Slasher Der Nacht: Parts 1-6 Now Online!

SLASHER DER NACHT (The Night Slasher)- This is the experimental horror/gore-violence/German Slasher indie film I was in this Spring. It was directed by "M" and produced by SICK END FILMS. So far it has been released in 6 different online installments/episodes. I will have the full 13 minute long DVD horror movie/short in the next couple of weeks (just found out). Listed below are the titles and links to the 6 episodes + the original trailer. Enjoy!
-warning: THIS IS PRETTY VIOLENT-

*SLASHER DER NACHT part I: "Eva"
*SLASHER DER NACHT part II: "Ulger Vasser"
*SLASHER DER NACHT part III: "Wilhell"
*SLASHER DER NACHT part IV: "Greta"
*SLASHER DER NACHT part V: "Henrik and Katerina"
*SLASHER DER NACHT part VI: "Avolt"

***SLASHER DER NACHT : Trailer

A Brief History of Mime

My MIME Performance on Horror Kung Fu Theater



(This was shot from backstage on a digital camera/this is not the TV footage)
I am a mime and I'm proud of that. I trained hard learning the art of mime. I really studied it seriously with an amazing and legendary teacher, Whitney Rydbeck, and have worked as a mime professionally on several occasions. I know it may seem weird and geeky or whatever, but I really love being a mime and I think it's very cool. It's a small passion of mine, and an incredibly fun one. Now for some fun and interesting facts about the art of mime.

Comic pantomime/mime performance was originally developed by Bathullos of Alexandria, and the first recorded mime (pantomime actor) was Telestēs in the play "Seven against Thebai" by Aiskhulos. These plays were created as important parts of the Greek Dionysian festivals. Tragic pantomime performance was developed by Puladēs of Kilikia, and although it was a very well respected art form, it never became quite as popular as the comedies. Centuries later the tragic mime character would finally catch on with the main-stream when French and Italian clowns were combined with dramatic, tragic, and romantic operas and ballets.
Some of the different Roman Emperors had conflicting opinions and beliefs about mimes.
**It is interesting to note here that the Roman Emperors who showed any serious interest/belief/or opinion concerning mimes, are the very same Roman Emperors whose sanity is most questioned by our modern history/medical scholars and physicians**.
Traiānus banished mimes from Rome, Caligula adored them, Aurelius made them priests of Apollōn, and the Emperor Nero himself acted as a mime. Mimes were also some of the most popular figures in the masquerades. Some mimes wore make-up, and others wore masks. In Venice many masquerade masks were based on popular characters from the Italian improv, Commedia Del Arte’ (comedy of errors).
Masquerading is very popular at carnivals, festivals, and balls. Wearing a mask/make-up or other disguise is very liberating. It allows you to reinvent yourself and adopt a new/different/or secret personality.
The tradition of the masquerade dates back to ancient Greek drama festivals that were thrown to honor Dionysus, the god of wine, sex, fertility, and the theater. The practice of wearing masks/make-up and costumes was shared among both the performers/actors/acrobats/musicians and guests of the festival, and was passed from Greece to Rome, and from Rome to Venice. Physical comedy evolved out of mime, and the early film comedy actors, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel were all very talented mimes. Today mime is being performed by me, here in Los Angeles. :-)

Slasher Der Nacht (the night slasher) German Gore-Horror

Slasher Der Nacht (The Night Slasher): a German Slasher/Art film starring Jim Tavare' (Tom the Innkeeper: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), and featuring Maria Olsen (Hedona: Dragonquest) and myself (Guard #6: The Day the Earth Stopped). Directed by "M", Slasher Der Nacht is a SICK END FILMS production.
I had so much doing this film. This is only one scene, there are many more. I will be posting/sharing new (bloodier) clips soon.
One of the reasons I personally love SICK END FILMS: Every time we work together, there is always plenty of delicious vegan food provided (for me). I also love the SICK END'S extreme blood/gore, experimental film-making, talented artists, risks, and great passion for creating. I must say though, being a vegan and working in low-budget/indie/experimental film-making isn't always easy. Oftentimes the food on set/craft services is an important component of a film/movie gig, especially if you are a struggling artist (like me). The SICK END made sure I had not only great meals, but good snacks throughout the day as well. The day of this shoot w/ Jim Tavare', I had Marinated Teriyaki Tofu from Whole Foods. The sides were Vegan Potato Salad and Kale. They also had fresh fruit, Veggie chips, organic chips and salsa, and vegan chocolate chip cookies! M and his amazing team of SICK END necromaniacs are quite thoughtful, generous, terrifying, and a delight to collaborate with.

Open mouth torture is performed in the film using a Dental Re-tractor. It looks very brutal, but it actually wasn't too bad.

