Greetings all! We’re back…

Jonah and I had a nice trip to LA last week, but of course missing two days at work means a week’s worth of catch up. Fun.

Big news this week! We have a new full time Managing Director!! Starting September 15th, our new MD will replace Interim Managing Director Elaine Gingery. Elaine has loved her time here with us and is looking forward to what the new person can bring. More on who’s stepping in and a post from Elaine to say goodbye upcoming.

The two shows are running very well. Sailor’s Song is a bigger hit than last year, with many excellent houses and Complete Works is a blast. It doesn’t seem quite right that the three guys should be having so much fun - shouldn’t there be more pain required to do your art??? :). I saw it again last week and laughed as much as I did at opening - it’s a great evening of silliness and laughter. And a wonderful contrast to Sailor’s Song.

ENSEMBLE NEWS:
Our ensemble is getting cast all over town and we are so proud of them! Here’s a short list:
Ron Choularton: Currently in Sight Unseen at the Globe
Amanda Morrow: Just cast as Belle (Scrooge’s love interest) in Christmas Carol at Cygnet
Amanda Sitton: Just cast as the younger nun in Shanley’s Doubt at San Diego Rep
Tom Zohar: Starting rehearsals for Light in the Piazza at Lamb’s Players Theatre
Jack Missett, Joshua & Kristianne: About to start rehearsals for Fool For Love here at NVA
Rachael VanWormer: Being cast all over town in all kinds of shows
Wendy Waddell: Just played the lead in ion theatre’s intimate ibsen series
Dana Case: getting ready to direct Fool For Love here
Sandra Ellis Troy: playing the lead in Driving Miss Daisy at Moonlight at the Avo
Adam Brick: heading back to continue his studies in San Fran
Manny Fernandes: Christmas Carol at Cygnet

Make sure you check them out in their other shows - they are an amazingly talented group of people!

BOARD NEWS
We had our monthly board meeting yesterday and it went very well. Everyone is working hard in their individual areas to help keep the company growing. Congrats to Board Member Gina McBride who is the new president-elect of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. And welcome to David Brudney, our newest member of the Advisory Board.

FUNDRAISER!!!
September 6th and 7th at the Munk’s Amphitheatre in La Jolla.
The event starts at 6:30, with a performance of Complete Works at 8:00 each night. We can always use more silent auction items, so please let us know if you find anything that’s a must have for the event!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the theatre (or the Munk’s!) very soon!
Kristianne

So I have this script I’ve been working on. You know, “that script.” The one every chick with a degree in Creative Writing who found herself in theatre happens to have. Yeah, that’s the one. And I spent a month working the hell out of it before I made the cardinal sin of writing: I started talking about it.

You’d think by now I would have learned, but every time a bit of writing is eating me up inside, talking about it is the kiss of death. As though speaking the words aloud somehow dismisses the need to translate the words to the paper. And that’s what it is at first: this insatiable need to simply get this crap out of my head and onto the paper where the characters can take on their own life. Speaking about the plot or the scene change or the way a character wraps her brain around that thing that happened to her five years ago, just makes it less… urgent. I go from waking at 1am to pound away at the keyboard to sleeping blissfully though the night.

Sounds like a good thing.

It’s not.

The writing that has brought me the most attention and sparked the greatest emotional response has come from the stuff I didn’t speak to anyone about before it was published. I know this and yet, there I found myself, talking up a storm about the story behind the play and the people involved, speaking about my characters as though they were actual people I know. Stupid.

I’m thinking I need to start wearing a pin that reads: “Just tell me to shut up and write.”

Luckily, some recent events in my life, which made day to day rather hellish for a bit, have provided me with some insight into one of my characters. I may be able to get back to the story now. But who knows, the muse is a fickle bitch and I fear she’s enjoying my inability to finish this thing.

How do you tame the muse? What makes your art come best to life?

I’m sitting in an empty theatre.

Perched on the edge of the stage I have the set for Sailor’s Song at my back and rows and rows of empty seats before me, just hours from filling with an opening night crowd. As always, the theatre is oversold for opening and the slight hum of anticipation buzzes in the lobby outside. There are still almost two full hours before people start packing the joint and yet, that buzz still permeates the landscape, getting ready to join noise and heat and the excitement of what could go wrong.

