17th Annual Spirit Walk

Whoa - it's upon us already. Once more into the breeches.

This year I'll be playing the ex mayor of Charlottesville, VA accused of strangling, bludgeoning, and shooting his wife.

Trial of John Mosby - the Movie

The Trial of John Mosby from Man Made Wilderness on Vimeo.

At ten minutes, our piece of the Albemarle/Charlottesville Historical Society's annual Spirit Walk fundraiser is the longest by far. This is a compilation of several of our performances from the final day. Please excuse the substandard sound. There is still the possibility of looping all the lines. I might talk to the cast about doing that.

Trial of John Mosby

Here's the audio from one of our performances last night, as part of the annual Spirit Walk. A bit boomy, but audible. I'll try for better placement of the recorder tonight, all as tests for Sunday afternoon's video recording.

Update on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 09:08AM by KMW

photo by James Marshall

From one of our performances Saturday evening.

For those clamoring for the video - sorry, it's going to be a while longer. I'm still editing a music video to go online by tomorrow morning.

16th Annual Spirit Walk

For the fifth year, I'm going to get up on the boards, figuratively speaking. I've ascended to the primo location for characters who perform for the Spirit Walk, the Historical Society's annual fundraiser: the interior of the Albemarle County Courthouse. I'll be playing the Commonwealth Attorney from 1853 with four other actors. It should be a blast. If you're in the area, get a ticket and do the tour.

COME JOIN US FOR THE 16TH ANNUAL SPIRIT WALK!

The Spirit Walk is a guided evening tour of Historic Downtown Charlottesville and Maplewood Cemetery. What really makes the Spirit Walk unique, however, besides it’s being at night, is that along the way, you actually come across and interact with ghosts from Charlottesville’s past.  In fact, each tour is led by an actor in full costume representing a spirit from Charlottesville’s history!  The Spirit Walk is the number one fundraiser for the not-for-profit Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society whose goal is preserving and nurturing appreciation of local history.

WHEN:

October 22^nd, 23^rd, and 24^th.  …. One weekend only!

Tours run every 15 minutes.  On Friday the tours start at 6 and the last tour leaves at 9:15.  Saturday, 5 to 8:15.  Sunday, 4 to 7:15.

PRICE: 12 for Adults…8 for children under 13 years old

Get your tickets online at:

WWW.ALBEMARLEHISTORY.ORG

Or call:434-296-1492

Or Stop By!:

200 2^ND STREET SE…ACROSS FROM LEE PARK, BEHIND MAIN BRANCH OF LIBRARY

Hope to see you there!

15th annual Spirit Walk

Once more, I participate in the annual Historical Society fund raiser. This year's Sprit Walk, during which groups of patrons are guided along a tour of the historic areas of Charlottesville and encounter well known locals of the day, portrayed by volunteer actors, will take place October 23 - 25. This year I will try to find something of the character of Benjamin Franklin Ficklin, born in 1827, rasied in Charlottesville, and buried there next to his parents, with many an adventure in between.

the scary mind

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After an extremely rough tech rehearsal Thursday evening for the annual Spirit Walk, and a loud and scary start Friday, I eventually settled down into a much more natural performance style that included more gesture and less bluster. This may not be exactly what Custer embodied, but how is anyone to know for sure? With smaller groups I'm finding I can tone it down and tell more story with complete confidence. The text is in there, I know the words and all the variations possible on the words that have been chosen, so all I have to do is relax enough to let them out. There is this perhaps irrational belief in the power of words that propels me to order them exactly as written on the page. It's more attention to detail while striving for perfection. I've spent a fair amount of time choosing the words while writing the script - as presumably all writers do - so as a performer I want to recite those lines word for word out of respect for the effort the writer expended.

But the performer inevitably finds gaps in the writing that need to be covered. And I'm getting comfortable enough that an additional word here and there for clarification purposes adds to the natural flow. Along with an occasional swapping around of words throughout the text doesn't totally destroy my concentration.

Probably the more amazing effect, which of course is the reason why people perform "on stage" in the first place, is the transportation effect. During one of the interviews in the excellent 2008 Scorsese film Shine A Light, Keith Richards speaks about getting into a state where he feels he's floating several feet above the stage while playing. At other times he can play things that amaze his conscious mind. In a similar vein, there are times while reciting lines that I'm observing being observed by audience members, wondering what they are thinking about the performance, assessing how it could be modulated for greater effect, as well as wondering about their judgement of the historical accuracy of the text, all in the split seconds between the utterance out loud of the prepared text. This truly is multi-tasking, or surely as close to it as I'm likely to achieve.

There is a photographic analogue. One makes instantaneous decisions about technical details while trying to determine the meaning and context of a particular image, whether viewing prints in a book or especially while on location with a camera: the thousand stimuli that are present in the natural world must be sifted and selected. When we really get in the photographic zone, we are definitively multi-tasking.

14th Annual Spirit Walk

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The annual Spirit Walk fund raiser for the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society happens next weekend. More info here. Groups of ticket purchasers are led through the town by famous Charlottesville characters of the past. Along the route they encounter a number of famous and not so famous real persons from the past who have passed through or lived in Charlottesville. As actors and performers, we get to research and write our own material, as long is it is kept to about two minutes long. This will be the third year of my participation. It doesn't get any easier learning lines, but at least this year there is plenty of material for my character. It's a kick performing literally on the street, and by the end of the 45 or so 2 minute perfomances/monologue, I'm ready for a new character.

For those of you not able to attend, here's my text for this year, from a man much maligned in our revisionist historical times:

Well well well... Tis true, my dear listeners, that the Rebels deceived my men into flight back across the Rivanna from Rio Hills in 1864.* But let me tell you the rest of the story that snake out back didn't tell you.

I was back one year later, in March 1865, we crushed General Early's army in Waynesboro and turned towards Richmond. Charlottesville stood in our way. When we reached this rather pathetic village, leaders of town and University pleaded with me, on their knees, to spare their dear little college from the same torch that consumed VMI. Some 10,000 soldiers descended upon the town for three days, like a plague of locusts. I won't deny that the townsfolk were badly abused by the occupation. But the boys must have something for their efforts, or surely they will leave me.

Friday afternoon I installed my office in the Farish family homestead down on East Jefferson Street. Later that evening a rough sort of laborer was brought to me by scouts who thought they had captured General Early out of uniform. A spy! Thought they. The man's real identity came to light when one of the Farish girls cried out, "Mama, they've got Papa!" Alas, he was Captain Thomas Farish, with a three day furlough and thoughts of aiding his family. General Sheridan determined the man should hang as a spy, eh? I was set up in the man's parlor, how could I see him swing from his own oak tree? Phil Sheridan eventually agreed Farish was doing what we all would have done under the circumstances: trying to protect his family and home during hateful times. I took pity upon his life. I'll never forget what he yelled the next day when I departed for Gordonsville to chase after some Rebs, "Custer, I hate you as an enemy, but I love you as a brother!" Barely a month later Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House and the great conflagration between the states was ended.

I never pretended I wanted people to pass me by unnoticed. By God you'll remember my name eh, George Armstrong Custer, youngest general in the army of the North. Now be gone, I am sorely weary.

* Reference to the previous character who tells audiences about the "battle" of Rio Hills when the Union cavalry was confused by their own men in the smoke of the gunfire from their attack.