Look Ma! I'm BUTCHERING THE BARD!

I have found myself directing again for Coffee Black Productions!

"A Midsummer Night's Tempest" was written by Butch D'Ambrosio and is just one of three one-act plays that make up BUTCHERING THE BARD. I have been lucky to have been joined by two talented actors, Hank Lin and J.J. von Mehren. These guys get to do all the heavy lifting while I stand around in rehearsal and say things like, "Great now can you do it funnier?" The one-act concerns what happens when Puck (J.J. von Mehren) arrives on Prospero's island looking for the little western flower that Oberon has requested. Unable to find the flower easily Puck encounters Caliban, and the two fall into a test of wills that to my mind recalls the best of the Warner Brother's cartoons.

This marks my third time working with Carrie Boehm and Michael Bloom's company. They formed Coffee Black Productions back in 2009 in order "to perform plays simply, focusing on the playwright's intentions without directorial embellishments that distort the playwright's work."

So, please join me next Saturday for:

BUTCHERING THE BARD

Legendary Shakespearean characters collide in one night of theater.
Three One-Act plays inspired by the works of Shakespeare.

Pumpkin Goat Milk
by Sean Behrens
directed by Sarah Simmons
Starring:
Katie Bland, Maggie D'Ambrose,
Bethany McNamara, and Samantha Schecter

Undone
by Carrie Boehm
directed by Michael Bloom
Starring:
Dylan Digel and JF Garcia

A Midsummer Night's Tempest
by Butch D'Ambrosio
directed by Kevin P. Hale
Starring:
Hank Lin and J.J. von Mehren

6pm Saturday
January 28, 2012
Bar 82
136 Second Avenue
Manhattan

Tickets are only $5!

Come early and grab a drink before the show. (Pssst...I hear that there are happy hour prices from 3-8pm.)

Poe-Dunk Review Roundup

Hurricane Irene caused us to put Poe-Dunk - A Matchbox Entertainment to bed a little earlier than we expected. We had a great time at FringeNYC this year. It turns out that our audiences were having a good time with us. Some even went so far as to say nice things about us!

"Kevin Hale is a charming guy who knows his stuff, yet relates in oblique

ways that make it fun to learn." -nytheatre.com

"Hale breathes a lively fire into his matchstick characters, crafting subtle

tongue-in-cheek humor with good-natured slapstick." -High 5

"...one of the most painstakingly-wrought and gleefully-enacted shows of

the Fringe." -Stage Rush

"It's a perfect expression of why the Fringe Festival still, after all these

years, allows for the opportunity of greatness." -seanrants.com

"...a delightful performance." -Artsy Fartsy Show Blog

Awww...shucks. You've gone and made Kevin blush.

Our FringeSTAYCATION

I thought I'd share how things have been going the past couple weeks. It's been pretty busy, and all to lead up to our opening night!

Venue prep day was pretty much as expected. A lot of cleaning and setting up the lobby area. I believe I swept every single corner of that theater, even the hallway for the audience entrance. There's three other venues in our building and it took everyone's help to get the theaters up and running. On a side note, there's a somewhat new addition to the FringeNYC intern/volunteer staff - the FringeTECHNICIAN. I don't know where they came from, but they rocked the venue prep day. These folks worked very hard and did a lot of the hard work, which was much appreciated by the participants who did not have much technical experience.

Tech was this past Monday. Perhaps since we've been through this a couple times, we knew the rundown and it ran super smooth. Thank you to Kate Gibson for taking some production shots and Molly Garber for a second eye as well as keeping on book during the run.

Yesterday was our opening. Thanks to those of you who shared our evening. Since I am the ACR for the show (that means I act as liaison to the cast and crew as well as sign off on the Box Office tickets), I am required to stay in the lobby area. As I sat listening to the audience laugh and clap, I swelled with pride for my husband. I am so glad that we've been able to share these beautiful pieces of work inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.

Issue: WHAT STORIES LEND THEMSELVES TO BEING TOLD WITH PLAY-DOH?

Convener(s): Kevin Hale
Participants: Jennifer Wilcox, AL Pearsall, Judith F. Bradshaw

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

After finishing the matchbox Poe show, I was thinking about turning my attention to creating a show that could be told using play-doh. But I haven’t really thought of a story that lends itself to being told in clay. It could be something that takes advantage of existing play-doh playsets, like using the barber shop to tell Sweeney Todd.

It needs to be something that can be built and smashed, sculpted and reshaped during the show.

Suggestions included:

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

The Old Testament

Our FringeSTAYCATION

Kevin and I are so very thankful to the support on Kickstarter this past month! We reached are goal. That's fantastic, and we are so touched that everyone rallied together to help us. Thank you, thank you, a million times thanks you!

This week is Venue Load In day. This is where I will go to our venue, #3, CSV Kabayitos and help hang the lights, focus and generally clean the space with all of the other shows that will be participating in that space.

This is a great segue to talk about how hard at work everyone has been in rehearsal. Every evening our team, John, Kevin, Megan and Andrew work through the show. I sat in recently and it was awesome. I laughed out loud even though I knew what was coming! This week we'll be working with the camera and video projector. This will be how the audience will be able to see all these little pieces.

We've been getting the word out on our little show with fun craft projects. It's just one of those things Kevin and I enjoy sharing with our audience. It fits in that 'spirit of play' we have in our mission. Recently Kevin gave away a couple DIY Pocket Poes to the gang at Dramatists Play Service. As you can see above, they're pretty fun!