bloghttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/en-US2012-02-23T22:50:02ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Uncle Tootshttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2012/2/16/uncle-toots.htmlRay Caspio2012-02-17T02:18:14Zacting character performance uncle tootsUncle Toots, born of sciatica and voice. Here's the latest entry in my Uncle Toots saga.



Check out the Uncle Toots video playlist on YouTube.


]]>Happy Valentine's Day!http://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2012/2/14/happy-valentines-day.htmlRay Caspio2012-02-14T19:04:40Zacting celebrity liza minnelliFor Valentine's Day, I wanted to share a Liza Minnelli performance with you. It's no secret I'm a huge fan, having seen her live 11 times since June, 2002. If you're looking for a master class in performing, just buy a ticket to one of her shows.

Here I'll Stay/Our Love is Here to Stay is one of my favorite songs and the song that played at my wedding, so it holds great meaning for me. It's a promise. It's a commitment. It's to one person or an entire audience, or making an entire audience feel like one person. This particular performance is a stand-out.

It's clear her vocals aren't up to what they can usually do, but Liza is the master of working with whatever she has at the moment and giving it fully. And giving, she is. Every gesture in this song is an open one. Whether it's opening her heart, repeatedly, to the audience or painting the picture of her environment, she is sharing through her ultimate exclamation of "Here I'll stay," when she tears her heart open, stands emotionally naked, and sends her love out to the universe. The connection is made. She'll have them the entire show.

It's not ever about a voice: it's about a heart.

Fast forward to 5:05 to watch.






]]>Bewitched: Oh, My Stars!http://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2012/2/10/bewitched-oh-my-stars.htmlRay Caspio2012-02-10T06:17:06Zbewitched illustration televisionAvailable as a t-shirt: http://www.redbubble.com/people/raycaspio/works/8455010-oh-my-stars


I love Bewitched and I'm not afraid to admit it. If you've looked around this site at the various Bewitched illustrations, you've noticed. If you've looked around my kitchen at my Samantha and Serena statues, you've noticed.

Bewitched is the first TV show I remember watching. I cried when I had to start Safety Town as a kid because it was going to interfere with 11am episodes of Bewitched. It's one of the last shows I watched with my grandma – the episode was Samantha and the Beanstalk – before she passed away May 23, 2011. The day we got the key to our house in August 2011, I watched Bewitched DVDs on my computer while I prepped the house, alone, for painting. I've watched at least one episode daily since then.

The show is comfort and memory. The show is Elizabeth Montgomery, who will always be one of my favorite actors. I was recently asked to write about Elizabeth/Samantha Stephens for a soon-to-be-published biography, and here's what I said:

An early Bewitched illustration, drawn on the floor of my bedroom many, many years ago while watching the show.Bewitched is the first TV show I remember watching. It was on a small color television in the front room of my grandma's house when I was probably three years old, if that.  The animated opening sequence combined with the music transfixed me, and when Elizabeth appeared on the screen, she did the same.  There was something very accessible, yet private about her. Her heart was open and something deep was going on within.

Elizabeth, as Samantha, represented possibility to me. Anything I wanted, I could have if I worked for it. She had the magical abilities to obtain whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, but she wasn't satisfied with that. Her power was in herself: a theme that ran through many of her characters throughout her career.

Through her work, onscreen and off, Bewitched and otherwise, she has given me valuable lessons about individual truth and being present. She was an all-around fascinating, empowering, compassionate and complex woman whose body of work deserves to be explored.

With this illustration, I finally did Elizabeth justice. I captured what I hoped to capture.

I've been asked why I don't draw modern pop culture figures. Most of them bore me. Modern pop culture, essentially, bores me. I feel little connection to it. There's some stuff I like, but characters from the past interest me so much more. (But, if there's a modern characters someone wants drawn, feel free to e-mail me through the contact form on the side of the page!)

