breakinglight11 | Entries tagged with chameleon's dish

I directed a ten-minute play for the Chameleon's Dish Shorts Festival this weekend! Come see us at the Democracy Center this Friday and Saturday night!

Losing & Finding. The intense loss of someone precious, from the struggle of finding one's place in the world, or the every-day frantic rush of misplacing your keys. The wash of relief and comfort in finding, from the rediscovery of a forgotten childhood toy, to the reunion with a loved one you thought was gone forever. This fall, the Chameleon's Dish Theatre travels these emotional hills and valleys through a series of new ten-minute plays.

Running the gamut from situational comedy to surrealistic horror, Chameleon's Dish is excited to present to you:

Peggy's Properties by MJ Halberstadt directed by Phoebe Roberts

Choice by Aimee Caya directed by Lenny Somervell

Hop To It by Erin Beausoleil directed by Lenny Somervell

I Just Love That Kieth Urban by Shari Frost directed by Kyle Gregory

The House by Jenna Schlags directed by Lucas Commons-Miller

Produced by Phoebe Roberts, Lenny Somervell, and Jaryn Wilcox

Running two nights only:
8pm Friday, September 23rd
8pm Saturday, September 24th
At the Democracy Center at 45 Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA

Doors open at 7:45. Suggested admission is $7 but we welcome all comers. Donations also gratefully accepted.

So last Sunday I saw Annabel Lost, the poetry-drama piece by Frances Kimpel that has been Chameleon's Dish Theater's most recent production. It's a fascinating piece, exploring themes of self-worth, connection, and mortality and immortality, all strung together by astonishing pieces of poetry. It's incredibly unique-- I've literally never seen a piece of theater like it --and provokes a lot of thought. Frances's work is challenging, beautiful, and not quite like anyone else's. I'm still picking apart what I got from it, so I'd like to see it again and keep thinking about it.

The next performance is this Friday night at 8PM at the Democracy Center in Cambridge. Would anyone like to come with me? I'd love to meet up with someone or many someones for dinner nearby, then meander our way over there to see the show. Please message me if you're interested in making a plan. It'd be nice to have a little friendly company before an evening of theater.

As you may know, Frances Kimpel is putting up a production of her unique original show, Annabel Lost, this spring with our local theater troupe The Chameleon's Dish. The play is a special mix of dramatic narrative, dance, music, and poetry, centering around two orphaned refugees in a magic world of Frances's own creation.

They've set up a Kickstarter for the project this month, with a fairly modest goal of $900. They are very close to hitting this goal, and could use a few more backers to put them over the edge. If you haven't already, it wouldn't take much for you to kick in a few bucks to help them out. It would be in support of a very unique piece of theater that gives representation and exploration to themes of colonialism, identity, and gender-variance.

Frances is an artist I've always respected and loved to work with, so it would be really cool of you to help bring this project from her unique perspective to life. :-) You can find the Kickstarter here.

This is a reminder about the Watch City Players have a summer show going up, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

THE LOCATION HAS CHANGED, HOWEVER. It's going up Saturday, July 26th at 7pm in an outdoor performance at Clement G. Morgan Park in Cambridge, MA.

To repeat my pitch from before:

"This show is fun and funny, but what really makes it special is that it's all about gender and gender variation. Some characters are gender-flipped, some are reinterpreted as trans or nonbinary; even the whole idea of Earnest is based around the lead characters exploring their own gender identities outside of the ones assigned to them. It's an interesting and fun queering of the text."

The cast is as follows:

Jaclyn Worthing / Ernest Worthing: Frances Kimpel
Algernon Moncrieff: Charlotte Oswald
Gregory Bracknell: Matt Kamm
Cecil Cardew: Eboracum Richter-Dahl
Lady Bracknell: April Farmer
Miss Prism: Jonathan Kindness
Dr. Chasuble: Sparrow Rubin
Lane/Merriman: Stephanie Karol

Directed by Lenny Somervell

It's free and in the park, so I wanted to organize a big potluck dinner before the show. I'd like to meet up in the park around 5:30 and hang out and have a picnic until the performance. Feel free to bring anyone you think might enjoy it! I'm planning on bringing chicken marbella. :-)

Let me know if you can make it! Also tell me what you'd like to bring, or I can suggest something if you need an idea.

This should be a lot of fun, so I hope to see you there!"

As you may or may not know, the Watch City Players have a summer show going up, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. It's going up Saturday, July 26th at 7pm in an outdoor performance at the North entrance of Prospect Hill Park, at 314 Totten Pond Road in Waltham, MA.

