Thursday, January 28, 2010

True West is ramping up. Prepare the vacuum cleaner!

It’s that time again! Going into rehearsals this week for our next show, True West. To kick off our rehearsal process, we held two open readings of True West, free to the public. The readings went really well, and an unanticipated benefit was the terrific discussion that ensued afterward. The folks who had listened to the script had great insights into family dynamics, Sam Shepard's oeuvre, and specific language in the play--plus, they all seem excited to come and see the fully-mounted production!

I want to thank all the actors who read: Scott Treadway, who will be playing Austin, Kay Galvin who will be playing the Mom, Lance Ball who will be playing Saul, and Peter Savage who read Saul on the Sunday reading. Peter also tweeted during the reading and took a few vids. You can see them here and here. It’s an interesting thread about the reading so I encourage you to check it out.

I wanted to share with you a couple of interesting comments and questions
that came up--hopefully these will whet your appetite for this unusual
play!

Comment: Oh, I know this family. You know how it is in families--there
are no surprises. You all know what cards the other ones have. A topic
gets brought up, and you know that your mother is going to say this, and
that will make your sister say that, then your father chimes in with
this...We're just watching this family do their dance. It may get more out
of hand than your family does, but...well, it may not!

Q: How long have you been rehearsing together?
A: We read this for the first time today.
Q: Wait, no, because this play opens in--what? On February 17?
A: That's right. We rehearse all of our plays for three weeks.
Q: How do you do that?
A: Well, it's the big advantage of working with this cast--Scott and I
have done a number of plays together, Lance and Kay have worked together,
Kay and I have worked together...it leads to an ease in the rehearsal
room, and it also means we're not really starting at square one, since we
know how the other people in the room work and think and communicate.
Plus, rehearsing this play is a full-time job. We rehearse about 30 hours
per week.

Q: This is by Sam Shepard, the actor?
A: Yes! Except he's also Sam Shepard , the playwright. He's quite well-known as a writer of dark family dramas, as well, of course, as an actor in movies and on stage.

(Side note: I worked for three days on the film Sweet Dreams which starred Jessica Lange back in 1984. She and Sam Shepard had just started dating, I think, and Shepard sat on the side of the set the entire time we were shooting. Cool! BTW, Ed Harris looked at me funny in that film! Uber cool!!)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A message about the NCSC Stage Hands

Happy New Year, y'all!

I want to kick off 2010 with a message from one of our board members, Tina Lipscomb. We're really excited about this new volunteer group, so check it out!

Introducing the NCSC Stage Hands

Do you love NC Stage and wish you could do more to support them?
Is it sometimes difficult to find ways to give to the theatre?

NC Stage Company needs your talents, your time, and your creativity as much as they need financial support. This is your chance to be part of the theatre.

Our new endeavor is called the NCSC Stage Hands. It is similar to a theatre guild but so much more fun and engaging. Being a part of the Stage Hands is as if you are part owner of the theatre, and Charlie and Angie want to share what they have created with each of you on a more personal level.

Besides attending plays, you can help in other ways. The Stage Hands will do some of the following (a few examples)
¸ Plan a special event
¸ Help to run an event
¸ Help to run concessions at the shows

Your time commitment can be as little or as much as you can give. We really want your enthusiasm and love of NC Stage to be what guides you. In addition, so many of our patrons have talents that we need.

So let those talents shine and come join us as we launch the Stage Hands. The biggest perk of being a part of this new group is the personal satisfaction of knowing that you are making a difference for your favorite theatre. The secondary perk is that you become a very special insider. This insider group will have some surprises down the road to thank them for their commitment.

If interested, please join us for a brief wine and cheese reception at the theatre.
Monday, January 25th, 5:30 pm at NC Stage Company

An RSVP is appreciated – if unable to attend but interested in being a Stage Hand please let me know as well.

