Creative Actors Lab

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Max discusses how he enjoys poems, a chapter from the book 500 Greatest Poems, and some poems don't have the names of the poets or the year they were written, and some go back to the year 1250 and earlier. 

Edward, Edward is one from the 1600s about a man going to sea, and what he'll leave for his family and his beloved mother. 

The Three Ravens is about birds set in a tree, and they think about a meal while they look at a knight. 

The Cherry Tree Car...

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Max talks about The Gutenberg Project and Robert Lewis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, and the night that the lights went out in his neighborhood, and being tucked into bed with a white candle.  It includes the poems:

This is a great episode to share with a little one. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Cr...

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In this episode, Max reads The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which Oscar Wilde wrote while he was in jail for two years for the crime of homosexuality, and it was inspired by Charles Thomas Wooldridge, a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards, who was imprisoned and executed for murdering his wife. 

The poem highlights the brutality of the penal system, the mental suffering of inmates, and the hypocrisy of morality, featuring the famous line, "Yet each man kills the thing he loves".  Reading Gaol was a place of extreme emotional and phy...

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Max discusses a poem he read many years ago, called the Saga of Li-Peng and Xua-Xua, which tells the story of the discovery of acting and theater. Li-Peng and Xua-Xua wait for a child without understanding the changes to her body and how it created distance. The child's name was Ling Ling-Lee, and the trio learns how to manage their humanity and the art of becoming human.

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Max talks about his first blush with a voice class and how liberating it was.  He also talks about his love of Shakespeare and the old radio announcer exercise. He suggests learning some Shakespearean sonnets because they're short and easier to recite, and doing them with the pencil across your mouth, and then taking the pencil out and redoing the sonnet, and it's so much easier to do, and your diction gets better.  It's like taking weights off your legs when you want to run. 

He reads Sonnet 18 - Shall I Com...

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Max talks about a friend with mental health issues and depression, who would call and spend over 45 minutes talking about his issues, and then he wanted to tell jokes, which was his way of trying to heal himself. He also had a hard time dealing with his daughter's depression and made a joke about it, which caused a falling out. Max discussed his own depression with his friend and his parody poem. 

Max reads his poem, I Got Blues, which was inspired by Mississippi Blues and artists like Robert Johnson and M...

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In this episode, Max explores Mental Health and Emily Dickinson, her gregarious youth, and she went into seminary, which made her reclusive and did not leave her family's property.  Upon her death, she asked her sister to destroy her letters, but her poetry survived.  

During her lifetime, only a few of her poems were printed, mostly anonymously, and her writings were published after her death. They have spoken to millions over the decades. 

Max reads:

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In this episode, Max researches NeuroticPoets.com , and Lord Byron shows right up and talks about his own mental health struggles and how poetry has helped him cope.  Apparently, Lord Byron was born with a club foot, and a girl that he was interested in called him, "That lame boy," which was very hurtful. His poetry lays his soul bare. 

His life was layered and brief - he died at 36 years old but left behind a treasure trove of poetry. Max reads:

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Join Max as he looks at the magical imagination of his daughter, Amber Grimm, and her stories, The Moon Follows Boo, in which a little cat named Boo loses his way at night but gets help from the Moon, who guides Boo back home, and we find out that the moon sometimes feels lonely, lighting the night for the world to see. 

The next story is about Polly the Polite Possum and how she tries to have a nice tea party for her friends in the forest. But it's interrupted by a...

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In this episode, Max discusses his blog, also titled A River Between Zen and Chaos, and shares his perspective on poetry.  He talks about his British grandfather, Sidney (Sid) Robinson, who was also a writer. Max reads The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh, which seems like a poem his grandfather would have liked. His grandfather, who never had a formal education, also loved the poetry of William Wordsworth. Max tells about learning about his grandfather's passion for writing at his memorial service and their last moments together. 

For more on...

