Tag Archives: Performances

WITHIN ARM’S REACH is now within arm’s reach…

Yeah, I know, I just couldn’t help it – I mean that title just called to me…and I will totally use it again and again and again…

In all seriousness though, I wanted to give a quick status update on WAR!

UPDATE ON CAST

As often happens in showcase productions we had some changes in our cast during the first week of rehearsals. We now have a new Gracie, a Lila switcheroo, and a new Woman 1. The new cast is as follows:

CATHARINE……..Mary Anisi*
GRACIE……………….Lucinda Rogers*
LILA…………………..Kassianni Austin*
WEBER……………….Luke Wise
WOMAN 1……………Erin Evers*
WOMAN 2……………Alyssa Simon*
WOMAN 3……………Sheila Stasack*
MAN 1…………………Michael Bryan Hill*
MAN 2…………………John L. Payne*

We were bummed to lose two cast members but are so excited to have Lucinda and Erin joining us. So, we’ve now had a full cast and crew for about a week and a half and in the next two weeks we’ll be doing a whole “Meet the cast and crew” dealio on FB or on the blog (haven’t decided which yet) so you’ll get a chance to know everyone a little more before seeing them on opening night.

UPDATE ON REHEARSALS

We’ve spent the last two weeks doing script revisions and table work. As far as script revisions go, I am now cautiously optimistic in declaring the script “pretty much locked”. Yeah, I’m not going to say it is hard-core-locked-down-and-there-won’t-be-a-single-other-change (I’ve learned that lesson before), but I’m confident in saying that there shouldn’t be any more major changes. As is the case when you’re workshopping a show, there’s always the chance in rehearsals, as the show gets on its feet, that adjustments will get made and changes will happen; and I’m fully expecting that to be the case here. However, the likelihood that we’ll cut an entire scene or add a new four page monologue, diminishes with every moment that passes. As far as table work is concerned, this is one of my favorite parts of the rehearsal process. For those of you not familiar with table work, this is a time in rehearsal, where the actors and director and stage manager (and if you’re lucky the writer) sit around a table and talk…yup, it’s glamourous stuff, folks…but seriously we sit around the table and discuss the show – who are these people? what are their weaknesses? what are their strengths? what do they want? what are they afraid of? how do they relate to each other? All of this is a crucial part of what the show will be and this, at least on a Jessica Ammirati directed show, is our first chance to discover the answers to those questions. Today, however, we get on our feet for the first time and we start to block the show. Another favorite part for me…who are we kidding, they’re ALL my favorite parts. :)

UPDATE ON TICKETS

It’s official, tickets are on sale now!!! I repeat TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!!!! You can purchast tickets here, or you can call 866-811-4111. Only 12 performances so be sure to purchase early to be guaranteed a seat.

UPDATE ON PRODUCTION

So, postcards are being printed. Props are being purchased/built. Set pieces are being purchased/built. Costumes are being gathered. Projections are being filmed and created. Sound and lights are being designed…the show is beginning to come together…and…in order to pay for all of this, well, number 1 – did you see? TICKETS ARE ON SALE!!!!! and number 2 a Rockethub campaign is about to launch. More details shortly, but I will say, we’re looking at some fun rewards and a generally fun campaign. And, since this show is all about family connections, we hope YOU will join the Within Arm’s Reach family.

Ok, that’s it for now. More updates to follow…

-Jess

 

Busy couple of weeks for Tahiti…

Ok, so when you think of Tahiti, you don’t think of trudging through the snow and the cold or of hunkering down around the heat of the computer screen to type your little heart out with numb fingers. No. No you don’t. You think of beaches and tropical breezes, drinks with umbrellas, and palm trees . . . alas, in wintery New York it was definitely more of the former than the latter, including a snowy day of callbacks where we trudged through the show to see a bunch of very talented actors (who also trudged through the snow – THANK YOU AGAIN, those of you who came and read for us on Monday) read. Anywho, as I said in the title of this post, it’s been a busy couple of weeks for Tahiti…

Posted on Twitter – Written word representations of my 3 current projects – The FARM STORY-book (a gift my sister gave me of a book from the late forties full of farm stories for children), the novel of WITHIN ARM’S REACH, and the shooting script for THE JANE GAMES.

Not only did I just get back from an amazing location-scouting-meet-the-community-Farm-Story-pre-production meeting in Virginia last week, not only am I about to jump back into filming for The Jane Games, but I also just held auditions and callbacks for Within Arm’s Reach and we have cast the show. That’s right folks, we are full steam ahead with WAR (and, yes, that is how I will be abbreviating it because it takes a lot less time to type than the full title and I will be typing it a LOT in the next couple of months. Besides, it’s a family drama so in a way it is about war . . .) So, three updates follow and then I’ll get back to the business of the 3 productions I have going on.

#1) Terri and I, in discussing the logistics of Farm Story, decided that it made sense to film in and around Staunton, Virginia. The script calls for rural and small town locations and Terri, who’s brother lives in VA had seen this wonderful area that offered the promise of everything we need. So, we decided to go down there and check it out. And as I mentioned above, last week I returned from that trip – a four day Virginia visit, during which Terri and I did location scouting, met with some locals and generally got a feel for the area. Check out the last two posts on the Farm Story blog to hear all about what our Virginia trip accomplished and what’s next for Farm Story. It’s really starting to heat up, it’s all very exciting and we can’t wait to have you join us on the web-series-production journey.

#2) This weekend, I jump back into The Jane Games. We have a day of filming on Saturday and then four days of filming next week, and then another few days during February and March . . . and then of course, we go into the editing room. I’m excited to jump back in though by late next week, I might need someone to just shout out the title of the project I’m working on before I step into whatever I’m doing each day, just so I can keep it all straight and not talk about the changing structure of family through the generations when I’m shooting a web series about Jane Austen or launch into a full description of Farm Story themes when we I’m up to my ears in table work on WAR. 

. . . which brings me to . . .

#3) Within Arm’s Reach – so, as I mentioned above, we held auditions and callbacks for WAR this past week and I’m THRILLED to announce that we have a cast and a crew. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be doing “Meet theWAR Team” posts but in the meantime, I’ll just get the names out there:

Within Arm’s Reach - Cast

CATHARINE…………Mary Anisi*
GRACIE……………….Kassianni Austin*
LILA…………………..Katie Stults
WEBER……………….Luke Wise
WOMAN 1……………Jennifer Laine Williams*
WOMAN 2……………Alyssa Simon*
WOMAN 3……………Sheila Stasack*
MAN 1…………………Michael Bryan Hill*
MAN 2…………………John L. Payne*

Within Arm’s Reach - Crew

Director/Adaptor/Producer…..……………….Jessica Ammirati
Adaptor/Producer/Production Designer…….Molly Ballerstein
Stage Manager…………………..………………Kristine Schlachter*
Lighting Designer………………….……………Alexandra Mannix
Sound Designer………………….………………Ien DeNio
Projections Designer……………………………Zeljka Blaksic
*denotes members of Actors’ Equity Association

Although Molly and I have been working tirelessly on revisions for the adaptation, we really jump in to production on Thursday of this coming week, when we hold our first read-through. As usual, once we really begin there will be much more to report but, in the meantime, I wanted to do the official release of our production image (see above) and our WAR aviatrix (see below), courtesy, as usual, of the every-amazing Christine Diaz:

 

 

What a week (and a half) it has been…

Ok, I don’t have a lot of time because it’s been a long day and I still need to pack for the Virginia (Farm Story location scouting) trip, but I did want to just get out a quick blog post. I will do a longer/joint Farm Story blog post about this but I did want to take a minute and talk about the amazing week I’ve had directing a web series.

 As many of you know, a few weeks ago I was brought on to direct the web series, The Jane Games. The show is an imagining of 6 Jane Austen heroines brought to modern times, who are competing on a reality dating show hosted by Jane Austen herself. The scipt is pretty hilarious and it’s gonna be really fun for the audience, but that’s not what I wanted to post about. What I wanted to post about was what I’ve learned so far directing the show.

Now, as you know, I’ve directed a fair amount of theater in my time in NYC, and I’m pretty confident in my abilities in that arena, but I have much less experience directing film. I have made a music video and a 16 minute short film, but I’ve never done anything that could be considered long form and, though each episode of The Jane Games is only about 5 minutes, there are 22 of them, and they do follow one complete story arc, so this has been quite an education. And I don’t just mean that about learning the logistics of being on a film set (some of which have started to come back to me from my PA days in the late 90′s – ah, remember that time Tommy Lee Jones scolded me and I snapped at him? Yeah, good times) or learning the art of  knowing how to get the stuff you want on film so that you and the editor can build the show you want to build in the editing room later. And I’m not talking about the education of how you direct – how you talk to actors, how you tell the story, how you skew the characters’ and story arc to show your idea, your “vision”, turns out all of that stuff is actually the same whether it’s film or theater (and it was amazing to me, that about 15 minutes into the first day, it just felt normal. It was just directing – (directing with much less rehearsal time than I’m used to) – but directing all the same). The education I’m actually talking about  was the tiny miracle that came with this experience. You see, I’ve gone through my life, particularly my adult life, knowing I was born to be a director – theater, film, tv, whatever – but it’s really hard to go through life knowing that and yet not having had the opportunity to really test the “film, tv, whatever” part of that statement.

So, now that I have seen the footage we’ve shot so far and now that I’m starting to picture the very funny and fun narrative we’ll be telling, I can actually say (with some real knowledge of the fact) that I was right. Turns out I was born to do this. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a relief, a revelation and…an education.

Things completed and things beginning at GTTP…

On November 3rd GTTP completed two kinda big deal things – one personal and one business – but both had an effect on who GTTP is as a company.

In the interest of full disclosure, the time shown in the picture was the elapsed time from the first gun. My wave start time was about an hour and 15 minutes after the first gun.

