11:36pmKyle
hey lady.
11:36pmShannon
Hey man.
11:36pmKyle
How’s your week?
11:37pmShannon
It was great and hot.
How was yours?
11:37pmKyle
hot and hot.
and also great.
11:37pmShannon
sure, sure.
11:38pmKyle
That’s what Theatre on the Lake Summer Camp Fun Time is all about….being hot!
11:38pmShannon
yes.
Andy reminded me that Theatre on the Lake is where Edward (the vampire from Twillight) originally dies.
11:38pmKyle
spooky.
11:39pmShannon
Andy needs to stop reading Twillight.
11:39pmKyle
Let the boy have his stories.
11:40pmShannon
fine.
11:40pmKyle
It’s the small things.
11:40pmShannon
I am on Facebook just staring at Allison Latta’s new baby Wyatt.
He is beautiful.
11:41pmKyle
Yes, indeed. Can’t wait to meet the trouble maker.
11:42pmKyle
Are you excited about doing Red Noses back at The Dog again?
11:42pmShannon
Yes! While we all miss Latta (Flagellant Sister Wife from the original Red Noses) and all the others Noses we have some new, amazing actors that we get to play with all summer!
New Noses!
11:43pmKyle
We are spreading…like the plague.
11:43pmShannon
sure.
11:43pmKyle
but like a good plague, you know?
11:43pmShannon
ok.
11:44pmKyle
It’s like the same way a video or something goes viral.
it’s a good thing.
11:44pmShannon
I think Bret Michaels is actually joining the cast once we get back to Strawdog.
which is fine.
11:44pmKyle
is he out of the hospital?
11:44pmShannon
not yet.
11:45pmKyle
are we going to Skype him in?
11:45pmShannon
speaking of, we should bring Tom Hickey some donuts.
11:45pmKyle
He’s fine.
11:45pmShannon
like a donut boquet?
11:45pmKyle
and i don’t think he likes donuts.
11:45pmShannon
well?
11:46pmKyle
what would a donut boquet look like?
11:47pmShannon
I will make one for Amerisnax.
11:47pmKyle
http://www.etsy.com/listing/36655721/donut-shop-love-bouquet
11:47pmShannon
My Facebook ads right now are: “Become a Social Worker” and “Sharks!”
we will cut this part.
11:48pmKyle
oh definitely.
especially because we were misspelling bouquet.
can’t have that on the blog.
11:49pmShannon
what has a year away taught you about Red Noses?
11:49pmKyle
that i’m forgetful?
11:49pmShannon
learning lines is your FAVORITE thing to do.
ha!
11:50pmKyle
ha!
but seriously folks…
11:50pmShannon
also, you love impersonating lunatics.
pancakes?
11:51pmKyle
I think with this time around it’s been fun to play it closer to reality and less of a comedic character. which i guess according to you makes me a lunatic.
11:52pmShannon
Affirmative.
11:52pmKyle
mmwwhaaaaaaahahahaaaa
my wife thinks i’m mad because i like pancakes…and waffles. i really like waffles.
11:53pmShannon
I am just glad that Red Noses is the infectious disease that is was the first time around.
11:53pmKyle
with butter and maple syrup….mmmmm…..syrup.
mmmmmm….infectious disease….oh, wait.
11:53pmShannon
A joyful infection of hope.
11:54pmKyle
yes. it’s fun to see people get bowled over with joy. you can’t help but come along for the ride.
unless your a poopy-pants.
11:55pmKyle
your not a poopy-pants are you?
11:55pmShannon
it’s you’re!
c’mon.
11:55pmKyle
Sure it is. and man landed on the moon.
11:56pmShannon
what does that even mean?
11:57pmKyle
everyone knows that “you’re” and “your” are interchangeable like “potato” and “POTATO.”
11:57pmShannon
do you have a fever?
11:58pmKyle
know i donut.
11:58pmKyle
due ewe?
11:58pmShannon
quick- three words that describe Strawdog Red Noses:
11:58pmKyle
nothing butta goodtime.
11:59pmShannon
oooo, Bret’s probably gonna want a big check at first rehearsal.
he’s fired.
12:00amKyle
is playing Marguerite different this time around?
12:00amShannon
yes.
12:00amShannon
and no.
12:00amKyle
how not so?
12:01amShannon
like I said to Johnny, I don’t think many of us, that did it the first time, put it too far away from us when the first run ended.
12:02amKyle
yes and.
12:03amShannon
It was like falling off a bicycle. You just pick it back up and remember the joys of the first discoveries and it is so refreshing to just say “yes” again with these people.
12:05amKyle
agreed.
and also it’s fun to do theatre!
12:06amShannon
and see theatre. By the way, we have to go see Streetcar.
