Dec 15, 2010

I'm on BartonBooth.com


I am a contributor to BartonBooth.com, a new online collection of theatre writing ephemera.

My piece is from a play I abandoned years ago. The play was called RED PAJAMA BLUES and the monologue is by a character named Betsy who has some real issues with Disney.

Check it out here.

Nov 28, 2010

Tracking Peter Brook


In his quest to see a production by the legendary theater artist, Dallas director and actor Brad McEntire goes Down Under.

published Sunday, June 27, 2010

"Peter Brook is retiring!? Noooooooooooo!"

That was my first response last fall when I found out international uber-director, and one of my personal heroes, Peter Brook, would be handing over the reins of his beloved Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and stepping down as Artistic Director this year. He is 85 years old.
This means that, after 2010, there will not be any more Peter Brook productions. Time's up.
So, in the glorious way theater works―you either experience it in real time or you miss out―the clock was ticking. Theater is transitory, after all. To be very blunt, if I wanted to see a Peter Brook production during my lifetime (and certainly before he passes on), it had to happen this year.

Thus, I began a spirited Internet search for what was playing, where and when. Since he works in multiple languages, the hunt took on a nice element of challenge. Google Translate and I got to know each other really well.

The search lead me to an English-speaking country, but on the other side of the world. l was headed to Australia.

Why Peter Brook?

In a nutshell, here's who Peter Brook is in the world of theater.
As a young man straight out of Oxford, ­Brook made his name as a master of eye-popping ­spectacle. As a young man he burned through the Royal Shakespeare Company, the West End and Broadway in a fever of ­invention, exhausting the possibilities of ­conventional theater before ­disappearing into the desert with a band of actors, including a young Helen Mirren.

Peter Brook [credit - Douglas Jeffrey]

Brook suddenly stripped stages bare and let audiences' imaginations do the work for them. In productions like Marat/Sade and The Ik, he pared theater back to the human body itself; then, with poet Ted Hughes' Orghast, Brook went one step further by dispensing with words entirely in the search for a universal language of grunts, cries and sighs. Brook seemed to continually be searching for the shock of the simple, resurrecting the use of masks, mime and puppets from traditional ritual and performance, to show how little is needed to transport audiences.

Yet here's the thing: His ideas, once so revolutionary, have now been so absorbed by the mainstream they have become obvious, even banal. It is easy to forget that Brook was the most titanic trailblazer of 20th-century theater. We all have adopted his discoveries so thoroughly into our own processes that he seems infinitely old hat. In fact, I’m no longer amazed when I meet young theater artists who don’t even know who he is. No one remembers the name of the person who showed us all which side of the street we should drive on either.

Brook began to slip into exile in the late 1960s, shortly after writing The Empty Space, whose opening lines became the commandments on which modern theater was built: "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theater to be engaged."

For three years, he tested his theories and the limits of his actors in every small African village they threw their carpet down in. He worked and reworked his own adaptation of the Persian epic The ­Conference of the Birds, travelling from the Sahara to the Niger Delta and then to India, Afghanistan and Iran, seemingly oblivious to the threats of dysentery and defection. The ­results of these ­experiments changed theater and made Brook the father of the fringe.

Since the early 1970s he has lead The International Centre for Theater Creation (nicknamed the C.I.R.T. after the French translation of its initials: Centre International de Recherché Théâtrale) in a renovated music hall behind the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. Brook outlined his theater as more research than production, and used collaborators who were highly experienced artists from all over the globe. His main line of questioning was not how all these disciplines from around the world differ (he had Japanese Kabuki actors, French high-style classical actors, actors steeped in African ritual, American Method actors and English Shakespearean actors all together), but how is theater the same between everyone? Under all the styles and traditions, what connects performers and audiences?

But what’s that to you?

The description above cannot convey why he is so important to me. His writings and explorations―heck, the journey of his life―are filled with wonderful qualities that most artists, myself included, should use in examining one’s process.
First, Peter Brook’s theater is about storytelling. Period.

Secondly, he believes in the straightforward maxim: keep it simple. In fact, his "poor theater" aesthetic with mostly bare stages, where the actors simply tell stories in an impossibly clear and precise way, is about as non-glitzy and no-frills as it gets. There is a purity in his work that is rarely found elsewhere.

