MOVING (this blog is)

ATTN: If you read this blog – it’s moving.

Update your links to .

That’s right, I’m reestablishing my own website. There’s nothing much there, but I’ve moved this entire blog, old posts and all, over there. So update your bookmarks/RSS feeds. <3

the Ph.D stalker

to be honest, i spend far too much time researching Ph.D programs. this often leads to Facebook stalking of Ph.D candidates in coveted theatre programs.

today, this embarrassing pastime of mine led me to one student’s twitter account. he namechecked the modern lovers, sunn O))), flannery o’connor, and david byrne in the space of a few months, and i couldn’t decide whether to propose marriage through @reply or just take heart in the fact that there is at least one incredibly cool theatre grad student at yale. le sigh.

gosh, i’m such a creeper.

directing research

the internet can be a terrifying place when looking for quick visual references/inspiration. i’m working on a storyboarding assignment for my directing class, and i googled “adult on rocking horse.” (i’m directing

rocking back and forth

, a short play by günter grass, which involves a clown riding a rocking horse.)

i advise you never to google the phrase “adult on rocking horse,” unless you want to be introduced to a fetish world you likely had no interest in ever understanding.

this has been a public service announcement.

Paulus and the A.R.T.

At last, the Times is talking about one of the most interesting developments in American theatre in the past year: Diane Paulus’ hiring as artistic director of Cambridge’s American Repertory Theatre. Founded by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. has been home to some of my favorite productions in the past ten years, including their killer staging of No Exit. When I heard Paulus had been hired, and read up on her, I was worried. A Broadway director running my favorite arty-farty theatre? Yikes.

But then I heard she’d secured a revival of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, a huge site-specific piece that drapes Hitchcock’s Rebecca over the world of Macbeth. I went to the production with my family over Christmas break, and it was everything I’d hoped for: thrilling, mysterious, strange, exciting. How could I not be proud and thrilled that Paulus had brought such a daring work to stuffy ol’ Boston? Audiences agreed with me – the run was sold out and extended. The hottest ticket in town, you know?

So here’s the article in question. It raises a lot of the questions I’ve had about the changes at the A.R.T. I, for one, am excited and hopeful. There’s nothing like breathing new life into an old theatrical institution. Here’s hoping she keeps pushing the envelope and pulling new audiences into the world of theatre. Let’s keep reminding people that the stage is exciting, strange, wonderful, moving, and worth the few extra bucks over the latest flick at the cineplex.

Book Promo: Jami Attenberg’s The Melting Season

I was lucky to meet Jami Attenberg last year, when she visited Austin while promoting her novel, The Kept Man. My now-roommate Sam had met her back east, and we went to see her read at Book People. I enjoyed The Kept Man very much (think chick lit, but with an IQ, emotional depth, and an artist’s bent) and Sam, Patrick and I made a promo video for Jami’s latest novel, The Melting Season, which came out last week.

The Melting Season: Trailer from James Patrick Robinson on Vimeo.

Get the book: The Melting Season

the best thing about the daily commute

SOMETIMES

you are driving down I-35, listening to your mp3 player, mind adrift, and an image comes to you, so sharp and clear that you can’t shake it

and you realize that the play you are directing is about so much more than you originally thought, and the image in your head is the key

a small white figure with three huge, black, birdlike creatures hovering above it.

and you curse yourself for not carrying a sketchbook along with your usual shoulder-crushing, overdone school haul. but you scribble it down in a corner of your notebook and tuck it deep inside your head and go about your day with this small, secret thrill hidden inside you.

and then you hope. that it will work.

see ‘eurydice’

i went to two plays last night. one is running for another week, and was some of the best work i’ve seen in austin so far. go see different stages production of sarah ruhl’s eurydice at the city theater. strong, affecting actors, a lovely, spare set (it’s hard to imagine that a long length of thick twine could build a house, isn’t it?), and intricate blocking make great use of a surprisingly small stage. if you don’t know the story of orpheus and eurydice, give it a quick read. it’s one of my favorite myths, and this show really sold it to me.

there’s more i’d like to say about it, but not yet. suffice it to say i think it’s very much worth seeing.

honesty

it is 1:48 a.m. in central texas, and the most honest thing i can say is that approximately 50% of who i am can be summed up in the first six songs (Songs, alphabetical) on my mp3 player. As follows:

Karen O and the Kids (Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack) – All is Love
self-explanatory

Ho-Ag – ¡Alo Presidente!
A lot of people have changed sides since your last visit, my friend. Why’s that?

Talking Heads – And She Was
Missing enough to feel alright

Bonnie Prince Billy – Another Day Full of Dread
By dread I’m inspired, by fear I’m amused

Delta 5 – Anticipation
anticipation is so much better

Harvey Milk – The Anvil Will Fall
distorted guitar contrasting with strings and falsetto lyrics

how does anybody ever say a thing to anybody else? sometimes i wonder. we make each other run away, and it’s sad, and there apparently isn’t any way to change it.

i am who i am. and apparently that means i have a little less fear (am a bit more stupid? some would say) than many. which seems absurd, since most of me feels as if i’ve never done a thing of import.

something more real, in the next 24 hours, i swear. au revoir.

hot news from straight out of my face

second semester, day two, and my life is already crazy.

good crazy.

the good news, short version:
my department is launching an academic e-journal, and i’m helping get it off the ground, along with six classmates and our advisor, who has asked me to work on acquisitions. terrifying! and wonderful. mostly wonderful.

i also have the opportunity to assist a dramaturg on a festival on campus this fall. this is incredibly cool and i’m pretty sure i said yes immediately.

my directing class is already amazing: there are only five of us, all grad students who i happen to adore, the professor is a pro and already the best dude, and we’re each doing a 25-30 minute non-realistic piece. as you can imagine, this is my dream come true, and also terrifying, because i’m definitely the biggest directing noob in the room. mostly thrilling, though!

i missed my classmates. i am going to do more academic reading and writing this semester than i ever have in my life.

spot a trend yet? i’m really glad to be back. if i can just make myself get back into yoga and go for some dang bike rides, everything will be amazing.

more details, and continuations of past stories, soon. i swear.

when coen and the bard get high together

you get this.

two gentlemen of lebowski. five acts. need i say more?

real update later – i just landed my first paid film gig in over a year, and on my first weekday of unemployment. amazing.