This show is fun and funny, but what really makes it special is that it's all about gender and gender variation. Some characters are gender-flipped, some are reinterpreted as trans or nonbinary; even the whole idea of Earnest is based around the lead characters exploring their own gender identities outside of the ones assigned to them. It's an interesting and fun queering of the text. The cast is as follows:

Jaclyn Worthing / Ernest Worthing: Frances Kimpel
Algernon Moncrieff: Charlotte Oswald
Gwen Bracknell: Matt Kamm
Cecil Cardew: Eboracum Richter-Dahl
Lady Bracknell: April Farmer
Miss Prism: Jonathan Kindness
Dr. Chasuble: Sparrow Rubin
Lane/Merriman: Stephanie Karol

Directed by Lenny Somervell

It's free and in the park, so I wanted to organize a big potluck dinner before the show. I'd like to meet up in the park around 5:30 and hang out and have a picnic until the performance. Feel free to bring anyone you think might enjoy it! I'm planning on bringing chicken marbella. :-)

Let me know if you can make it! Also tell me what you'd like to bring, or I can suggest something if you need an idea.

This should be a lot of fun, so I hope to see you there!

The Watch City Players are hosting an Open Mic Night at the Democracy Center!

From organizer

crearespero:

"Join us on Saturday, July 12 for an open performance opportunity. Stage scenes, monologues, and poetry before an audience of peers. Original and pre-existing works are both accepted: bring a prepared piece, or else browse our collection of provided materials for inspiration.

At the Democracy Center at 45 Mt Auburn Street in Cambridge.

Sign-ups start at 7:00, performances start at 7:30. Time slots are five minutes each.

For questions, contact Frances Kimpel at kimpel.hq@gmail.com"

The Facebook event can be found here.

Hold Thy Peace used to host these all the time on Brandeis campus and they were a lot of fun. Come join us for a low key shared performance opportunity!

As you may know, every year for the past three or so, Waltham has held a weekend-long festival devoted to the Steampunk subculture. In past years it was called the International Steampunk City, this year it's going to be the Watch City Festival.

When Lenny first alerted me to the fact that it would be coming up again, it struck me what a good match a steampunk festival was for Mrs. Hawking, which is after the steampunk aesthetic. I looked up the festival and it appeared that it would be happening in May, as it has in all previous years. With the amount of time I had between then and May, I thought it would be a great idea to put together a small selection of scenes from Mrs. Hawking and then apply to put them on at the Watch City Festival, under the auspices of the Watch City Players. It all works together so nicely, and it would be a way to get the property out there.

But just as I was getting everything together (we were even about to start rehearsals) they put out that the date for this year is not in May. It's in September. Initially I was disappointed, as I've been wanting something a little more immediate to help bring attention to my project. But then it occurred to me how this might change things.

September is many more months out. A lot more can be done in that time than in the bare six weeks it looked like I was initially going to have. And now I'm wondering if I shouldn't be trying to put on the whole play.

Maybe it's crazy that I'm even thinking it. It is a technically demanding piece; it would require the construction of a real set, one that for one scene would require the ability for an actor to climb up onto it. It would be expensive, and the only person who would be responsible for the cost would be myself.

But I can't shake the notion that this is too good an opportunity to let pass. I've been struggling for a way to get Mrs. Hawking to the attention of people who would be particularly interested in it. A steampunk play at a steampunk festival seems perfect for showing it to people who like that sort of thing. I will never have better synergy that way. And I don't think the Festival charges performers for use of their space, and the cost of performance space is one of the biggest barriers to mounting my own production. If they had space they would just let me use, that would be one major expense out of the way. And the fact that the festival has its own publicity would do a lot of the advertising for me. It would help me draw an audience I wouldn't have otherwise.

I don't know if they'd be accommodating. Maybe the Festival wouldn't let me put on a full-length play. Maybe they wouldn't have the space or resources to give to the setup and the audience and the couple hours of performance time. And surely it would be expensive to build the sort of set it would need. But I feel like I have to try and see, just check with them to see if it's even possible.

Maybe I could do a Kickstarter. If the space was indeed free, and I already have most of the props, costumes, and furniture pieces, all that would really require substantial money would be the set. I don't think that would require more than a few grand, five or so. That might even allow me to employ a friend with the expertise to build it. I know undergrad theater at Brandeis with budgets of no more than five grand were able to build the sort of thing I'm thinking of, so I know it's theoretically possible.

I sent an email to the person listed as festival director on the website inquiring as to the feasibility, but did not get a response, which was frustrating. But performer proposal submissions are opening on March 30th. So perhaps what I should do is submit two proposals-- one for the full play, one for the handful of scenes that I'd originally planned to do when I thought the festival was in May --and do whichever one they'll allow me to.

