Danny and the Deep Blue Sea Blog

michelle already said it, but here it is from me.

it's been special. several of you i've worked with before, several i haven't. there was certainly new roles, new explorations, new struggles, new audience. as kyle said in our talk back on sunday - the humor of the piece was a natural extension of the humor in the process. it's been great playing with you all. i'd play with you again in a second.

i also want to reinforce michelle's comment on audience participation. we had great audiences for this show, and i'm not sure you know how much you gave to it. it's the give and take of energy, sometimes silent or sometimes through laughter, that finally gives a show life, and a different life each night. the way you breath changes the art we do changes the way you breath, and that's the way it should be.

keep breathing with us.

and good luck in new york, kyle. we're going to miss you.

It's always a little hard. You pour all this time and energy into creating something and then it's gone. But that's also the beauty of live theatre. You have to be there, in the moment, to experience it. If you miss it, you miss it. It is something ephemeral, and that gives it a certain kind of value. If you're there for it, you're one of the lucky few.

I feel honored to have worked on this script, with these collaborators, for this audience. Our audience is an amazing (and growing) group of people who probably don't even realize their hugely important role in our work. Every performance was slightly different, based on the people in the room with us that night. It made each performance a mystery, an adventure, a dialogue. If any of you (audience) come back to this blog now that we're closed: please accept my thanks for participating with us in the conversation that was Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.

And if anyone is interested in some ongoing dialogue between the two artistic directors of New World (Eric Meyer and myself) from a more philosophical viewpoint, check out our thoughts here (original post) and here (ongoing conversation). And feel free to jump in and join our discussion - we'd love to hear from you!

"Actors, dance acts give depth to 'Deep Blue Sea'" - by Andrew Hughes

You can also respond to Hughes and leave your own reviews on the South Bend Tribune Forum.

Thanks to Andrew Hughes and the South Bend Tribune for taking the time to come watch and respond to our show.

Overall a positive review of our performance, I think, though our performance is barely mentioned. Kyle and Michelle are lauded for having fine talents (can't agree more), and all of us for "making an entertaining show out of a weak script". He loses me when he says we saved it by adding a humorus delivery and choreography - as though those elements were unfounded in the script itself. The humor seems blatant to me in the text, and the idea of dance comes directly from the subtitle of the play itself. I refuse to take too much credit away from John Patrick Shanley on either count, though I am glad to hear that it worked for Hughes.

I have heard several people reference other performances of 'Danny' that felt more charicatured and less humorous, but I consider that a comment on those performances, not the script itself. You can do two-dimensional Shakespeare as easily as two-dimensional Shanley - And I've seen my share of both.

Besides a few other minor compliments and complaints, Andrew Hughes seems more interested in wishing we had reproduced a 1969 film about a dance marathon (based on a novel by Horace McCoy) than reviewing what we did do - which is a play called 'Danny and The Deep Blue Sea' by pulitzer winning playwright John Patrick Shanley.

His comment on cast sizes, as though larger casts are obviously better, strikes me as especially disconected from what we do here at New World or why we do it. There is an implication that play quality is determined by size and scope - really a goal more readily accomplished by film or novels than the stage, but not one I would consider fundamental to quality in any medium. That's a genre choice. Star Wars might have been better as a docudrama, if you like docudramas more than sci-fi movies, but that's not really a valid critique of the film as it is. Those are the types of theatrical assumptions that I personally, and as an Artistic Director of this organization, not only shy away from but try to challenge up-front with much of my/our work.

This is not to say Hughes' experience of our show is any less valid - certainly not. And I think his few compliments and critiques of the production itself are fair. What I'm wanting to point out is the different assumptions that we make in our work at NWA. I would love to have more freedom and opportunities to talk with reviewers and the press in general about our vision and goals, and hope that can happen in the future.

On a side note: I'd love to hear the actors respond to whether or not they "should have chosen to endure a little pain to preserve the atmosphere of the play". We must have done something wrong if those slaps aren't reading right - but I can guarantee the actors are feeling it afterwards. They hit each other (and not as soft as you might think) every time. And Kyle, I promise you, is going to town with that spanking.

South Bend Tribune: Barroom Waltz coupled with romance

Goshen College Record: New World Arts opens with revamped reprise

These links might be temporary, but they should work for at least the next week...

it's a beautiful design, ben. you should be proud.

it's funny to hear how random it felt to you - just a mention of white from Cassie - and some lucky aquisitions. to me you were jumping perfectly into the middle of a moving production.

the wedding theme was in our design conversations from the very beginning (long before you came on board) - with emily and jessica and i settling on the lite color pallete very early on. but your design goes way beyond random incorporation of a color - with the shape of your cloth closely mimicing a wedding veil, and the dress brilliantly disected as dressing for the set.

proving once again that what we do (art) is driven by instinct, even when it's based in a lot of preperation. you go with what works. i'm super happy with the way all the designs have come together -set, costumes, lights, and even sound (which we did as a cast).

give us an audience! we're so ready!

