long time, no blog

So, I've been meaning to blog about this for a while. From Mamet' s Three Uses of the Knife- On the Nature and Purpose of Drama:

"Stanislavsky says there are two kinds of plays. There are plays that you leave, and you say to yourself, 'By God, I just, I never, gosh, I want to, now I understand! What a masterpiece! Let's go get a cup of coffee,' and by the time you get home, you can't remember the name of the play, you can't remember what the play was about.

And there are plays-and books and songs and poems and dances- that are perhaps upsetting or intricate or unusual, that you leave unsure, but which you think about perhaps the next day, and perhaps for a week, and perhaps for the rest of your life. Because they aren't clean, they aren't neat, but there's something in them that comes from the heart, and, so, goes to the heart."

I am proud to say that furious does the latter type of play. That's all. That's all.

Last Night of Late Night

Saturday night was the final performance of our new late night show - imMEDIAte theatre - for 2006. The all improvised show based off of the day's news and top headlines proved very successful in its first year and we'll most likely bring it back in early '07.

For a look at a few of the monumental headlines and "news" stories that made their way into the show this week and received a proper skewering, read below...

All from our favorite source - The Los Angeles Times, Saturday's paper.

From the SCIENCE FILE section
Fruit fly aggression traced to gene
By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff WriterNovember 25, 2006
Gender-bending fruit flies duking it out in a Harvard fight club have helped scientists trace aggressive behavior to their genes. Female flies with a male version of a gene dubbed "fruitless" tended to fight like males, lunging at their opponents and swinging their arms like boxers, according to a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Males with the female "fruitless" gene preferred the shoving and head-butting techniques more commonly associated with female flies.
click here to read more. (free registration required)

National News
Alleged cat slayer says he's martyr for birds
By Miguel Bustillo, Times Staff WriterNovember 25, 2006
GALVESTON, TEXAS - Jim Stevenson says he is not the hate-filled serial cat killer he has been made out to be.But if he was shooting the feral cats that roam the sand dunes of this picturesque Gulf Coast island, argues Stevenson — the founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society - he would be breaking no laws.In his view, he would be performing a public service by saving the lives of beautiful birds at one of the nation's best bird-watching locales. "These birds, virtually all of them, are protected by state and local laws. Do we ignore what is happening with these stray cats, or do we finally stand up and do something about it?" Stevenson said. "Sometimes you get pushed to a point where you can no longer ignore a situation."Click here to read more (free registration required)

From the BUSINESS NEWS section
HOLIDAY SHOPPING 2006
When the going gets tough before dawn ...Although some tempers are tested, most people take things in stride as they pile into the malls.By Tami Abdollah, Ashley Surdin and Francisco Vara-Orta, Times Staff WritersNovember 25, 2006
The hunt began before dawn Friday. And it wasn't just the big-screen TVs, Bratz dolls, Hollister hoodies, digital cameras and iPods. Shoppers started early in search for 6 a.m. deep discounts, bargains, gift cards — and pretty much anything on sale. In Costa Mesa, police were called to a Best Buy store about 3 a.m. to calm some 2,000 people, many anxiously awaiting the 5 a.m. opening.At 6 a.m., Alex Fuentes and family arrived at Lakewood Center. It was his first day-after-Thanksgiving sale since moving to Los Angeles 15 years ago. It was unlike anything he experienced growing up in Mexico, he said with a smile. "Not like this."By midmorning, Fuentes was relegated to sitting alone guarding four bags from the Disney Store and two others from Victoria's Secret while his wife Norma pressed on with her shopping. Click here to read more (free registration required)

Keep checking here to see when imMEDIAte will be back up and running. You can also become a Furious Late Night friend on myspace by going here.

Theologians in the House

Last night we had a group of around 40 students from Fuller Seminary come over and see GRACE and have a post show talk back with the cast. The show went very well as did the discussion. There were hardly any process questions for us actors and most of the discussion was driven by the student's/faculty's questions about the theme and message of the play.

For an insight into some of the reaction from the seminary students you can check out a blog entry here from one student who had seen the show earlier in the run and then rallied to put this big group together and have a discussion.

Good stuff. Be Furious.