Thirdly, he has a deep respect for the audience, who are more than just passive watchers and listeners. In Brook's concept of theater, the audience is essential; without it, nothing happens. “The relationship between the actor and the audience is the only theater reality," he once told an interviewer. This idea puts Brook at odds with the traditional views of big-gun directors like Stanislavski, who seem to view the audience as, at best, incidental to their productions. (Brook admits he has “barely read” Stanislavski).

I've heard a story about Brook talking to a friend of his, as they were backstage right before the last performance of a Brook productions, at a Sunday matinee. The show had run for nearly a year. Brook was gently giving actors notes before the curtain. The friend asked him why he was giving notes before the very last show. Brook replied: “No audience should be deprived a potential improvement.”

Another refreshing thing about Brook is that he defines himself as a "searcher" rather than a guru, laying down a set doctrine to his followers. He will not be pinned down. He does his own thing. Always. For him, theater is a handy tool for expressing, not a delicate, sacred thing. His ideas continue to fascinate me, though he is the least didactic and preachy of artists. "The reverence with which Peter Brook is regarded can seem suffocating," writes Henry Hitchings in the London Evening Standard. "And no one is more aware of this than Brook himself, whose intellectual steeliness is matched by a disdain for those who label him a guru."

In fact, of all the lessons I take from Brook is that a true artist should do his own thing. Always. He has succeeded in following his own search for truth—his own truth—for years, even when, in some cases, it has made him incredibly unpopular or unfashionable.
When he left London for Paris, he took flack from commentators in his own homeland. For all the praise the English heap upon Brook, they tend to write with a note of incredulity that so talented an artist could possibly have chosen to live in a different capital city. Brook's motivations were pragmatic—the French were prepared to subsidize him to work in the slow, longterm way he wanted, the British were not. His move has served as a permanent challenge to the London-centric worldview.

Why Sydney?

Brook has two pieces still on tour around the globe. One is called Warum Warum, a mash-up of acting theories that was playing at his home theater in Paris this month. It was in German with French subtitles, neither of which would have been remotely helpful to me.
The other play Brook directed premiered last year, but was still on tour with two more stops. It's called Eleven and Twelve. It had stops at the Sydney Theatre Company in Australia in June and in Macau in July. Well, I’ve already been to Macau. Sydney it was. But could I afford it?

Fortunately, it is winter in Australia during our northern hemisphere summer. It’s cheaper than flying to tourist high-season Europe. Get out of sizzling Texas to a place on the beach with temperatures in the mid-50s for a few weeks? Okay.
So, from June 1 to 11, I was in Sydney, New South Wales. My first time in Australia. When I arrived, I immediately bought my tickets for the June 3 preview at the Sydney Theatre Company.

The Play’s the Thing

Eleven and Twelve sounded like an idiosyncratic Brook production. The story is set in French colonial West Africa in the 1930s. And at its heart lies a bitter doctrinal dispute among the Sufi community about whether a particular prayer should be said 11 or 12 times. It's an argument, stoked by the interventionist French, that leads to fierce tribal divisions and violent bloodshed. And when the spiritual leader, Tierno Bokar, seeks to resolve the issue and bring peace by siding with the oppositional Chérif Hamallah, he finds himself ostracized by his family and followers and left to a lonely death.

It has the trademark carpets and cushions for the actors to sit on around the stage wearing colorful robes and draped costumes. What is seen on stage is a distillation of a particular world, accomplished by pure craftsmanship. It has seven international actors, who would probably switch roles with profound ease.

Sure enough, the play was everything I hoped it would be. Not entertaining in the usual sense, but deep, clear and committed. Brook challenges the audience to stay with him and his uncluttered staging while he maintains a mostly meditative, unhurried pace. The actors are very physical without being showy about it. If the whole production could be described in just one word, it would be “thoughtful.”

So, I was there. I saw Peter Brook’s theater live and in the flesh. I left with a clear understanding of a rather complex story. And that, in the end, is the best testament to Peter Brook and his theater.

Brad McEntire is a playwright, performer and director based in Dallas. He is Artistic Director of Audacity Theatre Lab.



Nov 24, 2010

Staged Readings of Works-In-Progress

Projects by Brad McEntire
On December 13 at 7:30 PM, Audacity Theatre Lab and Nouveau 47 Theatre will present Staged Readings of two works-in-progress by Brad McEntire.


