EVIL DEAD FREDERICK PREVIEW LOAD-IN IMMINENT

Once again its been all-Evil-Dead-all-of-the-time...Below is a progress shot just after victory was declared in the carpentry war on Tuesday:

The set was primed white...but its true evil comes out once the base colors are applied:

I am working in reverse with the color for the set. It's an evil play, so that means a dark color palette. I'll slowly add highlights to each color until I get a rich, deep and foreboding look for this "little cabin in the woods". Working this way also helps hide all of the shoddy construction (Theatrical carpentry is always shoddy...not just mine) and the dark maroon color on the floor will help hide the nightly dousing of blood....MUH-WAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Just in case you didn't get the message before...Please get your tickets to the show early (preferably a season subscription) Especially if you are intending on coming out to Scenery Appreciation Night, which has been set for Friday October 9th! ("scenery appreciation night" is when aficionados of the set designs of Jared Davis see the show and then ply him with drink afterwards...they are also privy to insider discounts to shows...and Jared's eternal gratitude...) You can go to Landless' website for tickets.

BTW if you just cant wait to see the show in DC...you can come up to Frederick MD and see the preview performances on October 2nd and 3rd. See you then!

EVIL CARPENTRY ZOMBIE

Again, all I have to show for this week is carpentry. We had the first "all hands on deck" carpentry day on Monday (Directly after a lovely NYC weekend attending Scott Brooks' show at Last Rites Gallery, and seeing Toxic Avenger the Musical...) ...and as of this writing we have gotten this much together:

...Which is basically all of the decking (i.e. what actors will stand/dance on) So all that is left is to build are the walls, and the special effects...and paint. (all by next Friday!!!!)

Please get your tickets to the show early (preferably a season subscription) because this show has blown all of Landless' pre-sale records...and I don't want you to miss out!

No more time for blogging! Must-build-set! BRAINS!

Evil Dead Floorplans And Last Rites

I have been in full-on carpentry mode lately, which makes me kinda manic about doing anything other than carpentry. So, the weekly update kinda got away from me this week...I can show you the floor plans for Evil Dead, which were approved on Saturday:

Evil Dead the Musical Floor plan
Vectorworks, Landless Theatre Co.

This shows really how small the DCAC is...but it'll be really cool to have this show in such an in-your-face kinda space. I also made a (really crappy, and I hesitate to show it here...) planar study from the floor plan, for those of my production staff that are "floor plan challenged"...Plane study for Evil Dead (I apologize for the quality...)

I've been up to my eyeballs in carpentry ever since I got the green light...which is necessary because this bad boy loads into Frederick on September 26th!

...But, I will be taking this weekend off to go up to NYC (again!) to support my good pal Scott G. Brooks...you see, he has an opening on Saturday Night at Last Rites Gallery called Domestic Terror..So, if you are in NYC in the near future, come on by and check it out!

Gator Wrestlin' Finished, Landless SEASON OF THE DAMNED Announced and KTXB...

After two weeks of waiting, the moment has arrived. I have finally finished Gator Wrestlin', the second in the growing series of Daredevil Monkey paintings...

Gator Wrestlin'
Acrylic on Board, 16"x20"

Unfortunately this photo does not convey some of the subtleties that the "in the flesh" picture does. That is, Fearless is spotlit and has a very bright and luminous quality when compared to Floyd. That is certainly conveyed in the contrast sense on a video monitor, but in person it is particularly evident...I am still in the brainstorming phase for the next painting, and I'd be interested to hear what you sadists would like to see next in the arena of monkey exploitation...He's already been shot out of a cannon and wrestled alligators...perhaps wrestling bears is next?...giant slingshot?...competitive pie eating? Send me a comment with suggestions!

