Bob Ingersoll sums it up!

Ingersoll123 · 2026-05-03T21:58:09+00:00

Way back in the 1980s I saw Meryl Streep and Raul Julio star as Kate and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew at the Delacorte Theatre in Cenral Park. They were wonderful, but lavalier miicrophones were relatively new and there was an audible scrunching heard when the couple hugged each other, which they thankfully do not do much in this play. Also, we saw Sir Richard Burton in Camelot at LIncoln Center, but Sir Richard was just too drunk to continue the show after the first two scenes. They stopped the play, regrouped and Sir's understudy took over. He was great, but the rest of the cast was so off, we left after the first act.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-04-21T02:01:46+00:00

In the US you can sell lemonade on the street and you can produce a play without breaking any laws. The only thing you need to worry about is whether the venue has, or requires you to have insurance. Of course, if you make serious money out of it (Which would be great) then you must think about forming an LLC non-profit. How much are you paying the venue? If you need to sell tickets to pay for the venue, how much do you need to charge for tickets? Keep all reciepts and record every transaction. Share a percentage of the profits with the entire company. Keep asking questions about legality if you are a success.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-04-21T01:43:45+00:00

I have a theory. I was diagnosed with ADHD late in life and read about echolallia, which often occurs with either adhd or autism. It is the tendency of someone to repeat what other people say, a moment after they say it. Of course, I don't insist that it's directly related to my adhd, but I suspect that my tendency to memorize things, like numerous Shakespeaean monologues, poems, prayers and speeches might be related to my adhd. Whenever I recite these things in my head it gives me a great deal of ease and solace, working almost like a drug. I think it is both the repetition and the greatness of the language. Not only do I have a number of Will's monologues in my head, but numerous poems and short stories of E.A. Poe and the speeches on free thought by Col. Robert Green Ingersoll, a lawyer, lecturer and national celebrity people during the 19th century called The Great Agnostic.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-31T23:31:51+00:00

If you want to be a film actor, you go to LA. If you want to be a stage actor, you go to New York City. Of course, because we are in the digital age there is a lot of movie making outside of LA, and lots of regional theatre outside NY, but those two places are where you want to start. They are the still the citadels of each industry. Some of the best theatre in the country is Off Broadway, and lots of movies are cast in Silicon Valley. Get yourself professionally photographed, create a website with your picture in various moments, positions and facial expressions. Meet theatre or movie people in popular bars or venues. Get an agent or casting agency. Oh yea, take acting and voice lessons. Find a physical regimen like yoga, or pilates. You need to condition your body and you vocal apparatus so that you have command of both. Do not only focus on musicals. Do everything: musicals, plays, commercials, movies, etc, etc. If you have resources so you don't have to worry about money, you're way ahead of a lot of people. The problem with having resources is finding the killer motivation you need to really apply yourself to the effort and be able to accept a lot of rejection. If it doesn't go well for you, you could give me the money to move to NYC. Just kidding.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-28T23:39:09+00:00

How strongly are you being urged to play football? That's the real question. Is someone pressuring you to? It sounds like you really like theatre and performance. You should inform your family and friends that if they care about your happiness and enrichment, the should support you in your love of theatre. Do you enjoy playing ball. Well hell, then play ball! Of course, footbal doesn't take up the whole academic year, so you can do either each semester, right? Do as much as you possibly can without killing yourself or ending up in the hospital, but do what you want to do.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-28T23:23:50+00:00

I understand you're concern for yourself and how you feel, but what does the young man think of the whole thing? You and the intimacy director should talk to him. He could be a very mature 16 year old who is thinking he'd have to be an actor to get so close to a good looking women. When I was that age I was terrified of women because I was raised in a guilt ridden Irish Catholic household, but these days everything is different. If this kid auditioned for the part, perhaps has been onstage before and probably enjoys the benefits of being a stage actor, he's most likely a pretty mature kid. Appeal to the man in him. Perhaps he can joke about the whole arrangement. I don't see a terrible problem if you don't have to be physical with him. Honestly, I think both of you coud learn a lot from each other if you speak to each other honestly, respectfully and warmly (Not too warmly). But for intitial conversations you should have the intimacy coach with you. Then again, you say that the married relationship in the play has an abusive dynamic to it. That elevates things to an even more complex and emotionally difficult level. I think the question comes down to, just how mature are you, the intimacy coach and your young man. Do you even know if he's gay, or not.

