Crazytown

ARGO BE FABULOUS!

By RSO

Former Crazytown contributor Brett Ryback has made a movie about people making a musical parodying a movie about people making a movie... it's ARGO the Musical!

Argo Be Fabulous!!

ARGO! The Musical - watch more funny videos

 

After watching this, doesn't make you want to do the Mobot?  Or at least, watch Tom Daley do the Mobot?

 

 

RYAN SCOTT OLIVER wrote the music and lyrics for Darling, Mrs. Sharp, 35mm, Jasper in Deadland and more. www.ryanscottoliver.com
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DEATH VALLEY DQ (Part Two)

The final installment of my newest work, Death Valley DQ.
By Brett Ryback

In part one, we learned that Luna was anxiously awaiting Bobby Hernandez to arrive and ask her to prom.  Hank has just left for Las Vegas in pursuit of his wife who is actually at a hotel just down the street  - a secret kept by Jo. 

They are now four minutes to closing time.

•       •       •

(JO goes back to her paper and circles something.)

LUNA
Whatcha circling?

JO
Jobs.  I tell ya, I was real pissed off when they said they were closing us down.  Rodney’s supposed to start kindergarten next year and…It’s just the worst time for all of this.  There’s hardly anything in Baker.  And I…I don’t want to have to go to Vegas, but it doesn’t look like anyone else is hiring.

LUNA
How come you don’t want to go to Vegas?

JO
It’s…I don’t think I could do…any of that stuff. 

LUNA
They probably got a DQ in Vegas.

JO
Probably.  (A beat.)  Rodney’s dad is there.  And I’d rather…  I mean, if I don’t have to.

LUNA
My science teacher, Ms. Clark, just had a baby.  Maybe you could do her job til she gets back!

JO
I think you need to have schoolin’ to do that.

LUNA
Yeah, but you’ll be at school!

JO
What about you?  You going to school next year?

LUNA
No.  I’m gonna marry Bobby Hernandez.  If he ever gets here, already!

DEATH VALLEY DQ (Part One)

Part One of Two of my newest play, Death Valley DQ.
By Brett Ryback

10 minutes is a long time in the theatre.  There's a saying for writers: if the audience doesn't know what the show is about in the first 10 minutes, something's wrong.  These precious first 10-15 pages are where we meet our world, our protagonist(s), and the conflict of the show.  Everything else will hinge on those ingredients.

Now imagine an entire play in 10 minutes.

To create a world, protagonists, and conflict in the midst of a beginning, middle, and end is an interesting challenge.  That, coupled with the fact that 10 minute play contests abound in this country, was the reason I wrote Death Valley DQ.

Death Valley DQ received its first staged presentation at American Globe Theatre's 18th-Annual 15-Minute Play Fest, where it was awarded Honorable Mention for Best Play.  The presentation was directed by Brendan Naylor.  The role of Jo was played by Melissa van der Schyff; the role of Hank was played by Victor Hernandez; and the role of Luna was played by Andrea Ross.  

It also recently receieved 3rd Place in the McClean Drama Company's 10-Minute Play Contest, and will have a reading at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Rehearsal Hall in Washington, DC, this coming fall.

•       •       •

DEATH VALLEY DQ
A Ten-Minute Play

By:
BRETT RYBACK

LEAVING TOWN

My final post for Crazytown.
By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

The whole experience of art is transient.  It exists only in this moment, and only for whomever is watching it right then and there.  And you never have the same experience twice.  It's impossible.

As an actor, you get used to forming new families all the time, and then saying goodbye just as quickly.

I recently joined the company of a new play at one my of familiar haunts, South Coast Repertory.  THE PRINCE OF ATLANTIS will begin performances March 30th and then just as quickly will close on April 29th, during the Pacific Playwrights Festival.  The play, by Steven Drukman, tells the tale of two brothers meeting a long-lost son, and the journey that son goes on to discover his new family.

At the same time as this, a long-term part-time job that has gotten me through some slow times is coming to an end. But - I just (finally) purchased an iphone! So all that part-time work will now be spent playing Words with Friends. 

Old chapters ending and new chapters beginning.  Spring always brings change, right?

Well, there's one final bit of change I want to share with you.

 

My time at Crazytown is at a close.

It's been a crazy, exciting, enlightening, fun 15 months, and I'm grateful to all the people who have checked in from time to time to see what sorts of nonsense I've come up.

And of course I'm extremely grateful to RSO for including me on this adventure. 

I'll still blog every now and then at my personal site.  But for the time being, I'm packing my bags and taking an open-ended vacation from "town."  I'll check in when I can, and maybe even send a postcard once in a while.

Much love and appreciation to everyone who's ever risked a trip to this artist's asylum.

And if there's one thing my years of watching X-files taught me, it's that even if you're dead - you're not really dead.

So until next time I'm in town...

BRETT RYBACK wrote the music for Liberty Inn (Ovation Nominee, Best Music/Lyrics), the book music and lyrics for The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter, and the book for Darling. He also acts on stage and TV. www.btryback.wordpress.com
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DOUBLE YUM

By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

There are so many things I would lick peanut butter off of...

