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The Bill / Shakespeare Project

The Bill / Shakespeare Project

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GET THE WORD OUT! #Repost - @elitetheatreco The GET THE WORD OUT! #Repost - @elitetheatreco The Elite Theatre Company is looking for talent to augment its [almost] all-female cast for ANDRONICUS, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Director Bill Walthall is looking for at least EIGHT actresses to join its ensemble for the following roles: THE ANDRONICI LUCIA/IUS – Tita’s warrior child, and her second in command; has own child (Young Lucius); played FEMALE (though I would accept debate on this); older than 30 years old; open race MARTIUS – one of Tita’s four surviving warrior children (gone after fifth scene); could be played ANY GENDER; older than 20 years old; open race [NOTE: actor may also play Goth 2, Messenger and Ensemble] MARCUS – Tita’s older sibling, a non-combatant but a tribune and political power-broker; could be played ANY GENDER; older than 50 years old (must be believable as Tita’s older sibling); open race THE OTHER ROMANS SATURNINUS – the late Emperor’s elder son; played MALE; younger than 30 years old; open race THE GOTHS TAMORA – the captured Queen of the Goths (a combination of strength, regality, and sensuality); played FEMALE; 40-55 years old; open race; DEMETRIUS – Tamora’s child; could be played ANY GENDER (though I’m leaning male); 20-25 years old; open race CHIRON – Tamora’s other child; could be played ANY GENDER (though I’m leaning male); younger than 20 years old; open race IN-PERSON auditions will take place on Saturday, October 9 at NOON, and Sunday, October 10 at 6pm. Rehearsals will then begin on Monday, October 11. The run of the show–on the South Stage–will be from December 3 – 19, with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings as well as Sunday afternoons (NOTE: there will be a Thursday night performance on December 16, and NO PERFORMANCE on Saturday December 11). NOTE: ALL ACTORS MUST BE FULLY VACCINATED AND MASKED WHILE WAITING. Please bring proof of vaccination along with your headshot and resume. For more information, including audition sides, check out https://www.theelite.org/uncategorized/etcetera-stage-andronicus/ If interested, please contact producer Laura Comstock at burkcom82 [at] gmail.com to schedule your audition!
Just finished watching the Anthony Sher / Harriet Just finished watching the Anthony Sher / Harriet Walter Macbeth on Kanopy. Holy sh!t. Gives me so many ideas...
Vote, my California friends! Vote, my California friends!
Check out my cone-of-shame (and a hint of my scar) Check out my cone-of-shame (and a hint of my scar)... At least my voice is back...
Now that I've had time to decompress... my feeling Now that I've had time to decompress... my feelings on the close of 7-Player Cymbeline... #Repost - @fmshake And like that </snaps_his_fingers> it was over. 7-Player Cymberline. A nice litte experiment. And like all experiments (especially initial ones), not entirely successful, but with lessons learned and enough success to make one feel like something was accomplished. At the beginning of summer, I had said that if we get five performances in, I'd be happy. Even with the last two weeks cancelling, we got six in. And in those six performances, we brought FREE Shakespeare to nearly 150 audience members, pulled in over $650 in donations, and freakin' paid the actors. Would I change things? Sure...but only minor things. Would I do it again? You bet your ass. In fact, I'm considering a rewrite and a venture into next year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. And is this it for FireMuse Shakespeare? No freaking way. I'm mapping out two possible shows for next summer (will only do one of them if we go to Fringe), and there's still this year's Sonnet Project to complete. My surgery and the fourth wave of the pandemic put a crimp in the end of 7PC, but I'm pretty damned proud of what we've accomplished. And that we includes our effervescent Imogen, Lauren Rachel, our Posthumus/Cloten (and Melvin's stunt-double) the never-off Scott Blanchard, the ever-royal Stan McConnell, the uber-talented Sarah Boughton (without whose generosity both onstage and off continues to astound), badass scene-thief Adam Womack, the wonderfully versatile Sindy McKay, the rock-solid Christopher Rubin, and Theresa Secor (whose park Shakespeare experience was crucial to us achieving what we did)--not to mention the wonderful help provided by Christine Adams as our rehearsal stage manager. I can proudly say we helped live theatre come back after the Plague Year...we were the first live in-person show many saw after a long time off. And I think we did right by them, by the play, and by ourselves. Onward!
