Hola! I am the Chupacabra, the legendary goat sucking monster of Puerto Rico. Read of me on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra. Most is lies but there is some truth. I want to tell you the story of my dinner with the Sasquatch.
Most of you remember when Sasquatch went public a couple years ago. He came out of the woods of Oregon and signed a book deal with Putnam.
His booked: Big Foot, Big Ideas was a best seller. I was still in Puerto Rico at the time. This was before I moved to the Estados Unidos proper to marry Clewrissa. Ah what a wonderful woman! But this is no about her!
Sasquatch went on a world wide book tour to promote his work and San Juan was on his junket. Of course being a fellow monster I wanted to meet with him. Sadly I didn’t get to meet Dracula before the whole “garlic incident” and I hear he’s sort of a dick now. But . . .
So I talked to some friends and I am like, “Friends get me to meet this Sasquatch already!” Luckily one of my friends was this comic book artist. He draws this comic, True Stories Swear to God. Nice guy.
So he hooks me up with the guy who is going to be driving Squatch (I call him Squatch) to the book signing. I write a nice letter. I say how big a fan I am. Really nice. I type it up in Comic sans. My font favorito!
The Squatch he calls me up and says Let’s Have Dinner!!!!
Oh man I am excited. I mean you can just hear his voice. It’s deep like a bassoon fart! So we agree to go to my favorite Resteraunt, Dragonfly. They have Peking Duck Nachos! Anyway---
We get a private room so we can not be disturbed because when you are a famous monster people are always trying to get autographs or chase you around with torches. Dios mio! So Squatch shows up and we have dinner! CRAZY no?
And that’s my dinner with Sasquatch! Thanks for reading!
Your pal,
EL CHUPACABRA!!!!!!!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The Time I Spied the Ur-Shrimp
When I was a lad I sailed under Captain Squall a rough old sea dog who was as wrinkled as he was mean. Which was a lot. He could make a Sharpe look smooth as ice. He was known to flog his crew for the least bit of tom foolery. Nothing ever upset him. Not the time the living vines of the Indian Ocean entangled the ship; nor the time the walrus of Doom howled our names as we crossed the Bering Strait. Nothing except one thing. And that one thing twasn’t nothing!
We were going round Tierra Del Fuego in the upside end of the world when the air got quiet and the sea got stupid. The waves were a churning and the whole sky turned green. Well the crew started to go ape. That is to say they grew hair and started to walk on their knuckles. I’d never seen such a sight I beat my chest and ook-ooked in fear. Suddenly ole Captian Squall burst from his berth with a can of Fresca. He shook the can and sprayed us all. The freshing diet grapefruit soda stopped us from transforming into beasts.
Once we regained our sentience and sense I asked the Captain what was happening. He slapped me for looking him in the mouth, which is a great offense to the old guard. Then his voice turned soft. Like a vibrating whisker of an otter. He pointed his scleroderma affected finger off portside at a strange sight.
The whole crew stood dumbstruck as we watched a thousand porpoises with purpose jump from the sea at once. They were surrounding a small glowing speck. What were it? Some bit of algae? The lure of an angler fish? No! Twas the Ur-Shrimp. The master leader of all shrimp. Oh his story is long and mad. But I knew then to even approach this crustacean would be death! No wonder the world was going crazy. The little glowing shrimp stopped it’s travel, all the purpose filled porpoises stopped. It turned it’s eyestalk toward us. We shivered as if our timbers were iced. Then it plunged below the surface. It was gone and the world was right once more.
None of us spoke of the incident again. But every year on the anniversary of that date. THIS VERY DAY! My boys and I go to the Skin and Bones tavern and drink fermented crab juice until the horrible image of that beast is wiped from our brains for a few precious hours. But now you know. And if you know about the Ur-Shrimp you can never be safe! Take that you land-suckers!
Give my best to the Mary Celeste,
Captain Kraken.
