PERSONAL Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!
As Chelsey and I were walking from Chipotle to Millennium Park yesterday afternoon, we passed a swank Chicago downtown hotel (The Hotel Burnham). Chelse and I have started having lunch together downtown on Tuesdays. I figured Tuesday was a good day because, by Wednesday, you're already thinking about Friday and the weekend. But nothing good happens Tuesdays... that is, until we decided to eat lunch together. Regardless, Chelsey and I were walking from Chipotle to Millennium Park and while we were passing the Hotel Burnham, I noticed a man in blue jeans on a cell phone. When he turned to me, I almost gasped aloud: John Malkovich. He had about a day or twos worth of stubble, which was white and sparse... and his head was shaved but had the same amount of stubble up top as well. But, sure as the sunshine, it was Malkovich. I told Chelsey to look, but when she looked back, she didn't see him. In retrospect, we think we should have been annoying and asked for autographs and pictures... but we didn't do either. We did, in fact, spend the next three blocks trying to convince our girlfriends that we had just seen John Malkovich. And by "we" I mean "I."
PERSONAL Writing Five Show Number Three Begins
Monday night was my first rehearsal of the new writing five show in which I was cast. This is the first writing five show that I've been cast in which isn't being directed by Joe... and I think I already miss him. For some reason, other directors (my current director makes two that I've seen) who direct writing five shows think that improvisation has something to do with the show. Um... no, it doesn't. As a matter of fact, improv has the complete opposite of something to do with writing five shows (read: nothing). Writing five shows are all about performing the scenes with the exact words these writing students have spent a year and around a thousand dollars crafting. Yes, some of them still suck... they're good ideas trapped by bad language, stale characters, or cliche... but these people spent a thousand dollars, basically, producing this one show. It's their show... I'm just a vessel for it: good or bad. Regardless, I find it interesting that the first hour of our rehearsal Monday night was spent doing improv games and songs. I guess the cool part about it, however, was that the director had the writers play along with us. That was pretty cool... as it wasn't six people doing stupid stuff in front of six-eight people just sitting there. FYI, the writers are a REALLY close group. It's very interesting to see... but they seem like they'd be much happier putting on the show themselves, sans the training center and the professional director. I think this will be an... well, an experience which I will most probably find interesting, regardless of whether or not it really is interesting. This show won't open until January, so look for me to rave about it in the coming months. Thanks.