While We Are Waiting

Randy, Colin and the crew are getting love out there in the world for Dream Sailors. First DC Theatre Scene, by way of Lorraine Treanor sends this love their way:

Actors Tony Bullock, Rex Daugherty, Lindsay Hanes, Casie Platt, and Grady Weatherford are doing excellent, convincing work with Shane Wallis a standout among the rest of the ensemble.
As all dreamers know, dreams aren’t static. These flash by, melt and merge into one another thanks to the creative team: Colin Hovde contributes great casting and brisk pacing; set designer Hannah J. Crowell designed a series of panels strung with what look like dried rice noodles (but aren’t) guided by quick footed stage hands, which quickly sluice through the front stage forming different slices of space; and the eerie quality to the dream and waking states are made vivid by the lighting and sound designs (John Burkland and Christopher Baine respectively).

Read it all HERE.

Then Stephanie of the Going Out Gurus over on the Washington Post Blog has this to say:

"Dream Sailors" makes it easy to jump in midway. I went to the second episode without seeing the first and found out that I could watch a "previously on" video on both the Rorschach blog and at the theater before the show began. Rorschach also provides a cheat-sheet with the list of characters, so it's easier to keep everyone--and their bizarre dreams--straight. Earlier episodes will also be reprised if you decide you want to see it all from start to finish.

Read it all HERE.

Grady is working on the next Dream Sailors Trailer. For those of you who are looking for some Dream Sailors' scoop, read on:

Rumors are abounding on the set of Dream Sailors as to a mystery romance. Nothing is confirmed, but a lot of time is spent on the Georgetown campus seeing glimpses of rising star Rex Daugherty and sophomore Rorschach actor Lee Liebeskind holding hands and laughing together. One stealthy paparazzi even caught glimpse of the duo embracing in joy for one another. Last Saturday they were the only two actors playing "Frisbee" together. This reporter attempted to contact each actor for comment but was turned away by their agents. I did get in contact with Lee Liebeskind current "Girlfriend", Megan Reichelt, and was told that "...their relationship is fine and that there are no issues." From her tone of voice on the phone, I am not sure I believe it.

Side Trip with Another Playwright

Hey Blog Bot 3000,

Really interesting interview with Jason Grote (Editor's Note: Author of This Storm is What We Call Progress, coming soon to a Rorschach Theatre near you.). It is made especially interesting because the interviewer - Caridad Svich - is a pretty fantastic playwright as well.

Go here for the interview.

Sincerely,
Randy

Sunday in the Park with Ghatan

Any guesses what Jenny, Randy and David were doing in the park on a freezing Sunday in January? I prefer answers in either Haiku or Limerick form please!

Business Day

There is a beginning to everything.

First off thank you to everyone who voted in the DC Theatre Scene's People's Choice Awards yesterday.

Lorraine Treanor at DC Theatre Scene sent me this email:

Our Back-Up Plan
In case of a tie, we'll have a wrestling match.
Would like to see you go up against Michael Kahn and Gabriella against Nancy Robinette. Now THAT's entertainment! Thanks for ratcheting up the excitement.
-Lorraine

Gabi and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot have pulled ahead of all the nominated actresses and shows, but there is still more work to do. If you haven't voted vote, if you think it might be worth sending an email out to your friends to have them vote, please do so. This thing is in our grasp until someone else starts lobbying harder than we do. Vote HERE if you haven't already and read below if you need a refresher on the 411.

Two big new play events coming up in the following weeks. The first one is Rorschach's contribution to the Kennedy Center's Annual Page to Stage Event. Rorschach's Co-Artistic Director Randy Baker, will be having a preview of the first Episode of his new work Dream Sailors on Saturday, September 2nd at 5:30 p.m. in the Family Theater at that Big Theater on the Potomac.

Dream Sailors will play out over four episodes and will receive its World Premiere this Spring as part of Rorschach's Season 8.

The event is free and you can make a day of it or even a weekend as other theaters will be giving free readings of new works. This is a great event and fantastic way to see some of your favorite actors, directors and especially playwrights bring life to new words and works.