I HAVE ANGERED A GREAT GOD
Robert von Ritchie Ritchie has somehow upset a Great Tiki God with anger-control issues. Robert retraces his steps over the past few days to discover where he ran afoul. It might be easier if he weren't constantly on his cell phone talking with his now ex-girlfriend Martha, who barely made it into Mensa. A brief satire of modern public etiquette. Newly expanded to feature a kick-ass hip hop opening number. 


THE DOLPHINS OF MARS
Roy has been dumped by his girlfriend. She snuck back to Earth on one of the last shuttles and Roy finds himself stuck on Mars. Now, the colonists are rioting and he has just enough time to send one last broadcast home before the bio-dome cracks wide open. 


WHEN: Monday, December 13, 2010 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: At Nouveau 47 Theatre in the historic Magnolia Lounge (Margo Jones Building), Fair Park, 1121 First Ave., Dallas, TX 75210.
COST: $5 suggested donation (includes FTP Comedy Troupe performance after the reading), BYOB.




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Nov 15, 2010

CHOP in New Orleans


My solo show CHOP, about a man who finds his place in the world when he is unexpectedly introduced into a subculture of amputation fetishists, is playing at the...

3rd Annual New Orleans Fringe Festival

Venue: Party World, 3621 St. Claude Avenue (at Independence), New Orleans, LA 70117
Shows: 11/17 9:00 pm, 11/19 7:00 pm, 11/20 11:00 pm

Tickets available here.


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Oct 27, 2010

CHOP (2.0)

Chop Banner NEW and OLD

As November approaches, CHOP (2.0) is underway. Script revamps, new sideshow banners for the set and a re-enlivened performance. Info on the show(s) in Dallas and New Orleans here.

Oct 18, 2010

Ep. 3 of the EYE IN THE SKY PROJECT is online!

In the winter of 2008 Audacity Theatre Lab commissioned playwrights from around the country to respond to a simple phrase:


"For one week in the middle of the summer a giant eye appears in the sky over the city. At the end of seven days it disappears as suddenly as it had originally materialized..."


Audacity recieved submissions from members of 13P, New Dramatists, Austin Script Works, as well as from a host of local writers.


Episode 3 includes pieces by playwrights Jason Tremblay, Crystal Skillman and Ben Walker Sampson. It features Dallas actors Oscar Contreras, Kelly Renee, Bryan Pitts, John Flores and, me, Brad McEntire.


I commissioned, curated and directed this project and I am pleased as punch with this newest episode.


Click on the image above to listen. NOTE: Strong Language. NOT for the workplace.

Oct 10, 2010

Dribble Funk Solo Improv - September 24, 2010


DRIBBLE FUNK SOLO IMPROV - Sept. 2010 from FT Bonnigan on Vimeo.

I have had the opportunity to further develop my solo improv format Dribble Funk this year a number of times. This has been fantastic, because unlike other endeavors, the only real way to genuinely practice is to actually do it, in front of an audience, and then look back on what was done.  The only analogy I can think of is architecture. Architechs can really only "practice" by creating a building, so they don't get to practice as much as say, a violinist.


September 24th I performed at Pocket Sandwich Theatre (special thanks to John Rawley for inviting me out to play) and ended up presenting the most developed Dribble Funk set to date. I say this because the goal of the completely improvised set is to 1.) maintain the high energy needed to drive the piece forward continually to its end point at a break-neck pace, 2.) to present a variety of distinct characters and 3.) tell a clear-cut story that is imaginative, but also as close to fully developed as is possible for an improvised narrative.


Now for the criticism: I repeat myself a little too much (like I'm talking the story out to myself, which... well... I am. This could be done with much more elegance) and the story needed a bit more rounding out (how'd the kid get on the rooftop of the building?), but overall, considering the incredible difficulty and challenge of the format, I'm pleased with the direction it is going. I ground myself more (even though I still kinda amble, the more amped up I get). This set was very monologue-centric, leaning closer to storytelling than my usual activity/action-heavy sets. This storytelling aspect is worth investigating more in the future.

Oct 5, 2010

The Moment I Knew

I'm featured on Andrea Ciannavei's blog The Moment I Knew. I'm on the September 25th post.

Here's what I wrote:

Oh man, the exact moment I knew the Theatre was for me is difficult to nail down. Just thinking of it brings up all these little incidents that sort of Gestalt together to form a Why-Brad-Ended-Up-In-Theatre.

I joined my first theatre class in high school because I had a crush on a girl in the class. To this day, that still seems like a perfectly valid reason.