We were going round Tierra Del Fuego in the upside end of the world when the air got quiet and the sea got stupid. The waves were a churning and the whole sky turned green. Well the crew started to go ape. That is to say they grew hair and started to walk on their knuckles. I’d never seen such a sight I beat my chest and ook-ooked in fear. Suddenly ole Captian Squall burst from his berth with a can of Fresca. He shook the can and sprayed us all. The freshing diet grapefruit soda stopped us from transforming into beasts.
Once we regained our sentience and sense I asked the Captain what was happening. He slapped me for looking him in the mouth, which is a great offense to the old guard. Then his voice turned soft. Like a vibrating whisker of an otter. He pointed his scleroderma affected finger off portside at a strange sight.
The whole crew stood dumbstruck as we watched a thousand porpoises with purpose jump from the sea at once. They were surrounding a small glowing speck. What were it? Some bit of algae? The lure of an angler fish? No! Twas the Ur-Shrimp. The master leader of all shrimp. Oh his story is long and mad. But I knew then to even approach this crustacean would be death! No wonder the world was going crazy. The little glowing shrimp stopped it’s travel, all the purpose filled porpoises stopped. It turned it’s eyestalk toward us. We shivered as if our timbers were iced. Then it plunged below the surface. It was gone and the world was right once more.
None of us spoke of the incident again. But every year on the anniversary of that date. THIS VERY DAY! My boys and I go to the Skin and Bones tavern and drink fermented crab juice until the horrible image of that beast is wiped from our brains for a few precious hours. But now you know. And if you know about the Ur-Shrimp you can never be safe! Take that you land-suckers!
Give my best to the Mary Celeste,
Captain Kraken.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Our Long Absence
So Sorry folks, to have been so absent so long, but we have been busy!
We know, we know, it's no excuse, but we'll do a quick recap of what has happened since Winnemucca finished, and then on to the big news!
Winnemucca ran successfully to crowds in New York as part of Fringe NYC at the Lafayette Street Theatre. We got a sweet 4-Star review from Anna King at TimeOut New York, who compared us to Tarantino and told people to go see us. Check that out
We took the month of September off, and started up again in October with Say Say Oh Playmate, which played at our first SCoT & Soda here in NYC, at the Eagle Theatre in Hammonton, NJ and participated in the New Orleans Fringe Festival November 11-15 to surprisingly big crowds! We weren't reviewed, but did indeed receive some complementary tweets and a poem sent to us via email!
Say Say Oh Playmate was a blast, but just wait for what we have in store for you next!
Announcing (drum roll please) Great SCoT: New Plays!
A new works series featuring three brand new full productions from your favorite Shelby Company playwrights Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Jonathan A. Goldberg and Dan Moyer!
Here's the Skinny:
January 20-31, Access Theatre
weekdays at 7&9, weekends at 2,4,&7 in repertory
The Luck of the Ibis by Jonathan A. Goldberg, directed by Tom Ridgely
The Mike & Morgan Show by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, directed by Lacy Post
You May Be Splendid Now by Dan Moyer, directed by Will brill & Emma Galvin
Full Schedule and Prices at www.shelbycompany.org
Keep coming back for more updates on Great SCoT: New Plays, and now you can follow us on twitter and facebook as well!
We know, we know, it's no excuse, but we'll do a quick recap of what has happened since Winnemucca finished, and then on to the big news!
Winnemucca ran successfully to crowds in New York as part of Fringe NYC at the Lafayette Street Theatre. We got a sweet 4-Star review from Anna King at TimeOut New York, who compared us to Tarantino and told people to go see us. Check that out
We took the month of September off, and started up again in October with Say Say Oh Playmate, which played at our first SCoT & Soda here in NYC, at the Eagle Theatre in Hammonton, NJ and participated in the New Orleans Fringe Festival November 11-15 to surprisingly big crowds! We weren't reviewed, but did indeed receive some complementary tweets and a poem sent to us via email!