Thanks!
Tina Lipscomb
tlipscomb2001 at yahoo dot com
281-1296

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It's Thanksgiving day and the staff of NC Stage are at their respective holiday things. Much like last year and the year before. What's different this year is that we are in rehearsal for a show that opens tomorrow night. The cast of Live From WVL Radio Theatre: It's A Wonderful Life has been rehearsing for the past few weeks and opens tomorrow, Friday November 27th and runs till December 20th. Today is their day off and then we're back for a dress rehearsal Friday afternoon with the opening performance that night.

So I was realizing that our folks in the cast don't get to travel anywhere this Thanksgiving. To some, that might be a blessing. To others, a hardship. But it made me start thinking about traditions. And certainly It's A Wonderful Life makes me think about traditions around the holidays too.

So I asked the cast and crew of our production of IAWL if they would share some holiday food traditions that have had a lasting impact on them. Here's what they sent.

Kathryn Temple, playing Mary Hatch and others:

Butter Mints! There are Butter Families and there are Margarine Families. Whole Milk and 2% Skim families. The kids from the latter try desperately to trade lunches with the kids from former, usually with little or no luck. I was from a Margarine/ Skim Milk / Whole-Wheat/ No-Sugar-Cereal Family whose mother had sworn off cooking early and passed the apron off to my father. So, it was nothing short of a Christmas miracle when my mom busted out a list of four ingredients that at no other time of the year could be found in our kitchen:

Butter
Powdered Sugar
Mint Extract
Green Food Coloring

She blended the exotic ingredients and I stood at her side, barely eye-level with the countertop. She rolled out the ice green confection and I methodically pressed a shot glass into the dough, cutting out quarter-sized mints. She carefully lifted the mints onto waxed paper, and then layered them into gift tins.

This was what Christmas was all about. There was butter in our kitchen. And powdered sugar. In the same place. These were no ordinary communion wafers. This was a holy time, no doubt, and I let those buttery discs melt in my mouth and stain my tongue bright green.


Tiffany Cade, playing Violet Bick, Ma Bailey and Zuzu Bailey and others

When I was a little girl I always dreamed of having a Thanksgiving Dinner just like they do in the movies. You know, everyone well dressed, table nicely set with festive cheer and warm candlelight. It is after all Thanksgiving Dinner. Well, I'm not sure how my family missed the boat on that one, but missed it they did. Ours was more like Thanksgiving Breakfast. Oh we had turkey, and green bean casserole alright; we just ate it at 10am. And I'm not even exaggerating! For generations all the women in my family would begin cooking at 5am, by 10am they were "starving." I tried to convince them that it was an easy fix; just eat a good breakfast and don't start cooking till noon. That idea never quite seemed to catch on. Being the late sleeper that I am, I often missed it all together; waking to find uncles and cousins with food coma setting in, snoring away. By 2pm everyone would be making their way back home. So depressing, I thought. My family does realize it's Thanksgiving Dinner, right?

I haven't spent a single Holiday with my family since I moved away from home in 1993. I love my family dearly, but I choose to go home during other times of the year. I decided I couldn't participate in one more Thanksgiving Breakfast. I'm thrilled to say that my parents are coming to Asheville for Thanksgiving and to see IAWL. For the first time in their lives, they will finally experience a real Thanksgiving Dinner!!!! I'm hoping they'll enjoy it so much that they'll go back home to Louisiana and spread the "tradition!" I love you Mom & Dad! Thanks for all the wonderful stories that you've given me.

PS My 2 favorite Holiday dishes that I can't live without:
Grandma's Mac & Cheese (from scratch and the kind you bake)
Green bean casserole (also from scratch, with real fried onions)


Willie Repoley, playing George Bailey, Harry Bailey and a few others.

Fried dough. Have you ever had this? I’m not kidding. You make a simple dough, let it rise, punch it down, and then pinch off a small amount, form a roughly hand-shaped lump, and drop it in a pan of hot oil. Flip it over when it starts to get all golden brown, and cook the other side.
Now, this is actually fairly common in a number of cultures, I think, but the Italian angle is what was handed down in my family: top the fried dough with red sauce (homemade, of course), dried oregano, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. It is related to a pizza, but the dough—golden, fluffy, slightly chewy—is quite different, and the particular combination of ingredients is not quite like anything else in the world. And earlier this year, I came into possession of my great grandmother Maria’s ladle, so we’ll be making the sauce with the same spoon she used to make sauce back when she and my great grandfather immigrated to this country in 1911.
(What I’m not sure I should admit to is that for the past, oh, twenty years, the family has gathered every year around the making and eating of fried dough, accompanied by the annual viewing of Ernest Saves Christmas. Really. This is a great movie. Maybe I’ll adapt it for a radio play next year if our It’s A Wonderful Life sells poorly.)