We had the first official production meeting for Evil Dead this week...its going to be a hum-dinger of a show. The quotable quote from the meeting was from Melissa, the Director: "You need to watch out, you can get lost in this show"...which is quite right, judging by the circles we were going in during the meeting! But things are starting to straighten out...firstly, I was able to acquire some 2x8's for free to build the deck with:

Yep, that's two 2o foot long 2x8's going off the front of the Isuzu!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to let you in on a brand new concept for Landless Theater...Subscriptions! Now, I know what you are thinking, here comes a sales pitch...but wait, I am here to save you money! You can get almost 50% off of all of your Landless tickets and that means 50% off of Evil Dead the Musical!!! All you have to do is go here to sign up!


Unrelated to Landless (other than Andrew Baughman is directing one of the shows) is that Hope Operas has made another leap forward on the technical front. I was able to make an accurate floor plan of how we are going to transform Miss Pixies backroom into a full blown theater, complete with footlights!

We should be able to fit around 80-100 people in to see the shows, and we will even have a small stage! Woot!

2010 Scion XB...The one KT has is black.

This little beauty is the reason I trekked across the Ohio wastelands (and back!) to get to Detroit. See, KT's dad had a salmon pink Caddy, that got 8 miles to the gallon...so on the last day of Cash For Clunkers, he traded it in for a Scion XB, which is the car KT has been dreaming of for years now...Since the Echo was on its last legs, we drove it to Michigan and exchanged it with her father for the new Scion. I am quite impressed with the car thus far, and to be honest, it is both KT's and my first brand new car...when we got back from Michigan, the odometer said 600 (!)

DIAMOND DEAD NYC IS IN THE HISTORY BOOKS

DIAMOND DEAD in NYC was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who made the trip, and special thanks to all of the NYC locals that came out! We got some decent audiences, a marriage proposal, and even some scuttlebutt about taking the show to the next level!
Hyreviews.com does a nice review of the DD NYC performance...and you can even get a sneak peek at the opening number of the show with this (admittedly kinda low-fi) YouTube video.

I won't bore you with the flurry of photos that are circulating around Facebook, but I will give you a peek at the setup that we had at Dixon place...mostly because this is the fourth configuration of DIAMOND DEAD in as many venues...which is really a testament to how versatile the pipe and drape setup can be!

Dixon Place NYC setup from house leftJason tunes his bass just before opening night...

In local news, DC Theater Scene mentions my designs in 3 of their 14 favorite musicals this past year...(Forum, Follies, Walmartopia) and big kudos for Karissa Swanigan who was named musical theater performer of the year!

Almost immediately upon touching DC soil I found myself setting up for the auditions for Hope Operas...(I also caught the Bark Victory show on Sunday) I am exited to see these serials every Monday in October.

Speaking of October, we had the second production meeting for Spooktacular X...good news and bad news there...Bad news: Adult ball pit rentals don't exist and would be outrageously expensive to build...Good news: we came up with an even better idea!

Even with all of the NYC excitement, I was able to make progress on the final painting for Gator Wrestlin'...

Gator Wrestlin' in progress

This has been a really fun painting to work on so far. I haven't blocked in Floyd yet, or really started to work on the intense lighting. I have mostly been solidifying the composition, and trying to preserve the feel from the first sketch. I am struggling with the paradox of trying to make the paint look labored over in an accidental way. That is, I have been keeping the speed up when applying the paint, while also trying to keep very accurate drafting...I hope that working this way will keep a "seeing the straw" carnival feel, without looking like a depressing critique of gypsy aesthetics...

DIAMOND DEAD OPENS IN NYC THIS FRIDAY!!! AND GATOR WRESTLIN'!!

Skulvis loves NYC and DIAMOND DEAD

There has been a lot of press coverage for the FringeNYC DIAMOND DEAD show already...mostly on websites like DeadCentral.com, IMDB, Shocktillyoudrop.com, Fangoria, Bloodydisgusting.com, Newgothcity.com, just to name a few...But you didn't need convincing...True Diamond Dead fans have already gotten their rotted corpses up to NYC and are camped outside Dixon Place as we speak...

