Please take my humor in stride and disregard anything that might seem offensive. I promise the title will be my only attempt at contempt. ;-)

Finding motivation to write has always been a bit of struggle for me, particularly when it comes to this blog. If you peruse my past entries, you'll find major gaps in time between posts. This has less to do with laziness than with motivation.

After not visiting New York for more than a year, I found my entries to be devoid of any actual content that I thought wasn't already being said out in the blogosphere by more adept bloggers. So then I started posting more entries about the local theater scene here in South-Central Texas. When worked kicked in, it single-handedly affected not only my participation in productions, but my attendance as an audience member for dozens of shows. As a result, my blogging took a side step to work and sleep.

But nothing like an awards show and a newspaper article to bring blogging blood back into the gestating veins of an anxious theater queen...

My first exposure to the Alamo Theatre Arts Council's Globe Awards was in the Fall of 2007. Urinetown the Musical was the first show I was cast in in San Antonio (is that proper grammar?). The production was in May/June of 2007 at the bar-excellence Sheldon Vexler Theater directed by the phenomenal Ken Frazier (I'll see you at his and Tammy's Halloween party!). Globe award 'nominations' <---*note the air quotes* were announced in the Summer and Urinetown was among the honorees. I was ecstatic! Up to this point in my acting 'career,' (note the air quotes again) Urinetown was the best production I had ever had the privilege to be a part of (I still feel this way today) and for it to be recognized by the elusive Globe Awards was reason enough for me to go batty with glee. We were then asked to perform at the ceremony and my elation went through the roof! The Globe Awards must know what they're talking about - Urinetown was a kick ass show. Of course I was a bit biased, but clearly if it was nominated by the ATAC Globe Awards, I wasn't the only person who thought so. Right?

The competitive spirit within me ignited. "So, we were nominated for Best Musical? How about acting noms? I'm sure Ken got a nom for directing, right?" My questions were met with uneasy complacency. To my perplexed revelation, our show wasn't nominated for anything. As a matter of fact, no shows were nominated per se for any awards. The Globes had a different way of recognizing excellence in the local theater scene. Awards are based off of a point system that ATAC judges use to rate different categories for each production. An average score of 8 (out of 10) constitutes a Globe honor. There are no limits on the number of possible honorees. And the shows I thought to be nominated were in fact shows that are already winners. For what categories? Category winners are announced at the ceremony.

"Huh?"

An usual setup to say the least. But it's a system. The Obies do it. So be it.

And then the problems start. If you've ever been involved in the San Antonio theater community, you've heard the complaints. You've seen the snubbed shows. You're aware of the flaws. It doesn't take a Pulitzer-winning journalist to discover the cloud of animosity and irreverence that such large numbers in the community adhere to the aura of the Globes.

Thomas Jenkins of the San Antonio Current recently brought up those boiling issues in an article dated this past Wednesday, October 14. Jenkins' writing is pulsating with a tone of passion; he is clearly a lover of theater and of the city of San Antonio. He writes with confidence and backs his opinions on shows with well thought out and intelligent reviews. Whether or not you agree with his taste is irrelevant (as is the case with any good critic). His article, titled "Another gold star! How to make the Globes more like the Tonys, less like school attendance awards" is a piece that is getting all sorts of theater queens (this is a term of endearment) hot. Just read the comments section.

Among the comments you'll find personal attacks, a call to arms, demands for reform, supporters of change, defenders of the process, and satirists/wannabe-comedians supplying ongoing commentary... it's like the 2008 Presidential debate on health care and their associated political campaigns filtered through an episode of Fox's Glee, or at least through the hearts of a bunch of Sondheim-ites. I have to admit the humor I find in it, but I can't deny the overwhelming response it is receiving from the community. Every comment seems to be coming from a place of passion (no matter how ill-advised some of them are), which is more than can be said for any actual Globe award ceremony in the past decade.