Michael MacCauley, playing Clarence the Angel, Bert, Mr. Potter, and others

Mashed potatoes. Sounds simple, I know, but they are part of the trio that is Thanksgiving. My mom made them for years, but now, many years later, I have added my own special touch. I am also from a family that is 100% Irish, so potatoes are mandatory, in whatever form they may appear.

The number of potatoes may vary, depending on how many people there are to serve.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Cut potatoes into quarters, and boil for 20 to 25 minutes. Leave skins on. After draining, add 1 stick of butter and milk to desired consistency.
Preheat oven to 450Take 1 clove of garlic covered in olive oil, heat in oven until lightly golden brown, (approximately 20 to 25 minutes). Remove from oven and garlic will easily squeeze out from the skin. Smash, crush, blend garlic into a paste and add to mashed potaoes. Vampires beware!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The following is a fundraising appeal letter from Angie that went out to our mailing list last week. Please take a look and consider a gift to NC Stage. Thanks!

Charlie and I are excited to welcome you to NC Stage's 8th season! There is, as always, a lot going on here--on the Mainstage, in the Catalyst Series, and even off our "campus"--out in the community and the schools.

A few highlights--NC Stage is thrilled to welcome Alexa Hardy, a VISTA (Volunteers in Service To America), who is heading Stages, our education program. Already, Alexa has doubled the program's reach since beginning in this position in August, and she is hard at work contacting schools, community centers, and after-school programs to forge more alliances. We are also proud to announce the launch of LiveWire , a marketing and branding campaign for the performing arts in Asheville that we’ve been working on for the past two years. NC Stage received a $50,000 grant from the Asheville Merchants Fund of the Community Foundation of WNC to fund this project. It involves over 70 performing arts organizations in Buncombe County, from the Asheville Symphony and the Orange Peel to aerial acrobats, hula hoopers, and street performers.

I am writing to ask for your support in two ways this season. First, please make a gift to NC Stage's annual fund. This year, we need to raise $75,500 in individual contributions. Some of our patrons have already made an annual fund gift to NC Stage this year--as Green Room Society members, with their subscriptions, or as part of our Bard-a-Thon fundraiser. Many thanks for these gifts. If you have not yet made your annual fund gift this year, we hope you will sustain your past level of giving, whether that level is $10 or $5,000. To make a donation online, click here.

Second, please come to the theatre, and bring friends. We all know people who keep meaning to come, but play after play comes and goes, and they never quite get here. Can you help us get them through the door? The best way you can support NC Stage is by helping us become a household name with your friends and neighbors, making each play a not-to-be-missed event.

Thank you so much for all of your past support. Your feedback and patronage are helping to make NC Stage a better and better place to share a profound theatrical experience. We are looking forward to sharing NC Stage with you this season!

Best regards,


Angie Flynn-McIver
Producing Director

P.S. For your convenience, we’d be happy to spread out your contribution over several months or a year. If you would like information on paying a pledge in monthly installments, or contributing stock, please call Reggie Ealy at (828) 239-0263, extension 11. Thank you!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Angie takes me on a tour of the Beauty Queen set

Had a great opening weekend with lots of people attending Beauty Queen and some great performances turned in by some really talented and skilled actors. Check out the Asheville Citizen-Times review! Good review. The headline is "Delicious staging shows off 'Beauty Queen of Leenane'" and it speaks about the set and technical elements as well as the performances. So, since Actors' Equity Association won't let me show you the performers doing what they do in the show, I thought I'd show you the set! I made Angie take a break from the office and tour me around the set and show me some of the cool things about it. So I hope you'll check it out!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I'm Back!

