120 minutes of tech

So, this morning we had first and only two hours of tech at The Shop @ Fort Fringe.  I woke up bright and early, met Hunter, picked up our lovely zipcar, "T-Rex," a far from T-Rex-like Toyota pick-up, headed to our rehearsal space to load everything in.  In all honesty, I was skeptical it would all fit in the bed, but thanks to our ever knowledgable set, props, and costume designer, Ted Parker (aka Renaissance man), we made it work.  Here are some photos of the finished product:

Tech itself went remarkably well, due to the awesomeness of the Cast, our Lighting Designer, SM, and everyone else who was around to offer their skills and support.  I'm doing laundry right now, trying to think of a way to tell my roommate why we suddenly have a hallway full of set pieces in my apartment, and gearing up for tonight's preview.  Less than 24 hours until we open- it's all happening!

Preview of Skywriter this Friday!

Thanks to Fringe's fabulousness, we have recieved a slot to promote Skywriter this Friday at the Baldacchino! We will perform roughly five minutes of the show to tease people into coming to see it in all its glory. Details are as follows:

WHEN: Friday, July 10th 7:30pm
WHERE: The Baldacchino Gypsy Tent/Bar
WHAT: 5 min previews of the following shows, and many others!

No 11 Productions: The Elephant Man
a musicalTrio: SOUP!
Angry Young Theatre Company: Skywriter
Zero Hour Theatre: The Foley Artist

WHY: Theater + Bar = good times


Hope to see you there!

..And we're in tech!

We started tech on Monday night, when we added full costumes into the mix. Yesterday we approved our sound design, and tonight we will practice load-in, run the show with costumes, transitions, sound, and make-up. It really seems to be coming together and Im excited to see as close to the real deal as we've gotten so far tonight.

For all of you visual learners out there, here's a photo from last night showing Hunter, Genevieve and Lynn hard at work on the final scene.

In other news, my friend and former colleague, Jared Neff, allowed me to ramble a bit about the Fringe process from a Producing standpoint on his blog, so check it out if you have a minute.

Skywriter Press Release

So, this release went out a while back, but I figured it best to share with all... So (drumroll......) Voila!

Contact: Laura Broom skywriterpress@gmail.com

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANGRY YOUNG THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

SKYWRITER BY SEAMUS SULLIVAN

(Washington, D.C.) – The new D.C. theatre collective Angry Young Theatre Company (AYTC) presents its inaugural production, Skywriter, as part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival. Playwright Seamus Sullivan – whose work Harlan at the Rockpile premiered recently in Arena Stage’s Downstairs Series – offers a play particular to the D.C. area. This unconventional story explores what it takes to be heroic in a D.C. public school. Is it compassion, or a kind of madness? And is there a difference?

Director Hunter Styles observes, “Seamus has a wonderful eye for comedy, and Skywriter is the fastest, quirkiest, snappiest thing he's written. We're looking forward to having a serious discussion about the public education system with D.C. audiences, especially within the framework of a poignant, funny new show."

"We spent the spring workshopping the script with Artists' Bloc,” Sullivan comments. “Since Skywriter is a short, sweet, off-beat new play rooted in D.C., I think Fringe audiences will go for it – and we're glad for the opportunity to present a show that's entirely our own."

STORY: As an English teacher at a troubled D.C. public school, Frank Fletcher deals with a host of problems: crumbling infrastructure, violence in the halls, controversial reforms, and students who aren't always inclined to sit and learn. Thanks to a traumatic accident, he also believes himself to be a superhero named Skywriter who spends his nights patrolling neighborhood rooftops. When a new student teacher uncovers his secret identity, Fletcher must reflect on whether his heroic alter ego is a dangerous delusion or a much-needed force for good in the city.

This production presented as a part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival. 

WHERE: 

The Shop at Fort Fringe

610 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

WHEN: 

Saturday July 11 @ 1:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 12 @ 3:15 p.m.

Saturday, July 18 @ 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 25 @ 9:00 p.m.

Sunday, July 26 @ 4:45 p.m.

This production runs approximately 60 minutes and has no intermission.

TICKETS: All tickets are $15 and may be purchased starting June 22 online at http://www.capfringe.org/fringe-festival.html or via phone at 1-866-811-411. Starting July 7, tickets may also be purchased at the Fort Fringe in the Festival Box Office at 607 New York Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.

