The History of FULL CIRCLE: So where did this play, I should stay story originate. It began one day, June 20th 2010, to be exact, at a starbucks on 37th and Madison Avenue. We had just completed a run of a play The Beauty Of Dawn which was an emotional rollercoaster for all those involved and for me coming out of a tragic situation so soon. When we finished that play I wondered whats next I knew that whatever it was I couldnt do a run of shows again, the idea of renting a theater out again for a few nights was off the list of possibilities, because the expense of renting and rehearsing wasnt even made back 50%. So whatever was next the investment had to be minimal to say the least, but I was clueless, there wasnt any theater in my searches that was coming up with an affordable business model for us to do a run. So as I sat in starbucks that day I just wrote this outline for a group of characters coming back for a High School Reunion after 10 years and facing things that happened since and in the past. I knew that if anything I wanted a story that ALL could identify with, and I had it, these 8 characters were all of us, the Star Qb, the Model, The Quiet Guy, The Popular Girl, The troublemaker, The Confused Girl, The flirt, The Adventure seeker. And there it was, dreams, goals, roads not taken, roads taken. So I walked out of Starbucks that same evening with a 45 page script, but no clue on a cast or how the hell we could put it up. I reached out to the cast I had just performed with and some could do it and then we brought in others too, so now we had the cast and rehearsing began second week of July with no idea of where it was going to be done. As time went on, it was decided, for good or bad that it would be a ONE NITE ONLY event, it was all I could afford, but not really, the event had to pay for itself somehow. The thing when you rent a venue yourself you control your destiny, you set the price, and hope you can get people to come, since this would be a one nite deal, people that wanted to come didnt have much choice what night they could. Rehearsals continued, we had one casting change in there, but we were ok things were working fine, problem was, the theater I had rented out, really was not working for us, because it was ONE NITE we were bottom of the barrel to them, and so we didnt even see our venue till the night of the show, and it was not to our liking at all, it looked like a broken down old bandstand, which fit the theme of the high school reunion but we all felt shafted, but we had to go on, the thing that worked was we sold out, and the ticket sales paid for the venue 100%. But as I took the stage that night, I was taking the stage, with anger, earlier that day I was reminded of the tragedy a few months earlier and told that the apartment that I had then lost, and was then rebuilt, I would not be getting back, it was like having your world shot down twice in a cruel way. But the show had to go on, I hid my anger, but it came through as myself and one or two other cast mates werent even speaking. That day was AUGUST 29, 2010. So after that whole experience what was left, ONE NITE is great and the sell out was great but it was kind of let down because it was just one show, afterwards a few us kept saying we wanted to do this again, but how, we couldnt get up there and do the same show again and hope the same people would come again why? so I sat back and added to this story, it was always something that it needed, those who saw it that night, agreed, it was funny, and moving, but with 8 characters it needed to have a lot more to it, than a 45-55 minute show. So I added to it, and then a stroke of luck we stumbled upon a venue, the Manhattan Rep which helped those writers/producers/actors do their work and not have to risk $$. It was a perfect match. So once again FULL CIRCLE would get its run, this time three nights in a very cold December 9,10,11 to be exact. In the run up to those days we worked hard but there was some debate with me and a cast mate and an actress that the play needed added dialogue and scenes, she did not agree which led to a war of emails. Long story short we did the run of shows, but there was not good feelings overall, but I had found my new home at manhattan rep. Plays went on and on for me but FULL CIRCLE was that one I wanted to return to, with the events that happened leading up to the first run I wanted a more FUN vibe. Well we had it, for the first time a cast that I had just done a play with was coming over to the next project in tact, well we thought it was, we lost one cast member who just stopped showing up, af ter a few rehearsals, we cast another actress and worked a few rehearsals but two weeks or so out she dropped out, so we now were in trouble as this went on, we get an email that the theater was being forced to move upstairs 3 floors and there was a chance the show had to be moved to another site or postponed. Thanks to a lot of hard work the theater moved and re-opened in just two weeks leaving about 10 days before we started. We had to workshop the play and eliminate that character because the actress quit on us last minute, it was not the vision I had, and though it was FUN, it was not full circle the way it was intended to be. This was November 2011. Forward now to January 2014, FULL CIRCLE had not been done in awhile and it was approaching my 20th play at the Manhattan Rep what better way then to bring the origin of everything back again, but this time all the characters, new scenes. Well it would be a totally new cast, one that had not even heard of FULL CIRCLE, and it started off ok, great casting from the auditions, but just two rehearsals in we lost one actor, and then on that same day, another actor told me they wouldnt be at all the shows, so now we were going to attempt an UNDERSTUDY who would do 3 of the 5 shows, this was not smart, after about 2 rehearsals the first actor dropped out and the understudy took over which was the best thing that happened, we had a director on board but we were facing the worst winter in years, so with about a month to go, we rehearsed a few times a week, through the snow and ice and cold those days/nights were not fun traveling. And then when all looked good, we lost an actress with about 2 weeks to go, someone filled in learned lines, and we were on stage, opening night I was sick, 101 degree fever but we went on, and though it was the most fun yet I would say, something still wasnt right. Leading now to FULL CIRCLE 3.0 ..... The story continues
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:47:29 +0000