Theatre Critics vs. Vampires - ST. NICHOLAS at AGL

AGL's St. Nicholas poster

There really are not enough good things I can say about St. Nicholas playing this weekend at Actors Guild, but here are some main bullet points:

1. The playwright. Conor McPherson is an exceptional storyteller. I first saw McPherson's The Weir on Broadway in 1999. It was a life changing experience. A play, that on the surface, seems to be a mere collection of stories that evolves throughout the evening into a complex and haunting piece of theatre. Serious and deep, but still immensely funny. It was one of the best nights I've ever had in a theatre, and it sent me on a search for more scripts and more stories as good as it was. Obviously many of those great scripts were penned by McPherson as well. Shinning City, The Seafarer (being produced by AGL Dec. 1st-11th directed by Anthony Haigh of Centre College) and St. Nicholas where our hero is that scourge of the performing arts: The Critic.

2. The actor. Jerome Davis, who joins us from his post as artistic director of Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raligh, NC nails it in his perfectly presented performance of the down and out critic facing off with the undead. Jerome is the brother of Tim "X" Davis who run BCTC's theatre program, and it was Tim who first let me know that his brother was interested in tackling the show again after a successful run at Burning Coal. It took only one phone conversation to know that St. Nicholas would be the show launching AGL's second year of second stage programing. The BETA Stage program that we have created at AGL is focused on both looking into new and under produced works, but also into creative collaborations with other arts groups. (Previously we partnered with BCTC for last April's production of The Rocky Horror Show.) So I was particularly thrilled to have an opportunity to partner with such a fantastic organization as Burning Coal, and to have Jerome join us in the Bluegrass for some haunting and hilarious Halloween fun.

and...

From the Burning Coal production. © The Right Image, Inc

3. The space. As many of you know I often mention how we walked into The South Elkhorn Village on Jan. 5th, and opened AGL's new performance space there on the 13th. There was so much work to do it was mind boggling to think about. Demolition, construction, painting, electrics...the list goes on and on. And with every show we've tried to improve and grow the space, and what we can do with it. More detailed sets and technical magic tricks like with End Days,  ambitious staging such as the revolve in Breathing Corpses. But something I've wanted to do since day one was play with the audience seating. I've imagined that each show might have it's own unique seating, but this far we've had one set of risers, and that's been that. The titles so far haven't allowed us the chance to break out of the audience riser configuration, and while that might seem unimportant, from a storytelling standpoint it can be everything. St. Nicholas is so intimate, the audience and storyteller must be clearly in the room together. There is no barrier other than experience. He is watching you as you watch him. So for the first time we're trying out a three quarter arrangement at South Elkhorn and I'm very excited about it. Seeing the audience surround the performer, and then watching what that performer does with it, well that's part of what makes live performing arts so much fun.

And did I mention the THEATRE CRITIC VS. VAMPIRES storyline? Did I? Well frankly, I don't think I can say it enough.

Actors Guild of Lexington & Burning Coal Theatre Company present
St. Nicholas by Conor McPherson
Originally directed for Burning Coal by Randolph Curtis Rand
Starring Jerome Davis*
Oct. 28-30 (LIMITED ENGAGEMENT)
Tix: 1.866.811.4111 or www.actors-guild.org
(There will be a special talk back for the audience after the performance on the 30th)
St. Nicholas contains adult language-viewer discretion advised

This show is not to be missed. Great theatre performed by a great actor, and all with some extra bite for the hoilday...(couldn't help myself).

Cheers,
Eric Seale


*Indicates Actor is a member of Actors Equity Association, The union of professional actors in the United States

28th Season Launch

Tonight begins my second full season as Artistic Director at Actors Guild, and the theatre's 28th anniversary. I'm proud to be here, because there was a time when it was unsure if there would still be an Actors Guild. But here we are; we fought hard, worked hard, and never gave up on this organization.

We found a new home, and put on what turned out to be a hugely successful season for AGL: - Dead Man's Cell Phone, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, Belle Brezing and End Days. It was a hell of a year of late nights and hurried meals, paint covered clothes and disappointed pets waiting at home. But from January to August we produced eight separate shows, and improved our new home along the way.

Well, there is just no rest for the wicked...

So here we are with Season 28 and a fantastic production of Breathing Corpses by Laura Wade to start things off right.

The Story: A teenage chambermaid, Amy, has discovered a body in a hotel room, again. Over at the Green Door Storage Company Jim is dealing with a strange smell coming from B16. And on the hottest day of the year Kate is losing her mind after spending all day being questioned by the police. Each of them has seen something they wish they hadn't, there's no going back for any of them now.

"When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse." -Sophocles.

Playwright Laura Wade crafts the story of Breathing Corpses in a clever, time bending circular nature. The seemingly unconnected characters, and multiple storylines, are in fact all part of a greater narrative.