The personal first – Yours truly (aka, GTTP Artistic Director, Jessica Ammirati) ran the New York City Marathon. As many of you know, I was supposed to run it last year before Hurricane Sandy put a damper on those plans, and after that experience I wrote about “Art and Sports and the things they Share” and, as my facebook peeps know, I already wrote a blog post about the experience of running it this year which you can see both on my personal FB page and on the ING NYC Marathon page; BUT, in this particular post, I’d like to just mention a word about perserverance. As in: have it, believe in it, keep doing it (whatever “it” may be). You see, #1 – I don’t really like running. No, I swear. I’ve been training off and on for this marathon for 13 years (yes I said years! And, though much of it was the “off” part of off and on, for the past two years it was serious running-5-days-a-week training) and I DON’T ENJOY RUNNING. I enjoy having done the run. I enjoy that when I’m running I can eat pretty much whatever I want and I won’t really gain weight. I enjoy the way my body looks and feels because of the run. But I kinda HATE the actual run. I keep waiting for that runners’ high to kick in…uh, I’m still kinda waiting. And, #2 – I’m a slow runner – I’m from hearty Italian peasant stock so though I can keep going, I can’t really get there fast. At my fastest (which was the middle 2-13 miles of the marathon), I was running about an 11 minute and 26 second mile. So, you know, not nothing but not exactly record breaking speed. And then, after mile 13 I slowed down a bit, and from 13-21 I ran about a 12 minute mile. And then I slowed down A LOT for the last 5.2 miles. The entire thing took me 5 hours and 46 minutes (and 18 seconds) to complete. A long time. I mean, it was under the 6 hour goal I had set for myself but still longer than the 5 hour and 30 minute goal I had really hoped for. But here’s the thing – it was awesome! I mean it. The run, the marathon, the experience? The FIVE HOURS AND FORTY SIX MINUTES (and 18 seconds) OF SUSTAINED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY?!?!? It was amazing. Hands down, freaking awesome, once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing here. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is (and I know it’s been said before much more eloquently than this but here goes): It’s worth it. Persevere. Keep pushing. Go after your dreams or goals or things you forsee for yourself. Or whatever you want to call it because most of the time it’s going to pay off. It can’t not. Not after you’ve put in all that time, work, energy, thought. 13 years ago, I had this wacky idea – “maybe I’ll run the NYC marathon” but more than that I had this thought – “I want to have this experience because I think this experience will mean something to me, will shape me in a certain way, will have an effect on the person I am.” And so I decided to pursue it. And, like I said, it was seriously off and on. There are whole years in there where I didn’t lace up a sneaker…but in the end, I had the experience I did because I wanted to do it, I prepared to do it, I pushed to do it. I persevered. And I did it. I did “___________” (YOU fill in that blank for you) and it was SOOOOOO worth it. When I was 10 years old, I had a similar thought, goal, dream, what have you – “I want to be a director” (it was actually when I was 6 that I first thought it but it wasn’t until I was 10 that I began to understand the thing I wanted to be and do was the job of a director). So, here I am 30 years later. GTTP is fives years strong and I’m doing this thing – this hard, exciting, scary, challenging, wonderful, life-changing thing. So I guess my whole point is…perseverence is cool, and I truly believe that, like gravity, it always works…

…and sometimes, that personal perseverance connects with someone else’s personal perseverance and you end up with a business accomplishment…which, of course, brings me to…

Luke Wise and Jill Rittinger in a scene from THE SANDMAN’S COMING.

The business thing that happened on November 3rd:

GTTP’s Managing Director, Molly Ballerstein, completed the run of her first GTTP show, The Sandman’s Coming. Slowly this company that I envisioned in my living room 6 years ago is starting to grow into it’s future shape. You see, I never planned for GTTP to stay my baby. I always wanted a partner.

Lantie Tom as The Heroine in THE SANDMAN’S COMING.

I was always hoping to find someone who would want to direct shows and help guide the company into the future with me. Yes, I want to direct but I want to direct as part of a family of artists, not out there on my own. And, with The Sandman’s Coming, GTTP has taken that first step into a new world. A world of LOTS of people’s ideas instead of just mine. A world of exploration, of partnerships and who knows what else. It’s an exciting step for us to take and an exciting way to do it. Because, guys? Seriously? Sandman was extraordinary. A movement theater piece that explored the nature of addiction, identity and human connection. That looked at addiction not in a sensationalistic way but asked instead, what do we do-how do we deal with additction when it isn’t sensationalistic? When it isn’t glamorous or tragic? When it is just a part of everday life – ugly, complicated, terrifying and banal – ordinary everyday life? Haunting and evocative, beautiful and moving, painful and transformative, this show stays with you long after the lights go down. Take a gander at a couple of the production stills above. We have more that we’ll be posting on the website shortly. The Sandman’s Coming was a truly powerful experience. And proof that GTTP is so lucky to have snatched up Molly as soon as we found her.

So that’s what we’ve just completed. Now, as Jed Barlet would say, “what’s next?” (Y’all knew I was a West Wing fan, right?) Because, in the end, you have to keep moving forward…ALWAYS. And moving forward we are with a couple of rather exciting events.

First Up:

Cat Lady Without A Cat

That’s right. Once again GTTP is co-producing Carrie Keskinen’s hilarious one woman show - “A hilarious and heartfelt story of one woman’s journey from a painful divorce to her new life in New York. Finding a dead mouse in her apartment is the catalyst for letting go of her past and fears of becoming a crazy cat lady, and discovering her true self.” And this time around GTTP peeps aren’t just on the producing side. This time around, I’m Assistant Directing the show and Molly is Stage Managing. Because the show’s first performance was sold out United Solo Festival, decided to extend and add a second show. Join us on Saturday, November 23rd at 4pm for the additional show. The performance is at The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street by 9th Avenue. Details and tickets available here.

 

December Benefit – GTTP talks SEX!

We’re currently planning our December Benefit – GTTP talks Sex! Ha, ha! Now you’re paying attention? Details to follow but for now, save the date – Before you head out of the city for your holiday festivities, we hope you’ll join us on December 20th at Shetler Studios for an evening of storytelling with the Tahitians.

Within Arm’s Reach in March

Molly and I are currently finishing the  stage adaptation of Ann Napolitano’s beautiful novel, Within Arm’s Reach. From Library Journal (Starred Review) – “Narrated in six different voices, this stunning first novel explores the multigenerational dynamics of one Irish American family and exposes misunderstandings and broken relationships… Although this exquisite, skillfully written gem addresses serious issues – e.g., guilt vs. loyalty, the past vs. the present – the narrative remains hopeful and includes ample doses of humor and wit.” In the next few months you’ll be seeing a lot from us about Within Arm’s Reach. We’re settling on a performance space and a crew in the next couple of weeks and will look at holding auditions in January. The plan right now (of course dependent on things like “what space is available?”  and “how much money can we raise?”) is for a two week performance run in March. Expect trademark GTTP elements – original storytelling and innovative use of lights, sound, set, projections, costume and movement. More details to come soon. And then more and more and more…

Farm Story filming

GTTP is thrilled to make this announcement: We’re about to move into the world of film and TV production! As a director I love love love theater but from the beginning I’ve also always wanted to direct in the film and tv world as well. So, why haven’t I, you ask. Actually I have a bit – I made a music video for Camilla Ammirati’s awesome song – The Ballad of Chicken McGann (which you can see on our GTTP Youtube Page) and I made a short film of Skin Flesh Bone – but I’ve never made a full length film or television pilot for a couple of reasons. #1) As you know, although theater ain’t exactly cheap, it’s definitely cheaper than film and tv production. In the past, thanks to all of you, we’ve been able to raise the budgets for plays but the starting budget for a television pilot episode is exponentially higher than your average low-budget theater production. So, we haven’t jumped in before. #2) I knew that raising the money for and actually filming a television pilot would take a LOT of my time – as in – all of it. And I didn’t want to abandon theater production while I went off to spend all of my time on a television show. #3) I’m not a writer. Though I’m a decent interpretive artist, I’m not exactly good with the creative writing thing. And so, I’ve never had a script that made sense as the first episode of a television show. BUT NOW – all three of those things have changed. (Actually #3 and #2 changed and that made me willing to jump in and change #1). So #3 changed with the entracnce of  Terri Viani, a dear screenwriting friend of mine. She has written an amazing script for the pilot episode of a television series called Farm Story. As you know from previous blog posts we now have Molly on board so there went #2. She will spearhead the theater stuff while I flit off to film Farm Story (see the next paragraph for more details on that). And so, we’re ready to jump into #1 – the money. Going to Tahiti Productions will coproduce the television show with Terri’s company, The Writer, Ink Productions and I will direct Farm Story. All that being said, GTTP’s official involvement in Farm Story won’t really heat up until Within Arm’s Reach is nearing completion but, if you’d like to follow the progress of independent television production (a formerly unheard of field that, with the advent of the internet  and inexpensive (but high quality) film/video technology, is now becoming more common), check out our Farm Story blog here. As of right now, (and, of course, dependent on fundraising) we are planning to film in New York and Virginia in late June/early July of 2014. Although we are THRILLED to be taking this step, as I said, this doesn’t mean that GTTP will stop doing theater. While I’m off rehearsing and filming the first episode of Farm Story, Molly will be here running GTTP and working on her own show…

Commissioned show

…which brings me to another GTTP first – it’s an exciting 5th Anniversary year for GTTP! For the first time GTTP is commissioning a show. (We’ve hit the big time now, kids!) Molly is currently in discussions with a playwright friend to write a collaborative movement/theater piece that will feature original music and will hopefully run around the same time that I’m off filming Farm Story - so, late June/early July.

Workshops, classes and readings oh my!

And, last but not least – we were so excited about our last round of workshops and classes that we’re going to do it again. Stay tuned in January for class and workshop announcements. We’re also planning to launch our reading series starting in the new year.

We hope to see you at one of the many upcoming events as GTTP heads into the second half of our 5th anniversary season.

From the Rehearsal Room – THE SANDMAN’S COMING Director, Molly Ballerstein

Today we have a guest blog post from Molly Ballerstein, director and writer of The Sandman’s Coming. Here’s what she had to say about the process of creating this haunting and beautiful show. Have you bought your tickets yet?

(left to right) Molly demonstrates a scene for actors Lantie Tom and Luke Wise during rehearsal.

I’m going to be honest with you all, I’ve been trying to write this for weeks. It always starts the same: “I can’t believe it’s been over a year,” as this thought has stayed with me constantly throughout this second incarnation of The Sandman’s Coming. Now that we are half way through the run I’m practically speechless. A year ago I had a form of this story I wanted to share, a choreographer, and acceptance into the Frigid Festival guaranteeing us five shows. The Frigid Festival production yielded one THEASY reviewer to comment:

“The Sandman’s Coming is a highly ambitious and ultimately effective exploration that engages dance, media, sound, and familiar nursery rhymes in its storytelling. Theatrical, unexpected, and vivid, Sandman is important both in its topic and in its ingenuity.”

At the end of the festival I knew the story telling was not complete; I had heard a lot of great feedback from my New York writing premiere and was excited to embark on the refining process…in the future. A small break from The Sandman’s Coming led to me getting involved with Going to Tahiti Productions, which led to Jessica agreeing to co-produce The Sandman’s Coming for the fall and bring me on board GTTP.

It has been quite the process to start this show from scratch. I have always enjoyed working in a more collaborative/round table structure then the typical theatre hierarchy but this show has been my opportunity to test that. To explore the options collaborating brings about while being a hybrid or slashy (director/writer/producer) myself has put my stress levels to the

The same scene in performance, with the addition of actress Jill Rittinger.

limits. This had its successes and failures especially as the time crunch came upon us. It has also proven to me that in order to tell a story effectively everyone’s heart needs to be in it. To have the pleasure of working with artist’s that are invested in the story has been a journey and the longer I work on the show the more personal stories I hear about how addiction has affected the lives of my collaborators.  I have worked with many amazing artists along the way and everyone involved in this process will always have a special place in my mind.

