Support Theater J Artists All Around Town!

Although we may have closed our final show of the 2011 – 2012 season many of the artists who worked with us during the year are just gearing up for shows in both the Capital Fringe Festival and the Round House Theatre Over the Line Festival.  Here is a sampling of where you can find Theater J artists this summer.  (Note that is only includes artists who have joined us this past year. Many other artists involved have worked with Theater J in the past.) Hint: Theater J artists of the past season are in green.

Capital Fringe Festival

What is Fringe?  Fringe is an annual performing arts event in Washington, DC featuring more than 130 performances in a variety of venues around Washington, DC. The Capital Fringe Festival introduces risk-taking art and non-traditional performances including theater, dance, music, poetry, puppetry and more. In addition to the roster of performances, there is merriment to be had at the Fort Fringe under the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar, where fanatics can enjoy food, drinks, entertainment, and catch the latest buzz about all the Fringe performances. 

We Tiresias

By Stephen Spotswood (Theater J Dramaturg and playwright in our first Locally Grown Festival, 2012)
Directed by Matt Ripa
Featuring: Steve Beall, Melissa Hmelnicky, Chris Stinson

Since the beginning of Western drama, we thought that Oedipus was the most gods-cursed man in all of Thebes. We were wrong. A story of capricious gods, forbidden love, false prophets, true seers, ancient kings, bandit queens, switched genders, eyes plucked out in fistfuls, and a healthy dose of gallows humor. Is the future of mankind a comedy or a tragedy?

We Happy Few Productions presents Hamlet
By William Shakespeare
Choreographer: Casey Kaleba
Directed by Hannah Todd
Featuring: Chris Genebach, Sandy Bainum, Raven Bonniwell, Billy Finn, Gordon Adams, James Whalen (actor, The History of Invulnerability)

This darker, more violent, six-actor take on Hamlet asks: What if it’s all in Hamlet’s head? Hamlet is consumed by his thoughts; what if he truly can’t escape? The line between Hamlet’s fantasies and what’s really happening starts to blur…

City Artistic Partnerships presents My Princess Bride
Playwright: Joe Brack (actor, After the Fall)
Inspired by the novel and screenplay of William Goldman
Directed by Matty Griffiths
Featuring: Joe Brack

One man’s take on a classic tale “of true love and high adventure.” Once a novel (or was it?), then abridged (was it, really?), then a well loved movie. Witness fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes and miracles. 

 Faction of Fools Theatre Company presents 3rd Annual “Fool for All”: Tales of Marriage and Mozzarella
Choreographer: Ensemble
Directed by Tyler Herman, Paul Edward Hope, Toby Mulford, Rachel Spicknall, Lindsey Snyder, and Paul Reisman
Featuring: Ensemble (including Gwen Grastorf, Actor, Locally Grown Festival)

A cheesy take on romance from DC’s award–winning Commedia dell’Arte company. Over 40 of your favorite actors perform a sampler platter of inventive, original scenarios. Critics call Faction of Fools “witty and intelligent” with “awesome feats of physical comedy.” ASL interpretation at all shows.

 
Hysterical Blindness
By Justin Purvis and Chantal Martineau
Directed by Daniel Flint (actor, Locally Grown Festival) and          Chantal Martineau
Featuring: Justin Purvis

What if the curtain fell before the show was over? Diagnosed with a disease threatening blindness, one man shares the story of his love of, and search for, a life as a performer — before the lights go down forever.

 
Jesus le MOMO
By JR Foley
Directed by Adi Stein (Theater J Apprentice, actor in the upcoming BODY AWARENESS)
Featuring: Elizabeth Salamon, Tyler Budde, Rachel Viele, Sean Sidbury, Liz Kinder, Molly MacKenzie

It’s 1970, DC. A priest’s “wife” — at odds with her “husband” — the priest and communal housemates hold a prayer meeting, speaking in tongues. Dead, mad poet-playwright Antonin Artaud suddenly materializes, demanding they assist him in his resurrection — without God!