In the same vein of getting in on new works, how about seeing six of them in one night.

Rorschach proudly announces, our own new annual event. Myth-Appropriations will bring 6 playwrights, together with 6 directors and numerous actors and designers to bring six new plays to life in just six days.

The plan is that each year a different set of myths, fairy tales and sagas will be tapped for their dramatic potential and will be fully produced in just 6 days. This year the playwrights will tackle the works of The Brothers Grimm. Yes, all of those warm stories of sibling torture, children being eaten and matricide of your childhood will be brought to theatrical life in about the same amount of time that it takes a lot of shows to simply get through a first read and table work.

Here are some of the folks who will bring this thing to life:
WRITTEN BY Norman Allen, Randy Baker, Ally Currin, James Hesla, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Gwyddion Suilebhan
DIRECTED BY Jessi Burgess, Michael Dove, Dan pruksarnukul, Patrick Torres, Catherine Tripp, Andy Wassenich
DESIGNED BY David Ghatan, Robbie Hayes, Debra Kim Sivigny
FEATURING Evan Casey, Jenny Corbett, Nicola Daval, Christopher Dinolfo, Daniel Eichner, Dana Edwards, Heather Gaither, Maggie Glauber, Jeremy Goren, Michael Grew, Cesar Guadamuz, Lauren Krizner, Jason Linkins, John Michael MacDonald, Adrienne Nelson, Sasha Olinick, Helen Pafumi, Ghillian Porter, Betsy Rosen, Mark Ross, Jesse Terrill, Amanda Thickpenny, Wendy Wilmer, Simone Zvi
PRODUCED BY Randy Baker and Jenny McConnell Frederick

Participants are subject to change. But you know you want to be there.

Tickets are just $10 and there are only two shows. So if you want to book your seats early for this one night only event on September 8th at 8 and 10 p.m. I suggest you follow this link and do so now or call 1-800-494-TIXS.

Jenny and Randy Get Examined

Small theater gets a plug in today's edition of the Washington Examiner. Jenny and Randy get quoted in not one but two articles, which are written by the DCist's Theater Critic, Missy Frederick, who coincidentally writes for the Business Section of the Examiner. Both of articles are right next to one another so scanning and reading are made easy. Click to embiggen the above image or pick up an Examiner for free on the street somewhere to read the article and to see a fine looking MJ Casey in a photo from the current Catalyst production of The Flu Season which runs just two more weekends.

In addition to Rorschach Company Member Michael John The Flu Season also includes Rorschach Alums Ghillian Porter, Alexander Strain, Dan Via and Ellen Young. It is also directed by Jessi Burgess, director of Rorschach's The Beard of Avon.

Also running are In On It and Blue/Orange over at Theater Alliance. In On It features Rorschach Company Member Jason Stiles and Rorschach Alum Jason Lott. Blue/Orange is directed by Jeremy Skidmore who a couple years back directed After the Flood for Rorschach. In On It closes this weekend and Blue/Orange has been extended until June 10th, check the links for show schedules.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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.

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!

MONSTER Cast

Some of the favorites you have come to love at Rorschach and a lot of new folks take the stage in just under two months as Rorschach presents Neal Bell's adaptation of Mary Shelley's shocking and timeless classic of mankind treading in the realm of the gods themselves and creating life, Frankenstein. Monster will open on October 31st, will you be ready?

Join Artistic Director Randy Baker as he directs Rorschach favorites like Paul McLane (The Scarlet Letter and Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards) and Resident Company Member Jason Linkins (The Master and Margarita, The Scarlet Letter and Behold!) along with lots of new faces and talent.

I can't wait to be scared ladies and gentlemen and I hope you feel the same way. Here is the rest of the cast:

WALTON Paul McLane
VICTOR Jeremy Goren
ELIZABETH Lily Balsen
CLERVAL Jon Reynolds
FATHER/FORSTER Jason Linkins
MOTHER Nicky Daval
JUSTINE Tiernan Madorno
WILLIAM Ryan Nealy
MONSTER Robert (Bobby) Rector

Book End with Cha Cha

I will warn you now. No one took this project to heart like Randy Baker. His answers are exhaustive and I mean that in every sense of the word. He is also the only person to provide a photo which might get me booted off blogger, so be warned there is ass on this page.

