Long overdue...

It's been a while hasn't it?

Life after the show has been interesting, and I've been fairly quiet these last few months.  A lot of people have asked what I've been up to.  To tell you the truth I've been incredibly busy.  A lot of good things are on the horizon, and while some of it is beyond the scope of this post, be rest assured I'll share the details in the coming weeks.

I've been doing a lot of learning.  At the end of the day, your success is determined by the quality of your work, and since the play I've focused on becoming a better artist.  Some of you may be curious as to what this entails.  I certainly don't have all the answers, but I compiled a list of what I've been doing, and hopefully it'll be of some use.

Reading Great Plays.  If you want to be a great writer, you would be wise to study those who have come before you.  As such, I've been reading a lot of classic plays and trying to figure out what exactly makes them a classic.  I've found some real gems along the way.  Check out Anna Christie and Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O'Neil (both plays won the Pulitzer),  Orpheus Descending and Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, and The Rainmaker by Richard Nash.  Phenomenal examples of dramatic writing.

Reading  Books on Writing.  The craft of writing is an arcane one, and anyone who claims to have a "magic formula" is a charlatan and a liar.  With that said, there is a craft to it, and many a good book has been written on the subject.  Two that I've found to be particularly useful are The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell and The Writer's Journey by Christopher Volgar.  The former takes classic myths and fairy tales throughout history and provides a deep literary analysis, and the latter is a good textbook on plot structure and character archetypes in modern dramatic writing.

Writing Material.  You learn by doing.  You can read all the books in the world, but you're only going to get better if you pick up the pen and begin to write.  A lot of writers are scared that they'll sit down and nothing will materialize. Force yourself.  Some of my best writing came when I wasn't in the mood, but I forced myself anyways.  Look at it this way, sitting around and doing nothing certainly won't get you anywhere, so what do you have to lose?

Learning to Concentrate.  Ever have one of those days where you feel you can't focus?  Of course you have.  If you didn't, you wouldn't be human.  Concentration is particularly important to great acting (and useful for every other facet of our lives as well).  We live in a fast paced world, and exposure to modern media has destroyed our ability to focus.  Fortunately, there are exercises and techniques that can strengthen concentration, and anyone in the performing arts would be wise to do so.  I've begun the study of the art of meditation for this very reason.  Meditation (like acting) is one of those thing you have to "do."  Reading a book is not going to help much, but if you want to know some good exercises that will strengthen your ability to concentrate check out Concentration by Mouni Sadhu.

Reading  Books on Marketing.  If you plan on producing in any capacity, you need to have a good understanding of how marketing works.  And even if you don't produce, you need to know how to market yourself as an independent artist.  Marketing is an exact science, and basing your campaign on "instinct" is like taking an SAT test and guessing on the answers.  A few recommendations:  Scientific Advertising by Claude C Hopkins, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing by Drayton Bird, Purple Cow by Seth Goodin, and Influence by Robert Cialdini.


By the way, I plan to update this blog on a regular basis.  Once every other week.  Next time I'll talk about some of my upcoming projects.

What I learned

It's been two weeks since load out, and I've had quite a bit of time to reflect on the show.  As I was walking out the door, the space manager at Atlantic congratulated me and said that producing a play is like "a trial by fire."  Sometimes making it out alive is a victory in and of itself.  To an extent that's true.  There was a lot of good that came out of this, but there were also flaws.  And you gotta take the good with the bad.  I figure I'd share them both.

First I'll start with the bad.  No matter how good you are or what your intentions may be, you'll always fall short of perfection.  I'm certainly not immune to that.  And anytime you get more than ten people in an audience, there will inevitably be someone who doesn't like your show.  That's life, and you have to learn to deal with it.  We had a few critics stop by, and while they had some very kind things said about our show, they also had some criticism as well.

But I'm grateful for the criticism.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn, and I'm grateful for the honestly.  So to all the critics out there - thank you very much for your feedback.  I'll apply it to my future work, and hopefully you'll come review that as well.

Now for the good.  I'd like to share a few numbers with you.  We opened with about 80 tickets sold in advance.  That's not a very high number, and at first I was a little disappointed.  However, over the course of our 1 week run, that number climbed to nearly 240.  That's triple what we started with.  In one week's time-span.  I did very little marketing once the play opened, which means that despite any flaws the show might have had, people enjoyed it and we had a good word of mouth.  For a group of unknown actors, working for an unknown theater company (working on a first play by an unknown writer), that is a very impressive statistic, and everyone involved should be extremely proud.

I'd also like to comment on the acting, which I thought was quite good.  One thing most critics did praise were the performances.   Makes sense.  I've been acting for seven years and I've been writing for three.  I have a lot of room for growth in both, but it makes sense that I'm a better actor.

And I couldn't have picked a better cast.  They should all be extremely proud.  I can't begin to tell you how many compliments I got on their work.  Every night was different, and while some nights were better than others, I thought that every show was good, and I thought that we "showed up" as a cast every single night.