I remember discovering the play Cyrano de Bergerac at the public library at the age of fifteen and reading the whole thing through, twice, in one sitting. I was as equally impressed that someone had thought this wonderful story up and written it down as I was with the play itself.

I was cast in South Pacific in high school and during a performance the light board crashed. Everything went pitch black. As the lights came back up I ad-libbed “Harbinger, quit leaning on the light switch…” and got a thunderous applause. I remember being super-aware of the audience for the first time and liking that awareness.

In college I wrote and directed my first original play. It was so fun and so stressful and I totally wanted to try it again after it was done.

I came to NYC after college to see one of my plays read in Tribeca and was only going to stay for two weeks. That turned into about a year of temping, auditioning, acting, creating work and living out of two bags moving from sublet to sublet. It was that summer of 1999 that I really fell in love with the Theatre. It was like we had been dating off-and-on for years and that blistering hot blackout summer in New York is when we committed to each other.

I’ve been making theatre as a performer, playwright and director pretty steadily ever since.

Ciannavei's blog is dedicated to asking theater artists of all disciplines to describe "the moment you knew you wanted to work in theater." It is very inclusive, but it's still nice to be on the site along with ass-kicking artists like Bekah Brunstetter, Ken Urban, Young Jean Lee, Lucy Thurber, Brooke Berman and Adam Szymkowicz.

UPDATE: Sadly, this site is no longer live on the internet. It can be viewed via the Wayback Machine HERE.

Sep 25, 2010

FUN GRIP in OKC

http://fungrip.wordpress.com/

Brad will perform alongside Jeff Swearingen as the longform improv comedy duo FUN GRIP. Together they make a completely improvised story based on audience fodder.

FUN GRIP has been invited to return to Oklahoma City after last month's Improv Festival of Oklahoma appearance to play with Red Dirt Improv, Saturday October 2, 2010 at 7 PM (longform) and 9 PM (shortform) at the IAO Gallery, 706 W Sheridan Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73102. $10 at the door.

More info about FUN GRIP here.

Sep 20, 2010

Solo Improv Sept 24th!

Brad McEntire

I'll be performing Dribble Funk Solo Improv on Friday, September 24th at 11:15 PM at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre, 5400 Mockingbird, Dallas TX. On the bill with The Victims and The Hindenbergs. Hosted by Dallas' Alternative Comedy Theatre. Tix $12 at the door.

Sep 14, 2010

CHOP is going to New Orleans!

My solo show has been chosen as an official participant in the New Orleans Fringe Festival - November 17 - 21, 2010!


Last Spring I was performing my own one-man show CHOP for Audacity Theatre Lab at the 2010 Phoenix Fringe Festival in Arizona. The piece ran its World Premiere at Water Tower Theatre's Out of the Loop Fringe Festival in Addison TX in March and then had a one-night engagement at the College of Santa Fe in early April. Brooklyn's own Andrew J. Merkel directed.

Looking forward to heading back to New Orleans and sharing my work there.

Sep 9, 2010

Fun Grip at IFO2

Jeff Swearingen and I recently performed at the 2nd Annual Improv Festival of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. The good folks at Red Dirt Improv (the organizers of the event) caught us on video. So... fanfare... here's our August 21st choas-driven "spongeworm/box" set:

Jun 14, 2010

Packing for Sydney


Ruth and I recently returned from Sydney, Australia. We went to see Peter Brook's show, Eleven And Twelve. I wrote about it for TheaterJones.com. Below I'm posting a short video of how I packed for this trip.


May 6, 2010

More About Brad McEntire

Brad McEntire

The Whole Deal

This site will encompass Brad's professional and creative endeavors. He is a restless sort who is accustomed to instigating a lot of projects and wearing a lot of different hats. This website covers mostly means his theatre work and some of his visual art pursuits. 

Here's a more extensive biography.

Born and raised in Texas, Brad McEntire served from 1999 to 2006 as the founding Artistic Director of theatre group Audacity ProductionsSince 2008 he has been the Artistic Director of Audacity Theatre Lab. He holds a BFA in Theatre and Performance Arts from New Mexico's College of Santa Fe and a Master's degree in Playwriting from Texas Woman's University.

Brad served as the Literary Manager at the Undermain Theatre in Dallas (2007-2010). He was an original member of the DFW Playwrights' Allianceis a sometimes member of UNIMA-USAthe Applied Improvisation NetworkThe Playwrights Center of Minneapolis and a former company member with Dallas' innovative (and now sadly defunct) Our Endeavors Theater Collective.