Say Say Oh Playmate was a blast, but just wait for what we have in store for you next!
Announcing (drum roll please) Great SCoT: New Plays!
A new works series featuring three brand new full productions from your favorite Shelby Company playwrights Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Jonathan A. Goldberg and Dan Moyer!
Here's the Skinny:
January 20-31, Access Theatre
weekdays at 7&9, weekends at 2,4,&7 in repertory
The Luck of the Ibis by Jonathan A. Goldberg, directed by Tom Ridgely
The Mike & Morgan Show by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, directed by Lacy Post
You May Be Splendid Now by Dan Moyer, directed by Will brill & Emma Galvin
Full Schedule and Prices at www.shelbycompany.org
Keep coming back for more updates on Great SCoT: New Plays, and now you can follow us on twitter and facebook as well!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Shelby Company's Long-Awaited Return to New York!
Hello from New York City! We're here folks, ready to get started on restaging and adding twenty minutes for our run at this year's New York Fringe Festival! we're really excited to get started and show New York what we've got up our sleeves.
AS for the end of Minnesota, well we can only say we were sad to be leaving. It was a blast being in Minneapolis. The people were swell, the weather was (mostly) gorgeous, and everything was so exciting. Morale was up, we were getting great reviews, amazing feedback, and our buzz was still picking up even as we performed our final minute of our closing performance with the house lights on and the stage lights off (we were over our hour time limit by 60 seconds, and them's the rules). When half our team left on Thursday for New York, California and South Carolina (a little break for some of us), the remaing four felt incomplete at Fringe Central on their final night. It was a bittersweet parting with MN, and we certainly hope it's not the last time we see the Twin Cities.
As for our trek to New York, we had some excitement along the way. Stopping just outside Madison, WI with Wren's parents, lovely people, we realized we had a leaking tire! Wren'd dad, a mechanic, was happy to help us out, patching it up, filling up the other three tires, and filling up our oil a little bit. It was so fortunate we realized our tire was flat when we were stopped, and evern more fortunate that Wren's dad could help us out! We got back on the road, and immediately hit a good three hours of traffic into and out of Chicago. We stopped in South Bend, IN for dinner at 9, the hour we hoped to be in Sandusky, OH to sleep. We ate food and discussed the plan. If we slept in South Bend we would have to rise early and drive a good 11 hours to New York the next day. We were hoping to get into New York and realized it wasn't possible from South Bend. We drove on, saying we'd at least get to Ohio, and decide whether we wanted to drive through the night when we got there. We arrived in Ohio just around 1am, refueled, and hit the road. We were diring on to New York. While Wren and Nathaniel slept in the back, Grayson and Brian kept each other company up front. At 520, Grayson's phone rang. Unsure who would be calling so early in the morning, from any US time zone, he took a look and realized it was the alarm he set the previous day to get in order to get on the road. We had been driving for 24 hours, and had only a few more to go. 7am, in the middle of Pennsylvania, Nathaniel took over for Grayson and drove the team home to his apartment in New York. Stopping for a quick bite at a diner in Patterson, New Jersey, we arrived in NYC shortly after 11 am, and nearly thirty hours after we departed Minneapolis.
Brian, Wren and Grayson showered and slept. Nate moved back into his apartment. The rest of the day was a lazy one, full of sleeping and more sleeping, a delicious dinner provided by Vivian, Nathaniel's roommate, exploding tupperware full of salsa, managing to get not on one, not two, but three walls, the floor and Brian's flip-flops, and movies.
Today, the team currently in New York went to The Lafayette Street Theatre, our venue at FrineNYC, to Venue Prep day. We checked out the space, rehung and focused lights, loaded in (almost) everything for our tech on Thursday, and found out we would have to do some rpetty major restaging to accomodate the new stage dimensions. Wren, Will and Grayson went back to Brian's apartment to rehearse a longer version of the script, and Dan is back in California heading up a TheatreWorks Retrospective of the Playwrighting Program, where he was a student and now teaches. Jenni is in sunny South Carolina with her family, and will join us in NYC tomorrow for rehearsals.