What's my opinion? It's less a matter of opinion and more one of taste. I prefer award shows that offer a single winner among a small group of nominees that were voted on by peers or critics or press or fans or those few bloggers out there. The ATAC Globes are what they are and have been for years. Their website clearly states their guidelines, rules, eligibility requirements... heck, it even gives the names of the ever changing roster of judges who vote. I don't know when it was decided that the Globes were gonna be San Antonio's answer to Austin's B. Iden Payne awards or New York's Tonys, but who ever said that this was the case in the first place? We have to realize that it's the community itself that put the awards in such high regard in the first place. Now that a significant portion of the community feels disenchanted with the Globes, it's a matter of focusing energies on a second awards show that meets the demands of those detractors (if a 'better' awards show is indeed what the community wants).

Is a second awards show the answer to the Globes? Maybe. Maybe not. But I do love what Stephanie Elbel (multiple ATAC Globe winner and B. Iden Payne award recipient and friend) has to say in the comments about perhaps focusing on other issues that affect the San Antonio theater community (getting people to actually attend live theatre, making San Antonio an equity theatre community, paying [contributing] artists [...] more than a mere stipend...).

Now that's not an answer to the issue of the Globes as a barometer of excellence for San Antonio theater, but I don't think that's an issue that's on the forefront of Stephanie's mind.

Is it on yours? And if so, what do you think?

UPDATED 7/29 at 5:17pm
Thank you to my friends Jillian and Amy for this! (And by the way, congratulations to both of you!)

The San Pedro Playhouse has been shooting its proverbial casting wad the past couple of weeks with its 2009-2010 season audition announcements. With a high profile season coming up (Evita, A Christmas Carol [again], Beehive, Curtains, Boeing-Boeing, and The Music Man), San Antonio theater peeps have been anxious for any further announcements concerning casting.

I was given the cast list of Curtains a couple of weeks ago but hadn't posted anything on it. It was still early in the process and people were still needing to accept roles. Now that some time has passed, I've decided to go ahead and post what I believe to be the final casting of the Spring 2010 production of Kander and Ebb's backtage-murder-comedy musical.

The cast will include Ben Gamble as Lt. Frank Cioffi, Annela Keys as Jessica Crenshaw, Anna Gangai as Carmen Bernstein, Jillian Cox as Georgia Hendricks, Jason Mosher as Aaron Fox, Paige Blend as Niki Harris, Lizel Sandoval as Bambi Bernet, Chris Berry as Bobby Pepper, Byrd Bonner as Christopher Belling, Taylor Maddox as Johnny Harmon, Mark Hicks as Oscar Shapiro, and Greg Hinojosa as Sidney Bernstein. The ensemble will feature Chris Rodriguez, Petra Pearce, David Davila, Ashley Mitchell, Mike Duggan, Amy Sloan, Rita Duggan, Robby Vance, Shane Noel, Constanza Roeder, Kate Miller, Alyx Gonzalez, Kenny Patterson, Jim Frazier, Julianne Snyder, David Stautzenburger, Amy Dullnig, and Dave Watts.

Congratulations to all my close friends and past castmates Ben Gamble (The Pajama Game), Jillian Cox (Man of la Mancha), Jason Mosher (Man of la Mancha), Paige Blend (Side Show, The Pajama Game), Lizel Sandoval (PJ Game), Chris Berry (Xmas Carol, Frankenstein in Love, PJ Game), Byrd Bonner (Urinetown, Xmas Carol), Taylor Maddox (PJ Game), Mark Hicks (Urinetown, Vexed), Chris Rodriguez (Thouroughly Modern Millie, Sound of Music), Petra Pearce (Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical, Jekyll and Hyde, Bye Bye Birdie, Xmas Carol), David Davila (Millie, Hair), Ashley Mitchell (Xmas Carol, PJ Game), Amy Sloan (Rimers of Eldritch, la Mancha), Robby Vance (Sound of Music), Shane Noel (PJ Game), Kate Miller (PJ Game), Alyx Gonazalez (Xmas Carol, PJ Game), Jim Frazier (Xmas Carol), David Stautzenburger (B&B, Jekyll and Hyde, BBB), Amy Dullnig (Xmas Carol, PJ Game), and Dave Watts (Frankenstein in Love).

