After two very successful shows, PTC took a couple of months to plan our next amazing triumph.  We’re all very excited about our new project, which is an original musical being written by Alex Heetland and Paul Brutscher.  Both were snowed in at my house during the Snowmaggedon for the weekend and they started collaborating, which just adds to the list of magical things to come out of the Snowmaggedon.

We plan on putting the currently untitled show up in June.  In the meantime, Paul and Alex are writing away and we (”we” being MaryLynn, Rebekah, me and a group of people who have been involved with Prospero since before we were any kind of anything) are going to meet periodically to workshop it together.  I’m really excited about all this for several reasons:

1) A Prospero original.  Heck yes.

2) A Heetland/Brutscher project.  Alex wrote and performed all the music for Eurydice, our first production, which I directed, and he’s amazing.   Paul’s been writing in some capacity for several years and is also amazing.  I costumed a show he wrote at our alma mater, which my father, who has seen every show I have been involved in since I played Gretel in Hansel and Gretel in the second grade, declared “the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

3) Collaborating!  One of the main reasons the three of us started this company was to have a chance work with our friends and to make something we could share and create together and this project is a way to do exactly that.

So!  Fun things ahead!  Stay tuned!

So, I’m off to Valley Fair. Woohoo!

Haha. Actually, we’ve had kind of this weird schedule all along–our leading lady is attending her brother’s wedding in California this weekend, and so we very carefully planned a schedule that would allow us to open next weekend, and take three days off this weekend.

And, lo and behold, we are right on schedule–which is a great feeling. This past week was stressful and crazy–it sort of melted into an early tech week, with us scrambling to get everything ready–figuring out set changes, costume changes, make-up, props, everything. This show has a LOT going on in the way of those things, and with our performance space being, well, not a theatre, there’s a lot of thinking involved to choreograph what’s going on backstage as well. But, with a lot of hard work, precise planning and dedication, we pulled it off this week. In fact, it’s a good thing we got a head start on a lot of those things, because this show has some rather strange props and set pieces which take some getting used to. I’ll say no more.   We had photos taken on Thursday night as well–I cannot. wait. to see them and post them–there are some great pictures and hilarious poses. By our run-thru on Friday night, we were ready. Friday night’s run could’ve been our preview. It feels great to be this ready.

Don’t get me wrong–there’s still work to do between now and opening. Little things to iron out, some props work to do, improving upon our plans, etc., but I feel fantastic about taking three days away for us backstage folks to get those last minute details taken care of on a looser time-line, and for our actors to relax, process the show, take personal time, and stay alert and healthy before we jump back in for three clean rehearsal runs and then open next Friday. I know that Tuesday will be a step forward instead of a step back.

Also, I cannot praise my cast enough. Every single one of them is so damn funny, and they are still finding ways to breathe new life and energy into the humor. They each are reaching new heights (or sinking to new lows, haha) with their characters every rehearsal. It blows me away, and makes me laugh a ton, too.

I only hope that our audiences enjoy this performance as much as I have loved working on this show. I’m very proud of it. Thinking back to the success of Eurydice, which was a very different show and different experience for me (since I was onstage and Kate was our lovely director), I’m proud to think that we have another production that will follow in that spirit of quality theatre, and that will hopefully continue to build a solid reputation for our little theatre.

Onwards!

Today we worked through Act I, and it was an absolute riot. The actors are having a hard time keeping straight faces, largely because of the antics that occur when all four of them are squished together in this tiny bed that’s barely big enough for two. Let’s just say that these actors have gotten to know each other very well.

Act I is basically one continuous scene–each scene is the next day–with four people. Act II, which we’ll work through on Thursday, has six scenes, all spread out over several years and with many zany characters.

Anyway, tonight we had some set pieces and props to rehearse with for the first times, and the actors lost no time in experimenting with them and finding hilarious new bits.

Through the fast pace of the act (and the irreverence of the actors), there have been some funny line screw-ups, too. Damn, I wish I had written these down. But here’s what I remember.

At one point, the wife is all upset and leaving the husband and she’s supposed to say, “I’m taking baby and the first chapter of my novel and I’m leaving you!”

But instead the actress said, “I’m taking novel and the first chapter of baby and I’m leaving you!”

Another line is “Fussy wussy baby!” which was botched (nay, improved) as “Fugly wugly baby!”

Nanny kept playing around with the baby, too–using it as a football, trying to balance the doll on her hand (like you would balance a broom).

