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Books 2015

12/31/2015

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Here's everything I read in 2015. I abandoned a lot of books (and tried to keep track of those as well). The bolded titles are ones I especially enjoyed. I think I'll aim for at least 45 next year. We'll see...
​
  1. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
  3. Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
  4. Saga Vol. 4
  5. Belleville by Amy Herzog
  6. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  7. The Martian by Andy Weir
  8. Ten Years in the Tub by Nick Hornby
  9. Us by David Nicholls
  10. A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall by Will Chancellor
  11. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  12. Outline by Rachel Cusk
  13. Lucky Alan and other stories by Jonathan Lethem
  14. Grasshopper Jungle by Adam Smith
  15. The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
  16. 10% Happier by Dan Harris
  17. Year of the King by Antony Sher
  18. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
  19. A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
  20. Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
  21. Faithful Place by Tana French
  22. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
  23. 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl
  24. Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallac
  25. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  26. Mistborn 1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
  27. My Struggle Vol. 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
  28. Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
  29. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
  30. Mistborn 2: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
  31. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  32. Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont
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Movies 2015

12/31/2015

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Here's a list I kept of every movie I saw in 2015. I'm sure there are some that I missed, but this is pretty comprehensive.

Birdman (in theatre)
Pride
Labyrinth
The Fighter
Pitch Perfect
Europa Report
Identity
A Most Wanted Man
The Skeleton Twins
American Sniper (theater)
Dallas Buyers Club
The Interview
Kingsman (theater)
In Bruges
Willow
Stardust
The Drop
Calvary
Pulp Fiction
​The Maze Runner​
​The Gunman (theater)​
Henry V (Branagh)
Henry V (Olivier)
Julius Caesar (MGM/Brando/Gielgud)
Jurassic World (in theater)
What We Do In The Shadows
American Graffiti
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (in theater)
The Godfather
The Seventh Son
The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner 2) - (in theater)
The Martian (in theater)
Spectre (in theater)
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 (in theater)
Inside Out
Frozen
Krampus (in theater)
​Ex Machina
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (in theater, twice)
White Christmas
Elf
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Paris

11/22/2015

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Maslany's Many Faces

4/16/2015

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Read this interview with Orphan Black star, Tatiana Maslany. 

Here's an excerpt that I love:

Despite Maslany’s reluctance, I managed to steer our conversation back to her magical quick-change act. I still wanted to know how she does it. “I think there’s something about being prepared enough that you can surrender,” she said. Then she quoted to me something the dancer Martha Graham told the choreographer Agnes de Mille in 1943.

At the time, de Mille was confused and bewildered by her sudden rise to fame, and Graham offered her words of encouragement. It is a beautiful pep talk, practically written in verse. I can see why it has special meaning for Maslany as she navigates the challenges of the fishbowl herself. The part Maslany recounted to me is this: “It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

De Mille asked Graham when she would feel satisfied, and Graham replied: “There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” I asked Maslany what her divine dissatisfaction was. “I don’t know how I would label it right now,” she said. “I think if I looked back on this time, I’d probably see where it lived.”

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Snow Days on the Road

3/8/2015

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An ice storm has invaded Murray State University (Murray, KY) where the Method in Madness tour is staying. A couple weeks ago we were on Daytona Beach! The weather wasn't all that Florida glorious at the time, but it wasn't threatening to cancel shows like it is in Murray.

Given that I'm stranded, I thought I'd share some goings-on.

For those who don't know, I'm part of the touring troupe with the American Shakespeare Center. We've got 11 actors and 1 tour manager trekking across the country with a repertory of three plays: Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. We've got one month left on the road before we return to Staunton, VA at the Blackfriars Playhouse. There, we'll continue the three-show rep and add David Davalos's Wittenberg to the mix.

Enough about that.

I am in love with Austin and Nashville. The food, music, and people are top-notch.

I went to the Punch Brothers concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It was one of the best live music experiences of my life. I don't go to a lot of shows, so I don't have much to compare it to, but it was electrifying and effortlessly engaging. The album is on constant repeat on my wee iPod nano. The Punch Brothers offer a progressive-bluegrass-jazz-classical—oh whatever—it's not enough to label them. Listen to the music, see a show, and have your life changed.

I had a chance to see something truly weird: Thr3e Zisters by the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin. It was the act of bringing zombies to Chekhov's play and smashing the whole thing with a hammer. I usually keep my theatre-going toward the more traditional, so attending some new garage band/indie theatre was a breath of fresh air. The performances were compelling and the design was wonderful. They had lights! Sound! Set! (We don't really use those things at the ASC.)

These two cities, in particular, have got me thinking more about the communities of artists across the country. One of these days (who knows when), I'll likely root down somewhere. I'm not saying it'll be one of these two (but I'm not saying it won't be either).

I'm rallying through a bunch of books. I'm reading A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons at the same time. A nerd compiled a suggested reading order for these books (they happen at the same time, but the characters featured in each are different). So now, I don't have to slog through 1000 pages before I get to a Tyrion chapter. It's gone well so far, but it's not the easiest to just pick up with our jagged touring schedule.

