One more chance to see O Best Beloved on Tour!

GallerySeptember 9, 2014September 21, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

Coming up at 2pm this Saturday, September 13 at the Parker Street Odditorium (2310 Parker Street, Berkeley) — the final performance of the O Best Beloved 2014 Tour!

Kolokolo bird in the Wait-a-Bit thorn bush. Noe Valley, August 24. Photo by Tim Guydish.

Elly and the Giraffe at Noe Valley, August 24. Photo by Tim Guydish.

Samuel Peaches’ Peripatetic Players get serious about a song in Noe Valley on August 24. Photo by Tim Guydish.

During our tour, we’ve played to almost 1,000 people, paused for the BART to go by, chased after dogs running under the stage, shared our playing space with a Yak, performed for at least three princesses, paraded with kids from 2 to 82, and been gifted more cake than anyone could possibly eat. The FluxWagon has both gained and lost a couple of deedles (ask us for the story on that one, as well as what “deedles” are), drawn delighted crowds wherever we’ve unfolded her, hosted a concert, and traveled more miles than we can count.

We hope you’ll join us for Saturday’s performance, and please stay in touch — we won’t be performing soon, but you never know where we might appear next!

FluxFest ’14 – Celebrate this Saturday!

LinkAugust 27, 2014August 27, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

Flux Fest ’14 — it’s time to celebrate!

Join us for music, snacks and other shenanigans to celebrate FluxWagon (our mobile stage), our awesome friends & neighbors at Main Street Theatre (who have put up with the building of said stage), and the fabulous talents of Main Streeters and Samuel Peaches’ Peripatetic Players (who perform on the stage) — block-party-style!

Saturday, August 30, 2pm – 4:30ish
Main Street Theatre – 915 Cayuga Ave at Ocean Ave, SF
Suggested donation $5 – $15 at the door

***donations go directly to the O Best Beloved actors!***

FEATURING…
The Bamasheks
Casey Robbins & Sam Bertken
Samuel Peaches’ Peripatetic Players
Fox and the Hounds
And more!

On Sunday, 8/31, it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming: O Best Beloved in Glen Park!

The Burlington not only has great taste in paint colors, but safely housed four of our Best Beloveds during the recent earthquake!

The many faces of The Professor, PhD

GalleryAugust 13, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

The Professor, PhD pretty much knows it all — or thinks s/he does. Our ensemble can’t quite decide who has the final say on how the world began… and everyone has a different idea of who The Professor is. Who’s your favorite?

Catch The Professor expounding and expostulating at any of our 2014 Tour performances around the Bay Area.

This weekend: San Francisco’s Precita Park on 8/16 at 2pm, and Pleasanton’s Centennial Park on 8/17 at 5pm!

Thumper on book helps fact-check Samuel Peaches and Blueberry Starshine

Thumper makes sure that the stories are accurate to Mr. Kipling’s originals

Meekins is always a little shocked.

Blueberry Starshine as The Professor, PhD

Blueberry Starshine can tell you all about the fauna of the turbid Amazon.

Samuel Peaches takes us to the plains of Africa

Princess Gwen (Marlene Yarosh) as The Professor, PhD

Princess Gwen tells us how the Whale got his throat.

And will anyone ever let Arby-Darby wear the Professorial pith helmet?

Arby-Darby lobbies the audience

Hooray! for Cayuga Park

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That show was awesome!

–Cayuga Park audience member, age 7

We had a great preview performance at Cayuga Park last Sunday, with lots of kids in attendance and even a runaway kickball that was batted back into play by Samuel Peaches.

Our next performances are Saturday, August 16 at San Francisco’s Precita Park at 2pm, and Sunday, August 17 at Pleasanton’s Centennial Park at 5pm. We hope to see you there!

Click here for the full Tour Schedule.

Audience at our Cayuga Park show, August 3. Photo by Serena Morelli.

Pingle the Stute-Fish (played by Blueberry Starshine) and Smiler the Whale. Photo by Serena Morelli

A taste of Tour 2014 – “The Beginning of the Armadillos”

GalleryJuly 29, 2014July 29, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

Photos from one of our new stories, “The Beginning of the Armadillos,” by the phenomenal Serena Morelli. Here’s a link to the original story by Mr. Kipling.

Our first performance is this Sunday, August 3 at Cayuga Playground, San Francisco!

Check out our full 2014 Tour Schedule.