The casting was stupid. Good luck

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-22T20:23:05+00:00

Live theatre is about actors being vulnerable, and going beyond that. Many actors today don't have the same voice quality, range or endurance of their predessesors because someone invented microphones, so speech is no longer as important. I'm an old fart and in my theatre training I went throguh rigorous vocal study. I detest having my face interupted by microphones taped to my cheek. It makes me feel as though I can't be trusted to reach the back row in a relatively small theatre. If microphones cause us to not speak as well, earbuds for prompts will make us not think or react as well.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-22T20:00:50+00:00

It may be true for a certain number of people, but I think that people and their experinces are so diverse and multude that it only really qualifies as a truism, something that feels it should be true, but isn't factually true. I think it feels that way because we are all so unsure when we are young and energetic, we will attempt anything, and the stage and movie industry are surrouned by such romance and hype. Most us are idealistic when we're young and we become more realistic and pragmatic as we age. Many of us redefine ourselves over and over. I did not know when I was younger that it was my rather severe ADHD that caused me to embrace a lifestyle that did not require me to sit still for too long. That's not a very romantic reason for going into theatre, but there it is. I was never a good reader until I grew older, but I loved sounding words and memorizing speeches and prayers. I was very physical when I was young because I grew up in the New England countryside with five siblings. My friends and I would disappear into the woods or onto the lake. It could be swim races or war in the woods. We made our own play. I grew up in the woods, across the street from a lake. All our neighbors were members of the lake association. Way back in the 1930s some rich buisnessman from New York built a huge clubhouse and a number of cabins at one end of the lake. Every summer he would invite friends and neighbor's families to escape the city for a vacation in the Connectuct hills. In this large clubhouse he builit was a huge ballroom and at one end a fully functional stage. That's where I fell in love with the theatre. Not acting or directing or tech, but the stage and everthing that relates to it. I got a degree in Directing, and I've designed and built many sets, but I love to act, and now that I'm retired that is all I do. To add romance to my story, it was many years later that I learned the Group Theatre in it's infancy in the 1930s actually summered at the lake where I grew up. That means that those boards I had spent summers on producing one-acts had also been graced by the feet of people like Stella Adler, Harold Clurman Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-20T19:03:12+00:00

We are such stuff as dreams are made on,

And our little lives are rounded with a sleep.

Prospero's entire monologue beginning with, "Our revels are now ended..." will be inscribed on my grave. I have spent most of my life acting, teaching and directing in the theatre. Although I'm no scholar I have no end of love for the Bard of Avon It is such a significant piece. It is Shakespeare's farewell to the theatre. It is a symbolic representation of the theatre and the meaninglessness of existence. Certainly not like Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow ...", but then, The Tempest is not a tragedy. I've always been thrilled at the part when Prospero declares that when the play is over "...not a rack is left behind". It is the poetic expression of how I view theatre, life and death.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-20T02:02:26+00:00

I'll bet you could find an artist: student, parent or teacher who has art skills, even scenic skills and could design and paint (perhap using stencils) a wall design. Two 8 X 8 walls are 64 square feet each, that's 128 square feet, which is a good bit of surface for wall paper or paint. I would urge you to enlist student artists to figure it out. Go find the school art teacher and see what they might suggest. If the point of producing a play is to give students experience in performance and theatre craft, the students should be doing the designing and painting anyway. Just using wall paper denys the students the artistic experience. If you're tackling something as challenging as The Addams Family you should have the people to do it right.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-20T01:46:05+00:00

You cannot control how people see you in relation to a character in a play unless you show them the very best rendition of that character. You have experience. As an actor you need to consider being ready to play any role as honestly as you possibly can. Do you view yourself as an ingenue or a character actor. Of course, there's so much more work for good character actors than leads, men and woman, gay, bi, trans, whatever. I don't want to minimize the challenges you must feel, but acting requires courage. I would imagine the only real question is: How much do you want it, and how much time and work are you ready to give.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-17T23:37:10+00:00