Other than the many promotional engagements around town (everything from being part of the "Good Morning America" sidewalk crowd, to sit-in jam sessions on "Variety Power Hour"...) here are the times you can see them at Dixion Place as part of the FringeNYC festival:
See you in the BIG APPLE!

In, er, local news, I have started the second in the fledgling series of Daredevil Monkey paintings yesterday. It is in the early stages of development, but I think that the watercolor sketch I made is good enough to let you loyal readers of BTT get a sneak peek:

Gator Wrestlin' Sketch
Watercolor on Sketchbook paper, 6"x7 1/2"

I am hopeful about this series, because it really seems to touch a nerve for me. I guess its all of the cartoons when I was a kid, but I like the idea of these two monkeys out there trying to make a buck by doing stunts...Fearless and Floyd are their working names (I also like Ace and Orville) but I don't think I will actually ever name them in the final paintings...

I have started the painting for Gator Wrestlin' and it is going quite well. One of the big changes to the composition that is emerging so far is that I have put a spotlight on Fearless, that is casting a shadow of him and the gator on the tent in the background. This will also turn the lights down in the painting, which will make the whole thing a bit more theatrical, and increase the contrast. Contrast is good, because I think I may have discovered (after all this time) what kind of painter I am...I do very well in a velvet setting. That is, I seem to paint best when the lights have been turned down very low, and all I am doing is painting with the highlights...like a velvet painting. Of course, I'll probably change my mind soon enough (because, really, the watercolor above is pretty successful, and it's not as contrasty as a velvet...) once I get some more monkeys-in-the-half-dark out of my system...

CANNONBALL MONKEY!

That's right folks, the kid is back! And he's paintin' monkeys! Its been a long time coming (LEECH!, the last formal painting, excluding the cut luan installation I created for Artomatic, was finished in December of 2008!) and it feels great to get the little buggers out of my head on on to the canvas. Without further adieu, I present the first in a series (I hope) of new monkey paintings:

CANNONBALL!
Acrylic on Board, 16"x20"
(as always, click on the photo for larger view)

I think I will be working on a few more of these daredevil monkeys in the near future...watch this space...

The other events of this past week largely revolve around Landless' announcement of the 2009-2010 season: "Season of the Damned"

EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL

Directed by Melissa Baughman

Choreography by Karissa Swanigan

Frederick Preview: October 2 and 3

Shows: October 9 - Nov 8 (16)

FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER AND THE HOLY MUG OF GROG

Shows: Dec. 11, 12, 18, 19, 26 and Jan 1

FREDERICK SHOWS: January 8 and 9

HIGH FIDELITY THE MUSICAL

Frederick Preview: Feb. 12 and 13

Shows: Feb 18 - Mar 14

PEREZ HILTON SAVES THE UNIVERSE

Frederick Preview: April 30 and May 1

Shows: May 7-June 3 (16)

ROCK BOTTOM (CAPITAL FRINGE)

Frederick Preview: July 2 and 3

Of course this announcement comes directly on the heels of the FringeNYC production of

Diamond Dead!

If Aria is this stoked about performing in a tent, then I cant wait to see them in NYC!!!!
Oh, and check out this video...it may be instrumental in planning your FringeNYC itinerary...

But what the announcement of "season of the damned" really means is that we are actually going to be doing these shows...so I have made myself useful this week and I have made scale drawings of the DCAC space, and some accompanying "stitched" photos to use for designing purposes:

Scale Floorplan...

Stitched photo of stage from House Left...

Stitched photo from House Right...

Of course all of this preparation is really for EVIL DEAD the MUSICAL...which I sent along a preliminary sketch of this week:

Preliminary Sketch for EVIL DEAD the MUSICAL
Landless Theatre Company

Boy this was an active week! I should also mention that we saw the opening of a new wine bar on 10th street called Room 11, we are all very excited about it!

New tile floor in Room 11

When I was not swilling wine this week, it seemed like I was at a production meeting...the first one was for the upcoming Dominion Stage show, REEFER MADNESS
"What? Jared is designing the set for REEFER MADNESS? I wonder if I can get invited to one of his 'research' parties..."