He is an alumnus of Directors Lab West (2004) and the Chicago Directors Lab (2009). He was also a performer, director, resident playwright and instructor with Plano Children's Theatre where he worked intermittently as part of their Professional Touring Series for nearly a decade.

Brad is a veteran of several sketch and improvisational comedy troupes including Estranged Bedfellows (NM), Molotov Cockroach (NYC), The French Club Dropouts and the Mild Dementia Continuous-Play Variety Hour (both of Dallas, TX). He also performed with the improv group The Victims and, up until 2015, one half of the infamous comedy duo Fun Grip (with Jeff Swearingen as the other half). NOTE: Fun Grip has reunited and since March 2022, the duo has been performing regular gigs around Dallas, TX. More info... HERE.

Brad studied shadow puppetry informally at Hong Kong's Ming Ri Institute of Puppetry and mask performance technique with international teacher/performer Hoi ChiuOver the last several years Brad has worked with New York-based puppet artists Chris Green, Erin Orr and Lake Simmons, in particular as part of Ft. Worth's Hip Pocket Theatre's Annual Cowtown Puppetry Festival.


Brad has trained in European style contemporary clowning with Texan' Jeffry Farrell, Tom Greder of the Nouveau Clown Institute, and Spain's Andreu Segura (of l'Escola de Pallassos MallorClown). Brad has also had a healthy dose of American circus-style clowning, training with Barry "Grandma" Lubin, Mark Gindick and John "Mr. Fish" Lepiarz of Big Apple Circus, Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday (former Director of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College) as well as Larry Pisoni (Founder of the Pickle Family Circus) at the NY Goofs.

Though mostly self-taught as an improviser, Brad has participated in improv workshops with the likes of Charna Halpern (ImprovOlympic), Asaf Ronen (YesAnd.com), Andy Eninger (Second City, Chicago/ Creator of Sybil) Jill Bernard (Drum Machine), Joe Bill (Annoyance Theatre, Chicago/Creator of Bassprov) and Nancy Fine (The Groundlings, L.A.).

As an commercial actor, Brad has appeared in commercials for FedEx, SuperPages, First Choice Power, Piccadilly Restaurants and Apex Trucking. He was represented by the Mary Collins Agency from 2008-2015. If you are curious, you can see some of his commercial acting listings at: Casting Networks. A much more complete acting resume is available at
 Actor's Access.

Brad's funk-musical shadow puppet retelling of RAPUNZEL, created in collaboration with musicians Lee Holt and Stuart Grant, played in 2006 and 2007 in Hong Kong. His stage works have been produced/developed by Austin's FronteraFest at Hyde Park Theatre, Texas WordSpace, Our Endeavors Theatre Collective, Expanded Arts NYC, Nouveau 47, Audacity Theatre Lab, Rover Dramawerks, Square Peg Collective, EndTime Productions, Project X, Tumorboy Productions, The Outsider's Inn Collective, Theatre In My Basement, Cry Havoc, Dallas' Festival of Independent Theatres, The Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, Overtime Theatre, The Dallas Museum of Art, The New York International Theatre Festival, Hong Kong's DEER Theatre, Le Rideau Theatre Café, Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, One Minute Play Festival, Kitchen Dog Theater, Plano Children's Theatre and fringe theatre festivals all over the country.


His plays include Que Sera, Giant MonsterI Have Angered a Great God, A Tall Tale of Texas, Night of the Tarantu-bears (co-written with Jeff Hernandez), Dinosaur and Robot Stop a Train, Raspberry Fizz, Carter Stubbs Takes Flight, For the Love of an Anesthesiologist, I Brought Home a Chupacabra and more. A collection of holiday-themed ten-minute plays called The Yeti in the Airport Lounge and Other Holiday Tales is available on Amazon.com. McEntire has also created, toured and performed a collection of one-man shows: Chop, Robert's Eternal Goldfish, Cyrano-A-Go-Go and The Beast of Hyperborea. He has presented them all over North America.


Brad is one of the sub-arcana of long-form solo improvisers. He is the creator of the original solo improvisational story format Dribble Funk, a hybrid creation at the crossroads of long-form improv, traditional theatre and storytelling. In the summer of 2013, in celebration of his 38th birthday, Brad performed a 380 minute long solo Dribble Funk improv set (that's six hours and 20 minutes). He currently teaches improv and creativity workshops from time to time. For more information on Dribble Funk Solo Improv, see how it falls in my history with comedy.

