Happy New Year!

Yeah, so it's 6:26 EST, but whatever. I'm going to be out celebrating the end of the awful 2008 and eagerly anticipating the start of 2009 (and the first rehearsal of Disorientation on the 5th, if only to play with a Wall-E mini robot) which should hopefully be a better year. Hope you all enjoy responsibly, and abide all laws, which probably neglects the "enjoy responsibly" part.

For the blog business, all character stuff will be done by the first rehearsal (and hopefully at a decent time on Sunday, but it's playoff time, so no guarantees). Then, hopefully, I'll be putting up some YouTube footage to bring this blog from straight 2D to perceived 3D (even though it's really still 2D) !

See you next year! omgomgomgomg NO I ONLY MEAN A FEW DAYS

lollerskatez

Meet: Lauren, Eric, and Jen

Name: Lauren

Location: Rutherford, NJ

Household: Full? I have a mom and a dad, and they’re in my household, and an older brother who is engaged. But he doesn’t count because he’s out of the house, right?

Fav. Music: Adam Pascal (Rent! Eeeee!), Rufus Wainwright, Stephen Sondheim (named my car after him), some hip-hop, mostly for dancing purposes. More Broadway than I’d like to admit. Oh, and some mid-90s pop when no one is around. Don’t tell anyone about that.

Fav. Movies: Gidget, Les Miserables, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Zoolander, American Beauty, Paris Je T’Aime, Amelie and some others I can’t really think of right now. But they’re good, honest.

Fav. TV Show: Arrested Development, Dexter, Gossip Girl, Sex and the City (obvi)

Fav. Sites: I wish I was above it, but perezhilton. Where’s Paint? <-- DIVA

Fav. Books: Jane Eyre, The Diary of Adam and Eve, Running with Scissors, The Beach, The Little Prince, Said the Shotgun to the Head

Personal Note: I hope it’s a great year! Is that too impersonal?

---

Name: Eric

Location: Framingham, or as I call it “Smellsville.” Cause it smells like crap.

Household: I got one.

Fav. Music: Slayer, The Misfits, Sex Pistols, whatever’s on the laptops I find around town.

Fav. Movies: Mostly flicks where people got shot. Like Die Hard’s pretty awesome. Commando, man, Arnold kills a lotta folks. That’s awesome.

Fav. TV Show: The Wonder Years

Fav. Sites: Miami

Fav. Books: Fight Club. Like a how-to book.

Personal Note: There are only like 5 guys here right? And the rest are girls, right? They better both be yes or I’m leaving.

---

Name: Jen

Location: Boonton, NJ

Household: I have a mother who reminds me that I need to start a family and a father who reminds me to not have a family like the one we have.

Fav. Music: Postal Service, Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan’s earlier stuff, Muse if I’m feeling loud.

Fav. Movies: 12 Angry Men, Wall-E, Vertigo, a lot of classic stuff, really. A lot of movies that come out now are just waaay too intense (I’m looking at you, Michael Bay).

Fav. TV Show: The Simpsons are great, What Not To Wear is fun to laugh at other people who get ridiculed for wearing clashing outfits, Oprah (sadly)

Fav. Sites: cnn.com is my main news source. Foxnews.com when I really want to laugh.

Fav. Books: City Mouse, Country Mouse, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Communist Manifesto (have a crush on Stalin, so dreamy) I’m kidding about that last part.

Personal Note: I hope we can all get along and stay out of my room cause I need to do work.

From The Notebook: A Study on Sarah

As I run through my notebook on this Christmas Eve eve and the third night of Chanukah (...right?), I have come to an odd conclusion that's both good and bad: most of what I wrote down ended up in the play. The good part is that "hey, it seems like a lot of my first ideas were good enough to stick around for the current draft!" The bad part is, "oh crap...there goes a lot of blog content." For the most part, the only things that were cut were far too sexually explicit lines from Vicky (specifically when she's with Will).

However, I have found some interesting little bits on the character of Sarah.