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In this episode, Max explores how growing up with a stutter until he was 15 years old.  He got speech therapy and how working in theater helped him develop his voice, especially doing Shakespeare especially Richard III and Hamlet.  

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Max discusses a past job with the printing company and an incident that led to him writing the poem Dear Legal Department after a co-worker has a head injury at work and is told to call management instead of 911.  Let us know if you have ever experienced corporate insanity where procedure takes precedence over safety and common sense. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and Yo...

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Max talks about growing up and life in Miami before he moved to Atlanta. At a young age, Harry Cruz's Southern Gothic style influenced Max's early writing. He talks about going to a convenience store and talking to a young man, whom he found out later committed murder. He also talks about working for a man who had stockpiled guns with supplies for when the "state of anarchy" breaks out, he'll be ready. He left the job after about six weeks.  The poem All I'm Saying was written a few years after leaving t...

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Max talks about his first crush, Kaddy, in junior high, and his connection to Edgar Allen Poe, as well as how Poe's work comforted him through some tough times in his youth, including the loss of his grandmother. He explores Poe's lesser-known works including:

He thanks Mrs. Davis from John F. Kennedy Junior High for introducing him to the works of one of the greatest poets in American history, which developed his passion for reading and writing poetry. 

F...

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In this episode, Max talks about his first play in college, Private Wars by James McClure and watching an episode of Stephen Colbert with Anthony Hopkins and they were reading portions of the touching poem by T.S. Eliot entitled The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock which he wrote in 1915 when Eliot was 22 years old. He reads the entire poem in this episode. 

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In this episode, Max examines The Proust Questionnaire, a list of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust, which is often used by modern interviewers. Max mentions that he and Kelley used this with actors as part of the actors' training to put together a strong intentional character. It relates to the game called Hot Seat, in which an actor gets on stage and must answer questions in character.  Max takes the questionnaire and has some surprising answers. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. Yo...

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Join us as we look at three very different holiday tales, including the editorial. Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, the O. Henry short story, The Gift of the Magi, and the Christmas poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas. Kelley discusses the importance of each of these works and how the rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas was recorded in 2000 as part of a pre-school project that her daughter was asked to do with family members. It's also the night before Kelley and Max's daughter Danielle was born, and highlights the...

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Join us as ghosthunter Jack Bronson gets some divine intervention on Christmas Eve from Em, an angel who needs to help Jack so she can get back into the good graces of her "boss" with the help of Keith, the ghost. 

We have a wonderful cast of voice actors, including: 
Mezi Mulugeta as Em 
Dean Atkinson as Jack Bronson
Brandon Winget as Keith the Ghost 
Shiyla Gantt as Jack's Mom, Angela
Justin Deen as Jack's Father, Ted Bronson
Chiron Broderick as Dave
Liz Ireland as J...

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Join Max as he discusses his poetry, heart spillings, and mind lightning. He explores two of his poems, A Passing of Vision and The Snake. He also looks at The Desiderata, which is an inspirational poem. 

Max will explore different poets each week, give his commentary, and open it to other poets who would like their poems read on the podcast. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook pa...

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Join Max as he reads Ellie in the Closet, which is the heartwarming story of Ellie, a shy rainbow lizard who longs to be accepted just like any other kid. When her bright scales make her a target for teasing, Ellie hides away in her closet, believing no one could ever see her as beautiful. But everything changes when a kind new friend named Storm offers her comfort, sandwiches, and the courage to step into the light. A gentle tale about friendship, self-acceptance, and the bravery it takes to...

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Join Max, Kelley and their daughter Danielle as they discuss the production of Max's one man spoken word album, Shapeshifter. It was a labor of love that almost didn't happen when Max got sick in February, and it was due at the end of March. Luckily, Danielle help guide the project and found a recording studio at the local library and sound edited the entire piece. Kelley also got to play an ex-girlfriend with a strange way of showing affection. 

To listen to the album, go to Atlanta Fringe Audio. H...