You will love this film, and I am very proud of my work in it.
http://www.bluetoothvirgin.com
See you all soon!
Love,
Karen
"the action climaxes with a virtuoso cameo appearance by the great Karen Black as a wily and wise script consultant." - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Karen Black's part is MUST SEE!!" - SIFF Reviews by Zhen Wang
My one woman show at the METROPOLITAN ROOM in NYC is THIS SATURDAY, July 26th. at 7:30 in the evening (one night only).
(Betw. 5th & 6th Ave.) Tel: 212 206 0440
Then, the FOLLOWING SATURDAY - August 2nd, I am performing a reading of my new and improved play "Mama at Midnight" at La Mama Theater. After directing the first reading of the play at the Zephyr in Los Angeles a few months ago, the great playwright Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond - for which he also won the Oscar) is now helping me rewrite the play and will be directing this reading as well.
TICKETS ARE FREE FOR THIS READING.
Call the La MaMa box office, 212 475 7710. Summer Hours, Tue-Thurs, Noon-4pm. Or just show up, we'll make room.
LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATER CLUB - 74 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 212 475 7710
Hope to see you there!
Love,
Karen
TWO SHOWS COMING UP IN NEW YORK!
FIRST - I am doing my one woman show at the METROPOLITAN ROOM in NYC on the 26th of this month - July. at 7:30 in the evening (one night only) I did this show last fall in DC, got great reviews like this one:
The Metropolitan Room 34 West 22nd St nyc, NY 10010
(Betw. 5th & 6th Ave.) Tel: 212 206 0440
SECOND - I am performing the next reading of my new play "Mama at Midnight" at La Mama Theater (talk about an approriate name) August 2nd. After directing the first reading of the play at the Zephyr in Los Angeles a few months ago, the great Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond - for which he also won the Oscar) is now helping me rewrite the play and will be directing this reading as well. There are some great reviews on my blog: http://karenblackactress.blogspot.com/
For Box office, click here: http://www.lamama.org/
LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATER CLUB - 74 E 4th St New York, NY 10003 (212) 475 7710
-----------------------------------
Hope to see you there!
Love,
Karen
I want to remark upon the raging success of Ernest Thompson's directorial genius and in the presentation of the play, "Mama at Midnight" at the beautiful Zephyr Theater on March 17th, this last month.
First of all we were all surprised to find that unusual for a reading - every seat in the house was filled.
Second of all, the next day or so, I received comments that I would like to share:
"What I liked was that the play is so real and at the same time, so poetic." Juliette Lewis, Actor, Rock Star
"Once again, an unforgettable piece of theatre, both eloquent, touching, evocative and compelling. The ferocious intensity and honesty you impart to your writing goes right to the heart of every gesture, every word and (as you could see last night) to the heart of the audience.
I loved the "memory" quality of so much of it - the sense that this was a moment in time, with some recollections extended and other brief, like the flash of a photo." Richard Tanner: screenwriter, playwright, performance story teller
"By your use of detail, the minute details of placing something just here and just so, and on and on, and all of the repetition it had, it created this different time sense that occurs when one is caretaker of another-
So your play, even in the short amount of "regular time" that transpired, had this great sense of l-e-n-g-t-h of time, of how days and nights are seamless and almost collapse together or stretch so far apart that they seem never to meet."
Bettie Ross Blumer, Composer of Symphonies and Piano concertos (many C/Ds)"This unflinching honest and unsentimental portrait of an older woman [Mama] was a brave and deeply loving nod to the historic female characters that have been all but wiped off the modern stage and screen." Kamala-Lopez- Marshall, Award winning Documentary Film Maker, Actor, Director
"The details of the aging process is painfully obvious, but to delve into how it affects the children is the drama at hand. I loved when you let you mind reel in the Tennessee Williams-esque illusionist metaphors. When you let your emotions fly, it is truly beautiful." Azalia Snail, screenwriter, Film Director, Music Video Director
ACTUALLY, MANY MORE MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE SPOKE, AS WELL, AND I LEARNED A LOT FROM THEM!