Elizabeth Montgomery doesn't bore me. The cast of characters from this show will never bore me because they're so much a part of me. Oh, my stars, I'm grateful for this show!

]]>At-TEN-tion Span: Final Weekendhttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2012/2/1/at-ten-tion-span-final-weekend.htmlRay Caspio2012-02-02T04:53:41Zacting design performance theatreThe final weekend of At-TEN-tion Span is upon us. Tickets are $10 Thursday and $15 Friday and Saturday.

Here's what the reviews have said:

"Each of these plays is intense, earnest and thought-provoking...For me, the pieces that offer the most personal disclosures with the best acting performances are the most desirable and rewarding.

They include...Jeremy Paul’s “The Refrain,” which offers overlapping, intertwining, and occasionally interrupting reflections on illness as delivered by Ray Caspio, Jenni Messner, and Adam Seeholzer..." – Bob Abelman, The News Herald

"...you’ll walk out from At-TEN-tion Span with your senses tweaked and your perspectives altered." – Christine Howey, Rave and Pan

To get your tickets, call (216) 631-2727 x. 501 or head on over to cptonline.org.

Lauren B. Smith, Ray Caspio, Amy Schwabauer, and Jeremy Paul in Renee Schilling's "To Fasten Your Seatbelt..." Image design by Ray Caspio.

]]>At-TEN-tion Spanhttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2012/1/17/at-ten-tion-span.htmlRay Caspio2012-01-18T04:57:40Zacting performance theatreThis Thursday, At-TEN-tion Span premieres at Cleveland Public Theatre! The three scenes I'm in were originally created for a directing class at CPT back in November/December, and I've been working on the pieces since their inception. I'm so excited and proud that the scenes have come this far and that we get an audience for them!

At-TEN-tion Span runs January 19th through February 4th at 7:30pm.

Tickets
$10 Thursday and Monday
$15 Friday and Saturday

For tickets and more information visit www.cptonline.org or call the box office at (216) 631-2727

A CPT favorite from the past, the 10-minute play series returns! The 2012 At-TEN-tion Span will be made up entirely of devised works created by local artists. The nine plays in At-TEN-tion Span will explore different themes of politics, love and personal struggle in innovative ways. And the next piece is only moments away! GET EXCITED & BE WARNED: you will have to move your chair during the evening. Don’t forget that every Friday is FREE BEER (or other beverage of your choice) FRIDAY; on Free Beer Fridays, we invite the audience to mingle with the cast and crew after the show while enjoying a drink on us.
 
At-TEN-tion Span 2012 includes:
 
The Refrain
by Jeremy Paul
performed by Ray Caspio, Jenni Messner, Adam Seeholzer
 
Alibi
by Chris Seibert
performed by Faye Hargate, Darius Stubbs
 
Crash Project
by Pandora Robertson
performed by Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, Caitlin Lewins, Adam Seeholzer
 
To Fasten Your Seatbelt...
by Renee Schilling
performed by Ray Caspio, Jeremy Paul, Amy Schwabauer, Lauren B. Smith
 
El Beth-el
by Darius Stubbs
performed by Dionne D. Atchison, Steven Schuerger, Darius Stubbs
 
Fail
by Simone Barros
performed by Simone Barros, Jeremy Paul, Adam Seeholzer
 
The Three Musketeers
by Doug Snyder
performed by Lauren Joy Fraley, Caitlin Lewins, Lauren B. Smith
 
If I Lie
by Chris Seibert
performed by Molly Andrews-Hinders, Amy Schwabauer, Adam Seeholzer
 
How to...
by Raymond Bobgan
performed by the full At-TEN-tion Span cast

Do to the nature of this production this show is NOT handicap accessible.

]]>Best and Hottest!http://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2011/12/29/best-and-hottest.htmlRay Caspio2011-12-29T20:15:43Zacting theatreCritics are making their Best of 2011 lists, and The Miracle at Naples is popping up on them!

