Setting up for our 4:00 show at Senn High School with fable fest!
Sarah Rose, puppeteer for The Teacher, and I talk after a run on Saturday.
PEOPLE. Plays take a long time to make.
- May 2011: I get the idea for this play.
- September 2011: first meeting of design team
- January 2012: first rehearsal
- May 2012 (thursday): first full presentation of the first draft.
It’s hard not to feel like all I’ve discovered is how much more there is to discover. I want this to be so perfect, and I want it to be that way NOW. (actually, make that TWO MONTHS AGO).
I pointlessly blathered about this after rehearsal, over beer, to my friend and co-dreamer who has been right next to me every step of the way.
She listened, she nodded, and then she reminded me how far we’ve come from when I first told her about this idea in my head, for this show I wanted to build with no real money or resources or space: this show with strong female characters, with storytelling and magic and moments of straight-up theatrical beauty and wonder, that doesn’t just pop up for a 6-week run and die away.
She’s right. We’ve done it.
It isn’t perfect, it sure as hell isn’t finished, but holy crap, it’s up and on its feet and it is happening. It is not just a dream in my head or an idea in a notebook. It’s happening. You can see it. THIS WEEK.
this is a link to LIKE US ON FACEBOOK YO!
Thank goodness, we are finally legit. A Facebook page. WE MADE IT!
There be some hijinks happening at The Story Story rehearsal, but we are working harrrrrd.
And possibly blowing off a little steam by getting crunk on Windex.
Art is happening all the time.
Just to join in the tributes to Maurice Sendak:
My favorite work by the always great, now late Mr. Sendak: Little Bear. Innocence, adventure and undying love of cake-and-naps.
I am pleased that it is one of my husband’s nicknames for me.
Tracking and plotting out the projections. Now with all 3 stories, we have around 400 individual transparencies. Dang!
Istanbul International Puppet Festival
Hooooly crap. Puppets in Turkey, y’all.
I have no idea how to go about this, but I think the first step is to build the show that you can take.
So I’ll just do that now.
// In The White Sky//
My college roommate and forever friend Hilary sends me poems. In fact, it was one that she sent me, “Story,” by Sabine Miller, that started this entire project.
Here is one she sent me yesterday that is just right to get right now.
In the White Sky
Many things in the world have
already happened. You can
go back and tell about them.
They are part of what we
own as we speed along
through the white sky.
But many things in the world
haven’t yet happened. You help
them by thinking and writing and acting.
Where they begin, you greet them
or stop them. You come along
and sustain the new things.
Once, in the white sky there was
a beginning, and I happened to notice
and almost glimpsed what to do.
But now I have come far
to here, and it is away back there.
Some days, I think about it.
Fable Festival
Our first full and final performance of the Spring Workshop Series approaches! Behold! Buy tickets!
// five pages of feedback//
From around 40 - 60 people at the show Monday night.
My brain has been spinning. So much information!
Here is but a tidbit.
“What moments resonated with you?”
Apple and Sword Moment (10+ reactions)
- o Apple and sword moment made most sense connecting puppets and imagery
- o Gesture matched image
- o Most resonating
Climax of giving doll into the fire (5+ reactions)
- o Moment when little girl gives her doll into the fire and reflects
- o Child’s wisdom – 2nd story- answer coming from the child
Opening
- o Puppet chasing the light (3 positive responses)
1st Story
- o When the younger puppet changed the story (4 positive responses)
- o The Wolf’s eyes
- o Alternation between the wolf’s eyes and the girl’s eyes
2nd Story
- o The blue flowers
- o The heart in the fire (gorgeous)
- o The heart/remembrance moments in the Native American Story
Misc.
- When the projectors clicked on, it excited me
- Seeing puppet’s eyes
- All the elements working well together
- When the interaction between puppets played into story action
- Image/tension of puppets never touching, reaching out
- The puppet feeling her hair
- The interactions between puppets brings passion to the story
- Background possibly distracting- timing issues
- Appreciate completeness of the story
- First story was specifically engaging
- Dynamic animation- projections moving separately from each other
Grantmakers In the Arts
I’m not starting a theater company. I’m just making theater. Here’s an article about how and why people do that, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Last night: Packed. Amazing.
Today: Zonk.
photo by Timmy from Starbelly Studios, who took some incredible shots last night.
Oy.
My posting always falls off when we get close to a show, and guess what, that show is TONIGHT y’all.
Black Rock, 3614 N. Damen, 7:30, FREE NINETY-NINE.
It’s a work in progress, a sneak peek into our process, it’s going to be great and if I weren’t such a perfectionist I wouldn’t even bother with that “sneak peek” language. Cause it just looks, sounds, and feels beautiful, and I am very tired but very proud and please come and if you like it, buy me a bourbon and a sandwich.
Every show I’ve done has either made midseason or given some kind of trouble before it happened. Every movie has been delayed. I expect problems.
We're building a show with puppets, projections, and magic sweat.
