What's Here:
I've put up a few pages here with some fun things you may be interested in, and also post updates regarding performances and events I'm either in or helping to produce. It's usually up-to-date.RESUMES:
FUN STUFF:
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: No theater stuff in the works this fall, but I'll be helping to develop the story for the Dance Along Nutcracker for December.
The Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band is gearing up for a new season. We'll be playing at the Issaquah Farmers Market on August 23rd and at Edmonds city park on August 24th, plus a brief set on Tuesday the 26th at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Schedule info is posted at the band website once it's confirmed, so check there for info.
Watch this space for updates.
PAST PERFORMANCES: This summer I did my first outdoor show, appearing in the Theater Schmeater production of The Wind in the Willows at Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. J.D. Lloyd, who directed the production of Arsenic & Old Lace I was in, adapted the story and directed. I was the Chief Weasel, who also impersonated a magistrate for one scene. I wrote a bit about it over at Notes from the eBelfry. Waiting for Godot, in which I played Vladimir, has now closed. It was an amazing experience, though of course not without its problems. But it was nice to finally make it to the Hill for a full show. This came about through meeting people while taking George Lewis' "Personal Clown" class at Freehold here in Seattle. That in itself was an amazing experience and one of the hardest things I've done since college. I've got a lot of work to do to become true clown material, but I think there is potential, and I had a few transcendent moments in class.
Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water, which was the last Driftwood mainstage show last season, is now well and duly buried. Oy. I got a nice shout-out for my performance as Father Drobney in our one review which appeared in the Shoreline Enterprise. (Dale Burrows wrote "Woody Allen's insane obsession with quirks suits Ian Gerrard's Catholic priest in permanent asylee status to a T. Gerrard's card tricks while running the local underground from inside the embassy are show hghlights.") That was nice to read, but overall this was an experience I hope not to repeat. It was fun to be in a show with Jay Irwin again, and perhaps one day we'll actually get to exchange a few lines on stage, but this show could have been so much more. All those innocent jokes that died every night....
I was in San Francisco once again in December to be the technical coordinator for the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band's Dance Along Nutcracker, which was as much fun as ever this year. The show this year was told from the point of view of the rats, who gave the audience their unique spin on how things went down that Christmas eve. As ever, it was not your father's nutcracker, and thank god for that.
The run of Art by Yasmina Reza at Burien Little Theatre ended back in October '06. It was one of the first non-commercial productions of the play in the United States and was quite a ride, but despite having replaced an actor a week and a half before opening, things went ok. The show definitely had its limitations, but it was a great learning experience for me, and I got to make at least a few people laugh. In case you know the show, I played Yvan, which meant I had THAT monologue. (And you know what? It was my favorite part of every performance!)
The Unitarian play Zanne and I were acting together in is now long over, as is our most recent collaboration, Adaptation by Elaine May. That was a one-act presented at Driftwood in April '06 which followed the life of Phil Benson through the medium of a 60's game show. It also also starred Jenny Buehler, Yvette Zaepfel and David Katims. You might remember David from his co-starring role in Friday the 13th, Part III. (No, really! Click here for proof.)
In the fall of 2005 I was in the mainstage production at Driftwood Theatre in Edmonds playing Dr. (Herman) Einstein in the classic farce Arsenic and Old Lace. We received a nice review on seattleactor.com which you can take a look at. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and I got strangled twice a night by Glenn Nestlerode, a minister in real life. Who knew? Jay Irwin had a great run as Teddy Brewster, who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. Andrew McKelvey, another 'Sack O' Nuts' alum, had fun with an Irish/Brooklyn brogue on stage as Officer Brophy.
The Sousa Band also put on an incredibly successful and fun Sousa Bash in November 2005 at Town Hall in Seattle to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. I've been told we had one of the most energetic crowds that's been seen there -- around 400 people -- and that we were louder than the Northwest Pipers. (Put that in your [bag]pipe and smoke it!) I did a reading from Sousa's autobiography, Marching Along: Recollections of Men, Women and Music, which tells the story of how Sousa was tempted to run away with a circus band and instead ended up enlisted in the Marines at age 13. The reading went over much better than this photo would seem to suggest. It was also fun for me to play on the Town Hall stage as I used to work there as an event manager helping other performers.
On May 17th 2005 the band played the Norwegian Independence Parade, which marked Norwary's 100th birthday in its current incarnation, and got our photo in the Seattle PI. (Notice the smiling redhead in the second row. Yup, it's my mother who has joined up to play flute in the band!) We also performed for a raucus crowd the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend at the Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center -- I missed this year's Folklife show -- and at the Ballard Locks on the 14th of August that year. (Yours truly was sporting a mild hangover at that show for the second year in a row as it happened to be the day after the J. Peter Adler Memorial Wake and Weenie Roast. Despite our best efforts there's still a lot of scotch left at home. Come by for a drink some time....)
The Writer's Salon mentioned here earlier has kind of fallen (way) by the wayside, but it still may come to fruition someday, still in our living room.
ianclark@jps.net
