Get with the program

I wanted to share this cool program from a young artist at Theisen Middle School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Full-color, computer-generated graphics can be very eye-catching, but sometimes hand-drawn pictures are the best. Great job!

Overcoming stage fright

I recently received an email from a young man who'll be appearing as Frankie in his school's production of Million Dollar Meatballs. The show opens in two days and he was feeling a bit nervous. Did I have any advice for him?

Unfortunately, he contacted me through my bio page on the Pioneer Drama Service website and when I tried to reply to the email address he entered, it was rejected by his school's server.

I don't want him to think I'm ignoring him, so I thought I'd reply here. After all, there must be a lot of students out there who are struggling with stage fright.

To be honest, I haven't done a lot of acting, but I have done a fair amount of public speaking and the stage fright with that can be just as bad. Here are some things I did to overcome that stage fright:

1) Do some deep breathing and stretching exercises before you go on stage. This will help you relax.

2) After you're done, stand tall and maintain a confident posture. It's hard to feel nervous when you look like you're ready to conquer the world. You might even try out a superhero stance, which has been shown to decrease feelings of stress and increase feelings of power. Just remember: it's Superman, not Ant-Man.

3) Get your mind off the performance. Read something. Talk to your friends. Play a game. This helps put things in perspective, reminding you that there's a lot more to life than this one show.

4) Remind yourself that the audience is on your side. They're rooting for you to do well. But they're also very forgiving when things go wrong.

5) Realize that stage fright usually only happens before the show. Once you get on stage in front of an audience and start bringing your character to life, you'll forget all about being nervous.

I hope this helps!

If you ever have problems contacting me through the Pioneer Drama Service website or other means, please feel free to email me directly at todd.wallinger@gmail.com.

I promise you'll get a reply.

Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye costume ideas

My editor at Pioneer Drama Service tells me that Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye has gone off the charts recently. The play has booked 51 productions since last May and he continues to see several new orders almost every day.

With so many schools and youth theatres producing the play, I thought it might be helpful to show some pictures from those productions. It's always fun to see the creativity of the designs, and it might inspire some of you as you work on your own designs.

For this post, I'm going to show you costumes for the dynamic duo themselves--Rumpelstiltskin and Ugly Duckling--around whom the play revolves. You can see there are lots of variations, especially for Rumpelstiltskin.

Some go for the classic gumshoe look, giving him a dark suit and fedora. Some go more gnome-like with a beard and fairy tale garb. Still others prefer a hybrid look, combining a beard with a trench coat. And one school went in a completely different direction, decking him out like Sherlock Holmes with a frock coat and deerstalker hat.

It's all good. The only limit is your imagination. And maybe your budget.

Meatballs in Taiwan

Check out this poster for the Taiwanese premiere of Million Dollar Meatball, coming February 25-26 to a middle school in Taichung. I love how they made it look just like a movie poster, right down to the iconic font used for the credits at the bottom.

But my favorite part has to be the goofy expressions of the actors. They give the production a real sense of fun.

And in case you were wondering how to write Million Dollar Meatballs in Mandarin, it's like this:

百萬美元肉丸子.

Break legs, everyone!

What I learned directing

And just like that, it's over.

The Last Radio Show closed last night, and although I'm sad to see it go, I'm very happy with how it went. The audience loved the play, I came away with several ideas on how to improve the script (mostly cutting the slow bits), and I even made a little money.

I knew I would learn from experience. What I didn't know was how much I would learn. Basically, a metric boatload. Here are some of the biggest things I learned

1) The actors who complain that their parts are small are often the last ones to learn their lines.

2) As tempting as it may be, don't work on another script while in rehearsal. It's not a matter of time. It's a matter of mental energy. You owe it to your team to focus on the play at hand.

3) That first laugh is the hardest. Put it as early as you can--on lights up, if possible.

4) Sometimes the best thing a director can do for the cast during a long day of rehearsal is buy them pizza and leave them alone.

5) If you don't do anything with a character for several pages, consider giving them an exit.

6) Never ever EVER give an actor a line reading. Unless, of course, you have to.

7) The most important person on your team is the stage manager. Get the best one you can find.

8) It doesn't matter if you think the audience should laugh at a particular gag. If they're not laughing, cut it. There's nothing less funny than a line that's supposed to be funny.

9) Never ask actors to offer suggestions about their characters. They'll give you suggestions about everything BUT their characters.

10) Directing your own play is quite possibly the most stressful, nerve-wracking, nail-biting, agonizing, exhausting experience you ever have. It is also the most fun.

Will I do it again? You bet. But it has to be the right play and I have to have the right team. I don't know when those two things will come together, but I'm hoping that they do at least once a year.

Until then, it's back to writing.

The Last Radio Show opens tonight

The costumes are fitted. The props are set. The last rehearsal is over.

Now all that's left to make this thing a real live play is an audience.

Tonight is the world premiere of my newest play, The Last Radio Show. It's a fast-paced farce about KUKU, a struggling radio station in the 1940's, and the mysterious series of "accidents" that threaten to shut it down for good.

It's the first full-length play I've ever directed. It's been a lot of  hard work, sure, but it was also a lot more fun than I ever expected, and you'd better believe I'll be back in the director's chair before the year is out.

The best part about directing is the people. The actors were a delight to work with, and even if they didn't always agree with my decisions, they injected so much of themselves into the characters that the play is a hundred times better as a result.

Of course, I couldn't have done any of this without the fabulous crew I was blessed with. They went above and beyond the call of duty, making sure that every costume, every prop, every set piece met my often nitpicky demands. They also played a huge role in improving the script, and my favorite part of the whole process was batting around ideas with them long after the actors had gone home for the night.

The show runs fours shows only at Black Box Theatre, 1367 Pecan Street, in Colorado Springs:

• 7pm, Thursday, January 14
• 7pm, Friday, January 15
• 2pm, Saturday, January 16
• 7pm, Saturday, January 16

The production even got a glowing recommendation from the Colorado Springs Independent.

Tickets for the two Saturday shows are going fast. To order yours, visit Brown Paper Tickets.

Radio on the air

I'm deep into the rehearsal process for my new play The Last Radio Show, but I still managed to squeeze in a couple of interviews on local radio shows.

On Monday, Jessamine Hamer, Sam Suksiri and I were interviewed by Keith Simon for the KCME Culture Zone. To listen, click here.

Today, Sue Bachman, Freddy McDaniel and I were interviewed by Drew Smith for KVOR's The Ticket. To listen, click here.

The show runs Thursday, January 14 to Saturday, January 16 at Black Box Theatre in Colorado Springs. Tickets can be ordered here.