ALSO!
I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO A SECOND READING AT THE BEAUTIFUL ZEPHYR THEATER, 4758 Melrose Ave. L.A. TO THE PLAY:
"MOSES SUPPOSES"
THURSDAY, MAY FIRST
AT 8:00PM
This is an hilarious comedy, just so funny! And my character is amazing; I love playing her. I hope you will come to see this "how families just don't relate" scream of a show.
Written by Ellen Melaver, recipient of the Juliard playwriting fellowship and whose latest play will be playing at the prestigious Williamstown theatre Festival.
Directed by Lee Sankowich, the man who pulled "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" from the oblivion it was sinking into and put it onstage for all to see and wonder at. And at which to wonder. All wondered at which. Oh, maybe the grammarians are just stupid. His latest effort, The Last Schwartz has been playing at the Zephyr for a record seven months!
THIS READING IS COMING RIGHT UP, THIS THURSDAY!
See you there,
Karen
OH MY GOD!
WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THIS MARVELOUS SMALL PLAY!
"MAMA AT MIDNIGHT"
IS NOW BEING DIRECTED B Y NONE OTHER THAN
ERNEST THOMPSON ( "ON GOLDENPOND")
THE PART OF THE NARRATOR IS PLAYED BY NONE OTHER THAN
JUDD NELSON
MY MOM IS PLAYED BY A BRIILLIANT ACTRESS WAAAAAAY TOO YOUNG:
SALLY KIRKLAND
BE THERE!
8 PM
THE ZEPHYR THEATRE
7546 MELROSE AVE.
BETWEEN IVAR AND GARDINER
MONDAY EVE, MARCH 17th
(afterwards we'll celebrate those the world CANNOT live without:
the Irish)
THERE IS A READING OF MY NEW PLAY,
"MAMA AT MIDNIGHT"
AT THE STUNNING ZEPHYR THEATER
ON MONDAY EVENING, THE 17TH OF MARCH
AT 8:00 PM
This play was written as it happened, in an emotional and difficult time for my mother and myself.
Eventually, I simply started writing down everything she said and everything I said, because life is so odd that it is possible to just nor remember or to miss the unusual specificness of it as it transpires.
And that is why I am so proud of this play and want so for you to come and see it: it is a reality play, it happened.
STARRING KAREN BLACK AND LELIA GOLDONI
IN A READING DIRECTED BY
LEE SANKOWICH
ZEPHYR THEATER
8:00PM, MONDAY THE 17TH OF MARCH
This is a free performance. Not a fund raiser. Just show up.
Zephyr Theatre
Hollywood Area
7456 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Between Vista and Gardner
(323) 852 9111
My short film, "HELP", co-directed with Jeffrey Weaver, will be shown at Sundance this year on Friday, January 25th, between 2-3pm
At KRISTAUF'S MARTINI BAR!!!
-Shot in one long 20 minute take with no edits whatever(no retakes either), part acting and part reality, I must actually beg on the streets for money to be able to get on a downtown subway to meet my biological mother or it will be too late and she will leave the other space where she awaits me. In real time as well: when I ask people on the street for the time, it is the actual established count down to make it to see Mom!
For all of you who are going to be in Park City That week, I would love to see you there.
KRISTAUF'S MARTINI BAR
825 South Main Street
Park City UT 84060
Friday, January 25th, between 2-3pm
I recently premiered my new one woman show in Washington DC, which is relatively simple and comfortable, yet looney--just talking about my odd life and some of the people I've known.
And it was pretty scary, but in the end I was amazed at the response: I received 3 standing ovations and almost couldn't stand there and accept that much acknowledgment!
Here's what some members of the audience said. The show is called:
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song.
"From A gifted actress and songstress, Ms. Black showcases these talents in a show rife with humor, confessions, impersonations and beautifully enacted musical numbers…encompassing styles from opera to country to…well…David Bowie!
Peppered with humorous anecdotes about Hollywood's most influential artists (Jack Nicholson, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, etc), Ms. Black's stories never feel like gratuitous name-dropping, but rather paint illuminating sketches of her enduring film career.
