Living Dead: Now in 3-D

I don't think we ever shared the video trailer for LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK with our blog readers. Check it out below. Thanks to Lee Liebiskind and Grady Weatherford for their awesome camera work and editing.

Remember, there's only ONE MORE WEEKEND... so get your tickets now by clicking here and find out more about the show by clicking here.

MYTHappropriationV: Day 5: Zombies are people too

Guest blogger Matt Ripa joins us today... sorry to be posting it a day after he wrote it! Matt is directing NARCISSE, John Newman's adaptation of a real honest-to-god true Zombie story...

Get your tickets now for MYTHappropriation, playing TONIGHT at 6pm and 8pm and before you come see it, stop by either DEAD CITY or LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK. You can see a show and MYTHap in one trip to Georgetown! Get your tickets here.

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Being a zombie sucks. Really. Having to travel all over the world searching for brains to eat. In our zombie story, Claire has been wandering for 16 years searching for her sister, the only person who can verify that her story is real. Suprisingly enough, this play is based on a true story in Haiti, in which a man was pronounced dead, buried and then many years later, he shows up looking for his sister. It was confirmed that he was actually dead and his death certificate was signed by his sister. Here he is, Clarivius Narcisse.

Check out the story here,

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952208,00.html

Rehearsals have been going great. Our team has been tasting and trying a lot of different zombie powders and soul powders. It turns out that FunDip is the best for soul powder. This came after some pretty hilarious trials with Sour Patch Kids powder. Tech today went really well and the artistic/tech team was awesome. The cue to cue went smooth and we are excited about the shows tomorrow.

MYTHappropriationV: Day 2: Love and Swine

Last night was the workshop for MYTHappropriationV and let me tell you, we've got some crazy plays this time around. Man-Eating Monkeys, Pig-Sailors, Zombies and death by bacon grease... it's going to be a wild ride. Don't miss a minute of it... get your tickets for MYTHappropriation now!

Today's post comes from Hunter Styles, director of SAILORS, SORCERY AND SOCCER MOMS, Stephen Spotswood's adaptation of the Circe Myth:

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When is a man not a man? When he's a pig!

But aren't all men pigs? It's one of many questions that playwright Stephen Spotswood is puzzling out as he adapts the myth of Circe for the Rorschach stage.

You remember Circe? That enchantress of the rocks, that Greek femme fatale that lured Odysseus and his crew to shore, got them drunk, hosted a wild orgy, then started turning sailors into swine? A mean way to break up a party, but when the rum barrel runs dry I guess there's only so much left to try before the magic wand comes out.

K. Clare Johnson is our Circe incarnate, and she's joined by fellow actors Christian Sullivan, Julia Proctor, and John Tweel in Spotswood's take on the tale. Last night we spent a while reading the script, chatting about the ways in which the contemporary mashes up with the mythic (always a plus in adaptations) and we finished off the night in a table workshop with Randy Baker himself, alongside a veritable thinktank of other directors, writers, and designers.

To report what we're up to would be a crime, especially for an 8-12 minute show, but you may have guessed that there will be some zoomorphic plot twists, some blurring of the lines between human and animal... some "ensorcelling," if you will, and a bit of a power struggle among those with the power to piggify and those without.

Over the next few nights we'll be rehearsing in a living room in Woodley Park. The neighbors might wonder who's thumping around and casting the spells next door, but that's a price we're willing to pay. Our next-door antics might even intrigue them enough to join us in the Gonda Theatre on Sunday.

Stephen went on an epic journey of his own last night in creating Draft 2 of our show. Now it's time to stand it up and see what happens. Join us on Sunday evening for the bizarre and hilarious final product!

Love and swine,
Hunter Styles
Director

TWITTERING a zombie revolution

Rorschach Theatre has discovered twitter.


To follow us, head on over to http://twitter.com/rorschachdc. You don't even have to join twitter to get a sense of the cool things that are being posted by our conspirators! Below are some excerpts from our live tweeting during opening night of LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK.
(SPOILER ALERT! The live coverage gives away major plot points and twists!)
Oh and the times are PST for some reason...


