Sunday, September 20, 2009
ARMONDO DIAZ: NYU CHAIR'S WORKSHOP
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"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
ARMONDO DIAZ TONIGHT!
A MASTER OF IMPROVISATION
THE CHAIR'S WORKSHOP PRESENTS:
ARMANDO DIAZ
'Widely regarded as one of the finest improv instructors in the country.'
Armando Diaz (see bio at bottom of page) will bring in actors and conduct an improv demonstration
Jose Santana will host a Q&A with Armando following the demonstration.
*This is a fantastic opportunity to watch a leader in his field demonstrate how to best bring out an actor's abilities. DON'T MISS IT!*
WEDNESDAY, September 16th
6:30 PM
Room 1027
6:30 PM
Room 1027
Armando is widely regarded as one of the best improv teachers in New York City and beyond. His list of teaching credits is a long one: the ImprovOlympic Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, The Peoples Improv Theater, and Michael Howard Studios. He has trained dozens of actors who have performed or written for Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, and The Daily Show.
A Chicago native, Armando studied improv under Del Close at the ImprovOlympic, Mick Napier at the Annoyance, and graduated from the Second City Conservatory. He performed in and helped create one of the most popular improvised longforms in Chicago, "The Armando Diaz Experience...." For the last decade, "the Armando" has been performed weekly in Chicago, and is now taught and performed in many other cities including Los Angeles and New York.
In addition to writing and producing short films, Armando wrote sketches for the show Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
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"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
Saturday, September 12, 2009
NY TIMES: CUBA MOURNS COMRADE-IN-ARMS
(click on image to enlarge)
Roberto Luis Santana as Juan Almeida Bosque, in "Che."
Roberto Luis Santana as Juan Almeida Bosque, in "Che."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published: September 12, 2009
Filed at 1:44 p.m. ET
HAVANA (AP) -- The death of Juan Almeida Bosque, a vice president who was one of the last giants of Cuba's 1959 revolution, plunged the island into mourning Saturday and was a stark reminder of the mortality of all of Cuba's aging leaders -- including brothers Raul and Fidel Castro.
He was the first of Cuba's revolutionary leaders to die since President Raul Castro's wife Vilma Espin, a one-time guerrilla commander in her own right, passed away in June 2007 at the age of 77. (read more)
"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
ON FILMMAKER SPIKE JONZE
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In February 2008, a blogger named Devin Faraci led off a post on the Hollywood news site CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) with a solemn proclamation: “We’re on the verge of losing a movie.” He was referring to “Where the Wild Things Are,” a big-budget adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic picture book for children. According to Faraci, executives at Warner Brothers had deemed an early cut of the film “too weird and ‘too scary’ ” and were now contemplating extensive personnel changes and reshoots. The news rippled through Hollywood’s online underground. At Slashfilm.com, it generated 88 reader responses. At Firstshowing.net, another 25. Some readers pleaded with the studio: “Please please please follow through with the original.” Others took a more authoritative tone: “Do not turn ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ into something common and forgettable!” There were calls for fan solidarity and several threats of boycott, or worse: “I will personally face-punch anyone who stands in the way of this film being released.” Such variations aside, though, a common theme emerged: “Jonze is brilliant”; “Jonze is an artist”; “Trust Jonze!” (read more)
"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
CAROL DYSINGER: CAMP VICTORY
(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)Camp Victory, Afghanistan is a verite documentary that tells the story of several U.S. National Guardsmen stationed in Herat, Afghanistan and the Afghan officers they are assigned to train.
These Americans along with a band of Afghans have been given the enormous task of building the 207th Corps of the nascent Afghan National Army into an institution capable of providing security, stability, peace and justice to a tattered, volatile nation. Although the United States has poured military aid into Afghanistan, money alone does not produce an army; people do. And these Afghans and Americans have more in common than anyone would expect.
With lives on the line and the military budget ballooning, can a modern Afghan army be created when 80% of the enlistees are illiterate; all are impoverished; the weaponry is second rate; and the enemy is elusive, dangerous, and lawless?
Using nearly 300 hours of verité footage shot between 2005 and 2008, Camp Victory, Afghanistan, directed by Carol Dysinger, is the first film to examine the reality of building a functioning Afghan military-the initial critical step toward bringing stability and peace to Afghanistan.
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"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."