We like to watch sword fighting.

Who doesn't like to watch a good sword fight? Especially a live one onstage? It doesn't seem to matter how old we might be, we find swashbuckling swordplay a thrilling thing to watch. I am happy to report there will be no shortage of swordplay in our upcoming production of The Ghosts of Treasure Island. It is a rollicking Pirate show (with rock n roll!) after all. But how do we stage a sword fight? First, it starts with buying some swords, like the one pictured here. These swords are built especially for use in a play onstage. Next, we bring our Fight Director (Matt Hawkins) in to teach our actors how to be safe with their swords, and then he will choreograph all of the moments in the play where the characters they are playing will have to fight. Mr. Hawkins directed our sword fights in The Search For Odysseus, and we are so excited to have him back. A good sword fight onstage is choreographed the same way a good dance is. The actors will learn it step by step, move by move, and swing by swing. They will practice their moves slowly, gradually getting faster and faster, until they are swinging and moving at full speed, and blowing our minds in the audience. I would love to tell you more, but describing it is not anywhere near as fun as watching it for yourself. So we'll see you at the show, right?

An update from Stanley Yelnats

As some of you may have noticed, we were fortunate enough to have Joe Wescott, the actor who played Stanley in our 2008 production of Holes return to participate in our reading of The Whipping Boy. I asked Joe if he wouldn't mind blogging for us and filling us in on what he's been up to since he escaped Camp Green Lake. Needless to say, he's been busy! Enjoy! - Jana

What have I been up to since I stopped digging Holes way back in October 2008? The answer’s pretty simple. I take care of my dog, I spend as much time as possible writing (as any budding playwright should), and most importantly, I started a theatre company with my wife and two friends. It’s called Holiday Theatre Company, and while we’ve yet to officially surface as a producing unit, we hope you’ll keep an eye out for us in the future.

In fact, we may even steal some ideas from how Adventure Stage works. You see, what’s interesting about working with Adventure Stage is that they are a company that produces theatre for families that actually has a family atmosphere behind the scenes. And what I mean by that is they’re all really friendly and nice and supportive. Just like you’d want your own family to be. So of course I was delighted to be able to help out with their staged reading of The Whipping Boy.

For me, it was like going home. Spending time on the stage and downstairs in the green room brought back some wonderful memories. And let me tell you, it’s really easy to work on a play with people you like. From the very first page of the very first draft, I recognized the part of Jemmy. Similar to Stanley Yelnats, my character in Holes, Jemmy lives in a world where things happen around him and to him, and the audience watches him to see how they should feel about what happens. Other characters might be more interesting or get more laughs, but you’re the one who’s gonna be there. It’s a great responsibility in any show, and I’m really proud to have performed that task twice now for Adventure Stage.

Thanks everybody.

-Joe Wescott

When a Community Comes Together

Last Sunday was the first New Play Workshop we ever hosted and all I can say is, “Wow!” What a thrill to see so many people accepting our invitation to come together and listen to a new script be read aloud.

A big thanks goes out to Beau Johnson who has put in a ton of time on this adaptation of The Whipping Boy, the Newbery Award-winning novel by Sid Fleischman. Beau is now in Charlotte, North Carolina, though when he approached me with the idea a couple of years ago he was still a Chicago-based artist. It was a neat challenge to get him in the room and we found a unique (if not perfect) technological solution with Skype.

My thanks also goes out to the actors and staff who put together an excellent event despite the challenges of time and resources. We’ll definitely add a few more hours to the rehearsal process next time and we’ll have to come up with a contingency plan for overflow. We really were bursting at the seams!

And, not least, I want to thank all of you who joined us, listened intently and shared your observations and insights with us. We learned a ton, both about the play itself and challenges surrounding its (or any play’s) development. Some of what we have to learn comes from you just telling us what you liked (the journey, the characters, the vivid scenic transitions); some comes from your answers to specific questions (Was Jemmy’s relationship to his father clear? How about Horace’s relationship to his father?); and some comes from your reactions to our experimentation (our use of ridiculous accents or casting Hold-Your-Nose-Billy as a woman instead of a man).

And a lot comes from simply asking what you thought. Connie Heimann (a 5^th grade teacher) made a very astute observation: “What student wouldn’t love to see someone else punished because they didn’t do their homework?!” Twelve-year-old Teagan Letscher (one of our biggest fans, not least because her dad read the role of the King and happens to be ASC’s Managing Director) had an amazing staging idea – hearing Jemmy’s deceased dad’s voice echo as Jemmy looks up to the stars and tries to talk to him.

I am always thrilled when folks feel confident enough to share their observations and suggestions. Whether it’s during one of our post-performance Curtain Conversations or a workshop like this one, I can’t help but feel like we’ve accomplished something important by creating a safe space where ideas from anyone in the room are welcome to be expressed and considered.

Indeed, this is the critical aim of our theatre-making process: to inspire dialogue amongst youth, between young people and the adults in their lives and between artists and the community in which they create. What grows from this endeavor is a strengthening of the very idea of community. We begin to ask ourselves what role we each have to play in making our immediate surroundings a better place.

