BE GENTLE, IT'S MY FIRST TIME (the actor speaks about acting, rereads his words, dislikes them, but leaves them as is) By Derek Van Barham

This has been my first experience working with The Ruckus. It has also been the first time that I have worked on a new script, and had the playwright around for much of the rehearsal process. It's been so exciting to really discover the world of the play as part of an ensemble. With the playwright there, I could ask questions about the meaning of a line and get an answer directly from the source. Its valuable to be able to discuss the script and see how one line can have a different meaning to each person in the room. Having done a lot of university productions of classics and well-worn territory (things like Earnest and Streetcar), it's been great to really create and originate. There are no models for these characters, no precedents. The script has such imagination. I like imagination.

Rob Grabowski on Killing Time and Taking Names

There are no small parts, just small actors. Someone famous said that once. I think Matt Le Blanc. And when it comes down to it I have one of the smaller parts in "Little Triggers." And there's nothing wrong with that. But to discuss the process of acting, finding you're character, etc with a smaller role can be tricky. So I'll let Kevin, Derek or Neal discuss the finer points of acting.

From me you'll get some tips on ways to pass the time.

In Act one, once my scene is done I have roughly 40 minutes to myself. Try one of these suggestions next time you have 40 minutes:

-Reading: Reading is dying in America. Prove the news wrong by bringing a book or a kindle along. Thanks to rehearsals I'm almost done with "An Object of Beauty" by Steve Martin and looking forward to "Neverwhere" by Neal Gaimen and 'Being There" by Jerzy Kosinski through the run of the show. These books have been sitting on my shelf for months! MONTHS!

-Nap: grab a quick twenty winks! Helps get rid of those nasty bags under your eyes.

-Write: I just say you're writing stuff. People will be impressed.

-Re-Cast popular TV shows: One of my personal favorite games. Pick a show (Cheers, ER, ice road truckers) and re-cast it using friends or family. But never other celebrities.

-Make Fun of the Actors on Stage: Make fun of someone not in the room. We all do it. Including your co-workers when you leave a room

-Flirt: practice your flirting skills like Swiveling your hips, wink seductively, pulling your what-nots out smoothly, etc

-Leave Early: British stage rules state that if you're done before intermission you can go home. Do it so you catch the beginning of Conan

In Act two, I have scene where I'm under a sheet for 20 min. Try one of these suggestions next time you're under a sheet for 20 minutes:

-Shopping List: Go over what you have in your fridge and cupboards and what you can pick up on the way home

-Sweat Lodge: It's gonna get hot under there. Use it to your advantage! Drop a few pounds and clean our your pores

-Nap: See Nap under suggestions for things to do with 40 minutes

-Consider the big things: Take a moment and ponder about Life, The Universe and Everything!

-Coin Tricks: no pressure cause no one can see your hands

-Card Tricks: see above

-Ghost noises: self explanatory

-Enemies List: Make a ist of your enemies. Always useful to have especially when the assignation attempts begin to happen.

Hope that helps faithful readers!

Vortex: A Chewing Gum Retrospective by Neal Starbird

Vortex is a chewing gum in the 5 line from Wrigley. It is promoted as a "juicy green apple." The first two words are appropriate, but probably more on their own than together. The "apple" is a bit of a stretch. I should say here that I'm not a gum man, so take this for what it's worth. I would say that this gum should be avoided, except that I have found myself encouraging friends and colleagues to try it to great satisfaction, so perhaps you should as well.

The effect of Vortex is fascinating. First there is a flood of fake green apple flavor. Unfortunately, it is sweet like crap wine instead of being in any way tart. I have to admire the folks at Wrigley for being able to squeeze so much flavor into the gum. The flavor of most sugar free gums fades pretty quickly leaving you with a chew toy to gnaw on for a while (did I mention I'm not a gum man?). However, the cloying fauxpple flavor of Vortex just seems infinite with but one minor change. About 10-20 seconds after chewing begins, the original taste moves somewhat to the upstage so that you can receive a full frontal assault of spearmint. You can still definitely taste the lead-off flavor, though, because the spearmint camps out mostly in your nasal cavity while the fauxpple pummels your soft palate.

You probably are thinking "sounds pretty gross, but I'm sure I could get used to it after awhile." That's what I thought too. I believe that is what everyone has thought that I have seen try this product. It's on their faces when they first lift the stick to their lips. "These others are little bitches. I'm the only real man in this room." And then you see the expected look of annoyance at the suitable-only-for-young-children fake apple flavor, and then the tell-tale discomfort as the spearmint gas starts pumping in their sinuses. Then the grimaces as they come to realize the full, discordant cacophony at play in their passageways. They try to tough it out for a few seconds, desperately believing the assault will wane or they will become acclimated to the effects. Finally the panic as they surrender and head for a trash can, or fumble for the original wrapper, desperate to get rid of it and aghast that it could possibly have been released to the public.

