Steven Ryan
Producer – Performer – Puppeteer (and Pot Roast!)
Water Is Your Friend
So says Sarah, who is equally affected by the starvation right now as I am, although she is putting up a braver face. I am hunger’s bitch.
Actually, hunger isn’t my problem. At least not physically. I am truly not hungry. But I can smell food everywhere and my mind is telling me to eat. One might say i am addicted to eating. I would say I am also addicted, then, to oxygen. We need food to live.
That being said, I have some terrible eating habits. It is why I am overweight, why I have GERD, why I am a diabetic; it probably contributes to my allergies and asthma, and to my thyroid condition. Hopefully this will help me change some eating habits – it’s definitely making me more aware of them.
Being aware is the first step. So now I present to you the foods I want to eat when I can finally eat again. I will attempt to refrain from eating them all at one sitting.
- Buffalo Chicken Pizza from Mama Theresa’s.
- Stromboli with extra cheese from Luigi’s on 8th Ave.
- A Reece’s Pieces Sundae ( scoop) from Friendly’s.
- Buffalo Chicken Footlong from Subway.
- Wings at Croxley Ales.
- Mac and Cheese from Zorn’s.
- Popeye’s Fried Chicken.
- Quesadilla at Time Out Sports Cafe.
- Taco Dip
- Rodizio from Churrasqueira Bairrada
Hunger Strikes
The end of Day One is here and I’m only now starting to feel hungry. I know most of it is probably psychological, doubled by the fact that every commercial at 1am is for food. And my stomach is growling.
A decision is also going to have to be made; I may need to temporarily suspend the cleanse, and I’ll need to decide by tomorrow or else I’m told I could get sick. Of course thinking about how I may be eating in the near future is making it hard tonot be eating now.
I didn’t realize how much life revolves around eating. The first casualty of the cleanse is going out. A client of mine will be in town and invited me to dinner. I didn’t even think about it when I accepted. I’ll be sitting there, watching people eat while I sip agave lemonade.
Challenges will come at me throughout the process, this is just the first of them. Tomorrow I will tackle the salt water flush, and make decisions on postponement later in the day.
Cleaning Out the Crap
It’s been nine months since I’ve posted a blog, and in that time I have received over 30,000 spam comments. I was receiving an email notification for each one, the purpose of which was to determine if it was spam or an actual comment. Since last April, none were. I gave up caring, just deleting the emails but not the comments.
Now it is a New Year, and even though it is not yet Spring (does Mother Nature even care about seasonal traditions anymore?) it is time for cleansing. I have reconfigured the settings and deleted the pending comments. But more importantly, it is time for more personal purges.
Changes are occurring. I know this blog has avoided my personal life, focusing on my profession. As an actor, my body is my instrument. I have been dealing with some health issues over the last year or so, mainly Type II Diabetes. I believed that gaining weight to play Pot Roast / Meat Loaf was merely a physical transformation, part of the costume. At almost 300lbs. I put myself at some serious health risks.
Since then I’ve lost 50lbs. Just from changing my diet and adding a bit of exercise. However since Thanksgiving, I’ve slipped and gone back to my poor eating habits and gained a few pounds. My asthma has worsened, and I found it very difficult to dance through my nightly performances as The Golem with the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre. A wonderful opportunity to perform a leading role that is equally emotionally challenging as it was physically, and I am gasping for air at the end of every show.
The holidays have ended and I am challenging myself once again; This time with the Stanley Burrough’s Master Cleanse. Ten days without food. At least. Ten. Days. Without. Any. Food. And I intend to blog about it all.
Follow me and lend me moral support. Read the blog, my Facebook statuses, my tweets and help me get through this. Inspiring me is my dear friend Sarah who will also add her voice here while struggling along with me. Together we will make it, because (as is her personal mantra) this too shall pass (wokka wokka).
Another opening, another show…
I promise that I am not complaining; I am blessed. For the majority of actors and performers, opportunities are often few and far between, especially for pay. This week I have had the rare experience of opening two different shows – a schedule that has wound me up and worn me down. But it has all been worth it.
On Wednesday morning “Bessie’s Big Shot” had its first performance in front of an audience of about 50 children at the Sunset Park Recreation Center. This is a touring marionette show through the City Parks Foundation and the Swedish Cottage Theatre. It’s about a cow who runs away to join the circus, and has some beautiful puppets controlled by some brilliant puppeteers (and me).
On Thursday night the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre premiered “Mr. M”, a new play written and directed by Vit Horejs, a genius in his own right. The play is based on the book “Pan Theodor Mundstock” by Ladislav Fuks. The show will be playing at the Theatre for the New City through May 1st, with a one week engagement to follow at the Manhattan JCC.
Sunday night (April 17) will also be the April Fools edition of the Susie Campanaro Variety Hour, which has an afternoon and evening long lineup of many great acts including comedian Rob Shapiro, Juliet Jeske, Mistress B., Sweet Soubrette, and Eric Walton.
Three shows, two openings, one happy performer.
Dial M for Marionettes
Since I was a child I have been fascinated with puppetry. Sure, I was raised on “Sesame Street“, and watched “The Muppet Show” every week, but my enthrallment with this art from extended beyond that of a nromal 5-year-old. I remember Mummenschanz, Howdy Doody, the almost scary hand puppets of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Lambchop, Wayland Flowers and Madame, Charlie McCarthy, Senor Wences, and Alvin and The Chipmunks. (Yes! They were orginally puppets.) Growing up I owned a couple of the Henson toy puppets, made countless puppets from socks or popsicle sticks.
