Category: mankind’s last hope

A week or two ago I took a crack at jotting down a few lessons learned from the MLH experience. Here are four more before it all fades into sandy dream fragments……
1. There are life-enhancing creative outcomes short of Hollywood-style success
Several years back I ended a lengthy writer’s block by figuring out that there were plenty of worthwhile things you could write that weren’t novels. Like screenplays, for example. And poems. And ditties.
This time around I learned that there are plenty of lovely things you can do with a screenplay short of getting it a slot next to 30 Rock. Not that I wouldn’t love a slot next to 30 Rock if you happen to know Tina Fey. She’s so funny.
2. Sugar can be chemically transformed into giggles
One of the shows was a little rough, in part because the theater was particularly warm. The next day I was talking with a Hollywood-style writer about the heat. He told me there’s a rule of thumb in sitcom-land that they keep the theaters at 60 or somesuch. He also said they hand out lots of cookies before the show. So we brought donut holes that night, opened the windows for the whole show and: hey presto — slightly overweight humans laughing! (Actually our audiences were remarkably fit. Disturbingly fit. It was weird.)
3. Ti-ming? Time-ing? Timing
One of the most interesting things for me and co-writer Jeff was seeing lines that we didn’t think were especially funny get some of the best responses. “Spencer” in particular had this one line: “That is disturbing on so many levels” — huge roar every night. Even when the house was too hot and there tweren’t a cookie in sight. It’s not a bad line. Not a great line. But really, the line didn’t matter. It was all about the timing. He was on the beat, like a point guard feeding the power forward a pass that’s right on the bounce. Slam dunk.
4. The audience needs to be in on the joke
The night before we opened we had a preview show for a select few. The cast did great but the response was low-key. We talked about it afterwards and concluded that the problem was that we hadn’t told our remarkably fit audience what to expect and how we wanted them to behave. The next night, director Bob stormed the stage with a rousing monologue that set the show up. told people where the commercials were going to play, where we’d roll credits. He told them we wanted them to laugh loud. To boo the bad guys. And it made all the difference. It seems obvious now, but it’s easy to forget: If you’re asking people to laugh, you gotta bring them along for the ride.

Well, it was a pretty great experience watching the live version of Mankind’s Last Hope come together under the expert direction of Bob Lundy-Paine. Long journey too. I thought, before things fade too much, I’d take a few minutes to jot down some of the things we learned along the way. But first, for anyone not familiar with the tale, here’s a sketch of the trek:
Flashback
Jeff and I started writing the script something like four years ago and came up with two episodes. We did a table read with friends, which was a blast, and then we put those scripts aside. Some six months later we saw a contest to write a new sitcom. We jumped at it, wrote a pilot, did another reading, sent the pilot in, didn’t win, took another break.
Then about two years ago, I met director Bob at a Blacksmith Cellars wine tasting. He and his wife Laura were two of the co-founders for a theater company called Virago. We ended up talking about Virago and an idea Jeff and I had, that it’d be great to stage a sitcom live. Fun chat. Then we drank more wine.

(more…)

Just got word — so now we’re sold out for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Which means 5 out of the 6 shows (all but last Sunday’s matinee) will be packed to the rafters.
Crazy! Thanks to everyone who’s coming out. We really appreciate it and hope ya have a great time.
And look: no link/plug to buy! Unbelievable!
-Cecil

So first Saturday, and now Friday are sold out in advance for our much plugged post-apocalyptic workplace situation comedy: Mankind’s Last Hope. That leaves one last show open — if you’re looking to go and don’t have tix, be sure to reserve your seats for the Sunday matinee asap….
This is our collective happening and it freaks us out.
-Cecil

Hi,
Happy to report, we’re sold out in advance for Saturday night. We’ve got seats still available for Friday (with actors/director/writers) and the Sunday matinee, so come on down. If you’re driving over from out of town, be sure to reserve your seats.
Also, here’s that “hilarious romp” review. If you ever run into this writer on the street, please make way. Great man coming through.

