birds is Coming

birds
BY JENNIFER MAISEL
Directed by Wendy McClellan
June 30 – July 28
Previews begin June 27
(World Premiere)

A wealthy woman with a past falls into the city’s urban underbelly when she gives a homeless man her lover’s coat. Brothers Grimm meet modern-day New York in a dark circus of lost lives and magic charms where the lives of the homeless man, the prostitute and the stockbroker are inextricably intertwined.

BIRDS was developed by Rorschach Theatre’s MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES new-play program.

PRODUCED BY: Jenny McConnell Frederick and Randy Baker

FEATURING: Company Member Tim Getman. Also featuring Brian Hemmingson, Nanna Ingvarsson, Marissa Molnar, Jjana Valentiner

DESIGNED BY: Jacob Muehlhausen (Set), Deb Sullivan (Lights), Debra Kim Sivingy (Costumes), Matthew Nielson (Sound), Andrew F. Griffin (Asst. Lighting Design), Roni Lancaster(Asst. Set Design)

STAGE MANAGED BY: Viv Woodland

SHOW SCHEDULE: JUNE 30-JULY 29 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm MORE

SHOWS TO BE ADDED SOON (including the matinees)

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN PREVIEWS JUNE 27-29 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 8pm

A Message from Randy to the 365ers (Is that a word?)

Thanks everyone for one the more wonderfully weird evenings in Rorschach Theatre's History! :)

And this coming from the theatre that did UBO ROI.

But seriously, it was fantastic to work with such a universally strong cast and group of directors. And it was seriously fun. From what I've heard of other 365 events, I'm really glad we did it they way we did. It seems that many folks have sort of shuffled through the motions and produced these nights out of obligation rather than an attempt to have a good time and made something of these little gems.

Thank you everyone for your talent and your time. I hope you had as much fun performing them as I did watching them.

-Randy

Dispatch from Superman's Buddy Jimmy O.

This the dispatch that arrived in my mail box this morning from Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker. Scroll down to the previous entry to get the 411 on the what 365 is about, but here Randy has done a pretty impressive job of explaining the Rorschachian twist on the sha-bang. The event is tonight so get yourselves over to Casa for a good old fashioned throw-down. Here is the link if you want more details.

So I’m playing Scott’s Jimmy Olsen today, out in the field, being his intrepid reporter.

On Saturday I attended the remarkable rehearsal/creation process for our entry into the 365plays/365days festival. It was a blast watching everyone furiously create their interpretations of Suzan-Lori Parks’ weird little plays. The six casts were rehearsing at once in every corner of the building. It was a great way to spend a beautiful Saturday.

The festival is a pretty amazing event… Suzan-Lori parks committed to writing a play a day for an entire year… Now the world premiere of this play cycle is being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in 14 major cities and communities around the country by over 600 theatres. It’s the largest theatre collaboration in U.S. History.

Six months ago I remember thinking, so that’s all fine and good but… one of our hang-ups was that we thought the event might become more of an obligation rather than an exciting event unto itself. We were about to pass on the idea when our good friend Becky Peters called us up and said. “No! Don’t do that! It can be cool! I can help you make it cool!” So we took her word for it. Teamed her up with another good friend of ours, director Jessie Gallogly, and said: “You two. Make it cool.”

The “concept” we came up with was one that we hoped would simultaneously speak to the whirlwind spirit in which Parks wrote her plays and one that used some of Rorschach’s signature elements: uncommon use of space, good ensemble work and maybe even adding a little bit of the epic into these little pieces.

So actors and directors met on Saturday at 11am and received their scripts. No one had seen their plays before then. The casts and their directors then had 5 hours to create a fully staged piece.

To make things interesting, we imposed a series of 10 “rules” to which every group had to adhere.

1. Time: Each group was told their plays had to be AT LEAST 8 minutes long and NO MORE than 15 minutes long. Keep in mind, that some of the plays that Parks wrote were less than a page long.
2. The Space/architecture: Each group was instructed to use the space and the architecture in some unique way.
3. The Props: Each group had to use a total of three props - no more, no less. One of those three props had to be the NOWHERE sign.
4. The Costumes: They had to use them. No limitations or instructions were given beyond that…
5. The Budget: They were not allowed to spend more than $10 on the show.
6. The Twist: ….they could not add any props, costumes or any theatrical elements to the play between Saturday and now. What they could find on Saturday is what they are using tonight.
7. The Scripts: Needed to be memorized.
8. The Juggler: aka Ken. Each group had to find a way to incorporate him into their play.
9. The Audience : Make them happy and each play had to incorporate at least one member of the audience in some way.
10. The Title / The Text: The name of the title had be worked into the play. This was the ONLY text that could be added to the play. Lines could be repeated or even moved around but nothing could be added or subtracted from the scripts.

The plays are amazing. The words on the page were really just a jumping off point. What these crazy young directors and actors created is nothing short of brilliant. So funny and at times maybe even a little moving.

Ya gotta come see this tonight. You won’t be disappointed.

MIRS: 365 Plays/365 Days

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Produced by Becky Peters and Jessie Gallogly

Monday, May 21 at 8pm

Free Admission

Seven plays.

Fourteen actors.

Six directors.

One juggler.

365 PLAYS/365 DAYS is a collection of short plays by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG and THE AMERICA PLAY. On Monday, May 21 RORSCHACH THEATRE will join hundreds of other theatres around the country who have come together to present this incredible body of work.

Parks wrote one play each day for a year. Inspired by her example RORSCHACH THEATRE will present its seven plays in the same sort of whirlwind spirit. Actors and directors will meet on Saturday to receive scripts and a list of challenges to work into their productions. On Monday night the theatre doors open and RORSCHACH THEATRE will present seven fully staged productions to an audience hungry for spectacle and excitement!