Judging from the cast list, it seems like it's gonna be a fantastic production and a fun cast! Curtains is scheduled to open March 26 (my birthday) and close April 25, 2010.

My friend and stage manager of San Pedro Playhouse's 2010 production of Boeing-Boeing, Amy Dullnig announced the full cast list today for the super fun and sexy play written by Marc Camoletti.

The cast will feature Brad Adams (Bernard), Joel Crabtree (Robert), Haley Burnside (Janet), Rainya Mosher (Judith), Emily Spicer (Jacqueline), and Gloria Sanchez (Bertha).

The show will start performances May 21, 2010 and end its 5 week run on June, 20. From what I gather either Frank Latson or Kevin Murray (that could be very wrong) will be directing. I'll know more in a couple of days.

The Matthew Warchus-directed revival of Marc Camoletti's comedy was a London hit before the American production on Broadway was put together. The staging at the Longacre Theatre starred Mark Rylance, a holdover from London, who won the Tony as Best Actor in a Play for his daffy turn as a Wisconsinite caught in the middle of his pal's threeway infidelity. The production also won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play.

Tonight I'll be taking in the San Pedro Playhouse's production of Take Me Out in the Cellar Theater. The original play, written by Richard Greenberg, debuted on Broadway February 27, 2003 at the Walter Kerr Theatre and closed on January 4, 2004. The show had a successful run and even won 2003 Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Direction for Joe Mantello, and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Denis O'Hare.

The play is a well written piece commenting on social stigmas of homosexuality and America's favorite pastime, baseball. San Pedro Playhouse's Cellar Theater website offers this description:

This Pulitzer Prize nominated play took the nation by storm with its story of one superstar's coming out and the explosive repercussions which shook him, his teammates and "the great American pastime" to their very core. A shocker for its locker-room language, on-stage shower scenes and violence, it is nevertheless the most brilliant and frank exploration of the personal destruction of living a lie in a homophobic "don't ask, don't tell" world, the fallout from coming clean and the discovery that honor, integrity and true worth must be the benchmarks by which we live.

The Playhouse production cast includes Mark D. Hicks (Kippy Sunderstrom), Butch Anderson (Darren Lemming), Rob Barron (Shane Mungitt), John O'Neill (The Skipper), Rhys Sanchez (Toddy Koovitz), Ryan Ramirez (Jason Chenier), Ian Bunn (Rodriguez), Miguel Diaz (Martinez), Jonathan G. Itchon (Takeshi Kawabata), Vincent Contrell (Davey Battle), and Andrew Thornton (Mason Marzac)with direction by Frank Latson.

Mark Hicks, Rob Barron, and Ryan Ramirez are friends of mine and I'm looking forward to seeing their work. I had a chance to meet Butch Anderson recently after opening night at the champagne opening (which I totally crashed) and subsequently at a San Antonio theatre peeps party hosted by God himself, Steven Bull. Anderson is a newcomer to the cast apparently, but has been getting very good press for his performance. Also getting good reviews is Andrew Thornton as Marzac (but that could be because Marzac is by far the best written character in the show).

The San Antonio Express News and the SA Current have offered up positive reviews and tickets are apparently selling out fast. This is the final weekend for performances, so please get yourself downtown to catch the production ASAP.

I'll be there tonight and afterward I'll be upstairs catching some bubbly enjoying opening night celebrations of Sound of Music. Break a leg tonight to both casts!!!

The Cameo Theatre of San Antonio has been home to some stellar productions in the area. Particularly well done was their 2007 production of Kander and Ebb's Cabaret. That production had the benefit of two strong lead performances by Anne Gerber as Sally Bowles and Rick Sanchez as the Emcee.