After some deliberation, we decided to go with a different gum for this production.

ANNOUNCEMENT! The Ruckus: Season 3

CONK AND BONE by Joe Musso | directed by Kyra Lewandowski
September 18, 26 and 27, 2011

Somewhere in Louisiana, two men and a triggerless trombone await Death, who brings the cargo they are to ferry across the river Styx. This time, though, things are different. There are two souls instead of one—a headless girl with wings, and a fallen and furious hero. While Conk and Bone wait to make their perilous passage, Achilles finds a sword, the girl disappears, and a long-dormant secret creeps closer to the surface. Help playwright Joe Musso, director Kyra Lewandowski and The Ruckus take Conk and Bone a step further on their journey toward a special kind of hell during this workshop staged reading. Audience talkbacks led by guest dramaturgs follow each performance.

DUMB ANGEL by Seth Miller | directed by Katie Canavan
September 19, 20 and 25, 2011

A chord is a complex thing. It changes and grows, and more often than not, it’s the discordant note that brings it to life, for better or worse. Part transcript, part collage and part explosion of the American image of happiness, Dumb Angel explores madness, meaning and the torment of an artist on a quest for auditory joy—beginning with the tumultuous recording session for The Beach Boys’ 1965 number-one hit single, ‘Help Me, Rhonda’. Join playwright Seth Miller, director Katie Canavan and The Ruckus as we tumble into a rabbit hole of Brian Wilson’s phantasmagoria, and watch the boys of summer try to get the syncopation right. Audience talkbacks led by guest dramaturgs follow each performance.

LITTLE TRIGGERS by Daniel Caffrey | directed by Allison Shoemaker
January 13 – February 12, 2012

Once upon a dark and blustery Christmas Eve, a young man named Martin sits waiting. In the corner of the office, a printer spits, smokes and hisses in a way that would seem malevolent if Martin didn’t know better. He waits for the repairman and watches the clock tick, and wonders what it is that he’s doing with his life. Little does he know that before the evening’s out, a series of mysterious strangers will force him to confront his ideas about success, happiness and failure—and they’re starting with what’s hidden in the back of his drawer. Martin has to find the through-line for his story, and he had better do it fast, because the snow won’t stop falling, and the printer’s out for blood.


PERFECT CRASH by Aaron Dean and Allison Shoemaker | directed by Brian Ruby
RUNG by Matt Test | directed by Timo Aker
April 8 – 11, 2012

These two very different one-act plays explore in tandem the necessity of progress. Perfect Crash. In a windowless room, two people sit on an ugly green couch and plot their next move. How much momentum will get the wheel down the track, and how much more is needed to walk out the door? Playwrights Aaron Dean and Allison Shoemaker, and director Brian Ruby devise themselves out of a corner and discover the best kinds of failure in a marvelous machine. Rung. A body needs a voice—verbal or nonverbal, we require communication. But what happens when a voice needs a body, and you can’t keep sharing yours? Playwright/composer Matt Test, director Timo Aker, are helping Norbert Grover Norquist uncover what to do with this spare voice he’s got rattling around in his head.

Big things happen, strange and sad and wonderful things, but still—the machine needs building. Help The Ruckus and these talented artists make progress with these two new plays. Audience talkbacks led by guest dramaturgs follow each performance.


THE THING ABOUT CHEKHOV
devised by the Company | written by Calamity West | directed by Karie Miller
June 22 – July 22, 2012

Life is a story, but it’s not a short one. It has many acts, and they never quite end the way we predict. Built through a collaborative six-month process, The Thing About Chekhov prompts playwright Calamity West, director Karie Miller and a band of fearless actors to try to see the Cherry Orchard for the trees in this company-devised work: an exploration of realism, tragicomedy, and never quite arriving in your personal Moscow.

The Ruckus seeks...

