Apologies, because this should have appeared here on Monday - two days ago - but something called ‘real work‘ kept getting in the way.

We needed something to wrap up Spoleto ‘08 nicely, and what else but an acceptance to the Finale Picnic Judging competition. So Geoff, our intrepid ‘video guy’ gamely stepped up to the challenge, and mingled with the picnickers at Middleton Place on Sunday afternoon …

As this will probably be the last post for this year (sob!) we’d like to say ‘thanks’ to y’all for checking out the SpoletoToday.com blog for the past three or so weeks. Our stats tell us there’s a healthy number of you out there that have enjoyed the coverage, and we’ve certainly enjoyed putting it all up here for you.

We just hope that we’re still around to do it all again next year …

With Spoleto wrapped, I’m left with a blur of memories, impressions and observations on the festival. Here are just a few of them.

An audience member filming Harvard Sailing Team’s opening night with her cellphone, distracting the people sitting behind her (including me) as she emailed the hilarious sketches to her friends…

Oversized patrons at the Chapel Theatre, trying to squeeze into the small seats. Some of the grossest guests had to ride side saddle.

Rodney Lee Rogers sitting patiently behind a small curtain for 45 minutes, the audience gathering around him before The Tragedian.

Two old dears I met at the first performance of A Devil Inside who’d been to so many shows that they couldn’t remember what they’d seen the night before, and started arguing about it. The festival had been running for two days.

The miserable actors in This War is Live who were fed up with the show and its technical hiccups… one complained about his simplistic character, while another called the whole experience “torturous.” He should have counted himself fortunate – he wasn’t sitting in the audience…

Sitting next to two of the playwrights of Under the Lights: 10×10 – and trying to make mental review notes without making them feel uncomfortable…

Jay Clifford courageously performing at the American Theatre despite suffering from some debilitating lurgy. After the first night, he conked out in his truck… on the second night, his manager Vance McNabb picked up his bug. They put on a great show, they’re both feeling better now and they’re no longer contagious (I hope).

Watching rehearsals with Chen Shi-Zheng, director of Monkey: Journey to the West… and being invited to look at the aftermath of The Great War after Hotel Modern’s show was over. I witnessed chaos on a model train scale.

One of my favorite elements of the festival, though, was bumping into the various local and national theatre performers, artists and filmmakers who collaborate to help make the festival function. Without their hard work and the overwhelming enthusiasm of the audience, there’d be no festival… thanks to them all.

There’s two more videos from Geoff to come, here’s one of them - some quick clips from the Piccolo closing ceremony on Saturday.

The UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade touring company) improv group are in town from New York, and I got the chance to catch up with them at their house on Folly Beach on Tuesday evening. They’ve still got two more shows left - Friday and Saturday night at Theatre 99, and we seriously recommend that you catch them while you can …

As promised, here are the latest videos from SpoJo Don D. Lewis. He’ll have more over at his site…

First up, Gradual Lean:

Gradual Lean at Holy City Homecomin’ from Don D. Lewis on Vimeo.

Next: Clay Ross’ Matuto…

Clay Ross’ Matuto at Holy City Homecomin’ from Don D. Lewis on Vimeo.

It’s not to late to get Spoleto’d up if you’ve missed out on the whole thing so far. And seeing as it had been a few days since I pointed my video camera in someone’s face and harassed them, I decided to head down to the Gaillard - ticket central for Spoleto ‘08 - and do just that …

Marc Bamuthi Joseph put on an impressive show over two dates at the Emmett Robinson last week. His poetic speech and movement was combined with hip-hop music, conversational “travel diary” monologues, video interviews shot by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and a large moving lighting rig choreographed by James Clotfelter.

Yet for a really intense experience, I went to Bamuthi’s two hour workshop at the Avery Research Center, part of a free “Spoleto at the Avery” program” that ran last week.

At the Emmett Robinson Theatre, Bamuthi shared the stage with all those bells and whistles. In the workshop, there were no such distractions. The performer’s work was a lot more powerful in the intimate classroom environment, and he got to show another side to his work – he mentors teen writers through a “Youth Speaks” literary arts organization.

The workshop was part writing class, part dance-off. Bamuthi began with a demonstration of what he does, switching from hip-hop speech to regular talk about his partner’s pregnancy and a planned natural birth. As he spoke he moved, creating visual images with his physical being, his expressions and his breathing.

Read the rest of this entry »

PURE Theatre: Episode 3. Showtime from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

Sharon makes her debut behind the wheel of the “big rig” Penske rental and nothing can stop her… except that pesky emergency brake. The car seat confusion continues, and then it’s off to a Spoleto show and back to Lance Hall for the Piccolo premiere of K. Brian Neel’s ‘Vaud Rats.’

PREVIOUSLY:

• EPISODE 1: PURE cofounders Rodney Lee Rogers and Sharon Graci start their day with their two youngest daughters.
• EPISODE 2: Actors and family members pitch in as stage hands to construct PURE’s new theater space.

PURE Theatre: Episode 2. The Move-in. from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

The crew — including family members drafted for the effort — assembles at Circular Church downtown, and the unloading and construction of the new theater space begins.

No matter what their roles on stage, everyone becomes a laborer when PURE is between productions, from respected actor (and PURE company manager) R.W. Smith to the young cast and crew of “Eurydice,” which staged its final performance the night before.

Rodney Lee Rogers and Sharon Graci juggle the physical labor, the direction of the set-up and the parenting of two young daughters. But the overworked crew’s most daunting task might just be doing math in their heads in front of a rolling camcorder.

Still ahead: Sharon’s first turn behind the wheel of the “big rig” Penske rental truck…

Ok, I confess that I should have had this video report up online yesterday, but I was busy being pre-occupied being on TV myself instead.

Such bad timing/co-ordination then led to Dan to write a post about The Devil and Deep Blue Sea, followed immediately by a video post by me, about, er .. oh .. The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

Yup … I was out partying on Monday night, which meant that with a martini in one hand, and my video camera in the other I went-a-mingling after the penultimate show to see if I could work out why on earth it involved gingerbread men …

When we covered Spoleto last year, we got invited onto a local radio show to talk about our blog coverage. And I just about remembered to take my video camera along and record some of it, just for … well, just because I could really. [Last years video]

As we’ve stepped up our game this year blog-wise, and my video camera seems to be surgically attached to my body, it seemed almost rude not to use it when we moved up from being on the radio to being on TV to talk about and plug SpoletoToday.com

So yes, I confess - this is self indulgent - but fun too, as Janet and me were on ABC this morning on LowCountryLive, to talk about, er - this site!

In case you can’t hear it (the audio is not the best - I left my camera running on a chair about 20 feet away!) we’re talking about the video contest we’re running, and your chance to win $200 for making a video of your own about this years Spoleto and Piccolo festivals. See Janet’s earlier post for the full details.