As a young actor, I found myself working from time to time with puppets in the theatre: 2 productions of Little Shop of Horrors, first in High School then with the New Paltz Summer Rep. While the former was very traditional, the latter was extremely avant-garde, using humans as the plant, but shadow puppetry for a lot of the story telling. I operated a Bread-and-Puppet-style St. George during my tenure with the NY Ren Faire, and animatronic puppets while working at the Jekyll & Hyde Pub (still on of the greatest jobs ever if the bosses weren’t such scumbags.)
In my 20s my friend and I visited the Museum of Television and Radio during their big Jim Henson installation; there they gave demonstrations on building puppets and even had a work station to make one to take home; nothing fancy, just some pipe cleaners and googly eyes. We had a blast! Then in 2005 I was turned n to the Brooklyn Puppet Library – you could actually borrow a puppet and return it two weeks later. I borrowed a dragon marionette and was noticed by the librarian Theresa Linnihan. She invited me to participate in a production of “In the Matter of Moby Dick” at Lincoln Center. Puppets. Lincoln Center. Paid! She also recommended me to Vit Horejs, Executive Director of the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre who was looking to cast another player in a show called “The Bass Saxophone“. Pan Horejs (pan is Czech for Master), as I have called him many times, has become somewhat of a puppetry mentor to me. It is not hyperbole to say that my first encounter with Theresa was a defining moment in my life.
CAMT has been in rehearsals for another new work by Vit called “Mr. M.” and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the cast. The show opens on April 14, 2011 and stars my good friend Ronny Wasserstrom as the title character with Theresa Linnihan, Vit Horejs, Michelle Beshaw, and Deborah Beshaw rounding out the ensemble.
Variety is the Spice of Life
Jan 9 was the first in a weekly installment at the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village; a variety show that I co-host with my hetero-life-partner (aka creative collaborator) Susan Campanaro.
The Susie Campanaro Variety Hour is Sonny and Cher Does Coney Island. With a mix of duets, burlesque, side-show attractions, clowns, musical guests, and a bit of The Gong Show, we are bringing back true variety by featuring acts of all types unlike a lot of the current “variety shows” in NYC which are mostly neo-burlesque (not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with a good striptease, though I hear Cher and Christina Aguilera wouldn’t know anything about that!).
The show has an open-ended run on Sunday nights (don’t worry, we’re taking off for the Superbowl; J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!) starting at 8pm. Tickets are just $5 at the door and every week is a new show with new featured acts.
Autism Speaks, Chicks Get Naked
From the Facebook page:
Lavinia Draper (my good friend Susan Campanaro) is hosting a benefit Burlesque show with partial proceeds going to the Scott Weingard Memorial Foundation for the charity Autism Speaks.
Lavinia recently hosted a Burlesque show in Philly and wanted to share the talent with NYC…we have some hot girs here folks!!!!! But of course some other exciting NYC talent is ready to perform as well. it should be a great show…lots of fun for a good cause…Pre Thanksgiving Down and Out Who-Ha Party
Friday, November 12 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm
The Stonewall Inn
53 Christopher Street (in Greenwich Village)
From elsewhere:
$20 cover(or as generous as you want)—no drink minimum
Performances by Burlesque beauties…..Miss Rose, Philly Carmel, Minnie Tonka & Miss M
The Legendary Pot Roast
Disco Diva Dorothy Bishop
Nightlife Icon Kenny Holcomb
Brandon Cutrell
Tammy the Tornado
Curly Karen & Janine Molinari
Carolyn J Scott
Little Shop of Rocky Horrors
Tonight at The Duplex, Darius Frowner will be playing an evening of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horror songs. It’s gonna be better than GLEE. I’ll be showing up to sing Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul) as Pot Roast and maybe since I’ll already being wearing leather I can convince Darius to let me sing Dentist from Little Shop.
Air Guitar / America Hurrah
So, I didn’t post to promote the Category Sixx half-time performance at the Brooklyn Air Sex Championship because there are no words that can prepare one for the STDs (that’s Shreddy Transmitted Diseases) they will get at such a show. Condoms were passed out to the crowd during our set, but like the faces of the audience, they melted instantaneously. Video to come as soon as Larry Lonkero sifts though the charred debris that once was his camera.
And now for something completely different: America Hurrah and The Mother’s Return opens Friday night at La MaMa ETC.
This show has been a challenge to put up. With only three months and a budget tighter than Cameron Fry’s buttocks, we are finally arriving at the destination point. I’m stressed just thinking about this production. I have many thoughts on the experiences leading up till now, many which are not appropriate at this time; some members of the cast have worked very hard to raise money, to stick by an artistic director who like Odysseus has tied himself to the wheel and steered his ship through tumultuous seas plagued by Sirens and other dangers. I will be seeing the final dress on Friday before the show’s 10pm curtain, but I am positive that it will be an interesting reflection on absurdist theatre contained in a dialogue that examines the current state of the union. If you’re a member of Actor’s Equity the performances are under a showcase code, so admission is free to you, but even so I think it may quite be worth the $18 ticket. Fans of America Hurrah on Facebook can get a discount.
This Week: NYTVF
It’s been longer than I expected since my last blog, but I’ve been swamped with work. An agent has taken interest in me and sent me out the very next morning (though I need to get new head shots); I’m “producing” (on paper I’m not allowed to say I’m producing the show, the theatre gets the official credit while I do a lot of leg work) a new work by Jean-Claude van Italie; and “Wunderkrafthaus” is being screened as a finalist in the New York Television Festival.
There’s a lot going on at the festival this year to not only showcase our work, but also to get noticed by network types. I can mention much yet, but the show is getting a lot of good feedback already, and people are taking interest in it. What people? Interested how? We’ll all just have to wait and see.
Reserve your tickets and come see our screenings!
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Wed, Sep 22, 6:45PM Tribeca Cinemas Theater 2 Thu, Sep 23, 10:00PM Tribeca Cinemas Theater 1 |