Xark!

On the Run with PURE Theatre

PURE Theatre: Episode 1 from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 1: Actors and PURE Theatre co-founders Sharon Graci and Rodney Lee Rogers start their day.

PURE Theatre: Episode 2. The Move-in. from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 2: The PURE crew gets to work unloading their gear and constructing their new theater.

PURE Theatre: Episode 3. Showtime from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Episode 3: Sharon gets behind the wheel of the Penske for her first truck-driving experience; everyone hustles to get ready for the first performance of Vaud Rats.

Cross-posted from Janet's SpoletoToday site.

Why we're not blogging here

Today my mother wrote to see if we were OK, because we haven't been blogging much. This, then, is the 21st century: "Now be sure to eat right. And wear clean underwear and a nice hat. And be sure to blog every day."

In fact, the reason we're not blogging much at Xark is because Janet and I are blogging/vlogging and podcasting our collective asses off at SpoletoToday 2008. Janet's in charge this year, which means her dream has finally come true: She gets to tell me what to do, and I have to do it.

Here are the videos I've put up so far...

Monkey: Journey to the Grocery Store

Monkey: Journey to the Grocery Store from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

The second (better) Amistad video

Amistad: Race, art, history and opera from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

L'Ile de Merlin video

Over at SpoletoToday.com, my first presentable piece of pro-blog video, which I shot, wrote and recorded yesterday and then edited in spurts yesterday and this morning.

 It's my second run on Final Cut Express, the cut-down version of the full professional video-editing program for the Mac (not only was I completely on my own for the first video I cut, I was also using the camera for the first time and submitting to YouTube for the first time. The results were... let's just say, less than competent).

This time I had admin help in arranging the materials, plus handy advice on solving some of the niggling problems that come with learning new software and recording setups (thank you, Geoff).

I'd do some things differently now because I learned some skills during the editing, but in general I'm pleasantly surprised this one turned out as well as it did, technically, given my level of experience with the software and the equipment. Video is an interesting medium, and I'm just getting started.

Photo: Janet

"Fully Committed"

Got this as an e-mail from one of our friends at PURE Theatre in Charleston. If you haven't seen this play, "Fully Committed," our whole family recommends it highly. Rodney Lee Rogers is a great actor and he plays something like 37 characters, and here's the amazing thing: it's not contrived at all.

Hello everyone:
This weekend, PURE will be at the Isle of Palms recreation center performing Becky Mode's hilarious one-man show Fully Committed.  I'm sure many of you will remember that we produced Fully Committed during our first season and again last year.  If you've not had a chance to catch Rodney in the role of Sam Pelickzowski, an out-of-work, down-on-his-luck NY actor trying to eke out a living at NY's hottest restaurant, I want to urge you to do so.  If you've seen the show before, consider catching it again.  After spending so much time with the characters who make up this ridiculously funny show, Rodney is even better in the roles.  Follow this link for more information or contact us back. Hope to see you all soon and until then, be well.  (Oh, I'm attaching a copy of the brochure, just in case the images don't translate in the email, they're funny and worth a look...especially if you know Rodney.)
 Best,

Sharon Graci

Artistic Director, 701 East Bay Street/Suite 1017/Charleston, SC  29403/843.723.4444

PURE Theatre production opens Friday

Charleston's PURE Theatre's production of Rebecca Gilman's  "Spinning Into Butter" opens Friday for a scheduled Sept. 9 through Oct. 1 run.

Sarah Daniels, dean of students at a small, predominantly white university in Vermont, must face her own racism and that of her colleagues when one of her African American students begins receiving racist notes.

The play features PURE artistic director Sharon Graci in the lead role, and is directed by playwright, jazz pianist and drama professor Franklin Ashley. The theater is located on the first floor of The Cigar Factory, corner of Columbus and East Bay streets.

Shows are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and tickets are $18 and can be reserved by e-mail.

Avant-gardes get middle aged...

Margo Jefferson's primer on avant-garde theater (July 8 NYT) is an excellent read, particularly for those of us from Charleston (it talks about Mabou Mines DollHouse and DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation from Spoletos 2005 and 2004, respectively). Beyond being useful for those of us "catching up" on the subject, it also works on a deeper level, adding to the larger conversation about art.

Remember, the avant-garde is not a designated tribe of rebel outsiders anymore. It is a set of tools and practices; certain styles and attitudes. And pre-eminent among those attitudes is skepticism. For more than a century artists across the board have been questioning fundamental assumptions about art. What makes something art?

Is a urinal art? Is elephant dung a fit substance for creating art? Can walking be dance? Is sampling or silence or noise music? Are fractured words and stories truer to the shape of our experience than traditional narratives? Will the virtual and simulated realities made possible by the digital age threaten our identities or layer and expand them? At one time all these things were controversial. Now they are familiar.

That's why I don't really like to use the words avant-garde anymore. I don't really believe in them right now. They don't take in enough variety.

Avant-gardes get middle-aged; they become the establishment.

For the complete article, click the link below. Hat tip to Patrick Sharbaugh.