The Washington Rogues presents Mitzi’s Abortion
By Elizabeth Heffron
Directed by Ryan Taylor

Choreographer Becky Peters (Director of New Media and Community Outreach, Theater J)
Featuring: Elizabeth Richards Bailey, John C. Bailey, Kevin Boggs, Christian Campbell, Amy Couchoud, Natalie Cutcher, Louise Schlegel

Mitzi’s pregnant and ready to start a family. When tragedy strikes she’s left at the mercy of bureaucracy so absurd it could only be real. Elizabeth Heffron’s uproarious and magical comedy explores the collision of politics, religion, family and biology.

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Over The Line Festival                        (@ Roundhouse Silver Spring)

What is the Over the Line Festival? Round House Theatre presents a curated festival of music, theatre, and dance. For 3 weeks during the Over the Line Festival, more than 10 companies (including some of RHT’s best friends) will perform nearly 50 times. There are shows for all audiences – from families who want to bring their children to a Saturday morning show to fans of cutting edge performances to late night cabaret goers. There’s something for every age and every interest.

On Spectacle and Storytelling

Lauren Alexander is a senior at American University working towards a BA in Public Communication and Theater. She’s loving working on social media, marketing, and outreach efforts as an intern at Theater J this summer.

Hello readers! I’m excited to finally meet you all (electronically, at least)–I’m Lauren, one of the Theater J interns for the summer. This week, I had the pleasure of attending the opening night performance of The History of Invulnerability, the show which wraps up the 2011-2012 season. After reading a few of the critics’ reviews, it’s clear to see that:

1. they mostly loved the production, as much as I do

2. they think David Deblinger as Jerry Siegel is hysterical, as do I, and

3. they adored the set design, as much as I do.

In both set design and acting classes which I have taken over the years, I have learned the importance of the spectacle. A spectacle is that magic moment where you say “oooh, ahhh.”  Like when the Phantom of the Opera flies over the audience, or Mary Poppins pulls a hundred objects out of her purse. An amazing special effects moment happens, and you question “how did that actually happen, ON STAGE?”

The History of Invulnerability takes no exception to the spectacle rule – it’s chock full of special effects! The entire set lends itself perfectly to creating a spectacle throughout the entire performance. As soon as the projections start changing, and Superman begins to punch projections away with anger (and sound, too) we are transported into the comic book world of the play, which is truly a magical place.

Beyond Strindberg

A post from one of our summer interns, Elyse Endick. Elyse is a junior at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is majoring in English, with a focus on playwriting and screenwriting. She has joined Theater J for the summer to explore the inner-workings of a professional theater. 

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hard at work reading plays from Scandinavia.  Our Artistic Director, Ari Roth, recently took a trip to Sweden, and came back with a bundle of plays for me to read. I admit that I had never really thought about Swedish playwrights before. [ed note: except when we watch these, of course: http://www.strindbergandhelium.com/%5D I mean, I knew they existed, as playwrights do everywhere. But, through reading these plays, I’ve discovered that our friends across the sea and to the north have their own distinct, fresh style. They have a flair for the abstract, the peculiar idiosyncrasies in everyday life.

Have you ever gone into an IKEA, crossed the blue and yellow threshold into the vast showroom covered in plush sofas, delicate chairs, cold metallic lamps, and wondered if the creator of this super-store ever had Nazi ties? Well, you’d be right! and Ingvar! A Musical Furniture Fable, explores just that. The show looks at the life and times of Ingvar Kampard, one of the richest men in the world, who took his youthful business savvy and turned it into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. I was able to read an English translation of the script and view a DVD of the first act, performed in Sweden. I can’t speak Swedish, but I can already tell that the musical numbers are catchy! One need not hail from the Netherlands to understand this unique tale of human enterprise and innovation, of flaw and flawlessness. Though IKEA is one of the most fun stores to shop in around, what with their delicious lingonberry soda and savory meatballs, I never really thought about the soul of it. That’s right, the soul. If you stop and think about it, each store in a major chain like Wal-Mart or IKEA takes hundreds of people to run locally, thousands globally, and, behind all of the masses, one person who had an idea that was fit enough to employ them all.