Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘acting’

Week 35 of Reed’s Year of Volunteering: Rockville Little Theatre

Posted in Volunteering, tagged , , , , on October 3, 2011| 1 Comment »

Brrr…it’s chilly this morning. Yesterday was the coldest October 2nd ever recorded here in Washington, DC.

I am trying to get caught up with my blog posts – I’m a little behind. Although the posts sometimes get delayed, the volunteering goes on.

This week’s volunteer experience came at the last minute…well, almost! Just before I left for my lunch break at work I decided to check my personal email. In my inbox I found an email from my friend Kevin who was directing a play at Rockville Little Theatre and he was asking if I would be able to play one of the roles that evening. It was Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge which I had seen the previous weekend, but I certainly didn’t know any of the parts that well.

IMG_3981.jpg

Me back stage with Dominique who played my wife in "A View from the Bridge."

As it turns out one of the actors had a last-minute emergency and wouldn’t be able to perform that evening. Although it was very minor part, I was still a bit nervous. That didn’t stop me though and I was on stage just eight short hours later. It’s kind of ironic that this worked out the way it did since I had wanted to audition for this show but couldn’t due to some schedule conflicts.

It was a lot of fun, although a bit awkward since I didn’t know most of the other cast members – I did actually knew a few of them from previous work. As an actor I always feel lucky if the cast forms a bond and becomes its own family. The easy interaction and lively game of Uno back stage let me know that this cast wasn’t lacking camaraderie.

After the show I joined the other actors and went out to the front of the house to say hello and thank the patrons. I was surprised to see a friend of mine, although not as much as she was surprised to see me. “I didn’t know that you were in this show!” she said almost reprimanding me. I gave her a big hug and told her the truth, “I didn’t know either until about eight hours ago.”

Read Full Post »

Update from Day 250: Matt W.

Posted in Not recorded, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 17, 2011| 3 Comments »

By Reed Sandridge, a Kindness Investor and Founder of Year of Giving.

Matt out of costume (courtesy of Faction of Fools)

I thought I would catch you up on a former recipient: Matt from Day 250.  Although I met up with him in February, it somehow seemed appropriate to share this update with you this week since two days ago marked the Ides of March and you might recall Matt was portraying William Shakespeare when I originally met him at an arts festival for children back in August of 2010.

My recent encounter with Matt was at a fundraiser he was throwing to try to raise money for his nonprofit theatre company called Faction of Fools, which focuses on Commedia delle’Arte.  Commedia del what?  It’s a genre of theatre characterized by its use of masks, improvisation, physical comedy, and recognizable character types – all characters are based off of four specific types of characters.  You can find more information here.

As I walked in the door of the Gala Carnavale I was greeted by one of the characters who announced in a thunderous voice to all the other guests, “Welcome Lord Sandridge.”  I thought I was special for about a minute when the front door opened and two more people came in and their names were also proudly announced as well.  I was fitted with a mask and then saw Matt, who was wearing a suit instead of a costume.  I took off my mask to say hello.  He looked a little tired which is reasonable right?  He’s been working his but off to pull this event together.

And it was not only going on here in Washington, but all over the world.  February 25th is Commedia delle’Arte day.  What the heck is that you might ask? Well, “It’s the ‘birthday’ of professional theatre,” Matt explained.  “On February 25, 1545, a troupe under the leadership of Ser Maphio signed the first contract of theatrical incorporation in Padua, Italy.”

“For the first time in history there are celebrations on every continent,” he shared with a glowing smile.  Yep, even the winter-over crew of Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica was also hosting a celebration.  Matt had been busy!

That's Matt under that mask performing The Great One-Man Commedia Epic

The evening was a huge success.  There were some amazing items to bid on in the silent auction, delicious food and drink and of course, a sampling of theatrical pieces that they have been performing.  I tried pretty hard to get some of the items in the silent auction, but I ended up getting outbid.

For those of you in DC, keep a look out for Faction of Fools.  Their performances are a lot of fun.  As I was writing this up I saw that Matt is doing his signature piece, The Great One-Man Commedia Epic, this Sunday at The Corner Store.  It’s pretty wild.  Matt plays all 12 characters!

Oh, I almost forgot.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Be careful if you are out and about tonight.  It’s amateur drinking night.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when our newest Kindness Investor, Sibyl from Brentwood, TN, starts her seven days of giving.

Read Full Post »

Day 145 – Peter A.

Posted in Alcohol, Food & Beverage, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2010| 2 Comments »

For those of you who have not seen the CNN report, check it out.  Reporter David Banks put together a really nice piece.

Last Saturday I met up with a journalism student from the University of Maryland who was doing a story on the Year of Giving.  Ruben and I met her near the Dupont Circle Metro stop and walked over to the circle.  It was pretty busy and Ruben was excited to see all the people and fellow dogs out enjoying the day.  I ran into Danny Harris from Day 64 in the center of the circle.  

Shortly thereafter I spotted Peter under a shaded tree reading a biography of the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.  Peter is an Actor living in the East Village of NYC.  Originally from Louisville, KY, he studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and then moved to The Big Apple.

Originally drawn to the stage by Shakespearean plays, now Peter is focusing most of his energy on some short films.  He shared with me a the link to a rough cut of one that he recently finished…he’s very good in it, check it out!

So you may be wondering why the heck Peter is 250 miles away from his home sitting under a tree reading about Hitchcock.  As it turns out his sister lives in DC and was performing one of the lead roles in The Marriage of Figaro at the Kennedy Center this week and he came down to watch her.  She was working during the day, so he was just relaxing seeing a bit of the city.  

Peter contemplated the $10.  He said that it would probably get spent on some bourbon, beers, or maybe some food.  Later he told me, “Maybe I’ll do something else with it…all these other people have done something amazing with it, so who knows.”

He had more time to kill and I probably didn’t help the chances of my money being passed forward as I showed him where the Brickskeller Pub was.  We said our goodbyes and thanked one another.

Here is some footage of him being interviewed by the University of Maryland journalist as well as a few of my own questions.  The wind is really bad…sorry.  It actually blew over my Flip camera at one point!

Read Full Post »