And We Shall March

Molly Prather Is So Bad Ass They Need To Invent A Word To Describe Her. You Have Several Chances To See Her Perform! DO IT.

Once the editing is done and ready to go out,* the Kickstarter backers who chose either dvd or download option of the full ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! will see, at the end, a bit where I call a stunning white woman up on stage, introduce her, and then literally shove her off the stage before I started crying. Happily, she didn't turn around and punch me for flinging her off my stage!

That woman is Molly Prather. She is the one who taught me how to put together not just a solo show, but an honest solo show (there's a difference). I learned of her when I started training at iO West,** and if there is one thing among many I am most grateful for about iO, it's meeting Molly. She not only gave me the tools I needed to begin serious pursuit of V.2 of the life I truly want, but the confidence to believe it's possible.

Secret Fact 1: My original plan with D40FT was to write it and hire someone else to perform it. When I told Molly, she said No. Actually, she said Hell No. Secret Fact 2: There are items in the 2010 first version of D40FT - and more in the (award-nominated) 2011 second version - that I put in only because of Molly's subtle, relentless pursuit of dragging you past your ego, through the dark to the truth, for the benefit of the the work. Secret Fact 3: It is because of all that, because of Molly's fearless example, that I am trying to go one more step toward honesty and truth for my second show, tenatively titled My Suicide Year.***  I am terrified, but I got Molly. I can do it.

Molly is a fearless, award-winning writer and actress. She is vicious smart, wicked with insight, and deadly hilarious. Check out the anecdote I shared about her last year, where you will also find my fave picture of her. Her teaching goes beyond the classroom; by watching how she's out there doing the #HustleHard; listening to her keen advice when I go to her with OMG WHAT DO I DO; and observing her direct efforts to support other women performers in a Not For Yourself Alone sense, she's giving me a template. Just by going through her life in the way she does, and sharing real-world facts about this alien world I'm entering, she's teaching me How To Do It Without Compromise Or Being A Dick.

Molly is amazing. I owe her. The only way I can truly pay her back is by working my ass off, hustling hard and putting my work out there to the best of my ability. For me, Molly is like Kathleen Goonan, so in a way I've got two mentors. Fuck am I lucky!

This month and next Molly is performing a solo show, an improv show, and two storytelling shows at venues throughout Los Angeles, which means you have several chances to see how awesome she is as a performer. Here's where you can find Molly on stage in the near future:

• Sept. 17 (tomorrow) @ iO West, 10:30 p.m.: Host of Dr. God Revival, where Molly will tell true tales from her life, and then a bunch of people will improvise off of them.
• Sept. 22 @ iO West, F*ck Marry Kill, 8 p.m.: One of her amazing solo shows, which I have seen a few times and will see again, cuz it's that' good.
• Oct. 1 @ the Improv Lab, 10:30 p.m.: At the CREEPSHOW, where she will share a story about being stalked.
• Oct. 2 @Bar Lubitsch, 8 p.m.: Where she will share a story at the Ladies Only Sunday Night Sex Stories.

She was recently interviewed at Comediva. The answer she gave to the first question still has me giggling. Check her out at her Tumblr as well!

 * Man o man what's involved after the fundraising is done ... but it could be because of my particular incentive set. Will add these lessons to the What I Learned Using Kickstarter post to come.

** Which I have not yet completed because I'm broke, but I swear I will finish. I really, really, really love and want to do live improv, to the point that I don't care that I'm starting late with all of this, and don't care about all that comes with dealing with being far older than most of the people in my classes / that theater / bar culture. I also want to obtain my iO West certificate of completion for personal reasons. Actually, I don't know what they give you once you finish. I just want to finish.

*** Yeah. That's the title. Don't be alarmed! If I pull this off, it won't be depressing. However, it's kind of a mess right now, so I will be returning to Molly's classroom in the future for her unique guidance. I'm aiming for #HFF12 with this one, but we'll see...

I Do Have My Moments Of GENIUS

I just figured out just the right wrapping paper for the backer items.

Materials will be collected next week.

"Wrapping paper" should probably be in quotes.

Heh.

! Death 40-Feet Tall ! @ The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011 - It Ain't Over Yet

Well. That was just AWESOME.

Thanks to the generous donations of the Kickstarter 106, I was able to do nine official shows and one bonus preview show. I lost nine pounds during the festival and, at the very end, my voice. On Monday I slept for 17 hours. Maybe 18. I forget. All I know for sure is I am grateful to all involved and thrilled and so forth.

Also:

• My show was nominated for the Fringe Award for Theater, the only solo show to be nominated in that category. (!!!)
  
  • I didn't know until I showed up at the tent for closing night festivities and they told me. I promply burst into tears.***
  • When I was standing outside the tent going WTF, Ben, the festival director, walked by and gently mocked "O hey, there's Pam freaking out." Which made me laugh and stop freaking out.***

• My show was selected to be part of the Best of Fringe Solo Festival, which will happen in August. (!!!)
  
  • All of us selected for the solo festival are being given a limited extended run gratis by the theater owners who served as jury. Which means if you missed my show in June, you will have one more chance to see in August!

