KevinSix.com

My Playwriting Class is Better Than Yours

It really is.  My playwriting class is choc-full of intelligent, talented people who are kind and empowering.  Every time I put together a scene or monologue for the class, I remember to bring up my game. 

It's not that I want to win (thought if there was a way to, I'd compete).  It's more that the level of talent, combined with that magic blend of acceptance is empowering.

I know it's not for everyone but I just want the world to know that I have found a safe, warm, inviting and exticingly challenging place to grow.  And you don't get that every day.

Thanks, World!

Another Trapeze Video With The GoPro Camera

This is the last of my trapeze videos from September, 2011.  In this one, I play with head-band camera shots.  I took video while flying and catching and combined them so you can see what it looks like flying to and being caught by me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Catch and Return a Flying Trapeze Film by Kevin Six

 

Wake Surfing Video With Actual Wake Surfing

The people have spoken and, while The Wake Surfing Film of the Century is, well, the wake surfing film of the century, some have wanted to see actual wake surfing in their wake surfing film.

This odd request has not gone un-heeded.  So now I give you The Second Best Wake Surfing Film of the Century -or- The Wake Surfing Film of the Century With Wake Surfing In It

 

Fiber Arts Festival at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum

Ok, so, first: such a totaly cool property.  Where else can you see steam tractors, Model A Trucks, a blacksmith shop run by belts attached to a steeam engine and old looms with people making rugs and cloth?  The answer is nowhere else than the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum.

You need to go if you have any testosterone on your system.

I was there doing research for a production of A Middsummer Night's Dream.  No, really.  You see, my contention is that Nick Bottom, the weaver, wove the play from his own fantasy after selling some silk cloth to Hyppolita.  Think about it...

So here are a few photos and comments...

There were Alpacas giving wool. These cute little crestures hafe very soft wool.  They also have soft teeth and feet (for climbing mountains) so they're softer on the land on which they tread and feed.  

Spinners spinning.  This noce woman was working on a wheel made by her husband in the 70s.  She told me all I wanted to know about spinning, weaving and community organizing around teaching kids to spin and weave.  Lots of great ideas about The Dream...

And weavers weaving.  It was cool!  Of course you know that Nick Bottom was a weaver and it is my assertion that Hyppolita came to him for cloth for a wedding dress and started the whole fantasy upon which the dream is based. You see, he tells his friend PEter Quince to write him a ballad based on this strange dream he had in which Hyppolita was also Queen of the Fairies and he got tro hang with her (and all his friends were Fairies).  More on that later.

So my idea is to use human-powered items (like spinning wheels) to provide light and sound for the only Midsummer Night's Dream that the audience has to sun to keep up with.

So I was there to get some process going with regards to The Dream -- weavers weaving, tinkers tinking and joiners joining.  There are w few Weavers' Guilds here in San Diego county and I expect to get a hold of them and find out how they help, educate and share with us. More soon -- espeially on all the other cool stuff at the museum!  More soon...

The Wake Surfing Film of the Century

I don't need to say more.

But I will.

This film was an honor and a triumph to make. it took blood, swet, tears and a whole lotta love to produce.  Many thanks to my beloved wife, Jennie, the crew and the people of Scandia Minnesota who had a festival just for me, which they call Taco Days -- and which I call Kevin Six Presents Taco Days but that's a film to be released at a later date. 

Tonight, we bring you the wake surfing film of the century.  A little film I like to call:

The Wake Surfing Film of the Century

 

Cast:

Kevin Six..........................Kevin Six

Jennie Olson Six.................Jennie Olson Six

Sherri Mann......................Sherri Mann

Shawn Klancke...................Shawn Klancke

Katrina Nord......................Katrina Nord

Kiki Mann.........................A midget who looks just like her (no child labor laws broken)

Rusty and Tinkerbell............Themselves

 

Crew

Director, producer, writer and all around cool guy.........Kevin Six

Camera....................Kevin Six, Jennie Olson Six, Katrina Nord

Boat Drivers..............................Shawn Klancke, Sherri Mann

Water Safety.........................Shawn Klancke and Sherri Mann

Stunt coordinator.............................................Kevin Six

Executive Producer........................................Chuck Mann

Special Thanks to: The lovely people of Scandia Minnesota, the Embrace Adrenaline Trapeze Club, the Marine on St. Croix water patrol who totally pulled us over, MasterCraft Boats, GoPro cameras, Shane Foss who surfs very well but not on video and Kali Mann who... Kali, where were you?

Why I Love Kym Pappas

There are so many reasons to love Kym Pappas.  I started well before I met her -- almost a year before, actually.  Probably the fact that it wasn't creepy for anyone should be credited to her also but she's just so full of love!  So here is my top ten...

1. She is beautiful

I know this is not supposed to be the number one reason that people love one another but let's face it is.  Besides, the beauty of which I speak is more than skin-deep.  Her beauty starts in her soul and radiates out to the Universe.  Who wouldn't love that?

2. She is just so ful of love

You know with some people.  They are just loving.  Kym's a hugger but, more than that, she means it.  Some people give you the a-frame-ladder hug but Kym hugs you with all the beauty mentioned above.

