We're finished! Huzzah for us! We had a great run! At the moment I'm in the process of putting our one successful videotaping of the show into DVD form, so stay tuned for more info on that. Until then, though, here's a link to my photos from the trip to tide you over! I didn't get any shots of the actual show with my camera, just shots of sightseeing around DC and of us backstage (the backstage ones are blurry, since I couldn't use the flash...but they're fun anyway). So those of you who gave your cameras to others to take pictures while we performed, post them! I want to see!
My pics of the trip.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Performing At Last!
Well, I meant to post last night about our opening show, but I didn't get a chance...so here I am on Friday night, after two shows, to tell you all about our exciting run so far. :) Yesterday we had a tech run in the morning, mostly involving the lovely Erina doing sound for us (yay for music!), and then we split off for a bit before call. I went to the bank to get $5's to give as change for people buying tickets at the door, and then hit Ben and Jerry's for a smoothie...it's five bazillion degrees down here, especially in the late afternoon. There was a bit of a kerfuffle as we regrouped for call...the gallery where we're performing is in a building that has some businesses on the bottom floor (other galleries, a restaurant, etc) that all face into a lovely courtyard, and the upper floors are, I think, apartments. The landlord of this building is apparently really nutso about signage (I just love that word). We found out, after Gill had made two lovely signs to direct people to the right place for the show (it's hard to find), that we were not allowed to put signs in the courtyard or on the sidewalk outside the building, because the landlord doesn't like that.
So, being the inventive Mawrtyrs that we are, we tried to put the sign in the front window of the gallery, as people began to arrive to buy their tickets. We then got a phone call saying that the landlord had spotted the sign in the window (INSIDE the gallery, mind you) and threw a fit--he was also fit to be tied about the fact that there were people congregating in his courtyard waiting for us to open the house. Not the best way to start out, but ah well. We let the people come in and sit down, and we moved the sign to an easel in the front lobby of the gallery, still within sight of the window, but not really visible from the courtyard. Rats!
We had a crowd of 10, which was rather nice for a Thursday night, and get this--some of them were actually strangers! I think. At any rate, the show went very well, though I got so distracted looking at the audience that I totally forgot that I had a line and was supposed to speak...Becky was looking at me expectantly, or as expectantly as she could with the Venus mask on, and I was thinking, "Hmm, it's awfully silent, maybe someone should be speaking now...." Thankfully, Becky just skipped ahead, and things went on just as well without the missing line. Hooray for quick thinking.
Tonight was a slightly smaller crowd, but they laughed more than the opening night audience did, which was gratifying. Everything went quite smoothly, except for the fact that there was confusion about who was supposed to be in charge of videotaping, so the performance didn't actually get taped. Too bad, it was really great! At least, I felt very good about my bits, which of course were the only ones I could see.
I think that's about all I have to say on the subject at the moment...I'll let everyone else add details as they see fit. Hopefully I'll see some of you in the audience, and I wish the rest of you were here too!
-Rachel
So, being the inventive Mawrtyrs that we are, we tried to put the sign in the front window of the gallery, as people began to arrive to buy their tickets. We then got a phone call saying that the landlord had spotted the sign in the window (INSIDE the gallery, mind you) and threw a fit--he was also fit to be tied about the fact that there were people congregating in his courtyard waiting for us to open the house. Not the best way to start out, but ah well. We let the people come in and sit down, and we moved the sign to an easel in the front lobby of the gallery, still within sight of the window, but not really visible from the courtyard. Rats!
We had a crowd of 10, which was rather nice for a Thursday night, and get this--some of them were actually strangers! I think. At any rate, the show went very well, though I got so distracted looking at the audience that I totally forgot that I had a line and was supposed to speak...Becky was looking at me expectantly, or as expectantly as she could with the Venus mask on, and I was thinking, "Hmm, it's awfully silent, maybe someone should be speaking now...." Thankfully, Becky just skipped ahead, and things went on just as well without the missing line. Hooray for quick thinking.
Tonight was a slightly smaller crowd, but they laughed more than the opening night audience did, which was gratifying. Everything went quite smoothly, except for the fact that there was confusion about who was supposed to be in charge of videotaping, so the performance didn't actually get taped. Too bad, it was really great! At least, I felt very good about my bits, which of course were the only ones I could see.
I think that's about all I have to say on the subject at the moment...I'll let everyone else add details as they see fit. Hopefully I'll see some of you in the audience, and I wish the rest of you were here too!
-Rachel
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
First Days in D.C.
Hello from Washington, D.C. and the Capital Fringe! After arriving Sunday night, we have gotten settled in and started gearing up for opening night on Thursday.
We're staying in a dorm-style hostel with twelve bunk beds to a room, which means it feels... just like home! ;) Or at least fairly normal for a Fringe experience. We also have a kitchen, which means we get to cook lovely and relatively cheap meals, always a plus. The kitchen is kind of exciting, with multiple stoves and several giant refrigerators.