Along with exploring the boundaries of labels within the process, I have worked to redefine my process of directing. With the original idea of this story I wanted to explore the disconnect between what you hear and what you see. Communication has always been a key topic in my work and although I had previously pulled away from my dance roots something about this story made me want to revisit them. To use dance and stylized pedestrian movements as the primary means of communicating with the audience is by no means a unique way of storytelling; however, exploring this with text that only breaks the third wall and is never used to communicate between characters on stage has been quite the adventure. I hope that you will join me in this process as the ears, eyes, and heart for the story to be told to.

The Sandman’s Coming runs until November 3rd at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor. For tickets and further details go to:www.goingtotahitiproductions.com.

Molly Ballerstein is a New York City director, writer, designer and stage manager as well as being the co-Executive Producer/co-Managing Director of GTTP. You can follow Molly on Twitter @FedoraMolly.

Birthdays and Theater…for me…

I had a crazy realization the other day…in all my theater work, I have never been doing a show on my actual birthday. Rehearsals, possibly; theater classes certainly, but an actual performance? nope. That is ca-razy to me. Ok, let me back up a little…

The birthday dessert at Le Bernadin on my 40th birthday courtesy of Steve and Maricar

Birthdays are a big deal to me. They always have been. When I was growing up I was usually awakened by mom, dad and the sisters outside my bedroom door singing happy birthday to me. I would emerge from my room and my folks would have put a few “morning presents” on the table with streamers and a rogue balloon or two so that I would have something to unwrap first thing. The presents were never anything major just little tchokes or something practical, like socks or tights or something – it didn’t matter what the gift was as much as it mattered that there was a little something for me to unwrap. Morning presents were always important – so important, in fact, that the year I was at the National Theater Institute my mother plotted with my roommate, Kat, and a few of my friends at NTI, Lynn and Cathy, to meet outside the dorm the evening of October 24th, so they could pick up the box of morning presents to smuggle into the room and under Kat’s bed so that after I went to sleep they could set up the morning presents. It’s always been a thing in my family. My folks did it with my sisters too. For each other, on their birthdays, my mom and dad leave little notes hidden around the house for the birthday girl or boy. To this day, if I’m visiting the house in Connecticut and I pull open the freezer anytime in late March or early April, I might find a post-it that says, “happy birthday! love, me” with a smiley face on it – a birthday note from my dad to mom. Or, if it’s late October/early November I’ll find a “happy birthday to you! love, me” post-it from mom to dad, in the bathroom medicine cabinet…point is, I was brought up with a healthy respect for celebrating the day you entered the world.

The homemade pistachio birthday cake my friend and former roommate, Sarah made for my 40th – my 40th birthday was very special…

And, of course, I think it’s clear from reading htis blog, theater is a big deal to me too. Theater is holy to me. When I’m worksing on a show, even when it’s 2am and I’ve been working an 18 hour day, I’m at my happiest. I’m the most “me” I can be. Things make sense when I’m working on a show. SO, it was crazy for me to realize the other day, as my birthday approached and I realized I wouldn’t really be able to do any special birthday celebration on the actual day because I would be running box office for a show. Which means, I’ll be at a theater…my church…on my birthday…working on a show…does it get any better? The confluence of events that made that happen are amazing to me and the mere fact that, in all the theater I have done – and, honestly, it’s like 28 years of theater (almost 20 of them professional theater) the mere fact that I’ve never had a performance on my birthday? It’s astounding to me! And, now, I’m THRILLED to hit this milestone and discover (as if there was any doubt) that I’m truly in the right place. You know how they say you know your dream job when it’s something you’d do for free? Well I think the phrase should actually be “You know your dream job when it’s something you’d happily do on your birthday”. Looks like I found my thing…

And just another thing in the category of Crazy Coincidences That Add Up To TRUTH! How perfect is it that not only does my birthday fall during this production (I’m of course talking about The Sandman’s Coming tickets available now!) but Molly too will celebrate her birthday during the run of this show. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than this. Celebrations shall abound!

Anywho, if you find yourself free this evening around 8pm, come on by Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street and join us for our second performance of The Sandman’s Coming. Tickets available here and at the box office.

From the Rehearsal Room – THE SANDMAN’S COMING actress, Lantie Tom

Today we have a guest blog post from Lantie Tom, the actress playing the part of The Heroine in The Sandman’s Coming. Here’s what she had to say about the process of creating this intriguing and haunting character. Have you bought your tickets yet?

It’s a marvel when diverse artists identify a truth, and with love, honor the beauty with their labor. Soon after agreeing to collaborate on The Sandman’s Coming the first time, I became impressed with director, Molly Ballerstein’s refreshing take on addiction. It has been a gratifying process as she and choreographer Dana Boll have encouraged and assimilated the actors’ ideas into the greater narrative. The result allows us actors (Jill Rittinger and Luke Wise and myself) to show more range than the traditional play, and our improvisations have led us to find movements that are authentic to us and specific to our characters.

I felt that The Heroine required a compelling, dramatic, origin story (as any supernatural character does). I hoped to dissuade audiences from dismissing my character’s title as a convenient pun, so I dug through my research for information that would inspire heroic attributes. My notions, in conjunction with Molly’s version of The Heroine’s background have resulted in a character that I think illustrates some overlooked aspects of addiction.

I had the advantage of playing The Heroine in the play’s first incarnation, and the wealth of additional information available this time around left me wading through possibilities for reconstructing this character. Strategically incorporating choices from the first staging felt like reorganizing the garage – deciding which tools are needed, if and why they’re really indispensable, then where to put them, and lastly, where to put those shiny new tools! The result has been an invigorating discovery of how I understand and translate ancient, larger-than-life correlations between purity and corruption, the natural and the supernatural, saviours and lunatics, the sacred and the profane and love and abuse.

I suspect my relatively literal apporach to the symbolism in my lines in unusual. I am of the opinion that symbolism is affected through precision, so dissecting The Heroine’s lines felt like an exercise in cryptography. To her credit, our director has remained patient and curious while witnessing my process, and intervening when I lose my bearings.

The interplay between the text, and the universal languages of music and movement seem to have spurred this play’s dynamic evolution over a very short rehearsal period, and I’m as eager as anyone to see all the beautiful work that Jill Rittinger and Luke Wise – both of them skilled, truthful, generous actors – have put into this project. Returning audiences and new audiences alike will find The Sandman’s return to be an intriguing experience.

The Sandman’s Coming opens Thursday, October 24th and runs until November 3rd at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor. For tickets and further details go to: www.goingtotahitiproductions.com.

Lantie Tom is a physical, character actor, mask and puppet designer, and educator. For more information:maskspuppetry.wix.com/deadlanguage

From the Rehearsal Room – TSC’s Composer – Dede Booth

This week we have a guest post from Dede Booth, the composer and sound designer of The Sandman’s Coming, which opens October 24th. Tickets available now!

When Molly Ballerstein first approached me to compose the music and sound design for The Sandman’s Coming, I was intrigued as well as feeling those good kind of nerves that make you feel like when you don’t know what you’re doing but know that in the end, you will own and be proud of whatever product has been achieved. I had only ever written vocal/lyrical music before; progressive rock and pop metal to be more specific, so approaching an instrumental score of music was slightly new territory for me. The timing could not have been more than perfect to accept this challenge though. I had been dealing with a vocal injury and was exploring new ways to make music while my voice was recovering. Taking that instrumental journey by composing for the theater seemed just what I needed.

I approached the writing and recording process differently than I would’ve with my band’s music. Normally I write the song’s “blueprint” on my acoustic guitar and once the idea’s are all flushed out, I track a demo and begin writing around that initial idea. This time, I produced and arranged the music simultaneously to the writing. Some times this meant approaching the music in a somewhat improvised way, laying everything down in one take and producing and layering with multiple instruments at the same time. Other times it was experimenting with an idea that I had stored away in the back of my mind for months (or years even!), and playing around with how I could manifest those ideas and make them fit within the context of the Sandman story. Another difference is that I tend to record all the tracks that a particular instrument is being used for and go through each instrument at a time; so basically recording each song at the same time (all the guitars, then all the drums, etc.). For this, I did one song at a time. So I’d track a guitar part, mix it down, then track another instrument, and so on until the piece was finished. I enjoyed this process very much. In fact, I think I learned more about production and got what I wanted to achieve sonically by doing things this way.

Instrumental music is an interesting challenge for me. My lyrical music is existential in nature, and many of my songs in the past have touched on the theme of addiction. Additionally, I happen to hear my compositions through the imagination of movement. It may sound odd, but music is very visual to me. So I felt completely comfortable and connected to putting myself into the elements of Sandman. The challenge then came from being able to convey the emotional elements I try to do through my lyrics, and achieve the same emotional outcome through instrumental music. I wanted to put myself into each character’s role and really give each sound or melody or rhythm that characters’ personality. I wanted the music to symbolize each character so that when viewers heard a certain guitar sound or piece of sound design they could recognize that sound as being The User or The Heroine or The Watcher. When I listen back to these pieces, I think I was able to do just that.

It’s been interesting working on this music and visualizing the direction of the play while working solely in Boston and not being present at rehearsals. In a way, it forced me to dig deep into this play and put myself into every role and every movement this piece conveys. The Sandman’s Coming has been an incredible opportunity for me to grow artistically, challenge myself musically, and open my music up to other mediums of listening and experience. I’m honored to be a part of it and am looking forward to where this experience will take me.

Dede Booth is a Boston musician/producer, music therapist in training, & mental health advocate. To learn more about Dede and her work, check out her website here or follow her on Twitter here.

Five years is wood, right?

That’s right folks! As you may have seen in our newsletter, GTTP is FIVE YEARS OLD this month!!!!!