Cleveland Scene's Christine Howey calls it the Hottest Play!

Bob Abelman of The News-Herald named it the Best Comedy!

Zac Hudak, Emily Pucell and Ray Caspio. Photo by Cory Molner.

]]>The Internationalisthttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2011/12/4/the-internationalist.htmlRay Caspio2011-12-05T04:59:29Zacting theatreThrough December 17th, I'm appearing in The Internationalist by Anne Washburn at convergence-continuum. Here's what reviews have said:

"...as two of the workers at the intrigue-laden company, Ray Caspio and Laura Starnik each have stellar moments." - Christine Howey, Cleveland Scene

"This ambiguity and absurdity is very entertaining, largely because it is delivered...by a superb cast. These six players, directed with great attention to detail by Clyde Simon, are an absolute pleasure to watch..."
- Bob Abelman, The News Herald

"Ray Caspio, as James for instance, does a masterful job telling a story/joke in Washburn’s gibberish, gesticulating all the while to make it clear what is going on. Caspio is equally worth seeing in his role as the Ancient Bartender, in this role I took no end of delight in watching his rickety tottering, the manner in which he meticulously maintained the lanky rigidness of the aged Nazi-poisoner." - Tom Hayes, weebelly.com


Photo by Cory Molner. Ray Caspio, Tom Kondilas, and Laura Starnik.The play: An American on a business trip is met at the airport by a beautiful colleague. They spend the night together and he feels like he's in one of those classic American movies where Gregory Peck goes to a foreign land and there's adventure and romance and a life-changing experience. The next day at the office, however, he discovers that it’s not like that at all. It’s like he's in one of those bewildering foreign films where nothing is as it seems, where there is no moral, and most importantly: no subtitles.

The Internationalist is directed by convergence-continuum’s Artistic director, Clyde Simon, and features actors Ray Caspio, Robert Hawkes, Geoffrey Hoffman, Laurel Hoffman, Tom Kondilas and Laura Starnik.

The Internationalist runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through December 17 at the Liminis, 2438 Scranton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113 in the historic Tremont neighborhood.

Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for seniors (65+) and $10 for students. Reservations and information are available at www.convergence-continuum.org and 216-687-0074.

]]>My 2012 Calendarhttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2011/11/3/my-2012-calendar.htmlRay Caspio2011-11-03T16:50:26Zbewitched bionic bionic woman celebrity grey gardens illustration jaime sommers judy garland lindsay wagner lynda carter superheroes television the six million dollar man wonder woman wonder woman cover seriesAvailable now in my RedBubble store is my 2012 calendar featuring 12 of my favorite (and hopefully yours) illustrations! The Golden Girls, Jeannie, Bewitched characters (Serena, Endora, Samantha), The Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Wonder Women, Big and Little Edie Beale of Grey Gardens, and more! If you've been wanting to pick up some of my work, here's your chance to get 12, yes 12 original pieces of art in one collection! This calendar would also make a great holiday gift!

Click on the photo below to order your calendar of my work now!




]]>New Postcardshttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2011/10/20/new-postcards.htmlRay Caspio2011-10-20T17:10:34ZGetting ready to send out my new promotional postcards featuring my Golden Girls illustration!




]]>Bewitched: Serenahttp://www.raycaspio.com/blog/2011/10/19/bewitched-serena.htmlRay Caspio2011-10-19T21:26:37Zbewitched illustration televisionContinuing my Bewitched series, we have Samantha's cooky, psychedelic, egocentric, eccentric, cosmos galavanting, singing cousin Serena, played to the hilt by Elizabeth Montgomery as Pandora Spocks! Serena is one of my favorite characters in the history of anything.

For sale as prints, posters, greeting cards, and postcards: http://www.redbubble.com/people/raycaspio/art/7932752-serena

For sale as t-shirts and hoodies: http://www.redbubble.com/people/raycaspio/t-shirts/7932791-serena

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