So, last night was the big opening. And it was a swell time indeed. A hilarious romp even. Fantastic audience (full house!) with Bob Lundy-Paine as our MC. And the whole cast and crew were just completely on their game. Blew me away.
To see the look in my daughter’s eyes (she’s grown up with these characters)…. Happy happy happy.
And tonight, we do it all over again. (8 pm — all the details here.)
A few photos to mark the event, courtesy of ace producer Tracey Rhys:

Volcanic Burt (Tony Jonick)

Alex, the feral monkey (Chloe Bronzan)

Dimwitted Hank in an emotional moment (Kenneth Sears)

Tonight’s the big night — opening night for Mankind’s Last Hope out here in Alameda-land. We got our first review yesterday. And I’m not kidding you or making this up when I say that the Alameda Sun called us “A Hilarious Romp.”
Oh, how I love the Alameda Sun. They say it’s written by the hand of God but I don’t believe that. I just think it’s divinely inspired.
Wish us luck as we launch.
-Cecil

If you’ve visited this site over the last few weeks, you may have gathered that we’re putting on a show (starts this Friday, 10/26, tickets available now).
This experience — seeing a script me and my pal Jeff Green co-wrote turned into an actual production due to the work of something like 30 people, with cast, makeup, sets, designs, props, music, lighting…. it’s been full of fun surprises.
The latest treat came yesterday, when several members of the cast released a video showing each of their characters during the actual alien invasion. Jeff and I had nothing to do with these videos. They’re grim and they’re quirky. More Blair Witch Project than Laverne and Shirley. And we love ’em.
How neat is it to see characters you’ve created come to live and start sprouting original youtube content all their own? A couple of the characters/actors even gave themselves last names. Last names? We had no last names. And now here I am, really enjoying the fact that suddenly a few of our characters have last names.

Perhaps I’ve already mentioned that my pal Jeff Green and I co-wrote a post-apocalyptic workplace comedy called Mankind’s Last Hope that’s being staged and filmed in the SF East Bay (by Virago Theatre Group) starting a week from Friday — October 26 (with tickets available now)?
When Jeff and I handed the script over, I told the director (Robert Lundy-Paine) that I was hoping to try and stay out of his/their way — I wanted to let them take it from there.
(1) I’d recently started a new job and knew I wouldn’t have much time to help, much less meddle, (2) I really trust the director and Virago, and (3) as a bunch of us saw with the Monkey Vortex experience, there’s just something really really really fun and interesting about giving people the freedom to take something you started and make it their own.
Everything about the process so far has really proven that point out. As previously blogged, the director got sometimes Stryper keyboardist Brent Jeffers to produce a beautiful theme song for us. He brought in a choreographer and they collectively reworked a smallish song in the second act into a potentially show-stopping musical number. A great graphic artist pulled together a beautiful poster (see below). Every cast member has added something lovely to their character that I hadn’t anticipated. One of them even created a rockin’ mini-movie providing a suspenseful slice of backstory for the oft-befuddled “Hank.” (also also see below) And there’s so much I haven’t even seen yet — the sound/lighting set up, the set, the costumes and makeup, the way they’re going film the show with 3 (three!) cameras.
And that’s why I’m here to say: I heart creative collaboration.
Something like 30 people have been working away, and I’m really excited to see the results. So let me exhort you to come on out. There — I exhort you!
(As an added bonus, if you know me well enough for us to engage in financial transactions, drop me an email so I can tell you how I can get you 2 (two!) bucks off the already low regular ticket price of $17….)
-Cecil
The beautiful poster:

A suspenseful backstory movie for (and by) the oft-befuddled Hank:

Some of you already know that my pal Jeff Green and I co-wrote a post-apocalyptic workplace situation comedy called “Mankind’s Last Hope,” and that this sitcom is being staged in the SF Bay Area for two weekends starting October 26th. You may even know that tickets are literally on sale now. And that we’ll be filming this once-in-a-lifetime theater event before a live studio audience.
But what I seriously doubt that you know is that director Robert Lundy-Paine commissioned a theme song from his old pal, sometimes Stryper keyboardist Brent Jeffers, and this theme song is making its world debut right here on CecilVortex.com.
But OK. Fine. I’ll stipulate that you knew that. Whatever.
Still, I’m pretty much certain you’ll be surprised to learn that said MLH theme song is arguably the greatest ear-related sensory experience in human history. And yet! That’s exactly what it arguably is!
So please, turn that dial on your speakers to the right. You may start rocking out….now.
time: 1:03 seconds; specs: 988K
Press Play to play.