Whatitdo?

We're down to a little under two weeks until go time, and things are kicking into overdrive. Right now I am splitting my time between rehearsal, promoting the show, and the Clark Kent job, and getting a little sleep in there when I can. In case you haven't noticed, we have a new header at the top of the blog as well as a classy new logo. I like them both, a lot. When I look at them, they say "Hey I'm a hip new theatre company; watch me, buy tickets to see my shows, and donate to me". I think it's the door. The door says it all. Once again, we owe these wonderments of design to the graphic prowess of Chelsea Aldrich. It's a lot better that the GIS and MS Paint hack job I did originally.

We finally got our posters and postcards in, and will be papering the town in the following days. If anyone wants some promo materials or know of a place we should put them, then by all means, holla. Also, if anyone out there would like to volunteer, we could use ushers and ticket takers, and people to dance for our entertainment during the tech-in. Volunteers will receive a free, prison-style, amateur tattoo from Will Morgan, as well as a monster taco. Please, keep getting the word out, and come see Mud. Everything's coming up Doorman!

Getting muddier

Man, that old expression sure is true. Time sure flies when you're under an inordinate amount of pressure to assure the high quality of every facet of a theatrical production as well as alert the public to its existence and convince them that they will somehow be enriched by their presence at said production, all in an extraordinarily minute time allotment. I'm not too worried. I do hope that people show up, however. I can't imagine performing this show to an empty house every night. Please help out and spread the word. If you are reading this, consider it a chain letter. If you approach 50 strangers and tell them to come see Mud, then good fortune will come your way. An angel will follow you for three days, pooping lollipops, or something of that nature. If you're on the Facebook, join the Doorman Actors Lab group. Go to the Mud Facebook event page and click that you'll attend, then send some invitations out. If you want some posters or postcards, or know somewhere to put them, holla. We're going to be doing some good work and I think it should be a positive contribution to the local theatre scene as well as initiate some dialogue regarding the style we are trying to promote. The trick is getting people there to see it.





Speaking of the local theatre scene, it has been a pretty active summer in Houston. This weekend sees the closing of Mildred's Umbrella production of Last Easter and Texas Repertory Theatre Company's Thoroughly Modern Millie. Also playing this weekend are The Catastrophic Theatre's Tamarie Cooper Show, The 10 x 10 festival at Country Playhouse, The Freneticore Fringe Festival, and the Bootown's Grown-Up Storytime on Tue. night. I'm sure I'm leaving someone out, and I'm not even mentioning the big kids. This is a huge, eclectic community of artists that Houston audiences are supporting. Granted, there could always be more support and it would be good to see more new faces in the audience and more crossing over of audiences. But there is a diversity present in the theatre community here that we should collectively celebrate; so many different theatres serving so many different audiences. I wish I had the time and the money to see everything, but alas, I have none of the former and little of the latter. I always get confused as to which is which on the former and latter thing, but it works either way.



I hope that there is room in this crowded collective for us to find a niche. Ideally, we want to produce shows that challenge audiences, but we don't want to drive them away. There was a time that I only wanted to do work so confrontational that the ultimate success would be to drive the audience to flee the theatre in indignation and rage. But where would it go from there? Unless one could come up with some ultimate message, one that an audience would only need to hear once and have their lives forever changed, what's the point in driving them away? It seems to be the equivalent of calling someone Nazis or Fascists in an argument: it ends the dialogue immediately and invalidates any point that follows. So it is a fine line that must be walked. Confront the audience, make them consider something they may not want to, but entice them to make the consideration.
Doorman is striving to work following the philosophy and ideas put forth by Howard Barker. Whereas many playwrights wish for a single shared, collective response from the audience, Barker believes a fragmented response is ideal. We shouldn't work to manipulate an audience. We should simply present the actions on the stage and let the observers take from it what they will.

"To chant together, to hum banal tunes together, is not collectivity."
-Howard Barker

Barker coined the term "Theatre of Catastrophe" for his brand of theatre and these are the principles we work with (unless we break them, in which case we probably meant it in an ironic way, which would violate the rules anyway unless we...forget it. We just admire the dude.) We hope to continue what Barker set forth as well as evolve with his ideas and develop our own tradition. If there is one thing I hope everyone takes from this it is this idea: come see our show. Seriously. I'll get you some Teddy-Grahams, and an EctoCooler. Just come. Rant over.

Here are a couple of links for those who aren't familiar with Mud or Fornes. Make sure to read all pertinent material as there will be a test.

The Fornes Wiki entry

A little about the Play (spoiler alert)

We have been working hard to produce our first show, Mud by Maria Irene Fornes. The rights are secured, the space is rented, and the director and actors are all lined up, so it looks like we just might have a show. Oh, and check out the poster! That swank number there was photographed and designed by Chelsea Aldrich. Check out her work here.

Oh and before I forget:

WARNING

Mud contains explicit language and strong sexual content

Okay. Now that that's taken care of...

Mud is being directed by Liz Lacy. Liz has been directing over at San Jacinto College South for the last couple of years. She received an award of excellence in directing from the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival regional competition for San Jac's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan. She was then invited to direct Nu Shu at the Kennedy Center as part of the A.C.T.F New Works Festival. Liz is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Design at The University of Houston. Doorman is seriously lucky to have Liz and she knows this as evidenced by her commitment to making all cast members run laps and do push-ups as punishment for backtalk and "eyeballin" her.
The Designer for Mud is Sheleigh Carmichael, head of the San Jacinto South Theatre Dept. Sheleigh has gone above and beyond in helping with the set, props, rehearsal space, and overall guidance. Doorman is forever in her debt (literally and figuratively) for all she's done.