Two of our actors also were in a show (THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT) that closed last Friday as well, and now that each of them only has one show to worry about, and after a long weekend break for everyone, and adding in fun new toys to play with, there was a total reboost of energy that happened tonight.

Things are lookin’ good.

Also, here’s some witty banter:

Laura (who plays the wife): Yea, well, I probably wear the pants in this relationship.

Jane (who plays the Nanny): …and your son wears the dress.

TOUCHE!

But we have been working quite hard! For our second production, Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang, which I’m directing, we decided to branch out. We started this company with our closest friends and colleagues in mind, and we certainly intend to stay within that circle. But, we also want to invite in new people and introduce ourselves to the Twin Cities theatre community. So! For this production, we held auditions, and I cast several professional actors from around the cities–some who I’d met before and others who were fresh faces.

It’s a different feel this time around because the cast is not made up of exclusively college chums , but regardless, I am having a BLAST. My cast is absolutely fantastic–they’ve given so much in rehearsals–taking my ideas to new levels and polishing my visions in brilliant ways. There’s been just a great collaboration of giving and taking ideas, and I walk away from each rehearsal feeling like we got a lot of work done and that I’m so blessed to work with these creative souls. It’s been great.

We began rehearsals on April 24, and since then have blocked the show and really dug into character work, relationships between characters, comedy “bits,” physical comedy…etc.

I’m not a laugh out loud gal, and more than once I have been hyperventilating from laughing to hard at what these actors are coming up with.

There’s a scene in the play where two characters spring a trick jar on another character–he opens it, and out pops a snake on a spring, and the two characters burst out laughing. Well, we were playing around with this scene, and I asked each actor to play around with their laughs–for whatever reason, awkward, strange laughter just makes me laugh. Haha, soo…this commenced about two minutes of continuous laughter, snarks, guffaws, brays, giggles, chortles, titters, you name it. All the while, the third character keeps a straight face. Tammy (my stage manager) and I were laughing so hard during all of this. Then the actors sort of died down in their laughter, and once they’d settled, I couldn’t resist, so I said, “Ok, burst out laughing again,” to which they responded “BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” and then another two minutes of constant laughing. Goodness gracious, it was hilarious. These actors go all out.

This play is so bizarre–absurdly, wickedly funny, and at the same time very revealing and at times you end up with an unexpected cold feeling by just how sad some circumstances are. But then, after barely blinking, you’re back into outrageous comedy.

I’m so blessed to have such a fantastic team of actors at my disposal, and I feel very confident and excited about the direction I’m leading them and that they take me in return. We still have over a month to play around, and I am so excited to see the new heights we take this to. Like in Eurydice, we have a music/sound dude in the corner adding to the storytelling as well–I’m very excited to add him in to the process as well. Our designers are coming up with some hilarious costumes and props to add to the absurdity as well. I just know that there will be lots of opportunities for fun there, too.

It’s gonna be a great show.

We had an amazing run.  I always knew we had a great show, but our expectations for the audience size was on the modest side.  We warned the cast of this and then we went and sold out two of our shows, almost sold out two more and had two others well over half full.  It’s phenomenal to have so much support and a huge thank you goes out to everyone who came to see the show or wanted to and couldn’t make it.  Listening to the audiences reacting (or sneaking peeks at them wiping tears) was a hugely gratifying experience.

I watched the opening and closing performances and was just blown away by how much all of the actors had evolved over the course of the run.  I know this happens (having experienced it as an actor and director) but it’s so much fun to watch.  In some cases, I felt like they had read my mind.  I had always meant to tell Josiah to gesture to his tie on the line, “I’ve grown.” but for some reason, never did.  And then he totally did it on his own.  Awesome.  To watch all of them just performing the hell out of their roles, their performances enhanced by the audience’s energy, was really beautiful to me.

And of course, Tammy and Katrina are the hardest working girls in show business.  Where would I have been without those two, so solid and selfless.

All in all, I declare our first show a success, the result of many, many people’s enthusiasm and hard work.  I’m one lucky girl.

And now, on to the next success.

I really can’t believe it. This may seem like bragging, but I really want to write this down so that I can look back on this and remember where we started. We had over 200 people come to our premiere performance, a fine review, enough revenue to fund our next production, and friends and family, colleagues and coworkers, theatre people and non-theatre people came to support us. I was never expecting this amount of support, but through this whole endeavor, I have been floored time and again by the graciousness and enthusiasm we’ve received from our community.

All I’m left with is a tremendous sense of gratitude. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you to everyone who came to EURYDICE. I never imagined that we would have large to sold out houses for every performance. I never imagined that friends I hadn’t seen for years and that friends of friends and family members and members of the TC theatre community would turn out for our little show. I am humbled and deeply touched by everyone’s support.