Hammerspace Exitement and my Burned Vampire Eye

Last Friday Hammerspace performed at New Roads High School in Santa Monica. We did two Harolds in the sort of technical iO West style structure. They went very well and the high school kids loved them. They were completely amazed that we hadn’t memorized lines or blocking… that we were truly improvising. It is really satisfying to give young people a great improv experience. Perhaps we inspired somebody. When I was in high school the only improv people who came to perform were fundamentalist Christians who basically did onstage public-service-announcements about Jesus, being saved and the Rapture. I wasn’t inspired, not by that anyway. Nikki Muller performed at the high school with TJ, Brittany, and me. Then in the evening TJ left and Kelly joined us and we did a really cool long form piece in the ADT about dinosaurs. Nikki, TJ, Brittany and I are all in Craig Cackowski’s level 6 class together. That’s very cool. Kelly and I are in Ed’s Friday class together and doing our 2-person improv-radio show as well. This is a very exciting time for Hammerspace. We are making deep discoveries together and really beginning to come together as a group. It’s nice to have Nikki joining us. She’s very passionate about the artistically revolutionary side of what we’re doing and she has great energy and intelligence.

There are 3 November Hammerspace Improv long-form group performances (5 person show) in the Andy Dick Theater. We also have 3 November Hammerspace Mystery Radio Hour performances (2 person show) in the Upstairs Black Box. Kelly and I will be doing the Mystery Radio show in a regular timeslot beginning in December. The Hammerspace Mystery Radio Show will be at 11pm the 1st and 3rd Sat. of the month in the iO West Upstairs Black Box Theater. That is super exciting!

I played a vampire in some pictures for Sick End films this past weekend. It was pretty cool, except… that I totally got what felt like a chemical burn in my eye from a white vampire contact lens. It was so awful and my eye was red and swollen and wouldn’t stop watering. I got a big bottle of Clear Eyes Redness Relief and that totally helped.
I am happy and I’m excited. I was really depressed recently, but now that is over. I am feeling so inspired about life and art and adventure. This is a super cool time to be me.

The Hammerspace Mystery Radio Hour

Saturday night (10-18-08) at 11pm Hammerspace performed an improv show in the iO West upstairs Black Box Theater. The theme of the evening was “radio night”. At the House of Blues on Thursday night I got the idea that we (Kelly Chase and myself) should perform a completely improvised, old fashioned radio mystery drama. We talked about it more on Friday and both were in agreement that it was a good, experimental, risky idea and that we totally wanted to do it… and I am SO glad we did!
The Hammerspace Mystery Radio Hour is truthfully the best improv show I have ever been part of. It was amazing and it was so much fun. We didn’t hold back. We were both fearless and risked it all and just completely swung for the fences the whole time and it paid off beautifully! I am in love with our new show and the new team!

The show was: The Hammerspace Mystery Radio Hour Presents- The Strange and Amazing Case of Lumberville, brought to you by Go-Away (an imaginary household product). The show had teenage lovers trapped in a pickup truck, an artistic and vain Colonel/Doctor and his feminine and soft young male assistant in their military astronomy center, a volcano mysteriously appearing in the center of town, a family of hungry pterodactyls, and a mysterious and drunken hobo who was secretly the greatest ditch digger in the world! It also had the occasional station identification and commercials for Go-Away.
The audience consisted for the most part of two very talented improv teams, The Dollhouse and Whiskerfish, as well as some other people. It was great to have a nice sized house and they loved the show and laughed the whole time. Afterward we got a ton of praise and compliments and felt like rock-stars. It was really cool.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately (and blogging about) improv and creative, artistic exploration. I have been craving new forms of creation and expression. A beautiful discovery was made in the show tonight and it feels incredible. Kelly and I discovered a magnificent comedy treasure and it happened to be inside of us. There is so much more to discover and that is so exciting. Now we can practice and rehearse and just get better, more fearless and take even bigger risks! I love the limitless potential of wonder and glorious magic there is to play with. A genuine breakthrough was made and I’m so happy and thrilled about it. The show was one of the best performances I’ve ever done, anywhere. I’m in love with my experimental two-person improv group and our awesome new mystery radio show!

My Undead Junkie, Experimental Improv, and The Tomorrow Show!

Friday night (10-10) we had a Hammerspace show at the Studio (experiment) in Highland Park. It was sort of a part of a big party/event. The only people who actually performed were Kelly Chase and myself, and our only actual audience was a very supportive Juli Crockett. The door to the room was open and a loud party was going on right outside in the hall. People were walking in and out of the room to get beer and it was distracting and difficult to focus. That being said… it was very fun and a pretty solid and well played little piece of improv. It was a nice long scenic look at marriage and relationships, independence, personal differences within individuals, commitment, family, contractual obligations, and lack of communication. It was the first time Kelly and I had done a 2 person show and it went well. Later on Juli taught me how to do a cartwheel. I had wanted to learn how to do a cartwheel all my life. We went to the iO West Jam on the Main Stage after that and it was really fun.

