Donovan And The Vast Ancient Conspiracy TRAILER NOW ONLINE!!!

No time for words, watch now!

Donovan and the Vast Ancient Conspiracy - Trailer from Gabriel Fleming on Vimeo.

Performing in Staged Reading of "Osama Been Laughing"

I'm hitting the boards for the first time in a long time as a petulant teen trapped in suburbia. Here's the show info:

Osama Been Laughing

by Jeremy Kehoe

A FIERCE BACKBONE STAGED READING

Directed by David Watkins Jr.

Produced by Amy Tofte & Stephen Blackburn

Featuring: Donovan Keith, Doug Burch, Drew McAuliffe, Lori Allen Thomas, Morris Nash & Sean Welch

WHEN
Sunday, 5/23/10 @ 2pm
Monday, 5/24/10 @ 8pm

WHERE
The Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90038

HOW
Online reservations:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFF5ZEVlMDVuOWpWbmJQY0RMSEo5dUE6MQ
or call 310-201-0064

$10 Suggested donation
Industry comps available

OSAMA BEEN LAUGHING
Synopsis:
Collateral damage inflicted by Mary Leary’s terrorist-obsessed paranoid delusions...Mary spends her days glued to her telescope, scanning suburbia to rip the invisible terrorist weeds from her neighbors’ manicured lawns. She convinces herself there are Al Qaeda wanna-be’s in the neighborhood plotting the demise of western civilization. Can a conniving, pedophile priest be the one to convince her that her country's salvation rests solely on the sacrifice of her only son?


NEXT UP
What happened to the Wind in the Willows?

SAVING TOAD
by David Seidler
@ The Lounge Theatre
Sunday 6/6/10, 8pm
Monday 6/7/10, 8pm

About Fierce Backbone

Fierce Backbone is a 501(c)3 non-profit, collaborative organization of playwrights, actors and directors committed to developing new works for the stage. We understand that true development takes time, resources and a commitment to the creative process outside the pressure of producing live theater. We provide the environment for our writers to develop and mature their material through readings, scene work, improvisations, staged readings and workshop productions.

The Fierce Backbone Staged Reading Series & Workshop Productions

There are four plays in our 2010 Spring/Summer Staged Reading Series. Our first Staged Reading was Exit Laughing by Paul Elliott, which had 2 sold out performances May 7th & 8th. In 2009 we put up two workshop productions: the first, Cleo's Girls by Jan O'Connor, had a successful run of 6 performances in September 2009 at The Lex in Hollywood. Our second workshop production,Everything But by T.S. Cook, had a sold out run of 6 performances in December 2009 at The Secret Rose Theater in North Hollywood.

www.fiercebackbone.com

The Key To Productivity: Hate Your Work

I've only got 3 months until my August 1st, 2010 acting in Los Angeles "deadline". Realizing this, I entered a panic about what I have be doing with my time, and how I can maximize my remaining 3 months. I called up an old friend and lamented my slackerdom, begging for an explanation of how she avoids the siren song of the internet and instead burns the candle at both ends for months at a stretch. I've taken some liberties and translated her response into a credo of sorts:

Play your inner critic on full-blast. Allow yourself to believe that you're not good enough, that you're not doing enough, that you're falling behind. Live in a constant state of terror that everything you are doing will be laughed at and denigrated unless you work harder.

Given her laundry list of accomplishments, I knew it was an effective technique. But it was upsetting to think a person would do that to themselves. I didn't know if had it in me to live that way for the next 3 months.

So, for a different perspective, I called my productivity buddy Ilana and whined about my looming deadline and lack of work ethic. She cautioned me, saying "You can't set deadlines for success in an acting career, you don't deal those cards." To which I replied, "I know, I just don't feel like I'm working hard enough, and what I'm doing isn't good enough, I'm only:

• Attending weekly classes with Richard Seyd.
• Attending bi-monthly workshops at The Winner's Circle.
• Keeping up my improv chops at bi-monthly Groundlings classes.
• Going to 2+ Casting Director workshops each month.
• Co-Producing and Directing a short film that shoots in one week.
• Filming scenes from Donovan And The Vast Ancient Conspiracy.
• Rehearsing for and acting in a staged reading of a new play.
• Meeting bi-weekly for 3+hrs to write a screenplay for a feature film with my buddy Zak.
• Writing comedic monologues.
• Taking weekly voice lessons.
• Spending 30min/day 5 days a wk on craft (lines, cold reading practice, etc).
• Spending 30min/day 5 days a wk on marketing (mailers, thank you cards, submissions)."

And then I thought: Wait... that's actually a lot.

And then painfully I realized: That incredibly self-critical way of being that I wouldn't wish upon anyone... apparently I'm already living it, and have been for some time. I had no sense of how much I was doing because I was so good at telling myself it wasn't enough.

Self-criticism is a dangerously effective motivational tool, it can drive us to do superhuman amounts of work at our highest standard. However, it comes at a price: no matter how much we do, no matter how good our work, we'll never be able to fully appreciate our accomplishments; least of all while we're working towards them.