Today we really got going on Fringe marketing, which means that we walked all over the place distributing postcards. For the first time in Uncut Pages history, we are close to running out of postcards! Clearly Julia's artistic training is paying off. We split the postcard distribution between two groups, Charlotte and I doing the box office area, and Shannon, Gill, and Deborah heading out to the area around our venue, while Rachel got our programs photocopied and made sure we have enough tapes to preserve Gallathea for posterity.
The box office is really cool! It's small, but roomier and less overwhelming than the NY or Philly Fringe box offices, and there's lots of cool art, including a big fancy red couch-sculpture and a slightly haughty-looking but intriguing "Muse" sculpture. Also, it looks like a fair number of our postcards have been taken since Alex put them there, so that is quite encouraging.
On further encouraging notes, we found out that there is at least one ticket sold for every show! This is quite a feat, since even on our best-sold nights, selling at the box office in advance has never been our strongest suit. Saturday night is looking especially promising. With the very limited advertising exposure we have had, this was very gratifying to hear. Of course, there are still plenty of tickets if you are reading this and haven't gotten yours...
We also got some prime real estate for some of our postcards, like right next to the cash register at Starbucks and a place of honor at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The lady who was working the front desk at the Folger Shakespeare Library was especially nice, and told us she would make sure the other workers knew to alert visitors to our postcards and try to help us sell the show. We also got to peek in the theater at the Folger, which is always a cause for celebration. It is such a gorgeous theater, even when, as now, it is being carefully ripped up for restorative construction.
As I was walking back to the subway after visiting the Folger, a free newspaper with the word "Fringe" on it caught my eye, and I grabbed it. I was remembering the magical moment when, as we got ready for our first Fringe show, I picked up the Philly City Paper and saw that Production Values had been chosen as a featured "best bet" show by their critics, but I wasn't expecting much here, since we're only in town for the second weekend of the festival and have not really been in touch with any critics. As I flipped through the paper, however, I saw that it was a GLBT publication, and lo and behold there was a list of about 7 plays that they thought would be of interest to the community-- including Gallathea.
Sometimes the magic holds. Which reminds me, I have reason to believe that a certain mysterious Professor has given his (always mixed) blessing to our production... but I don't want to give away all my secrets in one blog entry.
Anyway, tomorrow it's off to the venue for our tech-and-dress rehearsal(s). Send us lots of good thoughts!
:) Becky
We're staying in a dorm-style hostel with twelve bunk beds to a room, which means it feels... just like home! ;) Or at least fairly normal for a Fringe experience. We also have a kitchen, which means we get to cook lovely and relatively cheap meals, always a plus. The kitchen is kind of exciting, with multiple stoves and several giant refrigerators.
Today we really got going on Fringe marketing, which means that we walked all over the place distributing postcards. For the first time in Uncut Pages history, we are close to running out of postcards! Clearly Julia's artistic training is paying off. We split the postcard distribution between two groups, Charlotte and I doing the box office area, and Shannon, Gill, and Deborah heading out to the area around our venue, while Rachel got our programs photocopied and made sure we have enough tapes to preserve Gallathea for posterity.
The box office is really cool! It's small, but roomier and less overwhelming than the NY or Philly Fringe box offices, and there's lots of cool art, including a big fancy red couch-sculpture and a slightly haughty-looking but intriguing "Muse" sculpture. Also, it looks like a fair number of our postcards have been taken since Alex put them there, so that is quite encouraging.
On further encouraging notes, we found out that there is at least one ticket sold for every show! This is quite a feat, since even on our best-sold nights, selling at the box office in advance has never been our strongest suit. Saturday night is looking especially promising. With the very limited advertising exposure we have had, this was very gratifying to hear. Of course, there are still plenty of tickets if you are reading this and haven't gotten yours...
We also got some prime real estate for some of our postcards, like right next to the cash register at Starbucks and a place of honor at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The lady who was working the front desk at the Folger Shakespeare Library was especially nice, and told us she would make sure the other workers knew to alert visitors to our postcards and try to help us sell the show. We also got to peek in the theater at the Folger, which is always a cause for celebration. It is such a gorgeous theater, even when, as now, it is being carefully ripped up for restorative construction.
As I was walking back to the subway after visiting the Folger, a free newspaper with the word "Fringe" on it caught my eye, and I grabbed it. I was remembering the magical moment when, as we got ready for our first Fringe show, I picked up the Philly City Paper and saw that Production Values had been chosen as a featured "best bet" show by their critics, but I wasn't expecting much here, since we're only in town for the second weekend of the festival and have not really been in touch with any critics. As I flipped through the paper, however, I saw that it was a GLBT publication, and lo and behold there was a list of about 7 plays that they thought would be of interest to the community-- including Gallathea.