Saturday night we had a Hammerspace show in the iO West Upstairs Black Box. The show was okay... it felt like it had so much potential and just never actually took off toward what it could have been. We haven't been practicing or rehearsing enough lately. I also don't really know for sure who is a member of Hammerspace and who isn't. I'm never entirely sure who is going to be there to perform with me. Those things are very important and worth putting some thought and work into so that the group doesn't feel so disconnected. I feel so excited and adventurous about the artistic exploration of long-form improvisation. Playing with super intelligent and high reference level scene, character, and environment sounds so exciting and I would love to start getting my hands dirty taking huge risks and failing gloriously onstage. I just know that there are limitless abstract, surreal, spiritual, and philosophical discoveries out there in the infinite expanses of improvisational performance and creation land. The fearless and thorough honest experimental excavation of thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and feelings is going to be necessary in order to start getting to the deep artistic heart and soul of long form improvisational theater. The journey is going to be magnificent. I need to assemble a fellowship of players willing to embark on this quest with me. It is going to be a grand thing indeed to attempt to live and breathe this fantasy vision of truth and beauty and I now begin my search for the creative and insightful comedy warriors I need to join me.

After we left iO West we went to the Steve Allen Theater for the Tomorrow Show. Ronald Lynch (Mr. Lynch from Home Movies) hosts there. His co-host for the evening was Janeane Garofalo (that was a big surprise). My favorite burlesque theater-performance-art-clown, April Hava Shenkman, was there performing a very cool surrealistic gibberish piece that seemed politically themed (I think).
On Sunday Kelly and I went to the 3 dollar movie theater in Pasadena and saw “Ghost Town”. I totally recommend it (Ricky Gervais is so awesome). Then we saw some scripted sketch comedy at iO West that neither of us really responded to.
On Moday we went to the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). The LACMA is an incredible museum with lots of Picassos. I need to go back soon. We went from the LACMA to Dave and Buster’s for Travis Dixon’s birthday party and played a ton of ski-ball.

Tuesday was an incredible night. I did some actor/model work with Sick End Films doing promotional pictures for their new horror website. Brittany Disston is a really incredible special effects make-up artist (and I totally mean it when I say artist). She is brilliant and I absolutely love working with her. I love being in the chair and having the blood and gore make-up applied. Bleeding sores, oozing, bruises, scars, grizzly track marks, lesions, open wounds, and puss… I just love it. It’s a very sensory (somewhat erotic) and meditative experience holding still while someone puts their hands all over you creating a thing of terrible and horrific beauty. In the first set of pictures I was an undead junkie. Sana Etoile was playing my evil and sadistic wife. She and I have the same birthday, November 2 (Dia De Los Muertos, we were born on the Day of the Dead, also All Soul's Day). Next I had my eyes gouged out. For the gouged out eyes look I was wearing a prosthetic piece that required my eyes being taped shut. I had to be led around by the hand, helped up and down the stairs, and given water. That was very cool and weird and an extra-sensory experience. Sci-Fi, Horror, Comics, and Fantasy have always been genres I have been a big fan of, ever since I was very young. Thank you so much Bruce Campbell. It is really sweet to be doing so much work in these kinds of projects and it makes me that much more excited to be doing film work in Los Angeles. Sick End Films is quickly becoming an entity that I am always excited to be in collaboration with. I will have the pictures to post soon and that is very exciting.

I had my final level 5B class on Wednesday with Miles Stroth. He said I was a sniper because I wait on the sides for the perfect moment to pop in and do and/or say the perfect thing. He says that I need to start risking not being perfect and be willing to come out at the wrong time, do the wrong thing and fail. I am in total agreement with him. After class I saw an incredibly amazing King Ten show and Laurel Coppock proved once again that she is a comedy genius! I love what she does onstage! She is also so nice. I was also able to confirm that I had in fact seen Jennifer Lutheran (iO West box-office intern and a very sweet girl) playing a prostitute in the Gem Saloon on Deadwood in season 3. That is so freaking cool! I love Deadwood.
I went to the House of Blues for the first time Thursday night to see Ballentine (led by Heather Ballentine). I know Heather from doing outdoor musical theater in Oklahoma at Discovery Land. She sent me free tickets in the mail and the envelope had a PETA sticker on it (good for her).
So much is going on right now. Every day is a new discovery. It is time to get this show on the road. It is time to go for it! I feel full of magic and promise. I feel like a crusader and I seek new creative adventure and want to explore all of the artistic opportunities this bizarre and wonderful city has to offer. Improv continues to get better. Working in film and meeting fellow artists is just so cool. The less I hold back and the more fearless I am the more outstanding the discoveries will be in art, in love, onstage, and in life. This is frightening, fun, groovy, and grand.

Universal Studios, The Eyegore Awards, and 2 Person Long Form!