Brad also developed and continues to curate the deceptively simple story-telling improv format/show Monologue Jam with support from the Alternative Comedy Theater. and more recently MINT Presents and the Institute Theater in Austin, TX (these last two, now sadly defunct).


He has blogged since the year 2000 and semi-maintains his personal arts-and-adventures-oriented blog on the ancient platform LiveJournal called The Theatre, Thoughts and Travels of B. McEntire. He is the creator and moderator of The Solo Performer, a blog about one-person theatre productions. Brad was also an occasional culture journalist and contributor to The Stage Directions Blog and TheaterJones.com (both now sadly defunct).

As a visual artist, McEntire works mostly in pen and ink and, less often, in acrylic paint. In mid-2012 he launched a series of illustrations based on the plays of Samuel BeckettIn May of 2010 he launched a webcomic called Donnie Rocket Toaster-Facewhich ran until 2015. A collection of the Donnie Rocket Toaster-Face comics, I HATE HAWK SEASON!, was made available on Amazon.com. In 2016, he released a short comic called The Secret Island, about an unlikely friendship between a kayaker and an alien. During the pandemic, McEntire wrote, drew and published a picturebook for his five year old son. The book was titled Petey Gale Goes Up and Beyond. He released it on Amazon. In 2023, McEntire launched a weekly webcomic series called The Ongoing Saga of J. Herbin. It can be read... HERE.

Brad was one half (alongside part-time artist and pop culture addict Jeff Hernandez) of the producing team and on-air voices behind Bike Soccer Jamboree, an "extremely unnecessary" online semi-weekly podcast. Most BSJ episodes revolved around Brad and Jeff disagreeing over some pop cultural or lifestyle phenomenon. In early 2015 Brad created the original podcast series The Rumbleshanks Tapes, about a would-be world conquering cyborg named Captain Odysseus Rumbleshanks. More recently, McEntire hosts and produces the Cultivated Playwright Podcast. It is updated semi-regularly. Listen... HERE.

McEntire continues to instigate new projects for the stage, page, canvas and screen.

Core Thoughts About the Theatre...
- Simple trumps fancy.   
- The creation of small, powerful theatre is noble and necessary. Intimate in scale, but epic in scope. 
- More often, artists should instigate and take responsibility for their own creations. This is especially true for fields where the art is traditionally created collaboratively and interpretively, like in the theatre. 
- Experimental is only a modifier for the word theatre, as in Experimental Theatre. It must engage and entertain first, then move us all forward. 
- The line between High Art and Low Art is and should be, extremely blurry- especially NOW.

He’s also interested in rocket packs, dinosaurs, cowboys, robots, tigers, goldfish, exotic locales, adventure, love, sex, romance, and other things kick-ass


Five Fun Facts...
  1. I enjoy good cigars, smooth bourbons and great food.
  2. I read a lot. And fast. You can see my all-time most influential books on me, personally, on my Book Shelf page.
  3. I travel extensively (you know, when there are no global pandemics happening) and keep a Dopp kit packed and ready to go at all times.
  4. When I am not in public, I sing a lot, often making up songs on the spot. My wife is very patient with me.
  5. love movies. A lotIf you’re curious, check out m100 favorite movies.(circa 2016)




Artistic Statement...

Well, this changes periodically (which I think is a good thing), but for the time being it would be:

My work, especially as a playwright, but also as a performer and visual artist, explores idiosyncratic little worlds. These parallel microcosms are populated by eccentric misfits. Troubled, lost, amused, broken, absurd, desperate, isolated and forgotten - each is searching for his or her own sense of history, identity, and purpose.



Contact Brad... Feel free to E-mail me




May 5, 2010

Bespoke Monologues Tailored Just For You

Actors and performers! Students and the mildly curious!

Get custom designed monologues here, fashioned from scratch by master craftsman Brad McEntire! Blending old world luxury with contemporary function, McEntire will write you a monologue for a mere $50.

If you need a monologue for a class, audition, or simply for your own amusement McEntire will create one made-to-measure. Just for you! Feel free to email me for more info.


Here’s how it works:

Email me something to the effect of: Brad, write me a monologue, please! 
My reply email says something like: No problem!

And then, like a good tailor of a hand-made suit, I'll get a list of your preferences. You'll tell me:

- A few things that interest you in your life (i.e.  giant robots, prayer beads, WWII, princesses, pastries, etc.)

