The 3rd edition of the Spotlight Theatre PASSION newsletter was sent out this morning. Some of the topics covered thus far include the production details (what, where, when, etc), the sybolism of the white cloth, the text, the musical arc, the structure of the play, with links to the Skip Viragh Center, to this blog, and to Scribd, which has a powerpoint presentation.

This just in: PASSION received a very generous donation last night which will essentially pay for 8 actors. Sooooo, nine more actors to pay + the music director + the lighting designer + the stage manager + sets and costumes + venue rental. There are two fundraising ideas knocking around my head so have no fear, I'll get those details out ASAP.

Auditions are this coming Sunday, November 18 at the Skip. My prep for this is making copies of the script, getting the music for Greg Schweizer, Sunday's accompanist and PASSION's Music Director. Also trying to figure out the best way to assess someone's physical ability which is key to certain roles. I'm playing around with "how much can you benchpress?" and "how long can you hold the chair pose, balance on one foot, keep your arms outstretched?" and "think you can carry me across the room if I'm not holding on to you?" Aaaah, decisions, decisions.

But once casting is complete, I can adjust the pictures in my head by adding the faces and bodies of those cast. And that will be awesome.

I've been looking at my set and seating arrangement a lot too. Lucky for me, I am currently directing Chaminade's middle school play at the Skip and our set is one and the same, with a few minor adjustments. I so desire to have one scene played from the lighting catwalk but as I walked it yesterday, I might be cutting off 15 seats in terms of view. Blech. Waiting for inspiration on that one.

Next blog post will be about casting - fo' sho'






 

I'm not drunk, I'm talking about PASSION

Friday night I attended a soiree for a prominent theatre company in St. Louis where I have worked on and off for over 20 years. It's fun to glam up and hang with your homies outside of the theatre or rehearsal hall.

And once again, I was kind of overwhelmed at the number of people who came up to me and asked about PASSION. "Tell me about your project,"" I heard you're doing something this spring," "what's up next for you?" (Okay that last one just allowed me to launch into talking about PASSION.) And here's the thing, while I did have a drink in my hand most of the night, I start nearly tripping over myself anyway when talking about the project. As I talk about it, I realize how many layers it has, how fully every aspect has been considered and reconsidered to make it a truly theatrical experience. So I get a little flushed, start babbling and mayhaps, one would think I was tipsy. But no. It just psyches me up to talk about this project and its imminent birth. And thankfully, I get responses like, "I just got goosebumps," or "that sounds amazing." These seem to me more genuine and excited responses than, great, wow, or uh-huh.

And might I say, it never hurts to have the big players on your side. Seeing you as something more than, let's say an actor, in my case. When those people express an interest, it legitimizes the project even more.

Saturday night I dragged my husband to see Pilobolus at the Touhill. If you've never seen this modern dance troupe, remember the weird name and get to see them when they come your way. The company is so inspiring to a bodies-in-space/movement freak like myself. The weight-sharing and precision movement is just what I needed to see to rejuvenate myself for the stylization of PASSION. And, BONUS!!! They did something which I will mimic to have just three people carry the body of Jesus to the tomb. Yay!

FYI: Today's Gospel is the first bit of scripture in PASSION. Serendipitous.

 

Auditions November 18

Spotlight Theatre hold auditions for PASSION, an original adaptation of the Passion of Christ by Artistic Director, Pamela Reckamp. Appointments will be taken at 314-412-6848 beginning Thursday, November 8^th. Union and non-union talent will be seen.  Spotlight Theatre offers a SPT contract, tier 3. Auditions will be held Sunday, November 18 from 1:30 – 4:30 pm at The Skip Viragh Center for the Arts Blackbox, located at 425 S. Lindbergh on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School.  Please prepare one spiritual song and one dramatic monologue.  Accompanist provided, please bring music in your key.

PASSION is a play with music and features stylized movement. Rehearsals begin Tuesday February 26. Production dates are March 14-23, 2013 with performances Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm. There is also the possibility of a student matinee on Friday, March 22. Some roles have been cast.

Looking for physically strong actors who sing well. Gender is not an important consideration for many roles and nearly all roles double in some way.  The following roles are available:

Judas:  excellent dramatic actor, sly, doubles as chorus

John:  girlish looking, physically very strong, tall, slim, good singer, doesn’t say much but is a constant presence

Mary: female to play 40-50’s, can carry a tune, a grounding presence even in the face of the horrific events

Magdalene: female, feisty, 30’s, must be a strong singer, very energetic

High Priest: any age, a hot head, loudmouth, behavior similar to a child

Pilate: any age, foreign in some way (voice or stance, etc), a big presence who becomes smaller. Doubles as Disciple Andrew

Disciples Matthew, Philip, James: either gender, any age, double as soldiers, good singers

Disciple Simon: man, good singer, doubles as Man with Jug, chorus  and Thief #2

Disciple Thaddeus: man, strong singer, young, doubles as Barrabas and Thief #1

 

 

Why did you do that?

It's been a few weeks since I've blogged but know that things are chugging along as well as they can. Two editions of Spotlight Theatre's PASSION newsletter have gone out to about 600 contacts. The lists keep growing and I am getting emails regarding the play. Yay!

On the list of not-so-fun but necessary things to do if producing, I have accomplished not only the two aforementioned newsletters, but have secured a music director, sent press releases, tracked down a couple more costumes and copied music. Mundane tasks abound but I'm all in.

By far, the most interested and challenging feat came from a friend of mine who read the script and called to offer his opinion - which I asked for, btw. His first question was why I wanted to write this and who was I writing it for? Who did I want my audience to be?

I may have said this before but bear with me: the idea to write a passion play came from listening to a rote reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday. Docile recitations of "crucify him, crucify him" triggered a creative shock in me and pictures started to click in my head. I knew how to make it relevant to people again - they needed to see it. And.. . it would be accessible not only to the large audience of Christians in St. Louis but to a theatre community.

His next point was that he'd gotten lost in the language. He was raised going to church, but although he stopped going decades ago, he could still remember and recite most of the scripture passages once he was a few words in. He found that to be comfortable in a way where he could stop thinking and just move ahead by rote memorization which, he argued, is not a way to make theatre. Theatre is supposed to challenge and make us think, and keep us intrigued. Why had I used those "oh-so-familiar" scriptures instead of creating something myself?

Again, my apologies if you've heard this, but there are several reasons I wanted to use the Bible and not create any text:
1. The Bible is accepted as the Word of God.
2. In Passion plays I've read and see, dialogue created for scenes tends to be deragatory, inflammatory and anti-Semitic. I didn't want to go in that direction.
3. Using the Bible, no one could tell me "that's not true." It is also free of doctrine that defines each religious denomination so it's actually less of a constriction.

There is supplemental text in PASSION but it comes from sacred music and Jewish prayers, not from the world of my imagination. What I came to realize (here's the interesting/challenging part I talked about 3 paragraphs ago) is that using those oh-so-familiar scriptures is EXACTLY what I want to do and that my task is to make them NEW again. When you have bodies creating pictures that accompany the rote text, it cannot be rote anymore because, unlike language, bodies are never rote, can never be in the exact same position twice. There will always be something new. My friend got lost in the language becuase that's all he could see. He couldn't see the pictures that will take PASSION from the realm of the comfortable and familiar, to the realm of the exciting and unexpected.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm changing the end of the story - it will end the way it has for centuries: Jesus dies, then comes back. But my plan is, anyone one who sees PASSION will never again be able to just listen to the words without seeing the pictures we created playing in their head. So what he thought was a criticism for me was really an affirmation that I did the exact right thing!

Up next: auditions!!