Ms. Black's devastating rendition of Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns," allows the audience to simultaneously reflect on the ironies and disappointments of Ms. Black's chanteuse." - Rick Hammerly – filmmaker
"In her solo-show How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song, 70s screen superstar Karen Black hopscotches through her unique and ultimately enduring career. Hitting highs and a few lows, Black, still sexy and kookily captivating at a certain age, keeps it breezy and fun as she recounts her Park Ridge, Illinois girlhood as an ambitious toothpick in a world of 1950's bullet bras. It's there that her novelist mother after learning that her daughter wanted to sing show tunes sent her, oddly enough, to an opera coach.
Having clearing captured the audience in her charmingly quirky spell, Black moves on to her tenement days as a young actress in New York City where a combination of chutzpah, hard work, and talent garnered her heady success; and then it's on to her fortuitous rise to stardom in hippie-era Hollywood. Black gives the skinny on the making of some of her best-known films: Five Easy Pieces (blissful), The Day of the Locust (never again) and Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (emotionally tough).
But Black saves the pathos for the songs she memorably makes her own throughout the show- be it Goodnight Irene, Me and Bobby McGee, Sondheim's Send in the Clowns or Bowie's Time, the intelligent actress with a surprisingly strong voice is beyond committed to each number.
Whether rehashing her past or interpreting musical faves, Black is a first-rate, astonishingly accessible storyteller whose show makes for a marvelous, inspiring evening. - Patrick Folliard of The Washington Blade
"A true living Hollywood legend, Karen Black's tales of Broadway and Hollywood are both hysterical and absolutely fascinating. Having worked with some of the most influential filmmakers of all time--Hopper,
Altman, Hitchcock--on some of the most important and infamous movies of all time- Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Nashville, Airport '75, and yes...Trilogy of Terror - Karen Black is someone to be celebrated. And in her one-woman show, she reveals her soul through personal stories, original songs and unique covers by the Beatles, David Bowie, and Sondheim. I left the show admiring her and wondering how she does it all. She is an inspiration to artists and anyone who understands the value of hard work and giving 110% of yourself in all your endeavors." - Michael Baron - Associate Director Signature Theatre.
"I still have very influential people in the theatre community of DC, and coming up to me and saying "Thank you for one of the most perfect theatrical experiences I have had in years!". Karen is pure joy to work with and her show exceeded any grand expectation I could ever have hoped for! This is a perfect show. Small, self contained...definitely a one woman show equivalent to any of the other retrospective shows out there." -Jeffrey Johnson Artistic Director ganymede arts
Black was especially giddy when interpreting the voice of Maddin's onscreen mother as a nagging cacophony of guilt trips and hysterical moans. She's one of a series of live narrators on the film's traveling road show; others have included Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Crispin Glover.
Black, 62, has earned a reputation as the hardest-working woman in show business; she made seven movies in 2003 and five this year; she's jetting from Portland to Washington, D.C. for a one-woman show. Her refusal to slow down has garnered her some disparate cult fan bases: She's approached by Altman fans and horror aficionados, the latter thanks to her turns in fare like "Trilogy of Terror" and "House of 1000 Corpses."
I'm off to Seattle in a couple of days to narrate director Guy Maddin's Cannes Film Festival Award winning SILENT FILM,
Brand upon the Brain!
This is such an interesting event from the imagination of a man who's won the U.s. National Film Critics award TWICE for best U.S. experimental film of the year: the event is the showing of his silent film supported by myself, a live orchestra and sound effects created right there on stage!
I'm following in the footsteps of others who've narrated for Mr. Maddin, such as Isabella Rossellini, Geraldine Chaplin, and Alanis Morissette.
http://www.branduponthebrain.com/
Then I fly to Washington D.C for An Evening with Karen Black wherein I speak about my life and sing a few songs for the Ganymede Theatre Festival taking place there! That's October 19th.