Blueberry Starshine (Sam Jackson) as the Professor

Thumper (Joan Howard) plays Painted Jaguar, about to surprise the two Armadillos — played by Samuel Peaches (Casey Robbins) and Arby-Darby (Juliana Frick)

Blueberry Starshine also plays Mama Jaguar and Meekins and Princess Gwen are her Jaguar Posse

Rawr! Meekins, Blueberry and Princess Gwen as the Jaguars

Samuel Peaches and Arby-Darby as the Hedgehog and Tortoise, hatching a plan to surprise Painted Jaguar

Rehearsal Report: Special Guest Soren

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At yesterday’s rehearsal we had a special guest, Soren Santos, an actor and theatremaker who is also an associate producer for O Best Beloved. One of his specialties is physical partner work, and he was super helpful coaching Sam B and Juliana on the fantastic duo animals they’ve come up with–and helped them create a couple more. Some of Soren’s credits include the American premiere of Maurice at New Conservatory Theatre Center (Maurice), the professional west coast premiere of Orlando at TheatreFIRST (Marmaduke and Ensemble), and the world premiere adaptation of Jane Eyre with Counter-Balance Theater (St. John and Ensemble). Soren is currently associated with Counter-Balance Theater and foolsFURY Ensemble. When not on stage, he can be found co-teaching Foundations of Flight, an ongoing acting/movement workshop with fellow Counter-Balance company member Anika Solveig. Visit Soren on the web at www.sorensantos.com and catch him in Mugwumpin’s Super:Anti:Reluctant July 10-12.

Rehearsal collage! Featuring Nquong (Sam Jackson) in his bath in the blue gums, Uncle Giraffe (Sam Bertken and Juliana Frick), and the ensemble with Mdme. Directrix. Photo by Soren Santos.

Rehearsal Report: Character Solo Shows

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We’ve just finished a little more than a week’s worth of rehearsals for our Summer Tour, and OH BOY OH BOY are we excited to share this version of the show with you!

Today we had a special guest, Julie Katz, who introduced us to some fantastic improv games. We had a great time playing with the troupe: Thumper, Samuel Peaches, Blueberry Starshine, and our newest members (drumroll please….) Arby Darby and Princess Gwen. (Meekins was unfortunately out sick… or traumatized.)

Section Titles from “Thumper… the Solo Show!” an improvised work of pure performance genius.

One of our favorite games was Character Solo Shows. Each ensemble member took a turn presenting an improvised solo show. In advance, we each wrote a title for a section of the show on a slip of paper. Julie introduced each character, who then opened one slip of paper and began performing that section of his or her solo show. The section had to continue until Julie called for the next section. High pressure, high entertainment, and very revealing! We sure know a lot more about these characters now… and it’s juicy.

The Best Beloved Band – June 9 at the Flight Deck Opening Festival

ImageMay 27, 2014May 28, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

Greetings Beloveds!

We have a special treat in store for you — we’ll be performing songs from O Best Beloved at the Flight Deck Opening Festival Variety Show at 8pm on Monday, June 9.

Samuel Peaches on melodica, Blueberry Starshine on ukulele, and Thumper on upright 3-string bass

Samuel Peaches, Blueberry Starshine and Thumper singing “The Rhino’s Song” on the shores of the Red Sea

The Flight Deck is a brand-new performing arts space in Downtown Oakland that’s being created by our friends at Ragged Wing Ensemble. It’s a pretty fantastic endeavor. The Flight Deck includes a 99-seat black box theater, a rehearsal studio, a gallery, and co-working space. Next door is Township, a new farm-to-table restaurant featuring local art and a mezzanine for small performances.

We hope to see you at the Variety Show on June 9! We’re thrilled to be hosted by the Knights of Revery, and performing alongside acts from foolsFURY, Emma Jaster, and Chick Flick, among others. You can buy advance tickets online through June 6.

Introducing Juliana–A New Beloved!

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We’re just pleased as punch to introduce our newest ensemble member, Juliana Frick!

Juliana (on the left) and Grace Booth in GET NO PLACE FAST.

Juliana will be embodying the Human, for whom the animals worked so diligently when the world was so new-and-all; the Little God Nquing; one-half of the rudest Rhinoceros residing near the Red Sea; and a host of other roles that we’re saving to surprise you with this summer!

Our first order of business will be to induct both Juliana and Marlene into our eccentric ensemble… I can’t say whether or not there are any elaborate induction rituals… but I can say that we’re all excited to start playing together.

You can read more about Juliana as well as her exploits and endeavors with Hungry Bird Theater, who will be performing Get No Place Fast this July as part of “Raw Materials Program 3” at the Fury Factory Festival of Ensemble Theater this July 14 & 15 at NOH Space in San Francisco.

Hope to see you there!

Announcing our newest Beloved!

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We’re thrilled to announce the newest member of our troupe of players, the wonderful Marlene Yarosh.

Marlene Yarosh

Marlene has performed and trained with both Joan and Rebecca through foolsFURY, and we’re delighted for her to join our merry band for our summer tour.

Marlene will be christened by the ensemble with her stage name in due time. She’ll be taking on the roles originated by Kittens Mittens (Sabrina Wenske). Of course Kittens’ performance is inimitable, so Marlene will put her own spin on it.

Meanwhile, the talented Sabrina will be performing in other shows around the Bay Area, and helping our friends at Ragged Wing Ensemble open their new performance space in downtown Oakland, the Flight Deck!