jaw"--some people have a jaw so delicate that it could shatter upon impact. I got the willies thinking of all the possibilities of what could go wrong in being slapped. (And I didn't quite trust my partner...)

The next thing he had us do was put our hands on our partners' faces, feeling the place where you hand must go to make the slap. The space was very small, plus it had to be at just the right angle.

Ian followed up by asking what percentage of the time did we think we could hit that place.

People in class had different guesses. I said 75%. Some people said 80%. Some said 1% or 0%. One person said 90%.

Ian took the 90% example. He translated that to mean that in 10 performances, in one of those performances the stage slap will go wrong. That did not mean that in the 9th performance something could go wrong; it could happen in the 2nd performance, or the 1st performance. And something that could go wrong could be any number of tragedies that lead to unconsciousness, permanent hearing damage, joint dislocation, TMJ, broken bones, and/or something gravely worse.

So, never ever ever, he said, should we agree to do a stage slap that involves contact. He advised us to leave the job if that was a requirement, because it's not the job you're dealing with, it's your future.

Today, we also worked on rolls as well as stage slaps (non-contact) for theaters in the round.

A roll is accomplished (if you're righthanded) with the left hand acting as a shock absorber, and the right arm curved as the "track" along which you roll (and to guard your head). You step out with your right left, then move to your left hand and right track arm, rolling over. You should land in a kneeling pose, your left knee on the ground perpendicular to your right knee, which is bent as if you're sitting in a chair. You don't need a lot of momentum.

The stage slap for round theaters was really cool. It is awkward-feeling to do, but its effect is impressive as it looks like a slap from all angles. It is performed by putting your straightened arm over your partner's shoulder, the palm just past the ear. You move your arm into that position in half time (as if you're pulling a rubberband), and in full time, you sharply move your hand straight to your opposite shoulder with your partner knapping. You need to start your palm far enough past your partner's ear so that no one around you can see any space between your hand and your partner's face when you move your hand quickly to your opposite shoulder.

That was class this week. It's really fun.

 

 

This evening I auditioned for the Six Figures production of S.L. Daniels' play, Rain, River, Ice, Steam. In attendance were Director & Artistic Director Kim Kefgen, Literary Manager Loren Noveck, Reader Becca Blackwell, and Cris Buchner.

I was awarded a callback for later this week.

 

 
February 19, 2003 (Wednesday)

This morning, I had an audition for Peterborough Players, a theater in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In attendance was Artistic Director, Gus Kaikkonen.

This afternoon, I had an audition for a Food Network promo for their new chef-dating show, Date Plate. It was at Liz Lewis Casting Partners, and the audition was run by Casting Director Elizabeth Bunnell.

 

 
February 20, 2003 (Thursday)

This morning I had an audition for TheDrillingCompany. In attendance were Artistic Director Hamilton ("Joe") Clancy and Associate Producer Karen Kitz.

 

 

This evening I had an audition at NYU-Tisch for the film Sunday Lovers. In attendance were the project's director, Duncan, and the producer, Robin.

 

 
February 21, 2003 (Friday)

This morning I had an audition for five different LORT (League of Resident Theatres) theater companies in the Philadelpia area.

(My audition rocked!)

In attendance were Artistic Assistant & Casting Director Heather Dibble of the Arden Theatre Company, Director of Production Peter Wrenn-Meleck of the People's Light & Theatre Company, Company Manager & Casting Director Lois Kitz of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Casting Director & Co-Manager Meghann Williams of Prince Music Theater, and Casting Director & Company Manager Rachel Rosen and Artistic Fellow Kim Tierney of The Wilma Theater.

 

 

Tonight I had a callback for the Six Figures Theatre Company production of S.L. Daniels' Rain, River, Ice, Steam. I was called back for the role of Billy. In attendance were Director & Artistic Director Kim Kefgen, Literary Manager Loren Noveck, and Cris Buchner.

 

 
February 22, 2003 (Saturday)

This afternoon I played the role of Axel in a scene from the film Georgia, for an awesome directing class taught by acclaimed film director and teacher Adrienne Weiss.

On Wednesday night and early this morning, Carol Jacobs, a film director and an Executive Producer at Much Music USA, directed another actress named Janine and me for the class, and Adrienne worked the scene even more after we presented it. Adrienne pointed out to the group the importance of having a single, clear objective rather than many, complex objectives for revealing the complexity of the scene and clarifying the story of the scene for both the actors and the audience.

Later, I had an audition at NYU for the student short Chain Link Fence. In attendance was the director and writer, Jamison Grella.

 

 

The dominatrix workout video I worked in, Slavercise, was featured recently on the WB11 News.

Click here to watch the really funny story.

 

 
February 24, 2003 (Monday)

This afternoon I auditioned for the Henlopen Theatre Project. In attendance was Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith.

 

 
February 25, 2003 (Tuesday)

Today I had Ian Marshall's Contemporary Stage Combat class. We worked on stage hits that actually involve contact, but remarkably don't hurt! The two hits we worked on were punches to the stomach and hits to the shoulderblade.

The two hits done at speed look remarkably realistic, but both incorporate a split-second "flattening" of the striking hand to knap the blow and keep the blow fake.

A punch to the stomach is made by hitting below the bellybutton (a little lower than that on a female) with the back of your fingers. You approach quickly with your fist, and your hand at the moment of contact unfolds like a switchblade so the back of your fingers "slap" the person's stomach and give broad surface to the point of contact. In a split-second, you draw back into a fist and pull out of the punch. The contact with the stomach may sting a little, but surprisingly, there is little or no pain. (Make sure if you're taking a punch that you react after you've been struck, not before or during!)

A punch to the shoulder is made by flattening your fist and striking the shoulderblade area when someone is bent over. That area can take a decent impact I found--I was nervous about hitting the person too hard. The person receiving this punch starts doubled over, and the punch is spotted by placing your hand where you wish to strike. Then, you raise your hand (or hands, if you cup a hand around a fist) and strike, flattening your hand and knapping off the shoulderblade. (Be careful not to hit the spine.) Just as with the punch to the stomach, retract, jumping instantaneously back to a fist.

Again, a fun class. I'm trying to scout our whom I'd want in class for my scene--we present a scene incorporating combat at the end of the term.

 

 

This afternoon I auditioned for the role of Dicky in the Untitled Rich Wilkes Vegas Project (which rumor has it is called Vegas Dick). It was a TV pilot cast at CBS for UPN. In attendance was Steven Jacobs of Steven Jacobs Casting at CBS.

Then, I went to an audition for a ton of LORT theaters. In attendance were Casting Associate Jandiz Estrada and Casting Assistant Jason Block, both of Elissa Myers Casting. The theaters represented by Elissa Myers Casting in this audition were Arizona Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Geva Theatre, McCarther Theater Center, and Studio Arena.

 

 
February 26, 2003 (Wednesday)

This morning I had an audition (first one!) for Cape Playhouse. In attendance were Producing Artistic Director Evans Haile and Company Manager Brian Girard.

Later, I went on a go-see for what I believe is a print ad for Iron Chef, a show on The Food Network. The audition was at a place called Beauty & Photo, and Libby took my picture. They are casting someone who will shave half his head, and someone who doesn't need to. I'm going for the one who doesn't need to!