On Monday afternoon I finished mixing Kristi Falls Behind, the final chapter of The Miller’s Ghost. Now it’s online, completing the story. I’ve been so consumed by this project over the past three months that I’m having a little trouble adjusting to life without having the piece to work on. It’s the sort of feeling I used to have at the end of each semester in college. Read the rest of this entry »
by Ryan Mulkay
Ryan Mulkay rehearses the role of Ian
I was first introduced to Lie with Me at its Los Angeles staged reading following its workshop with Mutineer Theatre Company. At the time I was not yet a member of the company and simply came to the show to be entertained and show support to friends. I enjoyed the play, though a bit different from the current script, and ironically was immediately drawn to the role of Ian. Later, I saw the show when the Mutineers did a full production of the play, though by this time, I was a member of the company. Again, I was a fan, so it only seems natural that I would eventually become involved in a production of the show – right? I think so. Read the rest of this entry »
As it turned out, Steve and the Attic, the third chapter of The Miller’s Ghost, was much more difficult to produce than either chapter 1 or 2. It wasn’t any longer, and probably used fewer individual sound effects, and certainly had a lot less music. It only had four characters in it, and I’d already made the mix decisions for three of them back in chapter 1, since Laurie, Steve and Spieler were still in the living room. Where the first two chapters almost always had some kind of sound bed going on (crowds, rain, river, etc.), chapter 3 was often rather still. Read the rest of this entry »
Not really – I wasn’t born until the seventies. But my dad was. He began playing guitar in the late fifties, and by his senior year of high school in 1964, his band was playing at parties nearly every weekend.
Coincidentally, one of the first scenes of The Miller’s Ghost takes place at a house party in 1964. I didn’t want to have to worry about the expense and legal hassle of licensing a hit song from that year to help set that scene. So who better to play at Spieler’s house than my dad’s band? Read the rest of this entry »
Super Nervous
A few weeks ago I had an audition for Mutineer’s next production, Ditch written by the talented Ms. Taylor Coffman. I had not had an audition in quite a long time, so you can imagine I was super nervous. Yes, I know it was an audition for the theater company that I am a member of, and the people who were auditioning me are my friends. Yes, it was the most comfortable environment an actor could hope for when auditioning, but I was still super nervous! There were other very talented women up for the same role, and I knew I had stiff competition. I had to bring my A game if I wanted this role. I was also nervous because the people who were auditioning me are people who are not only my friends, but talented artists–people who I respect and whose opinions I value. They would know right off the bat if I was
doing a horrible job. Read the rest of this entry »
By Amy Schloerb
Right after my mom passed away I went to see a therapist for a while. She charged me way too much money, wanted me to get angry at my mom, and suggested I write a play to help deal with my feelings. I stopped going to see her.
Later, I realized she was right about one thing; I needed something to do, something to create, something to focus my energy into regarding my mom. And one day, while I was poking around on Facebook, I noticed that my friend was doing a 365-day photo series. Every day for one year he would take a picture of something and post it on his profile page. My first thought was, “Wow that’s cool!” which was closely followed by the thought, “I want to take a picture of something every day that reminds me of my mom.” Read the rest of this entry »
The first installment of The Miller’s Ghost is just days away. I’m grabbing every spare moment I can to assemble the hours of raw recordings I have into something that resembles the piece I’ve been hearing in my head. It’s tough to find those moments, since during the week I’m only able to work while my baby is napping, and that is often just 45 or so minutes at a time. Still, little by little, it’s coming together.
Editing the performances hasn’t been too hard. During the recording phase, I used the technique that served me as a music producer. I have a different colored pencil for each take (blue for Take 1, red for 2, green for 3, purple for 4. Hopefully 4 takes is enough!). I write the time each section begins into the margins of my master script, and circle it when I know I got what I wanted. When I’m ready to edit, I can see at a glance which audio file to use, jump right to that spot, and select that portion of the audio. Read the rest of this entry »