We open on Friday folks. Tell all your friends.
AS for the end of Minnesota, well we can only say we were sad to be leaving. It was a blast being in Minneapolis. The people were swell, the weather was (mostly) gorgeous, and everything was so exciting. Morale was up, we were getting great reviews, amazing feedback, and our buzz was still picking up even as we performed our final minute of our closing performance with the house lights on and the stage lights off (we were over our hour time limit by 60 seconds, and them's the rules). When half our team left on Thursday for New York, California and South Carolina (a little break for some of us), the remaing four felt incomplete at Fringe Central on their final night. It was a bittersweet parting with MN, and we certainly hope it's not the last time we see the Twin Cities.
As for our trek to New York, we had some excitement along the way. Stopping just outside Madison, WI with Wren's parents, lovely people, we realized we had a leaking tire! Wren'd dad, a mechanic, was happy to help us out, patching it up, filling up the other three tires, and filling up our oil a little bit. It was so fortunate we realized our tire was flat when we were stopped, and evern more fortunate that Wren's dad could help us out! We got back on the road, and immediately hit a good three hours of traffic into and out of Chicago. We stopped in South Bend, IN for dinner at 9, the hour we hoped to be in Sandusky, OH to sleep. We ate food and discussed the plan. If we slept in South Bend we would have to rise early and drive a good 11 hours to New York the next day. We were hoping to get into New York and realized it wasn't possible from South Bend. We drove on, saying we'd at least get to Ohio, and decide whether we wanted to drive through the night when we got there. We arrived in Ohio just around 1am, refueled, and hit the road. We were diring on to New York. While Wren and Nathaniel slept in the back, Grayson and Brian kept each other company up front. At 520, Grayson's phone rang. Unsure who would be calling so early in the morning, from any US time zone, he took a look and realized it was the alarm he set the previous day to get in order to get on the road. We had been driving for 24 hours, and had only a few more to go. 7am, in the middle of Pennsylvania, Nathaniel took over for Grayson and drove the team home to his apartment in New York. Stopping for a quick bite at a diner in Patterson, New Jersey, we arrived in NYC shortly after 11 am, and nearly thirty hours after we departed Minneapolis.
Brian, Wren and Grayson showered and slept. Nate moved back into his apartment. The rest of the day was a lazy one, full of sleeping and more sleeping, a delicious dinner provided by Vivian, Nathaniel's roommate, exploding tupperware full of salsa, managing to get not on one, not two, but three walls, the floor and Brian's flip-flops, and movies.
Today, the team currently in New York went to The Lafayette Street Theatre, our venue at FrineNYC, to Venue Prep day. We checked out the space, rehung and focused lights, loaded in (almost) everything for our tech on Thursday, and found out we would have to do some rpetty major restaging to accomodate the new stage dimensions. Wren, Will and Grayson went back to Brian's apartment to rehearse a longer version of the script, and Dan is back in California heading up a TheatreWorks Retrospective of the Playwrighting Program, where he was a student and now teaches. Jenni is in sunny South Carolina with her family, and will join us in NYC tomorrow for rehearsals.
We open on Friday folks. Tell all your friends.
Monday, August 3, 2009
MN Fringe Festival-Part One
Being here in Minneapolis is a thrill. The atmosphere and personalities are all so positive, passionate and energetic. Everyone we meet, and you can't help meeting an enormous amount of people being out-of-towners, is always talking about the last thing they saw, and what they hear is a must-see. So for this blog, we'll go through a few things people have written about Winnemucca, and also give some nods to the best shows we've seen.
We've had three performances of Winnemucca, with an average audience of about 20 people, but that doesn't mean people aren't buzzing about our show. Everyone we talk to somehow says, "Oh right, the Jonah story I can't pronounce the title of! That's definitely on my list!" After the first weekend is when all the buzz of your first shows is supposed to set in, and those second week shows are supposed to fill up according to the word-of-mouth, so we're excited to see what kind of audiences we bring in for tonight and Wednesday's closing performance.
