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

ImageJuly 4, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

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

ImageJune 22, 2014directorebeccer Leave a comment

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.