- COMING UP -
Dorsay Alavi, the David Lynch prodigy, has turned her comedy television pilot into a movie and her troupe of actors- including moi- will be improvising Better People, A Curb Your Enthusiasm style comedy about a group of people who've won the right to 'become better people' by enlisting in all kinds of therapy, the grand mixture of which is supposed to somehow, help!
Cam Archer's new film Pull, with Rickie Lee Jones!
Jonathan Caouette's next film (untitled), that brilliant young director who was nominated for a Spirit Award, Best Director, in 2005!
This coming April and May I'll be doing legendary playwright Ernest Thompson's play, Ax of Love, in Boston. Mr. Thompson wrote, On Golden Pond, and we are looking forward to a possible early fall Off-Broadway opening.
COMING OUT-
Come one come all and see director David Siqueiros' new film One Long Night showing at the L. A. Latino Film Festival, co-starring with John Seda, Alison Eastwood and Ed Begley, Jr.
At the Arclight Cinema 13 at 7:30 pm on Oct 13th.
Calle the Arclight box office for tickets.
Also a lovely documentary with Alan Cummings and Debra Winger for the gifted and very young director Jennifer Elster (Particles of Truth).
Henry J's latest film Irene in Time with the splendiferous Tanna Frederick coming out early next year, and
- finally a great small film by Russell Brown, The Blue-Tooth Virgin, coming out, again, early next year. Russell is a real find; his last film, Race to the Bottom, received an amazing rave review from Kevin Thomas!~
That's not all there is, but that's all for now.
Love and good wishes,
Karen
..After Brand Upon the Brain! I am flying directly from West Coast to East -Portland Oregon to Washington DC, where I am performing live the World Premiere of my new one woman show "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Sing the Song".
That's on Friday, October 19th. It's for a great cause, raising money for Ganymed Arts, a GLBT Arts festival. I look forward to seeing you there!
http://www.ganymedearts.org/
Next week I am performing two shows of Guy Maddin's BRAND UPON THE BRAIN.
Guy made an amazing silent film that is then projected on the screen with music from a live orchestra, sound effects by a sound effects crew and a narrator, in this case, me!
I will be in Seattle on Wednesday the 10th, and in Portland, Oregon on (correction!) Saturday the 13th.
For more information, go to
http://www.branduponthebrain.com/
or visit the myspace page,
http://www.myspace.com/branduponthebrain
Hope to see you there!
Karen
I'm remembering Dudley Moore, certainly one of the best film comedians of all time, when he said, "I took the money. I'm not crazy." which turned around the ending of that film: "Arthur". We remember that moment and remember Dudley in that moment. Now he's gone. That moment remains.
But there's more to be said here: what Dudley brought to the playing of that line was years of comic timing practice doing "Beyond the Fringe" in his New York days, his own skill as an actor earned through more years of practice, also a born-in talent for comedy. So much was drawn from
to create the utterance of that line!
Remember when Vivien Leigh said, in "Gone With the Wind", "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"? We can't forget her there, kneeling in the dirt, clutching some shabby vegetation in her fist. Later, in the hands of the psychiatrists at that tine, her tuberculosis was treated as a mental illness and she received shock treatment for no reason and her life started to fall apart at that point I'm assuming. But in her past, it was her incredibly hard work – she used to ask Selznick if she could stay and shoot more scenes and this was after a twelve hour work day - her gift for affecting the viewer, her skillful grasp of character, and her ability to bring up from within herself the need, the longing, the sense of stark decision that gave the saying of that line what it took to have it resound throughout cinematic history.
When an actor is acting – it's life or death- get it right! Perform each moment as if that is the only moment in the history of your short life.
Well, it is.
There are hours that it takes to paint a painting and then there it is – the hours that it takes to write something and there it is. But for the actor? No. He's right: his legend, his legacy is only gained if and when he can bring himself completely to the tiniest flicker of time -. Strangely, that's all he has, all an actor will ever have to carve his name into the annals of history.
Appearing: Harriet Schock, Karen Black, J. Scott Bergman, Dudley Saunders, instrumentalist Bryan Tysinger, Tom & Byron, and Kevin Montgomery.