Here are a few quotes from some people who have liked our show, with links to full reviews:
"Enormously compelling.... Very Highly Recommended," Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet, 08/01/09. Read the whole review here!
"The dialogue is by turns witty, poetic, and profane; the set is simple but evocative; the acting is uniformly excellent.... They're only here 'til Wednesday, folks-catch it while you can," Phillip Andrew Bennett Low, TC Daily Planet, 08/01/09. Read the whole review here!
Below are quotes from some of the user reviews, little reviews people can post on the site after having seen our show. These are posted by Fringe-goers, and have a lot to do with how your word of mouth picks up. They are rated between 0 and 5 kittens, and you can read them all by visitng our MN Fringe Festival homepage here!:
"DeJesus channels an incredible amount of subtlety and complexity through Jonah's befuddled interaction with this new world. Jenni Putney gives a fine turn as Suede Lucy, one of the casino's dancers. Will Brill brings the most incredible role, though...as Brill's characterization walks a razor's edge between charm and malice...it hardly seems like acting," Derek Miller, 5 Kittens.
"Creative and intriguing. After the show I talked with friends and family and everyone got something different from it. It kept me thinking for days afterwards. I am looking forward to more of these incredible Shelby Company's plays in the future. A must see," Dolores Kent, 5 Kittens.
"With its lovely, understated language and well developed characters, Winnemucca really succeeds in creating a grounded and engrossing world. There is some air of mystery that surrounds the world of the show which gives it this great energy that makes you not want to look away. I\'m sure there are many great things to come from this company of talented and boisterous folks," Zoe Schwartz, 5 Kittens.
"Each actor had a terrific performance, but I must say that Will Brill stole the show with his smarmy, volatile portrayal of Big Chet. A must see," AJ Sass, 5 Kittens.
And now to the shows we've loved and want everyone to see:
Auntie Dorris' You May Not Want to Know But I'm Gonna Tel You Anyway A-Thon: Created by our good friend Zoe Schwartz and also starring the uproarious Alan Metoskie, Auntie Dorris takes you on the ride of her life with fun monologues, witty banter with her accompanist and long-time lost love Frankie, her Russian pianist, and wonderful song-and-dances. With a glass of whiskey in her right, and a microphone in her left, Dorris takes on the story of her life, including her shoe-shining father who fled to London and her reunion with him on Oprah, a replay of a vaudeville number she did with her dead twin sister Debbie on the fateful evening she dropped dead on stage (cleverly using a mannequin in place of her twin), and a great audience schmoozing in the middle of "Baby, It's cold Outside" and duet with Frankie that quickly becomes a solo, with Dorris singing both parts. The show and performers are both hilarious, but there are a few touching and tender moments you can't help but feel for Dorris and the tragedies of her life. Playing at Intermedia Arts through Aug 8.
Storm Still: This creative and wildly entertaining adaptation of King Lear by the Nonsense Company is one of the best we've seen. With incredible sound design, 3 wonderful actors, and a sense of humor and knack for the unexpected, this show makes use of a school room at the Waldorf School as it's setting, with various school children who have been acting out King Lear for years. Ryan Higgins as Lear is wonderful, who has touching conversations backstage waiting to go on with his fool, Rick Burkhardt in a grand performance with nuance and realism (despite this wacky interpretation). Andy Gricevich, who rounds out the cast as Poor Tom, delivers tremendous monologues to the audience while the two others take your attention showing you various images and resetting the stage, all with that same incredible sound design surrounding you. It is certainly an attack of the senses, with even taste and touch fitting into the the two minutes of intermission where they pass around a tray of cookies and gooey edible eyes, where our only complaint comes in: the cookies were stale. The crowning moment was at the end of the show, for the past 90 minutes we hearing of the war and storm raging outside, an actual storm rattles the walls of the tiny school room, flashes of lightning invade the relative darkness of the house, and the sounds of heavy rain and thunder underscore the final text of Storm Still with an appropriateness you rarely see in theatre. It was one of those serendipitous instances when the very real outside world complements the engrossing world of the play at exactly the right moment. Can't wait to see this one at PS-122 in NYC, who commissioned the piece, where we'll have a better chance of catching the intricacies of the show and where there will be fresher cookies.
