Photos from Saturday’s rehearsal for “Klaus”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on December 15, 2012
The staged reading of “Klaus,” my Christmas show about the origins of Santa Claus, continues to take shape. .
The reading is Sunday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. at the June M. McBroom Theatre at Community High School in Roanoke, Va.; the reading is put on by the Hollins Playwright’s’ Lab.
Earlier, I posted photos from Thursday’s rehearsal and Friday’s rehearsal. Here are some photos from Saturday’s rehearsal, which emphasis on Brian O’Sullivan, who plays the titular role of Professor Klaus, a mysterious German physics professor who shows up at a failing British college in the 1740s and sets tongues wagging with his strange ideas.
Klaus (played by Brian O’Sullivan) jokes about his girth to the class he’s teaching at a woebegone British college in the 1700s.
Klaus enjoys teaching natural philosophy (as physics was called in those days), but his students — played by Kevin McAlexander, Blair Peyton and Will Coleman — are less amused.
Klaus with his students again. I believe this is the scene where many of them (especially Percy, played by Blair, in the center) have shown up with hangovers. Either that, or it’s a scene in the ale-house where the students spend much of their time.
My short piece on school shootings
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, No Shame Theatre, Photos, Uncategorized on December 15, 2012
That’s me performing my monologue “Chalkboard Scribbled in Blood” at No Shame Theatre on Dec. 14, 2012.
Unlike some writers, I don’t write topical material. When some item in the news inspires me (and it’s quite often), I always try to write the piece in a way that it will work for future occasions.
For instance, after the horrific Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, I wrote the five-minute “Cellphones of the Dead,” which was performed that Friday night at No Shame Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. It doesn’t reference Virginia Tech and could be staged again — although No Shame producer Todd Ristau said it was so powerful, it shouldn’t be performed too often. In fact, he said it was too powerful (and too much of a downer) to include in that year’s Best of No Shame Theatre.
After Friday’s equally horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, I thought about bringing that piece back for an encore performance at No Shame Theatre. One problem — kindergarten students don’t have cellphones.
So while watching a rehearsal of my Christmas show, “Klaus,” I scribbled out a new piece. And I broke with my practice of having others perform my work — and performed this one myself. I’m no actor, and have never pretended to be, but thought perhaps those who known of my self-imposed prohibition on doing my own works would find the performance even more powerful then.
James Thompson was kind enough to take this photo of me performing the short monologue “Chalkboard Scribbled in Blood.”
Regrettably, it will fit the next time there’s another one of these awful events.
Photos from second rehearsal for staged reading of “Klaus”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on December 15, 2012
Most staged readings only get a few hours rehearsal. For Sunday night’s reading of “Klaus,” my darkly comic show about the origin of Santa Claus, the Hollins Playwright’s Lab has arranged for four days worth of rehearsal — and brought in Chicago director Cheryl Snodgrass to helm the proceedings.
Here are some photos from Friday night’s second rehearsal, on the June M. McBroom Theatre stage at Community High School in Roanoke, Va.:
The show has a strong science fiction element to it. Here, Mary the landlady (Martha Boswell) stares up to discover all her cutlery is stuck to the ceiling. Professor Klaus (Brian O’Sullivan) is overjoyed at the success of his experiment with magnetism.
“Klaus” is heavy on special effects, which are hard to do in a staged reading. So stage manager Melissa Kennedy will be onstage handling many of the sound effects, much like the narrator in a radio play.
Professor Klaus (Brian O’Sullivan) ventures out into the audience to deliver toys to children. Well, you’ll have to imagine the toys. But he’s made them himself in his workshop.
Here’s another special effect you’ll have to imagine. Will Coleman, playing a college student in the 1700s, carries a torch in the climactic scene. That’s one of his fellow classmates, played by Kevin McAlexander, at left, and stage manager Melissa Kennedy in the background.
Director Cheryl Snodgrass.
Rehearsal starts for staged reading of “Klaus”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on December 14, 2012
Rehearsals started Thursday night for Sunday night’s staged reading of “Klaus,” my darkly comic Christmas play on the origin of Santa Claus that the Hollins Playwright’s Lab is putting on.