There are two Best of Fringe programs this year. What's awesome is this gives you a chance to see stuff that you probably missed, or take in something one more time that you loved. BoF general takes place in July, BoF solo will happen in August. Once details are available for both I'll share them here because I want you to go see these fab shows!

I'll put the Official Thank You List in its own post later this weekend. For now, here's a blurry picture of Itty Bitty Optimus Prime beneath the disco ball at Fringe Central during closing night festivities.

Read this awesome oral history of Michael Bay in GQ magazine!

I still miss him every day.

*** My official excuse is I was exhausted and hadn't eaten for, like, two weeks. Normally it's rare for me to cry. On the upside, people bought me drinks!

*** Freaking out is part of my Process. I need a new Process.

! Death 40-Feeet Tall ! @ The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011 - LA Stage Times "First Person"

Idiot Girl Strikes Again forgot to post this yesterday when it went live over at LA Stage Times, one of the news outlets covering all things theater in Los Angeles. There's just so much going on at once.

I left out the part about how I was curled in a ball weeping in the arms of a nice lady with even more awesome dreads than mine after seeing "The Ballad of Emmett Till" last year at the Fountain - only to find out later that that nice lady was the director. Just now it hits me I should have maybe put that in there. But I did Twit it at the time it happened! That counts, right? #D'oh

Snippet!

When I was a kid, Mom took me to see my very first live play at Karamu House in Cleveland. I don’t remember the name of the play, but it had something to do with talking animals in Africa and a young herdsman. What I remember is that it was so bright and so right there and so very much fun. When we yelled or squealed at the action on stage, sometimes the herdsman turned to the audience and let us know he knew we were there, before turning back into the world he was living for us on the stage. That sort of thing never happened when watching movies or television. Ever.

Thanks to the Kickstarter 106, I'm doing 10 shows during the festival. We're down to the final four. I feel like I'm in a marathon drenched with adrenaline and exhaustion but sort of not wanting it to end...except for the part where I can't wait for the part to be able to eat again.

I'm on deck again today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Come see! If you come Sunday, we're doing the second filming of that one. First filming was opening night, which you probably don't care about but I'm tired and typing without thought.

Background here!

Tickets (pay what you can) here!

Big picture of the Fringe here!

! Death 40-Feet Tall ! @ The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011 - Reviews Are Coming In

I'm halfway through my 10-show run at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and reviews are starting to come in! My plan is to link to any reviews as they come in without comment - no matter what they say - so I can have a record, and so you can decide for yourself.

#HFF11 takes the same open invitation approach to  reviews as it does to the entire festival. Internally, any audience member who goes to the show can register on the site (they tend to be registered anyway because that's how you buy your show tickets) and then post their thoughts after. Those audience reviews go up for all to see, untouched.

Other reviews that you happen to find by, say, obsessively hunting for them? You're free to put a URL to it on your Fringe site if you want.

I'm just gonna put whatever I find here.

This post will be updated as needed at random when I have the time, and if more come in.

Snippets from audience members who have reported in on the site so far (click for the whole):

• Noles is passionate and engaging, drawing everyone into her world whether they relate to being a geek or not. ! Death at 40 Feet Tall ! is an experience to remember.

• What’s more striking is the beautiful message of what it truly means to find your All-Spark and become a Prime that she manages to skillfully weave into her tale without drubbing her audience over the head with it.

• Pam delivers her stories with wit and insight that will have you chuckling if not laughing out loud.

• I haven’t had many words of praise for Michael Bay in the past, but Pam Noles’ engaging and enthusiastic storytelling has me appreciating him a little more.

Snippet from LA Theater Review (click for the whole):

• Theater has the power to translate and transform the anguish of the human soul. In ! Death 40-Feet Tall!, former Cop Reporter Pam Noles does just that.

I'm on deck again today, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Come see for yourself, pay what you can, and add your voice to the snippet links!

Background here!

Tickets (pay what you can) here!

Big picture of the Fringe here!

After I ... um ... liberated this fantastic Bloody Mary below from the person it actually belonged to on Sunday afternoon, Itty Bitty Optimus Prime stepped in. Oh, the Guilt.

 

 
It turns out that Abbie, the food and beverage coordinator and Mistress of Bryan's Bar, reigns supreme in more than sangrias!

 

 

And While I Was Wandering In The Wilderness

Amos was throwing down! Looks like he got some help in the shop.

Why yes, I am super excited to bring ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! back to the Hollywood Fringe Festival and busking everybody with my postcards!!

But for now, a day of sleep.

Roll out!

Answer To The Fourth Most Commonly Emailed Question About My Kickstarter Effort To Bring ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! To The Hollywood Fringe Festival, And Also I Squee A Bit

UPDATE: If you're just now joining us CLICK HERE FIRST.

What will the posters and postcards look like?

I have no idea, because that's entirely his decision. How Amos rolls is you tell him what words you need on the posters and your deadline, you pay him, and he will take it from there. I learned a very long time ago elsewhere that when you discover an artist with A-Game you trust him and you get the fuck out of his way. My assumption is the 2011 posters will not look like the 2010 posters, but that's it. All I know is that they will be  gorgeous!