12:06amKyle
oh, yes. we have to!
maybe next weekend?
12:07amShannon
yes.
12:07amKyle
that’ll be fun. i like going on dates.
12:08amShannon
me too.
12:09amKyle
are you looking at Huffington Post while we are doing this?
12:09amMe
done.
cut.
12:09amKyle
paste.
Shhhh...I'm not going to hurt you. I love you!
tags: Company News, Ensemble News, Production, Uncategorized author: StrawBlog comments: No Comments
July 20th, 2010
Andy recently got a chance to sit down with the incredibly busy and talented Eric Roach, playwright, actor, and member of the Factory Theater. He was thrilled to discuss the upcoming Plea Circus (June 18th and 19th), Strawdog ensemble members, and the history of our famed company.
Andy
Hi Eric! Nice to see you today!
What’s been happening?
Eric
Hi Anderson! Well, I’ve been working on my Pilates, which is doing a number on my glutes, and I’m also starting up a Precious Moments website, where PM fans can talk about their favorite pieces and what not. Grueling.
Andy
I bet. How do you have time for all that stuff, and still be such a hero in the theatrical community?
Eric
When you achieve your dreams, then you just have to dream bigger, that’s my motto!
Andy
Well, I’m really excited to be able to talk to you about Strawdog Theatre, a company that is very close to my heart, and my artistic home for experimenting and refining my amazing abilities. As well as producing some really ground breaking art as an ensemble.
Eric
Wait, The Artistic Home? They are so good.
Andy
They are good, but we are talking about Strawdog Theatre today. You see, after our incredible season finished with the immediate classic “The Good Soul of Szechuan”, we decided to try to meet some our budget goals by having “The Strawdog Plea Circus” later this month.
Eric
I’ve heard of that! Listen, you guys do awesome stuff! I’d hate for that space to get turned into a Persian rug warehouse or something! Although, the city could use more of those, so I’m a little torn.
Andy
I understand. Could you please give me a quick history lesson about Strawdog?
As YOU understand it.
Eric
I’d be SO happy to, Andy! Back in 1935, the WPA started the Federal Theatre Project, which as you know was the most ambitious governmental project to support out of work actors since prisons were incorporated.
Phineas J. Higginbotham, a stalwart young entrepreneur with an eye for the stage, started up the WPA Strawdog Theatrical Collective and Music Hall with Federal funds on Broadway right here in Chicago, IL!
Andy
You know what?… that’s actually pretty accurate.
Eric
It’s SO accurate!
Andy, Mr. Higginbotham and company had an inaugural production of Clifford Odets underrated masterwork “Flinching in Salinas” in 1936. The production took the city by storm, but no one was able to buy tickets.
Andy
Now, why weren’t they able to buy tickets?
Eric
The Great Depression, Anderson.
It was horrible.
Andy
Oh.
Now is it true that you have been involved with Strawdog in the past?
Eric
Yes! I was involved with “Red Noses” just last year, which I believe won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Ensemble a few days ago! So proud!
Andy
That was a really great moment. I was also involved in that show, and it was a real treat to be so recognized.
What else have you done at Strawdog?
Eric
Smoked, drank, made out with Nic Dimond…
Andy
Mmm hmm.
Well, join the club, pal.
Eric
OH, and I’m involved with Musical Chairs, the fast paced game show that’s sweeping the nation!
Andy
That’s right! That is a product of our Late Night Season if I’m not mistaken.
Eric
You bet!
Andy
Are you familiar with any of the other Late Night Programs?
Eric
Well, there’s Variety Underground, The Hit Factory, The Direct-Off, Theatre Wars! So many great things!
Andy
It’s also a great place to meet different women than the ones you are accustomed to.
Eric
There are so many women there! I wouldn’t mind if there were some more Asian women though.
Andy
I bet you wouldn’t. Unfortunately, you need grant money for that kind of thing.
Now I know you will be attending this incredible “Plea Circus” on the 18th and 19th. Is there any act you are really excited about seeing?
Eric
I hear John Ferrick is re-enacting the entire 1st season of “The Greatest American Hero!”
Andy
I hadn’t heard that, but with so much great entertainment still being announced, it’s entirely possible!
Are you a fan of Tom Hickey?
Eric
Fan, no. Devotee of his singular acting style and rich, tenor voice, YES!
Andy
I’m not crazy about him, but I can see why you would be.
Also, on tap we have new ensemble member Mike Przygoda, and his band playing some Strawdog original musical numbers.
Eric
You had me at “Also.”
Andy
Have you heard of Michaela Petro or John Henry Roberts?
Eric
I’ve hrrrrd of them!
Andy
They will be there too!