On Thursday evening Juli and I did our first extended 2 person long-form improv experiment. It was somewhat rough, and somewhat raw, but also very cool. There was no audience there to see it. Kelly came in about halfway through and thought she was watching us have an actual conversation at first (in a weird way we were). It was a very thoughtful, patient, and subtle piece. The reactions were genuine and the moves all seemed to come from a place of emotional and creative authenticity, especially our third scene. It was a very flirtatious job interview between two spies. It was cute, and very real. It wasn’t ever really about espionage. It was about how well you can ever know a person, and how much that ultimately does or doesn’t matter. The excitement of secrets versus the security of believing you know the truth, and how willing we were to embark on the voyage of a meaningful relationship knowing full well we didn’t trust one another at all. The piece felt really good and totally a style and way of performing and relating that I hope very much to explore further in the future. It was really cool and felt good and full of discoveries. It was interesting because I had been having a really raw and emotional day. I didn’t feel like doing improv. I was emotionally exhausted and feeling pretty edgy and strange. Doing the piece though had a weird, somewhat wonderful, and kind of cathartic effect. I felt liberated and had a lot of fun and like an artistic cleansing of the spirit set me right with my sea legs again. I am still searching for the inspired spirit animal of improv to join me on an artistic, philosophical adventure filled vision quest of honesty, comedy and performance-creation-energy. That will be grand and I’m enjoying the quest.

After the improv the Evangenitals all had a band practice, so Kelly and I headed out to the iO West to catch the Dasariski show. Cackowski wasn’t there but it was quite hilarious anyway. I’m glad Kelly got a chance to see them.
Friday was opening night of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. That not only means that the coolest movie magic filled haunted houses and mazes open up, but also that the Eyegore awards happen as well. The Eyegores are an awards ceremony (or scare-a-mony) honoring celebrities who have achieved special status within the horror movie community. I was able to get on the guest list and scored VIP passes too. Last year I played Freddy Kreuger in the commercial. My part wound up on the cutting room floor but I have some sweet connections to this event now. We watched famous folks on the red carpet for a while. Roger Corman, Kate Flannery, Julie Benz, and Bill Moseley were all the people on the red carpet I recognized. Roger Corman is totally awesome and I’ve been a big fan of his since I was a young kid and first saw Death Race 2000. Corey Feldman was the host this year. Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre director) got an award and the original Leather Face did too. There was a great all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet and an open bar. The only thing vegan were some little fried crispy vegetable spring rolls. I had 5 plates of them (they were delicious, especially with spicy soy and sweet and sour sauce drizzled over them). I also had quite a few cherry cokes with lime. Since it was a special event with free food and drinks I let myself get a little crazy with the portion control. I talked to Kate Flannery and she was thrilled to run into a fan of the Lampshades while out at Universal. I love the Lampshades!
The haunted houses and mazes were so cool. We got to cut to the front of every line with our VIP passes. The tram tour of terror is always a treat. The Dr. Seuss Whoville area was populated with rotten zombie face fuzzy white bunnies wielding chainsaws. It was a pretty nightmarishly bizarre sight. The Nightmare on Elm Street haunted maze was probably the creepiest in my opinion. We were at the park over 6 hours and had an amazing time. It was a really sweet experience to have kicking off the Halloween season.

Saturday night I had an 8:00pm Hammerspace Improv show in the Andy Dick Theater at iO West. Nobody currently performing with Hammerspace was going to be able to perform with me so I made some calls and got Ryan and Ken to show up. Kelly Chase arrived at the last minute and the four of us did a pretty funny little piece of long form that involved plenty of gay scenes, cock and ball torture, the Grateful Dead, family road trips, and Army recruiters. After the show I saw Kate Flannery in the iO bar and she recognized me from the night before (very cool).

Juli and I discovered the 2 dollar movie theater in Pasadena today and saw Pineapple Express (it was hilarious). That theater was so freezing cold. I totally think I’m going to start seeing movies again. I really only stopped because the price became so outrageous.
I got an agent on Friday. She says before she can start getting me anything I will need pictures. That makes sense. It is still nice someone wants to represent me. I’m glad I sent those emails out. I need to get about 4 looks shot. The handsome young dad, a rough and scruffy criminal type, a detective, and a well dressed lawyer/business man. Also a good basic head shot that looks like me.

I am in love with Los Angeles and also very lonely. It’s a weird and conflicted way to feel. I am feeling so passionate about so many things right now. I am bursting with the desire to express myself and I hungrily need to create. My life is currently in a crazy state, and I don’t only mean California.

Insomnia, Mo Collins, Disney, Improv, and Me in a Magazine

Last week I stayed awake for 41 hours. I was just too busy and when I had time available to sleep I wasn’t tired. It had been quite a while since I’d been up that long. Thursday Juli and I had a good “Laughter for a Change” meeting with Ed, followed by a Hammerspace Improv workshop-rehearsal-performance with Ed and Shaughn. The topic was weird (the definition of “is”?), but we did a decent little awkward piece about Santa Claus running for president. It was fun, funny, and strange. Keith and Henry (both Evangenitals) were there to see it. Nobody showed up for our improv/music jam, so the Evangenitals decided they would just have a fairly straight forward band practice and I took off to the iO West to see Dasariski. The Dasariski show was quite incredible and those 3 guys definitely lived up to all the hype. They were really smart and hilarious and I’m so glad I saw them. I had been having something of a weird and somewhat uncomfortable evening and I really appreciated the extreme cheering up that I got during that show. While in the balcony audience, Katie Ward (of the Dollhouse) and I got to talking about how funny we both find one another. We decided that it made perfect sense for us to form a new group and that the next step was recruiting our dear friend and fellow improviser Allegrah Hollenbeck to join us. We will begin performing upstairs in the iO West Black Box in November (thanks to Maggy Keegan). Soon I expect to be in at least four or five really great improv groups (perhaps more).