Here are some photos:
The headmaster of a failing British college (Ross Laguzza, in black) catches three students (Kevin McAlexander, Blair Peyton and Will Coleman) carousing in an ale-house. Worse, they’re holding their glasses (which you’ll have to imagine for now) over water glasses, a favorite trick of those in the 1700s who believed the true royal family was the ousted House of Stuart, not the reigning House of Hanover. Jacobites, as the Stuart supporters were called, famously toasted “the king over the water.” The show deals with the arrival of a mysterious German professor – Professor Klaus — at a college where support for the German-born Hanovers runs thin, and treason runs deep among the students. The headmaster is trying to stamp out such political sentiments in hopes of currying favor with the king — and perhaps a royal bequest to get the college out of debt. That’s also why he brought in Professor Klaus, although he knows next to nothing about him.
More carousing from our ne’er-do-well students, who harbor strong anti-German feelings — when they’re not busy drinking and skipping class and generally causing trouble. From left, Kevin McAlexander, Blair Peyton and Will Coleman. That’s Ross Laguzza, the headmaster, in the background. This may be the only Christmas show you’ve seen that set partly in an ale-house and includes a reference to a brothel.
Director Cheryl Snodgrass has come in from Chicago to oversee the reading. She specializes in working with new plays.
The show is Sunday, Dec. 16 at the June M. McBroom Theatre at Community High School in downtown Roanoke. It’s also free. More details here. And more photos to come (including, perhaps, one of the actor who plays 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.
Two short pieces to be produced in New York Dec. 18
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions on December 10, 2012
I will soon have something in common with Mick Jagger.
And Kanye West.
And Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl and a lot of other famous people.
We’re all involved in benefit gigs in New York to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims in the Rockaways neighborhood of New York.
Mick, Kanye and many others are all performing a benefit concert for at Madison Square Garden — the 12-12-12 concert.
Meanwhile, I have two short pieces being produced as part of “Rockaway,” a day of theatre produced by the Barefoot Theatre Company at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan on Dec. 18.
Both of my pieces deal with baseball: “The Uniform” and “Deep Into October” were both previously produced at the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival of one-minute plays in New York (the links take you to video). “The Uniform” was produced in June 2012; “Deep Into October” in June 2011.
I am indebted to Rose Bonczek of Brooklyn College, who helped make this happen, and to Francisco Solorzano, artistic director of Barefoot.
Here’s the full list of playwrights taking part (a list which is growing, by the way): Read the rest of this entry »
“The Fruitcake” hits its 35th production, with more on the way
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions on December 8, 2012
The Christmas one-act “The Fruitcake” — published by Brooklyn Publishers — is pulling away as my most frequently produced work.
Two places have produced it this winter season, and one more is scheduled to.
The ones so far are:
* Cedar Rapids Public School, Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, Nov. 19, 2012.
* Rock’n’Bach (which appears to be a private arts school of some sort), Frisco, Texas, Nov. 30, 2012.
That Rock’n’Bach performance marked the 35th production.
And then the Fort Worth school district in Fort Worth, Texas is scheduled to produce it on Dec. 20 (not sure which school.)
Alas, for all those productions, I have yet to see a one, nor receive any photos from any of them.
My second most frequently-produced script is the one-act “Macbeth Goes Hollywood” — produced by Eldridge Plays and Musicals. That show has been produced 24 times, most recently in October at a school in Steger, Illinois.
In third place is “Hamlet on Spring Break” — published by Playscripts. That show has been produced 23 times, most recently in July 2012 by a school in Port Republic, New Jersey. (Here’s video from a May 2007 production in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and still photos from a 2004 production in St. Paul, Minnesota.
However, that ranking might change. In fourth place is another Christmas show, “Santa Claustrophobia,” through Big Dog Plays. It’s been produced 17 times. However, Playscripts notifies me immediately when a production is scheduled; Big Dog only lets me know when it’s time to send a royalty check. Last year, “Santa Claustrophobia” was produced three times, so it’s possible there are more productions out there this fall, which could cause Santa to bump Hamlet back to fourth.
In fifth place is “Code 40 Verona,” a murder mystery based on the police investigation into the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. It’s published through Eldridge, and was last produced in October 2011 at a school in McDonough, Georgia.
I have other published scripts that have been produced less frequently and, of course, I have many unpublished ones, which are available, royalty-free, through me. Inquire within!
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.)
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