We also had a fair amount of attention from the industry.  About 10 or so production companies came to see the show, and a few of them contacted me asking to see more work.  Several members of the press stopped by (including Vanity Fair), and many of them wrote me back after the show.

I had nothing but the best time working on this.  I'd even go as far as to say that January was the best month of my life.  I want to thank everyone who came to see it.  You really don't have a show without an audience, and I'm grateful for everyone - even the critics.  It couldn't have happened without you, and hopefully you'll come see me in the future.  I can't wait to do it again.


Until next time,


Jon Kakaley



P.S.  I'll be maintaining this blog, but less frequent.  Probably around once a week (until my next show gets going).

The Aftermath

For anyone who's been following the blog - I'm still alive and well.  I've just been on a little vacation.  It was a long hard journey and I decided to take the following week off after load out was concluded.  But I haven't forgotten the blog, and over the next few days I'm going to post some of the results and how we did.

But I will say this:  while you can always grow and improve in all areas of production, for our first time, we did very very well.

Stay tuned!

Last show

I would by lying if I said I wasn't a little sad that tonight is my last performance.

What an experience!  Some days have been exhausting, some days have been filled with great joy, but one thing is for sure:  I have had the time of my life working on this.  I'm incredibly proud of everyone who's worked on this show, and I'm so sad to see it close.  I had nothing but the best time, and I hope I can do this again as soon as possible.

I try to approach every performance like it's my last, but tonight I literally have no choice.  It will be a special show this evening, that's for sure (hopefully that means I'll be good!)  In addition, Chris Thompson (the kid I talked about in my attitude and passion blog tinyurl.com/84u9jw6) will be making his theater debut tonight.  The actor he's understudying had to attend a wedding, and I gave Chris the call two days ago.  He's been amazing in rehearsals, and I'm sure that'll carry over to the stage.

Tonight's shaping up to be a great show.  If you haven't seen it, now's your chance.  Student tickets and HOLA! members just $12.

The Show Must Go On...

A couple days ago we had a little scare.  Our light & sound board operator had to go to the ER two hours before our 8:00 curtain.  I of course sent her to the hospital right away (it would have been extremely foolish to get her to do the show - not to mention immoral).

Two hours before curtain and no lights and sound.  What to do.  What to do.

1. First thing is I didn't panic.  That never helps anyone.  Nothing ever goes according to plan, and production is all about dealing with the bumps in the road.
2. Second thing is I called my director.  We entertained the idea of doing the show without lights and sound (it's better to have nothing than to have them go off in the wrong places all night), but it adds so much to show that we decided against it.
3. We formed a new plan.  My director and stage manager would sit up in the booth and do the light and sound together.  The supporting cast would take over the stage manager's responsibilities.
4. I went to the green room to start my acting warm ups, but before I did, Jake pulled me aside and said, "Jon, we're gonna do sound, but if something goes wrong, we're gonna bail.  Just keep going."   Haha.  Good to know. This was about 30 minutes before showtime.  
5. At around 8:10, Jake came out and announced to the audience that the show must go on and that he'd be running the board.  Applause.  So far so good.
6. Lights went up and the show went off...  without a hitch.
7. Well, a few hitches.  We had to use the master dimmers instead of the light cues, so we lost a lot of the detail that our lighting designer created.  A blackout happened too soon, some of the scene changes were a tad too long, and we lost the "rain" effect in the final scene. However, these are all minor details, and considering the situation - it went very smooth.

And that's how you handle a situation like that.  I'm extremely proud of my cast and crew.  We could have taken the easy way out and done the show without lights and sound.  But they stepped up to the plate and made it happen.  I'm also happy to report that our light and sound operator is ok, and will be back for the remainder of the show.

We have two days left.  Tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday).  Student tickets just $12.  Also, if you're a member of HOLA! (http://www.hellohola.org/), show your ID at the door and get the student rate as well.  Come on out and see the show!

Student Tickets

We had a great response from the preview that we opened up to students.  Since then several students have contacted me about some sort of promotion for the show.  As a result, we've decided to offer student tickets for $12.  So if you're a student, simply go to the box office, tell them what school you're with, and you can get in the show for less than the price of a movie.

Only three shows left!  Hope to see you there.

What Makes Theater Special

Why does live theater still exist?  Can't we just record it on a camera?  It would be far cheaper for producers, a lot less work, and more people could afford to see it.

There is one reason, and one reason alone that has kept the theater going throughout the advent of TV and film. That reason is irreplaceable and you'll never find it anywhere else.  It's live.  And on any given night you never know when something special is going to happen.

I like to compare theater to sports.  Why do people show up and pay thousands for front row seats to watch Kobe Bryant or LeBron James?  After all it's the same game night in and night out.  It's because the performance is different every night, and every night there's the chance that something amazing might happen (like Kobe's 81 point game).

It's the same with theater.  The script is the same, and the director's vision is the same, but every night is different, and every night there's a chance the stars will align and an actor will give the performance of a lifetime.  And there is nothing like seeing it live.  Nothing.  That's what makes theater so special, and that's why it will never go away.