Sandbox Theatre Project: The Blog

4/2/06 – First Read-Through

For our newest site-specific play, Can You Spot Me?, Sandbox Theatre Project will be posting a weekly blog to let you, THE FUCKING AMAZING BLOG VISITORS OUT THERE!!!, know about all the latest in the land of STP. We’d love your comments. Here’s the first. . .

our newest Sandbox Theatre Project site-specific play is to be performed in a real Chicago gym and is called Can You Spot Me?. as before – with Where We Live (the apartment) and Bottle Can Draft (the bar) – chelsea, cliff, and I have co-written this play. Can You Spot Me? is performed in a real gym, and basically – in a nutshell – a new play about how people learn to talk to each other, or, rather, how (and why) people DO NOT talk to each other. A gym seems as perfect a place as any to amplify that idea, so we ran with it. Plus, in a gym, people do funny things, and we like funny!

first read-through of Can You Spot Me? was tonight at the always-amazing Carmichael’s Steakhouse. We met at 5pm and read through the new play at 6pm. The whole cast and crew was there (except Lee had to miss it; we’re just lucky he has time to work on the play at all!) and most wonderfully Alex Miles (from Bottle Can Draft fame) was able to come and laugh and give good comments. our board was represented there, and honestly I must admit, that to walk into the room and see a hoard of STP family sitting in one room together laughing and drinking and cavorting, as we do so well, I couldn’t help but feel completely like a proud father. You see, STP turns 3 years old on May 1, 2006, and just as I am consistently amazed at how much we’ve done and grown in such a short time, I still sort of can’t believe it. And, of course, so much of it is thanks to you, you fucking amazing tireless dedicated fans! We are pretty convinced you are going to be the people who will benefit most from this new play, as, frankly, it’s funny as shit. Tonight’s reading was a testament. Here’s who you have to thank:

anne adams
andy carey
cliff chamberlain
chelsea cutler
wil fleming
chris matthews
tim rock
geoff rice
rani waterman
john doyle
jen gadda
lee keenan
john morrison
justin d.m. palmer
justin sondak
meredith stadel
sean (the carmichael’s bartender)

so I’m very happy with where we are and much more happy about where this is going to go!

get ready, people, this is going to be a funny one!

Your proud artistic director,

justin d,m. palmer
justin@sandboxtheatreproject.org

So I’ve been working on getting ready to go on as Dick this Monday at home. By myself. Yeah, I know my roommate is the guy who normally plays the part but he works nights and I work days and it just sort of works out that way. It’s not a spite thing. It’s just how it goes. I’m strugglig though. It’s sort of hard to do because I’ve been watching Cliff do it for the last 2 months (3 if you include rehearsals i guess?!) and i just can’t get his voice out of my head. Believe me, I can do probably the best Cliff Chamberlain impression this side of. . . whatever. . . side. . . of something you’re . . . on . . . i guess. . . but it’s tough. Let’s try to hear YOU say “or I was thinking of going in a motorized wheelchairs, perhaps” without going into straight-up Cliff Dogg! If Cliff weren’t so damn good at it, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Oh man. . . . . . . wish me luck, everybody. . . . . . . . .

ok, so i don’t know if i’ve told many people about this yet, but i’m totally a drummer. have been for 16 years. started when i was 10. 5th grade. Mr. Wolf’s band class.

drumming’s awesome. in fact — and maybe this is ironic, is this irony?? i think so — drumming is responsible for most of my first theatre experiences. being a drummer got me into one my most important theatrical experiences, when i was a musician and cast member of a really popular touring “theatre as rock concert” company/show in Santa Barbara called WOVEN. in fact, i think www.wovenworld.com is still up. i was 19. before that, i was one of two freshman at UCSB to be cast in a mainstage show (a civil war adaptation of Brecht’s “Mother Courage”) (the other freshman cast was Cliff Chamberlain, btw. little bit of Sandbox trivia for you). i didn’t act in “Mother Courage”, i only drummed, but i definitely got cast. i had to audition. i had to read shit. i was 18 then.

and now. . . now i’m 26 and i’m going to be playing drums in the upcoming House Theatre of Chicago’s production of VALENTINE VICTORIOUS. 1/14 – 3/11 or something like that at the Viaduct. so, yeah, i’m totally in the next House show. first Cliff, then me.

weird.

so weird.

so, yeah. i’m totally a drummer btw.

i just thought about the fact that i’m in VV for the first time (just now). i was like “wow. i’m totally in the next House show”.

hmmm. . .

so everyone’s gotta come!