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Showing posts with label the errant knaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the errant knaves. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Upstart Theatre Company!

So, when I stood up in front of the audience the night of A Midsummer Night's Play Festival, I was visibly nervous speaking in front of a group of people for the first time since I don't know when.  Reason mainly being that I hadn't slept that much in 48 hours, but I was also proposing a new venture in Savannah, GA:  The Upstart Theatre Company.

Now, there are a lot of theatre companies in Savannah.  Bay Street Theatre, Savannah Children's, City Lights, the Collective Face, the Savannah Theatre. But I wanted to start something that would start new works in Savannah and the Lowcountry.  There's going to be an outreach to local authors (some connections have already been made because of MNPF) to create new works here in town.  

It's going to start off pretty small.  We might do two full-length productions in the coming year, but there was MNPF and this coming February, we're going to do another 24 hr 10 min play festival called The Winter's Tales at Muse Arts Warehouse.  There are a few other events planned that are still being fleshed out.  It kind of depends on the 

If you are interested in the projects, want to know more about it, please email me at theatreupstart@gmail.com.  I'll be more than happy to discuss at length!

On another personal note, The Errant Knaves opens this week at TestoGenius Fetival in New York.  Even though I haven't seen any of it, I'm absolutely terrified.  Of it being a failure and of it being a success.  Everything is going to be fine though.  I'm proud of my work and I'll stand by it!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

MNPF, The Errant Knaves, the Odd Lot and An Evening With Cthulhu

Hello there, blogger world!  It's been a while since my last post (God, I hate reading that in other blogs but I can never say that it's not true.) but I have been quite busy as of late (Cliche!).  Started to get in the groove of things with the day job, working harder in the evening for the tours AND re-discovered an addiction to the game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  But that doesn't mean that things are working and coming to fruition!  It's one thing to have all the ideas but they should be implemented at some point.  (Looking at the right side of my brain re: Journey musical.)

Right side of my brain:  ... what?

First, the fundraising for A Midsummer Night's Play Festival was a total success!  Kickstarter is an excellent website and I'll definitely use it the future.  It was my first time using it and a lot of friends and even some people that I didn't know chipped into the final effort.  I might have to turn to them to get the funds raised for the Journey musical but I see that as more of an Internet wide campaign.

I'm really happy at the level of support for the festival (link will send you to the event page on Facebook; please invite yourself and others)!  Everyone seems to want to participate or chip in or something to that effect and it's great having a community level of validation. Now the festival is less than two weeks away.  Posters were handled today as well as postcards.  Get in touch with me if you're going to have time to throw the posters up around town!

The Errant Knaves in NYC is going well.  Shaun, the director, is a really outstanding gentleman who's keeping me very well informed about the progress of the play.  I also sent him a snippet of another play I'm working on called Here Are The Rules.  I believe that I've mentioned here before.  Haven't heard back from him in the last week, but no news is good news.

He's very open with me about what he thinks of the play (which is generally supportive with moments of  confusion and a lack of clarity on my part) and he has a dynamic approach with me.  Because I haven't really established a coherent style as of yet, I have to explain a lot of the choices in the play.  That actually works to both of our benefit. It makes me more critical and careful of my choices and Shaun gets a chance to find out what the 'eff I'm talking about.

Last week, I had a run at the Odd Lot.  Pirates of the CarODDbean.  Love working with these actors.  They are engaged, not trying to be funny by themselves and they're happy doing what they are doing.  They have become a true ensemble and that's always a wonderful thing to see.  Improv terrifies me.  All performance does, in a way, but there's something about improvisation that scares me terrifically.  I wish I didn't have the work schedule that I do, that way I could play with them on a regular basis.  If you haven't seen them at Muse Arts Warehouse, DO IT!  They're open most Monday nights, check the website for show information.

Last but not least, I'm working with Sheila Lynne, Chris Soucy and others on an evening reading the work of HP Lovecraft.  In my head, I'm calling it An Evening With Cthulhu.  That's pending approval from Sheila, but if it goes through, I'm totally copyrighting that shit.  I'll post more about it as the details come in.  But end of July!  At Muse Arts Warehouse (naturally!)  Mark your calenders... Do it...

And, at the end of this post, we have the poster as designed by the illustrious Morgann Daniels.  Faustina Smith donated $200 to get her hands on this puppy!  Thanks to Morgann and Faustina!
Designed by Morgann Daniels