At first, Sarah (named Suzanne as a back-handed homage to my cousin of the same name) was just a character to tell the audience how time was moving on, specifically when she'd yell out her journal entries by which day it was, like an inmate in Shawshank. Clearly it would be an annoying roommate (as so many are) and would upset the main character (always Alison, always Elvis Costello influenced), but wouldn't be more than just a secondary character.

Eventually, the character blossomed into something bigger, and I think the impetus came with this selection which was cut from the play, mostly because it is far too close to Parker Posey's brilliant ad-lib in Dazed and Confused (1993). It comes roughly around page 34, as part of the reason Alison goes to go to Beth and ask for a new roommate. It was replaced with something more emotional and gave way to a bit more background on why Alison is so darn man hating. But first, there was:

Alison: hey, can you clean up your side of the room? (approx)
Sarah: Hey, can you clean the stupid off your face?
Alison: What?
Sarah: Didn't think so

Sarah goes back to writing her journal.

From that point forward, Sarah's part grew and grew if only because I loved writing her part. She even filled a hole later on when I had no one else for Will to talk to about the Alison situation, specifically after he tried to woo her and she tried to destroy his manhood. Who else but Alison's roommate, Sarah? My love for her grew further after I'd send the play out to a small cadre of friends and Sarah was almost universally loathed. Every time someone would say "oh I just wanted to STRANGLE that Sarah girl!" my heart would grow four times. And then a bell would ring, and Clarence would get a free venti skinny mocha. Wait. Backspaaaaaaace. Free venti skinny wings.

There should hopefully be a Christmas gift (read: post) up on the day, so check back, cause all I'll be doing is watching the NBA for about 11 straight hours. Thanks, Jesus !

Meet: Hillary, Jolene, and Kris

Name: Hillary

Location: Manhattan, NY (Upper East Side on the corner of 89th and Lex if you would like specifics). If interested, I do accept visitors, but I would have to clear it with Leonard, the doorman, first.

Household: I have a nuclear family consisting of my mother, a lawyer, and my father, a lawyer. They work at competing firms, so things are always up for grabs at my house. I have an older brother who is finishing a semester abroad in Finland with like-minded students from Yale and a little sister who is executive president at the school the entire family attended, as only an 8th grader, again; like the rest of the family.

Fav. Music: I find listening to music purely for the purpose of entertainment to be self-indulgent and a general waste of time, as well as brain capacity. However, I will throw on some music in the background, specifically Mozart, Bach, and, if I’m feeling randy, some John Coltrain (only if mother is not at home).

Fav. Movies: I prefer the term “films,” as I do not watch movies. My preferences are for foreign films, such as À bout de soufflé (Breathless) (1960), La Régle du jeu (Rules of the Game) (1939), and Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948). They both inform as well as entertain, and allow me to keep up on my knowledge of foreign tongues (French, Italian, Latin, etc.).

Fav. TV Show: Ha!

Fav. Sites: I do not know how many “sites” I traverse on a given day, but Google.com and Wikipedia.org I frequent most often, if I had to guess.

Fav. Books: Dante – The Inferno, John Milton – Paradise Lost, Shelley – Frankenstein (but only the 1818 text), Homer – The Iliad as well as The Odyssey, Machiavelli – The Prince, Hillary Clinton – It Takes A Village, Barack Obama – The Au…I’m sorry, I couldn’t finish that with a straight face, let alone type it.

Personal Note: I hope I’m challenged more here than at prep school, as I know Harvard Law will be difficult and I need to receive adequate training to prepare myself.

---

Name: Jolene

Location: Atlanta, Georgia, specifically beautiful Buckhead

Household: I live with my mom, as my Dad lives in a condo on the other side of Atlanta. I’ve got a little brother and he’s a pain in the ass. He came from my mom’s second marriage. That guy lives a few blocks away.

Fav. Music: T.I. is the best. Li’l John, Ne-Yo, Kanye, Li’l Wayne (wheezy!), and a local band down here, The Whigs, I’m pretty partial to.