And, in celebration of this milestone, we’ll be having a whole bunch of events throughout the season, including shows (of course) – speaking of which, have you bought your tickets for The Sandman’s Coming? (I may have mentioned – they’re on sale now) – workshops (we’re planning two workshops – improv and audition skills – for October and several throughout the rest of the season – stay tuned for details), cabarets – we’re ironing out the details of a storytelling cabaret that will be happening during the run of The Sandman’s Coming (tickets on sale now) that we hope you will join us for – seminars (we’re currently putting together a seminar for early career directors – details to follow) and parties - at the very least we’re planning an anniversary celebration that should coincide nicely with the winter holidays – so we hope you will stay tuned…but, that is actually not what this post is about. This post is brought to you by the number 5 because this post is about our 5 year anniversary or our 5th birthday or however you want to look at it, this post about us having made it, in an over-satureated, theater town, to our 5th season!!! A milestone we would not have seen if it weren’t for all of you out there!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your continued support. And, since this post is about a specific number, I thought I’d give it to you by the numbers – 10 to be exact – so here you go…

1 – as in – ONE DREAM that refused (and continues to refuse) to die. For me the dream of directing was so powerful that it started us all on this journey. It’s been a weird and wonderful trip so far – a dream trip, one might say, and I hope we’re just at the beginning…

2 – as in – the number of novels GTTP has adapted into stage productions (Dreamers of the Day, and Jane Austen’s Persuasion) – see our Past Productions page and previous blog posts for details on these amazing and exhilerating shows.

3 – as in – the third novel GTTP will adapt for the stage after we premiere our adaptation of Ann Napolitano’s Within Arm’s Reach, in late winter/early spring of 2014. I know, I know you’ve been hearing about this for over a year but it is now OFFICIALLY on the calendar, people! It is on the calendar and the script is halfway completed. We’re currently deciding on a performance venue and we are aiming for a late February/early March production run. Stay tuned for details.

4 – as in – the number of times GTTP has performed at The Secret Theatre. One of our all time favorite performance spaces, The Secret Theatre is consistently bringing new and innovative productions to their little corner of Long Island City – not so secret anymore. We hope to be back at our unofficial home in the spring, but in the meantime, if you’re looking for quality indy professional theater in Queens, check them out and take in a show.

5 – as in – we’re five years old, y’all!!!! Haven’t you been reading this post?

6 – as in – the number of theater women (who haven’t worked directly with GTTP and aren’t Tahitians per se but that) I have connected with thanks to/because of my work with GTTP. Connections I would not have made if GTTP didn’t exist – women I can’t imagine not having in my life. They include – Jane Dubin, producer - ANN, Peter and the Starcatcher and unFRAMED; Patricia Klausner, producer – Pippin; Caroline Rothstein, writer, performer and producer, http://bodyempowerment.tumblr.com/Bailie Slevin, a former theater professional who is now on a mission to bring fiscal health and education to the entertainment community – a mission she pursues through her company Entertaining FinanceMelanie Jones, writer, performer, dancer and producer – Endureand; last but not least Jake Lipman, actor, director, producer and founder of Tongue in Cheek Theater who will be doing a performance of How I Learned to Drive at the other Shetler Studios Theater during our run of The Sandman’s Coming. These women have been incredible – helpful, motivating, supportive, and generally wonderful people I’ve been honored to share the female theater community with. I hope that they are only the beginning of this circle of incredible theater women that GTTP has entered into.

7 – as in – the number of different aviatrices (the aviatrix is what we call our logo), our incomparable graphic designer, Christine Diaz, has designed to individually accompany each production (we don’t have one for Dreamers of the Day or the first In the Ebb  as we sadly hadn’t yet discovered the awesomeness that is Christine at the time we were doing those shows). When she came on board, she branded GTTP and continues to design all of our beautiful production art. To see all of the aviatrices, check out our About Us page.

8 – as in – the number of productions presented by GTTP since we opened our doors (curtains) - In the Ebb, by Camilla Ammirati, Dreamers of the Day, adapted from the novel by Mary Doria Russell, Skin Flesh Bone, by Camilla Ammirati, Full Disclosure, by Ruth McKee, Cat Lady without a Cat, by Carrie Keskinen, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, adapted for the stage by Laura Bultman, In the Ebb (Redux), by Camilla Ammirati and Bella’s Dream by Dana Boll. More details on each (except for Bella’s Dream because I haven’t had a chance to upload the pictures but will hopefully do it soon) can be found on our Past Productions page.

9 – as in – the number of productions we will have under our belts when The Sandman’s Coming opens on October 24th. Did I mention? Tickets are on sale now.

Which brings me to: 

10 – as in – years – our next big milestone – that, with your help, we’ll reach in another five.

Thanks for getting us here! We hope you’ll continue to join us on this extraordinary, exciting, incredible journey!

See you at the thater!!!!

Welcome, Molly Ballerstein!!!!!!

SO! It has been an inSANE summer. I cannot believe that it is mid-September and that we are already moving into the cooler months of the year…I know, I know, this is what EVERYONE says as the fall begins, but really? Where did the last 6 months go?!?! For people who read this blog religiously (Hi, Mom!) you know that Bella’s Dream took up a fair portion of GTTP’s time from February to July but, I guess that doesn’t really explain where we’ve been for July and August and the first half of September. And, you’re right, you deserve to know. The one thing I will say is that, though I haven’t been particularly on top of blogging and website updates and keeping you all up to speed, that does NOT mean that I have been idly twiddling my thumbs and eating bon bons.

What I have been doing instead is strategizing and re-organizing the very existence of Going to Tahiti Productions – I know, you minds are totally blown, right? You were all – “hmph, Jessica’s just been sitting on the couch all summer eating bon bons” but now you know the truth – and the truth is, GTTP has some news, Peeps! We got us some genuine bona fide news! And that news has a name – Molly Ballerstein.

A little history – when I started GTTP, I always intended for it to be an ensemble and I always wanted a partner to help me run the company. I mean, although I’m capable of doing it on my own, it’s really more fun to have a like-minded buddy to bounce ideas off of and help run the show and…the shows… So, for years, I’ve been asearching high and low for that like-minded buddy but it wasn’t until I found multi-hyphenate Molly, that I began to really see how a partnership would work. So I asked if she’d like to take an extened trip to Tahiti, and lo and behold, she said yes!

So now, finally, I’m officially announcing that Molly Ballerstein – Director, Writer, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer, Costume Designer, and all around fantastic human being has agreed to join GTTP as Co-Managing Director and Co-Executive Producer with yours truly. As you know from previous blog posts, Molly first landed on our island when she agreed to stage manage Bella’s Dream. Although I initially had some hesitation in bringing a fellow director on as stage manager (“what if she decided she wanted to direct instead of stage manage and started challenging everything I was doing?”, “what if she saw things differently than I did and tried for some sort of power play?”, or even “what if she’s not all around awesome?”), those fears were quickly dispatched about 30 seconds after I met her and realised that she might be that “like-minded buddy” of which I spoke earlier. After a particularly challenging tech week, (which found Molly and me pulling an all-nighter in the theater), my realization that she IS all around awesome was permanently cemented. It also turns out that Molly has a very similar directing style to me and we just generally hit it off really well…so well, in fact, that I couldn’t NOT ask her if she wanted to help me run GTTP. I get a partner, she gets a company, and our audience gets shows from two directors instead of just one. How awesome is that? Talk about a win-win-win.

And so, as you may have seen from our home page, we’re jumping into our 2013-14 season with The Sandman’s Coming. A show conceived and directed by Molly. The Sandman’s Coming marks a bit of a change for GTTP – a dance/theater piece that explores issues of identity and addiction – you’re about to see a whole new voice and vision from GTTP because it’s a whole new director. Don’t get me wrong, this is still GTTP so you’re still going to get innovative female-driven work, but make no mistake, GTTP’s got some fresh new blood. And I don’t know if you’ve heard but fresh new blood ain’t just good for vampires – it’s good for audiences too. There will be lots more on the production itself in the days and weeks to come, including a few blog posts directly from Molly as we move into rehearsals; but, in the meantime, mark your calendars - The Sandman’s Coming opens October 24th and runs through November 3rd at Shetler Studios in Manhattan. Tickets will go on sale next week.

So, please join me in welcoming Molly into the GTTP world!!!

Check back next week for a blog post from Molly herself…

Four weeks down…and ONLY ONE to go!!!!!

…and so it begins…

When I was little and still thinking I would ultimately have to have real babies (as opposed to the theater babies that my shows always are) I remember asking my mom what pregnancy was like and she answered “long”. I said, “but it’s only 9 months, right?” (Seriously, my 7 year old brain couldn’t really process 9 months, I mean to me – I thought years were long, months were short). And my mom said, “nope, first of all, technically pregnancy is 10 months, not 9, AND it feels like 9 months and a year! That last month goes on forever!” Of course then she said, “and yet, there’s still never enough time.” Again something my 7 year old brain couldn’t process (too long but also not enough time) so off I went to make my Barbie dolls re-enact scenes from Sesame Street. Ok, ok, I know, you’re all thinking why is she telling us this story? I thought this was a theater blog. I’m getting there, hang with me.  Whenever I go into a tech week I always always think of my mom saying “9 months and a year…and…never enough time.” As an adult, of course, I totally understand how something can be both things-too long and too short-and every time I do a show, as the first performance approaches, I feel that pressure – too long/too short – building in my entire system. Now, at last, I get to the point. Tech week is about to begin – my own final month/year of pregnancy with this particular show-baby.

So, for everyone keeping track, here’s a quick recap of this past week. The week began with the last of the scene work. It’s always amazing to me how the closer you get to the end of the rehearsal process, the more you find in the work. All of the actors start to come off book and as scripts leave hands and actors are free to really connect and communicate on stage, the discoveries start to flow. The moments come together and the show really starts to take shape. We spent the first half of this week finishing scene work. On Thursday I also got the chance to work individually with the actors who have monologues during the show-a chance to really delve and play with those moments. On Friday we did a line-through with the actors (basically everyone sits in a rehearsal room, and runs the show for lines. The stage manager, in our case, the luminous Molly Ballerstein, is on book and at the ready when an actor calls “line” to feed them their text and we cruise through the show). In my experience a line-through right before tech can be extremely helpful for getting everyone ready for the runs that are about to begin…and then, and then, and gentlemen and then…(sorry, a little PIPPIN moment there. I promise, that review is coming soon. ANYWHO I digress (big surprise, I know)). And then! This past weekend we jumped in to run-throughs. Finally we got a chance to see if our running time is anywhere close to the run time we quoted on all of our promotional materials (turns out it is) and we got to see a glimmer of what the show will be.

It’s also during this last week before tech when the slow hand off of the play begins. Although, as a director, I am of course needed through opening night, this subtle shift in control and responsibility starts in that last week before tech where, with each passing rehearsal the show becomes less and less mine and more and more the actors’ and Stage Manager’s production. As producer and director I’m always still up to my ears in the production until the end – it is not a rare occurence that I’m at every single performance, but officially, I start handing my baby over to others to let it find its legs. It’s always an exciting time in the life of a show (and also a teensy bit sad).