This is a bummer, and certainly not the close of t This is a bummer, and certainly not the close of the summer that I had hoped for back in May, but it is what it is... and I cannot thank the cast and crew of this show enough for one of the best artistic experiences of my life. #Repost - @fmshakes1 NEWS: A member of the 7-Player Cymbeline company was exposed to a breakthrough infection of COVID last week, and though the company member in question has tested negative for the virus, out of an abundance of caution, and for the protection of both the company and our audience, Saturday's 2pm performance in Oxnard has been cancelled. This ends the summer run of FireMuse Shakespeare's inaugural production, and we thank both the company and our audiences for a great experience... see you next summer (or sooner)!
Killer job, @aldanwasman ... spoiler: there was a Killer job, @aldanwasman ... spoiler: there was a spit-take moment for me... you have been warned! #Repost - @fmshakes1 . Sonnet 102 My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming; I love not less, though less the show appear; That love is merchandized, whose rich esteeming, The owner's tongue doth publish every where. Our love was new, and then but in the spring, When I was wont to greet it with my lays; As Philomel in summer's front doth sing, And stops his pipe in growth of riper days: Not that the summer is less pleasant now Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night, But that wild music burthens every bough, And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. Therefore like her, I sometime hold my tongue: Because I would not dull you with my song. performed by actor and director Alan Waserman follow FireMuse Shakespeare at fmshakes1.com and @fmshakes1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter full video at https://youtu.be/7mw6Nf1tYtk
Part two of my sonnet duet experiment with my wife Part two of my sonnet duet experiment with my wife, the lovely and talented @lisawalthall #Repost - @fmshakes1 . Sonnet 101 O truant Muse what shall be thy amends For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed? Both truth and beauty on my love depends; So dost thou too, and therein dignified. Make answer Muse: wilt thou not haply say, 'Truth needs no colour, with his colour fixed; Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay; But best is best, if never intermixed'? Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb? Excuse not silence so, for't lies in thee To make him much outlive a gilded tomb And to be praised of ages yet to be. Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how To make him seem, long hence, as he shows now. performed by Kindergarten teacher Lisa & actor, director, and educator Bill Walthall follow FireMuse Shakespeare at fmshakes1.com and @fmshakes1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter follow Bill at @billwalthall on Instagram full video at https://youtu.be/ktKFeAcSDL8
sonnet as duet.... with my wife, the lovely @lisaw sonnet as duet.... with my wife, the lovely @lisawalthall ... one of a double feature (part two coming Wednesday)... #Repost - @fmshakes1 . Sonnet 100 Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long, To speak of that which gives thee all thy might? Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song, Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light? Return forgetful Muse, and straight redeem, In gentle numbers time so idly spent; Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem And gives thy pen both skill and argument. Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey, If Time have any wrinkle graven there; If any, be a satire to decay, And make Time's spoils despised every where. Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life, So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife. performed by Kindergarten teacher Lisa & actor, director, and educator Bill Walthall follow FireMuse Shakespeare at fmshakes1.com and @fmshakes1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter follow Bill at @billwalthall on Instagram full video at https://youtu.be/osr1LGjCXKU
Who knows...I may even venture out and make my fir Who knows...I may even venture out and make my first post-op public appearance... (or not) #Repost - @fmshakes1 Don't miss out.... one last free public show... OXNARD next Saturday! Get your tickets now! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/7-player-cymbeline-oxnard-828-new-date-tickets-159743879243
15 days out... recovery is happening, but too damn 15 days out... recovery is happening, but too damned slow for my personality...
More inspiration from @teatrogiocovita ... this is More inspiration from @teatrogiocovita ... this is so cool https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RQVdJEO9FNg&feature=youtu.be
stuck in a vegetative state recovering... and I fi stuck in a vegetative state recovering... and I find this YouTube video by @emilyharpist HOLY SH!T.... What a freaking cool sound... would love do a live soundtrack like this for a production.... The Scottish Play??? (I mean, of course, Titus... but I've already got plans for that)
Don’t get me wrong. I am totally excited by my s Don’t get me wrong. I am totally excited by my surgery tomorrow (anything to end this sh!t). But… I am so bummed that it and my convalescence (and the damn "cone of shame" I'll be sporting for the next month) will force me to miss three upcoming shows that I desperately want to see: The Importance of Being Earnest at Camarillo Skyway Playhouse @skywayplayhouse The Tempest by Independent Shakespeare Co. @indyshakes and King Lear by Toil and Trouble Burlesque @toilandtroubleburlesque This better be worth it.