I got home from iO West late and was wired on yerba matte and pomegranate green tea. I watched “Extras” on DVD, read some "Writing Down the Bones", and never actually went to sleep. I did lie in the dark for a while with my eyes closed and drank valarian tea but it didn’t work. Once it was officially morning I had to go to my improv class at PCC. After a 4 hour class I had a Hammerspace workshop-jam in Highland Park at Studio (experiment), and then Kelly and I went out to Hollywood for our 8pm Hammerspace show in the Andy Dick Theater. It was okay, but honestly I was just too tired by then. We had done some great scene improv during our workshop and I would have liked to bring more to the show. Juli and I are really wanting to do some inspired hard core 2 person long-form improv and get to the heart and soul of the spiritual and philosophical possibilities of abstract, honest, dark, light, scary, lovely, and pure comedy-theatre-performance. The surrealistically human honesty and intimacy that we have gently touched upon together so often. We need to bravely plunge headfirst into the swirling improv abyss and hold up our fists together, open our eyes wide, and say "FUCK YES WE ARE READY". There are some beautiful discoveries being made and I feel I’m on the very edge of unlocking a magnificent and mysterious treasure of majestic and artistic improv revolution, revelation, and beauty. I just need to look closer, dig deeper, and be fearless and truthful in the face of all danger and terror.

Kelly Chase and I stayed to watch "Opening Night the Musical" at 9pm, and “Heather and Miles” in the ADT at 10pm. Both shows were very awesome. Heather and Miles both step into the puddle of vulgar and tasteless brilliance every Friday night. I should see that show every week, it's extremely educational. Then we chilled at the bar for a bit and stayed to join in the big Improv Jam (hosted by Pat Keys) at 12am. It was pretty fun but I was delirious and exhausted at that point. I was quite happy that Kelly got to play on the main stage. Everyone who played got a free candy bar (Butterfinger), but I’m a vegan so I gave mine away.
On Saturday a talent agent wrote me back. I had decided to email a few agents last week and see about getting representation. I don’t know much about that though (only what I see on Entourage). I looked up 3 talent agencies with an email address and sent them my resume and picture, and actually heard back from one 2 days later. Not only did she write me back, but she also had a job for me to submit for. I took my package (pic and resume) to drop off at a casting office in Hollywood for a Disney Channel TV show. They are looking for a mime. I took the train to Hollywood on Saturday evening and the security guards let me on the lot with a walk-on guest pass. Nobody from the show was in. I went back on Sunday, and there was still nobody from casting there. Monday was much better. The office was open and people were inside working. I dropped off the envelope containing my resume as instructed (with the agency name, agent’s name, and agent’s phone number as my contact info). She said she’ll call them and call me. Now I’m waiting. I am optimistic and excited. It would be pretty amazing if this worked out... Oh this would be so cool!

Monday night I saw Mo Collins do the Armando show and Inside the Improviser’s Studio. She had some very inspirational advice and kind words of wisdom (she was pretty damn funny too).
The "Best of LA City Beat" magazine featured a pretty fantastic picture of me doing an improv performance on the dance floor while Juli and the rest of the Evangenitals rocked the house on stage (see image above). It is from last Tuesday at the Mr. T’s Bowl Evangenitals show. When I wasn't performing improvised movement art I was filming the band play. I'm posting the super cool "Bad Town" video below.
I also just booked a modeling gig. I will be playing a fashionable zombie (in full gruesome make up) posing with a femme fatale/noir vixen girl in a photo shoot (Hot Women and the Men they Loved and Murdered). It's for a "Sick End Films" promotion for the new horror web site they are launching. Last time I worked with them they gave me a bag of vegan cookies. I will be wanting more of those cookies.

I feel like all these little signs and signals (and some big ones I guess) keep happening and showing me that I am on the right path. The universe is telling me that I am doing a good job, and to keep at it. Enjoy the journey and don’t give up or lose sight. Keep the faith and believe in yourself and the goodness of other people. Love life and take part in the magic the world is offering up.
Thank you…


The Evangenitals Video for "Bad Town" (filmed by me at Mr. T's Bowl).

John C. Reilly, Performance Art, and my Bloody Death Scene.

Monday night I performed in Madame Pamita's "Parlor of Wonders" show. I did my silent movie tribute-mime act (inspired by the work of Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin). The response I got from the crowd was very heartwarming. They really liked what I did.
It is inspiring to be appreciated. Following your dreams can be very discouraging sometimes and Hollywood is an especially tough town. This was a very special event though.
There were ukulele players and banjo players. There was fortune telling and an awesome puppeteer named Eli Presser who had the creepiest little marionette I've ever seen. The show was at The Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena and they filmed the entire thing.
John C. Reilly was there and he told me I was great, and that I had a terrific face. That was very cool and I totally appreciated it. He and I had a nice little conversation about Del Close.