Eric
Listen, I have a couple of notes for John Henry…they are private, and I was wondering if you could deliver them? I’m so tongue-tied around him!
Andy
Like…love notes?
Eric
You’re giving me the vapors!
Andy
John Henry Roberts makes you swoon like a Victorian Era woman.
Eric
Silence
Andy
Well, is there any other things you’d like to say to the Strawdog fans before our big event? Maybe something like, “I’ll be there.” or “I can’t wait to see Anderson Lawfer host Theater Wars!”?
Eric
I’ll be there! I can’t wait to see Anderson Lawfer host Theater Wars!
Oh, and please support proper gun laws in your city and county. All politics are local.
Andy
Thanks Eric!
Eric
You’re welcome, Anderson!
tags: Fundraising author: StrawBlog comments: 1 Comment
June 10th, 2010
Hey there, Gentle Reader
“Hey there, Tom.”
I’d like to speak seriously to you about the three things that make this country great: Strawdog Theatre Company, the Internet and Money.
“Tom, we, as a great country, are deeply indebted to all three of those things.“
I know you are, Gentle Reader. I know you are.
It’s hard for me to believe but I have been a Strawdog company member for ten years. When I look at photos of myself at Strawdog from 2000 I see someone very young and tender. I think “I would totally make out with that guy.” But now when I look in the mirror I think “Holy shit, is that Mike Nussbaum?”
I console myself by remembering that I’m three times as virile now as I was in 2000. Ask anyone. It’s actually frightening. Don’t test me.
“We believe you, Tom. Or, at least, we don’t particularly care.”
Excellent. Then you have learned the first lesson. Speaking of lessons: I have learned a lot in my time at Strawdog. I learned how important working as a team is and how every single person who works on a show takes pride in their job. I learned you don’t have to actually be on stage to get satisfaction. I learned how to skim the fat off of a performance. I learned to listen. Once, at a party at Mike Dailey’s, I drank a Red Bull and vodka. I learned that it’s sort of awful. That was a learning experience too.
I have, in short, been given a lot of opportunities at Strawdog and I’ve been lucky enough to share, with my fellow company members and our audiences, a lot of funny, sad and transcendent moments. I say this in all seriousness.
“That’s lovely. But what of the Internet, Tom?”
Who talks like that, Reader? “But what of the Internet?” No one talks like that. Maybe Shakespeare. Maybe.
But, yes, I did mention the Internet. Well… I have also been working as a web designer for almost exactly 10 years and I am very aware of the changes the Internet has wrought in our society. It has brought a wave of pornography, violence and general cultural degradation. But it has also had some negative consequences.
“We see what you did there, Tom.”
Yes, I kid. But I am also serious. Tell me, Reader (if that is your real name): What percentage of the material you access on the internet would you be comfortable telling your mother about? 90 percent? 10 percent? Zero percent? Less than zero percent? Less than zero percent means that you’re actually producing this questionable Internet content. You are, aren’t you?
Now that we’ve determined that I’m dealing with a smut merchant, I’d like to appeal to whatever shred of self-respect you may have left and ask: “why not use the Internet for Good instead of Evil?” Note how I capitalized “Good” and “Evil.” I did that because of the seriousness.
“This is where the Money comes in, isn’t it, Tom?”
STOP READING MY MIND, READER!!!
Strawdog is now about to begin its 23rd season. 23 is an important season for any theatre company because it’s a prime number. Even the ancient Greeks recognized this.
Going into this season Strawdog finds itself with a $4000 hole in our budget. We’re very upfront about that. That’s what we bring to the table: Honesty. And Seriousness. In order to fill that hole we are going to hold a two night telethon for Strawdog. It will feature short scenes, music, game shows and Andy Lawfer. You’ve heard about Andy Lawfer, haven’t you? Many of those stories are true.
You can experience either one of these once-in-a-lifetime nights, in person, for the ridiculously low, low price of $10. You probably spend more every week on salve.
“Sadly true.”
We will also be streaming the festivities live on the Internet. That’s right, Gentle Reader. Your friends in Micronesia and Belarus will be able to enjoy some of Strawdog’s greatest hits including excerpts from the Hit Factory, Shannon Hoag’s AmeriSnax, a live presentation of Hickey and Lawfer’s “Technical Difficulties”, fantastic music from the house band and, to cap it all off, a Theatre Wars Tournament of Champions. And they will also be able to donate on-line as well. This will also be useful for agoraphobics. Or people who don’t like to touch other people.
So, in closing, I ask: Won’t you please use the Internet for Good by donating to Strawdog during our time of need? Or, better yet, come out to the Telethon and enjoy yourself in Strawdog’s friendly confines.
“You have convinced us, Tom. We will attend one or both of these fantastic nights of entertainment. We would be fools not to. But, say… What is this two night telethon spectacular called?”
