First five days at Übermind went quite well. Had a working prototype going by the end of the week that has our client using words like “ecstatic” and “beautiful”, so I’m clearly off to a good start in the right direction. I’m a bit bemused by how far a little magic from the world of video games goes with these marketing types… not that I think the stuff I’m doing isn’t impressive, but the really impressive stuff I’m doing is all under the hood, in the 3D gaming engine I’ve been developing that makes what I’m doing efficient, scalable and portable to other projects. The stuff at the surface is cool, but in the gaming world could hardly be considered revolutionary.
My coworkers seem like a good a bunch. They obviously care about what they’re doing and they don’t balk at taking the necessary initiatives to get the work done, which is something I appreciate. There are a lot of interesting restaurants in the area I’ve been checking out with them during lunch, which is great… there’s an Indian buffet as well as a Thai place and more than one organic/hippie venue, although the most interesting one I found on my own: a seemingly authentic Jewish deli, which is practically unheard of in Seattle. Before this discovery, the only place I could go for matzah ball soup or a hot pastrami sandwich was the I Love NY deli right next to the Market Theatre (where I do improv with Unexpected), which has great food but I can almost never go to as they are only open until 5:30 or so, and I’m rarely at the theatre before 7. So, score.
Fiddler rehearsals have begun, although I’ve only been able to attend the meet-and-greet and one vocal rehearsal so far. It’s awkward for me, as I’m one of only two members of the cast who aren’t veterans of the rather tightly-knit group. Not that they haven’t been welcoming or anything (quite the contrary)… I’m just a bit weirded out by it. They also just did Fiddler about four years ago, which is awfully recent for a company to be restaging a show, so I think they share a common vision for it that I’m not necessarily a party to. The director already said he’d get me a DVD of it so I could pretty much learn my blocking from it… which is fine if it’s what he wants; I just hope this production has legs of its own and isn’t too trapped in the shadow of one that’s already been and gone.
Improvise Your Own Adventure also opens this week, so we have some madcap rehearsal going on for that. That one scares me a bit as we’ve been focusing mainly on fundamentals so far and haven’t had a chance to run the entire format yet. I’m able to have a lot more confidence in this group, though, having worked with most of them for over a year and knowing first-hand what they’re capable of, so I know it’s going to be good even if we wind up having to wrestle with the format for the first couple of performances.
I performed in Theatresports for the first time in a few weeks last night, and my team won by a narrow margin, which means we get to come back as returning champs next week. (We might have come up with a less abstract and arbitrary team name than Fraulein Teacup if we knew we’d be returning.) The team was randomly thrown together and consisted of myself, a woman named Rebecca who I love to play with for her commitment, spontaneity and joie de vivre, and a guy named Brandon who is one of the sharpest and most clever improvisers I know but rarely ever perform with as he does a lot outside the ensemble. We had a really fun audience which made things easy… I don’t know that any of our scenes achieved anything resembling greatness but they were respectable on the whole and we were suitably entertaining. I got an ovation from the audience when we played “Kick It” and I broke out rapping in the scene for four or five consecutive rhymes… it was just a shame that was the beginning of the scene; it would’ve been great to end it there. The other team was in extremely good form as well and I think it was a strong show overall, which is always nice.
I’m trying to relax as possible this morning, as between Fiddler and Improvise Your Own Adventure I’ve got about 6 or 7 hours of rehearsal this afternoon and evening. Maybe I’ll see if I can make it into that I Love NY deli before it closes and make it worth my while…
Dan.
Wish I could be there. . . . .I’m in Hamilton right now for a couple of days before blasting off to HFX to work for two weeks. Missing ya dude!
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