by Robert Bowie, Jr. | Jun 15, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Plays
The staged reading of The Grace of God & The Man Machine went very well. It had energy. It came alive.
A staged reading is a collaborative stress test for the words of the story but without the action. Its success or failure for me is measured by the energy generated by the words of the play, delivered by highly talented actors in character without the aid of action on the stage.
A stage play is different. It is an art form, caught between the novel — where the story blooms in the imagination of the reader — and the movie — where the story is told for the screen and, once told, never changes.
The theater performance is the same as the other two in that it is first created by words but it is different because it is delivered to its audience live.
We were blessed with eight characters performed by gifted actors who brought the words alive, so we could see if the play created that energy we were looking for and, in cases where it did not, make the changes needed so they do.
A few nights before Onaje opened at the NYCFringe, I was honored to have dinner with the famous Broadway producer and founder of the Commercial Theatre Institute (CTI), Tom Viertel. I asked him on opening night if he could tell if he had a hit play. He said yes. He told me to sit in the back of the theater where you could see the audience, and then look for any movement — searching for a handkerchief, unwrapping candy, or looking at the program — any motion other than full concentration on the stage. This was evidence of loss of focus, and should be marked in the text.
At ten o’clock, the day of the reading, eight professional and highly successful professional actors met Steve Eich for the first time and they began reading the play together. They had all been provided the script before, but now Steve’s direction was creating a harmony that would create this energy. They broke for lunch at 1:00, and then began their practice performance with editing and interruptions to bring that harmony to the process. I was very impressed by each actor after they finished, and broke for dinner at 5:30 to return, dressed in black for the reading at 7:00.
What happened at seven o’clock was quite remarkable. Each of the actors had become their characters, and I found myself twice lost in the words that I had written, and rediscovered the power of the play exclusively through the interactions of the actors.
At the end of the first act, I was quite surprised and pleased, because there was an extended ovation from what had been a quiet crowd. I had done what Tom Viertel told me to do. I had watched the crowd. They hadn’t moved, and when anyone did move I marked the script.
More importantly, I had felt the energy from the stage and I had been moved by this remarkable collaborative stress test. It worked.
On to the next step.
by Robert Bowie, Jr. | Jun 12, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Plays
It’s TONIGHT, Monday night. Join us! Please use this link to RSVP:
https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
Our one-night-only staged reading at Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre in Baltimore is THIS MONDAY, June 12, at 7:00 pm.
Directed by Stephen Eich, former Managing Director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, and starring a fantastic ensemble of talented actors, this staged reading of The Grace of God and the Man Machine promises to be an exceptional night of live theater you don’t want to miss.
And it’s free!
We’re encouraging theater owners and artistic directors in the Baltimore/DC area to come experience the play, and would love to have you there in the audience.
Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre
206 E. Redwood St.
Baltimore, MD 20212 (map).
Parking one block away at:
Arrow Parking, 204 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD (map).
Doors open at 6:30, performance begins at 7:00.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
Be there or be square!
by Robert Bowie, Jr. | Jun 6, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Plays
Meet our cast of characters:
Dan, a Chesapeake Bay oysterman, his wife Sarah, Henderson, an ex-cop, Richard Jr., a cowboy driving a convertible, Onaje, a hitchhiker navigating with a sextant, Andrew, a civil rights worker, Belle, a truck stop waitress, and Richard Sr., a Chesapeake Bay oysterman.
Meet our amazing cast:
Our staged reading at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is coming up, Monday, June 12, 7:00 pm. Thanks to our casting director, Barbara Pinolini, we are thrilled to have assembled an incredible array of talented professional actors from the Baltimore/DC area: Elliot Dash (Dan), Aakhu Freeman (Sarah), Ron Heneghan (Henderson), Drew Kopas (Richard Jr.), Michael Mainwaring (Onaje), Stephen Russell Murray (Andrew), Jenna Rossman (Belle), Todd Scofield (Richard Sr.).
Meet our accomplished director:
Stephen Eich is a former Managing Director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where he produced over 125 productions including the 1993 TONY-nominated The Song of Jacob Zulu (featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo), as well as the 1990 TONY-winning Best Play, The Grapes of Wrath. He also produced Steve Martin’s award-winning Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Steppenwolf, before taking it to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and England and the National Tour.
Join us this Monday night!
The performance is free. We’re looking for theater owners and artistic directors in the Baltimore/DC area to host future professional performances (and also supporters of live theater).
Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre
206 E. Redwood St.
Baltimore, MD 20212 (map).
Parking one block away at:
Arrow Parking, 204 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD (map).
Doors open at 6:15, performance begins at 7:00.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
Hope to meet you there!
by Robert Bowie, Jr. | May 30, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Plays
As our staged reading of The Grace of God & The Man Machine gets ready for its performance we are getting more inquiries about the cost of admission.
It’s FREE!
We are actively courting the artistic directors of professional theaters in the Washington/Baltimore area and suburbs to find a home for The Grace of God & The Man Machine, and have invited them to come see the play at a staged reading, Monday, June 12 at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre in the Financial District of Baltimore.
Director Stephen Eich will take over the theater the morning on June 12th. He and Casting Director Barbara Pinolini have hand-picked some of the finest actors in the Washington/Baltimore area (more on them next week). Many of these actors will likely be meeting for the first time, coming together to create two families and a history of love and conflict from eight very complex, often humorous characters.
A little after noon, they will take a lunch break, then continue to rehearse the play until 5:30 or so to break for dinner.