"Laura Wade's play is like a crossword puzzle where all the clues have to do with death. Wade uses the play's shifting structure to make you feel disorientated, almost scared…The tension, the emotions and the sense of absurdity and fear are brilliantly handled…A terrifying tour de force." —The Sunday Times (London)

Part comedy, part drama, and part time bending mystery Breathing Corpses launches what should be a stellar season here at AGL.

For me this has been a great cast to work with in creating such an interesting piece of theatre. Back again is the ever popular Alex Maddox recently of End Days as Charlie the mysterious hotel guest along with Bethany Finley who appeared in last season's smash hit Belle Brezing playing the fragile and much put upon hotel maid Amy. (Bethany also recently did amazing work in One Flea Spare for Balagula Theatre just in case you missed it.) Sarah Tackett and Zack Hightower who last appeared for AGL back in our Shakespeare series at Equus Run absolutely rock the house as the dysfunctional couple Ben and Kate who are falling apart in the sweltering heat after a day of police interrogation. And then we have some wonderful newcomers to Actors Guild - Eddie Salone, Liz Telling, and Tanner Gray as the owners and staff of The Green Door Storage Company.

And THERE'S MUCH MUCH MORE!

Tony Haigh of Centre college is already beginning rehearsals for this December's The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, and we'll be announcing some exciting information about that as well as some big news on our second stage season in the next few days. So stay tuned to our website, or sign up for our newsletter over on our homepage so you never miss out on what's happening here at AGL.

There's also still plenty of time to pick up a subscription for season 28. We offer two great packages; a full season pass or a show show pass. Both are designed for ultimate flexibility so you can use them for every show in the main stage season, or just a select few based on your schedule. To learn more visit our website.

We hope to see you for Breathing Corpses as well as all of the exciting shows this season.

Cheers,
Eric Seale

One weekend left!

Tom Cruise keeps a baby in his coat pocket! Puppets use Radio Shack electronics to cleanse your memories! Children are actually transformers!

All of this (and more!) you can discover the answers behind at the three remaining performances of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. If you like your humor to be subversive, if you enjoy seeing celebrities skewered, If you want to have the mysteries of existence explained by an evil alien prince and a robot, then A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant is the show you've been waiting your whole life to see.

Songs! Dance! Action! Comedy! Funny Hats!

Eight Lexington children break down one of the most controversial organizations in the world with wide eyed enthusiasm and jubilant voices. See L. Ron Hubbard sing a duet with the Analytical Mind! See World War II battles in slow motion! See the vision of a Scientology future that will make you laugh in TERROR!

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant
by Kyle Jarrow
(Three Shows Left!) Friday & Saturday April 15th & 16th (at 8:00PM) & Sunday April 17th (at 2:00PM)

Tickets available by calling 1.866.811.4111 or online at actors-guild.org

Spread the word Pre-Clears!

Read the article at Lexgo.com

Déjà vu

Time to move. I swear, didn't we already do this?

When I say "move" I don't mean from the new performance space, I may be crazy and take on big projects, but even I have my limits. (Plus the sign gets installed Wed! Thanks to the fantastic "Light Us Up campaign") The move of which I speak is our storage/shop. And yes, we did just do this, for a given value of "just" of course.

We were working with Apprentice Players on a the co-production of subUrbia, we were transitioning from one office to another, and I had a family tragedy. Summer of 2009...

And on top of everything else demanding my attention we had to move our shop, on very short-time. How I hated the Summer of 2009. Using volunteers at crazy hours with teams shifting between loading and unloading trucks and straight up demolition. I never thought we'd get it done on time, we did, but somehow I've never been sure how we managed. It seems like a dream, albeit the worst most exhausting dream ever.

2011 is a different beast of course. The new performance space is great, and growing. But logistics once again rear their ugly head, and in the midst of working on the new space, and gearing up for the opening of Glengarry Glen Ross it's once again time to relocate from our current storage/shop digs.

It took over a week last time, but I don't intend to take that long on round two. Despite the short schedule we're better prepared this time, and we don't have nearly as much to do. Load truck-drive down street-unload truck. Simple.

With luck we can put together some good volunteers who like the real life Tetris game of U-Haul packing. Otherwise I'm going to have a lot of set pieces on my back...

Got gloves? Then come on down. Don't have any? You can borrow mine. If anyone would like to help then give us a shout. You can reach us at info@actors-guild.org

In Other News...

Glengarry Glen Ross is right around the corner and I just happened to glance over at our box office site and was taken aback. Wow. I suggest you call early (and often) to make sure you don't miss out. Visit the box office here

A second round of auditions for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant are this Saturday starting at 10am. Looking for some talented young actors. For more information check out the audition page

Speaking of auditions we'll be announcing another set of auditions in the next few days for a show I know people are already getting excited about Belle Brezing.