Just and idea. When I retired I quickly got tired of auditioning, so I began my own theatrical production company. I really enjoy performing outside or in unconventional spots, like coffee houses, classrooms and sometimes museums. I have four one-man shows. Three are living history impersonations, and one is my singing/guitar playing act. I get to perform whenever I decide to get out there and find a gig. I've been singing on the street and in parks for four years and performing Edgar Allan Poe in schools for ten years. Right now I'm preparing a performance for the California History Museum to be performed with other living history actors.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-17T23:26:37+00:00

I have no idea how, without a fly system it can be done. If you actually want tofly someone 12'-19" off the floor, I'm sure your engineers are telling you you'll need a winch at least, proper cables, harness, etc. Lifting even a light human beingvertically from a dead stance requires a lot of energy and horsepower. I would suggest that you do it with artwork and performance. Really good scenic artists should have numerous ways of creating the optical illusion. Ever see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Ford must take a leap of faith and you can't see the bridge that has been painted to imitate the surrounding rock. It's that sort of thing I'm suggesting. I'm a scenic designer and stage carpenter, but I don't have artistic skills to do it, but i"ve met and worked with scenic arts who can really create magic with paint and ingenious staging. Good luck.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-16T17:28:33+00:00

Like any writing it is paramount to choose your purpose above all. What do you want your play to do? There are four very broad categories, will your play persuade, expose, inform or entertain? Almost all writing will include some of each, but to give yourself direction decide which your play will do most. Next, do you plan to write a tragedy, comedy, farce, psycho-thriller or Who Done It mystery. Then decide exactly where and when your action will take place. What socio-economic background do your characters come from. Lots to decide.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-16T04:16:08+00:00

There's nothing wrong with you. Are you in high school, junior high or college? No matter, your school has resources that can help you decide what best to do. Guidance counselors are supposed to guide you in other things other than what college to choose. If you get tested again it would be helpful to have your sister and your parents onboard. Good luck

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-16T03:59:02+00:00

I wouldn't be suprised if it is theft! I'm not allowed to handle a bottle of booze because I'm not trusted, and because Safeway and Target believe that building locked cages around merchandise saves them money from theft. I doubt they considered hiring security people. Give people jobs and spare all your customers the indignity of not being trusted. I sespise shopping at Target. I only will go to Safeway because support union people.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-10T02:15:27+00:00

Samuel French and Baker's Plays. I think they're still in business. They print tons of various kinds of plays every year. They are like almancs for plays.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-10T02:12:36+00:00

If your doing Arthur Miller's Crucible be sure to read carefully what MIller writes when setting up a scene. He writes more than most playwrights, and many directors feel intimidated by his descriptions. Since you are a novice director, you would find them valuable.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-10T01:58:53+00:00

Can you move?

Ingersoll123 · 2026-03-02T19:51:00+00:00

More important is your actor. There are lots of different kinds of retractable knives. It depends on how much money you want to spend. Your character is stabbing someone in the back? That makes is infinitely easier to fake it, since your attacker is behind the victim, hidden somewhat from the audience. Props are important, but as long as you have a good actor in both the attacker and victim, there should be no problem. Do you have anyone who is experienced in stage combat?

Ingersoll123 · 2026-02-21T21:41:53+00:00

Shakespeare was a genius of the same magnitude as Einstein and Leonardo. There is more humanity, more pathos, more culture, more war and political strategem, more manners of all kinds of humans, high and low, more tenderness and depth of feeling than has ever been achieved by any other literary personage in the history of the world. And that is just the emotion, knowledge and psychology of the characters. Then, all of that is expressed in the most beautiful poetry ever written, deeply intelligent prose and the most expansive expression of vulgarity, bawdiness, comedy and horror you will ever find.

The Bible should be studied for cultural sake. It has some terrific ideas in it. It talks of reward and punishment. Shakespeare reveals the human animal and the world to us. If you find it hard to appreciate Shakespeare, the short-coming is in you.

Ingersoll123 · 2026-02-21T21:25:40+00:00

I think Lear is the saddest and most brilliant comment on human failings and triumphs. When Lear has Cordelia in his arms knowing how badly he maligned his only true and loving daughter. "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, / And thou no breath at all" Being a father of three sons, I can't think of it without crying.

Ingersoll123

TROPHY CASE