Remastered, Comics and Wheel, Drop

You would hope that the craziness would ramp up and then die off…but it just seems to keep coming. This week was definitely a high-water mark for craziness. It really started with a very early trip to the airport to drop KT off to go to Detroit. I used the rest of that day to finish the Lobster Comic. I am proud to report that I pushed the send button sometime around 7PM, thereby completing another project. The comic turned out well, I think the writing came together with the images, and it is a proper parody of the religious pamphlet without becoming viscous. They are being sold for $0.25 at the show, or you just might find one under the wiper of your car!

Lobsterboy Comic Episode One
Print it and cut it out...fold it whichever way you think makes sense...

I took a short break from the comic to have an initial production meeting for Night of the Living Dead with Landless Theatre. There are some technical issues with the show (they need to barricade themselves into the farmhouse, so they will need something solid to bang against…which will be hard if the set needs to be struck every night, for example) but I think that it will be a very fun production overall. The Director doesn’t want to do it campy, which I happen to agree with, but that will be difficult to pull off around Halloween, when people are expecting to go for camp…

After that (same day!) I went to the Cinema and Drafthouse, to look at their main drape…it looks like my technical theater skills will finally pay off…I am being contracted to fix the ancient thing….

The opening for Remastered at Studioneight (which is how I spell it, but the website is www.studiooneeight.com which is not as much letter sharing fun as my spelling) was perhaps a bit mellower than I had anticipated. It was quite hot in the gallery, and I was sweating bullets, which caused me to be much less social than I should have been…Unfortunately, my Laocoon did not sell. But I don’t feel that bad because I understand that sales were slow across the board. Perhaps people will have a second bite at the apple at the closing reception on July 1. I will permit myself to wonder aloud about Studioneight’s strategy…perhaps theme shows like this one need even more marketing than they are currently doing, in order to give people a chance to “get” it. I also was not really able to market it on my own this time around because I have been so busy (And that my name does not appear anywhere on the website, or by extension, I assume, the press packs…)

Chagall-esque backdrop for Fiddler on the Roof and Joseph and the... 32'X24'
It may not look like much while being stapled on the floor, but its going to add a lot to the show!

The day after the Remastered show I started work on my Chagallesque backdrop for FIDDLER and JOSEPH…I am proud to say that it can be checked off the list as finished as of Tuesday.

Wheel of Death before its retirement

On Wednesday, Lobs and Co. came to test the wheel (and prospectively rehearse with it). After much debate and a few test runs, the wheel has been cut. We determined that it was not 100% safe, and it was not operating as we would have liked. (i.e. it did not rotate freely, and the straps did not hold the person in well enough to keep them from slipping out) I am not really disappointed. I know that the structure of the wheel is well built, and can be used again. I have learned a lot making this contraption. When I start to make the Mark II, I will make the wheel itself out of steel, and provide a “rollercoaster-like” harness for the pilot. Hopefully I will have the kinks out of it by Halloween! To be honest, Lobs seemed even more disappointed than me. But they have a great backup skit that involves my giant Tiki cutouts…

So, that has been the week that was…Next week I’ll be giving you the wrap-up of how the Lobsterboy show went! (Last ditch plug: Lobsterboy Toxic Tiki Party at the Cinema and Drafthouse in Arlington VA, SUNDAY NITE June 25!!!!! More info @ www.Lobsterboy.net)