So, now, we head into tech week and I get back to that pregnancy story-too long and yet too short. So, for those of you not particularly familiar with theater…how to describe tech week? Organized chaos? The definition of chaos theory? Chaotic? (Are you sensing a theme?) I can’t speak to what it is like on Broadway, or even Off-Broadway (though I suspect, that though there’s more money in those worlds, it’s not that different from the off-off-Broadway environment) in low-budget, independent theater it’s like this: You remember finals week from school? The lack of sleep, the intense studying, the feeling like at any moment some little thing will go wrong and you’ll ruin your entire future in one fell swoop? Remember the fear but also the exhilaration that a screw up, as bad as it would be, would launch your life in a totally new and unexpected direction? Remember the stress building up so much that sometimes you needed a primal scream or two to get you through the day? That’s amateur hour compared to tech week. Pfft. Child’s play. And the director/producer keeps all the plates spinning; makes sure all the decisions get made – God I love this job.

My tech week will (most likely) look like this:

It will begin with load-in. VERY early in the morning, I’ll make my way to the space and open up the theater and get my first good look since we booked it. I’ll realize exactly how big a playing area it is and start to envision what the final

The hat in the foreground as the owner of the hat (Molly) hangs lights in the background (on the ladder – I guess less backgound than mid-ground).

product will actually look like. If possible, I’ll sit for a minute, on the stage, by myself, before anyone else arrives, and just soak in the empty-theater-ness of the place – that feeling of potential magic that an empty theater practically oozes. Then, I’ll meet up with the tech director and start unloading the set from the truck. Soon after that, or during that, some helpers will arrive, as will the order from the lighting rental house. We’ll hang lights, and put set together and throughout the day we’ll prep the dressing room, and clean the space. The costume designer will drop off costumes and the projections designer will start testing images in the space. We’ll have some sound tests of the speakers and slowly but surely, an empty open space will turn into the world of Bella’s Dream. And then we’ll do it all again (well not the unloading the set part, just the turning the empty space into Bella’s Dream part) the next day. Tuesday, Molly and I will test out every set piece and walk the pathways of the show for safety – as a director, I’ve always said, I won’t ask any actor to do something I wouldn’t feel 100% safe doing myself and as a stage manager, Molly would say the same so only after we test everything and know it’s safe will we hand set pieces off to actors. We’ll also glow tape the crap out of everything so that the backstage looks like the game grid from TRON. Then, Tuesday night, the actors will arrive and we’ll have our first walk through of the show in the actual space. Wednesday will be a long tech day, doing recordings and filmings for elements that are featured within the show, costume fittings, and general tech stuff before we start to really look at the lights and hear the sounds and see the projections, projected larger than life on the screen. Thursday is our cue to cue. For those not familiar with a cue to cue, it is exactly that, it is the whole show but just going from technical cue to technical cue. It is an absolute necessity but usually a hard and tiring day for all. Friday will be run throughs, Saturday will be run throughs and dress rehearsal and then Sunday – we’re off to the races with our preview!

…and in the end, though everything will somehow get done, none of it will happen exactly the way I’ve planned or expected – it’s the nature of the beast – and I’ll have to shift plans on the fly…but, either way, Sunday night, we will have a show…speaking of which, have you bought tickets yet? Preview tickets are only $12! All other tickets $18. Be sure to pick up your tickets ASAP – only 15 performances.

So, yeah, that’s tech week. I’ll do another blog post as soon as I can to let you all know how it went but the best way to know for certain is to come see the show. See you at the theater!

 

Three weeks down and (Holy Good Lord) two to go…

That’s right folks – we are only two weeks from opening (two weeks and 4 hours to be exact). Actually, technically, our first performance is our preview on June 16th (special discounted tickets available here) so really we have less than two weeks until we open but the official opening night is June 18th.

I can’t believe that we’re already done with three weeks of rehearsal. This has been an incredibly exciting week. We did our first run though on Saturday which allowed designers to really see what we’re doing with the show. I’m so please I managed not to cause any heart attacks, particularly from Sam, the Lighting Designer, as he realized exactly how much of the very large playing area I’m using and therefore he will need to light. He took it like a champ, truly. :) And Amanda, Costume, and Andre, Projections also were able to see, respectively, how the costumes would need to move on the actors and dancers, and how and when the actors and dancers would be moving in front of the projection screen. But for me, the most exciting thing was to see the whole show, from start to finish, as I haven’t seen it (or at least haven’t heard it) since our very first read through a whole 3 weeks ago…And it’s extraordinary to see it come together, (if in fits and starts considering it was our first run through) and more importantly see how it will come together over the next two weeks as props, costumes, sets, and other tech elements begin to get added in.

For anyone not interested in my musings about the directing process – feel free to skip this and the next paragraphs. For everyone else, enjoy: Recently I was accepted to an SDC Symposium on Play Directing, which will be happening a week from Monday and as part of the symposium, I was asked to send in a bio and think about my directing style and that exercise gave me the opportunity to try to observe, “what exactly it is that I do when I direct.” It was a really interesting exercise for me. It turns out I do in fact have a method, it’s just so ingrained in how I do this whole theater thing that I never realized it was a method. I already talked about my process during the first week of rehearsals which is usually a lot of discussion and some improv centered around who the characters are and what their relationships are to the other folks in the play. And then we move into blocking and that’s really just me figuring out where exactly I want everyone to go on stage. Sometimes that’s instinctual and sometimes it’s not but it always eventually comes. The really nice thing about blocking is that usually, when it doesn’t look right, it also doesn’t feel right for the actors and before I say anything about it they sort of self adjust – or stop what they’re doing, look me in the eye and say “dude, this is crazysauce – not gonna work,” and we fix it together. So the blocking and character stuff is usually pretty straightforward. Kind of the utility work of the process. But scene work? Ah, scene work is where the magic happens. Scene work is the art…at least to me.

When it comes to scene work, turns out I have a method here too but this method is a little different (or maybe it’s not. Sidney Lumet has a famous line that I absolutely love and agree with: “directing is like sex. Everybody does it, but you’re not quite sure you’re doing it right, and you’re always curious about how other people are doing it.” It’s totally true, so maybe my method isn’t different at all but whether it is or not, this is how I do it.) Basically, I have the actors do the scene and I observe it. I ask them how they’re feeling with it. If it feels right to them. And then, if it doesn’t feel like it’s working for me, I change something. Usually working outward from the periphery characters in to the main character in the scene. Basically, I just keep changing things. Kind of like throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. Shifts, adjustments, suggestions, notes, until the scene starts to take shape. Usually I see something. One of the many times through the scene I see that spark and know in my gut – “ooh, that! Do that!” and then I usually jump up and down a little and actually say – “ooh, that! Do that!” Somewhere during that process the final scene really takes shape. It’s amazing to watch it happen. And, although it always follows a particular format, it’s different every time because each actor and each role and each experience is always different from whatever came before. The other thing is that, with all this work, even when it’s Right-with-a-capital-R, things will change, things will continue to grow. Because, theater is organic. Theater is alive. Theater changes with each performance and each experience. It’s one of those things I love soooooo much about theater. And it’s a joy to be a part of.

But, I digress (I seem to do that alot but then again, I guess that’s kind of how blogs work, right?) ANYWHO…so THIS WEEK, we will continue with scene work and we’ll have a chance to do nitpicky fixes of moments that aren’t quite working but by the weekend we’ll be into full run-throughs and our chance to fix major moments will be over. It’s fast. Every show I marvel at how fast it goes. But I digress aGAIN. Monday, S**T gets real! – we load in to the Flamboyan at CSV and the sets and costumes and lights and sound and projections and everything technical starts to come together. Tech officially begins and though I’m hoping I’ll find a way to do the “4 weeks down…1 to go” blog post – I’m saying it now, don’t hold your breath waiting for it. It will most likely not come until the night before we open. :)

Also, there’s still two weeks left on our Rockethub campaign. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far and for everyone else out there be sure to check out the sight and join the Bella’s Dream family. Get cool rewards, watch the awesome teaser video (put together by yours truly – I know, I’m so modest), read updates on the project from me and Dana Boll – (multi-hyphenate extraordinaire) playwright, choreographer, actor and co-producer and support the show even before we open.

Speaking of opening night – TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!!!!! Be sure to snap up your tickets as soon as you can. They’re selling like…well not quite like hotcakes…but what’s the next fastest seller? And, if the $18 ticket price is a bit too steep, keep in mind there are discounted $12 preview tickets available for June 16th at 5pm.

See you at the theater!

 

Two Weeks (and a BBQ) Down…

It is hard to believe that we’re already two weeks into rehearsals for Bella’s Dream. I feel like I blinked and went from “oh, the play is MONTHS away” to “OMG, the play opens in 3 weeks!” This week has been extraordinary! We spent the beginning of the week finishing our character work/discussions. I was reminded, once again, that there’s never enough time. When I was scheduling the “one-on-ones” with the actors – sometimes an hour, sometimes 45 minutes – I would think to myself, “oh, there’s no way we’re going to find an hour’s worth of stuff to delve into with this character(s). Man was I wrong. Every discussion was interesting and engaging and showed the depth of these charcters and each actor’s process of understanding them. Add to that that the majority of the actors are playing multiple characters and there was a LOT to discuss.

In addition to the one-on-ones we also had meetings/rehearsals with pairs or small groups of actors, which allowed us to discuss the relationships these characters have with each other and what they mean to each other. On a show like this, with many, short scenes, an enormous cast, and multiple actors playing multiple characters, I find the discussions incredibly helpful for finding a way in to the show.

After character discussions were done, we dove in to the blocking. Having the full ensemble at rehearsal and starting to figure out where everyone is going on the ENORMOUS stage? Well, it is alternately, exciting, moving, thrilling, frustrating, and, to be honest, exhausting. After all, it’s 14 bodies to move around an atypical space with some visual obstructions for some members of the audience. I’m still not sure how I’ll make it work, but this team is so amazing. Giving, and experimental, excited and really REALLY fun! Throughout the process it’s been so exhillerating to find those little moments when what I had in my head translates into a goose-bump inducing moment on stage…then again, sometimes it’s only through putting the actors on the stage that the I realize the moment I had carefully choreographed in my head looks like crap and I have to start from scratch. What I’m loving with this group though is that in those moments, when my initial thoughts turn out to be not-so-brilliant and I throw it out to the cast and say “this is what I’m trying to achieve” it’s just wonderful to see them jump in with suggestions – to all put our heads together to “solve it.” I was going to say, “It’s moments like that when I truly love my job,” but honestly, I can’t think of many times when I don’t truly love this job.

A word about warm ups – I’ve been doing something new on this show and actually leading a warm up circle at the start of most of the full ensemble rehearsals. Normally, I just let the actors warm up (or not, whatever they prefer) on their own time, but with a cast this large I’m finding it’s great to get everyone moving and shake out the cobwebs together. It also seems to be a nice bonding tool and it builds energy and it acts as this really nice sort of line of demarcation between the world we’re in every day and the world of Bella’s Dream…Oh, and also, it gives us, as the production team, the opportunity to thank our Rockethub donors for their contributions!