The Evangenitals (the greatest band in California) played at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park tonight (Tues. night). It was quite an event. Juli wore a hot pink prom dress, vegan combat boots, and a tiara. Bass player Keith Lubow was wearing a sailor suit. And Elizabeth Swenson and I were there representing IMPROV! We did a whole series of experimental-interpretive-movement-performance-art pieces that were directly inspired by the songs being played by the band. We were raw and fluid and the experience was magical. There was amazing trust and risk and energy. We were physically fearless and did somersaults and we jumped and leapt through the air, rolled around on the floor, and spun each other around. It feels so good to do something that requires such BALLS! It feels good to be fearless and non-self concious. It was strange and special and I felt the creativity vibrations going crazy all throughout my body and shooting out in my performance. The people in the audience seemed to like it as well. They approached me afterward and thanked and congratulated me. It was weird and I loved it. Things have been weird lately. I have been going through strange times and re-discovering myself in odd spots. It is a time of growth, re-birth, and settling into what will never be settled.
Greg Cohen (photographer) was filming the show and I will have that footage soon... fear not!

The footage from the Sick End Films production, "Arkill", is now available to view (as a roughcut). Pay close attention at the end and you will see my ultra-violent blood and gore death scene.

Sick End Films, Erotic Blood and Gore, and Improv!

Saturday night at the iO West we had 2 very experimental Hammerspace Improv shows. At 8pm in The Andy Dick Theater I did a 2 person show with legendary improv teacher Ed Greenberg. It was a really awesome experience. We started with an opening that was a dialogue scene, and it went on for 28 minutes. It was deep and meaninful and I did a lot of meditative philosophical stream of consciousness pondering of the Universe, it was very surreal and poetic. I was so loose! We actually adapted one of my favorite comic books, "Animal Man", into a film, within a long form improv show. It was wild. There were many musings and explorations of environmental and economic issues and problems in today's world all thanks to our suggestion of "Where do Black Holes Go When they Die?".
At 11pm in the Upstairs Black Box I had a 3 person show with Kelly Chase and TJ Gooding. Our suggestion was "Why am I Here?". The show we did is best described as an absurdist southern gothic romantic comedy of errors! It was like an abstractly sophisticated piece of slapstick theatre. Something very meaningful and magical was tapped into deeply and opened up big Saturday night. I am quite proud of Hammerspace Improv. The progress is exponential and growing!

Sunday morning and afternoon I was in a Sick End Films horror movie called "Arkill", filmed in a ballet studio in Alhambra. My improv buddy Ryan Karloff was there playing a role and we were both pleasently surprised to see each other. I was playing a campaign manager and he was playing a coked out speech writer. It was fun.
During my gory death scene I had a semi-erotic experience as a cute make-up girl named Brittany sat over me and massaged fake gooey blood into and onto my face, scalp, neck, and lips. That was really awesome.
When I left the set the director gave me a bag of organic-vegan-peanut butter cookies!

The Dawn of Quixote Radio Drama

This past Tuesday I had the extreme pleasure of performing in The Dawn of Quixote Radio Drama on KPFK (90.7 FM in Los Angeles). This was a radio drama adaptation of an experimental play written and directed by Juli Crockett (personally my favorite writer/director and all around amazing girl). The play is based on the first chapter of Don Quixote by Cervantes, and some of the inspiration and source material comes from Our Lord Don Quixote by Miguel de Unamuno. There is much philosophical exploration and discovery and this piece is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when you thoroughly explore the beauty, depth, and fascination of language, dialogue, and conversation.
Shaughn Buchholz plays Don Quixote. Juli Crockett plays Dulcinea, and I play Sancho Panza. The music is an original score provided by The Evangenitals.
The show premiered this morning at 7am on KPFK. It is now available to listen to online in the KPFK archives. I absolutely LOVED this play! It's our second radio drama (The History of Water was first). Next I believe we might be doing "Or The Whale" (Juli's adaptation of Moby Dick). I am really excited about that!
You can go th the KPFK audio archives and play or download the show. It is listed as Special Programming 7:02am Saturday 9-20-08.
You can also use the link here: Dawn of Quixote Radio Drama.

Brutally Honest Improv: It's Funny!

I recently discovered, in a quite personal way, the very fascinating phenomenon of how funny and entertaining it can be to be brutally honest. Hammerspace has been experimenting with monologue openings in our improv shows this week. I have been using them as an opportunity to really open up and make myself pretty vulnerable. I am going through some heavy life changes. My world feels like it is falling apart. I feel shipwrecked, lost, abandoned, and alone. I am hurting, sad, and in pain. I don’t like it.