We call it the Strawdog Plea Circus.
“That is a pun, Tom. We never would have agreed to anything if we’d known puns were involved.”
Too late, Reader! Too late!
Seriously,
Tom Hickey
tags: Uncategorized author: StrawBlog comments: 4 Comments
June 4th, 2010
Call it a rebirth. Call it an awakening. Call it whatever you want. I think I’m going to go with Revolution. Not that I’m starting one. I just suddenly feel a part of one.
Let me explain.
Back towards the beginning of the year, there were some fine folks in the theatre industry who started a discussion on Twitter at roughly 2 o’clock in the morning. They started sharing ideas. Ideas that could make things better. You can read all about that conversation over here.
So once people started talking about “That Conversation” this guy decided to set-up a website and on that website he talked about an idea he had for a community building event involving storytelling. He also challenged people to produce their own version of the event.
So I did.
360 Storytelling @ Strawdog. It was a multi-media event. Along with unprepared, unrehearsed stories from people who were in the room we used pre-recorded video and Skype to show stories from other people across the county. We streamed the event over the internet because I wanted to open it up to the online community so people from just about anywhere could log on and be a part of our storytelling. It was a mess; a beautiful successful mess.
We not only had a gathering of folks in our Hugen Hall Cabaret in Chicago, but also contributors from all across the nation…and Canada! We were able to broadcast the evening and had people watching from the east coast to the west coast and all the way down in Texas. Yep. They do theatre down there, too.
I know what you’re thinking: “This is all fine and good Kyle but what does this have to do with anything?” Well, I’ll tell ya.
If you are reading this, you are part of our community. You might have just stumbled into our community and are not really sure where you are. You might not know who we are and you might not know what we do.
OR
You might be a huge supporter of our theatre company but receive mail in a different state. You might be related to one of our company members but not really a fan of “plays” so you don’t come out to the theatre too much.
OR
You might be new to Chicago. You might be new to theatre. You might be new.
OR
You might be in town for the TCG conference.
Whatever the case may be, you are part of our community. And we would like to share something with you.
Our Strawdog Late Night Programming has really taken off in the last few years and we are quite proud of the work that we do in our Hugen Hall Cabaret. We’d like to think its namesake would be proud. But some of you haven’t seen that Late Night Programming because of…well, any number of reasons. And you might be saying: “I sure would like to see what goes on in that space.” Well, here’s your chance.
Strawdog Plea Circus: A Live Telethon from Hugen Hall
June 18 & 19
Broadcasting at 7, 9, & 11pm
Hugen Hall Cabaret
$10
That’s right. A telethon. Yes, we WILL be asking for money as you’ll be getting a great show. We’ll be performing the best of Strawdog Late Night and capping it off with a Theatre Wars each night. Ten bucks will get you into the whole evening or if you are one of our night owl friends and don’t wake up until 10:30, you can come just for Theatre Wars for $5.
We’re trying new things:Challenging ourselves and challenging the way others may view what we do. Literally and figuratively. We hope the community will join this revolution with us because we all want to change the world and, you know, it’s gonna be alright.
Kyle Hamman
tags: Fundraising author: StrawBlog comments: 1 Comment
May 26th, 2010
One of my earliest memories is of being on stage with a set-eating goat.
My mother, who is a full-time actor, got me cast with her in a production of Teahouse of the August Moon. I was barely five years old, but I think that: 1. she needed to save some money on babysitters and 2. the director needed a goat-wrangler, and why not a little kid? Thanks to that experience, however, being on stage is one of my favorite places to be. (I also really enjoy Caribbean food, but that’s another story.)
I was lucky to grow up in Winston-Salem, NC, home to one of the country’s only state-funded art schools, the North Carolina School of the Arts. My brother and I enjoyed an above-average art education, and took acting and music and visual art classes aplenty. We grew up, almost literally, on stage with our mother. She was our agent, our teacher, and our cast mate. It was a great relationship to have with your mom.
But I also fell in love with music at an early age. When most kids were handed recorders during music class in fifth grade, their lessons stopped promptly at summer vacation. But I wanted to get good at the little plastic recorder, and then the clarinet, woodwinds in general, and then pretty much any instrument you handed me. I ended up at NCSA for classical clarinet, but after a few years I realized that devoting my life to one musical instrument wasn’t going to be enough. I wasn’t cut out to be in the woodwinds section of an Orchestra. I needed to find ways to combine my loves of music and theatre, and be on stage more.
So I started a rock and roll band, wore lots of eyeliner, danced around, made some music videos. It was a fantastic time, but not quite where I wanted to be in my goals.