Speaking of Rockethub, have you checked out our preview on the Rockethub site? No? Oh my goodness, let me be sure to give you the link: http://www.rockethub.com/projects/24082-bella-s-dream We’re cruising along with our fundraising and are already 30% funded but we could still use your help. Please check out the video, read the production updates, support the show and/or tell your friends. I’ve said this repeatedly on my Facebook posts but it bears repeating here – as I do with most of my projects, I see this show as a very special, unique little family and I want our audience, our supporters to be a part of that family. So, please join the Bella’s Dream family. Donations at any level will help us make this show everything it can be!

Ok, plug over. But I digress, where was I? Right, warm-ups. Although I don’t usually lead warm ups, on this show, it’s been really fun to watch the actors explore movement and sound expression within the warm-ups and it’s led to some great discoveries that filter down into the rest of the rehearsal process…oh, and I can’t thank Stevenson Carlebach enough for introducing me to the theater game “Pass the Trash”. So, Stevenson, if you are reading this – THANK YOU!

Friday night we had our second full production meeting. Brian, our set designer, brought out the scale model of the set (no pictures folks, sorry. Come on, y’all know how spoiler-averse I am. I want it to be a surprise) and everyone jumped in to discussions about what will be where and power supply issues, and how do we light the stage, and where does the projector screen go, and what are we doing with the costumes, and on, and on, and then an amazing thing happened – Dan, our technical director, kept us all on task with simple statements like “Ok, that’s what set needs. Moving on to Lights.” It is an absolute thrill to see this team of talented, amazing designers and technicians doing their thing.

A sad note: our original costume designer had a family emergency and needed to drop out of the project. After frantic emails to all of my theater friends, I was able to find the amazing, Amanda Jenks, an extraordinary costume designer, who was available to step in to take Scott’s place. Scott has been wonderful helping get Amanda up to speed and continuing to help the production where he can (all I’m going to say is The Caspian Sea and y’all will see what that means when you see the show) and Amanda has been amazing about just jumping in and running with it. We were very sad to lose Scott but so thrilled to have Amanda, and her assistant Maria, stepping in.

Although we didn’t finish blocking the show (that’s for this week), we rounded out the week of rehearsals with a little Memorial Day BBQ. And though this was not strictly a Bella’s Dream affair, members of the cast and crew came to party it up, eat the delicous grilled foods, the vegan coconut macaroons (don’t let the “vegan” fool you – those things are awesome!) and kick back and just socialize without much talk of the show. If only we had the time, I would seriously round out every week of rehearsals with a massive BBQ in my backyard. It was such fun.

For the week coming up, we have lots planned – we finish blocking the show (actually, we’ll be doing that in about an hour so I should probably go get ready for rehearsal) and then we jump in to scene work. I usually try very hard not to give any sort of acting notes in blocking rehearsals. Since, for me, blocking rehearsals are really about, “this is where you enter the stage and this is where you exit,” it’s not important to delve into, “are you going to do the line like that?” kind of discussions. That’s for scene work, which I’m so excited to begin!

So, two weeks down and three to go…and I can’t wait to see what this week brings!

Tickets for Bella’s Dream are on sale now on our main page: www.goingtotahitiproductions.com

See you at the theater!

 

One Week Down…

So! The first week of Bella’s Dream rehearsals has officially concluded…and what a week it has been.

The week started off, last Sunday, (a beautiful Mother’s Day afternoon), with the Bella’s Dream cast and crew stuck inside for our first read-through.

As I believe I mentioned on Facebook last week (and I know I mentioned to mom when I called her that night to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day), it was an absolute thrill to listen to the actors read the script out loud. Dana and I have been working on this iteration of the project without actors for the past 3 months, so, to hear the words read out loud in voices other than those in our heads, was truly a thrill. As a director, I already started seeing the ways I want to stage the show.

The team is a fantastic group of people and it is a joy to see my newest family forming. Immediately after the read-through and discussion, the designers and Dana and I sat down and started the ball rolling on our design discussion. I love many many things about my job, but there is little I love more than that first official day of a new project, when everyone is excited, the juices are flowing, and the ideas begin to take shape. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I floated home on a cloud that night…

The rest of the week was spent delving into character-work with the actors. We spent several days in discussion and improvisation finding who these people are and how we want to play them. With a project like Bella’s Dream, it’s particularly exciting because, not only are most of the actors playing real people, almost every performer is also playing more than one character. During these first rehearsals, not only are the actors starting to find their characters, we, as an ensemble, as a team, are beginning to find each other as a family. That experience is always exciting but particularly in a case like this, where the project is so personal, (it is based on the true-life experiences of Dana’s grandparents during World War 2) finding the group that will be your family for the next two months is a unique and wonderful experience.

Sadly, in the beginning of the week, we discovered that one of the actors would need to drop out of the production. We said goodbye to Doug and welcomed Dean Linnard as Man #2.

We had an exciting rehearsal on Tuesday (our first “on-our-feet” rehearsal) that was filled with physical improv. The cast danced, and laughed and cried (OK, maybe it was only me crying because of the poignant scene we were working on where Bella and Raymond tell Bella’s parents that they are leaving Gombin) and made delicious headway into our understanding not only of who these people were in real life, but who they are in our production.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were three intense days of character-work as we delved into each character individually and made sure we were all on the same page before we start blocking the action of the play which we’ll jump in to on Wednesday night. While Molly and I were doing character-work with the actors, Dana was hard at work on dance rehearsals with the Movement Chorus. For both Dana and I rehearsals have been filled with new discoveries and a nearly constant appreciation of exciting insights that come about when performers enter the mix.

In addition to the actor and dancer work we did this past week, Dana and I also had individual design meetings. So far we’ve met with Scott (Costume),Sam (Lights) and Brian (Set) – (Projections and Sound are tomorrow) and we’ve started to zero in on our overriding design themes – neutral costumes, 4 light environments, movement within the set. Each meeting was enlightening and filled with those “ooh, ooh, ooh, what if we did this?!” moments that are the reason I do theater. And the discussions continue. To the right is the model that Dana and I were playing with at our set design meeting with Brian. I cannot fully explain the joy of having little (to scale) pieces to play around with and use to help clarify the picture I have in my head. I still remember last year at this time when Becky brought in my “Persuasion blocks” – little (to scale) cubes that represented the major set pieces for that show. It was after that meeting that I thought, “Oh, THAT’s what I’m doing with the set!” And I had a similar feeling after our set design meeting yesterday.

You know, any play has a lot of aspects that are balanced with each other and, kind of like a Jenga tower, you can’t just pull one out and deal with it – you need to look at the entire pile before making a move; but, particularly with a play like this – 9 actors, 5 dancers, music, sound, lights, projections, rolling set pieces – there are a LOT of moving parts and finding an anchor on which to secure your vision/design/ideas etc. is CRUCIAL. For me, that anchor started to form in the beginning of the week – hearing the actors say their lines, discussing the characters and what we want to do with them – and then it became clearer in the discussions about costume and lights as I began to really visualize what we’re going for here – but it crystallized in our set meeting.

As I begin to envision the set and what it will be able to do, I start to see how to move my playing pieces around the board. It is indescribably thrilling, and, in the end, it’s this feeling that I’m always chasing. It’s why I do this…And? I REALLY can not wait to see what this week brings…

Bella’s Dream opens June 18th for a two week run at The Flamboyan Theater at The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center. For tickets and further details go to our Shows and Events page above or just click here.

 

BELLA’S DREAM in production now…

It’s official! We have a performance space, we have a crew, after next week we’ll have actors – in other words - Bella’s Dream is happening.

So, I know that it’s been up on the website and I know that I’ve mentioned it to a bunch of you but now that the space has been finalized and the ticket website is up and running, I can officially announce that Bella’s Dream will open on June 18th (reduced price preview performance on June 16th) and run for two weeks at The Flamboyan Theater which is part of the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational center on the Lower East Side (107 Suffolk St.). We are deep into preproduction now – auditions are next week (actors check out the listing on Actors Access or playbill.com for details on submission). Also, as I mentioned above, tickets are officially on sale! Go to our ticket calendar here, for tickets.

My intention is to be posting a lot more now that we’re in production and I have lots to post about…of course, now that we’re in production I’m not sure I’ll have time to post a lot so this is a nice little experiment, but, you know, I’m gonna give it the old college try.

Keep an ear out here and on Facebook and Twitter for more details and feel free to get your tickets now. :) Did I mention? Tickets are on sale now!

 

Jokes Really Can Come True

Ensemble member, Kiwi Callahan, guest blogs about her upcoming cabaret:

How the Ugly Christmas Sweater Cabaret Came To Be

 

This cabaret started as a joke. My friend Alison Rose Munn and I were sitting in some dance studio in NYC waiting to audition for some musical at some regional theatre somewhere, when she said, “You know, this year, instead of auditioning for Christmas shows, we should just put on ugly Christmas sweaters and sing whatever we want.” We both laughed out loud. What a preposterous idea! Who were we to decide when and if we performed? Three days later I got a text from Alison: “You know, if you actually wanted to do an ugly sweater cabaret or something, I’d be totally down.” My reply? “Me too! Let’s do it.”

This will be the first production I’ve ever been in that I have also co-built from the ground up. I’ve always just performed in the shows that I’ve been cast in, but recently I’ve been starting to come around to the idea of creating my own work. Everyone I know has been telling me for years to “just put on a show” or “get together with your friends and just perform!” But I always shied away from doing it, because inwardly I thought, “I don’t really have anything to say. How do you build a show around that?” But of course that’s not true. We all have things to say, messages we’d like to spread, ideas about our place in the world.

For me, this process of realizing my own ideas began with a need to decide what kind of artist I wanted to be. I’d spent so much time trying to shove myself into everyone else’s ideas that I’d completely lost track of why I was even in this business in the first place. I was waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Unfortunately, in grown-up land no one can really tell you what to do. You have to figure it out yourself. I’ve started to do that, and while I’m still not exactly sure what kind of artist I want to be, one thing has become utterly clear: I want to make a difference. I want to entertain people, and I also want to help people. Such a basic idea, but already it has inspired me over and over again to create projects that have been incredibly rewarding to work on and that I am proud to show the world.

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Cabaret is one of those projects. Alison and I paired with one of New York’s most well-known charities, New York Cares, to create a Christmas concert that will not only be fun and entertaining, it will also help New York Cares reach their goal of 200,000 coats. We have decided to collect coats and non-perishable food items at the door instead of having a cover charge. It’s been amazing to see it coming together, and I can’t wait to get into the theatre with all of my friends and see how this plays out. The tag line on all of our marketing materials has been, “Carols, Cocktails and Charity.” I don’t think it can be bad.