1:04 PM Living Dead in Denmark opens tonight! One of our conspirators will be tweeting about the Un-Dead LIVE! Starting @ 7pm.
3:39 PM The zombie army is having one last fight call before opening night!
4:07 PM hoards of the living are gathering in the lobby of the Gonda Theater for Living Dead in Denmark.
4:11 PM body bags hang over the stage... a soundtrack of screams and cracking bones... thats just the pre show!
4:13 PM we begin....
4:17 PM "where the fuck am I!?"
4:21 PM Ophelia and the Gravedigger are gettin' down... he feels ya Ophelia...
4:26 PM Lady M has a mighty fine axe and Juliet looks great in pig tails.
4:31 PM zombie death count: 5
4:37 PM "your mission...seek out and kill the zombie lord..."
4:44 PM Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Un-Dead.
4:53 PM "get thee to a bomb shelter!"
4:55 PM was that the theme to Doogie Howser?
5:00 PM Zombie death count: 12
5:14 PM Make that 13... and so ends Act 1.
5:15 PM Act 2: "And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest...BITCH!"
5:21 PM Bond....Hamlet Bond...?
5:28 PM Ophelia has such bad luck with men.
5:34 PM "And thats what I call a plot twist!"
5:45 PM Finally we have an answer to that age old question: which is more badass ninjas or zombies?
5:47 PM Shakespeare's witches and monsters are just misunderstood.
5:52 PM GIRL FIGHT!!!
5:55 PM Fortinbras and ninja stars make an excellent combination.
5:57 PM Just one last bad guy to terminate!
5:58 PM BLOOD!!! Lots of it!
6:00 PM still bleeding!
6:02 PM ummm... wow.... still bleeding...

MYTH-appropriation V: Day 1

MYTH IS BACK! Our extreme new play development event returns for two rounds, performing on August 9 and August 16. You can get your tickets now by clicking here.

Our first meeting was last night and the playwrights spent last night writing drafts of their plays. The themes for this first round are myths based on themes of the season, so you will see stories based on The Arabian Nights, Ulysses, Zombies and as you will see with today's entry, TALES OF POSSESSION...

We'll be hearing from guest bloggers all this week and next week as the process proceeds. We'll also keep you up to date with the happenings of LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK and DEAD CITY, both of which are in full swing. It's a busy time for the Rorschach Blog... you don't want to miss a minute of it.

Today's entry comes from Akiva Fox, director of Colin Hovde's adaptation of the real life story behind the Exorcist (title still TBA!). Special thanks today for some awesomely creepy photos of the exorcist stairs by C. Stanley Photo.


The Power of Christ Compels you...

Hey, remember the end of The Exorcist? No? Allow me to ruin it for you: the priest dies. Actually, two priests die, but that's immaterial. The Young Priest, Father Karras, dares the devil who has possessed a girl to jump into him. Father Karras then nobly flings himself out of the window and down the world's steepest stairs (which are conveniently located beneath the window).

We - playwright Colin Hovde, actors Jacob Yeh, Dave Bobb, Josh Drew, and John Milosich, and me, director Akiva Fox - received the story of The Exorcist as our myth to appropriate. Because of our heartfelt concern for you, the blogged public, we knew that mere words would not be enough. No, we had to give you eye-catching imagery, the kind that sells tickets. That's right. We visited the stairs.

As you may know, writer William Peter Blatty set both his novel and the screenplay adapted from it in and around Georgetown University (his alma mater). So we left the climate-controlled confines of the university's Davis Performing Arts center to walk the three blocks to the stairs where poor Father Karras bit it. And we proceeded to take the following action shots, shocking and horrifying patrons of the Exxon station at the bottom of those stairs.

You'll be surprised to learn that this is hardly the only DC-area connection to The Exorcist. Blatty supposedly based it on the 1949 exorcism of a Cottage City, Maryland boy. Inanimate objects would jump in the boy's presence, and strange scratching noises would emanate from the walls of his room. So they called a few Catholic Priests, and they exorcised him silly. The boy lashed out with violence, cursing, and more Latin phrases than a 13-year-old Lutheran ought to know.

My two favorite facts about this legendary exorcism: one, the possession first arose after a particularly strenuous Ouija board experience with his aunt. Two, the case only came to public awareness some months later, when a minister described it to a meeting of the Society of Parapsychology at the Mount Pleasant Library. Any myth that involves board games, the DC public library system and demonic possession can't be bad.

Remember: the power of Christ compels you...to see this show!

TRACY RULES RORSCHACH FOR A DAY

Tracy Lynn Olivera wakes the dead tonight.

Rorschach doesn't sing very often. We're great with the animal noise, stage violence that will make you squirm and all sort of other epic goodness...but the singing here at Rorschach is pretty rare. But all that changes tonight when Tracy takes over. Frankly, she is the perfect person to be doing this. Beautiful, brilliant and talented--with the mouth of a sailor.

She has assembled an outstanding team of guest stars including Gabriel Mangiante on the keys and Monalisa Arias on drums. That's right, you saw Monalisa play Rosemary in BRAINPEOPLE, now come see her bang out a mean rythm. Some other guests include Evan Casey, Robyn Badman, Stephen Gregory Smithand Rachel Zampelli.

So join us tonight for this ONE NIGHT ONLY fundraiser for Rorschach! It's only ten bucks.

Tickets are on sale here or at 1-800-494-TIXS you can try your luck at the door tonight.

(A picture from last night's rehearsal...)