We got the rights! I’ve been waiting on eggshells for about a month now and I can finally announce it.

April 2011 will be the next TenBareToes production – Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple“! The nice folks at Samuel French confirmed with me this week that we are a go for the production!

I’m really looking forward to working on this modern classic and very funny play. I’ll be having all kinds of fun working on the dichotomy and similarities of Oscar & Felix. I’ve already started working with the graphics & web design people to the marketing started.

We’ll be holding auditions January 24-26, 2011, starting at 7pm. I’ll keep folks posted as to location, as well as the usual details of characters & the like, as soon as I have that confirmed.

For those who had some transportation issues getting out to Shrew, you’ll be delighted to hear that we’ll be a little more centrally (for K-W) located this time. The nice folks at KWLT have agreed to rent their theatre to us. Performances will be April 14-16, 21-23 & 28-30, 2011, all shows starting at 8pm.

I’ve confirmed Stacey Saunders, one of our brilliant ASMs for Shrew will be at my side as Stage Manager for Odd Couple and I’m trying to entice another local into acting as my producer. I’ve also asked a few other folks to act as experts for me in a few areas (eg. what I know about poker can get written longhand on a playing card itself). We’ll be looking for more people to get involved back stage, on stage and in the promotional end of things, so there’s lots of opportunities to get involved. If you want more information, please feel free to get in touch with me.

The next few months will be work for yours truly as I go through the script more than a few times to figure out what I need as director – one of my favourite parts of any show – starting to build the dream out of whole cloth.

Till next time!

Anita

Adrienne has been doing props for theatre companies including Guelph Little Theatre, Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre, and TenBareToes Entertainment for shows such as Titus Andronicus, Of Mice and Men, You Can’t Take it With You and Dangerous Liaisons. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she has most recently figured out what to do with a couch that doesn’t fit through any doors and how to make a lute that can actually play. Some of her favourite moments have included finding the perfect bean-free recipe for beans, filling rats with blood, and creating a pair of severed hands.

If you’ve ever wanted to play real life tetris, know what to feed an actor who is allergic to anything, or to figure out just how much you can do with paper mache, then join us for this introduction to props and gripping!

We have had confirmation of location – we’ll be in Hagey Hall, Room 373, at the University of Waterloo (there’s parking near the building – coin operated machines.  “H-Lot” – the parking lot right across Ring Road from Hagey – runs $3 for entry).  If you need directions, just let me know

If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please contact  info@tenbaretoes.com.  Spots are limited and will be on a first come-first served basis – we’ve already started to get takers for this, so get your spot quickly!

Tickets

One of the small decisions we made for Shrew was to not print tickets, per se, but send confirmation emails to those who purchased tickets and have them print them out and bring them to the performance.  Given that we live in the age of the Internet, it seemed like a reasonable idea.

You’d be surprised how much our patrons said what they really wanted was to have a ticket, a conventional ticket, in their hands.  Or at least, I was surprised, at first.

Then again, it makes sense.  Tickets give you a tangible thing to hold on to – something that lets you feel the anticipation of an event, even without any other reminders.  It lets you have that sense of belonging to something special, even before it starts.  I am thinking back to when I was young and my parents would take me to Disneyland – the classic “E ticket” that would let me ride on one of the “cool rides“.  Even if it took me a long time to use it, holding it in my hands, making sure I hadn’t lost it, etc, gave me that thrill that comes with having a physical ticket.

So, going forward, we’re going to offer our patrons an option:  for those who want to continue as we have done, we will send you your confirmation email and you can print it off OR you can request that we send you a ticket and we’ll send it off to you.

Communications or “How to use backstage chatter to improve overall market message”

SM Heather had a brilliant tool that she employed throughout the production.  At the end of each rehearsal (for the start, weekly towards the end), she would send an email to the production staff – the technical director, props, costumes, music, etc) letting them know things that had developed out of that day’s rehearsal.  Whenever we found that we’d need a specific thing, we needed a set piece to survive a certain amount of force, or costumes that would have new & interesting stresses put on them, she’d include it.  When I would say “Remind me that I want to look at X”, that would get included.  It allowed the information to get farmed out to the respective areas and provided her with a simple method of follow up – if she didn’t hear from people about the message, she’d know that there was a breakdown in communication and take further steps.  It also kept the rest of the production staff up to date on what was going on in other departments than their own.  It made it easier to share that information.

Why not apply this same technique to the Producer’s job?  Perhaps not on a daily basis, but a weekly message to the cast & crew letting them know what ticket sales are like, what publicity opportunities have come up, etc.  And if we’re going to do that, why not also use it as a way to improve the quality of our social media output?  Not have the producer provide the media, but provide suggestions for ways to promote the show beyond the “Buy Tickets!” message – seed ideas for blog posts, tweets, Facebook statuses, etc.  The producer would be in a better position to massage the message and keep up to date on what information was going out for the show.  They could even coordinate cast/crew members’ input into this blog – giving a more “insider’s look” to a given production than just my voice.

It would also open up more dialogue between the cast/crew & the producer – more creative minds means more ideas of how to promote the show.  That’s no bad thing and gives the producer a larger well to tap from.

Always have a Plan B

Here’s where I get to hang my head a little and admit that I got cocky.  As you know, we had to cancel a performance because Polly – our Kate – was very ill and had been in and out of hospital a bunch that week.

There were many reasons we weren’t prepared, but the biggest was my fault – a total lack of a viable Plan B.