Rick has become an acquaintance of mine in recent months (we've even had the opportunity to party it up - a welcome pastime of mine). I have yet to actually work with Rick on a show (I had opportunities for the upcoming production of Sound of Music at San Pedro Playhouse and the recently closed Man of La Mancha. Unfortunately both shows I was unable to commit to because of work), however that hasn't stopped us from still being friends (we did go see Transformers 2 at a midnight showing along with other friends - thank God for alcohol.).

Now Rick will soon be directing a production of Psycho Beach Party at the Cameo Theatre due to open I think on August 14 (dates have been somewhat up in the air and sources still are conflicting a bit. I'll update as soon as I know for sure.). The movie and the original Off-Broadway play that it's based on are send ups of 1950s and 60s beach movies with a nod to 70s slasher films. The Cameo's website offers this description:

Summer, 1962. Malibu Beach. Imagine ‘Gidget’ crossed with ‘The Three Faces of Eve’ and ‘Mommie Dearest’. Sun, surf, sand, and ‘Chicklet’ Forrest wants nothing more than to learn to ‘shoot the curl’. Ride the waves. And who better to study under than the Great Kanaka? The macho king of the surfers, who rode the killer wave off the coast of Bali... handcuffed....But something isn't right...People are turning up shaved from head to toe by a mysterious assailant. The star of “Sex-Kittens Go To Outer Space” has disappeared from the set of her latest film. Surfers are coming out of the closet. And who, exactly, is Ann Bowman, the dominatrix who has risen to claim her birthright: World Domination? The big luau is only days away. Will our heroes thwart her evil scheme in time? Will Chicklet learn to surf? Will they still have time to prepare the finger foods? Will any of these questions be answered? Come see this bizarre hybrid of the best the Sixties had to offer: beach movies, bikinis, psychological melodramas, bikinis, surf guitar, bikinis, laughter, and... surfing. Not to mention the bikinis!

The movie is entertaining enough with the always fantastic Lauren Ambrose (Exit the King) cast as Chicklet. Rick has cast the show true to playwright Charles Busch's original intentions; that is to say he has cast major roles in drag.

My good friend Walter Songer - the Jeffy to my Hunter - (Side Show, The Pajama Game, and Vexed are the 3 shows we've worked on together) has been cast as the central female role of Chicklet. Other friends of mine cast include Chris Berry (A Christmas Carol, Frankenstein in Love, The Pajama Game) as Kanaka, fellow New Braunfels native Kate Miller as Marvel Ann, Chris Rodriguez as Yo-Yo, Paige Hansel as Bettina Barnes, and Cassie Moczygemba (who I worked with originally in Bye Bye Birdie and later Frankenstein in Love at the Overtime Theater).

The rest of the cast includes some people I don't know and a few others that I've seen in other productions. Judging from the production team and cast list alone, the show is gonna be a blast; at least it'll be fun for the actors. Lots of friends working together can amount to a lot of fun (it's also been known to cause lots of drama too, but I don't see that happening). I have a small regret of not auditioning; unfortunately work has gotten in the way of my Summer acting.

But nonetheless, with so many productions coming up, at least my Summer viewing will be plentiful. This Friday I'm stopping in at the San Pedro Playhouse to catch a final weekend performance of Take Me Out (with my soon to be going away to NYC buddy Ryan Ramirez) in the Cellar Theater with a brief stop upstairs in the Russell Hill Rogers Theater to catch the opening night celebrations of Sound of Music (gotta love champagne); hopefully by Saturday night I'll be able to get over my hangover and catch Cal Collins original revue titled Broadway's Best at the Brauntex Theater in New Braunfels; next weekend I'm looking forward to productions of Buddha Swings! at the Overtime Theater and the previously mentioned Sound of Music; and somewhere in there I'll squeeze in Seussical at Circle Arts Theatre in New Bruanfels, the Cameo's current production of I Hate Hamlet, and AtticRep's Blackbird.

Yay for local theater!