The other production meeting this week was for SPOOKTACULAR X. Those of you who have been around the block a few times know that Artbyjared Labs (Team Spooktacular? whatever we call ourselves...) throw a kick ass Halloween party every year...well we pinned down a theme for this years shin-dig: X Marks the Spot! "Wha?" you may be saying to yourself...Well, this is our tenth Halloween party in DC...so we decided to celebrate the decade by using the roman numeral X as our jumping off point...so start thinking about those costumes...keep an eye out for anything that sorta says "treasure hunter, sleuth, pirate, or squirrel..." (but, like an evil squirrel...)

EVIL PLANS....

Sorry kids, lots going on, but not much to show for it this week...Still in evil planning mode...

Because of the delays that US Airways created this weekend, I had a few bonus days with the in-laws...so, lots of home improvement projects, but not many pictures to show for it.

I suppose that this is as good a time as any to (quietly) announce that Landless Theatre Company has secured the rights and is 80% certain that their next show will be....EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL!!!! (woot!) So, clear you entire October calendar, because I am declaring October, Scenery Appreciation Month!!!

Mie N Yu...all three of us...

The long awaited Mie N Yu silk road event that I produced the Terra Cotta Warriors (remember them?) for arrived this past Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised at the reception they received (as well as pleasantly surprised how well the Red Bull armor came out...expertly applied by Charles Lawrance)
They were being photographed by a really neato "photo booth" technology, provided by AMG (Alternative Marketing Group) which would take four pictures, and then automatically send the photo to my email...

KT and I help stand guard at Mie N Yu

And yet another week rolls by and yet another Diamond Dead show comes around...this week will be your last chance to catch them before they go to NYC for the FingeNYC. They will be playing Friday night in FredROCK (Frederick MD) you can get all of the details here.

With the close of the 2009 DC fringe, comes yet another accolade for Diamond Dead...this year we have received "Favorite Musical at DCFringe" by popular vote on DC Theater Scene (thank you devoted dead public...we couldn't have done it without you!)

This week also saw the first production meeting for Hope Operas (I will help transform the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street into an 80 seat theater every week...how do I get myself into these things?)...what is Hope Operas, you ask?

Some of DC's finest theatre artists are coming together this Fall to produce Hope Operas, six serialized shows that will be raising money for various causes. Each week each serial will present a 15-minute (or two back-to-back 7 1/2 minute) episode(s). The audience will be invited to vote for their favorite serial and based on audience response moneys will be distributed to the serial's beneficiaries.

The Hope Operas are:

20 MILLION BREASTSTROKES TO EARTH

by Chris Griffin

directed by Tom Mallan

benefiting The Mautner Project @ Whitman-Walker

LARRY & THE WEREWOLF

by Jeff Goode

directed by Andrew Baughman

benefiting The Association of Retarded Citizens

THE LONG WEIGHT

by Kathleen Akerley

directed by Brian Smith

beneficiary pending

NIGHTS AT ST. JANUARIUS

by Kerri Sheehan

directed by Catherine Tripp

benefiting the Blood Bank at Children's National Medical Center

NORMA & MAX

by Jon Gann

directed by Suzie Richard

benefiting The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation

TUESDAY

by Deb Randall

directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

beneficiary pending

SECOND-TO-LAST-CHANCE TO SEE DIAMOND DEAD IN DC AREA BEFORE NYC

I finished the skulls and the header for Diamond Dead just in time for the Saturday show. I believe that it got their mojo back. They had a great audience (which is really important, because this show feeds off of the audience...literally and figuratively...) and there were almost no technical difficulties. The Sunday and the Wednesday 6pm shows went well too (despite the fact that these are some of the worst times of day to see a zombie rock band)...so, in short you have only one more opportunity to see Diamond Dead before they ship off for the NYCfringe....(well, technically, that is not 100% true...they are playing a gig on Friday, July 31 in Frederick MD...but details are still coming in about that gig) If you have any doubts, you should check out this review on the City Paper...