I moved to Chicago because I wanted to find a place where the collaboration between actors, writers, musicians, and other talented folk was a common ordinary occurrence and not a special occasion. I had stories to tell, and Chicago just seemed more excited about collaboration and storytelling. One of the first things I saw in Chicago was a production that featured puppets, live actors, and original music written by an old rocker friend Kevin O’Donnell, who had become a company member at the House. I knew that this was the place to be.
For an example of this collaborative spirit, look to Strawdog’s upcoming production of Good Soul of Szechuan. You’re going to see an extremely talented actor that will be playing the electric bass guitar(Michaela Petro) for the first time, and others that have been composing beautiful incidental music for this show. Actors will be singing complicated melodies and will have to produce elaborate rhythms on instruments that they’ve never touched before. There are a handful of cast members that haven’t played their old band and orchestra instruments for years, but are dragging them out for this performance, and seeming to have a blast doing so.
Sometimes I feel a little insecure about calling myself an “actor” when I compare myself to my cast mates, who are trained and experienced and have decent head shots. But one of the best things about this Strawdog experience, and the Chicago theatre scene in general, is how we are all inspired by this work together. I become a better actor by watching this cast speak Brecht. And I in turn I have promised lessons to my cast mates in tin whistle, harmonica, and mandolin. Who knows? We might start a rock band! Rent some time in a studio, put these songs on wax, get big in Japan! Then write a big Broadway musical about it!!
Tin Whistle
The goal in blurring the lines between traditional actor and customary side-line musician in the Good Soul of Szechuan is to find the very best way to tell Brecht’s story. The story we’re telling is a classic; it’s like the one that your Uncle Bob tells every single year at Thanksgiving. He tells it by standing up and gesturing wildly and adopting funny accents and mannerisms. He might sing part of a song or two. Everyone loves this story and looks forward to hearing it every year. And it’s a collaborative effort, too: everyone at the dinner table chips in, quickly assuming the roles that he’s created for us: the priest, the rabbi, the horse. Uncle Bob might not have the best Jersey accent, and can’t really hold a tune, but that kind of makes the storytelling all the more beautiful.
For this reason, being a part of Strawdog for this telling of Good Soul feels like I’m another step closer to my personal goal. I’m on a stage, with a purpose: as an actor, a musician, and definitely a storyteller. I love that, like me, the entire cast grows more and more confident in these roles every single day.
At this point, our director Shade Murray has not introduced a goat into the cast. I would not put it past him. But if he does, I’ll be ready.
Matthew Bivins
tags: Production author: StrawBlog comments: 2 Comments
April 13th, 2010
I have to confess, I love actors. There has always been something about a performer comfortable being in front of an audience and sharing their ideas/ take on a character with no fear of judgment. I have such respect for those of us who can fully invest themselves in telling a story to an audience. There is much bravery in breathing life into the words on a page. And I’ve always had a soft spot for the ones who can convey an entire back history of a character in a look, a glance, or a reaction. Give me a blank stage and a solid story told by an evocative storyteller and I’m all yours. The Good Soul of Szechuan is full of this kind of performer. I feel lucky to be a part of the production as both casting director and stage manager.
During the audition process (a very unorthodox process to say the least) I tried to foster a “lets just have fun” atmosphere with the Actors. As an organized, analytical, and a little obsessive-compulsive type of person… alright fine, very obsessive-compulsive person, I like things to be in order and charted out with schedules that to be followed. But when working with a director like Shade Murray whose brilliant ideas don’t always follow a schedule, you have to know how to think on your feet. On the day of auditions what Shade came to me with was something far better and more telling about each performer than how we had previously talked about structuring the audition process. At callbacks, before we brought everyone in the room, I gave the actors a little warning about how we were going to handle the evening. It went something like this, “I have no idea what Shade has up his sleeve for tonight. So have fun and good luck”. I smiled and then ushered 28 people into our main stage, sat down and waited. With Shade, you just have to sit back and watch as he gets the best performance/ audition/ moment in a scene from an actor that they are willing to give. I’ve found that there is a time to be proactive with him and a time to let the creativity flow. There was a moment when one performer was so impressive that I had to turn to the person sitting next to me and say, “moments like this are why I love my job”. Not everyone gets to experience when a raw, unyielding talent is offered so simply to their audience. That performer was cast in our show. Through those auditions we have assembled an amazing group of multitalented performers willing to give much assistance to bring Shade’s vision and ideas into reality.
