Archive for category Video
Video: “The Dead Horse” at the Liminal artspace
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on February 9, 2013
The Liminal artspace in Roanoke — attached to Community High School of Arts & Academics — hosts monthly readings. Most of the participants are short story writers, novelists, or poets — so my theatrical pieces there are definitely out of the ordinary.
At the most recent reading on January 24, I offered up two pieces, which were both performed by Community High School students.
Here are Joe Hart, Ashley Meador and DaQuan Saunders performing “The Dead Horse,” an absurdist piece of mine. This is the five-minute version; I’ve also developed it into a one-act, with a larger cast.
Thanks to Cara Modisett, the organizer, who helped round up the students.
And thanks to my wife, Katerina, for the unique prop. The dead horse here was first created as a Halloween costume for my son, Keith, many years ago. It’s put together so a small child (which is what Keith was then) could fit inside of it, with the body of the horse around him — a convenient way to both ride the horse, and still go trick-or-treating.
In more recent times, the horse has found new life as a theatrical prop. He first appeared in this piece at No Shame Theatre. As I told the kids when I showed it to them, “he knows his part.”
I’ll post video of the other piece, “Pandora and Schrodinger: What’s in the Box?” when it becomes available.
UPDATED: I realize the video doesn’t have a good view of the horse, since the horse is on the ground. So here’s the beast himself:
Horsie. From Halloween costume to valued stage prop as namesake of “The Dead Horse.”
Video: Staged reading of “Klaus” by Hollins Playwright’s Lab
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 18, 2012
“Klaus” is my Christmas play about the origin of Santa Claus. There’s no standard myth on where the Jolly Old Elf came from, so I invented one. In my telling, his origin dates to Great Britain in the 1740s, at a time of political unrest. The German-born Hanoverian kings (George II, in this case) were on the throne, and many Germans were coming into the country to seek their fortune. This kindled talk of rebellion among those who still believed the ousted House of Stuart was the rightful royal family.
In “Klaus,” a debt-ridden English college imports a German professor of natural philosophy (physics, we call it now) in hopes of currying favor with the king, and perhaps getting a royal bequest or two. Professor Klaus turns out to be an eccentric sort, dabbling in strange experiments with time travel.
By the show’s end, he has turned into the Santa Claus we know today, and everything about him is explained — the red suit, the reindeer, the love of milk and cookies, his residence at the North Pole, even Mrs. Claus.
“Klaus” was supposed to be the Christmas show at Studio Roanoke, a black box theatre in Roanoke, Va., specializing in new works. Alas, it closed in mid-summer. Fortunately, the Hollins Playwright’s Lab picked up the show — not for a full production but at least for a very well-rehearsed staged reading. Director Cheryl Snodgrass came in from Chicago to oversee things and we had an all-star cast for the reading on December 16. We also had a fantastic crowd; program director Todd Ristau said it was four times larger than had shown up for any previous reading in the series.
I had some trouble with the video camera. The video of act 1 (above) cuts off the introductory remarks and the first few lines. The video of act 2 (below) didn’t start until after the first scene had concluded. And the audio is poor. But you’ll get the idea. I hope to make a few changes to the script based on this reading and then send it out to publishers and theatres.
Klaus: Brian O’Sullivan
Robert, a college student: Kevin McAlexander
Percy, a college student: Blair Peyton
James, a college student: Will Coleman
Mary the landlady: Martha Boswell
Headmaster: Ross Laguzza
Grinchley, the headmaster’s assistant: Drew Dowdy
Director: Cheryl Snodgrass
Stage manager: Melissa Kennedy
* Background on the show
* Photos from first day of rehearsal
* Photos from second day of rehearsal
* Photos from third day of rehearsal
* Photos from the staged reading of “Klaus”
Video: “Coyote” at the Liminal gallery in Roanoke, Va.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 12, 2012
The Liminal gallery (housed in the same building as Community High School) in Roanoke, Va., hosts monthly readings. They’re built around a particular theme — usually something on display in the gallery, or something students are studying.
Writers from both the school and community are invited. Most of these are short story writers, but I’ve been going — and reading organizer Cara Modisett has been kind enough to recruit students to perform my work.
For the Nov. 29, 2012 reading, the theme was based on “Children in the Shadow of Conflict: Selected Novels and Cultural Perspectives,” a course being taught at the school.
Hannah Garry performed my piece “Coyote,” about how an illegal immigrant had to pay off a “coyote” — one of the border crossing guides — to get her family across. It was inspired by a newspaper story I read some years ago about how dangerous such crossings can be because many “coyotes” are quite unscrupulous.
Immigration is a theme of another one of my works — the yet unpublished and unproduced full-length script “The Ballad of Alejandro Lopez,” which is currently under consideration at a theatre in New York.