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

The Development Manager oversees all fundraising, grant writing and event planning efforts for The Ruckus, under the supervision of the Managing Director. The Development Manager also serves as liaison to Ruckus Board of Directors, and plays a key role in strategic planning for the organization. This is a part-time volunteer position within the organization with a great deal of flexibility and room for growth; a commitment of approximately 8 hours a week is expected. The successful candidate will be goal- and deadline-oriented, trustworthy, enthusiastic and passionate about new work and have the ability to ask people for money. [MORE INFO]

COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

The Communications Manager develops, implements and evaluates all programs and systems designed to meet or exceed The Ruckus’ ticket revenue and attendance goals, under the supervision of the Managing Director. The Communications Manager plays a key role in planning and executing all marketing and publicity plans, serves as a spokesperson to the media for the company and collaborates with The Ruckus’ leadership on the continued strategic development of the company’s brand across all media. This is a new, part-time volunteer position within the organization with a great deal of flexibility and room for growth; a commitment of approximately 8 hours a week is expected. The successful candidate will be goal- and deadline-oriented, trustworthy, enthusiastic and passionate about new work, have the ability to think strategically and creatively—and sell lots of tickets. [MORE INFO]

Please send cover letter, resume and two writing samples to jeffrey@ruckustheater.org. No calls please. Game on.

15 MINUTES: A Love Story, by Stevie Chaddock Lambert

I entered into this partnership almost exactly a year ago, and let me tell you, it started like any budding relationship. Dramatic. The constant texting, the late night phone calls, the not sleeping, the not eating and subsequent over-eating once you get into the comfortable stage (around month four)…

Don’t you just love new relationships?

And then everything changes. The fantasy ends. The veil is lifted. You see each other for who you really are – imperfect. You notice that 15 Minutes chews with his mouth open and almost always misses the toilet bowl while peeing and sounds like a growling Muppet monster when he sleeps. You realize that this relationship won’t continue to grow with just warm, fuzzy thoughts and carnal attraction. It’s going to take work…a lot of work.

So the work begins, and it’s grueling - in a truly exhilarating way. It’s exciting and new all over again. You learn things about each other that can’t be discovered in only a couple months; you dig deeper. You both grow and change - together and separately. 15 Minutes helps you through some very difficult, personal events in your life, and you are stronger together because of those hardships.

Finally, through it all, you realize why you began this relationship in the first place. You realize how truly rewarding a partnership, such as this, can be. You introduce 15 Minutes to your parents and friends, who of course love him, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Playwright Aaron Dean say...

Son of Man, direct your face towards Blog, of the land of Mablog, the prince, the leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him.

Eziekiel 1: 38-39

Imagine you live in a little village. Its a happy place. Prosperous and gentle and fair and lovely. The thatch roof cottages sit nestled in buttery yellow wheat fields. There are festivals and dances and it seems the recent Typhus outbreak is fast becomming memory But there is one problem, there is an ogre, up the hill not two miles away, and he gambols down that hill every now and again and scoops up the most apple-cheeked, cherubic, five year old and rips opens its guts and feeds upon the leaky red entrails therein, while the mothers watch and ring their hands in grief. Then he gambols back up the hill, jump roping with the babe's lower intestines and singing Mid-period Moby songs.

Everyone in the village curses and cries and rends their burlap duds and then maybe they burn a goat and by morning they look out at those buttery wheat fields and understand the price of prosperity, they get over it and plan another barn dance.

Then a wandering knight, looking to impress his lady love back home rides into town. Not only is he gorgeous and charming and well-read, his record as a wandering knight is impeccable. Dragons vanquished, riddles solved, spells broken...you could go on forever baby.

He offers to solve your ogre problem. "Heck yes," you say.

You and your buddies armour up and you sing battle songs and play grabbies in the public shower and you head out, the golden knight leading his corn-liquor fueled posse.

You stand at the gates. Weapons poised. The clouds gather, somewhere an ominous bell is wringing. Where's it coming from? A solemn looking raven purches on a denuded tree branch.

You are unphased.

You hear the low, rumbling laugh of the creature.

You stand firm, confident in the knight.

Then over the black, iron gates, breaking the gray sheet of sky comes...a something...it hits right at your feet and when you get a closer look you see it is the head of that little five year old cutie, minus the eyes of course.

The ogres laughing becomes hysterical.

You miterate in your itchy breeches. Making them itchier.

Your knees knock together.

"Hold," Sayeth your captain.

You hold, he's just that good, in his golden helm and mighty sword, his cross draped shield and his...

Wait...wait a sec, what's that being hurled over the wall?

You find yourself in a shower of human body parts. The last thing that falls is the head of another knight, handsome face, golden helm, the works.

Minus the eyes of course.

And the ogre laughs till the earth at your feet shakes.

So what do you do? You run, you run like heck, back to the village. Will the knight and the posse take the gate? Slay the ogre. Who knows! Who cares!