As a stage manager I wanted to keep that energy pulsing through our rehearsal room. With the concept Shade is going for there needs be a “yes I can” attitude. It has been truly amazing to watch all 18 actors access, in themselves, the style and aesthetic for this production. By keeping the freedom of trial and error open to each performer and still nurturing productive ideas, we’ve created a rehearsal room where even if you’re not onstage, you are a vibrant presence in the scene. There is a core band of 5 whose musical tones and rhythms have not only just been awesome to listen to, but have influenced the scene work they accompany. There was a scene in the play where I didn’t understand its arc. I thought the scene was written choppy and not very fluid in how it got from point A to point B. While listening to the actors and musicians play off each other and feel not only the pace of the scene but the emotional powerhouse of it all, I finally understood. It hit me so hard that I couldn’t contain my words. Yet “whoa” is all I managed to get out.
I’ve never been with a cast from first contact of auditions all the way through closing night. I’ve never been with a play that long before. One of the hardest parts of a stage manager’s job is we HAVE to watch the play every time. No getting around it. You can’t not pay attention. I am so thankful that I get to watch this play over and over and over again. Shade and these actors create such beautiful theatre together.
Michael Caloia
tags: Company News, Ensemble News, Production author: StrawBlog comments: No Comments
March 31st, 2010
When Strawdog started work on Three Sisters back in 2006 I had never seen or read a Chekhov play. There are other similarly glaring gaps in my theatre education. I think I may be the only actor I know that has never read nor seen Death of a Salesman. I hear it’s pretty good though.
One of the things I’d heard about Curt Columbus’s translations was how successful he was at turning the turn-of-the-century Russian dialogue into something palatable to a contemporary English-speaking audience.
Columbus accomplishes this in a number of ways:
Replacing figures of speech with more contemporary or familiar expressions. One example of this in Cherry Orchard: the character Yepihodov’s nickname goes from “two-and-twenty troubles” to “Here comes trouble” in Columbus’s translation.
Columbus also uses (as some reviewers have pointed out) the “active voice” very consistently. A couple examples of this can be found in Astrov’s speech at the beginning of Uncle Vanya. “A switchman was carried in from the railroad” versus Columbus’s “they bring me this railway switchman” and “then my feelings that should have been deadened awoke again” versus Columbus’s “Then, just when I don’t need them, my feelings come rushing back.” These seems like minor alterations but they makes it far easier for an actor to play the character as a person who is actually engaged in their world and not simply a passive citizen of it.
The other notable change Columbus brings to Chekhov is shortening the names of the characters by dropping the use of patronymics.
Wikipedia (which is on the Internet, which you can get on computers now) tells us that “A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one’s father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor.” Most of us in the western world are familiar with patronymics through surnames that end with “son” like Robertson (“son of Robert”), Wilson (“son of William”) and et cetera.
In Russia the use of patronymics is much more vital and dynamic. The patronymic is an official part of a person’s name appearing on official documents and is usually included in the person’s name when referring to them. It comes after the first name and it is “conjugated” differently based on whether a person is male or female. A good example of this is in Tolstoy’s War and Peace where a character is named Nikolai Ilyich Rostov and his sister is Vera Ilyichna Rostova. “Ilyich” meaning son of Ilya” and “Ilyichna” meaning “daughter of Ilya.” In “Uncle Vanya,” the character of Vanya’s full name is Ivan Petrovitch Voinitsky which means, literally, Ivan Son-of-Peter Voinitsky. The polite way of addressing a Russian includes the patronymic so we would say “Ivan Petrovich! Would you like to play some Wii bowling?”
The significance of these extended names can be lost on western audiences and, if anything, they may tend to confuse the ear and draw attention away from what is actually being said by the characters. So, Columbus finds the best way to shorten the name yet still give a sense of how the character is addressed. In Cherry Orchard for example “Leonid Andreyevitch” becomes “Mr. Leon” and “Lubov Andreyevna” becomes “Lovey.” This last choice is made because the character is referred to throughout the play by the diminutive “Luba” which means “Dear.”
Columbus hasn’t discarded ALL references to patronymics. Sometimes there’s a bit of fun to be had in dealing with them. In Three Sisters the character of Masha complains about a local town councilman but she doesn’t quite remember his full name. A traditional translation of Masha’s line might be “I don’t like that Protopopov, that Mikhail Potapitch or Ivanitch.” In Columbus’s translation it becomes “I don’t like that Protopopov, that Mikhail Something-ovitch.” Likewise knowing when to keep the patronymic can highlight something particular about a character. In Uncle Vanya the character of Telegin, or “Waffles” as he’s known, is very concerned with propriety. He corrects another character when they address him incorrectly. When breaking into an argument between Vanya and the Professor he begins a long-winded story about his sister-in-law’s brother which is made even more long-winded by his insistence on using patronymics: “My brother Grigory Ilych’s wife’s brother, you may actually know him, Konstantine Trofimovich Lakedemov, he was a magistrate, and…” In both this example and the one from Three Sisters the reference to the patronymic becomes a bit of a wink to the English speaking audience.
