Poop Shute

Sigh. Sometimes, life is good.

I started work on a Production of The Secret Garden on Tuesday. G-rated theatre for kids is not my first choice of a gig, but it's money, and it's acting, so I'm not complaining much.

Tuesday was our first read-through. At the end of the read our director, Adam, asked me to stay after for a second. Instantly, the fragile ego of an actor kicked in, and I assumed the worst. Oh god, he hated my dialect. He thinks I'm crap. Or maybe I'm just in trouble. What did I do? It's just the first day! How could I screw up on the first day?

Adam: I have this project coming up this summer...

Oh thank god!

Adam: It's in Ohio. It's $250 per week, plus free housing. You'd leave on May 20, and you'd come back on September 2. I think you're great for one of the leads.

...wait ...what now?

The show is in an outdoor ampitheatre in southern Ohio that seats 1800 people per show, and it's called Tecumseh. It's a story of the clash between the natives and the whites in the west during the post revolutionary, pre-civil war era. I'll be playing a man named Blue Jacket. I looked him up on WIKIPEDIA, just to find some more info on him, and this is what I found:

Little is known of Blue Jacket's early life. In 1877, decades after his death, a story was published claiming that Blue Jacket was in fact a white man named Marmaduke Van Swearingen, who had been captured and adopted by the Shawnee around the time of the American Revolutionary War. This story was popularized in books written by Allan Eckert, and remains well known in Ohio, where an outdoor drama celebrating the life of the white Indian chief is performed year after year in Xenia, Ohio.

That outdoor drama is, in fact, what I will be appearing in. How cool is that?!

Apparently I'm going to have fourteen hour long days for the first two and a half weeks of rehearsal, but I'm told they go quickly. They break up the day into blocks no longer than an hour and a half, so that the day doesn't feel like one big long thing, but several smaller things. I'll have a fight call, then a horseback riding call, then some scene work, then dance call, then maybe fight call again, etc. Plus there is an hour and a half each for lunch and dinner.

More tomorrow.


Comments:

Way to go Joe, you might find this interesting as well.
When I was in Oregon I looked at my famiy tree album my aunt had compiled. The original family name on my mother's side is Van Swearingen, who originally came from Holland in the 1700's.
And my grandma has talked about this numerous times how we are direct descendents of Bluejacket.
Brian 03.02.06 - 11:08 pm

Congrats
I find it interesting that he shares the same last name as the guy from Deadwood. It's almost enough to bring out the conspiracy theorist in me :D
Josh 03.02.06 - 11:19 pm

Your post and the comments above further support my theory: Ya can't go wrong with a Swearingen.
Guillermo 03.03.06 - 5:04 am

Personally, I think they should cast you as an American Indian. I'd love to see you "woo, woo, wooing" around and building teepees and talking to wolves and stuff. Because that's basically what Indians do. They could put some shoe polish on your face and wrap a diaper around you and you'd be good to go. Damn Indians. They really stalled Manifest Destiny.
Ugh, I cringe as I read that. What's wrong with me? Actually, to be serious, I've been doing quite a bit of research about the move westward and the relationship between the US Government and the Native tribes for a book I'm writing. I'm really interested in this Blue Jacket fella, and wish I could go see the play.
Have fun in exotic Ohio. Don't forget your swimsuit and tanning lotion.
Josh Hagler 03.04.06 - 4:07 pm

Hagler, you crack me up, man
Stalled manifest destiny. Nice.
Joey 03.04.06 - 4:13 pm

if i may?
its actually called:
Tecumseh!
with an exclaimation point!
HOORAY!
Megling 03.04.06 - 9:14 pm

I am in favor of Joey talking to wolves.
Edward Carter 03.05.06 - 11:59 am

As long as he can talk the wolves into not eating him, that is.
Edward Carter 03.06.06 - 5:17 am