We've had three performances of Winnemucca, with an average audience of about 20 people, but that doesn't mean people aren't buzzing about our show. Everyone we talk to somehow says, "Oh right, the Jonah story I can't pronounce the title of! That's definitely on my list!" After the first weekend is when all the buzz of your first shows is supposed to set in, and those second week shows are supposed to fill up according to the word-of-mouth, so we're excited to see what kind of audiences we bring in for tonight and Wednesday's closing performance.
Here are a few quotes from some people who have liked our show, with links to full reviews:
"Enormously compelling.... Very Highly Recommended," Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet, 08/01/09. Read the whole review here!
"The dialogue is by turns witty, poetic, and profane; the set is simple but evocative; the acting is uniformly excellent.... They're only here 'til Wednesday, folks-catch it while you can," Phillip Andrew Bennett Low, TC Daily Planet, 08/01/09. Read the whole review here!
Below are quotes from some of the user reviews, little reviews people can post on the site after having seen our show. These are posted by Fringe-goers, and have a lot to do with how your word of mouth picks up. They are rated between 0 and 5 kittens, and you can read them all by visitng our MN Fringe Festival homepage here!:
"DeJesus channels an incredible amount of subtlety and complexity through Jonah's befuddled interaction with this new world. Jenni Putney gives a fine turn as Suede Lucy, one of the casino's dancers. Will Brill brings the most incredible role, though...as Brill's characterization walks a razor's edge between charm and malice...it hardly seems like acting," Derek Miller, 5 Kittens.
"Creative and intriguing. After the show I talked with friends and family and everyone got something different from it. It kept me thinking for days afterwards. I am looking forward to more of these incredible Shelby Company's plays in the future. A must see," Dolores Kent, 5 Kittens.
"With its lovely, understated language and well developed characters, Winnemucca really succeeds in creating a grounded and engrossing world. There is some air of mystery that surrounds the world of the show which gives it this great energy that makes you not want to look away. I\'m sure there are many great things to come from this company of talented and boisterous folks," Zoe Schwartz, 5 Kittens.
"Each actor had a terrific performance, but I must say that Will Brill stole the show with his smarmy, volatile portrayal of Big Chet. A must see," AJ Sass, 5 Kittens.
And now to the shows we've loved and want everyone to see:
Auntie Dorris' You May Not Want to Know But I'm Gonna Tel You Anyway A-Thon: Created by our good friend Zoe Schwartz and also starring the uproarious Alan Metoskie, Auntie Dorris takes you on the ride of her life with fun monologues, witty banter with her accompanist and long-time lost love Frankie, her Russian pianist, and wonderful song-and-dances. With a glass of whiskey in her right, and a microphone in her left, Dorris takes on the story of her life, including her shoe-shining father who fled to London and her reunion with him on Oprah, a replay of a vaudeville number she did with her dead twin sister Debbie on the fateful evening she dropped dead on stage (cleverly using a mannequin in place of her twin), and a great audience schmoozing in the middle of "Baby, It's cold Outside" and duet with Frankie that quickly becomes a solo, with Dorris singing both parts. The show and performers are both hilarious, but there are a few touching and tender moments you can't help but feel for Dorris and the tragedies of her life. Playing at Intermedia Arts through Aug 8.
