HASHTAG MAYHEM! "Well-paced, well-crafted, well-executed".

(Left to right:  Bryan Damske & Jeffrey James Ircink in CHOKING THE CHOAD IN BEL AIR.)


I've been away from my blog for a bit. Busy producing/acting/directing a series of short, dark plays I wrote under the collective title, HASHTAG MAYHEM! Reviews have been great and I'm extremely proud of the production. This is the first time I've produced my own work - fully-staged - and it was quite the task. The overwhelming satisfaction, for me, is not just the people who attended or the reviews, but it is the reality that what I had envisioned in my head while writing these 6 plays is what I'm seeing on stage. For that, I thank the directors, actors and Aaron Kopec of The Alchemist Theatre. Without their efforts and hard work, my words remain on the paper.

Our 3-week run closes this Thursday-Saturday, April 4-6 at The Alchemist Theatre in Bay View, Wisconsin. You can check out the review which appeared in the paper edition of The Shepherd Express here - as well as an in-depth review by the same author is his theater column. Curtains.

For production photos and detailed information you check out two sources - our production blog, and our Indiegogo fundraising campaign page. And you can still contribute and share the Indiegogo page. 7 days left.

If you're in the Milwaukee area, you can purchase tickets at the door but I advise you to get them online here. I have about 40 people attending on Friday and Saturday (total) and the show may be packed.

Everyone has a dark side. What's yours? Come play with us - or I'll find you. You can bet on it.

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Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaign for HASHTAG MAYHEM! is LIVE!

I'm producing an evening of my original short plays. Dark, sordid stuff. HASHAG MAYHEM! Our Indiegogo fundraising campaign began this evening. If you're not a particulary creative person but are interested in aliging yourself with a creative endeavor, this is your opportunity. Or maybe you are creative...and you understand what if means to a playwright like myself to get his work produced.

Contribute. Or share this link with other people. Maybe they'd be keen to supporting our production and the only way they'll find out about it is if you tell them.

Click here for all the details and our promotional video. It's a hoot. Everyone has a dark side. What's yours?

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Hashtage Mayhem. The Alchemist Theatre. Spring 2013.

 

 

#EVERYONE#HAS#A#DARK#SIDE. #WHAT'S#YOURS? The ball is in play. Director's meeting this weekend. Audition dates to be set. Venue picked. Promo video shot. HASHTAG MAYHEM - an evening of 6 short, dark plays by Jeffrey James Ircink. @ The Alchemist Theatre in Bay View, WI. March 21-23, 28-30, April 4-6. You'll laugh. You'll wince. And a nerve will be struck.

Produced by Babbling Bohemian Productions and The Horny Goat Hideway. Mark your calenders now. More sordid info to follow.

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What Jeff Ircink thinks about Global Warming.

My cousin Scott started a new blog - This Is My World. Here's a recent post concerning his views on global warming.

He asked me what I thought about global warming. I said it seems to be a partisan issue - Democrats believe in it. Republicans don't. Imagine that. Hmmm. Read this teeny-tiny excerpt from my play, "Stan's Addiction" (2004 Heuer Publishing Co.):

STU
(His head in the paper.)
Paper says it’s supposed to be hot the rest of the week into next week.

PATRICK
(His head in the paper, fiddling with a pencil. Matter-of-factly.)
Hard work - being a weatherman. Stick your head out the window and say, ‘it’s hot’, ‘it’s cold’, ‘it’s raining’, ‘it’s snowing’. Stick your head out the window every ten minutes for your updates, and there you go – you’re a weatherman.

STU
I think there’s a little more to it then that, Patrick.

Is there, "Stu"? In a roundabout way, I sort of think like "Patrick".

I believe in treating this planet with respect. I believe in not littering and that recycling is good. I believe that it's almost certain that the pollutants from cars and manufacturers isn't good for the environment like I believe that smoking isn't good for your lungs. I believe the more trees we plant the better - that we should replace what we reap. I believe that man should not live by development alone. I believe the earth's climate changes and what we do affects the climate - to a degree.

That being said, how am I supposed to believe global warming proponents when they predict that specific actions by mankind TODAY will have THIS EFFECT or THAT EFFECT on the earth 25, 50, 100 or 200 years from now if weathermen can't get the weather forecast right for tomorrow?

Anyone? Buehler?

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Origami No. 17. "Two Men"...a song.

I wrote this song for inclusion in my latest full-length play. The first verse includes the exact lyrics I created and sang as a kid - then I just expanded the song from that point. It has nothing to do with the dark comedy I'm writing - but it does provide some levity between the protagonist and the individual he's butting heads with. I suppose it's sort of hard to appreciate it with the melody I have in my head, but...put your own tune to it and see how you like it.