It's a daunting prospect, but it's one I have to investigate. I can't pass up any good opportunities to get this off the ground.

This Saturday is GHOSTSHOW, the Watch City Player's ghost-themed evening of short plays!

March 8th at 8PM at the Democracy Center in Cambridge! You should come see us, because it's ONE NIGHT ONLY and it's free!

Featuring Gabrielle Geller, Frances Kimpel, Charlotte Oswald, Eboracum Richter-Dahl, Phoebe Roberts, and Lenny Somervell

Including:

"Hamlet," scene 1.1 by William Shakespeare
directed by Frances Kimpel

Guards at Elsinore are chasing a ghost, but it turns up in a place they never expected.

"The Late Mrs. Chadwick"
written and directed by Phoebe Roberts

Two stiff-upper-lipped Englishmen are not about to let a little thing like the wailing ghost of a dead wife compromise their manners.

"Unimportant Conversations with Ghosts"
written and directed by Lenny Somervell

The night after Alexander Hamilton’s fatal duel with Aaron Burr, the two failed politicians attempt to air their differences in a more civil, though somewhat belated, manner.

"Behind the Sky"
choreographed by Eboracum Richter-Dahl

One day, a magician sets out on a great adventure, meeting three of the Fair Folk and travelling into their world. A human in Faerie, however, is at a distinct disadvantage, as the magician finds through further encounters with each fairy.

"The Ghost of Wittenburg"
written and directed by Frances Kimpel

Several years after the events of Hamlet, the prince's former university, Wittenberg, is haunted by a peculiar ghost.

"Richard III" by William Shakespeare
directed by Phoebe Roberts

The ghost of Richard’s misdeeds are not about the let him escape his guilty conscience.

"At Philippi"
written and directed by Eboracum Richter-Dahl

To be held at the Democracy Center at 45 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA

Admission is free, donations gladly accepted

This is your official invitation to GHOSTSHOW, the third production brought to you by the Watch City Players. We've been working on this for a while now, but we were held up when we struggled to find performance space. But now we are settled on the most lovely and accommodating Democracy Center in Cambridge! And we are assembling a lovely collection of short pieces around the theme of ghosts. Some are very funny, some are dramatic, and some are just plain interesting! So, I present to you,

GHOSTSHOW

an evening of short plays concerning ghosts.

Featuring Gabrielle Geller, Frances Kimpel, Charlotte Oswald, Eboracum Richter-Dahl, Phoebe Roberts, and Lenny Somervell

The pieces, comedic:

- Unimportant Conversations with Ghosts, Part I, by Lenny Somervell

Starring Frances as Alexander Hamilton and Eboracum as Aaron Burr, after their famous fateful duel to the death

- The Late Mrs. Chadwick, by Phoebe Roberts

Starring Lenny as Arthur Chadwick, Frances as Edwin Shrewsbury, and Charlotte as Matilda Chadwick, when a vengeful spirit descends upon a stuffy, very proper British household

- Behind the Sky, by Eboracum Richter Dahl

A movement piece performed by Charlotte, Lenny, Frances, and Phoebe as fairy beings in the land of the dead

The pieces, tragic:

- Hamlet, scene I.I, by William Shakespeare

Starring Eboracum as Horatio and Gabrielle and Phoebe as soldiers, when the king's ghost first walks the night

- The Ghost of Wittenberg, by Frances Kimpel

Starring Eboracum as Horatio, and Gabrielle and Phoebe as young students who may remind you of two other famous friends

- Richard iii, selection, by William Shakespeare

Starring the whole cast, haunting the usurper in dreams

And
- Caesar's Ghost, by Lenny Somervell and Phoebe Roberts

To be held March 8th at 8PM at the Democracy Center at 45 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA

Admission is free, donations gladly accepted

I hope you will come and join us! We have a Facebook event set up here, if you'd be so kind as to RSVP. It will be short, fun, and hopefully a nice night. :-)

I'm pleased to report that Watch City Players' Shakespeare in the park piece, A Midsummer Night's Tempest, went off well. We performed it yesterday just before the concert series that Waltham sponsored on the commons, and despite the myriad annoyances inherent in performing in an outside space with few formal audience rules, we sallied forth bravely with our performance. I was so proud of everyone involved.

crearespero and

dendron_ges cut together a very clever edit of Shakespeare's two fairy plays, The Tempest and Midsummer, and Frances shouldered the administrative and creative burdens of directing. What I liked best about our piece was that it had both a humor to it and a "cool" factor, complete with broad, illustrative action so that the story could be carried even if you didn't get the words. We were told to aim our piece at kids, so that was a real success, especially when some little cuties in the audience came up to us and eagerly asked us questions. That was really gratifying. And of course, I love this cast, which also included the lovely and lovely to work with actors

katiescarlett29,

iagotolycus, Charlotte, and Nick. I think we impressed the Waltham Arts Council, and brought a little Shakespeare to people who might not have been otherwise familiar.