PRODUCED BY Jessie Gollogly and Becky Peters

DIRECTED BY Cecilia Cackley, Sarah Dendhart, Jessie Gollogly, Ashley Hollingshead, Ryan Taylor and Andy Wassenitch

FEATURING JJ Area, Molly Cahill, Megan Dominy, Ken Elston, Valerie Fenton, Heather Elaine Gaither, Jason Linkins, Cedric Mays, Cassie Platt, Megan Reichelt, John Tweel and Simone Zvi

MORE ON THE 365 PHENOMENON: The world premiere of 365DAYS/365PLAYS is currently being performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in 14 major cities and communities around the country by over 600 theatres in the largest theatre collaboration in U.S. History. 365 Days/365 Plays will be presented in Washington DC, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle, along with the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and university campuses.

For the national 365 site, CLICK HERE
For the DC 365 site, CLICK HERE

Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk

There is a FREE READING tonight at 8pm at Casa, of Rorschach Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker's new play in development, Gilgamesh. I have mentioned this before and will continue to drive the point home that Rorschach is committed to bringing new works to the stage.

Rather than give you a synopsis of the play, I am providing a video of Jean-Luc Picard explaining the story of Gilgamesh to a dying alien, played by the late Paul Winfield in the Epsiode Darmok. The first part of the video concerns Picard translating the language of the alien. If you want to hear Patrick Stewart tell the story in his deep rich voice jump ahead to about 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the video.



The reading features, many of your Rorschach favorite. No reservations necessary, just show up at 8pm and enjoy! There will also be a short discussion after the reading. Come help new work grow.

MIRS: Gilgamesh

Randy Baker is working on a new play. It is the story of Gilgamesh the ancient king of Uruk and his journey to storm the gates of heaven. Last night we had a rehearsal read for the upcoming Magic in Rough Spaces reading next Tuesday, May 15th at 8pm. Admission is FREE.

As with any work in progress the cast gave feedback and praise for what will be a very exciting and beautiful show. If you don't know the story of Gilgamesh follow the link to Wikipedia for more information.

I encourage anyone who has an interest in new works to come to the reading next Tuesday and help the artistic process along, either with your comments or simply with your presence. Believe it or not new plays don't just appear fully formed in script form, but events like this free reading serve an important role in shaping and re-shaping the words and actions that the playwright creates.

The reading will be directed by Co-Artistic Director, Jenny McConnell Frederick and features some Rorschach Theatre Regulars and some good friends of ours:

Gilgamesh Andrew Price
Naomi Becky Peters
Enkidu Scott McCormick
Aaron Jesse Terril
Ishtar Tiernan Monderno
Shiduri Maggie Glauber
Nadaba Yasmin Tuazon
Samyat Lindsay Haynes
Abraham Michael John Casey
Stage Directions Lee Lebeiskind

See you there!

Randy Baker on the Free Reading of New Play

Monday night was the first rehearsal of our workshop of Jacqueline E. Lawton’s BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED. Rorschach is developing this play as a part of our MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES new play development program. Not to be confused with ROUGH MAGIC, the play that is currently running!

BLOOD BOUND tells the story of Jocasta, a light-skinned black woman who leaves her small town to live as a white woman in World-War-II-era Dallas. There she meets a wealthy lawyer named Laius whom she falls in love with and marries. With the birth of a black child Jocasta’s lies begin and an epic tragedy begins to unfold. If the names sound familiar it’s because Lawton’s explosive play is an adaptation of the OEDIPUS story.

As I listened to the extraordinary actors bring words to life, I found myself thinking, what is it that makes a play a Rorschach play? And what kind of play would we like to have associated with our development process? Too often, it seems, play readings and workshops are added to theatre seasons as an afterthought – without really thinking about what it means to choose a work and develop it. I would posit that at times the plays a theatre chooses to DEVELOP say more about a company than what plays they choose to PRODUCE.

And we couldn't be more excited to produce Jackie's play.

We at Rorschach love plays that have their roots in ancient stories, stories that have been told for hundreds for thousands of years - the idea of bringing new life to them is something powerful. Like we are a campfire around which the fabric of our stories are told and retold. But it’s more than just simply retelling stories – we like works that make fables, myths and old tales RELEVANT - by resetting them in time, by finding forgotten meanings, by conveying a passionate need to make old truths new. The places where worlds meet: past/present, imaginary/real, theatre/audience… it’s in these places that the real magic happens.

But trying to put into words what makes a play a Rorschach play is always difficult. We are still trying to figure that out ourselves…

A dream of mine is a day when explanations won’t be necessary… when our company becomes an adjective… it would be an amazing thing if there came a day when someone in San Francisco or London or Topeka said “I read this play the other day… it’s a very Rorschach play.” I can dream can’t I?

As we grow as a theatre company and we think about how we can pay our actors more and how we can keep the roof from leaking… I find it thrilling to think about a day when plays that are uniquely “us” are developed, produced and put out into the world with our stamp on it. That there will be these plays that no one else will take a chance on but that are perfect for us…

The public reading of BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED is going to be a remarkable event. Come see some great artists bring to life a ferocious new play. And listen to an ancient story told new, an old tale made relevant…

BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED
By Jackie Lawton
Directed by Patrick Crowley
Monday, February 19 at 8pm
Free Admission

FEATURING:
Paige Hernandez as JOCASTA
Clay Steakley as LAIUS
JJ Johnson as CREON
Greg Reid as OEDIPUS
Adrienne Nelson as JENNA