I will say that it's supposed to be in the vein of the songs featured in the hit movie, "Juno".

“Two Men”

Two men
Livin’ in
A little house
By the falls
Two men livin’ in
A little house by the falls
Making dolls

Oh-h,
two dolls
Cornhusk dolls
One for each
Charge a quarter a piece
Two men
Making dolls
Cornhusk dolls just a quarter apiece.

(scat break – singing)

makin’ dolls
tens of thousands of cornhusk dolls
price arisin’ – 50 bucks, you see.
That little house is a’buzzin’ with all sorts of glee
Millionaires
A bigger house
by the falls and their million dollar dolls.

Two men
No more corn
And No more cornhusk dolls
(had to sell and move back to that small house-by-the-falls)
no more corn
no more dolls
If you were in their shoes
what would you do?

Straw dolls.
Outta straw.
The two men found a way
to keep their million dollar ways going strong
Straw dolls
diversified
The story goes on
Nothing you ain’t heard before…

Two men
Livin’ in
A little house
By the falls
Two men livin’ in
A little house by the falls
Making dolls

© Copyright 2008 Jeffrey James Ircink


Origami is sort of my catchword for a featured blog entry that highlights my original writings - could be an excerpt from one of my plays, a poem, a song, a rant, a rave, a cursing, etc. Origami is the art of folding paper (the word is of Japanese origin). So, within the folds of this particular blog feature/post you may find something really beautiful, meaningful or poignant.

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Tragic hero = Favre?

I've been talking to a number of friends and family about the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packer situation and, I have to tell you, emotions are running high. Apparently it's 50/50 in Wisconsin - those siding with Brett or the Packers. Probably closer to 90/10 in favor of Brett in Green Bay. Friends and family are split, though more in favor of Brett. However, it's not a dislike for Favre as a person or player that separates the camps, more related to Brett's handling of the situation (or the Packers' handling of the situation). Oddly enough, my friends who root for other teams are on the Brett side: Donovan & Maria & Baby Grace in Tujunga, Cali (Bronco fans) = Brett. Nick in Cedar Rapids (Cowboys) = Brett. Bill the FedEx guy at work (49ers) = Brett. Robert at work (Chargers) = Brett. John in Philly (Eagles - though I haven't talked to him yet, I know) = Brett. No matter what people's stance on the subject, this is an unbelievable situation we find ourselves in that is reminiscent of the "worlds collide" theory set forth in "Ghostbusters" ('Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!').

So my best friend, Tom Kazar, calls me this morning en route to a wedding reception in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and he tells me that back in January, after the Packers' loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship, he called WTMJ in Milwaukee to chime in on whether or not Brett will return to the Packers for a 17th season. Tom gets on the air and states (paraphrasing), "Favre is a tragic hero. This situation - Favre's future with the Packers - can ONLY result in tragedy."

Why he thought that at the time I do not know. But if you take into consideration everything that's happened in Brett's life - car accident while at Southern Mississippi, his father's death, his grandmother's death, his brother-in-law's death, his wife's breast cancer, his childhood home swept away during Hurricane Katrina, various injuries - and all the drama associated with "will he or won't he retire", Brett Favre is certainly a tragic hero. An astute call, my friend.

© Copyright 2007 Janis Mertin

As an actor, I'm familiar with the tragic hero character in literature and theater. Aristotle once said that "A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." An Aristotelian tragic hero must possess specific characteristics, included below:

1) Nobility or wisdom.

2) A reversal of fortune. The discovery or recognition that the reversal was brought about by the hero's own actions. The audience must feel pity and fear (fear that it could have been them) (catharsis) for the character.

3) Initially, the tragic hero should be neither better nor worse morally than normal people, in order to allow the audience to identify with him.

4) This also introduces pity, which is crucial in tragedy, for if the hero were perfect we would either be outraged with his fate or not especially care due to his ideological superiority. Eventually the Aristotelian tragic hero dies a tragic death, having fallen from great heights and having made an irreversible mistake.

5) The hero must courageously accept his or her death with honor.

Other common traits characteristic of a tragic hero:

The hero is led to his downfall due to hubris, or excessive pride.
The hero must be doomed from the start, but bears no responsibility for possessing his flaw.
The hero must have discovered his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him.
The hero must see and understand his doom, and that his fate was revealed by his own actions.
The hero's story should arouse fear and empathy.
The hero must be intelligent enough to have the opportunity to learn from his mistakes.
The hero must be faced with a very serious decision.
The suffering of the hero must have meaning.

