Hot Ticket!

Just wanted to let you all know that Lunatics is sold out for tonight and as of this moment there are only 7 seats left for tomorrow. Get your tickets while you can!

Word on the street...

They've posted a patron review on the Washington City Paper "Fringe & Purge" Blog. It's a glowing review and my parents promise me that they didn't write it. ;)

Up and running!

We opened tonight to a packed house! It is just an amazing thing to bring together a show and its audience. No two audiences are ever the same and tonight we had a wonderful group for the opening night. I wish I could thank all of them for showing up and sharing their time with us. So if you were one of them... Thank You! (especially the woman who laughed for like 5 minutes after the Dr. Rank line, you made my night!)... Hey, if you enjoyed the show rate it on Theatre Mania or send a review to the Washington City Paper at fringe@washingtoncitypaper.com.

The festival is quite a thing and it is so exciting that DC has welcomed it with open arms. If you haven't been down to the Warehouse yet (the festival hub), you have got to go check it out!

Ok. Now that we are up on our feet I need to sit down with the festival guide and find out what performances I can support as an audience member.

Sweltering Streetwalker

Just one of those little things that makes it worth getting out of bed in the morning (even though I haven't yet). Yahoo Mail spell check was stumped by www.treadwelltheatre.org.
The top two suggestions?

-Sweltered
-Streetwalker

The Balance

Watching a production take shape there is a tipping point where you know you've got a show. I'm not saying that it won't be a push for Sunday, but... by golly, i think we've got a show!

Especially being both writer and director it is exciting when an actor brings something to the story that you hadn't anticipated or that catches you off guard, or that you find compelling in a way that makes you forget that you know what happens next.

Probably the best part of being both writer and director is that when the director found that the writer was way up on high horse and had put in a speech at the end of the play that was totally unnecessary and got in the way more than anything... well, the director won. In being both I could let the writer be as neurotic about making sure that the audience "got it" as she wanted because the director was there to step in, visualize it, trust the audience and hack away at the script.

Choreography

Fighting and Dancing. Specialized movement and contact. Structure for safety but freedom within that structure for dramatic possibilities. Pinching and kicking. Whirling and twirling. Two places where it was easy for me to step aside and let the experts take over. Thank you Michael John Casey and Jessica Bassil for your advice and insight!

Travel Tips from Nellie

After Nellie Bly spent 10 days in a madhouse, she topped that feat of journalism by going around the world in 72 days (beating the fictional record was a hot idea in the late 1800's). Here's her packing list for the jaunt:

"One never knows the capacity of an ordinary hand-satchel until dire necessity compels the exercise of all one's ingenuity to reduce every thing to the smallest possible compass. In mine I was able to pack two traveling caps, three veils, a pair of slippers, a complete outfit of toilet articles, ink-stand, pens, pencils, and copy-paper, pins, needles and thread, a dressing gown, a tennis blazer, a small flask and a drinking cup, several complete changes of underwear, a liberal supply of handkerchiefs and fresh ruchings and most bulky and uncompromising of all, a jar of cold cream to keep my face from chapping in the varied climates I should encounter.

That jar of cold cream was the bane of my existence. It seemed to take up more room than everything else in the bag and was always getting into just the place that would keep me from closing the satchel. Over my arm I carried a silk waterproof, the only provision I made against rainy weather. After-experience showed me that I had taken too much rather than too little baggage."

Get your tickets!

Tickets are now on sale for all fringe events. Visit www.capfringe.org today!

Fringe

Here's the thing about fringe festivals... part of the deal is that they are fast, overwhelming and crammed in nooks and crannies. When I went to Edinburgh it felt like theatre was oozing out of the cracks in the sidewalk. DC really has never seen anything like what's about to happen on little ol' 7th street. Putting together this show for the festival has been a humbling experience that is both creatively challenging and inspiring. It's like painting with a limited palette. There are times when you wish you could paint with every color of the rainbow, but once you accept your limitations you actually find more creative freedom than if you were unfettered. So part of this for me has been about recognizing my limitations and deciding what is essential and what I can let go. And, honestly, I think the show is better off for it.

podcast

DC theatre reviews has posted podcasts for many of the upcoming fringe shows. Check ours out here:

http://dctheatrereviews.com/fringe