Stay tuned.

Love is in the air - "Glengarry Glen Ross" is on the boards

What are your plans for Valentine's Day? Dinner? Movie?

Mine? Oh, well I'm working thanks for asking.

One of the things I realized some time ago is that working in theatre doesn't care much about holidays. In most cases the only place where holidays factor into the theatre lifestyle is when you plan titles that tie to them.

Well, I guess I love theatre, and as they say love makes you obsessed. So happy Valentine's Day AGL, guess you're my Valentine.

It's been a wild ride so far this year. Opening the new performance space and launching the 27th season with Dead Man's Cell Phone was big enough, but that's only part of the work ahead of us. No rest for the wicked.
Glengarry Glen Ross opens next week (February 24th) directed by Bob Singleton. I'm excited about this show for all the obvious reasons, but it's more than just the play itself, there's also the people creating it.

BUY TICKETS EARLY

We've got Tom Phillips who just closedas the titular corpse of Dead Man's Cell Phone playing the bombastic Dave Moss. You've might have also seen him as the Hawker in AGL's TOMMY-The Concert, where he melted faces at Buster's and Moondance Amphitheater.

Tim Hull plays office manager and general whipping post Willamson. I've had the privilege to direct Tim in The Pillowman, The Santaland Diaries and True West and he is one of my favorite people to watch on stage as well as work with. Hands down.

I'm working on a show with Pete Sears and Evan Berman properly for the first time. Pete recently played Leonato in BCTC's Much Ado about Nothing, where I served as Scenic Designer. Our interaction was mostly limited to "Hey Pete, hold this flat for me." For us he is Aaronow, a cringing weak salesman who is "****ed on the board."

Evan and I were both directors for The Midway 10 Minute Play Festival this year (and both cast Tim Hull in our plays. See? That Tim Hull, he's everywhere!) and I saw Evan in Merchant of Venice for Summerfest, but this is the first time I'm watching his process as he creates Richard Roma. It is a sight to see. And I'm being a picky judge, because who wouldn't want to play Roma, but Evan delivers.

And then...there's Robert Parks Johnson as Shelly "The Machine" Levene.

The very first show I saw at AGL (back on Short Street) was The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) with RPJ in the cast. The highlight of his performance for me was as a confused Polonius in the second Act, which included a nice explanation of the anachronism of a lone roller skate on stage (you have to know the show). I've seen Robert in quite a few shows over the years, a possible favorite Mice and Men as Lenny, but what I really enjoy about having him in Glengarry is getting to see him work. I try not to butt my nose in on Bob and the guys when they're rehearsing, they're more than qualified to do the entire show without input from me. Most of the time I'm in the office, doing the job, but I do sneak out and listen, or watch from the sides. It's a treat. In many ways the best part of theatre for me is watching the construction rather than the actual product. Seeing how people think, the choices they make. I love watching people try crazy ideas out on characters, ideas that don't usually make it to opening night, but the experimentation makes the process all the more interesting to the observer.

Rounding out the cast of Glengarry are Graeme Hart and Kody Kiser as Lingk and Baylen respectively. I've done shows with both of these guys before, all three of us were in The Mousetrap a few years ago at Studio Players. This is Graeme's first show at AGL, and I'm glad we finally lured him over, he's a busy man with a family so his theatre time is limited. Kody is making his second AGL appearance previously appearing in Arcadia during the 24th season. These are two great guys who always bring a lot of dedication to the shows they do, and I'm very happy they're a part of the cast.

You'd think from all that talk of Glengarry that's all that's going on for Actors Guild right now. Oh how wrong you are.

This Saturday we'll be having the second round of auditions for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageat. If you know of any interested young performers then check out the audition page on our website to learn more. (And for everyone anxiously awaiting the announcement of audition dates for Belle Brezing the wait ends this week. Promise.)

And then...there's the challenge pledge.

Recently AGL received a challenge pledge of $10,000 in matching funds to go towards the renovation and improvements of the new performance space. We have been tasked with raising funds to help upgrade the work we've already done, and make improvements in seating and technical capabilities. We will be matched dollar to dollar up to the $10,000 mark as we raise funds through the run of Glengarry Glen Ross. This is an amazing opportunity for us, as I promised during Dead Man's Cell Phone, my intention was to grow the theatre and make renovations with every show of the season focusing on projects to improve the quality of our shows, as well as the quality of the patron experience.

Current plans for the space include new chairs for patrons, the construction of a technical booth and improvements to the current risers.

This 10k challenge could help AGL realize these goals much sooner, so please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Any amount, no matter how small, helps towards our goal.

If you're interested in more information on the 10K challenge, Upcoming auditions, Glengarry Glen Ross, or anything else AGL please visit our website www.actors-guild.org or you can email info@actors-guild.org

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and I'll see you at the theatre,

Eric