Randy Baker has many secrets. Every time I think I have the man figured out a new bit of him pops onto my radar and I scratch my head until it hurts and then move on. His passion for theater and for Rorschach may only have one equal and that is Jenny McConnell Frederick. Between the two of them they drive this company forward and hold the band of us together like a tightly knit poly-blend, which allows plenty of movement and breathes quite well. He has directed Rhinoceros, JB, Behold! and Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards. He wrote the strange and wonderful blending of puppets and 20 something exploration that was After the Flood.

He will soon be marrying Ms. Deb Sivingy and how he got that lucky I will never know. Of course she got lucky too, because he is a man of infinite ideas and boundless enthusiasm.

The one and only Randy Baker!

1. Place of birth?

Mt Alvernia Hospital in Singapore.

2. First experience in theater?

In the first grade I was in a production of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. I was cast in a large speaking role that the teacher/writer created for me... I was like the Pied Piper's buddy or something... but I REALLY wanted to be a rat. The idea of having whiskers and a tale was INTOXICATING. So much to my teacher's chagrin - after creating all that purple prose for me to speak - I became a rat. My mom made the costume. I was brilliant.

3. Where you went to school?

Preschool: Iran. A little town called Ahwaz. There used to be Americans in Iran. We were kindly escorted out of the country in 1978.

Pre-K and Kindergarten: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the first time a teacher was convinced I should be tested for being a "genius." My mother told the teacher I was faking and could just talk a good game. I was tested. My mom was right.

First Grade: Washington DC. Went to Horace Mann up near American University. Experienced my first trick or treating experience. Learned that being American meant you get lots of candy. LOTS of candy.

Second Grade: Cairo, Egypt. Tried to trick or treat in Egypt. Got a lot of strange looks. I guess they didn't like candy in Egypt. Or Americans. Since shortly after that fated Halloween President Sadat was assassinated for making deals with the Americans and Israelis. I think if I hadn't taken all their candy that history would have been different.

3rd, 4th Grade: Moved to Singapore. Went to a British School for two years. Learned that randy meant something very different to British people.

5th grade-12th grade: Switched over to the Singapore American School. And yes. I knew Michael Fay, the guy who got caned.

College: University of Richmond. Learned that "barbeque" referred to the sandwich AND the substance. When you order "barbeque" it's redundant to say "barbeque sandwich."

4. What do you do?

Director, Writer, producer, House Manager, production manager, Resident Cockroach Killer


5. What was your first experience with Rorschach?

The summer of ‘99 is kind of a blur of alcohol, very little sleep and very big ideas.
We were all working day jobs, freelancing in theater and having a great time staying up late, drinking too much and dreaming big about theatre. I was working as production manager of Theater J, Jenny was waiting tables in Shirlington and working part time at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.

While at Theater J I met and became friends with Jason Gots. He had always wanted to direct Eugene O’Neill's The Hairy Ape. I remember we read through the play in his dimly-lit, barely-furnished apartment in Mt. Pleasant. I remember thinking... this play is un-stageable. It's crazy. It's huge. It is never done and probably for good reason. But Jenny and I had a fair idea of how to put together a show and had more than a few resources between my contacts at Theater J and hers at Woolly... and more important than that - we had a ton of young friends who didn't have a voice: They were building sets rather than designing them, stage managing shows rather than directing them, acting in non-speaking roles rather than in featured roles. And no one was going to give them a break any time soon. So it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put into motion some of those crazy ideas we had talked about on those late nights and give a voice to a company of artists previously unheard.

So Jenny and I, Jason and our set designer friend Jordana Adelman decided to go for it. Jason and I had a name. POOR TOM PLAYERS. Jenny told us that was not going to be our name and we were like...