Really, that’s why I love opening night. There’s this sense of danger all around you. Donors, critics, loved ones, people with a stake in the project, all are settled into their seats, throwing waves across the heads of fellow patrons, getting ready to see what might happen that wasn’t expected. Of course, those of us producing theatre want no surprises and yet, much like lookie-loo freeway demons, the audience kinda hopes to see a little blood. More than that, we want to see how the actors, frozen in the moment with an audience full of witnesses, deal with those small moments of panic. Will they break character? Will we even know there was a problem? Will the theatre collapse in laughter when one actor ad libs their way though their pants falling off (seen it)?

Television and film just doesn’t give you the danger that theatre affords. And that’s one of the many things I find so thrilling about it. Well, that and the sheer beauty of a story told well. We all long for that.

So I sit in an empty theatre, waiting for the evening to take hold. I wonder what gems will fall onto the stage tonight; what unexpected bits of brilliance will skitter across the stage unnoticed and which will come leaping into the audience to thrill each and every one of us. But mostly, I long for the story and the grace and the surprising beauty of John Patrick Shanley’s elegant romance, Sailor’s Song.

Make sure you don’t miss it.

ETA: Photos from the production can be found over on our Flickr site here.

Ensemble Retreat

We had a wonderful Ensemble Retreat at the Creekstone Inn in Idyllwild from June 1-4. Ensemble member Jack Missett was generous enough to sponsor the retreat (we had the entire Inn to ourselves) and we got a lot of work done and had a ton of fun. Here’s a photo from our night out at Cafe Aroma:

Amanda Sitton, Amanda Morrow, Tom Zohar, Joshua Everett Johnson, Kristianne Kurner, Wendy Waddell & Jack Missett. (Also attended but not in photo: Manny Fernandes & Adam Brick. Not able to attend: Dana Case, Rachael VanWormer, Ron Choularton, Daren Scott & Sandra Ellis-Troy).

We worked on defining what it is that New Village Arts does that is unique, what we believe as theatre artists, and the kind of environment we want to create to enable that art to happen.

Check out our Ensemble Members in the following shows:

Amanda Sitton, Joshua Everett Johnson & Manny Fernandes: Golden Boy at NVA

Tom Zohar: Yank! at Diversionary Theatre (opens in July)

Sandra Ellis-Troy: Crazy for You at Starlight Theatre

Rachael VanWormer: The Listener at Moxie Theatre

Shakespeare Switcheroo

Look below this post for the press release explaining the change in the Shakespeare for this year. We are thrilled with the cast and elated that Rob Salas, who originally signed on to direct The Tempest, will be able to direct The CompletE Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) for us.

2008-2009 Season

We have selected the upcoming season. We shared it with a very enthusiastic Ensemble over the weekend, and are looking forward to sharing it with you all. We’re working on the press release now and we will be doing a full season announcement on June 16th before the reading of Woman Before a Glass (featuring Sandra Ellis-Troy).

Staff Changes. Again.

We’ll be announcing a new, full-time staff position shortly. We’re really excited about making some shifts around here and look forward to seeing who steps up for the job. We’ll announce as soon as we hammer out the details but if you’re on the hunt for a dynamic, exciting, face paced and challenging position with one of the hottest theatres in town, watch this space.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the theatre!

Kristianne

Whoa. Kinda fell off the radar there for a wee bit. Sorry. Things have been, as always, busy. We closed Prelude to a Kiss and realized it was one of our best selling productions of all time. It’s amazing to see that each show we produce in our new space does so well, far surpassing the turnout we’ve had in the past. We’re beginning to wonder if we’re going to outgrow our space!

Rehearsals have started for Golden Boy and the design team has come up with some deliciously dark ideas for this film noir style, 1930’s play. The cast makes us giddy, they’re so awesome. Can’t wait for Opening Night on June 21, but you’ll have to if you don’t already have your tickets: we’re sold out.

We also have some exciting news about Shakespeare this year but are still working out the kinks. We can tell you that it’s not what you’re expecting but other than that, you get to sit and ponder what the heck we’re up to.

The offices are expanding as we try to find space for all the people we have working with us. We now have three desks in the main office and are carving out space in the conference room for the others. It’s thrilling to have some many artist working to help the theatre grow.