Storm Still: This creative and wildly entertaining adaptation of King Lear by the Nonsense Company is one of the best we've seen. With incredible sound design, 3 wonderful actors, and a sense of humor and knack for the unexpected, this show makes use of a school room at the Waldorf School as it's setting, with various school children who have been acting out King Lear for years. Ryan Higgins as Lear is wonderful, who has touching conversations backstage waiting to go on with his fool, Rick Burkhardt in a grand performance with nuance and realism (despite this wacky interpretation). Andy Gricevich, who rounds out the cast as Poor Tom, delivers tremendous monologues to the audience while the two others take your attention showing you various images and resetting the stage, all with that same incredible sound design surrounding you. It is certainly an attack of the senses, with even taste and touch fitting into the the two minutes of intermission where they pass around a tray of cookies and gooey edible eyes, where our only complaint comes in: the cookies were stale. The crowning moment was at the end of the show, for the past 90 minutes we hearing of the war and storm raging outside, an actual storm rattles the walls of the tiny school room, flashes of lightning invade the relative darkness of the house, and the sounds of heavy rain and thunder underscore the final text of Storm Still with an appropriateness you rarely see in theatre. It was one of those serendipitous instances when the very real outside world complements the engrossing world of the play at exactly the right moment. Can't wait to see this one at PS-122 in NYC, who commissioned the piece, where we'll have a better chance of catching the intricacies of the show and where there will be fresher cookies.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
In The Land of 10,000 Lakes
The official WINNEMUCCA (three days in the belly) teaser in now uploaded for viewing!
We're here in the beautiful state of Minnesota. After 30 hours of driving, 3 days in the belly of Chester Lamar (our Chevy Tahoe), and over 2,000 miles, we've finally arrived. And what could be better than to arrive to 3144 Elliot Ave: a three story house where the whole Shelby Company team will be staying, owned by the lovely Eyenga Bokamba. 3144 is an ideal setting for Shelby Company to reside. Much like our living situation back in Santa Cruz, but far more spacious and communal.
The cast and producers arrived mid-day to this wonderful house and host, and set to work. We picked up our Out-of-towners packet at Fringe Central, picked up Director Wren Graves, who has been in Minneapolis two days already promoting the show, and set to work getting groceries for the house and undergoing the enormously difficult task of cutting our script to fit into the time limits of MN Fringe.
In other news, we received a very exciting blog post today by Matthew Everett: "I had to force myself to stop reading it at the end of scene one. Literally force myself. Because i could very easily blow the whole night just reading, and re-reading this script. This is the kind of script that I tried to read over dinner, and I quickjly forgot that I was supposed to eat. My food got cold because my brain didn't want to be bothered with anything other than reading this script." read the whole blog entry here!
Writer Dan Moyer arrives tomorrow morning, and along with his retrieval at the airport, we will locate certain necessary set pieces before tech begins at 2. Then onto the out-of-towners showcase where we will do a special little scene to promote WINNEMUCCA. See you there!
We're here in the beautiful state of Minnesota. After 30 hours of driving, 3 days in the belly of Chester Lamar (our Chevy Tahoe), and over 2,000 miles, we've finally arrived. And what could be better than to arrive to 3144 Elliot Ave: a three story house where the whole Shelby Company team will be staying, owned by the lovely Eyenga Bokamba. 3144 is an ideal setting for Shelby Company to reside. Much like our living situation back in Santa Cruz, but far more spacious and communal.
The cast and producers arrived mid-day to this wonderful house and host, and set to work. We picked up our Out-of-towners packet at Fringe Central, picked up Director Wren Graves, who has been in Minneapolis two days already promoting the show, and set to work getting groceries for the house and undergoing the enormously difficult task of cutting our script to fit into the time limits of MN Fringe.
In other news, we received a very exciting blog post today by Matthew Everett: "I had to force myself to stop reading it at the end of scene one. Literally force myself. Because i could very easily blow the whole night just reading, and re-reading this script. This is the kind of script that I tried to read over dinner, and I quickjly forgot that I was supposed to eat. My food got cold because my brain didn't want to be bothered with anything other than reading this script." read the whole blog entry here!