Kiwi Callahan is an Ensemble Member with Going to Tahiti Productions, and was most recently seen with them in Ruth McKee’s one-woman show, Full Disclosure. For a real introduction to Kiwi Callahan and Alison Rose Munn, check out their promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHa0UKMcYW8

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Cabaret and Coat Drive to Benefit NYCares

Tuesday, December 4th, 7:00pm

Laurie Beechman Theater

407 W. 42nd Street

Call 212-695-6909 for Reservations

NO COVER CHARGE

The Laurie Beechman Theater has a $15 food/beverage minimum

www.uglysweaterproductions.com

 

Ten things I learned doing The NY International Fringe Festival…

Ok, so I have owed my trusty readers (hi, Mom!) a post for about a month now. I do apologize for being so absent from the blogosphere but it turns out Fringe took a lot more out of me then expected and when the past few Mondays rolled around I just didn’t have it in me to compose something witty and exciting for a post and so I didn’t … I actually did start 4 different posts and if I could figure out a way to back date them I would totally post them but since I can’t I’ll just say they started like this:

POST 1 (that didn’t get posted) – so, we’re about to open In the Ebb at HERE Mainstage and I can’t wait for you all to see it.

POST 2 (that didn’t get posted) – so, we just opened In the Ebb at HERE Mainstage and I think you guys will love it!

POST 3 (that didn’t get posted) – so, the reviewer from nytheatre.com didn’t get it. Though he thought In the Ebb was beautifully written, Camilla “has a poetic soul” and I have “a true talent for staging”, he thought the show was boring and he didn’t find the themes universal or connectable (yes, I made up that word but that’s the gist of the review – fear of loss apparently isn’t a universal theme – oops, I guess that makes the worrier in me a bit of a freak). ANYway, I would have said in the post (had I gotten around to posting it) that I would be worried that the review would have kept folks away, but I can now say in hindsight that we had decent audiences (not Jane Austen’s Persuasion sized audiences but decent all the same) and everyone I talked to seemed to love it so, to quote Mrs. DiSalvo in Act II – “I guess we did ok.”

POST 4 (that didn’t get posted) – so, the reviewer from California Litereary Review TOTALLY got it. Now THAT’s what I call a review. I found this one much more reflective of the work we did on stage. Though there were a couple of typos in the review (Saul Steinberg instead of Stewart and Ian DeNio instead of Ien) I felt that this reviewer actually got what we were saying. He caught the beauty in the words and the performances, and he ALSO understood Camilla’s humor finding much of the play “extremely funny even as it peers into the abyss.” I do wish that the people who “got me” were the only ones who also got to review me, but again to quote Mrs. DiSalvo, “you don’t get to pick.”

which brings me to this post:

POST 5 (that WILL get posted) – So now Fringe is over. It has been such a whirlwind. Going from Persuasion directly into In the Ebb is not necessarily the way I’d recommend doing the Festival for the first time, but on the flip side, it was nice to just go from show to show instead of hanging around waiting for my next project to begin. It means I completely bypassed my “post show depression” after Persuasion. Of course that could also mean that I’m due for a double whammy on the depression front now that In the Ebb is over, but hopefully I’ll slide into something else really exciting – like adapting Within Arm’s Reach for the stage. Anywho, here’s what I learned in Fringe:

1) Before you have a cast, reading the play out loud at a very slow speed is NOT going to give you an accurate representation of how long the play will run in performance.

- Fringe requires you to give a running time in your application, and though you still have time to change that after you get accepted to the festival, the date when you do have to give them a hard – set-in-stone – run time will most likely be at least a month before you’ve cast the show, let alone done a first run through and have an accurate sense of the run time. I had originally thought the run time of the two one acts (one fewer act than the first time I did this show) would be 75 minutes INCLUDING a 10 minute intermission. I discovered 2 days before my tech that we were running about 95 minutes WITHOUT an intermission. That was a weekend of frantic cuts trying not to cut scenes but still lose 20 minutes from the show. One day, I vow that I will do this show in its entirety.

2) A certified Flameproofer is your best friend!

- Fringe requires that all set pieces be certified flameproof. Although my set was stuff that was most likely already flameproofed (Ikea chairs and rehearsal cubes) I needed proof and that means tags from purchase (which ain’t an option since I purchased the chairs years ago for use in the first production of In the Ebb). One option was to cart the stuff out to New Jersey and have the Fringe-recommended vendor test the stuff and if it wasn’t fireproof then I could leave it there for 3 DAYS – yup DAYS – and then head back out there and pick it up. Then I found someone who was Manhattan-based and let me tell you – finding someone who can come to you and flameproof your set and give you a certificate proving that it’s flameproofed is a whole helluva lot better than having to cart your entire set out to Jersey.

3) Get yourself some good, talented, reliable friends.

- Throughout the years I have connected with some people who I can’t imagine stumbling through life without. Sarah and Ian, for example, not only said I could borrow one of their DINING ROOM chairs for a WHOLE MONTH, they didn’t bat an eye when I said I would have to chemically treat the chair so that it was officially flame proofed. When I asked if I could rent his rehearsal cubes for 3 weeks, Richard was all “why don’t you just borrow them” and, Jen, once again, offered up the Chevy Blazer to be used and abused for whatever I needed, which it turned out was a lot of set, prop and costume transportation.

4) Work with talented people you trust and love – again and again and again.

- My crazy talented sound designer, Ien DeNio, crazy talented lighting designer, Sam Gordon, crazy talented projections designer, Zeljka Blaksic, and crazy talented company manager, Carrie Keskinen, all re-upped with GTTP and I literally could NOT have done this show without them. Their talent, skill, and professionalism made this show work! And their ability to roll with the punches (see Number 6) meant that we were able to function within the stressful time-compressed world of Fringe.

5) Make sure you cast riDONKulously capable and talented actors who work well together!

- I’ve known for awhile that I’m pretty good at casting. I can usually see in an audition what an actor will be capable of and I usually have a sense of whether a group of actors will work together well. It’s a wonderful thing, a real honor, to get the opportunity to bring together 7 strangers and watch them, through rehearsals, turn into a family. This most recent family included: Crawford M. Collins, Leah Gabriel, Mary Goggin, Michael Komala, Stewart Steinberg, Montgomery Sutton, and Lisa Crosby Wipperling.

6) Hook up with a group that is calm under pressure and be ready to figure out technical aspects on the fly…

- So, for those of you who don’t know, the way Fringe works (in fact the way most theater festivals work) is that you are really assigned only one chance to be in the venue before your show opens and that chance is your tech rehearsal. In the case of Fringe, your tech rehearsal is only 2 times the length of your running time (see point #1 in this list and the importance of determining that run time well in advance of rehearsals) and you must must must run through the entire show without stop so that the Fringe folks can time you (with a stopwatch) and know for certain that you’ll fit in your allotted time. Since tech for a normal show is usually at least 3 days and often as long as a week (it’s called Tech WEEK for a reason, folks) having only 2 and a half hours in the venue to tech your show can make for a tricky situation. Add to that the complication that, because of Fringe scheduling, our tech day was actually a full week before our first performance, there was a high amount of stress on that particular 2.5 hours. What’s more, because we were the first group to tech in the space, we spent what should have been our hour and 15 minutes that was set aside for a cue to cue (where we actually go through the entire play just looking at and listening to each lighting, sound and projection cue) figuring out why the projector wasn’t working and how lights in the theater (whose layout we were supposed to be given in advance but weren’t) were going to run our lighting design. SO, having the cast and crew that I had – a group of people who just went with the flow and didn’t pull any diva crap (though it was well within their rights to do so) and just buckled down and did the job – what’s that Friday Night Lights phrase – “git ‘er done” – well this group GOT ‘ER DONE!

7) Get assigned the prettiest venue at the festival and luck out on the awesomest, chillest, terrific-est venue director on the planet.

- So, as a Fringe show, you get no say in the venue you’re assigned. Basically, the festival organizers have to figure out how to get 187 shows into 19 different venues for at least 5 performances each in a 16 day span. Each venue has to be technically capable of sustaining each show (does a show have projections, does it need fly space to drop set pieces in and out, does it need a proscenium arch, etc.) They also have to account for scheduling issues (for example, is the production company coming from Japan and not arriving in the states until 4 days after the festival has started). It’s a lot to juggle, so basically what you get is what you get and you make due. Well, somehow, I lucked into the most beautiful venue. HERE Arts Mainstage is a theater that if I were just renting, I honestly couldn’t afford for years to come. It’s a 99 seat house with a stage so big that an actor actually has to cross it (like take several steps) when moving from stage left to stage right, instead of just turning around. And the lighting grid allows for different areas of the stage to be lit while other areas are in darkness – giving actual areas of playing space instead of having the whole stage lit by default because the stage is so big that once you turn on a light you see everything. And then, as if the performance venue weren’t enough of a gift from the Fringe Gods, we were lucky enough to get assigned a venue director (a liason (supplied by Fringe) between the production company (in this case, GTTP) and the theater) who was amazing, supportive and super chill. I can not say enough good things about Christian De Gre, Artistic Director of Mind the Art Entertainment, who, while being such a terrific venue director was also overseeing his own production at the festival. The only bad thing about working with Christian, was that the nature of Fringe meant I didn’t get any time to just sit and chat with the guy – a problem I hope to remedy soon.

8) 15 minutes is a both a lot longer and a lot shorter than you think it is.

- So, because there are 187 shows in 19 venues in 16 days, on any given day, you are never the only show performing in your venue. What that means is that there is often as little as 30 minutes in between shows. Because 15 minutes before any given show has to be spent getting audience in and sitting down and 15 minutes after any show has to be spent getting audience out, as a production company you only have 15 minutes to bring everything you need into the space before and clear everything out after. We were lucky in that our set pieces (my trusty ikea chairs and our 3 rehearsal cubes) were being shared with other shows in the venue so we were able to leave them in the space, but all of our props, costumes and, you know, 7 actors, had to get in and set up in the 15 minutes before and taken down, stored and out in the 15 minutes after. I did purposefully keep the set as minimal as possible, but that first time, in tech, when we literally had a stopwatch on us, the chaos of setting everything up and taking everything down was nervewracking…then again, it turns out that even that first time when no-one knew what they were doing (“someone grab that chair and stow it”, “who grabbed the ice tea”, “where did the nun’s veil go? Do you have it?”) we were done and out the door in 6 minutes, so we got really good at running that load-in and load-out like clockwork. Again, it helped that I had the cast and crew that I did (see points 4 and 5 above).

9) Simplify more than you think is possible and then simplify some more.

