364 construction paper hearts

or 'aggressively adorable'

i am really, really excited for 26 ways i love you.

it kinda makes me giddy when i think about the scope of what we are trying to do. i mean, 14 (half) hours of theatre! in one day! starting at 8am!

the reading went well (as nate mentioned). one of the actors had a 'holy shit-i'm doing guerrilla theatre...what did i agree to do?' moment, but a few minutes later was offering suggestions of places to check out for possible SW/NW venues (the SE/NE is pretty much scheduled). it seems like a good crew and i think that we're gonna have a great time.

there was also a lot of brainstorming about the fun questions that a production of this nature brings up. questions like: how do you start theatre when you're not in a theatre? or not even in something that you've turned into a theatre? what-there's no music at the end? how will people know it's over? how do you 'capture' an audience that may not have realized that they were about to be an audience?

in terms of venues, things are going along pretty well. people that i've talked to are pretty taken with the idea-half the time all i have to say is 'i run a small theatre company and we were wondering if you'd be interested in having us do a performance here on valentine's day..." and they cut me off with a 'yes'. as i mentioned, we've got the SE/NE pretty much covered...but apparently no one goes to the SW, so we're having a bit of trouble thinking of venues there (aside from the 8am kick off at coffee plant-you're gonna be there right?). there are a couple of venues that i'm really excited about, but i'll keep that to myself for a bit.

there will be fliers up soon. as well as the website-which will have a map of the locations on it.

like i said, really excited.

ashley

Rock and Roll Thursday

Big day for WTC today. We're getting the webpage up really soon, still just squabbling on what the page name will be: www.thewtcpdx.com, www.theworkingtheatrecollective.com, or www.workingtheatrecollective.com. My vote is on #2, but I am willing to take #3 if people want the page name slightly shorter. Ideally we would just do www.wtcpdx.com, but weirdly enough it is already taken. I don't get that.

Also, we spoke to Shaking The Tree, the studio on Stark, today about using their space for a variety of occasions, including as the performance space for John Lennon's Gargoyle, which is quickly approaching. It's a bit more of an investment than I think we planned on making, but at this point establishing the relationship with Samantha there and her facility is more important than saving money. We do have a donation from Northwest Playwrights Alliance that can handle the majority of the capital for renting the space, so I think we'll do all right.

It's a beautiful studio space, a bit goofy in terms of how it's laid out, but not in a bad way. I'm not exactly sure in what manner we are going to stage Mr. Wiliss's play, but we have a whole host of options at this point, which is lovely.

Then I had an early stage design meeting with my Costume Designer for JGL, Lilli, which went very well. We discussed the charm and difficulties of the bi-layers of reality within the script, and how best to follow through on that aspect of the design. She had a couple lovely ideas even at this early stage, so I'm excited about digging into this aspect of the production. Also, Lilli expressed interest in designing/helping with set stuff, which is fantastic, because it means paying one less person, AND working with an artist that I think has a well-developed sense of the pomo theatricality that this piece necessitates. I have a feeling that design for JGL is going to be an exciting adventure. All we need is a claw foot bathtub, and we can get rolling. Anyone?

Then, the initial reading of 26 Ways, which I'll let Ashley talk about at some point. IT went really well. I think we have a enormous, fantastic machine that we're building, and once it gets rolling, it's going to be out-of-control. Out-of-control in a really good way, I mean.

So, rock and roll. A couple beers with Eva and Ashley at Dot's and now off to bed with me with a glass of port, so I can wake up bright and early to take the train to a funeral. Lovely.

ciao.

n to the a

26 ways i love you (the history/the plan)

26 ways i love you came out of a 48 at the idiom in bellingham, washington. nate wrote it in the horseshoe cafe with sophia and i, drinking coffee and trading stories-some of which made it into the play. we then grabbed a couple hours' of sleep and put this play up about 10 hours later. i love 48s...

i adore this play. and i adored the original production of it...it's going to be interesting to direct it again, with different folks. and with rehearsals. i think that will be the greatest challenge of this production for me; more so than the number of places we are going to be doing it or the time span of the day (14 hours of theatre!! starting at 8am?!?).

sometimes i'm afraid that if i don't have an idea/answer for everything then there won't be ideas/answers. then i remember that i don't need to have all the answers/ideas-that's where actors, designers, and other collaborators come in.
if i had all of the answers/ideas then it wouldn't be any fun for anyone, myself included. that's not why i want to make theatre.
i'm really excited about the folks that i've cast in the show, and i know that once we have our first read, a lot of my tension will go away (as it usually does).

and here's what we're doing with it this time:

on valentine's day we are going to perform this 30 minute play in 14 different locations all around portland. we're going to start in the SW and end up in the SE (probably with a performance at theatre fucking HUGE; followed by dance party). we'll be performing in cafes, bars, street corners (if it's not super gross out), where ever will have us. i am really, really excited for this. though i'm pretty sure that there is part of me that does not concieve of what a ridiculous undertaking this is.

noah is making a web page that will be up soon and it's going to contain a map with all of the points of performance on it. i'm sure that they will be posted here as well.

and now to write the press release (ugh)
ashley

Procrastination in Action.

I'm about to crack down and do some work on Medea and Jason-- A love story That Ends Badly. I'm procrastinating in many ways, including blogging about how I'm going to write and how I'm blogging to procrastinate. We have a reading coming up. You should come. I'm excited.

heart
eva

Auditions

Well, we had auditions today for Gargoyle and 26 Ways, and they went very well. It's so very gratifying to actually have people come out, especially people who are very talented and/or fun to watch. I haven't sat through an entire audition since college, so it was fun to revisit that experience.

We have callbacks tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that Noah is contacting people (more or less) as we speak. type. Whatever. I'm pretty good at running this round of auditions, but will probably leave callbacks to Noah and Ashley. That's more their thing. I guess.

Looking forward to getting the ball rolling on these two pieces. As I reread Gargoyle, I'm finding myself struck just how challenging this piece is to put up. As soon as I have a cast together I'm going to start getting the creative team organized, so that we can handle the particular difficulties this show requires.

rock and roll.

n to the a

New Year's Resolution 2009: update the blog

ok, so we'll get better at this-i promise.

we're having auditions tomorrow for 26 ways i love you and john lennon's gargoyle.  

2008 in review:

produced A Story That Ends and Begins with A Dream

it was awesome.  look at pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/The-Working-Theatre-Collective/27777082373?ref=mf

 also, become a 'fan' on facebook (you can also be our friend on myspace)

we sold out the last three nights and got great feedback from everyone who attended

we also learned that we throw an awesome dance party.