Sometimes the magic holds. Which reminds me, I have reason to believe that a certain mysterious Professor has given his (always mixed) blessing to our production... but I don't want to give away all my secrets in one blog entry.
Anyway, tomorrow it's off to the venue for our tech-and-dress rehearsal(s). Send us lots of good thoughts!
:) Becky
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Shellac!
Mask update: The three major gods (Venus, Neptune, and Diana) have almost completed masks! One more coat of high gloss varnish on Diana and they're good to go :-)
Today's project has been getting to work on the masks for the lesser immortals, the Nymphs and Cupid. Deborah has made really great plaster masks for us. Now that the plaster is finally completely dry I went out into the yard and shellacked them in preparation for being painted.
I hope I didn't shellac any passing ants or butterflies while I was at it.....
Today's project has been getting to work on the masks for the lesser immortals, the Nymphs and Cupid. Deborah has made really great plaster masks for us. Now that the plaster is finally completely dry I went out into the yard and shellacked them in preparation for being painted.
I hope I didn't shellac any passing ants or butterflies while I was at it.....
The Energy of the Earth, or Nymphs in Conflict
So, today I woke up feeling rather nasty. My throat was sore and my limbs were heavy, and everything I did seemed to produce more tiredness and blah. I called in sick to work, dragged myself around the house and finally out the door to do some errands... but suffice it to say I was not anticipating rehearsal with any large measure of delight.
And today we were doing a scene in which I play a nymph (always a bit tiring since we have decided the nymphs are in semi-constant motion)and have a big long speech I have had trouble memorizing. And there was supposed to be a fight in it. I was sure I was going to be clumsy in every possible way.
But instead, we started with an exercise in which we drew the energy of the earth up through our feet. There is really no way to describe it that doesn't sound bizarre, but it's a surprisingly effective thing to do. I got energy! I felt very free, and grounded, and it helped me do the whole rest of the rehearsal without losing steam.
Anyway, I should go to bed so I can not miss work tomorrow... so that's all for now!
:) Becky
And today we were doing a scene in which I play a nymph (always a bit tiring since we have decided the nymphs are in semi-constant motion)and have a big long speech I have had trouble memorizing. And there was supposed to be a fight in it. I was sure I was going to be clumsy in every possible way.
But instead, we started with an exercise in which we drew the energy of the earth up through our feet. There is really no way to describe it that doesn't sound bizarre, but it's a surprisingly effective thing to do. I got energy! I felt very free, and grounded, and it helped me do the whole rest of the rehearsal without losing steam.
Anyway, I should go to bed so I can not miss work tomorrow... so that's all for now!
:) Becky
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Photoshoot!
Hello everyone,
Yesterday was only a Gallathea and Phillida rehearsal so the rest of us took advantage of our night off to . . . . do more work! We set up a little photographic studio in Lilah's apartment and had a photoshoot. We used some of the left over scrap cloth from the costumes that Rachel is sewing and the two masks that I've finished making so far (Venus's and Neptune's) and set up a few shots that convey the main themes of the play. Joe's rubber tree plant even had a starring role.
The pictures should be up on the website soon!
Love,
Charlotte
Yesterday was only a Gallathea and Phillida rehearsal so the rest of us took advantage of our night off to . . . . do more work! We set up a little photographic studio in Lilah's apartment and had a photoshoot. We used some of the left over scrap cloth from the costumes that Rachel is sewing and the two masks that I've finished making so far (Venus's and Neptune's) and set up a few shots that convey the main themes of the play. Joe's rubber tree plant even had a starring role.
The pictures should be up on the website soon!
Love,
Charlotte
Monday, July 9, 2007
Welcome!
Hello! Welcome to Gallathea's Gossip, the place to hear all about Uncut Pages' current production, Gallathea. We'll try to post frequently with our various thoughts and news about the show, and how things are progressing, as we gear up for our preview performance in Boston on July 17th and our run at the Capital Fringe Festival in D.C. at the end of July. For info about the show, dates and times, ticketing, or just about Uncut Pages and our past productions, visit our website: www.uncutpages.org.
I've also enabled the RSS feed for this blog, so if you've got an RSS reader and want to be updated when there are new posts, feel free to add us to your list!
Latest production news: I went on a very successful trip to A.C. Moore (the greatest craft store in creation) this afternoon, and came home with all sorts of handy stuff for the set and the costumes. Hooray for craft shopping!
-Rachel
I've also enabled the RSS feed for this blog, so if you've got an RSS reader and want to be updated when there are new posts, feel free to add us to your list!
Latest production news: I went on a very successful trip to A.C. Moore (the greatest craft store in creation) this afternoon, and came home with all sorts of handy stuff for the set and the costumes. Hooray for craft shopping!
-Rachel
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