Ramblings....: Slings and Arrows Begins...

So I’m working on a new project!

Let me back up and tell you how we got around to this point.

Back in the day I worked with this fellow Ben at Opera Pacific. He moved to Utah before the demise and we stayed in touch for a while but not recently. A few months ago he found out I worked at Chapman and contacted me asking me if I knew any theatre groups that may be interested in working on some collaborative projects with Casa Romantica and this new gal wanting to beef up the arts side of the place. I gave him the links of all the local theatres I knew as well as Dave’s info. Dave being the main brain behind Monkey Wrench Collective (The group comprised of mostly old Rude Guerilla folks). Then I promptly forgot it about it.

Until – Dave approached me excitedly telling me about a meeting he had with my friend over at Casa Romantica about a condensed version of Hamlet we’re calling Slings and Arrows that will be an interactive theatre experience on the grounds at Casa! Oh – and would I be his Ophelia?! UM….HELL YA I WOULD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here we are.

I want to blog more about my experiences working on things so I can of course remember later on down the line. I regret I didn’t document as much as I do now back in the day when I was a theatre junkie. So here’s to moving forward.

As of now, the idea is that the entire cast/crew consisting of about 15 or so of us will work collaboratively on putting this piece together. The audience will arrive at Casa Romantica, be given maps and directions of sorts and they will then move from room to room watching scenes. At the moment (and I’ll keep saying at the moment because this is just starting and may and mostly likely will be changing and molding as the project comes together) we will be doing the scenes 6 times and 2 different versions of each. I think the crowd will see one big main scene all together then break out into rooms. They can go in any order they like. There will be another group scene before intermission that everyone will watch at the same time. After intermission the room to room stuff happens again then the final scene being all together and done just the once. Again. That's at this moment.

How is this going to work logistically? I have no idea. Will it run smoothly? I sure hope so but not sure how yet. No sound equipment, just basically a boom box in your scene if you use sound. No lighting equipment, just the pretty dim romantic lighting of the Casa. We’ll be battling the elements of the ocean, train and other noises I’m sure. How everyone will be fitting into each room to watch the scene? No clue. Some scenes may have lines, some may be movement base, some may be shadow play, who knows and this is what makes this so exciting. It will be modern dress/time. You will be seeing the deaths of Rosencrans and Guildenstern and Ophelia that you don’t see in the play. There are characters cut out. There will be a main Hamlet and then two other actors playing a split personality version of Hamlets I think?! I can’t wait.

The cast is freakin awesome. We have Bryan from RG who has always been fantastic onstage. Jill as Gertrude from RG whom I know will nail it. Keith from RG as Laertes who is fab and will be great as my brother since we already have a great chemistry with each other. Brenda from RG who is one of my favorite actresses of all time playing one of the Hamlets. Rick from RG who is not only a great actor but a true joy to be around. Then we have some folks I don’t know. Conor will be our main Hamlet. I saw him in The Changeling and he was fantastic. He is also adorable. Adam a regular over at Stages I have seen in a few productions and has always been good. These two guys Jeremy and Adam who do all kinds of stuff including professional clown work. I saw Jeremy in The Changeling as well and he was one of my favorite madmen. Dave of course leading us as director, his partner Petey will keep us in line as stage manager, a gal named Erica who is a playwright will be ADing, and Heather our master seamstress will be making us look amazing. Um – hello fucking awesome rad cast!!!!

Last Sunday we did our 1^st walk through of Casa Romantica and pretty much first meet of everyone. I drove Rick and Jill and Conor. Rick/Jill know Conor from the Changeling so it was nice to get a little pre-chat time in and get to know him a bit as we drove down to San Clemente.

I should also mention a funny side note – I was married at Casa Romantica! Yup – in August of 1999. Let me tell you – what a friggin trip it was to walk through those doors! Some folks asked if it was emotional, but it wasn’t at all. Even though the marriage fell apart I would never take back my wedding day – it was perfection! Plus the marriage and divorce was a lifetime ago.

We spent the day walking around and discussing what scenes will most likely happen where, how it will sort of work, etc. So many fantastic ideas were already jumping out of people’s mouths and the air was full of excitement and creativity! Plus – I mean the location – can we get any more beautiful??!!!!

Afterwards we landed at a greasy spoon (The only place we could find with parking) and had lunch and chatted about all sorts of things from the show to life to past shows to whatever. We laughed and ate and drank the afternoon away.

I am so damn excited to be working on a project again and I know this is going to be a fantastic experience and something I’ve never done before! The show goes up April 2015 for only 4 performances so we got a nice long time to rehearse and nail it down. SO EXCITED!!!