3. She makes people better

This is not just idleness.  I have seen and been the beneficiary of this.  While working with her on two separate productions I saw her selflessness, caring and love-ability make situations better.  She also made me a better actor, professional and person and, to those who know me, this was a miracle.

4. She loves children

She teaches kids on a high school drill team.  This would be enough because high school is horrible to most people and you just know these children are being made better through Kym's liberal application of love and beauty.  I know this is true because I've met a number of her former students and they are genuine, generous, lovely poeople.  I also was able to witness a workshop with some kids she taught acting to and they were, to a one, uniquely talented and capable of all the things I've mentioned about Kym above.  See?  She gives it away!

5. She is an actress of unmistakable talent

I have worked with Kym on projects and seen her on stage.  You know when actors rely on those little tricks?  You know, Renee Zelwiger's forehead? Tom Cruise's smile..?  Well Kym has the love and beauty and the whole making people better to rely on.  And it works!  In her current play, Pride and Predudice, she loves Darcy, so I love Darcy.  She found in him more to love than I did.  As an actor, I kept thinking how I'd have done it so that her love was more believable and more understandable.  But none of it mattered.  When the time came for her to love him -- there it was.  True and real.

6. She tells the truth

As an actor, lying only works if you do it well.  Truthfully.  Does that make sense?  Doesn't matter.  What maters here is that we all have a truth meter and a bilshit meter and we know (sometimes not until years later) when they are ringing.  I will just say that Kym rings the truth bell and the bullshit bell is rusted clean through.  You will just have to trust me on that or, better yet, trust Kym -- she's worthy.

7. She rarely wears shoes

This is the coolest thing in the world to me for many reasons.  But the reason I wish to put forward here is that Kym puts her peersonal comfort before most things.  This is important especially when you understand that she's so loving and such a good character-builder.  You see, the main thing is to put on your oxygen mask before assisting the child in the seast next to you.  Or as Jesus said -- remove the log from your eye before you help get the splinter out of your friend's.  Yes, people!  Take care of yourself first and then it's easy to take care of others.  And it's genuine.  And she usually always has polish on...

8. She looks like a younger, prettier Meryl Streep

I never liked Meryl Streep until I saw her do comedy.  Then she grew on me.  Kym just happens to have the same bone structure as one of the best actresses of our generstion.  She should use this to her advantage and become the next greatest actor of our generation.

9. She works many jobs

If you're going to act, and direct and produce theatre, you need a bunch of jobs.  Kym works enough for three people BEFORE she puts those other hats on and then works enough for four more.  You would do well to learn from her example of not complaining about this.

10. She accepts me

I don't know how or why.  I have this mechanism where I keep people just close enough to see what I'll do next but far enough away so as not to get any of it on them.  Kym has it all over her.  She's seen the worst; I'd like to believe she's seen the best but I keep strivng to be better than I was last time I saw her.  But, really, all of it doesn't matter because in this vortex of acceptance she runs about in, she allows me to be me and to be the person she can love and trust.  This is the person I like best and hope to remember to be more often -- if only I had a pocket Kym Pappas to remind me to keep up with my gentleman practice...

Arrogant Little Shits

I see them in cars all day, every day.  Arrogant little shits.  They don't look left -- where I and all of the oncoming traffic is... well, coming on.  Arrogant litle shits.

They leapfrog around me while entrering the freeway, even though I've got my signal on and, in some cases, pulling out to pass.  Arrogant little shits.  Don't they know there are 7 billion others?

Then, two days ago.  Arrogant litle shit runs me over.  In the ocean, not on the freway, lucky me.  Took an eight foot surfboard and its hundred pound rider upside the left side of my neck and head.

"I didn't see you," said the arrogant little shit.  I couldn't see straignt.  Was it anger or because I'd rove roughshod over by an arrogant little shit?

Pretty sore today.  The left shoulder doesn't work right.  My friend says the arrogant little shit was talking shit about me in the parking lot after I left the beach.

Trying not to let it get to me.

Stand-Up Paddle Boarding: So that's what all the fuss is...

I rode stand-up paddle board on Friday, July 8 at 6:13 p.m.  This will probably be the exact date and time I got hooked.  It was pretty cool.

 

Well, it got to be pretty cool.  At first, it's a right pain in the ass.  And arms, and knees, and ankles, and now, six hours later, my back hurts a treat.

After an hour-and-a-half, I'd been on exactly four waves.  They were all towards the end.  The first ten,  not so much.  I think I invented three or four new ways to fall off a board. 

But, damn it's fun.  First, you get out there so fast!  You do if you tak nice long strokes.  If you take short strokes with the paddle, you go in a circle.  Long strokes!

Second, you need to orient yourself away from the wave you want to take.  If the wave is going right, I need to set up like I'm going left and, by paddling on my left side, I'll turn the board right into the wave.

You can catch a wave far sooner than people on mere longboards -- and the smart ones get out of your way.  I had to give an annoying little kid two or three wave just to get him out of the way of... well, me.