Fav. Movies: I like some pretty random stuff, like ATL, Toy Story (even though it’s kinda gay), The Notebook, Dirty Dancing is my fav, prolly.

Fav. TV Show: I love love LOVE The Hills, Gossip Girl, Paris’ new BFF cuz the girls are sooooo dumb, um, that’s it I guess. OH! The Chappelle’s Show. That ish is mad phunnie.

Fav. Sites: I dunno I kinda click places.

Fav. Books: US Weekly, People. Those are books rite? lol I mean they look like books!

Personal Statement: I wanna have nights I can’t remember with the people I can’t forget.

---

Name: Kris

Location: Chicago

Household: Full of children, even though two of them are considered my parents

Fav. Music: Fiery Furnaces, Noah and the Whale, St. Vincent, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Nicole Atkins, Cansei Der Se Sexy, Of Montreal, Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys, Iron & Wine, Arcade Fire, The Shins, Pavement, Chromeo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, I’m From Barcelona, Fiona Apple, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, MGMT, Foals, The National, Justice, Ting Tings, Tapes and Tapes, Architecture in Helsinki, Chairlift, Los Campesinos, Ra Ra Riot, Sex Pistols, and the Ramones. I used to like Vampire Weekend, Interpol, I’m From Barcelona, and Brazilian Girls but I’m over them now.

Fav. Movies: A Clockwork Orange, Manhattan, High Fidelity, Fight Club, Rushmore, Life Aquatic, American Psycho, Boondock Saints, Chasing Amy, Almost Famous, Wet Hot, The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense

Fav. TV Show: clips from 120 Minutes on youtube, Simpsons, Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen (mostly), Frisky Dingo, Colbert, Attack of the Show, South Park

Fav. Sites: pitchforkmedia.com, allmusic.com, rollingstone (ha!), metacritic

Fav. Books: On The Road, Choke (Palahniuk), Slaughterhouse Five, Fahrenheit 451, Cather in the Rye

Personal Statement: ....

Awards Are Great (cause they're shinny)

Awards season is upon us. First the Golden Globes announce their nominees, and now Montclair State University releases their first-annual Theatre Night Awards. Congratulations are in order to both Park Ridge and Pascack Valley for Twelfth Night and Museum, respectively.

PR:
- Nyki Padula for Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy
- Outstanding Production of a Classical Work

PV:
- Liz Lehman for Graphic Design
- Merielle Lupfer for Achievement in Properties
- Tom Lupfer for Scenic Achievement
- Tom and Mer for Best Direction
- Outstanding Production of a Drama (ed. note: drama? really?)
- Best Ensemble Cast in a Production

All nominations can be found here. The awards ceremony will be held somewhere on MSU's campus (presumably) January 9 at 7 pm.

---

But this is a blog about Disorientation you say (no one says this) ! What does this have to do with that, Michael?

Well, theoretical person who doesn't exist, this means that there is some validation about the great work that PV is doing and furthers how excited I am to be doing this production with the school, as if that needed to be repeated. It's also a soapbox to congratulate folks I know and trumpet their achievements further. Oh, and it's filling you all in that the reading is the next afternoon and all of northern New Jersey theater will be in one room the night beforehand. So maybe we can get some butts in the seats while we revel in plaques. Hopefully there will be a few to pass around.

ps - new character Meet: up tomorrow, I promise

ooohhh Musicals!! They have SINGING!

Well both High Schools I hold dear to my heart have unveiled their respective musicals, so I wanted to post a little congrats to both for some great musicals and really interesting choices. For Park Ridge, we've got Curtains and for Pascack Valley, Seussical. One has a Boston accent (that I'll be listening to closely) and the other has a trampoline. So clearly there is something for everyone.

From The Notebook: Well, Have They Or Haven't They?

While putting together the script, there were a lot of things that were cut for time, for story, or were cut before they ever made it in to the script at all. From time to time I'll throw up what could have been, if only because I have about 3 or 4 months of stuff to fill this space with. And some of it is funny, or at least an alternate way of how the play could be.