If this is true, then the shows we stage are not an end in and of themselves. They are a window, a doorway, a threshold across which we are invited to explore the things we think are most important in our lives: our values, our sense of identity and family and, of course, our notion of community. I will be taking some time over the next several weeks on this blog to delve deeper into these ideas. I really hope you’ll read along and challenge my thinking. What’s a community, after all, without conversation?

Holiday Drama Kids present an original New Year's Play!!!

The Cast of "Secrets Revealed: New Years"

Last week we had some very imaginative writers involved in our winter break HDK workshop. These talanted performers mounted thir own show, which they then performed for family and friends on the Vittum stage. Over the course of 3 days an elite group of 8-11 year-olds worked together courageously to develop their own unique characters.

Working on their character "bios"

We then threw all their characters together into a play that took many twists and turns before a happy and surprising resolution on the stroke of midnight.

Two kids improvising a scene at the bus stop

I can't think of a better way to spend a few of my precious holiday days than watching and helping eager kids create their own show complete with zany costumes and unforgetable dialogue! This workshop was focused on writing and performing, we've also had mask and puppet workshops. If you have any ideas for future HDK workshops, we'd love to hear from you, just leave us a comment! We'd love to have more of you join us for our next HDK workshops on February 12th and 15th where we will make masks and learn mask performance techniques. Thank you to all the kids who've been joining us for our many Holiday Drama Kids workshops over the last year- I am so excited to see what we can create together in 2010!!!

As Gossamer comes to a close.....

I asked our director Brian to chime in on Gossamer's closing, enjoy! - Jana

After months of planning, meetings, rehearsals, discussions, dress rehearsals, previews, performances and curtain conversations, Gossamer is coming to a close. The huge amount of time and effort put into the production has been rewarded with tremendous response from our audience and some truly magical performances in the Vittum.

Looking back over the last six weeks, from the exuberance of the premiere to the rare treat of getting to meet Lois Lowry and have her witness our work, it’s been an incredible journey. One of the most prominent topics of discussion with the audience has been the difficult subject matter that the play explores. Even during previews we were already having patrons object to the elements of abuse and somewhat harsh issues that the play deals with.

But more often than not, those objections turned into fruitful discussions about the very serious issues at stake in the story, and how we as individuals choose to address them. When Lois Lowry was here, one of the most striking stories she told was about the effect the play has had on young people. She told us that some students in Oregon and Milwaukee (other cities where the play has been produced), after seeing their classmates react with compassion to John’s story of abuse were able to come forward and report abuse in their own lives to their mentors and teachers. It’s staggering to me the effect that art can have on its audience, and if we were able to even spark some discussion on these sensitive subjects that would otherwise not have happened, we were certainly successful.

The show has been a real pleasure for me, and I would like to thank again all of the actors, designers and co-collaborators that made this project possible. The response and reviews to the show have been overwhelmingly positive; enjoy the accolades, they are well deserved!

Thanks also to our audience. I know I can speak for everyone involved with Gossamer when I say that the discussions we have after each show are a constant learning experience and incredibly insightful for us.

Thursday morning is the final performance of Gossamer. Following the show will be the last curtain conversation and then the strike. This is the time when everyone comes together as a group and tears down the set. The high fabric panels and the swirling stage platforms, the hanging globes and the set pieces will all be broken down. The puppets and costumes will be stored away, and the actors will depart. Our time with Gossamer will fade away, just like a dream. And like any dream worth remembering, we’ll look back on this time, and we’ll smile.

CPS students on the ASC stage!

Students from Mitchell tell an animated African Tale with lots of movement

It is hard to believe that the fall has truly ended and winter is upon us but this Monday ASC hosted our Fall Culminating Event for the Neighborhood Bridges Residency Program. Students from Harvard, Chopin and Mitchell Elementary all came together to share the work they have done over the last 10 weeks. Each class had an ASC Teaching Artist partner with their Classroom Teacher to plan, prepare and implement over 20 hours of instruction in creative writing, storytelling and drama. The students were given numerous opportunities to listen to classic stories, engage in dynamic discussions, practice their own creative writing and devise their own dramatic pieces. Each class then picked one story (or three stories woven together) to create a short performance around. Students incorporated props, music, visual art, pantomime, comedy, tableaux and live drumming into their pieces. I was truly blown away, not only by the amazing performance each group gave, but even more so, by the positive energy and spirit of community and support in the theater that day!!! The students had never encountered the other schools before, yet they were bonded by a shared experience through the program. They came full of nerves and excitement and I hope they all left feeling proud of the great work they did throughout the program and on the ASC stage!!!


Students from Harvard show off their props


Students from Chopin share the message of their play on their hands

Can't wait to see what the students in the spring programs bring to our stage in March!!!
~Merissa

Audience Artwork!

Before our first and last Saturday performance of Gossamer we held a pre-show family workshop. Today was our final workshop and the participants (both kids and adults) were wonderful! They jumped in whole heartedly to activities, even when it made them look silly. But I was completely in awe of the artwork they created at the end of the workshop!!! They were told to create their own Dream-Giver or Sinisteed and the results were so impressive I thought I should share them with you. Here are just a few of the many awesome completed pieces...enjoy!