And Chekhov is about nothing if not getting a bit of humor where you can find it.
Tom Hickey
tags: Production author: StrawBlog comments: 1 Comment
March 22nd, 2010
German Expressionism, losing your keys, and the Goddess of Belmont who watches over the club kids coming out of Berlin.
Discuss.
That’s exactly what local artist David Csicsko did this past Monday night for a standing-room only crowd in Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall. David’s art currently hangs in the Hall, where it will be through the run of Uncle Vanya. On Monday night, we re-focused our stage lights on David for an evening of thoughtful banter and discussion about his art, his humble beginnings as a designer for Chicago theatre, and his current work with the city to liven up the Belmont El stop with one of his mosaic designs.
Earlier this year, we at Strawdog decided to maximize the use of Hugen Hall by inviting local artists to exhibit their work to coincide with our season. I have been friends with David for over a decade, and as soon as I heard of our new status as art gallery, I knew that I had to persuade David to be one of our inaugural guests. It didn’t take much convincing, as David is a huge theatre fan and appreciates the idea of using a theater for not just live performance, but also as a place to bring people together to talk about art, theatre. . . and drink wine.
As “curator” for the evening, I got to sit in front of the crowd with my good friend and ask questions about his art. My job was easy. David is as much a masterful storyteller as he is a great artist. All it took was some gentle prodding to get him talking, and he easily shared with us his influences, the intricacies of his printmaking, and his love for what he does.
On multiple occasions, I overheard people talking about the whimsy in David’s art. It’s true. His art makes you feel good. It makes you curious. (For a slide show click here .) It makes you want to see more. And you should. Come by the theater and check it out. Currently hanging in the gallery are six of the 50 prints that David created of the Catholic saints, as well as examples his more current work. And if I can gush for a moment, David recently added two of his newest pieces to the exhibit. He came to our production of Uncle Vanya a couple of weeks ago. The play inspired him to go home and transform two of the play’s characters into a pair of Russian nesting dolls. If that’s not art inspiring art, then I don’t know what is. See you in Hugen.
Paul Fagen
tags: Company News, Production author: StrawBlog comments: 1 Comment
March 4th, 2010
As a Costume Designer, my favorite part of the gig is the hunt. Sometimes it is the quest for the perfect pair of shoes that gets me going. I get a thrill from finding just the right bizarre vest with horses on it for a quirky character. But hands down, my absolute favorite part is the researching. I adore sifting through picture books and online images for hours to come up with a visual upon which you can hang a whole costume design concept. Finding research in the wild can be tricky. It’s no sweat to find glossy photos of movie stars or images of politicians and sports heroes. But the common man? Not so easy. The internet has done wonders for the costume designer though. The interwebs are positively filthy with yellowed family album pictures of your Uncle Harry in doofy seventies sideburns and the like.
Back in my formative costuming years, researching costumes meant a sad little sojourn to the Galesburg Public Library with it’s two books on costume history and a great back catalog of Ladies Home Journal Magazines from 1880 and up. Oh and microfiche…which makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. You kids today have it easy! [she says shaking fist in the air with a "get off my lawn!" type-expression]. But Google image search has changed my life I’ll tell you. I also love how I can then share a catalog of images with the entire cast and production team without having to clear-cut a rain forest and risk getting fired for illicit photocopying at the office.
Which brings me to the current quest for costume fire: Uncle Vanya!
I made a recent find while researching costumes for our upcoming Russian ditty that has me practically giddy: August Sanders. His photos document the common man from the first fifty years of the twentieth century. There is nothing staged or glamorous about these images. They capture a brief moment in the lives of the subjects and show them in all their dirty, distressed glory. This kind of portrait is like catnip for a costumer like myself. Being able to see the work shirts, frayed hems, and rolled up sleeves can be so liberating when approaching a character design.
The fashion history books show stuffy images of perfectly pressed suits and amazing gowns, which have their place on the stage as well…just not in the characters that inhabit a Chekhov play. Kimberley Senior, our director, wants these characters to be able to move, be sexy, and be casual. These are not statues in a museum. They need to plop down on the floor while wearing a corset and petticoats.
Now my challenge is to take all this research and find some modern equivalents and make it work on my actors. As I type this I can see a huge pile of skirts on my cutting table calling my name…so I should get back to it.