JASON: No It's from King Lear!
RANDY: You know when King Lear looks at Edgar and he sees him charading as poor tom and he says "is man nothing more than this..."
JASON: It's wrought with the human condition, the real essence --
JENNY: It's a dumb name.
JASON: Oh.
RANDY: Yeah.
JENNY: So let’s think up something new?
JASON: Cool. Well we'll work on something. Let's all --
JENNY: Um...
RANDY: What?
JENNY: I think we need to think of a name tonight.
JASON: No because I have a --
JORDANA: Hey guys, what's going on?
RANDY: We need to think of a name for our theatre company.
JORDANA: Oy vey.
JENNY: We need to think of one tonight.
RANDY: Yeah but why?
JASON: I have to get to a --
JENNY: Tomorrow's Helen Hayes.
RANDY: So?
JORDANA: So if we are talking about our new theatre company, we need to have a name.
RANDY: Right.
JASON: Right.
JENNY: So...
JASON: Space Chimp! We should call ourselves Space Chimp theatre!

Somewhere around dawn we came up with Rorschach Theatre.

I remember we only ran The Hairy Ape for three weeks and I remember putting it up almost killed us... Seriously. Literally. Our props designer Samantha Aron tripped over some of the crap that was strewn about during "tech" and cut herself and had to be rushed to the hospital! And then there was the scaffolding/bucket contraption that broke on show number 13, and then there was the night that Andrew Price (playing Yank) hit his pipe against the banister as he was supposed to do and a piece of pipe shot through the audience. And then there was... Anyway. We all lived. That's the point.

Though fraught with danger, the show went on and we were pretty proud of what we had created. It was ours. In a way that no show we had ever done before was.

We finally got the Post to come. I'm not sure how. I think maybe Michael Kyrioglou from Woolly might have put in a call to Bill Triplett. It was a Friday night and we knew the review was going to come out in the next day’s paper. We stayed out all night, drinking at Townhouse Tavern on 17th street... and just as the bar was closing we ran over to the 7-11 to find that the Saturday paper had come out (the romance of this story depends on the idea that the Post online wasn't quite as developed in 1999). The review was a rave in a way that we couldn't believe. The rest of the run (one week) was sold out and we had a strange beast in our hands... a theatre company.

I guess that's kind of more than just one experience. But like I said. It was a blurry summer. And it all seems like one night to me.

6. Company member you would most like to be if you were not yourself?

Melissa Schwartz. Because I secretly wish that I were working in politics. And she's like all CJ Craig and stuff. Okay. I don't really wish I were working in politics. I wish I were working in the white house on West Wing.

7. Some story about working on a Rorschach play that either made you laugh or touched you deeply?

So so many... what to choose? Breaking into the building during Master and Margarita... opening of A Clearing in the Woods with so much going wrong I thought we were going to die... JB opening two days after September 11 and lighting candles on the sidewalk in dirty, abandoned Southwest DC...rehearsing in a loading dock for Rhinoceros...

But you know. It all touches me deeply. The idea that strangers come to see what we put on and that some of them even come back.

The fact that we have been blessed with the opportunity to keep producing theatre is astonishing. With so many obstacles - money, space, finding an audience, doing everything while everyone involved has day jobs - it is amazing to me that we have not only survived but that we are really doing quite well. Doing the plays we want to do and having people come to see them and getting to do it over and over - that is an amazing thing.

8. Where do you think Rorschach will be in the next ten years?

We will be moving into a brand new space of our own. We will have a paid staff. We will have huge, excited audiences. We will have artists who are thrilled to work with us. We will be producing theatre that changes the world.

A guy can dream can't he?

9. What is your favorite Rorschach show that you were not in?

Technically I wasn't in anything... but my favorite show that I didn't direct or write... wow this is hard... i'm so close to all of them - it's like choosing a favorite child! In chronological order... The Hairy Ape, The Illusion, Family Stories and Master and Margarita. is that cheating, choosing four?

10. Scott McCormick harmless adolecent or world conquering super villain?

See "The Kingpin."