So, here are some up close and personal photos of the Skully additions to the DC Fringe Diamond Dead Set:

"Brains" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

"Fez" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

Here's a composite of all three pieces that I will probably put on to www.artbyjared.com because the photos from inside the tent all came out blurry...

Other exciting news this week includes a step forward for an October project (there are always way too many things going on in October!) that has been percolating for a while now...Hope Operas...It's a set of serialized plays that will be presented every Monday in the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street during the month of October. The audience votes best show every night, and the proceeds go to the charity that is designated by the winning show. I'll be providing minimal scenery, and, er, logistical support...

ABJ productions had a productive meeting with Longview Gallery this week. We are looking into using their (yet to be completed) new space as the venue for Yuri's Night 2010! Things are still in the planning stages, but I am really hopeful that this works out because it is a really cool space, and it would be a really great fit for everyone...keep your fingers crossed!

Speaking of human spaceflight...we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the moon landing last Monday...I am still shocked that there wasn't a parade, or a national holiday...This is arguably just as momentous of an occasion as Columbus discovering America...and we get "Columbus Day" off...why isn't there an "Armstrong" day? I guess you'll just have to save up your celebratory fervor for Yuri's Night 2010!

Lastly, I wanted to mention that we (DC's burlesque scene) are saying goodbye to a great lady tonight...Bambi Bottoms Galore is moving up to NYC and we are having a sendoff for her tonight at the Palace of Wonders...So come on by and lets give her the sendoff she deserves!

Diamond Dead Tent Edition

Apparently the first Diamond Dead show did not go so well. The tent wasn't ready, the speakers were in the absolute wrong place, the projector kept going into sleep mode, etc. (did I mention that it was also the day the press came?)

So, in order to get some of the mojo back, I have decided to contribute a tiny bit more scenery to the tent setup (which is been both a mystery and a hornets nest of rules and regulations this entire time...) Hopefully I can add a bit more visual interest to the stage when the projection is not fired up...

Sketch for Projection Screen Additions, Diamond Dead
Pencil, Photoshop, Watercolor 1"=1'

In a show like this, I think it cant hurt to have a few more skulls...

CAPITAL FRINGE STARTS! GO SEE DIAMOND DEAD AND FICTITIOUS

Sorry for not posting last week...It has been a busy two weeks, so there is a lot of ground to cover...

Capital Fringe Festival 2009 starts up this week, and you should go and get tickets (right now!) to Diamond Dead, and Fictitious. (other Artbyjared approved shows are, Pepe! the mail order monkey musical and Captain Squishy's Yee Haw Jamboree!)

Here's the publicity art and info for Diamond Dead:

Here's the publicity art for Fictitious:



In addition to playing the Capital Fringe Festival in DC, Diamond Dead will be playing the FringeNYC on August 21-24th...they even got this great publicity shot on PLAYBILL.COM!

So, needless to say, you should see Diamond Dead here in DC first, so you can say, "I knew them back when..."

So, I have a few photos to share of the final push to put Fictitious into the theater:

Fictitious Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop

The set in its constituent pieces in the shop...

POW! The fist closeup (its about 4'x8')

The load in went surprisingly smoothly for both shows, so it should bode well for the festival...

On a personal note about the last two weeks, It was a really interesting 4th of July. KT's friends from U of M (Brad and Victoria) came down and provided much of the motivation to do things that, as a local, I don't normally do. We visited the Walter Reed museum, had tickets to a Nats game (in a suite, no less!) and got all of our homies together to see the fireworks from the 8th floor of Artomatic. Not a bad 4th at all...