(Note, the pasted on HFF logo in some of the pictures is entirely due to something I screwed up due to 101 Learning Curve ignorance, requiring me to damage the posters selected for posting in the Wild. That mistake won't happen again this year.)

I very much hope I get to see what he creates, because the only way that will happen is if this Kickstarter effort reaches 100%. Which brings us to the SQUEE portion of this post...

WILL YOU LOOK AT THIS SCREENCAP! JUST LOOK AT IT! OMG!

That screen shot means I AM ALMOST THERE!!! Truthfully, part of me is stunned that an unknown such as Moiself got this far, but I'm also extremely proud that all of my very hard work behind the scenes got me this far. Now I've got six days to somehow, from somewhere, pull in the final $1,471 needed to meet the finish line. How Kickstarter works is all-or-nothing. You come up $1 short? That means you don't get any of it.

I'm working these final days hard behind the scenes to get there. Know that, please. I'm not sitting on my tush waiting for miracles.

I might not succeed with this first attempt to step up my game and produce a show at a professional level, but I am not afraid to try, and possibly fail, in public. This part - the raise the money part - is intrisic to the process. If I am too afraid to talk about it then I have no business stepping out on a stage to begin with.

I'm also hoping that more people claim the $25 (or above) incentive, because for that one (or above) I'm going to write custom micro short stories on the back of the posters based on the three- to five-word prompt provided by individual donors. Gotta say, I'm *seriously* looking forward to doing that! How do you write a good story for people you don't know? I've written micro shorts for people I know, but never for strangers. I want to meet the challenge.

Okay, I gotta go Roll The Fuck Out now. And also look at the email my Mom sent about the video. My god, that woman is the greatest source material in the history of the universe.

Answers to the other three most commonly-asked questions here.

More later & xo.

Answers To The Three Most Commonly Emailed Questions About My Kickstarter Effort To Bring ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! To The Hollywood Fringe Festival

You're reading in that video. Do you stand in one spot behind a podium for an hour and read at us?

No. Rant 'n Rave, like many of the storytelling shows in the area (that I know about), are reading shows primarily designed to give writers a platform. Yes, actors do often participate, but whatever they show up with is something they have actually written. For storytelling shows the producers prefer that you stand there and read something from the page. Which is great, because it allows you to try out lots of new material. (For me, it's also supremely good practice for down the road when I go on book tour.) For ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! I am "off book"*** and I actually move around quite a bit.

You didn't say how much of the Kickstarter funds you keep for yourself?

None. As detailed in the pitch, all of it goes to cover the production costs. If this works and I am able to mount the show, I get paid months from now after the Fringe is over. How much I get then depends on how successful I am in the second round of work - getting butts in seats - and whatever deal to split the house worked out with my venue.

What is a showcase?

Yeah, I had never heard of the term either until last year. It's a different type of thing than what I'm doing.

*** That's the Theater People term for "memorized"!

Background (with bonus video and more links) or just skip to the Kickstarter page itself.

Eight days to go! Woo!

 

I Have No Idea If I Can Raise $2,361 Within The Next 12 Days

UPDATE: If you're just now joining us CLICK HERE FIRST.

--

But I'm sure as hell going to try, because I want ever so much to return to the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June with my show ! Death 40-Feet Tall ! but can't unless I raise the full production cost of $4,100 ahead of time. I'm using Kickstarter to do that. My campaign ends March 15 at 11 p.m. eastern standard time. That's 12 days from right now.

If you've been reading my homeport for a while, you know I can write. But I'm asking you to part with hard-earned dollars in this scarcity economy so that I can do something most of you reading have never seen me do.

So!

I give you 10 minutes, 56 seconds of my debut at Rant 'n Rave last month, in which I perform a freshly-minted story I was still tweaking moments before I had to get on stage (full background on that can be read here):

Like it? Go to my Kickstarter page, check out the awesome incentive offers, pick one and donate! Send the link to everybody you know who might be interested and ask them to do the same. Here's a handy guide to the sorts of people you can share the link with.

And now I'm off to prep for tonight's performance at WordSaladLA. I'll be doing a piece about my prom, and if I can figure out the itty bitty camera, recording it for use as a dvd extra for my Kickstarter backers.

Thank you!

Further context: One thing that makes me giggle in that vid is the Lone Voice In The Darkness shouting WOO when the host says my name. That was a shout-out from the one friend I had sitting in that audience (of what turned out to be more like 200 people), who showed up for the event even though I had not told him or anybody else local about it...for reasons that are Stupid. Turned out he's on the venue's mailing list, and so he showed up to support. My friend showed up to WOO Support at me, not knowing if what would come next would suck or not ... and video evidence shows It Did Not Suck, actually. That's what friends are for! I <heart> my friends.

Also, check this out, which popped up SEO-style on the siderail of my YouTube page. #hee

 

Up To Something

And having a great time, no matter the ultimate result!

Vuvuzela, itty bitty Optimus Prime, class ring.

#yay