Lucha Libre / The Usual Suspects

Hello all. Found these pics in my nightstand and thought I'd share. The first photo is from Southwest Shakespeare's April 2004 mounting of As You Like It. Shown is the wrestling match between my character (Charles) and Orlando, the young hero played by Kyle Sorrel - a wonderful actor and heckuva nice fellow. The wrestling was choreographed by our fight captain David Barker (a performer in his own right with Chaplin-level physical skill and agility) and came complete with head-butts (acting), numerous chairs to the face (acting), and even a back-breaking kneedrop (totally acting). Despite the faking, it was intensely physical and afterwards I would usually go backstage and gag for a bit. After the scene some of my castmates would ask me if I'd finally won a match. Ha-ha. I never did...
Shown in the pic are l to r: Kyle Sorrel (Orlando - 'bout to get slammed), Myself (Charles), Cale Epps (Courtier-you can see his shoes between my legs), Paul Silver (courtier), Scott Dillon (courtier/Sylvius), Eric Urbauer (Oliver DeBoys), Jim Landua (the usurping Duke Frederick), Dave Edmunds (LeBeau), Richard Trujillo (Touchstone), and Michael Sherwin (Old Adam).
The play was performed at Mesa Amphitheatre. It was a neat space in which to perform. I really enjoyed walking out there and speaking my lines into the night air. It made me feel connected to the theatre tradition.

I really like this photo. It was taken in the guy's dressing room at Westwood High in Mesa, where SW Shakespeare was putting on King Lear, starring Ken Ruta in the title role. Shown are myself (anonymous knight/Captain), and Randy Messersmith (Duke of Cornwall). At this moment we have just blinded the Duke of Gloucester and have come backstage for a wash-up. The "blood" is a mixture composed mainly of Karo syrup, red dye, and peanut butter. The peanut butter was included because it made the blood appear to contain bits of tissue. Randy and I started a tradition of sharing a bloody handshake just before we washed the stuff off. You know - success! My first job in the scene was to tie Gloucester to a chair. Then I would step away and another knight would slip the blood packet into my hands, which were clasped behind my back. I would squirt the mixture into my right hand and then close my fist to hide it from the audience. Then two other knights rotated Gloucester's chair until it faced away from the audience. I would come around to the back of the chair and kneel as it was lowered so that Gloucester's head would end up resting on the floor between my knees - hidden from view. Before his head was all the way down I would smear the blood on his eyebrow, the lower temple, and down his cheek. Then Randy would come over and pretend to stomp on Gloucester's eye and grind it out. He would be using my shoulder as support, and I still had my hands over Larry's (Gloucester) face. Basically Randy was placing his foot on my hands and resting his weight on my shoulder, that way Larry would be in no danger of actually getting his face stomped.
The scene was pretty horrific, even for us. Larry (Soller) had a bloodcurdling scream. It even made Randy and I a little queasy at times. Still, it always felt good when everything went well and we were able to unsettle the patrons. Randy would sometimes say to me while scrubbing off the blood: "Man, you really got him good tonight." And I would answer: "Really? Did it look good?" "Oh, yeah."
Some nights, after the scene, Larry would shuffle past the dressing room door with his bloody face and give us a thumbs-up and a chuckle.
It's an odd business, Theatre.