New Welles-related play, and a sequel no les

[darklytr]

Hi all. As some of you may remember, a couple of years ago, I wrote and directed "Orson Welles Sells His Soul to the Devil," a short film set in 1938, concerning, well, what the title says. After a break of a few years, I find myself drawn back to this story, and am about to stage a followup play. MERCURY WONDER SHOW will have its workshop debut this weekend in Los Angeles, and if any of you are in the area, I would love to invite you to see it. Details below:

MERCURY WONDER SHOW
part of DIME, a directing series of 10-minute plays

When: Sept. 19 & 20, 8PM. Sept 21, 4PM
Where: Cell2, 3301 Beverly Blvd, Silverlake, CA
Cost: $10
RSVP: 310.395.9665.


This play is set in 1943 Hollywood, during Welles' tent magic show. It is the seed of what will become the second act of a full-length play which I will be working on over the next year.

Hope you can make it.

Thanks,

Jay Bushman

[Gus Moreno]

I've heard of your short film before and it sounds very interesting. Where can one get a copy of it? Is it commercially available? Can it be downloaded?

[darklytr]

Thanks for the inquiry. The film is not currently available commerically, but I have a low-res encoded version on my website at http://www.jaybushman.com/mt/archives/000037.html

Hope you enjoy it.

[Gus Moreno]

Thanks for the link. A fascinating and provocative little film, and that's a good Welles impersonator you've got. Makes me eager to see the next installment if and when you get a chance to put it online or release it commercially. Where did you get the idea for it? Didn't Welles accuse his grandmother of being a practicing Satanist?

[71-1045893605]

Release it commercially? That's a good one. Kudos for any Welles fan to pay homage to OW, whether it's a play, short film or even a thesis. But to expect anything commercial to come out an unknown, little Welles project is a tad unrealistic, bordering on delusional. Maybe if Kelsey Grammer or Kenneth Branaugh appeared in a Welles-related project would there be any possibility of a commercial release. I hope we Welles fans can keep things in perspective.

GA

[Jeff Wilson]

Considering that StageDirect released The Magnificent Welles minus big money and big stars, its hardly impossible or delusional, is it?

[darklytr]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. The second installment was a short, ten minute stage piece that hasn't been filmed. It was a test run for some ideas for the larger play I'm working on - a story of Welles life as if he had made that deal with the devil. I'm currently plowing my way through the research for Act 3, which will be centered around "Moby Dick - Rehearsed"

There are no plans at this point to release the short film commercially, although we did have an internet distributon deal fro a while. Unfortunately, the site was bought out.

I'll pass your kind praise on to Kevin Keaveney, the actor who played Welles. The day he walked into my audition was one of the most fortunate days of my life.

[71-1045893605]

I, too, picked up the Magnificent Welles. Can you say, "amateur hour"? It's god-awful, inaccurate and boring. Stage Direct isn't exactly Anchor Bay are they? A small distribution company putting out a terrible one-man-show about Welles doesn't mean it's been released commercially. It means, "a small distribution company put out a little-known hack job to capitalize on the Welles name". That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less.

GA

[Jeff Wilson]

Selling a product, regardless of quality or the size of the company making it, means its commercial. StageDirect is a business, and they exist to make money, whether you like it not.

[Wellesnet]

For those that want to check it out, Jay Bushman's "Orson Welles Sells His Soul to the Devil" is now on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/8186555