I would someday like to do full versions of the two plays that incorporate some of elements we developed here. I loved Frances's interpretation of Ariel as a spirit of chaos and even of frolic, but with a lurking danger beneath-- that it may have had something to do with the death of Sycorax, and its rapport with Prospero came from some combination of a true respectful connection and enough raw power to keep it under control. Frances and

nennivian sang much of the poetry to original music that Frances composed herself, and the dance and movement that they did to accompany it captured that way dance has of giving an extra layer of meaning to the poetry of the speech. I aspire to choreography like that. And finally, I really dug the version of Puck I did here. We called him "Bro Puck," as he was all heart and guts and loins with no brain, a distinctly masculine presence, a kind of chaos that rolled around like a happy dumb wrecking ball without a drop of malice behind it. It made for some really funny stage business for me to do, and I would love to play this version of the character in the full play sometime.

Wow, I've been so busy in the last few days I've not even posted. Very negligent of me. But things have been crazy. I'm will be running costumes for Caucasian Chalk Circle, a play that's going up in the Mary O'Malley Park in Chelsea almost every night this month, which is going to be intense. It's an extremely complicated show tech-wise, involving TRAVELING FROM PLACE TO PLACE between acts, so it's definitely work-intensive. I fear burnout in the extreme, but I need the money, so I've got to ride it out.

In addition to that, we've been rehearsing for A Midsummer Night's Tempest, our little Shakespeare pastiche that the Waltham Arts Council asked us to do before their concert series on Tuesday, July 9th at 6:15PM at the gazebo in the Waltham Commons. We've put together a nice little show, aimed mostly at children to get them interested in Shakespeare, but it's been tough fitting in rehearsals. Still, it's a neat little script put together by Frances, Lenny, and Eboracum, and we do a nice job with it. It's not a long show and it's free, so come by and see us if you have the time.

With all this I feel a bit run ragged. On top of it all, the heat has been really getting me. I finally bit the bullet and put my air conditioner into the window of my bedroom. Yesterday I ran it for the first time this season out of desperation. I'd been holding off as long as I could because of how expensive it becomes to run, but I just can't take how hot it's been, I'm starting to get sick. It's just making everything harder to do.

The second production under the auspices of the Watch City Players is underway. The Waltham Arts Council has asked us to do a small Shakespearean presentation at the gazebo in the Waltham Common for a child-and-family audience in July. After deciding that the magical, fairy sections of Shakespeare are the most appealing to a younger crowd who may not necessarily understand the langauge,

crearespero and

dendron_ges cut together a really clever blending of The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream. We are designing it to be broad, funny, and whimsical.

We had our first rehearsal tonight, and it was a lot of fun and, I think, went very well. I will be reprising my role as Puck, one of my favorite roles I've played, but with a pretty different spin. Where my HTP Puck was calculating and scheming, this Puck is turning out to be a spirit of chaos, very physical, all heart and guts and not much brain. It's going to be very funny, and I felt really good just riffing on this absurd personality.

The show will be going up one night only at the gazebo on Waltham Common at 6PM on Tuesday, July 9th. If you'd care to come out and support us, we should at least be able to make you laugh. :-)

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Page Summary

Chameleon's Dish Shorts Festival this weekend!
See Annabel Lost by Frances Kimpel with me this Friday?
Annabel Lost's Kickstarter very close to goal!
This Saturday's genderqueer Importance of Being Earnest in CAMBRIDGE
The Watch City Players present genderqueer Importance of Being Earnest!
Watch City Players open mic night!
A possible opportunity for Mrs. Hawking
GHOSTSHOW -- come see us this Saturday!
GHOSTSHOW by the Watch City Players - official invitation!
A Midsummer Night's Tempest achieved!
Run ragged
A Midsummer Night's Tempest

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"Do you know why heroes boast? Because it makes them brave."

Entries tagged with chameleon's dish

Chameleon's Dish Shorts Festival this weekend!

See Annabel Lost by Frances Kimpel with me this Friday?

Annabel Lost's Kickstarter very close to goal!

This Saturday's genderqueer Importance of Being Earnest in CAMBRIDGE

The Watch City Players present genderqueer Importance of Being Earnest!

Watch City Players open mic night!

A possible opportunity for Mrs. Hawking

GHOSTSHOW -- come see us this Saturday!

GHOSTSHOW by the Watch City Players - official invitation!

A Midsummer Night's Tempest achieved!

Run ragged

A Midsummer Night's Tempest