Friday, August 31, 2007

All art is quite useless...

Finally finalized the final drafts of the postcard image and blurb. Enjoy!

In the seedy and seditious demimonde of Weimar Berlin, five lost souls find each other (and sold-out audiences) when they create a scandalous club where adults play like children...and customers pay to watch!



Tickets will go on sale soon...stay tuned!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

A ditty on development

Sung to the tune of "Band on the Run":

Well, we've been busting our butts, for 5 long years, trying to get some dough.
And, though the orgs all said our applications were strong, it was always no after no.
Grant number 1, we just got grant number 1
Grant number 1, oh yeah, we just got grant number 1
And the DCA we'll thank everyday for giving us their funds.
[They gave us] Grant number 1, oh yeah we just got grant number 1


This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.


...you'll be seeing that logo and reading that credit line all through June 2008 so get used to it! :)

Monday, August 06, 2007

Final Commedia Round-up: Photos and Press

The DVD's coming out soon, but in the meantime...here are all of the reviews and the photo highlights:

"...the result of putting genres into an aesthetic supercollider and pressing the trigger...supple, smart...daring."

-Leonard Jacobs
...more @ The Clyde Fitch Report

"[I]t's important that this newly written old-school hit be recognized. That rape could be funny, not tragic, who knew? The producers and writers of Stolen Chair, that's who. With swagger and grace and a man who's ribald, the show woos us and flatters us, we're never appalled...[T]his show's a must see...The only sad part about Commedia Dell' Artemisia is that it's condensed to stay under an hour."

-Aaron Riccio
...more @ PBS' New Theater Corps

"Kiran Rikhye's script is clever...witty...and gives the audience rich food for thought. Cameron J. Oro...has an amazingly commanding voice and precisely the light quality of movement needed for such demanding work. David Bengali...is a true virtuoso...The company is clearly on the right path."

-Ishah Janssen-Faith
...more @ NYtheatre.com



Photos ©2007 Joseph Belschner & Aviva Meyer

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Clyde Fitch Report on Commedia

"...the result of putting genres into an aesthetic supercollider and pressing the trigger...supple, smart...daring."
Read the rest of what Leonard Jacobs has to say about the show on the Clyde Fitch Report.

All of us at Stolen Chair thank Leonard for giving us a great soundbite to describe what it is exactly we do: "Just as contemporary subatomic physics is all about what happens when you smash protons, neutrons, neutrinos and all kinds of indescribably small objects in order to simply find out what makes them tick, Stolen Chair will take genres you don't necessarily think of as inextricably wedded...and link them up, smashing them together to see what, if anything, happens, and what we can learn about what makes each of those genres/styles/elements/aesthetics tick."

So, if you didn't get a chance to see what an assortment of critics called an "exquisite," "dizzying," "supple, smart...[and] daring" "must see...old-school hit" which "gives the audience rich food for thought," now's the time to start crying because after 3 separate runs in 3 separate theatres in the months of June and July, the show is going to take a little rest...

...but we hope we'll be back rhyming and raping by the winter as we try to put together a college tour for spring semester 2008! If anyone has any leads on how to go about doing this or would like to book the show (and accompanying Commedia workshop) for their school or performing arts center, please contact me.

I imagine we won't be posting much on the show until then (except a li'l slideshow when the last round of pictures comes in and, perhaps, a YouTube clip once the DVD is mastered), as we'll now be turning our full attention to Kinderspiel.