Currently working on Self-ish, my new solo show. In research gathering phase. Wanna participate? Click here to let me know who are you and how do you know?
A little blurb about the still-being-created show to whet your apetite:
In order to become a superhero, X first needs an identity: “Superman can’t be Superman without a Clark Kent,” so she goes to Earth to find one in a kind of “superhero vision quest.”
Hoping that the people of Earth can help point the way, X begins asking everyone she meets about what this crazy little thing called a“me” is. With tones both savvy and innocent, Self-ish is about X’s quest to attain Superhero-hood in a journey that explores how we all come to discover and understand how we know who we are.
As background research for the show, performer Gray quit her job, changed her name and physical appearance, and is conducting hundreds of interviews—continuing through closing night of the show—asking two seemingly simple questions: who are you, and how do you know? (You, too, can take part at:http://www.whoareyouhowdoyouknow.com/)
Self-ish is being presented as a work-in-progress. (Aren’t we all…)
* * *
Gray is an Oakland-based performance artist and writer. It has been said of her: “She is not an ordinary human being… She has the spunk of Punky Brewster, the mind of General Patton, and the awkward neuroticism of Woody Allen. She is lively, honest — full of piss and vinegar.” (Scott Lifton, producer of Mortified SF)
Oh, dear. My sweet little blog of half a decade. I feel like it’s been… too long. With all this madness around producing BURST, I haven’t had a lot of time to just… write. Plus, this little identity crisis I seem to have started. It’s a very (more…)
Today I did a little Sunday-improv action with Upright Citizens Brigade over at Pan Theater.
It’s funny how I enrolled in the Level I improv class back at the new year just to “keep myself from getting rusty” while I had to take a little performing hiatus while I started my new job in January — and have ended up taking six, now, improv classes and workshops, from traditional improv games to long form to Action Theater.
The Railyard Performance Space in Santa Fe is confirmed for a production of my solo performance BURST the weekend of September 10th/11th! Venue and dates have changed! Sept 17/18 and 24/25 at the Santa Fe Performing Arts Center.
Also, got confirmation that I’ll be performing a condensed version of BURST and co-hosting an improv workshop as the “keynote speaker” at the Consumer Wellness Conference in ABQ September 29th/30th.
Some great things are afoot: it looks like I might have an opportunity to bring my solo performance BURST back to the Land of Enchantment for a little more New Mexico magic.
I’ve been nominated to perform BURST as the keynote speaker at the only peer-run consumer wellness conference in ABQ. I should hear back on that by the end of the week — cross your fingers!
I’ll also be working and staying in Taos for about 3 weeks, and am looking into venues there and in Santa Fe as well. I figure I will throw possibilities out there and see what sticks.
New Mexico has always captivated me, and remains an incredibly pivotal place. Somehow, when I’m there, beautiful things emerge, productivity flowers, and my bones settle in a dusty calm.
An incredibly deep and grateful bow to those who are already making this happen!
For such a flat-footed, sallow little three-letter word, it sure encapsulates the intoxication I experienced from 7:05pm-7:55pm. Fun. Fun, fun, fun. Fun! In the parlance of the Internet, let me capitalize to indicate increased volume: IT WAS FUCKING FUN. (more…)
Showed up for an “extra” off-the-schedule class at Pan that our stand-in teacher D. offered to teach while A. is away in Ireland.
Only three showed, but what a class. Such learning. D. is really showing us some of the guts of improv, and how certain choices can yield different results. “Follow the fear!”
He instructs us to do the one thing the character doesn’t want to do; say the one thing that is hardest to say. That moves the action. That creates the tension of the scene.
We would do a scene over and over– “freeze!” D. calls out, and then asks us “what would be the most difficult thing to do right now? Great! Do THAT!”
Takes the scene somewhere completely new.
More and more I’m finding my stage craft to mimic any practice in life: be present. Trust. Embrace the fear or excitement. When in doubt, just say exactly what’s right in front of you. The juice lies in the difficulty.