Aly Greaves
tags: Company News, Ensemble News, Production author: StrawBlog comments: No Comments
February 11th, 2010
Last week, we had the rare opportunity to rehearse on stage due to a slight break in Strawdog’s ever-busy rental space schedule. This opportunity was incredibly beneficial to all of us in the room, as the taped out set in our rehearsal space can’t really do justice to the unique challenges our little black box provides. If you haven’t been to our space before, you don’t know what I mean, for it is perhaps one of Chicago’s weirdest storefront spaces-especially from a lighting designer’s point of view. The playing area is roughly a 32’ wide by 26’ deep industrial room framed by cement, steel and brick covered in layers of paint spanning back at least twenty some odd years. On a good day, the ceiling is only 10’ tall which is supported by two giant concrete columns that obscure the views to audience banks seated on two adjacent sides in kind of a diamond shape. Did I mention the columns? They were once the bane of my existence, as well as the various scenic designers, but now half the fun of our shows is figuring out how to incorporate them into the production. A tree is a very popular disguise, but is a trick that unfortunately can’t work for every show. We have embraced these monsters as a company and use them without apology. We’ve even developed a blocking technique known as the Strawdog column lean. Once I became accustomed to actors leaning on them all the time, I came up with my own way of getting them lit by using multiple small fixtures from different angles. I’ll spare you the details…
Needless to say, the space can be tricky yet we continue to surprise ourselves with the worlds we can create, particularly when directors find interesting new ways to play within. Kimberly Senior has been an amazing pioneer in challenging us to use the space differently. She blocks in a way that seeks out every nook of playable space where no corner goes unused, regardless of terrible sight-line issues that make her plays fascinating to both work on and watch. After working with Kimberly for several years, and with her third shot at Chekhov, she’s managed to once again re-define how we view the space. For Vanya we are using a labyrinth of pivoting wall panels inspired by the box works of Joseph Cornell. Each act has its own configuration that moves the rooms around into the main playing space, with the actors having to navigate around them like the old Pacman video game. For a designer, walls (though not fully solid here) can prove to be difficult to light around, especially since here they are never in the same place. Kimberly adds to this challenge by staging constant action that takes place in hidden spots not meant to be public areas; a peepshow aspect that gives her Chekhov a rather interesting and vibrant, energy filled life. I love that Kimberly throws out these challenges, as it not only keeps me on my toes as a designer, but forces me to think about light differently in our space which makes each project a joy to envision then execute with the collaborative team.
I’ve never been much of a design “concept” person. I look at every show as having one problem I need to solve, in that the world of the play is dark and it’s my job to make it visible. As for the process on Uncle Vanya-,like all my designs, started with the needs of the script. Once I’ve mapped out those needs, and wants (a method I’ve been doing since college) I look for imagery/inspiration both on the interwebs, and the world around me. For example, part of last season’s Cherry Orchard was motivated by a hangover…It was about this time last year when I was at a friend’s house and wound up crashing on his couch after a bit of a long night. I had to get up early the next day to go to work, only to find a gorgeous winter sunrise filling his whole apartment through pale huge windows draped in white curtains. Immediately, I knew that it was what I wanted the first act to look like and took lousy pictures with my cell phone. Rumor has it, that one turned out ok…Not every inspiration comes so bluntly, but I do usually try to find a single image that speaks to my view of the production.
The image included here is called Russian Prisoner-a painting for a post card depicting a 19th century political prisoner. The image captures a natural window light quality that I like for our show, as well as being symbolic of Vanya’s own type of imprisonment in his home office that we see in Chekhov’s fourth act. Most of the design will be composed of this natural light effect by using window patterns, as well as shooting through the negative space in the set panels to suggest actual windows. In this production I hope for the lighting to be as realistic as possible. My goal is to avoid using a ton of theatrical conventions such as creating night by using blue. Instead I’d like to just subtly play with highlight levels and shadows to give each act a distinct time and place. I have a background in dance as well as video lighting, so my designs tend to be cinematic in nature with strong back and side light to help sculpt the people away from their surroundings. This tends to produce very high contrast shadows, while giving the actors a halo of light around them that I love, especially in our production photos. This is important to my aesthetic at Strawdog because it helps give depth and compensates for the diagonal blocking we do to allow both audience sections to see faces. As the frosting on this design, I plan on using some practical sconces as well as desk lamps and (fake) candles. These sources look great in our tiny space, so set practicals are my signature element whenever possible in all of my shows at Strawdog.
I’ve gone on long enough for my fist stab at blogging. If you want to geek out on lighting with me further, come check out one of our shows-I tend to be around a lot working as a house manager, or e-mail me: seanmallary@strawdog.org. Feel free to let me know what you think-I’m always interested to see what people see in the hopes that the lighting wasn’t even noticed at all. While this is a reality that can be hard to take as a designer, when it comes to light, I’ve always been taught that no news is good news, and if they are paying too much attention to the lighting, you’ve not done your job.
Thanks for reading-Sean
tags: Company News, Ensemble News, Production author: StrawBlog comments: 3 Comments
February 4th, 2010