 

And speaking of licking things...Have I introduced you to one of my favorite recipe sites?

Ladies and Gentlemen - Batter Licker.

Double Yum.

BRETT RYBACK wrote the music for Liberty Inn (Ovation Nominee, Best Music/Lyrics), the book music and lyrics for The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter, and the book for Darling. He also acts on stage and TV. www.btryback.wordpress.com
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THE DAY YOU QUIT

How to become a great writer by quitting.
By Brett Ryback (Actor-Composer)

I recently came across this post by British playwright Simon Stephens and found it very inspiring and reassuring.

I always like reading advice from working playwrights I've never heard of - mostly because I'm a working playwright I've never heard of.  And as great as it can be to hear advice from Edward Albee or Tony Kushner, I'm always left thinking, "Yeah sure - but you're Edward Albee or Tony Kushner!"

Anyway, one day while I was procrastinating (like I am now) from doing what I should be doing (like rewriting my ten-minute play which premieres in NY next month) I decided to finally sit down and read this article, and his last statement stood out to me.   

"Also the day after you decide to quit and give up will be the day you would have made it, if only you had not decided to quit."

I both love and hate this little catch-22.

"Of course," I say to myself.  "Only AFTER I've reached the end of rope pushing these plays and musicals to be produced, only AFTER I'm given up pumping thousands of my own money into demos and concerts, only AFTER I've thrown in the towel and said 'I won't be shat on anymore!' THEN I'll have made it."

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I SEE?

A celebration of art fusion.
By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

I have blogged before about how inspiring I find other forms of art to be to me as a writer, particularly visual arts.  As an actor, I've often turned to music to put me in a certain headspace for a play I might be doing or an audition I have. 

But it's rare when the two things are conscientiously put together.  Musical Theatre and Photography.  Not just "muzak" at an art gallery, and not just pictures hung as a backdrop to a stage musical - but song and image in dialogue.  Literally hardcore Art On Art action.

HAT TRICK

By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

Michelle won a globe.

Viola won an actor.

Meryl won an oscar.

Three great performances, three wonderful woman. One rare event.  I was just thrilled.

BRETT RYBACK wrote the music for Liberty Inn (Ovation Nominee, Best Music/Lyrics), the book music and lyrics for The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter, and the book for Darling. He also acts on stage and TV. www.btryback.wordpress.com
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LETTING GO

The time has come for letting go.
By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

Parents and children are a recurring theme in my work.  I find this an effective theme because whether or not we have children, we all have parents. 

But one aspect of the parent/child relationship that I have a good deal of experience with is the "letting go" part.  And while there's interesting exploration to be done on the "child" side of letting go, I am currently on the parenting side.  In this case, the children are my pieces of art - The Tavern Keeper's Daughter and Darling, which are playing next week in Milwaukee and Boston, respectively.

All right, all right - maybe I didn't go through a physically painful labor, and raise them for the last 18 years - but I have spent countless, intimate hours with these pieces.  I know them inside and out.  I have fought for them, learned from them, been frustrated and confused by them, and I have protected and loved them the way any good parent would.

And now they go out into the big scary world to be judged.  There can be no mistake - this is the most exciting and frightening part of the process for any creator. 

In Genesis, God made the world, and at each step along the way stood back and said "I did good!"  Fortunately for God, Ben Brantley hadn't been born yet.

But here's the bigger lesson.  You cannot control what others will think.  People will have every opinion under the sun and those opinions will directly conflict with one another.  I don't just mean when it comes to your work - I mean ev-er-y-thing.

So, why worry about what you can't control?  All you can do, is stand up and say, "This is who I am," and let others decide.

What's the lyric? 

Stop worry if your vision is new.
Let others make that decision - they usually do.
You keep moving on.

And so I will.  As these pieces continue to find their feet, I'm off to bigger and better things. 

After all - it's not like they're gone forever.  They're gonna have to come back to do laundry eventually.

BRETT RYBACK wrote the music for Liberty Inn (Ovation Nominee, Best Music/Lyrics), the book music and lyrics for The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter, and the book for Darling. He also acts on stage and TV. www.btryback.wordpress.com
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WHAT RHYMES WITH HUMOR?

Roses are red, Violets are blue,
Sometimes rhymes are funny, but sometimes they're not.
By Brett Ryback (Actor-Writer)

Stephen Sondheim has gone on record to say that while "there are reasons not to rhyme...In the theater, true rhyme works best on every level." 

True rhyme being defined as two words or phrases whose final accented syllables sound alike except for the consonant sounds which precede them.  Perfect rhyme, in other words.  Home/roam, never/forever.

Let me be the first to say that I, for one, couldn't disagree more.  I mean, really.  Who does this ::air quotes:: Sondheim think he is?

Okay, in all seriousness, I do mostly agree with him, but I disagree with him at least a little when it comes to comedy.

In comedy, non-rhymes can be just as funny - if not FUNNIER - than perfect rhymes.