CAST: 

Genevieve James as Elizabeth Finch

Christopher Michael Todd as Frank Fletcher

Lynn Bandoria as Lorena Cooper

Ricardo Frederick Evans as Principal Cooper

For more information, please visit http://angryyoungtheatre.blogspot.com/

###

Big Day at Big Monkey Comics!

This afternoon we set up shop at Big Monkey Comics to give a preview of Skywriter in anticipation of our first show next Saturday, July 11th.  While the space was a bit unconventional, it was a strikingly appropriate backdrop for a show that lives so much in the world of comics and superheroes.  Our fantastic cast performed three scenes in total, and did an amazing job adapting to the space, and giving us a glimpse of what's to come.  Hearing audience reaction, and laughter at that was a refreshing addition to the mix.  A huge thanks to Big Monkey for hosting, and thanks to all who came out to support!

Sizzlin' New Skywriter Poster

Courtesy of our graphic designer, Marjory Collado. Let's give her a hand, folks! Don't forget to buy your tickets, now on sale at http://shows.capfringe.org/shows/89-Angry-Young-Theatre-Company-Skywriter.html.

Floods, Feedback and Fringe

The Skywriter team, writing down their thoughts after the reading.

Wednesday night, June 3, 7pm EST found me with my friend and director, Hunter, crouching in a Popeye's on H Street NE, glumly contemplating the buckets of rain and crossfire of hail separating us from the Atlas Theatre and our final workshop reading of Skywriter. The Atlas, current headquarters of the good folk at Artists' Bloc, was just across the street from us, but said street had a roughly 3-foot-wide strip of asphalt, dead center, that wasn't covered with raging floodwaters. After much mutual encouragement, Hunter and I, like Butch and Sundance, gathered our courage and leaped out of the Popeye's and into the elements, which promptly pummeled us and left us smelling like mildew for the remainder of the evening.

Apart from our inauspicious entrance, the reading couldn't have gone better. This was the third in a series of workshop readings we set up with Artists' Bloc, an outfit run by our friends Colin and Roy that dedicates itself exclusively to helping artists develop new work. We did our first reading in April, with just the cast, designers, and Colin gathered around a table in the Atlas's basement. In early May, I produced a new draft based on feedback from the previous session and we read that at the Warehouse Theatre in Chinatown. Armed with input from that session, I made additional tweaks and came up with the latest, greatest, admittedly somewhat sodden new draft of the play that we were going to read through on Wednesday night. Then I'd have just under two weeks to revise before laying down my pen with the beginning of rehearsals.

We review some changes to the final scene before opening the house.

In the hour before the house opened, we reviewed and revisited new moments in the draft while eating waterlogged hamburgers and french fries that our stage manager, Marissa, resourcefully picked up at Checkers to sustain hungry actors and staff. Then we sent the cast to their perches behind the music stands, opened the doors, and ushered in the souls who had braved the deluge.

After hearing the extent to which Chris, Ricardo, Genevieve and Lynn have grown into their roles already in the space of a few readings, I can only giggle with anticipation at how Hunter and the cast will continue to build up the characters and the world of the show in the next few weeks of rehearsal. If you weren't among the few to attend the readings, you'll just have to come to the Shop at Fort Fringe to see one of our performances on Saturday, July 11 at 1:30 pm, Sunday, July 12 at 3:15 pm, Saturday, July 18 at 9:30 pm, Saturday, July 25 at 9:00 pm, and Sunday, July 26 at 4:45 pm. Tickets go on sale at www.capfringe.org or by calling 1-866-811-4111 starting June 22!

Colin (right) and me (left) pondering what looks like a doozy of a question
during the talkback session following the reading.

Rehearsals commence this Tuesday, and I hope to blog more then. For now, I'll leave you with one last example of why Artists' Bloc is awesome and we should support them. After the reading and talkback session, Roy, the Managing Director of Artists' Bloc, comes up to me.

"I figured I'd wait to tell you this one-on-one, because it's a little thing," he says. "At one point you have a character putting a roll of quarters in his fist during a fight. In real life, if you punch someone while holding a roll of quarters, you'll break every bone in your hand."

Roy pauses to let this sink in, and I ponder how he knows this and whether I should be, like, way more deferential towards Roy in the future.

"Have him use a roll of dimes," he concludes.

"Roy," I say, "We need to hang out more."