Thank you to those of you who wanted to come, but didn’t make it this time. We know that you support us and were thinking of us.

Thank you to our tremendous cast and crew. These are people who volunteered their time, finances, talents, and hearts to make this endeavor of ours a success. Our cast and crew consisted of dear friends and talented colleagues who blew us away with their commitment, hard work, and support. Not to mention their performances (on stage and off).

Thank you Randy, for inspiring us with this in the first place, for giving us a name, and for bringing our group together in more ways than one.

And, Kate and Rebekah: thank you for holding me responsible and for allowing me to hold you responsible in our plans  and work for this theatre. I know that our joint effort in starting this theatre was absolutely essential, and I feel fan-tan-tastic about where we’re headed with this thing. If this is where we start–with more support than we had imagined–I am only too excited to see where we’ll end up in the coming years.

Thank you, everyone.

For the first time in EURYDICE, I started to think of my relationship with my onstage father as that of my real relationship with my father. Silly actor, why didn’t you realize that before? Now, when I come back at the end of the play and find my father has “dipped himself in the river,” and I hold his limp body in my arms, I can’t help but bawl.

I had realized this before as well, but no one has mentioned this until now. (I may be crossing a line here with people’s privacy, so forgive me if I am.) Three members of our company have dead fathers. Two women, and one man (my boyfriend). For two of them, their fathers died when they were children. For the other, who actually is a founding member of Prospero, her father died when we were in college together. Her father was her best friend, she says, and I know she misses him every day.

Thinking of things like this makes this play especially poignant for those of us involved. For me as an actor, I realize my own love for my father, and what it would mean to me to lose him. And I remember that my dear, beloved friends live missing their fathers as well.

Kate, our wonderful director, wrote a dedication in our programs– “For our fathers. And heck, yours too.”

If you come to see EURYDICE, or if you came, I hope you think about your father. (I hope you have a good father to think of, but if you don’t, I hope you enjoy the performance anyway! ;D)

Having started the evening off with my car not starting (completely my fault, I’m usually very deliberate in making sure I’ve turned off my lights.  Thank God for my amazing roommate who brought my decent clothes -didn’t want to spend opening night in my kid stained jeans and hoodie- and for my three great coworkers who jumped my car.  The world is full of good people.), it progressed nicely.  We sold out the show and it went beautifully.   I’m something of an emotional basket case.  I got home last night and thought about how we sold out and started to laugh and then I thought about how incredible the cast and crew was and I started to cry and then I put myself to bed, because when you’re alternately laughing and bursting into tears, it’s time to turn in for the night.

In conclusion, thank you to everyone who came last night, hope you enjoyed yourselves, and if you didn’t come, you still have five more chances!

So we’ve obviously been a bit lax on here for a little while, but it’s because we just opened the show! I spent my day washing, pressing, steaming and mending costumes, stopping only for a trip to Target to get ginger ale (you know you can’t get the stuff at gas stations? must not be in high demand…) and sushi. It wasn’t quite as zen as my last pressing and mending session (which I finished at 1 a.m., so it was zen-like mostly because I was kind of falling asleep as I passed the iron back and forth over fabric that just would not seem to press), but I finished it just in time. Just in time to get a phone call from Kate: “My car won’t start! Can you come get me?” Uh, yeah. Great start to the evening. I wasn’t quite ready to head out the door, so our awesome roommate Becky headed out the door to get her and bring her straight to the meetinghouse. Oh, Becky, what would we do without you? Well, we’d certainly have been out one skinny black tie, because this costumer definitely forgot a costume piece at home, but, once again, Becky was coming to the show anyway, so she came to the rescue, and just in the nick of time!

Our first performance went off with a bang–we sold out on opening night! Not only that, but we even had a reviewer attend. How cool is that? I definitely saw him smile (and maybe even laugh a little!). That little notebook of his is sure to be full of awesomeness (here’s hopin!)! Alex watched the show from his corner, which he hadn’t really done much of, and said that he loved the stones. Go, stones. We pretty much rocked tonight…that’s right, I said it.

Anyway, it was so great to actually have an audience tonight. I can hardly believe that we’ve gotten this far in such a short time. Afterward, we had a little reception to greet people and such, refreshments provided by the lovely and thoughtful Christine Mennicke. Awesome.

Well, it’s almost 2:30 a.m., so I should go to sleep now. Just thought I’d put some ramblings up here while it was all fresh!!