Many Thanks

Since I am finally moving the pages about Promenading with Lunatics to their own section of the site I thought I would just take a moment and say THANK YOU! Thank you to Damian & Julianne and all of the Capital Fringe staff and volunteers who made the festival such a great event. Thank you to the cast and to Trevor & Carol for their incredible support and invaluable help... and Thank you, thank you to the audiences who came out and laughed and shivered and maybe scratched their heads a little, but who all seemed to enjoy themselves so very much.

The Patron Fringe & Purge Review

I am not sure how long this will stay up on the Washington City Paper Fringe & Purge blog, so I thought I would post our glowing patron review here. Thank you to Trey Graham for making his festival blog an open place for people to share! And thank you Michael B., whoever you are...

This one's from Michael B.:
For those of you who are looking for a "play"- as opposed to a solo performance, something with trapezes, or the interaction of animate and inanimate objects- go see Promenading with Lunatics. Inspired by the writings and experiences of three women, Lunatics is about the nature of madness and incarceration.

It is really three stories unified by theme. Reporter Nellie Bly takes on an assignment to feign madness and get herself committed to an institution in order to expose the cruelties of the system. Laura Petersen Kieler, a friend of playwright Henrik Ibsen, claims that Ibsen's classic, "A Doll's House", was based on her life. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", deals with a woman's descent into madness. The production weaves these three into a fascinating and twisted cloth as we watch each of the protagonists deal, in very different ways, with the loss of self.

The acting is exceptional. Lisa Lias as Kieler, Heather Whitpan as Gilman, and Veronica del Cerro as Bly present us with three distinctly different faces of madness. All the men in their lives are deftly played by Al Twanmo.

While the actors deliver consistent and mesmerizing performances, del Cerro's Nellie Bly deserves special mention. Because Bly's madness was contrived, we watch as del Cerro transforms herself from the enthusiastic reporter to the fragile, desperate, pitiful shell that presents herself to the courts as a madwoman. The delicacy of her performance is beautiful.

Directed by the playwright, Alia Faith Williams, the production is frightening, sometimes funny, but always rivetting. A musical accompaniment by composer Carol Gulley underscores the shifting tones of the play. Promenading with Lunatics is being performed through Saturday, July 29, at the Warehouse Downtown Arts Complex's 2nd Stage.

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!