Video: “57 Hours in the House of Culture” in Roanoke, Va.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 6, 2012
Here’s the archival video from the premiere of “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” my full-length play about the Moscow theatre seige.
The play was produced at Studio Roanoke in Roanoke, Va., in May, and played to good reviews and good houses. We even had a visit from our local congressman, Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County.
The video is so long it’s broken into several parts, although the show ran without an intermission.
And here’s part three:
And here’s part four:
MORE ON “57 HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF CULTURE”:
* Backstage graffiti from the show
* Photos from the show
* Audience reaction to the show
* Review: “It ain’t ‘Oklahoma!'”
* Congressman Goodlatte attends the show
* Review: “Most interactive show I’ve seen”
* Media interviews about the show
* The set takes shape
* Rehearsal photos
* Rehearsal begins
* The poster for the show
Video: “The Cherry Tree Near Loos” at Liminal gallery
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 1, 2012
Here’s another video I’m a little late in posting. The Liminal gallery in Roanoke, Va. hosts periodic readings, often in conjunction with an exhibit or classwork at Community High School, the private school with which it is associated.
On March 27, 2012, the theme was “place.” Community High School student Sahar Babi read my monologue “The Cherry Tree Near Loos.”
It’s a true story that I came across in reading once about World War I. A British soldier was killed in a tree in no man’s land, and the only way the British could retrieve his body was to bombard the tree.
I’m indebted to Cara Modisett, who organizes the readings, for finding someone to read the piece.
Video: “The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules” in England
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on December 1, 2012
The Castle Players in Poole, England produced my one-act comedy “The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules” in February 2011.
Previously, I just had still photos from the show available.
Now, there’s video!
(More accurately, I just figured out how to post a video of this length, although I see it came in two parts.)
Video: “Macbeth, The Prequel” in Roanoke, Virginia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Video on November 6, 2012
I have almost an entire catalog of Shakespeare riffs, mostly one-acts aimed at schools. In fact, the very first script I had published was “Hamlet on Spring Break,” through Playscripts.
One sub-genre of Shakespeare I’ve been exploring has been prequels. I have two of them so far — “Macbeth, the Prequel” and “Hamlet, the Prequel” with two more in the editing stage.
This past week, “Macbeth, the Prequel” was staged at a private event in Roanoke, through the auspices of the Grandin Ensemble and the Star City Creators Society.
Here’s the result.
This script tells how the future Lady Macbeth came to be cursed, with deadly ramifications down the line. Her mother died in childbirth bearing her and her father, who longed for a male heir, refused to name her or acknowledge her as his heir. As you’ll see, I use the most famous (and some of the not-so-famous) lines from the actual Scottish play, but re-arrange them and assign them to different characters as the Thane of Skye plots how he can put his family on the throne — only to conclude that “the girl” is the key.
The cast:
* The Thane of Skye: Gary Reid
* Witches: Brandon duMonde, Ashley Smith, Leisa
* Lady Macbeth: Kelly Anglim
* Servant: Darlene Fedele
* Thane of Cawdor: Owen Merrit
* Macbeth: Owen Merritt (double-cast)
Directed by Brandon duMonde.
In addition, Charles Reynolds created some very spooky music to go with it, which you can find here.
Video: “The Secret Lives of Goldfish” at Liminal gallery
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on October 30, 2012
I have a series of short pieces called “The Secret Lives of Goldfish” in which I take a humorous look at two goldfish, one of whom has delusions of grandeur, the other of whom is very much aware of its piscene limitations.
One of those pieces — “The Secret Lives of Goldfish, volume 4: Hot for the Deep Sea Driver” — was performed as a staged reading Oct. 25 at one of the regular readings hosted by the Liminal alternative artspace gallery in Roanoke.
Two students from Community High School — Celine Anderson and Frank Finch — were the goldfish in question.
(There’s a male version of this particular piece. That’s volume 3: “Hot for the Mermaid.” Same piece, just genders reversed.)
Video: “Christmas Music” at Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, U.K.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on September 22, 2012
Still more video discoveries! Here’s “Christmas Music (or, The Excecutioner’s Song, the Turkey Edition” which was produced at the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival of one-minute plays in Halifax, U.K. in June 2011.
These are turkeys who think they’ve escaped the Thanksgiving knife because they now hear Christmas music being played.
Video: “The Ghost Train” at Ghosts in 60 Seconds Festival, U.K.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Productions, Uncategorized, Video on September 22, 2012
Here’s a third video I’ve just become aware of. This is “The Ghost Train,” being performed at the Ghosts in 60 Seconds Festival in Halifax, U.K. in October 2010.
This is an offshoot of the annual Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, which is held each year in both Halifax, Great Britain and New York.
The script is a monologue by a man killed by a train, which hit him while he was waiting on a legendary “ghost train.”
I do notice this video runs a bit longer than one minute, though . . .
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