Early Impressions from Show #5 and #6

Jennifer Jasper has a beautiful, sweet touching piece in Etymology last night. Today she has written a play called No Apologies, being directed by Hana Lass, featuring Marianna de Fazio, Marty Mukhalian and Cody Smith. In my three minutes of eavesdropping, it sounded like a play about a couple (played by Cody and Marty) struggling to raise their daughter (Marianna) with a value system they believe in. Given the theme of 'over indulgence', something tells me the value system might be a little... unorthodox.

Hana, Marianna and Cody during first (or second) read through.
Photo: Agastya Kohli

Down in the Lower Falls Lobby, Scott Abernethy and Danielle Daggerty are working on their two-hander, written by Courtney Meaker, directed by Stan Shields. There are pirates, and there are zombies. Stan requested the band to start the show with "jaunty pirate music". Lighting designers are looking for some ship rigging gobos. They were not optimistic on having any zombie gobos, unfortunately. More about this show during tech, I am sure!

Scott and Danielle, during 'table work'
Photo: Agastya Kohli

The Saturday Lineup

Friday night at 14/48 was fantastic. How will Saturday stack up? Will things get really weird when the writers tackle 'Overindulgence'? That all remains to be seen, but here is the lineup that will answer those questions in less than ten hours.

Atomic
Writer - Erin Stewart
Director - Keni Cohen
Actors - Darius Pierce, Ryan Spickard, Melissa Fenwick, Sydney Tucker

Macrophages
Writer - David Schmader
Director - Anthony Winkler
Actors - Emma Bamford, Alyson Bedford, John Farrage

The Program
Writers - Lisa Koch & Peggy Platt
Director - Andy Jensen
Actors - Katie Driscoll, Kate Witt, Jesica Avellone, Sam Read

Atlas Movers
Writer - Keri Healey
Director - John Langs
Actors - Opal Peachey, Allison Strickland, Rachel Sedwick, Joe Zavadil, Chris Shea

No Apologies
Writer - Jennifer Jasper
Director - Hana Lass
Actors - Marianna de Fazio, Marty Mukhalian, Cody Smith,

Shorty Says Goodbye
Writer - Courtney Meaker
Director - Stan Shields
Actors - Danielle Daggerty, Scott Ward Abernethy

Whatever Gets You Through The Night
Writer - Zoe Fitzgerald
Director - Charles Smith
Actors - Sara Porkalob, Lisa Viertel, Trick Danneker, Ben Burris, Joe Ivy

Here we go Saturday

The writers and directors are meeting over their plays now, and it looks like Friday was so good the 14/48 gods are trying to recreate it. Three of the pairings will be the same as yesterday - Erin Stewart and Keni Cohen, Peggy Platt, Lisa Koch, and Andy Jensen, and Zoe Fitzgerald and Charles Smith. Zoe and Charles even find themselves in the same slot, closing the night. Your other pairings are David Schmader and Anthony Winkler, Keri Healey and John Langs, Jennifer Jasper and Hana Lass, and Courtney Meaker and Stan Shields.

Across the Big Pond, in the Big Theatre

Say hello to Darius Pierce (virgin actor) and Emma Bamford (veteran actor).

Emma Bamford and Darius Pierce
Photo: Agastya Kohli

Darius joins 14/48 from Portland, and Emma is a veteran of 14/48 festival held in Leicester, England. These two out-of-towners are the cast of the only two-hander show, Jennifer Jasper's Etymology directed by virgin director John Langs.

Here is a mini-interview as Emma had her lunch.

AK: What is the biggest difference between 14/48 in UK and here?
Emma: There are a lot more strange accents here.
AK: Please elaborate.
Emma: There are too many varied accents that I feel bombarded by. I can't tell where someone is from by just listening to them.
AK: What else?
Emma: Everything here is bigger. More people, bigger space, bigger theatre. Plus we didn't have food provided in Licester. That's great!
AK: What is one thing you enjoyed about 14/48 in England, that is missing here?
Emma: I knew more people there. So that was nice. I feel more like an outsider here.
AK: Par for the coarse wouldn't you say?
Emma: Yes of course. And it's not bad... but it is different.
AK: What's the one thing here that you like (other than food and more space) that you missed in UK?
Emma: Our director - he's so fantastic!

Who? John Langs? He's a virgin! He couldn't possibly know what he's doing! (I kid of course).

So I decided to seek out Mr. Langs and talk to him.

AK: How's the virgin experience coming along?
John: Its's great! I have a great cast and I'm enjoying the play.
AK: How's life in general?

Virgin director John Langs
Photo: Agastya Kohli

John: Good. Busy. We have to learn to pace ourselves you know? Like this job - there is so much exciting work that I'm doing at ACT these days. But there are times when after a whole day of work, you realize that you've not done anything to grow as an artist. For example, marketing - it's so exciting. I've never done any marketing. So I get sucked towards things like that. But if you're not looking at the core, and just the wrapper... you have to be careful.
AK: How's 14/48 different?
John: In so many ways. It distills what we do as artists into one day, and allows you to focus on the 'periscope down' stuff. Because it doesn't matter how pretty you can make your presentation... if you're not present and connected with the heart of it, what's the point? This experience is really about the heart of the play, as you don't have time for distractions.

Thanks John and Emma!

Disclaimer - I wasn't recording the conversations... so the above interviews are paraphrased. But I hope I've captured the essence of what these artists wanted to share with all of you.

lurking in play # 4

Dear Diary,

I was given permission to lurk.  I didn't want to creep out my new crush too much so I wandered away from the band and over to the rehearsal room for play #4, written by Jennifer Jasper and featuring Rob MacGregor, David Nail, Caitlin Francis and Hannah Schnabel and directed by Julia Griffin.

I hear something about "breastfeeding on the left tittie".   (The blocking is hilarious on this!)

I also just heard the director say, "You know, she could probably eat your soul in a minute."


I don't know where this is going but it's kind of awesome.  (The audience might need a squeegee to wipe off the "ewww" after this but come on, that's why we like it, isn't it?)

Hearts and Flowers,

Kymberlee

PS, Somehow the bassoon is factoring into this play.  What?