I made the decision to be honest when I did my monologue. I made it general and specific, but truthful… very truthful. I didn’t necessarily say why I felt the way I did, but I did say how I felt. That seems more important and ultimately more relevant to what would best enable you to express yourself in both a meaningful and artistic way.
The thing that is most interesting is how funny it was. It wasn’t a joke… it was as far from a joke as it gets. I simply told a short story about what was happening to me today, and how I felt today and as if by magic… it was funny.

We did a Thursday show recently and our audience was very small. At the top of the show it was just Henry Bermudez. He gave us our suggestion: How do you keep a woman happy?
We delved into a series of observations on happiness, how can anyone be happy, what it means to keep anyone anything, and other philosophical musings.
At one point during my monologue I told the audience I was currently experiencing depression… the “I want to drink myself to death kind of depression”. They laughed. It was funny and I don’t exactly know why but I wasn’t surprised that there was laughter. I certainly wasn’t trying to be funny. I was just being honest. I was being painfully honest about being in pain, and it was awesomely cathartic.

The monologues based on the suggestion led to a series of scenes that were very real, genuine, natural, emotional, and patient. It was fun and it was funny. The improv happened with the flow, ease, and grace that you sometimes get in real life. There were a few crazy situations but they seemed real because we were treating them truthfully. The show was deep. We all felt it and it felt like fucking magic. The four of us: Juli, me, Brittany and TJ connected. We connected with our minds and projected that connection outward and it felt amazing. The scenes were deep and philosophical and connected to each other with natural simplicity that all just seemed meant to be. It was incredible and ultimately I believe the gods and ghosts of improvisation revealed some of their truths and secrets to us through the performance of that piece. I felt changed. I experienced some growth during and in the aftermath of that performance. I experience growth as an artist, an improviser and a person. It was our deepest show ever and one of the very best by far.

We did a 4-person Hammerspace show in the Black Box (me, Kelly, TJ, Brittany). The show was so great. It wasn’t quite as deep or as philosophical as Thursday, but it was the closest to it we’ve had. It was a little shorter but it was also very honest. The suggestion was: Do soul mates exist? It was real and genuine and had conflicts of the heart. We did a very good hot-spot monologue opening. I opened up again. I started by saying that I was going through a lot right now so I’m reading a Zen book called When Things Fall Apart (by Pema Chodon). Everyone laughed. It was a sad thing to say and I was as honest and heartfelt in my delivery as I could be and people laughed. They weren’t being mean about it… we were sharing a moment. I spoke of the value and virtue of hopelessness and I was being serious and the audience was laughing and it was wonderful. During the show I wound up playing a girl stuck on the toilet in a bathroom stall at prom. She was calling for help on her cell phone trying to get rescued and scared that she would wind up telling this story her whole life and it would be a horrible prom story to be stuck with. It was really hilarious and realistic. The whole piece was that way and we all felt it. We all knew we had shared an honest experience, and we hadn’t just shared it with each other. We shared it with the whole audience.

The bible of long form improv is called Truth in Comedy. I understand why on a level of personal experience now. We discovered for ourselves that brutal honesty and vulnerability is funny. Audiences really appreciate it when you take the risk by opening up and letting them in. It is a wonderful thing and I am grateful for the experience.

Parlor of Wonders show!

I was invited to perform in this show. It's really exciting and I am looking forward to it. It's very refreshing to know that this many vintage style vaudeville performers are gathering together for such a cool event.

Parlor of Wonders show!

Be in a Motion Picture! Madame Pamita's Parlor of Wonders at the Coffee Gallery Backstage on Monday, September 22nd!
Yes! You the audience will be in the spotlight as we are filmed with the most up-to-date moving picture equipment available! This is a full-blown variety show with audience participation and many surprises to astound and amaze!
A Cornucopia of Varieties Featuring:

Pantomime Hilarity by Patrick Ian Moore
Marionette Manipulations by Eli Presser
Euphonious Prognostications by Madame Pamita, the musical mystic
Ukulele Antics by Ukelear Winter
Musical Merriment provided by Patrick "The Idiot Saw-vant" Weise, Lucas
"Soup Greens" Gonze, and John "The Six String Scot" McDuffie
and more!

And it is all FREE!
Join us for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see acts of the highest caliber and be a part of an actual cinematic record!
Monday, September 22 8PM
The Coffee Gallery Backstage
2029 N. Lake
Altadena, California 91001

I was quoted on a cool Sci-Fi Blog!

Around 2:30am early Thursday morning Juli discovered that I had been quoted on a very cool science fiction blog, "i09: Strung out on Science Fiction" (you should definitely read this blog, it rocks). The Day the Earth Stood Still remake with Keanu Reeves will be coming to theaters in December. The same week it gets released, The Asylum will release The Day the Earth Stopped direct to DVD. If you've been following "Patrick's Quest" you probably know all about my 3 day sci-fi adventure with C. Thomas Howell and Judd Nelson. If not... you can read all about it here in some slightly older posts from a couple of weeks ago. I love the fact that someone read this blog and quoted me. I love that they called me an LA improv geek (because I am). We performed non-verbal improv shows to live music by The Evangenitals tonight at Studio (Experiment) in Highland Park. We also performed a Hammerspace Improv show with Ed Greenberg and hosted our first improv jam. Back to business though... The Day the Earth Stopped. I visited the IMDb page for the film and dicovered... there is an IMDb page for me, Patrick Ian Moore! I had no idea but it sure is cool.

