Why Rtrout?
One of the questions I'm most frequently
asked on the Internet is why the name Rtrout?
What does the "R" stand for? Rainbow? Robert? Real? River? Am
I any relation to Kilgore Trout? Do I like fish? Is Troutco a fishing company
of some sort?
I always say its a long story and too complicated to explain. It is.
But for those with a desire to know - here's the real story:
When I was in college I gave up my major in math and computers, and became
a theatre major. I started as a technician, quickly became an actor, and
was drafted into becoming a budding director. I was also a budding writer.
I also was the Arts Editor for the college newspaper. I was doing a lot
of budding. I was already wearing a lot of hats.
One of my early directing projects was a Commedia dell'arte styled farce
called "Fruits of Passion". For those of you not familiar with
Commedia, it was an improvisational theatre form popular throughout Europe
for almost 200 years starting in the mid-1500s. Troupes of performers would
travel from town to town, presenting shows in public squares on makeshift
stages. They would improvise most of their dialog within a framework provided
by a set "scenario." These troupes were comprised of performers
who spent their lifetime perfecting their rendition of stock characters
- recognizable in any language. They included characters like Arlecchino
(later Harlequin, the crafty servant), Pantalone (the miserly old fool),
El Capitano (The Braggart), El Dottore (the pretentious Doctor), the young
lovers and others.
Anyway, we formed our own Commedia Troupe (I played Arlecchino), and "Fruits
of Passion" was our elaborate, scripted rendition of a classic Commedia
scenario. I had done a lot of the writing, and was responsible for directing
the production.
In those days, my "model" for a director was "director as
tyrant." The directors who I had seen work were opinionated, demanding,
and loud. That's what I thought the job was. So I had a lot of opinions.
One of my most obsessive opinions in this particular production was that
the Arlecchino/Pantalone relationship would only work if we employed the
old 'lazzi' (stock joke) of Arlecchino striking Pantalone on the head with
a pig bladder. The Italians loved this classic schtick. Whenever Pantalone
ordered Arlecchino to do something, Arlecchino would respond by striking
Pantalone over the head with a pig bladder. Hilarious stuff.
Pig bladders being in short supply on college campuses in the 70's, I decided
in my directorial wisdom that Arlecchino should instead strike Pantalone
with a fish! In my most authoritative directorial voice I demanded the prop
people get us a fish we could use in all rehearsals to work out this demanding
piece of business.
The prop people saw serious drawbacks. They continually told me this would
not work! The fish would smell. The fish would fall apart. The fish wouldn't
work for scale :-)
To use a fish in rehearsal we'd either have to get a new rehearsal fish
every day, or we'd have one malodorous fish on our hands. The actor playing
Pantalone was none too keen on being hit with a real fish. Everyone insisted
there was no way to make this work.
I thought the solution was clear and obvious. "Get me a Rubber Trout!"
I demanded.
I asked for this every day in my most imperious fashion. "Where's my
Rubber Trout?" "What do I have to do to get a Rubber Trout around
here?" When I'd show up for rehearsal the prop people would see me
and cringe. "I know," they'd say, "your rubber trout...."
I eventually got my rubber trout, and the show turned out very successfully.
I can't say that the rubber trout bit really got the laughs I'd hoped for,
but it did solve the problem of rendering the lazzi on a low budget and
without smelling up Pantalone's hair.
To me the rubber trout represented a technical solution to an artistic problem.
Another artistic crisis arose some months later. The Editor-in-Chief of
the college newspaper wanted me to write the theatre, film and music reviews.
I was concerned about the conflict of interest. Now that I was directing
quite a bit on the campus and in the community, I didn't want to stir up
the wrath of actors and artists I might be working with in the future. I
decided the only solution was to write under a nom de plum.
So I devised a pen name for myself. You guessed it: R. Trout.
Another solution to an artistic dilemma. In the years that followed, whenever
I had to write something where I wished to remain anonymous, I wrote as
R. Trout. A lot of my early plays certainly needed the protection of a nom
de plum! Whether due to modesty, or simple shame, I used the name for a
number of purposes. I often did charitable work under the guise of R. Trout.
In the early "hacker" days of computers I did my hacking as R.
Trout.
When on-line communications came about, and one had to select a "handle"
to use on early CB-styled chat lines, R. Trout seemed the natural name.
However, many computer systems had limitations about punctuation and spaces
in names. So R. Trout became Rtrout. The name stuck when the Internet arrived.
And for the purposes of e-mail which did not allow capitalized letters:
rtrout.
When I began free-lancing and a company name was needed to unify all my
ventures, the concept just stuck. Hence: Troutco.
So Rtrout and Troutco are just an extension of the original problem. If
you've got an idea, and need to find a solution to implement it - you need
a Rubber Trout. That's why there's Troutco! And me. Rtrout.
My friends just call me Troutie!
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