So when I get sick of the dragons and slaughter, I've finished The Martian by Andy Weir and Us by David Nicholls and Ten Years in the Tub by Nick Hornby.
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The Martian is about astronaut Mark Watney who is stranded on Mars. His crew thought he was dead. They left him behind. They were wrong. So, he uses his science genius to survive until some help arrives. Will he make it? The book is dense with chemistry/weather/math—stuff that actors tend to avoid. But I was able to track most of it it. He comes with some really close calls. It was genuinely thrilling at times. There's strangely not a lot of heart or emotional density. 

Us packs a more emotional punch while blending in some hilarious bits. Douglas plans a European art tour with his wife and troubled son. His wife wants to separate, so he uses this holiday to bring the family closer. Disaster ensues. I enjoyed the locales (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Spain) and the voice of a pretty neurotic biologist. He manages to screw up a lot of his relationships, but it's great to get inside of his head. You understand why things happen, which I think is important for many stories (if not all).

Ten Years in the Tub is Hornby's collection of every column he wrote for The Believer. Every month (well...not every month) he wrote a list of the books he bought and the books he read (ten years' worth). Hornby's enthusiasm for reading is infectious. He's witty and has some incredibly odd reading habits. You could say this post is a riff on that.


We have a few weeks left on the tour. Let's see if the country thaws out by then.
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100 THINGS THAT MADE MY YEAR

12/31/2014

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In no particular order...
  1. The inspiration for this post: Austin Kleon's 100 things that made his year
  2. Playing 22 characters in 9 plays at the American Shakespeare Center
  3. Skyping with my family and Samson the golden retriever for Thanksgiving and Christmas
  4. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  5. Excellent TV: True Detective, The Good Wife, The Americans, Frasier, Black Mirror, Orphan Black, Broadchurch
  6. Watching Tracy Letts, Michael C. Hall, Toni Collette, and Marisa Tomei in bizarre, mundane-meets-cosmic awkwardness in The Realistic Joneses on Broadway
  7. Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer concert in Harvard
  8. Buying Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel at a charming indie bookstore in Schenectady, NY (and reading it, of course)
  9. Discovering good, affordable bourbon
  10. Matt Thomas's Submitted For Your Perusal blog
  11. The comedy of John Mulaney
  12. Lynda Barry's classroom tumblr
  13. Watching most of the cast of Cabaret watch themselves on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at an Irish pub in Manhattan
  14. #PeterPanLive
  15. Getting rid of my Netflix account
  16. Writing music for in-show songs in As You Like It
  17. Patio beers and a burger with friends at Sweeney's in St. Paul
  18. Watching Big Trouble in Little China for the first time
  19. Running by myself or with friends
  20. Haunted bar for Halloween
  21. Attending opening night for a saucy and exuberant production of The Importance of Being Earnest at American Players Theatre
  22. My brother Aaron got engaged
  23. Ryan Byrd's "Two in Review" music feature on his blog (free playlist downloads!)
  24. Star Wars VII teaser
  25. The Maxamoo podcast
  26. Too Many Cooks
  27. Playing Thin Lizzy guitar solos on the trumpet
  28. Gin, tonic, mango, and pepper at the Fancy Christmas Eve party
  29. This poem: "A Brief for the Defense" by Jack Gilbert
  30. Singing "Royals" during the As You Like It interlude
  31. When my troupe collectively devoured Gone Girl
  32. The High Line
  33. Stumbling upon this The Alchemist poster from the RSC on tour
  34. The National Aquarium in Baltimore
  35. Hanging out with this dog 
  36. This interview with Linda Emond (and meeting her)
  37. Bread pudding pancakes in Chicago
  38. I was in a band...we even had a couple gigs
  39. Buying my domain
  40. Running in the woods in Canton, NY
  41. Abandoning books that I didn't like
  42. NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage
  43. Skyping with my brother Dan, who lives in Guyana
  44. The Scourge of "Relatability"
  45. The awesome book reading/writing community on Twitter
  46. Attending Cabaret on Broadway (and seeing a good friend in it)
  47. The Bier Garden in Portsmouth, VA
  48. Puddles the Clown singing "Royals"
  49. Seeing 18-month-old Wilbur dance to Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly in the morning
  50. Drinking this ridiculously expensive PBR at Busch Stadium
  51. The organ in the Interstellar soundtrack
  52. Encountering some Rodin in Baltimore
  53. Brunch in Brooklyn
  54. Throwing away most of my college files
  55. Discovering the band Glass Animals
  56. Listening to RadioLab podcasts on the tour
  57. The tornado that was Jim Ridge in American Buffalo at the American Players Theatre
  58. Playing Mario Kart 64
  59. The Thai food place in Oneonta, NY (specifically, the drunken noodles)
  60. Actors preparing backstage for a show
  61. The trumpet stylings of Takuya Kuroda (on vinyl)
  62. When my fellow tourmates randomly yell "troll!" in honor of the glory that is Trollhunter
  63. Queen City Brewing
  64. Receiving invitations to audition for projects from my director friends
  65. This essay on Puddles the Clown
  66. Guardians of the Galaxy
  67. The dogs of my co-workers (Harper, Tucker, Rugby, Rocky, Ajax)
  68. Lobster Mac 'n Cheese in Boston
  69. Joyous tears during Once on Broadway
  70. The sculptures in downtown Sioux Falls
  71. Moving into a giant house, built in the late 1800s
  72. Coming up with a Harry Potter joke in Doctor Faustus
  73. Mark Strand on poetry in the Paris Review
  74. Long chats with grad school friends on the phone
  75. The Gone Girl soundtrack
  76. Blogging about the 2014 Actors' Renaissance Season
  77. The Hobbit/Office spoof on Saturday Night Live
  78. Homeland season 4's glorious comeback
  79. Writing by hand makes you smarter
  80. Seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark and Good Will Hunting on the big screen
  81. Sam Mendes's 25 Rules for Directors
  82. My friend Aaron hiked the Appalachian Trail in five months this year (2000+ miles)
  83. My Warby Parker glasses
  84. John Lithgow's King Lear blog
  85. Learning the accordion part to "Shipping out to Boston"
  86. Making playlists for tour treks across the country
  87. Having drinks with a writing professor after my brother's graduation
  88. Learning the game solitaire frenzy
  89. Reading three GIANT books: The Luminaries, The Goldfinch, and A Storm of Swords (I read others, of course)
  90. Having work secured at least until June 2016
  91. Making my parents' Christmas present
  92. Exploring the towns and cities we stay in on tour
  93. The Skinny Pancake in Burlington, VA
  94. These paintings by Seth Adelsberger
  95. Revisiting my first professional artistic home: The Commonweal Theatre and attending Ibsen's Brand (a new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher)
  96. End-of-the-year lists
  97. Discovering Ben Lerner's novel 10:04 in the last days of the year
  98. Trader Joe's trips on tour
  99. Spotify
  100. Cooking for friends and family