MIME NEEDED? I got the gig!

The post said:
MIME NEEDED
We are having a french theme wedding at Castle Green in Pasadena and would love a Mime to perform for one hour on November 2nd, 2008 from 12 noon to 1 pm.
Although we are paying, we have a limited budget. Please contact us if you would like to discuss further. $100.00

This is on my birthday, and I got the gig.
They responded:
Hello Patrick,
It seems fated that since November 2nd is a special day for both you and us!
We only have $100 in our budget.
We need 1 hour tops to greet our guests, perform for 15 minutes after the
ceremony walk to the reception together two blocks away
We want a procession to the reception of our guests in black tie led by you
to the reception.
How does that sound to you?
It's certainly not a deal breaker but if you have a black and white striped
shirt that would be awesome!
I will e-mail you a contract this week. Please sign and mail back to me.

It's so cool that some people out there like mimes so much!

Patrick in: The Day the Earth Stopped!

The Day the Earth Stopped

What an insanely cool day!
My Wednesday (9-3-08) was a very cool, and surreal day. I went to Sunset Pacific Studios in downtown LA where The Asylum Productions were filming The Day the Earth Stopped (homage to/remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still). This movie is directed by and starring C. Thomas Howell (Pony-boy Curtis himself)! The supporting cast includes the legendary Judd Nelson. I was playing a soldier/SWAT officer in a sci-fi, futuristic film… just like last year when I did my only other feature film Radio Free Albemuth. And just like last year this one involved a car chase. Actually this one involved 4 car chases and in one of them I was the driver! That’s correct… I was the driver in a car chase, I was chasing a car being driven by C. Thomas Howell, and one of his passengers was Judd Nelson! It is all so crazy! Then later in the day, under the close personal direction of C.T. Howell, I did an intimate scene with Judd Nelson where I pointed the barrel of a rifle (M-16) at his face (just inches away). Guns and car chases and the stars of The Breakfast Club and The Outsiders. 3 days ago I didn’t know a thing about this project and now it’s over. That’s Hollywood and it is really cool!
The Day the Earth Stopped will be a direct-to-DVD release in December. Check it out and see me!

C.Thomas Howell, Judd Nelson, The Asylum, and me!

So today I went to be in the film The Day the Earth Stopped, directed by C. Thomas Howell. I sat around forever in a sci-fi soldier’s uniform eating orange slices, drinking coffee, and reading Sexus by Henry Miller. They almost had me change into jeans to play a German guy running and screaming to escape a killer robot, but decided I should stay a soldier. At the end of the day they didn’t wind up using me but they paid me anyway.
I was sort of down about it, but I was also excited because I am going to be part of another KPFK radio drama (just found out today). The Juli Crockett stage adaptation of Moby Dick (Or the Whale) is going to be performed as a radio play and I’m in the cast! I really love this piece (I saw it at Cal-Arts in 2001). That news made me feel quite a bit better.
Then I found out tonight that they need me to come in tomorrow to play a soldier (and get paid again). Not only will I be on the set with C. Thomas Howell, but Judd Nelson will be shooting tomorrow as well! The Day the Earth Stopped is kind of a remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. It is being produced by a studio called The Asylum.

AUDITIONS in Hollywood this week and next. IMPROV ACTORS (TINSEL TOWN)

The Post says:
We will hold auditions this week and probably next in Hollywood...LOOKING for TALENTED, WITTY,'"QUICK ON THE DRAW' IMPROV ACTOR/ACTRESS for a presentation that may launch your career. You never know ..right? Several LEAD parts being cast: 1) An older Jewish couple and other character IN-LAW TYPES to play the "IN-LAWS"" 2) 21-40 year old sexy , comedic BRIDE. -------------Will SHOOT in LAS VEGAS 3) 21-50 GROOM -- all types with great improv comedic skills.. IMPERSONATORS also wanted.. 2 days in Vegas....
send picture and resume --thanks... cold read...bring material if you want...

This is crazy sounding. Maybe it will be fun? I'll let the readers know anything I find out.

MIME - cirque style (sad and in love) (Los Angeles/ Las vegas )

The post says:
Mime needed for unique live shows in Vegas for upcoming music entertainer.
Please send your reel and contact info.

This is one of those ads that is so vague it's fascinating. I hope they write back cause I am super-curious. My mime gigs so far (all off craigslist) have been very fun and one even paid me pretty well ($50 an hour!). I sent a response email with links to some mime video of me as well as links to my MySpace mime photo album.
Compensation says "To be Determined". I will post any news I get here on this blog.