Rosslyn Redux

Tag: Performance

  • The Voice of Redacting Rosslyn

    The Voice of Redacting Rosslyn

    The Voice of Redacting Rosslyn (Source: Rosslyn Redux)
    The Voice of Redacting Rosslyn (Source: Rosslyn Redux)

    What do James Early Jones and Rosslyn have in common? Precisely nothing. Unfortunately. But more on that in a moment.

    For the last few weeks I’ve been working on Redacting Rosslyn, a solo performance of vignettes, monologues and storytelling from Rosslyn Redux. I hope you’ll join me on Wednesday, August 3 at The Depot Theatre in Westport, NY. (Did I mention there’s a cocktail reception?)

    Lights, stage, audience, action! I’ll morph from storyteller to author right before your eyes. With a little help from the audience…

    I love to perform, but I always apologize for my voice.

    It’s funny. When I rehearse — aloud or in my head — my voice is Bourbon and caramel. Resonant. Enveloping. It’s the secret weapon of a guerrilla storyteller!

    But then I hear a recording of myself or watch a video, and I’m certain the sound isn’t working properly. Bad mic? Is the equalizer busted? Probably the speakers are blown. I don’t have that pre-pubescent, one-dimensional voice that scurries for the rafters every few minutes. Really, I don’t.

    Only, I do. It’s me. That voice is my voice. And though I’ve come to terms with it, I do have moments when I’m rehearsing and begin to fantasize… What if I woke up sounding like James Earl Jones?

    The video above is my response to an ice breaker in Al Katkowsky’s Question of the Day (@QOfTheDayBook) book:

    What is the most important thing you want, that you didn’t grow up with?

    I’ve always longed for a deep, velvety radio announcer voice. A disk jockey voice. An actor voice. But no dice. Or wrong DNA. Or something…

    After almost four decades of vocal shenanigans I’ve accepted my lot, but if I wake up tomorrow with the voice of Darth Vader instead of Luke Skywalker, well, let’s just say that I’d be okay with that!

  • Redacting Rosslyn Redux

    Redacting Rosslyn Redux

    Rosslyn Boathouse in Essex, New York, May 1, 2011
    Rosslyn Boathouse in Essex, New York, May 1, 2011

    What happens when a storyteller writes a book? When a talker becomes a typer? When the audience’s laughter, sighs, snoring, heckling and applause vanish? When margins and page count provide only the most porous parameters?

    I’ll tell you what. Story glut. Plot inflation. Unchecked character sprawl…

    What: Redacting Rosslyn Redux
When: 8:00pm, Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Where: The Depot Theatre, Westport, NY

    For the past year I’ve been writing and revising a memoir about the four years that Susan and I spent renovating the W.D. Ross property in Essex. I’ve discovered that building a book is a bit like rebuilding an old house. No matter how great the bones, how stunning the view, how well preserved the architecture and design, and no matter how clear and enticing the goal, you can’t do it by yourself.

    In the case of our home it took the world’s most intelligent, beautiful and stubborn wife plus a vast community of contractors, carpenters, advisors, family and friends to rebuild Rosslyn. In the case of my book it will take your laughter, your sighs, your heckling (and even your prodding and booing and advising) to build Rosslyn Redux.

    Please join me at 8:00pm on Wednesday, August 3 at The Depot Theatre in Westport for a solo performance of Redacting Rosslyn Redux, an evening of readings, storytelling and vignettes ranging from a wader-wearing Amazon named Rosslyn to a perennially pickled bathtub yachtsman. I’ll poke fun at the idiosyncrasies (and absurdities) of renovation, marriage and North Country life while plunging you into the creative process. Are you ready to help build a book?

    You are invited to a reception in the lobby following the performance. All participants will be entered into a drawing for Essex gift certificates and Rosslyn Redux swag. All proceeds from this performance will be donated to The Depot Theatre. Here’s how to get tickets:

    Depot Box Office:
Call: 518-962-4449
Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 10am-10pm
Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-10pm
Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am-5pm

Depot Online Ticket Sales:
http://depottheatre.org/tickets

    Thank you. I hope to see you!