usually not happy with my own sonnet videos, but t usually not happy with my own sonnet videos, but this one turned out all right... #Repost - @fmshakes1 . Sonnet 91 Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, Some in their wealth, some in their body's force, Some in their garments though new-fangled ill; Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse; And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure, Wherein it finds a joy above the rest: But these particulars are not my measure, All these I better in one general best. Thy love is better than high birth to me, Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost, Of more delight than hawks and horses be; And having thee, of all men's pride I boast: Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take All this away, and me most wretched make. performed by actor, director, and educator Bill Walthall follow FireMuse Shakespeare at fmshakes1.com and @fmshakes1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter follow Bill at billwalthall.com and @billwalthall on Instagram full video at https://youtu.be/MgtNipkkUrs
I've been dealing with a pretty severe pinched ner I've been dealing with a pretty severe pinched nerve in my neck since April. After two months of chiro and one month of PT, I had an MRI done last month. The results were less than optimal, and enough for both my chiro and my primary care physician to recommend I see a neurosurgeon: two herniated discs, another flattened so badly that it was crimping down on the spine itself, plus two bone spurs. After a consultation earlier in the month which had some interesting (read: freaky) involuntary reflex responses, surgery was scheduled for this Friday. Since then, the pain and nerve issues have been getting progressively worse. Well, now lots of things are in freakin' flux. Surgery postponed until August 6 due to an emergency with the surgeon. Very disappointed. The doc has been trying to get my blood pressure down (it's usually high, but the pain in recent weeks has it through the roof), so I suppose the extra week can only help with that... but as the pain and numbness is getting progressively worse, who the F knows. Basically, this has thrown me for a loop and the funk is not helping my already piss-y mood. Just venting. It'll be ok, I'm sure. I just wanted this over with. As my favorite YouTube bartending mixologist would say, "So, now you know."
Stunningly beautiful, @jessi_may_stevenson ... # Stunningly beautiful, @jessi_may_stevenson ... #Repost - @fmshakes1 . Sonnet 87 Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing, And like enough thou know'st thy estimate, The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing; My bonds in thee are all determinate. For how do I hold thee but by thy granting? And for that riches where is my deserving? The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting, And so my patent back again is swerving. Thy self thou gavest, thy own worth then not knowing, Or me to whom thou gav'st it else mistaking; So thy great gift, upon misprision growing, Comes home again, on better judgement making. Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter, In sleep a king, but waking no such matter. performed by director and actress Jessi May Stevenson follow FireMuse Shakespeare at fmshakes1.com and @fmshakes1 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter follow Jessi May Stevenson at @jessi_may_stevenson on Instagram full video at https://youtu.be/YwrNwnaBvcg
For my friends on the east side of the Conejo Grad For my friends on the east side of the Conejo Grade: this is your last FREE chance to reserve FREE tix for the last FREE performance of 7-Player Cymbeline FREE in your area! All other performances are for private audiences or on the west side! Did I mention it's FREE??? #Repost - @fmshakes1 "Oh, No! I missed out on reserving tickets for this Saturday's FREE Simi Valley performance of 7-Player Cymbeline!" Don't let this be you... TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO RESERVE TICKETS!!! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/157887946097
SEE THIS SHOW! #Repost - @fmshakes1 Don't say i SEE THIS SHOW! #Repost - @fmshakes1 Don't say it: I know 7-Player Cymbeline has only two public FREE performances left, AND tickets for this Saturday's Simi Valley show are moving fast! I just hope everyone gets a chance to see this raucous, hilarious show!!! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/157887946097
Yesterday's show in Thousand Oaks (thanks to our h Yesterday's show in Thousand Oaks (thanks to our host Sarah Boughton) was the best of the run so far... I CAN'T WAIT to see how this cast (which includes Sarah, Lauren Rachel, Scott Blanchard, Stan McConnell, Adam Womack, Sindy McKay-swerdlove, Christopher Robin, and Theresa Secor) slays it next weekend in Simi Valley. I know I'm biased, but I think this is a fun, entertaining ride, and I would hate for any of my friends to miss it!!! #Repost - @fmshakes1 7-Player Cymbeline has only TWO FREE PUBLIC PUBLIC PERFORMANCES LEFT! Don't miss what audiences are calling a "HILARIOUS and a not-to-miss show." Final FREE east county show is THIS COMING SATURDAY in Simi Valley! Final FREE public show is SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 in Oxnard... all remaining shows are for private audiences. DO NOT MISS OUT! (Eventbrite links in the comments!)
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