[thinking back farther on this - the original idea of cascading white cloth came from Michelle before we even had a design team. from there the two of us were planning to design the set ourselves, til we realized that was crazy. we talked with Cassie some about our ideas, and finaly had you (Ben) come on to complete and realize the design. this is not to minimize your efforts and ideas - you took our concept to a place i hadn't imagined and it's beautiful - but to point out the nature of a collaborative process, where ideas get passed on in ways that aren't always obvious. there's a lot that goes on even behind the behind-the-scenes.]

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My embarassment at my utter lack of a tangible design concept combined with my paralyzing fear that everything I was dreaming of would fail has kept me from posting to the blog until now, once the set is finished. I wanted to make sure that my design concept worked--a concept which I was unable to draw and could only really realize by squinting through my mind's eye.

I got the basic idea for the set at the first production meeting I attended (which wasn't the first production meeting, ask eric about that one). Actually, Cassie gave me the idea. She mentioned that she had been thinking about how it would be neat to have large pieces of white cloth cascading around the space, kind of like a wedding veil. I told Cassie that that would be swell, plus I really wanted to do stuff with white. I think white is great, I told her, and it would be a nice contrast to some of the other color palettes we've seen in New World shows. Someone else mentioned that I might be able to get big pieces of white cloth from the Goshen College Umble Center. White cloth: a design concept is born.

With a list of props from Sam, I laid out a to-do list: 1) paint tables and chairs white 2) buy some other white stuff and maybe all those small props 3) hang giant strips of cloth from the Umble center 4) hope it all works (When I told them that I wasn't sure my design concept was going to "work," Danny and Cassie both looked at me and asked in unison "what's 'work?'" For me, it works when I can see it and mess with it).

1) no problem. paint paint paint.
2) This was a little more interesting since I didn't really know what I wanted. While at Salvation Army, I decided that I should buy a wedding dress. I almost bought two, until the cashier reminded me that wedding dresses cost $99. She said that since it was 50% percent off day it was like getting two for the price of one. My brain told me that even at that low low price, I would have exceeded my budget. I picked the prettier one and shelled out my fifty bucks. Yes, this was still two thirds of my set budget blown on a dress which I dismantled and incorporated into the set. You should look for it. I think it is in five pieces.
3) Danny and Cassie helped me hang the cloth. This was the part that I couldn't imagine until it was done. I tried to sketch my ideas a couple times, but gave up once when I figured out (again) that I can't draw. It wouldn't have helped too much anyway, since I kind of forgot a bunch of things about the physical world when I was dreaming up the concept. Thanks to Danny and Cassie for helping me hang these and assuring me that it would "work."
4) The juries still out. You know the show dates.

So, come see the show. Think about it. Ask us stuff about it. Tell us stuff about it. I may even be able to whip up some good ideas about my set concept now that it's there--now that I know it works.

You guys are beautiful, as is this show. I cannot wait for Friday.

September 11 Rehearsal Photo Shoot

Ben's set is sweet. Emily's costumes are sweet. I believe Jessica's lights are/will be sweet. (They're harder for me to see when I'm onstage.) The programs Hannah and Danny have created are sweet. Sam impresses me everyday with his sense of humor, and his ability to keep everything organized and do five things at once (including running cues and giving us our lines at the same time). We've begun having visitors in our rehearsals (thanks, Emily and Erin). This is both scary and exciting.

And my character, Roberta, continues to amaze me as I get to know her better. She's strong, she's vulnerable, she's funny. So is Danny. These are two sweet characters, and they're becoming so alive to me I feel like I want to write them a thank-you letter.

Instead, I'll just ask you to come see our show.

This is where blogging get's hard. Now we're just putting the pieces together - and we're up too late at night doing it. The show is falling into place beautifully, with no more than the usual amount of last-minute running around. We put all the tech on it tomorrow, and get our first full run through on Monday night. I need to go home and get some sleep.

I just finished writing my directors note - only going through three or four major rewrites to get there - and compiling special thanks lists and everything else Danny and Hannah need to pull off our programs.