---

I've gotten two questions from cast members about whether or not Dean Anderson and Ms. Barron are married, divorced, or if they ever were married in any way. The big answer is, "I dunno." It really doesn't matter what I think. It's all about what you and your directors think.

However....

Here is a piece of a scene that was going to be for Beth what the Alison/Sarah, Alison/Bathroom scenes and Will/Dean Anderson, Will/Eric scenes are for those two characters. Here, we learn more about where Will came from, the circumstances of it, and Barron's general feeling about matters. It does not lend a lot of light on the question posed, but is an interesting little character beat for The Barron. Also, it is the set up for a call-back line that Jocelyn has when the girls come back from the party, and, possibly, how the cycle perpetuates itself. So, while this isn't necessarily the end-all, be-all answer (defend your point of view in the comments if you'd like), here is a snippet of What Could Have Been....

Barron: I was promiscuous once. Senior year, took the shuttle in to a party. They had this rare juice from a jungle of them recently visited, I presume. I met what passed for a man.
Beth: How was it?
Barron: Seedy. Untidy. Weak. A passing feeling.
Beth: What came out of it?
Barron: Immediate and permanent responsibility.

*Will walks into the scene*

So Now You Have Your Script

What do you do with it? It's thick enough to ward off any attacker by simply spraying pages into his or her eyes. It's sturdy enough to use as an oversized paperweight, ironically made out of nothing but paper. It's bright enough to use as a reflector when you tan.

But hopefully you'll just kinda read it. I'd warn you by saying it's 120 pages and that it'll take some time, so maybe rock that Act Break on page 62 and take a break yourself. But, after checking the status updates of some of you nutbags, I kind of have the idea that you're going to just rip through the entire thing in 15 minutes. More power to you, voracious readers.

I also hope that as you all read the full piece that I tried to give every character something that can leave a mark in your audience's heads as they leave the theater. When I was an actor, all those years ago, I relished playing a smaller role that I could really sink my teeth into and have fun with, even if I had, say three lines. I tried very, very hard to make it so that every actor would have to work to make an imprint, but that it was there in the writing.

You all saw the Yeah Dudes yesterday. Most of them you won't see again after that scene. But are you going to forget them? Some characters have only a handful of lines but have their own non-speaking arcs that could be really fun to watch if you take it all the way through. Some characters just have a one-liner, but hopefully it's funny and you bring that comedy out of you and the character. Yeah, it's great to have your work presented, I won't lie about that. But my main goal was to create something that would be both fun and challenging for a fairly large cast. That's the goal I would like to see reached.

If you have any questions about what you read, a reference you don't get, a description that befuddles, or any other concern, comment or question, feel free to leave something here, wall post or message me on the facebook (or the PV group), or an email either to the one listed on the title page or kingmanton [@] gmail (I'd prefer the latter email, but will take from either). I'll be back in town on Sundeeeee if I don't get bored and hit up a computer in Boston Saturday afternoon.

Congrats again. Hope you like it.

ps Go BU, BC Sucks

Cast List Is Up!

Here's your fate if you don't know it already

As a director (let alone a writer), I've never been in a casting conversation that was this difficult. I understand that a lot of you think I'm blowing smoke up your ass, but this was extremely difficult. Your biggest problem is that you have too much talent, and that's one hell of an odd blessing.

What you all also don't know is how many of these parts can be broadened, expanded, and show-stealing. You'll find out tomorrow.

To those that didn't make it, you have a really, really great musical ahead of you (that will come before this ever sees the stage in a production) and I hope you all go out and show your talents; this coming from a guy who doesn't have any rooting interest outside of sitting in the audience and watching a great show.

And for those who were cast, I'm incredibly excited for all the names that get to sit by characters I just happened to come up with. I'm flabbergasted at how many people (even those who didn't end up getting cast in these parts) absolutely hit the weird voice of these characters in my head (and aloud...which was weird to my mom).