Mud features Lydia Lara, Will Morgan, and Ricky Welch.

Lydia has been involved in the theatre from an early age, appearing in productions of The Lion King and Hercules (among others) in Mexico City and Juarez. She continued to pursue an acting career at San Jacinto College South and then earned her B.A. in Theatre at Brock University in St. Catherines ON. There, she appeared as Tituba in Arthur Miller's The Crucible In An Age of Terror, directed by Gyllian Raby. She found her way back to Houston where she is an active member of the growing theatre community. Most recently she appeared in a post-modern adaptation of the classic opera Armide, produced by Mercury Baroque at the Wortham Center and directed by Pascal Rambert. Lydia has a cat named Lilly, misses Yummy Korean BBQ in Toronto, and gets hooked into movies playing on TV if they are in the least bit interesting and then feels compelled to watch the whole thing.

Will is a Houstonian, born and raised. He studied drama at San Jacinto College South, and SUNY Purchase, finally ending up at Brock University. There he appeared in Arthur Miller's The Crucible In An Age of Terror and Paul Thompson's Border Collective. In Houston, Will has appeared in Main Street Youth Theatre's Taming of the Shrew and Lend Me a Tenor at Texas Repertory. Will has also worked with Nova Arts Project, appearing in The Bacchae and The Conduct Of Life. In 2007, Will performed a season of summer stock at the Lillian Russell theatre on the Clinton Area Showboat in Clinton, Iowa where he appeared in Guys and Dolls and You Can't Take It With You, among others. Most recently Will was featured in Armide with Mercury Baroque. Will enjoys entertainingly bad movies, being a foodie/food snob, griping about The Rockets. In his Clark Kent job he works in commercial debt collection.

Ricky Welch is a practicing Jedi. His talent on stage is only matched by his mystery. Ricky is the ultimate enigma and when he happens, there will be no survivors.

Ricky grew up in The Woodlands, Texas area where he was cast as a swindler in a Third Grade production of The Emperor's New Clothes. This pretty much sums up his theatre career. He has continued to con and connive his way into roles and the spotlight as much as he can. His next role was in Fourth Grade where a co-”actress” skipped his cue line in a production of some show (tittle forgotten) about the history of Texas. Ricky was allowed to give his line, after much crying and caterwauling to the audience from center stage. The crowd erupted with hearty applause and Ricky was hooked. He went on to work with many Houston area theatre groups including Woodlands Community Theatre, Dramatic Fury, Actor's Workshop, Actor's Theatre of Houston, Three Legged Dog, Houston House, Diverse Works, Curtains!, Chocolate Bayou Theater, Theatre Collide, Gray Wolf Theatre, Country Playhouse, Stage Door Inc., Mercury Baroque and Ornery Theatre. A few of Ricky's favorite roles have been Athos in The Three Musketeers, the Matron in Women Behind Bars , Polonius in Hamlet, various roles in The Laramie Project, various roles in Danton's Death, Lamar in Godspell and junky Jerry in Strange Attractors. He was last seen in Company On Stage's version of The Little Mermaid as the Sea King. Ricky has performed as a vocalist practically every style of music known. (Maybe not every style, like Tuvan Throat Singing but a lot. He has tried to chant like the Gyuto Monks and doesn't think he vibrated his skull enough to cause any real damage. You can decide.) He achieved very moderate success with the bands Bag Of Tricks, Spontaneous Combustion, Maverick Chinamen, The Mushroom Tribe, Static Ecstasy and The Good Luck Band. Ricky was also the Co-Host, with ex-wife actress Leighza Walker of the sex and relationship radio talk show Hot and Bothered Radio for 4 years before being canceled due to being too risque. (Something about bestiality gets folks all antsy!) Ricky resides in the Oak Forest area of Houston and spends his time managing a candy store, playing guitar (poorly, he says) and entertaining his four children Clarity(18), Chloe(15), Cassidy(11) and Rider(8). Lastly Ricky is a practicing Jedi. (He has actually been to Skywalker Ranch and eaten lunch in the same room with George Lucas. He is also still very sad he didn't lunge at him and profess that he needed Ricky as a creature for his Star Wars saga but he was a good boy and did as he was told.) His talent on stage is only matched by his mystery. Ricky is the ultimate mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma and when he happens, there will be no survivors!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the blog for Doorman Actors Lab! This will serve as the information hub for all things Doorman related.

Doorman Actors Lab is (for now) Lydia Lara and Will Morgan. We are dedicated to providing a place for local actors to practice their craft in roles they may not be considered for elsewhere. We will provide venues, directors, and scripts to serve the actor and offer a safe laboratory in which to test themselves. We wish to produce modern classics, new works and a myriad of performance styles to expanding the dialogue between the audience and the performer. We wish to challenge the audience's expectations regarding race, gender, and social status as it relates to the characters and the play. We will produce comedy and tragedy and twist them until they are one and the same. Doorman Actors Lab will subvert the theatrical establishment as we build a new tradition. But first we need to produce a show...