Dissertation? I have no idea what you're talking about...

I've come to terms with the fact that I've basically taken July off. I have gone to a concert, thrown a dinner party, seen two plays, been to talks about the futures of documentary and animation, gone to the movies (A LOT), done a lot of jogging, gone to a talk about The Wire that featured David Simon and George Pelecanos, have started a rehearsal & generative process for a festival of work that will go up at the end of September, auditioned, and started reading a really good novel. What I have not done is an extensive amount of any work on my dissertation. I did manage to contact my interview subject over the Facebook (Yes: the Facebook) and have sent him off a list of questions. This man is actually important, and very busy, and I will not be in the same country as him for a time, so e-mail interview it is. Now I'm just awaiting his response. I have also gone to the V&A's Theatre Archives, located at Hammersmith in the magnificent Blythe House to watch recordings of Improbable shows, which I thought would help in my dissertation, but upon viewing I've found that they probably won't. The two performances I watched were great, but had little to do with what I'm actually writing my dissertation on. Still, any excuse and opportunity to see Improbable's work is a good one, and I enjoyed that morning.

However, aside from sending off the interview questions, and the occassional skimming of some critical or theoretical text, I have really done nothing. I acknowledge this and accept it (there's really nothing I can do about it now), and plan to change. Yes, I will alter this downward spiral I'm riding and turn around and go upupup to academic and theatrical glory. And this journey will start soon, almost immediately. In three days. But August 1st, that's the day, the flood waters will hit and everything will start to fall into place. This is the plan.

It's unfortunate that hardly anything I ever plan on ends up happening. Alas.

That being said, I plan to get my head in gear about my work shortly. I also plan to blog a bit more. I'm really going to try--truly, I am. I know I always say it, but this time I mean it. I've changed. Can't we give it one more chance? Please?

A Story About a Pencil: REDUX

As promised:

It is essentially the exact same film as before, but cut a little differently. I literally had to go back and piece it together from scratch ("Oh iMovie, why do you hate me so much?"), but I used the previous film as a guide. As I post this, around 1AM in London, I am also GChatting with Marley Magaziner (yes: that is her real name), who is sitting in a black box in New York, co-hosting the Tank's Silent Night event, and has looped my film to play 15 times in a row as people are getting in and settling themselves down for an evening of silent entertainment. I am sitting in my bed, snuggled up in my pajamas under my duvet. The modern age astonishes me.

To those in the States--Goodnight.

To those in the UK--Good morning.

The Pencil Film LIVES!!! (But silently still...)

My little pencil film will have a transatlantic showing this Friday as part of The Tank's Silent Night fundraiser. Basically the venue (home of SLAM!, a weekly competitive playwrighting competition I used to frequent) has been getting complaints from the neighbors about the noise. Yes, those theatrical types can be awfully rowdy. So organizers Stefania and Marley have arranged to hold a fundraiser of completely silent performances. Since the film still exists without a soundtrack (I can't get ahold of an organ--or an organist), I offered it up for the evening's agenda. I've spent the last couple days re-cutting the thing (I wasn't totally happy with how it came out the first time), and I'll post the new version on Saturday, after the fundraiser. If you're in NYC, head down to 345 W. 45th St. at 8PM on Friday, and remember: keep it down!

Accidental Art--an Experiment in Theatre Making

A nice interview with project leader Nessah Muthy, Ph.D. student Tania Batzoglou, director Anouke Brook, and myself did for the London Theatre Blog about the Accidental Festival piece I did, Accidental Art. Go here.

A Look at the New Homestead

As per requested by my parents, here's a little tour of the flat I'm holed up at the moment. My flatmate Loukia makes a brief appearance as well.

I'll try to write a real entry tomorrow. I promise. To try.