Upcoming is the Ensemble Retreat where our favorite actors will get together to work on their craft and talk about the future of the company, a topic that is in a lovely space of flux as new opportunities keep cropping up. Things just keep changing around here and all of it in a most excellent way. So far the only thing that hasn’t changed is the quality of the work. For that, we’re steady on.

We’d love to hear from you about your experience with the theatre. So far the only comments we’ve gotten on this here blog have been of the spam variety, but please drop in and say hi anytime. Just hit the comment link and tell us your thoughts. We hope to see you in the theatre soon!

For most of our past all preshow announcements have been done by an actually person standing on the stage. We like this form of communication which you may be able to guess by the fact that we make THEATRE. But the reality is pretty simple: as we grow and more people come to work with us, that message can get a wee bit… inconsistent. So last week Managing Director Elaine Gingery popped over to the Jazzercise Headquarters to record an announcement we can use for most productions.

First Elaine got locked in a padded room:

KJ Dagraedt, Audio Technician/Engineer/All Around Swell Guy, was on the other end of those headphones, telling Elaine to slow down and sound less like a circus freak (a challenge for any theatre manager):

Then he edited it together and emailed it over to the theatre for use with the show.

Come take a listen when you attend your next production (only a few more weeks for Prelude!) and feel free to mock Elaine liberally. The sound booth made her feel like a rock star and she’s been annoying everyone by walking around with a fake British accent and randomly screaming out, “Thank you, Carlsbad!”

Take her down a peg, m’kay?

Esther Emery’s set design for Prelude to a Kiss went in today with the help of Nick Fouch and Mark Gingery. Here you can see the guys working on the rigging while a couple of the larger pieces float from above. The design for this show is highly conceptual while remaining very accessible. Large welded curves of metal make up the back drop allowing you to fill in the details of a Jamaican honeymoon or New York bar.

Book tickets online or give us a ring at 760.435.3245. Opening Night (April 19th) is already close to sold out so don’t wait! The closing performance of Dancing at Lughnasa had a line out the building at showtime and we almost couldn’t fit everyone in. Don’t wait until the last minute for this one!

The artists creating Prelude to a Kiss got together last night to read through the play, talk about design concepts with scenic designer Esther Emery and meet everyone involved. There’s nothing that brings the anticipation of a new production to the forefront than to hear the text spoken and to plant the seed of the design concepts. Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, our director for this production, talked about her own concepts for where the text will bring us, setting the stage for a production I know we’ll be deeply proud to present.

We also snapped a few shots from the evening. Click on the photo below of (L-R) Stage Manager Missy Bradstreet, Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and playing Rita, Kristianne Kurner for the Prelude to a Kiss photo set:

Want a glimpse backstage at New Village Arts? A Mira Costa Student, France put together a quick piece walking through the theatre and checking out the back areas most audience members never get a chance to see.

Go check it out by clicking here.

We are about to embark on week two of DANCING AT LUGHNASA. Ticket sales are going great and word-0f-mouth is very positive. We already have people coming back to see the show a second time. Some of the reviews were a bit mixed, but that is to be expected. Opening night (when most of the critics were there) was a bit rough - by Sunday, the show was working wonderfully. The cast and crew are an amazing group of people - everyone is working so hard and committed to also having a great time.

It should be fun to do the show on St. Patty’s weekend.

We have now cast a number of the roles in PRELUDE TO A KISS! Joshua Johnson and I are playing Peter & Rita, with Kathryn Herbruck as my mom, Tim Parker as Peter’s best friend, Li-Anne Rowswell as Aunt Dorothy and Leah and Don Evans as Tom and the Minister. We are still casting Dr Boyle and Uncle Fred. Delicia Turner-Sonnenberg is directing, with Esther Emery doing the set design. It’s such a beautiful play - a romantic comedy that isn’t too “precious” or “sweet”. Rehearsals start next week - no rest for us! Check out the great photo for the show, styled by Amanda Sitton and taken by Adam Brick.

The new offices are coming along nicely. Elaine Gingery (our new Managing Director) is fabulous - and everything is beginning to get put into its proper places. It’s so nice not to be working out of my garage any more!

Hope you all enjoy the new blog - please share your thoughts with us as well!

See you at the theatre (New Village Arts Theatre, of course)…

Kristianne