Steering a 1953 Cadillac is easier than steering a Stand-Up Paddle Board or at least the one I was on.  I won't say it's long but we put a 7' 6" board on it and had to search to find it.  This thing was long, thick and heavy.  Steering lives or dies by the fin (yes, one fin).  And it was more like a slinkey than a fin.

So, if you're going to do it, remember: three fins; feet paralel, until you catch the wave; you'll catch the wave before you know it; yell "get out of the way"; repeat.

I'm trying a smaller fiberglass one next time.  Soon!  Tomorrow? 

Well, soon.

Nightmare

I haven't had that kind of dream in a while and it was terrible.  While in school, I'd have a school dream quite often.  You know the kind; lost in an unfamiliar building on an unfamiliar campus fifteen minutes after class started and things just get more and more intense as you wander lost.

No, this wasn't one of those dreams but it was close.

This was the actor's nightmare.  Last rehearsal before opening and I'm looking at an unfamiliar script knowing that I should have the lines down but don't.  Knowing that I had weeks but now I just have hours.  Running lines for a scene that makes no sense and knowing that there are about a dozen more that make less.  Finally, I focused on the first word in the first line of the first scene and it was "mother".

And that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that it was a regional theatre with actors I recognize and an entire office staff and an opening gala.  And I'm trying to find a way to bring my script on stage with me, and hide the fact that I don't know my lines from my fellow actors, and trying to accept the fact that I didn't memorize my lines.

Oh God!  It was horrible!

I also don't know why we got to opening without having enough rehearsals or why everyone else was in the same boat as I or where the director was.  We all know that a well known regional theatre will have a good director who gives actors enough time to learn their lines.  One who understands the process.

I have not yet worked on a production in which I am required to come to the first rehearsal with lines memorized but I know actors who have.  I, for one, need to memorize lines with movements, to have a kinesthetic and contextual attachment to them.  And a partner to hear and respond to them. And that happens in rehearsal, where things can be discussed, negotiated, wrought...

In order for it to all happen spontaneously.

Not at all like life, I'm afraid.

Arts Marketing

I just read an article about a Theatre Communication Group conference on arts marketing and it raised all kinds of emotions.  In the article,  someone commented that playwrights were complaining that marketers don't know how to market their plays.  And marketing directors were complaining that playwrights don't know enough about marketing to tell them what to do.

Having been both a marketing director and a playwright, I think I have as true a perspective on the problem as anyone.  Both parties are right.  In my experience, arts organizations choose products without consulting the marketing department and then complain when sales figures are low.

As one friend in the business once said, "When a play sells well, it's an artistic success and when it doesn't sell well, it's a marketing failure."

Artists and arts managers should remember that in the for profit world, the product originates in the marketing department.  Marketers decide what people want and then help create a product to sell to these people.  Arts organizations don't often ask their audiences what they want, unless we're talking about Broadway - and there's a reason that ticket prices are high on Broadway: people want to see the shows.

Arts organizations are encouraged to take risks and expand their audiences' horizons by presenting work that is new, that challenges the status quo and makes people feel and think.  That is good art. The problem with good art is that people don't like it as much as good artistic product. The fact about nonprofit theatre audiences is that they don't know nearly as much about theatre as the people running them.  This is not a bad thing.

I worked at a theatre in San DIego that got a huge grant to study audience demographics in the service of expanding audiences and especially minority audiences.  It is no secret that the majority of theatre goers at that time were older, well-educated, well-to-to white people.  This years-long study supported African American plays, Latino plays and traditional plays and tried to integrate audiences to all of them.  The results were interesting. 

Generally, Latinos supported Latino plays; African Americans supported African American plays and Whites went to everything.  So the audience, after the years-long study, turned out to be predominantly an older, whiter, well educated and well-to-do audience but one, we learned, who appreciated more types of plays than we thought. 

The same crowd that marketing directors at theatres have been marketing to for years.  With limited budgets for marketing (something I have never understood), marketing directors have to market to this demographic primarily.

I am not advocating for marketing directors to dictate to playwrights.  People engaged in this activity are on TV and in film and playwrights (and theatres and audiences) want something different.  I am advocating for marketing directors and artistic directors to communicate. 

Remember, artistic people, that the marketing department manages the only people who interact with customers who like and dislike the product.  Remember, marketing people, that artists have to develop seasons of thoughtful, thought-provoking and powerful art.

Of course, all you really have to do, playwrights, is look at what the large and medium theatres are doing to see what they want and what they want is brand new but proven thought-provoking art.  The fact that playwrights are even in theatres in the first place is a miracle.  The fact that they are complaining about this miracle is heart-breaking.

My goal is to wright a Tony Award winning play and, during my acceptance speech say, "To the people who chose plays: know that there are still a number of plays with my name on them in your stacks of unread plays.  The cost of doing these plays just went up.  Also know this: in support of the play writing community, I will submit the rest of my plays under pseudonyms so you will have to read them all to find mine.  During that process I know you will find other voices as good as, or better than, mine.  Thank you."

Too bitter?