Hey! Been a bit of a break, but we're getting ready to open up the brand new season. First, I want to share a shameless self promotional video of an interview with a person buying a subscription to our 2009-2010 season. I happened to be in the lobby when this person came in to buy her subscription and I asked if I could whip out the Flip Video Camera (man I love that thing. So handy) and ask her a few questions. She didn't disappoint!

Second, check out this post from Angie Flynn-McIver, director of our first production, Beauty Queen of Leenane. They are two thirds of the way through the rehearsal process. Angie comes home from rehearsals both exhausted and exhilarated and from what I know about the play and the people in the cast, I can totally see why. Check out the cast bios. You'll see some people you will recognize from some of best productions as well as a face you might remember from 1980s TV (She's in the middle of the back row between Bruno and Shorofsky). Perhaps those of you NOT watching the Cosby Show.

Director speaks about rehearsing "Beauty Queen"



I asked Angie Flynn-McIver, director of our first production of the 2009-2010 season, co-founder of NC Stage and my wife of 9 years as of October 14th, to write something about her experience while directing "Beauty Queen". Hope you enjoy and come see it!

Just a collection of thoughts about The Beauty Queen of Leenane as we head into the final week of rehearsal:

Twelve days into rehearsal. We’ve got Monday and Tuesday of the coming week to continue to work scenes and polish moments, then we start running the show, then tech, then first preview the 21st. This thing always happens when I’m directing—by the second day of rehearsal, I’m bone-tired. I don’t know if it’s because of the extra hours at work or the intense focus it takes, but I can’t get enough sleep. The actors say they are having crazy dreams—we’re all being taken on quite a ride by this play.

Here’s some stuff I’ve spent time thinking about the past two weeks:
• Who is lying?
• Who isn’t lying?
• How would the world of the play be different if this lie were true?
• How much sex has the main character had?
• What is the ideal ratio of perceived threat to unquestioned actor safety that can be achieved in front of an audience (in other words, how real can it be before it’s too real?)
• What outfit says “I’ve given up” versus “I may give up soon”?
• How do you pronounce “Leenane”?

Mag and Maureen Folan are mother and daughter. They live together in a small cottage in a small town in Ireland, and they spend almost all of their time together. However, instead of, say, taking up cooking or cross-stitch or volunteering at the church food pantry, their mutual hobby is tormenting each other. Mag nags at Maureen constantly, insisting that she be waited on hand and foot though she’s capable of doing many, if not most, things for herself. Maureen takes petty revenge by only buying cookies her mother hates at the store and leaving lumps in her nutrition drink. Thank god for the funny moments in this play—there are a lot, and they can’t come too often for me!

This play is challenging. It’s different from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead—that was a very heady play, plus a hell of a lot of blocking and problem-solving. “Beauty Queen” is tough because it's all heart, no head--the main characters are stuck in a terrible relationship, and they are not people you want to spend a lot of time with in real life. And in fact, though their behavior is extreme, I can still see myself in it. I am a mother and I have one; I am a daughter and I have one. I am not the caretaker for any elderly relatives, and I certainly don’t plan to emulate any aspect of the relationship depicted in this play. I do think, though, that anyone can find themselves behaving badly towards those closest to them, indulging in petty comments, striking at the most vulnerable places because we can. There’s a reason this play was an award-winner and has had many, many productions in many countries—the rhythms of domestic annoyance are familiar to us, as familiar as the faces of our loved ones. The way they play out in this story is extreme, even epic, but their structure is repeated in homes of every size and location.

I didn’t go into theatre with the goal of learning about myself, or questioning my own behavior, or analyzing my relationship with my kids or my parents or my husband. But the incredible gift of this kind of work is that it happens anyway. The cast and I are sitting around talking about the play, figuring it out line-by-line, and parallels spring up in my mind, and in the minds of the actors. Everyone has an illustrative story to share, a metaphor, an “oh, yeah, that happened to me”. And when we make these links, we learn. Maybe we identify an aspect of our own interactions that isn’t all it could be, or we think more about kindness, or, frankly, we just become better theatre artists because we’ve expanded our experience.