Certainly, much of this can be attributed to Brett Favre. And certainly, much of this can be attributed to the Green Bay Packer organization and GM Ted Thompson. There's also another definition that goes hand-in-hand with this subject - that of tragic virtue, which is an alternative view of the tragic hero, especially in Renaissance British literature, one in which he or she possesses a tragic virtue. In this paradigm the hero exhibits traits that would under other conditions be considered desirable but due to external circumstances cause their eventual undoing. For example, Shakespeare's character Hamlet is often criticized for his contemplative nature. Hamlet's failure to act is cited as his tragic flaw.

Whether you're a Packer fan, a Favre fan, an NFL fan or a sports fan, you can see the relevance of the tragic hero in the Brett Favre/Packers clusterfuck. Perhaps instead of jumping down Favre's throat for being egotistical, controlling and waffling on his retirement (all characteristics that can be attributed to the Packer organization as well), you can begin to see that it's not so much an issue of laying blame as it is a result of Brett Favre just being Brett Favre - and everything that goes along with being one of the most prolific players/QB's in the history of the NFL, for one of the most storied franchises in the NFL. I think of myself as a person whose judge of character is almost flawless; and, though Favre may, in fact, be a tragic character, I will choose to have him, warts and flaws in all, in my corner 100% of the time.

The Packer organization should feel the same.

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"Chicago Conspiracy" & "HAIR" - Flashback to 1968 and TWO Kick-Ass Theater Reviews

I didn't plan this on purpose, but this weekend was 1968 all over again. I saw two wonderful theater shows - Chicago Conspiracy, based on the 1969-70 Chicago Seven trial which covered events that took place in the summer of 1968 during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the smash musical, HAIR, which premiered on Broadway in 1968.

HAIR at The Met in Hollywood.

The "Tribe" - and Michael Butler, original producer of HAIR on Broadway.

Lee Ferris (Berger), James Berry (Claude) and Johanna Unger (Sheila).

"Claude" - looking like the torn, confused hippie he is.

If you haven't read this in previous posts, I'm a former Tribe member...Iowa Tribe/1995. Click on these links to read the background story on HAIR and my interviews with producer Michael Butler and co-author James Rado. You can also hear the interviews in my GABCAST audio widget - go to the right panel and scroll down:

http://jeffircink.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html - The Story Behind HAIR
http://jeffircink.blogspot.com/2007/10/coming-interview-with-hair-producer.html - Interview with Michael Butler, original producer of HAIR
http://jeffircink.blogspot.com/2007/10/coming-interview-with-hair-creator.html - Interview with James Rado, co-author of HAIR

I had never seen HAIR performed - and this was an excellent production. The director had put up previous productions in Moscow, among other places, and Michael Butler again produced this version. I was as emotionally vested in seeing this show, the story and the characters as I was when I performed in it 12 years ago. The staging was beautiful, But the thing I was struck with most is the character Claude and how he wrestled with his emotions and ideals - the ones he held as a hippie and the ones he held as an American when drafted into the Vietnam war. I struggled right along with him, unsure of how I'd react in his position. Powerful stuff - and often lost amongst the pageantry and music that has made HAIR one of the most popular musicals of all time.

I also had the great pleasure of meeting one of the co-founders of The Met - Paul Koslo, who coincidentally, was in the Broadway cast of HAIR in 1968 and has gone on to become a recognized character actor in film and television (do an IMDB.com search and you'll recognize him). Wonderful man. When I told him I was a former Tribe member, he treated me like a brother. Obviously, something you might not understand unless you performed in the show.

Chicago Conspiracy at The Odyssey Theatre in West LA.

"Our strategy was to give Judge Hoffman a heart attack. We gave the court system a heart attack which is even better." - Jerry Rubin

"Conspiracy? Hell, we couldn't agree on lunch." - Abbie Hoffman

(the following is from actual court transcripts)

ABBIE HOFFMAN: "Are you asking if I had those thoughts or if I wrote that I had those thoughts? There's a difference."

RICHARD SCHULTZ (asst. U.S. attorney): "It's a convenient difference, isn't it Mr. Hoffman?"

ABBIE HOFFMAN: "I don't know what you mean, I've never been on trial for my thoughts before."

The Chicago 7: Back row - Weiner, Dellinger, Rubin, Hayden. Front row - Froines, Davis, Hoffman.

In 1968, two anti-war groups met to discuss the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago - National Mobilization to End the War (MOBE) and the Youth International Party (YIPPIES). In a nutshell, their intention was to disrupt the activities of the convention where publicity on a nation-wide scale could best benefit their interests. Things got out of hand - the police and National Guard were called in and mayhem erupted. Eight men - Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale were arrested and indicted on violations that they violated the anti-riot law and committed conspiracy. What followed in the courtroom was a circus never before witnessed by anyone in judicial law. Seale was bound and gagged to a chair and then eventually removed and tried separately, so the Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven.