In previous productions, thanks to having listened to so many of the rehearsals, if one of the actors keeled over, myself or one of the other stage management crew could step in, if needs be.  Two problems with that clever bit of planning – combining someone who could pick up the lines as quickly as needed with a body that could fit in Kate’s dresses.  Oops.

I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been Nick instead of Polly – I can fit in Nick’s costumes, but I don’t think many people will ever truly believe I’m a man (and the rest of the SM team were all women and even more voluptuous than myself…)

We’ve come up with a small list of ways to avoid that in the future, while addressing the concerns of having volunteer actors. Everything from straight understudies to having the multiple actors learn the same bits and then have set dates that they’ll swap roles came out.  It was a hard lesson to learn, but hopefully, we learned it the hard way and won’t make that mistake again – Plan B – it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law – Murphy’s still out there and Plan B just makes sense.

There were other things that came out of the post mortem meeting, but these were three of the biggies.  Hopefully sharing the lessons we learned help other theatre companies just starting out.

That being said, knowing how much fun it is to act as a kid, I’m passing on an audition notice I found today.

Growing In The Arts School of Dramatic & Cinema Arts is putting on a production of Bubba Begonia, You’ll Be Sorry

Auditions are September 9 & 11.  See the show link for details and best of luck!

Starting in October, we have Karen Lucas leading an Improv workshop on the 19th at 7pm at the Globe Studios at 141 Whitney Place in Kitchener.

To borrow from Wikipedia, Improvisational theatre (also known as improv) is a form of theatre in which the improvisational actors/ improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot extemporaneously. Improvisational theatre performances tend to be comedic, although some forms are not necessarily intended to be comedic.

Many improvisational actors/ improvisers also work as scripted actors, and “improv” techniques are often taught in standard acting classes. The basic skills of listening, clarity, confidence, and performing instinctively and spontaneously are considered important skills for actors to develop.

Karen has been saying yes to improv for over sixteen years.  She performs regularly and teaches workshops with Waterloo’s long running improv troupe Theatre On The Edge.  Karen has also run an improv camp for children and designed workshops using improv to promote self discovery.  The tools learned in improv are great for the stage and for life!

Following that is Props & Gripping from Adrienne Steer, Property Mistress and Head Grip for our recent production of The Taming of the Shrew on November 16, also at 7pm.  I’m waiting on confirmation of the location for this workshop – keep an eye here for details.

Further down the pipe is Set Design with Chris Rovers in January, Character Development for the Actor with Jonathan C. Dietrich and more.  Details to follow regarding these and other workshops!

If you are interested in participating in either of these workshops, please contact info@tenbaretoes.com.  Spots are limited and will be on a first come-first served basis.

The Globe Studios: View Larger Map

Thank you to all our patrons who have been so understanding at this time.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news. Tonight’s performance of The Taming of the Shrew has regrettably been canceled.  Polly Edwards, our Kate, has been in and out of the hospital 3 times in the past couple days. She’s being taken care of now, but unfortunately, Shrew isn’t much of a show without Kate.  She believes that she’ll be better enough for the Friday & Saturday performances, but is simply unable to perform tonight.

If you have purchased tickets, please contact our boxoffice to either reschedule to one of our remaining performances, or to request your money refunded.

Thank you for your understanding and we all wish Polly speedy recovery.

The answer is “I’m working on it”.  There are a couple shows I want to do – the problem now is trying to find locations for performing.  The downside to not owning our own theatre is that we have to keep trying to find a space.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvcruY3sclw

She had put together a promo video for Shrew with some of the post-show commentary from folks.

This is possibly one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me.  I am extremely touched and honoured that she spent her time doing this and Rhonda -- I meant it when I said that on behalf of the cast & crew, thank you so much for this….

However, in a situation we knew was coming, I had to stand in for Brian. He has a band, d’Archangel, that had gotten a gig in Toronto for Saturday night.  I was able to sub in for him, so we decided to run with that.

My biggest personal concern was the fight at the start of act 4.  I had done it a couple times during rehearsal, but ultimately, I am no Brian and didn’t want to screw up.  I drilled it at home for most of last week, drilled it with the cast for Friday & Saturday and eventually left it to the cast & fight director to see if it was safe.  They said it would be fine.

It was.  It was slower than they normally do it, but it was good and acting made up for some of the rest.

What I didn’t expect to have to be afraid of was Nick.

Nick & Brian have a scene in the show that involves a plate of food.  Petruchio (Nick) tastes the food on the plate that Joseph (Brian) is holding and proclaims it burnt.  They have some business to do with the plate of food and Nick & I had gone over it a few times to make sure I knew the cue lines for the various bits.

When we got to the show itself, Nick bit off a piece of the chicken (that was doubling as mutton) and starts to proclaim it as burnt.  He realises that he has bit off too much and is having trouble talking.  It is entirely within character to spit it out and then continue his line.  The decision he makes is to spit it back on the plate (no one eats from it again that scene) and go on.

He misses the plate.  Pretty much entirely.

He didn’t miss me.  From my eyebrows to my clevage, there was chicken.  Fortunately, neither of us wound up giggling (that happened a LOT later).  It did mean that much of the rest of the business wound up by the wayside and gratefully, the audience didn’t notice that it was something different.

When I got off stage and into the green room, Nick was there already and looking pretty sheepish.  When he explained what happened, I had to smother giggles to make sure the audience didn’t hear us (the show was still going on).  I was still fishing chicken out of my cleavage 10 minutes later.  Much teasing happened on both sides and I had a new nickname now.

I love live theatre.  Stuff like this makes it always a challenge and rarely boring.