Nonexiztian flag redesign

I dont have much to post this week because it has been a "building" week...That is, I have spent most of my time building a wall to hang the drop for Fictitious on (really just adding pieces to make the 12'x8' wall into a 16'x10' wall) and priming the drop...so no real pictures there...in fact the only truly artistic thing I have to show for the week is the redesign of the flag for Nonexiztia. Redesign, you say? Why yes. Turns out that both the director and I were caught unawares that the Nonexiztian flag needed to be "Blue, Pink, Fuchsia, Brown, Mustard and Turquoise" (which is just about double the number of colors on any real flag....!) So, I present the new, Nonexiztian flag:

I might also mention that Scenery Appreciation nite for Spooky dog went really well last week, and I'd like to thank everyone (again) for coming out! If you missed it last week, I'd try to get tickets for this Saturday...turns out that the playwright is coming in to see the show...(which is an interesting trifecta for Landless this year...Seems they have had a visit from the playwright for each show they have done this year!)

Near Misses, Fictitious and Red Bull Warriors

So this is a two week post because I missed last weeks window...I've been busy, and also I have not been managing time as efficiently as possible lately...

First, let me remind you that "Scenery Appreciation nite" for Spooky Dog is this Friday (6/19) and all you need to do is go to the Landless website, and order your tickets...put in the coupon code "JARED" and you receive a discount! Plus, you will get a chance to hang out with the set designer after the show, at no additional cost...

Okay, a super brief wrap up of the past two weeks events: First, I was almost killed at Lubber Run Amphitheater while taking lights off of the basket-on-top-of-a-flagpole setup that they have there. Well, turns out that one of them collapsed from under me while I was going up the ladder that was leaning against it. I jumped to the moss covered roof to safety, and lived to tell the tale

Lubber Run Amphitheater...the tower on the right is the one that collapsed...

The force of the tower hitting the wing wall knocked the cinder block cap off...and you can see the tiny moss covered roof I jumped to...the ladder is in the position that they got me down from...

Well there's yer problem...the bottom of the pole had rusted out...

Other events of note that don't have accompanying dramatic pictures are: The David Byrne/Brian Eno concert at Wolf Trap, Rock and Roll at Studio, Looped at the Lincoln, and the Gay Pride Parade

The big monkey off of my back is that I finished the Red Bull Terra-cotta Warriors project. You can see the results below:

Red Bull and MieNyu Terra-Cotta Warriors Photo Ops
Approx 6'x5' (three pieces hinged together, with removable heads) Acrylic on Plywood.

A Baltimore artist, Charles Lawrance, is going to augment these guys with cutout redbull cans...I'll be sure to post pics when MieNyu has their party in late July...

Lastly, I finally put my nose to the grindstone on Fictitious. Fictitious is a play about (essentially) the life and times of Arnold Schwarzenegger...with some additions and subtractions, like his home country "Nonexista" (who's flag I designed for the show)

The Nonexistian flag

Fictitious is going to be one of the two entries for Landless theatre in the Capital Fringe Festival this year. Fortunately its in the Warehouse (which I have plenty of design experience in), but unfortunately, its fringe so there is minimal storage and a measly 15 minutes to set up and break down...so, I have tried my best to overcome those limitations and find a design that expresses the tone of the show while accommodating the 20 scenes it takes place in...(did I mention it was a musical?)

Fictitious Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop, 1"=1'

WAPO Artomatic Article and Spooky Dog opens FRIDAY

Artomatic opened last weekend... you can get a sense of what kind of evening that was from the only acceptable photo in my camera:

JD, Chris Bishop, Scott Brooks and KT at Artomatic opening night

But the real news is that the Washington Post published an article today (Friday, June 5) that mentions Jared in Uber-collector Phillip Barlow's unofficial roundup of artists he likes at Artomatic. You can read the whole article, HERE.

The other big news of the day is that Spooky Dog and the Teenage Mysteries opens tonight at the DCAC! I got a chance to take some shots at last nights final dress rehearsal...

"What? this is parody, you cant sue us!"

The set without pesky actors...The "Clue Caravan"

I like this shot because it seems to be from "Scraggly's" point of view...

Spooky solves another mystery!