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90 Versions of Yes

9/28/2014

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About to hit the road

9/9/2014

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I just read this great conversation about writing, love, motherhood, and theatre between Sarah Ruhl and Polly Carl over at Howlround. Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. I'm putting her new essay collection on a wishlist.

I'm nearing the end of Lev Grossman's The Magician King and a third of the way into Leslie Jamison's The Empathy Exams. It's been difficult to read steadily these days. We've been working on the three shows (Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, and Doctor Faustus). The level of precision and stamina required to do these shows is quite high.

We leave for tour on Monday.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pack everything into a tiny suitcase.

While you're here, give the music of Takuya Karoda a listen. My friends Josh and Sarah gave me his latest album on vinyl for my birthday, and I've become obsessed.

Later, all. Work is going well. The people I work with are incredible folks. You can follow our adventures on Tumblr.
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Hiatus

4/29/2014

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The cast of The Realistic Joneses on Broadway.
The Renaissance Season is over. I mark it as a success. I think one of these days I'll try to fit into words what my takeaways are. But that's for another day. Here's a random roundup of what I've been doing and what's piqued my interest lately.

THE REALISTIC JONSES by WILL ENO
The Tony nominations were announced this morning. I have no way of comparing this play to anything else on Broadway, but I will still affirm this play got snubbed. Isherwood thinks so too. I loved this play. It's got this amazing blend of mundane and cosmic. Eno plays with language in a delightfully profound way. I need to look at his other stuff.

TELEVISION
My current faves: The Americans, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, (I'd add True Detective, but the first season is over, but I'll definitely re-watch it).
Here's New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum's praise of The Americans. And here's another take (spoilers, obviously).
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Kerri Russell and Matthew Rhys star in "The Americans."
PODCASTS
My newest love is Maxamoo.com's podcast. They focus on NYC theatre beyond Broadway. I'm not exactly sure why I love it so much. I think it's because the folks talk about theatre as if they're surrounded by a basket of fries and a bottle of wine at a bar. It's intelligent, hilarious, and frank. I'm in no position to see these shows (although I did get a ticket for The Realistic Jonses, in part to some discussion on it).

In grad school, we were required to subscribe to the Sunday New York Times arts section and American Theatre Magazine. This feels like an extension of that. If I wanna play at this level with these great artists, I need to be informed. Additionally, they've started a series of hour-long interviews with playwrights and performers. I especially loved the recent episode with Kirk Lynn of the Rude Mechanicals in Austin, TX. If you think this might be your jam, it probably is. It was also featured on Broadway World's Top 20 Podcasts for Theatre Fans.

MUSIC
Nick Waterhouse. Enough said. Just listen.



That's all for now. I hope to post more regularly. I don't know what form this will take. And that's fine with me.




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Too Many Zooz

3/10/2014

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Enjoy this video of Too Many Zooz, an awesome trio jamming out in the NYC Union Square subway station: 
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