- So, as I mentioned above, we only had the 15 minutes to get in and out and our tech rehearsal was…not as thorough as I would have liked, and…the script was longer than I realized. In the end we cut a lot – from lines in the script, to number of props, to complexity of set design, to lighting, sound and projection cues. And just when I thought, “I can’t possibly cut more, I can’t possibly make it more minimal,” I went through a whole other round of cuts and, to be honest, it was still an amazing, wonderful, vivid show. I always go back to that first time I saw Patrick Stewart do A Christmas Carol on Broadway – one guy, a chair, a table, a stool and a podium – he created a world that we as the audience got to live in for a couple of hours. It really is true that if the writing is there and the performances are there, you really don’t need anything else. This world ofIn the Ebb, was vivid and alive even without matching chairs and that one additional sound cue or lighting change. The audience still got it (well, except for that one reviewer but you can’t win ‘em all, right?) and it was still a captivating – Tahiti – Production.

10) When you’re at your most certain that everything will fall to s**t, it somehow all works out.

- My favorite, favorite, favorite quote about theater comes from the movie Shakespeare in Love. The exchange goes like this:

Henslowe: Allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Fennyman: So what do we do?

Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Fennyman: How?

Henslowe: I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

If I have learned one thing in my years in professionial theater it is the truth of that exchange. It’s not that you don’t do the work and it’s not that you don’t plan and prepare and rehearse, but in the end you have to trust in the magic of theater because how imminent disaster turns into live performance is truly a mystery but, no kidding? 99 times out of 100 it really does…and on that hundredth time? Well that’s what you plan and prepare and rehearse for – Anyone can have an off day.

Oh, and along those lines I also want to quote one more movie for point number 10.5. This one from Galazy Quest – “Never give up. Never surrender.” In other words, in this case, I mean:

10.5) Perserverence is everything.

- There are so many times in this business when it would be so easy to just say, “that’s it, I’m outta here.” It’s a tough business, which so far, has not paid any bills for me (and thank you to the people in my life who support me in all different ways (emotionally, spiritually, physically and monetarily) and allow me to continue doing it – I literally couldn’t do it without you), and so often it would just be easier to throw up your hands and walk, but I swear, it’s worth it. You struggle, and you strive and sometimes you fail but sometimes you succeed and every once in awhile, someone comes up to you and says, “are you involved in this production? Well, I just want to tell you, that was WONDERFUL! I was so moved.” Or you’re sitting in the audience watching a show you created and an audience member who you don’t know, who is not connected to you in any way shape or form, who walked in off the street, and spent his hard-earned money to see your show, he starts to applaud and gets to his feet to give you a standing ovation! And in that moment you want to cry because all is right with the world, because your life makes sense and what you’ve been put on this earth for is absolutely 100% crystal clear…of course sometimes they don’t clap at all, sometimes they come up to you and say, “I didn’t get it” – you want to cry then too but for a whole different reason. But no kidding, if you stick with it, you’ll get used to walking away from the latter and you’ll be able to fully appreciate the former. I say this a lot but – no kidding – never give up. never surrender…it’s worth it in the end.

 

IN THE EBB at FringeNYC

In 2008 Going to Tahiti Productions launched wtih a production of In the Ebb, a play of three one acts based on short stories, written and adapted for the stage, by my little sister, Camilla. The production ran for 3 weeks and put GTTP on the map. Four years, four theaters and six productions later, we decided to re-visit a shorter version (2 one-acts instead of 3) of In the Ebb and we applied for the 2012 NY International Fringe Festival. As readers of this blog already know, that application was successful and we were accepted into this prestigious festival…

Of course, what I didn’t realize when we applied for FringeNYC (and I’m not sure why I didn’t realize this because it’s not like I’ve never had a busy schedule before) was that I would go directly from directing and producing Jane Austen’s Persuasion right into casting, directing and producing In the Ebb. So, my dear readers, the last few weeks have been…uh…hectic, yes, hectic would be the right word. Also, as if that wasn’t hectic enough, sandwiched in between the close of Persuasion and the start of rehearsals for In the Ebb was my family’s yearly, week-long trip to Cape Cod.

And though this was a mostly relaxing time which enabled me to catch my breath, and though it was wonderful and amazing to be staying in a house on a bluff overlooking Nantucket Sound, with the ocean breezes a blowing, and though I got the chance to bond with my niece and nephews, sisters, brothers-in-law, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends, though I enjoyed the clam chowder from The Chatham Squire, Aunt Irene’s homemade pizza and meatballs, and my once-a-year indulgence of all the Oreo’s I can eat…I worked both more and less than I should have and had several days of not doing my blog posts or marketing stuff and also several days of working on rehearsal schedules and prep for In the Ebb not even looking up from my computer, despite the utter adorableness of this face: 

 

 

However, I’m back from the Cape and knee deep in the show. We’ve actually just completed our first week of rehearsals and have blocked all of Act II – the one-act, St. James in the Field of Stars. Tomorrow we delve into Act I – the one-act, The Ebb (yes, I know, we’re doing things a little backwards this time around, it’s kinda fun). I am blessed with a wonderful cast and an amazing crew and I’m absolutely thrilled with what we’ve got so far. And, as always, I’m LOVING the process.

You know, despite having never planned to be a producer, I’ve come to really love the producing parts of my theater work but it still doesn’t hold a candle to my feelings for directing. The directing, that’s where I live. There is something truly amazing about waking up in the morning and heading out to a job that is rewarding, fun, interesting, challenging, entertaining, amazing and, well, just doesn’t feel at all like work. Now, if I can only find a way to make it pay my bills too I’d be a truly happy…that being said, the first step to that whole paying the bills thing, is making sure people turn up to see the show. And, the first step to making sure people turn up to see the show, is making sure they (that’s y’all by the way) know all the details like when the show is, where the show is and how to buy tickets. So, please see below for details and join us in August for In the Ebb

Performance dates:

Tuesday, August 14th @ 2pm

Wednesday, August 15th @ 9pm

Friday, August 17th @ 7pm

Saturday, August 25th @ 4:30pm

Sunday, August 26th @ 12pm

Performance location:

HERE Mainstage

145 Sixth Avenue, NY, NY

Enter on Dominick Street
(6th Avenue and Varick)

Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 at the door and are on sale now at www.fringenyc.org, on our very own Shows & Events Page, and by clicking the specific performance dates above!

 

All good things must come to an end…for now…

Clockwise from left, Shanae Brown, Costa Nicholas, Brad Thomason, Patrick Daniel Smith, Laura Bultman, Dina Ann Comolli, Ashley Wickett, Jenny Strassburg, Katharine McLeod, Jessica Ammirati, and Mark Montague

So, sadly, the bamboo fans have been folded up, the Empire waist dresses have been hung, the cravats untied…Jane Austen’s Persuasion is over for now. We had an amazing 14 performance, two week run, at The Secret Theatre!

We had an important first on this production – our first Sold Out Show – and on a holiday no less! I’ve already talked here about the amazing cast and crew that was a part of Persuasion and, amazing they were and continue to be. But now I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you – everone who came out to see the show – some of you twice! And all of you who support what we do. I’ve had a few people tell me how much they like our work at GTTP and I wanted to say that we couldn’t keep doing what we do here without the support of all of you out there. Thank you for coming out to our events, thank you for your donations, thank you for your kind words and THANK YOU for being a part of the GTTP family!

To be honest, I’m not sure where Jane Austen’s Persuasion will go from here. I’m hoping this isn’t the last you’ll see of this group, this show, this particular production…but whether we re-mount the show in a couple of months or years, or we let it go into that ether into which closed shows drift, you’ll definitely be seeing GTTP again sooner rather than later…in fact, if you’re around in August, come check us out at the NY International Fringe Festival. Keep an eye out for details on In the Ebb which will be posted soon.

If you haven’t had a chance, while there’s still time, please go to the NY Innovative Theatre Awards website and cast your vote for our show. Thank you again for being persuaded to hang with us here at GTTP for the last two weeks. We hope to see you in August!

One Week Down…

…and one to go. We’ve had an INCREDIBLE week at The Secret Theatre. The show has been going really well and the production is really coming into its own. My baby’s all grow’d up.

Ok, so here’s the part of the blog post where I get personal. Are you ready? Here it is: So, I don’t have any children of my own. Although I have a pretty decent maternal instinct, and I love my niece and nephews more than anything, I probably won’t be entering into motherhood (which is probably a good thing because, you know, no college tuition bills for me). The thing is, I think I get my fill of parenting with my work. Being a director (and a producer) is like parenting a child who is growing at an accelerated rate. Each and every thing I’ve directed has been, at least for the time I’m working on it, one of my babies. A baby that is born, grows up and moves on all in a matter of weeks – months at the most. And for those weeks or months I’m working on a show, that show is more precious to me than anything else in the world.

Every show starts the same way, you look at all the possibilities. Each show, like a newborn baby, is a blank slate just waiting to be imprinted on or impressed upon. Anything can happen. He can learn to love the color blue or she can learn to hate broccoli. She can become an astronaut or he can drop out of school to follow his favorite jam band around the world. For me it’s the same way, he can tell us about a woman in Cairo in the 1920′s (DREAMERS OF THE DAY) or she can show us a cantilevered house in upstate New York (SKIN FLESH BONE). She can bring us to a real estate open house (FULL DISCLOSURE) or he can take us to Regency England (PERSUASION). But whatever path the show takes it’s bound to be full of expected outcomes and completely unexpected surprises. Each show gives me something different, just as each child brings something different to his or her mother’s table. You watch that baby full of promise take its first steps out into the world and with each step it grows stronger until one day it’s strong enough to walk away from you. For a real parent it’s the goodbye you say when you drop your baby off at school and know nothing will ever be the same again. For me, it’s somewhere around the midpoint of a run. There comes a moment when you just know it’s not yours anymore. That moment when I’ve watched my baby walk away from me – strong and proud but not mine. Now my baby belongs to the cast and to the stage manager, to the running crew and to the audience. I just have to trust, as I watch it find its way without me, that the hands I give it to are good and solid and that while I held my show in my hands, I laid a strong enough foundation in its upbringing for him or her to find a way home.

…and I’m left with the realization that I have only one bittersweet choice ahead of me. It’s getting close to time to say goodbye to this baby and start again with a new one – it’s time for a new show to go on…so I’ll move on to In the Ebb with auditions this week. And I’ll start raising my newest baby, but, in the meantime, I won’t forget this one and I’m sure I’ll have more to say as the week goes on…I mean, who are we kidding, the baby may be growing up but it’s not going to college in Minnesota or anything. It is still right down the street from me, at least for another week. ;)

There are still 7 more shows of Jane Austen’s Persuasion to be seen. Join us at the Secret Theatre this week…before this baby walks away for good.

And, before you celebrate our independence from the British, celebrate the British themselves. Join us for special 1/2 price 4th of July matinee tickets – All seats $9! Go to the ticket purchase page and enter the code “4JUL” to take advantage of the reduced price tickets.