Thank you all for your time. I will be updating this blog with all the little character bios I haven't gotten to so that we're all done by the time the show is read.

Best,
Manton

Fancy Updates While You Read

I hope everyone is busily going over the sides that are posted on The Official Site, figuring out which character they should read for, and trying to understand how someone actually auditions for a part where they're only given a couple of lines and a two sentence description of the character. Yeah, it'll be fun for us, too.

Anywhoos, because of the abundance of traffic the last two days, I figured I'd be a nice guy and throw up some RSS feed links. What are they, you ask? Well let me tell you what limited information I know about your options!

Basically, if you just want to see when the blog updates with a new post, hit the "Posts" button on the top right of the blog, under the very plainly stated: SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG. What I do is take that link (feed://pvdisorientation.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default), make that into a bookmark (I have one for my friend's LiverpoolFC blog) and it updates with a little (1) next to it when I know there's a new post. This way you don't have to be sporadically checking in English class as I heard some of you are wont to do. That hinders the educational process, folks, and that's not good. *Cue "The More You Know!" music* You can also add the feed to Google, bloglines, netvibes, newsgator, and your Yahoo!, which is good, I guess.

---

NOW GET BACK TO FIGURING OUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO AUDITION WITH!!!

I'd suggest Sarah, she's a doll.






(she is not a doll)

What Did We Learn?

Today was an informational session, so let us discuss what information we gleamed from it. For me, I learned:

- If you wear a blazer, you might look like a tool, so leave it at home.
- Man there are a lot of kids interested in this, including some who couldn't make it (a flu shot? really? your health over ART, Lehman? I don't know you anymore).
- You can make impossibly quick dirty jokes off of character names (I won't list the name, thereby involving me)
- Quite a few people read this blog, and many more have read this since they get home. Hay thx !
- A lot of you knew the "Manton" name. Sort of threw me, not going to lie.
- The crew is very appreciative of new ladders. I didn't know how bad you guys had it (and no one mentioned the nail gun! c'mon! that's awesome!)

What Did You Learn?

I'm just going to copy and paste exactly what is up at your crucial little site, http://sites.google.com/pvdisorientation or by clicking here:

Auditions- Thursday, December 4 at 3:30pm

- All audition information is available below. You MUST bring a completed packet (parent signature on Agreement, Audition Form, Conflict Calendar) in order to audition.
- Audition sides and a character description sheet are attached below. You need to prepare a side to present for your audition. We will ask you to read other sides as we see fit. We may ask you to prepare a short improv based on a scenario/specific character we give you.

Cast Meeting- Friday, December 5 at 3:30pm (ed. note - you'll get your scripts)

If you learned anything else, throw it in the comments if you feel like being all comment-y.

Patience

It's a virtue. It's something I haven't been believing much in, to be honest. Ever since I put down my red pen (even before I transcribed my edits), I couldn't sleep. It's been a week, and last night I saw the sun come up. Again.

The hours are ticking down until I get to meet all of you PV kids, not just from this past summer or the brave ones who friended me on facebook, but all of you. Even more than that, I get to meet a Jocelyn, an Alison, a Kris, and maybe a Gavin or two, all before me. It should be at the very least surreal and the most incredibly enjoyable.

I have taken a lot from this experience already, doing a lot of things I've never been asked to do before, and in a time span much shorter than my other long-form piece (5 years vs. 5 months). But the process, growth, and hopeful maturation are still very much on going, and it will be aided by further by Viewers Like You (tm).

I hope I have devised a play that won't just play for an audience, but act as another challenge for you, the actors and crew. Hopefully you'll get a part and see that there is a lot to play with (which also means that hopefully I did my job and gave you characters that you can play a lot with, but I'm fairly certain that was achieved) and make them shine on stage, to build on what you have started with Museum and keep that through line going.

But only time will tell. Now, as a final gift for you dear loyal readers, I'll let you in on the ending:

Bruce Willis is dead the entire play.

Best,
Manton