Come watch this happen. It’s a highly emotional play with great humor and the actors are exhilarating. Come early before 7:00 pm. The cash bar will be open. Stay afterward for the talkback with Steve, Barbara, the actors, and myself. Feel the play. Be part of theater working. All for free.
Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre
206 E. Redwood St.
Baltimore, MD 20212 (map).
Parking one block away at:
Arrow Parking, 204 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD (map).
Doors open at 6:15, performance begins at 7:00.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
by Robert Bowie, Jr. | May 23, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Personal
Last week, I wrote about the untimely death, due to Covid, of my play, The Grace of God & The Man Machine, just before its Off-Broadway debut, but I also wrote about its planned rebirth on Monday, June 12th at 7pm at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre in Baltimore’s financial district.
This week, I wanted to share the history of where the play came from over 50 years ago. (You have marked your calendar for Monday night, June 12th, right?)
In the summer of 1967, I was a teenage boy who travelled for the first time down south from my home in Massachusetts to the eastern shore of Maryland. Less than a month later, not far from Easton, where I was staying, the civil rights riots in Cambridge, Maryland exploded late that July, when H. Rap Brown, head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, had been invited to lead a peaceful protest in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had not been recognized down in Cambridge.
Activist Gloria Richardson, who had invited Rap to speak, admitted later that he went beyond the assigned bounds, but also asserted that the black neighborhoods were set on fire in retaliation, and the white-operated fire trucks refused to put out the fires.
Shortly thereafter, Governor Spiro Agnew went down to Cambridge and chastised the black population for lighting their homes on fire. Agnew got national headlines and, as a result, Richard Nixon asked him to be his running mate in the upcoming presidential elections.
Within the first two days, I knew I was an outsider. The blacks in Easton would not make eye contact with a white boy whose hair was a little longer than the buzz cuts of his contemporaries in Easton. When I was invited to swim at the Easton Country Club, the lifeguard rushed over to stop me, saying if I wanted to swim there, I would have to wear a bathing cap.
I looked around. Not even the girls swimming in the pool were wearing bathing caps. I felt uneasy.
That afternoon, I tasted Chesapeake Bay blue crab for the first time at The Crab Claw restaurant overlooking the Bay. My host, a local doctor, snapped his fingers and used the N-word to call the waiter to bring more crabs and more beer as the afternoon progressed. I felt very uneasy. Similar experiences leading up to the riots that steamy July never left me.
I was forever changed by these experiences and this play came from the scars that were left more than 50 years ago.
Several months ago, after the Off-Broadway run was cancelled, I got an unexpected phone call from Steve Eich, telling me that he had read the play and he would like to talk.
Steven Eich is a remarkable figure in American theatre. Years ago, I had been fortunate to have bought a single ticket to see his Broadway production of The Grapes of Wrath, which had just received a Tony Award for Best Play.
- Steve has been Managing Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, 1979–1995.
- Managing Director of Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, 2000–2008.
- Executive Director of the Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena, 2009–2012.
He has been an award-winning producer and director, whose credits include The Grapes of Wrath, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Paul Simon’s The Capeman, The Trial of an American President, and Frank The Man, about Frank Sinatra.
Steve has been a great champion of the play, and wants to present it in the area where the events of the play took place. The goal of our June 12th reading is to find supporters and a venue for its future life. It’s going to be an exciting night, with a talkback afterward where you can meet Steve and the actors.
I would greatly appreciate it if you can help me spread the word. Feel free to like this post and share it, and I will see you there.
Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre
206 E. Redwood St.
Baltimore, MD 20212 (map).
Parking one block away at:
Arrow Parking, 204 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD (map).
Doors open at 6:15, performance begins at 7:00.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
by Robert Bowie, Jr. | May 16, 2023 | Featured, Man Machine, Plays
Mark your calendar for Monday night, June 12!
Several months ago I was contacted by Stephen Eich. He told me that he had read my play, The Grace of God & The Man Machine, and he wanted to talk about it. This was an amazing surprise for several reasons:
First, Steven Eich is a remarkable figure in all aspects of American theatre. He has been Managing Director, Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago, 1979-1995. Managing Director, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, 2000-2008, Executive Director, Pasadena
Playhouse, Pasadena, 2009-2012.
He has also been an award-winning producer and director. To name a few: The Grapes of Wrath, TONY AWARD BEST PLAY 1990, Producer; Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Producer, 1993–Present; Paul Simon’s The Capeman, Co-Producer 1996–1998; The Trial of an American President, NYC 2016, Director; Frank The Man, Music-Director/Producer.
Second, I was still mourning what I concluded was the end of life for this wonderful play after its off Broadway closing before it opened, after years of preparation and delays, because its producer went under due to Covid closures.
Over the last several months, Steve and I have gone over the play page by page, line by line, and finally we met last month in Baltimore so Steve could meet with Barbara Pinolini, the very well respected actress and casting Director from Washington DC with whom steve wanted to work to get his professional cast and to secure the theater he wanted for a staged reading in the Baltimore/Washington area. Since the play concerns the civil rights riots in the eastern shore of Maryland, in 1967 and its aftermath, Steve’s theory is because it happened in the Maryland/ D.C. Area this is where its professional rebirth should occur.
Please join us! Mark your calendar for Monday night, June 12. The performance is free. We’re looking for theater owners and artistic directors in the Baltimore/DC area to host future professional performances (and also supporters of live theater).
Chesapeake Shakespeare Studio Theatre
206 E. Redwood St.
Baltimore, MD 20212 (map).
Parking one block away at:
Arrow Parking, 204 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD (map).
Doors open at 6:15, performance begins at 7:00.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://robertbowiejr.com/rsvp