Rehearsal was a blast tonight. Kyle and Michelle have their groove on, and take the show three steps farther every night. tonight the dance went from a series of steps to a serious piece of theatre - and scene three went from barely memorized, to a powerful climax, topping off the show. this is great stuff. it's wonderful to see how far we've come and how we've each been challenged along the way.

special thanks to Thomas Bona for a critique and lesson on director's notes.

I should note that after 'just putting the pieces together' is when the real fun begins - exploring within the structure you've created. that's the sense of play that gives live performance it's edge. give us a few rehearsals to work out the tech kinks and we'll be begging for an audience.

See you all soon!

yep. after being harassed continuously i have finally decided to do my part.

so far this show has been pretty stretching. i haven't really done a script like this one - i've done some scenes that are reminiscent, but doing a full script has pushed me to a new level. it's a new place for myself as an actor

i, like michelle, have really enjoyed the encouragement that eric has given us to play and explore. i feel like we have found some new stuff that i wouldn't have envisioned (but that's eric's job anyway). so yeah, things have been exhausting of late. i felt like getting secure in memorization was really the key to the emotional core of the piece, and it's really exciting to finally start accessing that.

i'm excited to continue work on this. though we have a few days off of rehearsal, i find myself constantly thinking about my character and occasionally find myself talking like him. the only problem there is that i don't really want to drop the F-bomb into my daily conversation on every other word. ah well.

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Okay, so Eric stole my thunder. Yes, I've been talking with Jay and Luke (Goldmine Pickers) about using their song. And yes, I'm also looking at several other songs culled from the amazing choices Kyle and Eric picked out. But Eric didn't go into detail about how those songs will be used - quite possibly to accompany our dancing. I'm excited to see how we can both contrast with and complement the music with our dance. As I've mentioned earlier, maybe some swing, some waltz, some tango sorts of things (see Apache dance). Jesse Landis-Eigsti taught me the Denver pretzel last night, which would be a lot of fun to use if we can work it in. Some dance moves mixed with some fight moves. But the idea is that it will be a combination of violent and playful, bringing out the characters' conflicting desires (go away! come here! love me! leave me alone!) in between scenes.

On the other hand, Shanley's script is so tight and has such a nice rise and fall all on its own that I can see throwing out the entire idea of a literal dance and just letting the dance work we've done influence our staging. These are the things we need to work out... soon!

Either way, I've really loved the way Eric has encouraged Kyle and me to explore our stage spaces and find layers of physical dynamics that compliment the words. These characters crack me up. They're so vulnerable and naive beneath their world-wise protective coatings. I love seeing everything coming together.

There is always interesting things going on and never a dull moment. Due to Michell's lack of sleep just brought and interesting level to Roberta. I do like the very versatile and funny affects everyone brings. Some of the funny comedic things that have come up at this point are doing the show in 3D or a special affects lights where we can show what's happening without actually doing it at the show. But despite the three hrs of laughter and 5 mins of work they did an exceptional job.

I'll have to say the experience has challenged me but at the same time but wouldn't trade it for nothing. I almost feel like other than line notes I"m not that needed because of everyone else's expertise. Ok sometimes Eric just becomes a monkey on stairs (inside joke).

michelle and i went to hear the goldmine pickers at the brew last night. besides being a generally rocktastic show, and besides good conversation with Jay Lapp about combining music and theatre, and besides potentially landing a sweet webdesign gig (entirely totally off topic), we heard this song by Lukas Simpson ("barroom walz") which fits perfectly into the feel of our show. and they've given us permission to use it - very generous of them. thanks, guys.

i hear michelle also found a great jonny cash song - and kyle found a song called "between the devil and the deep blue sea" that fits in a fun way.

i love it when things come together.

it happened thursday afternoon and it blew my mind.

we went from saying the lines to performing a play. it always happens, but you're never expecting it. it was fun, it was energizing, and as kyle commented at the end of the day - 'it takes a lot of energy when you... uh... actually start trying.'

thanks kyle. thanks michelle. you two have destroyed everything i thought i knew about these characters and rebuilt them with much more complexity and love.

sam has been loads of fun to work with, and kept us on track the whole time. and supplied pretzels. now that's stage managing.

special thanks to ben jacobs for stepping in at the last minute to turn my pathetic attempts at a set into something unified and wonderful. emily and jessica, of course, have been doing fabulous work from the beginning - so we've come to count on it and overlook them...

also thanks to erin bontrager, who came in the other day to give kyle some bruises, and talashia keim yoder who taught us all to waltz, tango and swing.

beautiful posters by danny palmer are up at some places - and will be distributed more broadly soon. also postcards, this blog, press releases, etc. the boy keeps himself busy - and always tuns out the highest quality work.

it takes more than a villiage to put on a show. you all rock my world.