- Something you may have always wanted to do / play / see onstage
 
- As a performer, what you believe your strengths are. 

- What would you like the monologue to accomplish (is it to show range? be dark and creepy? funny?)
 
Next, I go off and write it. Turn around is usually within 2 weeks. You pay for it. I give you a monologue (we'll tweak it to your liking as needed, of course.)

But why would you want Brad McEntire to write you a monologue? First, he's an experienced playwright, with a strong background in the theatre. Secondly, see what others have to say about the monologues he's created for them:

Testimonials

Brad McEntire is one of the most creative and subversive theater writers of his generation!  The fact that this guy is an actor, director, and producer only serves to elevate his writing to a whole new level because he's in the trenches trying new theater forms, taking creative risks a bunch of us only wish we would take, and not giving a rat's ass what anyone thinks!  That being said, he's also kind, funny, generous and willing to do what is needed to supply an actor with the necessary tools they need to make their scene or monologue pop.  This man will write something for you which will make your piece stick out in auditions in an extremely positive manner!   ----Vikas Adam, Actor, L.A.


"If you want a monologue that's fresh, witty, and unique let Brad McEntire be the writer you choose. He's an unconventional, educated playwright with the power to create a fully-customizable and entertaining arrangement of prose. Imagine how much richer and truer your delivery will come across when you have a personalized monologue by an accomplished writer that you helped create!" ----Rhianna Mack, Actress, Dallas TX


"Brad McEntire paints complex moods in his theatrical writing with a touch of light and love. With a vivid imagination and talent for gracefully weaving comedy and drama together in poignant truth, Brad is able to provide for the actor a world that is both surreal and beautifully honest. As an actor, it is an honor to be working with Mr. McEntire's writing."       ---- Emily Woo Zeller, Actress, NYC

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Special Thanks to Bekah Brunsetter for the idea!





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Jan 7, 2010

RUDNICK THE CANDLE-HEADED BOY

A PLAY IN ONE-ACT BY BRAD McENTIRE



10 MINUTES / 3M / 2F / SINGLE SET

The Unicorn Children won't let poor Rudnick play in their Unicorn Children games. An imaginative retelling of a certain reindeer story.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
  • Estranged Bedfellows Sketch Comedy; Santa Fe NM (Feb 1996)
  • Audacity Productions/ProgreXssive Arts; "The HO! Show"; Garland TX (Dec 2000)
  • Audacity Productions; Mild Dementia Continuous-Play Variety Hour; Dallas TX (May 2004)
  • EndTime Productions; Naked Holidays 2009; New York NY (December 2009)
  • EndTime Productions; Best of... Naked Holidays 2011; New York NY (December 2011)
  • Nouveau 47 Theatre; A Very Nouveau Holiday; Dallas TX (December 2013)

BUY THIS PLAY!

RUDNICK in performance at Nouveau 47 Theatre, December 2013

CORNER OFFICE SKYE

A ONE-ACT PLAY BY BRAD McENTIRE

10 MINUTES / 1 M / 1 F / SINGLE SETTING

DeWayne Blundell is R.H. and Ana Gonzalez is Skye in CORNER OFFICE SKYE
R.H. has just been promoted. As he finds a quiet spot away from the raucous office holiday party to congratulate himself he finds an other-worldly young woman named Skye. She seems drawn to a man with a good brain in his head.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

  • Nouveau 47 Theatre, Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas TX, As Part of "A Very Nouveau Holiday" (December 2014) 

For more info on this play, see posts with tags labeled "Corner Office Skye" ... HERE.


Jan 6, 2010

ROBERT'S ETERNAL GOLDFISH

A Solo Play by Brad McEntire



55 MINUTES / 1 M / SIMPLE SINGLE SET
Robert J. Roberts has a huge problem with the world. In particular he really dislikes people. All people. One day he becomes the unlikely custodian of a magical goldfish and Mr. Robert's misanthropic view of the world is seriously challenged. Can a person be frustrated into being a better human being?