So too is it with a devised piece. Our company was doing good. We had our share of success in a brief existence. But there is always the nagging to do more, to risk more. Then we decided to do a devised work. Which, most sensible people have a fear of. And we were on board, even the sensible ones.

And then come the heads.

Late nights, fast approaching deadlines, rehearsal after rehearsal waiting for the script, blocking waiting, designers waiting. And the ogre laughs and laughs.

Its scary. Reputations may be on the line, and you have started a process, without a play. You rehearse as you write, you have bull sessions and improvs, and they are all wonderful. And then its easy to let up and loose control. And then you scramble!

And you could run back to the village and be comfortable until the next time the monster comes down and then go back to being comfortable again after that. Or you could charge the gate, and risk becomming an eyeless head, thrown out of a gate to scare other posse's. You may fail. You may succeed, but to do the latter you must stay behind your knight.

We did.

We stormed the gate and brought that ogre down.

And now we have a dandy little play.

I love my wheat field. I always have, but what I love more is what it took to earn it. And who I earned it with.

So join me, raise your flagon of mead to the devised work, whether deemed successful or not. But drink not too much. For you never know what comes next to challenge you and your knight.

Juniper Hawk's Methods of Flying

We have long known of the phase of human history where our ancestors traveled by aircraft. Many of us have watched the Network footage, and I have even walked down the aisle of a now-defunct vessel. It is possible, and I can verify, that people can travel down the street, to other areas of the country, and even underwater. I alone can testify to that and have done so a great many times.

What we have not discussed is the now-rare phenomenon of human flight. Our mode of living is confined to supposedly provide safety and calm in an otherwise unstable world. But there are a great many sacrifices we’ve made to live this way. Our People to People peers have been examining and testing these different methods for about three years now and they’ve given me permission to share their findings with all of you, to perhaps encourage your interest in the outside world. None of these methods are possible in current Cube arrangement.

1) FALLING DOWN: Due to the confined nature of our living arrangement, the most anyone can fall is from their Mirror unit onto nearby floor or adjoining wall. This is a fairly minor fall and in in no way matches the destructive and wonderfully painful tumbles our ancestors experienced. From what I’ve seen, there are many different styles and shape a typical fall can take. The most I’ve ever traveled is the occasional stumble over uneven pavement on my many day trips. I have yet to encounter a set of stairs or a railing high enough to allow a moment of flight as I’ve seen in my research.

2) BASKETBALL: The rules of this game still elude me, but examining the former playing grounds and footage, there is evidence of a goal positioned at least 10 feet into the air and individuals would have to travel from the ground to the goal with a ball in their hands. The air over the playing ground was only thick enough to support one player at a time, and not everyone was strong enough to sustain such a long flight.

3) DANCE: Though I've long been ridiculed for my immense compact disc collection, my appreciation for disco in particular brings me one step closer to defying gravity.

Disco is not a flight dance(but a delicious series of movements across a dance space). It requires the body to move in ways it wouldn’t move for everyday purposes, which is a key element of any dance. Some forms specialized in leaving the ground for various periods of time.

Allow me to repeat: there is no way any of us can fly in a Cube. We will forever attempt to recreate the thrills and marvels that were once available to us(proof that we are meant for different living arrangements), but we will not be capable of actual human flight until we leave the Cubes. I encourage you all to find other methods once employed and attempt them in the limited floorspace you have available. I guarantee you’ll fail, much like Sebastian’s original mustache.

Rayne’s Dos and Don’ts of Exercising, Eating Right and Leading an All-Around Healthy Lifestyle

DO measure yourself everyday. I realize using a measuring tape seems antiquated, but it works! Weighing yourself is inconsistent and not helpful in determining how good or bad, thin or fat you look on your mirror.

DON’T skip even a day of exercising. Not only does it keep you looking your best, but also, people like to watch so chances are you will gain some Knowns.

DON’T get discouraged because of your lack of space. Get creative. Use everything you have. Do wall push-ups. Use your ottoman for one-legged lunges or tricep dips. I once ran an entire marathon in place. It can be done!

DO watch what you eat. I know our portions are small to begin with, but really think about what and how much you’re putting in your mouth. Also, try and limit yourself to ONE tasty bin a week.

DO get a friend to workout with you. You’ll be held accountable to another person, and it’s really fun to have someone to talk to and help pass the time. Plus, you can encourage each other will simple gestures like smiling or waving. My best friend and workout buddy is Ivy Brock!

DON’T hesitate to ask for my help or my advice! Also, don’t forget to become a member of L.E.E.F.F.R., the League of Extraordinary Exercisers Fighting Fervently for Recognition, of which I am Founder and President.