Writer Dan Moyer arrives tomorrow morning, and along with his retrieval at the airport, we will locate certain necessary set pieces before tech begins at 2. Then onto the out-of-towners showcase where we will do a special little scene to promote WINNEMUCCA. See you there!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Across the Great Divide
California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska. Producers and the cast of this wild show on the road anywhere in America. Books, music, and keeping up with line cuts fills the Chevy Tahoe we've lovingly named Chester Lamar, our set on the wide car roof. The fundraiser performance sold out and the auction cocktail party was extremely successful. Our only task that remains is getting our clothes, props, costumes and set pieces to the Minnesota Fringe Festival in time for our performance.
We sing loud to music, we finish books and exchange them, we try to stay awake while on our driving shift. We are thrilled. Day 1 of driving across the country, Shelby Company's cast and crew stopped in Winnemucca, Nevada, the setting and title of the play we're taking across this vast and promising land. As the play suggests, the actual town was strange and interesting and sad. We were served lunch by a waitress named Dedra, she had an accent and a Nevada charm that was unique, and everything we ever dreamed of from a Winnemucca waitress. She called our dashing producer, Brian, "honey" as she took his order of a Garden Burger with Brew Fries. It was magical, it was whatever.
After twelve hours of driving and 800 miles East, we were greeted by castmemeber Grayson's parents in Park City, Utah. The level of their hospitality was lovely, and shocking. A home cooked meal of beef chili, garlic cheese bread and cranberry walnut salad followed by a liquer tasting over intellectual conversation. It might have been just what we needed. The evening wore on, and at about midnight we foolishly ignored our mad hungers for sleep, put a few beers in our hands and slipped into the outdoor Jaccuzi underneath the Utah stars. All and all, it was a somewhat perfect ending to the exciting yet challenging first day of our trek across the country.
We write you now from the New Victorian Inn in York, Nebraska. We sip a little wine and Brian and Nate discuss details of tomorrow. We arrive in Minneapolis and begin searching for the set pieces we couldn't bring and start the work of making sure our houses are full. If you're a Minneapolis resident and you're reading this, do come. The play is funny and sad and strange. You'll like it.
From somewhere in Nebraska,
with love and respect,
the cast and producers of Winnemucca (Three Days In The Belly)
We sing loud to music, we finish books and exchange them, we try to stay awake while on our driving shift. We are thrilled. Day 1 of driving across the country, Shelby Company's cast and crew stopped in Winnemucca, Nevada, the setting and title of the play we're taking across this vast and promising land. As the play suggests, the actual town was strange and interesting and sad. We were served lunch by a waitress named Dedra, she had an accent and a Nevada charm that was unique, and everything we ever dreamed of from a Winnemucca waitress. She called our dashing producer, Brian, "honey" as she took his order of a Garden Burger with Brew Fries. It was magical, it was whatever.
After twelve hours of driving and 800 miles East, we were greeted by castmemeber Grayson's parents in Park City, Utah. The level of their hospitality was lovely, and shocking. A home cooked meal of beef chili, garlic cheese bread and cranberry walnut salad followed by a liquer tasting over intellectual conversation. It might have been just what we needed. The evening wore on, and at about midnight we foolishly ignored our mad hungers for sleep, put a few beers in our hands and slipped into the outdoor Jaccuzi underneath the Utah stars. All and all, it was a somewhat perfect ending to the exciting yet challenging first day of our trek across the country.
We write you now from the New Victorian Inn in York, Nebraska. We sip a little wine and Brian and Nate discuss details of tomorrow. We arrive in Minneapolis and begin searching for the set pieces we couldn't bring and start the work of making sure our houses are full. If you're a Minneapolis resident and you're reading this, do come. The play is funny and sad and strange. You'll like it.
From somewhere in Nebraska,
with love and respect,
the cast and producers of Winnemucca (Three Days In The Belly)
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