"McEntire's an expert at swimming solo onstage, charming the audience with sly looks and inventive storytelling." ~ Elaine Liner, Dallas Observer 
"The story takes you on a precisely laid out journey through one man’s psyche while making you feel like you shouldn’t be there, listening." ~ Richard Blake, PegasusNews.com 
"[McEntire is] like a cross between Seinfeld’s George Costanza and comedian Lewis Black" ~ Nancy Churnin, DallasNews.com
"One of McEntire’s many talents is being able to couch very real meditations on life into extraordinary stories." ~ Kris Noteboom, TheaterJones.com
"A tale of transformation and redemption... very absorbing..." ~ Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press 




PRODUCTION HISTORY
  • Stage Reading, Audacity Theatre Lab; Margo Jones Theatre; Dallas TX (Feb 2014)
  • World Premiere at Out of the Loop Fringe Festival; Addison Water Tower Theatre; Addison TX (March 2014)... Winner of "Best of Fest"
  • The Scranton Fringe; Forage Space Gallery; Scranton PA (Oct 2015)
  • Seattle-To-Fresno Mini-Fringe; MIA Studio & Gallery; Fresno, CA (Sept 2017)
  • One Night Fund-Raiser; Margo Jones Theatre; Audacity Theatre Lab; Dallas TX (April 2018)
  • Minnesota Fringe Fest; U of M Raring Center's Xperimental Theatre; Minneapolis, MN (Aug 2018)
  • Naniamo Fringe Fest; Vancouver Island Conference Ctr.; Naniamo, BC, Canada (Aug 2018)
  • Elgin Fringe Fest; Side Street Studio Arts' Backspace; Elgin, IL (Sept 2018)
  • Stomping Ground Comedy Theater; Dallas TX (Oct 2018)

For press and related information on this show, visit the ROBERTS ETERNAL GOLDFISH tags on this website... HERE

To visit the SHOW WEBSITE for this play click... HERE





I HAVE ANGERED A GREAT GOD

A PLAY IN ONE-ACT BY BRAD McENTIRE

Oscar Contreres as Robert and Jeff Hernandez as The Great God
in I HAVE ANGERED A GREAT GOD

50 MINUTES / 3 M / 2 F / FLEXIBLE STAGING

Robert von Ritchie Ritchie has somehow angered a Great God. And now the Great God is out to exact revenge. Robert retraces his steps over the past few days to discover where things went so horribly, horribly wrong. It might have been easier if he weren't constantly on his cell phone talking with his now ex-girlfriend Martha, who barely made it into Mensa. A brief satire of modern public etiquette and private interaction... with music and dance!

PRODUCTION HISTORY

  • Staged Reading with Audacity Theatre Lab (January 2010)
  • Workshop Excerpt at FronteraFest, Hyde park Theatre, Austin TX (February 2010)
  • Staged Reading with Nouveau 47 and Audacity Theatre Lab (December 2010)

Jan 5, 2010

CYRANO A-GO-GO

A SOLO SHOW BY BRAD McENTIRE

60 MINUTES / 1 M / FLEXIBLE STAGING



Cyrano A-Go-Go at the 2019 Dallas Solo Fest


Cyrano A-Go-Go at the 2015 Out of the Loop Fest
Cyrano A-Go-Go in 2011 at the Green Zone





A-Go-Go [or à gogo] - as much as you like; to your heart's content; galore: i.e. dancing à gogo.

CYRANO A-GO-GO is semi-autobiographical exploration of one restless theatre artist's fascination with the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. A chance encounter with the script at a suburban public library at the age of fifteen leads McEntire into a wonderful, and sometimes elusive, calling. Mixing the personal, historical and literary into a journey through Rostand's play McEntire puts a funny, warm, insightful spin on the usual coming-of-age one-man show.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
  • Audacity Theatre Lab/ Shakespeare Dallas, Green Zone Theatre, (June and July 2011) 
  • Houston Fringe Festival, Bohemeo's Cafe & Theatre (September 2012)
  • Audacity Solo Salon, Margo Jones Theatre, Dallas TX (December 2014)
  • Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, Addison TX (March 2015) - "Best of Fest" Winner
  • Nanaimo Fringe Festival, British Columbia, Harbour City Theatre (August 2015)
  • Seattle to Fresno Mini-Fringe, Minion Productions/ Rogue Fringe Fest, Mia Cuppa Cafe (August 2015) 
  • The Tribe: Solo Salon, Deep Vellum Books, Dallas TX (March 2016) - [excerpt]
  • Dallas Solo Fest, Theatre Too! at Theatre Three, Dallas TX (June 2019)
  • Elgin Fringe Festival, Elgin, IL (September 2019)
  • Theatre Crude Fringe, Oklahmoa City OK (September 2019)


  • For more info on this play, see posts with tags labeled "Cyrano A-Go-Go" ... HERE.