Bad movie, good TV, old theater...

I started watching The Passion of the Christ the other night. I turned it off. And before the really violent stuff, too. I guess my problem with the movie is that it disregards the central tenet of good storytelling - create empathy for your characters. The movie relies on our previous knowledge of Jesus Christ and our inherent sympathy for him. That's cheating. If you don't know the story of Jesus Christ or if the story does not resonate with you, this movie won't reach you. Mind you, I do know the story and it does resonate with me, but this movie did not. Of course, I didn't watch the whole thing, so take that into account as well.

Survivor got interesting last week when a new alliance formed and kicked one of the two leaders to the jury. I think Ami is probably next unless she wins immunity. However, it'll probably be one of those immunities where everyone can gang up on one person and prevent that person from winning. So yeah, Ami is the next to go, in my opinion.

I've started working on my lines for Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. I had forgotten how much my character talks! I also downloaded a couple of versions of the song I have to sing - The Water is Wide. Yes, I have to sing. Fortunately, in the context of the play, I don't have to necessarily sing well. One of the other actors is an excellent singer and he gets the important musical moment of the show.

Last night, I watched old VCR tapes of shows I did with West Side Players, a college theater group. Some of them were really bad. Some of them were okay. I have definitely learned a lot since then. I did rewatch one of my favorite moments on stage. I played Lombard in Ten Little Indians. At the end of the play, Vera (played by Rachel Proffitt) shoots me as I charge toward her. Getting shot and flying backward.... great death scene. It's always fun to get shot onstage. It reminds me of being a kid and playing cops and robbers. I also watched parts of two different versions of Intellectual Orgasms, a play I wrote. I directed the show with West Side Players and then a few years later, I acted in it with Dreamwell. Ironically enough, I liked much of the first actor's work more than my own. I was too screechy. One of the fun parts of watching the first IO tape was seeing the after show stuff. I left the tape running after curtain call so last night I watched various people I haven't seen in years walk by the camera. Whatever happened to Nigel and Brandon Ray anyway?