Thanks, D. for the extra class. We are coming along.
Best class yet. Moving in spontaneous outbursts and combustion-ing skills, no thought (the mind was gone because I had to focus on the musicality, see?), her shrieking at EXACTLY THE RIGHT TIME when she turned around and interrupted me. Four people standing and swinging like doors on greasy hinges — “try contrasting the energy!” — and the flipping through like a rolodex of story.
Dreamscape was awesome. Starting with a hesitation was the most confident choice I could have (more…)
I’m going to be doing another Mortified performance in Berkeley. Come watch me mortify myself on stage as I read journal entries I wrote when I was 12 and tried to change my reputation — military style — in order to win over my crush.
Awesome beat-box crew also does amazing improv stuff during the show, as well as awesome dancing after.
WHEN: THIS FRIDAY 6/25
TIME: 8:00pm (Doors Open At 7)
WHERE: Shattuck Down Low (2284 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA)
TIX: www.getmortified.com/live
COST: $15 Presale / $20 at door
MORE INFO: www.getmortified.com
My Improv Troupe — named “Strangely Addictive Behavior” — is doing its first performances this Thursday & Saturday. We are a Level I doing short form, mainly improv games. Come support us!
Thursday May 6, 8pm. $5
Saturday May 8, 7pm. $10
Pan Theater
2135 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612
(415) 261-1641
During April’s ScriptFrenzy, as I refresh the script for my one-woman-show “BURST”, I am rifling through old notes (a good 15″ thick stack of them), and while I’m distracted by that work, I’ll post some snippets of stuff as I go along (just to make sure you know I’m still very much thinking of you, Dear Reader!
[From my 2008 draft:]
“God damn you, I.G., for planting another seed in my brain. For making me believe that we can only start living this life once we kill off what was is not ours. Once we transform into what we have always been, and stop waiting for what was never meant to become.”
Today I started Script Frenzy — a sister-project to NaNoWriMo, which I’ve done a couple of times. As the name might indcate, instead of a novel in 30 days, though, you write 100 pages of a play/script.
I’m adapting it a little bit to my own needs, and instead of writing a fresh script, will be going back and editing my BURST script to make it Bay-Area-production-worthy (so my DO’s will probably be Script Frenzy-related for awhile…)
“Ambition is the last refuge of failure.“ – Oscar Wilde
One of the most amazing lessons of this adventure of producing my own show, is how to not only accept but enjoy every moment that comes my way. The Bahagavad Gita gently reminds us: (more…)
Phoenix/Tempe opening tomorrow night at 7:30pm! There is good news in the air, considering I actually found a lighting tech (…yesterday) — which is helpful, if you’re trying to put on a show where the audience can actually see you.
Doing the show for one weekend only, then back home to California on the 28th. I’ll be happy to be back in my native Bay Area, but I have to admit: I was just getting used to the weather. It’s finally cooling off. Only 94 degrees out!
For more info on “BURST” playing in the Phoenix area: click here, and for tickets: click here
My performance site (www.shannondejong.com) and NKS (this site) were hacked into and I’m still recovering the integrity of the former. In the meantime, all BURST inquiries are referred to: MADCAP Theaters and for tickets click here.
Thank you for sending me an email at 6:53am to remind me that I should probably be posting on my blog right about now. Between walking for hours in the Phoenix heat to hang posters, selling my soul to get some publicity, and struggling to make some money with freelancing gigs so that I can once again lose it all on a production of BURST, I had neglected my most important responsibility: entertaining you with my words. So here is a post just for you:
Making efforts to coordinate a PHX production of “BURST” before heading back home to my beloved California. In the meantime, you can enjoy a snippet of the show with some new footage from my opening show in Santa Fe, NM.
For all you long-term readers who were around from the beginning and remember the Craiglist “20 Dates in 20 Days in 20 Words” Project, you can rejoice because I finally was able to use the material, and incorporated it into my show:
“20/20/20″ scene from Act I:
For more video and photos from “BURST,” click here.