George Murdock, a well-known character actor from film and television, played the role of Judge Julius Hoffman. With all due respect to Judge Hoffman and his rope, he was real douche bag. Murdock, on the other hand, had Hoffman down to a tee. (Sorry this particular photo is blurry - no cameras in the courtroom. One of my other "protests".)

Click on the following link for in-depth information on the events leading up to the trial and the trial itself: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/chicago7.html

What follows in the play are the events in the courtroom taken from actual trial transcripts. It was informative and entertaining and enjoyed it thoroughly; I could have sat through the entire 4+ month trial to be perfectly honest. My actor-friend, Dave Parke, played one of the U.S. marshals and I had prepared some Yippie pamphlets I wanted him to find on me as he searched me when entering the courtroom. He didn't recognize me when I handed him my ticket (?) because he was paying attention to my ticket and seating me and it wasn't until I came up to him after the show did he even realize I was there (so much for our U.S. marshalls, eh? - kidding, Dave). Being an actor myself, I couldn't resist played around a bit during the show - refusing to stand when the judge entered the courtroom on two occasions or bringing "illicit" contraband into the courtroom (my Yippie pamphlets). I felt, in some way I was doing my part to protest the idiocy and the insanity of the trial.

Funny story - I talked to the actor who played Tom Hayden (Jane Fonda's ex and former Californian politician). He told me the real Hayden attended the show twice - once with his daughter. Upon entering the courtroom, Hayden was frisked by a marshall (how cool is that...the real Tom Hayden) and while the marshall is padding him down, Hayden turns with a smile and says, "Take your fucking hands off me, you asshole." I would've paid a week's salary to seen that (Hayden spoke to the audience for a half hour after the show on one evening).

Some YouTube stuff you might wanna check out.
1.) Chicago 10 - a live-action/animation documentary: http://youtube.com/watch?v=M9uJL7lWdFg

2.) Abbie Hoffman, then and now: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eTJ6Jw63_hA
3.) Jerry Rubin, then: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FTS-DZ5aSnE

John Pollono as Abbie Hoffman, my friend, Dave Parke as a U.S. Marshall and me.

I'm a historical buff and I LOVE this period in our history - the anti-war protests, the music, the personalities. The acting for the most part was great and the likeness the actors had to their real-life counterparts was uncanny.

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Origami No. 7 - "Del Rey's Lament"

Here's a blues song I wrote for my play, "Chromosome 21". Del Rey, a guitar player who sings for coins in the street, is the imaginary friend of Joshua Cinrick, who has Down Syndrome and is celebrating his 21st birthday. Joshua's father abandoned the family ten years ago and Del Rey is Joshua's way of coping with his father's leaving - Joshua "talks" to Del Rey and Del Rey serves as a sort of "mentor" toward Joshua, teaching him about playing the guitar and singing 'da Blues'. Sing a-long, if you'd like - just pick any blues melody and you're all set.

Can’t you hear the jingle jangle,
of my cup that’s filled with coins.
Can’t you hear the jingle jangle,
Like a lil’ kid with a brand, new toy.
There’s a lot a people passin' by,
Still my cup ain’t made no noise.

I’m just a tumbleweed, baby,
My venue is the lonely road.
I’m just a tumbleweed, a'tumblin',
Don’t own nothin' save my soul.
I’m a singer with no nightclub, baby,
Playin' the blues, that’s all I know.

I was born a poor, black child, (with no daddy)
outside a’Memphis - some no-good town.
I was born a poor, black child, uh-h, huh,
walkin' 'round with just a frown.
That’s where I cut these teeth on blues,
Lord, that curse done bring me down.

I’m just a tumbleweed, baby,
My venue is the lonely road.
I’m just a tumbleweed, a'tumblin',
Don’t own nothin' save my soul.
I’m a singer with no nightclub, baby,
Playin' the blues, that’s all I know.

Got no one to come home to,
Lie in bed awake all alone.
Got no one to come home to,
My body’s achin', can’t you hear it moan?
It’s the life that I was meant to live,
It’s a song, that’s just a poem.

I’m just a tumbleweed, baby,
My venue is the lonely road.
I’m just a tumbleweed, a'tumblin',
Don’t own nothin' save my soul.
I’m a singer with no nightclub, baby,
Play’in the blues, that’s all I know.

There’s a lot a people passin' by,
Still my cup ain’t made no noise.

I sing about what’s wrong with life,
Lord, it’s sho’ a heavy load.

Got a long road ahead a me,
Lord (Pause) - have mercy on my soul.

© 2005 Jeffrey James Ircink

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